Chapter Text
It was difficult to explain the deal he made with the King. Lambert was furious with him and hadn’t stopped trying to convince him not to go, that it was a trap, but it was a risk he was willing to take to save his brethren.
Geralt had to pull himself away from the two who were trying to change his mind, but this was the only way to protect them. There had been so many of his school that had been killed by the kingdom, and if he offered himself as a plaything for the nobles then they had vowed to leave the others alone.
“Geralt please! There’s other ways that don’t involve you doing this.” Lambert, who took the news the hardest, pleaded again as the omega clung to his alpha tightly, but Eskel pulled him away. The beta held the youngest firmly, as the pair watched their alpha start walking towards the king’s castle alone.
They all felt their medallions vibrate as a portal formed up in front of them. Out of it stepped an elegant sorceress with lovely dark skin and long black hair. Just beside her was an extravagantly dressed bard, or at least someone who appeared to be a bard; he carried a lute at least.
He stomped up to the Witchers and said flatly, "I am the former Prince Julian, but as you can see I'm not at the meeting place, I don't want a plaything ," he spat angrily. "And I'd rather you didn't walk into a fucking trap!" All the while floating from him was the sweet scent of an omega although he showed absolutely no omegan submissiveness.
Geralt just froze in place, not sure what to do about the new omega in front of him. He hadn’t even been aware that there was a prince. Neither of the other Witchers really seemed to have an adverse reaction to the omega’s lack of submissiveness which was explained by the ginger Witcher struggling to get released.
“How do you know it’s a trap?” Geralt questioned slowly, when the Witcher omega interrupted angrily.
“FUCKING TOLD YOU IT FELT WRONG WHEN THE OFFER CAME IN! But no one ever listens to the omega who’s more feral then a fuckin pissed off goose.” Lambert snarled as he glared daggers into the back of the alpha’s head.
"Because," the sorceress drawled, "the message they sent to you was a complete lie. The omega they promised is standing right there." She yawned. "And the last alpha to approach him during his heat still can't walk without two canes." She grinned at the Witchers savagely. "The rumor I heard was that they were going to try," she smirked, "to capture Jaskier here to see if either a Witcher could breed him or he'd kill you."
"They tried to capture me, but I saw through their trap in about three seconds," Jaskier snorted. “Amateurs.”
In the back, Lambert started cackling, earning him a light smack to the back of the head from the scared beta.
“What!? I can’t think it’s funny that the canary has talons?” Lambert crossed his arms, huffing a little bit.
Geralt simply turned to give the other omega a look that had him growling but he didn’t talk back.
“I’d never try to breed an unwilling omega. I told them that so I would have been willing to do gladiatorial combat as entertainment. Which was what the treaty said, breeding and entertainment in exchange for the slaughter of my pack to end.”
Jaskier visibly gritted his teeth. "They are lying to you! And they are not in as nearly as strong a position as you think they are. My father, you know, the King of Redania, used the distrust people have against Witchers to try and make them forget that I led a damn near successful rebellion against him." Jaskier sighed bitterly. "You'd be in a gladiator fight all right. With no weapons and no armor. That's how that whole court works!"
“You started a rebellion? If you’re of noble blood did you not usurp the throne and have your father assassinated? You’re next in line, correct?” Geralt was genuinely curious and mildly concerned about this omega and his actions of rebellion as well as exposing the king’s plans.
Jaskier actually danced in place with rage. "It was after I was disowned for being unbreedable; I don't want a throne, AND THEY BLOODY DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS ME!" He took a deep breath. "I set myself up as a humble traveling bard, except when I was required to be chained to a wall through my heat by my sweet Yennefer there. They still don't know it was me. They only knew that when a vital branch of the organization was found everything faded away like the morning mist." Jaskier looked thoughtful and pulled at his lower lip. "Hmmm. Maybe they are trying to bring my people out of the woodwork too."
Geralt stepped back, nose wrinkling at the sudden burst of raging omega scent, and the two others seemed to be trying to cover their noses. Having enhanced senses could be hard, especially with sudden scents or loud sounds.
“I um…apologize if I offended you. It wasn’t my intention,” Jaskier was thinking hard when he noticed the Witchers backing away and blushed. "Sorry," He muttered. "I'm getting close to my time and Yenn can't give me the potions this time."
“Not your fault, being a Witcher fucking sucks. Also with it being so close to that time you’ve got no worries here. Majority of wolves are betas; only a couple alphas and omegas. Geralt is one of the only alphas who’s not strictly bonded with someone, and he won’t do shit unless asked beforehand.” Lambert said as he managed to get away from Eskel, and draped his arms over Geralt’s shoulders, letting out a sigh of relief that the alpha was not going anywhere. “This one is a good one, you have my respect, little canary, for coming here to stop him from doing something stupid.”
"It was the right thing to do. Mmmmm," Jaskier pushed his hands through his hair. "Uhhhhh I can't think. What's a good next step Yenn?"
"Hmmm, the best I can think is either these three run like rabbits to someplace safe. Or they can come with us; they could maybe spread word through the network of what was actually planned and see that other Witchers don't come near Redania."
"Yeah, yeah, that sounds good," Jaskier said. "Why do you all travel alone anyway? Don't you know how staggeringly vulnerable it makes you?"
“We used to travel in groups of 2 to 5, but once the slaughter started it became a case of it was easier to hide alone, but also we could help more towns by spreading out. It wasn’t something we wanted to do, but more monsters over Witcher groups pushed our hand to split up.” Eskel spoke up for the first time, but didn’t move from his spot, since at this distance his scars weren’t as horrific looking.
“As for a safe place we wouldn’t get there before a bounty would be put on Geralt’s head. The others are probably already heading towards our keep so we don’t have to worry about them getting caught.” The scarred beta said softly.
Yenn snorted. "I am a sorceress," She said slowly. "I just came through a portal." She frowned at her friend. "We are going to have to go back through a portal within the hour with the way Jas is looking." Now that they noticed, the prince-bard was starting to look feverish.
“Are we permitted to make use of your residence for a short time? The keep is warded against portals. The closest place a portal would reach is a small town that recently became a guard post for the king’s mercenaries.” Eskel kept his voice calm and clear, since he knew how Lambert and a few other omegas could get so close to heat. They fed off their packmates’ energy, so if anyone was panicking then they’d get far more restless, but it could also make focusing on conversations a bit more difficult. Lambert had described it once as having your head in a barrel of wool, so you could hear but some words blended together.
"That sounds good. Yenn?" Jaskier asked the sorceress.
Yennefer rolled her eyes and took Jaskier's arm, carefully telegraphing her movements. "Let's get you and your new friends out of the middle of nowhere huh?"
Jaskier's eyes were definitely unfocused now; the anxieties of the last hour or so must have made his heat come on quickly. "They are mine?" Then he frowned. "No! They don't feel right yet," he sniffed the air. "They smell good though. Really, really good. They even have a good smelling omega. Spicy," He hummed dreamily.
"Riiight." Yennefer opened a portal to a marble-sheathed courtyard. "Shall we get along, gentlemen?"
All three of the Witchers were frozen at the statement, genuinely confused by the fact they apparently smelled good to the disowned prince. Nearly everyone – aside from other Witchers – found Witcher scents repulsive because of the smell of wrongness of the mutations.
“Take him through first and we’ll follow. I wouldn’t want to upset him by being an uninvited alpha getting too close,” the white haired alpha said, as he gestured for the sorceress to pass through like a gentleman.
"Yeah, I'm not exactly sure who would win," Yennefer said, leading them all through to a palatial manor house. "Although he likes your scents... that's new. Stabling for horses to the left, food to the right. Don't go anywhere else until I get Jaskier settled." That last order was very firm.
“Oh I wouldn’t dare try anything! But he’s already anxious from the trap and I wouldn’t want to make it worse by him feeling the need to defend himself.” Geralt raised his hands in a sign of non-aggression to the woman in front of them.
With the directions given, the Witchers took their horses to the stables, and Geralt took extra time to get the two mares and single stallion settled in.
Once they were settled, he sat in Roach’s stall and raised an arm for Lambert to cling onto him, nosing into his throat to scent his alpha. Eskel scented him from the other side since they both had some leftover anxiety from almost losing Geralt that needed to be eased.
Yennefer would have been about to laugh herself silly if she hadn't been so busy trying to direct Jaskier. First he tried to snarl at her for taking him away from the very nice smelling Witchers, then he was pulling away and growling because 'they don't feel right'. Her usual snuggling and pampering weren't working this time. She finally got Jaskier into his reinforced room, but then he kept ripping apart and putting together his nest, growling wordlessly by now. Finally, fed up with everything, she magically stole each Witcher’s shirt off their bodies and threw them in through the door. That finally settled Jaskier down a bit, and she was able to lock the door, leaving to make some highly significant notes in the book she kept on Jaskier's unique responses.
The Witchers all yelped when their shirts vanished, but Lambert got over it quickly. It had been far too long since they’d been able to truly cuddle skin to skin, and a soft purr started to rumble in the omega’s chest.
“Not sure what to say about our shirts suddenly vanishing, my only question is why,” Geralt muttered, but he wasn’t too concerned, especially with how happy Lambert was to cuddle like this.
After a while they could all scent a roasted chicken dinner. "Just because I make all of Jaskier's meals while he's in heat, doesn't mean I'm going to turn into a servant," Yennefer called bitingly. "The food is in the kitchen... where food usually lives. And I might be able to answer questions if you ask very, very nicely." Her voice was sweet poison by now.
Eskel was the one to get up, rolling his eyes at Geralt and Lambert who were pretty much napping in the straw, scent drunk on each other.
“I don’t expect you to become a servant or wait on us. Any chores you need help with we will happily take care of. I do apologize for my packmates; since the offer a week ago Lamb has been avoiding Geralt due to the stress of losing him, aside from trying to talk him out of leaving. Witchers are protective of our family, wolves even more so. Now that we aren’t losing our alpha they’re going through rebonding, simply reaffirming that he’s here and not leaving.”
Yennefer leaned against the open door of the stable. "Understandable, I suppose. You are more in touch with your dynamics and used to working as a pack. Maybe that's why he likes your scents. Come on. I'm going to need some wine for this." She waved a hand wearily and departed for, apparently, where the food and drinks were.
Eskel nodded as he followed the sorceress out of the stables, consciously leaving a slightly stronger scent trail for when the others came to, so they could easily track him and not wander off into an area they weren’t allowed in yet.
“You are correct in the fact that we are more in touch with our dynamics. But we also have the downside of being more susceptible to falling victim to our instincts than others.”
Yennefer tapped her chin. "That...could be an asset," She poured herself a goblet of wine and sat in a throne-like chair at the head of the table covered with food. "By... hmm, tomorrow, definitely the day after I'd have to knock Jaskier down with a spell before I can safely feed and water him. He'll be so opposed to my scent by then that he'll attack." She picked up a drumstick from the chicken and waved it about. "Considering he wouldn't settle until I gave him your shirts, he might not attack you, though. It will be easier to keep him hydrated; he doesn't eat much solid food like most omegas in heat."
“Well that answers the question about where our shirts went…” Eskel took a seat to serve himself, tilting his head as he heard two sets of feet heading towards them.
“You want one of us to care for him during his heat!? W-we don’t, I c-can’t…he didn’t ask!” Geralt had frozen in the doorway, eyes wide in panic.
"I'm not asking you two to do anything," Yennefer stated firmly. "You he would attack. I've watched him attack alphas...he didn't like their scents anyway, but you don't 'feel right'; you haven't courted him. None of you have." Yennefer looked at Lambert thoughtfully. "I'm not exactly sure what he'd do with you. I think he might try to claim you as his. You see, he's a throwback. An omegan dominant, at least that's my theory. I've found bits and pieces of lore that seem to indicate they used to be more common, much more common. A tribe would form around a dominant omega, who would claim other omegas and keep alphas in line. Something like that. Betas were seen as... well the word I've seen used is handmaid." Yennefer tried not to grin.
Geralt sagged in relief that he wasn’t the one she was asking to help the omega.
“Oh yeah, dominant omegas used to be very common. Our old grandmaster was one. Also Eskel is absolutely a caregiver at heart. Judging by how you’ve worded your clarification means it’s Eskel you want to be going in to care for the canary,” Lambert dragged Geralt over to the table since he was famished, digging into the chicken.
"You'll need to go find him a token. I think. You'll know better." Yenn agreed. "Something special, something soft because he's in heat. If you want to start courting him that is," Yenn smiled into her goblet, waiting for the Witchers to stumble all over themselves again.
Eskel simply nodded and Lambert nearly choked on his food. “We legitimately just met him and only talked for about half an hour.”
Geralt was baffled and confused by this, looking to Eskel with a small whine and Yenn watched as the alpha slipped into his baser instincts.
Yennefer stood up. "I suggest you three talk about it tonight. I'll check on Jas and go to bed. Have a pleasant evening, gentlemen," Yenn, vastly amused, took herself off to bed.
“Um, where do we sleep?” Lambert called before Yenn was out of earshot.
"The lamps will light two ways. The blue lamps if you decide you want to court him. The golden lamps if you decide not," she said, and two doorways lit up appropriately. She took the golden lamp stairs.