Title: Homo Homini Lupus Est
Author:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
neotoma
Artist:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
satavaisa
Betas:mistalagan and owleyes_arisen
Genre/Pairing: Gabriel/Jo, Gabriel/Kali, Gabriel/Sam, Dean/Castiel (background), Castiel/Gabriel (implied)
Rating: NC17
Word count: 30066
Warnings/Spoilers:Werewolf AU, MPRG/hermamphroditic pregnancy, rape-recovery, alpha/beta dynamics, sex toys, Castiel and the Winchesters as antagonists
Summary:Gabriel ran away from his home and his pack. He had his reasons. But a werewolf without a pack is a vulnerable thing -- Gabriel skids through his life until he ends up on Kali's doorstep. His life seems to have come together, until a face from his past comes to town, and Gabriel is hauled back to his family, and the grasp of his brother, Lucifer.
Lucifer's study was bright with the morning light, and Gabriel winced at that. It was bad enough that he'd had to travel into the city early enough to avoid much of the foot traffic, but being subjected to the brilliant whiteness that Lucifer preferred was a bit above and beyond his duty.
"Hello, little brother," Lucifer purred.
Gabriel rolled his eyes, tucked his stole around himself, and sat on the couch along the wall after Lucifer nodded him permission. He rubbed his eyes, and replied, "Lucifer..." His brother-and-head-of-house was too much a morning person for Gabriel, who preferred the cool of the evening when he had a choice of when and where he was going to be active.
"You're dressed well for a morning," Lucifer observed.
Gabriel looked down at his clothes – well made but not too fashionably cut, they were in grayed tones, appropriate to his widowed state. He'd even had his everyday stole overdyed to mute its exuberance, since Wotan's death. Either Lucifer was trying to flatter, or he still didn't pay any attention to what the betas of his household wore on a regular basis.
"I dressed for a day at home – unless you have need of me elsewhere?"
Lucifer waved off his concern, "No. No, brother, I have need of you here," he said, and launched into a series of questions about the maintenance of the house, and then the city properties and the countryside farms and generational tenancies. Gabriel fumbled a bit, as he'd only been back at administrating the family properties since he'd come south after Wotan's death, and had to clear out Dean's rather haphazard records. Castiel's spouse was good with the city properties that were shopfronts and tenements for the lower-class gammas and epsilons that made up most of the Folk, but he didn't have much of a handle on the farms and preserves of the hinterlands. There were entire towns that depended on Seraphim administration, and Dean had left them in the hands of cousins and spouses of cousins, even to the point of neglecting audits.
Gabriel had been forced to plan reviews, and draw on Rachel's expertise, even though she should have been devoting most of her time to gestating and to her husband's business. That was why she was married, after all – the alliance to the rising Folk family of her husband, the Ramsii, was an important support in the Seraphim power structure.
Lucifer nodded as Gabriel groped his way through the problems and his proposed solutions – even agreeing that Dean should be encouraged to focus on the city properties to the exclusion of all else, thereby leaving the countryside to Gabriel. Finally, Gabriel wound down, and looked at Lucifer expectantly.
"Now we come to the problem of Castiel..." his eldest brother said.
Gabriel raised his brows and made an encouraging noise.
"I want him selected for Quaestor."
Gabriel frowned. "He's childless: not eligible."
"I aim to change that."
Gabriel let his frown deepen. "How? Dean's barren, he must be." They had been married for years – Sam had grown from boy to young man on the cusp of maturity in the time that his beta brother Dean and their Castiel had been married – but had never had any children from any of Dean's heats.
"Since our brother is stubbornly attached to that Folk beta of his..." Lucifer sighed dramatically, "a subsidiary marriage is the only option that is feasible."
Gabriel looked up at that, shocked. "No family would agree to that, not of the Flock, or even a rising Folk family. It would be an insult to any beta of a good family, to be put in place below Dean – his family is only a generation out of the gutter. Any pack alpha would laugh in your face, if they didn't take it as an insult and challenge!"
"I had thought of that, Gabriel."
Gabriel paused, and then asked, "You're going ask for a delta for Castiel to marry in subsidy?"
"Don't be disgusting, little brother. We're the senior branch of the Seraphim – if one of the lesser cousins wanted to marry a woman, or you wanted to in your retirement, it would be one thing, but Castiel is my second. He must have alpha sons, and betas, and that requires a beta spouse."
Gabriel nodded in agreement "...Well, I suppose you could get a subsidiary marriage inside the family, but I can't think of any unmarried beta cousin. You couldn't even order a divorce, not with the civil situation as it is – we need all the alliances our cousins' marriages are sealing, what with the strife possibly building up again. Hell, we need the alliances to the rich Folk alphas that Rachel and the other deltas in the family are sealing."
Lucifer made a face at the mention of their half-sister; Lucifer often displayed the disdain for deltas that high-Flock alphas showed. Gabriel didn't quite share the disdain, but he had dealt with deltas and even epsilons much more in the course of his life – for one, wet nurses were often deltas from the lowest families and epsilons cast off from the best. The fact that they were single-gendered females made their milk more reliable than a double-gendered beta's.
"I had thought of one possibility..." Lucifer began.
"Who? Not Camael's oldest – the boy's not even fifteen, and his cycle hasn't started yet! He's completely unsuitable. Seriously, Lucifer, there isn't any beta in the family who is unmarried and adult that you could marry off!"
"There's you."
Gabriel stared at Lucifer. "I'm his brother!"
"Half-brother. Raguel wasn't actually your mother, no matter what you seem to think."
"What's that got to do—?"
"Half-brother through Father – so any union between the two of you would not be incestuous. Technically." Lucifer gave him an inquiring look. "Or do I have the law wrong about siblings out of different mothers?"
Gabriel shifted in his seat, leaning away from his brother-and-head-of-house. "...Not technically..."
Lucifer tilted his head and waited.
"Lucifer, be serious. Legally, all right, your idea, it's not incest. But emotionally... do you think Castiel would go through with it? Do you think I would?"
"Castiel will obey orders. He's good at that."
"I won't," Gabriel said, and tried pull his hands off the arms of his chair, but his fingers were tight and disobedient against the upholstery.
"Little brother," Lucifer said, "What makes you think you have a choice?"
Next
Author:
neotomaArtist:
satavaisaBetas:
mistalagan and owleyes_arisenGenre/Pairing: Gabriel/Jo, Gabriel/Kali, Gabriel/Sam, Dean/Castiel (background), Castiel/Gabriel (implied)
Rating: NC17
Word count: 30066
Warnings/Spoilers:Werewolf AU, MPRG/hermamphroditic pregnancy, rape-recovery, alpha/beta dynamics, sex toys, Castiel and the Winchesters as antagonists
Summary:Gabriel ran away from his home and his pack. He had his reasons. But a werewolf without a pack is a vulnerable thing -- Gabriel skids through his life until he ends up on Kali's doorstep. His life seems to have come together, until a face from his past comes to town, and Gabriel is hauled back to his family, and the grasp of his brother, Lucifer.
Lucifer's study was bright with the morning light, and Gabriel winced at that. It was bad enough that he'd had to travel into the city early enough to avoid much of the foot traffic, but being subjected to the brilliant whiteness that Lucifer preferred was a bit above and beyond his duty.
"Hello, little brother," Lucifer purred.
Gabriel rolled his eyes, tucked his stole around himself, and sat on the couch along the wall after Lucifer nodded him permission. He rubbed his eyes, and replied, "Lucifer..." His brother-and-head-of-house was too much a morning person for Gabriel, who preferred the cool of the evening when he had a choice of when and where he was going to be active.
"You're dressed well for a morning," Lucifer observed.
Gabriel looked down at his clothes – well made but not too fashionably cut, they were in grayed tones, appropriate to his widowed state. He'd even had his everyday stole overdyed to mute its exuberance, since Wotan's death. Either Lucifer was trying to flatter, or he still didn't pay any attention to what the betas of his household wore on a regular basis.
"I dressed for a day at home – unless you have need of me elsewhere?"
Lucifer waved off his concern, "No. No, brother, I have need of you here," he said, and launched into a series of questions about the maintenance of the house, and then the city properties and the countryside farms and generational tenancies. Gabriel fumbled a bit, as he'd only been back at administrating the family properties since he'd come south after Wotan's death, and had to clear out Dean's rather haphazard records. Castiel's spouse was good with the city properties that were shopfronts and tenements for the lower-class gammas and epsilons that made up most of the Folk, but he didn't have much of a handle on the farms and preserves of the hinterlands. There were entire towns that depended on Seraphim administration, and Dean had left them in the hands of cousins and spouses of cousins, even to the point of neglecting audits.
Gabriel had been forced to plan reviews, and draw on Rachel's expertise, even though she should have been devoting most of her time to gestating and to her husband's business. That was why she was married, after all – the alliance to the rising Folk family of her husband, the Ramsii, was an important support in the Seraphim power structure.
Lucifer nodded as Gabriel groped his way through the problems and his proposed solutions – even agreeing that Dean should be encouraged to focus on the city properties to the exclusion of all else, thereby leaving the countryside to Gabriel. Finally, Gabriel wound down, and looked at Lucifer expectantly.
"Now we come to the problem of Castiel..." his eldest brother said.
Gabriel raised his brows and made an encouraging noise.
"I want him selected for Quaestor."
Gabriel frowned. "He's childless: not eligible."
"I aim to change that."
Gabriel let his frown deepen. "How? Dean's barren, he must be." They had been married for years – Sam had grown from boy to young man on the cusp of maturity in the time that his beta brother Dean and their Castiel had been married – but had never had any children from any of Dean's heats.
"Since our brother is stubbornly attached to that Folk beta of his..." Lucifer sighed dramatically, "a subsidiary marriage is the only option that is feasible."
Gabriel looked up at that, shocked. "No family would agree to that, not of the Flock, or even a rising Folk family. It would be an insult to any beta of a good family, to be put in place below Dean – his family is only a generation out of the gutter. Any pack alpha would laugh in your face, if they didn't take it as an insult and challenge!"
"I had thought of that, Gabriel."
Gabriel paused, and then asked, "You're going ask for a delta for Castiel to marry in subsidy?"
"Don't be disgusting, little brother. We're the senior branch of the Seraphim – if one of the lesser cousins wanted to marry a woman, or you wanted to in your retirement, it would be one thing, but Castiel is my second. He must have alpha sons, and betas, and that requires a beta spouse."
Gabriel nodded in agreement "...Well, I suppose you could get a subsidiary marriage inside the family, but I can't think of any unmarried beta cousin. You couldn't even order a divorce, not with the civil situation as it is – we need all the alliances our cousins' marriages are sealing, what with the strife possibly building up again. Hell, we need the alliances to the rich Folk alphas that Rachel and the other deltas in the family are sealing."
Lucifer made a face at the mention of their half-sister; Lucifer often displayed the disdain for deltas that high-Flock alphas showed. Gabriel didn't quite share the disdain, but he had dealt with deltas and even epsilons much more in the course of his life – for one, wet nurses were often deltas from the lowest families and epsilons cast off from the best. The fact that they were single-gendered females made their milk more reliable than a double-gendered beta's.
"I had thought of one possibility..." Lucifer began.
"Who? Not Camael's oldest – the boy's not even fifteen, and his cycle hasn't started yet! He's completely unsuitable. Seriously, Lucifer, there isn't any beta in the family who is unmarried and adult that you could marry off!"
"There's you."
Gabriel stared at Lucifer. "I'm his brother!"
"Half-brother. Raguel wasn't actually your mother, no matter what you seem to think."
"What's that got to do—?"
"Half-brother through Father – so any union between the two of you would not be incestuous. Technically." Lucifer gave him an inquiring look. "Or do I have the law wrong about siblings out of different mothers?"
Gabriel shifted in his seat, leaning away from his brother-and-head-of-house. "...Not technically..."
Lucifer tilted his head and waited.
"Lucifer, be serious. Legally, all right, your idea, it's not incest. But emotionally... do you think Castiel would go through with it? Do you think I would?"
"Castiel will obey orders. He's good at that."
"I won't," Gabriel said, and tried pull his hands off the arms of his chair, but his fingers were tight and disobedient against the upholstery.
"Little brother," Lucifer said, "What makes you think you have a choice?"
Next