Dax woke to a loud banging on his bedroom door.
He groaned and rolled over, bleary eyes struggling to focus on the digital alarm clock next to him. 3:17 am. Who the hell was knocking on his door at 3:17 am? The alpha had only been asleep two hours or so and would have to rise with the sun in another three, so the last thing he wanted to do was drag himself out of bed to see what the problem was.
But he was the alpha, and whoever was banging on the door seemed to think this was an emergency in need of his immediate attention, so drag himself out of bed he did. He didn't bother with clothes, moving across the room in only his boxers to see who was there.
Of all the things he had expected, Chase was possibly the last one. Especially Chase with Mason curled up in his arms. Dax was tired and confused, so putting together intelligible words was a struggle, and all he could do was stare down at the brothers.
They both had ruffled hair and bleary eyes, clearly also having just been dragged out of bed. Chase looked far more awake than Dax felt, though, and seeing his wide eyes and pale face made Dax stand straighter. Whatever was happening, it was serious.
"Dax," Chase was breathless, and when he started speaking it all came in a panicked rush. "Mason is sick, he woke me up with trouble breathing and I just, I don't know what to do. Dax, what do I do?"
Okay, this was something Dax was familiar with. Chase wanted him to be the big brother, not the alpha. It had been a fairly common occurrence when they were kids, right after they took Chase in, for the beta-born to come to Dax when he needed something instead of going to Dax's father. Though it had been years since he had seen Chase this worked up, it was something he could deal with.
"First, calm down," he said, putting his hands on his adopted brother's shoulders. "Deep breaths. In, out." He felt the smaller man's shoulders move as he struggled to follow the alpha's directions. Once he had calmed, Dax turned his attention to the omega.
Chase was certainly right, the kid was sick, but Dax didn't think it was as bad as the hunter's panic had made it out to be. Mason was wheezing a little, and from the high spots on his cheeks he likely had a fever as well, but he met Dax's gaze with wide, lucid eyes and he wasn't gasping for air. Still, werewolves got sick so seldom, and if the symptoms had escalated this quickly, it was certainly something to get checked out.
Mason did look a bit freaked out, but Dax had a feeling that was more because of his brother's reaction than because of his illness, though of course that was also something new for him that would be unsettling. The best thing for both of them would be to separate them so they could calm down.
With that in mind, Dax turned his back on them and went back into his room to root through his drawers until he located a pair of jeans to pull on. He didn't bother with a shirt and returned to the doorway where the two brothers were waiting, watching him with identical confused expressions.
He held out his arms, gesturing for Chase to hand the omega over. When he didn't immediately comply, Dax said, "Look, you're faster than me. Go and wake the healer and I'll meet you at the infirmary with your brother."
Chase was still hesitant, but Dax knew the hunter trusted him more than anyone, and even if it was with his precious, newly returned brother, he would do almost anything Dax said. So, after a moment, he settled the omega in the alpha's arms and without further delay took off down the hall in search of the healer. Dax didn't bother to tell him she lived in the other direction.
He walked in a much calmer fashion after Chase, down the stairs and outside to head toward the infirmary. It was still dark, with only the light from the moon to illuminate the way, but Dax didn't mind, and Mason didn't seem bothered either. Separated from his anxious brother and stuck instead with the stoic alpha, the omega was calming, his breathing evening out as he rested his head against Dax's shoulder.
Dax had never directly touched the omega—except to stop him from attacking the rogue on the night of the full moon—and now having him curled against his bare chest, he was hyper aware of every spot their skin touched, of Mason's breath against the side of his neck. Dax didn't let people this close to him often because it usually made him uncomfortable, and this was in some ways exactly the same and in others entirely different. He didn't know where to look, was overly conscious of where his hands were, where Mason's hands were, how close their faces were. It was both exciting and terrifying.
He was relieved and disappointed when they arrived at the infirmary and he had to lay the omega down on the bed. This didn't last long, however, as Mason whined as soon as they were no longer in contact, reaching for the alpha.
Dax tried just allowing the kid to hold on to his arm, but after a few insistent tugs somehow he ended up on the bed with him, Mason curled up on his lap while he sat with his back to the headboard, the omega's face pressed against his neck. Dax could feel the tension in his spine, the uncomfortable way he placed his arms around the tiny omega now occupying his lap, but he couldn't bring himself to make the boy move.
That was how they were when Chase arrived, the female omega from the day Mason had arrived in tow. She, like the others, was still wearing sleep clothes, but she still appeared put together and ready for anything. Which was good because she was about to have to deal with a sick omega who didn't like strangers and his overprotective brother. And the alpha, but Dax wasn't interested in being a nuisance. What he was interested in was getting back to sleep, but with the omega clinging to him he had a feeling that was not an option.
At the sight of them, Chase paused, eyes narrowed, before deciding to ignore the mildly compromising situation and moving to the side of the bed so he could check on his brother. His hands moved over the boy, feeling his forehead, checking his heart rate and moving in closer so he could hear the boy's breathing. It wasn't long before the omega was batting him away, whining at the attention. Dax smirked; it seemed separating the brothers had been the right call. What Mason needed now was rest and calm, not fretting and fussing.
The healer moved to the other side of the bed, a handful of tools in her arms and promptly dumped on a little table she then pulled closer. She picked one up and leaned over the bed, holding it out to the omega in Dax's arms.
Mason did not take this approach well, and growled at the unfamiliar woman, the sound weak but no less threatening. The woman wasn't fazed, though, likely because the omega was in human form, and also sick. Still, no one wanted the boy to be uncomfortable, so she paused with the instrument a few inches from his face.
"This is a thermometer," she said, as if she were speaking to a child and not to a twenty-year-old, half feral werewolf. "If you'll hold it under your tongue for a few seconds, it will tell me what your temperature is. If it is higher than normal, that will tell me a lot about how sick you are."
Mason still didn't seem convinced, so Dax murmured, "It's harmless, and it will only take a moment." Mason turned his gaze from the healer to the alpha, then back to the thermometer before sighing and opening his mouth. As promised, the healer only held it under his tongue for a few moments before it beeped and she pulled it away. She took one look at the screen, nodded to herself, and put it aside.
"Just yes or no to these questions, okay Mason?" she asked; he nodded. "Does your throat hurt?" A nod. "Coughing?" At his confused face, she faked coughing into the crook of her arm. He cocked his head and shrugged in response. "Does your head hurt?" Another little shrug, as if to say a little, but it's not bad. "Body aches?" A tiny nod. "I'm assuming from the man carrying you around that you're feeling fatigued, too weak to move on your own?" A nod.
The healer sighed and nodded to herself, taking all the tools she'd brought over and gathering them back up, apparently deeming all but the thermometer useless. She didn't speak to them as she went back over to the shelves to replace them, and only returned with a bottle of cough medicine.
"That's it?" Chase said, glaring at the bottle and the woman holding it. "He just told you he feels like shit, and you're giving him cough medicine?"
The woman did not seem bothered by the hunter's hostile tone. "His temperature is over 100 degrees and he has symptoms of the flu. It's good to have a diagnosis, but there's not much I can do. The flu is a viral infection, so antibiotics won't help, and I don't keep Tamiflu around, as it is so seldom for a werewolf to have the flu. I'll send someone to the human pharmacy in the morning to get some, but they won't be open now, so there's nothing else I can do but fight some of the symptoms to make him more comfortable." As she spoke, she poured out a portion of the medicine and held it out to the omega, who made no move to take it and growled when she pushed it closer. To avoid catastrophe, Dax took it from her.
This did not make Mason any more inclined to consume it. He made a few signs at his brother, who snorted. "What did he say?" Dax asked.
"It smells bad," Chase responded, still chuckling.
One corner of Dax's lips turned up. "It sure does, and I assure you it tastes no better, but it will make your throat feel better and it'll only be gross for a few seconds." Mason still did not appear convinced, but he allowed Dax to hold the tiny cup to his lips and tip it back, dumping the medicine into the boy's mouth.
He sputtered and swallowed, then stuck his tongue out, glaring at Dax. "Okay, so maybe a little more than a few seconds," he agreed, his smile spreading at the clear disgust on the omega's face. But if he'd been honest, the boy would have refused to take the medicine, and that would have benefited no one.
The healer had wandered off while they were convincing the kid to take his medicine, but she had returned by this point, now with a glass of water and a couple of pills, which she held out to Dax without a word, no longer attempting to get close enough to Mason to give them to him herself.
Dax took the pills first, waiting for Mason to open his mouth—which he did only after a fair amount of glaring and with clear distrust in his eyes—and dropped them in. He, unsurprisingly, did not find the tasteless pills to be as offensive as the cough medicine, but he attempted to swallow them dry, coughed when they refused, then looked pleading at the alpha for help, at which point he held the glass of water he'd just received from the healer to the omega's lips and tipped it back just enough for him to get a few sips before pulling it away.
Now properly medicated and looking very tired of this entire experience, Mason tucked his head against Dax's shoulder, hiding his face against the alpha's neck and promptly falling asleep. The man could do little more than stare down at the boy in surprise, mixed with a tiny bit of annoyance but also with some fuzzy feeling in his chest he didn't have a name for.
Chase awwwwwed at the sight of his little brother cuddled up to his bear of an adopted brother but held his hands up in surrender when said adopted brother shot him a murderous glare.
Dax found he couldn't bear to disturb the sleeping omega, so he shifted slightly into a more comfortable position, laid his head back against the headboard, and closed his eyes. He drifted off to sleep a few moments later to the sound of the hunter snickering in the background.
Posted: 3/9/2021
Word Count: 2181
Mason is adorable even when he's sick, somehow not shocked.
<3Koda