Chapter 1
"We can still save you," T'Challa said desperately, cradling Erik to his chest. Even as the words left his lips, he could tell that time was running out. His senses, enhanced by the heart-shaped herb, told him that Erik’s blood was draining out of his body at a rate too quickly to be replenished. T'Challa could hear the slow, steady dripping of Erik's blood trickling out of the mortal wound in his chest, smell the copper-sharp tang of wet blood suffusing the air, hear the sound of Erik's heartbeat in between his pained gasps for breath - a panicked, desperate thumping that was already beginning to stutter and slow. If he didn't act quickly, even the marvels of Wakandan medical technology might not be able to save Erik.
Erik laughed bitterly. It was a weak, wet sound, more a choked gulp of air than a laugh, and the sound of it sent a fresh chill of horror and guilt through T'Challa. "What, so you can lock me up? Nah. Just bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, cause they knew that death was better than bondage."
Erik’s words were like a knife to his heart. T'Challa inhaled sharply. He reached out helplessly in an instinctive, futile grab for his cousin, but it was too late. Erik was already collapsing to the ground. Even T’Challa’s enhanced hearing could no longer pick up the sound of Erik’s heartbeat.
NO .
A silent howl of rage and denial rang out in T’Challa’s mind.
Erik would not die here. Not when T’Challa still had breath in his body.
He would not allow it.
Erik wasn’t in his right mind at the moment. He could rage at T’Challa for denying his dying wish all he wanted - after T’Challa had saved his sorry ass.
T'Challa sprang into action. Crouching over Erik’s prone body, he yanked a bead off his kimoyo bracelet and inserted the small vibranium stone deep into the centre of Erik’s wound, his fingers reaching past the torn sinew and muscle to shove the bead into the wound in Erik’s heart. The vibranium in the kimoyo bead would work to stabilize the injury for the moment, just as it had done for Everett Ross, although T’Challa would need to get Erik to a medical facility as soon as possible before any proper healing could take place.
Ignoring the aches and pains in his bruised body, T’Challa swept Erik’s limp form up into his arms, then took off for the lift at a run.
He only hoped that he wasn’t too late.
T'Challa wasn’t usually someone who paced, but there was so much nervous energy thrumming through his body right now that it was as if his feet had a mind of their own. Back and forth, back and forth he walked, pacing the length of the waiting room in their medical bay.
Behind him, Ramonda and Shuri sat, both stony-faced. Ramonda had her arms crossed over her chest, while Shuri was staring at the door of the operating theatre as if she could burn a hole in it with her glare. She hadn't unstrapped her panther gauntlets from her wrists after her battle with Erik. T'Challa couldn't blame her for being on edge after Erik had so nearly killed her.
Beside Ramonda and Shuri, Okoye and the rest of the surviving Dora Milaje stood on guard with their hands on the spears, arranged around the royal family in a neat formation of two lines. When on duty, the Dora Milaje were usually expressionless, but they seemed to be even more grim-faced than usual right now.
Not a single one of the people in the room supported T’Challa’s decision to heal Erik.
But T’Challa was the reigning king again, and the people here in this room, at least, were loyal enough to him to bite their tongues - for now. Still, it would be an uphill battle to show them that Erik could be trusted.
T'Challa sighed internally, although he made sure that his expression didn’t change. Saving Erik has been an impulsive decision, one which was sure to cause upheaval in his own family as well as the rest of Wakanda. But it was not a decision that T’Challa regretted. He couldn't leave Erik to die on that mountain, not after everything that Wakanda had done to him.
He couldn’t let that sunset they had watched together be Erik’s last.
T’Challa’s keen hearing picked up the sound of the surgeon's footsteps approaching before anyone else. He turned to face the doors of the operating theatre just as they swung open, and the doctor, a tall, lean and dark-skinned woman with greying hair, dressed in surgical scrubs, strode out. This was Doctor Asha Magoro, the royal family’s doctor. She had looked after their family for decades, and T’Challa had fond memories of the numerous times the kindly doctor had patched up him and Shuri up after one childhood mishap or another. T’Challa had full confidence in her abilities. If anyone could save Erik from the jaws of death, it would be her.
"How is he?" T’Challa asked the doctor, trying not to show how worried he was.
"He still needs a bit more rest, but his condition is now stable. The knife wound was very deep, and it will take a while for him to recuperate. He should be fine when he wakes up tomorrow morning,” Dr Asha said.
T’Challa heaved a quiet sigh of relief. He was the only one in the room who did so.
“Something else came up,” Dr Asha continued.
“What’s wrong?” Icy fear immediately seized T’Challa’s heart. Something about the doctor’s tone was slightly off.
“Oh, nothing went wrong, exactly,” Dr Asha said quickly. “It’s just - N’Jadaka is an omega.”
T’Challa inhaled sharply.
"What the fuck?" Shuri exclaimed.
"Shuri," Ramonda said, but it was an automatic reprimand, and there was no heat in her chiding. “Are you sure about this?” Ramonda said, turning to the doctor.
“Yes, it came to light during one of our routine scans,” Dr Asha said. She continued to explain how they had discovered Erik’s omega status, but T’Challa was no longer paying close attention, so preoccupied was he by the doctor's earth-shattering revelation.
An omega.
This changed everything. Everything.
He would never have guessed that Erik was an omega. Outside of annual heat, without a detailed medical examination, it wasn't immediately obvious whether a person was an alpha, an omega or just a beta - someone who was neither. And from the looks of it, Erik was a lone omega as well - an omega who wasn't under the care of an alpha guardian or mate.
T’Challa thought quickly. This was good. It was an unexpected but very welcome development. With this revelation of Erik as an omega, he could already sense a shift in the people’s attitudes towards him. Even some of the Dora Milaje were starting to look a little more sympathetic, a little less hostile. It was well known that omegas who were not properly cared for by an alpha tended to act out. They were emotionally volatile, and without proper guidance from an alpha to provide them with the comfort and discipline that they needed, they would lash out, misbehaving in order to seek out the attention they craved; or alternatively, become neurotic or depressed without an alpha’s steadying influence. That was why omegas were usually cared for by their alpha relatives - their guardian alphas - after they had first presented, and then bonded off to an alpha mate once they came of age. No wonder Erik had been so lost, if he had been hiding his status as a lone omega all this time.
T’Challa said a quick internal prayer to Bast for his good fortune. Originally, it would have been an uphill battle to convince the council not to imprison or execute Erik. But allowances would be made for Erik’s behaviour, now that it was known that he was a lone omega. As Erik's closest alpha relative, T'Challa could make the case for Erik to be put under his guardianship.
This wasn’t a situation that T’Challa had ever thought he’d face. Prior to this, he hadn't known that there were any omegas in his extended family, as his father’s brother had died without having children and his mother did not have any siblings. Omegas were rare, and even in Wakanda, there were only a handful of people who presented as omegas, none of whom were in the right age range to be considered a suitable mate for him. But T’Challa was determined to make this work. He would be the best alpha guardian to Erik until he could find a suitable mate for his new ward.
Now he just had to figure out how to break the news to Erik. T’Challa could only imagine how displeased his cousin would be when he woke up to find out that T’Challa had healed him against his wishes, and was now also his alpha in the eyes of the law.