Shaded Soldiers || Gay MxM || Omegaverse

23. Restless Night

I was feeling fine when I went to bed, and fell asleep pretty quick, but several hours later, I woke up feeling uncomfortable. My entire body ached a little, and I was way too hot under the covers, even though I didn't even have extra blankets over my duvet. I pushed the covers away, but after a short moment, I got cold. I let out a sigh and pulled the duvet back on my upper body, leaving my feet out. It was better like that. For a moment.

My omega was awake as well, too restless to sleep. I felt its presence like a fever. If it had controlled our body, we'd be turning and tossing around. It had never been quite this active during our heat. I assumed it knew something was wrong with our body, that there was something that didn't belong inside us.

The Lace...

I forced it out of my head and rolled onto my side instead. My eyes landed on Reid, and I stopped to focus on his steady breathing. He slept peacefully, and listening to him calmed down both me and my omega. The feverish feeling faded a little as my omega studied the alpha's scent in the room. We felt better. Our body was getting worse, but we still felt better.

After a long moment of me trying to fall asleep again, I gave up and decided to go use the toilet and take a painkiller. I got out of the bed, enjoying the cool air on my heated skin. For about two steps before I was freezing again. I grabbed my hoodie. I mean... Reid's hoodie. It was really comfy... Especially now since my skin was so sensitive. And because it still had Reid's scent on it, and my omega found it comforting.

Reid didn't mind, anyway. He was getting a new one soon.

I visited the toilet and grabbed a glass of cold water before heading to my desk to find my painkillers. Walking around seemed to ease up my aching joints, so once I'd medicated myself, I quietly left the room to stretch my legs a little.

I made sure I didn't wake up Reid when I closed the door, then turned around to face the dark hallway. I hesitated for a moment. The scent... It was strong now. I could smell all of them, and my omega shivered.

I tried to ignore it and made my way slowly down the hallway, staying quiet. My omega listened carefully to the sounds of ten sleeping alphas behind the closed doors as I passed them by. But the scent was growing stronger... It quickly became distracting, and I stopped in the middle of the hallway, trying to clear my head.

My omega... It was getting restless again. It was getting confused. Going into heat had never meant anything good to us. Especially when we were still at home... Back where we were taught that alphas were bad. That alphas meant pain and fear. Back when they broke us, and my omega retreated into the darkness.

I shivered in disgust when the memories returned uninvited. Why couldn't I just forget it...? All of it. I wished so hard someone could just rip those memories out of my head. Those years with them... With those people... Many of them I'd considered my family...

I'd learned to keep those memories deep in the back of my head, but at that moment, with my heat worse than ever before, with what I let happen to me the last time, it was hard to keep them away.

And for a brief second, Stoll was winning.

"You think you'll be fighting terrorists in my unit? No. You'll be used as a fucking toy. One-hundred and twenty alphas. You'll be so fucking busy..."

Ten of them were right here.

Ten alphas right behind these doors I was surrounded by. Ten strong alphas I hardly knew, alphas who could do whatever they wanted with me, and no one would stop them. Nothing would stop them. They could tie me and lock me up and no one would come asking questions.

I closed my eyes, taking in their strong scent. That same scent that nearly put me on my knees on my first day here. The scent I'd grown used to. My omega focused on it as well, trying to understand why I was so focused on it. It knew I was miserable, so the only rational conclusion it could come up with was...