Chapter Text
Renjun wrung the shirt out in the river before beating it against the sunned rock next to him a few times, placing it into the wicker basket, and then picking up the next dirty article of clothing he was to wash. He was surrounded by the other omegas who were lined up down the river bank washing the pack’s clothing. As the only male doing the laundry, he stuck out like a sore thumb.
Each time he was labored with a task like this one, he simply craved to do something more. He grew weary easily, and tired of the job.
An omega job, as everyone deemed it.
The fact that alphas and betas weren't required to learn how to wash their own clothing disgusted Renjun, but that was just ‘the way things were’ according to his father.
And also everyone else around him.
Being an omega was already hard enough, especially when all Renjun wanted to do was improve his skills in how to hunt, how to fight, how to protect his family.
Omegas were to be docile, to obey and listen to their alphas according to his pack. But, being the only male omega on top of that? Those dreams were impossible.
Apparently, male omegas were much more of an anomaly than anyone else, so considering the small size of their camp of wolves, he was definitely the odd one out. Some kind of strange enigma that most of them couldn’t figure out.
Hell, Renjun couldn’t even figure his own self out.
The pack healer said that she had read somewhere once that male omegas used to be able to become pregnant years and years ago, but now it was no longer the case. In short, he had every trait of an omega except the sole one that was considered useful to his pack.
So, he was basically nothing. An unnecessary member who attributed absolutely nothing. A deadweight. A waste of space.
These were all things he heard almost daily from everyone but his mother. She would sing him soft praises instead. Making sure that in the smallest and rarest of times they were together that he knew she was always there to love and support him.
His father was third in command of their pack; he was a beta that desperately wished to be an alpha. Pheromones constantly being pushed to their extremes to try and appear more masculine, more demanding. He was the harshest on Renjun since he wouldn’t be able to live vicariously through his son due to his omega status, and also to make sure everyone knew how disapproving he was of Renjun’s existence.
Their pack was already weak on the alpha front, and all of the other pups his spring had been female. So the hope for an alpha was placed solely on his back.
Of course, there were female alphas that existed.
Unfortunately, they were about as rare as male omegas, so it was no surprise that their pack lacked them entirely.
When Renjun came into the picture, there was so much excitement surrounding his birth and the fact that there was the possibility for a new alpha. Even if he presented as a beta, another adult male able to fight alongside the pack was always welcomed.
His father doted on him and adored him his entire childhood, teaching him how to hunt and fight both in wolf form and out of it with weapons and his fists alike. Renjun was his dad’s prized possession, and as he grew up, Renjun was never truly unhappy.
When he was seventeen and went into heat, his father’s demeanor snapped, changing in a second.
Gone was the caring and attentive father. He had been replaced by the physical embodiment of disappointment.
Renjun’s body had been heating up, a fever warring through him, while his father and the pack alpha surrounded him in their small rectangular tent, waiting and praying for the heat to break into a rut. But, when his body started preparing him to be mated and not the other way around, they both stared down in absolute disgust.
His father had spit out some kind of insult that went over Renjun’s head as he was in the most pain and confusion he had ever felt. When the entrance of the tent opened in a flurry, Renjun’s mother was there, holding his hand and crouching beside his pile of furs. She helped him through the next three days by bringing him food and keeping him cool with wet rags, not forgetting to hold his hand when a particularly bad wave of pain rushed through him.
She had made sure that he knew that the first one was always like this, and after the fact it got much less painful and generally just more annoying. Promising to tell him more about it all, his mother simply tucked him in and Renjun remembered drifting off promptly.
When he had awoken, it was to the harsh glare of his father and his even harsher words.
A sad excuse for a son.
How can you even be a man when you’re a bitch in heat?
A disgusting abomination in my household.
Words like those, and also much harsher, drowned him in waves of disappointment that rolled off of his father.
Next came the silence, which Renjun would soon find out was the best he could have hoped for from his father.
At the time, he had wanted nothing more than to speak to him, but the older beta would avoid Renjun. If he did happen to run into him, it was accompanied with his dad raking him over, a cold, hard cold stare in place. The silence in their small home had been suffocating; if there ever was a noise it was simply the soft sobs of his mother.
Finally, came the utter and complete lack of viewing Renjun as his son.
His father often said he had no children. That Renjun was just the omega who helped clean the tent they lived in. He was also no longer allowed to stay with them at night being kicked out to one of the small, flimsy tents on the edge of their camp.
Since then, Renjun had gotten used to being alone.
For years he would meet his mother in secret when his father went out to hunt or patrol their land, but other than that he was silent. Speaking only when spoken to, to avoid even more negative attention, but all the while he was brimming with passion and anger.
Renjun knew he was still strong, in fact after presenting he felt his body become more resilient and he found it easier to build up muscle. Often sneaking out at night to practice his fighting in the woods, Renjun made sure that if worse came to worse he would be able to still help protect them all.
Especially his mother. He would rather die than see her injured, and Renjun would absolutely be willing to lay his life down for her.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.
As soon as he finished his assigned pile of clothing, making sure all residual gross alpha smell was out of them, Renjun grabbed his basket and began to walk up the small hill to where they hung the clothes to dry.
It was very common for his pack to pick up their tents and move every month or so. Since their defenses were so weak, it helped to constantly be changing their trail, not staying in one place for too long.
Where they currently had decided to reside was hands down the most gorgeous plot of land his pack had lived on in quite some time.
An open glade dotted with wildflowers was surrounded on all sides by a dense forest that once you broke through in the east led to a healthy stream and rolling hills dotted with patches of blackberry bushes.
Everyone seemed to be in agreement that this was the best location as well. They were nearing two and a half months of staying in this one place, and many of the pack members figured that their alpha would decide to take permanent residence here, since even he was hesitant to leave.
Renjun often snuck out to listen to the nightly meetings of the four highest ranking wolves as they gathered in the center of the camp surrounding the fire. They had been debating for weeks now on if they should move on from this location or not.
For some reason, the second in command alpha was always adamant about leaving and moving on, constantly on edge at these meetings, but the head alpha shut him down every time. Claiming that his pack was happy here, so it wouldn’t hurt anyone to spend a bit of extra time in one place. They had always been careful, so they could afford to be a bit selfish for once, he would say.
At the top of the hill, Renjun observed the beginning sunset, the sky teetering on twilight. Quickly securing the clothes he had washed to the line, Renjun began to skitter down the hill in the opposite direction where some of the thick blackberry bushes gathered.
This patch was hidden a bit farther into the woods on the outside of the glade, so it was never touched by the pack. He was able to keep as many as he wanted for himself, and would often make small jars of jams and leave them outside of his mother’s tent when he knew his father had already left in the mornings.
Today he planned on being selfish, though.
Using his large basket, Renjun hummed as he picked over all of the ripe berries. It had been his birthday just a few days prior, and he had been so busy with omega tasks, he was unable to celebrate with himself. So, Renjun was going to have a berry harvest. Planning to gorge himself on the tart fruit until his stomach hurt, and he couldn’t be more excited.
He couldn’t help the soft smile that crossed his face when he had finally finished and scaled the hill once more, settling at the top after counting the clothing to make sure everyone was done down at the river and he wouldn’t be disturbed.
The sun was now kissing the horizon as it began to say goodnight, and Renjun planned on spending his night with the stars. Star gazing was one of the few things he loved, as it showed just how wide the universe was. It allowed his mind to travel to somewhere else where he wasn’t treated like the dirt on the bottom of someone’s shoe. It was far too easy to let his imagination take him away, which was exactly what he planned on doing that night.
So, when his lips became stained a bright red from berries and he had begun to see the lights in the sky, Renjun closed his eyes and let his mind dream.
He was able to fight, a strong warrior not viewed as someone weak just because he was an omega and small in stature. He was loved and appreciated, and an equal part of a pack. A family.
Mind wandering, Renjun let the cool night breeze run across his skin sending goose bumps up and down his arms. With the thought that this had been the best birthday he’d had in years, his mind succumbed to sleep.
A piercing scream shattered through the thin veil of contentment Renjun had allowed to surround him. His first thought was that it was a prank to scare him. It wouldn’t be the first time one of the alpha’s sons found him in a vulnerable position and took advantage of that to attack or frighten him. Sometimes he believed the few other kids his age had a bet on who could make Renjun’s scent turn the most frightened, so he didn’t allow himself to become too panicked right away, not wanting to give them the satisfaction.
It was only when Renjun’s sensitive ears picked up the sounds of what seemed like hoards of paws padding incessantly across the forest ground that fear began to spread throughout him. The first thing he thought of was his mother.
Stripping himself of his wool shirt as he ran, Renjun jumped and changed into his wolf form, light rusty brown with almost fox-like ears and deep auburn across his paws and snout. He was rather fast, so it didn’t take long at all for him to reach their camp and he saw just exactly what had been going on.
In the center next to the large bonfire, Renjun spotted the pack alphas going against other alphas that had to have been twice their own size. It didn’t take a genius to know that there was no way they would win this fight, so he steered clear of the main brawl and sprinted to his mother’s tent on the opposite side of the glade.
Since his wolf was rather small and had a darker coat, he was able to blend in with the tall grass going unnoticed. When he got to the tent, he shifted and immediately threw the flaps of the tent open and found his mother shaking in the corner, her arms wrapped around herself.
“Mom!” Her eyes shot up immediately, taking Renjun in and a thick sense of relief spread over her features.
“Renjun. Oh thank god,” she sobbed out, staggering to her legs to pull him into a hug.
“We have to go. There’s no way we will win this fight. I saw their wolves and they’re-“ Renjun gulped as a shiver of terror traveled up his back.
Turning slowly around, he spread his arms out to hide his mother behind him when the smell of a foreign wolf, obviously alpha, began to drift inside their tent from the outside. A large, deep mahogany brown wolf poked his nose in, sniffing the air. Gritting his teeth, Renjun planted his feet in a fighting stance, ready to shift in the blink of an eye.
When the wolf spotted them, his eyes locked onto Renjun’s before sniffing the air once more and emitting a low growl. He could practically taste the waves of panic coming from his mother behind him, so Renjun did the only thing he could. He charged.
Since the wolf hadn’t come into the tent fully, just his head, the alpha tumbled backwards when Renjun sprinted at him full force and knocked him back outside. With the element of surprise on his side, Renjun ran a short distance before shifting back to his wolf and turning on his heel to lunge at the other.
It was obvious that the wolf had smelt the omega on Renjun and had underestimated him right away. Surprise was full in his eyes when Renjun leapt onto the larger, aiming for his throat. A fatal move.
When instinct finally seemed to come back to the other wolf, he shifted to the right sharply, dodging Renjun’s attack. Renjun wasn’t stupid, and he figured that this would be the case, seeing as he favored his right side when he had been standing, so he turned at the last second and latched his canines into the mahogany wolf’s shoulder. A howl of pain ripped through the other’s throat before he rolled onto his side where Renjun was latched on, effectively shaking him off and knocking the wind out of his chest. The alpha’s jaw snapped out, aiming to pin Renjun to the ground, but he was quick.
Renjun rolled the opposite direction, scrambling back up onto all fours as the other turned and growled deeply at him. Even though Renjun made sure to practice as often as possible, without getting any training in actual combat against other wolves, his stamina was severely outmatched by the alpha’s.
Panting and chest heaving, Renjun made another lunge for the dark wolf, missing and getting a sharp bite into his hind leg instead. He couldn’t help the high pitched yelp that came out of him at the pain as he tried to thrash out of the other’s hold.
He had to try harder. He had to protect his mother.
Ripping his leg out of the other’s mouth, he was able to throw himself onto the back of the alpha and bite deeply into the thick pelt on his back. He could tell from his hold that his teeth hadn’t sunken in very deep, but he hung on like his life depended on it. Which it probably did.
Thrashing around, the other wolf tried to knock Renjun off to no avail. He knew as soon as he let go the alpha would have him pinned on the ground and it would be over, so Renjun clenched his jaw even tighter making the dark wolf growl so loudly, it sent an intense shiver through his body.
Every fiber in the omega part of his biology was telling him to submit. To let go. That he was disobeying an alpha, but the stronger part of his mind that knew he was protecting his mother outweighed it.
Too focused on not letting go, Renjun didn’t hear another alpha quickly approaching from behind them. So when a body slammed into him, making Renjun lose his grip on the wolf, he tumbled off, banging his chest harshly against a sharp rock in the process making him cry out.
“Renjun!” He heard his mom call from the tent entrance.
Trying to stand up, Renjun’s legs were shaky only a breath away from collapsing. He had to protect; he wouldn’t let them kill his mother. They could kill him first.
But, even if he had been trained properly, two grown alphas were far too much for one omega that was barely a third of their size. The wolf that had knocked him off the back of the alpha, easily pinned him underneath his midnight black paws, pressing him into the ground. His canines came around his neck, poised to kill. A checkmate.
One bite and Renjun was dead.
Instead he saw the other alpha that had come into their tent shift next to him, and stare down at Renjun’s ragged wolf.
“Shift.” The alpha commanded. He was tall and his body was lean and built of muscle. Hair the same mahogany brown as his wolf, and his eyes were a warm golden brown.
Renjun huffed in defiance because he knew as soon as he shifted it was truly over. He would be cornered and his mother would be in danger. The alpha’s eyes flashed a crimson at his opposition.
“Shift.”
His voice came out deeper and authoritative and Renjun closed his eyes tight forcing the wetness in them to stay at bay. Letting his body slowly transition back to his human form, he felt even smaller underneath the midnight black alpha that still had him pinned down. The omega in him was truly terrified and the reality of the whole situation finally began to sink into Renjun.
Body starting to tremble uncontrollably, Renjun realized that this was it. He was going to die and his mother would have to see it, and then she would be next.
A soft sob came out from his lips as he continued to shake when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Renjun had yet to open his eyes, afraid to see the actuality of just how dire this moment was.
“Jeno, move off of him.” He heard the alpha order, and the wolf atop him huffed out in annoyance before shifting away. Renjun was still paralyzed in fear, so when a hand moved his hair from out of his face, he couldn’t help the sharp gasp that left his lips.
“W-what are you doing?” Renjun whispered, his eyes finally shooting open to face the other who had leant down next to him.
“You’re severely hurt. We need to get you to our healer.”
“W-wh-what?” His body was quivering so hard, his words shook with him.
“Your chest,” the alpha gestured down to where Renjun had crashed against the rock earlier as he finally noticed his wound. A gash was carved just below his right pec, already bleeding quite a bit.
Due to his adrenaline, Renjun hadn’t felt the searing pain, but now there was nothing holding it back as he began to sob loudly, whining. The alpha sent him a concerned and disappointed look, before he turned to the other wolf still beside them.
“Jeno, can you take him to the healer?” Nodding, the wolf shifted into a broad, muscled boy with hair as black as his wolf’s. He closed the small distance and gently picked Renjun up from the ground, securing him in his arms.
“M-my m-mom,” Renjun breathed between the small cries coming from his lips. His head lulled to the side, as he shot his gaze back to their tent where his mother was frozen in shock.
“I’ll take care of her, I promise.” The alpha said with conviction in his voice. Renjun would have combated him, but he was so overwhelmed and in so much pain he felt himself teetering on the edge of consciousness. So, he did all he could which was nod silently, his neck and limbs slack in the alpha, who was apparently named Jeno’s, arms.
At the signal from the other, Jeno began to move as briskly as he could without jostling Renjun too much. Each time his eyes began to drift close, Renjun would jolt back to consciousness at a sharp movement from the alpha carrying him.
“Sorry,” the alpha muttered after the third time it happened. “We just need to get you there fast. Don’t know if your rib is broken or something.”
“Why?” Renjun’s throat and lips were dry as he used all of his energy to turn his head to look up into the alpha’s eyes.
“You’re hurt. We won’t just leave you there to die. We may have attacked your pack, but we had good reason to. We’re not evil.” Renjun’s eyes fluttered shut again, his head falling back uncomfortably.
“S-sure. What-whatever,” Renjun inhaled a wobbly breath through his teeth.
“You’re a really good fighter. Are you your pack’s head warrior?” The alpha asked. Renjun tried to decipher and see if there was any sarcasm or teasing in his voice, but he found nothing but sincerity.
“No. I’m-I’m an omega,” he scoffed as well as he could at the idea of what Jeno had implied. It was absolutely ridiculous, the thought of his pack ever letting him be a fighter.
“So? You’re still a good fighter. You took our pack alpha’s son on and didn’t immediately get pinned to the ground. There is a good group of our own warriors who can’t do what you did.”
“Pack alpha’s son?” Renjun asked, his eyes opening in shock. He had known the other wolf was an alpha, but if he was really the pack alpha’s son, that meant he would be the pack alpha someday.
And he had been able to hold his own against him?
“Yeah. Jaemin, the brown wolf,” Jeno nodded. Glancing down to Renjun, looking at him with smiling eyes. “It’s nice to have someone put him in his place, though. I’m sure he’ll be beating himself up about it for weeks,” the alpha giggled at the thought. And even though Renjun didn’t know this wolf, and this entire situation was such a mess, he couldn’t help but to smile smugly at that.
“I’m glad I could show him then.” Renjun leaned into Jeno’s rumbling chest that shook with deep laughter. “Why did you attack us?” He asked in a hushed tone, afraid of the answer.
He felt the alpha’s pheromones increase with anger, making Renjun whimper at being so close to the source, his head trying to fall back so that he could submit.
“Don’t worry. You’ll find out soon. It’s good that you don’t know why, so just enjoy the peace for now.” Renjun snorted at that, forcing his attitude to bleed out over the alpha’s scent.
“Peace? Yeah having my entire pack murdered sure is peaceful.”
“We don’t kill anyone unless it’s an ‘us or them’ situation. So, you only need to worry if any of your pack members are stupid and try to take us on. Otherwise they should be fine.”
“Well, they’re all stupid, so,” Renjun muttered out, his eyelids fluttering. He was pretty sure Jeno had begun to laugh again and answer back with his own quip, but his head was growing heavier by the moment.
Everything began to feel like it was spinning, and the sharp pain in his chest suddenly increased as he sobbed out a cry which only made it hurt more.
“Are you okay? Hey!” Somewhere in the back of his subconscious he heard the alpha calling out to him, but Renjun was just so tired he couldn’t focus.
He really needed sleep, and maybe just a small nap would be okay for now. The alpha didn’t smell that bad anyways. Hopefully, he wouldn’t mind if Renjun just drifted off for a few minutes.
Letting his consciousness slip away, Renjun’s entire body went lax in Jeno’s arms. The last thing he felt was the alpha beginning to move in a full on sprint, much faster than he had before.