Chapter Text
Hongjoong was bored.
He sighed as he looked down at the bleeding and bruised beta kneeling before him, begging for his life. “Your tears are growing tiresome. Yunho.”
Yunho, who was standing behind the kneeling man, moved forward and drew his knife. He had already brutally beaten the beta under Hongjoong’s orders and was ready to deal him the final blow.
The beta’s eyes widened and he renewed his pleading with even more desperation. “Please! I can get you the money, I swear!”
“It’s not just about the money.” Hongjoong told him coldly. “You betrayed me and put my pack in danger, which is unforgivable. But even if I was willing to forgive that, I know that you couldn’t pay back what you stole from me.”
The man started babbling excuses but Hongjoong tuned him out. Watching Yunho break the beta had given him a moment of savage enjoyment but now he just wished to get it over with and return to his ship. He gestured to Yunho and withdrew a small pipe, already packed with tobacco.
“I can pay you with something other than money.” But Hongjoong continued to ignore him. “An omega!” he cried out.
Yunho halted his movement, his knife just grazing the man’s throat, causing a bead of dark red blood to swell and lazily trail down past his collar. Hongjoong had frozen as well, the match he had struck burning down until the flame kissed his fingers. He swore and dropped it.
The beta, jumping on their moment of hesitation, spoke quickly. “I know where an omega’s hideout is. I can show you!”
“Bullshit.” Hongjoong snapped, lighting another match and bringing it to his pipe. He took a long draw from it before squatting down until he was level with the beta and blew the smoke into his face. “You’re lying, trying to stall so you can try and escape.”
Omegas were a rare creature these days. In a time long past, they had flourished and nearly every alpha had been mated to one. But as the decades passed, omegas started to dwindle while the number of betas being born skyrocketed. No one really knew why, a point of contention for historians and scientists alike.
Now betas were a majority of the population. There were still plenty of alphas but the number of omega births had decreased each year. The omegas that were being born were whisked away by the government immediately after presenting. They were taken to breeding centers, or laboratories to be studied, or auctioned at exorbitant prices to the wealthiest and most influential alphas.
Omegas that tried to avoid this fate were hunted down, and the ones doing the hunting received a very generous payment from the Crown for their efforts. Anyone found harboring an omega was sentenced to death.
“I’m not lying.” The man breathes out. “I can show you where he’s living. You can turn him in and collect the bounty, it has to be much more than what I took from you. Or you could keep him as a pet! Your crew is made up of all alphas, isn’t it?”
A low growl started in Hongjoong’s chest and he could feel Yunho’s disgust across their pack bond. Hongjoong pushed down his own anger and studied the man, looking for tells of his deceit. “If you know where an omega is, why haven’t you turned him in and collected the bounty for yourself?”
“Our families were close, before he presented. After, I didn’t want to turn him in. I would even sneak him supplies now and then, that’s how I know where he is. But now..” He trailed off, refusing to meet Hongjoong’s eye.
“Coward.” Hongjoong spit before standing back up.
He glanced at Yunho who gave him a knowing look and withdrew his knife. Hongjoong wanted to snap at him, to tell him that he hadn’t made his decision yet, but he knew that wasn’t true. The moment the word omega had fallen from the beta’s lips, Hongjoong knew his options had been taken from him.
The beta had slumped in relief the moment Yunho’s knife had pulled back and he looked up at Hongjoong hopefully.
“Well?” Hongjoong said after a long moment, taking another drag from his pipe. “Get moving.”
*****
Wooyoung woke with a start. Years of fighting and fleeing and hiding had honed his instincts to a sharp point and he held his breath as he strained to hear what had woken him from his light sleep. Sure enough, a moment later he heard footsteps. They were moving cautiously, trying to prevent any noise, but Wooyoung was always on high alert and his senses hadn’t failed him yet.
He moved slowly and silently, reaching for the knife he kept under his ragged pillow. It was old and the wooden handle was starting to form a worrisome crack, but he made sure to keep it wickedly sharp. It was pitch black in the abandoned building Wooyoung called home but he had long grown used to the dark and could still make out the faint shapes of the objects surrounding him.
Wooyoung got up from his pile of threadbare blankets and watched as a faint glow from what had to be a lantern moved in his direction. As he quickly ran through his options, an echo of the steps rang out and he realized whoever was coming wasn’t alone.
Making up his mind that it was better to abandon his little shelter then try to stay and fight, Wooyoung spun and hurried for the back exit. He had just rounded the corner when he stumbled into someone coming from the other direction. He had been so focused on the steps coming from the front of the building that he hadn’t realized that he had been cornered.
The strong scent of an alpha flooded his nose and Wooyoung didn’t think, just swung the knife blindly. He heard a low swear but was only able to briefly celebrate before his wrist was grabbed and squeezed so tightly that he could feel the bones grind together. Wooyoung hissed and tried to keep hold of the knife while he swung his other fist forward but the alpha dodged easily, grabbing that wrist too before slamming his hand hard against the wall, his only weapon falling to the ground with a clatter.
It was Wooyoung’s turn to swear and with both wrists now restrained, he started to kick at the man holding him but couldn’t quite land any of them because of the awkward angle. At the sound of their struggle, the footsteps he heard earlier picked up their pace. The light from the lantern came bouncing into the room, and Wooyoung could finally see who was holding his wrists in a death grip.
The alpha was tall, much taller than Wooyoung had been expecting. This close to him, he had to look up to see his face. He was beautiful, with sandy blonde hair and a pleasant smell of bourbon and mint but that didn’t stop Wooyoung from snarling at him. He was an alpha, and therefore a monster.
Blood was spilling from a shallow slice on his forearm where Wooyoung must have struck him. Wooyoung stopped struggling and trying to pull away and suddenly lunged forward, his teeth sinking into the cut on the alpha’s arm. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth as he bit down as hard as he could. He was not going down without a fight, outnumbered or not.
“Fuck!” The alpha ground out and quickly changed his grip, forcing Wooyoung’s hands behind his back as he was turned away from the alpha and could now see who had approached from the other direction.
Wooyoung squirmed and twisted to no avail as he saw two others walk into the room. One was walking with a limp, his face swollen to the point where his eyes were almost fully shut, and his clothes hanging in tatters and covered in blood and filth.
The other was another alpha, Wooyoung could smell him from here and his hackles rose as he glared at the man. He was shorter than the other alpha, around Wooyoung’s own height, but no less imposing. Despite his height and slight build, he seemed even more dangerous than the other alpha to Wooyoung, whose instincts were screaming at him to run far, far away from this man. He had sharp features, long auburn hair that fell to his shoulders, and an eyepatch, but his flawed vision didn’t take away from the lethal energy that flowed from him in waves.
The alpha’s good eye zeroed in on Wooyoung’s captor, and he must have seen the injury Wooyoung inflicted because his eye flashed dangerously before glancing at the man next to him. “You didn’t mention he was feral.”
Wooyoung snarled at the word and tried to free himself again, only for the alpha holding him to squeeze his wrists even tighter until Wooyoung clenched his teeth from the pain. Still, he didn’t cry out or beg for him to stop. Wooyoung would rather die before he gave the alpha that satisfaction.
“He’s an omega on the run, what did you expect?” The other man replied. Wooyoung’s head snapped to look at him. He hadn’t thought he knew him, the swelling and bruising of the beta’s face turning him into someone unrecognizable, but he knew the voice.
His heart thudded as they all stood in silence for a few painfully long moments as the pieces fell into place in Wooyoung’s mind. And then he was moving again. He flailed and kicked and spit and snarled at the man who had betrayed him. “You fucking bastard! You sold me out?”
The beta looked down in shame. Wooyoung spit at him again. “I’ll kill you.” Miraculously he managed to get one arm free from the alpha holding him and threw himself forward before he was yanked back, his shoulder screaming in protest. His arm was quickly restrained again and the alpha in front of him made an impatient noise.
“Yunho, gag him. He’s being too loud, the whole city will hear us at this point.”
Wooyoung tried to fight as his wrists were transferred to one hand and he felt cloth being pushed against his mouth. He kept it shut and growled in defiance but he tensed when he felt the hand move to plug his nose. He tried holding out for as long as he could, but soon he gasped for air and the rag was shoved into his open mouth. Yunho, apparently, let go of his wrists briefly to tie the gag tight behind his head and Wooyoung tried to escape then, but Yunho was still holding onto the gag and pulled him back against his chest before restraining him again.
Wooyoung cursed at the alphas but his words came out muffled and distorted. He watched as the shorter one withdrew a dagger from his coat, much deadlier than Wooyoung’s little knife. His heart skipped a beat and his scent soured to real fear before the alpha looked away from him and turned towards the beta, who paled and took a step back. “W- wait. We had a deal.”
“I made no deal with you. And as I said before, endangering my pack is unforgivable.”
The words made another sliver of fear run down Wooyoung’s spine knowing that the man had seen the cut he had managed to leave on Yunho, seemingly a member of his pack.
Wooyoung let out a whimper as he watched the beta try to turn and run, only managing a step before the alpha was on him. He was fast, impossibly so, managing to grab his hair and yank his head back, the dagger dragging viciously along his throat. The alpha let go and moved back, pulling a cloth from his jacket and wiping the dagger clean as the man who betrayed Wooyoung fell to his knees, blood forming a large pool around him. He swayed for a moment before falling facedown into the blood.
Wooyoung was shaking now, no longer trying to get free. The alpha in front of him was clearly insane and absolutely ruthless. Wooyoung didn’t want to piss him off any more than he already had.
“Gods, but he was annoying.” The alpha shook his head and then looked to Yunho. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Yes Captain.” Yunho replied, forcing Wooyoung to walk forward with a little push to his shoulder. Wooyoung was led along behind the Captain, his heart racing and thoughts swirling at what would come next for him.
They exited the building and Wooyoung was only mildly surprised when instead of turning left towards the heart of the city and the government building where captured omegas were brought, they took a right. Wooyoung’s stomach dropped more and more as he realized that he was being led out of the city and towards the docks.
He may have been feral like the alpha claimed, but Wooyoung wasn’t stupid. Being led to the docks by criminals, one of which who was referred to as Captain, could only mean one thing.
Pirates.
Fear was threatening to overwhelm him to the point where Yunho was basically having to drag him down the street. Wooyoung had been dreading being turned into the government, but even that seemed a better alternative to being abducted by pirates who would do gods knew what to him.
He looked around frantically. It was late still, the sun hours from rising. The streets were empty and all the lights in the surrounding buildings had long been blown out. Wooyoung could try to scream or cause a commotion but he doubted it would help. Nobody would be willing to face two dangerous alphas, especially when they realized that Wooyoung was an omega. No, he was on his own.
Wooyoung let himself get dragged along as he desperately thought of ways to escape. It wasn’t until they were on the docks and he was being led to a gangplank that he realized he was out of time and he started to struggle again. If he was taken on to their ship, Wooyoung knew he more than likely would never leave it again. Not alive at least.
Yunho huffed in annoyance at Wooyoung’s squirming. “Stop it, we’re almost there.” He said, which only caused Wooyoung to struggle even more.
“I’ll let go of you and remove the gag as soon as we leave port, just cooperate for a little bit longer.” If Wooyoung didn’t know better, he’d think that Yunho’s voice almost sounded pleading.
He wanted to laugh in the man’s face for thinking that Wooyoung would agree and just silently accept his own death. He threw his head back hard, colliding with Yunho’s chest who let out a winded grunt but didn’t loosen his grip on him.
The Captain, who was halfway up the gangplank by now, whipped around to glare at Wooyoung. “Stop causing trouble, we’re trying to help you.”
The words made no sense to Wooyoung, who had been restrained, gagged, and kidnapped by alphas who were very obviously pirates and had no problem with killing people in cold blood. His wrists ached where Yunho held them tightly and his shoulder was still sore from when he had been yanked back. Help. Yeah right.
He snarled at the Captain, who just rolled his eye and gestured for Yunho to hurry up.
Despite his struggling, Yunho was able to get Wooyoung up the plank and onto the ship with relative ease. Wooyoung cursed how much bigger than him the alpha was. The moment they were on the deck of the ship, three more men appeared from the shadows, all alphas. Wooyoung’s eyes widened and his fear swelled once again. This was his worst nightmare, it couldn’t be happening.
They all stared warily at Wooyoung until a sharp whistle from the captain snapped them out of it. “Get us out of port and into open waters now.” He ordered and the crew all broke into movement across the ship.
Yunho kept his tight grip on Wooyoung, not releasing him until they had made it far enough out that the docks were just a small speck in the distance. He let go of Wooyoung slowly and went to undo the gag but Wooyoung ducked away and reached up to yank the gag off himself.
His heart was racing and he knew his breath was coming in loud, heavy pants as his eyes bounced between the five different alphas that were now all approaching him carefully, like he was a wounded animal.
“It’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you.” One of the ones that had been on the ship said lowly. His voice was deep and melodious. He was tall, maybe the same height or just slightly shorter than Yunho. But where Yunho was lean, this alpha was all bulk and muscle. Wooyoung bared his teeth at him and hissed, even as he shook in fear.
Wooyoung’s eyes darted to the side of the boat. He entertained the idea of jumping over for only a moment before he dismissed the option since he couldn’t swim.
The Captain saw where he looked and took a step forward. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Maybe we should get the others? We’re not at port anymore, it’s safe for them now.” Yunho suggested, looking to the Captain, who had visibly tensed at his words.
He didn’t look very happy at the idea but after a moment he slowly nodded, never taking his eye off Wooyoung. “Maybe they can calm him down.” He agreed. One of the other alphas who hadn’t spoken yet disappeared below deck.
Wooyoung didn’t know who the others were but he didn’t want to find out. He glanced at the side of the ship again, surely drowning was a better fate than whatever the pirates had planned for him. He was just calculating the odds of if he could outrun Yunho when he heard footsteps coming back above deck and a sudden sweet smell was carried along the wind.
The smell made Wooyung freeze. It was an omega, it had to be. Two, possibly, from the different scents making their way towards him. So he wouldn’t be the only omega enslaved by the crew. The thought both comforted and depressed him.
The alpha who had gone to collect the omegas was the first to come up from below deck and resumed his previous spot. There was a moment of hesitation before the first omega appeared and Wooyoung couldn’t help but stare.
He was breathtaking, probably the most beautiful person Wooyoung had ever seen. He had long black hair, perfect features, and big eyes that looked at him cautiously but not unkindly. He was tall for an omega and was dressed in simple but elegant linens. He moved with an effortless grace that Wooyoung himself could never hope to achieve.
Wooyoung watched as the omega moved over to the Captain who instantly positioned himself slightly in front of the omega, as if he were protecting him. The idea of an alpha thinking he had to protect the omega from Wooyoung, another omega, was laughable. But before he could comment, the second omega stepped onto the deck.
All of the breath left Wooyoung’s lungs before he could even fully process what he was seeing. A sob ripped itself from his throat and he stumbled forward several steps. All of the alphas reacted immediately to his movement, moving between him and the omegas. Yunho, who was closest, grabbed Wooyoung’s upper arm and held him back.
Despite being once again restrained by Yunho, Wooyoung didn’t care. All he could focus on, all he could think about, was the omega with bleached hair that was staring back at him in disbelief.
“Yeosang.” Wooyoung’s voice cracked and he could no longer stop the tears that had been threatening to fall all night. They came quickly and before he knew it, he was sobbing.
Yeosang pushed his way past the alphas that had blocked him from view and rushed forward. Yunho let go of Wooyoung and then Wooyoung was running. He collided into Yeosang with a force that stole the air from both of them but he didn’t care. His arms tightened around the omega and then they were kneeling, clinging to each other as they both cried. Yeosang reached up to stroke Wooyoung’s hair and cooed in his ear, telling him that he was safe, that he was going to be okay, that everything was alright now.
Wooyoung said nothing, only whimpered and buried his nose in Yeosang’s throat, breathing in deep the comforting and familiar scent. He never wanted to let go of him. If he was going to die or be enslaved by the pirates, at least he was no longer alone.
*****
The rest of the crew looked on in stunned silence at the two omegas huddled together on the deck. They were oblivious to everything else, only focused on each other.
Hongjoong sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “What did I just get us into?”