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Published:
2019-05-15
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2,847
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1/1
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Protective Instincts

Summary:

Sometimes Hamish's instincts get the better of him when one of his pack is in danger.
---
Basically an excuse to write adorably protective growly Hamish. I have no shame.

-- Edited Oct 2024

Notes:

An AU of the scene where they are trying to get the berserker sigil out of Randall’s neck. This picks up right after they all just managed to pin Randall to the floor at the den.

Basically Cowritten by NeonHime. She is a gift.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Randall roared and started to push himself up against Hamish pinning him to the floor. 

 

“Now would be the time to hurry up!” Hamish grit out as he pushed down on Randall struggling to keep him still.

 

Alyssa’s tweezers made contact with the sigil in his neck when suddenly Randall whipped an arm out hitting Alyssa across the room and into the wall. 

 

Randall snarled and tried to buck Hamish off of him but then abruptly Hamish let out his own roar, Tundra just under his skin, eyes flashing silver. He grabbed Randall’s head and shoved it to the floor and then he sank his teeth into the back of Randall’s neck holding firm with a low continuous growl coming from his throat.

 

Randall gave one last snarl and attempted to throw him off but Hamish didn't give an inch. Finally Randall went limp, tilting his head to the side as much as he could when Hamish hadn't released him to show his submission. Hamish’s growl petered out to a soft rumble in his chest and he licked at the bite he’d left soothingly now that Randall had stopped fighting him.

 

Alyssa got back up tweezers still in hand. She slowly approachee Randall now that he seemed calmer even if his eyes were still distinctly wolfish. Hamish immediately moved his body further over Randall in a protective stance and snarled warningly at her, fangs bared.

 

“Whoa there, I’m just trying to help remember.” Alyssa lifted her hands in a placating gesture as she took a step back.

 

“Hamish we need to get that sigil out, man. Alyssa just wants to help.” Jack tried to reason as he moved up to Hamish’s side. Hamish snapped at him and let out an angry huff, like he was exasperated with a disobedient pup. Jack flinched back and instincts he was unfamiliar with caused him to lower his head slightly in deference.

 

“Jesus christ,” Lilith swore, rolling her eyes aggressively. She let go of Randall’s legs and stood turning to Alyssa despite Hamish’s displeased side eye, “Give me the damn tweezers, he’s not gonna let you near Randall now that he’s gone into overprotective mode.”

 

Alyssa held them out and they both ignored the increased growling from Hamish as Lilith snatched the tweezers out of her hands and headed back towards the pair. She crouched down and turned her head a little to bare her throat. Hamish’s growling softened to a low rumble as she reached Randall’s side.

 

“Hamish you gotta move a little so I can get to that cut,” Lilith says in a quiet even tone. But Hamish just continued to watch Alyssa suspiciously. Lilith sighed (and looked into the camera like she was on the office) before she gently started to nudge her way in between Hamish and Randall.

 

Hamish huffed, but didn’t try to stop her, instead he angled his body to keep between Alyssa and Randall. “Oh my god. Can you stop already. You are making this a lot harder than it needs to be,” Lilith complained as Hamish refused to be moved even as she pushed against him to try to get space to work. 

 

Finally she finagled her way between them to have access to the incision. “Okay here we go. Randall this may pinch a little,” she snarked.

 

She went as slow as possible in getting the tweezers in place, trying to fight her own nature to fucking get it over with, in order to not break the (metaphorical) spell of momentary calm. 

 

As soon as she had a good grip on it she yanked it out as quick as she could and darted back a foot just as Randall let out a wounded yelp going tense with pain. “Got it!” 

 

Hamish turned to her with another snarl but she immediately bared her neck again and whined a little in apology to placate him. He subsided, returning to his one-sided stare down with Alyssa.

 

Randall let out a sulky grumble that turned into a groan as he blinked his eyes blearily, wolf silver fading back to warm brown. “Ugghhh what the….?”

 

“Welcome back Randall,” Lilith said with relief, drawing Randall’s eye.

 

“What happened?” He murmured groggily as he tried to push himself up off the floor and abruptly found that he was pinned to the ground and couldn’t really move. He nearly panicked but the overwhelming scent of Hamish gave him an idea of who had him pinned. “Uhhhhh….Hamish that you?”

 

Hamish rubbed his cheek across Randall’s hair trying to calm Randall in response to his worried tone.

 

“He went overprotective again,” Lilith explained.

 

“Oh shit,” He tried to glance back to get a better sense of Hamish’s state but could only see him out of the corner of his eye. “Heeeyyy Hamish. I’m all right now big guy, you wanna let me sit up a little?” Randall cajoled.

 

“Hamish it’s okay. Randall’s fine and we’re all safe,” Jack chimed in as he moved closer to Hamish’s side.

 

“I don’t think he’s gonna quit until your little girlfriend leaves,” Lilith said waspishly.

 

Jack shot her a glare but as Hamish’s attention moved to him he tried to give a reassuring smile before turning to Alyssa, “I’m sorry but she’s probably right. I think you need to leave so we can calm him down.”

 

Alyssa sighed and shared a look with Lilith expressing her inability to deal with overprotective men in her life, “Alright. I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”

 

Alyssa inched around Hamish and Randall, ignoring Hamish’s growling ratcheting up until she slipped out the door. As her footsteps faded Hamish went quiet.

 

“See? Look at that! You’re a great protector Hamish, we’re all super safe from the evil witch,” Randall said brightly, “You can definitely let me up now from where my cell phone is digging into my hip.”

 

Hamish responded by burying his face against the hollow of Randall’s throat, who stifled a little yelp of surprise. Hamish took a deep audible breath in, scenting him and causing a slight blush to spread across Randall’s face as he waited for Hamish to finish reassuring himself that Randall was safe and unharmed.

 

Lilith sat down on the floor scooting a little closer to the two of them. Jack came to sit next to her pressing into her side in an unconscious bid for pack reassurance.

 

“There, he should come back to himself in a minute now that Randall doesn’t smell like stress and rage,” Lilith said to Jack who was looking a little overwhelmed.

 

“Great then maybe he make us all drinks and you guys can explain what the fuck that was,” Jack snarked to hide his own discomfort. 

 

“I’m fine guys thanks for asking,” grumbled Randall, who was trying to turn over to get more comfortable without jostling Hamish with no success. Lilith snorted and only spared him a humoring glance.

 

“He’s our Alpha. If one of us is in danger, injured or stressed it’s harder for him to keep control of his wolf. As Alpha he holds himself responsible for all of us, brings out his protective instincts,” Lilith explained to Jack. She glanced over to where the tense lines of Hamish’s body were starting to loosen, his face still buried against Randall’s throat, “If he does lose control like that he goes into what I call overprotective mode, working on pure werewolf instinct from Tundra with his own protectiveness as a driving force.”

 

She paused, smiling like she was fondly remembering past such experiences. 

 

“It can get...messy,” she said with a smirk, aiming to get a rise out of Jack. But before he could decide whether he wanted to ask for more details he became distracted by Hamish finally moving.

 

Both their eyes darted back over to the Alpha as Hamish began to pull away from Randall rubbing his cheek across the side of his face, scent marking him. They could both see the silver finally fading from his eyes, his canines shrinking back to blunt human teeth. 

 

“Oh god, Randall are you alright?,” Hamish said anxiously as he put together what must have happened, eyes looking over Randall for injury and landing on where he had bitten him on the back of the neck still slowly healing over, “Shit. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have lost control like that.”

 

He slid off of Randall into a sitting position on the floor beside him, hand rubbing over his face, his eyes and lips pinched with shame.

 

Randall sat up and gave a quick stretch as he turned to face Hamish, his eyes warm and a gentle smile on his lips, “Hey man it’s not a big deal. You were just looking out for me.”

 

“And I hurt you!,” Hamish snapped back at him looking horrified at the prospect.

 

“Dude, this is a love bite. It’ll heal up in 30 minutes or less,” He looked a little pouty at the prospect of it healing quickly. He reached out a hand to the Alpha, moving slowly like he was worried about spooking the older wolf, before resting his hand on his shoulder.

 

“Really I’m okay. And I--uh really don’t mind the whole uh- biting thing…” He murmured trailing off embarrassed as he danced around admitting his own desire.

 

Hamish made eye contact, eyes still tinged with guilt and opened his mouth to speak--

 

“Oh my g-o-d! Just kiss already Jesus Christ!,” Lilith interrupted and stood glaring at the two gobsmacked wolves before her, “Come on Jack, the sexual tension is gonna kill me. I need a drink, let these idiots catch up later.”

 

Jack stood and trailed behind her snickering a little as Lilith snagged a bottle of something before they disappeared out onto the back porch. Lilith knew they needed a little push and some alone time to sort their shit out.

 

Randall turned back to Hamish, mouth still hanging open to find Hamish had buried his face in his hands and a blush had traveled up to the tops of his ears. Randall couldn’t help his wide grin at how cute the older wolf looked.

 

Hamish peered out from his hands with a glare, a pink flush still bright across his cheeks. 

 

“Look man, if I’m gonna be honest,” Randall paused like he was gathering his thoughts, or maybe working up the courage, “I’ve kinda had a crush on you for awhile. I think Lil’s picked up on it a bit….or you know, a lot. But I kinda assumed that it was one-sided.”

 

Randall rubbed at his arm a bit looking caught between hope and uncertainty as he waited for Hamish to react to his confession.

 

“It’s not - that it’s unreciprocated,” Hamish paused to swallow as he chose his words carefully, “I do have feelings for you, but I’m your alpha. It wouldn’t be right for me to pursue anything between us.” 

 

“Well what if I was the one doing the pursuing?” Randall asked with a raised brow. 

 

“I…it's not just….you should know that it’s not just me with feelings…”

 

“What Lil? I mean we’re pack but I’m pretty sure she’d rather bang Alyssa.”

 

“No, I mean Tundra.”

 

Randall’s eyes grew wide as dinner plates at the admission. In one of the journals written by previous champions they had found notes about when a wolf takes a mate. If both the champion and their wolf saw someone as a potential mate then their wolf would remain closer to the surface and drive their champion to court them, which would explain Hamish’s recent lack of control.

 

They had also discovered that between two knights if the human side accepted the courting champion then the wolf would also have to accept them as their mate. And if both wolves shared those feelings a bond would eventually form between them. But once mated if one champion died, their mated pair would soon follow, bound in life and in death to each other.

 

And if they started something between them and it lasted long enough it was entirely possible that their wolves would bond them together, whether their human champions chose to or not. 

 

“Hamish I…” Randall spoke, sounding overwhelmed. 

 

“It’s alright. I know that it’s a lot of commitment to even consider. I would never ask that of you, it wouldn’t be fair.” Hamish rubbed a hand over his face looking defeated.

 

“Uh, I mean I would think it wouldn’t be fair to you. To ask you to risk that just for me? It sounds like I would get all the perks between the two of us,” Randall said with his usual blunt honesty.

 

“You mean the possessive tendencies? The need to scent mark you and leave my bite mark on your neck so everyone knows your mine? Me being a territorial douchebag over you? Yeah what a dream that must be.” He listed off angrily, voice dripping with self-hatred.

 

Randall sat wide-eyed at Hamish's outburst before his lips twitched upwards. And then half-stifled chuckling led to a brief burst of outright laughter, while Hamish stared on in offended disbelief.

 

“Sorry. Sorry- It’s just, I mean maybe it’s kind of fucked up but that does sound like a dream to me,” he said lifting up his hands in a placating gesture as he explained he wasn't laughing at Hamish, “I would never have to wonder if you wanted me or if I belonged. And I’ve always liked the idea of being wanted enough to be kept, to be possessed by someone…” He was blushing a bit by the end of it.

 

“And when my instincts tell me to not let you out my sight? To keep you pinned under me safe from the world? When I want to stop you from leaving the den?” Hamish snapped back, expression grim.

 

“Hamish, I know you would never stop me from doing what I wanted. And I know you’d never keep me if it was making me unhappy, you self-sacrificing philosophy nerd. Even you must know that?”

 

“I would have thought so. But look at today, I completely lost control.” He looked shaken and suddenly Randall was struck by how maybe what’d really frightened him was feeling out of control, of doubting his trust in himself.

 

“But you didn’t just lose control, it was Tundra, and Tundra might only speak the physical language of wolves but he was looking out for us, I trust Tundra and you. And knowing that you both want me that much….” Randall couldn’t hide the soft private smile that came across his face at the thought. Hamish's eyes glowed a dim silver as both him and Tundra felt warm with contentment at the sight. He always wanted to be the reason Randall smiled like that.

 

Randall’s expression turned to one of determination. “And you know that I’m no pushover and neither is Greybeard. We’re the fearless ones, remember? So if you feel you can't trust yourself then trust that I won't let you walk all over me. You trust me don’t you?”

 

“Yes,” He answered without hesitation. He bit his lower lip, mulling over what they’d discussed, eyebrows pinched in thought before looking up with a determined glint in his eyes, “I do trust you. But this has all been...a lot, for lack of a better word. Think about it before you jump into anything? I know you’re the fearless one but I don’t want you to be the reckless one.”

 

Randall pouted a bit in response but knew that it was important to Hamish that he take it seriously. “I promise, Hamish. I’ll think about everything that would mean and I won’t take it lightly. But just so you know I don’t take my feelings for you lightly either.”

 

Randall smiled at him and Hamish was helpless to resist his own sappy smile in return. Randall let himself bask in the feeling for a moment before gently breaking it.

 

“Shall we go join up with those two before they drink too much?”

 

“Ugh Lilith just took a bottle of something didn’t she. We may be werewolves but we don’t have to be animals,” Hamish complained.

 

Randall laughed at Hamish’s disgruntled expression.

 

“Come on we can at least bring out some glasses with us.” Randall stood up and offered Hamish a hand which Hamish took, letting Randall pull him to his feet. Randall’s grip lingered for a moment and Hamish could feel Tundra practically purring in his mind at the sign of affection.

 

They walked into the living room and Hamish passed Randall glasses as he pulled out a couple sodas grumbling to himself, “We can at least use a mixer.”

 

Randall laughed to himself at Hamish’s antics. Then he darted forward and pressed a kiss to Hamish’s cheek before darting out onto the porch cheeks flaming.

 

Hamish was left fumbling several soda bottles, eyes wide with surprise as he watched Randall dart away with a cheeky grin and pink cheeks. Hamish couldn’t hold back a delighted laugh as he followed Randall outside onto the porch to finish out the evening with his pack.

 

Notes:

I'd love to write another part of this, so if you can give me some ideas/inspiration/prompts I definitely wouldn't say no. I love these precious murder bbs so damn much!

Remember to tip your writers by leaving comments. :) Nothing feeds the beast like comments even just "<3" or "!!!!!".

We a small fandom and we gotta look out for each other! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!! <3

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Edit Oct 2024 - yeah you read that date right. Came back to reread and was unsatisfied with some of the flow and descriptions so did some minor rewrites and editing. If anyone for some reason reads this after the edits would love to hear if you still enjoyed it! 💕