The Night Movers S2 - Episode 1 (Patreon)

Unbeta'd/Unedited.

Episode One

Ridley heard the knock on the door but ignored it, focusing, instead on the omega curled between his legs. Like most nights, Rain was wrapped around his leg like a snake, using his thigh for a cushion. He was so tactile. Diesel called him ‘touch starved’. Ridley wasn’t sure that was the right word. Plenty of people had touched him, just never with his permission. The bruises Rurik left still hadn’t healed, not entirely. 

Ridley shook the thought away. Rain was safe with him…with them. He butted his head against Ridley’s hand when he stopped combing his hands through Rain’s hair. Ridley stared at the door, sensing Sugar’s presence on the other side…waiting. Still, he resumed petting him, smiling when a low purr erupted from the smaller omega. It was a relief to know Rain felt comfortable enough around him. 

Ridley sighed. Lately, he was really only comfortable around him,too. Two days had passed since their meeting with Vesper, and his alphas were still pissed at him. He understood why. He did. What he’d done was stupid and selfish and reckless. But it was also necessary. Dumb or not, it had been the only way to get the information he’d needed in the small window of time he’d had to get it. 

Vesper would never have given him anything without something in return. 

“Open up, shortcake,” Sugar called through the door, his words muffled. “Your food's getting cold.” 

Rain stiffened beneath him, his purr morphing into a distressed whine. 

“They won’t come in, baby,” Ridley promised. 

The door wasn’t locked. There were no locks. Anywhere. That wasn’t an accident. Decades ago, this had been a hotel. Every single door should have had a lock. But none did. At least not on the inside. Someone had taken away that right to privacy. Someone had turned what should have been a vacation into a prison. He didn’t think it was his alphas, but he couldn’t be sure. 

Still, Ridley knew that Sugar wouldn’t enter without his permission. Even if he was mad. Even if he was irritated. Even if Ridley could practically feel him vibrating with agitation on the other side of the door. 

“Are you gonna ignore them forever?” Rain whispered. “Can you…do that?” 

Guilt knifed through Ridley. This would be so much easier if he could just tell Rain the truth. The whole truth. It would put his mind at ease. Make him less jumpy maybe. But Ridley just didn’t know what he could tell the other omega. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to trust him. He did. Even though they hadn’t been together long, Ridley enjoyed Rain’s company. He wanted to keep him happy, safe, loved…he just wanted to keep him. Rain was safer with them than anywhere else. But nobody knew better than Ridley how indoctrination could twist one's loyalties. No matter how badly those same people treated them. 

He’d learned that the hard way. 

“Last warning, shortcake. Hunger strike is over. Eat what’s out here or we’re coming in…for both of you.” 

With that last threat, he left. Ridley didn’t hear him go, just sensed it, smelled it, the sweet candy coating that was Sugar left them, leaving Ridley feeling hollow inside. He hated that their moods affected him the way they did. It was biology. Disappointed alphas meant a disappointing omega. And while Ridley could give two shits about disappointing any alpha, his inner omega was sulking. 

It wasn’t that Ridley was deliberately starving himself. He just wasn’t particularly hungry. The idea of food made him nauseated. It felt like…a chore, like one more thing he had to do. And all he wanted to do was turn Vesper’s words over and over again in his head until he saw something he hadn’t seen before. 

Ren was with this dollmaker. His stomach lurched. She’d been with him for weeks. No, more than that. A month. He shivered, grimacing as his hunger and nausea battled it out, clawing at his insides. The idea of this…person turning his sister into some kind of sex doll. It just didn’t compute. 

Ren was strong. She was tough. She’d been protecting Ridley since the day they were born. Even from their own parents. Especially from them. There was no way she wouldn’t have fought back. Maybe she’d already escaped. Maybe Vesper was lying. Maybe this Rook person didn’t even exist and Ridley had just been played. 

It was the maybe that hung over him like a sword. If there was even a chance his sister was taken by this dollmaker fuck, he had to keep pulling on the threads until something unraveled. He couldn’t just leave her there. She would never have left him. She would go scorched Earth to protect him. 

There were some things that Ridley would accept as fact. The dollmaker was real. He believed that. Not even someone like Vesper could create something like that on the spot. But had Ren really been taken by him? Was she suffering even as Ridley sat there in relative comfort? The truth was, it didn’t matter. Even if Ren wasn’t there, others were. Nobody deserved that fate. 

Except maybe the dollmaker himself. 

Rain’s distressed sound dragged Ridley from his spiral. He was staring up at him with wide eyes. “I-I don’t want them in here. Unless…” 

Unless it was Jensen. 

Jensen and—by extention—Ryker. There was something about the two alphas that seemed to naturally soothe the other omega. It was fascinating, really. Maybe that was part of the indoctrination, too? As an omega, there was no way to physically best an alpha. Not without a weapon. So they were forced to use the only weapon in their arsenal. 

Their ‘weakness’. If you’re in trouble, cry. If tears don’t work, offer sex. If that doesn’t work…well, just try to live through it. All omegas knew what they needed to do to survive. They talked about it in the few omega safe spaces. They traded safety tips attached to recipes for baby formula. They had their own underground. One meant to keep them alive. 

There was one truth: omegas couldn’t escape for long. They needed alphas protection out there. They’d made sure of it. By design. They’d made it as unsafe as possible for omegas, forced them to rely solely on them, ensuring them that somehow the same alphas who would eat them alive if they found them on the street were the same ones who would protect them now because they behaved. 

It was enough to make an omega insane if they let it. 

“I know, baby. I won’t let them in here,” Ridley promised. 

Rain had chosen Jensen as his alpha. The one who would protect him. He hadn’t said it outright, but even as they laid there, Rain was wrapped in Jensen’s hoodie…his scent. He kept it pressed close to his face so he could tuck his nose in and sniff it when his anxiety grew too great. 

Ridley didn’t know if it was trust or lust or pheromones that had Rain so transfixed by the alpha. Jensen was trustworthy. He radiated an aura of calm the others just didn’t possess. Even Ryker, with his patient eyes, always vibrated at a slightly higher frequency, always ready. But maybe that was what came from being born into the Kage Okami? 

Jensen was just as beautiful as the other alphas in the pack, even with his floppy brown curls, his nerdy brown glasses and ears that stuck out just a little too far. Ridley understood if Rain simply lusted after the alpha. Ridley did too. But he suspected Rain’s attraction to Jensen ran deeper than that. It was less lust and more…instinct. 

Chemo-signals. Pheromones. Biology. 

Ridley glanced once more at the closed door. He knew all too well what happened when omegas fell victim to their instincts. They ended up mated to one cranky alpha and pack omega to five more. He bit down on his bottom lip until he tasted blood. How had he gotten there? From independent omega to pack omega in a matter of weeks. 

If only his father could see him now. 

To the untrained eye, Ridley was everything he swore he’d never be. The subservient omega, servicing his alphas at their will. Docile. Obedient. Bred regularly. It was all there. All the pieces. Everything they’d drilled into him from birth. Rain whined as Ridley’s scent soured. He tried to soothe the other omega by petting him once more. 

It had been so long since he’d thought of his parents, of his childhood. Ren had always been the only parent he claimed, even though they were the same age. Ridley looked down at Rain, the way his pretty lashes fanned across his cheeks. He was so fragile. So sweet. So…unquestioning. He just seemed to accept what he was told at face value, questioning nothing. 

Ridley’s parents had been like that too. Members of a cult-like, ultra-conservative religious faction within the Third District known as The Faithful Few. They’d been born into it, taught to believe there was only one true way to live, punished severely for questioning the natural order of things. They’d never stood a chance. 

Hell disguised as the gates to heaven. 

That’s how Ren had described them. A group disguising itself as a sanctuary for struggling families. But, in reality, it was a rigid, patriarchal commune operating under the belief that omegas were sacred but subhuman, vessels for creation and servitude…and nothing more. 

Ridley didn’t remember much about his childhood. Ren said he’d blocked it out. It must be true. She had only spoken of their early years twice throughout their lives, but it sounded brutal. Not for her, of course. At least not in the beginning. Twins were a blessing, a rarity. But it was clear early on that they would present as omegas. 

A female omega was revered within the cult, though not in any way they’d like. It simply meant that she’d be married off to an older member the second she was old enough to conceive. But Ridley…a male omega. His father couldn’t tolerate it. He’d wanted to drown him, but omegas were sacred, even the males. So instead he tried to sell him. 

That’s when he and Ren had run. They were six. Ridley didn’t remember questioning why they left the cult. He didn’t remember how he knew that both his parents were dead. He didn’t know why the cult had never come looking for them. They were just presented as facts. And Ridley believed them as such because it was Ren who’d told him. And Ren never lied to him. She couldn’t. They shared a soul bond. 

It had never surprised Ridley to know his alpha father believed the message. Alphas were always so willing to believe they were the smartest people in any room, the only ones qualified to make decisions about anything, even things they knew nothing about. Especially then. 

What had disturbed him was his mothers willingness to participate in her own subjugation, making herself smaller and smaller to fit into his father’s box. Allowing herself to become some kind of brood mare. She’d been pregnant when they’d run. Had she died in childbirth? Did they have a sibling? Ren would never say. That part of his life was just a big gaping black hole. 

All he knew was that his parents' loyalties had never been with their own children, just the cult. And that’s why Ridley wasn’t sure just how honest he could be with Rain. He’d been raised inside the Kage Okami, handed over as a gift, treated like a sex slave, like property to be handed down along with cars and homes. 

Was Rain truly content with them or would he run back to the only pack he knew and tell them everything? Ridley couldn’t blame him either way. They were all just trying to survive. 

“Are we…hiding in here?” Rain asked again, anxiously looking between the door and Ridley. 

Ridley shook his head. “No, baby. I just need time to…think.” 

“About Ren?” 

Ridley gave a stilted nod, freeing himself from Rain just long enough to grab the tray Sugar had left on the floor outside of the door. He scooped it up and set it on the bed between the two of them, lifting the fancy metal lid off the old-fashioned tray. 

Rain gasped, eyes going wide as he looked at Ridley. “Is that…candy?” 

Ridley eyed it curiously. “I’m not sure.” He picked up the round pill-like object, licking it delicately, before putting it in his mouth and breaking the shell with his teeth. He moaned as the sweetness melted on his tongue. “I think it’s chocolate.” 

“Chocolate?!” Rain said, backing up like there was some imaginary tripwire on the plate. “But that’s so expensive.” 

Ridley gave a humorless laugh. “Money means nothing to them. It just flows through them, then right back out.” 

“Is it a bribe?” Rain asked. 

Ridley frowned. “More like bait.” 

Or poison. 

Ridley kept that part to himself. 

They wouldn’t poison him. 

Probably. 

He chewed the candy thoughtfully, eyeing the other items on the plate, stomach churning. Meats, cheeses, breads. He fed Rain a piece of the candy, then offered him his pick of the food in front of them. 

He hesitated, then shook his head. “You eat it.” 

The last thing Ridley wanted to do was eat it. Any of it. But if he didn’t eat, Rain would have an excuse not to eat too. 

“No, we’re both going to eat,” Ridley said, taking a piece of the meat and folding it up. “You’re already too skinny and you have to have food so your body can heal. You’re still so bruised.” 

He pressed the food to the boy’s plush lips. He flushed, but took it, eyes floating shut as he seemed to savor the taste. Ridley watched, strangely captivated by the blissful look on the boy’s face. 

When Rain opened his eyes to find Ridley sitting there, frozen, his face fell. “I don’t like people watching me eat.” 

He pushed the tray away. 

“Sorry, you just looked…pretty,” Ridley admitted. “I got distracted.” 

The admission was worth the embarrassment just to see the way a shy smile crawled across the other boy’s face. 

“We’ll both eat.” Ridley picked up cheese and popped it in his mouth, forcing himself to chew. “See?” 

Rain didn’t answer, but nodded. 

They ate in silence, eventually managing to clear their tray. Ridley returned the lid to the top, then put it back outside the door. When he returned to the bed, Rain began to gnaw at his bottom lip. 

“What?” Ridley asked. “You want to ask me something?” 

“Can I-can we-sleep with Jensen tonight?” Rain asked. 

“You don’t need my permission,” Ridley said. “Not unless we’re out in the real world. You also don’t need me there. You know Jensen would be happy to have you.” 

Rain gave him a dubious look. 

It wasn’t a lie. Jensen would be more than willing to have Rain in his bed. But Rain would have to be okay with Ryker also sharing the bed. Ridley wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed it sooner. But Jensen and Ryker were most definitely more than friends. Was it just sex? Ridley didn’t think so. They shared a bond of some kind. They were close in the same way that Titus and Steele were, but…also not. 

As far as Ridley could see, Titus and Steele were simply best friends. Jensen and Ryker…felt like more. 

“You know Ryker will probably be there, too. Right?” Ridley asked gently. 

Rain gave a stilted nod. “Yeah.” 

“Okay, baby. I’ll take you to them. But they’re mad at me so they might only let you stay. Are you okay staying with them alone? I don’t think they’ll force themselves on you or anything but they might want to snuggle you.” 

“I-I don’t know,” Rain admitted. That was an honest answer at least. “I’d-I’d just feel better if you were there…safer,” Rain finally said. 

Of course, he felt safer with Ridley. 

Why wouldn’t he? As far as Rain knew, the alpha’s were just as bad as the others. But even knowing that, Rain couldn’t stay away. Was pheromone addiction a thing? If so, Rain was hooked. He longed to be wherever Jensen was and Jensen was always with Ryker. 

“Okay, pet. Let's go find the alphas.” 

Rain looked down at his clothes. He wore a simple pair of gray pants and Jensen’s hoodie. He looked dismayed at this. 

“You don’t have to dress up for them. I promise you they’re not dressing up for us. The only thing they’ll be thinking about is getting you out of those clothes. Not in.” 

Rain flushed, fighting back a shiver that looked a lot like anticipation. 

Ridley grinned. “You like that idea? I don’t blame you. Being between those two is probably a religious experience. They’re so freakishly in tune with each other they’d probably breed you so deep it would have to take.” 

Rain whimpered. Ridley placed a hand on his forehead, relieved to find it cool to the touch. The last thing they needed was Rain going into heat right now. Especially if it could trigger Ridley’s again. Or worse, the alphas’ rut. They all liked to act like they had it under control but it was clear that it was just that…an act. 

“Come on. Let's go find the boys before you slick up your pants and have to change.” Rain whined once again, making Ridley smile. “You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed.” 

Rain clutched Ridley’s hand the whole walk to Jensen’s room. When Ridley knocked softly, it swung open before he could even put his hand down. Ryker. He arched a brow, looking down at Ridley’s oversized hoodie. Titus’s oversized hoodie technically. 

“Well, well, well. Look who decided to emerge from his nest,” Ryker teased, stepping back so they could enter. “And he brought his friend.” 

Jensen was sitting at a computer in the corner of the darkened room. His fingers flying over the keyboard as he somehow took in three monitors at a time. He didn’t spare them a glance. But it was clear Rain didn’t need an invite. He went to Jensen and sank to his knees beside him, settling his cheek on his thigh. 

Ridley heard the alpha’s startled breath from his spot beside Ryker. The scent of Jensen’s pheromones filled the room and Rain’s eyes slid shut, his whole body going limp. 

“Does he do that on purpose?” Ridley asked Ryker quietly. 

Ryker observed them with an almost scientific curiosity. “I don’t think so, no. It’s like his alpha instinctively just tries to protect him because he’s so…” 

“Fragile?” Ridley supplied. 

“He asked to come,” Ridley murmured. 

“So, of course, you indulged him,” Ryker said, amused. Before Ridley could explain, he held up a hand. “I get it. I have eyes. Who could say no to him? Hell, we can’t say no to you. But we need to be careful around him. He could still-” 

“I know,” Ridley said, his distress competing with Jensen’s pheromones. “I know. I’m trying. But its hard to pretend you're the bad guys when you’re always being so good.” 

Ryker’s heated gaze climbed up Ridley’s body. “I can fix that.”  

Ridley’s breath hitched. “Oh?” 

“Mm,” Ryker pressed a palm to Ridley’s chest, then pushed, shoving him against the wall in a move that looked far more brutal than it felt. 

Rain didn’t even flinch, but Jensen’s gaze snapped to them just as Ryker’s lips found his. His lips parted instinctively, letting Ryker’s tongue sweep inside, but he couldn’t tear his eyes from Jensen who watched them closely, his fingers working their way into Rain’s hair, petting the boy gently even as he licked his own lips. 

“Don’t look at him,” Ryker whispered, gripping Ridley’s jaw and forcing him to meet his gaze. “Look at me. Good boy.” 

This time when Ryker kissed him, Ridley closed his eyes, a low moan escaping. He tasted like stale coffee, but his omega liked it. He liked all of it. The alpha’s hands gripping his ass, his tongue licking over his teeth, the low rumble that came from his chest when he smelled Ridley growing wet. 

“You always get so wet for us,” Ryker teased against his ear. “Just like that night Jensen and I played with you. I bet you’ll be a lot more lively now, though, huh. I can’t stop thinking about those whorish moans you made every time we fucked into you.” 

Ridley shivered, more than willing to try again. He hated that he couldn’t remember that night. Not because he felt used, but because he couldn’t remember how they’d used him. He couldn’t remember the pleasure they gave him. Part of him wondered if Rain watched the two alphas use him, it would put his mind at ease. Another part hoped the omega would join in. Ridley wanted to taste him. 

“What the fuck?” 

Ryker and Ridley’s gaze snapped to Jensen at his irritated snarl. He stared at his computer screen while he stabbed at the keys.  The screen was glitching, static slowly overtaking the lines of code like fog rolling in. Rain lifted his head, turning to blink at the monitor sleepily. 

“Is it the connection?” Ryker asked. 

Jensen shook his head. “The signal is fine. I don’t know what the fuck it is.” 

Ryker frowned. “Monitor fry?” 

“I’ve never seen one die like this,” Jensen admitted, bewildered. 

Ridley narrowed his gaze, floating closer. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Beneath the snowy static, a single figure paced the screen. “What is that?” 

“What?” Jensen questioned, leaning in. “I don’t see anything.” 

“There’s a person.” He stabbed at the screen. “There.” 

“A person?” Rain whispered, going up on his knees to look closer. 

The more Ridley stared, the clearer the image grew until there was no doubt who he saw. He couldn’t stop the way the word ripped from him. “Ren.” 

“What?” Jensen asked. 

“Ren. That’s Ren,” Ridley said, stabbing at the image hard enough to dimple the screen momentarily. 

Were they fucking blind? 

She was in a sterile white room, wearing a hospital gown. One similar to the ones at the processing centers, but not the same. The image was black and white, like security footage, the image taken from the corner of the room, giving him a limited view of anything outside the camera’s periphery. 

She looked awful. Her hair was a snarl of tangles. She’d lost so much weight. Her gown hung off her narrow shoulders. Her nails looked dirty, but Ridley couldn’t shake the feeling it was blood. Blood from her broken, jagged nails that were only visible when she clawed at the glass window in her room. 

Ridley reached out a hand to touch her, twitching when the picture glitched. “Where is this? Do you recognize it?” 

“Recognize what?” Ryker asked, sounding spooked. 

“The room!? The room where she’s standing. It has to be a facility. Look at it. There’s a hospital bed. A chair. Some kind of pump. Is it a breeding facility? A hospital of some kind?” 

“Calm down, strawberry,” Jensen whispered, “Just breathe.”

“What do you mean, calm down. Look at her?” he cried, poking the screen. “Look. She looks so thin. What have they done to her?” 

Rain tugged on Ridley’s hand. “But…there’s nothing there.” 

Ridley’s gaze snapped to Rain. “What are you talking about?” 

Rain cowered against Jensen. “There’s…nothing on the screen.” 

Ridley jerked his head back to the screen and stopped cold. They were right. The image was gone. There was only static. Only snow. Ridley whimpered, pressing his fist against his lips to stop the low distressed sounds that wanted to pour out of him. 

Ryker’s voice reached him but it was faint. “Strawberry?”

He was standing right beside Ridley but it sounded like he was miles away. “I…” 

“Strawberry?” Jensen asked, a hint of…something creeping into his tone. 

Ridley’s knees have out, his vision tunneling, the world going dark. 

“Ren…” 

The last thing he heard was Ryker saying, “Fuck, he’s going down. Get the…”