Runt [ManxMan]

Chapter Thirty

TW: sexual assault (brief)

Dax was not used to feeling weak.

He was alpha-born. His entire life he'd been bigger and stronger than the other kids his age. He'd started training with the warriors when he was twelve, just after he lost his mother, and even then he'd stood toe to toe with fully grown men who'd been training for years, many of them beta-born.

He did not feel strong now. It hurt to breathe, and he could swear he could feel his blood moving in his veins, cutting burning paths just beneath his skin. He didn't sleep, even if the escape of it was tempting, because he feared if he gave in, he wouldn't wake again.

As hours passed, the pain started to abate, but his strength didn't return, leaving him slumped in the corner too tired to even open his eyes, let alone attempt movement. Still, he could see brightness through his closed eyelids and knew at the very least he had survived the night. He'd never thought something so simple could feel like an achievement, but after the night he'd had it certainly did.

"Dax?"

He forced his eyes open to see Mason curled up against the bars on his side, watching him. Even in the dim early morning light from the small window, Dax could see spots of color high on the omega's cheeks, and noticed the boy was panting slightly.

"Mason? Are you feeling alright?"

The omega's only response was a whimper, and something twisted in Dax's gut. Now was possibly the worst time for the kid to get sick. He doubted their hosts would bring them medicine—they were lucky Boone had taken pity on them the night before and brought an omega to clean and bandage Mason's wounds.

"Hot," Mason whimpered, pressing himself against the metal bars, which must have felt blissfully cold. "Too hot."

"Do you feel like you have a fever again?" Dax asked. It hadn't been that long since the boy had the flu, perhaps he wasn't as recovered as they'd thought he was.

Mason shook his head. "Too hot," he repeated, his voice barely audible. The words echoed through the alpha's mind, pushing him toward a very different conclusion, possibly the only thing worse than the omega being sick. Too hot. Like... Dax took a careful sniff, confirming his suspicions when he scented the pheromones coming from the boy.

"Fuck," he murmured, closing his eyes. The omega was in heat. He'd never witnessed an omega going into heat before, as usually his pheromones would have suppressed it. He'd seen omegas already in heat, but by then there was never any doubt whether they were sick or not, plus they usually knew what was happening.

Did Mason even know what his heat was? Had he been in heat before? He was more than old enough, but he'd also been more than old enough to have shifted and he hadn't done that either. Dax wouldn't have been surprised if the omega had never been in heat before, if he was completely unaware of what was happening at the worst possible moment.

A door creaked open and Dax sat up straighter, turning toward the stairs. For the first time he was hoping to see Mason's father as at least the man was beta-born and would be able to control himself around the omega's pheromones. His hopes were quickly squashed when he recognized the man coming down the stairs.

Alastor. Dax remembered him as a sniveling weakling, trying to convince his 'alpha' he wasn't an idiot who couldn't tell the difference between Mason and his beta-born brother. Perhaps they would have gotten some sympathy from Boone, who had convinced the false alpha not to kill them and brought an omega to help Mason the night before. Dax doubted they'd get any such sympathy from Alastor.