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lekkkkz · 1 year ago

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I Could Be A Concubine -Omega!Shikamaru Nara

A/N: Merry Christmas. Don't ever say I didn't give y'all anything. This is the sequel to I Burnt Bridges For You, Not For Concubines.

Warnings: attempted murder, poisoning, Nara Obsessions, Nara Bullshit, violence mentions, NSFW, bad writing, im sorry, blood mention, I know I'm missing warnings

Word Count: 20,151 - yes yes i know its long it took me so long

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The dark, dense Nara forest parts slowly the further you go into Nara territory. You hadn’t been able to pull yourself away from the window since your company reached the border, fascinated by the incredibly different terrain that is the Nara Kingdom. The tall trees, thick bushes, and clear air are markedly unlike the unyielding stone, frozen temperatures, and smoke that form your own kingdom and you are enraptured by the beauty of it.

To anyone else, the treeline would have been intimidating. Nothing could be seen past the first few rows of trees and growth, a foreboding darkness and eerie silence shrouding unknown danger and warding off even the bravest of travelers from entering.

To you though, it was the beginning of a new adventure. An ease spread through your chest as you eagerly watched the distance close between you and trees. Your guardian had long given up trying to pull you away, deciding the extra history lesson wasn’t worth the fight to keep your focus. Your current nanny tried to disagree, insistent that you were already so far behind your lessons, but she was silenced with a look.

A small blessing for your exhausted brain.

The forest canopy keeps the sun’s light from touching the ground but despite the darkness, you can make out the dense undergrowth of the forest floor, decorated with lush greenery and lovely flowers. Thick roots protrude from the ground, weaving and twisting around each other. The only break in the ground is an almost unnoticeable indent marking the edge of the path. If you hadn't been looking so closely, you would have missed it entirely.

Only Naras know the ever-changing paths to the inner kingdom by intent and design. The Nara, in allegiance with the Yamanaka and the Akimichi, hold secrets unimaginable to those outside the Western Realm and the territories they rule over. The forest acts as their first line of defense, the density and darkness preventing enemies from getting too close too quickly.

Those that attempt to enter without a Nara guide lose themselves before losing their life. Many armies have failed in their attempts to gain the upper hand in conflict using the forest, underestimating how difficult it is to navigate and control. The ground breathes and takes the air from the lungs of those it does not want around. It moves and undulates and drags people below to reclaim wasted energy and repurpose it to bringing new life to the undergrowth.

It consumes as it lives.

As such, a Nara guide from the palace is dispatched every time permission is granted to enter the kingdom.

Your Nara guide is a strict looking woman with a long single center braid starting from the front of her hair line and ending at her waist. The sides of her head are shaved, antler-like barbs tattooed on the bare skin. There is a scar across her throat, deep as it curves and disappears under her collar. Her eyes are golden-yellow, like the center of a fire. You hope you get a free moment out from under your guardian’s gaze to tell her that you think she is beautiful.

It takes what feels like hours before the forest starts to thin but when the first rays of sunlight filter through, they do slowly and softly, gently illuminating your surroundings to your curious eyes. When the forms of wild deer appear, your nanny reprimands you for shaking the carriage in your excitement with a swap from her fan. The action isn’t intended to sting as much as it is to make you feel small and her scowl deepens when it does little to affect your mood.

You don’t care about the dirty look. A killjoy Beta woman your guardian hired to make sure you were watched when you weren’t with them, she charged and demanded more than she was worth and you didn’t care much for her, her opinion, or her ugly fan. She knew it too and made sure to tell anyone who would listen about your impudence and disrespect.

Your guardian clears their throat, pulling your attention away from where the trees glittered in the sprinkling of light, “Remember your manners Y/N. The Naras are an esteemed and well-established noble family and offer us a great deal of resources that we are currently lacking. You are the heir to the throne. You would do well to remember your lessons.” The coldness in their eyes is unwavering, the disgust twitching along their upper lip ever-present.

“Yes,” you nod solemnly, shrinking the tiniest bit under their stern glare. Their eyes narrow even further.

Anxiety spikes through your chest as you realize your mistake. It's not very Alpha of you to cower. Correction will be given. The backs of your hands and legs throb.

You turn away, curling your body as close to the side of the carriage as possible.

The room is dark when you awaken, the curtains drawn tight to keep the sun’s harsh direct light from touching your bed. There is a weight behind your eyelids, making it difficult to keep your eyes open. Sensation is lost to your body, limbs aching in their numbness.

‘Wha…’ is all you manage before the pulsing in your head starts. The throbbing is intense, waves of agonizing pain dancing around the back of your skull and behind your eyes. Almost as if given the signal, parts of the rest of your body start cramping and pulling. Pins and needles and unpleasant tingles. It punches the air from your lungs and with a good deal of struggle, you manage to roll to your side.

A quick peek at the side table reveals a pitcher of water and a glass half filled. Slowly and painfully, you reach over and grab it, wincing at the stretch of your arm. Your fingers struggle to get around the glass and lift it but you manage. The water is cool as it goes down, a balm on your throat. When the glass is empty, you place it back on the table and sit up slowly, taking pause when the movement turns blinding.

“Where am I?” you wonder when your vision stops fading to black, throat cracking from disuse as you look around at the room. It's smartly furnished with dark woods, a neutral earthy color palette, and various nature-inspired decor. Curiously, there is a pile of deer antlers in one of the corners of the room, cleaned but otherwise untouched. The bed you lay in is lush and conforming, the pillows beneath your head stuffed to the brim with feathers, and the blankets artfully and professionally crafted for maximum warmth and comfort. You don’t think you remember ever having such a comfortable bed.

‘This isn’t my kingdom,’ you think groggily, eyes squinting in a poor attempt to make out the insignia on the door. It's a vastly different one than your own. Joy sparks dully in the back of your brain at the notion of no longer being trapped in the mountains, of never seeing your guardian’s face again. You dreamed of leaving that horrid place for years. ‘This isn’t my bedroom.’

A wild thought wanders to the forefront. ‘Is…is this my body?’

It's a silly thought but the fear that floods through you at the idea has you taking a peek at what lies under your shirt and pants. Finding everything as it should be, you breathe a sigh of relief. Your body may feel like it's been turned inside out but it is yours.

Still, all things considered, it doesn’t answer the question at hand.

Where are you?

If you aren’t in the mountains, then you are somewhere else. The sides of your temple throb at the attempt to form a more complex thought sequence.

‘Only one way to find out,’ you think, taking a deep breath.

Getting out of bed is a hassle when your arms and legs tingle painfully from disuse. The world shifts in and out of blackness for a few moments, stance wobbly. It takes several long moments before it stops but everything is still blurry. A spasm of electricity crawls up your spine, forcing you forward to face-plant into the bedding. There is a tightness in all your limbs as it shakes through you.

There is a tugging in your chest suddenly, an urge to move forward. Tendrils of urgency trickle through your veins, prompting you to push through the pain and leave the room. Shadows of memory linger just outside of your reach but there is enough for you to grasp that you need to go somewhere. You need to be somewhere. There is something - or someone - waiting for you.

The door is heavier than it looks - or maybe you are just weaker than normal? - and by the time you get it open enough to slip through, you are short of breath and panting harshly. Thankfully, there is no one outside the room.

Peering down both sides of the hallway, your brow furrows, ‘Actually…’

It's pretty odd for there not to be at least one guard posted at your bedchamber door.

“Maybe I’m no longer a royal?” you whisper aloud but it strikes you as wrong as soon as it passes your lips. Why were you in a very clearly marked royal bedroom if you weren’t a royal? A servant would be in a servant’s residence - either inside the castle or in town - and it wouldn’t be nearly as big as the room you woke up in.

‘I could be a concubine,’ you think with the slightest bit of mortification. It would make sense though. If you were a favorite, you’d be granted more luxury than other concubines. If you were acting as a stud, you’d be granted access to the royal bedchambers for ease of access. Both options would explain the fancy bedroom. It would also explain why you were left alone while suffering under what you could only assume was the aftereffects of an illness. Royals, nobles, and the like loved to keep their treasures close. ‘Do I suck cock for freedom?’

‘No,’ you point at yourself, eyes narrowed at your own finger, ‘Fool. You’d remember becoming a stud and you would gain nothing but a new prison if you had. Be quiet. You don’t suck cock for freedom.’

‘No, you suck it for fun,’ a smarmy voice echoes from somewhere deep in your brain and it makes your face warm in aggravation and embarrassment.

‘You be quiet too. I’ve never sucked a cock in my life.’

The voice retreats with a snicker and part of you wants to chase after it in your brain and curse at it until your tongue is sore but the bigger, more reasonable, less insane part of you lets it go.

Deciding that focusing on the reason behind the lack of people in front of your door is getting you nowhere, you carry on. Slipping the door closed as gently as possible, you look down the hallway in both directions once more.

It is eerie. The hair prickles along the back of your neck and along your arms, a sense of foreboding pooling in your stomach.

All of the windows in both directions were covered with thick curtains and the adjacent wall is covered in various portraits of presumed dead people and more of the same decor from the bedroom. The insignia of the royal family is embroidered many times on the long runner rug that reaches from one end to the other. The only light visible is on the floor beneath the windows where the curtains couldn’t stop it from bleeding in, much like it had been in the bedchamber, casting everything in a haunting glow. The only door is the one that led into the bedchamber.

It's incredibly silent, eerily so. All you can hear is the sound of your own breathing as you wobble down the corridor, keeping a hand on the wall for balance. The edges of your vision are still bleary, the darkness darting in and out as you sluggishly turn a corner.

The new hallway is longer than the one you just left but with less windows. and the walls were marked with seemingly endless dark doors. You don’t know where any of them lead but figure the big door, nearly encompassing the entirety of the wall and decorated with fresh flowers and greenery, will take you somewhere important. Maybe then you can get some answers.

The world spins under your feets as you limp towards it with no small amount of determination. You regret leaving the bed. Part of you hopes it's the door to the library because libraries often have nice comfy chairs that one may sit down to rest in.

A knot of anxiety twists low in your ribcage, pushing you forward at the idea. A chill dances along the edges of your skin as you open the fancy, decorated door.

The sudden onslaught of light from the sun tells you that it was not, in fact, the door to the library. The brightness is painful and you collapse to the ground slowly but all at once. Nausea rips through you as your eyes work to adjust to the sudden exposure of stimulation. A gag settles into your throat but you are too stubborn to allow the vomit working its way up to escape. It goes back down with some resistance, your chest burning with the bile, but it's much better than puking all over a stranger’s rug.

Your eyes start to cross however, so you close them and focus on your breathing. The air is crisp, clean, and perfumed with a variety of different scents that all fight for attention in your nose. Aside from the gentle rustling of water from a fountain and the small chirping of birds, it's quiet outside.

A different quiet though, than the oppressive and consuming silence from inside the castle. A quiet that feels tranquil rather than terrifying. You can’t hear anyone aside from yourself but it doesn’t spark the same sort of unease as it did before. The quiet inside is a dead stillness. The quiet outside is a gentle life.

The contrast is stark.

When the pain fades, you lift yourself back up to your feet and take in the view.

‘Yeah, I’m definitely not in the mountains.’

You feel giddy. The sun is high in the sky, casting light across the large expanse of land. On one side, there is a large garden sectioned off with thin but sturdy black gates. On the other side beyond the stone pathways that led to the castle, there is a meadow that spans several rolling hills. The entire meadow is tall grasses and dainty wildflowers flowers, perfect for frolicking and relaxing in. It splits the treeline in the horizon, creating a defined path to who knows where in who knows which direction.

If you squint, you can see the figures of several deer grazing by the trees along the split.

Taking a deep inhale, you allow all the scents of nature to filter gently into your system. There is no smoke. No sulfur. No salt. Your lungs feel clear. Your skin feels clean.

The nagging tugging in your chest appears again, pulling you further outside. You shut the door behind you gently and slowly, you wander down the beige stone steps.

You keep your hands on the thin black railing for support, and without thinking, turn towards the gates that section off the garden. The gate is partially open, allowing you to slip through without a fuss. There are several abandoned woven baskets besides several patches of harvestable vegetables, seemingly left in a hurry. Several of the new, unused beds have been disrupted, soil spilling across the stone walkways between them as if trampled on.

Disturbed, you walk further in, past the fruit trees and the large deer statue arrangement and the lovely fountain waterfall, following the niggling feeling telling you to keep going.

The feeling dissipates when you find yourself at the entrance of an alcove in the middle of a large hedge wall, decorated by a netted curtain of strung wildflowers. Pushing them to the side, your feet take you through. Inside, you can see the top of the hedges have been trained and grown to form an arch, providing shelter from the sun and casting everything in shadow. There is just enough sunlight to keep from stumbling in the dark but it's clear that this was meant to be some sort of hiding place.

The alcove doesn’t lead very far so it doesn’t take long before you find yourself in the center of the secluded area. What you see makes you pause. Held up by a few thick trees is a hammock. A small pillow and a throw blanket rest inside it, both obviously used and used often. A familiar smell wafts from it, a scent that feels familiar deep in your bones but, much like everything else, you are unable to place it.

Still, it lulls you to relaxation just the same, pulling at your already weakened and sore body.

The stone path disappears at the edge leading into the center and is replaced by patches of cushy moss and soft soil and the same wildflowers as the ones you saw in the fields. The flowers don’t stand as tall as they do in the fields but they are undoubtedly just as beautiful. There is no rhyme or reason to their placement, as if whoever created this space took a handful of seeds and threw them randomly across the area and let it be.

A warm giddiness spreads from the center of your chest as you stare at the flowers, a smile forming on your mouth without reason. Carefully, you walk through the flowers and moss to settle against one of the trees. The hammock is very inviting - cushioned and soft and obviously very well-made - but there was a pointed disinterest in it that resonates within you. Instead, you walk around the trees and settle against one of them, the moss growing on it in the shadows soft and fluffy against your back and head.

There is no more tugging. No more urge to wander. No more need to keep going. You may rest here and be patient. Rest and wait.

“I’ll wait here,” you whisper, closing your eyes, “It's safe here.”

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King Shikaku and Queen Yoshino are waiting at the entrance of the castle when the carriage stops. An attendant opens the door and holds it open for you, your nanny, and your guardian. Your guardian slips out first. You follow them out quickly, hurriedly adjusting the ill-fitted clothes you were put into. Your nanny slips out from behind you, shoving you not so subtly forward as your guardian climbs the stairs and greets the other royals.

King Shikaku is as intimidating as he’s rumored to be, standing tall and confident. His shoulders are broad and his legs are strong from years of training and battle. Two deep scars cross his face, given to him during the last major war, and it only makes him much more intimidating. He’s dressed in dark green and gold, his crown made of golden branches twisting around his skull. There are no jewels encrusted anywhere on it but you can faintly make out a small little ‘Y’ on the sides of the two main branches that act as the support for the rest of the crown.

Yoshino Nara is dressed similarly to her husband in dark green and gold and you marvel at how pretty she is. Her gown is long and soft-looking and her crown matches her husbands, though it was obviously crafted to appear softer and the metal was handled with a lot more care. There are little metal flowers added between her branches as they wound around her head. Her eyes are large and kind as she watches you approach behind your guardian, her red-tinted mouth pulled into a gentle smile. You feel shy.

When you catch up to the adults, you bow. The queen coos something softly that you can’t quite make out but it causes her husband to chuckle fondly. When you rise, your eyes catch sight of a child leaning behind Queen Yoshino. His brown eyes scan over you, his boredom and annoyance reflective across his face. He’s the spitting image of King Shikaku, right down to the tip of his nose. His hair was pulled back and up into a ponytail and he wore high-quality dark green clothing that matched his parents with a large embroidered insignia on the lapel that reflected his status.

It was obvious he was uncomfortable in the clothing, his fingers plucking at the collar and sleeves in irritation.

“This is my ward Y/N, heir to our kingdom,” you hear yourself being introduced and you quickly bow again, avoiding their eyes. Disapproval radiates from your guardian at the submission but you doubt anything will come from it. It's better to be overly polite than a fraction rude when it comes to forming alliances with kingdoms more connected than your own, after all.

“This is our son, Shikamaru,” Yoshino introduces to your entourage, gently guiding him out from behind her gown and nudging him towards you directly. It is clear that she has no interest in having him interact with the adults. He resists, pulling a face at his mother, but she is insistent.

Your guardian nods to him but otherwise completely disregards his existence in the same manner they disregard yours when they don’t need you for anything. It makes your skin prickle unpleasantly.

When the formal greetings are finished, everyone is led inside to the Great Hall. You don’t get a chance to look around and marvel at it before your guardian informs you that they will be adjourning to a separate room with the King and Queen and you are to stay behind with the Prince.

“Remember our talk,” they whisper in warning before allowing an attendant to lead them away.

When you open your eyes again, it is with more clarity and awareness. The sky is dark and cloudy, the air thick with the smell of petrichor.

Stretching, you rub at your eyes and blink in confusion as you realize where you are.

“How did I get here?” you whisper to yourself, looking around the alcove. As if summoned by the question, the memory of earlier filters through your mind. Waking up in your bed alone, stumbling down the hallway in search of something that lingered just along the outskirts of your thoughts but stayed just out of reach, the anxious feeling of needing to get away, marveling at the beauty of the kingdom around you, collapsing in exhaustion in the special place your mate set up for you both.

“Oh.”

Looking around surreptitiously despite no one being in the alcove, you stand up and dust yourself off, embarrassment making your neck hot. It had been so long since you last ‘slept-walked’ that you had hoped that you had officially grown out of it.

The thought made you snort. ‘Grown out of it.’ Right. If only you were afforded that luxury.

And did it even count as sleepwalking? While you hadn’t the faintest idea of where you were or why you were there, you do know that you knew for certain you were awake at the time.

You don’t get a chance to ponder it further, thoughts broken by the sounds of an earth shattering scream coming from the direction of the castle. It is quickly followed by what you can only describe as an Omegan wail- a haunting, high pitched, guttural dying sound that rattles your bones and sets your teeth on edge. It makes you lean into the tree for support, bent over as the nausea from before returns with a vengeance.

More memories start filtering in rapidly as you struggle not to gag against the tree, the wail petering off like fog in the wind. Your head throbs as the last however many weeks start reassembling themselves inside your mind. Lord John and his Omega entourage. The investigation into his involvement in the incident on the outskirts of the Uchiha kingdom. The confrontation in the Great Hall. Feeling fuzzy and blacking out.

When the nausea passes, you make your way out of the alcove and cut through the messy garden back to the castle, keeping your pace quick but your steps silent. You catch a whiff of a sour scent, sick and feeble, that burns your nostrils entwined with the scent you know unequivocally as your mates and you turn on your heel to follow it. Remarkably you don’t pass anyone on your way.

‘Where are all the guards? The servants?’ you wonder, alarm bells ringing in your head, ‘What is going on? Where is Shikamaru?’

The scent leads you back to your bedchamber. You can feel the blood start rushing through your body, all other thoughts fleeing from your brain. Noises from inside make you pause, hand hovering over the doorway.

“Where is my mate!?” you hear Shikamaru wail, the sound immediately followed by the sound of something heavy and made of glass breaking. Probably a vase. Without a moment of consideration, you remove your hand from the door and take several steps away from the door to hide behind the wall to the adjacent hallway.

Cowardly? Yes.

Smart? Also yes.

In the entire year of you being his mate, Shikamaru hadn’t gotten to a state that prompted him to fling furniture but there were a few close calls that had him leaping over random objects to do…whatever weird thing his instincts were telling him to do.

There is another loud crash and you wince, knowing how insufferable he’s going to be once he’s calm and realizes he’s going to have to double up his desensitization training time in the coming months. You love him, desperately, but he’s going to use every trick in his arsenal to avoid doing it and it's more than likely going to fall on you to get him to agree to it.

The door to your bedchamber opens suddenly. One of the medical assistants slips out quickly, backing into the wall opposite the door. You watch them shake for a moment, their face pale and terrified, before fleeing down the hallway away from you, fear clogging up their scent as it scatters in a haphazard trail behind them.

Faintly, you can hear three other voices, two of which are mostly muffled even with the door cracked open. You can’t make out much of what they are saying but you would bet an entire gold bar that they are likely trying to soothe the distraught Omega. The third voice is louder and very familiar but you can’t quite place it. It's too smooth to be Shikaku’s...

“What have you done with my Y/N!? Where did you take them?,” you hear your mate growl again, the sentence quickly followed by vicious snarling and a loud crashing noise that jolts you back a bit. Your heart breaks at how desperate and pained your Omega sounds, “My Y/N! Give them back to me!”

The smooth voice speaks but the only words you manage to catch are “explain” and “calm.” Both of which you know won’t go over well with Shikamaru in the state he’s in.

“They were in bed this afternoon, my Lord. I-I checked in on them twice. Once at daybreak and once right after lunch. I haven’t been back here since. I didn’t take them anywhere,” one of the voices stutters, though you give them credit for how confident their reply is in the face of your mate’s wrath. You recognize it as belonging to the castle’s head physician Kiyoshi.

Shikamaru’s distressed growling becomes more high-pitched and wounded-sounding. It makes your hackles rise. You can’t make out what he says, his voice both too low and quiet but also too garbled from his growling for it to make much sense to you from such a distance.

Kiyoshi’s response is also done in a much quieter register, “Yes…Yes I swear to you, they were alive when I left them. No…Look. I have my notes here….”

There are some more muffled growling noises that you can’t distinguish.

“No sir. My assistants have been with me all day, including when we checked on them. They were still unconscious but very much alive. See, here…”

The conversation dies down into whispers and for a moment, you think they’ve managed to talk Shikamaru down. Minutes feel like hours as you strain your ears to catch any bit of noise you can from the room. Taking a deep breath, you release the death grip you’ve had on the wall when nothing happens.

‘Its okay. He’s okay.They got him down.’

“GET OUT AND DON’T COME BACK UNTIL MY Y/N HAS BEEN FOUND!”

Or not.

You wait a few moments before the door opens and you see Kiyoshi and another of his assistants exit. You can make out someone behind them and when you see who they are, your nerves all collectively set themselves on fire with worry again.

Asuma Sarutobi. They had to call Asuma. It's never good when they have to call Asuma. It's really not good when they have to call Asuma when he’s supposed to be a country away dealing with Ino’s training. It’s extremely not good if Asuma failed at getting Shikamaru under control.

“We need to find them,” he sighs, world-weary. The steady timber of the older man’s voice is deep and graveled in an odd mix of soothing and stern despite being laced with concern. The bags under his eyes are dark and deep, speaking of what must have been endless nights dealing with your mate. “Shikamaru will not be able to calm himself unless he sees them. He’s already hallucinating.”

“Even if they are…” the assistant trails off. He’s new, you recall. Sent from the Oasis as part of a new negotiation with King Rasa to exchange medical knowledge if the cut of his coat was any indication. His knowledge of Nara interpersonal relationships must be just next to none.

“Especially if they are. He’ll need to see the body himself to know they are gone from this world. He’ll lead us all to damnation in search of his Chosen.”

The doctor nodded sympathetically, “Shikaku will have to choose a new heir to take the throne.”

“Why?”

“Nara’s don’t live long after their Chosen passes unless there are pups born from their union,” Asuma rubs his face, “The Prince and his Chosen made the decision to postpone producing heirs for the time being. Navigating the longstanding effects of their separation has taken precedence. Shikamaru does not feel ready for pups and his Chosen prioritizes Shikamaru's health in all things first and foremost. If Y/N has died, Shikamaru will not be too far behind as soon as it's confirmed.”

The atmosphere in the hall is thick and heavy as the reality of the situation seems to take root in the three men. Discomfort licks along your skin.

“Master Sarutobi!”

Rounding the corner on the opposite side of the hall, Botan’s pace is as frantic and hurried as is appropriate for a royal guard. Their voices drop to whispers you can’t hear but the look on Asuma’s face suggests that Botan has brought them unfortunate news. All four of them turn and walk in the opposite direction, their pace as quick and hurried as Botan’s had been a moment previous.

Everything is suddenly oppressively quiet again.

‘I should probably go inside and get Shikamaru sorted out,’ you think belatedly, forcing your legs to walk towards your bedchamber door. You slip inside quietly, locking the door behind you.

Shikamaru’s back is to you and you take a moment to look around the room before he realizes he isn’t alone. The damage wasn’t as extensive as you thought. He had indeed flung a vase, the remains of it scattered across the other end of the bedchamber. There was a broken chair laying across the small table Shikamaru liked to play Shogi on, also broken. Several of Shikamaru’s mounted antlers had found themselves embedded in various paintings and cushions.

The thing that stands out to you most however, is the papers all over the floor. Neither you nor Shikamaru dealt with paperwork in your bedchamber. The desk was only equipped with smaller papers used to send notes or leave reminders.

When you look back at your mate, you notice him shaking and it's enough to break you from your silence.

“Beloved,” you say, keeping your voice clear. You wish to say more - even though you don’t necessarily know what it is you want to say - but your mate jolts almost violently to face you. Shikamaru’s face turns a deathly pale when his eyes lock onto yours, his eyes blown out as you enter the room. You don’t take your eyes off of him as you take a step further into the room, away from the door. The sour scent is thick in the room, poisoning the air as it radiates from your mate in thick waves, and you almost gag when an even thicker, more rancid scent bleeds into it.

He is afraid. Down to his soul, he is afraid.

Slowly, you start releasing a calming scent, letting it gently spread around the room, clinging to walls and floorboards to drive away everything else.

“I heard you were looking for me,” you start, cautiously.

Shikamaru’s face reddens, rage dripping from his fangs as he hisses, “I’m looking for my mate.”

“But I am your mate,” you assert, “I am Y/N Nara, consort and Chosen to the Prince Shikamaru Nara.”

“How do I know you are who you say you are?” he growls, the sound hoarse, gritty, like footsteps over gravel. “Huh! How do I know you are not another deception? How do I know you aren’t Inoichi attempting to relieve me of my pain?” He crumbles, hands grasping over the back of the chair to hold himself upright. His body trembles violently. “Don’t...don’t give me hope...Where is my Y/N? Have I lost them again?”

It hurts you to see him so broken. Blood pours from the wound behind your ribcage.

“How do I know you aren’t a ghost coming to tell me I am alone again?” His voice is a whisper now, his eyes staring blankly at the wall to your right. You don’t need to look back to know he’s staring at your wedding portrait. It is his favorite possession, so much so that they had to remove it from the great hall with the rest of the royal wedding portraits because of how much of a distraction it became for him.

You approach him slowly, carefully. He allows it, regarding you with all the exhaustion of a dying man. His pretty brown eyes are red rimmed and glazed, tears resting along the bottom but unwilling to fall as he stares at you, his hands hovering over your face as if terrified to touch you. Your heart squeezes at the darkness under his eyes, the sunken paleness of his face.

“I am no apparition, beloved,” you whisper, reaching up to gently guide his hand to your face, “I am flesh and blood and love for you. Feel me.”

The noise he makes is choking and grotesque, “You...you are cold like death.”

You aren’t but it would do no good to point it out to him. Your mate is not within the realm of clear, coherent thought.

“I have been without your warmth,” you croon, taking a step closer so your bodies are touching, “Breathe deeply Shikamaru.”

Shikamaru does as you say, his eyes flashing and pupil’s dilating when your scent finally reaches his nose. His delusion breaks, shattering like glass. Your arms reach forward to crush him close to keep him from cutting himself on the shards. You guide his free hand between your bodies to rest it over your heart, letting him feel the organ pulse under your skin. Shikamaru bawls in his relief, wailing into the fabric of your soft linen shirt.

“That's it,” you murmur quietly, letting your lips brush against the tip of his ear, “Let it out. I’m okay. I’m here. I’m so sorry I worried you.”

“I would have joined you,” he sniffs, biting into the fabric of your shirt to muffle his cries, “I can’t stand it otherwise. I can’t do it again.”

“My Chosen,” you whisper, holding him tight as the waves of emotion crash into you, “I am so sorry.”

Your mate croons, removing his head from your shoulder. Keeping a tight hold on you, he pulls you forward and sideways until his back hits the wall right beside the corner of the room. You crush against his front, pinning him tightly. One of his legs wraps around the back of your calf to keep you from moving back.

You regulate your breathing - large inhales and large exhales. Shikamaru’s breathing changes to match yours, his belly pressed tight against yours. His scent burst around you both, saturating your clothes and skin with the scents of trees and linen.

“Where had you gone?” Shikamaru asks finally, putting a little space between you both so his bloodshot eyes can run over the length of your body, “You were not in bed when I came to see you. You weren’t…” His mouth quivers the tiniest bit and it kills you. He catches himself, swallowing thickly, “We checked everywhere.”

“In our alcove. I was disoriented when I regained consciousness, some time late this afternoon. I didn’t know where I was or why I was there.” You clear your throat, the memory of thinking you were a concubine flashing to the forefront of your mind.

“I wandered and ended up in our special place. Everything is a bit of a blur if I’m honest,” you admit, a tad sheepish, “I felt like I needed to get up and go somewhere, get away from the room. I found my way to our alcove and I distinctly remember the sensation of “I’m going to go sit in the flowers because it's safe here.” I must have used all my energy because I fell asleep almost immediately.”

“Idiot Alpha-mine,” Shikamaru sniffs, clinging harder to your body and shoving his face into your throat, “Stupid Y/N. I hate you. You’re going to be swaddled every time you get in bed for the rest of your days and I’m going to be rough about it, I swear it on my life. I have never run so much in my entire life. I hate you.” He punctuates his words with a harsh nip at your throat, right below your mating scar.

He doesn’t. You can smell the relief and adoration oozing from his body. There is an undertone of spice however and it's enough to keep you treading delicately.

“I know. I’m the worst,” you croon, nuzzling as much of him as you can.

“No,” comes the immediate reply and it makes you grin the tiniest bit.

“But you hate me,” you tease gently.

“No,” the nip this time is harder, more insistent. His voice is hard, growly, and you bite your lip to keep a laugh from escaping. “Be silent.”

“Oh we both know I’m incapable of such a thing,” you grin, gently pulling him away from the wall. He looks more like the man you know him to be. His eyes no longer glitter with tears.

“I have never hated silence more,” he whispers, taking a large purposeful inhale of your scent. “If not for your heartbeat, I would have lost myself to madness.”

The air is pulled from your lungs at his statement. It shakes you still, how all encompassing his devotion to you is.

“I adore you,” you whisper back with a watery smile. He presses his forehead to yours, his hands reaching up to rub along your arms and shoulders, pressing his fingers in wherever he feels a muscle. Slowly, his scent loses the sick, burning edge.

You have no idea how long you spend entwined with him before you are reminded of the world around you. As if reading your mind, he pulls away from you, trailing a hand from your shoulder to yours to grasp it tightly. It is obvious he does not want to be parted from you entirely, and given the contents of your last bits of memory, you can honestly say you feel the same. Parting from him felt near impossible.

“Now,” you start, unsure where to even begin, “can you tell me what happened?”

“It would be better to reconvene with my father and get answers from him,” he responds, face pinking before his hands tighten, “Please do not think I am purposefully holding information from you without reason.” His stare was as intense as it was panicked. “I don’t wish to inspire distrust. I just…” His face pinkens as he looks down at the floor, “I haven’t been well. I wasn't privy to a lot of conversations about the incident since my only focus was to make sure you stayed alive. I know some things but not all.”

“Alright, we shall meet with your father and figure out what's going on from there,” is all you can say, kissing his forehead. He sighs at the feeling.

Something white catches the corner of your eye and you are reminded of the papers on the floor.

“Can you tell me why there are papers all over the floor?”

Shikamaru tenses once more, his mouth wobbling in a shadow of a grimace, “Someone left these on your pillow.”

He pulls away from you to pick up all the papers from the floor, refusing to look at them directly even as he puts them back in some sort of order. He hands them to you before curling up against your chest, nose directly against your pulse and fingers wrapped in the fabric of your shirt.

On top, there was a note, written by Lord John if the decidedly lazy scrawl was anything to go by.

I’ve taken the liberty to start these for you.

Underneath the note are several documents. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had sent your mate spiraling.

On the top was a death certificate. Followed by an order form for a casket, a list of available priests should your next of kin decide for one, a copy of your will and testament with recent ‘changes,’ and several inheritance disbursement forms.

All the papers were filled out with your information, the time and date of your ‘death’ aligning with the time and date you had fallen unconscious.

“Slimy little wretch,” you growl under your breath before tossing the papers on the desk.

^^^^^^^^^^

The adults disappear behind large wooden double doors, leaving you alone with the prince. Well, as alone as you can be with guards stationed everywhere. The Great Hall was massive and beautifully decorated. It was obvious a lot of care went into designing the castle, every nook and cranny you could see carved and detailed with precision. Countless paintings adorned the walls, lit by the sun through the open windows.

Shikamaru stands in front of you, his face still just as bored as it had been a few moments ago. It was obvious he had no intention of breaking the silence between you both. Feeling anxious, you decide to break it yourself.

“My name is Y/N Y/N, heir to the throne of the L/N kingdom of the Eastern Realm, ward of the palace and first of my name,” you introduce yourself with a smile and a bow.

The Omega offers a more subdued, polite smile, “My name is Shikamaru Nara, heir to the throne of the Nara kingdom of the Western Realm, son of King Shikaku Nara and Queen Yoshino Nara and first of my name.” He mimics your bow.

“A pleasure,” you hum, trying to remember all the appropriate forms of greeting.

“Agreed.”

Silence befalls the room once more as you stare awkwardly between each other and different parts of the room. It's reminiscent of home, where silence echoes along the illuminated hallways and bounces off all the gleaming, cold metal but in the same breath, vastly different. It felt warmer, somehow.

And in that moment you remembered.

“I wish to see the flowers,” you announce suddenly, reaching a hand forward, “They were very pretty from the carriage window as we arrived but I’d like to see them closer. Would you join me? Show me the way?”

He perked up, “I can show you my favorite hillside. I like to nap there when I’m bored of my lessons.”

Shikamaru takes your hand, warmth immediately flooding your arm but you pay it no mind, more eager to play with your new friend than focus on why your hand felt tingly.

The dungeon is located below the ground floor, underground and only accessible by a single winding staircase. There are several guard posts that must be passed to goon way or another. The first time you were brought down here, Shikaku informed you that many dungeons failed because they were above ground, often with windows and other doors as entry and exit points. There were too many ways for people to escape, especially if they had someone aiding them.

You told him that the dungeon in your castle wasn’t capable of being underground because it was built into the mountain so the dungeon was placed at the side of the mountain. If your prisoners wanted to try their hand, they had the choice of trying to get past the guards or going through the window to fall to their deaths because there was no slope or ledge for them to climb anywhere.

Shikamaru enters the dungeon before you do, keeping a hand on you at all times. He pokes his head in through the door, looking back and forth before walking in and allowing you to follow him. Inside, you see King Shikaku and several guards on one side of the room, opposite of the numerous holding cells that went deeper underground

Shikaku greets you with a nod and a smirk, “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

“Great to be back, though I’d like to know why I left in the first place,” you chuckle lightly, allowing Shikamaru to curl up as close as he can while standing and throwing an arm around him. His face falls into your neck.

With Shikamaru preoccupied, you mouth, ‘How bad has he been?’

Your father-in-laws face says everything as he mouths back, ‘Don’t do it again.’

Rolling your eyes, you mime crossing your heart just in time for Shikamaru to pull away from your throat.

“Where is the Queen?”

“Upstairs dealing with a rather unpleasant turn of events.” The King’s voice reflects the ordeal everyone has been dealing with in your absence, “But that is a matter for another time. For now, follow me.”

He turns on his heel and you both follow him dutifully as he takes you all the way to the end of the tunnel-like room. It opens up a bit at the end, the walls pressed outward to create more space. Inside the space, there is a table and a few chairs where you all seem to naturally convene around. One of the guards quickly lights the torches all across the wall, illuminating the space quite nicely.

Lord John is sitting in his cell, the one furthest from the single exit, bathed in the darkest of shadows. He wore the simple gown of a prisoner, his person stripped bare of all his pomp and accoutrement. His wrists and ankles are linked by a chain that is connected to the wall in several places. A bit unnecessary given his lack of real strength but you surmise Shikamaru insisted on it.

He’s spiteful like that.

“How are you alive?” the Beta man screams when he catches sight of you, face turning a concerning shade of purple, visible even in the darkness. Spittle shoots from his mouth as he rages behind the bars. He throws his body forward but the chains keep him from getting far.

It's enough to send your mate into a frenzy though, because of course it is.

“No,” you huff, grabbing Shikamaru around his waist and pulling him back against your body as he lunges for the bars.

“Please,” he hisses back but he makes no movement to break away from your hold. Instead, he turns and puts his hands on you, strategically placed to know the moment you feel any sort of weakness that may cause you to tumble.

The Beta continues to rage, speech degrading into nothing more than incomprehensible noises of anger and half-formed words. Shikamaru continues to snarl beside you, both hands tight around your body as he glares down at the wailing man from over your shoulder.

“Do you ever get tired of the taste of talking?” Shikamaru growls before nodding at one of the guards, “Gag him. I wish for his silence.”

“What happened that night?” you ask, turning away from the cell. You didn’t really want to look at the prisoner any longer. “All I remember is falling into darkness. Someone screamed, I think.”

Shikamaru’s face turns pink but says nothing. You choose not to point it out.

“Lord John made a direct attempt on your life. The chocolate balls you enjoy were laced. Lord John knew of your love of chocolate and my distaste for it so he knew I would not ask for one.”

You resist the urge to snort. ‘Ask.’

“We ordered for his arrest, he tried to fight it by releasing shoddily made smoke bombs. When that didn’t work, he took one of the Omegas hostage. When that failed, he tried to run to the window but he could not fit through the opening and got stuck. We made the arrest after prying him out.”

You turn your gaze to look at the prisoner, eyes squinted in disbelief.

“Unfortunately, we lost four of the Omegas. In the confusion, they fled under the cover of the smoke bombs.Our prisoner has been in this holding cell in the dungeon since you fell unconscious. He’s monitored all hours of the day and night.”

“Only four?”

“Yes. Two of Omegas are accounted for. One is in the morgue..”

“The morgue?”

“Hmm,” your mate hums, “The short one that interrupted our mating. His hostage. Accidently cut her throat and she bled out on the floor.”

“Ah.”

“The four that managed to flee are believed to be heading towards the mountains. The Akimichi have been informed. Chouji is leading the search parties himself.” His eyes narrow as he thinks.

“You don’t believe that do you? That they are in the mountains.”

Shikamaru smiles gently over at you, softening impossibly, “You know me so well. No, I do not. Not for all of them at least.”

“And the other Omega? The second one we have accounted for…?”

“That would be me,” a silky smooth voice interjects. The redhead Omega sat a few feet away in a chair propped against a wall, unchained and unbothered as she cleans her knives.

You look between your mate and your father-in-law in confusion, “Isn’t she the…?”

“The one who was ‘attacked’ by a Nara guard? Yes. Y/N, this is Maki Uchiha. One of the Uchiha Kingdom's finest intelligence agents,” Shikaku introduces as the woman stands and joins you all around the table.

“Oh, well. Nice to meet you. I think.”

You reach a hand out to shake hers but Shikamaru pulls it back and stuffs it into his jacket pocket.

“Shikamaru,” you scold, “Was that necessary?”

“Yes. She poisoned you.”

“Oh I did not,” she bites back, rolling her eyes, “I merely paralyzed them.”

From the deep breath your father-in-law took, you know that this is not the first time they have bickered over the topic. Shikamaru huffs, leaning into your side and avoiding his father’s gaze.

“Anyway, yes I was the one who was ‘attacked.’” She pointedly looks away from your Omega to stare at you. Her eyes are a vibrant red, almost black in the low light, intimidating and seductive, “I was working undercover in the Usami District. My king sent me a letter and reassigned me to do resonance since he believed that our prisoner would head there. He was correct. Further instruction led me to following him here, with permission by the King and Queen Nara.”

She retrieves her bag from the corner and places it on the table, pulling out various papers and setting them on the table, “The prisoner in question arrived in the Usami district looking for Omegas in desperate need of money. His proposal was simple. Accompany him on his travel to a different kingdom as a status symbol and in exchange, he would pay a handsome reward.”

Fussing with a few papers on the top of her spread, she moved them over to Shikaku, “Here is the contract we signed.”

Shikaku reviewed the contents quickly before sliding it over for Shikamaru to see.

“How many of the Omegas are literate?”

“Aside from me? Only one but his skill is no greater than that of an 8 year old.”

“So he gave them contracts they couldn’t read…” you murmur as Shikamaru scooted to the side to allow you to read it as well, “and lied about its contents if what I’m seeing is correct.”

“You would be,” Maki nods, “These Omegas are destitute, living in poor conditions with no formal education, and engaging in various illegal activities to get by. They were offered a sweet deal with pretty words and coerced into signing this instead. You were correct in your assumption that he was hoping the Prince would be single. His goal was, indeed, to try and be ‘Chosen.’ I don’t know much about what happened in my country but I could parse that Lord John did more than just have a finger in the pot and was desperately hoping Shikamaru would be his salvation.”

Shikamaru’s disgust was palpable, side-eying the Beta behind bars and tucking himself closer to you.

“Why bring the Omega’s at all then? If his goal was to be mated to my Omega?”

“I suspect we were meant to be pawns, to be discarded far from home once he was done with us or left to take whatever punishment he garnered from himself,” she shrugs, “If you can’t tell, he doesn’t seem to form coherent, consecutive thoughts that make sense.”

“So…what? He arrived and decided to kill me?”

“Indeed. You were a threat to his path to promised immunity and safety,” Maki motions over to Shikamaru, red eyes gleaming in the candlelight, “And it certainly didn’t help that you were an Alpha and capable of besting him in combat. He believed that if you died, your mate would undergo another Choosing and well…” She lets her words trail off with a small nonchalant shrug that you know your mate does not appreciate.

“Sneaky, underhanded cockroach of a man,” Shikamaru growled lowly, disgusting rolling off of him in waves. “Thats not how it works.” You felt similarly but pressed it down. You still needed answers.

“Okay, he realizes he won’t win in a duel so he…what? Poisons my snack? How did he manage to pull that off without scrutiny?”

Maki’s mouth pulled tight into a bitter smile, “Arika. The girl he killed. Originally, she and two others were meant to join you for your rut and kill you while your guard was down and your mind otherwise occupied. I was the distraction. He had not been expecting such…resistance from you.”

“Did he think of how Shikamaru would react?”

“No.”

“Of course he didn’t.”

“We were ordered to wait until he was asleep.”

“Shikamaru is allergic to sleep,” you huff, grinning at your mate. He grins back at you.

Maki ignores you both, “And when that failed, he sought to poison you. Arika, the girl he killed, was quite well versed in poisons and drugs. Knew her way around an apothecary. She was not meant for combat so she would drug the patrons that hired her for a night and stole wallets to keep her room at the Inn. She faced a life of slavery if she didn’t.”

“How old was she?”

Your mate looks at you carefully, his eyes roaming over your face intently as he tries to parse out why you felt the need to know.

“18. Abandoned at 10, presumably for being another mouth to feed given both her parents are native to the district. Lord John offered her a way out, both physically and financially. She would have been a fool not to take it, even if it meant killing someone.”

It hurt you how well you understood this girl. There was once a time you felt a parallel desperation to escape the life you had.

“I swapped the vials before she went into the kitchen.The poison and paralytic look very similar so it wasn’t hard to switch them. The only drawback was that the paralytic is intense and if the dose is incorrect, it can cause organ pause. Your heart may have stopped when you consumed it, if only for a moment. Apologies.”

She offers you a small bow.

“Apologies are necessary,” you reply simply, ignoring the protesting squawk your mate releases into your shoulder. At this point, there was nothing you could but forgive, especially if what she was saying was true. Better to suffer from paralysis than die choking on your own tongue.

“They are very necessary,” he hisses into your ear, his scent dipping into something darker, “She needs to apologize so I can never forgive her.”

“Shikamaru…”

“No,” his voice is harsh, his stare hard as he looks between you and the Uchiha.

“There was blood Alpha.” A hint of a whimper bled through his anger. “You fell limp, like all your life had been pulled from your body. Your eyes rolled back. Blood dripped from your nose. You were so…cold…” He takes a deep breath, “You were asleep for over a week. Close to a full fortnite.”

The Omega Uchiha shoots you a curious look, “You shouldn’t have bled…”

“No matter,” Shikaku interrupts, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers and his son huffs petulantly, “We…”

“Stupid Alpha-child!”

You close your eyes and take a deep breath at the interruption. It would seem that Lord John has freed his mouth from the gag.

‘God, if you are there…’

Shikamaru’s hackles rise beside you, “You do not speak to them!”

“You do not tell me what to do, Filthy Omega Whore!”

“Oh what are you on about?” you complain loudly, and yes, you were aware you sounded like a child, but at this point, you just wanted to curl up in your bed with your mate and rest. Being the victim of an assassination attempt while being the future ruler of a kingdom was draining in the worst of ways. This annoying pest of a Beta was taking too much of your energy.

“You are a fool to fall for any of this nonsense,” the Beta spits angrily, “Blindly believing everything you are told. I was sparing you pain. Ask your Omega where he’s been. Ask him who he’s bedded while you lay dying. He certainly wasn’t having his needs and took full advantage of your absence..”

“The only need I had was for my mate to keep breathing,” Shikamaru states, cold and unfeeling. He doesn’t take his eyes off the man as he addresses you, “I was by your side every day. I laid next to you. I listened to your heart and felt your breath.”

“Ha! You really think-”

“Gag him again,” you order one of the guards, interrupting the horrid man, “Add a bite guard. Give him something new to choke on.”

Once he is silenced again, you turn back to Maki and Shikaku.

“What about the papers? The ones left in our bedchamber? How did they get there?”

“They were sorted out beforehand and slipped into the room sometime during our search for you,” Shikaku murmurs, cracking his neck. “Shikamaru discovered the documents shortly before nightfall but they had not been there when we first discovered you missing.”

“You think it was one of the other Omegas?” you ask, looking back at your mate, “Is that what you meant by ‘not all of them?’

Shikamaru nods, “I reason that, instead of fleeing, one of them had planned to finish what was started with the poison…” his voice breaks into another growl, loud and vicious, face contorting viciously before clearing his throat and assuming his composure, “And when they found you missing, they left the documents on your pillow and joined in the search. They did not find you because you took a nap in the dirt like a gremlin.”

With a playful, smug look on his face, he catches the hand you use to push him away from you to keep you beside him.

“Bite your tongue,” you bark out a laugh, struggling to get your hand and arm out of his grip.

“Never,” he croons mockingly, pressing an insistent kiss on your cheek.

“Ew,” Shikaku deadpans, face devoid of all emotion. Shikamaru pauses to look at his father, the most offended look you have ever seen forming on his face. You bite your lip and turn away, the laugh in your throat bubbling dangerously close to the surface.

Picking up a pen from the table, Shikamaru twirls it around his fingers.. A quick glance at his side reveals that his favorite knife (and knife sheath) are missing. Given everything that has happened, it was probably for the best that he not be allowed to carry sharp objects.

“That was part of the back-up plan,” Maki admits, shuffling the papers on the table again, “ This is a copy of the instructions he gave us in the event we were caught or if the poison did not work. We each had an assignment.One of us was to sneak into the royal bedchamber and suffocate the Royal Consort as they lay unmoving.”

“And he wrote all this down?”

“Yes.”

“Oh…bless the stupidity of egotistical men…” you exclaim, voice edged like razors.

“Is there anything else that we need to know?” Shikaku asked, gathering all the papers from the table and rearranging them to his liking.

“This is as far as I’ve got. I don’t know where the other four are but I would assume that the three that took advantage of the distraction and left the castle have stolen aboard a ship by now. I do not think they are a threat.”

The King nods solemnly, “Thank you, Lady Uchiha.”

She says nothing as she bows.

He turns to you and his son, “We will meet tomorrow evening to go over other information we have found and prepare for our prisoner’s transportation to the Yamanakas. Rest now, both of you.”

With the papers in hand, Shikaku leaves you, his footsteps heavy as they echo off the walls of the dungeon. You politely wait for Maki to gather her things, even as Shikamaru starts herding you to the door as well.

“Thank you for all your hard work,” you say, allowing Maki to walk ahead of you, “I appreciate you…uh…not allowing them to kill me.”

Her smile is a tinge sardonic, “My pleasure.”

Shikamaru huffs against your shoulder, hiding aggravated little noises in the collar of your shirt. The female Omega opens the door.

“Before I take my leave,” her entire demeanor shifted into that of a predator as she steps away from the door and glides around you, seemingly unaffected by the warning pheromones your mate was producing, “I must say, I do appreciate your….hospitality…It's very rare to find an Alpha willing to provide clothes to Omega prostitutes instead of the alternative…”

A light wash of her scent filters around you, detailing her interest. Her red eyes gleam mischievously as she looks between you and Shikamaru.

“Feel free to write…” she purrs sweetly, winking as she exits the dungeon.

“You are never giving anyone anything ever again,” Shikamaru growls darkly, eyes stuck on the door Maki disappeared through.

“Shikamaru…”

“No. Start being an asshole.”

^^^^^^^^^^

The castle was large but felt larger still as you weaved in and out of hallways behind Shikamaru until you found an exit that led to the fields. He didn’t stop until you were at the top of a large hill that oversaw much of the expansive fields. The flowers perfumed the land with the sweetest scents you’d ever smelt.

It didn’t take long for you to begin weaving a crown of the bright flowers.

“What are you making?” Shikamaru asked from his place beside you. He had immediately laid down in what he dubbed as ‘his favorite spot’ upon arrival. “Let me see.”

“A flower crown,” you respond, showing him your work quickly before wrapping another flower around the piece.

“But you already have a crown.” You laughed at the way Shikamaru’s face scrunched. You reached up to touch your travel crown before taking it off slowly. The jewels set in the cold white metal shone delicately under the sun. It was a good deal smaller than the normal one you wore at home, less heavy and harsh on your head and neck, but it was still unbearable to wear.

You shrugged, “Flower crowns are prettier. And I don’t get to see flowers often. Not ones like these anyway. We live in the mountains along the sea. Most of my people are miners and fishermen. We don’t grow from the earth, the weather and terrain make it nearly impossible.”

Shikamaru reaches over to pluck your metal crown from your hands, running his fingers along it before dropping it into his lap with a start, “It's so sharp and heavy. How do you wear this?”

You shrug again, subconsciously touching the tiny scars around your temples, “I try not to. They hurt.”

Shikamaru discards the crown to the side with a curled lip, choosing instead to roll onto his belly to watch you work. It didn’t take you long and when it was finished, you plopped it on your head.

It felt infinitely nicer than your other crown, even if it was a bit sloppy and uneven.

“Do you want one?” you ask the boy, reaching over and plucking more of the flowers from the ground.

“I think so, yes,” he murmurs, face flushing pink. You smile and begin weaving.

Shikamaru watches you intently as you switch between grabbing flowers and working them into a circular shape. When all the flowers in front of you are gone, you lean to the side to grab more.

“Oh,” you start, pausing from your work to pluck a white dandelion, “We can make wishes.”

The boy’s face scrunches in confusion, “How?”

“Here,” you hand him the dandelion. “Close your eyes and think of a wish. Don’t say it out loud but when you know what it is, blow until all the petals detach. If they all fly away, it will come true.”

Shikamaru closes his eyes, makes a wish, and blows.

The purring starts as soon as the door closes behind you. Your Omega is demanding, herding you towards the large comfortable bed at the back of the room that was to be your new bedchamber. Shikamaru was adamant that a new bedchamber was necessary since the other one was ‘ruined’ and ‘tainted’ and ‘dangerous.’ He didn’t want to sleep in the same room that so many people entered with ill-intent.

You indulge him because when have you not? If the Omega has decided the den is not safe, it is the Alpha’s job to find them a new one after all.

“Are you well?” he asks, keeping his body glued to yours. His hands do not remain idle as they wander over every part of you they can reach.

You grin, pressing a kiss to his nose, “I am.”

His eyes soften, “Good.”

Stripped bare by your mate’s persistent hands, he nudges you to sit upright in your bed, back against the pillows and headboard. Once divested of all your clothing, an equally nude Shikamaru crawls into your lap. His legs bracket yours as he gets comfortable. The vibrations in his chest get louder as his skin meets yours.

“Come here,” you insist, cradling the back of his head and tangling your fingers in his hair, loose from its normal tie, and bringing it down to your throat. Scent made sweeter, you guide his breathing so he inhales as much of it as possible. A hot, wet tongue meets your gland, lapping at it until it's swollen and pulsing, secreting enough scent to drown a fish.

It feels heavenly and you convey that with a purr of your own.

With your free hand, you rake your claws over the skin of his back gently. His body shakes and shudders in your arms. You slide it down to cup one of his cheeks, a finger rubbing against the furled skin of his asshole. While Shikamaru may not prefer anal, he does like when you tease that hole like you tease his other one. He arches further into you with a breathy little mewl, sticking his ass further into your palm.

The smell of slick is heavy on your tongue, your lap damp where he is sitting above you.

Gently you pull him away, using your hand still fisting in his hair to guide his head up and back, giving you unlimited and unrestrained access to his throat. Scraping your fangs against the skin, you kiss and mouth along the stretch of skin, making sure to leave several little red marks behind. You nip at his scent gland, encouraging it to pump out the heady smell you are addicted to.

You hum happily against his skin.

Leaning back further, he adjusts so he can open his legs wider. He grips onto your knees, displaying himself to your greedy gaze. His body glistens with a light sheen of sweat, pink spreading down his chest and across his face as he exposes the entirety of his body for your consumption. His cock twitches against his belly, a glob of precum dripping down the side. The lips of his cunt are parted the tiniest bit, letting you glimpse the hidden treasure inside.

“Aren’t you delicious?” you croon, trailing a hand from his throat down his body, groping his muscles and flicking at his nipples as you do. The little buds pebble under your attention. Shikamaru lets out a shaky breath as your claw traces over the nubs gently. “Such a strong Omega. I am blessed to be mated to one so handsome.”

You run the hand back up, cupping his jaw and forcing your thumb into his mouth. His eyes flutter as he closes his mouth around the digit. He doesn’t suck so much as he open-mouth kisses it.

You take your spit slick thumb and gently swipe it against his clit as you descend onto his chest, biting and sucking at whatever skin you can reach. You decorate his chest thoroughly, making sure the skin will bruise because you know he likes to press on them. He likes to have reminders throughout the day that everything is as it should be.

A happy moan escapes past his lips at the attention, “I love when you play with me like this.”

“Oh?” you quirk a brow, lips tilted up in a smirk

Your Omega nods, licking his lips as he rocks against your thumb, “Yes. I think of little else than the feeling of your touch on my body.” His voice stuttered around a whimper as he grinds, hips twitching as you rub smaller circles on his clit. “Ah-h. Like that. Just like that. Play with me. Ah-ah. I’m yours. I’m all your-ah.”

“I adore you,” you whisper, shifting your hand to insert two of your fingers inside of him without removing your thumb. His cunt squeezes at the intrusion, slick dripping down over your hand and wrist. He groans.

“That's it,” he croons, arching, “Touch me. I’ve missed you.”

“So tight beloved,” you moan, eyes fixated on the way his slick trailed down your hand and wrist, “And so wet. How fucking needy you are.”

“I have been without you,” he parrots your words back at you,

“No one has touched me in your absence,” your mate insists, “I promise. No one but you has laid with me. I’d never…I don’t think I could take it if someone besides you shared my bed.”

“I know my beloved.”

“You believe me?” Your poor Omega looks so devastated at the very idea that you wouldn’t. You really wish you could kill Lord John. String him up by his guts and hit him with a stick like a pinata until the rest of his organs fall out.

“Of course I do,” you insist, crooking your fingers inside of him just to press on his sweet spot and make him shiver.

“That's-thats it? Just like that? On my word alone, you believe me?”

The confusion in his voice makes you wonder if there is more that has been said in your absence. The look in his eyes confirms it.

“Of course,” you reiterate, pausing your ministrations to look at him directly, “Shikamaru?”

“I can prove I haven’t taken anyone to bed!” Your Omega insists, his scent spiking with anxiety, “I can prove my fidelity. I’d never stray from you. I didn’t…please…I…”

“Remember who you are speaking to. You don’t have to prove anything. I believe you at your word Shikamaru.” You press onto his mating mark with the hand that wasn’t buried inside of him.

His face changes gradually as he mulls over your words. You pump out a wave of calming pheromones. After a few moments, he slumps, relaxed, “Of course you do. Of course I don’t.”

The smile on his face is lazy and soft, his body losing all tension. You move your fingers again, slower. Gentle. Your Omega purrs, going back to rocking on your hand as you bring him gentle pleasure.

“I originally intended to take you in my mouth,” he murmurs, quietly as he stares into your eyes, “Taste my Alpha once more. Slip into the soft Omegaspace you bring me to when you use me in such a way. But now? I want to feel you grow inside of me. Are you amenable?”

Shifting up, he pulls your cock from where it was resting under his ass. Needy brown eyes look down at it where it's resting against his cunt and under his own cock. Even mostly limp, you were impressive.

“Absolutely.”

You remove your fingers from him, grinning at his disappointed whine at the loss, but it's quickly wiped away when he smears his own slick over your hardening flesh. Once it's sufficiently coated, he rolls you both over until he is underneath you.

Settling between his open thighs, you slide into him easily despite the lack of hardness. You let out a shaky breath as he slowly took you in, the muscles expanding and contracting to welcome you. The moan he releases as you bottom out is nothing short of divine, one of his hands curling around the back of your head to bring your face down to kiss you.

“Don’t move just yet. Let me feel it. Ohhhhh….” Head thrown back, he releases a deep, primal Omegan growl. It triggers your own growl, a response from your Alpha to his Omega. Ducking down, you bite and suck at the skin you can reach, brightening the marks you already left. His body trembles under yours.

He pants as your cock grows and pulses inside of him, dark eyes fogging up as he loses himself in the connection, the feeling of you growing more and more aroused inside of him. His legs twitch as your sides, his cunt clenching and unclenching around you as it's stretched. Slick spills from around your intrusion, dampening the sheets below you.

The pleasure is nearly blinding, the feeling of your Omega’s slick cunt around you second to none.. When it becomes obvious that you aren’t going to get any harder, your cock not getting any bigger, Shikamaru’s chest heaves, his mouth twitching up into a dazed smile as you melt into one being.

“You fit inside me so perfectly. I never want this to end,” your Omega murmurs slowly, pressing gentle, chaste pecks on your mouth.

“I won’t let it,” you whisper, lowering yourself down so your body is flush with his, cock throbbing against the soft gummy walls of your Omega’s cunt, “Never.”

“Yea?” he slurs, eyes rolling back a little as he feels your cock leak hot sticky precum inside of him, “Promise me?”

“We are going to grow old together,” you smile down at him, resting on your forearms. His eyes shoot open, dilated and wet and radiating awe up at you. “We may have spent 13 years apart but we will have the rest of them together. Fifty…sixty…seventy years. And nothing is going to stop us. I will not allow it.”

He whimpers breathlessly as he nods, clenching around your cock again, “Yes, yes, yes. I’m yours for the rest of my lif-ah, ah, ah. You’re mine too right? All mine. My Alpha. My conso-ah, fuck.”

You groan around a purr, “I’ve never been anyone else's. I’ve belonged to Shikamaru Nara since he made a wish on a dandelion.”

“Love me,” he urges, momentarily snapping out of his haze to shoot you a look of utter desperation, “Please. I’m ready. Need you to move Alpha-mine.”

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you,” you promise, bracing yourself as you withdraw from the warm, wet heat and slide back in. Slow, gentle, repetitive rocking.

“Yes. Yes. Yessss…,” your mate purrs and your heart swells with pride. Petting a hand down his side, you roll your hips a little more insistently. Shikamaru makes a low, beautiful noise and pushes his hips up against yours, his arms wrapping around you tightly. You are reminded of how horribly he wants you and you hardly know what to do with the feeling. Beyond words, you lick into his mouth.

When you pull away, you lift up and slide a hand down to wrap around the cock that was trapped between you, flicking your thumb over the head and using his own precum as a lube to ease the glide. Your mate is large for an Omega, thick and hot in your hand and you know from experience how good he tastes. His back arches with a loud keening noise and you take the opportunity to lean down to suck at his chest, flicking the pebbled nipples with your tongue.

“That's it. Let me hear you. Let your Alpha hear you.”

The slow, wet slap of flesh echoed through the bedchamber and you were positive that anyone who passed by the door could hear it.

‘Let them hear,’ your Alpha snarls as your knot begins to expand and catch along the rim of Shikamaru’s cunt, ‘Let them know that only you are allowed in this Omega’s bed. Only you have the privilege of mating with this strong, handsome prince.’

“Oh.Oh. I’m cumming,” Shikamaru breathes, whimpering as his body tightens, “Please. Please. I need it. Please.”

“Go ahead beloved. Cum for me. Just like this.”

“Say my name,” he pleads, “Cum inside me. Need to feel your knot break me open. Need to hear you.”

“Shikamaru,” the sound is strangled as you start to crest into your own orgasm.

Your knot popped in and out of his hole deliciously until you couldn’t move it anymore, keeping your pace as gentle as possible. Shikamaru’s arms let you go to splay above him on the bed, leaving himself completely open to you as he kneads the blanket under him. His eyes, doe-eyed and soft, never left your face, even as they flutter in pleasure. He doesn’t say much outside of his cooing moans and breathy sighs but he doesn’t need to. You know.

“Such a good Omega,” you whisper, dropping gently on your forearms to kiss his mouth, “I love you.”

“I love you,” he responds, wispy and gentle, like it was the easiest thing in the world to say. You relish in the softness you rarely see outside of the privacy of your quarters.

Your orgasms are gentle, softly cresting as your bodies locked together. His tie milks your swollen knot as he spills over his own belly, encouraging you to empty inside of him. Shikamaru’s legs tremble as he’s filled with warmth, his mouth dropping open as his eyes flutter closed. Feeling you orgasm, your sticky cum plugged inside of him by the thickness of your knot, was always the most overwhelming part for him.

You were, after all, putting a part of you inside of him.

“I love you,” he repeats, chuckling wetly, tears rolling down the sides of his face as you both come down from your euphoria, “I can’t stand a world without you in it.”

“You are everything,” you gently wipe the tears away, “There is no me without you anymore.”

He leans up to catch your lips, his tongue shoving its way into your mouth. His purring stutters with every pulse of cum you release inside of him, sending shivers of pleasure down his spine. Soft incomprehensible words pass his lips as you take control of the kiss.

In an unexpected burst of energy, you are flat on your back with your Omega on top of you. Still connected by your knot, he grinds down, pulling at the connection to encourage oversensitive bursts of pleasure to crash through you. His internal muscles clench exquisitely, forcing a gasp out of you as he moans, loud and unabashed.

“Again,” Shikamaru pleads, rolling his hips on your deflating knot, “Love me again.”

You indulge him because when have you not?

^^^^^^^^^^

It all happened so fast.

One moment you were happily eating dinner in the Nara castle’s dining hall with Shikamaru, his parents, and your guardian, nanny, and guards. Talks had gone well from what you had gathered from the pleased scent wafting around your guardian but you hadn’t cared much to inquire about it, as Shikamaru had taken a seat beside you and the way he was playing with your fingers was much more entertaining to you.

In the next, everyone was yelling and you were being yanked in two separate directions. The loud rumbling growl that erupted suddenly from your guardian was something you never heard before and it sent shivers of terror along your spine. A rough, clawed hand circled your arm and dragged you from your chair.

“What's going on?” you cry, eyes tearing up at the pain of claws digging into your skin. You try to tug free of them but you are no match for their strength. A smaller hand latches onto your other arm, tugging frantically. Shikamaru’s face is pale, eyes blown in fear as he fails to free you.

“Let them go! They’re mine!” the Omega boy yells, tears furiously pouring out of his eyes as you are yanked harshly from his grip, “You're hurting them! My Y/N!”

“Silence, you horrid demon child,” your guardian snarls at him, to which Yoshino drags her wailing son into her arms, dark eyes glowing in her fury. Her lips curl around her teeth, her own growl low and predatory. A growl worms its way to your throat, sounding no more frightening than a kitten’s yowl but with all the ferocity of an enraged Alpha.

“Don’t be mean to him!” you spit, struggling with every bit of strength you could manage, “Let me go! Shikamaru!”

“Enough,” your guardian yells, smacking you in the mouth before handing you over to one of the guards roughly. Their arms wrap around you in a hold you had no hope of breaking. Shikamaru’s angry scream rattles the walls in the dining hall. “Our deal is off! We come asking for aid and you dare take advantage? Casting your Nara sorcery upon our only heir?”

Shikaku’s face is incredibly dark but he says nothing, letting your guardian dig a hole for themselves. Yoshino’s impossibly black eyes dart between her mate and you, her face softening and hardening in turn as you cry and thrash in tune with her son’s distressed wailing.

“I am not cursed,” you argue loudly, chest rumbling in aggravation, “All we did was play in the flowers! We are going to be friends forever! Let. Me. Go.” You sink your baby fangs in the sliver of bare skin between your captor’s gloves and armor, delighting in the angry hiss he releases.

“Hold your tongue!” Your guardian hisses, fiery eyes glinting dangerously at you. The fear from earlier is gone, dissipated in your own burning anger. They don’t take their eyes from yours as they address the guard holding you, “Take them back to the carriage. We are leaving.

“No! No! Nooooooo! My Y/N! Stop them! You have to stop them! Please!” is all you hear as your guard lugs you out of the dining hall.

You wait for Shikamaru to fall asleep before you slip out of bed. It's a challenge, what with Shikamaru’s death grip on your body, but you manage without much fuss. He stirs briefly, his face pinching in disgust at the disturbance.

“It's okay. Go back to sleep. I’m going to the bathroom. I’ll be back,” you whisper gently, running a hand through his loose hair. He hums and settles into the warm spot you just left behind, a quiet “Be quick” murmured into your pillow. You kiss his head.

Slipping on your robe and soft shoes, you grab a candle and leave the confines of your bed chamber. The castle is silent, foreboding in the shadows and darkness, but you fear nothing here. You nod at the two guards who are standing in front of the door, both looking wide awake. You gesture that you are going down the hall. They nod back in acknowledgement, though one of them cheekily tapped their bare wrist at you.

You roll your eyes playfully.

The dungeon is cold, much colder than it had been earlier, but it makes sense since its no longer lit by a row of torches. It's also no longer midday, the coolness of the night somehow chilling the underground.

You nod at the guards at each post and inform them of why you are down there and they allow you passage as long as you promise to not murder the prisoner. Somehow, they don’t believe you when you say you only had intentions to speak with him.

The ‘we wouldn’t blame you if you did’ was unspoken but it was heard nonetheless.

You keep your footsteps light as you walk down the long narrow room.

Lord John is still bound at the other end of the cell, his beady little eyes narrowing in rage as you pull a chair up to the bars, making sure it scratched against the floor unpleasantly as you did. His gag has been removed, likely so he could eat his dinner. The sound was horrid against the stark silence.

“Good evening,” you start, happy and pleasant.

“Go to hell,” he bites, a pathetic attempt at a growl forming in his throat.

“A wise leader knows to never give their opponent the home field advantage,” you respond, leaning against the back of the chair, “But there is no need for hostility. I’ve merely come to chat.

“I have nothing to say.”

“Well I do so I guess I’m going to monologue at you again and you are going to sit and listen,” you pause, tilting your head back and forth, “I mean, it's not like you have a choice. You aren’t going anywhere. Not for a few days at least.”

The Beta huffs, irritated and angry and you can’t find any part of you that cares.

“You caused quite the scene since you’ve arrived,” you start, crossing your arms over your chest, “and inspired distress amongst everyone you’ve come into contact with.”

“Have I touched a nerve?” he sneers, the hint of a smirk on his face.

“I thought you had nothing to say?”

His mouth clamps shut, his Beta scent souring unpleasantly.

“I still don’t understand what you hoped to achieve by killing me. I don’t think I care to think about it any longer if I’m being honest. You were never going to replace me even if your plot had worked,” you sigh, mild exasperation in your tone, “The Choosing doesn’t work like that. Even if Shikamaru survived after my passing, he would Choose someone who is worthy of being a Chosen.”

Fixing your gaze to his, you drop your normal speaking voice to your Alpha one, “You are not worthy.”

Lord John’s forehead vein makes an appearance even as he recoils, body shuddering to reject the sound and the danger it threatens, and it brings you such delight. The Alpha voice is always intimidating, especially when the Alpha rarely ever uses it.

You reregulate your voice to sound normal, “A Chosen is something rare and sacred, a built in protection against trauma bonds. If you had bothered to learn anything about Nara history, you’d know that but I understand if it was too many words for you.”

Lord John continues to say nothing, which you weren’t expecting to be honest. He loved the sound of his own voice. Maybe having the Alpha pheromones stripped away also stripped his confidence?

One can only hope.

“And if you had tried to force a bond while he was deep in despair, the Queen would have summoned all of hell to come down on you,” you continue, “Shikaku may be the King but Yoshino is the one to be feared. Again, something you would have known if you bothered to look into the Nara's involvement in the last war.”

“And then there is the matter of you…writing all your plans down…on paper…multiple times…but we don’t need to rehash all of that.”

You sigh with all the exasperation of a child’s tutor, “Based on all this, I’ve concluded that you are just stupid.”

That gets a reaction. The prisoner shouts angrily and thrashes against his bindings. You watch with passive interest until he gets tired of getting nowhere. You made those chains yourself in the forge with a special blend of metals that you learned in the forges in your homeland, you know how strong they are.

Sweating and panting, Lord John eventually collapses back to the floor.

“Are you done having big feelings?”

The prisoner huffs angrily.

“You asked me what a Nara provides for their Chosen and I never answered, which is quite rude of me. Do forgive my slight.”

You cross your legs and lean forward, resting your arms over your knee.

“You said that Naras don’t provide anything to their Chosen. It's all one-sided. Much like with everything else, you have been wrong.”

Taking a deep breath, you think of the way Shikamaru smiles at you and embrace the calm it provides. “The power I hold over him is unimaginable. It is all consuming. I can ask anything of him. My desires are his. If I so chose,” You drop your voice to a whisper, slipping the tiniest bit of Alpha inflection in it, “I could. I can. He would allow me anything. Follow me anywhere. A lesser person would crack under the weight of such a responsibility.”

Lord John’s gaze wavers under yours but not enough to look away completely.

“Make no mistake. It is no burden. When you become a Chosen, you assume responsibility of your Nara, yes, but you also assume the truest version of yourself. I know myself when I am with him. When I stand beside him, my mind is clear. I search for him in every room I walk in because I wander, lost in a daze - quite literally might I add, I ended up in the garden- you know what, not important- when he is not with me. I have a purpose. He gives me a purpose. I am a foil, a mirror, and a friend as much as I am a lover or a mate. We are a match.”

You stand up, brushing nonexistent dust from your pants and robe as you do. You return the chair to the table before looking back at him through the bars.

“You could never be a Chosen. You are too selfish, too egotistical, too unwaveringly…pathetic. You care little for others, take advantage of those you feel to be below you, and demand for things that do not belong to you. You do not have the courage or compassion to stand as one with a Nara.”

You approach the cell again, slowly, a rolling hunter’s gait. Repelled, your prisoner jerks to press himself against the wall.

“T-to what purpose did you bother coming down here?” he stutters, fear bleeding through his scent for the first time since you’ve known him. He must finally sense the danger he was in.

Better late than never.

“This is the last time we will cross paths,” you grin, giddy, “And I wanted to make sure you knew that you will never have what you so desperately crave. You will go to the Yamanakas for further interrogation and then to the Uchiha for punishment while I stay here, living the life you desire.”

“It was either we have a nice little chat,” you lick your teeth, flashing your fangs at the portly man, “or I give into my rage and pluck your eyes from your skull for looking at my mate, cut your tongue for speaking poorly about my mate, and break every bone in your hands for thinking of putting them on my mate. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel when I came down here.”

You shrug, slipping your hands in the pockets of your robe, “The Uchiha said that you needed to be brought back alive. They never said you had to come back in one piece. The Yamanakas know how to extract information from the deaf, blind, and mute so you didn’t need to be whole for them either.”

“You are insane,” he spits, tiny eyes filled with an odd combination of hate and fear. His scent grows even more sour, burning into your nostrils.

“I am in love,” you correct with a twisted grin “A common mistake since one so often looks like the other.”

The journey back to your bed chamber is uneventful. There are new guards at your door. Both of them give you a curious look but you wave them off. They crack the door open for you.

Shikamaru is sitting up in bed, propped by God and spite, and he’s glaring sleepily at you as you enter. You smile at him, endeared by the messy hair and mismatched blinking.

“Where…you?” he mumbles crankily, messily swiping the hair away from his face.

“Here. I am here,” you croon sweetly, approaching the bed. Without prompting, he shifts to his knees and ‘walks’ to the end of the bed to greet you. He is still naked from your earlier escapades. He smells of dark, rich earth, sleep, and sex as he barrels sloppily forwards into your open arms. It's divine.

“Bed?”

“Yes, I’m coming back to bed.”

“Sleep?”

“Yes.”

“Sex?”

“Later,” you pause, adding on a quick, “if you want.”

A slow, lecherous smile forms on his tired face as half-lidded brown eyes blink at you slowly, “Always.”

A huffed laugh punches from your gut, quiet and soft as you kiss his brow, “Okay beloved.”

Just as you are about to discard your robe and climb back into bed, the room shakes with rapid-fire knocking on your chamber door.

‘Quoth the raven nevermore.’

You shake your head at the intrusive thought.

Shikamaru hisses at the door, claws digging into the fabric of your robe and sleep shirt as he jerks to complete wakefulness, “What now? Can’t I have a moment’s peace?”

“Apparently not. Put on some clothing. I will get the door.”

Reluctantly, you separate from him.

Gaia is outside the door, looking incredibly nervous as they pace back and forth in small circles outside the door. They mutter to themselves under their breath. The other two guards look at eachother and back towards you nervously.

You don’t fault them for their anxiety. Life has been rough in recent times.

“I hate to interrupt but the Queen has sent me,” Gaia breathes once Shikamaru joins you from the bed, his own robe wrapped tightly around him, “The news cannot wait any longer and it is best if you hear this now before word gets around.”

You share a nervous look with your Omega.

“Go on.”

“A Choosing has happened.”

^^^^^^^^^^

The moon is high when you set off. Getting out of the castle was easy enough, granted that you were now of age to set off on your own without any of your guardian’s lackey’s following you. You took great delight in firing each and everyone of them the moment the clock struck midnight the day of your birthday. Your guardian had been none too pleased but their opinion did not matter any longer.

You are an adult now, capable of ruling a kingdom without aid. Your coronation had seen it so.

If that is what you chose, however.

But it wasn’t.

Your letter to Shikaku Nara had not been returned and you could only hope that meant he understood your intentions and was waiting for you, ideally without any hostility. In the years following the disaster of a dinner, your guardian did everything in their power to burn bridges between your kingdom and the Nara Kingdom. While smaller than the Nara’s, your kingdom had a monopoly on a vast majority of the mountains and the sea and all its contents on your side of the country. The Akimichi may have their own mountain region but their mountains yielded very little in terms of resources and skill needed to handle such resources. Nothing like what your kingdom could provide.

Still, even if there was hostility, even if you were walking into a trap, it would be worth it to see Shikamaru one last time. It didn’t matter if he hated you. If he executed you himself.

He was worth taking the risk for.

It took a few days but all your cessation paperwork was complete, leaving the entirety of the kingdom to a cousin of yours. She is a few years older and had been in line for her own throne until her parent’s suddenly produced an Alpha heir and removed her from her position. She may dislike you but the whole situation left a bad taste in your mouth and she would be a better ruler than anyone currently in line for your throne.

While you may not love your people enough to stay, you loved them enough to leave them in capable, competent hands. She would take care of everyone.

She also hated your guardian as much as you did so that was a plus.

Traveling from your old home to the Nara Kingdom was treacherous and long. You avoid main roads for most of the journey, trekking along the more dangerous paths to keep from being tracked. No one with a sane mind would pass through the canyons deep in the north side of your mountain but with your choices being ‘get caught’ and ‘ traverse through horrible terrain’, you have little choice. You have no real allies. You have no real connections. There is no one to help you if you are dragged back to the kingdom you abandoned.

Word spreads of your departure and abandonment quickly, which puts a damper on your plans. Your journey becomes much harder and requires several disguise changes before you are safe enough to rent a room to sleep in or a carriage to take you through the desert. Throughout it all, you go back and forth on how you are going to plead your case to Shikaku.

You’ve made peace with all the possible outcomes but still, it felt right to offer some sort of apology or…something. You didn’t have money for a gift but you were capable of working so maybe you could offer free labor.

There was no guide waiting at the treeline of the Nara forest and for the first time since you left, you felt trepidation.

The forest is still as magical as you remember it being. You step over into the growth and the path reveals itself to you. The indents in the forest floor seem clearer, like it is sucking in a breath to make the path more prominent. You stay on the line as closely as possible, keeping your eyes towards the total blackness.

The journey through the forest seems a lot shorter than when you were a child but you chalk it up to the world being so much larger to a child than to an adult. When the trees start opening up and you can see the sky again, the sun has risen, glittering between the branches and leaves at the canopy.

The path stops abruptly as deer start emerging from behind the brush. They pay you no mind however, walking past you as if you were a normal part of their environment. You don’t pay them much mind, however, as the gate to the castle comes into view.

You see four guards - two on each side of the gates - and your stomach sinks when they all look at you in tandem.

‘Well, at least I managed to change my clothes before I showed up,’ you think to yourself, straightening your shoulders. Faux confidence comes easy to you as you take a deep breath and approach.

“We’ve been waiting,” one of the guards - an Alpha male - smirks before you can open your mouth, “You took very long.”

“I was on foot for most of it.”

“Welcome,” another says before the Alpha can respond again and you recognize her immediately. Her hair is much shorter now but one of the sides is still shaved, displaying her inked skin. The tattoos have been added to and obviously outlined in recent years.

“It's nice to see you again,” you greet, bowing your head slightly. She grins a little, flicking her hand and allowing the gate to open.

With a deep, shuddering breath, you walk through the gates, long enough to catch the tail end of whatever the king was saying to his son.

“But don’t take my word for it. Ask them yourself. They’re here.”

In a flash, Shikamaru meets your gaze, dark brown eyes focused on you as intensely as they had been in the fields and the world falls away as you approach the castle.

The following week is a mess of meetings and deliberations. The King and Queen ultimately decided to leave the decision of the matter to you and Shikamaru, a test of your ability to lead. They will offer you aid in your decision-making but will leave the final verdict to you. They will enforce whatever you and your mate agree upon.

“This is a matter that pertains directly to you both,” Yoshino had said, a small sad smile on her mouth as she gently grasps your hand in hers, “Only you can decide what is appropriate. I trust you will make good choices.”

This was a good idea in theory but proved to be more tumultuous than predicted, since Shikamaru spent most of the time being in a very unforgiving and spiteful mood during deliberations. The full force of his brutal tactician training had come forth intensely, laying a fifty part argument at your feet about why he favors one side of the argument and why it's the best course of action.

You, on the other hand, countered his arguments from a less practical, more forgiving heart, something that left him frustrated and sitting with his back to you on your lap and refusing to hold your hand. To his credit, he took your words in and contemplated them, asking follow up questions once he got past the initial aggravation. He heard you and was listening, even though he really felt strongly in his stance.

Once a decision was made, preparations quickly followed, and before long you found yourself sitting on the throne that will one day yours. Shikamaru sat to your left, on his father’s throne, dressed in the royal blue attire you are so fond of. Your own attire matched his, something he was quite insistent on.The King and Queen stood off to the side of the podium. There were two guards at the door.

The Great Hall was empty otherwise.

“Let them in,” Shikamaru ordered, keeping his eyes steadfast on the door as it opened. Two figures walked in, arms wrapped around the other, and the door was quickly closed behind them, the sound terrifying in the silence. The guards stayed outside.

“Approach,” Shikamaru ordered again, back ramrod straight against the back of the throne. You mimicked his posture.

Kohaku Nara, loyal guard and lifelong friend to Shikamaru, stepped forward, arm wrapped protectively around one of the Omega’s from Lord John’s entourage. You hadn’t paid much attention to him during his stay, the only interaction being when you asked him if the clothing you had provided for him was good enough.

He is a sweet-looking thing with large blue eyes and golden blonde hair. He’s a good deal smaller than Kohaku and much more beautiful. In another life, you imagine he would have taken your fancy.

The two stop a few feet away from the throne podium, dropping to their knees to bow before you both. Jin’s body shakes in fear, his normally sweet Omega scent bitter with it. Kohaku does his best to calm him, a burst of calming scent wrapping around the Omega. His hand reaches over to stroke one of Jin’s.

“It was brought to our attention that you have Chosen,” Shikamaru begins, keeping his voice purposefully neutral as he addresses Kohaku, “and that your Chosen is the Omega Jin. From my reports, you apprehended the Omega as they attempted to sneak out of the castle and the Choosing occurred then. Is this accurate?”

“Yes my Prince,” Kohaku raises his head, “My Chosen is Jin Mugan.”

“I am sure you are aware of the dire circumstances they have found themselves in,” your mate says, waiting for Kohaku to nod before continuing, “And of the punishments for the crimes they have been a part of since entering the kingdom, both under duress and of their own discretion.”

Kohaku flinches, tucking his lips around his teeth to keep from baring them. You shoot Shikamaru a warning glance.

“My mate and I have spent a week in negotiation about what to do with you both. You can imagine that I am not his biggest fan.”

“Please!” Kohaku interrupts, frantic, “I beg of you! Please let them go! We will depart and never step foot in the kingdom again! I swear it on my life!”

“Quiet,” Shikamaru bites, exhaling roughly. His hand reaches over to hold your own, letting them lay together on the cushioned table between the two thrones.

“That will not be necessary. You are not being cast away. Jin will live,” Shikamaru’s eyes are sharp as he looks between Jin and Kohaku, “But he will work outside the castle. I have contacted Lady Berta down in the village and she is willing to train him in her craft and keep him under observation. He will not be allowed to move about the kingdom freely. He will be under intense supervision until I have decided he is worth trusting. As for you, you will be temporarily stripped of your titles and guard uniform while you undergo your desensitization training and adjustment to your new conditions.”

“Thank you My Prince,” Kohaku bowed, his voice trembling, “I cannot say enough about what this means to me and Jin.”

“Unnecessary. I know what it's like. Choosing is powerful,” Shikamaru addresses the guard, words heavy with meaning, “My mate has convinced me that he is deserving of a second chance, if only because all he has done was deliver a parcel of documents on Lord John’s behalf. A messenger that was paid to be a messenger. He is harmless.”

Shikamaru does not mention the instructions Lord John had given Jin in case the poisoning did not work. He does not mention that Jin hid in the castle instead of fleeing like the others had. He does not mention that Jin had been ordered to cut your throat while you slept and that, if you had not gotten up and wandered away, he would have done so.

His face hardens as he turns to the Omega, who flinches the tiniest bit. Kohaku, with great restraint, suppresses his snarl. “Given that my Chosen is the one whose life was nearly stolen, I am willing to concede to their wish to pardon you. They have a large heart. You would do well to remember their kindness and remember that you are alive because they wish it so. If at any point you step out of line, I will personally execute you.”

The Omega nods frantically before bowing once again, “I shall. I shall do everything I can to prove that I can be trusted. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Lord John has been sent over to the Yamanaka kingdom for further interrogation and from there will be sent to the Uchihas but that doesn’t mean much given your particular circumstances,” you decide to chime in, the look on your mate’s face telling you that he is beyond done with this interaction, “Thus I have taken the liberty of having an escort retrieve your mother and relocate her to the village.”

“What?” Big blue eyes stare at you in amazement. Kohaku eyes you warily, the beginnings of jealousy bubbling under the surface.

“Lord John purposely went after Omegas who were vulnerable and in need of resources without the ability to obtain said resources. From a reliable source, I found that you signed your contract because he promised you that your mother will get the medical treatment she needs. I consulted our physician who informed me that while the medicine is cheap, it is incredibly expensive to have it sent to the Usami District. Your mother will get her care here from now on. We have excellent doctors in the village.”

“Thats…thats too kind,” the Omega blurts out but his body loses all tension, as if he were a puppet who had their strings cut. Perhaps, maybe he was. “I.…”

“I do not believe in punitive justice, especially in cases where a much more peaceful resolution can be made.”

You watch as the couple embrace, nuzzling at eachother happily. Shikamaru rolls his eyes and ushers them out quickly, his threshold for patience overflowing. Shikaku and Yoshino leave their posts to squeeze your and your mate’s shoulders.

“Well done,” the King praises, clear approval in his voice. It fills you with pride.

“You are both on the right path, “Yoshino agrees, forcing a kiss to her son’s cheek. He squirms away and you laugh at him.

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru grumbles, getting off the throne and yanking you out of yours, “I’m taking my Alpha to my room for a nap. I don’t want to be disturbed until dinner time.”

He doesn’t allow anyone to say anything about it but you do hear your in-laws chuckle as the doors close behind you.

“I’m proud of you,” you smile, kissing his temple as you walk down the corridor at his side. He grumbles petulantly but the pink on his cheeks tells you he’s thrilled about pleasing you.

“I am mind but you are heart. I value your opinion in all things, even if it pains me,” he sighs, “You have the training to rule and will have equal say over how we run the kingdom once we ascend to the throne. I trust in us as partners.”

“So sweet beloved,” you coo playfully, pinning him to the closest available wall to kiss at his mouth.

He allows it before nudging you lightly, “But if you ask me to forgive another person who made an attempt on your life, I will lock you in the deer pen. I can’t handle it a third time.”

“I know, I know. I give you my word that the next time someone tries to kill me, you can roll around in their blood like the little psycho I know you are.”

“Shut up,” he bites your mouth.

“Never.”

^^^^^^^^^^

Shikamaru pulled you into the garden hastily, not giving you a moment to change from your sleep clothes to something more appropriate. You had woken up less than an hour ago, startling into full wakefulness when his face immediately appeared above yours. He pressed his nose to yours, purring happily at seeing that you were waking.

“Come with me,” he had said, gently herding you out of bed with gentle but insistent touches.

“Where are we going?” you can’t help but ask as you slip on some soft shoes.

“I have a gift for you,” he smiled brightly, dark eyes sparkling before looking away nervously. Two of his fingers wrap around two of yours hesitantly, unsure. You squeeze the digits between yours and his face pinks beautifully.

The opening of the alcove is hidden by a curtain of wildflowers. He pulls it back and allows you to enter first before walking in front of you. He pulls you down the short pathway before turning around to face you.

“It's not finished but…this is my wedding gift to you,” he demures, pressing against your front sweetly. “This is our place. Me and you. No one else.” You smile at him, wrapping an arm around the small of his back.

“Show me.”

He does, walking backwards until you are standing in the opening of the large circular part of the alcove.

“I plan to put a hammock between these two trees. The weaver I hired will be done with it by the time our honeymoon ends,” he says, pointing at the aforementioned trees.

“It's lovely,” you croon, looking around the inner alcove in complete awe.

“Oh well,” your intended’s face turns pink, “I’m glad you like it.” He coughs, not meeting your eyes, before he starts to gently tug at your hand, “Come. Sit with me.”

The floor of the alcove is completely covered with soft mosses and the same wildflowers as the ones in the field. He sits you down against one of the trees and climbs into your lap facing you. His arms wrap around your neck.

“I…” he clears his throat, “I originally intended to bring you here after our marriage ceremony before the reception but the more I thought on it, the more I thought bringing you beforehand was the better idea.”

“Why?”

Brown eyes dilate as he pauses to examine your face. His fingers knead at the muscles in your back and shoulders. He is heavier than he looks, all strong, lean muscle, but the weight is comforting.

“Years ago, I closed my eyes and wished for my Chosen on a dandelion. I opened my eyes and there you were,” he murmured shyly “Naras all know about the Chosing. We are told as soon as we are old enough to ask where babies come from. They say we get a best friend,” He huffed a small chuckle, playing with your fingers. “It can happen at any moment so it's pertinent to be informed but no one can really prepare you for when it happens.”

His face turns sad, “I wanted to always remember that day so I had the gardener work a blank patch of garden to create this spot for the day you returned to me. It took years to get the plants to grow into the shapes I needed but it worked well enough in the end. I could come here and think of you when everything got to be unbearable.”

The look on his face brightens considerably, “And now you are here. We are getting married in less than three days and I decided that I want you to kiss me here,” his voice drops to a whisper, closing the gaps between your faces, “I don’t want to share our first kiss at the altar for everyone to see.”

“I didn’t know my mate was such a romantic,” you couldn’t help teasing as you pulled him closer. He crawled over your lap, settling with his legs bracketing yours. It went over his head, his face flushing intensely as he looked down on you. Dilated brown eyes locked onto your mouth before a shaky finger reached up to touch your bottom lip.

They widen when you take his hand and turn it over to kiss along his palm and finger tips.

“I’ve thought of little else besides you,” you admit cautiously, “You and the flowers. It has gotten me through some truly awful times and I knew that as soon as I was of age, I would make my way back to you somehow.”

He purrs happily in response.

“And while we barely know each other,” you continue, “I will pursue the knowledge as a starving Alpha. I will know you. I will give you everything.”

“I only need us.”

Gently, you guide him down and press your mouth to his….

The sun is warm where it filters through the branches and leaves through the top of the alcove. The hammock sways lightly as you and your mate rest together. There is nothing innately indecent about your touching but one could argue that having your hands resting under Shikamaru’s trousers to knead at his plump ass was far from innocent.

It didn’t matter though, because Shikamaru liked it

“I’m bothered,” he huffs, giving up on his latest quest to get you to slide your hands down lower.

“About what?”

“The blood.”

“What blood?”

“When you collapsed from the paralytic. Blood ran down your nose. The Uchiha said you weren’t supposed to bleed and the physician said you were in perfect health.”

“Oh. That was probably just a nosebleed.”

The alcove goes deathly quiet, Shikamaru tensing as he removes himself from your chest to hover above you to meet your eyes.

“A what?”

“A nosebleed. It's spring. I have allergies.”

Shikamaru blinks at you, the gears in his head turning so slowly you wonder if he’s malfunctioning. You can see the moment everything clicks in for him and the laughter escapes you before you have a chance to swallow it down.

“You are going to kill me,” Shikamaru groans at you, rolling over to flop on top of you once more. His annoyance bleeds into his scent, “I am going to die of hysteria because my Alpha is made of a single good luck prayer and cheese.”

“Don’t bring cheese into this. It did nothing wrong,” you nudge him half-heartedly, grinning when he goes lax to keep from being moved, “This is our first real spring together. It slipped my mind to tell you that I occasionally have nosebleeds.”

“You’re telling me that the exact moment you ate a chocolate ball and fell unconscious, you had a nosebleed and that's why you bled all over my shirt?”

“Yes. It was quite serendipitous.”

“I will kill you.”

“No, you won’t.”

“I’m not okay with blood coming out of your body. It doesn’t belong out here,” he chuckles, peeking up at you from his resting place on your chest. The light, happy look on his face quickly falls away into one of annoyance as the familiar wetness in your nose makes itself known.

You try not to laugh as the blood drips down to your top lip. You reach into your pocket to grab a cloth and tilt your head back with it pressed against your nose.

“You did that on purpose,” Shikamaru huffed, deeply offended as he rolled so he was facing away from you. “Troublesome Alpha. I’m telling my mother.”

“Of course I did,” you respond sarcastically, the sound distorted thanks to the cloth, “I can control my nosebleeds. You’ve found me out. I was going to keep bleeding with the sole purpose of aggravating my beloved.”

He huffs again, moving his head to bite your thigh gently, “At least you admit it.”

^^^^^^^^^^

620 notes · View notes

lekkkkz · 1 year ago

Note

J'adore cette fic, je la cherchais depuis des semaines, et je l'ai enfin trouvée, ma préférée 🐸🍓

I wonder if Can you write Yandere Omega Seth (from Ennead) if you okay with it

I'll find you

hide as much as you can // I'll find you

♡ fictional mythology, unhealthy behaviour, lovehate dynamic (love -> lovehate), animalistic behaviour, pet names, power exchange, mention of bloodletting (seth), hints of incestuous relationships?; beta!reader -> alpha!reader, heqet/khnum!reader implied

♡ rough treatment, mild blood kink, mild scent kink, heavy petting, dubious consent -> consensual, unprotected sex / breeding, bondage by sand, power imbalance -> power exchange; word 'womb' used once for Seth

𓂀 Contacting this omega is not the best solution — you realized when you first met him, while coming out of the Nile, the keeper of the floods of which you were.

Of course, it's not that you were obliged to communicate with any of them or even be interested in your distant relatives, who were no more than the seventh water on the jelly, but you needed to come out of the depths of the Nile at least from time to time — and when you finally come out, for the first time you meet an unusually red shade, burning like a torch against the background of burning golden sand and the sky blue as the waters of the Nile.

He was like a creature that was born from the spilled blood of all the fallen warriors who did not find their way home, but took refuge in your waters, sprinkling your waters over and over again until the river turns red like the sunset.

His name was 'SETH', he was the god of war and the desert, his parents were Geb and Nut — and when your gaze first crossed, it was as if you were hit on the head with something; almost a low cry of 'YOU WERE NOTICED' so loud that if you were human, you would turn away and run away, — under the sand, under the ground, under the water, no matter where, — but you are not a human and, even if you were weaker than him, you would not run away.

After all, who is the 'God of War and the Desert' against the Deity who keeps the Nile?

“Don't you dare look at me like that anymore.”

wolf cub.

You can guess that his behavior is probably an attempt to attract, as a fertile young omega provokes a fertile young alpha to get angry and chase after him, showing everything they can, just to prove that they are good enough to fill the womb. You know all this. After all, you were the one who created the figures of people who were illuminated by Ra, and you were more than able to watch these playtimes when the lovers went too far in their games and fell together into the coastal waters after a long chase.

And you more than know the brilliance of those eyes — and react faster than realize, like water, which acts intuitively, not relying on reason, to survive. They say that betas have a stronger intuition with understanding of the world — it's not for nothing that you are one of those gods who prefer maximum detachment, 'spirituality', achieved through refusing to accept the role of omega or alpha.

And you let your instincts dictate.

Before his cheeky mouth has time to say anything, you just have to make a wave so that the waters of the Nile aim at him like a beast that has found prey — and break against a strong, slender figure, without causing severe pain, but forcing him to take steps back, no longer bursting into your space.

SETH'S hair, dripping and darkened from the water, sticks to body — but before he has time to resist you in any way, calling to himself the sands of the desert, submissive to him like a tamed pet, you dissolve into the water, returning to your native current...

“I'll find you!”

... The waters of the Nile easily take you into themselves as a natural part, hiding you from the outside world, dissolving like everything that falls into the water abyss and stays here; it's not for nothing that people say that it was water that gave birth to life, and that water is necessary for life.

And although you are not a water Deity, you are also worth something.

𓂀 You know that this is not Ra — although the method of summoning is the same, Ra would rather strangle herself than summon you, especially so soon after the last arrival. Even if you had a... good relationship, — you both contributed to the appearance of 'humans' — it was obvious that you were still different.

Your clay figurines needed a bright fire to come to life, just as she craved worship and followers — it was an interchange where mortals became what brought you closer and pushed you away from each other.

However, SETH was looking for you for other reasons, quite different from 'worshippers'.

Although you are used to being summoned in other ways, such as sacrifices and festivals, you must admit that you clearly underestimated the son of Nut and Geb, who were no better than any of them — but at least they were smart enough not to try to find out from Ra a way to summon you without having to wait at Nila.

Because more than herself and power, Ra loved only to have fun — and sometimes you wondered if she was looking for power just to have fun.

“... Heh.”

When he looks down at you, like a child who has found a gift hidden from him, his scarlet lips stretch in a cheeky smile.

If most gods and goddesses somehow have more alpha and omega traits, then SETH looks like there are too many of these traits in him, like an omega-like alpha or alpha-like omega than beta.

“It turns out that this is the only way you can be summoned? I thought to the last that she was lying...”

The scarlet spot spreads across the water surface of the unusually calm Nile, dissolving in the streams of water that carry the particles with them, absorbing a new part of itself into its course. If people knew how much Nile water contains particles of their children, parents, friends, spouses, enemies, detractors, traitors — would they drink it?

If they knew that the same water absorbs the blood of the gods they worship, what would they look like, scooping up water like the purest gold — the same as he controls, the God of the Desert, smelling of sand dust, dry grass and heat?

“I don't care. You're here, so it was worth it.”

You don't think that the blood of God should be used for such things, like simply calling you from the river bottom, but don't say anything, giving someone to continue — and SETH continues without hearing an answer.

And although he, in fact, created a trap for you, filling the entire stone floor with his sand to make sure that you don't run away anywhere, you feel more like in the paws of a small puppy than in the cave of a mature wolf.

Wasn't it really an exaggeration to be afraid of him?

... Apparently, you have been under water for so long, absorbing the blood of warriors and animals, that you have become too sensitive to any danger...

“I promised you I'd find you.”

𓂀 SETH smells of freedom — not the freedom that has no limits or restrictions, only dead bodies that float along the Nile can have such freedom, but the freedom that is like the hot breath of the desert during the day and the icy whisper of the desert at night; it smells of heat, dry grass, the blood of soldiers and treasures captured with the help of weapons.

You pretend that you don't notice when treasures fall to the bottom of the Nile, and that, moreover, don't understand who gives you them; but it's hard for you to deny that you don't like the look of them. After all, the Nile is not just a 'river' or 'your home', but your temple and refuge, and the sight of expensive and precious things sheltering the once bare, dreary bottom undoubtedly improves the view and your mood; especially when the current of the river carries you further, and gold, like a lighthouse, shines; sprinkling the dark bottom is like the moon shining on the darkest desert night.

SETH is hot and fervent, like burning blood flowing out of him until you hand an object that can immediately contact you, instead of flooding waters, as if out of spite spending more than really needed, as if the more blood, the faster you will rise to the surface.

(in a sense, it is, but for other reasons...)

You can understand that this relationship is frowned upon, at least by his brother, but there's not much you can do — the waters of the Nile are all-encompassing and almost omnipresent, and the way SETH regularly calls you is almost charming if it wasn't so intense, as if every time he struggles with himself in the desire to devour you or to drag away, but at the same time I have to give up this need, which is close to the human need to drink water. You don't need to ask him about it to know — the way he looks at you, as if wanting to sink his teeth into your skin and take you to his cave, is more than eloquent, and even the way his smell intensifies, silently shouting that he is a strong, healthy and fertile omega, in itself is an obvious sign.

And the fact that you are just as quiet and calm, like serene dark waters, untouched by gusts of sandy wind, only further inflames his burning passion and desire, which he himself cannot describe in any way except as 'mine'.

Mine.

Mine mine mine — you give life, carry life, no matter in a running stream or standing water, watching as the surface is filled with bodies and blood, dirt and tears, bodies entwined in passion and love embraces. It doesn't matter — everything will be dissolved in your current and carried away until it becomes no more than another drop in billions of the same, carrying information that only you know.

SETH, on the other hand, carries with him the smell of something wild, giving life, — but also ruthlessly taking it for himself, strewing everything with the red-hot gold of the desert, which becomes more and more every time you rise, noticing how the waters that used to caress the fertile lands now nourish the sand.

And you know what will happen next — SETH has never been a secretive type, even if his method of hunting was closer to big cats hiding until they get close enough to bite into the throat and gnaw, taking them to their hideout. SETH is the same cat — big, red and strong, smelling of mature omega when he notices that you are more responsive to this fragrance.

SETH is not at all deeply interested in the topic of "let's mate" — are you sure that he is attracted not at all to your physical data or smell, but to how comfortable and safe he is next to you, letting him finally relax, looking for comfort in your waters, and that if he decided that you would be his, then you will be his.

He will always find you.

𓂀 SETH is persistent, stubborn and aggressive. Even if his emotions are a sphere that is easy to push and cause pain, you understand perfectly well that he is the god who will break rather than bend.

But when he asks you what happens to the bodies of those soldiers that he led to war, when they find themselves in the Nile, like bags full of blood, breathing and thinking recently, at first you don't know what to answer — not because you can't share his silent pain, looking like a scorpion that suddenly bared you have a soft vulnerable tummy, but because you have nothing to answer.

What happens to the bodies? The Nile absorbs them — everything that was dumped into the waters finds itself in the stomachs of animals or in water particles, carrying with it such an amount of memory that nothing else can contain.

“... If I die one day, will you promise that my memory will be preserved in your waters?”

You no longer know if you are talking about the waters of the Nile or something else — but you know that you will probably never find SETH like this again.

Unusually fragile, as if really an ordinary omega who just wants to have a family, a common nest and puppies. To have you as an alpha, to be in the same nest with you and to have children together.

What can you say other than consent? No matter what happens, he will always remain in your memory — as a special memory that will never be erased.

“... Thank you. I'll never forget you either. And I won't let go.”

His eyes are burning just like the sunset on the background.

“We'll be together. Always. Because I chose you and I won't let you go.”

𓂀 His power becomes stronger, and when you meet him again, you have nothing to oppose when the sand from the land and the bottom rises to grab you.

Undoubtedly, it wasn't something that you 'didn't expect' — SETH was never the type who tried to hide what intentions he had if he saw that it would affect your attitude, and even if he found comfort in your touches and hugs, covering him like a blanket from the whole world, he never had this safe habit of 'being content with little'. His intentions were obvious from the first meeting and did not change at all — you were perfect, from head to toe, the only one with whom he would like to spend one heat and then make you spend thousands more, finally feeling complete, finished.

He, the god of the Desert and War, with you, Deity of the Nile flood — is not the best couple that can be?

'No'?

... Ha, does someone think that things like "imperfect couple" or "more worthy" or "more accessible" or "morally wrong" or something else will stop him?

Does he need permission? If he wants it — he will get it. And nothing can stop him.

Even if you are a beta, you smell fertile, pleasant, sweet — you smell of life, sex, from which children are born, absorbing the spilled blood and creating from it what brings birth and fertility, and SETH has always been more than gambling and ready to put everything on the line.

And you knew it.

Even if you are safe in the water, once you get out, nothing can save you — especially when you step on the sand, which immediately becomes your cage, locking you in. The waters immediately splash out of the Nile, crushing on him, but now SETH moves only a couple of steps, becoming much more powerful — and when palms grab by the wrists while teeth close on neck, everything inside you starts screaming again that you need to run right now.

Now the sand turns out to be decorated with spots of the deity's blood.

His mark pulsates on never-marked neck — and although it is not the same among deities as among people, you clearly see that for him it was not at all 'just a bite' or a 'mating mark', but a sign of possession, while the pupils in the blood-red iris, the shade of red-hot metal, expand, and a nimble pink tongue licks the blood from scarlet lips.

Red.

RED RED RED.

Nails are no worse than the claws of a wolf, and even fangs look like they can easily tear apart a dozen other people who decide to intervene.

The sand squeezes your feet so tightly that you can't even twitch.

This is all completely wrong.

You cowardly escape into the waters — betas are not capable of mating, are not created for this, closer to 'asexual beings' who do not have a biological task in the form of giving birth, much closer to the primordial asexual matter than to the omegas and alphas giving birth, but for some reason a mark with an imprint burns on his neck which didn't exist before.

Was it you? Or was it the part of you that you denied? You didn't know. It is easier to plunge into the native waters than to try to figure out why for the first time its fragrance was so dizzying, or why you went for something like this. You're not like that at all — not like that at all. It's not normal.

But you'll have to get out soon anyway.

You don't want your omega to get hurt while calling you, right, alpha?

Interlude

“I'm surprised you decided to step in anyway, dear.”

When the sand almost gently wraps around your hands, you realize that the biggest stupidity you can do is to try to escape.

Even if there is water in things like vases in the room, this is too little to create the necessary amount — and even to make sand soft and heavy, such a meager amount is not enough, except to pour it on him and break a vase on this face.

“Wasn't it you who liked to be constantly huddled in your little shell? Hiding there from any danger and thinking that it will help you?”

His hands are not the same as before — slightly rough, wide palms that easily slide over your cool skin, leaving warm traces, slightly scratching with sharp nails, as if hinting that you should not do rash things; if he did not smell like a blooming omega, you would think that he was alpha or alpha-like beta.

“But it turns out that if it's not me, but someone else, then you're ready to help them! No matter how much blood I shed, you didn't come out — but as soon as it was Isis, you immediately got out to help.”

His mark on your neck has not been pulsating for a long time, but when his fingers touch your neck, he freezes for a moment, assessing the scar left, which is almost impossible to notice — and from something, your body again feels this soreness, fettering for a moment from the realization of what happened before the brain began to work feverishly.

Then.

Now you are experiencing phantom pain until you realize that it is not 'phantom' — SETH shamelessly licks your blood from his fingers when he realizes that he scratched the old mark.

“This is wrong.”

Even when blood drips down from the shoulder, you know that's not what you need to worry about — his body is hot as the desert during the day, especially when his hips easily sit on top of yours, taking care that the sand does not let go of your hands.

“I promised you I'd always be there for you; although it was you who avoided me all these years, not appearing even when the corpses filled the entire Nile, while the other gods were terrified of what was happening — but I understand. A lot to do, yes? You've always been busy and strict, ever since our first meeting, when you doused me like some kind of animal.”

The thick scent of omega is so strong that you are not sure if it smells from him or if it is something else — the same thing that made you bite his neck then; your bite is also still burning on his skin, although it looks much more noticeable on him, although you are sure that you bit weaker than him.

The sweet bloody fragrance makes you dizzy.

“And when I saw you, I realized that you didn't live well either; after all, who but me could take care of a hermit like you?”

His hands, in spite of everything, are omeganine soft and pleasant, even if he uses them to look even more wrongly charming, as if he did not sneak into your bedroom — in which you were definitely expecting this meeting — to "talk heart to heart" while his hot wet slippery thighs touch your hips,

obviously.

“I was doing the wrong thing. I gave you the 'right to choose', thinking that this is what lovers should do — but, you know, people around me explained to me what I did wrong. By own example. And I'm ready to show you what I should have done back then, instead of this idiotic thought that you'd think it over and make a nest with me...”

He purrs — deep in his throat, like a big cat, when a strong flexible hand gently rests on your chest while the second one uses the surface behind as a support, rubs against your thighs, leaving sticky wet traces of juice on your bare skin, from touching which your skin burns, and you don't look at him, making sure not to do anything you might regret,

“Look at your omega.”

but it's hard to do when his hand moves from your chest to your throat, not squeezing, but feeling quite threatening, even if you are sure that it will not cause any harm.

“Don't you dare take your eyes off me or I'll scratch them out. You can only look at me and see only me. No one else and nothing else.”

The way he hovers feels almost the same as when he was able to summon you for the first time — his hair hangs down freely, like the flames of candles burning around you, and the same abnormally bright glow burns in his eyes, like the eyes of a cat. Or a wolf.

An abandoned, starved wolf.

“... Like I said, no one cares about you but me — you can fight this idea all you want, but we both know it's true.”

It's wet, wet, hot, sticky, tight between SETH'S thighs — you didn't consider yourself a 'virgin', but when the smell gets stronger and sharper, even you need time to get rid of the veil of excitement that covers eyes in the basest way, looking at his strong thighs while red hair falls over his shoulders, revealing a view of the most handsome omega in your life.

“Therefore...”

His lips are scarlet, thin, beautiful, and when he bends over you, you can't feel the inarticulate delight and the misunderstanding that follows it, associated with the simultaneous desire to pull away from repeated unusual stimulation and the desire to take this stimulation, grab by the hair and breed until it becomes clear that you will need a joint nest, in which he will keep the puppies while you fill him again and again.

Over and over, until his belly is rounded.

This is wrong.

His legs are slender and strong, ideal so that you don't have to do anything while SETH is able to at least move his knees — but you are sure that if you just wrap your hands around his hips and squeeze, you will get much more pleasure and delight, hammering into him with the basest this is wrong in a way.

It's the smell of omega. Definitely the smell of omega.

You yourself can't feel like this for him — for omega, who first marked you, then pursued you for many years and now, finally getting a chance, immediately pounced like an overexcited wolf, to such an extent that you can see the juice flowing down his thighs, although you are sure that even he does not realize it himself, considering it nothing more than a 'punishment'.

“... let me take care of–”

Of course you will.

Everything happens in the blink of an eye — the water, the sand, astonished expression on his face and how it takes you no more than a couple of minutes to find yourself in a deliciously tight heat, from which his claws immediately scratch your hands holding him on his back until it bleed, but nothing in him tries to escape, even if SETH growls mixed with purring, choking on words as you snuggle tighter, allowing something more animal, dirty to take control.

You smell of life, passion, sex — 'the very sex from which children are born', the very life that gave rise to mortals, and you know that you have something to fill this womb with.

When his cheeks are covered with a bright blush, reminiscent of the shade of his eyes and hair; you can't help but reach out to burrow into his neck, not caring about the sand that is wrapped around your ankle — and not caring about the aggressive imperiousness with which SETH squeezes you while sharp fangs bite your lips almost to the point of blood, greedily kissing, almost devouring.

If you leave me again, I'll find you and kill you.

#🧸.yandere au

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