The moment he'd received the page, Finn had wasted no time in booking ass to the nurse's station to find out what the fuck was going on. To set out in the search, as not only a doctor, but as someone so strict about their suppressants there wasn't a single chance in hell of him being thrown into a rut, fated mate or otherwise. 

Not that he'd…been very forthcoming with his supervisor about the fact that the missing, heated omega could very well be his soulmate. After all, Finn had no intention of doing anything that would keep his mate from him, and telling his supervisors would have done just that. 

But that had been two hours ago and, now, Finn was going to lose his goddamn mind. He was going to snap, going to break and destroy and maim until he found his mate, until he knew he was safe and sound in his embrace. 

No matter what stood in his way. 

"Sweetheart," he sent down the bond that stretched between them, hoping a foolish hope that his mate would answer him this time around, despite the fact his responses had been few and far between, hesitant and short as if he were scared of him, an idea he found he still very much could not handle the thought of. "I know you're in this hospital and that you're very likely an omega. So, I need to know if the omega in heat is you. Please. I promise I'm not mad at you, baby, but I need-"

He was cut off, however, at the sudden, piercing screech that sounded, echoing against tile and drywall to bounce back at him over and over and over. A cry that said to the most innate, feral parts of him I am yours, and I am in danger. 

And well…he couldn't very well be held responsible for what happened to whoever endangered his mate, could be? 

If Finn thought he was angry, furious with the burnish weight of an alpha's instinct, it was nothing compared to the utter wrath that consumed him, shuddering his spine and flaring his alpha gaze so strongly he swore his vision flickered golden, the moment the first brush of his mate's shielding pheromones reached him. The instant that shield wafted against his skin, begging for his mate to save him with every shuddering inhale. 

He allowed himself to be guided by that scent, to be led to the door of the geriatric ward's storage unit an instant before he slammed the door open, and somehow found a way to get even more pissed. 

Because the sight that met him was an intern clawing at a storage cabinet like a goddamn rabid dog, clearly drunk on pheromones, but that wasn't what caused it. 

No, what truly damned him, what sealed the intern's goddamn fate and sent Finn spiraling fully into the fury of a mate, the rage of righteous protection, was the faint, terrified whimper that met him, echoing from within the cabinet to caress against his skin with the weight of his omega's terror. 

And Finn's vision went red, red as bloodshed, red as burning wrath flooding across the span of his vision. 

Because that should have fucking never been the first sound he heard from his mate. His mate should be happy, should experience nothing but joy and light and adoration as Finn worshiped at his goddamn feet, just for the blessing of his existence. 

He wasn't sure how he'd crossed the room, or when, nor was he sure when the intern's nape had filled his palm, clutched in a bruising grip as Finn slammed him face first into the brick wall, a world-ending growl shaking his chest, vibrating through his ribs, with every thrusting shove forward-- a snarling wrath that only bloodshed could absolve. 

It was the fury of a mate, of a protector, witnessing his omega in terror, that had him bashing the intern into the stonework. 

The rage of an alpha scenting his mate's misery, thrown into frenzy, triggered into protection, that had him gripping the enemy alpha's neck tighter, nails threatening at the scent glands beneath them. 

It would be so easy to dig in, to destroy them and any chance the alpha had of-

Suddenly familiar, strong arms closed about Finn's shoulders, as another set of hands he recognized, but couldn't quite place amongst the chaos, pried his fingers from the foolish alpha's neck. The intern whom he dispassionately watched slump bonelessly toward the ground, unfortunately not only caught by those faintly familiar hands before he collided with the stone floor, but disappointingly somehow still breathing as well.

A disgruntling fact some faint part of him urged him to change with growling, whispering incitement that echoed with his every heaving breath. 

And the wolf within him agreed, hissed for them to continue, for the threat to be fully eliminated at all costs if he were ever going to have a chance at seeing his omega fully happy, fully content. But he wasn't given a chance to succumb to the murmured, buried urging of either before Séamus's familiar voice filled his ear, serious in a way that was uncommon of Finn's usually boisterous, flippant cousin. A fact that was almost sobering, yet still not quite able to reach the dregs of Finn's rationality amongst that growling, golden-tinged chaos. 

"Forget him, Finn," Séamus whispered urgently, desperately delving through that snarling haze to reach his cousin, arms tightening as much as they could around the breadth of Finn's bulk. "He's not a threat anymore, I promise. You've more than eliminated that danger, so go to your mate. I've got this, Finn, I swear to you on risk of our mother's wrath. I can handle him, but I can't handle your mate. Go do your goddamn job, Finn."

It was the smartest thing Séamus could have ever done to a vengeful alpha, to remind him his mate needed him. It sliced well and truly through that wrathful fog to tug at Finn's more rational mind, and abruptly nothing else mattered. Not the blood-coated intern, nor Séamus strong arms gripping him. No, quite suddenly, all that mattered to Finn in that moment was finding his fucking mate.

And so, he shoved his cousin off, ignored his bellowed encouragement, let it all fall to incessant nonsense in the background of his mind, buried beneath the static-filled haze of instinct. He turned toward that dented, metal cabinet and took one, then two, then three shuddering steps towards it, until he was running across the room, careening into the metal hard enough to bruise, to ache against his joints with a pang he could faintly acknowledge existed somewhere amongst the chaos of intuition.

He crooned soothing nonsense into the metal, hoping his mate could hear him through the barrier, as he gripped the shorn door in hand and ripped it clean from its hinges with a harsh tug. It tore away as easily as if Finn were rending through paper, a weight some faint part of him acknowledged should have been substantial, yet felt no more considerable than that of the compressed cotton he used on a daily basis, filling his palm. He tossed it over his shoulder with an ear-splitting clanging, ignoring the shouted protest of his cousin, and deftly repeated the actions with the other side. 

For nothing, nothing, would keep him from his mate, not metal nor bloodshed, not life nor death, nor the longest of distances. 

He would find him, no matter what it took, he would reach his mate.

"Asshole," his cousin bellowed, kicking one chunk of shorn metal back his way, but Finn quite suddenly truly could not give him a single, passing thought, not as his mate finally, finally, came into his shuddering, static-edged view. His panting, heaving chest matched the tempo of Finn's own unsteady breathing, heated and needing as he was. The omega was curled up in the corner of the cabinet, amongst broken pieces of wood and rusted tools that sent a throb of anxious discomfort through Finn's chest, however it was a short-lived sensation as he realized what, exactly, it was his mate was clutching desperately, as if it were his only lifeline. 

Draped overtop his black curls and clutched desperately to his chest with trembling hands, as if he feared someone would rip it from his unwilling grasp, was Finn's lab coat, the one he'd misplaced that afternoon. Which, apparently, his mate had been the culprit of, but the knowledge of his theft was secondary to the bright, consuming joy of an alpha finding his mate wrapped up in his scent, of finding his mate nesting amongst his belongings.

Finn lowered himself to the floor on his knees, gently plucking a handful of those wooden handles where they surrounded his mate, and setting them aside before reaching for him. However, before his fingers could so much as even brush his mate, he was flinching away from Finn's touch, shrinking into the metal walls of the cabinet as if he were utterly terrified of him. It birthed a seed of doubt, along with a pang of utter agony at the rejection, deep within Finn's chest, as a realization began to bloom. 

If my heated mate had been close enough to snag my lab coat…why hadn't he come to me? Why was he hiding in a dirty, forgotten room when he could have been with me, safe and cared for? Does he not-

But he was abruptly snatched from his thoughts when his mate let out a muffled whimper, a sound that would shear through even the darkest of thoughts consuming him and catapulting his rational mind back into the forefront. For that noise was one of fear, of pain and unease, as the omega curled further in on himself as if he could quell the agonizing burn consuming him, and it summoned a violent need to protect that shoved past Finn's own anxieties. 

Because his mate needed him, that much was clear from the sight of the coat he clutched, so desperate and frantic.

So, despite the fact the thought of his mate avoiding him had his face aching to crumple under the weight of sheer agony and a throbbing sting was threading amongst his ribs, Finn tucked his hands between his wide thighs, and lowered himself closer to the ground. He approached the cabinet slumped forward, as if he could make his massive breadth smaller, more digestible to the petite, trembling omega before him. 

"Hey, sweetheart," he whispered gently, trying to lower himself even further, until he could meet the omega's downturned gaze, yet falling short. Unable to compact his bulk any further than he already had. "I'm not gonna hurt you, I would never hurt you. You're okay, you're safe. I promise. But I need you to come out of the cabinet. Please, baby. I promise it's okay. That other alpha isn't going to get to you, I won't touch you if you don't want me to. I promise you that. But you need to come out, it isn't safe in there." 

His mate merely shook his dark head hard, nearly vehement with his denial, burrowing further into the starched fabric of the Finn's coat with a whimper as he somehow managed to make himself even smaller. He was nearly hyperventilating into the coat with the frequency of his inhalations, shuddering with the strength of their wracking, as if he were trying desperately to calm himself with the scent of his mate, but failing further with every gasping breath.

And though the sight had something sweet and dripping filling his chest with a burnish ache, Finn found himself murmuring to his mate in a thick voice, "It might be better to get those pheromones from the source, sweetheart, if you're wanting to ease the ache." 

His mate paused for a beat, before his dark brows crumpled and the most beautiful, crystalline emerald eyes Finn had ever seen in his goddamn life lifted to meet his own gaze. Shocking him silent for a beat, struck dumb by the wondrous sight of those gorgeous, gemstone eyes. A small, muffled, questioning squeak left his mate's lips, thawing the frozen consumption of that gaze, and Finn couldn't help the smile that shaped his own as, wordlessly, he merely opened his arms for his mate, inclining his head ever so slightly to put his scent glands on display. The omega hesitated for a beat, his dark brows furrowing further, as if he were waging some sort of internal battle that Finn was not privy to the depths of before, all at once, he deflated and, slowly, began to pick his way free of the dangerous clutter surrounding him. The lab coat slipped from his thin shoulders as he did, yet he did not seem to mind, or even notice its escape, as he paused at the lip of the cabinet and another, faint whimper escaped his full, alluring lips. 

"What is it, baby?" Finn asked gently, but rather than reply, his mate merely whined again and reached out desperately for the alpha before him, as if unable to remember how to cross the distance himself. A trembling, relieved breath escaped the alpha before he leaned forward, gently plucking his mate from that ancient, dangerously cluttered cabinet, and into his arms, unable to subdue the pleasured shudder that coursed along his spine at finally, finally, having his mate within his embrace. 

The omega, however, merely twined his arms around his alpha's neck, and buried his face into the scent glands presented to him, taking a slow, deep breath against the alpha's skin before nuzzling closer and closer, until there wasn't an inch of space between them, slumping against his mate with another muffled whine. 

"Sshhh it's okay," Finn crooned gently, soothing a careful hand up his mate's trembling spine, and trying his absolute damnedest to ignore the pleasured shiver that coursed along his own. "That's it. I'm here, baby. It's going to be okay. But let's get you back to your room, yeah?"

Finn waited, merely continuing to rub a gentle path up and down the omega's back as if he couldn't fight the need to somehow touch his mate, to feel his presence beneath his aching fingers, until he felt a nod against his skin. Another shaking, relieved breath escaped his stiff chest as he snatched the lab coat from the cabinet and staggered unsteadily to his tingling feet, as they prickled brutally with a flood of pins and needles from the weighted heft of his own mass settled upon them. But he paid the sensation no mind as he gently cupped a hand under his mate's ass with one arm, and draped his coat back over his head with the other, shielding him from prying eyes. Unable to ignore the urging of that snarling voice deep within him that thrashed brutally at its bindings at the mere thought of his mate being within the purview of another, beseeching him covered and safe.

"Legs around my waist, sweetheart," Finn ordered gruffly through the insistent growl of instinct, smiling faintly as his mate responded without hesitation, wrapping his thin legs around Finn's middle and locking his ankles at the alpha's lower back without a word as he nuzzled somehow closer into Finn's neck. "Yeah, that's a good boy." 

Finn felt his mate's cheeks heat against his skin in response, and couldn't help the more genuine, adoring smile that stretched his lips, nor the gentle nuzzle he pressed into his mate's temple, nearly purring as he did.