His Isolated Omega Luna

Chapter Three

Axel closed the door behind him when he returned to his own room and made no attempt to move away from it. Lucas was sitting on the couch with his back to him, laptop resting on his knees.

“Well?” He asked, without even bothering to turn around. Axel was still speechless. Lucas kept tapping away at the keyboard while he pressed his brother for a response. “Did you get her to talk to you?”

Axel let out a long breath of air.

“Yeah.” He sighed. Axel heard Lucas mutter the word dammit under his breath when he reached into his back pocket. He flipped open his wallet and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. He held it up between his finger and thumb and waved it in Axel’s general direction to encourage him to take it.

“Here, then,” Lucas prompted when Axel made no attempt to claim his winnings.

“Keep it.” Lucas dropped his arm in surprise and turned to look at Axel over his shoulder, just to make sure he hadn't misheard. “I don’t want it.”

The defeated tone of his voice alone would have been enough to pique Lucas’s interest, but his refusal to take the money he had technically earned got him more than a little intrigued. He quickly shut down the computer and set it to one side, shuffling into a more comfortable position. Lucas was leaning on his arm, about to ask Axel what had happened, but he seemed to be completely lost in thought. Axel was staring up at the ceiling and chewing hard on his lip. “Actually, I spoke to her twice and both conversations ended up with me staring at the other side of her door.”

“I like her already. What happened to the Harrison magic?” Lucas asked playfully. He laughed, but his expression soon faded when Axel didn’t reply. Something was clearly troubling his brother. When he progressed to muttering to himself, Lucas decided it was likely he was going to need a beer.

He strolled through to the other room to fetch two bottles from the cooler. “Axel, you’re pacing,” Lucas said patiently, handing one over. Axel stopped and twisted off the cap in frustration.

“What did you say to her?” Lucas prompted again. He didn’t think the first question even registered. Axel closed his eyes and shook his head like he couldn’t believe how badly he'd messed up.

“I told her she was a bet,” Axel admitted. Lucas almost spat out his mouthful of beer.

“Axel…” Lucas moaned dramatically. “You never tell someone you’re only talking to them for a bet.”

“I know!” Axel shouted back, putting his hands up defensively. “I opened my mouth to say something else and that just fell out.” He added. “I don’t know, Lucas. It was like I couldn’t lie to her.” Axel let out a low growl of exasperation and started moving again.

"Pacing,” Lucas said calmly, but Axel wasn’t really listening. Lucas sighed and took hold of his brother's shoulders, physically moving Axel over to the couch to sit him down.

“I only made that stupid bet in the first place 'cause you kept drooling over her every time you saw her in the hallway. You needed someone to put a rocket up your ass so you would actually go and speak to her.” Axel lifted one hand to cover his eyes and Lucas knew whatever had been said between them had put him in a very dark mood.

Lucas deliberately softened the edge of his voice and tried to get him to talk. “C'mon. Tell me what happened.”

Axel drained his beer in a single gulp and tossed the bottle to one side. He had no idea where to start. “Okay,” Lucas breathed. He was clearly going to have to try a different approach.

“What’s she called?” Axel just shrugged.

“I took her mail up this morning and I only looked at a few of the envelopes to get her apartment number, but the weird thing was they all had care of or occupier written above the address instead of her name.”

“Oh. Maybe she hasn’t been here long either, then.” Lucas offered helpfully. “Unless she just likes her privacy. I wouldn’t read too much into it.” Axel nodded thoughtfully. He knew what Lucas was thinking.

“Does she know?” Lucas asked suddenly, a familiar warning rising up inside him. Axel flashed him a sidelong glance before answering.

“About me? No, I don’t think so. Maybe,” Axel answered vaguely. “I did come on a bit strong.”

It all seemed so stupid now. Axel had gone out of his way to try and seduce Cassandra just to win ten dollars and had since concluded it was actually the worst f*****g plan he'd ever had. He couldn't imagine what he was thinking, and now he'd probably ruined his chances completely. He rubbed hard at his eyes.

“She’s really got to you, hasn’t she?” Lucas said quietly. Axel lifted one finger and looked hard at his brother.

“No.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow but he didn’t push it. Axel had never been much fun to be around when he was in hunting mode. Particularly when the latest target of his desire had just slammed the door in his face.

“You don’t think… could she be?”

Axel instinctively knew what Lucas was asking. He had spent the last fifteen years of his life searching for one while they moved from town to town.

“I don’t think so. f**k, Lucas. I’ve never been able to find one in all this time. The odds that a female omega lives four doors away are like zero to none.”

“Yeah, I suppose.” Lucas nodded, asking the obvious question. “What did she smell like?”

Axel inhaled like he was trying to recreate the moment when he had been standing next to Cassandra in the doorway.

“Honestly?” He hesitated for a moment before looking away. “Good enough to eat.”

“Axel!” Lucas sighed. “TMI.” He blinked and tried to force that image from his mind. “How close were you?”

“Not close enough.”

Axel didn’t really want to answer any more of Lucas’s crappy questions. He was still mad at himself for the way he approached the whole situation and silently cursed himself even more that he let someone get to him so much.

“Okay,” Lucas conceded. It was painfully apparent Axel was just about done with that particular conversation. “Well, maybe you should apologize to her, then.”

“Done that.”

“…and?”

“I think I terrified her,” Axel added quietly. “Mind you, I think everything terrifies her so I’m not gonna take that one personally.”

“Bit skittish, is she?”

Axel actually laughed, but it sounded hollow and sad.

“Yeah. You could say that. She didn’t want me to get too close, and I felt like she couldn’t wait for me to leave.”

They fell back into uneasy silence for a minute.

“Honestly? It sounds like you might have to let that one go, then,” Lucas said. He moved away from Axel and opened his laptop back up. “Actually,” He continued, loading up the last website he was looking at before attempting to pass his computer to Axel. “Look, there’s a new club opened up downtown. Not very subtly advertised on here, but if you feel the need, I suppose we could go check it out.” Axel didn’t even spare a cursory look at the images and pushed the laptop away.

“I’m sick of beta bitches.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry, but you know what I mean. That’s not what I want, Lucas,” Axel said seriously. He got up to get another beer. “No offense meant, but you know that’s always just been second best.”

Lucas nodded.

“None taken. I know, Axel, but you refuse to claim a male omega so you’re kind of limiting your options a bit.”

Axel shrugged again.

“Because I know it wouldn’t be right, and then we would just end up having to move again. It’s not so bad for you. You don’t have the same perspective.”

“Wow. Perspective.” Lucas imitated. “You mean I’m not so hung up on this pair-bond crap you keep reminding me of every time I think you might actually be ready to take a mate.”

“It’s not crap,” Axel argued defensively. “Look it up. You’re supposed to be the smart one. All the lore says it’s possible. You just know.”

“Uh-huh.” Lucas's mouth hitched into a smile. “And you just know now, do you?”

Axel didn’t say anything back. He was strumming his fingers down the side of the bottle in agitation. Something so breathtakingly different washed over him when he watched the skillful movements of Cassandra’s mouth when she spoke, the almost ethereal shine in her blue eyes, and the desperate need to protect her and calm every one of her fears.

Axel kept those images in a quiet place in his thoughts for now. It was like he had sensed something secret and unspoken. He didn’t really hold out much hope his affection would be returned, whether this woman was an omega or not. She certainly hadn't seemed particularly impressed by Axel earlier. He was so lost in the memory of Cassandra's face, he almost forgot Lucas was still there.

“Besides which, Axel. Not everybody values them the same way you do. I’m with you a hundred percent, you know that - but there’s a lot that aren’t.”

“Beta,” Axel concluded resentfully. “Uptight and snarky. Probably straight.” He muttered to himself. Lucas sighed and let out a long-suffering moan of despair.

“How much longer are you going to torture yourself, and more importantly, me, with this, Axel? You don’t know that and you shouldn’t make assumptions.”

“Huh.” Axel spat it out more forcefully than he intended. Being blown off more than once in the same day by every imagination he ever had was starting to make him petulant. “You haven’t had a door slammed in your face. Twice.” He stressed, holding up two fingers to illustrate the critical level of outrage that had accompanied the experience.

Lucas pressed his lips together to hold back a smile. He moved in close to Axel and slipped a supportive arm around his shoulders.

“Know what I think?” He whispered. Axel looked up at him. He never really understood how his kid brother had managed to get so big. “I think you should try again.”

***

It took me several long minutes to regain my composure after I practically kicked Axel Harrison out of my apartment. I knew I probably overreacted, but sometimes the danger seemed to press in too close, the threat of temptation all too real. Now my thoughts were disordered and loaded with doubt. His

My reaction had been fueled by indignance at the revelation I had basically been used as bait. All I ever wanted was to be respected and valued. Accepted for what I was, without the fear of mistreatment or abuse. I had always been so careful not to interact with anyone who might threaten the little corner of peace and safety I had managed to carve out for myself in a disassociated society.

I double-checked the locks and wondered if Axel was still out there. I shouldn’t care.

I mustn’t care.

I was managing it fine, just like I always did. I would just have to satisfy myself with stolen touches in the dark while I imagined Axel’s mouth dragging kisses down my stomach.

I cursed and pounded a fist against the wall in annoyance. I had been frightened of what Axel might do to me, but now I was starting to wonder if it was my own instincts I should be afraid of. I tried to remain calm. I would only have to stay in the apartment until the following day and then I could go back to work.

I wondered aimlessly why this man had seemed to show so much interest in me anyway, even if it had been for a bet. There were plenty of strung-out and hopeless cases downtown that were desperate for affection. I had no doubt Axel could lure any one of them back to his bed with little difficulty. Cassandra

I felt a sharp twist in my stomach at the thought of Axel putting those full lips even close to anyone else.

“Stop it,” I whispered to myself, blinking away the realization I had just experienced my first spark of jealousy.

I decided the most sensible option was to go back to bed and try not to be scared to fall asleep in case the nightmares resurfaced.

I could hear the rain starting to fall again, pattering against the window. A storm was coming. Just something else that served to feed my unease. I always dreaded the sound of the rain dancing in the gutters. A harsh reminder of that fateful night so long ago when my true nature had pushed a way through all the denial as if to remind me of my place.

Gabriel had held me close the last time I had seen my brother. It had been raining then, too. The night when everything was fire and pain. The itch of my pink young skin crawling and pulsating with a ferocity I never could have imagined possible.

“They’ll send you away, Cassandra.” Gabriel had told me, while I sobbed in his arms and begged him to take away the burning in my chest.

I had pleaded with him for help. I had no idea what was happening to my delicate body but I wanted it to stop, almost crying out in panic when I felt the steady spread of my first slippery extrusion sliding out of me. Gabriel had given me something to help with the discomfort just before he left and I had never forgotten the look on my brother’s face when he had been forced to say goodbye.

There was pity and sadness there, but something else was in his eyes that made my heart break. I thought later that may have been the moment when all hope abandoned me and everything inside me turned to stone. Only the fear remained, and that had never left.

I listened to the irregular pattern of falling water.

How had I forgotten that?

The storm had been wild that night. I always wondered if it was a sign. Something telling me to move on and leave the wreckage of my shame behind me.

“We’ve never had a female omega in our family. Never.” Gabriel had muttered while he helped me to gather together a few meager belongings before smuggling his sister down to the kitchen and scrabbling around in the cold store for a chunk of bread and a few slices of cured meat. My brother wrapped them up in a piece of linen and sent me away into the night to keep me safe, with the whispered promise he would always watch out for me.

“As long as you're here, you will be in danger.”

In his defense, he still sent the pills every month.

I believed in my own way, Gabriel had kept the promise he made to me when I was fifteen. I was still safe. Still undetected, and living as much of a life as anyone could when they had to hide away from the rest of the world.

I shivered. The storm was approaching fast. I heard the distinctive roar of distant thunder on the air. The apartment was humid and dank and I wanted to open the window but the sound of the deluge outside was too much.

I needed some air.

I walked back over to the door and bit hard into my lip while I put every scrap of concentration into sliding the chain back across and turning the key. I was fairly certain I heard an apartment door close only a few seconds after Axel’s forced departure, so I wasn’t unduly concerned I would meet him in the corridor.

I would just stand in the main entrance downstairs for a minute. It was much less confining, and it had a vending machine that stocked the best iced tea ever. I checked that I had enough pocket change before slipping quietly down the back stairs, and out.

I deposited a handful of coins in the slot and pressed the appropriate buttons. The can moved forward slowly and dropped into the tray below with a dull metallic thud. I bent down wearily to retrieve it, but when I turned around to walk back up the stairs I found myself only millimeters away from Axel Harrison.

I inhaled a shaky breath, holding up the can in front of me like some mystical charm that would somehow protect me from the package of flawless sin that was standing directly in front of me. Axel seemed to examine the can I was holding just before he ran his index finger up the outside to collect the moisture that had gathered there while the air condensed with the heat of the room.

“My favorite.” Axel smiled, slowly sucking the cool liquid between his lips. He ran his pink tongue along the length of his finger. He saw my eyes grow wide.

I couldn’t stop myself from watching the slick sweep as it disappeared back inside Axel’s mouth.

“Can we start again? Axel Harrison.” He repeated, holding out one hand for me to take.

“Hello, Axel,” I answered, without any heed to the consequences, when I slipped my fingers into Axel’s waiting palm. “Cassandra.”