You Need an Alpha

Chapter 16

"No fair!" Avery jumps from between Mingi and Yunho when the loud shout echoes from somewhere in the apartment. She had just been starting to fall back asleep because of the warmth all around her.

"Looks like Woo just saw your message, Min." Yunho says with a teasing tone.

The beta in front of her starts to squirm and Avery huffs before turning around a burrowing her face into Yunho's chest in an effort to go back to sleep.

There's a heavy sigh against her back, "Guess I should go try to handle that. You gonna stay here?"

Yunho responds for both of them, which Avery is pretty grateful for with her mind still not fully getting past the earlier drop. "I think our alpha needs a little longer to regulate before we expose her to the rest of the pack. Try to calm them down out there, will you."

There's a soft kiss to the back of her neck that has her body going limp against Yunho's with a happy chirp towards the room, "I'll try my best, no promises. You take good care of our little subby alpha."

Yunho huffs as his arms tighten around Avery's waist, "Of course I will."

Avery whines a bit as the covers shift behind her, the warmth leaving her back making her push even further into Yunho, who starts purring as he tries to get her to calm down. A door opens and closes and Avery pushes her head up to right underneath Yunho's chin, nose against his scent gland as she just lets herself submerge into the smell of pack.

A hand starts to rub up and down her back and she purrs into the feeling, "You doing ok Avery?" Yunho asks in a low voice that has her toes starting to curl just a little.

"I... I think so...?" She says, trailing off into a question. Honestly, she can't make heads or tails of how she's feeling right now, just overwhelmed.

Yunho hums, making his chest vibrate underneath her, "That wasn't very convincing, little alpha." She whines back at him and Yunho is quick to squeeze his arms even tighter around her, "Hey, hey. We're okay Avery. I've got you, we're okay."

"I... I know we are. I do... I just... there's a lot of instincts just spinning around right now."

"And what can I do to help with them? What do you normally like to do when you're having a drop? Preferences on aftercare?" Yunho asks hands continuing to rub up and down her back.

"Um... cuddling. I really like being held close. And... and... kisses. And being kept warm." She offers hesitantly.

Yunho smiles wide at her and Avery tries hard now to be swept away in the positive energy coming off him. He leans forward, giving her a very short kiss on the lips, "That I can do." He wraps the blankets tighter around them.

Avery sighs, eyes closing and just trying to bask in the moment, ignoring the plethora of thoughts now starting to make their way through her brain as she's started to wake up more.

"You know..." Yunho starts, dropping a kiss to the top of her head, "You can talk to me about things bothering you. I'm a pretty good listener."

"I... um... nothing's bothering me." Avery forces out, trying to seem nonchalant.

Yunho snorts, "Yeah... that one was even less convincing." He pulls back to stare down at her, "I'm serious Avery, you can talk to me." He leans back in, "It must be hard jumping right in to an established pack. We want you to feel welcome here, and that means knowing what issues you're having. So if you won't talk to me, at least talk to one of the others."

"It's... hard to talk about." Avery offers softly.

"Well it won't get any easier by keeping it inside." They trail off into silence for a little bit before Yunho adds, "Would it help if I talk about something bothering me right now?"