Author's Notes

Summary: Adrien and Kagami have an unexpected encounter with Tomoe, hold a decided sword fight in Kagami's bedroom, and then, as is the case in every healthy relationship, talk through their concerns. France's future power couple are just about ready to form a pack, but a storm greater than even Kagami herself seems to be on the horizon.

Warnings: Be warned that Kagami and Adrien are going to both use their penises here. Docking, knotting, and cumplay are going to be at work here, and both Alphas have something of a breeding kink.

Inside Tatsu, they collided again, struggling to consume each other, all lips and tongue and clawing hands that left their clothes dishevelled. It was a fight where there was no loser. Fierce and hard with need, Kagami pinned him to the back seat, leveraging her agility in the confined space. She lay out flush on him, claiming his mouth as a prize he gave happily while stroking his hands down her back and massaging her ass. Smooth muscle resisted his squeezing hands. What would it feel like if he won – pinned her, took her?

As mates, they – they would both find out one day.

They whined for each other, the sound echoing and reverberating with their reciprocal growls as if they didn't know whether it was submission or conquest they wanted or needed in that moment.

Adrien almost fainted with the rush of blood and sensation, Kagami grinning into their kiss as they swelled against each, when he realized it.

They could have both. Together.

They stumbled out of the car when it reached the Tsurugi estate, trying desperately to fix their clothes and settle their obvious need, even though it would make no difference to the nose of another Alpha-female like Tomoe.

The Tsurugi matriarch was reserved and respectful as she welcomed him into her home. Her reliance on scent and instinct to supplement the loss of her eyesight had left her no less skilled or capable.

In the past, she had always seemed to merely tolerate his presence. This time, Adrien showing proper deference because it was still her territory, she chuffed at them, though there was something ... matronly about her smell. It wasn't ugly like his father's; instead, she spoke to them briefly before telling them that she would be departing for the evening and would stay at the Trurugi offices tonight. She "Had no desire to hear or smell her daughter and her boyfriend rutting."

It was kind of obvious what they planned on doing when they swaggered in, reeking of lust and panting for each other, but she ... countenanced it and accepted it and encouraged it so easily.

Adrien almost felt accepted himself.

Harsh as she often was, when she closed distance on him, he tensed up, bristling under the pressure of her presence and her scent. His father, miles away inside the secured, austere Agreste mansion assaulted him even here. The sense of his disapproving loathing for – for Adrien's being an Alpha and not submissive was enough to sour his scent and had his spine and hands aching. It took effort not to snarl. If she scented or sensed the child's fear that still ate away at him, Tomoe didn't show it

Then, she slipped her palm to his arm and ever-so-gently scented him.

As he stared up at her, slack jawed and no-doubt looking like an idiot in parallel with his girlfriend, he- he had to stop himself from crying again.

What a hormonal mess he was. All that Alpha in him just bled away so easily when – when he was accepted, with the smallest act. He still didn't have balance. That meeting with Luka was probably just as necessary as his time spent with Kagami and some extensive interactions with Marinette if they were going to court her as a pair.

As if there was any doubt about that now.

Without a word, Tomoe left him and her daughter to stare after her as she gripped her bokken, using it as a walking cane, and calmly strode out of the home, bringing up Tatsu on her remote.

He and his girlfriend shared a glance and he almost laughed at the expression of shock that had Kagami's face twisted up cutely as she scratched the back of her head. That was unexpectedly... warm, insofar as Tomoe Tsurugi was capable of it.

Words were unnecessary; they had said everything that needed to be said already on the piste, with a few minor points of clarification and translation on the steps. Pride was warranted too, really. It felt like he'd ... made progress with Kagami's partnership. God, that was amazing to think.

Instead, shaking off the stupor, she simply threaded her hand with his and led him up the stairs to her room

The strangest thing about this surreal experience, even more bizarre than Tomoe's blanket acceptance, was how he felt as he was guided up the wide stairwell and into Kagami's room.

He wasn't worried.

The room was spartan, as befit his no-frills girlfriend. He set his bag down at the side of the door, right beside hers.

A wall of trophies was a testament to all of her accomplishments but aside from a writing desk, chair, and a few bookshelves along the back wall beside her closet, the room was mostly empty, save for the silly stuffed dragon he had won for her on a date to a fair nearly a year ago. She had looked at him with a raised brow and then blown twenty-five Euro playing the same game just to win him a plush dog that was one size larger.

They'd probably have gone on like that if Marinette, Nino, and Alya hadn't pulled them away to the rides.

Looking at that stuffie, and then to his girlfriend as she folded her arms around his waist and nosed his chin, he just felt... calm. Certain. He knew what was going to happen, he wanted it, she wanted it, and anyone or anything that had a problem with that could go screw itself.

Was this how a fully-developed, stable, and – and competent Alpha felt all the time? Not walking hard-ons or bundles of needs and aggression, but... self-confident?

Caught up in his thoughts, he didn't even registered Kagami's wuff of impatience until she demanded his attention by angling upwards and tugging him into a heady kiss that had him reeling on the back-foot. Her weight shifted and all that coiled and developed Alpha muscle was enough to send him stumbling back into the wall as she feasted on his lips, all nipping playful aggression. He moaned into her mouth, hands scrabbling for a hold on her side or hip.

And then they were lost, both frantic, tearing at each other's clothes. God her smell filled him up in ways he'd never imagined. All that fire, energy, and need was caked into his skin. He had to taste it, had to have her, so he tore his mouth from hers and pressed lower, snuffling her neck and adoring her shocked gasp as he laved his tongue over her throat. Kagami burst in his mouth, sweet fire and addictive.

He needed her to whimper and break for him, but she shoved him away so that they could both nearly rip through their musky and dishevelled clothing.

Instinct beyond reason, flame on flame, rose up and sang that ancient song of mate-fuck-please with a sweet antiphonal note of love.

He'd thought that he was ready – prepared after having Marinette in his arms, tempting and pacifying, but she was warmth and home.

It was different with Kagami as she tossed her shirt aside to expose her breasts. The slightly olive orbs were capped off with peaked nipples, her arousal obvious as she smoothed her hands down her chest and the robust lines of her abs. All the models he'd seen were waifsh, thin. Kagami bristled with thick muscles that mirrored his own, and, fuck, it was perfect. Her body was perfectly-toned power, compact, deadly.

She smelled of gunpowder and longing musk that had him reaching out to grasp her chest, rolling them in his hands as she smirked at his hormonal eagerness.

It was different than Marinette because Kagami was fire, and the heat of her seared his palms.

"You can take them in your mouth, you know?" Kagami teased, pulling his head down towards her breasts. Instinct without thought drove him forward and he delighted in each groan and whimper he could drag out of her as his mouth closed around her nipple. The soft, fragrant flesh tasted so good, so soft and sweet and salty against his tongue as he suckled and worshipped.

"Good boy – such a good Alpha." The way she huffed into his hair, cock swelling against his hip, was a thrill, but that! He'd never heard it before, and it was only now that he realized that he wanted to be a good Alpha.

Something about the way her body curved and arched when he pulled away from her pebbly-rough nipple sent shivers into his gut. Saliva left her glistening, the tender flesh shuddering with the heartbeat that rocked through them both and his lips trailed kisses across her cleavage and up her throat to bathe in her pheromones. He swayed, fully hard and pained with arousal, at the smell as she scented him all over, claimed him as hers. It was liquid bliss prickling at his skin like static before a thunderstorm, and he sighed into her, needing her and needing more.

Planting his hands to the wall on either side of her smaller form, pinning her only left her hands free to range over his body as she rub her cheek to his before delving lower to allow him to mark her as well.

She kissed him, and for just a moment, it was soft after their mutual claiming, and then fierce and needy.

"Take off your pants," he grumbled against her lips, planting a parting kiss that she tried to turn into a fight, though he denied her. "I want to see you."

"Oh, so demanding," she snorted. "Best not speak that way with an Omega. They'd be quivering at your feet, or flagging so you could knot them."

"I- I don't-" God. He trembled. Her arms and torso were all fine arching muscle, bunching up as she slipped her thumbs into the waistband of her jeans. What did you say to that? To any of that? Marinette slipping off her pants, flagging, needing him.

Then, for a moment, Marinette was completely wiped from his mind.

This was the body of an Alpha who had actually had time, and a diet and regime to develop properly.

He'd felt her cock as it swelled up inside of her pants while they got tangled up in each other's arms and scent, but he'd never actually seen it.

"God, Kagami, I-" He clamped his teeth down on his lip.

Now he did and he'd never even imagined it. No masturbatory fantasy really compared to the real thing that stole his breath away as she smirked at him with glee and tugged off her pants, leaving her only in her underwear.

"Oh? Do you like it?" She turned, showing off in smug Alpha pride, as her pants fell to the ground. Her underwear tented with her heavy weeping arousal, two wet spots capping them off, one right at the head of her straining cock and the other lower, framing her pussy. For Kagami, it was ... natural. Like picturing her without a cock would have been wrong – ridiculous.

She wasn't meant to be bred.

Then, without further preamble, she slipped off her bulging underwear and tossed them in his direction, reflex leading him to snatch them out of the air.

A few quick pumps had him trembling, just as she obviously hoped. With its thick lines and slightly curved shaft and heavy musk, her cock was alien and familiar at once as it strained and twitched, jutting out from the top of her pussy, lips spread and glistening. There were no balls or foreskin, obviously. An intense musk that had him torn between the burning need to fight and fuck rose from the slightly drippy head as she watched him admiring her dick.

"Touch me, Adrien," she hummed without even the slightest shame, inviting him to cradle her cock.

He wanted to see it, more of it; more of her, and god, he had no idea what he was doing as he reached out to take her twitching penis into his hand, giving it a tentative stoke as she gasped.

"There you go, Kagami. D-Does that feel good?" He wanted to be dirtier – ask her if she liked her Alpha stroking her cock, but – but her couldn't bring himself that far.

"A-Adrien, so soft!" she gasped, clutching onto his forearm to try to force him to move faster. As she humped into his palm, soft and slick in his hand, he realized that it wasn't really that different from touching himself.

Suddenly, his hand was caught between them. She surged forward, laughing, and their lips were together, fluttering apart again in a sloppy-awkward kiss because puffs of her breath washed over his face and she couldn't hold back the giggles that were hiccuping and awkward and adorable.

Her hand trailed down the smooth and slightly rippling skin of his belly to cup him between his legs. Kagami was almost always unflappable, poised and reserved, and there was something that made his want so bad – so painful – when her forehead creased with surprise as she felt him, fingers trying to weigh his cock and knot.

He was bigger than her, and she knew it.

"Hm." A hiss rose up when she palmed him. "I hope that we have at least one male Omega.

"Oh," he grinned, grabbing her hand and forcing her to stroke him more firmly through his pants. "Why is that?"

Her fingers probed his knot, dragging out a frustratingly submissive yelp when she measured the heft of his base.

"It's going to be incredible to finally see you knot a male omega with this." Their cheeks came together in a nuzzle as he gaped at the idea. "I've thought about it so often."

He chuffed and choked at once, staring. "How can you just say that so calmly?"

"I've been through a half dozen ruts. After that, it's hard to be ashamed of a simple fantasy. Don't you enjoy the thought of it?" she pressed, licking her lips as if she was about to set into a meal.

"I- I'm more interested in women," he half-lied. The idea of knotting another male had a certain feral allure not so different from the sensation that he got from his duel with Kagami, but it sang to his need for dominance. An Omega was – she gripped him harder; she must have picked up the shift in his scent and his twitching – was meant to be protected-loved-bred-dominated.

"Oh, so you don't want to pin Luka to the ground and mount him?" Slow stroking motions against his crotch dragged up a growl and he had to fight off the instinctive desire to let his eyes roll shut.

"I thought that we were- we were talking about Marinette."

"We are, but do you think that two Alphas could be satisfied by one omega, no matter how incredible she might be? Would you really put all of that on her?"

"N-no... that wouldn't be fair." A pair of horny Alphas would just … destroy Marinette. If they got help, she deserved it too.

"So, Luka. I know that you must have thought about knotting him at some point. I know that I have. He has a very attractive scent."

Fuck. That image: Kagami sliding her cock along Luka's cheeks, slipping into his asshole that dribbled with slick after he'd been worked up and teased to the point of begging and desperation, while Marinette watched from their nest. Her face would be pinched up in awe and jealousy as her Alpha-female fucked Luka loose and bred him – another mother to match her with her swollen belly.

The idea of sharing a mate – multiple mates – with her – watching as she pleasured them and cradled them and bred them had him painfully hard. A family, growing larger and larger, crushed together in one expansive but intimate nest... It was too much to bear.

He had to be naked like her. In a fury, accidentally tearing the button off his jeans as he hobbled on one leg and nearly collapsed to the floor, he was and she was on him again.

They fumbled through another kiss that he wanted to keep gentle just for a moment because it was like they were sealing a pact – not rutting just yet, but agreeing that there was something between them that they had to be gentle for – someone. Then, as he started to lose himself in her lips, enjoying the little, growing battle for dominance as she stroked his sides, their cocks brushed.

A hand fell to his jaw to guide him deeper into her kiss while her fingers brought both of them together, curling around their brushing, slick heads. It was soft and sticky as their tips caressed again, slicked with drooling precum.

His hand joined hers as he gulped for breath, trapping them together. He could feel the hot hard-soft flesh of her cock in his palm and his hypersensitive member as they ground against one another, testing and trying to provoke each other.

It really wasn't so different from jerking himself off, though instead of butting up against his balls on each down-stroke, there was a different radiating heat rising moist from her cunt as his fingers slicked with her dripping need at the base of her phallus.

"Wait," she groaned with a slightly sloppy motion, hand pulling away. When he looked up from her cock, he almost lost himself at the the intensity of her eyes. "Get whatever it is the you have in your bag."

"What?"

"Whatever smells so much like Marinette," Kagami clarified as if it should have been obvious, breaking away from him to head over to her dresser. "Unless you want to go all the way tonight, I'll get a toy."

"You- you use toys?" he gaped as the thought, although he did scurry towards his bag. The thought of smelling more of Marinette – like she was here with them, about to be held between them washed away almost any other fear or hesitation.

"Of course." There was that challenging laugh again, and he could barely breathe at the chuffing sound when she withdrew a lengthy tube made of clear silicon and a bottle half-full of viscous liquid from her drawer. "Do you think that I was able to get through my ruts without having several toys?"

"Oh?" he choked out at the thought of her weathering her ruts and nearly wished that she hadn't been so considerate as to "spare" him for two years. Of course, she was right; he hadn't been ready.

"You don't?" Her head quirked in clear confusion. "My mother bought a half-dozen when I first awoke."

"Uh." He rubbed the back of his neck while cradling Marinette's scarf reverently. "Not really."

"It's good that you won't need them. By the time you reach your first rut, you'll have both me and Marinette."

That seemed like they were moving too fast. Marinette deserved to be … wooed … provided she was interested and not just turned on by him.

"A- are you sure? I mean, that seems like it's a little fast."

There was that chuffing yet indulgent laugh of hers.

"Adrien, you and I could have her tomorrow if you committed, but now's not the time. Now, come here, Alpha," she purred as she sauntered over the the bed, splaying herself out so that he could slaver over her perfect figure.

The smooth rosiness of her beasts and fine-cut figure enthralled him, dragged him forward as she started to play with her breasts and slowly stroke her cock, keeping herself perfectly hard. The smooth, wanton seduction drew him her bed. It wasn't a nest, and she was far from an Omega, but he hadn't realized just how desperate he was to be welcomed – guided into – another person's intimate space. He brought Marinette with him, settling the scarf on Kagami's pillow, though the other Alpha fingered the edge of it for a moment, breathing deep and shivering.

The bed was soaked with Kagami's scent and Marinette presence – warmth and heat – as they lay facing each other. He had to kiss her, her face alight and lines of surprise creasing her cheeks for a moment before she began to lave pecks around her chin and mouth and then trailed down his chest.

They scented each other eagerly, nuzzling and kissing, while her free hand curled around his cock, jerking him to keep him fully hard. With the thought of Marinette's plump rear in mind from earlier that day, he tried to reciprocate, clutched at Kagami's ass and massaging her roughly.

Resting heavy on the mattress between them, their cocks scraped by each other with each subtle motion.

"Ugh. You like that?"

God, he did, as he reached down to press their cocks together for a moment. She looked eager and disappointed at once when they affirmed that he was just a little bit longer and thicker.

With a shrug of dismissal, she rolled over to grab her toy and the bottle of lube.

Adrien had to get one of those. It was so beautiful to see her pressing her finger inside of it, swirling around the tight entrance while watching his reaction, teasing him with the thought of her doing that to Marinette instead. Once it was slick, she slathered the lube over her own member and handed the bottle over to him. He fumbled to do the same, making a bit of a mess of his abs with an errant squirt.

Because he was too consumed with the sight of her: she brought the thick tube down to her straining cock, gripping the base of the shaft in her free hand while staring at him, smirking at his reaction. The head of her phallus probed the tight hole as she flicked up and down, sliding her glans across those slick fake-pussy lips as if torturing a poor, needy Omega to force her to beg.

"Can you smell her, Adrien? How much she wants us?" she growled, slow rocks of her hips distending the toy, slipping in just an inch as Adrien turned slightly to huff the scent of Marinette's scarf. Sweetness, home, and just a hint of arousal lingered and it had him bulging.

"Yes," he breathe, tasting Marinette and Kagami at once, sliding down the bed slightly so that he could take hold of the wriggling silicon tube which he saw had another tight opening on the other end. "Yes, Alpha," he purred.

Her hips slammed forward as her breath got caught up. She liked that affirmation as much as he did.

And he got it. Finally, finally fucking something with his knot screaming, he pressed into the fake cunt, prodding several times and spreading slick lube over the rubbery lips until his cock finally sunk halfway into heaven.

His spine arched.

Their cocktips eased against each other, smearing lube and precum. The heat of Kagami's slowly rocking cock radiated into him – teased and tugged him in all the way. He sunk into bliss.

Everything was hard-soft-hot need as they felt each other out, waiting on the edge, straining, trembling, waiting to see who would move first. Who would set the pace? Who would create an opening?

Kagami moaned, sultry and deep, as she grabbed at his lower back to pull him forward into her body and Marinette. Great heaving breaths brought to him the scent of Alpha and Omega at once from her body is it oozed violent, desperate want and the scarf that they both turned their faces to.

"She feels so good, doesn't she?" a more aggressive thrust had her half buried in the toy – Marinette's pussy – while her hand rose from her base to stroke his chest and throat. "So natural,"

"She does- God, 'gami – she- she's so tight."

"Then give it to her," Kagami hissed, holding onto him as if she was afraid that he was going to disappear while they both lost themselves in the sweet vanilla and flower scent of the scarf that was now soaking in their musk as well. "Breed her, Adrien!"

"God!" he cried against the explosion of pleasure, envisioning Marinette slamming herself down onto their cocks. Kagami's hand squeezed down on the toy between them. The sound of it was blistering in his ears, the slick friction nearly enough to have him come without knotting.

The furious motions as they clashed together were a storm of fire and lightning, a tempest that battered him and rolled great tumultuous waves over his head and threatened to drown him.

There was a moment of crystalline clarity as they thrust upwards together, cocks hot and slick as they slid against each other, allowing him to feel the straining twitches that raced through her member as she fought off the desire to come and knot and breed.

It did feel natural – fighting, protecting, Marinette-Omega between them, and breeding. Of course Alphas were walking hard-ons. Thank God. He could get addicted to this.

His face pinched up tight as he admired her heaving breasts while she thrust against him.

Marinette was sweet in his mouth; Kagami hot and electric, tingling in the base of his neck and back of his skull.

"Look at me, Adrien," Kagami huffed the command in her Alpha voice and it wasn't obedience that had him open his eyes; it was the thrill of defiance. The feral grin on her face as they locked eyes pierced into his chest as he puffed up and grabbed her hand so that they could begin to smash the toy down on their raging cocks, the fumbling only intensifying the pressure and making their strokes more desperate.

Her eyes didn't demand submission; they asked for a challenge, and he offered it.

It wasn't about who would win. It was about who would lose as Kagami reached up and began to roll her breast with a free hand and pinch her nipple between her fingers.

Who would come first?

It wouldn't be him.

"You see how much bigger my cock is?" he huffed at the great thrill of pleasure and something else that bubbled up when Kagami's motions slowed and uncertain shock spread across her face. "Marinette wo- wouldn't' even feel you after I'm done with her."

"As if you'd ever get the chance," she hissed back, defiance bubbling up again.

"You'll be lucky if I let you-" He gaped, cut off, as his stomach twisted up and he curled into her, pressing their sweat-dampened foreheads together. Her breath was hot on his face as he watched her eyes start to roll back. "If I let you clean her when I'm done."

Kagami between their Omega's thighs, feasting on her sweetness, cleaning out his seed...

"Fuck! Like this," she crooned, shoulders drooping as she shuddered with the effort of holding off her orgasm that had her cock painfully rigid against his. The rapid motion of her hand slowed as she started to squeeze them together. The pressure in his balls nearly seemed ready to burst as he whined with need. "Just like this. Both of us!"

God, he could see her now, clinching at Kagami's shoulders while their mate's thick knot squeezed up into her pussy, locking them together so that she could be flooded with jet after jet of semen.

Bred.

Her arms would fall limp at her sides at the first spurt as her body surrendered to them, while they cradled her, awash in sweat and their combined scents. Then, his ears would pick up the barely audible echo of her scream, nearly silent, when she slapped her face to Kagami's throat and begged for mercy that she wouldn't get when his frantic thrusts pounded open her asshole and she was knotted again, sphincter clenching around the base of his cock.

She'd be so beautiful when Kagami kissed away the tears of joy and pain and they both tried to soothe away the discomfort because she was such a good and acquiescing Omega. So good for them. So good together.

He ached at the sight of Kagami's face pinched up with pleasure as she tried to hold back her orgasm, sweat plastering hair to her face as she huffed in great pants through her nose. The heat from her twitching cock soaked into his as they frotted together, their cockheads scraping and kissing as they pounded into the slick silicon tube between them.

He had to beat her, had to break her resolve and make her come.

Dominate. Fuck. Breed. Claim. Need. Protect. Please.

The heat and pressure increased as she lost all semblance of control, slamming her hips forward in quick, uneven thrusts and her cock swelled up against his.

Clawed fingers dug desperately into the meat of his shoulders, the sting itself a thrill, as she mewed and cried into his mouth, strengthening his resolve as she broke.

Finally, the tide of orgasm overtook her and she came, screaming his name and Marinette's in a garble while her final thrust knotted her end of the toy, loosing thick spurts of cum, flooding the toy, the sticky slickness surrounding his twitching cock and the knowledge that he'd beaten her making the squeeze and press of the toy all the sweeter.

Holding off for more than a few seconds as she convulsed, he needed her – needed to taste her lips as he humped frantically into the suckling warm sticky bliss of of the fake pussy until he whimpered.

Stars and tingling electricity burst in his eyes and washed out thought as he slammed his knot past the lip of the toy and he came with her.

Their seed burst out around the thick knotted ends of their silicon toy, dribbling down onto Kagami's mattress as they huffed and gulped down air, desperate-harsh breaths washing over each other's faces in pants, tingling cold against sweaty flesh, as they filled their toy to overflowing – just as they would Marinette or Luka or any other Omega who they wanted to – to treasure and breed and keep safe and loved because giving love to someone who actually valued it – didn't throw it away – was as important as getting it to someone who was so new at either – had never loved or been loved quite the way he'd wanted.

Their shafts were still hot and hard against one another, twitching and stimulating as they rode out that long, languid knotted orgasm. They kissed each other, moving slowly, tongues battling back and forth in a feeble dance. Her free had found his cheek while he drew her closer by threading a hand through her hair, playing with its strands.

It wasn't quite a competition now; there was only the bliss of having finished together, savoring the panting hormone and endorphin rush of having fought and emerged on the other side.

"Ugh," Adrien hummed as they pulled apart at long last, though still knotted together in their toy. Their release was not an entirely pleasant smell, but he loved it. It made the room feel like theirs, left him tired and dreamy like he could happily roll through that sensation, even though they were a sticky mess. "Sorry about the sheets."

"It's hardly the first time that I've had to change my sheets," Kagami scoffed, snorting as he resettled and upset her knot. "Stop that." She swatted his arm.

"Sorry." They were still hot and wet against each other. "It's just that it- it's a little tight."

"That's why I'm telling you to stop, unless you want to go again." Her eyes rolled as she reached behind his ear to run her fingers through his hair. He shivered at that soothing sensation of her nails to his scalp.

"Probably best that we not. I'm already going to be late for dinner as it is."

"Do you wish to have that shower, at least?" Kagami looked down to the knotted toy between them, took the mid-section in hand, and with no small effort, tugged free. More of their combined release trailed after her.

"Probably for the best." And it wasn't like he didn't want to share a shower with a gorgeous girl he'd just half-rutted. "I don't want to show up at home smelling this rank."

She pressed her nose to his chest and breathed.

"I rather like the way you smell at the moment," she offered absently while she turned and stretched, spine cracking. "And would be willing to give up half my inheritance to see the look on …" - her face darkened for a moment, in that subtle 'Kagami' way of hers - "Gabriel's face if you did."

She rose while he tugged the toy free from his softening member.

All the tightly compressed curves of her breasts, the robust lines of muscle that led down to her pubic mound, and the flaccid cock that hung heavily between her legs and still carried the strong scent of their commingled seed had his blood heating again.

Why couldn't he see that every day?

Damn hormones.

After cleaning up the toy and stripping the sheets for the wash, their shower was slow, lingering, calming rather than arousing. The fight was over. Warm water sloughed away sweat and seed and scent, but they'd soaked into eachother. He might have insisted on using that harsh, chemical scent cleaner, but... he couldn't do it. Couldn't take away the sense that they had burrowed into each other's skin. He wanted more of that, and not just with her.

The call of Marinette's scent from the scarf she'd made him drew him back to Kagami's bed, while he toweled off his hair, and he sat there for a moment, fingering the rough wool, suddenly melancholic.

"Are you alright, Adrien?" Kagami asked as she made her way to her dresser for a change of clothes.

Was he? Was he just coming down from an endorphin rush?

"I- I was hoping that ... I don't know."

"You're still not at peace." He appreciated the way that her brow pinched up with a scowl while she collected her clothing and tossed them onto her bed.

Looking back down to the scarf, he realized that wasn't quite it.

He wasn't complete, and that may not have been on her or Marinette.

Maybe it was him.

Kagami settled next to him, still wholly naked and not caring, as if she could just stroll down the street that way and only grin at the way Omegas drooled and Alphas stared jealously.

"I wish that I could provide that to you because I see that you need it, but it is not something that you really want from me." Her naked breasts against his shoulder as she hugged him to herself possessively, made him feel... better. It reminded him that he was owned in a way that had him looping a hand around her waist so she could feel it too.

"You go to Marinette when you need comfort, or Luka when you wish to play music and be soothed. As beautiful as it is, it is not something that Marinette and I share with you. We can appreciate how it calms you, but we do not understand it and cannot participate."

It was possible that she was just being self-deprecating as she smiled for him. And she did smile for him.

"We give each other different things. You come to me when you need to be challenged. When you know that you want something, but are too afraid to act."

"When I need a kick in the butt, you mean?" he snarked. Butt-kickings were probably too frequent.

"Oh, yes," came her growled response, brown eyes dark with promise as she trailed her hand down to said butt. "But come, now, Adrien. I have seen your Instagram. I know that you can swear."

"I caught heck from my father and our PR agents for that." With a scoff, he leaned in to nip at her chin, enjoying the way her jaw twitched while she held off a tremble. "Worth it. So, I come to you when I need a kick in the ass?"

"Yes, and I am always happy to kick your ass, Adrien," she said, brow raising. "Especially when you most need it."

"Wow. I'm shocked that Omegas aren't lining up for you to kick their assess."

"Who's to say that they aren't? I am simply quite selective. It has to be a very fine ass to be worthy of getting kicked." As if to emphasize her point, she gave his ass a squeeze, and he couldn't help the grunt that had her grinning.

"I'm flattered."

"As well you should be."

They held each other for a while, Adrien pondering everything that his life was, and wasn't, and might be.

"Kagami?"

"Yes, Adrien?"

He kissed her, and it was beautiful that he could still surprise her, her lips trailing after his when he withdrew just as suddenly.

"Thanks for kicking my ass." A flirty Chat Noir wink had her shaking her head at him.

"You are welcome," she scoffed with a shove to his shoulder. "Still, it is up to you to actually do whatever it was that you were hesitating about."

She was also right, of course. About kicking his ass and Marinette and Luka. All the people around him fit into different holes – in a completely non-sexual sense; damn is hormones for twisting everything – they met different needs in different proportions.

"It's like when we went for ice cream, eh? We all had our own flavours, but it was up to us to figure out how they fit."

"The metaphor breaks down, I think, as I would enjoy four scoops of vanilla ice cream." The light and satisfying tingle of her nails trailing over his shoulder had him groaning and purring. She pressed her cheek to his, and suddenly as they rolled against each other, his whole world was the scent of cinnamon cut with something explosive – harsh and acrid but exhilarating and dangerous too – and the softness of her flesh while they nuzzled.

"However," she continued in a breathy whisper against his face, "it is the different combinations – the way that they compliment each other – that make the dish exciting. Plain vanilla would be quite boring, and I am most assuredly uninterested in leading a boring life. So, are you ready to actually act on your feelings for Marinette?"

"No."

Kagami frowned and rose to stand in front of him, arms locking over her chest as she glowered.

"Adrien, do I have to kick your ass physically?" The scowl intensified, but there was a gleam of eagerness too. "I will if you force me to."

"No." His hands rose to wave her off – and ward her off because a pissed off Kagami was terrifying, even more so since she was his girlfriend. "It's not that."

"You're hesitating again. I won't, you know?"

"No. It's not hesitation," he deflected her verbal thrust as he pushed past her to put his scarf back into his bag and pull out a change of clothes, heedless of the little growl she threw in his direction. "It's not about holding back because I'm uncertain. I- I realize how much I want her, and- and I will start to court her. I don't think I could not court her after what happened today, but I'm not ready for her."

"Do you mean that you are not ready to mate with her outright?" She smiled wolfishly as she stepped into her underwear and pulled them up her legs. "I could certainly handle that for you if you're unwilling."

He laughed because the threat, while genuine, was also meant to spur him to compete in a ... friendly and loving rivalry that he cherished as much as he did Marinette's calm.

"I'm not the kind of Alpha that she needs in her life. I can't take care of her the way that she deserves because I'm still figuring out what I'm supposed to be. You can protect her, but neither of us can... can really be strong and soft when she needs it."

"Yet you can be in a relationship with me?" she asked while buttoning up a fresh blouse.

"Yes. We have a different dynamic. It's okay if we're too rough or we – I don't know." He shrugged while collecting his shirt and slipping it over his head, fiddling for a moment with the arms. "We're both the same kind of mess, so we work, but Marinette deserves our best."

Kagami paused and considered him from the corner of her eye, judging, before she spoke soft and clear.

"Adrien, that is one of the most ... Alpha things that you've ever said. You've put her needs above yours and want to make certain that she is not hurt. I'm... genuinely impressed."

"I have to land a touch ever now and again, right?" He shrugged while enjoying the way she looked at him, impressed.

She sauntered across the room to stand at his side.

"You land them so rarely that they always come as a surprise."

"Ha. Ha," he deadpanned, shoving her in the arm because she was one of the few people he- he was allowed to be rough with.

"So what do you propose that we do?" There was genuine curiosity to her voice, subtle though it might have been, as she smoothed out the edges of his shirt – made him presentable because ... because you wanted to show off the things that were yours, he realized. Wanted people to see just how good they were. He knew that because he started to do the same thing to her blouse, folding it along the proper lines and shifting it so that it sat right on her robust shoulders.

"We court her, but we keep it at that until – until we both learn how to be what we are."

"You think I haven't over the last two years?" Her hands moved from his collar to his throat, soft yet calloused.

He thought back to the image of Marinette swaddled in gifts that he and Kagami had proffered to her as she bedded down in her heat, wrapped up in his arms while Kagami cradled her from the other side.

"For Marinette, we can always be better."

There was something unsettled about her reaction as she pulled back, spine slightly rigid, looking away from him. It twisted in his gut, but he ignored it.

He had to ignore it because he meant it, and that, combined with Kagami's scent mingled with his, let him endure his father's bitter and hateful scowls and glares when he arrived home, even though the other man feigned ignoring him.

It was shunning.

He wasn't pack – was threatened by it. By exclusion, isolation.

Too bad he'd lived excluded and isolated for years. It no longer had power over him; the threat had been reality for too long.

And it didn't matter, because it didn't have to be any more.

Pausing before climbing into bed after he finished his homework and Mandarin, he grabbed two scarves: old and new and stared at them both for long minutes.

He fell asleep with with the blue one to his chest, and the woolen one to his nose. Even Plagg's evening meal couldn't wash away the scent of sex, Kagami, Marinette, and him.

Author's Notes

Thank you for all the continued interest, and I would love to hear readers' thoughts.

With the pieces set, we can see how Gabriel and Lila are going to respond to the events of the past few days. The plot is going to really pick up the pace, and Adrien can begin to court at least one Omega.

You're no-doubt wondering about "Gabriel's" scarf. You'll see shortly.