Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Get off your phone and come dance with me!” David was startled from where he had been looking at the unsent text on his phone. He looks up and meets the beaming face of his older sister, Diana. She was stunning in her white dress with her long, flowing blond hair. The dress was a chapel train with a scoop neck. He hadn’t known what any of that had meant 3 months ago, but she had dragged him along to pick out said dress. Her excuse was that his opinion mattered more than their mother’s, as she apparently was ‘too obsessed with frills and would pick out a dress that made her look like a poodle’. And seeing it now under the flashing lights of the DJ stand, he was proud to have been the one who found it.

“C’mon Dee, you know I can’t dance. Go dance with your husband; that’s what he’s here for.” He jokes, already making his way to follow her onto the dance floor. He really couldn’t say no to her, and when he plucked up the courage, her puppy eyes would shatter any argument. A power she had used too many times when it came to making him do her chores. Once close enough, she sweeps him into her arms. It was funny how Diana, who was usually the same height as him (5’10), was towering over him in her heels.

“Cole has danced so much he thinks his feet will bleed. Now, be a good little brother and dance with me!” David flinches at how loud her voice is. But he didn’t mind; she had every right to be excited. The man of her dreams finally got around to marrying her after six years of dating. He could understand waiting to be sure, but they had moved in together after just one year. His sister had been going stir-crazy, waiting for Cole to pop the question.

She shuffles them through the crowd of dancing bodies towards the center of the dance floor. She grabbed his waist, taking the lead, and David left flailing to grab her shoulders as she began to expertly swing him around to the beat of the song. She laughs so hard at his fumbling that she smudges her mascara.

The next song to start was much slower, allowing him to catch his breath and sway slowly with her.

“I’m so glad you could actually get the week off to celebrate with me. God only knows how bad you’ve needed a vacation. You little workaholic.”

“I’m helping to protect people, Dee. I need to stay focused.” He lowers his voice and leans in. “But I really did need this vacation, thank you.” Giggling, she uses their proximity to leave a big fat lipstick mark on his forehead. “Dee!! C’mon, that’s going to be terrible to wash off.” David fusses, lightly shoving her away.

“Diana, my love, stop torturing the omega.” Cole chastises, appearing from the crowd and handing a champagne glass to his now-wife. “Oh, hush now, Cole. You know he hates being called that.” Cole sighed in reply, and I could feel my cheeks darken with shame.

“Did you really have to leave a lipstick stain on his forehead? How will he attract any alphas if he looks like he’s already been with someone?” David opens his mouth to give a retort, but just like old times, his sister steps in for him.

“Love, he’s not trying to attract a mate right now. He’s too ‘busy’. And I think he looks adorable with it.” She declares, leaning in to plant a kiss on Cole's cheek, leaving him with a matching mark.

Yep, just like always. Diana would stick up for him, but not in the way it mattered. He couldn’t blame her; this whole secondary gender thing had only started to appear in the past 60 or so years. They were just beginning to understand it scientifically. The law and society were always slower to catch up. Betas like them had it so easy.

“I’m going to go get a drink before Dee tries to dance me to death. You lovebirds, have a good evening. And congratulations again.” He says the last part with a genuine smile towards his sister. He was thrilled to see her achieve her happy ending, or, as she called it, her happy beginning. Before he could move away, she reached out to ruffle his near-black hair. “Thanks, David.”

He stumbles his way out between dancers and makes his way over to the bar. The venue his sister had picked out was beautiful with its tall, arched ceilings and marble flooring. It was a large building made specifically to host weddings and other large gatherings. It also helped that they had built it next to one of the town's hotels, making it easier for long-distance travelers.

It wasn’t nearly as fancy as other venues, but Cole, ever the realist, had wanted the venue to be cheaper and closer to home so that they could spend more time and money on other things like Diana's dress and the catering. Saying that those were the things people would remember. Speaking of catering, they had managed to secure the services of the staff from one of the local, and very expensive, restaurants in town to prepare their meal, serve, and man the bar. Meaning he knew most of these people, and it wasn’t as awkward to order things.

Walking up to the bar, he flashed Alice a smile. She was a tall, skinny omega with bright red hair and a thick Russian accent. She always made David feel comfortable and never judged him for ordering strong drinks, just because he was an omega.

“Your usual?” She asks, already in the process of pouring the bourbon.

“You know me so well.” He smiles, leaving a hefty tip at the bar, and grabs his drink from her. He weaves through the tables, returning to his seat at the head table. It was empty as all of the other wedding party members were either dancing or getting wasted in the corner of the room. Grabbing his phone, he opens it to the text thread from earlier. Mikayla. She was amazing. Beautiful, kind, graceful, and one hundred percent not interested in him. It was always a risk for an omega to try to go after another omega. But he couldn’t be bothered to stay within the norms. He had no wish to be a submissive broodmare to some alpha or beta. Because of this, he chose to date only omegas, or occasionally a female beta.

This has led to him only having two very short relationships and a handful of one-night stands. And at the age of 25, it was starting to get embarrassing how little dating or sexual experience he had. He looked back down at the unsent text message. ‘Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date sometime?’ It wasn’t smooth or flashy at all. However, she was a down-to-earth and very religious omega, so he thought it would be best to keep it simple and straightforward. He hovered his thumb over the send button for a second before quickly pressing it and pocketing his phone. He then grabbed his glass of bourbon and downed it.

“Having a fun night, it seems.”

Wait. He knew that voice. It belonged to one of the EMTs he’d often see at crime scenes. Setting down his glass, he looked to see that it was, in fact, the EMT, but for some reason, he was wearing a waiter's outfit.

“Why would you say that?" he asked. Eyeing the alpha before him suspiciously.

“Well, umm…” he trailed off, pointing a finger at his forehead. David took a second to look at the man's forehead before it dawned on him that he still had his sister's lipstick stain on his own forehead. Blushing heavily, he brought his sleeve up to wipe his forehead.

“I forgot about that.”

“Wait! Don’t do that; you’ll stain your sleeves! White is so hard to clean. Wait a minute, and I'll be back with some moist towelettes.”

David watched as the man weaved as fast as he could through the crowd towards the kitchen in the back. Looking down at his sleeve, he saw that it was stained pink. ‘Shit, this is a rental, too.’ Wetting his sleeve with some of the water at the table, he was able to rub some of the stain out as he saw the waiter coming back.

Looking closer at the man, he seemed to be around the same age, with a tan that seemed more natural than a regular one; perhaps he was of Middle Eastern descent. He was tall, at least six feet, and had brown hair that was trying to curl at the ends. David could tell that the man was in shape from how his shirt clung to his shoulders and chest and how his pants hugged his thighs. There was also the fact that EMTs had to be able to pass a physical training course. He wasn’t bad-looking. This was obvious to David, not only just from looking at the man but also by the way every girl he passed eyed him like a piece of meat. He, in return, would smile and, at certain girls, even wink. ‘Great, he’s a fuck boy. I’m sure this conversation will go well.’

Making it back to the head table, he held out his hand with at least four packs of moist towelettes in it. Taking them, David ripped one open and started to wipe the barely moist cloth across his forehead. The waiter just stood there watching, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. ‘He’s nervous.’

“So your name's David, right? I’ve seen you at work a couple of times. I wanted to introduce myself, but you were obviously busy with crime scene work, and I didn’t want to get in the way.” David looked up to see the man giving him a smile that was a tad on the shy side, if his lack of direct eye contact was anything to go by.

“Ya, probably best to stay out of the way when it comes to detectives. By the way, what are you doing here? Thought you were an EMT or something.”

“Oh, I am. My family owns Terrin’s Grill. So I help out from time to time if they are short-staffed or if I need the money... What are you doing here? Are you friends with the groom?”

“Cole? No. Diana’s my sister and the reason for the lipstick.”

David drops the towelette, which has a sad amount of lipstick on it, onto the table.

“I didn’t get all of it off, did I?”

“Uh, no, you didn’t… Kinda just smeared it around.” He replied, trying to hold back laughter. “Do you need help getting it off?”

David looks back at the sad towelette with a sigh. “Sure.”

Smiling, the man walks around the table and sits in the chair beside him. He grabs one of the packets, rips it open, and then takes a glass of water from the table, pouring a small amount onto the cloth.

“It helps to activate them.” He says, leaning closer and tilting my head towards him. Bringing the cloth up, he begins to wipe at the lipstick. “My name is August, by the way.”

“Aren't you supposed to wear a name tag or something?”

“We are, but I lost it a while ago, and they haven’t given me a new one.”

His eyes dart to the side as he talks. ‘He’s lying.’

“What’s the real reason?” August looks taken aback for a second before his eyes travel sheepishly to the floor.
“Oh, right, you're a detective. It's kind of scary how easily you can read people. I may have lost my name tag on purpose tonight so the girls wouldn’t be able to find my social media. We only have a skeleton crew here tonight, so I can’t just hide from people.”

“Well then, it’s nice to meet you, August.” August leans back with a smile, transferring the cloth to his left hand so he can hold his right out for a handshake. Taking it, he gave David's hand a firm squeeze.

“It’s nice to meet you too, David.”

Dropping his hand, August goes back to rubbing at the lipstick. ‘God, it was hot in this place. It must be all the bodies moving around, but it hadn’t seemed this hot earlier. It appears that I’m not the only one bothered by the heat, as I see a bead of sweat run down August's temple.’

“Almost got it. Jeez, she must be wearing waterproof lipstick or something. I’m surprised she even left a mark with how well it wants to stick to your skin.”

“I wouldn’t put it past Dee to find a waterproof lipstick that can still transfer easily.”

As August scrubs a bit harder at the last of the lipstick, he focuses on the smells around the room. There are many scents: alcohol, perfume, roast beef, steak, chocolates, and of course, the mixed scents of Alphas, Betas, and Omegas. Some are mated, and most are not. Another scent is barely there—tickling the back of his throat. It's hard to place while so jumbled with the rest of the room, but it seems very familiar. Taking a deep breath, he focuses on the scent. His eyes widen as he realizes what it is and where it’s coming from.

“August, are you going into rut? Why would you take a job knowing it was so close?”

“Me!? I’m not going into rut. Mine is still three months out. Sure, it’s not you that you're smelling; you seem pretty close to heat to me. I know it’s your sister’s wedding, but you should have stayed home.”

“I know the difference between heat and rut scents! Plus, my last heat was 5 months ago.” August looks confused as he brings his shirt collar up to his nose.

“Fuck. I am going into rut.” He shifts closer, smelling the air between them. “And you, David, are definitely going into heat.” His gaze widens for a second as a look of realization crosses his face. “Holy shit! Are we true mates!?”

People must have overheard as heads turned in their direction. David tries to duck, but he is starting to feel the effects of pre-heat. His body feels too warm and twice as heavy. This can’t be happening. True mates were so rare. He didn’t even want a mate, let alone some fuck boy Alpha.

The light bleeding through the cracks of the blinds was hitting him in the face. Uhhgg, how much had he drank? His head was pounding. Well, not just his head; his whole body ached. His back, knees, neck, and his cunt throbbed. Wait. He jolts awake, trying to sit up, but an arm around his waist stops him. Oh no. Did he sleep with August while in heat!?

A look to his left confirmed that he had done precisely that. August lay on his stomach facing him, snoring quietly. Shit shitshitshit. This was not happening. He carefully moved August's arm from his waist and slowly slid out of bed. His legs were shaking when he finally got his feet on the floor. But that wasn’t the worst part. No, it was the semen dripping down his legs and coating his folds. ‘That fucking asshole fucked him raw in heat!?’

How many knots had he taken, and what day was it? He scrambled around what looked to be a hotel room, picking up his clothes, which had been scattered around. Thankfully, he found his phone in his pants pocket. It still had about 15% battery life left, and it was only 10:17 am on Thursday. Great, that meant he still had almost four full days to figure this whole mess out before he had to go back to work on Monday. But it also meant that he had been in this room with August for a little over two days.

Unlocking his phone showed a plethora of missed calls and texts. There were two that caught his eye. One was from his sister, who congratulated him and reminded him to use protection. ‘Too late for that.’ The second important text was from Mikayla. He clicked into the chat and felt his heart drop to his stomach as he read the texts.

-Sure, I’d love to go on a date with you, David. I thought you’d never ask. Does Wednesday at 7:00 pm work? Received Monday 10:32 pm

-Hello? Received Tuesday 10:00 am

-I'm sorry. You’re probably busy at work, but I’m a little nervous. Do you still want to go out? If Wednesday doesn’t work, I’m free on Thursday any time after 3:00. Just let me know, okay? Received Tuesday 5:37 pm

He looked over at August in the bed. Fuck, he’d finally had a shot at being happy, and the universe decided to send him this asshole to mess everything up. Limping to the bathroom, he was not prepared to see his reflection. He was covered in hickeys and bite marks. His hair was a mess. And there was dried blood coating his left shoulder where his brand new mating bite was still puffy and inflamed as it was starting to scab over.

He was mated.
There wasn’t any running from this now. He was stuck for life with the alpha still sleeping in the bed. His career was ruined. Everything he had worked for for the last 12-plus years was going down the drain just like that. No more pride in being the only omega detective on this side of the country. It was all gone. Pulling up the messages on his phone, he looked through his chats with Mikayla. She was such a sweet girl. She deserved an explanation and a goodbye.

He quickly cleaned himself up and made himself as presentable as possible before quietly sneaking out of the room. There were things he had to get done, and he couldn't risk having August slow him down. Making his way down to the lobby, he paid for the room and explained that his mate was still in the room before leaving. Paying was the least he could do after leaving without so much as a note to explain where he was.

Thankfully, they had stayed at the hotel across from the venue. As he walked to his car, he reviewed the game plan in his head.

First, the pharmacy. The faster he could get Plan B, the better. After that, he would go home, change, and text Mikayla that he was coming over today. If he still had time, he would run by the florist and get Mikayla a bouquet as an apology. Then, he would return his suit. Lastly, he would stop by the courthouse and file the new mate paperwork so that he wouldn’t have the government breathing down his neck about fraud and mate elopement.

Chapter Text

He felt a little silly walking into a pharmacy in a wrinkled suit, smelling heavily of sex with hickeys and a hint of his fresh mating mark peaking out from his shirt collar. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but the closest pharmacy had been the one in Safeway. He felt even worse as he beelined it through the grocery store to the feminine hygiene aisle and started searching for Plan B in between the tampons and condoms. A beta eyed him as she grabbed a box of tampons, walking off with a scoff.

Once he found it, he noticed it had one of those little alarms, meaning he had to take it through the pharmacy checkout. He speed walked to the line and pretended to look at things on his phone. He was called to the window after waiting for what felt like forever. ‘Why did pharmacy lines always have to be so long?’ Setting the box down, he felt his cheeks flame as the young girl, another beta, at the window gave him a surprised look.

“Will this be all for today?”

“Yes.” He replies, his voice sounding a bit dry.

“Okay, and is your mate here to sign off on this purchase?”

He blinked a bit. Had he heard that, right? There was no way he couldn’t buy this without permission from a man he barely knew.

“Sir, is your mate here to sign off on this purchase? We can’t sell this to you without physical proof of your mates ok.”

Swallowing heavily, David tried to steady himself. “Umm, no, my mate is not here. He was held up at work, so I’ll have to come back with him later. Sorry for holding up the line.”

She grabbed the box as he moved to leave. As if he were going to try to take the box and make a run for it. This was so frustrating. Those pills would only work for so long after sex, and his window was quickly closing. Walking through the store, he noticed a tall tattooed man eyeing the clearance rack of clothes near the checkouts. He would recognize that curly blond hair anywhere.

“Hey, Dom!” he stood on his tippy toes and waved, making sure the tall alpha would actually see him.

Looking up, a smile instantly formed on the man's face as his eyes landed on David.

“Dude! Is that really you?! I haven’t seen you in like ages. How’s it going, buddy?” Walking closer to David, a look of surprise crosses his face before turning into a smirk. “Mister loner finally got a mate, huh? Looks like you two have been busy. Mind telling me about her?”

“Umm, they're a guy, actually, and…” he trails off with a sigh. How could he explain this? ‘Oh, you know, I was at Diana’s wedding when all of a sudden, a random guy walks up and sends me into an early heat because, apparently, we’re ‘true mates’.’

Dom must have noticed the shift in his mood. “You good, bud? You wanna talk outside?” David nods, waiting for him to put the shirt he was holding back on the rack before following him outside.

They make their way to a white, beat-up 2002 Ford F1-50. It is a two-door that is missing its front bumper and has rust spots on the truck bed.

“You have to be kidding me. I thought you gave up trying to flip junk cars, Dom?”

Dom reached a hand behind his head nervously scratching at his scalp. “Well, it’s not really for flipping. I’m a bit hard up for cash at the moment.”

David let out a sigh of exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re still smoking and failed another drug test, didn’t you?”

“Listen, I really did try to quit, but it’s just weed. I don’t see why it’s a big deal. It’s legalized in most places now anyway.”

“The ‘deal’ is that employers don’t want their employees coming into work stoned. It’s legal to drink, but you still can’t go to work drunk now, can you?”

“Ha! Spoken like a true copper.”

“I’m a detective now, Dom. Little higher on the food chain than just a copper.”

A moment of silence falls between them. David almost feels bad. Dom and him had been virtually inseparable for most of their lives, but as soon as David had qualified for the police training academy, he had neglected to even reach out to Dom. Sometimes, he straight-up ignores his texts and calls. He truly was a shitty friend. Not that it had all been his fault, but Dom wasn’t exactly an easy person to be around, especially if you wanted to make it as a cop. David didn’t have to pull his record to know that he’d had several DUIs, MIPs, and possession charges from before weed was legalized. Hell, he’d been there to witness some of those charges.

Dom cleared his throat as he went to lean against his pickup to face David. “So about this mate of yours. What’s going on, buddy? He didn’t force you, did he? Because I would happily spend some time in jail if he did. Just try to pull some strings to get me out faster if you can.”

“Jesus! Dom, keep your voice down. You can’t just say Shit like that!”

“I don’t really care what people think. Omegas should have the same rights as everyone else. And if someone forced you, my Best Friend, then I'm taken a murder charge, simple as that.”

“I appreciate the support, Dom, but it’s not that bad. Ok?”

“Then tell me about him.” He pauses to look at David again. “Looks like he tried to eat you. And we may not have spoken in what? The last four-ish years, but I know for a fact you wouldn’t go out in public lookin’ like this if it weren’t for an emergency. Start spillin' tea, my friend.”

“The whole story?”

“The whole fuckin story.”

David looks down and toes at the pavement with a boot. “Well, I was at Diana’s wedding and-”

“Hold up, Dee’s married!? Why the fuck wasn’t I invited?”

“Oh, um, she wanted you to be there, honest. But Cole put his foot down, saying he wasn’t comfortable with you being there… May I continue?” Dom looked angry for a second before letting out a dramatic huff and motioning for him to continue.

“So, at the wedding, I ran into one of the waiters. They were from Terrin’s grill. And he’s an EMT, I've seen him around crime scenes a couple of times at work, but that’s as much as I know about him. Well, because Dee had left a big lipstick kiss on my forehead.” Dom lets out a small laugh, shaking his head but not interrupting again. “The waiter, August, was helping me wipe it off when all of a sudden, both my heat and his rut started.”

“You were fuckin true mates! Dude, that’s so cool! That kind of shit has only happened what? A hundred times in the last sixty years, if that. Hah, what are the chances?”

“Yes, well, woke up in a hotel room mated to the guy, and we didn’t use protection, so I came here as fast as I could to get Plan B, but I apparently can’t get it without August's consent, so I'm screwed… Literally.”

“Damn, must be a new law or something.”

“If it were a law, I'd have known about it. They're just trying to cover their asses against lawsuits.”

“Wait, so if this all just happened, where's August?”

“Umm, well, you see, I was kinda panicking, so I may have left him at the hotel. There might also be an omega that I was supposed to be going on a date with, so I wanted to explain things to her in person.”

“Oh my god, David! You ran from your mate?”

“I didn’t run. I just needed some time alone to figure things out and to say goodbye to Mikayla. I’m going straight to the courthouse after to file the paperwork, promise.”

“Oh, that’s so much information to take in. Ok, so did he force you?”

“I-I don’t know. I had been drinking when the heat came on, so it’s kinda messing with my memories, but I don’t think so.”

Dom took a second to process. “So you left him a note, right? Explainin’ things and leavin' him with a way to contact you, right.” David just stares at his shoes. “RIGHT?”

“I couldn’t find any paper, and I was in a hurry-”

“Jesus Christ, David! This isn’t good, buddy. Let's just hope this August guy is understanding, or else you're in a world of hurt, little dude.”

“I know, but I panicked, and I really wanted to explain things to Mikayla!”

Dom rubs at his temples, taking a deep breath. His head snaps up like he’d just realized something. “Wait, Mikayla? As in Mikayla Larckson? Short little thing, brown hair, brown eyes, extremely religious?”

“Umm, ya, how do you know her?”

“Fuck dude, I have a date with her in.” he looks down at the surprisingly expensive-looking watch on his wrist. “Fuck twenty minutes. I need to high-tail it out of here if I want to make it on time. Call me tomorrow and fill me in on the rest of this shit show, okay?” He says, scrambling to get into the driver's seat and cranking the key. David steps back and watches as the Ford tries to sputter to life. Once. Twice. And on the third try, the starter gives out with a sad click.

Dom opens the door and walks back over to David. “Soooo, you said you needed to talk to her, too, right? Mind giving me a lift? I’ll call a tow truck on the way.”

David doesn’t reply but gestures for Dom to follow him over to his 2022 charger. It was black and had a grill. It looked suspiciously like an undercover cop car, which was fitting as it was one. He knows he shouldn’t use it as a daily, but you just never know when you're going to get called in and need to rush to a crime scene.

Taking a seat on the passengers' side, Dom eyes the metal cage separating the front and back seats.

“You just drive this thing around everywhere, huh? Oh! Can I turn on the lights!? Does this thing even have lights?”

David swats at his hand, which was hovering over the dashboard.

“Yes, it has lights, and no, you can not turn them on. They are specifically for emergencies only.”

Dom pouts a little but goes to put on his seat belt. Pulling out his phone, he gives David the address. It’s about a 15-minute drive before David pulls up to a small house in a run-down but seemingly nice neighborhood. There are kids playing basketball in a driveway a few houses down, and two girls walking their dogs with headphones in. So, it's definitely not a rough neighborhood. Just a bit on the poorer side. It reminds David of the street he grew up on.

Mikayla’s house is a tiny, light-grey, one-story house that needs some siding work. The yard was a bit overgrown, but nothing terrible. The flowers hanging by the welcome sign near the front door were in full bloom. There’s a plaque above her front door with the Jesus fish symbol on it. Dom’s leg is shaking with nerves.

“Ready to go?” Dom asked, not looking at David.

“Let’s get this over with.”

“Can’t believe she was tryin' to set up dates with two different guys on the same day. Just doesn’t seem like something she would do, ya know.” Dom says as he gets out of the car.

Following his lead, David gets out and locks the car. “Well, in her defense, I wasn’t responding to her texts. She probably thought I ghosted her.”

Dom hums in response as he makes his way up the driveway towards the door.

“Do you think she’s gonna freak out when she sees both of us here? If I were talkin to two chicks and they both showed up at my door at the same time, I’d freak.”

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. I’ll explain myself and get out of your way. I’m sorry if I’m messing up your date, Dom.”

“Psshh, don’t worry about it, bud.” Dom waves him off as he goes to knock on the door, but stops with his fist raised barely an inch from it.

“What’s up? Got cold feet?”

Dom doesn’t answer as he lets his hand relax and slowly pushes at the door. Surprisingly, the door swings open with ease. Turning to David, Dom gives a worried look.

“Dude, the door jamb was busted. There was just a shoe behind the door that was holdin it closed.”

David's stomach drops. He’s got none of his gear with him. He left it at the precinct when he took his vacation. He steps in front of Dom and looks into the house. Nothing looks off. There is a neat pile of shoes near the entrance, and the living room seems fine. It's slightly messy but exactly what you would expect from a well-lived area.

“Mikayla!” David shouts as loudly as he can. Hoping that she just had a bad door and that nothing was wrong. There’s no reply. “Mikayla! It’s me, David, are you there!?” Still no reply. David lets out a deep sigh before entering the home. “Mikayla, I’m coming in. Let me know if you're there.” He can hear Dom shuffle in behind him.

They make their way through the house quietly. There are no signs of struggle, but it’s not quite right either. There were lights on, the fridge door wasn’t closed all the way, and the radio in the bathroom was playing music at a low hum. The only room left was the bedroom. David takes a moment to listen for any movement behind the door. Nothing. He knocks on the door, waiting for a reply before turning the knob and letting the door swing open slowly on its own.

“Holy fuck.” Dom breathes out behind him.

The entire bedroom was trashed. The dresser had been knocked over, and clothes were strewn across the room. Cigarette butts still let out small amounts of smoke on the ground and singe the carpet. But the bed was the worst, and it wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened there. The sheets and blankets had been pulled down near the base of the bed where there were still drying puddles of slick and seamen that were tinged pink with what David could only assume was blood.

“W-what do we do, David? They fuckin took her! I-I didn’t know the fuckin traffickers would come this far into town! I thought they stayed near the east side with all the druggies! They took her in broad fuckin daylight!” Dom was starting to panic behind him, his hand gripping David's shoulder hard enough to bruise and making his mating bite ache from the rough touch. David lays a hand on top of Dom’s.

“You didn’t touch anything, right?”

“N-no, I knew better than to go touchin’ things.”

“Good, this house is now an active crime scene. We’re going to head down to the station and get a crew sent out here; this is all still fresh, so there’s a good chance they haven’t made it out of the city yet. We’ll find her, Dom.”

Chapter Text

Both David and Dom sit facing the desk of David’s boss Jessie Gwladus. They had just gone through recounting the story of finding Mikayla’s house empty and their assumption of the traffickers being involved. They were both waiting nervously for the Scots' reply. However, the redheaded female Alpha only continued to glare daggers at the two. Her glare liked to linger on David, especially his neck, making him feel itchy as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

His boss had always creeped him out. She was just on the side of being too pushy when it came to David’s boundaries. There had been plenty of flirty and suggestive comments along with unwanted and lingering touches, but that was to be expected of any Alpha in power. But the one time he had gone to HR for her grabbing and squeezing his mating gland when out drinking with the rest of the station after a hard case, they had overlooked his complaint entirely, saying light flirting was not an issue.

‘Light flirting, what a joke. ’

“So, David.” He’s startled from his internal turmoil by the sound of her voice, looking up to make eye contact with her. “Ye just expect me ta give ye a missing persons case after ye show up in the middle of your vacation looking like ye starred in The Hangover? And freshly mated ta some tattooed idiot with quite the record from the looks of it. Ye never even mentioned ye were dating someone. Although by the looks of him, I can see why. Ye really turned me down all those times for him?” She ends with a seething look at Dom.

Both men sputter in shock before David gets his bearings enough to reply.

“H-he’s not my mate! He’s a friend and a key part of this investigation. You should be focusing on the poor girl who’s gone missing! You don’t need to know what’s going on in my love life!”

Gwladus stands up and slams her hands down on the desk. “Don’t ye dare raise you’re voice at me, omega! I’m the only reason ye still have a job! Ye think I would have kept ye around fer so long if it weren’t for my attempts at courting ye? No! A police station is no place for an omega!”

Dom had stood to face the other alpha as soon as she had started yelling, taking a protective step in front of David.

“How dare you talk to him like that, you bitch! He deserves to be here more than any of you shit brained Alphas! I’ve kept up with his work over the years, and he’s closed more cases than any of your other detectives!”

Gwladus glares up at Dom, her eyes stone cold. Straightening herself, she walks around the desk to stand chest to chest with him. Dom turns never letting her out of his sight. David stands and puts a hand on Dom's bicep, trying to get him to back up.

“This isn’t what we need right now. The more time we waste, the colder the trail goes. We need to focus on the case!” David pleads with the posturing alphas.

Neither Alpha has backed down, focusing on their battle for dominance. Gwladus bears her teeth in an extremely overdramatic show of aggression. Dom doesn’t so much as flinch, yet there is sweat starting to bead on his forehead. Dom has never been a fighter; he won’t win this fight, not against a trained officer.

Gwladus’s eyes snapped to David for a second, and both cops noticed how Dom immediately shifted in an attempt to block David from her gaze. With a smirk, Gwladus’s eyes lock back onto Dom. “You're just jealous that it wasn’t your knot that stretched his cunt. Too bad the whore didn’t submit fer me, I would have at least kept his ass home and pupped, away from desperate alphas like ye begging fer sloppy seconds.”

Dom froze in shock, mouth slack-jawed at her statement. David stared at her wide-eyed, still processing the fact that his boss had just said that. Fuck, no wonder he was never put onto missing omega cases. He doubted that his boss even cared about having them found. And pupped, no one used that term except for crazed alphas and the beta population that didn’t even recognize them as human, but rather like dogs instead.

Gwladus's smirk turned into a full smile at having rendered them both silent. “Well, now that that little pissing match is over. David, ye can go pack your stuff up. Your priorities have obviously changed, and I can’t afford to have ye slow the station down. My men will work on the missing persons case.” Her gaze turned back to Dom. “Now get this filth out of my station before I arrest him fer harassing an officer.”

***

Fifteen minutes later, David was sitting out on a bench down the street from the station with a box of his desk supplies. The box is drepressingly light. Two notepads, pens, a phone charger, a stapler, and one picture frame. It holds a printed picture from David’s college graduation. Everyone was there: his parents, Diana, Cole, and in the middle was Dom hoisting a shocked and slightly younger-looking David into the air. He had damn near held him in a bridal carry for twenty minutes, too happy and excited to let go of his best friend.

“Well, that was a thing.” Dom mutters, looking numbly at the pavement. “And I’m sorry, nobody should treat you like that.” There is a tenseness to his jaw that suggests he has much more to say on the subject. But he doesn’t. It’s not like Dom to keep his opinions to himself. And after what had just transpired, the fact that he had only muttered two sentences was unbelievable.

David just shrugs in reply as his eyes fall back down to the picture. So much had changed since then. He missed those simpler times. Sure, studying law and taking every psychology class he could get into was rough. Damn near impossible some weeks. But his family had always been there for him, encouraging him to keep going. And Dom had been the greatest encouragement out of all of them. Even after he had dropped out, he would come and help David study or order them pizza and force David to eat and drink something. He’d always had David's back through thick and thin.

Most people assumed that they were dating or would end up being mates. But that’s just not the kind of relationship they had. They’d been friends since first grade. Dom, Diana, and him had all been in the same grade since both Dom and Diana were only a year older than he was. Inseparable and deemed the three D’s by their teachers. It was a terrible nickname for a group, but it had stuck. And it had only gotten worse when Diane had gone off to a different college, leaving Dom and him to become the double D’s. The jokes had been never-ending.

“So what are we gonna do about Mikayla?” Dom asks, nudging him with his shoulder.

“What do you mean? You were there, you heard the same conversation I did. We can’t do shit. I’m canned, and my shit for brains ex-coworkers will never put in the amount of work needed to figure this out. Especially if this is part of that big trafficking ring.”

“So why don’t we just go after her ourselves?”

“Are you kidding, Dom? That would never work. Not in a million years! We don’t have the resources or clearance to do something like that. And what will we even track her down with if we do locate her? I have a motorcycle that definitely can’t fit both of us, and your pickup is a piece of shit that would never make it.”

Dom looks around and then leans closer to David with a smirk. “Well, it’s a good thing I nabbed these on the way out, isn’t it?” he then proceeds to place David's cruiser keys into his right hand.

“How the fuck did you get these without someone noticing?” David whispers harshly.

Dom shrugs with a shit eating grin. “Old habits die hard, I guess.”

“So let me get this straight, you want us to take a stolen undercover police cruiser on a wild goose chase to hopefully get our crush back and maybe stop a sex trafficking ring. We’d be arrested before we even got out of town.”

“We’re both handy with cars, I'm sure we can jailbreak that thing and take out its tracker. Besides, you said it yourself, no one else is going to put in the effort needed to look for her. This is why you joined the force in the first place, isn’t it? To help the people that the law keeps overlooking. Plus, you’ve already committed several crimes today, mate elopement, trespassing, theft (he adds with a pointed look to the keys still in his hand), what's a couple more gonna do to you? Jail would be one way to get away from that mate of yours, and you'll have me to be your big and scary alpha protector.” Dom rambles with a hopeful look in his eyes.

David adores him. He’d do anything to protect an omega. And if he can break laws along the way, then that was just an added bonus. Dom was nothing but pure trouble wrapped in a heart of gold. David wouldn’t have him any other way.

“Dude, you're not scary and you're a shit fighter, I’d be the one protecting us.” David snarks, shooting Dom a smirk.

“So that’s a yes?”

***

“Umm, hi, this is August Sabir. I was just calling to see if David Amery was there.”

“Why does the whereabouts of one of our officers concern ye?” A very angry and slightly Scottish female voice demands.

“I’m his mate. It’s still very new, so we really haven’t fleshed things out yet. I don’t have his number, so this was the only place I could think to call to figure out how to contact him.”

“Are you calling to report a mate elopement?”

“What! No, no, of course not! He probably just needed a little space. I just wanted to see if he is ok?”

Chuckling and multiple voices ring out in the background, setting August’s nerves alight. What was going on? He was just worried about David. He hadn’t expected him to have run off by the time he woke up. He was really starting to get worried. David had been drinking when he’d gone into heat, and with his heat being so far out, his hormones would have been out of whack.

Had he taken advantage of David?

He didn’t know anything about the guy. What if he had a partner and had just ruined a relationship? He didn’t want to be that guy.

There is shuffling on the other side of the phone before the girl’s voice is back.

“Mr. Amery is no longer employed here; he was terminated about three hours ago. And you might want to rethink that mate elopement charge, he stole a police cruiser and is on the run with another Alpha. We lost the signal of the vehicle’s tracker. Your mate could be anywhere in a couple of hours.”

Chapter Text

“So, 3 hours later, we have removed and destroyed the tracker. We took off the back bumper, painted the rims red, and I added some red pinstripes to this bad boy while also scuffing the paint in a couple of spots. Plus, I went and put some reflective tape over the plates so they can’t be read by cameras. Don’t ask me why I have the tape on hand. Your cruiser no longer looks like an undercover cop car but more like a rich teenager with bad taste’s car.” Dom proudly states a paintbrush in one hand and a white monster in the other as he looks over the vandalized police cruiser. “Do you think we should paint the grill guard too? To match the rims and pinstripes?”

“I don’t think it’s necessary,” David replies with a huff of a laugh before taking a sip from his water. Dom wouldn’t let him have anything with caffeine or alcohol in it. Even after an argument about how David wouldn’t even be pregnant yet, it doesn't work that fast. But he’d been too tired and anxious about getting the car ready to truly fight Dom on the matter. He was probably dehydrated anyway.

After taking the police car, which had been way too easy, they had driven the car into an alleyway to remove and destroy the tracker before heading to Dom’s house to make the car unrecognizable. They may have gone a little overboard, but if things went south, this is definitely not the car the cops would be looking for.

David now stands leaning up against Dom's workbench in his garage. So far, there have been no sirens, and the radio in the car has been surprisingly silent. Just the usual police chatter one would expect on a weekday.

It’s making David nervous. They should have realized the car was missing by now. There should be people looking for them. But the sun still shines and the birds chirp peacefully outside. The world keeps turning as if nothing has changed. David feels like something should be different. His life has been completely flipped on its head in the matter of a single day. Yet nothing dire has changed. Just him.

“Stop rubbing your bite. You're gonna irritate it.” Dom’s voice chides, and he notices with a start that he has been rubbing at August’s, no, his mate’s bite subconsciously. Had he been trying to use it as a way to self-soothe? The bite shouldn’t soothe him. It disgusts and infuriates him that his choice in the matter of being mated was taken away from him so easily. That Dom was right about his drink, and that in a couple of days, there would be a life growing inside him, and he had no way of preventing it. He didn’t hate kids, but he didn’t want to be the one to carry them. The thought of it scares him. From now on, every choice he makes will immediately affect a person inside him for life.

“Hey, hey, calm down, bud. Get outa your thoughts and focus on me, okay?” Dom’s voice soothes him, and he realizes that he’s hyperventilating and smooshed against Dom’s chest as the alpha hugs him, swaying them gently. He can feel the wetness on his cheeks from tears he hadn’t noticed he’d shed. He can feel himself breaking as he grips Dom’s shirt in his fists.

“I-I don’t want this, Dom! I don’t want a mate! I don’t want this baby! I wish everything just went back to normal.” David sobs into Dom’s chest, voice breaking at the end in a wimper.

“I know, I know, little dude. But we can’t change any of that now. If I could, I would. You know I'd move mountains for ya, David, but I can’t fix this.” Dom’s voice is strained, and when David tilts his head back to look at Dom's face, the alpha is holding back tears of his own.

They stand there for a bit just holding each other. David, however, clears his throat and steps away from Dom, ending the moment. He takes a second to ground himself and get his brain back on track after his panic attack. They were wasting time that they didn’t have. They needed to focus and get on the road.

“Dom, go pack a bag. Clothes both for hot and cold weather, hygiene products, and if you have more water bottles or non-perishables, grab them as well as any cash, matches, or weapons you have. Don’t bring your phone or any devices. If you need something to focus on, grab your art stuff or a book.”

Dom gives him a nod before rushing to the door connecting his garage to the house and disappearing through it. David busied himself with manually checking the tire pressure and the oil. By the time he was reinserting the dip stick, Dom was back with two duffel bags and a case of water balanced precariously in his arms. Closing the hood, David goes around to the driver's side, leans in through the window, and pops the trunk for Dom.

“Sorry if I packed too much, I was just grabbing anything I could think of. There are some chip bags, jerky, and granola bars in one of the bags, along with two boxes of matches and my switch blades.” Dom pants out as he practically dumps the bags in the trunk before placing the case of water in the middle, acting as a divider of sorts. After closing the trunk, he turns to address David. “I guess we are off to your house next so we can grab some clothes and stuff for you?”

“Yep, and don’t worry about the packing. As long as it’s useful stuff, it doesn’t matter. The trunk on this thing is huge,” David says as he gets into the driver's seat. Dom follows suit and slides into the passenger's side seconds later.

It’s a little over thirty minutes later that David is shoving his own clothes into the trunk. Packing had been harder for him. He didn’t know how long this chase would last. But considering that they had little to no clues, no resources, and the fact that they had wasted so much precious time on making sure the cops wouldn’t be able to track them, it will probably take months. So he had mainly packed joggers and sweats, knowing he would need the stretch of their elastic waistbands sooner than he wanted to admit.

Months. They would be doing this for months. He wasn’t sure if Mikayla or any other omega taken had months to spare. Who knows what terrible things would be happening to them in the meantime? He just hoped Mikayla wouldn’t be in the same predicament as him, or worse, by the time they got to her.

‘Don’t think about that right now, David, focus. Make sure you’re prepared for this.’

Because they were now fugitives he had also grabbed camping equipment - a tent, sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, flashlights, batteries, first-aid (which included Tylenol instead of aspirin and vitamins because Dom would harass him about prenatal health), a fishing rod with some salmon eggs for bait, a small fire-starting kit, and a frying pan and pot. He had also grabbed as many cans of vegetables, Spaghetti-Os, and ramen packets as he could, and filled up some jugs with water. This way, they would be able to camp out in the woods most of the time and only go into public areas when absolutely needed.

“How’s the radio sounding, Dom?”

“Normal, I think I can’t really understand cop talk. What’s next on the agenda?”

“We are heading back to Mikayla's house. Hopefully, the place isn't covered in cops.”

Thankfully, there were no cops at Mikayla’s house. It made David angry that Gwladus had completely ignored a missing persons report, but it also helped him out. There would have been no way to get evidence if cops had been here. They would have stolen and vandalized government property for no reason. Yeah, this was definitely better.

Parking in the alley, David leaves Dom in the car while he sneaks through Mikayla's backyard and breaks in through her back door. It’s a good thing he had looked for any signs of a security system the first time he was here. Setting off an alarm now was the last thing they needed.

As he made his way back through the house, it became frustratingly clear how little evidence he would be getting from this crime scene. Sure, there was plenty of DNA left in the form of semen on the bed, and he was sure that the idiots hadn’t worn gloves with the way the fridge had been rummaged through. However, if he did get fingerprints and DNA, what good would it do him? He had no database to run the prints on and no labs to test the DNA.

This left a partial shoe mark in the kitchen that he really hoped wasn’t Dom’s. He didn’t think it was from Dom; it seemed too small. It was around a size ten in men's and was definitely Nike, as the symbol was clearly there. Meaning that the shoes had to be newer or well-maintained for the tread to have left a good outline, not to mention that not all Nikes had the logo on the tread. He’d have to ask Dom if he knew of any common styles with it.

The second piece of good evidence was the cigarettes. Cigarettes often meant that the person or people had been older, as most of the younger generations now use vapes. Looking closer at the butts, he was pretty sure they were Marlboro menthols. They had a distinct minty scent to them, and the style of the tipping paper was recognizable. Marlboro menthol had become popular in the 2010’s, so it was safe to assume the perpetrator had to be around 30 years old for this to be their cigarette of choice.

Of course, there were also the scents of alphas and an omega (Mikayla, of course) in the air. But they already knew that; it would have been more helpful if there had been a lack of alpha scent, as most, if not all, of the traffickers' kidnappings so far had been done by unmated alphas. Which still held true in this case.

Heading back out to the car, Dom stayed silent as David pulled out of the alley and parked a couple of houses down the block before getting out and walking to Mikayla's neighbor’s house across the street, whom they had noticed had a camera pointing down the driveway. He knocked firmly and waited on the porch nervously, hoping they wouldn’t ask to see his badge or wonder why there were no cop cars in sight. As the door opened, he was overcome with relief. There in front of him was Mrs. Hobart, a lovely woman who had been a key witness in a chain of grocery store robberies a few years back.

“Oh my goodness! David! Is that really you? How are you doing, darling?” David couldn’t beat the smile off his face if he tried. Mrs. Hobart was one of the few people on this earth that David truly believed could do no wrong.

“I’m doing well. How have you been?”

“Oh, you know me, I can’t complain. My son turned thirteen last month, and the little man has been stirring up all sorts of trouble. But you're probably here for a reason other than my blabbering, aren’t you, darling?”

“Yes, unfortunately, I am. There was a report of some suspicious cars in the neighborhood, and I was wondering if you had picked up anything on your camera?”

“Let me pull up the feed real quick,” She says, pulling out her phone and scrolling for a bit. “Do you know what time I should be looking at?”

“Anywhere from twelve to around one thirty.”

“Okay, just give me a sec.” She squints down at her phone screen as she drags a finger slowly across the screen. “I’m not really seeing anything, just the bible van coming to pick up Mikayla.”

David’s entire body freezes. The traffickers were using vans disguised as religious carpooling vehicles. It made sense; no one looked twice at them. Hell, David avoided them so he wouldn’t have to listen to people drone on about the bible while trying to convert them. Also picking Mikayla up? That meant she walked out and got into the car willingly after being raped? Maybe they had drugged or threatened her into compliance.

“Sorry, can I see the footage? Just want to rule things out.” Mrs. Hobart looked confused but handed David the phone. It was unbelievable. Just as Mrs. Hobart had said, the footage showed a smiling and giggling Mikayla getting into a van with three other men. She must have been drugged then. The van was marked with a decal reading—The Church of God’s Hand. Definitely not a church he had heard of before, the name was kind of creepy to be honest.

After everyone had loaded up into the van, it headed south down the street. Rewinding the footage slightly, David looked closer at the plates. The van was registered in Montana. Fuck! This was about to be a long drive if that van was actually heading back up to Montana.

Handing the phone back to Mrs. Hobart, David thanked her for her help and reassured her that the call must have been from down the block. He huffed a sigh as he flopped back into the driver’s seat.

“Not good news?” Dom asked, looking awfully concerned.

“No, they are using cars disguised as religious vehicles. I’m pretty sure they drugged Mikayla with how she willingly followed three alphas out to a car and got in after what had happened. And on top of all that, the licence plate on the van was from Montana, so get ready for a road trip.”

Chapter Text

It felt like the world was falling apart. All of his dreams had come true just to be shattered in a few hours. Maybe shattered wasn’t the right word, eviscerated? That still didn’t seem right. It was like a yawning, gaping hole was opening in his chest and carving all his organs out.

How had things gone so terribly wrong?

His family was furious. Shouting and screaming at the police for negligence. Incompetence was more like it; none of them seemed to hold even a candle to the brilliance that seemed to ooze off David. Others had called him stuck-up, arrogant, or just a know-it-all bastard. However, he put in the work, and it showed. Watching him in the field was captivating. He had been yelled at and written up on one occasion just because he’d become entranced by how David handled a crime scene or interrogated a witness. There was a certain sparkle in his eyes when a piece of evidence finally clicked into place, which August found absolutely adorable.

All it took was one look, and August had formed a crush on the man. His team had harassed him for falling so fast. Ribbing him right and left about finally asking the omega out after months of pining had gone by. But how could he? He’d never even spoken to the guy. How was he going to just march up to David and ask him out during an investigation?

No, absolutely not, he was still working and had to focus on patients, even when all he wanted to do was watch David do his thing. God, that sounded so creepy.

Was he a stalker?

No, he couldn’t be. Stalkers actually followed and learned people’s schedules, didn’t they? He hadn’t done anything like that. He just had a slight, mild - okay, who was he kidding, he had a staring problem.

It didn’t help that when August had gone and dug through the precinct Facebook page, he’d found out that David was almost 6 years older than him. No self-respecting 25-year-old would even glance in a 19-year-old’s direction. And they had every right not to, given the significant gap in mental maturity. If roles had been reversed, August would have been disgusted with himself for even considering asking someone who had just turned legal age out. It felt dirty. Yet there he was, wishing David would spare him a second glance.

He was 20 now, that helped, right? No teenagers involved. A 20-year-old could date a 26-year-old; they were both consenting adults.

Except that had been the issue, hadn’t it? He hadn’t gotten explicit consent. He’d been far too distracted by the scent of an omega in heat while in rut himself; it was a dangerous hormonal cocktail. But that didn’t give him permission to rape the man that he’d been “practically” stalking and drooling over for the better part of a year. He’d just been so excited that David was his true mate. It was meant to be, dammit! And he had gone and screwed it all up.

He’d been so eager to prove himself as a good alpha that it hadn’t dawned on him that neither of them were in their right minds enough to agree to sex, let alone knotting and mating.

It had occurred to him once after he’d popped his first knot in David, but had quickly been drowned out by the feeling of David’s cunt tightening and spasming on his knot as David fucking squirted all over him.

Yeah, try thinking straight while watching your crush be the first person you make squirt.

Watching David during sex had been ten times better than watching him in action at work. The way his eyebrows would scrunch in tortured pleasure as he’d stroked David’s dick in time with his thrusts. David had been caught in between wanting to thrust up into August’s hand or push into the cock, abusing his tight hole. And tight he was. August had never fucked someone so tight. He’d have thought David was a virgin if it hadn’t been for the way he’d opened up for a knot so fast.

Fuuuuck. He needed to stop; he was going to get a boner sitting in the middle of a police station to memories of the man he’d accidentally raped.

Was it rape if he wasn’t in his right mind either? David had definitely been worse off- this line of thought felt damning. The stress was making his head a guilty, horny mess. This is why 26-year-olds didn’t look twice at 20-year-olds. At 20, the parts of your brain meant for decision-making ( the prefrontal cortex) weren’t fully developed.

“How do you let some omega just walk away with a police car!? That omega now belongs to our family! He is carrying my grandchild!”

August let out a long sigh as he buried his face in his hands. This had been going on for close to 30 minutes, and he’d stopped trying to intervene after 10 when he realized nobody was listening to him.

He hated that an omega became their mate's property after mating; however, at this moment, he wished people would remember that, in the end, his opinion on David’s situation mattered the most. Not theirs. David, in the eyes of the law, fully belonged to him now. It was sickening to think about, but helpful at the moment.

Hell, if he so wished, David wouldn’t even go to jail after this; he could keep him home on house arrest, so he could still have David fulfill his ‘Mately Duties.’ Which, for August, would be relaxing and giving them time to get to know each other better. They’d finally get the chance to talk about what was expected of their relationship. Something that should have happened long before August's teeth had sunk into David’s flesh.
“If any harm comes to that pup, I will sue this place for every penny it has!” August’s mom was sounding shrill now, making a pain blossom behind August's right brow. He’d need migraine medicine if this continued.

“Mom, calm down. They'd be able to go out and look for him if you weren’t here screaming and keeping them preoccupied. And I doubt there’s a baby involved, David doesn’t seem the type to not be on birth control.”

Sita’s face turned murderous as she turned to her only son. August could feel the rage ebbing off of her in waves. He unconsciously shrank inward, a habit from his childhood. His mother was a force to be reckoned with when she didn’t get her way.

“August Lance Sabir, do you mean to tell me that you mated not only a criminal but also a careless omega who gambles with their own fertility?”

“God, Mom, it’s not that big of a deal to be on birth control; there are side effects, sure, but I doubt his fertility is on the line. Besides, it's not like we can’t adopt a kid down the line.”

Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say as not only were his parents now looking at him, horrified, but there were disapproving glares shot his way from all of the officers in the room.

He’d never understand the need that most other Alphas had about siring their own kids. There were plenty of amazing children who needed homes.

Movement caught his eye in one of the offices across the room. There was a lady smirking at the chaos unfolding in front of her. A quick glance at the name on the door she was leaning on told him that this was Chief Jessie Glawdus. The woman whom he’d spoken to on the phone.

As everyone’s attention fell back onto his mother, who had gone back to arguing with the officers, August slipped by and headed towards the chief. She locked eyes with him, almost immediately, a smile splitting her face. It was off-putting, but she was likely the one with the most information on David.

He stopped at a respectful distance from her, telling himself it was out of respect, not fear of the other alpha.

“Yer not how I’d imagined ye’d be. Yer a lot younger than I’d thought David would go fer.”

August cleared his throat awkwardly, feeling embarrassed by the alpha's comment.

“Well, we really didn’t get to know each other before, well, yeah. And I do look older than 20.”

“Pffft, only 20? Younger than I thought. What was David thinking, taking a knot from some pup like ya?”

A bile began to burn the back of his throat. There wasn’t a single person in this precinct who respected omegas, including his parents. He swallowed the bile the best he could, trying to get himself back on track.

“Umm, anyway, you said on the phone that David had been fired earlier today and that he’d been with another alpha. What exactly happened?”

“He’d come in with the alpha, all frantic about some omega goin’ missing. But they do tha all the time. She’s probably just stuck on some knot and wasn’t home at the time they were expecting her. Kind of sounded like the two had gone over fer some kind of three-way. Some whore of a mate you've got there, kid.”

August could feel his nails digging crescents into his palms as he clenched his fists tightly. He had no right to be possessive over David, but the insinuation that David was out sleeping with other people stung. Not to mention the remarks about the other omega. This alpha definitely had a bias. No wonder she wasn’t mated.

August tried to hide the calming breath he took as he unclenched his hands. He couldn’t let her words get to him. He needed as much information as possible, even if it meant letting everyone in this building act like complete bigots towards omegas.

“Any way that I could get the omega’s address, maybe she’ll know where David is headed.”

August stepped off the porch, waving goodbye to the lovely lady who owned it.

He’d gone to Mikayla’s house only to find a broken door and what seemed to be an empty house. He didn’t make a habit of walking into strangers' homes, so he’d gone across the street instead. The lady who’d answered the door (he hadn’t caught her name) had been very helpful.

He had given her a quick explanation of what had been going on. She’d seemed surprised that David would run away, but after a moment her forehead had creased in thought. She explained that David had been there not 2 hours earlier, asking her about her driveway camera footage. She’d been more than happy to show August the same footage and theorize with him about what David had deemed so important about the footage, which just showed a girl getting into a car with three men. By the looks of the car, they were probably carpooling to some church event. But why had the door been broken? The camera didn’t show her door, but rewinding the footage revealed the men pulling up, walking towards her driveway, and staying for about 40 minutes before walking out, followed by whoever this Mikayla girl was.

That’s when they had noticed the licence plate. Why would a car from Montana come all this way to pick up an omega? It didn’t make sense, but it gave him an idea as to where David would go.

August didn’t tell anyone where he was going or that he had an idea of where David would end up. He had promised the lady too secrecy on what they had discussed. She’d seemed more than happy to agree, saying that something seemed fishy for David to have acted this way.

He couldn’t help but agree with her. August had an idea that there was a lot more going on behind the scenes than anyone was letting on. He couldn’t trust his parents, and he sure as hell couldn’t go to the police, so he just drove off into the setting sun, hoping that he could make sense of this mess. And above all else, get to David before anyone else can.

There was a feeling tickling the base of his neck, warm and urgent. It made his anxiety over the situation worse. Something was urging him in the deep recesses of his mind that he had to get to David. That his mate was walking headfirst into something terrible. August just hoped that the alpha David had taken with him was more friend than foe.

Chapter Text

The sun was starting to rise. Pink, red, and orange paint the horizon. It would have been beautiful if David hadn’t been in such a terrible mood. The sunrise was just a reminder that he had slept like shit and now had to continue driving while his body was stiff and sore.

He had made sure to pack camping equipment so they wouldn’t have to sleep in the cruiser; however, because they had left so late in the day and the fact that the cops would be searching for them, they had chosen to sleep in the car just in case they had to make a quick escape. So they had found one of the gravel resting stops on the side of the highway and called it a night.

Dom was scrunched up in the back seat, bundled tightly in blankets and hugging a pillow to his chest as he snored. David had been left to sleep in the driver's seat. He couldn’t even recline his seat because of the cage separating the front and back of the car. This led to his back and neck being stiff, and his legs had gone numb from the position. Dom’s snoring hadn’t helped either. In total, David figured that he had gotten around 2 hours of sleep.

A thump to the back of his seat jostled him, causing a shock of pain down his spine and settling in his right hip. “Fucking kick my seat again, Dom, and I’ll hog tie you back there.”

“That’s -” Dom’s words break on a yawn. “Not very nice. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the seat, huh?” Shuffling fills the back seat as Dom tries to untangle himself from the blankets enough to sit up. David can see him finally manage to right himself in the rearview mirror. He looks like he's had a decent night's rest—the bastard, given how his hair is a mess, sticking up on the side. David would make him drive if he could trust Dom not to get them pulled over.

“Can we go somewhere for breakfast, or do we have to live off granola bars?” Dom asked, giving David a sleepy pout.

“Dom, you know we don’t have enough cash to be wasting it on fast food.” Even though David would kill for a McGridle right now. His stomach gives a low growl at the thought of fluffy pancake buns and bacon. “I’ll go grab the granola bars,” he says, trying to push his own disappointment down.

Dom lets his head fall forward, bumping it against the cage, and causing said cage to softly rattle. “This house is a fuckin' nightmare!”

David rolls his eyes and goes to get out of the car. He gets one leg out the door before he stops abruptly, hissing in pain as his hips and lower back protest the movement. He sits still for a few moments, willing the pain away enough to try moving again.

“Hey, I can go get them. You don’t have to… I’ll grab some pain meds too.” With that said, Dom is climbing out of the car, and a few moments later, Dom is yelling for him to pop the trunk.

David reaches over to press the release. At least his shoulders aren’t bothering him. Sleeping in the car for one night shouldn’t have affected him so much; he wasn’t even 30 yet. Dom comes around the car, leaning in David's open door to look at him. David catches the look of concern before Dom plastered on a playful smile.

“Damn, he must have really blown out your back for you to be having this much trouble. How big was the guy? ”

“Hardy har, Dom, very funny… But that does explain why my back and hips are so messed up. I thought I was just getting old.”

Dom hands him two granola bars, a bottle of water, and some Tylenol. “Nah, you're not that old yet. Give it a few years, then you’ll start fallin' apart.”

“Thanks for the reminder, Dom.” Taking the pills dry, he looks up at Dom with a smirk. “At least you're older than me, so I'll be able to watch you break a rib sneezing before I do.”

“Just eat your breakfast, you ass.”

*****

After almost 8 hours of driving, both Dom and David were on their last nerve. They were both hungry. And they couldn’t stop for proper bathroom breaks because they were too afraid of being noticed inside a gas station. Dom had complained about being too much of a passenger princess to be expected to pop a squat on the side of the road, but hadn’t complained all that much otherwise. David didn’t like the gas station situation either. Trying to pay at the pump with cash was a new kind of hell for him.

“Can we please turn on the radio? The cop talk is so boring! They haven’t even mentioned us once!” Dom whines, head lying on the dashboard. Art supplies lay half haphazardly around his head. He’d tried to draw some of the landscapes to keep himself busy, but gave up after about 20 minutes when all either of them could see was highway and flat ground scattered with corn and wheat fields.

“Just because they haven’t mentioned us yet doesn’t mean they won’t. We need to keep ahead of them and be prepared for road searches.” This was true, but David was growing increasingly concerned with how normal the police scanner was sounding. People should be out searching for them. The scanner should be going crazy. They had stolen a police car! Yet it seemed like nobody cared. The whole thing just screamed cover-up to David. He just didn’t understand why it was being covered up.

“Uuuuugggghhhh! Fine! I’m going to take a nap. Have fun listening to boring cop talk.” Dom announced, flopping back in his seat and squirming around, trying to get comfortable.

“Fine, just don’t start snoring again.” David huffed. Dom flipping him off was his only answer.

***
As the days went by and they got closer to Montana, two things became glaringly obvious to David.

One was that David's scent had changed. At first, he had thought it was just normal B.O. and grunge from not being able to bathe properly. But then it got stronger. To the point that Dom had not only smelt it but recognized it. He hadn’t said anything yet, just shooting him sympathetic glances now and then, a small mercy for David. But they both knew. Anyone who was within 5 feet of him would know. David was pregnant.

The second thing was that they were being followed. They had noticed the Kia a day ago, but had held out hope that the car had just been going the same way as them. But as David started to take dirt roads instead of highways to see if they would follow, the Kia remained. They didn’t ride their ass or anything, but the car was never more than a semi’s distance away. This was somewhat of a relief for David as it meant that whoever it was had no special training and, quite honestly, sucked at trailing someone. The whole point was not to be noticed. And this car was definitely fucking up in that regard.

That being said, it also opened up a whole new can of worms. If it wasn’t the police or FBI following them, then who was? It had to be a citizen, given their lack of experience and the fact that they were driving a 2018 Kia Optima. Dom already hated them just for their car.

“Fuckin' hybrids. Who the fuck chooses to drive a car like that?” Dom’s got his feet up on the dash and is watching the Kia through the dust clouds behind them. He looks ridiculous like this. His feet are almost touching the windshield because of how long his legs are.

“Dom, I get that you don’t like Kias, you don’t have to keep mentioning it.”

“The owner of Kia should have been imprisoned after they chose to release the SOUL. Yuck, it grosses me out just sayin’ its name.”

“Now you're just being dramatic.”

Dom tilted his head to look back at the charcoal grey Optima still following them in the mirror. “Think if we stop, they’ll get out? Depending on how many of them there are, I could take them.”

“Dom, we’ve discussed this. You might be a mountain of tatted muscles, but you can’t fight to save your life. Remember 8th grade?”

“Hey, 8th grade doesn’t count. That was a long time ago, and she cheated.”

“She beat you up in a dress and broke your nose. You couldn’t even land a punch. She stole 38 dollars from me while you cried on the ground.”

Dom hunches in on himself with a traumatized look. “Who knew church girls could be so mean? We hadn’t even done anything to her!”

“I’m an omega Dom; that was a good enough excuse for her.”

An uncomfortable silence fills the car. David tried to keep his eyes on the road, but he could see Dom shooting glances at him in his peripherals. Dom would occasionally open his mouth to speak, but would quickly shut it afterwards. Finally, he turned his head back to the window, letting only the crackling of static from the police scanner break the silence. It was almost 20 minutes before he finally spoke.

“David, you can’t fight them. Whatever happens now or later, you can’t fight. Let me hold them off while you get away.” Dom’s voice was damn near monotone, but the sagging of his shoulders gave away how defeated he truly felt.

“There is no reason to go sacrificing yourself, Dom. I’m trained in hand-to-hand combat; I can hold them off.”

“But you can’t. Not anymore… You have the baby to protect David.”

So they were having this discussion now. Wonderful.

“Dom, I really don’t want to go over this right now, but a bundle of cells means nothing to me when it’s compared to keeping you safe.”

“You don’t mean that.” Dom takes a deep breath before continuing. “You’ve ghosted me for the past 4 years, and I'm not mad at you for that. I’m really not. I know how hard it is to be friends with me. Especially with what happened between Dee and me.

“Dom don’t bring tha-”

“No! Really! I get it; I was a shitty friend, and I made your life harder than it had to be. And I hurt her. You didn’t have to stay close with me after that, but you did, and I'm grateful for that. Just don’t put me over this kid, David. Don’t put Mikayla or me over your chance to finally have a family.

“I have a family, Dom.”

Dom gives him a pitying look. “Your family wasn’t terrible, but I definitely wouldn’t consider how you grew up to be good, little dude. I know you're not happy with the situation going on right now, and I don’t blame you, but you can’t take it out on that baby. You love kids. And you wouldn’t admit to it, but you would never stop beating yourself up for losing this kid. Miscarriages are rough, David. Even on people as strong as you.”

David could only stare at the dirt road ahead of them.

Dom was right. As much as David didn’t want him to be. He really wanted the chance to have a family. A good family. One that wasn’t so focused on class and how successful someone was. A family that wouldn’t think less of you just for how you were born. He wanted his kids to grow up knowing they were loved unconditionally.

He just couldn’t see that happening with the kid currently growing in him. Not with their current situation. August would have to be a goddamed saint to forgive him and let him have any part of how this kid was raised. He’d most likely be pushed to the side as the alpha went out and found another mate. Keeping him home for pleasure and cleaning, or something along those lines. It wouldn’t be the first time a situation like that had occurred. It wasn’t even wrong to do so, just frowned upon.

Mating bonds didn’t have any contractual requirements behind them for spouses to be faithful; it was more like a transaction at a store. A passover of ownership. The omega couldn’t leave, and if they did manage to do so, it was nothing like a divorce, where you had rights to half of everything. No, if an omega was allowed to leave, they were kicked out with nothing. Half of these omegas ended up in brothels, working for money. And those were the lucky ones. The others were picked up by random alphas off the street or trafficked.

Prison would be a blessing for David. He’d have a roof over his head, food, and healthcare. Sure, they would take the baby away from him as soon as it was safe to do so. But maybe that would be for the best. The less time he spent with his kid, the less time he would have to bond with them. It would hurt at first, but he might be able to ignore the empty feeling after a while. August might even forget about him, depending on how long the sentence was. If that were the case, he could simply start over. Dom and him could hit the road, make money fixing cars like they used to.

He couldn’t help but laugh at his own thoughts. They were nothing but a fool's dream. He didn’t know what lay ahead for him, but getting that lucky definitely wasn’t in the cards.

“Something funny over there?” Dom asked. He was back to focusing on the car behind them.

“Just this situation. I never thought anything like this would happen to me. I mean, stopping a trafficking ring, sure, I had hoped to do something that important, but like this? This wouldn’t have crossed my mind in a million years.”

“I thought I'd have been dead by now,” Dom admits nonchalantly.

“Why?”

“Dunno, it just seemed fittin’ for me to go out young by doing somethin’ stupid.”

“Dom, you're still considered young. We both are. We just had this conversation like 3 days ago.”

“So what you're sayin’ is that there is still time for me to fulfill my destiny?!”

“Dom. DO NOT try to kill yourself on this mission. Do you understand me?” Dom just giggles to himself and continues to look out the window. “No, Dom. Look. At. Me. Tell me you will not try to get yourself killed.” Dom groans and turns to look at David. But their eyes never meet. Instead, Dom’s eyes lock on the road ahead of them.

“DEER!”

David is slamming on the brakes before the word fully processes in his brain. He’s flung forward towards the steering wheel with the momentum, his seat belt digging painfully into his chest and collar bone, but keeping him safely in his seat away from the wheel. Dom, however, slides out of his seat ass first into the foot well. His own knees are bracketing his head.

The car jolts to a halt in front of a petrified-looking doe. Whom, as the dust settles around them, flicks an ear and frolics back into the corn as if nothing had happened.

David is left panting with adrenaline as his heart tries to slow down. Over the drumming of his own heartbeat in his ears, he can make out the grunts and cussing of Dom trying to pull himself out of the foot well.

“Fuckin' hell, I'm not flexible enough for this! Your knees are not meant to touch your ears!”

Dom is pulling himself onto his seat as David's pulse finally starts to calm.

“Maybe you should have been sitting normally.” David snarks.

Knocking at David's window startles them both. David turns towards the sound and immediately feels all of the blood leave his face as his eyes lock with his mate’s.

“Fuck.”

Chapter Text

August gives a slight smile and waves at them through the window. David’s mind and heart are racing. How is he here? Why is he here? Shouldn’t the police be the ones searching for him, not his mate? He can’t roll down the window. August will find out he’s pregnant, then he’ll force David to go back with him.

“Who the fuck is this guy?” Dom asks, giving August a once-over. He doesn’t seem impressed. “Kinda looks like a fuck boy to me.” David would have laughed at Dom and him coming to the same conclusion about August if it weren't for how terrified he was at the moment.

“That’s my mate. Do not roll down your window or get out.”

Dom’s eyes are the size of saucers as he looks at August, who’s still standing awkwardly by David’s door.

“ARE YOU GUYS ALRIGHT? I CAN HELP IF YOU'RE HURT.” August shouts, cupping his hands around his eyes to see into the car better. Dom and David share a look before both of them shake their heads no, not wanting to shout in the enclosed space. August then gestures for David to roll down his window. “PLEASE? I JUST WANT TO TALK.

“Hah, sure he does,” Dom sneers as he flips August off.

August sticks out his bottom lip and pouts. Fucking pouts like he’s a goddamned toddler. This asshole knocked him up, and now he’s pouting. How the fuck was he meant to help raise their kid if he’s acting like a child?

Wait, help raise their kid? Nope, he definitely meant ‘how was August meant to raise his kid’. There, that’s better. David wanted no part in this. Well, no parts other than giving birth, that is. He’s kind of stuck doing that.

“DAVID, PLEASE JUST GIVE ME A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN MYSELF.”

Dom and David share an unimpressed look. “You should just put the car into gear and drive off. If his feet get run over, that’s his own damn fault.” Dom snarks. Still glaring daggers at August.

“I’M SERIOUS, I DIDN’T MEAN TO HURT YOU. CAN WE PLEASE JUST TALK ABOUT IT? I KNOW I FUCKED UP, OK? I DON’T WANT TO FORCE YOU INTO SOMETHING LIKE THIS. IF YOU WANT TO LEAVE, YOU CAN. I’LL SIGN AN AGREEMENT FORM AND EVERYTHING. JUST TALK TO ME FIRST?”

David is reaching for the shifter. However, Dom’s hand stopped his, holding it in place.

“Dom, this was your idea! Let me put the car into drive!” David whisper yells at the alpha. He knows August won't be able to hear him, but he doesn’t want to take any chances either.

There's a conflicted look on Dom’s face as his eyes flick back and forth between David and August. “Maybe we should hear him out. He’s starting to sound pretty desperate. What if he calls the cops and tells them where we’re at? Even if we book it, he knows what the car looks like now. We won’t make it out of the state before they get us.”

“Fuck! I hate it when you're the voice of reason.” David lets out a heavy sigh as dread starts to build up in his stomach. “And what about my scent? You think he’s just going to let his ‘pregnant’ omega walk away? Alphas are super territorial over their children.”

Dom purses his lips in thought and looks at August through the window. He’s back to pouting, looking extremely sorry for himself.

“If he makes a fuss, I'll distract him with some alpha posturing bullshit and you find a way to knock him out or tie him up with somethin’.”

“You want us to kidnap him?!”

“Oh, I guess that works, but I had planned on leaving him on the side of the road.”

“Dom!-” August, knocking on the window again, interrupts them. David shoots him a glare and holds up a finger, asking him to hold on for a bit. “Fine, but we are not leaving him on the side of the road! You get out first.”

Dom gives a curt nod and opens his door, getting out quickly and slamming the door shut behind him. David can see August flinch in the corner of his eye. He turns to fully face him as August begins to back away from the car. David finally gets out as Dom comes to stand next to his door, putting himself between August and David.

David can spot the exact moment that August notices his scent. He’s just closed the door when the brunette alpha’s eyes widen in shock. As if he’s surprised he’s got someone pregnant after raw knotting them in the middle of their heat. What an idiot.

“I-I… you weren’t on birth control?” August gapes at his mate. “Fuck!” The shout startles both Dom and David, and they shuffle closer together, expecting the worst. Yet August surprises them again as he walks to the side of the road, crouching down near the ditch, taking deep breaths to calm himself.

Out of all of the reactions David thought would happen, he hadn’t considered this. No smug pride, no possessiveness, not even anger. August was obviously shocked, but he also seemed overwhelmed and scared. David didn’t expect the alpha to feel the same way about this pregnancy as he had.

Maybe he was wrong about August.

“Umm, you okay over there?” Dom takes a step forward, looking puzzled.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

August sounds close to tears. David feels… bad. He shouldn’t, he really shouldn’t. This was the consequence of August's own actions, yet he couldn’t help himself. Maybe it was the hormones or the mate bond influencing him, but he felt bad for his mate. He made his way over to August slowly. This could be a trap to get him away from Dom.

Yet as he got closer, he could see light tremors rippling through August's back as well as hear his hiccup-like breaths. The alpha was crying.

He held up a hand for Dom to stay back when he heard the blond walking over. They still didn’t know how August would react. And while he now doubted that the alpha would harm him, what he would do to the other alpha was still questionable.

As he comes to stand next to August's crouched form, he can see him furiously wiping at the tears still trailing down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I really am. I- fuck. I hadn't meant for this. No wonder you ran away. I’m so sorry, David.” August wobbles a little as he stands, not meeting David's eyes. “I’m guessing you want to talk about the mate release forms? You don’t have to worry about the baby; I’ll still pay child support and all that if you want to keep it. I just want to be able to have some visitation days if that’s alright.”

David’s taken aback. Was he really going to let David go just like that? And with the baby? Did August not care about him at all? Then why chase him through 5 different states?

“I don’t understand? You don’t want me or the baby?”

August’s eyes snap to his in shock. “Are you kidding!? Of course, I want you both. I don’t think you understand just how long I’ve wanted you, David. I had the biggest crush on you for a year. And I hadn’t even considered being a dad, especially at 20, but I’ve always wanted kids. I’d give anything to be in my child’s life, but I understand how hard being around me probably is for you.”

David had to take a moment to process everything that was happening. Here he was in the middle of a dirt road, having his point of view completely flipped. Nothing had made sense for a whole week now, and David really hoped this amount of stress wouldn’t affect him negatively.

“Fine, we’ll go somewhere and talk this out. I don’t think this road gets a lot of traffic, but we should probably move. Follow us into the next town, and we’ll find some mall parking lot to stop at.”

August gives a light nod; there are tears still streaming down his cheeks, but he’s got a hopeful look in his eyes. David can’t explain how that look calms him more than it should. There's a warmth spreading in his chest. He can’t trust this yet. He still doesn’t know August’s true intentions. But the Alpha is off to a good start.

Turning back towards the cruiser reveals Dom hunched over halfway into the back seat, digging through what he can only assume is their bag of food. He leans back out of the car, clutching a handful of granola bars to his chest. He looks down at the granola bars with a disgusted look. David startles as Dom flings the granola bars back into the car and sprints over to where August is.

“Wait, you still have your cards! Can you please buy us some food? I’ll take anything at this point, even microwave gas station food.” Dom pleads, shooting August his best rendition of puppy eyes.

******

Surprisingly, the next town they found had a Raising Cane’s, along with KFC, Dairy Queen, and a Taco Bell, as well as some other generic fast food places. It was quite a selection for a smaller town. Dom, however, had made it extremely clear to both David and August that they were getting Canes; no other restaurant would do. End of story.

The sun was starting to set by the time they arrived, making the sky over the parking lot bloom with vibrant colors. Cicadas and crickets were singing as the metal tings from the engines cooling played in the background, making the whole thing seem like a scene from an ’80s movie.

They were both leaning on the hood of the car, enjoying the warm breeze and the smell of food wafting from the restaurant before them. Dom had almost wept with joy as August walked out to their car holding three bags of food. The speed at which the blond could eat had made David nervous about him puking in the car later. And from the look of concern August shot his way, he would have agreed. Though David was too busy savoring the food to scold the alpha for eating like an animal.

Dom was finishing the last of the fries when David decided it was time for them to have a discussion.

“So you still want me as your mate and you want to keep the baby, yet you're completely fine with signing mate release papers and having me walk away?”

August just stares at the ground for a while instead of replying. David thought that the man was ignoring him by the time he answered.

“I want to give us a try if you're okay with it. I’ve made a terrible first impression, so if you don’t want this, then yes, I’ll let you go, but know that I still like you. And I want this life with you, which I know sounds mad with how little we know each other, but we’re true mates, that’s got to mean something, right?”

David can feel his cheeks heat slightly. The man was sweet and nervous, a deadly combination for David. But there had to be ground rules for this. “I don’t want to be looked at like I’m less. I’m not some brood mare or housemaid. If we do this, then I’m going to be my own person. I want to be able to have a job. And not some stupid little job, an actual fucking career of my choice, got it? I didn’t kill myself in college studying just for my master's to go to waste.”

August's face lights up with every word. “Done. I don’t want a trophy wife. I like you because of your intelligence and ambition. I won’t ever take that away from you.”

“Good.” David has to take a deep breath to compose himself for this next part. “I’ll try this with you. I’ll give this whole mate thing a go but… I need you to go back home and tell everyone you couldn’t find me. These first few years are going to be rough, but I swear I’m not running away from this… From you.”

August lets out a choked sound, stepping closer to David. “What? What are you talking about? I'm not just going to leave you out here and go home as if nothing happened. What about the baby? You want to be on the run throughout your whole pregnancy? What if there are complications? You could die while I'm at home on my couch binging some stupid show!”

Dom grabs his wrist from behind. “You gotta tell him the truth, dude, he deserves to know if you guys are going to get through this.”

“What’s he talking about, David?”

Letting out a deep sigh, he meets August’s panicked gaze. “We’re trying to locate an omega. Mikayla Larckson. She went missing the day our cycles ended. I didn’t run from you, August. I’m trying to save her. Everything that’s happened since that day hasn’t been right. The cops didn’t care that she went missing under circumstances that pointed directly to trafficking. And after stealing a car while committing mate elopement on the same day, nobody has come looking for me. Nobody but you.”

August crosses his arms and squeezes, almost hugging himself as he begins to pace. Without breaking his stride, he speaks. ” I thought something was weird about your station. Mostly your boss. They didn’t seem all that worried about the car. Annoyed, sure, but they were dragging their feet on going out to look for you. At the time, I thought it was because my family was bothering them, but after your boss told me about Mikayla, I started to question things.” He stops to turn towards David. “I hired a private investigator on the way here. They're going to look into the station to find out what is going on.”

“At least someone's goin’ to do something about that bitch.” Dom says before he throws back a cup of Cane’s sauce to chug.

“Dom, that’s disgusting.”

“Don’t knock it till ya try it, little dude.”

August looks equally disgusted by the blond. “Okay, ignoring that. I want to come with you guys.”

Sputtering interrupts them both, and they turn to look at Dom again. The idiot had another cup of cane’s sauce that he was choking on. August speed-walks towards the alpha but stops when it’s clear he’s got the sauce up. Some of it dribbles from his bottom lip onto his chin.

“You want to come with us?” he asks, wiping at his chin with the back of his hand. “You didn’t even know her.”

“I don’t need to know someone to care about their well-being. And it seems like you two could use a medic with how you inhale your food. Surprised you haven’t choked and died yet.”

“Wow, didn’t mean to piss you off, man. Just surprised, is all. However, I suppose it does make sense that you'd want to stay with your mate. No fuckin’ though, we’ve only got one tent and I am not goin’ to make myself sleep in a car every night so you two can get freaky.” Dom has the most shit eating grin on his face, and David can feel himself flushing with embarrassment.

“Is he always like this?” August asks, looking red as well.

“Unfortunately, yes. And if you're going to insist on coming with us, then we’ll take both vehicles up to Montana. If we don’t stop tonight, then we’ll make it by tomorrow night. We can figure out our sleeping situation then.”

“You're actually going to let me come with you guys?” August's face is still red, but it’s lighting up like a Christmas tree with how relieved and happy he looks.

“Ya, we probably will need a paramedic depending on what kind of condition we find Mikayla in. Pulse, I want updates on my precinct, and I can’t get them unless you come with us.”

“I’m so fuckin’ happy I don’t have to drive. Have fun trying to stay awake, assholes.” With that, Dom ends the conversation by getting up to throw their trash away. David leans into the driver’s side window to pop the trunk. He then gets in and waits for Dom as he makes his way back and grabs his sleeping bag and pillow from the trunk.

Looking over at August, he waves. “See you in Montana.”