Chapter Text
He couldn’t believe he’d been caught after all this time on the run. Will was sixteen when he presented as Omega, and his dad...
His dad had dollar signs in his eyes.
Shortly after his first heat, he overheard his dad on the phone with someone from the state, asking how to register his son as Omega, and how to get him to an auction. His own father, who Will thought loved him, was prepared to sell him off like property.
Will would rather die than be treated like cattle.
That night, he packed his bags and ran.
It was very difficult for a long time. He made money on the docks while he worked his way along the southern coastline. The money he made was enough to buy himself black market scent blockers, suppressants, and get him from one city to the next. He was homeless, but he washed up at different YMCA locations when he could, and went to Salvation Army stores to get himself clothes when he needed them.
Three years past, and he had some money in his possession as well as a trailer he rented.
One of the guys he worked with was an Alpha, but he seemed docile enough that Will stayed working there even though his instincts told him to run.
That was his mistake.
After a day of sweating in the sun, the scent blockers wore off just enough. Not enough for Will to notice, but plenty enough for the asshole Alpha he worked with to sniff out.
Will never suspected a thing. That night, he’d been sleeping in his bed when the Council for Omegan Welfare descended on him. They kicked down his door and stuck him with a needle while he fought them off with all his might.
The Alpha that worked with him got all of his worldly possessions as well as a certificate that promised he’d get the money once Will was sold.
He couldn’t say how long he was knocked out, but he had brief flickers of consciousness where someone was washing him or doing some God awful medical exams on him. No Omega was allowed to have a scruffy face and tattered clothes. They shaved him clean and weaned him off his suppressants so his scent intensified.
He was given an examination while strapped to a stirrup table while he cried.
They clipped back his long hair, leaving the curls neat and shiny around his ears rather than his shoulders.
Will only managed to get the upper hand once throughout his captivity. While they were moving him from his cell to a blood drawing chair, he managed to get a hand free and knock an orderly unconscious. After that, he was drugged more and kept in tighter chains.
He was dressed in a white shift that was practically translucent. No underwear were given to him, and he had an awful inkling that meant he was going to be... presented to the auction.
An iron collar was clasped around his neck, then he was led out by two orderlies to the auction floor.
“Here we have a beautiful, young, male Omega,” the auctioneer announced while he was dragged out onto the stage. The auction room itself was kept very dark; Will couldn’t see the faces of the crowd that was looking him over.
He could smell them, though. Acrid, virile, excited, Alphas.
There was a breeding bench at the center of the stage, and despite the drugs in his system, he fought hard while being dragged by two men towards it. “Very fit. Verified virgin, never been bred,” the auctioneer continued. “Scent contains notes of citrus and vanilla, very pleasing to the nose! Not much is known about his breeding, nor his origins. This one is for those who like their Omegas with a little fight in them!” the auctioneer laughed. “Despite his unknowns, we have proof that he is without disease, and that he is very, very, fertile.”
“Perverts!” Will yelled out to the crowd. “Fucking rapists! How can you do this? I am a person! I am a person!” he screamed, his voice echoing out into the darkness. There was an awkward cough from the crowd, and the auctioneer laughed uncomfortably.
He was ultimately ignored, but the orderlies held him a little tighter. Pushed him a little harder.
They strapped him into the breeding bench and lifted his shift while he screamed bloody murder. Bright lights lit up his exposed body, showing him off to the room while his face flushed in mortification. He was too angry to cry, and for that he was grateful. He could smell the anxious sweat of previous Omegas who’d been strapped to the bench mixing with his own.
“His curls are genuine. Blue-green eyes, strong build. Will make beautiful pups for the lucky Alpha who claims him! Shall we start the bidding at five-hundred-thousand dollars?”
After that, it was a whirlwind. He was maneuvered out from the bench and the shift was removed completely while the bidding went up and up.
His hands were held at his sides, naked as the day he was born while perverts ogled him. He fought viciously enough that another orderly emerged to keep him still.
Moments passed, and the gavel slammed at the podium. “Sold for two point five million dollars!”
He fought wildly, screaming as loud and long as his burning lungs would allow. “I will kill you!” he screamed into the crowd, hoping whoever bought him could hear it. “You will fucking regret this! You will wish you’d never met me, you God damned bastards!”
His screaming only stopped when he was taken in the back where they pressed another needle into his neck.
When he awoke, he was dressed in another white shift, and a thick, silver, collar was placed around his neck. There were silver cuffs around his wrists that had loops where chains could be threaded.
They’d hobbled him. He couldn’t understand why they bothered, because he was too drugged to stand on his own, let alone run.
All the nervous sweat had been washed away, and they dragged him from his cell to thread chains through his collar and manacles.
He was immediately loaded into a van with four other washed and ready Omegas, then driven to his new Alpha.
He had no idea where he was. He’d been drugged since they caught him, so he couldn’t be sure he wasn’t put on a plane. It was colder here, despite it being late spring, so he knew he’d been brought further north. There were no palm trees and the houses looked different than those in Georgia.
The van pulled into a private driveway, and he glanced around at the two Omegas that were left with him in the van. This house was either his Alpha’s, or one of theirs.
Turned out, it was his.
He was dragged into the foyer of the opulent home, all while he fought fiercely to be freed. It was futile.
“You got yourself a hellion, Dr. Lecter,” the orderly laughed.
An Alpha came into view, then. He was tall and muscular with angular features. He was very well dressed, but Will imagined that would be how someone would dress if they could spend two and a half million dollars on a sex slave.
“You’ve bruised him,” the Alpha said distastefully.
“No choice in that matter,” the orderly replied. “He fights like a bull. Where would you like us to chain him?”
“No chains,” he replied. He stepped into Will’s space, barely feet from him while he appraised him. The Alpha smelled incredible, Will thought disdainfully. Far better than any Alpha he’d ever had the misfortune of smelling before him.
He was still a monster.
“We suggest that you chain him, sir,” the orderly said hesitantly. “He’ll run. I can guarantee it.”
“You’ve hobbled him,” the Alpha responded. “He won’t get far. Thank you for delivering him to me, that will be all.”
His chains exchanged hands, and the orderlies left.
“What is your name?” the Alpha asked.
“Fuck you,” Will spat while his heart raced in his chest. He was looking for a way out, but there didn’t seem to be one.
The Alpha looked amused. “I don’t think I can call you that in public,” he replied with a chuckle. “My name is Hannibal Lecter. I am a doctor here in Baltimore. A neurosurgeon.”
Baltimore, Will thought. As in Maryland. That was good information to have. The next thing he settled on was the fact that his new master was a doctor. “Nothing like dedicating your life to saving lives while buying people to fuck them, right? Doctor? What’s wrong? Can’t get it up unless the person you’re raping is fighting you?”
“You’ve every right to be angry,” Hannibal said thoughtfully. “Though I don’t think I’ve ever been spoken to like this by any of my previous wards.”
So he’d be one in a harem of Omegas. He knew some Alphas did that, but he couldn’t smell any others in the house. Maybe there was a cage where he kept them somewhere else in the house.
His master reached into his pocket and withdrew a key. “I want to uncollar you,” he said slowly. “But I’d like to have a conversation with you, first. Will you please speak to me like a rational adult?”
The urge to tell him to fuck himself was strong, but the thought of getting the chains off was too good to pass up. He nodded.
“Good,” Hannibal beamed. “They told me you had false identification on you when they caught you, and that you refuse to give them your name. Seeing as how I sincerely doubt your name is Pedro, I would appreciate your real name.”
“Brian,” he replied after a few tense moments.
“Brian,” Hannibal repeated while shifting his eyes over his face. “How old are you?”
Will grimaced, considering his answer. Maybe if he said he was younger, the Alpha wouldn’t... hurt him. That was unlikely, so he decided in this instance that the truth couldn’t hurt. “Nineteen.”
The Alpha’s eyes widened. “You look much younger than that. Not that you aren’t young at nineteen. Sometimes the auction captures Omegas that are underaged. It does not stop them from auctioning them, regardless. Are you hungry?”
He was starving, so he nodded again.
“Let’s get something in your belly, then I can explain the situation to you.”
He was led into a large dining room and sat in a chair at the head of the table. This could be his chance to run, so he sat at the ready.
All hope dissipated when he realized his chair was bolted to the floor, and Hannibal locked his chain to the chair before he wandered off towards what Will imagined was the kitchen.
He still struggled to find any weakness with the furniture, but found nothing to his advantage. He slumped in the seat as Hannibal returned with a full plate of steaming food, setting it down in front of Will. The silver key was pressed into the lock of each of his manacles, freeing his hands to eat.
His neck was still chained to the chair, though.
If he was going to run, he needed energy to do it. The food that Hannibal brought smelled incredible; roasted meat, potatoes, carrots, and onions. There was a basket of bread and butter by his plate, so he dug in.
How he ate was very likely disgusting, but he was starving and he hated Hannibal to his core, so he didn’t quite care. Hannibal watched him devour the plate, shredding bread to soak up the delicious sauce that covered the meat.
It didn’t take long for him to clean the plate. He swiped his mouth with his hand, ignoring the cloth napkin completely. “Are you still hungry?” Hannibal asked after a moment.
Will nodded again. “Water, please.”
Hannibal retreated with Will’s plate, returning after only a minute with a smaller portion of meat and potatoes as well as a tall glass of iced water.
Will ate the next plate much more slowly, as the intense hunger pains had mostly passed.
“You were right,” Hannibal said suddenly while sitting to his side. “I am a doctor, and I have dedicated my life to saving lives.”
“Saving the lives of everyone but Omegas,” Will snarked after chugging half of the iced water down his parched throat. “I’m not a person, I guess?”
Hannibal’s mouth flattened to a line. “Will you let me finish?” Will made a rude, grand, gesture with his hand, and Hannibal sighed. “I’ve bought two other Omegas. I wish I could save more, but my inheritance is only so much, and I do not make enough as a doctor to do more. Instead, I focus on saving the Omegas that seem most eager to survive. To better their situation. My first was Randall Tier. He was almost as feisty as you are,” Hannibal chuckled. “It took quite a bit for him to trust me, but we are very good friends now.”
“Stockholm syndrome,” Will muttered.
“Nothing like that at all,” Hannibal replied. “He lives in Baltimore with his wife and son. He just turned two this year.”
Will set his fork down with a clang. “You bred him and discarded him?”
“No,” Hannibal tipped his head. “I gave him his life back. I am part of... an organization that rehabilitates captured Omegas. For Randall, all he wanted was to be a beta male. To live in the open like the rest of the world without being sold off and bred. He wanted his scent glands, ovaries, and uterus, removed. We gave him the surgeries, and now he lives among the rest of humanity as a Beta male.”
“You mutilated him,” Will said miserably. “You want to sterilize the world of Omegas rather than just fight for our rights?”
“We fight for your rights, Brian,” Hannibal countered. “I merely made Randall’s wish a reality. My second Omega was Matthew Brown. He wants to live as an Omega, which presents issues occasionally. I have to keep him collared and scent mark him often while he lives apart from me, otherwise questions will be asked. When he finds his ideal mate, I will not protest or prevent him from taking them as a bonded partner. I will sign all the paperwork to transfer his ownership. I do not like that that has to be the way of it, but for now, it’s necessary.”
“You’d let him go?” Will asked in disbelief. “Just like that?”
Hannibal nodded. “Just like that. So I’d like to present some options to you. You can opt to get the surgery that Randall received, which would make you unauctionable in the future. You’d live freely as a Beta male, able to pursue a career and a college education. You can opt for what Matthew has taken, which is my support and care while you find an appropriate mate. That option requires you to remain collared by me. I will also need to scent mark you every few days so when you’re out in public without me, you are essentially claimed.”
“How the fuck is he supposed to find a mate when he smells like you all the time?” Will retorted.
Hannibal chuckled. “The members of our organization are vast. There are many Alphas who do not want to be sold an Omega. We essentially have meet and greets every month where various Alphas come to meet potential mates like Matthew in controlled environments. Dating, Brian. He dates, and if he does not care for them, then they do not see one another again.”
“You just...” Will struggled. “You let your Omega date other Alphas?”
“He is not my Omega,” Hannibal replied immediately. “I bought him, but I do not own him. I know the law says otherwise, but... he is his own person. He is free to make whatever decision he wants.”
“Those are my two options?” Will asked miserably. “Be neutered or sent out for courting like some mistress in the seventeen hundreds?”
“There is a third option. There are a few free countries that do not hold Omegan auctions. They are treated like anyone else with all the rights and freedom of any Alpha. Denmark is one. Sweden is another. I could procure you paperwork that makes you a citizen and you could live there freely.”
“You... you’d do that?” Will asked while his heart beat wildly in his chest. “You’d let me go?”
“I would,” Hannibal promised. “Those are your options in their entirety.”
Will sat silently for a few minutes while absorbing the information given to him. He didn’t know which option he wanted, really. All of them, in their own way, sounded too good to be true.
He was considering his unbelievable options when Hannibal reached out to him slowly with the silver key in his hand. Will’s heartrate climbed, but he didn’t move away when Hannibal reached for his throat.
The collar clicked free, then Hannibal came to his feet.
He came to Will’s chair slowly, then dropped to his knee. The key was slid into the lock on his hobble, then his feet were free, too.
Hannibal stood slowly while backing away from him, giving him all the room he’d need to make a break for it.
He did not run.
“I don’t know what option I want,” Will admitted softly. “I don’t even believe you, really.”
“Understandable,” Hannibal sighed. “However good my promises are, I do swear to you that I will not touch you, Brian. No one will force you to do anything you do not want to do. You may stay here while you decide, and I will honor your privacy and space. You’ll have a roof over your head and food in your belly. You have your own room, your own bed and bathroom. If you’d like to leave the house for the day, that is fine as well. I know you do not like it, but I would have to scent mark you. You would have to wear a collar with my name on it. It would be just for show, however.”
“What if I just wanted to run?” Will asked after a moment. “If I ask you to get me suppressants and scent blockers so I can... run, like I did from my dad.”
Hannibal bit his lip and moved to the dining chair by Will’s side. He sat slowly, like he didn’t want to startle Will with any quick movements. “A colleague of mine allowed one of his Omegas to do that,” he explained. “We took the tracking chip out-” Will’s eyes widened, and Hannibal realized that Will didn’t know he’d been chipped. He reached out slowly and touched the back of Will’s neck. “Here. They chipped you, though I imagine you were too drugged to remember it.”
Will touched the spot on the back of his neck, and sure enough, there was a hard little nub under his skin. Like a fucking dog.
“We took the tracking chip out and gave him money and suppressants. He ran for the better part of a year before being caught again. His fingerprints registered him as Donald’s Omega, and Donald was arrested for freeing him. They wanted to know why the Omega was never reported missing. It put the entire organization in jeopardy, and I can’t follow in his footsteps. I need to be able to save more after you. I can’t do that if I’m barred from the auctions. You understand, don’t you? If you run, I will have to report you missing. I have to, Brian. There are others like you that need people like me fighting for them.”
Will did understand. He couldn’t be selfish here, not with all the other Omegas that needed help. He had three options, which Hannibal had graciously given him. “I understand.”
Hannibal’s smile reached his eyes. “Good. I can show you to your room, if you’d like? I also have some... clothes for you. Real ones.”
Will grimaced, touching his translucent shift nervously. “Thank you.”
“Please,” Hannibal waved him off. “Come with me, Brian.”
“Will,” he said softly, stopping Hannibal dead in his tracks. “My name is Will.”
Hannibal’s eyes softened, and a small smile lifted his cheeks. “Will,” he repeated. “It suits you. Do you have a last name?”
“My last name is Graham,” he said slowly. “It’s my given name. My Dad would have sold me, Dr. Lecter. I don’t... I don’t want his last name. It’s just Will.”
“Just Will, then,” Hannibal nodded. “You can call me Hannibal. I’d prefer it, in fact.”
“Hannibal,” Will repeated, earning another smile from the Alpha. “Nice to meet you,” he said while holding his hand out for a shake.
A startled chuckle bubbled out of Hannibal while he took Will’s hand in his own. “Nice to meet you as well, Will. Would you like to see your room?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “Please.”
His room was bigger than any room he’d ever had. It was bigger than his trailer that he rented down in Georgia.
There were two west-facing windows that went floor to ceiling, and hardwood floors throughout. The bed was enormous; king sized and layered with fluffy blankets and pillows.
The room was done tastefully in muted blues and gray tones, the bed the only thing that had cream white blankets, so it drew the eye towards it. He had a dresser that was filled with clothes, and a closet as well.
There was a door that connected to a bathroom, and it was nicer than anything Will had ever seen. It had a glass standing shower and a soaker tub big enough that Will could submerge himself in it to his neck, if he wanted to.
He wanted to. He’d never taken a bath in a tub like that before.
The vanity was white marble and gleaming chrome fixtures. The cabinets were full of fluffy, large, white towels and facecloths. There was a brand-new bathrobe on the door, and new slippers beside the vanity.
The counter was littered with expensive bathing products, which Will perused while Hannibal gave him the space to do so. Several bottles of shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, bar soaps, deodorant, cologne, aftershave, and toothpaste were spread out. “Why so many?” Will asked.
“Different scents,” Hannibal shrugged. “Some Omegas are very sensitive to scent. I try to be considerate and allow them to choose what they want.”
What they want. Will usually washed his entire body with Irish Spring soap, hair included. This was... way more than he ever had.
Choice. What a bizarre concept.
“Can I take a bath?” Will asked hesitantly.
“Will,” Hannibal sighed. “You may do whatever you’d like. This is your home as well as mine, now. You may bathe, sleep, eat, and peruse until your heart’s content. I have a vast library downstairs, access to the internet. There is a television in the den, though I don’t personally watch it. Everything in the bathroom is yours. If there is anything you like more than the rest, let me know and I’ll get you more of it.”
“I don’t even know what to say,” Will said honestly. “Thank you.”
“It’s the most I can do for those like you,” Hannibal replied softly. “I realize that you’ve had a very tiring ordeal, so I will not linger. I must ask you first if any of your wounds are bothering you.”
Will glanced down at the raw chaffing on his wrists and ankles. It hurt, but it wasn’t anything serious. He had some bruising on his arms, and his shoulders hurt a little bit from struggling and putting up such a fight. He shook his head. “Nothing that won’t heal on its own.”
Hannibal nodded. “I’ll leave you so you may have some privacy. There is more that needs to be discussed, but it can wait until tomorrow. I would like to give you an exam and make sure you’re healthy. Not... not that kind of exam,” he blurted at the expression on Will’s face. “Just a normal physical. It can be done by one of my colleagues if you do not want me to do it. I’d like to get you to a dentist and an optometrist. I imagine you haven’t had much opportunity to do that since you ran.”
“I’ve never been to a dentist,” Will admitted with a blush. “Or... or an eye doctor. I think I need glasses, though. I have trouble reading when things are too close.”
“We’ll get it sorted,” Hannibal promised. “I have tomorrow off. Perhaps we can make an appointment, if you’d like.”
Will nodded and Hannibal smiled. “If you need anything at all, I am right there,” he said while pointing at the door down the hall. “Feel free to ask. Feel free to wander and see the house. There is nothing that is off-limits to you aside from my files in my desk. Those are patient files, and I swore an oath for patient privacy.”
“Deal,” Will smiled. “Thank you.”
Hannibal nodded again, then left Will’s room.