Best Bi-Date

Many Years Ago

“Oh no, whoever will save me?!” Amy cried dramatically, pressing the back of her hand against her forehead and swooning like she’d seen on TV. She posed on the peak of a smooth, large boulder, her small strawberry-printed sundress waving in the breeze coming off the lake. Off in the distance, the adults were doing whatever adults do.

“I’ll save you!” came an energetic answer. Sonic appeared quick as a whip atop an adjacent rock. He stood proud in his boat shorts and striped t-shirt. “Never fear! King Arthur is here!” He brandished a long stick as a sword, the glorious Caliburn in the children’s eyes.

“I don’t wanna play castle!” Manic appeared from around Sonic’s rock, his green quills unruly and wild. “I want to play gangsters!”

“No!” Amy stomped her foot petulantly. “We’re playing Kings and Queens.”

“Yeah!” Sonia scrambled up Amy’s rock. The pink hedgehog offered a hand to the magenta one, but Sonia puffed up her cheeks and got herself up the hard surface all on her own. “I’m the Queen and Rosie is the Princess.”

“Well,” Manic cocked a brow, “what am I then?”

“The nasty green dragon who burns all our crops and stuff.” Amy explained. They’ve been over this like fifteen times already! Seriously, Manic was worse than Sonic sometimes.

“That’s stupid.” Manic stuck out his tongue. “I’m a King like Sonic.”

“We can’t both be Kings.” Sonic crossed his arms, stick sword held loosely. Summer sun pours down on his azure quills as they sway in the warm breeze. He was handsome and brave and everything Amy’s been told to want. Sure, he talks a bit too much, but Mom always says that relationships require compromise, so that’ll just be something they’ll address later.

“Why not?” His brother whined. “You’re always a King. I want to be one, too!”

“You can’t also be a King ‘cuz there’s only one princess, numbskull!” Sonic explained.

Manic tilted his head. “Oh, yeah.” He said as if just then realizing.

“That’s why you gotta’ be the monster.” Sonia lectured. “We got to have a monster so Sonic has something to rescue Rosie from.”

“Make Sonic be the monster, then.” Manic pouted. “I don’t want to be the monster!”

“Sonic can’t be the monster because he’s my knight in shining armor.” Amy sighed and clasped her hands to her chest.

Manic tried to climb up Sonic’s rock, but the smooth stone was giving him difficulty. “Well, why can’t I be Sonia’s knight in shining armor?”

“Oh, that might work.” Sonic allowed.

“Because!” Sonic stomped her foot and declared, “I’m a strong independent woman who doesn’t need no man.”

“Yeah!” Amy backed Sonia up despite not really understanding what she was supporting, but girls had to stick together. Those were the rules.

“What?” The boys looked at the magenta hedgehog, dumbfounded, like the stupid boys they were. Wait, but not Sonic, he wasn’t stupid. Except when he was. Wait, no, hold on-

“It means boys are stupid and smell bad, so who needs them anyway?” Sonia stuck her tongue out. “I’m going to rule this kingdom all on my own! I’m going to impose a constitutional monarchy that follows a matrilineal lineage.”

The other three children were well versed in just straight up ignoring Sonia whenever she started trying to talk like Aunt Susan. Mostly because it made Sonia so mad and that was funny as all get out. And because they didn’t understand half of what she said, but they’d never admit to that.

“Ugh, fine.” Manic griped, “I don’t want to be your stinky, lame knight anyway.”

“Yeah! You can stay and rule this smelly old kingdom.” Sonic blew a raspberry at his sister. “I’m taking Amy and she’s going to be my queen in my kingdom and it’s going to be way cooler that your stupid kingdom.” He stabbed his stick sword into the air.

Sonia tossed her meticulously curled quills. “Impossible.” She said simply. “This kingdom is perfect and golden and it’s gonna last forever and never, ever, ever end!”

“That’s lame! Its no fun if it never ends.”

“You’re lame!” Sonic countered. “I declare a new law! No one named Sonic is allowed in my kingdom.”

“What? But Sonic is my knight in shining armor?”

“Ya’ll don’t need me to be the monster.” Manic grumbled. “Sonia’s plenty monster all on her own.”

“Silence!” Sonic cried waving her arms dramatically and accidentally shoving Amy.

She teetered on the rock. “Eeek!” She cried. “Save me, Sonic!”

“Stay right there!” Sonic cried, pointing his sword at Amy. “I’m coming to rescue you, Princess!” Amy squealed with delight.

Sonic jumped the gap between his rock and girls’. Amy cried out in wonderous surprise as Sonia did in disgust. With a grin as bright as the sun overhead, he snatched up Amy’s hand, thin summer gloves barely separating them from one another. “Come on, mi’lady! Let’s go make our own kingdom!”

They launched from the rock and started running like the wind, ignoring the calls of the other two triplets. To their side the Lake expanded out into infinity, as large as the summer was long. The rocky beach gave way to larger and larger stones as the ground grew into a steep embankment. They scrambled up the earthen palisade and stopped right at the edge of the forest growing thick and wild there.

He turned to her. “Ames, I’m always going to be your knight in shining amor! Just call and I’ll be there.” Sonic jabbed a finger at his chest, cock-sure grin splitting his muzzle.

His green eyes glowed in the bright sunlight and Amy’s little heart swelled. She clasped her hands over her heart. “My hero!”

Now

Amy twisted violently, stepping away from Shadow like she’d had her hand caught in the cookie jar, and beheld Sonic, in his red letterman’s jacket, with Silver beside him, a large blue and black chao hugged against his tweed jacketed chest. Sonic must have won Silver a similar plush to Amy’s. On a date. They were also on a date. Here. At the same place…

Oh, fuck me, she thought.

Her eyes grew so large they might have popped free from her skull if time hadn’t dilated into a slow, horrifying progression. Sonic’s confused expression was in the process of turning into a shit-eating grin in preparation for delivering a snarky quip, but his gaze shifted to behind and above her face. At Shadow! Confusion returned in full force for a fraction of second before recognition struck and the stage was given to a fiery anger Amy had only seen a few times in her life.

Then, as time slammed rushed back to proper speed, his eyes returned to Amy and the betrayal outlining Sonic’s anger stole what little breath she had managed to collect after Shadow stopped sucking it out of her lungs. She wanted to disappear. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare.

“Oh, it’s you.” Shadow commented calmly, unawares of Amy’s many heinous crimes.

“What the fuck, Amy?” Sonic’s voice was reedy, hitting a higher register than normal, surprise not fully morphed into anger.

“Sonic.” Amy gasped. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening! Please, god, anyone, tell her this wasn’t happening! She trembled violently, catching Shadow’s notice.

“Amy?” He asked, concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“Good evening, sir!” Silver, eyes wide, clutched the blue and black chao tightly, its body bending at a sharp angle as he strangled its neck.

“Silver.” Shadow attempted to address the silvery hedgehog casually, though Amy could detect an underlining of irritation. The paralegal was admittedly more pale in the face than normal.

“Lovely night, isn’t it!?” Silver’s voice was pitched into the stratosphere with panic and stilted. Oh god. Right. Sonic was hiding his relationship as well.

“Why are you with him, Amy?” Sonic asked sharply, ignoring the other two hedgehogs. He only had eyes for her duplicity.

“I-I can explain!” She stammered. Ha, okay. This should be good.

“I’m listening.” Sonic’s ear titled backwards. He didn’t want to be wroth with her. There was a way out of this disaster, Amy just had to find the magic words to summon that reality into the world. The perfect explanation existed! It surely did. She had it ready, she just had to open her mouth and say it.

“I-“ Amy’s throat seized up. She couldn’t speak. Her mind lost the ability to express itself verbally. What had she been thinking? She had no explanation. Try as she might, Amy simply couldn’t speak.

Shadow glanced between them, his concern visibly growing.

Sonic huffed at Amy’s silence. “Fucking say something, Amy!”

“Mind how you speak to her.” Shadow growled.

Sonic’s eyes seemed to flash crimson as he threw a glare at Shadow. “Amy can speak for herself, asshole!” He was still trying to protect her, misdirecting anger, that should closely belong to Amy, at Shadow.

Could she? Not at the moment, it seemed. “I-“ Amy tried again, “I’m sorry.” Her voice was small, pitiful, irredeemably weak and selfish.

Sonic’s shoulders slumped, the anger fading to a disgusted disappointment. “You lied to me.” He ran a hand through his quills.

Her face burned with shame. “I-“ She had. By omission and blatantly to his face. In every way Amy had lied to Sonic. And for what? Because she was lazy? Because she was overwhelmed?

Why did Amy ever do anything? What was the single most important motivator in her life?

Amy lied because she was scared. Scared of what Sonic might do or say or think. Or feel.

Shadow placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and Sonic’s eyes snapped to the contact, anger rekindling. “Amy, perhaps we-“

“Don’t touch her, dude!” Sonic interrupted, baring his blunt fangs.

Shadow removed his hand and stepped forward, partially shielding Amy, his quills flaring. “You have no grounds to dictate anything regarding Amy’s body.” Sonic stepped forward as well, meeting the bristle with his own.

“It’s fine, Sonic.” Amy forced the words out, but every syllable was a struggle. “Please, just-“

“Sonic, maybe you shouldn’t-“ Silver pled.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, dude?” Sonic squared up with the taller, larger hedgehog. “Some rich ghoul looking to take advantage of Amy?”

“Sonic, it’s not like that.” Amy entreated. She desperately needed him to understand and quickly, before this encounter became a repeat of the previous weekend.

“You are gravely mistaken.” Shadow’s snout wrinkled, his lips barely containing his fangs.

Amy grasped his arm and pulled. Reluctantly, Shadow allowed Amy to create space between him and Sonic. The action drew Sonic’s attention back to her, but that was fine. She was the one at fault here. She was the liar. She was the coward.

“You’re right.” She told her best friend in all the world. “I should have told you the truth, Sonic. I’m sorry.”

Sonic’s fury guttered. “Why, Amy? And why him?” Sonic gesticulated at Shadow dismissively.

Amy felt Shadow’s muscles tense. He clenched his fists tightly, the leather of his gloves groaning under the strain. Her heart slammed against her sternum. The air was thick with Shadow’s heady mix of pheromones. People were starting to stare, and some were covering their noses. Other Alphas. A chill ran down Amy’s spine, of fear or something else, she couldn’t be certain. There were…more Alphas around than she would have liked.

But then the dark hedgehog took a deep breath and the miasma cooled.

“Perhaps we have started off on the wrong foot.” Shadow said, his voice level, personable even. “You are Amy’s good friend, right?”

“Best friend.” Sonic corrected, his eyes narrowing at Shadow.

“She has spoken highly of you.” Shadow extended his hand. “Shadow Kintobor.”

Amy and Silver looked on with tense trepidation.

“I know who you are.” Sonic said, not acknowledging the hand.

Shadow kept his hand extended. “I also wish to apologize.”

Sonic’s brow quirked. “Oh?”

“For our altercation last weekend.” Shadow explained as he frowned with genuine bashful shame. “I understand that you only meant to protect Amy. I apologize for my behavior. I, too, was motivated by the same desire.”

“No,” Sonic’s lip curled, “you fucking weren’t.”

Silver appeared frozen in mortification. His golden eyes darted back and forth frantically between his boss’s boss’s boss and his boyfriend.

Amy’s mouth was dry and she scarcely dared to breathe.

For a moment, tension held Shadow perfectly still, his plodding, thoughtful pauses coming in clutch. He slowly lowered his hand. “Perhaps you are correct. Still, I take full responsibility for my behavior.”

Sonic glanced between Shadow and Amy, his resolve flickering as he looked for more fuel for his anger. He wanted to be angry, Amy could see the desire writ plan on his face. If Sonic was angry, he wouldn’t have to face the misery of Amy’s betrayal.

Amy couldn’t grant him even that grace, though. She had to try to smother his pride and find some way to make it up to him later. “This is our first date, okay?” She tried to explain. “He asked me out.” I wanted to be here, she tried to convey. Shadow isn’t a storybook villain kidnapping your Princess, Sonic.

“Oh?” Sonic crossed his arms, unamused. “Was that before or after he punched my lights out?”

Amy flinched, her eyes flickering to the nearly healed welt on his eye. “A-after.” She admitted. Which was worse? Telling Sonic that Shadow had taken her through her heat on Monday or letting him think that Shadow had asked her out at the wedding? Oh, shit, that would be more lying, wouldn’t it? “He helped me through my heat on Monday.” She blurted before her frantic mind could concoct another falsehood.

“Amy,” Shadow shifted, seemingly not particularly comfortable with Amy describing their sex life in public, “you don’t need to-“ He said softly.

“What? Monday? It was early again?” Sonic’s shoulders slumped. “Why didn’t you tell me? I know I was with Silver, but I- I could have-” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking to his boyfriend. Silver frowned, not enjoying Sonic’s offer to Amy. Sonic’s ears wilted.

“Because it’s not-“ Amy’s throat tightened around poisoned truth.

“Because it’s not what, Amy?” Sonic snarled, his anger flaring to life once more, and Amy sputtered. “It’s not my business anymore?”

Shadow extended his arm, putting a protective wall between Amy and Sonic. “You’re upsetting her.” He scented the air as tension grew in his shoulders.

“That’s not what I meant.” Amy shook her head. “It’s not your responsibility anymore.”

“So, you let me think you were with some regular guy while you opened your legs for money?”

Amy flinched back. “What? That’s-“ That wasn’t right. It wasn’t true. She didn’t love Shadow for his money. She-

She loved Shadow?

The question felt almost stupid to ask. Of course she did. She felt her face heating from something other than horror and embarrassment. Holy shit…

“Back off, Maurice.” Shadow growled, his voice low and threatening.

Amy blinked, her logical mind sending up a flare to bring her attention back into the situation at hand.

Sonic blanched but recovered quickly. “Gross, dude.”

“Maurice?” Silver asked, his head tilting to the side.

Amy took a step away from Shadow, leading him to startle. “How do know that name?” Her brow furrowed.

“I- You must have mentioned-“ Shadow fumbled, suddenly unable to meet Amy’s gaze.

“I didn’t!” Amy said emphatically. “Sonic hates his birthname.”

Sonic scrunched his snout. “You did a background check on me, you corporate kleptocrat.” It wasn’t a question.

Amy turned, hurt painting her face. “Shadow, did you?”

Shadow flushed. “Of course I did. After what he said to me at Blaze’s wedding, I would have been a fool not to. B-but that was before I knew he was your friend, Amy.” His ears tilted back as he sought her absolution.

Amy turned on Sonic. “What did you say at the wedding? Was that why Shadow recognized you?”

It was Sonic’s turn to flush. He looked away and rubbed his neck, the toe of his sneakers rapidly tapping the ground. “Uh, well, you see…”

“Wait.” Silver stepped forward, “Sonic, is what you said why we had to leave so suddenly?”

“Okay, I feel like we’re getting off topic. This isn’t about me-“

“He disclosed to me confidential non-public information.” Shadow explained, venom dripping from every syllable, “And he’s probably the one who leaked the Prower Report.” What was that?

“Wait, sir, what? The Prower Report?” Silver flinched before furiously digging at his jacket pocket for his phone. “Shoot, shoot, shoot!”

“I panicked, okay?” Sonic shrugged, his arms wrapping defensively around his torso. “What else was I supposed to say, huh? ‘Amy’s photos didn’t do your ass justice?’” God damn Sonic’s mouth.

“What the hell are you on about? Amy,” Shadow looked at her, confused, “what photos?”

“Oooooh,” Sonic jeered, “so I’m not the only one you’ve kept in the dark, eh, Amy? You didn’t tell your big bad boyfriend about your little homework assignment, did you?”

Both blue and black hedgehogs looked at her and Amy swallowed thickly. “I-“ She started, but, thankfully, Silver interrupted.

“Sonic,” The young man looked stricken, “y-you didn’t leak the report, right?”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about, so of course I didn’t. I would never do something like without-“ The ex-track star froze. “Oh shit…” His countenance contorted with guilt.

Amy knew that face. “What did you do, Sonic?”

“Okay, look, you see, in my defense, like, I was really distracted at the time.”

“What did you do?” Amy repeated.

“Okay, geese, I might have told someone to follow their heart without really knowing what that would mean, which, come on, give me a break!” Sonic threw up his hands, “I basically read off the caption of a cheesy motivational poster. I deserve a pass on this one!”

“Distracted?” Silver asked quietly.

“Do you have any idea how expensive your little word vomit will cost me?” Shadow took a menacing step forward.

“Boo-hoo, go IPO a subsidiary.” Sonic squared up with Shadow again. “Lives were fucking at stake, you socio-economic vampire.”

“Oh god, Blaze is coming home early. I am so fired.” Silver whined, eyes glued to his phone. “I’m so so so fired.”

She was sure what the Prower report was, but Amy certainly didn’t want her the boys fighting. “Sonic, Shadow, please stop this! I’m the one who messed up. You should only be angry at me.” She pled.

The self-sacrifice tripped up Sonic’s fury and he backed down. Shadow took the retreat graciously and stepped back as well. Crisis averted again. “A-ames…” Sonic rubbed the back of his neck. “I really shouldn’t have asked you to take photos for me, huh?”

“Pictures?” Silver looked up from his phone. “What pictures?”

Sonic’s grin faltered. “God, it’s so stupid. We weren’t together then. This was like a month or so ago.”

“These are the pictures that didn’t do my ass justice?” Shadow turned to Amy with a sour look.

Amy blushed furiously and deep parts of her cringed before Shadow’s displeasure. While others craved to be punished. “Sonic asked me to take picture of you at the benefit.” Amy couldn’t bring herself to confess Sonic wanted them for his spank bank. “But I didn’t even know who you were at the time. We hadn’t met and it was just to pay Sonic back for-“ Again her throat seized.

Shadow’s gaze hardened. “Pay him back for what?”

Amy opened her mouth, but nothing emerged.

Sonic snorted. “I had to help her three times that day with her heat.”

Shadow’s quilled flared and he rounded on Sonic. “You did what?” He snarled.

“Shadow, please!” Amy shrieked, clutching at his arm.

Sonic gave Shadow the biggest shit-eating grin Amy had ever seen him concoct. “How do you figure Amy’s been handling her heats, huh?” He taunted. “Riddle me that, executive oligarch.”

“I-“ Shadow tensed. Amy looked away, her face an inferno of humiliation, but her heart frozen over with fear. He’s going to discard her. She was a whore and he was going to throw her away like garbage. “However Amy saw fit to address herself, the means or methods do not matter to me.” He said softly.

Amy turned to face Shadow, her heart thawing quickly with a bloom affection. Shadow’s eyes were soft, but dark clouds roiled in their crimson depths. He took her hands in his. “Every step of your past, no matter made in darkness or light, has led you to me.” He squeezed her hands gently and she returned the pressure. “So how can I possibly resent any of it?”

“Shadow…” Amy said softly, gazing up into his burning rubies. Her vision blurred as tears gathered in her eyes and a warmth permeated her so deeply she’d need to take her coat off soon or she’d start sweating. Her brow was already damp, she noticed absently.

Sonic laughed bitterly. “Well, yeah, sure,” He sneered. Amy’s scalp prickled, a warning raised at Sonic’s tone.

“Sonic, don’t.” Silver, even distracted by his cellphone and the emergency living within it, caught the dangerous vibe.

“But just know,” Sonic said, undeterred and unwilling to relinquish his anger. “I’ve been in Amy so many times, fucking her makes you gay by proxy.”

Suddenly, Amy’s hands were empty.

Shadow’s fist slammed into Sonic’s jaw faster than Amy could register. “Sonic!” She shrieked as he stumbled. Shadow faltered, his ears canting towards her, and the slight hesitation gave Sonic the opening he needed to recover and return the gesture with a blow of his own across Shadow’s face.

“Stop! Stop it, please!” Amy screamed. She couldn’t believe what was happening. Waves of panic and revulsion and a third thing that she should probably pay attention to rolled through her violently. She was going to be sick. How could this be happening again? Her abdomen seized in a painful cramp and she grunted.

“Sonic! Mr. Kintobor!” Silver shook like a leaf. “Please, sir, think of the liability!”

The hedgehogs grappled, a tangles mess of fur, claws, and misplaced aggression. Shadow was clearly stronger – what blows he landed leaving Sonic reeling – but Sonic was fast. The smaller man could weave in and out of Shadow’s range with ease. His strikes were softer, but numerous. To be honest, they seemed evenly matched.

A crowd was gathering around the fighting hedgehogs. Cellphones were out, recording.

“St-!” Amy’s voice caught in her throat as Shadow’s oppressive scent enveloped her. A deep territorial possessiveness laced with violent fury. Her tail curled under her, pressing her stockings inward into dampening panties. She began to shake violently. She couldn’t move, not while Alpha was dealing with a threat. She would stay still and small and out of the way until the danger had passed.

“Amy?” A useless Beta Silver tore his horrified gaze from the melee and glanced at her. “Amy, are you alright?”

A heavy wave of dizziness hit her, and Amy suddenly realized her underwear were very, very, uncomfortably wet. The stab of revulsion dissolved into nothingness quickly, because, of course, what? she was producing slick no!. She was in-! Heat radiated through her, crawling under her skin and cloying at her face. Her jacket was suddenly stifling and she let it slip free of her shoulders.

No! This was impossible. This can’t be happening!

Something’s wrong. This isn’t right. Nothing has ever been more right.

Amy felt drugged.

Her thoughts were half-baked, sloshing around in the soupy murk of her brain, barly managing to register anything beyond the growing need between her legs. For once she and her body were of a single mind. Something was dragging them both unwillingly in a white, sucking heat.

Someone touched her lightly. Amy blinked slowly. A blurry white figure was close, touching her, but they smelled worthless. Useless. Not worth her time. She swayed and someone held her up. “Woah, Amy! What’s going on?”

Everything was a muted blur except for one dark spot.

Alpha.

Amy whined weakly, but he didn’t hear. She needed him. Shakily, she righted herself and tried to pry the offending fingers from her arm. Stupid Beta. Alpha would put him in his place for touching her.

“Please you two, stop this! Something’s wrong with Amy!” The weak Beta hands left her, saying something not worth listening to. The Beta foolishly moved towards the scuffle. He got too close and was knocked down, emitting the silly yip of one with inferior seed.

Amy backed away, slowly. What was happening to her? She could barely make out what was happening around her. Her joints were swelling with fluid, depriving her brain of blood and making it increasingly difficult to move. Her womb contracted again and she cried out.

A vice-like hand wrapped around her arm and Amy exclaimed weakly as stabs of icy pain shot up her limb. “Oh, darlin’, you smell good enough to eat.” A large polar bear loomed over her, his white coat phosphorescent in the festival lights and his pupils blow wide by her scent. Oh, no. “How about we get out of here, huh?” His Alpha musk enveloped her and Amy fought desperately to not go limp.

She didn’t want- This is fine. She wanted Shadow and this wasn’t right- Why was she being so stubborn? Something is wrong something is wrong Pathetic something is wrong something is wrong!

Amy screamed until- “Shut up.” The polar bear hissed, his Voice strangling hers. “I’m trying to help you, you dumb broad.”

“Let go of her!” A bison shoved the bear, jostling Amy terribly as the ursine refused to relinquish his hold on her.

“Fucking make me!” The bear snarled, sharp fangs bared.

The bison dipped his head and plowed forward, his blunted horns slamming into the polar bear’s chest. Amy’s arm was torn free and she hit the sidewalk pavers hard. Her mouth opened to scream, but her vocal cords were still paralyzed. The maelstrom of Alpha scent choked her as a second set of men started a public melee over her. The cries of the growing circle of spectators grew louder, but Amy couldn’t understand anything clearly. “Rut riot!”

Thick, searing tears started running down her face, further blurring her vision. Where was she? Why was this happening? Where was Shadow? Amy sobbed. Where was Shadow? Was he going to kill Sonic? This was all her fault. Where was Shadow?

Why couldn’t she have just told Sonic the truth?

Amy drew in a breath to scream again, forcing her voice back into service by sheer force of will. The cloud of Alpha scent around her swirled around her like a hurricane. Her body was weak with need and ambivalent. Any one of these Alphas would do, it moaned. She hadn’t let Shadow Claim her, so all of this was her fault. Her Unclaimed scent drawing them to her like flies to honey.

Even though any of them will do, her instincts seemed to choke, as if they were being forced to speak. Even with her clouded judgement, Amy resisted. But the strongest one, her instincts gasped, would be best.

“Save me, Shadow!” Amy screamed.

Bedlam ensued.

The growing crowd had already been dense and growing agitated, but Amy’s mating call spurred every Alpha present into singular action. Namely that of taking possession of her no matter who they needed to overpower or savage. Amy was the prize for a contest centuries out of date.

She could not regain her feet. Every attempt was thwarted by grasping hands or rough shoves. Screams filled the air, of anger, of fear, of primal desire. What remained of her sanity desperately search for Shadow, Sonic, or even Silver, self-preservation allowing for aid from even Betas. Any port in a storm.

Rough hands grabbed her and yanked her to her feet. A damp snout pressed against her neck and drew in a deep breath. Sharp fangs drug over her Claim gland. No! Amy screamed and struggled. No no no no no!

“Get off of her!” Amy’s ears perked as she recognize Sonic’s voice through the heated fog stuffing her mind. The Alpha that held her was suddenly torn away and she whined piteously. “I’ve got you, Ames. I’ve got you.” Arms wrapped desperately around her, but she couldn’t see who held her through her tears. Everything was blurry in her sight except for those whose seed she needed. She drew in the scent of freshly fallen rain and she relaxed slightly. Her instincts still screamed in revulsion, but Amy knew she was in safe hands.

From the eye of the storm, Shadow appeared and Amy dove out of the arms holding her. She gripped Shadow’s jacket and buried her face in his chest. “Amy!” He gently peeled her back and looked her over. “Mon dieu, are you alright?” She was now. She was in Alpha’s arms. He would protect her from any lesser suitors. He would take her away from this terrible place and all its noise and smells, somewhere she could build the best nest for them and their children.

“We got to get Amy out of here now!” She heard some useless- NO, Silver! Silver was talking. “Inside somewhere where the cops won’t find her...”

“What? She-“ Shadow sounded concerned. But he shouldn’t be. She was in his arms. Everything was perfect now.

“Incited a rut-riot.” Sonic hissed. “Shit!” His strained and breathless voice came in and out among the cries of the mob. Rut-riot. What a funny phrase.

Shadow started to protest, but Sonic cut him off. “Shut up and listen to me! No one gives a shit what’s fair or right. All this chaos is gonna get pinned on her if the cops catch her.”

“He’s right, sir.” Silver stammered, clearly shaken by the turn of events. “Legal precedent is that an Omega is responsible for what their heat does to Alphas. She’ll be legally liable for all bodily injury and property damage being inflicted right now as well as incur criminal charges.”

“She is not in heat.” Yes, she was. “That’s impossible!” Clearly not. Amy giggled. Silly Alpha.

“Your cock ain’t as potent as you though, eh?” Sonic asked.

“Do you ever shut up?” Shadow growled violently and Amy’s ears pinned flat against her skull. “Putain. My office is a few blocks away. I can get her off the street and help her.” Alpha’s sweet voice. “We can lie low until the dust settles.”

“Fuck, fine.” Sonic snarled. “This isn’t over between you and me, you motherfucker. Not by a god damned long shot!”

“Duly noted, petite merde bleue.”

“Get gone. I’ll cover you.” Sonic readied his fists and slammed a tiger Alpha’s face with a mean right hook.

Amy’s stomach roiled as Alpha scooped her into his arms and began to run. Her fingers clutched at his chest, and she turned her face into him, drawing in as much of his scent as she could. She desperately needed him inside her, but his arms around her would have to do for now. There was danger all around and the only safe place was here, held closely like precious cargo.

“I’ve got you.” Shadow panted as he ran. “Hold on Amy, just a little longer.”

Amy’s eyes fluttered. She drew in another deep breath of her Alpha’s deep, earthy scent and sighed contentedly, blissfully unaware of the madness around them. Not the yelling crowds, not the blaring sirens, and not the storm raging in Shadow’s mind.