My muse just did something stupid that almost got them killed. Yell at them.
The very moment he’d seen it happen he felt his world tunnel. The moment he saw that slab of concrete barrel toward Red after he’d been ordered to stay back and let him stake out the enemy, Raleigh had thought he’d have to suffer that excruciating pain of being completely and utterly alone again. A strangled sound had crawled out his throat, broken between a scream for his boyfriend and a snarl of anger for the fucking thing who’d tried to hurt him. Blessedly, the cement had bowed out and collapsed before it could do the damage it was intended to do. The moment that the thing was dead and Red was confirmed okay— Raleigh was furious. It was a cloying thing, that rage, something that webbed loosely from the center of his chest until he could feel the entirty of his being swollen with the white-hot anger of it all. Red was being stupid. He was being bold for the sake of keeping him safe and he’d almost gotten himself killed. Raleigh’s life wasn’t worth another and it sure as hell wasn’t worth the trade for Red’s.
The only comfort he sought in t hat moment was a hand over Red’s arm, gripping at the edge of his shirt to twist around so he could see with the point of his own gaze that he was whole. Once he was sure, absolutely positive that he was in one solid piece Raleigh forced himself away. Being close he could already taste the furl of his anchor unraveling, the wolf a few doses stronger than usual, volatile and snarling at the thought of losing it’s mate. Raleigh wanted to scream, wanted to punch Red right in the fucking mouth for almost leaving him. The Alpha was a selfish bastard, he could entertain the idea of dying for Red but when the roles were switched the only thing he saw was a blinding rage and the inklings of an anguish in his heart that he knew would never heal. The thought then was making him sick to his stomach and when Red reached for him, for solace or an apology he wasn’t even sure, he twisted away and bit out a quiet warning.
“Don’t.”
Raleigh kept to himself the trip back home and the moment the bay doors were down he was on his feet and making his way toward the room. He had the intentions of showering and going right to bed. He didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to be near anyone. He needed quiet and the depths of his own mind to let him come down from the terror induced wrath stirring up in his heart. The Alpha had just made it just to the level of their shared room when he felt Red reach for him again and he stepped right out of his grip. There was a short warning, just as curt as the one before. Two more times he let his mate reach for him and it was the third time that the resolve he had left tore right in two and he snapped.
The Alpha twisted with the grip that the demon had taken and with one confident step forward those stormy blue eyes broke and were swallowed down by a deep crimson, pointed and he r o a r e d. The violence of the snarl shook the entirety of the hall and beyond, bled into the foundations and made the concrete pillars holding this place together buzzed with the power of it. There was no doubt anyone would have evaded that sound, least of all his mate as Ral was left half shifted and rocking with the weight of his panting as the sound dulled into a low, guttural murmur. With a clawed digit extended he pointed it toward Red, his eyes bright red and glassy from the tears trickling over his cheeks.
”You don’t fuckin’ do that again do you hear me?” He was yelling back at Red, fueled by the fear of almost losing him. “Do you not fuckin’ understand how much I need you? Is that a concept you haven’t learned yet?” Raleigh’s attention was turned the hoard of people that’d gathered at the mouth of the hallway and he stalked a few steps toward them and snarled again, baring his teeth in warning and most had the sense to leave, be it to seek safety in their own rooms or arm themselves with a few tranq guns he wasn’t sure but he didn’t care. This was for Red to hear, not them. “You’re my anchor, Red. You keep me human. You keep me from bein’ some sort of feral monster, like one of the fuckin’ things we hunt. Without you I’d end up like those things. I’d be no better. Because without you I wouldn’t have an anchor, I wouldn’t have a mate— out of this entire fucked up world I would have absolutely nothin’ if you left me!” The screaming broke away into heavy words, laden with the sobs that were making speech that much harder. “Without you there is no me, okay? I don’t fuckin’ care how toxic or needy it sounds because it’s true. If you died, especially trying to save me? I’d go out of my god damned mind.”
The anger finally severed and now he was just weeping, abashedly. He could feel that reach again and he shook his head. He didn’t pull away that time and simply collapsed into those arms weeping like a fucking baby and he didn’t care. “I’m not as strong as you,” he whispered then, burying his face into the heat of Hellboy’s shoulder. “I’m not strong. ‘m weak. I’m selfish and I need you. Don’t…just don’t do that again. Don’t leave me. Because if you go, ‘m gonna kick your ass. I swear t’god I will.” Raleigh dug his fingers into the back of Red’s shirt and dragged him up to him again, a low whine keening from the back of his throat as he simply let his heart ease once more.















