a/b/o au (for deadlyhairpin)

[intheashes]

They're in a new town for their usual act. The quick draw that gets them enough money to stay in the next town for a bit. Mostly because after they fleece the people, they don't dare linger too long. No one much likes getting conned out of their hard earned money. Sometimes, he felt guilty for it. Most times he did, if he was being honest with himself.

But it worked and he hadn't really had to struggle to get by from town to town since he had taken up traveling with Billy Rocks. A decision he had made quickly one day perhaps a month and a half ago when he had seen the wiry bastard surrounded by alphas. He'd never seen anyone fight like that. Not anyone. Usually, men with that subtle scent he had caught that day would have just rolled over and showed their bellies. But Billy had fought. For Goody, an alpha who didn't really like to fight at all, it had been quite something.

He'd rolled right up after that, affable as he pleased, and carefully whisked Billy away from trouble by heaping it upon himself, claiming that day with a feral glint in his eyes that he had been the one that had done it because someone had challenged his dominance. Once away, he had gone out of his way to prove he wasn't like all those other Alphas. He stayed arms length away, always there the moment some other might start sniffing around, ready to stare them down with cold blue eyes. Better him take care of it than Billy. Billy left bodies because Billy wasn't like any omega he had ever met.

It was part of the draw to their little show after all. No matter how skilled Billy was, no one ever bet for an omega. They were weak, after all. They were there for breeding. Omegas were supposed to be swelled with young or serving their mates, even this far west, not standing in the middle of a ring with a gun in hand. Goody seemed to not care about that distinction. It brought good money. It got them food and shelter in the evenings the next town over. It wasn't honest work, but it was work (even if all he did was promote the game and collect the winnings). But there were times when he had to do it himself. When he had to keep Billy in their room. When he smelled so strongly that Goody could barely contain himself.

It's getting close to one of those days. He can smell it. The aroma that accompanies an omega nearing their season. Goody can tell the bar around them is starting to notice it as well. If he doesn't do something soon, he's going to have to start throwing his weight around. It's something he hates to do. It's easier to just try to avoid it to begin with.

"Billy, we've got a busy day tomorrow. I think it's high time you kicked off upstairs. Don't worry. I'll be behind in a tick." He's trying to control this before Billy's scent catches the wrong sort of attention.

Comments

[deadlyhairpin]

People had realized that Billy wasn't a normal type of Omega from the very first heat he'd had. It was a bloody, brutal lesson then and there that he was not to be touched. That, even in the throes of his estrus, he could kill. And he'd killed four Alpha, just to prove it.

A little orphan in a rough area, he'd learned to fight from the gangs in the back alleys. Had gotten his money by running 'errands' for them. Had earned his keep by protecting the head bosses because, even at eleven, no one could throw knives like him. It had been a foregone conclusion he'd turn out Alpha. But, like a lot of assumptions, nature laughed at the presumption of man.

Three Alpha, smelling him, had almost been wicked with their glee. He'd been fourteen and in the midst of rivals, jealous of his skill. They'd thought this was the perfect justice, for Billy. He'd killed them all before they even got close enough to undress him.

The fourth had been to drive the point home.

But even as a good killer, he hadn't really been safe. Not in Korea and certainly not in America. His contract had been to kill the one railroad boss (easily done). The second one he killed had been one who tried to bite his neck in the middle of the night. Nowhere was really safe for him. Except, maybe, with this new companion of his.

At the mention of the early morning, Billy frowned. For a moment, he was about to argue, but he could see the urging in Goodnight's eyes. The hint he was missing. And it was then that he took note of his general antsiness. The tension, just under the skin. The feeling of being too warm and not warm enough, at the same time.

And, looking at Goodnight, he felt the sudden, foreign surge of desire. And he understood at once what was going on.

Alphas all around the bar were looking at him. Watching as he pushed in his chair, ready to memorize where he was going. Billy let out a small growl under his breath. The only warning any of them would get.

"Let them know that anyone entering my room will die," he tells Goodnight without looking at him. And then, shifting his gaze over, he delivers cooly a final word.

"That includes you."

[intheashes]

Goody's eyes flick around the room, gauging which Alphas are going to be trouble. At the moment, it looks like quite a few of them with how they watch Billy. He doesn't blame them. It's difficult for him not to watch the man too. The omega is so attractive that Goody sometimes forgets himself. It's good that Billy reminds him with that cold statement.

He gives a smile that's utterly disarming, like he had no intentions of going into that room. "Oh, I know better than that. But I'll be certain to send these gentlemen your message so they don't come calling. Now hurry on up." Goody is standing as well, and there's a line of tension in his shoulders. He's already starting to move, partly trying to crowd Billy up stairs but also making sure that there's an alpha between the man and the small pack of horny bastards. "Go!" He rarely raises his voice like that to Billy but Goody has a feeling that he's going to have make a display of dominance if he's going to keep these men from Billy's knives.

[deadlyhairpin]

Billy hates it. But he reacts to that barked order before he can think about what he's doing. His head tilts back, just ever so slightly, showing his neck to Goodnight in submission before snapping it back down and glaring at the man as though he'd meant to cause that. He hadn't and Billy knew better. But his humiliation rolls off in waves. Enough to almost drown out his scent, he thinks. If people could get a whiff of it.

"Yes," he hisses, understanding what the act was and why Goody was doing it. He's the only Alpha in the world who would. And if Billy were not starting to feel himself getting wet, he'd have a better presence of mind to be appreciative. As it is, he needs to just get away.

Turning on his heel, he sends one more glare around the room and then retreats to the rented bed that they had bought for a day or so. Billy locks the door and, for good measure, puts the key up high to make sure he doesn't do something stupid like go and get it. In the middle of a heat he can barely stand, let alone climb on chairs.

From there, all he can do is seal the windows, seal the doors, take his clothes off and wait.

The bed smells of Goodnight, he realizes. Which is a problem as much as it definitely isn't one. He turns his head and breathes deep, indulging for a moment in his instincts before tossing the pillow off the bed and starting to strip the sheets off.

He wasn't going to fall prey to this. He was better than this. And he'd prove it.

[intheashes]

Down below, Goody watches the man go. He wants to follow. He knows he does. He wants to be in that room with Billy. He wants to lick and nibble at that flash of throat he had seen. He wants to be locked together for hours, bodies still thrumming with having mated. He wants to so badly he can taste it, but he knows he can't. Billy needs an Alpha, but Goody is certain that Billy himself will decide who it is and he doubts any omega wants an Alpha that is a coward.

Though right now, he's noting but bravery and bluster. He covers Billy's quick trip up the stairs by keeping in the way of anyone following. He knows it's inevitable that someone won't catch the hint and he's there for it. Either down the stairs or outside the door if he can't stop it down there.

He can't and he's certain that Billy could probably hear the sounds of his low growls. far too calm and far too cold and detached when compared to the other snarls from alphas that don't know to leave very well alone. When he speaks, it's with a calm, dismissive drawl under the growling. "I'm afraid, son, that this is my door. So you're going to have to step away before someone gets hurt. And I'm afraid that that someone's going to be you. So do us both a favor, don't let your momma have to bury you cause you decided to play dominance games with me. Or did you forget who I am, boy. Let me remind you." There's a spike of alpha pheromones, sharp and heavy. stronger than most Alphas. "I'm Goodnight Robicheaux and don't think I won't end you here and now if you try to get through me."

There's some worried whimpering and then boots headed quick away from the door and down the stairs. The pheromones fade away and there's another sound, of a back hitting the door and sliding down it followed by a long shaky sigh. He's going to be out there all night, against that door, just to make certain that Billy gets no unexpected callers. "You best stay in there through tomorrow. Don't worry about the draws. I got you covered this time." He'll manage, somehow. Just so long as he keeps Billy in that room and the other alphas away.

[deadlyhairpin]

Travelling around with Goodnight had been a beneficial thing for Billy. On the whole. He had an Alpha to take the pressure off of him when things got dicey. And, in addition, an Alpha who had a reputation that others didn't tamper with. It had lowered Billy's body count by a large margin and, truth be told, it had been nice to have someone around he could depend on not to touch him. But, he was discovering now, it also had some pitfalls.

This was the first season he'd gone through after being around Goody. And he forgot what his body was going to do with that now familiar scent. It was all over the room. Clinging to his clothes. Soaked into the bed he was laying on, burying his nose into, desperate to get more of it into his lungs. He loved it. His body was screaming for it. An actual Alpha for the first time. No matter what he felt outside of this time, his hormones were in control, now. And he wanted worse than he ever had in his entire life.

When Goody sat in front of the door, it only made things worse.

Billy shifted off the bed, moving over to the door in search of that delicious, familiar scent of his friend. The one that his body was telling him was for him.

He knelt in front of it, nails scratching against the raw wood, desperate as he pressed his face against the crack, inhaling deeply.

"You...you shouldn't...I'll be...." He inhales again, the scratching loud as his hands curl into fists and push into the wall. Reaching for something he shouldn't and couldn't have. He'll be in no condition to do the match, tomorrow. But Goodnight... Billy doesn't want him exposed like that.

"Just postpone it. Two days. Three, tops. And I'll do it."

He breathes again, feeling the fever grip him for a dizzying moment and then pass. This. This is going to be a problem. He can tell already.

"You...might not be able to sit so close."

[intheashes]

He could hear it, the way Billy claws at the door that he had locked. Goody was tempted to stand and kick the door in. These doors weren't all that sturdy when it came to an Alpha that didn't want to be barred from someone and something they wanted. That was half the reason why he has no sentry in front of the door.

He turns a little, shoulder against the wood. There's a bit of a crack under the door. Just enough to wiggle a finger under it. He hopes Billy doesn't cut it off. It's just a small thing, a show that he's here and he's in front of that door and not going anywhere. That movement brings him closer to that spike of scent from Billy. He has to force down a growl of desire. He wasn't that sort of Alpha.

"No. No Billy. I have to do it this time. I can handle it. Really. But I have to because if I don't, they're going to think I'm all flash and no substance. I might have scared off those dumb mutts this time, but I have to put the fear of God in them. So you got to stay in there. I'll earn us our keep and you can keep your head low." His voice is soft, a little worried, like he's not actually sure if he can handle it, but he doesn't want Billy put into danger. He doesn't want the idiots dead. He doesn't put any force behind it. That dominance he had put on display below and again for the Alphas is gone, like it had never been there.

"I'll bring you your meals up. You'll only have to deal with me, okay. You can just sit tight and ride this out."

[deadlyhairpin]

Billy sees the finger and it helps as much as it doesn't. God, Goody has no idea what this is like, does he? How his mere presence is a danger to him? His hands reach down, touching the skin of that simple digit as though it were something reverent. It's cooler than him. Cooler as it hasn't gotten dragged into he fever with him. Even though, deep down, there is a growing desire for him to have just that happen.

The scent is so strong. So familiar as his body descends fast and hard into the desires he's spent so long fighting off. Because, for the first time, it is so sure that he has a mate ready for him. Billy is covered in an Alpha's scent, after all. What else could be happening other than a potential bonding?

He swallows hard and his hands go back to the door, clawing at it once more. His forehead pressed against the wood like he wants to push right through it. He's sure he could.

"All I can smell is you," he admits in a moment of honesty, a stab of need pulsing through him hard enough that he almost moans. He's never been the sort of Omega to indulge himself, during these times. He never had toys or aids. Just his own iron-clad willpower to fight his own biology. But this time? This time he can feel his hand reaching behind him, already. He has nothing on hand, but he can figure something out.

Or let Goody in.

No. No. No, he just needs to ride this out. He can do it. He's done it before, he can now.

But... God. That scent. Billy could bury himself in it happily.

"You smell incredible. I didn't realize how strong it would be. It's hard to even think, now." He swallows hard, stomach starting to cramp. "I don't know if I can take meals from you."

[intheashes]

From that small touch of his finger, he had felt the warmth. He found himself fighting the instinctual desire to demand Billy open the goddamn door and let him in. He can't ask that of the man. He can't do that to Billy. He's not like the rest of those mouth breathers downstairs. He can control himself, even if it is getting much more difficult each time he hears fingers against wood, like Billy was trying to scratch his way through.

He sighs, cheek pressed against the door. "Well, I'm sorry I forgot to take a bath before dinner. Thank you so much for reminding me I'm disgusting." He's trying to keep things light, warm, even jovial to try and keep both their minds off of the fact that all that stands between them is a thin bit of wood. "But so you know... you smell amazing. I've never smelled anything more wonderful." His voice is a enticed growl before he realizes and has to center himself again.

"I'll find a beta then. I'll find one and I'll have them bring it up to you. But I'm still going to be close by. I won't let anyone though that door. I promised you that with me, you'd be safe. You are always looking after me, so now I'm going to look after you. So you sit tight. We'll get through this."

[deadlyhairpin]

Any other alpha would have kicked down the door and claimed him by now. Goody was a miracle. The only alpha in the world who would stand by and get a beta to drop off food so that he doesn't touch the man who so adamantly does not want to take a mate. Billy doesn't know what he did to deserve someone like him, but he's not going to question it, now.

His one hand pushes under the door, reaching his thin fingers for some sort of contact with his friends. "I'm already burning up," he explains, knowing that probably wasn't going to help Goody maintain control of himself. But it was true. And he could smell Goody through the door. In the room. Everywhere. His fingers reach out, all the more, wishing he could just hold him for a bit. Inhale that delicious scent. But he knows how that would end and it's not a future he had wanted for himself.

"I'm starting to forget," he warns, the words breaking off into a low moan as that familiar cramping in his lower stomach starts. "Can you stay here, even if I beg for you?" Because he will. He knows he will. He can almost taste the words on the tip of his tongue.

[intheashes]

He sees those fingers and there's a small desire to indeed kick down that door. Instead, he shifts more and carefully, slowly curls his fingers around them, just gently holding on, his thumb unconsciously sliding over the man's knuckles and wrist while he sits. "Oh, my word, you are, Billy. I'm so sorry. Is there anything I could get you to make it go easier for you?" He gives those fingers a little squeeze and takes in another slow breath.

Billy smells so strongly now that it's taking everything in his power to ignore his drive. He would tough it out. Because he had promised Billy that he wasn't like those other Alphas. Now, he had to prove it. He's just glad it happened here in a town rather than out in the wilds. He didn't think he could have contained himself if it has been just a campfire between them and not a solid wood door.

"I can stay, Billy. And I'll stay on this side of the door, no matter what you say or how loud you get or how good you smell right now."

[deadlyhairpin]

In a few days, Billy is going to be ashamed of himself. He's going to descend into a dark, self-hating place the likes of which would be instructive even for someone like Goodnight. He hates what he is. Hates what he turned out to be and what it means for him every few months. He hates how it purges his mind of reason and how, underneath it all, it removes his wishes from the equation and replaces it with blind need.

And he never hates it more than right now, in the transition. The last few moments when he can feel the difference between his rational mind and the fire of his heat. "Goody," he breathes, moaning as his hand turns, wanting more contact. Wanting the Alpha to leave and stay in equal measure. "There's...nothing to do, right now. I am going to burn up and...in a day or so it's going to be over."

He wants ice, though. Which is a tall order and he knows it. This town is hardly one with vast resources. If they were someplace more structured, he might have stood a chance for it. But here? He'd be lucky if someone even had an icebox out here. But still...

"Maybe water? Cold water, if they have it?"

[intheashes]

He gives that hand a squeeze. He wants to lean over and kiss it but he dares not. Not only because there is a chance of being caught out but because Billy doesn't need the extra pressure and Goody doesn't need the extra temptation and desires that pressing his mouth to that heated flesh might draw from him.

"Ice or cold water. I understand. I'll get you some and be right back with it. I won't be able to get a beta at such sort notice, so you'll just have to trust me. Just for right now. So stay inside there. Don't come out for anything or anyone. I might have scared them off for now, but they might come back if they think I'm abandoning you to this." He gives another little squeeze and he's standing reluctantly.

"I'll be right back with your cold water, Billy Rocks. You just hold tight." He is reluctant as hell to leave this man here like this, but he promised and he's certain that the man will be safe for a bit at least. Long enough for him to go and come back with a glass of cold water. Or hell, even a basin full of it. A freezing washtub bath he can leave just outside the door for Billy.

[deadlyhairpin]

He whines at the loss of contact. The loss of the Alpha who was right there, with him. Out of all the times he'd been in heat, he'd never felt quite like this, before. Tethered to someone the way he was to Goodnight. He'd often smelled other Alpha, especially at the railroad or in the houses he served in. He'd been protected simply because they couldn't lose his labor while he had a child. But the Alphas had tried and Billy had felt drawn to them. Desperate for them in a way that disgusted him when the dust cleared. But this? This was different. And he couldn't understand fully why, right now.

It only took a few minutes after Goody was gone to hear hard footsteps sounded down the hall. A growl issuing through the wood as an Alpha from a room nearby, smelled him and started testing the lock. Billy waited for the desire to start. The desperation to let the Alpha inside. But all he felt was revulsion.

This person wasn't his Alpha. And Billy would kill him if he tried to even touch his hair.

"Go away," he hissed, backing up from the door as the Alpha banged against it. His knives were on the floor where he left them and were so nice and cool, pressed into the palm of his hand.

"Come in and I kill you." He growled at the door, wrapping himself up in a jacket that wasn't his. The smell of Goodnight covering him completely.

Marking him, some part of his brain supplied.

"Open that door and it will be the last thing you ever do."

[intheashes]

His trip to find cold water was taking longer than he wanted it to. Every ounce of Goody's being wanted to be back at that door. Even if he had to sit outside of it all night, he wanted to be there. It wasn't like it wouldn't be the first time he had to sleep on the ground. Wouldn't be the last either. But he wanted to be there, with Billy, even if only on the other side of the door. Though instinctively, he wanted to be with Billy in the room. He wanted to bury his nose against the omega's throat and take in that addictive scent. He wanted to touch the man all over. Maybe push him to his stomach and mount him. Bite marks into his flesh and rub his scent all over Billy. Claiming the Omega so that no Alpha would ever dare to touch him.

He wanted that. Craved it. But he had promised and he wasn't going to. He wasn't going to make Billy stuck with the only Alpha that was least likely to be strong enough. Omegas wanted Alphas that were big. Strong. Dominant. They wanted fighters and leaders. Great hunters and virile mates. He was none of those things. He had been, once, but he could barely call himself Alpha anymore, with only the instincts left to call him so.

When he does finally get the cold water, not a basin sadly, just a glass and he's lucky to have gotten that much, he's back up the stairs and headed down to their room. He wonders if Billy can hear it over the horny Alpha trying to bust the door down. And nearly succeeding. Goody can see the way the door is starting to give way. He doesn't know if he'll make it in time or if the huge man is going to go crashing into their room and into Billy's knives. But he snarls all the same, a blood curdling sound that had made generals in the Union wet their britches.

"What in the Sam Hill do you think you're doing at MY door." A pause and another snarl. "You know what... go ahead, open the door. I haven't seen MyOmega kill anyone in a few hours." He silently apologized for the utter possessiveness in his tone. "I miss seeing how pretty he looks all streaked in the blood of idiots."

[deadlyhairpin]

Goody is...incredible.

Billy is not entirely in his right mind, but he's not gone enough that he can't process that simple thought. Goodnight Robicheaux was utterly and completely incredible. The only Alpha in the entire world who would have handled this situation like this. Whereas the rest of them would have snarled and started a fight, Goodnight has left it to him. Because he knows that Billy can fight this battle. And he's going to let him.

A feeling rushes through him and it's enough to almost overpower his lust. Something warm, not like his fever, but almost as consuming. And it has him almost hoping the Alpha knocks down his door, just so he can see Goodnight face to face and thank him for it.

It's a bad idea. But he wants it, all the same.

The Alpha, however, is stopping. He looks between Goody and the door and snarls back, but it's a weaker noise. Soft and unsure. Billy helps the decision by tossing his knife about where he thinks the Alpha might be standing, letting it embed itself into the wood. There was a scream as the blade sunk into his hand where it was pressed to the door. Billy had half a second to be glad for it before there was another snarl and the man seemed to be slinking off, growling at Goodnight the whole time, damning him and his murderous mate.

Mate.

For the first time, Billy's stomach didn't turn at the sound of that word.

"Goody," he breathed, moving to pull the knife out of the door and press his nose to the new hole. "He's gone?"

[intheashes]

Goody keeps himself stiff and angry until the other Alpha retreats. He manages to snarl out "That's right. MY mate. Let every damn one of you in this god forsaken town know that that man is mine and I'll take grave offence to anyone what tries to touch him. But only after he's done with you himself." He doesn't allow himself to relax until after the man is completely gone and they're alone again. Just him, Billy, and the damn door between them.

He sighs and turns fully to lean enough to get eye to eye with the new hole in the door. He can make out a nose pressed there and it makes him smile. He can't help but reach through the hole the knife had made to lightly touch the tip of Billy's nose. "Yes, he's gone and I'm so sorry for the mate thing. I know how you feel about that." He draws his hand away and leans against the door a little.

"I got you your water though. I'll leave it right next to the door and step away. That way, you can open the door in safety without worrying if I'll suddenly try and burst inside and have my way with you." Which is a very close thing to happening with how strong Billy's scent is and how much he's had to throw around his dominance tonight.

[deadlyhairpin]

Once more, Goody is amazing Billy down to his core. He's offering to him something no other Alpha would. Treating him as no other Alpha would. Even affected as he must be by the pheromones and by the clouds of hormones in his mind. He remembers that Billy hates 'mates'. He apologizes. He offers to stand away from the door while Billy gets the water he so desperately needs. There's no one else in the world like Goodnight Robicheaux. And, for the first time, that seems to mean something it hadn't before.

Billy hesitates for a moment before going to fetch the key he'd hidden, before. He wraps the robe around himself tighter, one hand still holding the knife. Unable to let it go. He fits the key into the lock but leaves it there, not turned. His eye goes to the hole. The one where Goodnight had stroked his nose like a parent might with a scared child. Like he might, during one of Goodnight's worse dreams. His gaze is wild as it swings around, trying to find his friend on the other side.

"How many Omega have you been around in their heat?" He is cutting right to the chase, avoiding all the euphemisms civilized folk put on it. 'Season', 'Time', 'Indisposition'. "Have you, before? You're...controlling yourself better than most. Is that because there's wood between us? Or...can you control yourself?"

[intheashes]

He hears the key got into the lock and for a moment, he tenses. A part of his mind is clamoring, lost to the heady scent of Billy right behind that door. It told him once that door was open that he needed to move fast. He could survive a stab wound, surely, and pushing the omega down and having his way would be worth every drop of blood Billy took from him with those knives of his. It's such an uncivilized and bestial urge and Goody hates himself a little for having it. He promised.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath and he knows that was a terrible idea as soon as he did because his lungs fill and he can almost taste Billy's heat through the door. He finds himself panting a little and stepping away just enough that the man can fully see him through the hole in the door. See how he's holding himself rigid, one hand digging fingers into his other arm, using the pain of it as stimulus to keep from losing his damn mind. "I...had a mate once." He admitted. "Or I was supposed to. A pretty little Omega girl my parents picked out for me. Before the war, we kept it chaste. I couldn't do what needed done if I was distracted. When I came back... she wanted me to fight for her. Some Union soldier had been sweet on her during the Seige down there. I couldn't do it. I...couldn't kill another boy in blue. She said the war had neutered me. I lost my nerve up North. I was no longer the dominant Alpha her parents promised her. Pups from the likes of me would be weak and pathetic. She left that man later that season. Probably has a huge brood of little ones and living the dream."

He squeezes his arm a little harder. "She was right though. I am a weak Alpha. That's why I can control it. The urges I feel right now. Because I'm weak and pathetic and I know I'll never be strong enough or dominant enough and I know I can't saddle you with that. Because if I were to mate with you..." He takes a small breath, "Even if I didn't bond you, Robicheaux Alphas mate for life. And I can't do that to you, Billy. You deserve better than some Aplha who is all bark and no bite."

[deadlyhairpin]

"You are not weak. And you are not pathetic." Billy is almost hissing as he presses himself to the small hole in the door. "The Alpha who kill without thought. The ones who scream and claw and hurt people for their chance to fuck an Omega. They are pathetic. You are fighting yourself, exposed to an Omega who you've traveled with for months and who is in heat. You are the strongest Alpha I have ever met. The man who was going to knock down the door. He was weak. The men downstairs. They are weak. You? You are...incredible. Perfect. You are..."

A thought comes to him. Sudden and unable to be prevented.

Mine.

His hand is on the key once more. Turning it slowly, letting the clink of an unlocked door fill the space between them. "Bring the water in here," he asks, understanding fully what he's risking with such a command. The knife he is holding is embedded into the door and Billy takes a few steps back, allowing Goody the space to enter the room.

"You aren't saddling me with anything, Goody. I choose who I want beside me. I make my own decisions. And right now, it's my choice to have you come in."

[intheashes]

Though Billy says it, he knows the truth. All he has is his name and his bark. Had that huge Alpha tried to fight him, he wasn't sure he could have won. He doesn't know if he has it in him anymore, to kill, because he was certain that would be what it would take for that man to leave Billy alone if they had to fight. He had been lucky this time. He wasn't certain his luck would hold out much longer. Eventually, some Alpha was going to call his bluff and he was going to have to prove himself or be shown to all the world as the pathetic waste he was.

He hears the key and takes a deep breath and picks up the glass. His other hand goes to the nob and he steels himself. A deep breath and he's headed in, trying not to breathe though his nose for desperation not to lose his mind and his control. It makes him pant and his hand shakes. He stands right there in the door and swallows hard, and then steps through, the glass held out.

"Here's...your water. I tried to get an entire wash basin but this is what I could get. They're stingy, even with my name to throw around." He turns to shut the door behind him and take the knife out of the wood to hold that too. "And this. Because you said not even I was allowed in here. No matter what. So, I suppose you need to stab me now." He gives a weak smile and starts forward, keeping those hands full to keep himself from grabbing Billy.

Goody doesn't stop until he's nearly on top of the man and can lean in to take a long sniff of him before letting out a growl. "Christ, you smell good though."

[deadlyhairpin]

This is not what Alphas do. This is never what Alphas do. Goody comes in and hands over the water and, just like that, the most he's done is sniff along his neck. Another, weaker man would have Billy thrown on the bed, robe pulled off and his cock half inside him, by now. And, while the base, animal instincts of him desires that, the rest of him is deeply impressed by the restraint Goody is showing. His friend who's never thought of him as an Omega, first. Just as a partner. A friend.

Billy's never desired someone more than does right there, in that moment. It's a completely foreign feeling.

"You...only think that because of the heat," he accuses. Because the heat works both ways. Muddies the water on both sides of this pond; Billy might have his judgement clouded by his hormones, but his pheromones are driving Goody out of his head as well. This was the hardest, most complicated moment to get any sort of consent in. Which was why most people did without.

Not them, it seemed. They don't touch each other. Control might be waning, but it's still held within their tight fists as they stare each other down and stew in the tension all over this room.

"You mate for life. You only get one shot at this. You don't want to waste it on me. This is all just...just the heat messing with your mind, Goody. It's not real. It's just...illusions."

[intheashes]

It isn't what Alphas do, and Goody knows that it's because he's weak. Even if Billy insists he's not, he knows that a virile male would have already been knot deep in Billy and breeding him. Things he won't do, even if he wants to. And he does want to. More than anything in the world, he wants to slide between those firm ass cheeks and rut with the man until he can't walk in the morning. It's taking everything he can to fight the urge.

'No. I'm saying it because it's true. You always smell good, even when we've been on the road without a bath for weeks. Your but scent calms me down when I have an episode. Your scent..." He approaches and presses his nose against the shoulder of robe to take in another deep lungful of Billy. When he speaks though, he's so careful not to have his mouth anywhere near the man. No accidental binding. "You smell better all the magnolias in bloom."

He forces himself to step back then, heart pounding, trousers a great deal uncomfortable. "You wouldn't be a waste. If...this was real...you would never be a waste of my chance. Even when you finally choose your Alpha and it's not me, it wouldn't be. Even one minute as mine would be worth losing my chance." He's a little drunk off the pheromones, this close and letting his mouth run away with him.

[deadlyhairpin]

Billy's heart is pounding in his chest. Because, yeah, Goody is a little more flowery and emotional than he otherwise might be. But he seems to be telling the truth. And with the control he has about himself so far, Billy doesn't think he'd be compromised enough to just be spewing nonsense. Especially since he doesn't think that he'll be staying even a few seconds more. He shouldn't stay, after all. But Billy...can't help but want him to.

For the first time, this feels right. Like it's something he's choosing. None of the blind lust and need he had, even when killing the Alphas who came near him. Even as he stuck them full of knives, he wanted them. He had a burn in his veins for them. An emptiness that only a knot could satisfy. Billy knew intimately what that base, animal need was like.

And this wasn't it.

Billy stepped forward, tilting his head to sniff along Goodnight's neck as well. "I could choose my Alpha right here," he muses, one hand falling to Goodnight's waist. Feeling the strain of those muscles. "I never wanted a mate because I thought they would own me. I never met one that didn't want to own me. Control and dominate me. But you...you...have done what no other Alpha has done. You say it is because you are weak and defective. I say..."

Billy inhales deep again. Turns his head, licking his tongue against the side of Goody's neck and moaning at the taste of his Alpha pheromones against his tongue.

"It's because you're mine."

[intheashes]

He wants to tell Billy not to say such things. Not to give him hope when he knows there is none to be had. He's not the Alpha Billy should want. He's not the one he needs. And part of him thinks that this might also be because of the heat. Billy's mind isn't all there right now. He surely would be saying such things to any alpha that came in here. But Goody doesn't want to admit that could very well be it. He wants to believe, just for a moment that this amazing strong beautiful Omega would really choose such a weak mate.

He closes his eyes and tries to stay strong. The stain is all through his body now, clenching muscles and straining sinew making him shake. Not from fear but from the amount of effort he has to give to continue to restrain himself. "Of course I wouldn't. You're...my partner. My equal. Hell, you're better than I am. Stronger. Faster. More deadly. I couldn't dominate you if I tried." Though he had done a pretty damn good job when he had made Billy go upstairs. But he had been desperate to avoid a fight.

Goody's restraint can only hold so long and it breaks completely when that swipe of wetness travels up the straining muscles in his neck. His eyes go dark and his pheromones spike as he turns and grabs Billy. "I'm so sorry..." He husks and then surges forward to crush their mouths together while trying to shove the man backwards towards the bed. Not that his mouth lingers on that kiss long. Not when there's other places to kiss and lick. "I'm so so sorry. I should go. I shouldn't be in here. I should leave." He says that but his mouth is brushing with a dangerous suggestion at Billy's shoulder. All he would have to do is force the man around. Push him down onto the bed and bite his nape. He wants to so badly he can't think straight anymore. All he can do is keep apologizing for falling to his base instincts.

[deadlyhairpin]

Even in his deepest heat, Billy had always had a thread of tension in him. Something vibrant and hard that he held onto as a way to protest what was happening to his body. Something he could use if an Alpha came around so that he could kill them dead before the Alpha could even think about touching him. He'd had this his whole life. From his first heat to now. Which was why it was so difficult at the present moment for him to let it go.

For a moment, his body tensed, reaching blindly for a weapon he couldn't actually get into his hand. But then Goody is apologizing and it's so completely unexpected that his mind returns to him just enough to stop the panic. To stop it completely and, instead, leave him with his greatest challenge.

To surrender.

"Don't be sorry," he gasps, the scent rolling off of Goodnight enough to make his head swim. He inhales deep, lets his body use that in order to override his lingering resistances. He wants this. He knows he wants this. But years of habit are hard to break. He leans in and scents Goody as best as he can with the man so close to his neck. The bonding site is almost feverishly warm at the attention. Billy moans, feeling it as it pours more hormones into his body. As every atom inside of him prepares for a potential mate.

He exhales in a shaking breath and then finally pulls Goodnight off so he can look him in the eye.

"I am choosing this. Understand? I want this. I want you. So stop saying you're sorry. And don't even think about leaving. Just..." He focuses his entire mind on the problem at hand. And, in slow increments, his body starts to relax. Melt both into Goody and into the bed.

His robe is already starting to fall open and there is nothing behind it but his flesh.

"Please. Goody. Alpha. Just...Just give me what I need."