Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/50236687.

Rating: Explicit
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston, Red White & Royal Blue
(2023)
Relationship: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Character: Alex Claremont-Diaz, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, June
Claremont-Diaz, Nora Holleran, Beatrice Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor,
Philip Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Percy "Pez" Okonjo, Ellen
Claremont, Oscar Diaz (Red White & Royal Blue), Arthur Fox, Catherine
Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Shaan Srivastava, Zahra Bankston, Queen
Mary (Red White & Royal Blue), David the Beagle (Red White & Royal
Blue)
Additional Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Verse, first prince, Alpha Alex
Claremont-Diaz, Omega Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Fluff and
Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Past Abuse, Trauma, Grief/Mourning,
Parent Death, Explicit Sexual Content, Nesting, Book and movie verse,
Canon Divergence, Rimming
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2023-09-21 Updated: 2023-10-08 Words: 43,052 Chapters:
28/?

Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone

by thisismyfightforthem

Summary

Alex presents two days after his eighteenth birthday and a week before he is expected at the
2016 Olympics in Rio. Alex presents as an alpha. It isn’t really a shock to anyone. He has
all of the traits and mannerisms of one. He’s argumentative, stubborn, and always
challenging whoever he sees fit. He tends to take control of whatever room he occupies,
charming and loud, demanding attention even if he doesn’t mean to. It was never a question
of if he’d be an alpha, just when.

Or Red White and Royal Blue but with Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics!

Notes

Just to clear something’s up real quick, this is both book and movie verse, wait don’t go
anywhere! It’s more book than movie I promise. I just used some of my favorite scenes and
or dialogue from the movie and used it where it made more sense in this story.

The tags seem scary but it’s mostly Henry dealing with the abuse from the crown, thus
comes the hurt/comfort. I plan to add more tags as I go but the ones stated apply to the story
as a whole so please make sure none of these are triggering and remember to take of
yourself if you decide to read!

This is also 100% self indulgent. I haven’t written in years, but with Alex and Henry I
couldn’t help it. That being said, this is not beta’d at all because I’m too shy to ask anyone
haha.

Please let me know if there’s any discrepancies or grammar mistakes. This is my first fic on
AO3 so please let me know if anything’s wonky.

The title is from Lykke Li’s song ‘Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone’ it’s so Henry
coded I could scream.

Thank you so much and happy reading!

 There’s a heart I cannot hide

June was unapologetically opinionated and passionate. She was going to school to be a journalist
so that she could share those opinions and back them with facts. Alex admired the fire that burned
in her eyes when she spoke about things that mattered to her, especially with Nora as they debated
on whatever topic their late-night hangout had landed on. There was only one thing she really
didn’t discuss, while Alex climbed the walls of his mind about what he would present as, June
never bothered. Ellen had made up her mind that June would be an Alpha and follow her mom's
footsteps in politics.

A wedge had been driven in their relationship when June stated that she would pursue journalism
instead. It had been tense and awkward, Alex had heard the muffled argument from his room
across the hall. June wasn’t backing down, (she never backed down from anything) especially
about what she would do with her life. Afterwards, when Alex heard muffled cries, he crossed the
hallway and scrambled into June's bed. Pulling her close and resting his head on hers. He didn’t
understand, he couldn’t wait to go into politics, wanting to be the youngest senator and change the
lives of people that were like him. He didn’t understand but he did respect his sister and the fire in
her eyes. He always would.

When June presented as an omega, Alex took care of her while her body settled into her new status.
His presence wasn’t unsettling as he hadn’t presented yet. At that moment he was just her brother,
and she needed his comfort and familiarness as everything in her life changed.

The first few days were the worst. Alex brought her food and water so that she didn’t have to leave
her room, he scrounged the house for the softest linens he could find so that she could build a nest.
He did everything he could and everything she asked, he was in uncharted and non-researched
territory. Setting cool washcloths across her forehead and neck as the fever raged. Pushed
applesauce and water into her hands when she shook from hunger and exhaustion. On the second
day when she didn’t want anything to do with anyone, he sat against her closed door with his laptop
and notebooks in front of him. Researching and writing and scribbling out words then writing some
more.

The American school system had tried to provide some education on omegas. Lessons that
consisted of phrases like, submissive and docile. Omegas were caretakers while betas and alphas
took on more leadership roles. Omegas of any gender could and according to some, should, get
pregnant. Omegas took up twenty percent of the population while alphas took up thirty percent.
Betas were more common, taking up the rest. While all three statuses consisted of both genders,
male omegas were rare, taking up only five percent of omegas.

Alex absorbed as much information as he could. He wanted to be there for June, and he wanted to
be educated on everything possible so he could do it proficiently. He read bibliographies on people
who had presented unexpectedly as omegas and what that meant for them. Read about the omega
rights movement from a couple of decades earlier. Took notes on which states had passed omega
positive laws and which hadn’t. Read on safe spaces and omega only businesses. The biology on
omega was fascinating to him. Reading that they were often softer where Alphas and betas weren’t
and that their hair and nails grew quicker. They also had a higher body temperature. Running
several degrees hotter. He skipped over information on heats knowing June would be seeing the
family doctor for that, and he really didn’t need to know what that entailed.

It was a couple hours shy of day three when his mom’s shoes appeared in his line of sight above
his notebook, he was writing in. He set the pen down before looking up at her angrily.
“I don’t want to hear it, Alex. Move so that I can speak with your sister.” Her voice wasn’t all
alpha, there was something else in there, regret? Anger? Alex couldn’t quite decipher.

He was disgruntled as he gathered his things and moved to his room. He couldn’t hear anything
from June's room which made his fingers twitch with anxiety. After an hour he decided to shower
and maybe sneak downstairs for a real meal. When he came out of the shower, Junes' door was
open and her room empty. Alex hesitantly crossed the threshold of the kitchen downstairs and was
met with his family at the dinner table. June didn’t seem upset as she ate something with substance
for the first time in three days. Alex sat next to her, and she smiled softly at him, ruffling his damp
curls and urging him to eat. As he shoveled homemade enchiladas in his mouth, conversation
ebbed and flowed. Nobody mentioned the last three days, so Alex kept quiet about it as well.

Alex presents two days after his eighteenth birthday and a week before he is expected at the 2016
Olympics in Rio. Alex presents as an alpha. It isn’t really a shock to anyone. He has all of the traits
and mannerisms of one. He’s argumentative, stubborn, and always challenging whoever he sees fit.
He tends to take control of whatever room he occupies, charming and loud, demanding attention
even if he doesn’t mean to. It was never a question of if, just when.

The days leading up to it are tense. He feels everyone holding their breath, waiting, hoping, he
presents as expected. He wants to argue about how well that went over the last time but doesn’t.
His head and muscles ache no matter how many hot showers he takes and there's an uncomfortable
buzz under his skin that even a two-mile run can’t fizzle out.

The next morning, Alex opens his eyes, and he knows. He knows. Without a single doubt. It feels
like all of his senses are dialed to eleven, and his muscles are sore.

Smell is the first one he notices because how can he not? He smells layers of scents, old books,
nutmeg, leather, and coffee. It’s sharp and burning in his nose. He realizes he’s smelling his own
scent, his Alpha scent. Something that is unique to him and only him.

There are areas around his neck, wrists and inner thighs that are aching. He takes his fingers and
lightly presses at one right where his neck meets his shoulder, the skin is burning, and the touch
sends a jolt down his spine. The smell gets more potent and oh. Those are his scent glands. He
thinks back to a few weeks ago and his moms three-hour long PowerPoint she made him sit
through. Everything On Presenting: understanding your biology.

His scent glands are areas on his body that emit his scent for others to smell. The glands by his
neck are where his mate will scent themselves and bite to create a bond. He inspects the ones on
his wrists, the ones that are supposedly the least sensitive. This is where family and friends can
scent to provide comfort and affection. He shoves the sheets (that wow, suddenly feel like
sandpaper on his legs) down to see the ones on each of his inner thighs. Shaking fingers graze them
and an embarrassing sound slips from Alex’s lips before he can stop it.

The scent glands here are by the far the most sensitive. This is where his mate will scent and bite
him during sex. A bond bite that lasts three days can be placed there as a way to claim without
claiming.

Warmth floods Alex’s stomach and sends an electric current to his balls. He lays back against his
bed and kicks the sheets the rest of the way off him. His cock is aching where it’s arched, and Alex
can see his knot for the first time like this. It’s at the base of his cock, the color a little darker than
the rest of his skin there. It’s swollen and he knows that it can, will swell bigger. He remembers
the horrible diagram in the PowerPoint, remembers the even more horrible words that left his
moms mouth, “swells to lock inside of an Omega’s channel to ensure maximum absorption of
sperm”.
He tries not to visibly shudder at the memory as his hand slides down his stomach and grazes the
head of his cock. He’s already leaking so much (he’s always leaked a lot but this), this is steadily
beading at the top and pooling over the ridge of his crown. It creates an amazing slick for him to
jerk with. He slides down and feels his knot, he can’t get his fingers all the way around it, so he
takes the rest of it in his hand. His entire body tenses and holy fuck. He squeezes experimentally
and his vision whites out.

Alex sincerely hopes that he’s being quiet, but he can’t tell because blood is rushing in his ears and
the only thing he can focus on is how good this feels. There’s pre-come running down his thighs
and it feels like every nerve ending is on fire.

His body feels brand new to him, his senses are overwhelming. He’s gasping and then gasping
some more because he can taste the arousal in his own scent. With one hand jerking his cock,
catching his knot on every up stroke, and his other hand wandering, then pushing that spot on his
thigh, he hurdles towards the edge. A rumble comes from his chest and that’s also new. All of it
quickly becomes too much and with one last squeeze, Alex comes.

And he comes. And he keeps coming. Wave after wave crashes over him and he’s shaking, rutting
against his bed. He tries to move his hand off his dick and ouch. That’s a very bad idea. His knot
throbs with nothing squeezing it. It's a stabbing pain that he’s certain no one warned him about. It
subsides once his grip is back around it, feels even better when he reaches down and squeezes with
the other hand. It doubles his grip and Alex is slightly worried he’s going to lose his eyes in the
back of his head where he's rolled them. He hears a distant curse, then a shout but it’s all fading
very fast as pleasure laps at his body like the ocean greets the shore.

It doesn’t ruin the trip to the Olympics. It takes three days for him to learn his body and how to
control it. Nora drops off some books and notes on anything she thinks Alex might need. She had
presented as an Alpha the year before. It was that and the fact that her and Alex were way too
similar that effectively ended their attempt at a romantic relationship. Once she presented and her
biology shifted, she wanted an omega. Even though he was still un-presented, they knew Alex
wasn’t going to be an omega.

Alex knows most of the information he reads over. The rumbling in his chest earlier is called (kill
him now) purring. It’s the body’s expression of happiness and contentment. Alphas purrs are lower
toned and tend to be more of a feeling than a sound. Omegas and betas purrs are more mid-toned.

He’s heard purr from others before; June when she settles between him and Nora on a movie night,
felt his mom’s when she would comfort him as a kid. It’s a weird sensation coming from his own
chest and one he’s not sure he’ll be used to anytime soon.

The flight to Rio is uneventful. June and Nora pry for all of fifteen minutes before Alex shoos them
off and shoves his head in one of June's stupid magazines. There’s a headline that catches his eye,
well more so the person the headline is about. Prince Henry of England’s birthday is three weeks
before Alex’s. He’s nineteen now and still un-presented. Alex thinks it’s kind of gross that a
magazine even has that information.

He’s always watched Henry's life through the pages of magazines. He remembers being thirteen
and tracing Henry’s sand colored hair, wondering what it would feel like in between his fingers. He
always admired how strong Henry looked, even as a teenager. There was no doubt in Alex’s mind
that Henry would be an alpha like his older brother. He was tall and broad shouldered, Alex
wondered just how his shoulders could be so wide when his waist wasn’t.

Seeing that blonde hair in real life sets Alex’s insides ablaze. Henry’s taller than him, (what the
fuck) and those damn shoulders stretch the blazer he’s wearing. Alex puts on his best smile and
approaches slowly, making sure to keep his scent in check and not pouring off of him. Something
that took him far too long to master. If Henry is still un-presented, -Alex refuses to assume
anybody’s designation after what June experienced- he won’t be able to smell Alex anyways. Still,
he feels the need to make sure he isn’t overpowering.

Henry’s nose scrunches anyway and Alex’s panics. He sticks a hand out, introduces himself and
hopes his face is calm and collected. Henry shakes his hand like it’s offensive and turns to the PPO
standing next to him.

“Can you get rid of him?”

Alex falters, dropping his defenses. There’s a bitter, acrid smell that he registers as his as he’s
escorted away. He doesn’t try to stop it now, letting his anger waft from him.
 There's a beat I can't deny
Chapter Notes

Not me figuring out how to format it correctly, sorry if the last chapter was a bit
wonky. This chapter is so dialogue-y and very much a filler so bare with me.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Three years later

Alex tugs at his collar where it presses irritatingly against the scent gland on his neck. He’s been
dreading this day since he scribbled it onto his calendar months ago. A royal wedding is as
ridiculous as it sounds. There’s a ridiculous champagne fountain next to an even more ridiculous,
massive cake. Alex marvels at it as he downs his fifth -maybe sixth? He’s not sure he stopped
counting when he started seeing double- glass of the bubbly beverage.

He notices a flash of blonde hair in his peripheral and whips around. There, just feet away, stands
his worst nightmare and mortal enemy. The Prince of England is somehow taller than Alex
remembers. Two days after the Olympics, Henry had presented as a beta, shocking everyone. The
palace announced it, and made a huge spectacle of it for days. It had made Alex’s skin crawl. He
would never understand why the royal family insisted on making personal things so not personal.

Earlier in the night he had watched deeply perturbed, as Henry led June to the dance floor. He
stared daggers the whole time, Nora pointing out the perfectly timed picture snapped of the two and
Alex’s blood had boiled.

Beta’s don’t have scents but Alex inhales deeply anyway. There’s nothing. Well, there’s a small
hint of something chemically and sharp. It stings and Alex has to itch his nose briefly to keep from
coughing. He sways a little before he thinks fuck it, and stumbles towards Henry.

His shoulders are set and he’s got the worst fake smile Alex has ever seen plastered on. He seems
half interested in the whole affair and Alex has to call his bluff.

“Do you ever get tired,” Alex starts, “of pretending you're above all this?”

Henry’s eyes find him and he sees the same flash of annoyance he saw all those years ago.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“I mean you’re out here making sure to get photographed dancing with my sister, who
conveniently happens to be an omega, then swanning around like you hate the attention you’re so
damn sure to draw to yourself.” Alex says. “You act like you’re too important to be anywhere,
ever. Doesn’t it get exhausting?”

“I’m …. A bit more complicated than that,” Henry admits.

“ Ha .”

“Oh,” Henry says, narrowing his eyes. “You’re drunk.”

“I'm just saying,” Alex says resting an overly friendly elbow on Henry’s shoulder, which only
accentuates Henry’s few inches he has on Alex.

“You could at least try to act like you’re having fun.”

Henry shrugs him off and pulls at the sleeve cuff of his suit.

“Maybe you should switch to water for the rest of the night. Have a good one, Alex.” Henry says
so infuriatingly nonchalantly and that’s it .

He’ll blame it on the champagne, rather than the anger he’s been holding since the Olympics,
when Henry had treated him so shitty he’d developed a complex. He’ll blame it on the cake not
being made sturdy enough. He’ll blame it on Henry because it is Henry’s fault. All of it. Alex has
been nothing but nice, cordial even, to him.

When it’s all said and done, buttercream is invading pretty much all of his scenes. There’s a lot
of gasps and oh . Henry’s face is bleeding. Through the overwhelmingly sweet smell of the cake,
the chemical smell is back. It’s even more bitter now, so much so that Alex gags, and oh god . He
won’t throw up, he won’t make this worse than it is.

The last thing that comes to mind before the terrifying thought that his mom is going to kill
him is ‘why does Henry smell so fucking sterile it’s burning his eyes?’

“Alex Claremont-Diaz proves that Alphas cannot regulate their mood and will always resort to
violence.”

“FSOTUS attacks Prince Henry at the royal wedding, shoving him into a $75,000 cake.”

“Alpha, Alex Claremont-Diaz violently attacks Beta, Prince Henry.”

His mom is all alpha when Alex walks into her office. There’s every newspaper from every
media outlet in the United States scattered on her desk. All of the titles are disgustingly offensive,
insinuating that Alex is just a stereotypical knot-head alpha that can’t control his temper and Henry
did nothing wrong. He doesn’t read any further because he doesn’t need to. He’s seen it all before.

“Henry shoved me!” He exclaims.

Ellen levels him with a glare and he withers in his chair.

His argument is futile, and he’s seeing the England skyline again far too soon. Nora and June
had sympathized with him for all of two seconds before they dove into a conversation Alex
couldn’t decipher if he tried, and he has tried, many times.

The flight is agonizing, Amy aggressively crotchets a blanket across from him. Her wife is an
Omega, so she’s constantly making blankets and clothing for her to nest with. Amy’s an Alpha, a
fucking scary one at that. Alex has heard rumors of her time in the service, and heard her supposed
kill count. She jokes with Alex about it all the time, though Alex suspects she’s not joking.
 He watches her weave colors and patterns, never missing a loop or stitch. Alex wishes he could
focus on something like that for longer than five seconds. His brain runs too fast, often leaving his
body behind. He’s not great at sleeping, can’t ever quite settle down. Nora’s tried scenting him,
June’s tried building him a nest, hoping to provide him some kind of reprieve. Both of those things
left him more antsy, a feeling so strong only running until his ankles bled made it stop.

Shaan Srivastava is a Beta. His scent is neutral when Alex pulls him into a hug. He hands Alex a
stack of papers, it’s the biggest and most extensive NDA he’s ever seen, and he’s seen a lot. He
wonders briefly what on earth could need this level of protection but shrugs it off as the royal
family being the overdramatic assholes they are.

Speaking of dramatic, Henry acts as if Alex ran over his dog when they’re shoved together for
a photo op. David is the dog's name if Alex remembers correctly.

“Hello, Alex,” Henry says, as Alex steps to his right side, it’s protocol apparently. “Nice to see
you sober.”

Oh so it’s like that?

“Only for you, Your Royal Highness.” He snarks as he jabs a not so friendly elbow into
Henry’s ribs before they aggressively shake hands.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

“I’d rather be waterboarded.” Henry says through the same fake smile Alex had seen at the
wedding.

A final few snaps of cameras and Alex is being led to the guest quarters in Kensington Palace.
The poorly decorated, offensively gold walls remind Alex of the White House. He can feel the
ghosts as they wander the hallways and the history that floats in the air like dust motes, even
though the rooms are pristine.

He calls Nora from the kitchen, his mind too loud for sleep.

“How’s it going?” She asks, her voice a comfort, even an ocean away.

“It’s… going I guess. The palace feels like a haunted museum. I’d show you but I think that
might violate the bible-like NDA I signed.”

Nora snorts, “That extensive, huh? I bet he has a secret love child, or he’s gay. Or he has a
secret gay love child.”

“It’s probably in case I see his equerry putting his batteries back in. There’s no way an actual
human is as insufferable as he is.” It’s harsh but Alex is irritated, and tired . God he’s so tired.

Why couldn’t Henry have come to America? Alex is going to be suffering from jet lag until he
dies. The alpha in him is agitated at the constant unfamiliarity of his surroundings. He feels so
uneasy that it morphs into a low simmering anger.

“It’ll be over soon, then you’ll be back home and we can catch up on the episodes of Jeopardy
 you’re missing.”

Jeopardy’s become a staple when Nora’s over. Alex and her watch for hours, shouting answers
over each other while June rolls her eyes and flips through another magazine.

The door to the kitchen creaks open and Alex scrambles to grip his phone before he drops it.

“Sorry, don’t mind me. Just grabbing some more batteries.” Henry’s voice is lacking the usual
bite, if anything he sounds bored.

“Were you eavesdropping on my conversation?” Alex accuses, hanging up on Nora before she
puts her very much not needed opinion in.

“Yes, ‘he said insufferably’.”

Henry rolls his eyes and moves to the freezer, rummaging around in it before he pulls out a box.

“I was out and I knew they’d have the guest kitchen stocked for you.” He’s unwrapping an ice
cream of some sort. Alex doesn’t really pay attention because the only ice cream he’ll eat is
Helados and he highly doubts those are readily available to him here.

Alex turns in his chair and really looks at the Prince for the first time since he ruined his
phone call. Henry looks tired, sleep clothes rumpled and eyes dark underneath. Alex wonders
briefly if this is a usual thing for him, late night wandering.

Alex tries to subtly scent the air, a force of habit more than anything, he doesn’t expect to find
anything, all he can smell is the terrible thing Henry’s eating and a more muted chemical smell.
The same one Alex has smelt only two other times, both coming from Henry.

Henry must notice his subtly anyways because he pulls the cardigan he’s wearing around his
body tighter.

As the conversation shifts to if Alex is even ready to pretend to tolerate Henry tomorrow, Alex
watches as he nervously shifts. He keeps pulling at the collar of his sleep shirt, and shifting his
weight back and forth as Alex snaps a picture of them, to post on Instagram. He can’t help but
notice just how uncomfortable his presence makes Henry. He’s not sure if he feels smug about it,
or a little bothered.

Chapter End Notes

Thank you!
 When it sings, when it lies
Chapter Summary

This chapter deals with death and grief, please take care!

Chapter Notes

I accidently created a slow burn. And you know what's funny about that? I can't
fucking stand slow burns lmao. This one isn't too slow though. I'd call it a simmer.

The interview is painful the next day, but Alex manages. His scent glands are aching and he still
hasn’t caught up to whatever sad excuse his sleep schedule is. He’d felt so uneasy after he escaped
the kitchen last night, his skin had crawled as he tossed and turned.

Henry looks worse for wear too, more so than Alex even. Whatever pill Shann hands him in the
car dulls his eyes (more, if that's even possible) and he retreats even further back into himself.

Alex only sees a flash of emotion in Henry, as he talks to a little girl in the cancer ward at the
hospital they finish the day at.

“Do you come here a lot?” He asks him later, as they move towards the elevator.

“A couple times a month, never with cameras though.” His eyebrows are furrowed and Alex
understands. It feels a bit dirty to be doing this for the cameras.

There’s something else in his eyes. Alex deciphers it as anxiety, and maybe a little bit of
sadness as well before he remembers that Henry’s dad died of cancer, probably in a hospital just
like the one they're currently in.

He’s about to change the subject to well anything that gets that look of Henry’s face, when
there’s a succession of loud pops. Alex feels terror wash down his spine so suddenly, that he
doesn’t even register Amy shoving him and Henry in a utility closet a few feet away.

They land in an uncomfortable heap of flailing limbs and curses.

“You’re crushing me.” Henry grits out as he shoves at Alex.

“Sorry I couldn’t see exactly where I was going when we were shoved in here.” Alex tries and
fails to move off of Henry. The small room is unforgiving to two grown men huddling for their
lives.

“Get off of me!”

“What do you think I’m trying to do!”

Alex tries desperately to find his footing, narrowly avoiding kneeing Henry as he scrambles to
sit beside him rather than on top of him. Once he’s on his ass and more acquainted with the mop
bucket next to him than the Prince, he sucks in a harsh breath.

His nose is absolutely assaulted by a sharp smell and he quickly scrambles around to make sure
they didn’t spill a bottle of the antiseptic cleaner that’s on the shelves next to Henry.

“It’s me.” It’s spoken so softly but they’re in a tiny room and Alex is right next to him.

Alex stares at him as he tries very diligently to breath in through his mouth but all that does is
make his stomach roll and he clamps his lips to fight the nausea.

“Christ, is it that bad?” Henry sounds ashamed rather than annoyed. He drops his chin and
raises his shoulders, while wrapping his arms tightly around his middle. Alex recognizes the action
for what it is. He’s scent guarding. Something that’s often done as an expression of fear, meant to
block or suppress one’s scent.

Alex hadn’t meant to make him feel ashamed. He’s more concerned than anything. Beta’s
usually don’t have a scent, if they do it’s very minuscule and not worth suppressing. Something
that strong can’t be healthy. He tries not to think about why that thought squeezes his heart.

“No!” He says a bit too loudly, there’s still hurried footsteps outside, so the coast isn’t cleared.
He softens his voice significantly before speaking again.

“It just caught me off guard, I have a sensitive nose.” He lies, pulling his lips in what he hopes
is a smile and not a grimace.

His instincts are shifting the longer they’re trapped in the confined space. His hearing sharpens,
and the hairs on his neck are raised. He can hear every shuddering breath that’s escaping Henry’s
trembling lips.

“Hey, I’m sure everything’s okay.” He whispers.

Henry scoffs, “I know that gun violence is a regular occurrence in America but it is
unprecedented here.”

Alex knows he’s bristling, knows that Henry is scared and thinks that Alex finds his scent
repulsive. Plus they’re not particularly fond of each other and they’re in close, uncomfortable ,
proximity with no end in sight. Alex decides that maybe silence is the best course of action, until
he can breath without his nose burning, and his scent glands throbbing.

“It’s the suppressants.”

Alex hums in acknowledgement.

“It’s an injection. It’s more potent and they have me on three doses.” Henry’s whispering, he
hasn’t dropped his shoulders but his arms are relaxing slightly.

For the first time in his life, Alex doesn’t know what to say. Beta’s having a scent at all is rare
let alone one that would need three doses of suppressants to mute.

He finds Henry’s face in the dim light, his eyes are trained on the door.

“I can usually keep it contained but I was startled when we-“

“Henry, we are currently in what’s potentially a life threatening situation. You absolutely do
not need to apologize for being or smelling scared. This is terrifying and your body is responding to
it as such.” Alex interrupts him because he can not have Henry thinking that this is something
that’s somehow his fault or something he needs to apologize for.

Henry looks uncomfortable, and not just because they’re in the predicament they are.

He clears his throat before saying softly, “About last night,”

Alex squeezes his eyes shut. He knows he should apologize for what he said. It’s partially what
kept him tossing and turning all night.

“Look I’m sorry-“

“Why do you dislike me so much?” Henry interrupts in a rush.

Alex’s mouth drops open.

“You really don’t remember being a prick to me at the Olympics?”

Henry stares at him, there’s no flicker of recognition or aha moment.

“The diving finals? I walked up to introduce myself, you shook my hand like I was diseased and
then asked Shaan ‘can you get rid of him’.”

Henry at least has the decency to look embarrassed.

“I didn’t realize you heard me.”

“I feel like you’re missing the point,” Alex says, “which is that it’s a douchey thing to say.”

“That’s understandable, is that all?”

Alex sighs, mostly through his mouth which causes another wave of nausea, not because of the
smell this time, but because of what he’s about to admit.

“What we do is fucking hard. But it’s harder when you’re the son of the first female president.
I’m not even white like she is, couldn’t pass for it if I tried. You were born into this and you’ve
been groomed into this flawless Prince fucking Charming. You’re a constant reminder of
everything I’m not and I’ll always be compared to someone else, no matter what I do, even if I
work twice as hard.”

Alex is breathing hard by the time his rant is over, and Henry looks at him.

“I can’t very much do anything about the rest. But I can admit I was in fact a prick that day. It’s
not an excuse but my father had passed fourteen months before, and my Gran was upset I hadn’t
presented yet, even if it was because I was so grief stricken my body had basically shut down. I
was a raging prick to everybody at the time. I am sorry.”

Before Alex can respond, Amy swings the door open.

“Threat neutralized. Some kid brought fireworks for his friend.” She explains and she grabs
Alex’s hand to help him to his feet.

He turns around and offers Henry his own hand. And maybe a truce as well. He’s not entirely
sure where they stand now, but he feels something shift when he pulls Henry up.
 They exit the hospital and Alex inhales the fresh air greedily. There’s another painful photo op
of a less than hostile handshake between the two of them.

“I’ll see you at my New Year’s party?” Alex asks him as he makes his way to the waiting car.

“I hate New Years.” Henry scrunches his nose.

“Great, I’ll see you then your majesty! Please for the love of all that is holy, wear a colored tie
if you insist on wearing a boring suit.” Alex winks as he slides into the back. The door is closed
and Henry’s left sputtering.

“It’s your royal highness.” He mumbles to the tail lights of the car Alex climbed in. His heart
feels a little lighter than normal. Henry blames the adrenaline from the earlier scare.

Arthur Fox was all alpha, he was charming and handsome, he commanded the attention of
anybody in his orbit. It was that very quality that drew Her Royal Highness Princess Catherine of
Wales to him. After Catherine evaded her protection detail to shove her way backstage and
commend his performance in a Henry V play, Arthur was immediately taken with the fierce,
omega Princess.

Catherine’s beta mother, Queen Mary, forbade their courtship. She forbade it all the way to the
altar, then to the hospital when Catherine gave birth to their first child. Forbade it most when
Arthur used every bit of his alpha DNA to deny Mary’s request to see their third, final, and
prematurely newborn child.

Henry George Edward James Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor was born two months early. He
didn’t cry when they cut him from his mother, or when they desperately tried to get air to pass his
tiny blue lips. In fact, they didn’t hear his tiny wail until the second month in the NICU.

Arthur held him close to his bare chest and shushed him, softly purring. Catherine was
napping on his shoulder after her skin to skin time with Henry. Arthur pressed a soft kiss to her
forehead before scenting the wiggling baby in his arms. He could only smell milk, baby powder,
and a soft, barely there, honey scent. A smell he often associated with Catherine.

He crooned softly and looked into Henry’s blue eyes. He knew it was impossible but it felt like
a secret was being passed between him and his son. He also knew it was impossible for anybody to
know a person's status before they presented, but the soft honey smell and the look his baby was
giving him was everything Arthur needed to know. His son was an omega.

When Henry’s father passed, the world stopped. Well, rather Henry’s world stopped. He’d
always had a different relationship with Arthur than his siblings, gravitating more towards him
than Catherine. Everyone found it odd given his mother was an omega and it was unusual for a pup
to bond better to the alpha parent. Arthur knew why though. Henry was an omega. A male omega
at that. Henry often sought solace in the comforting presence of his fathers alpha demeanor.

Henry would come to him in his study and curl up under Arthur’s favorite cardigan, holding
the garment up to his nose and drifting off to sleep on the old couch Arthur loved to read on.
Arthur indulged him all he could because he knew once Henry presented, life would be rough, and
The Crown would be unforgiving.
 So, he sheltered Henry in his study when Mary wanted him to attend a class on silverware
etiquette, or posture holding. He read books to him when he couldn’t sleep, and snuck him onto
movie sets to get him out of the gilded cage that had trapped his mother. Most importantly, he let
Henry be whoever he wanted and loved him even more for it. Something Henry would learn to
cherish for the rest of his life.

Arthur requested to receive end of life care at home rather than a hospital. Day in and day out
Henry watched as his father became less and less. At night when everyone else was sleeping,
Henry would crawl in the bed and lay next to his father, scenting him softly while placing a
tentative hand on his chest, to feel the slow rise and fall of it. Arthur would place his hand on top
of Henry’s, reassuring the silent question. He was still here. He would fight till the last breath.

It was an especially tumultuous day when that final breath came. Arthur refused food and water,
falling silent in the early hours of the morning and sleeping most of the day. They start fifteen
minute intervals of pain management medications, when he starts moaning softly in pain.

Henry didn’t leave his side at the end. He crawled up on the bed and laid next to him, scenting
him even though he smelled of bitter chemo and other medications. If Henry concentrated hard
enough, he could still smell the cedar and fresh rain scent his Father had always smelled like.

Arthur looked at Henry searchingly with his glazed over eyes. Henry had looked back at him,
memorizing the color of his eyes before he closed them forever. Arthur’s gaze stayed on Henry for
a few moments longer before he closed his eyes. Henry felt as if a secret had passed just between
the two of them. Though he wasn’t quite sure what.

Henry didn’t cry when he placed his hand on Arthur’s chest and Arthur made no move to
place his hand on top of his. He didn’t cry when Phillip abruptly left the room, tears shining bright
in his eyes. He didn’t cry when his mom became a ghost before his dad did.

Only when he replaced his hand with his head and didn’t feel the rise and fall, did he let the
tears come. He grasped at Arthur’s cardigan until he was pulled from his Father’s cold body.
 When it cheats, when it bribes
Chapter Summary

My poor Henry :/

Two days after returning to the palace from the 2016 Olympics, Henry woke up to damp sheets and
a cramping in his stomach so intense, he wondered briefly if his appendix had burst. His body
burned both with what he was sure was a triple digit fever, and something else. Liquid heat pooled
at the base of spine and licked around his hips to settle at his cock. There’s more dampness on his
thighs and oh. Oh fuck.

Shaan found him an hour later, crouched in front of the toilet violently heaving, as tears ran
down his face.

“I’m sorry. I can’t- I didn’t mean to. I can’t be-“ he sobbed, heaving some more as the
words got trapped in his throat. He was shaking so violently he wondered if his bones would
crumble under the pressure.

Shaan wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and passed a glass of water to him.

“It’s okay, your Royal Highness. I’ve got you.”

It was four days before his body stopped hurtling new sensations at him. It was another
two before he had to tell his family that he was in fact not an alpha but an omega. It’s the rest of his
life that he feels the crushing disappointment from everyone but his sister.

After Alex leaves London, Henry has a small bout of pseudo heat. It’s Shaan who informs
him of what it is. Henrys never had a heat. The chemicals he’s ingested and had injected into him
for three years had smothered any omeganess in him. His smell became sterile. He had no instincts
or pheromones to go off of and after the third round of triple dosed injections he’d lost his sense of
smell as well. He was a beta for all intents and purposes.

Except for now.

 He sweats under the collars of his dress shirts and when his scent overpowers the
injections abilities, he has to wear scent blocking patches. He also has several wet dreams about
Alex and has to replace his sheets daily, something he tries in vain not to think about.

Shaan eyes him wearily as his hands shake while they wait for an interview. He’s been
extra vigilant since he had begun to smell Henry over the suppressants.

“Can we expedite this?” Shaan asks and Henry’s forever grateful that his equerry knows
him as well as he does.

Back at the palace he sits in a cold bath after peeling off his clothes and the patches. His
glands are itchy, and they hurt. More so than the dull ache he’s used to, a side effect of his
suppressants. When he feels like his bones won’t melt from how hot his body is, he climbs out of
the tub and right into his bed. Clothes will only agitate him more.

There’s a soft knock on the door and Henry makes a noise he hopes sounds like an
acknowledgment. Shaan opens the door a crack and says, “Your Royal Highness, Her majesty has
requested you take another dose of suppressants, Cleo is with me if you are ready.”

Henry wishes -not for the first time in his life- for his body to succumb to the burning and
turn him to ashes. Of course, his Gran would make him take another injection. The three he is
already on, and the pill, aren’t working as well as they once were. The fact that he’s having a dry
heat is concerning.

He’s been on suppressants since he had to look his Gran in the eyes and tell her he was an
omega. She had looked at him with such disdain, Henry had wanted to die. Then he’d been
whisked away with palace doctors and pumped full of chemicals to suppress anything that remotely
exuded omega. His scent was taken from him before he even had the chance to learn it.

Nobody ever told him what side effects he should expect but he knows aching glands, and
the awful chemical smell in place of his scent, are a few of them.

The agony of his body trying to but being denied its natural instinct is debilitating some
days. Henry often has headaches and his glands ache so bad sometimes he wants to peel his skin
off.

“Let’s just get it over with.” He grumbles from underneath his sheets.
 Shaan ushers Cleo in -an omega and Henry’s nurse since he presented- and Henry sits up
enough to take the four injections. One in each arm and each side of his neck. They sting but he’s
used to it, Cleo is quick, never uttering a word. She sets more scent blocking patches and powder
at the foot of his bed before making a quick exit.

“You don’t have any more obligations to attend to today, Your Royal Highness, so you
don’t need to apply any blockers right now.”

Tears sting Henry’s eyes. Shaan has always taken care of him, going above and beyond for
him, especially when it came to anything pertaining to his designation.

“Thank you Shaan.” He whispers.

Shaan removes the blockers from his bed, opening a window on his way out.The smell of
rain replaces his scent in the room and calms him tremendously.

A couple minutes later there’s soft measured footsteps. Henry knows it’s his sister, Bea.
Shaan wouldn’t have told anyone without asking him first, but his sister has always had a sixth
sense when it came to Henry.

“Mind if I come in?” She asks from the doorway, another wonderful thing about her. She’s
very respectful of Henry’s space.

“If you don’t mind poor company.” Henry mumbles from beneath his covers.

“It’s always a party with you, crumpet.” She keeps her voice soft and stops at the foot of his
bed.

“How bad is it?” She asks.

“Enough to be annoying. Not enough to make me blissfully unaware of how annoying it

is.”

She places her hand on his ankle through the covers, squeezing it softly.
 “Do you want to be alone?”

Henry’s quiet for a few beats, his heart squeezing painfully in his chest.

“No, please stay.” He says quietly, shuffling over in silent invitation.

Bea wastes no time crawling to the bed. After Arthur passed and Henry had nightmares of
his unseeing eyes for weeks, Bea would crawl into bed and hold him until the morning. Henry did
the same for Bea after she returned home from rehab only to be haunted by the side effects of
overdosing and barely making it out alive.

Much like then, Henry clings to her now. Bea being a beta, -Henry being the only cruel
punchline of an omega joke- calms him. Everything about her is neutral and even if Henry could
smell, she wouldn’t have a scent.

She grabs his arm and starts massaging the gland on his wrist there. She can’t scent him, but the
sensation helps relax him all the same, the aching slightly subsiding as he drifts off into a restless
sleep.

The conversations with Alex become an escape for Henry. At first, it’s just messages that
are a welcome distraction during meetings and suit fittings, then it’s late-night phone calls about
turkeys and Henry’s comfort baking show. Then Alex calls on Christmas Eve and he sounds so
wrecked about his parents, that Henry has to bite his tongue to keep from crooning to comfort him.
His body’s natural reaction to someone close to him, -especially an alpha- in distress. He’s never
felt it so strong, and never had to try so hard to suppress it. By the time he hangs up, he’s panting
and trembling hard under the sheets of his bed. He falls into a fitful sleep and wakes up to damp
thighs.
 There is a war inside my core
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Henry really hates New Years. He didn’t always feel this way about the holiday, but after
his Father passed, everything had lost its magic. His father always let him decorate the boring
palace walls and cook comfort food. Besides, a new year with new beginnings didn’t seem to
matter if you weren’t allowed to decide the future for yourself. Henry wouldn’t have new
beginnings for himself, only for The Crown, and for his country.

It’s only after his best friend agrees to partake in the party, that he tells Alex to put him
down with a plus one.

Percy or more affectionately known as Pez, gives him shit for his outfit the whole ride
over.

“Alert the press, His Royal Highness has discovered patterns.”

Henry rolls his eyes, laughing. Pez is sure to turn heads with his pink hair and glittery
outfit. His cheekbones even have glitter on them.

“Are you ever not going to criticize my outfit choices?” He asks.

“Only when you decide to wear something not so utterly boring and shameful to your perky
arse.” Pez laughs at Henry’s undignified gasp, and the car they’re in comes to a stop at the White
House.

Henry squeezes his eyes shut and takes a few deep breaths.

“C’mon babes, I got you. We’ll find some nice American lads to stare at and maybe get
some vodka in you.” Pez grabs his hand and squeezes it, before pulling him out into the cool air.

Alex looks beautiful as the strobe lights dance over his curls and the sweat gives his face a
glow. Henry hides a shudder when Alex drags him over to a couch and begins explaining his
drunken activities over the holiday break. He’s telling Henry about a drinking game Nora and him
incorporated into their jeopardy watch parties, when a blonde drops herself right into Alex’s lap
and right in front of Henry’s face.

Henry can’t even smell what she is but if he had to guess, he would suspect omega.

Jealousy burns hot in Henry’s chest, and he swallows the nausea creeping up his throat.

“I’m gonna go dance!” Alex exclaims as he’s dragged away.

Henry makes his way to the bar and orders a shot, downing it quickly. Pez had slinked off
with Nora and June the second he introduced them. It was shocking to no one, how quick he fit
right in with the two women. Henry was glad for it, but now wished he had his loudmouth best
friend to take his mind off how badly he despised social gatherings.

A different, much louder mouth catches his attention as curls invade his peripheral vision.

“You don’t dance?” Alex is shouting, cheeks flushed and skin damp. Henry thanks every
deity he can think of, that his sense of smell is muted due to his suppressants. Though his mouth
still waters.

“Ballroom lessons didn’t exactly cover this.” He shouts back, and Alex is leaning closer to
him.

“It’s all in the hips, you gotta loosen up!” Alex says, hands landing on Henry’s hips.

His skin burns and his legs feel like jello. Henry wonders briefly if Alex’s fingerprints will
be burned into his skin, he hopes anyways.

When the countdown to midnight begins, Henry revels in the genuine joy he feels. He’s
with his friends and for the night he doesn’t have any worries. He can actually ring in the new year
happy.

Or so he thought. It isn’t happiness he feels as he watches the blonde girl from early kiss
Alex on the mouth. It’s a brief moment of horror as he watches a brunette girl do the same thing.
Alex isn’t exactly pushing them off and suddenly Henry can’t breathe. He needs air, needs to see
the stars, needs to not be anywhere near Alex.

Alex watches Henry disappears in the crowd of people surrounding him. He tries to follow
him but he’s being hugged, cameras shoved in his face so he can take pictures. It’s at least thirty
minutes before he’s able to stumble outside. He sees a figure under the trees in the garden and
sobers minimally.

“What’re you doing out here?” Henry startles where he’s standing. Alex thought for sure
Henry would smell him coming, people in New York can probably smell him with how much he’s
sweating.

“Looking for Orion,” Henry says.

Alex looks up, sees the sky covered in clouds.

“Sorry the commoners are boring you.”

“‘M not bored,” Henry grumbles. “What are you doing out here? You’ve got a whole room
of people waiting to get their hands on America's golden boy.” It sounds jealous to even Henry’s
ears so he can’t imagine Alex misinterpreting it.

“Says Prince fucking Charming,” Alex says, smirking.

Henry pinches his face and says, “Hardly.” Before looking back up.

“You didn’t really answer my question though.” Alex pushes, he can’t decipher the look in
Henry’s eyes, and he can’t ever leave well enough alone.

Henry thumps his head on the tree he’s leaning against and says, “You just can’t let things
go, can you?” He shuffles his feet before finishing, “Sometimes it gets a bit much, needed some
air.”

Alex makes a noise of understanding.

“It does smell like a mix of horny, booze and just unregulated pheromones in there.” Alex
laughs but Henry somehow looks more closed off.
 Alex moves closer to him, their shoulders brushing as they lean against the tree. Henry's
cheeks are flushed, his pupils dilated. He’s chewing on his lip while he watches Alex closely.

“D’you ever wonder who you’d be if you were an anonymous person in the world?” He
asks slowly.

“I was, once upon a time. Then my mom became president.”

They’re quiet for a while before the silence is physically hurting Alex.

“Who would you be?” He asks.

“I’d be a writer, living in Paris. Certainly, date more.”

“Yeah, because a Prince can’t get a date.” Alex says flippantly, rolling his eyes.

Henry snaps his mouth shut, furrowing his eyebrows.

“The people I can date don’t interest me, and the people that interest me, I can’t date.” He
says, eyes closed.

“Oh my god Henry I have no idea what you’re saying.” Alex is starting to shiver, it’s
snowing, and he’s only got his suit jacket to shield him.

“Christ you're as thick as it gets.” Henry snaps, pushing off the tree and into Alex’s space.

At once his hands are on Alex’s cheeks, holding him in place as he slots their lips together.
Alex’s too fast brain screeches to a halt, sputtering while all his reactions misfire. Then, Henry’s
fingers move up into Alex’s curls, gripping fervently as their tongues meet.

It takes Alex two seconds to work past the initial shock, finally melting in Henry’s grasp.
He pushes into the kiss, groaning softly. The alpha in him is roaring. His scent glands are tingling,
and his hands have a bruising grip on Henry’s waist.

He’s tasting Henry. He’s. Tasting. Henry. Tasting sweat, vodka, and something so sweet
underlying it all. Holy fuck.

But as quickly as they’re there, Henry’s lips are gone and he’s pushing Alex back with the
hands that are still currently in his hair.

“I’m sorry.” He stammers out, stumbling back and almost slipping in the snow.

Alex reaches out to steady him but Henry’s faster, gaining his footing and then stepping
further away. Alex is desperate but in a different way than he was a few seconds ago. Henry’s scent
is so bitter, his eyes are watering.

The liquor in Alex’s veins, and the fact that all of his blood was rushing decidedly not
towards his brain a few seconds ago, make his reactions slow. Henrys across the garden and up the
steps before he can take five steps. He’s slipping in a door and out of Alex’s view three steps later.

Alex stumbles and sits on a bench next to him. Snow begins to seep in the ass of his pants,
but he doesn’t care. The cold bites his skin and sobers him a little. His lips are tingling from their
kiss but all he can focus on is the smell.

It’s not the acrid sterile smell he’d gotten from Henry before. It’s sweeter, smelling like
burnt sugar and a little like a fruit Alex can’t quite put his finger on. It’s fading in the night air as
 the snow dampens it. The last few notes he inhales remind him of a plant that used to grow wild
outside his house in Texas. He remembers June calling it ‘honeysuckle’.

Chapter End Notes

Oop…
Thank you for reading! :)
 I hear it fight, I hear it roar
Chapter Summary

:/ more angst, but with a little spice

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Alex wakes with a pounding in his head so tremendous he thinks a percussion band would soothe
it. After he’d gotten his wits about himself last night, he’d gone looking for Henry. He’d found
June instead, arms around Nora as they giggled about the karaoke song choice of an NFL player,
who was butchering said song on the small stage setup.

They’d told him that Henry had grabbed Percy and left abruptly; they hadn’t pushed when Alex
seemed a little too disappointed by the fact. He’d left the party and gone up to his room, angrily
tugging out of his clothes and into his sheets.

Sleep evaded him for hours, his brain stuck on Henry’s voice and the look in his eyes
before he stuck his tongue down Alex’s throat and ruined him.

Alex has never really questioned himself or his sexuality. He grew up in a liberal
household where loving who you love was expected, not accepted. It was He likes women, likes
their femininity and perspective. He lovessex with women. Pleasing them with his fingers, tongue
and cock like he was born to do it. He’s never really thought about it with a man.

The one time he had gotten his hands on Liam’s cock hadn’t shattered his world or flipped
his perspective. Sure, it hadn’t been the straightest activity to partake in, but he’d come so hard
when Liam pressed on a spot under the head of his cock, he hadn’t possessed the cognitive power
to think of anything else.

When he makes a list in his head; wandering eyes after lacrosse practice in the locker room,
fixating on collarbones and sharp jaws, then, yeah okay, maybe he’s not all that straight. Maybe
he’s bisexual and maybe Henry is an asshole for leaving him with a sexuality crisis to work
through the first day of the new year.

Alex also feels something else besides a horrible hangover. It’s almost like an itch but he’s
not sure where. He stretches his limbs and feels a tugging in his lower stomach, creeping up and
settling right at his scent glands. Oh.

Henry’s definitely a massive asshole for leaving him with a sexuality crisis and a rut.

He hasn’t had a rut in months, but he knows what the come on feels like, and it’s only
amplified by his hangover.

With shaking hands, he pulls his sheets off and slides into a sitting position. Before he
stands, he shucks off his skewed dress shirt and pulls his socks off. When he finally makes it to the
bathroom, he slowly pulls his pants and underwear off, moaning softly as the fabric drags against
his sensitive cock.
 He’s achingly hard, pre-come dripping as he starts the water for a shower. He doesn’t know
how long he has before he's in full blown rut. This will only be his fourth one, seeing as that he
isn’t mated or even has a sexual partner. Ruts usually occur a couple of times a year unless you
have a mate, or your Omega triggers them more frequently. Alex’s had been even less frequent due
to the stress of college and not fucking up his mother's first presidential term.

The shower helps rid him of the alcohol smell seeping from his pores but doesn’t do
anything for his arousal. By the time he’s out and wrapping a towel around his waist, he’s about to
vibrate out of his skin. He locks his bedroom door and cracks his window before sending off a do
not disturb text to anybody who might bother him.

With the ghost of Henry’s lips on his and the thought of his long, deft finger in Alex’s hair, Alex
has his first of many orgasms. His knot is starting to make itself known, thrumming with need that
pools at his spine. He squeezes it once, teasing himself and spurting more pre-come as he throbs
with want.

He flips over on his stomach and groans into his pillow. His first orgasm hadn’t even taken
the edge off, if anything it had left him feeling cold and agitated. An unusual and very unpleasant
reaction Alex isn’t familiar with. He pulls his comforter over his head and tries his best to nestle in
the soft fabric that smells of just him.

The pseudo heat Henry had experienced when Alex left London couldn’t have prepared
him for the dry heat that hits him when he gets back from the disastrous New Year Eve party.

He has no one to blame but himself as he experiences the agony of a dry heat, alone. Cleo
had warned him of dry heats when he first presented and had gone into detail of the torturous
symptoms. He knows that kissing Alex is what set it off. He felt the slick rush from him the second
he pulled away from the most hypnotizing lips. Alex had honest to god growled and well. Henry
never really stood a chance.

He’d found Pez, tears brimming and pants dampening with his misfortune. Pez hadn’t hesitated to
bid farewell to Nora and June and grab his shaking hand to lead him outside.

The plane ride home was nothing short of a nightmare. Pez -in all hit beta glory- built
Henry a makeshift nest out of airplane blankets and the softest clothes he could find in either of
their luggage. He held Henry close as his body began to betray him with tremors and sounds
escaped his lips without his consent.

Now, back in his gilded cage, he’s in the thick of it. His body is positively pissed at the
sudden shift in his hormones, and he can’t have a proper heat to rebalance them, due to the
suppressants, so he just goes through what has got to be hell on earth.

His head is splitting in pain, and he’s thrown up twice due to the pain. The cramps are
more of an inconvenience than anything else. He’s producing copious amounts of slick, but the
thought of touching himself has him kneeling over the toilet again.

He desperately wants to nest. He’s never felt the urge so strongly in his life. His Gran had made it
very clear he was not to nest at all. She’d gone as far to make sure Kensington Palace was bare of
any nesting materials, no throw blankets, soft towels or rugs. Henry had never really wanted to nest
anyway, the suppressants muting that instinct as well. Henry had only experienced the nests Pez
had made for him in desperate times. They had soothed him minimally, but he appreciated the
attempts.
 With not a lot to work with, he rearranges his sheets and comforter into a pile in the middle
of his mattress. He settles in the middle of them before barricading himself with his pillows. A knot
grows in his throat, and he lets out a soft sob.

In the shameful thing he can’t even call a nest, that smells disgustingly of only himself,
Henry wonders what he did in his past life to endure such horrible torture.

Chapter End Notes

henry not being able to nest :/

 Go ahead, go ahead
Chapter Notes

Thank you guys so much for all the love on this. It means so much to me that
something I love is being received so well!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Henry kissed me at the New Year’s party.”

Nora’s right in the middle of cursing the Jeopardy answer she swears is wrong, when Alex
blurts it out. He’s been agonizing over the very thought for weeks. It’s Nora’s first night back from
spending some time with her family in another state, and he fears his brain is going to explode if he
doesn’t tell someone.

“Whoa, okay. Did you mean to say that? Because I’m 100 percent here for this discussion
but you kind of look like you want to puke your guts up.” Nora sets her half-eaten burrito down on
the table in front of her and wipes her fingers on a napkin.

Alex scoots to the edge of the couch cushion and buries his head in his hands.

“He disappeared after the countdown and the look on his face was just soul crushing, so I
just wanted to make sure he was okay. I found him in the garden and then he started talking all
philosophical like, and I couldn’t follow because I was so drunk. Then his lips were on mine, and
he was grabbing my hair in a way that made me understand the difference between rugby and
football.” Alex is rambling, tugging his hair harshly and looking up at Nora. “I mean, I don’t even
know if he’s gay, he goes on dates with girls all the time, and like I’m not gay either, I still like
women. But also, I can’t stop thinking about it and he won’t talk to me. He sticks his stupid royal
tongue down my throat, changing me irrevocably and then fucking ghosts me.”

Nora scoffs with an eye roll, before scooting closer to Alex and wrapping an arm around his
shoulders.

“First off, you can like both. I would know.” She jokes, nudging her shoulder against his.

Alex fixes her with a glare that has about the same effect a sad puppy would have.

“Just from my observations, because I’m always observing patterns and data, he’s gay.
He’s always been gay.”

Alex is getting more confused by the second and his brain has already spent so much
energy on being confused. He lets out an undistinguished whine.

Nora turns to face him completely, grabbing his hand and scenting his gland on his wrist.

“Why do you think those dates are always heavily photographed? They always seem to be
perfectly timed too. Around every three months he’s spotted with another beta girl and don’t even
get me started on the forced PDA. Henry always looks like he’d rather chew glass than kiss them.”

In another life, where they aren’t both political figures, and so similar it’s painful, Alex likes
to think he and Nora would’ve made it. She’s always known exactly what to say and how to handle
Alex when he’s in a downward spiral. In this life he’s eternally grateful for her friendship.

“He sent me into a rut.” Alex admits quietly.

Nora shoots up from where she’s sitting, almost head-butting Alex.

“Whoa, I thought he was a beta!” She exclaims.

“He is! I think it had more to do with the fact that I was having a full-blown sexual crisis.”

“Oh please, you’ve been wanting him to dick you down forever.” Nora snarks.

“What?”

“You’ve had a Joker-esque crush on him since you were thirteen.” She’s looking at him
like he’s the crazy one.

“I couldn’t stand him!”

“You couldn’t stand the fact that he didn’t succumb to the Diaz charm.”

“He was so rude to me at the Olympics, remember?”

“Thus, the enemies to lover's storyline was bo-“

“I hate you.” He gripes, standing and getting ready to make the dramatic exit Nora
deserves, but she grabs his hand.

“Stop, I’m only kidding. Regardless of the past, there’s obviously something there now.
What has you so shaken up? It can’t possibly be the bisexual thing because did you honestly think
jacking your guy friend off in high school was a straight thing to do?” She sounds exasperated, like
Alex is a code she hasn’t quite been able to crack and she’s five seconds from throttling him for it.

“I can get being low level into guys, what I can’t grasp is being into Henry. It’s Henry. The
fucking Prince of England.”

“Well Alejandro. You’ve never been one to subtly do… anything really. It’s not surprising
your bi awakening is with your once sworn enemy, who also happens to be a closeted Prince.”

Alex drops back onto the couch with a dramatic huff.

Henry can’t avoid him forever. The last part of their damage control deal is Henry
accompanying him to the state dinner. Which is tonight. Alex is trying desperately not to vibrate
out of his skin as he makes his rounds and shakes hands with people he doesn’t know. He’s always
been a charmer, it’s natural for him to fall into and out of conversations with ease.

June, Nora and he are gathered around their table, Nora’s explaining the origin of the
grossest appetizer Alex has ever seen when June places her hand on his arm.

“Dude, you’re shaking the whole table with your bouncing leg. What’s wrong?” She feigns
annoyance but Alex catches the glint of worry in her brown orbs.

“I’m fine, just had one too many cups of coffee while I was studying earlier.” It’s not a lie.
Alex was up all-night researching everything and anything about suppressant injections and why
on earth anybody would need to be on three doses of it. When dawn came, he was whisked away
for his suit fitting and pre-dinner responsibilities.

“I’m calling bullshit. And why can’t I smell you? Did you take suppressants?” She asks
incredulously.

Alex shushes her harshly, “It’s not unusual for people to mask their scents for these things.” He
explains.

“It’s unusual for you.” Her eyes are narrowing, and Alex feels sweat collecting at his shirt
collar.

Thankfully, it’s that moment that Henry walks in the room, cameras flashing while people
call for his attention. Alex’s mouth goes dry. Henry looks…good. Like, really fucking good.
Infuriatingly good. He’s got his shoulders squared and chin jutted out. His eyes are more cerulean
than Alex remembers, and his lips… Alex kind of wants to punch him in the mouth. With his
mouth. And maybe -no definitely- with his tongue.

Alex recruits Nora to help him get Henry away from the crowd. She’s all too happy to
oblige, singing something about a forbidden love as she makes her way over to where Henry’s
conversing with the someone who irritatingly isn’t Alex.

Next, he tells Amy he needs to speak to Henry in private. Her side eye is enough to
embarrass Alex but not discourage him. He’s been strategizing for weeks. Nothing short of the
fucking Prime Minister herself is gonna stop him now.

The red room isn’t exactly what he had in mind, but he’ll make it work. He paces, fixes his
tie, and unbuttons just to re-button his shirt while he waits for Henry. The scent patches are itching,
and he hates them. The idea crossed his mind in his three a.m research stupor. Since Henry is on
suppressants and can’t emit his natural smell, Alex figures it’s only fair he does the same. He
figures starting on a neutral ground should help.

The door opens and Henry peaks in. Alex’s heart jumps to his throat and he can’t hear
anything over the blood rushing in his ears. Holy fuck he’s nervous. His alpha instincts urge him to
stalk closer to Henry.

“I know I owe you an explanation. My behavior was appalling-“ Henry rambles as he

walks closer, and Alex really needs him to shut up.

“Oh my god stop talking.”

Alex ambushes him much like Henry did him in the garden all those nights ago. He grabs
his head, hands encompassing his ears as he presses his lips to Henry’s. Henry freezes and then
he’s shoving Alex’s hands off of him and stepping away.

“Wait a minute.” He gasps, eyes flitting over Alex’s face. He must find what he’s looking
for because then he’s diving back in.

One of his hands finds Alex’s waist while the other grasps the back of Alex’s head.
Alex’s hands are all over, gripping desperately at literally any piece of Henry he can get. He walks
them over to a small side table and presses Henry against it. Henry makes a noise so small and
fleeting that Alex can’t help but bite into the kiss.

This gets a louder reaction from Henry and Alex loses his grip on the last shred of self-
control he had. He grabs at Henry’s thigh, hoisting him up on table and pressing his palm were
 Henry’s impossibly hard. Henry sucks at Alex’s tongue before pulling back to pant harshly. As
Alex’s fingers are pulling at where his shirt is tucked, Amy calls from outside the door.

“Times up!”

Chapter End Notes

Going to try for two chapters today!

 Lay your head where it burns
Chapter Summary

Bit of a longer chapter for you all! Very sexual explicit content ahead!

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Henry has to slink away to the loo the second Alex and him leave the red room. He splashes cold
water on his face before glancing up at the mirror. His pupils are blown wide, and his lips are
swollen from Alex’s teeth. He gingerly reaches to feel the seat of his dress slacks which are
thankfully still dry. He’d taken his injection right before he boarded the plane to fly over to help
keep his body in check while in close proximity to Alex.

The very Alex that corners him the second he exits the loo, halting Henry from desperately seeking
alcohol to calm the buzzing under his skin.

“Come to my room on the second floor of the residence tonight, at midnight. You have to stay
away from me until then, or I’m going to cause another international scandal. One much, much
worse than the last.” Alex’s lips brush the shell of his ear as he speaks lowly in Henry’s ear.

Henry nods dumbly. His hole is fluttering, slick seeping out of it quickly and he swallows harshly.

Alex is disappearing down the corridor and Henry has to step back in the bathroom to stuff toilet
paper in his trousers.

He appears back at the dinner long enough to down a shot of vodka and eat a few bites of an
overcooked chicken breast. When he reaches his room, he has to strip out of his trousers and pants.
His heart races with knowledge that Alex wants to and is going to try to touch him tonight. Henrys
only dreamed about it since he saw his tan skin and wild curls when he was nineteen.

The reality of the situation washes down his spine like ice water. Alex can’t touch him, can’t see
him. Not where Henry wants him to the most. Not where Henry’s most vulnerable and intimate
secret lies. If Alex sees or feels his slick, smells even the barest hint of his omeganeess, it’ll all be
over. Henry’s ugliness will be drug into the light, will taint Alex where he touches him.

He rinses off in a cold shower, scrubbing his legs and making sure to slip a plug in his aching hole,
to stop the slick from going anywhere. This results in a small, fleeting orgasm that leaves his legs
shaking. It also blessedly takes the edge off and Henry’s able to finish prepping for his night with
Alex.

He pats scent concealer onto his glands before placing a patch over them, then he adds another
dusting of the powder on top, for extra protection. He changes his underwear and slips back into
his slacks from earlier and by the time he’s fixing his hair, it’s 11:54 and he’s going to be late.

Alex says that very thing before trying to shut the door in Henry’s face.

Henry stops it with his hand, shoving his way through before shutting it harder than he really
should at this hour. Alex kisses him more desperately than before, gripping at the back of Henry’s
suit jacket while shuffling backwards towards the loveseat in the middle of the room. He drops
down on the back of it, widening his legs for Henry to fit between while he unbuttons Alex’s shirt.

Alex is already rutting against Henry; small movements Henry doubts Alex even knows he’s
doing. He rubs Henry’s back and noses along his cheek. He’s so desperate for Henry’s touch it’s
intoxicating.

“You’ve been dodging me for weeks,” Alex growls, squeezing his knees where they bracket
Henry’s legs. “You gave me a sexuality crisis and then ghosted me.”

He’s still growling, and Henry’s knees are weak. He kind of wants to drop to Alex’s feet and
present which would definitely not be a very beta thing for him to do.

“Not something wise to pursue as a member of the royal family. And I wasn’t sure you weren’t
going to murder me for kissing you.” He quips, hoping his voice doesn’t shake.

“Then why’d you, do it?” Alex asks him, he’s still grinding his hips shamelessly against Henry.

Alex leans up and into Henry’s neck, dragging his lips over the sensitive skin behind his ear,
dangerously close to his patched gland. Henry holds his breath.

“Because I—I hoped you wouldn’t. Murder me. I had … suspicions you might want me too,”
Henry says. He hisses a little when Alex sucks lightly on the skin of his throat. “Or I thought, until
I saw you with those girls, and then I was … jealous … and I was drunk and an idiot who got sick
of waiting for the answer to present itself.” It’s a confession for all it's worth and it’s making his
throat ache with emotion.

The mood is uncomfortably heavy, so Henry shoves Alex over the back of the couch before he can
respond. He watches the shock on his face become lust almost instantly as he scrambles to sprawl
against the cushions. The alpha in Alex surely sees it for the challenge that it is.

Then, Henry’s over the back of the couch and between his legs, kissing and licking into Alex’s
mouth. He presses his thigh against Alex’s crotch, giving him the pressure, he’s been chasing since
Henry stepped in the room. Alex’s kisses are all consuming, he nips with his teeth and sucks on
Henry’s lips before delving his tongue to taste. His hips don’t stop either, he’s grinding against
Henry shamelessly, and it’s driving Henry insane.

He’s dominant for sure, but in an entirely different way than Henry’s experienced. Alex is chasing
his own pleasure while giving as good as he gets, something the alphas Henry’s been with had
failed to do.

Alex chases his lips when he moves them away, another small instinct that has Henry’s hole
clenching on the plug nestled in him. He would be pouring slick if it weren’t for the plug, but it’s
also pressing against his prostate with every shift of his hips. Alex doesn’t stop moving his hips,
rutting desperately against Henry’s thigh.

Henry has to force Alex back against the pillow when he tries to take over the kiss. He focuses on
his next destination, Alex’s neck. He’s about to lean in when he catches the matte finish of a scent
blocking patch over one of Alex’s glands. It tilts his focus off center only momentarily before
Alex’s voice brings him back.

For the first time in a romantic situation, Henry wishes he could smell. Alex is everywhere all at
once, writhing under him, grinding up against him. His intoxicating press of lips and his deep
timber in Henry’s ear. He wonders what Alex would smell like. How his scent would taste,
invading all his senses.

“When did you start to-“ Alex asks when Henry moves to press wet kisses to his neck, tasting the
sweat there.

“Fancy you?” He interrupts between smacking kisses, avoiding the patches.

“Yeah” Alex breathes, his hands under Henry’s suit jacket, burning his skin through shirt.

“Rio Olympics, diving finals, 2016.” He says, right against Alex’s ear before he presses a kiss
there.

“Whoa, you had a lot going on that night.”

“Mhm, tell me about it.” Henry replies, moving from Alex’s jaw to kiss down the planes of his
chest.

Alex’s chest hair is neatly groomed, a silver key on a chain resting in the valley of his sternum.
Henry lightly grazes his nipple with his lips before continuing his descent.

Alex is all muscles, lean and warm under Henry’s deft hands. His breaths are harsh and there’s a
rumble in his chest that’s almost a purr. Henry wants to press close until it’s all he can hear.

“I really thought you hated me.” Alex gasps out, his hands are resting on either side of his head,
fists clenching and unclenching, and Henry wants to pin him down by them.

He licks at Alex’s chiseled abdomen and says, “I hated how good you looked.” Before he’s
rucking Alex’s shirt up and out of the way.

Alex goes quiet as Henry unbuckles his belt and unzips his trousers, so Henry risks a glance up at
his face. Alex’s eyes aren’t on him, in fact, he’s looking at the ceiling and swallowing a breath.
Henry sucks on the skin right above the waistband of his jeans and Alex’s eyes flit back to him.
The fire that burns there is going to keep Henry warm for a long time.

Henry’s got his rapt attention when he yanks his pants down, just enough for Alex’s cock to spring
free. Henry’s mouth waters at the sight of Alex. He’s big, like most alphas, but thicker than any of
the ones Henry’s been with. His crown is red, and he’s weeping precome from the slit. Henry’s
eyes trace the prominent veins down to his knot. Fucking christ his knot. It’s nestled near the base,
flushed a dark purple color. It’s only a notch right now but the knowledge that it will swell because
of the pleasure Henry is giving Alex, has him reeling with a heady sense of power.

Henry involuntarily squeezes his legs together, shifting the plug against his prostate. He’s sweating
in his suit, and he can feel the squelch of his slick trying to escape his fluttering hole. Christ, he
doesn’t even have Alex in his mouth yet and he’s already thrumming with an approaching orgasm.

He decides to fix that last statement, locking eyes with Alex as he licks at the neglected head of his
cock. Alex watches him for all of two seconds before he’s squeezing his eyes shut and letting out a
breathy moan. Henry makes a throaty noise; the taste of Alex is quickly becoming Henry's new
favorite thing. It’s heady and slightly musky and all Alex.

Henry wraps his fingers around Alex’s knot, kneading it gently while he sucks at Alex’s slit. He
presses his tongue against it more firmly and Alex’s hips are lifting before he reaches a hand down
and fists it on the shoulder of Henry’s jacket.

“Oh fuck.” Alex whispers, pulling at the fabric.

That’s all the encouragement Henry needs. He squeezes Alex’s knot more firmly before finally
sinking his mouth down the rest of Alex.

Alex moans loudly, shifting his hips with a small thrust. Henry swallows a gag and takes him
deeper; his cock bumps the back of Henry’s throat and Henry moans before shoving his free hand
into his own trousers. Alex’s moves his grip to Henry’s hair, tugging heart shatteringly gently as
begins to fuck Henry’s mouth.

There are too many sensations for Henry to focus on and he thinks his heart would implode if he
could smell Alex on top of everything else. The plug rubbing feverishly against Henry’s prostate is
the best kind of agony and the sharp tug of his hair by Alex’s fingers keeps him grounded as he
fucks up into his own hand that’s slicked with Alex’s precum. All of those have him buzzing with
a kind of pleasure he’s never felt before, but the taste and weight of Alex’s pulsing cock in Henry’s
mouth is the best of them all.

“Fuck, H. I’m close, so close.” Alex babbles, slowing the thrusts of his hips to give Henry
the opportunity to pull off of him.

Henry’s absolutely not going to do that, thank you very much. He tightens his fingers around
Alex’s throbbing knot and swallows around Alex one more time.

Alex’s growls, thrusting one more harsh thrust that has Henry’s eyes watering. His knot blooms
under Henry’s fingers and he’s coming down Henry’s throat, choking him with his release. Alex
lets out a series of sinful whines, chasing the waves of pleasure that crash over his body.

Henry pumps his own cock relentlessly and when Alex’s taste floods his throat, he comes in his
pants like he’s thirteen again and just fantasized about one of Philip’s uni friends. His hole
clenches almost painfully on the plug.

He eases his mouth off of Alex when he starts trembling with aftershocks, but keeps his
fingers wrapped tightly around his knot. Alex comes back to himself slowly, whining one more
time when he sees Henry’s hand in his own pants.

“Fuck, give me a sec and I’ll get you off.” He pants.

Henry looks down bashfully and says, “There’s uh…no need.”

The confession has Alex whining again, a small, definitive, pearl of come dribbles from his cock as
he thrusts shallowly in Henry’s grip. It’ll take a while for Alex’s knot to come down, but Henry
doesn’t mind.

“At least let me taste you, I bet you’re dripping.”

And well, he is but not just from his cock. He’s slicked so much that it’s escaping beside the plug.
Jesus H Christ he’s so screwed.

Alex is still looking at him expectantly and Henry moves his hand out of his pants. Before he can
offer it to Alex, Alex is snatching him by the wrist and tugging his soiled fingers into his mouth.

They both moan, Alex appreciatively, and Henry in amazement as Alex cleans Henry’s hand.
“I’ve never tasted a guy before,” Alex admits softly while Henry’s heart shatters and his cock
jerks. “I think I like it.” And Henry collapses against him, still gripping his knot but otherwise no
longer mentally present as he floats from Alex's words.

Eventually Alex knot subsides, he tucks himself away and leans back, glancing over at Henry.
Henry’s sitting, one leg tucked under himself as he tries desperately not to nestle the plug any
deeper. He’s over sensitive as is, clasping his hands together to hide where they're shaking. He sees
the glint of the key and can’t help but ask, “what’s that?”.

Alex follows his line of sight and grasps the key with his fingers.

“It’s a key to my family's house in Austin, I started wearing it when we moved here.” He says with
a small smile.

Henry’s heart flutters at the wistful look in Alex’s eyes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever owned a key in my entire life.” He admits.

“No such thing as a locked door when you’re a Prince, I suppose.” Alex points out.

Henry bites back a scoff and settles on what he hopes is a laugh.

“You’d be surprised.”

Alex furrows his eyebrows for a second before shifting to sit on his haunches.

“Just to put it out there,” he starts.

“Yes?” Henry prompts, shifting forward and wanting to kick himself for how hopeful he sounds.

Alex looks nervous, something Henry’s never seen on him. He decides he doesn’t like it. Alex
should always be carefree and brash.

“I guess you could say,” another pause.

“I’m…bisexual. Yeah.” And if Henry didn’t know better, he’d think this is the first time Alex is
saying those words out loud.

Henry smiles softly and nods. “Noted.”

Alex is looking at him expectantly, so he fumbles out a poor comparison of a wooden pole
decorated with ribbons and flowers to his sexuality. But then Alex is laughing beautifully and
asking jokingly ‘are they known for their homosexual tendencies?’, so Henry thinks he’s gotten the
point across well enough.

The airy mood melts to something a little more intimate, when Alex grabs his hand softly and rubs
his thumb across Henry’s knuckles.

“I wouldn’t mind doing this again.” Alex admits softly, and Henry thinks he might die from the
hope that blooms violently in his chest.

If Henry wasn't Henry, wasn’t an omega locked in a gold gilded cage, and expected to live as
someone he wasn’t, he’d follow the hopeful feeling in his chest. He’d follow it all the way to
Alex’s eyes and his mouth, and he’d run away with it to protect it for the rest of his life. But Henry
is all of that, and betrothed to a country that doesn’t even know the real him. He can’t be hopeful.
It’s not allowed.
“Me neither,” he pulls his fingers from Alex’s grasp, “we just have to keep it very casual, of
course.” Alex almost looks disappointed, but Henry can’t smell him to know for sure.

Alex agrees flippantly, rambling about the press and because he’s insufferable and a self-projecting
idiot, Henry can’t help but blurt out “I just can’t afford for you to fall in love with me.”

Alex’s mouth drops in surprise and Henry braces for a punch because honestly, he deserves one.

Instead, he gets a pillow to the chest and an exasperated ‘get over yourself, your majesty!’.

Alex knows just what buttons to push, he always has. Though, in this instance they elicit very
different responses from Henry than usual.

“It’s Your Royal Highness! I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that.” He’s shoving
Alex back, and crawling to hover over him.

Alex is so willing and fucking there for it that Henry can’t help but kiss him. He feels Alex tighten
his legs from where he is between them and he has to stop before he blows it, or blows Alex. The
plug is shifting and about to slide out with how slick he is for Christ sake.

“I should probably get going.” He admits against Alex's lips.

Alex is staring so intently into Henry’s eyes that he feels exposed. He gives an aborted thrust just to
watch Henry’s eyes widen and his lips snag on his own teeth.

Henry kisses him one more time, sucking on his bottom lip for just a second. He bites a gasp when
he stands, and the plug almost slips out. He clenches on it in a desperate attempt to keep it in, while
he fixes his hair that Alex had positively ruined.

He moves to the door slowly, the thing is, he doesn’t want to leave. He wants to keep eliciting the
sweetest sounds from Alex. Wants to feel his tongue in his mouth and on his fingers again. But he
can’t. He can only live for the next clandestine meeting with him behind a locked door and away
from prying eyes.

“My mate Percy is holding a charity polo match next month in Windsor for his organization. I was
wondering if you might want to be my guest.” He asks Alex, twisting his signet ring as a nervous
tic.

Alex looks hopeful, then confused.

“I don’t know how to play polo.” He says and Henry can’t help but mess with him.

“I suppose that’ll be okay since I’ll be the one playing. And you’ll be watching. From the
sidelines.”

Alex flushes in embarrassment.

“That’s probably safer for everybody.”

The snarky conversation is enough to calm the fire burning in Henry, he thinks he’ll make it back
to his room without embarrassing himself. He stands at the door while buttoning his suit jacket.
Alex is watching him from the couch, hair still disheveled and dress shirt slipping off his shoulder.
Henry shakes his head and slips through the door, shutting it firmly behind him so he doesn’t storm
back in and make a huge Alex sized mistake.
Chapter End Notes

I can’t thank everyone enough! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and I wish
everyone a great week ahead as well!
 Even though it hurts, even though it scars
Chapter Summary

You guys thought a civil conversation about their situation was coming, right? Wrong.
But here’s some more explicit sexual content!

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

“Zahra said you wanted to go to Windsor for a charity polo match. I acted like I knew exactly why
you were suddenly passionate about geopolitical public relations, but I don’t think she believed
me.” June tells him over dinner one night.

Alex pops a dumpling in his mouth to prolong his answer. He had no problem pulling an
excuse out of his ass for his mom and Zahra, but this is June. He doesn’t like lying to June.

“Henry invited me. You know, as a friend. But like a real friend. Not an arranged, NDA
signing friend.” He stumbles through his explanation. It’s not a lie. It’s just the very top of the
entire reason.

June looks at him unconvincingly but blessedly drops it. She steals a piece of orange chicken from
him and goes on to rant about an interview that had gone astray.

Alex makes sure to wear scent patches again at the polo match. They become increasingly
uncomfortable as he sweats through his collar. It’s not hot but Henry is scorching as he flexes his
thighs and maneuvers his horse across the field. Competence has always made Alex’s knees weak,
but Henry manages to be competent and princely while he rides a fucking horse, ass bouncing and
in leather knee-high boots.

It's way too long before the match ends and he’s led to the stables by a PPO. His knot is throbbing,
and he wants to taste Henry like yesterday. He also needs to touch him and feel those fucking thigh
muscles flex beneath his hands.

It’s apparent in the way he slams Alex against the wall of the tack room that Henry feels the same
hunger burning in him. He almost blacks out when Henry whips a black cord from a hook to bind
the door closed.

“Fuck, you’re so hot. That outfit is terrible but it’s kind of doing it for me, jesus fuck.” He prattles
out, squeezing Henry’s hips tightly.

Henry shuts him up with his lips and runs his fingers through Alex’s curls before he grips them so
tightly Alex thinks he might burst into flames.

Alex walks them back towards a workbench, helping Henry up onto it and fitting between his legs.

“Wanna taste you. Need it. Been thinkin’ about it since last time.” His brain is trying to catch up to
his mouth, he should be embarrassed but Henry’s answering moan is all the encouragement he
needs.

Henry wraps his long legs around Alex, urging their clothed cocks against each other. Alex
indulges his grinding as he squeezes his hands up and down Henry’s thighs, curling his tongue
behind Henry’s teeth.

Henry’s starting to tug a little more feverishly at his curls, nipping at Alex’s lips.

Alex fumbles with Henry’s belt, he’s moving so desperately it’s hard to get a grip. He finally gets
his belt open, and button undone.

“Lift up for me sweetheart.” He says and Henry whines but does as he’s asked.

Alex hasn’t really seen a lot of cocks up close. He’s not sure his mutual masturbation
sessions with Liam can really count. That was a whole lot of fumbling under bed sheets and
chasing what felt good.

This, this is entirely different. Alex’s whole worldview has shifted to the precome dribbling out
and down the smooth stretch of skin over Henry’s shaft and oh. Alex didn’t even think about
America being the only country obsessed with circumcision. Henry is a beta, so he doesn’t have a
knot but Henry’s still big and Alex needs to know what he feels like on his tongue.

His analytical brain is overwhelmed with everything in front of him. There’s so much he needs to
take in and learn; like the way Henry’s brow is furrowed, and his bottom lips is cought between his
teeth. His hair is sweaty and mused from the helmet he was wearing and there’s more sweat
beading at his hairline. His fingers are tugging at Alex’s curls and he’s letting out breathy whines.

His eyes gleam with want when they meet Alex’s and it’s kind of infuriating how even overtaken
with desire, Henry’s so sure of what he wants and how he wants Alex to be the one to give it to him.
And because Alex is an alpha and well Alex, he loves the challenge. He can’t wait to find every
spot that makes Henry make those pretty noises.

“This is new to me sweetheart so I might need you to guide me.” Alex admits, rubbing his palms
along Henry’s thighs, the muscles flexing from Henry’s grinding.

Henry’s hips still and suddenly his hands are cradling Alex’s face so that he has no choice but to
look at him.

“We don’t have to-“ Henry starts, voice hoarse.

“No, I want to- “

“Your first time shouldn’t be in a tack room, and I’ve been riding a horse for the last few hours.”
Henry’s kind of panicking and Alex absolutely can’t have that.

He shoves out of Henry’s grip and grabs his jaw with his fingers. Henry stops talking but leaves his
mouth open in shock and something else. Something a lot like submission and Alex’s alpha is
drunk on the thought.

“I want this. It’s all of been able to think about. I just need you to tell me if it sucks.” He loosens
his grip.

“Sucking is kind of the po-“ Alex lets out indignant noise before he’s shoving Henry to drop back
on his elbows and moving towards his crotch.
All the snark is gone as Henry’s breathing picks up, hitching softly when Alex takes him in his
hand. He’s half hard and still leaking all over the place. Alex stills himself, focusing solely on
weight of Henry’s cock as he leans forward and gives a few kitten licks to the tip.

Henry crumples the rest of the way, his head hitting the work bench with a small thud.

“Christ, Alex, you should see yourself.” His hands are resting on either side of him, and Alex has a
thought.

He moves his hands to grasp Henry’s, placing them on his own head and squeezing his fingers,
encouraging Henry to grip his hair. Henry makes a strangled noise of understanding and tugs.

The sensation absolutely does something for Alex like he suspected it would, and he’s sinking his
mouth down on Henry in bliss. His tastebuds are flooded with a slightly sweet, slightly metallic
flavor, and he moans much like he did when he tasted Henry on his own fingers the last time.

Henry’s keening below him, writhing against Alex’s grip on his hips and tugging Alex’s hair
sharply. Alex is already addicted to seeing Henry lost in the pleasure he’s giving him. He’s eager to
see him when Alex gains experience and can push Henry to the edge with skilled precision.

He moves a hand from Henry’s hip to palm up his chest and rake his nails back down. Henry
arches his back and thrusts into Alex mouth once before stammering out an apology. Alex clocks
the reaction and mentally starts a list of things that make Henry react like that.

The alpha in Alex begins to push to the surface, his mind sharpening to the purpose of getting
Henry off and making sure he’s thorough in doing it. He lets out a growl that dissolves into a purr.
On his next inhale he gets Henry’s sweat and musk, and he can’t figure out why on earth Henry
thought that would be a bad thing, because his mouth floods with saliva, making the slip of
Henry’s cock easier and obscener.

Alex’s glands are throbbing under the patches, aching to push his pheromones through. His alpha
wanting desperately to show his attraction and want for Henry. His cock is so hard it hurts where
it’s pressing against the zipper of his jeans. He’d prepared for a hasty hook up. Forgoing underwear
for sake of time, but now the realization of how much he tends to leak and how he’s definitely
leaving the crotch of his jeans damp, makes him regret the decision just a little bit.

“Alex, m’close. You’re doing so good love.” And that’s fucking unfair because Alex might have a
small praise kink he just discovered, and suddenly his entire existence is dependent on getting
Henry to fall apart.

He can’t control his purring but judging by Henry’s moans he thinks it might be giving him an
advantage, the sensation undoubtedly vibrating his tongue where it’s pressing at Henry’s slit. He
doubles down, holding Henry’s hips down while sucking his cock down his throat as far as it will
go.

Henry tugs harshly at his curls, -the sharp pain melting Alex’s spine- and mewls loudly before
arching into Alex’s hold and spilling down his throat. Alex moans as he swallows his load, the
sweetness more potent in its purest form.

Henry’s eyes are closed when Alex looks up, after pulling off of him. His legs are dangling where
they bend at the knee, the rest of his body spread out on the work bench like a figment out of
Alex’s dirtiest imagination and Alex is pushing his jeans down and tugging on his cock before he
can stop himself.
The slick noises must catch Henry’s attention because suddenly he’s sitting up and looking at Alex
with such heat, Alex worries he might combust. Henry hastily tucks himself into his underwear,
doing up his button and belt before he’s dropping onto unsteady feet, then even more unsteady
knees at Alex’s feet.

“In my mouth, want you down my throat.” There’s gravel in Henry’s voice and then his mouth is
open, his tongue waiting.

And well. Alex can only explain the next sequence of events as a primal reaction.

A fire ignites in his chest, burning him from the inside out as his visions whites out and he
stumbles forward. Henry grabs his ass roughly, pulling him closer and blinking up at Alex like he
didn’t just rewrite Alex’s whole philosophy on ‘casual’ hookups in the span of five seconds.

The snarl that escapes from behind his teeth is absolutely guttural, seizing the air in the small
room. His vision whites out as he comes down Henry’s throat, and he has to muster up herculean
strength to keep from collapsing.

He’s not sure how time passes before he’s able regain his bearings. He opens his eyes to find
Henry still on his knees, eyes shiny as he looks up at Alex in wonderment. Somewhere in his
subconscious, he knew knotting wasn’t an option in their current predicament so they can part
quicker than the last time.

“Holy shit.” He breathes out, moving to help Henry off the floor.

Once they’re both on steadier feet, he finds the courage to ask Henry, “So? Not totally horrible?”

Henry snorts as he dusts his knees off.

“I think it’ll be a miracle if no one heard us.” He laughs but his eyes soften when they land on
Alex’s nervously pinched face.

“Darling, I’ll be looking back on this memory for months to come.” He admits, stepping forward
and kissing Alex’s swollen lips.

And yeah. Alex thinks it’ll be a miracle -or absolute tragedy- if he ever forgets the way Henry
looks spread out beneath him.

Henry does look back on that day. He analyses every second, picking his brain apart to try and
remember if he slipped up, or rather, if Alex noticed how hard Henry was trying not to slip up.

He’d held his breath when Alex hovered over his crotch. Willing him to assume any dampness was
sweat and any sweet smell was the polish from the tack room.

He couldn’t rely on his suppressants to mask those things completely anymore. After he’d boarded
the plane the day after the state dinner, he’d soaked through three pairs of trousers and two rolls of
wadded toilet paper. His stomach twisted with cramps so painful, they’d kept his head over a paper
bag. Shaan had watched over him worriedly, as he drifted in and out of a feverish consciousness the
whole flight.

It takes a week for his body to settle down and start accepting the suppressants again. The whole
time Alex is none the wiser and blissfully still under the assumption he’s hooking up with a
closeted beta Prince and not a fucking disaster of an omega trapped in a chemical warfare within
his own body.
Chapter End Notes

Serious inquiry! Do you guys prefer longer chapters with fewer updates or do you
prefer shorter chapters more frequently? Like one longer chapter every couple of days
or shorter ones in the same day? It’s the same content just paced differently! Pls let me
know! Thank you for reading ❤️
 Love me when it’s storms, love me when I fall
Chapter Summary

:0

Chapter Notes

Thank you for the feedback! Shorter more frequent chapters to start in the next few
days! Hope everyone had a gentle Monday <3

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Alex has never been subtle a day in his life, so slamming his laptop closed when June drops down
beside him doesn’t even get an eyebrow raise from her. He’s lying on his stomach on his bed,
hours into a deep dive research on the monarchy and it’s history of suppressant use.

“Dinner was three hours ago.” She tells him.

He looks back at his bedside clock in shock, the red numbers taunt him with Junes truth.

“Shit, sorry bug. I got caught up in school-“

“Mhm, and which of your law school classes are covering the British monarchy?”

“How long were you eavesdropping on me?” He snaps, then immediately pinches his face in
regret.

“Eavesdropping is the only way I can figure out what the hell is going on with you lately so forgive
me.” She moves to leave but Alex’s grabs her by the wrist.

“No, hey, Im sorry. I shouldn’t snap at you like.” He says, shifting to sit cries cross in front of her.

“You’re doing that thing where you light a fire under your ass for no reason. You’ve been holed up
in your room since you got back from Windsor, and when was the last time you drank water?”

“I’ve had-“

“Do not give me the coffee is made with water bullshit, Alex.” And that’s Junes I’m angry do not
try me voice.

After June presented as an omega, her big sister instincts increased tenfold. When Alex would cling
to her after a night of their parents fighting, she’d tuck him close and read her magazines to him,
doing the stupid quizzes with him and teasing him when he’d end up matched with a certain Prince.

Alex knows she stayed back to keep him from self-destructing. After he’d had an unfavorable
Snapchat get leaked his senior year of high school that led to a Fox News segment of how terrible
of a mother Ellen had to be for alex to turn out the way he was, June had found him face down in
the rose garden with vomit on his shirt, suffering from a serious case of alcohol poisoning.

She had tucked him in his bed for warmth and kept him awake, plying sips of water into him to
keep him hydrated as his body worked to purge the alcohol. He’d scared her so bad they both cried
when it was over and even though Alex was covered in sweat and smelled like an after party gone
wrong, June had pulled him close and cradled his throbbing head.

He swore to her it would never happen again but she’d made it her personal mission to make sure
he stayed true to his word. The guilt and shame still haunt him most nights.

“How long have you been seeing him?” She asks him presently.

She’s looking at him in a way that makes his throat ache with tears, her brown orbs shine with a
soft understanding she knows Alex desperately needs right now.

His mouth moves to explain but all that escaped is a sob.

“I wasn’t trying to keep it from you. It all happened so fast, and I didn’t even know I could like
men, and he’s not out so I was just trying to protect him.” The tears are coming in earnest and June
pulls him close while shushing him.

All of his pent-up fears and anxiety come spilling out of his eyes. Nora’s the only one he’s been
able to confide in and she’s been away at a camp for -her words not his- emerging technical
geniuses.

June knows Alex better than he knows himself and she’s always seen right through his casual
bravado, never flinching at the anxious mess underneath it.

Her scent blankets him and calms him significantly. She scents his wrist glands softly while she
waits for his mind to settle.

It’s sometime later when Alex doesn’t feel like he’s falling apart that she asks him, “so you thought
mutual jerk off sessions with your best friend in high school were a totally heterosexual hobby to
partake in?”

She laughs at the loud groan he lets out, before she throws an elbow into his ribs when he tries to
shove her off the bed.

Going to Paris to meet with Alex is a horrible idea. Going to Paris to meet Alex and lying about it
to his Gran and Philip is borderline suicidal, but Henry finds it hard to care when Alex is begging
him over email and promising to put his mouth to good use in just the way Henry wants him to.

So, they’re wine loose and stumbling down the streets of the City of Love. Then they’re stumbling
into Henry’s hotel room, biting kisses into lips and sucking hickies onto necks. It’s just them and
they’re able to be as loud as they want and Alex takes full advantage of that, grunting and moaning
and cursing when Henry looks up at him before swallowing him down. It’s all so good he forgets
to send Alex back to his hotel, so he stays the night because Henry forgets they also don’t do that.

He learns that while Alex is all frenetic energy during wakefulness, he sleeps in one spot and
doesn’t shift a whole lot during the night. Before he drifts off, he uses the last bit of restlessness to
rubs his feet together, ‘much like an overgrown cricket’ Henry had joked.
Alex had squawked and pinched his thigh, before explaining to Henry it was a tic he’d picked up
as a child that soothed him on night his parents yelling kept him awake. Henry had felt like a bit of
a jerk before Alex was pressing his cold toes against Henry’s calf’s and laughing at Henry’s
indignant squeal.

Henry’s chest is light in a way he’s not sure it ever has been, at least not since his dad died. In the
safety of the hotel room, they’re aloud to just be them, no expectations or appearances to keep up.

Henry swims towards consciousness slowly. Almost reaching the surface several times but sinking
back down in the warmth and comfort of the body pressed against him.

Alex is shirtless, and sleep-warm against Henry’s clothed back; one arm is wrapped around
Henry’s waist while the other is under the pillow his head rests on. Sleep is still pulling at him,
threatening to take him back under and he can’t think of a single reason to fight it, so he snuggles
back against Alex and begins to drift off.

Alex’s body has other ideas about sleep though, as it reacts to Henry pressing closer, his cock
stirring where it’s trapped between them. Henry feels the unmistakable hardness through the thin
cotton sleep pants he’s wearing, Alex having forgone pants to sleep in just his trousers, leaves little
to Henry’s imagination. He gives into the instinct and shifts so Alex’s cock can slot into the cleft of
Henry’s ass.

Alex stirs at the feeling and begins languidly thrusting against him. Both boys still have their eyes
closed, reaching for each other blindly and offering sleep soft pleasure. Henry’s starting to slick as
the friction from Alex’s clothed cock catches his rim just perfectly.

“Hm, baby.” Alex grumbles, his fingers sliding under the waistband of Henry’s pants.

The pet name makes Henry whimper softly and open his body to make more room for Alex’s
ministrations. Alex shifts closer, blanketing Henry’s back and tightening his arms around him.

Alex hums appreciatively against Henry’s neck, -lip’s dangerously close to the patch on his gland
there- before he finally slides his hand into Henry’s pants, fingertips teasing over the skin of
Henry’s hip as he moves to palm Henry’s bare asscheek.

They’re still moving against each other slowly, Alex squeezing his ass on more time before sliding
his fingers to replace where he can feel Henry’s hole fluttering against his cock. Henry moans,
chasing Alex’s fingers as they slide through the slipperiness of his slick. The pleasure Henry feels
is enough to drown in, bobbing him in waves of touches and the lips mouthing at his neck.

He moans again, this time in disappointment because Alex has stopped his fingers inches from
where Henry’s aching for them and actually Alex has stopped moving altogether, his body
stiffening and his chest sucking in a barely-there gasp.

Henry whines as he mourns what he’s sure was going to be a spectacular morning orgasm, until the
fog of sleepiness lifts from his brain and ice-cold understanding takes its place.

Alex’s fingers are damp where they’re stilled against Henry’s skin. Damp with Henry’s slick
because Henry is an omega, not a beta; and his very biology is raging where it’s being repressed
simply because Henry wants Alex. Because Henry’s omega wants Alex.

Henry’s omega is clawing from the depths of his core where it’s been forced to retreat in shame
and castrated with poison.
 The alpha that awoke it is shellshocked, -much like a soldier stepping on the trigger plate of a
landmine- realizing the detrimental consequences of his actions a bit too late.

Chapter End Notes

Soooooo. That happened.

We will be revisiting the convo with June, don’t worry!
Thank you for all of the lovely messages!
 Every time it breaks, every time it’s torn
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

The first night after Henry had presented he’d had the most vivid dream. A baby with eyes like his
staring back at him and a purring he’d only heard come from one chest his whole life. Then the
image of the baby dissolved, and his dads face took its place. Arthur’s eyes gleamed with an
understanding Henry wasn’t quite sure he himself possessed yet.

“You’re exactly who you need to be, duck.” His father said, his voice echoey and faint in Henry’s
dreamland.

He’d called Henry duck since he was a babe and they’d spend hours watching the ducks at the
pond near Kensington palace. Henry hadn’t heard the endearment in years.

“They’re disappointed in me.” He’d said.

“They’re scared of your brilliancy dear boy. You’re going to be the catalyst that changes this
family. I’m sorry that pressure has fallen on you.” Arthur’s voice was gentle but the look in his
eyes was prideful.

“I’m so proud of you, Hen. You’re becoming exactly who you need to be, don’t let them trap you
like they trapped your mum.”

Henry had woken in a cold sweat, Shaan by his side in an instant when the tears came.

The days after Henry told his family were agonizing. Blood draws and invasive exams. Test after
test that only provided the same result. The British monarchy had another omega in their bloodline
-Catherine being the only other one-. A rarity in and of itself without the fact that it was a male
omega, one having not been reported in the United Kingdom in five years prior.

Bea was the only one who had come and visited him in the clinical room he was being kept in.
She’d torn off the scent patches on his neck and wrists, examining the damage to his newly formed
scent glands.

“Christ.” She’d muttered before messaging them lightly to soothe the irritation.

She told Henry that their mum was unreachable somewhere in Africa, but that she’d be made
aware as soon as possible. It didn’t comfort him in the slightest, Catherine was as afraid of Mary as
the rest of them. She wouldn’t save him.

He was called to a meeting with Mary a week later. They’d sterilized as much of his scent as they
could before ushering him in the room.

Mary sat her desk, stirring a cup of tea before tapping the spoon against the rim and sighing.

“This is unprecedented and unfortunate. The Crown has a reputation to withhold, and I will not let
you or your selfish desires threaten that.”

So, this was a ‘you’re an omega and I know you’re gay and I couldn’t hate you more for it’ kind of
conversation.
“Understood your majesty.”

“You’ll be presented to the world as a beta. They’ll be disappointed but it’ll be nothing like the
backlash we’d face from you being an omega. You’ll began suppressants as a form of pheromone
therapy, we can’t have you smelling like one of them. And you won’t be aloud heats or any other
deviant omega desires, you might be inclined to have.”

Deviant.

One of them.

Disappointed.

So Henry left himself become a puppet. He took his Uni classes online and only made appearances
when necessary. He’d had a few sexual experiences before he presented, but none after. He was too
numb and too disgusted with himself.

He doesn’t remember getting out of the bed. The only thing he knows is his back is stinging from
where he’s slammed it against the wall and his ass is hurting from the fall to the ground afterwards.
In his haste he’d ripped the comforter on the bed to shield himself from Alex’s eyes but all it does
is create a tangled mess that traps his feet.

“Sweetheart, you gotta breath.” Alex is still across the room blood gushing from his nose as he
raises his hands in a placating gesture.

Why is Alex bleeding? Did he do that?

Henry tries to focus on what he’s saying but he feels like his head is underwater. Every sound is
muffled, and his chest burns from lack of oxygen. He claws at his diaphragm, willing it to expand
with a breath but all it does is stutter with gasps.

Black dots swim in his vision and suddenly nothing makes sense as the hotel room dips and sways.
He can’t see but he reaches for Alex anyways before his world dims and his cheekbone collides
with the carpet under him.

Alex has never felt so helpless in his life as he watches Henry gasp and wheeze on the floor. He
can’t imagine what’s going through his head and the look in his eyes is going to haunt Alex for the
rest of his life. His alpha is right under the surface of his skin, ripping at his chest to comfort an
omega in distress.

Then Henry’s reaching for Alex before his eyes roll back into his head and he slumps to the ground
like a puppet whose strings have been cut.

Alex curses as he launches himself over the bed and stumbles to stand in front of Henry. His body
is trembling where it lays and his breaths are shallow. The alpha in him is the only thing that stops
him from grabbing Amy from the hallway. Henry’s vulnerable, his identity has been stripped back
and exposed. He needs to be sheltered and protected. Another person -another alpha none the less-
intruding the room will only make things worse.
Henry had looked so scared as he yanked out of Alex’s arms, slamming the back of his head into
Alex’s nose before clambering off the bed. Pain had bloomed so quickly Alex couldn’t stop the
groan that escaped as he tried to stem the bleeding. Henry had looked like a trapped animal, legs
caught in the snare of the blanket he’d pulled with him.

After determining Henry’s unconscious but still breathing and probably not dying, he picks up his
phone and calls the one person he knows will be able to help.

“Alex it’s 1:30 in the morning, if you’re drunk dialing me I’m going to fucking kill you.” June
sounds exasperated and so irritated with him he’d find it funny if he wasn’t freaking the fuck out.

“Henrys passed out on the floor, and I think he’s still breathing but he hit his face when he fell, and
he also might’ve broken my nose.” He realizes none of the words make sense in the order he’s told
her but he can’t stop as his heart beats wildly in his chest.

“Whoa Alex. How much have you guys had to drink?”

“No. No. It’s not that. We were in bed a-and I might’ve inadvertently uncovered something Henry
was trying to hide from me, but I don’t know why he would hide it because he has to know it
doesn’t change what I-“

“Alex!” June exclaims, stopping his panicked ramble.

“Are you okay?” She asks him in a quieter voice.

“I. I think so? Wait. No. No, I’m not. I’m really confused, and kind of scared.” His nose is aching,
and he knows crying is only gonna make it worse, but he can’t stop. His alpha is roaring in his
chest, threatening to rip him apart.

“That’s okay. It’s okay to be scared. You can be scared but you also need to be okay because
Henry needs you right now. You need to make sure he’s okay.”

And yeah. Okay. He can do that. Henry needs him and Alex needs to make sure he’s okay. His
omega needs him and he can’t fail him.

His hand shakes as he wipes the blood from his face but he takes a sobering breath.

“Good job. Now, get a glass of water. I want you to drink the whole thing and then you need to fill
it again because Henry’s going to need water when he wakes up.”

Alex follows her instructions; her voice is a constant cadence of soothing words as he maneuvers
the hotel room on trembling legs.

“Hen. He’s shaking.” He shutters out, watching the body he’s only ever known as long and lean,
become small and curled in on itself.

“I’m sure it’s his hormones dropping from shock. Omegas are very in tune to their feelings so he’s
probably reeling a little bit. Get some pillows and anything warm you can find. Blankets, towels,
clothes. Just make sure whatever it is, it’s soft.”

Alex’s brain hurdles to a stop and he almost collapses against the mattress.

“H-how did you know? He never told me. I found out on accident after I-“

“I love you but please don’t finish that sentence. You’re my brother and that’s Henry’s business,
 not mine. I had an inkling that he wasn’t a beta when he danced with me at the wedding. I felt like
he was trying too hard to be something he wasn’t, but I just thought maybe it was the prince thing.
I only came to the conclusion after he sent you into a rut after New Years that he was definitely
hiding himself. I can imagine only at The Crowns request.”

Alex sits on the edge of the bed, his mind desperately trying to catch up and get a grip. The hand
not holding the phone comes up to tug harshly on his curls, as he tries desperately to ground
himself.

He’s supposed to be smart. He’s supposed to be an alpha. A good one. What kind of alpha doesn’t
realize they’re with an omega and not a beta? He’d thought the suppressants were just a weird
requirement from The Crown. It hadn’t really made sense, but Henry didn’t have a smell and they
hadn’t had penetrative sex yet so he wouldn’t notice any slick.

“Alex. I know this is a lot, but you cannot self-destruct right now.” June's voice pierces through his
self-deprecating spiral.

Alex shoves down every raw emotion and thought that isn’t going benefit the situation he’s in and
focuses on on the task at hand.

“Pillows. Blankets. Anything soft.” He repeats back.

“Yes. Don’t touch him but place those around him. Nests are comforting and pretty much a
necessity when omegas are crashing like he is.”

He gathers all of the pillows from the bed and every towel and blanket he can find. He also finds a
fluffy bathrobe and drapes it over Henry’s body. Then he rearranges the linens, being cautious not
to touch Henry as he wedges a pillow under his head.

“Now sit with him. He should be coming around. Make sure he drinks some water and most
importantly, listen to him when he wakes up. Pay attention to what he tells you. This is Henry.
Your Henry. You know him.”

Chapter End Notes

I hope this chapter lives up to everybody’s expectations. I was stressing the whole time
I wrote it haha. The next one will be better. Hope everyone has a wonderful day and
thank you for reading! <3
 Love me like I’m not made of stone
Chapter Summary

Screaming crying throwing up

Chapter Notes

I would die for every single one of you sweet angels that love this story just as much
as I do! Hope everyone had a good day <3

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Henry’s second journey to consciousness of the day is significantly less pleasant than the first. His
cheek throbs and his stomach rolls with waves of nausea. His body aches from the unforgiving
floor and there’s a cold wetness on the seat of his pants from his earlier slick. He’s grateful for
whatever is covering him, it’s soft and warm but he can’t help but shiver as a swell of anxiety rises
in his chest.

There’s shuffling somewhere near him and he whines. There’s an itch burning under his skin and
an uneasiness settling in his bones. With a hurculean effort, he wills his eyes to flutter open.

The hotel room from Paris comes into focus and a head of curls catches his attention.

Alex is in front of him, hugging his knees to his chest and resting his head on his arms. There’s a
bit of dried blood under his nose and both of his eyes are starting to shadow with bruises from
Henry’s head. Another whine slips out and Alex shushes him quietly.

“I think we’ve established you’re more hardheaded than me.” He whispers to Henry with a small
smile.

It all comes back to him as he stares into Alex eyes. Panic washes down his spine and he lurches
from the pillows that are barricading him.

“Hey, hey, hey. You’re okay. You’re safe. It’s just me, Henry.” Alex turns his arms out and tilts his
head, showing his glands in a submissive manner.

Henry’s eyes flit over him anxiously.

“It’s just us sweetheart. You’re okay.”

Henry pulls what he now can see is a bathrobe, up to his chin and closes his eyes.

His gran is going to kill him. He’s gone and done the very thing she’d warned him against. He’s
ruined everything and now everyone’s going to the know that the Prince of England is a weak,
despicable-

“Don’t ever say that again.” There’s a hint of an alpha command in Alex’s voice and Henry’s eyes
open to find brown ones staring so fiercely at him he wonders if he’s going to faint from the
intensity.

He didn’t mean to say those thoughts out loud but the small amount of control he’s allowed over
his body is slipping through his fingertips.

“You might have questionable taste in color schemes when it comes to clothing, and you might be
insufferable about most things pertaining to English literature, but you are not weak, and you are
not despicable and if you ever say that in front of me again, we’re going to have matching black
eyes.” Alex would rather die than inflict anymore hurt on Henry but he needs to him to listen.

Alex’s voice is shaking and Henry can’t stop the sob that bubbles up his throat.

“You must hate me.” Henry cries miserably.

“Did you not hear a word I just said?”

“I’ve lied and deceived you for months, I’ve led you to believe I’m someone-“

“And why did you do that?” Alex’s asks.

Henry’s mouth drops open as he sputters for an answer.

“I can only assume it has something to do with old, white, slag that probably can’t tell her mouth
from her asshole because of all the bullshit she spews.”

Henry’s eyes are comically wide, and Alex can’t help but shuffle a little closer to him.

“You’ve shown me so much of yourself these past months. I know how you like your tea in the
mornings and which walking route you take David on in the mornings. I know you’re favorite tv
show is bake off because the music and colors comfort you. I know that you wear your dad's
cardigan on the days you wanna feel closer to him and that you’ve annotated your copy of Pride
and Prejudice at least four times since we’ve started talking. I know that you’re trapped in a prison
with people who are supposed to love and care for you but instead all they do is hide you away and
force you to play a part you’ve never wanted.

“And most importantly I know that you would only withhold information from me because you
have to or you’re not ready for me to know it. I could never hate you for either of those reasons
Hen, you have to know that.” Alex is pleading with him, staying just out of reach for Henry’s sake,
but still making sure his focus is on him.

Henrys spent every waking moment since his dad passed building a fortress around his battered
heart. He’s meticulously placed every brick to ensure nothing and no one could slip through.

A wrecking ball with a chin dimple and wild curls had set ruin to it like it was made of feathers.

Henry can’t stand the distance any longer, something primal in him claws its way towards Alex
and he’s ignored it long enough. He’s going to let himself have this, if even just for this moment.

Alex’s doesn’t waver an inch when Henry slams into him. He claws at any part of Alex he can
reach, whining and pressing his forehead against Alex’s, careful of his bruised nose.

“I got you. I got you baby.” Alex reassures him, pressing his lips to the corner of Henry’s mouth.
 Alex isn’t sure how long they stay wrapped around each other on the floor. He’s purring softly and
carding his fingers through Henry’s hair as his legs go numb and his nose throbs.

“I’m sorry I hurt you.” Henry says quietly from where his head is resting on Alex’s chest.

“Don’t apologize. You were scared. I’m sorry I put you in that predicament.” Alex had been
silently berating himself since he’d taken up vigil at Henry’s side.

“I started it. And I wanted it. Wanted you.” Henry mumbles.

He starts shifting uncomfortably so Alex asks “Want to move to the bed sweetheart?”

Henry fists the robe closer to his body.

“I’d actually prefer to clean up if it’s all the same.” Alex hums and rubs his hand down Henry’s
shoulder.

“Let’s get you up then. Slowly.”

Once standing, he leaves Henry to gets his bearings while he starts a warm bath for him. He
glances in the mirror and grimaces, the medias gonna love him if Zarah doesn’t kill him first.

He strides back into the room to find Henry standing in front of the linens Alex had placed around
him.

“Not too bad for my first nest, huh?” He smiles.

Henry continues to stare at it.

“I’ve never had a nest.” He admits softly and Alex feels his heart shatter, inside his chest his alpha
croons sadly for his neglected omega.

Henry moves towards the bathroom, glancing back at Alex when he doesn’t follow.

“Will you sit with me?”

“Of course, baby.” He says, slotting their hands together and following behind Henry.

Chapter End Notes

I’m so tired I typed half of this with only one eye open, forgive any glaring spelling or
grammar mistakes.
 A devils hand across my heart
Chapter Summary

what do we want?
penetrative sex!
when are we getting it?
…..

ⁱⁿ ᵃ ᶠᵉʷ ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳˢ ⁱ ˢʷᵉᵃʳ

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Henry stares in the mirror at his sore cheek, it’s red and swollen but not bruised so he takes that as
a win. Alex sits down on the closed lid of the toilet and stares at his clasped hands. Henry watches
him in the mirror and rolls his eyes at Alex’s poor attempt at subtly.

“Not what I meant when I said sit with me.” Henry tells him as turns to look at him.

Alex stares up at him for a few seconds before blushing.

“I didn’t want to assume.” He grumbles and Henry feels a smile spread over his lips for the first
time today.

Alex moves to stand in front of Henry, his eyes searching anxiously over his face. Henry
understands his hesitancy and grabs Alex’s hand softly before moving it to the hem of Henry’s
sleep shirt. Henry feels that same swell in his chest from earlier. It feels a lot like anxiety but
there’s an unfamiliar pull accompanying it. He follows the pull where it leads to Alex.

Alex’s hands shake as they grip the shirt and pull it over Henry’s head. Henry shivers in the cool
air and goosebumps raise all along his skin. Alex’s eyes are on his chest, then his neck, where the
scent patches are. Henry guides Alex’s hand again to the patch, closing his eyes and nodding
gently at the question in Alex’s eyes.

The pull of the patch makes Henry wince and Alex croons softly to soothe him, throwing the patch
to the side and gently smoothing his fingers over his agitated scent gland.

“How often do you wear these?” He asks Henry quietly.

“Anytime I’m expected. The only time I forgo them is when I’m home and I know I won’t be in
the public for a period of time.”

An unhappy grumble comes from Alex and Henry opens his eyes to find a disgruntled alpha
staring back.

“You don’t have to wear these around me anymore. I’ve been climbing the walls wanting to smell
you. I got a taste of it at New Years, under the suppressants I could smell something soft and sweet.
I need to smell it again.” Henry’s not sure Alex even realizes what he’s doing, but there’s slick
starting to ease out of Henry’s hole again.
“Okay.” He tells him quietly, mostly to soothe the angry pinch of his eyebrow.

Alex’s fingers rest at the waistband of Henry’s sleep pants while he presses his forehead to
Henry’s. Henry urges him softly with a press of his lips and a shift of his hips, so Alex slowly
slides his sleep pants and trousers down, squatting to help Henry step out of them. His hands
squeeze Henry’s calves on their way back up, and Henry rests his hands on Alex’s shoulders,
giving his own minute squeezes to reassure Alex his touches are welcome.

The scent glands on Henry’s thighs ache the most when alex uncovers them, he pulls the once’s
from his wrists himself.

He eyes Alex’s own patches and Alex gives him a slight nod.

“How often do you wear yours?” Henry asks.

Alex’s swallows nervously and shifts his feet, refusing to meet Henry’s eyes as he says “Only
when I’m with you. I figured since you’re on suppressants it’s only fair that I neutralize my smell
as well.”

Henry feels tears sting his eyes for the third time in an hour and he lets out a soft laugh.

“You’re incredible, you know that?” He tells Alex.

Alex flushes but Henry sees the way he sticks his chest out in pride.

“I wanted you to feel safe around me.”

Henry makes a soft noise before he buries his face in Alex’s neck.

“The waters getting cold.” Alex murmurs against his hair.

Henry only has to reassure him three times that he wants Alex to sit with him in the bath. Alex still
eyes him wearily when he scoots back and makes room for Henry to fit between his legs. Henry
moans softly at the temperature of the water when he sinks in, before leaning back to rest on Alex’s
chest.

Alex’s alpha starts purring before he can stop it, but the soft, dreamy sigh Henry lets out
encourages him to purr a little louder, eager to give Henry whatever he wants.

“I made sure the soap was unscented so it didn’t bother you.” He tells Henry quietly as he rubs
suds across Henry’s stupidly massive shoulders.

“Thank you. I uhm. I actually can’t smell anymore… so.” He shrugs his shoulders and Alex stills
his movements.

“Anymore…?”

“I think it’s a side effect of the suppressants.” Henry tells him and yeah. They have a lot to talk
about, don’t they?

So that’s exactly what they do.

In cooling water, Henry tells Alex about his presentation and the invasive tests that followed. He
tells him how Mary made it clear that a homosexual, male omega had no place in the royal family,
and he would spend the rest of his days being not. He tells him about the shots and the pills, how
 they burn and give him the awful chemical smell that had choked Alex in the closet, all those
months ago.

He tells him about Philips Uni friends and how they loved fucking him in secret in cars, and dorm
rooms. How they always bristled at the NDA and never called him afterwards.

He tells him about the lack of omega instincts he has and how he can’t use his nose to make up for
it. How he isn’t allowed to nest but also rarely has the urge to anyways. He tells him how-

“You’ve never had a heat?” Alex sounds hysterical and the water sloshes in the tub as he shifts to
look at Henry’s face over his shoulder.

Henry tucks his head as shame burns his cheeks a bright red.

“Hey, no. Baby, don’t do that. I’m sorry. I’m not shaming you. I’m concerned. Heats are to help
balance and regulate your hormones. Unregulated heats can be so dangerous, I can’t imagine never
having one at all is safe.” He tells him, running his hands up and down Henry’s back.

“I had a pseudo one after you left London the first time, and a dry one after New Years.” He
mumbles.

Alex makes a disgruntled sound.

“Sweetheart, that’s your body trying to tell you something.”

It’s all too heavy and the tension is suffocating so Henry says, “Yeah. Telling me how bad I need
you in me. I agree with it, by the way.” And he laughs at the scandalized noise from Alex.

Chapter End Notes

Help I can’t stop picturing first Prince with wings

Thank you so much for all of the kudos and comments and just overall love on this
story. I was feeling a bit discouraged with the last few chapters but I see all the support
and remember what it’s all for. ♡
 As we dance through the dark
Chapter Summary

*muffled screaming*

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Alex gives Henry some time in the bath by himself because he knows Henry has feel pretty raw
and stripped back. He’s told Alex everything he’s been forced to keep bottled in his chest for years.
Now, Alex will gladly shoulder the weight to give Henry a much-deserved reprieve.

He makes Henry promise not to fall asleep in the bath before he leaves, cracking the door only a
little to give Henry some privacy. He wraps himself in the robe he’d placed on Henry and goes
about order room service. They haven’t eaten since the night before and a glance at the bedside
table tells Alex that’s been 18 hours ago.

His alpha is all too happy with the task of caring for his omega so, he orders a spread of fresh fruit
and what he hopes is pastries but he’s not fluent in French so he’s really just assuming. He also
adds a teapot worth of earl grey tea and requests they steep it in extra hot water, so Henry has all
the time he needs without it getting cold.

After the food aspect of his plan is squared away, he slips out into the hall and finds Amy.

“What in the fuck happened to your face?” She admonishes, tilting his chin up to look closer.

Alex winces and pulls away before he squeaks out a “I tripped.”

Amy fixes him with a familiar ‘I’m not dumb and you’re not smart’ look, before rolling her eyes.
She opens her mouth to say something else, but Alex interrupts her.

“Can you get some more linens sent up to the room? Preferably comforters and some more of their
bathrobes. Oh! And some more pillows. Like, a lot of pillows.” He asks like he’s simply
requesting more toilet paper and not an ample amount of pillow fort materials.

“I honestly don’t even want to know. I’ll have it at your door in five minutes.” She says turning to
walk away before she stops in her tracks and turns to him.

“And tell the prince that usually when people want to be slapped during sex, they don’t mean hard
enough to black their eyes.”

She laughs the whole way down the hallways at Alex’s dropped jaw.

Alex slips back in the room to find Henry lying stark naked in the middle of the queen-sized bed,
looking like an oil painting from the Louvre and also Alex’s best wet dream.

He must make a noise because Henry stretches his long, long legs and looks up at him with a small
smile. Alex’s legs are moving on their own and he’s tumbling down onto the very edge of
mattress, silently asking for permission to precede any closer to Henry. His alpha ready to grovel
and beg to be able to touch the miles of porcelain skin in front of him.

Henry nods, reaching a hand out which Alex takes readily and moves to hover over him.

He searches Henry’s eyes and find a million emotions swirling, fear and anxiety, but also relief and
something else that Alex can’t quite put his finger on. He knows whatever it is, it doesn’t feel very
“casual”.

Henry takes a hand and lightly scratches Alex’s nape before curling his fingers in the birds nest
resembling Alex’s hair. He’d done a number on his curls with his anxious tugging from earlier.

A light pleased moan leaves his mouth as he closes his eyes and finds Henry’s lips with his own.
Henry makes a noise of his own as he moves his legs to bracket Alex’s hips with his knees. Alex’s
feels the wet press of Henry’s tongue on the seam of his lips and just as he’s parting his lips for
Henry to continue, there’s a sharp knock at the door. Henry tenses before Alex presses a few
soothing kisses to his cheek and neck.

“I ordered room service; you need to eat.” He tells him, shuffling down the bed to step away, tying
the robe over the emerging bulge at his crotch.

He looks through the peephole and finds Amy standing next to a cart full of food and another cart
full of his requested linens. He thanks her graciously, wheeling both into the room before closing
the door and locking it with both locks.

Henry has a fond look on his face as he watches Alex present him with the food spread and Alex
has to bite back the trill his alpha wants to let out.

He settles next to Henry and pour him a cup of tea, fixing it just the way Henry likes before
handing it to him.

“Thank you Alex.” He says quietly, looking down at the steaming cup in his hands.

Alex nudges his shoulder gently, before saying “of course sweetheart.”

“We have one more day here.” Henry says, after they’ve eaten their fill, feeding each other
between sips of coffee and tea.

Alex makes a soft noise of agreement, cupping Henry’s jaw and rubbing his thumb over the shell
of his ear.

“I don’t want to leave this bed until it’s time to board planes.” He says matter-of-factly and Alex
narrowly avoids spewing his coffee all over the sheets as he chokes on it.

“Oh my fuck, you can’t just say shit like that. Do you want me to die?”

“Not before I get to feel your dick in me, I don’t.”

Alex looks at Henry incredulously before groaning and falling back against the pillows. Henry’s
been brash before, but this is a purely unfiltered version of Henry he’s never seen. For the first time
in his life, he doesn’t have anything to hide, and Alex feels heady on the knowledge that this Henry
is rare and only for him.

Suddenly, the alpha in him wants to board the room up and shutter the windows. He wants to put
every piece of furniture available between the door and the bed where his omega lies and rip the
throat out of anybody who dares cross the threshold of the scared space they’ve carved out for
 themselves.

“You’re growling.” Henry says, pulling Alex from his head.

And oh yeah. His throat rumbles with a growl before he clears it, coughing roughly.

“Shit sorry. I’m feeling a lot of things right now.” He admits.

“It’s a lot, I understand if you-“

“Don’t even finish that sentence if you’re about to say what I think you are. I’m feeling a lot of
things, yes, but none of them are bad. I can’t believe how wrong I was about you. It’s a little
overwhelming but I’m sorting through it.” He tells Henry, fixing him with a stern look.

Henry looks down at the sheets which reminds Alex of the other cart Amy brought.

He moves off the bed, Henry saying “I just said I didn’t want to leave the bed, where are you
going?” as he walks into the living room of the suite, grabbing the cart and pulling it back into the
bedroom.

Henry looks at him and then at the cart that’s overflowing with a mound of various soft materials,
then back at him, his mouth opening in a question that Alex answers before he can even ask it.

“Let’s make you a proper nest, baby.”

Chapter End Notes

I would sacrifice my newborn child for any of you. I hope your week is going well!
 Go ahead, go ahead
Chapter Notes

Arthur would rip the monarchy apart with his bares hands, if he was still alive.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Alex had watched June make lots of nests. She’d even built him a few if he was having a
particularly bad day. It never looked like there was a rhyme or reason to it, but it did seem like a
sacred process for an omega to do.

A big part of nesting usually has to do with scent. Warmth and soft garments drenched in the
combined scents of the alpha and omega is what Alex’s knows a nest to be made of. The
uniqueness of their situation was not lost on Alex. Henry couldn’t smell or emit a scent which
meant Alex would need to focus more on the structure of the nest to provide his omega comfort.

They tug on underwear and then Henry watches as Alex methodically destroys their hotel room. He
pulls the mattress on to the floor and pushes it to the farthest corner of the room, before piling all
of the pillows and blankets onto it. He steps back with his hands on his hips and looks at Henry.

“C’mon, I need your help for the next part.”

So, Henry joins him on the mattress and watches Alex start to rearrange the pillows.

“I don’t know how to do this.” He admits softly.

Alex doesn’t look at him with pity or disgust like he expects. Instead, he scoots next to him and
takes his hands in his.

“Think of it like a pillow fort. Make it comfortable but also make it structurally safe. Anything that
that feels off or makes you uncomfortable, change it until it feels right.” He explains to him, and
Henry finds it less daunting when it’s laid out so simply for him.

They work side by side, moving pillows and bunching up blankets where Henry feels they need to.
He leaves the bathrobes for them to cover up with so that he can use the comforters to cocoon the
nest.

He isn’t entirely sure how long he works at it, but he finally deems it worthy enough and looks
around the room for the first time since they started to find Alex sitting back against the box frame
of the bed, staring at him.

Henry looks down at the nest and blushes. He’d completely taken over the side Alex was working
on, rearranging it how he wanted.

“Christ Alex. I’m sorry. I didn’t even re-”

“It’s looks great sweetheart. You did so well.” He says with a soft smile.

That feeling is back in his chest, a warmth accompanying it this time. Henry realizes with a gasp
that what he’s feeling is his omega. His omega instinct is satisfied with its nest and it’s even more
happy that an alpha approves.

“Let yourself feel it, baby. Whatever you’re feeling is normal. It’s natural.” Alex tells him softly.

“Oh.” Is all he can say, splaying his hands on his chest.

He walks forward and lowers himself gently onto the mattress, before curling up, pressing his
knees to his chest.

It’s quiet for a little bit before he hears some shuffling and Alex crouches down near him but still a
foot away from the nest.

“How’s it feel?” He asks him softly.

Henry closes his eyes and takes stock of his body and emotions. There’s a slight tremble he hadn’t
noticed, and he feels uneasy. Frustration mounts and he pushes his nails into the soft meat of his
palm.

“Feel exposed.” He says horsely.

“Okay. It’s okay. I’m gonna move around you but I won’t touch you, okay?”

Henry makes a sound of acknowledgement and curls up a little tighter.

He hears some shuffling around and other noises that just tend to follow Alex whoever he goes.
Soft hums and quiet noises that leave his mouth because it would probably physically hurt him to
be completely quiet. It offers Henry a little bit of comfort and relaxes his body just a bit.

He hears the flip of a light switch and Alex’s says “There, how’s that?”

Henry opens his eyes and raises his head to look around. All of the lights are off except the
dimming one in the bathroom, that has been dialed all the way down, casting just enough of a glow
that they won’t trip and die if they need to get up for anything.

There’s also a sheet above Henry’s head, draped from one side the nest to other other,
encapsulating them with the only opening being at their feet. Alex had managed to move the arms
chairs from the living room to use as pillars for the sheet to cling to, as well as rip a hole in said
sheet to fit it over the light fixture in the corner above the nest, creating a canopy.

It resembles a pillow fort like the ones Henry used to build with his dad in his study and it comforts
Henry immensely. The warm feeling spreads from his chest to his toes and the weight dissolves
from his bones.

“It’s perfect, love.” He whispers, smiling softly at the purr that emits from Alex’s chest.

Henry expects him - really wants him – to crawl in the cocoon with Henry, but he stays just outside
the opening on his knees, looking softly at their handiwork from the past hour.

“Can I come in sweetheart?” Alex asks him gently, hands running anxiously over his thighs, like
Henry would ever imagine rejecting him.

Henry thinks his heart might burst from the onslaught of emotions for the man, the alpha sitting in
front of him.

“Please.” He tells him softly, moving to make room for him.

 Alex crawls in and settles next to Henry, pulling the robes over both of them.

Henry snuggles closer to him, resting his head on Alex’s chest and hooking a leg over his hip. Alex
wraps an arm around his back and pulls him impossibly closer, before pressing his lips to the top of
Henry’s head and inhaling deeply.

“I can’t wait to smell you.” He says, the timber of his voice significantly deeper amid his purring.

Henry hums softly, moving to nose at Alex’s scent gland on his neck.

“What do you smell like?” He asks him.

Alex’s makes a thoughtful noise before answering.

“Junes says I smell like coffee and old leather. Nora says old books and nutmeg. I guess it probably
depends on the person smelling me, and why they’re smelling me.” He shrugs.

Henry tries to imagine all of those scents. He remembers the smell of old books and leather from
his fathers study. He smells Alex’s coffee when he makes it, adding cinnamon to spice it.

“My dad smelt like the forest after a rainstorm. Even with all of the medication he was on, he still
smelled the same.”

Henry would give anything to smell him again.

“You could smell people before you presented?” Alex asks, perplexed.

“Yeah. He was the only I could smell though.”

“Hm. That sounds like you imprinted on him.” Alex says thoughtfully.

Suddenly, Henry remembers the look his dad had given to him shortly before he passed.
Remembers feeling like he’d been given a secret that was just between the two of them. He
remembers the dream he had the night after he presented, the baby with eyes like his staring back
at him.

He gasps softly, looking up at Alex.

“Do you think he knew I was…?” He can’t bring himself to finish the sentence, he’s not even sure
he’s ready to hear the answer.

”Yeah, baby. I think he knew.” Alex whispers, brushing the hair back from Henry’s forehead.

Chapter End Notes

Guess who has a four hour hair appointment today! I’m going to take my iPad and
pray to god my hairstylist doesn’t look over my shoulder and read what I’m writing
haha.
Happy Thursday lovelies! We’re almost through the week. Hope it continues to sail
smoothly for everybody! ♡
 Love me deep, until you can’t
Chapter Summary

This is depressingly short and I’ll burst into tears if anybody gets upset. This chapter
kicked my ass and I almost just had my stylist shave my head mid hair appointment
because of it.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Their last day in Paris is spent tucked in the makeshift nest. Sooner than later Henry’s emotions
catch up to him and he falls asleep for several hours. Alex lays wrapped around him, one hand
tucked into the waistband of Henry’s underwear, the other tapping relentlessly on his phone.

He googles the names of the suppressants Henry had told him, and reads study after study of the
short and long term effects of being on suppressants. He reads about combining treatments like the
injections and pills and how that effects coming off of them. He searches pseudo and dry heats, and
reads about what causes them and how they effect omegas hormones.

He has to put his phone down once or twice when the rage he feels starts to burn so hotly, his
hands shake.

The Crown has been poisoning Henry. The cruel things they’ve done to him have likely caused a
form of long term damage that can’t ever be repaired. Alex thinks it’ll be a small miracle if any of
Henry’s reproductive organs make it out alive. Not that he’s sure Henry even wants them to.
Anything he’s read about male omega pregnancies seems to be heavily stigmatized and finding
care for one seems almost impossible.

When Henry stops taking suppressants it’s likely he’ll go through a series of dry heats before he’ll
have a real one. If he can have a real one Alex’s brain supplies him the thought and he promptly
wants to burn down every castle in England until he’s faced with the monster herself, then he wants
to rip her limb for limb and display the evidence on the entrance gates of the palace.

Henry’s been hurt at the hands of someone who was supposed to love and protect him. Alex’s
childhood was far from perfect, but he never had to hide or alter himself, before or after presenting.
He can’t begin to imagine the toll it’s taken on the omega part of him.

Omegas are meant to be cherished and loved fiercely. They’re nurturers by nature but can’t fulfill
that role without care and affection for themselves.

The alpha in him howls miserably for his omega and Alex’s throat tightens with emotion.

As if sensing his distress – as if he could smell it – Henry shifts closer and presses his nose to
Alex’s scent gland, snuffling softly. Alex relaxes, breathing deep before turning to kiss his
forehead.

Henry’s bladder wakes him, and he eases out of Alex’s grip to make his way to the bathroom.
Afterwards while he’s washing his hands, he feels a small cramp at the base of his spine followed
 by another one in his abdomen.

He makes it to the nest before another sharper one hits and he falls to his knees, gasping softly.

Alex’s must sense his distress because he’s making a disgruntled noise before waking up and
shifting to find Henry.

“Hen?” He calls out softly.

Henry really does mean to answer but his breath gets ripped from his chest, and he curls over in
pain.

“Baby? What’s wrong?” Alex’s is by his side before he can blink, hands reaching for Henry before
he stops short.

Henry feels hot. Like he’s been doused in molten lava and left out in the sun. He crawls forward
and grabs onto Alex’s forearms, trying desperately to get a grip.

“Henry, you’re scaring me.” Alex sounds a little hysterical, pulling him closer by the elbows.

“Cramps. H-hot.” He stutters out.

Alex leans closer to him and gasps.

“You have a smell.” He admonishes.

Suddenly Henry feels a gush of slick soak his trousers and he moans loudly before he can help it.

“Oh shit. Oh fuck. Henry.” Alex is in a full-blown panic, pulling henry into the space between his
legs and propping him up against his chest.

Henry scrambles closer to him and wraps his arms around his neck.

Alex’s wraps his arms around his waist and hold him close, pressing a hand over the back of
Henry’s head.

“Think ‘m havin a pseudo heat.” He mumbles after a few minutes, Alex’s proximity soothing his
body enough he can form words. Kinda.

“Fuck baby. What do you need? I can call Shaan, or I can leave if you need me too. Shit let me get
you some food and water first.” He shifts to stand but stills when Henry grabs a handful of his curls
pulls.

“You’re not leaving. Nobody here is going to make choices for me. Please let me have this. Have
you.” He’s panting softly but there’s a ferocity in his eyes that turns Alex’s spine into butter.

Chapter End Notes

Tomorrow will be better ♡

 Even though it hurts, even though it scars
Chapter Notes

I woke up with much more creative energy and all my hair so :D

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Henry only allows Alex to leave the nest to order more room service and grab them both a glass of
water. Henry accepts it greatly and drinks half of it in one go. While they wait for the food, Alex
messages his scent glands, encouraging Henry to relax. The cramps are still sharp but fleeting with
an alpha close and tending to him.

The first pseudo heat had been manageable. Henry had slept fitfully through most of it as it only
lasted twelve hours before it burned off. This one feels more urgent, more primal. The feeling he’s
come to recognize as his omega is back with vengeance, leaving Henry feeling especially pitiful for
comfort. He’s slicking a little bit but if he closes his eyes and tries to really focus on what he wants,
it’s not sex. More than anything he wants the intimacy of being close to Alex, feeling the rumble of
his purr and the warmth of his body.

He’s so dopey with the thought that he barely registers the mattress shifting and Alex placing a tray
of food in his lap. He looks at the spread, none of it quickly perishable in case they’re otherwise
occupied.

Henry’s appetite went out the window with his pride when he groveled onto the mattress an hour
ago, but he appeases Alex by taking a few bites of an apple.

Alex is watching him like might explode any second and Henry leans over to put his head on his
shoulder.

“M’fine love. Just a little uncomfortable. Can I.. -“ he feels embarrassed for wanting something so
ridiculous, so much.

Alex waits him out, pressing his cheek against Henry’s head.

“Can you just hold me for a bit?” He whispers so quietly; he wonders if the words evaporate from
his tongue before they leave his mouth.

Alex doesn’t answer him with words, instead moving the tray of food off to the side and leaning
back against the pillows.

He opens his arms and Henry mewls quietly as he falls into them.

“I wish you could smell. I could comfort you a little better with my pheromones.” He tells him.

Henry mourns for his omega. Being denied the comforting pheromones from the alpha trying to
take care of him feels like a knife twisting in his back.

“Me too.” He says, breathing deeply in vain of trying to scent Alex.

When Henry opens his eyes, there’s muted sunlight filtering in through the blinds and no cramps
twinging his stomach. He knows that their time is up and in three hours he’ll be back on a plane,
sentenced to more suppressants, no nests and worst of all, no Alex.

Alex’s plane leaves an hour before his and they spend time in the interim fixing the room and
sharing a shower. Alex makes him use his shower products so that he smells like him, even if
Henry can’t smell and nobody else is going to know what Alex’s products smell like. He indulges
the alpha and smiles at the purr that echoes of the shower tiles as Alex rubs the shampoo into his
hair.

While Alex’s dresses, Henry lounges on the bed in a robe, sipping tea. Shaan sends him his
itinerary and he sees Mary’s punishment clear as day in all the public appearances he’s expected at
in the following week.

He’ll be upset about it later when there isn’t a loud-mouthed alpha with a dimple chin blowing
raspberries into his neck, tickling his scent gland and ruining Henry’s hard-on.

Alex dreams of nests and a honey scent for weeks, after he returns home. June gives him so much
shit for his black eyes but also squeezes him tighter when she hugs him hello.

With graduation around the corner, and his mother's reelection campaign on the horizon, he finds
no time for himself and barely time to email Henry back. Henry doesn’t fault him, and they speak
on FaceTime when they can. Alex tries not to have multiple panic attacks about how drained
Henry looks. He swears every time they talk the darkness under his eyes grows and his skin pales a
little more.

He does however find the time to come out to his mom. He tells her about Henry and how Alex has
never felt so enamored with someone in his whole life.

If Ellen’s shocked she hides it very well. And while she isn’t thrilled at the fact that his first male
relationship happens to be with the closeted Prince of England, she’s happy for him. She also
makes him sit through an agonizing powerpoint and reiterates to him that ‘The B in LGBTQ+ isn’t
silent.’

Alex is overwhelmed with love and gratitude for her.

She doesn’t ask about Henry being a beta and Alex doesn’t bring it up.

He tries and fails to plan a trip for their birthdays, Zahra making it clear he is to be nowhere near
foreign land until after he graduates. His alpha rages and he runs four miles in an hour, heels
bleeding and lungs aching by the time June pulls him across the lawn.

They spend a whole day on FaceTime to make up for it. Alex watches Henry jerk himself off with
the slip of his own slick and nearly blacks out from coming so hard. Henry mewls at the sight of his
knot and Alex has to place his phone out of reach to keep from booking a plane ticket.

He graduates with honors and every color of cord is placed around his neck for it. Classmates he’s
talked to once take pictures with him and hand him invites to their graduation parties. He smiles
and hands them to Amy for her to throw away. Alex has a graduation party of his own planned. It’s
in a few days, in a different state, with the people he loves most. He thinks there might be a special
guest appearance by one in-demand prince, but henry hasn’t confirmed yet.

Henry confirms a few days later as Alex is packing the last of his things. He tries to quell his alpha,
but he stills ends up almost ripping the zipper off his suitcase when he closes it.
 In an insane bout of recklessness, Henry forgoes scent patches and Pez whoops in delight and pops
a bottle of champagne on the plane ride over. He feels naked without them, and just a little more
self-conscious than normal, but the champagne eases him a little and warms him tremendously.

He feels sorta feral watching Alex drive the jeep to the lake house. Nora and June are in the back,
Pez in between them while Henry occupies the passenger seat. Alex has a hand on his thigh,
squeezing it every now and then as they listen to the three in the back catch up.

His omega is so happy in his chest Henry wonders briefly if a heart has ever bursted from so much
joy. He feels content next to Alex and their friends. Nobody blinks twice at him or scrunches their
nose, so he takes it as a good sign.

Oscar accepts them with open arms and a pitcher of Sangria. Henry sticks an anxious hand out for a
greeting and Oscar claps him on the shoulder before taking it, easing the knot in Henry’s chest.

June, Nora and Pez head for the water the second the pitcher is empty, screaming and laughing the
whole way down the dock.

Alex’s watches and laughs as Nora holds Pez’s head underwater for something he says, and June
has to then dunk Nora’s head underwater to get her off of him.

He finds Henry stretched out on the hammock that’s tucked in a canopy of trees, with an open book
on his chest and eyes closed. The squeal he lets out when Alex drops down on top of him and
almost sends them toppling to the ground might be Alex’s new favorite sound.

“You wanker. I thought i’d seen my last day.” Henry complains, smacking him lightly on the chest
as Alex shuffles off of him and settles into his side instead.

“I actually can’t stand the way you talk.” Alex’s snarks back and the glint in Henry’s eyes sends a
jolt down his back.

“And what’re you gonna do about it?” He asks coyly, nudging a thigh in between Alex’s legs.

With a growl that has Henry’s eyes widening, Alex tosses the book to the side and clumsily moves
to straddle Henry, they sway dangerously in the hammock.

“My book! That’s a 20th edition –“ He gasps, reaching in the direction Alex sent it sailing.

Alex looks a little scandalized and a lot annoyed with Henry before he purposely, abruptly shifts,
sending them plummeting to the ground in a fit of outraged cries and laughter.

Chapter End Notes

I hate time jumps as much as the next person but it’s kind of unavoidable with the way
the stories told, in both the book and the movie.

Henry’s getting a bit reckless no??? Surely nothing bad will come of it, right?

Thank you for all your sweet comments!

 Love me when it storms, love me when I fall
Chapter Notes

Happy Friday! Here’s a longer chapter to start your weekend off right! Oh! And
sexual explicit content!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Their first afternoon there is wonderfully lazy. Henry dozes on the outside lounger while Alex
stands in front of the smoker cooking ribs for dinner. He sips on a sweet drink and revels in the
looseness it provides his muscles. The last two months have been hard, and it’s taken a toll on him.

When he’d returned from Paris, he was given one night to rest before the parading around began.
He attended appearance after appearance, plastering on a smile and a beta façade.

His time with Alex and without scent patches had done a number on him. More mentally than
physically he’d discovered, as he found himself hiding suppressant pills under his tongue until he
was alone and could spit them out.

It’s reckless and stupid but Henry finds himself loving for the thrill of a small rebellious act.
Besides, what the Queen doesn’t know won’t kill her.

Alex groans as he lays back on his elbows to unbuttons his jeans.

“Oh my god. I’m never eating again.” He complains, Nora snorting from where she’s strumming
her guitar in front of the fire pit.

They’re all gathered around a small fire after dinner, June’s trying to teach Henry how to roast a
marshmallow without disintegrating it, and Pez is lounging nearby, watching Nora pluck away at
the string off her guitar. It’s so domestic and comforting that Alex coughs to cover up a purr.

He’d noticed Henry watching June closely and wanted to punch Mary in the face when he realized
it was because June’s an omega, a free one, and he’s not sure Henry’s ever been around one in
such a relaxed environment. He thinks June notices too because she makes sure to give her
attention to him when he asks something, and she places her hand over his arm while she talks to
him.

Pez yawns loudly from his spot at Nora’s feet and declares it time for his beauty rest. Henry rolls
his eyes but bids him goodnight when Pez reaches down and kisses the top of his head.

“I’m actually pretty tired as well. Jet lag and all.” Henry says softly before standing.

“I’ll show you where we’re sleeping.” Alex’s says, moving to stand and readjust his pants from
where he’d unbuttoned them.

“Goodnight bug, goodnight, Nora.” He calls over his shoulder, but the girls are too enraptured with
each other to pay him any mind.

He grabs Henry’s bag from the foyer and guides him to the furthest room down the hallway.
“My dad tried to give us the bunk bedroom, but June said her, and Nora would take it.” He
explains, opening the door to reveal a spacious room with a queen-sized bed tucked into the
corner.

“I did some rearranging before you got here, but I wanted you to fix the bed how you wanted.” He
finishes, gesturing to an arm chair full of blankets and pillows.

Henry swallows the emotions in his throat before turning and wrapping his arms around Alex.

“Do what you need to do baby. I’m gonna go get ready for bed in the bathroom then grab us some
water.” He says against Henry’s neck.

Henry steels himself for several moments after Alex leaves.

After the nest they had in Paris, Henry had hated his bed more than usual when he returned home.
It was uncomfortable, cold and it left him feeling exposed and vulnerable. His skin had crawled so
bad the first night that he’d piled some clothes up in the corner of his closet and curled up in them.
When he awoke the next morning, he’d found one of Bea’s robes draped over him. She never
mentioned it or asked for the robe back.

Henry starts with the pillows, wedging and tucking them together to form a barricade. He doesn’t
see a way they could create a canopy like the one Alex had made out of the hotel sheet, but he’s
built the pillow barrier in a way that will feel like shelter from the rest of the room.

He’s just changed into his sleep pants when there’s a soft knock at the door.

“Come in.” He calls.

Alex slips in with a smile and two glasses of water. He’s wearing sleep shorts and nothing else
much to Henry’s delight.

Henry watches Alex examine the nest nervously. It’s only his second one and he’s still learning
what feels right.

“Looks good, sweetheart. Does it feel okay?”

Henry preens from the praise and nods.

“Perfect.” He tells him, handing him the glass of water before placing his own on the dresser.

Henry sips from it then hands it to Alex to place with his own. Alex turns and stands at the foot of
the nest. His nest.

“Can I join you?” He asks softly with a small smile.

Henry nods again, scooting back to the side of the bed that’s pressed against the wall.

Alex flips the light off and follows the path of moonlight shining in from the window. He crawls
into nest, lying flat on his back and moaning softly.

“Fuck, baby. You gotta teach me how to make a nest like this. I could die right -oof!“ the rest of
his sentence is pushed from his lungs when Henry pounces on him.

His tongue is in Alex’s mouth dizzyingly fast, and his fingers are pulling at the waistband of his
shorts even faster.
“Been wanting to do this since you picked us up. The way you grip a steering wheel could be a
form of porn.” He mumbles against Alex’s lips, palming him through thin material.

He sucks a path down Alex’s chest, sucking a hickey onto the swell of his right peck before
nipping his way down to where his deft fingers are pulling his shorts down and off Alex’s legs.

“Holy god, slow down. Oh fuck.” Alex whimpers out the last part when Henry shoves his own
pants off and wraps his fingers around his knot.

Henry’s mouth waters at the sight in front of him, Alex is beading precome at his slit, already hard
and ready for him.

“Oh my god, you’re insane. What’s making you so horny? Don’t tell me this southwestern cabin
décor is doing it for you.” Alex prattles on, shifting restlessly under Henry.

“I need a reason to want you? It can’t just be that you’re here under my fingers for the first time in
months?” He asks him, tightening his grip for emphasis.

Alex swears something in Spanish – and oh. Wow. Yeah, that’s definitely a thing for Henry –
before thrusting up.

“No, no, baby. Missed you so much. Take what you want, m’right here.” He amends.

“We gotta be quiet, darling. Do you think you can do that?” He asks, chuckling at the shaky
affirmation he gets in return.

Henry feels drunk on power as he sucks Alex down, moaning at the taste and feeling. Alex reaches
down and smooths his fingers over Henry’s cheek, thumbing gently at where his cock stretches
Henry’s lips. It’s so intimate and soft that Henry involuntarily clenches his hole on nothing,
resulting in a gush of slick before he moans softly.

He can tell precisely when Alex reaches the razor-sharp edge of orgasm, his thighs begin trembling
and his fingers curl tightly in Henry’s hair.

“Close. Close. So fucking close, H.” He gasps out.

Henry pulls off of him and takes a gulp of air.

“Don’t knot.” He gasps, before swallowing Alex’s cock back down and brushing his fingertips
along the seam his sack.

A choked cry falls from Alex’s lips when he comes seconds later, Henry works him through it
before pulling off and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. He crawls up the bed and lays
against Alex’s chest, while he catches his breath.

“Good. So good baby.” Alex croaks, placing his hand on Henry’s cheek to push him closer when
he starts to purr.

They lay there for a little bit before Henry feels a bead of slick dribble from his hole. His breath
hitches, something Alex’s pick up on immediately.

“What is it?”

Henry doesn’t answer with words, instead he grabs Alex’s hand and guides it down his abdomen
and across his hip, before reaching back with it and pressing Alex’s fingers against his dripping
entrance.

They gasp collectively, both at what they’re feeling. Henrys only had his own fingers since he
presented, and the knowledge that it’s Alex feeling him has him panting.

“Are you sure Hen? I can suck you off.” Alex whispers, not moving his finger any further on his
own.

Henry reaches a hand to grasp at Alex’s shoulder before whining softly.

“Yes. Very sure. Been sure. Been sitting on my own fingers imagining yours since Paris.” He
admits around a moan.

“Fuck, ok. Okay baby. I got you,” he pauses then says, “I’ve never. I mean I tried on myself, but I
couldn’t reach anything, and I want to make sure it’s good for you.” He admits.

Henry bites his tongue to keep any words from spilling out at the tenderness in the air.

“I’ll show you.” Henry tells him softly, sitting up to kiss Alex sweetly.

Alex lays him back against the pillows and fits himself between his legs, rubbing his hands up and
down Henry’s claves and knees. Henry can’t stop trembling and panting; he’s profusely leaking
from his cock and soaking the sheets with slick. Alex starts purring while he presses soft kisses to
each Henry’s knees.

“We’re going at your pace, baby. Take your time, show me what makes you feel good.” Alex
soothes.

Henry settles a bit before he spreads his legs further and slides a hand down his own chest. Alex’s
purr becomes a bit deeper, edging on a growl, as he watches Henry touch himself. Henry stops to
stroke his cock a few times before shifting his hips up and looking at Alex. And oh. Alex is kinda
drooling and he’s gripping Henry’s knees so hard his nails are flushing white.

“Give me your hand, love.” Henry says, reaching forward.

Alex makes a throaty noise before thrusting his hand into Henry’s.

Henry laughs softly, muttering “pushy alpha.” before continuing to guide Alex’s hand down to his
dripping hole.

Alex’s chest starts to hitch a little bit when he breathes and Henry’s heart melts.

“So beautiful Hen.” He breathes.

Henry mewls softy, taking a big breath before he pushes Alex’s finger against his rim, his hole
fluttering at the new pressure.

The sound that comes from Alex isn’t so much Alex as it is his alpha. Henry knows this because
his body immediately wants to hear it again, wants to beg and plead to hear it again.

Alex follows the silent queues from Henry’s writhing body. He’s to the last knuckle of the first
finger and he thinks this might be what heaven is.

Henry is making the sweetest, and softest noises trying to keep quiet. He’s shifting down to take
Alex’s finger deeper and he’s pretty sure it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.
 “Another. Please.” He whispers and Alex would be a fucking monster not to comply.

Henry’s slicking so much it’s dripping down Alex’s hand and wrist and it’s the hottest thing Alex’s
has ever witnessed. He also really kind of wants to taste it.

Henry’s hole isn’t satisfied until Alex is thrusting three fingers in at a brutal pace. He crooks his
fingers up just a bit and then Henry’s gasping and writhing and scratching at the arm that’s bracing
Alex over him.

“Holy shit, omega.” Alex admonishes, slightly mortified at the slip up, before gasping as Henry’s
hole clenches down on his fingers with a vice grip and slick gushes onto his hand.

Henry lets out a moan so guttural and deep that Alex can’t help but growl back as Henry spurts
come onto both of their chests.

When he looks up there’s tears glinting from the moonlight on Henry’s cheeks and his lips are
trembling.

“Fuck baby. I’m sorry. Are you okay?” Alex might also start crying as he moves to pull his fingers
out in a panic.

Henry clenches down again and shoots a hand out to catch Alex’s slick wrist.

“Do. Not. Move.” He growls out between gasps of air, and Alex kind of thinks he might need to
bottle the sound up to keep only for himself to listen on repeat.

“Okay. Okay. I won’t. I’m staying right here.” He soothes, moving to lay against Henry while
keeping his hand in place.

Henry’s still panting harshly, hole fluttering every so often.

“Oh my god, baby. That was… You’re so gorgeous on my fingers. So pretty for me.” He murmurs
against Henry’s jaw, smiling at the soft mewls he gets in return.

Chapter End Notes

Me trying to research and describe the positions in this chapter

 Every time it breaks, every time it’s torn
Chapter Summary

Why does my iPad keep autocorrecting ethereal to urethra >:(

Chapter Notes

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Henry floats for a long time.

“Holy shit, omega.”

Omega.

Omega.

It feels like a piece of himself slots into place when that word leaves Alex’s lips.

Omega.

For whatever reason, whether it was a twist of fate, or a plan made in stone long ago, Henry’s
biology had chosen the softer of the dynamics. Henry had been born an omega.

Then he’d been convinced that there was something wrong with that, even if he had no control over
it. He had been shamed and chemically altered to change what was woven into his DNA.

The freedom that comes with being with Alex is addictive. Alex is carefree, loud, and so
unapologetic about it. He’s brash and reckless and everything Henry hads been forbidden to be.
Henry feels a bit like Icarus. Alex has given him wings made of wax and the courage to escape the
palace, but the farther he flies, the higher he wants to go. The higher he goes, the closer his winged
courage takes him to embracing his omega and loving Alex. The wax is starting to melt, stinging
Henry where it drips on his skin. Still, his omega calls him higher.

He comes back to himself slowly. There’s a rumble against his chest and a wonderful stretch in his
hole. He can hear murmuring, but it sounds far away and he can feel fingers scratching lightly at
his scalp.

He isn’t sure how long he drifts for but eventually the sound of crickets and the bedroom fan
sharpens in his ears.

“You with me babe?” Alex murmurs, pressing his lips to Henry’s cheekbone.

“Hm.” That was supposed to be a coherent sentence, but he can’t find it in himself to be too
concerned with communicating.
“No rush, but I’d like to properly take care of you and I kinda need my hands to do that.” He tells
him, kissing along his jaw.

Henry keens quietly but slowly moves away from the fingers still stretching him.

“There you go, thank you. You’re so perfect.” Alex makes to move once he’s gained his appendage
back, but an unhappy noise from Henry stops him.

“Just gonna get something to clean you up, I won’t leave the room.”

Henry still mourns him as he watches Alex dig around in his own suite case for something.

“These are for my face but I think they’ll be okay for a quick clean up.” He remarks as he climbs
back onto the bed and in between Henry’s spread legs.

There’s a cold press against the cleft of his ass and he gasps.

“Shit, sorry. I should’ve warmed it in between my hands first.”

Alex is so thoughtful and he’s literally wiping Henry’s ass and being so gentle and thorough and
Henry wants his mouth on his.

Alex leaves the bed again – Henry wishes he’d stop doing that – before he’s sliding an arm around
Henry’s back and sitting him up to press his glass of water against his lips. Henry drinks two
swallows before he collapses back against the pillows and sighs deeply.

“I miss your stupid accent; can you talk yet, or do I need to go wake Pez up to hear the insufferable
way you guys pronounce ‘butter’?”

Alex’s eyes are wide when Henry flips over abruptly and reaches for him with a deadly glare.

“I was just kid- ow my nipple!”

“Henry, babes I didn’t know you were such a kinky little strumpet. I’m a bit worried for Alex’s
dangly bits.” Pez says the next morning, poking Alex’s red and swollen nipple.

“Refer my brothers ‘dangly bits’ in front of me again and you’ll be without yours.” June grumbles
from behind her plate of pancakes.

Oscar laughs loudly from the couch and Henry kind of wants to die.

Alex watches Henry sunbathe on a small dock that floats a few yards away. The sun reflects off his
wet skin, giving him an ethereal glow where he’s spread out and Alex’s mouth waters.

He climbs up the ladder and proceeds to shake his soaking curls right over Henry.

“Oh god, you’re such a cretin!” Henry laughs, smile wide and eyes crinkling.

Alex kneels over him and dives straight for his bare neck, - something he noticed the second Henry
stepped off the plane and into his arms – before Henry pushes his head away and denies him
loudly.

He lays next to him and smiles softly at the press of lips against his bicep.
 “You’re gonna cause a boat wreck, gorgeously spread out and on display for everybody to see.”
Alex tells him, growling softly, and loving the blush that creeps up Henry’s chest.

“You’re biased.” Henry quips.

“No. I have eyes, baby.”

Henry rolls his eyes but shifts so that he’s splayed across Alex’s chest.

Alex runs his fingers down Henrys spine and his purrs cane barley be heard over the sound of the
water that laps below them.

“This is nice.” Henry says.

“Hmm, it is. We should come back after the election and stay alone for a few weeks. We could be
naked and have sex anywhere on the property. Downtown Austin has some really good food spots I
could show you.” Alex’s brain is already running with all the different possibilities, and he can’t
stop them from spilling out of his mouth.

Henry’s otherwise quiet, aside from a small hum of agreement. Alex quiets and tries to settle his
brain. Everything coming from his mouth is the exact opposite of the casualty Henry requested all
those months ago in his room.

A sudden realization sweeps over Alex and leaves him reeling. He’s not sure when it drifted but
‘casual’ has been farthest thing from his mind when it comes to Henry. His alpha preens in his
chest, imagining a life with a fiery omega. An omega that challenges him and pulls when his alpha
pushes.

In a few months, he sees Henry at his side when his mom is re-elected, kissing him in celebration.
He thinks of a stressful day at his law internship he’ll start next year and hears Henry on the phone
calming him. In every corner of his future, Henry’s there.

It’s overwhelming but exciting and Alex finds himself chasing the feeling. He wonders if Henry
can feel how fast his heart is beating as three words sit heavy on his tongue.

Chapter End Notes

Just a small non concerning PSA, I’ve changed the tag from canon compliant to canon
divergence. I’m still following the storyline, just tweaking a few things and I don’t
want anybody to be upset thinking I lied about it being canon complaint.There’s
something’s that just flow better for the a/b/o dynamics when told a different way. I
hope that’s okay!

You guys have been so wonderful and generous with this story and I want to cry
thinking about it haha. I can’t express my gratitude enough!
 Love me like I’m not made of stone
Chapter Summary

*that one TikTok audio* “Shut up! Everybody shut up! I’m so fuckin scared right
now, you shut up!”

Chapter Notes

Trigger warning for brief suicidal ideation!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Alex wakes alone in a cold nest. His alpha panics and drags him out of the sheets in a flurry of
chaotic movements. Henry’s bag is gone and Alex feels the wood of the door almost splinter when
he practically rips it off the hinges. Henry’s not in the bathroom or on the patio.The dock is as
empty as the kitchen, aside from a piece of paper with looped handwriting on it.

Henry’s ever polite as he explains a family emergency and thanks Alex for everything. Anger
burns hot in his chest as he crumbles the note and flings it in the trash. It burns so hot that Alex
imagines jumping into the lake - much like Henry had yesterday after Alex had let the first syllable
of that phrase pass his lips - and sinking to the bottom with the sea life and abandoned treasures
left behind.

He feels more and more heart sick with each text that goes unanswered by Henry. His calls go
straight to voicemail, and he feels betrayed. Like the rug has been ripped out from under him and
the whole room is laughing cruelly as he tries in vain to find his footing.

Henry did tell him that whatever happened between them needed to remain casual. But that was
months ago, and Alex had naively begun to think that maybe Henry had changed his mind? Paris
had felt like a monumental shift in their clandestine meetings. They hadn’t even had sex like Alex
had planned. Instead, he’d held Henry for hours as he worked through the discomfort of his body
fighting its own instinct.

Alex remembers the feeling on the plane ride home after. His alpha was simultaneously bursting
with love and trying desperately to hold to to the feeling, fearing the fleetingness that accompanied
it.

His alpha is in complete agony now. His chest feels like it’s been cracked open and bled dry. All of
his insides are on display to show the rottenness of what an unrequited love does to you. He’s
numb until he’s not. Until shame wraps around his throat so tightly he’s choking on it and June has
to talk him down from a perpetual panic attack.

He couldn’t be what Henry wanted, what he needed. Deep down he knows it more complicated
than that - Henry’s been trapped and neglected and he’s doing the only thing he’s been given
permission to do which is return to the palace and leave Alex behind – but it doesn’t lessen the
sting and his alpha can only take it at face value, which can only be perceived as unbridled
rejection.

Amy keeps dropping off packages and Alex keeps piling them in the corner. The contents of the
boxes are luxury blankets, memory foam pillows and special temperature-controlled sheets so that
they don’t get overheated. Alex had spiraled one night and went on an unreserved shopping spree
for nesting materials. Now, they’re just a reminder that Alex is always ten steps ahead but always
in the wrong race. He’s always jumping headfirst off cliffs without checking for a parachute.

Alex had never imprinted or bonded with anybody. After watching his parents break their bond,
and their family, he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to either. Alex had read about the different kinds of
bonds in his ninth-grade sex ed class, and while his peers all snickered and made crude remarks, he
had watched the PowerPoint presentation raptly.

The idea of loving and trusting someone so much that he might bond himself to them by
exchanging pheromones, thrilled him. Then, he watched as his mom and dad became almost
unrecognizable with the stress and emotional toll of breaking a mating bond and the fairytale
crashed around him.

Sexual bonds had also thrilled him for obvious reasons. When he’d jerk off, he would imagine
someone biting his most sensitive set of scent glands to experience shared, heightened sexual
intimacy, and he’d come fast and hard. The added bonus of the bond being a brief three-day thing
and not life altering, helped ease his abandonment issues. Then, he’d let a girl do it to him during
his freshman year of Georgetown, and afterwards she’d left before he could get the condom off.
He’d stayed in bed for the two days with bruised thighs and a bruised heart, before deciding to
never let that be a casual thing for him.

Alex’s has never bonded with anybody romantically, but he can see him bonding with Henry. He
could see Henry biting his thighs and shifting their intimacy to new found heights, they could share
together. He could see it all and he wanted it all. He wanted Henry and his omega in whatever
capacity he could have them. He used to be able to feel it too, before Henry broke his heart and his
alpha succumbed to the grief of it.

Alex is a lot of the things. Alex is loud and Alex is reckless. He’s a liability. A loose cannon. He’s
a hurricane of opinions and ideas, sweeping everybody up and tossing them about. He’s a lot of
things, casual is not one of them.

Alex is anything but casual, standing in front of Kensington palace in the pouring rain, vision going
red as he screams for Henry. His alpha is unmoving, having gone silent after the third day of no
contact. He’d been grateful for the reprieve from the agony, but now he wishes the alpha in him
would rise and call for his omega.

“For Christ’s sake, Alex, what are you doing here?”

Alex’s heart stops beating. Henry’s behind Shaan, looking unimpressed at the situation.

Shaan raises the walkie in his hand to his mouth before Henry says, “It’s fine. You can let him in.”

Alex is soaked to the bone and freezing, but his whole body is on fire from Henry’s proximity.

He follows him silently, dripping all over the fancy flooring. He’d feel smug about it if he knew
Henry would have to be the one to clean it, but he knows there’s probably a palace staff member
appearing out thin air behind him to clean it up.
 “I’m going to let you say what you need to say, and then I want you to leave.” He tells Alex in his
infuriatingly princely voice.

Alex stares. “And then that it’s? We’re done?”

Henry doesn’t answer him and Alex thinks he might crumple into a pathetic heap at his feet.

Something else happens entirely. There’s a violent swell of anxiety in his chest that bursts from his
throat as a devastated sob and then.

His alpha calls for his omega.

Chapter End Notes

Okay but like besties. Don’t stress. The next chapter will be up in a few hours!
 Love me hard until it heats
Chapter Summary

Longer chapter but I couldn’t physically stop writing until I got it done. This has lots of
similar dialogue to the book and all credit goes to CMQ of course!

Chapter Notes

Happy spooky time these next three month are the best time of year, I don’t make
the rules.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Henry is exhausted. His head throbs with perpetual pain and he thinks he might throw up, except
he’s already done that, so he isn’t sure what would come up. Maybe he can throw up his heart and
flush it down the toilet. Maybe that would ease the feeling of the dagger in his chest and make his
life a little easier.

Leaving the lake house in the middle of the night, after spending the afternoon feigning a
stomachache to hide from Alex, was the hardest thing Henry has ever had to do. And Henry’s
spent his whole life doing hard things. He’s sat back while The Crown dictated every breath that
left his body, and he’s watched his father slip from his fingers and become a memory and endured
it. He’s let himself become something he’s not. A puppet and a mouthpiece for an ideology he
wants to burn to the ground. He’s been chemically altered to fit said ideology, and that’s still not as
painful as watching Alex sleep and knowing it will be the last time for him to do so.

He’d held his breath while he escaped the nest, changing quickly and quietly, before slipping from
the house with the warmest bed he’d ever known. Back in the palace, the feeling he’d come to
know as his omega went cold in his chest. A hollowness so vast and unforgiving took its place that
Henry had watched the rain fall from his balcony, and wondered morbidly what he would look like
falling from the roof of the palace.

Shaan had tugged him from the railing and tucked him into his bed. He’d crawled from there to his
closet and buried himself under his clothes.

Then he’d heard yelling.

And now, the best and the worst thing that’s ever happened to him is standing in front of him and
Henry’s chest is starting to hurt.

“A week ago, it was emails, and FaceTime calls. You met my fucking dad! And that’s it? You
thought you could ghost me? I can’t shut this off as easily as you!” Alex is seething, Henry’s never
seen him look so angry.

“You think this is easy for me?”

“What else am I supposed to think? You won’t talk to me! All I know is a week ago we were
happy, laying in the nest you made, and then you vanished! Henry, you have no idea what that did
to me!”

“And you don’t think it affected me?” Henry yells back.

“You sure as hell aren’t acting like it!”

“I honestly don’t have the time to explain all the ways you’re wrong-“ Henry says as he turns away
from him.

“I fucking love you, okay?” Alex yells hoarsely.

Henry feels like all the air has been vacuum suctioned from the room. The pain in Henry’s chest
intensifies and he wonders briefly if he’s having a heart attack, if life has finally taken pity on him
and is giving him an out.

He turns sharply to Alex, grasping at his chest before he feels something snap within, and he falls
to his knees.

Henry’s dying. He’s fucking dying, and Alex is above him, eyes wide and mouth moving, but
Henry can’t hear him.

His chest is throbbing, and his scent glands feel like they’re being cauterized. Henry tries to make
a noise. Tries to yell. Maybe he does yell, he’s not sure. There are hands on him, but they burn so
he tries to crawl away, but his legs won’t work.

His blood feels like molten lava, and he’s never been so scared in his life.

The tidal wave of pain subsides to small, lapping waves that leave him shaking. His senses come
back one by one. He can hear a muffled voice. The hands feel blessedly cool now, soothing him.
Through tears he can see Alex’s brown eyes, shining with worry. He tastes blood and his nose
burns with the sharp spice of cinnamon.

His nose burns with smell.

He can smell.

He reaches for Alex, sobbing harshly, and Alex pulls him into a sitting position, propping him
against his chest.

Alex is still talking but Henry can only focus on the overwhelming assault his nose is taking. He
smells the spice of cinnamon penetrated by the bitterness of coffee. He smells the leather of the
couch he used to nap on as a kid, smells the books lining the shelves of his father's study.

“Junes says I smell like coffee and old leather. Nora says old books and nutmeg.”

Alex. He’s smelling Alex. It’s intoxicating and clouding Henry’s brain in the best way. He opens
his mouth and fuck. He can taste the spice and musk of the alpha under him and he whines loudly.

“Fuck, Henry. I don’t want to leave you, but you’re scaring the shit out of me. I’m gonna go get
some help, okay?” Alex’s voice penetrates the fog and Henry’s body trembles.

Alex is moving away from him and that won’t do, so Henry growls and pushes against his chest,
sending him sprawling across the floor onto his back.
“Holy shit, I think you’re feral. I need to g-“ Alex’s cut off by the weight of Henry dropping down
to straddle his hips.

Henry places his hands on Alex’s chest and digs his nails in, resulting in a sharp gasp from
underneath him.

“I can smell you.” Henry croaks. His throat feels like he’s been swallowing knives.

Alex’s eyes and mouth are comically wide.

“I can smell you. I can smell your alpha.” Henry whispers, leaning forward to press his nose to
where the scent is the strongest.

Alex stills under him, breathing harshly and gripping at Henry’s hips.

“I can smell you too. I-I think it’s you. Smells like honey and… a fruit? Maybe peaches. Mhm.
Definitely peaches.” Alex murmurs, fisting the back of Henry’s shirt in his hands.

Henry’s mouth is moving before he can stop it.

“Alpha.” He whispers softly, inhaling Alex’s scent so deep it hurts.

“Oh my god. Oh my god, baby. What’s happening?” Alex sounds as dazed as Henry feels.

Henry feels bliss. He feels like he’s been splintered into a million pieces and put back together, but
differently. Like those pieces of him have been rearranged and he’s a brand-new person. The
feeling from his chest has flooded his whole body. All his senses feel like they’re dialed to eleven.
Henry feels like he’s lost himself and found himself in the same breathtaking instance.

Henry doesn’t even register being lifted from Alex until he feels the softness of his mattress under
him. He opens his eyes and finds Alex hovering over him, tears drying on his cheeks.

“Are you with me?” He asks and Henry only ever wants to be with him.

“Yes.” He whispers.

Alex leans on one hand to use the other to card through Henry’s sweaty hair.

“I-I think. You broke me.” Henry admits.

Alex scoffs and with startling clarity Henry remembers they weren’t exactly having a pleasant
conversation before his chest tried to explode.

“I fucking love you, okay?” Echoes in his head.

“Oh.” He says softly.

Alex looks like he’s reeling as bad as Henry is from the neck break pace change in the evening.

“W-when you said… when you said what you did. I think it… set something off in me.
Something… I think my-“ Henry might as well rip his tongue off and chew on it with all the sense
he’s making.

Alex is staring at him, his face is hauntingly blank and Henry has a really bad feeling brewing in
his chest. He takes a shuttering breath and moves to sit at the edge of his bed, so that Alex is a few
feet in front of him.
“I was happy. A week ago, at the lake house. Christ, Alex I was so happy.”

“What changed? What did I do wrong?” Alex pleads, hands coming up to tug on his curls.

“Nothing, Alex. I’ve never been as happy as I am with you. But my birthright is a country. Not
happiness.”

And that’s the wrong thing to say because Alex looks as if he’s been slapped, and Henry is trying
desperately not to fuck this up more than he already has.

“So, what, was this all never going to be anything real to you?”

And well. Henry snaps.

“You are a complete idiot if you believe that.” Henry seethes, standing from the bed to pace.

“When have I ever, since the first instant I touched you, pretended to be anything less than in love
with you? Are you so fucking thick headed and full of alpha arrogance to think this has anything to
do with you or weather or not I love you, rather than the fact that I’m an heir to the fucking throne?
You’ll get the option to have a private life after your mothers done in office, but I will live and die
in these palace walls and in this family, so don’t you dare come to me and question if I love you
when it’s the very thing that could bloody well ruin everything.”

Alex stays where he is, feet rooted to the floor. Henry’s never seen him this still and he can’t look
anymore, instead he faces the mantle of the fireplace in his room.

“It wasn’t supposed to be an issue. That night I told you we had to keep it casual was for my sake,
not yours. I thought I could have some part of you, and never express my love, and you’d never
have to know. Then when the day came that you got tired of all this and left, I-“ He stops and looks
down at the ring on his finger before sliding it off and setting it on the mantle. “I never thought I’d
be faced with the choice I can’t very well make, because I never imagined you would love me
back.” Henry feels like he’s purging, all of his ugliness is pouring out and he can’t stop it.

“Well I do. And you can choose.” The stubborn alpha is back, rearing with his head.

“You know I can’t.”

“You can at least try! What do you want Henry?” He asks like it the simplest choice Henry could
make.

“I want you-“

“You fucking have me.”

“-but I don’t want this.”

There’s movement behind Henry, the hairs on his neck raise as the coffee scent from earlier
sharpens.

“What does that even mean?”

“I don’t want it!” Henry screams. Tears are stinging his eyes and he can taste them in his throat.
“Don’t you bloody see? I’m not like you. I wasn’t raised by a loving and supportive family. They
locked me away and chemically castrated me!” Another dam breaks in Henry and he sobs.

Alex pushes forward, ever the pig headed alpha. Henry feels like they’re talking in circles until
 Alex is turning him around and pleading with him, saying “We can figure out a way to love each
other on our own terms, nobody else’s.”

“I don’t think I can.” Henry says with as much finality as he can muster.

Alex snaps his mouth shut, eyes flitting over Henry’s face before he drops his hand from Henry’s
shoulder and nods.

“Fine. Fucking fine. I’ll leave.”

“Good.”

“I’ll leave as soon as you tell me to leave.” And he’s leaning into Henry’s space, inhaling sharply
and that’s not fucking fair.

He advances further, in Henry’s face at this point, before snarling “Tell me you’re done with me
and I’ll leave. You’ll never have to see me again. And you can live your miserable fucking life and
write sad poems about it. Just say it and I’m gone.”

“Fuck you.” Henry growls back, blood thrumming hotly.

“Tell me,” he says, breathe ghosting over Henry’s lips, “to leave.”

Henry’s omega howls in his chest, angry and so fucking tired. Before he even realizes what he’s
doing, he’s got Alex shoved against the wall next to the mantle and he’s biting at his lips before
thrusting his tongue into Alex’s mouth.

He tastes Alex, even through the small bloom of blood from one of their lips, and his omega is in
control now, ripping at Alex’s clothes and growling when Alex moans wantonly.

Chapter End Notes

I feel sorry for Henry’s hole- what? who said that? Did y’all hear something?
 Will you love my scars, so I can heal?
Chapter Summary

I need a shower, and maybe an intervention provided by a priest, after writing this.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

For the frenetic mess Alex is, he likes being in control. He likes knowing exactly what to expect so
that he can handle it accordingly. He’ll write lists so he can pick things apart, one by one so they’re
easier for his too fast brain to dissect. He’s trying to make a list in his head now, as Henry wedges
a knee in between his legs and encourages him to grind down on it.

1. Alex loves Henry. He probably has since the moment he saw him in June's magazine.
2. Henry loves Alex too.
3. Henry’s omega is bursting through the chemical wall inside Henry and it’s pretty pissed.
4. Henry smells like peaches and honey and Alex wants to bury himself where the scent is the
most cloying.
5. Henry is pulling Alex’s hair so hard it hurts. Hurts really good.
6. Henry loves Alex too.

Alex begs his too-fast brain to slow down and absorb every sensation thoroughly. Henry’s hands
are in his hair and on his neck, then they’re tugging his shirt off. Alex tastes tears though he’s not
sure from whom, and can smell Henry so potently it muddles his brain a bit. Henry’s eyes are
bloodshot but oh so crystal blue that Alex wants to drown in them.

They grapple against the wall until Alex gets enough wits to start moving them towards the bed.
His shirt is long gone, leaving his skin tacky from the rain and Henry’s trying to get his jeans off,
but their bodies are moving so frantically he can’t quite get a grip.

Alex shoves him back, getting a growl for his troubles before he toes off his shoes and works on
getting his pants off. This must spur Henry into realization because then he’s snatching his own
clothes off.

Their smells are starting to commingle, setting Alex’s insides ablaze. His cock his aching and he
wants to get Henry under him as soon as physically possible. Thankfully Henry’s of the same
opinion because as soon as they’re naked, Alex finds himself on his back with a needy omega
straddling him.

The look on Henry’s face shatters Alex’s very being. He’s still crying, silent tears dewing his
cheeks. Alex doesn’t know what this is. He doesn’t know if it’s a form of communication or if it’s
a goodbye. His alpha burns with the latter thought, so he stops thinking and reaches to grab
Henry’s face with both his hands.

“C’mere.”

Henry collapses into Alex’s chest, moving his hips against his and gasping softly. He flips them
over and starts sucking on Henry’s neck, just next to his swollen scent glands.
He doesn’t need to stretch Henry much, his hole is efflux with slick and fluttering hungrily around
Alex’s fingers. Henry’s mewling so loudly, Alex worries briefly that someone will hear them.
Then, Henry starts begging for his knot and he hopes everyone can hear his omega calling for him
so beautifully.

“Hen, are you sure?” He asks, holding his jaw so that Henry’s focusing on his face.

“Please. Please let me have this.” He whimpers, reaching to hug Alex close.

Alex holds him for a few seconds, reveling in the warmth of their nakedness where their skin
meets. Then he presses kisses to Henry’s face and down his chest as he moves towards his suitcase.
He had packed condoms in it for the Paris trip and had left them in there when they didn’t use
them.

He can hear the slick noises of Henry fingering himself, as he rummages through the side pocket.
When he finally secures the foil packet, he turns around and almost passes away at the sight in
front of him.

Henrys got his face pressed in the sheets with his ass up, while he works three fingers into himself.
There are rivulets of slick running down his thighs and onto the sheets.

“Holy fuck.” Alex’s whispers, ripping the foil with shaking fingers.

He rolls the condom on, squeezing the head of his cock to stave off any pleasure from the friction,
as he climbs back on the bed and kneels behind Henry.

Henry removes his fingers and immediately shuffles back to sit on Alex’s cock. Alex stops him
with a hand on each asscheek, which gets him a guttural, agonized moan.

“Want you on your back. Wanna see your face.” Alex grits out, squeezing him roughly.

His alpha is pushing, primal instincts clawing at his chest.

Henry drops back to the bed and turns over, spreading his legs and looking at Alex like he wants to
be devoured.

So, Alex indulges him. He caresses Henry’s thighs, running his fingers from his knee to the crease
of his crotch. Henrys drenched in slick, so Alex runs his fingers through it before rubbing it into
the glands on Henry’s thighs.

“Alex, please!” Henry cries and there’s a honey scent so thick in the air Alex can taste it.

“Okay, okay.” He soothes, gripping his cock and pressing the head of it into the glistening hole of
his omega.

Henry tugs on Alex’s hair to pull him down to his face, his eyes are shining, and his mouth is open
in awe. Alex is completely enamored with him. Henry is shaking, fingers trembling as he cradles
Alex’s face.

“M’ready. Need you.” He tells him, moving a hand to position Alex’s cock. He takes the other and
slides it down his back before pushing, urging Alex gently, to finally sink into his warmth.

Alex’s vision whites out as he slides his cock into Henry. Henry’s legs come to wrap around his
waist, giving Alex no choice but to bottom out, balls pressed against Henry’s ass.
Alex is breathing harshly and he’s not sure Henry’s breathing at all. He shifts his weight to one
arm so that he can use the other to card his fingers through Henry’s hair.

“Are you okay?” He asks him softly.

“Mhm. Just a lot. Been awhile.” Henry says breathlessly.

“You’ll tell me if it’s too much?” Alex asks.

“I trust you, but yes. I’ll tell you.”

“Want you to follow your instincts, trust your omega. Take what you need, okay?” He tells him.

Henry whines before tightening his legs, slick flooding around Alex’s cock as he presses just a
little bit further in. Alex’s understands, Henry’s small nod is the encouragement he needs to start
thrusting shallowly.

Alex has never been a super dominant person. Sure, he’s pushy, but he doesn’t go out of his way to
to make anybody feel smaller or less inferior to him. Fox News has done lots of smear campaigns
on him being a weak alpha. It used to bother him, but he knows being an alpha isn’t about
dominating. At least not to him. Being an alpha to Alex is protecting and providing for his loved
ones. He had a deep-rooted need to be good before he presented, and it only amplified after.

It all goes fuzzy from there, even as Alex tries to hold onto his mental clarity. He’s looking at
Henry the whole time. Watching raptly at his furrowed brows and bitten lips. His omega is
moaning sweetly for him, fingers tangled in the curls at Alex’s nape.

Alex reaches for Henry’s neglected cock, where it’s weeping precome between them. Henry
smacks his hand away, before saying, “Don’t need it.”

Alex’s mouth waters at the smell of unadulterated pleasure in the air, Henry smells like the grilled
peaches he used to eat as a kid. He’d cover them in honey and eat them until his stomach ached.
His knot is throbbing, and there’s the familiar warmth of an orgasm pooling in his stomach.

Henry’s scratching down his back and grabbing roughly at his ass, spurring him on to thrust faster.
He eases back until the crown of his cock catches on Henry’s rim, before thrusting back in with
more leverage. Henry’s hands fall to the sheets where he grasps weakly as he whines.

A mantra of ‘alpha’ and ‘Alex’ fall from his lips until they’re just a jumbled, drawn-out sound of
the beginning vowel.

Alex’s knot starts thrumming and he leans forward to suck on one of Henry’s nipples, sending a
cascade of moans spilling out of Henrys mouth.

“Hen. Baby, m’close.” He rasps, nosing at the scent gland on Henry’s neck.

Henry grunts out an acknowledgment and circles his hips, chasing his orgasm. Alex draws back
from the space in his neck and grabs Henry’s face, forcing his eyes to find Alex’s amongst the
lusted haze.

“You’re sure you want to be knotted?” Alex asks him, stopping his thrusts to get Henry’s attention.

Henry scrunches his nose at the absence of pleasure and clenches down on Alex in retaliation.

“I don’t want it. I need it. Need you. Want you to be the first to knot me. Want to be tied with you.”
 Henry tells him, swiping his fingers through the wetness under Alex’s eyes, and he’s not even sure
when he started crying again.

Alex’s nods, closing his eyes to soak in Henry’s confession before he leans back for leverage and
starts thrusting again.

Henry’s cock is flushed an angry red, and there’s a puddle of precome on his belly. Alex feels
hands on his chest and watches Henry roll his nipples between his fingers before pinching them
slightly. The bite of pain sends Alex over the edge, and he gives one more valiant thrust before his
knot blooms, stretching Henry’s hole and tying them together.

Henry yells. Loudly. His whole world view collapses to a tunnel vision of the stretch of his hole
and the warmth of Alex coming into the condom. Henry’s cock spurts out load after loud and he
thinks he might’ve slipped into another dimension, or maybe the astral plane. He’s blissed out at
the feeling of an alpha claiming him. Alex collapses forward on to Henry’s chest, as his cock
twitches and fills the condom.

He feels a rumble and he has never felt Alex purr so softly. Usually, his purrs are deep and
reverberate from his throat. What Henry’s feeling now is more subtle and quiet. Alex groans and
Henry feels another flood of warmth from the condom.

“Baby, you’re purring.” Alex mumbles into his neck.

Oh.

Oh.

It feels weird and it kind of tickles his throat, but he also can’t stop, his omega determined to voice
his pleasure provided by the alpha.

Chapter End Notes

Not Henry wanting to be edged… teehee

Thank you for following along and commenting! It’s the highlight of my day! ♡
 Even though it hurts, baby, scars
Chapter Summary

This took so long and was truly a right bitch to write. I tried to diligently balance it
with the a/b/o dynamics so hopefully it isn’t too out of wack! I’ll reread over it in the
morning with a clearer head!

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Alex moves them so that Henry is nestled in front of him, for more comfort. Henry’s whines taper
off with a soft, satisfied sigh. Both of them are purring, and Alex revels in the sound of Henry’s,
while he mouths lazily at the top knobs of Henry’s spine.

“Are you feeling okay?” Alex murmurs, reaching down to feel where Henry’s body is stretching to
accommodate his knot.

He starts prodding at his rim softly, messaging the tensed muscle. He’s rewarded with more slick
seeping out next to his cock, and Henry’s hips hitching back.

“You’re awfully sure of yourself.” Henry mumbles.

Alex growls softly, nipping at Henry’s shoulder.

“M’fine love. You were ever the gentle lover.”

Alex moves from Henry’s shoulder to press sloppy, wet kisses to his cheek.

“Urgh. You’re the worst.” Henry laughs, turning to catch his lips with his own.

Alex loves the feeling of Henry’s tongue in his mouth, loves the taste of him even more.

They settle again and Henry grabs Alex’s arm to pull around himself.

“You were so good darling. The best alpha for me.” Henry says and presses a few kisses to the
back of Alex’s hand.

Alex keens, another spurt of warmth floods the condom, and he isn’t sure how it’s still structurally
integrated.

It’s another twenty minutes before his knot subsides. Alex moves to pull out and Henry’s reaches
around to grab his ass.

“Baby,I gotta get the condom off, I’ll be quick.” Alex soothes, easing Henry grip and pulling out
gently.

The mournful whine Henry lets out stings Alex’s heart, so he moves quickly to quell him. There’s
a huge en suite bathroom adjoining to Henry’s room. It’s fitted with a soaking tub that Alex thinks
they’d fit in comfortably, and a walk-in shower with dual shower heads.
He knows pulling a sated omega out of bed after a knotting is downright cruel, so Alex settles for a
warm washcloth. He pads back into the room and is met with a breathtaking sight. Henrys on his
stomach, arms and long legs spread out on the ivory sheets. There’s miles and miles of pale skin,
glowing in the moonlight filtering in through the balcony doors, right at Alex’s fingertips

He kneels on the bed softly, placing a hand on Henry’s hip as a warning before working quickly
and diligently to clean the slick from his legs. Afterwards, he cleans himself and throws the cloth
in the general direction of the bathroom, before climbing back into bed.

With the passion of their night cooling, Alex feels uneasy about where they stand. He doesn’t think
Henry would kick him out, but he also didn’t think Henry would abandon him at the lake house.

“C’mere.” It’s exactly what Alex said earlier, and a burst of warmth hits him when he hears it from
Henry.

They curl up, Henry resting his head on Alex’s chest and his leg thrown over Alex’s hip. Alex cups
the back of his head, rubbing at his scalp with one hand, and tangling the other with Henry’s.

Alex wants to talk about the weight crushing his chest, but he also doesn’t want to ruin the sacred
space they’re floating in. By the time he gets the courage to say something, there’s steady puffs of
air against his chest and Henrys purring softly in his sleep.

Henry wakes warm and sated. His muscles are sore, his ass twinges when he sits up and shuffles to
the side of the bed. He looks over his shoulder at the halo of dark curls sprawled across his pillow
and smiles softly. Alex eyes are moving behind his eyelids and his lips are pinched in an unhappy
downturn. Henry’s about to reach over and smooth it out when there’s a scratch at his door.

He dresses in Alex’s shirt from last night and a pair of sweats, before stuffing his feet into his
slippers and leaving the room quietly. David greets him in the hallway with excited whines and
licks, before Henry picks him up to take him downstairs and let him out.

He’s watching David painstakingly sniff out every blade of grass when he smells the sharpness of
eucalyptus and sage. Philip sits down next to him and scrunches his nose.

“Christ, when was the last time you took your suppressants?” He grumbles, rubbing harshly at his
nose.

Henry feels a hot flash of anger before he raises his shoulders to scent guard. He remains quiet as
he watches his dog chase after some morning songbirds and tries to quell the anxiety rising in his
chest.

Philip clears his throat at the uncomfortableness before opening his mouth.

Alex wakes slowly. His fingers tangle in cold sheets and his heart drops before he even opens his
eyes. Henry’s scent is still fresh so he knows he hasn’t been gone long. The gold glint of his signet
ring catches Alex’s eyes, and he relaxes. Henry wouldn’t go anywhere without it. At least
anywhere outside the palace grounds.

He wanders from the bed and into a massive walk-in closet where rows of designer clothes reside.
He runs his fingers along the sleeves of Henry’s shirts as he walks pass them. His eyes drift to the
floor where there’s a pile of clothes and sprawled hangers. The clothes are bundled into the furthest
corner of the closet and arranged in a way that leaves a crater in the middle, like a nest.
Oh.

His alpha punches the air from his chest in anger, and Alex feels his throat tighten. Henry has to
hide so much of himself, so much of his omega. A nest is something sacred that should be honored
and protected, not hidden in shame.

There’s shuffling outside the door and Alex panics, he snatches the pair of pants closest to his feet
and tugs them on before stumbling out of the closet. The door opens slowly and Henry walks in
holding two steaming cups, Alex wants to purr at the domesticity of his omega bringing him coffee
in bed.

Henry smiles at him softly before raising his eyebrows at Alex’s choice of clothing.

“Why d’you have a pair of my Burberry trousers on? Going somewhere fancy?” He jokes, setting
the cups on his bedside table.

“You showed up to the lake house in a Burberry suit.” Alex snarks, moving to sit at the foot of the
bed.

Henry laughs and comes to sit next to him. There’re just a few inches between them, but Alex feels
like they’re oceans apart again. The mention of the lake house has his mind spiraling and he can’t
help but pick anxiously at his cuticles. Henry smells good, God he can’t believe he’s actually
smelling him. But he’s also smelling an undertone of bitter anxiety that makes his skin crawl.

Henry watches before moving to grab his hands with both of his. He bends a leg to turn and face
Alex. Alex focuses on their tangled fingers until Henry squeezes his hands.

“I ran into Philip while I was outside with David. Well, actually he came and ruined a nice moment
but that’s kind of what he does.” Henry tells him and the bitter smell suddenly makes a little more
sense.

“He first made it clear that my smell is repulsive which,” he shrugs but Alex is growling before he
can stop it and Henry drops his shoulders. “It’s to be expected from him. Then we chatted a bit
about Martha and The Crowns expectations for an heir within the next year, and d’you know
Philip doesn’t even like kids? Suddenly it hit me. Philip is willing to do whatever’s expected of
him, and he’s fine with whatever that may be. He’s fine. It’s all very deeply fine. A whole lifetime
of fine.” Alex is following or he’s trying at least as his eyes trace over the lines of Henry’s
knuckles.

“I thought about last night, the things you said to me and suddenly it hit me. I don’t want just fine.
That’s not good enough for me.” Henry says strongly, squeezing his hands again.

Alex snaps his eyes up and Henry’s smiling at him softly.

“It’s not?” He asks quietly, heart stuttering in his chest.

Henry keeps staring into his eyes and he can’t take the hope that he sees there. He doesn’t want to
jump to conclusions. The last time he did, he didn’t stick the landing very well, so he focuses back
on their hands.

“You can look at me love. I actually need you to look at me when I say these next few things.”
Henry says gently and Alex’s alpha whines in chest.

He takes a sobering breath and looks up to find his favorite blue eyes.
 “Alex, I am so sorry for leaving you at the lake and cutting all communication. You have been
nothing but sweet and understanding and you don’t deserve to be treated in that manner. I need you
to know that first and foremost.” Alex nods absently, letting the apology soothe his heart like a
balm.

“Ever since I presented and even before, when I could sense I was different, I’ve always been
treated like a problem. Eventually I started to believe I was one and I deserved to be hidden. They
decided everything for me and took away my instincts. I never trusted myself with what I wanted.
Before you, I was alright with letting everything happen to me. I was okay with being presented as
a beta because they cut off all of my omega senses and instincts. I was thankful for it in a way,
because then I knew I wouldn’t ever fall for someone so deeply, I’d be faced with a choice I didn’t
think I deserved to make.

Alex wants to pull Henry into his arms and hold him close. He wants to take him to his nest and
never let another wretched soul touch him. He wants to burn Buckingham place to the fucking
ground with the Queen in it.

“Then here came this stubborn alpha. Loud, brash and so opinionated. You’ve knocked down
every wall that I’ve spent years building, you’ve brought my omega back to me and flipped my
entire life on its arse. You treat me like I deserve to choose.” Henry tells him quietly, raising a
hand to cradle Alex’s face.

“You do,” he says.

“I think I’m actually starting to believe that, and I don’t know how long it would’ve taken if I
didn’t have you to believe for me.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with you.” Alex tells him, his alpha growling in anger for his omega.

Henry smiles at him, pushing a hand through his curls to soothe him.

“I mean you were kind of an obtuse fucking asshole this past week.” Alex remarks and Henry
laughs loudly at him.

“I was. I won’t do it again.” He tells him sternly.

“Good… so you’re saying you’re in? You want to do this for real?” Alex tries not to let his voice
waver with uncertainty, but it does anyway.

Henry looks nervous but he raises his head and juts out his chin in the way he does to show
bravery.

“I’m saying, I’m terrified and my life is a right disaster but giving you up this week almost killed
me. Waking up next to you and looking at you… there’s no more fighting it for me. I-I don’t know
if we’ll ever be allowed to tell the world and I’m not sure I’ll ever be allowed to present as an
omega publicly, but I want to, someday. Because when they write the history of my life one day, I
want it to be accurate and I want it to include you.” Henry tells him and Alex lets out a sob of relief
and happiness, his alpha crooning loudly in his chest.

“History huh?” He asks Henry through tears, smiling so widely it hurts.

“Bet we could make some.”

Chapter End Notes

Chapter End Notes

*off in the distance agonized screaming*

 Love me when I fall
Chapter Summary

Alex, probably: “I'm here to eat ass and chew bubblegum, and I’m all out of bubble
gum.”

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Henry presses his nose to the scent gland on Alex’s neck, inhaling deeply, and humming in
contentment. Alex’s scent clings to Henry’s nose and coats his lungs cloyingly. Alex is under him,
shaking in the effort to remain still under Henry’s featherlight touches.

After sipping their respective drinks and eating a small breakfast, Alex had managed to save
himself from a slow and painful death for leaving the country without telling anyone. His saving
grace turns out to be Amy, who had alerted the president of their departure before their plane had
even taken off.

Alex had taken the verbal lashing with stride and brushed off Henry’s apologies for being the
cause. Henry promised to at least make it worth his while, which had landed them here, half naked,
with Alex’s eyes rolling back and Henry’s mouth on his throat.

Henry moves to straddle his hips and moans softly at the press of Alex’s hard cock in the cleft of
his ass. Alex squeezes his hips, encouraging the continuation of the delicate friction building
between them, and Henry obeys, shifting to get better leverage.

The alpha under him is a sight to behold, with his bottom lip caught between his teeth and the
muscles in his neck straining from pleasure. Henry thumbs at his lip, urging him to release it.

“Just us here, love. You don’t have to keep quiet.” Henry tells him, caressing the abused, slick
flesh.

Alex makes a noise of understanding before he opens his mouth and takes Henry’s thumb in it.
Henry’s dumbstruck as he watches Alex suck on his digit, scraping his teeth along the pad of it
periodically. He makes a show of it, looking smug when he finally lets it slip from his lips.

Henry growls before leaning back and doubling his grinding efforts. The action gives him the
gratifying result of a loud moaning curse and Alex flips them with dizzying ease.

Henry watches as he kisses down his stomach and sucks a mark right above his waistband. Alex’s
curls are in a wild array, some falling across his forehead and into his eyes as he looks up at Henry
with a sly smile.

Henry nods and lifts his hips to help Alex ease his joggers off. His cock bobs free, hard and
dripping and Alex eyes it hungrily before mouthing at his shaft. Henry swallows a moan and
tangles his fingers in Alex’s hair.

Alex makes out sloppily with his cock, filling the room with obscene wet noises that have Henry’s
hole fluttering desperately. Alex takes notice, smearing his slick around before thumbing at his
rim.

“Oh, Alex.” He whimpers.

Alex’s scent is spiced with cinnamon that warms Henry’s insides so pleasantly, it might melt his
spine. Alex sucks on the head of his cock briefly before nuzzling the scent gland on his thigh.

“You smell fucking sinful.” Alex grits out before laving his tongue against the swollen gland.

The spark of pleasure Henry feels ignites something in his belly and he moans wantonly.

“I got you baby. Just tell me if it’s too much.” Henry’s confused by the pleasantry, he’s had his fair
share of blow jobs and while some were good, none of them were spectacular enough to make him
tap out.

Alex flips him again before settling in between his sprawled legs spreading Henry’s cheeks to
expose his glistening, needy hole.

“Been wanting to do this for ages.” Alex remarks, mostly to himself it seems, before he’s plunging
forward and pressing his tongue against the furled muscle.

Alex has been crawling the walls with the need to taste Henry since he first felt his slick on his
fingers in Paris. He’d thought about it everyday since then. Wondered if it would be musky or
sweet. He’d spent hours in an incognito tab, researching and reading only for the conclusion to
leave him more needy.

An omega’s slick is unique to each individual, usually complimenting their scent for optimal
enticement of an alpha. The information hadn’t helped Alex at all, due to the disgusting amount of
suppressants Henry was on. He was relieved when his omega showed that his scent had no traces
of the sharp chemical smell that turned Alex’s stomach inside out on the rare occasions he smelt it.

Alex now knows the wait has been well worth it.

Henry’s sobbing in pleasure as his slick floods Alex’s mouth and drips down his chin. It’s pure
ambrosia to him, sweet like honey with the tartness of a summer fruit. He laps it up as quickly as
he can, smearing it all over his upper lip and nose in his haste to not let one drop go to waste. That
would be a goddamn crime, probably punishable by death, Alex thinks. Or it should be.

Henry reaches back to fist Alex’s curls and tug him closer. Alex happily obliges his omega,
prodding his tongue until Henry opens up for him and Alex can slip two fingers in easily.

Henry lifts his head from the sheets, face flushed and wet with tears. Alex wants to give him the
world.

“Want your cock.” Henry demands, voice hoarse.

Alex may not be able to give him the world, but he can give him this.

Pulling away to grab a condom is torture, but Alex’s remembers a truly harrowing powerpoint
presentation about safe sex, so he musters up the strength to do it.

Henry takes the opportunity to slide his knees under him and arch his back, presenting himself
beautifully, for Alex.

The second time Alex bottoms out is as shock inducing as the first. Henry fists the sheets and Alex
 watches his back muscles shift under the skin there. His shoulders are speckled with freckles and a
few moles that Alex wants to make constellations out of with his tongue.

Alex made sure their first time was face to face, partly because he wanted to watch Henry and
partly because he was worried it would be the first, and last time he would see him like that. This
time though, when Henry presents his hole to Alex he kneels behind him and revels in the sight of
his slick covered cock easing in and out of Henry’s body.

From this position, Henry can push back to take more, and it drives Alex just the right amount of
crazy when he does. Alex hasn’t knotted two times in the same twelve hours since he first
presented but it’s like a visceral reaction that he can’t help. Not when Henry’s begging for it so
prettily.

Afterwards, Alex mentions the tub and squawks indignantly when Henry shoves him face first into
the mattress to climb over him, yelling “Race you!” As he runs ass naked to the bathroom.

Alex sits on the edge of mattress, heart fluttering at hummingbird speed, smiling into the palm of
his hand.

Chapter End Notes

*my family all gathering to mourn on my grandpas death

anniversary*

*me in the corner writing this*

 It breaks baby
Chapter Notes

I missed you guys I’m back home now! And I apologize for the lack of chapters!
This one’s short but I needed to get over this hurdle! Im sorry if it’s boring!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Henry takes Alex to The Victoria and Albert Museum; he unearths a key and walks right in like he
owns it. Then he darts away from him, laughing as he runs and Alex’s alpha chirps in his chest at
the thrill of a chase. They run through rooms of Chinese art and French sculptures. Henry moves
from room to room with precise twists and turns that leave Alex just out of reach. They’re laughing
and yelling, Henry smiles over his shoulder, blonde hair flopping with his movements and Alex’s
chest squeezes with overwhelming emotion.

Henry slows in front of a corridor and Alex pins him against one of the hallway walls, kissing him
deeply.

“Hmm, love. What was that for?” Henry asks, a dazed look in his eyes.

“I just. I really love you.” Alex breathes, kissing along his jaw.

Alex watches Henry’s eyes shine with love and adoration as he recalls mornings spent with his
parents between the very statues in front of them.

“When I was younger,” Henry says, “I had this elaborate idea of taking somebody I loved here and
standing inside the chapel, that he’d love it as much as I did, and we’d slow dance in between the
statues. Just a… daft pubescent fantasy I suppose.” Henry says, eyes far off as he imagines.

Alex slips his phone from his pocket and queues ‘Your song’ by Elton John. A song Henry had
mentioned during one of their many late night phone calls. Henry turns to him, eyes shining and
mouth in a wry smile. Alex pulls him close, tugging Henry’s arms to wrap around his neck before
wrapping his own around Henry’s waist.

Henry tucks his head into Alex’s neck, pressing his lips to his scent gland before saying, “I don’t
want you to go.”

Alex’s heart shatters at the quiet admission and his instincts bristle at the idea of upsetting his
omega. He pulls Henry closer, tightening his arms and cupping the back of his head.

“I don’t want to leave either.”

Henry watches as Alex packs. He’s laying on his stomach at the foot of the bed, pouting as Alex
shuffles through his clothes. Alex is trying to decide which hoodie to wear for the flight when
Henry asks, “Can you leave one here?”

Alex looks up from where he’s crouched over his suitcase and his eyes soften at what Henry
assumes must be the pathetic look on his face. He looks at Henry’s closet and then back to him.

“Of course, babe. I’ll leave a few T-shirts too.” He says, turning to grab the folded garments.
Henrys infinitely grateful at Alex’s understanding of him. How he desperately needs this but
doesn’t want it to be a big deal. Alex stands, a stack of folded clothes in his hands.

“Are you taking an empty suitcase back?” Henrys asks incredulously. The stack of clothes has to
be at least half of what Alex had packed.

“I have more than enough at home. Plus, you could use some color in your wardrobe.” He shrugs
with a smirk and Henry shoves him.

Henry charters a plane for later that night, both of them agreeing that a late night take off might
save them a media storm. They have a couple of hours until then and Henry doesn’t plan on letting
Alex out of the bed until he absolutely has to. Alex seems perfectly content to lay wrapped around
Henry.

“They won’t do anything to you, right?” Alex asks him.

Henry’s been avoiding this part of their revelation because he’s honestly not sure how The Crown
will treat him when they find out he’s a raging omega they can’t suppress anymore, who’s also gay
and dating the President's son. It’s a lot of wrong and Mary might kill him for it.

The silence doesn’t quell Alex’s fear.

“Baby they’ve been poisoning you. Who knows what long-term damage they’ve done to you.”
There’s a rumble in his voice, the preface of a growl.

His scent sours and Henry whines so Alex presses a kiss to his head.

“I stopped taking the pill. I hide it under my tongue and spit it out when Cleo leaves. When I came
back from Texas, I was so ill. I think leaving you was the final blow to my omega.” Henry
confesses.

Alex sits up in surprise, jostling Henry.

“That’s really brave sweetheart. You deserve to take back what little control you can. One day
you’ll be free. I just need you to be safe until then.” He tells him.

Henry feels a surge of affection at Alex’s words. The hopefulness feels dangerous. He’s never
thought about a life outside the palace but he can see one with Alex so clearly it’s startling. It’s
addicting.

Henry sits up and straddles Alex’s legs, taking both of his hands in his own.

“You know what else would-be taking control?” Henry’s asks coyly.

Alex’s pupils are blown wide and Henry’s throat catches on the spice of his scent. He leans close
and presses his lips to the shell of Alex’s ear.

“Giving me a bond bite.” He whispers, pressing Alex’s hand to the scent gland on his thigh.

Henry’s always liked sex. Before he presented, he’d fall into bed with whoever was willing to sign
an NDA and for a short time, he could take what he wanted and be who he was. The euphoric
feeling never lasted as long as the shame did and after he presented there was no way to hide being
an omega to someone who would feel the most intimate parts of him.

Henry loves sex with Alex. The alpha is needy and pushy but always ready to give Henry exactly
 what he wants. He’s also reassuring of Henry’s comfort and feelings. Henry remembers the first
time Alex went down on him, in a tack room after Henry had been riding a horse for hours. He was
fumbling nervously but so goddamn enthusiastic Henry had to close his eyes to keep from blowing
his load to early.

It’s nothing like this time. Alex is sure in every press of his lips and tongue on Henry’s skin. His
fingertips skim Henry’s hip bones and thighs, parting his legs to suck hickies around his scent
glands.

Their scents surround Henry like a blanket fresh out of the dryer, wrapping him in warmth and
comfort. Alex’s curls are soft under his fingertips and make him arch his spine beautifully when
Henry tugs on them. He doesn’t question or doubt Henry’s choice, only gives him one more long
look, before leaning forward and licking over the scent gland, once, twice, before biting down to
break the skin and open a bond.

Chapter End Notes

Thank you guys so much for all of the love and kind words. This story means so much
to me and it warms me inside and out that others are enjoying it!

I have a few questions! How do you guys feel about mating/bonds in the a/b/o
universe?
And how do we feel about mpreg? I know it’s a controversial trope that a lot of people
don’t like. I’m thinking in terms of making this a series and fleshing out some of these
things.
 It’s torn baby
Chapter Summary

This chapter details acts of chemical castration and non-consensual body

modifications! Please proceed with caution if these things trigger you!
I think about Alan Turing a lot and I hope he got the gentle epilogue he deserved. ♡

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Henry deserves more than just a sexual bond. He deserves a platonic bond on his wrists from his
friends and family who he trusts and he deserves a mating bond on his neck for everyone to see.
Different bonds come with different emotions and Henry deserves to experience them all.
Unfortunately, now all Alex can offer him safely, is a sexual bond. One that will heighten their
pleasure and remain for three days. It will soothe the omega and protect Henry for a short period of
time as his alpha will be able to sense any danger Henry might be in.

And that’s Alex’s biggest concern. These sick bastards have tortured and poisoned Henry for
years. The queen knows her power and the monarch’s ability to hide things very well. Even though
every fiber of Alex’s being is telling him to call his mom and tell her of their heinous crimes
against an omega, he can’t do that until he knows Henry is safe, preferably with him, in America.

Alex has already made a list of the things he will need to research in full, before going after The
Crown, and he’s requested books on The Untied Kingdoms laws and books on crimes against
omegas. The next few months are going to be chaotic as his mom heads for reelection but Alex will
try his best to balance the two. After his mom secures her office again, Alex will inform her of
everything going on, present the facts along with cross checked proof of the abuse Henry has been
enduring. He’ll double and triple check to make sure the case is air tight. He can’t afford for a
crumble in the defense. Not when Henry’s safety is on the line.

Henry’s grasp on his hair slackens when Alex’s teeth puncture the scent gland. Alex feels the bond
take place, lighting up him from the inside out. His spine feels like a lightning rod, intercepting all
the pleasure and grounding it throughout his bones. He licks at the bite before moving up to look at
Henry, eyes are glazed, and cheeks stained red, he looks properly debauched and Alex hasn’t even
touched him yet.

“You with me omega?” He asks, using the name he’s sure will stir a reaction.

Henry gasps, eyes meeting Alex’s before he’s reaching for him, clambering to sit on his lap and
lick into his mouth.

Henry’s heart is in his throat as they pull onto the royal's airfield. A private jet awaits, but Amy
tells Alex to take his time before she and the driver step outside of the car.

Henry’s twisting the gold ring on his finger before Alex pulls him into a tight hug.

“I am so proud of you. You are brave and amazing, and I’ll be as patient as you need while we
figure everything out. I love you so much.” Alex tells him, kissing the side of his head.

Tears well and spill over before he can stop them, and a pathetic noise slips past his lips. Alex
squeezes him tighter and purrs, his scent permuting the air around them as the alpha tries to
comfort him. Henry breathes deeply, inhaling as much of it as he can before pulling back cupping
Alex’s face in his hands.

“Thank you for coming for me. I love you.” He sniffles, kissing Alex one more time deeply before
releasing his face and working to get his ring off.

“I can’t give you a bond bite, not yet, but I want you to know I’m one thousand percent in.” He
explains, handing the piece of engraved metal to Alex.

It results in a heated make out session that has Amy knocking on the window to douse the fire
between them, before Alex boards a private jet with a painful hard on.

Upon returning home, Alex is thrown into the campaign. He’s tasked with flying to Texas and
rallying young people to register to vote. He spends long days with community officials and
cameras, he volunteers at schools and restaurants, handing out food and washing dishes.

He talks with the people of his home state and tries to connect with as many as possible. It’s
rewarding but incredibly draining and leaves him aching for Henry, his alpha yearning for the
comfort and familiarity of his omega. His nose burns with others scents, making his skin crawl
with nerves.

They email constantly. Henry’s coming out didn’t fare well with Philip but Henry promises him
he’s safe. Henry tells him he’s also convinced Cleo to let himself administer the injections and that
he’s been able to squeeze some of the liquid into the cap before giving himself the shot. It’s
reckless but Alex can’t imagine being forced to take chemicals to alter his body so he just bares it
and makes Henry promise if anything goes awry.

The injections don’t seem to work now, though. Henry tells him it stings like never before and then
it’s as if his body burns through them before they have a chance to work. Shaan has been able to
keep his appearances all virtual but the queen is getting restless, as are the people. Their Prince is
hiding and they want to know the reason.

Alex finds time to research. At his hotel late at night after a full day of campaigning, he burns his
corneas with blue light and writes down any and everything he thinks might help. He reads about
The Omega Freedom Movement from the nineties, and their goal to discredit alpha/beta supremacy
to obtain rights that allow omegas to live independently and without fear or violence or judgement.
Most countries adopted it after riots burned entire cities to the ground and people turned on their
governments. Europe followed but was notorious for crimes on omegas being covered up and
overlooked.

He also learns about the legal doctrine known as ‘crown immunity’ that states a sovereign or state
cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from civil suit or criminal prosecution. The queen is
covered by that being as that she is a sovereign, and it goes as far as to ensure that she cannot be
subject to any civil proceedings, cannot be interviewed by police and would never have testify in
court should she choose.

It’s all incredibly frustrating and a disgusting misuse of power. Alex isn’t even sure where to begin,
or which part of his defense he should start reinforcing. He looks for other stories similar to what
Henry is experiencing and finds an article on an omega man who was chemically castrated, after
 he’d called in a burglary and the cops had discovered he was in a relationship with a nineteen-year-
old man, who was an alpha. The courts convicted him of gross indecency and instead of punishing
him with death, they chemically castrated him with hormone injections.

Alex spends the next fifteen minutes with his head over the toilet, after reading what the results
were of the injections. He calls Henry, sniffling and shaking and asks for the omega to stay on the
phone with him until he falls asleep. It doesn’t help the nightmares that plague him.

Chapter End Notes

Thank you to everyone who offered feedback about the bonding and mpreg! I value all
of your opinions and will take all of them into consideration! One thing I know for
sure now, is that mpreg will not take place in this story but I will be heavily
considering it for a sequel! I would never put Henry in more danger or inflict danger
onto an innocent lil pup!
Thank you guys so much!
 Every storm
Chapter Notes

Surprise shawty!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The final task for Alex in his mom's campaign is a speech at the Democratic National Convention.
He doesn’t sleep a wink in the days before, instead he runs on the treadmill until he sees spots and
FaceTimes with Henry until he falls asleep.

His omega doesn’t look good. There are deep purple smudges under his eyes, and he shakes when
he holds the phone, but when Alex asks him about it, he gets a halfhearted shrug in response.

It puts him on edge and he snaps at June more than once when she asks him about it. Nora sweeps
his legs out from under him and pins him to the ground after a particularly rough day, and then she
sits on Alex’s back until he apologizes to June.

He gets an email from Henry before he’s due to go on stage and he reads it quickly while they pat
make up into his skin.

Henry hwales@kensingtonemail.com

To A

Alex,

I know how nervous you have been for your speech so I’m hoping to have caught you before
you’re due on stage.

You are so incredible and passionate about helping others that I often wonder if I deserve you.
You’re ready to go to war for anything you believe in while I hide cowardly behind a veneer,
completely useless.

You’re going to charm the trousers off the audience, you always do.

You’re so good love. This world does not deserve your beauty or your gracious brain.

I don’t either, but I’m going to hold to it for a little while longer, okay?

I love you, infinitely.

-H

Alex doesn’t realize he’s shaking until he loses his grip and his phone clatters to the floor. There’s
an aide at his side, informing him he has five minutes before he’s due at the podium and he nods
dismissively. He snatches his phone up and dials Henry’s number.

The email tops the worry Alex has been bottling up and overwhelms him.
The call goes straight to voicemail.

Something is very wrong, and Alex can’t shake the feeling he’s too late in that realization.

He doesn’t remember any of his speech. The crowd cheers loudly when he leaves the stage, so he
assumes he’s read everything off cue cards correctly. Zarah’s chirping off the ratings, but Henry
still hasn’t answered any of his texts, so he calls again.

“…’llo?” Comes a soft answer.

“Henry? Fuck, baby. Are you okay?” Alex’s heart is beating so hard he thinks it might burst and
emotion crawls up his throat, threatening to choke him.

“Just tired, love. How’d the speech go?”

“Your email scared the shit out of me Hen.” He breathes.

“Hmm. Email? I didn’t think that sent.” Henry sounds disoriented.

“Baby, what’s going on?”

“Suppressants today. Gave me four injections. Gran came ‘n watched. Couldn’t hide the pill.” He
slurs.

“Where’s Shaan? I think you need some help.” Alex’s alpha is ripping his chest open.

Henry hums softly, seemingly drifting back to sleep. Alex places the call on speaker and listens to
him breathe while he types out a text to Pez, asking him if he can get to Henry.

His response comes in seconds.

Just landed back in Heathrow, on my way to KP.

The DNC was hosted by Chicago this year, so he’s due to board a plane for the two-hour flight
back to Washington, in fifteen minutes. He stays on the phone and listens the whole car ride to the
airfield. His google notifications are blowing up, but he swipes them away and focuses on Henry’s
ragged breathing. It’s twenty more agonizing minutes before Alex hears a soft voice and some
shuffling. He boards the plane and while he waits for takeoff, he listens to Pez on the other side of
the line.

“Hey Hazza. You’re causing quite a scare.” His voice filters through the little speaker.

He hears Henry moan softly and Pez makes a noise of surprise.

“Lookin rough, crumpet. Let’s get you into bed.”

His alpha roars at the implication of his omega in the makeshift nest of his closet.

“Wait, don’t move him Pez. It’s comforting for him. Just try to make it more comfortable.”

Pez makes a noise of understanding before Alex hears more shuffling.

“Christ, Alex. He’s burning up. Like proper feverish. And his scent glands look impacted.”

Alex has never heard the tone in Pez’s voice before, so he starts googling the soonest flights to
London.
Impacted scent glands means Henry hasn’t been able to emit his scent properly and his glands are
swollen. Depending on how long they’ve been blocked there’s risk for infection or abscesses
forming.

He hears his omega whine and has to put the phone on his thigh to keep from crushing it in his
hand.

“I know mate. You’re feeling pretty rotten. I got you.” Pez empathizes with Henry.

“Pez, I’m trying to book a flight but there aren’t any til morning. Can you stay with him?” Alex is
talking quietly but he’s shaking in rage.

“Of course, mate. Mary’s been particularly rough on him for the past few weeks. She’ll probably
go a bit bramy when she finds out I’m here, but I’ll stay as long as I can.”

Alex wants to scream at him to stay whether Mary gives him her blessing to or not, but instead he
offers a curt ‘goodnight’ before hanging up.

“You’re exactly who you need to be, duck.”

“They’re scared of your brilliancy, dear boy.”

“I’m sorry that pressure has fallen on you.”

Henry floats for a while, his father's voice lapping at the edges of his clouded brain, then Alex.

“We can figure out a way to love each other on our own terms, nobody else’s.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“History huh?”

Then a concerned voice he can’t decipher.

“Looking rough, crumpet. Let’s get you into bed.”

No, he wants to be in his nest.

“He’s burning up.”

He doesn’t feel hot.

“You’re feeling pretty rotten. I got you.”

He wants Alex.

Alex isn’t sure how or when he falls asleep, once he gets back to The White House, but he’s
awoken by his bedroom door banging open, and Zarah hoping on one heeled foot as she attempts to
slip the other heel on.

“What did you do!” She yells at him; her eyes are smudged with makeup and hair in a tangled mess
on top of her head.

Alex is both scared shitless and pissed at her barging in.

 “Where’s your phone?” She’s still yelling.

Alex fumbles around his sheets, he’d been looking at flights before he fell asleep. He finds it by
the foot of his bed and swipes up on the screen. Hundreds of notifications flood his screen, and he
almost drops his phone when he comprehends one of the headlines.

He needs to call Henry.

He needs to fly to London right now.

Chapter End Notes

…… ˢᵘʳᵖʳⁱˢᵉ ˢʰᵃʷᵗʸ
 Love me like I’m not made of stone
Chapter Notes

*muffled crying*

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It is recommended that an omega on suppressants should allow themselves a heat every three
months to avoid permanent damage, and/or sudden onset immunity to the suppressant, causing a
sudden and severe heat.

A feral state can be triggered by an upheaval of stress or trauma, and results in one being stripped
down to basic instincts. Common behavior responses are aggression, fear, and nest guarding.

Shaan Srivastava met Arthur Fox on the set of the first James Bond movie. Shaan was an intern
before Arthur requested him as a personal assistant and then he would quickly become a family
friend of Arthur’s who would follow him into the Royal family.

Arthur requested a meeting two days before he passed and Shaan sat next to his dying friend and
listened as he pleaded for Shaan to take care of his youngest. He swore reverently to look out for
Henry, it was the least he could do after everything Arthur had done for him. He knew his first task
wouldn’t be an easy one, Henry needing to be forcibly removed from his fathers side as the royals
medical staff descended on the room.

He knows the second Henry returns from the lake house that something has irrecoverably changed.
Henry locks himself in his room and doesn’t move for days. Shaan brings and takes full plates of
food from just inside the room. He’s one more skipped meal from force feeding Henry, when the
boastful, alpha American boy shows up, screaming in the rain.

Shaan’s relieved when Henry appears the next morning, a small smile on his face and a subtle
glow under his skin. He makes sure to wave palace staff away and pulls a few strings to clear
Henry’s schedule. Buckingham Palace is quiet and while it should be relieving, Arthur had once
warned him that a silent Queen was more deadly than an angry one.

Shaan knows Henry’s skimping his doses. He often tries to pull Cleo’s attention away from the
prince to give him ample time to do so. It’s stupidly reckless but Shaan has never seen Henry as
alive as he is when he’s not stunted by the hormone drugs.

No matter how hard he fights, the Queen sends him on a two-week holiday, threatening
termination if he refuses.

Zarah takes his phone and laptop, citing a communication lockdown before she leaves him seething
in his room. His vision is hazy as he swipes everything off his desk and he can hear his heartbeat
over the scream he lets out. Rage burns hot, white and all-consuming as he fists his curls and pulls,
until the sharp pain in his scalp is all he can feel.

His alpha claws desperately at his chest, squeezing his lungs and gagging him with anger.
Desperate, angry noises are bursting from him, calling for his omega. He’d been scared for Henry
last night, now he’s terrified.

“…lex… Alex!” He hears distantly.

There’s a cotton candy smell penetrating through his anger, and a soft voice crooning in his ear.
He feels hands tugging on his wrists, urging him to let go of the death grip he has on his hair. His
anger is diminishing, being snuffed out quickly by a swell of anxiety and fear for his omega. He
collapses to his knees and claws at his throat, breaking the skin. His hands are grabbed and pressed
against something solid and warm, while his face is cradled between two hands. His eyesight
focuses after a few minutes, and Junes brown eyes come into focus.

“Hen. Gotta get to him. June.” He mumbles, grasping at her shoulder, willing her to understand.

She replies but all Alex can hear is Henry’s disoriented voice.

“Something is wrong. They found us. I need to get to him.” His alpha is on a one-track mind,
instincts sharpening to one focus, his omega.

Alex’s smells a sharper scent, pine and bitter chocolate. Amy.

He’s pulled to his feet and pushed onto his bed before he begins to fight back, shoving at hands that
touch his shoulders and arms. He hears a snarl and realizes fleetingly it’s his own, before a sharp
pressure pinches the back of his neck and radiates pain down his spine, zapping the fight right out
of him. His limbs go heavy, and his vision and hearing become startlingly clear.

“I’m gonna let you go now, don’t make me regret it.” Amy tells him, a command poorly
camouflaged with a shaking voice.

The pressure on his neck lifts and his body slinks down to the mattress in a heap of limbs. He
breathes harshly and watches Amy and June as they watch him with concerned looks. His alpha is
still angry but subdued by the submissive instinct from Amy’s grip on his neck. With his cheek
pressed against his sheet he closes his eyes and lets out a whine for his omega.

Henry isn’t aware of much. He feels like he’s in pieces that have been scattered, too small to be
retrieved and made whole again. He can’t grasp a single emotion or sensation. He hears voices,
some from his past, some from the present. He thinks if he had a body, it’d be made of raging
flames, burning everything around him. He wonders if he would rise from the ashes the same, or if
his body would reflect every scar and burn from his fight.

He wants his father, wants to hear his voice and smell him, one last time. Arthur would know what
to do. He’d protect Henry from The Crown and let him be whoever with whomever. He needs his
father, needs his wisdom and bravery. Arthur had no problem going against The Crown. He did it
for Catherine and then time and time again for his kids.

“You have Alex.” A voice says.

Alex. His alpha. His beautiful, brave alpha who deserves infinitely better than what Henry can give
him.
 “Don’t give up on him.”

He’s giving up on himself, not Alex.

“Fight for him.”

He’s so tired of fighting.

June builds him a nest. She grabs every linen she can find and piles it on his bed around him. His
throat is raw from whining and his body is stiff from being folded in on itself, but he doesn’t move.
June curls around him and Nora gently untangles his curls from her perch on his pillows. Alex
doesn’t know how long they stay like that before they’re interrupted by Ellen entering the room.

June and Nora share a look before reluctantly leaving his bed and vacating the room. Ellen sits
down next to him and rubs his back.

“I’m so sorry, sugar. The communication lockdown was a precautionary, we weren’t sure where
the breach happened. We had to be smart.”

Alex isn’t really interested in hearing her explanation. He understands why they cut him off from
Henry. He also understands that for Ellen, this country comes before family and that’s a bitter
sacrifice to face sometimes.

“It was Jefferson’s campaign that leaked the emails, we’re looking now to see how they did it.”

Alex squeezes his eyes shut at the onslaught of anger he feels. His body trembles.

Ellen sighs before pushing something into his hand, the cold glass of his phone screen helps
ground him. Ellen keeps her grip on the phone and leans close to Alex’s ear.

“Shaan Srivastava is here, alone. He’s requesting to speak with you.” Ellen tells him quietly
and Alex’s body protests the sudden shift in position as he launches himself upright and looks at
her with wild eyes.

“Where is he?” He demands, voice rough.

He clambers out of the nest and his knees almost buckle before he locks them.

“He’s waiting for you at the air field. He’s accompanying you to England.”

Chapter End Notes

This chapter is all over the place, I apologize.

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!