#alpha!mal

Carlos is drugged up for most of this chapter and a lot of his actions are similar to someone in a depressed state. Proceed with caution.

Everything is moving in slow motion. Or, maybe he’s moving in slow motion. Maybe both him and everything around him are moving in slow motion.

No, that doesn’t make sense. If both he and everything else were moving in slow motion, the relativity of slowness wouldn’t exist. It all would be moving at the same speed.

So something is moving slow, either Carlos or his surroundings, but definitely not Mal, who is marching up to him.

If Carlos weren’t spaced out on these intense drugs, he would probably piss himself at his alpha’s murderous look.

“What’s going on?” He asks as Mal wordlessly grabs his elbow and drags him along.

“What’s going on-” Mal hisses as they nearly run down the hall “-is that Ben went into heat and Jay’s rut started.”

Carlos’ feet stop moving, but Mal keeps pulling and he stumbles nearly to the ground. “What?”

“We have to go!” Mal snaps at him, grabbing his hand once more. “Evie has Jay alone in his dorm!”

“Ben can’t be in heat though.” There are dozens of questions and concerns running around Carlos’ head, but that’s the one that falls out of his mouth first.

“My knowledge after dating him for a month is still pretty limited, but I’m pretty fucking sure that he can.”

Ben can’t though because he’s on his suppressants. Carlos gave them back to Ben three days ago. In his office, where Ben had been in such anguish over Isle kids and their lack of medical needs, where his trust and goodness inspired Carlos to be honest and open clean.

Not that the inspiration did much in the long run.

“But Jay’s…” Carlos struggles to form words through the fogginess, the confusion, the rush. “His rut doesn’t start until…”

He didn’t mark it in his calendar or anything, but Carlos at least knew that Jay’s rut wasn’t for a little while longer.

“It should have been in another three weeks.” Mal’s grip on his wrist tightens and Carlos feels nothing in regard to it. “But the smell of an omega in heat must have caused him to start early.”

“Like your rut did with Anastasia.” Carlos remembers. They exit the building and hurry across the sidewalk. “Her smelling your rut caused her heat to start when she was out.”

“Exactly.” Mal throws the door open. “Ben did the same to Jay.”

Carlos blinks and his brows furrow as he follows Mal down the hall. “And now he’s with Evie. Alone.”

Mal looks at him warily over her shoulder. “Yeah. So?”

Jay’s not going to hurt Evie. That’s not a concern for Carlos for even a moment and he’s hurt that Mal thinks he doesn’t trust Jay.

But the offense fades as quickly as it had appeared. Carlos really hasn’t felt much of anything lately, if anything at all. Not since upping his dosage. He didn’t even have this much of a reaction when he was taking Ben’s omega suppressant.

It’s kind of nice.

They go to turn down Jay’s hall, but Carlos stops in his tracks. Mal keeps moving forward and her grip on him is so tight that she’s nearly jerked back by his sudden pause.

“Carlos?”

“I can’t…” Carlos blinks and squints. His mind is so messy, but that’s a good thing, something is working, right? “I can’t go in there.”

Mal blinks back at him. She tilts her head. “I mean…you don’t have to.” She turns to face him fully, but glances over her shoulder and down the hall. “But…it’s Jay’s first rut in Auradon. It’s his first rut since we all became…official.”

Her pauses and uncertainty are out of character. Carlos almost feels like it’s not even really Mal he’s talking to.

“And it started earlier than he expected.” Mal’s brows knit together, but then she smiles at him. “We’re not going to have sex or anything. I mean, you’re not expected to.” She shrugs nonchalantly. “You or Evie. I can handle all of that. But even with him being more aggressive, he’s probably pretty scared.”

Being scared is out of character for Jay, Carlos has seen him sad and distraught but never scared. It feels like it’s not even really Jay they’re talking about.

“He’ll just want to scent you and see you. According to Lonnie, Jay latched on to Evie as soon as it started. He was just cuddling her and she got him back to his room.”

“No one said anything? Or stopped them? Stopped Jay?”

Mal shrugs. “The school is kind of in a frenzy over Ben going into heat. You didn’t notice anyone acting weird?”

Carlos has noticed anything lately. It feels like he’s standing still and everything is moving around him. “No.”

“Listen, Evie mentioned last week, before, you know,” Mal looks around, “we called…everything off. She told Jay she wants to be involved in his next rut. I don’t know what she’s thinking, but she probably plans on staying with him, with us, most of the time.”

Evie, the social butterfly who had fallen in love with Auradon’s library and science wing and grounds, staying confined for almost a whole week? Why is everyone behaving so odd today?

“Maybe you’ll come by in a couple of days?” Mal offers as she looks down the hall again. “Once you feel more comfortable. I’ll tell him that-.”

“I won’t.” Carlos cuts her off. “I, sorry. I just…I really can’t be there.”

“Carlos, are you sure?” Mal places a hand on his arm. He doesn’t have the urge to nuzzle her palm and her touch doesn’t create a warmth in his chest. Good, good. This is all good. “You don’t have to make a decision now, but this is Jay’s first rut in Auradon, his first since we became a pack. It’s…it’s meant to be kind of special once you have a pack. Plus, he’ll be more stressed than ever with a new place and knowing of an omega in heat. You don’t have to be around for all of it. In fact, you can just be around when there’s no sex, okay?” Mal reaches for his hand again and tries to tug him down the hall. “We’ll even be fully clothed the whole time you’re around, okay? And whenever it starts, you can bolt and come back in a few hours.”

He doesn’t budge.

“You…you seriously don’t want to be around for any of this?” Mal asks. She sounds hurt and it’s not her rut and she never sounds hurt, not even when she said she hated her mother. “I know you don’t like sex and I get it, I do, none of us are upset by this,” she stresses, “but we’re a pack, you don’t even want to come see him?”

That’s a loaded question because Carlos doesn’t really want anything. He just knows what he should do and what he should avoid and the thing at the top of that list is an alpha in rut.

His silence must be enough of an answer because Mal drops his hand.

“Okay, well.” She takes a step back and looks down the hall again. “I need to go to him. If you change your mind, just come by.” Mal looks at Carlos again, but her gaze is different. She’s looking at Carlos like he’s some stranger. “You don’t have to knock or tell us. I know Jay would just be happy to see you.” Mal takes another step. “I-. Bye, pup.”

“Bye.” Carlos watches as she walks down the hall and keeps watching as she opens the door to Jay’s room and quickly steps inside.

He ought to feel more awful about this, Carlos thinks as he walks out of the alpha boys’ dormitory. Jay is distressed and Carlos is doing nothing to help. The urge to purr is there, deep down, buried so deeply that suppressing it is hardly any effort. He doesn’t soothe his hair down or touch his wrists or rub the back of his neck.

So, clearly, his suppressants are working better than ever.

Doug is out when Carlos steps into their dorm room and he realizes that classes are still in session. Was anyone acting weird today? If Ben really did go into heat, then the school must be freaking out. Even if omegas are common in Auradon, an omega king-to-be isn’t and such a big event before Ben’s coronation could ruin months, maybe years, of planning.

But there’s no way Ben is in heat.

Not that Carlos doubts Mal or her hyper-awareness of everything going on, but it’s not possible. Ben has his suppressants back and even before then, he said he was taking generic suppressants from the nurse.

Carlos digs into his bag and pulls out two orange pill bottles, each filled with powder. He keeps these on him at all times, his bag is never out of his sight and, in the month that they’ve been in Auradon, no one has tried to take his bag or bully Carlos into handing it over. That’s not too surprising for Auradon, but not even the teachers have asked to search his bag.

And from the stares Carlos gets from some of the staff here, that surprises him.

The bottles have little labels on them. Carlos had once thought of peeling the labels off and disposing of them, just in case, but he’s confident in his ability to keep his backpack in his line of sight at all times

But, honestly, he had been worried of how the new dosage would affect his head. He knew it would disorient him more than what he had made on the Isle, and having a negative reaction was, and still is, even after three days on the dose, possible.

Carlos had memorized the labels the very day he asked Mal and Jay for their suppressants, but if this experimental dosage messed with his mind, who knew if he would remember? Carlos is in this by himself and he can’t afford to give up any resources, no matter how few or insignificant they may seem.

There are risks in keeping the labels, but there are more risks in getting rid of them.

But so far his memory is intact because Carlos remembers what the labels on the bottles say. The ingredients, the expiration date, the company, the Adolescent female alpha suppressant and adolescent male alpha suppressant across the top.

Except that’s not what he’s seeing anymore. And Carlos is positive it’s not his memory that’s wrong.

In one hand is the bottle that Jay’s former suppressants came in and in Carlos’ other hand should be Mal’s, but it’s not.

No, Carlos is looking at the label for a male alpha and the label for Benjamin Florian Hope.

“Oh, fuck.”

No, no, no. That’s not right. Carlos gave Ben back his suppressants, Ben took the bottle and accepted them back.

And then went into heat. As if he weren’t taking his suppressants. Or, at least, maybe as if he weren’t taking the right suppressants?

“Fuck!”

Carlos is irritated, which is odd since he doesn’t feel much of anything lately, but it’s dull to what he should be feeling. There’s a stirring of - guilt? Regret? Anger? – something in his gut.

He falls back onto his bed and digs the heels of his hands into his eyes as if this were all a bad dream. But Carlos is familiar with bad dreams and bad reality and he can tell them apart easily.

Ben’s in heat and Mal’s uncertain and Jay’s scared and Evie’s locked up again. Everyone is acting so strange, but Carlos thinks, logically, he may be acting the weirdest, even though he doesn’t feel like he’s acting weird.

It’s a few more hours before Doug walks in the room.

“Hey man.” He greets with a small wave. Doug is pretty friendly, actually. Though he hasn’t invited Carlos to chess club again yet. “Have you heard?”

“That Ben went into heat?” Carlos asks. “Yes.”

“Um, do you know where Mal is?”

Carlos, still laid flat out on his bed, raises his head. “Yes. Why?”

“Well…” Doug sets his bag down and rubs the back of his neck. Huh, Carlos had assumed that was an omega thing. He hasn’t rubbed his own neck recently and he thought that was good, but if betas still do things like that, maybe he shouldn’t base his progress on it. “Belle was asking for her. Or, she was asking students for her.”

“Why?” Carlos fully sits up in his bed now.

“I guess Ben is asking for her. Or some of her stuff to, uh, nest with.” Doug swings his arms at his side and concentrates on the foot of Carlos’ bed. “I mean, that’s what I’m hearing.”

Carlos swallows. “Ben asked for Mal?”

“Yeah. Or, some of her stuff. I’m not sure which.”

“He wants to nest with her clothing?”

“I think so.”

Carlos swings his feet over the side of his bed and looks at the carpet. “Get the word back that Mal won’t give anything. She’s-.”

“Broken up with Ben, yeah, we all know that too.”

Carlos freezes and looks at Doug from the corner of his eye. “What did you say?”

Ben agreed to not say anything about his relationship with Mal so soon to coronation – which, what’s happening with that now? Is it cancelled? Postponed? Will Ben be given the crown privately on the set day?

News of his break up with Mal could possibly give people a negative view of the VKs - er, a more negative than they already have. Ben said with such a big event coming up, he and Mal should tell people after he became king and time had passed.

He had said that because he’s the freakishly most kind person Carlos has ever met and Carlos is the asshole who sent him into heat. Right before his coronation.

Fuck.

“Ben asked for Audrey and Chad when he was in class. He didn't ask for Mal.” Doug says slowly. He’s perplexed by Carlos’ focus on him. “I mean, you have to have known, right?”

Carlos blinks and finally looks up at Dough. “Uh, I kind-.”

“Oh Merlin, I’m so sorry.” Doug covers his mouth and his eyes grow wide behind his thick glasses. “I just assumed because you and Mal are such good friends.”

Good friends.

Yes, Mal is Carlos’ friend. She’s one of his best friend, one of his only friends, but she’s a part of his pack, they made it official that day in the kitchen of the beta girls’ dorm.

Doug doesn’t know about that though. None of the school does.

But they all know Ben went into heat. They know Ben asked for Mal.

Now Mal is with Jay, during his rut, and Evie too. When the school realizes what’s going on between the three of them, everyone will know that Mal and Jay and Evie belong together, they own each other.

And Carlos is their good friend.

Carlos doesn’t realize he’s rubbing his chest, feeling his raised skin with Cruella’s signature through his shirt, until Doug clears his throat.

“Are you okay…Carlos?”

After a moment, Carlos nods. He’s been taking double the normal amount of suppressants for three days now. It’s been a while since he felt anything so intense.

He was kind of enjoying being numb.

---

The entire school is chaotic with so much going on. Their schedule had already been loose and jumbled because of the coronation, but Ben going into heat has pushed everything back.

According to the newspaper that Carlos scans in the halls, the media is purposefully vague about the change of plans. Nothing says Ben is in heat, or ill, or in distress. No, the paper just says coronation will be rescheduled.

In fact, none of the students seem perplexed at the news. Carlos is assuming more of them knew Ben was an omega than he thought. The future king’s role isn’t a secret, it seems, but more like something that just isn’t discussed.

It’s like Cruella’s scar on his chest. Carlos knows it exists, his pack knows it exists, Doug even knows it exists, but they all pretend it doesn’t.

Being an omega is like being a scar that no one wants to address.

Still, classes and students are distracted and disinterested in each other. Teachers are scatter brained and stressed between the change of plans and the riled up students. They bring up lesson plans that don’t follow the curriculum just for something to keep students busy, it seems. If there is a lingering scent in the classrooms from Ben’s heat, or even Jay’s rut, Carlos can’t smell it and no one mentions it.

Carlos is pretty sure no one has even noticed Jay and Evie not being around. Mal’s absence has been noted because several other students have come up to him asking if he’s seen her – Lonnie, Ally, Hannah – because Ben is still asking for her clothing.

He tells them all the same thing: Mal is not interested in giving her clothing to Ben. She is busy. She should be left alone right now. She doesn’t like omegas.

Though, he doesn’t say that last part.

Carlos is tired of all the people asking him and looking at him and all of the teachers who can’t control some rowdy high schoolers all excited over coronation and the following drama, all gossiping about where Ben is and Audrey and Chad and even questioning Mal once in a while, so Carlos bails on classes.

It’s not something he usually does – even on the Isle – but Carlos skips after his second period and he wanders.

He passes a few other students in the halls, some of them looking around every corner and moving quietly, giggling at their mischief and wickedness. Others move easily, with the confidence of someone who has skipped class in the past and survived the misdeed.

Carlos doesn’t say anything to them and they don’t say anything to him.

Auradon Prep really is a beautiful campus. It has trees taller than anything Carlos has ever seen and flowers in a thousand different colors. The air is turning cooler now and the leaves are starting to fall and all of the nature is bare, but Carlos could stand and just look out at the yard all day.

At least, he could when he first arrived. Now the colors and sights aren’t exciting. Maybe he’s just grown used to the beauty, become spoilt with fresh air and live trees.

Something cold touches his leg and he looks down.

“Hi, Dude.”

He hadn’t heard Dude coming, the click of his too long nails on the concrete, but Carlos hadn’t jumped at something touching him.

Everything about himself feels so delayed.

Dude woofs at his feet and Carlos tries to smile.

Less than 24 hours since Jay’s rut began and he feels almost lonely. It’s like he should feel lonely, but Carlos doesn’t feel much of anything.

It’s been almost a full day since he last saw Mal and longer since he last saw Jay or Evie.

His mind wanders with his feet. He wonders if Jay is asking about him, if Mal told him the truth. Did Evie ask about him? Or were Jay and Mal and Evie so caught up in each other that the thought of Carlos was abandoned in the hall as soon as the door the Jay’s room had clicked shut?

Despite classes being chaotic, they were at least a distraction. Carlos walks down the halls and his mind keeps turning.

What are they doing right now? Is Jay fucking Mal? Is he just scenting her? Is he scenting Evie? What has he done with Evie?

After his bullshit confession of never wanting sex, Carlos hadn’t really thought about the topic. He went from avoiding the idea at all costs on the Isle, to obsessing over it after kissing Mal and Jay and Evie, back to pretending the act didn’t exist.

And now the three people he loves (because even if the suppressants take away his emotion, Carlos knows all of this is for them, he remembers that he loves them) are together and Jay is in his rut.

Carlos looks around at the empty court yard he’s found himself in. He’s not sure where he’s going, but no one is around him and Dude will bark at anyone who comes near and his suppressants should kill any scent he could potentially give off, so he thinks.

Even though, buried way deep under all the numbness, part of him is terrified of what’s going on without him right now.

And, even deeper down, part of himself that Carlos doesn’t want to address, is curious.

Jay and Mal have fucked before, in both of their ruts, but Carlos doesn’t think they’ve ever done anything outside of those few times. Maybe they have though. They’ve been friends longer than anyone else in the pack, even longer than Carlos and Evie. Maybe they fuck when they’re bored or riled up or because they actually want to.

And Mal had said that Evie wanted to be a part of Jay’s rut, she had said so last week. Maybe she’s fucking Jay too or maybe she’s fucking him and Mal. Maybe she’s watching as Jay and Mal fuck. Maybe she’s enjoying it.

The idea doesn’t create any kind of stirring like it had before. Carlos thinks what Evie might be doing, how she and Mal are together and what they’re doing for Jay. Carlos thinks about all three of them and what they must look like right now. He thinks about their mouths, their hands and bodies, and…

Nothing.

“Huh.” Carlos says as he looks down. There’s no sign of interest from him.

Dude woofs again.

“That’s weird, isn’t it?” Carlos asks him. “I mean…” He sits down in the grass and lays out on his back. The sunlight is warm even if the air is not. Dude jumps onto his chest and lays down, his wet nose touching Carlos’ chin. “They’re all beautiful.” He mumbles as he scratches Dude’s ears. “Have you seen them? They’re gorgeous. I just…” Carlos lowers his voice to a whisper. “I don’t know.”

He thinks about kneeling. Evie was right – sex doesn’t have to be a part of a pack, but it usually is. There are omegas out there who don’t have sex, Carlos is sure of it. Maybe he wasn’t the only omega hiding on the Isle. It was rare on an island so full of alphas to produce an omega, but there have to be more than the few Carlos knew about.

That’s why they’re staying in Auradon, he remembers. So they can get the Isle kids away from parents who never scent them or love or parents who would whore out their omega children.

Carlos thinks about kneeling in front of Jay or Mal. Nothing sexual, just kneeling. Letting them stroke his hair, breathing in their scents, and submitting to them and giving up the little control he had in his life.

That had once been one of his favorite fantasies, on the rare times Carlos allowed himself that luxury, but now…

Nothing.

“Wow.” Carlos exhales against Dude’s fur. “I guess these things really are working.”

He hasn’t wanted to nest in a while. He hasn’t offered sensory comfort to himself. He hasn’t purred.

“I wonder how long I have to take these to kill this part of me off.” Carlos speaks softly to Dude. “I don’t want to be on them forever.” As nice as it is to not feel things, he misses feeling like himself.

He misses the days before he presented, when he just assumed he was a beta, even when he was just Cruella’s slave and an easy target for bullies.

It’s easier to be a beta on the Isle than it is to be an omega in Auradon.

Though that’s not true. It’s easier to be a beta on the Isle than it is to be an omega in his pack.

Carlos groans and sits up. The grass is starting to itch and third period will be out soon. Students will be swarming the outside in between classes or on their way to lunch and Carlos would prefer to not be so noticeably skipping class in the middle of a courtyard.

Dude eagerly follows as Carlos moves through the grass.

The pathways between buildings quickly fills up with kids. The crowd is noticeably thinner than usual. More students must be skipping than the few he saw. Maybe other alphas have been triggered by Ben and are off with their own little packs.

Carlos wonder how many people at Auradon Prep are in packs. He glances around and notices girls wearing the tourney jackets of the boys they like and students with hickeys and bite marks.

He reaches up to touch his own bare throat. He feels so very naked.

Surely, people know. At least a few people have put it together after Jay was seen in rut leaving with Evie and now Mal is nowhere to be found. People know what’s going on.

And people know Carlos isn’t a part of it.

Carlos shies away from everyone. Are people staring at him? Are they pointing and whispering? Are they mocking him behind their hands?

Well, they always do that. Carlos is from the Isle, his hair is crazy, he has all but adopted Dude and students are disgusted by it.

But now, everyone is chattering and gossiping and Carlos can see that no one is paying him any mind. The news of the prince going into heat just days before his coronation was infinitely more interesting than some scrawny beta boy, even one from the Isle.

All around him, people are holding hands and smiling at each other. They are sharing clothes and laughing and enjoying the fall weather and Carlos is standing off to the side, as lonely as can be.

The halls thin out and Carlos is left actually alone, no one in the hallway but him.

He keeps wandering, and nothing feels like slow motion anymore.

---

Classes are too trivial for Carlos to attend. It seems like things are getting more settled down, but everyone is still in a frenzy about Ben and the coronation.

And Carlos’ mind is still whirling. A classroom full of giggling students no longer provides any kind of small reprieve.

It’s been two days since he last saw Mal, Evie or Jay.

He keeps wandering. He finds old classrooms that aren’t being used. He has to pick the locks, but whatever. Auradon will survive some busted locks. The first few are dusty and nearly empty, but Carlos finds a few books in them. The books are never on topic that interest him, but he takes the books anyway.

Books had been his friends before Carlos even knew what that word was. Being locked away where no one could use them didn’t seem right. At least holding them in his hands made him feel better. He tucks them into his bag with his chemistry textbook and the weight on his shoulders is almost comforting.

Most of the locked classrooms have desks coated with dust. One has a loose light switch cover that Carlos fixes with the screwdriver in pocket. Another had a cracked window and Carlos tries to imagine what happened in an Auradon classroom to result in that.

All of the rooms are dark and cold, though. The lights take a few moments to flicker on and the heat is shut off in all of them. They’re quiet and oddly empty, despite many being stuffed full as being used for storage.

Carlos never stays in one classroom too long.

There are hallways he’s never walked down before for departments he has no interest in, but are these halls lined with classrooms full of chattering students. Carlos pays them no mind. He’s mapping the school out in his head and it occurs to him that it’s odd he hasn’t done this already. He likes knowing escapes and doorways and dead ends, it prevents trouble. (Or, it prevents more trouble when he’s already in some.)

But it keeps his mind occupied.

Carlos finds supply closets inside buildings that aren’t meant for students. There are heavy cleaning machines like floor buffers and power washers that he itches to use, partly because he feels the need to clean and partly because new machines still excite him in this numb state.

He makes notes of windows with broken locks and lights that are about to die out. There’s a back entrance to the kitchen of the cafeteria that Carlos sneaks into because he skipped breakfast. It’s the first time ever that he skips a meal that he has access to. It should probably worry him. Carlos doesn’t even sneak in the kitchen because he’s hungry, he’s just bored. He shoves snacks in his pockets when the kitchen staff have their backs turned – apples and chips and a container of juice.

The buildings he likes best have signs that restrict students. There are fewer people in them, more quiet and less interruptions. Nobody ever sees him and he never sees anybody, up until the late afternoon when Carlos stumbles into a room that smells familiar but he’s never been in and Jane is sitting on the floor.

Her eyes are big and sad when she looks up at him. Her cheeks are wet and over a soft roar, Carlos can even hear her purring.

“Get out!” Her voice is trembling and croaky and soft. Her eyes say she is a threat, but her tone says Carlos is the threat.

No one sees Carlos as a threat. Not even the soft kids in Auradon.

Carlos just keeps looking down at her. Everything is becoming more familiar. The smell is detergent, the low rumble is from washers and dryers (which Cruella had in Hell House, even if Carlos was fixing them every other week and even then, they only worked half of the time).

The blankets and clothing on the floor are even familiar. Not the sight or smell of them, but how they're bundled, how they're laid out. He knows what this is.

“Why are you nesting here?” Carlos asks and his voice rings in his ears. How long has it been since he spoke out loud? He had avoided classmates and teachers, he hadn’t spoken to Doug this morning or last night, he hadn’t talked to Dude since yesterday.

More importantly, why is he talking to Jane? The two of them have never spoken. Mal had flirted with her when they were searching for the wand and Jane had clung to Mal and her little affections.

He should be jealous, even with the dullness of suppressants working. But no, Carlos is here talking to her.

Something about this sight is over powering the suppressants and his own self-preservation skills.

Jane opens her mouth to speak, but her lips quiver and she falls back to the floor, hiding her face in a pillow case.

He had been like this before, once, in his treehouse. It had been right after he ran from Mal in her rut. Mal had chased him and Carlos had defied her and he hid in his treehouse with the pillow and blanket from Evie and the jacket from Jay.

“Are you okay?”

Jane purrs and it’s so loud that Carlos hears it over the washer and dryers. He notes again that they’re in the laundry room of the school, where students can come to wash their own clothing and where staff washes their bedding.

It’s a decent place to nest, Carlos thinks, and he hates himself for appreciating it. The rumblings of the washer and dryer are low, but enough to keep someone from drowning in the silence because this room is hidden enough with how far it is from more frequently used buildings. It’s dim inside and it’s full of soft materials to use.

“He didn’t ask for me.”

“Huh?” Carlos stops gazing around the room and looks back down at Jane. “What? Who didn’t?”

Jane hides her face in a jacket that looks familiar to Carlos, but he can’t place it. “He asked for Audrey and Chad, but not me.”

Carlos blinks and tilts his head. “Ben?”

“He’s not even with Audrey anymore! He asked for his ex before he asked for me!” Jane whimpers and her shoulders tremble pitifully.

On a positive note, his suppressants have him numbed so much that Carlos doesn’t even feel awkward with Jane rubbing her face into the jacket in her hands. He can provide better comfort this way.

And how odd to want to give comfort to a practical stranger, someone who hung over his alpha, but Jane’s purr has Carlos unable to move away from her.

Fairy Godmother had once said that omegas could affect the emotions of others, but doesn’t feel anything and Jane can’t affect what doesn’t exist.

Still, Carlos can’t leave.

He slowly sits down outside of her nest, a few feet back. Jane doesn’t acknowledge him and keeps her face hidden in what Carlos recognizes as a tourney jacket. Jay has one just like it.

But he doesn’t want to think about Jay right now.

“You…wanted Ben to ask for you?”

Jane hiccups and bunches up the jacket under her head. “I…I thought he might. Before Mal came along…” Jane sniffles and avoids his eyes. “We kind of had something going. Me and Ben and Audrey and Chad.”

That’s a weird foursome, but Carlos can't be a hypocrite. His foursome with Evie and Mal and Jay is pretty weird to most people. The four of them have little in common personality wise, but Carlos thinks that’s what attracted them all together, each of them providing a trait that the others lacked. Mal is leadership and Jay is muscles and Evie is charm and Carlos is…

Not with them.

“I thought just Ben and Audrey were together?” Carlos asks her because he can’t leave and starting a conversation is better than sitting in silence. It's odd for him to be talking to Jane, but it's just as odd for her to be talking to him. She probably hasn't had anyone come in here yet and Carlos has no idea how long she's been in here. Surely the staff have seen in her in here when they come to do laundry, but maybe they just ignore her and let her be.

That thought - of someone seeing an omega nesting and purring and not offering comfort to them - makes Carlos swallow heavily.

“Officially, yeah.” Jane purrs to herself. Her eyes drift to the wall behind Carlos and her voice drops, becoming hard to hear over the machinery in the room. “But that was for appearances. For Auradon.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Jane swallows. “We just kind of had something between us.” She looks sharply up at Carlos. “But then Mal took Ben and Evie wanted Chad and it all fell apart!”

Before Carlos can process the accusation and hurtful words, Jane curls in on herself again.

“But I know they didn’t mean to.” She whispers, more to herself than to Carlos. “They just wanted to fit into Auradon.” Jane purrs and rolls onto her back, bringing the jacket with her. There’s no 7 on it, like Carlos expected from Ben’s jacket, but instead there is a 23, Chad’s number. “Ben and Chad left and ruined everything and it was just me and Audrey for a while.” Jane smiles and sighs. “But then Chad came back and then it was just him and Audrey. Then Ben and Mal broke up and he asked for Chad and Audrey but not me.”

I’m an asshole, Carlos thinks.

Jane is lying here sobbing because she wasn’t asked to spend Ben’s heat with him and she cares so deeply for him.

Carlos was meant to spend to Jay’s rut with him and he’s not. He can’t.

“Well I don’t think it matters. Omegas are pretty delirious in their heat.” Though Carlos only ever had three heats and two of them were affected by the suppressants he was still trying to perfect. He remembers his first heat, that day when he presented on the steps of Hell Hall. The memory of his first heat is hazy, but Carlos knows he had clung to Cruella’s clothes for a sense of comfort and that was enough proof that Carlos was in a bad state mentally. “He probably doesn’t even know what he’s asking for.”

“He knew enough to ask for them.”

“Yeah, because they were familiar to him.” Carlos says back and, surprisingly, it takes a little bit of effort to keep his own voice neutral. He should get out of here, get away from Jane’s scent. “That’s why.”

“So was I and he didn’t ask for me!” Jane truly snaps back, glaring at him from where she still lays pitifully in the nest of blankets and Audrey’s shirts.

Carlos’ hands twitch at his sides. “He just asked for the first people he thought of.”

“Then why didn’t he ask for Mal?” Jane hisses and sits up in her blankets. Her purring has stopped while she converses with him, but she looks no less sad and lonely. “The one he’s actually dat-?”

“He did ask for Mal!” Carlos snaps at her. “Ben asked for Mal and he asked for her clothing to nest with! He doesn’t know what he’s asking or for who!”

Jane’s lips pull down and she shies away from Carlos’ outburst.

Carlos decides he does not like being seen as a threat.

“Sorry. Damn it, sorry.” Carlos hangs his head and sighs. “Just…Ben and Mal recently broke up. I don’t think you heard that if you’ve been hiding in here for a while.”

He expects Jane to deny that she’s hiding, but she doesn’t.

“So he’s clearly not thinking straight.” Carlos tells her. He leans his forehead on one of his hands. “Ben asked for someone he’s not even dating anymore. And they haven’t been dating for a while. I guess people have figured that out too.” He drums his fingers on his boots, big and black and clunky. “So don’t be mad or upset. Ben doesn’t know what he’s asking for.”

Something hits him in the head and falls into his lap. It doesn’t hurt at all – it’s just a pillow – but Carlos raises his head in shock and nearly recoils at the death stare Jane is giving him.

“We’re not idiots!” She seethes and her fingers curl around the materials of her nest where she’s now sitting up. “We’re not children in our heat who don’t know what we want or what’s best for us!” Jane grinds her teeth in a way that would be terrifying if it weren’t from an Auradon kid. Or if it weren’t from an omega.

“That’s not what I-.”

“He knows what he’s asking for.” Jane’s voice cracks as her eyes soften and water again. “He meant to ask for Audrey and Chad and Mal and he meant to not ask for me.”

Carlos is the one shying away now. He looks down at his lap. He has questions about all of this, ones that shouldn’t exist since he’s going to be a beta, he’s currently killing the omega in him. These questions don’t matter and don’t affect him anymore.

“Why did he ask for Mal, then?”

Jane looks at him with teary eyes. “He must’ve wanted her. She didn’t go to him…did she?”

Carlos shakes his head. “No. They’re broken up.” At least he can give Jane some sort of good news. “Sorry that we…kind of messed things up for you.”

“Don’t be.” Jane lays back down on her side, clutching a pink shirt that must belong to Audrey. “We hadn’t made anything official. Only Ben and Audrey were definitely together. Chad and I were just kind of…there.”

There’s never been a time where Carlos has provided comfort for someone who wasn’t Jay or Mal or Evie, but he almost wants to reach out and pat Jane’s shoulder.

But she hasn’t invited him into her nest. And Carlos isn’t going to ask.

“Your emotions are affecting me.” Carlos mumbles as he stands. “You… Shit.”

Jane hardly looks at him. “Sorry.” She hides her face in the jacket.

From a standing position, Carlos can fully see her nest. It’s small, just big enough for her.

His sad nest hadn’t even been big enough for him in his treehouse. The blanket and pillow from Evie and the jacket from Jay was too small for even Carlos at the time.

Had he looked this pitiful? Does it hurt Jane the same way it hurt him to have no one to share his nest with?

Carlos turns to leave, panic bubbling up in a way that he hasn’t felt in almost a week. His breathing quickens and his hands tremble. He needs to get out of here, away from Jane and her stupid effect on him, away from his guilt because he did this, Ben is in heat and Jay is in rut and Jane is hurt and why is Carlos so fucking stupid?

His hand is on the doorknob and Carlos wrenches the door open and takes a step outside where the air is clearer – no laundry detergent or lingering scents of student’s clothing or stupid omega pheromones – but he doesn’t leave.

He kneels down and sets his backpack on the ground. Carlos reaches in for the books, the ones from the abandoned classroom, and pulls them out. He has one about birds and one about knitting and one about furniture and even an old magazine squished between them. Carlos holds his breath as he sets them next to Jane’s nest.

The food in his pockets comes out too. All of it. The fruit and the chips and the juice. Carlos sets them on top of the books. Jane’s face is still hidden in Chad’s jacket. Her purr and the low roar of the laundry room effectively covers what little noises Carlos makes.

Carlos zips up his bag, stands, and leaves.

---

“Pup! Hey!”

Carlos turns on his heel to see Evie walking up to him. She’s bundled up and looks rather cute in her blue sweater and black scarf, face pink and eyes wide.

She opens her arms and pulls him into a hug and Carlos slowly returns the gesture. He has missed Evie, but he hadn’t expected to see her for a few more days. She smells like Jay, faintly, but the fact that Carlos can smell Jay on her despite his suppressants means the scent must be strong.

“What are you doing?” Carlos asks as they pull apart and he is pleased to note that there’s no whining in the back of his head to pull Evie close again and cling to that physical contact. “Isn’t Jay still…?”

“Yes.” Evie answers quickly and walks off to the side, out of the flow of walking traffic. Carlos had just been about to enter the cafeteria, but he follows her to the lockers. “He is. Mal is with him.”

“Are you…not spending the rest of his rut with him?”

Evie nods. “I am. I just came to get food.” She looks up and down the halls, at the students who hardly pay them any mind, then pushes the doors to the cafeteria open.

“Oh, this is the first time I’ve seen you out.” Carlos tells her. “I must have been missing you, no one has seen you. I’ve asked.”

Evie purses her lips, but takes a moment before responding. She looks away from him. “This is the first time I’ve left. We had…thought someone was going to bring us food, but I just figured it would be easier to come get some and bring it back.”

He can read between her words. Shame settles in his gut and Carlos tries not to think about it. “Oh. Uh. Oh.”

“So I only have a little bit before I’ve got to be back.” Evie tells him as they walk. She is as chipper as ever, even with her flushed face. “What’s new? How’s Ben? How’s the school? How are you?”

Carlos follows her as Evie grabs a tray. He doesn’t feel so hungry anymore. “It’s been pretty wild. Students and teachers are kind of in a frenzy. Not because of Ben going into heat.” He adds quickly as Evie looks at him. “But with the excitement of coronation and everything being messed up.”

“I hope they don’t blame Ben.” Evie piles on food. “It’s hardly his fault.”

Without suppressants, Carlos could never control when his heats were. They were to happen every three months, four times a year. That was the normal schedule, at least, according to the books he could find on the Isle.

But outside forces could affect a heat too, jump start it early. It’s why Anastasia Tremaine had been in public the day she went into heat – she could smell Mal’s rut.

Carlos swallows. “How has…Jay been?”

Evie looks at him and smiles softly. “He’s okay, Carlos. We’re taking care of him.” She turns back around. “He’s pretty delirious. Mal said that would happen since he’s in a new place and he could smell Ben’s heat, but Mal’s handling him very well. I would’ve never suspected that she…could be that submissive.”

He can’t imagine Mal being submissive. “What are…they doing?”

Evie raises a brow and her lips twitch upward. “They’re…having sex.”

“Oh.” Right, right. He knew that, Carlos always knew that. “And what are…you doing?”

“I’m…participating.” Evie says quietly and she fiddles with the tongs in front of her as her hands fidget. For the first time, Carlos notices that she’s not wearing makeup.

He’s never seen Evie without makeup.

The sight has his breath catching in his throat. Carlos should tell her more often that she’s beautiful, with make up, without make up, she’s gorgeous. He wants to tell her that all he wants is for Evie to be happy and he would do anything for her.

She and Jay and Mal are why he’s doing this, why Carlos is changing himself. The sudden longing for all of them and his adoration for Evie’s bare face over rides his dull senses, just a little bit, and he remembers that this will make them all happier. His guilt and numbness and any side effects will be worth it.

“I mean, I’m not really doing a whole lot with Jay. You know, alphas can’t really agree to anything when their rut starts.” Evie hasn’t noticed Carlos’ intense studying of her. She drums her fingers on the tray. “I guess they can, but it becomes more tricky. My mother hated a lot of what she did during her rut and regretted it all after.”

“Like what?”

Evie hesitates before she answers. “Never anything with me. I told you guys it wasn’t like that. But servants she had, there were a few that knew the truth and she would call on one of them during her rut.”

Carlos sighs in relief. He knew the Evil Queen had never touched Evie, but it’s nice to be reassured. “So…what is it you’re doing with them? With Jay and Mal?” He hasn’t given their activities much thought, but now, next to Evie and seeing her for the first time in days, Carlos’ mind is buzzing.

“I’m guessing you don’t want too many details.” Evie picks up her tray, full of food. “But, I’m just there while they do their stuff. We’ve been scenting a lot. Sometimes Jay…” Evie hums to herself and smiles. “Sorry.” She looks at him from the corner of her eye. “I know you don’t want to know about it all and that’s totally okay.”

“Is that why you’re wearing a scarf?” Carlos looks pointedly at her neck. “You came out in a hurry, but you took the time to put on a scarf.”

Evie looks surprised. “I forgot how observant you are. I’ve missed you.” She places her hand on his and squeezes, but continues before Carlos can respond. “But yeah. Jay likes to scent a lot and he likes to…bite a little bit.”

Carlos remembers Jay’s neck being bruised and scabbed the day Mal was out in her rut. He wonders what Evie’s neck looks like.

He wonders what it feels like to be bitten by an alpha.

“You okay?”

Evie’s voice knocks him out of his own head. Carlos nods. “Yeah. I’m fine.” He looks around and realizes he’s followed her to the edge of the cafeteria, just in front of the doors.

“You should come by. If you want to.” Evie tells him. She’s holding the door handle, but not pushing it yet. “Jay wants to see you. He’s been asking about you.”

Carlos’ fingers twitch. “He has?”

“Constantly. He asks where you are and if you’re okay.” Evie takes a deep breath. “I understand if you don’t want to because of the sex. I know that it would be weird. But if you wanted to come for an hour just to scent him or touch him…” Evie offers him a small smile. “Jay would love it. It would mean a lot, Carlos.”

“Okay. I mean. I’ll think about it.”

Evie’s smile widens and Carlos’ own face splits into a smile for her. “Come here.”

Carlos is confused, but obeys nonetheless. He steps closer and tilts his head.

Evie looks around at the cafeteria before leaning forward to peck his lips. It is soft and sweet and gentle, just like Evie. “I’ve been missing you too. So has Mal.”

The cracks in his numbness fully shatter. There is a rush of relief and joy and love. Carlos wants to follow her as she pulls back, follow her back to the room, follow her for the rest of his life, but instead he settles for, “I’ve missed you guys too. How much longer?” If his tone is breathless, Evie doesn’t mention it.

“We’re not sure. All of these things playing into it – Ben’s scent and a new place and us being a pack – could shorten it or lengthen it. Mal says his rut only lasted a few days back on the Isle, but it might have been because of…”

“Jafar?”

Evie nods and purses her lips. “So if it keeps going like that, we should be more than halfway through it.”

Carlos wants to ask her to stay. He wants to beg her, actually. He has missed her and Mal and Jay. He’s missed them all a lot lately and he hadn’t realized it until Evie was being taken away again.

“Bye, pup.” Evie says as she opens the door. “I…” She tries to smile at him. “Bye.”

Carlos doesn’t want to go to chess club anymore. Well, not right now. But what he wants and what he gets are usually polar opposites.

---

Still, he allows himself this one thing under the guise of helping someone else.

He knocks on the door to the laundry room. There’s no way Jane would be able to hear that over the washing and drying machines, so Carlos slowly pushes the door open while balancing a tray of food.

The room is empty of Jane and her nest. Carlos feels his stomach drop. There’s no sign of her or that she had ever been here. What was once her little corner is just laundry baskets. Her blankets are gone and there aren’t even crumbs from when Carlos brought her food yesterday.

It’s probably for the better, Carlos thinks as he shuts the door and walks back down the hallway. He eats the sandwich, but tosses the tray and the rest of the food into a garbage can and hopes someone on the Isle finds use for it all.

Jane’s area had been comforting, even if it was stressful. Her presence had been nice. She was without her pack, just like Carlos. Her sorrow was familiar.

But there’s no logical reason for him to seek her out.

The building with the laundry room is on the way to the building for extra cirriculars. Carlos passes a dance studio and a band room, rooms for photography and painting, and stands quietly in the doorway, unsure if he should knock or just walk in.

Thankfully, he is saved by Ally noticing him. “Carlos! I didn’t think I’d ever see you.” She looks around at the group and smiles timidly at him.

He steps into the room and waves.  “Hi.” He takes a seat by Doug, who looks genuinely happy to see him here.

There are a few people Carlos doesn’t recognize, all watching him. Outside of Doug and Ben, Carlos hasn’t made many other friends. In fact, he wouldn’t even call Doug and Ben friends.

There is one person here who is familiar and is watching him with wide eyes. “Carlos?”

“Hi Lonnie.” He tries to smile even though he really doesn’t feel like it. The only reason he’s here is because exploring the school grounds isn’t fun anymore. Well, it wasn’t fun to begin with, but at least it wasn’t boring before.

And he’s…lonely. Maybe. Carlos thinks that’s what he is. He feels lost laying in bed with no one around.

“What are you doing here?” She looks at the rest of the group, who have gone back to talk amongst themselves. Lonnie grabs his arm and pulls him away from Doug. “Is Jay’s rut over?”

“What?” Carlos pulls away from her. “You know about that?” As soon as the words leave his lips, Carlos knows it’s a dumb question. Jay was in class when his rut started, even though people were distracted because of Ben, and Evie took him back to his room immediately, people noticed. Jay’s been gone for five days now, Mal and Evie too, the teachers have to be aware of something.

Carlos is pretty sure that spending a rut in one’s dorm with only a beta and another alpha present is not how Auradon Prep takes care of their alpha students, but he suspects that the four of them from the Isle, much like the Isle itself, is an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ situation. He’s pretty sure no teachers have sought Jay out and Fairy Godmother might not even be aware of it with everything else going on.

Villain kids are pretty low on the list of priorities.

People must know, but no one has mentioned it.

“Seeing as Evie’s my roommate and I haven’t seen her in a few days, I can piece it all together.” Lonnie tucks her long hair behind her ear. She had short hair when they first came to Auradon, Carlos remembers how Evie had turned her nose up at describing Lonnie’s hair to them all. Then Lonnie had come to Mal after she did Jane’s hair with magic. Mal had initially turned Lonnie down, but Evie asked sweetly, saying Lonnie would be less afraid of them all if they did something nice for her.

Mal never says no to Evie.

“I haven’t seen you.” Lonnie continues. She’s staring at his face. “I assumed you were with her and Jay. Mal too. I’ve been telling everyone that’s where you were.”

Oh. That would explain why no teachers came asking after him when he skipped. Not that they cared about a missing Isle kid from their class.

“Evie’s still not back yet, so I know it’s not done.” Lonnie cocks her hip. “So what are you doing here?” Her tone isn’t accusatory. At the very least, she had been neutral to them all in the beginning, and warmed up to Evie quickly, like everyone does, but ever since Family Day, Lonnie has been softer with all of them. Apparently, Audrey told her how villains never scent their children and Lonnie took it pretty hard, according to the awkward conversations she and Evie had.

Carlos rocks on his feet. At least he’s not rubbing his wrist or neck. He hasn’t done that in a week. “I’m not…spending Jay’s rut with him. Just Mal and Evie are.”

Lonnie’s eyebrows raise. “Oh. I just…assumed.” She exhales slowly. “Sorry. Just with Ben and Mal dating, then him going into heat and not asking for her, but asking for her clothes, then all my friends say they saw Jay’s rut start and Evie dragging him away and no one has really seen you and Mal since then...” Lonnie babbles and looks over at the desks. A few students are playing chess and some are discussing strategy. “I guess I could have asked Doug to double check.” She looks back at Carlos with narrow eyes. “So where have you been the past few days?”

Carlos shrugs. Her questions and rambling and close proximity might have put him on edge last week, but he’s indifferent to her now. “Around.”

“Okay…” Lonnie crosses her arms. “Is everything alright?”

Carlos nods. He came here for chess. Or, to be around other people, but not like this.

“Well, come on then.” Lonnie grabs his hand again. “Have you ever played?”

He tells her no, but that doesn’t stop Lonnie from sitting him down in front of a board.

Chess is fun. It’s memorization and strategy and thinking ahead. Carlos likes that.

He also learns that coronation will be set back until next month.

“They can’t do it right away.” Lonnie explains as she sets up the board again. She had won the first match, but Carlos in undeterred. “The food made in preparation has all gone bad and was thrown away.” (That’s a lot of food that will make it to the Isle on the next barge shipment, Carlos is pleased to note.) “A lot of the royalty from other countries that came in had to leave again. Some will manage to make it back, but most won’t.”

Coronation doesn’t hold much interest for Carlos anymore. It’s not a big deal. They’re not going for the wand. But it’s nice to be kept up to date.

“Was Ben good friends with Jane?” He asks as casually as he can, running his finger down the edge of a pawn.

“Ben’s good friends with everyone.” Doug says from Carlos’ side. He’s been helping Carlos play. “He’s the nicest guy ever.”

And Carlos is the one who took Ben’s suppressants and accidentally gave him alpha suppressants back. It’s not a good idea for anyone to get close to Carlos.

“Jane probably has a crush on him.” Lonnie tells him with a shrug. “Most girls do.”

“She definitely had a crush on Audrey.” Doug says.

“Most girls do.”

Doug laughs and Carlos tries to laugh too.

“Audrey also isn’t that bad.” Lonnie leans forward on her elbows, looking at Carlos over the chess pieces. “She freaked out on Family Day because she’s…protective. Of her family and of Auradon.”

Carlos doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t want to insult Audrey. Not to Lonnie’s face. Really, not at all. He hasn’t thought much about what happened on Family Day.

“And she feels really bad about embarrassing Mal like that.” Lonnie stresses as she stares at him.

Again, Carlos doesn’t say anything. Doug squirms uncomfortably next to him. Lonnie pulls back after a long moment and they start the next game.

---

When Carlos spots Jay and Mal and Evie in the cafeteria early Saturday morning, he could swear his heart stops.

They all look awful. All three of them have hair in a mess, full of knots and kinks. They’re all in their pajamas – big t-shirts and cozy pants. Evie is still without make up, as is Mal, and both of them wear heavy scarves, despite being indoors.

It feels like everything has slowed down around him again, or maybe Carlos has slowed down while everything remains the same. The cafeteria is nearly empty this early on a Saturday morning. Carlos is only up because Dude was whining to be let outside to chase the squirrels, where Carlos left him. The room is quiet, but as he gets closer, Carlos can hear his pack giggling.

Evie is halfway in Jay’s lap, his face buried in her neck. She is picking at some eggs with one hand around Jay’s shoulders. Mal is next to them, cuddled into Jay’s side and watching the two of them with a small smile.

All of them sit with their backs to the wall – a force of habit that lives in Auradon still – and Mal sees him when he’s just a few feet away.

Carlos’ breath catches in his throat. He’s not meant to be here. They are so content without him, he knew they would be happier without him, he knew it.

Evie’s eyes light up at the sight of him and Mal waves him over.

He gulps and continues walking toward them. It feels wrong. This isn’t right. “Hi guys.” Carlos whispers as his fingers curl into his palms.

Jay looks up from Evie’s neck. He tilts his head, hair falling over his shoulder and squinting intensely. “Carlos? Pup?” Jay moves Evie from his lap to the bench in one easy movement and stands. He rushes around the table and up to Carlos in less than a second, cupping his face. “Hi.”

There’s a bubble of excitement that forms in Carlos’ stomach, consuming all of his doubts. It rises through his lungs and throat until it bursts his face into a smile. “Hi.”

Jay leans down to kiss him. His lips are chapped and he has bags under his eyes, but his hands are warm on Carlos’ face and his mouth is gentle. “I’ve missed you.” He breathes into Carlos and kisses him again, biting at his lower lip.

And Carlos has missed Jay too. He hadn’t realized how much until Jay is holding him and kissing him and Carlos can feel the little tremors in Jay’s hand.

Their first kiss, which had been just a month ago in the boy’s locker room, had left Carlos dizzy. He felt warm, he felt happy. It had been one of the best moments of his life, allowing himself to have Jay, to feel him on his lips like sunshine, to show desire because Carlos wanted Jay, oh evil, he did he want Jay.

And now, in the cafeteria, kissing Jay again…

It’s alright.

Carlos kisses back the best he can – which isn’t great with his limited experience – but there’s no real thrall to it. He’s still happy to see Jay again after going days without him, Mal and Evie too, but kissing is so underwhelming compared to what he remembers.

It’s also lasting so long. Maybe Carlos won’t mind long kisses in the future, but it’s risky right now, his anxiety is crawling back up his throat. He wants to push Jay away, but Mal clears her throat and ends their kiss before Carlos can try.

“Sit boys. We all need to eat and re-group.”

Carlos is dragged to the table by Jay, who holds him tightly. There is breakfast food still left, but many of the plates are dirty (though, nearly clean by Auradon standards because he and his pack have a tendency to lick every crumb off the plate. The only reason Carlos throws food away is so it will reach the Isle, but Auradon just wastes it all without a purpose) and used napkins are scattered about. Their table is round and Mal, shockingly, moves so her back is to the door and she makes room for Carlos.

“How long have you guys been here?” Carlos asks as he sits next to Jay.

No one answers though because Jay wraps both arms around Carlos and nuzzles his neck and Carlos flinches away so violently, he nearly falls out of his seat. “Get off!”

Alphas naturally have a stronger sense of smell compared to betas, maybe to even omegas, but their sense of smell is always best during their ruts. The brief moment that Jay’s nose touched his neck, Carlos had felt a fear run through him that he has not felt since leaving the Isle, maybe ever.

Sitting with Jay is one thing, kissing and touching him is riskier, but allowing Jay to scent him cannot happen, not when Carlos has only been on these suppressants for a week and Jay is just coming out of his rut.

His breathing is hard and his hands are shaking. Carlos’ panicked shout of “get off,” repeats in his head, sounding more angry and bitter each time it plays.

A hundred thoughts are racing through Carlos’ mind, but when he looks at Jay, they all stop.

Jay hadn’t even looked this hurt when they sat on the floor of his room just last week and he opened up about his forced submission to Jafar. This contrite expression is one Carlos has never seen on his alpha’s face. Jay’s eyes are wide and his mouth has dropped in surprise, his eyebrows pulled together in some sad state of confusion and his hands still clenching around the air where Carlos had just been.

Carlos bites his lip, but he doesn’t purr or rub his neck, at least. But shit. Why can’t he stop hurting people?

“What the fuck?” Mal snaps. Her anger is directed at Carlos, he can tell, even though he won’t look at her or Evie. Mal doesn’t usually speak so harshly to him, or any of them, but Carlos has no reaction to her displeasure.

There’s no desire to please her, to whine for her approval. His suppressants are stopping his submissive urges even around his pack.

That’s good.

There’s also no guilt at upsetting her, no worry for her anger. He feels nothing for upsetting her.

That’s not good.

(Or maybe it is?)

Even if he’s not worried about Mal’s anger, Carlos hates himself for distressing Jay, for putting that sad look on his normally charming face. Carlos swallows and straightens himself in his seat. “Sorry.” He mumbles to the table. He can’t look at Jay anymore, still won’t even risk a glance to Evie and Mal and see their expressions. “It’s just…uh…been a while. Sorry.”

He’s an idiot. What does that excuse even mean?

“Okay.” Jay says next to him, still watching Carlos with those big, wounded eyes. “Did I scare you? I didn’t mean to.” He says softly.

After coming out of his rut, Jay ought to be more aggressive, more dominant. But he’s sad and small and looking at Carlos like all Jay wants to do is hold him.

“It’s fine.” Carlos shrugs his shoulders. His face burn with embarrassment.

Jay sounds so hurt and Carlos feels bad, he really does, but he can’t bring himself to console Jay. He’d have to get close and try to explain and Carlos can’t do that.

“We, uh, we got here about an hour ago, Carlos.” Evie’s voice is low, almost a whisper like she’s afraid to speak with all of the tension. She curls closer to Jay, sneaking her head under his chin and hugs him.

Mal speaks next, her tone louder. “We got hungry last night.” She doesn’t have a bite to her words anymore. Her anger is gone, but her confusion, the edge to her tone is still there. “So we were here as soon as the cafeteria opened.”

“I’m sorry, again.” Evie finally takes her eyes off Carlos and Jay and looks down at her lap. “I thought I grabbed enough food. I didn’t realize how much energy we’d be using up.”

“Don’t.” Jay thankfully stops looking at Carlos too and grabs Evie’s chin and to force her head up. “You did perfect, beta. If you didn’t bring us that food, it would have been way worse.” He still holds her face when he kisses her and Evie melts. Jay understands her compliance as an invitation and draws closer to her, pulling himself away from Carlos.

The distance between them feels so much larger than it actually is.

Carlos peeks at Jay from the corner of his eye and curls in on himself. Something hits his shin under the table. He looks up and sees Mal watching him.

“You didn’t know.” She says, her voice gentle. It’s so very different from just moments ago, but Carlos can’t seem to care about that either. “Okay? Next time, you can bring us food. But you didn’t realize that we wouldn’t be able to leave.” She glances at Evie and Jay too, now nuzzled into each other comfortably. “You’ll know for next time. My rut will probably be in another two months.”

“Okay.” Carlos sits up straighter and nods. “I can do that next time.” Probably. Two months will be plenty of time for the omega in him to start dying off with these new and improved suppressants, but Carlos doesn’t want to risk being around an alpha in rut for a while. For Mal’s rut, he can at least send someone else to do it and make sure they get food daily.

Mal’s eyes flicker over to Jay and Evie, now consumed in each other. He is scenting her neck and she is stroking his hair, both of them making little noises of content. Mal looks back to Carlos. “Be nice.” She whispers, almost inaudible. “It was a hard week.”

“Okay.” Carlos whispers back, not looking at Jay and Evie next to him. He meets Mal’s gaze without any trouble and if she’s surprised by that, she doesn’t show it. “Sorry. I’m…sorry.”

“We didn’t get you because we didn’t know if you were sleeping or not.” Mal’s voice is louder, but she sounds far away. It takes a second for Carlos to realize she’s talking about here and now, how the three of them had been enjoying themselves without him. “We weren’t trying to exclude you.”

“Who? Carlos?” Jay, now done dominating Evie’s throat, looks at Carlos. “Of course we weren’t. We just thought you weren’t awake.”

He’s so worried for Carlos, about him feeling excluded, so eager to assuage any fears and doubts Carlos might have as if Carlos hadn’t just completely rejected Jay a minute ago.

Mal snickers. “Yeah. I just told him that.” She kicks Jay under the table and he kicks back, grinning mischievously.

Ruts can mess with the emotions of an alpha. Even though Jay is no longer in his rut, it seems he is still feeling the after effects. He is quick to jump from Evie to Carlos to Mal, expression changing every second with no defenses up, going from hurt to concerned to giggly in mere moments.

Jay’s kind of cute like this. So invested in everything.

Carlos’ chest tightens.

“So, Pup,” Evie calls him from the other side of Jay, “what’s been new? Catch us up to date.”

His transgression of rejecting Jay has mostly faded. Carlos still feels uncomfortable, but it appears no one else does anymore. Jay can’t scent him, but they can hold hands, they can bump each other’s shoulders, they don’t have to keep this distance between them that prevents them from touching, Carlos wants to say. Or, he should say. He should tell Jay that little stuff is okay and Carlos should offer what he can.

But Carlos just focuses on Evie’s question. He tells them everything. Classes have been hectic, teachers try to control the frenzied students. Everyone was told that Jay, Mal and Evie wouldn’t be attending classes (though Carlos leaves out the part that Lonnie was the one who told, and not him). Ben’s coronation is moved back until next month and Mal doesn’t say anything about it.

“People know we’ve broken up?”

“Yeah.” Carlos picks at the toast in front of him. “He, uh, asked for you. I guess. He wanted your clothing to nest with.”

“Nest with?” Evie asks. She is cuddled into Jay’s side, watching them all.

The space between Carlos and Jay has shrunk, but they’re not touching each other, as if there is a wall up between them that they can get close to, but can’t get over. Carlos wonders if Jay is trying to compensate for Carlos’ rejection by clinging to Evie, scenting her and touching her regardless of the glares of new students walking in for breakfast.

Mal rolls her eyes. “It’s this dumb thing where omegas steal clothing of people they care about and like make a bed with it all. It’s about having familiar scents. Ben told me about it a couple of times.”

“That doesn’t sound stupid.” Evie rests her chin on her hand. “It sounds sweet. Comforting.”

“It’s silly is what I meant.” Mal waves her hand. “I had thought it was a waste of time and energy when he told me about it.”

Carlos swallows his food. “Definitely silly.”

“Don’t be mean.” Evie chastises them both with a stern point. “How is Ben doing anyway?”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t been seen yet.” Carlos takes another bite of toast. “He asked for Chad and Audrey though.”

“Why would he ask for my clothing?” Mal narrows her eyes in thought and folds her arms. “We’ve been broken up for a while.”

“Maybe he still likes you?” Evie teases, but her smile disappears with Jay’s growl.

The sound shocks them all. Jay isn’t growling at any of them, per se, but his teeth are bared and his hands are clenched.

Evie lowers her eyes in submission and tilts her head to expose her throat, but Carlos doesn’t do anything. Jay’s growl plays on repeat through his head but it doesn’t pull any reaction from him.

“Relax, meat head.” Mal kicks Jay under the table again, but her voice turns sweet. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Jay, surprisingly, obeys her. His shoulders sag with relief and he leans across the table to grab her neck and pull Mal close. “Mine.” He growls the word, but leans his forehead against Mal’s in a tender way. “Mine.”

“Yours.” Mal agrees and closes her eyes.

“Mine.”

“I heard you.” Mal flicks his ear, but kisses him easily.

Jay pulls back and sits down, just to reach for Evie next to him. He yanks her close. “Mi-.”

“I’m yours, I’m yours.” Evie promises, leaning into his touch. She brings his hand up to her throat, resting on her thick scarf. “I have the marks to prove it.” Evie grins and giggles, wrapping her arms around Jay.

His hand moves from her throat to her neck. Jay pulls her close and kisses her with an open mouth.

Carlos, still and quiet, watches the two of them move. Evie is practically in his lap, one leg thrown over his haphazardly. Jay grabs her hips and pulls her close, making pleased little noises when Evie’s hands tangle in his hair.

“Hey horndogs. We’re in the cafeteria.”

Jay detaches himself from Evie’s mouth and moves her to his neck, which she proceeds to kiss down and sigh. “You really wanna call us horndogs?” He grins at Mal.

Carlos watches silently as Evie nuzzles Jay’s collar, panting against his skin and feverishly leaving kisses. He sniffs the air but catches nothing. Maybe there is a lingering scent to Jay’s rut that Evie can pick up on that is affecting her, but Carlos can’t smell anything.

He discreetly looks down and verifies it. He has no reaction – mental or physical – to watching Jay and Evie grind on each other.

There’s a drop of disappointment in his stomach. In the small time frame he had of wanting to come clean, Carlos had wanted to try sex, at least once.

Whatever. He’s lasted almost 16 years without it just fine.

“It was your rut doing all the work.” Mal says with an eye roll. “But save it for later. We should probably be making an effort not to fuck where everyone can see.” She looks off to the side where two students are packing up their belongings and sneering at Jay and Evie.

“My room, princess?” Jay asks as Evie mouths up his neck. “I’m not in rut anymore. I can agree to this.” He palms her ass over her dress and tights. “Instead of just…having dessert.” Jay kisses Evie, biting her lower lip. “But I’m not against doing that again either.”

Evie flushes down past her scarf. She shakily moves off of Jay and wipes her mouth. “I mean… Another day, yes.” She nods and hides her trembling hands under the table. “But let’s take some time.”

“That’s not what you said when I had your legs over my shoulders.”

Carlos’ eyebrows shoot up and he looks between the two of them. It clicks. Evie was the dessert. Jay had performed oral sex on her.

Images flash in Carlos’ mind – Evie on her back, Jay between her legs, Mal watching and encouraging – but nothing happens. There’s no rush of blood, no heat in his face, no tension in his pants.

Carlos huffs. Whatever. At least now, he wasn’t really lying when he told his pack he didn’t want to have sex.

Evie notices his reaction and soothes down her hair. “Let’s talk about this later.” She tells Jay, resting her head on his chest. “When we’re alone. In your room.”

Jay pouts, but nuzzles the top of her head. “What were we all talking about?” He looks at Mal and Carlos.

“Ben.” Mal reminds him, watching all three of them curiously. “You said he asked for Audrey and Chad, Carlos?”

Carlos nods.

“Interesting. He never mentioned anything about Chad.” Mal hums and looks at Evie. “What is he? An alpha?”

“Hades no.” Evie waves her hand. Her face is still pink and her voice is breathless. “He’s a beta. Maybe not the alpha prince mother had hoped for, but still a prince. I got the feeling he was trying to make someone jealous.” Evie looks down and shrugs. “But maybe, in a way, I was too.”

“I wanted to rip his face off.” Jay says easily, like they’re still on the Isle where comments like that are fine and like they’re not in Auradon where comments like that could get him sent back. “Every time you talked about him or I could smell him on you.”

“Relax, alpha.” Evie places her hands on Jay’s, which are balled into angry fists. “I’m all yours.”

Jay obeys the beta and his hands open with her prying. “All mine.” He says dreamily and looks over at Mal.

“Yeah, yeah.” She purses her lips but smiles. “We’re all each other’s.”

She looks at Jay, then Evie, then Carlos, but Carlos feels as if they all have forgotten he’s right here.

---

Ben’s coronation comes so quickly, Carlos can hardly believe it.

He’s gotten more used to his suppressants. Time doesn’t crawl by anymore, Carlos doesn’t feel sluggish and delayed. Everything is weird and sometimes Carlos thinks he’s in the wrong skin, but he feels less…dead.

“Princess, you look as ravishing as ever.” Jay purrs as he eyes Evie up and down. “Or have I already said that?”

“Only about a dozen times.” Evie twirls one of her curls and rocks on her feet. “But I don’t mind.” She giggles and accepts Jay’s outstretched hand, allowing herself to be pulled closer.

“You look quite handsome as well, Jay. Or has E already told you that?” Mal watches the two of them with a smile on her face.

“Pup, you look nice too.” Evie tells Carlos from under Jay’s arm, huddled against him. She looks Carlos up and down, as if seeing him for the first time. “Even if your boots still aren’t tied.” She teases.

Jay nods with a serious look. “Absolutely adorable.”

“The cutest.” Mal says. "Dude too."

The four of them are high in the stands of an old cathedral, just outside the perimeter of Auradon Prep. Nearly everyone in the kingdom is here as well, but Carlos doesn’t pay anyone much mind. He’s dressed in a formal suit – with his signature shorts, of course – as is Jay (who really does look handsome, though Carlos hasn’t told him that). Mal is in a soft purple dress, offset with black boots that keep her from looking ‘too Auradon’ while Evie is in a royal blue dress, looking more elegant than any other princess in the room.

Below them are a dozen royal families, the important people. Not that Carlos has any desire to be down there with stuffy strangers and people who look at them like scum on the bottom of their shiny shoes. On the little steps below, sitting in a glass case, is fairy godmother’s wand. Weeks ago, that wand was their entire purpose, but now, the four of them are content in Auradon and unwilling to bend to their parents’ will.

The sting of Cruella’s signature on his chest ebbs to life with her memory. Carlos ignores it.

He also does his best to ignore Jay and Mal and Evie all laughing together right next to him.

It is not their fault. They’ve tried so hard to include him.

Carlos knows that they’ve tried so hard to include him.

Carlos hates that they’ve tried so hard to include him.

In the weeks following Jay’s rut, it was clear that Jay and Evie and Mal were closer than before. Their constant affections, scentings, the little gifts between them, Carlos had witnessed it all. He was never blind to how Evie saw her way into Jay’s side as often as she could or how Mal left bite marks all over the two of them. He couldn’t smell anything these days, not with the suppressants in his system for almost a full month, but Carlos is sure that the three of them reek of each other.

It isn’t like they had made an effort to exclude him. On the contrary, Jay, Evie and Mal go out of their way to see to him, which is part of the problem.

Their affection with him doesn’t come easily anymore. Or, not as easily as it had between the three of them. There is always hesitation in Jay putting his arm over Carlos’ shoulders, uncertainty in Evie kissing his cheeks, too much thought in Mal offering to scent him.

Loving him is an effort for them.

The realization hurt more than Carlos anticipated. After the weeks of his double dosage, his feelings have begun to return. The world doesn’t seem to be in slow motion, his thoughts and emotions aren’t so muted. Nothing feels as intense as before he started these suppressants, but he doesn’t feel so numb either.

Not for the first time, Carlos wishes he had some sort of reference for his suppressants. Was he supposed to lose his feelings? Were they supposed to come back? Was he supposed to feel so tired some days and just fine on others?

But he doesn’t need a reference. Omegas need references for their suppressants and Carlos isn’t an omega, not anymore. He is going to be a beta, he is a beta, and while he’s surely not the first person to try and change his role, there are no references. Carlos is not going to need something that doesn’t exist.

Regardless, the idea of Jay and Evie and Mal putting work into loving him, like it was some kind of chore, had hurt. It still hurts. Even with his dulled emotions, it causes an ache in his chest that nearly puts Cruella’s burn to shame.

An over the top children’s choir sings in the stands behind them and drown out most of the small conversations happening throughout the cathedral. The heavy wooden doors are pulled open and everyone silences themselves to watch Ben enter.

People everywhere bow as Ben passes them. From the older, more experienced kings and queens to the young and giggly students, they all lower themselves as Ben walks past.

Jay and Mal stand rigid as Ben passes down below them. Evie curtsies like all the other girls and nudges Mal, who does not move. Carlos gives a half-ass bow with Dude in his arms, looking down at the ground and his untied laces. Evie’s right, he really should tie them. He's been really bad at doing little things like that lately: tying his shoes or walking Dude or paying attention in class. Other students rise from their bow and Carlos follows.

Ben reaches the front slowly. His parents and Fairy Godmother are waiting on stage and off to the side are Audrey and Chad. Jane is up there too, but she shies away from everyone and never stands too close to Chad or Audrey. She is up there because she is the daughter of the Fairy Godmother and not because she is of importance to Ben.

It is not lost on Carlos that the distance between him and his pack matches the distance between Jane and the ones she loves.

The whole ordeal is rather boring. Carlos didn’t know what to expect. King Adam’s crown is taken from his head and placed on Ben’s. The magic wand is uncovered from its glass case and Mal’s fingers twitch, but Evie grabs her hand and squeezes. Everyone is quiet.

The most interesting thing is how Ben kneels on the steps. There is nothing submissive about his stance, but Carlos can’t believe a new king would kneel in front of his kingdom, on national television, just as he is given the greatest authority one can get.

“Do you solemnly swear to govern the peoples of Auradon with justice and mercy as long as you shall reign?” Fairy Godmother asks. She speaks at a normal volume, but the building is so quiet, everyone hears her.

“I do solemnly swear.”

Mal inhales sharply and when Carlos looks at her, she is following every wave and flick of the wand.

He wonders if she regrets giving up such power for all of them, for him.

“Then it is my honor and my joy to bless our new ki-.”

Carlos isn’t watching Jane, but he is always aware of her presence down there. From his view up so high, Carlos has the perfect angle to see Jane’s lips curl back as she hikes up her dress. She lunges forward, her hand outstretched, and snatches the wand from her mother as easily as any thief from the Isle.

The crowd of people on the ground level gasp, some of them shout, but the people up in the balconies don’t pay attention to any of it.

Being so high up means Carlos can see the magic from the wand as it blasts through the roof of the cathedral without making a hole, as if the ceiling simply absorbs the magic, but that can’t be right. Not that Carlos knows anything about magic. But what he sees, what he feels, is like pure electricity, sparking and zapping. The heat of magic nearly burns on his face, he has to turn away because of how brightly it cackles, he can hear every pop and snap as if they would burst his ear drum.

“What the fuck?” Mal shouts. The sound of magic exploding around them is nearly enough to drown her voice out, but Mal has pulled Evie behind her, Carlos too, arms outstretched as if her body alone could shield them.

“Get down!” Jay yells at them and Carlos feels someone pull him to the ground.

“What’s happened?” Evie asks. People all around them are screaming and cowering, falling over themselves. Evie reaches for Carlos’ hand and he yanks away from her, folding in on himself.

He does not want to be touched right now. Everything is so loud and the light is still so bright, why are people screaming? That doesn't help anything, he wants to yell, they all need to shut up.

“It’s Jane.” Mal grunts as she pushes herself up onto her hands and knees. “She grabbed the wand.”

“Why?” Evie tries to stand, but falls as someone steps on her dress and keeps her down.

“Who fucking knows.” Mal snaps as she stands and quickly lifts Evie up. “But we need to get down there.”

Carlos struggles to stand on his own, tripping over his stupid laces. He had dropped Dude when he hit the floor, but the little dog is running around and barking at everyone, he’ll be fine. “Us? Why?”

“To get the hell out.” Jay reaches for Evie’s hand and pulls her along the stumbling crowd.

“Or to get the wand from that dumb ass!”

No one else runs for the stairs like they do. Most of the students are hiding behind each other, cowering under the shelter of the stone ledge. It’s as if they’re frozen, fleeing doesn’t even cross their minds.

Carlos can still hear the sounds of magic and people shrieking as they run down the stone staircase.

“Come on, move it!” Mal shouts as they jump down the steps as quick as they all can. “Watch out for running people down here!”

Just as the words leave her mouth, Jay leaps out of the staircase and collides into Jane. The hard smack of their bodies colliding is heard even above the chaos.

Jay falls back onto his ass and Evie trips over him, and Mal trips over her and Carlos does the same. Jane, significantly smaller than Jay now that he’s gained proper weight in Auradon, flies backwards and lands hard on the linoleum floor. She’s a distance away from the front and the stand that originally held the wand, having run from her mother chasing after her.

“Child, what are you doing?” Fairy Godmother shrieks. She drops to Jane’s side and finally gets a hold of her.

Carlos groans. He’s still entangled in arms and legs and fluffy purple and blue dresses. He can’t seem to get up without pulling one of the girls down by their extravagant gowns.

Jay has rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up, still slipping on Evie’s dress under his feet. “Let’s go.” He grunts as he hoists Evie up, tearing her dress in the process.

“Oh shit.” Evie hisses, but, to her credit, doesn’t give her ruined dress another thought. She reaches down for Mal and offers her hand.

“Where’s the wand?”

“M, you’re not still planning-?”

“No.” Mal snaps as she brushes herself off. “We’re not. But Jane doesn’t have it.”

They all follow her gaze to Jane, crawling on the floor as she searches for what was lost in her collision with Jay. Now that the bolts of magic are gone and there's no immediate threat, people are still running and falling over each other, doing more damage to themselves than anything the wand had done. Fairy Godmother grabs the back of Jane’s dress and tries in vain to pull her up.

“If I’m pretty,” Jane cries as she scrabbles on the floor, “they’ll want me! They’ll want me if I’m pretty!”

Carlos winces at her words. Mal does too, but Jay and Evie don’t notice.

People all around them are still losing their shit. Carlos thinks they're overreacting a bit, but a few of them settle now that Jane isn’t violently sending off blasts of magic that shake the whole building. Some are still cowering on the floor and others are crying. Carlos looks back at the front and sees Ben watching Jane with wide eyes, Audrey and Chad huddled next to him.

“I can make them want me too.” Jane is still sobbing as she fights her mother’s grasp. “I just have to fix me.”

There’s a pain in Carlos’ chest that makes it hard to breathe, but he’s knocked out of this distraction by a sharp scream.

Carlos turns around and takes in the sight of green smoke spiraling down from the ceiling. It’s so thick that Carlos can’t even see through it, but there’s no scent to it. At least, not one noticeable to a beta.

“What’s going on?” Evie asks as she reaches for Mal’s hand.

“We are so totally fucked.” Mal pales and her hands shake and her eyes grow wide. She looks so scared and small that Carlos can’t take his eyes off of her.

Once the green touches the floor, it expands outwards, rushing so fast that Carlos’ hair is ruffled by the wind. He throws his arm up to shield his eyes.

“I’m back!”

The words echo in the cathedral. No one speaks for a moment.

“It can’t be.” Fairy Godmother whispers.

“Holy fuck.” Jay exhales shakily.

Carlos lowers his arm and opens his eyes.

Standing before them, arms wide open and eyes a familiar shade of green, is Maleficent.

“Oh, baby girl,” she sneers at Mal, “you disappointed me again. I’m shocked.” She deadpans. Maleficent opens her mouth again, but people begin shrieking all at once.

It is all so loud and endless that Carlos can’t even think. Everyone’s voices meld together and he can faintly hear Fairy Godmother shouting something but he can’t tell what or even which direction she’s talking in. He can see people run and fall, but he can’t hear footsteps or bodies hitting the floor. It’s all just screaming. Carlos can’t tell what bothers him more – the noise drowning his thoughts or the Mistress of Evil staring at Mal like she’s dirt. He can’t think or breathe between the two things.

His legs feel weak and Carlos stumbles back. He bumps into something, someone, that holds him up. Carlos knows it must be one of his pack, they were the only ones around him, but whoever is holding him isn’t important, not when the whole room is spinning.

“Breathe, breathe. Keep it together. Breathe.”

He is breathing, Carlos wants to say, but then he realizes Jay isn’t talking to Carlos, he’s mumbling to himself. Carlos reaches back and grabs Jay’s hand and squeezes as hard as he can. (The motion is so awkward. When was the last time Carlos held Jay's hand? The last time he initiated physical contact?) The feeling of something warm and physical and real will calm Jay, maybe, hopefully, as everyone stops screaming.

Actually, everyone stops everything. Everyone just stops.

“That’s so much better.” Maleficent closes her eyes and smiles. Her scepter glows with the spell she has just cast and the thud of her slamming it down echoes in the cathedral now that all other noises are silenced.

“Alpha,” Evie whispers to Mal, “what do we do?”

Carlos pulls his hand back from Jay, who is panting, but not hyperventilating. Carlos locks his knees and hears his blood rushing. His palms are slick with sweat. He can’t break his eyes from Maleficent, not even to look at the rest of his pack.

“How long, Mal, were you going to let me sit on that island?” Maleficent sings as she wanders around the open space. She sneers down at Fairy Godmother, frozen on the ground with her arms outstretched in front of Jane.

“What are you talking about?” Mal asks with no emotion in her voice. None. Carlos can’t even wonder how she sounds so calm. She was so frightened just moments ago, but there is no trace of that on her face. “You’re off the island. You’re welcome.”

“Don’t fool me, girl. You had no role in this accidental liberation.” Maleficent nudges Fairy Godmother with her foot and Fairy Godmother tips over to the ground, her face hitting the hard surface. “This one, the mousey one,” Maleficent looks down at Jane, “she grabbed the wand. We were all watching on the television back home.”

Mal steps forward. Carlos doesn’t move, but Jay follows her lead and keeps Carlos and Evie sheltered behind him. “Only because I convinced her to.” Mal says as she cocks her hip and crosses her arms. “That way if the plan failed, there would be no blame on us. We wouldn’t be sent back.”

“You’re a horrible liar.”

Carlos’ gut twists. Mal’s easy words had almost convinced him that was her plan the entire time.

Mal tenses in front of him. Her mind must be racing, but Carlos can’t read her face from here. She flings her arm out to the side, fingers spread and twitching, but Maleficent does the same and the wand comes shooting from the floor, wherever it had been lost from Jane’s grip, and into Malefient’s hand.

“But you have managed to be a fantastic disappointment once again.” Maleficent’s lip curls back. “To think, I actually thought you would succeed!” Her eyebrows shoot up and she laughs. “I genuinely thought you would free me from the Isle! I hoped that you would be successful!” Maleficent throws her head back and nearly howls.

“Take them,” Mal whispers over her shoulder, making the briefest eye contact with Jay, “and get out.”

“Not a chance in Hell.” Evie hisses and steps forward so she’s no longer hidden behind Jay, but stands at his side.

Carlos swallows and looks around, but does the same. He decreases the distance between himself and Maleficent, who is holding her scepter in one hand and Fairy Godmother’s wand in the other, which is the last thing he wants to do, and he’s not quite sure why he does it. Probably for Mal and Jay and Evie, his delayed brain supplies ad Carlos nods to himself.

That explanation makes sense.

Mal’s eyes soften, but she turns back to her mother. “You’re crashing another party you weren’t invited to. How predictable.”

“And you’ve grown weak with your little attachments.” Maleficent says back in the same disinterested tone. “Just like I knew you would.”

“I’m not weak.” Mal seethes as she steps closer to her mother. “I’m just not following your orders blindly anymore.”

“You? Following orders? Don’t try to paint yourself as competent.” Maleficent spits. With Mal in heels, Maleficent is the slightest bit shorter, but it doesn’t seem to matter with two magical weapons in her hands. “You failed to get my scepter on the Isle, you failed to get the wand, you failed to not grow attached.” Maleficent smirks, she giggles. “Not that it matters. Once your parents are off the Isle, they each have their own ways of dealing with you.” She looks at Jay, at Evie, at Carlos and makes full eye contact with them as her smile grows.

Carlos hardly has time to register the fact that she’s talking about Cruella or how Jay and Evie tense next to him. There’s enough of a pause for Carlos’ breath to catch in his throat and a sense of nausea, but too much is going on for him to slow down.

Maleficent turns back to Mal. “Once the barrier is down and the rest are here, your little pack won’t matter.”

Mal’s shoulders tremble. “Guess I’ll have to stop the barrier then.” Her arm shoots out and a gush of wind follows her.

"And now I command, Wand to my hand!"

Carlos doesn’t understand magic, not really, not at all, but he understands Mal. He believes in Mal, and even if Maleficent is the scariest person he has ever seen (excluding Cruella), Mal is the strongest person Carlos knows.

The wands is yanked by an invisible force – magic – from Maleficent’s hand into Mal’s.

“Yes!” Evie claps her hands and next to her, Jay whoops. Carlos’ face breaks out into a grin.

“Whoa.” Mal breathes. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is hanging open. “It worked!”

Carlos wishes she believed in herself as much as Carlos believes in her.

“You needy little brat.” Maleficent seethes, eyes trained on the wand. Her fingers are curled into talons around her scepter and her teeth are exposed in a way that makes Carlos sway. “How dare you!” She raises her scepter off the ground and Carlos has the fleeting thought that he really doesn’t know what Maleficent’s scepter can do. It put Mal to sleep back on the Isle, but it’s not as powerful as Fairy Godmother’s wand.

Not that Carlos wants to find out what kind of damage it can do. He flinches back, Evie too, but not Jay.

Jay doesn’t flinch away from anything.

He surges forward and grabs the scepter. He throws his whole weight back, desperate to release it from Maleficent’s grasp, his feet slipping and sliding on the floor, to no avail.

Maleficent laughs, even throws her head back with mirth. Her scepter doesn’t move an inch, despite Jay’s best efforts. She takes a breath and keeps her smile in place as she pulls Jay closer to her. Maleficent grips his arm, his bicep, and digs her fingers in – her fingers, not her nails, as if she's trying to keep Jay in place and not hurt him into letting go – and does her creepy giggle again. “Oh my.” Her hand travels up Jay’s arm, his shoulder, his face.

Her movements make Carlos’ skin crawl.

Jay has stopped fighting and stopped trying to pull the scepter from her. He is as frozen as the people around them.

Maleficent’s fingers finally settle on Jay’s chin, pulling on his lip with her thumb. “I can see why your father misses you now.”

Jay jerks back violently, falling to the floor in his haste to put distance between himself and Maleficent. He scrambles away until he bumps into Evie’s legs and she reaches down to pull him up.

“Oh, maybe your pack isn’t as tight knit as you thought.” Maleficents tsks while watching Mal’s face. “Didn’t you know that?” She looks back to Jay, who is shaking behind Evie, her arms outstretched in front of him (because a beta can protect, they can at least try). “Didn’t you know your other alpha was his father’s chew toy?” Maleficent’s lips pull back, but it’s not a smile, not even close. “Jafar talks about you constantly. He can’t wait to see you again.”

“Shut your mouth.” Mal says. She says that to the Mistress of Evil, holy shit! “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I know exactly what I’m talking about. This big, bad alpha was-.”

“I already knew that.” Mal cuts her off. Her mother turns back to her. “I know that. Jay is still mine. And I’m…I’m his.” Mal gulps. Her fingers are white around the wand. “You’re not going to divide us.”

Maleficent’s not-smile turns into a definite not-smile. “You’re aware of the weak and pitiful ways he submitted? And you call him your right hand. You call yourself his.” She sneers in disgust. “You should be thanking me for helping divide you, you’re clearly not thinking properly. Did you know about your beta’s promise to Grimhilde?”

Evie, still shielding Jay, gasps. Her posture becomes rigid and her mouth snaps shut.

Mal, to her credit, doesn’t take the bait and keeps her eyes on her mother. “Evie is-.”

“She’s only using you to get to Auradon, Mal.” Maleficent sneers as she stalks closer. “She told her mother that the only reason she put up with you was to find her way off the Isle and into the arms of a prince.” Maleficent studies Evie. “What a clever girl to follow such power for her own selfish gain. I wish Mal had that sense.”

“It wasn’t true.” Evie says meekly. She steps away from the group, folding in on herself and watching them all. “I just told her that.”

“You gave your word.” Maleficent sings, drumming her fingers on her scepter. “You promised your mother that as soon as you found a prince, you would abandon your silly pack for a more respectable option.”

“She wouldn’t let me stay with you.” Evie whimpers as she looks between Mal and Jay and Carlos. Her lips tremble and she blinks rapidly, dabbing at her eyes carefully. “That’s it.”

Carlos believes Evie over Maleficent easily, there's not a doubt in his mind. Maleficent lies, she wants to hurt them, and Evie has never hurt them.

“It doesn’t matter.” Mal hisses. For a short moment, Carlos thinks she’s talking to Evie, but Mal has turned to her mother again. “I know where Evie stands. I know where my pack stands. I know we’re…we’re stronger together.” Mal wiggles the wand to prove her point. “You know it too. That’s why you’re trying so hard to break us up.”

Maleficent’s eyes wander to Carlos slowly, as if she forgot he was there. “I wouldn’t call any group with an omega in it ‘strong’.”

What did-?

There's no way.

There's no fucking way she said what Carlos thinks she just said.

But Maleficent keeps looking at Carlos and her smile widens like she knows.

Carlos’ heart stops.

It actually stops. He can feel it in his chest.

His heart stops but he’s still alive (right? Is he alive still?), but his heart is completely still.

“Oh, dear.” Maleficent coos. “It seems maybe you don’t know all of your pack’s secrets.”

Carlos can’t find it himself to look anywhere other than Maleficent. He’s frozen. He thinks he might be placed under the same spell as everyone around them. His limbs are stiff and his neck won’t turn and his eyes are held open and his heart has stopped.

His vision blackens at the edges, otherwise he would see Mal half turn to him with her brows pulled together.

Did someone say something? Is he being spoken too? Carlos can’t hear anything other than the blood rushing in his ears.

How is his blood moving if his heart has stopped?

“You did very well at keeping it a secret, dear boy.” Maleficent says to him. It sounds as if she’s underwater. “Quite clever. Even I am still uncertain of how you did it.”

What is she saying? Why is she saying this? Why does she think he's an omega?

He's not anymore, or he won't be an omega soon enough, he just needs more time.

But how does she know?

“Your downfall was your list.” Maleficent tells him and Carlos thinks maybe he’s voicing his questions aloud without realizing it. “The ridiculous one about whether or not to tell my daughter, I’m sure,” Maleficent waves her hand at Mal.

Carlos shakes. He tries to shake his head, but it’s his whole body that shakes.

“You remember it, don’t you? Cruella said she found it in the kitchen. Mal’s name was all over it, as were the other two.” Maleficent says this all with little emotion, as if crumbling Carlos’ world is a trivial topic. “Cruella didn’t understand it at first, but she put it together. Her only child is an omega.”

He can’t breathe. He can’t breathe and his heart has stopped, he must be dying. Please, please, please, let him be dying.

“No.” Carlos croaks. His throat feels as if he hasn’t spoken in years. “No. Not her.” He brings his hand up to his throat, quickly swelling shut. He can’t breathe, he can’t breathe, he can’t fucking breathe.

“Oh yes,” Maleficent purrs as she steps nearer. “Cruella knows. The whole Isle knows. She has her own list, now, one filled with alphas on the Isle who will kill each other to be the first to find you. I hear some have even paid in advance.”

Carlos hits the floor before he even realizes he’s falling. Or collapsing. Is there a difference?

Cruella knows.

Cruella knows he’s an omega, he’s been lying, he’s been hiding from her.

She knows everything.

“Carlos, are you okay?” Mal asks from above. She drops to the ground with him. “Carlos? Carlos? Carlos, fuck, you need to breathe. Breathe!”

Mal smacks him hard on the back and Carlos chokes on the air. He coughs and splutters and still clutches at his throat. His windpipe is too constricted for him to get air, which is good, actually, because Carlos can’t live through this. He can’t live with Cruella knowing the truth, he just can’t.

“Kneeling for an omega?” Maleficent drawls. “Pitiful.” She snaps her fingers and Fairy Godmother’s wand, once loose in Mal’s hand as she spoke to Carlos, soars back to Maleficent.

“No!” Mal shouts and jumps up, her concern for Carlos replaced with new fear. She stretches her hand again, fingers trembling, but Maleficent shakes her head.

“Don’t you see what a mistake you’re making?” Maleficent shouts and slams her scepter to the floor. “You are willing to give up everything for a group of spineless, worthless teenagers who won’t give up anything for you! They don't fear you! The don't even respect you enough to be honest!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Mal screams back with her hand still reaching for the wand. “Carlos isn’t an-!”

“Done with lips so tightly sealed, Now the truth will be revealed!”

Carlos flinches violently. He throws his arms up over his face, just like he used to when he saw Cruella reaching for him.

He didn't think it could happen, but he found something scarier than Cruella.

But nothing happens, as wild as that seems to Carlos. He hears Maleficent’s words, her spell, but nothing happens. No forced truth tumbles from Carlos’ mouth like he thought.

That doesn’t change his utter panic though. Carlos tries again to gasp for air and-

When did smells get so intense?!

- he coughs from the stench of everything. The floor cleaner used last night, the polish used for the frames around the room, the overwhelming scents of perfume and cologne. The leather of Jay’s boots, the nail polish of Evie’s fingers, the hairspray for Mal.

He can’t get pure air, it’s all just smells and chemicals and sweet, overbearing fragrances when he inhales and it makes Carlos’ stomach churn.

At least he’s already on the floor. All he has to do is turn his head to the side and retch.

He can’t remember what he ate for breakfast this morning, but whatever it was, it burns his throat and tongue, makes his eyes water.

“Holy fucking shit.”

Carlos wipes at his mouth with the back of his trembling hand and looks up.

Jay is the one who spoke and he’s watching Carlos with giant eyes, jaw hanging open. Mal is blinking rapidly, speechless. Evie’s eyebrows are nearly in her hairline.

All of them have twitching noses, furiously inhaling the new scent, Carlos’ new scent.

Carlos scampers back. He’s already on the floor, but he falls onto his back in his hurry and his loose boots and sweaty palms make it a struggle to get away, get away, get away.

“My, my, my,” Maleficent sings. She brings a hand up to her nose. “It’s been years since I smelt one of you. I forgot how potent it is.”

“Carlos.” Evie breathes his name, her eyebrows pulling together in confusion, in hurt. “I…” She looks away from him and shakes her head. “You’re not…” She doesn’t look back at him.

Jay keeps staring at him though. “There’s no fucking way.” He says and he might be angry or sad or surprised, Carlos can’t really tell.

“You’re lying!” Mal turns to her mother. “You’re using a spell to distract us because you know we’re stronger than you when we’re together.” She clenches her hands into fists and breathes through her mouth. “Stop whatever you’re doing to him.” Mal looks over at Carlos, still coughing on the ground and trembling. “Stop!”

“What further proof do you need?” Maleficent seethes, brandishing her scepter and the wand menacingly. “You know you have a bitch alpha, a liar and a bitch omega in your pack and you still choose them?”

“What’s my other option? You?” Mal spits and takes a step forward. “I am not you and I don’t want to be you!”

“You will either be evil, or you will be nothing!”

Mal’s hand shoots out again, fingers twitching.

“And now I command, Wand to my hand!”

Maleficent surges forward, still clutching the wand. Her wide eyes tell her shock at Mal's strength. She growls and jerks herself back, her feet skidding on the floor in a way that would be funny if it all weren’t so terrifying.

“The good of evil is good as none, When stands before four hearts as one!”

The words ring around the hall, echoing off the walls and falling in sync as Mal repeats the spell again and again, but they don’t register in Carlos’ ears.

He had crawled away from everything, until his back was against a pillar. His dress shirt is pulled up to cover his nose. He can’t breathe, there is too much in the air. How do people fucking breathe like this? Was it always this bad before his suppressants?

Because that’s what happened, that’s what Maleficent did. She erased the effects of the suppressants in him. 'Now the truth will be revealed'. She forced him out of hiding.

They all know.

Tears force their way out of his eyes and Carlos isn’t sure if it’s from the intense smells or from the horror bubbling in him. Holding his shirt to cover his nose helps, a little, because he had only used a little of Jay’s cologne this morning, but at least that’s only one scent and it’s familiar, maybe even comforting (though still overpowering and leaving him choking), except for the thought of Jay sends him into another panic.

He wishes he could run and flee, but Carlos can hardly move. He’s slumped over, crying and gagging. He can hardly make out the power struggle between Mal and Maleficent, Jay and Evie behind their alpha. Evie has her hand on Mal’s arm and Jay is holding onto her shoulder. Even if they can’t fight with Maleficent, they are present, providing their own support.

And Carlos is here fighting to just breathe.

The purr in his throat catches him off guard. Carlos hasn’t purred since… Evil, he doesn't even know. It's not important. It bubbles up from his chest and out of his throat, masked almost entirely by his sobs.

When Ben first introduced him to Dude, that was the last time he purred, Carlos remembers. That event seems so long ago, when it was just weeks ago.

It hadn’t done much back then, when Carlos thought he was going to die and be ripped to shreds, and the purr doesn’t do anything now, as Carlos watches the battle between Maleficent and Mal.

He should be with them, helping, fighting!

Not that it would do any good. Omegas can’t protect anyone. Hell, Carlos can’t even keep his own secret.

He stops sobbing though, at least. He watches everything unfold in a haze.

Maleficent is still clinging to the wand in her grasp, holding on with one hand. She probably can’t cast a spell with how divided her focus is, Carlos thinks. She’s keeping a grip on her scepter and fighting to keep the wand at the same time. Maleficent's time on the Isle, her unfamiliarity with her own magic, is working in Mal's favor, even if Mal is just barely able to keep her own.

As Carlos watches, the idea of getting up and doing more is unattainable, but he makes eye contact with Evie, gripping Mal’s arm as if they could share strength.

She looks between Carlos and Mal and jerks back from Mal as if she’s been burnt. Evie is at Carlos’ side in a matter of seconds, kneeling on the ground with him.

“Get up!” She hisses. Her angry tone makes him want to hide. “Carlos, please! Mal needs you, we need you.”

Mal doesn’t need him, she said so. She said Carlos would weaken them, he would be a distraction, which he is clearly being if Evie is with him instead of Mal.

They all must hate him now. He’s an omega, he’s the weak link, he’s a liar.

He tried to tell them. He wants to tell Evie, he tried. He’s sorry he lied, he’s sorry he never told Evie, his first love, the truth and he’s sorry he stole her mother’s suppressants and had Evie starved for a week.

He ruins everything, he’s the worst, why is he even alive?

“Carlos, please.” Evie grabs his arm and pulls. “I don’t think Mal is strong enough-.” Evie coughs and pulls away from him, pinching her nose. “Shit.” She winces and exhales slowly. “I’m sorry, I-I-." The adrenaline has kept her tears at bay long enough, but they sneak past her eyes and down her face. "Oh no, what are we going to do?”

There’s a hard yelp from behind Evie and she whips around to see, Carlos following her gaze.

Mal has fallen to her knees, hand still outstretched. Jay kneels beside her, gripping her shoulder tightly.

“The strength of evil is good as none, When stands before four hearts as one.”

Her spell is weaker, Carlos can hear it in her voice.

“She’s failing.” Evie breathes. “And Maleficent knows it.”

There is pain in Mal’s voice. Her words crack and break and waver, though her hand never shakes.

Over the sweat and perfume in the room, there is something sour. The underlying scent is familiar, though Carlos hasn't been able to detect it in weeks. It's Mal, it's her pain, the anguish of carrying on this spell against her mother.

And he had distracted Evie from her.

He keeps hurting her. And he’s already making them all weaker.

Carlos cries out as he forces himself to look away, to look at the ground by his feet, where he sees his stupid laces on the ground. Mal asked him to tie his boots, and Evie asked him, and what a dumb thing to be distracted by in a fight.

“Give up!” Maleficent screams, slowly pulling the wand back to her chest as Mal’s magic begins to falter. “You’re nothing more than a weak...spineless...pitiful...embarrassing little-.”

Maleficent yelps, actually yelps, as Carlos boot hits her shoulder.

He had been aiming for her face.

But it doesn’t matter where he wanted to hit and where he actually hit, it just matters that Carlos hit her at all because Maleficent is hurt or surprised or, at the very least, her concentration is broken, and the wand jerks out of her hand and into Mal’s.

“The strength of evil is-.”

Mal’s words die quickly. She rapidly looks between the wand in her hand, her mother, and Carlos’ boot on the floor. Mal blinks, her mouth hanging open. She clearly hadn’t thought she would win against her mother.

“You little bitch!” Maleficent snarls at Carlos and he is worried that he might actually piss himself, but she doesn’t waste any more time with him and turns back to Mal. “Give it back,” Maleficent hisses. Her fingers tighten around her scepter. “Give me the wand, give me the wand!Now.”

“No.” Mal pushes herself off the ground and sways, but Jay steadies her with a hand on her elbow. Mal doesn't bother pretending she doesn't need him.

“I said ‘give it back’!”

“And I said ‘no’!”

Maleficent raises her scepter. “You stupid brat! You will regret defying m-.”

Carlos’ other boot hits her abdomen.

Evie, kneeling just inches away from him, whips back to look at him. Her eyes are wide in what might be shock or horror or something in between. In fact, everyone looks at him.

“Don’t…cuh-call her that!” Carlos shouts. His voice is so hoarse. The smells around here are burning his nose and eyes and throat. His harsh breathing left his mouth dry. His shaking body affects even his lips as he stutters. “Duh-don’t!”

Maleficent’s eyes glow green and it’s horrifying because it’s Maleficent, but also because they are so similar to Mal’s own glowing eyes. “Oh, little omega,” she whispers, but her voice echoes around the silent room, “I can’t wait for your mother to remind what your place is.”

Carlos crumbles easily back into the pillar behind him. The mention of Cruella replaces every anger he had in Mal’s defense and all the bravery (or stupidity) he felt to help his pack.

“Drawing strength from all that’s passed, Send her back, once at last!”

The words hardly make it into Carlos’ ears. He can’t decipher what is being yelled now, he just buries his face into his knees.

But that isn’t just Mal’s voice he recognizes. Jay’s there too, shouting with her.

“Drawing strength from all that’s passed, Send her back, once at last!”

“No! I’ve waited too long! I’ll show you real evil!”

It’s too loud in here again and Carlos could suffocate in the noise alone.

“Drawing strength from all that’s passed, Send her back, once at last!”

Evie’s voice is in there too now. Carlos can almost make out the words with how close she is and he wants to beg her to stop shouting, please, Evie, it hurts.

She reaches out for him, just making contact with his socked foot, but holding tightly.

“Drawing strength from all that’s passed, Send her back, once at last!”

“You’ll never get rid of me!”

“Carlos please.” Evie cries for him.

“Drawing strength from all that’s passed, Send her back, once at last!”

“I’ll wring all of your throats! Slit all of you open!”

Evie lets go of his foot and reaches for his hand, curling around his limp fingers.

“Drawing strength from all that’s passed, Send her back, once at last!”

“Carlos, we need you.”

“Mal Bertha, I will end you and your little pack!”

He never raises his head, but he can hear Evie and Mal and Jay and he’s so tired of disappointing them. He’s so tired of being weak, of being a burden, he'll never stop. Now that they all know, he'll never be able to stop hurting them.

Carlos tightens his hand around Evie’s and opens his mouth. He doesn’t have a voice, but he mouths the words, his exhales coming out in the shape of Mal’s spell.

“Drawing strength from all that’s passed, Send her back, once at last!”

There’s a poof that Carlos hears. It’s so loud it aches. The shouting all stops. There is silence. He can’t open his eyes. He can’t remember closing them.

And then there is screaming.

Carlos’ eyes shoot open and there is the fleeting moment of terror that the villains are all here, or that he’s back on the Isle.

But no, he’s still in Auradon.

Screaming, panicking Auradon.

Screaming, panicking, unfrozen Auradon.

The noise doesn’t last for long. Carlos peeks through his fingers to see that, yes, Maleficent is gone. There is nothing to show that she had even been here. Everyone in the cathedral has been lifted from her spell and are left in a murmuring confusion at her absence.

“We did it!” Jay shouts and his voice is louder than anything in the building. “We fucking did it! Hell fucking yeah!” He picks Mal up and spins her in a circle. She swats at his back, but her laughter is just as loud as Jay’s.

“I can’t believe it.” Evie breathes. She is still clutching Carlos’ hand like some lifeline. “We sent her back.” Evie brings her hands up to her mouth slowly. Then her giggling starts, high pitched and uneven and hysterical. “We did it! Carlos!” She turns to look at him. “We-!” Evie’s smile drops from her face and takes all traces of joy with it. “Carlos?”

There is too much in here. Too many smells and noises, too much of his skin feeling like it’s on fire and his stomach twisting itself up and tearing itself apart, too many things to process because they know, they know, they all know.

The threat of Maleficent isn’t here to distract him from that anymore.

His pack knows. The Isle knows. Cruella knows.

They all know.

“I don’t…I don’t understand.” Evie pulls away from him. She looks at him like she’s seeing him for the first time, like she doesn’t know who he is because she doesn’t.

Carlos should maybe realize that Cruella isn’t here and she has no way of getting him now, but that doesn’t matter in the long run, not really. He looks at Evie, but not at her face and not in her eyes.

Crawling on his knees and kissing her feet and begging for forgiveness would be the first step in a million mile journey to show how guilty he is and to show his grief. Carlos can’t even find thoughts right now, let alone words or movement or a plan.

He risks a look over Evie’s shoulder for Mal and Jay, which is a terrible mistake – but isn’t Carlos an expert in those? – because they’re looking right back at him, facing him, trying to get to him despite the people swarming them. Fairy Godmother and Belle and Adam and Ben and a dozen others trying to reach Mal and understand.

Carlos’ eyes flicker back to Evie – but not to her eyes, don’t ever look someone in the eyes, you idiot – and the chattering people all around them, trying to calm themselves. They’re nightmare has just ended.

And Carlos’ has just started.

He forces himself to stand even though his legs buckle and his boots are somewhere he can’t see anymore. The tile is cold under his socks and he slips without the tractin of his boots.

“Carlos!”

Oh, he just wants to submit. To fall down to his knees and obey Evie’s call for him.

Well that’s not entirely true. What Carlos really wants is to die. Or hide. Or just stop existing, for forever.

He doesn’t know how to stop existing though.

So Carlos does the next best thing and runs.

---

“I still think this is bullshit.” Jay snaps as they stalk up the halls. The dried blood under his nose is gone to reveal minor swelling, but nothing broken. His right eye hasn't gotten any better or worse in the half hour since they left the Isle. “Why are we all separated?”

“You heard Fairy Godmother,” Evie reminds lightly. “Students are separated by gender and role. They won’t let a beta and alpha share a room.”

“It’s bullshit. We’re not gonna fuck like rabbits or anything.”

Carlos flushes, but no one notices. “My room is coming up.” Judging by the twitchy guy with glasses up ahead, Carlos can guess which door is his.

Although his shirt is ripped where Cruella yanked it down to burn him, Evie fastened it back together with a safety pin after to hide it. Showing a weakness so early in Auradon wouldn't do. Evie also had a small first aid kit in her packed bag, which she took out of the trunk and into the limo for him.

Mal had been the one to very gently bandage the wound and Carlos had stayed perfectly still, trying not to let the tears fall with every poke and prod.

Still, the guy with glasses looks at Carlos’ torn shirt longer than necessary. So did everyone outside. “Uh, hi,” he says as the four Isle kids walk up to him. He looks at Jay and his bruised face, blanches, and then looks back to the much smaller Carlos. “You’re Carlos, right?”

“Yeah,” he shifts his weight and looks up at the Auradon student. “You’re Doug?”

“Y-yep!” He rocks forward, thumb in his suspenders. “Dopey’s son!” Doug looks at the others nervously, but makes no comment on their presence.

Carlos knows why he is the first one to get dropped off. The other three are still in shock over Cruella’s burn on his chest. They want to ensure he gets to his room safely, check out the person he’ll be living with, force Carlos to lay down and relax.

It’s kind of nice. Carlos can’t risk indulging them and trying to rest in his new room, but it’s nice.

“So, son of Dopey,” Evie nearly purrs. “I’m the daughter of the Evil Queen.” She outstretches her hand.

Doug looks like he might faint, just to wake up and kiss her boots. It’s the same reaction a lot of guys have to Evie. “N-n-nice to meet you.” He shakes her hand.

“I’m sure it is.” Evie smiles at him and places a hand on Carlos’ shoulder. “Doug, could you be a dear and make sure Carlos rests before dinner? He’s tired from the ride and we like for him to be in good condition.”

Carlos would bristle at her words if he wasn’t so distracted by her fingers trailing circles on his spine.

At first, he’s peeved she would place in him in Doug’s care and imply that he is weak, give Doug the idea that Carlos could be overpowered, but he picks up on her subtle words.

Good condition.

She is being as sweet as a flower, warning Doug that any new bruises or scraped will be noticed and not tolerated. She is ensuring Carlos' safety, lest Doug be blamed for any mishaps.

Carlos can take care of himself, he’s not weak and stupid.

But it’s still nice for Evie to look out for him.

“Yes ma’am. I mean, uh, yes Evie. Sure, um, ahem,” Doug plays with his bow-tie and opens the door. “Carlos, your bed is the one on the left, you can come in and-.”

“How about you run inside for minute, hmm?” Mal suggests, but it’s clear by her tone that it’s not up for debate. “We need to chat with Carlos for just a minute. Then he can rest and you two can bond over…whatever it is boys and betas do.”

“Uh, well, actually, I’m not supposed to-.”

“Tick tock.”

Doug turns and shuffles back in the room, closing the door behind him.

“So, what’s the plan?” Carlos asks softly. “We’ll all be able to meet up for dinner, right? That’s wha-.”

Mal holds up her hand and ceases his flurry of questions. “We’ll meet up together later today, no matter what Auradon says.” She vows, then looks at Jay for a moment with a raised brow. “Who’s first?”

Jay sweeps his arm out. “Ladies first, of course.”

She turns back to Carlos, face expressionless. “You’ve earnt your place back.” She says, trailing her fingers on his shirt, just under where she cleaned and bandaged him and his flesh is still searing from Cruella’s burn. “I’m…sorry that happened to you. That’s not what I wanted.”

Carlos shrugs and swallows. It was worth the pain, one hundred times over. As long as he found his place with Mal again, every pain was a worthy price.

“But you’re mine, right? Ours?”

It’s difficult to break eye contact with an alpha, but Carlos looks over to Jay, who is simply watching him, then to Evie, who smiles at him.

The wounded flesh on his chest burns. “Yes.” He swallows again. “Please.”

“Good.” With that, Mal’s eyes darken. She grabs a fistful of his shirt and yanks Carlos closer, nose trailing along his collar and throat. She rubs her cheek against his skin, his neck and under his chin.

Carlos gasps.

She is scenting him.

A whine escapes his throat before he can think about it. This…is not what he was expecting. Not at all.

Mal snickers, nips at his collar bone and Carlos swears he can even feel her tongue on his Adam’s apple. Her hair tickles his skin, tangled and un-brushed, but soft and cool. She nuzzles his throat, caresses her cheek along his jaw, imprinting her scent onto his skin, claiming him, announcing to all who came near that Carlos is hers.

Carlos’ eyes fall shut and he whimpers at the attention, the implication of carrying Mal’s scent and belonging to her. “A-Alph-pha.”

His double dosage of suppressants since Mal’s abandonment is being quickly overridden. His knees are weak, his legs are boneless. He can smell Mal, her perfume, the leather of her clothes, the alpha in her and Carlos can’t even breathe right.

Which is a good thing. If he weren’t so breathless, he would be moaning.

Finally, just as he is about to sink to his knees – and Carlos doesn’t know if that’s because his legs are so weak or because the need to kneel and submit is so strong he can taste it – Mal pulls away.

Instantly, Carlos wishes to pull her back, regain that contact with her, but he doesn’t. He’s not in charge.

Mal smirks, clearly pleased with the state she has pushed him into.

Though he can’t see his expression, Carlos is sure he looks pretty pleased himself.

“Everyone will be able to smell me on you. Especially any alphas here.” Mal explains because the olfaction of betas is nonexistent compared to that of alphas and she’s assuming Carlos can’t smell anything different, but he can smell her and only her, despite the feet of distance between them. It makes him dizzy.

Carlos gulps. He should say something, right? Why can’t he speak?

She grins, happy with his attitude. “You’re welcome.”

Jay steps forward with a smirk as Mal steps back. “You okay?”

Shakily, Carlos nods. He can’t quite find his voice.

“Can I scent you too?”

That’s the difference between Jay and Mal. They are both in charge, both strong and quick and confident, but Mal is more so. Or, at least, Jay holds back more than she does. He is every bit as strong and quick and confident, but he pulls back.

Jafar, Carlos thinks as he nods and Jay steps closer. Jay is like this because of his father.

As soon as Jay’s mouth touches his throat, all thoughts of Jafar fly from Carlos’ mind.

The alpha’s teeth scrape over his skin, not biting but marking, scratching with his canines. He cups the back of Carlos’ head with one hand, the other resting on his shoulder.

Carlos tips his head back, leg strength disappearing once more. He reaches for the wall behind him, shuffling backwards to lean against it for some sort of support because his bones have become mush. The hard plaster meets his back, holding him up, as Carlos bites on his tongue hard enough to draw blood.

Jay nuzzles his throat and neck, paying certain attention to his collar, but never going too close to the still searing skin. He is gentle and slow, reading Carlos’ body language, and taking care to not jostle his shirt and rub against the burn.

By some miracle, Carlos still can’t find his voice and he doesn’t need to worry about moaning or whimpering or whispering Jay’s name over and over again.

His head is fuzzy with the proximity, the scent of an alpha on him. And the scent won’t fade, not for days. It will linger on Carlos’ skin, allowing all to know that he has been claimed, he has alphas, he belongs.

“Jay,” Evie calls sweetly. “We’re short on time.”

Evil, how long has Jay been rubbing his neck and licking his collar bone? How long has Carlos been gripping his shoulders because his pathetic knees were trembling too badly?

With pink cheeks, Jay pulls back and looks at Carlos, who has the horrible urge to avert his gaze and duck his head like a behaved omega should. “You good?”

Carlos nods, still mute.

“May I?”

He blinks and looks past Jay to Evie, standing patiently beside Mal, hands clasped in front of her. She smiles warmly at him, waiting for his answer.

“Don’t overboard him,” Mal warns, though she is grinning at Carlos and he feels very much like a mouse that is about to be pounced on.

“Of course not,” Evie agrees with a solemn nod, but a smile plays at her lips. “Carlos?”

Where on earth is his voice? He can only nod his head, fingers scrabbling at the wall behind him.

Evie’s smile widens and she steps to him. “Afterall,” she sings, looking over her shoulder at the two alphas, “I had him first.”

Carlos barely registers the look of surprise on Jay’s and Mal’s faces before he closes his eyes and exposes his throat to the beta.

She is the gentlest and the quickest of the three. Evie cups his face and presses a kiss to his nose, just like she did last year when she promised Carlos would always be a part of her pack, swearing to always take care of each other.

The wall behind him is hardly enough, but Evie is light with her scenting. She rubs her nose along his jaw and over his ear, kissing the skin just beneath. The contact between them is hardly anything, which Carlos is so grateful for because the wall can’t hold him forever, but he also hates because he’s so crazy for Evie, he can’t stand the idea of not touching her right now.

Their cheeks rubs together and Carlos can smell her perfume, so sweet on the Isle but already sour compared to the scents of Auradon.

He hopes it will never fade from his skin.

Just as Carlos thinks he might pass out or collapse or start begging, the beta pulls away and runs a hand through his hair. He follows her hand pathetically as she pulls away.

“Still here?”

He nods, lips pursed shut.

Evie laughs sweetly, sliding away from him delicately and turning to stand with Jay and Mal. “Do you…want to scent any of us?”

Before Carlos can answer, Jay snickers. “Let’s save that for another day. Pup looks like he forgot how to breathe.”

No, he’s breathing just fine. He doesn’t remember how to talk is all.

“Take a second to breathe, relax.” Mal orders him. She looks at him softer, the anger and heat in the limo is gone. “Then go meet the dwarf. He smelt fine to me. Be careful of him though.”

Carlos nods. He can take whatever Doug has to give, the beta can’t be worse than Cruella.

“Since Mal and I don’t have roommates, you can sneak into our dorm anytime, okay?” Jay offers. “We’ll show each other our rooms tomorrow.”

Even the biggest, baddest alphas on Auradon’s campus hadn’t been willing to room with an alpha from the Isle. Jay and Mal had argued that Carlos and Evie should be their roommates respectively, but the Fairy Godmother had refused and the four of them know better than to cause trouble with such a heavy burden on their shoulders.

“We’ll all meet up during dinner, okay?” Evie says and looks at them all. “That’s in less than two hours and we should still have time to check out each other’s rooms.”

They all nod in agreement. Mal, Jay and Evie leave to walk the beta to her room and Carlos is hit with an overwhelming jealousy that the three of them will meet Evie’s roommate, check out her room and declare it safe, without him. He relaxes himself with the reminder that he will be able to see Evie's and Jay's and Mal's room in a short while and check out the dorms himself.

Carlos waits for the three of them to turn the corner, giving one final wave, before hanging his head.

He really must find proper suppressants in Auradon.

--

Auradon Prep’s library puts Dragon Hall to shame without even trying. The bookshelves are so high, ladders are offered every couple of feet. The shelves along the walls reach all the way to the ceiling. There are rooms just for studying and little benches and couches for idle reading.

“Dude, chill.” Jay laughs in his ear. “You both look like you’re about to come in your pants.”

Carlos flushes and swats at him, but when he catches Evie with her mouth open and eyes wide, he’s sure his reaction to the library was similar.

“Split up,” Mal mumbles casually to them. “Find a book on Fairy Godmother and her wand. I’ll take the north side, Jay takes south. Evie is west and Carlos goes east.” Their group shares a quick look and they all nod.

The four of them have been in Auradon for just a few days now. It’s…intense. But not in the way the Isle is. There are no fighting and the teachers don’t try to grope the students.

But Auradon is bright and overwhelming. People are always smiling and talking to him. Food smells nice, the air is warm, everything is soft and gentle.

It’s intense.

Carlos wanders to the east side of the library. He’s sure he could figure out where the books about magic and wands are if he could study the bar-codes on the spines for a bit, but they have already gotten several strange looks from their classmates, due to lingering scents and overbearing touches. Auradon is more accepting than the Isle of physical affection, but not as public with it. Mal’s arm around Evie’s waist got strange looks, just like Jay and Carlos sitting too close in the cafeteria.

People aren’t suspicious yet, but they could be. The four of them must remain inconspicuous. They must blend in. Don’t give anyone in Auradon a reason to look at them twice.

Along the east wall are books about science, so Carlos is pretty damned please about where Mal told him to go. There are brand new physics books, chemistry books, and-

“Oh Hades!” Carlos gasps as he tugs a book out from the shelf.

It’s Mass Transfers in Chemical Engineering by H. Lemon and G. Tamogo. A similar book, Chemical Engineering and Thermodynamics, by the same two authors is in Yen Sid’s class, behind his desk. The professor allowed Carlos to read it when he had completed all of his work early, but the copy on the Isle was not nearly this well-kept. It had water damage and pages missing, but that never stopped Carlos from reading it.

But this book is nearly new! It’s hardback and shiny and all of the pages are in perfect condition! There’s even a plastic book cover with information about the authors on the back! Carlos reads it eagerly. Yen Sid always spoke so highly of both of Lemon and Tamogo, both of them idols in their fields.

Honey Lemon, born in San Fransokyo just before Auradon was created, is a graduate of SFIT – San Fransokyo’s Institute of Technology, Carlos assumes – and a genius in all chemical engineering. The back lists her accomplishments and other works, her degrees and discoveries.

All of it is amazing and impressive, but Carlos’ eyes widen at the little label under picture.

Omega.

He brings the book flat against his chest and looks over his shoulder. A few students are lounging in a corner and another girl is on her phone (what is Auradon’s obsession with phones anyway?), but no one is watching him.

Carlos gulps and opens the back again, making sure he read it right.

He did.

Yes, Honey Lemon, respected chemist and engineer, is an omega.

"What?" Carlos breathes, studying the word like he's never seen it before. He just had no idea it could be applied to someone...successful.

When he had packed his bags just days ago, Cruella had mocked him from the ground and called him a baby for still having a tree house, but Carlos made sure to grab his suppressants and hide them well in his trash bag. Outside of the fact that he needed them, he couldn’t leave them for someone on the Isle, to find. Surely Cruella has no interest in his little lab, but others would come by quickly to loot whatever he left behind.

Once the barrier is lowered, Carlos will be back with his mother and every other pervert on the Isle and he’s not letting anyone learn his secret while he’s gone. There are better suppressants in Auradon, where actual medicine exists, and Carlos will be sure to grab some before Auradon is up in flames, but he’s okay with what he has for now, especially since he's back to his regular dosage now that Mal has forgiven him and he has found his place with her.

But there is proof in his hands that an omega has succeeded. She went to school, surpassed alphas, made a name of her own. She leads breakthroughs in her field and gives lectures to people who want to learn from her. Honey Lemon is a scientist Carlos has idolized since the first time Yen Sid handed him one of her books.

He’s looked up to an omega for all these years.

Maybe that's why he looked up to her for so long. Of course, he had no idea that Honey Lemon was an omega, but he felt drawn to her studies more than other chemists. He always thought it was because she reminded him of Evie with her fashion sense and bubbly personality, but maybe something in him knew?

Carlos keeps the book tight in his hands. Tonight, he will read it cover to cover, embracing every moment and new bit of information, and he owes it all to an omega.

Casually and trying not to draw attention to himself, Carlos wanders along the shelves. There are neat signs listing what books will be contained in each aisle, so he passes until he finds a shelf with books on biology.

He doesn’t need How to Make Biology Fun or 101 Creative Experiments! Carlos keeps walking until he finds books on…dynamics.

No one else is in this aisle.

No one is watching him.

No one will see.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Carlos peers at the titles, eyes flickering quickly. He doesn’t need to know about the mechanics of sex, the Isle taught that well enough (though he can’t believe Auradon has books on fucking), and he doesn’t need to read the importance of alpha control. Carlos takes a deep breath and keeps moving.

What to Expect With Your First Heat

Presenting as an Omega: How to Handle It

Omegas and Their Sensitivities

Carlos bristles at the last title and scowls. He’s been on suppressants for more than half of a year, but he doesn’t remember being sensitive. That's a ridiculous stereotype.

Well, he kind of had a crisis when Evie stopped talking to him. And he always got flustered when Jay provided for him. And he nearly risked his life for Mal to just look at him after her rut.

It's still a stereotype.

A book on the shelf below reads The Importance of Omegas and Carlos hesitates before grabbing it. He looks around again to ensure he’s alone (breathe, breathe, breathe) and flips through the book.

The chapters range from significant omegas in history to their role in families and in packs to their impact on society. It is thick and heavy in his hands, Carlos is pleased to note, and the list of chapters is so long, it takes up two pages.

With his breath held, Carlos slips The Importance of Omegas into his backpack and zips his bag up quickly. He takes his bag with him everywhere for the same reason he couldn't leave the suppressants in his tree house. Anyone snooping through his belongings - Doug, a teacher, a maid (because Auradon has people who come in and clean their bed sheets and Carlos really isn't sure what to do with someone cleaning after him) - could find them. In his backpack, he keeps the suppressants close to him, no one will be able to find them unless they get his backpack and Carlos would rather die than allow that to happen.

He takes one last look around to ensure no one saw him and then leaves the aisle with Mass Transfers in Chemical Engineering under his arm.

“Sup, pup?”

When Carlos turns around to find the voice, he jolts. “Get down from there!” He hisses, quietly stomping over to the bookshelf Jay is currently climbing. “No parkour in the library!”

“Sour puss.” Jay rolls his eyes, but jumps down and doesn’t stumble. “I thought I saw a book about the wand up there!”

Carlos scowls and reads the little sign on the side of the shelf. “Really? This aisle is all about history.” He points at the book closest to him, the spine reading The Creation of Auradon. History isn't anything Jay is interested in. Carlos huffs and looks up to the shelf Jay had climbed up to, just a few feet above his head and scans the titles.

A red book, slightly pulled out from the rest in its group, gets his attention.

Agrabah, a Historical View.

Oh.

When he looks at his friend – because Carlos can use that word freely now – Jay is curiously studying the pattern in the wood and not making eye contact.

“Nothing here, huh?”

“Nope,” Jay shrugs and they walk out of the aisle. “We failed at the museum, we fail at finding books.” He huffs as they search out the girls.

“Well…” Carlos sings and nudges him good naturedly. “You failed at the museum last night,” he mumbles under his breath. “I wasn’t the one who set off the alarm.”

Jay snickers and nudges him back. “No, you're just the one who fixed it. Maybe Mal or Evie have found something.”

As it turns out, they have. Evie holds a large book in her manicured fingers, grinning brilliantly. “It may not tell us how to get the wand,” she whispers in their huddle, “but it could give insight on how to handle it and how to work it.”

Mal nods in approval. “We can’t check that book out of here.” She eyes the group. “Carlos, give me your backpack.”

Instantly, his hands fly to his straps, trying not to hold on too tightly. “Why not just give it to Jay?” He suggests with a twitchy smile. “Make sure his thieving skills haven’t faded in Auradon?”

“Is that a challenge?”

Carlos shrugs and relaxes with the attention off of his backpack. “Maybe. Let’s see how good you are at stealing in Auradon.”

“Gimme!” Jay snatches the book from Evie and he even grabs Mass Transfers in Chemical Engineering and narrows his eyes at Carlos. “I’ll show you how good of a thief I am.”

--

Ben is a beta. Even though Carlos can’t smell anything on anyone, he knows. Ben isn’t aggressive enough to be an alpha. Or, well, Carlos doesn’t think Ben is. He can’t really tell how the alphas here act. Alphas in Auradon don't really seem like alphas at all.

But, looking at Ben stand in the doorway of Jay’s room, Carlos just gets the sense of beta.

“Here,” he outstretches his hand to Jay. “These are for you and Mal. One for each.”

There is a moment of silence. The four of them don’t have much experience with Auradon people and the king is no exception.

“They’re, uh, suppressants. If you’d like them.”

A second moment of silence passes. Then Mal laughs.

“Cute. Send them back.”

Ben shifts awkwardly on his feet, but smiles warmly at them. He’s fascinating to Carlos. Practically looking into a lion’s den and still thinking he can pet them. “Well, nearly all students are on them. They’re not a requirement, but most students prefer to have ruts or heats in the comfort of their own home during the summer.”

The next silence doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone but Ben.

“But of course, your situation is different! If you’d like to return to the Isle for the summer, that can be arranged, but it isn’t necessary. Whatever you feel most comfortable with.”

“Relax, your highness,” Mal fakes a curtsy. “Don’t worry about what we’ll do for the summer.”

By the time summer comes, they’ll be able to go anywhere. They’ll control every land in the country, if not the world.

Or, their parents will, at least.

“Well, students in ruts aren’t permitted in classrooms, and you’ll miss much of class-.”

“Okay, cool, thanks.” Jay plucks both bottles from Ben’s hand and promptly shuts the door in his face. When he turns around, it is clear that he was done listening to Ben talk and growing frustrated of an intruder in his room.

“You ought to be nicer to him,” Evie scolds Jay from the desk where she is painting her nails. “Ben is royalty. He’s also the reason we’re over here.”

“So when we overthrow him and his family and take over the country, we’ll make sure to send him a thank you card.” Mal says from the empty bed.

Neither Jay nor Mal have roommates, so almost all of their free time is spent huddled in one of their rooms. The unoccupied bed has books and clothing belonging to all of them, a shared space in Jay’s room for when they hole up in there.

More than once, after something new in Auradon particularly rattles him that day, Carlos has caught himself in that bed, strategically moving and folding the clothing based on scent and feel and familiarity. He arranged the softest on one side because Evie loves plush blankets and anything with purple on the other because, well, Mal, and then promptly berated himself once he realized what he was doing and reminded himself on the ridiculousness of nests.

Auradon is just so intense.

“Whatever, at least he went away.” Jay places the two bottles on the stand without a second look.

“Are you…going to take them?” Carlos asks, rubbing his wrist in small circles.

Jay scoffs. “Of course not. I’ll throw them out later.” He pauses and turns to Carlos. “Unless you want them? For, you know, Cruella.”

Carlos tries not to flinch. He’s gone a whole week without getting hit or dragged or scratched, but her signature still aches on his chest, it is the only thing he can focus on when he undresses, mocking him in the giant, clean mirrors of Auradon bathrooms.

It doesn’t matter how often Mal or Jay or Evie scent him. Cruella’s burn on him is everlasting, it won’t fade in time.

She marked him first. She marked him permanently.

“It doesn’t matter.” Mal snaps at them. “When the barrier is gone, so is Cruella.”

The burn has been a sore topic with Mal, they all avoid it when they can, but Carlos realizes he has his hand over the scar, shielding it from view, even under his shirt. “What do you mean?”

“She won’t touch you again.” Mal says simply.

There are no details or explanation, but Carlos relaxes.

If his alpha says it, it must be true.

"Just...don't kill her. Please."

In the end, Carlos still takes the bottles of suppressants with him. He lies to Mal and Jay easily, so easily it terrifies him, and says he wants to study their chemical components for fun.

And they don’t question him, not even with a lingering look. They even go as far as to rub their noses along his throat to reinforce their scent on him, Evie too, before any of them let him leave. They fully trust him.

“Carlos, I’m going to shower. Do you need to use the bathroom first?”

Doug is considerate and that might be because he’s from Auradon and they teach that or because Jay and Mal and Evie are horrifying to people who don’t know them.

Regardless of his reasoning, Doug is okay. He’s not violent or mean or arrogant.

Doug is…kind of cool, actually. Carlos is two years younger than him, so hey normally wouldn't be roommates, but Carlos is pretty sure that Doug was the only person to not refuse to room with an Isle kid. Probably because he's a pushover. But, luckily, it means that Doug has his old text books and notes the he allows Carlos to use and he has some cool physics documentaries. He even gushed about Lemon and Tamogo when he first saw Mass Transfers in Chemical Engineering laying on Carlos’ bed.

“No, I’m okay.” Carlos swallows. “Thank you, though.”

Doug grabs his belongings and moves to the bathroom. The shower starts up in a few seconds, but Carlos can still hear the click of the lock.

Right, they're not friends. Carlos is an Isle kid. He’s a lowlife villain.

Carlos shakes his head and quickly pulls out his backpack from under the bed. Doug usually takes six and a half minutes in the shower, but as long as twenty-three minutes in the bathroom, so Carlos must use his time wisely.

The Importance of Omegas sits heavily in his lap. Carlos keeps the title hidden in case Doug comes wandering out unexpectedly.

He doesn’t know where to start, so Carlos turns to the table of contents. He skims the list and immediately berates himself for grabbing such a large book. The longer he keeps it in his possession, even in his backpack, the more likely it is for someone else to find it. He won’t be able to read this book as quickly as he read the three books on the Isle.

But time is of the essence. Carlos decides on The Importance of Heats because, well…it’s been on his mind a lot. Recently. Ever since the scenting.

Sometimes he wonders what it would be like to have another heat, but for Mal and Jay and Evie to be by his side. He won’t nest because that’s stupid, but he could scent them. He could kneel before them, rest his head on Evie’s thigh as she does her makeup in the mirror, or on Mal’s hip when she flips through her mother’s spell book. He knows what alphas and betas do with an omega in heat and...it's hard not to obsess over.

It can’t happen for obvious reasons, but Carlos just likes to wonder. It’s a waste of time and thought, but there are days where he wonders what it would be like if Cruella loved him or if he didn’t live on the Isle or if he never presented.

He’s just curious is all.

This particular chapter doesn’t seem to offer anything new to him. Carlos skims through, passing over words like submissive and dependent. Just as he’s about to turn back to the table for something more substantial, a word jumps out at him.

Drops.

Carlos glances at the bathroom door, pleased to hear the shower still running. He begins reading from the top of the page.

It talks about emotionally trying experiences, like heats or death or just horrible days, and how omegas experience a crash as their adrenaline lowers. A rollercoaster of emotions is what the book calls it and though Carlos doesn’t know what a rollercoaster is, he begins to understand it.

He reads over the symptoms: depression, low self-esteem, fatigue, immobility, cold sweats.

That describes the majority of his life. At least, on the Isle. He was always panicked about something, always lacking sleep, always too cold.

But drops are…familiar. Not just in the way life on the Isle is. This description makes sense. He’s dropped before.

Right after his first trip with Jay and Mal and Evie, back when he was figuring out suppressants and he was sure Evie hated him and he had to admit Cruella never loved him and he thought for a minute that Mal was dead.

He had come home, to Hell Hall, and sank to the floor. He had been so tired, so weak. He had started purring, but he didn’t know why at the time. There was no pain from the journey, no new injuries, nothing to be sad about.

Carlos had been unable to move once he hit the floor, purring and huddled in on himself feebly.

The excitement and terror and relief and loneliness had just been so much. When he had a moment to be alone and process it all...he had dropped.

That hadn’t been the first time either. He remembers the familiarity of that situation, remembering he must have dropped before their search for Maleficent’s scepter.

It takes a moment to recall his first heat, nearly a year and a half ago now, and the whirlwind that came with it all.

Without food and comfort and a person with him, he had dropped. It’s hard to remember his first heat, partly because of the time that has passed and partly because his head was so foggy for it all. Probably because of dropping, Carlos muses.

According to The Importance of Omegas, drops should always be done with someone around. There needs to be another person to ensure the omega eats and drinks and rests, piling on praises and physical affection.

Without someone, a drop could last days, even a week.

His first drop, after his first heat, must have gone on for his whole heat. He hadn't been able to do more than crawl for days.

But the second one was only a few hours before Evie came to check on him. If she hadn't, there's no telling how long Carlos would have been stuck in a drop.

That’s terrifying. It’s so gut-wrenching that Carlos grins his teeth and tenses on the bed, alone. The vulnerability that comes with heats is terrible, he remembers that, but the weak, dire state of dropping is worse. He dropped, twice, on an island full of villains. With Cruella, who could drag him into the closet, and Jasper and Horace, who could hold him down and do what they wished, with alphas who could barge their way into Hell Hall and strip him and-.

Carlos feels sick.

The water of the shower turns off, so Carlos estimates he has at least nine minutes before Doug comes back into the room.

He doesn’t feel like reading much anymore though. Carlos tucks the book back into his schoolbag and pushes it under his bed. He’ll risk keeping it for a few days, his book bag is always with him and Carlos can guard it.

If he’s honest with himself, which he always is because he really can’t be with anyone else, Carlos is afraid to keep reading.

--

Whoever invented tourney belongs on the Isle

“We get to tackle people!” Jay eagerly rips off his shirt. “And they shoot at us! There’s something called the Kill Zone!” He kicks his pants down to his ankles. “This is like the most violence we’ve been allowed to have here! I can’t wa-… Carlos?”

He jolts at hearing his name. “Y-yeah?”

Jay is standing next to him, practically naked. Due to years of malnutrition, Jay is smaller than the alphas in Auradon, but he still looks like an alpha. He has muscles and a wide chest. He’s taller than Carlos, not by a lot though. And his underwear…well, it’s not hiding much. “You okay?”

Carlos tries not to flush at how Jay’s lips move around the words. His teeth are nice, his canines are sharp. He would leave some very lovely bites and bruises if he wanted to mark Carlos up. (And if their constant scenting sessions are anything to go by, Jay wants to mark him up.) “Yep.”

Unfortunately, Jay seems to realize Carlos’ exact problem. He winks and tugs a stupid jersey over his head. “I got an empty room man, you can see this whenever you want.”

The shiver leaves Carlos breathless for a moment. He knows Jay and Mal have sex for their ruts and Evie’s growing closer to Mal, but he had never thought about doing anything sexual with his friends.

Well, that’s a lie. Carlos has thought about it a bit. His daydreaming of what another heat would be like usually led to other thoughts that made his face burn. They’re all around the same age, they’re kind of a pack and packs will typically...do sexual things.

That doesn’t mean Jay and Mal have offered to do anything with him. Or with Evie. They don’t do much with each other outside of their ruts.

Speaking of which, “when is your next rut?”

Jay’s eyes widen and he stops pulling up his blue shorts. “Uh…what?”

“Oh my evil.” Carlos covers his face with his hands. “I wasn’t offering to do anything! I just wanted to know!”

The alpha shifts his weight. “Uh, next month?”

Carlos peeks through his fingers. It’s a good thing his face is still covered, he’s rather disappointed to see Jay is fully dressed in a uniform and he's sure his expression shows it. “So, it’ll happen after we, uh…you know. The plan.”

“At this rate, no.” Jay scoffs and ties his hair back. “We’ll be here for the rest of our lives if we keep going at this pace.”

In silence, Carlos changes. He feels the weight of Jay’s stare on him and it flusters him until he realizes the alpha is watching the make shift bandage under his collar bone, hiding Cruella’s signature. Carlos hadn’t let anyone see it, that’s why they’re hidden in the back of the locker room, but he bandages it after every shower (because Auradon has real medical supplies and first aid kits, just sitting in every dorm, how is that even possible).

Still, burn or not, Jay is watching him undress. It’s exciting.

Which ends up being worse later on.

Out on the field, Carlos glares in the sun. It’s always so bright in Auradon, it hurts his eyes. There are whistles and canons and shouting and before long, his ears hurt too.

He’s dressed in yellow and Jay in blue, which means they’re on opposing teams and that is quite scary because Jay is all alpha – strong and quick and aggressive – and Carlos is all…well. Carlos.

Jay has the ball, and Carlos can assume that the objective of the game is to get said ball by how everyone chases after it, but no one can keep up with Jay, let alone surpass him. He is faster and slicker than the Auradon students who have supposedly been playing this game for years.

A heat builds in Carlos’ chest as he watches Jay move, the omega in him nearly preening at how successful Jay is. His alpha is definitely better than anyone on the field and the two of them are basically in the same pack. It’s exhilarating to watch Jay prove himself as the best.

It’s also causing a certain heat in his face that isn’t from the sun.

Which is why it takes a moment for Carlos to realize that Jay is running right at him, prepared to run through him.

Carlos is supposed to retrieve the ball from Jay for his own team, though he doesn’t understand the purpose or value in getting a ball, but that’s not going to happen. First, Jay is simply an unstoppable force. Second, Carlos can’t move.

An alpha is charging him, Carlos’ alpha is running toward him.

But it’s different from that day with Mal, which seems so much longer ago than it really was. Jay has scented Carlos, he’s not in his rut, they’re not surrounded by perverts and prying eyes, they were just watching each other undress.

Jay has his teeth bared, despite the fact that they are hidden under the face guard of his helmet. His dark eyes are narrowed and focused. He is intent on conquering.

And Carlos doesn't really mind getting conquered.

He gulps and the shield in his hands drops to the ground just before Carlos does. His knees meet the plastic grass of the turf and his vision is blocked by the bulky helmet, but Carlos has never felt so comfortable in his life. It's like that day in Jafar's shop when he had knelt before Jay, the feeling of tranquility and warmth spreading out to even the tips of his toes.

His head is light and his knees are heavy and Jay looks so good from this angle.

Faintly, Carlos hears the whistle blow just as Jay skids to a stop before him.

Oh, sweet Hades, he's so handsome. Tall and broad and confident and looking down at Carlos like he’s a dessert.

“Alpha.” He breathes and lowers his head.

“Lost boy! Get up!”

Carlos blinks as the words register. He gazes around and realizes the game has stopped, the players are still. The sun is warm and the turf under his hands is rubbery and Jay is looking like he’s been told he can’t have any dessert.

Cheeks burning with shame, Carlos jumps up. The helmet hides enough of his face to offer a little comfort, but he can feel eyes on him, everyone is watching him.

So Carlos runs.

He runs into the locker room and throws his helmet off, cursing up a storm. “Stupid fucking alpha body,” he hisses as he rips off the jersey. “Stupid fucking sports! Stupid fucking Auradon!”

Stupid fucking omega instincts.

Stupid fucking homemade suppressants.

Stupid fucking submission.

Carlos tears open his locker, putting on his normal clothes and growling to himself.

At least he’s not purring. He’s too angry with himself to purr.

“Hey, Carlos!”

He jumps around, yanking his black and red shirt down over his stomach. Jay is marching in, helmet off and hair sticking to his face like some unfair god that Carlos wants to kneel and worship. Instead, he bites his tongue and glares at the floor.

That doesn’t deter Jay. He walks up and grabs Carlos’ shoulder, shakes him just a bit. “Dude. Carlos.”

“What?” What bullshit excuse can he give this time? Does Jay want to hear again about Cruella making him submit, does he want to hear how Carlos just wanted - needed - to submit? Carlos is going to stand here and sprout off about his mother and some pitiful lie just so-.

“Can I kiss you?”

Carlos inhales and looks up. Jay is biting his lip and waiting. He’s staring at Carlos, not like he’s a dessert, but as if he is the whole damn meal. “What?”

Jay places his hands on either side of Carlos’ head, keeping him in place, overwhelming with his mere presence. “Can I kiss you?”

He just wants one good thing in his life, he can have that, can't he? “Please.”

Their lips meet in the middle, Carlos too eager to wait for Jay to reach him. It’s his first kiss and it’s awkward and his mouth doesn’t move right and he should have brushed his teeth better this morning, but he’s kissing someone, he’s kissing Jay.

On the tourney field, the sun had been too bright, too warm and overbearing, but now Carlos loves it because kissing Jay is like kissing the sun. It is brilliant and warm and encompassing, surrounding him and heating his skin. His legs are weak because his bones are melting and his eyes are clenched shut because Jay is so bright and shining. Carlos can feel the comfort seeping in from all that is Jay and every chill flees from his body.

Shaky hands fist themselves in Jay’s jersey, desperate for the contact to realize, to understand, that this isn’t a dream and this is real. Carlos is kissing Jay, he’s kissing his alpha, this is happening, it’s really happening.

Jay’s hands move from the lockers on either side of Carlos to his back, sneakily dipping into the back pockets of his shorts and shamelessly groping. Carlos moans because he’s been thinking about this for so long and this is real life, he has this, he can have something good.

“Gotta put my scent back on you,” Jay seethes against his lips. “Make sure it never fades.” One hand comes up to grip Carlos’ neck, the other hand still in Carlos’ back pocket and pulling them together so no space remains between them and the two of them can rock against one another.

“Yes,” Carlos moans into his mouth, messy and wet and uncoordinated. He risks a bite at the alpha’s lip and is rewarded with a feral noise that has his blood rushing.

Jay pulls back, panting and flushed. His pupils are wide and his eyes are trained on Carlos’ face. “My room?”

“Please.”

--

Someone, something, out there in the universe is watching out for Carlos.

Or maybe it’s just because they’re in Auradon and everything is just easier here.

Whatever the cause, Mal and Evie are lounging in Jay’s room, waiting for the two of them to return from tourney practice.

“You two are back early,” Mal’s eyes flicker up from her mother’s spell book, opened on the desk Jay has never used. “That sport or whatever suck too much?”

“No. I mean yes.” Jay drops Carlos’ wrist. “I mean…it was fine. Whatever.” He is flushed and his hair is wild from Carlos’ fingers running through it. His eyes are still dilated and he’s panting – the boys had practically run to Jay’s room, so eager to reach his bed – and his lips are swollen.

Carlos can’t imagine he looks any better.

“What are you guys doing here?” Jay narrows his eyes, clearly displeased with the interruption while Carlos processes the fact that he and Jay were very very close to having sex and has an internal crisis.

The two of them are a mess and the girls pick up on it quickly. “What were you two doing?” Evie asks softly, taking a step back and eyeing them. “You’re both out of breath and your eyes are dilated and,” the beta looks them up and down, her eyes widening before she quickly looks away.

With a tilted head, Carlos looks at Jay. Yeah, he looks rugged and wild, but-

Oh.

Jay has a boner.

And, when Carlos looks down, he is in the same state.

He gasps and covers his crotch with both hands, face burning.

The alpha, however, is not nearly as embarrassed. He shrugs at the tent in his blue shorts and looks at Mal, who is staring at them both with a single raised brow. “What are you two doing in here?” Jay asks again.

“Unintentionally cock blocking, apparently.”

“You have a problem with that?”

“Not at all.” Mal smiles and leans back in her chair.

“I-I don’t have a problem with it...either,” Evie says, quickly spinning on her heel. She doesn't return to her spot on Jay's bed, instead she opts for the empty, unused one.

“I was expecting it, honestly.” Mal kicks her feet up on the desk, smug and comfortable. “Save your fuck fest for later, we have an update on the wand.”

The wand, Mal explains, will be used at Ben’s coronation to bless him as king. It will be the only time the wand is brought out of the museum and in Fairy Godmother’s hands, in front of everyone who is invited, which includes every student at Auradon Prep, even the four of them.

“Ben’s girlfriend gets to sit up front, right by the wand.” Mal says, eyes glinting like they always do when she is up to something particularly wicked.

“Audrey won’t help us.”

“It’s a good thing Audrey isn’t about to be his girlfriend anymore.” Mal says to Jay, raising the spell book and revealing the page she has been studying so intently.

“You want to use a love spell on him?” Carlos asks as he steps closer, reading the instructions carefully.

The four settle down in the room. It is too early in the day, too many people about, to head to the kitchen and bake a treat with the spell inside. They must wait until the evening, with the cover of darkness.

Jay heads to the bathroom and changes back into his familiar leather, which looks ridiculously good on him. He grumbles and sits on his bed, pretending to flip through a magazine before tossing it aside and getting on the floor, working out.

It’s a stress reliever for the alpha, Carlos knows, and Jay is clearly stressed. Whether he’s tense about their new plan or tourney or because the two of them nearly had sex and Jay is also inwardly panicking or because he has a case of blue balls, Carlos can’t tell.

But he’s also not complaining. He’s happy to watch Jay do crunches and push ups and jumping jacks. More than happy, actually.

Mal continues to flip through the book, categorizing every ingredient they will need. She glances at Jay every once in a while, then at Carlos, then to Evie, keeping tabs on whatever they all do.

Evie is utterly silent on the bed. Her posture is perfect, more so than usual, and she sits completely still, hands folded in her lap. Several times, Carlos sees her composure break and she begins picking at her nail polish, but she always corrects herself quickly and forces herself to remain like a beautiful statue.

Carlos sits on Jay's bed in the room. As much as he appreciates Jay's bed (and the activities that nearly happened on it), he almost wishes he was on the spare bed, where Mal’s jeans and Evie’s pajamas and all of Jay’s dirty clothes lay. There is a tension in the room, probably from their plan and the reality of it all settling in, and Carlos wishes he could fiddle with the clothing of his pack as he sits.

He's also freaking the hell out on the inside because he’s an idiot and almost had sex.

Not that he doesn’t want to have sex, with Jay, but there are so many risks. They would be so close, his elevated heart rate and sweat could overpower his suppressants and give away his true scent. Jay would obviously be more dominant than usual, Carlos could lose himself in that and give into his submissive nature. Then there’s the emotional connection that supposedly comes from having sex with someone, the struggle of lying to Jay would only worsen.

It’s Auradon, he blames. The change in scenery and people and social norms, the stress of the wand, the independence he has being away from Cruella.

Clearly, Carlos has no idea what to do with his new-found freedom.

Fuck. He almost cost himself everything.

After far too long, Mal deems it safe enough to venture out for the kitchen. Most students are eating dinner right now and the sun is beginning to set, so they meet no one as they walk through the halls of the alpha boys’ dorm.

As it turns out, alpha boys don’t bake a whole lot. Their kitchen is nearly bare. Not as empty as any cupboard on the Isle, but enough that it’s impossible to bake anything here.

“We can go to the beta girls’ dorm,” Evie offers, three whole nails void of polish. She has been oddly silent the whole time. “We always have materials in there.” She shrugs and keeps staring at the ground. “We should go now though, before the halls fill up with people again.”

“Okay…” Mal agrees carefully, looking at the boys who are just as puzzled. “Good idea, E. That’s smart.”

The four of them start across campus and Carlos falls behind the two alphas. “Evie, what’s wrong?” He reaches for her shoulder, but she brushes him off and doesn’t answer.

When they enter the beta girls’ dorm, it is clear Evie is right – not that Carlos doubted her – about the kitchen inside having more ingredients. It is nice and tidy, but there are pots and pans and cupboards full of flour, sugar, yeast, baking powder and more. There are even a few ziploc bags with a beta girl's name written in pen, claiming the food as hers and just trusting the others not to take it.

“Pup, get the oven ready for 325 degrees. Jay, grab eggs and milk. E, find me some flour?”

In no time, the cookie batter is ready. They are only lacking one ingredient.

“Alright, it says that we still need one tear.” Mal cocks her hip and scowls at the bowl, as if it is to blame for their lack of necessities.

“Here,” Carlos offers from his spot, perched on a counter. “Cut up an onion.”

“No,” Mal narrows her eyes at him. “A tear of human sadness. We can’t use anything else.”

Jay scoffs and waves his hand. “A tear is a tear. The onions are a good idea.” He bumps Carlos’ shoulder and Carlos flushes.

“That’s not true,” Evie hisses and her tone shocks all of them. She has spoken even less in the kitchen than she did in Jay’s dorm. “Tears will always have antibodies and enzymes, but an emotional tear has more protein based hormones than a reflex tear, which is what cutting an onion would cause.”

The three of them stare at her in silence, but Evie won’t meet their eyes. She is hidden behind her own hair, falling into her face and shielding her from the outside world.

“Whatever,” Evie sniffles as she reaches up to her face and swipes under her eye. “Here.” She holds her finger over the mixing bowl, and Carlos can barely see the small tear she gathered before it drops into the batter. “I’m going to go to bed.”

“No, you’re not.” Mal orders as the beta turns to leave. “E, what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Beta.”

Evie stiffens at the warning tone, fingers curling into delicate fists. Her face crumples in a way Carlos has never seen because Evie is horrified of wrinkles, but she swallows and forces the tension to fade. “You and Jay…you have each other for your ruts. And Jay and Carlos…have each other now too.” Her voice breaks. “I don’t…I don’t have you guys or stupid Chad or…” She presses a hand to her face, hiding her tears and sorrow.

Carlos hops off the counter and rushes to her, Jay moving just as quickly. “Evie, what are you-?”

“You two are…you’re having sex.” She says bluntly. “Jay and Mal do the same for their ruts. And,” Evie wipes at her cheeks, her mascara running, “I guess it’s fair. You three have known each other for years and I only met you all 12 months ago, but…” Evie closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I can't even get a prince here. I don't have anyone." Her shoulders tremble. "Evil, I thought I at least had Carlos. He was mine first.”

His heart sinks into his stomach and it’s like he can’t breathe. All he can hear is Evie’s rapid sniffling. “What? Evie…you have all of us, right?” Carlos looks at the alphas and they nod quickly.

“Of course. Eves, we’re here for you.” Jay wraps his arm around her, but she stiffens in his hold immediately. He swallows and pulls away. “Evie, Carlos and I, that whole thing just happened today. It took us both by surprise.”

“He’s telling the truth,” says Mal with a small smile. “The boys could never keep a secret like that for long.”

“And there are no secrets between us, right?” Jay brushes back blue hair. “We tell each other everything. You guys know about me and Mal during our ruts and we know about Cruella being a raving bitch.”

“The whole Isle knows that,” Carlos snickers, but he can’t force himself to smile. As far as he knows, he is the only one to be aware that Evie’s mother is an alpha. He is the only one to know about how often Jafar made Jay submit.

And well, he is the king of secrets.

“I don’t feel…like I belong in this group,” Evie trembles as she speaks and still refuses to look up. “You all have this intimacy with each other, even if it just started, and I…”

“Evie.” Carlos speaks and his voice sounds so far away. “Can I kiss you?”

That gets her attention. She raises her head instantly, brows furrowed. “What?”

“You’re right. You and I had each other before Jay and Mal came along.” His throat is so dry, his lips are quivering, his hands are unsteady. “Can I… Can I kiss you?”

Honestly, he does it for himself more than he does it for Evie because if his beta won’t stop crying, then he will begin to purr. He can’t stand watching her cry and fold in on herself as if she’s embarrassed, he can’t bear to witness Evie doubt herself and her place so terribly.

When she nods, Carlos moves on instinct, remembering his actions with Jay just hours earlier. Two kisses in one day, that’s more than he ever thought he would get, but so is his friends and their strange little pack.

Their mouths touch and Carlos really doesn’t know how to kiss and Evie doesn’t either, but that’s okay.

If kissing Jay is like kissing the sun, kissing Evie is like kissing a flower, or all of the flowers, every single one that he’s seen in Auradon. She is softer than petals, sweeter than nectar and Carlos can feel every color, from the blue of her hair to the red of her lipstick, from the lilac of her eyeshadow to the white of her sparkling teeth, and when she sighs into his mouth, it is like breathing in fresh air.

Their kiss isn’t as intense as the kiss with Jay, but it’s just as passionate. Their lips move slow and uncertain, but persistent and needy because he does need Evie, he needs Evie like he needs Jay and Mal, like he needs oxygen.

He doesn’t register that he’s whining until Evie’s hand on the back of his neck tightens.

Carlos gasps, stealing the air from Evie’s mouth, and pulls away.

Evie is gorgeous in every waking moment and probably even in sleep, but right now, with her cheeks pink and her lipstick smeared, Carlos has never felt so light headed looking at her.

“That was quite a show,” Mal murmurs, breaking the silence between them all. She commands attention easily, grabbing Evie’s wrist. “Evie, you are a part of this pack. You are mine and Jay’s and Carlos’, for now until the end of time, and any prince you meet is going to have to deal with that.” She moves forward, invading Evie’s space and forcing her against the counter. Mal places a hand on the beta’s face, thumb against her bottom lip. “And just in case you have any other doubts…”

The girls kiss, Mal dominating in the way her nature craves. She grips the beta’s face, devouring her mouth and swallowing her moans.

Carlos tries not to stare too intently, unlike Jay, who is watching way too closely.

He looks for a little bit though. Evie caves under Mal, clutching the countertop and easily giving into Mal’s assertive actions. Mal controls everything – the position of their faces, the movement of their lips, when they are allowed to part for air.

If he keeps watching, Carlos will end up in the same state as Jay, who has a growing tent in his pants.

When he hears the girls pull apart – because Carlos gazed down at the batter for several long seconds to control himself – he looks back up at them, studying Evie for her reaction to all of them.

“You’re a part of our group, beta. Forever and always,” Mal sighs against her lips, still holding Evie’s face. “Do you understand?”

Evie nods. Her cheeks are pink and her lips are swollen, but she is melting into Mal’s hold.

Mal turns to Jay with a raised brow, silently asking him what he plans on doing.

He nods subtly and steps forward, taking Evie from the other girl and pulling her close. “Hey Eves.”

“Jay.”

With one hand cupping her chin, Jay erases the distance between them, capturing Evie’s lips and kissing her deeply. It’s not as fiery as their kiss in the locker room, Carlos can tell, but just as demanding and helpless.

In his hold, Evie embraces his warmth, all that is Jay, and flourishes. Her posture is submissive, relaxed, but confident and certain. She follows Jay’s lead, the movements he makes, the noises he emits, and blossoms under his heat.

Carlos averts his eyes when the two of them moan, his whole face burning. It is not until a hand touches his shoulder that he looks up.

Mal is next to him, waiting in silence for him to fully acknowledge her. “Pup.”

“Yeah?”

“They’re a show, aren’t they?”

He follows her eyes to Jay and Evie, still embracing each other. Jay’s hold on her chin has moved to the back of her head, the other hand on her hip and rubbing the bare skin between her shirt and leggings. Evie is arching into him, her chest against his, both of her hands clutching his shirt and holding him near.

Carlos looks away again. “Y-yeah.”

“Let’s give our own show.” Mal pushes him easily because Carlos feels like a rag doll watching Jay and Evie kiss and he barely registers that he’s being moved until the counter is at his back and Mal has one hand in his hair and the other on his throat.

Jay is sunshine and Evie is flowers and Mal is ice, her presence all-encompassing, being felt down in his bones. Carlos has goosebumps all over, but his hands lay numb at his sides as he tries to kiss back. He opens his mouth on instinct when she bites his lower lip, shivering despite how warm her hand is on his throat. Mal has frozen him to this very spot, but he wouldn’t move even if he could.

She is confident (which makes sense because of all of her days with Jay), moving against him slowly, but knowingly, the hand in his hair moving down over his shoulder, onto his chest, where her nails sink into his skin. Mal snickers into the kiss before moving and Carlos groans when she pinches his nipple through his shirt.

Faintly, as if they are a thousand miles away, Carlos hears a low whistle. Mal pulls back and he lazily blinks his eyes open, catching Jay and Evie staring at him and Mal.

Three kisses. Three kisses in one day from three people he is so crazy for, it scares Carlos.

Kissing is different than scenting. Scenting is done as a public act, to give comfort and to claim someone, but kissing...is private. It's done for pleasure, not to showcase who belongs to whom. Scenting can be platonic - between family or friends - but kissing is romantic, it's sexual. It is not to claim for protection or for power, but for pleasure.

Despite the fact that this has been one of the most amazing nights of his life, Carlos is fucked. He is absolutely fucked.

“The four of us are always together. No matter what.” Mal insists with hard eyes, looking all of them, one at a time.

“Should we go consummate this?” Jay waggles his eyebrows and kisses Evie’s cheek.

Mal huffs and moves back to the bowl, now properly completed with Evie’s tear. “I can’t. If this thing with the king is to work, I can’t risk being seen doing anything with you three or anything that leaves a noticeable scent.”

“Oh.” Jay pulls away from Evie and looks at her, then Carlos, eyes narrowed in concentration.

“Then none of us,” Carlos says over the blood rushing in his ears, “should do anything with each other. We can’t risk people in Auradon finding out.”

“What, about us being a…pack?” Evie asks, hesitating over the word, but no one corrects her. They haven't officially used the word, but it's fitting for Evie to be the first to say it out loud. “Auradon is all about love and such, they go crazy for packs, even ones that are made young.”

“Carlos has a point,” Mal says as she stirs the bowl one final time. She instructs Evie to get a cookie sheet before continuing. “And I’m not saying that just because I don’t want the three of you to…fool around…without me. I don’t care if you do that,” she shoves the bowl away from her and snatches the tray from Evie’s hands.

The beta grabs her wrist. “We wouldn’t do anything without you, M.” Evie promises, tracing small circles on the palm of Mal’s hand. “The four of us are always together.”

Mal smiles at her own words being used against her. “Still. People shouldn’t be able to figure anything out between you three, it could look suspicious if I’m not a part of it. I can’t risk any more kissing or much more scenting, but you three can’t do anything that would cause some serious scent-carrying or marking.”

“Then we won’t do anything.” Carlos says and leans on the counter because his knees are still weak. “If Mal isn’t a part of this until after the love spell, none of us should do anything with each other. Not until…”

Not until they grab the wand and unleash evil on Auradon.

The others understand him though. Jay nods. “Yeah, okay. We’re a pack, but we can’t…fuck around, not until this whole thing is done with.” His shoulder slump with disappointment, but he accepts their situation for what it is.

“At least we got all of our kisses out of the way,” Evie bats her eyes at Mal.

“So now all I’m going to be thinking about is what I’m missing out on!” Jay groans as his head falls forward.

Evie laughs, sounding so sweet and musical, and swats his chest.

--

Ben proclaims his love to Mal at the end of a tourney game.

Carlos had not been thrilled at the idea of being chased again or kneeling before Jay in front of a dozen people again, so he had politely backed out of the sport by not showing up for any more practices and ignoring the other team members in the halls.

He stands with Evie and Mal in the bleachers, the three of them watching and cheering for Jay. When the king professes his love over the microphone, Carlos is giddy and furious at the same time. Next to him, he feels Evie clench her fists and he knows she is just as unhappy to have a foreign boy cling to Mal and offer himself to her in front of a hundred people.

Because it’s Ben claiming himself as Mal’s, not claiming Mal as his own. The king of Auradon is a beta, tripping over his feet to get to Mal and ask to be hers.

Of course, Mal agrees. She is gorgeous and confident, but Carlos can see the little twitch of her lips and the spasms in her fingers that show how nervous she is for everyone in the school to be staring at her.

His burning jealousy doesn’t kick in until Mal demands that they all meet in Jay’s room a week later.

“Ben’s an omega.”

Carlos feels his jaw drop, the same as Evie and Jay.

“There’s no fucking way.”

Mal turns to Jay, teeth clenched and hip cocked. “He is. He told me. He told me everything. His middle name, his childhood, his family history. He’s an omega.”

“I couldn’t smell that on him though.”

“You can’t smell it on anyone here!” Mal seethes. “Ben ever said almost all of the students are on suppressants. Not just the alphas but the omegas too. Apparently his family and close friends know, but a lot of the kingdom doesn’t.”

“Of course they don’t.” Evie paces the room, moving in circles, “you can’t have an omega king. Princesses are fine, even some princes. But queens and kings, especially kings, they can’t be omegas.” She shakes her head at the very idea.

There ought to be some part of Carlos that is offended and wants to correct her, but he agrees. The only omega he has met is himself and Carlos certainly isn’t fit to be king.

Still, her words echo in his head.

“So…what problem does this cause?” Carlos asks after he swallowed the sting of shame. “I mean, omegas...is that a problem?”

“I guess not,” Mal drops her head and rubs the bridge of her nose. “It doesn’t cause a problem per se, but…I just wasn’t expecting it.”

She sounds stressed, she sounds bothered and Carlos isn't sure if that makes him worried or relieved.

--

Carlos had been avoiding Ben like crazy until that point. Ben was a member of the tourney team and making a true effort to talk to Carlos about coming back, so he had been dodging the king left and right.

Now though, Carlos seeks him out and asks Ben for help with tourney, a sport he never intends to play again because sports just aren’t Carlos’ thing.

But Ben comes bounding over to him, smiley and dopey and nearly giggling to himself. “Hi Carlos!”

“Hello Ben.”

“I’m so excited to hang out with one of Mal’s friends.”

“Cool.” Carlos folds his arms and grits his teeth. “I’m excited to hang out with her boyfriend.”

Ben is so starry-eyed that he doesn’t even notice Carlos’ short tone. He guides them over to the middle of the field, stop watch in his hand. Apparently, the king thinks Carlos sucks at tourney because he isn’t fast enough, not because getting chased by an alpha who scented him was too much to bare.

A little spiteful part of Carlos wants to inform Ben that he nearly outran Mal in her rut just a few weeks ago because she chased him to claim himand use him, not stupid, princely Ben with his clean hair and nice smelling clothes.

Instead, Carlos just glares at him when his back is turned.

“Alright, Carlos, are you read for some sprints?”

He nods and kneels in the grass, prepared to take off and show Ben just how fast he is and why he is chosen as Mal’s over some ridiculous boy pretending to be a king.

However, before Ben can blow the whistle, Carlos’ face drains of color and his body freezes.

An echo of a bark rings across the field.

There is a dog.

He bolts without even thinking about it, running past Ben and his ridiculous stopwatch. Carlos dashes past the canons, the stray people on the field, the bleachers. He moves faster than even when Mal was chasing him.

Mal would have bit him and forced him into submission. Maybe even fucked him.

But this thing, this beast, will tear Carlos’ throat out and eat him whole.

Over the pounding in his ears and his own horrified cries and the vicious barking behind him, Carlos can hear Ben shout for him and yell at him to stop.

This omega prince wants to kill him. He wants Carlos to stop and be ripped to shreds and murdered by the wild hound so that he can have Mal all to himself, why did Carlos ever offer to hang out with this psychopath?

Carlos launches himself into a tree, scrabbling up it and clinging to branches, ignoring the dull sting in both of his hands from the biting bark as he climbs frantically. He is perched on a limb, higher than what even Ben could reach from the ground, and trembles against the tree trunk.

The dog follows him to the tree, yapping at the roots. Carlos clamps his hands over his ears and hides his head in his knees. He’s wet with sweat and tears and his lungs can’t get enough air, no matter how many breaths he takes. It’s no time at all before the purr starts up, but Carlos is crying so heavily that he can’t hear it, he can’t focus on the soothing rumble. All he can hear is his own pitiful, horrified sobs and the monster howling below him, eager for Carlos to fall and become lunch.

He is choking on his own terror, coughing and shaking and purring, still with his hands clutching his ears in an attempt to block out the noise of the beast. But, as the minutes tick on and Carlos exhausts himself with his crying and the run, he hiccups and sniffles, trying to regain his breath.

“Carlos? Carlos? Should I go get Mal? Or Jay or Evie?”

From his perch, Carlos cracks his eye open to see Ben below him, cradling the dog in his arms.

“Let go of it!” He shrieks. “It’s going to attack you!”

“Carlos, breathe!”

He does so, surprisingly. Ben doesn’t sound like an omega when he gives orders and Carlos is so shaky that he could obey anything right now. He forces his mouth open and his lungs to work, heaving as he struggles to breathe.

“Are you okay?”

Carlos shakes his head. There is distance between him and the monster, several feet at least, but the creature is in Ben’s hold. The king doesn’t look like he’s about to throw the dog into the tree after Carlos at least, but he’s bouncing the animal and those razor sharp teeth are so close to Ben’s throat, his face, his neck.

His purr is growing and Carlos turns his head to the side to avoid looking at the beast and pinches his hand to gain control of himself.

Why is he so weak, why is he so scared, why is he so stupid?

“Have you…ever met a dog before?”

Carlos shakes his head, counting the breaths in his head.

“Look, this is Dude.” Ben offers, his voice floating up. “Carlos, look.”

He obeys with a jolt. Carlos doesn’t even think about it, but he never does, really. Someone commands him and he obeys and he’s not really sure if that’s because he was a punching bag on the Isle or because taking demands gives him this giddy, light-headed feeling, but Carlos just goes with it.

The dog in Ben’s arms is sniffing the king’s face, tail wagging. He is…small. Not just because Carlos is up in a tree, but the dog is just a small breed.

“Watch.” Ben rubs the dog’s head, then its back, then its mouth, even prying the beast’s mouth open and showing that the dog won’t bite. “He’s friendly. His name is Dude.”

Carlos looks down with interest. The dog hasn’t bit Ben at all. It just wags its tail and squirms.

“You’re one of Mal’s friends,” Ben says and the stars are back in his eyes. “I won’t let anything hurt you, Carlos.”

Right, like an omega could ever protect him.

Still, Carlos wipes at his face, his tears and sweat combining on his cheeks, before shimmying back down the tree and stepping onto the dirt.

“He…doesn’t look like a rabid pack animal.” Carlos admits. He’s not going to touch the thing, he’s not going to touch the thing, he’s not going to touch the thing.

Ben grabs his hand and puts it on the dog’s head. Carlos flinches, but…nothing happens. The fur is wiry and coarse under his fingers, a little knotted, but the dog doesn’t bite him. It just sniffs his hand. Its nose is wet and cold.

“Who told you dogs would attack you?”

“My mother.” Carlos says, but now he’s rethinking her words. The woman loved seeing him terrified and submissive and her horror stories of dogs always had that effect on him.

“You guys must have it pretty rough on the Isle.”

Carlos shrugs. Life on the Isle was life on the Isle. He survived, his pack survived, they just had to be smart about it.

“I have a question…” Ben shifts his weight as Carlos continues to let the dog sniff his hand. “What were omegas like on the Isle?”

He jumps again and whips his gaze to Ben’s face. Ben shouldn’t have been able to hear his purr, not when Carlos was so far above in a tree, there’s no way. “What?”

“Well, I don’t go out of my way to tell a lot of people, but I’m just so excited to be Mal’s,” Ben sighs and swings the dog around, “I’m an omega. I want to be hers for forever.”

Carlos huffs. He is Mal’s forever, he and Jay and Evie. “But people in Auradon don’t know that you’re an omega, right?”

“Not many. It’s not really a-. Here, hold him.” Ben unloads the dog into Carlos’ arms without much warning. He scratches the dog’s – err, Dude’s – ears and doesn’t notice Carlos’ panic. “It’s not a secret. I don’t want you to think I’m ashamed of being an omega, but some of the older generation wouldn’t like an omega in charge.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal, like the idea of having the kingdom potentially taken from him is as trivial as the weather.

“Well, uh,” Carlos is equally nervous about the dog in his arms and speaking to the king about omegas. He doesn’t know which he needs to distract himself from more. “Omegas don’t really exist on the Isle. There are only a couple of them.”

“So Mal has never met an omega?”

Carlos fiddles with the metal on Dude’s collar. “N-no. Uh, nope. She never has. None of us has.”

“I should spend my heat with her!”

What the fuck was in that love spell?

“No!” Carlos shouts just as Ben turns away, seemingly prepared to run to Mal this very moment and exclaim it to her. “You can’t!”

“You’re right!” Ben groans and throws his head back. “My suppressants won’t fade for like another week, even if I stop taking them right now.” He pouts like a child instead of a king and folds his arms.

Carlos sighs in relief, the instant panic ebbing away. “Listen, Ben, you can’t-.”

“Here!” He shouts and reaches into his pocket before he thrusts something into Carlos’ hand. It’s a plastic, orange cylinder that Carlos has seen pictures of in textbooks and pamphlets, the same thing Ben gave to Jay and Mal for their ruts. “Take my suppressants. That way I won’t be able to change my mind and go back on them.” Ben giggles hysterically. “Not that I would change my mind!”

Amazingly, Carlos’ first instinct is to shove them back in Ben’s hand and demand he keeps them forever and always until it dawns on him that what he holds in his hand is a bottle of suppressants. Real, actual, true suppressants.

For the past two years, his whole life has been about creating these, perfecting the formula to be exactly what he needs. Carlos has spent hours, days, slaving over the design, the ingredients, the proportions. He has worked his hands to blisters trying to salvage what he could from the dumps and steal what he needed from Dragon Hall’s laboratory. He’s been obsessed with suppressants since he first read about them, tucked away in the tightest corner of his room and reading by the early hours of sunrise.

He has them. In the palm of his hand, Carlos has suppressants.

While Ben takes Dude back and continues to yap, ecstatic to go into heat and spend it with Mal, Carlos shoves the bottle into his pocket and ignores the erratic beating of his heart.

--

Dude is acceptable. He hasn’t torn Carlos’ throat out or bit off any of his fingers. The dog likes to lick his hands and sniff him a lot, but Carlos isn’t too worried.

It’s true that dogs can smell better than humans. Even if Dude can smell that Carlos is an omega, it’s not like he can talk.

He sits in Carlos’ lap for Remedial Goodness 101, gnawing on a rubber bone. Carlos absentmindedly pets Dude’s head, zoning out with Fairy Godmother’s voice.

It’s been a few days since Ben shoved actual suppressants into Carlos’ hand like they were no big deal, eager to get rid of them and begin his heat for Mal.

And Carlos had taken them, back to his dorm room, jingling in his pocket, and shoved them into the little nightstand by his bed.

When he first took them back out, after Doug went to shower, Carlos had pondered why Ben carried them with him at all, rather than having them in his room. But, Carlos takes care to hide the pills, concealing them in an unmarked bottle that rests at the bottom of his book bag. He can’t risk leaving them in his room, where Doug could find them, or in his school locker where a teacher could open.

No, he had to keep the suppressants with him at all times, just like the ingredients for his homemade suppressants or The Importance of Omegas, which Carlos returned to the library after he had gone two days without opening it again.

The suppressants are guarded and safe from anyone who wanted to rifle through his belongings. Ben must have felt the same way.

And now that he’s been on the pills for days…Carlos feels weird. He feels muted. He feels…not much. He doesn’t want to sit as close to Jay and Evie and Mal, doesn’t crave their touch randomly. He’s okay to go without physical affection and he doesn’t even have to pretend like he’s fine now.

That’s probably why he became so indifferent to Dude so quickly. Yeah, Carlos realizes that Cruella lied, but it’s hard to get the idea out of his head that every dog won’t attack him after hearing it for years.

But he looks at Dude in his lap and thinks…whatever. Dude might hurt him, Dude might not.

He’s not so afraid on suppressants. He doesn’t get as excited to see his pack or as worried about the plan. He doesn’t even feel guilty about taking Ben’s suppressants (even if they were technically given) or jealous about Ben spending his heat with Mal. Well, Carlos is a little jealous still, but he’s at peace with it.

His emotions aren’t entirely gone but they’re…less. Like he can only feel things halfway now.

And that’s good. Really. He’s less distracted by emotions, he doesn’t long to submit or kneel, he’s more in control of himself.

That’s good. It’s all good.

A sharp nudge in his side takes him away from Dude’s soft head.

“C, she’s talking to you,” Jay hisses.

Carlos blinks and looks up to see Fairy Godmother watching him expectantly. “Yeah?”

“Do you know the answer, dear?”

“No.”

Fairy Godmother falters. “I’ll ask the question again. Ahem. What’s the proper way for betas to interact with omegas? A, to demand submission; B, with respect and sitting proper distance apart; C, to ask intruding questions about heats; or D, to invite the omega to come to their dorm after curfew.”

Even acting as a beta, most of Carlos’ interactions with others were closest to A or D. Villains wanted submission, alphas made crude gestures, Cruella talked about renting his body to adults. Jasper and Horace had even asked if he ever got wet for men.

Really, the only option that seems unfamiliar is…

“C,” Carlos says, “respectful and sitting far apart.”

Fairy Godmother gushes and claps her hands. “Well done!”

“How are omegas treated here?” Mal asks suddenly, her voice cutting off their teacher. “Just curious.”

Carlos figures she’s trying to figure out how many people know Ben is an omega. He’s glad Mal asked the question because he’s been curious to find out too.

Fairy Godmother looks at Mal for a long moment, as if she’s perfectly aware that Ben is an omega and she’s realizing that Mal knows too and she’s trying to decide how much of a shit show this is.

“Omegas are treated with respect, or course. Just like any other role.”

“So there’s no difference?” Mal tilts her head with faux innocence. “Why are we separated by roles then?”

Fairy Godmother’s eyebrows shoot up. “Well, we don’t want scents to influence anyone or the natural dynamics that take place to be a distraction.”

Mal nods, but keeps speaking. “So what kind of influence do omegas have on alphas?” She pauses and then smiles again, looking fully worthy to be dating the king of Auradon. “Just curious.”

A look of shock passes on Fairy Godmother’s face. She realizes that Mal is aware of Ben being an omega. “Well, most students are on suppressants, so there really shouldn’t be any influence here. But everyone is kept separate because omegas bring out dominance in alphas, sometimes in betas.”

“Mmm,” Mal hums. “That’s it?”

Fairy Godmother wearily keeps eye contact. “Also, with, ahem, roles, even on suppressants, omegas can affect those around them, or their little subconscious actions can affect alphas, betas or other omegas, but other omegas are more understanding of them, but that’s a topic for another class.”

“Subconscious actions?”

Carlos’ question makes him the center of attention in the room.

“Well, it’s different for everyone, but I’ve noticed with Jane – you all remember my daughter, right?”

Yeah, the mousy girl that was eating out of Mal’s hand due to her own lack of confidence. Jane was their first plot to get to the wand, but it fell through. She practically melted under Mal’s attention on her and half-hearted praises, Carlos had been annoyed to see someone so infatuated with Mal.

And now, hearing that Jane is likely an omega who hung all over Mal…

Carlos supposes he’s upset. Kind of. He probably should be more indignant, but it’s hard to tell what he’s feeling on suppressants.

“Jane likes to play with her hair when she’s nervous or upset. Omegas often provide sensory comfort for themselves when they’re stressed, even on suppressants.” Fairy Godmother explains, waving her hand. “Or when they’re depressed, they purr and when they’re happy, omegas can chirp. Things like that can affect others who notice them. They have a tendency to…affect the emotions of others. Especially with those they have created some sort of bond – platonic or otherwise – with.”

Mal nods and briefly, Carlos wonders if Ben has done any of that around her, but he’s really more concerned with whether he has done any of that.

His limited reading has never mentioned those things, though he hadn't picked up anything else after returning the unfinished The Importance of Omegas. Carlos has never heard of sensory stimulation or chirping. Surely, Fairy Godmother doesn’t mean like what birds do?

Of course, he’s caught himself purring in distress, but he’s never done either of those. He doesn’t provide sensory comfort for himself, touch on the Isle was bad, always. Carlos didn’t play with hair or mimic physical affection, he doesn’t want things like that.

And chirping, whatever that is, Carlos has definitely never done that. He would have noticed it like the purr.

He won’t ever chirp, suppressants or not. He doesn’t get to be happy, despite the pleasure and comfort he takes in his pack. Happy isn’t for villains. Or liars. Happiness isn’t for people like Carlos.

--

Carlos feels most comfortable in the rooms of his alphas. He likes living with Doug just fine and Lonnie is friendlier than anyone else on campus, but Carlos enjoys laying on Jay’s bed or sitting in Mal’s chair and breathing in their scents.

Tonight is different though.

They are finalizing their plan to steal the wand.

Each of them has a role. Mal will grab the wand, Evie will knock out the guards and anyone in their way and Jay will muscle them through the crowd. Carlos is to find their limo, the one with the button for the barrier, and get them all back to the Isle.

He had made some embarrassing, pleased noise when Mal told him of his job. Carlos was so flushed at being given such a heavy responsibility, so flustered to realize Mal’s confidence and trust in him. He will not let her down.

Coronation is not until next week, but Mal says it is too risky to meet up and plan anything right before their big moment. It is safest to meet now, ensure everyone is aware of their roles and set it all into stone.

Carlos has been on Ben's suppressants for a full week now. Their odd effect on him has lessened, but he still feels off. It's like the stomach aches he got when first using his homemade suppressants. Eventually he got used to them being in his system and stopped reacting poorly.

These suppressants are a little different though. They're proper suppressants, of course, so they don't cause pain. They just make Carlos feel...off.

Jay falls back rather quickly onto his own bed. They thought about meeting in Mal’s room, but Mal said it would look bad on her if she had three of them leaving her room at night. She was much more likely to sneak out of the alpha boys’ dorm undetected rather than have three guests leave her room unnoticed past curfew.

Carlos likes Jay’s room. It is bare and simple, Jay’s stolen treasures line the shelves on one side, though his collection has slowed down considerably. The first week, Jay had filled his room so much that he threw out most of what he had stolen, but lately…he hasn’t been thieving. He's changed since joining the tourney team, he seems lighter, more carefree.

That's gone tonight.

“Come here, pup,” Jay calls. He lays on top of his comforter, on his side, watching Carlos sit on the other empty bed.

The girls are still talking, muttering over the plans and spells, so Carlos is quiet as he moves across the carpet and sits on Jay’s mattress. He is pulled down immediately, the alpha maneuvering him so they lay facing each other.

It’s the most intimate thing they’ve done since the kiss all those weeks ago. They haven’t risked any big displays of affection, too worried about lingering scents stirring suspicion in the people here.

But Jay reaches down for Carlos’ hand and locks their fingers together. He slowly bring Carlos’ hand to his mouth and kisses each knuckles. Jay closes his eyes and moves his mouth over Carlos’ fingers, content to share this gentle action in the dark.

This is different from their kiss in the locker room. That had been amazing, but it had been rushed and messy and desperate, all about dominance and submission and need.

Right now, laying together, Jay kissing his knuckles, this is about…

Well, Carlos isn’t sure he has the words for it.

“You want to break Ben’s love spell?”

Both boys jolt up in the bed, their peaceful moment broken by Evie’s shock. Their quick movement and rustling of blankets catches the attention of Mal and Evie, who look back at them.

“Yeah,” Mal swallows, looking entirely uncertain of herself. “You know…for after.”

“Why?” Carlos asks, fingers curled in Jay’s blanket. “He’s an… I thought you wanted that.”

“An omega.” Mal says to herself more than any of them. “He is. But…you know. Ben offering himself to me, saying he wanted to…” She trails off. Carlos isn’t sure if she’s talking about Ben wanting to go into heat for her because Mal hasn’t mentioned that to their group. Either Ben hasn’t told her his brilliant plan or Mal is keeping it a secret. “After the villains come and hurt everyone and destroy everything, Ben still wanting to be my omega just seems a little extra…cruel.”

Carlos gulps and pulls his knees up to his chest. “But when our parents come and take over everything…you won’t get another omega. We don’t have any on the Isle and the ones here will…”

“C?” Evie calls for him, but she sounds so far. “Carlos, what’s wrong?”

Jay shakes his shoulder when he doesn’t respond. “Pup? Dude? Can you breathe?”

Carlos thinks that if he hadn’t been taking Ben’s suppressants, he wouldn’t have the strength to not purr right now. He feels like he's about to vomit, but he forces out his words. “What will happen? To the…the omegas here?”

Mal blinks, eyebrows raised at his question. “I…don’t know.” She looks at Jay, who stares back at her. “I haven’t thought about it.”

“Most of the people the villains hurt were omegas.” Evie says softly. “Jasmine was an omega,” she looks at Jay, who nods. “So is Queen Belle. And Snow White. Villains prey upon omegas more than any other role.”

“And they’re treated like shit on the Isle!” Carlos hops off of Jay’s bed. His fear has become panic and panic manifests itself into mindless pacing. “I mean, Gaston rents LeFou out and-and Anastasia is treated like property. Jafar always talked about whipping Jasmine and Horace and Jasper think omegas are fuck toys and I…” He clenches his eyes shut and folds his arms, curling in on himself. “Cruella always said that if I…I presented as an omega…”

“What did she say?” Mal asks him, looking over his trembling form. “Carlos, what did Cruella always say?”

He can’t breathe, there’s no air. His chest hurts and his whole body is shaking. The room spins and his throat is so tight that oxygen can’t pass through no matter how badly his lungs burn.

“Carlos, breathe!”

It’s not until his face is buried in Evie’s shoulder that Carlos realizes he sank to the floor in his panic. The beta holds him tightly, shushing him, rubbing his back and kissing his hair.

He chokes on air, coughing and wheezing until he regains his senses and collapses in Evie’s arms.

“What the hell, Carlos?” Mal kneels next to him, hand on his shoulder. “We always knew what was coming, we knew the plan.”

“The alphas on the Isle won’t be as nice as you, Mal,” he tells her sincerely, looking up at her befuddled face. “They won’t care about drugging omegas or using magic or just using force.” Carlos pulls away from Evie and narrows his eyes at Mal. “If we do this, this is a death sentence for them.”

Even on the Isle, the most ruthless villains were still bound by the barrier. They didn’t have magic, their own bodies were withering and weakened by the absence of food, they lacked moronic followers. They could be as big and bad and strong as the Isle allowed and they ran the place, reminiscing of omegas to bend over and claim.

And now, without that barrier, they will be limitless.

None of that seems to register with Mal, who grits her teeth and says, “I’m not nice.”

Carlos nearly rolls his eyes at her. “You have an omega who is head over heels for you and instead of taking that-.”

“We’re evil!” Mal barks at him and Carlos recoils further into Evie. “We are evil and wicked and ruthless. Okay? The only people we give a shit about are ourselves. The four of us.” Mal gestures to their pack. “That’s it.”

“What about everybody els-?”

“Carlos,” Mal hisses, lips curling back. “We are rotten. We are villains. We are unleashing evil.”

They are condemning omegas everywhere. They are allowing omegas to be victimized and used and forced into submission.

“It doesn’t even matter, man. You’re not an omega.” Jay crouches down and grips Carlos’ shoulder. “We got each other’s backs, no matter what happens.”

That's right, they only have each other. Mal even swore that Cruella would never be able to touch him again, but that she wouldn't kill her, so that means his mother will end up locked away or injured or disabled. Mal was willing to take down one of the most infamous villains, which is pretty damn evil, sure, but she would do it for him, to keep Carlos safe from harm.

“We’ll protect each other.” Mal nods and sits on the empty bed. “We’ll look out for each other and keep each other safe.”

Carlos was never very good at being a villain and he still must not be, because that doesn’t sound very evil to him at all.

--

Family Day sounds like a fairy tale bunch of crap, but so does most of Auradon, so Carlos doesn’t fight it.

Honestly, it’s not that bad. There is food everywhere and an open area for him to run around with Dude.

They are to fit in and play nice and not cause a scene. This is their big moment, their final chance, to really blend in with Auradon and become perfect, invisible background characters that no one takes a second look at.

Evie scolds him and Jay for going overboard with a chocolate fountain, but a small smile hides under her faux annoyance. She looks around casually before swiping a drop of chocolate off Jay’s lip with a smile and licking it off her finger.

Carlos chases Dude in the grass, avoiding people like the plague. He finds his own behavior odd. Before he had proper suppressants and could only use his home-made ones, Carlos fretted about getting too near to anyone, in case they caught his scent. Now that he has real suppressants, his self-induced seclusion hasn’t stopped.

He keeps an eye on everyone from the back of the party, Dude yapping at his feet. Evie and Jay are playing a game of…croquet? Cricket? They are playing a game of something with Ben and Carlos brushes off the faded jealousy that comes with the sight.

Ben's pills are still altering his emotions. Carlos feels, but it’s all diluted with suppressants. He can be sad, but not depressed. He can worry, but he isn’t anxious. He is jealous, but not possessive.

Well, not as possessive as he once was over his pack.

Jay high fives Ben and Evie giggles, twirling her hair. As far as Carlos knows, Ben doesn’t know that Jay and Evie know that he is an omega. Though, if the king had been so affected by the love spell to tell Carlos, maybe he told Jay and Evie as well.

Mal has said little about Ben being an omega. She’s still set on reversing the love spell and refuses to talk more about it, despite Carlos asking how can it seem “a little extra cruel” when she’s so wicked and evil.

She always glares at him when he asks that.

Carlos still remembers that day in Jafar’s shop, having dropped to his knees before Jay and feeling the giddy, light-headed feeling of kneeling and submitting. He remembers Jay’s words, his desire for an omega to be a part of his future pack, one to be “fucked and used”.

He daydreamt about it a couple of times, in the shower where the soap and shampoo were fragranced enough to hide his growing scent from Doug. Carlos leant against the shower wall and entertained the idea of being fucked and used by his pack – kneeling before Jay again, Mal’s fingers in his hair, Evie praising him with her words and gentle kisses.

Eventually, the day dreaming had its effects and Carlos had to shut the thoughts down. The musky soap would only cover so much, if he got too excited, his scent could give him away. He had bit his tongue and turned the water cold until his body relaxed.

But those desires have been fading since he began taking real suppressants. His omega urges are being squished and it is like being able to breathe for the first time in nearly a year and a half. He is meek and submissive still, because, well, it’s all Carlos has ever been, but he doesn't desire to be submissive anymore.

He feels like a beta. And that’s more than Carlos ever really hoped for.

So why the hell is he so irritated at the way Jay slings an arm over Ben’s shoulders and how Evie watches with a grin?

They both know that they’re not keeping Ben and that Mal has no interest in him. From what Carlos can tell, though his olfaction has dimmed even more with proper suppressants, Ben’s natural omega scent has not yet overridden the suppressants still in his system. He isn't acting more submissive, he's still just a normal king, so why are Jay and Evie all over him?

Carlos sighs and relaxes his posture before scooping Dude up. Anger never got him anywhere. Neither did self-pity.

He moves back over to the food, slinking around the edge of the party as to avoid the other guests. Carlos firmly keeps his back turned to Jay and Evie, still fawning over Ben and showing way more physical affection than the stupid king ought to have.

Ben’s not even stupid, not really, Carlos knows. In fact, he is quite kind, to a fault nearly. Ben brought them from the Isle, regardless of the opposition he faced, and still asks more questions about the kids there and the life they all had. He took time out of his schedule to help Carlos with tourney – though it never progressed into anything more – and introduced him to Dude. Ben gives Mal flowers and candy and praise for all of her art projects, even when it’s considered vandalism.

Carlos doesn’t hate Ben. Or think he’s stupid.

He just really has a problem with one of his alphas and his beta being so friendly to Ben.

Mal keeps her distance, idly watching Jay and Evie hoover over Ben. She stands alone, quiet and small, so unlike the presence she was on the Isle. It is part of going unnoticed, an attempt to be invisible, but Carlos can’t imagine not ever being drawn to Mal.

“Enjoying the party?” She asks without looking at him, just sensing his presence by her side.

“I guess. When does it end?”

“The sooner, the better.”

The two stand in silence, Carlos bouncing Dude on his hip. A moment passes before an elderly, dark woman smiles brightly at them. “Hello there.”

“Hi,” Mal sings, sounding as sweet as bird. It’s a tone Carlos has only ever heard in Auradon and he secretly kind of likes it.

The woman looks at Mal, studies her curiously up and down with a bewildered face. “Have we met?”

She’s talking directly to Mal, so Carlos stays quiet and out of the way. He takes a small step back to further isolate himself and listen behind his alpha.

“No, I don’t believe so. We’re new,” Mal looks back at Carlos, as if to make sure he hasn’t left her. “We’re like transfer students.”

A sharp nudge has Carlos stumbling with Dude in his arms. He looks up to see Audrey walking importantly past him, acting completely unaware of her obvious push to Carlos’ back. Dude whines at being jostled and Carlos glares at the showy princess.

Audrey might be an alpha. Her scent is so muted that she smells like a beta, but Carlos thinks she’s more assertive and egotistical than the normal Auradon citizen.

“Hi, Grammy,” Audrey coos, handing the older woman a drink and kissing her briefly on the lips. When she pulls back and looks and recognizesCarlos and Mal, her eyes widen, as if Audrey had not realized they were there.

That’s different, Carlos knows as he snuggles tighter to Dude. There is a difference between Audrey intentionally ignoring him and her genuinely not seeing him. His chest tightens and he hides his face.

“Grammy?” Mal asks and takes a step away.

Carlos looks between the three, quickly realizing that Audrey’s grandmother is-.

“Yes, as in Sleeping Beauty’s mother.” Audrey narrows her eyes, lips curled in disgust. “Grammy I don’t think you want to be talking to this girl,” she sneers at Mal, entirely ignoring Carlos. Even though that is what he wanted, invisibility, it stings to see Mal be targeted. “Not unless you feel like taking another hundred year nap.”

Mal purses her lips and steps closer, hearing the challenge and refusing to shy away.

Audrey does the same – she must be an alpha, even one on suppressants, she must be – moving in front of her grandmother, as if to shield her from Mal.

It would be sweet if Carlos couldn’t stand Audrey so much.

“What are you talking about, dearest?” Asks the woman, who Carlos now knows to be Queen Leah.

Mal exhales through her nose, jaw moving in the little way that says she’s grinding her teeth. She is not ashamed of her lineage, not willing to hide it from strangers, but she also does not want to draw attention to herself.

“This is Maleficent’s daughter, Grammy.” Audrey says coldly, nose up in the air so she can properly look down on Mal.

Carlos holds Dude with one arm and runs his free hand through his hair. This could get ugly, Leah could cause a scene or Audrey or even Mal with that defiant look in her eyes. Carlos is prepared to drag his alpha away as soon as a fight starts, one single shout and they’re gone.

“What are you talking about, Audrey?" Queen Leah shakes her head. "This isn’t Maleficent’s child. How could you say such a thing?”

Mal blinks and Audrey blinks and Carlos blinks.

Leah gently moves her granddaughter aside and leans closer to Mal and…sniffs. Casually, subtly, staying far enough back that she respects Mal’s personal space. “No, don’t be ridiculous, Audrey.”

“Grammy, what are you talking about?” Audrey seethes and clutches her grandmother’s hand. “This is Maleficent’s daughter!”

“No,” Leah says softly, shaking her head and pulling away. “I know Maleficent’s scent.” She looks at Mal with a curious head tilt. “You don’t smell anything like her.”

Carlos feels his mouth snap shut and he immediately looks away from the queen and princess to Mal.

Her eyebrows are practically in her hairline and her lips have formed a little O of surprise. The faded pink blush Evie applied to Mal's face earlier becomes a striking red of shame as she clenches her hands into tight fists.

Audrey is baffled, not at their reactions, but at her grandmother’s words. “What? How is that…?”

“I will never forget the smell of the woman who took your mother from me,” Leah says and holds a hand over her chest. “I will never forget her face or her voice or anything about her.” She shudders, eyes closed in a memory that haunts her face. “Maybe my sense of smell has faded over the years, but this girl doesn’t smell anything like her. Audrey, you owe her an apology.”

“But…I…” Audrey’s mouth opens and shuts without thought, her brows knitted together in confusion. “Mal!” Audrey glares and purses her lips, waiting for an explanation. “You’re hiding something!”

Mal’s face is red all over, a sharp contrast to how pale she normally is. She looks to the ground, unable to meet the eyes of anyone around her, even a member of her pack. “My mother," she quickly exhales, "never scented me.”

Carlos lowers his head and steps closer to his alpha, offering a silent show of comfort. It’s not a big deal - it’s not - but Auradon makes everything into a big deal and he can hear the gasps of Audrey and Leah.

“That’s not true.” Audrey says after a moment of silence. “You’re lying.”

“What do you mean your mother never scented you?” Leah murmurs. “Parents always scent their children. I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Carlos knows it’s hurtful to acknowledge. For the people of Auradon, of course. Not him. His mother never scented him, not once in his childhood. She never provided comfort and held him. Maleficent never did that with Mal, Jafar never did that with Jay, the Evil Queen never did that with Evie. It was part of growing up on the Isle, living with parents who didn’t love them – maybe because their parents didn’t know how to love them – but it’s not a big deal, it’s not, it’s not, it’s not.

He’s never been hurt about it before. Some story books talk about scenting between parents and children as a way to bond, but it just didn’t happen on the Isle. Carlos didn’t care. He can’t miss something he never had.

But looking at Audrey and her wounded eyes – her expression is so contrite, it’s as if it had been herself to never bond with a parent – take a step back into her grandmother, reaching for her hand and curling close for comfort…

Carlos thinks – just maybe – he wishes he had that with Cruella.

Leah reaches for Audrey and grabs her hand, rubbing circles onto her wrist. A subtle, socially acceptable way in Auradon to provide comfort, but a gesture that would never be acceptable on the Isle. Carlos feels nauseous watching the quiet affection even though he’s seen similar actions a hundred times since they arrived here.

“You're telling the truth,” Audrey chokes out, sounding not very alpha at all. “I didn’t know…” She looks away and takes a step back, clearly uncomfortable with the new information and unsure of how to behave now.

Fury radiates off Mal instantly and Carlos nearly cowers away. He doesn’t do self-pity, but Mal doesn’t do pity at all and the soft looks from her mother’s sworn enemy and granddaughter are enough for eyes to glow.

Thankfully, Leah and Audrey are so caught up in each other, their own shock and disbelief, that Carlos sees the emerald first. He snatches Mal’s hand and forces her to look at him, dragging her away.

“Not here!” He seethes and continues to tug, even though Mal is hissing at him and that makes him want to run and hide, omega or not. “We can’t cause a scene!”

Mal snatches her hand away and whips back around. She freezes.

Carlos follows her line of sight. Several feet away, still standing where they were, Leah and Audrey are hugging, Audrey’s face buried in the neck of her grandmother as Leah rubs her shoulders.

There’s a noise to his left and Carlos glances at Mal, face screwed up and eyes back to their normal green.

--

“I think I hate my mother.” Mal says that night. The four of them are huddled in her room, the girls sitting on Mal’s bed. “I always knew I didn’t love her, but now…” She trails off and sighs heavily.

“Are you sure?” Evie mumbles into her shoulder. “That you never loved her?”

Mal looks at her with a bewildered expression, Jay and Carlos watching from the spare bed in her room.

“Because maybe you loved her or you still love her and you’re hurt…that she doesn’t love you back.”

Carlos winces at the words. Those won’t go over well with Mal, the implication of weakness and the direct assessment of Maleficent’s lack of care, but Evie keeps speaking.

“That’s how it is with my mother. I love her, I know that I do, and I know she doesn’t love me back.” Evie moves as if she wants to pull Mal closer, erase the distance between them, but sitting as close as they are right now is already risky. They're arms are already touching, any nearer and their scents will definitely rub off on each other. Evie rethinks her movement and pulls back

Mal sighs, but doesn’t correct her. “I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

“I hate Jafar,” Jay says from his seat next to Carlos. “I don’t think I ever loved him.”

Carlos knows it’s his turn to speak. It’s his turn to talk about Cruella and how she never loved him and how he used to love her and maybe he still does and his turn to confront all of those ugly, confusing emotions after seeing Leah comfort Audrey.

He doesn’t have the energy for all of that.

“What does this mean for us?” Carlos asks softly, pinkie sliding over Jay’s because they can risk an action that small.

“Why would we go so out of our way for people who don’t give a shit about us?” Mal seethes, hands bunching up the bedding and shoulders curling forward. “Why do we go so far for them?”

That’s what it’s always been about. It wasn’t about being villains. It was always about their parents, the withheld affection and bonding that drove them all desperate.

He knew Mal wasn't evil.

She just wanted Maleficent to notice her.

“Because we thought we could earn their love,” Evie offers, looking out the window with a weary expression.

“Because we had to,” Carlos gulps. “On the Isle. We couldn’t say no to them in that room when your mom gave us the plan. Disobeying our parents doesn’t work out for us.”

There is a heavy silence in the room that lasts for too long. When Carlos looks up from the ground to his friends, his pack, they are all watching him.

Carlos freezes and scowls at his subconscious movements. He had brought his hand up to rest against the burn of Cruella’s signature, feeling the raised skin beneath his shirt and lost in the memory of the pain.

Cruella hadn’t even laughed when she held the metal stamper to Carlos’ skin. She usually found humor in his torment, but not that time. Cruella had been so set on scarring him, on teaching him a lesson, that she hadn’t even thought to find it all funny. "You don't belong to that alpha child," Cruella had mocked as Carlos wailed, "you belong to me, boy."

“Because we wanted to be evil,” Jay says into the dark, “because we thought we had to be them.”

“I don’t want to be Maleficent. I know that I’m not her.” Mal draws her knees up to her chest, bootless feet resting on her comforter. “A couple of weeks ago…Ben asked me…if I loved him,” she admits and looks at the door, pointedly avoiding all of their eyes. “I thought for a while that I might because I was so…attached to him. But it was just me being invested in an omega, that was all.” Mal huffs and nuzzles her knee. “I knew that I didn’t love him though because…I already know what it’s like to love someone. To love more than one person.”

It clicks for Carlos at the same moment it clicks for Jay and for Evie. His chest aches, but not with the burn of Cruella. It’s as if his heart is beating too fast and his head is floating away.

Even though he can’t breathe and all he can hear is the rushing blood in his ears and he thinks he might pass out, Carlos has never felt so special in his life. Not on the day that Evie first sat down with him in Dragon Hall or the day she gave him his first ever blanket. Not on the day that Jay and Mal demanded his help for Maleficent’s scepter, not when the two first invited he and Evie to hang out with them. Not on the day he was called to Auradon, not when Jay and Evie and Mal took their time to scent Carlos as mark him as theirs.

Mal loves them. She loves them all. And she said it.

“Oh, M,” Evie breathes and she breaks their rule of no contact, no risk of scent contamination. She throws her arms around Mal and kisses her cheek. “M, we love you too.”

“Even though I’m not a prince?”

Evie bites her lip and hesitates, but her voice is stern when she speaks. “If you can admit you’re not your mother, so can I. What she wants for me isn’t what I want. Chad wasn't anything compared to you three.”

“So you’re fine with disappointing your mother?” Mal scoffs, but leans into Evie anyway. “You’re okay with her never being proud of you?”

“I think even if I did marry a prince…” Evie rests her head on Mal’s shoulder, “she would still be disappointed in me. She would still find something to complain about. The castle wouldn’t be big enough, she’d want me with a king instead of a prince, just anything to say I needed to do better. But, that doesn’t matter.” Evie swallows and looks at the boys, still sitting on the bed side by side. “Because, I mean…”

“We don’t ever have to see them again,” Carlos says. “We’re here and they’re on the Isle. We can keep it that way for the rest of our lives.” He grips Jay’s hand tightly, fearing the words in his throat even though it’s what all four of them are thinking. “We live in Auradon and…stay here. Be a part of this world.” Where people smile and food smells nice and air is warm and they can say love.

Evie looks at him, still resting on Mal’s shoulder. “We’d have to be good.”

“Or, at least, not evil,” Jay suggests with a shrug. “And it’s not like any of us are actually evil if we…uh…love. Because I…” He rubs the back of his neck and Carlos looks at him with an amused grin. “You know, Mal. Same.”

The girls laugh and Carlos nudges his side, but the tension is broken. The four of them can breathe.

“So we’re all on the same page.” Mal takes a deep breath and looks at them all. “We stay, here, in Auradon. No more plan to steal the wand.”

“We can be ourselves,” Evie says and kisses Mal’s cheek. “We can be us.”

Hours after they leave Mal’s room, those words ring in Carlos’ head.

--

Things with Ben go surprisingly well, according to Mal.

He had known for a while that he was under a love spell - something about an enchanted lake? - but he was unwilling to cause a fight right before his coronation. Even in his hurt and anger, he was worried about the reputation of the VKs and hurting the chances of future Isle kids to be brought over if he made a fuss. Ben had been hurt and upset and even mad, but unwilling to put the future of other VKs at risk. He had been very grateful that Mal had come forward and confessed on her own.

As far as Carlos knows, Ben has no idea they wanted to steal the wand. Carlos doesn’t see why Mal would tell him. Ben chalked her behavior up to a mistake made after being so overwhelmed in Auradon, but he was more than impressed by how she controlled herself after learning about his hidden role and how she never took advantage of it.

He’s inherently good at heart, so good that it’s impossible. Ben baffles Carlos in a dozen ways. His kindness, his strength, his desire to see the best in everyone.

So Carlos doesn’t have much of a choice when Ben asks to see him.

They meet in his office a week before coronation, Ben standing tall in his blue suit as he shuts the door. It’s baffling to Carlos, still after all these weeks, too see an omega have an office and a suit and a secretary and an entire kingdom in his hand.

And Carlos is an omega, he knows the unfair stereotypes of the Isle, but it still feels…wrong. Like there is a mistake in Ben being king. On the Isle, Carlos could never embrace his role and it seems…as if Ben does the same. He doesn’t stand like an omega, he is tall and proud and his head is high. He is not submissive or quiet or small, but today, Ben looks off. Different.

If the love spell hadn’t been washed away already, Carlos would have chalked up his disheveled appearance to breaking out of his obsession with Mal.

“Please, sit,” Ben gestures to the chair across from the desk and smiles when Carlos takes a seat. “So, Carlos, I have something to ask of you.”

He gulps, clutching the cushion of the chair. “Okay.”

“Do you remember that day we practiced drills on the tourney field? They day you met Dude?”

The little dog is with Evie right now, sitting handsomely for his fitting. Evie had been inspired by Jay’s tourney uniform to create a matching one for Dude and insisted on making it soon as possible.

Carlos nods.

“Well,” Ben takes a deep breath and clearly forces a smile. “I also gave you my bottle of suppressants that day. I wasn’t thinking clearly and I…I need those back.” He clasps his hands together. “What did you do with them?”

“How have you not gone into heat yet?” Carlos blurts out. He’s certainly not about to answer the question honestly. “Because that…that was like three weeks ago. You should…”

He had panicked every time Mal was late to a meeting or had gone without being seen for a few hours. Carlos was convinced that any time she was missing was because Ben had finally gone into heat and Mal had dragged him off, intent on holding him down and biting his throat and using Ben however she pleased.

The king clears his throat awkwardly. “Well, suppressants don’t just stop immediately. They need time to work their way out of my system, like most medications do. But when I realized I was under a love spell,” he says it so calmly, naturally, not an ounce of anger or resentment, like he has completely let the issue go and Carlos is still puzzled by how everything works in Auradon, “I sought out the school medical staff and asked for generic suppressants she keeps on hand.”

“Generic suppressants?”

“Well, there are over the counter suppressants anyone can buy. Omegas or alphas, they’re the kind we gave to Jay and Mal.” Ben looks more uncomfortable with every passing moment. “But a person can also have suppressants prescribed to them. Once a doctor takes in your weight and height and history, they can give you an order for medicines specifically for you, whether you need something stronger or lighter.” He looks away, brow furrowed and eyes hardened.

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Carlos says softly. He didn’t think it was possible to upset Ben, who hardly reacted to Mal admitting she put him under a spell, but Ben is clearly bothered by the questions and that unnerves Carlos.

He should be able to differentiate by now. Carlos knows Auradon is not the Isle and he probably won’t get hit for upsetting Ben, but what if he does? Just because Mal got away with a wicked scheme doesn’t mean Carlos will get away with prying too much. Mal is an alpha and she’s strong and dominant and in charge, but Carlos is weak and small and submissive and he should have kept his damn mouth shut.

“I am so sorry,” Ben finally whispers and Carlos’ eyebrows shoot up. “I…I know that you don’t have medical care on the Isle, you must have so many questions about medicine and doctors and health care.” Ben slowly exhales. “I can’t believe the life you all have lived. The life innocent children are still living.”

They’re not innocent, they’re anything but. Mal uses illegal magic and drugs Ben into loving her, Jay thieved and fought constantly, Evie helped him steal from Yen Sid’s lab, Carlos is a lying, secretive manipulator.

But he’s not about to say any of that aloud. Not to Ben, who sees the four of them as good and genuine. Ben, who sees them as worthy and redeemable, Carlos can’t ruin that image.

Especially since it makes him want to be a better person.

“Do you still have my suppressants, Carlos?” Ben asks, posture low, but eyes bright with hope.

“Yeah,” Carlos tells him. “I still have them.”

--

He’s doing this. He’s actually doing this. It’s happening. Today.

“What’s up, pup?” Jay asks as soon as Carlos walks through the door. “You sounded so stressed out today.”

Carlos rubs his palms on his pants, he is sweating and clammy all over. “Are the… The girls aren't here yet?”

“No, but they’ll be here soon,” Jay looks at the clock on his table stand. Mal and Evie have eight more minutes to arrive. “Carlos, seriously, what’s up?”

“I jus-just w-wanna wait f-f-for the girls.”

Jay stands from his bad and grabs Carlos’ shoulders. “You were real weird this morning, you’re real weird now. Are you okay?”

Carlos nods. He thinks so. He hopes so.

Earlier, before classes, Carlos hurriedly asked over breakfast for all of them to meet in the evening. He couldn’t say why because he hadn’t worked up the damn courage yet, but all of them agreed to meet at 7 in Jay’s room before Carlos ran off, hyperventilating in the cafeteria because he gave Ben’s suppressants back yesterday.

Which means Carlos is officially off suppressants.

Including his own homemade ones.

Jay brings his arms around Carlos and pulls him into a hug. “C, breathe. Whatever this is about, we’ll get through it.”

He brings his arms up to wrap around Jay’s back and nuzzles into the alpha’s chest. Jay kisses his hair and Carlos forces his heart rate to slow, concentrating on being surrounded by the warmth and strength of Jay.

This is it. He is going to tell them. Jay and Mal and Evie will all know the truth. It doesn’t have to be a secret anymore, he doesn’t have to fret and panic and think about Cruella selling him out. Carlos can tell his pack and be himself. They can live the rest of their lives in Auradon, happy and honest and themselves.

Mal and Evie walk in together, a fair distance a part. Ben and Mal agreed to keep up the appearance of dating until the coronation was over, after people stopped watching and scrutinizing everything they did. It would make so much more sense if Carlos waited until after coronation, when everything was calmer, but he has to do it now, he has to finally stop this.

“What’s wrong, Carlos?” Evie immediately grabs his hands. “You had us so worried this morning.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Carlos breathes out. “I, uh, I need to tell you guys something. It’s, uh, I, uh, it’s-s impo-portant.” Shit, he’s sweating and stuttering and his face is blotchy and he didn’t have time to comb his hair or wear something nice, but this doesn’t need to be nice because they’re his pack and they love him, but it does need to be nice because this is going to change their whole dynamic.

He’s doing this. He’s telling them. It’s happening.

Jay snaps his fingers in front of Carlos’ face. “C! Breathe, man!”

Carlos gasps and clutches his chest. Someone guides him to Jay’s bed and pushes him to sit. His head ends up between his knees and he chokes on air.

A wide hand rubbing circles on his spine must belong to Jay and one of the girls is combing her fingers through his hair. There are mumbled, soothing words, shushing him and surrounding him and Carlos slowly remembers to breathe.

He’s not purring though. Probably because of Ben’s suppressants still in his system, but Carlos doesn’t even think about it. He’s so warm and calm and at ease that he doesn’t even want to right now. His pack is here, they're all here with him.

“Deep breath, come on, pup. Deep breath.”

Carlos looks up at Evie’s voice. She is crouching in front of him.

“Whatever you want to tell us, it’s okay,” she whispers to him, cupping his face and kissing his lips briefly. “It’s okay. It’s all okay.”

Aftercare was one of the only others things Carlos read about in his books. A time for omegas to be comforted and held and praised after something intense, like a drop or a rough day. It involved physical affection and words of affirmation and blankets and quietness and soft hands.

He hasn't even told them his secret yet and they're already providing such comfort for him.

Fuck, he loves them all so much. He can tell them.

“I’ve been…keeping a secret.” Carlos avoids Evie’s eyes. “I…I couldn’t tell you before. But, I…I can. I want to.”

Evie shushes him immediately, her fingers pushing into his neck. “Your pulse is spiking again,” she says. “Just breathe, take your time. I…you know, I have my own secrets too.”

Carlos is still bent over his knees, Jay on one side and Mal on the other. He looks at Evie and waits.

“My mother,” Evie says and takes a deep breath, “she, well, she wanted me to be an omega. She always has.” Evie looks up at Jay and Mal. “She said that omegas were more likely to be princesses, more likely to attract a prince because they’re sweet and submissive.” The beta turns pink, fussing with a blue curl. “So… I never told anyone on the Isle. You three were my only friends, so it didn’t matter, but I was…I never knew what it meant.”

“E…” Mal hesitates and shifts on the bed. “What did Grimhilde do?”

“Well, she’s an alpha,” Evie flinches at her own words. “She hated it about herself, so she hid it on the Isle.”

To their credit, Jay and Mal don’t react at all. Carlos certainly never saw the Evil Queen’s role as a problem and he doubts any other alpha would either.

“So, ahem, she…would make me submit sometimes,” Evie whispers, looking at the ground. “Not even when her ruts came around, just randomly. She would make me kneel. She would bite my throat, but I always covered it up with makeup.” Evie touches her neck gently, feeling for bruises that should have faded weeks ago.

“Was it…” Jay squirms on the bed, “like…?”

“It wasn’t sexual.” Evie flushes on the ground. She trembles a bit before leaning forward and resting her head on Mal’s knee. “She wanted to bring out an omega in me. She wanted me to be able to fool a prince, so she….would make me crawl around sometimes.” Evie whimpers, high and pitiful. “She said I had to get used to being on my knees. She told me I wasn’t allowed to talk unless spoken to, I wasn’t allowed to make eye contact unless she called my name, I had to know how to work with a prince in his rut so she made me…made me s-s-stay on m-my kn-kn-knees.”

Carlos doesn’t realize Evie is crying until Mal sinks to the floor too. Mal wraps her arms around Evie, not giving a damn about their scents rubbing off on each other, and kisses her head.

“I hated it,” Evie chokes out. “It never felt r-right, I always felt dirty and like I w-wa-wasn’t good enough.”

“Shh, E, you’re okay.” Mal pulls her tighter. “You don’t need to do that. Not ever again.”

Jay moves off the bed too and Carlos follows until all of them are seated on the floor. Evie hides her face in Mal’s neck, hiccuping and shaking.

He never knew it was so bad for Evie. Carlos always knew her mother wanted her to be an omega and the Evil Queen constantly told Evie that she wasn’t pretty or beautiful or graceful. He knew that Evie tried to be more submissive to attract people, held herself in a way that never seemed natural for her light scent, no matter how often she did it.

If he weren’t working his way off Ben’s suppressants, Carlos would fully be purring right now.

“It’s alright, princess,” Jay tells her and kisses her palm. “You’re not…alone in that.”

Evie sniffles and quiets herself, wiping at her cheeks before looking up at Jay. Mal and Carlos turn to him as well and Jay holds their gazes.

“Two alphas under one house was bad,” he says and smiles like it’s funny, what he’s about to share, but Carlos has a sinking suspicion that it’s not funny at all. “My dad, Jafar,” Jay corrects himself and digs his fingers into the carpet, “he, uh, he bit me. A lot.”

Carlos pulls his knees up to his chest. He pieced together parts of Jay’s life with Jafar, understood the implication of two hard headed people living together. But he never asked. Carlos could never pry that much even if he wanted to.

“What did he do?” Mal asks, carefully watching Jay and holding Evie.

The silence is so tense and thick as they wait for his response. Carlos doesn’t know if he can bare to hear it, but he can’t sit in this moment of hell of not knowing because he's crazy about Jay and Carlos has to know what he's been through.

“He didn’t…fuck me.” Jay shakes his head, repulsed at the thought. “But, uh, sometimes, with his rut when I was young, but he hasn’t had one in a while…”

Jafar is one of the older villains and he is around the age where his ruts become less frequent and less intense. Carlos had noticed over the years that he spoke less about Jasmine not being a proper omega and he’s pretty sure Jafar’s fading strength is how Jay won their fight just before leaving the Isle. Jafar isn't out of his prime though, he's still strong and dominant and whatever he put Jay through could have lasted up until the day they left.

“You don’t have to tell us,” Carlos whispers. He isn’t sure if Jay really wants to share and honestly, Carlos isn’t sure if he really wants to know.

“He bit me. He made me submit to him.” Jay looks at the carpet and it seems as if he’s not present in the room anymore, like he’s far away. “Sometimes he would push my face to the floor and just… Or he would make me kneel and...” Jay digs his fingers into his skin, his teeth clenched together. “He always said it was more fun when I fought him, that I reminded him of Jasmine in that way. But the more I fought, the more violent he got.”

Carlos crawls over to Jay, prying his fingers away so the alpha doesn’t bruise himself. Evie moves closer too, kissing his shoulder and locking their hands together.

“It’s okay,” Evie mumbles into his chest. “He won’t ever touch you again.”

Jay laughs, broken and sad. “I always felt like I was drowning. I couldn’t breathe and I had to walk around with my head down and pretend to be what I’m not. I kept thinking…” he breathes harshly and clenches his eyes shut. “I kept thinking that I would die living there. I could never breathe and I always felt like I was trapped to be some bitch omega to him.”

Carlos draws back sharply, nearly flinching.

Evie notices and looks at him, but Jay doesn’t.

“I fucking hated myself,” Jay laughs again and lets his head fall back to rest on his bed. He squeezes Carlos’ hand and slowly, the tears fall from the corners of his eyes.

Immediately, Evie is in his lap, kissing his jaw and nuzzling him. “No, Jay,” she mumbles into his skin. “You can’t. You’re never going to do that again. No one’s going to touch you or-or make you submit.”

Shakily, Jay’s hands come to rest on her hips as Evie cuddles closer, embracing him.

“Never, never, never,” Evie promises as she holds him.

“It took you a while to be rough with me,” Mal says and moves closer. “You were so unsure and hesitant when we first started fucking around, it was like you didn’t know what to do in your rut. But once you started, it was a lot. Rough and hard and so much pent-up aggression.” Mal kisses Jay’s temple and strokes his hair. "But for my rut, you were totally calm. You didn't fight for control. And it must have... Thank you, Jay," she rubs his shoulder, "for doing that with me. I know you didn't want to."

Mal pulls back and assesses their little group. “None of us have to be a role we don’t want to be. Never again. No more hitting or beating or forced submission. No one in this group is an omega or has to act like it again.”

“Not when you practically have one.” Jay peeks an eye open, watching Mal with a hint of a smile.

She tenses. “Ben and I aren’t a thing. We’re acting like it so people won’t look down on Isle kids.” Mal fiddles with the carpeting beneath her fingers. “If we break up right before-.”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Jay waves her off with a flick of his wrist. “But do you want to keep him? Now that we're staying and being good, do you want him?”

Carlos looks down at the carpet, face heating up at the idea of omegas being kept, like possessions, but a swirl of jealousy at the thought they might keep Ben.

“It doesn’t matter,” Mal shrugs and looks like she’s trying not to care. “Ben isn’t interested in me. Us. Not like that.”

“But are you interested in him?” Evie asks, slipping sideways in Jay’s lap. She is unwilling to break contact with him, resting on his shoulder and looking at Mal carefully. “I mean, don’t all alphas…?” Evie bites her lip and falls off, leaning heavily against Jay.

“Hey, princess,” he coos at her and cups her chin, “you and C are more than enough for us, or any alpha.”

Mal reaches for Carlos’ hand, intertwining their fingers and pulling him into their cuddle pile. “We don’t need an omega.” She clenches Carlos’ fingers and looks out the window. “Not when they make us so weak.”

“Weak?” Carlos echoes.

“Ben was such a distraction,” Mal mutters as she leans against the bed. She absentmindedly strokes Carlos’ wrist with her thumb and it gives him chills. “I was so…invested in him. When I found out he was an omega, it was all I could think about.” Mal looks at them all pointedly, “not that we ever did anything. We held hands and he asked to scent me a couple of times. That was all.”

“Scandalous.”

Mal punches Jay’s shoulder, but she smiles in the dark.

“What do you mean,” Carlos tries not to let his voice crack, “that Ben made you weak?”

She settles back down, exhaling slowly. “I guess… I don’t know if betas are affected by it, but hearing my whole life about people who are naturally submissive and cater to dominance and who wouldn’t fight for control, they seemed like…fairy tales.” Mal shrugs and looks at Carlos. “Something like that couldn’t exist on the Isle, I never imagined that they could exist in real life. So when Ben told me…it was hard not to be like obsessed with him.” Her face turns pink and she crosses her arms. “I was fascinated that he was even real.”

Silence falls over the four of them and in the dark room, Carlos feels cold and alone while he sits with three people he loves.

“So what was wrong?” Jay asks.

“He was a distraction. I could hardly focus on our plan, I felt like I wasn’t focusing on the ones I already claimed enough, like I was forgetting about you. Knowing he was an omega…it brought out all the desires in me, intense and wild. I couldn’t think straight when Ben was around because it was like I finally had something I never even allowed myself to think about before.” Mal’s voice is small in the dark, as if hiding from them all.

“You wanted to fuck him.”

She punches Jay’s shoulder again. “No. Yes. I don’t know. I felt out of it when I knew the truth. I was afraid of myself. All those new cravings and the dominance it brought out in me, I was afraid of what I...” Mal shakes her head and sits straighter. “I don’t need an omega to be a distraction or a weakness. Our group, two alphas and two betas, that’s enough. That’s more than enough, this is perfect.”

Even in the dark, it is clear Evie is flourishing under the praise, but Carlos pulls his knees to his chest and rubs his wrists and the movement calls attention to him.

“What was it you wanted to tell us, pup?” Evie asks, crawling out of Jay’s lap. “We all came here for you.”

The three of them are silent, watching him. Carlos can feel all of their eyes on him even though he can’t see.

“Carlos?” Jay pokes his knee.

He takes a deep breath. “I don’t want to have sex with any of you!”

There’s a pause and then-.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Carlos looks at Mal and is so thankful that the dark prevents him from having to make eye contact. “I, uh, I don’t want to have sex. With you guys. But don’t take it personally!” He gulps and tries to work out his thoughts. He has no idea what the group plans on getting up to now that Mal and Ben are done and they’re all staying in Auradon, but sex is a logical step in the future for their pack.

He’s thought about it so many times, more than he probably should. Carlos never thought about sex on the Isle because the only way it would happen was if Cruella found out and turned him into a whore. He blocked out thoughts and pictures of his mother staying true to her word, forcing Carlos on his knees and exchanging his body for money.

But now that he has a pack and he’s kissed them all, then been forced to not kiss them for weeks, his mind has been exploring every possibility of what Jay, Mal and Evie will be like during sex. Rough and aggressive or gentle and caring or desperate and passionate.

Right when he thought that maybe he could test that, Carlos could come clean and they could all discuss taking their relationship to the next level, it’s pulled away from him.

Suppressants or not, Carlos can't be that intimate with anyone. The heightened emotions would only make his scent stronger and he’s more likely to fall into his instinctive submissive nature in such a tense situation, not to mention the possibility of a drop.

“Carlos, what is going on?” Evie grabs his arm.

“I don’t wanna have sex,” he tells her and his stomach aches with the lie. He thought he was done was lying to his pack, lying to everyone. “I-I-I know that what almost happened, that day with Jay and I, but…”

“Do you regret it?” Jay asks.

Carlos flinches at the pain in his voice. As if he could ever regret anything about Jay. “No! It was nice. Kissing. Was nice. Uh.” He jumps up because the space on the floor is too tight and he can’t look at their faces – even in the dark – for this.

“Pup, you’re 15. We don’t expect you too-.”

He cuts Evie off. “That’s what packs do. Sex. And we have two alphas,” whose ruts will only fuck with his head and his desires, Carlos can’t be around for those, he just can’t. “I…sex…”

“Sex doesn’t have to be a part of a pack!” Evie doesn’t stop his pacing, but she stands with him, following his movements. “You don’t need to be worried about this. Carlos, relax.”

He can’t and he hates himself. He hates his weakness, the weight he has placed on his pack without them even realizing it. He hates that he could be a distraction because distractions are dangerous and can get a person killed. He hates that they think their group is perfect as is and Carlos true nature will make them imperfect, he will ruin it all.

“Shh, it’s okay. Breathe, C, just breathe.”

Carlos clutches Jay’s shirt in his hands. The alpha is trying to move him onto the bed and make him sit, but Carlos refuses to budge because the only movement he wants right now is to drop to his knees and bare his throat and beg and beg and beg for them to still allow him to be a part of the pack.

Jay is in front of him and Evie is behind him and Mal is holding his hand again, they are here for him and they love him and care for him.

He can't weaken them.

So Carlos locks his knees and clenches his fist, focusing on evening his breathing and hating himself to the core.

--

The next day, Doug invites Carlos to chess club, which he almost wants to do. Chess sounds like fun to Carlos, calculating possibilities and memorizing moves, but he shakes his head and politely refuses.

Priorities come first.

Doug closes the door and Carlos sighs in relief. He slips out of his chair and over to his nightstand, opening the second drawer and sifting through the clothing on top.

Resting at the bottom, in the same place he left it, is his sack of chemicals and medicine and flora, all carefully wrapped and hidden. He has a few supplies left over from what he gathered on the Isle, plus what he’s sneaked away in Auradon from the chemistry lab and other students.

Carlos retrieves it all and places it on the ground. He is so thankful he hadn’t thrown it all away last night, otherwise he would have spent this hour digging through the dumpsters behind the building.

While that’s how he got his supplies on the Isle, Carlos prefers not to go to such lengths again unless necessary.

He still has the recipe from the Evil Queen’s lair memorized from nearly a year ago. Crushed petals to hide his natural smell, ground animal bones from the barges, fish scales from Ursula’s Fish and Chips, the list was a weird one. Once he mixed the dozen ingredients together, Carlos poured a tablespoon of the powder into his water and drank it all in one sitting.

The freshness of Auradon’s materials worries him. Surely, everything will work better when it’s not half rotten, but his body isn’t used to ripe, edible things. The first time he had fresh bread, Carlos had felt sick, no matter how delicious it had tasted.

It will all work better though, Carlos knows. His homemade suppressant will be stronger than before and he’s going to up the dosage. He can afford to Auradon. It’s easier to steal from the people here, easier to replace what he uses. Plus, he had Jay’s and Mal’s suppressants here too. Maybe they don’t fit him, but they get ground up and added in carefully. As long as Jay and Mal continue to lie about taking them, Carlos can keep adding them into his formula.

He’s been on suppressants for a year now. It’s about time for him to take a break, at least, according to Evie and her knowledge from her mother’s suppressants. His body needs time to have a heat, release those endorphins and reach that mental state.

But he doesn’t need that. Only omegas need that.

And Carlos is not going to put that burden on his pack.

He’s not going to be an omega anymore.

Continuously taking suppressants could mess up his biological functions, it could ruin his chance of kids…though, looking at Cruella and himself, Carlos thinks maybe that’s best.

But if it can fuck up his reproductive system, it can fuck up his biology too. If he suppresses this long enough, squashes down the kneeling and purring and nesting, eventually, it will all just go away. The omega in him will realize it’s never going to happen and he’ll take so many drugs that his body will give up. He’ll ruin the omega in him because he clearly wasn’t supposed to be this.

Omegas aren’t supposed to happen on the Isle, there’s no known omega in his family line, he presented too late.

They’re sweet, which Carlos isn’t. He’s a liar. He’s a thief. He’s a backstabber.

And they need protection and Carlos isn’t doing that anymore. He’s not with Cruella and rapists and bullies, he’s tougher than any Auradon kid, he doesn’t need protection.

He doesn’t nest either. Purring is stupid. Kneeling is dangerous.

Most importantly, his pack doesn’t need an omega. An omega won’t fit, Mal said so. An omega would be a distraction, a danger, a weakness and Carlos isn’t any of those things, he won’t let himself do that to Mal and Jay and Evie.

He was never meant to be an omega. That’s a fact, everything points to that. It was a mistake.

A mistake that he is going to correct.

Carlos measures out the powder in front of him. He dumps the first tablespoon into his bottle of water, then the second. It’s double what he would normally take, but Carlos isn’t trying to suppress anymore.

He’s trying to destroy.

Ahhhh, I’m so nervous about this chapter. SO much changes so many new things. I feel like it moves so damn fast.

Jay is attempting to be a good alpha, so why the hell is Carlos making such a fuss?

“You don’t have to do this,” he groans as Jay pulls him through the hallway. “Really, we can spend the rest of the day in our dorm, that’s okay.”

“But you said you missed class.” That strange complaint was not something Jay ever expected to hear from anyone, but if it makes his omega happy, who cares?

He glares at a couple of students who are watching them curiously and they all drop their eyes. Jay pulls Carlos closer, tucks bony shoulders under his arm fiercely to keep others away. The bruises on Carlos’ arms and legs have faded nicely, but his throat still looks like it has been Jay’s chew toy for the past three days.

Which it has been.

Jay stops in front of a classroom door. He knows Carlos’ schedule better than his own; the desire to know where he is at all times having existed long before Jay’s rut set in. Fuck, he’s wanted Carlos for so long and he finally has him.

And now he’s about to let him go.

Until the final bell rings, Jay nuzzles Carlos’ throat, making sure the omega will reek of him in case the state of his neck isn’t enough for everyone to see that he has been claimed.

“Alpha, stop,” Carlos whines, even as his head tips back for more attention, “people are looking!”

“Good,” Jay runs his nose against a trembling Adam’s apple, “they’ll all see that you’re mine.”

“Possessive...goofball,” the omega sighs and shivers in his hold. “Are you just...going to...wait out here for me?” He mumbles as Jay nips at his collar.

“Mm-hmm, then we can go to your next class.”

Carlos taps the straps of his book bag. “You won’t go to...to class?”

“Nah,” Jay finally steps back to appreciate the flush that has reached Carlos’ ears. “Just wait for you and then we can go to your next class.”

It’s almost easy for Carlos to ignore the gaze of students filing in and whispering about his neck. He knows it’ll be a lot of stares and silent questions in all of his classes - everyone is so concerned with everyone else in Auradon - but his priorities are elsewhere. “I won’t be able to focus knowing you’re out here,” Carlos licks his lips and blinks.

The idea of Carlos, who is passionate for his studies, being more concerned with Jay out in the hall has the alpha purring. It’s an hour. He can last an hour with Carlos in another room.

“At least read something in your chemistry book, please?” Carlos bats his eyes as the bell rings, reaching for the door. “Please?”

Jay can’t say no to that pout. “Fine. I’ll see you when class ends.”

With that, Carlos grins and closes the classroom door, waving at Jay through the small window.

Teachers all closing their own doors look at Jay with disdain as he takes a seat in the hall. He sits with his back against the lockers, right by the entrance to Carlos’ calculus class, and pulls out his own book.

The original plan had been to go up to the library, which was surely dead in the middle of a school day with everyone else in class. Though the king hadn’t said anything, Jay assumes he and Carlos have some leeway for the week as no one has tried to talk to them.

Giddy and lively at the idea of new books, Carlos had talked about how eager he was to go back to class in a few days and get back to learning and doing homework. He always talks about education with a breathless tone and his whole body buzzing with excitement - the same way Jay gets when he talks about fucking Carlos’ face.

His omega is probably sexually attracted to school on some level, but it’s kind of cute.

The clear longing Carlos had for his classes and the fading itch under Jay’s skin were enough for him to change their course from the library to the math wing.

Granted, they missed first period because Jay started the day by jerking off in the bathroom instead of grinding against Carlos’ ass again. He sucked on Carlos’ neck for a bit and then took them down to the nearly empty cafeteria for breakfast and watched as Carlos moaned over chocolate chip pancakes.

But they still were early enough for the second and third class, so Carlos will enjoy calculus and computer programming until lunch.

While Jay is stuck pouring over his own chemistry book with a scowl.

Carlos was supposed to help him study in the library and Jay would reward himself by groping Carlos under the table, but now he’s out here to read all by himself.

How long has it been since Carlos’ class begun? Jay checks the clock on the wall and swears. “Fuck.” Ten minutes.

His head feels much clearer than it has the past few days. His rut is fading and it’s doing so quietly. Jay hasn’t had to scratch himself in days. In fact, once Carlos had noticed the jagged scabs on his skin and realized that Jay caused them, he had kissed each one gently and asked Jay to not hurt himself anymore.

Even when their separation causes his frustration to rise, Jay doesn’t scratch himself.

He’s not very good at denying Carlos anything.

Which is also why Jay actually opens his chemistry book and reads the same line ten times over. Carlos asked him to read and Jay said he would so now he’s stuck here with his chin in his hand reading about cytokineses.

“This is so fucking boring.”

His book stays open even as Jay’s knee begins to bounce and he curses. The minutes drag so slowly that he begins to think the clocks are broken. It’s as if time has completely stopped. Twenty minutes.

Jay tugs at his the collar of his shirt and wipes his forehead. He’s in short sleeves and jeans, but he should have worn shorts. The hallway is so heated, his palms are starting to sweat.

After a second, he groans and pushes himself off the ground and lets his chemistry book clatter to the floor. Jay stalks over to the water fountain down the hall and takes a long drink, the cool water soothing his throat and easing his stomach, which has begun to form knots.

Thirty minutes.

He paces the hallway, eyes on the immobile clock the whole time. Carlos has been stuck with him for days and Jay can let him sit in class for a bit. He can let Carlos focus on something other than him and listen to a teacher and surround himself with classmates who are potential alphas and unfamiliar scents and...

“You’re so lucky,” Jay hisses to the nearest locker. If his rut weren’t fading already, he would have gladly put a dent in the metal with his fist.

Forty minutes.

“Why is it so fucking hot in here?” He would definitely get yelled at for taking off his shirt in the halls, but maybe the relief would be worth it. No, if Jay gets yelled at then Carlos will be upset and Jay isn’t about to upset his omega.

He glares at his chem book, still laying upside down on the floor and probably judging him for some stupid reason. Whatever. His book is an asshole.

Fifty minutes.

Hurry up, hurry up. Jay bites his lip and runs his hand through his hair. He tossed his beanie off a while ago and now all he can think about is putting it on Carlos and making sure everyone sees him wearing Jay’s clothing.

Right now, Carlos is in the middle of 20 other students, taking in their scents and everyone smelling him and fuck, fuck, fuck, why did Jay let him do this?

Oh yeah. He likes Carlos. Jay wants to show he can be a good alpha.

He wants to show he can be a good mate.

The thought brings a new wave of heat to Jay’s face. He hasn’t said anything like that and neither has Carlos, except for that one time on the third day of Jay’s heat, right before he kicked Carlos out of there room, but the idea is still in his head.

Carlos would be a lovely mate - witty and silly and so fucking attractive in his red shorts that Jay’s mouth waters at the sight alone. He’d be sweet and gentle while Jay is rough and strong, he’d be quiet and intelligent while Jay is quick and impulsive. Carlos would be perfect. He already is.

The bell rings and Jay jumps violently. He dashes up to the door of Carlos’ classroom and pulls the door open before any student can reach the handle.

“No...no...not mine,” Jay growls at the students as they walk out, each of them cowering away from him. “No...go away...no... Mine!” He grabs Carlos’ arm as soon as he lays eyes on the omega, dragging him out of the line of petrified teenagers and pulling him off to the side.

“Hey, how was-oh! Okay,” Carlos stays quiet when Jay nuzzles his throat.

The alpha trails his nose over the Adam’s apple and down a sharp collar bone, drinking in the scent like he’s been suffocating without it. “Omega,” Jay sighs into Carlos’ shoulder, inhaling deeply enough to memorize the sweet scent for the rest of his life.

“Alpha,” Carlos simply says back. He stays still as Jay cuddles him in the halls and avoids the eyes of other students. “Why are you so warm?”

“I’ve got the hots for you.”

Carlos laughs at the lame joke and finally squirms free. He pulls back to look at Jay and a line of worry instantly forms between his eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”

The alpha blinks in confusion, but turns to nuzzle the calloused hands that cup his face.

“You’re all pink and warm,” Carlos presses his thumbs into Jay’s cheek. “And wet. Why are you sweating? And breathing so hard? Did you go for a run? Did someth-?”

Jay is tired of all the talking and questions. He lunges forward and hides his nose in Carlos’ hair, scenting the shampoo from their dorm and nearly purring.

“Oh you big sap,” mumbles Carlos as he winds his arms around Jay’s waist. “I thought your rut was faded enough that an hour wouldn’t matter. I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

Carlos kisses his shoulder. “I didn’t think you would be so affected from an hour apart. I won’t go to my next class.”

“Thank fuck.” The words escape from his mouth before Jay can stop them. Carlos always smells so good, it’s a crime to be so distracting. He drops his head to kiss his omega, but Carlos dodges his advance.

“Not in the hall!” He whines and wriggles away. “Come on.”

The warning bell for the next class rings, but whatever. Carlos is leading them back to somewhere else, possibly their dorm, and Jay is happily staring at Carlos’ ass as they walk.

Evil, he can’t wait until they fuck.

Just as the final bell rings for all students to be in their third class, two figures step out in front of them.

Carlos jolts - he never likes surprises, Jay knows - but then eases himself. “Hi, Mal. Hi, Evie.”

“Hey, ‘Los,” Mal waves at him, but keeps her gaze on Jay. “We heard you two were out and about today. Thought we would come say hi.”

“How did you know where we were?” Jay narrows his eyes.

“I have all three of your class schedules memorized,” Mal says plainly. “Just like I know all three of you have mine memorized. I figured if there was a reason you two were going to class, it was because of Carlos.”

Jay puffs his chest out just a bit. He’s being a good alpha, a very good alpha for his omega and people know it.

“But if you two aren’t in class right now,” Evie gestures to the empty halls, “care to join us for an early lunch?”

Not really. Jay wants to go back to his dorm and have Carlos sit in his lap while they make out.

Carlos wants to go though, Jay knows. He’s not a social person, but it’s been days since he’s seen Evie and even longer since he’s seen Mal.

“Sure.” Jay says and pulls Carlos so close to him that they stumble over each other as they walk, but he leads the way to the cafeteria.

“Stop growling at her,” Carlos hisses and jabs his side. “Mal is our friend, remember?”

They’re hidden away in the courtyard, each with a tray of food. Jay insisted on carrying Carlos’ tray and preened when his omega thanked him. The girls sit across from them, Evie happily chatting about what they’ve missed while locked in their dorm room as Mal watches them intently.

“She’s watching you.” Jay responds to Carlos, but keeps looking at Mal. “He’s mine.”

“Oh, I know,” she places her hands up in a mock surrender. “Everyone knows. Not much subtlety with those hickies,” Mal quirks a brow at Carlos’ neck. “He’s yours.”

Jay nods and, just to make sure, hauls Carlos into his lap again.

“Oh, dalmatians,” Carlos groans, but leans back. “You’re so territorial. Mal and Evie aren’t going to do anything, alpha.”

Mal chokes on her drink.

“I-I-I mean, it’s just for his rut!” Carlos sputters and sits up right. He tries to dislodge himself from Jay’s lap, but doesn’t get far before he is pulled back against a warm chest. “Using a person’s title helps with the stress of a rut and it-it-it-!”

“You call me alpha because I claimed you,” Jay growls against Carlos’ throat, kissing the fluttering pulse beneath the surface.

“Really?” Mal wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, clearing the juice that spilt down her chin. “I don’t see a mating bite anywhere.” She makes a show of searching Carlos’ neck, then Jay’s.

Evie pokes her arm. “Don’t antagonize,” she quietly warns.

“Whatever,” Mal scoffs before smirking at the boys. “Relax, Carlos. Evie calls me ‘alpha’ when we’re alone.”

The beta’s face pinkens. “M!”

Mal jerks forward and grips blue hair. “What was that, beta?”

“Oh,” Evie sighs and closes her eyes. “Alpha.”

A brief kiss happens between them and Mal releases her hold. “So you can both relax. I already have a potential mate-” Evie gasps and ducks her head “-and my own omega. Chill.”

“Who?” Jay narrows his eyes. His only distraction comes from Carlos, who twists around to feed Jay a carrot. The alpha snatches it and even goes as far as to nip at Carlos’ fingers.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mal shrugs and takes another bite of her sandwich. “So tomorrow is the last day of your rut. Eager to get back to tourney?”

Oh, yeah. Tourney is a thing. Jay had forgotten he had hobbies outside of groping Carlos. “Yeah. Get to go tackle some asshole alphas and betas again.”

“Gonna make anyone submit again?” Mal smirks around her juice.

Jay entertains the idea for a moment, then shakes his head. “No need.” He scents Carlos’ hair again, inhaling the scent of obedience and enjoying the tranquility. He grins to himself before tracing the shell of Carlos’ ear with his tongue, moaning when the omega shivers in his hold.

“Not here!”

“Yeah, definitely not here!” Mal sticks her tongue out. “I don’t need to smell Carlos’ need to get in your pants.”

Carlos throws a grape at her and turns to the alpha. “I’m serious,” he points a finger in Jay’s face. “Don’t do that out here.”

“Sour puss,” Jay bites at the offending finger again, but then keeps his mouth to himself.

“Did you...?” Mal laughs and Evie beside her is smiling behind her hand. “Letting an omega give orders in your rut? You’ve been trained well, Jay.”

He shows her his middle finger. “Fuck off.” If he can’t let Carlos go to class yet, then Jay can respect his desire to not exploit Carlos’ ear kink in front of others. “You’re not the only one who can be a potential mate, Mal.”

Carlos stills in his hold and Evie’s smile drops with her jaw, blinking in surprise.

“What?” Jay huffs. He pulls Carlos back against him and scowls.

“Mate, huh?” Mal tilts her head. “About damn time.”

They go to the library and Carlos picks out a dozen books on technology, a couple for chemistry and a one about dogs and another about the history of video games because that’s a combination that makes sense to Carlos.

Jay insists on carrying all of them back and Carlos puts up a minimal fight.

In the dorm, Carlos is quiet and focused on his books, only speaking when spoken to.

“Do you like your books?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I can get you another blanket if you want.”

“I’m okay.”

“Are you hungry?”

“No.”

After long enough, Carlos goes to shower and Jay lays on his bed. He’s not even thinking about how there is only a door separating him and his completely naked and wet omega.

(That’s a lie. He’s thinking about it a little bit.)

Carlos has been acting strange since lunch, when Jay let the word ‘mate’ slip. Well, it wasn’t a slip at all. He meant to say that word. Carlos is his and Jay will properly claim him later on - hasn’t he made that clear? He’ll bite and allow Carlos to bite back, that was always the plan. He can’t just have Carlos for a week and then let him go...can he?

Jay shakes his head. The water is still running, which means Carlos is taking a longer shower than usual today. Is it to get away from him?

He’s been an excellent alpha the past two days. Okay, maybe not excellent, but Jay was getting pretty damn good. He was providing food and care and physical affection. He carried lunch trays and books and went through hell for Carlos to attend his classes.

One class, actually. Carlos’ neck is darkened with bruises and bites, the marks on his arms and legs still present, if faint. He hadn’t properly eaten until Jay got his head out of his ass and was locked in their dorm for days.

But Jay is trying! And isn’t Auradon all about trying to be better?

Carlos, sweet and clever, understands that. He knows the struggle Jay is going through, the frustration and aggression and confusion. Carlos has known since they became friends on the Isle about all of his problems: Jafar’s drinking and Jay’s scars and all the times he fucked up.

Since day one, Carlos has been there for him. Always.

And Carlos is always the one that has faith in Jay - that he can do better, that he can be better. That hasn’t stopped. Has it? Has Carlos finally realized what a fuck up Jay is, has he realized Jay is too far to change?

Maybe the jump between friends with benefits and mates is too much. Maybe Carlos only likes him in the way that all omegas like alphas, but he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life with Jay.

He clenches his teeth and suppresses the growl in his throat successfully. His rut is almost gone, his head is getting clearer and there’s nothing to stop the onslaught of thoughts in his mind.

Fuck, Carlos fits into Auradon so well. He behaves and he respects authority, he appreciates deadlines and schedules, he loves being on time to class and talking to teachers, absorbing their knowledge and attention like he’s hungry for it.

He probably wants an Auradon alpha to match, Jay scoffs. Someone who is naturally gentle and clean and soft.

Why the fuck would he wait for Jay, the asshole who kept him in their dorm and marked him up? Auradon is overflowing with gentle alphas, why would he ever think Carlos would wait for Jay to get his shit together?

Whatever. For right now at least, Carlos is with him. He willingly chose to stay in the dorm and get marked up and he always smell so damn sweet when Jay pulls him close. On some level, Carlos likes sitting in his lap and kissing and having his ears played with.

He just doesn’t like the idea of being Jay’s mate.

The shower stops running and the dorm is quiet again. There are little noises of Carlos stepping out and dressing himself that Jay can hear through the closed door.

The clock by his bedside reads 7:02. Jay slowly exhales and counts his breathing, letting his eyes slip shut.

When he hears the bathroom door open, Jay stays perfectly still.

After a moment’s pause, there is a click and the room gets dimmer beyond his closed eyes. A shuffling of feet approaches his bed. The mattress dips and a weight settles itself into Jay’s side, snuggled up against his chest.

Carlos doesn’t say anything, just stays curled up against him.

He’s so close, literally on top of Jay, but it feels as if they’re miles apart.

Blah, I didn’t want the angst to come so soon!

The knots in his stomach are so intense, Carlos thinks he might throw up. It would be kind of difficult since there hasn’t been much in him the past few days. He had some bread yesterday morning and a soft apple the day before that Evie gave him, but that’s it.

Normally, he and Evie are pretty good at getting and sharing food, but they’ve had extra help these past few months in the form of two highly-feared alphas. Jay and Mal have a way of terrorizing the barges to get what they want and they’re strong bargainers in the marketplace. The two of them mixed with Carlos and Evie have become a nearly unstoppable force the past six months.

But the Rotten Four – which is the nickname Evie gave them and it just kind of stuck – have gone back down to just Carlos and Evie this past week. Mal and Jay haven’t been seen in five days. They both disappeared. No note, no goodbye, nothing.

Carlos had checked Jafar’s Junk Shop and never saw Jay, Evie watched Bargain Castle for two days without a sight of Mal. Neither has been seen or heard in Dragon Hall or in the marketplace.

Damnit. Carlos never thought he would ever say this: he kind of misses Jay and Mal.

Not just their muscle and how they bully their way into getting what they want – and, by extension, what Carlos and Evie want. Carlos genuinely worries for them. He misses Jay’s stupid humor and crazy confidence, he misses Mal’s commanding tone and her clever plans.

Oh evil. He can’t deny it. Carlos has gotten attached to two alphas.

He’s cleaning the kitchen for the second time that day just to take his mind off of the growing fear,

(Jafar finally killed Jay, ripped out his own son’s throat.)

(Maleficent has thrown Mal off the roof of their castle and hid the body.)

(They were ambushed by a hoard of alphas and drowned in the ocean.)

when Carlos overhears a conversation that makes him stop.

“I can’t stand that wicked step-bitch,” Jasper snarls. “She ought to not be so damn picky about who her daughter chooses.”

The man is in the dining room, Carlos can tell, with Horace. The two henchmen often come in to receive orders from Cruella. They’re always searching the Isle for some poor animal to hand over to her or the newest fashion off the barges.

Carlos thinks that they’re crazy for still catering to Cruella when she clearly has no power on the Isle. The only reason he spends his Wednesdays washing her underwear is because, well, he gets beaten if he doesn’t. Jasper and Horace have no excuse to flock to her.

“Anastasia?” Horace hums. “I heard men was fighting their way into the salon for her today.”

“Women too. She’s in heat again. She was out and about when it hit too.”

Carlos can hear them perfectly from the kitchen, but he wanders closer anyway.

“You’d think that an omega would know to be inside for something like that,” says Horace. “She’s one of the only omegas on the Isle.”

“Only one without a pack too!” Jasper snaps and slams his hand on the table. “LeFeo is with Gaston and Hook has an omega in his bloody pirates. I went to Lady Tremaine, all gentlemanly and what not. I offered to help her daughter through it. Better a beta than some rough alpha, eh? But does she listen? No!”

To be fair, Carlos wouldn’t either. He’d sooner spend a heat alone than let a man like Jasper touch him, beta or not.

A moment of heavy breathing follows, then Jasper speaks once more. “Forgot what it’s like to smell an omega. I’m forgetting damn near everything about them.”

If only all alphas and betas on the Isle would do that. Then Carlos would never worry about being recognized for what he is.

“You know, boys,” Cruella sings from behind Carlos, cackling when her son jumps, “I never bed an omega, but I heard that they all get wet.” She grabs Carlos’ arm and pulls him out of the kitchen and into the dining room, exposing him from his hiding spot. “Boy and girls alike, they produce slick,” Cruella purses her lips, “for male alphas and betas.”

Jasper and Horace look at each other, then Horace quirk a brow at Carlos. “You eavesdropping, boy?”

Carlos shakes his head and gulps. “No.”

“Really?” Cruella draws out. She’s holding Carlos with one hand and a cigarette in the other, smoke wafting into the air. “You’re not hiding behind the wall, listening to Jasper’s mundane story,” Cruella rolls her eyes, “and thinking about having your own little omega to fuck with?”

His face burns. “No, mother.”

Cruella blows her smoke into his face, but it’s a common occurrence and Carlos knows how to keep a straight face. “You don’t want a pretty, soft omega to kneel before you?”

The desire to kneel before anyone has weakened since Carlos has started taking his suppressants, but it’s not entirely faded. He still daydreams about being on his knees for someone – an alpha, a beta, anyone – and having them run their hands through his hair, order him, take control, praise him and whisper that Carlos is a good omega.

So, no, he doesn’t want an omega to kneel before him. He tells Cruella as such.

“Pitiful beta,” Cruella releases him. “You wouldn’t know proper submission if an omega presented their ass to you.”

“He’s too much like an omega himself.” Jasper mocks and narrows his eyes. “What’s your little girlfriend – a beta or an alpha?”

Carlos feels his ears burn. “I don’t have a girlfriend.” That’s true, despite what Jasper and Horace still seem to believe after smelling Cruella’s perfume on him on the day of his first heat. They both like to harass him ‘getting his dick wet’, mocking Carlos for an act he has never done and never plans to do.

“Is it the beta next door?” Horace asks. “Or the purple alpha?”

“Neither!” Carlos squirms and ignores the heavy stare of his mother. Yes, Evie is beautiful and Mal is stunning and the omega in him is, ahem, interested in them both, as well as Jay, but they’re not dating or fucking. There hasn’t even been a proper discussion about whether the four of them are…a pack.

Jasper chuckles and it gives Carlos chills. “Bet they both force you to your knees and make you play like an omega. You ever get wet, boy?”

“N-no.” He’s hasn’t had a heat since taking the suppressants, but Carlos remembers when he first presented. He hadn’t produced slick or anything like the sort. Why does everyone on the Isle seem to feminize omegas? Carlos is still a dude!

Cruella sighs and shakes her head. “Shame. You’re not much to look at, but you did get half of my beauty. Your mouth alone would have brought in a pretty penny.” She takes a long drag of her cigarette and glances at Carlos. “Don’t think you’re off the hook. One toe out of line and I can make a profit out of beta too.”

It’s the first time in a while Cruella has used this threat. Jasper isn’t usually so nasty either. Carlos chalks up their aggressive behavior to Anastasia Tremaine. If she truly went into heat in public, that would have caused quite a stir on the Isle.

Carlos can’t imagine that happening though. Even on suppressants, he is sure to count down the days of when his heat should hit and plans carefully around them. Anastasia is older than him, she has been an omega for longer. She ought to know her heats.

“I’d pay for a mouth like that,” Jasper says after a moment. “How much you want for him Cruella?”

“I would too,” Horace looks thoughtfully at Carlos, “depending on the price.”

The knots in his stomach bring an entirely new wave of nausea and Carlos stumbles back against the wall. Cruella won’t sell him, he hasn’t done anything wrong (yet). A young beta wouldn’t normally bring in anything, but the lingering desires of an omega in heat have thrown everything off today.

Just as Cruella looks at him – maybe to tell him to stop quaking or maybe to agree to the wishes of her henchmen – there is a pounding at the front door.

“I’ll get it!” Carlos sprints out of the room and down the hall, skidding to a stop before crashing into the wood. He opens the door and debates how quickly he could get to his treehouse if he ran out the front and around the house.

His plan dies when brilliant eyes meet his. “Carlos!”

“Evie?”

“We gotta go!” She’s breathless and flushed, as if she ran over from her castle. “I just saw Jay and Mal!”

Even if Carlos wasn’t desperately trying to escape his mother and the other betas in the dining room, he would still run down the street with Evie. He’s been sick with worry for the two alphas.

“I was looking out my window and saw them enter the marketplace,” Evie pants as they move. “We gotta catch them before they leave again!”

That’s not a problem though because when the two of them enter the marketplace, breathless and sweating (but Evie somehow still looks radiant), Jay and Mal are in no hurry to leave.

Mal is snarling at everyone in sight and Jay is trying to guide her through the crowd. She yanks out of his grasp and shoves Jay back, but he doesn’t retaliate. Instead, Jay lowers his head and moves his lips slowly, carefully, as if he’s trying to keep his words low enough for only Mal.

Citizens in the market keep their distance, which isn’t unusual. Jay and Mal can take on almost any adult on an ordinary day, but the villains are staying further than normal, going out of their way to avoid the two.

This scene is off. There is something wrong.

When Carlos glances at Evie, she’s aware of it too, but they both keep moving.

“Mal! Jay!”

The alphas look up at Evie’s cry.

Jay curses, loud enough to be heard over the rushing blood in Carlos’ ears. “Shit.”

“Where the hell have you two been?!” Evie cries as she finally stops before them. “You disappear for days, we had no idea wha-. Jay…” She reaches slowly to touch his shoulder, “what happened?”

Carlos follows her gaze and winces at the state of Jay’s throat. It’s covered in bruises and bites, scabbed over punctures and aching hickies. He’s never seen an alpha look like that. It’s the state of a beta’s throat, it’s a sign of submission.

His first thought is that Jafar’s dominance has gone to a new level of horrifying.

“Ease, princess,” Jay grabs Evie’s hand and lowers it. “I’m fine.”

“You neck looks like raw meat,” Carlos gags. “That’s not fine.”

Jay shrugs, looking too nonchalant for an alpha who was bitten into submission. “It kept Mal from losing her mind, so whatever.”

“You?” Evie finally turns to Mal, who is eyeing Jay’s throat with a grin. “You did that?”

“I did,” she says smugly. “Bit him all up.” Mal grabs a fistful of Jay’s shirt and pulls his body flush against hers. “Everywhere.”

“Why?”

Mal looks at Evie and narrows her eyes, sizing her up. Then, she steps forward and cups Evie’s chin. “Because I wanted to.”

“M!” Evie balls her hands into fists, fully prepared to go into a lecture about how the four of them must have each other’s backs and not turn on one another. She’s grown protective over everyone in their group, Carlos knows, and she’s about to scold Mal whether she be an alpha or not.

“She’s in her rut,” Jay explains before the beta can begin her rant. He places a hand on Mal’s shoulder. “It’s like her main way to express dominance.”

Carlos feels his jaw drop and sees Evie do the same.

Mal is in her rut? Of course, on an Isle full of alphas, Carlos has seen men and women during their ruts, but most hide themselves away for it. Ruts are…well, Carlos supposes they are the alpha equivalent of a heat. It’s desire and need, but with a foggy head and over-stimulation. An alpha could definitely do damage in their rut, but an unclear mind meant they were unable to think clearly and that put them at risk.

Why the hell is Mal outside?

“Don’t looked so shocked, princess,” Mal purrs. “Alphas gotta have some outlet. Why not each other?”

“You…” Carlos looks between the three of them before settling on Jay, “did that? You…submitted to her?” He would never have thought Jay would willingly put himself in that position again.

Jay narrows his eyes. He knows exactly what Carlos is remembering, even though neither of them have ever spoken about what occurred in Jafar’s Junk Shop over a year ago. “Yeah. And she’s gonna help me with my rut,” Jay bares his teeth and Carlos resists the instinct to bare his throat and soothe, but the hot-headedness fades easily from Jay’s posture. “Plus, we got to have some freaky alpha sex. Win win.”

Freaky alpha sex. The words run through Carlos’ mind until his skin feels too hot and he can’t look Jay in the eyes anymore.

“Oh beta,” Mal coos at Evie, twisting a blue curl between her fingers. “You smell like you enjoy the idea of two alphas fucking.” She runs her nose along Evie’s jaw, down her throat. “Smells like you like the idea a lot.”

Carlos, still unwilling to look at Jay, turns to watch Evie. She’s pink, utterly still in Mal’s grasp. Her lips are squeezed tight and her chin is up, a small action to expose her neck more.

“Hey, relax, Mal,” Jay says as he steps closer. “Remember, your rut affects betas, you gotta give her some distance.”

“No.” It’s a growl, pure alpha when Mal responds. “She’s mine.” Mal looks at Evie’s face and smirks. “Besides, it smells as if she likes it just fine.”

Evie whimpers and tips her head back more, her shoulders dropping in a sign of submission.

With a devious smirk, Mal nips at the skin in front of her. She grabs a fistful of Evie’s hair and one hand lands on the beta’s hip, pulling them closer. “Pretty thing,” Mal murmurs, “submits just like an omega.”

Carlos holds his breath. Evil, he just turned 16 recently and he knows the basics of dynamics – mostly from Horace and Jasper’s mocking. His suppressants have kept his urges under control, but watching Mal grind against Evie has Carlos’ blood rushing. The sight of Jay holding Mal’s shoulders, watching the scene with his own intense gaze, makes Carlos light headed.

He hasn’t had a reaction like this in months. It could be because Carlos has missed Jay and Mal and fretted for days; the relief of having them back is a whiplash of emotions. Or perhaps it’s because Jay and Mal and Evie and him are all something, friends or allies or the closest thing to a pack the Isle has, and the sight of all three of them together is soothing on a new level.

Finally, Carlos allows himself to breathe again and picks up on a scent.

His olfaction had been dulled to that of a beta, but this close to Mal, anyone would be able to pick up on the smell of her rut.

And maybe that’s what’s causing Carlos to become flustered and quiet and watching the scene unfold from the outside like he’s some perverted creep.

The thought – outsider, stranger, unwanted – is enough for Carlos to tremble. A sickness settles in his stomach. It’s been a while since that has happened, but Carlos knows exactly what that sensation means and he is not about to purr in the middle of the marketplace and ruin all his hard work of hiding himself.

Carlos takes a single step back, still watching the only three people he gives a shit about huddled together. The movement gets Mal’s attention and her eyes flicker from Evie’s throat to Carlos’ face. She narrows her gaze and pulls away from the other girl.

“Beta.”

With a flash of shame, Carlos turns on his heel and runs. He takes the same path Evie and he used when first seeking out Mal and Jay, past the rotting vegetable stand, through a used clothing shop and around Frollo’s crumbling church. His feet hit the pavement and Carlos ducks in between people effortlessly, hopping over slumbering villains and dancing around angry store owners.

The exhilaration of the run replaces the ache in his chest, it kills the urge to purr.

Just as Carlos thinks he can slow down, the pitiful longing to soothe himself having been smothered out, he hears, “Mal!”

Carlos spins around to see purple running toward him at full speed.

Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit.

He ran. He ran from an alpha. He ran from an alpha in rut.

It’s biology, it’s taught in class, it’s common fucking sense to never run from an alpha in their rut. Alphas see it as a challenge, as a way to conquer and claim. They always give chase. It’s their instinct, to show they are fast and strong and used as a way of saying “I caught you, I am superior, you are mine.”

Just as his feet suddenly get the message to move, move, move, Carlos swears.

Did he run because he hated being an outside to the three of them? Did he run to suppress his want to purr?

Or did he run because he craved Mal chasing him and catching him and claiming him? Did he merely want Mal to pursue him?

Damnit. He is so weak.

Carlos moves faster than ever, running out of the marketplace as quick as he can because Mal has her eyes locked on him like she wants to devour him. Jay is behind her, but not close enough to catch her, and Evie is further behind.

He runs into people and trips over garbage, but Carlos sprints like his life depends on it actually might.

Mal’s rut is overriding his suppressants. Even though he couldn’t smell her, the pheromones she gives off must have perked up the oppressed omega in him. If she catches him and Carlos submits like he should – the way he’s been suppressing for months but long for since he presented – he will out himself in the middle of the Isle.

The sound of hard boots is closer than he remembers and Carlos pushes himself harder. His heart is prepared to beat right out of his chest and his clothing are clinging to the sweat on his skin.

He never thought he would be chased by an alpha (because Carlos never thought he would be dumb enough to run from one) and now that he is, Carlos has shivers. He can hear Mal panting, he can almost pick up on her scent no matter how dulled his senses are. On his neck, Carlos feels her breath ghost against his skin and he all but trips over his own feet.

They haven’t formally talked about it, but in their little not-pack, Mal is clearly the alpha leader. Jay is muscles and charm, but Mal is pure dominance and skill. Carlos envies her.

But if she is to be his alpha, mark Carlos and claim him and take him as her own, she’ll prove herself, it’s ingrained in all alphas that running away during their rut is a challenge and the alpha must reign supreme.

Carlos already knows Mal is in charge though, ever since their mission to retrieve Maleficent’s scepter. He has never questioned her authority, why is he doing so now? Why is he misbehaving for her? Especially during her rut of all times, when she is already going through so much, why is he doing this to her?

There’s a dumpster ahead of him and Carlos doesn’t even try to run past it. He barely slows before crashing into the side, slumping over immediately.

How could he be so awful to Mal, after all she’s done? She protects him and shares food and shelters him. What is so wrong with Carlos that he would run from her during her rut, make her chase him?

He doesn’t move from the side of the dumpster, awaiting Mal’s weight on his back and forcing him to the ground. Carlos won’t fight or run anymore from her, he’ll be good and maybe Mal will still accept him, still want him after the disobedient scene he just caused, still be his alpha.

“Dude, fucking go!”

Carlos lifts his head from the metal, glancing over his shoulder. In the process of crashing himself into the dumpster, he hadn’t heard the commotion behind him.

Jay is on top of Mal, who is kicking and clawing at him. He has pinned her to the ground and avoids her thrashing head as best he can. Mal gets one of his hands and clenches her teeth around it while Jay howls.

The omega falls back against the dumpster. His legs feel as if the bones have disappeared. Carlos blearily looks at Mal at the pavement, still fighting Jay, and gasps when her eyes meet his.

“Beta!”

“Carlos, go!”

That’s an order, a clear command. Carlos swallows and nods, stumbling away and trying to get his feet to move and ignore the sound of Mal trying to reach him.

When he looks back, almost a block away, Mal is still kicking in Jay’s hold, but they’re standing now. Evie is beside them, winded and flushed, as Jay speaks to her.

His chest tightens. Carlos just wants to return to them, duck his head and kneel before Mal and allow her to do as she pleases.

But his mind is clearer with the distance between he and Mal and Carlos knows he will be kicking himself later for his stupidity, for his ridiculous omega instinct to please and soothe.

The swirl of emotions in him is too much. The anger and confusion and panic and longing all bubbling up until the intensity is back in Carlos’ chest, threatening to spill out of his throat in a pitiful purr. Damn it.

He’s at the steps of Hell Hall. Going inside isn’t an option, not with his mother and Jasper and Horace still there and they’re all agitated with the idea of an omega in heat around, but Carlos can’t stay out in the open either.

Trekking around the house, Carlos heads for the backyard. The ladder to his treehouse appears too far and difficult to climb, but he hoists himself on the first rung anyway.

Before long, Carlos collapses inside, laying on the wood and heaving.

“Stupid Mal. Stupid rut. Stupid biology.” Carlos pushes himself up onto his hands and knees and pulls the ladder up. He’s never been bothered in his treehouse before, he’s pretty sure Cruella doesn’t even know it exists, but there’s never such a thing as being too safe.

With the rope ladder tucked inside, Carlos crawls over into the corner of his treehouse. With the weather becoming warmer, he has spent more time outside and moved most of his belongings into his hideaway and out of sight from his mother. There is a stash of stale crackers and a chipped cup with water along with the blanket and pillow Evie gave him. Jay’s old jacket is rolled up over there too because now that they hang out more often, Jay has been gifting Carlos with food and clothes and trinkets consistently.

(The alpha always stands taller and preens when Carlos accepts whatever Jay provides and it’s honestly adorable, but Carlos is too distracted to think about that.)

He drops onto the blanket and pulls the pillow closer and Jay’s jacket. All of the fabric has lost the smell of their original owners, but Carlos has the urge to rub his face against them anyway and he’s not strong enough to resist.

This isn’t a nest though! Carlos is not doing anything like that ever. He’s not piling up fabrics from the people closest to him and rolling in their scents, he’s not cuddling blankets and jackets and cooing for affection, he’s not doing that. This pile of stuff is just a…bed. It’s a bed in his treehouse. And it is composed of gifts and scents of the people Carlos enjoys. And no one else is allowed in it without his permission.

Besides, if this was a nest – which it is not! – it would be a pitiful nest. It’s hardly big enough for Carlos, let alone his whole pack. Not that he actually has a pack. But if he did, if there comes a day where Mal and Jay decide to claim him and Evie properly, this nest wouldn’t do at all.

Carlos only fits under the blanket if he pulls his legs up and huddles in on himself. That’s how he normally sleeps, so it’s not a big deal. But if his pack were to join him, there would be no space for the other three.

Jay is the tallest out of them and he would be so cramped in this little corner. He needs more room. Evie, a practical princess, is used to nice and gentle things, she could never go back to using the castoffs she gave Carlos. She deserves a nicer nest. Mal insists that everything be purple and all the nest has is a blue blanket and pillow and a leather jacket. She needs more color.

How could he ever think Mal would want him in her pack when Carlos can’t even make a proper nest?

He feels the vibrations in his chest before he hears the purr and Carlos melts into the floor. His face stays hidden in Jay’s jacket, Evie’s pillow is kept to his chest and he rolls on the blanket, as if his skin could pick up her lingering scent from months ago.

The purr fills the treehouse and the constant rumble eases Carlos into a still trance. He breathes heavily and if he tries hard enough, he can almost smell Jay’s hair and Evie’s perfume.

But there’s nothing from Mal in his nest. No clothing or pillow or blanket.

Carlos hides his face and tries to muffle the noise when his purr grows louder.

--

Three days later, Evie coaxes him out of his treehouse and back to school. She promises Mal’s rut is entirely done and Carlos can’t avoid her forever. He has taken double the amount of suppressants since hiding away. It shortened his stash, but Carlos has better control of himself now.

“What did you do after I got away that day?” He asks as they hop up the steps to Dragon Hall.

Evie’s face flushes and she clears her throat. “Well, ah, once I got away from the influence of Mal’s scent, I left too. It didn’t seem fair to…do anything with her when she’s so crazy in her rut.” Her voice lowers to a whisper. “I know how my mother gets. Is that why you ran?”

Carlos gulps, but holds the door open for her to their class. “No. I just, uh…” lost himself in a moment of self-pity and nearly ruined his whole life. “I panicked I guess.”

By the time lunch rolls around, Carlos has seen Jay multiple times. His neck is in a far worse state than it was before. Carlos assumes Mal’s aggression from an unsuccessful chase was taken out on Jay.

He hangs his head in shame.

Mal passes him a few times in the halls, but never says anything to him. She stares at him a lot though. It makes Carlos’ skin break out in goosebumps.

After school, Carlos waits patiently for her at the doors. A few students snarl at him, but very few have been willing to pick on him and incur the wrath of Jay and Mal. Carlos doesn’t push back though. He ducks his head in a sign of submission and they all walk pass him.

“Waiting for me?”

Mal’s voice startles him out of his thoughts. Carlos blinks up at her and studies her expression, but her face is perfectly blank. “Um, yeah. Hi.”

“Hi.”

“About the other day,” Carlos looks down at his feet, “when I…ran from you, uh…”

“It’s fine.” Mal says. There’s no heat or bitterness beneath her words, but an underlying…chill. When Carlos meets her gaze, she shrugs. “I kind of thought we were on the same page about everything, but it’s okay.” She bristles at herself. “I guess I should have asked you first.”

Carlos swallows. “Asked me…what?”

“You know,” Mal begins to walk down the steps and he follows, “the four of us being…a potential pack.” She quickly says the words and continues as if her admission is a normal topic to discuss on the Isle. “If you don’t want to be a part of it, I’m not going to push you.”

When she had shown up on his doorstop months ago, with Evie and Jay behind her and demanding Carlos come help them on a crazy mission, he had been terrified of her. Now, after spending so much time with her and seeing her artwork and try to braid Jay and Evie’s hair, Carlos knows better. Mal is terrifying, of course, but she’s not invincible.

His actions have hurt her.

Carlos rubs his wrist, drawing little circles with the pad of his thumb. “Your…pack?”

“Yeah.” She grins at him. “The four of us: Jay’s strength, Evie’s grace, your brain, could you imagine it? We would run the Isle.” Mal smirks off into the distance, fantasizing about the collateral destruction and hell they would cause, but her the corners of her lips turn down. “I should have made sure you knew what we were going for.”

Carlos babbles. “I want that! I do, I want that. I’d love to...to…” belong to you “be a part of your pack.”

The eye roll is so obvious, Carlos didn’t even need to see it. “Way to show that by running from me. You know that’s a challenge to-.”

“Yes, I know!” Carlos groans. He lowers his gaze when Mal shoots him a sharp look for interrupting her. “I know, I panicked. Everyone was acting wild since Anastasia’s heat started in public and you…” Carlos stops in his tracks. “You caused her heat by being out,” he says softly to himself. “She must have picked up your scent and that’s what started it.”

Shit. If Carlos weren’t on suppressants, that could have been a very different story for him. He’s not even on proper suppressants. All he takes are mild scent blockers and crushed drugs, dissolved into the chemicals he takes from Yen Sid’s lab.

(And the lab has been left unlocked more often, Carlos has noticed. Either Yen Sid has no idea that someone is stealing from or…

He does.)

Mal shrugs. “Whoops.” She turns and keeps walking and Carlos picks up the pace. “Whatever. The fact is, you ran from me. Evie didn’t do that, Jay didn’t do that, but you did.”

“Because I-!” Carlos purses his lips. “I…umm…”

“Dude, relax.” Still, there is no anger in Mal’s voice, which is odd for an alpha fresh out of a rut, but her words are distant. It feels as if they are miles apart instead of walking side by side “You don’t want to be a part of my pack. I won’t make you.”

“No!” Carlos grabs her hand and stops Mal. He’s never so forward, but he’s anxious now. “I do. I promise I do.”

Mal scoffs and pulls away. “If it’s just for protection, you can find it elsewhere. You didn’t want to submit to me, whatever.”

While her tone is light, this is clearly not a ‘whatever’ topic. Carlos reaches for her again. “Mal, I do. I want to be a part-!”

“No you don’t!” She seethes and bares her teeth. Carlos instinctively draws away from her. “You ran.”

“You guys were ignoring me,” he mumbles with his head lowered. They had looked so content without him too, perfectly happy with a couple of alphas and a beta. Carlos wasn’t needed.

According to Mal, he still isn’t.

“And the second I turned my attention to you,” she steps closer, invades his space and narrows her eyes, “you hightail it out of there. You bolted, you left. So don’t bitch about getting ignored because you ran as soon as I called for you.”

“I…” Carlos lowers his gaze to their feet. “I…I couldn’t stay.”

“You wouldn’t.” Mal takes a deep breath and puts distance between them. “Listen,” she says too softly, “you can still hang out with us and whatever, but I know where we stand now. Later, Carlos.”

His heart pangs at hearing his name. Mal called him Carlos. Not ‘C’ or ‘Los’ or ‘pup’, no affection or endearing term. Just Carlos.

If he hadn’t doubled his suppressant dosage lately, he’d be purring in the middle of the road.

--

Jay bumps into him later in the week. “Sup?”

Carlos smirks and nudges him back. “How’s your throat?”

“Nothing I can’t handle.” The alpha’s neck is still dark with bruises from Mal. “Are you talking to her yet?”

Mal had stayed clear of Carlos since their talk. She hasn’t avoided him, but she hasn’t sought him out either. The tension is clearly wearing down Evie though. After being around Mal in her rut and baring her throat, she’s become more attached to the alpha. Evie won’t just leave Carlos though and her subtle disobedience to Mal is making her anxious.

Jay, on the other hand, isn’t trying to please Mal and submit to her. He is his own alpha and has no issue with keeping close to Carlos.

“No,” he huffs and stops at his locker. “I…I don’t want to disappoint her. I don’t like…her being upset with me.”

“So then make it up to her,” Jay says as if it’s the easiest thing in the world. “Mal’s pissy because she thinks that you don’t want to be a part of her group. But if you do want that,” he stops and looks at Carlos, waits for the eager nod, “then you need to show her that. Change her mind about where your loyalties lie.”

Carlos bristles at loyalties. As if there is anyone else on this Isle who he would be loyal to. Hasn’t he been perfectly loyal to Mal?

He has tried to make it up to her too. Or, well, Carlos has thought about it. Nothing he comes up with seems grand enough for Mal. She’s done so much for him, for all of them. She’s provided more than just protection: she offers reassurance and consistency, she sacrifices herself in order to keep the three of them under her safety. What could Carlos do for her, how could he atone for the pain he caused her? Do her homework? Bring her art supplies?

Evil, he can’t even make a proper nest. There’s nothing Carlos can do to show his loyalty to Mal.

“Dude, Mal wants you in the pack. Her pack…our pack. Whatever.” Jay shrugs. It’s clear he isn’t quite sure where he stands with the rift between Mal and Carlos either. “You’re smart and you’ve done everything she wants you to. You just have to convince her that you want it too.”

“How?”

Jay grins, though it looks rather pained. He touches the sore skin of his throat and glances at Carlos. “Find her an omega. That would make her pretty damn happy.”

--

Anger never got him anywhere. Neither did self-pity.

But damn it, why can’t he ever catch a break?

Against his logical judgement, Carlos knocks loudly on the wood of his treehouse. He’s caught many breaks over the years: befriending Evie, connecting with Jay, being of use to Mal for a while. Even being an omega had come with a bit luck. No one was around for his first heats, Carlos found a formula for a supplement just in time, he had Evie to help him pick up materials and Jay who would go out and steal what else Carlos needed.

Even now…being an omega could work to his favor. Maybe.

Carlos squeezes his pencil tighter and rubs the back of his neck. The paper in front of him is folded down the center, the left column labeled pros and the right column reading cons because Carlos is making a list…

About whether or not to tell Mal he’s an omega.

The very idea gives him a stomachache and a headache and chills all at once. Carlos could fuck up his whole life with this idea.

Omegas who were claimed on the Isle are well off, though. Kind of. Gaston’s leash on LeFou is tight and unbreakable and Lady Tremaine’s possessiveness of her daughter prevented anyone from coming too near. They’re comfortable, Carlos thinks. He hopes.

But they’re also…just omegas to their alphas. LeFou is, well… Carlos has heard the rumors about what occurs at Gaston’s Tavern at night. Alphas who pay for more than just alcohol and Gaston who doesn’t mind sharing LeFou. It’s uncommon and LeFou is cared for – he has food and clothing and affection – but he’s a toy to his alpha, not a human.

Anastasia is better. Lady Tremaine is eerily similar to the Evil Queen and believes no one on the Isle is good enough for her daughter. Anastasia is kept tightly away, escorted by her mother or sister everywhere she goes. She isn’t hidden away, but she isn’t free. She’s not a human either.

Mal would be better though…right? Surely, Mal wouldn’t want to sell him off for money, she’s far too possessive. Granted, she’s never interacted with an omega before. Carlos has no idea how Mal would react, what her alpha instinct would have her do. At least Mal’s vicious reputation would scare away any other young alpha from trying to take an omega for their own.

Not full grown alphas though. Carlos shivers at the idea of Mal fighting Clayton or Jafar or…even Cruella.

He drops his pen to fist his hair. Shit.

If he tells Mal, he puts her at risk too.

Well, only if she agreed to take him back. If she looks at him with disdain, decides Carlos is too untrustworthy after having kept such a large secret for too long or thinks he’s a burden with high needs and little to offer, Mal could toss him aside and tell everyone his secret.

She wouldn’t do that. At least, Carlos doesn’t think she would. Mal is never intentionally mean to any of them, but if she’s already mad with him…

Carlos whines and soothes down his hair with repetitive strokes.

What if she’s disgusted by him? Mal could see a…a…a whore. She could see him as desperate and dirty and willing to sully himself with others. That’s all Cruella ever saw in omegas.

Not that Carlos would do any of that! But…if he weren’t on suppressants and his heat came around…

Shit. He’s purring again, the low rumble echoing around his treehouse. Carlos grits his teeth and holds his breath. Despite the double dosage he’s been taking the past week in order to counter all of the emotions from being rejected, it’s not quite enough to take away the abandonment. He’s lonely and after having friends, a potential pack, for so long, the pain is too much.

Carlos pulls Evie’s pillow tighter to his chest and rubs at his wrists.

Telling Mal could lead to her being overjoyed and claiming him (pushing Carlos to his knees, biting his throat, praising what a good omega he is) or she could sneer and walk away.

Even if she agreed to take him back and make him part of her pack, what if the word got out? How would Jay react? How would Evie? She’d realize that Carlos stole from her for his own suppressants and then couldn’t even trust her with his secret.

What if Mal and Jay made him go off of his suppressants? Carlos has been taking them for almost a year, if he goes off of them now, his heat and scent would be strong enough to inform the whole Isle.

If Cruella ever knew, she wouldn’t let any alpha keep him.

Dreamily, Carlos thinks about telling Mal his dirty secret and then Mal buying him from Cruella. It would make his mother happy, she would never bother him again and he could stay with Mal or Evie or Jay and Carlos would never endure her screaming again.

And he’d be an object to be sold and traded and bought. It’s exactly how any potential pack would see him.

Could that be worth it all though? A protected and claimed toy is a better life than an opened, hidden omega…right?

When Carlos opens his eyes – and when did he close them? – the list before him is easily unbalanced. The risks of telling Mal outweigh any possible benefit.

Carlos tosses the pillow away from him. This was a stupid idea. Of course he can’t tell Mal. He can’t tell anyone.

“Idiot.” He hits his palm to his forehead. Why did he even make a list? Oh evil, why would he ever put any of this in writing?

The purring has ceased completely – and, really, Carlos needs to get that under control. He needs to get used to being alone – so it’s safe to creep out of his treehouse with the paper clenched in his hands.

Destroying the evidence is easy: Carlos will burn it to ashes. Hades knows there’s always at least one lighter in Hell Hall at any given time, but if Cruella ever discovered Carlos took one, especially outside, he wouldn’t walk for days. Carlos could trip and break it on the cement or a speck of dirt could land on the lighter. He shakes his head.

No, he’ll burn the paper in their sink and place the lighter back where he found it. It’ll all take less than a minute. There are fewer risks in taking the list into the house rather than sneak a lighter outside.

Carlos looks at the paper crumbled in his fist and scowls. He knows all about taking risks.

Jasper and Horace are out on their own. Carlos hasn’t seen them since Cruella casually mentioned whoring him out to the men thankfully. Word has it, there is some kind of sale in the marketplace today. Cruella is there, shopping for clothes instead of food, no doubt.

But when Carlos holds the list over the sink in one hand and Cruella’s treasured red lighter in his other hand, he hears the front door slam open.

“Boy!”

He jumps so violently that the lighter drops into the sink. Carlos can’t risk lighting anything on fire in the house, not with his mother around, but he just can’t leave the list out in the open either.

Even though he had been careful to never write the word omega, Cruella cannot read this list.

A quick look around shows the drawer by the sink to be the best bet. Carlos opens, shoves the crinkled list inside and closes the wooden drawer as fast as he can.

There is hardly time to catch his breath before Cruella stomps into the kitchen, gritting her teeth.

“Hello mother.”

“What are you doing?”

“The dishes.” It’s an easy lie that Carlos doesn’t even need to think about. Any time he’s standing before the sink, he’s washing dishes.

Cruella sneers at him. “Really?”

Carlos recoils and looks back at the sink, where her lighter is still sitting but Cruella can’t see that from the doorway. There are no dirty dishes to be done and none drying as if he had just washed them.

Damn.

“Don’t lie to me? What were you really doing?”

He tries not to tremble. If his mother comes over and sees her lighter in the sink, Carlos won’t be able to pick himself up off the kitchen floor. There hasn’t been a full separation between he and Evie yet and that thrills Carlos to know Evie won’t choose Mal over him, but he also knows Evie won’t choose him over Mal. She’s been coming around less often, it could be days before Evie finds him on the floor.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

Carlos jumps again. “G-go?” Had Cruella said they were leaving when he hadn’t been paying attention? “Where?”

Cruella bares her teeth and hisses. “We’ve been summoned. We’re going to Maleficent’s.”

The words ring in his head and his feet feel as if they’re cemented to the floor. Which is ridiculous because the kitchen floor is linoleum and Cruella would end the crazy bastard who got cement on her precious floor. Probably with a knife, Carlos muses. Hades knows that she talked about skinning him often enough. Cruella would definitely skin a person if they would hold still long enough. She’d have to knock someone out though. Or, Carlos twists a finger in his hair, cement them to the floor just like he is and ensure they never escape.

It’s not until his scalp is aching and he is yelping that Carlos comes out of his daze.

“Open your damn ears!” Cruella barks and yanks harder on his hair, dragging Carlos out of the kitchen behind her.

“Mother!” He whines pitifully. Cruella usually likes it when he’s pitiful. It makes her…happy, almost. “Please.”

Cruella doesn’t listen to his fretful voice. Her grip in his hair stays constant as she pulls him behind her and out of Hell Hall.

“I know where Maleficent lives!” Carlos grunts. “I can get there on my own!”

“Shut it.”

“Moth-!”

“I said shut it.”

Beta or not, that is definitely a command. Carlos groans to himself and follows his mother. She keeps his head low, as if his hair is a leash, and forces him to walk awkwardly behind.

People in the streets whistle and stop and stare. A few even catcall and make lewd remarks. One man Carlos can’t see shouts “face down, ass up, just how he ought to be!”

Everyone laughs.

“Please,” he whispers. “Please let go of me. I’ll walk-.”

The hand gripping his hair tightens and yanks. Carlos loses his balance and falls to his knees.

“Just as pretty on his knees!” Someone hollers.

Cruella leans low and grinds her teeth. “Get up!” She demands. “And keep your mouth shut unless you want to spend the rest of the day with it open,” her fingers grip his chin and squeeze until Carlos’ jaw is forced to drop and the pressure of Cruella’s fingers in his cheeks keep his mouth open, “and on your knees like this.”

She releases his face, but not his hair, and Carlos pushes himself off the ground as quick as he can.

“Let’s go.”

For the rest of the walk to Bargain Castle, Carlos is dragged behind his mother. Walking is stressful and uncoordinated, multiple people stop to point and laugh and the entire trip takes far longer than if Carlos were allowed to just follow beside her rather than be led by his hair.

His mother isn’t usually so public with her humiliation of him. She’s never tried to hide it or tell Carlos to cover his bruises, but she also doesn’t go out of her way to embarrass him outside of the house like this.

Had she seen her lighter in the sink? Is she pissed that Carlos is no longer friends with Maleficent’s kid? Does this summoning to Bargain Castle inconvenience her?

Whatever the reason, when Cruella pounds on the heavy doors of Maleficent’s home, she still hasn’t let go of his hair.

Carlos bites his tongue to avoid pleading for his release. He’s never met Maleficent and he would not like her first impression of him to be some weak little boy who is pushed around by his mother.

…Even if that impression is true.

Whatever Maleficent thinks of him really shouldn’t matter now that Mal has cast him aside. It’s not like Carlos has to be on Maleficent’s good side or try to make himself seem worthy of being Mal’s companion.

The door opens and Carlos has to crane his neck to see because his head is still facing the ground and those are definitely not Maleficent’s trademarked black robes.

“Jafar.” His mother drawls and Carlos stills in her grasp.

“Cruella.” There’s a moment’s pause. “Offspring.”

Carlos is pulled inside by his mother, face burning in shame. His cheeks are no doubt as red as his jacket, but no one can see with his head forced down like it is.

As if Cruella could read his thoughts, she pulls his head up and ignores Carlos’ sharp yelp. She draws her hand away from his hair, scowling at disgust at the black and white strands that followed.

Slowly, Carlos rubs his aching scalp. Cruella pulled out quite a bit of his hair.

He takes a deep breath and finally looks up from the stained carpet to see Jafar and the Evil Queen standing beside their children.

Great.

Carlos doesn’t risk looking at Jay or Evie, even though he can feel the heavy weight of their stares on him. Instead, he studies the carpet again and looks at the walls and the windows and at Mal and the book-.

He turns back to Mal and takes in her gaze. She’s watching him intensely, brows furrowed together and lips pursed.

Evil, just his presence is enough to put her in a bad mood.

Maleficent’s grand voice sweeps over all of them. She’s standing on the staircase and looking fierce, but Carlos knows from Mal’s ranting that Maleficent always tries to make herself appear taller and suddenly she’s not as terrifying.

It’s Maleficent though, so she’s still pretty damn intimidating.

“Auradon is calling our children to them!” She stretches out her arm and points at each of the teenagers before her. “This proclamation calls our sons and daughters off the Isle and to attend Auradon Prep!” Maleficent spits the words out like venom.

For as intelligent as he is, it takes a long moment for Carlos to react. The outraged voices of villains and their children alike, Mal’s protesting and Jafar’s disdain clearer than anything else, bring understanding to the news Maleficent just announced.

“They want us to go to Auradon?” Carlos whispers.

“Don’t even think about it,” Cruella crinkles her nose. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Silence!” Maleficent’s voice commands. “Villains, this is our chance to escape this prison! Our children, the spawn of the four most wicked and evil people to walk this earth, will go to this school and break the barrier from the outside!”

“And how will they do that?” Jafar looks at his son, then to Evie and Mal and Carlos, disapproval and disinterest written on his face.

Maleficent waves her hand from her step, as if the details to her crazy plan are trivial. “Mal’s little runt has already broken through the barrier from here already, haven’t you, De Vil?”

Carlos blinks. The Mistress of Evil, ruler of the Isle, the most wicked woman to live has just addressed and he couldn’t care less.

She called him Mal’s little runt, as if Mal has ownership over him. Carlos belongs to her. At least in Maleficent’s eyes.

He risks a glance at Mal, who has her arms folded and glares at her mother.

She just never told her mother about disowning him, Carlos figures. His heart sinks and his eyes burn. He knows better than to hope, damn it. He knows how Mal feels and he shouldn’t be so pitiful about this.

“He did what?”

Oh. Cruella must have never discovered what his generator did last year. Shit.

Maleficent flicks her wrist, dismissing Cruella’s question effortlessly. “This will be easier. Go to Auradon, find the fairy godmother and her magic wand.”

“Nonsense,” the Evil Queen rolls her eyes. “A mission like that is too strenuous. Evie could break hair nails or rip her dress.”

“There are more princes in Auradon.” Maleficent doesn’t even turn to her.

The Evil Queen’s eyes light up and she gasps. “How soon can they leave?”

“Hold up!” Mal snaps and steps forward. “What’s in it for us?” She points to herself and then stretches out her arm to include Jay and Evie.

But not Carlos.

Of course not, he knew that. He didn’t expect to be included in ‘us’. Why does his chest feel so tight?

Maleficent eyes him wearily. She has realized something is wrong, but not exactly what. “Despite how much I disapprove of your attachments,” Maleficent narrows her eyes at Jay specifically, “I will allow you to keep your…pack.”

Mal opens her mouth, possibly to argue, but she is cut off.

“Jay’s not going.” He clamps a hand on the back of his son’s neck. “He stays here.”

A bitter look settles on Jay’s face: irritation and frustration and suppressed rage. “I have to. More people, the better of a chance we have to make this work.”

Jafar growls and Jay growls back, teeth bared by both of them.

“You will stay.”

“I will not.”

“Don’t you dare challenge me.”

“Or what, old man?”

A ringing crack silences everyone, but it’s not Jafar’s hand on his son’s face. Maleficent has slammed her scepter down on the ground, calling all attention back to herself. “What’s better,” she sneers at Jafar, “forcing submission from an alpha or finding Jasmine and taking back what’s rightfully yours, hmm?”

Jafar sighs, but doesn’t lunge for Jay again.

“All four of them leave. Today. The sooner we get you all there, the less time Auradon has to prepare.” Maleficent smirks and the sight gives Carlos chills.

“He’s not going.” Cruella doesn’t bother looking at her son. “Carlos stays here. With me.”

A pause settles throughout the room before Maleficent cackles. “Of course, beta,” she mocks. “How silly of me to not ask for your input.” She rolls her eyes and snaps her fingers at Carlos. “Runt, go pack what you need. Be quick.”

“I said he’s not going.” Cruella hisses. “You can take your high and mighty alpha-ness and shove it up your ass. Carlos stays with me.”

“He already broke the barrier, he’s going.”

Cruella places a hand on his neck and squeezes. “He’s my child, he stays.”

“Listen, beta, you will have no say in this.”

“You’re hardly an alpha,” Cruella muses as she looks pointedly at the step Maleficent stands on. “I don’t cater to you.”

“Why you insolent-!”

Carlos breaks his mother’s grip and steps forward. “Mal,” he calls because she’s huddled with Evie and Jay in the corner. “Mal…what…what do you want?”

She looks at him with raised brows and Carlos realizes that everyone else is watching him too.

“What…do you want me to do?” He asks and takes another step toward her. “Do I stay or do I follow you?”

Mal’s eyes narrow and she blinks at him. “What?”

Carlos gulps. “What do you want me to do?”

“I…” Her eyes flicker as if she wants to look around the room and decide based off everyone’s reactions, but Mal’s eyes come right back to his face. “You…” She steps closer, looks Carlos up and down.

“Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it.”

Mal studies him for the briefest of seconds before nodding. “You come with us.”

His shoulders immediately drop and Carlos can finally breathe. The finality in the alpha’s decision has lifted the weight of this burden from him and eased his racing mind.

Carlos, true to his word, will obey whatever Mal asks. Mal is in charge, Mal is making decisions, Mal will make everything okay.

“Well, well, well,” Maleficent sings. Carlos jumps. He had…forgotten other people were in the room besides he and Mal. The tranquility of surrendering to Mal is broken and Carlos is standing straight at Maleficent’s tone. “I suppose that settles it. The four of you will go. Find Fairy Godmother and her wand. Use it to bring down the barrier once and for all. Then all of your offspring will be returned to you for you to do as you please.” Oh shit, Carlos just knows she’s looking at Cruella. “But ensure that they all are fit for their mission. It wouldn’t do to have them all fail.”

There are sharp footsteps behind him and Carlos tries not to flinch when he feels jagged nails against his scalp and a fist in his hair again. He can barely catch the wide eyes of Mal and Jay and Evie before he is pulled away.

Cruella drags him back to Hell Hall, snarling at the people who taunt and cat call. She moves faster now, Carlos tripping to keep up with the hold she has on him, and doesn’t loosen her grip when Carlos begins to whimper in pain and his tears streak his cheeks.

“You fucking brat!” She seethes up the steps. “I can’t believe you would disrespect me like that in front of all those people!” Cruella shoves him inside and Carlos lands on his hands and knees. “You have no idea how difficult it was to be respected as a beta running my own company and how hard I had to work to be taken seriously as a villain!”

“Mother, I-.”

Her foot flies into his face and catches Carlos in his chin. He yelps and covers mouth, where blood is spilling over from his bitten tongue.

“The image I’ve worked for, the effort I put in to be feared, all ruined because my bitch of a son wants some alpha’s cunt. How am I to be respected if my own son doesn’t fear me?” Cruella stomps on his shoulders and sends Carlos to the ground, lying flat on his stomach. “Thank evil I wasn’t an omega. I wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing but spread my legs like a bitch in constant heat.

Carlos can feel the tremors of her shiver through the foot on his spine.

Cruella hauls him to his feet by the back of his shirt.

“Those fools in Auradon don’t care for betas either, so watch out for the alphas there. They won’t take you seriously, boy. Then again, they probably shouldn’t.” In a rare moment of affection, her expression softens and she soothes down his hair and holds his cheek.

Oh no. No no no no no no. These are always the worst.

“Listen to me, Carlos Oscar.” Shit, shit, why is she using his name? “I may not be able to hurt you before you leave and risk you succeeding in bringing down the barrier and freeing us all,” Cruella plays with a ringlet of curls by his ear, “but the moment I have you back, you will regret embarrassing me like that, do you understand?”

Carlos nods.

“I don’t think you do.” Cruella coos at him and squeezing his cheek with her nails. “But you will. I have a farewell present for you.”

--

Half an hour later, Carlos is trembling outside of Castle Across the Way. When Evie spots him, she pales and grabs his wrist.

Hydrogen. Helium. Lithium.

“Carlos, what…” She leans closer to his chest and whimpers. “Cruella.”

He doesn’t respond. He doesn’t need to.

Evie gives his hand a gentle squeeze and pulls him along. She doesn’t say anything about his little trash bag of clothes, even if the people on the street snicker.

Beryllium. Boron. Carbon.

“Holy shit, man,” Jay flinches when they approach him outside of Bargain Castle. “That looks like it hurts.” Which is saying a lot when Carlos looks at Jay’s bruised face. He has a black eye and dried blood under his nose, but there’s no bite of submission on his throat.

Jay reaches out to touch him, but Carlos recoils back. “That bad, huh?”

No. Maybe. Carlos hasn’t looked at it yet. The touch of an alpha would break the very fragile control he has right now. Carlos can’t risk that.

Nitrogen. Oxygen. Fluorine.

“We’ll get ice on it when we get to Auradon,” Evie promises. She assesses Jay with narrow eyes. “Please tell me your father looks worse.”

“Oh yeah,” Jay stretches his arms lazily above his head. “He won’t be walking right for at least a day. Don’t you worry about me, princess.”

Neon. Sodium. Magnesium.

There’s a limousine further up the path. Villains and their kids crowd around it in curiosity.

Carlos is the only one of his friends to have any familiarity with a car because his mother is one of the few villains to own one. He gestures to the trunk and Jay and Evie follow him, tossing their suitcases inside with Carlos’ plastic bag.

“Go sit inside,” Evie tells them in a whisper. “I’ll stay here and wait for Mal. I’ll make sure nobody takes our stuff.”

Aluminum. Silicon. Phosphorus.

There’s not an ounce in him that is willing to argue with her right now, so Carlos allows himself to be herded into the backseat of the limo, crashing into the velvet seat and drawing his knees up to his chest, careful not to touch his freshly scarred skin.

Sulfur. Chlorine. Argon.

“Pup?” Jay calls softly. “What did she…how did she…?”

Carlos swallows and shakes his head.

“Okay, man. You don’t have to tell me.”

His eyes slip shut and Carlos leans his head against the window. The cold glass against his face is so refreshing and the sweet smell of the limo is almost enough to drown out the burning scent on him.

Potassium. Scandium. Titanium.

The calm of the limo must have lulled him into a peaceful state because Carlos jolts alert when the door finally closes.

Mal stares at him with an intense scowl. “Let me see.”

Vanadium. Chromium. Manganese.

Carlos tips his head back, winces at the stretch of his skin. Mal’s fingers don’t dare to touch it, but she brushes underneath.

On his skin, just under his collar bone, is Cruella De Vil is messy cursive. It had been a metal stamper, one Carlos has polished many times, from her fashion days. By dipping it in ink, she approved designs and model shows, she hired and fired employees, she agreed to business proposals and company expansions.

By holding it above her lighter – the one she screeched at finding in the sink – she seared her signature into Carlos skin permanently.

A place he would constantly see it, but easily hidden as to not draw attention to himself in Auradon.

Iron. Cobalt. Nickel.

“Why the fuck would you do that?” Mal seethes.

“It wasn’t his fault!” Jay snaps from his seat. “Cruella is the one who-.”

“I know.” Mal raises her hand to silence the other alpha. “But why would you,” she grips Carlos’ chin, “do that? Why piss her off?”

Zinc. Gallium. Germanium.

“I…didn’t…mean to,” Carlos exhales. He closes his eyes again. “I didn’t think.”

“Clearly.”

“Mal!” Evie’s disapproving tone is clear. “Stop. That’s not Carlos’ fault. Cruella is mental, anything could have pushed her over the edge.”

Arsenic. Selenium. Bromine.

Carlos is so weary, he can’t resist the urge to nuzzle Mal’s palm. “I’m used to…looking to you for orders. You’re my…”

She cups his face delicately. Mal cradles his cheek like Carlos is something precious to her. Evil, that’s what he’s wanted for so damn long. “Don’t ever do anything to put yourself in danger like that again,” she says. Carlos can see the scowl through his closed eyelids. “Not even to prove yourself to me.”

Krypton. Rubidium. Strontium.

A feeble noise, almost like a laugh, escapes his mouth. “It wasn’t to prove myself. I just…I look to you for orders.” Carlos wearily opens his eyes.

“I know that now,” Mal sighs.

“Good. That’s all I wanted.”