Chapter Text
For a while, life in Night Raven College has been good.
Peaceful even, if one were to ignore the near-constant complaints echoing through the halls. Ace and Grim, naturally, lead the chorus, whining about the sudden increase in workload until Deuce drags him back into line with a hissed lecture about responsibility.
Great Sevens bless Deuce.
But Yuu hasn’t been present to hear any of it.
For the past five days, his body has been running hot, feverish in a way that sleep doesn’t fix. He had known this was coming. He felt it settle beneath his skin like a ticking clock.
That was why the letter had been sent. Professors Trein and Crewel received it first, followed swiftly by Crowley, who very nearly lost his head when he realized he had failed to ask critical questions about Yuu’s world.
The resulting meeting was brief. Painful, for Crowley, mostly.
Permission was granted. One week away from classes. Coursework delivered remotely. Time, his own precious time, for Yuu to prepare himself.
Crowley, attempting damage control for once, will send notice to the dorm leaders: no students were to visit Ramshackle during the week. Yuu appreciated that more than he could say.
Because right now, his thoughts were foggy. His head felt light, his senses too sharp. There was an itch beneath his teeth, a restless pull in his chest that whispered leave, find, anchor. Instinct pressing hard against reason.
He could stop himself.
He was fairly certain of that.
What he wasn’t certain of was whether he could stop himself if a certain someone crossed into his space.
So Yuu stayed in his room, the door locked. Grim had been ushered off to stay with Ace and Deuce, grumbling the entire way. Even the ghosts, usually nosy, had quietly withdrawn, respecting a boundary they could sense but not name.
Sleep was close, just within reach, when the scent hit him.
Wild Spice.
Smoked sandalwood.
Yuu’s eyes snapped open.
Someone was near Ramshackle.
Worse, someone familiar.
His mouth watered despite himself, pulse spiking as instinct surged forward, eager and reckless. He pressed himself deeper into the mattress, fingers curling into the sheets as he fought it, breath coming shallow.
Stay. Don’t move.
The scent grew stronger.
Too strong.
Rational thought slipped, replaced by something older, louder. Before he realized what he was doing, Yuu was on his feet, crossing the room in long strides.
The door loomed in front of him.
And somewhere beyond it, Leona Kingscholar, unaware, unprepared, and very much about to suffer for Crowley’s mistake had stepped into territory he should never have entered.
__________________
Leona Kingscholar hated patterns.
They were boring. Predictable. Easy to ignore until they broke.
Yuu hadn’t shown up to Spelldrive Practice in days.
At first, Leona didn’t care. Or rather, that was the lie he told himself. The prefect disappeared often enough, doing Crowley’s errands, disciplinary nonsense, fixing Ramshackle, swallowing him whole for days at a time.
But this was different.
There was no quiet presence leaning against the rail. No sharp-eyed observations murmured just loud enough to hear. Even the familiar weight grounding the chaos of practice.
Leona noticed.
He noticed when drills dragged. When his patience wore thin faster than usual. When his gaze kept drifting toward the entrance, expecting someone who never came.
Ruggie noticed too.
“Boss,” he said one afternoon, tail flicking, “Yuu’s been gone a while.”
Leona scoffed. “He can handle himself.”
The words rang hollow.
Crowley hadn’t said anything. None of the dorm heads had mentioned it. Which meant the headmage had done what he always did. Nothing useful.
So Leona went looking.
Ramshackle stood quiet at the edge of campus, looming like it was holding its breath. The air changed the closer he got cooler, heavier. The wards were intact, but layered thick enough to prickle against his skin.
He knocked first, tail swaying lazily as he forced his posture to relax. He wasn’t worried. He didn’t care. He just wanted to see him.
When there was no shriek from the cat, no soft footsteps, no laughter drifting from the ghosts inside. Leona let himself in. Yuu had said he could hide here if Ruggie ever came looking. Useful information, useful hiding spot, so long as Yuu didn’t snitch the moment Ruggie asked.
Inside, nothing seemed out of place. If anything, it was cleaner than usual.
Yuu wasn’t on the first floor. Leona headed upstairs.
“Oi, Herbivore,” he called lazily, climbing the steps. “You here?”
That was when the scent reached him.
Not sweet.
Not warm.
Stone.
Not dry stone baked under sun but deep, cavern stone, cool and untouched by light. Wet slate and mineral-rich water dripping somewhere unseen. The faint metallic sharpness of air before lightning splits the sky.
Then something darker beneath it.
Crushed ivy. Bark split open. The green bitterness of something that has taken root and refuses to be removed.
Leona slowed.
His instincts stirred, unsettled. That scent didn’t belong to any alpha or omega he knew. It wasn’t aggressive.
It wasn’t welcoming.
It was territorial.
His chest tightened.
The closer he moved down the hall toward the room he knew was Yuu’s, the stronger it became, curling around him like low fog. The air felt dense, pressing inward, making it harder to think.
That was when it hit him.
Crowley hadn’t warned him. Hadn’t warned anyone. By the time realization sparked, it was already too late.
The boundary had been crossed.
Leona’s breath hitched as something inside him shifted, not with a roar, not with dominance surging forward, but with a sudden, dizzying drop. His instincts faltered, folding inward, turning quiet and uncertain.
“No.” he muttered, gripping the wall as cold washed through his veins.
This wasn’t suppression.
This was something else.
This is knowing that all you will do is submit.
His ears flattened, heart pounding as his body reacted without permission. The world felt too sharp, too close, vulnerable in a way he hadn’t felt since he was a cub.
A door creaked open.
Yuu stood there.
He looked flushed, feverish, sick, if one didn’t know better. But his eyes were unfocused, glazed with something distant and old, and the scent rolled off him in waves, rain-soaked earth, glacial air, living green pressing through stone.
Not alpha.
Not omega.
Not even a beta.
Something else entirely.
Leona swallowed hard.
Too late, he realized he was already caught.
And whatever Yuu was. It had already claimed the territory.
Leona didn’t notice himself swaying until his shoulder struck the wall.
The impact felt distant, delayed. His hand shot out on instinct, fingers curling into splintered wood as he forced himself upright. The air around the hallway was thick with scent, earth and cold and moss filling his lungs.
It pressed into him.
Not forcefully.
Invitingly.
“Tch… damn it,” Leona muttered.
His instincts were in disarray. Where there should have been certainty, there was only static, confusion buzzing under his skin. His heartbeat was loud, uneven. Every breath dragged the scent deeper, settling somewhere it didn’t belong.
The threshold mattered.
Crossing it had been a mistake.
Yuu stood just beyond the doorway, watching him. Still, intent, framed by shadow. His posture was loose in a way that set every warning bell screaming. His eyes were unfocused, pupils blown wide, and yet aware. Too aware. Like he was listening to something Leona couldn’t hear.
The scent shifted.
Leona’s knees nearly buckled.
Something brushed against his awareness, not a command, not force, but a low, resonant call. It wasn’t sound. It wasn’t words. It was a pull that sank straight into bone, tugging at instincts that no longer answered him properly.
An invitation.
He shouldn’t be reacting this way. He was an alpha.
His breath caught sharply.
“No,” Leona growled, more reflex than defiance.
His body didn’t listen.
The air grew colder, like standing at the edge of a coming storm. His skin prickled, nerves firing as something deep inside him responded without permission, not heat, but awareness. Sensitivity. The unsettling sense of being seen by something vast and patient.
Yuu stepped closer.
Leona’s back hit the wall again.
That was when it truly sank in.
This wasn’t an omega’s cycle. Nor was it an alpha's rut.
This wasn’t anything Leona had words for.
Yuu’s presence expanded, quiet, absolute like the moment before rain finally breaks. Territory wasn’t being defended.
It was being opened.
Offered.
Leona’s head screamed at him to fight, to move, to do something but his body refused. His instincts whispered wrong things.
Stay. You’re safe. Answer. Comfortable. You’re already here.
Leona clenched his fists until his claws bit into his palms. Pain grounded him barely. He forced himself to meet Yuu’s unfocused stare, something in his chest twisting painfully.
“…You,” he muttered, voice rough. “You’re not normal.”
Yuu didn’t answer.
But the pull strengthened, subtle and relentless, like a tide against shore.
Too late, Leona realized this wasn’t a trap meant to hurt him.
It was an invitation he had never been meant to receive.
And Crowley, useless bird fae that he was, had sent him here anyway. Leona stubbornly refused to acknowledge that he’d come of his own volition, that his feet had carried him here long before his mind caught up.
His legs trembled as the storm settled in, rain still held back, his body caught between resistance and a call he didn’t know how or if to refuse.
Yuu lowered himself in front of him, gaze dropping to Leona’s hand. Blood had seeped from where his claws broke skin. Yuu stared at it with quiet, unsettling focus, fingers brushing Leona’s wrist, not possessive, it's gentle. Assessing.
Leona’s breath stuttered.
This was wrong.
Yuu wasn’t in his right mind and yet he wasn’t attacking, wasn’t driving him out.
Yuu lifted Leona’s hand slowly, almost reverently, eyes fixed on the smear of red at his palm. For a moment, Leona thought he would pull away, expecting resistance, anger, anything.
Instead, Yuu brought it closer, breath ghosting over skin, tongue darting out of his mouth and lapping up the blood.
Leona’s thoughts slammed to a stop.
What….what was he doing?
Leona knew. Some part of him knew exactly what this meant, what Yuu was reaching for on instinct alone, and he rejected it outright.
Refused to let the thought settle, refused to name it. He refused to acknowledge that this guy is scenting him.
Because why?
Why would this herbivore, no, Yuu do something like this?
“Leona…” Yuu murmured, the name drawn out and heavy, barely more than breath.
He leaned in, close. So close that Leona could feel the heat of him without being touched, his breath stirring the hair at the back of his neck.
And then it happened.
Sun-warmed savanna grass flooded the air.
Dry heat rising off golden plains. Smoked sandalwood, deep, resinous, commanding. Wild spice beneath it, sharp and biting, the unmistakable edge of something territorial.
It rolled off Leona in waves, thick and overwhelming, curling into Yuu’s storm-heavy presence like heat meeting gathering thunder.
Yuu stilled, and only smiled softly at Leona.
Yuu is too close.
Too bold.
Leona’s body stiffened, a primal warning humming through his bones but then Yuu shifted. Not as an omega should. No submission in his stance, no deference in his eyes. Instead, he inhaled, deep and deliberate, as if claiming something that wasn’t offered yet.
A jolt flared low in Leona’s gut, strange, warm. An unwelcome pulse that made his thighs tense. His head swam, instincts blurring together in a way that made his teeth grit. Yuu wasn’t in his right mind. Leona knew that much but his own muscles screamed at him to stay still, to let it happen.
He refused.
With a sharp movement, Leona wrenched Yuu away from his neck and growled, low, vicious, thick with dominance.
It was the kind of sound that carried weight. The kind that made hallways fall silent in Savanaclaw. Other alphas stopped when they heard it, mid-step, mid-sentence even the cockiest ones thought twice before pushing further.
Omegas instinctively tucked low or turned their throats in submission. Betas hesitated at least long enough to decide discretion was survival.
That’s how it was supposed to work.
And for one heartbeat or two, the echo of Leona’s snarl hung between them like a challenge answered.
Then…
Yuu growled back.
Not loud. Not flashy.
But deep, not from his chest, from somewhere below, something primal coiled inside him like a serpent wrapped around fate itself. A vibration so raw it didn’t just ripple through air.
He froze as it crawled into bones and twisted nerves on its way in, humming through muscle fiber until every part of Leona recognized what he wasn't meant to: this wasn't an ordinary alpha response… he was submitting like an omega should.
Leona’s breath hitched as Yuu cradled his shaking form effortlessly like he weighed nothing at all. The shift was dizzying: one moment, he’d been roaring like a cornered lion, pride flaring hot and wild… the next, swept up in arms that held more than strength.
They held certainty.
And that, more than the growl, more than the magic, was what broke him open.
Yuu smiled down at him. Soft. Knowing. A secret dancing behind golden eyes.
“Leona”, he murmured, voice honey-sweet but edged with something ancient beneath it, not cruel, never cruel to his mate, but unyielding. "Everybody knows you shouldn’t growl at an enigma."
An Enigma.
Not just Alpha or Beta or Omega, not bound by bloodline roles or school hierarchy or even natural law.
No.
An Enigma bent reality to its will. Born once in a generation. Feared across kingdoms for their rare ability to override dominance structures entirely, to command alphas into submission and rewrite omegas with a touch of pheromone-laced skin.
Only five had ever been recorded worldwide…
And here Leona was, heart pounding like a trapped bird. He was being carried toward Yuu’s private room deep within Ramshackle as if fate itself had planned this from day one.
He should’ve known.
Should’ve seen it sooner.
The way no club meeting ever started without Yuu glancing his way first.
How every time they sparred, Leona lost focus, not because he was weak, but because something deep inside begged to kneel.
Even Crowley treated him differently… always cautious around Yuu when other students weren’t looking…
But none of that mattered now.
Leona tried to twist, to make Yuu drop him so he could escape. But he only tightened his grip, making Leona whimper. His cheeks flushed. Leona's struggles grew more desperate as Yuu's grip around him tightened. His face twisted in a mixture of fear and frustration as he tried to break free.
“Herbivore, you are out of your mind!” He hissed, trying to escape, “Let me go.”
Yuu's smile only grew wider as he leaned in closer to Leona's face. His breath whispered against Leona's skin, sending shivers down his spine. "Why should I? When you look this cute?," Yuu murmured, his voice a gentle caress.
Leona thrashed about when he was placed on Yuu’s bed. The smell is much stronger here, he noted, trying to break free from Yuu's grasp. But it was no use; Yuu held him fast, his arms like unyielding steel around Leona's body. As he struggled, Yuu then grabbed the nearest thing he could get, a black tie, and tried to tie Leona’s hands.
“Yuu! Stop!” He struggled and thrashed but he stopped when Yuu's lips brushed against Leona's ear and licked, he was sensitive there, sending shivers down his spine as he whispered sweet nothings.
The scent of sweat and desire filled the air, making Leona's head spin. He twisted his head to stop Yuu from doing it again but it was a trap as Yuu's lips captured his own. His tongue darted in and out of his mouth, Leona knew he was lost forever in this twisted game.
His struggles grew weaker as Yuu continued to ravage his mouth with kisses. Leona's mind was foggy, his senses dulled by the scent and the intensity of Yuu's assault. As Yuu finally released his lips, Leona felt himself sliding into a blissful oblivion.
His rut is being triggered but he isn’t having his usual reactions, he is getting putty on Yuu’s hands. He could have fought, he could have run away, but a part of him wanted this. He knew that he was using Yuu’s instinct driven brain so this could happen but he wanted this.
Leona stopped resisting, slumping on the bed as he let the scent fill his whole being, lighting a fire in his gut that is unlike any other.
Yuu's hand slipped down Leona's chest, playing the raised nipples under the shirt, before his fingers tracing the curve of his stomach before stopping at the waistband of his pants. The zipper seemed to slide down on its own accord as Yuu's eyes never left Leona's face.
"You're so eager for this," he whispered, a sly smile spreading across his lips.
Leona couldn't respond even if he wanted to - his voice was lost in a sea of numbness as Yuu peeled back the fabric and revealed juicy treasure beneath. The air around him grew heavier with anticipation as Yuu leaned in closer. “Aren’t you supposed to be thrashing more, my love?”
Yuu teased as he palmed Leona’s cock, which made Leona jerk and try to escape again, but Yuu flipped him over, ripped Leona’s pants off, grabbing his tail. Leona squirmed and Yuu was casually baring every inch of toned ass to cool air that only made it flush hotter.
Leona knows that he has no say, no power to this. Leona bit down hard on the pillow beneath him, to silence himself, to keep dignity for just one more second.
Too late. Because then…
Yuu leaned forward, nose brushing right at the base of spine where his tail is. Then tongue, Wet. Hot. Relentless. Lapped slow circles around the puckered entrance already twitching open instinctively at touch.
"NNNNGH!" Leona jolted against bonds like struck by lightning
His whole body arched violently forward then collapsed back down under wave after wave of sensation too intense, too much. He can't help but press back to the sensation. Arms tied in front of his face, head buried to the pillow with his chest being squished under the bed, making his nipples rub at the fabric and ass up for a better angle.
Yuu just casually eats him out like he is something to be claimed. His tongue, his grip on his ass, his cock leaking pre-cum on his stomach and the burn of the tie in his arms. Everything all at once because no one ever touched him there before.
Not like this, not so deep, so intimate, so claiming. The alpha inside his head screaming at him to stop him, to bare his teeth, to fight against the person trying to make him submit. But there is another voice, purring, enjoying what is happening to his body.
Yuu's tongue plunged deeper, his fingers wrapping around Leona's tail as if he was claiming it as his own. With a gentle stroke, he brushed against Leona's prostate...
"AAAAAH!!!" Leona howled into his pillow. His body convulsing like a live wire electrocuted with pleasure. The sound echoed through the room, raw and primal. A bright smile spreads across Yuu's face. "Oh, looks like someone enjoys having their sweet spot teased," Yuu purred between licks, teasing him further by slowing down to savor each touch.
Leona moaned and whined in response, "S-Stop! I don't…..I'm not enjoying…"
Another swipe, broader now, a flat stroke up through before the tip of Yuu’s tongue is pulled back. Teasing the rim again, not fully entering but circling and pressing light pressure, making Leona mad as the voice inside him is begging to put it back inside, to push harder, to do it NOW!
"Mmmh", Yu hummed deliberately against his flesh making vibrations echo straight into his core. “You're dripping,” Yuu said smugly, lifting head from his glistening pucker, “All wet just for me.”
“No!” Leona choked out, turning his face. Half buried in the pillows. Cheeks burning crimson. Shame bubbles inside his chest as well as pleasure. The mix is unstoppable “I’m NOT! I’M NOT ENJOYING IT!”
Lies.
All lies.
And they both knew it.
So Yuu did what any proper mate would do when faced with denial. He plunged two fingers inside without warning and crooked them just right. Right on that spongy bump hidden deep within walls built solely to respond to him.
"OOOHHH!" Leona screamed into the pillow, spine bowing impossibly high. Tears spilled freely down his face. A helpless moan dragging out, his throat raw from his scream. Something wet stained the bedsheet below and he didn't want to acknowledge that it made him cum.
Leona’s head spun, overwhelmed. Completely undone in three seconds flat because how dare the body betray faster than the mind can lie?
Yuu withdrew his fingers slowly, admiring his handiwork as Leona’s body clenched around nothing, desperate and throbbing from the sudden emptiness. A slick sheen, too thick to be just spit, glistened around his twitching rim, betraying him even as he bit back another needy sound. Leona whined, hips canting backward, silently begging Yuu to do something, to fix this unbearable hollowness inside him.
But Yuu had other plans.
With a rough, effortless shift, he flipped their positions, manhandling Leona onto his back before the lion could process what was happening. Leona’s thoughts were sluggish, drowned under the relentless pulse of his own need. He should have paid attention, should have noticed Yuu moving him, plotting but his mind was a fog of deprivation, a single mantra looping: More, more, fill me up.
Annoyance flickered through him when Yuu settled them in this new arrangement. He knew the old position would perfectly stretch him open with Yuu’s cock, dragging against every oversensitive inch of his walls until he was stuffed full, dripping, ruined for anyone else. The fantasy alone made his toes curl.
But then Yuu pulled him flush against his chest, their bodies aligned backward. Leona’s ass pressed to Yuu’s face while his own hovered, trembling, over the prefect’s cock.
When had Yuu even undressed?
The sight hit him like a punch to the gut.
That thing, thick as his wrist, long enough to make his throat go dry, was already half-hard, the base swelling with the telltale promise of a knot. The sheer size of it sent a jolt of panic through him. Too much. Impossible. But the scent, musky, intoxicating, flooded his senses, curling deep in his stomach until hunger twisted sharper than fear.
Yuu’s tongue dragged over him again, molten and demanding, as Leona’s muffled whimper vibrated against the thick length pressed to his lips. Precum smeared across his nose, the scent thick enough to taste, musky, addictive and with one shuddering inhale, Leona gave in.
Tentative licks turned ravenous. The first tang of salt burst on his tongue, and his moan was instantaneous, eyes rolling back as his brain short-circuited. Yes, fuck, yes. His hips jerked uselessly against Yuu’s mouth, but the prefect didn’t relent, fingers now curling alongside his tongue, stretching Leona open with torturous precision.
Distraction was impossible. The cock in his mouth was a problem, too heavy, too much, the swollen head barely past his lips and already testing his jaw. But the taste, the way Yuu’s hips twitched when Leona sucked, god, he needed more. He hollowed his cheeks, tongue swiping under the ridge, and Yuu’s groan shuddered through him like a live wire.
Then, betrayal. Yuu’s fingers crooked sharply inside him, right there, and Leona’s scream was swallowed by the cock fucking into his mouth as his body bowed, taut as a bowstring.
Tears streaked his cheeks, his own neglected erection dripping against Yuu’s stomach, but the prefect didn’t slow. Not when Leona gagged around the thrusts, not when his thighs trembled, not when his tail was wrapping around Yuu's neck, not when his claws tore at the sheets.
“Cum for me,” Yuu growled against his hole, tongue lapping at the clenching rim.
The command shattered him.
Leona’s orgasm ripped through him with a violence that left him gasping, spine arching as heat flooded his belly, his cock pulsing untouched between them. White spilled over Yuu’s stomach in ragged stripes, his hole clenching over Yuu's tongue and something wet released from it as well. Yuu's own release painting Leona’s throat seconds later. Thick, claiming as the lion choked around the flood. He did his best to swallow everything but there is so much that some of it spilled from his mouth to his chin, painting his throat
When Yuu finally pulled back, Leona collapsed, boneless and wrecked, their shared mess sticky between them.
The dick in his face still twitched, glistening with spit and cum, and Leona whined, pathetic, even to his own ears, as his hole clenched around nothing. Two orgasms deep and he was ruined, brain liquified into a single chant: More, more, MORE!
“Herbivore… Yuu-” His voice cracked, a beggar’s rasp. The alpha in his mind had gone quiet, smothered under something worse. A crawling, coiling need to be filled, to be bred, to thank Yuu with a belly round with pups.
“Please,” he gasped, nails scraping Yuu’s thighs, “fuck me. Now.”
Yuu growled, hands vise-tight on his hips, and flipped him like he weighed nothing. Leona’s back hit the sheets, legs shoved toward his chest, mating press, his mind supplied, dizzy, and then Yuu’s cockhead was there, nudging against his spit-slick hole.
Leona’s breath stuttered.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Even dripping with spit and his own shameful wetness, the stretch was unreal. Yuu’s cock was monstrous, the swollen head burning as it breached him inch by torturous inch. His rim fluttered, body torn between resistance and ravenous hunger, and Yuu didn’t stop, couldn’t stop, not when Leona’s thighs were shaking, not when his cock dribbled pathetically against his stomach-
“S’too big!” Leona sobbed, tail lashing before coiling around Yuu’s calf, a traitorous anchor. “Gonna, ah! Split me open.”
Yuu’s hips snapped forward.
The burn crested into blinding pleasure, tearing through Leona’s body like lightning.
His eyes rolled back, lips parted around a silent scream as Yuu pinned his wrists above his head, claws shredding through fabric like paper. Hot teeth closed over his nipple, sucking, biting and Leona squeezed around the cock splitting him open, his hole gushing slick in shameless pulses.
Yuu’s palm pressed down on his lower stomach, and fuck. Leona didn’t need to look to feel it: the obscene bulge of Yuu’s cock stretching him from the inside, a live wire of pleasure-pain that made his toes curl.
“You feel this?” Yuu growled, fingers digging into the swollen curve of Leona’s belly. “This is where you’ll be filled. Where you’ll carry my pups. Your womb.”
The words slithered into Leona’s skull, sticky-sweet as honey.
“No…” His denial was weak, trembling. “I don’t, ah! Don’t have…”
Yuu laughed, thumb circling his abused nipple. “Liar. You opened one for me the moment you let me catch you.” A sharp thrust punctuated the claim, “Could’ve run. Could’ve fought. But you wanted this.”
Leona gasped as Yuu’s cock dragged over his swollen prostate, deeper, until…
There.
A new ache, a new heat, a fluttering entrance his body had no right to know. Yuu’s cockhead kissed it, testing, and Leona bucked, a broken moan ripping from his throat. His own dick twitched, oversensitive and leaking, but the denial was ash on his tongue.
He knew.
Knew the hunger, the hollow need that’d haunted him since Yuu first pinned him in that hallway.
“Herbivore, I don’t care-” Leona’s snarl dissolved into a gasp as Yuu’s cock throbbed inside him, the knot already beginning to swell. “If you don’t fucking breed me now, I’ll fucking cut your dick off and-!”
Yuu’s answer was violent.
He pulled back, slow, sadistic until only the tip remained, Leona’s rim fluttering around the stretch. Then he slammed home, punching the air from Leona’s lungs in a guttural wail. The force of it jolted Leona’s body up the bed, wrists still pinned, tail lashing like a whip.
“Mine,” Yuu snarled, hips pistoning, each thrust bottoming out against that newfound depth. “Your womb knows it. Fuck, squeezing me just right-”
Leona couldn’t speak. He couldn’t think. His cock dribbled untouched between them, but the real pleasure was deeper, Yuu’s dick grinding against that hidden place with every snap of his hips. His stomach ached, stretched around the outline of Yuu’s shaft, and the heat, god, the heat was pooling low and molten in his belly.
“Gonna, ah! Gonna cum…” Leona sobbed, back arching.
Yuu’s teeth sank into his shoulder. “Do it. Drench my cock. Show me how bad you need it.”
The orgasm shattered him.
The climax tore through Leona like a lightning strike - vision bleaching white, every muscle seizing as his fluttering hole milked Yuu's cock with desperate, clenching pulses. Slick gushed between them in obscene waves, his newly-formed womb spasming around the thick intrusion as if begging to be flooded deeper. His own spent cock twitched weakly between them, dribbling meager spurts across their sweat-slicked stomachs.
A guttural purr rumbled through Leona's chest when Yuu's knot locked them together, the alpha's hips stuttering as hot seed pumped directly into that greedy, primal womb. He could feel it - the way his lower belly swelled slightly beneath Yuu's palm, rounding just enough to make his heat-drunk brain sing with satisfaction.
Bound wrists slipped free to wrap around Yuu's neck as Leona lapped at the salt-sweet sheen coating his mate's throat. Yuu answered with another thick pulse of cum that had Leona's purr deepening, his exhausted body still trying to clench down and keep every drop inside where it belonged.
The careful way Yuu undid the restraints made something unfamiliar flutter in Leona's chest - softer than the clawing need of heat - before calloused lips pressed against the red marks left behind. Then strong arms were rearranging him, pressing his back flush to Yuu's chest as they rode out the knot's slow deflation.
When Yuu finally pulled free, Leona's whine pierced the air - followed by the mortifying gush of seed escaping his ruined hole. His frantic clenching proved useless against the flood until Yuu's cockhead pressed back in, plugging the mess inside where it belonged.
Their lazy kiss tasted of sweat and satisfaction, Leona's tail twitching as he ground back against Yuu's softening length. The visible swell of his belly beneath probing fingers drew another purr from his throat - proof undeniable of his mate's claim.
Consciousness slipped away like water through fingers, Leona's limp form cradled securely in the circle of Yuu's arms. His last thought before darkness took him was simple: safe.
_________
Leona woke to a soft, persistent tapping against his shoulder. Gentle. Careful. As if whoever was waking him thought he might break.
A few hours must have passed; the sunlight that once slipped through the curtains had long since dissolved into heavy dusk. The air still carried the remnants of earlier, rain-soaked stone, crushed ivy, the mineral chill of cavern air. It lingered in the sheets and clung to his skin.
But beneath it…
Lavender.
Pine.
Cool forest shade after heat.
Leona inhaled slowly.
His scent had changed.
It no longer rolled off him in waves of sun-scorched grass and smoked sandalwood. The sharp spice that once warned others to keep their distance was gone. In its place was something quieter. Green. Rested. Deep woods instead of open savanna.
He didn’t know when it had settled into him.
He didn’t know why he didn’t hate it.
He felt it when he breathed in.
He felt everything, actually.
His body ached when he shifted, a dull soreness that refused to be ignored. He’d had worse. He always had worse. But tonight even lifting his head felt like effort and the soreness lingered in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
The tapping came again.
Leona blinked slowly, dragging himself up from sleep. His vision swam for a moment, lashes heavy, mind sluggish. When his sight finally cleared, he found Yuu hovering close, pupils blown wide in the dim light, concern laid bare across his face.
In one hand was a bowl of chicken soup, steam curling faintly upward. In the other, a bottle of water.
Leona squinted at him. He considered making a dry remark about being treated like glass.
The words didn’t come.
Yuu noticed he was awake and carefully set the bowl on the bedside table. The bottle followed, placed down without a sound. Only when his hands were free did he turn back fully.
Yuu slid one arm behind Leona’s back and the other beneath his shoulder, moving him slowly, adjusting him with patient care. No rushing. No awkwardness. Just warmth and steady support as he propped Leona gently against the headboard.
Leona hissed faintly, more pride than pain.
Yuu’s hand lingered at his side a moment longer, making sure he was steady before bringing the bottle to his lips.
Leona drank.
Cool water first. Then soup, blown over each time before the spoon was lifted carefully toward him.
Yuu didn’t tease.
He watched.
Watched every swallow like it mattered.
Leona avoided his eyes at first, something tight curling low in his chest. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had looked at him like this. Not as the spare prince. Not as the prodigy. Not as someone expected to endure without complaint.
Just as Leona.
When the bowl was empty and the bottle capped, Yuu set everything aside and returned to him immediately.
This time, he didn’t hesitate.
He guided Leona down from his propped position, lowering him slowly back into the pillows. Then Yuu slipped beside him, wrapping both arms around his waist and pulling him in with quiet certainty.
Warm.
Solid.
Safe.
Yuu pressed his face into Leona’s shoulder and inhaled and Leona felt it, the way his new scent responded. Lavender deepened. Pine softened.
And beneath it, Yuu’s own scent rose.
Night air before rain.
Deep stone.
Green things growing stubbornly in shadow.
It curled around Leona like low fog rolling over forest floor. It wasn’t overpowering. It didn’t demand.
It settled.
One hand slid up into Leona’s hair, fingers moving in slow, steady strokes. The other rested firm at his lower back, thumb tracing absent circles.
Leona huffed softly. “You’re clingy,” he muttered.
Yuu only tightened his hold.
Leona breathed in again.
Storm-wet earth. Cool mineral air. Something ancient and steady that didn’t bow or press. Just existed.
His muscles, still half-coiled from habit, began to loosen.
His thoughts, sharp and restless by nature, dulled at the edges.
The chill that had lingered under his skin eased, chased away by warmth and that quiet, territorial calm Yuu carried so effortlessly.
He pressed his face into the crook of Yuu’s neck, breathing deeper this time. The scent was thicker there. Stronger. Protective without being suffocating.
If a low purr rumbled from his chest, he didn’t acknowledge it.
Didn’t fight it either.
His new scent mingled with Yuu’s, forest shade meeting stone and storm and for the first time since everything changed, it didn’t feel wrong.
It felt… balanced.
Leona’s breathing slowed.
The steady rhythm of Yuu’s fingers in his hair became an anchor. The warmth at his back, the weight of arms around him, the grounding presence of that storm-heavy scent.
It pulled him under gently.
Not into darkness.
Into rest.
Just for tonight, he allowed it.
Allowed himself to soften.
Allowed himself to be held.
And with one last slow inhale of rain and stone and stubborn green life, Leona drifted back to sleep.
_________________________________
Ruggie sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day as he came up empty-handed yet again. Leona was nowhere to be found, and the sun was already sinking low enough to stain the sky orange. Night was coming.
That alone was unsettling.
This was the longest Leona had gone without being found, contacted, or at least spotted sleeping somewhere inconvenient. Even when Leona disappeared, Ruggie usually knew where or at least why. This time, there was nothing. No complaints. No orders barked at him. No irritated glare from across the dorm.
Nothing.
Where did he even go on weekends?
Ruggie had checked Leona’s room earlier, more out of habit than hope. The sight still sat wrong in his chest. The bed was perfectly made, sheets smoothed out like they hadn’t been touched in days. No tossed pillows. No dents. Not even a single strand of brown hair left behind.
Leona wasn’t just gone. He hadn’t been there at all.
That wasn’t like him.
Ruggie exhaled through his nose and kept walking, scanning the courtyard until he spotted Ace and Deuce nearby, with Grim in Deuce’s arms, wriggling and complaining loudly.
“I’m telling you, it’s been almost a week!” Grim whined. “The Great Grim has been neglected!”
Ruggie adjusted his pace and headed toward them. If anyone had seen something odd, it’d be these three.
“Hey,” he said, forcing his shoulders to relax, his expression to stay neutral. No point in panicking yet.
“Senpai, good evening,” Deuce greeted, tightening his hold on Grim as the cat struggled.
Ace gave him a lazy nod. “Yo.”
Ruggie wasted no time. “Did’ya see where Leona is?”
Both boys blinked then shook their heads in sync.
“Nope,” Ace said. “Haven’t seen him all day.”
Deuce frowned. “I thought he was busy with dorm duties…?”
Ruggie clicked his tongue softly. Figures.
“Did he say anything to you last time you saw him?” Ace added, scratching his head. “Like where he was going?”
Ruggie paused. “Last time was Friday,” he said slowly. “He told me he was gonna check on Yu-”
The silence hit hard and sudden.
Ramshackle.
Ruggie felt it immediately, the way Ace stiffened, the way Deuce’s eyes widened just a fraction, the way Grim stopped squirming altogether.
Crowley’s announcement about Ramshackle had come late to Savanaclaw. Too late. Ruggie knew that for a fact. If Leona had already left by then…
Nobody said it out loud.
They didn’t need to.
All four of them stared at one another for half a second then broke into a run.
Ramshackle looked the same as always: crooked, worn down, barely holding itself together. But the moment they stepped closer, Ruggie felt it.
Something was wrong.
There was a pressure in the air, thick and heavy, like the dorm itself was holding its breath. His instincts screamed at him, fur prickling beneath his clothes. He pulled out a mask and slipped it on without hesitation. Ace and Deuce followed suit.
“Just in case,” Deuce muttered.
Ruggie nodded. Smells could trigger cycles. He wasn’t taking chances.
They entered cautiously. Well, Ruggie did.
The others didn’t.
“YUU!” Grim yelled, wriggling free and bolting down the hallway before anyone could stop him.
“Oi!” Ruggie started, then cursed under his breath and hurried after them.
They didn’t need to search long. Grim was already skidding to a stop in front of Yuu’s door.
“Henchman, did you miss the Great Gr-”
He cut off sharply. A low, guttural growl rolled out from the room. Ruggie felt his blood go cold.
Yuu was inside, naked, half-hidden beneath tangled blankets, eyes sharp and unfocused as they snapped to the doorway. Scratches and bitemarks littered his skin. He was marked, touched and claimed. There was no recognition there, only raw warning. Defensive. Territorial.
Leona was there too.
Pulled close. Asleep.
He was naked as well, cuddling with Yuu, marks littered his exposed skin, scratches, bruises, the clear signs of something rough and instinct-driven but his breathing was slow and he was even purring, completely unaware of the danger unfolding inches away.
Yuu snarled, teeth bared, shoulders tense like a coiled spring.
Ace didn’t think. He slammed the door shut so hard the frame rattled.
Silence followed. Heavy. Deafening. They all stood there, staring at one another, the unspoken conclusion settling in.
This wasn’t their business.
Not right now.
Slowly, one by one, they nodded. They turned around and left Ramshackle without another word. Questions could wait. Explanations could come later. Preferably after several layers of distance and denial.
Ruggie dragged a hand down his face as they walked. He didn’t know what exactly he’d just witnessed.
But he knew one thing for sure.
He was going to need bleach for his eyes.