Liam drives back to the packhouse just in time for dinner, and he really hopes Harry is still at the house and not out on a mission. He probably should have texted him, but he forgot. He seems to be forgetting a lot today. Anyways, he makes his way to the dining room, more like a hall, scanning the faces and seeing that Harry is in line to grab food. Liam quickly jogs over to Harry and clasp a hand on his shoulder.
"All done, boss," Liam said, grabbing a plate and waiting in line.
"Did you come all this way to say that?" Harry asked.
"Yup," Liam said, and Harry just shook his head.
"You know there's this technology called a phone where you can communicate with people through it without having to be in the same room as them," Harry said, which earned him a punch in the arm by Liam.
"Well, excuse me if I want to hang out with my best friend and pack," Liam said defensively. "I also wanted to talk to you about something. Can we eat in your room?"
"Sure," Harry said, and they grabbed their food and went upstairs to Harry's room. "What's up?"
"Well, I've noticed you guys haven't been taking in strays lately," Liam started as they sat on the floor by the foot of the bed eating their dinner.
"Yeah, with Dad prepping me, this has slipped through the cracks, but I'm supposed to look for new strays. Want to go out hunting with me tomorrow?" Harry asked, not wanting to go alone.
"How many do you need to bring in?" Liam asked.
"I don't know, didn't specify. Why do you ask about the strays anyways," Harry asked, turning to look at Liam.
"Well, I found one, Zayn Malik; he is a stray and have been for a month. He asked me to talk to you since he knows you're an alpha and wanted to see if you would be willing to take him in. I will let him tell you the reason," Liam said, and Harry nodded.
"Okay, I will come over sometime next week and talk to him. But can you come with me tomorrow?" Harry asked, and Liam just nodded, not wanting to do his schoolwork just yet. "Thanks, mate. I will text you the time, and I have training first thing in the morning, then I have to talk to my dad about something and then we can go."
"What do you have to talk to your dad about?" Liam asked, and Harry sighed.
"I don't know, he had a check-up today, and they still refuse to tell us what is going on. They are doing this so that we aren't worried about him, but we are worried about him whether we know or not. I wish they would stop trying to protect us and tell us what is going on," Harry said, resting his head back on the bed.
"Well, whatever it is, I am here for you," Liam said.
"Thanks, mate, I am starting to get worried, though," Harry said, putting his half-eaten plate on the floor.
"About your dad?" Liam asked.
"No, being head alpha, it is much responsibility, and I would probably have to quit school. Dad isn't one of those head alphas that provide protection. He actually gets involved and tries to help save and protect the mistreated. I love him for doing that, but I don't know if I can handle all of that," Harry said. "Be honest, no friendship bias. Do you think I will be a good head alpha?"
"Harry, I've said this multiple times before, yes, a hundred percent yes. You listen to your gut and your wolf, you put everyone else above yourself, and you have a good heart. When you decide, you actually weigh all the options and make the best-calculated option based on that. No bias here. I truly believe that you will be an amazing head alpha. The entire pack believes in you and will follow you anywhere. You actually take time and get to know every person in this pack, no matter their rank here, and you listen to them and try to help in any way you can. Believe in yourself mate, you have what it takes and more," Liam said, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder and squeezing it.
"Thanks, that helps a bit," Harry said, going back to eating. Liam and Harry continued talking and eating. When they were done, they went back downstairs, put their plates in the dirty dishes bin, and went back to Harry's room to do some homework since all of tomorrow will be spent outside hunting for new strays.
---
Once Louis arrived at the packhouse, everyone looked at him with fear and pity, and Louis doesn't know why. He typically gets those looks when he leaves the infirmary with new bruises on him, but he was not hit today, so why is everyone looking at him. Louis just went straight to his room, and before he opens the door, he can already feel Mark's angry aura through the door. This makes his wolf coward away, and he lets out a whimper, and before he can decide what to do, the door swings open to reveal a red face Mark. Mark grabs onto Louis's hurt arm and pulls him into the room and onto the floor hard, and Louis has to bite his lip not to let out a scream.
"You are causing me so many problems do you know that?" Mark said really close to Louis's face and then stood up and kicked Louis a couple of times in the stomach. "The doctors at the hospital know that you are not an alpha; instead, you are a pathetic omega, so I had to take care of them. You should be grateful I am not throwing you in with the rest of the omega in this pack; you are completely useless. But you have one use for me," Mark grabbed Louis's neck and turned him onto his back and started to choke him. "Now that you are no longer training, for the time being, you will get close to Harry Styles and spy on his pack for me. They are snooping around in what we are doing here, and I don't like it. You will go and find out their plans for me. You hear me?" Mark squeezed harder, and Louis tried to push him off with one hand, but Mark is so much stronger than him. "The plus side is your friend Zayn's roommate is best friends with Harry, so you have a connection there. You disappoint me, Daisy and Phoebe are going to be thrown in with the rest of the omegas, and I know people in this pack will have fun with them."
The thought of other people getting their hands on his sisters disgust Louis, and he nods the best he can, and Mark evilly smirks and lets go of Louis's neck. Louis gasp for air and is coughing, but before he can relax, Mark is already undoing his jeans.
"Now it is my turn to have some fun," Mark said and pulled down Louis's jeans and boxer along with his own, and Louis tries to wiggle. Still, Mark has one hand on Louis's diaphragm and is pushing hard that Louis can't really breathe. With all the pain and fear of what Mark was about to do, it was too much for Louis. Soon Louis got very spacey, and he dropped.
Louis woke up on the floor with something sticky on his shirt, and his lower half was naked, and Louis felt a pain in his ass, and Louis just laid there crying. After laying there on the floor silently crying and trying to breathe, Louis got up slowly and wincing at his every move and grabbed a change of clothes before going to shower and try to watch away from the feel of Mark's hands-on him. He was crying from the pain in his shoulder and stomach, and ribs. He knows he needs to go to Dr. Manning again, but he also knows that she would urge him to make a run for it, and he can't do that. He has to protect his sisters, and the only way he knows how to do that is to do as Mark says. If he hurts Louis, he won't touch his sisters, and Louis has to obey him even though he doesn't want to spy on Harry Styles. He knows the name; everyone knows the name. He is the soon-to-be new pack alpha of the Styles pack, known for their generosity and kindness but is also very powerful. They are the type of pack that will try to write all the wrongs in the world and try to help everyone they can. Louis only wishes to seek help from that pack, but he can't leave, not with his sisters still here. Mark would never let his sisters leave, and if they escaped, he would hunt them down, and when he finds them, they would rather have death take them.
Once he was out of the shower, he changed and limped over to his bed, got comfortable, and pulled out his phone to search up Harry Styles. Although he knows the name, he has no idea what Harry actually looks like, and he needs to find a believable reason to want to be around him. He has no idea how he will get close enough to the alpha enough to go back to his packhouse. If Harry would know of the name Louis Tomlinson or that he is part of the Crimson Pack. Louis went onto social media and found Liam Payne's page hoping that Liam would have a picture of Harry and tagged him to know who he is. The very first picture on his page is a series of five pictures. The first one is a picture of a desk with textbooks, notebooks, worksheets, and pencils covering the entire desk. The second one is similar to the first picture but with two brunettes with their heads on the table looking like they fell asleep. The third picture is a very tired but happy Liam with an equally happy blonde lad beside him, smiling widely at the camera. The fourth photo is a picture of the blonde with his arm resting on a curly head (who looks asleep with his cheek pressed to the table and hair in front of his face) with a huge smile, and a thumbs up with his other hand. The last picture makes Louis's breath caught in his throat because it is a picture of Harry with his arms around Liam, who is on one side of Harry and the same blonde on the other side of Harry. Harry also has his arms around. All three look really happy, and it looks to be right outside of a classroom. Liam captioned the series of photos: Midterms🙄😫😖.
Louis stared at the picture of Harry in the last photo and didn't understand why he is so attracted to him. Yeah, Louis has to admit that Harry is really attractive with his chocolate curls that he pushed back with a bandana or a headscarf, his emerald green eyes, his kind but sharp features. Now he knows that Harry has dimples. But Louis has seen many attractive people before. He has never felt this automatic pull to Harry, not to mention his scent was intoxicating. His scent was something that Louis craved so much, and especially at this moment, he really craved the touch of an alpha but not any alpha, Harry. But why has Louis not even uttered a single word to him? He was just there on Zayn's bed, not moving. Louis assumes that Harry was at the game, and his scent after the shower just proved that he was the one that he smelt at the game. Before Louis could go further in his train of thought, he realized that this Harry might be Harry Styles, the lad that Mark wants to spy on. If Louis wasn't feeling bad before, he is most definitely feeling bad now. If he goes through with this and gets close to Harry, he knows that feelings would most definitely get involved with this automatic attraction, which would hurt Harry. If he doesn't go through with this, then Daisy and Phoebe would have to endure what he just went through more often and would not get the comfort of their own shower and comfortable bed. His sisters are his only family, he needs to do this for them, and he only hopes that Harry will be an ass, so he doesn't have to feel bad about using him.
Now he needs to come up with a plan. He knows that Zayn will be meeting Harry, and he needs to make sure he is there when they talk to get a better feel of Harry or, better yet, about his pack. Now he feels bad for using Zayn like this, he really hates this situation and really hopes that no one gets hurt, but he knows that someone would. He hopes Zayn and Harry will forgive him.
Louis takes his suppressants and his pain killers. He goes to sleep even though it is still pretty early and did not have dinner, but he can't walk downstairs without people noticing him wincing and limp around.
---
Saturday morning, Harry is training with his trainer, Erin Lindsey, a fellow alpha who can kick arse. Today they are just sparring.
"You are getting better, baby Styles," Lindsey said after they were done and Harry won the match, and they are now taking a break and getting a drink.
"Not a baby, I'm 19," Harry mumbled.
"Still a baby, but I am serious. You are really working hard and have improved a lot, and I didn't have to go easy on you and frankly, was a pretty good opponent for me. Next week get ready, doing another sparring match, but it will be five against one. Let's see what you do when you have to pay attention and predict the moves of five people at the same time," she said, and Harry just stared at her a little shocked.
"Are you not going to ease me into it a little more?" Harry asked, and Lindsey just shook her head and walked away. Harry sat there just enjoying the Saturday morning before making his way to his room to take a shower and change. He didn't really see many people on his way up since it was 7:30 in the morning. When he walked into his room, Gemma was already in there, pacing back and forth.
"Gemma? Is Niall okay?" Harry asked, immediately worried that something happened to Niall.
"Ni is fine, H, everyone is fine that I know of," Gemma said and sat down on Harry's bed and laid down staring at the ceiling.
"Then why are you awake and in my room so early in the morning and looking so worried?" Harry asked, standing in front of his sister on the floor.
"I'm worried about dad. Last night, he came to my room saying that he needed to talk to us after your training session, and we both know what that could mean. I mean, for the past week, he has barely gotten out of bed. I wanted to tell you so many times, but mom kept saying that you had midterms. You are already stressed enough with school and all the tasks that dad has handed over to you with the pack that I shouldn't stress you out even more. What if we walk in there and he tells us that he is dying faster than we thought. I even saw Dr. Halstead walking out of his room with worry written all over his face," Gemma said with tears spilling out of the side of her eyes and onto the bed.
"I don't care if he coughs too hard; it's dad. I want to hear about it no matter what is going on in my life. Stop trying to protect me from this; I really wished mom and dad would tell us what is going on," Harry said, sitting beside Gemma on the bed. "I will hug you right now, but I am all sweaty."
"Go shower, and hug me after," Gemma said with a sad chuckle, and Harry nodded and got off the bed. "H?" Harry hummed in response. "I don't care that you are an alpha, you are my baby brother, and I will always protect you."
"Thank you, I hope you know that I would do the same for you," Harry said before entering the shower and quickly got cleaned before changing. Once he was out, he found Gemma in the same position on the bed but now with her arms spread out, so she looks like a bit 'T' on the bed. At the sound of the door opening again, Gemma lifted her head and got off the bed and went to hug her brother, which Harry hugged back eagerly. "Whatever it is, we are going to get through it together, and we have the pack to support us."
"I know, it's still hard, though," Gemma mumbled. "Let's go find out what they need," she pulled back from the hug, and they walked out of the room and down the hall to their parent's room. Gemma was about to knock when their mother opened the door, and they walked in without a word. They could feel the emotion in the room was sombre, and that did not comfort Gemma or Harry.
"Sit," Des said, still in bed, and Harry and Gemma climbed into bed leaning against the backboard at the foot of the bed facing their father. "I'm sorry," he simply said, and they can see he is trying to hold back tears, and Anne is crying softly behind them. "I have stage 4 lung cancer, that is why I have been really sick lately, and we did not want to tell you because when I found out about a year ago, we thought that we could beat it because it was very early on. I thought I did beat it for a while, but then cancer came back a while back, and I have been getting worse. Dr. Halstead said that I only have a month left, and I will not be able to do much work this month aside from lying here in bed. I will announce the pack sometime next week, but I just wanted to tell you guys first. I am so sorry that this is how this situation turned out. Harry, I need you to take over as head alpha, you will be officially head alpha after the announcement, but since I am in no shape to work, I need you to do it. I know this conflicts with your studies, and I am not telling you to drop out because I know how important school is to you but know that I believe in you. It might be stressful at times, but you can do it, you can balance both if you really want to do that, and you will always have my support. I also know that you have doubts about your skills as a head alpha, and I am not saying this as your father but as someone who has seen you grow. Harry, you are the strongest alpha in this pack; not only do you have the strength, but you have the brains, and most importantly, you have the biggest heart and the most selfless personality. All of that would make you a great leader, and you will mess up at times, lord knows I have, but if you learn from your mistakes and fix them, you will be fine. I have seen how quickly you can make decisions on a mission, how fast you can come up with a solution during time-sensitive situations and how you weigh your options during tough decisions. You have it in you and have been using those skills for years. Believe in yourself. Gemma, you had done so much for this pack as is, taking on so much a leadership role when you really didn't have to. Just like your brother, you have put this pack above all else, but it is time that you start to live your life. I know you want to do writing and that you want to start your own fashion line, do it. I believe in you, and you will do amazing in both professions, whichever one you choose. Both of you don't make the same mistake as I did where this pack was my life. Although it was fulfilling, and I do not regret it one bit, I wished that I would have ventured into other aspects of my interest. I am not saying to abandon the pack; all I am saying is that if you want to do more than the life in the pack, then do it. Many other people have pack responsibilities and a life outside." Des said, and both of them were crying, and when he was done, he was crying as well. "I love you both, and watching you two grow up into the people you are today have made myself and your mother very proud to call you two our children. Come here," Gemma and Harry crawled over to their dad and hugged him, and Anne came over and joined in the family crying hug. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, just crying before Des had to eat and take his medication and Gemma and Harry had to leave. They walked downstairs for breakfast but keeps to themselves away from the rest of the pack, just thinking about everything they were just told. Harry had cancelled the hunt with Liam and spend the rest of the day finishing his schoolwork before walking into Des's office and starting to go through his files. Harry needed to get himself familiar with everything pack-related and started with their charity work. Luckily Harry knew most of the inner workings, but still, he needed to know everything about the pack.