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He was here.
She knew he would be – he was so predictable in his idiosyncrasies. A teenage boy driving a stolen ambulance toward the Alliance military base… Who could it be, other than Heero Yuy? Naturally, she thought with dark amusement. He was so bombastic, so hard to ignore. It was one of the things that drew her to him, really.
That and his complete lack of shame about his sex.
It was said that alphas from the colonies smelled stronger than those from Earth, and she found that to be true, at least. Far from unpleasant, his was a sharp, arresting scent that led her readily to him. He was standing on the deck of what looked to be a submarine, doing something to a control panel.
She was certain that he wasn’t supposed to be here, but he was absorbed in his task, as if perfectly comfortable with breaking about a dozen laws. That was Heero Yuy all over, wasn’t it? Steadfast in his mission, too stuck in his own head to see just how out of place he was.
“Heero!”
He merely glanced at her when she called his name. Those blue, blue eyes… She squared her shoulders, her dainty fists curling in their silk gloves. Now was not the time to get lost in romantic notions. She had to put up a strong front.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
He ignored her. It made her bristle – at least, it would have, were she not so well bred. Calm, she thought. Be calm. “Those are torpedoes, aren’t they? Just what are you planning to do with those? Talk to me, Heero!”
The plaintive note in her voice seemed to get through to him, and Heero turned once more to look over his shoulder. His eyes seemed to soften. Her heart stammered in her breast.
“Relena…” His voice was so low, she felt more than heard it.
“Heero…” She smiled.
The click of the gun registered before the sight of it did. When she realized what was happening, when she recognized the dark little tunnel that would lead to her death, she gasped, fear seizing her, locking her in place.
“You’re in over your head,” he said coldly. His eyes showed no emotion, no humanity. He was going to kill her.
Just before the sound of gunfire pierced the air, she caught a whiff of something – flowers? Then the shot sent her dropping to the deck, her hands over her ears, a half-scream torn from her throat.
But there was no pain.
She opened her eyes. Heero was kneeling on the ground, his arm limp at his side, an expression of utter shock on his face. The gun was lying some distance away from him.
“You just hold it right there!”
A new voice. Relena’s head snapped up.
In the encroaching twilight, a figure stood against the backdrop of sea and sky, black on dark blue – all black, except the pale wedge of a face beneath their cap and the pale hands, one of which held another gun. It was pointed at Heero.
The salty breeze blew past them, and she detected that scent again: flowery, like jasmine, almost like perfume. Amber and pine. Refreshing and so, so intoxicating.
“Are you alright, miss?” the newcomer asked, and she stood on trembling legs, her senses focusing on him, her lungs taking a deep drag of that scent.
He was an omega.
Relena had met omegas, of course. Many of her classmates were omegas, many of her friends. But the omegas from the colonies, she had been told, were different. Most people on the colonies never used suppressants. They allowed their primal natures to get the better of them.
All her life, she had known that the people of Earth carefully curated their populations. Females were meant to be omegas, and males were meant to be alphas, and that was just the way it was. She herself had been born unusual, she was told, until the surgeries and the hormone therapy had made her normal. She had grown to be a proper young lady. Nobody was any the wiser that she had been born wrong.
This stranger, this omega, had to be from space. His scent was so loud that she momentarily forgot where she was. She forgot about Heero, the torpedoes, Pagan waiting in the car somewhere far behind. All she saw was this beautiful creature, whose scent was drawing her closer as if by a gentle caress. Male omegas were so rare on Earth that she wasn’t sure she had ever come across one. He was instantly fascinating to her.
Somewhere out of her field of vision, Heero growled. Another colonial trait, she’d heard. They really were like animals up there, and she thought it was marvelous. She wondered if she would be capable of such a thing, if she could produce that rumble in her chest that would make this omega submit…
Get ahold of yourself, she thought, but the rest of her didn’t seem inclined to listen.
She stepped closer to the omega. Heero growled again.
She had seen Heero bare his teeth once before, during their very first meeting. He had such large, sharp canines – real alpha fangs. Subconsciously, she ran her tongue over one of the false implants that had been installed when she was only a child. Would her own canines have grown so large? Alpha females, when allowed to develop, were said to become just as fierce as the males. What might her life have been like if she had been…
The omega’s scent, his large eyes looking at her with triumph at having saved her, his cocky smile, all brought out something that she had fought long and hard to suppress. It had peeked out in glimpses in the girls’ locker room, or when enjoying a sleepover with her girlfriends – desire, need, want. She loved looking at them. She had always told herself that it was because she was a girl, too; that she wanted to be like them, not that she wanted to be with them.
The omegas she’d known always took suppressants. They wore fragrances to disguise their natural emissions. It was easy to ignore them, to ignore her own disgusting urges. This male omega’s presence shattered her control. That treacherous desire reared its ugly head, transforming her thoughts into an unrecognizable amalgamation of possessiveness and greed.
When Heero once more let out that deep, rumbling warning, she turned to snarl right back at him. And in his startled gaze, piercing the stoic mask, she could see it: a challenge, alpha to alpha.
How it thrilled her.
>>><<<
Heero had never paid much attention to the matter of sex.
He was an alpha male, that much he knew. He had been given suppressants to curb his hormonal impulses, starting when he’d been very young, as soon as he’d begun training. He was a tool, not a person; there was no need for him to discover anything about his own sexuality.
Even so, he had begun to suspect that something was very wrong. In the last few months or so, it seemed as if the suppressants weren’t doing what they should. Whether it was the changes made to his biology for the purposes of training, or simply that he was on too low a dose, the drugs just weren’t having much effect anymore.
He had begun to have urges.
Urges were bad. He had no need of them. And yet, something had kept him from informing Dr. J. Perhaps there was some teenage rebelliousness in him, after all. Perhaps he was curious. Perhaps he just didn’t think it would affect the mission.
Now, he was starting to second-guess that decision.
It had been a split second before the sound of the gunshot when he’d detected the scent. It was new, and new was never good; but something about it seemed to slow his movements and bring his train of thought to a crashing halt.
Even in his vulnerable position, hunched on the deck with one arm around the other, glaring at this newcomer who had shot him, Heero felt… He wasn’t sure. Intrigued? Curious? How could he have the time or the presence of mind to be curious when he was facing down the barrel of a gun?
“Are you alright, miss?” the intruder asked, and Heero felt a twinge of real anger. The foolish girl had been the one to put herself in danger in the first place, so how was he the bad guy, here? He was just trying to accomplish his mission.
When he locked eyes with the other boy, his anger fell flat on its face.
He was, simply put, the most beautiful person Heero had ever seen. Or, was it the smell that was making him think so? A quick scan revealed a lithe figure, good proportions, a sweet face…
Sweet, he scoffed at himself. What the hell was wrong with him?
Somewhere in his fogged brain, through the sound of all of his training going down the mental commode, he thought, omega.
This was an omega. This was the very thing his suppressants were supposed to protect him from. On Earth, most people had found ways to mask their sex, to the point of surgically and hormonally altering one’s birth sex to better fit the social standard. They used drugs and cosmetics to hide their scents. Not all places, not all cultures, but it was prevalent enough that Heero hadn’t thought he’d have any trouble.
This boy was obviously not on any suppressants, and it was doing some very odd things to Heero.
When Relena stepped toward the newcomer, Heero growled. He wasn’t sure why. He was growling a warning to the boy who had shot him, and to Relena, and to himself – because he could feel his control slipping, could feel those animal instincts whispering to him from their tomb, long buried but not dead like he’d previously thought.
“Come on over here,” the boy said to Relena. “Get behind me, OK? I gotta get you someplace safe, and then I’ll deal with this asshole.”
Outrageous. As if Heero could be dealt with, like some common lackey! He had been genetically engineered and trained to be the Perfect Soldier, and this guy... Who did this guy think he was?
He growled again when Relena made for the boy, and she snarled at him. This took him aback. What right did she have to warn him off?
Then he realized it. She’s an alpha.
Never mind her soft femininity and her fancy dress and her long hair. She was an alpha; he recognized the challenge in her eyes, the set of her jaw when she looked at him. She was an alpha, and she wanted this omega.
That just wouldn’t do.
The pain in his arm faded to nothing as he stood, drawing himself up – he was only an inch or so taller than she, he noted with some aggravation. But she did not cower. She pulled her back into a taut line, matching him in height with her high-heeled shoes, her gaze steady.
“Heero,” she said in warning.
There was no time now for words. There was only this: two alphas, an omega, and this lone stretch of coast to witness a primal scene, an ancient dance that had played out for their ancestors since time out of mind.
He lunged for her, and she reared up to meet him.
>>><<<
Duo stood there on the deck of the submarine, the gun in his hand limp at his side, blinking against the deepening gloom at the two who were now tussling with each other. Were these people insane?
Yes, he thought. Yes, they are. They must be. “Uh… Hey, you two?” He tried to call them, but they were lost. The boy was now attempting to beat the girl into submission, but she was holding her own, running around and around the deck to dodge him, taking advantage of his crippled arm and pausing to throw her purse at his head.
Crazy. Just crazy.
Duo checked his wristwatch and noted the time; just a few minutes left to get these idiots out of the vicinity. It was too late to change Deathscythe’s trajectory. He couldn’t just kill them; he had no desire to off innocent civilians, even if they were nuts. “Guys!” He tried again.
“You just stop it right now!” the girl was yelling. “Heero, you're injured, you should stop moving around!”
“That’s my omega!” the boy, Heero, snapped.
It all became clear then. Duo rolled his eyes. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…” he mumbled, walking toward the little scene. Aiming carefully, he let off two rounds onto the deck, listening as the bullets pinged off the metal and whizzed away into the darkness. “Can we have some quiet for a sec?!” he shouted, and the two finally – mercifully – fell still and silent. Heero had managed to grab the girl by the ankle, and she had dug her nails into his leg. The sight was fit to make Duo bust his gut laughing if he wasn’t working on a time constraint.
“Hey, I dunno what’s going on here,” he said in his most upbeat voice, hoping to placate them. “But let’s all just calm down and talk it out, alright? You two’ve obviously got some history together. I can see that I was interrupting something. But do ya mind taking it elsewhere?”
He could see by the looks on their faces that he was in trouble. The other boy, contorted though he was, glared at him fiercely and almost possessively. The girl let her face soften into a kind of dreamy agreeability. “Yes, you're so very right,” she said, releasing Heero’s leg and wiping her hands on her rumpled dress. “Forgive me, that was terribly embarrassing. My name is Relena Darlian, and I'm very grateful that you came to my rescue.”
“Heh, no problem!” His eyes never left Heero’s, watching for any hint that he might get up and retaliate. “As for you, just sit right there. I’ve got some questions for ya once this pretty young lady makes her getaway.”
“You don’t have any right to tell me what to do,” Heero said through gritted teeth.
“Oh, yeah? I’m the one with the gun, here.” Duo twirled it to emphasize his point. “I think you have—Hey, what’re you doing?” His attention was suddenly drawn to Relena, who had come up next to him and was pulling his arm down.
“There’s no need to brandish that thing around,” she said in a honeyed voice. “You two are obviously working for the same people, aren’t you? You’re from the colonies, right?”
He was beginning to regret not shooting her, as well. He had been deceived by her apparent helplessness. “That really has nothin’ to do with you,” he said, backing away from her.
Her smile grew sweeter, and it only served to strengthen his guard. “Heero isn’t going to hurt anyone in his condition,” she said. “Just put down your gun and we’ll discuss it, like you said. There’s no need for violence.”
In her high heels, she was just a bit taller than he was. It obviously gave her some ideas about how in control she was of the situation. Duo glanced between Relena and Heero, wishing he had chosen another spot, wishing he had never run across these lunatics.
He was not oblivious to what was on their minds. His heat had just ended, and the suppressants weren’t doing much to cover it up. Just his luck that he would come across two alphas who were obviously missing a few screws apiece. “Listen, I have a job to do, OK?” he said. “I just need to get my shit and get outta here, so if you’d kindly forget you saw anything…”
“Don’t be afraid,” Relena purred, and Duo gulped down a rising tide of nerves. She wasn’t really listening to him. “You poor thing, you look so frazzled… Nobody’s going to hurt you…” Her hand came up to cup his face.
“Hands off!” The other alpha was on her in an instant, dragging her away from Duo, his deep growl resounding with the waves lapping the hull of the submarine.
“You’re such a brute!” Relena cried, twisting from his grip. “I can't allow you near him! Now sit down and stop thrashing around, you’re going to hurt yourself even more!”
“You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into!” Heero snarled.
“I know you need to sit down and listen, and I'm going to make you!”
“Go home and play omega like your government wants you to!”
That seemed to snap her control, and she tackled him. Before Duo could stop her, his watch beeped. “Shit!” He spun to look behind him – sure enough, he could see the water churning as Deathscythe neared the surface.
He left the two alphas to fight out their differences and ran to the ladder leading down to the dock. Heero had pinned Relena and was attempting to choke her while she clawed at his face. With his movements impeded by his gunshot wound, he wasn’t making much progress.
It took a moment to get up to Deathscythe’s cockpit. When he looked back, he could see that the alphas had stopped their fight. Relena was now on top of Heero, and they were both looking at him in astonishment, no doubt thrown off by the appearance of the mobile suits.
“You two need help! Like, serious psychological help!” he called before ducking inside and closing the hatch behind him. If they replied at all, he didn’t hear it.
Down on the deck, Heero and Relena could only look on in stunned silence. Heero’s mind was beginning to catch up to his body, and it was not pleased with this little performance. Wing was slung over the shoulder of another mobile suit. Another Gundam? Was this boy another Gundam pilot?
Without the omega’s scent flooding his brain, Heero was thinking more clearly. He had botched the mission. He had totally and completely wrecked everything.
Relena slowly stood and dusted herself off. “Right, then,” she said, just slightly out of breath. She had forgotten herself. That scent had ensnared her completely, making her forget all decency. “Heero, if you would come with…” She trailed off when she realized he was no longer there. “Heero? Heero!”
Heero was running along the dock, his eyes on the two Gundams that had taken off toward the emerging stars. He would find that omega and make him pay for this – for interrupting his mission, for stealing his Gundam, for making a complete fool out of him. He would find him and pin him and drive his teeth into the soft skin of his neck, make him beg…
“Heeeeeeeerrroooooooooo!”
Relena’s cries could not reach him. She stood on the deck, looking between the retreating figure on the shore and the trail of exhaust that was the only thing left of the mobile suits. How foolish she had been! To be driven to primal madness by the mere presence of that omega…
Glancing again at the sky, she thought of him again – his violet eyes, so wide, so innocent. How she wanted…
Safely up in the sky, heading for the Sweepers’ ship, Duo breathed a sigh of relief. He had gotten out of there with both suits and had avoided being claimed by one of the addled alphas. He would have to double his dose of suppressants. Most of his time lately had been spent with older guys who were well in control of themselves; he had never faced an alpha his age. He wondered if this was a common thing with them, or if those two had simply been extra crazy.
With a shudder, he thanked his lucky stars that he would never have to see those nutjobs again.