For Lunaris Dies.

Inspired by IMPRINTING by Lunaris Dies.

THE STORY IS NOT MINE!

This is a translation of the Italian story "Imprinting" by Lunaris Dies

You can find the original work on the website 'efpfanfic'


That morning came too soon, excessively too soon. He had lay awake all night. The timid rays of a pale dawn came in through the closed Venetian blinds, softly enveloping the thin and tired figure lying limply on the bed in the dim light of the room.

Merlin ran a hand over his eyes and then, passed it in the midst of his black hair, shaped as after a long battle. The other hand went to creep under the big sweatshirt he wore to sleep. He alighted it on his hairless chest as he took a deep breath and planted his blue eyes on the ceiling, as if he was looking for answers that would never arrive.

All night, he had thought about what had happened, remembering every second a thousand times more in his mind. Too many emotions had upset his existence: fear, anger, desire.

The sweet feel of triumph on an Alpha tickled his mind. His rosy lips stretched in a sweet smile as he thought again about the words that surely had brought Arthur Pendragon to madness, giving him a mixture of anger and pure elation.

He had not felt so well in a long time.

He closed his eyes again to look for that figure imprinted in the shadow of his pupils.

He saw his own mouth an inch from his ear. He drew his tense muscles under the fabric of his sweater; he retraced the shape of his clenched jaw; his red lips, tightened into a thin line. His neck with the large Adam's apple that swallowed restless. He saw his blue eyes narrowed and darkened with anger and he felt the warmth of his body, along with his male smell that wafted dominant, wrapping him like a blanket while he lingered, hurting himself in order not to touch him. He was ready to deliver the killing blow ...

"You're right, my dear Arthur ... is not right for an Omega to bind with an Alpha ... especially, if that Alpha is you…." That moment was….Jesus pure perfection!

He saw himself as he stepped away from his ear, as he placed himself an inch from his red and fleshy lips. Some shivers were overwhelming them. As he watched him in the eye, the sea lost itself in the stormy sky irises of his rival, sending an electrical discharge straight into his lower belly.

He had left to enjoy a well-deserved victory, leaving the Alpha standing there.

He remembered turning around on himself triumphantly to leave the pub, leaving Arthur to deal with his anger.

However, he could not remember that the blonde-haired boy had forcefully grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back and then crashed him into a wooden column, capturing his wrists and pinning his hands above his head firmly.

He did not remember that the Alpha had nailed him where he was, covering him with his hot body and tight muscles, in a clear position of dominance.

He did not remember that Arthur had mashed their lips together, violently insinuating himself into his mouth, requiring to open it, so that his moist, warm and unpretentious tongue could hunt its twin, forcing it to dance and starting a fight that none of them wanted to lose.

He did not remember that his mouth separated from the other to breathe again the air around them, full of pheromones that ended up right in his lungs and in his brain, shouting at him to surrender, to submit.

He did not remember the moment when Arthur, feeling him giving up, putted a knee between his legs, forcing them to open up and making him feel clearly his huge erection, imprisoned in his hot pants. He placed it on his belly as he began to push violently his pelvis against him in an unmistakable movement.

He did not remember discovering himself excited more than it ever happened to him before; nor did he remembered being surprised to feel his pants painfully tight, while the smell of Arthur's excitement assailed him, impressing itself on him, marking him as the Alpha domain.

He did not remember Arthur grabbing his buttocks so hard that it hurt, in order to push him against his hot sex even more, letting Merlin know who was in charge and to whom he had to submit.

He did not remember that Arthur had planted a hand through his hair and pulled his head to the side, creeping into the crook of his neck, which Arthur had thoroughly sniffed and licked with that hot and humid tongue on the sensitive and special point where you create the Bond.

He did not remember how Arthur's deep and dominant voice had dramatically increased his pleasure by blowing on that point and crumbling miserably his defenses.

He did not remember the Alpha growling lowly: "You're mine, Merlin. You will learn to obey me and I will fuck you with such a violence that you will not have enough breath to beg me to stop. I will give you my Knot and I will fill your belly with my seed so much and so many times that you will always be pregnant with my children. I will put so many of them inside of you that you will not be even able to walk. Your smell will change, bringing my name engraved on every pore… because now you are Mine. I will kill anyone who dares to look at you. You're my Omega. Mine and only Mine".

He did not remember that after those words, Arthur had bitten him, sinking his teeth into the soft flesh in the crook of his neck, claiming him as his. While he was abandoning himself against the body of HIS Alpha, shocked by the pleasure procured by the Bond, in an endless ecstasy made of odors, hormones and a sense of belonging.

Merlin opened his eyes suddenly, his cheeks flushed, short breath, a damp disaster covering his belly and a hand involuntarily close around his still pulsating erection.

He did not remember any of all that.

Yet, his brain was sending him the same vivid images.

Truer than ever.

He felt a heart pang and he could not say whether it was of relief or annoyance. Nothing he had imagined (because he had imagined it) had happened. Arthur had just stayed paralyzed there, while Merlin was leaving the pub.

Yet, he continued to see (and to his dismay to want) Arthur on him, against him and to feel him as he had never felt anyone before. He was forced to deal with and to fight the only element against which he knew he would always lose… his own nature.

Being an Omega was also this and, even if it was a bitter bite, he had to admit that somehow Arthur was right, after all. An Omega wanted, craved above all else to have an Alpha ready to take care of him, protect him, reassure him, love him and satisfy him sexually.

Despite the fact that suppressors helped him to calm his instincts and his hormones, his nature could not avoid but cry out to his brain and his body that something was deeply wrong in that forced abstinence, in spending his Heat alone, comforted only by silicone and rubber objects. He used them to suppress his needs in those days, but they were poor surrogates for a free Bonded Omega without an Alpha taking him and making him his.

..

After the first year of living with Gwaine, one morning, Merlin had asked him what he found so extraordinary in Alphas to make him return at five am, permeated with the smell of sex imprinted on his clothes.

In response, the brown-haired boy with a Disney charm blossomed with a catlike smile and gave Merlin one of his many pearls of wisdom:

"Merlin, I hate to tell you but you're a fool to deny yourself the pleasures of life. You cannot know it, my dear virgin little elephant. None of your toys can even remotely make you understand what it feels like to have a beautiful Alpha cock inside your body to satisfy you. And note that I'm a Beta and naturally, I do not have your Omega needs … You know that stuff about hormones, dripping and needs such as 'you're mine and I'm yours'….that stuff? Well, I do not have it and yet, I cannot deny that once I tried the original, I stopped using the ... let's call them... latex imitations haahhahahahha"

..

That time, Merlin had to withhold himself from punching him to death, probably because he knew that Gwaine was right, in the end. After all, who is the cause of his ill, should only cry for himself...

However, in his mind, his hate for Alphas bordered only the hatred he felt for his own nature as a weak and needy being. He would never, NEVER give himself to an Alpha, no matter who. He would never subdue to his nature, he would never agree to have a master and to live for the love of a pumped arrogant man, unable to listen to him and needy to fuck Merlin every days in order to produce offspring.

Yet, he could not deny that there was an unbearable sadness behind that reasoning.

"Merlin, are you alright? We're out of milk! We need to buy...Oh Jesus, Merl! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" Said Gwaine, entering in the room suddenly.

He had the clear intention to wake his flatmate, but he remained paralyzed in front of the brunet lying on the bed, half-naked, with the remnants of his erection in his hand and his pleasure on his belly. Merlin looked at him like a fish.

Merlin's mouth closed while Gwaine's opened. Merlin's eyes were full of fire while Gwaine's were shelled. A moment later, something white and fluffy went and hit the intruder straight in the face, leaving him dumbfounded. In the meantime, the brunet (who had become of all the rainbow colors) covered himself in a hurry with the fleece and the blankets, yelling:

"GWAINE, WHAT THE FUCK! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO KNOCK BEFORE ENTERING IN MY ROOM? JEASUS!"

Gwaine's laughter made Merlin even more furious. His friend was holding the pillow that he had launched, laughing like a maniac. He positioned himself at a safe distance from the bed to avoid being hit by other blunt objects.

"And why should I knock? My little big-ears professor doesn't do these things...right, Merl? Oh God, I think this is the first time in my life I see a failure on your part. HALLELUJAH! Even my insane ears bearer 'touches' himself, and you are not even in Heat! The miracle had happened! Welcome to the twenty-first century, Merl! You know… I had started to stop hopping..."

"GWAINE STOP NOW!" yelled the dark-haired boy. His face as red as the sweatshirt he was wearing. The other man passed him a packet of tissues, resting on the nightstand next to him, a thirty-six teeth smile on his face.

"Do you need help? You know, to..."

"GWAINE...I will not bother you by describing the details of the unmentionable way in which I will kill you if you do not get out of this room immediately!"

"But I just wanted to help you... You know, I was getting worried before. I was in the kitchen, when I distinctly heard you say (or beg) 'Arthur...', 'Arthur no...'" said Gwaine with his hands to his cheeks, rolling his eyes upward and miming a desperate lustful voice. "So, I could not resist the temptation to see what was happening! Et voilà! Fuck, if I knew that Artie would have made you 'human', I'd have introduced him to you sooner! Well, in fact he is a great cool guy…I must admit it. If I were not with Percival, I would probably let him fuck me willingly..."

"Gwaine...!"

"Oh no no no calm down! I will not touch him!"

"GWAINE!"

"Ok ok… In the meanwhile, I'll get the milk. You have a shower and then we'll see each other in the kitchen for breakfast in twenty minutes so...we'll talk..." said the brown-hair man, leaving the room happy like a fool and closing the door behind.

Merlin sank on the bed with a thud, his hands pressed over his eyes, while he bit his lower lip, thinking about the implications of what had just happened.

MISERABLY SCREWED, AGAIN!

...0...

Gwaine went out of the flat in his pajamas and dressing gown and, with his mobile phone in hand, began to compose messages a mile a minute.

G: Hi Percy! What r u doing?

P: Hey, honey! I'm going to the match. What about you?

G: I'm going to buy milk to the grocery store near home! Maybe an apple, too! About yesterday?

P: Artie left with his tail between his legs. Shit, I did not know if he was more excited or angry!

Anyway, it had been too funny! Merlin had impressed him...

G: And you don't know the news!

P: ? what do you mean?

G: you won't believe it!

P: come on! Tell me!

G: Merl likes Artie!

P: Bullshit! Are you drunk?

G: what do you think? It's 9 am in the morning! -_-

P: what happened? Talk!

G: I caught Merl in... let's say… shady attitudes with Artie's name on his lips!

P: shady attitudes? O_O'

G: Handjob...

P: DON'T TELL ME! Merlin?! Your virgin roommate who hates Alphas likes the only Alpha who hates Omegas? Oh God! It seems such a joke!

G: Oh, he could never hate you! You are adorable, my strong and wiry Alpha. I feel so lonely without you.

P: Don't tell me these things, otherwise I will get there and rape you among the vegetables of the market. You are mine! You know it!

G: Lol! Anyway, here we need a Council of War. Will you rally the others, please?

P: Of course! I'll see to it now!

G: Warn the General in the meantime. Tell her everything. She will decide the next moves! And keep an eye on Artie! Stay near him and work him out.

P: Will do, my love. Talk to you later. I love you. Be good and go home. I do not like to know you are out without me!

G: Don't be a possessive Alpha!

P: But I'm an Alpha! Mine is not a request. Go back! Ok? Otherwise, I'll have to punish you tonight...

G: Can't wait for it!

As soon as Gwaine set foot in the house, he noticed the absolute silence. Useless to call: Merlin had fled from the apartment in record time.

The handsome man smiled catlike and bit into his juicy apple. He started to plan as he put the milk in the fridge...

...0...

When he returned to the apartment that night, Merlin had Gwaine summoned to his room to give him the three golden rules that he had given birth to during a day of intense thoughts. They were:

1) Do not talk to him about Arthur Pendragon ever again

2) To forget what had happened that morning

3) Never, under any circumstances, talk to Percival or anyone else about what he had seen and heard in his room that morning

"Ok, ok genius! These three rules are bullshits! However, I want to do a little game with you: admit that you like Arthur and I will follow your rules!" exclaimed Gwaine with hands on his hips in defiance.

"I don't like Arthur Pendragon! It was a coincidence and I...I have never called his name... I just had a wet dream! It's natural for any man not accustomed to ... well you know!" said blunt Merlin, while putting on his pajamas and changing the bed, still unmade from that morning.

He tried desperately to avoid the scrutiny gaze of the other.

"As if... but I am not called Gwaine, in truth I'm Sheena, Queen of the Jungle...Come on, Merl… it's not like you'll die, if you admit that you find him attractive"

Merlin turned to his roommate, placing himself an inch from him and planting his blue eyes straight in Gwaine's with his index finger a millimeter from his nose. His hair still messy, his cheekbones red and an exasperation shouted loud and clear by the trembling of his body:

" I. DON'T. LIKE. ARTHUR. PENDRAGON ! You know how I feel about Alphas and come on ... have you heard as he thinks? A zucchini has more intelligence than him!"

"If you do not admit the truth, I will not give you respite until you do!"

"Do as you want. I will not admit anything because there is nothing to admit. It was only chemistry, Gwaine. I was exposed to too many Alpha pheromones last night and it sent my brain in confusion. Nothing more!"

"But you were under the effect of the suppressors!"-

"I know that, but he is a Prime! It's possible that my body has rebelled the drug because of the idea of the Bond, rather than because of the attraction toward the Alpha himself!"

"Bullshit, Merlin! In these years, you have been in contact with many Alphas and I'd never seen you like this! Last night, the air between you and Artie could be cut with a knife and served with Tea, thick as it was. Not all Alphas make you feel like that! In years, you had never wanted to tie yourself to anyone and all of a sudden, your body wakes up and begins to follow his natural Omega instincts? You want the Bond because Arthur impressed you deeply… you have to admit it!"

"I do not want neither the Bond nor Arthur! It's just that he managed to awake the most animal part of my nature. I do not even know why! Moreover, I don't want it! I have never wanted it!"

"Are you doing it again, Merl? Are you locking yourself back in your ivory tower where no one can reach you? Why can't you give in? Why do you deny yourself not only love but also the idea of attraction toward someone? God, for the first time in your life, you've had a wank thinking about Arthur and you cannot even admit that you like him! You're just a coward!"

Merlin closed his eyes, praying to all the gods of the universe to come to his aid and not let him smash the face of his best friend.

"GWAINE, STOP! JUST STOP! DEAL WITH IT! DON'T TRY TO SEE WHAT'S NOT THERE, BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE! I'M LIKE THIS AND YOU CAN'T CHANGE ME!"

In response, Gwaine looked at him with a mixture of sadness and compassion. He saw before him his lifelong friend with his slender body shaken by tremors of anger, as he tried to escape from himself and his feelings once again… his eyes were shining, his lips swollen and his cheeks burning. He would have embraced him in that moment because, behind those screams, he saw the huge fragility of a castle that was falling apart.

He looked down, unable to meet the blue gaze of the other and exited, whispering to himself

"We'll see about that...!"

...0...

It was about midnight the next day, when the General made her entrance at the Excalibur, heading immediately toward the Round Table, where the War Council was already there.

Gwaine, Percival, Mordred, Lance, Leon and Elyan greeted the tall willowy dark-haired woman, called Morgana Pendragon, with big smiles, standing up in turns to go and greet her. She kissed all their cheeks, turning a warm smile to everyone and exchanging a few pleasantries, before taking a seat on a stool and ordering beer and chips. She officially started the meeting.

The Round Table met in the War Council at least once a year and all the times that in the small group of friends there were tensions or difficulties, requiring an extraordinary session. All the members were bound by friendship and a strong sense of belonging. Among them, there were no secrets and those revealed during the Council, there remained.

The purpose of the Council was to help each other. If even one of them had a problem, the Council met and planed how to solve it or how to give a hand in a kind of mutual aid.

God knows if this time, the situation needed it.

The subjects on the agenda were Arthur Pendragon and Merlin Emrys.

Morgana's white and slender fingers emerged from the Valentino bag, lying limply on the ground, revealing a red folder with the golden symbol of Pendragon Law Firm imprinted on it. The girl put it on the old antique wooden table, so that everyone could see it, and loudly pronounced:

"Well, my friends. Apparently, we are here for an emergency meeting..." She said, smiling and lifting the wonderful and deep green eyes from the folder to place them on the Knights. "Who is going to tell me all I need to know about the issue?"

Percival raised his hand and Morgana gave him permission to talk with a slow wave of her hand, to which the boy replied, after looking to his teammates. He began to tell the long black haired General what had happened the previous Saturday night. He told her about Merlin's arrival at the Round Table; the clear attraction between Arthur and him that everyone had noticed; Leon's commented on the waitress (the Knight gave a little slap on his wrist as to scold himself); Artie's reaction and Merlin's counter-reaction, which culminated in a disaster.

Morgana drank every word of Percy's story, whose impressions his friends around him often confirmed and supported. She often stroked her long black hair that hung limply on her shoulders and made precise questions on the situation.

"I find it amazing that my brother has expressed, even if not in words, a so obvious attraction towards someone. Normally, he is cold and detached about heart issues. It is very rare for him to engage himself truly in a relationship. The only person I've ever seen him sincerely attracted to in this respect was Guinevere... but we all know how it went with her. By the way, Lance, everything all right between the two of you?" She finished the sentence, raising her eyebrow and drowning her green eyes in Lance's He had a half smile painted on the face as he answered:

"It is Gana. Gwen and I are fine ... together!"

Everyone sincerely laughed, giving sound pats on Lancelot's back, who had inflamed cheeks. He was still not used to speak aloud about him and his girlfriend, especially because of what happened with Arthur.

"Well, if the attraction between our two lovebirds is so powerful, I do not see the problem. We help them to meet and to create situations in which the two of them can date. It's true that Artie can explode when provoked and he will not go easy on Merlin, but it is also true that he is not rancorous. If we create the right atmosphere, I foresee a great victory..." said Morgana to the group, seeking their approval.

"It is not so simple..." said Gwaine, intervening in the discussion. "...it is obvious that what I will say here is just for your ears and, like everything that is said in the War Council, is and must remain strictly secret." pointed out the brown-haired one looking at the members of the small clan who got closer to share the dark mystery.

"What is the problem, Gwaine?" The General urged him.

"We have three problems and they are not of little relevance. The first and most important one is that Merlin is an Omega without Bond and, as we all know, Arthur doesn't like Omegas... especially if males!"

For a moment, all the members of the Council were astonished and then, looked at each other in the eyes.

"What are you saying, Gwaine?!" said Elyan, breaking the silent. "Merlin had no smell. We all thought he was a Beta like you..."

"No! He's not! He is an Omega," concluded Gwaine, bringing his eyes to the Knights. "I've known him since we were little, we practically grew up together. Many years ago, his cousin Will, which was as a brother for us, died because of the problems he had with his Alpha: he committed suicide. This brings us to our second problem: Will's death had hurt and upset Merlin deeply. It made him develop an intense hatred for your specie and now, he lives of suppressors, which cover his smell and inhibit heavily his Omega instincts, making him much more like us Betas." He sighed dejected, crossing his arms over his chest, while the others reflected on his words, starting to look for possible solutions.

"And the third problem?" asked Morgana to Gwaine.

"Merlin likes Arthur... I know it for sure; do not ask me the details but I KNOW IT. However, he is very torn and he'll never admit it easily, especially because Arthur is an Alpha. He must become aware of it slowly and by himself. The problem is: does Arthur like Merlin? Or, after his joke on Saturday night, he does not want to meet him anymore? I'd not blame him too much after the lecture that my flatmate gave him..."

Morgana seemed to assimilate all the information for a moment, closing her eyes, then, she opened them and began to explain her thesis:

"Regarding the first aspect, well, I must tell you that in all sincerity I'm almost glad that Merlin is an Omega. Arthur does not hate them, nor does he despise them. Behind his behavior, there is only a deep insecurity and it is time that my brother begins to face his fears for once… although, I recognize that it will be a challenge!" said the dark-haired woman, continuing to torture a tuft of hair.

"I'm sorry, Gana, but I cannot believe that the Alpha par excellence, 'fears' Omegas...I tell you, he'd eat them in one bite in the morning! I have never seen your brother afraid of something... he has a strong character" Leon argued, opening his palms upward and looking around for the approval of his fellows, who could not do anything but agree.

"You do not know him as much as I do." She replied firmly with an undisguised sad note in her voice, while planting her eyes on the veining of the table..."You should know that, before our mother's death, our father was a staunch supporter of unions between Alphas. After all, my brother and I are Primes... Let's say that to convince Arthur of the goodness of his ideas, Uther had seen it fit to take him to a Fertilization Center, in order to inform him about the facts of life..." She paused a moment to bring her eyes on her interlocutors, that seemed intrigued and shocked all together. "...the problem is that Artie was only five years old, when he attended for the first time to the reproduction between our two species and what he saw in that institute has upset him so much that since then, his way of relating to Omegas has changed dramatically. Rather than hate or fear them, he is afraid of what he might do to them during his Domination Phase. That's why he keeps them away and does not want to deal with them...but he is an Alpha and, as such, he is attracted to them, despite what he says, and Merlin is the clearest proof of that!"

"But Arthur thinks that Merlin is a Beta. That's why he was attracted to him. If he knew he was an Omega, he would immediately stop it, despite of what you've just told us!" Mordred interrupted her seriously, with his hands crossed on his glass of beer.

"This is not entirely true..." said Gana, biting into a chip. "Primes can perceive things and feel odors that other Alphas do not smell or are indifferent to. We are more sensitive and controlled by nature than a normal Alpha. I cannot believe that Arthur has not perceived the scent of a free- bond Omega. Medicines fail to make the smell of a person disappear completely; they can only inhibit the production of pheromones but never completely. Probably, Arthur's mind simply rejects what he does not want to accept or feel. Being Merlin's contrail definitely weak and hardly perceptible, my brother's brain has catalogued him as a Beta, but I'll bet my boots that his animal sixth sense already knows too well to be near an Omega!" Morgana finished, wiping her hands and taking a sip of beer. Then, she continued.

"Regarding the second problem, namely the hatred of Merlin towards Alphas, well... we have to make him understand that we cannot all be seen as the Alpha that caused the death of your friend Will. We love our Omegas. Such situations are really rare... Percy, Gwaine, this task is yours. You have to start talking to Merlin about your relationship and all of us will make him feel accepted and well-liked in the group. When he'll realize that we are not monsters, his Omega nature will do the rest. My brother is a fine male specimen and I'm sure that Merlin will not be able to suppress his instincts forever ... nor will Artie. And here we reconnect directly to the third non-issue: Arthur likes Merlin a lot and has certainly not intention to let him go!" She added, curling her lips into a thin smile.

She opened the red folder that she had previously placed on the table, revealing the content to the intrigued Knights: pictures, drive license and various documents … all about one person...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the world of Merlin Emrys. On Sunday, when there was no one, my brother went into our law firm and there, he researched in our 'private' database, finding all the findable things about a certain Dr. Merlin Emrys: photos, curriculum, graduation, address, school yearbooks and current job ... in short, all you need to know. I know about it, because we have recently installed video cameras, recording the access to our computers 24 hours on 24. Fortunately, I was the only one to realize the intrusion, erasing everything before our father could find out. Arthur came in and out in less than half an hour and he would not have risked it, if he did not care about the object of his research. The fact that he did it in secret is indicative: he does not want Uther or me to horn in on.

Fortunately, one of the few information you cannot find in the databases to which we have access is the Seed of the subject. So, I exclude that Artie knows that Merlin is an Omega!" Morgana sighed with a grin evidently shared by the members of the Council.

"Well, in the light of all this, it seems feasible! As usual, you're great, Morgana." said Percival, lovingly clutching the shoulders of his partner.

"Gentlemen, let's lift our glasses! Let's throw ourselves in the challenge without fear. Or glory or death!" said Morgana, standing up and raising her glass.

Immediately, all the smiling Knights rose to toast, echoing her:

"Or glory or death!" they shouted, before slamming the glasses against each other, laughing as it didn't happen in a long time.

The dark plots had begun...