Victor couldn't shake the draw that kept bringing the traitorous alpha Letter to his mind. For a brief moment, before his brain had connected his scent and instinct to his sight, he'd lost himself in the sandalwood scent of the other wolf. But there was no way he would ever give himself to an alpha who betrayed his people.

He'd spent the weekend working himself into exhaustion, not that it took much. His body still felt fragile and half-put-together from losing control and being sedated. He refused to believe there was anything beyond that. If his body was craving the alpha... he'd just have to get over that.

He wasn't even able to escape the alpha at night. Every detail Victor had been able to soak in before loosing consciousness came to reality in his dreams. The alpha was taller than him, which was not an easy feat. His hair was messy, like it had needed a cut two weeks ago, and his thin glasses just barely masked chocolate eyes. But even in his dreams, Victor struggled against his attraction to the man. When his dream alpha stroked his hand down Victor's side, he simultaneously leaned into it and flinched away, in the nonsensical duplicity of dreams. He'd wake, panting, his erection straining against his thin cotton briefs and pants. If Will noticed anything unusual, he had the grace not to say anything, which Victor was grateful for. And if Bob leveled him with any knowing glances, well. He knew Bob wasn't saying anything to anyone.

By the time Monday rolled around, and Victor was sure it was Monday this time, as no one had seen Dr. J for what Victor calculated were the last two days, Victor was exhausted. He'd returned to his usual meditative spot on the wall, letting the count of the day roll over him. He didn't bother opening his eyes when the door slid open. If they were coming for him, they'd let him know. But today was unusual. Dr. J was here himself, and he was talking to someone. Well, fuck them. Victor wasn't going to parade around like some zoo animal. But then another voice caught his attention. 

"How many... specimens do you have on site?"

Victor knew that voice. Even though he had never heard that voice before, he knew that voice with a knowledge that came from his very bones. He leaped to his feet and was at the cell door in a second, pressed up against the bars. Look at me, Victor wanted to say. Why are you doing this? How could you betray your own people so?

The alpha didn't look at him, his finger tapping rapidly against his folded arms. The other wolves had seen and scented what Victor had already known. This alpha was a traitor. The knowledge was spreading down the hall as Dr. J answered Eric with numbers, numbers that normally would have caught Victor's attention, but vanished in the overwhelming anger coursing through him. Finally, his alpha looked over. He jumped when he saw Victor, then looked straight in his eyes.

The alpha's eyes were... they weren't what Victor was expecting. They weren't scared. They weren't impatient. They weren't dispassionate. They weren't hateful. Victor expected any of those things in the man who could so violently go against his own kind, and they just weren't there. His eyes were... beseeching. The alpha glanced down at his tapping finger and then back up at Victor. He was trying to tell Victor something, he could feel it, but what? The alpha looked down again, and this time Victor followed his gaze, his eyes landing on the alpha's fingers... his tapping fingers... tapping in a... pattern. Victor glanced back up at the alpha's face, and saw relief. Yes, that was exactly what the alpha had been trying to tell him. 

Dr. J asked the alpha a question, and he turned away to answer, but his finger kept tapping in short taps and long presses. Tap tap press tap tap. Press press press press. Tap tap...

Victor busied himself memorizing the pattern. It was shortish, and Victor would bet--well, he didn't have anything to bet, but he'd bet anything it was Morse code. 

The other wolves were setting up a racket. Victor wasn't sure what kind of game the alpha was running, but he wasn't so sure it was as bad as he'd first feared. 

"Quiet," Victor shouted. He could feel Will shoot him a questioning look behind his back. "They're not worth it." He said the last in a growl. Victor didn't have the strength of will that would urge the others to follow his bidding like an alpha, but most of the shifters here had known him a while now, and they knew how out of character it was for him to speak out. 

The alpha spared him one last questioning glance, and Victor gave him a minuscule nod, though he hadn't yet decoded the message. It had been a while since he'd played around with codes and cyphers, and it might take him a while to dust off that knowledge.

Too soon, Dr. J was escorting the alpha out of the barracks, but their exit gave him time to extract the message. Just like a cryptogram, he started with the vowels, though he had a leg up, as he still remembered a few of the letters, like S and O. He slumped back in his place on the wall, closing his eyes, looking like he had not a care in the world. He could still feel Will's interest focused on him, but Will had known him long enough, he could recognize the difference between Victor doing nothing and Victor working hard in his mind, though to most they would look the exact same.

Victor estimated it took him the better part of an hour, maybe more, to extract the simple message, and when he did, he nearly broke with relief. Relief that they were no longer alone. Relief that his alpha wasn't a evil Letter. Relief that someone on the outside knew about them, remembered them.

I'm here to help.