[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.

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[spaceforged]

The day after a full moon always leaves the pack restless and he can feel their unease in the back of his mind as he makes his way down the street to the local coffee shop a block from his apartment. He hasn't shared with them what he saw last night.

He can't figure out how to tell them that the man they've seen wandering around is an alpha werewolf. He'd been on the fence about looking for one that didn't have a pack. He can soothe the pack but he can't do the things an alpha can.

They'll never fully settle under him.

The bells on the shop door jangle in a familiar way. The cute guy that is nice on the eyes behind the counter greets him with a smile. He smiles back and pays for the coffee already waiting for him. It pays to be the local vet. As he turns to glance around he meets the eyes of the very same man he met last night.

It's different from last night. There's that unmistakable air of an alpha but it isn't the stare of one demanding he obey. He matches him stare for stare then breaks it as easily as he might break eye contact with anyone else. He pointedly walks to the side door leading to the outside tables and holds it open, meeting his stare again and gesturing he come out to join him.

It's all he can do to make this private. Most people don't sit outside this early in the morning. He takes the table in the far back unsure if the other wolf will follow him.

[spotlion]

Here he was minding his own business as much as any other wolf would when a call rolls down a pack tie. Hunk falls quiet as he goes stiff as a board. “Lance?”

“Hush.” He says but there’s no heat to it. He searches for the familiar storm that is Shiro but it isn’t Shiro. This storm feels more like a hurricane with the primal force to make him bend down and instead he snarls at it.

Except his wolf, doesn’t. He tries to summon up the strength but it isn’t there. Instead he finds himself grabbing his coat and pulling it on. “Going out.” Hunk and Pidge say nothing. He walks out.

On the street he tries to resist the call. But his wolf ignores him. They walk down the streets and into the forest. He follows the path that has Shiro’s scent and the scent of that strange punk he keeps picking a fight with when he sees him. His wolf sees no more issues with the punk.

He even points out to Lance the punk is older than him and something that should be celebrated. He snarls but he can’t muster up the wolf in him to back it. The call must be answered. He feels Shiro tend like a hand placed against his shoulder then gone again.

Lance stumbles out of the foliage and into the open with a hissed curse as a branch slaps him in the face. The clearing is familiar. He knows Shiro comes here a lot. The fire inside the cave mouth and Shiro himself is there. The man looks at him with eyes gone blue as the sky and he almost stops his tracks but the call holds him.

Shiro has always seemed vast and powerful. But it had only ever been the man. The wolf rarely showed his face. Lance knew it as the pack needed a true Alpha and had chafed at Shiro’s inability to truly be that Alpha in the last few years. He had gotten rowdier but Shiro has still been able to put him down. Now, seeing him whole like this...this is what an Alpha should be. But his gaze swings and to his horror he feels the other man’s power. Dark hair, a build that says he could break bones if he decides on it, and eyes that seem otherworldly and try as he might he can’t meet his eyes.

“Are you serious?” He spits but his wolf bows to the other wolf he can feel as he tries to meet the man’s eyes. “You?” He joins them in the cave as Shiro gives the man a soft look that Lance doesn’t know what to make of. So he just snarls and to his surprise Shiro snarls at him.

He blinks. He can count on one hand how many times Shiro has snarled with the wolf in his tone. His wolf is unsurprised. “Shiro, what the fuck?” Shiro doesn’t let up, his eyes locked on him as he says, “He is mine.” Okkkayyy.

Shiro blinks himself as he says that eyes back to grey and looks at Keith. He wants to bolt after saying it but at the same time he wants to stay stay stay. He closes his eyes and lapses into silence. It had been automatic.

But it feels right. ‘Mate’ the wolf whispers and he quietly agrees.