His Isolated Omega Luna

Chapter Twelve

“I want Axel.”

Lucas frowned with concern and glanced behind him, but Axel was next to him in an instant.

Lucas held him back with one hand as a subtle warning not to get too close. Axel didn’t know it then, but his behavior had already started to fill his brother with an inexplicable sense of dread that was starting to pool inside him.

Something was very wrong.

This wasn't just a regular cycle of heat that Cassandra must have experienced before, and the whole disturbing incident bothered Lucas much more than he wanted to admit.

“Lucas, it’s alright.” Axel said quietly. “She needs me.”

Lucas was hesitant, but he could see Axel's face was calmer and he seemed much less intimidating than he had done. Lucas guessed that whatever had come over him must have passed for now.

“Alright,” Lucas murmured, after a tense pause. “If you’re sure, Axel. You seemed real certain you didn’t want to be alone with her earlier.”

“I know. I’m okay now, honestly.”

Lucas reluctantly got up to gather the dirty sheets and some of Cassandra’s discarded clothes from the floor. He fetched the laundry basket and filled it up with everything that needed to be washed.

“As long as you’re sure you’re alright. I need to go downstairs and set a load going.” Axel nodded with a gentle smile and Lucas tucked the basket under one arm. “I won’t be long. Don’t do anything stupid.” He warned, before backing out.

Axel heard the front door close. He swallowed an anxious breath while he studied the contours of Cassandra’s face. Axel could hardly believe how beautiful she looked just spread out on top of his bed with her eyes closed. He inched towards her and sat down on the edge, just so he could watch her sleep.

Axel was leaning in close to check her temperature, when he felt a forceful urge to get on top of her. He suddenly climbed onto the bed and dropped to all fours to pin one leg either side of Cassandra’s hips. His hands were pushing down hard and gripping the sides of the pillow above her head.

Axel could see the throb of her pulse through the damp skin on her neck, and the temptation was just too much. He bent his head and dragged a rough wet tongue around the curve of Cassandra’s neck and back up into her mouth.

Cassandra was now awake and writhing underneath him.

“Make it stop…” Cassandra pleaded, pulling back just enough to stare longingly at Axel's mouth. She could probably see the points of his sharp canines peeking out from under his top lip when it twitched.

The only thought circling through Axel’s head when Cassandra looked at him like that was how compelled he felt to cover her with his body and take a bite out of her.

“Please, Axel...” Cassandra murmured, pushing her body up in a desperate attempt to press against him. Axel had been rigidly hard from the moment he climbed on top of her and now his manhood felt so full and sensitive, he could hardly breathe. He was only just able to hang on to his very last drop of self-control while Cassandra was squirming beneath him like that.

“Cas...” Axel forced out, digging his fingers harder into the soft down of the pillow. It brought little relief.

“Stop it.” It would be so easy to take her. Just lying there drenched in her own slick, with her delicate and beautiful omega body begging to be touched, but Axel couldn’t do it.

Not like this.

An impassioned growl vibrated up from deep inside his throat, and Axel scrambled off the bed before he could change his mind.

He was standing in the doorway when Lucas returned, and Cassandra looked so out of it that for one heart-stopping second Lucas thought Axel might have harmed her. He tried to edge his way past when Lucas realized he was going to need to change the sheets again.

“Move, Axel. You’re not helping.” Lucas spat at him, out of sheer frustration more than anything else.

Lucas felt like he was having to babysit two grown adults he couldn’t leave in the same room together because he didn’t trust either one of them to keep their hands off each other. He started to strip off the bedding yet again, when Axel seemed to be suddenly pulled from his trance.

“Here. Give them to me. Give it.” He practically snatched the wet sheet from his brother and brought it up to his face. He held it so close to his mouth, he could almost taste Cassandra when he breathed it in through his nose.

“Axel!” Lucas yelled at him. “Just go wait for the laundry or something. Hurry up. Go!”

Lucas would have said anything to get Axel out of the apartment again. Even for a minute. He was becoming dangerous, and Cassandra was easy prey when she was so fragile. Lucas didn’t think he would be able to stop him if Axel decided he couldn’t hold back any longer.

Conscience or no conscience.

***

Axel just seemed fixed in position, unable to move at all. His eyes were glassy, chest heaving with deep fragmented breaths that shook his entire body. He was struggling to pull himself free of the need to be near Cassandra. He had to get release from everything that was rushing up inside him before he hurt somebody.

The alpha lunged out into the kitchen and impulsively swept his arm violently across the counter, sending all the mugs and plates showering down and smashing to pieces. Silver cutlery danced and clattered around his feet when he ripped one of the cupboard doors from its frame like it was made of paper.

His brother found him seconds later, his head resting heavily on the worktop. Both palms were pressed flat over the back of his head and his fingers were locked together to stop him from touching anything else. He finally stood up and surveyed the damage caused by his testosterone-fueled rampage.

Lucas knew it was just a response to the pain of not being able to control all the consuming emotions that were causing him to behave so badly. It wasn’t like him.

They looked at each other in silent understanding. Lucas just bent down and started picking up the shattered plates.

“Sorry…” Axel said quietly, studying the movement of his brother’s hands. Lucas was watching him carefully.

“Axel, maybe you shouldn’t be here.” Lucas suggested hesitantly. “Not right now.” He deposited some of the broken pieces in to the trash and dusted off his hands while he waited for a reply.

“You don’t trust me?” Axel asked. He sounded hurt and disappointed. Lucas glanced back towards the bedroom.

“Do you trust yourself?”

Axel followed the line of Lucas’ gaze. He could hear the rise and fall of soft breaths while Cassandra slept again. There were no words to describe the torment of how much he ached to be next to her. He slowly shook his head.

“No.”

Lucas knew Axel had nowhere else to go and wasn't sure what to do for the best, so he made an impulsive decision.

“You want to protect her, don’t you?”

“That’s all I want.” Axel sighed. “To make sure she’s safe.” His green eyes had lost their sparkle. They looked dull and lifeless. “No. You know I want more but… that’s all I can hope for right now.” He added sadly. Cassandra wasn't ready to give her heart to him just yet.

“Exactly.” Lucas gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder and smiled at him. “I’ll watch Cas. Why don’t you go take her apartment for tonight and see how things look in the morning? It’s only a few doors away and if something bad happens, I promise I’ll come get you.”

Axel seemed to be contemplating the suggestion for a second. The alternative was unthinkable. It was a heart-wrenching choice to have to be away from Cassandra, but it had to be done until they could figure out why Axel was acting the way he was when it went against everything he believed in.

Lucas retrieved Cassandra’s door key from his pocket and handed it over.

“Yeah, okay.” Axel agreed, after a few moments of quiet soul-searching. “I won’t be able to sleep anyway, and I want her to be safe - even from me.” He opened the door to leave. “Look after her, Lucas.”

Lucas smiled and sent Axel on his way with the promise he would stay up for as long as he could just to make sure Cassandra was alright. He made certain he locked the door behind him and even slid the chain across. He never usually bothered, but something made him feel the need to do it.

Lucas picked up his laptop and the lore book and set them both down on the table, ready for the long night ahead of him. He was determined to find some answers before Axel returned.

***

Axel spent many long hours that night just staring out of the window into the infinite blackness of space. They were only a few rooms apart, but it seemed like there was still a vast distance between them. Axel knew his life would have no meaning now until he earned Cassandra’s love and claimed her forever.

Lucas kept checking in every time he heard some rustle of movement or the sound of Cassandra’s muffled voice as she stirred in her restlessness. He didn’t think Cassandra was even aware she was calling out for Axel in the dark. Her pitiful cries finally faded away to nothing when she fell back to sleep.

The nightmares returned.

***

It must have been well past midnight when Axel finally dragged himself away from the window and tried to shut out the images of a bleak world below.

A reflection of the way he was feeling deep inside at the thought of having to leave Cassandra alone with Lucas.

Axel was tortured by not being able to sit by his bed and wind their fingers together while he told her everything would always be alright if only Axel was by her side. He just couldn't see any possible alternative while Cassandra was still in such a vulnerable state.

Axel was ashamed of the way he had given in to his aggression. Only he knew just how close he had come to satisfying all his desires and taking her anyway.

There must have been something else that had triggered his behavior and he was desperate for Lucas to find some answers.

The only thing that had stopped him from complying with Cassandra’s broken pleas to make the torment go away, was a swell of protective duty to keep his omega safe. It had come out of nowhere, and pulled him away from Cassandra before he had done something he would have regretted as soon as it was over.

Axel knew the only way an alpha like him would have been able to scratch the itch of want was to satisfy his needs in her and help himself to a chunk of flesh, but that was something that wasn’t even on the table right now.

Axel wasn’t like the others. That was the point.

A life spent on the road had been hard, and every time him and his brother moved on, Axel felt like a little piece of him had been left behind somehow.

More time wasted, another shed-load of disappointments.

He would have given up his search a long time ago if he hadn’t believed with everything he had that his true mate, the one who had once been crafted just for him to worship, was out there somewhere waiting for Axel to set her free. Now he had found her, and Cassandra was everything Axel could have hoped for and more, but his fascination was already spiraling out of control.

Since the moment he first touched her, Axel hadn’t spent a single minute when his mind hadn't been consumed with wanting to protect and cherish her constantly.

He breathed out a sigh and wandered around the apartment, aimlessly at first.

Axel soon realized there wasn’t much furniture and a noticeable lack of personal items that might have otherwise suggested it was a home, rather than just a place to live for a while.

He knew all too well how that went.

He couldn’t even remember the last time Lucas and him had settled in one place for more than a few months at a time. He was consciously fighting his primal urge to distract himself by satisfying himself in Cassandra’s bathroom just to make the ache go away, but it didn’t seem very respectful when every one of his s****l fantasies was lying in his bed in pain, fear seeping out of every pore like an open wound.

It was too soon to be thinking like that, and it didn’t matter anymore how long he would have to wait for her.

Cassandra was destined to be his, and his alone.

Axel believed that with all his heart, but physical bonding was too much for either of them to even contemplate yet and Axel was still having a hard time accepting just how uncontrollable his reaction to Cassandra had been. One single breath of that sweet slick, and he had lost it.

That wasn't who he was, and he would be damned if he wasn’t going to do everything he could to prove he was worthy and let Cassandra fall in love with him.

His future mate wouldn’t have to be afraid any more. Axel would look after her.

Always.

He opened the door to one of the side rooms and his heart almost stopped when he saw Cassandra’s bed.

The covers had been thrown back in an untidy heap. It surprised him because Axel always took her as someone who would likely be obsessively tidy and particular about her personal space. Maybe she had other things on her mind lately. Axel really hoped it was him.

Next to the bed was a small cabinet with a single drawer that had been pulled open slightly, like she had been searching for something in a hurry and forgotten to close it.

Her pitcher of water was still there from the night before last, but it was almost empty from hopelessly trying to quench the insatiable thirst that had come over her.

Axel couldn’t resist the temptation to get closer. The moment he got near the bed, he could smell the lingering trace of Cassandra’s scent in the air, but without her physical presence the effect was very different. Instead of s*x, it made him think of summer sunshine and fresh beads of heavy rain.

Axel could have drenched himself in every drop of it until he was soaked to the skin.

He ran his fingertips along the crumpled sheet and imagined Cassandra’s dark hair spreading out beneath her on the soft pillow. Looking up at Axel with her beautiful bright eyes like Axel somehow held all the answers to the universe.

He inhaled again, letting his hand fall before he changed his mind and put it to more constructive use. He reached over, gently slid the drawer open and peered inside.

Even in the dim light he could see there were many packets of tablets Axel assumed were suppressants. Some were lying open and some were still in their unmarked boxes. He picked one up to examine it, thinking they were about as effective as a sugar pill if her reaction earlier had been anything to go by.

Axel shrugged and deposited them carelessly on top of the bed. Maybe there was another reason they failed to help Cassandra remain undetected from Axel. He made a mental note to ask for Lucas’ opinion on it later, and started to rifle through some papers that had been folded neatly and stacked in piles at the back of the drawer.

On closer inspection, he soon realized there were many letters that looked to have been written by the same hand. Some of them had been opened and pushed back into their envelopes for possible review at a later date, and others were just bundled up and held together with elastic bands. A few at the bottom of the pile had become faded with age, and their corners were well worn as if they had been read many times and kept for sentimental reasons more than anything else.

Every instinct was telling him to leave them alone, but the allure of something that might help him to understand how to win Cassandra’s affections was too much, and he collected a handful and sat down on the edge of the bed. With shaking hands he started to unfold them one by one and began to read.