six ;

Nothing had importance for the blue-eyed boy at that precise moment but the intoxicating fragrance that swiftly hit his sensitive nostrils. It invaded his whole mind and violently knocked the air out of him, leaving him feeling breathless. The irrational need to come closer flooded through him like a bat out of hell and destabilized him to no ends, while blood pounded piercingly in his ears. All that could be heard in his submerged world was his heavy breathing, sounding panting and ragged. It jumbled together with the loud thumps of his heart, prompting long shivers to run down his back and beads of sweat to form on his forehead.

A breathy grunt threatened to escape his parted lips as he crept in the house, looking guarded and eager all at the same time. He barely registered the vicious blasts of cold air that continuously hit his back and his exposed skin, his fists tightly clenched at his sides, while all his attention could focus on was the single-lidded boy standing right in front of him. His whole body was violently shaking, close to literally convulsing, as he greedily sniffled the air in the search of the familiar nuances of the scent that so easily put him high up in the sky. He avidly welcomed the wonderful mixture of spices, strawberry and the faint hint of wood that delicately crawled in his mind with a throaty groan, his eyes about to roll in their sockets. All these subtle undertones affected him in a way that simply couldn’t be described; it languorously sneaked in his willing mind and teasingly played with all his senses, leaving him close to completely vulnerable. The pleasure it induced soothed the slight agitation he was used to feel most of the time and tenderly persuaded him to lower his defenses, until he was left looking like a harmless puppy. The delicious fragrance kept him at the edge of something he dreaded to clearly define, pulling him back and forth between two worlds that were entirely different. The amazing sensations that he was immersed in fuelled his strong desire for more, as his pupils almost completely dilated with the dire need to claim this borderline perfection. His eyes abruptly darkened as they wildly darted to all sides and warily scrutinized the empty house, as if to make sure that no threat would be able to steal his prey away from him. The human stood in front of him, looking completely oblivious to the sudden animal urge that had took him, close enough so that he knew he wouldn’t be able to run away even if he tried, but also far enough to induce an agitated unease rushing through him.

ing good, a menacing voice then growled in his mind.

His brain could barely make out the words the single-lidded boy was saying, let alone understand them. His whole world had narrowed on the addicting fragrance he emanated and the way his lips moved as he talked, plump and so tempting. His voice only came as a low buzzing in his ears, and instead of jostling him out of his uncontrollable agitation and craving, it only made a rush of lust course through him. His lupine instincts had tainted almost all his judgment and burned in his heated veins, heavily clouding what was left of his weak sanity. It tore at his senses and made blood boil in him with a familiar and painful tug, bringing him closer and closer to tipping over the edge. He could feel the first signs of the shifting lurking around in his stomach, blurring his line of vision and slowly erasing any kind of intricate thoughts that only a human brain could come up with. A familiar ache made his muscles tear up in all directions while his bones started to grind together, about to snap in the right places that would allow him to stand on all fours.

The violence of his urge for the human had never been so strong before – the way it almost forced him to just cut the last ties he tried to keep with the ridiculous reality that surrounded him violently unsettled his human senses. His mind literally howled at him to forget about everything else and simply pounce forward – he needed to claim the boy as his, and show the whole world that nobody else had the rights to touch him. It didn’t matter to him anymore whether it meant keeping him as a hostage for the rest of his life and betraying his whole pack or not. He wanted, needed, to keep this unyielding source of pure pleasure for him only to enjoy, and keep it hidden from all the threats the outer world represented. The limits he always had been careful to draw within his mind were getting awfully blurred by the irresistible want that stirred him at that precise moment. The impulsive need to definitely mark his territory suffocated him in a way that was not human – it invaded his whole brain and pulled at his very soul, eliciting a conflicted growl out of his lips.

He truthfully didn’t know whether he was still human or not – and he didn’t care at all either. There wasn’t an ounce of guilt that tried to clear up the thick fog his mind was so heavily clouded with, only want and lust. The human was his human; his fragrance, his perfection, his smiles, his body, his heart – everything. He was going to show him all his strengths and how ing powerful he was compared to all the other useless beings around – and then he’d him, hard and fast, until the boy would entirely be his, and it would be so good.

A brutal and wild lust bolted through his shaking body at the mere thought it, all his blood rushing southward until an unbearable pool of heat formed in his crotch. His lips dangerously curled over his teeth into a possessive snarl as he eagerly sniffled the air once again, before he let out a low snarl.

Now. Right ing now.

As he last bits of his human sanity were about to completely vanish off his head, the low rumbles of the boy’s conversation abruptly stopped. He was suddenly left with the only sounds of his own desirous thoughts and rapid breathing. His eyes turning wide in panic, the fear that the single-lidded boy might have ran off painfully gripped his guts. Lowering his posture into the familiar one of hunting, he felt his thoughts urgently stumbling one upon another, forming a messy and disrupted jumble of lupine and human insights that made no sense at all.

Why is it so silent? Now. I want – the boy.

Want. Need.

So much, so freaking much.

Where the is he?!

I –

Mine.

Automatically putting himself on the look-out, he snapped his head up in search of the boy.

But he was still there, standing in front of him in the middle of the house, turned halfway to face him while concern was painted on his face. His single-lidded eyes flashed questioningly, prompting the blue-eyed boy’s world to narrow solely on those two sparkly orbs, until he tilted his head to the side.

“Donghae?” he called gently.

The simple word sounded off, too confusing and complicated for him to grasp its meaning. He tensed his whole body and warily narrowed his eyes at him. His right hand twitched imperceptibly, betraying his current state of agitation.

“Donghae?” he heard again. “Are you okay?”

Couldn’t he just shut up? A feral growl threatened to leave his lips as he fixed a hard glare on the boy. The stupid words he was spouting out distracted him from the intensity of his emotional state and all the promises his lupine self was continuously murmuring at his ears.

But before he could hush him up, the human moved toward him, against all expectations. The blue-eyed boy startled and defensively bared his teeth at him, before he let out a warning snarl. It didn’t stop him from getting closer, though, despite the dangerous glint shining in his dark orbs – no fear could be found on his sharp features as he calmly took step after step, his gaze firmly staring right back in his own.

Tiny hairs stood to attention at the back of his neck as he watched him coming closer to him with blatant wariness and hostility. Things weren’t turning the way he had planned them at all, unsettling him and trapping him in a dark corner his primal instincts didn’t know how to run away from. The distance between the two of them was decreasing with a painfully slow pace, entirely decided by the boy. He wasn’t in control of the situation anymore, and it freaked him out completely.

Then, without so much as a single warning, the human suddenly lifted a hand and gently cupped the side of his face with it.

Time seemed to take an abrupt stop for a tiny fraction of second, as his eyes turned wide in stupefaction, before it frantically started again and followed the frenetic rhythm of his stunned heart. The soft touch almost burned over his cold skin, making him finally realize how frozen he was about to get and the danger of his current situation. The single-lidded boy didn’t seem to care all that much and thoughtfully gazed at him, a concerned frown furrowing his eyebrows. The warmth of his hand was overwhelming, caressing his cheek with gentle and careful movements, as if to pet and comfort him.

“You’re so cold,” he muttered disapprovingly. He paused for a second, then said again “Donghae.”

He blinked slowly, torn between the instinctive need to get away and the desire to snuggle into that comfortable and safe warmth.

Donghae.

All his troubled feelings abruptly disappeared off his mind in the small span of second as everything finally clicked in his head. Staring into single-lidded eyes, he suddenly felt breathless and exhausted. His shoulders slumped shakily as he exhaled difficultly, the tension of his body leaving him all at once. Brown locks lightly flew around the boy’s face when another cold breeze blew around them, as he gave him a small grin and bend down to pick up the blankets that had fallen on the floor. Then, he straightened up, and carefully wrapped them around his shivering frame.

“You’re going to catch a cold at this rate,” he said. His voice was soft and comforting. Donghae tiredly looked up at him, his head slightly lowered in a posture similar of a helpless puppy’s, and welcomed the warmth that came with the thick blankets and the gentle care. Two hands cupped his face this time, the thumbs softly brushing his cheekbones and eliciting a pleased purr out of his parted lips. He fluttered his eyes close for a second, reveling in the pleasant sensations. “Go up in my room and pick some clothes in the drawers,” the boy eventually continued. “I’m not sure if they’re going to fit you, but at least it’s better than the hospital scrubs you’re still wearing and you’ll be warmer, ok?”

For a brief but intense second, the fear that he couldn’t understand him rose in Donghae’s chest, but he only needed a few seconds of struggle before he was hoarsely replying “Ok.”

A bright smile was sent in his direction, before he was ushered to the staircase. He silently complied, feeling too tired to protest.

“I’ll finish cooking breakfast and then we can eat in my bedroom, how does that sound?”

Donghae blinked hopefully at him, earning an amused laugh. “It’d be great.”

The other boy nodded at him and laughed some more, before he turned around and went back to take care of the breakfast, his cellphone turned off in one of his pockets. His mind getting cleared out of the thick fog it had been clouded with because of his primal urges, he wordlessly stared at him. His comforting touch still lingered on his skin and seemed to burn him from the inside out, prompting something he couldn’t recognize to clutch his guts.

Only one word came to his mind at this precise moment.

Hyukjae.

=

Hesitation held Hyukjae from reaching for the doorknob of his closed bedroom, and prompted a small frown to furrow his eyebrows. A conflicted expression plastered on his face, he stared at the wooden door before him and pensively nibbled on his lower lip, while carrying the breakfast on a large tray. Outside, the sun already stood high in the sky and determinedly broke through thick clouds, proudly displaying a warm range of colors that was uncommon at this time of the year. The promise of a warmer weather later in the day teased the side of his face with heated sunrays that usually would have cheered him up – but today, out of all days, his whole mind was solely focused on the clear memory of what had happened a moment earlier.

It was almost too easy to remember how Donghae had snapped his head up at the call of his name, looking breathless and tense. Despite the fact that his back had been directly exposed to the chilly wind that sneaked through the open window he had been standing in front of, nothing on his face had betrayed his state of mind at that time. All Hyukjae had managed to note was the way his entire body trembled, still poorly covered with the hospital scrubs he still didn’t get rid of. For a brief moment, the student had assumed that the small tremors running through his shivering frame were due to the winter cold – until he had looked up and caught the flaring intensity shining behind his captivating blue orbs. Dangerous and beautiful, they had hypnotized him without giving him a single chance to escape – and although he still didn’t know what they were looking for, after having given him a penetrating look full of such passion, he was sure that there had been nothing they hadn’t been able to read of him, no matter how hard he could have tried to conceal his thoughts and emotions away.

A dozen of questions rushed to the student’s mind as he recalled Donghae’s unreadable expression,