My One and Only Alpha

Chapter 11

Standing just outside the dastardly hall, Louis could already hear a cacophony of shouting and debating coming from the interior, and he was reluctant to waltz in and become a part of it, but he knew he didn’t have an option...so, in he went.
When he pushed past Zayn, Louis was met with a hectic and rather dramatic scene. Alphas sat in chairs along two lengthy log tables that stretched down the room, ferociously arguing across the gap to each other, obviously in serious disagreement about something.
And there, at a smaller end table that closed off the parallel lines, was Harry. He appeared exhausted and bored with his situation, slumping back with one elbow propped against the armrest of his chair, leaning his head on his curled knuckles. The Pack Alpha made no movement at the Omega’s arrival except to shift his eyes from a passionately-yelling Daven (Kurt’s mate) to lock onto Louis. He seemed to be the only wolf to notice Louis’ presence, and without breaking eye contact, the Alpha uttered a casual, “Quiet” into the chaos of the council, and effectively killed their squabbling.
The eyes of the council slowly found their way to Louis and Zayn at the end of the tables, and the Beta left the Omega with an encouraging rub at his back, taking his seat at Harry’s diagonal left.
Now Louis was left standing alone before the council, without knowing why, being examined by thirteen pairs of eyes, with nothing to say in his defense. He somewhat knew most of these Alphas from his time in warrior training, but there were some new faces in the mixture, and the Omega hated that he didn’t have the security of their acceptance like he did the others.
Harry lifted his head from his fist as he lowered his hand and straightened in his seat, motioning for Louis to move closer. “Louis, I needed to run something by you,” he said, kicking an ankle up to stack onto his opposing knee.
Louis held his head high and walked further into the torchlit room, meeting Katniss and Parsel’s eyes and drawing strength from their comforting auras.
“There’s nothing to run, we—” began an older and exasperated Alpha at the left-side table.
“Lucian,” Harry warned, piercing him with his gaze. “Louis, I need you to do something for me.”
Louis was surprised by the unknown request Harry was making in lieu of the stern scolding he’d convinced himself he would receive for fill-in-the-blank reason, and he had to admit this was an improvement. “What do you need?” he inquired willingly.
“Louis, I’m sure you’ve noticed the rising numbers of the rogues, and the increasing frequency of the attacks,” the Alpha said confidently, knowing that he’d have to be a rock not to notice.
“Yeah, they’re everywhere,” Louis agreed with a nod, furrowing his eyebrows as he formulated what the connection was to him. “But what’s that got to do with me?” he asked to voice his thoughts, eyes routinely making their way to Lucian’s angry scowl. What the fuck is his problem?
“Don’t interrupt, and maybe you’ll figure it out,” Harry patronized, smirking when Louis visibly and audibly gulped. “It has become a critical enough issue that I’ve had to pull every village Alpha I have to work as a warrior...and as a result, I am left without my hunters, and in need of some,” he stated, sighing at Louis’ oblivious demeanor. “I’m asking you to lead a team of suitable Omegas to hunt the packs’ meat, forgoing your gathering duties for the time being,” he informed, studiously checking Louis’ face to ensure he’d understood.
“Utter nonsense,” Lucian grumbled.
“Lucian!” Harry barked with noticeably less patience this time around, turning back to Louis to further plead his case. “This is something that needs to be done immediately, and I will assemble you a team to—”
“No,” Louis interrupted, quickly explaining the specifics of his refusal. “I mean I’ll do it, but you’re not assembling me a team. I refuse to pupsit Omegas while simultaneously trying to win their respect. It’ll waste time,” he reasoned, rooted to his compromise and daring Harry to keep pointlessly negotiating.
Before Harry could scold him about it not being up to him, Norman piped in from the right: “Alpha Harry, if I may make a suggestion?” he drawled, his hand at his patch of beard as he stroked the coarse hairs into order. Harry grunted his acceptance and leaned back into his chair, so Norman gratefully continued: “I say we have Louis rally his own group of his choice. Not without the approval of their Alphas, of course, but he has quite a few omkin that I believe may be very helpful to the cause, my Alpha.”
Harry took a few moments to consider while Louis frantically searched his mind to have an answer ready for the question he knew was about to come. “Who did you have in mind, Louis?” the Pack Alpha asked as Zayn sunk lower into his seat in trepidation.
Deciding quickly—because he’d planned for this—Louis listed his choices to the council: “I believe Draco, Jax, Kurt, and—” He paused, glancing over to the nervous Zayn before apologetically finishing, “—Niall. Would be my best options,” he stated, flinching immediately when Zayn made his opinion known.
The Beta slammed his hand down on the table and stood from his seat in protest, snarling at the mere concept. “Absolutely not!” he barked, his canines extended without his control.
Harry’s eyebrows shot up and he turned his head in confusion at the unexpected outburst. “Why not? If Louis thinks he’s capable, that should be all we need to know. He wouldn’t choose a member of his omkin if they weren’t—”
“I know, Harry. Niall’s not inadequate, but he’s not able to. End of story. I’m sorry, I cannot allow it,” Zayn grumbled without a hope to be convinced otherwise.
“But why, though?” the Pack Alpha pressed firmly, dissatisfied with the vague answer he’d received.
Zayn heavily sat back down and fidgeted in his seat, stealing a few moments of peace before blurting, “Niall is pregnant.”
Instantaneous applause broke out within the room and Harry temporarily set aside the meeting drama to give focus to the good news. “Gods, is he really?” he asked Zayn, yipping in celebration when the Beta nodded with the utmost amount of pride. “Congratulations, brother,” he murmured softly with an equally proud smile, holding his Beta’s shoulder and stroking it with his thumb.
Zayn thanked everyone for their cheers and apologized for his outburst, and after the room had settled—and Louis had ceased his joyous sobs—Harry shredded the peace: “Unfortunately, that now means he has to.”
Zayn blanched in shock—he looked like he wanted to say a lot more in the moment, but he controlled himself enough to demand a simple, “Why?”
Before Harry could answer, Louis chimed in from his quiet spot at the end of the tables. “Zayn, I’m so happy for you, and I understand your refusal...but think about it this way. We know Niall. If he finds out he had an opportunity that was taken from him by you, it’ll only push him to do it more. Think of how he’ll react when he hears he was almost allowed, pregnant or not, to do something he’d want to do, but then you said no because he’s pregnant. He’ll kill us all,” he reasoned, stealing the words right out of Harry’s mouth.
Zayn obviously wanted to argue for the rest of the night, but he knew Louis had made an extremely valid point, so against all his better judgement, he surrendered, closing his eyes in resignation.
Harry gave him two seconds before speaking his final word. “Niall it is, then,” he concluded as Zayn groaned in defeat, slamming his forehead onto the surface of the table. “Anyone else in opposition to their Omegas joining Louis’ team?” he asked the other bondmates.
Daven and Chibs shook their heads without hesitation, full of pride for their Omegas making the cut. Parsel seemed deep in thought, weighing how he felt about it. At last, he moved his eyes in Louis’ direction and voiced his approval. “You may have my Dragon, Louis. But on one condition—an Alpha needs to be with them at all times. With Niall being pregnant, I don’t feel comfortable with just Jax and Louis as dominant figures,” he stressed to the attentive and agreeably-nodding Harry.
“I’ll do it,” Katniss chimed, looking around at her fellow council members as she spoke. “Peeta’s not with them, so it’s not a conflict of interest. I can teach them the ways of archery,” she offered, turning her head when Norman raised his hand in the air.
“I will be with them as well,” Norman added, smiling at Louis in that weird way he always does.
“No,” Harry instantly argued, giving them a sharp shake of his head. “I need you two on the field; you’re too good to substitute.”
“Harry, we need food other than berries and greens,” Katniss reasoned, taking on a soft and non-combative tone with the Pack Alpha. “This job is equally as important, and it’s because we’re so good that you can be absolutely sure no harm will ever come to the Omegas.”
“... Fine,” Harry reluctantly endorsed after another lengthy pause.
“Well, I think it’s bullshit,” Lucian contended once again, gearing up for an impassioned rant. “Harry, if your father had not left his position—”
“Left his position? I beg you to rephrase that, Lucian,” Harry composedly but darkly demanded, the forced neutrality of the order sending chilled shivers down Louis’ spine.
“Apologies, Alpha. If your father hadn’t been killed, if he were alive, he would never agree to this,” Lucian corrected, still traversing down the same line of thought.
“Well he’s not, is he? Did I not take his place as the Alpha of this tribe, therefore becoming your superior in his death?” Harry challenged, the volume of his voice raising with every word.
“But Alpha, this Omega is a disgrace,” Lucian bit, swishing his wrist in the general direction of Louis as though he was too good to even look at him. “He’s untrustworthy and insolent. We cannot possibly allow him to poison our pure Omegas with his deplorable attitude; you’ll be similarly banishing his disciples left and right.”
And that...was a step too far. “Hey, Lucy! Nobody fucking likes you!” Louis erupted, all heads turning to him in impressed incredulity. “I have heard nothing about you but trash, and I can see why. You’re a slippery slug in need of a salt bath, and don’t think I won’t do that to you. Don’t you dare say a word about me, you have absolutely no right. I am no threat to the sanctity of this tribe’s Omegas, and if you ever disrespect me like that again, I’ll make you regret it for the rest of your life,” he snarled at the affronted council Alpha.
“Respect? You dare speak to me of respect when you have none? Learn your place,” Lucian spat, using his normally successful howahkan in an attempt to make Louis submit.
Despite the Alpha’s pathetic efforts, Louis was not normal. “My place is in a duel to the death with you, beating you into the ground, you hateful cow. Your Alpha is Harry, how about you learn yours?” he roared back like a true dominant, lathering his voice with the official strongest and most powerful timbre he’s ever managed.
Following this was an uproar of utter pandemonium. Many Alphas were speechless after hearing Louis give it his all, but once the shock passed, they were yelling. Lucian and Louis were still in their volatile discourse, while the remaining council members screamed their opinions on the matter to the heavens.
Harry had silently watched the situation unravel and was positively bubbling with pride and attraction for the Omega, but unfortunately, when Louis lunged across the table to give Lucian said ground-beating, the Pack Alpha was forced to intervene. “Louis!” he barked with his contrastingly effective howahkan, the tiny Omega practically halting mid-air as the room silenced. “Come,” he commanded, crossing his arms and raising his brows expectantly.
Louis’ Omega could not deny that sweet and persuasive voice of its requests and he diligently obeyed, walking right up to the Alpha’s chair and awaiting his next instruction.
“Do not speak until spoken to,” Harry muttered sternly, pulling up a nearby chair and lining it beside his own as he added a simple, “Sit.”
Louis sat without a squeak of protest and the council was engulfed in unanimous shock at the Omega’s instant change of behavior and submissive adherence to their Pack Alpha’s orders. From everything they’d seen of him so far, Louis was the very opposite of an Omega—fiercely independent and unreachable to compulsion—but there was no denying the tranced glaze over of his eyes from forced obedience, and his instantly sleepy exterior. That…was an Omega. Evidently, Harry could control him—why couldn’t anyone else?
Harry was pleasantly surprised (overwhelmingly elated) at Louis’ compliance to only him, and his inner Alpha was teeming with satisfaction, but he somehow maintained his neutrality. “Lucian. Apologize,” he said, turning his focus back to the room instead of the bleary Omega beside him.
“I beg your pardon?” Lucian countered abrasively, admittedly upset that his howahkan hadn’t done a thing, but the Pack Alpha’s had. “With all due respect, Alpha, I cannot in good conscience disregard something that is so quintessential to our species.”
“With all due respect, Lucy, your blatant hatred of equality is painfully misplaced, and slandering one of my warriors, Omega or not, is in no way quintessential,” Harry growled, his hand twitching with the desire to reach over and caress the inside of Louis’ parted thigh. Get a hold of yourself, Harry.
“Alpha Harry, I—”
“No, Lucian! This council thrives on its cooperation. If we have no unity, we shall make no progress. I need my Alphas willing to make the changes necessary to better the efficiency and safety of my tribe. Are you refusing to be one of those Alphas?” Harry questioned, prepared to banish him right here and now if he says the wrong thing.
“No, Harry, of course I’m not,” Lucian said carefully, regretfully turning to face Louis, who was still not all-present until Harry rubbed at his back to rouse him from his stupor. “My apologies, Omega,” he said when he made eye contact, quickly looking away and biting back his groan of embarrassment.
What’s happening? Did Lucian just apologize to me? Louis wondered, blinking his tired eyes and looking around at the room. It would appear Lucian expressed some fake sincerity of his discriminatory remarks, and Louis definitely did not accept, but he didn’t know if he was allowed to respond. Wait, what? Why wouldn’t I…
“Good,” Harry said to his council member, dragging Louis’ confused gaze to him. He turned to meet the bluest blue of eyes and tried to coax their owner into reciprocating the phrase. “Now, Louis...it’s your turn. Apologize for your outburst.”
Louis, breaking through the haze from pure fury, stood from his seat, appalled Harry would even think to suggest such an unfair thing. “Have you gone mad? You heard what he said to me! No way am I sorry for sticking up for myself,” he protested, crossing his arms in defense from Harry’s impatient glare.
“I will fight no more on this issue,” Harry snapped, pointing to Lucian and lowly growling at the Omega. “Apologize and be done with it.”
“No,” Louis bluntly refused. This probably wasn’t the smartest decision because Harry mirrored Louis’ action and shot out of his seat like lava from a volcano, instantly towering over his tinier form and baring his canines at him. The Omega’s breath quickened from the maddening proximity, his nostrils burning from the intoxicating Alpha scent of Harry, and he began to feel debilitatingly faint in the head.
“You will apologize, Louis,” Harry ordered, using a hint of howahkan to get it out of him without the use of excessive force.
Louis could feel his inner Omega pulling at the strings of his soul, urging him down into a place of peaceful darkness where he’d be ‘happy,’ and his eyelids began to droop as he wobbled on unbalanced legs, but he fought hard to maintain his defiance, slapping his inner Omega in the face for even suggesting such a reaction. “I won’t,” he whimpered unsurely.
Harry bent down so their faces were inches apart and stared directly into the Omega’s jaded eyes, giving him the simple but firm order that would change the game for everyone: “Submit."
The last of Louis’ pitifully-constructed resolve obliterated itself in an instant as his inner Omega took complete control of him for the first time, stretching its legs and sighing at its long-awaited freedom. It was like a lifelong wall had just been smashed to pieces so small they were invisible, and Louis lost all focus of his Alpha’s mismatched eyes, his true nature diving headfirst into that dark abyss it so painfully yearned for.
Harry watched in shock as Louis suddenly lost consciousness and he threw his arms out to catch the Omega before he crashed to the floor. With arms full of a sagging Louis, he turned his attention to the council members, shouting, “Leave us!” to them as they scrambled to obey his words.
Zayn was the last to leave, but he turned back to Harry before he did, hiding his smirk as he brought attention to the happenstance: “Did he just drop, Harry?”
Harry carefully lowered them both onto the ground behind his table and pulled the vulnerable Omega into his lap, gently rubbing at his back and hips. “What do you think?” he snapped to his insufferable Beta over the tabletops, trying to hide Louis from sight even though Zayn could only see the top of his face. “Get out, Zayn, you can’t be here,” he bit harshly, sighing in relief when the Beta whisked away and left them alone.
Harry was getting hit with a barrage of varying emotions and thoughts, and it was damn near impossible to organize them. He had just pushed Louis into a deep Omega-space, and he hadn’t even set out to. Moreover, he’d never witnessed Louis have any kind of reaction like this to anything, and if it was suddenly happening now, it meant something had been strongly repressed by the Omega. He really hadn’t used that much force…this was a wild overreaction of Louis’ Omega, to say the very least, and it was going to cost them both.
Despite his worry over the aftermath, Harry whispered sweet nothings into the Omega’s ear and tried to rouse him from his intense drop, letting him unconsciously scent his neck. His efforts seemed to be working because quiet and helpless whimpers began escaping Louis’ throat, and he rushed to soothe him. “Shh, Omega, shh—it’s okay. You’re safe. Come back to your Alpha now...can you do it for me, baby?” he whispered, forgetting all about propriety and sensibility, and taking care of what was right in front of him.
Louis slowly, groggily opened his eyes, and just as Harry had suspected, they were not the eyes of his human self, but the deep gold of his wolf’s. This was a full-blown Omega drop and it was going to take a lot to get him out of it. Louis was ruled exclusively by instinct now, and Harry wasn’t completely sure what he needed to do, but he let his own automatic responses show him the way. “Oh, Louis. I’m so sorry, Louis. I’m sorry for being so stern with you, I didn’t mean you any harm. But your eyes are so gorgeous, Lou, so beautiful—look at you. You’re such a good Omega, baby. Such a good boy, you did so well,” he praised, caressing Louis’ puppy-soft face and getting himself familiarized with the official Omega of Louis Tomlinson.
All the excitement to the Pack Alpha’s wolf predictably took over his human mind, and he leaned into the Omega’s enticing neck to inhale its sweet aroma, instantly extending his canines and sinking them into the smooth flesh. It luckily wasn’t his bonding spot—with great difficulty—but the Alpha bit deeply enough to be flooded with Louis’ hidden emotions, and what he felt took his breath away.
He pulled his canines out and licked the fresh wound until the blood was eradicated, leaning back to gaze in adoration at the contently-purring Omega that was curled into his body. He loves me, he realized in wonderment, blinking with wide eyes at his oblivious submissive. He really loves me.
Harry grinned with a happy chuckle and began to lick at the Omega’s face, grooming him affectionately and happily whining when Louis did as a result of his ministrations. Harry tightened his arms around the small figure of his darling Louis and spoke into the magnificently golden eyes once more: “Louis, can you hear me at all? I need you to try and come back just a little bit. Try and remember how to speak, Louis...I want to hear your beautiful voice,” he encouraged, peppering Louis’ face with licks and kisses in-between statements. The Alpha could tell Louis was trying hard to come back, so he kept up his determined efforts to help, and after a few unintelligible mewls, the Omega finally surfaced enough for language.
“Alpha,” he croaked with a throaty rasp, throwing his arms around Harry’s neck and sobbing his overwhelmed emotions onto his chest.
The Pack Alpha knew Louis would have no memory of this entire event, so he didn’t hold back one single response, willingly telling him everything he needed to hear (everything he himself wanted to say). “That’s right, Lou, it’s me. You’re doing so good—you’re so good for your Alpha,” he cooed at him, carding his fingers through Louis’ sweaty hair. “I’m so happy you’re mine, sweet Omega. No wolf makes me feel like you do—you’re the best in the world.”
Louis sighed in satisfaction and snuggled impossibly closer into Harry’s chest, his sobs ebbing away with blissed-out sighs.
“I’m going to take you home now, okay? You need a long night of rest after this. I’m so so proud of you, alright? You were perfect tonight. Perfect for me in every single way,” Harry praised, lifting the Omega off the floor as he stood, hiking him up as high as he could get.
Louis immediately squirmed around until he had both his ankles hooked around Harry’s hips with arms similarly around his back, and he attached his nose to the Pack Alpha’s neck, sniffing hard and fast to practically ingest the scent at his disposal.
“That’s right, Lou, go ahead. It’s all yours, my love—my scent is only yours. Let’s just get you to bed for now, okay?” Harry suggested as though Louis could respond, walking out of the hall and rubbing at the Omega’s back when he immediately shivered from the icy night air.
He walked all the way to Louis’ wigwam like that, giving him the occasional kiss on the cheek and hair, and bouncing him to get his bloodstream going when he whined in cold discomfort. Once inside Louis’ home, he gingerly lowered the dropped submissive onto his bedding, helped him dress into his nightwear, and then tucked him in with all the warm fur blankets he had. The bunny We-Ota hopped over from the corner and leapt onto the Omega’s chest, grumbling worriedly. “Calm yourself, We-Ota. Your Louis is alright,” he assured, furrowing his eyebrows the longer he looked at the animal. Was We-Ota always this big? 
Louis purred at his bunny and seemed exhausted enough to fall right to sleep, but as soon as Harry made to leave, he started whining in protest. Harry quickly turned back and knelt beside the bundled-up Omega, hushing his complaints and tilting his chin up to bare his neck. He leaned down and gently nipped at the skin he’d exposed, right under the Omega’s jaw to cover his earlier bite.
Louis’ sudden anxiety seemed to drain away, and Harry used the calmest hints of his Alpha compulsion to lull him into the sleep he so desperately needed. The poor Louis was going to have a killer headache when he woke up tomorrow morning, and Harry felt strongly for his future pain. “Sleep now, my love. Be good for me,” he whispered, smiling when Louis’ eyes closed and he began lightly snoring. He’s so amazing, he thought, astounded by the instant obedience he displayed with his words.
With a last pet to We-Ota, the Pack Alpha stood and—extremely grudgingly—walked away from his precious Louis. Once outside the Omega’s wigwam, the Pack Alpha was hit with a blast of clarity so internally loud that he almost choked. What have I done? he begged himself, ashamed he’d let his nature bite and coddle a dropped Omega as if there weren’t serious consequences to something like that. No dire commitments would be made if there wasn’t courting (which he desperately needed to stop himself from doing), but they were attached now. They’d formed a small bond of hormonal attachment, and this wasn’t good.
Above all else, Harry was still confused as to why Louis had responded to him like the very Omega he’d spent so much time convincing everyone ‘didn’t exist,’ so Harry made a beeline for Camila’s teepee, bursting in unexpectedly and ‘psst’ing at her until she woke. He had important questions that seriously needed answering, and he had a strong suspicion she knew something about this.
Camila had been dreaming, tangled up in Lauran’s arms, but she came to when her Pack Alpha made a rather loud entrance into her home. She jolted awake and peered up at him with sleep-heavy eyes, stifling her yawn to ask, “Harry? What are—”
“Camila,” he interrupted in a casual talking volume, wholly uncaring of the potential inconvenience he was causing. “I need to—”
“You’re here to ask about Louis, aren’t you?” she asked knowingly, taking her turn to interrupt the Alpha.
“What do you know?” he demanded, crossing his arms and trying to think outside the bubble of affection he’d lived inside with Louis for nearly an hour.
Camila stretched her limbs and Lauranna cracked her eyes open at the movement (having amazingly stayed asleep from the break-in), but when she saw their trusted Pack Alpha standing in the darkness, she rolled over with a short rub to Camila's thigh and promptly fell back asleep.
“Not here,” Camila stated so they wouldn’t disturb her lover with the upcoming discussing, sluggishly rising out of her bedding and wrapping herself in multiple robes, bypassing the restless Harry on her way to the exit. “Walk with me, chief.”