3 - Violet And Gold

“It’s fine, Millan, don’t worry about it. I was just coming in to see how you were. You had me a bit worried is all. But I see you’re in good hands.” Andy smiles.

“He is.” Nara adds, smiling to Millan in the same way.

Millan looks at them both warily.

“Yeah...” He says while narrowing his eyes.

He still can’t understand Andy’s intention.

Everybody’s way too kind in this pack, he pondered.

There must be something underneath that he’s not seeing. He supposes he’ll just have to watch his back and not let his guard down.

Nara and Andy share a brief look of concern when they see Millan gauging them distrustingly.

“So you’re all patched up, Millan. It would be better if you rest for a couple of days, don’t put pressure on it too much and I would like, only if you want that is, to do a general check up, just to make sure you’re healthy since I reckon you don’t have the opportunity to see doctors very often.”

Nara sends a silent prayer to whoever is listening that Millan will accept. Her wolf wouldn’t let her sleep knowing there is such a badly neglected omega in her vicinity and she wasn’t doing her best to help him out.

Millan still looks vigilant, but he nods and accepts to see her again for a general check up.

In truth, he knows that his wolf surely suffers from the lack of alpha care he’s been dealing with for years. It wouldn’t hurt knowing the extent of the damage.

The problem is, it isn’t an issue he can easily fix so he’s not sure what he’ll do with the information.

“Andy, can I speak to you in private?” Nara asks.

“Of course.”

Millan isn’t stupid, he knows they’ll be talking about him, but he honestly couldn’t care less. He’s pretty happy with how everything turned out for once and he’s not about to overthink it or to get his hopes up.

He won’t push his luck and take what he’s been given: two weeks vacation where he can allow himself not to be on high alert 24/7. He figures he should probably assess his next move for when time’s up so that he can really relax and energize afterwards.

He takes his backpack from the floor next to him and extricates his worn out, folded map. He’d stole it from a particularly dumb, easy-to-outrun, rogue alpha years ago.

The map detailed the borders of every pack territory in the Western Lands. He takes out a pen from his bag and marks Brook Territory with a red X.

After a while of wandering through the continent, he decided it would be easier if he kept track of the areas he’s been in and if they were friendly or not.

He’d implemented this method when he’d ran into the same pack alpha twice and the second time was even worse than the first.

He still had scars from that day.

He started marking in red the territories where he’d be in big trouble if he returned to and in green the ones that were fairly friendly and wouldn’t kill him if he passed through them again.

Or if he thought so at least.

Of course, since he’s a worthless, conning, defective omega, the map is mostly marked red and there’s less and less unexplored space to wander in anymore.

Millan has no idea what he would do once he’s encountered every pack in the continent.

He’ll have to get on an illegal boat going to the Eastern Lands- a long and harsh journey of forty days, one he’d go through very reluctantly and as a last resort.

Being a rogue omega, he’d be vulnerable, stuck on the same small living space as other rogue alphas.

Just thinking about it, looking at his red marked map on the bed, Millan shudders.

He’d have to think of another way to get across.

*****

“Oh and Amir? Did you have time to look at the new defensive layout yet?”

The omega turns back, hand on the doorknob, about to leave the Head Alpha’s study.

“Oh, yeah, I did! Really thorough job from Jace. I think he’s right about our Northern Border.”

“Good. Can you go ahead with the new strategy now?”

“I’ll assemble the team and get on it right away.”

“Perfect. Keep me updated. Oh, and thank you.”

“Of course.”

As soon as Amir is out the door, Weston drops down on his chair. Allowing himself to feel the exhaustion he’s hidden all day.

Truth is, he’s been feeling like absolute crap today and it scares him a little.

He habitually has more energy than anybody else, always pushing others to their limits. It’s rarely the other way around.

Ever since Andy has left his office earlier today, he’s felt unfocused and restless, anxious even. He sighs and gets up.

He decides he needs a walk, taking the time to talk to the wolves from his pack always has a way of energizing him.

And so he does just that, he passes through the rooms in the main house, stopping to check on everyone and play with pups along the way.

Once outside, he lets his body lead him- not thinking about it- he goes through the gardens, through an intense game of footie which he joins for a little while, he chats with one of the elders sat on a bench and congratulates a newly mated couple.

Before he knows it, he’s spent almost two hours just walking through Headquarters and interacting with his pack. It does cheer him up a bit, but that ball of anxiety in his stomach never leaves.

His amble eventually leads him to the infirmary situated just next to the gardens, less than a mile from the main house.

He goes in without thinking about it.

He starts thinking about it once he hears Andy’s voice reverberating on the corridor walls and then he remembers.

It seems like he’s going straight to the rogue omega Andy had boldly tried to convince him to accept as pack.

It was a crazy demand that Weston couldn’t possibly accept. Never, in the history of the Blayne Pack had they accepted a rogue wolf.

Once a wolf has been rejected from its pack, it can never be trusted again. Or so that’s what Weston has been taught.

But again, as Andy had pointed out, it is incredibly intriguing as to what would push a pack to banish an omega.

Weston has never heard of such a thing.

Omegas, not only are more vulnerable if left alone without a pack to protect them, but they’re usually very peaceful, non-violent creatures. They rarely harm any other living breathing thing.

So what could this omega in particular have done to get banished?

If he was honest with himself, Weston did want to meet him only to get some answers.

A beautiful omega, Andy had said. And for the alpha to compliment someone, it was an impressive accomplishment, which surprised him.

Andy had always been kind, polite even. But aside from his brothers, it is actually hard to please the guy and to pull out a compliment from him was like pulling teeth from a living, wild, rabid animal.

“He needs an alpha. Actually, he needs a pack. I haven’t checked his health thoroughly yet, but think about it. He probably hasn’t experienced simple things such as alpha/omega embrace for eight years.”

Weston stops walking and leans on the corner wall, hidden. He recognizes the voice and the scent as Nara’s, he also distinguishes Andy’s scent.

Despite himself, he feels for the omega and hearing the doctor’s worries about him makes his anxiety even worse and what she says next doesn’t help.

“He probably hasn’t been in omega space for years too! Maybe hasn’t even purred once since he’s been banished! I mean, most alphas believe purring is just a cute thing omegas do when they’re content, but it’s more than that, Andy. It’s a sign they’re recuperating. I mean, imagine Amir in the wild for eight years! No alpha contact! Nothing!”

Weston is impressed at how she’s strangely managing to whisper and yell at the same time.

Weston hears Andy responding.

“Fuck, I can’t even imagine my little brother Amir alone like that. It’s terrible. My parents would turn in their graves. We should go to Weston again, Nara. We need to change his mind.”

“I agree, we can’t let him on his own again.”

Weston sighs and leans his head on the wall as he hears both of them walk away.

His guilt has never been so bad, his anxiety takes over his whole body. His wolf is internally screaming at him that he’s a bad alpha and didn’t take proper care of the omega.

It’s complete nonsense to feel that way about an omega he’s never even seen.

And a rogue at that.

He tries to convince himself that as Alpha, he has to protect his pack first and that’s exactly what he did, but his wolf will have none of that. He’s always taught his pack to treat others with kindness.

He’d be a hypocrite not to give Millan his chance.

That’s why, once his feet have led him in front of the omega’s room, he gives in and simply knocks.

“Come in!” the voice is so direct and fearless, he thinks someone else is in the room with the omega.

Probably a nurse, he thinks.

He’s surprised to see the omega sitting in bed alone, hunched over and writing something down on what looks like a map.

“Hey, Andy, do you think you could get me a map of the Eastern Lands? Mine’s not very detailed.” The omega looks up and widens his eyes, realizing he wasn’t speaking to Andy.

Instantly, their eyes meet and Weston isn’t ready for how his wolf reacts.

Weston’s senses were filled with violet eyes, a beautiful face, and a melodic voice.

An uncontrollable shiver runs through his spine and Weston feels his anxiety exude from his body completely. The slightly sweet scent of the omega envelops him with warmth- something he’s never experienced before and he can see Millan responding the same way.

His lips are slightly parted on an unspoken ‘oh’ and they both can’t seem to tear their eyes away from each other.

Until Millan awkwardly coughs and says, “I- umm… Sorry. I thought you were Andy.”

“I’m Weston. I’m the Head Alpha of the Blayne Pack.”

“Oh, well. Nice to meet you ‘Weston, Head Alpha of the Blayne Pack’. I’m Millan, omega of no pack.” Millan states, unreadable.