Chapter Text
“Why are all these movies shite? They don’t even try with good scaring, just cheap jump scares left and right-,” Johnny praddles on lounged against Simon on one of the few couches in the team’s living quarters with both sets of legs splayed outward, an alpha’s ankle lovingly hooked over another’s. Simon has been quietly listening to his mate’s complaints for twenty minutes as his eyes have been blinking slower and slower from the long training day. They both wait for Kyle to finish showering and join them while they all wait for their Captain to return home from a sudden meeting needing his attendance. Kyle appears in the living area’s doorway smelling freshly of soap with a pair of Price’s sweats hanging loosely on his frame, Kyle always one to steal an article of clothing from his alpha after showering off his scent.
“What are we feeling for dinner?” Kyle asks as he stretches and crosses the kitchen area to the fridge to eye what ingredients could be thrown together.
“Something easy, Kyle,” Simon evenly offers with his head reclining against the back of the couch, eyes still closed with the shit horror movie continuously playing much to Johnny’s irritation. Just as Kyle starts to pull cooking utensils out of cabinets, the front door of their housing building down the hall opens and shuts suspiciously loudly. Turning the corner and appearing in the doorway is their pack leader with stress rolling off of him in scent-filled waves putting everyone immediately on alert. Johnny and Simon sit forward on the couch with eyes locked on the alpha, and Kyle stands up straight abandoning his current task. Price leans the backs of his thighs against their kitchen table as he crosses his arms with a long sigh leaving his nose. Kyle watches his jaw clench and settle behind his beard, irritation clear as day radiating from his mate. Something is deeply wrong.
“John,” Simon speaks up gently yet firmly from his place on the couch beside Johnny, “Out with it.”
A hand comes up to wipe his face in a moment of surrender before Price rights himself and looks his three pack mates down.
“Just got word from higher ups, or I should say, their higher ups. Before any of you say anything, this has already begun engagement in every faculty of all-alpha packs in-country.” Their captain’s voice is strained but authoritative leaving no room for argument. Johnny risks a glance to his side at his own mate, Simon glancing back momentarily. Are they being disbanded? Reassigned? They’re two mated pairs who answer to a pack alpha; can the military legally split them up?
“We are being assigned an omega for the pack.”
…What?
Silence. They would be able to hear a pen drop a building over. It doesn’t take long for the negative pheromones of the three alphas receiving the information to saturate the room alongside their pack leader’s. Johnny takes a breath to begin arguing, yelling, something, but Simon’s hand lands heavily on his knee in a warning. It’s clear Price wasn’t, isn’t, on board with this, either. An outsider infiltrating their sacred circle because they’re being told to. There’s a pregnant pause for a few more heavy moments before Kyle speaks up, the level-headed one as always.
“When?” He asks with a withering stare past his eye brows. Not towards Price as Kyle knows this isn’t his doing, but for once, his calm demeanor is getting away from him. Price locks eyes with the sergeant before sighing.
“Within the hour.”
“Ach, what the actual fuck-“ Johnny gets to his feet and drags a hand through his hawk with a shake of his head, “This is right fucked, sir, they can’t just-“
“Soap-“ Price tries tiredly.
“Force an omega on our dynamic. It’s not right. It’s not what we have built. You’re pack alpha, you’re supposed to protect us!-“
“Soap!” Kyle snaps in warning.
“That’s enough,” Price threatens with a growl at the same time.
Johnny eyes between his captain and best friend with a flash of his teeth.
“I’m not having some omega touch my mate. Are you alright with this?” Johnny asks towards Kyle with his voice gaining volume, a hand raising to gesture towards Price.
“Want some stranger purring and rubbing her fucking cheek against Captain’s throat?”
Kyle immediately moves across the room and grabs Johnny’s shirt in his raised fists. His canines flash back as he stares his friend down. Simon flies to his feet in case he needs to intervene, watching the situation in his pack unfold.
“Of course I fucking don’t. You think I want anyone else touching John? Simon? You?”
Johnny swallows and holds the anger from reaching his face. Kyle releases his shirt and cups his nape to force their foreheads together.
“But I trust my mate, our Captain, that everything will be taken care of. Trust him, like we always have. We will get through this together, like we always have,” Kyle softly speaks. Johnny takes a breath and gives a small nod before butting his head against Kyle’s temple with a chuff. Simon looks past them at Price with a resigned nod. They’ve worked together for years and can read their disdain under each other’s stoic expressions, but they both know what has been decided might as well be written in stone. There’s no getting out of this.
No sooner than the bell tolling for the hangman, Price’s cell phone starts ringing from his pocket. Price plucks it and brings it to his ear as the two sergeants turn to watch him with Kyle’s hand staying on Johnny’s nape in comfort.
“It’s Price-,” Price answers before freezing with his eye brows furrowing, his eyes glued to an unfocused spot ahead of him.
“What’s going on?” The three alphas can hear audible yelling across the room emanating from Price’s phone. Price slightly shakes his head before turning towards the hallway of their barracks. He moves with a purpose, phone still against his ear, with the three waiting in the common room. The front door down the hall flies open, bouncing hard off the meeting wall, and the air is pierced with a loud shrill scream curling in rage. The three alphas flinch and start to head to the hallway.
Before they can round the corner, two MPs cover either side of a thrashing omega, in uniform with their outer jacket missing, and a fucking muzzle obstructing half of their face. Kyle and Johnny shuffle back as the omega tries with every fiber of their being to free themselves from being trapped within the MPs’ grasps. Price finally reappears in a rage.
“What the fuck are you doing? Let her go!” He barks. Simon decides to move to try to somehow help alleviate the situation, and to also get in between his mate and pack mate and this stranger having an outright meltdown. The MPs listen to the order, releasing the omega’s arms just in time for Simon to unfortunately come too close. Without a second thought, the omega rears an arm back and lands a heavy punch snapping Simon’s face to the side. The frenzy of the room turns up a notch with Simon whipping his face back towards the threat, teeth bared and snarling angrily. The omega gives it right back staring up and snarling viciously behind the muzzle at him with an arm cocking back for another hit. Johnny acts and wraps a fast hand around the omega’s balled fist, using their momentum to shove them to the side before they could attack his mate again.
The omega stumbles forward before taking the opportunity to run to the furthest corner, half tucked behind the couch facing the kitchen, to sit and curl up as small as possible with wild eyes surveying the room. Simon cradles his jaw for a moment as Kyle and Johnny stare at the stranger in their space.
“What the bloody hell are you doing muzzling her?!” Price demands from the MPs who are catching their breaths from the scuffle.
“Sir, she was a threat. She tried attacking and biting us, it was for our protection,” the higher ranking of the pair tries to explain respectfully.
“What did you do to her to have her lash out like this?! It’s disgraceful, unprofessional…if I found out either of you did anything-“
“N-no, sir, of course not!” The other stammers out before glancing the omega’s way, “But, we were ordered to bring her from the front gate no matter what, and to not ask questions.”
Price furrows his eye brows before looking across the room at the omega silently sitting in the corner. A combat boot untied, strands of hair falling out of a slicked back regulation bun. Darkening spots along arms with bruises already forming from the rough handling she likely fought against to be brought here. Smeared mascara below assessing eyes staring daggers at everyone in the room. Frightened and enraged pheromones present in the room so sharp it burns Price’s sinuses. Making a decision, Price slowly moves towards the corner.
“John-“
“Cap-“
Kyle and Johnny both try but are waved off by their pack alpha. Price stops a few feet from the cowering omega and slowly lowers down on a knee, hands clasping together off the side of his leg.
“May I speak with you?” Price asks softly. The omega says nothing, staring back above the dark mesh muzzle.
“Do you know why you’re here?”
The omega’s eye twitches before nodding once, a barely-there movement of the head. Price stares her down in thought before speaking once more.
“Are you here by choice?”
Silence fills the room until the omega visibly shakes her head no. Price’s scent hardens causing the omega to curl further inward with the rest of the room tensing. Price gets to his feet and turns to stare down the two MPs.
“You two, get the fuck out of my building.”
The two nod quickly and hustle to leave down the hallway in visible fear. Price then stares down his pack mates in visible anger.
“Get that bloody muzzle off of her. Don’t get bit. Put her in my room until I get back,” he orders.
He walks down the hallway and slams the front door behind him. Nobody moves for what feels like an eternity until Johnny sighs and cracks his neck.
“Well, let’s help the poor creature,” he patronizes walking towards the omega. A threatening growl snakes through the muzzle on the omega causing Simon to wrap his arm around his mate’s midsection and pushing him back behind his own body with a snarl back.
“LT, she’s just frightened-“
“I don’t fucking care. She’s not touching you,” Simon speaks as he stares down at the stranger.
“Everybody just calm down,” Kyle pipes up joining the two in looking towards the populated corner.
“Ghost, back up. She clearly doesn’t like you,” Kyle states earning a chuckle-covered-cough from Johnny. Simon deadpans the two as he decides to fuck off and leave the room. Kyle crouches down on the balls of his socked feet to observe the omega.
“I’m Sergeant Kyle Garrick. I apologize for all of this. We aren’t going to hurt you. May I take that muzzle off?”
She doesn’t respond as she nervously looks between the two remaining alphas.
“Hey,” Kyle offers, catching the omega’s eye contact once more, “If I try anything, your mouth will be free, and you can take a chunk of me easily. Sound fair?” He adds with a small grin. Finally, the omega moves to stand, hesitantly taking an offered hand from Kyle. One more look casted his way before the omega turns her back to give Kyle access to the back of the muzzle. It’s pressure-locked, needing visible access to push in a pin against a spring to release a metal arm keeping it locked. That way, the person wearing the muzzle couldn’t remove it while in cuffs or even easily by themselves.
With the muzzle unlocked and removed from the omega’s face, she opens her jaw a few times to stretch tensed joint muscles with sharpened canines on display. Thinner than an alpha’s yet sharper to boot; not dissimilar from dogs’ teeth versus cats’ while still maintaining a human tooth shape. Red indentions cut along either cheek up to the omega’s hairline where the pressure of the muzzle held fast against her face.
“Let me show you to our Captain’s room. Nobody will bother you, I assure you. Feel free to lock the door on your way in,” Kyle explains as he tests a few steps through the living room to see if she follows, which she thankfully does, yet carefully and hesitantly with her eyes glancing towards Johnny. Without further fanfare, they make it to the hallway and hook a left to the doorway at the end.
“I’m sorry, again, for everything. Take some time and we can talk later,” Kyle offers opening the door. The omega takes a breath and nods before entering the room. With the closing of the door and audible lock of the knob, Kyle walks back to the living room with Johnny sighing.
“What the absolute fuck was all that?” Johnny breathes as he scratches the back of his head.
“This is fucked,” Kyle regrettably admits.
~ ~ ~
Danger. Danger. Danger.
Stranger’s room. I’m in a stranger’s room. I’m in that man’s room, the man that was calm, the Captain. Is he my captain now? No, I already have a captain. I have a chain of command. This isn’t where I’m supposed to be. This isn’t right.
Panicking.
Oh fuck, I’m panicking.
PANICKING.
…
I need to calm down.
I take several heaving breaths as my trembling hands grasp my face. I cower further into the corner of the room, not wanting to touch some random alpha’s bed despite how exhausted I am and how nice of a comfort it would be. This isn’t where I’m supposed to exist. The last eight hours have happened so fast it’s all a blur.
I didn’t ask for this.
Where is my uniform jacket? They don’t even know my rank, my affiliation.
I can’t fucking believe why I’m here.
~ ~ ~
I wake up to the smell of food wafting from under the door. I blink a few times before rubbing my eyes and smearing what little mascara I have on against my palms. Did I fall asleep? I take a breath and center myself as well as I can. I don’t think I was asleep that long. I still feel exhausted, but the sun has set outside the Captain’s window.
I stand up from the floor and creep into the room’s bathroom to clean myself up. I wipe away at my eyes and re-fix my hair to the best of my ability given the situation. I’m still a Sergeant, I need better bearing through this. The longer I ruminate on it as I correct my pants tucked in my boots, I can’t believe how I flew off the handle earlier. I fucking punched one of them. Dammit.
Willing bravery into my being, I quietly open the door and walk down the short hallway to the illuminated opening to the right, the room I was first brought into. I slowly turn the corner and see the four alphas that were here earlier, I’m assuming the pack I’ve been assigned to. In the middle of the kitchen area is a table seating a man with a Mohawk and a masked man across from him on the other side of the table. Ah fuck, I punched that one. To the right of the table is the Captain standing, leaning his body against the back of one of the couches that sits in the connected living area. Behind the table in front of the stove and counters is the last alpha, Kyle, I think I remember, with a cooking spoon in hand.
They all notice me at the same moment, their relaxed conversation muting and tension filling the air from their pheromones. I glance around before clearing my throat and standing straight, willing my hands not to fidget in front of my belt too obnoxiously.
“I would like to apologize about earlier,” I try to say professionally, evenly, “I was…panicked, but that was not the response I should have led with in meeting my-…” I pause before averting my eyes to the table.
“…-new pack.”
I chance a glance at the masked one I hit and he’s staring daggers at me. I clench my jaw and look back towards the table.
“Ach, don’t worry about it, lass,” the mohawk alpha offers as he shifts in his seat with his arm draping across the backrest.
“We need to address what occurred,” the Captain pipes up with the cross of his arms. My eyes widen as I helplessly look at him. Oh, I really fucked up. I laid hands on his pack. I’m going to be discharged after all of this, I’m sure of it.
“Why in the bloody hell did they have a muzzle on you?” He asks with a hint of anger coloring his words. I shift my weight between my feet.
“S-sir, I um…” I’m not sure how to respond.
“Don’t you lie to me, Sergeant. That’s an order.”
My eyes snap back onto his instinctually. I’m not going to make it anywhere if I’m not honest with these men.
“They…they grabbed me, sir. From work, my own duty station. In front of my subordinates. I was given little information outside of enforcement of reassignment to an all-alpha pack. I had no say in the matter, wasn’t given an opportunity to pack my things, and so…I became…irate?” I admit with my voice hesitating on the last word. I hear a huff of maybe laughter from Kyle beside the stove as he stirs whatever is boiling.
I see Price’s mouth twitch a little at that before sipping from the glass in his hand.
“For what it’s worth, I sincerely apologize for this situation you’ve found yourself in. It wasn’t our doing, or choice, for that matter.”
I swallow and nod. I think that makes me feel a little better. We are all in the same boat.
“Take a seat,” Kyle says as he starts plating what looks like pasta. I realize how starved I am from the day I’ve had and pull the chair out that sits empty at the end of the table. As I sit, I eye the masked man once more with him still staring at me.
“I’m sorry for punching you,” I try to offer as a peace offering.
“That’s Lieutenant to you,” he bites back.
I furrow my eye brows at the snide comment with the man across from him smacking his arm.
“Simon, she’s had a long fucking day. Don’t be a prick,” he grumbles before leaning against the table with his arms crossed and a dazzling grin splitting his face.
“You can call me Soap, or John, or even Johnny, if you fancy. This is my mate, Simon Riley, or Ghost as his callsign. He wins the minds and hearts of millions with his personality.”
Simon grumbles something inaudible under his breath and I can smell the very blunt, displeased pheromones from him. I think I’ll do my best to avoid him.
“Our chef is Kyle, or Gaz, as you met. He keeps us from starving as well as losing our shit. He’s our residential therapist.” I look up at Kyle fondly rolling his eyes as he brings plates around to the table spots. As Soap speaks, the Captain takes the empty chair between Simon and I.
“Lastly is our Captain, John Price. He’s a hell of a leader and pack alpha, you couldn’t have been assigned better,” Soap finishes up before shoving a forkful of pasta in his mouth. Kyle finally sits as well, opposite of Price and to my left, when Price leans forwards and cups Kyle’s hand on the table top.
“Thanks for dinner, love,” Price softly says. Kyle smiles with a squeeze of their hands.
Nobody talks, of course nobody talks. Only the gentle clatter of cutlery against plates fills the space with the four alphas finishing their meals, Simon and Johnny going for second helpings. I slowly take a few bites, the pasta slathered in a creamy sauce with chunks of sausage accompanying the plate, but the severe anxiety churning in my abdomen has the forkfulfuls of pasta threatening to come up. I know I’m hungry and it would be silly of me not to just eat the damn food provided to me, but the gnawing queasiness is too much. My hand that holds my fork trembles momentarily before I set it down on the plate. Oh fuck, please no, I feel the threatening burn of tears in my eyes. I cannot cry in front of these men, it will be the death sentence of my professionalism. I calmly rise from my chair and push it back against the table with my eyes glued to my abandoned fork.
“Excuse me,” I try to choke out without the shake in my voice being too audible before tucking tail and walking back to the captain’s room. Closing the door behind me, I slide down the wood and cradle my face in my hands before silent sobs rack my shoulders, the anxiety winning.
I want to go home.
~ ~ ~
Sighing, Price leans back in his chair as Kyle does the same across the table.
“Can’t blame her, she’s forcibly surrounded by multiple strangers she’s supposed to be a pack with,” Kyle shares as he glances at the barely-touched plate at the end of the table.
“I feel bad,” Johnny shares as he polishes off the last noodle from his plate. Simon scoffs beside him, his mate eyeing him intensely.
“You sure were ready to scalp the very same stranger a couple hours ago,” Simon deadpans.
Johnny furrows his eyebrows, “That was when I’d assume some fucking tart was going to waltz in here with batting eye lashes attempting to seduce my mate. Christ, she was terrified. Doesn’t want to be in this, same as us. Can’t put the blame on another victim in the rotation, can I?”
Simon doesn’t reward an answer as he stands and cleans up his pack’s plates save for the one at the end. As Simon makes it to the sink, Johnny scoffs a laugh before standing.
“You’re fucking unbelievable.”
Johnny angrily walks past the table as Kyle glances Price’s way and shares a look of ‘here we go’. Johnny presumably heads to his and Simon’s shared room with a slam of a door. Simon finishes washing plates as Price sips at his whiskey and Kyle sits in thought.
“You can’t ice her out of being in this pack, Simon,” Price states before downing his last sip.
“She’s not in my pack,” Simon spits back before retiring for the evening, as well. Kyle sighs through his nose before standing and rounding the table to lean over and lay his chin against Price’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around Price’s chest from behind.
“What are we going to do, John?” Kyle asks softly against Price’s cheek as the older man gently rubs his hand against his mate’s arm.
“We’ll figure it out, together, just like you said. Like a family. Like we always have.”
Kyle gently nods against Price’s head.