Chapter 7

It had been two weeks since Jason had attempted to train Clay in the forest. For the past two weeks the guys had been going on operations and training together. The atmosphere within the team had been pretty tense and that was all thanks to Clay. He was getting bitchier by the day and the guys honestly had no idea what to do about it. If they said something, Clay snapped. If they looked at him the wrong way, Clay snapped. It seemed like they couldn't do anything right with him and they had no idea what to do. They had never been in this position before. They were assuming it was from Clay being in heat and needing to have sex. Typically when an Omega is in heat, and the week leading up to it, they can be a little bitchy when they don't get to have sex. Clay though, he was just bitchy all day, every day. There was nothing they could do to put him in a better mood. The guys all figured it had to be connected to him not having sex and needing to, but it wasn't something they could change. They couldn't make Clay have sex and unfortunately they couldn't make him tell them why he was so terrified of it. It made no sense to any of them, because sex was a huge part of a wolf's life. They loved having sex and their bodies craved it, it wasn't healthy nor safe for Clay to be denying himself something so vital to a wolf's DNA. They were going to have to talk to him. Something had to give soon, because the guys had no idea how much longer they could tolerate the eggshells around them.

"How's Cerb?" Sonny asked Brock.

They were currently outside of a small village in Afghanistan for what was supposed to be a simple capture operation for a local bomb marker that didn't hold ties to one terrorist group over another. He was a freelancer and that made him very valuable. The US wanted him on their side. They wanted to get him to flip on his clients and they could then start going after the head of the snake for multiple terrorist cells. The CIA already knew most of the main players, but some of the newer cells were keeping to the shadows and making it very difficult for them to determine names and who was top dog. What they all did have in common were the bombs and the bomber's signature on each bomb. Hakim Hesam, he was their ticket to getting a dozen or more terrorist cells shut down and it all hinged on them capturing him alive. So far, it hadn't been going well. The team had been on the ground for three days and the only lead they had on Hesam had blown up in their faces, literally. The compound their intel had led them to turned up empty, but rigged to explode at every corner. Cerberus had done his job, but unfortunately he was hurt in one of the blasts and now they were hunting a dangerous bomb maker with endless contacts that were all willing to risk everything to keep him safe and they didn't have their trusted K9 to sniff out the bombs.

"He's going to be ok. Trent was able to get the shrapnel out from his leg and it wasn't too deep. He's going to be sore for a week on his back leg though. He won't be able to run." Brock answered and it was clear to the guys how much this was bothering him. Him and Cerb were as close as you could be, he hated seeing him hurt and he hated it even more that he couldn't take the pain away from him.

"What's important is that he'll be ok Brother." Ray said, placing a comforting hand on Brock's shoulder.

"I got him!" Davis called out, as she made her way towards the ground with a laptop balancing on her arm.

"That's what you said last time." Clay pointed out with a slight snap to his tone that Davis didn't take personally. She knew they were all on edge with Cerberus being hurt. Their intel had Hesam in that compound, but they weren't able to get eyes on him before they went in. There were no cameras or any vehicle traffic that she could have traced to confirm that their target was still within the compound.

"I got him on camera going into a tunnel entrance. I pulled up satellite images and there is an exit, but no one has come out of it. Hesam is still within the tunnel with an unknown number of tangos. I only saw him going in and whoever was driving him drove off. I lost the driver when he was out of range of the satellite." Davis explained.

"Alright, everyone gear up. Let's go get him." Jason said.

He was not in the mood to be dealing with anything else today or on this operation. He was already annoyed and frustrated with Clay's situation. He knew it wasn't Clay's fault that his attitude was less than ideal, but that didn't make it any easier. It was hard enough having to break a new guy in and get all of the team's personalities to mesh with each other. It was something entirely different when one of them was constantly in a bad mood. Again, Jason knew it wasn't Clay's fault. No wolf, Alpha or Omega, denies themselves sex for no reason. There had to be a deep psychological reason for Clay to put himself through heat month after month without any relief. Jason knew from a few Omegas how bad their heat could be if they didn't have sex, the pain could be extrucating. Jason had to imagine that for Clay it was ten times worse with him being a virgin. They needed to get this operation completed so they could get back home and hopefully Clay would be willing to speak with him and Jason can finally get down to why Clay was refusing to have sex so he could get him to have sex. Jason was confident that Clay's emotions would be better once he had sex and his body finally got what it desperately needed. He just needed to get Clay to see that it would be for the best for him and the team, because at this point Jason really wasn't certain how much longer him and the guys could handle Clay like this. Just like Jason knew that the only reason they were tolerating Clay's bitchiness was because he was the last white wolf in existence. If he hadn't been so rare and special, they would have tossed him out on his ass weeks ago. They just had to get through this operation first and then hopefully things would start to look up.

XXX

The guys made their way towards the entrance of the tunnel. So far they hadn't come across any tangos and they were hoping there wouldn't be too many inside. This was clearly a hidden compound that Hesam was using from one of the terrorist cells to hide valuable members of the group. There was no telling who this underground compound belonged to, at least not until they got inside, but it didn't matter who laid claim to it, they were going in. The problem would be going in when Cerberus was not with them. They all doubted that there would be a great deal of bombs set up, otherwise the terrorist cell risked blowing up their own men and valuable assets. That didn't mean there wouldn't be smaller traps set up that the members all knew about and avoided. The traps wouldn't bring the tunnel down, but they could still do serious damage to the person that had tripped it and it would alert any tangos within the underground compound that an enemy had entered their territory. The guys all surrounded the entrance of the tunnel with their guns up ready to fire should someone pop their head out as Sonny spoke.

"How are we doing this? We can't exactly go running in there."

"If we had Cerb this would be easier. We have no idea what could be waiting for us down there." Ray agreed.

"I'm sorry guys." Brock immediately said. He hated that they didn't have Cerb when they needed him the most right now. He hated that Cerb was hurt because he didn't react fast enough to protect him.

"It's not your fault. We didn't know it would be like this or we would have brought another team with us." Jason countered. He wasn't about to let Brock take the blame for any of this. They once again didn't have enough intel before being green lit and this was the result of it. They couldn't do anything to fix it, all they could do was try and get through this operation alive and with all of their limbs.

Jason focused on working the problem. They had to get through the tunnels and find their target. The main issue was going to be unknown traps that they may not be able to spot in time. Normally Cerb would run through and alert them when there was something dangerous ahead. He would also be able to sniff out any tangos. They didn't have him for any of that, but Jason couldn't help but think that they did have another option. He looked over at Clay and he could see the tension within his shoulders. His senses were stronger than all of theirs even with him in human form. If he was in wolf form though, he would be able to easily sniff out any explosives or tangos.

"Bravo One to Command." Jason started.

"Go ahead Bravo One." Blackburn responded.

"Be advised that our cameras and coms are getting spotty. You might lose us in a moment."

The guys all looked at Jason like he had lost his mind. None of their coms or cameras were getting spotty, but they didn't say anything, trusting that Jason had a reason for this.

"Copy Bravo One." Blackburn said back.

Jason clicked his camera off before turning his mic off. The others followed his suit and once they were all turned off and they were officially alone, Jason spoke.

"We can't go in without serious risk to ourselves with Cerb being out. But we do have another option." Jason said, as he looked right at Clay. He had no idea if Clay would be open to this idea or not. It wasn't like they have had this conversation before, it wasn't a conversation that Jason ever expected to have, but this was where they were at currently and it was the best idea he had.

"Why are you looking at me?" Clay said with a bite of attitude.

"Your nose is stronger than ours. In wolf form you would be able to easily sniff out any dangers or tangos." Jason gently explained.

"I'm not your fucking pet."

Clay couldn't believe this. Jason was actually going to suggest that he shift just so he can be their K9. He wasn't going to be treated like some circus freak or like another backup pet that they could use. He was a person and not some secret weapon that they could pull out whenever they deemed it. He was his own wolf and he didn't answer to anyone.

"I know. I'm not saying you are. Under normal circumstances I would never even be bringing this up, but we need someone skilled enough to guide us through the tunnel. We go in there without a K9, there's a very high chance that we trip one of the traps and one of us gets hurt or killed. Only you have the skills to guide us through safely. This is a one time thing Clay, I promise. I wouldn't be asking you to do this if I thought there was another way, a safer way. But this might be the only way we have to safely get our target." Jason calmly explained. The last thing he wanted to do was piss Clay off, something that seemed to be very easy to do recently.

"Look, I know this isn't what you expected to be doing and we would never ask you to do something that you aren't comfortable with. But I have to agree with Jase on this one. You have a skill that none of us have, believe me if I could do this, I would, but you're the only one that can shift." Ray said, hoping to get Clay to understand.

He didn't really understand why Clay didn't want to do this. If it was him, he would have no problem shifting and helping the team. However, he also had to respect that Clay had to be in hiding for his entire life. He didn't get to show off in fear of being hunted down by the wolf hunters or the Government looking to force him to breed. He understood the hesitation, but Ray was really hoping that Clay would put that above the safety of the team, the family.

"No one has to know. The cameras and coms are off, we're not gonna tell anyone." Sonny added.

"Hesam will see me. He's gonna notice that I'm not a dog. You really think he's not going to open his mouth about a white wolf being used by American soldiers?" Clay countered.

It wasn't that Clay had a problem with helping the team, he had a problem with them thinking they could just use him like this. He wasn't a party trick. He wasn't a weapon that they could use when it was convenient for them. That was what he feared about the military finding out about him being an Apex. That they would only utilize him when they needed a special weapon to send in. He wasn't going to be used like that.

"We can protect you from him. No one will believe him over all of us and Blackburn can prevent anyone from listening to him. I know this isn't ideal Clay, but we really need you to do this for the team." Jason said, hoping to get Clay to see that they didn't have another choice in the matter.

Clay could tell that none of them were going to let this go and if he refused to do it, he would be the bad guy. It was also the only way he was going to be able to get home and away from them.

"I'm not wearing a leash." Clay snapped.

"No, no leashes. If you smell an explosive, just sit and we'll know. Focus on finding the scent of people. Chances are they aren't going to put any explosives in an area where they are travelling." Jason easily relented. He didn't need to put Clay on a leash, they just needed his nose.

"This isn't a strip tease." Clay snapped and the guys all held their hands up and turned around.

Sonny mouthed the word, wow to the guys that could see him. He had been going along with the others, giving Clay the space he needed, but he was getting too bitchy. They had to talk to him about it, because he didn't know how much longer he could handle this.

"I'll put your clothes and your bracelets in my bag so you can get dressed once we get out of the tunnel." Jason said.

They could hear the sound of bones breaking and the guys couldn't help but flinch at the sound. There was no way it couldn't hurt to shift into wolf form. Once they heard a soft growl, they all turned around to see Clay standing there in wolf form. Jason went and grabbed Clay's clothes, while the guys picked up his gear. Sonny couldn't help but look at Clay, he was beautiful in his true wolf form. Sonny reached out to try and pet Clay, but before his hand got close enough Clay was snarling and snapping at him. Sonny instantly pulled his hand back as he spoke.

"Alright, I'm sorry. No touching, copy you."

"On your lead Clay." Jason said, looking to get this over with.

Clay started to walk towards the tunnel and the guys followed in line behind him with Jason going right after Clay. they all had their guns up and Jason was more on edge than he normally was. He didn't like that Clay didn't have a weapon. He knew that he could fight in his wolf form, but he wasn't bullet proof either. Jason was also hoping that Clay would be able to sniff out their target and explosives. It wasn't like Clay was trained in scent tracking. They were only relying on his natural heightened senses to guide them through. Jason would have loved to talk to Clay more about his abilities and what it was like for him to be an Apex. He doubted though that he would be able to get Clay to open up to him, at least not yet. It was going to take a lot more time for them to build that level of trust.

Clay sniffed the air and easily followed the different scents. He could smell explosives, but they weren't near them. Clay figured they were down different tunnels that would be used as traps in case an enemy ever found their hideout. He avoided any areas that would lead them towards explosives and focused on the smell of people. He ignored the faint ones and tried to put all of his attention onto the ones that were stronger. He didn't know specifically what their target smelt like, but he was hoping this wouldn't take long. He loved being in wolf form. He loved hunting, but he didn't like doing it because the team needed another K9. He didn't want to be a pet or just some tool they could use whenever they felt like it. When he was in wolf form he was always alone, whether that was in his apartment or in the woods. He wasn't used to being in wolf form around people and it was weird for him. He wasn't sure how he felt about being in wolf form around the team. He loved letting his wolf out, but there was a deeper level of trust that Clay didn't have with the team and he felt like it should have been there before they got to see him like this. He had that choice taken from him and he still wasn't too sure how he felt about any of this.

If Clay was honest with himself he knew he was struggling. He was getting bitchy, he was having a harder time feeling anything but anger and annoyance at the entire world. He knew it was connected to his heat and his need for sex. However, he also suspected it had a lot to do with being tortured and treated like nothing more than a whore for another Alpha wolf. He had been humiliated and tortured, all in front of his team and Clay didn't know how to deal with that. He was hurting from it. He was having nightmares about it and he didn't know what to do to make them stop. He couldn't tell anyone though, because then everyone would look at him like he was weak and Clay was not going to tolerate that. He wasn't weak and he refused to be seen that way.

They turned down a few different tunnels before Clay stopped. They walked into an open area with a single man standing in the room. He didn't have anything in his hands, but they could tell he was pacing back and forth. He looked right at them and everyone easily made the ID as Hesam. Hesam's eyes flashed with fear before he took off with Clay right behind him. The guys all chased after them, the guys having to struggle to keep up with Clay's fast speed. They watched as their tango ran out of another tunnel entrance and Clay easily leapt out. By the time they arrived topside, Clay had their target on the ground dragging him by his arm and snarling at him. Their target was screaming in pain and there was blood all over his sleeve.

"That's enough, release him." Jason demanded at Clay as he reached out to get Clay to let go.

Clay let go long enough to snap at Jason and placed his head down and snarled at them. The only reason Jason didn't get bit by Clay was because he had just fast enough reflexes to avoid his deadly teeth. They could all see the blood staining Clay's white fangs and around his mouth. He didn't look like the cute and fluffy wolf just twenty minutes ago. He looked every bit as dangerous as the deadly predator that his wolf was.

"Wolves kill what they hunt." Ray softly pointed out.

"Like it or not I am your Alpha and you will stand down. Now." Jason ordered using nothing but his Alpha voice stronger than he ever had to before.

That did not do what the guys were expecting. Instead of Clay backing off, like they would have done, he lowered his head and snarled more, taking up an attack position. Even with Clay being an Alpha, Jason's tone should have worked on him, just like it would have worked on Ray or Sonny. Jason was their pack Alpha and that meant he had the control. He almost never used it, but the effect was still there. And yet, Clay didn't back down and they couldn't help but wonder if that had something to do with him being an Apex.

"People don't taste good, remember? But, if you let us restrain him, when we get back I'll get you a bacon double cheeseburger." Trent offered.

Ordering Clay to stand down wasn't going to work. His Apex DNA outranked their's. He was his own Alpha. He's Alpha outranked them all and if he didn't want to do something, then he wasn't going to do it. If Clay followed orders, it was because he was choosing to, more so than the rest of them. Trent knew the others would think he was insane that Clay would give up their target for a burger, but Trent knew better than them why Clay was acting this way. He understood it, just like he knew Clay would move for the prospect of meat. After an intense moment, Clay moved away from Hesam and off to the side.

"Gag and bag him." Jason ordered the others as he went over and got Clay's clothes out and placed them on the ground.

He then turned and allowed Clay to get dressed in privacy as Ray put duct tape over Hesam's mouth before putting a hood over his head. The guys all looked like they wanted to say something, but they couldn't right now. It had to wait until they were alone on the plane. Jason turned his camera and com back on before he spoke.

"Bravo One to HAVOC, Jackpot."

"Good copy Bravo One." Blackburn said back.

"Let's go." Jason ordered once Clay was all set.

They had a bit of a journey to get back to the plane and they were all hoping that no issues came up along the way.

XXX

Once they arrived back on the plane Sonny passed Hesam off to Davis so they could get him restrained. The guys all watched as Clay went off by himself so he could get his gear off. They didn't even try to get him to speak with them, they knew he wouldn't. Blackburn made his way over to Jason as the rest of the guys started to get their gear off. Jason knew this was coming, Blackburn would know that their coms and cameras didn't just magically disconnect and come back online together. He would also know that it had something to do with Clay and he suspected it was because they needed him to use his enhanced senses.

"What happened?" Blackburn asked, softly so no one would overhear them.

"We didn't have another safe way to go through the tunnels without Cerb. We managed to convince Clay to shift. Hesam's arm is torn up from him and he saw that he was attacked by a white wolf. He's got duct tape over his mouth right now, but eventually he's going to start telling people what he saw."

"I'll handle it. The pup ok?" Blackburn asked with a nod towards Clay.

"He will be." Jason at least hoped he would be.

Blackburn gave a nod and headed off. Jason gave one last look over at Clay and saw that he was moving further off to be by himself. Letting out a sigh, Jason went through the process of getting his gear off. It was a good thirty minutes when the plane finally leveled out in the air did all of the guys, minus Clay, circled around each other at their makeshift table. Clay was already off in a hammock with his earbuds in, so he wouldn't be able to hear them talking even with his enhanced hearing.

"Ok Trent, what the hell was that? I get that wolves like to hunt and kill, but he almost attacked us." Sonny started.

"He didn't even listen to Jase when he spoke in his Alpha tone. That works on me and Sonny and yet for the Pup, it did nothing for him." Ray added.

"First, we have to stop calling him that. You heard how he reacted to it at the bar that night. There's a story there, there's a trauma connected to that name and all we are doing is making him feel like we can't be trusted when we call him that." Trent started.

"I was going to say the same. Something happened and I am willing to bet it has everything to do with Ash. He doesn't understand that we don't mean anything by it." Jason instantly agreed.

"We won't call him that anymore." Ray said on their behalf.

"We all know there is a hierarchy within the wolf world. And within that hierarchy there are Alphas that are stronger than other Alphas. Jason has been able to use his Alpha voice on other powerful Alphas and they've had no choice but to listen to him. Today we just discovered who is on top of the hierarchy pyramid." Trent continued on with his explanation.

"An Apex. That's why Clay has always been able to be free from an Alpha's tone even though he's a young Alpha." Jason said with understanding in his voice.

"I would also bet money on Clay being able to control even the most powerful Alphas once he learns how to use his Alpha tone. The trick will be if he can avoid an Alpha's tone in another Apex. But, odds are we'll never have to find out." Trent said.

"This is good news though. It means that he won't do anything he doesn't want to do. He's following the chain of command, because he wants to. He trusts in the process and respects it, that means he trusts us on some level." Ray said.

"Ya in his human form, but in his wolf form he almost bit my hand off for going to pet him and he almost attacked us when Jase ordered him to stand down." Sonny countered.

"If he doesn't like the taste of people, why would he guard his prey?" Brock asked Trent. Brock had a lot of work with dogs and he knew they could get territorial, but he had never seen them territorial over a kill they couldn't eat.

"We would have to talk to Clay about this more, but that's going to take more trust in us before he opens up to us. However, he is human, but he's also a wolf. We all have a wolf's trait within us, but Clay has a real wolf inside of him. A wolf that has a need to hunt and eat its prey. It wouldn't surprise me if Clay hunts deer and eats the meat raw from the body. The wolf within him needs the hunt. It's why Clay has a delicate diet, he has to eat meat because his body can't handle other food, not like we do. He's going to have more traits of his wolf half then any of us. Part of that could be territorial of a prey. It won't make him dangerous to us or people, just the prey he chases after. Thankfully, we won't ever have to use him to chase a target again. But it wouldn't be a bad idea to have some beef jerky around on the plane with us."

"Trade the target for meat." Brock said, completely understanding where Trent was coming from.

"There is another issue. Clay should have full control over his wolf, even in wolf form. Which means, he chose to snap at us. I don't think it was just about him guarding his prey." Trent started.

"You think it's connected to his heat." Jason stated, seeing where Trent was going with this.

"You think that's possible?" Ray asked Trent.

"I don't know. I don't know anything about Apexes, not outside of the standard information we all have. But I know Omegas and heat cycles. Clay cannot keep going as a virgin. He needs to have sex, that's biolgical. The problem is he hasn't had sex and that is making his heats come more frequently, painfully and the time in between makes him a hormonal mess. It's making him bitchy and that will only get worse. With him being an Apex and an Alpha, he could turn violent in both human and wolf form. He is going to snap and it's only a matter of time before he kills someone, most likely one of us with his own bare hands or his fangs. There's no way around it anymore. There's no room to be patient with him, he has to have sex."

"He's too afraid to have sex. There's a trauma there and until it's been worked through he's not going to do it." Jason said.

"He's got to want to have sex though. He can't enjoy being trapped in heat with all of that pain. Maybe he just needs a bit of a push." Sonny offered.

"He would be in a great deal of pain and that only tells me that whatever he experienced growing up, it's worse than the pain his body feels. The fear is very much real and it has to be handled very carefully. We can't just lock him in a room with some random Alpha." Trent countered.

"Does it have to be an Alpha? Omegas will sleep with a Beta or a Delta." Ray suggested.

"Normally it wouldn't matter, but with Clay being an Alpha and an Apex, it has to be an Alpha that he has sex with. It has to be either Jase or Sonny." Trent stated.

"I'm sorry what?" Ray asked, shocked.

The guys couldn't have heard that right, because it sounded like Trent was suggesting that they have sex with their rookie. There was no way they were going to be able to have sex with him. There were plenty of ways where that could go wrong and ruin the team. Not to mention it could make Clay's trauma worse. They couldn't force him, because then they would be making whatever fear Clay has come to life.

"It has to be an Alpha and Clay won't hook up with some random guy. It has to be someone he knows and can trust on some level. With Ray being mated, it falls to Sonny or Jase to have sex with Clay." Trent explained.

"I am not taking advantage of him." Sonny instantly said.

"You aren't. Look, if I could do it, then I would. But it has to be an Alpha. This isn't about sex or mating. This is purely clinical. Clay needs to have sex not only to save himself from extreme pain every couple of weeks, but to also save his life. If things keep going this way, he will be dead within months. The pain will get to be too much for him and he will either kill himself or he'll have a heart attack and die. It needs to be someone that he trusts and even though we don't have his full trust, we do have a level of trust within him from the operations we've been on." Trent explained.

"That doesn't mean he'll agree to have sex with us." Jason said.

"I know, but he might not have a choice soon. There isn't anything we wouldn't do for each other. There isn't anyone of us that wouldn't take a bullet for him, that wouldn't lay our lives down for his. This is the same thing, it's just a different bullet that is aiming for his head and it will kill him. Jase and Sonny are the only two people that can stop this bullet from hitting him. You don't have to decide right away, but within the next couple of weeks something has to be done. Any longer and we risk Clay dying." Trent said.

He knew this wasn't going to be easy on any of them, but this was the situation they were in now. Clay couldn't go much longer without having sex and none of them were prepared to let him die, not while they could have done something to stop it.

"Ok, we can figure something out in a couple of weeks if things haven't changed with Clay." Jason said, giving in.

He had no idea what he was going to do. He couldn't let Clay continue to be in pain and die, but at the same time he couldn't force Clay to have sex either. That wouldn't make him any better than the other Alphas he had seen forcing Omegas to have sex. He was never going to do that to Clay. For now, he would keep working with Clay on trying to get him to open up and to make the decision himself to have sex. Jason was just praying he could convince Clay before it was too late.