Worthless - Chapter 46

Han held his breath. Fuck. He messed up big time.

Even a mouse would fight back when cornered. The boy leapt at him, claws ready. Moving on reflexes, Han caught the boy’s small wrist before he could make contact with his face. The boy was nothing but bones as Han took hold of his small wrist.

The brown-haired Omega screamed and squirmed with all his might to get away, now in complete hysteria. He began to shout at Han, seemingly putting all his remaining fight into getting away and when he realized he couldn’t, at that exact moment, Han saw the Omega break down.

He suddenly stopped moving and began to heave heavy sobs. His angry curses had turned into broken pleas, and he was starting to beg for help, begging for mercy from the man– the Alpha before him.

He slumped forward, hanging from his wrist that was being held by Han, sobbing. And the Alpha holding him felt his heart break at the sight of the boy.

“Please! Please don’t take me back…!” He choked out through heavy sobs. “Please, I beg you…! They will kill me, they are going to kill him if they find out we escaped. They will hurt him again! Please, please, please! Please don’t take us back!”

Seeing as the boy was completely limp, Han removed his grip on the boy’s wrist and gently lowered the boy to the ground. He shrugged off the trench coat he wore and covered the Omega with it.

He cradled the broken boy in his arms, wrapped tightly in his trench coat as the boy continued to sob.

“Shh… Sh… You are fine, no one is going to hurt you,” Han comforted the boy. “You are safe, you are fine.” Han repeated the words softly like a lullaby, hoping it would get through the boy and gained his trust.

“Please,” The child’s voice was muffled by the coat, which he had taken the liberty of pressing his face into. “Please, please don’t let them hurt him. I’ll do anything you want, I swear! I-I will be a good O- Omega, so please!”

“Him? Who? Is it your friend over there?” Han asked, toning his voice down even more like he was talking to a baby.

“B-brother, my brother Yu.”

In sync with his response, the boy pointed at the spot he had been looking earlier. Cradling a body too small for a 10-year-old, Han slowly inched towards the spot they boy pointed.

Finally being freed from the tension, Han patted the back of his jeans to whip out a flashlight.

Red.

Red was the first thing he saw.

Underneath the huge garbage bags, red blood seeped through the gap and onto the white snow, tainting it dark red. Pushing the garbage bags– Han ȧssumed it was the boy’s doing to hide his brother from being found– there laid the remains of what looked like another young boy with silverish hair, probably the same age or a year older than the Omega.

He was laying on his sides, curled up as his body was growing colder and colder. He was wearing the same hospital gown like the other kid, only the back side had been burned off, exposing a burnt back. This one reeked of Beta. So this was why he smelt the scent of a Beta before.

Blood had dried and caked everywhere, cuts and slashes were all over his body, his back had the worst. As much as Han wanted to back away, he moved closer to inspect the other.

Looking at the huge wound on his back, Han wasn’t sure if this would heal completely without leaving any scars. Unlike the one in his arm that only had blisters and swollen skin, The skin on this boy had blackened and was bloody and flakey, it was as if the entire skin on his back would fall off any moment.

Han shuddered at the thought of the wounds, the treatment would be harsh and painful and it would definitely take a while to heal. He was about to check, to make sure if he was dead or still breathing, by placing his hand below the silver head’s nose, and the boy suddenly moved, shifted, not a lot, but enough for Han to breathe out in relief.

Alive.

That’s good. That’s good.

A hand grabbed onto Han’s wrist that was hovering over the young Beta’s face. “R- Rei?”

‘Rei?’ The name was slurred horribly but Han was fast to put the two and two together. Rei must be the one in his arms, probably too tired and fell asleep from all the trashing before.

Han brought his other hand to enclose the one on his wrist. “Safe, he’s safe and so are you.”

Han promised.

The last thing he saw on the silver-haired Beta before he closed his eyes was the soft smile on his lips and trust in those obsidian ones. Trust that his little brother had brought them towards safety.

<<End of flashback>>

Han’s heart twisted at the memory of his first meeting with them.

Jian Yu had undergone surgery as the burn on his body was classified as the third-degree burn. It took over a year for the wound to completely heal, however, it was still impossible to avoid the permanent scar from forming, the ugly fishnet pattern that marred his back.

Han thought that Jian Yu was quite lucky, if he was a bit late and didn’t receive medical treatment in time, the injury could become deadly and the death door would be much closer.

Besides, burns were incredibly traumatic injuries. It wasn’t much of a surprise when Jian Yu woke up with amnesia and PTSD served on the side as if getting food served with a drink like a thrifty discount package.

But Jian Yu didn’t seem to be aware of any of it.

Han didn’t entirely know if he should be glad or not. At some point he was glad, but on the other side, he hoped Jian Yu could recall everything, so they could hurry and plan the fall out of that huge syndicate that had illegally been running for years. They had only gotten a bit further thanks to Rei, yet from what Rei informed them, Jian Yu knew a lot more than him.

Everything was locked up in the back of Jian Yu’s mind, except, forcing him to recall would only trigger more traumatic and painful memories.

And they wouldn’t want that to happen.

They had been trying for years, waiting a few more wouldn’t make any difference.

So, yeah.

Han nodded to himself.

Yep.

No need to rush at all.