"Royal sweetie, you hold onto pappa's hand tightly, okay?"

Royal looked up at his pappa and nodded, knowing that he'd be a good boy. His pappa's hand was a tad too big to fully grab onto, so instead he latched onto his pinky and felt the man's hand wrap gently around his.

"That's my good pup." His dad grinned, ruffling through Royal's hair before pointing out the beautiful fish in their tank at the nearby restaurant. "Look at those Ro, aren't they pretty?"

Royal followed where his dad pointed and smiled, a dimple appearing in his cheeks. He nodded quickly, enraptured by the shimmering fish before his papa gently shook their entangled hands.

"I remember that we promised a certain someone we'd get him an ice cream if he was a good pup." He sighed, shaking his head "If only I could remember who I promised that to..."

"Me! You promised that to me pappa, I'm the good pup!" Royal crowed, wiggling with excitement. His papa and daddy laughed, shaking their heads in amusement before they walked on.

Royal widened his eyes pleadingly when his dad sighed "Weren't we supposed to eat first and then have deserts? You're going to spoil the pup's hunger darling."

Turning slightly, his pappa simply cast his mate a cheeky grin. "Good behavior deserves to be rewarded. Besides, it's still early enough that we can have dinner later today."

His dad smiled, "Well, I'll go and grab us some treats while you and the pup take a quick bathroom break." He looked down at Royal with a bemused smile, "You know, to avoid our ice-cream cones melting because we have to go potty."

Royal nodded, remembering all too well how the last time his soft serve ice-cream had become a sad pile of mush by the time he was done.

The young pup obediently followed his pappa, eager about his promised treat. Yet the second his papa moved around the corner, where the bathroom facilities were, things changed rapidly.

A man lunged into view, punching his papa right against his jaw. The force behind the blow sent him flying, partially yanking Royal with him before a firm hand latched onto his nape and yanked back.

He squeaked in pain, little hands unable to hold onto his pappa's hand as he was lifted and carried off.

There were shouts, people screaming and the sound of feet landing heavily on the paved road. Royal screamed for his parents, hearing them respond in the distance before claws sank into his flesh.

"Make one more sound and I'll fucking snap your neck, you hear me?" A venomous voice hissed in his ear before Royal was shaken when he squeaked in pain. "One sound, you hear?"

Royal froze up, unable to make a sound simply because of the fingers that wrapped around his throat. Threatening to choke him out if he didn't obey.

The sounds quieted down behind them, the sudden cool alerting Royal to the fact that they were now in the woods. A snap of branches ahead and Royal looked up fearfully, feeling his eyes brimming over as multiple strangers approached.

"Did everything go according to plan?" One of the men asked, reaching out to grab a firm hold of Royal's chin and lift it to meet his eyes.

Royal's breathing hitched with fear as the sickly amber gaze burned in his own. He remembered that his dad spoke of when a wolf was in charge and averted his gaze on a whimper, like he was taught to do.

There were a few eerie chuckles as the man holding Royal snickered, "The Omega bitch holding him wasn't aware of the ambush before Trevor punched him in the face. He's running around to make a fake trail as planned. He has just enough product to remove his scent before coming here."

"Excellent." The man sneered, turning Royal's face from left to right before smirking as he leaned in. "Still too young to Present but with the way he's behaving, we might've hit the jackpot and got our hands on an Omega pup."

There were eager growls and low chuckles as the man holding Royal slightly loosened his hold so the pup could breathe properly.

His eyes flitted around the group, counting four different men, all with golden eyes staring down at him. With the stranger that punched his pappa, that made five strangers.

"We wanted to snatch both but the Omega was too confident, not at all the obedient little thing it's supposed to be." The man sneered in disgust before slightly shaking Royal, causing the pup to squeak.

The man who snatched him scoffed, letting out a low growl that made Royal tremble in fear. "The adult Omega even had the nerve to talk back to his mate."

"Well, let's hope that you'll be better than your parents." The ringleader smirked, looking down at Royal with a perverse glint in his eyes. "How old are you, little Omega?"

Royal swallowed thickly, chin wobbling as he replied "F-Five..." A sharp cry of fear and pain slipped from his lip as the strangers' massive palm struck Royal's jaw with enough force to leave an imprint.

"That's Sir to you, brat. You ought to learn some respect. But don't worry, we have plenty of time to teach you all of the rules you need to know." He snickered as the fifth and last Corrupted joined the group.

------

Brandon inhaled through gritted teeth, muscles pulsing and trembling as he struggled against his Beast. His clawed fingers were digging into the palms of his hands, forcing himself to remain focused, to calm down.

Jamie was simply observing him with a dull, dead look in his eyes. The Beta had paused as Brandon's natural sandalwood scent had become overwhelmingly pungent.

The young Alpha was fighting back snarls, nearly choking on his desire to snap his teeth in anger. To transform, find whomever did this to Royal and his family, and make them pay.

Because there was no doubt in his mind of what these Corrupted did. Every single Alpha feared the Corrupted for the same reason.

Corrupted only cared about one thing ; to satisfy their desires. They lacked empathy, their human side completely gone. Instead, they were ruled by their Beasts, which, being former Alphas, was already powerful since birth.

The lack of restraints, of remorse or even common sense, was the reason why packs needed border patrols in the first place.

To keep an eye out for any Corrupted and signal other packs once they were sighted.

For Corrupted, packs were a treasury filled with perfect submissive wolves, ripe for the taking. Any Omega, Delta or pup that strayed too close to the borders with a Corrupted nearby, risked getting kidnapped.

Because the Corrupted wanted someone that was submissive to them. To satisfy whatever urge they may get, at any time of the day.

And that knowledge made Brandon sick to the core. To understand what it meant to be kidnapped by Corrupted. Not only that, but to be kidnapped at the tender age of 5 years old...

He shivered, feeling his stomach swirl uncomfortably. Wanting to know what happened and at the same time, didn't want to have his worst fears confirmed.

So he struggled against his wolf, gritting his teeth before taking a few calming breaths. "How long ...were you..."

Jamie shrugged, acting indifferent though Brandon could clearly sense that was all it was; an act. "Eight years, give or take."

Eight yea-

Brandon choked on his spit, a low snarl escaping past his control before he shook his head. By this point his entire body was shaking apart at the need to shift, to give his wolf control and let it do whatever it wants.

"You're doing better than we thought you would." Jamie commented, hugging his legs to his chest while letting his chin rest on his knees. "Some of the community figured you'd have exploded out of your clothes by now."

Brandon snorted despite the situation, a humorless chuckle escaping him. "Well, I'm fucking close, I can tell you that much." Tilting his head back, he closed his eyes and took a few more calming breaths but instead of gaining control over his beast, he was losing it.

"Brandon..." Jamie cautioned, pushing from his relaxed position before freezing as in an instant, Brandon's control snapped. His clothes protested audibly before tearing apart at the seams and scattering all across the room.

Slowly, the massive Alpha wolf turned its gaze on Jamie still on the bed...and shocked them both.

Instead of sprinting towards the Beta and pin him down on the bed, the Beast shocked both Jamie and Brandon with a simple gesture.

It laid down, averting its gaze from Jamie before rolling onto its back.

Submitting.

A silent vow to Jamie, no, to the entire Community. That they were nothing like the Corrupted. They would never harm, never insult, never beat or abuse the Community's trust.

The proud and powerful Alpha wolf, headstrong enough to even stand toe to toe with Alpha Ryker... A being that had fought against Brandon's control time and time again, slowly but surely learning their shared position in the world.

Submitting to a Beta. No, to the entirety of Jamie and Sean's Community.

And it showed in Jamie's eyes, surprise and shock flashing through his eyes. Momentarily, Brandon and the wolf were overwhelmed by a potent mix of scents.

Jasmine. Petrichor. Woodfire. Ozone.

He didn't recognize the last two scents, not even given a moment to analyze them because the second he even smelled them, the scent was gone.

Instead, Petrichor flowed through the room in a sweet, soft wave. A surprising softness in Jamie's eyes as the young Beta slowly pushed up from the bed, hesitantly approaching the wolf.

And instead of jumping up in eagerness, or even wiggling on the spot in excitement, the wolf remained calm. Frozen still in position, tail tucking between its hindlegs to show absolute submission.

We are not like THEM.

A statement that seemed to be understood, as Jamie slowly crouched down before hesitantly petting through the soft fur of Brandon's wolf.

The wolf only reacted with a soft whine, enjoying the gentle pats but didn't reach out, didn't step up or react in any other way.

Instead it stayed utterly calm, practically purring at the attention it was given. Jamie sighed, fingers shaking slightly but at least his gaze wasn't that previous, dead void.

"I'm not prepared to....speak about what happened to Royal...to us." Jamie murmured, averting his gaze from Brandon's wolf as the mutt whined understandingly. "At least, not yet."

A shiver ran over the wolf, because it too realized that everything Jamie or Sean had to say about their past was certainly going to shock him beyond his imagination.

"Just...don't grab our neck...unless you wish for someone to probably piss themselves in fear." Jamie's voice was a whisper but the wolf heard, whining as it licked at Jamie's hand once, showing it understood.

Even though the Beast didn't have such a detailed concept of what happened, it could smell the pain and anguish in Jamie's scent. Could sense the mood in the Beta, his mental mindset freezing due to memories of their shared past.

Reluctantly, it handed back control to Brandon, knowing that their human could deal with the current situation better.

And Brandon was grateful the mutt didn't shift back, because he didn't want to make the situation extremely awkward by re-emerging completely nude.

Especially not given the situation.

He wasn't going to pry, nor was he going to pressure either Jamie or Sean into talking about their obviously traumatic past.

Because Brandon had no idea how long they spent in the clutches of the Corrupted. What their community went through.

All he could do, was be there for them and listen when the time came to reveal more.