The tension that enveloped the room after I said those words was so thick I could cut it with a knife. I gulped nervously and sneaked a glance at my alpha. Unfortunately, the image that ended up greeting me shocked me into silence.

Gael's gaze had turned frosty, but his expression did not betray any of his thoughts. Faced with this pressure, I ended up swallowing the words that were on the tip of my tongue.

"Say it then." His velvety-rich voice had woken me out of my stunned stupor, and I managed to at least say the one thing I had on my mind before my nerves took over and left me a bumbling mess.

"My heat is coming up soon..." The silence that followed soon after felt suffocating.

"Understood." My alpha's reply was short and simple. I fumbled to say the rest of my request, things such as wanting cuddles and more attention, but was unable to get out the words due to my sudden bout of stuttering. It seemed as though Gael was getting tired of the helpless situation and held out a hand to stop me from continuing my words.

"I have a few conditions of my own..." He stood up, preparing himself to leave. I watched with bated breath as he walked towards the large doors and pulled them open effortlessly. "I'll aid you during your heats, but other than that... I'd like for us to remain strangers."

Noah watched Gael, his alpha, leave without taking a single glance back. Deep inside his soul, he could feel a heart-wrenching pain.

"What was I expecting?"

Noah quietly got up and quickly headed straight to the building his room was located in and locked his bedroom door shut once he got there. He sat down on the bed. Once his adrenaline rush completely disappeared, he could feel his ankle throb in pain from being abused so recklessly. If the Supervisor Tol found out about his injury, it would give the alpha a reason to kick the omega out of the training group.

Noah could only suck it up and continue to go to the next couple of trainings, all the while avoiding Gael—as per his request. His wolf whimpered unhappily, but knew the alpha had requested it, so the tantrum had only lasted a while.

Getting up, Noah hobbled to the bags his mother packed for him before he left the village. He discovered a note from his mother among them, which read:

My dearest Noah,

I assume you must be feeling a bit betrayed as of right now. You have the complete right to be. We decided upon this without getting your response to any of it. We were worried about what would happen to you once your alpha left, and... we knew that he would not come back to the village easily. To prevent this, we made him take you back with them. Right now you must be so confused, so I'll give you some advice. During our heats, we omegas prepare nests filled with the scents of our loved ones. In your bag, I left some of our clothes for you to use for your first official heat. I know you already had your heat, but you were vulnerable and unaware of the situation. I wrapped them up to trap the scent inside. Nests are important, so you must carefully choose a safe place to build one. Stay well, and we'll visit soon.

Love,

Mom and Dad:

Noah flushed happily at the letter and took out the clothes, which were wrapped up in more cloth, hugging them tightly. He felt emotionally drained. He should have been more prepared to face Gael's reaction, but first he had to get through some of the training he knew Tol would put him through. He glanced at his ankle and hoped it would be able to withstand a little more physical exertion. He knew how omegas healed slowly.

He also remembered how his mother told him during one of their lessons that he would be able to tell when he would have his heat, but he couldn't help but be nervous about the whole ordeal. So many terrible things had happened in such a short amount of time, Noah thought it would be best to just numb himself before anything more could devastate him.

He changed out of his clothes and brushed his teeth before lying in bed. He hoped the next couple of days would get better.

The next day came very quickly, and unfortunately, things weren't getting any better.

As soon as Noah arrived at the training field, he was immediately told by Tol to run five laps around the field in human form.

Mind you, the field was extremely long, which spanned over a mile.

Although Noah was fit in his wolf form, it could not compare to how weak he was in human form. Noah could only reign in his emotions at how upset he was due to the reasoning Tol told him.

"I'm gonna make 'ya regret 'ya ever joined." He said it loud enough for everyone to hear. "This is normal training. I make my alpha soldiers do 'ya see." He cackled.

Unfortunately for Tol, Noah had inherited the stubborn streak his father had, and accepted the challenge. The others watched as he ran slowly, unaware that he had been injured the day before, which caused him to run slower. It was until they could no longer see him that they began their run.

Noah was proven to his limits pretty early on when, after the first lap, he puked onto the field. He could feel his ankle burning from the stress it was receiving, but he tried to ignore it as he still had a few more laps to go. He was panting and sweating profusely, as if forced to carry some weights. Some of the alphas laughed at the sight as they caught up to him—not even out of breath. Noah watched as they passed by him, but his vision blurred as he tried to regain his momentum. He didn't notice Gael sneaking a glance at him as he continued to run.

"Hey pipsqueak, noone's gonna treat 'ya like a princess 'ere, get a move on!"

The command spurred Noah to continue on. The alphas had finished their running early and went to receive the rest of their training. No one paid attention to the omega who was still running, or hobbling for a lack of better words.

The gorgeous omega was reduced to a sweaty, sniveling mess. His hair was soaked, as was his shirt, but he persevered. The sight tugged at some of the alphas' heart-strings and they couldn't help but regret their actions, but even so, they couldn't really do anything about it, so once training was over, they left.

Hours had passed until Noah finally completed his fifth lap. By this point, anything and everything he said was incoherent, and he couldn't tell which way was up or down. He had vomited twice as he ran and was starving immensely. At one point, he almost decided to quit, but the taunting words he received earlier prevented him from doing so.

The only remaining alphas on the field were Tol and Gael. They watched as the omega panted for breath before swaying a little as he stood. It seemed the little omega could still sense his alpha nearby and headed towards Gael, trusting his instincts that Gael wouldn't put him in any harm. Before he could reach him, Noah ended up fainting. Gael caught the omega as he fell and immediately carried him back, princess style, towards the castle.

Tol narrowed his eyes at the action, but quickly dispelled any thoughts. It seemed as though Young Gael was unaware of his actions. Tol couldn't get a grasp on how the younger alpha felt towards his little omega, and just chalked it up. Gael was a bit of a sadist after all. No alpha wanted their omega mate to suffer any sort of minor inconvenience, but it seemed Gael was the only abnormal one.

'Well... It didn't really matter as he had a few more days to make the omega quit training with them.'

—

Noah awoke to a pleasant aroma. His stomach growled, but his body ached too much to get up. He managed to open one eyelid and noticed he was back in what he remembered to be Gael's room. He was also dressed in comfortable clothing. He looked at his wrapped ankle in dismay. He hadn't been wearing any pants to hide his injury.

'Well... I guess I couldn't hide it any longer... When had I gotten here? ' He turned his head and was surprised to see Gael sitting nearby, coolly watching him with an unknown intent.

The reasoning was simple. While Gael had been using the bathtub his mother had given him earlier, he decided to press a button out of curiosity. All of a sudden, he could hear moans and slowly turned his head to face the direction where the sound was coming from. He soon realized that it was from the little screen that the tub possessed. On the screen, he could see a naked Freckles looking extremely seductive and exhibiting his bare bits. Tearing his gaze off of the screen, his mind short-circuited for a while before he immediately pressed the same button to make the video stop.

The image of Noah wanton made Gael feel strangely itchy in his heart, but one couldn't really see it from his expression. He didn't like the feeling at all, he frowned in distaste. He had become possessive lately, which was why he had told Freckles to not bother him with his affairs—to stay away from him. He felt uncomfortable with the unknown feeling and believed it would only bring trouble.

Especially since, at one point, there was the issue of getting Noah clean. Despite Baldrick's volunteering, Gael had been the one to wash the little omega in front of him—knowing full well that he was violating his own conditions. Despite that, the thought of anyone else laying a hand on Freckles made him want to kill.

He could feel Freckle's gaze on him and turned to grab the bowl of soup sitting next to him, only to realize that the omega would have a hard time drinking and eating while he was laying down. Instead, he lifted the omega up and placed some pillows behind his head to prop him up. Gael then grabbed the bowl of soup, waiting for the broth to cool down before feeding the omega. He watched the omega drink the soup before offering some chicken.

Noah gazed at his alpha in surprise. The sudden personality change was too much for him to handle. He was beginning to think that his alpha had bipolar disorder.

At his alpha's insistence, he opened his mouth wide for every bite of food he was offered. It had been a while since someone had taken care of him.

Though Gael's behavior was not without a purpose. Just earlier, while Noah had been asleep, Gael had called for the royal physician to check up on Noah's health. Gael had noticed how Noah had been running strangely the entire time and realized he could have had an injury, but couldn't tell due to the long pants he wore. The call for the physician did not go unnoticed by his parents, so they decided to come as well. The news they received shook them to their core.

Flashback

"I'm afraid Sir Noah has been going in and out of subspace."

The Queen gasped at the information. She looked at the physician. Her eyes demanded more explanation. She looked at Gael with a shocked expression.

Gael couldn't help but look at the omega on top of his bed.

"Subspace occurs when an alpha has not given their omega any care, or if the omega has had any traumatizing events occur to them recently. They can relapse immediately if no proper care is given, or if they haven't been receiving much of their alpha's pheromones. " The physician glanced at Gael. "May I ask how it has gotten so bad?"

Gael narrowed his eyes. This was all the physician needed to make an analysis of the situation. "Prince Gael, what you have been doing was extremely abusive. I don't know what he's done to deserve this treatment, but this behavior needs to stop. " He looked pointedly at Gael.

The King and Queen both looked at their son in extreme disappointment. Their son-in-law was maltreated. They couldn't help but think everything had been their fault in the way they had raised their bull-headed son.

"I've seen a lot of other alphas react in the same way, but I never would have thought you would fall victim to this type of mindset as well. None of the alphas I've seen have treated their omegas this badly. I've also noticed that Sir Noah seems to have a swollen ankle. I advise him to refrain from strenuous activities until his ankle heals.Fortunately, it seems someone has caught on to the injury and wrapped it before it could get any worse. I'll prescribe some painkillers for him to take to ensure a faster recovery. " He said this as he walked away, leaving Gael and his parents alone with each other; the tension was palpable.

Once the physician left, Queen Esme slapped her son with all her force. Tears filled her eyes. Gael remained still, accepting his punishment.

"What makes you think you could treat your mate like this?!" Her voice was quiet, barely restraining her emotions.

King Leopoldo remained silent, but his expression belied his true thoughts.

She continued to look at her son before sighing, misunderstanding the reason why Gael may have been acting so terribly towards his soul-mate.

"Noah may be a male, but he is still an omega and your soul-mate. You must treat him with care, I'm sure he's confused about the situation." She said.

The physician entered the room.

"Oh, is this a bad time?" He looked at the Queen.

"No..." She looked sharply at Gael, then back at Noah before softening her gaze. "If you so much as hurt him again, I will make sure you feel my wrath, even if you are my flesh and blood. If you'll excuse me, I unfortunately have other matters to attend to. I'll have someone bring in some chicken soup later. " The two parents left the room, leaving with one last glance at Noah and their son.

"Prince Gael, although you may not care, I wanted to let you know that your omega is extremely touch-starved, and at this rate he will die before his first heat. You must stay with him every day for about a month before he gets out of the danger zone."

Gael looked nonchalantly at the physician before looking away. The royal physician could only sigh unhappily at the reaction he received, not thinking that the alpha took his words seriously.

"It may not be a big deal to you, but to an omega it is life-changing. I hope you learn to realize that, Prince Gael. I must add one more thing. I think Sir Noah should be prohibited from doing anymore dangerous extraneous activities. It is extremely unbefitting for the future luna of our pack to be in a constant state of injury. Omegas have a slower healing rate after all. "

The physician left the room soon after, leaving an extra compression wrap just in case something else happens, as well as some painkillers, telling Gael to give Noah some water to aid with digesting the pill. Gael looked at the omega lying still atop the bed with an inscrutable look. His silvery-gold eyes were scanning the bruises and the gauze wrapped around his ankle with an air of coldness. Gael didn't take to heart what his mother said; he could care less. However, the idea of Freckles dying struck a nerve.

He could hear his wolf growling at him... he had failed as alpha... he begged forgiveness...

He ignored his wolf and went to bathe.

Flashback End

This later led to the situations Gael experienced with the tub, causing Gael to contemplate near Noah's bedside—he would later go on to feed Noah the soup he received from a servant.