🌖~ Moonlit Obsidian ~ 🌔 [with M-jow]

[M-jow]

Asher found himself getting caught staring back into Kaito’s faintly glowing eyes. Like fainting amber or liquid fire danci dancing around his irises, an otherworldly shimmer that tugged at Asher’s attention longer than he meant it to. He didn’t comment.

He didn’t know mages eyes did that.. not in that color. He’d seen red, purple or green. Never gold. And it wasn’t like how his own eyes would glow either.

 

They moved up to the apartment and it was very clear Kaito’s was exausted. Asher carried most of the bags for him which seemed like a good call, seen as Kaito flipped over on the couch as soon as as he’d taken his shoes off.

Asher simply looked at him but decided to let him be and took the bags to Kaito’s room.

Needing something to busy himself with as his nerves calmed down, he started to unpack and placed the clothes into the guest closet neatly. His fingers twitched with rage and adrenaline as he blamed himself for letting his guards down right in that moment. He should have sensed the mages coming, but he hadn’t, and it almost gotten ugly.

When he was done organising the closet, he closed it and went back to the living-room to get a glass of water.

He spotted Kaito asleep on the couch and adjusted the lighting in the room down.

Asher went to the kitchen and pulled out a glass he filled with just water. He could have choosen something stronger like alchol. But he wasn’t gonna grow that into a habit. He placed himself by the window, watching the rain snake down the glass in uneven trails. The city lights blurred beyond it, fractured and distant, like an echo of a world outside. He exhaled slowly, the tension that had held him upright beginning to unravel now.

Kaito’s words still lingered in his mind, looping back and forth like a persistent ache. They knew your scent. Your energy signature.

That wasn’t just a slip. Someone had been close, dangerously close to know how to trace him.

His jaw tightened. He’d taken every precaution, every route. Yet still, they’d been hunted down through the city like prey.

The soft sound of leather shifting drew his gaze, unbidden, to the couch. Kaito was slumped there. The soft light caught on the man face.

Asher pulled the curtains closed with a gentle motion, he took a blanket and put over the other to keep him varm.

Then ran a hand through his hair, and tried to focus. He needed a next step—a contact, a trail, a reason why those people would go so far for a book. The threads didn’t fit yet, anything logical. The book told him nothing because he didn’t even know what to look for. No hidden message or cods as far as he could decipher. It was beyond frustrating.

From the corner of his eye, the flicker of the fire place automatically started. Settling the room into its usual warm glow - the steady rhythm of rain softly hitting the skylight windows above. The sound was calming and quiet. It broke some of the uneasiness within him. That and Kaito’s soft breathing from the couch.

He walked over to where the book still was and leaned against the table, arms crossed, gaze distant. “If they’ve got both of us marked,” he murmured to himself, “then someone’s rewriting the rules. Without us even known the first one."

And that, more than anything, meant this wasn’t just a temporary solution. It wouldn’t be safe for him to return to the pack now. Not because they couldn’t handle a few dark sorcerers—he knew they could—but Asher refused to bring that kind of heat down on them.

He’d have to call his brother too, let him know what had happened, make sure the others were aware of the threat. So no one should risk going into the city alone until they understood who they were dealing with. Whoever these people were, they would know his pack and his family were his weakness.

Kaito… well, as far as Asher could tell, he didn’t have anyone. He never made calls, or mentioned friends or a lover, never seemed to worry about anyone. It made Asher think the mage lived in solitude.

For a man like Asher, he couldn’t imagine that kind of life. Yeah, he liked it now and then, sure. But his family and friends were everything to him.

And that was why he was here now. To find out why Noah had to die and avenge him.

 

(Later)

Asher was still at the table in his usal spot with his phone and the book infront of him. He’d texted Logan and the beta about the situation and both had respond back. He’d just leaned his forhead on his hand and closed his eyes for a minute or so. When he suddenly heard Kaito voice close by.

["Couldn't sleep?”]

Asher looked up. He hadn’t even heard the first time when Kaito had called out to him.

He shook his head. "Couldn’t, its bothering too much that I don’t know what is going on. I tried to decipher each and every page but I don’t even know what to see. Its about wolves and mages. I know that. Everyone knows both were created under the same godess. But from driffrent aspects that fundamentally are opposites. Yet this is not about that. It just says the two are destined to make a whole... it doesn't make sense."

[mik3la]

Kaito stood in the doorway for a moment, watching Asher under the faint glow of the kitchen light. The wolf looked worn, shadows under his eyes, one hand curled around his phone, the other braced against the table where the old book lay open like a wound.

He’d clearly been at it for hours. The edges of the parchment were darkened where Asher’s fingers had traced the same lines again and again, as if sheer focus could force the secrets to reveal themselves.

Quote

 "Couldn’t, its bothering too much that I don’t know what is going on. I tried to decipher each and every page but I don’t even know what to see. Its about wolves and mages. I know that. Everyone knows both were created under the same godess. But from driffrent aspects that fundamentally are opposites. Yet this is not about that. It just says the two are destined to make a whole... it doesn't make sense."

Kaito stepped closer, the floor creaking softly under his bare feet. He glanced at the page, the curling symbols so familiar and so dangerous that his pulse gave a faint kick.

“I’ve managed to translate a bit more than you’ve seen,” he said, his voice quieter now. “The book doesn’t talk about creation so much as… separation. It says that once, the Moon’s light was shared between two vessels, one that held its power in spirit, the other in blood. The mages became the Moonlits, the spirit keepers. The wolves, the blood-bearers.”

A moment of silence fell between them before Kaito continued. 

“Back then, there wasn’t a divide. The goddess, Lunara, before she became myth, made them as halves of one order. Magic and instinct working together. But somewhere along the way, both sides forgot that. The Moonlits thought the wolves were beasts who’d lost her grace. The wolves believed the Moonlits had stolen it. And so they turned on each other.”

Kaito reached out, brushing his fingers along the faded script. The runes pulsed faintly under his touch, responding not with magic, there could be none here, but with memory, as if the parchment itself remembered what he was saying.

“It says the balance broke when pride took root,” Kaito continued softly. “Neither side believed the other strong enough to guard the goddess’s legacy. And that’s when a prophecy appeared. A single line, written in the oldest tongue.” 

Kaito looked at Asher before he spoke again. "I havent translate it to you before because I wasn’t sure what it meant until now. And because I knew you wouldn’t like it". He took a breath, meeting Asher’s eyes. “It says: ‘When moonlight walks in flesh and blood, the divide will close, and the world will tremble anew.’”

“A hybrid. Someone born of both lineages—part wolf, part magus. A living balance between instinct and magic.” He paused. “Someone like that could end the feud. Or destroy everything holding it together”, Kaito said, his voice quiet but firm. “The Moonlits would never accept that a wolf could carry the goddess’s light in their blood. And the packs… well, you’ve seen how they react to anything even close to magic. Even you...” his voice was a mere whisper at the end.

He glanced at the book again. The runes almost seemed to shimmer under the lamplight, as if the truth had been waiting for someone willing to see it.

“It’s not about power,” he murmured. “It’s about fear. Wolves fear what they don’t understand. Mages fear what they can’t control. A hybrid would make both irrelevant. That’s what they’re afraid of,” his gaze drifting to the window. The city outside was still, but his mind wasn’t. The words he’d translated wouldn’t leave him.

And the way Asher’s eyes caught the moonlight—how the runes always reacted when he was near—made Kaito wonder if maybe the reason wasn’t just written in the book.

Maybe it was sitting right across from him.

[M-jow]

Asher’s jaw tightened as the last words lingered in the air. When moonlight walks in flesh and blood… He stared at the book for a long moment. It was a beautiful story, in its way—a prophecy woven from old myths.

He exhaled through his nose, steady, controlled. “A hybrid,” he muttered, almost to himself. 

He’d heard stories of hybrids before, some between other supernatural creatures but they were so rare and he had never meet one before.

With werewolf their gens play a driffrent role. Either the offspring had a wolf or not. And the one that didn’t could never sire a werewolf unless their partner was one. However was it really impossible?

It was a teroi no one had ever proven to be real. Asher wasn’t sure he should start believing just because someone had written it down in a old book ages ago. But he also couldn’t push it aside.

Asher pushed the book slightly away. He look up at Kaito, noticing how he look at him. He caught his own reflection in those sharpened eyes under the soft light.

Normal enough, he thought. Or as normal as a wolf with too much responsibility and too little sleep could be.

Whatever reaction the runes had, it wasn’t proof of anything. He’d been around strange magic before; it wasn’t unusual for old texts to react to energy, to presence. Kaito’s translations. Though those words were still bothering him. They pointed to something that could change everything.

If the prophecy was true, it meant big changes were coming.

He leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. “A hybrid,” he said again, quieter now, more certain. “If such a thing ever existed, it’s not me.”

He knew he wasn’t a hybrid. Both his parents were pure alpha wolves. He knew his parents families all the way back to 6th generations on either side. And there were no mages among them not even a single human.

 

Asher straightened, the exhaustion in his bones tempered by a quiet resolve. Whatever the truth was, it wouldn’t really change anything—or so he told himself.

He shook his head, exhaling. “It’s not uncommon to hear stories about hybrids,” he said quietly. “But they’re rare—so rare most don’t survive past birth. In werewolves, we have dominant genes. Even in mixed pairings, the pup is either wolf or not. Never both.” He paused, frowning. “I just don’t know if I can believe it. Still… if there was a hybrid out there, and people knew, it wouldn’t be safe for them. Maybe they’d have no choice but to hide.” His voice dropped to a murmur. “I can try digging into it—see if there’s anything to the old stories.”

He stretched, rolling his shoulders to shake off the stiffness—then froze as a sharp sting tore up his right side. The pain came fast and deep, catching him off guard.

“What the—?” He sucked in a breath, his body tensing as the ache spread. He hadn’t felt anything before, not a hint that something was wrong. But now the copper tang of blood hit his senses, faint but unmistakable.

His hand flew to his side, pressing against the source of the pain. The fabric of his black shirt was damp—sticky. When his fingers came away, they were dark red with half-dried blood.

He stared down, disbelief cutting through the haze of pain. How hadn’t he noticed? And worse—why wasn’t it healing?

[mik3la]

At first, Kaito thought he'd imagined it—the way Asher's expression shifted mid-sentence, that sharp flicker of pain cutting through his composure. Then he saw the blood.

“Asher—”

He was already moving before he finished saying his name, the chair scraping against the floor as he crossed the room. The scent hit him then—iron and earth, sharp and raw beneath the faint musk of wolf. It made his heart lurch.

Asher's hand pressed hard against his side, jaw tight, shoulders squared in the way of someone determined not to show weakness. But the color had already drained from his face.

Kaito was already pulling supplies from the small cabinet near the sink, a rag, alcohol wipes, a roll of bandages he knew was kept like in every household. His pulse was hammering in his ears. 

He dropped to one knee beside Asher, the edge of the table light casting faint gold over them both. The dark patch on Asher's shirt had spread.

“Let me see,” Kaito said quietly. 

Asher hesitated for a second, then shifted his hand. The fabric peeled away slowly, sticking to his skin. Kaito caught his breath.

The wound was deep, like something had clawed him. The edges were scorched, faintly blackened. Not a normal injury. Magic. 

“What happened?” Kaito asked, his voice low, focused. “You didn't get hit earlier. I checked.”

 

The moment his fingers brushed the skin around the wound, Asher stiffened,but didn't pull away. But how is it still active? shouldn't the protection stop it or something?, he thought taking a deep breath seeing how bad it was. 

Kaito's voice softened. "It's not deep enough to kill you, but whatever hits you… it's trying to slow your regeneration" he said softly looking up at asher, their faces inches away. "I can burn the curse out, but it'll hurt", he said biting his lip hopping he could do that given the non-magic area that Asher had around his house. But then again, the runes on the book had glowed with magic, so he should be able to reach some of his own. 

"I know you can handle pain but ... this will be a little different" Kaito murmured, already channeling what little magic he could summon here. The wards dampened most of his power, but the protective circle Asher had built into his home recognized him now somehow, it bent to his touch like it had earlier, whispering of permission.

His palm hovered just above the wound, a soft glow building under his skin, silver at first, then tinged faintly with gold. The same colors that had appeared in the books. 

Kaito groaned like he was in pain, his own pulse stuttering as the magic pushed deeper, drops of sweat forming on his forehead as he was trying to force magic to surface. 

“Almost there,” he whispered. “Just hold on", he closed his eyes focusing more, feeling his body taking some of the pain itself. Come one ... please work ... some little magic ... i just need little magic

The magic surged once, bright and wild and then the blackened edges of the wound faded, the angry red turning clean. The bleeding stopped.

Kaito exhaled slowly, the energy flickering out of his hands. “There,” he said softly. “It's healing now.”

Kaito realized he was still close, kneeling between Asher's knees, their faces inches apart, his hands braced lightly against Asher's bare skin where his shirt had ridden up. The wolf's warmth radiated against his palms, steady, alive.

Silence stretched between them then, softer now. The kind that wasn't uncomfortable. 

Kaito's gaze drifted up, catching the line of Asher's throat, the way his pulse beat steady again. His own magic still hummed faintly in the air, twinned with Asher's scent. It felt…connected. Like something had linked them in those brief moments.

For a heartbeat, it felt like the world had narrowed to this small space, the sound of rain, the lingering scent of blood and smoke, and the quiet gravity of Asher's eyes on him.

He swallowed. "You really should rest", it came out more like a whisper, weakly. 

[M-jow]

Asher had always been strong willed and good at hiding pain. It was second nature maybe because of his alpha complex. It was beaten into him by years of surviving things such as far worse injuries. But when the burn beneath his ribs flared sharp enough to steal his breath mid-sentence, even he couldn’t keep the mask from cracking.

He felt the shift immediately when Kaito noticed. The sudden scrape of a chair, and rush of movement.

(Damn it.)

The copper tang of his own blood filled the air. He pressed a hand hard against his side, fingers slick and trembling despite the effort to keep them still. He could feel the warmth seeping through his shirt, sticky and hot. The wound just suddenly came from nothing and it didn’t closed the way it should have. His body grew usually sluggish—dragged down by something unseen.

He forced his jaw to tighten, shoulders squared in defiance. The thought that he was weak enough to let this effect him, made his skin crawl.

He didn’t want help. He didn’t need it. Or at least, that’s what he told himself. His first reaction had been to push the mage away.

But Kaito knelt beside him, voice calm despite the tremor of urgency in it, and Asher felt the fight drain out of his resistance. He shifted his hand away from the wound, grimacing as fabric peeled from raw flesh.

The pain durable. But that look laced with concern in Kaito’s eyes unsettled him. 

Asher hated how that look made his chest tighten. Like it stirred up mixed emotions he couldn’t place.

 "It a curse.. it happens" he tried to shrugged it off like it wasn’t a big deal.

Kaito’s present was a plesant distraction for the pain. He only let out a low grunt as Kaito place his hands to his wounded side.

Next came the faintly magic pulse. The instant he felt it all the hairs at the back of his neck stood up. His body reacting to the energy direct that right at him. It was a reflex and a snarl escaped him.

"Fu#k!" Asher cursed as he stared down at Kaito. He didn’t think the other would purposely hurt him. He had maybe earned enough trust from Asher. But his wolf was was conflicted and pacing around at the back of his mind.

 

Asher almost told him to stop and stay back. There was a risk for the other too. The kind that could turn violent if his wolf forced control right now.

The magic burned faintly against his skin as Kaito worked.

Asher had spent years crafting those anti magic fictures to keep unwanted magic out, yet somehow Kaito’s power slipped through. The wards didn’t fight him. They properly recognized something in Kaito, Asher didn’t.

He tried to breathe evenly as the heat pressed into his flesh. Searing and clean, biting through the curse that had been coiled there like venom. The pain wasn’t just sharp; it was alive, crawling through his nerves, pulling a low sound from his throat before he could stop it.

And then, just as suddenly, it was gone. The curse broke with a pulse of light, and the wound began to knit itself closed as his natural healing progressed.

 

Asher breath out slow and uneven as silence fell again. The air still hummed with residual magic—Kaito’s magic—and it lingered in a way that made it hard to think straight. The scent of it clung to him, threaded now with his own.

He should have moved away. He should have said something—anything—to reassert distance. But his body betrayed him, heavy and still, caught between exhaustion and something else entirely.

The curse was gone, yes. But in its place, something new had settled in its wake—a tether, faint and unfamiliar.

Asher’s gaze dropped to his side, where the wound was now smooth, faintly pink beneath the blood and torn fabric. Then, reluctantly, he looked up.

Kaito’s face hovered close, too close. Asher could feel the warmth radiating off him, the afterglow of magic. He could feel it pulsing there, restless. His heartbeat had grown uneven, heavy against his ribs, echoing loudly.

Something inside him stirred. Instincts was clawing and tightening, wrapping itself around his core. Humming in a rhythm that didn’t feel like his own.

His wolf had been lurked beneath the surface, kept caged behind Asher’s iron control. But now that control was slipping, threading through the cracks in Asher’s defenses.

His breath hitched and body reacted before his thoughts could catch up, instincts screaming danger! though logic knew driffrent.

Asher’s vision bled at the edges, gold flickering through the gray. He pushed up from the chair too fast, movement jerky and unsteady. The room flipped suddenly.

He didn’t remember grabbing Kaito by the shirt and pulling him up . One moment he was trying to ground himself; the next, the table rattled against the floorboards, and Kaito was laying on top of it with Asher's body towering over him.

Asher’s palms slammed down hard, one gripping the edge of the table beside Kaito’s shoulder, the other braced against his chest. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to pin him in place.

The scent of magic clung to Kaito’s skin, bright and electric. It tangled with the copper scent of Asher’s own blood. The wolf inside him surged higher, driven by confusion, fear, all tangled together. His pulse thundered in his ears.

He leaned forward, drawn by instinct. The space between them tightened to nothing, his breath ghosting over warmth of Kaito’s neck, catching on the scent of magic still lingering there. 

A threatening sound escaped him - an animalistic growl tore thought his chest demanding the other's surrender.. and the Asher froze. 

 

Shapping right back in control and realizing how close he’d gotten, how his body had moved on against his will.

His eyes were still rimmed with gold, his pupils blown wide. The sound of both of their heartbeats filled his ears

He should have stepped back. Should have said something, anything. But all he could do was stand there, trembling with the effort of restraint, the animal part of him straining against its leash, and the human part terrified of what might happen if it broke.

"Im sorry" he whispered as he fought within himself for control. A moment later, he snapped his eyes shut as he pushed himself off Kaito and took a few steps back. "Sorry" he said not even realizing how badly his hands were shaking.

It wasn’t like him, nor his wolf to fight between themselves.

[mik3la]

For a moment, Kaito couldn't breathe.

It wasn't afraid that held him frozen, it was something sharper, deeper. The air itself felt alive, vibrating between them, heavy with heat and the remnants of magic. His own pulse thrummed in his throat, loud enough to drown out the world.

He hadn't even realized what happened until the table jolted under him, Asher's weight pressing down, one hand braced against his chest. The scent of blood and wolf filled his senses, wild, unfiltered, real. It hit like lightning, striking something instinctive that he didn't know was inside him until now.

Asher's eyes burned gold. Not just a flicker, alive and consuming, like molten sunlight under a storm. His breath came ragged, and every exhale brushed against Kaito's skin, pulling a shiver out of him that he couldn't stop.

The growl cuts through the air. It wasn't human. It wasn't meant to be. It vibrated through Kaito's chest, a sound that should have terrified him...except it didn't.

Instead, something inside him answered. It was faint, buried deep under layers of binding spells and silence, but it moved.
Like a heartbeat that wasn't his own.

“Asher,” Kaito manages, voice rough. He didn't know if it was a warning or a plea. 

Quote

"Im sorry" he whispered as he fought within himself for control. A moment later, he snapped his eyes shut as he pushed himself off Kaito and took a few steps back. "Sorry" he said not even realizing how badly his hands were shaking.

Kaito barely recognized the sound of it. The Alpha who always carried himself with unwavering control suddenly looked lost . He staggered back a step, shaking hands curling into fists at his sides.

Kaito sat up slowly, his breath still uneven. His heart was still hammering, but not from fear, something else entirely. The echo of Asher's growl still vibrated through his bones, tangled with the remnants of the spell that had healed him.

He reached out before he could think better of it. “Hey… hey, look at me.”

“It wasn't you,” Kaito said softly. "It was the magic. My magic. It reacted to something in you. It ..." He hesitated, glancing at his own hands. They still tingled faintly, the faint traces of golden light fading beneath his skin. “I think it did something to us. When I healed you, something shifted. ”

 

The silence between them thickened again, but this time it wasn't charged with danger, it was heavy with understanding neither of them was ready to name.

Kaito stood, closing the small distance Asher had put between them. “You don't need to apologize,” he said gently. "You stopped. That's what matters." Kaito gave a small, almost shy smile. “And for what it's worth… if you hadn't stopped, I still wouldn't have been afraid.”

Kaito's hand lingered near his arm, not touching this time, just close enough to be felt. The pull between them was still there, humming quietly, but it had softened now. Family. Safe.

"I knew you wouldn't hurt me". Kaito watched him carefully. He could still feel the tether humming faintly between them, an invisible thread that pulsed in rhythm with both their heartbeats. It wasn't just magic, it was instinct. It was something older, something his human mind couldn't quite grasp but his bones recognized.

The first faint light of dawn crept across the floorboards, spilling pale gold over the table, over Asher's hand where it rested on the edge. Kaito hesitated, then reached out, his fingers brushing the back of that hand lightly.

“I don't know what's happening to us,” Kaito said quietly, “and i know you don't trust anything with magic but ... not everything with magic is bad” he murmured. "and for the record, i would never hurt you with my magic. You're the safest thing I've known in a long time.” he faint a smile gazing back at him. 

[M-jow]

Sh*t… Asher didn’t know what had come over him. His wolf still pressed close to the surface, restless and snarling, but it had started to calm the moment he stepped back.

Something about all of this felt wrong. He would never have attacked Kaito—of all people. He couldn’t explain why it had happened, couldn’t name the instinct that had seized him, but he had noticed, somewhere down the line, that he enjoyed Kaito’s company. Even if technically, he wasn’t here by choice.

The last thing he wanted was for Kaito to hate him… or worse, fear him. The idea sat uneasily in his chest like a stone. His wolf had simply reacted to the sudden surge of power flowing through him—panicked, overwhelmed—despite the fact that Kaito hadn’t been hurting him at all.

Asher braced himself for Kaito to pull away, to recoil, to run out of the room and slam the door. But he didn’t. In fact, he didn’t react at all the way Asher had expected. When Kaito took the first step toward him, Asher instinctively backed up a careful pace—but only one—and then held still, allowing Kaito to approach if he chose.

The gold in Asher’s eyes flickered with worry as he watched Kaito. The man was trying to comfort him, apologizing for something that hadn’t even been his fault. He wasn’t looking at Asher with fear. He told him he wasn’t scared—that he trusted Asher wouldn’t hurt him.

The words hit harder than they should have. A hollow ache opened in Asher’s stomach. Part of him was relieved—grateful—but another part doubted, quietly and painfully.

He couldn’t promise he’d never hurt Kaito. Not when his wolf still regarded the man with wary confusion.

Kaito stood so close now that Asher could hear his heartbeat—steady, only a touch uneven—but not a single note of fear in it. Slowly, Asher lifted a hand and tugged lightly at the collar of Kaito’s shirt with one finger, checking for any sign that he’d harmed him. No marks on the man’s pale, bare throat. But the longer Asher looked, the drier and more mechanical his movements became.

He let go and swallowed hard.

“Still… I could have hurt you. There’s no excuse for that. I’m not even sure what any of that did. I don’t feel different.” His eyes searched Kaito’s face as he spoke.

Kaito… was a very attractive man. Asher had always known that in a distant sort of way, but he’d never noticed the small things—the ridiculous length of his eyelashes, or the way his eyes seemed to pull everything inward, as if looking into them risked being swallowed whole.

Curiosity crept through Asher, warm and intrusive. His gaze drifted over Kaito’s features—eyes, nose, cheeks, and finally, his mouth. Those full lips drew his attention like a magnet. He felt an absurd, reckless urge to touch them… to see how soft they were… to taste the lingering magic there and feel its spark on his tongue—

F**k. He realized too late where his mind had wandered and forced his eyes away.

His wolf had retreated deep into the back of his mind now, the gold fading completely from his irises until only storm-gray remained.

He shook his head and reached out to gently touch Kaito’s shoulder. Kaito had said he didn’t know what had happened to them… was this part of it too?

“It’s late,” Asher murmured. “We should both try to sleep. Maybe I’m just… overtired. Haven’t been resting enough.” He gave Kaito’s shoulder a soft squeeze before letting his hand fall away. “Thank you, Kaito. For helping me break the curse. And for… not freaking out when I did.”

He offered a small smile—steady on the surface, but thin, like something troubled him just beneath it.

 

 

(Morning)

 

Morning light pushed weakly through the curtains—gold muted into gray by overcast skies. It was still too early for anyone sane to be awake. But Asher had been up since dawn, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling while his mind circled the same damn problem over and over.

After getting back to his room, Asher had taken a shower. Which had turned into him jerking himself off.

While thinking about Kaito. Seeing his face. Hearing his heartbeat.

Asher had felt so ashamed of doing it but he'd fallen asleep the second his head hit the pillow.

 

Asher thought to himself, that he definitely needed to get laid. Or atleast hit something until his brain stopped misfiring.

Unfortunately, the only thing available to hit at this hour was the living-room floor.

Which was why, at not-quite-seven in the morning, Asher was shirtless and braced on one palm, his body low and rigid as he hammered through another brutal set of one-arm push-ups. Stretch pants clung to the sharp lines of his thighs and hips, sweat gathering and running in slow, deliberate trails down his spine. His muscles were tight and swollen with effort—chest, shoulders, abs all flexing as he pushed himself harder than usual.

He exhaled through his teeth, jaw clenched.

Thirty-seven… thirty-eight… thirty-nine—

His arm shook. He refused to stop.

The rhythmic slap of his palm against the floor echoed through the quiet house. Every time he lowered himself, the scent of warm wood and faint incense rose around him—along with the inconvenient memory of how Kaito had smelled when he’d stood close last night. Something subtle and clean.

He growled under his breath, frustrated with himself, and forced out another ten reps.

He switched arms without resting, flipping smoothly into place like a man being chased by his own thoughts. Sweat dripped from his temple, sliding down his jaw and falling to the floor with tiny silent taps.

'Focus. Just focus.'

But focus was impossible. His mind kept circling back, uninvited:

—Kaito’s voice, low and steady as he’d told Asher he wasn’t afraid.

—The way Kaito had stepped closer instead of pulling back.

—Kaito’s mouth, soft-looking and infuriatingly distracting.

—And Asher’s own reaction. Too warm. Too curious.

“F**k,” he hissed, pushing through another rep. “I need to get this out of my system."

His wolf stirred faintly—still confused.

 

He finished the final set by practically launching himself off the floor, landing in a crouch. His chest heaved with deep, uneven breaths. Sweat beaded and ran across the defined planes of his stomach, sliding between the ridges of muscle.

He rested his forearm on his knee, head bowed, breath steaming slightly in the cool morning air.

It didn’t help. Not enough.

He still felt too aware of last night, too aware of the strange new tension humming under his skin.

He dragged a hand through his hair—damp, sticking up in wild directions—and muttered to himself:

“Gods. I’m losing it.”

He stood and rolled out his shoulders, preparing to force himself through another set—anything to keep his thoughts from drifting. But stopped as he noticed Kaito scent was stronger now compared to before.

[mik3la]

Asher's fingers slipped from his shoulder, leaving behind a ghost of warmth that lingered far longer than it should have.
Kaito stood very still, feeling the subtle tremor in the air where the touch had been. Asher's words sat between them like fragile glass—honest, raw, edged with doubt.

He could see it in Asher's face. Not afraid. Not angry. But something much worse. Guilt.

Kaito inhaled, stepping just a fraction closer. Close enough that Asher would feel him there, solid and unhooked. 

Slowly, reluctantly, those storm-gray eyes lifted. The gold was gone now, but the worry hadn't faded with it.

Kaito held his gaze without wavering.
“You didn't hurt me,” he said softly, firmly. “And you didn’t attack me.” 

Asher opened his mouth to argue, but Kaito cut him off before he could start spiraling again.

"You reacted. Instinctively. To magic that overwhelmed both of us." He reached out, slowly, deliberately and rested a hand against Asher's forearm. "And you stopped yourself. That matters more than anything."

“I've seen people lose control of magic,” Kaito continued, voice quieter now. “Saw mages hurt the ones they cared about. Saw them break themselves trying to stop.” His eyes softened. "But you... the moment you realized what was happening, you fought your wolf back. You protected me from yourself. Do you have any idea how rare that is?"

Asher swallowed, the sound audible in the quiet room. Kaito's hand didn't leave his arm.

"And for the record... I'm not afraid of you. Not even a little."
His voice gentled with a warmth he didn't hide anymore. “If I was, I wouldn't still be standing this close.”

Quote

“It’s late,” Asher murmured. “We should both try to sleep. Maybe I’m just… overtired. Haven’t been resting enough.” 

He didn't move away right away. Not yet. Something more deeper than themselves was pulling them closer

"I'll go to bed. But—not because I'm afraid, or because of what happened. Just because... I'm exhausted. And because you need sleep more than you think."

Quote

 “Thank you, Kaito. For helping me break the curse. And for… not freaking out when I did.”

“And Asher?” He waited until those storm-gray eyes found him again.

“You don't have to thank me for staying.”His voice trembled on something soft.
“ I want to stay. ”

He lingered one last heartbeat, long enough for Asher to feel the truth of it. Then he turned toward the hallway—but not before offering one final, gentle smile over his shoulder.

"Goodnight."

 

His body was tired, his magic drained, and the house was quiet in the way only protected spaces could be, no whispers, no stray energy, nothing for his senses to cling to. And yet Kaito lay awake, staring at the ceiling, the faint glow of the ward-stones casting dim patterns across the room.

He could still feel Asher's hand on him.

His shoulder where that warm, careful squeeze had lingered. His wrist where fingers had been brushed just long enough to leave a phantom imprint. And the space right in front of him, where Asher had stood close enough that Kaito could feel the heat of his breath.

He exhaled slowly, trying to steady the restless hum coiling low in his chest.

It wasn't afraid. It wasn't even adrenaline. It was something… different.

Something that didn't belong to magic, or curses, or whatever strange tether had sparked between them earlier. This feeling was older. Quieter. More personal.

Kaito rolled onto his side, pulling the blanket up to his chin, although he wasn't cold. His heartbeat felt too loud in the stillness. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the moment Asher had pinned him to the table— Not the danger of it. Not the growl. Not the wolf.

But Asher's face inches from his. The raw panic when he realized what he was doing. The desperate restraint as he forced himself back under control.

Kaito touched his own chest lightly.Something had cracked open in that moment—not because Asher had lost control, but because he'd fought so hard to keep Kaito safe. No one had ever looked at him with that kind of fear—not fear of him, but fear for him. Kaito swallowed, the memory of Asher's storm-gray eyes stirring a nervous warmth in his stomach.

It shouldn't matter. Asher was a werewolf. A pack alpha. A man carrying more weight than he ever admitted.
And Kaito…Kaito was the mage who'd dragged him into a prophecy he wasn't sure he believed in yet. They shouldn't fit into each other's space this easily. They shouldn't be thinking about each other like this.

Kaito pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead, trying to slow his thoughts, but the embarrassment only deepened the heat blooming across his cheeks. He'd felt Asher's breath on his neck earlier. He'd seen the way those gray eyes had flicked to his mouth. And—gods help him—he'd felt his own heart react. Not with fear. Not with caution. But with something Kaito hadn't let himself feel in a long time. Something he wasn't sure he wanted to feel—but couldn't stop now that it had started.

He curled onto his back again, letting out a quiet sigh as he stared into the dim ceiling.

“…this is a terrible idea,” he whispered into the empty room. But even to his own ears, it didn't sound like he meant it.

Sleep tugged at the edges of his mind, warm and full of Asher's scent—the faint trace of pine and storm-soaked air that clung to him even now, drifting through the house like a memory.

Kaito closed his eyes. And for the first time in a very, very long time, he felt something soft settle in his chest. Not magic. Just... longing. A quiet, uncertain wanting. And he wondered, just for a moment, if Asher was lying awake too—feeling the same impossible pull.

 

****(Morning)****

 

Kaito had only intended to get water—his throat was dry, sleep never fully settled over him last night. A restless tangle of thoughts had dragged him out of bed. Thoughts of Asher. Of the wolf that had growled against his skin. Of the way Asher's eyes had darkened, then softened, then… wandered.

He'd told himself he was imagining things. But then he stepped into the hallway, and Asher's scent hit him—bright and warm and sharp with effort.

Kaito slowed down. Then stopped. The living room opened into view. And there was Asher. Kaito froze in place like prey sensing a hunter—not out of fear, but because his mind simply stopped functioning.

Asher was on the floor, one arm braced, the other tucked behind him as he lowered himself into another one-arm push-up. His back rippled with every movement—broad shoulders flexing, muscles sliding under skin slick with a thin sheen of sweat. His breath came deep, heavy, the controlled exhale of someone trying to outrun their own thoughts.

Kaito had seen him shirtless before, briefly. But not like this. Not with the morning light sliding over him, catching in the sweat along the carved line of his spine. Not with the stretch pants clinging like a second skin, outlining the sharp curve of his hips, the power in his thighs, the strength coiled in every part of him. Not with raw frustration in every movement—frustration that felt like it had teeth.

Kaito's fingers curled around the edge of the doorway. He knew he should look away. He didn't.

His gaze drifted—slow, unwillingly reverent—from Asher's shoulders down the long, taut line of his torso. The way his abs tightened and released with each movement. The small, almost vicious sound Asher made when he pushed harder, as if fighting something inside him.

Gods.

Kaito felt heat creep up his neck—slowly, then all at once—sinking into his cheeks, his ears, his chest. His pulse jumped, too fast for how still he stood. He swallowed, but the air tasted different now. Thicker. Charged. And Asher didn't notice him. At all.

He was too lost in his own head, pushing himself until his body shook with effort. Until sweat rolled down the lines of his stomach. Until he slammed through the last of his reps and rose in a powerful, fluid motion that Kaito felt more than saw.

When Asher crouched, breathing heavily, Kaito's breath caught too—tight, unsteady. He'd known Asher was attractive. But this… seeing him like this… seeing him so raw, so physical, so completely unaware of the effect he had—

It was dangerous. Kaito's heart thudded against his ribs in a rhythm that felt too loud. Too eager.

And when Asher dragged a hand through his damp hair—brassing it up in a way that made him look reckless and touchable—Kaito's fingers tightened on the doorframe so hard his knuckles whitened.

He couldn't stop staring. He didn't know how to stop.

A soft, barely audible breath escaped him—more like a small, involuntary gasp—as Asher muttered under his breath:

Quote

“Gods. I'm losing it.”

Kaito felt something twist in his chest. Something warm. Something dangerous. Something that had been growing all night and refused to be quiet. And the moment Asher's head tilted up, as if sensing something—Kaito's scent, the shift in the air—Kaito straightened instinctively, heart slamming once against his ribs.

Unable to hide the flush burning across his skin. Unable to pretend he hadn't just been standing there, breathless, watching a man who was becoming far too difficult not to want. 

Kaito's breath hitched and his pulse skipped. He tried to compose himself, smoothing his hands down the loose fabric of his sleep shirt as he stepped into the room. The air felt thicker here—warmer from Asher's workout, saturated with his scent.

He cleared his throat softly.

“Good morning,” he said—quiet, careful, but not hesitant.

The living room suddenly felt too small. The distance between them felt thinner than it had any right to be. Kaito swallowed and tried to ignore the heat creeping back into his cheeks.

“I... didn't mean to interrupt.” His voice was calm, mostly. “I just woke up and thought I'd get some water.”

His gaze dipped involuntarily, just for a moment, following the slow bead of sweat rolling down Asher's chest until it disappeared below the waistband of those clingy, unfairly tight pants.

Gods. 

Kaito forced his eyes upward before Asher noticed.

[M-jow]

Asher didn’t realize he wasn’t alone until that familiar scent brushed past his nosf, soft, warm, unmistakably Kaito.
His wolf lifted its head instantly, alert but also curious.
Asher straightened, breath still rough from his workout. Sweat slid down his throat in slow trails, skine damp in the in the early morning. He should’ve been embarrassed, probably.. for being shirtless and all.
But he was a werewolf. Being half-naked wasn’t even remotely weird for him.
What was unusual was the way his skin tightened in awareness the moment he saw Kaito entered the room.

He caught the faintest flicker of the other eyes darting around  and noticed the hitched breathing and the heat rising in the air. He didn’t need to look directly at him. But Asher got a feeling Kaito had been staring for a bit.
Instead of feeling embarrassed, or the shame that had knotted his gut earlier… something else tugged at him.
A spark of humor. Maybe he could even a chance to see just how easily Kaito got flustered.
Asher let a slow, easy smirk pull at the corner of his lips.
“Well,” he said, casual as he grabbed the towel draped over the back of the couch, “didn’t know I had an audience.”
There was a faint shift of breath, the kind people made when they were caught off guard. Asher continued wiping sweat from his jaw, pretending he wasn’t paying attention.
Teasing felt better than awkward silence.
Safer than the way his pulse reacted to Kaito’s presence.
Something other than the memory from last night creeping back into his head.
He rolled his shoulders back, stretching lazily, purposely unbothered by his state of undress. “Relax,” he added, tone lighter than he felt. “Werewolf perks.” he said mentioned down his own body a flixed his chest muscles a little.  Like he wanted to impress Kaito a little. "It’s easier keep fit cause of all the energy we need to burn through. And who doesn’t likewatching beefcake" He huffed a quiet laugh under his breath, and felt eyes lingering on him again. But the heat that crawled up his spine had nothing to do with exercise.
“you didn’t need to hid in the hallway. You could just have come in. I'm used to training around other's so”
A pause.
The tension in the air didn’t fade. It sharpened.
Asher caught just the edge of Kaito’s gaze again, before he lowered it to focuses on the floor.
Asher’s chest throbbed from the workout, but.. maybeit wasn’t just that..

Asher dragged the towel once more over his neck, but his attention, matter how hard he pretended otherwise, kept drifting toward the fast heartbeat in front of him, a little too quick. Awake in a way that made Asher’s own pulse thrum in response.
The air felt thick.
He needed to… shift it.
Redirect it before he said or did something stupid.
He cleared his throat, rolling his shoulders one more time, and angled himself casually toward the kitchen doorway. “Anyway,” he said, tone deliberately lighter, “since you’re up… there’s something I was thinking about.”
He didn’t look directly at Kaito, kept his focus just to the side, giving him space, giving himself space. “There’s a place down the street,” he continued, leaning a hip against the counter. “A propper bakery. They do fresh bread, cakes and some stupidly good berry pastries too..”
Asher’s lips tugged into a faint, almost shy smile, which he was quickly smoothen. “I was thinking of having something brought up. Could order for us both, if you want."
He shrugged, keeping it casual even though his stomach tightened in anticipation of the answer. “Figured you might be want something other that toast. I just wasnt sure if you liked sweets or not?”
Asher rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly very aware that he was still half-naked, still sweating and dirty. This was actually the first time he'd ever offered breakfast to anyone inside his apartment who wasn’t a pack member. But it felt weirdly easy to offer.
Maybe because avoiding Kaito didn’t work.
Maybe because he didn’t want to.
“I’ll place the order. Twenty minutes tops.” he said, voice quieter now. "And um take a bath so you are free from smelling me all more.
He pushed off the counter, grabbef his phone, then paused... just briefly..
“It’d be nice to eat together. If you want to”

[mik3la]

Kaito had not prepared for this. Not for Asher shirtless, half-glowing in morning light.
Not for the lazy stretch of muscle across his chest as if he weren’t the most distracting thing Kaito had ever seen.
And definitely not for the smirk—the infuriating, self-satisfied smirk—that told Kaito he’d been caught staring.

Gods.
He absolutely had been staring. Kaito tried - tried - to respond like a normal functioning adult.
Instead, his mouth opened… closed… then opened again in betrayal of every scrap of dignity he possessed.

“I—I wasn’t hiding,” he blurted, then winced internally. Great start.
“I mean—I didn’t want to interrupt you. You were… busy.”

Busy.
Doing one-arm push-ups like some sort of sculpted demigod carved out of heat and sweat and sinful geometry. Kaito’s ears burned. Kaito’s brain promptly decided to stop working yet again.

“And I wasn’t… watching,” he added quickly. Too quickly. Then immediately realized that sounded worse.
Much worse. His face went utterly, hopelessly red.

“I mean— I didn’t watch on purpose.” … “Not the whole time.”

Perfect. Just bury yourself alive next time.

Asher’s chest shook with a quiet laugh, low and warm, and Kaito felt that sound all the way down his spine.

When Asher flexed - flexed - his chest in demonstration, Kaito’s eyes snapped to it before he could stop himself. He made a strangled noise in the back of his throat and forced his gaze up, only for it to catch on Asher’s face instead.

Which wasn’t better. Not even a little.

“You, um,” Kaito managed weakly, waving a hand at him, “you’re… very…” Beautiful. Distracting. Unfair.

“…fit,” he finished uselessly. “Very, ah… healthy.” He wanted to die.

But Asher didn’t tease him for that. Not openly. Not when he shifted the conversation to food—normal, safe, not-thirst-inducing territory. Except it wasn’t safe.

Not when Asher said eat together in that low, almost shy tone. Not when he offered pastries and breakfast like it meant something. Not when his eyes softened just the slightest bit, waiting for Kaito’s answer. 

Kaito swallowed hard.

Breakfast. With Asher. In his apartment. Alone.

His heart flipped in his chest.

“I… yeah,” he said, voice embarrassingly soft. “I’d like that.”

Then, because some reckless part of him was still buzzing from watching Asher work out, Kaito added—quiet, flustered, but undeniably bold:

“And for the record… I don’t mind your scent.” Kaito’s face burned, but he didn’t look away this time. “It’s… nice,” he admitted, twisting his fingers together lightly. “Comforting. So you don’t have to, um… rush the shower on my account.”

A breath, quick and warm, left him.

“And Asher?” His eyes flicked briefly to the man’s still-bare chest, then back up, braver than he felt. “You didn’t have to flex to prove anything.” A small smile curved his lips.

“I already noticed as is very hard to not notice a big muscular body”

earth please swollow me now, he bit his lip closing his eyes for a split second in hopes that that might happen.

"I'm gonna go change in normal clothes" he said smiling nervously. " And i do like sweets" he said before turning on his heals to head back in his room. 

[M-jow]

With the towel still clutched in his hand, a bead of sweat tracing a slow path down his ribs. Kaito’s words hang in the air, a shimmering veil of unexpected honesty. 

[I’m gonna go change in normal clothes.]

 Asher’s eyes track Kaito’s retreating form as he vanishes around the corner, a nervous, almost shy energy radiating from him even in his quick exit.

[And I do like sweets.]

The last words drift back, a soft, almost playful echo. Asher blinks, once, twice. The air feels thinner now, yet still charged, humming with Kaito’s recent presence. Asher’s own pulse, which had thrummed a frantic rhythm against his ribs just moments before, now settles into a slower, heavier beat. Not calm, not exactly, but… resonant. His hand, still gripping the towel, flexes unconsciously. He stares at the empty space where Kaito had stood, then slowly, his gaze drifts to his own chest. The muscles, still tight and swollen from his workout, feel suddenly exposed. Not in a bad way. Not in a way that makes him want to cover them. Just… noticed. 

Asher shakes his head, a faint, disbelieving smile tugging at his lips.

"Gods, Kaito." He mutters the name under his breath, testing its sound. He brings the towel up, wiping at the dampness on his neck, but his movements are slow, deliberate. His mind replays Kaito’s words.

[“I don’t mind your scent.”]

Asher’s brows furrow. He’d expected an awkward dismissal, a polite excuse to avoid the topic. Instead, Kaito had leaned into it. Embraced it, even. Asher sniffs the air, a deep, unconscious inhale. He smells himself: sweat, a faint hint of his own alpha scent, sharp and earthy. He’s always been aware of it, but now he wonders how Kaito perceives it. Not as an overwhelming presence, apparently. Not as something to shy away from.

[“Comforting.”] The word lands in Asher’s mind with the weight of a stone dropping into still water, sending ripples through his composure. Comforting. No one had ever described his scent as comforting. Dominant, yes. Intense, sometimes. But comforting? It implied a level of intimacy, a sense of safety, that Asher hadn’t realized Kaito felt around him. Hadn’t even realized he *wanted* Kaito to feel around him. And then: [“You didn’t have to flex to prove anything.”] Asher’s cheeks warm. He hadn’t even realized he’d done it. The unconscious flex, a primal, instinctual display of strength. He’d done it without thinking, a reflexive action meant to… what? Impress? Intimidate? Or simply assert his presence? He hadn’t known. But Kaito had seen it. And Kaito had called him on it. Gently, but firmly.

[“I already noticed as is very hard to not notice a big muscular body.”]

Asher’s smile widens, a genuine, unburdened grin that pulls at the corners of his eyes. Kaito hadn’t just noticed. He’d *admitted* to noticing. And not just that, he’d admitted it with a flush, with a nervous laugh, with an almost bashful boldness that was utterly disarming. The alpha in Asher preens, a deep, satisfied thrum vibrating through his chest. He’d spent the morning trying to outrun his thoughts, trying to ignore the pull he felt towards Kaito. And Kaito, with a few simple, honest words, had not only acknowledged that pull but had reciprocated it, in his own shy, roundabout way. Asher lets out a soft, almost breathless laugh. "Well, damn."

He walks over to the kitchen counter, where his phone is. His gaze falls on the empty space where Kaito had just been. He feels a sudden, intense urge to follow him. To see that flush again. To hear that soft, breathless confession once more. But he holds back. Kaito had asked for space, had retreated to change. He would respect that. He picks up his phone, his thumb hovering over the screen. Bakery. He’d promised pastries and breakfast together. And now, that promise felt less like a casual offer and more like… a date. A very, very early morning, post-workout, shirtless-alpha-and-flustered-mage date. He orders, his fingers flying across the screen, a faint tremor in his hands. 6 berry pastries, 6 savory croissants, two strong coffees. He adds a small, ridiculously expensive box of chocolate-covered strawberries on a whim. He doesn’t know why exactly. He just knows he wants Kaito to have them. Order placed, he looks around the living room.

He shakes his head again, a low chuckle rumbling in his chest. He heads towards the bathroom and grabs a fresh towel from a nearby basket. A shower. To clean himself up, so Kaito wouldn’t have to smell his stank. But now… now he wonders if Kaito would really mind.

 

Asher steps into the spacious, tiled bathroom. The air is cool, sterile. He strips quickly, tossing his sweat-damp pants into a hamper. He catches his reflection in the large mirror. His body, still glistening with a thin sheen of sweat, looks powerful, carved. He studies the planes of his chest, the tautness of his abdomen, the thick muscles of his arms. He’s always taken pride in his physique, a necessity for an alpha, a reflection of his strength and discipline. But now, he sees it through a different lens. Kaito’s lens. He turns on the shower, letting the water warm. Steam begins to curl, softening the harsh edges of the room. He steps under the spray, letting the hot water sluice over his skin. It feels good, cleansing, but not entirely. The scent of Kaito, faint but persistent, still clings to his mind, interwoven with the memory of his words. He scrubs at his skin, working up a rich lather, the scent of cedar and musk filling the air. He washes his hair, running his fingers through the thick strands, feeling the tension slowly ease from his scalp. But his mind remains active, replaying the scene in the living room. Kaito, pale in the morning light, framed by the doorway. His wide, curious eyes. The way his gaze had lingered, then darted away. The flush that had risen on his cheeks, spreading to his ears. The small, involuntary gasp. And then, the words. Honest. Unflinching. Bold. Asher leans his head against the tiled wall, letting the water drum against his back. He’d always prided himself on his control, his alpha composure. But Kaito seemed to chip away at it effortlessly, leaving him feeling exposed and… strangely exhilarated. He thinks of Kaito’s hands, twisting nervously. The way his voice had softened when he’d confessed to liking sweets. The way his eyes, even in their shyness, had held a direct, unwavering gaze.

Asher finishes his shower, feeling cleaner, but the internal hum, the thrum of anticipation, remains. He dries himself vigorously, then wraps a fresh towel around his waist. He pads back into his bedroom, his mind already racing ahead. What would Kaito wear? What would they talk about? Would the tension, the charged atmosphere, still be there? Or would the mundane act of eating breakfast together somehow dissipate it? He hopes not. 

Asher pulls out a pair of dark, comfortable jeans and a soft, charcoal-grey t-shirt. Yeah maybe Kaito was right about his wardrobe being boring, but Asher felt the most comfortable in dose colors.

He dresses quickly, his movements efficient. He glances at his reflection again. He looks… normal. Less like the raw, primal creature Kaito had witnessed, more like the calm, collected alpha he usually presented to the world. But the internal shift, the subtle loosening of his usual guardedness, is undeniable. He runs a hand through his still-damp hair, raking it back from his forehead. He checks his phone. The bakery order should be here soon. He walks back into the living room, a sense of purpose in his stride. He starts settting the table. He moves around the kitchen, pulling out plates, mugs, silverware. He sets them on the small, round dining table near the window. He pours fresh water into the electric kettle and switches it on. The mundane tasks feel imbued with a new significance, a quiet domesticity that is both unfamiliar and surprisingly welcome. The kettle whistles, and Asher pours the hot water into two mugs. He adds some tea bags. He thinks of Kaito’s preference for sweets. He’ll offer honey and milk.

A soft sound from the hallway. Asher’s head snaps up, his hand pausing mid-stir. Kaito steps into the living room, dressed in soft, loose-fitting clothes: a long-sleeved, deep blue shirt that makes his eyes seem even more vibrant, and comfortable dark trousers. His hair is still a little damp, falling softly around his face. He looks… fresh. And still, undeniably, beautiful. Their eyes meet across the small distance. There’s a quiet strength in his gaze, a vulnerability that Asher finds himself drawn to.

He offers a small smile. "Morning. Again. His voice is soft. "You look… good. The clothes really fits you." The compliment tumbles out before Asher can censor it.

Well, he is glad he didn’t just leave them behind when they ran yestrday.

 

 

[mik3la]

Kaito didn’t breathe again until he was fully out of Asher’s sight. He rounded the corner too fast and stopped with his back pressed against the cool wall, his chest rising and falling in sharp, unsteady breaths. His fingers dug into the fabric of his shirt. Heat shot across his cheeks and down the back of his neck.

“Gods… what did I just-”

His voice broke off into a helpless whisper.

His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might tear itself free from his ribs. He could still see the living room, still see Asher standing there half-naked, looking like every carved statue in every ancient ruin Kaito had ever studied—alive, warm, sweat-sheened, real. It was ridiculous how little control he’d had over his reactions.

The way his mouth had gone dry. The way he’d stared. The way he’d spoken.

He pressed his palms to his burning face.

“I told him I liked his scent,” he muttered into his hands. “I told him he didn’t need to flex. And then— and then—” He made a strangled sound.

He had told a man built like a primordial demigod that it was “hard not to notice his big muscular body.” Out loud. Voluntarily. While Asher was sweating, shirtless, and stretching like some kind of slow-motion temptation.

Kaito groaned and slid down the wall until he was crouched, elbows on his knees. He could still feel the warmth of Asher’s gaze. Still hear the low rumble from Ashers voice.

Why had he looked at him that way? Why had he smirked like that - slow, crooked, hungry - like Kaito had done something more than just stare? Because Kaito had been staring.

He pushed to his feet with a small breath, hands shaking slightly.

“Get it together,” he whispered to himself as he headed into the guest room.

He closed the door behind him, the soft click of the latch sealing him into stillness. The quiet here was different—calmer, dimmer. But his pulse kept its frantic rhythm.

He shed his sleep shirt first. Cool air skated across his bare skin, raising a faint ripple of goosebumps. Kaito wasn’t muscular the way Asher was - no one was - but months of traveling, spellcasting, and running for his life had carved a certain lean sharpness into him. Normally, he didn’t think anything about it. But now… now he wondered what Asher saw when he looked at him.
If he looked at him the way he’d looked this morning - slow, assessing, drawn in despite himself. Kaito swallowed.

He hadn’t wanted to run from Asher. Not truly. He’d needed distance because his own body didn’t know what to do with the heat pooling low in his stomach, or the flutter of something warm and fragile in his chest.

That wasn’t fear. Not even remotely.

He chose a deep blue shirt - soft against his fingers, loose without being shapeless. It made his skin tone look less ghostly after last night, and it calmed him just enough. He pulled it on slowly, smoothing the hem, then picked dark, comfortable trousers.

He paused at the mirror.

His hair, still damp from his quick wash, curled softly around his face. His eyes looked slightly wider than usual-bright, unsettled but steady. He took a slow breath.

“Okay,” he murmured to his reflection. “You can handle breakfast. It’s just food. With a werewolf. A half-naked werewolf wh-” He cut himself off before the spiraling could continue.

He left the room before he convinced himself to hide there forever.

The hallway felt too quiet. The scent of tea drifted toward him; warm, faintly floral, mixed with something undeniably Asher: cedar, earth. It wrapped around him before he even stepped into the living room. Kaito emerged slowly.

Asher was standing by the small dining table, setting out mugs and silverware with a focus that looked almost ceremonial. His damp hair was pushed back, dark and slightly messy. The charcoal-grey t-shirt clung to him in a way that made his shoulders look even broader, his chest firm and solid beneath the fabric. His posture eased the moment he sensed Kaito’s presence.

He looked up and their eyes met. The air snapped faintly like a spell locking into place.

Quote

"Morning. Again." His voice is soft.

Something in Kaito’s chest tightened. His breath thinned. Asher’s gaze swept himquick, instinctive, then lingering, before he stopped himself.

Quote

"You look… good. The clothes really fits you." 

Kaito froze.

“What?”

He blinked at him, stunned, brain short-circuiting for a single mortifying moment.

Not because the compliment was unexpected, though it was. Not because he sounded almost shy or because he was watching him so openly, though that certainly wasn’t helping. But because it hit Kaito somewhere unguarded.

“Um... I....thank you,” he managed, voice embarrassingly soft and uncertain at the start.Trying to recover, Kaito stepped closer, fingers twitching at his sides.

“And ... you clean up well, too,” Kaito blurted before he could stop himself. “The shirt suits you.” The second the words left his mouth, his ears warmed again.

Asher’s smile deepened, slow and genuine, and Kaito had to glance away to gather himself. He stepped fully into the room, brushing a bit of hair behind his ear, trying to seem put-together despite feeling anything but.

“So,” he said, letting out a breath that sounded a bit too much like a sigh, “breakfast?”

His voice steadied now - quiet but warm. And even though the space between them felt charged again, simmering beneath the calm, Kaito didn’t shy away. He stepped toward the table, toward Asher. Because something about this—this morning, this strange not-quite-flirting, not-quite-admitting—felt like the first breath after surfacing from deep water.

And he didn’t want to lose it.

[M-jow]

["What"]

The way Kaito froze at his compliment made Asher stop what he was doing for a second too as he mentally hid himself. Yeah, he figured it was properly cringe to say that.

Just then Kaito seemed to have conected to his brain, causing he suddenly begin to stammer shyly.

And with that Asher seemed to have forgotten he was just now beating himself up over acting weird.

["And... you clean up well, too.. (...) The shirt suits you.”]

A playful smile played on his lips. He couldn’t help it. Kaito was just so easy to tease and the way he blushed was adorable.

"Oh so it not that bad? my 50 shades of gray wardrobe.. I know you said you didn't mind me being shirtless, but... I like being just a little civil"

The doorbell rang with the timing just right. Interrupting the emotional tension in the room.

Asher didn’t flinch.

Well—maybe a fraction. But only on the inside, when the sudden snap of sound cut through the warm, charged tension between him and Kaito like a wire pulled taut. Outside, he stayed composed, expression smooth and controlled despite the jolt in his pulse.

“That’ll be breakfast,” he said, voice steady.

He gave Kaito a small, confident smile—just enough curve to look intentional, not enough to show how warm Kaito’s gaze still felt on his skin. Then he cleared his throat, casual as ever.

“I’ll grab it.”

He walked toward the door with the deceptive casualness of a man who very much needed the fifteen-second break to reassemble his internal organs. The elevator ride down felt like the universe’s idea of a cooldown lap after sprinting through attraction-induced chaos.

 

By the time he reached the lobby, Asher had just barely regained enough composure to look like a normal, fully-functioning adult.

Which was exactly when the delivery man saw him, blinked, and did a double take so comically dramatic Asher almost turned around to see if someone hotter was behind him.

“Uh,” the courier said, holding out two big paper bags and one tiny, absurdly elegant box. “Order for… Asher? Dude. You look like you just walked off a fitness magazine cover.”

Asher stared. Then blinked.

Then made the fatal mistake of trying to smile. It came out… toothy.

“Oh. Uh. Thanks.”

“Right. Yep. Totally normal reaction,” the courier muttered, handing everything over extremely carefully, as though Asher might accidentally crush the pastries with his biceps if too excited.

Asher signed, tipped far too much (mostly out of embarrassment), and hurried back upstairs. By some miracle, he kept everything upright.

When he re-entered the apartment, Asher’s chest warmed.

He didn’t know how someone's presence could do that. How one person could make a whole room feel just driffrent.

 

“Breakfast delivered successfully ,” Asher joked as he carried the bags over. “Only mildly terrified the courier.”

They sat down together at the table, the space between them barely there. Asher handed Kaito one of the berry pastries, and watched his reaction to the pastriy. It was as big as one hand.

 

They ate for a while in comfortable quiet. The kind of quiet that felt like warm blankets instead of awkward gaps. At some point Kaito’s shoulders slowly loosened; his hands stopped fidgeting quite so much. His eyes kept drifting enough to be obvious, but long enough for Asher to feel each pass like a warm pulse along his skin.

Then, because Asher couldn’t sit with his own curiosity for another minute, he cleared his throat softly.

“So…” he began, trying for casual conversation. “If you weren’t, stuck in here with me all day—” He winced. “That sounded less creepy in my head. Let’s pretend I phrased it better.”

Asher pushed on.

“What I mean is… what would you normally be doing?”

He nodded toward Kaito with the gentlest encouragement he could manage. “What do you like? Hobbies, interests. Anything. I just—” He shrugged, feeling suddenly, stupidly young. “I want to know more about you.”

But judging by the warmth rising in his own cheeks, it might’ve been obvious anyway.

Asher took a sip of his tea, mostly so he had something to hold on to while waiting for Kaito’s answer. His heart doing that embarrassing hopeful thump-thump against his ribs.

He wanted to know everything he could about the other. Only this time it wasn’t to interrogate him. It was because Asher was genuine interested in Kaito as a person.

[mik3la]

The berry pastry was ridiculous. Ridiculous in size, ridiculous in flavor, ridiculous in the way it melted on his tongue and made him close his eyes for a moment because gods, when was the last time he’d eaten anything that wasn’t half-burned or on the run?

But what was even more ridiculous , was the way Asher was watching him enjoy it. Not in a predatory wolf way. Not in a teasing way. Softly.

Something warm flickered beneath Asher’s usually guarded expression. Something that made Kaito’s heart lift into his throat. And that warmth—gods, it was so different from the man he’d first met.

The man who had slammed him against a wall with grief and anger boiling under his skin. The man who’d been all cold threats and sharp shadows after the murder—his friend’s murder—that no one had solved yet. But now? There was a gentleness in Asher that Kaito hadn’t seen before. A cautious curiosity. Even a shy streak.

He wasn’t trying to intimidate Kaito. He wasn’t trying to keep emotional distance. He was trying. Trying to know him. Trying to let him in. Kaito’s chest tightened, unexpectedly touched. The tea warmed his hands, but Asher warmed… everything else.

He looked down at the pastry to compose himself so his voice wouldn’t crack with something embarrassingly soft.

“I, um…”
He cleared his throat. “Normally I’d be reading. Or researching. Or trying to find someplace quiet enough to—” He stopped, because Asher was looking at him like he actually wanted the answer. Not just as small talk. Not as distraction. But as something he genuinely cared to hear.

Kaito’s breath softened.

“I like learning things,” he said with a small, self-conscious laugh. “Especially things no one else bothers to look for. History, magic theory, old myths, even astronomy. Anything that fills in the gaps people gloss over.” He risked looking up. Asher’s gaze didn’t waver.

“And… I think I like talking to you, too,” Kaito admitted, voice shrinking to something barely above a whisper.

Asher’s eyes widened just slightly—like that meant something to him. Kaito felt a warmth spread through his chest before he could stop it. But the moment didn’t get to settle.

Asher’s phone vibrated on the table, buzzing sharply against the wood. Once. Twice. A third time. An insistent call.

Asher frowned, glanced at the screen and every ounce of color drained from his face. Not with fear but something tight, shar and heavy.

The voice on the other end was loud enough for Kaito to hear it faintly—even from across the table. Low, rushed, and carrying the same emotional weight Asher had when they first met.

“Asher,” Lucas said, breathless. “We got something. A lead,” Lucas said. “On the murder. The one from two months ago.” A pause, heavy enough to change the air in the room.

Kaito felt something shift inside him, like a thread pulling taut. Asher’s jaw clenched. Kaito had seen him angry before. Had seen the storm barely held behind his eyes. But this ... this was quieter. Darker. 

Kaito’s breath hitched. This was the Asher from before—the one carved from grief and razor-edged fury. But he wasn’t the same as back then. Not entirely, because when Asher’s gaze flicked up, just for a heartbeat, he looked at Kaito. Not through him, not past him. At him. As if grounding himself. As if Kaito was the anchor keeping him from running out the door before thinking. 

Kaito’s pulse trembled.

“Asher,” Lucas continued, voice sharp and urgent through the speaker, “you need to hear this. It’s connected to the mages. And possibly hibrid traces. Surprised you didn't catch a glimse of its scent when you got there even if it was too light and faint to smell it in the first place, but i knew you have a sensible nose brother.”

Kaito’s breath stoppened when he heard the others voice even if he hadn't been the one being spoken to—yet every word hit him with the precision of a blade. His world went still. 

Kaito felt something heavy lodge in his throat frowning at the information that was now linger in his mind. Mage residue. Hybrid. A cold weight slid down his spine, settling low in his stomach. His fingers tightened slightly around the edge of his mug.

No… no, that can’t— there was no one there like that ... no animal traces. There was only magic around. Thats what Asher said he felt. Even on myself even if i was unconscious he felt i was a mage but not the one responsible. So either they had a hibrid with them or ...

The connection snapped into place instantly. Too fast and to clean even if still confusing of how it was possible. But because the book… That stupid, ancient, cursed book he’d carried with him the night their friend was killed and he ...

His breath faltered.He felt it skip—like a rope snagging midair. This wasn’t random. This wasn’t bad timing. This wasn’t “wrong place, wrong time,” like he’d desperately tried to tell himself for weeks. They hadn't been only after the book. They have been after him. And someone else had died for it.

Kaito felt something inside him twist so sharply his vision blurred. His stomach clenched. His throat tightened until it almost hurt. But how was this possible? He never shifted, never felt it before. He only had been a mage.

The blame hit him like a fist to the ribs. That night had already haunted him in silence—burned into the back of his eyelids. Their friend's laugh, their easy grin, the warmth of sharing street food after hours… and then their corpse lying in a pool of blood Kaito could still smell sometimes, even now.

Kaito’s lips parted in a shaky inhale. He didn’t even realize when his wolf stirred. It wasn’t loud or dramatic.  Not a growl, not a violent rush. Just… a flicker.

A soft, instinctive tightening somewhere deep in his chest, like claws stretching after decades of sleep. A low, pulse-like thrum that went through his bones rather than his veins.

His senses sharpened all at once—too fast, too bright. His ears caught the faint hum of the refrigerator. The scrape of Asher’s thumb against his phone case. The ticking pulse under Asher’s skin. 

Everything felt suddenly close, overwhelming as he stand up and took a step back from the table wanting to make distance between him and Asher like protecting him from himself as he didn't know how this was possible. 

Kaito inhaled sharply—too sharp. His pupils dilated; for a second, colors in the room seemed to grow brighter, harsher. Asher’s scent—cedar, warmth, strength—spiked in his senses.

“Kaito?” Asher’s voice cut through the noise, soft but urgent.

Kaito jerked slightly—his wolf settling like a startled animal shrinking back into shadows.

“I—I’m fine,” he lied, too quick, too tense. But Asher’s eyes narrowed. He noticed. Of course he noticed.

Lucas kept talking, unaware of the shift in the room.

“Asher, get down here. If we track this right now, we can find whoever—”

 

[M-jow]

Asher nodded along as Kaito spoke. He wasn’t all that surprised by his answer, honestly. Kaito always seemed to know a lot about everything, and he never got annoyed with Asher for spending most nights quietly reading. He understood Asher wasn’t ignoring him—probably because he was used to that kind of quiet himself. And even though Asher didn’t owned many books, he did barely have a full shelf, he had caught Kaito comfortably curled up on the couch with one more than once.

Asher might have been thorough with his work and diligent with research, but he wasn’t a fan of studying for its own sake. Truthfully, he hated paperwork. He was much more of an action-oriented guy.

Back in school, his brother Logan always brought home straight A+ grades and served as the student body president. Asher, on the other hand, barely kept his grades high enough to stay on the football team. In his parents’ eyes—and pretty much everyone else’s—Asher was more of a wildfire. Still, his relationship with Logan had always been solid and strong.

 

[“And… I think I like talking to you, too.”]

Asher blinked, unsure he’d heard that correctly. Something inside him stirred—restless and warm—and a soft, fuzzy heat unfurled in his stomach. He smiled at the thought and was just about to open his mouth when his phone rang.

He closed his eyes in annoyance at the unpickable timing, sight, then opened his eyes again. He apologized to Kaito as he reached down into his pocket for his phone and answered it without even checking to see who it was first.

 

Whoever it was calling him this early better have a fucking good reason to.

Asher heard Logan’s voice clear as day one the other end. He sounded kinda exited and Asher understood why when Logan told him they had a lead.

[“you need to hear this. It’s connected to the mages. And possibly hibrid traces. Surprised you didn't catch a glimse of its scent when you got there even if it was too light and faint to smell it in the first place, but i knew you have a sensible nose brother.”]

Asher frowned. Nothing had been wrong with his nose. It hadn’t picked up any scent aside from Noah and Kaito’s. Had Logan smelled something he hadn’t?

He noticed the atmosphere in the room shift instantly and looked up while Logan kept going in his ear.

But Asher's focus had already narrowed to the trembling shape across from him.

Kaito.

At first, Asher thought he was just startled. Maybe overwhelmed by the news. But then he saw it.

The widening of his pupils.

The sharp, ragged inhale.

The way his body pulled back like he was afraid of himself.

Asher’s stomach dropped.

Logan was still talking in his ear, rapid-fire details about hybrid traces and mages and scent profiles Asher should’ve picked up. But all Asher could hear was the thundering shift in Kaito’s breathing.

“Kaito?” Asher calledto him, softer, leaning forward but Kaito pulled back.

That hit harder than anything Logan had said.

“Kaito?” Asher said again, voice cracking just slightly around the edges.

Asher had seen fear before. But this was the kind of fear that pointed inward.

He knew fully well he was the reason for Noah’s death and that would always be a hard blow. But Asher couldn’t imagine the things going on inside Kaito’s head.

[“I—I’m fine.”]

The lie scraped against Asher’s nerves. Too tight. Too shallow. Kaito rarely never lied and never like that for no reason.

Asher’s jaw clenched. Heat crawled up his spine. His wolf didn’t surge forward like before. But something inside him braced, protective and cold.

Logan said something in his ear, something about getting down to the station immediately.

“Hold on,” Asher muttered into the phone, not waiting for an answer before lowering it from his ear.

For a split second, the world held still.

Asher stood. Looked at Kaito, he knew better than to press him but it justdidn’tsit right leavinghim like this. Whatever was happening to Kaito, he didn’t need pressure. And even if every part of Asher wanted to grab him by the shoulders and make him talk to him, he forced himself to stay grounded.

“Kaito,” he said quietly, carefully, each word steady even while he felt anything but. “You’re not fine.”

He let the words hang there. He didn’t try to reach out, didn’t crowd him. Just anchored himself to the floor and tried to be something solid—because Kaito had looked at him earlier like he was that. And Asher wasn’t about to fail him now.

“I’m going,” Asher said finally into the phone, voice steady, “give me 30 minutes.” He thumbed the screen and ended Logan’s voice abruptly.

A fragile silence fell between them.

Asher took a slow breath. His chest ached. He didn’t know what had triggered this shift, but the look on his face told Asher one thing with brutal clarity:

Kaito wasn’t scared of Asher. He was scared of himself.

And that somehow was worse.

“Kaito,” Asher said again, quieter than before. “You’re going to tell me what the hell just happened..”

[mik3la]

Asher's voice cuts through the fog like a blade.

Quote

“Kaito… you’re going to tell me what the hell just happened.”

The words hung in the air, solid enough to feel against his skin. Kaito swallowed hard. His mouth was dry. Too dry. He could hear his pulse in his ears—fast, uneven, wrong. He didn't trust himself to breathe, let alone speak. 

Because Asher wasn't wrong. Something had happened. Something inside him. Something that shouldn't be possible.

At first it was just fear—plain, familiar fear. He'd lived with it most of his life. That bone-deep certainty that he didn't fit anywhere, that if anyone ever figured out what he might be—they'd turn on him instantly.

But then the fear changed. Cracked open and something else stirred underneath it. Not a feeling or a thought or a presence. No. It was heavy , hot and more alive than ever.

It pressed low in his chest, stretching, waking like an animal disturbed after too long. His ribs felt too tight to contain it. His vision pulsed at the edges, flickers of gold that shouldn't exist.

No. No, no—this isn't real. This can't be real.

Hybrids were a myth. A warning tale. A reason for war.

He wasn't a hybrid. He couldn't be. He didn't want to be.

Kaito's hands trembled uselessly by his sides. He curled them into fists against his knees, trying to stop the shaking.

He couldn't look at Asher. If he did, something in him, something he didn't understand, might react again. Stronger. Louder. Uncontrollable.

The way his body had recoiled when Asher leaned towards him… That hasn’t been fear of Asher. That had been instinct. An instinct he didn't recognize and that didn't belong to a mage.

His pulse spiked painfully.

He forced his eyes closed, but that only made it worse. He could feel Asher now—feel him in a way that made no rational sense. A warm, steady presence just a few feet away, grounding and intimidating all at once. Like a second heartbeat synced with his.

Kaito's breath hitched. The thing in his chest, his wolf, his buried half, whatever it was, pushed against him again, wanting closer, wanting something Kaito didn't understand.

Stop. Please stop. I can't—I don't want this. I can't hurt him. I won't.

But the pull towards Asher only got stronger.

His voice scraped its way out of him at last, thin and hoarse.

“I don't... I don't know what just happened,” he whispered. “I just know it shouldn’t have.” He forced himself to look at Asher.

Big mistake. Asher's eyes softened the moment their gazes met—warm, steady, worried. Kaito felt his wolf surge upward in response, a hot, instinctive lurch that made his spine straighten and his fingers twitch reflexively.

He jerked his gaze away before Asher could see the flash of gold again. Kaito shook his head hard, breath shaking.

“Asher, please don't—” His voice cracked. “You can’t come near me right now.” He pressed a palm to his sternum, fingers trembling violently. The presence inside him pushed against his hand like it knew Asher's voice, like it wanted to respond. His stomach twisted.

“I think…” His throat closed around the words. He tried again.“I think I'm not what I thought I was.”

Asher didn't breathe. Kaito felt that—somehow he felt it.

Kaito's chest tightened so hard it ached. His voice dropped to a broken whisper.

"And if what the book says is true... if they weren't just after the book. they were tracking hybrids that night." A tear slipped down before he could stop it, hot and humiliating.

“They were after me…ngh” Kaito gasped sharply, hand flying to his ribs, doubling forward as if struck.

“Don’t come closer!” Kaito choked out, barely above a breath, panic cracking every word. “Please… Asher, I can’t—I don’t want to hurt you.”

Hurt him. That was the truth of it. Not afraid of being rejected. Not afraid of what he was becoming. Fear of what he might do to Asher .

Kaito's voice was barely audible.

“There's something inside me and it's waking up and I can't control it and—”  His breath shuddered. “I’m scared, Asher.”

His fingers dug into his shirt over his heart, trying to hold the wolf down, trying to hold himself down.

“I’m scared of me.”

Silence filled the space. Heavy, fragile and dangerous.

Kaito didn't know what scared him anymore: The fact that he might be the hybrid the prophecy spoke of— Or the fact that his wolf was waking up for one reason alone.

Because Asher was near.

The silence between them stretched so thin Kaito swore it might snap.

He waited—breath shallow, muscles locked, heart beating too fast against that strange new presence clawing at his insides. He didn't dare look up. Didn't dare move. Even breathing felt like a risk.

 

The wolf inside him stirred again like a restless beast dragging his claws across the inside of his ribs. Every time Asher's heartbeat changed—even subtly—Kaito felt it like a ripple across his skin. It frightened him but it also… called to him. That was worse than frightening. It was unbearable.

Kaito curled forward, elbows resting on the back of the chair as he tried to hold himself together. His breath trembled out in uneven bursts. His eyes squeezed shut, lashes damp.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that—seconds? Minutes? Time had dissolved into the frantic rhythm of his heart and the thrumming pull toward Asher he was desperately trying to resist.

 

Kaito exhaled shakily, voice cracking.

“When Noah died…” His chest tightened so painfully he had to stop and press a hand to it. "I told myself it wasn't my fault. That it was just a coincidence. Wrong place, wrong time."

A lie he'd repeated until he almost believed it.

“But if they were tracking hybrids,” he continued, voice hollow, “they were already following me that night—then it wasn't random.” His head lowered further. "It was me. They killed him because of me."

The truth tasted like acid.

Kaito dug his nails into his palms until they hurt, grounding himself.

“I remember that night,” he whispered. "You think I forgot? Noah jumping when glass broke in his home, him yelling to me to call 911 but I was too smoked to thyink clearly? Him rushing downstairs before i could react ?" His breath shuddered. "I told myself I panicked before having any reaction a normal person should have. Because I'm not a fighter." He shook his head, eyes burning.

"But now I know the truth. I paniked because something inside me surged, something wild, and it terrified me so much I couldn't move. Couldn't help him. Couldn't—" His voice broke.

“I didn't reached him in time. I didn’t save him.”

Silence swallowed the room.

 

Everything Kaito had buried, every fear he'd shoved into the dark corners of himself, was spilling out now. He couldn't stop it. Couldn't contain it. Not with the wolf clawing at him, reacting to every sound Asher made.

Kaito's fingers trembled violently.

“I don't want to hurt anyone,” he whispered. “Least of all you.”

The wolf stirred again—hot, insistent, alive—and Kaito's breath hitched sharply, a soft, involuntary sound slipping past his lips.

He clamped a hand over his mouth, panic flaring. He didn't even know what that sound was . A whine? A call? Something instinctive and animal that belonged nowhere near the person he thought he was.

His eyes flew open, wide and terrified.

“Asher—” His voice trembled. "Something's wrong with me. Something is changing , and I can't let it near you. You have to keep your distance."

[M-jow]

Asher had been through a battel zone before—violent, physical ones, and the quiet that usally followed after—but nothing prepared him for the sound Kaito made.

It wasn’t loud.

It wasn’t even fully formed.

Just a soft, strangled breath of a noise, like something uncaged had slipped through the cracks.

And it hit Asher like a shockwave.

His wolf, who had been pacing restlessly beneath his skin since Kaito pulled away, froze.

Then—slowly, deliberately—lifted its head.

Every muscle in Asher’s body locked. The air in his lungs went razor-thin. His heartbeat thudded once, hard enough to hurt.

Because that sound..that sound. It was instinct-level familiar. In a bone-deep familiar way as his soul recognize something he thought, he had no business feeling.

But before the truth could fully surface, Asher shoved it down—hard. He couldn’t afford to glimpse the full shape of it. Not when Kaito was already spiraling and desperately trying to keep distance between them.

Asher didn’t take a step forward. Didn’t reach out. Didn’t move.

But gods, he wanted to.

The wolf inside him wasn’t aggressive. It wasn’t even territorial. It was… curious.

It leaned toward the faint, fragile flare inside Kaito—not physically, but instinctively. Like catching the barest hint of a scent it had been waiting its whole life to detect without ever knowing it was waiting for it.

The impression was faint. A whisper. A flicker.

But it was there. A wolf.

Half-wild, half-awake, and tied to Kaito in a way that made Asher’s own wolf sit perfectly still while listening.

That’s impossible, Asher thought sharply.

How could Kaito be a werewolf hybrid? And how hadn’t he fundet out before.

Kaito had never showed even a trace of a wolf.

He cut the thought off.

Right now wasn’t about understanding. It was about Kaito—who could barely breathe, who was terrified of himself, who looked like one wrong move from breaking.

So Asher forced his breathing steady. Forced his wolf to heel. Forced himself not to respond to that accidental, instinctive sound Kaito had made—the one that had nearly torn something primal inside him. Because he couldn’t let Kaito see that, not right now. Couldn’t let him feel it.

Not when he was already convinced he was dangerous.

But the truth settled in Asher’s chest. Because his wolf had recognized it.

(Mate.)

 

The word flared inside him so suddenly Asher almost flinched. He didn’t let it show. Didn’t let a single flicker of it reach his face.

Not when Kaito was shaking apart in front of him and needed safety, not pressure.

He wouldn't deny it. He couldn’t. His wolf wouldn’t let him even if he had wanted to.

And he watched Kaito fight to keep control of something he hadn’t asked for, something that was frightening him, reshaping his world from the inside out.

“Kaito,” he said, careful and slow as he finally managed to speak, “I hear you but take a deep breath.”

No judgement.

No fear.

His wolf pressed against his ribs, wanting closer, wanting to answer the sound Kaito had made. Wanting to comfort it pair

Asher held it back.

For Kaito’s sake.

He kept his gaze soft, anchored, absolute.

“You’re not going to hurt me,” he said quietly. “Not now. Not like this.”

Asher stood steady, holding himself together with sheer, brutal discipline.

While his wolf whispered at the back of his mind—soft, reverent, certain.

Mine...mine ..MINE!!

Asher pushed his wolf futher down.

For the first time in his life, ignoring his wolf felt impossible.

Asher hadn’t wanted to use it.

Not on Kaito.

Not like this.

The Alpha charm wasn’t gentle magic. It wasn’t meant for comfort, not truly. It was instinct-driven dominance polished into something useful. A tool that could force a wolf twice his size to drop to its knees if he pushed hard enough.

But he knew panic when he saw it.

And Kaito was drowning in it.

Asher took one slow step closer. His hands stayed at his sides. His posture stayed neutral. Nothing threatening.

But inside his chest, he opened a door.

And let a little of his wolf’s authority slip out. Just a bit.

His voice dropped, deeper than before, threaded with something low and resonant, something no human or mage could detect, but every wolf would feel in their bones.

“Kaito,” Asher said, the sound shaped with deliberate, controlled power, “breathe.”

The word didn’t echo.

But it carried.

The Alpha charm wasn’t loud. It was felt, like an invisible weight settling over the air, warm and firm and grounding. A presence more than a command. It pressed gently, guiding rather than forcing.

“Steady now.” The resonance in his voice deepened a fraction, brushing over the raw edges of Kaito’s panic like a steadying hand against the back of his neck. Not controlling. Not dominating. Just anchoring.

Asher didn’t let it go any stronger than that. If he pushed too hard, the charm would shove Kaito to his knees whether he wanted it or not. And Asher would never do that to him.

His jaw clenched as the charm rippled outward, softer this time, coaxing rather than demanding.

“You’re safe,” he murmured, the words humming with Alpha calm. “You’re not losing control. You’re just scared.”

His wolf leaned into the charm instinctively, but Asher kept it leashed. Tight. Careful.

He could feel the moment it reached Kaito—the way the panic in the air shifted, the tension changing texture. Not gone, but no longer spiraling. No longer breaking him apart.

Even faint, even restrained, the charm did what it was meant to do:

It steadied the wolf inside Kaito.

And it steadied Kaito along with it.

Asher exhaled slowly, letting the power dim but not close completely.

“Good,” he said quietly, eyes locked on Kaito. “Just like that.”

The irony wasn’t lost on him. Alpha charm didn’t work on mages. Not even a little.

Which meant one thing.

It only worked because there was wolf inside Kaito to hear it.

His heart twisted painfully at that. Kaito had no idea what was happening to him. No idea what Asher was doing. No idea why it worked. 

The charm pulsed one final time, soft and warm and grounding.

“Look at me,” Asher said gently, though the charm made the words feel bigger, heavier, without ever turning harsh. “You’re not dangerous. Not to me.”

A painful truth flickered in him.

(You could hurt me, but you wouldn't.)

But he kept that truth buried.

The charm faded completely, leaving only Asher presence. He inhaled slowly, grounding himself now too.

“Kaito,” he said, voice finally normal again, “I promise you. It going to be alright.”

[mik3la]

At first, Kaito thought he was imagining it. That deep, steady vibration in the air.
That warm, invisible pressure sliding over his skin like a hand cupping the back of his neck. But then Asher spoke.

Quote

“Kaito… breathe.”

And Kaito’s lungs, tight, burning, collapsing in on themselves, did just that. Not because he chose to but because something inside him responded. Not a mage nor human. Something ancient and instinctive and buried so deep he had lived twenty and something years without ever feeling it once.

Kaito sucked in a shaky, startled breath and the moment the air filled his chest, his wolf moved. A slow, low stretch, like a creature waking after a lifetime of sleep.
A presence unfurling behind his ribs, large and dark and drowsy but powerful. Far more powerful than anything Kaito had ever felt.

His fingers twitched against his thighs. The second Asher spoke again, the resonance brushing against him and his entire body shivered.

Something made the wolf inside him lift its head and lean forward, ears perked, drawn like metal to a magnetic pull. Kaito’s breath caught. He shouldn’t feel this. He shouldn’t react like this to Asher’s words. He couldn’t be a wolf, couldn’t be a hybrid. How was this even possible. And why now?

The air around Asher thickened, his presence settling over Kaito like a warm, grounding weight. Not oppressive, not controlling, just there, steady and sure.

Kaito’s racing heartbeat slowed. His trembling eased and the claws scraping inside his chest paused because the wolf… listened.

Confusion hit him so hard the room blurred. Why was his wolf responding to Asher?
Why only Asher? Why did that deep and gentle voice made something inside Kaito want to move closer, not run?

Quote

“You’re safe.”

Kaito’s eyes squeezed shut as Asher’s scent, stronger now that his wolf was awake, flooded him in a way he had never experienced. Warm cedar, clean earth, and that underlying alpha note that wrapped around him like a promise he never agreed to but desperately needed.

His wolf rumbled. Low, vibrating and foreign. It terrified him but also it comforted him.

Quote

“Look at me.”

Kaito had no strength to resist. Not with his wolf pushing upward toward the voice like it belonged there.

His eyes lifted but Asher didn’t look dangerous nor judgmental. No. He looked… steady, grounding. Open in a way Kaito had never seen from him before. and something snap softly into place. Not a sound or a physical sensation. A recognition.

He knows you. The wolf’s voice wasn’t words—just instinct, emotion, truth.

A truth Kaito had read about. A word he never thought would apply to him. A word whispered in old werewolf texts, buried in magical records, dismissed as folklore.

The breath whooshed out of him. No. No, no, no. This couldn’t be possible.He wasn’t a wolf. He wasn’t a hybrid. He wasn’t….

But Asher’s voice had reached him and calmed him. The wolf inside him had responded like it knew exactly who that voice belonged to.

Kaito’s hands shook as he pressed them to his chest, trying to feel the rhythm beneath, his heart pounding in sync with something that wasn’t entirely his.

His wolf pushed again, curious, wanting closer to Asher’s scent. Kaito jerked back slightly, breath stuttering.

“Asher…” His voice cracked. “What did you do to me?”

But even as he asked, he knew the answer wasn’t simple. Because the wolf wasn’t afraid of Asher. It was afraid of being far from him. Kaito swallowed, throat tight.

“I felt something,” he whispered, barely audible. “When you spoke. It … reached me. Inside. I don’t even know how to explain it.” His eyes darted away, shame burning hot under his skin. “My wolf responded to you.” Saying it aloud made the world tilt.

When he finally looked up again, Asher was standing there and Kaito’s chest squeezed painfully because everything he that was happening was uncertain for him … All new and confusing as he lived all his life as a mage but now … Now he was a hybrid. Half mage and half wolf. And the thing …was waking up because of him.

“And I think my wolf knows you.” Kaito whispered, voice trembling. He didn’t say the word but it hung there between them anyway.

Mate.

He lifted his eyes slowly. Asher stood where he was, grounded, steady, as if ready to catch him without moving an inch. No pressure. No demand. Just… presence. A quiet promise he probably didn’t even realize he was radiating.

“How the hell is this even possible? ”

His breath trembled as he drew it in, chest still tight but no longer collapsing. The wolf inside him, now disoriented and frighteningly real, had settled into a crouch. Still alert, still confused, but no longer clawing at him from the inside. It was listening.

Kaito wasn’t sure if that helped or terrified him more.

A low vibration unfurled at the base of his spine, sliding upward like someone dragging warm fingers up the inside of his ribs. It wasn’t painful. It wasn’t pleasant. It simply was inevitable, ancient, and intimately familiar in a way that made his pulse stumble.

Then a voice, no, not words, not fully, brushed across the inside of his mind.

Kaito.

His breath hitched, eyes snapped open but the voice didn’t leave. It coiled around his thoughts, smoke-soft and resonant, like something that had waited so long to be acknowledged it barely remembered how to speak.

You hear me. Finally.

For a terrifying second, he thought he’d gone completely mad. That panic had finally cracked him open and now he was hallucinating voices but the presence felt… protective.

“…Who… are you?” he whispered under his breath without meaning to.

Inside, the crouched wolf lifted its head, ears forward, its golden-white eyes piercing through the haze of fear.

I am you. Well…a part of you they buried. The part they hid… so they couldn’t use you. Or break you.

Kaito’s stomach twisted. Hidden? Buried?

For your safety. the wolf continued; voice gentled. You were too young. Too unprotected. And they hunted your kind. They still do. So I slept. Waiting. Until you would be old enough. Strong enough. Not alone.

Kaito’s throat closed as his eyes lifted instinctively back toward Asher.

The wolf’s tone softened, something warm curling at the edges.

And until you found him.

Kaito’s pulse slammed against his ribs hard enough to hurt. He took half a step back, breath breaking, because he knew … he knew … where this was going.

“No,” he whispered. “Don’t … you can’t … ”

But the wolf only brushed against his heart, gentle, unwavering.

Your protector…Your balance… Your mate.

Kaito swayed. The word cracked through him like lightning, bright, searing, undeniable.

His wolf didn’t hesitate.

He is ours.

Kaito’s vision blurred at the edges, reality warping around the weight of those words.
His chest tightened so sharply he had to grip the back of a chair to steady himself. Yes he felt attraction towards Asher, I mean who wouldn’t given the display of sweaty muscular body of his, but Kaito never thought this will be so much more.

“Uhm … it spoke to me … “ he said looking at Asher explaining the whispers and the sudden silence, not wanting Asher to think that he lost his mind for real.

[M-jow]

Asher’s alpha voice had only just died down when he saw the flicker of disorientation wash over Kaito.

He knew Kaito's wolf would have felt something, as he spoken.

And that alone might have been very weird for Kaito too.

Asher’s wolf wanted to step in, to take over, to close the space between them and hug Kaito physically instead of just using tricks to calm his mate.

But Asher got the feeling that Kaito wouldn’t be ready just now for it.

So Asher lifted a hand and made a quiet gesture back toward the chair Kaito had just been sitting on a moment ago.

“please sit,” he said softly, voice low and even. “Just… for a moment and I'll try to explain.”

 

Kaito hesitated, .

He waited until Kaito was seated. Then Asher stepped forward just close enough to be within reach, but far enough not to trigger his wolf.

He turned the chair beside Kaito and sat down facing towards him, leveling their height equally.

Close, but not touching.

Present, but not pressuring.

“What i just used was my alpha voice,” he told Kaito as the first thing. “It only works between werewolves, and cause I'm an alpha. But only a few got the power and I was carefully so it wouldn’t hurt you... I.. we.. my wolf and I felt the wolf inside you.. I don’t know how I didn’t know before.. and I'm guessing you didn't know about this either from how you just reacted”

The word hung between them.

His wolf perked at being mentioned, but Asher couldn’t let it jump ahead when Kaito was barely holding himself together.

 

And Asher wasn’t sure if the thing he felt—the pull, and recognition—went both ways.

The mate bond was unmistakable to him. His wolf had stopped pacing and started watching Kaito with the kind of attention it had never given anyone else. It had recognized the sound Kaito made. Recognized the flare of energy. Recognized him.

But fated bonds weren’t simple.

They weren’t always instant.

They weren’t always equal in timing.

And if Kaito didn’t feel it —if the wolf part didn’t recognize Asher as his mate... Asher was most sure his heart would break. But Asher could never dump that him.

Not when he was scared, confused, and barely accepting that a wolf even existed inside him.

So he swallowed the truth.

Buried the word burning at the back of his throat.

Mate.

Not yet.

Not now.

Kaito needed answers.

He drew in a steady breath.

“Kaito…” Asher began, watching his face carefully, “whatever is happening, you’re not going through it alone. We’ll take this one step at a time.”

He kept his voice calm, deliberate—meant to anchor rather than influence.

“I don’t have all the answers yet,” he admitted, because honesty mattered now more than ever. “But I know enough to help you through the parts that feel… overwhelming.”

Kaito looked shaken, even lost rightnow. And that made Asher’s chest hurt more than he expected.

He shifted slightly, resting one arm across his knee to keep his hands visible, relaxed.

“Tell me what you felt , what your wolf told you. If you are comfortable telling me,” Asher said gently.

He wasn’t just asking out of curiosity.

He needed to know how strong the awakening was.

How much the wolf had surfaced.

If the connection was one-sided—for now—or if Kaito’s wolf sensed him in the same way his wolf sensed Kaito.

Because if Kaito felt even a fraction of that instinctive pull…

Then Asher’s life had just changed forever.

But he forced himself to stay still, because Asher was determined to be the safe place he needed. Even if the truth between them was already burning under Asher’s skin.

[mik3la]

For a long moment, Kaito couldn't speak. His throat felt too tight, his thoughts too loud, his heartbeat too uneven.
Asher's voice reached him through all of it , steady, patient, a grounding warmth he didn't know he'd been starved for. Not pushing or demanding. Just … there.

Kaito swallowed hard. His fingers curled unconsciously into the fabric of his pants, grounding himself with the smallest anchor he could manage. When he finally spoke, his voice came out rough, unsteady.

“…She talked to me.”

Asher didn't move, but Kaito felt the way the air shifted, attention sharpening, not in a predatory way but in a deeply protective one. Kaito darted a quick glance up at him, then looked away again, heat rising in his face.

“It wasn't like hearing someone out loud,” he continued quietly. "It was... inside. More like … like she's always been there, just waiting for me to notice."

The wolf stirred at the back of his mind calm now, listening. Not pushing him. Just present.

"She said she was locked hidden. That she had to stay quiet so no one could use me. Or find me."
A shaky breath escaped him.
“She said they'd…hurt me if they knew.” He took another breath, shakier than he meant to and forced the words out.

“She also said she woke up because… I wasn't alone anymore.”

The moment the sentence left him, his pulse spiked. He felt exposed, vulnerable in a way he'd never allowed himself to be.

Kaito swallowed again. There was no easy way to say the rest.

"And she told me why. Why she woke up now. Why I felt … why everything feels like this."

His voice cracked. Kaito forced himself to meet his eyes.

“It's because of you,” he whispered.

Kaito's wolf pressed softly against his ribs, offering silent courage.

"She said... you're the one meant to protect me. Help me. That she wasn't supposed to wake up until I had someone who could keep me safe." His breath trembled again, but he didn't look away.
“And she told me something else.” Kaito felt his heartbeat slam against his ribs.

"She said there's a bond. Between us."

“She said…”  Kaito's voice dropped to a whisper, every word trembling. “…that we’re mates.”

The world went impossibly quiet.

Kaito felt the truth burn in his chest like a second heartbeat. His wolf steady behind him, Asher steady in front of him, and himself caught between terror and the first fragile bloom of belonging he'd felt in years.

Kaito didn't expect the silence to feel heavy. He felt like he was standing on the edge of something so big it threatened to swallow him whole.

We're mates.

The words still echoed in his skull, ringing like truth and warning all at once

He dragged a shaky hand through his hair, fingers trembling so hard he almost missed. He didn't want to look at Asher, didn't want to see whatever expression was on his face … and yet… He did. He looked.

And the way Asher was watching him, sharp, focused, tense but not angry, made Kaito's stomach twist in ways he didn't have labels for yet.

This wasn't supposed to be possible.
This wasn't supposed to be them.

Kaito had spent so much time avoiding him. Arguing with him. Bracing every time the wolf got too close because their personalities clashed like flint and steel.

And Asher … God, Asher had always been this arrogant, stubborn, unbearably intense wolf who walked through rooms like he owned the floorboards. Who glared at Kaito like he was a problem waiting to happen. Who argued with him about everything logic, rules, angles, stubbornness …

But also who stepped in front of danger without thinking. Who dragged him behind his back when hell broke loose. Who stood between Kaito and every threat without ever asking for thanks or permission. And now they were … Mates … Bound. Linked on a level he didn't even fully understand yet.

He swallowed, throat tight.

“I don't…” His voice cracked, so he started again. “I don't know what this means, Asher. And I know we don’t exactly… get along.” His mouth twisted, half a bitter laugh, half despair. "You hating and not trusting me helped our lives. And I … " He stopped, breathing stuttering.

He didn't want to admit the rest. Didn't want to confess that yes, he noticed Asher was attractive, painfully so. That he'd noticed the stupidly broad shoulders and the sharp jaw and the way Asher's eyes always looked like they were reading him like a secret.

He didn't want to admit how many times he'd wondered why Asher bothered getting so worked up over him. He didn't want to admit anything, really. Because now… it mattered. And that made it terrifying.

Kaito wrapped his arms around himself, squeezing until his ribs ached.

“Look, I just—” He lifted his gaze, "I don't want this bond to make things worse. I don't want you stuck with someone you have nothing to do with … Someone you don’t even …"He cut himself off before he said like. Because that felt too raw, too open.

His wolf stirred, warm and steady, insisting in that quiet way: He won't leave. He won't abandon you. He won't hurt you.

But Kaito couldn't trust that yet. Not when his whole world had changed in a heartbeat.

[M-jow]

She…?

Well, that was unusual, Asher thought.

But his wolf practically wagged its tail high in the air at having learned something new about their mate.

Mate is strong. Mate is special. Don’t treat them like they aren’t. We’ll love mate no matter what—goddess made them for us. His wolf insisted.

I’m not judging them,- Asher shot back, exasperated but gentle. - I just thought it was unusual for a man to have a female wolf, that’s all.

He didn’t know why his wolf assumed he’d ever reject Kaito over something like that. That idea wasn’t even a distant possibility.

He listened intently as Kaito explained, nodding slowly. It made sense—how someone like him, alone, unprotected, would be in danger. What Asher didn’t understand was, how. What kind of magic or twisted trick could sceal away someone’s wolf for most of their life?

Werewolves were *born* with their wolf counterpart. The only real shift they experienced was around eighteen, when their the ability to sense their mate awakened.

 

Now Kaito sat before him looking like the world was collapsing beneath his feet. Shoulders tight. Arms wrapped around himself like he was apologizing for taking up space.

And then—when Kaito said the word *mate* Asher felt it hit like a physical force.

He had prepared for fear. He had prepared for panic. Even denial.

But never this.

Never Kaito believing Asher hated him.

His wolf went still.

 

The shock of that belief—he thinks I hate him— nearly dragged a whine out of him. Asher caught it just in time, swallowing the sound before it escaped. His breath left in a thin, trembling exhale.

His mate.

Did Kaito really think he despised him?

Had he felt threatened by Asher all this time?

Was Kaito going to reject him?

His wolf whimpered inside him, already feeling the ghost of rejection brushing across their skin—cold, hollow, terrifying.

Kaito was shaking too, terrified of what the bond meant.

Asher could hardly blame him.

He forced down everything clawing inside his chest and made his voice steady, even as every instinct screamed to pull Kaito close and promise him safety until the end of time.

He leaned forward slightly, bracing his elbows loosely on his knees.

“Kaito…” His voice came out hoarse, raw with all the emotion he was trying to hold in. “Look at me.”

He waited.

When Kaito finally lifted his eyes cautious, it nearly knocked the air out of Asher’s lungs.

Asher shook his head slowly.

“I never hated you.”

It came out rough, but undeniably true.

“Sure, we met and had a rough start. You challenged me. You pushed back against everything I said.”

A breath. “But I never hated you.”

His wolf rumbled approval beneath his skin, pacing with a need for closeness Asher tightly restrained.

“And I sure as hell don’t want ‘nothing to do with you.’”

His gaze softened, unfocused for a moment, unsure where to look without overwhelming Kaito.

“And you being a mage… that was never a problem for me either.”

The silence stretched, so Asher continued before it could cut him.

“You said your wolf woke because you weren’t alone anymore.” He let the meaning settle.

“That means she trusts me. Even before you did.”

His chest tightened at the thought—Kaito’s wolf, locked away and hidden, choosing *him* as the sign that it was finally safe to surface.

Asher ran a hand through his hair, grounding himself before the next part.

“I’m not stuck with you,” he said quietly. “A mate bond isn’t something meant to screw you over. It’s fate.”

His heartbeat thudded faster.

“And I don’t believe fate is a burden.”

His wolf pressed against his ribs—Tell him, tell him, tell him. Asher chose his words carefully.

 

“Kaito… this bond doesn’t mean we rush anything. It doesn’t force you to feel something you’re not ready for. I’m not going to demand you fall into my arms or accept everything overnight.”

A beat, then softer—achingly vulnerable:

“But please don’t reject me unless you are absolutely sure.”

His breathing turned shallow, chest tight.

“I’m not going anywhere. And no matter what happens… I’ll protect you.”

The truth hung between them—solid, immovable.

“You don’t have to decide what we are today. Or tomorrow. You don’t have to pretend anything.”

His throat constricted as he spoke the next words.

“I like you, Kaito. I liked you even before I realized what you were to me. I just wasn’t sure if my approach was… welcome.”

Slowly, he reached out—giving Kaito every chance to pull away—and brushed his fingers lightly against Kaito’s cheek.

“If this bond scares you, I understand.

If it confuses you, I’ll explain everything I can.

If it becomes too much, just tell me.”

His voice dropped to a soft vow.

“You’re not alone. Not in this. Not ever again.”

His wolf hummed with deep, satisfied certainty.

Asher met Kaito’s gaze.

“And whether it takes a day, a year, or longer, I’ll prove to you that being my mate will never be something you regret.”

[mik3la]

Kaito didn’t breathe at first. He couldn’t. His whole body buzzing with a trembling, warm ache he didn’t know how to handle. Asher’s confession wrapped around him like heat, like a blanket he didn’t know how to accept. Too gentle, too sincere, too much.. Every sentence cracked something inside him, every confession melting a piece of fear he’d been gripping onto like armor.

And when Asher touched his cheek, barely a brush, gentle enough that Kaito could’ve convinced himself he imagined it, his breath finally rushed out in a shaky gasp.

He hadn’t expected this. Not the softness nor the honesty. Not Asher, the infuriating, stubborn, breathtaking wolf, looking at him like he was something precious.

His pulse thudded painfully in his ears.

“I…” Kaito swallowed hard. His voice felt trapped behind his ribs. So many words fighting to come out that none of them made it past his lips. “I thought … ” He stopped, chest tightening, embarrassment and fear rising like a tide.

(Little one… breathe.)

His wolf, no longer a distant echo, no longer cold or suppressed, felt closer now, like a presence curled around him from the inside. A soft press of reassurance, not claws. Not commands.

(You are not weak.)

Kaito’s fingers twitched, his gaze dropping for a moment as shame burned prickling-hot under his skin.

I am, he thought helplessly. I can’t even control myself—

(You are young. Untrained. Hidden for too long. That is not weakness.)

Hidden. The word landed heavily.

You were hidden… because of me? Kaito asked inwardly.

A gentle growl hummed through him, protective and warm.

(Because the world was not safe. Because you needed someone who would fight for you. Someone who would recognize you, even when you did not know yourself.)

Kaito’s breath hitched. His eyes rose again, drawn to Asher like gravity.

Asher, impatient, stubborn, always pushing, always defending, always stepping between Kaito and danger without thinking twice.

(You found him.) The wolf’s voice softened. (We found him.)

Kaito’s heart stuttered. He felt both lighter and heavier at once. And when he finally spoke, his voice was small, trembling with everything twisting in his chest.

“I thought you would be the one rejecting me.”

He saw Asher flinch just slightly and something inside Kaito squeezed.

(Tell him the truth.) the wolf nudged. (He deserves it. You deserve it.)

Kaito swallowed, forcing the words out.

““I thought I wasn’t enough. You’re so… you. Strong. Steady. You know who you are … You’re confident. You're… everything a wolf should be.”

His throat tightened painfully.

“And I’m just…” He let out a humorless breath. “I’m not. I don’t have control over my wolf. I barely understand what I am. I can’t even protect myself, let alone someone else. Yes I managed to save us at the mall but even that made me go weak not long after”

His wolf snarled at that, offended on his behalf.

(You will learn. You will be powerful. But even now—you are worth the bond.)

His voice cracked.

“In every way that matters, I’m weaker than you.”

He forced himself to lift his eyes, just enough to meet Asher’s gaze through his lashes.

“So when I found out about the bond… when my wolf told me what we are…” His voice softened to near silence. “I thought you’d be angry. Because you deserve someone strong. Someone who isn’t… me.”

His wolf growled at that, low warning, protective. Kaito felt the rumble inside him, pushing back against his self-doubt with surprising fierceness. He pressed a hand to his chest, stunned by the intensity of it.

Kaito forced himself to keep going, guided by the steady, warm pressure of his wolf’s presence behind his ribs.

“And the worst part?” Kaito whispered, voice trembling. “I was terrified you’d reject me… because I already …” His heart slammed against his ribs. He hadn’t meant to say it. He wasn’t ready to say it. But it came out anyway, fragile and honest and impossibly vulnerable.

“I already liked you,” Kaito breathed. “Before I knew anything about the bond. I didn’t want to. You were impossible and arrogant and bossy and annoyed me so much…” He swallowed. “… but you also protected me. Even when we weren't getting along. Even when you had every reason not to.” His eyes burned. “And I don’t want to lose you.”

The words were barely more than a whisper, but they hung between them with the weight of truth.

His wolf purred in approval.

(Good.) (Stay close to him.) (We are safe with him.) (We belong.)

Kaito drew in a trembling breath, the smallest, tentative step bringing him closer to Asher, not touching, but not pulling away either.

“So no...” he said softly. “I’m not rejecting you.” He felt his wolf swell with satisfaction. His fingers curled against his thigh.

“I never want to.” Then, almost too quiet to hear … “And maybe… a part of me hoped you wouldn’t reject me either.”

 

 

[M-jow]

Asher didn’t realize he’d stopped breathing until the words I’m not rejecting you finally left Kaito’s lips.

Relief hit him like a blow—sharp, dizzying, overwhelming. His wolf let out a sound that wasn’t quite a whine and wasn’t quite a growl, something raw and grateful and so full his chest ached with it. The tension that had been strung taut through every inch of him loosened all at once, leaving a trembling exhale slipping past Asher’s parted lips.

Kaito wasn’t rejecting him.

He wasn’t losing the person fate had carved from the same thread as him.

And he’d liked Asher—before the bond, before the truth, before any of this.

It took everything Asher had not to reach out and pull him into his arms.

Later.

When Kaito could handle it.

Asher forced his breathing to slow, sitting a little straighter, letting every emotion he felt show openly on his face—no walls, no defenses, nothing for Kaito to interpret as disappointment or doubt.

“Kaito…” His voice was low—not rough like before, but warm. Full. “You have no idea what you just gave me.”

His wolf pressed hard against his skin, begging for closeness. He lifted one hand, slowly and let his palm hover over Kaito’s cheek. When Kaito didn’t pull back, Asher’s fingers brushed lightly along his jaw, a touch as gentle as breath.

“I wasn’t going to reject you,” he said quietly. “Not now. Not ever. Even if you didn't have a wolf, magic or not, for all I care. You’re still…”

His words trailed off, catching on the truth gathering in his chest.

“…you. And that’s enough for me.”

His wolf hummed in fierce agreement.

Asher smiled—small, a little unsteady, but real. “And for the record? I want to help you. With everything. Your wolf, your abilities, your control—whatever you need. You don’t have to figure this out alone.”

He hesitated then, not out of doubt, but out of wanting to choose each word with care.

“I want to bring you to my pack,” he admitted. “Not to throw you into anything. Not to drown you in people or expectations. Just… when you’re ready.” His thumb brushed once, reassuring. “They’ll protect you. They’ll stand with you. And I’d like you to know the place I come from—the place where I want you to have a home too, if you choose to.”

His heart stuttered at the thought of Kaito among his family, among the pack. Once he was initiated they would feel the bond the moment he joined. There would be questions, excitement, worry—but they would accept him. Asher had no doubt about that.

But that was for later.

Right now, the world outside was still dangerous for Kaito to be on his own.

 

Asher’s expression shifted, the softness still there but threaded now with resolve. The wolf inside him rose, sharp with purpose.

“I do have to meet up with my brother,” he said, voice steadying. “We’re tracking the group that was after us—and now that I know more about what they want… I think we finally have a real shot at finding them.”

His jaw tightened. His wolf snarled silently. Nobody touched their mate and walked away unscathed.

 

“If you want to come with me, if you want to be part of this, I won’t stop you. But I won’t push you either.”

He let that settle, meeting Kaito’s eyes with a steadiness that spoke louder than anything else he could say.

“You’re not a burden, Kaito. You’re not a liability. I don’t think of you as weak...You don’t even see how strong you already are.” His voice dipped, warm and honest. “I’m glad you didn’t reject me.”

(A heartbeat.)

“I’m really damn glad.” His wolf rumbled deep inside him, pleased. Asher’s gaze softened again. “When you’re ready… just tell me what you need.”

[mik3la]

Kaito didn't realize he'd been holding himself so tightly until Asher touched him. That sent a rush of heat through him so suddenly he almost forgot how to breathe. His wolf reacted first, quicker than he could: a deep, started thrum of want, of recognition, curling up from the center of him.

(He accepts us.)
(He chooses us.)

The word pulsed through him, bright and terrifying. Kaito swallowed hard, heat rising behind his eyes before he could stop it.

Asher wasn't rejecting him. Not even hesitating. Not even flinching at what he was. A mage, an wolf. A hybrid to be exact. Something the old stories whispered warnings about. But Asher looked at him like he was something precious. Something wanted. Something enough.

(He wants us. Trust him)

Kaito's chest pulled tight, pain and hope twisting together until it physically hurt to breathe

“Asher…” His voice softly. The wolf inside him pressed closer, brushing up against him warm, steadying, almost purring at the reassurance in Asher's tone.

“You don't... you don't know what that means to me,” he managed, mirroring Asher's words in breath more than sound. His fingers twitched as if they wanted to reach back, to touch him, to anchor himself to those steady amber eyes, but he held himself still, afraid the shaking in his hands would give him away. Afraid the emotion would spill over.

“You say I'm enough like it's simple,” he whispered, voice trembling with something fragile but growing. "Like you don't care that I don't fit anywhere. Not with humans, not with mages... not with wolves. Hybrids aren't exactly welcome in any story from what we’ve read."

His wolf let out a soft, defensive growl at the memory, rejections, rumours, fear, every old wound stirred up by the thought of stepping into a pack's territory.

“And you…” Kaito pressed his lips together, eyes flicking down then back up, unable to hold the full weight of Asher's warmth for long. "You're offering me your pack. Your family. A home." He shook his head slightly, overwhelmed. “ … the way you say it... you make it sound like it could be a home. Like I could have that but you don't understand, Asher. Wolves don't trust magic. Mages don't trust wolves. And hybrids … people like me …. usually don't get invited anywhere. If the legends mention us, it's as mistakes or warnings."

His voice dipped, softer.

"So when you said I could come with you... part of me felt honoured. And another part felt like I couldn't breathe. Because I wouldn't want to walk into a place where people look at me the way legends say they should. Like I'm wrong. Like I shouldn't exist."

His wolf pushed forward again, brushing Kaito's skin from the inside, steady and persistent.

(He won't abandon us. Don't run.)
(Go with him.)

Kaito exhaled shakily.

“And before you you say anything… no.” His gaze hardened, determining settling into his bones like a rising tide. "“…I'm not hiding while you go after the people who came after us,” Kaito said, the softness fading into steel. “I won't sit somewhere safe while you and your brother take all the risk. I won't let you face them without me.” His wolf snarled in fiery agreement, all instincts sharp and ready.

“I'm going with you,” Kaito said firmly. "Not because I need to prove anything, but because I won't let you walk into danger alone. You're not the only one with something at stake."

He paused then let himself tell the truth.

"My wolf won't let me. And... I don't want to." His heart thudded once, hard.

Kaito's voice softened again, vulnerability curling around the edges like smoke.

“And if your pack rejects me…” He hesitated; the words heavy. “If they see a hybrid before they see me…”he swallowed. “Just … don't step away from me because of them. Don't let their fear decide anything between us.”

His wolf pressed close, humming, hopeful but Kaito's voice dropped, almost a whisper.
"And  if you still want me there... if you really mean it, then I'll go. With you. Wherever this leads."

He took a small, steadying breath.

“Just… don’t let go of me when we get there."

[M-jow]

Asher felt the words sink into him—not just the meaning, but the fear wrapped beneath them, the trembling hope Kaito was trying so hard to hide. He didn’t interrupt. He just listened. He gave Kaito the chance to let his worries be known, so he could understand what was going on in the inside of him.

When Kaito finished, Asher inhaled, a slow, steady breath of air in. His wolf pressed against his ribs, wanting to answer first, but Asher kept his voice gentle when he finally spoke.

“Kaito… I hear you. All of it.”

He didn’t sugarcoat what came next—not when Kaito had trusted him with everything raw and bruised inside those words.

“I’m not going to lie to you and pretend every single person in my pack is going to take one look at you and suddenly be enlightened.” His jaw tightened a fraction. “Some of them are stubborn. Some of them were raised on stories. And your scent—”

He huffed a breath, almost a rueful laugh.

“It does hit weird at first. It did even for me, but I still liked having you around” His nose wrinkled faintly at the memory of those first couple days. “It tickled like hell and made me want to sneeze every time you walked past. I had to pretend I wasn’t reacting because I didn’t want you thinking it was you.”

His wolf grumbled almost fondly at the memory—now he barely noticed it, only recognized it as Kaito.

“But that’s all it was,” Asher continued quietly. “Adjustment. And the pack will adjust too.”

His expression softened, but the resolve beneath it was unshakeable.

“I can’t promise everyone will understand right away,” he said honestly. “But I can promise you, I’m not hiding you. I’m not walking in there pretending you’re anything other than exactly who you are.”

His gaze sharpened, warm and fierce.

“But.. I might want to introduce you to my parents before anyone else.”

The moment stretched. It was a lot to take ind in very shot time. But if Kaito was gonna go with him to his pack. He’d rather have his parents hear about Kaito from himself, rather that from his pack members.

“Even if you weren’t pack—and I know you’re not yet—you’d still be my guest. And in my territory, that means being protected and respected.” His voice lowered with dominance. “Anyone who forgets that, answers to me.”

He let that settle.

Werewolves had a long, ugly history with mages. Packs tended to keep strictly to their own kind, even though fated mates were usually accepted without question—mostly because a bonded pair was seen as one being.

Still.. there were packs out there that had cast out mated pairs just to keep other species away.

His pack wasn’t like that.

In fact, they’d taken in many of those people. Because even with a mate, a werewolf thrived best in a pack.

“You’ll have my support… and permission to beat up any dickheads if it comes to that.” His mouth twitched.

Then, more lightly, “And as for the hunt—” His lips curved into a small, approving smile. “I didn’t want to leave you behind. You’re in. I meant it when I said I want you beside me.”

He pushed himself to his feet and offered Kaito a hand.

“Come on,” he said gently. “It’s about an hour’s drive. You should pack a small bag with cloth, just in case.”

He felt a little awkward. He had no idea how he was supposed to act now that he knew Kaito was his mate.

His wolf very much wanted to rub himself all over him and claim him —but Asher was fairly sure Kaito would find that more alarming than reassuring.

 

The pack was located in a closed-off, gated community bordering the National Park, far enough from humans to breathe freely, close enough to blend when needed.

After nearly an hour, tall iron gates came into view—clearly designed to keep unwanted guests out while still looking welcoming. Stone pillars framed the entrance, carved with subtle runes most humans would mistake for decoration.

Asher stopped the car and lowered the window just enough for the guards to recognize him.

One of them sneezed. Another, standing just behind, echoed it a second later.

Asher and the guards’ eyes briefly glazed as they spoke telepathically—a security measure that couldn’t be duplicated or faked. Asher informed them that Kaito was his guest and told them to mind their manners.

The guard stepped back and tilted his head in respect before smiling warmly.

“Welcome back, Alpha Asher. It’s good to have you home.” His gaze flicked briefly to Kaito, polite and curious. “I’ll let the omegas know you’ve brought a guest. You’re staying, right?”

Asher smiled, though the answer wasn’t entirely settled yet.

“Hasn’t been decided,” he said. Then he grinned. “But I’ll make sure to kick your ass back into form if you ask nicely.”

The guards chuckled—then sobered instantly when Asher’s tone shifted.

“Make sure security stays tight,” he said firmly. “Be vigilant.”

They straightened at once, nodding. The gates swung open, and Asher drove through.

The road curved gently uphill toward the pack house. They passed scattered homes along the way—lights glowing warmly, people out on porches or walking along paths. A few heads turned as the car passed, curious but relaxed, the air filled with the low hum of pack life.

At the top of the hill, the pack house came fully into view.

It was enormous—far larger than anything a single family would ever need. The building design was unmistakably old, the kind of old that carried centuries of its own story in its bones. Generations had lived in it. 

The main structure was built from dark stone and heavy timber, the materials seamlessly blended so it looked like the house had risen naturally from the land rather than been forced onto it. Wide stone steps led up to a broad front entrance framed by thick wooden pillars carved with subtle symbols—pack marks, territorial claims, old victories. Time had softened their edges but never erased them.

Large windows lined the front, glowing warmly from within. Nothing about the place felt abandoned, every beam and every wall had been cared for, maintained, strengthened over the years.

It was a clear sight of wealth with such a hug building, but it wasn’t too flashy either. Judt he kind that came from loyalty, from from it's tenants.

Security was woven into the old architecture so seamlessly it was easy to miss: reinforced glass, discreet cameras, wards humming faintly beneath the stone. Tradition and modernity coexisted without clashing.

The grounds surrounding the house were just as carefully kept, open with wide clear space stretched outward before giving way to forest, fire pits and gathering spaces scattered between old oaks. Paths of smooth stone connected the house to outbuildings—training halls, guest lodges, garages—each structure echoing the same careful blend of old-world craftsmanship and modern design.

Despite its size, the pack house didn’t feel imposing.

It felt lived in.

This wasn’t a museum, it was a home. A place meant for noise and laughter, arguments and celebrations. You could almost feel the echoes of past pack gatherings lingering in the air, layered with the steady presence of those living there now.

Asher slowed the car, his gaze flicking briefly toward Kaito, watching for his reaction.

“This place has been in my family for generations,” he said quietly. “Every alpha added to it. Expanded it. Fixed what needed fixing.” A faint note of pride slipped into his voice. “We've mostly kept the main building as it is inside after our father passed the title to us... aside from the alpha office we haven't changed yet interior.." Asher glanced over at Kaito. He and Logan didn’t think they really needed to change until either one of them had found their mate.. but he wasn’t completly sure Logan and hadn’t change a few things with his mate in Asher’s absence...

The car came to a stop at the base of the steps, the pack house looming ahead like a powerful host.

“We’re here.”