Delivery day was a point of contention among the team. In fact, the only thing all 4 men actually agreed about the situation was that they were unhappy with it. All 4 alphas wanted nothing to do with yet another omega thrown at them by the military. It was a joke, considering how omegas wound up after being tossed to 4 unsuppressed alphas.
The last one: dead. The one before: lost her leg during Soap’s rut. One before that: dead. The list of transgressions against the lesser gender went on for the three years the team had been in formation. Excessive injuries the military knew that even 1 unsuppressed alpha was a coin flip for an omega and they kept sending the omegas to the team anyway.
It made Ghost sick. He hadn’t slept at all the night before. The last omega was his fault - he'd killed them in a rut and hadn’t even noticed until he came down a day later. Even the memory of that shame still burned.
None of them were suppressed. Their instincts were sharper, they were faster, stronger, had better hearing and sight. Ghost hadn’t taken suppressants since the team formed and the orders came to do whatever it took to stand as the last defense between the world and the filth.
Like Price said, they got their hands dirty so the world stayed clean. Ghost just never expected his hands to have so much innocent blood on them.
It wasn’t that he was an omega sympathizer. They had the misfortune of presenting as omegas. Poor things presented at 16, only to be dragged to public auction, private sale, or into ‘voluntary’ military service. Even for omegas, he recognized it was an awful system.
Ghost’s disapproval aside, orders were orders. Price would see that the 4 alphas, himself included, would permit the omega to reside in their private building on base. 4 unsuppressed alphas were too dangerous to cohabitate with the alphas and betas that comprised the rest of the SAS units. They’d been tucked away in an older building from the 70s, converted to a small gym, a few quarters, a briefing room, and an armory. The last room had been bleached for the new omega.
"Stop fidgeting, Soap,” Price said, not looking up from the tablet in his hands. He examined the aerial footage of the latest Konni compound discovered.
“Am not fidgetin’,” Soap grumbled, his leg bouncing violently. “The bleach just is sourin’ my nose, that’s all.” The bleach stench burned in his sinuses even 2 weeks after the omega’s room was sterilized. His bones ached to go mark up the sterile space. He stilled his leg.
Gaz shifted in his seat, earning a glance from Price. He stilled. “...sorry,” the sergeant muttered, resuming his flipping through Guest's file. He was the only one who bothered to read it. Allergies, history, photos: he wanted to be prepared, even if they’d just wind up dead or hospitalized in a few months anyway.
He could hope for better. A few omegas survived unscathed over the years, choosing to resign or asking for reassignment once their 1 year contract was up. Maybe Guest would be tough enough to survive the 4 of them.
A car door closed out in the parking lot and all four alphas stilled listening.
At the soft knock at the door, Price spoke. “Come in.”