Voltron || ShiKeiLan || Voltron || The Lion's Pride || Voltron || ShiKeiLan || Voltron

Title: The Lion's Pride – The Kitten's Needs

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Disclaimer: All rights to the remake reserved to DreamWorks, Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos, and for the original to Toei Animation. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: shounen-ai, moresome, aliens, ABO-verse, explicit intercourse, anal, oral, knotting, past abuse, hurt/comfort

Main Pairing: Shiro/Keith/Lance

Voltron Characters: Lance, Azul | Blue Lion, Keith, Krasnaya | Red Lion, Takashi 'Shiro' Shirogane, Kuro | Black Lion, Pidge Gunderson | Katie Holt, Grønn | Green Lion, Hunk, Melemele | Yellow Lion, Princess Allura, Coran

Summary: When Pidge confesses to the team that she's a female alpha and explains why she hid her true gender, the team catches on that Pidge isn't the only one covering up her status – they realize Lance is a male omega. They don't want to confront him, because they want him to be comfortable enough to tell them on his own, so the team makes an extra-effort to make Lance feel cherished. What they don't know is that being an omega isn't the only secret he has...

The Lion's Pride

The Kitten's Needs

Prologue: Secrets

The heat of battle made personal matters seem small and unimportant. Regardless of how important said matters might be; the safety of the universe seemed to always trump everything. So in the end, as many pressing questions as there had been when Pidge had simply announced she was actually a girl, the whole thing had been put on hold in favor of marching into battle. Now that things were calmed down once more, the whole team found themselves sitting together. Now was the right time to talk things through, before the next attack wrecked everything once more.

"Now that we're not in the middle of battle, I think we, as a team, need to talk about some things", declared Shiro as he stood in front of his team with his arms crossed, his eyes on Pidge. "We're all very... grateful that you feel comfortable enough with us to be honest. But why did you even lie?"

The whole team was sitting together on the couches. Lance, Pidge and Hunk sat on one couch, the princess, Coran and Keith on the other, all eyes on Shiro. It was obvious that Allura and Coran were keeping back some, observing the team-bonding moment silently and curiously.

Right before the big last battle they had gone into, Pidge had confided in the team that he was actually a she and at the moment, in the heat of marching into their next fight, no one had been able to say more than that they knew. Well, everyone aside from Lance, but somehow no one was surprised that the Blue Paladin hadn't caught on, considering he could be very oblivious. The real surprise was not the revelation itself; the surprise was that Katie/Pidge fessed up at all.

"My real name is Katie Holt", started Pidge to reply slowly. "And when my father and brother disappeared, I was... I was too stubborn to accept that they're dead. I investigated. I... broke into the Garrison on... more than one occasion, I tried to find evidence. In the end, the general grew fed up with me and banned me from ever coming back, ordering security to keep me out. Signing up at the academy was my only chance to get back in, but I'm a female alpha and we're not exactly... overly common. It would have set off the general's alarms if only days after he forbade a female alpha from coming back, another female alpha signed up for classes. I mean, look at our class – there was not a single female alpha in it, there were barely any girls at all and most of them were betas. Male alphas are so very common though, especially in this line of duty, so... I... it helped me blend in."

Shiro nodded, obviously pleased. "Thank you, for being honest with us, Katie."

"Pidge", corrected Pidge softly. "I... like the name. It's... like a nickname now, I guess, but..."

"Okay, Pidge", chuckled Shiro. "It's... good when we trust each other. You're right, there aren't many females in the space-program at all. But you need to know that it doesn't change anything."

"Yeah, totally!", agreed Hunk, laying an arm around Pidge. "You're part of the team, dudette."

Pidge grinned, a small but definitely happy expression. "And... you're not... angry, that I lied?"

"We didn't know each other too well, or at all, when we were thrown into this mess", offered Keith neutrally, arms crossed. "You learned to trust us and decided to stay instead of leave and do things on your own. Guess that's worth something."

"That's worth a lot", corrected Shiro with a pointed glare. "And of course, we will help you find your family again. When we're not in the middle of saving the universe."

Everyone hummed their agreements. Everyone aside from Lance. Shiro frowned confused. He was normally the loudest in the room, so to have him sit there in silence, not having given any input ever since they had started talking about this, it was concerning. Shiro was the Alpha. He was the Alpha of their little pack, it was his duty to keep their team together. If Lance had a problem with Katie – Pidge – for lying or for being who she was, then that was a potential big problem.

"Lance", growled Shiro with an edge of irritation. "Don't you have anything to say?"

Granted, it was a hard job, considering their team consisted of only alphas – Shiro, Keith, Hunk, Pidge, Lance, all of them were alphas, even if Pidge had lied about her primary gender, she had not lied about her secondary gender. And in such a testosterone filled pack, it was sometimes hard to approach more sensitive issues. That was why omegas were a sensible addition to balance a pack out fully, but as it was, they needed to make due with what they had. Lance jumped a little, looking startled and confused as to why Shiro was growling at him and looking so serious.

"You... don't have a problem with Pidge being a girl, right, man?", asked Hunk, looking hurt.

Lance looked oddly unfocused as he huffed and shook his head. "I don't care." Which genuinely made Pidge next to him flinch a little and look a bit hurt – which finally managed to shake Lance out of whatever stupor had a hold on him. "Not like that! I mean, I don't care if you're a boy or a girl or a pink flamingo, you're part of our pack and that's all that matters." He leaned in, a motion that seemed to happen on autopilot, to brush his face gently against Pidge's in a reassuring motion. "I... I'm going to lie down a bit. I have a murder headache, guys. See you later."

What Lance didn't notice when he left were the four pair of surprised, wide eyes following him. Shiro was positively gaping. That motion, that comforting little gesture, it was not an alpha-thing to do. Alphas roughhoused, were gruffer and handled things more like Hunk would, with an arm around the shoulders, a pat on the back or a fist-bump against the shoulder. Those were ways alphas expressed themselves among other alphas or betas – they were a bit gentler (and more awkward) when dealing with an omega – but among alphas as them... A gentle brush of cheek against cheek, a relatively intimate contact and a soft motion, it was a very omega thing to do. Shiro was pretty sure that Lance hadn't even been aware he did it; he seemed very distracted with something and very out of it, so perhaps it had been purely instinctual.

"Do you... Do you think...", drawled Keith stunned, blinking a couple times.

"No way", whispered Pidge stunned. "I mean, he can't... Lance, an omega? Really?"

"Well, you're a girl, so there's that", countered Keith pointedly.

Pidge huffed and flushed. "But I hid it because I had no other choice. What reason would he have to hide that he's an omega? There were even a couple omegas in our class too."

"Excuse me, Paladins", interrupted Allura carefully. "Even though we Alteans do not have a secondary classification of alphas, betas and omegas, you are making me curious how exactly they are on Earth. I have seen them on many other planets so far and each have a different culture to it. If you don't mind me asking, but... are there reasons why Lance should hide his status?"

"None. Not really", grunted Shiro with a confused frown. "On Earth, at least in most modern countries, especially in bigger cities and corporations like the Garrison, omegas are highly respected and cherished. In some smaller countries, they're even being worshiped as life-givers and such. But they're a very integral part of packs. Alphas are leaders and protectors, the warriors or a pack, betas are... followers. And omegas are the nurturers. They balance things out, tend to their packmates, they're... the emotional glue to keep a pack together."

"I see. So omegas are valued on your planet, then... I do not understand why he is hiding it?", inquired Allura confused, tilting her head as she watched the Paladins.

"I don't know", frowned Pidge curiously. "Male omegas are very rare. Even rarer than female alphas. The most common are male alphas, female omegas and, well, both in betas, you see."

"So, perhaps he does not desire to be treated special?", suggested Coran and twirled his mustache. "If omegas are, as you say, cherished and male omegas are very rare, could it be that he is trying to prove his worth apart from his status and doesn't wish to be treated as special based on biology?"

Shiro frowned contemplatively at that, before he turned to Hunk. "You're awfully silent. Do you have any kind of theory, Hunk? You know him the best."

"I always guessed it was perhaps because of his home?", shrugged Hunk.

"Always?", echoed Keith and squinted at him.

"Well", drawled Hunk with another shrug. "He's been my best friend for like forever now. I noticed back at the Garrison. Like we all noticed that Pidge is a girl. He can get really cuddly when he's exhausted, which was odd at first, but then, well... so yeah... Put one and one together."

Keith's claws were digging into his own knees, trying to suppress the threatening growl that wanted to escape his throat at the idea of Hunk cuddling Lance. He shook the dreadful impulse off. That line of thinking was wrong, so wrong. He had done so good at ignoring and stomping that awkward crush his body had decided to develop on Lance. He was not caving now. Not now, not simply because he now knew that Lance was an omega – he wondered what Lance smelt like, really, behind the scent-suppressants he must be taking, and if he was as feisty and defiant as he was normally even when faced with an alpha, with his mate. Would he submit then...?

"But you never asked him?", inquired Shiro slowly, interrupting Keith's thoughts.

"We never asked Pidge either", pointed Hunk out. "I just figured, he'd tell when he's ready. But he's from a small village and sometimes, in small villages off from big cities, they're... not very fond of omegas, considering there's mostly manual labor to do and all that. Maybe he's from a place where omegas aren't treated... right. Just because they're very respected in the big cities and leading countries doesn't really mean that in backwater towns it's the same."

Shiro frowned displeased at that idea. He tended to forget that. Omegas were respected in their modern society and that leading governments loved to plaster it everywhere, but Hunk had a point. That had not always been the case. It had been a development over the past centuries, but especially in small towns and villages, places that mainly relied on what they could bring forth to provide for themselves, they were still stuck in a very medieval mindset, where omegas were best suited to be trophy mates to keep the bloodline going and most preferably bear strong alphas to do the farm work and hard, manual labor that omegas simply weren't suited for.

"So... what do we do now?", asked Pidge carefully.

"We gave you the time to come clean on your own. We owe him the same thing", declared Shiro. "But if what Hunk suspects is true, we – as his team and as his pack – need to show him that we value him. That we accept him. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Alpha", chorused his fellow Paladin.

Author's note: So yeah, this show hit me like a train. The fact that Keith is basically space!Nico di Angelo does not help. Due to my sudden need to write (and share) this, my updating-schedule has been thrown over a little - so best just check it out, you can find it on my profile and you'll also see when this will be updated next there ;)

The next chapter will show how Keith and Shiro actually think about this reveal and have some lion-bonding! ^^

And one more thing; spelling matters here. Capital A Alphas are the pack-leaders, but "alpha" refers to the secondary gender in this story!