Aku had been staring at him in silence for the whole ride, and quite frankly, it had been unnerving. That was one of the reasons Luc wasn't interested in dealing with his own kind; most of them were some weird ass weirdoes. Given the secluded upbringing of wolf shifter children and the withdrawn life that packs tended to prefer, it was no surprise. Yet that didn't change the fact that he wanted nothing to do with other shifters.

"Why are we stopping?" Aku asked, his voice already dropping close to that growl that probably had the lower members of his pack pee their pants. Luc only rolled his eyes at the cocky demeanour.

"We are stopping because I just so happen to live in that building over there." He pointed a finger and Aku obediently let his gaze travel in the direction, then frowned for the umpteenth time. Luc had no desire to learn what was going on in that backward mind of his.

"Are you inviting me into your home?"

"I wouldn't call it an invitation," Luc muttered under his breath, then sighed. "See, kid. I just feel like you might want to talk, and given that there's a Youtube video featuring you shapeshifting, well, I don't want us standing around on the street together more than necessary, okay?"

"I'm going to make the person pay that took the video," Aku simply replied with a finality to his statement that likely came from being an Alpha. Then, he turned his face towards Luc again, who actually found himself edging closer to the door when the piercing gaze settled on him. He absolutely hated that whole alpha-thing. It was the main reason he'd decided to turn his back on this moon-cult.

"Are you one of mine?"

Luc exited the car before Aku could even blink, though the kid was intent on following him outside just as quickly. Not surprising, given that he had literally invited him upstairs. Yet Luc found himself annoyed by the young Alpha that trailed after him.

"I asked you if you are one of mine?" Aku repeated the question, though his words came as a domineering growl this time that halted Luc in his steps while his heartbeat quickened, urging him to respond to the question. He briefly thought about how some of these cosy romance writers would describe his situation, but couldn't find any humour in it this time around.

While he just wanted to continue on and ignore the pampered little prick, he instead whirled around, staring down at the Alpha who wasn't flinching and would never be. "I am not one of yours."

"But you are a werewolf, aren't you?"

Luc actually face-palmed himself. "It's called a wolf shifter."

"So you are a werewolf!" Aku exclaimed excitedly, and Luc decided to ignore his ignorance. There seemed to be more urgent matters at hand, one of them being the puppy eyes with which the kid was now regarding him.

"What?" he grumbled, only to find Aku clutching at his shirt with the desperation of a drowning man. Luc scrunched his nose and tried to edge away, but the kid followed suit. When he stopped, the smaller body pressed against his a second later.

"Where is your pack? Are they living around here? In that building you're taking me to? God, I'm so excited! I never thought I'd find another pack this close. What if he's here? Oh, dear moon goddess, please let him be part of this pack."

Among the constant string of words that poured from the kid's mouth, Luc identified a troubling amount of fanatism. All he could say, though, was, "Him?"

Aku blinked as if he was just then catching on to reality again. That dumb look was almost cute on him. "Well, my mate, of course. He will be my destined one, the one that will complete everything that's missing."

"He?" Luc repeated, still hung up on the fact that this little Alpha was apparently interested in humping his own sex, something that he'd been given a load of shit for where he had grown up.

Aku groaned. "Yes, he. I'm gay. Get over it. Now, where's your pack?"

"I don't have one," Luc stated. While he had wanted the words to come out with confidence, his voice had faltered after the first syllable and quieted down pathetically. He glanced aside when Aku release his shirt, stepping away from him.

"What?" the kid asked, apparently more than a little dumbfounded.

"I'm a lone wolf," Luc elaborated a bit louder as the anger fuelled his temper. "I don't have a pack anymore. Okay?"

Aku's posture faltered disheartened, and Luc briefly regretted having shattered the boy's hope before he remembered what stupid fantasies the kid was entertaining in the first place. There was only a relatively small number of wolf shifters in the world, let alone ones who were his age, so really, if the kid even had a mate, there was literally no way to find him.

Since there was nothing more to say, Luc turned and stomped off. Of course, he was being followed - and it was his own fault for chatting the kid up in the first place. All he'd wanted to do was give some friendly advise and send the kid on his way, but of course, things had taken another turn. That's why he hated dealing with any sort of supernatural being.

"Why are you following me? I obviously don't have what you're looking for," Luc said when they reached the entrance.

Aku tilted his head aside and looked up at him with a big questionmark imprinted on his pretty boy face. "You invited me inside. And I could need a cooked meal for a change, and a bath, and a new set of-"

Luc had intended to silence the kid with his fierce teacher glare, yet the Alpha was obviously immune to that, so he had to cut in to make him stop talking. "I'm not charity, okay?"

"I am an Alpha," Aku growled as if that statement was going to solve everything. Luc felt his gut clench, and he was tempted to cower before those piercing eyes. He didn't, though.

"And I am an independent person with a mind of my own, so unless you ask nicely, I'm not going to offer you shit."

Aku seemed a little taken aback, given how he suddenly moved away to grant Luc some personal space. "What's your name?"

"Lucian Fiore."

"Lu-cian?" Aku repeated, weirdly emphasizing the syllables.

"Yeah, Lucian. Just call me Lucy if that's too complicated."

Damn, did the kid looked cute when that whole alpha-bullshit-confidence dropped from his features. Luc bit down on the inside of his lower lip, then gave in to the temptation to ruffle Aku's hair. The Alpha ducked away at the last second, glaring daggers at him.

"You're making fun of me again."

"Very accurate observation." Luc grinned. The kid was too easy to tease, and he deserved every bit of it.

"Are you an Alpha?"

Caught off guard, Luc's expression went blank briefly before it tensed uncomfortably while his lips pulled into a disgusted sneer. "And what would that matter?"

Aku's eyes lit up. "Well, that explains why you're immune to my growl."

"I'm as immune to your growl as every other fucking wolf. I just learned to deal with it. There's no reason I should cower before you just because some ridiculous moon goddess decided that some wolves are apparently worth more to her than others."

Aku's bright eyes widened so much that they were almost perfectly round, reminding Luc of the fucking moon of all things. He glared straight at them, then barked, "Did you copy that?"

Aku nodded slowly, yet appeared rather unimpressed by Luc's outburst. He was neither flinching nor cowering, and he was holding head and shoulders straight like a perfect little Alpha.

"Does that mean if I ask, I can come upstairs?"

Luc blinked, confused. "What?"

"You said that if I asked-"

"I know what I said," he snapped and finally unlocked the door so they could make their way to his apartment. When they entered the cramped foyer, Aku unceremoniously brushed past him and went on to explore the place, sniffing like a damn hound.

Luc dropped his bag and shoes right where he stood before he shuffled into the kitchen, unconsciously taking enough left-over lasagna from the fridge to feed a second mouth. He stared at the food, feeling like an obedient pack wolf, then put everything in the oven anyways. The kid was a pain in the ass, but it was Luc's good deed for the day.

When Aku returned, he immediately made Luc regret that decision, though. "You're one very weird werewolf."

Luc closed his eyes with a sigh, short of rolling them in frustration. When he opened them again, his exasperation showed in the little effort he put into making any kind of expression.

"Okay, listen. First of all, werewolves have gone instinct almost five hundred years ago. What you and I are is called a wolf shifter. Big difference."

They stared at each other in silence for the better part of a minute before Aku had the audacity to remark, "No wonder you're not part of a pack if you speak like that to an Alpha."

You're so dead, Luc thought and of course, didn't act on the impulse to rip the kid's throat out.

"You're partially right about that," he replied instead, forcing himself to be calm while he looked down at the Alpha. "But it's not that I'm a lone wolf because I talk like that; it's because I want to. So if you want to preach to me about how I should cower before you, please do that somewhere else, especially if you think about using that alpha voice on me one more time. Otherwise, lasagna's ready in a good ten minutes and I'm sure you've already figured out where the shower is, so feel free to clean up."