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Buck thought his scent was the beginning of a nightmare.
Nightmares that he hadn’t had in a while. Not since he’d been traveling the country on his own, exploring and living for the first time. There had been nights when the money was tight, stretched thin because he hadn’t been able to find a job between states and he would rather have enough for gas than strictly three meals in case the itch to move on crept back up his spine. Nights when Buck would sleep in his Jeep with the top locked tight and each of the doors checked four separate times before he would shift and curl up in the back seat, his nose shoved into a jacket of Maddie’s she’d left when she tossed him the keys and told him to go.
Those nights were always the worst. They made him miss Maddie so much he ached and his wolf howling a sorrowful song in his chest as he tried to surround himself with her scent. He always managed to lose it in the depths of his nightmares where claws slid up his spine with a sharp caress.
The scent was like those nightmares, prickling in at the edges of Buck’s mind, and pulling him from a deep sleep. It wasn’t bad, not sour and rotten like a Lone Wolf, but unfamiliar all the same. Like freshly clipped grass that had been caught in the rain.
The cramps in Buck’s stomach distracted him for a moment, sharp knots twisting in his gut, and drew out a whine from high in the back of his throat as Buck curled into a tight ball on his side. Fuck! He always hated his pre-heat symptoms. He usually slept through them if he could and could only relish in the fact that the cramps were his body’s way of telling him it was about time for when an incurable heat would settle beneath his skin and leave him sensitive and nauseous for days; his senses prickled and overstimulated until all Buck could do was build up his nest and ride it out. He pressed his nose into his pillow where Eddie’s scent still lingered and tried to numb out the pain of it all until he could go back to sleep.
But his whine cut out into a strangled stutter as the low, quiet sound of someone shushing him filled his ears.
Then Buck registered the scent and he froze.
Danger! Wrong! Go go go!
Something heavy settled on his arm from above the covers and the touch was like a shock to his instincts. Buck flung his arm up and knocked the unfamiliar touch away as he pushed up into the mattress. His joints ached from the movement and Buck groaned as his head whirled into a throbbing pulse but he pushed all that aside and stared at the stranger sitting in his bed.
“You’re alright little one,” the man cooed, his hand reaching out to touch again and a low growl filled with warning rumbled from Buck’s chest as he pushed back. The man chuckled and held up his hands, freezing in place where his knee was still pressed into his bed and his leg was stretched out behind him like he’d been in the process of climbing into bed with Buck when he woke up.
Bile rose with panic into the back of Buck's throat when he realized that was exactly what he’d been doing.
“W-What the hell are you doing?” Buck snapped as he yanked his blanket up to cover his heart where it was slamming underneath his chest. “Who— W-What are you— Get out of my bed!”
All the questions speeding through Buck’s head fumbled on his lips before the command screeched out of him in a hoarse shout strangled in his throat. The man— The wolf just smiled, a glaze over his eyes that did nothing to assuage the hungry scan he was raking over Buck like he wanted to eat him. He chuckled again as he held up a finger to his lips and shushed Buck with a whistle of a hot breath.
“Quiet sweetheart. You’ll wake up the neighbors before we even get started.”
Then he reached for Buck again, completely his transition onto Buck’s bed and Buck lurched off the mattress with a yelp to get away. His teeth rattled in his skull as pain shot up from his hips at how hard he hit the floor. His legs twisted, tangling in his blankets, and Buck flailed as he tried to break free. He scrambled back as the wolf followed him, his smile all teeth and hungry as he crawled across the bed with a seductive sway of his hips.
“Don’t play hard to get,” the man said, his voice a sing-song melody that settled over Buck’s shoulders and shot fear deep into his chest until he was heaving for air.
“Who are you?” Buck snapped as he shoved himself into a corner. The brick burned at his back as he clawed into the wall for leverage to pull himself up but his knees refused to cooperate, buckling under him until he was half hunched over in a cower.
“Oh, you don’t remember?” The man said, licking his lips as he settled onto his knees and spread his legs as if to entice Buck closer. “You sure? Too busy swinging that pert little ass at the bar last night for anyone available to scent you? You smell…”
The man trailed off as his nostrils flared, sucking in a deep breath of Buck’s scent, and sighing as if he could taste it on his tongue.
“You smell like heaven,” the man said with a bitten off moan. “I could scent the heat on you the moment you walked through the doors. I’m sure everyone could. It’s not every day you run into a little omega like you. You had everyone salivating while you walked around, flirting like a little whore open for business.”
Buck flinched beneath that insult hurled at him but the words slid down his senses like an unwelcome caress. His eyes flickered between the man and the stairs, trying to judge the chances he had of being able to get around him.
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Buck said, pushing the panic and the aches aside so he could stand on his own two feet. “I didn’t—”
“What?” The man— the wolf— sneered, standing tall and blocking Buck’s direct path to escape. He stalked forward like Buck was prey and Buck never felt more like a sheep than in that moment. “You don’t remember rubbing up on me? Practically begging me to take you the bathroom and—”
“Stop!” Buck bit out as he pushed the wolf’s chest, shoving him back a few steps from where he’d been crowding up against him until Buck couldn’t breathe. Buck growled in warning, his wolf clawing at him to be set free. But Buck didn’t know what the man’s wolf was like— whether he was bigger and ferocious than in his human form. At least as a human Buck knew what he was dealing with. The man was tall but not nearly as tall as Buck with compact muscles that bunched beneath his shirt. His salt and pepper hair was curling behind his ears, slicked with sweat that only permeated the wrongness of his scent until it burned at Buck’s nose.
Buck couldn’t place him. Not really anyways. There were flashes but Buck didn’t know if those were memories or just the panic wracking his brain for any sort of clue as to why someone he didn’t know had been looming over him while he slept. Flashes of Buck at the bar with his pack; with Hen and Chim. With Eddie. Of the group of them crowing as Maddie and Chimney took the stage for another duet of karaoke. Of Buck getting them all another round, grimacing as too many bodies pressed in close against him from the too crowded bar and washing his skin with scents he didn’t know. They’d gone out to celebrate the start of their four days off and left feeling light and bubbly with tipsy laughter. Buck hadn’t had too much to drink, trying to avoid too much alcohol knowing that it would’ve made his pre-heat symptoms worse, but he’d been buzzed enough to almost have slipped up.
All it would’ve taken was one request. All he would’ve needed was to tilt his head just a minute and bare his throat for Eddie to slip a hand over.
He’d spent the whole evening so preoccupied with trying not to give in to the temptation of his crush on his best friend that Buck didn’t think he even knew what day let alone who he had bumped into at the bar.
He supposed he could’ve… He could’ve rubbed up against someone by mistake; given them the wrong impression when he hadn’t—
No.
No, Buck wasn’t some thing that lost himself to his instincts without thoughts and feelings.
Buck sniffed as he stood to his full height, painfully aware that he was in nothing more than some shorts while the man was eying him like he wanted to eat him.
“Get out!” Buck said, proud of his voice for not wavering even in the breathlessness that was making his lungs tight in his chest.
The man moved like a spark.
His smile widened as he snapped up his hand to clamp over the back of Buck’s neck, shooting heat onto Buck’s spine until his back was a flashover of burning eruption of sensation. Buck’s gasp was nothing more than a strangled yip as the man yanked him down, digging his fingertips into Buck’s skin until he was sure he was going to bruise. He pulled Buck away from the corner, chuckling as Buck clawed at him, and held him close in a mocking play of an embrace as his other arm slipped around Buck’s waist. Buck withered in his hold even as the man shoved Buck against his chest, washing him with his scent until Buck was practically dizzy with it.
The shushing sounds washed over him again as the man’s other hand slipped up into the small of his back, fingers dipping into the waistband of his shorts to skim across until he could find—
Buck jolted as unknown fingertips pressed hard into the scent glands that rested above his tailbone where his tail would’ve been tucked in between his legs. It was too intimate, too close, and too pointed for Buck to do what his knees wanted him to do and drop to the floor.
“Sssshh,” the man hissed as Buck thrashed in his grip, massaging Buck’s glands as if that would somehow make everything better. “Just relax. Alpha’s here to take care of you.”
Buck didn’t think. He just did the first thing his body told him to do and went limp against the man, holding his breath so he didn’t drown in his scent. The man’s grip loosened on the assumption that Buck had given up and Buck struck before he could pin him again. He shoved a fist up and crashed his knuckles against the underside of the man’s chin, twisting until he could latch his teeth on the arm curled over his shoulder. The man howled and Buck didn’t wait around to hear if he snarled. He pushed him away, sending him crashing back onto the bed, and took off for the stairs at a dead sprint.
The man’s curse was like a gunshot, spurring Buck on as he ran down the stairs. Buck slipped and his shoulder screamed at him as he tried to catch himself but he went down the rest of the way and fell into a heap on the floor.
Buck scrambled on the floor, scratching at the tile to get his feet under him, and barely paid any attention to the fact that his door was wide open like some sort of invitation.
He pushed up onto his knees, shoving one foot beneath him, before he ran for the hallway.
The scent of a terrified omega slammed into Bobby’s face as he shoved himself through the elevator doors and down Buck’s hallway. A scent that was tangled up in something that was strange and unwelcomed. Bobby’s lips twitched with the urge to bare his teeth and growl but he was more concerned with making sure Buck was okay than warding off any unfamiliar wolves encroaching on his pack.
Buck and the rest of Bobby’s pack came first. Always.
Buck…
Bobby didn’t like to tap on the fragile link between their Thoughts too often but he needed to know. He needed to find where his pup was and make sure he was okay. His wolf clawed beneath his skin and spurred into the franticness that Bobby was only able to hold back by the scruff of its neck to keep from shouting louder into Buck’s mind until he found him. The call had woken him up from a dead sleep, Athena’s voice calm but tight on the line as she told him the bare boned details and told him to come. That Buck needed him.
It wasn’t as if Bobby didn’t know when he’d taken on Buck with his million dollar smile and deep copper red coat that stuck out in a crowd that the kid would’ve taken on attention. A lot of unwanted, unnecessary attention. Omegas were a dying breed for a reason, rare and unique enough that you couldn’t tear your eyes off them if you tried. He remembered being stunned by the change in Buck when Buck had shifted in front of him for the first time. Buck was always the center of attention, a light even in the darkest of days in the firehouse. His smile could power the whole city if someone would let him try. But he’d been cocky and bold too. Just too excitable that he had teetered on the edge of recklessness. But then he had shifted and that boldness had stayed in his color but became tame in his demeanor. Buck had guarded them with hesitation and a shyness that he didn’t know the kid could possess.
It was then that Bobby had known that Buck would have trouble following him around like a shadow and it was then that Bobby had vowed to keep him safe.
Buck’s scent was sharp on Bobby’s nose as he got closer to Buck’s unit and spotted the flurry of activity. A police officer lifted his hand as Bobby got close and the motion to stop him almost had him losing what last bit of restraint he had but thankfully Athena turned just in time. His wife may not be a wolf but she had the senses of one that would’ve suggested otherwise.
“Bobby!” She called before gesturing to the uni. “He’s okay. Let him through before you lose a hand.”
Athena gave Bobby a pointed look that screamed behave and his wolf cowered albeit reluctantly as he followed her down the hall. Buck’s front door was wide open with another officer taking a picture of Buck’s door handle.
“Looks like the intruder picked the lock. We’ve got security footage of someone holding the main door open for him. Then he must have followed Buck’s scent,” Athena said with a clinical edge to her voice that Bobby could see right through. It cut away at her anger but the emotion was still there, burning like embers in her eyes. “At least that’s what the detective seems to think.”
Bobby’s eyes watered as he stepped inside Buck’s loft. The tangy citrus of Buck’s scent was sharp as a razor to Bobby’s senses, twisted up with panic, stress, and heat. A deep, spicy heat like cloves pressed into the peel of a delicious orange. It was all encompassing, overpowering in Buck’s own space but there was something else too. Something wrong and uninvited that cut through Buck’s loft and left Bobby tracking the movements of the wolf that had let himself into Buck’s space as if he owned it; as if he owned Buck.
“He’s in lock up,” Athena said as if sensing Bobby’s thoughts.
“I want to see him.”
Athena tipped her head. “You’re Buck’s pack alpha. You have that right. But you’re needed here first.”
He spotted Buck pacing the line of windows to his apartment, the balcony door open to let in some clean air that was doing little to get rid of the other wolf’s scent. Distress was rolling off of him in waves that crashed against Bobby and made his heart beat out of rhythm against his ribs.
Not my fault not my fault not my fault not my fault…
Buck’s Thoughts could’ve suckered punched all the air out of Bobby’s lungs if he wasn’t holding his breath already.
Both Buck and the detective, another wolf judging by his own scent, looked up when Bobby and Athena walked in. Buck’s eyes were wide as he froze, his teeth latched onto his lip as he raked a hand through his hair. The high whine pierced through Bobby and nearly split him in two.
“Bobby,” Buck croaked and it was only when Bobby got close enough that he realized Buck was trembling all over. “I didn’t— I didn’t invite him. I didn’t—”
“Of course not.” Athena was quick to jump in. She shot a sharp glance at the detective. “Did someone suggest otherwise?”
The detective sighed as he stood and Bobby tried not to growl at the way the movement made Buck flinch back, his arms curling around his middle as if to hold himself together.
“You know I have to ask, sergeant,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Unbonded omegas in heat sometimes don’t realize they’re sending the wrong signals—”
“I think the running from his apartment in terror should’ve answered that for you.” Athena snapped. Her eyes jerked over to Buck, who was still shivering like a spooked animal trapped in a corner. “And do you have an unbiased assumption about why he couldn’t have been given a sweater, detective?”
Buck was still in nothing more than a pair of shorts, his feet even sans of the socks he loved to wear. The detective opened his mouth and Bobby could see the excuse forming on his lips. The warning rumble burned at the back of his throat and he watched Buck’s eyes drop to the floor. The detective’s lips curled as conflict raged across his expression before he gave in with a tip of his head.
“We’re done here. Mr. Buckley, I’ll be in touch if I need anything else,” the detective said with a sniff, his eyes going a little hazy and it wasn’t until he was leaving that Bobby even realized that he’d been taking a whiff of Buck’s scent like sneaking the last bite of ice cream before you put it away.
It was only because Buck hadn’t taken his eyes off the floor yet that Bobby didn’t stalk after the detective.
Athena squeezed Bobby’s arm in silent gratitude before she made her way up the stairs to Buck’s loft in search of some clothes. Bobby stepped closer, crossing the distance between him and Buck, only to stop when Buck stuttered back a step, another whine trapped high in his throat slipping out as he cupped up his hand to the back of his neck and rubbed.
“Buck?” Bobby moved slowly, telegraphing his movements even as Buck curled inward further and further. Bobby had no doubts that if he had let him, Buck would’ve curled as tight and as small as he could, hoping to disappear.
“He–He–” Buck stuttered out, his eyes glassy as he tried to blink back the tears with the strength of someone who had to do it before.
But Bobby didn’t need Buck to tell him. He could smell the problem the closer he got. The other wolf’s scent was all over the kid, seeping out from his skin, and burning Bobby’s senses until his wolf was snarling for release. But Bobby shoved his wolf back. Buck still hadn’t pulled his eyes from where they were locked at their feet, lingering fear dictating his emotions and making him bare his throat even as he kept rubbing at the skin as if to shove the scent off.
Bobby’s nostrils flared as he got closer and he held up his hand in front of Buck’s face, silently asking for permission. Buck eyed his fingers with a wild sort of panic that warned Bobby if he moved too quickly, too suddenly, then there would be a real chance of being bitten. Bobby could smell the spike in Buck’s scent; could see the jolt in Buck’s spine that went ramrod straight. And Bobby knew he could take it, he knew Buck wouldn’t have fought him, giving in to the dominance of Bobby’s hand. But Buck’s choices had already been stripped away from him that night and Bobby wasn’t about to add his name to the list of those who had taken them.
Buck looked up at him from beneath his lashes, his teeth digging into the skin of his bottom lip, and Bobby held perfectly still as he waited for Buck to decide.
Then Buck dropped his hand and tilted his head, pressing up into Bobby’s palm. The fever in his skin was scalding against Bobby’s hand but he didn’t worry about that as he tightened his hold and Buck sagged against him. Bobby tucked Buck into his side, the younger wolf pliant and burrowing his nose into Bobby’s shoulder as he held on tight like he was afraid a gust of wind would take him away. Each of Buck’s trembles rattled through Bobby’s chest and Bobby could only hold him tight, hoping his touch would be enough to stamp out the scent of burned onto Buck’s skin.
“Athena’s going to pack you a bag and then I’ll take you back to our place,” Bobby said after Buck’s breathing evened out.
Surprisingly, Buck shook his head at that. He was careful not to dislodge Bobby’s hand as he stood up straighter, pushing into his palm like it was the only thing keeping him firmly on the ground.
“I can’t. My heat—”
The mere mention of it was enough for Bobby’s nostrils to flood with the clove scent as if he couldn’t feel the heat radiating off Buck’s skin. He didn’t know much about what all that entailed and tried not to lean into the assumptions of stereotypes he’d heard over the years but they’d manage.
“We don’t mind—”
But Buck lifted his gaze and shook his head.
“I need... It helps if I’m in my own space. I just—” Buck’s nose wrinkled as he looked around his loft, lost and shivering again.
It was just the stink of the wolf who broke into Buck’s loft was all over the place, Bobby understood. Buck’s scent was there, strong and sharp, but the unfamiliar smell that was too musky and too earthy to be Buck’s still lingered in the air.
“Here, Buck,” Athena said, slipping in on Bobby’s other side and handing Buck a hoodie that Buck gratefully curled his fists around.
“Thank you,” Buck breathed. He pulled the material to his chest, slipping his arms inside but not ducking his head under just yet from what Bobby would guess would be a desire to not dislodge Bobby’s hand from his neck. Bobby rubbed a comforting circle into Buck’s throat with his thumb, pushing his palm down with a soft squeeze before he let go. Buck whined at the loss but Bobby didn’t go far. He plucked at the collar of Buck’s hoodie and bullied him into finishing putting the sweater on all the way. Despite the fevered flush on Buck’s skin, he still was shivering as if he was cold. Buck’s curls went wild as he popped his head through the collar and Athena tutted as he reached up to tame them.
Buck leaned into the touch like he was starved for it and maybe he was. Beneath the wrongness and the hovering fear still in the air, Bobby could smell the scent of different members of the team throughout Buck’s loft. The sweet strawberries of Maddie’s was the strongest but the others were there too. Eddie and his peppered dark chocolate. Hen and her clean lavender and rosemary. Chimney and the crisp summer pine needles. Athena’s rose perfume. They were all there like a cocoon swirling beneath the mugginess of an invader.
“Are you sure you want to stay here, Buckaroo?” Athena asked when Buck seemed a little more settled in his own skin again. “What about Maddie’s? Or we could stay unless you need—”
Athena’s expression stuttered before she pressed her lips together and cleared her throat.
A flush that had nothing to do with Buck’s temperature blushed across his cheeks before he shook his head.
“That’s not— I don’t—” Buck looked down right mortified as he stared between them before he shoved a hand up to the back of his neck and rubbed again. Bobby knocked Buck’s hand away before he could rub his skin raw and settled his hand over the expanse of Buck’s neck. Buck sagged beneath the weight of Bobby’s hand and relaxed, throwing him a grateful look from beneath his lashes. “I’m just going to be uncomfortable for a few days. I can get kind of emotional and a little clingy but nothing like that . Being here in my space makes it easier.”
That lost look settled over Buck again like a too thick blanket he didn’t know how to unwrap from himself. His bottom lip disappeared between his teeth as Buck looked over Bobby’s shoulder to the wide open front door.
“He’s… He won’t be back right?” Buck asked, tearing his eyes away to stare at Bobby and Athena with a desperation that clawed at Bobby’s chest and almost made his wolf howl a sorrowful song in his heart. “He can’t… I didn’t—”
Buck’s breath hiccuped in his chest as he squeezed his eyes shut and the sharp cut of his fear burned at Bobby’s senses again like lightning striking concrete.
“He won’t be able to come anywhere near you,” Athena promised, fierce and protective in the face of Buck’s fear.
A fear that was well founded. Someone had invaded his space, staking a claim on everything inside it, including Buck.
Bobby couldn’t even begin to imagine what that must have been like.
Buck blinked at her as he nodded, accepting her promise without question.
“What do you need, kid?” Bobby asked as he squeezed Buck’s neck and pulled him back against him. Buck sighed, his breath still rattling around his throat and too close to the brink of a whine but not nearly as bad as it had been.
Buck could’ve asked for the moon and Bobby would’ve done what he could to get it for him.
“P-Pack,” Buck said, a near whisper on his lips. Bobby heard it anyway.
Hen and Chim were the first to arrive with their bickering, giving them away all the way from down the hall when Buck and Bobby both perked up in their seats.
Bobby had been trying to coax Buck back to sleep for a fews hours as the sun crept up and dashed the loft in an uncomfortable warmth but Buck had refused. Even with the new sheets and the old ones shoved into a trash bag after the scent remained three washes in, Buck couldn’t manage to bring himself to turn his back to the world just yet. Instead he and Bobby had settled in the living room with Bobby keeping a watchful eye in the leather armchair and Buck curled up on his side in the couch as the cramps dissipated into the unbearable prickling beneath his skin. He was too hot for his sweater but the thought of taking it off had him shivering so he stayed, his legs curled up to his chest and the sleeves of his hoodie pressed up to his nose where the familiar scents drowned out the sharp grass from before.
A new episode of The Closer reruns had just started when he heard them.
“—sure we’re not about to walk into Buck in a wild sex frenzy?”
“Chim, you are dating his sister. How do you not know how heats work?”
“Because somehow asking my girlfriend how her brother’s heats work differently than hers doesn’t come up in conversation when—”
You know I can hear you, right?
Buck didn’t tend to push his Thoughts into the pack’s heads too often but when he did, they always seemed to startle the others. Chimney’s shoes squeaked on the floor outside and Bobby was chuckling into his mug as he sipped his third cup of coffee since he’d accepted that Buck wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon. He stood up with a stretch and scratched at Buck’s scalp as he passed before the sounds of his front door opening came with the bustling of their arrival. Whatever the guy had done to jimmy his deadbolt had jammed it but Bobby hadn’t said a word when Buck had slid the chain across, desperate for some sense of security again.
“Sorry Buckaroo,” Chimney called as he and Hen stepped inside.
“‘s okay,” Buck said, most of his words getting lost in the cushion of his couch.
He squeezed his eyes shut when he heard them pause, inhaling sharply at the wash of unfamiliar scent and Buck’s heat making the room hot and muggy. He inhaled too, catching the whiffs of something cherry and sweet with butter and some kind of icing that was making his mouth water.
But then it slammed into him like a wave of cool water on his too hot skin. The clean smell of Hen as she stepped up to the island with her cargo, fresh like clean laundry with hints of coconut from Karen lingering on her skin. The crisp scent of pine needles mixed with strawberries from Chimney. Bobby twisting around the two like strong coffee and something warm; something like serenity. It comforted the sharp jagged thing in his chest that had been prickling at his spine ever since he woke up to a strange alpha in his bed.
The whine slipped out before he could stop it and Buck didn’t know if it was the aftertaste of adrenaline on his tongue or the way his heat always seemed to throw his emotions into a blender that had pinpricks burning at the back of his eyes but it was there. Hot and present on his chest until he nearly couldn’t breathe with it.
A cold nose pressed into his forehead and when Buck opened his eyes he was met with Hen’s wolf staring back at him. She sniffed at Buck’s face, his jaw, his throat as she checked him over and Buck reached up to bury a hand in her cocoa brown fur. She snorted when her nose brushed against where the other wolf had grabbed him before she stood up on her hind legs and shoved her head up against Buck, rubbing out his scent with her own. Chimney was nothing more than a flash of white gray fur before he was jumping up on the couch and sniffing Buck as well. Eventually Hen and Chimney got Buck to uncurl and were pressing into him with so much aggressive affection he had to slip down from the couch so they didn’t completely destroy the upholstery. Chimney nipped Buck’s jaw as Hen licked at his face, letting Buck curl his arms around her and hold her close.
We’re sorry, Buck. Hen’s Thoughts tickled onto Buck’s mind and made him wince a little. If we had known…
Guilt was heavy in her rumble and Buck nuzzled into her throat. “‘s not your fault.”
Not yours either. Chimney countered. You know that right?
Buck didn’t answer and Chimney pushed all his weight into Buck’s side, knocking him over onto his forearm and making Hen jump back before Buck crushed her.
Rationally, Buck knew. He knew, from a rational standpoint, that they were right. That if this had happened to any of them then he would’ve been saying the same thing. But Buck wasn’t feeling very charitable to his rationality just then. Not when he’d gotten sloppy and lost sight of the people around him. The ones that weren’t friends or family that always would stare at him when he walked in the room. Buck used to thrive under that attention, preening at being seen for the first time in his life after years of being ignored and looked through. But he’d always been aware too; careful of the eyes that looked too closely.
His front door opened again and Buck froze as he smelled his scent.
Buck could’ve picked Eddie out in a crowd of thousands with his eyes closed if he had to. The warm chili chocolate of his scent slid over him like smooth hot chocolate and seeped into his muscles until he was like a pile of goo. It made Buck’s mouth water with want and his heart ache as it thumped against his chest twice in rapid succession. He yearned for it most nights and got drunk on it when he got a chance to have it. Drunk and desperate until Buck would do almost anything to bare his throat to Eddie and let him take him.
They’d been dancing around each other for months, years even, and something had happened in the few weeks that had changed them. A magnetic pull that made them circle closer and closer until Buck only had to reach out and kiss him if he wanted.
And he wanted.
But they just hadn’t given in yet.
Eddie stepped into the living room with a thunderous expression on his face— with Bobby hovering in the background— and Buck wilted inside. Eddie sniffed the air, slow and methodical like he was tasting every strand of scent on his tongue, before his eyes zeroed in on Buck.
“C’mon,” Eddie said with a jerk of his head. “Shower.”
“I don’t think—” Buck didn’t think he could handle the stimulation on his skin just then but Eddie cut him off before he could worry.
“I’ll help you.”
It wasn’t a request and it wasn’t a command but it was something else Buck couldn’t quite put his finger on. Something that felt like that pull that had been tugging at his chest the more and more time he spent spinning in Eddie’s orbit.
Buck stood on wooden legs and bit out a curse at the weakness that always plagued his body during his heat. His knees wobbled beneath him and he was painfully aware of everyone watching him in case he crumbled. Heats were always a private thing anyways but more so for Buck. He hated showing how pathetic he felt, trembling on coltish legs, and so needy for affection that he would rub his nose raw trying to latch onto a familiar scent.
Eddie held out a hand and Buck grabbed onto it like it was the only thing holding him up. It kind of was because any further and he was sure his knees would’ve buckled. But Eddie just scooped an arm up around his waist and took his weight.
Eddie rumbled another angry sort of sound from the back of his throat as he shoved his face into Buck’s neck and if Buck bared his throat just a fraction then that was between him and God. Buck shivered as Eddie’s stubble cut across his skin, shoving him right onto the edge overstimulated, and made him hold onto Eddie tighter.
“You stink of him,” Eddie said and Buck bit down on his lip to keep from whimpering beneath the heat of that. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
“Rude,” Chimney quipped even though Eddie ignored him for all but carrying Buck up the stairs to his loft. “Our scent is on him too now!”
Eddie all but bypassed Buck’s bed, shielding him from even having to look at it as he maneuvered them into the bathroom, and closed the door.
“I can—” Was all Buck had managed to get out before Eddie was rushing him, pushing him up against the wall, and blanketing Buck’s body with his own. He clawed at Buck’s hoodie, popping a seam somewhere as he yanked the material up over Buck’s head, before he tossed it to the floor. Eddie shoved his face into the hollow of Buck’s throat, inhaling mouthful after mouthful of Buck’s scent, as he rubbed his cheek against Buck’s pulsepoint. Buck choked out a whine before he bit down on his lip to keep quiet, to not wreck the moment, but Eddie just rumbled again and curled a hand up onto the other side of Buck’s throat. A firm thumb soothed away the tension from Buck’s cheek and Buck clung onto Eddie for dear life as he spun out of control in Eddie’s arms.
He was breathless in the embrace, gasping for air in the impossible closeness as Eddie dug his nose into Buck’s skin.
“He touched you.” It wasn’t a question but Buck found himself answering anyway with a single nod. Eddie growled, low and possessive, shooting a thrill through Buck’s chest and electrocuted his heart until it was hammering against his ribs. It was claiming in a way that would’ve sent Buck running if it had come from anyone but Eddie. Anyone but Eddie who had Buck’s whole heart in his clenched fist even if he didn’t know it. “Here?”
Eddie curled a hand around the back of Buck’s neck with his question and Buck shivered as his skin threatened to catch fire beneath his touch. Buck swallowed past the knot in his throat and nodded again, his tongue sticking to his mouth rendering him speechless in the heat.
Eddie’s tongue stoked the embers of Buck’s overstimulated skin and Buck’s shivering turned up in tempo until he was practically vibrating against him. He bared his throat more obviously then, giving Eddie more room to work as he tried to wash the unwanted touch from Buck’s skin and memory with his tongue as he licked him.
“Where else?” Eddie asked and Buck froze.
Because of course, Eddie would know.
Eddie knew Buck better than anyone else most days. He could see through the mask, the wishful thinking that if he forgot, it never happened. And they were toeing a line they had been dancing along for so long, skating right up to the precipice of something they couldn’t deny if they crossed it.
But Buck was tired and he was cold and hot and all the things that led to him feeling like his body was hollowed out and his wolf had been tossed into the snow to be forgotten. He wanted his hackles to release the tension with the alertness for danger. He wanted to give in to the need to be held and smothered by his pack. He wanted Eddie’s scent to wash over his and leave him claimed for anyone else who even so much as looked in his direction. He wanted everyone who smelled him to know that he was one of the lucky ones that got to preen under the attention of Eddie’s love and care which were infinite when it came to Eddie.
He reached for Eddie’s other hand and slipped it up around his waist, pressing his palm into his scent glands at the base of his spine. Eddie sucked in a sharp breath and the growling picked up in volume that Buck was sure the others could hear.
But then Eddie inhaled again and held Buck close, tight like he was afraid he was going to lose Buck.
“I am,” Eddie said, his lips trailing across the wet spot on Buck’s throat like a caress.
And… oh.
Buck didn’t know he’d let himself drift so freely with his Thoughts. But if there was anyone he was going to lose himself with, it was Eddie.
“I got that call, Buck, and I—”
Eddie broke off with a whine high in the back of his throat before he tucked his face impossibly closer into Buck’s skin.
“I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you,” Eddie confessed, quiet like a whisper; like it almost wasn’t real if he mouthed it into Buck’s skin.
Buck tried desperately to shove back the hot press of tears he felt clawing up the back of his throat again. It burned at his eyes with exhaustion and unspoken hope that begged to be freed.
They had so much they needed to talk about, so much time to make up for, and a jump they needed to take but Buck didn’t want that leap when he was in heat and still trembling from the adrenaline of waking up to a stranger looming over him. He pressed his cheek into the crown of Eddie’s head, scenting him, and curled his arms around his shoulders to hold Eddie just as tight.
They stayed that way for longer than Buck could count, lingering on the lip of something until Buck’s legs started to give out under him again and Eddie was holding him up more than anything else.
“C’mon,” Eddie said, pulling his head away from his hiding spot in Buck’s neck but only so that he could press his forehead against Buck’s brow, right where the pink of his birthmark dotted into his skin. They nuzzled each other until Buck’s legs didn’t feel like they were shaking quite so much and then Eddie pulled away enough to start the shower. “Let’s get you cleaned and then see if you can get a few hours of sleep.”
Buck bit down on his lip to keep from protesting; from whining at the possibility of losing that closeness they had. He didn’t tell Eddie he didn’t think he could sleep but let him lead him into the shower where Eddie scrubbed any lasting trace of that alpha’s touch from his skin. The hot water felt like daggers on his skin but the heat seeped into his exhausted muscles and aching joints, leaving him like putty in Eddie’s arms.
After he was clean and dry, Buck didn’t bother changing and shifted instead, letting his wolf stretch out. Chim and Hen were downstairs devouring pastries and filling Buck’s loft with the scents of their contentment. Bobby was missing but Buck didn’t get a chance to wonder where he’d gone before Eddie was herding him back up onto his bed.
The moment Buck’s feet touched the mattress though, he froze. Panic skittered up into his blood and trembled beneath his skin, leaving him paralyzed with fear. Buck whined as he tucked his tail in between his legs and shook.
“Everything okay?” Chim called from downstairs and Buck could hear the worry in their heartbeats.
“We’re okay,” Eddie said before his voice turned quiet and soothing. “You’re okay, Buck. It’s okay. Here…”
Eddie slipped up onto the bed with barely a rocking of the bedframe before he pressed his back against the headboard.
“Come here,” he said, patting his stomach and Buck sniffed the air for his anchor point, the guiding line in the haze of his lingering nightmare. Eddie’s spicy hot chocolate scent was coating Buck’s senses and burning away all the remaining fear. He curled up at Eddie’s side, his tail still tucked in tight between his legs, and hesitated for only a moment before he put his head on Eddie’s stomach.
Instantly, fingers scratched at the spot behind his ears and Eddie carded his fingers through Buck’s fur. Buck huffed out a sigh and melted beneath the petting as he let Eddie soothe away all the trembling fear.
Buck didn’t sleep though. He tried, closing his eyes and breathing evenly as he let Eddie lull him into an almost hypnotic rest, but he couldn’t sleep. Not even with the exhaustion making his eyes heavy and the comforting scents of his pack filling the loft.
But then, about an hour later, he heard the quiet murmuring of voices as his door opened again and smelled the faint wisps of strawberries.
That wasn’t right though. Maddie still had a few hours on her shift. She couldn’t—
Buck’s ears perked up as he heard the quiet tapping of her claws on his stairs before he saw her over Eddie’s knees.
Maddie?
Eddie carefully extracted himself and Buck didn’t even get time to mourn the loss before Maddie was jumping up onto his bed and curling beside him. She nibbled on his snout and licked his face, bullying him onto his side so she could groom him like she used to when they were little. If he closed his eyes hard enough he could still remember the way she would drag him around with her mouth, teaching him how to howl while he climbed over her body. She seemed so big back then; larger than life and smelling like home.
I thought you had to work.
Maddie huffed out noise as she nuzzled against him.
My little brother needed me.
But—
Maddie batted Buck back down and curled around him so her scent enveloped all his senses.
Go to sleep, Buck. We’ll watch out for you.
And for the first time in hours, the scent of Buck’s nightmare washed away and Buck was left with the safety of his pack.
The wolf turned in his cell when Bobby walked in and studied him suspiciously. But then his nostrils flared as a grin spread across his face.
“You smell like him.”
Bobby snarled as his growl rumbled deep from his chest where all the dark, angry parts of himself lived. They were the parts Bobby didn’t like to dwell in, sitting in all the hot, angry feelings he had nothing to do with but shout to the world. But this wolf had come into his pack’s den and tried to take something that wasn’t his. There was a white bandage wrapped around the man’s arm where Buck had bitten him and the scent of his dried blood flittered into Bobby’s senses. The wolf’s eyes widened as he shook his head, turning to Athena in the corner.
“Don’t look at me,” Athena said. “You tried to hurt one of his pups.”
“The bitch was asking for it,” the wolf snarled, bouncing on his toes as he tried to decide whether he wanted to fight or submit to the dominance rippling off Bobby in waves. “I didn’t do anything he didn’t—”
“He was asleep!” Bobby bit out. “And you broke into his apartment and climbed into his bed.”
Bobby stepped up as close to the bars as he could and curled back his lip as he growled again. The man’s resolve flickered as he took a step back, his shoulders bunching up to his ears as he fought against the urge to drop his head beneath Bobby’s eyes. If they had been shifted, Bobby would’ve been bullying his head down beneath his jaw and demanded it but the bars were keeping him safe.
For now.
“If you so much as smell him again,” Bobby warned because he knew it was his only time he would get the chance before the counsel took over the man’s punishment. “Then there’s not a cage on this Earth that can protect you from me. Is that understood?”
The threat burned at the back of Bobby’s throat and he resolutely didn’t try to shrug himself out from under the weight. But he made a promise to Buck, to his pack, that he would protect them and it was a promise he took seriously.
The wolf sneered at him, sniffing the air for a whiff of Buck’s scent again, but recoiled at Bobby’s growl. He said nothing but stared, challenging and defiant, before Bobby pushed and then, he dropped his eyes to the ground and nodded.
Bobby gave a grateful look to his wife before he turned on his heel and left.
He had a pack to get back to and if he didn’t feed them soon, he knew they’d start howling.
But it was a howl he would answer whenever they called him. Always.