Briar
Rohan had been gone for over six hours. Briar bit his nails anxiously. He shouldn’t worry. After all, he’d seen Rohan fight off a wolf in his human form. There was nothing his alpha couldn’t handle.
And yet, if something were to happen to him...
Briar closed his eyes and wouldn’t let himself think of that. Rohan would come back. He would come back, and they would escape to the mountains where they would have a family and live happily ever after.
Yes, it was a fantasy, but he needed an escape right now.
He stopped pacing the cellar and lay back down, letting his mind fill with images of their happy future together. But his daydream was interrupted by a sharp pain in his abdomen. He doubled over. Could his heat still be upon him? This felt different.
Another throb stabbed through him and he gripped his stomach. Maybe he was just hungry. He crept up the ladder and wrapped softly on the trap door. Peregwin appeared almost immediately, a cheerful smile on his face.
“You can come up,” he said. “The village is practically empty. The alphas are all out searching for you.” He chuckled. “Little do they know you’re right under their noses.”
Briar swallowed. He might’ve been safe, but Rohan was out there with all those alphas as he tried to scout safe passage for the two of them. Not for the first time, Briar wished he was an alpha, someone powerful who didn’t need protecting.
“Can I fix you something to eat?” Peregwin asked.
“Please.” Briar rubbed his stomach as he ascended into the small, one-room hit. “I’m starving.”
Peregwin opened a cupboard where salted meats hung and took down some strips of cured venison.
“I wish I had more variety to offer you,” he said as he put the meat in front of Briar. “The island we’re on has been pretty picked clean of forageable foods, so we mostly rely on meat brought back by alphas hunting off the island.”
“I’m too hungry to complain,” Briar laughed, grabbing a piece of meat and biting it hungrily. It wasn’t a balanced diet for an omega, but it would fill his stomach.
“What’s that necklace you wear?” Briar asked, eying the thick metal band around Peregwin’s neck. It had a hole for a key in the side, and large metal tear drop shapes hung from it.
“Oh this?” Peregwin touched the necklace, as though he wore it so often, he’d forgotten it was there. “It’s more of a collar, really. All omegas in the Bloody Fang wear them. The weight prevents us from swimming off the island.”
Horror shocked up Briar’s spine as the implication of those words sunk in. The alphas put weights around the omegas necks so that if they tried to cross the river, they would be pulled down and swept away to their deaths. The omegas really were prisoners here, with no way of escaping the cruelty of their alphas who didn’t even see it necessary to provide proper food for them. An alpha could survive fine on meat alone, but omegas needed diversity in their diets, berries, roots, vegetables. The fact that omegas weren’t allowed to leave the island even to forage was unimaginable to Briar.
This all seemed to be lost on Peregwin, who continued on as if he hadn’t just said one of the most vile things Briar had ever heard. He sat at the table and hummed to himself as he wove long strips of grass grass together, forming a basket shape.
“What are you making?” Briar asked, taking a seat and biting off a piece of the meat.
Peregwin smiled, rubbing his belly. “A bed for the baby.”
Briar smiled too, thinking of the day he might care for Rohan’s pups. He bit into another slice of meat, but another sharp pain in his abdomen made him drop it to the table.
“Are you okay?” Peregwin asked.
“I think it’s just my heat.” Briar said, rubbing the tender spot in his abdomen.
Peregwin frowned. “You heat should only last twelve hours at most. Are you sure you haven’t been injured?”
Brair nodded. “It’s just this sharp pain in my stomach. I’m sure it’s just my heat.”
Peregwin’s lips pressed together. “That sounds more like implantation to me.”
“What?”
“Implantation.” Peregwin set his work down. “Did they teach you nothing of reproduction in your old pack?”
“They—wait—reproduction?” Briar stuttered. “Y-you mean like babies?” Another sharp pain stabbed through his belly.
“Yes, babies.” Peregwin shook his head as if he couldn’t believe he had to explain this. “Implantation happens when your alpha’s seed embeds within you during your fertile period, making you pregnant. It sometimes causes pain and cramping.”
“That can’t be what this is.” Briar gripped his abdomen. “It can’t be.”
“Well, it is just after your heat, that’s when implantation is most likely to occur.”
Briar felt suddenly sick. “But we didn’t—Rohan never...”
“Oh.” Peregwin shrugged. “Yes, I suppose pregnancy would be impossible if he never mated you.”
“Well, I mean, he did… but that was the day before my heat, before I was fertile. I couldn’t be...”
Peregwin rolled his eyes. “An alpha's seed can live for days in an omega’s body waiting until he’s fertile. Did you take no interest in reproduction back in your old pack?”
The truth was, he hadn’t. He’d known that eventually he’d be obligated to mate with an alpha, but he’d vowed not to think of it until the day it was forced upon him. Briar never thought he’d want to bear an alpha's pups until he met Rohan. And now he wanted that more than anything, but…
“This isn’t the time.” He shook his head. “I can’t be pregnant. I can’t.”
“Only one way to know for sure.” Peregwin sighed, getting up from the table and fetching a vial from one of the cupboards. “I have this leftover from when I tested for my own pregnancy.”
“What am I supposed to do with this?” Briar asked, staring at the bottle.
“Drink it.” Peregwin said. “If the tincture comes out blue when you pass it from your body, then you’re pregnant.”
“Pass it from my bod—”
“Oh, good moon, I mean piss. If your piss turns blue in twenty four hours then you’re pregnant.”
Briar’s hands shook as he took the bottle and downed it in a heavy gulp, praying to the moon that he wasn’t pregnant. He wanted children with Rohan more than anything, but being pregnant in their current situation was out of the question. He didn’t know how long it would take to reach the mountains, and it would only be harder with his body growing heavy with child. He remembered how weak and fatigued his old friends had become in the first weeks of pregnancy. There was no way he’d be able to keep running if he were with child. He wished Rohan were there to comfort him.
Then another thought occurred to him.
What if Rohan never came back? What if he was caught by the packs? Briar’s stomach sank to a new low. Without the alpha who impregnated him, their child would wither and die inside of him. He clutched his stomach protectively. Already their potential pup was in danger.
Peregwin gave him a sympathetic look. “I’ll pray that the moon protects you.”
Just then, the door opened and Briar sighed with relief, only for it to turn into a gasp when he saw that the alpha entering the hut wasn’t Rohan.
The alpha licked his lips. “Thought I smelled something tasty in here.”