Chapter Text
It’s amazing really how fast time will pass when you don’t want it to. Kurt dreamed of Blaine once a week before the full moon. He barely remembered the dreams upon waking but sometimes he’d spend long hours in the dark before falling asleep at night yearning for something he couldn’t describe.
It was more than companionship, or romance, or someone to share his big empty house with. This longing started deep inside and spread everywhere else. It ate him up inside like a hungry worm.
His days were peaceful. He went to work and what time he didn’t spend at work he spent at home with Rex. It should have been a boring existence, Tina insisted it was a pathetic one, but Kurt was happy. Honestly he was. Aside from the weird random bursts of need at night he was the happiest he’d ever been.
Blaine was not. Each day that passed bringing them closer to the end was agony.
And then of course the end came. As it always had to.
“Time‘s up, Anderson. You absolutely have to leave tonight. You should have left sooner.”
It didn’t matter how many times Blaine had tried, he hadn’t been able to leave any earlier than the last day of his sentence. He wanted every last bit of time with Kurt that he could get screw the risks. He heaved one great big doggy sigh and licked the hand that dangled between Kurt’s knees.
Kurt was sitting in the kitchen pouring over the latest script. Each moment that ticked by drained what little time they had left. Blaine glanced at the clock. Eleven-thirty. He was out of time, so out of time. He had to run away before the clock struck midnight and he changed back into a man right in front of Kurt.
Steeling himself to the inevitable, Blaine crept out from beneath the table, forsaking the warmth of the shelter of Kurt’s legs for the cold of the kitchen tile and a life without him.
He went and scratched at the door.
****
“How do we know Blaine’s here again?” Jeff asked, shaking his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes. It was six minutes to midnight and the night life of Columbus was buzzing. The bar he and his companion stood outside of was called the L.Z. Moon and it was vibrating with fast earthy beats the air inside thick with pheromones and testosterone.
A seedy club in the middle of Columbus, Ohio was not one of Wes Montgomery's favorite ways to spend a night, but it was an ideal place for Jeff to keep himself occupied while they waited for the midnight hour. Jeff was Wes’ protege, sort of a mix between godchild and apprentice. It was his job to teach the adolescent the things he would need to know to be declared an alpha. So far all Jeff appeared to be interested in however was food and sex.
“Because, Ian’s been keeping an eye on him. He was adopted by a young man that lives near here and he remains there still.” Wes patiently answered Jeff’s question, then with a stern frown that didn’t quite reach his eyes he reprimanded him. “And don’t question your betters.”
"What are going to do, Wes? Huff and puff and blow my house down?” Jeff asked through their telepathic link. He at least had the sense not to challenge him openly, but the shit eating little grin on his face gave him away.
”Watch it cub or I’ll huff and puff and kick your ass in. How about that?” Jeff ducked his head submissively as Wes expected but he didn’t miss the way he rolled his eyes before he did it. Impertinent pup. “Come. It’s nearly midnight.” It was getting late, too late to be out in the open when the change came.
Jeff followed him reluctantly out of the bar but as soon as they hit the open air the bounce came back to his step.
“I can’t wait to see Blaine again! The council’s verdict was so bogus! Blaine didn’t do anything wrong,” the lycan teen declared vehemently and Wes sighed. They’d had this conversation about a million times and still the cubs (and even some of the alpha-minors) of the pack just didn’t get it.
“He broke the law,” Wes reminded him.
“Fuck the law. Boyd killed Sally. He had her skinned alive. He deserved what he got.”
Wes didn’t want to hear any more. He just wanted to get Blaine and take him back to the pack.
“Yes. We’re all aware of what Boyd did but it was not Blaine’s place to punish him or the hunter that skinned her. He broke the law and that is the end of it. Are you going to stand there yapping pup or come with me to welcome him home?”
Without a further word between them, either orally or telepathically, they left the bright lights of the street and merged with the deeper shadows of the night.
****
“I can’t believe you have to go out at this time of night. We’ve already been out and I wanted to finish act two before I went to bed.”
Blaine ignored Kurt’s grumbling and instead soaked in the sound of his voice. These would be Kurt’s last words to him, this would be the last he ever heard that beautiful voice say anything. He wanted to say so much himself right now. So he did, had to say it, even if Kurt couldn’t hear him.
“Kurt, I’m so sorry about this. This is going to hurt you so much and I never meant to hurt you. I’m not supposed to hurt you. I am your alpha your...well, I think I could have been your mate if things were different. I wish things could be different. You know that in the last month I’ve thought about just asking Ian to make me a dog permanently? Yeah. You have no idea how tempting that has been and what... what that means.”
Blaine stopped and looked up at Kurt. He had to memorize that grumpy look on his face. He took in the way his body moved, the way his teeth pressed against his bottom lip. He wanted Kurt to lean down so he could lick his face.
“I’ve thought about running away, just for a little while, and getting Ian to do it permanently so that I could come back. That terrifies me because this isn’t me. I have a life. A family of my own and I want it back, I do. I miss the moon.
“I wish you knew how it feels to have her singing in your blood, her magic coursing through your veins. It’s the most powerful feeling in the world. It’s who I am, Kurt. It’s not that I regret who I am with you... it’s just that it can’t last.” Blaine looked up at the moon, then back at Kurt, desperately wishing he could understand.
“I want to show you my world, but you have a life of your own. Besides, who would take care of Pav? No, my friend you were right. You can’t do the whole inter species thing."
Blaine rubbed his body along Kurt’s leg, a low whine escaping him. Kurt frowned and stooped down to look him over with concern.
“What’s the matter, Rex?” He glanced around, searching the shadowy street corner for some sign of what had the dog so upset. “Something out there got you scared?”
“Just the thought of life without you.”
“Do you think you could do your business soon boy, so we can go home and get some sleep?”
“Yes. It’s time for both of us to go home. Goodbye, Kurt.”
Blaine threw himself forward and bolted.
“REX!” Kurt shouted as the leash tore from him hands and the sound of it tore at something inside Blaine.
He heard Kurt calling after him and for one fraction of a second he almost did it, he almost turned his head to look back. Had he looked back and seen the surprised roundness of Kurt’s eyes, the pain that twisted up his face as he watched his best friend disappearing into the night, he would have stopped and gone back, but thankfully high in the sky the moon caught his eye.
She was beautiful, powerful; she touched something wild inside him.
His paws hit the pavement as he raced blindly away from the dream of what could never be; back to what was.
Who he really was.
****
“REX, COME BACK!”
“You’re an idiot! Stop stop stop what are you doing chasing a mad dog to heaven knows where in the middle of the night! You can’t do that in the middle of Columbus! You’re going to get killed! Just fucking stop!” Some wise voice in his head was screaming at him and yet Kurt’s legs carried him forward. There was something stronger, some instinct that urged him to follow Rex because damn it that was his best friend, his confidant, his solace, his....
“REX!” He shouted again, pleading for the dog to hear and to stop.
“You’re crazy, Kurt Hummel. You’ve officially gone mad. STOP!”
It was no use. He was a grown man and he liked to think he was self aware and practical but the moment he had felt that leash rip from his hands something had changed. He realized only when he was choking on them that he was sobbing. God he didn’t understand what was wrong with him! Dogs ran away sometimes. It was a fact of life. That didn’t mean he had to be an idiot and go chasing after it in the dark or fall to pieces like someone had just died.
”What the hell’s the matter with you, Hummel? Stop crying! Get a grip! It’s a dog. You can put out signs in the morning and someone will find him. He probably saw a squirrel or something. He might even find his own way home.”
He wouldn’t though. Somehow Kurt just knew that.
Even still Kurt forced himself to stop running. He blinked rapidly and made himself take in his surroundings as he came to a stop and fought for breath. Oh god was it normal for your chest to burn like this after running? He ran every day and wasn’t out of shape. What the hell?
He shook his head against the fresh tears that wanted to well up. He balled his fists and scolded himself aloud. “You are a grown man, Kurt. He is a dog, a great dog, but you aren’t going to cry for no damn reason. That dog is just a dog and you didn’t see anything in his eyes and you can’t know that he’s never coming back! Now just turn around and just…”
Go home he meant to say. Only there was one problem. He couldn’t bring himself to do that. Not yet. Kurt couldn’t have been less able to turn around and go home than if a chain had locked him to Rex. Something pulled him forward and Kurt Hummel was helpless but to follow.
****
He was wild. His lean body tapered with muscle was beautiful as it moved fluidly beneath the moonlight. Her supple fingers dancing across his inky black coat. Not that of a dog but of a wolf.
He was alpha again, not just any alpha but alpha major, and as he raced along dark streets he felt invincible.
He threw back his head and howled. Alerting every lycan within the vicinity of his presence. It was a challenge to all other alphas and a call to any of his that might have come to the city to find him. He did not fear attracting attention. He was in his prime and he had been through hell and back to earn his place as the alpha. He was sure of his abilities.
The full moon was an important time for his kind. It was the best time for everything. For days leading up to it lycan kind could feel the gathering power. It fed their blood and strengthened their bodies. Tempers ran high and fights to prove dominance were common. Their sexual appetite also increased, past the point of control for many an inexperienced adolescent..
The females went into heat and the males went into a sort of frenzy all their own. It was a hunters lust that could either be eased by the violence of a kill or the heat of sex and many wisely chose the later over the former. Whatever they chose, it all came to glorious collision on the full moon. It was a beautiful but a dangerous time. Many an unwary human had stumbled across a less than sane lycan in the middle of their moon haze. Getting bit was the least of their worries then. Getting dead was.
Normally it was part of Blaine’s job as an the alpha to closely monitor the less controlled members of his pack during the full moon. It was also his job to make sure his territories were free of rouge wolves who could wreak havoc and to chase them away. This full moon was different, not only because he wasn’t with the pack, but because for the first time since he’d been a protege he himself was having a hard time controlling his urges.
It started with the lust. He’d never felt such crippling need before. It clawed around in his belly, hot and sharp, making him keen as he ran. Why was it so strong? It had never been this strong before.
Something to do with that smell. That strange smell that was all over him....something sweet and spicy all at once.
Kurt.
He belongs to you.
Feral urges tore at his good sense, feeding him images of claiming Kurt in such a way that he would be branded by Blaine forever. As owned as Blaine had been owned while he’d been Kurt’s pet and just as happy to be his possession. Yes. Yes that was what he wanted but no. No, he couldn’t listen. That would be disaster. He wasn’t particularly sane when he was in the moon haze. He would scare the shit out of Kurt and end up hurting him if he tried to claim him now.
He wasn’t going to claim him at all, he’d already decided that hadn’t he?
So instead of turning back Blaine howled at the moon to stop torturing him.
This time someone howled back.
Wes.
****
Kurt paused, going still at a distant eerie sound. He shivered. Were those wolves? Wolves in the middle of Columbus? No it had to be dogs; but he had never heard a dog that sounded like that. He wasn’t even sure an actual wolf could sound that animistic…that hungry.
“You need to get out onto a lit street, Kurt. Survival instincts one-oh-one. This is not good. You need to go home.”
****
“I’ve never been more glad to see you, Wes. But what are you doing here?” Blaine asked, gratefully taking the change of clothes from the tall Asian man’s hands. Putting on clothes was not as natural for Blaine as one would think. Though lycan’s lived quietly side by side with humans, among themselves walking around naked was not at all unusual. During the long months of the summer hunting season they rarely wore clothes at all. During the hunt the whole pack traveled to the hunting grounds to live out the summer in the woods; a place where there simply wasn’t need for clothes.
That and Blaine had just spent twelve months as a dog. His fingers fumbled with the buttons on his shirt and Wes smirked at him.
“When Ian told us your release date was on a full moon I thought you might need our help. We thought for sure you’d be spitting mad and an enraged lycan in his moon haze in foreign territory was not a good combination.” Wes explained eyeing Blaine up and down as he finished dressing. “But, you don’t seem all that angry for a man who has spent twelve months as someone’s dog. I expected rage.”
Blaine couldn’t meet Wes’s eye. What was he going to say? Sorry friend no rage, I had a fantastic time as someone’s dog?
“Oh Blaine, you didn’t kill the poor idiot did you?” Wes asked and for the first time since their reunion his bright smile faltered.
“No!” Blaine shook his head. “Wes, come on. I just spent a year in hell for for killing one human, I’m not about to do it again.” He hoped his friend would drop it. He couldn’t really explain to him why he wasn’t suffering heavily from the rage part of moon haze. Nope, just the lust. God did he feel the lust. Where was Kurt? He wanted to...
Blaine slammed mental doors against the thoughts that wanted to take over his mind. He wasn’t some moon struck cub to be carried away by his urges. He was the alpha. He had to show control. He’d already failed his family once.
In the pocket of his pants the collar he’d removed from around his neck seemed to burn against his leg, reminding him of its presence. Of Kurt.
Wes watched Blaine quietly, his nose picking up the strong scent of arousal wafting off his leader. Even outside their wolf form a lycan’s sense of smell was acute. Jeff on the other hand was determinedly assuring Blaine that no one in the pack looked down on him for his crime and that if he had killed his human handler once his sentence was up no one would blame him for that either.
“Do you know what I would have done to some human who dared call me a pet?”
“Nothing!” Blaine turned and snapped at him. Jeff winced and instantly lowered his head in submission under the full force of Blaine’s alpha voice. “You would show far more respect for life than you are showing now.” Jeff paled and nodded, though he was sure to keep his head down. Blaine felt bad for the teenager. He knew from experience that getting reamed by your alpha was never pleasant and if anything the teenagers attitude regarding humans wasn’t all that outside of the norm. Not far at all from his own...before Kurt.
“They may not always treat us well, Jeff,” Blaine gentled his voice and Jeff slowly looked up at him. “But they are people too and life is life. I made a mistake killing that hunter and you will not make my mistakes if I can help it. Understood?”
Jeff nodded and Blaine patted his back, suddenly feeling exhausted and in need of a weeks worth of sleep. He usually didn’t have to exert this much control during the full moon but the sudden change from common dog back into his natural form had left him disoriented and sluggish. He was fairing little better than a first year protege under the moon just then.
Wes watching the whole exchange began to chuckle. “And there’s that rage I expected. I thought being cooped up for so long would weaken your resistance to the moon. You must really be suffering if you’re using the defense of humans as a reason to snap at someone.”
Blaine growled at him. He couldn’t help it. He knew that Wes didn’t understand and that his friend never really could. After all that human kind had done to their people throughout history Wes’ distant disdain regarding humans was the best one could hope for from a lycan. Wes didn’t know what it was like to be owned by someone and he’d rather die first. Hadn’t Blaine himself thought the same thing once?
“Don’t growl at me, Blaine.” Wes just rolled his eyes at him. “I’m no riled up cub. You won’t catch me picking on humans.”
But the same could not be said for other wolves. In the distance somewhere behind them came the sound of howling. The hunters howl. Blaine frowned and sniffed the air, trying to catch a scent of the prowling wolf.
“Looks like one of pack Columbus has got the moon fever too. If the humans are smart they’ll stay in doors after hearing that.” Wes remarked, nodding towards the sound. “We should leave.”
Jeff scoffed and bounced eagerly on the balls of his feet. “No we can’t turn tail and run! You’re not supposed to hunt humans! Why can’t we stop him?” Carried away by his enthusiasm Jeff had already started to move towards the direction they’d heard the rouge wolf. Used to his protege's hot headed ways Wes quickly snagged him by the collar.
“Because this isn’t our territory, Jeff, Blaine isn’t up to full strength yet and you don’t really give a shit about what poor bastard that rouge finds. You just want to fight someone.”
“Be that as it may,” Blaine interrupted, his eyes glued to the north and his nose twitching. He had a strange feeling in his gut. He didn’t know if it was the moon or something else, but something about the rouges presence was setting him off. “I think we should check it out.”
****
It was a while before Kurt stopped looking for Rex. There was sweat beading on his brow and he couldn’t seem to stop his hands from shaking but he finally forced himself to turn around. Biting back tears he began the long walk home, trying not to be terrified at how each step in the opposite direction felt like he was stepping on glass.
What the hell was wrong with him?
He walked through the German village and nearly had a heart attack his heart was pounding so hard when a couple of men appeared out of nowhere and watched him scurrying down the dimly lit streets. He knew he should call Tina or Finn to come pick him up but he could barely keep himself walking towards home. He couldn’t get in a car and speed there, no fathomable reason why, he just couldn't. Maybe he would spot Rex on the way home.
Please?
Kurt was passing through Schiller Park (the same park he took Rex to every Saturday) wondering just who he was begging when he heard a sound behind him. He whirled around, peering through the darkness, but he didn’t see anything but the familiar sights of trees, grass, and water. Anything could have made that noise. A rodent or ducks nesting by the pond.
Kurt turned to start walking and there it was again, a quiet huffing sound. It sounded like…like… a dog panting he realized with sudden joy.
He turned quickly back around, peering deeper into the shadows between the trees, hoping against hope that Rex would come bounding out of them.
“Rex, is that you boy? Please be you. I’m going to kill you for making me worry like this.”
He felt a little foolish talking to himself in the middle of a park at night but he was sure he had heard the sound of a dog breathing. He was…
Screaming.
The animal that had just emerged from the shadows was not a dog. Kurt could honestly say it was the largest wolf he’d ever seen because it was in fact the only wolf he had ever seen in person. It had a black grisly coat of fur and cold blue eyes that Kurt would have thought beautiful if they didn’t make his whole body seize up with terror at the hunger in them.The animal’s teeth were bared and it was snarling at him as it slowly advanced.
Kurt turned and bolted. Some useless voice in his head screamed the randomly remembered fact that you were never supposed to turn your back and run from a wild animal. Whoever had said that had never been in a deserted park with a wolf the size of a small horse.
But whoever they were, they were right, because Kurt didn’t make it more then three feet before he felt weight land on his back and he was knocked to the ground. He went down screaming and hit the ground rolling. He instinctively threw his arms up to cover his head and felt jaws clamp hard around the right one. Teeth tore through his coat and into his flesh and he screamed again. Behind the pain came a sharper stinging sensation and then his arm went completely numb. He had a strange moment of being really grateful for that.
He really shouldn’t have been. Even though he couldn’t feel the pain of the bite anymore he could still see dripping bloody fangs and cold blue eyes merely inches from his face. He wasn’t screaming anymore; he couldn’t. Kurt lay on the ground staring up at the beast above him paralyzed with fear.
****
Finding the rouges trail was easy. He was a young lycan, probably a fresh alpha-minor who would later be embarrassed to learn he’d lost control of himself. He wasn’t trying to hide his progress at all and it was easy for Blaine and his companions to track him to a park. A familiar park. Blaine had only to sniff in order to smell Kurt here they’d spent so many Saturdays roaming the area. The scent set his mouth to watering, his blood to burning. It made it that much harder to keep in control and it really would be just his luck that it would come at him so strong. As strong as if it were fresh.
Wait. It really shouldn’t be so strong. Kurt couldn’t be...
At the first scream Blaine’s head whipped around. He dragged the wind into his nostrils, scenting for confirmation on what he already knew but what just couldn’t be. It couldn’t be! Kurt was at home, tucked into bed, probably worrying about him but safe from moon mad rouges.
“The rouges got someone.” Jeff confirmed his thoughts. His body writhed with pent up tension underneath his sandy coat. He was ready to go on the hunt but he kept still, waiting for a signal from the alpha.
Blaine knew the risks. He was half moon mad himself, weak from months of captivity and this wasn’t their territory, not their rouge to wrestle back into line. But none of that mattered because he would know the sound of Kurt’s voice anywhere and it was Kurt he had heard screaming.
“I have to help him.”
Blaine didn’t explain any further. He took off after the trail of the rouge, Wes and Jeff springing into action behind him.
“Blaine, is this wise? His own alpha will deal with him. We shouldn’t interfere with another pack’s wolves!” Wes called after him with obvious trepidation.
Blaine couldn’t stop. His only thought was for Kurt. So that was the only explanation he gave. Kurt.
“He’s got my mate!”
That was reason enough for Wes.
****
The wolf stared down at him, his cold hunter’s eyes boring in to Kurt’s. He didn’t know why the wolf hadn’t attacked yet but whatever the reason Kurt was too frightened to so much as swallow. He held himself completely still, certain that any movement would send the animal above him on the attack. That is he tried to stay completely still. When his arm went from cold and numb to hot and wracked with spasms within seconds he could not help but scream and thrash against the intense waves of pain.
The wolf lunged and Kurt closed his eyes.
He heard an impact but it took a moment for his fevered brain to realize that he hadn’t felt one. He heard the sound of the wolf snarling and vicious growls but he felt no teeth tearing into his flesh.
Kurt’s eyes flew open and he gaped in horrified awe at the picture before him of the wolf battling with another. This one was also black though not as big, but it was faster, stronger and focused in it’s brutality in a way that made Kurt’s stomach churn to watch. The new wolf was methodically tearing the other apart and when it was done it was going to do the same to him.
Kurt’s last thought as the pain in his arm increased and he slipped out of consciousness was that at least he wasn’t going to be awake to feel it.
****
“Stop, Blaine! You’re going to kill him!” Wes’ voice broke through the haze in Blaine’s mind, pulling him back from the maddening blood lust that had overtaken him. Wes had tackled him, pulling him off the rouge who now lay motionless in the dirt, keening painfully. Jeff had gone over to inspect the form of the pale human male collapsed only a few feet away. The sight of Kurt pale and bloodied only made Blaine angrier.
“Good!” He snarled vehemently lunging for the wolf again but Wes kept him pinned.
“Calm yourself! Do you want another year in a kennel? You can’t do this again, Blaine, the pack needs you and if that really is your mate over there I’d say he needs you too.”
Kurt. Wes was right. Blaine could smell his blood. Kurt needed him. He flipped his body out from under Wes, ignoring his friends indigent squeal. He was at Kurt’s side an instant later, licking at his wounds. Jeff watched him curiously, his eyes wide with awe, tongue poking out as he panted.
“This is your mate, Blaine?” He asked with unconcealed happiness and Blaine felt a flash of warmth despite his worry. Finding a mate was a thing to celebrate in any circumstance.
“How did you manage to find a mate while doing kennel time?” Wes asked as he came to stand beside him.
Blaine didn’t have to answer that. He knew the exact moment when Wes and Jeff got a good whiff of Kurt. They’d know of course that he wasn’t lycan and they’d be able to smell the other thing he’d done as well.
“Why does he smell like brethren, Wes?” Jeff asked in confusion, nudging Kurt’s still form with his nose.
”Because he is. I made him ly-kindred. He is one of ours now.”
“Oh my god, Blaine. Don’t tell me.” Wes implored, moving closer to Blaine. His voice had gone high pitched and reedy with surprise.
“I know I know! But you don’t know him, Wes. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think he was worthy. He so is, and he’s mine! That’s all there is to it.” Blaine knew what Wes had to be thinking, what the others would think if they ever heard about it. Blaine knew because he knew what his father would have said if he’d been alive to learn that his son, an alpha, had fallen for a human.
“Did it happen before or after fetch? That’s all I want to know.”’
“Shut up you moron.” Blaine tried to bite him but years of friendship had taught Wes to be wary of his alpha’s moods. He danced out of harms way, laughing uproariously like they were a couple of cubs again.
“It’s alright, Blaine. Wes just hasn’t really smelled him yet. Seriously, Wes, get a good drag, he’s fucking delicious.” Jeff started licking Kurt’s face and something like jealousy twisted around in Blaine’s stomach.
“Don’t do that! He hates having his face licked. Besides it’s undignified. You’re a wolf not a poodle. Stop it, Jeff!” At his alpha’s snap Jeff quickly backed away and that little display sent Wes into a fresh wave of howls.
Blaine would order him to shut up but what was the point of that? He knew it wouldn’t do him any good, not in the long run. He could understand why Wes thought it was so funny. He of all people had gone and fallen in love with his human jailer.
Well life was ironic sometimes but Blaine wasn’t going to waste time moping about it.
What he was going to do now that he could think again was get Kurt safely home like he should have done in the first place. Then he was going to quietly disappear. They weren’t fully mated yet, which meant that they could go their separate ways. Kurt would find some simpleminded human to be with and if the guy had half a brain cell he’d hold on to Kurt and make him happy. Blaine would go back to the pack and do his job and one day fall in love again and this time mate for life. Or not. Not every wolf mated.
He could live with that.
Besides Kurt was clearly better off without him because his selfishness had nearly gotten him killed. What the hell had he been thinking making him ly-kindred? His was a bloody, savage world, and while Blaine found happiness in it, humans were made of decidedly softer stuff. Not that Blaine thought Kurt was weak but he was human and he’d fainted in the middle of a dangerous fight when he was surrounded by enemies. With instincts like that lycan culture would chew him up and spit him back out.
Something about how pale and still Kurt was bothered Blaine though. It wasn’t just that Kurt had fainted. After all being attacked by a wolf by human standards was pretty deserving of a good faint...but it just didn’t seem like Kurt. He had never been in any sort of danger with Kurt before but he knew better than anyone that he was no stranger to pain. Kurt had learned the hard way to face anything life threw his way head on. And he did, with the staunch courage of a survivor. He had an inner core of metal running through him that Blaine had been able to see from that first day when they’d stared each other down in the Tail and Paw.
No fainting wasn’t right. Attacked, he had no doubt that if he was able Kurt Hummel would do everything he could to get back on his feet again. Worried anew, Blaine nudged his still body, pushing him over onto his back. His nostrils were instantly filled with the scent of dirt, blood, Kurt’s unique scent and... magic. He could smell that sickly sweet musk just beneath everything else.
Oh no.
Blaine didn’t need to see the angry bite on his bloodied arm to know what his nose was already telling him.
The rouge hadn’t been trying to kill Kurt at all.
****
Pav twittered like a fiend when Blaine opened the door to Kurt’s home and carried him inside. Jeff and Wes followed behind him, offering guiding hands when it was needed.
“This place looks like something out of a magazine,” Jeff remarked taking in Kurt’s front room and Blaine nodded. Kurt did have a great eye for design.
“Don’t get mud on anything. He’d hunt you down,” Blaine warned and Jeff snorted.
“A human?” He asked with disbelief picking up a pair of crystal birds off of an end table to examine.
“No.” Wes corrected him as he snatched the ornaments away from the teen. “A lycan.”
And Wes had the right of it. Kurt was one of them now. On the next full moon he was going to enter their world whether he liked it or not. His choice was gone and it was all Blaine’s fault.
He carried Kurt to the bedroom and laid him on the bed, gently though he knew Kurt wouldn’t wake up; the magic had a firm grip on him.
“Should we wait here or find other lodging for the night?” Wes asked from the bedroom doorway, hip cocked, long legs leaning out from the frame. Blaine didn’t look up at him. He stared down at Kurt, the even paler than usual cast to his face making him flush with guilt. He’d done this.
Once again he’d messed up, failed his duty and someone he loved had paid the price.
“I’m so sorry, Kurt. I was so arrogant.” Blaine whispered as he brushed the hair that had fallen down across Kurt’s brow back into place. “I thought I knew what was best for you and by the time I realized that it wasn’t, the damage was already done. And then I had to go and be stupid. I forced you to watch me run away rather than face the fact that I’ve never felt about anything the way that I do you. I don’t... I don’t know what I’m doing. I just know that I don’t want to do it without you anymore. I can’t. You move me to feel in ways I never thought I could feel. You’re my mate. I’m sorry that means you have to lose everything.”
Blaine bit his lip. He absolutely wouldn’t cry.
“You know, Blaine, he’s going to feel completely human for a while.” Wes remarked from the door. “When the moon begins to thicken again his body will start preparing for the change but until then....”
“Until then let him have his life,” Blaine finished for him.
The life he wanted to live with his family and his friends. Not running in the wilderness and hiding his uniqueness from wolf hunters. Not watching his loved ones die as he lived on.
“He’s going to hate me, Wes. I’d hate me,” Blaine admitted sadly.
“Blaine, if he’s your mate then he can’t hate you. Not really.”
“But I chose him, Wes. He didn’t choose me. I gave myself to him, not the other way around. He doesn’t know me as a man and has no reason to trust me. Now I’ve taken his whole world away. He’ll hate me and he’ll have every right to.”
Wes crossed the room and laid a hand on Blaine’s shoulder. He said nothing but he didn’t need to. The contact alone was enough. Blaine sighed. Wes as usual was right. His pity party needed to be over. What was done was done and he had a pack to return to.
Blaine leaned down and whispered into Kurt’s ear, willing his words to reach the mind that he knew was held in thrall as it was altered by magic.
“I have to go now, Kurt. I have to see to my family and I have to get them ready for you. We’ve never had a convert before. Our pack has had a rough history with humans. I... I need to get them ready to meet you, but don’t worry I won’t ever let anything hurt you again. I’ll be gone for a few weeks. A few weeks is all the time I can give you of the life I know you want so hold it close because after that I have to come and get you.” Blaine brushed the hair back away from Kurt’s eyes again, his hand a little unsteady as it moved.
“You’ll be fine. I’ve never met anyone with as much courage as you. You put me to shame, and that’s why I promise, I promise you, Kurt, you’ll be happy. Whatever I have to do to make that happen. Even if you decide you don’t want me, you’ll always have that, and me. I’m yours, Kurt, even if you’re never mine.”
Blaine trailed a finger down Kurt’s smooth cheek, invoking all of his senses. If Kurt could not hear him then please, let him feel it as he traced the letters of his name across his cheek and over his lips. R-E-X. Rex after a tragic king.
Blaine felt the magic behind the touch. It tingled in his palms and made his heart start to race.
“Blaine.” Wes urged him gently and Blaine nodded.
Dragging himself from the bed Blaine followed Wes from the room. He paused for a moment in the doorway to look back at Kurt’s sleeping form. Maybe it was premature, maybe it made him a fool but he felt something like hope as he took in his last glimpse of Kurt.
“See you when the moon is full, Kurt,” he whispered to the sleeping form of his mate. Though Kurt did not reply his hope seemed to strengthen with the rise and fall of his chest. Was it going to be easy? Probably not. But nothing in Blaine’s life had been thus far.
Whatever the trials before them Blaine was certain of one thing. He’d found his one, the only one. Heaven only knew nothing got between a wolf and his mate.
THE END
For now.