Fur and Fang [BXB]

Fifteen

"I'm sorry," Fenn sobbed. Atlas rubbed his arm soothingly. "I- I was going to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Atlas asked gently.

"That- that I'm an- an Omega," Fenn sputtered pitifully.

"It's okay," Atlas soothed, taking one of Fenn's hands between his own and softly kissing his fingertips.

"But I've- I've been lying to you and I feel like... I feel like I've messed everything up."

Just saying it out loud brought a new wave of sobs to Fenn's body.

"Nothing is messed up," Atlas assured him. "It wasn't safe for you to tell me. I understand that and I'm not mad."

"I still feel terrible," Fenn whined. "You have a right to know."

"Part of me already did," Atlas confessed. "I was curious about you when we first met, so I looked for you in IKE. When nothing came up, I figured you had given me a fake name. You were scared and mistreated, so I didn't blame you for that. I wanted to let you open up when you were ready to."

"So you knew I was lying from the beginning?"

"I didn't consider it lying," Atlas shrugged. "You were protecting yourself and all I really want is for you to feel safe. Even if it means protecting yourself from me."

"And the Omega part? Did you know that, too?"

"I was hopeful," Atlas admitted. "Given your size and situation, I knew something was up, but I didn't know for certain."

Fenn nodded, hugging his knees and looking off to the side as he thought. He didn't really want to meet the Alpha's eyes at that moment. Despite what Atlas said, Fenn still felt ashamed of his deception. He didn't want to hide things from his mate.

"I do hope that someday you'll feel comfortable enough with me to share what happened to you before we met."

"I... it's hard for me to talk about," Fenn said, still not meeting the Alpha's gaze. Atlas started to nod, resigning himself to staying in the dark until Fenn continued, "but maybe it would be easier if I showed you."

^°^°^°^

Atlas's eyes were wide as Fenn let loose the projector screen to reveal a conspiracy board filled with pins and notes connected by string. It was unfinished, that much was obvious, but he could see the determination burning in his little mate's eyes as he took a step away from the board and turned to face him.

"I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened to me after I was taken," Fenn said, looking back at the board, "and who exactly was involved."

Atlas looked at him, proud of the conviction in his voice.

"The only problem is that the only thing I have to go off of is my memory. It was never clear where I was being taken or who I was meeting. All I have are faces and vague guesses of ranks. I've been using IKE to try to identify some of my captors, but it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack because I'm not sure what to search for to narrow it down."

"Maybe I can help," Atlas offered, sinking onto the foot of the bed as he observed the board as a whole.

"In what way?" Fenn asked.

"As an Alpha, I have a lot of experience using IKE. I also have access to some of the more sensitive information that isn't available to the general population. Plus I've been to a lot of packs and met a lot of people"

Fenn eyed the Alpha, intrigued by the prospect of his aid. Perhaps his help would be useful in speeding up the process. However, that meant that he would have to tell Atlas everything. In detail.