His Isolated Omega Luna

Chapter Eighteen

Axel needed to take a moment just to recover when the door closed, steadying himself before going back to his own room. He wasn’t used to dealing with so many different thoughts and emotions, he thought to himself.

Cassandra was affecting him more deeply with every passing minute they spent together and Axel knew his infatuation with the only female omega he had ever met was spiraling out of control. The whole thing felt like an endless whirlwind that had caught him up and refused to let him fall.

Axel didn’t feel like his feet had touched the ground at all since the first time he kissed Cassandra. It was amazing and terrifying at the same time. Even in only the few days he really started to get to know Cassandra, Axel knew he could never live without her.

He leaned heavily against the wall, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. Axel tried to push away the feeling of shame that suddenly came over him when he thought about what he had done. He let his alpha instincts take over after trying so hard to fight against them, but the need for release had been so powerful, Axel had to see to it right then and right there before he lost control completely.

Everything about Cassandra was perfect and fascinating and Axel was giving it all he had to be everything she needed him to be.

It was exhausting, but he had to make sure Cassandra knew he would wait for her to be ready.

Ready to let Axel love her wholeheartedly.

The way Cassandra had leaned into him, smiled when she caught the scent of small after-bursts of his orgasm when they were standing together in the kitchen. It was enough to make Axel believe his devotion might one day be returned.

Cassandra was so sweet and beautiful. Sexy without even trying. She gave off a scent that brought her to the point of being almost edible, and if Axel had to reluctantly satisfy himself to protect his precious omega, then so be it.

He banged both palms against the wall to push himself up with a sigh. He was soon standing in front of his own apartment and slammed the door a little more loudly than intended and walked straight past Lucas, who was now sitting at the counter with his laptop open again.

“Ew, you stink of s*x,” Lucas gave him a distasteful glance and then realized in alarm what that might imply. “Axel. You didn’t…”

“No.” Axel said defensively, with a deep frown. He had hoped Lucas would know better than to think he would ever take advantage of Cassandra like that while she was so upset. He took the inferred slight against his morality personally.

“Oh, thank God!” Lucas breathed out in relief. He raised a curious eyebrow. “Do I want to know?”

“I sincerely doubt it,” Axel sniffed, deliberately redirecting the conversation. “Anyways. I want you to explain to me what you were saying before Cas went home. I felt like I was listening but I wasn’t really hearing it. What did you mean about those fertile thingies?” Lucas pushed back a smirk.

“Extinct fertile female omega.”

“Yeah, that. Why do you think Cas might be one?”

“Hang on...” Lucas murmured, quickly flicking through Axel’s book until he found the page on special types of omega.

There were a couple of rough lined sketches and some neatly presented paragraphs of text detailing certain characteristics of the main biological differences between them.

Axel’s eyes scanned the page with interest and Lucas could just see the tip of his tongue peeking out from between his lips while he concentrated on reading. Lucas smiled fondly to himself.

“I’m probably gonna regret saying this out loud... but this one,” Axel said slowly, prodding the image of a body outline. "This shape, the hips and stuff. Cas looks a bit like this when she’s got no clothes on.”

Lucas gaped at his brother in stunned silence for a second before he blinked wide and turned his attention back to the computer.

“Axel. I so do not want to guess how you even know that.”

“Long story... and no, I didn’t touch her before you f*****g start. She was just really distressed earlier. I had to drag her out the shower.”

“s**t. Distressed about what?” Lucas asked with concern. “You don’t think she overheard us, do you?”

Axel shrugged and shook his head.

“Nah. Honestly, I think everything just got on top of her. All that Gabriel business bothers her a lot more than she lets on... Bad memories, I guess…” Axel hummed his disapproval at the mention of Cassandra’s brother.

He decided already he disliked him intensely, and didn’t need to know anything more about him to have his resentment confirmed.

Anybody who could abandon Cassandra like that was a grade A asshole as far as Axel was concerned, and no one would ever convince him otherwise.

“She seems alright now, though. She was even talking about going in to work tonight.”

“You’re not planning on stalking her again, are you?” Lucas teased.

“No,” Axel replied, but then he thought about it some more. The idea of Cassandra going off alone was starting to pull at all the insecurities he didn’t even know he had.

“I might drop by later just to make sure she’s okay,” Axel said indifferently, tracing his fingers along the counter top.

“Axel. I’m not sure it’s a good idea for her to be alone if her heat's still in. At least walk her, or make sure she gets on the bus or something. She might have been able to fade into the background before, but her scent is different now... I think it might change again when the cycle’s over but I have no idea how long that could take. A few days or a week... a month, even. I don’t know. It’s not like we can ask her.”

“Well, doesn’t this tell you anything?” Axel demanded, picking up the book and shaking it a couple of times before dropping it back down in frustration. “Considering you’ve been saying for years it's all a load of crap, you sure seem convinced now.”

Axel was getting more and more anxious about Cassandra going out later and he was starting to feel the swell of protective instinct coming over him again. He couldn’t do anything to stop it, and was still sore about the possibility maybe all this could have been prevented if they had known exactly what they were dealing with before he put Cassandra at risk by marking her.

Axel also chose to ignore the fact that if he had read his damn book properly in the first place, it might have saved Cassandra, but there was nothing he could do about that now.

“I can’t say I’m one hundred percent convinced yet, but there’s definitely something going on with her. She was reasonably okay until you drooled all over her and look what a mess she was after. She couldn’t help any of that,” Lucas blew out a deep breath. “I’ve washed those damn sheets twice already, and I still can’t get it out.”

Axel hummed at the memory of the sweet scent of omega slick that had drenched his bed and made it almost impossible to breathe. He was resting his head on his hand, mouth curving up at one side. His eyes started to glaze over…

“Axel, focus!” Lucas nudged his brother with his elbow and knocked his arm out from under him. “You know, you could see if they have a job going down there for me. I’ve still had no luck, and I could keep an eye on Cas for you,” Lucas suggested.

“That’s actually not a terrible idea. I’ll ask her when I see her again,” Axel replied vaguely, thoughts drifting off to a distant place in his imagination where Cassandra had already let Axel claim her as his own.

“Well one of us needs to start bringing something in, and you’re no good to anyone at the minute. God knows, the violent rages were bad enough but now you’re like a lovesick puppy!”

Axel stuck his bottom lip out. He hadn’t been a puppy for a very long time.

“I said I’d ask her and I will, now you focus!” Axel stressed. “I’m serious, man. I want to know what all this stuff means. I already told you I’m sure she’s the one, Lucas, and I need to know what I can do to make Cas happy. I want her more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

Lucas was watching his brother with new perspective. The way his eyes sparkled and his mouth twitched into a smile whenever he mentioned Cassandra told Lucas all he needed to know about how sincere Axel was when he spoke about just how much he longed to mate that woman.

“I know, Axel,” Lucas said gently. “You haven’t talked about anything else for days.”

Axel was looking up at him expectantly. He had no idea whether that required a response or not, but he seemed to be waiting for Lucas to help him understand why Cassandra had developed so many deep-seated phobias in her life.

Axel looked so pitifully desperate, Lucas couldn’t possibly refuse him so he moved a little closer to his side.

“Okay. So, let’s just say for argument’s sake, and please don’t give me any details as to why you’ve seen Cas naked, she really does look similar to that - then it’s even more likely she could be an A-type, like this,” Lucas pointed to the same diagram Axel had been so fascinated by earlier. “They’re anatomically different and according to this, they may even be capable of bearing children, just like the omegas in the old times.”

“Shut up…” Axel said skeptically. Lucas shrugged, willing to look at it with an open mind for now at least. Every hope Axel had been hanging on to since he presented might actually have some basis in fact after all.

“Well, they're supposed to be pretty rare and probably difficult to identify from these B-types which are the generally accepted ones. Honestly, I don’t expect you can tell them apart unless they’re naked or pregnant,” Axel actually blushed at that and Lucas laughed. “Well. One down, one to go.”

Axel glowered at him.

“That’s not even funny.”

“Oh, come on. It’s a little funny!” The expression on Axel’s face was fixed into a burning glare so Lucas coughed and reached for the book again. “Seriously, though. It could be true, and that means you’re going to have to be really careful around her, Axel... and you know what else? I’ve been thinking maybe us moving here wasn’t a coincidence after all.” Lucas said, sticking his index finger into one of the many earmarked pages. He flicked through a few until he recognized the one he was looking for.

“Oh, look. Pair-bonding!” Axel read loudly, flashing his pointed teeth in Lucas’s direction. “That thing you don’t believe in, remember?”

“Yeah, well,” Lucas almost apologized with the look in his eyes alone. “That was before I saw you two together.”