"At last, we found you, The Enforcer." Standing around the omega in a circle, the leader of the Royal Guards' team sneered. "You have nowhere else to run."
The men, armed to boot and adorned in high-quality armour, shifted. Bracing themselves, the men did not look away from the blond-haired omega before them for even a second. They could not afford him slipping away again.
"It seems so," unfazed, Felix agreed, arms clasped behind his back and hands clenched tight. Magic thrummed warm under his skin, coiling in his stomach defensively, "you have caught up four years too late." He smirked, lowered gaze flicking up to glare at the man languidly. "I can imagine the choice of words your leader must have for you, Sir Knight."
The knight bristled, the mockery hitting right where it hurt. "Silence, traitor. Seize him."
The omega chortled, swiftly weaving one of the alphas' attacks and grabbed the man's arm, twisting it with ease. With a deranged grin blooming on his gaunt face, Felix swept his leg out, unsheathing another knight's sword.
With a spin, he bashed the pommel on one knight's helm and another on the chest. Kicking the fourth away, the omega slashed the sword, grabbing a knight and slammed him on the ground. Before the chaos could fade, Felix glanced between the leader and the man on his right who rushed towards him.
With a wide motion, he threw a handful of power he had made in the coven at them, not staying to hear the started shouts as their armour eroded.
Quickly, Felix stashed the sword on his sides and sprinted away, deeper into the forest while pulling down his hood.
He glanced back over his shoulder and snorted. A gaggle of alphas with weapons and armour, yet could not catch a single, half-blind omega. It reminded him how his father almost succeeded in taking over the capital.
He turned to look ahead, the coppery scent of blood clinging to him like a sickeningly familiar second skin. Hair whipping with the wind, the omega took several turns and roundabouts through the towering trees.
Despite himself, Felix found a twisted comfort in the metallic scent entangling with his own flowery scent, glands beginning to itch as they secreted pheromones making his distress known vigorously.
Covering his nose, the omega pushed himself, legs burning with overexertion as he kept on running without an end in sight.
In truth, Felix had long grown tired of this never-ending cycle of being chased throughout the empire and hunted down. He had long lost the count of how many guards he'd put to death in the four years he was on the run after a failed usurping.
Now all he was really running away from was not to escape the consequences of his allegiance but for the vain pride he had in himself as the infamous Enforcer. The beta servant he once had at his unquestioned beck and call was long gone.
Hours passed by long before Felix slowed, legs shaking as he barely kept himself standing, fingers digging into the clasp of his cloak. Lungs aching, the omega gasped for breath, gulping air through his mouth greedily as he bent forward, hair matted with sweat and dirt, leaves and thorns stuck in the cloak.
This was the end. Before him lay a gaping canyon with a wide river flowing below.
He could jump down, somehow survive and continue evading execution. Or he could stop now, surrender and end this filthy life.
With a harrowing blank in his sapphire eyes, the omega inched closer to the cliff, thoughts silent for once. Jump now and keep running till you're old and withering, a voice suspiciously like that of his scum of a father goaded.
Felix looked up at the encroaching sound of galloping steads.
Slowly, he turned, tipping his head back to stare up at the sprawling sky, strangely at peace.
"Felix Altan."
Felix jerked, the haze of peace torn away from his mind as his head snapped forward. "Callisto Viron." A strong gust of wind swept through, long golden locks dancing with it as the hood fell back. He smiled, one without mockery but something softer, more hesitant as he took half a step back. "Here to apprehend me?"
Callisto Viron, the newly appointed Duke of Lechrone, stepped forward, shook his head with his lips pressed in a thin line. "... No."
"No…?"
Felix could hardly believe his own ears, eyes widening a fraction as he gazed up at the younger alpha. Before the silence could make itself home, he snorted, arms crossed. "Why, pray tell." He paused, finger on his chin as he wondered aloud. "It cannot be that Callisto—"
"—Duke Viron to you—"
"—Callisto," Felix ignored him, voice breezy, "cannot forget me, after all."
"..."
"Oh my." At the younger man's silence, Felix's heart twinged slightly. But he stamped it down. "What will you do? Allow me to escape again?"
"No. Not this time."
"So Callisto will drag me back to the capital himself?"
"I will not do anything like that."
"And why won't you, hm?"
Callisto stepped closer, towering over the omega, eyebrows furrowing slightly. His lips pursed as he passed him by and sat on the edge of the clip. "I have not been ordered to do such a thing. All I am here for is to simply make sure you run away no further."
"Or jump down the cliff?"
"... Or jump in the river." The alpha glanced down, eyes narrowing. He raised his head again, a far away look in his eyes. Gently, he patted the space beside himself. "Sit with me one last time?"
"One last time?" Felix did not refuse and went to sit by the alpha, not looking at him. He dared not, afraid remorse would finally break through the prison in his heart and kill him.
"Is this not the last time? You shall be executed. Or have you a wish to run away more, The Enforcer?"
"You too?"
"You used me!" Callisto slammed his gloved fist on a rock on his right. Sucking in a sharp breath, he turned away, fist shaking in fury. He was tempted to kill the omega with his bare hands. But he did not have the heart to. "... Until the end, you used me."
"Ah, yes, I recall that. Without you killing the fifth prince wouldn't have been so easy."