Author's note: This is my original work and the characters, story, and other unique content are mine. Others are not permitted to use or replicate any of the material in this story. This includes copy/pasting and/or scraping for any personal use (to include, but not limited to, placing my work into Ai bots of any kind).

TW: This story contains mention of assault, both physical and sexual in nature, domestic abuse, medical neglect, and other adult themes.

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He stood surrounded in the training yard with a resigned frown on his lips. They had been waiting for him to be alone, ready to beat the youngest alpha son into the ground for his weakness.

Abused since he was born, he's become used to these kinds of traps, looking around warily as the very pack members that have tortured him for years on his father's orders closed in around him.

They had all come to the program to train as warriors in service, and while the program is grueling to most - to him it was a reprieve from the abuses of his pack and his family.

... when he wasn't caught alone...

The Alpha and Luna that led the program were called away for an unexpected emergency, likely orchestrated for this exact moment. With the Alpha and Luna's support he'd grow stronger during his time here, and his father would hear about it eventually - this attack just was a matter of time. To put him back in his place. To make sure he failed.

It's why after the program, if they didn't recommend him for service his plan was to go rogue.

He was never going back.

Flashes of memories of him strapped to his father's desk flashed in his mind, beaten bloody each time he had an asthma attack or his panic got the better of him.

Weak.

The word echoed in his mind even as he stood in the center of the yard ready to defend himself until he lost.

He's been trained since he could walk to fight, and when he received his regular medication he was as good as any other wolf here - something the Alpha and Luna here realized. They'd helped him secure the medications his father denied him, the treatments he needed to heal so he could be the best he could be.

Naturally, as his weakness faded he'd faced the growing hatred of his pack members. His torturers. His abusers.

When they could no longer best him one on one in training, they had to come at him like this to re-establish his place amongst them. Most likely on his father's order, but even without it they'd be celebrated when he heard about it.

Skinny from the abuse, he appeared weaker than any other wolf in the training camp. Like all the camps his father had sent him to before, the goal was to crush his spirit... his ability to fight back. When he inevitably was sent home, he'd be beaten back into his prior state and denied his medications once again so his father could scream that word.

Weak.

Too weak to be a man. Too weak to be the son of an alpha. Too weak for a shifter.

What kind of man has asthma? What kind of man needs anxiety medication? What kind of man has panic attacks?

He'd been beaten so brutally he believed these words until he arrived here, at this camp. Arriving here was the first time someone of authority saw him as more than a stain on their kind. The first time someone saw his potential, and saw his treatments as simply part of the things that made him healthy.

Is it weak to require food? To require water? To require rest or sleep? Why, then, was it weak to require other things to achieve his healthiest self, like medications for conditions he was born with? Or therapy for conditions he'd obtained through the neglect and abuse of those meant to be his family?

It had taken weeks of being here to make him hear those words and believe them.

Now, he had grown too strong with the help of the things he needed to be healthy. The muscle, while still less bulky than those leering at him now with hatred, had packed on his lean frame. His years of training had finally found proper execution in his movements when his airways weren't restricted and his mind was clear of the ever present fear.

Even the flashbacks had come under his control with the help of the Alpha's son - a friend. His first real friend.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, he got into his stance. Would he lose when faced with over 20 against his one? Oh, certainly. But did that mean he couldn't make them hurt?

No... it did not.

A sound near the treeline drew everyone's gaze before they could execute their attack, and everyone froze as a woman walked forward like she was out for blood. Her wild hair and dirtied face made it easy to tell before she was close enough to scent that she was a rogue, and yet the moment he locked eyes with hers his breath caught for a very different reason.

She lunged at the first wolf she neared, grabbing him around the neck and throwing him like he weighed no more than that of a small stone - throwing him away like garbage as she kept her eyes fixed on him.

Despite her ferocity and bared fangs, despite her bulky muscles and tall figure that one wouldn't expect of a woman... he felt no fear. In fact, he was enchanted by the goddess of a woman that threw wolf after wolf that tried to stop her movements away like they were nothing. She left behind her a trail of groaning trainees, and he even noticed a few border patrol wolves lying unconscious in the treeline.

She was undeterred as she stalked toward him, her eyes fixed on him as if nothing else existed and all the others that tried to swarm her were merely flies in her way.

When she was only a foot or so away from him, she froze - uncertainty in her eyes.

"Mate," she said the word with reverence, yet there was clear fear in her face as she faced him.

"Mate," he whispered in awe, studying her and wondering if she was really his... this powerful Amazon woman who towered a foot above him with broad shoulders any warrior would envy and the clear fighting skills to match.

He paused for only a moment before his eyes sparkled and a slow smile spread across his face.

"Mine," the word fell from him before he could think about it, and it was everything she wanted to hear.

A breathtaking smile split across her face, and the fear melted away as she closed the rest of the distance.

"Yours," she confirmed proudly, as if nothing could make her happier than to claim him and have her claimed in return.

Can she see me, he thought to himself, can't she see how weak I am? How lanky and small compared to all these other men? Doesn't she want someone stronger? Someone... taller?

He looked up into her eyes, and saw no reservations. In fact, he was nearly knocked over by the adoration he found in its place as she studied him, as if she couldn't be prouder to call him her own.

Wrapping her arm around his waist, she pulled the smaller man into her chest and purred, "Mine."

"Yours," he said softly, his smile broadening as he wrapped his own arm around her.

Lost in each other's eyes, they didn't pay attention to the wolves standing and preparing to attack the couple. Yet, her smile simply shifted into a smirk, her eyes darting to his lips before returning to his eyes.

"Let me fight beside you, mate," she said quietly, raising a hand to cup his cheek, "and I will never let anyone harm you as long as I draw breath."

"What a fucking joke," someone nearby spit, "of course the weakest alpha in existence needs a woman that looks like a man to protect him!"

Neither of the wolves currently holding one another even flinched at his words.

In this moment no word could reach them.

"May I defend you, my mate?" she asked, stroking his cheek with her thumb, "May I be your sword?"

"Together," he responded, though thinking that he'd be honored to have such a woman fight for him.

He's never been protected, not even by the very people who gave birth to him. Never been held like he was precious, never been touched like he was valued.

He didn't feel weak in her hold... no, he felt... safe. Seen.

"Together," she whispered, leaning down to brush her lips against his.

Something in her eyes told him she knew his thoughts even as his words said something slightly different.

She released him in a flash turning to defend the mate that didn't reject her on sight for being different.

She'd never let anyone touch him.

She moved faster than anyone would have expected, kicking the wolf that had insulted her mate in the chest and sending him flying. Before the others around could process her insane strength, she had pivoted and was moving through the wolves that had surrounded him - one hit each more than enough to lay them all flat.

He watched her as he stood in place, her fluid movements like that of a dance even as her fist connected with jaws and her foot drove into the stomachs of those surrounding him. No one could get close, her fierceness and skill undeniable as she defended him.

She had incapacitated every trainee that had planned to jump him in minutes before stalking back toward him, her eyes holding him captive even as she stood before him once again... like she hadn't just taken out over 20 people and laid them at his feet like it was nothing.

Like she hadn't just melted his heart in the palm of her hand.

"I have... nothing to give you," he admitted softly, studying her with open adoration, "No title... no money or comfort. I..."

"I am a rogue," she said just as softly, cautious as she admitted her own worries aloud, "I have nothing left, not even a pack. But... I... will protect you. Defend you. I need no title, no money, and the only comfort I seek is in my mate."

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