You Need an Alpha

Chapter 2

The discussion between the pack and their new alpha had progressed decently well. All 8 of the members had calmed down as boundaries were laid out between them. They had all startled, though, when Wooyoung had started purring. His eyes were closed and his head was resting on Avery's shoulder. She smiled down at him, happy to hear a sign of contentment so soon after her introduction, before realizing the room had gone silent except for the purring. She looks up at the other 7 men in the room and asks softly, "What?"

There's a lot of just staring and pointing before Seongwha finally says," We're just realizing we've never heard him purr before. He's never felt comfortable enough to purr." His face is a cross between horror and despair as if speaking the words had made the thought tangible.

Mingi glances down at his hands and mutters, "We've been such a bad pack. How did we miss him not purring the entire time after presenting?"

The scents in the room start to spike again and Avery quickly starts to release her own to calm them back down, "Hey, easy there. No one said you were a bad pack. I'm sure Wooyoung would fight you on that sentiment."

Yeosang replies, his voice raising a couple of octaves in distress, "That's even worse. We've failed him and he doesn't even realize it."

The omega continues to spiral and Avery has to fight every instinct in her body that insists that she should reach out to pull him into her lap. Her hands keep clenching and unclenching. The distress she's feeling apparently made it into her scent because Wooyoung blinks his eyes open before slowly scanning the room. He looks up to see Avery grimacing while staring right at Yeosang who's started pulling on his own hair.

"Yeonie, what's wrong?" Wooyoung asks, but when the other only answers with a long whine he opens his arms, "come here."

Avery blinks in surprise at how quickly Yeosang moves across the room and onto Wooyoung. He begins to wrap himself around the Alpha as if imitating a blanket. She forces herself to just observe the two rather than wrapping her own arms around them. She's sure Wooyoung wouldn't mind, but Yeosang hasn't given her permission yet and she's not one to take those kinds of liberties.

Wooyoung glances up from scenting Yeosang to look at Avery. His eyebrows arched as if questioning why she's just sitting there. She glances from him down at Yeosang and then back up, a frown forming on her face. His eyes widen quickly, catching the meaning behind her gaze and runs a nose along the skin behind Yeosang's ears. The omega flushes in his lap and Wooyoung takes the chance to mumble, "Yoenie, I can't calm you down fully, but Avery can. Can she help you come out of your spiral?"

Yeosang whines low in his chest and clings closer to Wooyoung. The soft alpha grimaces at Avery but she smiles and shakes her head, standing up and moving across the room to give the two more space.

She moves to stand next to Hongjoong, placing a hand on his shoulder as a steadying gesture, the others in the pack grouping up to work on comforting each other.

She glances down at the group leader, only to see him looking up at her with pupils blown wide open and unfocused. Avery quickly kneels down in front of him and begins soothing, "Hongjoong, sweetheart, can you hear me, " she mumbles lowly so as not to draw the attention of the others in the room.

He nods slowly, all of his movements appearing sluggish to the now hyper focused alpha. His hands reach out to grab onto her shoulders steadying himself, "Yes." He says with a slight slurring of his words.

She nods and smiles reassuringly, "That's good. You're spiraling aren't you."

He doesn't answer right away this time, staring off over her shoulder. She glances in that direction to see the betas crowding around the other two omegas and Wooyoung still comforting the third. She turns back around to face Hongjoong when he starts speaking in a low voice, eyes still unfocused, "I'm supposed to be their leader." His voice starts to get hysterical and he begins to speak faster, "I'm supposed to protect them and help them. I keep failing. How could they want me as their leader? I'm an omega, I shouldn't be a leader. I can't keep doing this. There's just so much and it's all the time, and they keep getting hurt." He whines and Avery's sure the others are probably looking this way now.