Worthless - Chapter 45

The boy struck, yet with his clumsy movements and lack of strength, the 10-year-old’s attack was nothing at all towards Han. The Inspector could easily dismantle the weapon from the little boy’s gawky hands if he wanted to.

But he let it happen.

He allowed the boy to stab the sharp points of the bottle into his arm. And true to his deduction, the young Omega (Han had decided to label him Omega since his scent leaned more towards that side) didn’t seem to be the type to hurt someone intently.

When the sharp glass pierced his arm, the boy had flinched so bad at the sight of blood –though Han wondered if it was due to blood or him being an Alpha– and almost jumped away. Han had bit his lips to stop the hiss of pain from coming out–

‘Cause yea! It friggin’ hurts!’ Han wanted to shout it out to the world as his hands immediately latched onto his wounds.

The brown-haired boy let go of his grip on the neck of the bottle, letting it fall from his hands and dropping onto the snowy ground. The blanket of snow had softened the fall into a dull thud instead of crashing directly on the hard pavement and shattered.

Since the boy had finally stepped out of the shadow and was in a closer range, Han could definitely see more than just the outlines of the other. While he had deducted the clothes and wounds of the boy correctly, he could finally put a face to those gleaming emerald eyes.

The young one looked… Frightened.

His breathing was also getting faster and he was shaking so bad. If Han had doubts whether he was an Omega or not, this moment could determine it for Han. The boy was reeking the smell of an Omega in distress. It was flowing out of him in waves and overlapping each other.

The boy had also frozen in place, freezing out of fear at the blood trickling out of his fingers that dropped onto the white ground. Han was sure this time as he saw how those orbs were locked on the red and coppery substance.

“Hey.” Han started, slowly making his way closer to the young Omega, kneeling down as he did so, so he could meet the eyes of the boy. “Hey, you.”

The boy flinched and closed his eyes, staying rooted to his spot. He squinted his eyes closed like he had expected a beating from Han.

“What’s your name?”

Han didn’t expect any response and true, he only received silence.

The Alpha wanted to scratch his head. God, he was never good with kids, much less the one that seemed to have problems already. But he needed to get the boy out of here. Night wasn’t exactly a safe place for an Omega, a kid at that. Unfortunate events were bound to happen.

Breathing out heavily through his nose, Han tried again. “Boy, it is not safe for an Omega–”

As if he had directly hit the jackpot with his words, the boy’s eyes snapped open, glaring at him with even more defiance than the previous one, fear all forgotten. The young Omega leveled his stare with Han’s, and if looks could kill, Han was sure he would be buried six feet under by now.

“Don’t!” The boy snapped. “Don’t call me that.” He spat, effectively cutting Han out. His glare had hardened once again, jaw clenched and his small body was tense.

Lynn was the one usually good at handling kids, not him, and he would normally just let Lynn take over in this part. But right now, he was alone and Han could only feel himself slip into helplessness.

Biting his lips, an idea suddenly popped into his mind and he wondered why he didn’t take it out in the first place. Of course, an abused Omega wouldn’t randomly trust an Alpha unless they had that kind of job desk.

Han hastily slipped his bloodied hand, the one that wasn’t injured, into his trench coat. His eyes never left the boy and his heart squeezed tightly when he noticed those bright green eyes began to fill with tears, threatening to pool over any minute.

“Look, I’m an officer,” Han said calmly as he pulled the badge out of his inner pocket and flipped it open for the boy to see. “I won’t hurt you. In fact, can you tell me your name?”

The brown-haired Omega hesitated, clearly at war with himself. He sniffled slightly, still shaking with cold and adrenaline and whatever else was coursing through his veins at that exact moment.

Han moved cautiously, while waiting for the boy to respond, began to inch closer to him, one small step at a time, since he was on his knees, he dragged them slowly and carefully towards the young Omega, hoping the boy wouldn’t notice.

And of course, he did.

Having realized the Alpha officer had moved a bit too close for his liking, the boy began to inch back and snarled. “Stand back!”

His voice was filled with nothing, but fear.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s fine,” Han tried to reassure him. Man, he was so bad at this. He had toned his voice down, hoping to make it sound soft and gentle, making sure it was dripped with kindness and harmless as humanly possible. He had also sent out calming pheromones, trying to comfort the Omega in distress, but it didn’t seem to work effectively.

‘He didn’t even trust an officer? What had he gone through to think that way?’

Tears that were welled up in the Omega’s eyes now began to spill over but he never moved from his spot. The boy would occasionally flick his eyes towards the dark shadow in the alley behind him and Han understood.

He was not alone.

A friend, probably another Omega.

“Is that your friend?”

That question snapped the boy’s attention back to Han. Those puffy eyes stared at Han, frightened, scared and full of fear, distrust and…

Anger.

<<to be continued in the next chapter>>