Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The older female Beta enters her bedroom, with head bowed, tugging off the bauble earrings she had clipped to her ear lobes the moment she had received word her spouse - her Alpha, Lead Alpha - had sent word he had wished to speak to her in his office. She thought he would resume their intimate relationship, instead of this steady rocking companionship when his other mates would not suffice. She had spent half the morning in preparation, choosing a fine, beautiful suit that would flatter her usual frumpy figure, then had brought in her maid to help set her hair-do and put on the rarely-seen made-up face.

The very minute she had wandered into her Alpha's office, her heart had taken a plummet. Behind her spouse stood his two newest mates - both Omegas, both younger and possibly dumber than a sack of rocks. They each had a hand on him: one on the shoulder, on on his biceps. And someone with a very familiar scent and heat had been seated in a chair in front of her Alpha's desk. He had stood when she entered, paying a respect to her position as Lead Alpha's first spouse, a female Beta.

"Mrs. Padalecki..." He even buttoned his suit coat as he bowed at the waist rather effortlessly, taking her hand in another public show of allegiance.

"Mr. Morgan—what brings you—?" She gave a lift to her dark brown eyebrow toward her spouse, then back to their humbled guest. She startled when her left hand had been brought to Mr. Morgan's lips as he helped to seat her in the second chair next to his, setting her whole forearm and hand on the hard leather armrest. "—our pack solicitor—to our home, so early in the day?" Keeping her hand on the armrest would only invite the darkly handsome human to touch her.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan - JD to many of his clients, who were mostly Were these days - was charming and a very exciting individual who could care less about personal space and any idea of a "bad touch", even toward the spouse of a Lead Alpha. He had known how important touching and certain forms of a caress were tantamount to pack members, which was why he had been known to have his own harem of willing female Betas and Omegas at his beck-and-call; more had been willing and able to take a walk on the "wild side" with a well-endowed hirsute human, who was much older, a confirmed bachelor and rather handsomely attractive in a roguish rake sort of manner.

She had been dodging his advances ever since she had become pregnant some twenty-one years ago, the only time she had conceived offspring for her Alpha as a rare fertile Beta. Most of her Alpha's pups and cubs were due to his second spouse - the blessed and saintly Omega - and the rest of the brood had been from his bevy of uber-young and equally fertile Omegas. She glanced between her spouse and Mr. Morgan, whom she would affectionately call Jeffrey or "Jeff" when they were in private chambers; she folded her hands together to tuck between her thighs.

Jeffrey still managed to lay his warm hand on her exposed wrist, giving a reassuring squeeze. "Vivien, it's about Rett—uhm...Jarett, actually." He took a hard swallow, forgetting to use the formal name, instead of the shortened endearment those who loved the young female Beta offspring of his client and old best friend, Sean Padalecki.

Vivien wrinkled her brow, then stared into Jeffrey's darker gaze of deep pity and wavering concern. "What about my daughter, Mr. Morgan?" She never bothered to switch her gaze to her Alpha as he had kept silent, now speaking low to his two Omega mates who flanked him. They both left the room by a different door than the one she had come in through as Sean pushed out of his chair, moseying around the huge cherry wood desk to lean backward on the front ledge. He crossed his forearms as if to wait for Jeffrey to explain in detail.

"...there is a man, another Were, by the name of Ackles. He's part of the Dallas Pack but he's more localized..."

Vivien glanced over at her Alpha with a different dark eyebrow raised in inquiry.

Sean realized that Jeffrey would be taking his damn time telling his Beta - his first spouse - the simple truth. "There are no cubs of marriageable age, Viv." He sighed heavy, preparing himself for her on-coming wrath. "I'm very sorry. I've held off as long as I could. It's either Jarret or—"

Vivien cannot believe a word Sean said to her. He promised her. "But you promised me, Sean. Out of all of your cubs, you promised not to arrange any marriages, especially for the Twins." She put a hand on her upper chest; her heart had gone into some erratic beating. She was a bit out of breath and drifting. Funny how the human hand grounded her, even though she never felt its grip until this very moment. "You granted Jared release to pursue his dream, and you said that Jarrett could choose her Alpha, and that I, as your first spouse and Jarret's mother, could help our daughter find her true lifemate."

Sean didn't waver his gaze off Vivien's misty eyes. "We need the leverage over other packs, Viv. I'm deeply sorry." He wasn't, not truthfully. He was at the end of his rope, watching one of his eldest offspring turn into a miniature Vivien Padalecki. It hurt his heart to witness his sweetheart of a daughter lose her authentic self to a cold and embittered first spouse. The only way to herd in Jarrett was to look for another Alpha to take over her care and tending. She was old enough to be mated, but had gained some bravery under her mother's tutelage; it was time to put a full-stop to this, once and for all.

Jeffrey sat forward a bit more, his dark eyes always watchful of Vivien's facial expressions and ticks than any other Were-female. He noticed how pale and drained she appeared. "Sean, maybe you shouldn't..." He wasn't sure it was a good idea to tell Vivien everything about the business deal. He was also confused why Sean never once considered they would have even more of a "leg-up" with Alpha Ackles if they had a fertile male Omega to offer instead. Why only Jarret? Jeffrey needed to speak to Vivien alone, possibly closeted in her bedroom chambers; he already had, somewhat, of a plan formulating in his head and in reality.

Sean dismissed his old friend's disruption. He didn't mind Jeffrey's aide when it came to legalities, business contracts and arranging deals, but he hated the way the humane side of his human friend continued to infiltrate his pack. It was no mystery to him that Jeffrey had a minor crush on Vivien, but he knew that his friend was aware of the consequences should he ever act-on his baser impulses of attraction. It didn't matter that Sean and Vivien hadn't been truly intimate for years, but rather settled into a relaxed companionship when they needed the old comforts of what had once brought them together as mates. Sean kept his eyes on Vivien's bent head. "Ackles is looking to marry off his last Alpha, a second son, not much older than Jarret. It will be rough, at first, I know, but our daughter knows her place as first spouse's offspring, and that when it comes to family duty - to pack life - one does as one is told. How else are our packs to remain strong and unified, gaining allies along the way?"

"—b-b-b-but you promised, Sean." Vivien hated being stuck on rewind, but she had actually thought she gained some ground with Sean's old Alpha ways, especially concerning the tending to their daughter. "You even looked her in the eye and you swore this would never be her fate." She knows Sean is aware of her own fears as a mother that her child should be forcefully mated and suffering pangs of a broken heart; that would be the worst agony Vivien to go through, in light of all of her sacrifices.

Sean uncrossed his arms, shrugging one shoulder. "Keeping the family business thriving means more right this second. If it has to be that my eldest daughter starts to hate me, then I know I have a means to repair. But I cannot find a more lucrative business deal then this one with Alpha Ackles."

Vivien shut her eyes, sitting back with a heavy sigh with the slow shake of her regal head. "Oh, Sean, you have no idea what you're asking."

"At this point, Viv, it's a done deal. There will be no 'asking'."

Jeffrey covered his hand over his mouth, swiping down along jaw and chin. He had wished Sean had thought this through better. But he was right about one thing: it would take them a while to convince Vivien that this arranged marriage was their only answer...for now. Jeffrey had been mulling over a second possibility as he had known how much Vivien had been looking forward to her daughter making a true match with her own Alpha. He was already aware of a few Alpha suitors who were in pursuit of the eldest Padalecki female Beta.

Vivien shot out of her chair before anyone could hold her down. "Why did you ask me to come if the decision had already been made?"

Sean knew he would incur his Beta's, as well as his daughter's, but he was an expert now on how to smooth those roads. "I thought it best to let you know ahead of time so you could speak to Jarret." At least he had hoped that Vivien would take the higher road and learn not to use her tendency to vent her continual dislikes of her station inside pack. It was fine when they were alone as mates, pushing him around with her strength and independence as a Beta and first spouse, to often rage at him for such misogynistic and selfish Alpha ways - it's why he had fell in love with her all those years ago, why they were mated, but it was a whole new ball of wax to poison their daughter with such vitriol.

"You mean...convince her to understand that her own father - Lead Alpha - is the only one who knows what is best for her? Breaking a promise he had sworn to years prior?"

"I could've been more ruthless and had her dragged from her bed, carried to the altar with no warning at all."

Vivien swallowed her gasp, then squared her shoulders. "I may have preferred that." She narrowed her gaze on Sean, willing to combat his authority with her own defiance. "You may find that I can be a little more cunning, and ruthless, than you, Alpha. Especially when it concerns my cubs."

With that said, Vivien turned on her sensible heels, walking calmly out of the room, not slamming the door on the two men.

"Well..." Sean heaved a sigh of relief. At least this situation was no longer a burden on his shoulders to tell Vivien any longer. The truth was out. "—-that went much as expected."

Jeffrey looked up at his old childhood friend. "It really could've gone better." The urge to follow Vivien was strong, but not too strong to mask as a plain walk to a window along the far wall, hands in his trouser pockets. "Why do you insist on always gaining the upperhand over her when you're not even at odds?" He turned from the glass pane, a furrowed brow marring his features. Even after all these years of coming to know and understand Were culture and pack life, he would've thought that a couple who mated - sounding too much like "soulmates" - wouldn't fall victim to the human side of a married couple having gradually fallen out of love and unable to divorce. It sounded like pure torture to remain linked so deeply and intensely, then have that bond shattered on a daily basis.

"Because...there's a reason Vivien is my first spouse and my first lifemate." Sean was fully aware he hadn't used the words "true lifemate", because that moniker belonged to another. "She's kept this pack strongest in my bouts of weakness." He merely meant that Vivien knew to expect him to branch out and stray once the need for more offspring became prevalent; she knew her "place" as Alpha's Beta and first spouse. If Vivien couldn't serve in her duties and other mates were more willing, the Alpha went where he was most wanted and warmly accepted. Sean didn't suffer around Vivien, even though she managed to make much of the time alone with her a walking nightmare of disappointment and utter sadness. She had clung to the past too often, unable to break free of those chains to see a brighter future for herself.

Jeffrey nodded his head in agreement, clearing his clogged throat. God, what he wouldn't give to be out of this office and by Vivien's side. "She's also one of the more tolerant Betas than I've seen in packs. Why would you jeopardize that with Ackles?" He was still unsure Alpha Ackles was a guaranteed bet to success, or that the Were would see worth in Sean or his pack.

"Ackles would be a major coup, JD. If I can win him over, then the next few years—who knows how far Padalecki business will reach."

"You want Dallas that bad?"

"I do, JD...I really, really do."

= = = || || || = = =

Vivien plops down on her vanity benchseat, throwing her earrings on the surface as she stares at her reflection in the three-sided mirror.

God! What a waste! she silently grumbles and begins to apply make-up remover pads to her pale skin. She rubs so hard in some areas she leaves red-raw streaks of flesh.

A light knock sounds on her bedroom door and she thinks it's her maid come to help her undress and take down her long tresses. "Come in!" Vivien beckons as she starts to undo her suit jacket, then rolls her slim shoulders to work out of the tailored material. As she stands from her seating, she shows her back, offering her nape outward. "—-help undo this blasted top! I think I'm going to put on my bathing suit and use the hot tub and sauna." She cups her own neck, waiting for those familiar cool hands to work the mock turtleneck's hooks at the collar, then the zipper down the back seam.

"I would love to join you, Viv..." Jeffrey mumbles as he reaches out to unhook the collar, lowering the zipper toggle to then latch onto her upper biceps, hauling her close to his front so he can smell her nape, the hidden hairline and skim his lips over the soft skin.

"—-jesus, Jeff...you scared me." Vivien is able to untense her frame and relax as she knows Jeffrey will never truly act-on his baser human needs. He values her and her body too much. She pats his hands on her arms, crossing forearms over her chest. "I could've used you in there." She turns to speak over her shoulder as she downturns her head.

"You forget, Viv—I see all sides so I know that Sean speaks a truth. Ackles Pack would be a major business deal that starts the ball rolling. But—" Jeffrey leans the side of his face against the back of her up-do, his left arm drops to slide around, fitting under her heaving breasts. "—-you forget I was here for your pregnancy and eventual birth of your pups. I was there in Sean's place, so the Twins feel like my own."

It had been a harrowing event in the Padalecki household. Vivien missing her due date and becoming uncomfortable in her own skin to being an unbearable mother-to-be to be around, especially for the Alpha who had put her in this predicament. Jeffrey had been the only one who could tolerate her, and he had been the only one around when her pups had desired entrance into this world.

"I know how much you love Jared and Jarret." It's nothing for Vivien to often pet Jeffrey's skin. For such a rough-looking, hard working man, he has the softest skin. "How much you would, and have, sacrificed for them." It's a moot point that Jeffrey mentions this as they both were present.

Vivien leans backward into Jeffrey's hold, instantly remembering how she had peered into that human face - so deep into his darkening worried gaze - and she had found a hidden strength to forage on, giving birth to her twin pups without the aide of a hospital or its staff, nor any additional medicinal methods of ease; she had given birth right in this very room, or thereabouts.. Twenty-odd years ago - twenty-one of them raising her twins, seeing many interior decoration changes and renovations, not to mention an upgrade to a better, sturdier King-sized bedframe - one she rarely, if ever, shared with Sean anymore. He sufficed with the companionship, merely sleeping next to her while the younger mates had the full brunt of his aging sexual prowess. Even his second spouse - the Omega - had carried her last pups ten years ago, maybe eleven.

Vivien rarely saw Evaline; the younger female not only lived in a different wing of the house, she had a full-time job and still tended to her young cubs, and the various pups from the other mates. Vivien's cubs were full-grown and almost living on their own. Well, Jared was, but Jarret had remained in their old childhood room, happiest when she was allowed to be herself and not Jared's twin sister or Lead Alpha's eldest daughter. Vivien had taken awhile to conceive. As the Omega - the second spouse - carried on having a nice litter with single births, Vivien had only managed one and it had been twins. Jarret had a good cushy position, believing she would one day meet her own Alpha and become a first spouse, just like her mother.

Jeffrey spins Vivien around, cupping her chin. "I hope you meant what you said in there."

"What?"

"About one-upping Sean to show you mean business."

Vivien shakes her head, keeping her eyes downcast. "I need to breathe, Jeff." She breaks away to plop down on the benchseat again. "I only just learned Sean broke his promise to me and Rett. I've yet to—"

Jeffrey quickly shuffles to kneel at Vivien's right side. "And I have, Viv. Just ask me what brilliant plan I've come up with."

"I don't know." Vivien narrows her murky toffee eyes on Jeffrey, unsure why he can look so excited. "You look as if you've already figured out to how to trick him, and save Rett."

"Ask me, Viv...please."

Vivien is a bit entranced by Jeffrey's little boy smirk; it's infectious. "All right—what brilliant plan have you been able to come up with to—?"

"Jared!" Jeffrey lets out in one expel of air.

"But he's—"

"I know where he is." Jeffrey gets up slowly to scoot Vivien over to the opposite end of the long bench as he sits with back facing the vanity, able to watch the change of expressions on her face. "I also know that Ackles's son - this last Alpha of his offspring he plans to mate - prefers not just Omegas, but male ones."

Vivien furrows her brow. "But that's not how an Alpha should be. He cannot choose one sex over another."

Jeffrey leans his left elbow on the edge of the vanity table. "Ackles's second son had been granted a life of freedom since he was in his early 20s, just as Jared was allowed to leave and he, too—this, uh...Jen-sen Ackles has been allowed to carry on as he wishes, while still holding his position as Lead Alpha's second Alpha son." He reaches up to brush wisps of her wayward locks behind an ear lobe, then traces fingertips down the delicately pale flesh of her neck to shoulder niche.

"So, this..." Vivien is used to Jeffrey's attention to her as he talks privately, regardless of invading her personal space. It's so much more than she ever expected of a human, especially one who had known her Alpha for years. "—-son - the Alpha - he, too, has to put aside his whole life in order to fulfill his father's wishes?"

Jeffrey nods his head on a slow jag, eyes darting over Vivien's features. "Just as Rett is being asked, but...Viv, we will make a much better match for ourselves if we play to the son's desires. I've no doubt he will bite his tongue and wed Rett, but I fear Rett will never be loved or cared for, the way we - you an' I - know she deserves." The way I adore you, Jeffrey fills in as an afterthought in his mind as he waits for this information to settle in Vivien's head.

Vivien raises her hand to cup Jeffrey's cheek. "You've always loved her as if she were your daughter, not Sean's."

Jeffrey shuts his lids, leaning his face into the curved palm. "When they were younger, and more fun and precocious as pups maturing, I loved them both equally. But—" He keeps his head bowed in mild shame and guilt. "As Jared grew and became his own entity, and we learned he was an Omega, while Rett was a Beta, I thought we would find good matches for them - true lifemates. Then Jared started shifting toward a higher calling and I couldn't help hurting for Rett and...us." He breathes out the word in one puff, knowing the humid air spreads out over her face as she blinks slow and steady. He knows she gets a little aroused by the way he joins them in certain instances as if they were really mated. "—-we were losing him to God and a life of self-sacrifice, not to mention celibacy to the religious sect. I tried not to feel as embittered as Sean had when Jared betrayed the pack life to enter the monastery, to train and study - or whatever he had to do to find inner peace." Jeffrey still isn't certain what Jared had been searching for two years ago.

Vivien's eyes fill with moisture again, her heart re-cracking at the fragile memories of Jared's downward spiral and the harmful manner in which he exited the pack. "I had some idea it would be a young cub's phase, not a true calling. Our pack priest recommended at least one parent not abandon Jared so that he had a touchstone to the secular world. I have tried being that, but his continual silence and his...complete lack of unity to this pack make it very difficult. Quite a few arguments and slammed doors over Jared, between Sean and I."

"—-then let this be what heals everyone. Not only the pack but you and Sean, you and Jared...Jared and I, and even possibly, Jared and Rett. If Jared can take the place of his sister, there's no telling the mending of many bridges and the start of more to come."

"I don't even know how to contact him, Jeff."

"Well, I figured that, which is why I've made the moves on my own to take care of that. The monastery is extremely secluded, tucked into the valley of two mountains. There's a village not too far up from them, where most of their correspondences are sent. They also order supplies and use the telephone and Internet at the cafe. He's not been completely isolated, but he no longer communicates with the outside world. Except through letters. So I have sent one, and explained everything to a certain degree."

"Oh, Jeffrey..." Vivien places a hand over her gaping mouth, stuck between shock and amazement. "—-the minute he sees your name and address, he will rip it apart and throw it out."

Jeffrey picks up Vivien's hand, turning the palm back out so he can press lips dead center. "An' that is why I have sent other letters to the fellow monks and other religious hierarchy. They do understand that it's very important to resolve issues outside of the Brotherhood before truly giving the 'self' up to a calling. They would like Jared to have no ties to this world before joining the Order."

"How long until he—?" Vivien had often attempted to understand exactly what this "calling" would mean for Jared, but it tended to put her into a state of deep melancholy to comprehend just how much Jared would lose if he went deeper inside the sanctuary.

"He turns 22 this year, Viv. It will be his 3rd year there since leaving home. 23 is around the age they're willing to ordain them in ceremony."

"Oh...my god! We were that close to—" Vivien can't even fathom they had been so close to losing Jared completely.

"If we have him come home, getting out now, there will be nothing but unlimited ties to this world that keep him from being a 'full' brother in the sect."

"I feel like the worst mother ever." Vivien places a hand flat to her upper chest, feeling her heart break for Jared, especially since it had been something he had such passion for. She knew all about sacrificing "passions" and "desires" for the sake of the pack life.

"Why?"

"I am moving Heaven and Earth to make sure Rett is happy, in love and mated to her true lifemate."

Jeffrey slowly nods in full comprehension. "—-an' Jared had already found his happiness—is that what you think?"

"Yes. If this is what Jared had wanted, as his mother, how could I deny him?"

"What if I told you that when Jared left, he still looked unsure that what he was about to do was what he really wanted?"

"Really?" Vivien acts a little relieved that things may have been different than what she had assumed. "He had seemed very ecstatic when the Brothers sent him that letter of acceptance."

"Something happened to Jared—I'm pretty sure it was during one of those heats of his. Eva said he wouldn't let anybody near him. He wanted to get through the fever and fits on his own."

"He's always been a loner. Even growing up, he didn't like me holding him too hard or too close. I sufficed with him turning to his sister, but soon he just pushed her away, as well."

"Eva said he finally let her in to help him, right at the tail-end, when the heat fevers were getting too much for him, and almost over with."

Vivien swallows hard, hating that Evaline possibly had been with Jared through some difficult patches during his heats and had left his own mother in the dust. "I had no idea she had done that for him..." She doesn't know a lot of things about Sean's second spouse - the Omega.

"Neither did I, but I had suspicions once Jared had such a drastic change in character and manner, like he thought singly instead of being part of a pack."

Vivien squeezes Jeffrey's hand. "You still love him despite his abandonment. You never stopped loving him, Jeff."

Jeffrey dips his head in shame. "Okay, maybe I try to be too much like Sean, who can write off Jared as not an option to this mating with Ackles's son. It's a longshot, I know, especially as Jared's been gone for 2yrs, but—"

"You're hoping to appeal to his love for his sister?"

"Yeah, maybe. If we can get him here, to talk to him again - you and I, maybe Rett, too - we all could convince him that he needs to do this for the good of the pack."

Vivien lifts a lone dark eyebrow in doubt, wondering if this brilliant idea of Jeffrey's will only push Jared out of her grasp for good.

= = = || || || = = =

Immediately, Jared stiffens. He's trying to prolong his goodbyes and figured he'd take a detour through the orphanage one last time. The girl pup he had been helping to nurse back to health lay cradled between his thighs, a bottle of warm mother's milk tilted into her puckered mouth. "I had to give her one last feeding, before I walked away..." —-for good, he says under his breath, clamming his lips shut.

"Jared..." A single hand clamps on the broad shoulder as the taller frame overshadows the young Omega's recline on the grass inside the monastery's peaceful gardens. "—-you're not walking away. You've been adrift here for two years, and now you're on your way back home to find your place again." The comforting hulk of a figure hunches down to Jared's level, no longer blocking out the sun's rays. "I, and the other Brothers, often wondered if you were ever really here. You only seemed to come to life around the pups and cubs."

Jared keeps his head bowed. "I know what they feel like."

"But you're not alone. You never have been. You have a whole pack waiting back home for you."

Jared sits upright, clearing his throat as he swaddles the girl pup tighter in the handmade crib blanket. "I only know it can't be good if they called me to return, when I am so close to my goal."

The wide brow furrows in deep concern, thinking this young cub had been underestimated. "You would've gone through with it?" He cannot fathom any truth to this information. "Being ordained into The Order, and have the ceremony, despite what you've been feeling this past year?" He had often counseled the Omega in private rooms, or offered the strange brother-like/familial shoulder to lean on when the urge to vent surfaced.

Jared keeps silent, averting his head.

"Yeah." A strong, hearty laugh echoes in the vast open space. "Don't think many of us haven't seen what you've been doing to suppress who you truly are."

"A broken and barren Omega?" Jared bites back in mild sarcasm. He's still unchanged since coming here; he hasn't improved or become healthier. Just abstained from the kind of singular sexual freedoms offered to him in the outside world.

"Stop." A big hand pushes out palm first. "You are aware that is not what was told to you. Your chances of normal conception aren't as high as most Omegas, that is about the sum of it, yes?"

Jared can only nod slowly, biting the inside of his cheek to squelch his need to discuss as he has been allowed. He clears his throat, his eyes downcast to gaze at the all-encompassing and intensely trusting stare of the pup. "Don't forget the painful intercourse and possible difficulty in gestation." He won't be going into how impossible a typical pack birth will be, considering if the fetus survives.

"oh, wow..." This hadn't been mentioned, but then it had been assumed that anything connected to what made this Omega "special" would probably be detrimental to both him and the litter, single pup or multiples. "—-you're still holding on to all that inner rage, Jared." The hand once on Jared's shoulder now places the palm in a calming manner over the shoulder blades, rubbing gently - touch is tantamount to pack members, even outside of pack life. He can detect that it does offer Jared some peace of mind. "You need to let it go. You need to set it free or it may just do you more harm than good."

"My godfather's letter was less specific, more ominous than the ones he sent to the Brothers. I have this sinking feeling I'm being called to return for something to do with the family's business."

"What do they think you can do that they haven't done without you?"

"I don't know. That's what puts me on edge. No one has contacted me for two years and then the first communication I get is from my father's best friend, the pack's lawyer, Jeffrey D. Morgan."

"Oh..." It's understandable that Jared would be hesitant when the only personal contact is from a pack outsider. "I wasn't fully aware of who this 'Morgan' gentleman was to you."

"He is my godfather. He was there when Rett and I were born."

"Rett? This is 'Jarrett' - your twin sister?"

"Yes." Jared bows his head, chin to chest, as he picks up the pup to cradle her to his chest, on the left, so she can hear and feel his steady heart beating. He swiftly rises to his great height. "I'm taking her back." He doesn't want to; he wants to spend all afternoon here. He has, plenty of times before, but now those moments are over.

"Lead..." A huge palm presses into the center of Jared's back, sending him ahead. "—-and I will follow."

Jared doesn't wait to see if he is followed; he makes his way through the outdoor gardens and leaves the door open to the foyer. A nurse is making her way over to relieve Jared of his tiny bundle. The bottle is transferred first.

"The pups and cubs will miss you, Brother Jared." The nurse takes the girl pup into her arms, blushing as the keen blue-green hazy eyes bear down on her. "We shall miss you, too." A few random heads bob behind her as more nurses join in unison.

Jared is glad for the words as he cups the nurse's flushed cheek, then touches the pup for the very last time. "Make sure Greta goes to a good and loving couple. Someone young and deeply in love, where they both long to be parents."

"I will make sure this happens. You—" The nurse reaches out to latch onto his thick wrist. "I hope you find what you've been looking for. I'm sorry you couldn't find a way to build your life here - amongst us."

Jared lifts his chin with a modicum of pride left. "Seems I am needed elsewhere. And it has been too long since I have seen my family."

"Don't you mean your pack?"

Jared simply stares blankly, unsure how to answer. If he even wants to answer. He gives a sad smile. "Sure. Yes...yeah. It will be good to see my pack again." There's such a sour taste in his mouth, he has to keep swallowing over and over as he turns and lets himself be guided out of the building, through the massive gardens once again and on his way to a long, distressing journey home.

= = = || || || = = =

Jensen knocks and rings the doorbell, just in case the person on the other side of the apartment door hadn't heard him. He jostles off both feet, glancing up and down the corridor he stands in. As usual, no one is there, as if no one lives in any of the seventy-eight apartments in this one complex. He can hear the various locks being undone, and one unchained, as the paneling slowly creaks open and a familiar face peaks around the edge.

"What are you doing here?"

Jensen holds up the bottle of Champagne and two glass flutes. "A celebration. A toast."

The door is almost slammed in his face.

"Wait! Please." Jensen's voice sounds strained and desperate to his own ears. He uses the wide span of his left hand, and his left foot, to keep the door from shutting on its latch. "Look...you have every right to be pissed at me."

"Do I?! Well, that's fuckin' BIG of you!"

"—-I should have been the one breaking it off. Or at least letting you down less harshly, saying that we could never really outlast the month. It was always an inevitability."

The paneling is left to spring open as the huff of exasperated breath sounds.

Jensen follows the retreating back, closing the door behind him with his right foot and ankle. "I'm sorry..." It seems pointless to say as things stand, now that there's been a few days in between their unofficial break-up and his ability to come out of hiding to apologize for the way the situation had been handled. At least it fills the air in his progression behind his lover, who is now his ex-lover. He inches down the hall, checking each doorway in case something jumps out at him. When he finally reaches the end of the small pathway, he walks into the open floorplan of the loft space. He had once loved this place; he had wished he could rent a unit here, but he had a pack house all ready and waiting for him to occupy with his new—spouse? God, he really needed some liquid courage, and fast. But he wanted something harder than Champagne. He moves to the kitchen counter, putting down the chilled bottle and glasses. He glances at the kitchen and dining area, because they looked prepared for an intimate gathering. Jensen knows it's not for him. Damn. "Expecting company?" He watches his Ex carry food to and from the table, then moving back into the kitchen where whatever was cooking smelled delicious and mouth-watering.

"Yes." The Ex shrugs one shoulder first, then the other. "Well, when you're handed some type of severance check and told to get the fuck out of the way... a working Omega's gotta do what he needs to do to keep afloat."

Jensen blinks slow and deliberate; he had made it a point to beg them not to treat this one like they had the others, but it had appeared like that request hadn't gotten through clear enough. Now he had to do "damage control". He hates being shown the back of his Ex, but it's appropriate since he understands the reason for the hurt feelings and bitter sarcasm. "Had you been seeing him while we were together?"

"Off and on." The Ex knows he doesn't have to go into too much further explanation. Their positions when this sexual companionship began had been made rather succinct. They weren't "boyfriends", never going to be "spouses", just bed partners and an occasional friendly escort to a party or event. "And sometimes more 'off' than 'on'." He puffed out his lips as he twisted them to bite his cheek; he could say more but he didn't want to indulge Jensen's curiosity, or possible jealousy. "But I really needed him the other night, and you know what—? he was there like he'd never been before." Again, the smaller broad shoulders shrug but at the same time as the head bows, keeping the wandering gaze on the pot on the stove. "I couldn't reach you, and you know how I can get when I'm all emotional and wrought."

Jensen knows a romantic dinner placing when he sees one. It's clear this is either an old flame or someone his Ex has been pursuing on the side. "I didn't know they would come over here and handle it like they did. Or that they would try to pay you off. I, uh..." It was moot to make excuses since too much time had passed.

"It's a good, substantial sum of cash." The Ex isn't stupid; he had taken the check like a good little Omega bitch. He had seen the gleam in their eyes at what exactly his role had been in Jensen's life, a little ashamed to have two hulking Alphas and one smarmy weak Beta feed him their bullshit rhetoric. It had sounded like it was a standard routine of sorts. "I had no idea you were worth that much." He turns to face Jensen with both eyebrows raised in shock.

"Neither had I." Jensen mumbles out as he moves to uncork the bottle and pours the Champagne in each glass. "One last toast between us—please...and, uhm...I'll get outta your hair." He walks the second glass into the main kitchen, holding it out in the hopes he'll be easily forgiven. "You knew how I felt about commitment and marriage, not to mention the pessimism I have 'bout the existence of true lifemates, or one being out there for me—" Jensen pauses when his Ex swivels to face him directly, but still doesn't take the glass. Jensen places it next to the stovetop, on the counter, clanging his own glass, then sips from his portion.

"I feel sad for you, Jen."

"Huh?" Jensen lifts his head, a quirk to the end of his lips. "What do you mean?"

"You certainly talk a good talk, but when Daddy Alpha comes a callin'—"

Jensen looks down, watching the play of bubbles rise up to the surface. "That's unfair. I told you this might happen one day. I'm sorry you had the short end of the stick." If it would be any consolation, Jensen wasn't "happy", either, but then again, he didn't really comprehend what that was supposed to be anymore. He'd finally gotten his way with his father - Lead Alpha - and been able to carry on with any Omega he had wished, but being given that spacial freedom in such a large dose hadn't proven to him he could find a semblance of anything remotely resembling "happiness" or even inner peace. He was still feeling restless and itchy—the "itch" never truly getting the right "scratch".

"Oh, well, yeah..." The Ex shrugs one shoulder of nonchalance, and a bit of sarcasm. "Of course you always let me know precisely that when you'd get the call to return home, it'd be to get fuckin' hitched?" The sarcasm was heavier now as it was a cross between a question or a known fact. "Really?" Where had he been for those conversations? "Because this is all news to me, Jen."

Jensen is already shaking his head. "It's never gonna be a real marriage. It's, almost, an extension of the business deal it'll be a part of." He stares into his glass as he takes sequential sips.

"And what if it's not?"

"What?"

"What if—" Letting out a tortured heavy sigh, the Ex clears his throat, "—-what if somewhere down the road, once the marriage feels more solid and sturdy, Dear Ole Daddy Alpha doesn't make another request? Like an idea for offspring? You know, to further the blending of you and your spouse's packs?"

Jensen smirks again, letting out a high laugh. "You watch to much melodrama on television. That will never happen." Well, a half-truth; it will not be happening right away if Jensen could still control the life inside his own marriage.

"Oh, yeah?" The Ex lifts up one eyebrow in curiosity, wondering if Jensen had believed he could take the reigns of his own life after giving in so easily to his Alpha father. He crosses arms over his chest, tucking hand under his biceps and leaning a hip on the lower cabinetry.

"This is different." Jensen knows there's a wealth of mistrust hovering over his words uttered.

"How?!" Jensen wrinkles his brow in confusion.

"It just is. You'd know this if—" Jensen settles into an uncomfortable disquiet; he can't believe he almost went there and he was trying to be sweet-natured and apologetic, not selfish and insensitive.

"What?" The Ex snorts out a harsh chuckle through his flaring nostrils. He had some idea that Jensen would use his one main flaw: the one that made him wrong for proper mating, but oh-so-right for the seediness of amoral mating. "Go ahead—finish." When Jensen doesn't take him up on his offer, he finishes for him. "You were about to say—I would know this if I had been part of a pack instead of an orphan out on my own. A sterile packless Omega turning tricks for bored rich playboy Alphas like you."

Jensen had put down his glass, shoving both fists into his trousers pockets. It angers him to have been considered the type of Alpha merely out to "plow every field to sow his seeds" and "have his cake and eat it, too". Maybe he had begun this silly adventure of his into companionships outside his Alpha duties with that very intention, but the last couple of years, he had started holding on much tighter to not let go. He found too many good, and great, Omegas having been shoved aside because of their "in-abilities" to perform as proper pack statuses. These Omegas were wrong for him in the position he held, and they were an improper breed to bring into the pack when not up to the Lead Alpha standards. It hurts to hear himself being lumped into the same category or same species of Alpha; he knows his Ex is aware he's not that kind of Alpha. "I never once treated you like a whore. How can you—?!?" He has to turn away briefly to collect himself, then spins around on one foot, back to the sub-zero freezer. "I care about you..." Jensen forces the effort to not used past tense when mentioning feelings, sometimes to let the Omegas know that he's not going to walk away unscathed by this rejection either.

As if Fate dealt this odd ending, the doorbell buzzes to echo in the silence between them.

"That must be your cue to exit...Now!"

Jensen moves toward his glass again, downing the rest of the Champagne, then puts his empty next to the full glass still bubbling on the counter. He wants one last moment before he concedes the loss, able to move on to an odd grieving process he feels when he has to walk away, behaving and "acting" like an Alpha of his breeding. He secretly swoops in to sneak a sloppy kiss on the cheek, able to slide down to the exposed neck as the head turns to avoid lips connecting. "—-I will miss your scent an' your heat—" He doesn't know how he managed not to take out his clenched hands and hold the tiny waist to bring their bodies flush—just one last...something so he can feel a sensation akin to real life, real emotion, before he gives it all up for forced everything.

"Stop...Jen..." The Ex chokes on the familiar attempt of Jensen's to seduce him into submission; he knows how easily he can cave with the right words and action.

Jensen keeps his face tucked into the neck, famous for nuzzling and nudging with cheek and head, trailing his affections with a light laugh of elation and ecstasy. "—-M'even gonna miss all that time spent cleaning you up after our intense fucks and knottings..."

"ASSHOLE!" The Ex finally turns his head to nip gently at Jensen's ear, the only way he could ever get Jensen to climb off him and behave docile and calm, even if it had only been for a few seconds of reprieve from the severity of their joined bodies.

Jensen chuckles deeply, stumbling back as he rubs at the same earlobe he had been nipped on by his Ex more times than he could count. He soothes the small sting, using the motion as a mild comfort as he feels the awesome sense of what is no longer his to have, their's to share. He slides a quick side-glance, then dips in quickly to peck their lips, then starts walking back the way he had come in.

New Old Boyfriend transfers from doorbell rings to a hand knocking.

"Be nice, Jen!" The Ex attempts to keep up behind Jensen. "He's one of the Good Guys. Don't you dare fuck this up for me." On purpose, Jensen stops, making their bodies collide and impact. The Ex is still barking his random requests over Jensen's shoulder, trying to fit talk fast in the last few seconds of time alone. "You owe me that, at least."

Jensen walks to the door, pauses, shakes his shoulders, then hangs his head. He decides to be on his best behavior; his hand reaches for the door handle...

= = = || || || = = =

TBC...