Scribbles and Drabbles

Werewolf Drabble 5 - Val 3

Sage bumped his head against Val's and walked over to the medical area. He spoke to Bill, Nancy and the third person, presumably about Hector's condition. Leo tried to wriggle away. Val didn't let him. The weight on his legs left him trapped. He needed to wash up and then go to bed. Everything ached.

"Grey."

"Shut up! I don't want to hear it."

Val winced. He rubbed Greyson's shoulder, trying to force some reassurance into his brother's tense shoulders. Tor didn't spank them either, but Sage did. That being said, Greyson had a more abusive family life before Tor stole him. He should warn Sage about that sooner than later. "Come on, I need to move, brat. I'm not sleeping like this. Shift. The den is more comfortable." 

The den was big enough for all of them, even if Sage slept with them. Greyson whined but let go, kidnapping Leo from his arms to stop the teen running away now the hug had ended. 

"Dad's not awake," Greyson said, eyes fixed on where Hector lay.

Val swallowed and nodded. He went to stand, but his chest seized. He slumped, struggling to breathe. It didn't take long before Sage reappeared. He scuffed Greyson and pulled him off Val, slapping his shoulder as he told him something. Everything bubbled, swamped by water and muck.

Sage swept him up, thick arms encasing him in safety. They moved, and Val let his world darken. Alpha was here. Everyone was safe. He could rest.

-x-

Reality broke through and into the darkness of the pack den. His nose wrinkled at the conflicting smells in the tight space. Leo's new scent didn't graze against the res to pack. The pup's young scent mixed in with the settled pack easily. Not unusual, packless pups needed a pack. That wasn't the case with Sage.

The scent clashed against the pack order. An alpha intruder's musk in the centre of a pack's stronghold declared a power shift. Modern-day or not, there was something wrong about a strange alpha being in a den. The instinctive fear clawed at Val. His throat closed up again, and he weezed as his muscles refused to work. This was a nightmare, waking up surrounded by an enemy and helpless to act.

The problem was Sage wasn't a strange alpha. Sage was Val's alpha, the one who claimed him. Sage had plans for him. 

The arm around his waist flexed. 

"Val," Sage yawned, "You awake?" Sage's chin rubbed over his cheek, the stubble scratching against his skin. 

Something in his chest loosened, and breathing returned. This was his alpha. Sage wouldn't hurt him or his brothers. He was safe with someone who would protect him no matter what. Tor inspired the same response.

Val answered with a groan. 

A soft rumble replied, amusement ringing in it. 

Different sounds added, sleeping rumbles of a pack. Greyson's hair tickled his nose. Leo was close, in reach, but not against Val's skin. Greyson stuck close to him with a strange alpha lying nearby. Greyson trusted Val. It reassured the part of Val that worried from their first meeting. Greyson saw them as brothers, not by blood but pack brothers. 

"Tor?"

"Recovering," Sage promised, nose burying in Val's shoulder against the scar of his claiming bite. Val's body relaxed, instinctively reacting to his alpha touching the bite. It wasn't unlike when someone scruffed a pup. "I'll have to thank him. He didn't even try to reclaim you, did he?"

Again, a mix of conflicting emotions consumed him—the smugness of Sage's words grated against the memory of that late-night conversation with Tor. Tor wanted to. Tor loved Val. Sage might do in his particular way of seeing the world, but he saw Val as the start of something important. Val was Tor's son. Sage saw Val as a status symbol. The beginning of a pack which would serve the King and be a force to be reckoned with like its Alpha. Sage wanted to be a name that sent terror through any pack that heard it. 

He couldn't stop the whine of distress in the back of his throat.

Sage's larger hand curled over his, and a thumb rubbed reassuring circles. Another swipe of Sage's chin over his cheek with a low rumble of comfort. Sage didn't apologise, but he knew when he'd overstepped or made a misstep. Instead, he relied on actions to say the world for him. 

Tor didn't often apologise either. The difference was Sage didn't because he saw it as a sign of weakness. Tor didn't because he often didn't know how to without sounding cold. Alphas cut from similar cuts of cloth, even if from different worlds. 

"Your father is strong," a reassurance and compliment in one go, laced with a respect Sage didn't usually offer to any of Val's teachers. "I can see how he's remained in power so long." That had a dangerous edge of envy to it. The bitten wolf who proved the exception in that he could be an alpha longed for the thing that a natural-born alpha had by the laws of nature. Sage wanted the respect of his peers. He wanted the wealth, the influence and the glory of his peers, and he had a plan that started with Val. 

"What do you want?" Val whispered, scared but needing to know the answer. Greyson was warm in his arms, breathing slow and steady. His heartbeat thumped again, Val with Leo near. Two more pups with potential and one up for grabs despite Sage asking if Tor would claim Leo. 

Leo was awake. Val wasn't going to mention that; Sage would know. 

"I'm not sure yet. The plan was to reclaim you and make a point not to steal. But you're still mine. Hector's hurt pretty bad, and I'd like to den for a few months. If he can play ball, it might as well be here," Sage yawned, jaw popping. "You'd enjoy that too."

"You always want something."

"I want you to behave and trust me. I'm not going to hurt your family," Sage's tone deepened, and his grip tightened. Val couldn't breathe, a vice around his lungs. The cage flashed through his mind. He didn't want that again. Sage rumbled and swiped his chin over Val's cheek again. "Val."

The low growl of frustration gave Val strength. Sage wasn't trying to scare him. He was annoyed. There was a difference. 

 "You left me behind."

"I left you somewhere I thought was safe."

"Why couldn't you have let me go home in the first place?"

"You know why."

Val could guess. Sage couldn't trust Hector not to try to reclaim Val. It left them in a strange middle ground where Val wanted to stay home, but Sage didn't belong here. Leo said Sage appeared a week ago. Sage waited for the right time to make himself known. He'd been waiting for a sign that Tor hadn't respected the bite. 

"There is nowhere safer for me than here."

Sage exhaled, the breath tickling the back of his neck. "We'll have to see how fast your father heals. I can afford to stay a few weeks, maybe longer if you can train to my standards while here," Sage relaxed from his annoyed grumble to a softer cadence. 

"I trained as well as I could. I did my katas every day."

"When you're healed, we'll run through them."

Val grimaced and buried his face in Greyson's hair. He didn't lie, but Hector's standards meant little compared with Sage. Hector was stricter than most, but Sage expected more. 

Sage hummed but didn't say anything. The two fell back to sleep. 

Or they tried to. 

Without the pull of exhaustion, it wasn't easy slipping away. Val lay awake, chest full of emotions and head spinning with possible scenarios.

Leo fell back to sleep, his heartbeat slowing again. Greyson shifted so Val was holding an almost fully grown wolf pup. Not unusual, Greyson got nightmares, and having a strange scent nearby would trigger them.

Sage nipped his shoulder before transforming. The wolf smothered Val. Val complained but shut up as Greyson stirred. Surrounded by fur, Val winced as Sage rested his head on Val's torso. Val settled. His instincts were happier with Sage against him as a wolf despite the danger being far greater. 

No doubt Sage would want to work on that. 

Val did sleep easier. 

The morning has him pinning Leo to smother him in love as Greyson snapped last Sage, the two in wolf form. Sage kept trying to groom Gryeson, but the teen refused to behave. 

A/N, not last part written for Val but moving to a different story next - running out of time to keep up with pace but not content.