Dax wished he had sent Tala home when he'd seen her in his office the night before.
If he'd thought the woman was insufferable in small doses, having her pop up everywhere throughout his day was surely going to drive him insane. Was this what he was doomed to suffer through for the rest of his life? He was on edge, never knowing when to expect her next.
Strutting into his room first thing in the morning, somehow before his alarm went off—and he was one of the first wolves up in the morning, so the fact she was up before him, and already with her makeup and hair carefully done, dressed more casually than the day before, in a pair of white skinny jeans and a frilly red top paired with her signature red heals, was indeed impressive—interrupting his breakfast, popping up while he was making his rounds around the pack complex, waiting for him in his office when he went to do more paperwork. How did this woman always know where he was going to be?
He had finally managed to get some time to himself, though. It seemed, like most people in the known universe, paperwork was too boring for her to tolerate, and after ten minutes of sitting on the couch in the corner of his office and trying to entice him into conversation and receiving not even a twitch in return, she rose with a huff and left, slamming the door behind her.
Dax released a breath, muscles he hadn't realized were tense the entire time she was present relaxing, and he sank back in his seat, rubbing a hand over his face. If there was a way out of this mating, he was going to find it. At this point, he may even be willing to lose the pack merger so long as it meant he never had to see Tala again.
He immediately berated himself for the though. No, this merger was a good thing, and he could put up with Tala for the good of the pack. And he had hopes that she would calm once the merger and their mating were finalized and she no longer felt threatened that he would change his mind.
He should really take this time to work on paperwork in peace, but he stood instead, shrugging on his leather jacket as he headed for the door. He stuck his head out and checked the hallway for a particular blond with a penchant for red before stepping out of his office and heading outside. Paperwork could wait; he wanted to check on his brother.
He'd intended to check on Chase and the rogue during his rounds, but Tala's incessant presence had made him decide to wait. Chase didn't approve of Dax's arranged mating on principle, and hated Tala specifically. Dax didn't know how he was going to keep them separate once she started living here full time, but he was going to do his best, especially with Chase's skittish little brother in the picture now.
Dax wasn't sure how he felt about the kid yet. It was strange to see Chase go into big brother mode after thirteen years of seeing him as the little brother. Plus, he knew the omega was going to be yet another headache for him.
It had been difficult to teach Chase how to function in the pack, and he'd only been a rogue for a few years when the pack took him in. He at least knew the basics of being human—he knew how to shift, how to walk and talk, how to use a fork, and a multitude of other things most people take for granted—plus he knew the basic structure of a pack, even if the version he'd learned was twisted into something Dax didn't like to think about too much.
This kid though... if he'd never shifted before, he wouldn't know anything about being human. They would have to start from the beginning and teach him like a child, how to walk, how to talk, all of it. If he'd been only a toddler when they left their old pack, it was doubtful he knew how packs worked.
Even if he did, he had been a lone wolf for thirteen years, and had been a rogue for another four before that. He had spent far more of his life alone than with others. It would take time to teach him how to function among other wolves, and he would probably always be volatile, unpredictable, and Dax didn't want to deal with it.
He was thankful the kid was Chase's brother, and he could trust the hunter to keep the kid under control, but he still wished they could have found him when they weren't in the middle of a pack merger. He was stressed enough as it was.
When he stepped foot in the infirmary, he could already head the brothers' laughter from the other side of the hall. It gave him pause. The omega's laughter was so pure and innocent, Dax felt something in his chest shift. Adding to that the fact that he had seldom heard his brother laugh in the thirteen years he had known him, and almost never around anyone other than Dax...
Some part of him was jealous, like the omega was taking his brother away from him, but he also felt... happy. It was a startling discovery. Dax rarely felt happy. He liked to be around his family, and he liked training and running, but he wouldn't say they made him happy all that often. But hearing his brother so happy, and hearing how innocent and joyful the omega was, and knowing it was because they had finally been reunited...
Well, it made him happy.
He made his way down the hall and poked his head through the open doorway into the omega's room. The scene he found was very different from what he walk into the night before. The little omega was lying in bed with a blanket pulled up under his arms, leaving his shoulders and arms bare. He didn't seem to be wearing clothes, but Dax could see the top edge of the bandages wrapped around the boy's torso.
He was smiling, though it was more baring his teeth than a true smile, and his clear blue eyes, so like his brother's, were glittering with joy. He was half propped against the head of the bed, and Chase was perched on the bed next to him with the omega's hair in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other.
It was clear what the source of the laughter was. The omega's golden-brown hair, having not seen scissors or a brush for his entire life, was incredibly long and tangled, to the point where Chase was having trouble sawing through it with the scissors. After he'd made it through a section, he couldn't separate it from the hair still attached to his head, resulting in more fits of giggles from the little omega and answering chuckles from his brother.
"Need some help?" Dax found himself asking before he made the conscious decision.
The result was instantaneous. The omega let out a little shriek and pressed closer to his brother, scrambling to fit his body behind the hunter. Chase fumbled and dropped the scissors, turning to face the alpha, one hand pushing the omega further behind him before his eyes landed on his adopted brother.
"Oh." The hunter let out a breath and relaxed, letting out a little laugh in a huff of air. "It's just you, Dax."
"Who were you expecting?" Dax asked, stepping further into the room, trying to ignore how the omega's cowering made his chest ache. The boy may have been violent the day before, but now he was an innocent, scared omega, and it was because of Dax. He'd ruined the happy moment, and he almost wished he hadn't come at all.
Chase shrugged, turning his attention from the alpha back to the omega, who peered at Dax from around his brother. He no longer looked frightened, but he was still wary, still unwilling to expose himself to the big bad alpha.
Dax could understand that, though he'd never liked it all that much. Most omega's had a similar reaction. They were instinctively very submissive, and even being in his presence could be enough to send some into a panic. He couldn't help that his body exuded power and dominance, that his pheromones urged omegas to submit.
Unlike many with the title alpha, however, he would much prefer all the wolves in his pack stand in his presence with head held high, that they could have real conversations with him and look him in the eye while they did it.
This omega surprised him though. After his initial surprise, he carefully poked his way out from behind his brother, and when Dax let his eyes wander to the boy's face, he found the omega staring back at him. Dax couldn't remember an omega meeting his gaze directly before, and it was refreshing.
The boy was beautiful, too. Chase must have spent the morning working on the omega's appearance because he was much cleaner than he had been the night before, and most of his hair had already been sheared off, leaving a shoulder length mass of tangled golden brown hair.
With all the wild cleared away from his appearance, he turned out to be a good-looking kid, with sharp corners to his face, but somehow still soft. He was unfamiliar with his human face, but it meant he wasn't holding anything back.
He was like Dax's opposite; for years, Dax had hidden every emotion, every thought, every feeling from his face, but he could see all of the kid's wariness, curiosity, and confusion, could see the omega was sizing him up and determining whether he was a threat or not, trying to determine his purpose here. It was refreshing.
"Okay, Mason?" Chase asked, drawing the omega's attention back to him. The kid bared his teeth again and nodded his head a little too vigorously, his hair flying around his head and ending in his face. Chase laughed and pushed it back to reveal the kid's bashful, sheepish expression.
"You named him, then?" Dax asked, taking another step forward. The omega turned to watch him again, but as soon as Dax stopped moving, he dismissed the alpha to turn back to his brother.
Chase shrugged. "Mav named him, I guess. Or I mean, he made the suggestion, but Mase liked it, so it's good with me."
Dax should have known Mav had suggested it. One corner of his lips twisted up just a little, and he knew from the way Chase's brows drew together he'd noticed it. Let him wonder why the thought had amused the alpha; Dax doubted he would figure it out.
"It's a good name," he agreed, earning him a pleased wolfish smile from the little omega. He didn't realize until he caught Chase's perplexed look that the twist in his lips had extended into a noticeable smile and wiped the emotion from his face. He hadn't slipped up like that in years. He didn't know what it was about the kid, but Dax felt a warmth in his chest, not entirely unfamiliar but not a common emotion for him either.
"Hello, Mason," he said, stepping closer to the bed. He kept his motions slow and fluid, trying not to startle the omega, but the kid seemed much less skittish than he was even minutes before, when Dax had first entered the room.
He didn't move as Dax approached until he stood next to the bed, opposite Chase, close enough Dax could reach out and touch the kid, though he didn't. He didn't want to push the boy's boundaries too much, and Dax wasn't a big fan of physical contact anyway.
Mason cast a glance at his brother once Dax stopped moving, eyes wide, before turning back to the alpha. He opened his mouth like he was going to speak, and Dax watched him with eyes wide as well, wondering if he was going to pull it off. But all that came out was a strange almost whine, ending in a bit of a growl, before he closed his mouth again, his lips pressing into a hard line.
"It's okay, Mason," Chase said, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "No one expects you to learn how to speak overnight. Literally in this case, I guess," he laughed a little, not fazed by Dax and Mason's lack of reaction.
"It's fine, Mase," Chase continued. "Really. You'll learn. I'll teach you, and I'm sure Dax and Mav and all these other wolves will do what they can to help you. You don't have to do it all at once. Besides, I think we should focus on walking first." This drew a long whine from the omega that told Dax all he needed to know about any attempts he'd made to walk on two legs this morning.
"Well, I'll leave you to it," Dax said, smiling at chase, then at Mason, then back to his brother. "I just wanted to check in, see how things are going. I'll be in my office if you need anything."
Chase smiled and nodded, so Dax tore himself away from the omega's bedside, raising one hand in a silent wave as he left the room. He didn't glance back, tempting as the thought was, afraid if he did he would be drawn to stay, to be happy in a life that couldn't be his.
He didn't have time to teach the adorable omega how to walk and talk, to tame his hair and make him smile, to show him how to smile properly instead of baring his teeth like a wolf. He couldn't do it. Even if something in his frozen heart had melted in that room. He had a path set already, and he would see it through. He was a man of honor, of duty, and his duty was to his pack before some omega he had no connection to, save his adopted brother, and as much as he wanted to put his family first, his duty to his pack came before even that.
But if he smiled a little for the entire walk back to his office, well, no one but him would ever know.
Posted: 1/5/2021
Word Count: 2414
And as promised, a double update to make up for missing last week. Let me know what you think and have an amazing week :)
<3Koda