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gardengnosticator · 4 months ago

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Aphrodite of Knidos

PAIRING: ellie williams x abby anderson.

SUMMARY: Being a freshman in college is hard, it's even harder when your roommate is the living embodiment of a Greek statue. Ellie Williams is doing the best she can, juggling her classes, her (nigh-nonexistent) social life, and a sketchbook filled with images no one could ever see. Shame her roommate, the immensely popular, confident and terrifyingly handsome, Abby Anderson knows exactly what to do to press all of Ellie's buttons...

WARNINGS: modern au, loser!sub!ellie, dom!abby, oral (abby receiving), face fucking, face sitting, mild exhibitionism, ellie is a huge nerd and down BAD!!!

WORD COUNT: 5k, MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!

Everyone had always badgered Ellie that she should study art. Her doodles and sketches were always stuck to Joel’s fridge with pride even well into her senior years of high school when such parental pride would elicit nothing but groans of teenage frustration. It was all she really enjoyed, well, all that she enjoyed that could be moved into the field of higher education. Try as she might there were no classes offered anywhere that specialized in “being mediocre at video games” and “smoking large amounts of weed,” and Joel’s fatherly monologues about the school of hard knocks did not sway Ellie to a life of puttering around perpetually fixing a muscle car lodged forever in their driveway.

So here she was, a full-fledged art student, with a tiny personal studio nook, and paints and pens and palettes and assignments. Dear lord, the assignments. Turns out college art was not just drawing her favorite comic characters kissing and actually involved writing long-winded essays about long-dead Italian and Dutch masters whose talent and skill made Ellie want to curl into a ball and burn all her work.

At least Thursday was her escape. When she could just shut her brain off and sit in front of an easel with pencil or charcoal in hand and just draw. “Fundamentals”, a simple title for what Ellie thought of a simple class (one that certainly wasn’t the most “FUN” and the countless sketches of fruit bowls was driving her “MENTAL”) but one she could just zone out and stop thinking in, and as of this semester she has been thinking, a lot.

Thinking a lot; about her roommate.

Abigail Anderson.

An honest-to-God legend on campus. A pre-med student whose father, Jerry Anderson, had quite literally co-authored several of the huge textbooks she left lying around their shared campus apartment. A woman who, rumor had it, had a personal key to the campus gym to workout when it was closed because when she was warmed up and ready, it was too risky to let some frat bro half-ass some bicep curls in her vicinity. A flirt who had her tongue down so many girl’s throats there was a line leading up to her bedroom. Okay Ellie couldn’t comment on the first two but she knew for a fact that if Abby was getting action, it couldn’t be in their apartment. The walls were too thin to muffle the sounds of sex and the only time (okay, times…) Ellie peaked through the crack in Abby’s door to spy on her, she would be hunched over her laptop, furiously typing notes.

Ellie understood though, there was something about Abby that commanded respect, and she wasn’t just saying that because Abby knew exactly how to bark at Ellie if the dishwasher hadn’t been unloaded. It was the way she so subtly chewed on the tip of her glasses whenever some paragraph wasn’t speaking to her, the way the muscles in her shoulders and back flexed when she was standing in the kitchen prepping her meals for the week, or the times when Ellie managed to get herself out of bed before midday and could watch in quiet awe as Abby tucked and tied her golden locks into the effortless French braid only she could pull-off.

Ellie would find herself thinking about Abby more and more as the semester went on and that proved dire to her sketchbook, with pages ending up shamefully bundled into the trash to hide the fact she had spent several minutes carefully extenuating the curves and defined bridges of Abby’s thighs whenever she sat around in the lounge in gym shorts and a tank top that despite definitely being a large hugged Abby’s torso too well.

Yes, Ellie thought about Abby a whole lot, but she was quickly pulled back to the real world as her lecturer brought his hands together in a loud clap, drawing the attention of her and the entire class.

“Now as you all know, if you had been following the syllabus,” Something Ellie most definitely hadn’t been doing, “Today is our first of several life drawing sessions.” A collective groan escaped the class as they all knew what life drawing would entail. Staring at a naked stranger for three to four hours at a time while drawing from the shoulder, not the elbow, not the wrist and trying not to make direct eye-to-genital contact with the model.

“Come on, I know you’re all going to have a lot of fun but remember, it takes a lot of effort to make a life drawing authentic, to truly capture the dynamism of a real figure standing a few feet in front of you.” Ellie’s professor looks around at the exasperated faces of his cohort. “But… It takes more effort and quite honestly, a lot of confidence to be a life model. So say hello to��”

Ellie’s heart drops. And then immediately decides to crawl its way up and out of her throat as an all too familiar figure, clad in just a bathrobe, damned French braid still immaculately tucked over her shoulder, marches into the room.

“Now everyone, say thank you to Ms Anderson for giving you her time and her quite obviously well trained physique for the following weeks of classes, it takes a lot of guts to stand nude in front of your fellow college buddies, sober that is.”

That elicited a small wave of laughter from the class but Ellie had suddenly developed an incredible interest in the well chewed back-end of her pencil, absolutely positively not going to give Abby the satisfaction of making eye-contact right here and now.

Okay maybe just a glance.

Which proved to be a devastating mistake on Ellie’s part as Abby’s blue irises all but bore into Ellie’s soul, that damned Anderson smirk coming to her lips as she brought her arms up and across her chest. “Well, my roommate does like to say that ‘if she had my body, she’d be walking around naked 24/7’, so I thought this would be a very natural thing.”

Ellie had said that. In jest, Once. While very high and splayed on the couch, watching Abby do her neurotic routine of laying on the floor alternating between push-ups and the pages of one of her impenetrable anatomy textbooks, reciting the names of muscle groups and their insertions through the reps. The way her shoulders tensed and every single sculpted portion of Abby’s back seemed to strain against the material of her shirt had allowed Ellie, her mind dazed with weed, to mumble out the statement which she hoped Abby had neglected to hear.

But no, that would be too good. The universe was too cruel to allow for such a small mercy and as such, Ellie found herself, freckled cheeks flushing a soft pink as she chewed on her bottom lip, Abby’s gaze still locked directly at her despite the sea of awaiting faces.

“Today’s class is going to be broken into four separate sketches, two with a 15 minute time limit, one at 30, and then finally an hour for your last one. Use the time wisely, remember the point of life drawing is…”

Whatever Ellie’s professor was rambling about meant quite literally nothing right now. 2 hours of staring at Abby Anderson’s naked form, no excuse not to ogle and lust after every curve and indentation of her physique, no way to avoid her eyes wandering over the supple mounds of muscle and flesh that made up Abby’s chest, her thighs… her ass. Ellie could swear her heart was on the verge of giving up on her right now, not even in her most private moments, the nights when she was tucked well under her covers, brows furrowed, lips red and raw from being chewed on, one hand languishing itself against her breast and the other working overtime between her thighs, her fingers curling into her most delicate inner walls as she imagined Abby looming over her, that husky voice a whisper as she claimed Ellie over and over again.

And here Abby was, marching forward to take her position amongst the semicircle of student artists fumbling with their pencils and papers before claiming a very-very obviously particular spot. Right-smack-bang in front of Ellie. Oh Abby was enjoying this, Ellie was sure, really relishing the way her cheeks were darkening and her breathing getting more erratic as Abby just stood there, smug and confident as always.

“We are ready whenever you are Ms Anderson, all you are required to do is-” Abby sharply interrupts, “Stand here and look good?”

Once again a smattering of giggles come from Ellie’s fellow students and for once since she walked in, Ellie feels like she can breathe.

“Well that and stand as still as possible, no need to worry about any sort of specific pose, just find something that’s natural and not going to give you any cramps.”

And with that, Abby’s robe was dropped to the floor and ever so casually kicked aside and Ellie could swear the gasp that came from her throat was louder than a chainsaw.

Abby’s body was better than anything Ellie’s filthy imagination could ever come up with. She looked like a statue of Athena. Despite being buck-stark-naked, somehow Abby didn’t shrink or hide, in fact it was quite obvious that she ruled the room right now, hip cocked to one side, a hand lazily resting against it as the other draped itself over her torso just barely hiding the folds of her slit from everyone’s gaze. And no one’s gaze was more enraptured than Ellie’s. After all that was the point of this exercise, right? To take in every inch of Abby’s bare body as presented to her, to allow her eyes to trace over the veins just bursting from her biceps, the motion of her abdominal muscles contracting with Abby’s relaxed breathing, the defined V-taper of her waist drawing Ellie’s line of sight to what could only be the most neatly maintained happy trail in the universe.

It was good that Ellie had abandoned her grip on her pencil prior to Abby’s disrobing because it would have snapped in the death grip that was forming as the poor brunette white knuckled herself in an effort to maintain a professional allure as she made mental captures of Abby’s body. Plenty of material for those lonely nights at the very least.

—

The collective two hours seems to drag itself over the course of what Ellie thought was closer to several years, several years that would have been preferable performing hard labor in a Siberian gulag. As Abby moved between poses, no matter how she angled her body, her face was always coyly directed right at Ellie. As the time continued to pass, Ellie could feel herself getting weaker, her lines getting shakier and the detail of her sketches slowly declining. After all, it was hard to concentrate when a good 90% of her blood flow was being directed to her cheeks and the growing warmth between her thighs. The longer Ellie allowed her eyes to trace over Abby’s frame, trying so desperately to stay on track, to allow her pencil to do the talking and not lose herself in the allure of a body so carefully crafted and put together it made Ellie’s thighs clench and the knot in her stomach to churn.

Could Abby tell? Her classmates? Every breath Ellie let slip from her lips sounded guttural and laced with the kind of intoxicated desire that burned in her soul whenever Abby returned home glistening with sweat from whatever superhuman workout she had burdened herself with all while Ellie had been experimenting with just how long she could hold bong rips. Pure unadulterated lust radiated from those dark green irises and a slightest of slight hints of pink on Abby’s cheeks only made Ellie more desperate.

“Pencils down, time is up, class is over. For those who wish to stay for class critique, you can have a fifteen minute break and for those who are just one and done, you may leave!” The sighs and groans of her classmates snapped Ellie out of her trance. There was no way Ellie could let anyone see these, let alone critique them! Ellie felt as if God or Zeus or some kind of deity was on the verge of divinely smiting her as she hurriedly stuffed what she could shove into her backpack, her sketchbook slammed shut with such noise several people to the side of her glance over in confusion and with that Ellie was up and gone. Before Abby had even managed to get her robe back on.

—

Ellie downs what feels like a gallon of cold water the second she returns to the apartment but no matter how hard she cranks the cold handle on the faucet it’s not enough to relax the aching, burning sensation that was deep inside of her. She began to contemplate just how easy it would be to crawl inside the freezer when the sound of the front door opening caused her to tense up against the sink. Ellie’s bottom lip is at risk of being chewed right off as she watched Abby ever so casually strut inside, gym bag cast to the floor with so much ease one would never have assumed that a mere few hours ago she had been buck naked in a room of people, people including the one gawking at her from the apartment’s kitchenette.

“What… what th’ hell was all that about, Abs?” It feels cringy to use that nickname, something oh so casual and relaxed as if Ellie hadn’t been eye-fucking Abby’s bare cunt for two hours straight.

“Oh that? Nothing really. Someone had put a signup sheet next to the sauna and I thought, ‘What the hell’, you don’t put this much effort into your body without wanting to show it off, just a little.” Abby brought a hand up, tucking her braid that had been resting over her shoulder to her back before turning around and leaning against the wall, broad arms crossed over her wide chest in that infinitely cocky manner that made Ellie’s legs feel like jelly.

Abby snorts, looking Ellie up and down with one corner of her lips curling into a smirk, “What’s the problem? I thought you’d have enjoyed the show, considering the effort you put in to doodling me with clothes on.” If Ellie could curl up inside herself, she would, but all she can do is white knuckle the sink and try to pretend like Abby hasn’t delivered a verbal punch to the gut.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

Abby lets out a tired sigh, shaking her head as she leans up from the wall, each step she took towards Ellie eliciting a seeming electric tingle down her spine until Abby was right beside her.

“Ellie, I’m the only one here who empties the trash, don’t act as if you haven’t already been using me as your muse for the last few months.”

Abby’s lips are mere inches away from Ellie’s ear as she speaks, her voice a hushed whisper that still held such a stranglehold on Ellie.

“I’m flattered, honestly I am. It’s weird but in an endearing sort of way.”

“T-Those were just practice sketches! Y-You’re so fuckin’ big a-and you take up so much space that I don’t have anything else ‘n this shithole to take inspiration from!”

Ellie swings around to stare down Abby, face burning, brows furrowing and the anxiety inside her gut readying to express itself through her tear ducts. But all that greets her is two large palms pressing themselves against her cheeks, squeezing them in equal parts affection and control, Abby’s forehead coming down to rest against Ellie’s as she holds her in place.

“Now-now, I know baby, I’ve been so selfish. You’ve been agonizing over me for so long and I didn’t even notice.”

If it hadn’t been for Abby’s hands on Ellie’s cheeks she would have collapsed to the floor, Abby Anderson calling her “baby”? If this is a dream or hell, even a nightmare, Ellie doesn’t want to wake up.

“That’s why I volunteered Ellie, because I just knew you needed that extra push to finally ask for what you’ve been wanting for so long, am I right?”

A hand that had been cupping Ellie’s cheek had teasingly cruised its way to grip the crook of her neck, holding her head in place as Abby’s smirking lips moved to the side to graze over the lobe of Ellie’s ear.

“It must have made your stomach churn to see me like that, naked for everyone to see. Your little muse

getting gawked at by all your classmates, bet it just made you so jealous, so needy. I’m surprised you didn’t sneak off to the bathroom to rub one out considering how fucking jittery your legs were getting.”

Abby’s words were drenched with some horrific blend of cruel, teasing lust that drove Ellie absolutely wild. She could feel the crotch of her boxers begin to grow damp, her half-lidding as she tried to muster some kind of retort, some kind of come back that would stop Abby in her tracks and keep Ellie from creaming her jeans right there in the middle of their kitchen. She simply couldn’t.

“Need you… need you so fuckin’ bad Abs…”

Ellie wasn’t even shocked at how desperate she sounded. There was no stopping this, she didn’t want this to stop and as Abby obliged, her lips trailing down, over the nape of her neck before giving the trembling little thing a hungry and possessive kiss, suckling hard and loud, every motion intent on pulling a dark purple splotch onto Ellie’s throat.

“Show me then, show me how fuckin’ bad you need me, Ellie.

—

Ellie was prone on her bed at this point, her shirt tussled upwards to reveal her lean torso, the adorably unkempt smattering of body hair rolling from her belly button to just rest alluringly at the waist of her boxer briefs. She was so utterly and completely turned on she could barely make out the silhouette of Abby, looming over her, straddling her hips, thick hand tracing its way up and down Ellie’s bare chest.

“No bra Williams? How masculine… or lazy, I can never really tell with you.”

Abby crescendos her teasing by bringing her thumb and forefinger up to agonizingly pinch and roll the perked bud of one of Ellie’s nipples, the provocation drawing out a low, husky moan from the woman beneath her. Ellie trembles, her arms neatly removed from the equation as Abby’s free hand holds them both by the wrist, pinning them to the bed. All she can do is moan and whine and writhe beneath the Anderson’s body weight, the digits manipulating her nipple soon being replaced by her lips, blue eyes watching Ellie intently as her teeth and tongue raked over her chest.

Ellie was in Hell. Definitely not Heaven. Because in Heaven the intense, aching, leaking folds of her cunt would be granted some relief but no, Abby was intent on drawing this out for as long as possible.

“A-Abby please, please for f-fucks sake… I-I can’t…”

That detached, aloof persona Ellie tried to carry about might as well have been crumpled and dumped into the trash as Abby’s mouth suckled atop her teat, tongue lazily rolling circles over her nipple as Ellie’s weak legs kicked about beneath her, thighs slick and dragging against one another in a desperate attempt to generate the friction Ellie was so desiring.

“Can’t what? Come on, use your words, you’re a big girl. You were so silent during class, all those dirty, filthy, depraved things… you can say them, I want you to say them, Ellie.”

Abby’s words were muffled as her lips busied themselves in gorging on Ellie’s flesh. Sucking, licking, biting every inch she could reach as she raised her head from her chest and down to the tender, sensitive muscle and meat of Ellie’s throat. All those nights of laying on her stomach in bed, head buried into a pillow as she writhed and humped herself stupid against her palm, fingers curling inside her cunt as she bit back moans of Abby’s name were now unraveling and it was better than any of her fantasies. As Abby sunk her teeth back into the nape of Ellie’s neck she groaned, eyes rolling back and her hips bridging up and off the bed almost in an attempt to buck the larger woman off. “Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-FUCK! I-I’ve wanted you since I s-saw you on moving day! P-Please for fucks sake, A-Abby jus’ fuck me already!”

Abby might as well have reached inside of Ellie’s chest and snatched her very soul but instead of an onslaught of hungrier and hungrier kisses, all Ellie could feel was Abby’s weight lifting off her hips, hands freeing themselves from her body. The only thing this sudden loss in contact garnered was a needy whine, Ellie’s eyes fluttering open to behold the sight of Abby standing over her on the bed, hands fiddling with the buckle on her jeans as she smiled down at her. Ellie’s breath hitches as she watches Abby begin to drop her pants down her thighs. Thighs Ellie had spent those two hours lusting over from an uncomfortable artist’s stool and there they were, mere inches away, taunting her, beckoning for her lips and fingers to drag over them only for Abby to harshly rebuke such intent with a quick slap to Ellie’s hand.

“Uh-uh-uh, you’ve been waiting all semester for this, I think a few more seconds isn’t going to kill you.”

Ellie wasn’t so sure of that, if she had to wait just another minute before she could bury her head right into Abby’s crotch she was sure she was going to wither away, die and leave a pent up corpse. And that intense lust-filled gaze was definitely having an affect on Abby, she might not say it, but as her pants were discarded to the side of the bed, the dark, wet patch in the crotch of her panties was enough evidence that she was enjoying herself just as much as Ellie. The way her arousal glistened over her inner thighs was perfect, if Ellie wasn’t so overcome with desire she would have begged Abby to allow her to draw this, but all she can do is reach up to nervously tuck her thumbs under the leg holes, swirling circles with the calloused tips of her digits just near Abby’s swollen, throbbing bud.

Just this is enough to garner a low, guttural groan from her, head craning forward to stare down at the delicious sight of Ellie’s desperate, nervous expression gazing right back up at her.

“Go on… take ‘em off for me.”

Abby’s tone is low, harsh, part command and part plea, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip as Ellie nodded oh-so-eagerly. Ellie’s fingers curled sharply, using every ounce of her remaining self-control to not tear Abby’s panties from her hips and instead politely shuffle them southwards, her chest rising and falling harshly as Abby’s bare crotch was once again revealed to her, only this time it was drooling over her, heat radiating from it in such a lurid way Ellie couldn’t help but lick her lips. Abby shivered at the sight of those dark green pupils darkened with a greedy lust, a lust that had been calling to her the entire time she stood in front of all those straining artists but here, in the domicile of Ellie’s bedroom, the air drenched with allure of sex, it made her feel like God.

As Abby stepped up and out of her panties she half expected Ellie to bury her face into them, debase herself even further as she fell into her grasp, but Ellie has her eyes on the prize, the bundle of nerves throbbing overhead of her, one she so dearly wishes to lavish with her tongue. Ellie’s mouth was curling and contorting with silent, wordless pleas and Abby, as cruel and cocky as can be, just wants to put this poor girl out of her misery. So she shuffles forward, allowing Ellie to snake her lithe arms around her thighs and with a surprising amount of tenderness and compassion she slowly lowers herself, taking a seat mere inches over Ellie’s face. Abby’s chest is heaving now, the tension of the situation even too thick for her to ignore, so instead she greets Ellie by grabbing a fistful of her short brown locks and holding her head in place.

“I’m gonna fuck your face Ellie, I’m going to use your tongue and your lips and that cute little nose and I’m going to fuck you right into the bed, okay?”

Ellie was more than okay. Ellie’s eyes were wide, her mouth hanging slack as her tongue pathetically writhed from her mouth trying to close the distance between her lips and the prize that was sitting right above her.

“Good girl~.”

Abby croons out those last two words before committing to her descent and Ellie finally is allowed the indulgence she’s been thirsting after for God knows how long. The sharp, gasping exhale that shuddered through Abby’s throat echoed throughout Ellie’s room, but Ellie did not care. The only thing on her mind was sinking her lips into those soaked, trembling folds, intent on draining every ounce of that sickly nectar from Abby’s core. She outright moans into Abby’s cunt, eyes clenched shut with determination as her tongue rolled forth, up and down, back and forth over every delicious, leaking inch of flesh that beckoned to her.

Ellie’s fingers tightened against Abby’s, nails driving themselves callously into her taut skin as she craned her neck for leverage as she greedily pushed her tongue forth to glaze against Abby’s inner walls. This sudden intrusion draws out a low moan from Abby’s throat, her head craning downwards to watch as Ellie rutted her face up and between her thighs. It was a divine sight, the way her slick began to smear itself across Ellie’s freckled cheeks, the girl between Abby’s legs showing no sign of stopping as she tongued her way over Abby’s insides.

Ellie’s sloppy eagerness was more than enough to draw out louder and louder groans of pleasure from Abby, the only thing louder than her voice was the squelching of Abby’s juices smearing across Ellie’s greedy lips. Lips that soon found themselves darting upwards to circle around the throbbing bud of Abby’s clit, the sudden lavishing of Ellie’s lips causing Abby to ruthlessly buck her hips down into her face hard. The grip on Ellie’s hair was tight, and it seemed as if Abby was a cowgirl trying to tame a wild stallion and not the writhing groaning pervert beneath her.. Abby lets out a hiss of unrestrained pleasure, arching forward and giving Ellie’s now half-lidded eyes the beautiful show of her toned abdominals flexing and caving in on themselves as Abby rode her face.

Ellie didn’t even need Abby to touch her right now, her boxers so soaked that it was if she had taken a shower in them, her thighs so slick and the tension in her core so tight all she could do was bury her face forward, nose jamming right into Abby’s hips and her fingers death-gripping those tensing thighs on either side of her head, entrapping her in stereo and not letting Ellie’s mouth receive any sort of respite. Not that Ellie wanted that right now, the apartment could be on fire, the world could be ending, and none of that would be as important as driving Abby over the edge alongside her the visceral knot of tension in both their cores pulled so tight, the edge of this cliff of pleasure clawing its way closer and closer with each wet, sloppy movement of Ellie’s tongue over Abby’s bud.

“A-Ah fuckin’ hell E-Ellie… t-that’s it… that’s fuckin’ it!”

Whatever minuscule amount of restraint Abby had possessed had at this point completely left her body, too debased and riding the high (and Ellie’s face) of that contorting arrangement of muscle that was Ellie’s tongue diving so deep inside of it. Her hand hadn’t left Ellie’s head this entire time, not that the other girl needed to be held in place, no this was somehow the most natural of positions for her to be in, but Abby’s other hand had busied itself, riding up and under her tank-top so she could grope her chest, squeezing at the fat and muscle of her breasts in time with each of Ellie’s wet, slovenly kisses to her core.

Abby’s stuttering demands were music to Ellie’s ears, even as Abby’s thick thighs acted as quite an efficient pair of mufflers. She wanted nothing more than for the both of them to tip over the edge together, for the sheer pressure of her tongue to become so unrelenting that Abby broke apart atop her and in that moment she could finally get the release she’s been craving since she first laid eyes on her. The only thing louder than perhaps Abby’s incessant panting was the creaking of Ellie’s wafer thin mattress as the girl on top thrashed her hips down to meet Ellie’s soaked lips until it became all too much for her.

The fist in Ellie’s hair verged on yanking a chunk out of the poor girl’s scalp as Abby slammed her hips down, her orgasming rocketing through her, body tingling from head to toe as she gritted her teeth, jaw clenched tight as she proceeded to squirt directly onto Ellie’s face, not that it really made much of a difference considering how much slick and saliva had already smeared itself over her freckled cheeks. It was heavenly, Ellie gulping as much of Abby’s white, creamy slick as she could as the rest smeared itself over her gaping mouth.

A mouth agape because the sheer sensation of Abby’s quivering, clenching sex above her was enough to drive the poor, pathetic, little thing to her own climax. Legs spasming and twisting around one another, partially because in Abby’s blissed out state she had proceeded to rest all her weight atop Ellie’s head directly and because she knew the amount of cum spreading over the legs of her boxers had made the pair so sticky it was as if she had run a marathon in them (No amount of cycles in the washing machine was going to undo the pure unadulterated sin these undergarments had just been through…).

Abby would have remained in her seated position for as long as it would take for her breathing to return to normal and lungs to regain some of their capacity if not for the slightly muffled plea that came from beneath her, alerting her that in spite of everything Ellie also needed to breathe. Abby clambered off her, collapsing onto the bed right by Ellie’s side as the two women stared up to the ceiling, their chests rising and falling in unison as the sparks and spots in their vision slowly began to return to them. It was Ellie that broke the stillness of their post-coital exhaustion, a trembling hand that had previously been clutching at Abby’s thighs reaching out to lay atop of her’s.

A breathless chuckle escapes Abby’s lips, hand rolling to the side so their fingers can intertwine. Ellie’s head lazily lolls to the side, the darkness of her room perfectly illuminating the soft green tint of her pupils as she stares across at Abby like a puppy looking at its owner.

“When… when’s your next modelling session?”

Abby’s hand squeezes down tightly on Ellie’s as she cranes her head over to face her.

“Not for another week I’m afraid.”

“I don’t think I can wait that long…”

Ellie’s rendered breathless once again as Abby shuffles over, lips pressing a possessive kiss to her throat before she mumbles, “Well… I promise I won’t make you wait that long.”

#the last of us #tlou #the last of us part 2 #tlou2 #ellie williams #abby anderson #ellie x abby #ellabs #ellie williams smut #abby anderson smut

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pedge-page · 10 months ago

Note

You know how Romana recently did a fic where guarddog!Joel met puppy!reader? Would you ever do a little drabble where himbo!Joel meets plushie!reader? 🥹💖

I love Guard!Dog and PuppyReader from @romana-after-dark !!!! And I know exactly what you are talking about (because I may have been the anon who requested it 🫢.)

Here we go!

Plush-Bo: Himbo!Joel x Plushies!Reader Crossover

Warnings: im writing this at work on my phone and mentally cannot compute. There's sex. Inappropriate stuff. Language. MOMMY. Plushies. Oral. The weird ass freaky shit you expect from me.

Notes: Everything is written in 3rd person to not confuse reader!characters. plushies!Reader, Himbo!Joel/Himbo, plushies!Joel, and Mommy/Himbo Joel's reader.

18+ ONLY

- - - -

Himbo!Joel would be rutting into her like a rabbit In heat. Exactly how Plushies!Reader likes it, the horny little fucks they are.

"Mommy," he gasps, his voice wrecked. "Mommy Shes so...so s-soft--uuggghhaaaahhhh!" He buries his face into plushies!reader hair to cover his groan.

Pleasure fills his stomach, twisting in ways he's not quite used to. Having something so so so incredible sweet, cottony and pliant, from the scent of her shampoo to the silken draw of her skin. Stuffed animals toppling all over only further the stimulation. Soft,soft,soft, all of her softness tickles his brain in just the right way to have him pounding her sopping pussy deep, flush into the matress with no intuition to slow down.

"Yeah? You like soft things?" Himbo's Mommy coos, stroking his sweaty locks that are covering his beautiful eyes from all that exercise.

He hums with a shy nod. "Not as much as Mommy's pussy--!"

She laugh. "Its okay, it's okay to like other things. Especially something as soft as this." She glides her knuckles across plushies!reader skin, admiring the glow. Especially how himbo!Joel doesn't know what to do with all that softness. All delicate to the touch, when he likes to get his nails in and mark up his Mommy, unintentionally of course. He can't hold back most times. But this? Its laughable how much he just doesn't know what to do with himself except fuck like it's his only directive in life.

Plushies!Reader can barely see straight. Though her Joel is a rough fuck, he's pretty calculated about his sex. But this? Himbo is driving into her at such an incessant, sloppy, high energy rate that her vision is blurring in the back of her skill. She's unable to do anything but drool and moan into the sheets.

It's shocking when he finally howls he's gonna cum, despite plushies!reader had already done so 12 times.

"I-inside!" she squeaks from below. His hands are etched into her pretty hips with his body draped over , low hanging tummy smashed against the curve of her back.

"I-ca-cant" he huffs, managing to pull free of her sweet, dripping pussy. He grips the base of his cock harshly to edge himself. "My cum is only for Mommy." He smirks over to her. "We're gonna breed and have another baby soon."

"How adorable!" Plushies gal beams, catching her breath and hugging her stuffed badger in her arms to cool her heart rate. "Joel. When are you gonna put a baby in me?"

Plushies!Joel wipes the precum from his leaking cock on his jeans. "When ya get on that teddy and show me what a good breeding slut you can be."

Plushies!Reader guides Himbo!Joel excitedly to show off her giant Teddy Plushie. She knows a humper when she sees one. Despite the tough activity, both of them are immediately ready for more cums.

Mounting Teddy's Face with her messy cunt, Himbo!Joel straddles it's lower belly. He whimpers when he cock is suffocated by a wave of cottony fluff.

"Isn't he nice?" She hums, rolling her hips into the button nose of Teddy. She gasps, doing it again to catch her Plushies!Joel ramping up his pervertedness and jerking off to the scene before him.

Himbo!Joel nods, wide eyed and smiling below. God. Everything in this ROOM is soft and cuddly and humpable and...

Plushies!gal giggles and leans forward to kiss Himbo, and the two of them start rocking with spread legs on the shared Bear.

Himbo Joel hesitates for a moment, looking back towards his lady.

She nods encouragingly. "Go ahead! Have fun with your new toy. Mommy's pussy will be here when you need it."

He nods, tossing all worry out the window and fucking his cock against the Bear's crotch. Himbo can't help but sniff the remnants of Plushie!readers remnants pussy juices that seemed to have permanently permeated the stuffed Teddy's fluff. His balls ache: sooooooo much softness he wants to make even prettier with his seed.

Eventually the two of them fall forward in a heap of panting, griding messes. With their cheek smashed into Teddy's chest, arms wrapped desperately around it's thick body, they sloppily make our between breaths. Tightly drawn brows and sounds of endless cumming fills the walls of the Plushies room.

Mommy and Plushies!Joel sit back and watch their little horny babies have at it together.

Himbo!Joel cums, splattered and sticky between his and Teddy's Belly. He gasps when Plushie! reader leans forward with her tongue out, happily lapping at the creamy mess off Teddy's fur and then from Joel's slightly hairy tummy. He groans, covering his mouth and watching her work contently. So used to cleaning up his own mess from Mommy, he doesn't know how to react when someone else cleans his mess for him. It's OK if she's just eating his cum right? She won't get pregnant from that. Only Mommy can get pregnant from his precious cum. This is okay.

When Himbo Joel and Plushies reader are spent, they curling up against one another surrounded by her stuffies, steadily breathing in each breath and sleeping after an exhausting but fun day.

Mommy!reader quietly finishes swallowing Plushies!Joel's load from the corner of the room. He sighs heavily, closing his eyes in bliss.

"Got your dog on a pretty loose leash, huh Mommy?" He teases.

Like clockwork, the two of them switch places, with Joel on his knees in front of her spread legs. He wastes no time sucking her pearly clit, tongue darking between her folds.

"He's defensive. Probably would break your jaw right now if he saw."

Joel shrugs, kissing the inside of her thigh.

She twirls his hair between her fingers as he gets to work, staring at the bed. "She's pretty, though."

She feels him grin proudly between her pussy lips. "She is."

.While her Himbo!Joel isnt very skilled, he makes up for it in eagerness. Plushies!Joel on the other hand knows how to draw things out, speed it up, edge and push you over exactly when he desires it. She cums hard, shaking on his expert tongue.

He sucks the juices off his fingers and gestures towards the bed, where Himbo!Joel and Plushies!Reader snuggle in their warm nest.

"I wouldn't mind a play date again with them."

"I think that would be great for them."

- - - -

@harriedandharassed @lola8888673 @its-nebuleuse @zliteraturehoe @merz-8 @joeldjarin @pascalscoffin @pedroshotwifey @ghostslillady @innerpersonunknown @missladym1981 @mrsoharaxx @survivingandenduring @milla-frenchy @cockykookiee @fairytale07 @daddy-din @pedropascalsbbg @spookyxsam @somehopeatlast @millercontracting @pedrostories @mishala005 @theoraekenslover @animez96 @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog @puduvallee @cassiecasluciluce @loohoop @himboelover @callsignwidow @wintersquirrel

#joel miller fan fiction #joel miller x reader #pedro pascal smut #joel miller x you #joel miller fanfiction #last of us fanfiction #joel miller smut #joel miller fic #last of us smut #the last of us fanfiction #joel miller fan fic #tlou smut #tlou fanfiction #tlou fic #last of us fic #the last of us smut #the last of us fic #plushies!Joel #himbo!Joel

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mothandpidgeon · 10 months ago

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The Outlaws (outlaw!Joel Miller x f!reader) - Chapter 4

Moth's Masterlist - follow @mothandpidgeon-updates an turn on notifications so stay updated with my fics!

SERIES MASTERLIST

pairing: Outlaw!Joel Miller x f!reader

rating: E (18+ MDNI)

wc: 3.2k

summary: Wanted for murder with a bounty on your head, your only hope of escaping the Pinkerton detectives is an outlaw named Joel Miller and his sidekick Ellie. But Joel has other plans for you.

tags: old west au, enemies to lovers, grumpy Joel, handcuffed together, only one bed, Tommy and Maria, morally grey characters, reader has backstory, masturbation, hand job, spitting, the Confederacy?, moth never uses y/n

authors note: I'm very happy to be coming back to these two after a long break. I have the rest of this fic outlined so maybe there will be more soon? Big big thanks for @moonlitbirdie and @schnarfer for betaing and letting me yap about this way more than is necessary. And thank you to YOU for reading. If you're enjoying it, I'd love to hear from you because I know this isn't super popular but it's my favorite.

Joel barely sleeps that night.

The two of you manage not to cuddle up in the small bed but the chain between you means you move in tandem. Every so often, you pull Joel’s wrist towards you, inviting his fingers to brush your plush thighs. When he pulls back and your arm is yanked in his direction, you roll over with a sleepy moan and his mind is sent reeling.

You’re doing it purposely, he’s sure of it, trying to get a rise out of him even as you sleep. Well, you’ve succeeded, he supposes. The sun begins to illuminate the room in the early hours of the morning and he’s painfully hard.

He hasn’t been with a woman since Tess. With Ellie in tow, there’s no opportunity to visit the brothels in Jackson. He knows he wouldn’t even if he were on his own. A man like him doesn’t deserve such luxuries as pleasure.

He punches his pillow for the hundredth time then tugs on his hair until the roots sting. Sleep eludes him as he spends half the night with one eye open, the other half badgered by dreams— your eyes, the weight of you against him, that little strip tease you gave him. Joel palms at the stiff bulge over the wooly fabric of his union suit. He resents you for driving him to it. The combination of the insistent need and his frustration has his mind racing with lewd fantasies, all the ways he’d ruin you. On your knees putting that mouth to good use. He wants you to fight, to claw at him and pound your fists against his chest. Wants you to call him a rotten bastard as he spears into you with his cock.

You’re still snoring beside him but he glances in your direction to make sure you’re still deep asleep. The sight that greets him has him throbbing. The thin light of dawn touches your skin, highlighting the crests of your curves. Arranged as you are, the neckline of your chemise gapes away from your chest revealing your breast and pebbled nipple. His breath catches, hand reflexively squeezing at his length.

He doesn’t dare to breathe again until he’s freed himself from his underclothes and spit into his fist. His lower belly tightens as he works at his cock with careful strokes. It's torturously slow but if he moves faster, he might rattle the chain and wake you. The teasing pulls are enough, though. He doesn’t need much more than that with the desperation he’s endured all night.

He fists his other hand in the sheets, willing it not to cup your breast. It’s so tantalizingly close he can practically feel the warmth coming off of your skin. Instead, he closes his eyes and imagines the feel of it— the supple give of your flesh, the bud of your nipple.

The pace of his strokes increases as he sinks deeper into the fantasy. Raking your delicate skin with his teeth, sucking on your neck. Leaving marks. Giving you no mercy like the brute he is.

Just as he’s beginning to twitch, thighs trembling, his wrist is snapped away. He snarls at the loss of pressure, the slap of his leaking cock against his belly as it springs from his grasp. His eyes snap open and you’re there, the chain in your grip, holding him at bay.

He stares at you in shock, his face flushing with shame and fear. It’s bad enough to be caught, quite literally, with his dick in his hand, but this is a decidedly vulnerable position. There’s no telling what you’ll do to get your freedom. Frozen, Joel waits for you to make a move, cursing himself for letting his desire get the best of him.

You study him with an inscrutable expression. Amusement ticks at the corner of your lips but your pupils are blown wide and your chest moves with shallow breaths. You keep the chain pulled tight but the fingers of your other hand close around his cock. It jumps as he hisses at your touch. You squeeze and give a stroke so long and slow, it forces all the air from Joel’s lungs.The sight of the tip of your tongue darting over your bottom lip nearly breaks him and then you release a thick froth of spit. It rolls down his length, warm and slick, pooling at your fist, an obscene vision.

He tells himself he’s powerless, trapped by the chain and pinned down by your stare, but he doesn’t want you to stop. It’s too good to fight. He melts under your touch, his eyes falling shut as you work at him.

You’re silent the entire time, the room quiet save for his sharp breaths and the sound of flesh against slick flesh. His helpless hand clenches into a fist as you coil him into madness, the bite of the cuff around his wrist an exquisite pain.

It builds quickly to an explosion of need and bliss as violent as a gunshot. His hips jump and toes curl and you keep milking him until he’s completely spent.

Regaining his breath, Joel opens his eyes to find he’s coated your hand with his spend. The sight, a salacious mark on you, makes his softening length twinge. You lean forward, a smug smile on your lips.

“You still gonna turn me over to the sheriff?” you taunt.

Your tongue runs over the length of your index finger, swiping up the pearlescent release. Joel fights to keep a groan contained.

“You gonna let me hang?”

You put your middle finger between your lips and hollow your cheeks as you suck. The wet squelch of your swallow makes him dizzy. Intrigued by your unabashed filth, he fights an urge to kiss you, to taste himself in your mouth and claim even more of you but the haze begins to lift.

He remembers himself, realizes where he is and why he’s here in bed with you, that he’s let you get the upper hand. Suddenly, you feel too close. The room is too small, the smell of lavender choking him. He pulls his wrist back into his chest and sits up, turning away. You scoff quietly as he fixes the buttons on his underclothes.

You’re all contradictions. Sharp tongue, soft curves. Quick witted, patiently waiting for your chance to bolt. Infuriating, intoxicating. You’re not afraid of him, either. Most people are. Even grown men shake in their boots around him. It throws Joel kilter.

He glances back in your direction, to see you wiping the remnants of him onto the bed sheet. Guilt and disgust tangle in his chest. He’s denied himself for so long, only to lose his senses over a pretty girl. One that’s all too happy to make him squirm, to use his desire against him.

He has to get out of this room before the walls close in on him.

The first floor of The Boot smells like bacon and coffee. In the parlor, the passengers of the stage coach finish their meal, nothing but biscuit crumbs left on their plates. Tommy carries a copper kettle to the table Ellie’s claimed as she wipes sleep from her eyes.

“I’m so hungry I could eat a whole stack of flapjacks,” you say, seating yourself beside her on the bench. “How ‘bout you?”

Joel ignores you, looking everywhere but your direction.

“I’m always hungry,” Ellie tells you, already clutching her knife and fork in her fists.

“No flapjacks but we got eggs,” Tommy says.

“How about that,” you say. “I got woken up by an old rooster.”

Joel grinds his molars. He can feel you radiating with glee across the table.

”That right?” Tommy asks. He’s got a confused half-smile on his face. “I didn’t hear him.”

When the food is served, you take each bite of food into your mouth slowly, wrapping your lips around your fork suggestively and moaning at the taste. All the while, you keep your eyes on Joel. It’s an absolutely silly little performance and yet it makes the back of his neck hot. His mind conjures up the way you licked your fingers clean of him and he’s practically throbbing again.

He stands up while he still can.

“Keep your eye on her,” he instructs Ellie and shuffles off across the room to where Tommy wipes down the stage party’s abandoned table.

“So, what? You’re a bounty hunter now?” Tommy asks. He puts an enamel mug in front of his brother and pours him a fresh cup of coffee.

“Course not,” Joel says, watching the dark liquid. Coffee always gets him back to rights.

“Then what’re you doing with her?” Tommy nods towards you.

Joel can’t help but follow his gaze and finds that you’re looking right at him. Your eyes strike him, one brow arched, and it feels like you’ve caught him all over again. He pulls his eyes away as quickly as he can.

“Making ten thousand dollars,” Joel says. He’s not sure why it sounds like he’s lying but it does.“Place is shaping up nice,” he changes the subject. He looks around the room, trying to make the ratty armchair and rusty spittoon feel as captivating as your face.

“Yeah. Think it is. The stairs could use a little work and the roof was leaking something awful when the rain came through. But we’re getting on,” Tommy explains. Pride beams from his face.

Joel never blamed his brother for leaving the life but that didn’t mean he thought it would end well. He looked after Tommy most of his life in one way or another– after their father died, giving him a job on the ranch. He’d even tried to talk him out of joining up and going off to war. Tommy was hardworking and strong and genuine. One thing he wasn’t– independent.

That’s why he’d gone along with Joel when he turned to crime. It had started out of desperation. Joel needed money and he needed it fast. But then he’d lost everything– his home, his livelihood, Sarah. It didn’t feel like there was much point in doing anything other than stealing. He didn’t give a damn about the money, would rather set a match to it before he let those train men have a cent.

They’d been good at robbing trains and stagecoaches. The two of them had stashed away enough that Joel could’ve bought two ranches by now but he didn’t see the point in settling down now that he was alone.

Joel figured it was just a matter of time before Tommy came back to him but he’d made a nice little life for himself. He’d never say that out loud, give Tommy a big head, but, begrudgingly he’s happy for him.

“Listen, I ain’t just here for your hospitality. I’ve got something I’m working on,” Joel says, shifting his weight awkwardly.

Tommy’s smile fades.

“C’mon. Don’t ask me to do that,” he says.

Joel sighs.

“I’ve told you. I don’t want to do anymore robbing and stealing.”

“Look I ain’t asking you to do anything but listen,” he says.

Tommy shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

“It’s Cartwright,” Joel tells him. The name makes his chest ache, his mouth coated with bitterness at the words. He’s forced to envision the face the man that he hates. The only other time he feels as much disgust is when he’s looking in a mirror.

His brother’s lips part and he exhales slowly, the meaning of Joel’s words hitting him heavily. Joel’s wasn’t the only life rocked by David Cartwright. “You sure?”

Joel nods. Tommy drags a hand over his mouth and Joel can see that his mind is racing.

“Alright,” he finally says in a hushed tone. “Not now. Maria’ll be doing laundry tomorrow. She’ll be out back all day. We’ll talk then.”

It’s too difficult to thank Tommy with the lump that’s formed in his throat so he gives a curt nod. He tries to erase Cartwright’s image from his mind but all he sees is Sarah and it cut even deeper.

Ellie scrapes the remnants of Joel’s breakfast onto her own plate.

She and Joel make an odd pair. For all of Joel’s stoicism, Ellie’s a firebrand, full of energy and enthusiasm. Considering the way he grumbles at just about every word that comes out of your mouth, why he chooses to keep this kid around is a mystery.

He’s not entirely obscure, though. He’s just a man when it comes down to it. You crack a smile at the memory of him crumbling beneath your touch.

You’ve done worse for lesser rewards. Life’s been about survival for you, doing what you needed to to get by. Men, oftentimes, were the easiest way to get those things.

You’d awoken to the sound of Joel’s jagged breaths, the soft clinking of the iron chain. You knew he was thinking about you as he fisted his cock. You’d seen that hungry look in his eye as you undressed for him.

This was your chance to grab him by the balls and demand your freedom but waking up after being surrounded by him, the musky scent and his big arms cradling you all night, your curiosity got the best of you. He’d become a man rendered wild. Neck taught, teeth bared, nostrils flaring. Completely unaware of anything but his own pleasure. You needed to know what it would look like when he fell apart.

What you hadn’t expected was how it would change him. How it smoothed the lines in his forehead when he finished. And you had no idea that the choked sound he made would wash you with heat. You didn’t think you’d be pressing your thighs together. That hadn’t happened before.

“So what did you do to get that bounty? I won’t tell him,” Ellie says.

You tear your thoughts away from that morning. It’s not helping your cause getting all hot and bothered for your captor.

“Welp, my brother stole a hundred dollars from me. So I killed him,” you tell her.

“That’s bullshit,” she says.

You smile. She’s a smart kid and she’s got a mouth on her. Reminds you a bit of yourself back in the day. Except, of course, you were busy batting your eyes at boys. You got into your fair share of trouble but that was amateur compared to what Ellie’s accomplished.

She’s a kindred spirit so you’d like to tell her. Problem is, it hurts too much. And you don't think you can adequately describe just how green Nell’s eyes were. And if she doesn’t know that, then how could the rest of it make any sense?

“Listen,” you offer, “how’s about I tell you if you’ll tell me something?”

She nods eagerly.

You look at Joel, deep in conversation with his brother. He’s well out of earshot and preoccupied. You lean forward on the table, eyes sliding to Ellie.

“Who’s Sarah?” you ask.

You’ve been wondering about her. She must be something special if she haunts Joel’s dreams and that might give you some clue to what makes him tick.

Ellie’s face changes. Her eyes dart over to him and then away. The past three days she’s filled every moment with chatter and suddenly she’s tongue tied.

“Joel doesn’t like to talk about her,” she says.

You don’t say anything, just give her silence to fill with an answer. Her lips twist, brow knit in thought. You’ve got ideas about who this Sarah might be. A lover, a wife. You’re dying to know if you’re on the mark. Ellie swallows and you think she’s just about ready to tell you.

“I could use your help in the kitchen,” you hear Maria say. You’re in such focused suspense it’s as if she’s appeared as if out of thin air.

You almost swear aloud but you plaster a big smile on your face while you think about throttling Maria for snatching this delicate moment away.

“Why certainly,” you say. You stand from your seat. As much as you want to unlock the mysteries of Joel Miller, getting out of this parlor and into Maria’s good graces is probably an easier route to escape.

“I’m watching her,” Ellie announces.

Maria sighs at Ellie. “Then you can come too. ‘Bout time you lend a hand here.”

The only kitchen work Maria entrusts to you is doing the washing up. When you said you knew how to cook, that wasn’t entirely true. Nell taught you how to cook one or two dishes but you’d never been practiced in the kitchen. Dishes, though, you’ve had plenty of experience with.

Ellie sits on a table, legs wide as she peels potatoes with her knife, sighing periodically so that everyone knows she’s bored. Maria ignores this and hums to herself as she chops carrots.

She’s wearing a simple brooch at her collar, a golden hoop embossed with flowers. It reminds you of another brooch, the emerald one you stole out of Mrs. Coxcombe’s jewelry box. You try to recall Nell’s face when you presented it to her. She’d laughed and said “You’re bold as brass,” and the words danced in her pretty accent. That’s when you realized the stone really didn’t shimmer the same as her eyes.

It’s hard to remember her the way she was before that last time, when she looked at you with horror and disgust. That’s all you see anymore. You pull yourself from the thought before it stings.

“Now, Miss Maria, I’m mighty curious how a genteel lady such as yourself ended up married to a member of an outlaw gang,” you say, dunking one of the breakfast plates into the hot water.

Ellie guffaws when you refer to Maria as ‘genteel.’ Maybe you’re laying it on a little thick.

“Now I can understand,” you continue. “He’s a good looker. But you strike me as sensible enough not to get swept off your feet by a pretty face.”

Maria smiles softly.

“He’s a good man,” she says, pushing the onions aside and starting on a big, orange yam. “He’s loyal and brave. And he makes me laugh. He’s just been a little misled.”

Ellie scoffs angrily.

“Joel never made him do anything,” she says. “I would know.”

Maria sighs. “Joel’s his older brother. Tommy looks up to him.”

“Did Joel make him join up with the rebels?” Ellie snipes.

Your eyebrows raise. With his affable smile, it’s hard to imagine Tommy as a soldier let alone in a Confederate uniform.

“Don’t that make the two of you even more peculiar,” you say.

Maria schools her expression and wipes her hands on her linen apron.

“Tommy’s made mistakes in his time,” she says evenly. “When you get older, you begin to have regrets.”

You have a feeling these two have clashed over this before— Ellie with the sweet arrogance of youth, Maria understanding all the shades of gray the world presents. Their little squabble doesn’t really interest you. You keep them sniping at each other as you take a fork out of the wash basin’s murky water. The two of them are so busy with their argument, neither notice you drop it to the floor and tuck it under your skirts.

”We’ve all made mistakes,” you say. “I’ve made plenty myself. But we all deserve a second chance, don’t we?”

It seems neither of them can argue with that. Ellie tilts her head to the side, allowing her agreement. Maria nods along sagely.

You’ve gone through a hundred second chances but right now, you just need one more.

Chapter 5

Thanks for reading! My asks are always open!

#joel miller #joel miller x f!reader #outlaw!joel miller #outlaw!joel miller x f! reader #old west au #ellie #tlou fic #tlou #the last of us fic #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fic

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amber-tortoiseshell · 7 months ago

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Phylogenetic weasel tournament

Subfamily winners

Mustelids are divided into eight subfamilies. The structure of this tournament means all of them has a clear winner.

Lutrinae (otters, 13 species)

Sea otter

photo by David McGowen

Mustelinae (ferrets/polecats and "true" weasels, 20 species)

Least weasel

photo by Ger Bosma

Ictonychinae (grisons and striped polecats/weasels, 7 species)

Marbled polecat

photo by catnip254

Helictidinae (ferret-badgers, 6 species)

Javan ferret-badger

photo by Joel Sartore

Guloninae (martens and wolverine, taira, fisher, 11 species)

Sable

Photo by Roofoff

Melinae (badgers, 6 species)

European badger

photo by Jaroslav Frank

Mellivorinae (honey badger, 1 species)

Honey badger

photographer source unknown

Taxidiinae (american badger, 1 species)

American badger

photo by George Sanker

#phylogenetic weasel tournament #sea otter #least weasel #marbled polecat #javan ferret-badger #sable #european badger #honey badger #american badger

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absolutewhore101 · 1 year ago

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Tolerate It - Chapter 1

A/N: wow okay so it's been... several months since i've written anything, so please be gentle with me on this one. this is based on taylor swift's song 'tolerate it,' hope you enjoy

Pairing: Joel Miller x ImpliedFem!Reader

Summary: Listen to 'Tolerate It' by Taylor Swift

Warnings: poorly written angst

Word Count: 1.2K

Chapter 2

MINORS DNI

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You watched Joel from across the small living room. Watched the way he kept his eyes on the page, head hung low, even when he knew you were staring at him, silently begging him to look back at you. He seemed to do that more often lately, you thought, act like you weren’t in the room.

On the rare occasion that you’d wake up in the morning before Joel, you’d take the time to just watch him. You took in his face free of any worry or anger - something you saw a lot of recently. You just laid there, tracing the lines of his face, knowing that he was awake. He didn’t respond to your touch anymore. No more catching of your wrist or small smile to let you know he was awake. He’d only get out of bed when he heard your soft sigh as you left the room.

Watching him seemed like the only thing you could do lately. From across the living room, through the window, on opposite sides of the bar - watching as he never once looked back at you. Watching him as he seemed to forget that he had someone to go home to, talking to the girl at the bar that frequented your thoughts.

The age gap had never been a problem before. Not when you first met, not when you first got together, and certainly not when you’d arrived in Jackson. But something shifted. Maybe it was the sense of normalcy that Jackson provided - perhaps Joel felt that the age gap was inappropriate in a society like that.

And when you overheard Joel express it to Tommy, you just nodded your head. You figured that it was just a phase - that he simply had more experience in life to know what was best for your relationship. He had never seemed that much older to you, but he had certainly seemed wiser.

Whenever Joel went on runs, you’d spend the time anxiously waiting for him to get home - pacing in front of the door, badgering Tommy for updates, trying to keep yourself busy with Ellie - anything. These were the moments you most felt like a child, waiting for him to get home, knowing he probably hadn’t thought of you once the front door closed. But you waited anyway.

And when he came home, you made sure he knew just how much you missed him. You’d throw yourself into his arms, not paying attention to how they seemed to loosen every time.

“If I painted a picture of you,” you whispered one night, “I’d make sure to use my best colors. Only the good ones.” Joel had been facing the other way from you, finding it too painful to act like he still loved you as much as he used to, and fell asleep to your admiration.

—

The next time Joel came home from a run, he wasn’t immediately welcomed at the door like he usually was. He assumed that you’d finally caught on to his well-kept feelings - that you knew you deserved better than a man who didn’t love you anymore - only to walk into the kitchen and see a full meal already prepared. You’d brought out the “fine china,” as you liked to call it - the only plates without any chips or cracks within them.

“Hi, baby,” you said, walking over to greet him. “Thought we’d use the fancy shit tonight.”

He only nodded, toeing off his shoes and leaving the room without a word.

Was it all in your head, the way he treated you? It hadn’t always been like this, that much you were sure of. You knew it would be best to just ask him, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. Part of you already knew the answer - that you didn’t make him feel like you used to, and that he’d found someone who did.

But you were wrong. You had to be wrong.

But wasn’t your love enough, even if he no longer felt the same? Wasn’t that something worth celebrating?

—

“Joel’s back!” Ellie excitedly yelled from the living room. He’d been out on patrol for nearly 3 weeks at that point, having to go a little farther than usual, and the waiting was killing you.

You ran outside right after Ellie, following her into town where Joel was greeting Tommy. She stopped a few feet away when she saw Joel spot you, assuming he’d want to see you first.

You threw yourself into his arms, crying into his shoulder, feeling him tense beneath you. When once his arms would wrap tightly around your waist, his hands simply laid on your hips, halfway pushing you away. You pulled back, not meeting his eyes, and stepped to the side.

Ellie went next, running up to Joel and wrapping herself around his torso. His arms eagerly wrapped around her shoulders, smiling as she held onto him. He leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head, and you had to look away.

Tommy laid a hand on your shoulder, eyes on Joel as he walked past you.

You turned to walk back home, hoping Joel would stop you or pull you back, but you were met with nothing - no calling of your name or hand on your arm, just a lonely walk back to an empty house.

—

The sun had set hours ago, Ellie was sound asleep in bed, and Joel was nowhere to be found. He told you he was going to the bar, and that was that. No room for argument or protest. And you’d stopped trying.

You sat upstairs in your bedroom, watching out the window that faced into town. Watched as Joel walked hand in hand with a woman you recognized but couldn’t name down the center of the street. Watched as he brought her in for a kiss, arms wrapped around her waist like they once were yours.

Then you watched as a kid you hadn’t seen before ran up to the two of them, slotting himself between them as he looked up at Joel. He reached down, ruffling his hair as he talked to him, clearly familiar with this routine.

He’d been building this whole world for himself, and where had you been? Had he done it with you watching? From across the room, or through the window, or at the bar?

Where was the man you met just a few years ago, who took you and made you feel loved? Who acknowledged every sharp part of you and held you regardless?

You’d worshiped him, once. Put up on a pedestal so high you thought he’d never come down - that the fall would hurt too much.

And you were right. Where he seemed to survive the drop, it nearly killed you. All you could do now was ask for him to meet your eyes, to notice you, hell, you’d even take a simple “hello” when he walked through the door.

You thought about it, sometimes, leaving him. What would he do? You could break free of him, leave the remains of your relationship behind, finally ripping the knife he’d put in your back out.

You knew you could do it.

But all you did was sit and watch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tell me your thoughts! Thank you for reading :)

#joel miller #pedro pascal #the last of us #tlou #joel miller x reader #x reader #tlou x reader #tommy miller #ellie williams #pedro pascal x reader #taylor swift title series #Spotify

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badgerclawsaresharp · 7 months ago

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cobbled deepslate mvp

#i have Only seen joels episode #wild life smp #wild life spoilers #traffic smp #badger post

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emisprocrastinatingbywriting · 1 year ago

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Alone and Forsaken

Chapter 10 Summary:

Joel's body has become depleted from countless bouts of torture and violence. His fellow prisoner tries to encourage him but the situation continues to deteriorate until he meets someone new in the arena. Meanwhile, the bodies have been piling up as you hunt for Joel. After witnessing a familiar face being beaten to a bloody pulp, will you risk your life to save them or focus on your own problems?

Warnings: Past Trauma, Violence Inflicted on and by Joel and Reader, Threats, Angst, Joel Needs a FAT Hug, Paul Needs to Die, Mention of SA (not on reader or Joel), Cooper also probably needs a hug, Joel misses reader and reader is completely feral.

A/N:

Welcome back y'all. I said I was going to be dropping soon and I meant that shit!

This chapter has a lot of violence towards literally all of the characters we love dearly (sorry lol). Additionally, Joel gets a look in a darker side of the camp. This side of the camp is v gross, the implication being that omegas are SA-ed there. If this is a trigger for you, stay away friend! Keep yourself safe and maybe check in the chapters to come, or message me and I can spark-notes it for ya. As always, keep yourselves safe.

Chapter 10/20

Chapter 9: The Oaf, The Matriarch & The Reunion

Joel didn’t know how many days had passed in this hellhole. Every moment blurred together in an endless cycle of cruelty and pain. His body was depleted, starved despite the small bits of food that Jake shared and bullied him into eating. Joel tried to refuse but the younger man was persistent and badgered him until he finally relented. He slept at times but it was never peaceful for long with the guards coming to drag him back to the arena every time he managed to get comfortable.

Three times they had thrown him down that hole and three times he had escaped by the skin of his teeth. Joel wasn’t sure if a fourth time was in his wheelhouse. He was too old and too tired to keep getting tossed around. After he had ripped through most of their prisoners in the first two rounds, the last time he had been faced with nothing but riled up clickers. That trip was too close. One had almost got him but Joel barely managed to slip out of its grasp.

If they took him down there again, if Joel was forced into another round of mindless violence, he couldn’t survive it. Not with the way his back was blackened from the harsh landings. His knuckles were busted from the constant fighting and bled anytime he moved a finger. Not to mention the fact that his pulsing headache had slowly shifted into an ear splitting migraine that warped the corners of his vision.

Worst of all was the isolation. Jake was right across from him and Cooper came every so often but their presence didn’t help. Isolation had been nothing to him at one point in life but it now grated on him. It wasn’t just anyone his heart called for, it was you. He had heard in some health class long ago that a bond between mates linked people together forever. If the bonded pair were to ever part, it would send both parties into a spiral.

Joel remembered how he had scoffed at that, making all of his friends around him crack up as the teacher turned from her place at the board to scold him. The notion that a grown man needed anyone other than himself seemed absolutely ridiculous at the time but as he sat alone in his cell, he understood it to be true. He was past the point of desperation, allowing himself to become cloaked in gloom. It felt like all of the safety pins that had held him together for years were being pulled out one by one as time passed.

The omega across from Joel sensed it, as did his mate. Or maybe they smelled the putrid stench wafting from his pores. The stench of an alpha separated from his mate was unmistakable and it overpowered any other smell in the room. They tried to encourage him, or at least Jake did. Mostly Cooper just avoided eye contact and gave him an awkward thumbs up anytime his mate elbowed him in the ribs. Their support was more compassionate than he deserved and he tried to appreciate it but it was also futile.

The bond he shared with you was betraying him, forcing him into a state that he had never been in. After Sarah died, he tried to follow her into the abyss and he failed. Joel had the scar across his nose to prove it. With no other choice, he had kept on living in spite of himself. Joel numbed the pain with pills, liquor and violence, hoping that one of his vices would eventually take him out.

Later on, when Ellie died, his survival served as a punishment for his inability to do the one thing he was created to do. The grief he felt began to hold a different meaning after Ellie’s death. Joel had to live, it was what he deserved for being such a failure. For four years he was alone and miserable, locked away in a prison of his own creation for his downfalls.

Both times that Joel had been separated from those he loved was brutal but this was different somehow. In between his second and third round in the arena, Joel slowly became catatonic. He had given up on trying to escape. It all seemed so pointless if you were somewhere safe. All he did in the hours he was awake was think of you while he laid motionless in his bunk.

The curls on the back of head were matted but he let them be. The last set of hands to run themselves through his locks were yours and he wanted to keep it that way. He knew it was stupid but so was the fact that Joel had lived 56 years without a mate only to lose her almost immediately. How much time could he have had if Paul hadn’t found his cabin?

“C’mon man. You can’t just roll over and die. Talk to me at least. We could try to get out of here. We could go find her! Please,” Jake called.

Joel remained still in his bunk, facing the wall with a tensed jaw. He knew it was childish to ignore his fellow inmate and pretend to be asleep but he couldn’t help it. How could Joel possibly escape from this place? And if he did, what was the point? If you truly had escaped Paul and found your way to somewhere safe, he couldn’t possibly chase after you. He knew that they would just follow him, capturing you immediately because of him. Joel couldn’t have that.

Better he die here, lonely and broken, just as he was before he met you. It was almost poetic. A tragic lead doomed to repeat the same cycle over and over again. Joel would find a reason to live and dilute himself into thinking it could last forever, only for it to be torn from him in the cruelest of ways each time. Rinse and repeat. Love and then grief. He was exhausted by it.

“She’s still alive, you could see her again. Don’t you want that?,” the omega begged.

What a stupid question. Seeing you again was the only thing in the world Joel wanted. If he had a time machine, he would go back to your first encounter and confess his love immediately so that he could have more time at your side. Joel remembered trying to keep his distance. He wanted to keep you safe from the mess that inevitably came with loving a man like him. The chivalric restraint all seemed so stupid from behind bars. That time had been wasted and now it was the only time with you he would ever spend.

It was funny how he did that. Everytime Joel loved someone, he took the time with them for granted. The days spent with you had seemed like they would last for eternity, spanning on and on until the sun eventually imploded or the oceans dried up. Maybe that was what it meant to be human, to have the arrogance to believe that life would be that kind to you. To predispose your own destiny without taking the cruelty of the world into account.

A drawn out sight came from the other side of the room before Jake piped up again

“Christ’s sake, okay listen up you dumbass.”

The harshness in Jake’s tone got his attention. It had been nothing but endless encouragement from him and Joel found himself interested in what he had to say.

“I know how it feels to be without your person, alright? Cooper and Allie were gone, I had no idea where he was or if my daughter was alive. So I fucking get it, but you can’t just curl up and die! Do you think for a second that she would want that?!”

Joel turned in his bunk and faced him. His gaze was heavy. He knew that the younger man didn’t deserve the weight of it but he couldn’t help it. A darkness like he had never felt before was suffocating him and a glare was the best he could do.

“She would kick your ass for even thinking about giving up. And don’t you dare say that she wouldn’t, because I know my best friend,” he snapped.

Joel huffed. It wasn’t a full laugh but it was something and Jake seemed satisfied by it, sitting back on his bed as his eyes raked over Joel.

Joel’s eyes turned glossy and the mark on his neck throbbed. It felt wrong for the eyes on him to be anyone’s except yours and suddenly his skin felt itchy. He knew that your best friend didn’t mean anything bad by it, he was just trying to make sure that Joel survived. But the distance between the two of you was wearing on the alpha and the attention of anyone else, innocent or not, was almost unbearable.

“I can’t,” Joel mumbled.

An empathetic noise came from Jake and he stood, walking to the edge of his cell before he spoke again.

“There really isn’t any can or cannot with this. It’s either you do everything in your power to survive for your mate or you don’t.”

Joel was furious at the statement. It snapped him from the darkness he dwelled in and forced him to his feet in seconds. He felt dizzy, the lack of food and the pressure in his skull nearly knocking him flat on his ass but he held strong. He fumbled for a second, catching himself on the bars before he looked up to scowl at the omega.

“You have no right t-” he started before the omega cut him off.

“I have all the right Joel. Who is going to have to tell their best friend that the love of her life is dead if you keep it up? Me. And what do you want me to say? Oh, he gave up because he thought it would be easier. Do you have any idea what that would do to her?!,” Jake hissed.

Guilt seeped and Joel fought hard against it to remain poised. How would you react if he died? The more self conscious side of him whispered that it wouldn’t mean anything to you. If anything, it would be a day for celebration. You could finally be unshackled from the old man that weighed you down, free to roam and find someone more suitable. Perhaps you would find someone who wasn’t locked within himself and weighed down by a lifetime of disappointment.

However, despite Joel’s self doubt, he knew how you felt about him. He felt it through the bond. His death would leave you devastated. Despite the demon on Joel’s shoulder reminding him of all the ways that you would be better off, he knew that he couldn’t be the cause of your pain. Plus, the thought of you with anyone else sickened Joel and made him clench his jaw in an effort not to scream at the threat he had just made up in his head.

“I… I just,” Joel stopped to collect himself, trying to find the right words to express how he felt.

“Like I said man, you don’t have to explain it to me. My pup and mate were MIA for a year and now my pup is somewhere without the both of us. Believe me, I get it,” Jake sighed.

The two men locked eyes for a moment. Pain was etched onto the omega’s face, shattering the usual hopeful front that he put on, and Joel found himself softening. It was true. Jake understood the agony that he felt better than anyone.

“I’m… I’m sorry about your daughter. I hope -,” Joel cut himself off.

Hope held no weight in this world, he knew that, and it certainly held no place in the heart of a father whose child was missing.

“Yeah… Yeah, me too,” the younger man said dejectedly.

Joel nodded, recognizing the faraway expression that tightened the edges of his usually smirking mouth.

“Thank-,” the sentiment was halted in Joel’s mouth.

The door swung open. Jake scrambled back to the furthest corner of his cell, making himself tiny as an unfamiliar man walked in. Joel stayed leaned up against the bars, refusing to allow the guard to see any deterrence from him.

He waited for the guard to unlock the door and take him down to the arena once more but instead he stopped in front of Joel’s cell, glaring at him with a hatred that he wasn’t sure he deserved.

“She killed my fucking sister,” the man seethed.

“Who?,” Joel asked incredulously.

The accusation was bizarre. Joel racked his brain for what it could mean. The only “she” that he could think of was Tess. That was the last woman he knew to have a penchant for bloodlust but it seemed unusual for this man to be bothered so long after her death. Tess had died four years ago, soon to be five. Did the alpha truly expect Joel to remember one of her victims from who knows how many years earlier? If she had lived, he doubted that even Tess would have been able to remember.

“Your slut has killed twelve of our men. TWELVE! They say it could be more. Fuck, the bodies just keep piling up. And one of them was my sister. Fucking gutted her like a fish and left her out in the snow to bleed to death,” he spat.

No.

No, you couldn’t have. Joel refused to believe it. The omega he knew was funny, smart, and so sweet. His mate wasn’t violent. And she certainly didn’t have it in her to gut a fully grown alpha. It wasn’t about strength, he had seen you lift enough things while working around the cabin to know that you were physically strong, it was about brutality.

“My MATE had nothing to do with what you’re talking about. She would never,” Joel stated.

The man cackled but the sound didn’t meet his icy stare.

“Thought you might say that,” the alpha said, reaching to pull a rumpled flannel from his coat.

Joel’s breath caught in his throat at the sight. It was his flannel, the same one that you had donned the day he was knocked out. The green fabric was soiled, red splotches dirtying nearly every inch of it. The man shoved the shirt through the cell and it fell to Joel’s feet. He stooped down, knees creaking as he gathered the fabric and pressed it to his face.

There was no denying who this fabric belonged to, not when the smell of peppermint and lavender made his lower lip tremble with longing. He caught the plush skin with his teeth, forcing himself to remain strong despite the fact that your scent was polluted with the smell of other alphas.

“This can’t - You found her shirt and poured it on. There’s no way. You’re fucking lying to me.”

The man laughed, “Am I?”

He wasn’t.

Joel saw it as plain as day on his face and it shocked him. He wasn’t sure how to feel. A million emotions whipped through him. Surprise at your viciousness, grief at the thought that you now knew what it was like to take a life, pride at your bravery, and fear for the target that had undoubtedly been placed on your back. Paul might want you for himself but Joel was unsure if the alpha held enough power to convince a group of pissed off brutes that you were not to be touched.

“Paul isn’t the only one looking for her now ya know. A group of the guys have already banded up and left town early this morning. You would not believe the things they were talking about doing to her,” he whistled as he stepped closer to the cell.

Joel hardened his stance and glared at the leering alpha that raised his hands out in front of himself.

“Hey man, not my style. I prefer to take it a bit slower, make them really feel it as I break 'em in. That way you can see the light fade from their eyes. The little bit of spark that makes them rebel just goes poof,” the man said as he snapped his fingers together.

Joel’s hand reached out and grasped the guard by the scruff of his neck, pulling him forward to slam into the bars. The man hissed as he leaned in to whisper in his ear.

“Anyone who touches her is going to die. Maybe it’ll be me or hell, maybe it’ll be her, but they will be killed by one of us.”

Joel fumbled with his waistband for a moment before he withdrew the tool that had been saving him in the arena for days. He smiled as the blade sunk into the hollow of the man’s throat, cutting off his response and turning him to a gagging mess.

Blood splattered over the front of him when he pulled it out of the guard’s throat but Joel didn’t care. This was the first person that he had killed in his time imprisoned that he felt actually deserved it. The others had just been helpless bystanders that stood in the way of his escape.

The alpha fell back onto the floor, twitching and retching blood until he finally stilled. Joel watched in sick satisfaction until he heard a voice from the other side of the room.

“What the fuck did you just do?,” Jake whispered, mortified at the sight before him.

Joel started to answer him but the sound of footsteps coming towards the door stopped him short. He looked down at the weapon in his hands, unsure of what to do with the evidence. With the proof of his guilt splattered over his chest, he knew that it didn’t take a genius to figure out who had killed the guard. Joel swallowed and made a snap decision, sliding the blade across the floor until it skidded into Jake’s cell.

Jake’s eyes widened and Joel responded with a quick nod. The omega reached forward and snatched the blade, tucking it into his shirt before he scrambled back into the corner of his cell just as the guards marched in.

There was some commotion at the dead guard. Men were running in and cursing at him for killing the man but he was somewhere else. It wasn’t until a set of hands pushed him from his cell that Joel realized how much shit he was in. He stumbled over the corpse and landed in the pool of blood that leaked from its side. Gagging at the stickiness coating his face, Joel tried to push himself off the floor and was knocked down by a boot to the ribs.

Pain erupted from his chest and he wheezed at all of the air being forced out of him. As Joel tried to draw himself up from the concrete once more, he felt hands patting him down for weapons. They were particularly grabby and he growled at their invasiveness but the guards ignored him. Coming up empty, he was lifted by the men and dragged from the room.

They didn’t even bother to cover his eyes this time. Instead, he was dragged out of the store into the streets with his view completely unobstructed. The stripmall was abandoned, leaving broken down stores that the group had shoddily remodeled into homes. The street was fenced in with bits of scrap metal, planks of wood and wire. It was a poor excuse for a perimeter, with the youngest alphas all seemingly forced to be on patrol duty for the camp.

The stench that filled the streets made him gag again. It was sickly sweet and he grimaced at its familiarity as he was dragged past the source. Emaciated and tortured bodies were being thrown on a roaring fire. The skin bubbled with the heat and he gulped down vomit as he watched it melt off of the bone into the coals below.

The guards dropped him and Joel balked at the sight of the store he was placed in front of. It was a women’s lingerie store with cursive lettering enticing potential clients to come in and look at their products. Dark fabric was placed over the glass door, hiding the contents from the outside world as the guard rapped his knuckles on it.

They waited until the door flew open, revealing a very disheveled Paul with his fly hanging open. The alpha glared at the two guards before his eyes landed on Joel.

“He fucking killed Mark, stabbed him with something but we couldn’t find it on him. What do you want us to do?”

The noises that came from inside were revolting and Joel craned his neck as far back as it would go to get away from it. The scent of the place alone was enough to make sweat break out on his forehead, nothing but the stench of distressed omegas and perverted alphas swirling in the air. Worst of all was that Paul stood proudly before all of it, grinning down at him from his place in the doorway.

“Feeling handsy are we?,” Paul sneered at him.

Joel scowled. There was no retort that would be strong enough to fully encompass the hate he felt for this man.

“Mmmmm… Shame, I was just in the middle of the sweetest little thing but it's no matter,” he sighed wistfully.

“You’re fucking sick,” Joel gritted out.

Paul stooped down to meet his gaze, his breath soured with whatever liquor he had consumed. The only consolation to having the alpha this close was the fact that Joel could see the damage you had done to his face once more. The bruises hadn’t faded a bit. In fact, they looked worse now that the edges were turning green.

“Look, I’m a little busy with her right now but I’ll send her down to see you soon. It’ll be a nice little family reunion. You can thank me later,” Paul said with a wink, nodding to the guards to drag him away once more.

The guards cussed as Joel fought them every step of the way. Yelling and thrashing in their grasp, he used every bit of strength he had against them. Who did Paul mean? Were you here? The memory of Paul’s open fly and his smirking face made fury flare up inside of him. The group of alphas that transported him were forced to call for backup and the several men still barely managed to get him up the stairs, using all of their strengths to heave him into the top level of the store as he shouted profanities at them.

They shoved him towards the hole in the floor, expecting him to fall back but Joel surprised them as he launched forward. His arms wrapped around the slowest looking one as he fell back, pulling the man right over the edge alongside him. The alpha thrashed mid air, unwittingly positioning himself to bear the brunt of Joel’s fall.

A sickening crunch resounded throughout the room as the two landed. The sound of his skull hitting the pavement was akin to an egg being cracked open against a pan. Rolling off of the other man, Joel watched as blood poured from his nose and his body twitched. His life dripped from the back of his head until an endless gaze settled on the ceiling above. With the guard dead, Joel turned his eyes towards the towers of boxes surrounding him. His ears were peeled for any sign of danger.

Most of the bodies had been rounded up to be burned, leaving only the biggest or messiest individuals to rot amongst the merchandise. Sickened by the smell, Joel lifted himself from the ground and crept along the outskirts of the room. He didn’t even try the double doors. After three trips in the arena, he understood that the key to the doors had to be earned through some act of violence.

The first time it had been around the neck of a clicker. The second time they had given it to one of the prisoners, creating a wild goose chase for the poor beta who had alerted both the infected and the alphas by trying to unlock the doors immediately. The third time was the worst in his opinion, with the key hidden in the stomach of a runner. It had taken him a whole day to figure it out amongst the rotting bodies of the horde he had slashed through.

After tripping over one of the bodies, he had been outraged as he spied the awful sewing job someone had done on its abdomen. Joel gagged at the memory, remembering how he had to wrap his arms in garbage bags to keep the infected tissue from tainting his skin as he fished them out.

After circling the entirety of the room, Joel straightened up as he realized that he was alone. The fact that he had no opponents should have been comforting but instead he tensed up even more. Never had they sent him over the edge without anyone to fight and never had Paul threatened him in a more terrifying way. With his heart pounding in his chest, Joel placed himself with his back to the wall as he waited for what was to come.

A shriek echoed from above and Joel saw the outline of a body fall to the floor in one of the aisles. He slinked towards the aisle, careful to keep his steps quiet as he pricked his ears for any sign of life. The closer he got, the more his heart rate picked up until he skidded to a stop in front of the shaking heap on the concrete.

The scent was the first thing he noticed. It was almost overpowered with the smell of sweat and despair, but the underlying notes of jasmine and crisp apples still remained. Joel wasn’t sure how he knew this omega’s scent and it confused him. Pausing before the lump, he leaned down and carefully tried to turn the woman over.

Her screech scared him and he jolted back, stumbling over himself until he fell back. Tailbone smacking against the floor, Joel groaned and cussed as the omega jumped to her feet. She shakily held a knife out in front of her and moved towards him, causing him to raise his hands in defeat.

“Hey, I’m not gonna hurt ya. If I - shit - Look, I don’t even know where I know you from ma’am. I didn’t mean to get you sent down here, I swear,” Joel soothed.

The woman glared at him, deepening all of the frown lines in her face. Her nose scrunched up and Joel racked his brain as a wave of familiarity washed over him. How did he know this woman?

She looked to be the same age as him with streaks of gray throughout the mussed strands. Her eyes were sharp and framed with heavy bags but the shape of them made him cock his head. A heavy sense of deja vu was all he felt as he focused on them.

“Why do you smell like her? Who are you?,” she hissed.

Joel gawked but said nothing, which was clearly the wrong choice as the omega launched herself at him. He grunted as the weight of her body slammed into him. He held his hands up in defense just in time for her to slash into his fist. A gasp was all he managed before the woman reeled back to plunge the blade into him but Joel surprised her.

Not wanting to hurt the feeble woman, he pinched the skin on her side between his fingers. The slip that barely covered her beaten body couldn’t guard her from the pinch and she whined in pain, reaching down to swat at Joel’s hand. With her distracted, he snatched the blade from her other hand and flipped her over.

She thrashed beneath him, screaming the most proper insults he had ever heard. Never in his life had he been called an oaf in such a ruthless way. Without even having to ask, Joel knew that it had not been you that Paul threatened him with. The woman that fought against his hold was your mother.

“STOP IT,” Joel roared, shaking her in his grasp until she stilled.

She glared at him, poisoning him with her pointed gaze as he sighed.

“I’m your daughter’s mate, okay? My name is Joel, Joel Miller. I ain’t gonna hurt you ma’am. M’trying to get to her before she gets herself killed, alright? Now stop fussin,” he scolded.

A snort flew from her mouth as he stood up, backing away slowly to give her some room.

“Ma’am? You look to be the same age as me,” she snapped, “Which leads me to my daughter, are you her mate or her keeper? Because the last time a keeper was chosen, I distinctly remember aiding in the escape. If she has only fallen into the hands of another then I fear it was all for nothing.”

Joel shook his head, “M’not her keeper. She don’t belong to me or anyone else. I know that I ain’t exactly right for her but I-I love her, alright? I can’t explain it but I’m not like those men, I don’t - fuck - I would never hurt her.”

A flash of something softened her eyes for a moment, making her appear more like you for just a moment before she hardened again. Joel sighed. He knew he needed her to trust him somewhat so that he could get them both out alive.

“She claimed me first. I wanted to but I couldn’t until she did and she knew that ‘cus she loves me. Now, I don’t know why she loves me but she does. And I love her just the same,” he said with more confidence.

The woman sighed and shook her head.

“They told me that I needed to kill the alpha in here. If I did, they said they would let me out of the pleasure house. I could cook or clean instead of…”

Joel swallowed at the admission. He didn’t judge her for the way her eyes darted to the knife in his hand. If it had been him stuck in that god forsaken place, the knife would already be wedged in between the ribs of anyone that stood in his way. Carefully, he placed it on the ground and slid it over to her. She looked at it but didn’t move to pick it up.

“And you believe them?,” Joel questioned.

Sighing, your mother shook her head and dropped down onto the floor. She groaned at the effort as she scooted her back against the shelf. Joel hissed at the sight of handprints bruised up and down her legs. He couldn’t imagine the pain she had endured at the hands of these men. The thought of it made his skin crawl.

“Mind your manners,” she scolded.

Caught red handed, Joel moved his eyes away from her with his cheeks pink. He felt awful for gawking at her in such a vulnerable state.

“Apologies ma’am,” he stammered, carefully easing his coat off to hand it to her.

Joel kept his gaze elsewhere as your mother wrapped herself in his coat. The bulky fabric did more to cover her than the slip did and he could sense the tension in the air dissipate slightly.

He wasn’t sure why, but the tiny bruised woman sat beside him was somehow the most intimidating person he had ever met. She exuded resentfulness, with a bitter pinch to her features constantly set in place. Unwilling to look at her again, he scanned the room for anything to help them escape.

“How was she? Before Paul came for her I mean, how was she? Was she… well?”

Joel turned at the question, opening his mouth for a moment before he snapped it shut. He knew that your mother, despite all of her mistakes, must have loved you. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have aided in your runaway bride act. Still, it surprised him that she would ask him about you while in such a dangerous place.

“She was okay, happy. WE were happy,” he tried.

Seeing the unsatisfied look on her face, Joel searched his mind for another answer. Laughing when he found it, he couldn’t help but smile as he continued.

“She had started drawing but it always turned out super warped. Like, psychedelic almost. I don’t know for sure but I think she was only doing it because she knew they made me laugh.”

The wonky cat above his nightstand at home flashed before his eyes and Joel sucked down air, trying to focus on the present to keep himself from crying.

“And you… You cared for her too?”

Joel nodded thoughtfully, “I tried to, I AM trying to, as hard as I can.”

Nodding, your mother made an affirmative noise and leaned back once more. She looked slightly less peeved, with the crease still present between her eyebrows but her shoulders relaxed. Joel decided to count it as a win.

“She gets that from her father. Not Josiah of course but her ACTUAL father. He was light and soft, like her. I tried to make her tough but it only backfired. She hated me but what was I supposed to do? They would have had her hung if they knew,” she sighed.

Joel blinked, “Knew what?”

“That her father was a Jew. That alone would have ensured her damnation in their eyes. Aside from that, I never told Josiah or her that her father and I never married. We were mated so marriage seemed pointless but again, they killed bastards in that community, so…”

“So she had to be perfect,” he answered.

She nodded, “I might have been cruel but I was not without my reasons.”

He hummed at her words. It wasn’t as if he completely agreed with her actions but he understood the fear involved with trying to keep a child safe in this world. Perhaps her cruelty was just a means to an end, a way to keep you alive. Joel completely understood where she was coming from but he still bristled at the lengths she went to achieve her goals.

Ma’am-,” he started.

“You can call me Mrs. Y/L/N, nothing more. It is not correct to keep calling your mother in law ma’am after we have already been acquainted,” she snipped.

Joel wondered if he should correct her. You were mated and that was as good as any ceremony in the eyes of any potential suitors, with his scent covering your own for the rest of your life but that didn’t mean that the two of you were married. Joel hadn’t even thought about it and you had never mentioned it to him. Still, with the strict guidelines that your mother was used to in her previous community, he felt that bringing it up may sour things between them prematurely.

“Is… I mean, was that her last name too?,” he asked dumbly.

“You claimed my daughter and you don’t even know her last name?!”

Joel cringed at the reaction. It became clear to him that admitting he didn’t know your last name was not the smartest thing to do either and he kicked himself for it. Before he could diffuse the explosion of rage that pushed your mother from the floor and into his personal space, the click of the lock forced the both of them to turn towards the doors.

Light poured into the space, blinding Joel for a moment as a figure hobbled in. After blinking a few times, his vision cleared and Jake appeared before them.

“Jacob?!,” the omega at his feet screeched, turning in an instant to launch herself at the younger man.

Jake gasped as she crushed his body against her own, blanching at the affectionate embrace. Given the reaction of the younger man and all of the stories he had heard about her, Joel gathered that this was not a regular occurrence. He tolerated the hug for a moment, even awkwardly patting her on the back a few times before he withdrew.

“Your daughter, I met her. She’s so sweet that one and I promise, I-I do everything I can when they bring her,” she stammered.

Jake gasped, “You’ve seen Allie?!”

Your mother nodded, “Paul brings her sometimes, drops her off with me and the other omegas. She is such a darling Jake, they all love her.”

“They bring the kid to the pleasure house?,” Joel wondered aloud.

Panic broke out on Jake’s face and Joel cringed as your mother turned to glare at him.

“Don’t be ridiculous Joel. They don’t keep us there all the time. He brings her to the place we sleep whenever Cooper gets too close to finding her. Once he lays off, Paul takes her back to wherever she was before,” she explained.

A gust of air left the omega’s mouth at the admission, the worst fears being washed away and releasing the tension from his shoulders. Jake shook his head as his worst fears left him, rubbing his eyes tiredly before he looked back up again.

“We have to go, right now. Cooper released the prisoners and they are burning this place to the ground. Quick, there’s not much time,” Jake urged.

The two omegas took off and Joel stumbled after them, mind reeling with a million questions. The muscles in his legs ached as they bounded up the staircase but he ignored it, focusing on keeping his head clear as he followed Jake towards the exit.

Just as the key slipped into the door, it was ripped open and Joel shoved the two omegas behind his back. Puffing up his chest and barring his teeth, he was met with the sight of a bloodied Cooper holding a very teary eyed toddler in his grasp. The younger alpha winced at his stance and hugged the girl tighter to his chest, making Joel relax immediately in response.

“Oh my baby,” Jake cried out, bypassing Joel completely to pluck his daughter from his mate’s hands.

Allie threw her chubby arms around his neck, blubbering nonsense into his ear as he cooed at her. The moment was heartwarming but it also had to be cut short given the circumstance.

“We have to get out of here. Paul is fucking gone but this place has gone nuts. Keep your heads down and follow me, okay?,” Cooper paused until the group nodded, “J? You got her or do you need me to carry her?”

Jake shook his head and squeezed Allie closer, “I’m not going to let her go Coop, I promise.”

They shared a look before Cooper nodded, turning on his heel to lead them towards the exit. Joel’s heart slammed against his chest as he walked along the edges of the ground floor. The anarchy he heard from outside set him on edge. The smell of smoke and the sound of screams overwhelmed his senses. Nothing could have prepared Joel for the scene that played out in front of him as he exited the arena.

Freed prisoners sprinted away from their captors, only for the alpha chasing them to be struck down by another newly freed individual. Most of the buildings were consumed by flames, with the untouched ones being licked at by the blaze. He watched as omegas and betas tore through the street, crawling under the wire to get to freedom. Overwhelmed alphas tried to shoot them down as they rushed through their defense. Half of them missed the moving targets and ran from their position, while the other half were knocked down and trampled by the survivors.

“LET’S FUCKING GO!,” Cooper yelled over the chaos, rushing in the other direction.

The group followed closely behind, dodging distressed camp members and traumatized prisoners as they ran. Joel watched as Jake shoved his daughter’s face into his chest, shielding her from the world as they raced towards the final exit. She fought weakly against him but he murmured softly in her ear as he ran, calming her down enough that she stayed put.

Despite the fact that his lungs burned from the exertion, Joel kept his pace until your mother stumbled and fell. Cooper and Jake stopped, yelling at the woman to get up as she struggled to her feet. She tried twice and then fell, much too weak to stand up by herself any longer.

“We have to go!,” Jake cried out in a panic.

Joel debated for a moment before he stooped down to lift her in his arms. She squawked and kicked out her legs, yelling at him to put her down but he ignored her, nodding at the others to continue.

“Hush up right now unless you want me to leave ya behind,” he snapped as frustration overcame his patience.

Joel would never do that but she didn’t have to know that. All he needed was for her to allow him to help her but she was making it incredibly difficult. If threats were the way to make her shut up, then threats it would be.

“You are a mindless brute! I don’t know what my daughter sees in you but put me down now!”

Annoyed at the cantankerous woman that sat in his arms, Joel glared down at her as he resumed his pace.

“From what I hear, you’re not such a walk in the park either lady. If you were anyone else, I’d leave ya here but luckily you’re my mate’s mother. Now shut the fuck up and survive this with me so that I don’t have to explain to your daughter why I let you die,” he seethed.

Her eyes widened at his sharp words before she nodded once and relented, staying silent as the crew raced towards an opening in the fence. Jake squeezed through first, holding the back of Allie’s head as he crawled through the space. Next went your mother, who required a helpful hand on both sides to make her way through. Then Cooper, who went through with ease before it was Joel’s turn.

The cracking in his knees made him groan as he made his way to the other side but he managed to slip most of the way through the hole before he felt a hand grasp his ankle. Joel turned over onto his back, only to see the face of an infected clawing at his boot. He gasped and kicked it in the face, scrambling through the last few inches to burst out the other side.

“Infected coming!,” Joel shouted as he scooped up your mother, making the entire group hasten their pace.

Looking back, he saw the face he had kicked crawling under the metal. Judging by the hands that reached out front around the edges, Joel had a feeling there was more to come.

“What’s the plan here guys?,” he panted, his breathing no more than wheezes as he tried to keep up with the younger men.

Cooper pointed his finger at a rusted sunfire and tossed him the keys, the group quickening their pace once more as a roar tore through the air. Joel didn’t need to look back to know that sound. Any shoddily made barrier would be no use for a bloater and as the beast slammed itself against the wall, everyone threw themselves into the vehicle.

Joel tried the ignition once as the first layer of barrier collapsed.

“Come on, come on, come on, come on,” he mumbled to himself as he tried again to no avail.

“Flick the headlights on and off, that might give it some juice,” Cooper called.

The woman to his right scoffed, “That’s a myth.”

“And how would you know? I’ve never even seen you drive,” Cooper sassed right back.

“I’ll have you know little boy, that I had a full license and was driving before you were even a thought so why don’t you-”

“SHUT UP!,” Joel shouted as the last bit of barrier broke down, revealing a bloated body that was running towards them.

A horde of infected, some newer and some gnarled with age, stumbled in pursuit of the giant. He swore and tried again, holding his breath until the car finally turned on. With the infected hot on their tail, Joel slammed his foot all the way to the floor and sped off. He grimaced at the burst of cordyceps that the bloater flung to his right, jerking to the side of the road before he righted the car once more. The next burst of infection exploded somewhere behind them, the distance between them too great for it to be of any danger and finally Joel relaxed in his seat.

“Is everyone okay?,” Cooper asked.

Given the frantic hands that poked and prodded at Allie in the rearview mirror, Joel figured that question was not for him or your mother.

Jake sighed, “We’re okay Coop, aren’t we Allie-girl?”

The little girl sprung up from her father’s chest, gurgling in response and hooking her fingers around her other father’s finger. Cooper visibly relaxed, falling back against the seat before he scooched closer to his mate. Joel looked away, letting them have a moment as he looked over at the passenger seat.

Your mother sat ramrod straight, with her chin lifted high in the air. Even with all of her injuries, she remained almost regal in the way she presented herself and turned to glare at him for his gaze. Joel sighed and looked forward, keeping his eyes on the road instead.

There would be no winning her over until you were found and Joel didn’t blame her for it. If Sarah or Ellie had been missing only for an older alpha to show up unannounced, apparently bonded with one of them, he would have reacted way worse. The nasty looks were, if anything, a courtesy.

An hour of driving passed before Cooper directed him towards a side road, bringing the car down a terribly shoveled entrance before an old house came into view. Joel pulled the car up and parked, keeping the engine idling as he turned towards the other alpha with an eyebrow raised.

“Come on, you three out while me and Joel have a little chat,” Cooper said carefully, never breaking eye contact with him.

Your mother sighed and left the vehicle without another word, too tired to fight against the men around her anymore. She heaved herself up and moved towards the front door, hobbling off until her figure disappeared from the doorway.

“I’m not getting out unless you tell me what it is that you’re going t-” Jake started.

“Out of the car and into the house with our daughter. Right now. I am not asking,” Cooper demanded, his clipped tone leaving no room for retort.

Joel winced at the way Jake balked and heeded his request, leaving the car with the little girl on his hip. He looked back at the car only once before he frowned and followed your mother’s path inside. Cooper sighed when Jake was gone and rubbed at his eyes. He exited the car as well, rounding the front of it to plop himself into the passenger seat. When the door slammed shut, the alpha turned himself towards Joel and began.

“About 50 clicks south is where our old camp was. I can’t be sure but if I know my brother, that’s where he is taking her. Go down the old service exit before I-80. If you go now, maybe you can save her. I don’t care that she asked me not to, I would want to know,” Cooper rushed out while twisting his hands together.

Joel froze.

“Who has her? Wha- What did she ask? I-I don’t,” he sputtered as his heart lurched in his chest.

“I found Allie and I went to get her but they caught me,” he winced at memory, “She busted in and saved me. I tried to get her to come with, but she wouldn’t listen. She said it wouldn’t end unless she went to him and made me promise that I wouldn’t tell you what happened.”

The world crashed down around him. Paul had you. He had you and he had taken you somewhere 50 kilometers south. All of Joel’s worst fears had come to life. You were going to sacrifice yourself for the safety of everyone else. Memories of a hospital and a little girl who wanted to save the world with her gift flooded his mind, drawing out a sharp gasp from Joel as he clutched at his chest.

Joel felt so many things, with anger being the first. He was selfishly mad at you for allowing yourself to be taken rather than sacrificing others. Then he felt guilty at that, knowing that it was against your character to ever let harm come to those that you loved. But he was also angered by the alpha that sat beside him for leaving you behind.

“Don’t look at me like that when I know that if you were in my position, you would’ve done the same. I am not going to sacrifice my daughter for her or anyone else,” he argued.

Straightening his back at the statement, Joel nodded once in response and motioned for him to leave.

“I’m sorry Joel, I’m really fucking sorry. I don’t even know what we are going to do now but I have my own family. There is a mate in there that I don’t deserve and a pup that needs me. You have to understand that,” Cooper tried.

Joel sighed and shook his head of the bitterness that seeped in from the corners of his mind.

“Leave Montana, head into Wyoming and go to Jackson county. My brother’s wife runs a spot up that way, they’d take you in. Tell them that I sent ya. Well, tell Tommy I sent you, not Maria.”

The thank you was stopped midway by Joel holding up his hand. Cooper nodded and stepped out, wishing him luck as he slammed the door shut behind him. Deep down, he didn’t blame the man for picking his family. Cooper was right, Joel would have done the same in a heartbeat if it had come down to them or you. However, with his mate trapped somewhere alone with a psychopath, Joel didn’t spare him a second glance as he sped off once more.

Panic bleached his mind of any substantial thoughts and he remained relatively silent as he sped through the streets. The beast within had roared to life and demanded blood, making him tighten his grasp on the wheel until the leather creaked. Flashes of memories, all involving you, were the only things that kept him somewhat human.

His pulse quickened as he neared your former camp. Sweat dripped down Joel’s face and he noticed that his hands were shaky as he pulled off into the service exit. The fear was overwhelming. Were you alive? Were you hurt? Were you even at the camp? Swallowing every bit of panic that tightened his chest, Joel pressed on towards the clearing before him.

- You -

“I’m not telling you fuck all bitch.”

A cackle echoed throughout the clearing, reverberating off the ice covered trees until it shot back to reach your ears.

“Oh, I know. That’s not what this is about,” you chuckled, dragging the blade across the other cheek as the man groaned in pain.

Blood beaded from the slash before it dripped down his cheek. Amused, you watched him thrash against the zip ties for a moment before you stepped back. Red faced and panting, the man called out for you as you stepped away from him.

“Hey! You can’t just leave me here!,” the alpha yelled.

Another bout of laughter tore from your mouth as you grasped the hilt of the blade and pulled, tearing it from the chest of his deceased comrade. From somewhere behind you, a twig snapped and you smiled at the sound.

“I can and I will. They’ll find what’s left of you in a couple days. If you’re lucky maybe they’ll even put a bullet between your eyes. Some of your brothers haven’t been so lucky,” you chuckled and nodded towards the sound of shuffling feet, “Horde just keeps on growing.”

Without another word, you ignored his cries for mercy as you turned into the trees. The alpha’s insults quickly turned into screams. The sound of a body being torn apart by infected quickened your pace. As swiftly as possible, you scrambled into the cab of the truck and pulled away from the clearing as they finished off your opponent.

It had been like this for days. After a couple of hours on the road, you had found the first look out and scoped it out. The guards patrolled mostly during the night and kept their weakest alphas on guard during the day while the others slept. Understanding this, you parked in a patch of trees down the road and waited for the right moment. The minute the guards switched out, you were slinking around the perimeter to take out the three men that patrolled the abandoned gas station.

Thinking back as you drove through the quiet roads, you remembered how surprised the sleeping alphas looked when they had awoken to the feeling of a knife plunged into their chests. Some of them tried to scream but you had gagged them with cloth. It was amazing how much you could accomplish while your opponents slept. Seven alphas were killed at that first stop. You felt absolutely nothing as you watched them die, only a sense of determination to get to your mate.

Countless men and women had died at your hands since that day, all of them guilty of being associated with the man that had your alpha. It was on the fourth day on the road that you had stumbled across the camp. You had to stop yourself from running towards the strip mall when you saw it. A pang of recognition jolted through the bond at the sight of the repurposed shops, the mark on your neck aching as you overlooked the town that held the man you searched for.

It was only when you watched a set of guards drag a broad shouldered man from the back of the store and up a set of stairs that you knew for sure. Joel fought against them and you had watched, heart aching at the blood splattered across his clothes and the hood over his face. You had grasped the gun in your waistband, weighing your options before you let it go.

They might shoot him if you didn’t kill them and even still, you weren’t entirely sure you had the strength to rush the place without the proper fire power. Plus, what if you missed and hit him instead? Joel was dragged up a set of stairs and into another store, while you were forced to do nothing but watch.

“I’m coming,” you whispered to the air, hoping that it would carry and somehow reach only his ears.

In the next few days, you had amped up your game. Somewhere between the first outpost and the camp itself was no man’s land, where Paul’s group had left the infected to act as an impromptu defense for them. Leading them towards the camp, you had been the cause of much confusion amongst the alphas. Some bodies you left like a present at their doorstep, mocking them with their mutilated corpses. While others you left trussed up amongst the trees for the infected to find, leaving the group with a growing horde to deal with.

When you weren’t hunting down the alphas, a handful of houses were scattered around the camp and served as impromptu safe havens for you intermittently. You never went inside, knowing that the second you stepped in that the patrol might catch your scent the next day. Instead, you parked somewhere and rested in the truck for a few hours before heading back to work.

As the days passed, you had slain a good portion of the population but still could not get any closer to infiltrating the space. The guards that patrolled the perimeter were younger and likely greener, but were frustratingly vigilant as they walked along the rickety fence. There were a few holes in the perimeter but you weren’t confident that you would be able to sneak into the store they continuously dragged Joel back to without one of them catching you.

If you were caught, you knew where they would send you. The lingerie store was frequented by all of the alphas, except for a couple of them that seemed to prefer guard duty over whatever went on in the establishment. Given the screaming omegas that they dragged into the back of the store and the smirking alphas that left out of the front, you had a good guess as to what went on.

Exhaustion pulled at your eyelids at the thought of it and you sighed, knowing that you needed to rest. Pain radiated from the cuts and bruises that covered your body but you didn’t care. Some of them would scar, especially the wound that cracked open on your cheek with every smile. The owner of the truck had given you that one, her fists slamming into your face until you plunged the blade into her gut. Again, you didn’t mind. It would all be worth it to see Joel’s face again.

Pulling off of the main road, the truck rumbled down a side street towards the house you had chosen for your nap. Driving closer to the house, you pumped the brakes at the sight of a fresh set of tire tracks in the snow. The truck stopped as you threw it in park, debating for a moment before you shut it off and slipped from the cab.

Holding the gun close to your chest, you moved into the surrounding trees. With the vegetation acting as a cover, you stepped towards the back of the home only to be greeted with the sight of a group of alphas standing over a beaten man. The sight could have been disregarded if any other man had laid bleeding against the ground, but it was Cooper that gasped for air as a woman kicked him in the ribs.

“Please! Please stop - fuck!,” Cooper groaned as another boot knocked him from his hands and knees.

You paused from your place in the trees. Sure, the alpha was not your favorite person but he meant something to Jake. This was his husband, his mate. The mark that your best friend had claimed Cooper with glared at you from above his collar, judging you for thinking about walking away from the scene. A plethora of whispered swears poured from your lips as you watched the group laugh.

The memory of him allowing you to slam a pot over his head as a guise to escape flashed through your mind.

“Fucking hell,” you swore, realizing that there was no way that you could walk away from this.

Four alphas surrounded Cooper, the group snickered as the largest one taunted him. Removing the magazine from the pistol, you counted six bullets left. Since leaving the cabin, your aim had gotten astronomically better but it still left something to be desired. Plus, using all six of your bullets to only possibly kill four alphas was not viable.

“Just wait until your brother gets here you punk,” the woman spat, “Always knew you were a traitor, hiding your omega from us then conveniently losing the other one when nobody was there to see it. You’re a pussy. Better the kid stays with Paul, maybe she’ll learn her damn place.”

Cooper growled ferally as he clutched his side, “Don’t you fucking dare bring my kid into this. I will f- oomph.”

The hand wrenching his head back cut him off, making Cooper whine as his mousy strands were yanked back harshly. The other alpha met his gaze, smiling at the discomfort on his face before another vehicle made its way up towards the house.

“Looks like your time is up traitor. Doubt big brother is gonna bail you out this time, not when you have been trying to cover up the bitch’s tracks for days.”

Cooper didn’t say anything. Instead, he bowed his head at the statement, thus proving his own guilt in the matter. You were surprised but it made sense. For days you had been slaughtering their guards or leaving them to be infected in the woods but only the few bodies ever seemed to make it back to them.

After you had reached double digits in your murder spree, you began to question their patrolling abilities. However, with Cooper’s wordless admission, you realized that their bodies had been hidden by the partner in crime that you didn’t even know you had.

“What’s this?”

Paul rounded the corner of the home, peering down at his brother as he kneeled on the cold ground. His face showed no emotion towards Cooper’s beaten face, only a look of boredom as he strolled towards the group.

The alpha that stood over Cooper smiled at Paul, “Asshole finally found the kid, too bad we found a couple of bodies in the trunk when we seared it. Seems our friend here has been using his free time to help out your little slut.”

A scowl tightened Paul’s face and he stooped down in front of the injured alpha. Cooper flinched at the proximity, his face pale as his brother leered at him.

“Is that true baby brother? After all I’ve done for you?,” he tsked.

Cooper’s face snapped up and you were shocked by the uncharacteristically cold glare that hardened his features.

“All you’ve done?,” he chuckled and shook his head, “And what is that Paul? You have taken everything from me. My daughter, my mate, my life. Even Sophie, our own baby sister, our blood, wasn’t safe from you, was she?”

Paul reached down, snatching Cooper’s face in his hands and you winced at the way his fingers dug into his skin.

“You watch it Coop, wouldn’t want to have to teach ya another lesson,” he warned.

Cooper laughed, “Funny, Sophie used to get lessons too. Maybe that’s why she decided to throw herself off that building. Ya know, you talk a big game about protecting what’s yours but I don’t think you have any idea what it means to care for anything. There’s only one thing you want.”

“And what’s that?”

“You just want to be the big man like dad,” you watched as Paul’s jaw twitched at Cooper’s words,“Does it make you feel strong to be like him? Does it make you forget what it feels like to be on the other side? Maybe if you hurt enough people, you’ll forget about what he did, huh?”

Shock was all you felt as Paul slammed his fist into his brother’s nose, making blood pour from it as Cooper groaned in pain. Another punch came down and slammed into his cheek. Then another and another, until the younger man was sprawled out against the snow. Despite the blows, the smile on his face was unmistakable as his brother wailed on him. Paul might have overpowered him but Cooper had read the man so accurately that it had made him lose his nerve.

Taking a moment to gather himself, you watched as Paul smoothed out the front of his jacket and cleared his throat before turning towards his group.

“Take him inside. Tie him up in the basement, if he even thinks about escaping you shoot him down. Both of you,” Paul nodded towards the biggest in the group, “With me. If they were working together then she’ll be somewhere close. Let’s go.”

Two of the men dragged a barely conscious Cooper into the house, hauling him up the steps as the rest of the group piled into Paul’s car. You waited until it drove off, watching until it disappeared.

As quietly as possible, you crept towards the building and eased yourself into the house. The alphas were nowhere to be seen, likely in the basement with a semi conscious Cooper as you moved throughout the living room. An open doorway led towards the basement but you dodged it and disappeared into one of the bedrooms to wait. The plan was to hide in the bedroom until the alphas re-emerged. You were going to creep downstairs in order to free Cooper but the plan was foiled when the babbling of a small child made you spin around.

A little girl dressed in a tattered jumper and sesame street pj pants smiled at you from the confines of an ancient playpen. There was no mistaking whose child she was. The golden skin and glossy ringlets made your chest pang, seeing bits of your best friend as you looked upon his daughter. The color was off, closer to Cooper’s light brown, but they still shined in the light like Jake’s did.

The brightness in her green eyes astounded you and you wondered if the man she got them from had ever been as happy as her. From what had been said outside in the snow, you doubted it. Her mouth seemed perpetually upturned in a smirk, just like Jake, and you smiled as she reached her hands out to you. Slowly, you moved towards her and plucked her from the playpen.

“Hi baby,” you whispered, “You must be Allie. I’m Ja- I’m your dad’s friend, it’s nice to meet you.”

Allie blinked up at you and smiled brightly, seemingly unbothered by the fact that a complete stranger held her. She continued to babble, gesturing wildly with her hands as she answered you in her own way. You bit back a laugh, seeing nothing but Jake as she gave an explanation that was complete nonsense but still dramatic as hell. Her words meant nothing, but the tone of Allie’s voice was chalk full of sass.

“Tell me about it,” you sighed and Allie nodded as if she understood.

A pair of footsteps walking up the steps popped the bubble of warmth in the child’s room and you panicked. There was no way you wanted to confront these men in front of Allie, but you needed to get her father out of the basement. You gulped and placed the girl back in her playpen carefully. She whined, trying to get you to pick her back up as she began to cry and your heart broke.

Nobody in Paul’s group seemed like they would be caring enough to look after the child. That meant that she had probably been alone in different rooms since being separated from her parents. You wondered how Allie had remained so cheerful despite her isolation. That was no way for a child to live. Fat tears dripped down her cheeks as her lower lip trembled and you brushed the curls from her face.

“Shhhh Allie, it’s okay. I’m gonna go get your papa okay? Stay right here baby, I’ll be right back and then we’ll go get your other daddy,” you soothed.

Allie sniffed and nodded, babbling more jumbled nonsense that sounded vaguely like an affirmation. You leaned down and kissed the top of her head, smiling at her again before you slipped out of the room.

The house was still but you kept your ears peeled as you moved towards the basement. Just as you reached the stairs, a door clicked behind you and you wheeled around. The alpha that stepped from the bathroom looked more surprised than you, stumbling back against the wall as you reached towards your waistband. Before he had the chance to grab his own, your gun was already out, firing two shots into his chest.

The other guard yelled out for his partner from outside and you swore, hurrying into the kitchen and hiding behind the island as the alpha raced into the house. The man tore through the place, completely unaware that he had bypassed your hidden figure to get to the dying man. He stooped down in front of the alpha, questioning him as redness seeped into the fabric of his shirt. It was no use, the alpha was too weak to answer as he drowned from the blood filling his lungs.

The final breath rattled out of the man’s chest and his body stilled, causing the other man to swear. The remaining alpha hung his head for a moment, still unaware of your presence as you switched out the gun for a knife. It was quieter and you had more experience with it. Almost hovering over him, it was the creak of a floorboard that gave you away.

The alpha’s head snapped up and you gasped as he whipped the gun from its holster in a flash. The shot rang out and you could’ve sworn you heard it as the bullet grazed the side of your head. The force of it buckled your knees, making you fall to the floor in shock as the excruciating sensation forced tears from your eyes. Blood poured from the area and you whined as the red liquid dripped into your eyes, blurring your field of vision while you tried to lift yourself from your stomach.

Dizzied from the shot, you struggled to get your bearings and were knocked back down by the man. You screamed as he kneeled against your back to keep you down, the sound being cut off as he put more weight into his hold. With your lungs crushed, you coughed and struggled against him.

“Oh you’re in trouble now baby,” he chuckled, running a heavy hand down your backside.

The feeling of it was revolting and you tried uselessly to buck him off. The alpha laughed at your protests, unperturbed as he fiddled with the waistline of your baggy jeans. This was it, you thought, this was the end. Dread filled you as you felt fingers dip under your shirt.

“I will say. The amount of us you’ve taken out has been quite impressive,” he pinched your hip and you whined, “You’ve become a sort of white whale for us all. Can’t believe I get to be Captain Ahab.”

You laughed, remembering yourself with his stupid statement.

This man was nothing. All he wanted from you was fear, that’s all men like him ever wanted from omegas. Understanding this, you laughed harder despite the weight pressing you into the floorboards. A growl came from behind and the man flipped you over, glaring down at you as you continued to giggle.

“The fuck is so funny?,” he snapped.

“Moby Dick bites off Captain Ahab’s leg you fucking idiot. The whale kills everyone except for Ishmael and survives the crew hunting him. So according to your own metaphor, I’m going to kill you,” you laughed, wriggling your arm from under him to rip the gun from his grasp.

The man reached forward to take it back but you were too quick, pressing the barrel of it against his gut and firing another shot into his stomach. He groaned as he bled out onto your clothes and you shoved him off. The man held the hole in his stomach closed with one hand and you sighed. Reaching backwards for your knife, you grabbed it and slid it across his neck. He bled out in seconds.

Rolling away from the mess, you groggily got to your feet and stumbled towards the basement. From somewhere in the distance, you heard the sound of Allie crying but you ignored it. The sight of your bleeding face would only make it worse, so you trudged towards the person who might be able to comfort her.

The basement was freezing with dripping ceilings and unfinished floors. You hobbled into the space, ears ringing as you moved towards the alpha that was tied to the chair. Cooper was unconscious, or at least he seemed to be, and you paused to collect yourself.

Nausea forced vomit up from your mouth and you retched, puking onto the concrete before him. Bits of it splattered against your pants. You groaned and swayed on your feet while holding the bleeding graze mark on the side of your head. Breathing in deeply, you slapped at your cheeks to keep yourself alert.

“Jesus Christ, what the fuck happened?,” Cooper called out.

You laughed, spitting out the remainder of it from your mouth before you smiled back up at him.

“Should see the other guy,” you coughed, spitting up blood as you kneeled beside the chair.

As quickly as you could, the ties around his wrists were loosened until Cooper could break free. He gently pushed your shaky hands away, reaching down to speedily work his feet out of the restraints. You sat back and watched through bleary eyes. Cooper spoke to you as he released himself from the chair but his words were faraway. Everything was distorted, like you were seeing the world through one of those funhouse mirrors at the carnivals your father used to take you to.

“Hey! I said, is my daughter okay? Did you see her?!,” he asked, shaking your shoulders to break you from the haze.

You swallowed down more puke from the sudden movement, “She’s fine. Upstairs in the playpen. She - Look, I don’t even think she’s old enough to know what’s going on.”

Cooper nodded, looking relieved as he helped you to your feet. You expected him to drop his hold on your arm but instead he tightened it, leading you from the basement and towards Allie once more. You stumbled after him, delirious from the blow to your head as Cooper dragged you behind him.

“Allie-girl! How are you honey, Papa missed you,” he cooed as he entered the room, swooping down to gather his daughter in his arms.

You leaned against the doorframe, lowering yourself onto your bum and hugging your knees. Queasiness filled your mouth with water and you turned your face away, emptying the contents of your stomach once more until only bile remained.

You weren’t sure how much more you could take.

Suddenly, the cooing and soft words halted. The vibe of the room shifted and Cooper swore as he peered out of the curtains. Even in your disjointed state, you could tell that whatever he saw wasn’t good. Slowly, you stood up and followed his gaze out the window.

In the driveway, Paul shoved the door of the car closed behind him. He stopped and began to dig through the backseat of his car as the two of you watched.

The alpha beside you looked terrified. Any confidence he had previously was lost with his pup in his arms. Allie’s hands smacked against his chest, trying to get her father’s attention as sweat dampened his hairline. Cooper’s face was as white as a ghost as he watched his brother walk towards the house.

You swallowed the lump in your throat, realizing what you had to do. He couldn’t bear the weight of this for you, nobody could. It was time to face your demons.

“Take her out the window. Go back to camp and get everyone out, then leave. I’ll hold him off,” you instructed.

“What?!”

You shook your head at his incredulous reply, “Paul isn’t going to stop until he has me, so I’m going to give him what he wants. Just… Just promise me you’ll take Joel when you get Jake out. Tell him I love him. And please Cooper, don’t tell him what I’ve done.”

Cooper shook his head wildly, hugging his daughter closer to his chest as you backtracked towards the hallway. He stepped forward to grab your arm and you whirled around, glaring at him before he could touch you.

“Joel Miller is the best person I know, okay? And I dragged him into this. Fuck, I-I dragged you all into this. Which means it’s up to me to finish it, alright? Whatever happens just… Just please get him out without telling him what happened here. He’ll come after me and I can’t - fuck - I can’t be the reason for anyone else’s pain anymore,” you pleaded desperately.

Looking over his shoulder, you saw that Paul was almost all the way to the front door. Cooper stood still, torn as you mouthed the word please. Allie babbled in his arms and he looked down at her for a moment before he looked back up at you with his mind made. Slowly, he swallowed hard and nodded.

“Thank you,” you whispered, turning away from Cooper and Allie to march towards the front door.

This was it. Everything that you had been through culminated in this moment. You thought back to your first week at Josiah’s camp. Paul was there, although a young man, and he had leered at you from the barn as you played with Jake outside. Flipping forward, you thought of your wedding day. He had looked victorious as Josiah dragged you down the aisle, like a hunter who had caught his prey. It was the same look Paul had given you when you were caught outside the diner.

Would he look at you like that again as you opened the door? You didn’t care. The thought of his gaze didn’t hold the same effect it once had. You had grown and now, as you gripped the handle with steady hands, there was no fear as you stepped out into the afternoon sun.

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