It was several days before their little omega's fighting spirit overcame the infection, and he was finally able to get up and meet the others properly. He was still gaunt, easily-chilled and trembled at any sudden noise, but those stormy eyes were finally clear, and he moved with less pain. As he sat with them in the den for breakfast---there simply wasn't space for five at the kitchen table---Sebatian studied each of them.

"You are not Steven. You are Joe. He is Nicky, not a ghost I met in the forest. The ladies are Andy and Nile. Lovely to know all of you."

"So who's Steven, anyhow? You talked a lot about him while you were out of it."

The omega ducked his head as if he'd been slapped, suddenly very interested in the surface of his oatmeal. He answered without looking at them.

"Steven was...is, I suppose, technically---my Alpha. Steven Merrick, of Merrick Pharmaceuticals. He took over the company from his father. I was working for him as a lab assistant to pay for my tuition; it was that or the army and I hate marching. He found out I was an omega---I suppose someone must have scented it on me at some point. It turned out he happened to need an omega, for use in developing things like scent-mask, heat-inducers, suppressants, all manner of pheromone-based drugs. But he couldn't just say so outright; it's nominally illegal to experiment on living omegas. so---he promoted me instead. I was to assist him personally; manage his files and schedule, keep his office tidy, all that. Over time he....he made made me believe, that he was in love with me. Suddenly we were having sex in his office, and every time I'd feel the strangest little pinch in my shoulder or back. He'd play it off, but now I suspect he was taking samples from me."

Sebastian paused, suddenly gulping his remaining coffee as if it were a shot of whiskey.

"I suppose my pheromones did not perform to his expectations, because he became irritated with me. He would curse at me and accuse me of failing any task he set me, because I was a stupid, slutty little omega who couldn't do anything right."

His grasp on the mug tightened. Nile reached over to rub his shoulder supportively as he closed his eyes, letting out a shaky breath.

"The first time he hit me, I just...stood there in shock. There's no way that actually happened. Did that really just happen? No. I had to be imagining it. After all, Steven never said anything about it. Maybe I was just being overdramatic. But then it happened again---and again. And again. By then I'd had to drop out of school; Steven needed too much of my time. I wanted to drop off my withdrawal notice in person, but Steven wouldn't let me, and when I tried to go anyway...that's what got me the chain. He couldn't trust me with freedom of movement, he said, because a slut like me might just run off to fuck any Alpha cock he could find. So I started...sleeping on a pallet, in a little cubicle in Steven's office. He fed me when he decided I'd been obedient enough, and fucked me when it suited him and.....when...when I conceived...."

Nile had her arms around him by now, Joe squeezing one of his hands.

"When I conceived, he brought in his bodyguard Keane, to beat and kick me until I stopped being pregnant. This last time, just recently---I felt my baby, my pup, die inside me. I could feel his little life just....stop. I...I suppose I went a bit mad just then; I remember someone wailing, and yanking at the chain with all my might. I felt a horrid snap, but I was free. I remember---running. I think I knocked down his secretary, actually. Keane tried to catch me, but I made for the woods. The forest was haunted, I'd always been told, so it made sense he'd not look for me there."

As Nicky leaned in to kiss Sebastian's forehead the omega gave him a tentative little smile.

"And it was, by a kindly ghost and his good-hearted husband, and their lovely ladyfriends. Thank god for that."