Hold You Close
They had separate beds on the Rampion but its not like they used them. They had for the first few days, but nightmares kept Scarlet awake and Wolf couldn't sleep with the light of the moon shining through the hatch. Soon they found their ways into each others beds, until Wolf found Scarlet tangled in his arms every night.
She slept better knowing she was safe with him, that she would always be safe with him. His body could be still lying next to her, a good kind of deep, peaceful still.
The others didn't seem to know about these things, or if they did they chose not to talk about it. Iko made a point of casually mentioning that Wolf and Scarlet slept in the same bed whenever she could. Irksome little android.
One morning, Wolf awoke to the whitish artificial light shining from the corridor. Cabin doors burst open at precisely seven o'clock in the morning to wake crew members by letting the bright lights rouse them from their slumber. Scarlet was still asleep on the other side of the pillow.
A gap of space had formed between them in the night. Her hand rested on his hip and no other parts of them were touching.
Wolf studied her face. She was so beautiful this way, so quiet. Wolf wanted to remember every detail of her like this, before she woke and they remembered there was a war going on. Her eyelashes looked dark and thick against her pale skin. Her red hair was messy and tangled, spilling over her shoulder.
Wolf placed his hand over hers and followed it up her wrist, tracing the line of her arm up to her shoulder, the curve of her neck and came to rest in her hair. Being so close to her, he caught the faint scent of roses wafting from her hair.
She sighed in her sleep, soft and content. Peaceful. He'd give anything for her to be this way all the time, for the war to be over, for his newfound family to be safe.
For Scarlet to be safe.
His gaze fell on her mouth. Her lips were parted slightly, full and red. The contrast was sharp against the white of her skin.
Wolf pulled her closer to him. Slowly, he leaned down until his lips were just inches from hers. He paused, his heart thundering in his ears. He closed his eyes, insecure after all this time of how she really felt about him.
"Well, if you're not going to do it, I will."
Wolf opened his eyes in shock. Scarlet was awake and staring at him with bright green eyes. She closed the distance between them and kissed him.
Like every time he kissed, Wolf felt an explosion in his brain. Kissing her was like fire. She burned out all the bad, horrible things in his head and left only light. With her, he was not Z, not Beta Kesley or Alpha Kesley, not a Lunar Special Operative, not any of things he had been in years passed. With her, he was just Wolf. Just himself. And that was enough to make him feel whole, after years of being cut down and reduced to only the sum of his parts.
When Scarlet finally pulled away, Wolf didn't even want to imagine the look on his face. It must have been pretty goofy, because Scarlet just smiled and snuggled up against him.
"You don't have to worry," she whispered. "I'm here and I'm yours and we're gonna be okay."
He kissed the top of her head. "Okay." He whispered back.
And they laid there together in the dark, holding each other close, silent enough that Wolf would swear that he could hear the stars scraping across the sky.