Chapter Text
“We might have a little problem.”
They were standing with the back door propped open so that Finn could vape.
“With the new one? Kyle?”
“Kylo,” she corrected gently. “Yeah. Look, have any of the Alphas ever…misidentified you?”
“I literally don’t know what that means.”
Rey shifted her weight to her other foot and huffed. “You know, like, have any of them ever seemed to think you’re…” she hesitated, flapping her hand in the air before rushing the rest of the sentence out: “…that you’re not a Beta.”
Finn raised his eyebrows. “Oh, like, when they think you’re one of them? If you’re roughhousing and they get carried away and snap a little?”
“No.” Rey could feel a coiling thread of frustration in her stomach. “Not like that. I mean have any of them ever got confused? Maybe they thought you were an Omega?”
“An Omega?!” Finn choked mid-inhale. “Rey, they’re not stupid. They’re just Alphas.”
Rey wanted to stamp her foot.
“Kylo called me ‘Omega,’” she blurted out.
Finn looked at her seriously. Then a smile broke out over his face.
“Then he’s one f*cked-up puppy.”
*
Despite her promises, Kylo did not seem to like his new home.
In fact, he had retreated to the very far corner of his cage, curling his huge body onto a small futon in the shadows beneath a makeshift awning. (Rey had installed one in every enclosure in case the Alphas needed to nap.) He seemed to favor the darkness.
Rey spent time sitting outside his cage regularly over the next few days. It was standard procedure for difficult cases. She kept a clipboard balanced on her outstretched legs so she could keep notes for his case file. Usually she’d jot down the things an Alpha liked eating. His sleep schedule. Any activities that seemed to interest him. Useful information for his future family.
But Kylo barely moved.
She’d seen this kind of behavior a few times before, usually with Alphas who had been mistreated in their previous homes. Sometimes, if they’d been kept in a tiny enclosure, the size of the cages at Plutt’s was too frightening. (Rey had once let a distressed Alpha sleep in a locked utility closet until they felt brave enough to come out.) Whatever had happened to Kylo, she sensed it was bad.
So Rey took it slow. She sat on the floor quietly. Left a small pile of treats just inside the bars whenever she did. Made small talk, in the special quiet sing-song voice that so many of the Alphas liked.
A few days after his arrival, Rey was sitting outside Kylo’s cage, daydreaming about what she would make for dinner that night, when she heard a soft sound from the far corner. When she looked up, Kylo had rolled to face her.
It was a shock, somehow, to have his eyes fixed on her again. Rey felt herself blush, a prickling warmth that started in her cheeks and spread quickly down her neck. Why was she embarrassed? She was a trained professional, just doing her job.
Kylo’s chest rose and fell rapidly.
“Hey,” she said softly. “It’s okay. It’s just me. Rey. I’m your keeper. Remember, from the day you arrived?”
Kylo frowned. But then he nodded, slowly.
“That’s good,” Rey said, a trickle of relief spreading through her. “I’m glad you remember. I’m here to help you.”
Rey saw the moment his lips began to curl back over his canines in the beginning of a snarl. ( Fear response , she noted to herself. Distrustful. Most aggression came from fear. )
“I don’t know what happened before you came here,” she said quickly. “But you’re safe now.”
His lips relaxed, pressing back together over his teeth. Kylo closed his eyes. Then he started to turn away.
“No, hey,” she said quickly, rolling onto her knees. “Kylo.” She was losing him. This was their trust-building moment. She needed to prove to him that she wasn’t like the others. That she wouldn’t give up. “Hey. Kylo. Alpha .”
He froze mid-roll, body twisted awkwardly, head jerking back to look at her over his shoulder. In the half-light, his eyes looked black.
“Alpha,” she repeated, more lightly. “You’re safe with me.”
*
“He’s never going to get adopted at this rate.” Rey pressed the phone to her ear while trying to remove the piping hot popcorn bag from the microwave with one hand. “Ow!”
“Please tell me you’re not eating popcorn for dinner again,” Rose groaned on the other end of the line.
“It’s not dinner,” Rey yelped, shaking her burned fingers. “I ate half a burrito earlier. This is dessert.”
“I actually don't know how you’re alive,” Rose sighed. “You only get the organic Alpha treats but feed yourself garbage.”
“I just don’t think I can handle another difficult one,” Rey continued undeterred. “The last one really broke my heart.”
“What would help him get rehomed quicker?”
Rey paused, scanning her crammed pantry shelves for the half-empty bag of nutritional yeast.
“Well, the behavioral stuff,” she told Rose. “Obviously. But sometimes an Omega will make an exception if the Alpha is…”
“Is what?”
“Attractive. If they look good. Well-groomed.”
“Why don’t you try that then? Didn't you say they love being groomed? I thought Alphas would do anything for attention.”
“Yeah,” Rey said, tipping the popcorn into her only salad bowl. “Most of them love it. But some…some have their instincts all f*cked up by bad owners.”
“I don’t even get that,” Rose said. “Omegas have one job, right? Why are so many of them so bad at it?”
“Well, I think it’s a little more complicated than…”
“You keep a strapping, virile pet that f*cks you senseless every few months when you’re rich husband won’t cut it, and then you what? Lock them in a kennel and starve them? Keep them on a chain outside? People really suck.”
They were all real stories. Stories Rey had told Rose herself.
“Yeah,” Rey heard herself repeating. “People really suck.”
“Anyway, sounds as though you like this one. Lucky Alpha. Rey’s special pet. Why do you never come over and cut my nails? Don’t love me enough?”
Rey giggled. And then Rose changed the subject.
*
“He’s not used to being given a choice.”
Rey said it mostly to herself, even though Finn was only a few feet away, restocking the adoption packets behind the register. “Uh-huh,” he said, vaguely, one Airpod in his ear.
Wherever Kylo had been kept before, it was a household that had not offered their Alpha many options.
Rey had been watching him for days. He ate his food with no complaint, unlike some of the other Alphas, who turned their noses up at flavors they didn’t like and whined until the staff (well, it was usually Rey) gave in and replaced it. He never asked to go outside. He didn’t demand more blankets. He seemed uncomfortable with the size of his cage, preferring to occupy only the back half. And he had never, as far as she knew, touched himself.
It was a fact of the job and she didn’t feel awkward about it anymore. Alphas were, first and foremost, sexual beings. Primed to rut and impregnate. Their hormones fluctuated, even with the heavy-duty state-provided blockers. Their instincts were overwhelming. The longer they were away from Omega owners, the more they had to rely on themselves to ease the need to mate. She’d seen more naked, writhing Alphas than she cared to mention. Cleaned up more spilled cum from the walls and floors than she liked to remember.
On some nights at the facility, especially when they were extra riled up, the whole building would echo with moans. The security cameras would be filled with blurry stuttering movements. Rey listened to music, she scrolled TikTok, she read thrillers. She never watched.
Except for Kylo’s cage. She’d spent night after night with her eyes fixed on the tiny square in the corner of the security feed. And never, not even once, had he done it.
Which, to Rey, could mean only one thing. He had not been given any control over his own body in his last home. And the punishment must have been extremely severe. Something so awful that it severed him from his own nature.
It made her heart turn over.
And it gave her an idea.
*
The next morning, Rey approached Kylo’s cage with a different energy. She tried to project calm, unhurried authority.
Instead of a clipboard and treats, she held a collar and a leash in her right hand and a small electric prod in her left. (It couldn’t really do much damage, but it did hurt for a second when it touched skin.)
When Rey unlocked his cage and stepped inside, Kylo stirred immediately from below his worn blanket. When he saw she was inside his enclosure for the first time he rolled, with surprising speed, onto all fours and snarled menacingly. Rey didn’t flinch. She’d been expecting it.
“Down,” she ordered, keeping her voice low. Kylo’s eyes flicked between her hands, taking in the new objects she was holding. His nostrils flared. But he sat back on his heels obediently, looking up at her with something of a pout.
Cute , she thought. Then caught herself and pushed the idea away.
“I’m grooming you today,” she said. It wasn’t an offer, or a question. “And checking your wounds. Also, you’re getting new clothes.”
She saw his shoulders vibrate slightly with a semi-repressed growl.
“There’s a few ways we can do this,” she told him. “Either you can come with me willingly. Or I can collar you. Or I can use this.” She held up the prod. He flinched a little, inching backward. “What will it be?”
Kylo was silent for a few seconds, regarding her balefully. Then, slowly, he rose up to stand. Rey felt her chin rising to follow his face. She hadn’t realized he was so tall. Or broad. Suddenly, his body seemed to fill the whole cage, towering over her. She gripped the prod more tightly.
“I’ll come,” he said.
*
“I’ll start with your hair,” Rey said, gesturing towards the chair.
The grooming room – if it even really deserved the title – had once been a large bathroom with rows of toilets. Plutt had ripped them all out and put in one large shower stall and a hairdresser’s chair and sink. There was a chipped mirror fixed to the wall, and another swivel chair in front of that. On a rickety shelf, Rey had assembled a mix of donated shampoos, conditioners, soaps, and hairdressing scissors.
Rey was proud of what she’d managed to scrounge and scavenge to make the place more homely. A thrifted lamp that cast a softer golden glow than the overhead neon bulb. A few fluffy towels from Goodwill. She’d even put up a few posters on the wall - mostly pulled from old editions of National Geographic. A view of a Redwood forest. The coast of western Ireland. Vast expanses she imagined Alphas might like to dream of roaming in.
Kylo looked at the chair uncertainly.
“Sit,” Rey said again, trying her authoritative voice.
Very slowly, he eased himself into the hairdresser’s chair in front of the sink. He looked ridiculously big and uncomfortable, like an adult attending a child’s tea party.
Rey stood next to him and examined his hair. It was a snarled mess. It was naturally wavy, she guessed, and she could see matted pieces where the hair was badly tangled. She sighed. Kylo shifted restlessly.
“I’m going to wash your hair now,” she said. “Lean back.” Kylo didn’t move. His shoulders were rounded in towards his chest and she could hear his ragged inhales. “Kylo,” she tried again. “It’s okay. It’s not going to hurt. It will feel nice, I promise.” And then, without quite realizing what she was doing, Rey reached out and laid her palm flat on his chest, over his heart.
Kylo froze. He seemed to be holding his breath. Rey pushed gently with her hand, easing him backward in the chair. He let her do it, and his eyes were wide when they met hers and his neck slotted into the curve of the sink.
“There we go,” she said, smiling. “Not so bad, right? Okay, now let me get the temperature right. These pipes are pretty old, it can take a while for the water to get hot.”
*
Kylo let Rey wash his hair, staring at her with an expression that was somewhere between terror and awe. She took her time, shampooing it twice with the fancy lemongrass stuff until the water ran clear, and then conditioning it, taking care to work through the tangles with her fingers. Rey got so absorbed in the task that she didn’t notice his eyes had closed. As she began to massage the conditioner down from his scalp through the ends of his newly detangled hair she heard it.
The low, distinctive rumbling of a purr from deep in his chest. When Rey glanced at Kylo’s face, she saw his eyes were pressed tightly closed. She couldn’t help but smile. The sound told her everything. It was an expression of satisfied enjoyment that Alphas couldn’t hide. At last, she had managed to draw out some of his nature.
It was normal for an Alpha to enjoy being cared for. (Some even began purring on the walk to the grooming room when they were overexcited.) As far as Rey understood, it was a core part of the Alpha-Omega relationship for each mate to physically care for the other. In the absence of that blissful connection, Rey did what she could.
When she was finished rinsing all the products out of Kylo’s hair, Rey put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Okay, we’re done here. Now I’m going to cut it.” He blinked his eyes open gradually. It was only when Rey walked across the room towards the swivel chair in front of the mirror that Kylo reluctantly followed. She patted the worn fake leather. “Sit here,” she said, unfolding a black hairdresser’s gown.
Brushed and combed, his hair was silky and thick. A mane of dark curls. Rey liked the feel of it between her fingers. She didn’t really want to cut any of it off, not when it was so gorgeous, so instead she just trimmed away the split ends. Kylo kept his gaze down, fixed on his hands, avoiding the mirror.
She also decided not to shave his beard. There was no telling how experienced he was and whether he would be able to do it again himself. So she tilted his chin up with her fingers and trimmed that too, taking care not to knick his skin with the sharp blade. He purred again as she did, even louder than before. Close up, she could see the array of moles and freckles scattered across his face. She noticed chapped skin on his full lips and made a mental note to grab the lip balm from the bag in her locker.
For the most part, Kylo kept his eyes closed. His breathing seemed to have calmed and she saw his nostrils flare with long inhales. When Rey let go of his chin and took a step back to survey her work, his eyes flickered open again, watching her.
“So much better,” she said, pleased with herself. He looked…beautiful. No, handsome, she corrected herself. No, adoptable . “Okay, we’re almost done.” A frown settled over Kylo’s face, and he looked down again dejectedly. “I’m going to start running the shower,” she said. “Hand me your clothes when you take them off. I have your new ones over here.”
Kylo just stared at her, uncomprehending.
“You’ve showered before, right?” she asked. He shook his head slowly from side to side.
Rey asked herself, for the hundredth time, exactly what kind of place Kylo had lived. Just precisely how much damage had been done to him, and by who.
“You know what a shower is, though?”
Kylo nodded once. That made Rey feel even worse. She tried to sound cheerier than she felt.
“Well, it’s your lucky day.”
*
Rey hadn’t expected Kylo to strip in front of her. Although most Alphas were not self-conscious about their bodies, most had still learned to appreciate privacy. Some even made a whole show of taking offense if Rey so much as looked in their direction while they used the shower. Others tried to tease her into looking too closely, asking for different soaps or pretending to have lost the ones she handed them, so that she had to open the curtain and look for it.
Kylo did not play either game. He just pulled off his clothes as though he’d been ordered to at gunpoint, balled them up in his fists, and handed them to her. He went from clothed to naked in a few seconds. Rey reached out and took the clothes automatically, trying to keep her eyes fixed on his face. Then she reached out and pulled the shower curtain open a little too roughly.
“All yours,” Rey said, feeling a deep blush stealing across her cheeks. She turned away and tossed his ragged clothes into a large laundry basket. She pulled out the largest towel on the shelf and turned back to hang it on the hook outside the stall.
Kylo hadn’t pulled the curtain closed behind him. He was pressed up against the back wall, cowering from the warm spray. Rey’s stomach flipped. For the first time, she really took in his Alpha body. The hard planes of his chest. The curved muscles of his biceps. The thick veins circling his forearms. And the dark thatch of hair between his legs that led to…well, it made her brain go blank for a second. She shut her eyes against the image of it, lying long and heavy against his thigh. But she couldn’t help the coil of arousal that began in her low belly.
Everything was fine, she told herself. She was a professional. He was a difficult case. Difficult cases often required unconventional treatment. Rey took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She marched over to the open curtain and stuck her hand under the stream of water.
“The temperature’s perfect,” she said, meeting his eyes. “Don’t be scared. It will feel good. Remember when I said that earlier, about your hair? And I was right, wasn’t I?” She reached out her hand towards the one hanging at his side (while very deliberately not looking anywhere else.) Her fingers brushed against his and he whined softly. But she took hold of his hand and tugged gently, until he eased away from the wall and gingerly stepped under the water.
The purring began again almost immediately. Kylo stood unmoving, gazing reverently at the showerhead. He held his hand up under the stream and watched as it poured over his fingers. Rey let him take in the wonder of it all for a few minutes before she offered him a washcloth and bar of soap. Kylo took the objects carefully, but made no move to use them. With a sinking feeling, Rey realized he probably didn’t know how to.
Of all the things she’d discovered about him that day, this, for some reason, made her the angriest. She bit her lip to stop herself swearing. In the shower, Kylo’s head jerked towards her as if he’d heard her say it.
“I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely.
“You haven’t done anything wrong,” she replied quickly, shaking her head. “Look, give those to me. I’ll show you.”
The steam from the shower was filling the room. Rey felt hot and a little light-headed from it. Her clothes were damp where they pressed against her skin. She rubbed the old bar of soap in circles across the washcloth until she had a creamy lather.
“I’m going to touch you now,” she told Kylo.
*
Of the two of them, Rey was the Alpha expert. She had been trying, very intentionally, to draw out Kylo’s Alpha instincts. To project an air of calm authority that would settle him, and make him feel safe enough to let her take control. And now she was running a washcloth over his naked body, as he stood beneath a stream of warm water for this first time. It was perfectly obvious what was going to happen.
And yet, Rey was unprepared.
She was unprepared for just how hard he got and how fast it happened. For just how big he was when he did. For how his shoulders sagged back against the wall, and his head tipped up exposing his long white neck. For the moan that escaped his lips. Rey could have stopped then and there, could have pulled her hands away from his body. She could have left the room until he was ready to come out. She could have returned to her file and her notes and her theory.
But instead, she thought of the way he lay huddled in the corner of his cell, never complaining, never seeking anything for himself. Of how no one seemed to have cared for him in the way he deserved.
And instead, she dropped the cloth and caressed his skin with her bare hand, sliding it across his soapy chest, up along the ridges of his collarbones, to the sinewy column of his neck and down again. Her entire arm was wet, but she didn’t care.
“Please,” Kylo groaned. “ Please .” But still, he made no move to touch himself.
“It’s okay to feel good, Alpha,” Rey whispered. His hips bucked. Rey reached out to where his right hand was balled in a fist at his side. Kylo opened it reflexively at her touch. He whimpered something, under his breath, but the sound was lost in the rush of water and the pounding of Rey’s own blood in her ears.
She brought Kylo’s hand to his co*ck, encouraging him to wrap his fingers around it. Keeping her own hand firm on top of his, she felt his rough knuckles against her palm as she helped him move it up and down. “That’s right,” she said, softly. “Just like that.”
Suddenly she felt Kylo’s free hand grip her waist and pull her into the shower. She gasped when he buried his face in the side of her neck. Between them, Rey felt his hand move faster under hers as his hips thrust mindlessly.
“Please, Omega,” he moaned into the skin at the base of her throat. “You smell so…” The sentence trailed out and she felt his tongue, flat and rough, against her skin.
Kylo’s hips stuttered as he came and Rey felt the hard ridge of his blunt teeth at her neck. He growled, long and deep, as he pulsed under their shared grip. When she finally pulled her hand away her fingers were sticky. Kylo released her and threw himself back against the cold tile of the back wall.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, folding in on himself.
Rey stood, half-soaked, hair dripping in her face. She could still feel the sore spot on her neck where his teeth had pressed against her skin. “Don’t apologize,” she said. “Everything’s okay.”
Truly, it was all her fault. He was obeying his natural instincts. She, on the other hand, had almost certainly overstepped.
“You said…” He swallowed. “No touching like that. Here.”
“I touched you, Kylo.”
“I’m trying to be good,” he stuttered.
“And you are being good. So good.” Rey’s praise seemed to calm Kylo. He straightened a little and his nostrils flared.
“Can I…help you?” he asked.
“What?” Rey reached up to rub the spot on her neck. It felt like it was burning.
“You didn’t…” He seemed unable to find the words. “You smell…” Rey ran her fingers over her neck but there was nothing there. “I can…” he trailed off again.
“Let’s get you dry and into these new clothes,” Rey said.
*
That night, after a long shower of her own, Rey lay in her bed, fingers worrying the bruised spot on her neck where Kylo’s teeth had been.
She tried to make the events of the day make sense. When had she lost control? Was there a way that everything she had done was actually fine? Yes, she’d never done that for another Alpha, but then again, she’d never known an Alpha so cut off from himself. She was just trying to help him.
And she had helped him. When she’d left him in his cage that evening Kylo had looked like a different Alpha entirely. Standing up straight and watching her every move. Hair curling around his chin, clothes fresh and clean. A perfect specimen. Eminently adoptable.
There was no reason that thought should make her so miserable.
And there was no reason she should still be thinking about the feel of his hand moving over his co*ck under hers. The sounds he had made. The look on his face when she’d told him he was good. She told herself it was professional interest that was making her brain replay them.
Rey told herself that until her own hand was between her legs. Until she remembered the way he’d moaned into her throat. Please, Omega . Until she came, one hand between her thighs and the other pressing, pressing, pressing at the base of her throat.
