Chapter Text
It's really hard to run from monsters while having a full-blown existential crisis. As if it wasn't enough that Bryan had to figure out what the hell was going on, what those disgusting tentacles crawling out of dead bodies were, and where to find some goddamn ammo—he also couldn't get his last conversation with Michelle out of his head.
"Fuck, fuck," the omega chanted, glancing back again and again at that damn farm until it finally disappeared behind the thick, snow-covered spruces. "Shit…"
The shotgun was too heavy, his shoes were soaked, and his ass was so frozen it felt like it might fall off any second. But even so, Bryan kept turning the same thought over and over: if—no, when—he got out of this, to put it mildly, unpleasant situation, Michelle would still be waiting for him at home. The alpha wanted to claim him and get him pregnant right away officially. The only problem was that he didn't want that.
I mean, like most omegas, Bryan wanted nothing more than to feel an alpha's teeth on his neck, to get a mark. To become part of something bigger—amazing—and then, yes, with both hands up, to have a baby. No, three! But, as he'd recently realized, not with Michelle.
Bryan had always thought his alpha would make him feel more—more emotion, more desire, everything other omegas described with that fire in their eyes. He'd dreamed that just one whiff of his alpha would make his head spin and his pants wet. But with Michelle, it was all wrong… Even her scent seemed completely ordinary to him—nothing like the kind that would blow his mind and make him spread his legs.
He'd even found the courage to tell her—right before he delivered his first package to the hospital. Bryan knew perfectly well he was ending a relationship of many years. Okay, fine, he'd been too scared to say it outright, but he'd been sure that lines like "I'm not ready yet," "it's a big responsibility," and especially the gutless "let's just wait a little longer" would make Michelle understand it was over.
Turned out—no. She needed an omega and a baby to get a promotion at work, and, as usual, the alpha didn't take Bryan's words seriously—not even after he told her straight out that he wanted to break up. After all, she said, he was just an omega—what did he know? We'll talk at home. And Bryan was so scared of that conversation that he'd actually agreed to an overtime delivery. Even now, he couldn't decide which was worse: tentacle monsters or a furious alpha waiting at home.
Either way, he knew one thing—he had to get out of here. Ideally, call the police, the fire department, or whoever the hell was responsible for situations where a perfectly ordinary dog's face suddenly split three ways into a horrible, unnatural maw, and dead people's bodies turned into… He didn't even know what the fuck that was.
"Oh, fu-u-uck," he groaned when he saw the dark tunnel ahead. It looked, to put it mildly, creepy. So creepy that for a moment he even considered going back to the farm or looking for a way around. But the image of that many-armed, many-legged monster lying in wait for him anywhere immediately popped into his head, so he slowly moved forward, lighting the way with his phone's flashlight.
The light only reached a few steps ahead, and beyond that the darkness seemed to thicken and swallow the beam. Glass crunched under his soles. Somewhere ahead, water was dripping, and in the silence every drop sounded like a footstep.
Inside, everything looked just as bad as he'd expected: abandoned cars, some crumpled in crashes, and inside them—people's belongings, left behind as their owners fled from something terrible, no doubt about it. On the windshield of one of the cars was a dark handprint, a long smear trailing down from it. Bryan quickly moved the flashlight away.
Still, he kept going through the eerie silence, expecting some monster to lunge at him any second—and still couldn't hold back an irritated huff when he saw a huge trailer blocking the road. How the hell did that even happen? Whoever had been behind the wheel was a complete idiot.
Luckily, no monsters jumped him when he opened the door—only the damn steps creaked so loudly that he jumped in fright. Inside was a mess, with clear signs that someone had been here recently: opened ready meals, scattered toys and books. It smelled of sour milk and something else—something sweetish and heavy that left a metallic taste in his mouth. Bryan rushed to the driver's door, but…
"Of course. Of fucking course," he swore when it turned out to be blocked. "God forbid I catch a single break today…"
He heard his own voice—shaky, scared—and for a moment he felt a little better. But the feeling vanished the instant something rustled at the far end of the trailer right where the exit he wanted so badly was.
A step.
Another one.
A plastic toy block crunched under his foot, and Bryan froze, clenching his teeth.
For a second it seemed like a shadow passed by the trailer window, but when Bryan looked out, there was nothing there. So he moved on, each step making him more certain someone was in the bathroom. Quiet, broken sobbing. And scratching—like something hard dragging across plastic.
The shotgun trembled in his hands as he opened the door, but he lowered it immediately when he saw a child inside—a little girl in blue pajamas with tiny flowers on them. She was huddled on the toilet, hiding her face behind her long dark hair.
"Oh God," Bryan breathed, but the girl only curled up tighter. "It's okay! It's okay! I'll protect you."
He wished someone would say that to him. But right now, he was the grown-up, and he had to protect the little one. Hearing his voice, the girl finally turned her head and looked at him with frightened, tear-filled eyes. Her lips were gray.
"It's okay," Bryan repeated, releasing the faintest trace of pheromones to calm her. "I'm going to help you."
"Really?" the girl asked.
"Of course. What… what happened?"
"My mom… she suddenly bit me, but I locked myself in here," the girl explained. "And now… my leg hurts so much."
Bryan's gaze dropped to her leg on its own—and it took every ounce of self-control he had not to scream in horror. The girl's foot had turned into… something. It looked like human skin stretched over tree bark, and now that bark was wrapped around the toilet. It pulsed faintly and creaked softly as it tightened, like raw wood in the frost. It looked like those disgusting tentacles from the farm—and at the same time, completely different.
"Um," was all he could manage.
"You're going to help me, right?" the girl asked, reaching her arms out to him. And honestly, no matter how badly his omega instincts wanted to help a child, Bryan really didn't want to touch her. Still, he forced a strained smile and reached for her—whatever had happened to her, she needed medical help.
"It's going to be…"
He didn't get the chance to touch her: the tentacles on her leg suddenly came alive. With a wet crack, they tore free from the toilet and lifted the child into the air, while she kept reaching for Bryan, screaming. For a few seconds he didn't even understand what was happening—the tentacles lashed through the air, he dodged, and then—a blow—and he was lying on the floor.
"No-o!" the girl shrieked, and her face twisted into a hideous mask: the skin seemed to split apart, exposing muscle, and a huge eye opened in the middle of her forehead. Bryan reached for the shotgun—and only then realized it wasn't there.
As if in slow motion, he watched the girl lunge at him. He even thought he felt her breath—cold, smelling of damp earth. He imagined her biting him, then eating him—piece by piece, or worse, him turning into a monster just like her. And suddenly there were quick footsteps behind him, a loud gunshot—and a moment later, instead of the girl, a huge red splatter of organs and bone was spreading out in front of him.
Bryan screamed, scrambling away from what was left of the girl. His heart was pounding, his ears were ringing, and he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Then, suddenly, the most wonderful, most delicious scent he'd ever smelled reached him. Everything instantly faded into the background—the monsters, the girl, Michelle. Bryan instinctively closed his eyes, feeling himself start to calm down—and a moment later opened them again.
You know what the worst possible moment is to meet an alpha whose scent alone makes you want to spread your legs, bare your neck, and have three babies? RIGHT NOW!
"Oh, shit, are you okay?" The stranger alpha rushed over. He even dropped to the floor beside him—and then suddenly froze, almost growling. He leaned in, just barely, as if pulled by an invisible string. It seemed he was reacting to Bryan exactly the way Bryan was reacting to him.
The omega slowly turned his head, almost afraid of what he'd see. And he couldn't hold back a startled gasp: in front of him was a very young guy with light hair and piercing blue eyes. Absurdly pretty, and in a police uniform, no less—a kink Bryan hadn't even known he had.
Until this very moment.
The alpha didn't move and stopped growling. He didn’t take his eyes off him, his gaze hungry but still a little frightened. And Bryan thought, with a strange mix of delight and horror: Michelle had never looked at him like that.
"Who… who are you?" Bryan finally managed.
The alpha blinked, confused, as if it were the hardest question he'd ever been asked.
"Leon…" he answered quietly. "Leon Kennedy."
"I'm Bryan," the omega introduced himself. "Are you… a cop?"
"Uh, yeah," Leon said. "Well, I'm supposed to be. Today was supposed to be my first day, but…"
They both looked at the red splatter on the trailer wall. The end of that sentence was obvious.
They spent a few seconds in awkward silence, but then Bryan decided he should at least get up off the floor. And of course Leon immediately caught him, helping him up—gallantly, like a gentleman, holding him by the shoulders and back. Even through his clothes, wherever Leon's palms touched him, the omega's body started to burn. And, to Bryan's absolute horror, the heat spread through his whole body, and his underwear got very uncomfortably wet.
What.
The.
Hell.
"Fuck, you smell so good," Leon's voice dropped, going low and hoarse. He stepped back, hiding his face in his hands. "I've never… Fuck…"
Leon looked embarrassed, and that, surprisingly, lifted Bryan's mood. He'd never had that kind of effect on alphas—Michelle called his scent "normal," and his exes just shrugged indifferently. And none of them—not a single one—had ever blushed, peeking at Bryan from behind their hands. Leon was looking at him like he was the most delicious treat in the entire universe, not a twenty-five-year-old omega with a few extra pounds, covered in dirt and blood on top of that.
"I swear, Bryan, I'm not some kind of pervert," Leon said miserably. "This has never happened to me before…"
Bryan's heart fluttered. Suddenly, everything he'd been through didn't seem so terrible anymore. After all, he'd met Leon.
"Me… me too," Bryan finally admitted. "This is insane…"
And suddenly Leon went still—and then lunged at him. Luckily, not the way all those monsters had tonight. The alpha's scent washed over Bryan like a wave as he pressed up against him. Leon was a little taller, and Bryan instinctively tilted his head up. But when only an inch remained before that long-awaited kiss, Leon suddenly stopped.
Bryan could feel his breath on his lips—hot, ragged. He could see Leon clenching his jaw, holding himself back with the last of his strength.
"Can… can I kiss you?"
No one had ever asked Bryan that—alphas always just took, not caring much what the omega thought. But Leon was looking at him as if he'd die if Bryan didn't kiss him right now. And Bryan liked that.
So he was the one who leaned in first—and couldn't hold back a smile when Leon growled against his lips. Leon didn't kiss him—he devoured him. Bryan could never have imagined this young guy was capable of such hungry, passionate kisses. Leon's tongue owned his mouth, while his hot palms held Bryan's face carefully, like something fragile he was afraid to break. Then one hand slid to the back of his head, fingers burying in his hair, and when Leon tugged gently, making Bryan tilt his head back, Bryan's knees gave out. Leon pressed in closer, and Bryan felt the alpha's arousal with delight—and it instantly spread to him too. Leon's lips slid lower—to his jawline, to his neck, to where his pulse was hammering wildly. Teeth grazed lightly over his skin, and Bryan, without thinking, bared his neck himself.
This was complete insanity. He'd known Leon for literally a few minutes, and he already wanted nothing more than for those teeth to close. Complete insanity. But so fucking tempting. He wondered what Michelle would say when he came home not only with a new alpha and a mark, but with a pup inside him too?
But the thought didn't get a chance to go any further: somewhere beyond the tunnel came a wild, inhuman scream. That many-legged monster was back! The realization hit them like a bucket of ice water—both Leon and Bryan. They froze.
The scream rolled through the tunnel, echoing off the walls, and for a moment it was impossible to tell where it was coming from—behind them or ahead. And then something scraped in the darkness. Many somethings, all at once—like dozens of claws on concrete.
"It's okay," Leon whispered in his ear before stepping between Bryan and the door. He raised the shotgun and aimed it at the entrance. "I'll protect you, omega."
And Bryan had no choice but to nod and trust his alpha.