Chapter 42: Chapter 42

“Argh! Crap.” Amir groans, bending down to tie his shoes for the twelfth time.

“Can we change the command? I’m getting really fucking tired of tying and untying my shoes.”

Millan snorts remembering how many times he’d done the exact same thing years ago.

“Sure. How about picking up a stick?”

Amir nods, “As long as it has nothing to do with tying laces anymore.”

“Okay with you, Dax?”

Dax shrugs from where he’s sitting on the ground, a bored look on his face.

“Whatever you say, Milly.”

Millan has to restrain himself not to punch Dax’s smirk off of his face.

“Don’t call me that.”

Dax isn’t the strongest alpha Millan has ever met, but he has a strong enough alpha voice and it’s a good starting point for Amir.

Also, he’d agreed not to say anything to Weston, Andy or Jace. Seeing how Weston scared him to death last time, Millan is fairly confident he won’t try anything.

“Now, Amir, there’s this trick I used to do in the beginning. It might help. While he’s saying a command, think of another one in your head. A simple one, like tapping your foot on the floor, something discreet and easy. You can even say it out loud for now. This way, you fool your wolf into choosing between two tasks and it can help it let go of the alpha one.”

Amir nods, but a crease forms between his eyebrows- one that Millan recognizes by now. Amir always has the same expression right before asking a question.

“When Weston commanded you not to go after Jace, is that what you did?”

“Well… not really. This is sort of a crutch. I don’t really need to do that anymore. Although Weston was hard to ignore, I don’t have to fight my wolf as much as I did before.”

“I see. So, Weston was harder to ignore?” Amir has this scrutinizing look again, like he’s trying to uncover every one of Millan's secrets.

It’s unnerving. Millan coughs and opts to ignore Amir’s last question.

“All right, let’s go again. You ready, Dax?”

For the third time this morning, Millan gets no response. Surely enough, when Millan looks over to Dax’s position, he’s fallen asleep against a tree.

Millan rolls his eyes and goes over to him. For the third time.

“Ow! You punched me!”

“I flicked your nose. I’d hardly call that punching. Now come on. We’re trying again.”

Dax groans and sits straighter.

“Why did we have to this so early anyway.” Dax grumbles.

Millan is content just to glare at him until he complies. He’s found that to be the most effective.

“Fine. Amir, pick up that stick.”

Amir’s face contorts as he struggles to stay immobile. After a few seconds, he groans and bends down to obey Dax’s command.

“Good.” Millan nods, fairly happy with Amir’s progress.

Amir sighs, frustrated. “Good? We’ve been at it for an hour and I can’t even disobey a simple task. How is that good?”

“You’re holding up longer now and that’s a good sign. You gotta be patient, don’t get discouraged. Did you think of another task?”

Amir sighs, “Honestly? I couldn’t think of anything else but to pick up the stick. This shit is hard.”

“Let’s try again, yeah?”

Amir straightens up and nods.

Hiding and training in the forest like this, seeing the determination on Amir’s face, it all brings back memories with Aaron and Caleb.

They’d been so patient with him. Always believing in Millan's capability to do it even though they’d never seen any omega ignore an Alpha Command before.

Millan didn’t have anyone to guide him and tell him how to work around the commands and for him, the stakes were higher. If he’d gotten caught by his father or his uncle, he’d have been in real dangerous trouble.

Still, he feels for Amir. Even if it isn’t a matter of life or death, it’s horrible not to have total control over your own actions.

They’d woken up before sunrise to avoid any questions and now that the sun starts to warm up the morning dew, they decide to call it.

“Thanks, Dax. We really appreciate you doing this.” Millan reluctantly says before they go their separate ways.

“Yeah. I just hope Alpha Blayne doesn’t kill me when he finds out.” Dax says as he backs away towards Headquarters.

Millan rolls his eyes. “Stop being dramatic. And anyway, there’s no reason for him to find out.”

“Yeah, I’m sure your soul bond with him won’t ever give it away.”

Millan doesn’t have time to reply before Dax is out of sight. They all know he’s right, but Millan hopes Weston won’t be too mad at him for keeping this a secret.

Actually, he hopes he can slowly convince him that omega emancipation would be good for every omega in the pack.

He just has to find a way to bring it up.

*****

“Hey, Mill! Glad you could make it.”

Jace’s embrace startles Millan but he reciprocates it. Decidedly, he’ll never get used to being surrounded by kind werewolves.

“Of course. I’m happy to help.”

“Sorry for the early rise, Grant prefers it that way. He’s a sadist.” Jace deadpans and Millan laughs, happy to know he isn’t the only one who thinks Grant is a bit cold.

“Don’t worry about it. I was already up anyway.” Millan says without thinking.

“You were?”

Oops.

“Uhm. Yeah.”

Just as Millan desperately searches for a reason he’d be up before sunrise, Grant approaches them with his usual warm and cuddly look.

Millan jumps on the opportunity to change topics.

“Good morning, Grant.”

Grant arches an eyebrow, unimpressed, “Millan.”

Uncomfortable silence settles before Jace breaks it.

“Okay… Let me introduce you to the group first. Then you can do your thing.”

“Hmm, sure. But what exactly do you need me to do?”

Grant snorts. Jace glares at him before turning to Millan again.

“A demonstration. Just follow my lead.”

Jace reassembles the werewolves who were scattered on the training grounds, warming up.

“Good morning everyone. Training today will be a tad different. Now you probably already know or heard of him, but let me introduce him anyway.”

The dozens of werewolves gathered in front of Jace start to whisper and Millan hears his name a couple of times. It’s clear nobody else but Jace thinks he has anything to offer to the training session.

“Millan? Could you come here for a sec?”

Although he’d prefer for the ground to swallow him whole, he walks as confidently as possible towards Jace’s post.

“This is Millan Caelan. He’s been staying here for a while now and has kindly accepted to help train you idiots into lesser idiots. From now on, you’ll refer to him as Sergeant Caelan. Believe me when I tell you, you have a great deal to learn from him, so pay attention.” As Jace inhales, ready to continue, a hand rises amidst the small crowd.

Jace sighs, “Go ahead, Colton”

“Forgive me, Commander Jace, but isn’t he Alpha Blayne’s Fated Mate? Isn’t he an omega?”

Jace’s glare rivals Amir’s and Millan is impressed.

“Sergeant Caelan’s skills are worth more than all of you shitheads combined. The fact that he’s that good and an omega only makes you lot look like even bigger fools.”

Millan wishes Jace wouldn’t create such a hype around what he can do.

“Now, are you all done with your dumb questions? Can we actually start working?”

After a unanimous ‘yes sir’, Jace turns towards Millan.

“You ready to demonstrate?”

Millan nods and tries not to show how worried he is that he'll let Jace down.