Bite Back

He didn’t have shoes.

The pavement was cold, littered with small rocks and broken glass, and he didn’t have shoes. But he didn’t care. Finn ran as fast as he could down the street, through alleys, climbing fences even as his joints screamed at him to stop. He couldn’t stop.

The air was bitterly cold against his exposed skin. He couldn’t remember a time when the rut house had allowed him to wear clothes, and he hadn’t had time to steal any before making his escape. It was fine. He wasn’t embarrassed by it. Except that… he was cold, and he couldn’t properly feel his fingers or toes. He was bleeding from somewhere, he could see beads of it dripping down his leg even in the dark alley. It had to be nearly midnight. He pushed his damp black hair back from his face and looked around for some place safe he could hide for a while, preferably somewhere warm.

There were lights up ahead, some sort of outdoor seating area for a bar. He could hear voices, the intoxicated murmurs of patrons who didn’t mind the cold as they warmed themselves with alcohol and cigarettes. Finn crept closer to the opening of the alley and watched, trying to keep his panicked breathing quiet. It seemed to be a group of a few alphas and maybe a beta or two. They were laughing and chatting casually, so different from the betas who ran the rut house, and nothing like the alphas who paid for his services. Maybe… maybe they could help…

Finn emerged from the darkness and padded cautiously toward the bar, holding his arms close to his chest but making no effort to cover his nakedness. One of the men glanced up at the movement and then did a double take, nudging the guy beside him.

“What the hell?” One of the alphas said in surprise, setting his beer down on the patio table. The others looked up and their eyes widened in similar shock.

Finn’s shoulders hunched in, trying to appear smaller, though he was already considerably smaller than any of them. There was no question that he was an omega, shorter, thinner, softer. Omegas were supposed to be protected by their pack, that’s what his mother had always told him, before…

But Finn didn’t have a pack. And he was unclaimed. Which made what he was about to do very risky.

“C-c-can you h-help?” Finn stuttered quietly as he reached the group of men, staring hard at the ground, avoiding eye contact.

“You guys are seeing this, right?” The alpha asked incrediously. “I’m not that drunk, right??”

“The butt naked omega standing right in front of us? Yeah, heh, I see it.” The slightly shorter beta slurred.

“He looks freezing, Bill, give em’ your coat.”

“Give him your coat!” Bill shouted back.

Finn trembled nervously as the second alpha stepped forward while the other guys argued.

“Hey sweet thing, come here, I’ll help you get warm.” The alpha cooed gently.

But Finn had heard that tone of voice before. Clients at the rut house who spoke kindly before causing so much pain. They could sound so sincere. He didn’t trust it.

“I… I j-just need-”

“I know what you need. Come here little rabbit.” The alpha’s arms were stretching out toward him as the man slowly approached. Finn felt cornered even with the wide open street right behind him. His breath was panicky and high as the alpha’s hands got closer. Then the man reached out quickly and grabbed hold of Finn’s shoulder.

“Gotcha.” He chuckled darkly.

Finn’s eyes went wide and he struggled momentarily against the crushing grip before letting out an infuriated growl and turning to bite the man’s forearm. His sharp omega teeth sank into the flesh easily. He had plenty of experience biting alphas. At the rut house it was the only way to stop from being claimed and bonded by the clients. Though he was often beaten excessively for it afterwards.

“Fucking hell!” The alpha roared, smacking Finn on the back of the head with his free hand. “Let go, you little shit!”

Finn released the man, tasting blood as he backed away. Someone was pulling out a cellphone and the injured man was cursed while putting pressure on the deep bite wound. He heard the beta talking into the phone, giving an address, then saying something about a feral omega attacking.

No. No no. He couldn’t let the police find him. They… they would just take him back there. He couldn’t go back. Someone shouted at him as he began to run again, terrified and shaken. But no one pursued.

~~~

Simon was working late, again. Maybe if his siblings stopped leaving messes for him to clean up then he’d actually get home at a decent time. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before clutching a handful of brown curls in his fist.

“Simon, go home, you’re always staying too late.” His father’s voice came from the hallway outside the small office.

“Yeah? What’s your excuse?” Simon asked teasingly. But of course the owner of the company, Holland Montrose, would be there later than anyone else.

“Careful, talking back to the boss isn’t always a wise decision.” Holland chuffed.

“Yes, I’m aware…” Simon said with a huff as he organized papers into a neat stack and shut down his laptop. “I was just about to leave anyway.”

“Good lad.” Holland said with a satisfied grin.

“Yeah, yeah.” Simon waved, grabbing his keys from his desk before brushing past his father with a tight but not unkind nod.

Their banter was the closest thing to affection either of them showed each other. Simon preferred it that way.

He took the elevator down to the main lobby and waved to the night attendant at the front desk before grabbing his coat from the rack and heading out the door. It was brisk and dry and Simon could see his breath in the air immediately. He hated winter.

He glanced at his watch and saw it was nearly one in the morning and rubbed his face in annoyance. He’d go in late tomorrow. The others could deal with some of the clean up for once. He started to make his way across the street to the private parking garage when he heard rustling in the small alley between their building and the company warehouse.

“Damn raccoons getting into the garbage again…” he muttered, walking over toward the dumpsters to try and shoo them away and make sure the lids were closed. He hesitated when he heard a low growling and cocked his head to the side. That… wasn’t a raccoon.

“Hello?” He asked calmly, taking another step into the alley. The growling morphed into a soft whine and Simon crouched down to try and see where it was coming from. That’s when he noticed a figure tucked between the dumpster and some oversized cardboard that was folded and leaning against the bin. He could barely make out anything but the piercing blue eyes.

“Hey, are you alright?” Simon asked, reaching forward with one hand, palm up.

The bite came quickly and violently, catching him off guard. Sharp omega teeth sank through his wrist and held tight.

“Oh.” Simon said in surprise, holding himself completely still. The bite hurt like hell, but he’d had worse. “That’s quite the bite you’ve got there. You must be scared…”

The omega said nothing, his low growl returning again. Up close he could now see that the boy was completely naked and covered in dark bruising. There were streaks of blood drying across his legs as well. He had clearly not been treated well by whoever he’d been living with.

“Are you… did you run away from somewhere?” Simon asked, trying to project calm as he sat crouched, feeling blood dripping from his wrist where the teeth refused to budge.

The omega stared back at him, eyes narrowed, gaze murderous. Simon sighed and looked back toward the street. There was no one around to offer assistance, and that would probably only escalate the situation anyway. He could of course just pry the omega’s jaw open and overpower him easily, but he found that he didn’t want to do that. Something told him the omega had experienced enough of that in his life already.

“Do you um- do you like biting?” He asked with a bit of a soft chuckle.

The omega’s jaw relaxed just a fraction and his brows furrowed as if he was actually considering the question. Then he gave the smallest nod.

Simon winced at the movement and then nodded back. “You must be cold out here. I could… I could take you somewhere a bit warmer, maybe get you some clothes?” He didn’t know what he was offering. The words came out before he’d even really considered what they meant. He couldn’t take the omega home, that… that would…but, why not? They had the space, and the resources-

The omega’s jaw went tense again and Simon flinched. He could see the clear fear in the boy’s eyes.

“I understand that maybe sounds a bit scary. But I promise I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to help.”

A soft whine of confusion and then more pressure against Simon’s wrist which was beginning to ache.

He started to say something and then heard sirens in the distance and looked toward the alley opening again. The omega suddenly released his bite and scurried backwards, further into his cardboard cave, breathing panicked.

“Are they looking for you?” Simon asked curiously, feeling like that was ridiculous. But then, maybe the omega had run away from a wealthy owner that wanted him back.

The omega shrugged and then tucked his face into his knees, trembling visibly.

“Alright… look. You can stay here and hide if you want, though the odds of you getting hypothermia aren’t exactly low. Or you can come with me, and we go someplace warm, and I won’t touch you, and I won’t call the police.”

Simons waited patiently, now putting pressure on his bleeding wrist, thinking the wound really wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Omegas had notoriously sharp teeth and could really do some damage when they wanted to. There was blood all over his white button up and khaki pants. But he had plenty of experience getting blood out of clothing, so he wasn’t worried.

Finally the omega glanced up at him and seemed to swallow before answering in a rough whisper. “S-someplace w-w-warm…”

Simon felt a surge in his chest at the small amount of trust the omega was showing. “You can speak!” He said delightedly. “Do you have a name?”

The omega nodded but didn’t look like he was going to answer. Then his soft voice spoke up again, almost inaudible. “F-Finn…”

“Finn, lovely to meet you. I’m Simon.” He said, crawling backward and then standing, brushing off his pants, though it only smeared more blood around. “Let’s get to the car then, before the cops find us, yeah?” He winked, offering his non bloodied hand.

Finn poked his head out first, as if to make sure no one else was around. Then he crawled out on his hands and knees and stood to his feet, wincing as if it pained him just to stand. Simon didn’t comment on it but led the way out of the alley, checking before entering the street to make sure no one was watching.

The parking garage was nearly empty and his car was parked on the bottom level, which was good because Finn looked like he’d hardly make it up a single flight of stairs. The omega was dead on his feet, swaying as he waited for Simon to unlock the car and open the door.

Finn slumped down into the passenger seat, looking slightly defeated, like he was resigned to the fact that this could very well be another situation where he’d be abused and mistreated. But the exhaustion must be too much for him to care. It made Simon’s stomach twist as he drove off in silence, noticing how quickly the omega fell asleep when the warm air started to fill the small space. He wished he kept blankets in his car. Then he cursed silently when he realized he was wearing a coat and could have, should have offered it. But he wasn’t about to try wrangling it off as he drove. And the omega, though vulnerable and exposed, seemed warm enough to rest.

“This was not how I planned to spend the evening.” He muttered to himself as he sped down the mostly empty streets toward the family mansion. They were going to absolutely flip out.