A/N: So here's the next chapter for all of you to enjoy! Sorry it took so long.


Roxas hunkered down as the large bodies clashed together. Trees were ripped up by the roots and crashed to the ground as bodies crashed into them. Boulders soared through the air, flung as projectiles in this throw-down between good and evil. Roxas could no longer discern who belonged to what side anymore. He shouldn't even be here but he had to make sure…had to see that Axel was still alive. He grit his teeth as a body crashed into the trunk he was hiding behind and he covered his head as thick splinters of wood rained over him. It would take the forest a long time to get over the indignities being visited on it today. Roxas crouched and scampered to his next hiding spot, making sure to stay close to the clawed earth.

Diving into the thick bushes, Roxas caught a brief glimpse of auburn and gold. The two blurs broke away from each other and Roxas made out Axel's panting form. Neither he nor the gold wolf looked to be in good shape and the blond felt his heart sink in his chest as the two wolves lunged at each other. It was over in an instant. Axel clawed the gold wolf's stomach, spilling entrails onto the scarred dirt but had barely managed two steps before a brownish-pink wolf had his jaws around the auburn wolf's throat. And Axel, weakened by battle - and the lack of affection from his mate - did not have the energy to fight him off. Roxas shrieked as the bond broke inside him - as the piece of Axel which he carried inside of him was torn out of his heart and mind. The blond never knew who won the battle because everything went black.

Roxas woke in a cold sweat and labored to get his breathing back under control. He let his gaze travel around his room as his heartbeat slowed, everything clearly outlined by the moonlight. He shifted on his bed, glancing out the window and letting the peaceful scene wash away the remaining images of death and bloodshed. The dream had unsettled him. Roxas had always been prone to nightmares but what had perturbed him about this was the fact that he could easily see his nightmare becoming a reality. The blond was already well aware of the fact that there was no way Axel was going to sit out once the war broke out. His sense of loyalty to Riku was too strong to be ignored and if he was going to go off gallivanting into war, then Roxas wanted him to be as healthy as possible. But…he sighed…he was scared.

The incidents of the previous day had brought the wolf's strength to the forefront of the blond's brain. If something should go wrong then there was no way in hell that Roxas would be able to fight Axel off. The mere thought of it had the blond feeling sick to his stomach and shuddering. He needed to talk to Sora. Thankful that his baby brother had gotten a new cell phone while he was in town, Roxas grabbed his own phone and hit his second speed dial.

"Roxas?" a sleepy voice asked and the blond realized for the first time since he woke up that it was only three-thirty in the morning. "Is something wrong?" Sora asked, alarm coloring his voice at Roxas' silence.

"No! No, nothing's wrong," he assured. "I need to talk to you about…stuff," he finished lamely as his face heated up. Jesus, it was awkward enough talking to your brother about sex. It was doubly awkward asking your baby brother about gay werewolf sex. He took a deep breath and blew his bangs out of his face. "Were you still human when you and Riku mated?" Roxas could practically hear Sora's face flush. Good. At least he's not the only one embarrassed.

"Uh…guh." Sora cleared his throat and then cleared it again. "Yes. Why?"

"I'm…concerned. We haven't actually…y'know?" Roxas struggled to get his point across. "And it's not like I can fight him off," he stated. He felt another blush heat his face as Sora huffed out a laugh and Roxas glowered at his bed cover.

"Rox, he'd never hurt you. Unless you cheated on him but you're not that type of person."

"Yeah," Roxas sighed as he let himself fall back into a sprawl. "Thanks, Sora. Sorry about waking you up." He hung up and let his hand fall back onto the bed. So, he didn't need to worry about Axel potentially killing him with sex. Yay. Settling onto his side, Roxas attempted to fall back asleep but his mind would not be quiet. Turning to his original position on his back the blond listened to the sounds of his apartment. He could hear the ticking of the clock (abnormally loud in the piercing silence) and down the hallway the refrigerator kicked on with a hum. His own breathing added to the noise along with the annoying cicadas outside his window. Sitting up quickly, the blond realized what was bothering him. He couldn't hear the wolf's breathing in the living room. Letting the covers slide from his body, Roxas slipped out of bed and padded quietly to the front room. As he expected, it was empty although the front door was not fully latched.

With his heart beating a staccato rhythm in his chest, he opened the door just wide enough to allow his body to slip through. He nearly tripped as he found the door to the apartment complex propped open and Axel sitting on the porch stoop clothed in nothing but his pajama bottoms and moonlight. Although the evening was cool, Axel still had a light sheen of sweat covering his skin and Roxas knew that Axel was losing the battle with his wolf.

"Axel," he called softly. The werewolf's head whipped around, green eyes flashing a warning to stay back unless he was planning on having a very solid hybrid pounce him. The blond sighed and ran a hand through his sleep-tousled locks as he made up his mind. "Come on," he ordered before sliding back into his apartment. He didn't look behind him as he heard the front door swing shut or when his own apartment door shut. Instead, he entered his bedroom, the door left open in silent invitation. Axel followed shortly thereafter, shutting the door with a single thought on his mind. Mine.


Roxas woke with a start before attempting to scramble out of bed, all the while cursing under his breath. He'd overslept and really needed to haul ass to make it to the store on time. Two things impeded his progress: 1. A ridiculously warm, comfortable weight was settled on him, and 2. He was sore all over. When the memories of the night before filtered through his sleep-deprived brain Roxas' face flushed red with embarrassment and he hazarded a quick glance over his shoulder. Yep, there was a sleeping werewolf looking entirely too content. It made the blond want to do something utterly silly, like curl up next to him and stay there all day. Still, he sighed, he had a store to run.

"Axel," he croaked before clearing his throat. "Axel, wake up." No response. "Axel, I've got to get to work," he whined, jabbing the older man in the ribs - a spot he vaguely recalled the red-head being ticklish in. Axel jerked awake with a snuffling sound that was absolutely not adorable and blinked down at the man he currently had half-pinned to the mattress.

"Wha'dyou do that for?" he mumbled, a sleepy scowl on his face.

"I have to go to work," Roxas re-iterated. Axel's scowl deepened.

"You woke me up for that? Zexion already picked up the keys. He said he and Demyx would work today. He figured you'd need a day off." The werewolf yawned and settled back down to sleep. Roxas was half-way asleep, himself, before Axel's words sunk in. If Zexion had picked up the keys then there was no possible way that the other man didn't know what had happened last night. The blond flushed. "Y'know," Axel muttered, "I'd ask how far that blush goes but I already know." Roxas barely resisted the urge to shove his mate out of bed.

By the time Roxas woke the second time - sometime around eleven-thirty-ish - Axel was already awake and fixing their breakfast. The blond hobbled to the living room and lowered himself into his arm chair. By the time Axel appeared with two plates of steak and eggs, Roxas was dozing again but jerked awake as the red-head set the plates down on the coffee table.

"Morning," Roxas yawned, grabbing his plate and silverware before tucking his legs underneath him and digging into his breakfast. Axel shot him a grin before sprawling on the couch and tucking into his own breakfast. A comfortable silence settled over the two men, which didn't really surprise Roxas. It should, he supposes. After all, even if Axel's been living with him for months, they still barely know each other - not to mention the fact that they'd freaking slept together - but it's not awkward at all. It seems perfectly normal that both men are sitting in their boxers eating breakfast together. Roxas could only assume that it was because of the bond. His musings on the subject were cut short as a knock sounded at his door.

"Hey, Roxas!" Kairi greeted after the blond opened the door. "I just thought I'd come check on our four-legged friend." She held up her bag to emphasis her point.

"Uh…he's doing really well. And actually, now isn't a really good time," he stated, shifting so she could see Axel. Kairi's gaze turned from Axel back to the blond in front of her, her eyes raking down the man's body and taking in the bruises and hickeys. "Yeah," Roxas scratched the back of his head awkwardly as her face flushed with realization. "Anyway, I promise he's doing well and if anything happens, I'll call you, promise," he stated before all but slamming the door in her face. He leaned against the door and sighed. "I completely forgot she wanted to do a follow-up on you." Roxas told the red-head.

"We're going to have to tell her something or she'll just keep popping up around here," Axel stated as he popped a bit of steak into his mouth. Roxas groaned. He'd never outright lied to his friends about anything and he didn't relish the thought of doing so now. That, and he was a little miffed that Axel was so nonchalant about Kairi finding out about them when Roxas was ready to hide under a rock. He sat down and listlessly poked at his eggs. "Why don't you go out with your friends tonight?" Axel offered. "You haven't spent much time with them since I came back from dealing with the wendigo."

"Yeah, okay." Roxas agreed, jabbing a bite of steak and chewing it thoughtfully. "We should get in touch with someone and check out the old mansion," he said slowly. Axel blinked in shock before fixing his piercing eyes on the blond.

"Are you sure? Because I'll have to send Zexion or Demyx back to the main pack -"

"Axel, there's an inevitable werewolf war about to happen that you AND my brother are involved in. As few deaths as possible would be greatly appreciated and if that means moving to some creepy mansion in a spooky forest so you can train werewolves…" he trailed off, shaking his head before giving the red-head a bemused smile. Axel stood and gave the blond a soft kiss.

"I'll send Zexion. He's better at things like this than Demyx is. And Demyx can help you at the book store. He's more personable than Zexion."

"I might just hire them - officially. If they're covering the shop, I can take care of the house renovations while you're training everyone." Roxas stated before stopping suddenly.

"Roxas?" Axel asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I didn't think it'd be this easy," he confessed. "Though I suppose I'll be ready to kill you soon enough once the stress of dealing with renovations and a house full of werewolves sets in." Axel tried really hard not to laugh. He failed.


Roxas sighed as he settled back into the booth, silently wishing that Axel had come with him. But the werewolf was off with his wolfy friends - haggling over the sales price of the old mansion and the adjoining land. Across the bar, Seifer and Hayner were in a heated argument over the pool table and Roxas was preparing to break up a fight when Seifer leaned over and kissed the younger man before pulling back and sinking another ball in a corner pocket. Hayner rolled his eyes but quit arguing.

"So, Roxas," Olette said softly, grabbing his attention. "Tell us more about this mysterious boyfriend of yours."

"Yeah," Pence agreed as he set their drinks down on the table. "I need to know who to sic Seifer and Hayner on. You look like you got mauled," he stated as he slipped into the booth next to his girlfriend. Roxas flushed and pulled the zipper of his jacket all the way up, though it did nothing to hide the hickeys ("Dammit Axel! How am I supposed to go out like this?" The werewolf had merely given the blond an unrepentant grin, the smug bastard).

"Well, I didn't exactly tell him to stop," Roxas stated, taking a sip of his beer and feeling a stab of twisted pleasure when Pence chocked on his own beer.

"So when do we get to meet him?" Olette asked eagerly. Roxas shrugged.

"Everything's kind of up in the air right now. He's taking care of some…family problems and we're getting ready to move…" he trailed off at Olette and Pence's shocked faces. "What?" he asked.

"You're leaving?" Olette asked, aghast.

"Noo. We're…we're fixing up the old mansion and some of his family is going to live with us." Okay, so he wasn't exactly lying.

"Well, I hope after you get everything settled we'll see more of you," Pence stated. "We were beginning to worry that you were going all hermit-y on us, what with it being the time of year when Sora…" he cut off as Olette elbowed him in the ribs and Roxas had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.

"No, Axel helped me get over that." That much was true. "I mean, I miss him, but…" he trailed off and shrugged. Roxas did miss Sora and made a mental note to call his brother. Sora'd be ecstatic to hear that he and Axel had gotten their shit together.

"Well if you need help with the house let me know," Pence stated. "My uncle owns a hardware store and I can get you good prices on materials."

"Thanks, Pence! That's awesome!" Roxas beamed at his friends.

"To moving forward!" Olette toasted as she raised her glass. Pence and Roxas raised their glasses as well and the three clinked their glasses together and drank. Later, as they all stumbled out of the bar high on life (and alcohol), they would completely miss the pair of glowing yellow eyes that followed them.

~Review~