Later that day, I was browsing through the warehouse’s website. There was quite a lot of stuff available, and I couldn’t really think of anything else I could possibly need. I was still really impressed by the system they had, but it of course made sense. We’d have more time to focus on our jobs if we didn’t have to run to the grocery store every two days just to feed ourselves. And our little store close by would keep us covered in case we forgot to order a certain item or had a sudden urge for something else.

While I was checking the selection of curtains – Captain was right, the color scheme was indeed green and blue, with occasional white and black mixed in – someone knocked on the door.

I expected it was Reid, since he’d left for a morning jog, but my omega got way too excited for the person to be him.

With a frown, I told them to come in.

“I hope we’re not bothering,” said Captain Hale when he peered in.

“No…” I said slowly, and he pushed the door wide open.

I smiled when I saw the familiar face standing next to him.

“Captain Fernard,” I said with a smile, took a few steps closer, then remembered the etiquette and stopped to take a stance.

“You can rest, Riley,” Captain Fernard said when he entered the room. “It’s so good to see you, my boy.”

“I’ll let you two have a moment alone,” Captain Hale said and left while Captain Fernard made his way to me.

“You actually made it,” Fernard said, patting my arm and smiling. “But fuck me… Sometimes I’m scared for you.”

“There’s no need for that, sir,” I said reassuringly. “You know I can take care of myself.”

“I do know that,” he said, chuckling, but his amusement faded fast. “But I fear your determination and stubbornness will get you in a lot of trouble, hurt, or even killed.”

“I got to where I wanted now. I don’t have to be so stubborn anymore,” I said as a joke, but he wasn’t laughing.

“Riley…” he said with a sigh and gestured for me to sit down on the couch with him. Even after that, he stayed silent, hesitating before he continued. “I know you went behind my back.”

“Sir?” I frowned.

“Don’t sir me, boy. I know you visited Commander Stoll at least once without telling me, but I’m guessing twice,” he said, giving me a stern glance. “You should’ve told me. I was your captain, and I was supposed to handle your recruitment.”

What could I say? I didn’t want to lie to him…

“I’m sorry, sir,” was all I could say.

“You left me quite confused, boy, when they suddenly took you to meet the commander, and you never came back home,” he told me. “I would’ve wanted to see you off, at least.”

“I am sorry, sir… I didn’t know they’d come to get me, either,” I told him. “And then Captain Hale wanted to bring me here. He said he was afraid the other recruits would rip me to shreds if he didn’t.”

He nodded slowly. “It was for the best… But you should’ve told me you had a meeting with the commander. And that sick day you requested? For a medical procedure? Did he actually make you get the Hochleng’s implant?”

I breathed out. Again, I didn’t want to lie to this man.

“Yes, sir.”

But I couldn’t tell him about the Bitch Lace. I just couldn’t. I still felt humiliated and ashamed because of the procedure… I didn’t want to talk about it, and people would force me to talk about it if they knew…

It was better if they thought I had Hochleng’s…

Captain Fernard shook his head, sighing. “You should’ve told me, boy…”

“I’m sorry, sir…” I muttered, looking down at the floor.

“Hey…” he said gently, touching my arm. When I looked at him, he smiled at me. “I’m still so proud of you. You’re the first omega in years in this unit. And now that I know Tom has you, I can stop worrying about you. I know he’ll take good care of you, and he can protect you better than I ever could.”

“You took really good care of me. I liked being under your command, sir. It was the best time I’d had in this army,” I told him truthfully.

“So far,” he corrected. “I know you’ll love it here with these guys. I’ve trained most of them, you know? They’re good guys. All of them. Especially Reid.”

I smiled when he mentioned my new partner. “You never told me you trained the Gambit.”

“Hey, I always said I trained all the best elite soldiers in this unit. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to you,” he said, smirking. “I also trained Nico, Ash, Rio, Ethan and Ryan. And I can tell you, they’re a bunch of really great guys.”

“I can tell,” I said. “They don’t seem to mind having me here.”

“Most of them have worked with an omega before. I think it was three years ago when Tom had an omega on his team, but… He left, like so many others,” the captain said.

“Because of the commander…” I muttered.

“Yeah… This unit suffered when Commander Gray got promoted, and Stoll got her place,” Captain Fernard said. “But she’s a great General who’s still trying to look out for all of us. And she’s keeping Stoll on a leash, so…”

I didn’t really want to know what Commander Stoll unleashed was like…

“Anyway… I heard Reid is your partner now?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You two getting along?” he asked.

“We had a bit of a rough start, but I think he’s warming up to me now,” I said.

“That’s great. He’s… He’s not been himself after he lost his previous partner. I know he can be very grumpy and downright scary, but he’s got a heart of gold. He just… he’s lost too many,” the captain spoke quietly with sadness in his voice.

“I get it, sir. What it’s worth, I’ll try not to get myself killed,” I promised.

“Oh, you better fucking make sure you don’t die, or I’ll be very mad at you for the rest of my life,” he told me sternly.

“I’ll do my best, sir,” I said, chuckling.

“Good,” he said with a smile. “You settling in all right?”

We talked a bit about my first two days in this unit, and I avoided talking about the negative things. Like how I was reacting to their pheromones. It wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have with someone who knew I normally had no problems with that. He’d immediately know something was wrong.

Soon, we got interrupted when Reid returned home.

“Captain Fernard,” he said with a rare smile when he spotted us on the couch.

“There’s my Reid,” the captain said, laughing cheerily, and got up to give his former subordinate a big bear hug. “I don’t get to see you as often as I’d like. How are you, big guy?”

“I’m fine, sir. And you?”

I tried not to stare while they exchanged their short greetings, but it was so odd to see Reid so happy. Excited even. And he had a smile on his face the entire time. Like he was a completely different person.

“So, a new partner, eh?” the captain said.

Reid rolled his eyes just to be dramatic, but then his sadness settled back in. “I guess so…”

“Riley is a good soldier. Strong, fast, and relentless. I put him through the same training as you, so I know you’ll make a perfect team,” the captain told him. “You two will be all right, my boy.”

“Yeah, sure…” Reid said quietly.

“What’s the matter?” Captain Fernard asked even quieter.

Reid glanced at me, but it was clear he was thinking about his dead partners. “Nothing. I believe you.”

And to be honest… If I’d lost three people I’d shared my life with… I’d be either dead or slowly killing myself with alcohol. The fact that Reid was still up and running was a goddamn miracle.

“This is just a trial period,” I spoke. “If it’s not working out, Captain Hale will figure out something else for me.”

Reid snorted at my words. “Yeah, right,” he said, then turned to Captain Fernard. “He’s stubborn as fuck.”

“He is, huh?” Captain Fernard asked like he didn’t already know that.

“Yes. So I’m fucked,” Reid complained. “He won’t listen at all!”

His sadness was gone…

“Oh no, you poor boy,” the captain said sympathetically while holding back his smirk. “That sounds just terrible.”

“It is terrible. I can’t promise I won’t strangle him,” Reid said, and squinted his eyes at me.

I let out a short chuckle, shaking my head. “I’m sorry, all right? I’ll try to be less stubborn, okay?”

“You’d better,” Reid grunted at me.

The captain just laughed. “I have the feeling you two will be just fine.”

“We’ll I won’t be,” Reid grumbled, and the captain patted his shoulder.

“Trust me, my boy, you will be amazing together,” he said reassuringly.

“You don’t know that,” Reid said, but he sounded curious more than anything.

“Oh, boy, you’ll see,” Captain Fernard said, smiling confidently. “You’ll see.”

*****

It took a while before Captain Fernard was allowed to leave, since the guys he’d trained wanted him to stay and chat. I watched how the others interacted with him, and I concluded all the alphas on this team were just a bunch of big puppies demanding attention. Which wasn’t a bad thing at all. It was quite heartwarming to see how affectionate these elite soldiers could be. I’d thought they’d be cold, ruthless killers, but no. They were nothing like that, and I wondered if it was because of Captain Hale and his gentleness. Probably. The soldiers I’d trained and lived with had not been this comfortable with their emotional needs.

Eventually, my old captain left, a few of the guys following him to the front door. Since I had nothing to do, I decided to stay in the living room with the rest of my team. Nico was there as well, sitting as far away from me as he could. He had used the gel, and it really did the trick. I couldn’t smell his pheromones at all, at least at the opposite end of the room.

As I tried to find my courage to go talk to him, to apologize for the inconvenience, Captain Hale stood up and entered the kitchen with Reid following him. I tried not to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t really help it since I was sitting so close to the door.

“You know I’m not mad at you, right?” Reid asked Captain.

“I know, my boy,” Captain said tenderly.

“Good. Because I’m not. I could never be mad at you,” my partner said quietly.

I wondered what it was about, but my guess was he was referring to having to take me as his partner.

“What’s the matter?” Captain asked.

Reid didn’t answer right away. When he did, his voice was quiet, hesitating. “I just had a rough night… I’m… My alpha… We’re… not really used to seeing someone in… Matt’s bed…”

“You should’ve come to wake me up, baby boy,” Captain told him. “I’m always here for you.”

“I know, but I’m fine. Really. I just wanted you to know I do love you. You’re like a father to me, and you’ve done so much for me… I just… I love you. You won’t forget that, right? Even when I’m being difficult?”

“Of course I’ll never forget that. And you know I love you, right? You’re my baby boy. And you’re not difficult. You’re just badly hurt, and I hate that I can’t fix that…”

“But you are fixing that,” Reid told him quietly. “Anyway… I just wanted to make sure you know I’m not mad at you.”

I had a small smile on my lips. I’d never met a man like Captain, and I doubted I’d ever meet another person like him. And I still couldn’t fucking see him as a psycho killer. No way. But I also had the feeling Reid wasn’t lying to me, so seeing Captain in action would be highly interesting.

I turned my attention to the living room, and was startled to see there was only one person left beside me. Nico. He was watching me, his expression friendly. Fuck… I had to go talk to him now…

So, I gathered my courage, and got up. He stayed seated while I approached him, his expression not changing.

“I uh… I’m sorry,” I muttered. “For the gel… I hate to ask you to use it.”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” he said, weaving his hand. “It’s just gel. Is it working?”

“Yeah. I can’t smell anything,” I told him. “But I hope it’s just temporary. I uh… I’ll get used to it.”

“Yeah, it should take about a month when I… uh…” he muttered, blushing lightly. “It’s my first season, so… It should end in a month?”

I nodded awkwardly. “I think so too.”

“I’m sure Captain can help you with that,” Nico said, peering at his partner, who was still chatting with Reid. “He’s helped us all,” he added quietly.

I peered at his lips. He had nine scars on them, evenly spread. None of them was an accident. Someone had tortured him.

Nico noticed me staring, and he smiled. “I was a mad mess when I joined this team, but Captain fixed me. He’s still fixing me.”

“Can I ask…?” I muttered, and he let out a small breath.

“Choose your man carefully. And stay away from terrorists,” he only said.

“Gotcha,” I said with a nod. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“And I’m sorry for what has been done to you,” he said. “You’ll heal here. In a year, you won’t recognize yourself.”

“Can’t wait,” I said quietly.

I peered at Captain and my partner. Reid noticed me watching and turned to give me a short glance. His hostility was gone, replaced by curiosity. And I… I believed Nico. I believed Captain Fernard. And I believed in Captain Hale.

Maybe all the bad things really were over now, and I was finally where I was supposed to be.