Chapter Text
The demonstration had been rescheduled for the next week. Ryland had spent that week developing and deploying a new system to organize the Astrophage. Each measurement got assigned a color. All you had to do was make sure that the color you got matched what you were supposed to get. There had been some complaints about the system the first day, but by the second day of deployment, the complaints had dried up. Apparently getting the new colored vials made everything run easier in the labs. Who would have thought.
“This is a good idea, Dr. Grace. Thank you for coming up with it so quickly.” Dr. Grace nodded his head in acknowledgement.
“Honestly, Director, it was the first thing I thought of.” Dr. Johnson let out a sharp laugh at this.
“Yes, Dr. Johnson? Do you have something to share with the team?” Stratt was disinclined to allow such nonsense. Ryland had been preoccupied with this new system for days and she’d had to sleep alone for the past four nights. She hadn’t slept.
“I do, Director. Color coding the Astrophage? What are we? Kindergarteners? I didn’t know that Dr. Grace taught Kindergarten before joining the taskforce.” Dr. Johnson let out another bitter sounding laugh.
“It was seventh-grade actually.” Dr. Grace leaned forward in his chair, placing his elbows on the table and his chin on his fists. “Which, to be fair, is like teaching Kindergarten, just with taller students.”
“My point stands. Why are you treating the team like children? I think we can read a label without needing this frivolity.” The rest of the team had sat back in their chairs, Stratt included. This was going to take a while, may as well enjoy the show.
“I was given one milligram of Astrophage for the demonstration last week. A full milligram. Do you know how much Astrophage was needed for the demonstration, Dr. Johnson?”
“A milligram?”
“Not even close. I needed approximately one nanogram. If I had used the milligram we would not be here right now. The project would be over, and the world would freeze. The Astrophage is suspended in oil to prevent any unexpected discharge. The human eye is unable to tell a nanogram apart from a milligram. The vial was labeled, yes. But the text is rather small. If you request a nanogram, and are given a vial, you are going to think you were given a nanogram.” Dr. Grace took a large breath in. “It is due to me getting a bad feeling that we are still here.”
“I still don’t see how the colors will help.” Dr. Grace took a very deep breath in at this.
“While the human eye is unable to tell a nanogram from a milligram apart, the human eye is able to tell the colors yellow and green apart. And before you try to say, “what about colorblind people”, don’t. Each color has a shape printed in the color area. The human eye can tell a circle from a triangle apart. It is for safety. Now, the color system will be staying in place, I do not care what your wrong opinions about it are.” Turning to address everyone, he continued. “If you have any issues, you may take them up with Director Stratt. Thank you for attending this morning, we will see you tomorrow.” Dr. Johnson, however, felt he had to get one last dig in before leaving.
“Oh yes, go hide behind your Omega, Dr. Grace. Is she really your Omega though? Where’s her bond mark?” The smirk that Dr. Johnson had on his face, rapidly fell as Dr. Grace slowly stood up, his usually warm cedar scent turning burned and turpentine-like.
“Get out of my sight, you staggering waste of carbon.” Dr. Grace did not yell this, but the low, almost whispered tone was somehow worse than if he had yelled. Everyone in the room recoiled at both his tone and scent. This was a side to Dr. Grace that they had never seen. “Get out of my sight.” The whisper had the room clearing except for Dr. Grace and Stratt. Once the door clicked shut behind the last person, Eva quickly locked the door and returned to Ryland’s side. He remained standing, glaring at the door. As she approached, Eva was almost glad that she could no longer hide her scent, her Lavender scent was going to help pull Ryland back right now.
“Ryland?” When that got no answer, she crept a little closer and tried again. “Alpha?” The slightly worried tone of her voice helped break though to him. “Alpha, are you okay?” He shook his head as if to clear it before taking in a deep breath. As he smelled the Lavender and other floral notes, Ryland looked down and saw Eva. His Eva.
She let out a squeak as he scooped her up and held her close. Eva could hear that his breathing was uneven, and he was shaking. It wasn’t until she felt something drip onto her cheek that she realized he was crying.
“Alpha, Alpha, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” The only response she got was a tighter squeeze. “Please, tell me what is wrong!” It took a moment before she was able to tell what exactly he was saying.
“I almost lost you, Eva. I almost lost you, my Omega. I almost lost you.” She stilled. The demonstration. “I came so close to losing you, and I didn’t realize. I couldn’t protect you.”
“You did, you protected me and kept me safe. You found the mistake before anything happened. You made a new system to keep something like that from happening again. You are the best Alpha I could have.”
“I almost lost you though.” Ah. We’re in a panic attack. Eva pulled back just a bit to pull out her cell phone.
“Ryland, Alpha. I am going to text Carl. You and I are going back to our room.
Carl? It’s Stratt. Dr. Grace and I are taking
the rest of the day off. He just realized how
serious the demonstration could have gone.
Got it. Take care of him?
I will. Thank you.
“Okay, our schedules are clear. Let’s get back to our room.” Eva steered Ryland to the door and down the hall to their quarters. She said a silent thank you to Carl for a quick hall clear.
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Getting steered by his Omega kept happening. Ryland wasn’t complaining about it though. He would do whatever she told him to do. No matter what it was. He vaguely registered them getting back to their room. His precious, precious Omega got him to sit on their bed. His shoes were removed, and he was laid flat. He whined at this.
“Eva, don’t leave me alone.”
“I’m not my Love.” Good. She was still here. “I am just going around to my side of the bed is all.” He felt the bed dip, and he saw her scooting over in bed towards him. Once she was within the reaches of his arms, they darted out and captured her. Pulling her close, he felt her relax once she was against his chest. His arms tightened as he did his best to inhale every bit of the lavender scent his precious, cherished Omega. “I am here, Alpha. I am here.” The tears that he had been unable to hold back in the conference room began to flood down his face.
“But you almost weren’t! If I had not been at the demo, it would have exploded. You would have died.”
“You would have too, my love. Not just me.”
“But you would have died. If I hadn’t caught that vial.” Ryland squeezed Eva even tighter. He only loosened his arms when she squeaked again.
“My Alpha, you did very well. You protected me in the best way you could.” Ryland paused. He didn’t feel like he had protected her. His Omega saw the look of confusion on his face and continued. “Alpha, you realized there was a problem with the measurement so quickly.” She leaned up to give him a quick kiss. “You realized there was a problem and called off the demo.” Another kiss. “You just spent a week completely overhauling how we store Astrophage.” Kiss. “Your new system makes it so much easier to tell the measurements apart.” Kiss. “You have protected me, Alpha in the best way that you can.”
This time, when his Omega kissed him, Alpha kissed back. He had protected his Omega. She was safe. Safe from Astrophage at least. But not from assholes like that other Alpha, Dr. Johnson. He was right though, he hadn’t fully bonded with his Omega, and he couldn’t until her heat. And that wasn’t for weeks. Well then, he’d just have to get as much of his scent all over her as he could. As they had been in their rooms, and as he had calmed down, his scent had slowly transitioned back into the rich, warm cedar that is normally was.
As he slowly removed his Omega’s clothing, he made sure to rub each piece of clothing over his neck to get his scent transferred to them. After he had scented her blouse and camisole, he realized there was a much better place to scent the clothes on. Pulling back slightly, and breaking the kiss, Alpha started to remove his clothes. The increase in the lavender scent told him that she liked what she saw.
After his pants came off, the Alpha Attire came off next. As his cock sprung free from the compression garment, it was already starting to bead at the top. Perfect. No one would be able to ever think that Eva wasn’t his Omega. As her bra, skirt, tights, and panties were slowly removed, each item found their way to his neck and then down to his cock. He pumped his cock with each item, making sure to get his scent into ever fiber. His Omega laid back on their bed watching him with heavy eyes.
“Such a powerful Alpha. Getting your scent on my clothes to protect me from the idiots. So clever.” A sly smirk grew over her face as she propped herself up on her elbows. “You are going to take such good care of me. You are going to take such good care of me and give me so many Pups. You are going to take such good care of me and our Pu-!” She was cut off by her Alpha claiming her mouth in his. He could smell how wet she had gotten watching him scent her clothes, and he could smell how she was getting wetter by the second as they kissed.
“You like that, my Omega? Want me to give you Pups? I’ll give you as many Pups as you want!” Or at least he’d try his hardest too. Pups outside of a heat were a rarity, but then again, it was just as much of a rarity to find an Omega such as his.
His fingers found their way down to her opening and teased her open. They had missed so many nights together lately, he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t hurt her when he claimed her today. The sweet moans that were made as he began to move his fingers, looking for the bundle of nerves that would set her aflame, were music to his ears. The moans that came out of her when said nerves were found were an entire orchestra. As his Omega clenched around his fingers and cried out, he reached down to kiss her again. He could live forever just kissing his Omega.
They moaned in unison as his Alpha cock slid in. He filled her and stretched her to the point of fullness. As he developed his now familiar rhythm, he could feel her ankles crossing behind his back, attempting to pull him even closer. He leaned down to nip and suck at her neck. Bonding could not happen until she was on her Heat, but he could make damn sure that everyone who saw her would know she was claimed by her Alpha. He would just have to hide her lovely high-necked sweaters so she could show off his marks.
“Oh, Alpha! Fuck, you feel so good! Yes! Yes! Yes!” His Omega leaned up to meet him for yet more kisses.
“My Omega. Fuck, you are so perfect! You are everything to me. I’ll protect you now and forever!” As he finished his impromptu vow, he slammed into his Omega as hard as he could.
“Yes, Alpha. Protect me! Give me Pups and protect them too!” The mention of Pups while he was buried inside his Omega was almost too much. “Give me your knot, Alpha! Please, give me your knot, I need it so badly!”
Well, she did ask nicely.
He pushed his knot into her and within a few thrusts it had fully inflated, and he was cumming, filling up his priceless Omega in every sense.
As he laid on top of Eva as they waited for his knot to deflate, Ryland made sure to keep his weight on his elbows as he passionately kissed her. He didn’t want to squish her after all.
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When they arrived hand in hand to the morning brief the next morning, there was an empty chair in the meeting. Director Stratt was rather annoyed by this. Everyone who was supposed to be here knew how important these meetings were.
“Where is Dr. Johnson this morning?” Carl stepped forward and handed her an envelope.
“This was taped to his door this morning, Director.”
“Thank you.” Opening the envelope, she pulled out a single sheet of paper and read. Re-folding the paper she slid it back into the envelope before continuing. “Well, it looks like we are in need of someone to take over the dietary systems. It appears that Dr. Johnson has decided to take his leave of the Taskforce.”
“Shame about that, Director. Shame about that.” The smirk on Dr. Grace’s face said that he thought it was anything but a shame. Well, he had told Dr. Johnson to get out of his sight. Good. He had protected his Omega even more. One less idiot.