Alpha & Omega // Ateez // P.SH

- 4 -

If Ellinor wasn't completely lost in her Time, she would have worried about what was to come. Her instincts told her to get out, but she was locked up. So instead of running, she got to feel every second of it. How her body woke, how it seemed to a will of its own. Her omega body demanded an alpha, but there were none present. She had never before felt the urge to the extent she did this time around.

Yunho felt out of place when Seonghwa returned. Hongjoong immediately joined them in the corridor, and the mates looked at each other. Seonghwas eyes seemed calmer, his shoulders had sunk and his breathing was normal. His wolf was ready.

«Has anyone been down there?»

«No-one,» Hongjoong answered Seonghwa. «But now Yunho has made her dinner. Let's take it to her and have a talk.»

Seonghwa nodded and followed behind them. He closed the door behind himself, did not want any of the other alphas down there, stirring things up. The scent in the basement was overwhelming.

«Hey Ellinor,» Yunho said to the woman laying on the bed, curled up. She twitched at the sound of his voice, no matter how calm it was. «Are you hungry, sweetie?»

«I can't eat right now, but thank you, Yunho.» She spoke lowly with a clear voice, but she still couldn't hide how affected she was.

«I'll leave it here, just in case you want it in a little bit.»

«Thanks, Yunho.»

Yunho pushed the tray under the bars in the door. The tray scraped on the concrete floor, and in the silence after they could hear how she was controlling her breathing. Deep in, slowly out, over and over.

«Please, I can't take two alphas looking at me right now.»

There was something pathetic over the werewolf in this cage, but Hongjoong didn't stop. He had to ask.

«We need to talk to you, Ellinor.»

«Right now?»

«Yes, right now.»

«Yes, alpha,» she said and pulled herself up into a sitting position. She finally opened her eyes properly and looked at the three men on the other side of the bars. Her eyes were brimming with tears, but she straightened her back.

«You are Belari,» Hongjoong said and went straight to the core.

«I was Belari,» she said. She tried to look into his eyes, but she knew what was coming and she couldn't lie.

«Why aren't you Belari anymore?»

Ellinor closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. The she looked at the alpha again.

«My clan wanted me to mate with the heir of another clan, to bring the two clans together. I couldn't live with it. I didn't want that to be the way I met my mate.»

«You didn't want to obey your clan?»

«My hope for true love was bigger than the duty I felt to my clan. It might have childish, but I did make that choice.»

Yunho found it hard to just watch her, he would have liked to help her, give her a hug, ease her pain. She was so close to her Time, and yet she was able to pull herself together and speak coherently. She still didn't look at Seonghwa, though, and he stayed back, keeping his pheromones at a minimum. Seonghwa was always considerate of other wolves, he didn't want to affect them with his powers. Even now, when he clearly was affected himself, both by the conversation, but even more, by the scents following Ellinors Time. They all knew that soon she wouldn't be behaving to civil. She would get her privacy when that happened.

«Seonghwa?» Hongjoong said, and Seonghwa came forward out of the darkness. «What did you want to say to Ellinor?»

«The wolf that was to be my wife was named Amyngdia,» he said, and heard her snicker for a moment.

«Yes, my father insisted I'd be named after our clans' ancestress. Luckily my mother also got another name in there. I was named Amyngdia Ellinor of Belari.»

There was not much that reminded them that she was heir of the biggest, most important clan in their entire world. If she was with her clan right now, she would have had other omegas and betas around. They would have taken care of her throughout her Time. If she had a mate, the mate obviously would have taken action, they would have mated, trying to make pups. But she was alone, locked in the basement of a pack she didn't know. Though, it would seem she had landed at their doorstep for a reason, right?

«Why did you leave before even meeting me?»

She heard the pain in his voice, looked at him for a second before looking to the floor again.

«I asked my father to meet you, but he said no. There was no need for that. I begged him, pleaded with him, tried to reason with him...» The memories made her shiver. «But he was a hard man, he saw no reason to grant his daughters' wish. I was always a problem child, I guess he saw an end to that when someone else would take over the responsibility. For the longest time I thought I would endure. I had to. But when the ceremony was getting closer, and I saw my friends... They fell in love, out of love, back in love, had their hearts broken... I thought of what my mother had said to me before she died.»

«What did she say?»

«She said... someday someone would love me for me, and not for my position.»

Ellinor looked at Seonghwa again, but she couldn't sit up straight anymore. She curled herself up on the bed again.

«That's enough talking for today,» Yunho decided. «Ellinor needs peace and quiet now.»

Hongjoong looked at Seonghwa, and he followed his leader without any protest. Yunho looked at Ellinor.

«Would you like for me to keep you company? Or one of our omegas?»

«No! You can't open the door!»

«I won't open the door. I mean, out here. The door can't be opened until your Time is over, no need to worry about that. But company might help you.»

«No thank you.»

«The other omegas know what you're going through.»

«I'm used to being alone.» She could hardly talk any more, shivering hard.

«But that was when you were in the middle of a forest, without any alphas around. This time it'll be worse. A lot worse.»

«Thanks, I'd rather not have spectators.» 

-- -- 

a/n

Translated from Norwegian. It's hard to find the same flow, this doesn't feel good, but it'll have to do.