Nightwing couldn't stop pacing. Alpha aggression vibrated to the core of his bone. Every hair follicle stood on end. His nerves were frayed. He was exhausted by the pure amount of energy that radiated in his system. He smelled his mate. His mate was in heat.
"The suppressants will burn through your system fast while you're in a rut, so take them right before you walk into your situation and make it quick." Batman handed him a small, silver medicine packet. The pills inside the blister pack appeared huge. As if reading his thoughts, his mentor continued. "These melt quickly. They will give you clarity."
Nightwing nodded and pocketed the pills in the satchel he carried around his waist. Most of the emergency supplies were for Garfield. Batman handed him a slip of paper and he glanced over the thick penmanship. The address leads to the warehouse district.
"They aren't going to let you leave with Garfield," Batman said.
"I know." He could smell the testosterone emitting off his skin. He was hungry for his omega. His body pulsed with the desire to knot. His clothing was too tight. His skin was too hot. He should've known there was no way to work with the young omega without being imprinted on. His animal instincts screamed that Garfield had always been his.
"Slade wants you. Garfield's bait," Batman said.
Nightwing drew his night vision, riding goggles down over his eyes. His suit was barely contained his hardness. He'd been hard since the hospital. Garfield's heat affected every part of him. "We both know Slade will take every second of my absence out on Garfield. My conscious won't allow that."
"He is going to need a psychologist after this," Batman said.
Nightwing knew that too, but the quickest healing came from the alpha mate. He walked over to his bike, threw his leg over the seat and turned the key. The engine purred to life. The vibration stroked his balls, jolting his desire further. He didn't linger in thought on the heightened senses. The motorcycle wasn't the safest way to travel with an omega in heat, but it was the fastest. He shot out of the cave with one goal. It fueled his inner determination to keep his rut on lockdown until Garfield was safe.
The giant Northern Red Oaks and Silver Lenden trees hid the dirt road from aerial view. The back road joined a main road twelve miles out from the mouth of the cave. He didn't slow his motorcycle as he wheeled onto the empty paved road. The trees were cleared back, giving him a longer stretch of vision ahead and behind. There were no other car lights here, this late at night. The street wasn't private, but there were few homes this way, the Wayne Manor being one of them.
The trees cleared, showing the water's edge for another seven miles before the road joined the populated freeway. He moved between cars for another four miles. He knew every stretch of road in the city, which brought him to Darnek Street as his exit. It was a couple exits from his destination, which gave him a chance to make sure no one was following him. The only cars Darnek saw at night were from people looking for drugs or sex.
When it was apparent no one followed him off the road, he popped the blister pack open and chewed the chalky pills. He was still trying to swallow it down as he pulled back onto the street and took side roads. The pills left a layer at the back of his throat that saliva wouldn't wash away. He swallowed a few times, but found a lump in his throat. Anxiety. His mate was somewhere within the buildings that surrounded the industrial side of town. That aspect drove his inner alpha insane.
Garfield was a stranger to him, and back at the hospital, he could tell that Garfield felt the same towards him. Two years changed a lot between both of them. God help him. He didn't need to scare his omega.
The warehouse district had few streetlamps and even fewer vehicles. The building windows were black and mirrored the moon. It was ominous with too many places for Slade and his men to hide. He couldn't shake the gut feeling that he was being watched. He parked his bike and walked down the street until he found building G14 door 2078.
He rapped his knuckles against the door and waited. There was no answer. He caught the door and pushed it open, not surprised to find it unlocked. Omega hormones overpowered the room like a fruit scented candle. His mouth salivated. Despite the suppressants, his knot started to push at the base of his shaft. His system was burning through the medicine.
"Take off your utility belt and place it in the box." The order came from the speakers overhead. The moonlight pouring in from the window gave enough light to see the box in question.
He unclipped his utility belt and slid it into the metal box and closed it. A red light blinked in the corner. He was the subject of a voyeur audience. The thought made his stomach clench. Nothing good would come from this.
"Enter the second room," the voice ordered.
There was a shut door directly across from him. He had to walk around the built-in secretary desk that waited patiently for someone to occupy it. There was a layer of dust on the wood which meant it'd been a while since the office saw a residence. He walked past it, caught the door and pushed into another empty room.
"Take the armor off your clothes." The detached voice ordered.
He separated the hard shields from his chest, hips, forearms and shins at the door before entering the next room. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving him in utter darkness, except he wasn't alone. He held his breath to focus on the other person in the room, but they were holding their breath too. The smell of omega in heat bombarded his alpha senses.
"Garfield," he choked on desire. There was no response.
He remained where he stood, but it demanded every form of discipline etched into his cells from endless training. There was no movement to indicate where Garfield waited. Sweat rolled down his spine. This wasn't going to work. There was a change in Garfield's omega metabolic rate.
Fear. Desire. Heat… Anger. Garfield's scent controlled him.
"Garfield?" He tried again. If he didn't get his omega to calm down, his alpha rut would take control, pills be damned. Protect. Service. Breed. He had to center his thoughts. A rut would leave them both vulnerable.
The lights came on, brighter than the common bulb. He blinked against the burn it left in the back of his eye sockets. Garfield pressed his body against the corner of the room with his arms folded in front of his chest to ward off touch. Waiting on his knees, he watched with soulful, emerald green eyes. His jaw clenched shut; stubborn or scared, it was hard to gauge.
Lobo's scent didn't touch the room. Someone cleaned his omega. Someone touched his skin with water, soap and a rag. He wasn't happy about this, but he privately appreciated the clinical cleanness of his soon-to-be mate. It eased the competitive pressure at the back of his skull to scent every piece of Garfield's exposed flesh. His animal instincts translated an artificial sense of safety.
He faced one of the numerous cameras blinking at the corner of the room. The situation was dangerous. "What are the rules, Slade?"
"I will let you walk out with the omega right now, if you agree to being knotted on tape," Slade said.
Nightwing swallowed his immediate anger. Slade wanted to demean him. His inner alpha roared, unwilling to submit. Garfield made a soft mew sound in response to his emitting testosterone and his resolve instantly melted.
"Bending alphas is a special kind of kink, Slade. Psychologists would say you're suffering from emasculation issues."
Slade's chuckle was dry. "Before the night is over, we'll both have a new set of issues."
Nightwing flexed his hands into fists. He was ready to fight. He wasn't going to submit and get knotted. "You've lost your sense of creativity, Slade."
Slade's tone turned cold. "You've lost your ability to see the art in suffering. A knotted alpha would suffer greatly."
Garfield made the smallest, squeezed sound. He glanced over at the small omega and his shoulders went tight. Even if it was as simple as Slade made it, being locked in a knot would lead to greater consequences and he doubted Slade would stop at a simple fuck. It also made him wonder how many alphas soul-bonded with other alphas? Was that possible? It wasn't in the media, though he'd read a theorist article on the topic a few times during his research on the doctors that ran Arkham Asylum. Was Slade aware of the theory that proven true in the inmates that formed these bonds?
"How do I know you'll keep your word?" he asked. If Slade soul-bonded with him, the chemical bond brought on by knotting would force him to accept Slade as the superior alpha. He refused to accept this.
"Find faith," Slade answered.
The doors opened and Mammoth walked in first with Gizmo behind him. The shorter alpha held an injection gun; no doubt a sedative. Slade was going to find his happy ending.
"Slade said you want a knot," Mammoth teased.
"As much as I want to be decapitated," he growled.
Mammoth smiled. "It would be an honor to help you with that."
Nightwing weighed his options in a fight. The negative to each scenario ended with Garfield dead, or worse, sold into a milk bar or puppy mill. He wasn't sure who planned to humiliate him, but Mammoth and Gizmo didn't undress.
"I'd let you do this dry, without the drugs, but Slade believes you're going to be difficult," Gizmo said. He made a movement with his fingers signaling the larger alpha and Mammoth lunged forward.
Nightwing braced his legs, ready for the oncoming fight. He wasn't leaving Garfield behind, which complicated matters and left him susceptible. Mammoth slid his belt from his jeans and snapped it towards him. Nightwing jerked out of the way as the belt cracked the air.
Mammoth slapped the belt at him again and he raised his arm, letting the heavy metal buckle wrap around his wrist. The pain was excruciating without his arm guards to block the vibration. He yanked back and the belt slid from Mammoth's grip, but the force didn't pull the man off balance. The large alpha howled with determination.
They tackled into each other with enough force to blow the air from his unguarded chest. Mammoth got him on his back; his bear-paw grip and sizeable weight pinned Nightwing to the tile floor.
Garfield screamed. It was the only warning he had before he felt the pinch of the needle. Large hands grasped his arms before he could jerk away. His clothes were wet from the spilled liquid.
"Relax your mind, kiddo," Gizmo said. The young genius's hands were shaky when he pulled back. The closeness afforded him a waft of a strangely familiar scent. The two alphas in the room smelled a lot like each other.
"Is that what happened to you Gizmo? You got soul-bonded with this alpha?" He asked. His mouth instantly felt heavy. From the strange look Gizmo gave him, he realized what he thought and what he said were two different things.
Mammoth swung him up high enough to slam him back down. Pain shot through the back of his head and cleared the sedative effects for mere seconds before he slid back into a slow, ebbing paralysis. He had a thousand angry taunts in his head for Slade, but his mouth wouldn't move. He stared at the ceiling taking in Garfield's scent. Instead of comfort, it made him restless.
He strongly sensed Garfield's overwhelmed vibes, but he was trapped in his body; locked in his mind. Mammoth leaned over him and Gizmo stood to the other side, blocking the light overhead. He blinked, but the process felt like it left him in darkness too long.
"We need to go before the Justice League gets here," Slade said over the speaker. "Bring the omega to remind Nightwing to be compliant."
oOo
Garfield waited in the corner with his lower body pulsing, craving a knot, but the crushing sense of danger kept him from begging. He watched the vigilante place himself at the center of the room, determined not to let the other alphas get closer.
The vigilante knocked the large alpha on his back with shift speed. The excitement shot straight through Garfield's spine into his gut. The vigilante was a strong alpha. He swallowed the lump suck in his throat, but it didn't go anywhere. He could mate with the vigilante. He could have babies, but would he stay with him? He missed Lobo.
But then the vigilante went down hard. From where Garfield waited, he could hear the heavy thud of his head hitting the ground. It was a violent fight that ended too quickly with the contraption in Gizmo's hand. The vigilante went quiet, but the slickness of his suit showed a very gorgeous and heavy bulge in his pants.
"Move it," Gizmo ordered. He kept his distance and a hand up at his nose indicating he didn't like the omega scent leaking between Garfield's thighs.
Garfield glanced at him quickly, and then fought to get his leg muscles under control so he could move behind Mammoth who waited for them. The young vigilante's head was tossed back. His black hair fell over Mammoth's arm, but there was nothing feminine about him. Another alpha couldn't be pleased with his strong, square jaw and broad shoulders.
Mammoth moved through the rooms and Garfield followed behind him. When they made it outside, the cold air brushed against his face, but did little for the ache in his gut. He kept a hand on his stomach; pressed back against the pain with his fingertips, but he couldn't motivate the ache to go away.
They got to the helicopter waiting on a patch of dirt. Mammoth got in first and it took Garfield effort to climb in when his entire body was ready to shut down. The roving blades made the air thrum loudly. He raised a hand to his ears and watched as the alphas put heavy headphones over their ears. Gizmo argued with the pilot and finally threw a pair at Garfield. He stared at them for a second before pulling them on, and Mammoth pulled a pair over the vigilante's ears. Garfield hugged himself.
Nightwing. Was that familiar? It should be… He was drawn to the alpha. He wanted to be held down and fucked by that bulge in his pants. He wanted to scream until he lost his voice.
The helicopter rose and his stomach dipped, momentarily making him disregard his heat. They were up in the air within minutes. There was no sign of the Justice League, which left his torn. He didn't want to go back with them. They took Lobo. They meddled in his life and now he was in another unfamiliar place and his heat made it impossible to find solace without a knot.
But without the Justice League, they were under Slade's thumb. The vigilante was in trouble. His own future was now indefinite.
"We need to do something with the omega. His scent is offensive," Gizmo complained.
Tension tightened in Garfield's shoulders. Here it came; trouble. He forced himself not to glance over at them though he felt their eyes on the back of his head.
"Get over it," Mammoth growled. "This is going to be done quickly and the two will be thrown out to the wolves."
What were they planning to do? Garfield shifted in his chair, glancing over at the immobile alpha. His long, brawny legs took up a good portion of the space. He wasn't built like a walking tree trunk, like Mammoth, but he was taller than Gizmo who was short and lithe.
They landed on top of an enormous building, one that he wasn't sure anything short of a satellite would pick up the landing pad. With great trepidation, Garfield slid from his seat in the helicopter and followed the alphas inside. There was a team of alphas waiting for them, some of which made his skin crawl. In his youth, when he could fight these alphas, he had a semblance of being untouchable. Now, he knew as an omega, he'd never been as strong. His body was meant to provide. He was nothing short of a servant.
"Take Nightwing and ready him for the medical procedure," Slade said, stepping out of a room he'd been waiting in. He turned his masked face onto Garfield. "You're going to do what I say because if you don't, you will easily be killed and we'll do this procedure on Nightwing the hard way."
Garfield dropped his chin to his chest and bowed his shoulders. It was the best he could do to show his compliance. The room smelled heavily of alphas, but very few of them smelled on the verge of a rut. The alpha with the strongest rut scent was taken into a medical room.
Why did this alpha come for him? Someone that cared… Damn. He didn't want anyone to care. Not anymore. He was just an omega.
"You will get him to fuck you," Slade said. "He will need to knot and lock into you. I know you understand, having been bred."
It was a failed breeding. The weight of his lost pup left him exhausted, but his heat wouldn't let him rest and now, the strange environment and an alpha threatening to kill him didn't help matters. He nodded again.
"Get the omega in the holding room. Contact me when Nightwing is ready," Slade said.
oOo
Nightwing startled awake on a white bed. The sheets were overly starched and too crisp to find relaxing… to medical. He'd woken up in Alfred's medical room more than a handful of times. He drew a hand to his forehead and realized the only thing he wore was his mask. Shit.
The bed dipped. He raised his hand to stop the lighter body that was crawling up on him. Even in his state of confusion, he knew Garfield was in the room with him. He took a deep breath of the aphrodisiac that came from Garfield's heat scent.
Garfield shivered and clutched a hand at his stomach. He remained wordless, but his breathing was swallow and ragged. It wasn't common for an omega in heat to be so quiet. Nightwing drew a hand over Garfield's arm and the omega leaned in closer. His fingers tightened on his shoulders.
"Please, alpha," Garfield begged, yet he kept his head tilted downward and eyes focused on Nightwing's chin.
Nightwing gritted his teeth. He meant to wait, but the word alpha coming from those perfect lips, the lips of a team mate, his best friend, the person he tried to ignore every bonding dream he ever had about, made it impossible. He pulled Garfield against him and with a hand under his chin, drew his face upward to meet his mouth.
"Garfield, I want to do right by you," he whispered. "Do you want me as your alpha?"
"Please, alpha, please," the begging was sensual, almost rehearsed.
Dick's heart broke that Garfield ignored the question, but his knot was already pressing at the base of his cock. It was starting to form. He could still press it in and lock himself with the small omega, but claiming… He had to make sure he didn't go that far.
"I can't bond without your consent and if we knot, I'm not going to want anything less afterwards. You're mine, body, mind and soul. You need to truthfully want that with from me as well because it would drive me mad if you didn't." He'd be as big a monster as the creatures he dragged to the asylum.
Tightness lingered at the edge of Garfield's eyes, but it was fleeting. For the briefest moment, he almost felt like Garfield was confused, then relieved. As if that unspoken word would've been, "Promise?"
He swallowed. Jesus. He hadn't imagined it. There was something there, warring inside Garfield's head. It was alive, but it needed a spark.
When he touched Garfield again, the omega melted into him. He drew Garfield up his body and the omega wrapped his legs around his center. He wanted to breathe every bit of the scent in. He wanted to roll in it and mark Garfield up. He kept a strong hold on his alpha instincts. It was nearly impossible. The suppressants were burnt from his system.
He glanced around the room. There were cameras in the corner. The Justice League wouldn't let him wake up in a room without knowing what was happening, would they?
"Alpha," Garfield begged, drawing his attention. He kissed along Nightwing's chin, but the kisses were light and uncertain.
"Where are we Garfield?" He asked.
The omega continued to ignore his questions as he scooted back, pulling the covers with him. Garfield wrapped his lithe fingers around his alpha shaft. He leaned back, watching the beautiful, pale green skin trying to get a handle on his thickness. His purple veins protruded with blood making his cock massive in that beautiful omega hold. Garfield's other hand dipped lower, handling his ball sac. Again, the attention was hesitant.
He caught Garfield's hand, stopping him. "Garfield, do you know who I am?"
Garfield didn't meet his gaze. Instead, he bent down and licked the tip of the alpha penis in his hand. The touch of his velvet tongue against his slit drove Dick nuts. He threw his head back and took a deep breath. He fisted his fingers in the sheets to keep from pulling Garfield down and licking his slick up his leg and straight to his hot hole.
That mouth was too small to take all of him in. Garfield used his fist to take up the space his mouth couldn't handle. His mouth was a hot suction. His tongue licked the bottom of his shaft, tracing the purple veins with his tongue. It took a will-power he was quickly losing, especially when Garfield's fist hit the knot resting at the base of his cock among his nest of dark curls.
"Garfield, do you know who I am?" he tried again. Garfield leaned down, trying to suck him off again. He held a firm grasp on the omega.
"Don't," Garfield whispered. Tears stung his eyes, making the emerald green shimmer in the light. "Alpha, please, no."
No? No sex? No knot? Or no, he didn't want to know who he was? His stomach dipped for the wrong reasons and the situation felt intrusive and wrong. Why would his mate not want to know who he was?
"Garfield," he caught Garfield's chin when the omega refused to look at him, and held his face up to meet his. "Garfield, it's me. I'm Robin."
Garfield's eyes darted to his face once before they were back down, but not at him. This time Garfield was reaching for the sheets to hide his nudity. He got through to the omega, but his sudden behavior was more than surprising.
"Do you trust me?" Nightwing asked.
Garfield nodded, but still wouldn't look at him. He wanted more than anything for the mouthy green omega to sass him like their older days. He wanted to be lectured on all the shit he thought was stupid and pointless when they were roommates. He wanted to hear Garfield rant against his alpha meat eating habits and the survival of even the smallest species.
"Where are we?" he tried again.
"Please, alpha, please," Garfield said. He moved in again, trying to push at his shoulders, but it didn't budge him.
He caught Garfield around the shoulders and twisted them into a new direction. Garfield's legs automatically pressed together and like the perfect Christmas present, Dick parted Garfield's legs and slid down against the bed to lick at the clear fluid that made his inner thighs wet. Garfield moaned and the muscle in his legs relaxed. His sac was so much smaller than an alpha's; small enough to barely get in the way when he licked the slick and peered up at the omega enjoying the treatment. His much smaller cock was hard as a rock, but lacked the purple veins an alpha had.
He pressed his tongue in as deep as it would go through the tight ring of muscle and Garfield's back bowed. He repeated it and Garfield cried out. His tiny ball sack tightened and a clear liquid squirted from his cock slit, wetting his soft stomach. Nightwing slid up between Garfield's legs and licked at the wetness on his stomach. It was just as sweet, a mix of Garfield's sexually mature body. God he dreamt about this too many times. It made him feel less like a leader and more like a sexual deviant, but now Garfield needed him and he realized the bond they already had was strong enough to see this through.
"Garfield, where are we?" he tried again.
"Alpha," Garfield swallowed hard and shook his head. A few stray tears streaked down his temples into his hairline as he tried to avoid meeting his eyes. Dick caught the omega's chin and forced him to meet his gaze. His emerald eyes were wide; horrified. "Slade."
"For the safety of everyone in the room, you will go ahead and mate with the omega," Slade said.
Nightwing was up off the bed and standing with his legs braced. He thought they were back with the Justice League, though in his gut, he'd always known something was wrong.
Garfield moved from the bed too, falling at Nightwing's thighs, ready to suck him off again. He caught the omega's shoulders to stop him and Garfield immediately swung around and presented himself to Nightwing. His thighs were wet with slick. His pink hole was slick and the muscle winked.
Dick was in motion before he could stop himself. His hands were on Garfield's hips and his mouth was on the omega's lower spine. He licked and sucked at his tailbone while he fingered the tight hole. It wasn't so tight like it had been when Garfield was a virgin, but it was tight enough to need special treatment. He sucked on Garfield's spine until the omega's body jerked from another orgasm. He slid a hand around his stomach and held the omega while his body shivered.
"Alpha, please," Garfield pleaded.
Everything inside him said to fight the desire. Fight it, or he would knot the little omega and they'd both be in danger, but the room smelled too good. He pulled his finger out of Garfield and grasped his shaft. It was wet with salvia as he guided it into his babe's waiting channel. Garfield hissed from the pressure that pushed back, making the mating a small challenge. The muscle finally relented, allowing his mushroom head to breach through. He wanted to ask, to make sure this was okay, but he was too far gone and slipping.
When he slid all the way in, Garfield's walls hugged him. The muscle was pushing back, grasping and at the same time trying to purge him from his body. He pulled out to the tip before pushing back in. Garfield made a breathless plea.
God help him, his balls were drawing up with the desire to spurt. His knot was growing thicker, catching at Garfield's hole with each inward thrust. Every little sound the omega made only encouraged it. He pulled Garfield to the bed and landed back on top of him with the omega now facing him. Garfield stared at his chest with heavy lids. His mouth was open as he gasped for air at every push.
His knot latched, forcing him deep. Garfield's legs rested around his hips and their movements were stilted, but no less perfect. Garfield screamed, grasping the sheets and thrusting his head back. His tiny penis spurted. The sight sent desire shooting straight through his balls and unraveled in his stomach. He pushed deep once, twice and the third time his balls drew up. Liquid heat pushed through his body, rolling up his spine and into his brain. He was locked and mating.
He leaned in, placing a hand at the back of Garfield's head, wrapping his fingers through the hair at the base of his neck and forcing the omega to tilt his neck. He placed a soft kiss on his collar bone and the omega cried out, wanting more, begging for it with his hips. Dick drew back his lips and caught Garfield's skin between his teeth. Another orgasm ripped through his body as his sac released more sperm into Garfield's body. He bit down, and Garfield's nails dug into his skin as he accepted the mate mark.
The door opened and Mammoth was there, watching. Nightwing released Garfield's neck and the omega sunk peacefully into the sheets, unaware of their intruder. He growled low in warning.
"Settle down, Nightwing," Slade said over the intercom. "You should be happy we let you have one more go with your omega before you became a eunuch and bound to an alpha."
Nightwing made a small warning movement at the intruder, but it only served to warn him that he was locked to Garfield and if the knot was ripped out, he would permanently damage the omega. The motion woke Garfield and the omega immediately clung to him, his face buried into Dick's pectorals. His nails nearly dug into his skin, trying to keep them as close as possible, or maybe the omega was falling for his base instincts, knowing the alpha would protect him.
Mammoth laughed again. "Fine, we'll do this the easy way."
He stepped over to a vent and opened it, then did the same for another. Gas hissed into the room as Mammoth stepped out. Nightwing tried to move, but the knot was a firm reminder. Garfield's hands slipped from his skin and he caught the small omega who was already falling asleep again. He tried holding his breath, determined not to fall under the spell, but it only made him gasp, drawing it in quicker. He tried to stay awake. He tried to fight the effects.
He tried…
He failed…
He went under…
