Chapter Text
Both days and nights, Kirishima had spent alike.
Alone. In the dark. His eyes heavy and glazed as he bounced between each throbbing headache and each cramping pain. The sound of the chains connecting his wrists and the muzzle tightened uncomfortably around his chin were the only reminder of where he was, of what was truly happening. Sweat beaded around his neck, his breath steaming the sides of his metal mask– Kirishima sat so still that his captors would think him dead. The loud sound of his labored breathing and melodic patterns of his chest expanding and contracting would be their only assurance that he remained alive.
Not that they cared.
Not that they would be so concerned as to pull him even an inch further from the waiting claws of death. Not that the food they fed him would be anything less than full of death itself; rotten, stale, and made with hearts of cruelty. He ate every last bite, anyway.
And when he slept, it was against the slimy, cold stone beside his moldy, wooden bucket, with a dirty, once-white sheet that’d turned an unholy shade of greyish-brown. His pants were a tattered mess, and he was covered in must and scars, fingers curled into calloused fists if his mind ever conjured up the thought of revenge.
It tasted sweet on his tongue, the thought. Sweeter than the blood he’d felt wet his tongue in battle once before. So, so delicious. It put a devilish grin on his face to think of such a stunt; he could hardly contain his joy and confine it within the metal mask on his face.
He could not wait.
He was being dragged somewhere outside of the dusty, dark caverns he’d spent the past few weeks in. That is all he knew. His bottom –soiled with mud– was sliding across the marble walkways and up a flight of stairs. The light was unbearable, not that he had the energy to move his head away from it. Not that he had the strength to pull away from the strong arms of the guards that towed him. Not that he was complaining to be away from the musty, humid twilight of the dungeon, either.
Before he knew it, he was being tossed against the smooth, squeaking floors in some large hall, the guards retreating from his weakened body and muttering something about his weight. It was silent after that. Kirishima remained with his cheek split against the metal muzzle digging into his skin, and the soft, cool temperature of the polished stone below. He sighed.
“Have you only come to dirty my floors with your face? Are you so stupid that you cannot even recognize that you are in the presence of a king?” A voice boomed, startling every person but the tanned man with his face against the ground. Kirishima looked up to see not one, not two, but three blonde heads sitting in a line, on velvet thrones. A tall-looking man, with a crown. A mean-looking woman with one as well. A bored-looking boy with nothing but his blonde locks. Alpha king, Beta queen, Omega prince. Kirishima could coo at their perfect little family. “Do you care to bless us with your answer?”
Kirishima sat back on his haunches and motioned tiredly to the muzzle wiring his jaw shut. He’d only been permitted to remove it for ten minutes every five hours when he ate or drank. The king motioned his hand, and a guard hurried over to release it from his face. With every strap that was loosened and removed, Kirishima could feel the throbbing pangs of his headache slowly subsiding. He twisted his head from side to side. “That’s better.”
His voice was hoarse.
“Speak, boy. I don’t have all day to deal with one of your kind . I have more important things to handle than the dishonorable heirs of my enemies.” The king wore a loathsome expression on his face, eyebrows furrowed and lips turned into an upset grimace, fingers gripping the wooden hand rests of his throne with discontent. His stance and loud show of anger were such a blatant attempt at intimidation that Kirishima could almost roll his eyes. He was not afraid of kings.
“I’d hardly say I’m a dishonorable heir. My father would be happy to see where I stand, and know why.”
“A father, happy to know that his son was imprisoned for the murder of 12 of my men? You people are more barbaric and stupid than I thought possible.”
“You’re men attacked us in the woods. Is it my fault they were stupid enough to try their luck against us?”
“ Your men are already dead, so I suppose so.” Kirishima’s eyes widened. The king relaxed into the velvet cushion of his throne, a smile, no doubt in response to Kirishima’s mortified expression, painted the bottom half of his face. “There were fourteen, right? Well, I killed one of them for each of my own who fell. Two remain imprisoned, so you can collect them when you like.”
Kirishima could feel the wolf inside him begin to rouse with anger, snarling and growling; begging Kirishima to stand. To walk over to the king and rip his smug expression clean off the muscle that lay underneath. He curled his fingers into fists.
Right now, he was too weak to stand on his own.
“Do you think yourself untouchable? Inhuman? Unkillable? You call our people barbaric, then you slaughter them where they stand?” Kirishima’s voice was raising, but he didn’t care. He sat up on his knees, muscles aching and begging him to remain seated, but he persisted anyway. “Do you even know what you’ve just done? You’ve started a war and sentenced yourself to death! Do you understand that?”
The king rolled his eyes. “Do I understand, what ? That you are just a pitiful little boy who thinks he’s a man? That you think of me as some tyrant, and you the shining knight who’s come to slay him?” The king laughed. Wholeheartedly. The sound vibrated through the large hall and turned the heads of the blondes beside him. “You fool. How can you not recognize that your king would have done the same?”
“My king, my father is not a cruel beast like you. My father would not have cornered your men in the woods and forced them to fight. He is not a king with no honor.”
“Do not disrespect me with such lies. You’re sweating and covered in filth but you speak to me about honor and cruelty. You seem to be a man who knows neither.” The king leaned forward in his chair. “Collect your men, and never step foot onto my land ever again. You’ve angered me with your insolence.”
“This will not be the end,” Kirishima said, the same two guards grabbing his upper arms and dragging him toward the hallways to the left of the thrones. “This will not be the last you see of me!” The king shook his head, looking at the blonde woman with some form of annoyance on his face. Her hair was long and her face was unchanging. He tried to remember her dark brown eyes and pale skin. He was dragged past the last seat in the row of thrones, his eyes making contact with those of the Omega prince. His expression was unchanging as well, but his scent was wavering with something like uncertainty or fear. He was handsome. His frame was slim and covered by a navy blue tunic with bronze buttons along the middle. His hair was combed back. He didn’t have his mother’s brown eyes, but his father’s red ones.
Kirishima grinned.
The taste of revenge sweetened his tongue.
Katsuki could remember the Alpha’s cold, deadly grin like it was painted on the back of his hands.
Sharp, pointed teeth that spread across his face like cracks in an old portrait. Long, dirty red hair that fell into his eyes and over his shoulders, tinted a hideous shade of dark brown from the grimey caverns of their dungeon.
His expression was wild. Those tortured eyes fixed on Katsuki with a fire behind them and darkened at his dubious frown. The one Katsuki could not wipe from his face until the Alpha had slid ass first out of the great hall, fingers balled into fists, no longer resisting the large alpha guards dragging him along. The alpha himself seemed to be quite large as well. In fact, he’d probably tower over the two men pulling him from the room if he’d been able to stand then.
If his father hadn’t starved him to his weakest before bringing him to the throne.
Katsuki had felt it, then. That tightening feeling in his chest that told him to stand and pace. To run… to follow? Katsuki did not know. But he shifted uncomfortably in his chair for the rest of the day, looking over his shoulder at the large alpha guards and letting his heart ease.
In the castle, he was safe.
No one else seemed to share this sentiment. The days following the Alpha’s release were soured by rumors of war and paranoid silence in the halls. Katsuki’s maids whispered amongst themselves about sightings of black-furred wolves in the woods at night, red eyes glowing in the darkness and all around…watching…
Rumors, all of it. But still, Security tightened around the castle and around Katsuki , of course, which only made the omega roll his eyes at the effort.
The fucking castle was safe. In the hundreds of years the Tslovic wolves had spent fortified in their walls, no foe had ever managed their way inside. Their walls were tall and the surrounding terrain was mountainous and cold– no one would risk an army on that journey.
…Except the northern forest wolves who were native to that mountainous, deadly terrain…
But still. The forest wolves were not civilized people. They could not climb tall walls as they had no gadgets to aid them. They could not organize an attack in a matter of days, as they had no generals, no allies. Sure, Katsuki had heard a rumor of those wolves climbing vertical trees with their long, talon-like claws, but those were just hearsay! Whispers in the night!
The castle was safe.
Katsuki wasn’t afraid of that knot-for-brains alpha, anyway. In fact, he remembered when the alpha was first brought to the throne hall, and even with his sunken cheeks, Katsuki could tell he was young. Younger than him, maybe. His eyes were wide and had that distinctly youthful impertinence as he glared at his arrogant, idiotic father. Katsuki had loved it. It wasn’t common that someone was able to speak above a whisper to the tyrant who sat on that marble throne, and the Alpha’s brazen words had Katsuki pressing his knees together.
I’d hardly say I’m a dishonorable heir … Katsuki had almost flat-out grinned at the conviction. But he’s glad he didn’t. The horrors of his father’s actions swallowed any joy he got from the alpha’s discourtesy.
That shock… as his expression changed from one of fixed pride to bloodthirsty, boiling anger…
Katsuki shivered. At least he was safe in the castle.
Katsuki’s bath was running cold, and the late fall air was whistling through some crack in the wall of his bathroom, distracting Katsuki from any kind of peace he felt, laying there in the lukewarm waters. He was waiting for his maid to return with his clothing and a towel, his eyelids growing heavy the more he sat, water trickling into his ears. At least he was alone.
For the past few weeks, ever since the release of the red-haired mountain wolf, Katsuki had been surrounded by maids and knights alike, supposedly protecting him from those whispered fairytales of black wolves in the darkness.
It was bullshit. Fear-mongering propaganda to stop people from going into those northern woods, and to put people on high alert. Katsuki didn’t appreciate the extra (and unnecessary) eyes on him as walked around the castle halls, and he often found himself cursing his father for provoking those wolves in the first place. Disturbing the silent peace between the two peoples to prove his own useless worth. Katsuki could gag.
But truly, his maid was really taking her sweet fucking time. How long did it take to grab a fucking robe and pajamas? He’d be pissed if he had to yell for her. The water was getting cold. He might as well…
He pressed his hands into the sides of the tub and pushed himself up, water sloshing dangerously close to the edge of the bath, never spilling over. He did drip water as he stepped out onto the carpet, but the unavoidable mess was soon forgotten as he realized just how freezing cold the bathroom air really was.
If his maid had been here with his towel…
He scoffed at the thought as he walked, barefoot, to the bathroom closet. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist quickly before throwing open the door to his room.
“Himari, you-” His rant was thrown off by the complete and utter darkness of his bedroom. Not one candle was lit and the door to the hallway was open, swaying with a soft creak and letting in the dim light from the hallway windows. Katsuki could see that his clothes were thrown across the floor haphazardly in the pale light, his jewelry pulled from his drawers and laying amongst the expensive embroidered fabrics.
Katsuki could feel that cold, unsettled feeling dripping onto his neck. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, sniffing at the air for any trace of intrusion…
On the air… there was blood. The more he tried to smell any foreign scents, the more he was hit with the metallic tang of a fresh kill, his moth going dry and his gums aching as his canines protracted.
His legs were moving before he heard the telltale sound of paws on broken glass, his eyes darting to the door to catch the sight of a large shadow, but he was already dipping into the walk-in closet in his bedroom.
The alpha growled lowly. Katsuki could hear him pause by the door, sniffing. His fingers were twitching against the frame of his closet door, itching to shift into a more enduring form with its own teeth to bare and growl to be heard.
But Katsuki was a small wolf, and his scent was strong. Shifting would only help the alpha find him behind the closet door–make it easier to grab his neck and snap it in two like he probably did Himari and the others…
Katsuki could feel his teeth grit together.
No warning. No bells or shouts or screams. No soldiers prancing the halls with swords at their sides. No sounds of footsteps through the marble halls, calling his name; searching. He grabbed at something hard beside him and gripped it with all his might, heartbeat loud in his ear as the wolf crept across the bedroom floor, growling lowly. The omega could feel it vibrating through his own chest, a deep contrast to the wind whistling through the crack in the bathroom wall, whose door had been left ajar.
The sound of dripping water made Katsuki’s heart skip a beat as he suddenly remembered his dripping legs and footprints leading from the tub to the bathroom closet… into his bedroom and…
He swallowed, tightening his grip on the sharp porcelain hanger in his hand. Beside his feet was his own trail of dripping water, and Katsuki’s stomach threatened to eject whatever dinner he’d eaten that evening. He could hear the soft paws creak against the floors, pausing.
His trail had been spotted.
Katsuki had not fully closed the closet door, afraid of the rackety sound of it creaking shut. He could see now, the cascade of black fur creeping through his bedroom. A moving shadow. A shifting darkness.
It was huge; so big that its fangs ran the length of Katsuki’s pointed finger, its mouth so wide that it dwarfed Katsuki’s head with its size. Katsuki had never hoped to see a wolf so humongous in his life, and his fingers shook around the porcelain hanger as it moved closer, sniffing…
Glowing red eyes shifted toward the closet door, the wolf’s lips curling into a tight snarl, pointed teeth on display. Katsuki pressed himself against the closet wall and waited with shaking hands.
He was not going to die. He couldn’t; not like this. Even as the wolf’s heavy breaths drew closer and his teeth grit so hard that blood pooled in his mouth. He took a slow, deep breath. He tightened his grip on his weapon.
“There you are…”
Katsuki froze. He peered through the crack in the closet door to see red, wild eyes staring back at him. Without the black fur to hide his crimes, Katsuki could see the dark, crusted blood staining his lower face, dripping down his neck and over pointed, razor-sharp teeth.
The alpha was grinning, bare chest and, well, bare everything exposed in the pale moonlight. His eyes focused on Katsuki with that same undeterred stare they had that day in the throne room.
Katsuki’s heart beat loudly in his ear. “Fuck off!” He said, mostly out of fear. He didn’t even hear the Alpha shift into his familiar form… it’d happened so quickly…
“Come out, little prince.” Katsuki could hear the alpha press his palm to the wooden door. He didn’t understand. The alpha could easily come inside and grab him himself, so why?
“I said fuck off! Is something fucking wrong with your head?”
A short, unamused laugh slipped from the alpha’s lips. “Come out before I come in, little one. I’m asking nicely.” He tilted his head to the side, innocently.
“If you come in here, I’ll kill you where you stand.”
“With that?” The alpha’s head tilted toward the porcelain hanger as well as it could through the tiny crack. Katsuki snapped it against the wall beside him into a single, pointed stick. The Alpha huffed, amused. “Okay. You can try.”
It was only then, as the alpha backed away from the closet door did Katsuki realize he was bending down to peer at him, and that his true size was over a foot above what Katsuki had initially inferred. Katsuki pushed against the door to shut it, but the edge was already caught in the Alpha’s vice grip, and he peeled it open to reveal Katsuki’s reddened face, hair still dripping from his evening bath onto his shoulders. He lunged for the alpha, then, planning to dig the porcelain stick into the alpha’s shoulder while his focus was deterred. He almost made it, almost. But the alpha caught his wrist just an inch away from the tanned skin of the mountain wolf and crunched it in his fist.
It cracked, but Katsuki only took the opportunity to dig a different shard into the alpha’s side, the piece that had broken off against the wall. The alpha yelped at the pain of the incision and smacked Katsuki to the ground, the omega’s cheek splitting against the closet wall as he fell. He tried to stand again, but faltered at the pressure on his broken wrist. That second was all it took for the alpha to grab him by the thighs and pull him flat to the ground, the alpha’s knee resting on his back and keeping him flush against the floor. Katsuki writhed and growled.
“You… you’re a smart little thing, aren’t you?” The alpha said, tapping at the now bleeding wound with careful fingers. “Grabbing that other weapon,” He laughed lightly, “You caused me more harm than the guards in your halls.”
“What, You thought I was some weak, bitchy omega you could bed and throw away?” He writhed and twisted against the Alpha’s knee. “You’ll die by my hand, Alpha. Mark my words here and now.”
“Threatening me, even in this compromised position?” He pressed his knee harder into Katsuki’s back and brought his finger to his wounded cheek. He swiped at the blood that had collected there and brought it to his lips, sucking. “Mm. You’re even more enchanting than I thought, Omega.”
Katsuki growled, loud and deep. It seemed to startle the Alpha, who was still sucking away at the omega’s blood on his finger. Katsuki still could not smell him, but he knew his own scent was growing more musk and unruly with every second that passed, filling the room with the scent of cinnamon burnt to a crisp. The alpha bent down and drew it in through his nose, licking at his neck only once before silencing Katsuki with his own, much louder growl.
Alpha voice. And it left him paralyzed and panicking against his closet floor. The alpha lifted his knee and bound his wrists with a thin cloth. He then threw the Omega over his shoulder with as much grace as a sack of potatoes, only grunting once at the sharp pain in his side.
Katsuki was carried through the marble halls of his home, now splattered red with the blood of those sworn to protect him, their bodies thrown into the corners of the hall with bleeding stomachs and mauled faces. They were in the corridors, the stairwell, and every floor of castle, the trail of blood leading all the way to the throne room, which was guarded by two large black wolves.
Kirishima threw the door open. Inside, the beta maids and omega cooks were herded into the corners of the great hall, more large black wolves patrolling the room with matching animalistic glares. In the center, from what Katsuki could see thrown over the Alpha’s back, his mother and father kneeled, hands bound behind their backs and his father’s face fixed in a muzzle. Katsuki wished he could run or speak, but his voice could only carry the whispering sound of his breath as the alpha laid him on the ground before his father. He watched the king’s eyes widen, travelling back and forth between his son and the grinning alpha wolf, that impertinent glare Katsuki had admired now feeling wicked and deranged.
He knew. He knew what would happen next.
“This is your son, is it not?” The alpha said, looking at Katsuki’s father in his beaten, swollen eyes. “He has your blonde hair and red eyes. He is undoubtedly yours.”
The king responded with something like a stifled groan, the metal muzzle covering his face entirely too tight to allow much more. Katsuki remembered the same one covering the face of the alpha leaning over him not too long ago, and cursed his father for provoking such an uncouth prince.
“He won’t be yours for much longer. Based on his scent he’s a virgin, right?” He twisted Katsuki’s face to the side. “He’s unmated. Very pretty too.”
The king’s groans turned more on the side of screams and curses after that, not that anyone could understand very much. “I can’t really hear you,” Kirishima said, “The muzzle. It’s a bit tight, isn’t it?”
The king screamed again.
“Look what he did to me. Aren’t you proud?” He motioned to the stab wound on his side. Katuski could feel his fingers begin to prick with sensation again. “I was quite proud when he did it. Should leave a scar as gorgeous as the one I’ll give him in a moment.”
The king was screaming so hard against the muzzle that they turned to gagged cries, his mother biting down against the cloth stuffed in her mouth in a grimace. Katsuki’s feeling was coming back. He began to shift around beneath the prince, whose eyes fell on him in amused silence.
“You’re still trying to get away. Incredible.” He petted Katsuki’s damp hair and smiled. “Well, King of Tslova, you’ve raised your son well for me.”
He then threw a leg over Katsuki’s lower half and straddled him, effectively pinning his legs to the ground in the process. “But as I said, he won’t be yours for much longer. This will be the last thing you see, King of Tslova. I hope it tortures you in every life after this one. And, I hope even once before you’re pitiful life ends, you rue the day you messed with me. With my family. ”
Without another word, he pinned Katsuki’s face to its side and bit hard into the flesh of his neck, the intense pain that erupted from the contact so devastating that Katsuki managed a gasp. Still paralyzed, he felt his body warm where he was bitten, spreading so vastly and quickly that within seconds, even the tips of his fingers and toes felt piping hot to the touch. He growled, trying his hardest to push the alpha off his chest, but the weakness from forceful submission was still present. Katsuki could feel his own canines pushing uncomfortably from his gums, which he used to gnaw at the alpha’s hand against his cheek, trying to cause enough pain for him to remove himself. He was so weak that his teeth would not even break the skin, the alpha merely putting a hand in his hair instead to keep the biting at bay. When he finally extracted his teeth from Katsuki’s neck, there was blood dripping from the mark, which Kirishima laved at, kindly.
He could feel the alphas grin as he licked against his neck.
Katsuki blinked, shocked. His mother was screaming through the cloth gag, tears and snot gathered on the fabric as his father sat beside her, motionless. His mother, ready to break through the ropes tied around her wrists, was dragged away by some other, large wolf, thrashing around and kicking her legs as Katsuki’s muffled name passed over her lips.
He wanted to speak to her, but the pain of what was undoubtedly a heat was beginning to make him dizzy, the smell of his slick wetting his thighs so sickening that he turned his nose away from it. His father was still watching him, eyes empty, sullen. His head hung and Katsuki knew the scent that wafted from his father and into his nose.
Failure.
Kirishima’s grin was bright. “So, King of Tslova. What names did you shame me with? Dishonorable? Barbaric? I suppose you’re right after all!” He stood, picking the omega up and holding him close to his chest, despite Katsuki’s attempts to push the alpha away. “Your son is quite the lively little thing. I think we’ll get along quite nicely when this is all said and done.”
He could feel his vision fuzzing as the alpha spoke, eyes growing heavy from his suddenly scalding temperature.
He mumbled something he could not understand himself, and let the darkness claim him.