Chapter Text
Nic POV
Every now and then when playing footy there is a complete jackass on the opposing team that gives Nic a hard time. He tries not to let it get to him and usually succeeds.
After all, he’s used to the typical sexuality-bashing bullshit, understanding that he was relatively low hanging fruit. What with him being not only an Alpha who dates other Alphas but also being one of the youngest members on the team.
But still.
There only so much he’s willing to take before even he will put an end to it. On this particular gameday, it might have been the dredging rain that soaked though his hair and clothes making him more irritable, or maybe it was the fact that they were late in the season and his body was exhausted or maybe the stereotypes of unbonded Alphas were true, but either way, he lost his temper all at once, quickly and abruptly.
The opposing asshole who had been shoulder checking him and spitting “Alpha fag” in this face throughout the game got a hair too close late in the second half, giving Nic the perfect opening.
He wasn’t proud of it, but he punched the other Alpha square in the nose with a scathing growl in his throat, and the other Alpha went down – hard.
In turn, Nic was treated with a black eye and a split lip from the retaliating members of the other team before his own side had a chance to react. The red card had been worth it. But another one of those and he wouldn’t be able to play the rest of the season.
Considering they only had two games left, he didn’t consider it much of a loss.
“Jesus Christ, Nic!” Dylan hissed angrily as the team congregated in the locker room. “What the absolute fuck were you thinking?”
Nic gritted his teeth, peeling off his soaking wet jersey. His hair flopped annoyingly into his eyes, “I’m sorry.”
Dylan stared at him like he was seeing him for the first time, incredulous and assessing, “What was that guy saying to you?”
“Nothing of importance.”
“Lay off of him, none of us could hear but we can all use our imaginations,” Carter said, sporting an evolving bruise to his shoulder. “Reporting that asshole should be our next move, we can get him written up for misconduct.”
“Kinda hard to have a defense when we’re the ones who threw the first punch,” Lincoln said wryly. The goalie was typically in good spirits, and this moment was no different. His serene expression at odds with the temperature room.
“Fuck, we need to call Hayes,” Dylan said, not happy about it.
As he turned towards the locker room door, Wells jogged through it. The captain was no doubt finishing up an interview outside. The Alpha Captain locked onto Nic’s face immediately.
“I can tell Hayes myself,” Nic said pointedly. He could still taste the copper flavor of blood on his teeth.
Hayes was Nic’s not-quite but very-quite pack Alpha. He was gorgeous, respected, and kept close tabs on Nic via Wells and some of the more senior members of the team.
“Of course,” Wells said easily, the captain still panting a bit from the game and the flurry of activity. He passed an eye over Nic’s frame as if assessing for injuries. His words and gaze made Nic feel mildly patronized.
“Wells.”
“Nicholas,” he said not unkindly, putting a hand on his shoulder, “When shit like this happens, you have to tell us before you go throwing punches. We’re a team, yeah?”
“I know, I just… couldn’t stop it,” Nic said, his hand was still a bit achy when he curled it into a fist. He had never punched anyone before in his life.
“I think you’re a young, virile, unbonded Alpha and you’re going to have anger issues – it like, comes with the territory,” Haven said, looking at yet another sundress on the rack and holding it up to her body. She was a beta that could turn heads, as well as Nic’s best friend and walking sanity check.
Not to be dramatic, but Nic would take a bullet for her.
“Yellow? Or Blue?” she asked, alternating the dresses at him. Nic didn’t know the first thing about current female fashion trends but was conscious enough to see that she’d look great in either. He said as much and she winked at him, “Good boy.”
He bowed regally, “I was trained well. But seriously, I think I’m going insane.”
“Have you gotten laid lately?” she asked, peering at him over her sunglasses.
He choked on air, “That’s—hardly your—"
“And there we have our answer, ladies and gentlemen,” she spread her hands to the shoe racks. “I can text Hayes and let him know that you need a little TLC in the upcoming week.”
“Why is everyone on first name basis with Hayes?” he groaned.
He was still reeling after having just fended off a tense phone call from Rob the day of the game yesterday. Wells had frustratingly ignored Nic’s prior statement of being able to call Hayes himself and dialed the number while they were standing alone in the locker room.
Instead of the head Alpha answering, though, Rob had answered, stating that Hayes was busy at the moment and asked Wells in clipped sentences if Nic was alright.
He didn’t outright ask if Nic was mentally brain damaged for throwing the first punch during a game, but Nic felt like that was implied in Rob’s tone. Unlike Hayes, the heavily tattooed Alpha wasn’t known for his patience.
“I’m fine. It was a uh — a mistake,” Nic winced. “But I’m fine. I’ll be there on Sunday.”
“I would expect so,” Rob had said, Nic would almost see a dark raised eyebrow on his handsome face.
Rob also wanted Nic to be examined by the sports team’s physician immediately and let him know that he would be following up the results personally.
Wells had an amused, sympathetic expression on his face when the call ended.
“They care about you,” he had said. He hugged Nic in a way that reminded Nic of his older brother, as Wells often did. “Let try to avoid more dumb shit, yeah?”
Nic hadn’t talked to Hayes or the rest of the pack directly in the meantime since, so Haven reaching out about his (lack of) sex in the past couple of weeks was not ideal. “Please don’t do that,” he cringed.
“Boys are so dumb,” she sighed. “If you asked, I’m sure he would love to help channel your aggression into something or someone more productive.”
She had seemingly decided on the blue dress. She loved bringing Nic along with her shopping because, he was, as she put it, ‘the perfect Alpha meat shield’ to avoid being approached by would-be suitors. She was single herself, but like, single in the way that a succubus would be.
“They want me to ‘play the field’ and ‘enjoy my youth,’” he said, rehashing numerous prior conversations about this very topic with Haven about his complicated relationship with the Nantes pack.
He was going to get tooth pain from gritting his teeth about it. Hayes and Robin essentially told Nic he was too young to be claimed, even though he’s known Hayes since he was 12 years old and knew they were ‘it’ for him, he didn’t want anyone else. His end game was signed and sealed. ‘Playing the field’ was getting hard and harder to do, even despite his ‘virile youth.’
“I haven’t slept with any of them since that enlightening conversation.”
Maybe he was sexually frustrated.
“Like I said, Nicky,” she looped her arms in his. “If you batted your obnoxiously long eyelashes and asked nicely, they will take care of you. Trust me.”
Nic grunted in lieu of a reply.
“And if you don’t say fucking something in the next three days, fuck Hayes, I’m texting August myself.” She patted his arm as if she didn’t just threaten him with being drawn and quartered.
Sunday evening was traditionally the day that Nic made a point to visit the Nantes pack house and have dinner as an entire pack.
While he wasn’t claimed formally, he was for all intents and purposes, theirs, so he was present religiously. It was a typically loud, invigorating affair and Nic always looked forward to it.
Except this time, his palms were sweating as he drove his car down the long driveway. The bruising on his cheek and under his eye was impossible to hide without prior acquisition of foundation or concealer. When he asked Haven, she said their undertones didn’t match.
He glanced in the mirror for the tenth time, and he confirmed the bruising hadn’t disappeared in the last 15 minutes since he last checked. Sighing, he ran fingers through his hair and exited the vehicle. He was wearing a short sleeved, white collared shirt that Haven bought for him at the mall and casual linen pants that loosey fit his hips. In the warm summer air, it was a comfortable choice, and he spent a moment hoping they would utilize the outdoor patio and fire pit that night.
Since he was standing outside their door in silence for over a minute, he really shouldn’t have been surprised when the door opened before he knocked. He blinked at Sinclair in surprise; the pretty omega was framed by an entrance space lit in a welcoming amber glow. The edges of his brown, loosely curly hair were bathed in light. He was beautiful, as always, even as his smile dropped a bit, “Nic, are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” he said automatically before he could stop it. He wanted to hug Sinclair, badly, and his face must have shown it because Sinclair was already pulling him in. The man was shorter than him, but with long legs that made him tall for an Omega. His scent was soft and sweet, of lilacs.
“I’m sorry I was standing outside your door like a creep,” Nic said, reluctant to pull away. The solid feel of him was too good, his scent, too soothing.
“You’d make a pretty stalker,” Sinclair confessed, smiling. He touched Nic’s split lip and Nic let him, “I heard what happened. You should come inside.”
“Are you sure we can’t stay out here a little bit longer?” Nic tried to keep the whine out of his voice.
He looked around at their surroundings, he could make a home with the crickets and fireflies; he was sure of it.
Sinclair held his hand and intertwined their fingers, patiently tugging him into the warmth. The food was already laid out on the table, but only Indigo and Rob were sitting at it. They both looked up when Nic and Sinclair entered, Nic rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as they took in his face.
Rob looked like he wanted to murder someone, but Rob always kind of looked like that. His clear green sea-glass eyes were sharp, his licorice scent was thickening, tattoos across his crossed bulky arms.
Indigo’s softer, linen scent was much more subtle, the beta adjusted his octagonal glasses as if having trouble examining one of his lines of code.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Nic said hastily. Rob stood up quickly, seeking out Nic’s cheek in a calloused hand. His thumb passed gently under his bruised eye; his expression was the opposite of pleased.
The sudden sensation of being deeply under pressure made Nic gasp, he couldn’t help but turn towards its source in the doorway. Despite knowing the head Alpha since adolescence, Hayes’ power still surprised him. It was unlike any other Alpha Nic had ever come across, it felt like he was under a weighted blanket on the best of days and underneath a mountain on the worst. As Nic wasn’t part of the pack formally, it affected him more than the others.
He couldn’t hold back the whine that squeezed out of his lungs.
“Hayes,” Sinclair said softly, turning towards the tall, dark male as he approached. The Omega’s hand was still holding onto his own. “Remember he’s more sensitive to it.”
“Sorry,” Hayes said in that way of his. He was dressed in a button up blue silk shirt and dark slacks. His hair was a tumble of black over his forehead. His blue eyes dimmed slowly from its preternatural glow and Nic could feel himself take a breath that felt like coming up for air.
“Nic, I wasn’t expecting to see your face like this.”
Hayes shared a brief but significant look with Rob who moved his hold on Nic’s cheek to the space between his neck and shoulder. The touch was as grounding and reassuring as Sinclair’s thumb smoothing over his knuckles.
Bonded mates could speak through their minds, so this exchanged sequence of silence between the two Alphas, Nic was used to. He swallowed heavily, unable to keep his chin from tucking into his chest.
Hayes took a moment to lean in close, so close that Nic could smell deeply his unique scent of leather. Close enough that Nic still felt the residual bone-deep pressure from Hayes’ presence and proximity. The older Alpha nosed along his collarbone; the ghost of his breath was seductive as he passed his scent along Nic’s unmarked gland.
It was like sipping straight from the most potent drug, and Nic needed a moment to gather himself, blinking owlishly at the older Alpha as Hayes pulled away. The older man gave him a gentle look of wry amusement.
“What in the world is — oh, Nicky!” a soft voice said, along with the sounds of socked feet galivanting down the stairwell. The last member of the pack, August with his pale features was nodding in understanding, “I was wondering what all the crazy scents were about. I should have known it was our young – oh my god, Nicky your face!”
The male Omega was growling, “Who the fuck did this to him?”
“Nic threw a punch at the game, remember?” Sinclair said without a hint of accusation in his voice, pulling Nic into a seat at the table to his left. August was advancing towards Nic before Hayes stopped him by hooking the Omega by the waist, “Give him space, please.”
“Oh, you get to scent him, but I don’t?!” the Omega huffed. “Please tell me we’re planning on hunting whoever did this down and killing them?”
“Can we go on a murderous rampage after we finish dessert?” Indigo said wryly. His long black hair was silky smooth and spilling a bit over his shoulder. He winked at Nic as he pilfered a bread roll.
“It was my fault anyway,” Nic said, running a hand through his short hair. “I don’t know what happened, the guy was being a dick and I just… snapped.”
He examined the still healing cuts on his knuckles. He was sure his scent smelled sulky, but he couldn’t hide it.
Hayes and Rob exchanged looks again as Sinclair and Indigo began to help themselves to the food. Nic tried not to take it personally, as he followed suit putting salad onto his plate. Hayes was directly to his left and Nic felt the heat of his gaze, while not unpleasant, made his hackles rise. He always forgot how overstimulating being in his presence was, he and Rob were two of the strongest Alphas in the tri-state area and he was an unbonded youngling in their territory, in their home.
Dinner continued without fanfare, the chatter was purposefully steered towards other everyday topics such as how work was going, the vacation to Maine they were planning and what dinner was going to be tomorrow.
It was lovely and domestic, with the warmth of the lived-in space and the scents of its occupants seeping into Nic’s bones. He especially loved watching Sinclair’s micro expressions, as one of the introverted members of the pack, he could be hard to read, but his brown eyes were sweet and doe-like. August openly fawned over him, as the more senior omega, and they made a beautiful pair, one light and one dark like different but complementary sides of a coin.
Before, when Nic was even younger, he feared Rob and Hayes taking his affection for the family as a threat. However, Nic had never been made to feel that way, even if he wasn’t an official member, even if he was another Alpha.
“You’re always welcome here, pup,” Hayes had said one quiet night, the stars winking out over the backyard firepit. The mere presence of him while they sat side by side was enough to warm Nic inside and out regardless of if the fire was lit. He longed to be a part of it all, and likely would, although Hayes’ hesitation was often just as painful as an open rejection.
“You understand mating is safer when you’re older,” Indigo had said once when Nic had complained to him. The handsome Beta was often straight and to the point, which Nic appreciated. “You’re only 19, spend this time to learn who you are as a person.”
But Nic felt like he knew who he was. He was more successful at 19 than his father had been after working for 30 years. Sure, he could fuck more people, travel to more places, get a college degree, but that wouldn’t change anything. It felt silly. Performative.
Maybe it was time to tell them that.