In general, Enar couldn’t appreciate being an alpha, but today was exceptionally sucky in that aspect. How could he enjoy his alpha status when he was once again presented with the evidence of what brutality some fellow alphas treated omegas with—and get away with? He couldn’t, not when he once again was witness to the devastating consequences of said brutality. And not when he had to fight harder than ever before to overrule his biological urges. 

God, the compulsion to march into that bedroom and join Lidon for the chance to own Vieno, it had been so fucking strong. Even with all the meds in his system and his relatively lame-ass alpha urges, it had taken every ounce of willpower. The only thing that had stopped him was the conviction that Lidon was better for Vieno, that the little omega needed the alpha power Lidon brought. Maybe, sometime in the future he could offer his services to Vieno as well? Nah, that was crazy thinking. He’d never want him and even if he did, nothing would happen as long as he was Enar’s patient.

Damn, he was aroused, though. The pheromones Palani had been throwing off hadn’t helped either. The man had been horny as all get out, judging by his scent. He was nowhere near as strong or seductive as Vieno, but he still smelled pretty damn good. Fucking biology, all over again. 

It was a little better now that Palani had retreated into his bedroom and Enar had jacked off three times in a row. His erection had subsided, and he felt marginally more like himself. Insofar as he ever truly felt like himself anyway.

If he’d known what he was getting into with visiting Vieno, he would’ve made sure to fuck somebody before he came over. He had a few beta fuck buddies he trusted—a solution that worked out well for him for the most part. If it left a part of him unfulfilled, well, that was life for you. No one ever got all they wanted, so this was his cross to bear. He couldn’t complain, not with what he witnessed in true suffering every day. In comparison, his lack of…fulfillment seemed a small price to pay.

He cleaned himself up, wiping off the cum on his hands and stomach with a tissue, then tucked his cock back in and put his shirt back on. As he was in the kitchen, washing his hands, Lidon called out to him from the bedroom. Enar and Palani arrived at the door at the same time, the latter hastening from his own bedroom, his cheeks flushed. Enar didn’t need to guess what the beta had been up to. Damn, the smell of his cum was all over him. He let Palani open the door.  

He staggered back as the aroma of sex hit him. Hot damn, it was thick in the air. Lidon was positioned on his back on the bed, Vieno on top of him, with a sheet draped over both of them. Much to Enar’s surprise, Vieno seemed asleep, his cheek resting on Lidon’s broad chest, his face relaxed with his mouth open in a pouty but cute O. 

“Are you okay?” Enar asked softly.

“Is Vieno okay?” Palani asked almost at the same time.

Lidon smiled, such a rare occasion Enar almost shook his head in disbelief. “He’s fine. He fell asleep.”

Enar’s face softened. “He’s exhausted.”

“Well, so am I,” Lidon said. He yawned as if on cue.

“Does he have enough hormones and proteins in his system now, you think?” Palani asked Enar.

“That’s more for Lidon to answer, sorry.”

Lidon shook his head. “He’s nowhere near done yet.”

“Can’t you go home, get some sleep, and come back tomorrow so Vieno can sleep a little as well?” Palani asked.

“I would, but I can’t leave. I’m still knotting him.”

“How long?” Enar asked. He’d expected a long knot, considering how depleted Vieno had been. 

“Close to an hour now. He fell asleep about ten minutes ago, but it still won’t come down.”

“Don’t force it. It’ll help him. And you, too,” Enar advised. 

“You can stay here,” Palani said. He tried hard to be casual about it, Enar noted, but his jerky movements betrayed his feelings. 

“That means I’m staying, too,” Enar said. 

Palani nodded. “That’s more than okay. The sofa in the living room is a sleep sofa, so I’ll make you a bed. Do you need anything else?” he asked Lidon, and Enar admired his willingness to set aside his own feelings to help his lover. It spoke volumes about his character.

“Food. I need some serious calories when I wake up—and so does Vieno. Something with a lot of carbs and protein.”

“Okay. I’m not the world’s best cook—that would be Vieno—but I can make something when you wake up. Just give me a shout.”

Lidon simply nodded. 

Palani bit his lip. “Was he okay? I’m not asking for details, but was it…good for him?”

After hearing about Vieno’s first heat, Enar understood what Palani was really asking, but would Lidon? 

“Yeah.” The cop looked down at Vieno, his usually stern face softening. “It was good for us both.”

Palani exhaled audibly. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Don’t thank me. Not for something like this. Okay?”

Lidon closed his eyes, halfway asleep before they left the room. 

“Is that normal?” Palani asked when they were back in the living room.

“The long knotting, you mean? Not normal, but it happens. Usually when mated partners have been apart for a while, or when the omega is physically struggling. In this case, I think it’s the combination of Vieno’s weakness, his delayed heat symptoms, and the high testosterone levels in Lidon. Their bodies are working it out, taking from each other what they need.”

“Biology.”

It was a simple word, but the way Palani said it held a lot of emotional weight. Enar wanted to respond, but Palani held up his hand. “Don’t. It’s…just don’t, okay?”

With brisk, efficient moves he folded out the sofa and five minutes later, there was a comfortable bed waiting for Enar. 

“You’ll hear them when they call out?” Palani checked.

Enar nodded. “Yes. Even I can’t ignore an alpha’s call.”

Satisfied with that answer, Palani retreated in to his own bedroom. Enar stripped down to his boxers and crawled under the covers, his body shaking with exhaustion. He was asleep in seconds. 

Enar woke up from soft clinging sounds in the kitchen, then a delicious smell tickling his nose. He rubbed his eyes, then checked his watch. It was almost noon. He jolted into a sitting position. Noon? How the fuck had he slept for so long?

“Sorry, did I wake you?” Palani said from the kitchen.

“It’s okay. What…are Vieno and Lidon okay?”

Palani nodded. “I checked on them twice. The knot went down during sleep. I brought them some yoghurt with fresh fruit and granola to tide them over since I didn’t wanna wake you. They had another round and woke up from a second nap a few minutes ago. Lidon threatened to start cooking himself if I didn’t make him something substantial, so I’m fixing him eggs and bacon. Even I can’t fuck that up too badly.”

“I’m sorry,” Enar said, getting up from the sofa. “I must’ve been more tired than I thought.”

Palani shrugged as he cracked one egg after another and dropped them into a huge frying pan. “It’s okay. I set my alarm for every two hours to check on them.”

Enar stretched his hands above his head, the vertebrae in his back popping at certain points.

Palani turned his eyes back to the stove. “Would you like coffee?” he asked.

“Fuck, yes. Lidon, too, would be my guess.”

“Oh, trust me, I know. He made his wishes crystal clear.”

Enar was glad to detect humor in Palani’s voice. Lidon was bossy and dominant, even for an alpha, and not everyone appreciated it or handled it well. Then again, he supposed Palani ran into more types like that in his job. 

Enar got dressed as Palani created two plates with eggs, bacon, and toast and put them on a tray, with a cup of coffee for Lidon and an orange juice for Vieno. “Can you hold the door for me?” Palani asked.

“Sure.” 

Enar opened it for him and they walked in before they realized they should have knocked. Lidon was once again on his back on the bed, Vieno on top of him, riding his cock with abandonment. With his head thrown back, his eyes closed, and his face showing pure bliss, it was clear how much he was enjoying this. 

Lidon let out a low moan and jerked, holding onto Vieno’s hips with both hands. Vieno collapsed on top of him, and Lidon’s hands came around him with more tenderness than Enar had ever seen in him. “Thank you, sweetheart,” he said. Then he turned his head and noticed Enar and Palani. “Ah, food. Thank fuck. I’m starving.”

Vieno rolled his head sideways and opened his eyes. His pale cheeks from before appeared rosy now, and his eyes were bright and sharp instead of glassed over. He was already doing better. 

“Yes, I brought food,” Palani said with a slight quiver in his voice that betrayed his emotions. He set down the tray on the nightstand.

“Palani…” Vieno said, his voice filled with sadness. 

Before Enar realized it, Palani reached out for Vieno, probably to caress his head. Lidon growled low and deep and Palani jerked back. Enar put his hand on Palani’s arm. “You can’t touch Vieno, not while Lidon is still inside him. His alpha won’t allow it. Vieno is his, for now. I’m sorry.

Palani’s eyes widened, and then his face tightened. He straightened his shoulders, avoiding Enar’s eyes. “I understand. I’ll…I’ll go take a shower.”

Enar’s heart broke a little for him as he watched him leave the room. 

* * *

Vieno woke up on top of the alpha again, two massive arms holding him, but not too tight. Never too tight. They’d been together for almost forty hours now, and not once had Lidon hurt him, despite their staggering difference in size. It was almost funny, the contrast between this mountain of a man with arms as thick as Vieno’s legs and a chest the size of a tree trunk and Vieno’s slender omega body. The only thing round on Vieno was his ass—or so Palani always told him.

Palani. Vieno sighed with a twinge of sadness. He’d still been half out of it when Palani had walked in with the food but alert enough to see the pain on his face. No wonder, he’d witnessed Lidon filling him once again. That Palani had not only sanctioned it but had arranged it himself was a small consolation, as was the realization that every time Lidon came inside Vieno, he grew a little stronger. That first knot had been…perfect. 

“You awake?” Lidon’s deep voice rumbled in his chest.

“Yeah.”

“You’re doing better,” Lidon concluded. “You’re not throwing off so many pheromones anymore.”

“Neither are you.”

Lidon chuckled. “No wonder. I gotta be running out of jizz right about now.”

Vieno crumpled his nose. “Is that even possible?” he wondered. 

Lidon’s chuckle became a laugh. “I doubt it. Biology ensures I can provide what an omega needs. But the fact I'm sated is a good sign you are, too.”

Vieno checked in with himself. His head was clear and while a soft hum still buzzed through his veins, it didn't come close to being as overwhelming as his craving when Palani had called in help. When Enar had walked into the room, Vieno’s body had short-circuited. His entire mind has focused on one thing: cock, Enar’s cock, inside him and knotting him. 

Well, he’d gotten his desire, even if it had been Lidon filling him again and again and not Enar. Vieno hadn’t even cared anymore. Though the fact that Lidon’s dick was long and thick had made it perfect, especially combined with his high testosterone levels. He’d done exactly as Enar had told him and had fucked the shit out of Vieno. 

“Yeah, I’m much better,” he remembered to answer Lidon. 

“Are you good, or do you need another round?”

It helped that Vieno's cheek still rested on Lidon’s chest, so he didn’t have to look at him. This whole talking about sex was ten kinds of weird when he wasn’t in heat. He got shy and flustered even with Palani, let alone with this man. 

“If possible, would you please knot me one last time?” he asked.

Lidon chuckled again. “There’s no need to be so awfully polite. I’ve had my dick inside you for most of the last day. I think we’re past formalities like that, don’t you think?”

His hand trailed Vieno’s spine all the way from his neck to the top of his crack, and Vieno shivered. One touch and his body responded once again to the alpha. It had been that way since Lidon walked in. 

They hadn’t needed much foreplay, and they hadn’t kissed even once. Vieno wasn’t sure why, but he appreciated it. Strange as it may sound, kissing seemed more personal to him than fucking. Having a complete stranger fuck him senseless was one thing, but he was glad he hadn’t betrayed his relationship with Palani by making it romantic. Hopefully, this would make it easier for both to stomach when the irrational cravings his heat brought had dissipated.

Lidon found his hole and circled it slowly with his thumb, wiping away all thoughts of Palani. Vieno let out a soft moan. 

“I hate reducing you to a single part of your anatomy, but your ass is so fucking perfect,” Lidon mused. “I love how it jiggles when I fuck you, and I love even more how you take me so easily, despite our difference in size.”

With one move, he flipped them so Vieno rested on his back on the bed. He pulled up his legs, opened wide as if on cue. Lidon lined up his cock, then surged inside in a slow thrust, filling him until he was once again so full he wanted to weep with gratitude.

“I hate reducing you to a single part of your anatomy as well, but your cock is fucking perfect,” he breathed. Another moan fell from his lips as Lidon gave a last push and bottomed out. “It’s so damn big and it fills me completely and when you knot me…it’s so good, I don’t even have words.”

Lidon laughed. “It seems we’re well matched, then, your ass and my cock. Now, let’s see if we can bring you the last relief you need.”

All laughing disappeared when he set a pace, steady but deep, making Vieno’s skin prickle and his nerves fire off pleasure that was almost too much to bear. Lidon brought them both to the edge in no time, then kept them hovering there, before he sped up and held Vieno steady as he fucked him into the mattress. All Vieno could do was hang on and let it happen.

Lidon let out his now-familiar growl when he came, and Vieno held his breath in anticipation. Tears sprung to his eyes as the knot formed, so gloriously big inside him, pressing against all those needy, desperate places inside him and providing peace. For now, at least. 

When the knot was fully formed, Lidon switched them again, taking Vieno’s body on top of his. Vieno found his spot on the man’s massive chest, his hands looking like a child’s hands on the alpha’s biceps. 

For a few minutes they stayed like that, their pants returning to normal breaths. “This is the last one,” Vieno said. It was a strange sensation, to experience your body recover, but that’s what it felt like. The last fog in his head disappeared, and instead he sensed a calmness and replenishment, if that made any sense.

“I know. I sense it, too.”

“Thank you.”

“No, don’t thank me.” Lidon’s voice was brusque, but his touch still gentle, so Vieno didn’t think he was angry. “We helped each other. Don’t tell Enar, but he was right. I needed this.”

Vieno bit his lip but dared to ask what he’d been wondering. “Why did you wait so long? I can’t imagine you having trouble finding a willing partner. Betas and omegas have to line up for you.”

Lidon sighed. “They do. That’s the problem.”

Vieno frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“When people look at me, they see one of two things. They either see a cop and are turned on by the uniform. Or they see a hot alpha and are turned on by that. Everyone wants me, or I should say my dick. No one ever looks past the exterior.”

Huh. How about that? It seemed being a rip-roaring hot alpha came with its own set of challenges. “Well, I'd love to claim I’m different but since your cock is the sole reason you’re here, that would be hypocritical.”

“You’re damn mouthy for an omega,” Lidon said, amusement lacing his voice.

“I think Palani is rubbing off on me. For a beta, he’s quite opinionated and headstrong.”

“That’s one way of looking at it.”

Vieno lifted his head up and raised himself a little to make eye contact with Lidon. “You don’t like him?”

“Let’s say he’s not popular amongst cops.”

“The dirty cops exposé he did.” Vieno lowered his head again. “He spent months researching before writing it.”

“I know there are cops who are dirty, okay? I get that. There are assholes in every profession, including mine. But by suggesting it was a systemic problem, he hurt us with the public. Our reputation took a big hit, and distrust in cops isn’t good for anyone.”

It was a tad weird, discussing serious topics while being knotted. Yet it also felt strangely normal, as if what they were doing wasn’t completely insane. “You should talk to him, ask him what he discovered. He only published a fraction of what he found since his editor was too afraid of repercussions.”

“Legal repercussions, you mean?”

“Amongst others.”

The big body under him stilled even more. “What other possibilities are we talking about?”

Vieno bit his lip, regretting speaking at all. Not that Lidon couldn’t have made him, what with his alpha abilities and all, but the man hadn’t used them even once so far. “He received nasty letters, had his car spray painted and his tires slashed. Someone tried to break in while I was home. Shit like that.”

“He should have filed a complaint with the cops,” Lidon said, tension radiating from his body.

“Lidon, I hate to break it to you, but it was cops who did this to him. We have a security system around the apartment that caught them red-handed, as well as footage from the cams in the parking lot. But there’s little sense in reporting it, since you guys all cover for each other. He’s even been pulled over a few times since for bullshit reasons.”

Lidon muttered a few strong curse words. “I’ll talk to him. If what you say is true, this is shameful for the department.”

Vieno sighed. “He’s not gonna be happy with me that I told you.”

“I don’t think he’s happy with you right now in general.”

Lidon’s voice was kinder than his words, but the man had a point. “I hurt him, even though it was never my intention.”

“You can’t help who you are,” Lidon said dismissively.

“True, but neither can he. I don’t like being an omega, and you may not always appreciate being an alpha, but sometimes I think betas have it worse. They’re always the in-between, never good enough for either role. Biology sucks, but maybe it sucks the worst for them.”

They were quiet after that, until Lidon’s knot finally went down and he slipped out of Vieno, leaving him truly sated and fulfilled. 

“Do you mind if I take a shower?” Lidon asked. “I called into work to take the day off, but it’s about time I head back.”

“Sure, go ahead.” 

Vieno pointed him toward the bathroom and put a fresh towel out for him, then put on a bathrobe and made his way to the living room. Enar was working on his laptop when he walked in, but there was no sign of Palani. Come to think of it, Vieno hadn’t seen him since he’d walked in with breakfast and that was almost twenty-four hours ago.

“You look much better,” Enar said. 

“I feel good. Where’s Palani?”

Enar’s face was blank. “He left for work again this morning.”

“Oh.” Vieno swallowed, his shoulders dropping. “He promised me he’d stay.”

“He did, until he saw you were no longer in any danger. Plus, I promised him I wouldn’t leave.”

Vieno tried to push down his sadness. “I guess it was a little too much to ask.”

“You could visit him at work?” 

Vieno shook his head. “I don’t go outside much. It’s too dangerous, with how strong my scent is, apparently.”

“You should be fine. You smell enough like alpha no one will bother you. I can’t even detect your own odor over Lidon’s.”

He could lie, but Enar would know, probably. Plus, what was the point? The man already knew more about him than anyone else but Palani. He might as well come clean. “I haven’t set foot outside this apartment since the day I moved in almost three years ago.”