Half-Blood Curse

8 - Joseph

When Lucas found himself standing in the apartment he had lived in alone through his middle and high school years, he already knew the drill.

"That fucking beast better not fucking bother me this time," Lucas spat, stomping through the tiny space. It was empty of everything except a second-hand twin bed, a beat-up desk where he had done his homework, and a few spare dishes in the micro-kitchenette that didn't even have an oven for making dinner. He had lived off microwave meals and things he could make on the tiny camping stove he had for years. It looked exactly the same, nothing had changed.

Lucas yanked open the front door, expecting to walk through it and enter Gabriel's much comfier, more lavish room. Instead, he yelped and jumped back in surprise. The man of the hour stood in the run-down hallway of the apartment complex, right on the doorstep with a hand raised as if he was about to knock.

He looked different. Less put together. His dark hair was messy, as if he had been running his fingers through it in moments of stress. His gorgeous eyes had dark bags under them from lack of sleep. His mouth was tight with tension and pain. But when he saw Lucas that all washed away. He let out a breath of intense relief, took two steps forward, and pulled Lucas straight into his arms.

"I've missed you," Gabriel whispered against Lucas's hair. He inhaled long and slow, and Lucas grinned.

"Did you just smell me?"

"It's a shifter thing. You've never done it?"

Lucas was sorely tempted to smell Gabriel, once he thought about it. He wrapped his arms around the alpha and took a deep breath while his face was pressed into the crook of Gabriel's neck. Gabriel shivered. Lucas had to admit, the alpha smelled very nice.

Gabriel looked around over Lucas's head.

"Where are we?"

"This was where I lived when I was a kid."

"It's small. Where did Caroline sleep? That's a child's bed."

"She didn't live here with me," Lucas said. "We had - well, we still have a very complicated relationship. We both needed space."

It was a lie. Lucas had been desperate for his mother's love as a child. But he didn't want to pour all that out on Gabriel. Especially since his mother was currently Gabriel's pack member and subordinate.

"But... why? You were just a child. You were all alone?"

"Not my whole life," Lucas said. But most of it, he thought. "It's in the past, now, so don't even think about going and questioning Caroline about it. It's done with."

"How did you know I was thinking about doing that?"

"A hunch."

"Was she the only shifter you ever knew?"

Lucas thought back, trying to remember. "I knew a shifter kid in school for a while, but he moved away when we were in the third grade. Other than that, it was just me and mom."

"God, no wonder you don't know that much," Gabriel murmured, stroking his fingers through Lucas's hair. "Packs aren't all battles for dominance and cut-throat politics, like human media might have you believe."

Lucas just shook his head, not willing to argue about it when Gabriel was making his brain short-circuit with those small touches.

"Come to me, baby," Gabriel said. He pulled back and put a gentle kiss on Lucas's forehead. Lucas sighed in bliss. "I'll be so good to you. I need you. I know it's frightening and we don't know each other, but this is fate."