Chapter Text
“I’m gon’ kill you, Miller! You did this to us!” Fred launched himself at Miller, the other alpha seething as he lunged his arms out to grab him. Miller, on the other hand, produced his rifle, pointing it directly at Fred.
“Easy Fred! There ain’t nothing we can do about it now. The snow has fallen, we can’t leave. All we can do now is wait until it thaws in the Spring.” Miller's cadence sounded calm despite the rifle he pointed at Fred.
Will was sat with Charlie by the fire, a bull hide wrapped tight around himself as he shivered from the cold.
Fred bared his teeth, pocketing the skinning knife that he’d produced upon berating Miller. His wild eyes moved to Will, barking a cruel laugh. “Yeah, and what about our omega here? We all know what happened the other night. You couldn’t help yourself could you, Miller? Just had to have his pussy all to yourself.”
Miller fired his rifle, the bullet hitting the snow just beside Fred’s foot so the man jumped.
“I had the boy’s trust, something you do not. I wasn’t gonna lie there and let you use him for your own selfish needs. But you’re right, the situation is tricky. Will,” Miller turned to look at him, Will shooting up from where he was sat, holding the buffalo skin tighter to himself, “How you feeling?”
Will looked to all three men who had their eyes set on him, he felt put out, suddenly feeling very weak.
“I feel fine.” He croaked, casting his eyes on the snowy ground. Will knew what Miller was implying, but Will wasn’t ready to speak it out loud right now.
Fred cackled, shaking his head. “Bullshit. Your heat lasted one night. Miller knocked you up and we ain’t got anywhere to be for the next eight months. How the hell are we gon’ look after a pregnant omega as well as ourselves?”
“There’s no evidence. You can’t make assumptions like that, Fred. I said I feel fine; that’s it. I’m fine, really, I am.” But the alphas appeared unconvinced, even Charlie stared at him like he was foolish.
Miller had told him he needed to knot him to make the heat go away. He never did say how it made it go away. Was impregnating him the only way? Will shivered and felt bile rise into his mouth.
What would his father say? Sharing a heat, unmarried, and now, a bastard child.
A bastard child, with Miller. Of all fucking people.
Will walked away from the camp, found a small clearing in the forest, and vomited into the snow.
MONTH ONE.
The blizzards were the worst of their entrapment in the mountain pass.
With little cover for the camp, they fixed up a tent using the carriage as the main base. Two thousand buffalo hides were useful to protect against snow it appeared, Fred and Miller working tirelessly to tie them together to create the tarp to protect them from the elements.
The smell inside the tent, however, was overwhelming, Will found. Three, unwashed alphas were quite overwhelming, especially for Will’s sensitive nose. He often left the tent, emptied his guts, and then returned without saying a word.
Miller had gone strange in their entrapment. Ever since the night that they shared Will’s heat, Miller remained close to him. He knew it was just the alpha in him, protective of the omega he’d laid into. Will grew tired of it easily, this hormonal front, especially when he awoke to find Miller lying right beside him in the tent.
It was, however, a haven from the elements and for that, Will was grateful to have it.
MONTH THREE.
The blizzards decreased, the men went out to hunt when they could. Well, men, mostly just Fred and Miller went out. The two most able bodied alphas who would likely not die to the winter storms as quick as Will and Charlie would.
This left Will and Charlie to talk more. Charlie had gone quiet in their close coupling in the tent, save for the wicked arguments Fred and Charlie would share during mealtime. He often said prayers for Will, knowing his relationship with the Lord was struggling.
“Do you believe Fred?” Will had asked Charlie one morning when both alphas had left to gather firewood.
“Do I believe he’s a sick sonofabitch? Yes, I do.”
Will laughed, taking Charlie’s good hand and squeezing it. “No, Charlie, I mean, do you think Miller stopped my heat by putting a child in me?”
Charlie took in a deep breath, holding Will’s hand as tight as he could manage. The old man was shaking, the little meals and cold elements had taken its toll on Charlie.
“The night you got sick, you smelled all kinds of sour and awful. The morning after, you were as fresh as peaches young Will. No omega smells good after a fever, only when the good Lord decides to bless em with a baby. Fred might be an impious man, but he was speaking the truth.”
Will closed his eyes, letting go of Charlie’s hand to press it to his own face. He ragged it over his skin, over and over until Charlie clutched his wrist to stop him lest he tear the very skin from his skull.
“I’ll give you more rations. It’s the least I can do for you.”
Will grabbed his hand and looked him in the eyes, intense and pleading.
“The least you can do, is not tell Miller or Fred. Can you do that for me, Charlie?”
The old man shook his head and Will let him go.
MONTH FIVE.
If Will had not believed Charlie before, it was difficult to not believe him now. He had left camp to go wash himself in the river. The weather was still brisk, but he could not stand another night stinking of sweat and that damned buffalo blood.
He removed his shirt, resting it on the riverbank, he removed his shoes and kneeled by the water.
Miller had mentioned he was fat and happy when they shared his bedroll that night. He said Charlie’s beans would waste him away. His belly bloomed with something else now, he pressed a dirty hand to the skin and felt himself beginning to shake.
“Boy, what the hell are you doing out here?”
Will jumped, curling in on himself. “Miller, did you fucking follow me here?”
Miller, shrouding over him as usual, walked his hulking form over to where Will was kneeling, and he stared for what felt like an unbearably long time.
“I’m sorry.”
The slighter man lifted his head, looking to Miller who had that same bereft expression on his face the night they finished their copulation.
“What for?” Will asked, casting his eyes away from him, looking to the river now. He dipped his hands in, letting the icy water swallow them before he brought the crisp liquid to his face and splashed it clean. “You knew what you were doing that night, you knew this would happen. I was just too foolish to stop you.”
Miller shifted closer, he gripped Will’s shoulder, making him straighten. He inspected him as if he were a doctor, it made Will want to close in further, hating how much Miller appeared to care about him now.
“I would have never... I would have never done this if I knew we’d be here longer. I thought, I thought we could have handled this back at Butcher’s Crossing. Where, where I could...”
“Where you could what?” Will interjected, bitterness coating every word, “Where you would have made me your bride? Come off it, Miller. I’d have had the midwives get rid of it, even if it risked my life. I never wanted this, I never wanted to come into heat, and I most certainly did not want you to be the one to end it if this was the result.”
Miller stared at him again, eyes listless as they stared at his belly. Will scowled, gathering more water and splashing it over his body even if it made him shiver terribly.
“Enough, you’ll make yourself sick. It’s too cold to wash now.” Miller reached out to touch him again, but Will shoved him away.
“Leave me! You’ve done enough. If I wish to get sick, let it be my decision, rather than something you decide for me.”
The alpha, seemingly defeated, stood up and walked away from Will.
Will continued to wash himself until he was numb to the core. Perhaps if he did get sick, it would end this affliction quicker for him.
The Lord has ignored his prayers before, and it appeared they continued to do so now. He never did get sick, and Charlie sneaked him an extra portion of rations that night.
MONTH SEVEN.
“Have you felt it move yet?” Charlie asked when Miller had retired to his tent that night. The weather was finer this evening, despite both men being dressed in buffalo skin. Fred was away in the forest, the beans again not agreeing with him for the fourth night in a row.
Will gave him a small smile. Charlie seemed genuinely interested in Will’s pregnancy, despite how arduous it had been for them. Miller seemed fixated on not having Will lift a single finger, the sentiment aggravating Will endlessly.
“A little, they’re quiet, like they know they’re hiding.”
Charlie laughed at that, resting his good hand on Will’s shoulder. “The thaw should be coming soon; you may be able to have the child in town sooner than you think. Also, who is it hiding from?”
Will’s smile fell, he looked to the forest, where Fred was likely suffering. “We all know, but I’d hate for the child to make me appear weak. Fred has been so wired lately, I’m afraid if I drew more attention to this, something terrible might happen.”
“Ah, you speak of when he threw my Bible in the fire. Do you think he’s going mad? I do.”
It was Will’s turn to chuckle, pressing a gloved hand against his belly.
There was no hiding it now, the baby inside him growing with each day passed. He felt it quicken, and pushed his fingers deeper to where they moved. It was a private affair for Will, and Will only to share with his babe.
“I’m not so sure, but surely this long without fucking would turn any alpha mad!”
Both men laughed, but it was then dampened by Fred’s reappearance in the camp. He looked pale, the energy drawn from him like a fever.
“Charlie, you act more and more like an omega. Beginning to stink of one too. You know he won’t let you fuck him, only Miller has had that pleasure.”
Charlie frowned at him and Will turned his eyes away from and to the ground.
“You pity me, don’t you omega? Well, I won’t let you misjudge me for another moment. C’mere. Come, come here!” Fred spat venomously at him like a rattlesnake, Will remained rigid where he sat. He did not trust Fred, the man was a loose canon.
“You leave him be, Fred. The poor boy has suffered enough.”
Fred snarled however, unhappy to be looked upon by both men like he wasn’t alpha enough. He surged forward, shoving Charlie away so that he landed on the hard ground with a loud thud. Fred then turned his attention to Will, grabbing him by the legs so that he could drag him to the floor as well.
“Get off! Get off me!” Will yelled, struggling in the man’s grasp despite how weakened he’d become by his illness. Clearly, his ailment had drawn him mad, for his eyes looked crazed as he dragged Will further across the camp, the sharp forest floor digging into his back.
“No Miller here to keep you safe now boy. Come, let me have a taste before that pup tears out of you and makes that pussy useless.”
Will felt his blood run ice cold, the chill of the air serving to only make it colder. He kicked at Fred, managing to catch him in the chest, temporarily winding him but not enough to make him let go. His dirtied paws snatched at the belt of his trousers, pulling the leather hard enough to snap it.
“Leave him alone! Get off him!” Charlie barked, limping over to them both and he tried to grab Fred by the shoulder. The other alpha, however, was stronger and knocked Charlie flat on his back.
Will struggled in his hold, the heaviness of his belly practically pinning him to the ground. He listened to Charlie’s groans of pain as Fred continued to grab and pull at his trousers until they were tugged down to his knees.
“Please, don’t do this Fred.”
Fred tittered at him; teeth bared as he roughly spread Will’s legs. He began on his own belt when the sound of a rifle exploded behind Will. He turned to look and saw Miller standing at the door of the tent, his gun pointed at Fred. When Will moved his head back to examine Fred, he saw the man had a bullet wound in his shoulder.
It was Fred’s turn to fall back now, grasping his shoulder as blood spilled lazily from the wound. “Miller, what the hell? You fucker! Why can’t you just let me have him?!”
Miller slowly walked over to Will, helping him to sit up Will was swift to dress himself and he crawled over to Charlie, the man was alive if injured by the other alpha’s cruelty.
“Be lucky I didn’t kill you, Fred. Touch him again, and it’ll be your head.”
That night in the tent, Will chose to place his bedroll directly beside Miller’s. When the alpha ended up wrapping an arm around his waist later, hand resting protectively on his belly, Will didn’t see a point in moving it away.
MONTH EIGHT.
The days were becoming warmer, each day, Miller sent Fred out to check on the thawing snow around the pass. Fred said it could be days, a light on the horizon for the four men.
Will had slept closer to Miller since the incident with Fred. He had grown to enjoy the protectiveness of the alpha, feeling safer with that giant paw pressed to his belly.
While he was left to be nothing more than a guard to Charlie and to keep the fire burning. Will knew he was practically useless at this point. His belly made him slow, heavy, and weaker than the other three.
One evening however, as Will stuck to his usual duties of tending to the fire, Miller approached him and put out his hand.
“I need you to help me gather firewood. The snow is thinner now, you can walk it.”
Will stared at Miller with mild confusion, surely, he was no good for any kind of trip whether that was hunting or gathering. Miller, however, insisted on the endeavour, giving him no time to argue as he grabbed his hand and pulled him up. As if the extra weight of the pup in his belly was no extra effort for Miller to grab.
He understood now how Miller was able to survive in this business. The man was built like the bulls he hunted.
They began their pilgrimage toward the forest, the two men walking in silence. The only sound was their boots crunching in the frozen snow, the snapping of small twigs and crisp autumn leaves that were uncovered in the thaw.
Then, Miller opened his mouth.
“The journey back to Butcher’s Crossing will be soon. Am I to understand you won’t be sticking around after the kid is born?”
Will stopped in his tracks, Miller was asking him a loaded question. The man of riddles had returned.
“I’ll be staying a little while. I have someone I want to see, at least before I push this pup out.”
Miller huffed a small laugh; the man was chewing on that damned clay pipe. He’d become so used to it in his mouth, that sometimes Will thought it was surgically attached to it.
“Francine right? I take it she has your heart.”
Will cleared his throat, scuffing his boots across the ground as they began to walk again. “Yes, she’s the only one from this place who’s shown me true kindness. If she’ll have me, I want to raise the pup with her.”
The alpha stopped this time, turning slowly to look at Will. “Only one to show you kindness huh?”
Will scoffed, seeing where this was going.
“You impregnating me and then acting like a protective alpha is hardly considered kindness, Miller. You did what came naturally to you, don’t mistake your instincts for genuine emotion. If you’re thinking what you’re thinking, you’re to be sourly disappointed.”
"And what’s that, Will?”
“That you think you’re in love with me.”
Miller barked a laugh so loud it made Will flinch, clenching a hand tight onto his belly.
“And what if I was thinking that?” Miller chewed his pipe, black smoke pouring from his nostrils like an old chimney.
Will took in a deep breath, crossing his arms across his chest. He stood his ground opposite the alpha, staring him in the eyes.
“That I’m not that easy, and that blood and heat are too completely different things. You chased them both, and you became obsessed. Stick to buffalo hunting, it suits you more.”
Both men gathered their firewood, the acrid stink of smoke sticking in Will’s nose.