Help! Five Beast Alphas Want To Breed Me!!(BL)-Chapter 279: Weak Leader

oda;

I let out a huff as I stare at the beam before me. My muscles are sore, and my lungs are struggling to drag in air. A warning that if I don’t take a moment to pause, they might stop working.

I place my hands on my waist and look around me. Our people have been working since. Nonstop.

We have been hauling rubble all morning... heaving burnt timbers, dragging broken stalls, lifting whole sections of market shelving back into some sort of order... The work has been an unending pattern, but we can’t stop. Not yet.

Sweat drips down my back, and the air that fills my lungs smells like dust and exhaustion.

I shut my eyes and lift my face to the sun in an attempt to gather strength, as the people around me move in a rhythm I can practically hear.

Feet pounding, low curses, grunts, groans... we’ve been working for weeks, going to a month now, and everything is finally starting to look up.

Maybe after we’re done with this, I can try to take a little rest? Or maybe go see Elián? But... till then... there’s no room to slack off.

I stretch a bit and mutter to myself that I’m fine. Recently, I have been telling myself a lot of things that aren’t true. But it’s the only way I can keep from crumbling.

"Alpha, let’s help you with this. It looks heavy." A man says, and when I open my eyes, I see two young men grinning at me.

I nod, and they smile back. I have since learned that refusing help from my people is an IMPOSSIBLE feat. If they offer to help, take it... because they aren’t asking, they’re telling you they will help.

Exhausted but glad to help, both men get behind me, and I take a deep breath as we attempt to lift the beam.

It’s much bigger than I thought, and I find myself holding my breath to keep my balance. We are able to hold it up for a second. Only a second before, I feel something give way in my leg.

Sharp, bright, and hot rips through me, and biting pain rips through the inside of my thigh. A groan escapes me, and my teeth clamp so hard I taste iron as I crumble to the floor.

Both men struggle to fling the beam off me, but I can barely take cognisance of anything. All I can feel and sense is the intense pain in my thigh, and the sound is my own breathing.

"Alpha!" I hear the people around call in panic, but my eyes are sealed shut in pain,n and my body refuses to move.

Fuck! It hurts so bad!

"Koda!?" Rhydian’s voice rips through the chaos, and my heart sinks at the worry in his voice.

"Koda!" He calls in panic, and he gets in front of me and scrambles to sit on the floor before me.

"W-what happened?" He demands, and I gulp. Unable to form a word... I don’t even know what happened. I just know something gave way, and I’m in pain.

I stare at my brother’s worried grey eyes, and I force a smile at him. A smile that only makes him frown.

"You’re hurt!" He notes, and I force myself to shake my head in negation.

Pride is a scarier thing than pain. I feel it crawl up my spine... It tells me to straighten, to laugh it off... To be the pillar my people need to rely on.

"I’m—" I start, because that’s the lie that worked for the first few weeks, the lie that got us through three nights of shovels and too-little food... However, this time, it doesn’t work.

Before I can finish, he grabs me, and even though I’m much bigger than him, he flings me over his shoulder and carries me over to a bench.

"Rhydian, drop–" I begin, but he cuts me off as he drops me on the chair.

"One more peep out of you, and I’m sewing your mouth shut, Koda!" He growls, and I blink at him, bewildered.

That temper of his has always had a way of terrifying me...

In just a second, people surround us with worry, clear as day on their faces. Someone provides water, another hands over a rag, a woman I have greeted a few times and shared about two meals with, whispers something about a wound and not to move.

I try to breathe, but it doesn’t work. All the people... all the pisces... all the hands... It’s too much.

My eyes instantly search for my brother’s, and I find him worriedly scanning me over with his eyes, until he sees something that causes his frown to deepen.

"You’re bleeding," He notes, and I blink at him.

"I... am?" I stutter in confusion as I look down at my Krompa and notice a damp, dark spot forming. Everyone’s eyes drop to it, and my heart slows. It’s really blood.

I can see the spread, slow as ink, and the way people stiffen says what I refuse to accept... The cut must be very deep to bleed like so. However...

"It’s a scratch," I lie, and Rhydian looks up at me. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

My voice doesn’t sound like it belongs to me. It’s thin, patchy... and exhausted.

But if I show weakness now, won’t it demoralise the people??

"It’ll stop," I add, trying to stand, and Rhydian slaps his palm on my shoulder, holding me down.

"Sit." He snarls, and I blink at him. He moves like he’ll tear my clothes off there and then, and before I can object, he rips open the part of my Krompa covering the injury.

A murmur runs through the crowd, and then a hush follows as their eyes land on the wound.

I stare down at it, and my throat dries. It’s a raw, ragged line... deeper than it should be. I don’t know how badly I’ve been hurt and what this means for me, but staring at it, I go numb.

Someone says something about stitching. Someone else says it looks clean but deep. A woman offers her shawl.

And in all this commotion, I taste bile. My face goes hot, and my hands tremble... My body is too weak for this.

"You can’t keep doing this to yourself," Rhydian snaps at me as he pours water over the wound, causing me to jolt.

He presses a shawl he took from a woman, down against the wound like he’s trying to slow the river, and only then do I start feeling the real pain.

"This will need stitches," he says under his breath, and I hate him for being right... I hate him for the tender, angry way his voice sounds when he says it.

"I’m an alpha," I say, and then comes that brittle laugh I’ve been using to bury emotions for days.

"It will heal," I add, and Rhydian scowls at me.

"Not if you keep breaking yourself to pieces," he answers.

"Not if you don’t stop thinking you need to be a fortress on your own." He adds, and I pause when I hear the care and concern in his voice.

The crowd presses in, faces filled with concern that makes me feel weak... Someone shifts so a child can see. The fear on all their faces makes me feel small, and soon enough, shame begins to consume me.

What sort of weak leader am I?? What have I done for them to break down now?? I– I’m such a disappointment.

Mother would be so disappointed in me.

Look at how they’re all looking at me like... I’m a weak link