To Become a Pack

"Steve!" The man yelled, grabbing Steve by the shoulders and shook him to snap him out of whatever daze he was in as he stared at the knocked out mortal on the ground. "Steve, grab Peter and let's! Go!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Steve shouted at him, slapping his hands away. "Why did you do that?!" He motioned to Tony, confused as to why his pack brother was here. Though he had to admit to himself some guilt due to feeling like he was escalating to knocking Tony out himself, though he doubted he would do that, there was something different to be said about when his wolf got control of his emotions. "What do you want, Bucky?"
Bucky growled in frustration, grabbing athe terrified Peter out of his chair, who sobbed and tried to get out of the hold. He loved his Uncle Bucky, but he wanted to check on Tony, to make sure he was okay. "I DON'T HAVE TIME TO EXPLAIN, JUST- JUST COME WITH ME!"

Steve lifted Tony up and placed him on his sofa, before doing as told. While he outranked Bucky - barely - he could see how frantic the other was, and he didn't want to risk his wolf taking over and possibly hurting Peter. "Fine. But you are gonna have to explain yourself as soon as possible. And put my son down!"
Bucky huffed, passing a horrified Peter into Steve's arm as he dashed out the door. "Come on!"
Peter trembled and sobbed in Steve's embrace, hiding in the crook of his neck. "Daddy!" He wept. "Is Tony okay?"

"Tony's ok, love. I checked. He'll be ok once he wakes up. I'll leave him a mental message for when he wakes up, ok?" He did as he said he would, leaving Tony a message in his head and hoping he didn't question how he could do that, and ran after the other wolf.
"This is fucked Steve, this is FUCKED." Bucky yelled as he ran as fast as his human legs could carry him. "It's sick! It's wrong, fuck, Steve, this is so fucking bad, we have to do something!"
"Buck, slow down! I need you to explain what happened! Is it the humans? The elders? Is someone ill?" Steve asked, running in front of the other man to stop him in his tracks.

"It's-it's Peter, fuck, Steve, they want to-" Bucky entered hyperventilation that was covered by Peggy's furious screaming.
"YOU ARE EVIL! YOU ARE FUCKING EVIL! YOU'RE A DISGUSTING, DIABOLICAL PRICK!'
"Let me show you." Bucky said, dragging Steve onto their territory where their pack was split on two sides, yelling at one another.
Steve stared at the arguing bunch. "What is going on." He asked Bucky, his tone set in a way that left no room for arguing. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.
"Just a disagreement." The Alpha dismissed him with a wave, pinning Peggy down with a glare, eyes turning dark, a sign that she should never raise her voice at him like that again. "It's survival. That's what he's for. That's his role."
"HE IS THREE!"
"Your point?" The Alpha asked cooly, raising an eyebrow.

"Peter, stay with Uncle Bucky." Steve walked over to the elder, glaring at him. "My son is not protector, as I've told you before. He is the omega. He keeps the peace, he calms you all from being the vicious animals you try to be. He makes sure we don't do this to each other. Now what on earth are you trying to do to my son?"
"I know he's the Omega." the elder wolf nodded. "I took that into consideration when I made my next decision. Peter's the Omega, a calming, providing force. He, and the other pups here are the future of the clan. He has to fulfil his duty." the Alpha shrugged, as if talking about the weather. "He has to breed."
Steve's face fell, the Alpha had completely lost his mind, there couldn't be more than one Omega per group, having the Omega bloodline continue through the same family was so rare it was hardly heard of. New Omegas simply grew into the roll in their first few weeks of life, once born everyone could tell if there was a new Omega presence. It wasn't hereditary, if it was Steve would have been an Omega as well.
Peggy felt sickness just hearing that. "God fuck, you're a sick bastard." She closed her eyes, standing protectively in front of the mothers with the other pups, keeping them safe.

"I'm realistic." the Alpha wolf coldly stated. "That's how we survived for generations. That's how we stayed alive. Sacrifices must be made in order for us to keep going."
"Daddy?" Innocently, Peter looked up at his father, not fully comprehending just how terrified and livid Steve was. "What's breeding?"
Steve growled at the elder, his fists clenched. "My son is too young to breed, and you know it. It would be impossible to make it happen in the first place. The kids are not your toys, the clan has survived because we're smart, NOT because we forced children to breed! You sick fuck..." He growled, his wolf snarling in his head.

the Alpha glared, growling loudly as he placed a firm hand on Steve's shoulder and squeezed, making the other man kneel. He still held the highest rank in the pack, and whether he liked it or not, Steve was going to respect him. "Here is how it is." The Alpha growled coldly; "Whatever Joseph and Sarah taught you? About our history? About us always living in peace with the mortals, that we survived hiding and making peace? Its. All. Bullshit. We survived because we fought. We survived because we sacrificed. Because we're strong. You don't know what I've seen. What your father saw. We saw our kin disappearing every day, one by one. One minute the wolf was running, the next it was made into a carpet. It was dangerous, and our people were dying like flies. But we made it. Not because of peace. Not because we prayed. Because sacrifices were made. We have to do the same now. I've seen Omegas breeding and giving birth no older than 7 years old. They honoured their duty. It's time for this generation to do the same. The point is not for him and the others to breed right now. We just have to see if they're fertile. They're young, that's true, but we can still check. Some of the older pups will be involved, since I decided it wasn't safe for adults. Steve..." he took a gentler tone. "It must be done. You don't have a say in it."

Steve simply stared at him. Intentions meant nothing if the methods were twisted. The Alpha was insane, he had always known he was unhinged, sometimes dangerously so, but this was completely crazy. Someone had to stand up to him... "We... didn't survive through fighting... We left the humans alone, stopped showing them our forms... I know our history, Uncle. I know there was blood shed and war. But it's not like that now. We don't need to do this... Not to the children... We're not in the olden days anymore!" Steve spoke, struggling against the power the elder held over him, but he managed to say what he wanted. "And you know... if enough of us oppose you... you will fall... you will not longer be the top around here..."

The elder sighed, disappointed by his pack mate. "The old days made sense." He murmured, shaking his head, truly believing that the days of peace they were heading towards was evil. "Our rules made sense. Everything- it was clear. Clear who was the animal and the human. The predator and the prey. And now... Now it's all messy. These modern laws, the new restrictions..." He rolled his eyes. "if Joseph wouldn't have stuffed your head with inaccuracy, you would have seen my point. Children will end up doing this anyway, we're just speeding it up. And you can't outrank me, Steven."
"The council agreed." One of the elders stated grimly, looking at the ground. "They... They said it was a reasonable request. I'm sorry, Steve. We can't go against them. Not if we want to live."

Steve stood, glaring at them all. "This isn't living." He went back over to his son, picking him up. "You can join us if you want." He told Bucky. "I will see what I can do to save the others... But we can't stay here." As he walked away from the territory and his tribe, he felt the threads of connection between himself and his brothers disappear. It was painful, but his wolf agreed with him. This was right. He held peter closer as well, knowing it would be painful for the boy too. He looked back at Bucky, waiting to see what his wolf brother did.
Bucky looked back at Steve and the tribe before biting his lip, almost drawing blood before he closed his eyes and whispered "I have to stay." he choked on his words "I have to help Peggy protect the others. Until we find a solution for this clusterfuck I have to be here and help her." He sounded so sorry as he said this, but bowed his head when the Alpha walked past him. Looking at his nephew with disappointment and sadness. "You would walk away from your life?" he started softly "Because of something this small? Once you pass the line there is no coming back. I'll consider you rogue. Think about this. Carefully."

"It's already done... I'm not one of this tribe anymore... And neither is my son. You can't force us to do anything anymore." Steve looked to Peggy and the kids. "I understand if you don't want to leave. But I strongly urge you to join us if you don't want this to happen..."
The others were about to move when the Alpha used his commanding voice "Sit." None of them dared to move, even if it was written all over their face that they wanted nothing more than to come with him. Marching over to the man, the Alpha grabbed him by the throat, pinning Steve to the nearest tree, holding him in place as Peter cried on the ground, fist slamming in the Alpha's legs but with no effect. "You can have your pet human." he growled "You can throw your temper tantrums. You can leave this tribe and you can ignore what you are if that's what you want." he got closer to Steve's face. "But you will NOT stop the others from honouring their duty. Do you understand me? Just because you're a failure doesn't mean the others have to be."

Steve looked to the others, using his telepathy to talk to them. 'If you want to leave you can, just break the tether... if you don't, he'll keep doing this to you... to all of us' He wheezed for air, scratching at the other mans hands. Peter growled, turning into a wolf again and biting down hard into the mans leg.
"I have rights on the runt too." the Alpha said, not at all affected by the attack and making up more new rules that had NEVER been established in the tribes. ''He came from my blood, after all. He's not all yours." He hummed, looking at Rumlow. "take it."
Quickly following the command, Rumlow snatched Peter and ran into the territory. "Let's review this situation." the Alpha started "You have no pup. No pack. No territory. You're all alone. And you have nowhere to go after you leave here. You know what they do to rogues?"
"Don't touch him! Let him go!" Bucky screamed, he couldn't stand this.
"To where?! Where could he go?!" The alpha screamed back. "Where would ALL of you go after you break the tether?! To your pet mortals?! To humans?! In the woods?" We're all we have! We have to stick together, I'm doing this for your own good!" He growled, the madness of twisted logic showing through the facade he usually put up, tightening his grip on Steve's neck until he almost passed out. "And if you can't see that alone, I'll do it FOR you."

"We start our own pack, away from YOU, and your twisted mind! You are a sick perverse, mentally deranged bastard, who needs to leave this family alone. And you CAN'T control my son, because his tether is broken and I am his custody. His mother is in a different pack, NOT this shit show. So he is my sole responsibility. His tether is broken, so give. me. my. son. back." Steve growled, pushing back and seeming to tower over the other man, glaring down at him as he felt new rushes of power through him.
Bucky growled, as he charged the alpha, sending them both on the ground, pounding on the elder's face. He panted as he looked up at Steve with wide eyes, whispering. "Go..." he then screamed "GO! TAKE THE OTHERS! TAKE THEM TO THE COUNCIL OR SOMEWHERE SAFE!"

Steve nodded, telepathically telling Bucky to meet them later, saying he would send a message. He ran to the others, confused as to what this new power was that he had obtained, but he didn't have time to question that now. He ordered the others to follow, and picked Peter up. He glared at anyone who tried to stop him until they whimpered and sat, shying away from him. It didn't click in his mind what that meant, why he was suddenly more powerful than he had been before, despite being high in the ranks already.

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He lead the others to S.H.I.E.L.D, sending Stark a telepathic message to say to meet them there the next day when they had the meeting with Fury. He lead them to some safe rooms, knowing S.H.I.E.L.D was definitely safe from the group Alpha. He then went to Fury's office, leaving Peter in Peggy's arms, knowing they'd all be safe.
"What the hell happened?" Fury asked after the whole thing, sitting in his chair. "First, I go to my godson's place because there were noise complaints to find him passed out on the couch with the bruise of the century on his face, who did that, by the way? Then, I find you and the peanut gallery in here. So again, what the hell happened, Steve?"

Steve sighed, almost falling into a chair now that the adrenaline had worn off and he knew the others couldn't be harmed. "I'm sorry..." He mumbled, exhausted. "The Alphas gone crazy... He... he threatened the children. Bucky - my wolf brother, not my real brother, It's basically like how Asian culture call grandmothers 'auntie', he's the one who... hit Tony. He was freaking out and he didn't mean to do so much damage, he had difficulty controlling his strength sometimes - he stopped the Alpha so we could escape." He rubbed his own face, yawning. "I... feel strange. I think... I think I might be the new Alpha..." He looked up at Fury. "I think enough of us broke the tether... and... because the others followed me..." He shook his head, hardly believing it. "I had to protect my pack, Fury."

Softening, Fury sighed, sitting next to him and offered the man his cup of coffee. "Drink,'' he ordered, seeing how exhausted Steve was. "Tony's okay, by the way. Knocked out cold, though. Isn't gonna wake up till tomorrow, so we should be fine..." he sighed, rubbing his temple. "And when you say 'threaten' you mean what, exactly? Is it serious? I'm assuming pretty bad since you came here of all places. Something that should be brought before the council?"

"He... he wants the kids to breed. My son... he's three... I couldn't let it happen. The Alpha is stuck in the dark ages, the rest of us know we don't have to resort to what the older generations did, centuries ago, but there was no convincing the alpha..." He sipped the coffee. "He hurt my son. He tried to take him from me. He tried to force the children to..." He growled slightly, glaring at the cup in his hand. "I had to do something... And... and now I'm the alpha and..." he deflated. "And I have no clue what I'm doing..."
Fury covered his mouth with hand, horror filling his body as disgust twisted in his stomach, not knowing what to say. The news left him speechless. When he found his voice again, he simply said; "He's dead." It was a promise. "I promise you, he. Is. Dead... Fuck, this is war all over again..." He took a shaky breath as he gripped the edges of the table.

"No. No war. We take him out, believe me, new Alphas do not appear unless the original dies or is corrupted to the point of mutiny." Steve sighed. "I'm sorry for bringing this here, the issues and politics can be a nightmare. But the council will understand seen as I'm the new Alpha, I can explain. They'd also understand if he's taken out. No one else, not his followers either, seen as they're mainly just being forced by his old power over them. Take out the Alpha... and then we can go to the council... and we can make sure they understand why we killed him."
"I WISH it was that easy." Fury sighed, not realising the rules of the wolves. "But you know the rights, and rules, Steve. Sick fuck he may be, but the laws say he has the right to a trial before we do anything. You know how fast the words go by. Don't even want to imagine how many people found out what just happened. They're gonna want to know why you're the new Alpha, and you know." Clicking his tongue in bitterness, Fury stood up. "I'm going to go see what I can do. You check up on Peter, see if he's okay."

"Fury, I know my own world... in your world he has right to a trial. In ours the new Alpha can kill the old one when they are no longer required." Steve stood and began to walk down the corridor. "I hope we're welcome here..."
"You are, but you know it's not your own world anymore." Fury said as gently as we could. "We're a world, and that's all. Not mine, not yours... Just, something. Something that can improve. And from what I've gathered, the council gave him green light to pull this twisted shit. Until they don't give you a command, I can't let you press the trigger. Even if I want you to." He sighed and left.
But something didn't sit right about that. There was no was the council would agree to something so twisted. Steve had to figure out what was happening, for the pups. He still didn't have time to process his new rank, he had a son to look after, and a clan to make sure were ok.

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In the safe rooms, Peter was playing with another pup as Peggy kept a close eye on him. It made him feel protected, knowing she was there for him. "Aunt Peg?" he asked softly. "What did Alpha wanted me to do? I asked Daddy and he didn't answer me when we got here..."
"Oh, Peter, honey..." Peggy soothed. "Nothing, it's nothing you need to worry about. Especially not at your age. It'll all be okay. You're safe now, okay? Steve is gonna make sure that sick... Prick will not touch any of us ever again."
"You're damn right about that." Steve's voice came from the doorway, he chuckled as Peter ran into his arms. "Hey little buddy, doing ok...?" He asked, kneeling down and ruffling his sons hair.
"Yep!" Peter smiled, cheery as ever despite what had happened.

"You better be kid, we have some playing to do." Came a new voice from the doorway, and they turned to see Natasha and Clint stood there. They had been on missions together so they knew exactly what Steve was, and they didn't care. They were also somewhat surrogate family for Peter. "Aunty Natasha!" Peter screamed, running over and jumping into her arms.
"No love for me then, little guy?" Clint chuckled and ruffled the kids messy mop of hair.
"Paying us a visit?" Natasha asked as Clint sat on the couch, playing with Peter. The woman had known about Steve for some time, and as Tony's second best friend, she made a search on him immediately and throughout. "Also, tell your bestie I don't appreciate him hurting my Antoshka. Panic or no, I'll knock him on his furry ass."

"He knows I am not happy with him for that." Steve smiled. "It's good to see you guys... It's been... A long day." he sighed and sat down. "I hope he'll be OK... I left him there with that bastard..."
"You did what ya had to do." Clint quipped, still playing with Peter.
Seeing how worried Steve was, Natasha softened. "We'll get to him. Don't worry, Bucky's a big boy. He'll handle it. In the meanwhile... How are YOU?"
Steve raised a brow. "Me?" He seemed utterly confused at someone asking that question.

"Am I looking at anyone else?" She smirked, crossing her arms. "Yeah, you. How are you?"

"Exhausted..." Steve admitted, changing ranks was always painful and draining, doing two in one day was utterly exhausting.
"I imagine." she murmured. "Do you want to talk about it? Or be distracted from it?"
"I think what I really want is a long nap." he chuckled softly. "You'll make sure these guys are sorted?"
"Yep, leave it to me." she nodded with a smirk. "Oh, by the way! Before you take your nap... Are you and Tony official, or...?"
Steve's face flushed "I um... I was going to take him into town to a restaurant and... And ask him."

Natasha wanted to tease Steve. "Aw, that's too bad! I wanted to ask him out myself... We could've swapped clothing, if you get my meaning." she had an amused smile on her face as she shared a smirk with Clint and Peggy.
Of course, they all knew Natasha didn't see Tony as anything more than a brother. But it was hilarious to see Steve get worked up over it.
"Nat, I am too tired for this, stop teasing before the wolf gets jealous..." he grumbled but had a small smile on his face.
She pouted "You're no fun. I'll make the big bad wolf come out one way or another." she chuckled, crossing her arms "Go to sleep. I got it from here."

"Thank you, guys..." Steve said, standing and giving Peter a hug. His son was safe... "Be good for these guys, OK? I need a nap."
"Can I nap with you, daddy?" Peter asked in a small voice, fists clenched around the material of Steve's jeans. "I want to stay and protect you so the Alpha won't bother you."
Steve smiled and picked the boy up. "Of course, little wolf." he said goodbye to the others and headed into his usual quarters to curl up in wolf form on the big wolf bed Fury had gotten for him.
Peter turned too in his much smaller form, standing by his father's side like a guard dog, tail wagging back and forth, happy to know Steve trusted him with this great assignment.

Steve smiled at his son, the tiny little wolf trying to protect the new Alpha. It was adorable. 'You can sleep too if you like, pup.' he told him telepathically.
'No, daddy, I have to protect you!' Peter responded, turning to the other wolf, licking his face. 'I don't want you to be hurt again'.
Steve patted his head with his big paw. 'Don't worry kid, we're safe here.'
'We thought we were safe back home too,' the puppy whimpered, snuggling close to his father. 'and then look what happened.'
'We were never safe Pete... I'm sorry I put you through all of that... I thought we could teach them to listen to the new rules and live in harmony with the humans... And we might be able to now. Not yet, but soon..."
Peter barked, nuzzling into his father's neck. 'It's okay daddy. I'm not upset with you. I love you!' the tiny pup curled close the Steve, resting his head on his big paw. 'I hope we will! Will you marry Tony if humans and wolfies will be nice to each other?"

Steve hadn't thought about the repercussions of possibly dating a mortal... though with him the new leader he was able to make some rules that didn't greatly effect the pack, such as the old Alphas rules. For now? His head hurt, and he needed to sleep. His entire body ached with the pain of changing rank twice in a day and he knew Peter would be hurting as well. 'I just want to spend time with him at the moment, pup. Get some sleep." Steve smiled, resting his head down and curling protectively around the tiny pup.
'I really like Tony, daddy.'
Steve smiled, he supposed he did too.