Chapter Text
Shane doesn’t answer unknown callers, ever. So when one comes through at the beginning of summer, he ignores it like he usually does. He’s just in his living room watching highlights of the previous season, taking his own notes on what to improve during the off season.
Rose
Shane Hollander answer your phone
Shane blinks at the text message. It’s not unusual for his ex-girlfriend to text him, but it’s also been… awhile. They’d broken up a few years ago, before he came out as gay and it was an amicable breakup. They still talked often enough and hung out but ever since the addition of her volunteer work at the Home for All Omegas Organization, it had been tougher to make time to see each other.
Shane
Are you calling me?
Rose
Yes!
Shane
Did you get a new number?
Rose
No, just answer
Incoming Call… Unknown Number
“Rose?” he answers tentatively, putting her on speaker.
“Shane, good you picked up.”
“You told me to.”
“I know,” he can practically hear her smiling, “Listen I’m going to pass the phone to a coworker of mine. She has something really important to ask you. I need you to listen with an open heart.”
“An open heart?” Shane asks shifting on the couch. He grabs the remote and turns off the TV. “Is everything okay?”
Rose sighs, “Uh, sort of? Shane, we’re going to be asking a huge favor and I want you to know all the details first.”
“Wait, is this a you favor? Or something to do with HFAO?” Shane presses first. Rose had joined HFAO after starring in a documentary about sex trafficked omegas. It had impacted her so much that she claimed it was a ‘no brainer’ to lend her time. She basically became the face of the organization, advocating for abused omegas all over the country.
The organization itself was a non-profit that provided all kinds of services for rescued omegas from complete medical care, housing, therapy, and basically anything they needed to reintegrate back into society or even provide lifelong support.
“It’s for HFAO,” Rose replies.
Shane takes a deep breath, might as well hear her out. He’s not opposed to donating money or anything like that, he regularly does anyway. It makes him sick to his stomach that there are sick fucks out there who choose to treat omegas like they’re less than nothing just because of their secondary gender. They’re no different than anyone else.
“Okay,” he says, “Who do I need to talk to?”
“One sec,” Rose says.
There’s a slight shuffle on the line and then another woman’s voice comes through. “Hello, I’m Svetlana Vetrova.”
“Hi Svetlana, I’m Shane. Hollander. Nice to meet you.”
“Mr. Hollander,” Svetlana’s voice is tense, “I am going to be honest and up front with you because I need you to know how important this is.”
“Sure of course,” Shane nods, his heart starting to beat a little faster.
“I’m sure you saw on the news about the raids on the auction houses across the country.”
“Yeah,” Shane confirms. He’d seen the reports, it was all anyone could talk about. There had been a whole sting operation that took down several omega auction houses all over Canada. One of them had been in Montreal and it was rumored that over eighty omegas were rescued from that one house alone. And the others had been no better. It had been brutal and made Shane sick to his stomach.
“Well, those omegas have been transferred to our facility here in Montreal. However, we do have a few problems. One of those being, is that we’re at capacity. We’ve been reaching out to other shelters to help us house some of the rescued omegas.”
“What does this have to do with me?” Shane wants to ask but bites his tongue. He doesn’t want to come across as callous or rude.
Svetlana continues, “Which brings me to the reason Rose suggested I reach out to you. We have an omega here who needs a place to live and I was wondering if you’d be willing to house him.”
“Me?” Shane blurts out, “Why me?”
“Because,” Svetlana takes a deep breath, “I believe having a familiar face will help him.”
“A familiar face?” Shane is even more confused than before, “I mean I know I’m a hockey player-”
“No,” Svetlana cuts him off. “The omega is a former hockey player, and there’s mention that you two have crossed paths before. Do you remember Ilya Rozanov?”
Did he remember Ilya Rozanov? Of course he did. Ilya was a fucking star hockey player when they were Juniors. They’d met in Saskatchewan when they were only 17 and Shane had come up to introduce himself. It was barely a five minute conversation, but Shane has been smitten. Then, he’d vanished. He never showed up for the game. Shane has tried to look him up after, but there was no trace of him. And now… he was here?
His heart sinks realizing what must’ve happened. They were 17, so neither had presented yet. While he’d come out as an Alpha, Ilya must’ve presented as an omega. And from his knowledge of Russia… fuck… he doesn't want to presume what happened but he knows it’s nothing good. Especially since he somehow ended up at an omega auction house in Montreal.
“I’ll do it,” Shane doesn’t hesitate, “What do I do?”
He hears Svetlana breathing a sigh of relief, “I’m happy to hear you say that. But I do need to make sure you understand why I’m asking you. Not just because you have history.”
“Okay,” Shane listens even though he knows deep down, he’s not going to change his mind.
“Ilya can’t stay here in the shelter. He’s been aggressive towards the staff and is refusing any kind of medical treatment. He’s only been semi-calm with me, but even that’s a stretch and I’m sure it’s only because I’m a Beta. I’m his case worker which means I’m also his advocate. If you still want to agree to this, there are things you’ll need to do as well. Among those things, you’ll need to sign a contract, be ready to have your home inspected, and you’ll need to be an advocate for Ilya.”
“I can do that,” Shane answers firmly.
“Good,” Svetlana replies, “I’ll get your information from Rose, and I’ll send you an email with more details. I look forward to seeing you, Mr. Hollander. Have a nice day.”
She passes the phone back to Rose. “Shane?”
“Rose? Holy shit, Ilya Rozanov?”
“Yeah,” She says softly, “I saw him, Shane. It’s… well, what you’re doing for him… it’s a really good thing, I promise. I know you’ll be good for him.”
“I hope so,” Shane nods, “I don’t even know where to start on what I need for him.”
“Don’t worry,” Rose replies, “Just look out for Svetlana’s email. It’ll detail what you need and then we can set up the rest and get the process moving.”
“Okay,” Shane nods, “Thanks Rose.”
“No Shane, thank you. We’ll talk too, love you!”
“Love you, too.” Shane hangs up the phone and sits on the couch in silence.
Ilya’s name dredges up a lot of memories. He remembers spending the first few months after being drafted as the number one pick, thinking about Ilya. The two of them had been prospected as number one and number two, but Ilya hadn’t been there. It makes him queasy to think that while he was building his career as the MHL’s number one hockey player, Ilya was out there suffering. He should’ve been right by Shane’s side. They were slated as rivals, even before the draft. But who knows, maybe they could’ve become best friends.
Shane waits for the email to come in and goes over everything, making sure to scrutinize everything. He doesn’t want to miss a single detail. There are no personal details about Ilya, of course, the emails told him that he’d see those in person. He was grateful for the list of required items like a first aid kit, proper nesting materials, and other more concerning things that Shane never thought about.
HFAO was trying to get things moving so their meeting was scheduled for the next few days. Luckily due to the circumstances, Rose’s recommendation, and Shane’s obvious celebrity status, it wouldn’t be too much of an issue to get him property vetted. But it also meant that Shane had three days to make sure his home was ready to receive Ilya.
Shane didn’t think much of himself as an alpha. He was fairly lackluster when it came to anything that wasn’t hockey or frankly, real estate. He tried for a long time to be into all the other things that his teammates were into, but nothing like that interested him. He wasn’t into picking up girls (or guys when he came out) and didn’t think about starting a family. No matter how much his omega best friend, Hayden tried to get him to “join him” in creating a family, Shane wasn’t into it.
Even his ruts were nothing like anyone else’s. He had a color coded calendar, to tell him when they would happen. But where other Alphas felt the desire to fuck and breed, Shane just found it as an irritating inconvenience. His skin would itch, and his body temperature would rise, but nothing more than that. And honestly, Shane didn’t care too much. He doesn’t spend the day in debilitating agony because he needs to stick his dick in someone. Even a trip to multiple doctors told him the same thing. There wasn’t anything abnormal about his ruts. So, during his ruts, he’d just hole up and ride it out with a book, until the annoyance passed.
All he really wanted was to play hockey. Anything else was just… uninteresting.
So, immediately, he calls his mom. Yuna would know what to do. She was an alpha with much better instincts than Shane, and would be very helpful for shopping and making sure his house was properly outfitted.
“Shane,” Yuna answers with a delighted surprise, “How are you honey?”
“Hey mom,” Shane already feels better about calling her. “I need your help with something. I can’t tell you too many details, but-”
“Do you need a lawyer?” Yuna interrupts going into momager mode, “I can call our family attorney and-”
“No Mom,” Shane stops her before she goes too far, “I need help shopping.”
Yuna laughs so loud he can hear his dad’s voice asking her if she’s okay. “Shane, you made it sound like an emergency!”
“Is is!” Shane insists, “I’m not shopping for me, I’m shopping for an omega.”
Yuna gasps, “An omega! Shane, did you find a mate!?”
“No! Oh god, no,” he groans. This isn’t how he planned the conversation to go. “I’m helping HFAO. There’s a rescued omega who needs a place to stay. Rose asked me and I said yes.”
“Shane, housing a rescued omega is a huge responsibility," he can hear her frowning, “I know you have a giving heart, but are you equipped for something like that? Housing a sex trafficked omega comes with a lot of challenges. Especially when it comes to their mental health and safety.”
“I know that. I just need your help, please,” Shane begs, “Not as my manager but as my mom. I want to do this, Mom. I already have a list from the shelter about things that I need, and how to get my house ready for him. I only have three days so I could really use your support.”
“Of course,” Yuna’s tone is gentle, “Shane honey, of course I’ll support you. You and the omega. Does he have a name?”
“Uh, I’m not sure I’m supposed to tell you.”
“Ah of course, that’s fair enough. I just don’t want to keep calling him ‘the omega’. It feels reductive.”
“Um,” Shane wracks his brain and blurts out, “Lily. It’s not his real name, obviously but it’s close enough?”
“Alright,” Yuna smiles, “Lily it is. I’ll grab a few things from the house and come pick you up. I’ll take David’s car since it’s bigger and we can pack more things into it.”
Shane breathes a sigh of relief, “Thanks mom. Can you stay over too? I want to make sure the house is ready.”
“Of course. See you in a couple hours, honey.”
“Thanks. Love you, Mom.”
“Love you too, bye bye.”
Before Yuna arrives, Shane spends the next couple hours meticulously following the list and researching online forums on how to make his house presentable. Some of the threads were helpful, telling him to make sure that there were plenty of options for the omega. Everything from clothing styles, bedding, towels, and even toothbrushes.
There was also quite a lot of advice on how to control scents in the household. Soaps and shampoos should be unscented or be neutralizing in order to prevent panic and sensory overloads. Luckily, Shane already had a supply of scent neutralizing soaps because of hockey. If not, locker rooms got so sickeningly awful it made even the most hardy alpha queasy. There had been many times after games where every player was basically bathing in sweat and pheromones that several players had to step out to prevent themselves from getting dizzy.
His front door opening pulls Shane from his research and he looks up to see Yuna entering. He gets up and hugs her tightly. “Thanks for coming.”
“Shane, I hope you know that I’m proud of you for doing this. It’s going to be hard work, but I know you’ll do just fine.”
He smiles, “Thanks mom.” Shane reaches for her bag, “I’ll go stick this in the guest room. Are you hungry? I have baked salmon and brown rice in the fridge, you just have to heat it up.”
“No that’s alright,” Yuna calls out after him as he puts her bag in the room, “I’d just eaten when you called me. We’ll get food after shopping.”
Shane comes back and nods, “Okay. Uh, so I did some research on other things to get.” he pulls up his phone and hands it to Yuna showing her the spreadsheet he’d started to put together.
Yuna nods, “There’s an emporium that I know of, it’s about 35 minutes away so you drive and I’ll look over this list. Make sure you don't miss anything, or add something that I think will work.”
While Shane drives, Yuna looks over the list, nodding her approval and occasionally adding something of her own. “Pillow shapes are important too,” Yuna notes in his spreadsheet as they pull up to the emporium. “This place should have plenty of options, it’s where I got those bath towels for Hayden and Jackie when they had the twins. And after we pick up what we need here, there’s another boutique down the road that specializes in omega needs.”
Shane exhales in relief. “Okay perfect.”
The emporium is massive and Shane finds it comparable to an Ikea but somehow less overstimulating. He and Yuna each grab a cart heading first to the nesting section. It was a sea of colors, textures, and shapes that nearly sent Shane into a spiral. He had no idea what Ilya would like or be comfortable with. There were several displays with different types of nests, suggested items, and blankets ideal for warmth or cooling.
“Variety,” Yuna reminds him, “Since you don’t know, let's get a little bit of everything. We can make some assumptions about what he’ll probably like. I’m betting that because of his trauma, he might not want anything that’s too suffocating.”
Shane nods, it’s a good place to start. He ends up picking several blankets, each with minky soft fabrics. If Ilya was injured, he didn’t want anything heavy to potentially irritate his skin. On the off chance he wanted something heavier, Shane picked at least a couple more weighted blankets just in case. He chose a variety of colors, not wanting to go entirely neutral in case the choice came off as uncaring or bland. Personally, he liked neutral colors but didn’t want to push that onto Ilya.
They heeded towards the clothing section and he had to text Rose asking for Ilya’s size. She’d replied saying they were probably about the same size. Shane had taken this and began searching for clothes that he thought might fit Ilya’s style. The only thing he remembered about Ilya’s clothes was the day they’d met. He’d been in a black beanie and hoodie, and smelled like cigarettes.
Shane wasn’t even sure if Ilya would want those things, but nostalgia tugged at him and he loaded the cart with a few hoodies. It was summer so he might not want them, but at least there was the option. Yuna picked out a few extras because he “needs to talk to Rose’s stylist more often”.
“You can always go out later,” Yuna reminds Shane, watching him fret over pillow shapes and sizes, “Just get what he needs right now, and later when you know what he wants or needs, you can go back out and get them.”
Shane nods and eventually settles on several different pillow styles. He picks a large one that’s oval shaped and can zip or unzip in different places to create more ideal nesting shapes. It seemed practical and came with an assortment of pillowcases.
Eventually, they pick out all the essentials including a small variety of decorations that would help make Ilya’s room feel more like his own. He’s quite proud of the rug he’s picked out, a soft and plushy one that feels like he’s rubbing his face in fur. Shane remembers the email stating that Ilya should have access to food and water at all times, so he adds a mini-fridge to the cart and Yuna tosses in some magnets.
They check out and Shane thanks the fucking heavens that he’s rich enough to afford everything without batting an eye. They load the car and Yuna drives them off to the boutique.
The boutique is not what Shane is expecting. “Mom,” Shane’s face is bright red, “This is-”
“It’s a heat boutique,” Yuna’s already out of the car and marching inside before Shane has time to become more flustered. He trails in after her, face burning with embarrassment.
The walls are covered in omega models sporting all kinds of fashions, body types and showing off various products. There are rows of knotting toys, lubes, clothing, and even things that make Shane’s stomach churn. He’s never once wanted to step into a place like this and didn’t even think about providing any of these things for Ilya.
“Excuse me,” His mom walks up to an associate behind the counter.
“Hi,” the young omega smiles politely at Yuna, “What can I help you with?”
“I was wondering if you had any advice on what to buy for an omega that might have some trouble with heats? Specifically if there’s anything not too intimidating and can be used solo.”
Oh god, Shane can feel his desire to melt into the floor and vanish getting stronger by the second. He knows this stuff is important, and while part of him just wants to pass away immediately, he’s very glad he’s not the one speaking right now.
“Of course,” The associate motions for them to follow her, “Is the trouble physical or psychological? You don’t need to give me details, but it does help in determining what kind of toys and other items your omega will need.”
“Both,” Yuna answers calmly, “Is there anything like that?”
“Of course,” the associate stops in front of a wall towards the back.
There are rows of sex toys that even Shane realizes are far less intimidating than the ones towards the front.
She picks up one of the display sets and opens the box. “These are our beginner sets, so everything is simple and easy to use. Each pack comes with hypoallergenic lube and mimics the sensation of natural slick. Unscented of course.” She reaches in and grabs a dildo and an attachment that looks like a knot, “and an optional knot. These just slide right on top so just in case the knot is what your omega needs, it’s here.”
She puts it back in the case and grabs a different box, opening it. “This one is also a beginner set, but it’s more helpful if your omega has issues opening up. Each of these comes with a set of seven sizes, starting at our smallest-” She holds up the smallest dildo which is about the width of Shane’s index finger, “-all the way up to the largest in this set.” She indicates the largest of the set which is about the size of an average dildo.
Yuna considers the options, “Does this set come with optional knots?”
The associate shakes her head, "Unfortunately not, because this one is more designed to stretch the muscles and train the body to accommodate penetration. However, we do sell the knot sleeves separately in case that’s something you’re interested in.”
“Great,” Yuna nods, “In that case we’ll take both sets plus the knotting sleeves.”
“Awesome!” the young associate beams up at Yuna and starts to grab the unopened kits, “is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No you were wonderful, thank you.”
Shane forks over his credit card purposefully avoiding any and all eye contact with the associate before mumbling an embarrassed “thank you” as they head out the door.
Yuna casually adds the bag to their tetris’d trunk and gets into the passenger seat. “I’d say that was a very successful trip,” she announces. “Now, I saw an Indian place while we were driving up. Let’s stop by and grab food before we go home. Then tomorrow, we can focus on stocking up your house with the appropriate foods.”
“Agreed, thanks Mom.” As awful as that last shop had been, Shane can’t help but feel much more secure. He hopes that when Ilya comes, he’ll feel safe enough to be there.