Chapter Text
Leo cussed as he bent the gold into shape. It wasn’t doing what he needed it to.
Jake was better at making jewellery than he was, but he wanted the pieces to be from him, without any help. The problem was, it just wasn’t working.
“Jake,” he growled in frustration. “How do you do this shit?”
The large alpha put down his tools and wheeled his chair over to check what Leo was working on. It was an intricate triquetra pattern for Hazel. He had drawn the three different pictures in secret and stashed it in his nest so that his alphas wouldn’t see them. He’d shown Jake though, because he needed his help.
“No, you’re starting with the hardest one first. Make Hazel’s one last.”
Frank’s necklace was going to be plain. Something the alpha would be able to wear and it wasn’t too flashy. Jake had taught him a special trick involving Lou Ellen’s magic to make the chain super stretchy. He had to shift regularly and so the necklace needed to stretch when he did. Otherwise he’d take it off and lose it. But Frank’s wouldn’t have a pendant, it would have the triquetra loops going around and around without a clasp - a never ending loop.
And he only had a few months left to get them made if he wanted to be ready by Christmas.
On the way home Leo walked slowly, like he did every day when he was alone, letting his mind wander as he passed a children’s playground where pups and cubs were playing noisily.
It made him think of the day Jason had asked how old he was and every day since he’d been asked over and over again. He shut down verbally everytime and made Will swear not to tell them either. The runt had even been told off by Alpha Nico for growling because of the question.
He began to think about having a pup of his own ever since Will had finally broken his silence and confessed to being pregnant too. That was in late-August and then in September Will started school. Another reason Leo didn’t want his alphas to know his age. Sex and school.
If they knew his age, would they kick him out? Would he be sent to the orphanage to live until he was old enough? He was happy with his alphas. He didn’t want to leave. He also didn’t want to go to school, even if it was only for one more year. Will had started school in September and Leo knew something wasn’t right. His friend wasn’t himself, there was something definitely off about him.
Will said the orphanage was actually a great place to be. He made friends there and he stayed there when Alpha Ethan turned up one day. Nico made the pack swear not to let Will know the visitor was there. But there were no such rules for Leo and when he found out Ethan was visiting he hid himself away in the bathroom instead. His alphas were torn between showing their faces beside Alpha Nico as the pack senior members and comforting their mate.
Alpha Nico was getting restless in his questioning too. He wanted to know why Will nearly passed out in fear every time the South Moon Pack was mentioned, why Leo ran away before Frank could grab him.
Neither of the omega’s were prepared to voice what happened to them. Thinking it in their head was hard enough, but to tell your mates what happened? No. Just a good solid no.
On his way home he held the necklaces in his hand. They were finally finished. The boxes he bought for them were hiding in his nest. He planned on heading straight home. Shower and then dinner.
But of course Will was Will and he had attracted the attention of another asshole alpha that attended high school. That alpha had really hurt him and now he was in the hospital. It led Leo to sneak off in the middle of the night, because Frank and Hazel told him to give Alpha Nico and Will some space.
So, naturally, Leo didn’t listen. He made his way to the hospital. He didn’t want to get too close to the Alpha King, but he knew exactly how Will would feel if anything happened to his unborn pup. It needed to be protected, and if it couldn’t… well Leo would be there to do for the runt what he did for him. He quietly climbed in beside the sleeping omega, on the opposite side of Alpha Nico and curled up against Will’s side.
When Will woke up he wasn’t really ‘there’. But Leo squeezed his hand in reassurance and cuddled him as close as he could without alerting the Pack Alpha. His friend needed time, and Leo would help him if anything happened to that pup. If he could, he would defend it with his life. He owed Will that much.
And when Alpha Nico woke up he seemed at a loss of words when he opened his eyes and noticed Leo was there.
“Um… good morning?” Alpha Nico said. “What are you doing here? Do your alpha’s know where you are?”
Leo frowned and wiggled himself closer to Will, not answering the large alpha. He shut his eyes and pressed his forehead into the side of his friend, hoping Alpha Nico wouldn’t kick him out. And he didn’t, instead, he must have mind-linked Frank.
“Leo,” Frank sighed not long afterwards and Leo opened his eyes. “We were worried when we couldn’t find you this morning. Why didn’t you leave a note?” The alpha had spoken while walking forward and sitting beside the hospital bed to take Leo’s hand from Will.
“He needs me,” Leo said into Will’s hair. He couldn’t leave his friend. Not now, not when he was so vulnerable.
“He has his mate Leo,” Frank said softly. “Alpha Nico will take good care of him.”
He knew that. Of course he did. But what happened when they scanned his belly and found out that he was carrying an omega? If he was carrying an omega. Then what?
He turned to scowl at Frank but softened when he met the alphas eyes. They were sad. “Okay,” Leo said, wiggling his body off the bed. “But he–”
“He has his mate watching over him.”
There was something about Frank that Leo couldn’t resist his pull. When he reached out and took Leo’s hand, he went willingly, looking over his shoulder at his friend lying on the bed as he walked out.
At lunchtime he raced back to check on his friend again. He had done that every day so far. Frank was worried. Hazel was frustrated. But they didn’t understand, couldn’t understand why Leo needed to be there.
He slowly approached the open hospital room door and heard voices coming from inside. They weren’t talking loudly or anything of the sort, but Leo could hear them clearly. He took a few steps forward to glance around the corner to where he saw Alpha Nico sitting on one side of the bed beside Will.
Will’s friend Sadie was sitting on the chair next to the other side of his bed and Lou Ellen was standing beside Sadie.
“–You’re pregnant?” Sadie asked the runt who nodded in answer to her.
Will was awake. Properly awake. Good.
“Luna,” Lou Ellen asked quietly, “May I see?”
Leo watched as Will paused and then buried his face into Nico. When he didn’t answer, Nico put his hand onto Will’s tiny baby bump. Will flinched, as Leo knew he still would and the alpha sighed. “Luna, my love, can we see please? We just want to make sure the pup is healthy and wasn’t hurt. That’s all it is, I swear.”
He had no idea what he was asking. It was such a simple question and the Pack Alpha said it so casually. That bastard didn’t care at all. And this was his own offspring!
“No.” Leo said, standing in the doorway and scowling at the group inside Will’s hospital room. He walked into the room. If Nico was getting the witch to check then what was going to happen next? Leo couldn’t allow it to happen.
“What do you mean, ‘no’?” Alpha Nico asked, turning toward him standing in the door.
“I mean NO. He won’t let you see. I won’t let you see. We won’t let anyone see. That’s not how it works,” Leo tried hard to keep his voice firm but even. He didn’t want anyone touching his friend’s belly. He was prepared to rip out their eyes and bite off their fingers.
Realisation dawned over the Alpha King’s face and Leo knew he connected the invisible dots. “What did they do?” he asked Leo quietly and Leo responded by shaking his head.
“Leo,” Alpha Nico said firmly and then repeated himself. “What did they do?”
“I’m so confused,” Sadie whispered.
“Me too,” Lou Ellen whispered back.
“Leo!” Leo heard Hazel’s voice behind him and he turned toward her. “You have got to stop running off like that! I was worried!”
Dang it, this was not working how it was supposed to. His mates always calmed him down. Always worked their magic in getting him to involuntarily submit and stand down. He had to fight it.
“I’m fine alfa!” Leo growled back at Hazel. “I’m not running away, I’m going to see my friend.”
“Yes but when you disappear in the middle of the night, several times, then I wake up and find you gone - I don’t know what to think.” Hazel replied completely exasperated. Since Leo had tried to leave in the middle of the night and Hazel caught him, he successfully climbed out of bed the next night to get to the hospital. Then running away at lunch each day while his workmates mind-linked his alphas asking where he had gone.
But Hazel wasn’t done telling him off yet. “Until you can mind-link us, we can’t easily contact you. I worry about you.” She moved forwards and put her arms around Leo. He melted inside. Stupid comforting alphas.
“I’m still fine alpha,” Leo whined into her neck, “I need to help Will.”
“Leo,” Nico repeated quietly. “What did they do? In your old pack? Something involving an ultrasound machine.”
Leo gasped quickly. He considered running. Alpha Nico had hit the nail on the head.
“Please Leo, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me. I can’t fix what happens in that pack if you don’t tell me what happens in that pack”
Leo didn’t want to talk about it. To open up about it would mean he’d have to discuss it and he wasn’t ready. But what he could do was protect his friend’s unborn pup. For once, he was prepared to stay quiet. If it meant keeping his secret.
This time, it was Will who used his words. “They kill them. The pups. They were getting too many omega’s and not enough alpha’s so they started killing the pups they didn’t want before… and after they were born.”
“You’re not serious,” Hazel asked Will in disbelief. “That’s a joke right?”
Alpha Nico was quick to speak after Will’s confession. “That doesn't happen in this pack. We don’t–”
Leo had enough, a few seconds ago he was going to keep quiet forever. Now though, he was exploding in anger. “But the South Moon Pack IS a part of your Kingdom! You set the rules Alpha!” He could feel his shift starting. It was that feeling of change and ripples where the hair grew quickly. It was always first to appear. Though he wasn’t ready to shift, he was ready to defend, and Will’s pup was in danger, just like his was. But first, he had more to say. “It’s YOUR responsibility. It was done because YOU said so!” It was. It well and truly was Alpha King Nico’s fault. It was his fault what happened to his pup. His baby girl - and Leo was going to light up the son-of-a-bitch.
“No. Leo. No–” The Alpha King was getting defensive. But Leo wasn’t going to sit down and listen to him try and tell him any lies. He wasn’t going to believe a word of it. If Will wanted to trust that his mate made those choices for the ‘good of the packs’ then that was on him. Leo would never, ever believe it. Killing pups for the sake of balance was murder, no matter what colour it was painted.
“YES!” Leo screamed at him. “They said it was you! That Alpha King Nico ordered that the population be balanced. That omegas didn’t know what they wanted, what they needed. They’d have to learn their place as a breeder. They didn’t have a choice. I didn’t have a choice when they–” and he didn’t want to say it out loud. The grief he was feeling, that horrible, gut-wrenching grief was rolling over him in waves big enough to sink a ship were too much to bear and so he screamed instead of talking. He put everything into it as he fell to his knees.
And now his mates would know just how broken he really was. Would they still want him? He didn’t dare turn around to see what Hazel was doing. She was probably getting ready to leave.
Looking down at the floor he was suddenly hit hard by Will’s concerned scent. He knew that scent. It was the same as the day he woke up, freshly stitched up and his pup taken away.
“Ssssh, you’re safe now,” Will said quietly and soothingly as he cupped Leo’s face and his blue eyes glistened with tears. “You’re safe now and when you have a new pup in your belly, I won’t let anyone take her away.”
Hazel gasped behind him and Leo began to sob against his friend, his Luna.
Sometimes the tears wouldn’t stop easily, but this time they did. This time they subsided briefly and when they did, Hazel was still there. She crouched down and held out her arms so Leo wrapped his arms around her neck.
She didn’t carry him often, but when she made to stand up, she pulled Leo close and then carried him from the room.
He was numb most of the way home. Brain not thinking, ears not picking up on much more than Hazel’s breath and the dull hum of pack members asking his mate if everything was alright. Because it wasn’t. Nothing was alright. Not anymore. Now they knew his biggest secret and they were going to want to talk about it.
But Hazel shocked him when she simply put him down on their giant bed and held him close. They didn’t talk, didn’t look at each other. She kept her arms around him and tucked his face into her neck under her chin.
Frank wasn’t far behind. “I– I just heard what happened.”
Leo couldn’t see his male mate but he could hear the anguish in his voice. His eyes welled up and tears slipped from his eyes again.
“Sssssh,” Hazel shushed Leo. “You’re safe here my darling.” She began rubbing his back and the bed dipped with Frank’s weight. Leo could feel the alpha approaching him from behind and he too hugged Leo close. The tears became too much as he sobbed again against his mates.
All the feelings from that day his pup was taken from him, when he woke up and realised what happened came back in full force. Again. He was so completely sick of it and it had been over two years ago. So why was it still so painful? Hadn’t he grieved enough? Hadn’t he been through enough already?
It was dark when he woke up, having fallen asleep to Frank and Hazel’s gentle hums. Their heartbeats and scents kept him warm while they held him close. The alphas were whispering to each other.
“–he was distraught, Frank. I thought we’d already figured out what he went through when we learnt what pack he was from, but seeing him like that… It was so heartbreaking.”
“I heard Luna Will talking to Nico,” Frank replied quietly. “I didn’t mean to overhear. I was headed there with Jason and I heard you were both visiting and I was going to catch up with you… He said that pups were aborted or taken away once they were born to be killed.”
“Yeah I got that too. It’s terrible.”
“What one do you think happened to Leo?”
“I don’t know Frank. Luna said something about when he had a pup in his belly, but then that he wouldn’t let anyone take her away.”
“You think they took her after she was born?”
“It makes sense. It sounded like they knew the pups' genders.”
“I just can’t figure it out though,” Frank rarely voiced opinions unless he had all the facts laid out in front of him. What was his guess going to be? “There’s something that doesn’t add up. He came here with no claiming bite, yet he clearly had a mate. What did his mate think about their pup being taken?”
“If that theory is true, then where is the pup now?” Hazel questioned with a tone Leo didn’t recognise. Was she sad? “Would the alpha tell us where she is? Could we get her back?”
“No, she’s dead.” Leo had no energy to use his voice in anything other than monotone. His emotional capacity had dried up, and he had to wee. He began to wiggle, and the alpha’s held on tight but he yipped sharply at them and they let go.
He tried to hold in the tears, but they always came when he fought them. He needed to be back in his alpha’s arms so he flushed and washed his hands, splashing water onto his face before heading back to the room.
As always, his mates were waiting for him outside the door. Why hadn’t they run off yet? Why hadn’t they kicked him out?
“Well,” he said, ready to face the pain. “Are you going to leave me waiting? I’d rather you just got on with it.”
Leo moved to his section of the closet, his grand total of three pairs of the same pants and shirts. His alphas had tried to dress him in other clothes, but he liked his white loose shirts and brown pants with suspenders. The goggles he found one day worked well for his job at the workshop so that little bits of metal shavings didn’t get into his eyes. He knew where the backpack was, hidden at the bottom of the cupboard so he grabbed it and then threw his pants inside.
“What are you doing?” Hazel came up close behind him and pulled the backpack away. “Are you leaving? Why?”
He spun to face her, fresh tears streaming down his face. He didn’t want to leave, but they knew how he had a pup before, so clearly he had… done that.
“You’re going to reject me aren’t you?” Leo had dealt with plenty of grief before, and was used to rejection in so many ways, but this was on a whole new level.
“No,” Frank stepped forward from his place in the doorway and enveloped Leo in a fierce hug. “We’ll never reject you. You’re our mate and we love you.”
But?
“But–?”
“No ‘buts’ Leo,” Frank said firmly. “You’re stuck with us forever.”
Leo pulled back to look up at the alphas. They were both smiling at him.
“You know,” Hazel said, pulling him from Frank and taking his hands. She led him from the closet and toward their sofa, then sitting down beside him. “That ‘fucking book’ as you like to call it, says that the omega who who needed two alphas would be deserving of more love than one alpha could give. That the Moon Goddess would see their pain and give them two special alphas just for them.”
Leo looked at Hazel in disbelief. “You found it?”
She nodded and wrapped . “I did.”
“And we have to apologise to you Leo,” Frank spoke and Leo turned to look at him. He was sitting on the ottoman in front of the sofa to talk with them easier. “We were supposed to wait for a blood moon before claiming you.”
“You were?” Leo asked them. “How often does that happen?”
“About two to four times a year. We wouldn’t have had to wait long.”
“What would happen if we waited for the blood moon?” Leo wanted to know. Why that moon?
“Well, Hazel has been trying to figure it out, but we think it has something to do with the Moon Goddess blessing us. You probably wouldn’t have torn and bled out like you did.”
“Oh,” Leo answered. That had been pretty scary once the medication wore off and he realised what happened.
“There is one other thing we wanted to talk to you about…” Hazel said warily. “You’ve been having a hard time since being here, and now that we know more about what happened to you…” she left her statement open, waving her hands as if that would provide the answer. Leo raised an eyebrow at her but she didn’t answer.
“We think,” Frank answered. “That you might do well if you talked to someone. You know, go to therapy.”
Leo’s first though was hell no. But the alpha looked at him with such hope. He turned to Hazel who wore the same expression. And Leo did want to please them. They’d put up with so much of his shit. His emotions and mood swings and misbehaviour. The way he growled at them and yelled sometimes.
Now they’d found out about his pup and they still wanted him.
“Ok,” he replied. “I’ll do it.”