Chapter Text
A few weeks had passed, when it happened the first time.
Snow settled around Viktor’s cottage, powdering Jayce’s dark fur whenever he stepped outside. The forest was blanketed in winter and more often than not they spent their time indoors in the warmth of the fireplace. It was the late morning after the wolf watched Viktor stay up all night researching on a potion that could enhance the senses, heavy shadows under his mage’s eyes as he muttered to himself pouring through his notes.
It’s time to go to bed, Viktor.
The mage was barely awake but surprised as Jayce gently bit his wrist to grab his attention. No pressure at all from very sharp fangs, but a concerned light in those hazel eyes. His familiar pulled and guided him back to the bedroom this way, with the very clear message of Let’s go to sleep now.
As the other man undressed for bed, Jayce respectfully looked away. He learned very quickly that like most humans, the omega held no reservation about being naked in front of animals. Not like he was one to judge, in the embarrassing realization that he hadn’t worn anything else but his teardrop crystal since he’d been transformed. Jayce certainly did not find the expanse of creamy skin dotted with the cutest moles (though his favorite ones were on his neck) to be alluring, nor his slender ankles that many had fought for just a glance. He did find Viktor’s old man pajamas consisting of a long blue robe to be very endearing though.
Jayce watched over Viktor until he fell asleep, then followed him into dreams…only to be awoken by the heavy thuds of someone knocking on their door. A stranger’s scent filled his nose when he sniffed, and the unmistakable musk of an alpha.
“Mmm…” It was hard to wake up his mage, but the knocking had not stopped and his inner wolf was getting agitated at the unknown presence. Needless to say, Viktor was very cranky and sleep-deprived when he opened the door to grumble. “Who is it?”
“Your one true love.”
What Jayce did not expect, as sunshine poured in through the cottage door, was a flourishing of petals and a tall blonde man in royal clothing, his silver crown gleaming with jewels. Blinking, he took in the other alpha who was impeccably handsome and dashing, with eyes only for Viktor. He didn’t see golden eyes squint as the royal kneeled down, procuring roses out of nowhere, and it made for a funny picture between the finely dressed prince prostrate before the mage in his sleep robes.
“Viktor, my Viktor! How I’ve loved you from afar, though you know not my name. I am Prince Arthur, soon to be king of the land of Camelot.” He’s not your Viktor. Each word that came out of Arthur’s mouth made something dark and protective rise in Jayce’s chest, wanting to put himself between the man and his mage. “I have sought for you far and wide, to know your affections and touch.” The royal stared up at the other like he hung the stars in the sky, and looked like he was just asking to be bitten viciously by the wolf. “You will have my lands, my wealth, if you become my consort.”
That made Jayce snarl. Clearly the other prince knew nothing about Viktor, who cared for none of those things. Who did he think he was, to barge into their home and think he had a right to his mate? His inner wolf angrily thought, ready to defend their home.
“So…” The alpha puffed, and the audacity he had to take Viktor’s hand in his— “What say you?”
“...”
Unimpressed, Viktor simply slammed the door in Prince Arthur’s face with nothing to say. The mage snapped his fingers and outside Jayce heard a yelp, a magical disturbance in the air, then the foreign alpha scent was gone, teleported somewhere far far away and most importantly gone.
Jayce’s expression when the omega yawned looking back at his wolf could only be described as thus: What on earth was that?
Viktor sighed, shaking his head as he slowly returned to bed. “Ah, that. Well.” The mage shrugged, and when he saw him falter with the pain in his leg from not stretching, graciously accepted Jayce’s support and leaned on the wolf to guide them back. “This happens every now and then. It has gotten worse since my self-imposed exile, in all truth.”
“Once in a while a prince or some lord, or simply a man comes along, wishing to court me.” The omega snorted. “I hardly ever know them of course, and they do not truly know me. Goddess knows why they come here.” And that doesn’t worry you? Jayce couldn’t help but let out a sound of concern, making the mage pet his side in reassurance. “I know how to take care of myself, dear. And they cannot enter my abode without my consent. The protection runes in these walls won’t let them.”
Viktor sighed, as Jayce was grappling with the revelation that his mage was some kind of magnet for odd suitors, and what that all meant.
“He was not the first though, and is most certainly not the last.”
To the wolf’s dismay, Jayce soon learned that Viktor was right, and it would not be a one time thing.
Since then, like clovers blooming in grass, came several suitors all wishing to court the omega. Jayce could feel himself growing crazy and on edge at the onslaught of their smells, desire and lust coming off them in waves.
A second prince came upon Viktor as he was about to bathe in the river, and rightfully so the mage turned the intruder into a thorn bush, then back again. It caused the prince to run away screaming in terror, as Jayce chased after him to get the message deep in his memory from then on.
It even happened in the market when Jayce accompanied his mage for the first time as he restocked their supplies. Some villagers gawked at the big wolf following their local healer, daring anyone to try and get closer. A beta lord by the name of Salo tried to, wishing to extend his gratitude to Viktor for healing his legs after a terrible accident, were it not for the familiar giving him a death stare.
“Marry me, Viktor, please I beg of you…”
They had traveled to a separate forest on the borders of Zaun, of a lively village primarily inhabited by vastayas and elves. One such vastaya had bent the knee, after Viktor healed his daughter from her coma.
Jayce was helpless to watch as the children of the village had him lying down and filled with apple slices and berries, braiding flowers into his fur. It took the chief named Scar to get the besotted grateful vastaya to stand back up again, dragging him away with a growl.
“Fluffy!”
At the sight of his familiar held hostage by the cutest hands, Viktor chuckled, walking closer with his crystal staff. “Oh my. Do you need help, my dear?” Jayce levelled the other with a defeated look, making the omega laugh with an adorable snort. Seeing the omega now unoccupied, an elf came forward, taking Viktor’s hands in hers. She was beautiful with curly hair piled on top of a bun, golden glasses and a warm freckled smile.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice, Viktor.” The elf said gently. She smelled like freshly cut flowers and a hint of something sweet, purple robes not hiding the mating scar on her neck. “Lest and I knew you were the closest one who had the ingredients we needed for little Yalna.”
The mage nodded graciously. “It was no trouble, Sky.”
Jayce watched them exchange stories, how Sky’s mate named Lest was and learning the elf was a fellow magical researcher. The thoughts of her possibly aiding in breaking his curse gave way to a more curious realization. She was the first one he could say seemed to be a friend of Viktor’s, received warmly and without distance.
The wolf wondered about Viktor’s life before they met, and the little he knew. Connected to the Zaun royal family, a friend to folks of all kinds. Renowned for his magical prowess and respected as a master teaching future mages. Almost mated against his will, only to estrange himself, isolated in the depths of the woods. Harrowed by suitors vying for his hand, healing those in need, and alone…
He couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like, if he was in his human princely form, and had met the mage in the woods under a different fate. Would they have become close?
But as the omega talked to Sky, Viktor glanced his way, and smiled so lovingly that all those thoughts faded away.
After the third prince shooed away, a military beta named Marcus vowing armies for Viktor’s hand, Jayce felt like a frayed thread, snappy and ready to come undone. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t for the inner alpha within him pacing back and forth mentally, snarling.
He’s mine, he’s mine, thrummed obsessively in the back of Jayce’s head, consuming him. It’s a wolf thing, Jayce thought desperately, all while helpless to the dark emotions running through his veins that warred with the need to protect and claim his mate before anyone could truly catch Viktor’s eye. It would happen one day, and Jayce was determined to be the first. Viktor was enchantingly handsome and beautiful, a genius, whip sharp and impossibly kind, my mate my love, my mate —
“...What are you doing? Where is Viktor?”
The crow was visiting again, but rather than reuniting with his beloved Viktor to give the latest shiny stone for him — a diamond, of all the stones — found Jayce foraging in the forest by the flower field. Jayce stayed focused on his goal, sniffing the cold grass and earth for his own courting gift.
A woven basket filled with his finds rested next to the wolf, carried by mouth. A pile of fresh wildflowers, herbs, roots and leaves was growing on top, as Jayce continued to search for what he knew Viktor uses well for his experiments. Digging his paws into hard dirt despite the frigid snow, Jayce growled.
“None of your business. He’s out at the market today, so you can leave now.”
That only piqued the crow’s curiosity further, hopping a little closer on the grass. Then, because of course the other creature was smart, made a shit-eating noise. “You’re trying to woo Viktor, aren’t you?” It snickered, finding the idea amusing. “Oh, you wolf. Can’t say I’m surprised, though. You reek of want.”
Cawing, the crow landed on his head and spread his black wings proudly. “Unlike you, you reprobrate, I know Viktor adores my beautiful self. I, Demetrius, will forever be loyal to our human.” At least he learned his lesson from the first time they met, else he invoke the wolf’s anger once more.
Jayce huffed, shaking away the other animal. “That’s your name, this whole time? Where on earth did you get that?” He paused in his foraging, listening when the crow smugly answered.
“I took it from a baker’s son, who I often steal bread from. Beautiful long dark hair, like me. Handsome, for a human.” Demetrius clicked, ducking his head under his wing to groom his feathers. “Now that I think about it, I’ve heard him speak of Viktor before. Bakes special bread for him. Smells like you too.”
The wolf frowned, gruffing. “What do you mean by that?” But Demetrius only scoffed, screeching in his face before picking up the diamond intended for the mage who saved him and flew away.
“Humans are an enigma to me, wolf. How should I know?”
To Jayce’s horrible luck though, he was soon to find out who the crow meant.
For the first time, his foraged basket held securely in his mouth, Jayce returned to the cottage he called home with Viktor, and heard laughter from inside. Butting his head lightly enough against the door to push it open, a stranger’s alpha scent flooded his senses. Yet having gone through the mage’s protection wards, in their very kitchen…
“You’re amazing, Vitya.”
The man had long black hair tied in a low ponytail, much like Demetrius described. He had chiseled features, and he would have been handsome if there wasn’t something innately infuriating about his smile at his mage standing in front of him. Dressed in his blue-red cloak, Viktor hummed, cutting a loaf of bread that smelled fresh and warm. On the table was an assortment of other baked goods that seemed to all be for him.
“Thank you, Dimitri. But you didn’t have to. I’ll be glad to give my coin for all these are worth. You must have worked hard on them.” The omega glanced at the baker’s son with a small smile of his own, drizzling honey and taking a bite. He saw the alpha swallow, clenching his fist on his lap, and something in Jayce furiously snapped.
Dimitri.
If he could speak his name Jayce would have spat it out like a vile curse. The other man blushed. “It’s nothing. I was just on my way delivering bread, like usual. I know you like to pick them up at my place, but I wanted to give them to you this time.”
Dimitri inched closer, staring at Viktor with an enamored shine in his eyes as the omega remained oblivious, now spreading mixed berries jam onto a slice and enjoying the taste with a soft crunch. “We’ve known each other for how long, Vitya? How many years?” A nickname he didn’t deserve to use — “All this time, you’ve been alone…”
That caught Viktor’s attention and made him pause, swallowing the last of his honey-butter-jam bread slice. He turned to look at Dimitri, a few crumbs by the side of his lips that drew attention to the kissable mole he had just above it. “Oh…?” The alpha breathed, leaning ever closer…
“You make really good jam…I bake the best bread in both Piltover and Zaun. Together, we…we could have a bun in the oven in no time.”
What did you just say?
All the princes and lords barging into their home, trying to take Viktor away from him, all those times Jayce couldn’t speak a word. Every clear sign his omega never even considered them took the edge off when he was this close to falling from it. Every return to him and their peaceful life while he subtly tried to guide the mage to a possible cure stopped him from tearing them apart, staining his fangs in their blood and defending his one true mate.
Until now.
It was the sudden scent of Viktor’s own desire, sweetmilk and lavender reciprocating the alpha’s freshly baked bread as they drew imperceptibly close, that finally made Jayce fucking lose it.
The large wolf dropped his basket with an abrupt and audible thud, breaking Dimitri and Viktor apart. A deep snarl that made the wooden floors of the cottage vibrate emanated from his throat, hackles raised and twitching fangs ready to taste blood.
“Jayce?”
Umber fur stood on end, body tense as a bow notched with an arrow, hazel eyes focused on his prey. He couldn’t hear Viktor anymore who approached him concerned, as with his back leg the familiar kicked the door shut, cutting off any escape—
“Uhm, Viktor…?!”
When Jayce lunged, embodying all the ferocity of the protective, jealous and stupidly in love wolf he had become.
“AAAAAAGHHHH!!”
Night fell, and the cottage was quiet in the dark, except for the few candles by Viktor’s bedside.
“Jayce…”
Hidden in the corner, a big fluffy shadow pouted, snout resting on his paws as he whined sadly.
“He was a good man, you know.”
Viktor undressed for the night, scolding his familiar for his unexpected aggressive crashout as he got ready to sleep. “Dimitri didn’t deserve to be attacked like that, nor his bread be thrashed so.” The wolf’s belly was full of the alpha’s courting gift, and a touch of the alpha’s blood. Nothing his mage couldn’t heal, but the baker’s son left their home as soon as he could, and not without a traumatized goodbye. Jayce licked his chops, growling in protest.
“Your concern is very sweet, my dear.” A gentle hand on the top of his head made him flinch, but Jayce soon relaxed, staring up at his mage with puppy eyes as he let himself be held by Viktor. “But don’t do that again. Can you promise me that, my Jayce?” The familiar whined sadly, and he could see Viktor’s resolve weaken when he nuzzled his big wolf’s head into the omega’s hands, sinking into the warmth he fought to share with anyone else.
He was trying to court you, and I can’t let that happen. Please wait for me Viktor, and I promise you won’t ever need any of them.
The morning after, sunrise shone through the curtains, and Viktor slowly woke up with a dull ache in his lower body. He winced, placing his hands on his abdomen. Asleep by his bedside, Jayce slept on, his wolf familiar resting after last night’s catastrophe.
Oh.
Viktor felt an old dread rise in him, realizing it was not his leg or back acting up today, but something worse…
The omega swore, pressing the edges of his palms to his eyes as he closed them once more.
“Fuck…”
His heat was coming.