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There was a sudden bang of medium volume. As there was nothing afterwards for several seconds, Anton went back to reading his newspaper.
Natalia looked up from her magazine. “Anton, could you go see what made that noise?” she asked worriedly, sitting in her chair across the room from him.
“I’m sure it was nothing, my dear. Probably just a gust of wind that got funneled between the houses and knocked over a loose trash can lid. I’ll look in the morning.” Anton was almost certain that’s what it was—it had happened before—and was more than content to continue sitting on the sofa reading his paper when there was a loud crash.
“That wasn’t the wind,” Natalia said, concern in her voice. “Please, Anton? I’ll go with you.”
“Fine,” Anton relented. He put his paper aside, grabbed a flashlight, and headed out the front door of the townhouse they lived in, Natalia right behind him in a fancy fur coat. He slowly rounded the left corner of the house and shone the light into the tight space between their house and their neighbor’s. There was a small black bundle lying on the ground next to an overturned trash can and an upright trash can, both against the left wall of the Knight townhouse.
Well, Anton had been half-right about the commotion, which still made him feel smug. “What is that?” he almost snarled.
The object on the ground moved a little.
Anton made a surprised noise and tried to move back, but bumped into Natalia, who was intrigued and stepped around him to get a closer look.
“Be careful!” he warned her as she approached the mass. He stepped into the space and slowly joined her, keeping a couple of inches between their bodies as he raised the light over her shoulder, concentrating it on the moving mass.
Both gasped as a small arm came out from under the black bundle. It was followed by a small head poking up, staring at them in horror.
“What the--?” Anton started as he caught a whiff of presenting omega.
“A baby,” Natalia cooed. She quickly scooped up the small presenting omega in her arms and turned around.
“What are you doing?!” Anton asked, shocked.
“What does it look like? I’m going to shelter this little feral omega.”
The look of disgust on Anton’s face told Natalia all she needed to know about his opinion on this matter.
“It would be cruel to let the poor little thing present on the streets.”
“There’s no need for you to touch such a lowly creature. Give it to me and I’ll take it to a shelter.” Anton internally revolted at touching an omega, even if there was a blanket or other such object between them, but it was preferable to Natasha directly touching one and rubbing its filth off on her.
“It’s really not that much of a burden to shelter this omega while it’s presenting,” she assured him. “Besides, it would probably go into full heat before you even left the district, much less were close to the nearest shelter. And if you think an in-heat omega is a pain in the house, I imagine it would be worse inside a small, cramped space like a car. Especially since you’re an alpha.”
Anton grumbled as they headed back into the house, knowing that she had a point and hating it. His heightened alpha sense of smell could tell that it wouldn’t be long until the pre-heat scent morphed into heat scent proper. And nestless omegas were messy to deal with.
Natalia was barely out of the foyer when Anton, still at the front door closing it, heard her put the omega down on the floor. He winced as its dirty shoes made an audible tapping sound against the expensive hardwood floor. He prayed no scuff marks were left behind. He didn’t feel like wasting the money to buff them out.
“Let’s get a good look at you,” Natalia said as she pulled the black plastic trash bag that had been shielding the omega off. She was amazed at how small the omega before her was and instantly she knew that he had been on the streets—or feral—for quite awhile, at least a year. She had seen enough of both feral and tame omegas to know the difference and feral omegas were always slighter and skinnier than tame ones.
After she made a mental note to reverse the malnutrition he had obviously gone through, she was able to focus on other things about the omega’s appearance. He had bright cyan eyes and jet black hair, which Natalia couldn’t help but notice was lying flat against his head—no volume whatsoever—and appeared matted. She unfortunately caught a whiff of his natural scent and it was obvious he hadn’t had a bath or a shower in a long time, definitely at least a year. She looked back at his hair and shuddered at the thought that, if she touched it, her hand would be coated in its natural oils. His skin and clothes weren’t much cleaner; his complexion was almost as pale as her own and so any dirt or grime on it stood out. He was wearing a black vest-like garment and under it a long-sleeved blood red shirt that said “Poison Idea”. His pants looked like denim jeans but were tannish in color. His beat up old sneakers were yellowish but Natalia wasn’t sure if that was because that was their normal color or not. His socks were barely visible and what she could see was fraying and loose around his ankles. She would have to teach this child about color coordination.
She finally looked into his eyes—instead of at them—and said, “Why don’t you go upstairs and get yourself washed off as best you can. The washroom is the first on the left after you reach the landing. Take the trash bag. Leave your clothes on it outside the room. There will be clean clothes and a snack waiting for you after you finish.”
The omega continued standing there. The disbelief and fear in his eyes are obvious to her, though she’s sure he thinks he’s hiding it.
“Go on, little one,” she softly encourages.
“Aren’t you coming?” he asks.
“You seem old enough to bathe yourself by yourself,” she answers. “Hurry now, before the full effect of your heat hits you.”
That was all it took for the little omega to grab the trash bag and scamper upstairs.
“Anton?” she called, unsure of where he was.
“Yes, my dear?” he responded from the drawing room, having just sat back down on the couch, intent on finishing his paper.
“. . . I need you to pick some things up for me.” As she turned her head toward him, she could see he had a suspicious look on his face.
“What for?” he asked, a hostile undertone obvious.
“The omega needs food and clothes. I’m afraid all of the food we have currently wouldn’t be good for him. And unless you want him running around in your old boyhood clothes, he has no other options except the rags he had on him.” The vest and shirt were on the thin side, but otherwise in decent shape. The pants appeared to be wearing thin in the knee regions, but were still wearable. However, there was no way either of them would allow any of the omega’s clothes to be washed in the expensive premium washer they had in the house. Natalia had long ago gotten rid of the clothes she had been wearing when Charles met her. She knew there was no way Anton would allow a lowly omega to wear any of their clothes, even if they didn’t fit them anymore, so the only option was buying some new ones.
Predictably, Anton got up, grumbling, went back to the door, grabbed his coat, and headed out.
“It doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Just go to the dollar store or something,” she called as he closed the door behind him.
As if I would waste money on good clothes for an omega, Anton thought as he started up the BMW. Natasha more than likely knew that giving an omega clothes to begin with was unusual, but unfortunately he didn’t see himself talking her out of it at this moment. At least the omega would be confined in the house so nobody else could see it wearing clothes. As if it was a person.
***
Anton drove into the nearest neighborhood that was below their status but which he assumed wasn’t poor (not that he’d know) and headed straight for the nearest store that appeared to sell clothes. He quickly parked close to the entrance and hurried inside. He wandered around a bit before he discovered that there were signs telling you what products were where. Pushing down his embarrassment, he headed to the boy’s clothes section. He didn’t know what size the omega was but he assumed extra small and grabbed the closest plain white T-shirt and pair of shorts. He was almost towards the registers when he passed by a sign indicating food in the right wing of the store. After getting over the shock that some people could buy food in the same place as their clothes, he headed that way, much preferring to only make one stop. It would be quicker and lessened the likelihood of the news of him shopping in stores that were beneath him getting to his and Natalia’s circle.
He looked around, unsure of what to get. He got the impression Natalia wasn’t going to feed him much, at least not right away, but that was no help. As he slowly went through the aisles with the clothes slung over his arm, meticulously looking at the strange foods and brands, he was starting to draw attention. Once Anton became aware of this, his flight instinct immediately kicked in; he grabbed a can of soup from the shelf in front of him and turned around to head back to the registers.
Unfortunately, his trip did nothing to dissuade gawkers. If anything, it just encouraged more people to stare at this awkward stranger who looked very out of place. He walked brusquely and quickly, occasionally shoving people who got in his way out of it. Anton was shocked at how many people were shopping at eight o’clock at night. When he finally made it to the registers, he promptly went for the only open one.
No sooner than putting the clothes and can on the conveyor belt right next to the cashier did she snatch them and ring them up. “Will that be all, sir?” she asked bored in a nasally voice.
“Yes,” Anton replied curtly, not looking at her.
“Cash or card?”
“Cash,” he answered as he reached into his back pocket for his wallet. Unfortunately when he opened it, there was no cash. He started to tremble a little.
The cashier was watching him and waiting. “Is there a problem, sir?” she asked, a little impatiently.
“Card,” Anton said as he pulled out his credit card.
“Credit or debit?”
“Credit.” There really was no good option when it came to paying for cheap department store items, but this way Anton reasoned it was like the credit card company was really the one paying for it, which wouldn’t be unusual for it overall given how many other people must have cards. He found it hard to believe that at least one other cardholder hadn’t bought similar items at least once.
He quickly handed over the card to the cashier, she swiped it, he put in his PIN, confirmed the purchase, grabbed the items and his card when she handed it back to him, and swiftly headed out. More people had begun to stare at him as he checked out, entire lines being held up as cashiers and customers gawked. The stares continued as he left. Needless to say, Anton was thrilled when he was finally out of there and back in his car. He locked the doors, put his card back in his wallet, tossed the clothes onto the passenger seat, settled the can of soup carefully on top, buckled up, started the car, and raced home.
Back at home, Natalia was busy making a nest for the omega. He likely would not have time to do it himself before his heat hit in full and not having a nest ready would just make the whole ordeal much more difficult. So much so that Natalia feared Anton would toss the omega right back into the alley where they found him rather than deal with a nestless omega. She had dug out a pet bed that had belonged to a dog she had loved dearly when she was a teenager. She had also scrounged up a few older bed sheets and blankets that Anton had been meaning to toss for years.
In the drawing room, she placed the bed on the floor, laid one of the bed sheets over it, and constructed a little cave with the rest of the bed sheets and blankets using the bed as a base. When she felt it was as good as she was going to get it, she stopped and hoped it was good enough to be accepted by the omega. Next she went into the kitchen to prepare for when Anton came home. The omega would no doubt be starving after bathing and she hoped to have his snack ready for him when he finished.
Anton walked in as she was rifling through the pots and pans, which he could hear from the foyer. He took his coat off and hung it on the rack and retrieved his wallet from one of its pockets and put it back in his pants pocket. As he passed by the drawing room, he flung the clothes haphazardly onto the couch. As he turned to go into the kitchen, something caught his eye and he turned his gaze back into the drawing room. A nest. Anton scrunched up his face in confusion. Natasha must’ve made it; he could see that the washroom door was still closed from where he was standing. He’d have to have a conversation with her about it later; only omegas knew how to build nests. In fact, it was illegal for other designations to do so, as a part of separating the higher ones (alphas, betas) from the lower one (omegas), which she almost certainly knew. But that was a conversation for later. Anton doubted he’d get anything from Natasha if he tried to bring it up right now. So he headed into the kitchen with the soup can.
It was perfect timing as Natalia had just set a pan on the stove. “Oh wonderful, Anton. You’re back with the food.” She grabbed the can from his hand, set it on the countertop, pulled the lid off with the pull tab, turned on the stove, let it heat the pan for about a minute, and poured the soup into the cookware. She pulled out a spatula as she occasionally stirred, wanting the liquid to heat evenly. As she watched it, she said, “Tomato soup was an excellent choice. Especially this brand. As it’s thinner and doesn’t have anything special in it, I don’t think it will upset the omega’s stomach in the slightest.”
There was a pause before Anton spoke. “Wouldn’t it be faster to heat that up in the microwave?” he asked.
Natalia stopped her stirring. There was another pause before she answered. “It didn’t even occur to me.”
Whether she meant the speed or use of any other appliance other than the stove Anton didn’t know and he didn’t feel like pressing.
“Where are the omega’s clothes?”
“On the couch,” he answered tersely.
“Can you place them on the floor in front of the washroom door? Folded nicely, please. I want them to be the first thing his sees when he opens the door.” Unfortunately there was no time to wash them before he put them on. He was likely finishing up as they spoke.
Anton inaudibly grumbled but did as he was told, not missing the way Natasha referred to the omega as “he”. Something else they would have to have a conversation about later. Afterwards, he retrieved his paper from the drawing room and headed back to the kitchen, moving around Natalia to get to the other side of the table where he usually sat at the end. He took his seat and started reading where he left off while she continued to stir, both of them silent.
After a few more minutes, Natalia felt the soup was warm enough but not so hot it would burn the omega’s tongue, particularly since he was liable to scarf it down the instant it was placed in front of him, and turned the dial to low.
Just at that moment, they heard a sound and turned to the doorway to see the omega standing there in his new clothes, looking warily at them.
“Come on in, come on in,” Natalia encouraged as she swiftly got out a glass bowl from an overhead cabinet and poured the soup into it. She set the bowl at the end of the table opposite Anton, turned off the stove, put the pan down on one of the burners, got out a soup spoon, and placed it in the bowl. She watched gleefully as the omega slowly approached and sat down.
The omega cautiously glanced at her after peaking into the bowl. A nod was all it took to convince him to pick up the spoon and start slurping, not too fast but still with need.
Anton tried to keep his cool as the slurping interrupted his reading.
Natalia sat down in the nearest seat to the left of the omega, propped her head up with her right arm (trying her hardest to ignore the fact that her elbow was on the table), and watched him eat.
The omega continued slurping at a steady pace while he warily eyed Natalia, who did her best to put the omega at ease by smiling softly at him. She wasn’t sure if it worked or not.
When he had consumed about three-quarters of his soup, Natalia decided to break the wordlessness by asking him a question. “What’s your name?”
This caused Anton to cease reading and peer over the top of his paper at them. It was common for owners to give their omegas names much like pet owners do, though it was rare for owners of secondhand omegas to care what the previous owner had named it and usually renamed it on the spot, much less asked it what its previous owner called it. Anton silently shook his head as the list of things he had to discuss with Natasha kept growing.
The omega looked at Natalia for several seconds before answering. “Jason.”
Natalia couldn’t help but smile. “Jason . . . I like that name.”
The omega went back to slurping his soup. No sooner did he finish than he doubled over and groaned.
Natalia stood up quickly. “It has begun. Follow me into the drawing room.”
The omega did as it was told.
Natalia gestured at the nest she had made. “Is this acceptable?”
Normally the omega would’ve questioned how a non-omega could make a nest, but as this was not the time, he nodded as he clutched at his stomach in pain.
“We have a guest bedroom upstairs. Would you like to ride out your presentation there?”
Once again, he nodded.
Natalia strolled swiftly with the nest up the stairs. The omega was close behind. She turned to the left and headed to the last room on the left. When she realized she couldn’t open the door herself, she asked the omega to do so. He obeyed. She strode to the middle of the room.
“Come on in, little one.”
The omega obeyed again.
“Where would you like me to put your nest?”
If he had had the time to be suspicious about her being so nice to him, he would be. But as he had started presenting, he really needed to get into that nest. After quickly glancing around the room, he pointed to the closet and said, “There.”
Natalia headed over to the closet. Just as she realized she again couldn’t open the door with her hands full of the nest, the omega hurriedly pulled the sliding door on the left open. She quickly put the nest down on the floor in the corner. Just as she was about to ask if that was an acceptable spot, he swiftly crawled in and covered himself with loose blankets. As softly as she could, Natalia closed the closet door and headed back downstairs.
Anton hadn’t moved from his spot and he spent the next three days as far away from the omega as he could get inside the house, not wanting to trigger his rut. Thus it was up to Natalia to deliver the omega’s two light snacks a day. She would leave them outside the closet door and would return hours later to collect the empty silverware. The omega was as quiet as it could be while it was presenting. Natalia knew it was for the best that she not disturb him, even though she at least wanted to peek in on him, though she knew if she did that the chances of contact between her and the omega would be high. Given the fact that the omega would much rather not have any kind of contact with anyone in the house, doing so would jeopardize her attempts to bond with him outside of his heat and he’d likely reject her altogether. Then she couldn’t keep him.
Natalia had made up her mind by the time the omega’s heat had passed. Jason was staying, no matter Anton’s opinion on the subject.
About twelve hours or so after Natalia was certain the omega’s heat was over, she made her move. She went upstairs and managed to coax the omega from the closet, saying he didn’t have to stay in there now that his heat was over if he didn’t want to.
Suspicious, Jason wanted to know why. “Are you kicking me out now?” he asked, half hopeful.
The fact that he would prefer living on the Gotham streets made Natalia’s heart break, though given her past, she also understood where he was coming from. Which is why it was important for him to know that he was safe here.
“You can stay in this room, if you’d like. I would feel just awful if I let a homeless omega go back on the streets.”
He stood just a few feet from the closet door, giving her a look. “I don’t really have a choice in this, do I? I belong to your family now.”
“Believe me, I know what you’re going through right now.”
Yeah right Jason thought. Like I haven’t heard that one before.
“All I ask is that you at least give it a chance here. I know Anton can be difficult to get along with, but you leave smoothing things over with him to me. All you have to worry about is adjusting. If . . . you still want to leave after, say, a week, then so be it. But I’d love it if you stayed.”
“Okay,” Jason agreed, more out of necessity than anything. He felt a little cornered right now and just wanted that feeling to go away. He wasn’t fooled for a second thinking he actually had a choice in this matter. No one in their right mind would let a perfectly good omega that fell into their lap walk away. Plus it was obvious that she was smitten with him and wanted to keep him, she just didn’t want to admit it out loud to him right now. Before the end of the week, Jason fully expected bars to be on the window outside and for him to be locked in this room 24/7. But he’d play along for right now while also looking into ways to escape before his week was up.
“Wonderful.” She checked her expensive watch. “Anton will be home any time now. We should be waiting for him in the drawing room to explain the situation.”
Jason followed her downstairs and into the drawing room. She had taken one of the loose blankets from the nest with her and as she sat in her chair, she made room as she placed it between her body and the left arm of the chair.
“Would you like to sit next to me as I tell Anton?”
“Sure,” he shrugged. He didn’t really want to, but again knew he had no choice. Though it was probably for the better for him to be physically close to her when Anton was informed. Jason hadn’t seen much of Anton, but it was obvious that he wasn’t going to take the news of this lady deciding to keep him well at all. He climbed up into the space with the blanket, wrapped it around him, and scooted over to the arm as much as he could without toppling over it.
Natalia waited with her hands in her lap, for which the omega was grateful. If she didn’t like him moving, she made no outward signs of it. They sat there in silence for who knows how long waiting for Anton to come home. Just as Jason worked up the courage to ask Natalia where he was and what he was doing, Anton walked into the foyer. When he entered the drawing room, he looked at the two of them on the chair and stopped, a hard, knowing look on his face.
“Anton,” Natalia started. “We need to talk.”
“Yes, Natasha,” he agreed. “We do.”