âWhat? I- fuck...â He could remember a bit of that, of freaking out... Itâd been so long since his last one, too. Cloud shook his head, frowning at his mate. âDonât. Donât apologize, Noct. You didnât know that would trigger an episode, hells, I donât know what triggers them.â He grimaced at hearing that heâd called his alpha Zackâs name. âShit, Noct, Iâm sorry-â
His grip on Noctis loosened, and then dropped as his mate reassured him. Goddess above, Noctis was too good for him. A hand lightly gripped Noctisâ shirt, gently, but silently leading him over to the bed, which he clambered onto and scooted to the middle.
Once they were settled on the bed, Cloud leaned against the headboard, fighting back a grimace. He hated thinking about the labs, for good reasons too- but this, this was something that Noctis needed to know. âI wasnât alone in the labs, there was another âtest subjectâ with me. Zack Fair, a SOLDIER First Class whoâd been on the mission to Nibelheim, who watched as my hometown burned, and fought against Sephiroth- and he was my best friend.â
âZack... I think Iâve told you a little bit about him?â Cloud couldnât recall exactly. âZack was, was kinda like Prompto. All smiles and jokes, got along with everyone- hell, he made friends with Tseng.â Which was a rarity itself. âZack was an Alpha, which is why I was forced to wear the collar, and I will admit I had a bit of a crush on him, but I think most of the people who knew him did too.â Cloud smiled in amusement. âHis heart belonged to a omega girl named Aerith, who was a total sweetheart- and another friend of mine. He had a heart of gold, one that was in the right place, but sometimes what he thought was doing someone a kindness wasnât.â
His hands gripped the sheets tightly, twisting them as he admitted, âHojo and all of his assistants were betas, they didnât have the power to push their pheromones into the air like omegas or alpha do, but on those days when things were really bad, Zack would try to comfort me by calming me with his pheromones. It worked with my body, but it sent my mind into a state like whatever you just saw- he was trying to make things better, but made it a lot worse insteadâ