Koutou [4/]
Previous chapter
3 weeks later
Danneel jumped as the door burst open and Jensen helped a limping Jared in. The omega’s face was tear streaked and every step was visibly painful as he trailed along in Jensen’s wake. She rose to her feet automatically even though moments earlier she had been feeling tired enough to nearly nod off at the table as she waited for them to return.
“Guys?” She asked uncertainly when neither man spoke, simply heading into their bedroom.
Jensen glanced up, his expression thunderous, “What?!”
She stepped back instinctively at the anger in the alpha’s tone, forcing herself to voice her question, “What -what happened?”
“What happened?!” Jensen mimicked her, seething as he began stripping the omega. “What happened was that the two of you refuse to listen to me! What happened was -despite me warning you time and time again- you pushing for change! What happened was Jared forgetting. His. Damn. Place. In. The. Pack! ”
She gasped as the last piece of cloth protecting Jared’s modesty was roughly yanked down his body and she was left staring at the red and already bruising skin beneath Jensen’s family crest. “Jay-!”
Jensen grabbed her shoulders to halt her when she took an automatic step towards their omega.
“You’ve done enough, don’t you think? ” He sneered, leaving her standing stupefied as he guided the silent omega into the bathroom with a surprisingly gentle hand.
She retreated to the living room with silent tears coursing unchecked down her cheeks.
***
“Do we have cold milk?” Jensen’s tired voice brought her out of her reverie.
She jumped up, dabbing at her cheeks when she saw him reach out to trace the wetness on them, “I’m sorry,” The alpha murmured, leaning down to press his lips chastely against her temple, “I’d had a bad day and I took it out on you. I’m so sorry, Sweetheart…”
“Its fine, Jay.” She assured him, relaxing slightly.
“Milk?” He reminded.
“Yeah, yeah... of course.” She mumbled, rushing to pour some into a tumbler. She was surprised when instead of drinking it; he headed to their bedroom again with it.
She winced when she saw how small Jared looked as he lay on the bed, the comforter wrapped loosely around him. His eyes were curiously dry even though intermittent tremors continued to wrack through the slender frame.
“Jay?” Jensen spoke quietly, setting the milk-tumbler on the bedside table and perching on the edge of the bed, “Just gonna take care of you, alright?”
There was no response from the prone figure and after a moment, Jensen seemed to accept the silence as agreement.
The alpha carefully moved the comforter aside and Danneel had to bite her lip to keep her sound of dismay in at the sight of the purple marks on the alabaster-white bottom of their omega.
“I’ve applied some ointment and given him Tylenol,” Jensen murmured as he traced the bruising with feather-light fingers.
She nodded.
“What worries me though, is the internal damage.”
“Internal?!” Danneel yelped, turning to watch the trembling form of their omega with wet eyes.
Jensen nodded mutely, carefully parting Jared’s ass-cheeks to reveal inflamed red skin. “Can… could you please hold him open?”
She wordlessly reached over to do as her alpha demanded, biting back a sob as she felt how hot Jared’s skin still was from his earlier spanking. She watched as Jensen got up to fetch a sealed pack of ear-buds and plucked one out before dipping the tip in the cold milk. He trailed the wet tip over the inflamed skin with gentle strokes, repeatedly re-moistening the cotton tip. Once satisfied, he carefully pressed the cotton against the omega’s abused hole till it slipped in with a muffled groan from Jared.
Danneel looked away.
“Will you stay with him?” Jensen whispered once he was done, careful to pitch his voice low enough that he would not wake Jared who’d slipped into exhausted slumber awhile ago.
Her head shot up, “You’re not staying?”
The alpha had the grace to glance away, “I don’t think Jared’s going to appreciate sharing a bed with his abuser right now…”
“Abuser?!” She hissed, “You did this to him???”
Jensen nodded wearily, “He got into an altercation with Lehne. I had to … or Fredrick would’ve disciplined him himself.”
“What… what did you do?”She whispered, abruptly losing steam.
“They gave me a whole tray of stuff, Dani. What was I supposed to do?”
“I dunno, Jay… There’s something called faking it. Ever heard of it?!” She snapped angrily.
“Fredrick insisted on acting as a witness.”
She nodded, shoulders slumping in resignation as she sighed “Tell me,”
“Gave him ten on the bare,” Jensen breathed, eyes lingering on the spectacular colours beginning to bloom on Jared’s skin.
“And… the internal damage?” She prodded after a minute when it became obvious that Jensen wasn’t going to say anymore.
“Fredrick insisted on the extract.” Jensen confessed miserably.
Danneel gasped. ‘The extract’ as it was popularly known was one of the worst punishments that the alphas had come up with for the betas and omegas who misbehaved: dabbing diluted capsaicin extract on an omega’s (and in rare cases, beta’s ) opening. Available commercially in small bottles, at first look, the deadly liquid appeared like harmless -colourless like nail-paint with merrily floating red threads, and Danneel had never understood how potent it was till she’d seen it administered on her brother’s omega: It had been a family-get together and everything had been going great till Daniel’s omega had accidentally dropped the dessert tray. It hadn’t even been his fault- two of the children playing tag had collided with him- but the dessert tray had been prepared by Daniel’s beta and she was furious. Danneel, at the time a girl of barely sixteen- had watched in horrified fascination as the poor omega had been made to strip right there and bent over the table and paddled till his breath was coming in shuddering gasps. Still not satisfied, Daniel’s beta had then fetched ‘the extract’ and used the applicator- a miniature bottle-brush like instrument that was attached to the inside of the cap of the bottle - to paint the omega’s inner walls. Danneel had been horrified that the omega who had maintained such dignity through his punishment was reduced to begging piteously for mercy mere seconds after the use of ‘the extract’.
She stroked a hand over the blanket covered form of their omega and marveled that he’d not been screaming in agony after such a punishment.
Jared gasped into consciousness and for a long moment didn’t know what had woken him. He twisted to look over his shoulder and found Danneel slumped awkwardly over the covers as though she had fallen asleep while watching over him. The painfully taut muscles of his rear told him that she probably had.
Still, it didn’t explain what had woken him. ..
Crackle…. Crunch
His head snapped towards the living room.
Slipping on his robe, he padded out of the bedroom and paused at the doorway as he spied Jensen at the table. The alpha was facing away from him and staring into nothing, his left hand curled around an empty tumbler. Jared bit his lip as he noticed the thin red rivulets running down the glass under Jensen’s grip.
It wasn’t like it was a surprise; he’d known Jensen for ten years and the alpha had always dealt with his upset the same way: retreating into his head and staying up half the night simply staring into space. …he had never hurt himself before, though.
He fetched a pair of forceps and wordlessly knelt in front of Jensen, “You’re hurting yourself,”
The alpha blinked in surprise at Jared’s voice and peered down at him, confusion obvious in his expression before he followed Jared’s glance and noticed the blood trickling down the tumbler walls. He smiled wanly, “I deserve worse for what I did to you.” But he didn’t fight him when Jared carefully pried his hand from the tumbler, wincing when the glass crumbled the moment Jensen let go.
“No, you don’t,” He whispered back, carefully removing the two thin shards that had gotten buried in Jensen’s palm and simply holding the appendage and watching till the skin knitted itself back together.
“I do,” Jensen argued, “I hurt you so bad,”
“You were trying to protect me,” Jared refuted.
“Some bang up job I did of that.”
“It’s the thought that counts,”
Jensen cupped his jaw in his palm, pulling him up for a soft kiss, “You’re amazing, you know that?”
Jared surged up, pulling Jensen down to meet his lips as he rubbed sinuously against him till the alpha moaned, scrambling desperately to pull away.
“Jay…please…” Jensen gasped, breathing heavily as he tried pulling back “Stop.”
Jared drew back at the unexpected word, “You… don’t want me anymore?”
“You’re hurt, Jay…” Jensen murmured.
He shook his head stubbornly, “Want you,”
“But…”
“Jen,” He sighed, resting his cheek against the alpha’s knee and feeling elated when Jensen instantly entangled his fingers through his hair, gently scratching at his scalp the way Jared loved best. “I- I feel guilty as it is… and I- I want you… need my mates.”
“Both of us?” Danneel asked from where she had appeared at their bedroom door.
“Yes, please…. I- I know I’ve disappointed you, but-”
Gentle fingers silenced him, “You’ve not disappointed us, Darling,”
Jared smiled, leaning back where his Beta was pressed against him.
Jensen slid off his seat so that he could kneel on the smooth hardwood next to his mates, “I’m the one who should apologize, Jay. I-… what I did to you today cannot be excused-”
Danneel nodded, “And I instigated you, so I should’ve shared in your punishment,”
Jared shook his head, “You still took my side, Jen… You punished me for my behaviour, but you supported my idea, man. And even I must admit that my behaviour was pretty appalling… And Dani… I’m a grown ass man; I can take responsibility for my actions…”
“Doesn’t really assuage our guilt,” The beta shrugged, then smiled “Anyway, I think I heard something about sex?”
Jared laughed as he was helped to his feet and the three of them tumbled back into the bedroom. He knew his mates would virtually worship his body (and drive him crazy with need) before Jensen would claim him. Once he would be locked with Jensen, the beta would do her bit; staking her claim on Jared. By the time the sun rose again, all three of them would be hopelessly entangled in each other and that was exactly what Jared loved best. He smiled and relaxed as he was guided to bed.
Despite everything, he was happy…. He was home.
7 weeks later
“You have been summoned by the council,”
Jared blinked, before turning towards the house and hollering, “Dani, the counci-”
“Not the Beta, you.” Steve interrupted.
“Oh,”
Danneel had stepped up behind him by then, “They want Jared?”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Steve answered.
“Come along then, Jared.” The beta nodded, a smile lurking in her eyes as she locked the door and stepped out, pulling him along by his hand.
Jared licked his lip nervously, “You know what this is about?”
“Nope,” She returned, sobering. “I’m sure it’s nothing though,”
He nodded mutely, heart thudding in his chest in apprehension as he walked the few blocks to the Council where he’d first been brought. He swallowed as he saw that all the Pack Elders were gathered there and Jensen was standing to a side instead of in his usual seat.
“Sit,”
Jared wordlessly dropped to his knees on the single cushion that had obviously been placed for him in the room’s centre. He felt more than saw Jensen and Danneel step up to flank him and felt his muscles unclench when the alpha reached out to squeeze his shoulders once in support.
Elder Collins was the first to speak, “You have been summoned here, Omega Padalecki; because of something you did before you joined this pack as Alpha Ackles’ omega.”
Jared bit his lip. It sounded ominous…
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tbc