PLEASE NOTE: This is an epilogue that I wrote for another brilliant fanfic that you have to read first, otherwise this will make no sense. Why did I even bother? Well, I wrote this as a thank you to the author of the fanfic (and to try to inspire a sequel because the original fic clearly has places it wants to go!), but it's obviously too long to post as a comment. The original fanfic is AU and set in Omegaverse, it's called Splitting the Difference by Lanfear and you can read it at:

Archive of Our Own dot org slash works slash 1020536 [sorry don't know why FF keeps blocking attempts to type out the web address!]

Kaidan sighed and plopped down on the sofa frowning at the letter in his hands.

Kaidan Alenko

April 18, 2190

It's funny to think, despite the fact that Marcus was dead, and that the bond ended long before that, the man still held some preternatural influence over him. Liara dropped off the letter just a little over a week ago, promising that with everything her contacts had told her, it was completely genuine. The minute Kaidan saw the date he knew she was right. No one else knew. Not ever Shepard knew that April 18th was the day when Marcus… when the man threw everything they had to hell and almost damned him for a lifetime. He kept his emotions in check but Shepard, ever protective and ever sensitive to his feelings (sometimes the bond was a curse), Shepard picked up on something wrong immediately. But try as he might he couldn't pry it out of Kaidan, who deflected it with a wave and invited Liara in to talk. The Alpha could barely clamp down on his jaw fast enough to avoid throwing a temper tantrum. Kaidan thought it was cute.

They'd talked about it. Liara said it was the only thing her spies deemed worthy to save in the shithole of an apartment before the entire building was mysteriously blown to pieces. Both she and Ash suspected foul play, but some part of Kaidan wondered if it wasn't simply karma catching up to the brute bastard. Still, the Shadow Broker was looking into it. Shepard was looking into it. Or rather, he was having his team look into Marcus' entire operation and what the purpose was, since they still don't know. Marcus miraculously disappeared from prison cleared of all charges and Ash had raged at that happening under her own nose. Kaidan wished they could just move on, rid themselves of that idiot man forever, but still he did admit for the good of Omegas, heck for the good of everyone, he, too wanted to know what the hell was going on.

And so, he kept the letter, and Shepard only fussed about it once. But it'd taken him a lot longer than he thought to pick up the nerve to open it. Still, today was the day he promised himself he'd look, and then probably burn the damn thing. Shepard was at work, and there were no distractions.

He crinkled his nose at the neatly sealed envelope in his hands, imagining Marcus' rude scent still lingering on the paper. It was heavier than he thought, not a simple piece of paper. He paused with a finger along the seam, briefly wondering if some poisonous substance might come flowing out. But Liara had checked that already. And so he opened it, pulled out a few sheets of paper, and began to read.

Kaidan,

I know it's cliché to say, but if you're reading this, I'm dead. I know after what I will have done to you, you have every right to burn this now. But I owe you an explanation. It's one that you need to hear, Kaidan, because it doesn't just concern you. It concerns all of us, Alphas, Omegas. This is big Kaidan.

His eyes widened. Was this the secret operation that thus far no one had been able to find information on? Sitting in a small, dirty apartment this entire time, for all these years?

I told you months ago that my parents were moving out of the country. That was a lie. They were kidnapped by an organization that I'm just starting to understand. This organization and the man in charge, I think they call him the Invisible Man, immediately contacted me and explained what they wanted in return for their safety. I was scared Kaidan, it all happened so fast. You may remember I was a bit of an emotional wreck. I chalked it up to missing them and missing Anora now that she was in school. I'm glad you never saw through that lie. I was terrified Kaidan, because they explained that they wanted you.

A chill raced down Kaidan's back and the edges of his fingers gripping the page were turning white.

I refused of course. I was your Alpha! More than that, Kaidan, I was your soulmate. But they were convincing, and I couldn't hold out. Do you remember that I started those extra boxing classes? Well, I didn't. I spent those hours trying to figure out how my life was spinning to hell.

Soon, they sent a liaison to check up on me. An Omega whore who spoke with honeysuckle on her breath. She tried to convince me so many times to give you up. She was nice about it at first, but then she became a bitch. I refused to touch her so she threatened my parents. I tried to hold out, Kaidan, I tried. I went to talk to the police. But the officer… Kaidan, they killed him. And then I was even more scared because how were they doing this? I became paranoid. Oh we were so young and naïve, Kaidan, what did we know about the big bad world? You may wonder why you never sensed any of this, how your bonded Alpha could hide such strong feelings from me. Pills. I've never seen them on the market, never even heard of them. But they cloud pheromones and emotions completely. She gave me a bottle, and I played right into her hands didn't I? But I knew I couldn't tell you, I couldn't let you see what was happening, so I took them. What was I supposed to do Kaidan? I was your Alpha, it was my job to protect you, not the other way around. I couldn't tell you anything.

Kaidan stopped. Heart racing he went to the kitchen to pour himself a tall glass of water. The cold was everywhere and he shivered. What the, what had happened? How the hell had this all happened? It was a dream, but he couldn't wake up. What was happening?

I guess she lost her patience at some point. So they started torturing my parents, and… they sent me proof, evidence. I won't tell you what they did. I can at least spare you that. Still, I tried to beat them. I hit the extranet, I reached out, I made all sorts of dirty little connections you'd never think an innocent twenty something could make. But who was I kidding? I was small fry. I didn't get very far. But this I know, Kaidan. This organization is powerful, I analyzed the drugs they gave me, and they're so complex. They act on our hormones like nothing in the market. They must have a strong R&D team, and massive investment to boot. I tried to get information from her as well. I played her game a couple of times, the bitch. I got her to tell me, some things. But Kaidan, she's good, and I have no idea if the stuff she told me she would have told me anyway, or I really did get her to divulge.

You're special, Kaidan. I don't know how they found out. But they did. Our bond, that was your doing, I think. I put it together from bits and pieces. You know this bond, it's not just rare, it's never happened before. Did you hear that, Kaidan? It was all a childhood story until it came to us. Something about your genetic structure creates the bond, and I don't know why, but I think only you have it. I don't know what they want with it, but they had to wait until you had a bonded Alpha, and then get that Alpha to bring you in. Otherwise, why bother going through me? I'm pretty sure with all the resources they had, they could have had you before I even entered the picture.

So that was why he bonded with Shepard. Knowing the rarity of it, even when Shepard was showing signs of rut, it seemed odd to him that he would be so lucky as to experience two bonds in a lifetime. But now he knew. Kaidan sat and stared at the pages. He was terrified, truly. Never like this, it was he was that first scientist, the one who discovered Syndrome K and realized that humanity was about to be wiped out.

Kaidan, last week she came for the last time. She told me she was tired of my lack of cooperation. She—

Kaidan saw the dried tears on the page and knew what Marcus was going to write.

She showed me my parents, dead. They killed them Kaidan! But more, she told me they had Anora. And that if I didn't cooperate, they'd kill Anora. So I chose, Kaidan. It was you or Anora. And fuck, I'm going to hate myself forever for that damned choice. My soulmate or my sister, and the last memory of my parents.

Fresh tears began dotting the page as Kaidan continued reading.

Kaidan, if you've read this far I need you to know two things. First, I don't blame you for this. You didn't choose to be special, hell you didn't even know you were special. And, well if you're the one that killed me in the end, I don't blame you for that either. I know you like to shoulder far more burden than you should, but please, Kaidan, don't. It was not, it is not, it will never be your fault. Second, I need you to try and believe, after everything I'm going to do, that I do love you so much. The pills they gave me, if I take one it dulls the pheromones, but if I take more like they're going to make me do, it dulls everything. It's not mind control, but it sure fucking sounds like it. I won't feel you, Kai. I won't feel our bond. I'll look at you, detached, like you're nothing but a slave. But Kaidan, please believe me, this isn't what I wanted for us. I wanted to be your Alpha forever, and I wanted you—only you!—as my Omega. I wanted us to get married so we could be legally what we were already in spirit. I wanted kids for us, because I know how great of a father you're going to be.

When I seal this letter, Kai, I'm going to take 3 of the pills. Kaidan… if you escape… whatever they do to you, I hope… I pray that you'll find love again. That you'll find another Alpha, a stronger one, who can protect you where I failed. Who has the strength to see you as the most important person in his life where I could not. I know if somehow we both get out this, you're not going to take me back. I'm not that stupid. Hell, even if I physically get out of this, mentally, I'd be pretty shattered. Only a handful of pills to hold me together.

I just… I just want Anora to live a good life. After everything that's happened to her, and now with our parents, she deserves better. I guess, what I'm trying to say is, I want to be sorry, but I can't. Being sorry means that you didn't understand your actions or that you regret them, and neither is true for me. I chose, and I'm going to have to live with that. But I am going to make you a promise. If I make it out of this, I'm going to make sure Anora is safe, and then I'm going to take this organization down. Whatever I have to do, starting with that bitch, Maya. I'll lie, I'll steal, I'll cheat, I'll kill. Hell, who knows what they'll make me do before it's over. But I'll learn, and I'll give it back. I'll get revenge, Kaidan, for you, for me, for all of us.

When we first got bonded, Kai, you remember I let you drag us to that store to get a pair of fake dog tags engraved for the two of us? So we could play married without your parents freaking out? You are such a romantic, and it's one reason I fell so fucking hard for you. Well, I'm going to wear one always, even if… even if I no longer understand what it means. But the other, I'm going to return to you. It has all of my hope, all of my love for you. All that I have left.

Kaidan, if you're reading this, please be careful. Stay safe and just… take care of yourself, OK?

Your Alpha,

Marcus

Shepard came home early sensing something was wrong, and indeed found his Omega's shoulders wracking uncontrollably on the sofa. He pulled Kaidan to him and tried to get him to speak but the man stayed silent. He glared at the letter, neatly folded and put back but obviously opened. How dare Marcus… but almost as if sensing his line of thought Kaidan furiously nodded and pulled him away from the living room.

He pulled Shepard into their bed fully clothed, and only there, in Shepard's arms was Kaidan eventually able to fall asleep. Shepard did too a short while later. His mind raced with questions but he knew that now, his mate needed him to just be there.

It wasn't until the next day that Kaidan read to him the letter (most of it anyway), and almost broke down again. When he finished, they talked. And then they called Anderson, and then they called Liara and Ash. This was big, it was huge. Anderson tipped them in on a shadow organization he'd been chasing for years that this might be related to. And Liara pulled a lot of strings to figure out that the drug Marcus had been taking had been seen once on the black market by a rogue supplier that she was now determined to track down.

Throughout Kaidan wore a face of grim determination, and Shepard noticed more than a few times that his hand rose to clutch at a dog tag that was now around his neck. New jewelry that he would have to ask his Omega about later.

By the time they finished, it was several hours into the night and Liara and Ash were ready to head home, both a bit more unnerved and high strung than when they came in. Everyone had clear orders on what to do next and Shepard was already dialing Miranda's number on his phone. Kaidan touched his Alpha's arm briefly and looked at everyone gathered in their home and spoke very clearly, and loudly so that even Anderson could hear through the phone.

"And if Anora is still alive, we're going to save her."