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Louis had never been very good at running; he always found something to trip over or got too tired to continue. This time is different though, this time he´s running for his life. Everything hurts and if the people chasing him don’t manage to kill him he´s sure he will die from exhaustion. He can still hear their angry shouts behind him so despite his legs protests he speeds up. He´s bleeding, he´s not sure where but he can feel the wetness of it and smell it in the air. His ribs are moving strangely under his skin and he´s pretty sure his ankle is broken. This is nothing though, compared to what will happen to him if they manage to catch him again. He can´t get caught. This is his only chance at freedom.
He jumps over a small fence and is greeted by more trees, yet another wood. Something is different though, the shouting has stopped and Louis can finally hear himself think again. He must have crossed some kind of border, maybe this is where their territory ends? Despite that he keeps running, he needs to get as far away from his captors as possible.
After about ten minutes of running his vision is starting to get blurry and he stumbles slightly. He must be really out of it because he is certain that he can see a house, but that can´t be right. Why would there be a gigantic house in the middle of nowhere? Louis doesn´t get the time to think about it any longer though because his legs are giving out under him and after lying there in the grass for a while he finally closes his eyes and rests.
He never planned on to actually pass out and yet here he is. There´s an annoying beeping noise waking him up and he decides that it´s probably the machine that he´s currently hooked up to. He´s at a hospital? No that doesn´t seem right, the room is too small, too personalised to be a hospital room. The only similarities are that almost everything is white and the machines and the equipment looks pretty legit. He hasn´t been to a hospital since he was captured though so he can´t be sure. The pain is numbed he discovers and he´s in different clothes, it feels nice no longer being covered in dirt and blood.
His calm is interrupted by voices outside of the room, that’s when it really hits him that he has no idea where he is. Who found him? Are they friendly or is it the same people that took him all those years ago? He quickly pushes the blanket off of him but as he tries to sit up he yelps in pain.
“Whoa easy there buddy!” A voice exclaims and then there´s a hand on his shoulder pushing him down on the bed again. Said person is smiling down at him with bright blue eyes, he´s got blond hair and as Louis takes a deep breath he realises that the blond is a beta. Louis begins to panic again at that realisation and the betas eyes widen quickly as he backs away.
“Hey it´s okay mate, I´m not gonna hurt ya. I was the one who patched you up, see?” He points towards a badge that´s attached to his white shirt. Niall Horan – Doctor. Louis calms down a little at that, he´s still a beta though so he scots away slightly, his eyes never leaves the smiling man.
“W-where am I? Is this a hospital?” He finally finds the courage to ask and the man, Niall, smiles down at him.
“Nah, this aint no hospital I´m afraid. Don´t worry though, I have graduated and everything.” He winks and Louis knows it´s just supposed to be friendly, that Niall is just joking. It still makes him feel uncomfortable and Louis hates himself for it.
“Oh, okay, well that´s good I suppose. So where are we then? Do you live here?”
“Yeah I live here, along with a bunch of other people. It was our leader’s idea to move here, some aren’t too fond of the whole living in the woods thing but I quite like it.” Niall shrugs and Louis eyes widen as he takes in the information. This must be the house he saw, he wasn´t crazy after all. If Louis understood him right Niall belongs to a pack, a pack which lives here. It makes sense though, every pack needs a doctor, that much he remembers from when he was little and belonged to a pack himself. His family´s doctor had been awful, with a strange accent and too rough hands. Niall seems like good guy though, despite being a beta.
“So what´s your name then? I couldn´t find you in the register when I ran your blood tests.” Louis can see that he´s itching to ask more, he´s grateful that Niall holds back though. He´s not sure what he´s ready to tell, but a name he can handle.
“I´m Louis, Tomlinson I think…” It´s been years since someone has even called him by his name so his memory is a bit foggy, last names aren´t really that important anyway, right? Niall looks concerned for a while but then he shrugs and sticks out his hand.
“Well, it´s nice to meet you Louis.” Louis shakes his hand quickly, physical contact isn´t really something he´s ready for yet.
“It´s nice to meet you too, and uh… thanks for saving my life.” He looks down as he speaks but he can feel Niall´s eyes on him.
“No problem mate, just doing my job. Just… If you don´t mind me asking mate but why were you passed out in the woods with death threatening injuries?” Louis frowns at that.
“Death threatening?”
“Yeah, two of your ribs are broken; you were inches away from puncturing a lung.”
“Oh.” Is the only thing he manages to get out, he had no idea it was that bad. He just knew that his stomach hurt like a bitch.
“So… want to explain or?”
“Do I have a choice in the matter?”
“Of course you do, if you don´t want to talk about it I respect that. I´m just curious I guess.” He shrugs and Louis almost smiles, almost. He figures he will have to tell Niall eventually so he might as well do it now; he also kind of owes him for saving his life.
“Try not to freak out though okay?”
“I´ll do my very best.” His eyes is shining with curiosity but Louis knows they will hold nothing but pity in a few seconds.
“When I was six years old I was taken from my family. It was a group of adult betas so of course I had no chance; they just grabbed me and left. They kept me in a small cabin in the woods not too far away from here actually. I finally managed to escape and that´s why you found me passed out in your backyard.”
“Wait… you were kidnapped? When you were six?! That´s awful, why would they do that?” Niall doesn´t look pitying, just shocked and angry?
“It was at the beginning when the omegas started to get instinct, they knew they would be able to make a lot of money out of me eventually so they just took me. They beat me occasionally, just for fun I guess but this time was different. I knew I had to escape so I did and here I am.” Niall looks almost teary when Louis finishes but then he frowns and he looks even more confused than Louis has felt since he got here.
“How could they make money out of you?” Now it´s Louis time to frown, is he for real?
“Because there aren’t many of us left.” He doesn´t mean to snap but it´s a touchy subject.
“Us? Wait… are you saying what I think you´re saying?”
“I… I don´t know? Why is it so hard to believe that I´m an omega? I thought you would have seen that when you ran my blood tests.” Niall is gaping at him and Louis has no idea why, he hopes it´s not something bad.
“What? You´re an omega?”
“Yes, why do you sound so surprised, what kind of doctor are you?”
“Our machines aren´t programmed to process omega blood, all I got was a bunch of numbers, how was I supposed to know what they meant? And holy shit, you´re an omega man!” Niall is all red in the face and for a second Louis is scared that he´s going to die from a heart attack.
“Yeah, so? I knew there´s very few of us left but still, no need to freak out.” Niall lets out a hysterical laugh at that and now Louis is really worried, is this guy insane? After he has had his little laughing fit he stops and almost looks sad which makes Louis gulp nervously, this can´t be good.
“Louis… how long were you held captive?” Louis looks down.
“Um, ten years.” Niall looks even more sad now and he carefully places a hand on Louis arm, to Louis’ own surprise he doesn’t even flinch.
“Louis, god I don´t know how to say this but… there´s no one left. There are no omegas anymore.”
“What? W-what are you saying?”
“There were so many murders Louis, kidnappings just like yours. Eventually they were wiped off the earth entirely, I´m so sorry Louis.” Niall looks down sadly while Louis just stares at him. There´s a slight ringing in his ears and he can feel that he´s starting to cry. Niall is talking to him; he can see that his mouth is moving but there´s no words. Just ringing and pain, lots of pain. The omegas are gone. Wiped of the earth like vermin. His people, his family no longer exists. But that means;
“I ´m the only omega left.”
“I´m sorry Louis. I can´t imagine what you´re feeling right now, it´s just awful.” Louis sniffles.
“It´s not your fault, I´m sorry I yelled at you. I just… I though at least some of us were left. I guess not.”
“It´s okay Louis, I´m sorry I freaked out. I just haven´t met an omega since I was a kid, it´s… fascinating.”
“I´m not that interesting really. I´m sorry I got so scared when you came in before; I have pretty bad experiences with betas as you might understand.” He shrugs and Niall looks confused once again.
“It was betas who captured you?”
“Yeah, what else would it be?”
“Alphas, those were the ones who kidnapped and killed all the others.”
“Alphas? I´ve never even seen an alpha.”
“What, never ever? How is that even possible?”
“Everyone in my family were either omegas or betas, they were all very protective over me so they never let me near an alpha.”
“That´s… that´s crazy man, I totally get why you´re suspicious towards betas though. So… you don´t really know what an alpha is then or?” Niall looks almost embarrassed to ask but Louis can´t blame him for being curious.
“Not really no… they just told me that they were dangerous and that I should stay away from them.” Niall looks like he´s about to answer but then heavy footsteps can be heard just outside the door. Niall bolts upright from the chair he was sitting in and Louis stares at him. He looks panicked as he goes for the door but it´s too late, Louis watches slightly worried as the door starts to open and Niall grips his hair in distress as he shouts;
“Don´t come in!” The person does come in though, despite Niall´s efforts and Louis gapes. The person is a giant, all dressed in black with piercing eyes. Louis doesn´t know if he should be afraid or get down on his knees.
“What are you yelling about Horan?” His voice shakes Louis whole body, it´s so deep and raspy. Louis almost salivates at the sound. Louis takes a deep breath and if he wasn´t drooling before he sure is now. The smell that the male is giving off is incredible. It reminds him of oranges and chocolate. It´s musky and pure male. His smell is just as dominant as his body language.
The man stops abruptly at the sound of Louis small gasp, his eyes snapping towards the sound. Green, oh so green eyes lock with Louis’ and Louis feels like he´s going to pass out. The room disappears and Niall is long forgotten. All Louis can see is green. The man slowly makes his way over to him and Louis is frozen in place, he´s pretty sure he´s stopped breathing long ago. He´s close now, Louis can smell the detergent on his clothes and see the small hairs on the man´s chin.
There´s an incredibly big hand inching towards his face suddenly and Louis bites his lip, he has no idea what to expect. He places his palm against Louis slightly bruised cheek and Louis has never been more scared and felt so safe at the same time before. He hums as he softly pushes against the stranger´s hand, a thumb strokes against his cheekbone and he goes pliant.
“Careful with him Harry, he´s hurt.” He hears Niall say and Louis watches as the man´s eyes darken and then the hand disappears from his face. His now black eyes roam over Louis’ bruised body and Louis backs away slightly, out of instinct. He´s more scared now, the safe feeling gone.
The man reaches out again but this time his touch is less gentle. There´s fingers gripping his jaw, forcing Louis to look at the furious man.
“Who hurt you? Tell me who did this to you and I´ll kill them. Tell me!” The man shakes him slightly and Louis lets out a whimper, the feeling is all too familiar. The man looks feral and Louis thanks Niall silently as he steps forward and places a hand on the man´s shoulder, it´s incredibly brave.
“Harry calm down man, can´t you see you´re scaring the poor lad?” The man, Harry apparently, looks at Louis again. He´s breathing heavily still and Louis looks down, too scared to look him in the eyes. He looks torn, almost sad and Louis doesn´t know why but he feels bad. Like he has done something wrong, he almost feels like he should apologize to the man. Harry´s broad shoulders lowers in defeat and then he´s quickly turning around and leaving the room. The door slams closed and Louis is certain he can see pieces of wood fall to the floor. Louis ears are ringing again but he can still hear Niall mutter;
“I just had that door fixed.” Louis smiles a tiny smile and then darkness is surrounding him again.
The next time Louis wakes up is quite different. He´s less confused now but still slightly shaken up. He just had his first encounter with an alpha (he guesses but what else could he have been?) He doesn´t know what to make of it all. Sure he had been scared out of his mind but he had still enjoyed the man´s gentle touch and his voice, god his voice was still echoing in his head. Louis shakes his head and opens his eyes, he can´t have thoughts like that, they will only get him in trouble.
He´s still in the same room but Niall is nowhere to be seen. There is however two other people at the end of his bed. They are staring at him and Louis gulps nervously as he slowly sits up, he wants to feel happy about the fact that he can actually sit up this time but the two strangers in his room feels like a more pressing matter.
“You´re awake.” One of them says and Louis immediately knows he´s a beta, they both are. The two males are wearing uniforms and when Louis looks closer he realises that they are police officers. He knew they would show up eventually, Niall had probably called them but he would have wished they would have given him some more time to rest.
“My name is Jacob and this is my colleague Ahmet. We are police officers in this area and we were contacted by a Niall Horan.” Louis nods along as the man speaks but he doesn´t say anything. He doesn´t like these men. The one who spoke is a burly man with brown hair and small green eyes. It´s the wrong green though, too light and evil looking. The other man, Ahmet, looks a bit nicer. His dark eyes never leave Louis though so he refuses to look at him.
“We are here to ask you some questions today; when you have given us some answers we will start the investigation so that we can find your kidnappers alright?” Louis nods again.
“Could you tell us your name?” This time it´s the other man who speaks up, his voice makes Louis shudder and not in the good way.
“Louis… Tomlinson. I can´t remember my middle name though, sorry.”
“No need to apologize Louis, just tells us what you remember, no pressure.” Ahmet gives him a smile while the other one watch like a hawk, it´s starting to make Louis uncomfortable.
“How old are you Louis?”
“I6, unless… what month is it?”
The men share a look as he asks this, “It´s October the 11th.”
“Oh okay, then I´m still 16.” He looks down as the officers mumble something to each other.
“Okay so you´re 16 and you´re an omega yes?” The officer makes it sound like something bad but Louis still nods, not sure what else there is to do.
“Are you aware that you are the last of your kind?” The officer, Jacob asks with a sharp voice. Louis sinks down a bit in the bed, he definitely doesn´t like this man.
“I know that sir, Niall told me that before.” Both of them raises their eyebrows. Louis just wants them to go, he´s done answering questions but there´s no way he´ll be able to tell them that.
“Can you tell us what happened to you, we really need to know.” Louis shakes his head before he has even finished the sentence. He doesn´t like to think about it, let alone talk about it. He only told Niall because he saved Louis life, he owed him that much. It´s incredibly painful to talk about and he doesn´t want to get that vulnerable in front of two strangers.
“Louis, it´s very important that you tell us. We need to report this and also inform the council that there is in fact one omega left in the world. This is very serious, you wouldn´t want to stand in the way of the law would you?” He sounds challenging and Louis tries to resist the urge to pull the covers over his head. He wants to disappear as they step closer to him and the bigger one leans down.
“Come on pup, don´t make this difficult for you. We wouldn´t want to hurt you now would we?” They grin at each other as Louis whimpers in distress. He´s helpless, he knows that and he finds himself wanting Harry. Harry would be able to protect him, he might be scary but when Louis thinks about it he only got mad because Louis was hurt. He was never mad at Louis.
As he figures this out both his mind and body keeps screaming for Harry. It´s the only way out of this mess and he prays that Harry will feel that something is wrong, that he will come to him.
The men just keep getting closer and now one of them has a hand on his thigh. Louis is trapped, he can´t walk on his ankle and he´s in too much pain to even get out of bed.
There´s a loud bang as the door flies open and even in his distress Louis manages to think how Niall will be incredibly mad at that. Harry is standing by the now completely broken door, panting. His eyes are just as black as they were last time Louis saw them but this time they aren´t directed towards Louis. The two officers jumps away from Louis as they look incredibly scared, Louis does not feel bad for them.
“Mr Styles… we-we were just trying to interrogate him and-“
“Shut up! I could feel his distress all the way from my office, what exactly were you doing to him?” He crosses his arms and Louis stares. God he could probably lift Louis up as easy as a glass of water.
“He-he refused to cooperate sir so… so we were just trying to um, encourage him?” Ahmet makes it sound like a question and Harry doesn´t look very pleased, or convinced for that matter.
“Get out.”
“W-what? But sir, we need to get some answers.”
“I said get out, this is my territory and I demand that you two disgusting little worms get out. Now!” Harry´s alpha voice echoes through the room and even though it isn´t directed towards Louis he still cowers slightly in fear. It seems to work on the two men as well because both of them disappears through the broken door in just seconds.
Louis breathes out a sigh of relief making Harry turn his attention towards him. His eyes are green again and as he takes a seat beside his bed Louis sits up slightly, he can´t seem to take his eyes off the alpha.
“Are you okay?” He asks, his voice is more calm now but just as deep.
“Yeah… thanks for, you know.” Louis blushes under the alphas intense gaze, he tries to sound as grateful as he feels but it´s hard when he´s so nervous.
“Don´t thank me. I´m sorry you had to deal with that, I told Niall we should wait with calling the police, apparently he didn´t listen.” He sounds angry and Louis hopes Niall won´t get in trouble, he just wanted to help after all.
“I´m sorry about my behaviour last night as well, I never meant to scare you like that.” Louis almost wants to hug him as he looks down at him with a sad look on his face, he´s not sure if that’s allowed though so he settles for a small smile.
“It´s okay, I´m just a bit jumpy I guess.”
“That´s totally understandable. I´m Harry by the way, the leader of this pack.” So that´s why everyone seemed to obey him, he was the alpha.
“I´m Louis but I´m sure Niall has already told you that.”
The alpha smiles, “He did actually, it´s nice hearing you say it though.” Louis blushes, how come he´s so nice to him? Are all alphas like this or is it just Harry?
“Did-did he tell you what happened to me? Like, why I´m here and all that.” He almost whispers it but Harry must hear him anyway because he grimaces as he looks away slightly.
“No, he just explained your injuries to me and that… that you´re an omega.” He looks away as he speaks and Louis doesn´t like it. Why doesn´t Harry look at him anymore? Has he done something wrong? All of a sudden his chest feels heavy like it´s harder to breathe for some reason. He can feel his hands starting to shake and then there´s a hand on his shoulder. He looks up and sees that Harry is talking to him, his lips are moving but Louis can´t hear him, only his own heartbeat.
“Louis? Louis calm down, you need to breathe.” Harry is up from his chair now, leaning over him. Louis can feel his scent so much better this way and crazily enough it sort of calms him down. Both of Harry´s hands are on his face now and Louis nuzzles against them on pure instinct. It feels nice, his whole body feels nice, floaty almost.
Harry recognizes the look on Louis face and he sighs. He carefully sits down on the edge of the bed and Louis slightly glazed over eyes follows him. He´s breathing now, slowly and his whole body is relaxed.
“Louis, can you hear me?” Louis nods slightly and Harry smiles at him. He knows Louis is probably very confused about how his body is acting, he probably has no idea what´s normal and what isn’t.
“This is perfectly normal Louis, this is just your body reacting to me.” Louis nods again and this time he looks a bit more awake. Harry takes the chance to stroke his hair and he has to bite his lip at the softness of it.
“H-Harry?”
“Yes Louis?” Louis almost shudders at the deepness of his voice, it sounds so incredibly soothing.
“I don´t want to talk to any more officers, please Harry.”
Harry´s heart aches at Louis pleading voice, his eyes are a bit teary as he looks up at the alpha and Harry almost wants to close his eyes. Harry knows he needs to protect this boy at all costs so he strokes him over the cheek and nods.
“You won´t have to talk to anyone you don´t want to. Those officers won´t ever step a foot in this house anymore, that I can promise you Louis.”
“Thank you.” He whispers and Harry smiles down at him sadly.
“We need to know what happened to you though, I know you don´t like to talk about it but I´m afraid you´re gonna have to. Whatever happened to you, it wasn´t right and we need to make sure that it never happens again and that those responsible are punished for it.”
Louis doesn´t respond immediately, he looks down at his hands and for once they´re not trembling. He wants to trust Harry, he knows deep down that he just wants to help. Harry is an alpha though and Louis doesn´t know how they work, he has no idea what Harry is capable of and what his intentions are with Louis.
He remembers when he was a child and his parents had warned him about alphas, they hadn´t warned him about betas though and see where that got him. He feels drawn towards Harry, he feels so much calmer and for once safe. He has never felt safe, not even with Niall.
“Can I-can I tell you?”
Harry looks shocked but after a few seconds he smiles, his dimples popping out. No one dangerous can have dimples like that right?
“Of course you can Louis, I just want to help you. If you tell me I can retell it to the police and then we´ll go from there okay?”
“Okay… just, promise me you won´t pity me. I don´t like pity.” Harry puts his hands up in the air, making Louis smile.
“I promise, you can trust me Louis. Just tell me what you´re comfortable with, I won´t pressure you.” Louis nods and Harry clears his throat as he leans forward slightly, his piercing green eyes gazes into Louis’.
“So, how old are you Louis?” Louis really appreciates that he starts off with an easy question so he sits up straighter and places his hands in his lap.
“16.” Harry chokes at his own spit at that and Louis stares at him shocked as Harry tries to stop coughing. When he has calmed down slightly from the shock he looks up at Louis who looks both confused and scared.
“You´re only 16!?”
“Yeah… is that bad?”
“Of course it´s bad Louis, you´re just a child!”
“Hey, I´m not a child thank you very much. How old are you anyway?” Harry looks sad and Louis wonders why.
“20.” This time it´s Louis who is shocked but he tries not to show it. He feels slightly disappointed and he doesn´t really know why, it´s not like he thought something would ever happen between them.
“Oh okay…” Harry looks just as sad as Louis feels but he doesn´t say anything about it.
“When were you taken then and uh… do you know why?”
“I was 6 years old. I can´t really remember where or how it happened, all I know is that I woke up in a basement where I would live for 10 years. They knew they could make money out of me later on, when there weren’t any omegas left or at least just a few. I would be worth so much more then so they kept me alive for all those years.”
Harry takes a deep calming breath and continues, “Did you see their faces?”
Louis scoffs.
“Of course I did, they never wore masks. They were so confident in themselves that I would never escape so they never bothered.”
“How did you manage to escape then? Why now, after so long?” Louis shudders at that question, it´s something he just want to forget, that night. He knows Harry need this particular information though so he bites his lip and looks up at him.
“I was more motivated now more than ever. I heard them talking, that it was time. Time to sell me, they had a buyer already and they were growing tired of me. They came into my room and told me that we were flying to America in the morning. I refused, I have never fought so hard in my life.”
“I´m glad you did.” Harry strokes his cheek and Louis flushes, did it get hotter all of a sudden?
“That doesn´t explain how you managed to escape though. No offense Lou but you´re tiny, there´s no way you managed to fight your way out of there.”
Louis smiles, “That´s because I didn’t´. I pretended to be dead. They panicked at that, knowing that they wouldn´t get their money. They went to call their boss, to explain and of course, seeing as I was “dead” they left the door open.”
Harry raises his eyebrows, impressed and Louis feels smug. He may be an omega but he´s also a survivor, he thinks he deserves to feel a bit proud.
“I took the chance and ran and now here I am.”
Louis voice sounds slightly strained and Harry can feel the anger starting to build. How dare they treat his omega like that? He´s going to catch them and then he´s going to kill them with his bare hands, make sure that they suffer twice as much as Louis did. He feels a small hand on top of his and he looks down at Louis who is staring at him with scared and pleading eyes.
“Harry?” He remembers what happened the last time he lost his temper around Louis so he shakes his head and grips Louis hand in his. It has a surprisingly calming effect on Harry, having Louis skin touching his while being surrounded by his sweet scent.
“It´s okay, I´m okay now. I´m sorry I almost lost it again, I just get so angry Louis. They hurt you and no one, absolutely no one is allowed to do that okay? Not even me, especially not me.” Louis nods he´s in awe at how fierce Harry looks, just for him.
“Are you this protective over everyone?” He can´t help but to ask, he just wants to understand Harry better. Understand the alpha side of him.
“No, just you Louis. I won´t let anything bad happen to you ever again, alright?”
He looks dead serious so Louis doesn´t protest and as Harry leans towards him Louis’ breath hitches. He doesn’t know what to expect but it certainly wasn´t Harry pressing his face against Louis’ neck. He gasps at the sudden closeness but he stays perfectly still, he doesn´t want to ruin anything. He can feel Harry´s warm breath on his neck and his whole body turns to jelly. He leans against him as the alpha pants against his skin.
“You´re mine now, alright? Mine.” It sounds more like a statement than a question so Louis doesn´t answer, he doesn´t protest either though. It sounds right in his ears, it feels right. It feels perfect if he´s being honest so he grips Harry´s shirt in his small hands and closes his eyes.
“Yours.”