Casket Boy part 9
Masterpost | Return to part 8 | Continue to part 10
Chapter 4
Jensen was a man on a mission.
Despite his plea, his offers for money, and Morgan's support, Sheppard still hadn't responded to his demand for an exemption. Jared only had seven days left in the Islands. By the end of this week, he would either be deported back to Tethreya, or married.
The decision was so easy in the end.
He made his way to Jared's apartment, slowly, savoring the steps leading to the moment his life would tilt on its axis and head towards love and companionship. No more doubt now, just the pleasure of anticipation.
The door to the small kitchen opened silently. Jensen let his nose direct him towards the bedroom, Jared's scent still so heavy - a comfort, a lifeline - but Jared wasn't here either. The noises coming from the bathroom informed him that Jared was washing away the last traces of ointment, grass, and dirt after their day at the cascade. Once again, Jensen followed the path to his mate and pushed the door open to find him half-bent above the stony washbasin, pulling the handle to activate the water pump.
Jared had changed quite a bit in the time he had been here. Working hard on the plantation, his shoulders and back had begun to broaden with muscles, his skin was smooth and healthily golden now, and Jensen felt the aching need to touch him again and again. To wrap him in his arms forever.
Jared was his. It had taken him almost six months to realize what the omega had known all along, but he didn't consider it as lost time. He was so fiercely in love with this man, and he would be able to take him with the knowledge that they were equal in all things.
Jared heard the door creaking as it was pushed completely open and he turned around to watch Jensen walking in.
"Jensen ?" Jared asked, surprised by this intrusion.
Jensen had seen him naked more than once by now but the fixity of the gaze was somewhat unsettling. He couldn't help but reach for his towel to hide his crotch behind it.
"No !" Jensen protested in a whisper. "Don't hide, please, don't ever hide from me. You're so beautiful, and I love you so much."
The towel fell from his hand, leaving him bare once again to Jensen's loving scrutiny. Coming closer, Jensen raised his right hand to apply it against Jared's heart that was beating so quickly. The mere touch, combined with the alpha's words and his visual caress of his body, gained Jared the beginning of a hard-on.
And then Jared's eyes went wide when he saw Jensen going down on one knee in front of him, grabbing his hands on the way.
"Jared Padalecki," Jensen began, "do you want to take me as your mate, to share our lives and create new ones, to love and sustain each other from now on, till death do us part ?"
Jared was almost too shocked to realize that Jensen had forgone the part about being his alpha whom Jared should honor and obey. But his answer came forward easily.
"Yes, of course I want you. As my mate, my lover, my alpha, the father of my children, forever."
Still on his knees, Jensen immediately engulfed him in his arms, pushing his face into his stomach to inhale him deeply.
"I love you so much !" he repeated.
Jared let him have his moment, his hands playing with his mate's hair. Then Jensen stood back up to bring Jared inside the protective circle of his arms again, taking his lips for a long, devouring kiss. Jared felt his body melt against his alpha's, his earlier fright all gone now. He was so ready to give himself to his mate, even if he had never envisioned this moment prepared to tumble into a bed without any undressing needed.
"And you have to do this when I'm naked and… and… ?!"
He was so close to crying. He had waited and hoped and prayed for this proposal for so long. He was so in love with this man, and yet he had lost almost all hope of ever mating him.
But Jensen had just offered him everything, his love and the life he dreamed of, here on their island, to be happy and become a family.
They retreated to Jared's bed, needing to be close and to get off their feet. Jared moaned and gasped, chest heaving and body arching all along the path of the hands caressing his skin.
"Don't you mind… ?" Jared half-started a question but stopped, embarrassed.
Jensen's pointed look told him to go on.
"That I'm so tall ?"
Taller than you, he wanted to add, but the words stuck in his throat.
"Why would I care ? It only means that there's more of you to love."
And Jared fell in love with Jensen all over again.
Jensen's mouth went back to its original task, mapping Jared's calf with his lips before it moved to the enticing thigh right above, relishing the growing tremors coursing under Jared's skin as it was going higher and higher.
His cock was the next step. Holding it like a giant lollipop, he licked the crown with an appreciative moan, followed the slit with the tip of his tongue, and finally surged to swallow the head and push it as far as possible into his mouth. It hit the back of his palate but still Jensen pushed, his throat opening to take Jared in.
Jared had never felt that, nor seen such a wondrous sight as Jensen's lips wrapped around his cock, marching him straight into bliss territory. And Jensen drank it all, his fingers playing against that place inside Jared's ass that made him see stars.
"Take me," Jared mumbled, "I'm ready."
"No, not yet," Jensen responded in a raspy voice.
"No ?" Jared repeated incredulously, like a cry of distress.
Jensen couldn't do this to him, not again, the situation reminded Jared too much of their first time and he couldn't stand it.
"We'll come to it in good time," Jensen reassured him with a loving kiss to his hipbone. "You're my mate, Jared, in all but this for the time being. And I want us to be married, tied and bound, before you give yourself to me. I want us in perfect harmony. Equals."
The sound Jared emitted was half-sob, half-laugh. He had the most infuriating mate, and he was madly in love with him.
Jared opened his eyes to a blue sky and the most pleasant and joyous feeling. His body felt well used and he smiled, remembering how many times Jensen had him coming, and all the pleasure he had tried to give him back.
Jared frowned when he realized that his mate wasn't lying next to him anymore. His side of the bed was cool, Jensen had probably woken up long before him. As an alpha, he was used to all-night lovemaking, and wasn't that a stupid thought on the first day of your mated life. He didn't need to be jealous anymore, Jensen was his now.
And Jensen had left a note on his pillow to explain his disappearance.
"Don't move ! Don't dress either, you're so beautiful like this, I almost couldn't tear myself apart from you, but I've got an important errand to run. I'll be back soon, keep the bed warm and scented for me. Love, Jensen."
Jared wondered what could have been so important to attract Jensen away from him on such a day, but he was too happy to really care. It pleased him to obey his alpha and stay right where he was until his return.
He vaguely heard some noise at the front door sometime later, realizing he had fallen back asleep by the angle of the sunlight, and he stretched lazily, wearing nothing but a welcoming smile when the door of the bedroom opened.
The men who entered were nothing like his alpha, though, and Jared latched onto the sheet to cover himself.
"Who are you ?" he yelled, unable to master his fright. "What are you doing here ?"
The first answer was in fact obvious, thanks to the uniforms, but it only increased Jared's fear.
"My, my," the first soldier exclaimed with a nasty smile. "I'll be damned if it isn't the commandant's whore !"
Jared gasped at the insult. He had no idea what those words were about, just like he didn't know the tall black guy nor his smaller white comrade. Both looked at him with undisguised contempt, and something else that had Jared trembling even more.
"Come, whore. You, filthy thing, are going back to Tethreya, where you won't dishonor any other good man from the Islands."
The soldiers approached the bed from each side, blocking any attempt Jared might have made to escape. They snatched the sheet from Jared's hand, baring him entirely, before they each grasped one of his wrists.
"You can't take me !" Jared shouted, twisting and fighting against their pull. "I'm almost mated, I'm here to stay, I'm sure you can get the scent of my alpha on me. Please, don't do this, wait for my alpha and he will explain it all."
The grip on his arms didn't falter one bit, Jared still unable to cover himself.
"You smell of alpha alright, you naughty tramp !" the tallest soldier said with a lecherous grin.
He was the one who pushed Jared first against the wall, forcing him to half-sit on the little cabinet, but the second soldier joined him quickly to add his force to the attack. Then both men used their free hand to bring Jared's legs apart, keeping them spread open with their own bodies before they could begin to caress him, hands instinctively going to look for his hole after a quick detour by his cock and balls.
Jared fought hard and he screamed, calling Jensen for help as if the other man was already his alpha, proof once again that they were made for each other and that not only his body recognized that fact, but his mind too.
But Jensen didn't appear magically and Jared felt the hands and mouths of his rapists taking more and more possession of him.
"What's happening here ?!"
The captain's shout put an immediate end to the unpleasant scene. It also made it all the more difficult to resist.
Richings was happily mated and married. He loved his charming and young beta Lindsey, was attracted to her, and never intended to cheat. To this day, he had never been interested in any other beta or omega. Not enough, at the very least, to keep him silent while he was able to take in the sight of an aroused omega on full display - nipples and cock hard, hole shiny with slick, skin of his torso glistening with the saliva of his attackers, the same men that were forcing him open and vulnerable, offered to the eyes of Richings and his second in command. Four alphas whose pheromones were saturating the room in answer to the omega's scent. Four alphas ready to fight each other for the pleasure to take him first.
The captain's silence must have felt like a menace to the assaulting grunts. One of them, Brown, turned a worried face to him, full of fear of the reprimand he knew was coming. Yet his eyes still showed the wildness of his need and desire.
"This harlot told us to smell him, Captain. It's his fault entirely ! How are we supposed to resist the scent of an aroused omega ?! He practically asked us to take him."
His averted eyes showed at first that Brown was lying, thinking fast of any excuse to avoid a well-deserved punishment. But it was also clear that he believed the omega to be a debauched one who had no right in his book to make such a fuss about which alpha was using him. A naked and unmated omega, who had obviously been in close contact with another alpha in the previous hours given his slicked hole and soiled thighs, shouldn't be allowed to say no to another suitor.
"Is it true, Mr. Padalecki ?"
Richings' question seemed to awaken the young, frozen omega who began to fight anew, in vain of course, to free himself and hide his shame. Richings found that a previously unknown part of him was glad he couldn't.
"They're lying !" Jared Padalecki shouted when he realized he couldn't get free on his own. "They came in my bedroom and got me out of bed, and they refused to let me dress. I told them I was waiting for my alpha but they tried to rape me, and they only stopped because you came in. Please, by all that's holy, let me go ! Tell them to leave me alone ! I beg of you, take pity of me. I'm not a whore, I don't deserve this. This should be for my alpha only, I don't deserve to be watched by all of you like this."
His voice broke on the last sentence and Richings felt shame in his turn. The young man might be easy, but Richings didn't have to get down to his level. He was better than that.
"Let him stand up," he ordered his soldiers.
The men knew better than to discuss a direct order, but they obeyed with obvious reluctance and painful slowness. They still had their hands on the omega's biceps to prevent him from doing anything stupid like bolt and try to run away.
Standing up with a raging hard-on and his balls drawn up as if he was about to come, Padalecki was still a difficult sight to ignore. The omega's constant arousal proved that he had indeed been around his mate, but not that the deed was done. And his hole was releasing too much slick to be sure. Richings had to investigate a little further to get to the bottom of this affair.
"I need to smell you," he announced before he got behind the young man. The only way to be sure was to put his nose literally at the center of the problem.
Richings got down on his knees. His face at the omega's ass's height, he spread the cheeks with his hands, sensing the tension that suddenly surged through the other man's body, and leaned in to get the scent of his supposed alpha. Even unlikely, it was after all possible that the smell of the mating was still so new that it was covered by the one of the omega's arousal. Fairness obliged him to investigate even further.
It was intoxicating, divine, irresistible, and almost hurtful. Without thinking, Richings put his nose on the still virgin hole - he was sure of it now, the alpha hadn't knotted him yet - and inhaled intensely. Hard himself in a few seconds, he couldn't let go of the sweet globes his fingers were now stroking, nor the sweetest aroma he had ever smelled. He needed to taste it, and his lips seemed to have a mind of their own as they found the hole and kissed it, his tongue escaping his mouth to sample the full flavor, and then soon to try and open the canal leading to more of the same.
Padalecki was trembling under his hands, his hole slicking furiously as he was groaning, pushing his ass into Richings' face like he couldn't help it. He was true to his gender, weak-willed and slave to his biology, to his body prepared for a mating that hadn't taken place yet, ready to accept anyone at this point to be taken and conceive. He was the devil's temptation sent to Richings to test him.
But he would not fail. He detached himself from the alluring omega, his tongue lapping at the twitching hole for one last, long swipe that brought the taste in his mouth to stay for as long as possible. His hands were even more difficult to take off the enticing curves, leaving behind them red marks to show that they had kneaded the globes with the same passion Richings had used to thrust his tongue into the virgin ass.
He had almost failed, almost cheated on his loving beta. But he had mastered his desire in the end, proving that he was a better man than Padalecki. An alpha, strong and proud, who would not be brought down by his dick and the appealing scent of a young guy trying to entice any alpha crossing his path into putting his dick in him to pop out kids.
But not every alpha was made of the same stern stuff. Brown showed it with his hand still fondling the omega's balls despite the enraged cries of his victim, the insults that Richings hadn't heard before as he was too taken by the pheromones.
"Mr. Brown, if you don't stop acting like a ruffian, I'll have to get your hands cut as soon as we're back to Port Ismia."
The grunt was smart enough in the end to hear the real threat in his captain's unraised voice. He took his hand immediately off Padalecki's balls. As he came in front of the omega, Richings saw Massee releasing, not that stealthily, the still hard cock. A pointed stare conveyed the same warning to him. Then the captain turned towards the omega again. The man couldn't look him in the eyes, breathing hard, and Richings felt the sudden and incomprehensible urge to kiss his lips to taste him there too.
But the man was a liar and he wouldn't fall prey to his beauty and wiles.
"So tell me, Mr. Padalecki, why should I trust you ? You do smell of an alpha, but certainly not yours. You do not smell like a mated omega either, and you know it. So is this another one of your 'misunderstandings' ?"
Watching the blush spreading on the omega's face and upper body, Richings remembered all too well how he had seen him leave his commandant's rooms already naked, trailing in the same state through the rooms as he was searching for his discarded clothes that were finally found at the other end of the huge house, proof that the man had followed and pursued Morgan in this shameful state room after room. It was also evident then that, after failing to get knotted by the commandant, the omega had been flaunting his assets to the first alpha he had met, who happened to be Richings. Aphrodisiac drugs didn't change your nature, they only enhanced it. Acting like a bitch in heat was just a step above regular omega disposition.
And now it seemed to him that once again the Padalecki boy had failed to get himself mated to his chosen alpha, a man reputed for being one of the richest in the Islands. This new rejection explained why he had tried to lure one of his soldiers into taking him once and for all, to avoid deportation. He had almost succeeded. Screaming for help was nothing but a way to rile them up, to get their blood running, to push the men to compete to be the first one to take the prize. Those grunts were useful but not very bright. Richings wondered how they hadn't been mated yet by another wily and untrustworthy omega. Probably because they were not worth it, unless you were desperate like Padalecki.
The case was clear : the easy Padalecki didn't want to go back home. The sweet and liberal life of the Islands suited him far better than the way the omegas were kept on a tight leash on the mainland, and he was ready to do anything to avoid being sent back.
Well, too bad for him. Richings had a job to do, and he didn't have time for any more of this ridiculous comedy. Padalecki had signed for six months, he had failed to find a husband, and now the King's money would be better used for another omega who would indeed contribute to expand the colony, not distract good alphas from doing their duty.
"Jared Padalecki," he declared, "on behalf of the Island's commanding officer, I'm here today to take you back home. The ship will leave in a week from Port Ismia, where the King's grace will accompany you until you're safely settled back in your orphanage, released to the care of the order that raised you."
"No, you can't do this !" Padalecki raged, trying once again futilely to escape the grip on his arms. "I still have a week, you said it, and I'm about to be mated to Jensen Ackles. He asked me, and I said yes. We're going to be married in the next few days. You can't do this !"
"If this is true, where is he ?"
"He had something to do. Go in my bedroom, you'll find the note he left me this morning. Please, Captain, you'll see I'm not lying."
Richings considered him for a few seconds before moving to the bedroom. The place was nicer than a simple worker's room should have been, but still it was not the bedroom of a plantation's omega-master-to-be, not one to be soon mated to a very rich man. It was entirely possible that Ackles, a good man by all account, if a tad weird, had joined Padalecki last night in a drunken moment and then failed to perform, which would explain why the omega was still unmated.
He found the note on the table next to the bed. The words seemed loving enough but it was still no proof. Ackles might have run as far and fast as possible when he woke up in the bed of his employee, taking the time to regroup and think of the best way to get himself out of a bad situation.
"Take him to the wagon," he ordered his men after returning to the other room, dismissing Padalecki's continuous pleas.
Still, he wondered how Ackles had been able to resist as he watched, mesmerized, the sweet and very naked ass of the struggling omega led away by his men. Wondered how his commandant had resisted. There was something going on here. Alcohol and drugs were definitely involved, or the boy would have been ravished already a long time ago.
Richings almost left then, but something in Jared Padalecki's story felt true enough that he decided to leave a note for the alpha this time, to explain the omega's absence upon his return. Also, it was nothing but simple courtesy between alphas. Richings would see if there was any way to find him another cheap and hardworking helper to replace his omega employee.
Alpha Ackles,
On behalf of alpha Jeffrey Dean Morgan, commanding officer of the Islands' province, I'm here today to take back home the omega Padalecki, who has come to the end of his King's grace.
The omega said he was to be mated and married to you before the end of the week. If this is true, you'll find him at the ship leaving for the mainland on the 8th by the ninth hour. If it's not, be sure that he won't be any more bother to you. My second in command is gathering Padalecki's things as I write, but you can of course recoup or add anything until the ship's departure.
Respectfully.
Alpha Julian Richings,
Captain of the Guards
Richings displayed the note in full view for Ackles to find easily, then he left, ready to head for the next island.
As he was going through the pleasant garden to join his soldiers back at the pontoon, he thought that maybe his reaction to the omega could be explained by the long separation from his beta. He missed her so much. Maybe it was time to have her and the children come to the Islands, as it seemed the regiment was here to stay. Maybe it was time to have another child and buy an island, to settle and fight off any risk of straying.
Yes, Richings concluded. It was more than time if he was beginning to feel attracted to tall and definitely masculine omegas that were usually so not his type. He would write to Lindsey as soon as they were back to the city and send her the money for the family's trip. He was pretty sure the commandant would lend him the cash if it meant that his second had decided to stay here indefinitely - there was a reason why Morgan had refused to give him the promotion he deserved, the officer very conscious of his second's real value and wanting him to stay close by. And then Richings would need only to resist his more basic instincts for about five months before his beta would be there to take care of him ; by then, the Padalecki boy would be gone and the situation would be more easily dealt with.
But first they had to travel through the remaining islands to gather the other departing omegas. Hoping that none of them induced the same attraction in him and his soldiers.
It was bound to be a long week.
Dawn was breaking when Jensen sat in his slickest dinghy. It hurt to leave Jared, even for a few hours, but he couldn't wait anymore to marry him, couldn't risk it. He would let nothing or no one prevent him from marrying his mate. He had to go back to Visnia and hope that Radraniakian had completed his work. With such a narrow-minded padre as Lehne officiating in Ismia, he would need the bracelets for the wedding to be accepted.
Six hours later, he was back to a silent house. He doubted Jared had stayed in bed so long but after all the swimming yesterday and the sex stunts Jensen had put him through during the night, maybe his omega had needed the extra hours of sleep. Jensen didn't mind slipping in right back next to him.
But Jared's bedroom was as empty as the rest of the farmhouse, save for a letter he had to read twice to begin to understand.
His first impulse was to run after his mate and that's what he did.
He was untying the rope holding back the first dinghy he had come to when he realized he had to be smarter than that. There was no way to know where the guards had gone first and, in this maze of islands, chances were high that he would never find them in time.
He could either act like a man stupidly in love, or he could tap into that well of reasonable, insensitive alpha qualities his father had tried so hard all his life to instill into him.
It was not even a choice, really. Jensen knew what he had to do, wherever his heart was trying to lead his body.
Decision made, he came back to the house to grab a travel bag. He put clothes inside - his as well as Jared's, Richings' man had taken next to nothing - and a huge roll of cash. Whether he had to bribe a few people, or pay for his trip back to the mainland to follow his mate, Jensen was ready.
Jared had never been so ashamed of himself since the first time the persistent proximity of an alpha - a young boy, having just popped his knot, who followed him around all the time - had made him slick up, the scent so peculiar and new he hadn't understood what was happening to him. The other omegas, though, had gleefully, cruelly let him know. Called him a slut and a whore. Only Padre Jim had been able to explain in a rational manner, making him feel better about this unfortunate biology he had to live with.
He hadn't realized then that the fact that the omegas knew about this meant that they had gone through it too, subjected to the same biology. He had only seen the fact that his body had answered a mating call from someone that was not made for him. And it took him months to understand that he was no more a whore than they were.
But here in this floating prison cell, sitting naked among other omegas who kept separated from him to try and stop their own biological reaction, he felt like the lowest form of life to ever walk this planet's ground. No wonder Jensen hadn't wanted him. It was probably pity that had changed his mind about the mating. Or the pheromones Jared had produced at the cascade. Jared couldn't help fearing that the alpha would be too happy to be freed to search for him. He didn't even know where to look for him anyway. Jensen was so often lost in his painting, he had probably forgotten everything about the end of Jared's King's grace.
No, better to be realistic and prepare for his return to the mainland. He had had a few months in paradise, and a few hours of love. Maybe that was all he would ever get but he would cherish the memories forever. He had been a coward to sign for six months instead of the one year he had been first offered, and as he was now paying for it, he could only blame himself and accept his fate.
Being without Jared felt like suddenly cutting on an addiction - or so Jensen supposed. He had never been one to succumb to any addiction, alcohol or omegas, his father had made sure of that, and Jensen was too respectful of his obligations as heir to the clan to give in to that kind of danger. But his mate had been a regular feature in his life for the last six months, and a constant one for about half of that time. The abrupt, unexpected separation was tearing him apart and heightened his need to fight. He felt aggressive, ready to bite or hit anyone talking to him in the wrong way.
He couldn't stop rethinking his decision of coming to Ismia directly without trying to find Jared in the islands. This gave the soldiers ample time to rape him again and again, and Jensen kept on imagining his beautiful mate martyrized by libidinous alphas who thought they had no one to fear for the desecration of this virgin body.
They were very wrong, for whatever might happen to Jared, Jensen would still want him in the end, and his wrath would be legendary.
"You don't know who I am, do you ?" the soldier demanded.
They had stopped for the night, Jared and the five other omegas taken out of their cell to eat and wash. Unluckily, Brown had been assigned to guard him during his hasty ablutions. They were still too far from the campsite for Jared to get help in time if need be and his fear was close to overwhelming.
"I have no idea," he stammered, "you're mistaking me for someone else."
"Oh no, you slut. There's no mistaking that big dick of yours, or that sweet hole you're displaying for anyone who wants to see it."
Brown translated words into action, pushing two fingers between Jared's crack to rub at his hole. Jared could try to fight all he wanted, his bound hands and ankles did not allow him any leverage.
"Still no clue ?" Brown went on. "In your defense, I guess it must be hard for you to remember who touched you, I heard you're so liberal about it. And you couldn't even see the face of those who licked you, right ? So let me help ! Once upon a time, there were two soldiers on guard duty, a chore they hadn't really deserved but one they stopped complaining about when the filthiest omega this alpha has ever seen gave them a pornographic show : he stripped naked for their commandant, played with him, earned himself not one, but two spankings. Not to mention the ass-licking and the finger-fucking."
Brown's fingers penetrated him slowly at the same time, the better to make him feel powerless to escape.
"Yeah, I see you remember now. So all your simpering airs are lost on me or Massee. We know who you are, bitch, and I'm pretty sure the captain's got your number, too."
Disjointed memories had indeed flooded Jared's mind along with the wicked tale. It couldn't be ! He knew something bad had probably happened that night, given his state upon wakening, but he couldn’t imagine letting it go that far, displaying himself for three alphas. And yet, he remembered smiling, wanting to play, to have fun.
No, he was not going to let that man destroy his memories as well as his future. He had been under the influence of the virgin's poppy.
"You're wrong, I didn't want any of that, I was drugged."
"Sure, and you were also drugged that other time, in the commandant's office, when you let him play with your ass on his desk. Again."
Jared blinked, stupefied. That moment only rated a few memories too, all unpleasant, and if Jared did remember Captain Richings, the man next to him was nothing but a blur. Until now, it seemed.
"Exactly," he tried, convinced that Brown would never believe him but unwilling to give up. "There's this flower, the virgin's poppy, it's an aphrodisiac for the virgin omegas. I wasn't really conscious, I swear. I never wanted anyone else than my alpha to see me, even less to touch me. Please, even if you think I'm lying, let me go and find me some clothes. I don't deserve to be treated like this."
"You deserve it, and a lot more. You're filthy and weak, and you try to poison the alphas who fall for your sorcerer's tricks. I hope they put you in jail back in Tethreya, living on dry bread and dirty water, and paying for it with that body you keep flaunting around. You disgust me."
Jared fell hard on the rocky ground when Brown threw him down.
Jensen went straight to the garrison. If this was all a plan concocted by Morgan to steal his omega, Jensen was going to cut off the officer's dick and then suffocate him with it. You didn't rob an omega from his true alpha mate with impunity, even when you thought yourself above everyone else because of your clan and your social status.
Haughtily, he ordered the guard to take him to the commandant right away and the woman was impressed enough to obey.
From his desk, Morgan watched Jensen invade his space with a curious lift of his right eyebrow.
"When are the deported omegas due for leaving ? And where are they ?"
"I fail to see… Jared ?"
"Yes, Jared, who your soldiers kidnapped from my island, despite the warning signs, as soon as I was away. Jared, the man I am betrothed to, the man who had my word that we would be married and mated before long. I swear, Morgan, if I ever find that you had any part in this skullduggery…"
Jensen lost his last measure of calm and restraint and his fists punched the heavy desk hard.
"Alpha Ackles," the commandant ordered, standing up, "calm yourself and make your story clear. I can't make heads or tails of your verbiage."
Jensen took a deep breath, pushing the so-satisfying images of his fist breaking Morgan's nose back where they belonged. He needed to focus on Jared and the best way to get him back as soon as possible.
"You want clarity ? So maybe you can explain why your soldiers came to extract my mate seven entire days before the end of his King's grace ? I'm all ears."
The challenge in their stare was almost palpable, but Morgan was visibly trying as hard as Jensen to avoid a conflagration.
"This is standard procedure. You know as well as I that we cannot count on the omegas to show themselves at the harbor on their last day. The army has to retrieve them. Extraction takes time in the Islands so, yes, we begin seven days before the ship's departure. I swear I wasn't aware that Jared's grace was ending so soon, but in the absence of the Intendant's derogation, my hands are tied. Jared has to go."
"Bullshit ! You knew, and I won't accept this answer. I asked him to mate me and he agreed. His grace isn't over until he's on the ship, sailing back towards Tethreya, and I want you to write an order for your troop to release him at once when they're back in Ismia."
"I will do nothing of the sort. Not until I've seen Jared and know of his real desire, anyway. I am not at your beck and call, alpha, and you'd do well to remember it. I am the Islands' military commandant, not some omega valet you can intimidate."
"And I am the richest man in the Islands. I can cut the money flow at any moment and cause the biggest crash the economy of the region has ever seen, one it will never be able to survive. I can block your soldiers' pay. I am self-sufficient on my island, can you say the same in your garrison ?"
"You're all big talk, Ackles, but I know you. You care too much for the people of the Islands to take them down in your fall."
"You think you know me ? Don't push me, Commandant. You have no idea what I could do to save Jared from alphas like you."
They both felt their alpha energy crackle in the air around them, snapping at each other like two bulls butting heads. Jensen wouldn't admit to all the ways he could take the fight to Morgan, the militia he had constituted and trained in secret that only needed a word from him to defend his island and attack strategic positions to cut the enemy's possible moves. Whatever Morgan thought he knew about him, Jensen was pretty sure he had no real clue who Jensen could turn himself into in times of need.
He retreated a bit, not ready to lose all chance to get Morgan's help. The commandant was so crazy about Jared that Jensen still hoped he would use his power to influence the unfair rule.
Still, it was not in his personality to back down and he would be damned before he showed weakness to this particular man.
"I'll be back, Commandant. You'd better have my letter ready by that time."
Morgan's eyes narrowed to reveal his annoyance. Jensen smiled, haughty again, and left.
Massee was his personal guard tonight. Although his stature wasn't as impressive as Brown's, his eyes were filled with a devout craziness that made him somewhat scarier.
All he could talk about was the punishment temptresses like Jared deserved, a flow of sanctimonious judgments belittling Jared and his brethren, male omegas who pretended they could act like alphas because of their height and stature, who forgot to be respectful and modest the way the gods had created them. Omegas who talked back and lived for themselves.
Abominations.
Jared had been lulled into a false sense of security these past months, living with a progressive alpha and his like-minded friends. He had almost forgotten that everywhere around him old-school alphas refused to let the omegas emancipate and exercise their free will. Massee would never shake his hand like an equal. He was the kind to reach for an omega to use their bodies or to hit them. Omegas were slaves to him, no more than utilities.
Granted, he was far from being the only one. No need to search for long, Richings felt exactly the same. But Massee had a mean streak that appeared every time he could get away with it. He enjoyed seeing Jared constantly naked and bound, humiliated and powerless. It was the ultimate proof that he was right and that no one could stop him. He kept on slapping Jared - face, ass cheeks, wherever - and taunting him by touching his most intimate parts in front of his fellow soldiers and the other omegas, to illustrate Jared's inability to strike back. Massee's detail laughed at his antics while the captain ignored them. The other omegas sent Jared sympathetic looks but were careful not to take sides to avoid directing attention on them.
Being alone with Massee meant more slapping around, more sermons, more intolerable touching. Jared was not freed of his chains during his toilette, his shackles merely loosened to grant him a margin of movement. He tumbled when Massee pushed him forward, both hands and knees cushioning his graceless fall.
"Assume the position, omega," Massee ordered, "do it now, and do it well, and your punishment will be swiftly dealt. Make your penance easier by accepting it. Ask the gods for their pardon, maybe they will be merciful."
"Go to the ninth hell !" Jared spat as he stood back up.
The hell where abusive alphas lost their heads and dicks to the omega tribunal.
"You filthy omega," Massee retorted, his face twisted in anger. "You think you can talk to me like that and get away with it ?"
"I don't care. The gods be my witness, I'm done fearing you, you vile and stupid ignoramus."
Massee slapped him across the face so violently that Jared fell back on the ground, breath knocked out of his lungs when two vicious kicks caught his abdomen. Jared curled on himself to protect his ribs but by then Massee had launched his next attack on Jared's back, unbuttoning his breeches to get his cock out.
"Help !" Jared bellowed, all too aware that neither Jensen nor any other compassionate alpha were close enough to hear him.
And then Richings saved him again.
"Private Massee ! I told you what would happen if I ever found you again in a compromising position with this omega. You have two seconds to let him go, else I will enforce my warning."
Massee did care for his hands. His obedience to the order was swift and wordless.
"Thanks, Captain," Jared said, collapsing on a tree trunk.
"Don't thank me, omega. I'm trying to save this alpha's soul, not the dregs of your worthless virginity."
Fuelled by the idea to get an audience with Sheppard, Jensen headed to the palace, pretty much in the same fashion he had walked into the commandant's office. But his plan fell flat on its face due to the Intendant's absence. Real or pretend, Jensen never managed to find out, although he sent five of his best guys to track him down.
Sheppard's first assistant accepted the marriage contract Jensen had prepared and signed, but rejected any monetary offer to buy Jared's grace, pretending he didn't have the authority to make such decisions. Jensen argued that the intendant certainly preferred to avoid an incident and get his just reward for service rendered to the community.
"Surely even you can see that should your master disagree, he will still be able to send my omega back to Tethreya on the next ship, whereas once Jared is gone, my money follows him."
The assistant was torn but nothing could sway him. This, more than anything else, convinced Jensen that Sheppard was hiding in the palace or the near vicinity, invisible puppeteer pulling the strings of the marionette Jensen was talking to. Sheppard probably knew about his altercation with Morgan. He had anticipated his visit and disappeared to elude a direct confrontation with a man on a warpath and too much power.
Jensen had long been acquainted with that feeling of helplessness. You didn't live under Matlin Ackles' thumb without learning to deal with domestic absolutism. He hadn't left his home to let it rule his life once again, nor would he let despair and grief break him down. Jared counted on him.
If the mostly legal ways didn't pan out, Jensen had only one choice left : kidnapping his omega. This would make for a wonderful and romantic story to tell their kids in a few years.
Decision made, he rented a room in the closest inn to the harbor and posted alphas at the port to warn him of the ends of grace's return to Ismia.
Richings ordered that Jared always be guarded by two soldiers instead of one, so that each man would be watched by the other. Which was maybe a good idea on paper, but the worst one in practice when the two alphas were Brown and Massee.
Double the pleasure, double the fun. For his torturers, of course.
On the first night, the men pushed him face first against a tree and touched him for as long as they thought they could get away with before Richings would question their whereabouts.
On the next night, they threw him in the river, still bound, and jumped right behind him. Jared really thought he was going to drown until they had him resurface by impaling two fingers each in his ass and pushing up.
On the third night, they used his dick and balls to get him out of the water, but their hold kept on slipping while Jared kept on sinking again.
Each night brought novelty to Jared's knowledge of the blackness of the human heart. These men had no soul left to save. They would one day burn and rot in the ninth hell, and all of the other ones before.
Jared kept telling himself that he had to stay strong, to weather everything, that Jensen would be at the end of this hell on Earth, his recompense for being brave and staying true to himself. He ignored the taunts and the tortures, the cruel jibes and the humiliation. He let his mind go blank and reach a near-comatose state where nothing could touch him.
He had a new mantra : nothing's real here but the love of my alpha.
Masterpost | Return to part 8 | Continue to part 10
Chapter 4
Jensen was a man on a mission.
Despite his plea, his offers for money, and Morgan's support, Sheppard still hadn't responded to his demand for an exemption. Jared only had seven days left in the Islands. By the end of this week, he would either be deported back to Tethreya, or married.
The decision was so easy in the end.
He made his way to Jared's apartment, slowly, savoring the steps leading to the moment his life would tilt on its axis and head towards love and companionship. No more doubt now, just the pleasure of anticipation.
The door to the small kitchen opened silently. Jensen let his nose direct him towards the bedroom, Jared's scent still so heavy - a comfort, a lifeline - but Jared wasn't here either. The noises coming from the bathroom informed him that Jared was washing away the last traces of ointment, grass, and dirt after their day at the cascade. Once again, Jensen followed the path to his mate and pushed the door open to find him half-bent above the stony washbasin, pulling the handle to activate the water pump.
Jared had changed quite a bit in the time he had been here. Working hard on the plantation, his shoulders and back had begun to broaden with muscles, his skin was smooth and healthily golden now, and Jensen felt the aching need to touch him again and again. To wrap him in his arms forever.
Jared was his. It had taken him almost six months to realize what the omega had known all along, but he didn't consider it as lost time. He was so fiercely in love with this man, and he would be able to take him with the knowledge that they were equal in all things.
Jared heard the door creaking as it was pushed completely open and he turned around to watch Jensen walking in.
"Jensen ?" Jared asked, surprised by this intrusion.
Jensen had seen him naked more than once by now but the fixity of the gaze was somewhat unsettling. He couldn't help but reach for his towel to hide his crotch behind it.
"No !" Jensen protested in a whisper. "Don't hide, please, don't ever hide from me. You're so beautiful, and I love you so much."
The towel fell from his hand, leaving him bare once again to Jensen's loving scrutiny. Coming closer, Jensen raised his right hand to apply it against Jared's heart that was beating so quickly. The mere touch, combined with the alpha's words and his visual caress of his body, gained Jared the beginning of a hard-on.
And then Jared's eyes went wide when he saw Jensen going down on one knee in front of him, grabbing his hands on the way.
"Jared Padalecki," Jensen began, "do you want to take me as your mate, to share our lives and create new ones, to love and sustain each other from now on, till death do us part ?"
Jared was almost too shocked to realize that Jensen had forgone the part about being his alpha whom Jared should honor and obey. But his answer came forward easily.
"Yes, of course I want you. As my mate, my lover, my alpha, the father of my children, forever."
Still on his knees, Jensen immediately engulfed him in his arms, pushing his face into his stomach to inhale him deeply.
"I love you so much !" he repeated.
Jared let him have his moment, his hands playing with his mate's hair. Then Jensen stood back up to bring Jared inside the protective circle of his arms again, taking his lips for a long, devouring kiss. Jared felt his body melt against his alpha's, his earlier fright all gone now. He was so ready to give himself to his mate, even if he had never envisioned this moment prepared to tumble into a bed without any undressing needed.
"And you have to do this when I'm naked and… and… ?!"
He was so close to crying. He had waited and hoped and prayed for this proposal for so long. He was so in love with this man, and yet he had lost almost all hope of ever mating him.
But Jensen had just offered him everything, his love and the life he dreamed of, here on their island, to be happy and become a family.
They retreated to Jared's bed, needing to be close and to get off their feet. Jared moaned and gasped, chest heaving and body arching all along the path of the hands caressing his skin.
"Don't you mind… ?" Jared half-started a question but stopped, embarrassed.
Jensen's pointed look told him to go on.
"That I'm so tall ?"
Taller than you, he wanted to add, but the words stuck in his throat.
"Why would I care ? It only means that there's more of you to love."
And Jared fell in love with Jensen all over again.
Jensen's mouth went back to its original task, mapping Jared's calf with his lips before it moved to the enticing thigh right above, relishing the growing tremors coursing under Jared's skin as it was going higher and higher.
His cock was the next step. Holding it like a giant lollipop, he licked the crown with an appreciative moan, followed the slit with the tip of his tongue, and finally surged to swallow the head and push it as far as possible into his mouth. It hit the back of his palate but still Jensen pushed, his throat opening to take Jared in.
Jared had never felt that, nor seen such a wondrous sight as Jensen's lips wrapped around his cock, marching him straight into bliss territory. And Jensen drank it all, his fingers playing against that place inside Jared's ass that made him see stars.
"Take me," Jared mumbled, "I'm ready."
"No, not yet," Jensen responded in a raspy voice.
"No ?" Jared repeated incredulously, like a cry of distress.
Jensen couldn't do this to him, not again, the situation reminded Jared too much of their first time and he couldn't stand it.
"We'll come to it in good time," Jensen reassured him with a loving kiss to his hipbone. "You're my mate, Jared, in all but this for the time being. And I want us to be married, tied and bound, before you give yourself to me. I want us in perfect harmony. Equals."
The sound Jared emitted was half-sob, half-laugh. He had the most infuriating mate, and he was madly in love with him.
Jared opened his eyes to a blue sky and the most pleasant and joyous feeling. His body felt well used and he smiled, remembering how many times Jensen had him coming, and all the pleasure he had tried to give him back.
Jared frowned when he realized that his mate wasn't lying next to him anymore. His side of the bed was cool, Jensen had probably woken up long before him. As an alpha, he was used to all-night lovemaking, and wasn't that a stupid thought on the first day of your mated life. He didn't need to be jealous anymore, Jensen was his now.
And Jensen had left a note on his pillow to explain his disappearance.
"Don't move ! Don't dress either, you're so beautiful like this, I almost couldn't tear myself apart from you, but I've got an important errand to run. I'll be back soon, keep the bed warm and scented for me. Love, Jensen."
Jared wondered what could have been so important to attract Jensen away from him on such a day, but he was too happy to really care. It pleased him to obey his alpha and stay right where he was until his return.
He vaguely heard some noise at the front door sometime later, realizing he had fallen back asleep by the angle of the sunlight, and he stretched lazily, wearing nothing but a welcoming smile when the door of the bedroom opened.
The men who entered were nothing like his alpha, though, and Jared latched onto the sheet to cover himself.
"Who are you ?" he yelled, unable to master his fright. "What are you doing here ?"
The first answer was in fact obvious, thanks to the uniforms, but it only increased Jared's fear.
"My, my," the first soldier exclaimed with a nasty smile. "I'll be damned if it isn't the commandant's whore !"
Jared gasped at the insult. He had no idea what those words were about, just like he didn't know the tall black guy nor his smaller white comrade. Both looked at him with undisguised contempt, and something else that had Jared trembling even more.
"Come, whore. You, filthy thing, are going back to Tethreya, where you won't dishonor any other good man from the Islands."
The soldiers approached the bed from each side, blocking any attempt Jared might have made to escape. They snatched the sheet from Jared's hand, baring him entirely, before they each grasped one of his wrists.
"You can't take me !" Jared shouted, twisting and fighting against their pull. "I'm almost mated, I'm here to stay, I'm sure you can get the scent of my alpha on me. Please, don't do this, wait for my alpha and he will explain it all."
The grip on his arms didn't falter one bit, Jared still unable to cover himself.
"You smell of alpha alright, you naughty tramp !" the tallest soldier said with a lecherous grin.
He was the one who pushed Jared first against the wall, forcing him to half-sit on the little cabinet, but the second soldier joined him quickly to add his force to the attack. Then both men used their free hand to bring Jared's legs apart, keeping them spread open with their own bodies before they could begin to caress him, hands instinctively going to look for his hole after a quick detour by his cock and balls.
Jared fought hard and he screamed, calling Jensen for help as if the other man was already his alpha, proof once again that they were made for each other and that not only his body recognized that fact, but his mind too.
But Jensen didn't appear magically and Jared felt the hands and mouths of his rapists taking more and more possession of him.
"What's happening here ?!"
The captain's shout put an immediate end to the unpleasant scene. It also made it all the more difficult to resist.
Richings was happily mated and married. He loved his charming and young beta Lindsey, was attracted to her, and never intended to cheat. To this day, he had never been interested in any other beta or omega. Not enough, at the very least, to keep him silent while he was able to take in the sight of an aroused omega on full display - nipples and cock hard, hole shiny with slick, skin of his torso glistening with the saliva of his attackers, the same men that were forcing him open and vulnerable, offered to the eyes of Richings and his second in command. Four alphas whose pheromones were saturating the room in answer to the omega's scent. Four alphas ready to fight each other for the pleasure to take him first.
The captain's silence must have felt like a menace to the assaulting grunts. One of them, Brown, turned a worried face to him, full of fear of the reprimand he knew was coming. Yet his eyes still showed the wildness of his need and desire.
"This harlot told us to smell him, Captain. It's his fault entirely ! How are we supposed to resist the scent of an aroused omega ?! He practically asked us to take him."
His averted eyes showed at first that Brown was lying, thinking fast of any excuse to avoid a well-deserved punishment. But it was also clear that he believed the omega to be a debauched one who had no right in his book to make such a fuss about which alpha was using him. A naked and unmated omega, who had obviously been in close contact with another alpha in the previous hours given his slicked hole and soiled thighs, shouldn't be allowed to say no to another suitor.
"Is it true, Mr. Padalecki ?"
Richings' question seemed to awaken the young, frozen omega who began to fight anew, in vain of course, to free himself and hide his shame. Richings found that a previously unknown part of him was glad he couldn't.
"They're lying !" Jared Padalecki shouted when he realized he couldn't get free on his own. "They came in my bedroom and got me out of bed, and they refused to let me dress. I told them I was waiting for my alpha but they tried to rape me, and they only stopped because you came in. Please, by all that's holy, let me go ! Tell them to leave me alone ! I beg of you, take pity of me. I'm not a whore, I don't deserve this. This should be for my alpha only, I don't deserve to be watched by all of you like this."
His voice broke on the last sentence and Richings felt shame in his turn. The young man might be easy, but Richings didn't have to get down to his level. He was better than that.
"Let him stand up," he ordered his soldiers.
The men knew better than to discuss a direct order, but they obeyed with obvious reluctance and painful slowness. They still had their hands on the omega's biceps to prevent him from doing anything stupid like bolt and try to run away.
Standing up with a raging hard-on and his balls drawn up as if he was about to come, Padalecki was still a difficult sight to ignore. The omega's constant arousal proved that he had indeed been around his mate, but not that the deed was done. And his hole was releasing too much slick to be sure. Richings had to investigate a little further to get to the bottom of this affair.
"I need to smell you," he announced before he got behind the young man. The only way to be sure was to put his nose literally at the center of the problem.
Richings got down on his knees. His face at the omega's ass's height, he spread the cheeks with his hands, sensing the tension that suddenly surged through the other man's body, and leaned in to get the scent of his supposed alpha. Even unlikely, it was after all possible that the smell of the mating was still so new that it was covered by the one of the omega's arousal. Fairness obliged him to investigate even further.
It was intoxicating, divine, irresistible, and almost hurtful. Without thinking, Richings put his nose on the still virgin hole - he was sure of it now, the alpha hadn't knotted him yet - and inhaled intensely. Hard himself in a few seconds, he couldn't let go of the sweet globes his fingers were now stroking, nor the sweetest aroma he had ever smelled. He needed to taste it, and his lips seemed to have a mind of their own as they found the hole and kissed it, his tongue escaping his mouth to sample the full flavor, and then soon to try and open the canal leading to more of the same.
Padalecki was trembling under his hands, his hole slicking furiously as he was groaning, pushing his ass into Richings' face like he couldn't help it. He was true to his gender, weak-willed and slave to his biology, to his body prepared for a mating that hadn't taken place yet, ready to accept anyone at this point to be taken and conceive. He was the devil's temptation sent to Richings to test him.
But he would not fail. He detached himself from the alluring omega, his tongue lapping at the twitching hole for one last, long swipe that brought the taste in his mouth to stay for as long as possible. His hands were even more difficult to take off the enticing curves, leaving behind them red marks to show that they had kneaded the globes with the same passion Richings had used to thrust his tongue into the virgin ass.
He had almost failed, almost cheated on his loving beta. But he had mastered his desire in the end, proving that he was a better man than Padalecki. An alpha, strong and proud, who would not be brought down by his dick and the appealing scent of a young guy trying to entice any alpha crossing his path into putting his dick in him to pop out kids.
But not every alpha was made of the same stern stuff. Brown showed it with his hand still fondling the omega's balls despite the enraged cries of his victim, the insults that Richings hadn't heard before as he was too taken by the pheromones.
"Mr. Brown, if you don't stop acting like a ruffian, I'll have to get your hands cut as soon as we're back to Port Ismia."
The grunt was smart enough in the end to hear the real threat in his captain's unraised voice. He took his hand immediately off Padalecki's balls. As he came in front of the omega, Richings saw Massee releasing, not that stealthily, the still hard cock. A pointed stare conveyed the same warning to him. Then the captain turned towards the omega again. The man couldn't look him in the eyes, breathing hard, and Richings felt the sudden and incomprehensible urge to kiss his lips to taste him there too.
But the man was a liar and he wouldn't fall prey to his beauty and wiles.
"So tell me, Mr. Padalecki, why should I trust you ? You do smell of an alpha, but certainly not yours. You do not smell like a mated omega either, and you know it. So is this another one of your 'misunderstandings' ?"
Watching the blush spreading on the omega's face and upper body, Richings remembered all too well how he had seen him leave his commandant's rooms already naked, trailing in the same state through the rooms as he was searching for his discarded clothes that were finally found at the other end of the huge house, proof that the man had followed and pursued Morgan in this shameful state room after room. It was also evident then that, after failing to get knotted by the commandant, the omega had been flaunting his assets to the first alpha he had met, who happened to be Richings. Aphrodisiac drugs didn't change your nature, they only enhanced it. Acting like a bitch in heat was just a step above regular omega disposition.
And now it seemed to him that once again the Padalecki boy had failed to get himself mated to his chosen alpha, a man reputed for being one of the richest in the Islands. This new rejection explained why he had tried to lure one of his soldiers into taking him once and for all, to avoid deportation. He had almost succeeded. Screaming for help was nothing but a way to rile them up, to get their blood running, to push the men to compete to be the first one to take the prize. Those grunts were useful but not very bright. Richings wondered how they hadn't been mated yet by another wily and untrustworthy omega. Probably because they were not worth it, unless you were desperate like Padalecki.
The case was clear : the easy Padalecki didn't want to go back home. The sweet and liberal life of the Islands suited him far better than the way the omegas were kept on a tight leash on the mainland, and he was ready to do anything to avoid being sent back.
Well, too bad for him. Richings had a job to do, and he didn't have time for any more of this ridiculous comedy. Padalecki had signed for six months, he had failed to find a husband, and now the King's money would be better used for another omega who would indeed contribute to expand the colony, not distract good alphas from doing their duty.
"Jared Padalecki," he declared, "on behalf of the Island's commanding officer, I'm here today to take you back home. The ship will leave in a week from Port Ismia, where the King's grace will accompany you until you're safely settled back in your orphanage, released to the care of the order that raised you."
"No, you can't do this !" Padalecki raged, trying once again futilely to escape the grip on his arms. "I still have a week, you said it, and I'm about to be mated to Jensen Ackles. He asked me, and I said yes. We're going to be married in the next few days. You can't do this !"
"If this is true, where is he ?"
"He had something to do. Go in my bedroom, you'll find the note he left me this morning. Please, Captain, you'll see I'm not lying."
Richings considered him for a few seconds before moving to the bedroom. The place was nicer than a simple worker's room should have been, but still it was not the bedroom of a plantation's omega-master-to-be, not one to be soon mated to a very rich man. It was entirely possible that Ackles, a good man by all account, if a tad weird, had joined Padalecki last night in a drunken moment and then failed to perform, which would explain why the omega was still unmated.
He found the note on the table next to the bed. The words seemed loving enough but it was still no proof. Ackles might have run as far and fast as possible when he woke up in the bed of his employee, taking the time to regroup and think of the best way to get himself out of a bad situation.
"Take him to the wagon," he ordered his men after returning to the other room, dismissing Padalecki's continuous pleas.
Still, he wondered how Ackles had been able to resist as he watched, mesmerized, the sweet and very naked ass of the struggling omega led away by his men. Wondered how his commandant had resisted. There was something going on here. Alcohol and drugs were definitely involved, or the boy would have been ravished already a long time ago.
Richings almost left then, but something in Jared Padalecki's story felt true enough that he decided to leave a note for the alpha this time, to explain the omega's absence upon his return. Also, it was nothing but simple courtesy between alphas. Richings would see if there was any way to find him another cheap and hardworking helper to replace his omega employee.
Alpha Ackles,
On behalf of alpha Jeffrey Dean Morgan, commanding officer of the Islands' province, I'm here today to take back home the omega Padalecki, who has come to the end of his King's grace.
The omega said he was to be mated and married to you before the end of the week. If this is true, you'll find him at the ship leaving for the mainland on the 8th by the ninth hour. If it's not, be sure that he won't be any more bother to you. My second in command is gathering Padalecki's things as I write, but you can of course recoup or add anything until the ship's departure.
Respectfully.
Alpha Julian Richings,
Captain of the Guards
Richings displayed the note in full view for Ackles to find easily, then he left, ready to head for the next island.
As he was going through the pleasant garden to join his soldiers back at the pontoon, he thought that maybe his reaction to the omega could be explained by the long separation from his beta. He missed her so much. Maybe it was time to have her and the children come to the Islands, as it seemed the regiment was here to stay. Maybe it was time to have another child and buy an island, to settle and fight off any risk of straying.
Yes, Richings concluded. It was more than time if he was beginning to feel attracted to tall and definitely masculine omegas that were usually so not his type. He would write to Lindsey as soon as they were back to the city and send her the money for the family's trip. He was pretty sure the commandant would lend him the cash if it meant that his second had decided to stay here indefinitely - there was a reason why Morgan had refused to give him the promotion he deserved, the officer very conscious of his second's real value and wanting him to stay close by. And then Richings would need only to resist his more basic instincts for about five months before his beta would be there to take care of him ; by then, the Padalecki boy would be gone and the situation would be more easily dealt with.
But first they had to travel through the remaining islands to gather the other departing omegas. Hoping that none of them induced the same attraction in him and his soldiers.
It was bound to be a long week.
Dawn was breaking when Jensen sat in his slickest dinghy. It hurt to leave Jared, even for a few hours, but he couldn't wait anymore to marry him, couldn't risk it. He would let nothing or no one prevent him from marrying his mate. He had to go back to Visnia and hope that Radraniakian had completed his work. With such a narrow-minded padre as Lehne officiating in Ismia, he would need the bracelets for the wedding to be accepted.
Six hours later, he was back to a silent house. He doubted Jared had stayed in bed so long but after all the swimming yesterday and the sex stunts Jensen had put him through during the night, maybe his omega had needed the extra hours of sleep. Jensen didn't mind slipping in right back next to him.
But Jared's bedroom was as empty as the rest of the farmhouse, save for a letter he had to read twice to begin to understand.
His first impulse was to run after his mate and that's what he did.
He was untying the rope holding back the first dinghy he had come to when he realized he had to be smarter than that. There was no way to know where the guards had gone first and, in this maze of islands, chances were high that he would never find them in time.
He could either act like a man stupidly in love, or he could tap into that well of reasonable, insensitive alpha qualities his father had tried so hard all his life to instill into him.
It was not even a choice, really. Jensen knew what he had to do, wherever his heart was trying to lead his body.
Decision made, he came back to the house to grab a travel bag. He put clothes inside - his as well as Jared's, Richings' man had taken next to nothing - and a huge roll of cash. Whether he had to bribe a few people, or pay for his trip back to the mainland to follow his mate, Jensen was ready.
Jared had never been so ashamed of himself since the first time the persistent proximity of an alpha - a young boy, having just popped his knot, who followed him around all the time - had made him slick up, the scent so peculiar and new he hadn't understood what was happening to him. The other omegas, though, had gleefully, cruelly let him know. Called him a slut and a whore. Only Padre Jim had been able to explain in a rational manner, making him feel better about this unfortunate biology he had to live with.
He hadn't realized then that the fact that the omegas knew about this meant that they had gone through it too, subjected to the same biology. He had only seen the fact that his body had answered a mating call from someone that was not made for him. And it took him months to understand that he was no more a whore than they were.
But here in this floating prison cell, sitting naked among other omegas who kept separated from him to try and stop their own biological reaction, he felt like the lowest form of life to ever walk this planet's ground. No wonder Jensen hadn't wanted him. It was probably pity that had changed his mind about the mating. Or the pheromones Jared had produced at the cascade. Jared couldn't help fearing that the alpha would be too happy to be freed to search for him. He didn't even know where to look for him anyway. Jensen was so often lost in his painting, he had probably forgotten everything about the end of Jared's King's grace.
No, better to be realistic and prepare for his return to the mainland. He had had a few months in paradise, and a few hours of love. Maybe that was all he would ever get but he would cherish the memories forever. He had been a coward to sign for six months instead of the one year he had been first offered, and as he was now paying for it, he could only blame himself and accept his fate.
Being without Jared felt like suddenly cutting on an addiction - or so Jensen supposed. He had never been one to succumb to any addiction, alcohol or omegas, his father had made sure of that, and Jensen was too respectful of his obligations as heir to the clan to give in to that kind of danger. But his mate had been a regular feature in his life for the last six months, and a constant one for about half of that time. The abrupt, unexpected separation was tearing him apart and heightened his need to fight. He felt aggressive, ready to bite or hit anyone talking to him in the wrong way.
He couldn't stop rethinking his decision of coming to Ismia directly without trying to find Jared in the islands. This gave the soldiers ample time to rape him again and again, and Jensen kept on imagining his beautiful mate martyrized by libidinous alphas who thought they had no one to fear for the desecration of this virgin body.
They were very wrong, for whatever might happen to Jared, Jensen would still want him in the end, and his wrath would be legendary.
"You don't know who I am, do you ?" the soldier demanded.
They had stopped for the night, Jared and the five other omegas taken out of their cell to eat and wash. Unluckily, Brown had been assigned to guard him during his hasty ablutions. They were still too far from the campsite for Jared to get help in time if need be and his fear was close to overwhelming.
"I have no idea," he stammered, "you're mistaking me for someone else."
"Oh no, you slut. There's no mistaking that big dick of yours, or that sweet hole you're displaying for anyone who wants to see it."
Brown translated words into action, pushing two fingers between Jared's crack to rub at his hole. Jared could try to fight all he wanted, his bound hands and ankles did not allow him any leverage.
"Still no clue ?" Brown went on. "In your defense, I guess it must be hard for you to remember who touched you, I heard you're so liberal about it. And you couldn't even see the face of those who licked you, right ? So let me help ! Once upon a time, there were two soldiers on guard duty, a chore they hadn't really deserved but one they stopped complaining about when the filthiest omega this alpha has ever seen gave them a pornographic show : he stripped naked for their commandant, played with him, earned himself not one, but two spankings. Not to mention the ass-licking and the finger-fucking."
Brown's fingers penetrated him slowly at the same time, the better to make him feel powerless to escape.
"Yeah, I see you remember now. So all your simpering airs are lost on me or Massee. We know who you are, bitch, and I'm pretty sure the captain's got your number, too."
Disjointed memories had indeed flooded Jared's mind along with the wicked tale. It couldn't be ! He knew something bad had probably happened that night, given his state upon wakening, but he couldn’t imagine letting it go that far, displaying himself for three alphas. And yet, he remembered smiling, wanting to play, to have fun.
No, he was not going to let that man destroy his memories as well as his future. He had been under the influence of the virgin's poppy.
"You're wrong, I didn't want any of that, I was drugged."
"Sure, and you were also drugged that other time, in the commandant's office, when you let him play with your ass on his desk. Again."
Jared blinked, stupefied. That moment only rated a few memories too, all unpleasant, and if Jared did remember Captain Richings, the man next to him was nothing but a blur. Until now, it seemed.
"Exactly," he tried, convinced that Brown would never believe him but unwilling to give up. "There's this flower, the virgin's poppy, it's an aphrodisiac for the virgin omegas. I wasn't really conscious, I swear. I never wanted anyone else than my alpha to see me, even less to touch me. Please, even if you think I'm lying, let me go and find me some clothes. I don't deserve to be treated like this."
"You deserve it, and a lot more. You're filthy and weak, and you try to poison the alphas who fall for your sorcerer's tricks. I hope they put you in jail back in Tethreya, living on dry bread and dirty water, and paying for it with that body you keep flaunting around. You disgust me."
Jared fell hard on the rocky ground when Brown threw him down.
Jensen went straight to the garrison. If this was all a plan concocted by Morgan to steal his omega, Jensen was going to cut off the officer's dick and then suffocate him with it. You didn't rob an omega from his true alpha mate with impunity, even when you thought yourself above everyone else because of your clan and your social status.
Haughtily, he ordered the guard to take him to the commandant right away and the woman was impressed enough to obey.
From his desk, Morgan watched Jensen invade his space with a curious lift of his right eyebrow.
"When are the deported omegas due for leaving ? And where are they ?"
"I fail to see… Jared ?"
"Yes, Jared, who your soldiers kidnapped from my island, despite the warning signs, as soon as I was away. Jared, the man I am betrothed to, the man who had my word that we would be married and mated before long. I swear, Morgan, if I ever find that you had any part in this skullduggery…"
Jensen lost his last measure of calm and restraint and his fists punched the heavy desk hard.
"Alpha Ackles," the commandant ordered, standing up, "calm yourself and make your story clear. I can't make heads or tails of your verbiage."
Jensen took a deep breath, pushing the so-satisfying images of his fist breaking Morgan's nose back where they belonged. He needed to focus on Jared and the best way to get him back as soon as possible.
"You want clarity ? So maybe you can explain why your soldiers came to extract my mate seven entire days before the end of his King's grace ? I'm all ears."
The challenge in their stare was almost palpable, but Morgan was visibly trying as hard as Jensen to avoid a conflagration.
"This is standard procedure. You know as well as I that we cannot count on the omegas to show themselves at the harbor on their last day. The army has to retrieve them. Extraction takes time in the Islands so, yes, we begin seven days before the ship's departure. I swear I wasn't aware that Jared's grace was ending so soon, but in the absence of the Intendant's derogation, my hands are tied. Jared has to go."
"Bullshit ! You knew, and I won't accept this answer. I asked him to mate me and he agreed. His grace isn't over until he's on the ship, sailing back towards Tethreya, and I want you to write an order for your troop to release him at once when they're back in Ismia."
"I will do nothing of the sort. Not until I've seen Jared and know of his real desire, anyway. I am not at your beck and call, alpha, and you'd do well to remember it. I am the Islands' military commandant, not some omega valet you can intimidate."
"And I am the richest man in the Islands. I can cut the money flow at any moment and cause the biggest crash the economy of the region has ever seen, one it will never be able to survive. I can block your soldiers' pay. I am self-sufficient on my island, can you say the same in your garrison ?"
"You're all big talk, Ackles, but I know you. You care too much for the people of the Islands to take them down in your fall."
"You think you know me ? Don't push me, Commandant. You have no idea what I could do to save Jared from alphas like you."
They both felt their alpha energy crackle in the air around them, snapping at each other like two bulls butting heads. Jensen wouldn't admit to all the ways he could take the fight to Morgan, the militia he had constituted and trained in secret that only needed a word from him to defend his island and attack strategic positions to cut the enemy's possible moves. Whatever Morgan thought he knew about him, Jensen was pretty sure he had no real clue who Jensen could turn himself into in times of need.
He retreated a bit, not ready to lose all chance to get Morgan's help. The commandant was so crazy about Jared that Jensen still hoped he would use his power to influence the unfair rule.
Still, it was not in his personality to back down and he would be damned before he showed weakness to this particular man.
"I'll be back, Commandant. You'd better have my letter ready by that time."
Morgan's eyes narrowed to reveal his annoyance. Jensen smiled, haughty again, and left.
Massee was his personal guard tonight. Although his stature wasn't as impressive as Brown's, his eyes were filled with a devout craziness that made him somewhat scarier.
All he could talk about was the punishment temptresses like Jared deserved, a flow of sanctimonious judgments belittling Jared and his brethren, male omegas who pretended they could act like alphas because of their height and stature, who forgot to be respectful and modest the way the gods had created them. Omegas who talked back and lived for themselves.
Abominations.
Jared had been lulled into a false sense of security these past months, living with a progressive alpha and his like-minded friends. He had almost forgotten that everywhere around him old-school alphas refused to let the omegas emancipate and exercise their free will. Massee would never shake his hand like an equal. He was the kind to reach for an omega to use their bodies or to hit them. Omegas were slaves to him, no more than utilities.
Granted, he was far from being the only one. No need to search for long, Richings felt exactly the same. But Massee had a mean streak that appeared every time he could get away with it. He enjoyed seeing Jared constantly naked and bound, humiliated and powerless. It was the ultimate proof that he was right and that no one could stop him. He kept on slapping Jared - face, ass cheeks, wherever - and taunting him by touching his most intimate parts in front of his fellow soldiers and the other omegas, to illustrate Jared's inability to strike back. Massee's detail laughed at his antics while the captain ignored them. The other omegas sent Jared sympathetic looks but were careful not to take sides to avoid directing attention on them.
Being alone with Massee meant more slapping around, more sermons, more intolerable touching. Jared was not freed of his chains during his toilette, his shackles merely loosened to grant him a margin of movement. He tumbled when Massee pushed him forward, both hands and knees cushioning his graceless fall.
"Assume the position, omega," Massee ordered, "do it now, and do it well, and your punishment will be swiftly dealt. Make your penance easier by accepting it. Ask the gods for their pardon, maybe they will be merciful."
"Go to the ninth hell !" Jared spat as he stood back up.
The hell where abusive alphas lost their heads and dicks to the omega tribunal.
"You filthy omega," Massee retorted, his face twisted in anger. "You think you can talk to me like that and get away with it ?"
"I don't care. The gods be my witness, I'm done fearing you, you vile and stupid ignoramus."
Massee slapped him across the face so violently that Jared fell back on the ground, breath knocked out of his lungs when two vicious kicks caught his abdomen. Jared curled on himself to protect his ribs but by then Massee had launched his next attack on Jared's back, unbuttoning his breeches to get his cock out.
"Help !" Jared bellowed, all too aware that neither Jensen nor any other compassionate alpha were close enough to hear him.
And then Richings saved him again.
"Private Massee ! I told you what would happen if I ever found you again in a compromising position with this omega. You have two seconds to let him go, else I will enforce my warning."
Massee did care for his hands. His obedience to the order was swift and wordless.
"Thanks, Captain," Jared said, collapsing on a tree trunk.
"Don't thank me, omega. I'm trying to save this alpha's soul, not the dregs of your worthless virginity."
Fuelled by the idea to get an audience with Sheppard, Jensen headed to the palace, pretty much in the same fashion he had walked into the commandant's office. But his plan fell flat on its face due to the Intendant's absence. Real or pretend, Jensen never managed to find out, although he sent five of his best guys to track him down.
Sheppard's first assistant accepted the marriage contract Jensen had prepared and signed, but rejected any monetary offer to buy Jared's grace, pretending he didn't have the authority to make such decisions. Jensen argued that the intendant certainly preferred to avoid an incident and get his just reward for service rendered to the community.
"Surely even you can see that should your master disagree, he will still be able to send my omega back to Tethreya on the next ship, whereas once Jared is gone, my money follows him."
The assistant was torn but nothing could sway him. This, more than anything else, convinced Jensen that Sheppard was hiding in the palace or the near vicinity, invisible puppeteer pulling the strings of the marionette Jensen was talking to. Sheppard probably knew about his altercation with Morgan. He had anticipated his visit and disappeared to elude a direct confrontation with a man on a warpath and too much power.
Jensen had long been acquainted with that feeling of helplessness. You didn't live under Matlin Ackles' thumb without learning to deal with domestic absolutism. He hadn't left his home to let it rule his life once again, nor would he let despair and grief break him down. Jared counted on him.
If the mostly legal ways didn't pan out, Jensen had only one choice left : kidnapping his omega. This would make for a wonderful and romantic story to tell their kids in a few years.
Decision made, he rented a room in the closest inn to the harbor and posted alphas at the port to warn him of the ends of grace's return to Ismia.
Richings ordered that Jared always be guarded by two soldiers instead of one, so that each man would be watched by the other. Which was maybe a good idea on paper, but the worst one in practice when the two alphas were Brown and Massee.
Double the pleasure, double the fun. For his torturers, of course.
On the first night, the men pushed him face first against a tree and touched him for as long as they thought they could get away with before Richings would question their whereabouts.
On the next night, they threw him in the river, still bound, and jumped right behind him. Jared really thought he was going to drown until they had him resurface by impaling two fingers each in his ass and pushing up.
On the third night, they used his dick and balls to get him out of the water, but their hold kept on slipping while Jared kept on sinking again.
Each night brought novelty to Jared's knowledge of the blackness of the human heart. These men had no soul left to save. They would one day burn and rot in the ninth hell, and all of the other ones before.
Jared kept telling himself that he had to stay strong, to weather everything, that Jensen would be at the end of this hell on Earth, his recompense for being brave and staying true to himself. He ignored the taunts and the tortures, the cruel jibes and the humiliation. He let his mind go blank and reach a near-comatose state where nothing could touch him.
He had a new mantra : nothing's real here but the love of my alpha.
Masterpost | Return to part 8 | Continue to part 10