"Kakarot, this is not a good idea. I really think you should stay in your rooms until after the baby is born. You look like you're about to drop your cub any minute." Bardock huffed as he escorted his son to the beta's private garden. The submissive was waddling at this point, and he had a hand on his back to help with the strain caused by the baby.
"Father, I'm sick of being inside. I want some fresh air!" Kakarot glared at his sire out of the corner of his eye as the two continued down the hall. "The doctor did say I need to get some exercise and spend some time outside. I'm just following his suggestions and trying to be a good tama to my cub."
"I think he meant walking around in your room and going outside on your balcony not traipsing around the palace grounds." The older saiyan lifted a hand to punch the bridge of his nose. He'd been trying to convince the beta to go back to his room for almost two hours now, but nothing has changed Kakarot's mind.
"But, father. I already told Vegeta to have a picnic ready for when we get there. It'd be a shame to not enjoy the food while it's fresh." He gave a sweet smile up to the larger male. Just the thought of having a meal while being outside after the last five weeks inside put a bounce in the way Kakarot was walking.
"I still don't know how you managed to turn Vegeta into your servant." Bardock rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. At first, it was amusing, but now…it was almost sad at how quickly Vegeta would run off whenever the submissive ordered him to do something.
"He just wants to prove himself, father. He has done everything I have asked for, and then some. He really wants to be with me, and I admire that. Vegeta has been very well behaved in his efforts to please me." Kakarot smiled at the memory of the former prince massaging his lower back and feet the other day. Maybe there would be a repeat this afternoon, his back was killing him.
"You sound like he's a well behaved pet rather than a potential mate, cub. I think you're enjoying torturing him. I never knew you had a sadistic streak in you, but then again you are my son." A smirk grew on the dominant's face as he looked down at Kakarot. He lifted a brow when the beta sputtered.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kakarot muttered once he regained his composure. He crossed his arms and looked away from the alpha's direction. "Vegeta is only doing what I ask because he wants to, not because I force him to do it."
"Oh, really? So you didn't ask Vegeta for…what was it…oh! Vanilla ice cream with hot sauce, grape gummy bears, whipped cream, and smoked salmon, and didn't you almost cry when he couldn't find the vanilla ice cream yesterday? I think most of those things come from Earth." Bardock chuckled at the flush that grew on the submissive's face, and that earned him a punch to the arm that forced him against the wall.
"Shut up, father! I did not cry, and I don't torture him! I am the tama to his cub, and he wants to keep me happy!" Kakarot began to stomp away from the laughing father, but the waddle he was forced to do ruined the effect.
The older man chuckled even more as he jogged to cut the distance between him and his son. He wrapped an arm around the beta's shoulders and ruffled messy spikes.
"I'm just teasing, cub." He showed his elongated teeth in a large grin. "I honestly think he has proven that he his serious about trying to win you over. Lowering himself to do whatever little thing your heart desires, I'm not sure I could do something like that. You don't make it any easier on the poor guy."
"What is that supposed to mean?" The question was slightly harsh, and Bardock held up a hand in surrender.
"You're putting out pheromones, remember? That drives every alpha around you crazy except your family. Vegeta only has a partial bond with you, and when you demand to lay all over him, that messes with his head. If I were him, I might have jumped my mate by now. His self restraint is amazing, if you weren't in your current state I'd wonder if he was actually a man because I don't know a single alpha that would have lasted this long." Bardock gave his son a look.
Kakarot looked at the older saiyan with wide eyes. He had no idea that he was making things so hard for the former prince. While it was true that the beta wanted to exploit the attention and pampering from Vegeta, he didn't want to make the other more uncomfortable.
"Don't worry, son. Vegeta understands that this isn't intentional, but you could make it a bit easier on him. Don't force him to stay away all the time. I loathe admitting it, but I don't think he'll hurt you son." Bardock pulled the two to a stop in front of a window. He looked out at the red sky as he waited for a response.
"I didn't realize." The words were soft spoken. "I'm so use to being around you and Raditz that I had forgotten."
"What are you doing here slug?!" The raspy voice of Vegeta made the father and son freeze. The nearby window readily carried the conversation to them from the nearby garden. Bardock pushed the two of them into the archway to stay out of sight from Turles and Vegeta.
"Careful, Vegeta, talking to your betters like that, you should know better." The mocking tone was unmistakable, and an audible growl was heard from the former prince.
"Oooh so scary, I'm shaking in my boots."
"What do you want Turles? This is Kakarot's garden and you aren't supposed to be here mongrel."
"Oh I'm just enjoying your misery Vegeta. I just thought I'd offer you some company and all that considering the saying. The great prince of the saiyans reduced to a servant and ridiculed by your own father and people for how you disgraced the savior of our race. You know you and your father put on quite the show, I think the whole palace heard that little spat. First the message I delivered on Earth and then that, I must be lucky to keep seeing you getting torn down a few pegs. I hear Kakarot gave you quite the dressing down too from the rumors floating around, I wish I could have seen that." The chuckle that came from the dark skinned saiyan made another growl rumble from the former prince.
"I'm beginning to regret not killing you back on Earth. I could care less what my father thinks or my about title or rank. Kakarot's opinion is the only one I give a damn about and as far I'm concerned he is content to give me a chance," Vegeta stated in a matter of fact tone.
"Please, he shouldn't be wasting his time with you. He could have his pick of any real alpha any time he wants, so why would he honestly give you, the bastard who knocked him up and abandoned him another chance? You're just a convenient source of slave labor to him."
"Care to repeat that?"
"Have I touched a nerve?" Turles practically purred in amusement. "Oh the things I'd do to that gorgeous beta if he was mine. I'd have never made a stupid mistake like you did vegeta. He smells divine, I can only imagine what he'd be like in bed. I bet he's so needy and responsive to just the slightest touch. I would love to show him what a real alpha is like."
"You're beginning to sound like a broken record, no wonder you don't have a mate." The former prince sneered.
"Tell me Vegeta, how'd it feel to sleep with him? Was he tight like a virgin? Did that hole of his just beg to be filled with your dick? Did he beg for more? I bet he was a screamer, wasn't he? I can only imagine how amazing it felt to pin him down and claim him. Maybe I should give it a try since he's still available?"
"Shut your damn mouth Turles! Even if he doesn't want me I can damn well say he'd never consider a depraved bastard like you." Vegeta snarled with an enraged hiss.
"You did him first, oh mighty prince." There was the sound of a body slamming into a wall.
"Listen well Turles, because I hate repeating myself. Kakarot may not ever forgive me or choose me as a mate and that's his right for what I did to him. I will accept whatever his judgment is. But I swear by the gods, even if he never forgives me if you so much as go near him I will end you, you vile piece is garbage."
"Was that a threat?" Turles asked darkly.
"It's a promise." Vegeta hissed back. "Now get out."
"Humph." The space pirate snorted. The sounds to footsteps echoed in the hall for just a few minutes, but then they stopped. "You know…I'm curious about something, Vegeta. I know how particular you are when it comes to your partners and what you consider as yours, so why do you insist on waiting for someone like Kakarot after he has been used?"
Bardock stiffened at those words. He bared his teeth in a silent snarl, and he was almost shaking with desire to rush out there and rip the pirate's limbs off. However, the subtle trembling of the submissive behind him kept him rooted to the spot.
"What the hell are you going on about?" Vegeta hissed.
"Spin it however you want, he's already got cubs. He almost lost yours after getting to the planet. I'm amazed that you are going through this much trouble for someone the old you would consider damaged goods and unworthy of someone of your status. He must be one good lay if you are willing to put up with everything he's making you do. Or was it that he was the only beta in existence at the time, and now you're just trying to save face?"
The beta froze where he stood behind his father. He gripped one of the shoulder straps of Bardock's armor as he squeezed his eyes shut. He shuddered as he remembered the vile touches he experienced all those years ago, and the vulgar words Turles was saying didn't help Kakarot's ability to push those thoughts out of his mind.
The sound of a body impacting the wall once again had Kakarot flinching closer to the alpha in front of him. His tail was coiled around one of his own legs as he continued to listen. Both father and son had to strain their ears to listen what Vegeta had to say in response.
"You open your mouth one more time, and I'll rip your tongue out!" The shorter alpha hissed to the other. "Kakarot is not damaged goods! Everything that he has suffered through only proves how strong he is! And I'm not worthy of him, no one on this planet is! I'm not putting up with anything! I am doing this of my own free will to prove to Kakarot that I will not betray his trust again!" Vegeta shoved Turles against the wall a third time making small bits of rubble fall to the floor inside near Bardock and his son.
"If I hear of you or anyone else saying anything different, you won't have to worry about Bardock getting wind of it. There won't be enough left for him to do anything to." There was the sound of a fist burying itself in soft flesh, and the sound of someone fall in to their knees as they tried to get air back in. "Leave before I kill you."
Bardock looked around the corner to see the space pirate stumble off with a glare and an arm wrapped around his middle and blood trickling from the side of his mouth. The look on his face promised retribution, but he wasn't powerful enough for to cause significant harm. Once Turles was gone, the older saiyan looked back to his son.
Kakarot was starting at the floor with his arms and tail wrapped around himself. His hands clutched the loose gray fabric of his kimono top, and the alpha could see his frame was trembling. The black spikes of his bangs covered his face from view and sniffles could be faintly heard.
Bardock looked at the beta with a pained look in his eyes, at a loss of what to do. The submissive looked like he was about to bolt back to his room, but the concerned father gently wrapped an arm around shaking shoulders. Kakarot never looked up as he was guided to the garden where Vegeta was attempting to finish setting up the picnic while calming down.
"Vegeta…" The former prince looked up at the sound of his name, but the sight of a shaken beta and a frowning alpha had him scowling. It didn't take him long to figure out that Kakarot and Bardock heard the exchange he had with the space pirate.
"Damn bastard." The younger dominant muttered under his breath. "…rip his throat…feed….tail…Sushi…" Vegeta clinched his hands into fists as he ranted to himself. When Bardock cleared his throat, he snapped out of his murderous thoughts.
Vegeta walked up to the pair, and gently rested his hand on the submissive's back. The two alphas guided him to the blanket and a small pile of pillows under Kakarot's favorite tree. As soon as the former prince's scent registered in the beta's mind, Kakarot latched onto Vegeta's chest and buried his face in his neck.
Vegeta immediately started to purr in an effort to calm his mate.
"It's alright, Kakarot." Vegeta said quietly as his arms circled the distraught beta. "He won't be coming back. We can feed him to the boys' pet if you like. I doubt my father would mind." Bardock managed a weak chuckle as he ran his hand through his son's hair.
Before long Kakarot drifted off into an exhausted sleep clutching tightly to Vegeta as they settled into the pillows to wait.
"That bastard just had to ruin things." Vegeta growled out lowly. "I'm sorry he had to hear that."
"It's not your fault Vegeta." Bardock growled back. "I wish it had been me he said it to. I've been trying to kill that bastard since he got here. I don't like his obsession with Kakarot. Every time I close in on him he slips away like a damned snake."
"Unfortunately he's not completely stupid it seems."
"Vegeta, you are aware that if you ever do anything like that to my son again, I'll kill you and no one will ever find your body." The older saiyan gave the younger dominant a look that promised a vast amount of pain. Vegeta gave a rueful smile as he met Bardock's eyes.
"If Kakarot asked, I'd let you. I won't even flinch." The former prince and the former planet purger watched each other for a few long minutes before nodding simultaneously. The two were silent as they watched the submissive in Vegeta's arms.
"Hmm. I'll hold you to that, Vegeta." The taller man studied the alpha holding his youngest in a protective embrace. His eyes soften just the barest amount at the sight of the utter devotion Vegeta had for Kakarot. "You have really surprised me, you know."
"Hm? What do you mean?" The younger dominant asked as he looked up. His hand was threaded through the beta's hair and his other arm held Kakarot close to him from where he was sitting on the alpha's lap.
"What you are going through to win him back. I know Kakarot's not making it easy for you, but you've done everything without the slightest bit of annoyance or complaining. You've just about bent over backwards to please him." Bardock nodded to the slumbering submissive.
"I'd do whatever he asks of me. No matter how petty or ridiculous his requests. He means everything to me, Bardock. I just wish I saw it sooner." Vegeta had a pained look as he remembered that fateful day. "He deserves so much better then me, but I hope beyond hope that he forgives me. I suppose that's selfish of me, but I can't help myself."
The sorrowful expression on the former prince's face seemed to solidify something that had been brewing in the back of the older warrior. Bardock sighed as he rubbed the back of his head.
"After he told me what happened, I still had this small hope that the two of you could work things out." Vegeta looked up in shock. "He still loves you, and I could see it in his face every time he so much as thought of you no matter how scared he said he was. I can see the same in you. Vegeta, in all my life among our people, I have never seen a pair more suited for each other than you and Kakarot. Not just in terms of strength, but in personality as well. You complete each other."
Bardock moved a bit closer and glared in the former prince's eyes. Vegeta swallowed hard at the sight.
"I will allow you to do whatever you need to for Kakarot to forgive you, but remember this. If you do something to screw it up again, I will not allow you time to regret it. Watch over him, princeling. You are his main protector in my eyes from now on, understand?" Bardock spoke with the utmost seriousness the younger saiyan had ever heard from anyone, and he nodded his head.
Silence came over them as Kakarot still slept on oblivious.
Bardock frowned as he thought back to some of the things the space pirate said. There was no way he could have know that Kakarot had been taken advantage of like he implied, and there was no mistaking that Turles somehow found out.
"What I want to know is how does Turles know as much about Kakarot as he does?" Vegeta looked up at the other alpha. "Only your family and mine save for the cubs and possibly Gohan know that Kakarot was…forced." Bardock spat the word and its vile taste. "The only thing that is common knowledge is the pack he ran into when he got here."
Vegeta furrowed his brow as he also thought about the conversation, if you could call it that. How did the dark skinned saiyan find that out? The only time...
"That son of a bitch!" Vegeta seethed quietly with his chestnut tail lashing behind him. Bardock lifted an eyebrow so he could hear the former prince's epiphany. "He's been spying on us! He must've overheard Kakarot yelling at me the day after I got here! That's the only time he could've heard it! Heard about it my ass, the smug bastard was there for it."
"That's it! The next time either of us see him, kill him!" Bardock snarled. "He's been sniffing around Kakarot long enough!" Vegeta grinned in such a fashion that Bardock could have sworn he was looking at the Vegeta who destroyed planets.
"Oh I'll kill him alright, and drag whatever spirit is left behind from otherworld and obliterate it."