For Ship.
A translation of At the end of the world by Ship.
THE STORY IS NOT MINE!
this is a translation of the Italian story 'At the end of the world' by Ship.
Cover image by Jessica .
CHAPTER 2 OF 14
The tops of some trees on the horizon formed the end of the march for the horses and their riders.
Merlin, looking around, saw that they had arrived near the cave where he had wanted to stop with Lancelot. Now they could find shelter during the hottest times of the day.
Dismounting from the horse of the brunette and pale-skinned girl with who he had traveled, Merlin looked at his friend, who nodded to him as to say he had understood where they were. It was more than necessary to hold themselves together, because the situation they were in was not exactly easy...
Not only didn't they know whom they were about to face or what kind of events they were triggering, but they had to be very careful. They had to be strong. No one could find out they were Omegas.
Given the thick, dense and penetrating smell in the air around them, there had to be at least six Alphas in the group.
Merlin stared at his friend, reading in his eyes his same tension.
For too long they hadn't lived in contact with their natural mates, and staying so close to the Alphas after years of separation meant feeling like suffocating.
It felt like been stabbed.
That contact destabilized the both of them. Merlin could read it in himself and in his friend. They were suffering the presence of the dominant race, despite the inner battle they were fighting at that time to live up to their decision to remain free, to hide who they were...
Merlin was feeling a sensation of cold, of needing heat, of yielding, and Lancelot's eyes, still next to the young dark-skinned Alpha who was whispering to her friend, asking her to enter the cave to announce them, was telling Merlin about his distressed because of her.
The woman must have obviously impressed him and Lancelot's Omega nature was pushing him toward a possible mate.
It was clear that he liked her. He couldn't help but look at her, especially when she moved around him gracefully.
Pure torture.
As a doctor, Merlin could understand it very well.
Men's difficult decision to totally subdue Omegas had deprived the two species of the Bond and consequently of the naturalness and the pleasures of their relationship. All the things that had united them once were forbidden now... and in that moment, after years of deprivation of something that was rather essential for life, it seemed even harder to resist and not to seek a true contact with the Alphas. It had become even harder to refrain from revealing themself, because of the nature force that was pushing them toward their mates.
As much as they did not wish to, the truth was that, as Omegas, they missed their Alphas. He and Lancelot had always felt incomplete living in a world that does not contemplate for them to have their mates by their side anymore, despite the fact they were very happy to have chosen their freedom instead of slavery.
Merlin watched his friend clenching his fists and looking away from her to control himself, not to suffer.
They would be long hours.
.
Merlin tensed, as the young dark-skinned Alpha finally signed to follow her, preceding them in the cave, where the other girl had already entered and where the group to which they belonged was… Where their leader awaited to receive proper care.
Merlin felt the need to have a word with his friend before entering.
"Lance... I know it's difficult. I saw how the chemistry of the young Amazon is calling you to her, but please, do not give in. If we are lucky, we can get away quickly. Remember that revealing our true nature would mean becoming their prisoners... succumbing. They are Alphas and at the moment this does not make them our friends. Besides, we have a mission to accomplish."
The other Omega sighed, nodding.
The young girl, seeing them chatting, warned them, inviting them to hurry up.
"Our leader is sick ... we need to hurry."
Merlin nodded and went in first, throwing a last look at his friend to give him strength.
Except that as soon as he entered the cave, he too found himself in trouble. He realized that he would need a few more minutes to get used to everything.
Because suddenly he felt like fainting. He struggled to stand upright and with a clear head.
Uncontrollable feelings attacked him deep down, cutting right through his every nerve, stretching him, burning his skin. They rose up in shivers on the back of his head when, in the midst of all the others, he felt a very distinct and strong smell, clearer than he had never felt one before in his life. This particular smell was calling his every breath, his every cell, waking it up and then abandoning it in an involuntary heartbeat that vibrated in his chest.
The Alphas inside the cave were actually seven and the air was permeated with their various mixed essences. Merlin couldn't understand which one belonged to who...
Except for one.
Only one smell was perfectly clear and stuck to him, luring Merlin forcefully, drying his throat, increasing his blood flow and the speed with which it flew in his veins and with which his heart was throbbing.
It was as if he could distinguish all its parts, crush it into atoms and imprint it in his brain.
He swallowed a few times, magnetized by the figure that, because of those feelings, was capturing Merlin's deep nature, which at that moment seemed to rebel against the violence of the separation from that smell.
The Alpha, owner of that smell, was farther than the others, sitting in a corner of the cave. He was talking with one of his men, drawing lines on the ground, apparently busy explaining something.
His face, although it was in the shadows, was clearly tense and suffering even at this distance. His posture was contracted. Among all the knights, he seemed to be the only one injured.
Merlin understood immediately that he was the leader of that group.
Merlin could feel he was a leader,reading it in everything he was and did, in the power he projected, in his charisma, in the respect and reverence the others were showing him, in the way the other Alphas hanged on his every words...
He also felt on himself the call that the Alpha exercised, along with his power, his dominance, a natural invitation to submission.
Rarely in his life had Merlin met an Alpha of that quality, of such royalty. He was unable to compare him to any of those he had met.
His smell and essence were entering him even more, increasing in intensity, imposing his domination, ordering him to surrender, exploding in his chest like a blast.
His smell felt of wet grass; of moist and black soil that told him of endless lands, stretched as far as the eye could see. Of fertile and unspoiled lands, rarely known now, wet with rain, now rare but coveted after the drought and the desert.
It felt of ancient and forgotten seasons. Of the forces of the elements, combined to form an overwhelming hurricane.
It felt of the ancient world and his longing. Of the fullness of life and of all its lost rhythms. Of fallen leaves in autumn. Of summer sea and green forests in spring. Of fresh snow on the branches of intertwined trees...
Lost or never known smells in the subtle sorrow of the soul.
A long history, drawn halfway between his person and his heart. An intense, dark and natural call.
He shuddered for a long moment, trying to see better his figure and the features of his face.
He walked further, still watching him.
The Alpha was very beautiful, with an imposing figure, strong, majestic, a powerful musculature, agile, tense.
His shoulders were broad and one of them was definitely sore, because it showed an unnatural angle, with the arm bone that looked like it had come out of the scapula and left lying along the side.
The pain must have been unbearable, but the young man seemed able not to feel it, to tolerate that situation with a lot of strength.
His hair, light and blond, were sweaty and dusty. The few leather he was dressed with did not cover all his body. He was topless, sweaty and dusty too. To Merlin, that young man's vision was more attractive that he could explain.
He felt his stomach squirming, along with the routes between breath and reason.
Merlin felt his heart tremble for a moment, creaking slowly, yielding for a second.
He had to gather all his strength to return to his right mind and consciousness.
.
The young brown-skinned Amazon who had accompanied them approached the man, greeting him with a kiss on the lips. Then, she smiled tenderly and Merlin, at that gesture, felt the tension of his friend Lancelot just behind him, remembering he was not alone.
Her voice cut the air with force and disturbed Merlin, forcing him to end his contemplation, to climb out of the well of feelings in which he had fallen.
"Arthur... we are back earlier than expected. It was not necessary to reach the village we saw yesterday to seek a healer. We met two men on the way ... Two Betas. They say they are travelers and one of them is a doctor."
She straightened up, staring at them, shifting her intense gaze especially on Lancelot.
"The other one is someone who knows what he's doing with the sword. He handles it as fast as a cat"
Merlin imperceptibly felt his friend filling with satisfaction and pride at the compliment, and turned, finding him again shaken and lost in her presence.
The moment was fortunately broken. Merlin was grateful for that. Things were about to become too difficult to manage.
Or at least part of him was grateful.
Because when he spoke, it was as if Merlin could feel the ground sinking under his feet, as if it was sand.
Falling apart.
The Prime spoke with a certain, dark and dominant voice, and Merlin realized that from that day on he would remember that voice forever, recognized it among all the others, like his smell. He felt all that Alpha was settling in his nerves slowly.
His amber and strong color entered him like a dart on fire.
"Come closer"
Merlin took a couple of steps forward, finally seeing the young Alpha's face clearly, unable to look away. The blond was staring at him with an unreadable expression. His facial features were twisted due to the effort to control the pain.
His face was smooth, strong and determined. The curve of his jaw was hard and proud, as you could expect it to be by observing everything else. The nose soared straight and manly over his full and warm mouth. His figure was regal, aloof and seemingly unattainable. But it was his eyes to be the stricter and more distant part of him... yet they remained expressive and deep, so blue you could see yourself in them as in a pool of water and then again, cold, glacial as the northern seas he had visited once.
Unintentionally, their eyes met and Merlin started to shake, so much that he had to look away and hold his breath not to fall because of his legs, suddenly become jelly.
"Which one of you is the healer?"
Another stab straight into his stomach, where it crossed the breath.
Merlin swallowed, praying that his voice came out firm.
"I'm. My name's Merlin."
The Alpha stared at him insistently; his voice clear and firm; his tone allowed no answer back.
"I am Arthur Pendragon. The head of my House. Prince of one of the five kingdoms. My land is located in the South-East, in the lands of Devon"
Not waiting for an answer, he continued.
"We have been attacked by some bandits and now I obviously need immediate medical care. My shoulder..."
Merlin nodded slowly, trying to compose himself, to ignore every feeling that was about to dominate him.
It was not the time to give in.
"Yes, I noticed it. We have to fix it immediately. The arm bone has moved. It needs to go back to his place and be dressed..."
The Alpha looked at him in a penetrating way, looking tense. Perhaps he was angry about the situation that was forcing him to appear weak. The blond watched Merlin in the eyes for long, in a way that almost hurt inside.
"You can do it then?"
That tension turned Merlin on. He was surprised to perceive it also in the other man. And when he answered, the frustration made his words sharp, his response sour and his throat burning, and not because of the thirst.
"Yes, I can help you. Even if your friends, when they took us, did not give us much choice. You ask but actually you have already imposed your will"
The Knight that was talking to the prince a moment ago stood up. His skin was as dark as the mulatto girl's and in fact, they seemed siblings.
"You can't address him like that. You're a Beta and you are in front of a Prime Alpha, the Pendragon Prince ..."
Merlin stared at him with a firm expression.
His output had been harder than he really wanted it to be. However, he could not bear to feel that way, to find himself subjected to the force of the young Prime, who at the moment was overwhelming him and forcing him to deal with his most ferocious and hidden instincts. He had buried them a long time ago, so that he could fight to be what he was, so that he could defend his freedom...
"Why not? I have only told things as they are. Besides, I'm not one of his subjects. I'm not obliged to recognize his authority. We are not in your kingdom here. Moreover, Betas are free men. They barter their freedom with your carelessness, forced by you to live at the end of the world... Therefore, unless I have become a prisoner, I have no intention to submit now. However ... he needs help and I will help him as a doctor... after that, I will consider myself free to go on my way."
"How dare you?"
The knight was about to draw his sword, but Arthur stopped him.
The prince tightened his mouth...
"Elyan... forget it."
Merlin could breathe again. He was aware that he had made a bold move.
He went closer, still not looking away to underline his firmness, without giving in.
The fight with the Alphas was too open and had become too difficult now to distinguish the good Alphas from the dictators. It was easy to put everyone into the same basket...
Not to mention that there was always the risk of being found out and be subdued as Omegas, no matter how magnanimous an Alpha could be.
Yet, something cracked as his blue eyes melted with those sky blue ones of the other, slowly, becoming clear and deep water, purifying...
A sea where you could lose yourself and float.
"I will help you"
He arrived so close to that sea to drown in all his wet Alpha smell.
Merlin swallowed.
"It will be very painful. That's why it would be better if someone gave us a hand. My friend Lancelot can do it, but we need one more man"
The Alpha's voice came out solemn, without taking his eyes off Merlin.
"Gwaine..."
A brown haired knight joined them, putting himself next to his leader, and Merlin turned to gesture to Lancelot to reach them.
Merlin moved toward the young brunet Amazon with the braid, who until then had remained on the sidelines, even though always at their side, to give her an order.
"We need to give him something to bite, for the pain. Do you have some alcohol he can drink or something? To dull his senses?"
The others shook their heads no and Arthur stared at him, responding for the others too, sharply.
"I can do this without it."
"No, you can't... but apparently you will have to do it only with a cloth between the teeth. Bite it until you cut it"
The Alpha remained silent for a long moment.
It could not be easy for him to accept orders; Merlin could read it in his face.
"I'm not a little girl. Do your job. I have endured worse."
Merlin hardened his expression, approaching him. He couldn't stand all that arrogance. Then, he remembered that he was an Alpha, a leader, and that he would rather die than bow to anyone, least of all a Beta. Therefore, he ignored it and got ready.
"The worst part will be the beginning, when I have to move your arm to get it at the right angle ... you will feel immediately better after that..."
Arthur nodded, staring at him as if he had knives instead of the eyes, but Merlin's hand returned firm and steady, as it had always been, thanks to his skills as a healer.
Then something happened and everything seemed to fall again, changing inevitably, collapsing.
Merlin felt the universe making a full turn, breaking all his defenses and bringing down his securities in a second.
When Merlin approached him to do what he had to, simultaneously taking his wrist and arm with his hands, Arthur snapped, obeying an impulse as old as his nature. He grabbed Merlin with his free arm, tugging and pulling him to him, choking him in an iron grip. He forced him into submission, presenting his neck to the Alpha.
Merlin felt like dying at that power pose and remained still, worried that the other could smell his Omega essence. He was unable to escape the grip, to react.
He cursed between his clenched teeth, as the Prince took his time sniffing slowly and carefully his skin where his Omega glands were. He was obviously alert, perhaps not convinced of his Beta nature. Merlin distinctly felt his nose smelling his skin, his mouth exhaling slowly, sending shivers along his body. Then, Merlin read the disappointment in Arthur's eyes when he released him.
He managed to breathe again after an eternity.
Arthur had not felt him.
His ointments had not betrayed him.
Merlin didn't know why, and he did not even want to know, but the abrupt gesture that the Alpha did to release him from his grip, hurt him more than he wanted to admit...
The only thing Merlin could feel was an intense, fierce and instinctive anger… Just because the Alpha had let him go and had not placed his lips on his glands… just because he had not bitten them. Just because he had not claimed him as his own, had not treated him like an Omega. Although, of course, he would never admitted it.
Anger flared up and seized all his reason, his voice.
In a moment, it spread in all his body without being able to stop it.
"Happy?"
Arthur glared at him with fire in his eyes and Merlin felt his fragile internal barriers crumbling.
"You have to prepare yourself now."
Arthur continued to sniff the air around him, not admitting the obvious, unsatisfied and nervous. "Hurry up. Do what you have to."
Lancelot and one of his men, Gwaine, squeezed Arthur in a vise. When the blond felt his arm returning in place and at the same time the extreme pain, he silently cursed, roaring, burning a hole in the face of the doctor before him. His eyes were full of frustration.
Arthur breathed again after a long time.
Damn it.
He was furious. Literally.
Not because of the pain, no...
He had endured it just fine: it had already closed it in his memories. It had gone away when his limb had been fixed, now bandaged properly and secured to the body with a leather belt...
He was furious because of all the rest.
He was irritated by him… he was absolutely and indescribably annoyed.
By his impudence, his confidence and his audacity.
And not because he had told him he didn't recognize Arthur's authority, that he didn't wish to submit to him – which was irritating enough said by a Beta - no.
It was all his tremendously disrespectful air, insolent but fascinating and unsettling at the same time, that irritated him, that drove him mad, but that also attracted him like a magnet...
... and then, that so deeply OMEGA essence, in a body that was not Omega.
Here it was ... this was what he could not forgive him. It was really messing with his head.
The bitter disappointment.
When that ... Merlin ... had entered the cave, he had felt him on his skin. He had felt him inside, as if he already knew him by heart, studied him through his instincts. He had examined him, capturing and seizing his presence in his innermost being, imprinting it in his mind.
In a moment, he had guessed every detail. He had managed to see him as a whole being but also in detail. He had memorized him in a second, so fast than Arthur had written him on his skin right away.
His slender and elegant figure.
His smooth, slender and strong healer's hands with long fingers...
His jet-black hair on that beautiful face that seemed to cut the air they were breathing.
His perfect white skin. A powerful call.
His fleshy mouth, which seemed to have been designed by an artist. He looked like someone impossible to break...
Arthur's instinct had strongly awakened.
He had really believed he was an Omega.
And finding out that he was not was very disappointing, so much that he could not get over it.
Besides, even if that young man had been an Omega, Arthur couldn't have acted differently ... or claimed him for himself. Establishing the Bond was forbidden.
Either way, he couldn't have had him...
If he had been an Omega and Arthur had really wanted him, he could have laid and had children with him maybe a few times, despite being a prince and ruler of a kingdom.
He knew very well he couldn't have him.
Something else was destabilizing him.
Something deeper was going on there...
It was the idea that the brunet was not the natural half of his race, the missing piece that could make him whole that hurt Arthur inexplicably...
It was as if nature was mocking them, keeping the wound open...
… writing his eyes on him.
And finally the worst ... the idea of having to let him go soon, of not seeing him ever again.
"Thank you. I'm feeling better already"
He moved abruptly, in a mixture of frustration and unhappiness, fixing his eyes on the blue ones of the other.
The other man nodded and his solemn and impenetrable air made Arthur even more furious.
Even Merlin had to cling desperately to his certainties as a healer not to sink.
"With this bandage your shoulder will heal perfectly. Hot water will speed the recovery. You can also ride tomorrow, if you do not move it"
Arthur nodded, looking away and trying to control himself. Then, his companion Gwaine said.
"Maybe he should take a look to the other wound too, Arthur. Your side..."
Arthur glared at him sharply and Merlin had no time to understand what they were talking about, which wound they were referring to. He didn't even asked.
It was better this way.
"I'm fine. It is not necessary"
Merlin remained silent when Arthur turned to him once regained control over his emotions.
The Alpha forced himself to be distant: feeling the Beta's touch again would mean losing control.
Just thinking about the feeling of his delicate fingers burning on his skin again, on his side, set his nerves, his loins, his groin on fire...
Damned Beta!
Arthur had never met one of so much quality, charisma, power...
This is why he had felt the need to sniff him up close earlier.
To make sure he wasn't really an Omega.
He had that nature written all over him, everywhere, and he, as a Prime, had never failed to recognize it.
Except this time.
He could not even be an Omega under the effect of suppressors. Arthur knew the odors of the ointments that Omegas were often forced to use, he knew how they changed their smell... and Merlin simply had no smell, like every damn Beta.
Arthur got up, finding some clothes to wear, and stared at Merlin.
"You can stay with us today, take advantage of the shelter. You know that no one can go out until tonight…the sun will not allow it. Stay. There is plenty of water and my men have hunted. You can eat with us if you want. After that, you are free"
Merlin nodded, impressing those words in his memory. He was deeply convinced that those words would be the last the other would say to him, when the Alpha continued.
"Contrary to what you may think... not all Alphas are racists with Betas. Many respect them. The fact is that life has chosen for all of us"
Merlin clenched his teeth, tensed. He felt judged and defeated.
"Thanks. We'll stay then. There aren't many shelters in this area."
Arthur nodded, leaving. He reached the young girl with chocolate-brown skin, who kissed and hugged him again.
Merlin was hurt for being ignored so suddenly by the Alpha.
Again.
Before going away, she bent down, retrieving the sword that Lancelot had placed on the ground when he helped Merlin with Arthur, throwing it at him.
"This is yours... warrior"
Lancelot grabbed it and the look the two of them exchanged did not escape Merlin, who forced himself to say nothing, catching the mood of his friend, as he saw the woman he liked, an Alpha, disappearing with the Prince.
With his Prime, with the Alpha that had taken possession of his life now, that had glued himself to his essence, even though Merlin was trying to reject him with all his might.
Merlin sighed.
Twelve hours.
He could resist, all things considered.
They were not that many.
Then why they seemed like forever to him?
.
Merlin watched Arthur disappearing with her in a secondary cave and the discomfort he felt at that sight was hurting his stomach.
He saw also Lancelot snorting and moving away, joining a couple of knights to ask them something and distracted himself. Therefore, Merlin took his medicine bag to tidy it up.
Turning around he made eye contact with the other young brunet Amazon, who was watching him with interested.
"It's truly remarkable... meeting two Betas that are so talented. I am amazed. Merlin, you and your friend are very unusual Betas, that's for sure. He, too ... you know..."
She said it pointing at Lancelot.
"… It's so rare to find a warrior like him among the people of your race"
Her words hit an already too exposed heart.
"You underestimate Betas this way. By the way, my friend has a name. His name is Lancelot."
"Yes... I remember his name. It's hard to forget someone so capable with the sword."
Merlin nodded, as he finished putting in order his leather bag. He put away the bandages and the ointments she was looking at with interest.
"You know, I wanted to tell you one more thing, Merlin... for Arthur before, when he was in his Domination Phase. Strange to see him having such a reaction in front of a Beta. That urge to sniff you is curious. Clearly he wanted to make sure you were not an Omega, well ... since he's a Prime, I would have never thought he could be wrong."
Merlin had the impression that conversation was suddenly becoming dangerous and sought an excuse to go away.
"Sorry, but this is not my problem. Now, if you excuse me, I need some sleep. I haven't done much of that in the past two days"
She nodded with a shrug.
"Of course... I'm not going to stop you. Just... don't go looking for a place to the left side of the cave. Arthur has just gone there. Unless… you know... you want just that, to find him. Well ... there was sparks flying between the two of you earlier. Even Guinevere had noticed it"
Was what he was feeling really so transparent and obvious? Even his attraction?
"I do not know what you're talking about"
She smiled, cold.
"Obviously. Well, you are warned. Arthur sleeps there and he doesn't do it alone as you saw. These days, he is with Gwen... although they are not ... well… They have been off and on for a while now. She is not an Omega, after all"
Merlin was impressed.
Was it possible she had found out about him and Lancelot?
If not even a Prime Alpha had realized Merlin's nature, how could she have done it?
"Excuse me... I have to go"
"Of course. Good rest then."
"You too…?"
"Morgana. I'm Morgana Pendragon. Arthur's sister."