Compatible
“Here,” Ellie said as she twisted in the saddle to throw a rag your way.
You caught it easily enough with your right hand – your left arm hanging limply to your side as you continued to bleed. Moving your left shoulder pulled at your ripped muscles and caused bursts of pain, so you just didn’t bother with using your left arm right now. It certainly helped that Shimmer was so well behaved, more than happy to move off your legs rather than the rein.
“Put pressure on your stomach, we’ll tend to the wound properly once we reach Jackson.” The Alpha gestured to your side with her chin. You merely nodded before doing as told. Dying of blood loss certainly didn’t sound appealing at the moment, the red having already crept through the bandages Ellie had helped wrap your stomach in. How she’d known you were continuing to bleed, you weren’t sure, but you were glad for the help.
The three of you walked slowly back to Jackson, so the jostling of the horse wouldn’t aggravate your wound too much. Ellie had insisted on it after almost immediately catching onto your pained breaths as you tried to keep up with Shimmer’s bouncing trot.
The minutes started to bleed together as the second wave of your heat and the blood loss started to catch up to you. Your head felt like it was stuffed with cotton and you could no longer find the strength to press the bloodied rag to the side of your stomach. With limbs that felt like lead you decided now was a good time to probably ask how far away you all were. Perhaps a distraction would help you feel a little more lucid than you currently were.
“Oi!” You cut into Ellie and Dina’s flirting, you were frankly surprised the two hadn’t started a make-out session yet. “How far away are we?”
Dina hummed in thought before replying. “A couple of minutes or so.”
You rolled your eyes, well that was fucking helpful now wasn’t it?
“Hey (y/n), how have you survived so far with being an Omega and everything?” You snorted as Dina tried to hide her curiosity behind her polite words. Meanwhile, Ellie just smacked her shoulder.
“Don’t ask people shit like that!” Ellie said, looking rather appalled by Dina’s line of questioning, despite the fact she’d been blatantly talking about your secondary gender as if you weren’t right there not even an hour ago.
You just shook your head at the two. “It’s fine,” You replied, earning intrigued looks from both girls. Huffing out a laugh, you continued, “I use herbs and shit to help hide my scent and usually have really good control over my pheromones. I also constantly take heat suppressants.”
“Fuck, is that why you’re bag’s so damn heavy?” Ellie questioned.
“Nah, I just keep a bunch of random shit in there.”
“Okay I have two questions!” Dina exclaimed looking rather excited that the you were answering her questions at all.
“Shoot.”
“First, what do you keep in your bag?” Dina paused, seemingly for dramatic effect. “Secondly, aren’t heat suppressants hard to come by?”
“Due to there being like, no omegas left you can come across them quite a lot, but rut blockers also have a similar affect to heat suppressants. Also I keep a fuck ton of art equipment in my bag, that’s why it’s so heavy.” Dina looked amused by your answer and Ellie just looked flat out exasperated.
You sighed to yourself, suddenly tired after the small interaction – you forgot how tiring socialising was. Damn, you really wanted to sleep too. Your neck started to itch and your stomach churned, as you started sweating.
Fuck heats and fuck omegas, you thought bitterly. Your wound was definitely bleeding again as you stopped putting pressure on it some time ago now, and it was like you could feel the colour draining from your face.
“We’re here!” Dina exclaimed. Relief flooded through your body and you flicked your eyes up and- Holy shit!
You felt your eyes widen at the small city standing proudly ahead of you, the lights reflecting in your eyes. You were pretty sure you were gaping, probably making some pathetic face over the pure nostalgia that hit you at the sight of the town.
Unfortunately, your awe was short lived as your heat decided to hit you full force, causing your vision to black out for a moment. You felt yourself slipping, head screaming as you tried to jolt yourself back into wakefulness, before your body hit the solid ground, white-hot pain shooting up your side.
“(Y/n)!”
Dina watched, horrified, as your eyes rolled to the back of your head, body lilting to the side before you slipped out of the saddle and hit the ground. She quickly wrestled herself off her horse, managing to knock Ellie off in the process.
“Hey!” Ellie yelped as her back hit the ground.
“You’re a big girl, suck it up!” Dina nipped back as she quickly made her way to the collapsed Omega.
Fuckitty, fuckitty, fuck! You were bleeding all over the damn place and Dina could already smell your scent starting to spike. God only knew what Ellie could smell, especially with Dina’s sense of smell being much more muted than hers.
“Is she okay?” Ellie questioned as she jogged the short distance over.
“Yeah, but her heat’s hittin’ and she’s lost a lotta blood. Get Tommy over here and make sure not to make a fuss, we don’t know how the other Alphas will react.” Ellie nodded curtly and took off.
It didn’t take long for Dina to see Tommy and Ellie jogging back over. You had yet to completely wake up, trapped in a state of half-consciousness.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Tommy looked down at the Omega who was manoeuvred to lean heavily against Dina. “It really is an Omega.”
“Yeah, we established that. Now can we hurry up?!” Ellie snapped at the male Beta who raised his hands up in a placating manner.
“Yes ma’am,” He replied cheekily with a little salute before squatting down to inspect the woman who growled at the stranger.
“It’s okay he’s with us,” Dina explained, running her fingers through your hair, causing you to relax a little. Ellie felt a pang of jealousy at the intimate gesture but shoved it down.
“Imma just pull your shirt up—" The omega snarled, but Tommy continued to slowly reach out, “—just to see how bad your wound is ok?”
Just as his fingers brushed the fabric of your shirt you turned around and went to bite his fingers. Tommy wrenched his hand back, before sighing. “It’s either pull up the shirt or take it off completely. Your choice”
The Omega glowered at him before letting out a huff and forcibly relaxing her shoulders, but made sure her eyes were following the Beta’s every movement.
Tommy smiled reassuringly, before once again slowly extending his hand and gently bringing the collar of your shirt downward, until it was just below your collarbone. The Beta’s brows furrowed as he inspected the wound. It appeared that you had been shot twice – one bullet had gone straight through whilst the other was likely still embedded in your skin.
The Beta hummed in thought. “We’ll need to get that bullet out and stitch your wound up quickly. You aware that you may go into a heat daze, yeah?”
You nodded numbly, your vision clouding before you were picked up by someone and everything went black.
Tommy sighed as he carried the injured Omega back into Jackson, taking a route from the Eastern Gate, knowing it would be less crowded at this time of day. It was probably a bad idea to go to the infirmary – a few of the doctors were Alphas and he didn’t want to risk that right now.
The Beta sighed before he heard one of the girls behind him lightly clear their throat.
“So, uh what’s a heat daze?” Dina queried, looking worried. Tommy’s gaze flickered to Ellie to see that the Alpha looked rather concerned as well.
“Naw, it’s nothing to worry about. It’s when an Omega’s body basically goes into a ‘survival mode’ if they are heavily injured during a heat. They’re basically stuck during one of the ‘down’ periods of their heat waves and will stay there ‘till their Omega feels safe enough to continue their heat cycle – with or without an Alpha.” Tommy gave the girls a few moments to process this. “I’m surprised you haven’t reacted at all Ellie,” The Beta probed.
Dina snorted whilst Ellie’s cheeks dusted pink.
“Well, I haven’t felt, um, horny or anything, just this urge to protect and provide,” Ellie looked away before muttering, “Joel told me that can happen with close family and friends…”
“That’s a little odd” Tommy commented idly as he walked up the front door steps before twisting the knob and swinging the door open.
“Tommy? Is that you?” A voice called from within the house.
“Yeah it’s me, mind giving me a hand here Maria?” Tommy asked as he tried to find a place to deposit the Omega.
“Wait, is it okay for Maria to be around her?” Ellie whispered, eyes darting towards the Omega. Her fingers were digging into Tommy’s bicep, eyes wild with worry. Tommy raised a brow at the oddly panicked reaction.
“Yeah, we’re bonded after all. Her pheromones won’t have any effect on Maria.”
“Oh, I— ok.” Ellie reluctantly let go, shuffling her feet as she avoided Tommy’s questioning gaze.
“Tommy wha-” Maria came out from the kitchen doorway before stopping dead in her tracks staring wide eyed at the Omega. “Hun, is that a-”
“An Omega? Yea.”
Maria sighed before making her way towards the small crowd in the entryway, as if this were a completely normal Wednesday afternoon. “Put her on the kitchen table, I’ll go get Joel.” Tommy nodded before do just that.
“Wait! Joel’s an Alpha isn’t he? He’s also not bonded!” Dina argued, grabbing Maria’s wrist, who looked rather unimpressed at the action.
“Yes he’s an Alpha but he has very good control over himself and is most experienced with Omegas since Sar-”
“Maria,” Tommy cut her off, tone warning. Maria merely shot him a sheepish look before heading on her way.
Joel sat at his work bench carving away at the block of wood in front of him, music playing softly in the background.
The Alpha’s calloused hands skilfully wielded the knife to give the wooden block a more basic shape to what he had in mind. Wood scraps lay scattered across the table’s surface as he carved away.
Of course, it was then that the sound of banging filtered through his ears, rudely interrupting his peaceful atmosphere.
Joel sighed, putting down his knife and scraping the wood scraps into the makeshift bin at the end of the bench before turning off the music player. The Alpha made his way down the stairs of his home only to hear the knocking increase, irritating Joel to no end.
“Yeah, yeah I heard ya. Calm down will you?” Joel grumbled irritably as he opened the door to reveal a rather ruffled looking Maria. “What?”
The other Alpha raised her brow before scoffing. “Gotta work on those manners, Miller.”
Joel restrained himself from rolling his eyes, opting to ignore the jibe as he crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. “So? What d’ya want?”
“Ellie and Dina came across an Omega during their patrol.” If Joel was surprised by this, he certainly didn’t show it, instead raising an inquisitive brow.
“And?” He probed when Maria didn’t continue.
“And she’s in heat and has been injured – you have the most experience and knowledge of Omegas and-”
“Wait, wait, wait. Hold up now,” Joel raised his hand to silence Maria who looked unamused at the interruption, as per usual, “You want me to- What? Handle it?”
Maria looked rather taken aback at the insinuation, though Joel wasn’t exactly sure why.
“No! We just wanted you to check her out and tell us the best course of action.” Maria responded incredulously.
Joel let out a weary sigh. “Just lemme get my jacket,” he mumbled, turning to pluck it off the hook by the front door, before stepping out of the front door and closing it behind him.
From there the two made their way back to Tommy and the others, Joel grumbling the entire way.
You cracked your eyes open and– Wow, you felt like shit.
Your left side was throbbing and your head felt heavy. You wanted nothing more than to close your eyes once again and drift off to sleep, but unfortunately life had other plans. As per fucking usual.
“She’s awake!” You heard a voice yell out. The face of Dina then popped into your field of vision. “Hey, how you feeling?”
You just chuckled humourlessly before hoarsely replying, “Like death warmed over.” You could hear Ellie snort at your answer.
“Not to worry,” An unfamiliar voice called out, causing you to stiffen. “We’ve patched up your side; you’ll just need ta ride out your second wave before you’ll likely go into a heat daze.”
You let out a low growl as you shifted to sit upright.
“Careful!” Dina’s hands found your shoulders and gently aided you in sitting upright.
“The name’s Tommy,” The Beta male introduced himself, extending his hand to you which you took and gave it a stiff shake before letting go and continue to stare at the man in deathly silence.
Ellie cleared her throat, “When will Joel be here?”
“Right now,” Another female voice called out from the doorway. The scent of Alpha registered through your nose causing you to go ramrod straight and prepared to take flight at a moment’s notice, despite the throbbing of your side.
“You’re fine hun, I’m mated.” The woman looked somewhat amused by your reaction; though that little fact caused you to relax slightly and you looked back to Dina who gave you a shrug of her shoulders.
“Is this her?” A baritone voice rang throughout the room. It was then that you smelt the man and– Fucking shit! WHY!?
It was obvious the Alpha had come to the same conclusion as you, as he froze on the spot, eyes keenly trained on you. You on the other hand, were regretting your life choices. Fuck this, I’d rather the bleeding out option, you thought.
Tommy’s eyes suddenly lit up, a mischievous smile curling along his lips. You didn’t like that look one bit, and neither did this Joel if the man’s disgruntled look were anything to go by. “Well, that explains why Ellie had no reaction,” Tommy loudly announced.
“What?” Ellie’s brows furrowed in confusion, obviously having not caught onto the current situation.
“Cause they’re compatible.”
You wondered, not for the first time today, if you could just disappear into the ground as those nutmeg eyes flickered back to you.
Fuck.