Phoenix of Dawn

Carefully

Axel was faster than I gave him credit for. He was already on the street, his footsteps echoing in the street. At the sound of my own steps he turned to see me in pursuit. I'd expected him to slow but instead he took a sharp right and disappeared. He surfaced several houses down.

Son of a bitch...

I blamed the heels. 

He was walking up the stairs to a house I didn't recognize when I started to gain on him again. Shifting his eyes back to me once more he slipped inside the door before promptly slamming it in my face. 

Without an invitation I turned the handle and stepped into the space. The smell of Axel hit me so hard I nearly toppled over. I realized too soon that this was Axel's house, his home... where he lived and breathed and...

Smelled so damn good.

He was sitting on a gray couch, tugging off his shoes when he locked eyes with me. 

"You lost, Kyra?"

"No," I denied, "I wanted to talk to you."

He scoffed, dropping his eyes to his shoes, "You've got one hell of a way of showing it."

Blowing past his snide remark I said, "I have to leave. Now that I know who my pack is I have to find them and bring them together. I have to make this right and find answers."

His last shoe dropped to the floor with a thunk before he stood and started to take off his jackets next. He arched a brow, tossing aside the fabric and reaching for his tie. 

"I'm getting naked," He warned, "Right here. In my living room."

Crossing my arms I glared, "I'm not leaving."

I watched him slowly start to undo the buttons of his shirt. He wouldn't actually get stark naked in front of me. 

"I have to leave."

"Fine."

"So you understand then?"

Whoa...

His shirt dropped to the couch. I hadn't seen Axel shirtless since the base and somehow I'd managed to downplay it in my mind. Good lord I was an idiot. 

He reached down for the belt on his pants, the metal rattling in his hands. 

"Axel," I shrieked, "Stop! Please stop!"

"Fine,"  he turned away from me, "Wait here."

So I did. Standing at the edge of his living room I took in the space that Axel had made his own. The living room looked just as I'd expect it to. A long gray couch face a white brick fireplace whose mantel held photographs of familiar faces I knew as his family and friends. Across the way was a kitchen, the spaces split up by an island with blue stools. It was all dark colors with splashes of something brighter. It was both exactly what I expected a house to look like but nothing what I expected Axel's home to look like. 

I was looking at the dark beams stretching across the vaulted ceiling when he reentered the room wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Was being a calf person a thing? Cause I couldn't stop looking at Axel's. 

He dropped something dark on the back of the couch before padding right up to me. There was barely any space between us, his eyes exploring me like I was the first glass of water they'd had in years. 

"You should have stayed there," He noted, gaze dipping low.

"Why?"

My breath hitched as his knuckled streaked across my cheek, "You're wasting this dress."