The Human in the Wolf's Den

Dressing up.

"Cassian, come out! I have a meeting to go to before the gala and you have to be there." Xander called startling Cassian from his depressing thoughts.

Cassian didn't want to attend the meeting. What if something happened like at the mall?

"Master, may I stay in my cage today?"

"I would love to let you stay in but sadly all the others are bringing their mates so it would look bad if I didn't bring you along." Xander sighed while unlocking the door.

"Sorry for asking master." Came Cassian's sad reply.

"I laid the clothes out on the bed for you. Change in the bathroom."

Cassian did as he was told not looking Xander in the eye. Yesterday Cassian had had one hour of pure happiness. That was until he realized Xander's therapy thing might not work. He had been mentally pacing thinking about all the bad he's done since being mated to Xander. Since the mall, there had been a few... Incidents.

Every time a human so much as glanced at Cassian things exploded quickly. One slave was killed during one of Xander's fits. The killing of human slaves wasn't uncommon but there was always a reason why the slave was being executed. The slave in this case was a new one. He still had meat on his bones. It didn't help the situation that he wasn't bad-looking. The slave had smiled at Cassian. Perhaps he thought Cassian was a fellow prisoner, someone who wanted a friend. Things couldn't have been farther from the truth considering Cassian hated humans almost as much as the wolves did. Well, let's just say the slave, formerly known as Mark, didn't see it coming when Xander's fist came crashing into his face. The punch might have been manageable for a wolf but the human stood no chance as the light in his eyes dimmed and he died almost instantly from severe head trauma. Needless to say, things weren't as bright and sunny as Xander thought.

Cassian stayed completely silent for days after the incident. He had decided to opt-out of leaving his cage when his master did ask. Cassian felt the weight of the slave's death weigh heavily on his shoulders, he didn't want anyone else to die because of him. Cassian hoped this meeting went well. Once in the bathroom, he looked at the clothes he held in his hands. It was a long while later when Xander's voice came through the door.

"Come on Cassian." Xander sighed. Cassian had been in the bathroom for half an hour changing into the nice clothes he had gotten him for the Galla and the meeting that took place beforehand

Cassian was frustrated trying to figure out how to put it all on. His eyes teared up as he tried to do the button for the tenth time and couldn't get it. At that moment Xander grew annoyed and just walked into the bathroom.

"What's taking so long?" When he saw Cassian's tearfully frustrated eyes Xander bit his tongue.

"I can't get it closed." Cassian bashfully admitted pointing down to the button on his pants.

Xander let out a breath and braced himself for helping the little human. He was still a bit nervous around Cassian. "You have to put the button up on over the t-shirt. That way when you put on the pants you can easily tuck them in. See how mine works?" Xander demonstrated with his own tux. "Then you get the vest on over that. Next comes the bow tie and jacket. Last we fix your pocket square and now you're ready for the ball."

Cassian smiled at Xander's almost playful tone. Somewhere along the way, Xander had ended up dressing Cassian himself.

"How do I look, master?" Cassian did a small twirl for his master.

Truthfully Cassian looked quite adorable. His gold pocket square complimented his eyes nicely.

"I guess you'll do," Xander replied instead of voicing his actual thoughts.

Xander's hands lingered on his mate as he smoothed his shirt down neatly. Only weeks ago this would have made Xander nervous, now look at him.

Cassian basked in Xander's attention. It was so rare Cassian got any attention at all he sucked up any and everything. "Master?"

Xander snapped out of his momentary trance and pulled his hand away from Cassians shoulder. "What?"

Cassian was disappointed at having ruined the moment. "Thank you for helping me."

"What are mates for right?" Xander stepped away and looked over Cassian to make sure he was decent. "You still need your bow tie."

Once that was in place Cassian threw on his jacket and waited for Xanders next orders.

"Come on, we are already late." Xander put his jacket on and lead Cassian to the door.

"Sorry master." Cassian knew they were late because of him.

"It's not a big deal. I don't want to spend any more time in the presence of that pretentious ass anyways." Xander waved off Cassians apology.

"Who master?"

"Alpha Octavio," Xander spoke the name with the utmost disdain

"Why don't you like Alpha Octavio master?" Cassian wasn't sure who Octavio was but he must be horrible if Master is commenting on him. Master rarely cared enough about others to say anything at all.

"He's the youngest alpha after me this year. Everyone is gushing about him. How good he is with his pack and how much his mate loves him and blah blah blah." Xander's blood boiled at the thought of the other alpha. He could be just as charming when he wanted to. What he didn't like was being fake.

"Why is his mate loving him such a big deal master?" Cassian had seen true mated werewolves they all had nothing but love for each other.

"His mate is human. It's uncommon for a human mate to be so in love with their wolf mate." Xander explained.

He went about dressing quickly as he spoke.

"But I love you, master," Cassian spoke it so softly he almost didn't say it at all. He could tell Xander had heard it though in the small pause in his bow tying.

Xander knew the boy felt strongly for him even though he had no reason to. Xander's wolf loved him as any mate would but he himself wasn't fully committed to Cassian. The fear of all humans was holding him back from that last little cliff drop. He wanted to reciprocate but he knew he hadn't shown the boy an ounce of love in the almost two months they had been together. He had shown Cassian what a jealous asshole he could be that was for sure but nothing close to affection.

"You don't really mean that Cassian. Maybe one day..." Xander seemed optimistic.

Cassian didn't want to argue with his master so he remained silent.

"Let's go."