Problems

It was nearly 2 am before Micah finally returned to his and Ash’s flat. He looked grey and haggard, as if he had aged 30 years in the few hours since Ash had seen him last. She was sat in the middle of the bed with a sketch book on her lap and the ever present hellhound posing before the artificial fire, if it were any more human Micah would have to call him a man whore and banish him from the flat like he does with the faerie. Ash looked up at him with her wide and innocent eyes and Micah couldnt help but fall onto the bed at her side and lay his head on her lap, pushing the sketch book out of his way.

“Oh baby, I think I’ve been a real idiot. I’m stumped, the doc cant figure it out and Blaze thinks there is a solution but he cant quite figure it out on his own. They all said I should have told you the day we got back, but you were just so happy, so happy… I couldnt ruin that for you” Micah blurted out. “I dont know what has come over me lately, I’m not thinking straight clearly and I’m not making the right decisions, the pack is in danger and they need me, but I need you. Please, my princess, my Luna, my baby, will you forgive me?”

“You are the most stubborn, stupid, idiotic mate I could ever have. And I know for a fact that if you had been listening to your wolf, he would not have let you cut me out like this but you are a gigantic, bloodyminded, ass who cannot admit when someone else has a better handle on things that him… in short, you have all the qualities of an Alpha wolf!” Ash raged at him, Micah hung his head, playing at being chastised even though he knew that his mate didnt actually mean half of what she was saying.

“I know baby, I know, I’ve been stupid…”

“And, if you want my help now, you will have to pay for it! I expect all the cuddles and love and adoration when I solve whatever this problem is for you, and you will never again tickle me!” Ash cut over Micah, putting away her drawing supplies as she spoke, a smile on her face.

Shuffling down in the bed, Ash cuddled into Micah. They settled into thier usual, comfortable tangle of limbs, joined by the blanket of hellhound making them both giggle as Shaddow gave little yips and squeals of pleasure. Once they were all accommodated in the bed, Ash looked up Micah “well? Spill?”

But rather than talking, Micah captured Ash’s lips with his own, kissing her passionately and pulling her closer despite the creature trying excitedly to get between them. Somehow, Micah managed to pull Ash away from the hellhound and onto his own chest, his shirt gone at some point in the process.

“Micah… Micah… wait…. you are so hot” Ash panted softly, her hands on Micah’s chest.

He grinned up at her suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows gently “oh really? Do go on my dear…” he purred softly.

Ash slapped his shoulder firmly, shaking her head “I didn’t mean it like that, egotistical pervert” she sighed, feeling his forehead. “No, it feels like you have a fever… but thats… that’s not possible…” Ash mumbled as she looked down at her mate.

Micah’s eye’s were glowing gently in the soft half light of the early morning sun softened by the drapes over the windows. He continued to ignore Ash’s words, playfully pulling her back against his body and distracting her with more kisses along her neck and around her ear.

it wasnt long before Ash forgot all her concerns and questions under her mates attention. Micah knew exactly where to touch, kiss and suck to make her mind float from her head seemingly without any effort. Her mate was determined to get her love drunk it seemed. His hands explored her body, holding onto her like a drowning man clinging to a raft. Breathing in her scent like it was the first air he had breathed.

Many more hours later, the pair, giggling like a pair of teenagers and flushed pink, headed into a hot shower. Ash’s attention was diverted once more to Micah. “Hey… what’s this?” She asked, her fingers brushing a strange rash on his flank. “Micah?”

Micah didnt answer, he shook his head softly, simply pulling Ash under the spray of the water and starting to wash her hair.

“Micah… what is going on? This isnt right… something is going on” Ash demanded, pushing against his chest, this only gained her a low growl from Micah. “Words, Micah, words. I need help here. What is happening?”

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Micah continued to deflect Ash’s questions and comments, distracting her by all means possible until she fell into an exhausted sleep with the blasted hellhound wrapped around her hips, her hair spread over the pillows around her head.

Micah couldnt sleep. There was too much running around his head. He had intended to share everything with Ash, but he just couldn’t. Why couldn’t he tell her? He should do, she could help, she would help. He slipped from the bed in his underwear. Pacing around the room silently. What was he going to do? This disease, whatever it was, seemed to be spreading through the pack uncontrollably, and there was nothing that was helping those who were sick. They just werent getting any better. He was missing something, they were missing something, they had to be. Something had to give, people couldnt keep just getting sick, his people could not just keep getting sicker and sicker while he stood by and did nothing. Micah let out another loud growl.

The noise startled Ash who flinched in her sleep, making the hellhound growl back viciously. Ash waved a hand lazily in her sleep, soothing both Shaddow and Micah. Mumbling something incoherent as she did so, but Micah felt that indescribable pull towards the bed, towards Ash all the same. He crawled back into the bed, wrestling silently and only partially successfully with the hellhound holding his mate hostage.

The following morning, Ash woke feeling like she was in the middle of a furnace. In the night, somehow, she had gotten wrapped in the blankets on the bed, the huge, strangely fluffy hellhound with the body heat of a celestial body and her mate who felt like he was burning up again. She pushed out against both of them, forcing the hound off the bed, but her mate barely budged.

“Micah… Micah… get up… get off me… its too hot here… I need a drink, and another shower” she gave Micah another push, managing to turn him onto his back. “And come to think of it, you never actually told me what is going on around here, you just kept trying to distract me, but that isn’t going to work this morning, because im going to shower on my own now and then we are going to talk” Ash continued firmly as she climbed from the bed and headed towards the bathroom.