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A Brilliant Plan

Once he was done cursing his own stupidity, because seriously, making sure you didn't look like you'd been fucking someone before going home was a basic rule, Eggsy got off of Roxy's bed and headed for the 'washroom' area to get a look at the damage for himself. It wasn't too bad, actually, though what really concerned him after a moment's contemplation was the fact that he had marked up Harry's throat really well, and depending on the angle it was possible Arthur could get an eyeful of that. Harry letting him do that to his throat, especially when he was so much lower on the hierarchy, well that had serious meaning for werewolves if he recalled Roxy's lectures correctly.

"Fuck."

"Got yourself a boyfriend, Eggy?"

Rolling his eyes, Eggsy let the annoying version of his name go and focused instead on finger combing his hair into order. "I don't date boys, Charlie. You can have those."

"Well I guess we know why you're still here now." Digby put in, the anger in the werewolf's voice coming through loud and clear.

And since the prat had been gagging for him since the beginning Eggsy could understand why he'd be upset. The slight pity he felt for Digby dissolved with the ass's next words though.

"Using your…street skills to endear yourself with the trainers, are we?"

Straightening to his full height and whipping around to meet Digby's gaze, Eggsy's wolf did all the talking for him as he stared down the shorter man who did not have his level of dominance, no matter how pureblooded the little bastard was. Eggsy was stronger, faster, and more alpha than Digby, and Eggsy took feral pleasure in hearing the faint whine of submission escape the other man's lips as he backed away a little, unable to hold Eggsy's stare.

Embarrassed by that, as well as furious that someone else had been touching what he wanted, Digby sneered out that Merlin wouldn't like hearing that he'd been slipping out to fuck some brain dead werewolf in the compound. It would be a shame if that information slipped out.

"Go ahead and tell him." Hell, if he wasn't currently planning Eggsy's untimely demise for the threesome thing Merlin was probably plotting how to get Harry and Eggsy alone so that they could shag and then pretend that the soul mark appeared then and not before.

And because he got the way these guys thought Eggsy waited to see if any of them would have the guts to suggest he might be providing Merlin with sexual favors too, but they all knew the room was wired and none of them were brave enough to risk the Scot's wrath by suggesting such a thing. Their lives were often in the man's hands after all, arranging a fatal accident would be child's play for Merlin.

So thinking the worst was over Eggsy was about to turn back to fixing his hair when Charlie suddenly moved unexpectedly, the taller man's face all but pressed against Eggsy's neck as the other wolf inhaled deeply.

His wolf reacting instinctively, no one but Harry was allowed near his vulnerable throat, Eggsy shoved the other man away with all his strength, his wolf helping him out so that he was actually able to push the ass back a few steps despite the fact that Charlie was, unfortunately, the physically strongest wolf in their group.

Growling aggressively at Charlie, Eggsy glared at him while the other wolves just stared in shock at what Charlie had done. They all knew that Charlie and Eggsy had taken an immediate dislike to each other, but sniffing at Eggsy's neck like that was a very intimate and possessive move for Charlie to make. Like he'd been trying to claim the lower ranking wolf right in front of them. The fact that Eggsy had rejected Charlie so completely, and hadn't in any way solicited Charlie's attention…well that would usually call for bloodshed, with Charlie forced to face off with whoever was in charge of Eggsy for attempting to force his attention on his pup/ward. That Eggsy didn't have one of those didn't change…

Bam

Charlie flew backward as Roxy's fist connected with his face, the man hitting the sink hard enough to break it before he crashed to the ground, the man surrounded by broken porcelain while the female werewolf moved in to stand between Eggsy and the stunned Charlie, eyes black and her stance aggressive as hell.

"Don't you ever try that again, Charlie Hesketh. I'll rip your throat out!"

"Wow, Roxy, what the fuck?" Eggsy goggled at her in shock, having no idea why she was so angry. Being sniffed by Charlie had been weird, but now that he'd had a moment to think clearly the prat hadn't been attacking him, so really, what was the deal here?

"He was trying to claim you without your permission!" Roxy snarled the words, plainly furious.

"I was not!" Picking himself up Charlie shook his head at her, though he kept his hands where they were and wasn't making any move to retaliate despite the fact that she'd just attacked him. "I thought I recognized the scent on him and moved in to…I'd never want that for a mate." The finger Charlie pointed in Eggsy's direction to punctuate his point was oddly comforting to Eggsy now that he was getting some idea as to why Roxy had freaked out. He was feeling a little freaked out now too.

"You know who he's screwing?" Rufus asked slowly as his gaze kept moving from one of the three wolves in the center of this newest drama to the next, obviously hoping that that was true and Charlie wasn't just pretending he hadn't just made a play for Unwin and been rejected.

Getting to his feet Charlie nodded and then met Eggsy gaze. "Well at least now I know how you got invited to try out. Hart must be getting desperate in his old age."

While Eggsy growled again at the insult being lobbed in his mate's direction, the other men stared at Eggsy in shock. Harry Hart, otherwise known as Galahad, was a legend in their pack. The idea that he was currently sleeping with the mutt in their midst, and that…

"Charlie…you just…Harry Hart's bedmate."

Opening his mouth and then closing it very slowly, the sudden paleness of Charlie's face made it clear that it was only now dawning on him that Hugo was right, and that he'd just made what could be misinterpreted as a sexual advance on a wolf that was currently sharing the bed of the most lethal and skilled fighter that Kingsman had in their ranks.

Picking up on this, and wanting to make Charlie pay as much as possible, Roxy's voice was sugar sweet as she informed the prick that she'd be sure to tell Galahad what he thought of Eggsy when she saw the other werewolf next. He was a good friend of her family's after all, and she was sure he'd want a play by play retelling of all this.

"That won't be necessary, Miss. Morton."

Everyone going still at the sound of Merlin's voice, the recruits immediately moved to stand in a straight line as they faced their head instructor, who was walking towards them with a very focused but unreadable expression on his face.

"Hesketh, try that again and I'll save Roxy the responsibility of killing you." Merlin's eyes were cold and pitiless as they pinned Charlie in place. "Three Kingsmen, including myself, owed our lives to Eggsy's father. If I need to stand in for his father I will, understand?"

Charlie immediately nodded, trying to appear unfazed though no one was buying that.

"All right then, now that that's settled it's time for you lot to go run some laps to work off some of that youthful energy. Come along then."

No one saying anything as they did as ordered, Eggsy shot Roxy a look of thanks since apparently what Charlie had done was a pretty big deal in the werewolf world. Especially since Merlin was threatening Charlie with death if it happened again.

The wink she gave him in response had Eggsy grinning back, the two walking in amiable silence while the others kept quiet for fear of drawing attention to themselves. They'd said some things too, that they'd really rather not get back to Merlin's best friend.

Once they arrived at the track Merlin announced that everyone and their dogs were to start running except for Eggsy. He would be joining the rest after Merlin had explained a couple things that he needed to know in case anyone else thought to cross unacceptable lines where he was concerned.

The hard look Merlin gave the others guaranteed zero arguments.

Watching everyone run off without him, Eggsy shoved his hands into his pockets and then looked over at Merlin questioningly, assuming that they were waiting for the others to get out of hearing range before Merlin told him what he really wanted to talk to him about.

Or so Eggsy thought until the man informed him of a number of ways in which a werewolf staked a claim on another, some of them making Eggsy's eyebrows rise since Digby had actually done a couple of them when no one else was around. Keeping that to himself was probably for the best, Eggsy decided, though now he knew to turn the prat down a lot more forcefully if Digby did an of them again. Not that he thought the other candidate would risk it now that he knew he was Harry's.

It was when the others were on the other side of the track that Merlin cut himself off in midsentence, switching topics to the fact that Arthur had commented on Eggsy dishevelled appearance and had outright asked Harry about his relationship with Eggsy. Harry had given the excuse that he'd kissed Eggsy to celebrate coming out of the coma, and that he'd nominated Eggsy in the first place because of Lee and the similar potential he felt Eggsy had. Harry had made it clear the two of them hadn't had a relationship prior to Harry's nomination, and Harry had been in a coma since then.

"And he bought that?"

"Not bloody likely, even though Harry didn't outright lie. Odds are Arthur will want that bracelet off before noon tomorrow, to see for himself that there's no mark there." Merlin's expression went a little grim. "He's many things, but a fool isn't one of them. And most likely he'll use Charlie as his spy, so be careful there too."

"And we can't just temporarily cover the mark with makeup or somethin?"

"He'd smell it, make you wash it off."

"What if he couldn't smell it? Like if we used cologne or…Merlin?" The oddest look had come into the older man's eyes. "You alright?"

Holding up a finger to signal Eggsy to be quiet, Merlin was silent for a couple minutes before a smile crossed his lips. "I have a plan. Join the others when they pass here, tell them I'll come back and get them when you all can stop."

And so saying Merlin strolled off, Eggsy having no choice but to let him since the others were almost upon him and he'd need to pick up J.B. for this.

Dammit…what was the plan?

)

Merlin's plan, which the ass didn't explain to him until two in the morning after he shook Eggsy awake and motioned for him to follow into another room, was a pretty brilliant one in Eggsy's opinion. Or at least it sounded like it as Merlin explained while he supervised Eggsy covering up the soul mark with makeup, as according to Merlin it was considered more than a little rude to touch the mark of someone else's soulmate unless you were providing medical assistance. This made Eggsy actually glad that he hadn't had the opportunity to get his mouth or tongue anywhere near Harry's mark during their brief time in bed together. If he had Harry might have freaked on him, and they already had enough baggage so to speak without Harry having been an arse about that too.

Anyway, the only problem Eggsy could foresee was if someone reported back to Arthur that Merlin had snuck in here to speak to him privately, but as it turned out Merlin had slipped some sort of drug into everyone but Roxy and Eggsy's dinner, insuring that none of them would wake up and see something that they shouldn't. He'd taken care of the camera as well.

Making a mental note to be careful about consuming anything Merlin had a chance to handle from then on, Eggsy didn't question the man further. And once he was done and the makeup job deemed adequate the bracelet went back on and that being that Merlin left him to go home. Returning to his own bed Eggsy slept in fits and starts, eager for the hours to pass so that Merlin's plan could be put into action.

So yeah, Eggsy didn't get nearly enough sleep that night, and was just a little wired by the time the rest had woken up from their drug induced sleeps. When Roxy asked him what had him so riled Eggsy just shook his head and then winked at her, well aware that they had the attention of the other recruits who were still recovering from the events of the day before.

It was after breakfast and a few hours of physical training that Merlin came to collect them, their trainer taking them to the area of the compound where the gadgets of any good spy were designed and tested out. They'd been ordered to leave their dogs behind for that reason, no one wanting to risk one of the animals getting hurt or setting something off accidentally, and Eggsy actually felt weird not to have J.B. with him.

So yeah, this was supposed to be a field trip sort of deal, or at least that was what Merlin had told them was the case, and as they stood in a basically empty room that led into the area everyone but Eggsy was chomping at the bit to get a look inside. Unlike the others Eggsy knew that they weren't going to get a chance to get in there today, but he was already vibrating with restrained energy from knowing what was to come, so he didn't stick out as he stood beside Roxy.

And Merlin's plan went off like clockwork, the man doing an excellent job of pretending to just happen to catch sight of something on the floor that shouldn't be there. And asking Rufus to pick it up and throw it to him, which the other man did, Merlin caught the thing, swore as he pretended to accidentally activate the rock shaped gadget, and then tossed it into a rubbish bin that just happened to be situated close to where Charlie and his stooges were standing.

A split second and then a huge geyser of yellow dust flew into the air, which was immediately followed by a horrible, rancid smell that quickly coated everything near it, including the people in said room.

Being the farthest away from it, Merlin, Eggsy and Roxy only got a light dusting.

Now as previously stated werewolves had extremely sensitive noses, and even Eggsy, whose sense of smell wasn't nearly on par with the others, understood completely why Charlie and the others hit with the worst of it started retching and clutching at their noses to try and stifle their sense of smell. Eggsy was definitely plugging his nose too, as well as staying as far away from the ones most affected as possible. Man that was nasty!

After the initial chaos Merlin ordered them all to the showers, having retrieved special shampoos and body washes for them that had been designed to remove strong scents. Armed with the products the recruits went straight to the showers in their barracks and did their best to wash off the clinging, disgusting dust, with limited success in most cases. Eggsy and Roxy both wrinkled their noses at each other when they were done, but they were nothing in comparison to the others, who they stayed as far away from as possible while they waited for Merlin to return from his own shower.

Putting on quite a show of being contained but extremely angry, Merlin came back and announced, with bitten off words, that training would be suspended for the next seventy two hours. They would be allowed to go home since there was no point in trying to teach them anything when the trainers wouldn't be able to handle their stench and no one wanted to be in the building with them, period. They'd be their families' problem for the next three days, at which time the worst of the stink should have worn off and lessons would be able to continue. They were not to speak of their training with their families, though they could speak to their mentors if said mentors could stand to be near them.

And on that note Merlin told Eggsy and Roxy to come over so that he could remove the bracelets, which would have to be specially cleaned out to make sure none of the dust had gotten inside them.

Doing as ordered Eggsy offered his arm first, making sure that Charlie would see his makeup covered arm before returning to his earlier spot while Roxy had hers removed as well.

That done Merlin dismissed them for the time being, Eggsy almost done packing up a bag to take with him and about to say goodbye to Roxy when the tone of the room suddenly changed from anger and disgust to fear and icy coldness. Artic cold.

In perfect synch Eggsy and Roxy turned to look in the direction of the front door, the man who'd just stepped into the room having stopped the others who'd already finished packing and who had been about to leave with their dogs.

Harry was perfectly groomed and dressed, looking every inch the lethally sexy gentleman Eggsy knew him to be. His color was just a tad off, and Eggsy would guess that the umbrella in the man's hand was also being used as a cane at the moment, but the others didn't even know Harry had been hurt. Just one of the many reasons all the other male recruits, especially Charlie, were looking at the man like he was Death himself, Eggsy thought with a smirk.

And fuck but his mate was the sexiest man on two legs, Eggsy mentally added with barely hidden glee.

Moving with a predator grace that had Eggsy fighting the urge to just jump the man here and now, Harry wasn't looking at Eggsy at all, which would have really ticked him off if not for the fact that Harry's attention seemed to be focused completely on Charlie. And given what had happened with Charlie the day before…

This was gonna be good.