Archive of Our Own

The tip is anonymous; a written letter left on Caitlyn’s doorstep claiming a sighting of electric blue braids and shimmer-pink eyes in Piltover's downtown.

Caitlyn thinks it must be false, even as she goes through the motions of alerting her subordinates, her parents, and Jayce that she and Vi are following up on a lead regarding the Loose Cannon of Zaun.

“Do you really think it's her?” Vi asks for the countless time. She's nervous, agitated, as she always is when Jinx resurfaces. 

“I doubt it,” Caitlyn says. “You know she's a ghost when she wants to be.”

Until the trigger is pulled and the bodies start burning , she doesn't say.

Vi doesn't need to hear it, and Caitlyn doesn't want the argument. The topic of Jinx is the only thing they've let divide them since they marked each other a year ago.

Vi isn't ready to accept that her sister is too far gone, and Caitlyn isn't willing to lose her mate over it.

“If it is—”

“Then we’ll catch her.” Caitlyn checks the safety on her pistol, then checks it again. Even though it might be Jinx, neither she nor Vi are going especially armed. Vi has a pair of brass knuckles she can hide in her pocket, and Caitlyn has her pistol.

It's dangerous, maybe even suicidal to be this lightly geared. But bringing anything more obvious would just cause alarm, especially with the city on edge from Jinx's last appearance three weeks ago. Exactly what Jinx would want.

“Right.” Vi says, fidgeting with the metal around her fingers. They don't talk about what comes after they catch her, they never do. As cowardly and unbecoming as it is of them as alphas, they both prefer it that way.

Before they're dynamics, they're people. Flawed and terrified of what change means. And Jinx, caught, is nothing short of an upheaval.

“Ready when you are,” Caitlyn says, holstering her gun.

“Let’s do this.”

There's no obvious signs of Jinx as they reach the downtown area, which is good, technically speaking. Neither paint nor blood splatters any windows, the streets aren't a rampaging mess, and there's not so much as a panicked look in the crowd of Piltovians going about their day.

Good, and frustratingly unhelpful. There's nothing to indicate a specific direction Jinx might have gone in, and considering the size of the downtown area, they're as good as blind.

“She’ll want something tall,” Vi says. “Anything with a good vantage point.”

“But nothing with too many eyes,” Caitlyn adds. The words they're saying are familiar; a list of everything they know to try and pin Jinx down with. “No hotels or office buildings.”

“She’s laying real low. Planning?”

“Or she needs supplies.”

“Something she can't get in Zaun?”

Caitlyn nods, evaluating locations in her mind. She won't claim to know every building in Piltover, but she certainly knows every one that could be of interest to Jinx.

“There’s a few places we can check,” she says.

“Lead the way, cupcake,” Vi says, a faint strain on the nickname that makes Caitlyn's lips twitch towards a frown, but she doesn't push.

It's Jinx. Vi’s stressed. Of course she's not going to be feeling affectionate.

“I’m thinking we should start with some of the transformer buildings.” Caitlyn says. “I believe there's an energy station not too far from here.”

The sun has pushed past the midway point by the time they agree the building in front of them is the last one.

It's on the outskirts of downtown, set aside for last because it's only a few minutes away from their home. Vi is practically vibrating with tension, and Caitlyn's unsure if she should hope that they find Jinx or if she should hope that they don't.

Right now, she's leaning towards the latter.

From the outside, the building looks like any other house. Inside, however, is a line of machines, each humming quietly as they pulse Hextech blue.

Caitlyn gestures towards the metal stairs on their right. The empty nature of the building is unsettling. No sign of Jinx could just as easily mean she's hiding above, waiting for them to stumble into a trap.

It's a risk they have to take.

Vi goes first, her boots clunking against the steps, even though Caitlyn can tell she's trying to be quiet. She pauses at the top, slowly twisting the handle and looking back at Caitlyn, who nods.

If she stops to think too much, she’ll psyche herself out of entering.

Jinx has hurt too many people to be a coward.

Vi throws the door open, bolting inside. Caitlyn swears under her breath, readying her pistol. From inside, there's a high pitched squeak and the heavy sound of bodies colliding against each other. Caitlyn's pulse thrums in her ears as she steps in, eyes quickly surveying the scene.

The room is windowless and mostly barren, save for a few more machines glowing blue along the walls. Even with the technology there's a chill in the air, like the day before a snowfall. 

Vi is kneeling on the floor a few paces in front of the door. No , Caitlyn amends as she gets closer, not kneeling. She's got someone pinned.

Electric blue flashes in the corner of her vision, and Caitlyn's breath freezes in her lungs.

“Okay, fine, you fucking caught me! Cuff me already and get off, Fat Hands!”

Caitlyn keeps her pistol trained on Jinx, though it's difficult with the way Vi dwarfs her sister's body and the way Jinx is squirming, trying to break free.

Vi doesn't say a word; a fact that sends a shiver down Caitlyn's spine.

Or it would, if her heart wasn't pulsing through her entire body, screaming with disbelief that they've caught Jinx .

“Yo. Fat Hands. Vi.” Jinx pushes against Vi, but much to Caitlyn's relief, the alpha isn't budging. 

“You’re under arrest, Jinx.” Caitlyn says, the words sounding foreign to her own ears. She doesn't register the low growl coming from Vi as she pushes Jinx against the floor.

“Oh.” She hears Jinx say. “Oh fuck, you're going into rut, aren't you?” Jinx’s eyes slide over to Caitlyn, who shivers. She doesn't think she'll ever fully be immune to the terror she feels looking at those shimmer pink eyes, though right now it's close, considering it's Jinx’s that are wide with fear. “C’mon, Top Hat, don't just fucking stand there!”

“You’re under arrest, Jinx.” Caitlyn repeats. They’ve caught Jinx. ”Whatever you're aiming to try, I suggest you don't.”

“I’m an omega , dumbass! What do you think is going to happen?” As if to prove her point, Vi nuzzles into Jinx’s neck. “Fucking off ! Are you deaf or just stupid?”

Vi whines, a low keening sound that Caitlyn has never heard her make before, and pulls her head back. 

“Look, we can discuss the whole terrorism life in prison yadda yadda bullshit later. But if you don't get my sister off me right fucking now you're gonna have much bigger problems than me getting away.”

Caitlyn pauses, giving the air a cursory sniff that almost has her choking on the spicy scent of rut Vi is flooding the room with.

Fuck. Why hadn't she noticed?

She'd attributed Vi’s agitation to Jinx resurfacing. But it had been more than that all along, hadn't it?

Vi is still staring at Jinx, eyes nearly black with an intense lust that leaves Caitlyn's mouth dry from the rawness of it. It's a testament to how strong Vi is that she hasn't done anything yet, staving off the hormones assaulting her body through sheer force of will.

“Powder,” Vi growls, the sound inhuman from how low and needy it is. Jinx’s gaze is still on Caitlyn, desperate and imploring her to step in.

The desire to protect slams into Caitlyn. It's no longer Jinx on the floor, but an omega that needs her help against her mate.

“Vi,” Caitlyn says, stepping forward. This is her responsibility, she needs to resolve this situation and she needs to do it quickly.

“Mine,” Vi growls, leaning over Jinx to obscure her from Caitlyn's view. 

“We’re mates,” Caitlyn says, anger booming in her voice. It's enough that some of the haze clears from Vi’s eyes, and the other alpha nods.

“Ours,” Vi says, letting Caitlyn nudge her aside to get to Jinx.

“I’m going to cuff her,” Caitlyn says, ignoring the way Vi shudders, “and then we're going to take her home. Understood?”

Vi whines again, but nods, letting Caitlyn pull her to her feet. Caitlyn's stomach churns at the gratitude she sees when she looks at Jinx, binding the omega’s hands together in metal and guiding her by the shoulders to their home.

“Yeesh. Mansion not good enough for you anymore?” 

Caitlyn does her best to ignore Jinx, pushing the omega forward through the gates of her and Vi’s home. Vi’s sharp scent has grown stronger over the course of their walk, and Caitlyn is impressed that she's not an incoherent mess of hormones.

She knows she herself would be.

Despite Jinx's insinuation, their home is modest by Piltover's standards. The outside is a light gray, extending up to two floors. Green bushes rustle behind the black iron fence, neatly kept and trimmed, and there's a bed of violet flowers beneath the porch.

“Violet,” Caitlyn says, “would you get the door?”

Vi doesn't answer, and there's a spike of bitterness in the air— anger. Jinx shifts in Caitlyn’s grip.

“She’s not ordering you, idiot. She's saying she's not good enough to handle me and perform a simple task.”

Caitlyn's fingers dig into Jinx's shoulders, enraged by the insult to her own capability, but Vi calms down, racing ahead to get the door. Jinx tilts her head back, leaning against Caitlyn's chest to look up at her.

“For an alpha, you have no idea how to handle them. Do you?”

“Keep walking,” Caitlyn hisses. The last few steps seem to take eternity, but at last Vi shuts the door behind them, and the enormity of the situation hits Caitlyn in full.

In front of her is the greatest terrorist known to Piltover. An omega.

Behind her is the greatest woman Caitlyn's ever known. An alpha.

No, not just an alpha. An alpha in rut.

“Powder,” Vi groans. Jinx flinches at the name, but doesn't correct her. 

“We’re not fucking in a doorway,” Jinx says. “Go get your den ready.”

Vi’s eyes narrow.

“I can take you wherever I want.”

“You can,” Jinx says. She's not even looking at Vi, like she's beneath her attention, and Caitlyn simmers on her mate’s behalf. “But a real alpha is strong, and can control herself until everything is perfectly in place for her omega. You are a real alpha, right?”

Vi snarls, and for a moment Caitlyn thinks Jinx has pushed too far. Hell, she herself wants to take the madwoman and pin her to the wall, show Jinx just how strong she is and—

“You’re poking me, Top Hat.”

Fuck. Caitlyn releases Jinx, taking a small step back. She blames Vi’s rut scent for how easily Jinx’s words are getting under her skin.

Vi watches them, tense and trembling. She's glaring at Caitlyn in a way she never has, like Caitlyn is a stranger, competition.

Jinx slips over to Vi’s side. When she speaks, it's like a switch has been flipped; her words small and vulnerable.

“Don’t let her touch me. Please.”

Vi nods, stepping between the two of them, and guilt floods Caitlyn's stomach. What had she almost done?

“Caitlyn,” Vi says, and the force behind her name nearly drives Caitlyn to her knees. “Do not touch her.”

“No, alpha,” Caitlyn whimpers. Vi closes the distance between them and places a light kiss on her cheek.

“Good girl,” she says. Caitlyn and Jinx are both still until Vi leaves for the den.

“Huh.” Jinx is first to break the silence. “I thought you were the stronger one.”

“We switch,” Caitlyn murmurs, still dizzy from the sheer strength Vi exuded.

“Right.” Jinx crosses her arms, and Caitlyn realizes she doesn't know when the omega shed her handcuffs. “So. She's going to be furious when it's you and not me in there. I'd expect lots of biting. Don't even try to subdue her— it'll just make her angrier.”

“You’re not going to help her?” Caitlyn asks, wincing at how pathetic the question sounds to her own ears.

Surprise flashes across Jinx's face before settling into a scowl.

“She’s your mate,” Jinx snarls. “She chose you. It's your fault if you can't handle it.”

Caitlyn's hands ball into fists, but Vi’s order keeps her from getting closer. 

“I can handle it,” she says.

“Then prove it.”

It's a challenge, the kind that sets Caitlyn's blood on fire and eats away at Vi’s command. She wants to, needs to, put this omega in her place, watch the confidence drain from her face and submit .

A shrill yelp emanates from upstairs. Caitlyn watches as Jinx starts towards it, then yanks herself back.

“You want to help her,” she realizes, the fire in her veins cooling.

“Stupid fucking omega hormones.” Jinx grumbles. “Also, do you two fuck? Like at all? Because both of you have been going crazy since Vi pinned me, and I doubt you're synchronized.”

“Of course we do,” Caitlyn scoffs. 

“Uh huh. Who usually tops?”

“We switch,” Caitlyn hisses. Mentally, she berates herself for rising to Jinx’s words, for letting herself get distracted, but now she's in too deep and needs to win this, just to have something over Jinx.

“Sure,” Jinx waves a hand. “Who topped last?”

That gives Caitlyn pause. Her mind scrambles to the last time they had sex. 

The last memory she has is the hotel room they stayed in the day before Jayce gave a presentation, some sort of speech on the importance of persistence. 

That was almost two months ago.

“Me,” Caitlyn says, looking down.

“Yeesh. Don't look so sad, cupcake. Alpha pairings are rare for a reason. Now you know it's too much, so you can invite a nice omega next time you're looking to have a little fun.”

“Why not you?” Caitlyn blurts before she can stop herself.

Jinx raises an eyebrow. “Do we— do we really need to go through the list? You yanking my chain, cupcake?”

Caitlyn nods, digging the hole a little deeper as her mind imagines a more literal chain around Jinx. Vi’s rut must be affecting her more fiercely than she thought.

But Jinx is right here, and Vi loves her, so does anything else matter?

“Okay, so, big number one: I’m a terrorist, in case you forgot. Y'know, body count higher than your stupid fancy buildings.”

Caitlyn nods, remembering that what she's done right now— dragging Jinx home instead of to the station— is enough to get an investigation opened and charges of aiding and abetting a terrorist raised.

“And we’re Enforcers,” Caitlyn adds.

“Whatever the fuck this is doesn't work if I'm behind bars. And you're like, the number one person to throw me behind ‘em.” 

“I haven't yet,” Caitlyn points out. “Maybe I won't, either.”

“Okay, sure, let's pretend you bonked your head and lost your morals. Which I don't believe for a second, by the way.  Vi’s my sister. Pretty sure topside looks down on that kind of thing.”

“They do,” Caitlyn agrees. “I know it's different in Zaun.”

Jinx sighs.

“Trust is precious in the Undercity,” she mumbles. “There’s no room for right or wrong. Just, safe. What's safer for an omega than her alpha family?”

Caitlyn swallows. It's one more aspect of life underground she's never stopped to fully consider.

“That’s—”

“Disgusting?”

“—tragic.”

Jinx shrugs. “It is what it is, Top Hat.”

“I’m alright with it.”

Jinx’s eyes snap to hers.

“You’re just saying that.”

Caitlyn shakes her head. She thinks of Jinx pinned beneath Vi, her braids splayed onto the hard ground and her face flushed as Vi leaned in, how Caitlyn debated letting it all play out.

“Hah, okay, I take it back. You're into that shit?”

“You are too.”

“Woah, no, not like that! Vi’s Vi .” Jinx spreads her arms, like she's explained everything. 

“Any more issues we need to address?”

“Just one.” Jinx grabs one of her braids, running it through her fingers. Caitlyn can taste her nervousness in the air. “You, uh, you do know I'm not claimed, right? No mate, dead or otherwise. Nothing. I like it that way. And I know how you alphas get about that sort of thing. Either of you tries it and I'm blowing up the Academy. Hextech wing included.”

Caitlyn knows she shouldn't be surprised by this. It's Jinx, after all, and with how many assume she's an unhinged alpha, of course nobody would even try. She's certain that any who did have been blown to bits. Still, statistics of Undercity omegas indicate that most are claimed as soon as they present at sixteen.

Jinx, according to Vi, is around nineteen. An outlier.

It's fitting, if nothing else. Nothing about Jinx is normal.

“Not even Silco?” 

Jinx's eyes flash. “Fuck you.”

“No, sorry, I—” Caitlyn backpedals, desperate to appease the omega’s rage. “I only meant that it would've been a safe choice.”

Another whine from above rings through the house.

“Whatever, Top Hat.”

“She needs you,” Caitlyn says, switching the topic as Jinx’s eyes trace the ceiling.

“Didn’t before.”

“Please, Jinx.” Caitlyn’s mind races, trying to think of something to appeal to the omega. “I won't be enough. I can't take care of her like she needs.”

The words hurt to speak; a confession of her weakness, her inadequacy as an alpha, as a mate. She can see Jinx realize just how much they mean as the fight finally, finally leaves her.

“I walk free when it's over,” Jinx says. “No station, no locking me in a room and hoping I come around. You let me leave.”

“Deal,” Caitlyn says as Vi whines again.

“And,” Jinx breathes deeply, like she's preparing herself, “you have to be in the room. In case Vi slips and tries to go too far.”

That sounds like torture, to Caitlyn's ears.

But it also sounds like heaven.

“Done.”

“Touch yourself if you have to, and Vi if she asks. But I don't care what your body wants, you don't touch me. Got it? And if I ask you for something, you get it, you do it, whatever. Even if Vi says the opposite, you listen to me .”

“Understood.”

“Great. Awesome. Let's go before Vi decides to tear up your house looking for me.”

Vi glares at Caitlyn the moment she sees her in the doorway.

“Out,” she snarls, and Caitlyn’s body freezes against her will, locking her just outside the den.

The den that Vi hasn't prepared so much as torn through. The bed that takes up the majority of the room has been stripped, its blankets and pillows now in a heap on the floor. There's a bookshelf to the left of it beside a black, plush chair, and two dressers to the right that have had their drawers halfway pulled out. At least the door to the bathroom is closed, meaning Vi hasn't included it in the area she's marked as ‘den’ in her mind.

“What? You don't want to show off to your mate how strong and in control you are?” Jinx’s voice snaps them both back to reality. She's hovering behind Vi’s back, trailing blue and pink painted fingernails over the alpha’s arm before venturing further into the room.

Vi’s nostrils flare.

“I’m strong,” she says through gritted teeth as she looks away from Caitlyn. “She can stay.”

Vi steps out of the doorway. Caitlyn spares a look at Jinx, who has gravitated back towards Vi as Caitlyn takes the chair between the bed and bookshelf. A physical block between them, but not so much so that Caitlyn can't be by their side in a moment, ready to help them.

Whatever that means.

“You are,” Jinx says to Vi, and the words are so warm, so affectionate, that it makes Caitlyn wish they were directed at her. “You’re so, so strong Vi. That's why I'm going to put a few more rules down. Because you can handle them. Because you're not some weak little alpha.”

Vi groans at the word ‘rules’, but she hasn't moved, eyes ravenously tracking Jinx's movements as she floats between being just out of Vi’s reach and being within it.

“I can handle it,” the alpha growls. “I’m strong.”

“You can,” Jinx says. “Rule one. No claiming unless I beg for it. A real alpha leaves their omega a blathering mess before they give in.”

Vi whines. Jinx frowns.

“No claiming,” Vi repeats, “less you want it.”

“Unless I beg for it.” Jinx says, and Caitlyn can see it in her mind, Jinx babbling for Vi to take her, claim her, over and over again while Vi just grins, until she finally gives in and makes the omega hers.

Caitlyn bites her knuckle, trying to stifle a moan as her cock hardens and throbs.

“Unless you beg,” Vi moans, having no such restrictions about being vocal.

“Just one more rule, ‘kay?” Jinx says, and Vi and Caitlyn tremble in anticipation as Jinx's hand hovers over her crotch. “This pussy? Off limits. Everything else is yours, but until you make me beg for you to claim me, don't touch.”

Caitlyn inhales sharply. That's a big rule, one that's going to egg Vi on and make her pull out every stop she has to make Jinx submit.

At least, Caitlyn knows that's what she would do in Vi’s place.

“Won’t,” Vi grunts, “gonna make you beg, Pow-Pow.”

“Oh?” Jinx slinks closer to Vi, confident smirk in place. “Then make me, alpha .”

Vi lunges, but Jinx just laughs and leaps out of the way. Caitlyn doesn't register that she's shot to her feet until Jinx glares at her.

“Down, cupcake.” She says, and the lapse in attention is enough for Vi to grab her wrist. Caitlyn basks in the satisfaction of helping her mate put Jinx in her place as the omega squeaks in surprise. 

“Got you,” Vi grins, picking Jinx up. Jinx squirms, trying to break free as Vi tosses  her into the mess of blankets on the floor and dives after her, landing on top of Jinx before she can roll out of the way.

“You’re still dressed,” Vi growls, “I’m going to change that.”

Fuck. Caitlyn's sweating— the room feels like a sauna, hot and humid with Vi’s lust and Caitlyn's own, growing desire to touch herself and revel in the scene that's unfolding. She shifts on the chair, wincing as her legs unstick from it.

Jinx said it was okay to touch herself.

Caitlyn can't explain why the thought is so important— she's an alpha, she doesn't need permission— but it makes it so much easier to shed her pants and let her cock feel the open air, not that it does so for long before Caitlyn has her hands wrapped around it. It's like touching herself for the first time, all breathlessness and magic, and she blanks from reality.

She doesn't know how long she loses, but it's the sound of Vi’s voice that brings her back.

“Fuck, yes,” Vi moans, the sound of pure ecstasy, and Caitlyn’s never known such a bitter jealousy before. “Fuck, Pow, you're taking such good care of me.”

The two moved to the edge of the bed at some point, placed perfectly so Caitlyn can see them both. Deliberate , Caitlyn thinks, intentional . Jinx is kneeling on the floor, her top gone, exposing pale, scarred skin, while Vi is sitting on the bed, her legs spread and her head thrown back.

Vi moans again, an incoherent string of words, and it's just too much .

Caitlyn cums as Vi does, and it feels like stars exploding on her skin and inside her head. She slumps back, exhausted and pleased, whimpering when the sound of Jinx pulling off Vi’s cock is enough to make her stir again.

“Good omega,” Vi praises. “You’re so good. So, so good.”

Caitlyn's mate is already hard again. Jinx softly kisses the tip of Vi's cock, causing a shudder to ripple through the alpha’s entire body as she cums for a second time, spraying white over Jinx's face.

“Powder,” Vi says, her tone bordering on awe, devoid of the roughness that goes with the haziness of being in rut. It's not over, Caitlyn knows from experience, not by a longshot, but they've bought themselves an hour or two to eat and recover.

“Heya, sis,” Jinx says, licking at the cum that drifts too close to her lips. “Think we need to talk.”

Recovery is awkward.

Despite Jinx’s words of needing to talk, she immediately claims the shower, and neither alpha is brave enough to offer their help, not that the omega would accept. Despite there being another shower down the hall, neither Caitlyn nor Vi angle towards it, instead heading down to the kitchen together.

Vi is a bundle of nervous energy; a far cry from the domineering alpha she was just a few minutes ago. Caitlyn can only guess as to what's going through her head, and she wonders how much Vi remembers of the day.

Probably not much , she thinks. 

The haze of being in rut tends to erase memories of the days spent in them.

“I’m sorry,” Vi says, snapping Caitlyn out of her thoughts. “I— I fucked up. I betrayed you. I'm sorry.”

“Vi,” Caitlyn murmurs, unprepared. She'd been ready for Vi to be angry; angry that she'd let Jinx handle this, angry that Caitlyn, her mate , hadn't.

“I love you, I swear on my life,” Vi continues, “I don't know what's wrong with me. You, you're perfect, you're so much more than I'll ever deserve and I—”

Caitlyn shuts her up with a kiss. 

Vi makes a small noise of surprise, but returns it.

“Let me speak?” Caitlyn says when they break apart, and Vi nods, confusion written on her face.

“You went into rut right as we caught your sister. You had her pinned.” Caitlyn says, holding a hand up as Vi pales. “You didn't do anything. But it was clear that we couldn't stay, so I brought you both here.”

Vi shakes her head.

“I’m sorry. I should've known it was coming on.”

“It’s alright, Vi,” Caitlyn says, taking her mate’s hand. “It happens.”

“Still…”

Caitlyn purses her lips. She can hear what Vi’s not saying— that the thing upsetting Vi most isn't that she lost track of her rut, but that she did so around Jinx.

“Regardless,” Caitlyn says, “we came here. You started putting the den together while your sister and I had a chat. It… Well, it made me realize quite a few things.”

Vi looks at her questioningly, and Caitlyn sighs.

“I haven't been taking care of you, of us very well,” Caitlyn says. “I know we express in different ways. You've always said that your desire is to protect, to know that someone depends on you to feel safe. Whereas mine—”

“Is control.” Vi finishes. “You need to feel listened to, obeyed, in order to feel you can be depended on.”

“Yes. But what we've both forgotten is that we need a challenge to that.”

Vi is quiet. Caitlyn wonders if she's thinking of every time they've taken turns playing at alpha and omega, knowing neither of them truly belong in that second role.

“We never forgot,” Vi says. “We just get— I mean, when it's us, it's so hard to pretend. An alpha's challenge is just different, y'know?”

It is. Caitlyn knows, can't forget the one night they cut loose and bloodied each other beyond any pretense of pleasure. It was vicious in every sense, and had only hurt more due to the way Vi had caved at the end.

Not because Vi couldn't win, but because she knew it would break Caitlyn to lose.

“You’re right,” Caitlyn says. “From an alpha, it sounds like a threat. From an omega, it's a game. We… we need that.”

“Yeah,” Vi says, but the words are slow, reluctant.

“You don't want it to be anyone but her,” Caitlyn guesses.

Vi’s shoulders slump. Shame darkens her eyes.

“It can't be anyone else,” she says. “You know, in the Undercity, it's normal for family to claim family?”

Caitlyn nods. “The topic came up when we were talking.”

“Right.” Vi’s fingers drum on the counter. “And you know, sometimes it's obvious what someone will present as.”

“I bet you were pegged as an alpha from the moment you could walk.”

“Hah. I was throwing hands as soon as I could crawl.” Vi’s stormy expression is lightened by the flicker of a smile. “I could tell Powder was gonna be an omega. Everyone thought beta for sure, but I just, I knew. She did, too. So when I finally presented alpha, I made her a promise.”

“You promised to claim her.”

“Yeah. I was— I was holding her, and it was so wrong. She was so young, and, and terrified. She asked me what was going to happen when I found an omega, and I said, ‘I’ll always love you most’. Then she asked what kind of alpha I thought would take her, and gods, Cait, I almost lost it. She was too young to worry about that shit. So I told her I'd take care of her if she didn't find someone.”

Vi’s hand curls into a fist on the counter.

“And then it didn't matter. Everything exploded, and I went to prison. And now, I don't know. I don't fucking know. She's my little sister, Cait. I, this is so wrong. I just want to protect her, but at the same time, I’m the thing she needs protecting from.”

Caitlyn wraps her arms around Vi, ignoring the way the sweat on their skin makes them stick together, Jinx's scent intermingling with Vi’s.

It says a lot that Caitlyn doesn't hate it, that she almost likes the distinct note of omega, of Jinx , clinging on to her mate. 

“She chose to be there with you, Vi,” Caitlyn whispers into her ear. “She had every chance to leave.”

Vi exhales.

“I need to talk to her,” she says. “We should bring her some food. Snacks. She shouldn't stay, but I don't want her to leave.”

Caitlyn pulls out a tray from one of the cupboards.

“We should have enough for sandwiches.”

Jinx is waiting for them, perched on top of the bookshelf of all things, a book on Hextech runes that Caitlyn's sure was actually in her room in her hands. Her hair is still damp, trailing down the back of Vi’s too-large gray bathrobe and out of sight.

Caitlyn can't imagine how Jinx manages to maintain all that hair. 

“There you are! Here I thought you were gonna try the old lock the door trick.”

“Powder,” Vi whispers.

“Good that you didn't. I mean, eventually you gotta open the door again, and that's just giving me way too much time to plot.”

“We brought food,” Caitlyn says, lifting the tray in her arms to demonstrate.

“Aw, that's so sweet, cupcake. But sis filled me up already.”

Vi makes a small, strangled sound in the back of her throat. Caitlyn sniffs, checking that the omega's teasing hasn't caused Vi’s rut scent to come back yet.

“Please come down here, Jinx. We need to talk before the next round.”

Jinx dogears the page she's on and tosses the book to the floor. Caitlyn winces.

“What if I'm comfy up here?” 

“Can’t braid your hair while you're up there, Pow-Pow,” Vi says. Caitlyn feels a surge of respect and admiration for her mate's restraint; she herself wants to do nothing more than knock the omega down. “And unless you want to have me pulling on it in ten minutes, you'll get down and let me do it.”

Jinx grumbles under her breath, but gracefully jumps off the shelf and lands in front of Vi, grinning up at her.

“Two braids.”

“One.”

“Two.”

Vi shakes her head. “Go eat, Pow-Pow. I'll find a brush.”

Caitlyn feels awkward in the silence that follows Vi’s departure. Jinx swipes a sandwich from the tray before pouncing onto the bed.

“So, you enjoy the show, cupcake?” Jinx asks after taking a bite.

Caitlyn almost chokes.

“I mean, I'm guessing you did, considering,” the omega gestures to the floor where Caitlyn's arousal is still drying, ”that. No shame! I like knowing I can treat my audience to a good time.”

Caitlyn sputters, reaching for some kind of retort, something that will let her gain control over the situation.

She draws a blank.

“Can alphas trigger each other's ruts?” Jinx asks, switching the topic and giving Caitlyn's brain a reprieve. “Is that a thing?”

“I don't think so,” Caitlyn says. “Though most alphas can't stand being around each other while in rut.” She hesitates. Asking about Jinx’s past is like tiptoeing through a minefield, but she's curious, and this is the first time they've had a conversation without bullets flying between them, so she takes the risk. “Were you around a lot of alphas in the Undercity? You seem to know how to handle us well.”

“Eh,” Jinx shrugs. “I didn’t do the whole social thing then, either. Mostly just listened, I guess. A lot of the chembarons were alphas. Couple betas.”

Jinx taps her chin. Her sandwich barely has two bites in it, and Caitlyn fights the urge to tell her to stop talking and eat more.

“Hm. Y’know, I never figured out what Sevika is. She always acted like an omega, but then she'd tell me she hoped one day she could get me to choke on her dick, so—”

“She said what? ” Vi’s tone is venomous, announcing her return. Jinx beams at her. 

“You’re back!”

“What did Sevika say to you?” Vi growls, fingers tight around the brush in her hand. Caitlyn worries that she's going to snap it.

“Something you already beat her up for,” Jinx says. “Vi, come on. If you're gonna be angry, I’m not letting you near my hair. You’ll be too rough with it.”

Vi closes her eyes, breathing deeply.

“You’re getting one braid.” She says. Jinx's expression falls, but she recovers before Vi sees.

“Fine.”

Vi’s grip relaxes, and she moves from the bathroom door to the bed, situating herself behind Jinx. Caitlyn takes the tray of food to the nightstand beside the bed, then eases herself behind Vi.

She could take the chair again, but the thought makes her feel gross. Without the scent of rut in the air, her instincts are much more subdued, and she feels— not sick , exactly, just off.

“Sorry there's not enough for you to braid, cupcake,” Vi says.

“It’s alright,” Caitlyn says.“This just felt like the safest place to sit.”

Silence. Caitlyn expected more barbs from Jinx, but the omega is being oddly behaved, staying still as Vi masterfully works through her bright blue locks.

It feels right, except for the fact that it's fake. If Caitlyn leans back and closes her eyes, she can pretend that Jinx isn't an unrepentant mass murderer, that this is normal, that moments like this are normal, that they're just some kind of fucked up family trying their best in a more deranged world.

At least they have two more days to delude themselves.

Vi waits until she's finished with Jinx’s hair to break the peace. It's well past the time for Vi to be ready for another round, and Caitlyn can't tell if the lack of rut in the air is because of the sheer serenity of the moment or from Vi’s strength of will.

The answer is likely some combination of both.

“You don't have to do this, Pow,” Vi says. Jinx scoffs.

“I mean it. I’ll get through this. It's just a rut. I'm not dying or anything. I have cupcake here.”

“Cupcake didn't get you through round one,” Jinx says like she's commenting on the weather. “She was right there, too.”

Vi swallows. “I know. I'm sorry. You were the first person I saw when it started, so I— I latched onto you.”

“Liar.” Jinx leans back to stare up at Vi. She doesn't look upset, Caitlyn realizes.

If anything, she looks defeated.

Vi is quiet, unable to repeat her own words.

“Go take a shower,” Jinx says, straightening back up. “Take cupcake with you. Have your round two. If you can tell me honestly that you're good, I’ll make myself scarce. If you can't, I’m staying. Even if all you let me do is make sure you get proper aftercare.” Jinx bites her lip. “Both of you.”

“Thank you, Powder.” 

“Yeah, well, what can I say? You've got some interesting reads.” Jinx hops off the bed and picks her fallen book back up. Caitlyn watches in fascination as Jinx launches herself up the side of the bookshelf and curls up on top of it. “Go on, lovebirds. Don't think too hard on the property damage this is gonna teach me to make.”

Vi stands up and turns, offering a hand to Caitlyn, who takes it.

“C’mon, cupcake. It's time for the ride of your life.”

Sex between alphas is a rough, wild thing. It's a new kind of fight, a test of who can both give and take the most, of who can prove they're the more desirable mate.

Sex with Vi, however, isn't always like that. They both have to be careful to not let instinct overtake their hearts and block out the fact that Caitlyn loves Vi and Vi loves Caitlyn with Vi is stronger than Caitlyn and Caitlyn hates letting someone else be stronger than her , but when it works it's glorious. It becomes less a fight and more a dance, a rhythm of give and take that sings we’re both good enough .

It never works in ruts, when one or both of them is more animal than anything. Caitlyn's sure the only thing that keeps them from killing each other in those moments is the fact that they're mates, bound to each other by something deeper than blood.

Choice.

Vi is better about not being too rough than Caitlyn is, and she's always apologetic about it.

Except for today.

Caitlyn's not going to hold it against her; she can feel Vi’s desperation to just feel satisfied with every thrust. The weeping bite mark on her shoulder isn't too deep because Vi wishes it was Jinx in the shower with her; it's because Vi is trying to remind herself that Caitlyn is hers, that Caitlyn is the one she’s fucking into the shower wall.

No. Caitlyn isn't going to be angry with Vi over this. 

But it does rankle her as an alpha how easily Vi can overpower her, how much more strength Vi has, how Vi has turned her legs into nonfunctioning messes of nerves and bones.

She is trying very, very hard not to snap when Vi turns the water off, supporting Caitlyn and whispering soft apologies into her ear as she takes her out of the shower and sets her on the counter.

Right next to a pitcher of water and two glasses. 

Jinx. It had to have been. Caitlyn can't begin to guess when she slipped in to leave these behind.

“She’s a good omega,” Vi says, pouring Caitlyn a glass and handing it to her.

She is. That's the worst part, too. If Jinx was a terrible omega, this situation would've been so much easier. She would've left the moment she convinced Vi to leave her and Caitlyn alone, and as rough as that would've been, it wouldn't be half as conflicting as the feelings she's been flitting between since they caught Jinx in that building.

“She is,” Caitlyn agrees. “What are you going to do?”

Vi sighs, and Caitlyn realizes her mate is staring at the wound on her shoulder.

“I don't think you should be with me for my ruts anymore.”

Caitlyn flinches, even as she feels some sense of relief settle in her stomach.

“Vi, I’m your mate.”

“I know, cupcake. And there's not a day I don't think I'm the luckiest woman alive because of it. But this— I hate hurting you. This isn't the kind of alpha I want to be. I finish and I feel so much worse , Cait.” Vi is glaring at herself in the mirror. “I hate that it took Powder for me to do something about this.”

Caitlyn doesn't understand, not entirely. She doesn't think she's ever felt worse after sharing one of her ruts with Vi, though she certainly prefers their intimacy outside of it.

But then, Caitlyn's expression is control. Leaving her marks on Vi’s skin is a form of pride for her, not shame.

“So you're going to let her in.” Caitlyn can't hide the relief in her voice.

“I— I don't know.” The words shake as they slip off Vi’s tongue. “I’m taking advantage of her. I’m supposed to protect her.” Vi takes a sip of the water and almost shatters the glass as she slams it on the counter. “Is this really okay, Cait? Are you really okay with this?”

“Yes,” Caitlyn says, and it surprises herself with how quick and earnest her answer is. “She’s here for you, Vi. As your mate, I want to see you taken care of. She's doing that.”

“What about the fact that she's my little sister? ” Vi growls. “She doesn't need me to protect her from other alphas. If this were the Undercity, I could justify it. Lie to myself and say it's okay because she's safe, and I'd never hurt her the way some alphas do.”

Caitlyn doesn't have an answer. Vi’s right; there's no way she can spin this to make this about Jinx, or at least no way that's not also about the fact that Vi wants her sister in any way she can have her.

“You told her that you'd claim her if she didn't find someone,” Caitlyn says. “She hasn't.”

“She doesn't want me to claim her.”

Caitlyn thinks about Jinx telling her she was happy on her own.

But if that were true, why offer Vi a chance at all?

“Maybe,” she concedes, “but she did. That night, with the rocket—”

Blue, lighting up against a red moon. The fear that had gripped her as it struck the council building, the bloodstained rubble. Running, screaming, desperate to rewind time and undo it all.

Learning her mother had survived. 

The hours spent believing she hadn't.

“—she wanted you to choose between us.” Caitlyn continues. “Do you think she would've asked you to claim her if you'd picked her?”

“She wouldn't have needed to,” Vi says. “I would've done it.”

Caitlyn slides off the counter onto shaky legs. She grips the edge, letting it steady her.

“You’re going to have to let her stay,” she says.

“I know,” Vi says. “Funny, huh? I get circles run around me trying to get her, and now that she's here all I can think is I need to send her away.” Vi drains the rest of her water. “Let’s go find her. I’m sure she can't wait to hear the news.”

Jinx isn't in the bedroom, but there are two sets of pajamas waiting on the bed for them. 

“Right,” Vi mutters as they get dressed, “forgot about these.”

“It’s a good thing she didn't,” Caitlyn says, but the thought of roaming the house naked with Jinx in it doesn't bother her the way she thinks it should.

She rubs her temples. Maybe alphas can catch each other's ruts.

They find Jinx in the kitchen, staring intently at the oven timer as it ticks down from one minute to fifty-nine seconds. The rune book is stacked on the counter, beneath a book on rifle care Caitlyn owns and a cookbook she definitely doesn't.

“Shh,” the omega tells them without turning around. “It’s almost done.”

“What is—?”

This time, Vi shushes her too.

Traitor.

The seconds to the oven’s beep is agonizing. 

Jinx tiptoes to the oven, opening the door, pink oven mitts over her hands that Caitlyn is once again certain they don't own. The omega reaches in, pulling out a tray of cupcakes.

Caitlyn laughs. Of course it's cupcakes.

“We had the ingredients for this?” Caitlyn asks at the same time Vi asks, “where did you learn to bake?”

Jinx just grins as she sets the tin on the stove, and Caitlyn realizes this isn't the first dozen Jinx has made.

“It’s amazing what you can learn from a book,” Jinx says, looking all too pleased with herself. “There’s pizza on the table, too. You're not allowed any of these until they're frosted.”

“Jinx, where did you even get the tins?” Caitlyn asks, shaking her head. The omega tilts her head, almost managing to look innocent.

“I’d tell you, but then you'd be obligated to arrest me again.”

The words are flippant, casual; a gentle reminder of the status quo, that despite Jinx’s actions here she's still a criminal with no intentions on turning over a new leaf.

They make Caitlyn see red.

“Someone should teach you to behave,” Caitlyn hisses, storming towards her.

Vi yanks her back, an unshakeable grip on her wrist. Caitlyn spins around, ready to tell her mate to back off and let her handle this , but she falters at the wide, worried look in her eyes.

“You’re in rut too?”

If Caitlyn were thinking clearly, she'd notice how much Jinx changes her behavior after that revelation. 

She'd see how the omega drifts closer, staying in Caitlyn's sight with slow, deliberate movements. She'd notice how Jinx doesn't speak until Vi asks her something, how the omega never looks her in the eyes, how she keeps her head tilted to the side and her neck exposed.

They've managed to move to the dining table, with Vi next to Caitlyn and Jinx across from them. While Vi loads her plate with lukewarm slices, Jinx’s is empty.

Caitlyn doesn't like it, for reasons she can't articulate. Her head feels fuzzy, pulling her to do things without giving her the steps to do them. 

First on the list is making this omega listen.

Caitlyn pulls out two slices of pizza and places them on Jinx's plate.

“Eat.” She commands.

The omega grimaces, but begins nibbling at the food anyways. Something in Caitlyn relaxes at the sight.

“We’ve decided to keep you,” Caitlyn says. It's not what she means to say, not even close, but she's not going to back down now that she has.

The omega’s eyes widen and dart towards Vi, who looks surprised. Caitlyn frowns. The expression is dangerously close to questioning.

She can't afford to have her mate question her in front of the omega. It will make her look weak, and Caitlyn is anything but.

“Er, yes,” Vi says, stumbling over the words. The execution makes Caitlyn wince, but having her mate back her up abates any aggravation she feels. “Yeah.”

Caitlyn searches the omega for a sense of opposition. It's difficult to tell when she can't see her eyes.

“Look at me,” Caitlyn demands. The omega looks up sharply.

Cold, shimmering pink cuts through the haze of the rut and makes Caitlyn shiver with fear.

“Sorry,” she says, pushing away from the table. “I don't know what, I didn't mean... I’ll— I’ll isolate.”

“Cupcake, wait, please,” Vi begs, standing up. “We have some time, let's talk about this.” 

Caitlyn shakes her head, nearly tripping as she walks away from the table.

“Hold a moment, Top Hat,” Jinx says, and it's like she's cast a spell, because Caitlyn can't move.

“Powder…”

“Obviously I'm staying,” Jinx says. “Sorry, sis, but you couldn't be convincing enough if you were telling the truth.”

“I wasn't going to tell you to leave.”

“Yep. We’ll agree to disagree, ‘cause I doubt cupcake’s gonna last much longer over there. I’m betting ownership of this house you two have never had your ruts together before.”

“I’m not taking that.”

“Cool, my house now,” Jinx snickers. “We’ve got two choices, and you better be quick about making it. Option one, you lock Top Hat in her room and hope she's still breathing when you check on her after we’re done with yours.”

“Option two,” Vi says, and Caitlyn is grateful, because she's not sure she'll live through the flames burning her from the inside out.

“Death by firing squad it is!”

“Powder, wait!”

“Kidding! Sheesh, no need to lose your sense of humor.” Jinx skips into Caitlyn's field of view. “You get one rule, cupcake. Which means it's the most important one to follow.”

“Anything,” Caitlyn croaks.

“No touching me.” Jinx says. “You can tell me to do whatever you want. You can have Vi touch me— as long as she doesn't break her rules. If I want to touch you—and I won't— I can. But you don't touch me. You value control? Prove you can control yourself.”

Caitlyn frowns, caught between asserting that the challenge is too easy versus saying it's not fair Vi gets to pull Jinx close and she doesn't.

“After all,” Jinx says, “if you were really a strong alpha, you wouldn't need to lay a finger on me to make me listen.”

Red tinges Caitlyn's vision.

“You’ll be begging for my touch,” she threatens.

Jinx bats her eyelashes.

“Promise?”

Morning is slow to come for Caitlyn, mostly because she insists on dealing with the beginning throes of her rut by herself. It's a night of nothing but frustration, of palming herself and being left on the edge, unable to break over it knowing she could be earning the orgasm by making the omega down the hall kneel, or her mate next door submit.

Caitlyn doesn't think about it much, but she hates the very concept of a rut. For an alpha that prizes control, the idea of losing it for three days because nature doesn't trust her to propagate on her own is insulting.

Pacing as light seeps in from underneath her drawn curtains, Caitlyn realizes that while she's never felt bad coming out of a rut, she's never felt good about it either.

She's never felt like she was in control of herself in this state.

Vi has always done her best to mitigate her worries. And it's worked; Caitlyn generally moves past her lust fueled states as quickly as possible, letting the memories fade like fog in the sun. But she never loves Vi the way she wants to while she's in them.

She wants to laugh at how it's Jinx of all people that might be able to change that.

Caitlyn knows she's been with omegas before; misadventures while in school, one-off nights of fooling around in between ruts and heats. She knows they're different from alphas, than Vi, but it's just not coming together in her head. Even seeing Jinx and Vi together yesterday isn't enough for her to imagine what it'll be like when it's her turn.

“Hey, cupcake. You awake in there?” Vi knocks on her door. “Powder and I made breakfast. She, uh, helped me with my first of the day already.”

Caitlyn hides her disappointment, her anger, at not being included. She should've been told they were going to fuck, she thinks. It's her right to know. 

“You should've told me you were getting started.” She growls at the door.

“I’m sorry,” Vi says. “I needed her to myself for a bit. The rest of today's all about you.”

Caitlyn shakes her head, trying to clear it.

“You can come in,” she says, a touch softer than before.

The door opens. Vi is on the other side, holding a tray piled with waffles. Behind her is Jinx, who is steadfastly looking away.

“Look at me, Jinx,” Caitlyn says. A jolt goes through her stomach seeing the omega's eyes, but this time it's not enough to break through the haze of rut.

“Follow my finger,” Caitlyn commands. She traces her index finger down her naked body, starting from her lips down between her breasts, over her stomach and to the tip of her erect, throbbing cock. Jinx's gaze follows unblinkingly, and Caitlyn practically purrs in delight.

“In, both of you. And shut the door. I've been waiting all night for this.”

Vi enters first, leaving Jinx to shut the door behind them. Caitlyn does her best to ignore how nervous they both look.

“You may set the tray on my nightstand,” Caitlyn says to Vi. She's locked onto Jinx, circling her, scrutinizing the way she's turned one of Vi's shirts into a nightgown. Her hair is still in a single braid that reaches to her ankles, and she's doing her best to keep her eyes on Caitlyn's hands as the alpha steps in and out of her vision.

“Who would've thought Piltover's most wanted could be such an obedient little omega?” Caitlyn muses, silently daring Jinx to say something, to step out of line so Caitlyn has an excuse to put her in her place.

Jinx's breath hitches, a small intake that would've gone unnoticed if Caitlyn wasn't watching as closely as she is.

In her peripheral vision, Vi moves closer to them.

“I aim to please,” Jinx says. The words are absent and vaguely sarcastic, but lack any real heat.

“You will,” Caitlyn promises. “Undress her, Vi.”

The other alpha moves slowly, like she's passing through water and not air as she peels Jinx's clothes away. Caitlyn almost snaps at her to go faster, but Jinx's words are bouncing around the back of her skull.

Prove you can control yourself.

And oh, she will. She’ll draw this out, make it agonizing and slow until the omega breaks and starts demanding to feel Caitlyn on her.

She’ll prove she can control not only herself, but them.

“What do you want her to do, Vi?” Caitlyn asks, breathless as she strokes herself. She doesn't know how long she's been ordering the two around, instructing them to arrange themselves in images of what gives her pleasure. She's so, so close and it hurts, but she refuses to cum until her efforts pay off.

Vi shudders. Caitlyn can only imagine how Jinx's breath would feel on her own cock, and she almost caves from the thought alone.

Vi’s mouth moves, but no sound comes out.

“Use your words, Vi,” Caitlyn teases.

“T-tongue! Lick! Please, fuck!”

“Do it,” Caitlyn snaps.

Jinx opens her mouth, sticking her tongue out and dragging it up the underside of Vi’s cock. Caitlyn can't hold back anymore, sticky white oozing out of her dick in jets that mean she’ll need to change her sheets. She lets herself fall back on her bed, breathing heavily against the sound of Vi finishing inside Jinx's mouth again.

The sound alone would be enough to get her going again, if not for the fact that her mind is reeling from what just happened.

She's just had round one of her rut.

She's not bruised or aching. If anything, she's buzzing from just how good she feels.

She was in control.

She was in control.

Vi was here. They shared her rut, and it wasn't a battle. Vi was listening to her, was eager to listen to her, even, like they were a team.

Like they were mates, not enemies.

Caitlyn wants to laugh. She wants to shut her eyes and let the bliss of it all stay forever.

So of course, the doorbell chooses that moment to ring.

Caitlyn is the one that answers the door, because Jinx's scent is too intermingled with Vi’s to allow her mate to do it, and they have to hide Jinx anyways in case it's a squad of Enforcers ready to bring this fantasy crashing down around them.

Staring through the peephole, Caitlyn's not convinced that isn't the case, but she opens the door anyways.

“Jayce—”

“Thank the gods you're alright.” The beta doesn't hesitate, grabbing Caitlyn the moment he sees her and wrapping her in a tight hug. “Last anyone heard, you were going after Jinx, and then she was spotted in the commercial district and you still hadn't checked in.” He pulls back, finally taking a good look at her and her sleep deprived state. “What happened, Cait?”

“We were so close to catching her,” Caitlyn says, the lie falling all too easily. “But Vi had an early rut. We had to abandon the chase before she went feral. It was— I’ve never seen her this bad, Jayce.”

Jayce shakes his head, sighs.

“Do you think it could be a new kind of weapon? Something chemical, designed specifically for alphas. Early ruts don't just happen. There's always a trigger.”

“Maybe,” Caitlyn says, knowing she doesn't sound convinced. “I think I might be about to go into mine, too.”

“Shit, Cait,” Jayce says. “Are you going to be okay? I know you two always get, er, violent.”

He shifts in place, looking so uncomfortable and lost that Caitlyn wants to pat the top of his head.

“We will,” she says. “We’re trying something new this time. So far it's been a lifesaver.”

Jayce looks relieved, if not more confused.

“Okay, alright. That's— that's good. I’ll, uh, I’ll head out now. If you need anything—”

“I’ll be in touch,” Caitlyn says. “I’m sorry I couldn't get a notice out sooner.”

“No, no, it's alright. Take care of yourself, Cait.”

“Always do.”

Another round later, and Jinx is still barely eating.

“If you keep pushing your food around, I will make Vi feed it to you.” Caitlyn threatens. It's enough to make Jinx set her fork down, and while that's not what Caitlyn wanted, at least Jinx is listening to her.

“Not hungry,” the omega says, glaring at the pasta Caitlyn had piled onto her plate.

“You’ve had maybe four bites of food since yesterday,” Vi says. Jinx raises a finger. “No, cum doesn't count.”

Jinx shuts her mouth.

“You have to be starving by now,” Caitlyn continues. “I don't want you collapsing on us.”

“I won't.” Jinx says. “Don’t think I could manage that if I tried.”

That does not make Caitlyn feel any better.

“Explain.”

“Do I have to?”

“Please, Pow.”

Jinx scowls at Vi.

“I thought it was obvious. Y'know, with the eyes.”

“It’s shimmer, correct?”

“Ding-ding-ding, a winner is you, Top Hat!” Jinx says. “Mostly. Did you know I got the scrambled version? See, shimmer’s just supposed to make addicts, but this one made me the factory.” The omega thumps her chest. “Ticker’s beating drugs instead of blood now. Can't keep more than a few bites down. Whole buncha other side effects too. Guess the biggest one’s that kids are a no-go unless I feel like dying. Which, not feeling dying or kids, so that works out for me!”

Caitlyn's mind instantly wonders what Jinx would look like if she could. It's an enticing thought— the omega pregnant, unable to cause more trouble than a bit of snark.

She shakes her head, glancing to the side to gauge Vi’s reaction. Her mate looks relieved.

“Is that why you have the second rule?”

Jinx, who was about to take a drink, slams her cup down.

“Vi,” she says, the words like a sweet poison. “My dearest, most darling sister. Can we not talk about sex while we're eating?”

“You’re not eating,” Vi says, jabbing an accusatory fork towards her. “I’m not trying to disrespect you, Pow. I just want to know.”

Jinx raises a finger to her mouth and bites down. Her other hand drums on the table, nervous as she looks at Vi, then Caitlyn, then back to Vi.

When the omega finally opens her mouth to respond, Caitlyn can see red-purple blood a second before the wound closes.

“You know, Vi, when an omega isn't claimed that usually means they're a virgin.”

“Oh,” Caitlyn gasps. She shouldn't be surprised, from everything she's learned about Jinx in the past day, but she is. Jinx just seems so good, so confident, that Caitlyn couldn't imagine her being inexperienced.

“Yeah, oh,” Jinx rolls her eyes. “I love ya, sis, but if you want that from me, I’m making you earn it. And you're definitely not getting it when you're all, grr, am big strong alpha, submit puny omega.”

Vi huffs. Her face is red, eyes alight with arousal and determination.

“What about me?” Caitlyn asks— whines, really. She doesn't mean to ask, wouldn't have if she was in her right mind, because she knows these two have a special bond she'll never be able to match.

“What about you?” Jinx asks. The words aren't spat, aren't venomous. Instead, Jinx sounds bored, like she's entertaining a toddler that's asked the same question for the eightieth time.

It incites Caitlyn. She wants to do something— reach across the table and make Jinx look at her, acknowledge her, force respect across her face.

“I’m a good alpha,” Caitlyn growls. “I can handle you.”

“No.” 

It's Vi that says it, standing up from the table, body angled like she's ready to stop Caitlyn from leaping towards Jinx.

They're mates. Vi is supposed to listen to her.

“Vi.”

“Cait.”

“Move,” Caitlyn commands. Vi doesn't budge. “I need to—”

“Nothing. You need to nothing.” Vi rumbles. “She’s mine.”

“Hey, I’m a free woman!”

Jinx’s voice is distant, the omega having retreated towards the kitchen. Vi rolls her eyes.

“For now,” the alpha concedes. “You don't touch her, Cait.”

Caitlyn bristles. The rule may have been set by Jinx, but now it's Vi issuing it, and Caitlyn keenly feels how assured Vi is in doing so, secure in the knowledge that she's the more powerful alpha here, that she has the strength.

The control .

Caitlyn hates it.

“Do not command me,” she sneers, and before she can blink Vi has shoved her into the wall, one hand around Caitlyn's throat.

“Then don't try to take my sister away from me.”

And that's it, that's the crux of it all. Because if someone else claims Jinx, someone that isn't Vi, it's like the final nail in the coffin of their relationship. They're too distant, too different, to ever be just sisters again. They've changed, so what they are to each other has to as well.

Caitlyn sucks in a breath. With that realization, she's a bit more cognizant of the way rut has crept into her and Vi's scents.

No wonder Jinx left the room.

“Okay,” she chokes out. The words feel so wrong to say, especially because she's doing her best to mean them. It's hard when her head is swirling with desires of dominance, but Caitlyn wants to prove she can control herself. 

Vi’s glare is impossible to read, but she eventually releases Caitlyn.

“ Don’t touch her.”

Caitlyn nods, but it's half hearted. She's all about control, she is control. She doesn't understand why both sisters are so adamant that Caitlyn stays away, especially when Vi has to know that her skin is burning with the need for contact.

She'd never hurt Jinx, she knows that as clearly as she knows that she loves Vi. And that's something she's going to have to examine when this is over, when Jinx retreats to Zaun and they all have to pretend none of this happened.

Because right now, Caitlyn doesn't think she’ll be able to pretend.

“Let’s go to the den,” she says.

Jinx has, in the time Caitlyn and Vi have spent testing each other, taken the liberty of rearranging the den.

The bed has been shoved from the middle of the room to the wall where the bookshelf used to be, while the pile of blankets have been folded and placed outside the bathroom door, which Caitlyn's chair is now blocking. The bookshelf and dressers now line the wall behind the door the two alpha’s walk through.

The result is a room that feels far emptier than before, and an uncovered wall next to the bed.

Caitlyn's mouth floods with saliva.

She can't wait to fill the space, to make Vi press Jinx against the wall and decorate the emptiness with their bodies.

“Powder?” Vi calls.

There's no response. Caitlyn frowns, carefully looking around the room, but there's no trace of bright blue hair.

“Perhaps she's in her room?”

“Maybe,” Vi says, backtracking out the room and down the hall before knocking on the guest bedroom. “Pow? You in there?”

There's a muffled response. Caitlyn breathes a sigh of relief when the door opens, revealing Jinx looking no worse for wear.

“Thought you two were gonna be longer,” she mumbles, looking down. “We doing this?”

“Only if you want to,” Vi says, more assured than Caitlyn thinks she has any right to be.

Jinx looks at Caitlyn like she's about to say no.

“Let’s do this, then.” She says instead.

The aftermath sees the three of them on the bed, Jinx curled on Vi’s chest with the alpha’s arms around her, a veritable wall blocking Caitlyn from the omega. It’s an annoyance that itches in Caitlyn’s veins, because she wants nothing more than to run her fingers down Jinx's braid and admire how small and content they’ve made Jinx.

But she's not allowed to touch. No, that's not it. An alpha doesn't need allowances; they can do as they please.

But Caitlyn isn't just an alpha. She's a good alpha, because she can take that power and exercise restraint with it.

She's in control.

“Jinx,” she says, unsure if the omega is sleeping. Vi certainly is.

“Mm?”

“What’s your expression?” Caitlyn asks. She should've asked earlier, she knows.

“Dunno,” Jinx says, her voice muffled from speaking through Vi’s shirt. “There an aptitude test?”

Caitlyn snorts. She thinks of the magazines she sees in stores, the kind meant to appeal to fledgling dynamics with proclamations like, “take this quiz to find your dream alpha!”

“They try. I wouldn't put much stock in them.”

“Tomorrow’s gonna be brutal,” Jinx says. Caitlyn blinks at the change in topic. 

“Today was good.” 

“Vi almost kicked your face in today.”

“She would've been right to,” Caitlyn says, suppressing the tiny part of her that screams she wouldn't. “I overstepped. I won't touch you, Jinx. I swear on my pride as an alpha.”

There's the rustling of fabric as Jinx readjusts herself on top of Vi, and Caitlyn can see her pink eyes glowing in the dark. Caitlyn thinks it must mean something that the fear she feels at the sight is fleeting, like the shock of surprise more than genuine terror.

“Thanks, cupcake.”

“It’s—” Caitlyn clears her throat. “It’s quite literally the least I can do.”

Jinx hums, a quiet sound that Caitlyn imagines is the omega's version of a purr; content and calm.

Caitlyn thinks it might be her new favorite sound.

“Who was at the door earlier?” Jinx asks, and Caitlyn tries not to be upset at the loss of the hum.

“A friend,” Caitlyn says. “Nobody had heard from us since we went after you. He was worried you'd, well, blown us to bits.”

“Ah.”

“What were you doing there, Jinx?” Caitlyn sighs. “You weren't expecting us, you weren't armed, and you didn't even have a trap set up.”

“I’m not allowed to have days off?” Jinx says. She sounds hurt, almost innocent.

Caitlyn doesn't buy it for a second.

“When you're a, what was it, mass murderer with a body count higher than some of our buildings? No, you're not.”

“Don’t worry about it, Top Hat,” Jinx says. “Just means you caught me before I could do anything. Real lucky day for you, real bad luck for me.”

The last part is mumbled with such bitterness it makes Caitlyn wince. She thinks about Jinx’s name, how angry Vi gets at herself every time she hears it.

How much angrier she is those few times she has to say it.

“Do you truly prefer being called Jinx?”

“Yes.” The reply is immediate.

“You haven’t corrected Vi at all,” Caitlyn says.

“She needs me to be Powder,” Jinx says, ducking beneath Vi’s arm and taking away the only light in the room. “Needs to feel like she can protect me from me . But I'm bad luck, cupcake, all the way through.”

“I’m sorry,” Caitlyn says. She doesn't know what she's apologizing for, but her chest aches like it's been used as a punching bag. She wishes that she could hold Jinx and tell her she's more than just bad luck, or that Vi was awake to do it for her, because the omega is so much more than everything she's supposed to be.

The Jinx that exists inside her house feels completely different than the Jinx that exists on Piltover rooftops, illuminated by orange fire and shadowed in smoke.

“Sleep, cupcake,” Jinx murmurs. “Cause tomorrow's gonna feel like hell.”

Somehow, Caitlyn thinks the words are more Jinx reminding herself than they are a promise to Caitlyn.

After all, she's not the omega helping two alphas in rut.

Caitlyn wakes to the sound of flesh on flesh.

She tries to keep her eyes shut, to block it out, anything to stave off Jinx’s insistence that today is going to hurt like hell .

Someone moans.

She catches fire, and the rest of the day is lost trying to put it out.

“Are you really leaving tomorrow?” Vi asks. Her rut is broken, marked by the change in the way her scent takes a deep breath to catch and not just a sniff.

Caitlyn’s isn't. Jinx was right that they aren't synchronized, but it's closer than they've ever been.

“I should,” Jinx mutters. “I stayed to help you . You've been helped. That's all she wrote.”

“I want you to stay.” Vi says.

Jinx inhales, a sharp, shaky breath that tickles the back of Caitlyn's brain.

“I want you to stay too, Jinx.” She says.

It's a full on shiver this time, a ripple that cascades in a mesmerizing motion down Jinx’s body.

Oh , Caitlyn thinks, and just like that she knows what the omega's expression is.

“‘It’s nice you two have wants,” Jinx says, licking her lips. “Real nice. But maybe what I want is to go back to my home and start blocking out these memories.”

“This can be your home too,” Vi says, echoing Caitlyn's thoughts.

Jinx feels like she fits here. She's a missing piece, both an edge and a softness they need to be their best. Caitlyn can't imagine another omega that could break down Vi’s roughness and build Caitlyn's precision in the same breath.

It's funny in the way that just a few days prior, Caitlyn would say her perfect life involved Jinx behind bars. Now, all she wants is for Jinx to be here.

“Uh, no thanks. Could you imagine the table talk?” Jinx stands, affecting her best impression of Caitlyn. “So, Jinx, how was your day? It was fine. Blew up the hospital. Yes, Jinx, I know, we chased you for four blocks.” 

Caitlyn glares at her mate's shaking shoulders. Vi shouldn't be laughing at this.

“You don't have to keep doing that, Jinx,” Caitlyn says. “We’ll find something for you. Anything you want, you know I— we— can provide.”

“Bo-ring!“Jinx lifts herself onto the kitchen counter, letting her legs swing off it. “There’s no fun in being handed things.”

“So we’ll make a reward system.”

“And that's too much work. Vi, how do you do this?”

Vi just shrugs, staring at Caitlyn with eyes that are nothing short of adoring. Caitlyn can feel her heart melt.

“Because I love her.” 

“Bleh. I liked you better in rut.”

“C’mon, Pow. Stay one more night? For me?”

Jinx frowns. “But it's not for you. It's for her.”

“She’s my mate,” Vi says. “Helping her helps me.”

“It’s going to be violent if you're not there,” Caitlyn says. The admission comes with the sting of shame. Now that she's tasted real control, she can't term her ruts with Vi anything but a lack of it. But as much as the confession hurts, she needs Jinx to understand what she's walking away from. “It always is. Bites, bruises, welts, cuts.” Caitlyn swallows, bile rising in her throat as a hazy memory resurfaces. “I almost burned her, once.”

A knife whistles past her ear, embedding itself in the wall. 

“Fuck you,” Jinx snarls, another knife between her fingers. “You chose her over me for that, Fat Hands?”

“No! No, I didn't, I would never—”

“But you did! You did, you chose her, you chose her over me! Because I'm not good enough, because I'm bad, I’m a jinx , and even that —” Jinx spits the word, gesturing towards Caitlyn, “is better than me. Right?”

“Powder, no, it's not like that, please,” Vi’s desperation grows with every word, hanging heavy in the air like the scent of rain. “I want both of you, okay? That's the truth, nothing else. You're not a jinx, you're not bad, it's not you. I just, I’m not choosing, okay? I want you both.”

Vi inches closer to the counter, nearly within arm’s reach of Jinx.

“Liar.” The omega says, her eyes not leaving Caitlyn's. 

“I’m not. I’m not lying to you, I swear.”

“Said you came back for me.” Jinx's eyes are unfocused. Caitlyn thinks back to the night of the rocket, of the teaparty, how Jinx had yelled and cowered and shot at things that weren't there.

“I—”

“Said you wouldn't leave me again. And now you say you want me.”

Caitlyn’s heart hammers in her chest. She feels paralyzed, useless, like if she so much as twitches Jinx will throw the other knife, and she won't miss.

They were stupid. So, so stupid to forget that for all that she's an omega, she's still Jinx; unstable and dangerous.

“So what is it, sis? Do you want me? Or do you just want some omega whore you can use when there's too much alpha to go around?”

“You,” Vi whispers, pulling Jinx into her arms. “Just you, Pow-Pow.”

It takes Caitlyn far too long to realize it grows quiet because Jinx is crying.

“I’m sorry,” the omega whimpers. “I’m sorry. I didn't mean to. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Vi whispers. “It’s okay. I still love you.”

Jinx sniffs.

“Prove it,” she says. “Claim me.”

Caitlyn watches as Vi almost drops Jinx.

“Pow—”

“Do it, Vi!” Jinx shouts. “Fuck me, claim me, prove that you fucking want me. I want you to own me, I don't want you ever able to walk away from me again. Please , Vi.”

Vi gapes at her sister, her mouth opening and closing, but not making any sound. Jinx's wails spike heat through Caitlyn's stomach, heralding the return of her rut, infesting her mind with the compulsion to tell Vi to hurry up and take the omega. Caitlyn shakes it away.

If this is her situation to control, then she's going to do so by allowing Vi and Jinx to resolve it.

“Vi,” Caitlyn says, but there's no intent beyond reminding the other two that she's there.

It's enough, though, because she can see Vi pull herself together as Jinx stops talking.

“Do you want me to claim you?” Vi asks, setting Jinx back on the counter, her hands on the omega's shoulders.

Jinx nods, not looking at her. “Yes.”

“That doesn't sound like begging.”

Jinx's mouth falls open before she shuts it with a click of her teeth. Caitlyn wishes she wasn't sitting so far away, that she could see the emotions passing between them, but this moment isn't about her.

It's about them.

“I— I want you to,” she hears Jinx say. 

“I know,” Vi says, tender and full of so much affection it makes Caitlyn’s head spin. “But it's not right yet, is it?”

Caitlyn doesn't hear Jinx's response, but she doesn't need to in order to know what the answer is.

“I’m gonna carry you upstairs, okay Pow?” Vi picks Jinx up again, this time bridal style, and turns around, letting Caitlyn see just how exhausted the omega looks, nuzzled in her mate's arms, eyes closed.

What Caitlyn doesn't expect is the wave of warmth the sight fills her with, a feeling that clouds her mind with wanting to tuck Jinx into a bed and watch until she's better, and the desire to reward her mate for being so gentle.

Reward . The idea is novel in rut. Caitlyn likes praising Vi outside of it. Sometimes, it becomes a game to her, seeing just how good she can make Vi feel. But in rut, she doesn't think she's ever cared about how Vi feels.

One more piece of herself she has. One more aspect she's in control of.

“We should put her in the den,” Caitlyn says. She can see Vi sniff the air, no doubt testing how much she's slipped back into the rut. “It has our scents. She’ll feel less alone when she wakes.”

Vi nods. The motion is hesitant, like she's debating if it's truly the best place to put Jinx even as she agrees.

Caitlyn leads her upstairs.

Vi is slow to put Jinx to bed, almost agonizingly so. Caitlyn soothes herself by focusing on how good Vi is being, how she's being so strong and gentle, how much restraint she showed not claiming Jinx when she had the chance.

All things that deserve a reward .

“My room,” Caitlyn growls the instant Vi turns to her. Vi’s trepidation sizzles on her tongue, but her mate obeys anyways— another thing that deserves praise.

Praise Caitlyn can't wait to heap upon her.

Her bedroom still smells like all three of them, spicy-sweet with lust. Vi is standing beside her bed, still looking hesitant, but that's okay.

Caitlyn is so, so eager to replace that hesitation with pleasure, and the surprise will only make it better.

“Shirt off,” she demands. “Then you may lay on the bed.”

Caitlyn turns around as Vi complies, searching through the dresser she's reserved for things that aren't clothes. She skips over the toys— ropes, foam cuffs, and other things masquerading as control— and digs around the back of the top drawer until she finds two small bottles, dusty from disuse.

She frowns at that. Another thing she’ll have to change.

When she turns her attention to the bed, Vi is on her back, watching her.

“Turn over,” Caitlyn says, admiring the way Vi’s muscles move as she does so. “Legs together.”

Caitlyn moves onto the bed, straddling Vi. Her hands glide over Vi’s back, delighting at Vi’s surprised gasp.

“You were so good, alpha,” Caitlyn whispers in Vi’s ear. “Let me take care of you now.”

She uncaps one of the bottles, letting oil pour onto Vi's back as she begins to knead.

Vi’s moans are music to her ears; a promise that what Caitlyn is doing is right and perfect, an appeal that even if Vi is the stronger alpha, Caitlyn is the one she wants looking after her.

The round progresses from there; a slow, sensual buildup as Caitlyn works the knots in Vi’s back, easing the tension and stress that have probably been building Vi’s whole life, until Caitlyn is satisfied that when she makes Vi turn back over, she’ll see a glassy reflection of ecstasy.

Vi looks so much better than Caitlyn imagined.

“Tell me how I made you feel,” Caitlyn says as she plants kisses along Vi’s neck.

“G-good,” Vi stammers between shudders and rushed breaths as Caitlyn descends. “Loved. Relaxed.”

“I’m going to make you feel even better,” Caitlyn says.

“Not… possible.”

It's a challenge, but it's not the kind of challenge that makes lightning surge in Caitlyn's limbs, demanding she take control with her own two hands. No, it's the kind of challenge that makes her blood sing in anticipation of meeting it, of proving Vi wrong by demonstrating Caitlyn's mastery of her mate's body.

A perfect expression of control. Dominating and flattering the other alpha all at once, flawlessly keeping them in check and just letting them be .

Caitlyn pulls at Vi’s underwear, and the night blurs as she orchestrates a symphony of bliss for both of them.

The last day of rut is always the worst. It's the body’s last ditch effort to procreate, despite the soreness that creeps in, and to compensate the brain kicks into overdrive, replacing aches and sense alike with chemicals.

Technically, Caitlyn's last day started yesterday, sometime in the evening. But ruts aren't good at being neat in when they come and go, which means she's got one round left in her before she's done. She can feel it, like a dull itch covering her body, but she doesn't want to give in to it just yet.

She has no idea how Vi always stays so collected, and she especially has no idea how Vi managed it yesterday, when Jinx broke and gave her an opportunity no other alpha would've refused.

“Cupcake, you up yet?”

Speaking of Vi.

If Caitlyn feels sore and aching, then Vi has to be feeling like she's just been at the center of an explosion. Instead, she looks almost radiant, eyes bright to the point of resembling silver, and a smile so wide and soft it makes Caitlyn want to laugh.

“I’m awake,” Caitlyn says, registering the hearty scent of bacon and eggs. She sits up, registering Vi standing next to her, plate in hand. “Did you—?”

“She stayed,” Vi says, pressing the plate into Caitlyn's lap. It's warm, but not scalding, which makes Caitlyn think it's been waiting for some time. “I haven't talked to her yet. She left a tray outside the door and, well, I didn't want to leave you.”

Caitlyn bites into the food, though she doesn't register the flavor.

Vi didn't want to leave her, when she had the chance at a break.

It's a novelty, an absurdity. Isolation has always been a sacred part of their ruts, a time to lick their wounds— physical and emotional. But they haven't spent any of this one alone, and it's felt good, right.

Almost like it hasn't been a rut at all.

“You were incredible last night, Cait.” Vi says. “I never thought I could be loved like that. Never thought I’d deserve it.”

Pride fills Caitlyn. She did that. She showed Vi how wonderful she was, gave her something nobody else ever could. She can feel in the way that Vi leans in close, closer than she ever has, that she's addicted Vi to it somehow.

Control.

Caitlyn never had to take it. She just had to earn it.

“You did,” she says. “Deserve it, I mean.”

Vi looks surprised and awestruck in equal measure. Caitlyn swears to herself then and there that one day, she’ll make sure Vi is never again surprised when Caitlyn tells her how much she loves her, how perfect Vi is, how much Vi deserves everything good in the world.

“Come sit next to me,” Caitlyn says. It's not an order, not really, but she knows Vi won't refuse. “The bed’s too cold without you.”

“Anything you want, cupcake,” Vi says, circling the bed and joining her under the covers. Caitlyn finishes her food and finds a cup of coffee on her nightstand.

“I like this,” Caitlyn says. “I like feeling like this. I like being here next to you and knowing that I made you feel loved.”

“Me, too,” Vi says.

“How long were we going to last, Vi?” Caitlyn asks. “How long was I going to keep hurting you? How long was ‘I love you’ going to sound like a lie?”

“Your love was never a lie,” Vi protests. “I hurt you too, Cait.”

Caitlyn shakes her head.

“Bruises heal,” she dismisses. “It’s the hurt I left in here,” she places a hand over Vi’s heart, “that I’ll spend forever atoning for.”

Vi looks like she's about to cry. Caitlyn stares at the door, wondering how much more time they'll have before her body decides it's time to go again.

“We should make a plan for today,” she muses. “Discuss things with your sister.”

Vi swallows. Caitlyn finally catches the traces of exhaustion around her eyes, and she knows Vi wants nothing more than to lie down and sleep.

“We should,” Vi agrees. “I don't know how to convince her to stay longer.”

Stay longer. What a wild concept.

How much wilder that Caitlyn wants that too.

“I don't think we can,” she sighs. “It’s not right yet.”

“No,” Vi says, a tear spilling onto the sheets as she takes Caitlyn's hand.

“It’s not.”

An hour later, the two of them are outside Jinx's room. It's technically the guest bedroom, but Caitlyn doesn't think she'll ever be able to imagine it belonging to someone else.

“We’re coming in, Pow,” Vi says, knocking on the door. She doesn't wait before opening it, and Caitlyn gasps at the sight that greets them.

A blue blanket has been hung over the window, leaving the room dark. Books are haphazardly strewn about the floor, and the walls look like a warzone, gouges in the plaster that look like the slashes of a knife fighting with blue and pink paint that spell out half formed words and angry, glaring eyes.

The exception is the wall to the right, where Jinx is standing tip-toe on a dresser, an arm stretched towards the top of the wall, paintbrush in hand. An image of a crow stares from behind her.

Most of Jinx’s art is crude and choppy, a stylization of scribbles that Caitlyn has come to associate with Zaun.

The crow is completely unlike that; made of long strokes and careful layers of dark blue paint that hint at a patience Caitlyn didn't think the omega possessed.

It's beautiful enough that Caitlyn can't find it in her to be angry about the damage assaulting the rest of the room.

“You’re supposed to wait for a response before you enter, Fat Hands,” Jinx murmurs, dabbing at the wall. “What if I was indecent?”

Vi’s lips twitch. “Think we’re far past that point, Pow-Pow.”

Jinx doesn't answer. The seconds crawl by, and with them Caitlyn gets a bit more impatient, haze creeping into her mind as she thinks she's more worthy of the omega's focus than the wall.

Vi puts a hand on her shoulder. The contact feels like sparks, but it reminds Caitlyn to take a breath.

Control.

She's in control. She is control.

She can wait. In the meantime, she wonders how Jinx managed to accomplish all this, how neither she nor Vi heard the destruction happening from down the hall.

Something to ask, she supposes.

Her patience is rewarded when Jinx slides off the dresser, stepping away from what she's made and allowing them all to see.

The crow has pink eyes, just like Jinx's. When Caitlyn squints, she realizes the crow is crying.

“It’s beautiful,” Caitlyn says.

“It’s evil,” Jinx dismisses. “You should paint over it. Just make these walls something other than, ugh, white.”

“I think we’ll keep it.”

Jinx scoffs.

“Like you're gonna keep me?” She asks, throwing Caitlyn's words back at her.

“We didn't mean it like that, Pow,” Vi says. “You’re not an object.”

We . Vi’s still standing with her, even though it had been Caitlyn that said it, Caitlyn that had introduced the pressure for Vi to agree.

Gods, she doesn't deserve this woman.

“Sure,” Jinx says. “Guess I just feel like one, sometimes.”

“Pow—”

“I don't want to be in this room anymore,” Jinx says, cutting Vi off.

“Okay,” Vi says, backing out into the hall and pulling Caitlyn with her. “Where do you want to be?”

Jinx’s attention finally falls on Caitlyn.

“Your pick,” she says. Caitlyn’s pride swells with the responsibility.

“Kitchen,” she says. “I don't care how little food you need; I will see you at least try to look after yourself.”

In the end, Caitlyn is able to convince Jinx into eating the last two cupcakes, while she and Vi polish off the spaghetti from the night before. Jinx insists on sitting on the kitchen counter, and neither alpha has the heart to tell her no, both all too aware of how precarious her current state is.

“So,” Jinx says, cheery in a way that doesn't sound fake but can't be real, and Caitlyn can't tell if it's a product of the sugar, a mood swing, or Jinx being a skilled actress. “How badly am I getting railed today?”

Vi spits her orange juice back into her cup while Caitlyn short circuits and sputters.

“I thought,” Vi coughs, glaring at her sister, “you said no sex talk while we're eating?”

“That was yesterday,” Jinx says. “New day, new rules! Plus, I'm done eating.”

Which is true, Caitlyn acknowledges with a grimace. But gods above, she doesn't think she can handle talking about the things she wants to do to Jinx without snapping. She's done well, putting off this one last round, but her grip is slipping against her hormones, against her instincts.

“Jinx,” Caitlyn says, hating how strangled she sounds. “I would like to stay lucid for as long as I can. Kindly refrain.”

“Okay, sheesh,” Jinx holds her hands up in mock surrender. “Sorry, alpha , I was just curious.”

Caitlyn's teeth grind together with such force that she won't be surprised if she's cracked something. There's no going back now; she stands from the table, a living flame, burning on the desire to bring the omega to heel, to establish control and take her satisfaction.

“Vi,” she says, glaring at Jinx, who has the audacity to look pleased with herself, “bend her over the table.”

Vi hesitates for only a second before storming over to Jinx, who watches her sister with a smirk firmly in place.

“Sup, Fat Hands?”

Vi growls like she's still in rut, snatching Jinx off the counter, spinning her around and slamming her against the table. A plastic cup goes tumbling to the floor, not that Caitlyn has it in her to care.

“Sure you don't want to limber me up first?”

Jinx's question could be directed at either of them. She looks calm, still grinning even as Vi holds her arms behind her back.

Gods, Caitlyn can't stand it.

“This is a punishment,” Caitlyn says. “You are to be rough, Vi. Do not hold back.”

Vi thrusts forward, drawing an involuntary hiss from Jinx, a small crack in her confident facade. Caitlyn moans, delighting in Jinx’s slip as she sheds the last of her clothes.

“Vi,” the omega whines, and Caitlyn burns .

“Say my name,” she commands. Jinx’s eyes narrow, a thoughtful glare despite Vi’s ministrations.

“Vi.” 

“Wrong,” Caitlyn snarls, looking at Vi, who slows as she notices Caitlyn's attention. “Grab her hair.”

Vi releases Jinx's wrists to pull at her braid. Jinx stiffens, her face paling as her expression drops.

Caitlyn has never felt so satisfied.

“You’re going to say my name,” Caitlyn says.

Jinx’s eyes are wide as she nods.

“Say yes.”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, alpha.”

Caitlyn flicks a hand at Vi, who gently tugs on Jinx's braid.

“Y-yes, Caitlyn!”         

“Good girl,” Caitlyn purrs. “You may resume, Vi.”

The table shakes.

Jinx whispers Caitlyn's name like a prayer.

The haze finally, finally dies.

The instant Caitlyn is done, Jinx is back to her usual, smug self.

It would hurt, realizing that her control over Jinx was just an act by the omega, if she wasn't so spent .

They haven't even been able to leave the dining area; Caitlyn and Vi have slumped into seats across from each other, while Jinx has returned to the counter, curled up on her side like a cat while she toys with a knife. 

They should really have secured the sharp objects.

“You doing okay, Pow-Pow?” Vi asks.

“I heal fast.”

“Not what I asked.”

“I’ll be able to walk tomorrow. That's good enough.”

“You could stay one more day,” Vi says. “Just enough to recover.”

Jinx scoffs.

“What am I, some animal you have to entice back into your bed every night?”

“No. Powder, this isn't about that.”

“Look, sis, I stayed because it was the easiest way to leave. You, me, cupcake, whatever you think this is? Forget it. I was using you, got it?”

“That’s not true,” Caitlyn says. “You had every chance to leave. But you wanted to stay.” Her voice drops. “Because you want to be wanted. That is your expression, isn't it?”

Jinx doesn't answer.

It's more damning than any yes.

“I still won't stay.” She says. “Got things to do. People to blow up. Peace to disturb.”

“What happens next time?” Vi asks. Caitlyn doesn't know if she just means the next time they meet, or the next time one of them falls into rut.

“Guess that depends,” Jinx says. “Think you can catch me next time?”

The rest of the day melts away in a stew of hours and minutes.

Caitlyn and Vi clean rooms, dishes, and each other. Jinx retreats to her room, then leaves it to sit on the bookshelf in the den just as quickly. Vi naps on the bed while Caitlyn scrawls out a letter on the floor to be sent to Jayce.

With the rut over, Caitlyn feels human again. She can finally think for herself, form a goal and plan the steps to get there.

It's just frustrating that the only goal she has in mind is Jinx .

“You’re thinking too loudly, Top Hat.”

“Go back to your book, Jinx.”

“Whatcha thinking about?”

Caitlyn grumbles, capping her pen. She can't focus the way she needs to with Jinx talking.

“You.”

“Ooh. Finally regretting letting the psychopath into your home?”

“Worse. I'm wishing she would stay.”

“Bleh.” Jinx shuts her book and rests her head on it, staring down at Caitlyn with one eye. “You know this doesn't work. I get you're probably still juiced on all that alpha bullshit, but c’mon. Use your noodle. The one up here, not down there.”

Caitlyn sighs.

“I’m trying to.”

“Try harder,” Jinx says. “I’m not gonna go any easier on you, y’know? This ain't real, cupcake. Sooner we all realize that, the better.”

“What if it's not, Jinx?” Caitlyn asks. “You know how bad this would've been without you. What if we slip? What if we just become worse? What if I just keep hurting her?”

“You two rehearse those lines or something?” Jinx uncoils herself and leaps down, book abandoned on top of the shelf. “Like I told Vi, you're each other's problem now. She chose you. I wasn't enough. So woman up and be better, or I'll make sure you regret it.”

Jinx sweeps out of the room.

Caitlyn sets her letter aside and closes her eyes.

She's not sure how, but she knows that Jinx is gone, on her way towards Zaun and its neon lights and chaotic streets, ready to once again embrace fire and smoke.

“Cait?” Vi mumbles, half awake. Caitlyn wonders if she was listening at all, or if she somehow sensed Jinx's absence and woke up because of it.

“She’s gone, Vi.”

“Figured.” Vi shifts, more awake. “Didn’t let me say goodbye.”

“There wouldn't have been anything good about it.”

“No,” Vi agrees.

“We’ll find her again,” Caitlyn says. Promises, really, because what else could the future hold, other than seeing Jinx again?

“And then what?”

Caitlyn allows herself a smile. She imagines it's a desperate, sad thing, but right now that's all she has.

“We’ll catch her.”