"Which pack do you come from?" Fenris asks, his voice sharp and firm, as if expecting the answer to suddenly make sense of the conflicting puzzle in front of him.
But the person beside him doesn't even seem capable of concentrating long enough to respond rationally.
Axel looks completely dazed, barely holding himself upright as his chest heaves with labored breaths.
"What the f**k is a pack?! What did you do to me?!" Axel's voice breaks out, panicked and flushed, his words slurring slightly as his breathing grows heavier, too heavy, and disturbingly sensual.
"The... the f**k did you do to me," he mutters again, sweat now running down his temples, beading across his neck, and sliding down the curve of his collarbones.
But it doesn't stink like it should. Instead of the sour sharpness of exertion, the scent that fills the car is warm, soft, and sickeningly inviting.
The sticky sweetness of vanilla fills the air, coating Fenris's lungs, clinging to his skin like something living.
But Fenris doesn't allow himself to waver. No matter how close Axel moves, no matter how heady the scent becomes, he refuses to be swayed by it.
He keeps telling himself ..repeating like a silent mantra that this brat knows exactly what he's doing.
Because if he is truly in heat, if this is really a biological response triggered by pheromones, then this is precisely how he should have reacted the first time they met, that night they were together.
But he hadn't. Back then, Axel barely flinched, let alone melted like this.
Sure, he responded to touch, but it was not as wild as what he is looking like right now. Not wih this hunger, not this collapsing surrender that seems too perfectly timed, too performative.
And if he really were in heat then he wouldn't be acting so clueless. He would have known the moment they met what they were. He would've felt the mate bond, because it doesn't just slip by unnoticed.
It claws at your bones from the inside out. Something is deeply, disturbingly off with him, and Fenris isn't going to entertain the performance.
No matter how Axel shifts, how he trembles, how he looks seconds away from unraveling completely, Fenris won't indulge it.
"When you're done with your senseless drama, sit up and wipe that gross sweat. We have business to talk about," Fenris says acting unbothered, his hand yanks the car door open.
A gust of air rushes inside, helping him clear his senses of the suffocating heat and the maddening sweetness in the air. "You owe me for stealing from me, and I have evidence, so it's either you do as I say, or I throw you in jail and let you rot there!"
"I'm not doing anything I don't wanna do. So if you wanna throw me in jail, fine." Axel shoots back, his voice strained, his throat visibly working to pull in each breath.
"Seriously, why are you blaming me like I broke into your house when you got me there yourself?!" His tone is defiant, but his body betrays him as his shoulders twitching, eyes half-lidded and unfocused as they drift over Fenris's lips like they're something to be tasted.
He turns his head away, gritting his teeth, clearly forcing himself to resist the urge crawling up his spine.
"Oh yeah? Then I guess jail it is..." Fenris says flatly. He picks up his phone, pretending to dial the police with a pointed calmness, watching from the corner of his eye to see how far this brat is willing to keep up the act. If it even is an act. That's what he needs to know.
"What do you want me to do?! And I do it once and that's it." Axel blurts the moment Fenris touches the screen. "We would be even and then we can just go our separate way!" The desperation in his voice is unmistakable, cracking under the pressure.
And when Fenris hears it, when he sees the tension in Axel's face, the telltale panic behind his eyes, he can't help the small smirk that pulls at his lips.
"Now we're talking," he says, his tone dropping. "You are going to crossdress as a decent woman and stay close to me whenever I need you to. And..."
"What for?!" Axel cuts in immediately, furious. "If you want a woman, you can get plenty. I mean, a man as rich and good looking like you could get anyone, so why do I have to do that?! Give me another punishment if you must! Just because you found me crossdressed doesn't mean I want to do it when ordered!"
Fenris doesn't speak right away. His eyes rest on Axel with unreadable stillness.
What for? he repeats inwardly. Just being this close gives me everything back. I can emit my dominance pheromones again.
I feel like myself. I don't need to sleep with a man, don't need to mark one.
He just needs this person close enough to keep his body functioning, to restore what's been slipping through his fingers.
As for the mate bond... he'll deal with the fire burning in his gut. He'll die controlling the desires if he has to.
As long as he can reclaim what's his, ... his name, his dignity.
"We already agreed, you don't get to question me," Fenris says quietly. "You are going to do exactly that." He adds.
But even as he makes up his mind, he knows it's a risk. This one has a mouth and a temper that won't stay quiet forever.
Even if he listens now, there's no guarantee he'll stay obedient tomorrow. But if he really loves money the way he suspects, then maybe he can be bought, bought and kept in check, long enough for Fenris to get what he needs.
For a long moment, Axel says nothing. He sits there, shoulders tight, mouth pressed into a stubborn line, but his uneasy movements haven't stopped.
Even now, as he tries to appear calm, the subtle shifts of his thighs, the way he fidgets, the quick shallow breaths, everything about him sends sparks into Fenris's chest, clawing at him. Fenris swallows it down with effort.
"Will you stop with the nonsense you are doing?!" Fenris barks when Axel groans softly again, hips shifting just slightly in the seat.
It's not intentional. Or maybe it is. But the way he keeps sighing ..low, warm, and far too suggestive- tears at Fenris's last thread of control.
He flings the door open again, ready to get out and slam it shut behind him, but Axel's hand shoots out and grabs his wrist.
"I can't stop this anymore... I swear I'm not faking this... I think I took the wrong medicine just minutes ago," Axel says, his voice suddenly shaking.
Without warning, he pulls Fenris back inside the car with a force that catches him off guard.
Before Fenris can react, Axel tugs at his own sweater, stripping it off and tossing it aside. His chest bare now, glistening slightly, flushed and slightly trembling, as he shifts forward, hands hovering uncertainly just inches from Fenris's skin.
Fenris grits his teeth, jaw locking tight as he fights to stay still, to not react. But suddenly a scent hits him, slick, thick, overwhelming, sweet in a way that makes his head spin.
It pours into him, down his throat, choking him with its intensity. He's actually not human. That can't be human. It hits him..
Axel leans in closer, lips parted and shaking, eyes desperate and glassy. "I don't know what I took, I swear... I... I just want you to touch me... Please... I can pay for that too if you want."
Fenris's entire body stiffens, locked in place. He doesn't move nor breathe. His wolf howls, pushing him closer. He trembling slightly as Axel presses forward... Axel's lips finally brush against his.
But Fenris doesn't move, even as the heat roars through him like wildfire, clawing up his spine and blistering beneath his skin.
He grits his teeth and forces his mind to focus on anything else but the way his body is reacting.
It's not a question anymore... this is an omega. That much is clear and undeniable. But if that's true, then how the hell does he not know?
How could someone like him ..clearly a wolf, have no idea what he is? What about his paren...?
His thoughts crash to a stop when Axel shifts above him completely.
His entire weight settles over Fenris, body sliding flush, dragging heat and scent and pressure with it.
Slowly and needfully, he pulls up Fenris's shirt, just enough to expose skin and immediately leans in making their bare skin to touch.