Taehyung gags miserably into the toilet, the latest batch of whatever tonic that the doctors have concocted sinking slowly down into the basin, and Taehyung gasps for breath when the next round of heaving brings up nothing but bile.

It’s been 2 months since he was shown off to the city as Kai’s ‘mate’, and he’s gone through another heat since then, while Kyungsoo’s gone through 2, and as the heat of summer gives way to fall and the chill it brings this far north, Taehyung finds himself clinging to the other Omega more often, partly in desperate need of human contact that isn’t disgusting to him, and the warmth that Kyungsoo’s thicker body brings with him.

Taehyung hasn’t lost much more weight, but he’s nearly all skin and bones now, the combination of not being close to his mates and the tonics that are forced down his throat every day that cause him to throw up.

The food isn’t great either, but for what little nutrition he does get from the food, he ends up throwing it back up because the doctor comes every day to force the tonic down, usually right after breakfast. Taehyung’s said more than once that the tonics make him sick, but the doctor doesn’t listen to him, and Kai hasn’t been around much since his last heat.

“Taehyung? Again?” Kyungsoo’s voice echoes in the bathroom as Taehyung dry heaves one last time before setting back against the cool glass of the shower door.

“They won’t listen.” Taehyung rasps as Kyungsoo grabs the mug from the sink and fills it with water after rinsing it out. “I keep telling them it makes me sick, and I can’t keep it down, but they force it on me.” A tear slips down and Taehyung ignores it. His voice is becoming wreaked from the constant vomiting.

Kyungsoo helps him rinse his mouth out, and helps him back to his bed. Taehyung sighs as he sinks down into the soft mattress. Kai had broken his last bed during his tonic induced heat, the Alpha shredding the mattress during a particularly violent . Once the Alpha had come out of his rut, he’d frowned and insisted on Taehyung getting both a new mattress and bedframe.

All things considered, Taehyung’s treated fairly well for being Kai’s fake mate, a fact that only he, Kai and Kyungsoo know, as the Omega had asked Taehyung about his mating marks not long after they’d been moved from the cramped building that housed Kai’s office to the lush house that he’d built just for Taehyung behind the main house.

Taehyung lets his mind wander back to that day, before the tonics had started making him sick.

**

Kai slams a fist down into his desk, his eyes flashing gold red every now and then and Luhan has to cower from the sheer violent aura that the Alpha is emitting. “Why has no one told me that he’s been getting sick?” He snarls at the assistant who is laying on the floor, her position completely submissive and open should Kai decide to take her life.

“The doctor won’t listen to the Alpha Mate.” The assistant chokes out, her voice filled with fear. “He is underweight and there has been no progress towards a healthy womb for your heir.” She sobs.

Kai growls and the Beta girls squeaks in fear as the Alpha towers over her. “Luhan, please send a message that I would like to speak to the doctor in charge of my mate’s health.” He snarls at his second.

“Yes Alpha.” Luhan about faces quickly, darting out of the room so that he doesn’t have to see if Kai decides to kill the doctor’s assistant for withholding information for so long about Taehyung’s condition or not.

Instead of sending the message, Luhan decides that he’ll bring the doctor himself, knowing that if it’s not Kai physically summoning the doctor, the man will scoff, and refuse to respond. He strides down the hallways, his face unreadable as he enters the section of the main house dedicated to the doctor and his research. The lab stinks of chemicals and death and for a second Luhan wonders if the doctor is slowly poisoning Kai’s mate in hopes that if the Omega dies, Kai will become the blood thirsty monster he’d been years ago after being expelled from high school.

“Doc?” He calls out, not hearing or seeing anything moving in the large lab area.

“What?! I’m busy!” The doctor yells from somewhere Luhan can’t see.

“I’m to bring you to the Head Alpha at once!” Luhan calls, putting some of his own power behind his words. He doesn’t care for the doctor, so allowing his natural Alpha-like personality to show is refreshing.

The doctor pokes his head out from behind a wall in the very back of the lab, goggles on his face, and a frown present. “I am busy working on a new tonic for the Alpha’s Mate.” He sighs. “What do you need?”

“You are being summoned to the Head Alpha.” Luhan says, looking bored as he glanced around the lab, taking in some of the vials of colored liquids, some looking more sinister than others. “I suggest you come along quickly.” He warns, focusing in on the doctor again as the man continues to frown at him. “Head Alpha is in a very foul mood, and delaying could mean death.”

“I can’t just stop in the middle of a new tonic.” The doctor replies, already starting to lean back towards whatever he is doing.

“You will come with me NOW.” Luhan snarls, his wolf pushing his voice deeper and angrier as he realizes the doctor is definitely not interested in anything but his work. “I will drag you by force if necessary. Do NOT defy the Head Alpha’s summons.”

The doctor sighs, stripping off his goggles and stands. “If this causes my new tonic to fail, I’m blaming you as to why the Alpha’s Mate isn’t getting pregnant.”

Luhan snorts, grabbing the infuriating man by his neck. “Lucky for me, you don’t get to do that.” He smirks as the lesser Beta struggles in his hold.

“Let go of me!” The doctor huffs, fingers trying to pry at Luhan’s hand.

“Nope.” Luhan starts back towards Kai’s office, dragging the doctor roughly, enjoying the little bit of power he has over the man.

The Beta continues to struggle until they get to the other part of the house, where others of the pack can see the doctor being dragged by Luhan who has a scary look on his face that many have only seen once before, and that was before Kai brought Taehyung to the house.

Whispers erupted behind them as Luhan enjoyed the defeated look in the doctor’s eyes as he stopped struggling, allowing himself to be dragged towards Kai’s office.

The closer they got to the office, the louder the shouts and sounds of things crashing to the floor and breaking get. The doctor audibly gulps and Luhan sighs, deciding to give the doctor some pity before Kai takes the man’s life. “Sounds like Head Alpha is in a fine state today.” He smirks. “If you live through this, you’ll be damn lucky.” And with that, Luhan throws the door open, shoves the doctor into the chaos without announcing it to Kai, and slams the door shut, holding onto the handle as the doctor screams in fear and tries to open the door.

The door goes slack as Kai’s roar reverberates through the hallway, the doctor’s screams cutting off mid pitch and Luhan sighs as he knows he’ll have a bloody mess to clean up. “Well, doc, you shouldn’t have tried to kill his Mate.” Luhan says to the door.

A/N: Again another short chapter. I may come back and add more stuff, IDK yet. Next chapter will be in about a month unless I get a big writing itch (work has been a pain in my ...so tired when I get home that I eat and go to bed....and dealing with reoccuring bouts of sinusitis because of my allergies which ). I will be going on a hiking/rafting trip to the Grand Canyon the first 2 weeks of July, hence the long wait between chapters. While I won't have my laptop on me, I might take a notepad and pen as nature is one of my muses.

Let me know what you think and see you in July!

Happy summer solstic for those who celebrate!