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Pack ASK Forum

"Anything you will need to know about joining your first pack!"

Q: What is Pack?

A: "Humans are social creatures, exclusively living in packs consisting of close knit family dynamic that usually doesn't include any kind of similar blood, but is made through friends.  Humans start to create these packs around primary school age, mimicking their parent's packs. It's very important for a child to have these types of experience since it will help them create a more mature pack later in their life. Normally, an dominate-alpha will start a pack with a matriarch-omega, becoming the primary couple and recruit those to follow along with their ideals. Those under the dominate-alpha's command will respect their decision and follow along as well as having respect for the matriarch-omega. However, since times have changed, packs are being created without following the usual traditions. That doesn't mean they are any less of a pack. At the end of the day, a pack is a family of likewise people. How the pack is started and why it is started, doesn't need a reason, it's what feels right."

 

Q: What is it like to find a pack? 

A: "If a packleader believes you fit to join their pack they will approach you first to ask if you accept being in a pack. To this question you may deny or confirm, a good packleader will not find anger in you for denying and will allow an open gate policy if you come back and want to join. Many people take time to think about why they want to be in a pack, so it's normal to be confused at first. Some may ask, how will you know you found the right pack? Well, there isn't much I can say if you don't already know the feeling. To put this into words, it just feel right to be there. The pack's smell will make you feel safe and you will trust the other people around you with your life, even if they haven't done anything to deserve such trust. This feeling is compared to have finding your family, a found family in a way."

 

Q: Do those in a pack fight often?

A "No, a good pack shouldn't fight often. Often is the keywords, because you are a family and everyone knows siblings will have disagreement that leads to fights. It is likely for these to break out between members, but it shouldn't be detrimental or cause an unbalance. A good packleader should nip fighting in the bud quickly, but that doesn't mean fights can completely be prevented. During mating seasons, alpha pack members may fight over unmated omegas if they are both interested in them. If a fight like this breaks out, it is good to sit back and watch, alphas should let out these pent up hormones. Alphas on their own will make the decision who is the stronger to take the unmated omega, but if anything crosses playfighting to real fighting, this is cue for a packleader to separate these alphas and set up boundaries. In this day of age, normally an omega will be the one making the decision who gets them in their mating season, so these fights are naturally more due to a hormone imbalance and will fix themselves after the season has ended."

 

Q: What happens if a pack leader passes away? 

A: "Well.... 

 

-

CHAPTER 1

If you asked Gram, he thinks Sean has completely lost it. He didn’t know when or how it happened, but the normal antisocial lone-wolf of their pack has became nothing more than a prostrating alpha deep in mating season. Saying such a thing was derogatory though there wasn’t any other explanation, since he was convinced Black smelled like an omega. It was the weirdest thing and Gram could confirm that yes, Black did smell like an omega, but the scent couldn’t possibly be coming from the beta's scent gland. 

It was basic knowledge that betas are incapable of producing a unique scent due to not developing a scent gland through their first maturing rut or heat. Even a grade-school kid that hasn’t been through a day of health class could tell someone that. Maybe Sean skipped the mandated ‘birds and the bees’ class? He certainly was acting like it, Gram had a strong urge to call a pack meeting and do his own impromptu class so Sean would just drop this. 

Yesterday was the first time they’ve ever fought each other and they did it over Black-- of all things. Gram knew there was something different about Black, he wasn’t going to beat around the bush and claim that Black was perfectly fine. There has been a lingering smell of an omega on him-- Gram continuously battling the urge to ask invasive questions of who this person was. Black was notorious for hating people getting into his business and it wasn't like Gram could stake his claim on Black. Being a beta there was no scent gland for Gram to bite and shift the other’s scent and hickies faded over time. This also was intertwined in their inability to communicate with each other, so even if there was proof of their relationship not being one-sided, it continued to be defined on Facebook as complicated and untouchable in a way. 

Gram could preen himself and show Black he was the perfect alpha mate by caring for him, but it would never change their dynamics. Black was free to mate whoever he wanted to and even if Gram saw him as his own singular mate, Black had no animalistic ties to keep him from straying. A part of Gram was frustrated over that fact, because his relationship with Black felt like a confusing teeter totter of sometimes a brotherhood shared between packmates and other times it was only things mated pairs do. 

It was inevitable that something was going to come to head. The constant pushing, edging the other person on to do something, anything, was a dance they were far from familiar with. It wasn’t until a month before the ‘ Tiwa's nature lodge burning plan ’ that they finally found the rhythm to start testing the rocky waters of a relationship.

The day this started was when Black had ended his courtship with Eugene over a buildup of continuous petty things and, as per-usual, Gram had opened his apartment door and there was his pack leader, looking for comfort. The alpha in Gram had immediately ushered the sullen leader into his room, brushing their shoulders and rubbing the bottom of his chin on top of the beta’s soft head, trying to elicit a response, but the other was not giving him his usual bite. 

“Gram, just stop…” Black called him off without even a growl, simply just taking a heavy seat on the bed like all the fight had been drained from his limbs. Gram took a step backwards at the command, lowering his chin to his chest in a display of submission, even though Black continued to ignore him by wrapping himself in his sheets. 

It was such a pitying sight, Gram could only whimper from the out-of-character actions. He approached slowly, taking his own seat on the side of the bed, because the other was so wrapped up in the sheets, Gram couldn’t quite see Black, but he could make out his raised shoulder to get a sense of where he positioned. All the urges in Gram told him to comfort his pack leader (and mate) so instead of trying to wrangle the beta out of sheets, he bowed down and rubbed his face on the bony appendage separated by the blanket. He did it for a few minutes, yipping like an obnoxious puppy and pushing at the shoulder with his forehead for Black to finally give him attention. There was nothing, cueing Gram that something was extremely wrong. Black wouldn’t have shown up at his door just to crawl in his bed for shits and giggles. The leader only did seek comfort in him when there was truly something bothering him. 

So, seeing Black like this was actually a very common sight for Gram. He could tick off almost all his fingers for every time he had to comfort Black, but it was never to a degree that he was being ignored. It was a known fact that Black was allergic to all feelings, good and bad, so normally he came to Gram for a distraction instead of sitting down and talking about it all ‘soap opera-like’. They’d play fight or go get dinner, anything to not wallow for too long. It was clear that a distraction was not what Black needed that day, it was like he had hit his last speed bump and finally spun out into the guard rail. 

The beta rolled over, Gram allowing him space to get fully on his back, though he physically froze in place when he was met with the image of ‘Big Bad Black’ crying. Gram had never seen Black cry before. Actually, Gram had convinced himself that Black actually could not cry. His assumption was indeed debunked, because the beta had streaks of glossy tears rolling down his flushed cheeks. It made him look vulnerable and Gram had never thought he’d see the day that he would coexist that word with his pack leader. 

Gram quickly jumped into action, head butting the bridge of his nose into the side of Black’s face and licking away the tears, even if he knew he was passing that invisible line again. The packmate to mate boundary that they never did talk about. The seconds seemed to drag on, Gram began to panic over the fact that he wasn’t being thrown off from doing such an intimate action. In fact, when he pulled away, Black laid there limply. His deep, dark eyes closed behind swollen eyelids and lower lip quivering. “Black,” Gram whimpered, rubbing his scent into Black’s cheek, practically drowning the little beta in a comforting scent he knew the other wouldn’t be able to smell. “Ai’Black you're scaring me, say something na ?” 

Black gave a pained whine, turning his cheek towards Gram and pushed his face all the way until he was in the crux of his neck. The alpha just grasped him by the back of his head, holding Black as gently as a porcelain doll. “Gram,” When Black finally spoke his voice was raw from emotions, “everyone leaves me. Every fucking person I’ve ever loved, they ditched me and I can never stop them from going," he cut himself off, words becoming to hard to form when his lips were quivering so bad. The beta swallowed hard, fat tears clinging to his eyelashes as he stared so deeply into Gram's soul. "Say you won’t disappear on me, please? You’re the only person I have left that doesn't think I'm a complete fuck-up.” 

Gram didn’t know how to go about the confession. He wanted to pry open Black’s chest, to see what he hid inside. Learn all the secrets the beta swore never to say, because he didn’t want others to view him as weak. He wanted to know why Black hid behind snapping teeth and vicious growls that never fit his dynamics. He wanted to know anything and everything about what happened between Eugene and Black to create such a reaction, but he didn’t say anything. Gram just couldn’t start demanding things when Black needed him. 

He pulled the little guy firmer into his chest, securely clasping one arm around the waist he thought about far too much to be innocent, and the other seatbelting itself across his back. The hand he had cradled at the back of Black’s head, gave a weak push that the beta instantly went limp in and buried his face in the concave of Gram’s shoulder. 

In retrospect, Gram knew his scent wouldn’t be any comfort, because Black couldn’t smell it, but natural instincts had him preening a protective scent to try in vain to bring calmness and order back. Feeling like this was the first time he ever had to be an alpha to Black, finally being seen as the dynamic he possessed even if passive and Black wasn’t trying to fight him for order. It was a very powerful moment for Gram. 

As he began to comfort it was like his brain was put on the back burner and his heart was instead leading the show. “I got you,” He spoke, Gram feeling like he was pulling at straws to say the right thing that Black needed to hear. Just one right word to alleviate any type of agony he could. “I’m here for you, I won’t ever abandon you,” a pause, Gram feeling his own tears beginning to prick in his eyes, “you’re too precious to forget Black-- You know that.” 

It was as if the dam finally broke. Black gave a great, big heaving sob, finally letting everything out that had been bottled up in him. Gram held him through each wave, knowing that if Black was sobbing now, it was over a multitude of things. Probably stuff that he had years of suppressing his emotions about and didn’t feel safe enough to mourn them until now. And Black did mourn, he cried and cried until there was nothing left, but heaving gags and dry eyes. When there was nothing more, Gram laid him down on the bed, his numb legs and scratched arms felt like bug bites to the true happiness of seeing a part of Black nobody else got to see. 

As they snuggled together in the sheets, Gram allowed himself the pleasure of protectively watching over Black while he was too weak to fight it. The room had been plunged into silence after such a big ruckus, the sound of cars passing on the road and crickets chirping becoming the featured singer after being just backups for so long. Gram raised himself up to his elbow, cradling his cheek in his hand as he let a finger drag across Black’s raw face. Carefully swiping a strand of inky black hair away from a smooth forehead and behind a cute ear. Without the sneer that Black loved to wear, the beta looked beautiful. An ethereal creature that finally shed it’s ugly mask to reveal it’s true form of holy beauty. Gram was so drunk on the sight that he jumped slightly when those big orbs opened up.

Black never had expressive eyes, they looked dark and void of life. To Gram, there was life in every dark void. If eyes were windows into the soul, Black must have had a very persistent one. For all the times he’d been knocked down, Black always came back to himself to be the same headstrong, reckless guy that got shit done. Gram never knew another person who he could rely on so greatly other than Black. It was why he joined the pack and also the reason why he fell so deeply in love. 

Gram traveled the concave of Black’s ear, toying with the ring stuck through the hole. He put his pinky through the space, moving it to the side. Black continued to watch him, observing him like someone looking for a rickety board in a pier. The one weak piece that would send them floundering in deep waters. “You okay?” Gram decided if nobody was going to say sorry, he would have to step around it. 

“Yeah,” Black said without the conviction that he truly was okay. 

Gram sighed at the inflexibility, “is this about Eugene?”

“No.” A pause. “Yes.” Another pause, Gram felt lost. “We broke up, but this wasn’t about her. I don’t care about her-- I don’t think I ever cared about her.” Black gaze began to harden, Gram sighed at the normalcy finally leaking in. Moving his finger out of the piercing, Gram instead cupped the side of Black’s face and thumbed over the swollen skin under his eyes. How he wished he could take away the pain that darkened such beautiful features. 

Black covered his hand, his thin fingers slotting into the space in Gram's, to then give a tiny squeeze. That was when the beta jolted up and captured his lips. Gram gave a gasp of surprise, unsure if what he was experiencing was true reality or a dreamscape. As they kept going it was apparent he wasn’t dreaming. How could he, with the pain of Black’s sharp teeth digging into his skin and those beautiful pairs of lips stretched around his cock. 

It felt so good to finally get closure to a question he had been asking for all the years he’s known Black. To finally touch the other and not fear that it was one-sided. What they did that night couldn’t ever be defined as one-sided. 

Then Black disappeared and reappeared different. 

This Black looked at Gram like he was looking at someone he just met. Every time they touched, this Black was scrambling away from him. This Black left him on read and slept in the same bed as Sean knowing he could have stayed with Gram. 

Gram got his closure the night they slept together, yet this Black, the one that came back with a new sense of self-preservation, was acting like he wasn’t even there that night to experience it. 

It had to be because of that omega scent that clung to his skin. Black reeked of the pastry scent of whatever omega he had been fooling around with and they had to have drowned Black in the scent to make it so potent. It was no surprise that Gram came to resent that sweet scent, even finding himself losing his appetite when he saw anything resembling a dessert. 

It didn’t help either that Sean was trying to tack a reason to this changing scent. The lone-wolf in their pack had a very good nose, probably one of the best that Gram ever came across. Though Gram wasn’t a very good example to glean off since he was a passive alpha, it was common for him to not have a powerful nose. Someone had to be truly suffering with an emotion for him to pinpoint it from just scent. That being said, Gram also wasn’t influenced by an unmated omegas scent to cause a hormone imbalance-- Sean, on the other hand, was and the scent on Black was making him crazy. 

Whoever the scent belonged to, Sean was very attracted to them and it had him recklessly trying to fight Gram. When he left that night they had their soft-core ‘dick measuring contest’ (thanks Yok), Gram still had the effects of the fight causing his heart to race. He felt like he just got out of a battle for a mate, Black being their target to fight over. To Gram, it was the weirdest thing, because he knew for a fact that Sean was, and had never, been interested in Black. 

Actually, Gram would go as far to say Sean wasn’t the biggest fan of Black. So it was quite weird for them to be fighting over who got to court Black. Gram decided to let it rot for a day, Sean needed his time to figure out his emotions, separate his animalistic urges from the human ones, so to speak. Truly, Gram wasn’t expecting for Sean to immediately get an answer in one night over his big ‘Black smells different’ dilemma. 

-

Pack Group Chat - TAWI’S OFFICIAL HATE CLUB!!

Sean: Hey. Pack meeting tn. 

-I figured out what happened to Black. 

-There’s gonna be food

Yok: What food? 

Gram: Black is in this group chat, Sean

Yok: What food? 

Black: Korean BBQ

Yok: Oh hell yeah, I’ll be there! <3

Gram: Black.

Sean: GTG. Be on time!!

-If you’re late I’m burning all ur meat

Gram: Sean.

read 

-

And just like that, Gram had been ignored and he knew everyone read his messages, because he saw the little text at the bottom of his bubble that said they all did. What ticked him off more was that Sean’s profile showed he was still online, so it wasn’t like he had somewhere important to go if he could stay on the app. Not to mention Black’s weirdness in the chat, Sean never got to call big pack meetings and if he did, Black should have given him hell for doing it. Yet, surprisingly, and more so not surprising at the same time, Black did nothing. All he did was answer Yok, humoring him, and not even text Gram back. 

Whatever Sean figured out better be good or Gram was going to fucking deck his packmate in the teeth. He went the entire day seething, breathing through his front teeth like it was going to do something. This irritated mood would only increase after he arrived to his first class and Black never showed up, leaving him to his own thoughts to catastrophize the situation. 

His first spitball idea was that Black talked to Sean and told him about technically cheating on Gram and they made a plan on how to break it to him. Those two had been awfully close and it felt stupid for him to get mad, because he wasn’t the chosen friend to be told. That being said- he could also see why he wasn’t told if it wasn't obvious. The other reason is that Black was going to indoctrinate that omega he has been seeing into their pack. Gram didn’t want that either. Why he tattled about the omega to Sean was (most likely) for a second thought and the alpha being attracted to the scent had one hundred percent agreed. 

After those ideas were out of the way, well… Gram really had no clue what to expect. 

When classes ended and he drove to the garage, Gram stalled for a long time. He took every back route he could find and even stopped at a grocery store for beer. Anything to stop his inevitable break up with Black in front of the entire pack. At heart he knew he couldn’t avoid it forever and even if it pained him, he did arrive at the garage, though his delaying turned the sky to a pitch black obsidian. The moon so completely hidden by heavy clouds that there wasn't even a spotlight of light to guide his feet to the entrance. Only the lamppost shining honey yellow light on him, like a spotlight used for an actor before they joined the entire cast, gave him any sympathy.

Stepping through the doors, scent subdued to not alert anyone, he was glad that the room was already bathed in another strong scent of cooking meat to cover him more. This thin veil though couldn’t hide him from someone who has shown these past days how well his nose actually was. 

“ Well, well, well ,” Sean drawled loudly when Gram approached the table overrun with a large smoking grill and scattered plates of raw dishes to cook. On the other side of the table was Yok, chopsticks poised to poke around at the meat and mushrooms cooking, the beta’s face intensely focused. Black’s presence was so conveniently bare from the table. “Look at what the cat drags in.” 

Gram rolled his eyes and set down the plastic bag of beer on the wooden picnic table as a peace offering. Sean eyed him suspiciously, but still began wrangling a beer out of the packaging. “Finally he arrived, here, come, eat up!” Yok cried with happiness like he had this joke waiting since he arrived and slid a plate of charred beef to Gram who wrinkled his nose at it. 

“I got stuck at school,” he lied easily, pushing the charred meat away from himself, “I bought beer to make up for it. Plus, Black’s not even here yet anyways. Don’t get your panties in a twist.” 

“Whatcha talkin’ about?” Yok’s attention ran out and he was back to pushing meat around, not even looking at Gram while he spoke. “He’s been here the whole time, he just went to the bathroom a minute ago. Fucking asshole, always blaming someone.” 

Gram's already foul mood gave way when he punched the other, Yok letting out a shrill yelp of pain and quickly snapped his hot chopsticks inches away from the alpha's face. He flinched as expected, not wanting to be burned and instead stood up to grab the back of Yok’s neck. He dragged the beta closer to him, ignoring Yok’s scrambling at the side of the table and Sean’s scolding that they should be careful around the hot grill. They didn’t care, Gram wanted to give hell to the beta before he was brought to kingdom come. This anger was then so easily put on the back burner the second he got Yok close enough to him. Gram got a nose full of meat and another underlying scent that wasn’t the usual chemicals of paint. 

Actually, no, this smelled like art supplies. Just something else too, it was unfamiliar to the pack and had a musk of an alpha interlaced in it. “Woah!” Gram moved from the back of Yok’s neck to the scruff of his shirt, pushing the beta towards Sean like he was a kitten they were throwing around. “Smell this beta we brought in, he stinks of an alpha.” 

Yok gave a screeching cry of fear, trying to get out of the hold as he was intensely scented by a curious Sean. Gram’s fellow alpha had the same reaction, pulling away with a wrinkle of his nose and furrowed brows. “ Man , you smell like a goddamn crayon. What alpha were you rubbing up on.” 

“None!” Yok snapped his teeth in warning, finally ripping himself out of Gram’s hold and went to sulk a good distance from them. Yok had to be lying, if all the signs of shifting eye contact and fluttering limbs were apparent. “Fucking alphas and their good noses,” he sneered condescendingly at them, immediacy making a break across the room to hide behind Black who just made his appearance from the hallway leading to bathroom. Well, would you look at that, he truly has been there. 

The train of thought Gram had came to a sudden, brake squeaking halt. Actually, he had to stop himself from dropping his jaw in an open gape, because Black looked… different. He was wearing glasses and as far as Gram knew, Black has never worn glasses in his life. They looked big on his face, rimmed in silver and he wasn’t very good at estimating prices, but those had to be expensive. The beta’s hair was also styled more than usual and his clothing was without the normal rips from overuse. Hell, he looked like a cliché Mormon with the pressed black slacks, button down and glossy shoes. All in all, the fit made Black look like a polished rich boy, far from his wannabe gangster fit. 

There was a sinking feeling in Gram’s chest that Black was dressed up for that omega being introduced to their pack. Nobody tried to look good in their pack unless it was to impress a potential mate. He had to hold back his whine of defeat, because truly, his fantasy was over and it was right before anything good started. 

“Yok,” Black complained, trying to wiggle out of the tight hold. Yok had encircled his arms around Black’s stomach, hooking his chin over the small beta’s shoulders to then glare maliciously at those at the table. Black let out a wimpy whine, having to hobble himself towards the table with a literal leach weighing down his feet. 

“They’re bullying me, Black,” Yok tattled on them, pointing his finger accusingly at Gram and Sean, “tell ‘em I don’t smell weird.” 

“Yok,” Gram has had it up to here with the rumors that Black was secretly an omega. The rant he had been building for weeks about how Black wasn’t able to scent him in the first place because he's a beta was on the tip of his tongue, but the little guy cut him off.

“How can I back you up when you stink of an alpha that smells like a crayon,” Black huffed, pushing at Yok’s cheek to let go of him. In retrospect, Black didn’t even need to push him off, because Yok had let go out of instinct to stare in disbelief at the pack leader. Did this bother Black, no, it didn’t seem so. The beta was moving with intent to fill the empty spot right next to Sean at the picnic table.

The room was plunged into a freezing silence, Gram feeling his body begin to lock up as if he was rusting over. There was an alarm going off in his head as he stared at Black. How… How did Black smell the scent on Yok? It was an alpha stench, a beta shouldn’t be able to differentiate that kind of smell. Yet, without even knowing, Black had on par compared the scent to the same thing Sean had said. Then, there was the glasses, the clothing, the huffy, yet subdued nature, it was like Gram had added 2 + 2 and Black had got 5. 

Sean seemed to be the only one who wasn’t staring at Black in sheer absurdity. If anything he just bumped his shoulder into the other, making Black look up with a pair of curious doe eyes. Gram has never seen an expression like that and this fear that the person he trusted became nothing more than an imposter consumed his brain. “I believe you have some explaining to do…” Sean trailed off in a prompting manner.

“What’s going on,” Yok had uncharacteristically sobered up, his impish smile becoming nothing more than straight lips. 

“I second this,” Gram jumped on this request, reaching across the table to shut off the grill that Black had been poking at like a lifeline. “Black--” 

“P’Gram, I am not Black.” 

Gram psychically recoiled, his whole body twitching backwards as he was addressed so… politely. Black has never been a polite person, even to those who deserved the politeness he was so brashly dropping the P’. This Black… no, this person who had Black’s face, was staring so intensely behind silver-rimmed glasses, it was a shock. “Huh?” Yok spoke, Gram whipping his head around to see the beta had leaned in close to Black’s face, staring at him like he was an animal at the zoo. “Black, what the fuck are you talking about? Of course you’re you .” 

“He’s telling the truth,” Sean was the only one backing up Black, slinging his arm around the little guy’s shoulder and pulling him closer towards his side, away from Yok’s scrutinizing. Gram watched in almost fascination the way Black had so submissively tucked himself in Sean’s side, eyes looking from Gram to Yok like a ping-pong ball. He looked fearful and without the grill on, Gram suddenly was very aware of the souring scent of an omega wafting through the room. That evidence was… damning. “Tell them,” Sean urged Black on regardless of this smell. 

Black had looked to Sean for trust in his words and after a second of just staring at each other, it gave the small boy enough courage to put his hands together in a wai. He directed it first at Yok, then to Gram in the politest form he had ever witnessed from such a brash guy. “I would like to reintroduce myself. P’Yok, P’Gram, my name is White,” Gram felt his heart drop through his chest and splatter to the floor. “I am P’Black’s twin brother. It is nice to finally meet you all.” 

A wave of disbelief rang over the group. Yok had his own turn to recoil backwards at the polite wai coming from Black and Gram had a sudden urge to pinch himself awake. Without fanfare, he dug his nails into his arm, relishing in the sharp pain, but then found himself furious at it. He wasn’t sleeping. “What the fuck!” Gram shouted, actually shouted. He didn’t know where this anger had come from, but it had completely taken over him as he turned his gaze from Black to Sean. “ Is this some kind of a prank?! This isn’t fucking funny, Sean! And Black-- I can’t believe you! This is a new low for you, to use Sean’s instability for your own humor. What the fuck? ”

Sean had stood up, Black let out a sharp yelp of fear as he grabbed onto the taller alpha by his upper arm and tried to pull him back down to sitting. Gram hackles were turning deadly as he bore his teeth, his rubber band he’d been stretching and stretching for weeks had finally snapped. It pissed him off that through every bout of anger, Black was always calming down Sean over him. Wasn’t he supposed to be Black’s mate?! “And you! ” Gram snapped his teeth at Black, the beta flinching like he had been hit and slid behind Sean’s back in mere seconds. “I thought we were mates?!” he bitched on, regardless if Black was hiding, the little fucker could hear him loud and clear.  “You left me for an omega! You stink of one and you think this will all blow over with a fucking joke! Who do you think you are!” 

“Gram!” Sean was on him in seconds, pushing him hard at the shoulders. Gram went staggering backwards, catching himself on his heels. “You’re scaring White!” the alpha warned, completely blinded by delusions. When Sean had been entrapped by this omega smell was beyond Gram, but it appears to have taken over every rational thought. Whatever Black had gaslighted Sean to believe, it had convinced him 100% and Gram was done with this terrible theater production. 

“Black doesn’t have a brother!” Gram battled back, “if Black had a brother he would have told me! I am his best friend, I am his mate, he has told me everything about himself!” 

“Well he obviously hasn’t!” Black appeared once again from behind Sean, his fierce eyes should have been red with anger. Such a face was so familiar to Gram it physically pained him. Black had been so docile these past days that seeing him finally snapped had to be something poignant. “I am White,” Black gestured to himself, hands braced at his collarbones, “I am P’Black’s little brother. He got seriously hurt and I came to investigate who did it. It wasn’t my intention to get this deep, but this is my brother’s pack and I feel safe with his packmates.” 

“Black! Knock it off!” 

“ I AM WHITE! ” 

Gram snarled hard, his entire chest rattling as he stared down at such a little creature. It felt mind boggling that at one point Gram had trusted Black with his entire life and he was being betrayed so bluntly. “Then tell me this, White ,” he played along with a mocking tone, putting physical bunny ears around the fake name Black had given himself. “Why hasn’t Black ever talked about you. Having a twin isn’t something someone could hide so easily.” 

“I have lived in another country for the past ten years,” Black said slowly like he was explaining an easy concept to little kids. The beta's own hackles becoming apparent in his chest, but were subdued enough it was a lingering growl. Omegas did that, Gram told himself, omegas do that to show their anger towards alphas without raising their voice . What the fuck was going on? “Our separation was hard for both of us, we were close littermates, but it isn’t my responsibility that he never spoke of me to you. My brother’s inability to trust you with such personal information does not give you the right to be so ignorant.” 

If Gram’s heart was made of glass, surely it would have shattered audibly. Black’s words had stabbed him quite literally in the chest and Gram was sure he was bleeding out. Black didn’t even need to touch him this time for him to stagger backwards until he got caught on his heel and fell backwards on his ass. Sean had flown in, grabbing Black by the shoulders and pulling him a few steps backwards while Gram could feel the familiar heat of Yok coming to his aid. He grabbed the beta’s upper arm, using Yok almost as a shield. “Black,” he whispered, his heart aching with every beat, “ Black , if you wanted to break up our courtship you did not have to go to such a degree. Don’t you have any fondness left for me?” 

“P’Gram,” Black lifted his chin up, his glasses glinting with light to cover the entirety of his frames with whiteness. It was at that moment that Gram saw how much distance there was emotionally between them. When they mated, Gram thought they were so close, yet now it appeared there was the length of the Pacific Ocean between them. “I am not breaking up my brother’s courtship with you. Again, I am White.” 

It was in jerky movements that Black pulled out an unfamiliar phone from his pocket. He swiped a few times on the screen before throwing the device at Gram. He caught it and flipped it around to come face to face with a picture of a picture. The developed photograph in the iPhone picture was of two boys standing next to each with the same exact faces. There was an unabashed smile on the first boy’s face, a band aid taped on his upper brow and another across the bridge of his nose. All scraped up, but so happy it was obvious he wasn’t shy about all the bruises and cuts on his face. The first boy had his arm around the other boy’s arm. The second boy had a pair of big glasses and a shy smile not quite reaching his cheeks. It was like night and day standing next to each other, one so shy and the other so reckless.

Gram would scoffed at such a picture if he hadn’t seen the shiny dog tag around the first boy’s neck. The same dog tag Black always wore without fail, regardless of which outfit he switched through every morning. Then, it was as if every piece started to twist together as he went back to the boys’ faces. They were young, but it was no doubt this was Black and another- a brother. A brother that wore glasses and had a shy smile. He lifted his head and found dread settling in his stomach as he stared at that glasses wearing boy photographed in the picture he just saw. “You’re White,” Gram repeated, he felt so fucking dumb and so fucking lost at the same time. 

“I am White. I am P’Black’s brother.” White confirmed like it was the surest thing in the world, Gram felt his heart begin again in his chest. Slamming hard against his ribs with every pulse. This wasn’t Black… This was White. 

“Isn’t this the plot of The Parent Trap?” Yok’s voice cut through, the beta scratching at the back of his head like some way this was going to get his brain to kick start. 

“The Parent Trap was about twins getting their divorced parents back together…” Sean so smartly summed up, unsure if he should be baiting into Yok’s ridiculous question. Gram looked at his packmates and found himself the only one who was so strung up about this. However, Gram could justify that he was the only one here with a personal stake put into this. 

“Can I scent you, White?” Gram question felt the most out of pocket thing to ask right now. White had given him an unsure side-eye, looking at Sean first, before finally coming to the conclusion to nod his head. The closeness of White and Sean also was making sense, Sean was the first known and they’ve been in each other’s company far too much. 

“If P’Gram thinks that will bring better proof than a photo, then yes, I will allow it.” White looked to be going along with the request, but his walls were built high. Gram rose up and approached at a slow pace, feet feeling like cement blocks as he dragged them closer and closer. White narrowed his eyes, a testing gaze so much like Black and then cocked his head to the side. Gram leaned down to press his nose into this mysterious person’s neck, right on top of his scent gland and took a deep inhale. 

Gram’s nostrils were filled with the scent of pastries, the sweetness he had smelled for weeks and had so stupidly put off as Black cheating on him. This close there was no way to say that this scent was merely just from Black’s skin, this was White’s personal omega scent. It was airy, light, and tainted with a clay-like scent of an alpha. A very familiar baby powder scent that was Sean’s, interlaced in this omega’s scent. He pressed his nose harder into the milky colored neck, White making a soft whine as he was scrutinized so closely. 

However, as hard as Gram could refute, there was no way to make a battle to this change in scent. Black has always been a beta, Gram had slept with Black and there was never slick apparent. It felt like the most cliché solution, but this was indeed not Black, this was his twin brother. Gram pulled back from the omega’s neck, all the hairs on his arm standing tall from sheer shock. “You mated with Sean,” he said first and then almost kicked himself in the face from the way White’s jaw unhinged open in disbelief. “Er, I mean, uh-” 

“Woah, hold your fucking horses!” Yok cried out, rushing over to begin probing at this new omega. White’s cheeks turned a furious red as he tried to pull away from the grip Gram had on his arm. “Dude,” Yok turned to Sean, “the minute you found out this wasn’t Black you had your dick out?!” 

“Hey!” Sean was at their side in a second top, taking White by the shoulder and pushing the omega behind his back to hide him away. Yok had begun evilly cooing at the omega, chasing him around Sean to tease him. “I’ve been attracted to White’s scent for months and he to mine. It was only right.” Sean tried to explain to Gram, though was failing in the way he was slowly curling in on himself in shyness. 

Gram’s shock knew no bounds as he boggled at Sean for not outright refusing the fact that he mated immediately with White. “You mated with the pack leader’s litter mate that quickly. Sean, do you understand how awful that sounds!” 

“Don’t put this all on P’Sean!” White’s soft voice was piping in, a pair of doe eyes blinking so cutely at Gram to somehow ease his alpha out of trouble. Such an action coming from Black’s face was terrifyingly abnormal. “I am just as guilty as he is, P’Gram.” 

“Ew,” Yok shriveled up his nose, so curiously shifting his face inches away from White’s, “I know you aren’t Black, because you address us so politely, Nong White.”

White looked at Yok so fondly when he used his name for the first time, his head tilting to the side and eyes scrunching up into tiny crescents from how wide his smile was. As close as Gram was to White he could see the same features he had always seen in Black, but a few that weren’t there either. The scar Black had on his cheek was smooth skin, there was a dark freckle on the edge of White’s jawline, and the smile was enough evidence since Black only smiled whenever someone got seriously injured. Gram wanted to start throwing things that he had been blind he hadn’t been able to tell his mate apart from his identical brother. Yet, as the thought came, he felt his skin prickle. “Wait... if you’re here, then where’s Black?” Gram watched with looming dread the way White froze in place, “you said he got hurt, did he tell you to come here?” 

“P’Gram,” White turned to him slowly, eyes filled with so much sympathy that Gram wanted to pass out from shock. The look the omega adopted was the one doctors give whenever they lose a patient. If White was here and Black was injured then… no… “P’Black is in a coma from his injuries.” 

It was as if the sky had come crashing down. The world came to a standstill and Gram didn’t know how he still had the strength in his knees to keep standing, but he did. His feet felt like they were pulsing on the ground, the dawning news consuming him and leaving a vicious feeling of guilt. “What,” he stuttered out, when Gram blinked he found his vision blurring with every flutter of his eyelashes, “you’re telling me I was here the whole fucking time Black was in a coma. With my goddamn thumb up my ass, without a care in the world, and he was suffering?!” 

His body moved for him, the same way he kept on standing, to grab at White’s shoulders. The omega gave a yelp of surprise, chin tucking low towards his chest to protect his jugular. Seeing those actions play out, Gram had let go of White like he was burned, how dare he try to hurt his mate's brother?! The omega then grabbed him by the wrist, trying to pull him towards him and it was then that Gram realized his attempt at fleeing. “Do not blame yourself, P’Gram. I had my fears that one of Black’s packmates was the reason he got hurt so I kept his condition under wraps to investigate. This was my decision and you would have never known.” 

“He’s my mate,” Gram stressed, heart picking up so fast he could hear it thumping in his ears like a drum. The blurring tears finally broke free, streaking twin down his cheeks and knowing that he was breaking down so easily in front of Black’s brother had his throat burning from embarrassment. “He disappeared and I thought the new scent was because he was cheating on me,” admitting it aloud was like an axe thrusted right in his chest, organs and bones making room for the sharp blade to slice clean through. “He was lying in a coma and I was more concerned that he was cheating on me. Oh my God , I’m such a horrible person.” 

“ Hey, hey ,” Gram felt hands grab at his shoulders, another at his upper arm and he knew these hands were his packmates, but he couldn’t stomach them. He felt so disgusting. Like a piece of gum on the bottom of someone’s shoe. He threw those offending appendages off his body, uncaring for any sounds of hurt. He was more focused at running out of the garage and out in the humid Thailand air. 

The obsidian sky he had been so happy to stall out glared back at him. There wasn’t even a star in the sky and Gram didn’t think he wanted to watch stars. He walked a few steps towards his bike before he was retracing his footsteps in frustration. The ground became a victim to the toe of his shoe to kick at, hands latching at his biceps and squeezing tightly to ground himself. His brain was a montage of Black, his Black, not the version of Black that White fooled them with. It was like he was watching a slideshow at someone’s funeral, seeing every photo that had been taken in their short life and feeling like this was the end of everything to come.

It’s over, isn’t it? Their romance, their twirl with death and justice. It’s over. And that burned, knowing that he had an attempt with Black, but he held back afraid that he’d ruin everything with such strong passion. The night they shared everything with each other was the climax of the story, the crescendo in their duet, but it was also the fading last note. 

Gram looked to the place in the sky where the moon was supposed to be and without even a moment of hesitance he gave a barking howl. The moon not being there for his mourning howl felt symbolic, showing how late his sympathy was. When Gram’s howl finished, his throat too raw to continue anymore he was plunged into silence. A part of him was expecting a howl back, Black’s voice calling him, but the rational side of himself already steeled the upcoming tears when he was met with the cacophony of crickets instead. 

He clenched his teeth hard, so hard he could feel his molars move with every grind, and then so slowly allowed his jaw to relax. “P’Gram?” A voice called from a distance, Gram turning fast to see the silhouette of a person he wished so badly to see. 

“Black!” He gasped and when the street light hit this person’s face and Gram saw the glasses, his elated heart became nothing more than a depressing, steady beat. “I’m sorry, White, I mean.” 

The omega looked to be apparition from the night, the street light washing out his entire body to appear such a ghastly color. If Gram was the least bit unhinged he would have thought this was the ghost of Black coming to give him hell. “I should apologize first,” White responded, he didn’t move from the light, still a good distance away from the alpha. “I can’t fathom the agony you are going through over finding out Black’s injuries. It wasn’t my intention to hurt you, I wish I could have gone about the situation better.” 

Gram could only chuckle sardonically, “You are as diplomatic as your brother,” White smiled at that, looking a little bashful as he scrubbed at the back of his head. “My anger ruined any chance of us having a nice conversation anyways. I'm sorry for that.” 

“It's totally okay, your anger was justified,” White so casually brushed away such a large part of their conversation between them. It was so easy, Gram could only balk. If someone blew up at him the way he did to White he would have held that grudge for years. “P’Black has a very caring mate. I am happy to know he has someone looking out for him all these years I couldn’t.” 

The urge to preen hit Gram strong. He had to hold himself back from beaming, though it was easy when this happiness was replaced with guilt. “I still let him get so hurt he's comatose” the words that passed his throat felt like razor blades, slicing up his strong tone to be nothing more than a raw whimper. “Please don’t sugar coat his condition, White… How bad is he.” 

He braced himself like he was anticipating a knife wound to his stomach. White was the keeper of all the information Gram could want, but just like his brother he was as mysterious as a folktale. “Better,” the breath Gram was holding came out in a rush, “a lot better, I promise. The first time I visited him I could barely recognize his face from the bruising, but since my last visit he has completely healed from bruising and bone breaks. He is in a medically induced coma due to a hemorrhage in his brain from being hit in the head. The doctors were able to treat it quickly before anything life threatening could happen. However, he has yet to break from the coma.” There was a pause, White head dipping down to narrow his eyes like he was scrutinizing Gram’s entire being, “Before he wakes I want to find the person who did this to him. Do you understand my goal?” 

“Of course,” Gram didn’t know he still had a voice left, but he did, he answered so suddenly he felt like he was vomiting words. “If I knew of Black’s condition I would have done the same thing you are doing now… I just wished you trusted us quicker. We are Black’s packmates.” 

A haunted look cross White’s face, the distance between them felt like a juxtaposition to how far away they truly were from understanding each other. White was a stranger and Gram had known a fake version of him for two months. This may have been Black’s brother, but that was all he knew of this omega and that fact scared him. Gram was at White’s volition and it was a vulnerable place to be in for someone you barely knew. “I trust you all now,” White’s voice was a whisper amongst the chirping crickets. Gram took a cautious step forward to hear him better and was glad that White didn’t take a step back. “We will work together for the same goal. P’Black trusted you all to be his packmates and because of that I will go out on a limb and apply the same trust.” 

Gram took another step forward, this close there was only three more steps away from White’s body illuminated under the lamp. He straightened his shoulder, trying to appear bigger than this omega, but White met him with an eyebrow raise lacking any empathy. Gram could only chuckle at that, “White, has anyone ever told you that you can easily embody your brother’s personality.” 

A slimy grin grew on White’s cheeks, “many,” the omega drawled, so casually tucking a hand at his hip and leaning to the side. “P’Gram, do I have your corporation?” 

“When it’s Black,” Gram took the final step to reach out an open palm towards White in solidarity, “I will go to hell and back for every reckless, unavoidable problem he gotten into.” The smile White gave him was filled with fondness and he clasped Gram’s hand in his own. They stared at each other and suddenly White didn’t seem so unfamiliar. If White could put his trust into the pack, because of Black’s judgment, then Gram could do the same. 

“Come inside,” White didn’t let go of his hand, instead he tugged at where they were connected and started pulling Gram back towards the garage. He tried to retrace his steps backwards just barely, but White was launching forward with a strong sense of vigor. “You didn’t even eat, P’Gram!” White went on, swinging their interlocked hands together and he looked back with shiny doe eyes, “what would P’Black say if I let his mate rot outside when we have so much food inside-- Er, well, we better hurry before Yok eats it all. Oh!” White stopped straight in his tracks and Gram had to dig his heels in the ground so he didn’t ram straight into the small omega’s back. White turned around, practically beaming as he handed a square piece of plastic to Gram. “Here, take this.”

He took it without thinking, holding the card up to the little bit of light shining away from them. “What is this?” Gram asked, squinting at it. The card looked to be a driver’s license, just from a different country seen by the Cyrillic on it? Was this Cyrillic? He had never seen Russian before. Gram didn’t know what exactly White gave him, but there was a small picture of the omega in the left corner and authentic legal shit on it. 

“My drivers licenses,” White giggled cutely at his disbelief, standing on the tips of his toes to point at his name spelled out in blocky letters and yep, that’s Black’s last name, but that wasn’t his first name. Gram furrowed his eyebrows and turned to White with a confused lip twitch. White rolled his eyes and explained so simply: “P’Sean told me I should give you sound, legal evidence of myself so you wouldn’t think I’m Black trying to fool you. I only had my driver’s license with my name on it, it's useless here, I don't know why I keep carrying it around...” 

“This is Cyrillic,” Gram so smartly pointed out, tapping quizzically at the topmost header on the card. “You’re from Russia?” 

The whimsical smile White gave him was positively dastardly as he plucked the card out of Gram’s hand. Just before he could have taken any more information from the card to be useful. “Yes, that’s where I’ve lived for the past ten years,” he explained, pocketing the card in the back of his pants and grasping Gram’s hand once more. Pulling him along at the same arm-ripping strength. Gram didn't know why he was fighting this omega so much. He had so many questions and something told him that if he started saying too much in front of the pack, Sean would get protective. This was the only time he could get White alone to finally ask the question he had for all the time he's known of Black's fears the night they mated.

“Why did you leave Black?” He asked out of the blue and then felt awful when White froze from trying to persuade him back to eat food. The little omega puffed out his cheeks in frustration, his fingers going limp to drop Gram’s arm right back to his side. “He told me once,” he clarified in the form of word-vomit, lower lip migrating to the space between his teeth to gnaw on the soft flesh, “that everyone he loved has left him and he never got to stop them. Did you leave Black?” 

“P’Gram.” White growled in warning, Gram’s heart dropped in his chest that he went too far. Though, it didn’t seem to, because White was taking his glasses off and rubbing the bridge of his nose between his fingers. Frustration edging on his soft features like a blot of ink on a clean piece of paper. “I hope you don’t think poorly of me for keeping my past with P’Black to myself. My brother is not one to want people to pry into his life and I don’t personally like putting my brother in a vulnerable situation later down the road when he wakes up,” a pause, Gram went to cut him off, but White glared viciously. “You may be his mate, but that doesn’t give you the right to know his trauma. I am not your source that will spill all the secrets P’Black withholds from you. When he wishes to tell you he will-- it will be better coming from him anyways. I however apologize for my tone, but I have to be clear where I stand.” 

White looked small, well he always looked small, but this omega was purposely making himself look small. His shoulders caving in towards the front and dipping down to compact his bigger build into the tiniest box. His chin was protectively dipped over his throat as if Gram was going to bite out his jugular. These precautions only spoke of how little trust White had for Gram and it hurt in a way. To know someone had such a poor image of you when you have done nothing to deserve it. Well… Gram wouldn’t say he was the poster child of pearly white innocence, because he did yell at White, but he also was well aware of Black’s inability to share his past. 

The past was there whenever Gram ever comforted Black, yet avoided like the plague when Gram became more of a distraction rather than a shrink and maybe there was a good reason to why Black held back from saying anything. The little guy was the type of person who liked to look forward rather than back and the knowledge that he had a brother spoke numbers of all the secrets he withheld. Did Gram want to know them, absolutely, but was he going to pry? Never. 

Black would be the one to initiate the things he wanted Gram to know and he’d listen every step of the way, soaking in all the information he could. Though, that time wasn’t now and White wasn’t his source to understand Black better. “I don’t think poorly of you,” Gram backtracked, laying a heavy hand on White’s shoulder and squeezed the thin bone in reassurance. This show of solidarity had White lifting up his chin and finally rising out of a show of submission. “If anything I think better that after so long you still understand how Black works. You’re protective of your brother and I cannot find fault when I am the same way.” 

White nodded his head, slow, but then found a good rhythm that there was understanding between them. “Come on, stop stalling,” the omega dragged out in a whine as he tried to pull Gram back towards the garage. “I told P’Sean I would be right back and you keep asking me dumb question. You’re so slow, P’Gram!” 

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” Gram laughed, allowing White to pull him like a child’s playtoy. The headstrong nature that endeared Gram in Black was very apparent in his brother. Sure it was presented in a cute manner, but White still had the ability to stand his ground without allowing his status of an omega make others think he’s weak. If anything, Gram thinks this omega is one of the strongest fighters out there. 

White had fooled them for months about Black and had stood tall when Gram yelled at him. And not only that, when Gram stormed off, White came to him without fear of his alpha status. Gram knew there was a touch of recklessness in White that Black also had, but one couldn’t be reckless without having courage. Gram should glean something off that courage. 

Black wasn’t dead. And sure, Gram was upset in learning about his failure to protect his mate, but Black isn't six feet under yet. He was in a hospital in a coma that he was coming around to and Gram was going to find out who did this to him. With White on the team and the pack there, they will avenge their pack leader before he could even wake up. 

....Or Gram hoped they could. Black never did things correctly and his own health was as flippant as a dice roll. Regardless, Gram liked him that way- He liked being on his toes about his pesky little mate.