[For Sam] Urban Fantasy AU

[lonered]

Keith can't get the image out of his mind -- the tall, striking man with the strangely two-colored hair and the eyes the clear and endless gray of the sky after a storm, caught in the light of the full moon, like the entire world is about to glow with it. It's almost a memory, he thinks, and that's why he can't let it go. He's never had a memory of his lost time before.

It doesn't make any sense. Why this man? He's seen him before, of course, around town. He's rather hard to forget. But this is something more than that, something more than a strange and inconsequential dream cobbled together from pieces of his subconscious and an attractive stranger. It has to be more. Whenever he dreams, after all, he only dreams of running, of the night air and the scent of the woods and the moonlight spilling over the world.

It's the first lead that he's had, and it's in this strange town that he can't seem to make himself leave. Keith doesn't know exactly how he's going to find this man, and the only plan he has is to keep an eye out. But life and luck are kind today, and in the coffee shop, just as he turns from paying for his caffeine, he finds himself staring at the man walking through the front door.

Violet eyes snap wide, and for a long moment Keith can't do much else but stare. He's still staring when the barista is calling his name with his drink. He turns to gather up his coffee, holding the cup and going back to staring at this man, as if he's trying to decide how to best approach him that won't immediately chase him off. 'I had a dream about you and the moon.' would probably make him sound crazy.

But he has to say something. He needs to put answers to this. The fugues, the lost time with no memories, waking up in places he doesn't expect, or waking in his bed somehow more exhausted than when he went to sleep, it's been growing worse lately. He needs answers before it drives him crazy.

So for now he just stares.

Comments

[spaceforged]

“You don’t waste any movement.” He explains as he leads on towards the one place Keith has to know about. Not for the sake of the pack but his own sake.

“Most people try to move or fast or slow as their thoughts. You don’t. Your pace only shifts when it needs to and not a moment before.” The edge of a log cabin roof peeks through the trees. He keeps his hands in his pockets as he picks his way through the undergrowth until the nearly invisible path is under his feet.

“You are so closely tied to your wolf side it’s likely instinct but it’s a good one.” They come around the curve and the log cabin just down the path looks just about the same as anything else here. Vines crapped down one side is half hiding it and the window on the right side.

He tenses despite himself. “Coran told you how I was turned.” He begins, as he makes himself walk towards the cabin. “What I did in that arena.” Every word feels like chains rattling in the dark.

“This exists because of that.” He takes the key off the ring of keys in his pocket and sucks in a breath. His wolf rises to the surface and suddenly all the tension is gone. His wolf will deal with this.

Because he can’t. His voice is measured and calm, the wolf speaking through the man. “It’s just in case. But it felt necessary. What if they still have some kind of grip on me?” He reaches the door and presses his hand to the well worn wood. “I could become a threat to this pack.”

[lonered]

"It's sort of weird to hear that, you know. Closely tied to a side I never even knew I had. But... yeah, I guess I must be." He can't argue it, not with how whole and integrated he finally feels now that he knows what he is.

He feels Shiro tense, like he can scent it on the air, or has some sense of the other werewolf's presence, and he's turning to look at him even before Shiro speaks. "He did," he nods.

Keith follows closely, quiet as Shiro speaks. He hears the change in his voice too, and somehow knows what that means. There's that rise of fury in him once more, his wolf baring its teeth because how dare someone think they could hurt his mate, and it's a thought that Keith still can't let actually into his conscious thoughts.

"Show me," he prompts quietly, even as Shiro is unlocking the door. But he adds, voice lower but steady, "And you won't. I won't let it happen." This is his pack now. He won't let anyone be hurt. And he won't let Shiro be used like that. "We won't let it happen." Because that's what they are now, all of them, a we.

[spaceforged]

He looks at him with the faith of the wolf and the worry of the man still there on his eyes. He unlocks the padlock on the door and opens it, holding it open.

It’s dark inside but that changes as he shifts the curtains on the windows to let the light in. Inside is a cot against the wall and crates of supplies for someone to be on watch.

It’s what is in the center of the cabin that is cause for concern. A pit is set into the floor and closer examination would reveal bars of metal carved with runes and sigils. Shiro walks up to it and turns on a hidden over head light.

The bars take definition. They’re the walls and floor of the pit. The bars are thick and black with a deep thrumming of magic in a dormant state. He kneels down and lifts the lid of the massive cage. He meets Keith’s eyes. “It’s bespelled by Allura. It’s meant to contain me but it could contain any of us. The spells activate the moment the lid is shut. It’s not silver but it doesn’t need to be.”

He keeps talking because it’s the wolf speaking not him. Never him. Not for this. “The best magical containment for werewolves will never be silver. Silver hurts us and other metals are easier to break. But, if you want to contain a werewolf long term you use an alloy that weakens them in the cage while not burning them or driving them crazy.”

[lonered]

Keith follows Shiro inside, frowning at first sight of the pit, and then bristling at the magic he can feel, dormant and pulsing in the bars. The wolf in him stalks, unsettled, but Keith himself remains still, listening to Shiro describe it, the words that are spoken so matter-of-factly, clinically almost.

He steps closer then, nodding. "I understand."

He understands, but he doesn't like it. He understands necessary things, but Shiro is warm and kind and good, and no one should use him in some way that goes against that. No one should give them reason to need this cage.

Stopping by Shiro's side, dropping to a knee to look inside where Shiro has lifted the lid. All right. He reaches out then without thinking about it, his fingers finding Shiro's metal ones, not sure who he's trying to reassure -- the other man or himself.

[spaceforged]

His eyes go round with surprise. He opens his mouth to say something and stops. If Keith had touched his normal hand he could have dismissed it.

But he can’t when the touch went to the hand no one else touches. For a moment he just breathes then the moment is gone as he pats Keith’s shoulder and relaxes. “This is also a fallback point if we need to retreat farther along our territory than expected. There’s good game outside and around the cabin. It could feed the whole pack easily for weeks.”

He shouldn’t lean into Keith’s Touch. He wants to reach for him and never let go. It’s not like him to fall this fast but Keith slots into his life as if he was meant to always be there. He has to stop again, staring into Keith’s eyes as he says. “Thank you.”

For treasuring him in a way. For treating him as if he is something worth protecting instead of a burden or trying to make decisions as if he can’t be trusted with them.

[lonered]

Keith is still in that moment, but he nods as Shiro pats his shoulder and continues. "It makes sense. It's a good contingency to have, in case anything happens and we need to hole up." It's a good place, defensible and with enough resources. Smart.

Shiro isn't the only one who wants to reach out. Every last instinct in him is crying out for it, but it goes beyond instinct too. He's drawn to this kind, gentle, beautiful man like he's never been drawn to anyone. He meets Shiro's gaze, looking genuinely surprised by the thanks.

A shake of his head and he smiles, softer and vulnerable in a way he never allows himself to be, "I should be the one thanking you, I think. For everything."

He finds himself leaning towards Shiro, like he's fighting the urge to close the distance and lean into him, but it's a losing battle.

[spaceforged]

Keith letting himself be vulnerable is what snaps his restraint. This gentle, warm, and considerate man lets him make his choices as he sees fit. He leans into him, their sides touching and something in him settles. "Maybe we can thank each other. Thank you for joining us and for...everything."

His wolf settles, content that Shiro has allowed this much to happen. It's a start and a path to letting himself heal. He senses the increased buzz of irritation through the pack bonds and ignores it. Lance has no idea why he is happy (something he hadn't realize he broadcast once through the link) but Lance probably has an idea and doesn't like it.

For once. Fuck Lance. Allura proverbially pops him in the nose. The bonds settle. He lets out a breath.

[lonered]

Keith's wolf settles too, albeit a bit smugly really, because ah. There. Do you understand now, human half? Keith ignores the lingering feeling and leans back into Shiro. Warm. Safe. He's too new to the Pack to understand the subtler shifts of emotions. He'll learn them eventually.

For now he's distracted by his own warmth, but he does feel that moment that things settle down and he lets out a relieved sigh even if he couldn't explain it in words were he put to it.

"I guess that's fair." Keith hesitates before adding, voice nearly mystified like he can't believe he's actually saying the words, "I feel like I'm home." And he hasn't felt that in so long.

[spaceforged]

He brightens at that. “I’m glad. I don’t know how to describe it but being near you feels like...”

It brought him balance for a little while. He has to work on things and his problems aren’t gone but, “We both get a little better.” He had made the decision to change that night he first beheld Keith.

Since then he has let his wolf be part of his decisions. “I don’t know how to describe it, Keith. But I’m drawn to you. I think the acceptance from my wolf goes deeper than just accepting you as our leader and I... I want to know you.” He wants to know him in ways he won’t bring up for now.

His wolf is pleased he is even letting the thoughts happen.

[lonered]

Keith looks up almost hopefully at that, because does Shiro feel it too? That surprising sense of rightness that being near Shiro brings, settles a restlessness that has lived deep within him his entire life. So when the other man finishes the statement, Keith's expression melts into a smile. "Yeah, it does."

Better. He's better because of Shiro's presence.

Keith doesn't expect Shiro to continue and when he does he's fighting a blush -- a battle that he is actively losing given that he's not used to people saying sweet things to him, and goodness that was sweet -- as he smiles back at him. "I want to know you too, Shiro." And Keith means those unspoken ways too, ways that his own wolf is satisfied enough for the moment that they've spoken this many things. "You're... I've never met anyone like you."

[spaceforged]

“Let’s get back to the cave. I want to talk some more in a more comfortable place.” The cage with silver in the bars is not such a place. Shiro pulls away slowly and stands up, offering Keith his hand.

Normally it would be so hard to open up. He internally checks his wolf and finds them pleased. He doesn’t want to say what he suspects. He could bet Keith would run for the hills and voicing it would make him do the same.

Shiro takes a breath. “Well, like I said before. I’m not that much older than you. I was a pilot but there was an attack when I was taking the ship up towards space.”

His mouth presses into a thin line that’s almost bitter. “That ended my career in more than one way.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, come on.” He lets go and heads for the door. “Oh and I should probably teach you about Pack bonds in the morning. Or tonight, however you want to handle it. Your second has been a bit...irritated.”

To say the least about Lance.

[lonered]

Keith takes the hand and rises to his feet. He wants to keep Shiro's hand, and his touch lingers for a longer moment than it needs to, content to until Shiro pulls away. "You were going to space." That's kind of incredible. More than kind of.

But whatever did this to Shiro ended that. "Right, relocating is probably a good idea. We can set up for the night, cook something."

He frowns at the mention of his second. "Yeah, teach me about it. I want to take care of that as soon as I can." If he needs to kick Lance's ass to settle things, he can handle that. But hey maybe talking will do it.

[spaceforged]

"I was going to space again. I've been up there three times." There were reasons this time was meant to be the last but, becoming a werewolf fixed him. He puts that out of his mind as he nods. "When we're cooking, I'll teach you about the pack bonds and your place in them."

Shiro heads for the door, locking it behind them when they exit the cabin. They have a little ways to go before they get back to the cave but that hardly matters.

[lonered]

Keith looks at him with a smile. Remarkable, really. This man, everything he learns about him makes him want to know him more, closer to him. "Okay. I'll be a good student. Promise."

Which is a good promise for him to make because his history has not always been studious. But for this, for the Pack, for Shiro, he'll do his best. He wants to learn. He wants to do this right.

Following Shiro out, he looks up at the moonlit sky, shutting his eyes and just basking in the light for a moment. "Let's go?"

[spaceforged]

The trek back is quiet. Shiro is content to let the moon’s light and their path keep them occupied. When they reach the cave something in him eases. This is his private space to relax and just be.

Bringing Keith here has been a good choice. “I’ll start the fire. It will be a good way to demonstrate pack bonds.” He checks the firewood and stacks it together in the center of a stone lined pit. “Each of us is a strand in the wide net of bonds. We have our toes to each other but we are all tied together through our Alpha or the closest thing to it. Before,” he takes flint and steel, striking it twice and the sparks land in the center.

“I was the spark for them all. Coran and I talked about this when I decided we needed an Alpha. I’m a spark. An alpha is a flame.” He blows on the sparks, coaxing a flame to life. The wood is dry and catches fast. He fans the flames as he says,

“A pack is held together and given what they need by an alpha. Close your eyes, let whatever perception of a bunch of ties spread out from you happen. Look for me.” He adds more wood to the fire then closes his own eyes.

His own vision of the bonds spreads out before him. When he was a space pilot an oxygen line or a tether to the ship was vital. He can feel the tethers and as he looks the tether to Keith is small and doesn’t connect yet but it feels like touching a flame. Warm to the touch. If he grasps it too tightly it could burn.

But it doesn’t feel like the tie between an alpha and a pack member. He searches for that instead and finds it. It still feels like fire in his veins but not the kind that stir his blood. He sends an impression of a bonfire fire racing down it aimed at the other end.

[lonered]

Keith settles in to watch Shiro, listening closely. The other man's voice is soothing, and Keith would happily listen to him talk at length, but the words he's saying are important. It makes sense, the way that he's explaining it.

And in meeting the others, he's felt the beginnings of these ties, the thrum of connection between them. But he needs to understand it all if he's going to be the Alpha that this pack deserves.

A quick nod and he shuts his eyes. Look for Shiro. But what he finds is similar to Shiro, a connection that burns brightly even if it hasn't fully formed yet. It wants to, and for a moment Keith reaches for that, only for his wolf to silently howl inside him its approval of mate. Ah. That's... his heart aches and his mind races, and he refocuses quickly.

He instead reaches for the other tie, gasping quietly as he finds it, feels that connection and realizes that there are a handful of others just like it. "I found you. And the others. Hunk and Coran and Allura..." The ones he's met feel the most strong and certain. "And Lance." And oh he can feel where that's unsettled. He really is going to have to deal with that, and soon.

[spaceforged]

“And Lance.” Shiro agrees, keeping his voice carefully neutral. That is between them. “How you deal with him is up to you.” He adds, to let Keith know he isn’t alone. Lance has been irritating about this.

He needs to sit down and accept that he isn’t the center of the universe. “And when.” But his eyes say soon is important. He just can’t dictate how Keith does this. “It’s in your favor his wolf already accepts you even he chafes at an alpha he hasn’t met being an alpha.”

Lance’s wolf is concerned for the sake of the pack’s stability.

[lonered]

"I don't want to put it off. It'll be worse if I put it off." Keith fully intends to handle it and sort things out with Lance. They're pack now, and this tension isn't good for either of them or any of the others.

Besides, Keith is more than a little annoyed at how his interactions with Lance had gone before he even knew anything about him, so there's some air to be cleared.

"I want to meet the others I haven't met yet too." There are only a couple left.

[spaceforged]

“You will tomorrow.”
Shiro says as he takes out the rations and sets about preparing their meal. He isn’t the greatest cook but, he isn’t terrible either. “As for Lance, if you want to deal with it now there are ways.”

The question is which one he wants. “Do you want to deal with him face to face? Across the ties between alpha and pack?” He had heard about the ways Alphas could deal with the pack. He can feel everyone else in the pack annoyed at Lance’s tension and irritation.

They were overjoyed but he isn’t. Not even close. Shiro closes his eyes for a moment and feels Allura’s disappointment in Lance. Curious. Again he can feel the faint tie that isn’t yet connected to Keith. As he touches it again his Wolf gently steers him away.

Not yet. It seems to say. You know what this is and you’re not ready to face it. That isn’t wrong. He is a damaged man that needs to find peace with himself first. Peace he is only beginning to understand.

[lonered]

Keith looks interested in that. "Are there? Do you think I can manage that?" Because if he can put this to bed now, he is all for it. That irritation is a buzz he can feel too, now that Shiro has taught him to reach for the pack bonds. It's faint still, but oh is it there.

He draws his knees up to his chest as he watches Shiro set about cooking. "Anything I can help with? I got pretty good at cooking over a fire." He's been a drifter for so long now, he's picked up the skills he needs to survive.

It strikes him again that he's not a drifter anymore, that he's found himself a home now. A family. A family that he is going to take care of as best he can, evne if this is new and a little terrifying.

[spaceforged]

“You’re his Alpha. If you call he has to obey it. That alone will tell him who is in charge and who isn’t .” Shiro says as he urges Keith to come closer. “This pot needs filled up with water.” He can chop things to put it in while Keith gathers lake water from outside the cave.

“Ask your wolf. He’ll know how to make put out the call.” The Pack couldn’t help in this dominance fight but he knows they don’t need to.

Even when Lance bitched about Keith in the past it was clear who won those encounters.

[lonered]

A quick nod as he grabs up the pot and stands. Gathering water he can definitely do. He slips off out of the cave and makes his way down to the lake. While he does he considers what Shiro ha told him, he reaches out to his wolf and feels the beast answer him like an old friend. Strange how quickly that's happened, how little time it's taken for it to become natural.

He fills the pot and stands and reaches for the ties to the pack that Shiro has shown him, finding the one that is pulled too taut, too uneasy. He reaches out to Lance with a plain and clear call.

We end this now.

It's an easy fight to take because it isn't about him. This is about the pack, about what's good for the others, what it will take to make this right. He makes his way back into the cave, setting the pot by Shiro and the fire.

"Water," he announces with a smile, his entire expression softening from that hard determination now that he's looking at Shiro.