Dirty Secret

Chapter 3

"Okay people listen up," Harry says with a loud voice, successfully making everyone in the crowd quiet down. He was standing on a bench, his hands behind his back and his face stony. His eyes were sharp and focused and his jaw was tightened. He looked scary even. "I assume that you all know why we are here but in case someone doesn't know, I'll tell it. We're here because our pack is in danger."

"Wow, I feel so enlightened," Louis rolls his eyes at Niall playfully, earning a muffled laugh from the alpha.

"Shh, Lou, he'll hear you," Niall whispers nudging the omegas shoulder. "Don't want to get us in trouble."

Louis pretends to zip up his lips and throw away the key for Niall's sakes. The two had grown close while working on the tent, so he didn't want to ruin that. He wanted to have someone he could mess around with if it all got too much. Niall flashes a grateful smile before he turns his attention back to Harry.

"... So we all need to get our shit together if we want to walk out of here alive," Harry says bluntly. "We'll be training every day from sunup till sundown, no exceptions."

One alpha clears their throat few lines behind Louis and asks gingerly, "Do we get to eat anything?" And seriously, Louis wants to roll his eyes.

"No, they want us to die before the fights," he mumbles under his breath, earning an elbow to his arm by Niall.

"Don't," the blonde whispers, "he'll hear you." Louis glances back, now curious why Niall was looking so afraid. He definitely understood the alpha's reaction, as the alpha who had spoken up was at least three heads taller than him. And a good hundred pounds heavier without a doubt.

"Shit he's big," Louis whispers quietly, careful to keep his voice down. He didn't want to get any attention from the big guy.

"I know," Niall agrees at the same time as Harry speaks again.

"Of course we will take few breaks between the different training sessions. Just be prepared for them to me short and effective. When in war, we have to be ready for anything at any time."

A course of agreement rang among the crowd, this time Louis joining the chant. It wasn't anything groundbreaking as anyone who used their head could probably think as much, but it was a nice reminder. This wasn't a holiday. This was something serious.

"Now since it's the first day, we'll start off with something easy," Harry says flashing a smile. "You can all follow me, we're going for a run."

"A run?" Niall whispers quietly, raising his eyebrows at Louis. "He must be kidding right? I thought he'd make us do jumping jacks for like the first half an hour and after that make us shoot at each other."

"Don't say anything yet. I bet that the run is like forty miles long and we have to carry each other while running it," Louis hums. "Or maybe he is really nice and it's an easy route?"

Yeah, he was definitely wrong. The first one or two miles were okay. They ran in a huge group behind Harry and Nick, sounds of people talking surrounding them. Niall and Louis did their part on making a noise, of course, probably being the loudest ones in the group. The talking was cut short eventually though, as Harry started to pick up the pace.

It would've been okay if they weren't running up a hill. A rather steep hill at that. The alphas were panting loudly by the time they reached the top but they weren't done yet.

Louis being an omega was in worse shape than the alphas. His body wasn't meant for such demanding physical exercises. His body was made to - bluntly - take a knot and carry puppies. He wasn't going to get it get him down, though. He just needed to push himself further than the rest of them. He could do that for his family. For his father.