Trigger warning: mentions of assault and abuse. Read at your own risk!
When Atlas came back that evening late and exhausted from work he had almost forgotten Niel would be there in his room. Their room. He smiled when he saw the teenager with his earbuds listening to music. The music was sad.
Noticing that Niel wouldn't acknowledge him he shut the door, locked it, and went for a shower. A steaming hot shower and his mate beside him would for sure rest the beast inside him. The last couple of days Atlas had a hard time not acting on his instincts and remaining calm to not scare his mate further away from him.
Niel was angry and highly frustrated. The longer he stayed here the more he felt controlled, confined, and silenced. It was even worse when he lived his normal life before all this madness.
As Atlas walked back into the bedroom with only a towel around his waist, Niel stated, "I want my old room back."
The Alpha sighed. Still, the boy didn't listen to him, still, he went against his word. Why couldn't Niel just accept all of this?
"You want a lot of things, Niel. You want your old room, you want to go to school, you want to go home. You want and want and want. Well, guess what, if you don't remember anymore, nobody wants you in your human world, but I want you and it would be better if you would just submit," Atlas said lowly, stalking slowly towards Niel.
The teenager gulped.
"Now how about you get ready for bed?" Niel was too afraid to go against the Alpha now. He knew just how to push Niel's buttons. The men both got ready for bed, only Niel had no desire to sleep in the same bed as Atlas. So when he was ready he situated himself on the couch.
"Niel, come here."
"I would rather not."
"It wasn't a request."
Niel turned around pissed off and saw the Alpha sitting on the bed, his back resting against the headboard. A tension formed in the room as both men didn't say anything and just stared at each other. When Niel didn't move, Atlas's face darkened and he got off from the bed, that was until the teenager slowly moved toward the bed. He was filled with fear when he saw the change in Atlas' demeanor.
The teenager stood beside the bed but couldn't bring it in him to lay in it, so he just stood there.
"Niel?" Atlas patted the bed next to him. "Come."
Too afraid of what the Alpha would do if he didn't listen, the teenage boy slowly and carefully went into the bed, trying to stay on the edge of the bed. Only the Alpha had other plans. He wrapped his arm around his mate's waist and pulled him to the middle of the bed where Niel would lay in the embrace of the werewolf. He felt trapped and wanted nothing more than to sleep on the couch, but the grip felt strong and tight and he knew he couldn't possibly fight it.
"Goodnight, my mate," Atlas whispered and planted a small kiss on the crown of Niel's head. For weeks now he had dreamt of this moment and now it was finally here, which led him in some good dreams that night. Niel, on the other hand, had a hard time falling asleep and when he slept it felt restless.
The next morning Niel woke up alone, something he didn't expect. After a quick shower and brushing his teeth he dressed in the clothes that didn't smell like home anymore. He sighed.
When he stood in front of the door he almost expected it to be locked, fortunately, it was not. As he made his way downstairs, there was one thing on his mind, which was finding Rain. Niel wanted to know more about the man named Atlas. During his shower, he came to the thought that he didn't know a single thing about the Alpha. Except for the fact, he eats everything with hot sauce and it was truly everything.
The first place he was looking for Rain was in the kitchen, but he wasn't successful. Then he went to the 'informal living room', which he learned from Rain, then the library, and the reading room but still no trace of the young shewolf.
Then he walked into Levi, the Beta, Niel came to a halt and asked, "Levi, have you seen Rain?" The Beta was first surprised to see Niel as calm as he was. He heard what had happened and he assumed the human boy would, as always, lock himself up, isolating himself. But, Niel wasn't.
"Uhm, I think I saw her heading towards the gym."
"Gym?" This place had quite some facilities, Niel thought.
"Yeah, you know what, I will walk with you." Levi led the teenager through the mansion and Niel was surprised there was a basement level.
"How big is this place?" Niel muttered to himself.
Levi laughed. "Yeah, I know, it's huge, but needed, because well we can't really show up in that town of yours. We don't really – uhm – fit in, so to speak." Niel nodded his head.
"How are your bruises?"
"Fine, although not everyone wants to believe that."
An awkward chuckle escaped from the Beta. "Listen, Niel. I like you, dude. And I might be one of the few that doesn't really have a problem with humans, but you need to understand something... Even when you are the Luna, you will always be the submissive in your relationship with Atlas and it will be better for you both if you listen if you... submit."
Niel rolled his eyes. "We are not in a relationship, I-"
The Beta grabbed the teenager's arm. "You are, and I am serious. As long as you listen Atlas will be kind, sweet, and caring, if you aren't... well your life won't be nice."
"Is that a threat?"
"No, a warning."
Right then they walked into the gym where a handful of people were working. As Niel was scanning the place he found Rain and made a beeline to her. When the shewolf turned around her eyes widened in surprise. "Hey Fresh meat, how nice of you to visit me! Come to join me?" Rain was pleased to see the human boy.
Rain always felt left out of the pack for several reasons, which had partly to do with her attitude, and was never really taken in by the community and therefore could sympathize with Niel. She liked that they both could be outsiders together.
"No, I came to ask you something."
"Sure, what's up?" Rain hadn't started her workout yet and sat down on one of the benches. "Can you tell me about Atlas?" Niel asked in a whisper, careful nobody would hear them. Only he forgot that werewolves have heightened senses and everybody could hear them.
Rain made eye contact with Levi, to which the Beta responded with a nod. But quickly he added, "You need to take a guard with you, I don't know why there was no guard with Niel this morning but he needs a guard."
"But he has me," Rain complained.
"You know very well Rain why you aren't enough."
"Ugh, eyeroll!"
"Rain, I am serious."
The shewolf waved with her hand. "Yeah, yeah, I will find someone. Don't worry about it." She stood up and took her stuff with her. "I think I will have to postpone my workout then. I wasn't feeling it anyways. So, thank you!" She thanked the human boy while slapping his shoulder, causing Niel to wince. "Oh, I am so sorry. I totally forgot... Normally it heals fast with werewolves so I thought you would be healed by now." Niel dismissed it and said he didn't mind.
Together they walked through the mansion toward the exit but were halted on their way by Ezra. "Why is there no guard with Othniel?"
Niel clenched his fist. He was done with people calling him by his full name, by now he knew the people who didn't like him called him by his birth name. It was their way to show how they despised the human.
"Oh, we were just looking for one to take with us?" Rain replied.
Ezra's brows quirked up. "Going where?"
"Just outside to have some privacy."
"I will go with you," The Delta sighed. He had no desire to babysit the human, but if Rain and Niel were together he was afraid something might happen.
Rain wasn't pleased with the company of Ezra. They had many fights over the years and multiple times Ezra had snitched on her to Atlas.
The three of them walked outside to a quiet place behind the mansion, near a pond. It was quite beautiful and Niel was happy he was outside again, instead of being cooped up in his room.
Rain situated herself on a rock and patted beside her for Niel to join. Ezra stood a few feet away from them guarding the area. "So what is it that you want to know about the big bad Alpha?"
Niel shrugged. "I don't know, just the basics and what he is like, I guess."
"Hmm, I see you are not much of a talker if you don't know what you are asking for regarding someone else's information. That's okay, I am sure I can give you answers to your vague questions."
Niel saw Rain was thinking of how she would try to summon her cousin, the Alpha of the Black Lake Pack. "Well, Atlas is an only child. I know he has an aunt and uncle on his mother's side and they have a daughter. But they live far away near King's Landing."
"King's Landing?"
"You will learn that from Charlotte," Rain said bitterly. "Anyway, he got his position rather early as Alpha and because of that he still feels quite pressured to show the pack he is the right man for the job."
Niel watched the water move in the pond as Rain was speaking, a couple of fish were near the surface and the teenager could see how two fish danced around each other. He was surprised to hear that Atlas felt insecure about his job. He didn't come across like that to Niel.
"He likes hot sauce, but I think you have noticed that," Rain chuckled. "And he is quite the romantic I think. He likes watching movies and reading books containing love stories. I think he is a softie, but because of his status he can't really show it."
"Why?"
The shewolf looked now as well to the two dancing fish, which looked less peaceful than they did earlier. "It's stereotypical, but Alpha's are seen as logical and rational wolves, leaving almost no room to emotion and compassion."
Niel nodded his head absentmindedly as he paid attention again to the fish who were now swimming away from each other. "Wait a minute. There is one thing you haven't said, which every other person would do if you ask about someone."
"Which is?" Rain asked flustered.
"How old is Atlas?"
The shewolf grew quiet. She had done it indeed on purpose, leaving out his age. She had a feeling Niel wouldn't react quite well when hearing the number of age.
"Rain?" The teenager pressed, standing up while doing so.
"How old are you?" The shewolf tried to distract him.
"Rain tell me how old he is!"
She sighed. "First answer me, then I will answer you."
Niel turned around, looking at the water again, no fish insight anymore. "I just turned eighteen. My birthday was shortly after I arrived here."
Rain was shocked but relieved. Even though she still found it hard to answer the question. A silence had fallen around the pound. Not even a single bird was heard.
"He is twenty-nine, turning thirty soon," She whispered.
Niel was fuming. "What?!" He screamed out. What kind of pervert was the guy who claimed to be his mate? This couldn't be happening, Niel thought. Rain grabbed his hand and warned carefully, "Niel you can not, I repeat, can not get angry at him. It's almost a full moon and he is very sensitive at the moment." The teenager didn't care and frankly didn't understand. He stormed away. Rain tried to follow him, saying it wasn't Atlas' fault and that he was in fact of age and it shouldn't bother him, technically. But it did bother Niel. He wasn't even gay and now there was an age gap as well.
Rain gave up in following the human boy as she knew it wouldn't help. Ezra, on the other hand, stayed close to the teenager. The moment he noticed Niel was heading to the Alpha's office he stepped in front of him. "I am afraid you can't go to the Alpha at the moment."
"Move out of my way." Niel gritted out.
The Delta shook his head. "I am not taking orders from you, only the Alpha."
"I don't fucking care!" Niel tried to pass the big werewolf but was quickly stopped. "Let go of me!"
The shouting of the future Luna drew the attention of the people nearby, one of them was Levi. He quickly made his way over to help Ezra. Levi didn't always agree with his Alpha, but he also knew it wasn't his place to judge. So for the sake of them, both Levi tried with everything in his power to prevent certain things from happening.
"Niel, Niel, please, you have to calm down. Let's talk about it, but not here. You can then scream at me all you want," The Beta tried.
"No! I am done with being controlled. Let me through!" The teenager made another attempt of surpassing not only Ezra but now Levi as well. Of course, the human boy wasn't a match for the two werewolves. They both grabbed each an arm and escorted Niel away. Niel tried his best to wriggle out of their grasp, he screamed, yelled, and struggled. All his bottled-up frustrations came out, the rejection from his parents, the bullying, his lost career, the loss of his brother, missing out on finishing high school, and being put together with some older man even if he isn't gay.
The commotion that was created wasn't left unnoticed by the Alpha as he both heard and was informed about the situation. He quickly made his way over to his mate, hoping he could diffuse whatever that was happening.
When Atlas came into Niel's sight he started to scream, "You fucking pervert! You fucking predator! I don't want to see you ever again! I hate you! You ruined my life! Never, ever will I be your mate!"
The last sentence made something snap inside of Atlas. With the full moon tonight all the werewolves were more sensitive regarding their emotions as it was hard to keep the beast inside while it was being pulled by the moon. But for the Alpha, it was even harder, especially because it was regarding his mate.
Atlas made big strides toward Niel. Levi noticed the change in his Alpha's demeanor and shielded the human boy. "Atlas, Atlas, please, think for a moment. You don't want to hurt your mate. Please, snap out of it." But the Alpha couldn't snap out of it. He harshly pushed Levi aside and grabbed Niel's arm, dragging him along to their bedroom.
"You will learn your place," Atlas growled out.
"Never!" Niel shouted. All the while they made their way to the bedroom, the teenager tried to pry the Alpha's hand off him. He wasn't successful as they were now entering the bedroom. On the background, Levi's quick footsteps were heard and words of reasoning to the Alpha. But they fell to deaf ears. The Beta was in a dilemma, he had no idea what the Alpha was about to do to Niel, but he also knew it wasn't his place to interfere.
When the door was slammed shut and locked the wolf cursed. He went and looked for Ezra and the other warriors, he knew for sure something bad was about to happen, something Levi wanted to prevent.
Meanwhile, Niel was pushed inside the room. "You need to listen!" Atlas pointed at the teenager. "You are my mate! My mate! You will submit to me!"
Niel looked Atlas dead in the eyes, not afraid to make eye contact, and said lowly, "Never."
Right then all breaks were lost for Atlas. There was no logic, rationality or reasoning to held him back. He grabbed Niel by his throat and pushed him against the windows. "Now, you will be always mine. No running away anymore," Atlas growled loudly. His eyes were completely black as he got a firmer grip on the boy's neck, making it hard for Niel to breath. He grabbed Atlas' wrist in an attempt to let him go.
Niel became more desperate as he saw the Alpha's mouth open and two big canines growing as if Atlas was ready to bite. Niel tried with every ounce of strength he had to move away, but nothing worked. Then finally Atlas moved quick with his head and sank his teeth in Niel's neck. The teenager screamed out of pain as he trashed in the Alpha's grip.
Right then the door was blown off its hinges as three warriors, Ezra and Levi made their way over the threshold. All five of them grabbed the Alpha and pulled him away from Niel. Atlas had let his mate's neck go and was forced away. He growled loudly to make his anger known to the room, but the other wolves kept on pulling until they had Atlas on the hallway.
Niel had turned limp from the pain and slid against the window down to the floor. His neck was on fire. He didn't know what to do to ease the pain. Silent tears ran over his cheeks. The teenager could still hear the commotion outside but was more focused on himself.
Shortly after Rain entered the room. Her hand flew to her mouth as she gasped, she creamed for the Beta. Levi managed to get Atlas in some room and when he heard the shewolf, he immediately ran back. He, too, was shocked beyond words.
Atlas had just performed a forced mark, something that is a taboo within the werewolf community and frowned upon. A forced mark left the other mate with great pain, especially when that mate is a human.
Rain kneeled in front of Niel, her hands shaking. "What should we do, Levi? Look at him."
"I already called Dr. Laura, just don't touch him." The Beta warned just before Rain wanted to hold Niel's hand.
Niel had a hard time staying awake. He didn't want to faint as was afraid what would happen to him, but the pain made it difficult to stay awake. He had no idea how many minutes went by when another figure came into the room. It was Dr. Laura and what it seemed to be a nurse.
They, too, were shocked. The doctor ordered Niel to be put on the bed so she could have a better look at the bite. Pain shot through his body. Niel begged for them to let go as their hands on his skin burned him.
The four of them moved quick and once Niel was safely on the bed Dr. Laura had no idea what to do. And there wasn't much for her to do. The only thing she could do was maybe clean up the bite as it was messy, but that was it. Marks were the only wounds medicine couldn't treat. It was something between mates and no one could interfere with that. Therefore, there was also nothing to give to ease the pain as the pain that coursed through Niel's body was caused by their mate bond.
Niel, again, screamed out in pain when the nurse tried to clean up the bite mark. "Please, please make it stop," He begged. "Please."
Rain tried to comfort him, telling him everything would be all right and that the pain would soon be over. Only it didn't go away. The teenager was for almost a full hour in pain before he finally passed out.