the middle of the night when the wolves come out
Grantaire and Combeferre left the room Grantaire had slept in, the omega in the alpha's arms.
Combeferre was very conscious of the subtle fear scent the omega was producing; he probably didn't even realise that he was creating it. 'Ferre felt sad for the little omega. He was sixteen or seventeen, scared and didn't understand that Les Amis were trying to help him.
The sooner Enjolras finds out who this omega is, the better, thought Combeferre.
The database would surely pick up someone as rare as a male omega, or at least the handful of people who were predicted to be male omegas. Combeferre didn't want to have to force the omega to give them information if they couldn't find out who he was. Combeferre knew his own omega as well as others were fearful of the 'alpha voice' as it was commonly known; it forces omegas to do whatever the alpha wants and they cannot physically disobey. Whilst Enjolras seemed to flex his alpha voice a little more than necessary sometimes, Combeferre used it exceedingly sparingly.
Many people thought that Les Amis stood for the oppression of omegas, but the clue was in the name. Les Amis De L'Omegas. The friends of the omegas. Combeferre had joined this organisation to try and help omegas. Meeting Courfeyrac had helped that ambition and developed it into a passion he channeled into his work; trying to help omegas and stop them from being persecuted.
The two men arrived at a door, and Combeferre whispered into Grantaire's ear;
'I need to put you down for a sec, ok? I'll pick you up straightaway, Michel.'
Grantaire, pretty much sober now, wanted to hiss that his name wasn't Michel, but thought better of it. Combeferre lowered Grantaire to the floor, but Grantaire ostensibly stood on his feet. Combeferre was entering a code into the door they were stood next to. Grantaire tried to read the code, but Combeferre realised and tsked at the omega.
Grantaire took a deep breath and made a split second decision. He didn't know when he would next be in a very-nearly-empty hallway, and he began to run at full pelt down the corridor. He could hear the alpha's shocked yelp, and then the pounding footsteps as a chase began.
Wildly taking random turns, Grantaire thought; What the hell am I doing. This was a terrible idea. However, he didn't make an effort to stop. The omega skidded through wide hallways, barely keeping his balance on the sharper turns. Trying to avoid falling, he ducked into an alcove, an old trick that didn't phase Combeferre for a moment. He followed the omega's fear scent and coaxed the omega from the niche. It took a few minutes of Combeferre holding Grantaire down before the little omega tired himself out and he just lay underneath the alpha, his face tearstained and red from exertion.
'Shhh,' Combeferre soothed. He picked up Grantaire again and walked calmly back to the room they had been about to enter. Combeferre was more concerned about the omega than ever. He was evidently hysterical and willing to run at any time. He made a note to ponder further on the idea of some sedatives; maybe this omega would need a different sort of drug to keep him from being so scared and panicked.
-----
'Combeferre.' Enjolras nodded to the man who had entered his office. 'Michel. Good to see you.' Enjolras cleared his throat.
Normally Enjolras felt indifferent towards omegas, but this one was odd; creating a feeling of tension and anger between them. And to see Combeferre hold the small male; the primal part of Enjolras' brain wanted to take the omega from this rival alpha's arms and keep him...
The omega hissed at being called Michel. He couldn't help it. He shrank after his noise of irritation, fearful of a negative reaction from the alphas.
What are you doing? He screamed at his brain. Trying to get a reaction out of two alphas who've kidnapped you? Are you crazy?
His inner monologue was cut short abruptly as Combeferre sat him down on a soft seat and began to speak;
'What's your name, little omega? If you tell us, we wouldn't have to call you 'Michel'.'
Enjolras' computer pinged loudly, making Grantaire jump. Enjolras automatically went to reassure the omega, before asking himself what he was doing? This random omega was causing trouble.
'That from the research team, Enj?' Combeferre asked.
'Yep,' he replied shortly. 'A list of all the past male omegas born in the right window. Those are from all over the country, though. We can narrow them down starting with location- we know he had been to that town before, according to that woman we talked to.'
Grantaire's mind raced. They had to mean Fantine.
'Fantine?' He choked out. 'You talked to her? Did you... Is she ok?'
Furrowing his brow, Enjolras spoke; 'She's fine. We didn't do anything to her. We're not that kind of people. We want to keep omegas safe, even if it doesn't seem like it. You just need to trust us.'
Combeferre raised an eyebrow. Enjolras was always so dismissive around omegas, but there was something about this omega that brought out some of Enjolras' natural instincts beyond his dominating personality. The alpha wasn't completely at ease in the situation, but he was acting more naturally around the omega than Combeferre had seen apart from Courfeyrac.
Grantaire nodded, his shiny eyes glinting as he blinked. 'I'm not called Michel,' he started. He looked into Enjolras' blue eyes, finding a patient alpha willing to wait for him to finish.
'I can't tell you..' he whispered.
'Please,' Enjolras asked, deliberately not using his alpha voice. 'Combeferre and I, you can trust us, yeah?'
Grantaire looked over to Combeferre who was looking at him with smile on his face.
'Call me.. R...' The omega said quietly. 'I can't give you my full name; you'll match me to my alpha and I can't...' he broke off, wondering why he was suddenly talking about his problems to these two alphas.
'Why are you so worried about your alpha?' Combeferre asked. 'I know some alphas are scary, but yours is your soulmate. They will love you and give their life for you!'
While Combeferre engaged the omega, Enjolras crept to the computer on his desk and filtered the his list of omegas electronically, sorting them so names starting with 'R' were listed first. He looked over to the males awkwardly talking and smiled a little bit.
'How old are you, R?' Combeferre asked. 'When is your soulmate tattoo due to arrive?'
Grantaire wondered whether it mattered if they knew his birthday. It would surely give him away, so he lied, giving a date a week after his real birthday.
'June 31st.' he lied, whilst mentally remembering that it was on the 24th.
'Ok, R. That's in two weeks, did you know that?'
Two weeks until his fake birthday meant only one week until his real one. Grantaire swallowed and realised the amount of shit he was currently in.