Chapter Text
The first thing Spencer Reid noticed after being in a medically induced coma for five days was the overpowering smells that assaulted his nose. Even though his eyes were still closed, he could visually picture the room around him just by the scent. He knew he was in a hospital due to the sharp tang of sterilization and artificial chemicals. Spencer knew he wasn’t alone, there were people around him, and even though he couldn’t put his finger to their names they were most certainly there.
How odd, he thought. Spencer trusted his instincts, more times than not it had led him to the correct path. However this made no sense, Spencer Reid was a normal human (as normal as a genius can be) so why would his sense of smell be heightened. Unless….Unless..
Spencer’s eyes fluttered opened as he let out a soft groan. The harshness of the fluorescent lights caused him to wince and let out a sharp hiss. Almost instantly, as he was focusing on the ceiling tiles above him, two chairs beside his bedside were pushed backwards in unison. The sound reverberated several times louder than it should of in his ears and he could feel the beginnings of a headache forming.
“Oh Pretty Boy it’s about time!” Derek Morgan exclaimed, located on the immediate right hand side of Reid. Spencer glanced at Derek, it appeared he hadn’t slept the entire time he had been out. “You gave us quite a scare.”
“I’ll get the doctor,” JJ interrupted, her heels clicking rapidly on the tile as she went off in search of Spencer’s healthcare provider.
“What…what happened?” Spencer’s voice came out as a whisper. His mouth was dry and his tongue felt like it weighed about a hundred pounds. Derek looked at him and sighed.
“You don’t remember?” Derek asked softly, gently pushing back a few wayward strands of Spencer’s hair. “Do you remember us getting to you?”
“Sort of,” Spencer frowned. “I remember Hankel standing behind me and lifting my left arm and…oh…oh my god.” Spencer’s eyes widened and his heart rate monitor beeped loudly, signaling his distress.
He had followed Tobias Hankel, despite knowing Tobias was a dangerous lycanthrope, without waiting for back up. Once they had discovered Henkel was an unhinged lycanthrope, word had come from the Powers That Be he needed to put down for the greater good. Very few of the lycanthrope serial killers they had come into contact with would be brought before trial, they were simply too dangerous for the general population. When Hotch had given the orders to kill, nobody had blinked an eye. He had the standard issue silver bullets in his revolver and he thought it would be enough. Spencer didn’t take into account Tobias’ lighting fast reflexes and was knocked out cold.
Being a human, Spencer had no chance of apprehending Hankel alone. JJ was his wolf back up, but instead of waiting for her or the rest of his “pack” he recklessly pushed ahead. Maybe it was the years he spent working closely with the top wolves of the country that made him feel untouchable. Maybe it was the subconscious need as being the only human on the BAU pack to prove he was worth something and wasn’t a damsel in distress that constantly needed babysitting. Whatever the reason, Spencer risked it and now here he was close to a week after being rescued stuck in a hospital.
Spencer knew his team didn’t think less of him, after all it takes a certain kind of determination to make it this far into the FBI without being a wolf. Ever since the lycanthropes have “come out” so to speak, the Special Forces including police work had belonged to them. Most humans respected this and if they didn’t, well there was plenty of other work for them to find. For reasons unknown to Spencer, his father tried to instill an unrealistic and borderline bigoted view of the wolves. His father had insisted they live in a human only subdivision who shared many of the same beliefs he did.
“They are no good,” Spencer remembered his father telling him. He was certain his father was telling him this because he was passed over for a management position to a wolf. Despite his awkward social cues he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. “Those flea bitten dogs think they are human but they aren’t. Just stay away from them if you know what’s good for you. No son of mine will be associated with those dirty hounds.”
While on the other end of the token, his mother practically worshipped the very ground the lycanthropes walked on. Spencer was lucky because the wolves his mother would stumble upon would look at her with pity, rather than tearing her to shreds. Thankfully, and despite the years of bullying Spencer endured from the Las Vegas packs, he wasn’t afraid of the lycanthropes. He discovered the more he kept to himself, the more the wolves would ignore him and leave him be.
Spencer hadn’t set out to join the FBI, but his determined attitude and genius mind quickly pulled him through the ranks. What also assisted him was the fact he appeared to be a typical, beta male. For all the stereotypes of lycanthropes, the one that rang true was the concept of territory and pack hierarchy. None of the FBI wolves were worried Spencer might one day challenge them to be the ultimate alpha of their department. Between his unassuming nature and genius status, it would have been completely stupid of the FBI to pass over him.
Spencer had a good grasp of knowledge on pack mentality and the various roles of the individuals in the pack environment. While all of the wolves in the BAU were extremely competent and more than capable of solving crimes on their own, Spencer added a special flare to their investigations. All of the team members were born wolves, meaning they had grown up in packs and understood lycanthrope reasoning inside and out. Before Spencer, Derek was the only team member who had a human mother but a lycanthrope father.
Still slowly blinking as JJ and the current doctor on duty shuffled back into the room, realization began to dawn on Spencer. He shifted his gaze from the door to his bandaged left forearm. JJ and the doctor were speaking, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. All he could hear was his blood pounding in his ears and the smell of fear around him. He was starting to feel stifled, the room around him felt like a tight, itchy sweater he desperately wanted to claw off.
“Hey Spence, did you hear me?” JJ asked in a soothing tone, gently touching his undamaged right arm. Spencer jerked his arm back quickly, as though JJ’s touch had burned him. Despite the constant drip of morphine into his system, the wound on his forearm had started to throb. He should have known, he should have known that Hankel would try to change as many humans as he could before he was brought down. He should have known Charles would brainwash Tobias into changing as many of the “inferior, dirty monkeys” to what he felt were the more superior lycanthropes. It was his personal mission from God, Charles had written, to cleanse the world and pave the way for the more superior species.
However not everything went according to Raphael or Charles’ plan, especially when Tobias took over his consciousness. There were horrific crime scene photos of Tobias biting his victims but being unable to control himself and ending up devouring human flesh. Turning humans against their will or murdering a human by a lycanthrope was justified means for putting a wolf down. They were considered Unforgiveable Sins and once a wolf started down the dark path, there was plenty of psychological proof it would be impossible to turn back. The second Tobias had swallowed his first bite of human flesh, his life had been forfeited. Derek was speaking again but despite his now heightened senses, he had no idea what was being said.
“So I’m a wolf now,” Spencer said more to himself, but loud enough for the room to hear. He stared at his bandage, as though it held all the answers to his questions. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t but the physical pain was the only reassurance Spencer had that he wasn’t in a dream.
“Doctor Reid,” The physician said, breaking the uncomfortable silence in the room. “Yes, Tobias Hankel was successful in passing the lycanthrope gene, and then in return had fused itself to your DNA.” It seemed like ages had passed before the doctor had the nerve to continue the conversation. “We have another question. Have you always been a beta male?”
“Of course,” Spencer shifted, clearly uncomfortable, his secondary gender was something he didn’t like to talk about. Spencer had a few awkward sexual encounters, the last one was with a beta female that hadn’t bothered to return his texts. It was a quick grope of her breasts, an even quicker thrust of his cock in her vagina and it ended far too early for either party’s taste. Surprisingly it left Spence more unsatisfied and emptier than the few moments leading up to it. He generally stayed away from alphas and omegas since they had a tendency to be lycanthropes. The doctor sighed.
Besides, it was extremely rare to switch secondary genders and the odds of that ---
“It appears to us you were actually born an omega.”
For the first time since Spencer could remember his mind came to a complete halt. The last sound Spencer remembered hearing was the loud sirens of the machines hooked up and Derek’s voice shouting before everything went dark.