Untitled Part 61
Chapter Sixty One: Natural Mates, Unnatural Deaths
Five months later.
Suga~
When Suga at long last spotted the sullen farmhouse, hidden among dense pines on his left, he quickly steamed ahead. The building was planted at the end of the dirt road they had been meandering, some twenty meters away. The air was quiet, save for the few chips of overhead birds. The afternoon sun warmed his skin, already sticky from the spring humidity. It had taken he and his pack weeks of painstaking research to find the owner of the farmhouse; the only person they knew to have been intimately involved in the pheromone study. The very study that he had stumbled upon, and lost, all those months ago. It had taken his pack even longer to figure out the exact whereabouts of the man-- he had gone to great lengths to remain off the grid. A notion that did not sit well with Suga, nor his packmates. They couldn't shake the feeling that they were stumbling onto something they ought to have left alone.
"Just...look at this place..." Daichi said, trailing off as they reached the edge of the overgrown property. "What a..."
"Dump," Hajime finished, kicking at a crushed beer can in his path. The metal rang out at the impact, then skittered into the tall, straw-like grass of the front property. "The word you're looking for, is dump."
Suga opened his mouth to defend the rustic shack, but quickly closed it. The place was a dump. Everything about it screamed for visitors to stay the hell away. His hazel eyes glanced over to the left, landing on a weathered sign atop a rickety post. He smirked to hide his nervousness as he read it; PRIVATE PROPERTY. ALL TRESPASSERS WILL BE REMOVED.
"Are we just going to ignore our screaming instincts, here? Or our human brains and eyes?" Oikawa chirped, raising an eyebrow at the angry, painted letters. "This man clearly doesn't wish to be disturbed. I'm not too keen on finding out what he means by removed... "
Suga hummed, debating what to do. Oikawa had a valid point. Regardless, he wanted nothing more than to see their quest, his quest, to completion. He needed information on the strange happenings that he and his pack had gone through over the last year. They all needed it. At this point in time, with all other leads exhausted, he was willing to go to great lengths to get even the tiniest sliver of understanding.
Did curiosity really kill the cat?
Turning on his heels to look back at Oikawa, he then cocked his head to the side. "It took so much work to find this guy...and we need answers," he said, vocalizing his previous thoughts. "But if...if you guys aren't comfortable with all of this, then I'll concede. We can turn back and forget about all of this."
"Your precious answers won't be any good if we turn up dead," Hajime mumbled, taking a slight step in front of his mate-- protecting his Omega from an unseen attack. His broad shoulders had begun to bristle with new stress and a scent of uneasy dominance pooled around him. "But...if you're certain about this, Suga," he continued, flexing his hands at his sides. "Then I'll go along with it."
"Suga," Daichi whispered, touching his silver Omega on the small of his back. "Are you really sure about this? I know that illegal arms are pretty damn hard to come by, but something tells me that an owner of a place like this...they definitely have one. This place...this forest is a hunter's dream."
Suga sighed, taking on the heavy concerns of his friends, then he kissed the captain on the cheek. "I understand where everyone is coming from...everything in me is telling me to tuck tail and run, too. But...I can't...I can't handle not knowing. Everything that's happened with our pack is...unconventional. Am I the only one that's curious?"
"Understatement of the year," Hajime drawled, running a nervous hand through his hair. "And we're here with you, so obviously you're not the only one, dumbass."
"Exactly," Suga affirmed, shaking his head at Hajime's uncouth quip. "This is the only lead that we have. I'm sure if we explain ourselves to the guy, everything will be fine? And if not, then we leave. Easy as pie."
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllll," Oikawa said with a hearty yawn. Then, much to Hajime's irritation, he sidestepped his Alpha with a graceful hop. "Let's get this show on the road. If we turn back now, I will literally never hear the end of it from our little Sugar Momma."
Suga smirked, then rolled his eyes at the crappy, yet endearing nickname. At the end of the day, Oikawa was absolutely correct-- he would never shut up about. He wouldn't be able to help himself.
With their decision made, the group made their way through the long, yellowing grass of the front yard, stopping short of the stairs leading up to the front door. Suga noted that the cement steps were crumbling away to nothing, much like the rest of the sad looking property-- the splintered railings, falling down shutters, and damaged roof tiles were barely holding together. The wooden door before them was also weathered, but he was certain that it had been painted red at some point in time-- some thirty years ago, maybe.
"Sooooo...who wants to knock?" Daichi asked, his body language growing more stiff by the minute. When Hajime stepped forward he added, "better watch for splinters...that thing had seen better days."
Hajime nodded and rapped at the door, his hard knock echoing through the silent air around them. For a moment, they all held their breaths, waiting. "Should I-" Hajime began, only to be cut short the abrupt opening of the farm door. He was knocked back a few steps, flailing down the porch stairs until he found his footing in the tall grass, swearing under his breath.
"Who are you and what do you want," a gruff voice commanded. The angry tone was coupled with a fresh, hostile scent of aggravation. Their collective owner, a tall man that Suga thought resembled an aged bear, stepped through the doorway, planting himself on the porch in front of them. He held his shoulders straight, his body language aggressive, yet it was the wood adorned rifle in his shaking hands that really caught Suga's attention. "Can't you fuckers read? That sign over there says, PRIVATE PROPERTY," the bear growled, cocking his gun at them.
Immediately, Daichi positioned himself in front of Suga. His broad shoulders rising and falling as he took in sharp breaths of air-- a fresh burst of adrenaline pumping through his veins. On their right, Hajime had done the same with Oikawa-- instinctually protecting his own mate from the sudden line of fire. For a moment, the world seemed silent, but it was not long before the air suddenly whooshed around them. Suga fought the desire to plug his nose-- the toxic mixture of three, very domineering, overly anxious Alpha scents were almost too much for any one person to bear.
In that moment, Suga found himself relieved that he was an Omega. He hazarded a glace in Oikawa's direction, hoping that his chestnut friend, unlike their Alphas, was keeping his cool. Good, he thought, his mouth set in a hard line, he and I are on the same page. As members of the so-called weaker gender, they had been forced to develop skills that most Alphas would scoff at-- skills that, in their current predicament, were going to be the difference between life and death.
Forced to remain vigilant at all times, most adult Omegas were experts of scent suppression, as well as emotional manipulation and control. Where Alphas let their fleeting emotions guide their actions, act now think later, Oikawa and Suga were analytical from the start. They had learned from past experiences that an anxious fragrance would do nothing but exacerbate tensions further. In fact, there was no doubt in Suga's mind that, were he and Oikawa Alphas as well, the farm's owner would have already open fired on their pack.
Pondering the various consequences their genders and actions, left Suga with a bundle of unseen nerves. Nonetheless, he did well to keep the anxieties from seeping off his sweaty skin-- and towards the Alpha with a cocked rifle. He forced himself to take a subtle, deep breath, banishing the spiraling thoughts from his mind. He needed to focus all of his energy on the present. The situation demanded that he and Oikawa put their own brand of scent warfare to use. They would use their tranquil nature to calm the over-aggressive Alphas around them-- step one in getting the information they so desired.
Still, he pondered, grinding his teeth together. Something was still irking him-- perhaps, some obscure notion that he had yet to piece together . What was it? What had he missed in his analysis of their situation? He sniffed the cool air, attempting to consolidate any intel he might have missed. He suppressed another gag as the heavy air entered his nostrils, then, it hit him. The bear-like Alphas scent, while overtly aggressive, seemed to weaken in hostility towards he and Oikawa-- towards Omegas. While that was a happy realization, Suga was also wary to note that the bear man's scent held an innate hatred for Alphas-- a hatred that ran very deep.
Why? Why hate his own kind?
Before he had the chance to contemplate the fact, Hajime spoke.
"We saw the sign," the Alpha growled, fists clenched at his sides. "Let us be clear. We are not trouble. We are students," he continued, his sentences short and choppy from instinctual influence. "University of ***********. We have questions. Nothing more. We pose no threat."
Hajime's voice rang out, level yet gruff inside of Suga's ears. For a moment, he feared that the Alpha might continue talking. He might threaten the bear-like man out of instincts-- command him to put down his weapon. Thankfully, Hajime closed his mouth and crossed his broad arms over his chest. Suga let out the breath he was holding, relieved. They didn't need to agitate tensions any further with unnecessary remarks. Particularly, ones that might anger an obviously unstable person that was holding a weapon...
The bear man narrowed his eyes. "I don't care where you're from," he reiterated in a dark tone, his heavy grip around the gun turning his knuckles white. "What do you want and why are you here."
Another wave of hostile anger whooshed through the air. This time, the scent was singular in its source-- emanating from the bear-like Alpha before them. Suga felt chills run up his spine at its message. While it held tones of the classic, Alpha rage, a series of spiraling emotions were inlaid in the complex scent. Suga chanced another sniff of air, picking up more defeated notes within the fragrance-- confusion and a painful kind of yearning that was directed towards... him . Towards Omegas. It was mournful, almost tragically so.
Suga licked his lips, moistening his dry mouth to speak. He didn't want to chance any more communication between the Alphas. Pushing out a full-bodied, calming scent, he glanced up at the bear-like man. "Are you...you're Mr. Hamoto, right?" He questioned softly, using the same tone that one might use with a wounded animal. He needed to ease the tension, even slightly, or they would be dead in the water. Unfortunately, Hamoto seemed to be too unstable to calm using his Omega scent alone. The best way to ease things, in his mind, was to give the irrational man all the information that he was asking of them-- appease the man, not poke the bear. "I'm...Suga. We're students. We want to know about..." He paused, unsure of how to explain the strange reason for their sudden presence. "I'm sorry. I...I'm not sure where to begin...or how to explain to you why we just showed up here, on your um, doorstep."
"I'd figure out how, if I were you," Hamoto through narrowed eyes, keeping the wood adorned rifle in a ready position. "And fast. Or I'll blow your brains out."
Immediately, milliseconds before his mate could release an instinctual, protective growl, Suga reached forward and grabbed onto the back of Daichi's shirt. If he had been even a moment later, and he wouldn't have been able to stop his Alpha from lunging at Hamoto. "Please...calm... please... " He whispered, so low that only his mate could hear the pleading words. "Relax..."
Daichi's throat rumbled out like thunder, but he kept his stiff legs fixed in place. His shoulders were hunched, the muscles lining his back twitching out their rage. Suga scrunched up his nose at the vengeful scent, pouring off his mate's tanned skin. Daichi had taken the threat seriously, for which Suga was grateful for, but deep down, he knew that Hamoto was bluffing. Shoot Daichi, there was potential for that, but shoot him? There was no way. He was certain that Hamoto, for whatever reason, could never bring himself to harm an Omega. Slowly, he slowly released his white knuckled grip on Daichi's crumpled shirt, all the while praying that the captain trusted him enough to know that he had a plan. He was going to get the information they wanted and keep everyone calm and analytical-- including Hamoto. For it to work, he needed their Alphas to keep their emotional mouths shut. He hoped to god that Oikawa had picked up on the same Omega-sympathizer scent that he had, and that his chestnut friend would be able to keep Hajime in check. They were one Alpha-outburst away from a bullet in the head.
We could still leave, he thought to himself as he pooled more of his calming scent around Daichi, we could still get away unscathed...
No way. He couldn't bring himself to tuck tail and run, not when they had come this far. Was he going to put the safety of his friends at risk for even a snippet of information? For his own selfish reasons, his answer was yes, but he was going to do his damn best to prevent any and all bloodshed.
"I found a study," he began, sidestepping Daichi to stand beside. Instantly, his mate's scent began to implode in on itself again, contorting with instinctual fever. Suga reached out and clasped the Alpha's hand in his own, hoping that it would be enough reassurance. He just needed a few minutes of calm-- a few minutes to explain themselves to Hamoto. Hopefully, that would be enough. "It was from the late seventies, I think. It was the only thing I could find that helped to explain what...to explain the weird things that we," he paused, gesturing to his friends, "that we have experienced over the last six months. We...we're so lost with everything that's been happening with our... pack."
Hamoto's jaw ticked, but his grey eyes softened slightly-- a small win for Suga. While he had figured that Hamoto had a weakness for Omegas, he still half-expected to be knocked into the straw-like grass by the back of a gun to his face.
"Elaborate," Hamoto growled, then spat a loogie off the side of the degrading porch. "What study."
"Um..." Suga started, embarrassed to admit that he knew little of the details in the study, having lost it during his encounter with a few nasty Alphas. "It was about peremone interactions, particularly between Alphas and Omegas. The case files talked about a group of individuals who developed relations at an accelerated rate and..." He paused, squeezing Daichi's hand for comfort. "It said that, in the group stages, the participants began to cohabitate...multiple Alphas and Omegas...together. It interested me because... my nest and his... Daichi's pack, we sort of...coupled up. Very quickly. At an unnatural pace. Like the participants in the study, we didn't have any contact before and we are all extremely different in terms of personalities and scents..."
"We're just confused by everything," Oikawa chimed in, filling the momentary silence with a melodic tone of voice. "The outcome has been positive, don't get us wrong. But the whole thing is still...unnatural. Our Alphas are smelling new scents, protecting Omegas that are not overtly theirs... and there is absolutely no information, none, on what we're going through," he paused, blowing a chestnut hair from his face. "Believe me when I say that we've looked. Suga," he continued, jerking his head towards his silver nestmate. "He's a master researcher, and all he could find was that one, single study. And we lost it anyways! You think we would be here if we still had-"
"We're here out of desperation," Suga interrupted, not wanting Oikawa to accidentally antagonize Hamato-- and his rifle. "And if...if you have nothing to say to us about it, then we'll leave. And we'll never come back. We'll lose your address and continue out search else-"
"No," Hamoto suddenly snarled, cutting Suga's sentence short. "Your research ends here."
Suga furrowed his brows, confused by the sudden, angry command. Then, he sucked in a breath, realizing that Hamoto was giving them a very clear warning. He was telling them to put their quest for information to rest, right then and there. But...why? Why was he so adamant that they forget it all? It was almost as if...he was concerned for their safety. Well, Suga pondered, he might hold concern for Oikawa and I, but definitely not our Alphas.
For a moment, the world was quiet again. The wind pushed through the trees around them, scattering the scent of pine across the overgrown lot. "We'll...end our journey here, then," Suga quietly put forth, ending the confused silence. He was absolutely lying through his teeth, but he figured that it would be best if he pretended to agree with the man holding a gun. "We can just be on our way now...we apologize for-"
"Was it you two?" Hamoto interrupted again, gesturing the barrel of his rifle between Daichi and Suga.
Daichi snarled, fuming at Hamoto's repeated actions-- pointing a weapon so carelessly at his mate. He took a small step forward, his large hand slipping from Suga's grasp. "Do that one more-"
"What do you mean?" Suga quickly interjected, the words tumbling out in a loud flurry. He increased his grip, white knuckling his own hand around his mate's. He made a mental note to thank Daichi later, for keeping his instincts mostly in check during such a perilous time-- but he needed the Alpha to hold out a little longer. "Were he and I the first...to what?"
Hamoto snorted, scoffing at Daichi's enraged demeanor. Then, he reached down to lean his rifle against the faded white siding of the house. At first, Suga was relieved at the action, the easing of tension, but he soon realized that his relief had been premature. "Interesting...him? You think a short fucker like him can keep you safe...?" Hamoto quipped, his voice low and hostile. "I find it difficult to imagine how the two of you mated. He's going to fuck up, believe me, he will. He won't be able to keep you our of harms way..." He finished, growling low to Daichi, flashing white teeth to antagonize him.
Suga felt the air around him suddenly cool with Dachi's fury. His mate stiffened, breath coming out in shallow bursts-- heavy and loud. Suga squeezed his Alpha's hand even harder, smelling Oikawa's fragrance push forward with calming vibes. He closed his eyes in concentration, using every ounce of mental power he had to force out more of his own tranquil scent. Thankfully, between his efforts, Oikawa's, and perhaps Daichi's own internal will, his mate did not take Hamoto's obvious bait.
Fucking christ, Suga thought, furiously grinding his teeth together, where the fuck did that come from? Does the idiot literally have the brain of a bear? Does he have a fucking death wish? Was he looking for a fight? The questions piled up inside of his mind like jenga blocks, threatening to topple. No Alpha in their right mind would put down their weapon, then openly antagonize a younger Alpha with a more dominant scent. Especially when the former didn't have anything to gain from it-- and Hamoto didn't have anything to gain from a violent altercation with Daichi, did he? Suga knew that what he had just witnessed completely went against an Alpha's basic instincts-- against their internal animal and its desire for survival. Sure, there were a few instances where an Alpha might work against the common narrative, but none fit Hamoto. He wasn't defending an Omega of his own. He wasn't trying to stake a claim on Daichi's mate. He didn't seem to have the wherewithal to ignore scent hierarchy, like Yuji. So why? Why try to initiate a conflict, a violent conflict, with another Alpha? Was it a side effect of his hatred for Alphas?
"Fine. Stay with him, but don't say that I didn't warn you..." Hamoto scoffed again, running a large hand through his sweaty, grey hair. He eyed down Daichi for another moment, then directed his piercing gaze to Suga. "You and him, were you the first to feel a pull towards each other?"
The question took Suga aback. Guess we're all just going to pretend that didn't happen , he pondered, putting the strange conflict to the side of his mind. Turning his head, he looked to Oikawa and furrowed his silver brows. "Was it Daichi and I? Or were you and Hajime the first to notice things between you..."
"It wasn't us," Hajime drawled. While his body language was stiff, an instinctual reaction to Daichi's open rage, his tone had reverted back to its usual, uncaring disposition-- confident that they were no longer in danger of being shot at. "We hated each other for at least a week before things started to change."
"Hajime!" Oikawa chirped, smacking his mate on the bicep. "We were uncaring for around a week," he corrected, flashing the bear Alpha one of his award-winning smiles.
"Same difference," Hajime quipped back, yawning.
"If absolutely is not!" Oikawa retorted, feigning upset.
Suga threw the two boys a warning look-- unhelpful, things are still precarious. Come on guys. "I guess it was us, then. Daich and I, I mean..." he said, giving Hamoto an affirming nod. "Nobody else in our pack matched up sooner than the four of us, so..."
"When was the first time you felt the pull," Hamoto asked, barely giving Suga enough time to finish his thought.
It was obvious that the man was growing impatient, but Suga wasn't entirely sure as to what exactly the man was growing impatient with. "I..." He mumbled, feeling awkward. "The...uh...first time I saw him...or smelled him. I guess..." His cheeks burned red and he brought his pale hands up to his face to cool them, or hide them, or both. He had never admitted it to himself, let alone out loud for Daichi to hear.
"The same goes for your weak mate, then," Hamoto continued, still perplexing Suga with the antagonizing of his mate.
"I...um..." Suga whispered, growing evermore confused with the conversation. It was bouncing between probing, personal questions, and unsubtle insults at his mate. He squeezed Daichi's hand in an attempt to keep the Alpha calm. "What...what exactly are you getting at?"
Suga waited for an answer. They all waited, listening to the wind as the bear man lost himself in thought.
"Okay," Hamoto growled at long last, his scent growing suddenly distressed. Suga inhaled it in full, eyes widening when he realized the emotional weight behind it. His lashes wet with fresh tears as his heart was hit with a series of empathetic pangs. Whatever sadness Hamoto was feeling was from a very old scar-- deep within his soul. The man was remembering things that he had worked very hard to forget. It hurt Suga to smell. "\You come inside. But them," Hamoto paused, jerking his head to Daichi and Hajime. "They stay outside. Those are my terms."
As the words rang out, Suga was certain that Daichi was going to lunge forward and tear off Hamoto's skin. He turned to the side to face his Alpha, ready to convince his protector that he just had to go inside the farmhouse. He had to find out the truth. He opened his mouth to speak, ignoring Daichi's looping growl, but Oikawa beat him to the punch.
"We're going in," the chestnut Omega announced, slapping Hajime across the back of the head.
"Stop growling. We'll be fine. It'll be ten minutes. You can handle your instincts for that long, right, oh master of emotional control~"
"Fuck. You." Hajime snarled back, teeth baring. His entire body was vibrating with energy, every instinct he had was demanding him to grab his mate and run. "No. I refuse."
"Hajime," Oikawa warned, his soft eyes narrowing in threat. "Stay."
"Daichi..." Suga whispered, watching with curious eyes as Oikawa slowly made his way up the crumbling steps of the farmhouse-- ignoring his mate completely. "Stay out here with Hajime. We'll be ten minutes."
Daichi growled louder, his breathing growing ever shorter. Learning from Oikawa's actions, Suga shifted his scent to exhibit a soft, yet commanding disposition. Then, ignoring Daichi's enraged snarls, he untangled their throbbing hand and walked towards the farmhouse with confidence.
"Don't look his way," Oikawa whispered as Suga stepped up onto the small porch. "I know its hard...and it goes against every feeling you have, but ignore him. Let him have his temper tantrum. We'll be in and out in ten minutes. I've started doing this with Hajime, believe me, it works."
"I can tell..." Suga replied quietly, feeling uneasy about leaving his mate behind. He had no choice, but at least he had Oikawa.
"In," Hamoto commanded, jerking his silver head towards the open doorway next to them. "Hurry up."
Suga grabbed for Oikawa's hand, happy for some form of physical support. The two of them shuffled inside the dingy house, no better on the inside than the outside, and Hamoto stalked in behind them. Suga jumped, holding in a yelp as the bear Alpha slammed the rickety door behind them.
"Sit," the bear Alpha snarled, indicating at a cream checkered couch near the far wall, covered with mounted game heads. "And...sorry. The door won't close unless it's slammed."
"Nice apology...but he still brings in that fucking gun..." Oikawa whispered after he and Suga had settled into the tough, fraying cushions. "Of course he did. Hajime and Daichi must be losing their fucking minds out there...especially if they saw him take it inside with him."
Suga's mouth set in a hard line. "He won't use it on us...they'll just have to hold out."
"So you picked up that weird scent, too," Oikawa mumbled back, sitting up straight to feign confidence as the bear Alpha sat down in the leather chair across from them. "He's a softie for Omegas. Alphas like that are hard to come by..."
"Mmm," Suga agreed, eyes glued to Hamoto as the man adjusted himself, resting the rifle across his lap like a pet.
"I'm going to offer you a piece of advice, it's something that I've had to learn the hard way. Once you hear what I have to say, you'll drop it," Hamoto growled, dark eyes narrowing. "Don't search for more information. Don't speak of it to anyone else. Don't even think about it, you understand?"
Suga and Oikawa nodded, silently agreeing because they had grown too nervous to speak. Hamoto grimaced at their discomfort, then continued. "You and that tanned fucker out there," he growled to Suga, then gestured over his shoulder to the bristling Alphas out front. "You both need to get an escape plan in place. The second you leave this place, that's what you need to do. You need to be able to go off the grid at a moment's notice. Your Alpha needs to be able to do that for you. Do. You. Understand. They can only trace the others who have been affected by backtracking from the source...from you. So the rest of your pack, including this skinny chestnut here, they'll be fine. So long as they don't get their hands on you, or your mate."
"What the..." Suga whispered, trying to figure out how to respond to such a vague threat. What the fuck?
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Oikawa put forth, losing control of his scent in its entirety. Suga squeezed his hand to calm them both, but couldn't bring himself to push out a tranquil fragrance. He was just as uneasy.
"I told you that I would give you a brief breakdown and a bit of advice," Hamoto stated, folding his broad arms over his chest, balancing the gun on his legs. "So shut up. That was the advice and now I'm going to give you a breakdown. I don't want to hear one peep out of either of you. Got that?"
Oikawa nodded, mouth set in an angry, hard line. His chestnut friend was suspicious and Suga couldn't blame the kid. "Okay, we understand," he affirmed, his skin beginning to crawl. The scent inside the house was heavy, he detested it. Hamoto had begun to seep a horrible scent of anguish that churned his gut. His conscious mind hadn't figured it out yet, but his instincts already knew that something bad was on the horizon. If they continued to listen to what Hamoto had to say, tragedy would follow.
The bear's grey eyes moved over them, slowly, and his scent began to unhinge further. It poured out, coating Oikawa and Suga, torturing them with its grieving nature. "Every so often, somewhere in the world, an Alpha finds their natural mate. It's extremely rare. There are very few known cases. Given the amount of people in the world and the distance between them, you'd expect there to be more. And maybe there are, not that I would know for sure..." Hamoto trailed off, letting out a heavy exhale that plastered the two Omegas with another blanket of his misery. "But it can happen. Sometimes these people run into each other. And when they do...the chemical makeup of their pheromones...it changes. It warps into something different...and it starts affecting the people around them, too."
"Affecting the people-" Suga began to ponder out loud, but Hamoto trudged on with his explanation-- bombarding him with information that he almost wished he had left well alone. The longer the bear man spoke for, the worse his desolated scent became. Suga couldn't even bring himself to look at the man, his aging face seemed to be sinking in on itself-- he hoped that it was a trick of the light.
"It's a snowball effect, what natural mates do. I'd say that it's a positive, though a lot of people, dangerous people, would disagree with me. Natural mates...their pheromones tangle with others, Alphas and Omegas alike. In short, it makes the people around them partner up at an accelerated rate. It's kind of like...they're making knock off natural mates. Making copies of themselves. From my understanding of it, it's these chemical changes that help blur the lines of ownership between Alphas and their Omega mates. That's why your pack has such a high threshold for ownership. It's why your Alphas help Omegas that do not belong to them," Hamoto paused, nodding at Oikawa. "So you and that dominant fuck outside, you guys being together is a direct response to his partnership with the tanned shorty."
"Excuse me?" Oikawa interrupted, teeth grinding out his sudden anger. "Hajime and I are both-"
Hamoto raised the rifle in his large hands and cocked it, cutting Oikawa short with the unspoken threat. "What. Did. I. Say," he growled, his grey eyes darkening with instinctual fury. "For all intents and purposes, you and your mate are natural now. But you weren't from the start. Your pheromones were warped to suit each other. The attraction you felt was not of your own accord."
"It doesn't matter," Suga whispered, squeezing Oikawa's hand in support. He had no qualms, risking his own skin to speak up and reassure his upset nestmate. "What ifs don't matter. Don't give it any thought. You guys are together now...so who cares about the rest."
"I'm not suggesting that the attraction you feel for each other, now , is directly related to him," Hamoto replied, indicating to Suga with his eyes. The tone he took was delicate, catching Suga off-guard-- the man really did have a soft spot for Omegas. "I'm merely stating that your initial spark was planted by them."
"Are you saying that-" Oikawa began, but Hamoto cut the thought short once again.
"No more interruptions, or you can get the fuck out of my house right now," the bear Alpha snarled, hands closing further around the wood of the rifle-- his grip so strong that it was almost audible. "That study you read, I don't know how you got your hands on it. Because they sure went to great lengths to cover that fucking thing up. It got...it got a lot of people killed. A lot of mates killed..." He trailed off, eyes glazing over. He appeared to be looking at Oikawa, but it was clear to Suga that he was checked out-- dissociated from some tragic memory he had wished to forget. "Do you know what it's like to lose your natural mate? To lose a piece of you fucking soul... Watching it happen while you are powerless to..."
Suga shifted uncomfortably, fresh tears pouring down his pale cheeks. He felt Oikawa give his hand a squeeze, so he glanced towards his nestmate-- he was crying, too. The Alpha before them was truly broken. He was beyond repair, it brought Suga's aching heart to the brink of explosion. Everything had finally snapped into place, he felt as if he knew the bear Alpha on a personal level, now. Hamoto and his mate were in the study. How they became involved in it, he did not know. Hamoto's Omega was murdered in front of him, yet whoever did it, left him alive. To suffer? Suga didn't have the answer to that question either, and he didn't ever want to know. If Daichi had been murdered in front of him...he wasn't sure that he would have the strength to go on living.
For a few moments, Suga and Oikawa sat with the terrible silence, inhaling the tragic scent around them. Suga wasn't certain that they were going to get Hamoto back from such a dissociated state and he hated himself for making the man relive such terrible memories.
"They will find you, and they will study you, and then they will put an end to you," Hamoto drawled, his aged face exhausted and distant. "The government doesn't take well to a concept like natural mates. They're Alphas. They like power. Power comes from division, so they like that, too. They like the Alpha on Alpha violence that... you poor Omegas unknowingly incite. It helps keep those in power on top. A society where every pair of mates is perfectly matched? A Utopia like that?" He paused, eyes glossy. He adjusted the wooden rifle in his hands and Suga furrowed his brows, confused and concerned at the same time. "My advice...interact with as many people as possible...that's what Mary and I...we should have done that. Spread our pheromones like a disease...stayed on our toes. Someone came around...asking questions and offering us insight...we should have gone underground. I failed her... I failed her..."
Suga forced himself to blink. In front of him, Hamoto appeared blurry through his freely flowing tears. "Hamoto..." He mumbled, unable to bring any other words to his dry mouth. He felt crippled by the bear's miserable scent, his senses dulled. Inside, his instincts were screaming for him to do something-- he just wasn't sure what.
"Your Alpha..." The bear Alpha whispered, so quiet that the words just barely registered in Suga's ringing ears. "I hope...he is wiser than I..."
As Hamoto's words trailed off, the world froze. Suga blinked again, slowly, then opened his eyes to the clear sight before him. He tried to speak, to yell, but everything happened all too fast for him to comprehend. Hamoto rolled his neck back and closed his eyes, tears wetting his aging face, shaking hands clinging to his rifle for dear life. The very next moment, Suga flinched into Oikawa's stiff form with a yelp. The two nestmates clung together, sobbing from Hamoto's lingering agony as the bear's first and final gunshot rang out around them.
Suga understood, though he wished that he didn't. He wouldn't have been able to go on living without his mate, either.
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