Shaded Soldiers || Gay MxM || Omegaverse

5. The Headquarters

As the captain drove deeper and deeper into the base, passing through three checkpoints, each of them demanding stricter and stricter clearances, I tried to remember how many times I'd visited this part of the large base. Twice? Three times? Three times in five years. I tried to recognize buildings and landmarks, but it all was unfamiliar to me. The attitude towards me, however, was not. I remembered those looks very well.

Every time we got stopped, no one paid much attention to me until they caught my scent. Once they realized what I was, their expressions changed. It was subtle, but it was still clear many of them saw me as unworthy of stepping a foot into their revered inner base, the area meant only for the strongest – the heroes. A small, unknown rookie omega had no business entering that one area so many strong alphas could only dream of seeing in person.

But there I was. Quite unexpectedly as well. My life was not getting any easier, I understood that, but I had reached my goal. As long as it would last, anyway.

The inner base was bigger than I'd expected, but it shouldn't have been a surprise. These soldiers, the elite of the army, had everything they could possibly need from training grounds to command centers, even a bar and a grocery store, right here. I could see a lake and the beginning of jogging trails as we traveled through the area. Now I understood why the captain had arrived to meet me by car. We had to be several miles away from my old headquarters.

"Almost there," the captain said when we approached another set of gates with a couple of guards standing by.

"Lion's Gate?" I muttered when I read the sign on the fence.

"Our little neighborhood," the captain said.

It was a fucking gated community, but instead of big family houses, I counted twelve blocky buildings, shaped like L, all boringly gray with two floors, flat roofs, and square windows. At least there was a little bit of grass and old trees growing between them, giving the whole cul-de-sac a little less depressing look.

"I'll show you around the base another time. Let's get you settled in first," the captain spoke as he parked the car next to one of the buildings. "Welcome to Tactical Team Zero-Seven. This is our headquarters. Your home from now on."

The numbers zero and seven were engraved on a big blue-and-gold placard, shaped like a shield with fancy ribbons, above the entrance of the building. The rest of the buildings had placards of their own, each with different numbers.

"So there are twelve teams?" I counted.

"That is correct," he said as he got out of the car.

That meant there were about one-hundred-and-twenty alphas in this little neighborhood. Plus one omega. I suddenly understood what it meant for me. There had been several omegas in my old unit, not nearly as many as there were alphas, but enough so we could watch out for each other. Together, we weren't easy targets.

But now I was alone.

"You will get molested here..."

There were people sitting outside or working on their cars close by, and even from afar, I could smell the alphas all around me. And they could undoubtedly smell me.

I grit my teeth together and followed my new captain out of the car. He'd already taken one of my bags from the trunk, so I stepped next to him and took the other one. He gave me an encouraging nod before locking the doors and leading me to the entrance.

And I followed him, hoping he wasn't walking me to my fresh new hell, worse than what I'd ever experienced so far. He held the door open for me, and I swiftly walked past him.

I was not ready for it. Ten elite soldiers, the captain had told me. Ten alphas, living and spending most of their time in a relatively small building. I was hit by their pheromones so hard I nearly fell on my knees. I'd never experienced such a fucking strong mix of alpha scents all at once so out of the blue. I needed a moment to regain composure. I stood there, shaking my head, trying to get me and my omega back in line.