#pack beta

“You can’t just wear that, you need at least a long shirt under that,” I said, picking through sweatshirts. I knew I should wear one of mine since we had a lot of laundry to catch up on, but I kept side-eying our Alpha’s section of the closet; Aubrey had a habit of wearing clothes and putting them back if they didn’t get too dirty, so her clothes always ended up scented whether they were freshly clean or not.

Wearing her clothes and smelling like her all day always felt so perfect.

“I’m not changing,” Jess repeated, not even looking at me as she twirled around in her dress.

“Not an option,” I said easily.

I pulled out a sweatshirt, deciding to wear my own clothes to not antagonize Aubrey. There was certainly a practical aspect to wearing my own clothes, too; Betas’ scents often have a calming effect on their pack mates while being less likely to cause the submissive, territorial, or other instincts that Alpha and Omega pheromones can.

I put all the clothes I planned to wear in a little pile off to the side and faced Jess with my hands on my hips, knowing that my Omega would need my full attention to finish getting ready.

“Does someone need help getting changed?” I tried gently.

She scrunched up her face and crossed her arms.

“C’mon,” I tried again, “I already told you, it’s going to be cold today and if you go out like that you’re going to complain.”

She stuck her tongue out at me.

“Alright,” I said.

She seemed to guess what was coming because she started running, but I caught up before she was fully through the door. I threw an arm around her waist and dragged her back to the middle of the closet while she giggled and kicked her feet.

I set her down in the middle of the room and immediately began wrestling her out of her dress. Luckily, she started wiggling out of her clothes when she saw I had a good grip on them. Down to her underwear and socks, Jess made a break for it again and I grabbed her just as Matthias came in.

“Oh, are you two not done?” he asked, slowly taking in the sight of me holding Jess upside down.

“Almost done,” I said, with only a vague idea of how I was going to wrangle Jess into clothes.

Jess was not usually our troublemaker, but she was cunning and relentless when she got fussy. I was much more accustomed to Mattias’ shenanigans; he didn’t pick and choose his battles, he fought them all just for the opportunity to be put in his place.

Matthias seemed to have the thought at the same time as I did.

I held Jess with one arm—she immediately began to right herself and push away—to free my other arm to fend off Matthias. I held him off, grabbing his PJ shirt to keep him from squirming; I had to hold tight as he struggled. I felt teeth clamp down on my bicep and looked back at Jess; she looked tangled like a pretzel, still kicking me with her feet and using her arms to keep herself from falling back upside down. Her angle was bad and she was trying hard not to laugh, so her bite wasn’t too hard, but I loosened my grip to let her wiggle away. The last thing I needed was to drop her on her head.

By the time Jess’ feet were back on the floor, I could feel Matthias slip out of his shirt and suddenly he was on my back, his arms thrown around my neck. Jess grabbed my legs, their combined efforts threatening to unbalance me.

“Alpha won’t be happy when I tell her you two were misbehaving this morning,” I warned.

From their giggles, I decided intimidation wasn’t going to work.

I doubled forward, hoping to get a better angle to grab Matthias, and lost my balance. I landed hard on my knees, the impact making me wince. Without hesitation, Jess and Matthias pushed into my back to get me laying prone on the floor. Once I was down, they sat on top of me.

“That was easier than I expected,” Matthias said, his tone chipper. 

I knew I could get them off, but it was going to take a lot of energy and I wanted to plan my next move. If I got Matthias is a headlock first, I could—

The door opened and I looked up to see Jean, a bemused expression on their face. As the older and more experienced Beta, they naturally served as a mentor for me, but their sagely advice often included watching me attempt to figure things out on my own.

I could see the gears turning in their head, deciding whether or not being outnumbered by our Omegas warranted help.

“I see everything is going smoothly this morning,” they teased.

“Please, just help,” I begged, my face burning.

“No! No help!” Matthias and Jess whined together.

Jean gave me a nod and I pushed myself up, straining under the weight of both Omegas. I could feel Jess be lifted off as I stood. Matthias stubbornly clung to my back as long as he could, but I felt his weight leave me, too.

When I turned back to Jean, they had both Omegas by their scruffs. Jess and Matthias were frowning, but they weren’t protesting.

“Now,” Jean said in a commanding voice, “you two are going to let us dress you and then we will get ready and then we can go. Do you two understand?”

They both nodded pitifully and Jean let them go.

I was already at Jess’s side of the closet as Jean began to get Matthias out of his PJ pants. I found a long sleeve shirt that would match Jess’s dress and brought it to her.

Seeing it, her face screwed up and she collapsed to the ground, whining and groaning. Matthias was quick to copy her, going limp in Jean’s arms. 

When I tried to lift Jess, she was deadweight.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I grumbled.

“You two look like you need help,” Aubrey said from the doorway, clearly trying not to laugh.