Pack

Chapter 2: A Place To Hang Your Hat

Impossibly, Jervis's designation was even more shocking than Jonathan's. Jervis was entirely unassuming if wearing anything less attention-grabbing than a giant tophat and a brightly patterned longcoat. He was kind and polite, and he stammered terribly when nervous. He was obsessive in many ways, but especially over romance, and often talked about all the ways he'd care for a mate.

He was also, inexplicably, an alpha.

Edward began questioning his knowledge of biology and society in general after meeting Jervis. He had been wrong about how food was cooked and about how nests were made, loathed as he was to admit that even to himself, so maybe he had completely misunderstood designations as well. It was possible, though if true he decided that he would have to legitimately question his status as a genius.

Luckily, Edward's self-proclaimed title as the smartest man alive remained safe, as he would soon learn. Funnily enough, this would be another thing that Edward discovered through Jonathan's heats.

It had all started when Jonathan failed to come to Edward's place a few days before he expected his heat to begin. Edward had shrugged it off; despite their routine and Edward's compulsive need for order, their lives were too dangerous and unpredictable to always stick strictly to schedules.

Then it was halfway through the week and Edward hadn't gotten so much as a text from Jonathan, and now he was really starting to worry. Jonathan hated spending his heats alone, normally he would've told Edward where to find him by now.

Trying not to panic, Edward began to subtly ask around for the whereabouts of several people, only one of which was Jonathan. Almost no-one knew just how close they were, after all, and Edward thought it best to keep it that way. Eventually, he heard from Harley that Jonathan had been planning some sort of team-up with the Mad Hatter and was last seen near one of his hideouts.

Jonathan liked Jervis, Edward knew, even if he vehemently denied it. But Edward barely knew the man, and one of the few things he did know was that he'd kidnapped and brainwashed at least one omega in the past. Regular Jonathan would have no trouble defending himself, he was hardly weak, but Edward wasn't exactly sure if the same could be said about in-heat-Jonathan.

Edward was not an alpha. He was a beta. Betas weren't supposed to defend their packs, they were supposed to get their alphas if the pack needed protecting.

Edward was not an alpha, and he didn't have a pack. That didn't stop him from running off to challenge an actual alpha and save his friend.

Edward had always been good at taking care of himself, and he was certain that he could be good at protecting someone else.

...right?

Jervis opened the door barely two inches when Edward knocked, glaring up at him with more intensity than Edward had thought possible. It was entirely unlike his usual open, jovial greetings.

"What?" Jervis snapped at him, just barely not snarling. All hope Edward had of Jonathan still being able to fight him off while in heat dissipated.

Angry alpha, angry alpha, angry alpha, Edward's instincts chanted, shouting at him to stand down. But this was for Jonathan, and Edward had stood his ground with alphas in the past, he even fought the Batman himself on a regular basis. He had bested far more intimidating alphas with far less stakes many times before, he could handle someone like Tetch. He hoped.

"I'm looking for a mutual friend of ours," Edward said pleasantly with just the slightest undercurrent of danger in his tone, stressing the word friend pointedly. "Sticks and cloth for skin and bone, outstanding in his field; feathers are his friend and foe, fear his weapon and his shield."

Jervis actually growled at him then, sounding every bit the territorial alpha he'd never once managed to come off as before that moment. "He's indisposed at the moment."

Before Edward could reply to that, the door was yanked open, startling both of them.

"Edward!" Jonathan crooned from where he stood just behind Jervis, grinning brightly in a way he never did except for when he was deep in heat. "Jervis, it's alright, Ed's always welcome in my nest."

Jervis craned his head to peer up at Jonathan before looking at Edward again. He seemed significantly less hostile now, though still not quite his usual self. He huffed once, a warning sound, before stepping back from the doorway.

Edward thought that maybe entering the den of an angry alpha was a terrible, terrible idea. Jonathan apparently disagreed with him, grabbing his arm and tugging him inside before he could voice so much as a single protest. Inside, Edward saw that Jervis's many couches and plush chairs had been rearranged in a large circle, their cushions and throw pillows removed to create the single biggest nest Edward had ever seen in his life.

Edward honestly couldn't tell if it was a result of Jervis's obsessive tendencies or just what happened when Jonathan had access to more pillows and space while in heat. He decided not to ask.

Jonathan's and Jervis's scents mingled throughout the space. There was the familiar aroma of safe home nest mine that Jonathan always put into his nests, along with a new protect safe mine mine mine mine that Edward guessed must be from Jervis.

There was absolutely no smell of pain or fear or anything else that would be worrisome. Nothing to say that maybe Jonathan had fallen under Jervis's spell and wasn't actually there willingly. Edward relaxed a great deal once he realized that, letting Jonathan pull him into the nest and not resisting as he started fussing over the state of his clothes and hair. It was practically instinct for Edward by then to give in to the omega's demands for attention.

Edward remembered too late that someone else was actually present to witness their routine for once, and grew embarrassed. One wasn't supposed to be so comfortable and vulnerable outside of their pack, after all. He also remembered that he was in Jervis's den and he really shouldn't have entered the nest without the alpha's permission, even if it was technically Jonathan's nest and Jonathan was unbonded.

Edward tried to get out of the nest. Jervis was already mad at him for some reason, he didn't want to make it worse. But the moment he tried to rise, Jonathan started making a whining sound low in his throat. It wasn't his regular 'you will finish these eggs or else I am going to cry at you' whine, no, rather it was something Edward had only heard on TV.

It was the sound one made to summon an alpha when a packmate was doing something they shouldn't. Jonathan was tattling on him.

"Stay," Jervis ordered sharply, staring Edward down until he complied and settled back into the nest. Jonathan immediately wrapped himself around him and made a contented sound that he'd never dare let himself be caught making if half his brain wasn't shut off by heat. Jervis made a pleased little call at the happy omega, thought for a second and then made a similar call at Edward, and then wandered off to make tea for them all.

Maybe he wasn't so angry at Edward after all.

Edward became a little worried that Jonathan wouldn't want to spend his heats with him anymore now that he had an alpha who wouldn't pressure him into a bond to stay with, but no, apparently Jonathan grew sad if Edward wasn't there when his heat hit.

Or at least that's what Jervis told him, right before he had several hypnotized goons carry him off to Jervis's hideout and an apologetic looking (though barely) Jonathan.

And thus a new routine was born.