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Life was alright.
They moved to another house again, from Texas to Alaska now. They were in a more remote town, but not quite small enough to call a village. The house came with a bigger garden than the last and they briefly entertained the idea of having a dog but it was quickly shot down when they remembered they might be moved yet again. On the other hand, the neighbors - while distant, quite literally - were nice. Mia was doing fine, smooth labour and the doctors said the baby was born no issue. No mold virus or complications. The doctors seemed to focus on the miracle of it, remarking how fortunate it was for a beta to get pregnant by an omega.
“Rosemary,” she had suggested many nights ago, “what do you think?”
“Rosie for short?” Ethan joked with a smile.
Mia smiled back, resting a hand on the swell of her stomach as she joked back, “and Roselle Marie for long.”
The anger got worse as time past, move after move. A new day and the morning brought casualties in the form of one of the few plates that came with the house. Ethan mumbled about visiting the local baker to get bread and Mia smashed the plate she was holding onto the table. They stared at the mess of broken shards in surprise, before Mia raised a single finger and glared at him. The faint scent of cappuccino, fresh laundry and hints of milk turned sour with anger as the beta spoke a single word, “don’t.”
Ethan waited, shushing the quiet voice in his mind to lower his head in obedience. He waited until she walked out of the room and into the bedroom, listened for the door lock click and for her sobs to start. With a shaky breath, he cleaned up the shards carefully - nicking himself only once from the sharp edges.
It was not great, but it was not horrible either - Mia was trying and the doctors said post pregnancy mood swings was to be expected. It was just part of life.
Still, Ethan grabbed his phone and dialed.
Chris was a busy man, he either picked up on the first ring or didn’t at all for weeks. Luckily for him, the first droning ring was cut off by a click.
“Ethan,” the other man said gruffly in lieu of a greeting.
“Chris,” Ethan returned and glanced at the closed bedroom door, “are you free?”
“No.” There was a pause, the omega could hear muffled voices of many people before Chris cut them off. Then the sounds faded away - Chris walking out of the room. “Yes. What do you want to do?”
Ethan swallowed, rubbing his scarred wrist as he cradled the phone to his ear. There were a lot of things he wanted to do. The omega in him wanted to help Mia, get his old life back and plan things out for Rosemary - be plain boring Ethan Winters again. Another part of him, feral and anxious that was born in the damp darkness of Louisiana, wanted to run away from the house and Mia, to feel the comforting weight of a shotgun in his hands and those dangerous moments between fighting and running for his life.
Not like the BSAA would let him step out of the secured area, the cage had its purposes to the bird - both to contain and protect.
“Hello? Are you still there?”
The omega blinked, how long had he been spacing out?
“Uh yeah. How does dinner around seven-ish sound? Gotta prep something for Mia and Rose first, but there’s this nice Italian restaurant I saw yesterday I wanted to check out.”
“Sure, just send me the address.”
“Done. Talk to you later?”
“Yeah. I’ll see you there, Ethan.”
The omega hung up and gazed down at his phone, biting his lip. Mia wouldn’t mind.
Chris reached first, waving him over when Ethan spotted him. The scent of musk, leather and snow was calming compared to everything else and Ethan felt his shoulders relax. “Bad day?”
“It was alright. A neighbor came over with apple pie and muffins. Real sweet old lady, but got kinda worried - the houses are far from each other y’know? Rose is doing great, really likes the teddy bear you gifted her,” Ethan explained, taking the menu the Alpha offered before hesitating, “Mia, uh, had a small outburst. You?”
The alpha grimaced briefly at the question. “Meetings. Too many higher ups don’t understand that their policies won’t work but they keep insisting they will.”
“They do say rules are written in blood.”
“Yeah but let’s talk about something else.”
“Right, right,” Ethan soothed before grinning teasingly at Chris, “so how’s that sister of yours? Are you still trying to save the Redfield bloodline?”
“Don’t say it like that, you make me sound like a freak,” Chris scolded lightly, drawing a short laugh from the other, “and she’s fine, been working on a new project to protect people’s rights but there are hiccups. It's difficult to help people who don’t want to be helped but Claire’s got it.”
They ended up ordering a bottle of wine, then as the night went on, they bought more as they talked - dancing between the line of Chris’ more confidential jobs and Ethan’s worries for Mia. Chris was refilling their cups when Ethan noticed the clock in the restaurant. It was getting late. “Where are you staying anyway? You’re like, working. Not around here.”
“I’ve a place nearby.” To keep an eye on you, went unsaid.
“Oh, cool.” No, it wasn’t really.
They took their time to drink, Ethan sipping slowly while Chris drained his cup - only to refill it. The alpha was watching him from the corner of his eye whenever he thought he wasn’t looking, and the omega in turn pretended not to notice. After finishing another round, Chris reached for the wine bottle again and paused - lowering his arm. “You smell different.”
“Well, yeah?” Ethan prompted and raised his cup lightly. “We’ve been drinking like four bottles. And in an Italian place. There’s like so much garlic right now.”
“I mean your Scent,” explained Chris as he licked his lips in thought, “have you not been taking your suppressors?”
The omega couldn’t help but snort, his Time stopped happening long ago after the Incident. “My heats stopped after Louisiana, Chris. The docs say it’s normal, something about trauma and omega instinct stopping everything for survival. Sometimes it just doesn’t come back.”
Chris looked concerned so Ethan continued, “it’s alright really. I get to focus more on Mia and the baby better.”
A barren omega was always a sad thing and a topic for gossip, but Ethan didn’t mind. Honest. He just got more time to take care of his wife and soon to be born child, not worry about being out of commission for a good week or so.
“I can smell it though.”
It must be the alcohol hitting him harder than expected because Ethan only rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat, tilting his head back slightly and tugging his shirt collar down to reveal his neck. “Wanna check again?”
Chris’ eyes narrowed and darkened, his nostrils flaring as he eyed the omega’s throat. Come here alpha, the quiet voice whispered in Ethan’s mind. An unmarked omega who was never properly claimed, locked in a marriage where the couple was trying to stay happy.
Come here and have a taste.
“Tempting,” the alpha finally bit out after a long moment, sounding almost choked as he forcefully looked away from the other. “But if the docs said so, then I’ll believe them.”
Ethan nodded with a smile. “Yeah, me too. The ultrasounds showed a girl and we already picked a name - but if it’s a boy, we’re kinda fucked. Mia wants something normal like Michael or Leonardo but I want something cool like Raiden. Or Bob.”
That got a chuckle out of Chris. “I like Bob. It’s a good name.”
“Exactly, you can’t go wrong with Bob.”
They ended up walking back, hoping the cold night air would help sober them. Chris insisted on stopping by Ethan’s home first.
“My keys are somewhere,” Ethan insisted as he searched his jacket when they reached the main door. Or at least trying to, he kept finding the same lint ball in every pocket he checked. Or was that the same pocket?
“You’re not - nevermind,” Chris huffed before stepping up to him and crowding the omega against the door, his own hands pressing Ethan into the wood. “Here.”
Ethan let him, humming softly at the press of the alpha’s warm palms. He almost started purring, leaning into the other’s chest. He took a deep breath, taking in Chris’ scent and cologne. “You smell good.”
The searching hands froze, settling on his shoulders to push the omega back but Ethan grabbed at the lapses of the alpha’s coat to anchor himself. “Ethan,” Chris murmured, too close to his ear, “we’re at your front door and Mia’s inside.”
"Yeah," sighed Ethan as he buried his face into Chris’ collarbone. He eyed the sliver of flesh visible between the other man’s coat and the dark turtleneck he wore. He could feel Chris breathe, the body shuddering with every inhale. The hands on his shoulders tightened, then slipped down to rest on Ethan’s hips.
“We’re drunk.”
“Yeah,” Ethan replied intelligently and leaned in to press his nose against that exposed skin.
“Fuck,” he barely heard Chris hiss before the alpha moved at him. Chris wretched him away from his neck and for a moment Ethan expected to be punched but then Chris only lunged forward to kiss him. Lips crashed in a sloppy battle as they thumped against the door, a hint of teeth had him whining in his throat. Chris kept one hand on his hip, slipping it under his shirt to caress bare skin while the other moved up to cup the back of Ethan’s neck. Against his thigh, Ethan could feel Chris’ growing hardness and rubbed against it, earning a growl as the alpha pushed him against the door again.
Another thump against wood, louder than before. Shit.
“That was loud,” the omega breathed when Chris pulled away only to move to mouth at his neck and scent glands. It was, and the result was the muffled sounds of movement in the house. “Chris, hey.”
He could feel Chris frown against his neck, hesitated for a second then pressed one last kiss at his neck. With that the alpha pulled away, putting a few steps between them. Cheeks flustered and clothes ruffled, Chris looked sinful and Ethan’s hands itched to pull him back. Judging from the hungry gaze the other was giving him, Ethan guessed he looked just as messed up.
Chris recovered first, expression stoic. He was eyeing the windows, a light was turned on. They could hear Rosemary start to cry. “I should go.”
“Goodnight Chris,” Ethan forced himself to say, his tone calm and choked as the man walked away. He rubbed his face, cheeks and dragged his hands to cup his neck. No bites, thank god. Mia wouldn’t think much over the scent, she knew some people would be assholes to him and it was just a thing for alphas like Chris could do to keep omegas safe.
So instead Ethan focused on smiling the best he could when Mia opened the door, slipping into the house and refusing to look back to see if Chris was still there.
-
A few days later, Ethan realized that Chris was right.
He woke up to hell. The air was too stuffy, his body was burning up and Mia was pacing frantically around the bedroom. He managed to mumble a casual greeting, “hi what’s up?”
“Ethan!” Mia gasped as she turned, hurrying over to him. “I thought you were having a fever but you’ve gone in heat. You were sleepwalking and doing things, I didn’t know what to do.”
“What kind of things?”
Mia gestured to the bed.
The omega glanced around, at the circle of pillows and clothes. To his horror, the jacket he wore last night was right under him like a makeshift pillow but Mia didn’t seem to notice. He never really went into heats around Mia while they were married, the rare times he did would simply be him staying overnight at an alpha friend’s house to help him cope with it. “Oh. Those things.”
“It’s okay sweetie,” he assured her, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and forcing himself to sit up. “I just need to take some meds.”
The rush of wetness down his thighs had Ethan grimacing and Mia squirming in mild disgust, but she stayed to help him into the bathroom and search for his old suppressors.
“Expired a year ago,” Mia told him while he sat on the bathroom floor, handing him the box she found. “I can go out and buy some right now.”
She looked so worried that Ethan just stared dumbly at her for a long minute, before he reached out and pulled her close to hug her. “Don’t worry babe,” he mumbled into her tummy, to Rosemary and felt her hands rest on his shoulders. “I can wait it out, you rest at home. Someone’s gotta watch Rose.”
It was a thing people did sometimes, leave pups in the nest of an omega but Ethan didn’t trust himself considering it was his first since the Incident.
“No, you rest. I’m...I’m gonna call Chris, okay? He will know what to do.”
Ethan glanced up at her almost sleepily. The heat was easier to cope with when Mia and Rose were here, her scent now calm and soft filling his head. But the idea of bringing in Chris - “Mia?”
“I can’t help you, I know that heats hurt and can make you go crazy with pain but I can’t help you,” Mia whispered, borderline close to tears and Ethan shushed her, leaning away to coax her to sit down with him so they could hug properly. “But Chris can, he’s - able to. I trust him. I love you Ethan.”
“You too,” Ethan said after a long moment and closed his eyes. He slept uneasily, drifting in and out of nothingness. It broke enough for him to remember seeing Mia waiting with him, Rosemary blinking down at him from her arms and trying to reach for him. Chris looming over him awkwardly, then feeling arms lift him up. He might have kicked out a little at being removed from his nest, but the hold was too strong. The familiar house was replaced with a stranger’s when Ethan finally woke up properly.
It was a bedroom. Big bed, the usual furniture but not much personality - almost like a hotel room. Ethan immediately sat up, legs swinging to the side of the bed and forcing himself to the closest window. He had to get out, go back to his mate and pup. Then he stopped and breathed, taking in that familiar scent.
Alpha, he noted in relief. Untaken by any omega, starting to go into rut.
“Ethan,” he heard from the door and looked over to Chris, the older man in a simple shirt and sweatpants with his arms full of clothing. “Had to move you out of your bedroom and ruined your nest so,” the alpha gestured to the fabric he carried.
Ethan eyed him critically as Chris came closer, the latter placing the clothes along the bed in a poor attempt of a nest. Endearing he thought before the heat made his head swim, his hands reached out to Chris for stability - then jerked the alpha on top of him.
“Forget the nest,” Ethan managed to growl out, twisting and pushing at Chris until the alpha was laying on the bed and with himself straddling him. He grinded his hips down, relishing in the hardness straining in those pants under him. “Knot, now.”
Groaning, Chris quickly grabbed him by the hips and held him still. Despite his obvious arousal and scent growing heavily in rut, he still looked Ethan in the eye and asked: “are you sure?”
“Alpha,” Ethan pleaded and tilted his head, baring his neck. He needed this. “Please.”
Chris responded by pulling him close.
Another blur, filled with heat, sweat and pleasure. Behind held close, kisses on his chest trailing lower. Someone whining, impatient and hungry. Hands spreading himself open to present, knees pressed into the bedding. Chris mounting him, heavy on his back.
His alpha fucking him into the mattress, so hard that all Ethan could do was keep his ass up for more. Teeth on his shoulder, then the side of his neck. Hesitation and the thrusting paused as if to pull out, Ethan snarling and clenching down on the length inside him. Wet heat deep inside him then the knot, oh god the fucking knot - and the sharp pain at his neck, enough to make the omega scream.
When Ethan came back to himself, everything ached. “Ow.”
“Sorry,” he heard from his right. Glancing over, the omega found Chris next to him looking torn between content and embarrassed. “I might have overdone it. Haven’t had a rut for awhile with work in the way.”
“How long?” Ethan asked as he inspected his body. Arms were okay, hips and thighs hurt like a bitch. His neck was bandaged up, a quiet ache that seemed to pulse with every heartbeat. The omega felt a warm weight in his stomach and decided not to move around too much, but curiosity pushed him to hesitantly reached down to touch his hole. He winced at the soreness and ignored any arousal from the touch. At least Chris was kind enough to clean him up.
“Nearly two weeks. Doctors said it was normal but they couldn’t really check while you were...busy. We brought you here to my apartment since it was secured enough to avoid affecting your wife and baby, but your heat passed without problem.” Ethan watched Chris explain without looking away from the ceiling, the alpha’s hands firmly clasped together on his stomach as if worried they would wander without permission. “Mia sent updates and pictures, check your phone. It’s charging on the nightstand.
Ethan did, snatching up his phone and checking through his messages. There it was, photos of Rosemary in various acts and selfies of Mia and their baby almost everyday. Little captions saying ‘hope you’re okay!’ and ‘stay strong babe, you can do this’ under every picture and heart emojis. Forcing himself to breath, Ethan put down his phone and joined Chris in Ceiling watching. “So you, uh. You helped.”
“...Yeah.”
Ethan’s hand wandered up to scratch at the bandages, he quickly noticed and stopped. Maybe he should follow the other’s example and trap his hands. “We weren’t using protection and I’m not on birth control.”
Finally Chris moved, sitting up yet still not daring to look at Ethan. “I know, it’s not your fault. There’s plenty of options we have and we can get the best doctors for you, there’s even new technology to remove claiming bites now.”
“No!” Ethan choked out as he scrambled up, hands returning to his neck as if hiding it. Then he blinked and felt his cheeks flush warm from his shout. “I mean, no. I - I don’t know. We don’t even know if it will take.”
Chris glanced at him, at his neck and hands - at his wedding ring, the omega realized. “You have a family, Ethan.”
“Don’t you want one too?”
There was a moment of hesitation before Chris ran a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh. “This isn’t about me. You are married.”
“Mia would understand. I’ve spent heats with friends before.” But none of them ever claimed him, so would she really? Ethan knew she loved him but sometimes he worried if he didn’t feel the same, wondering if the woman he saw everyday was the same one he fell in love with all those years ago. Furthermore the idea of pups, after believing himself to be barren was too much. And Chris himself, Ethan knew the alpha appreciated him more than a friend after months of pretending not to notice those longing looks when he thought Ethan wasn’t looking.
An image flashed in his mind, imagination conjuring up Rosemary as a kid and a toddler with a mix of Ethan and Chris’ features - two of them holding hands and playing together. The doctors said Rose was a miracle baby, Mia was unlikely to have another child.
Ethan felt his chest tightened but a warm hand over his own, Chris cupping his hands and neck. Looking up, he could see the alpha watching him patiently and he found his voice, “I know she will.”
“Fine,” Chris said gruffly and it sounded almost full of disdain but Ethan knew otherwise, looking at the alpha’s soft expression and feeling the hands stroke his neck gently - right at the bite. A silent I love you neither of them dared to say. “Just know that we have options if you change your mind.”
“I know,” Ethan replied before shifting closer to his alpha, leaning into him. His own unsaid confession. “I know.”
There was a long silence, just both of them enjoying each other’s presence before Ethan realized something - his body shaking in laughter. Chris hummed in question, leaning back into the bed and pulling the omega with him. Ethan’s pursed lips broke and he started to laugh out loud before he calmed down enough to speak, “the Redfield bloodline huh?”
It felt out of place after such a serious discussion of a possible pregnancy, abortions and adulatory but it managed to draw a snort from Chris. “Yeah, I guess you making fun of me came to bite you in the ass.”
Rolling his eyes, Ethan elbowed his mate. “I’m pretty sure you were the one who bit me there, jerk.”
Chris chuckled and they shared a grin.
They stay together for a while longer before Chris urged him to go wash up, planning to update the doctors that the heat was over. Ethan was leaving the bathroom, rubbing his hair with a borrowed towel when he saw Chris speaking on the phone and pacing around the room.
“There was a breach at your house. Security compromised, backdoor unlocked and the cams down for a minute but the guards stationed there saw nothing and Mia and Rosemary are safe. It was the right decision to have you here but we’re going to move you guys again.”
“But we haven’t even been here for a month,” Ethan protested with a frown. Shit, at least they weren’t hurt.
“I know,” Chris murmured as he went over, pulling the omega close and hesitantly nuzzling his hair, “I’m sorry.”
Huffing, Ethan let his mate cuddle him. “Don’t be. What’s the plan?”
“Europe, Romania. We already secured a safehouse but we didn’t think we’d use it so soon. They’re on transit right now. I’ll arrange a flight for you.”
“What about you?” Ethan asked into Chris’ chest, leaning in to listen to the other’s steady heartbeat - then glanced at the pecs by his face.
“I need to stay, someone has to investigate the breach and could be related to another project I have going on.” Chris cut off with a grunt when his mate buried his face between his pecs. “The paperwork isn’t gonna do itself.”
“Or,” Ethan breathed against a slowly hardening nipple, close to his lips and felt the alpha shiver against him, “you could do me instead.”
-
A day later, Ethan arrived at the doorstep of his new home. He was assured over and over again that the security was heightened to almost the highest level and would continue to stay that way until Chris arrived in Europe. At least the house was nice. Mia greeted him with smiles, Rosemary on her hip. “Ethan! How have you been?”
“Better,” Ethan responded and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He took a moment to breathe her scent: familiar coffee and cotton. He couldn’t help but sigh and kissed her again, earning a giggle. “How about you, babe?”
“I’m perfect, and little Rose here is perfect-er.”
At the mention of her name, Rosemary mewled and reached out to him. Ethan felt his heart flutter and cooed, opening his arms out for Mia to pass her over. “Hi my perfect-er flower, did you miss me?”
“She did, she’s been crying a lot at night.”
“Welp, I’m here to help.” Ethan said with a nod and gestured to Mia. Then waited some more. Mia was staring blankly at him with a smile yet with sharp eyes as if inspecting him, still clutching Rosemary close to herself. The smile never wavered. “Mia?”
“Hm?” She blinked then glanced down at his arms, carefully handing Rose to him. “Oh, sorry. I’ve been bonding with her so much that I sometimes forget there’s someone other than the two of us, you know?”
“It’s fine,” the omega assured her and bounced Rosemary lightly. He could still feel Mia staring at him intently so he waited for the inevitable questions.
“What happened to your neck?” Ethan swallowed and opened his mouth to recite the answer he had prepared - but then Mia continued, “wait let me guess: you cut yourself shaving again, didn’t you? You’re so careless, Ethan.”
Huh.
“Actually I uh, I have something to tell you,” Ethan began slowly but stopped himself. Something felt wrong, his instincts insisted as he hugged Rosemary tighter. He took in Mia’s scent again: coffee, laundry, the faintest hint of something foul like milk gone bad.
“Sweetie?”
“I missed you,” came from his mouth. He couldn’t force anything else out. Not a lie, but definitely not the speech he planned, “I missed you two so much.”
Mia grinned widely and rolled her eyes at him. “We missed you too. Come on, let’s go on quick. You’ll be just in time for dinner.”
That night Ethan Googled a question that haunted him since arriving.
‘Can a beta not notice a claim?’
He frowned as he read through the many medical sites offering information, the closest thing they offered was a pregnant or post birth omega who would not be as perceptive as usual - their own senses tuned into their pups to ensure the bonding of parent and child. Enough to ignore everything else that was not them or their own mate. Glancing over at his wife sleeping soundly next to him and listening to the silence of the baby monitor, Ethan swiped to his messaging app.
Part of him wanted to reach out to his parents, his father was a beta - surely he would know but BSAA had clear rules that they couldn’t contact anyone outside a list. To the world, Ethan and Mia Winters almost disappeared, only existing in a newspaper and inactive social media. Chris had promised to extent that list to his family as soon as they could and speaking of him -
His finger hovered over Chris’ name. Then he clicked and started to type.
'Hey i'm a little worried for mia shes kinda acting weird'
Ethan hesitated.
Mia had been taking care of Rose for two weeks alone. She was too tired to notice. He deleted the message and put his phone down, staring into his wife’s back while willing himself to sleep. Slowly, Ethan’s hands drifted to his abdomen.
Everything would be fine.