Chapter Text
Cold from the cellar’s concrete floor was seeping through the dirty mattress. Max feels it even in his bones. He has slept on the same piece of foam and fabric all his life. It's too small and he has to curl into a fetal position to fit. The blanket and pillow are thin, flattened by years of being laid on. At least the sheets have been changed semi-regularly so he doesn’t have to see the stains. Two and a half decades worth of sweat, blood, tears and slick. His childhood and early adulthood painted on fabric.
The “bed” isn’t good for nesting and he doesn’t have enough materials even if he wanted to do so. His father, alpha Johannes “Jos” Verstappen, leader of Toro Rosso - pack has never had an appreciation for omegas. The fact that Max had been one hadn’t helped the situation. He had been outside or felt the sunlight on his skin since he was two-year-old. Only time he has been let upstairs into the main home of the pack is when he is allowed to bathe. The other omegas of the pack aren’t allowed to talk to or see him and he isn’t allowed to talk to alphas or betas without being addressed. He has been raised to be neither seen or heard. He is Jos’ biggest mistake and disappointment.
Tears are wetting the pillow as they roll down Max’s cheeks. He feels cold and sore. He knows that his next heat is in less than a week. His emotions are all over the place. Heat means that he will be tied down and not allowed to touch himself while some of the pack’s alphas watch and touch him. They aren’t allowed to fuck him but they will touch him other ways. They will hit and finger him and jerk all over him.
They make him do stuff he doesn’t want to. Max hates it. The way that he isn’t allowed to be in charge of his own body. He is only there for the pleasure of others. His life is nothing. He feels like nothing. He has never felt kindness. Abused by his father and his peers and left by his mother. He is all alone in this cruel world. Everyday his body feels like giving up, he feels like giving up.
Max hears the door on top of the stairs open. It lets a beam of light into the room and it casts shadows on the cellar walls. Max doesn’t look up, his back turned to the door. Someone steps in. Max expects it to be one of the pack members bringing him a plate of cold dinner. It’s not. They turn on the faint lamp in the room. It gives the room a fake glow of yellow that makes the room seem warmer. Max curls further into himself under the blanket and whimpers. He recognizes his fathers even steps coming down the stairs.
“Max? What the fuck are you doing?”
Max swallows before slowly sitting up on the mattress. He kneels on both knees even though it hurts. His legs are bruised from the last time his father had come down here. He bares his next and squeezes his eyes shut. He doesn’t want to look at the ground nor his father’s shoes. Then he feels a sharp pain on the back of his head as a fist connects with it.
“Useless omega. Have I not teached you enough to kneel everytime an alpha comes in here?”
“I’m sorry sir.”
There is no fight in Max’s voice. There is no hope left. He wishes that if he doesn’t fight it, it’s over quicker.
“I would hope so.”
Max sways a little. The pain throbbing on the back of his head. He feels sick. Bile rises in his throat and he tries to swallow it back down.
“I’m actually here for something important.”
Max knows that doesn’t mean anything good.
“I have finally had enough of you being so difficult and a waste of my time. I promised you as a mate for Sébastien.”
Max’s eyes widen and he can’t help himself as he turns his head up to look at his father. Suddenly he is feeling even more sick. He can taste the gastric acid on the back of his tongue. He doesn’t want Sébastien. He doesn’t want an alpha. He doesn’t want a mate. Especially anyone of his father’s favorite alphas. Sébastien Buemi is cruel and ruthless to omegas. He would touch Max too roughly. He would beat him and hurt him. He would even make Max touch his penis with his mouth.
The one thing that was Max’s saver was the fact that Jos didn’t let them put their cocks inside him. He would put other things into him and scared Max had never been able to produce enough slick. Sebastién would just push his fingers into him and make him bleed. It hurts so much. By the end of his heat his whole body would be sore and bruised. He was always scared for the whole time that Sébastien would bond him, even against his father’s orders. And now that fear was going to become reality. No one would stop Sébastien from bonding with him. Max’s eyes burned as the tears started to form again. He wasn’t above crying in front of his father. Nor begging for mercy.
“N-no… Please sir, please… Anything but him… Please, I'm begging you alpha. I’ll be good. I’ll do anything. Just don’t let him bond with me."
Max hadn’t begged mercy from his father since he had been a little kid. He knew that the man would never give him any kindness. Still there had been hope that even he wouldn’t be so cruel to his son, his own flesh and blood.
Last of that hope was torn apart when a back of a hand slammed against his left cheek. His face turned to the side and his cheek burned. His father had slapped him thousands of times before. None of those times had felt like this. The slap had killed the rest of Max’s spirit. Breath caught in his throat and he let himself hiccup even if his father would hear it. He had nothing to lose anymore.
“Stop whining. Hundreds of omegas would kill to have a chance to an alpha like Buemi and here you are, crying like the bitch you are. Maybe he is the alpha who can finally show you your place.”
Jos took a fistful of Max’s hair into his hand and pulled. Max felt the hairs break off. He didn’t look up at his father. There was nothing there that he hadn’t seen before.
“I should have given you away on your first heat. That would have saved me a lot of trouble.”
Then he threw him back onto the mattress. Max didn’t even try to catch himself. His face slammed against the hard surface, not really cushioned by the sad excuse of a bed. He just laid as still as possible until he heard the door closing after Jos. He let out a small breath he had held. Then he let it all pour out. Loud sobs turned into angry tears and yells. He squeezed the pillow against his chest as hard as he could and screamed. He screamed into the empty walls of the cellar until his throat hurt and his voice gave out. The tears didn’t stop then. They kept coming even when everything was blurry, and dark, and Max was sure he would faint.
When Max woke up his ears were ringing and his head throbbing. The cellar had been just like always before, cold and dark. He couldn’t really feel his toes and his fingers were cold when he touched his temple. The cool skin actually relieved some of the headache. Max groaned. His life was going to be over. Being bonded to Sébastien Buemi would eventually kill him. After all of these years of abuse neither his body or mind would handle the pain and torture. He would die without ever being loved.
Sometimes he thinks about what it would have been like to live with his mother. Maybe he would have had a warm bed and food, pack full of omegas to nest with. He could have spent days lazing in the sun and then he would sleep the night with a mate curled around him, shielding him from the dangers of the World. World that had been so cruel and unfair that it had given him only pain and agony. He didn't deserve love. His life was destined to be torture. There was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t escape and there was no one out there to help him. He could only hope that the death would claim him without making him suffer for too long.
He couldn’t sleep anymore. Max just laid there, waiting. He didn’t know what to do. There was no light at the end of this.There would be nothing after this. His body wasn’t able to lift him up anymore. There was no reason to get up from the mattress. His mind was fuzzy. He couldn’t really get a hold of any of his thoughts. He just stared into the darkness.Maybe if he stayed still for long enough he would just fade away. He was so goddamn tired.
When the door to the cellar was opened again Max didn’t look up right away. He didn’t want to see who it was. Who would come to seal his destiny. If he was lucky it would be one of the betas bringing him food or taking him to a bath. If he was all out of luck Sébastien would be here to claim him early. Bonding an omega outside of heat would be cruel but maybe that would be on brand for the alpha. Max didn't dare to let out a sound. He stayed as still as possible, hoping that whoever it was would leave. They didn't. Instead they walked down the stars. They didn't turn on the lamp. Only light in the room shone in through the cracked door.
Max saw a silhouette of a person from the corner of his eye. The person smelt like pine and lemon. He had only smelt that scent a couple times in his life. Christian Horner placed a plate in front of Max's face. It radiated a small amount of warmth to his face and smelled like potatoes and chicken. Max's mouth started to water but he didn't move. He wasn't sure he was allowed to. So he stayed still on the mattress. His instinct told him to kneel, to bare his neck in submission for the alpha who was second in command in the pack. He didn't. It was stupid not to. He would be punished for not doing it. But somehow he couldn’t bring himself to. Instead he just stared at Christian's figure. The alpha was probably staring at him too. Like prey and predator, they both waited for the other to make the first move. Then Christian sat down onto the ground.
“Hey kid…”
Max looked at where Christian’s face was, but he couldn’t see his features in the dark. The alpha’s voice was slow and hushed. Like he was talking to a frightened animal that would run away if he did a wrong move. Except Max couldn’t run away and Christian knew that. There was no way out for him. The alpha sighed.
“Your father just told me his plans. I’m sorry."
Max couldn’t help a gasp escaping his lips. No one had ever apologized to him. In fact Christian had never cared about him. He was an old fashioned alpha, just like Jos. So why was the alpha down here, talking and apologizing to him. It didn’t make any sense to him.
“I know that I haven’t really given you a reason to trust me but I don’t agree with Jos. Even if I think that omegas should stay home taking care of kids, they shouldn’t be forced to bond with anyone.”
His eyes started to tear up again. Max tried to swallow and hold back the tears. He didn’t want to seem weak in front of Christian. He closed his eyes just as the first tear rolled down his cheek.
Max jumped when a warm hand touched his hair. Both him and Christian froze. Max stared at the other man wide eyed. When he didn’t pull away the alpha started to gently pet his hair. The movements were smooth and they soothed his headache. All the pain from being hit melted away. Max let his eyes fall back shut. He didn’t purr. He didn’t know how to but he hoped that Christian would still feel how grateful he was.
They stayed like that for a while. When Max was starting to doze off Christian stopped. Max shamelessly whined and opened his eyes to look at the alpha in confusion.
“Dinner first before you fall asleep.”
Christian placed the plate with boiled potatoes and roasted chicken on his lap. Then he pulled a fork out of the front pocket of his pants. He put it in Max’s hand.
Slowly the omega started to eat. He was still scared that the plate would be taken away at any moment. But when he turned to look at Christian the alpha was sitting on the same spot he had been earlier and just watched him. The food wasn’t warm anymore but it didn’t really bother him. It felt different than all the cold dinners he had eaten before. There was the fact that someone had actually cared enough. Suddenly Christian started to talk.
“I know that I haven’t been the best to you either. I have been blindly following Jos like a dog. I may have not agreed with him all the time but I didn’t do anything when he treated you and other omegas badly. Instead I turned a blind eye to them. I knew how cruel he was. I was there when Sébastien and the others told him what they did to you. And still I was too much of a coward to do anything, to stand up to him. I was selfish when I ignored the pain that we caused. It just felt easier to just ignore all of the bad things. I know it won’t fix anything but I’m sorry. I will do anything in my power to make sure to fix this pack and to make sure Buemi doesn’t get to bond with you.”
Max let the fork drop onto the plate as he just stared at Christian. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This was all too much and not enough at the same time. This was all he had ever wanted, kindness and an alpha admitting they had been wrong. But it wasn’t enough. It was too little too late. Max’s life had been painful from the beginning and the promise of things changing wasn’t enough. Suddenly there was a new kind of hope in him. Wave of bravery washed over him.
“Will you help me escape?”
The words had left his lips before he really had a chance to think them through. Escaping a pack would be crazy. He would be returned back the moment he set a foot into another pack’s territory. Especially without an alpha or beta who is related or bonded to him. If someone would learn that Chrstian had let him escape the alpha would be punished too. His father would never let Max leave just like that. He wouldn’t even know where to go if he was able to leave. He knew nothing about the World outside of the pack home.
Christian didn’t say anything. He just stood up and turned away. Max felt the moment slip away from his fingers, and with it the hope that had light up inside him.
“Please…”
He whispered into the darkness. This was his only chance. Christian stopped at the doorway. He stood still for a moment before closing the door.
“I will see what I can do.”
And with that the alpha walked out of the door, closing it behind him and without looking back.