Chapter Text
Prologue
Alphas & omegas participated in the Run when they turned nineteen, the coming of age in that particular world. It was compulsory for all unmated individuals to participate. The alphas or omegas who have already mated could not participate in the Run.
The Run took place over the course of days where the mated pairs spent some much needed alone time to get to know each other. It was also a very common practice for alphas to flex their survival skills to their omegas by taking care of them in the wilderness.
In most cases, if an alpha and omega were Intended for each other, they performed a short ceremonial Chase (for the pheromones to get flowing) before mating.
Usually, respectable alphas did not chase another alpha’s Intended. When they did, bloodshed was inevitable.
Depending upon the status and strength of the alpha, they might go uncontested when they chose an omega to chase.
It was also not uncommon for a desirable omega to be chased by more than one alpha. In that case, the Omega chose whom to get caught by. Or the strongest Alpha won when they successfully fought the others off and claimed the omega.
Alphas could decide not to chase any omega if no one caught their eye. There might also be omegas who did not get chased. They could participate in the following Runs until they found a suitable mate.
If an individual remained unmated even at 25, they were exempted from participating in the Run.
***
Chapter 1
Vegas was participating in the annual Run for the first time.
His father had instructed him to go for an omega from a powerful pack to increase their power and influence in the land.
But Vegas had some other plans in mind.
His father was away and hence could not oversee his actions but it was not like he would have come to the Run to support Vegas even if he was here. Despite going against his father's wishes, Vegas hoped his plan would please him because it would humiliate the Main Pack.
He was going to challenge Kinn by chasing Porsche, Kinn’s Intended.
Porsche was a new addition to the Theerapanyakul pack. He had arrived a few months back and he had already enamoured Kinn. He had even started courting Porsche.
This Run would be Porsche’s first in this town. And it was quite obvious Kinn planned on chasing and mating him.
Vegas, of course, would chase Porsche and steal him away from Kinn. Not because he loved Porsche or all that bullshit. He just wanted to hurt Kinn to hell and back. And what better way to do that than to mount his beloved ‘almost’ mate right under his nose.
And if by luck he could kill Kinn in the process, that would be the cherry on top of the cake. No one could persecute him since it was common for alphas to get injured or die during Runs.
It was a win-win situation all around.
***
Then there was Pete.
This was not Pete’s first Run. In fact, it was his fifth.
Pete was one of the Guards in the Theerapanyakul pack. He had been given the task to look after Tankhun Theerapanyakul, the oldest Theerapanyakul brother and an unmated omega. But after the arrival of Porsche, his task had changed to accompanying Porsche and protecting him since Porsche was still very new to the pack.
Being an omega, Pete had to participate in the Run himself.
He had been participating in the Run for five years in a row but no alpha had yet to show any interest in him.
Some part of it was because of his plain looks and stout figure which did not have the softness alphas liked. But it was mostly because of Pete’s scent, or the lack of thereof.
Most omegas had scents to allure and seduce alphas and get themselves mated. The scents varied from floral scents, which were the most common to some unique food related ones.
Pete’s scent was so weak that he was unable to mark anything, let alone seduce an alpha with it.
But Pete was thankful his scent was faint because the quality of scent was so bad, it would have been even more disastrous if he did smell strongly.
His scent was that of hay and not the sweet smelling kind either.
Pete, being an unmated omega, always used scent blockers to save everyone the trouble. But of course, he could not use them during the Run, nor could he use them once he was mated since it would be an insult to the Bond.
Not that Pete had to worry about getting mated any time soon. No one ever showed any interest in him.
Pete often wondered why he had such a scent when other omegas had such pleasing scents. He had come to the conclusion that it was just fate playing tricks on him like it has done so from a young age.
He consoled himself by saying that it was only two more years that he had to bear the humiliation of being one of the only omegas to be unclaimed at the end of the Run.
After that, he could live a solitary life, accompanying the Theerapanyakul family until he breathed his last breath.
***
The Run was always held in the mountains that surrounded their little town.
Since Pete was an active participant, he was free from his duties as the guard on that day.
He still offered to keep an eye on Porsche.
"That won't be necessary, Pete," Kinn said, "You should focus on your own Run. Doing your duty is important but not at the expense of your own happiness."
Kinn said it from personal experience because he had spent most of his twenties chasing away alphas from Tankhun who did not want to be mated.
When Tankhun was very young, he had been kidnapped by some rogue alphas. What had followed were some horrifying days that Tankhun never spoke of again. And from that moment onwards, he had an aversion towards alphas, especially strangers.
Pete had come into the pack later and was taken in by Tankhun to be his companion. While the older omega never spoke of what he had gone through, Pete knew just how much it had affected Tankhun. He used to share Tankhun's bed with him because he was scared of sleeping alone. Pete swaddled him like a baby and soothed him when he had nightmares.
He always wished he could revive those alphas again just so he could kill them himself.
The Pack's alphas had taken care of them. Kinn, despite being very young at the time, also took part in the lynching.
It was a very public affair. But despite seeing them get punished in front of his eyes, Tankhun did not get any peace. He whispered his confession to Pete at night, scared and distraught,
"They ruined me. I'll never be the way I was. They ruined me…"
Pete, who had been very young at the time, could only pat Tankhun's back and hope his P'Khun would be alright in the morning.
Tankhun had decided he would never mate. Both Korn and Kinn had accepted his decision.
But despite being the most powerful pack in the region, they could not change the rules. Tankhun was obligated to participate in the Run.
So Kinn had taken upon himself to protect his brother. And had done so until Tankhun had turned 25 and was exempted from the Run.
Kinn had never tried to chase an omega after Tankhun stopped participating in the Run. He claimed it was because no one had caught his eye.
That was until Porsche came along.
Kinn had turned 27 this year and he was participating in the Run solely for Porsche, who had also evaded getting caught by alphas the last two Runs in his previous town.
"No one has expressed interest in me, Khun Kinn," Pete said, without a trace of bitterness. He was over it.
And no one ever will…
"You never know," Kinn smiled reassuringly.
Pete smiled back, knowing Kinn was just being polite.
***
The day of the Run was a bright one.
Pete lazily stretched, looking around at the other omegas gathered curiously. He did not have to worry about running after all. He would just do what he always did, wait in a cave in the mountain until the Run was over.
"Ready to be caught?" Pete asked Porsche, who looked slightly nervous but also chuffed.
"Kinda. I'm gonna give him hell though," Porsche smirked, "He won't be able to catch me easily!'
Pete laughed, wishing him luck.
The Run would begin shortly. Omegas were allowed to go into the forest half an hour earlier than the alphas and situate themselves.
The Intended Alphas already knew the location of their Omegas and could directly go to them. For others, they followed their nose.
The stronger an omega smelled, the greater was the chance of them getting caught.
Hence, Pete was safe.
Or so he thought…
***
Pete's nosiness was unparalleled in the pack. His inconspicuousness made him invisible. He always used it as an advantage, especially to gather all the juicy gossip in town.
As he was eavesdropping on the omegas of the various packs gathered for the Run, he overheard some omegas from the Minor Pack whisper amongst themselves how Vegas was a crazy fucker for even thinking about chasing Kinn's omega.
Shocked, Pete ran to Porsche.
"Does Khun Kinn know your meeting spot?" Pete asked urgently, without any preamble.
Porsche frowned, "Of course he does."
"Does anyone else know?"
"No, just the two of us," Porsche answered.
Pete heaved a sigh of relief. That meant Vegas would have to rely on his sense of smell to find Porsche.
"What's wrong?"
Pete shook his head.
"We don't have much time," Pete said, "Listen to me. When you reach the spot, climb a tree and wait for Khun Kinn. Only make your presence known once you see him."
"Why?" Porsche asked, "What's going on?"
"A dumbass wants to challenge Khun Kinn," Pete huffed, "I'm trying to prevent bloodshed. Quick, let's change our shirts."
"What? Why?"
"Your shirt smells like you. Don't worry, my scent won't interfere with your mating process," Pete reassured, already pulling his t-shirt off.
His scent was too weak to do anything.
Porsche hesitantly took off his shirt and wore Pete's t-shirt. Pete quickly buttoned Porsche's black shirt. He asked Porsche to scent him to throw Vegas off even more.
Once thoroughly coated with Porsche's scent, Pete pulled out the scent blocker that he always carried with him and rolled it over Porsche's neck to mask his scent.
"This is not allowed-"
Pete shushed Porsche, looking around to see if anyone had noticed.
"It won't hurt if no one knows and you get mated to Khun Kinn by the end of the day," Pete muttered, "I hope this is enough to throw him off."
"Throw whom off?"
As much as Pete would like to expose Vegas’s plan, he could not. Not if he did not want Kinn to tear Vegas a new one for even daring to think about Porsche.
"As I said," Pete evaded the question, "A dumbass."
***