Chapter Text
Vicious snarls and growls. He felt trapped and claustrophobic, unable to move his limbs. The smell of blood, old and new, filled his nostrils and almost made him gag. More snarls. Was he the one growling?
“Dear Luna, not again…” He thought, trying to pull himself out of this nightmare.
It’s not like he could see anything, really. It was more a collection of feelings and sounds, but it always ended up the same way: with him waking up scared out of his mind, screaming and with pain flaring up over his skin, as if someone aimed a blowtorch at him. Sometimes it was his fingers. Others his back. Once even the left side of his face. Either way, it always ended up with pain.
He tried to stay calm, even if his skin shivered and he felt like ants crawled all over him. There was a mild pain that was growing by the minute, the same as the growling and rumbling. Then a male ear splitting howl followed by a glimpse of pain over his chest so extreme that made him ask himself again if it was possible to die from it.
And then Jared finally wakes up. Thrashing and screaming and scratching at his chest, but the nightmare is over. The tendrils of pain and panic, not so much. The young man needs almosts ten minutes to calm down enough to get out of the bed on wobbly legs and trudge to the small kitchen for a glass of water. His hands are shaking so badly that he almost drops the glass twice.
“Fuck…” He curses, still able to smell the blood and feel the pain. After a couple of gulps of water, Jared finally looks down to his naked chest and sighs when he sees that he scratched himself bloody in his panic, scowling about his lack of self control. Checking the clock on the microwave, another sigh escapes his lips. 2:17 A.M.. Jared knows he won’t be able to go back to sleep for sure, so that means a fun night watching mindless TV, anticipate some work reports or try to write his nightmare down on his journal.
Jared decides that mindless TV is what he needs right now, even if Gen would probably disagree. His best friend was the one that came up with the idea of keeping journals about his nightmares after two months of having them. It doesn’t happen every night, he even got two weeks of blessed rest once, but it’s an ongoing issue for almost one and a half year now. He tried therapy and even hypnosis, but nothing helped. Not even sleeping pills - and that was a disaster. Jared shudders when he thinks about that night, unable to wake up from his nightmare when it should be over already.
He settles for a romcom, deciding that he needs a break. Jared would usually go for horror or action movies, but nor his heart or mind can take the violence anymore, not tonight.
The movie isn’t half bad and if Jared was in the right mindset he would probably laugh a little, but he’s anxious and jumpy, not paying full attention to the storyline or the actors. When he’s about to change channels, his cellphone rings by his side, almost giving him a heart attack. Looking at the caller ID - of course is Chad, no one else would call him at three in the fucking morning, for fucks sake - he sighs. If this is another call to get his drunk best friend from some bar or whatever, he’s going to be royally mad.
“What?” Jared doesn’t mean to snap, but he’s on edge for quite some time already - probably even before the nightmare.
Chad, at least, does not sound drunk. “Geez, Jayman, good night to you too. I ain’t more happy to be up at this time either,” The blonde replies annoyed.
Jared sighs and pinches de bridge of his nose. “Sorry, man, jus’... One of those nights, ya know?”
His best friend stays silent for a moment and Jared can hear him sigh. “How bad?”
The younger man thinks for a second and shrugs, even if Chad can’t see him. “Had worse. Doesn’t matter,” He leans forward, frowning. “Why are you calling me?”
“Oh yeah!” Chad clears his throat, a little uncomfortable. “The Bureau just called me. We have a case and we need the WSU to assist.”
Usually Chad would be more than happy to have Jared working with him on a case, but the blonde seems somber, almost professional. And this makes Jared shiver.
He met Chad almost five years ago when the WSU - Were Special Unit - was called about an underground fighting club that used Weres to fight. It was not a pretty case, with a dozen of kidnapped Omegas that were being used as bait when they had their heats and almost twenty Alphas to fight for the prize. Chad was a junior FBI agent at the time and Jared had recently joined the WSU primarily as a consultant, since he was an Omega and still in training, but he was already trying to get his gun and badge as soon as possible. And the only reason they allowed an Omega at all in the unit was because Jared didn’t fit the mold.
Tall and muscular instead of tiny and lean, he could easily be mistaken for an Alpha. True, he still had his innate desire to care and protect as all Omegas had, but that only made him a more valuable asset when dealing with abused Weres, more especially Omegas. But still he was no Alpha, so field work was very rare in his career.
“That bad?” If they need both FBI and WSU together, this thing, whatever it was, it’s big.
Chad huffs. “I don’t know, just got a call myself. They just asked me to call you and Gen since we’re friends and all and texted me the location. They also said nothing has been touched and it is definitely something you guys want to see for yourself. No details, but Morgan sounded… Anxious,” He seems more worried than anything, and is such a non-Chad attitude. “He only told me for you guys to bring those scent blockers masks.”
‘ Probably drugs involved ,’ Jared thinks. Weres have a sharp sense of smell - the same goes for hearing and sight -, so it makes sense to bring masks.
“Can you give a call to Gen? I know she is not the most morning person and I don’t need any more yelling for now,” Chad grumbles and the Omega winces slightly, knowing that he’s partly at fault for snapping at his friend.
“Yeah, sure,” Jared complies.
The FBI agent lets a sigh escape on the other side of the line. “Okay, great. I uh… I’ll text you the address. Or, in this case, the GPS location”
It’s going to be a long night, for sure.