Ken Poirot

Seeing Daphne's exhilaration at being able to write that book had been...one of the most beautiful sights of her life. Brightly smiling, violet eyes sparkling with happiness.

The only problem was that Daphne threw herself into the work for that book without any consideration for herself. And really, Luke was more shocked about that than anything else.

He probably should have expected it to be honest. Daphne was used to doing things on her own, and she did have a serious case of perfectionism going on.

Not unlike himself.

The difference was just that Luke had learned to actually take breaks for food and sleep, something that seemed completely foreign to his girlfriend.

While he was busy with football and learning about the construction business he was one day set to inherit, Daphne wrote the first draft of her book. Half of the time, she was still awake when he curled up to sleep in front of her bed and already awake again when it was time for him to run back home to get dressed and have breakfast.

She was absent-minded a lot of time, all her concentration either on her schoolwork or on the book and maybe Luke was getting a tiny, tiny bit jealous of that book.

Scratch that, he was jealous. Very Jealous.

That Book got all of Daphne's attention after all.

And he was also aware that it was ridiculous because Daphne wasn't going to start to cheat on him with a book of all things. But still...

He was supportive because it was important to her. And he could deal with his misplaced jealousy over something that was a wish being fulfilled that she never thought she would get.

"I thought we could go out on the weekend," he suggested over lunch two weeks later and she made an affirmative noise, blonde hair tumbling all around her in messy waves that she pushed back from her forehead with an impatient growl.

For once her blonde hair was tumbling over her shoulder in silvery waves, something that didn't happen often. Most of the time she had it twisted on top of her head in a messy bun or braided in a long braid fallow down her back with hair trying desperately to escape.

It was itching in his finger to try

"Daphne," he said her name, a tiny bit of possessiveness bleeding into his voice and she looked up startled. Just enough time for him to steal her sketchbook and close it carefully.

"Let's go out. Have a date. Maybe in Augusta..." he suggested again and this time she stared at him before her eyes went down again and she stared at the table like it was the most interesting thing ever.

It wasn't. At all.

"We never had a date," she said softly, sounding nearly unsure and he nodded.

"That's why I thought it would be a good idea," he told her amused but she still seemed hesitant.

"...isn't that kinda superfluous now?" She finally asked him and he could just stare at her. Superfluous? Why would going on a date be superfluous? That made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

He wanted to go out with his mate, with his girlfriend. Why would that be superfluous?

"What do you mean?" He asked Daphne, not understanding why she didn't seem like she was on board with the idea.

"I mean...we are mates, we already kissed. You don't need to romance me to get what you want from me," she told him, her voice telling him everything he needed to know, reaching out to take her sketchbook back. "It's fine. I don't need dates."

Her voice was hesitant, quiet like she didn't want to upset him, like she thought that he wouldn't want to be seen in public with her.

Like she thought he was doing this long-sufferingly only for her and she didn't want him to do that.

"Daphne..." he started and then came up empty with what he actually wanted to tell her.

"Sweetheart...There is always a need to romance you," he finally told her, doing his best to grin at her and she looked up again, biting her lip. "I am not going to stop taking you out on dates even when we are married," he told her seriously.

"Married?" She asked him, her voice so small that he worried that he had misstepped, but then he saw the small blush there on her cheeks and he nodded.

"In a few years," he said easily. "If you are nice enough to take pity of me."

She looked at him at that, giggling but she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"What about Friday after school?" He suggested and she nodded her agreement.

"Sounds great," she answered, a real smile on his face for once.

Seems like he needed to figure out somewhere to take his girlfriend on Friday.

That was easier said than done. He made and discarded at least a dozen different plans, finding an error in every single one, until he finally settled on something that suited him and that he thought could be a good time for Daphne.

He was so busy with making his plans that he forget about that most important part of that plan.

And that was that Daphne should actually be awake enough to talk to him and not be a walking zombie that only yawned and nearly ran into three lockers on the way to class.

He watched that during the day, not making a single comment about it even when there were worry and anger pooling in his gut.

Was she ever going to learn that her own health and well-being were also important?

Somehow he doubted that. Very, very much.

Instead, he watched how she pulled on her Parka over her thick sweater when she started getting cold during lunch, offering his hands to warm hers.

He still didn't comment on it. Finally, school was out after he had football training and Daphne Art Club and they walked towards his car.

Once inside he put on the heating while he waited for the parking lot to get a bit less busy.

"Where are we going?" Daphne asked him, hiding another yawn behind her hand.

"Home. You are going to take a nap," he told her drily. There was no use to dragging her anywhere while she was a sleep-deprived zombie.

"I am not tired..." she protested, her protest cut off by another yawn.

"Sure you aren't, sweetheart," he snorted, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice. "Your skin is icy. That doesn't happen to werewolves other they are sick or so sleep deprived that they can't keep warm any longer. "

"I am sorry," she apologised, her voice broken and he could smell her scent changing, fear creeping in. She was fearing him.

"You don't need to apologise to me, Daphne," he told her softly. "Why are you doing this to yourself?" He finally questioned her. There needed to be a reason for this, there needed to be some reason for why she was doing that.

"I..." "I need to finish that book," she admitted hesitantly.

"Your deadline is a month away," he told her drily. She stayed quiet and he let her.

"Where are we going?" Daphne suddenly asked him when he didn't turn right to the Hyde's house but instead continued straight ahead to his parent's house.

"Preferably somewhere I don't need to lock away your pencils," he gave back calmly and she opened her mouth to protest but closed it again.

"Don't try to protest, we both know that you would have tried to talk me out of it," he added, not a trace of amusement in his voice anymore.

And there was that other part of him, the wolf that was growling in approval to having Daphne in what he considered his territory.

In comparison to a lot of other werewolves his age, Luke had never really had a strong territorial instinct. So it was startling to suddenly feel that need to bring Daphne somewhere which he could control and where he knew the layout like the back of his hand.

He probably shouldn't have surprised, should he? He knew that his instincts had become primed since Kyle had hurt her. Since then he couldn't help himself but make sure that his scent was wrapped all around the Hyde's House as much as possible. An obvious warning for everybody that came near there that the Hyde's House was seen as part of Luke's territory.

And now when Daphne wasn't completely healthy, overtired and even less able to protect herself than usual...it would give him more peace than anything to get her home in the small cabin that he called home.

"I am fine," her voice pulled him out of his thoughts as he drove around the main house towards the back, parking the car next to the former barn that now was his room.

He pulled the key from the ignition and looked at her. She looked at him, with big purple eyes, biting her lip again and he nodded.

"Yes, you are. And if I have anything to say about it, then you are going to stay that way," he gave back calmly. She averted her gaze at that but he reached out to tip her chin up, meeting her eyes with his again. "We are mates. There is no need to try and do alone anymore, Daphne," he told her softly.

"I am used to it," Daphne finally admitted and he wanted to pull her in his arms and never let her go again. She shuddered again, with memories or cold he wasn't sure, but they couldn't keep sitting in the car for the rest of the afternoon.

"I know," he said instead, the words lacking as he wondered how long it would take her to look at him and see that he was not going anywhere. "Let's go inside."

***

Daphne wasn't sure what she had expected, but it hadn't been that. She had believed that Luke had a room in the main house just as Grace had, but apparently that had been wrong. Instead, his room was in one of the outbuildings on the acres of land that the Scuylers owned.

Small and Cozy, once it had been a small barn, now it was Luke's small...cottage. An A-Frame House, with the living room and kitchen on the ground floor and a bed up in the loft above their heads.

It was furnished with warm and cosy tones of brown and green, seemingly a perfect representation of the forest that Luke loved so much.

As soon as Daphne stepped foot into it, she registered Luke's scent in the air, something that just managed to make her feel more safe and secure than anything else.

"I moved in here about 2 years ago...Grace and Ollie were...months away from mating and that was something that was starting to set me on edge," Luke explained as he closed the door behind them, moving behind her to take her Coat from her, something that still managed to weird her out whenever he did that.

"Why was it starting to do that?" She asked him curiously, unable to keep the question at bay. Luke had never seemed to be displeased about Grace and Ollie being mates, or anything else but weakly exasperated when the two of them were making out against the car door.

"Too many hormones, too many pheromones...I was sleeping in the forest for a few nights a week because I just needed to get time away from it all. I always wanted what Grace and Ollie had, you know?" Luke answered as he walked to the fireplace that was surrounded by two big blue armchairs and began to stack a fire. "Werewolves tend to find early and while 15 isn't late for our kind...being surrounded by happily mated pairs was not exactly soothing me. So Dad thought that getting out of there for a little while...at least until Grace and Ollie had figured everything out would probably help me and it did."

"You should put on something comfortable,"

"I don't have anything with me."

"The closet is back there and the bathroom as well, just take what you need," Luke answered absentmindedly, heading towards the small kitchenette.

She took that as permission to spend a minute or two snooping through his closet, while she pulled out a long-sleeved shirt and drawstring pyjamas pants from his closet.

There were a lot of dark colours, a lot of Henleys and hoodies in his closet. Back in one corner, the more formal clothes were kept and Daphne stared surprised at the black tuxedo which was kept there as well.

Why had Luke of all people need for a black tuxedo or an assortment of suits?

Most of the time he seemed to spend his time either building various things (Grace had been the recipient for a tiny shelf for her nail polish which now happily hung in her bathroom and it seemed that Luke could pretty much build everything if he put his mind to it) or he was pouring over some spreadsheets that Daphne knew to be the returns of Schuyler Construction. Even now Luke was already deeply invested in the family business that he was set to one day take over. Of course, there were also various football games involved but nothing that he seemed like he needed suits for.

Shrugging her shoulders, she went to the bathroom, changing out the jeans and blouse she had worn, a pretty blue colour, but too thin for the current climate.

She changed into Luke's clothing which was ridiculously oversized on her and resulted in her nearly falling over the legs of his pyjama pants if he hadn't caught her when she left the bathroom.

"I look great, don't I?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow, waving her arms so that the ends of his shirt flapped around emptily with them being around 10 inches too long on her arms and he laughed.

He caught her arm, gently rolling up the sleeves until her hand was visible again and then pressing a kiss against her forehead.

"You would look great wearing nothing but a potato sack," he told her with a grin.

She couldn't help but blush at that, not knowing what she was supposed to do.

"In front of the fireplace with you. Your hands are icy," he told her, pressing another kiss to her forehead and she did as he told her, surprised to see that he had pushed the armchairs away and had instead spread blankets and pillows on the wood floor covered by a thick carpet.

She sat down there, for a moment luxuriating in the warmth of the fire roaring next to her, and couldn't help but flinch when a growl ripped through the cabin.

A look out of the window told her that outside there was a thunderstorm coming in, the sky painted in all shades of grey and blue.

It would have been beautiful in any other situation but at that moment she couldn't help but flinch again.

"It's just a thunderstorm," Luke told her when he came to join her, passing a mug of hot cocoa over to her. "Nothing to worry about. Let's hope the streets don't ice over..."

She took a sip of the cocoa, unable not to smile when she saw that there were even marshmallows in there. It tasted good, thick and creamy and warm.

"Mom taught me how to make it. " Daphne looked up surprised at that admission but Luke smiled at her. "She makes the very best hot cocoa you can imagine."

Daphne flinched another time, when another thunder growled through the city, this time followed by a lightning bolt.

"It's nothing bad. We get them mostly in spring, but sometimes they also happen in winter," Luke said, a hand on her arm, touching her wrist gentle and taking the mug from her hands. "We are safe inside."

The rain started at that moment, fat drops pouring from the sky, the sound too loud in her ears, which didn't really make any sense at all.

Suddenly, Luke's hand were on hers again and she stared at him, suddenly scared, the noise of the thunderstorm ringing some sort of alarm bell in her head, some sort of animalistic instinct that she couldn't place.

"Look at me," he told her, ordered her nearly, her head whipping around as she tried to do what he told her to. She didn't know why but something...something told her that this was important.

She stared in his eyes, violet meeting green when he pulled her as close to himself as it was possible.

He cupped her face in his big hands, pulling her as close to himself as he could so that her she was pressed against his chest, laying in the nest of blankets that he had made.

***

It was a lucky thing that he had caught the beginnings of the sensory overload she had been experiencing and instead, he gave her and her instincts something else to focus on.

It was his fault that the fledgeling bond they had was strained enough that this was triggered by a thunderstorm of all things and he cupped the back of her head and the small of her back, carefully to spread his fingers to that it felt like she was able to reach the biggest amount of her skin.

The bond they had...the one that would be finally completed with a claiming bite from both of them, was something that had begun to form from the moment he had first laid eyes on her.

He knew that it grew stronger with physical proximity, while it could be stressed through a long distance, there was a second thing it needed to grow healthy. And that was physical contact. Something that the two of them hadn't indulged in.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, feeling her pulse thrum under her soft skin and then very gently nuzzled against the side of her neck.

For a moment her whole body drew up against him and he expected her to push him away. She didn't.

She offered her neck to him, a shaking breath escaping her when he pressed a kiss against the pulse point.

He wanted to bit her. The want to it overcame him suddenly and hardly and he pulled back, knowing that he couldn't. Not yet. They were both not ready for that. In any way or form.

They needed more time to get to know each other, more time to but a relationship. But for the moment...for the moment holding her in his arms would be enough.

"Our bond is stressed. That's why your wolf is getting hyper-reactive right now," Luke explained gently, rubbing his hand in small circles over the fabric of his own shirt on her body.

He should have thought about that beforehand.

He could feel her breath hitch, the scent of fear intensifying when she pressed closer to him.

"Why? Have I done something wrong?" She asked him, sounding so anxious that he tried to soothe her immediately. .

"No, sweetheart. It gets stressed easily right now, because it's incomplete. But it needs...physical contact to ground itself. And it hadn't had that over the last few weeks," he tried to explain it to her and she lifted her head from where it laid on his chest, her eyes filling with tears.

"because I was busy..." she whispered but he shook his head.

"It's not your fault. I should have recognised the signs sooner," he soothed her. Something that he wanted to curse himself out for. "You didn't know what to look for. I did. I am sorry for that. We'll just need to tell your wolf that she's safe and that I am not letting anything happen to my mate so that she can settle down a bit.

"It's just a thunderstorm. Nothing to worry about. And I am not going anywhere," he repeated and he felt a bit of tension bleed out of her body.

"Just sleep for a bit," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her temple. It took a while before the hand that was fisted into his shirt finally let go of him and when he heard her breathing start to get deeper and more relaxed, he let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.

They needed to take better care of that.

It explained why he had been so irritated with her lack of affection towards him as well as why she had been irritated as well.

The physical contact they needed didn't need to be sexual in the slightest.