Nikolai and Price had always been strong-willed. two alphas forged in fire, brothers-in-arms turned into something deeper. After years of combat and command, the battlefield had finally released them, and they chose peace. A quiet cabin tucked away in the countryside, surrounded by pines, wind, and stars. Mated. Marked. Retired.

But the silence that once felt like heaven had begun to fray at the edges. Two dominant alphas under one roof with no outlet but each other? It didn’t take much for tensions to rise. Snapped words, clashing wills, old habits died hard.

On one such night, their latest argument echoed off the timber walls, low growls, sharp glares, and the bristling energy of dominance. That was when a sudden knock at the door cut through the tension like a blade.

Both men froze.

Price reached the door first, instincts razor-sharp. He opened it slowly, only to find a small pup standing there in the dark, trembling in oversized boots, eyes wide and glassy with tears.

“Hey there, sweetheart,” Price said, instantly softening, kneeling down to the pup’s eye level. “What are you doing all the way out here?”

The little one sniffled. “M-My daddy…” they whimpered, pointing a shaky finger out into the forest.

Nikolai, standing just behind, stepped forward, voice gentle but firm. “Can you take us to him, little one?”

The pup nodded and turned, darting off into the trees without another word. Nikolai and Price exchanged a glance, alert, serious, and followed without hesitation.

The path was narrow and wild, but the pup never stumbled. His little feet carried him with purpose, guided by fear and love. After a few minutes, the trees opened into a clearing, and both alphas came to a stop.

There, sprawled in the grass and moonlight, was a male omega.

His body was still...too still. Red stained the side of his shirt, dark and heavy, soaking into the earth beneath him. Nikolai’s chest tightened. Price let out a low curse.

“Go,” Price said without needing to explain.

Nikolai rushed forward, dropping to one knee beside the omega. He checked for a pulse, faint, but there. Still breathing. Still alive. Barely.

“He’s burning up,” Nikolai muttered, already slipping his arms beneath the omega’s limp form. He lifted him with ease, holding him as if afraid he might shatter.

Price knelt and scooped up the pup, who clung to him with a soft sob. “Got you,” he whispered, pressing his chin gently to the child’s locks.

Together, they made their way back to the cabin.

By the time they laid the omega down on the couch and wrapped the pup in a blanket, something had shifted between the two alphas. The argument was gone. Replaced by a common instinct that burned stronger than pride or dominance, protection.

“He’s malnourished,” Nikolai said quietly, examining the omega’s wrists and the bruises hidden beneath his sleeves. “And this wound...it’s not fresh. He’s been running.”

Price nodded, rubbing the pup’s back slowly as the boy finally drifted off. “We’ll keep them safe,” he said. “Both of them.”

“Da,” Nikolai agreed, his eyes lingering on the unconscious omega. “He is strong. To make it this far...”

As dawn crept into the sky, the cabin that once rang with arguments was filled instead with the soft sounds of a new presence, fragile, but full of life.

And for the first time in a long while, both alphas felt something settle in their chests. A beginning.