Chapter Text
Niki smiles, humming a new tune as she helps Bad make muffins. She finishes pouring them into the pan and hands them to the older boy to put in the oven when she notices a faint smell.
It smells like distressed omega- George by the underlying overly sweet scent- but it's so faint that she questions for a minute if she's just imagining it. "Bad? Do you smell that?"
The soft Alpha sniffs the air, "A little bit. Smells like George."
She nods and hums thoughtfully. "I'm gonna go check on him. I'll be right back."
"Alright. I'll start mixing more batter."
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She gently pushes open the omegas door, not knocking since it's already cracked. "George? Are you okay?"
The brunette is curled in a tiny ball on his bed, clearly upset and desperately trying to nest. He makes a small noise and looks up at her.
"It's okay. What's going on, Pup?" She coos softly, sitting down on the bed with him.
Now, George is not a pup nor is he usually the most affectionate and outspoken about things. He's typically shy and a bit sassy, only really letting himself show his softer side around Sapnap, Niki and Bad and even then it's rare- but Niki has a soft spot for him. He's the first one in the pack that had truly welcomed her and as time passed they grew quite close and she can't help but feel a little protective of him.
"I don't know..." He squirms, burying his face into his collection of some of everyone from the packs belongings. "Feel weird."
She carefully helps move the stuff into a circular pattern, like a proper nest, so he can relax a bit. "Weird how?"
He whimpers quietly, "Just weird..." His lip is wobbling now as he looks at her. "I... I think it's cause of that Alpha..."
She freezes.
On Monday, the pack woke up and followed their routine as usual, eating breakfast before doing some chores. George had slept in- nothing unusual for him- but when Niki had come to finally wake him up and try to force some food into his system he wasn't there.
Instantly, she told Philza and they started looking for him. It wasn't that they weren't allowed to leave on their own or anything like that but they always told someone- especially the omegas. Not to even mention that while George would never admit it, he got nervous leaving their territory without someone going with him. He learned his lesson as a pup and ever since he's been overly cautious.
They couldn't find him anywhere in their territory so a few of them went outside to look and still nobody found anything until about 10pm when Sapnap caught onto his scent and found him sleeping on a giant mushroom with a mysterious sweatshirt practically serving as a blanket with how big it was on him that also happened to smell very strong of an Alpha.
Let's just say the pack was a little more than just worried.
When he woke up, they all questioned him but he just said he was fine and that the mysterious Alpha was nice. He told them that he didn't belong to a pack and has been hanging out around the border of their so when he caught his scent he went to investigate and ended up talking to him all day until he must've fallen asleep.
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He hadn't been back out to see him since Monday but clearly something more was going on. Niki had a inkling that she may know what it is but didn't say anything quite yet.
"Can you do me a favor? I need you to come sit with me in the kitchen and try to eat a little bit, okay? Then we're gonna go talk to Philza."
He nods weakly and follows her- her hand on his back, worried he may pass out while walking there.
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Once he finishes his soup, they go to see Phil. George is still a bit out of it, not really understanding why they were in his office but not protesting it either.
“Niki, George, hello. What’s going on?”
“I wanted to talk to you about Monday. George is a little bit sleepy still but you’re gonna listen right, Gogy?”
“Mhm.”
“I went to go check on his this morning because Bad and I could smell distress on his scent and when I did I found him nesting...” She gives Philza a look and he reciprocates, communicating that he understands where she is going with this.
“George? Is this true? You were nesting?”
“Didn’t feel good. Feel weird. Couldn’t get comfortable. Feel empty.”
He hums, “Tell me about this alpha. You said he’s nice?”
“He’s really nice. He showed me how to catch a fish but I couldn’t do it and got water in my nose so he helped me do it with my paws. Oh! And he brought me to the flower field over the hill. I got scared when it started to get dark but he said he would keep me safe.” He unknowingly starts letting out happy pheromones. “N’ then I felt sleepy so we laid down under the mushroom but he must’ve left cause when I woke up Sapnap and as there and he was gone.”
His scent changes to be sad.
“He seems lovely. Did he tell you his name? You said he’s been leaking around lately. Is he looking to join our pack?”
“I don’t know.” He replies honestly, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his head on them. “His name is Dream though.”
Philza hums and and looks back to Niki. “You seem tired, George. Why don’t you let Niki bring you back to bed, then you can join me back in my office?” He directs the question to her.
“Of course. Come on, Gogy.”
He peers up at her, his scent radiating pre-heat pheromones. “Sleepy....”
“I know, Pup. You can sleep in your nest. I’ll come back to check on you in a few hours. Come on.”
He follows albeit slowly and passes out as soon as his little body touches his nest, nuzzling his cheek against the mysterious Alphas sweatshirt.
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“You think they’re bonded?”
She sighs “It’s really unlikely for an Alpha to trigger an omegas heat unless they are. How would he not know if they’re bonded though? He would’ve had to be bitten.”
He shakes his head. “Not necessarily. It’s very rare but if a pair is really strong they can have a ‘false bond’. No biting or mating required. All that would have to happen is for the Aloha to have scented him.”
Her eyes widen. “Really? What does that mean for George? He’s bonded? How’s that going to work if we can’t find his Alpha? George already struggles with his hormones. It’s not gonna be good if he’s longing for an Alpha that isn’t here and going into early heats.”
“I know. I’ll take Sapnap, Will and Puffy with me to go look for him tomorrow. We will have to keep them separated if we do find him though. I don’t want his rut to be triggered by George’s heat.”
She nods.
“Can you get Karl and Quakity to help you with George while we’re out? I don’t like that he’s in early heat- especially while accidentally bonded. He may try to go looking for him. Or his hormones could bother him even more than usual like you said. I’ll get Bad to bring you some of the pups hormone balancing vitamins but only give him the normal dose. It’s by his wolfs weight so he can only take two a day. And make sure he doesn’t hurt himself like that one time. If anything happens, get Bad to help you. He will be fine if it’s an emergency since he’s already bonded with Skeppy.”
“Okay. I can do that. I should probably get back to him now actually. He needs to eat before he goes into full heat.”
“Go ahead. I’ll tell Quakity and Karl to go to his room in the morning while I go talk to the other boys about tomorrow. Thank you.”
She smiles and leaves, going to grab some food for George.