Facing Up

[Saccharin]

She\'d wanted some sort of reaction out of him, an admission that he\'d fucked up, that he\'d taken her for granted, that he\'d been awful. But per usual, he shut down and shut her out. She didn\'t know why she even bothered. Really, what was the point? He wasn\'t going to love her for the things she did for him. He wouldn\'t acknowledge that in doing what she had, she was showing that she genuinely cared for him - if not in making sure he was comfortable, but in making certain Dominik didn\'t rip into him for having been such a shit to her.

She stood back from her hunched position, blinking rapidly and pressing her lips together. Her eyes stung.

"Sure," she said, hating the breathlessness of her voice. She was trying her fucking best not to crumble in front of him, but her resolve was quickly fading.

[pinkroses]

Sable half turned away, then paused, glancing back over his shoulder at Carrie.

“Thank you,” he said quietly before carrying on, heading straight towards his bedroom and firmly shutting the door when he got there, shutting out the world. To be honest he’d been a little surprised to learn Carrie hadn’t told Dom about his almost shifting on that first night. Why wouldn’t she have? But he hadn’t really seen Dom since that night so he assumed the Oligarch hadn’t wanted to discuss it since he hadn’t actually turned.

And he wasn’t stupid - he’d seen her getting upset, but he had no doubt that if she asked Dom to find him somewhere else the shifter would agree and all this would be over. Maybe he would have to live in the Oligarchy - or maybe Dom would off load him onto another werewolf.

The young werewolf slowly began to get ready for bed, and was in his bathroom when a car pulled up outside Carrie’s home and a few seconds later there was a knocking on the front door.

As soon as she’s hung up on him Dom had left what he’d been doing and headed for the house. He hadn’t even bothered to find a jacket and he was sure he’d gone through more than one red light on the way. She’d hung up on him. He had no idea why. Was she in danger? Had Sable come home? Was she that pissed at him for not going out to look for the werewolf earlier? Dom knew the boy was independent - one day going off by himself would probably do the kid good, and as far as he knew there had been no danger of him shifting previously - and he wasn’t exactly new to the city and about to get lost.

He would wait impatiently outside the door until it was opened, his foot tapping and hands clenched into fists at his sides. He’d been at the office organising things for the full moon and so was wearing simple, but good quality black slacks and a dark blue shirt - although the sleeves were rolled up and it was open at the throat with no tie, showing off the dragon tattoo on his neck. His grey eyes were flashing with annoyance mingled with a hint of worry and there was a thick layer of stubble covering his jaw, showing Carrie how long he\'d been work recently (most of the time) so he hadn\'t bothered shaving for a couple of weeks.

“You hung up on me,” Dom said as she opened the door, instantly stepping forwards to put a foot in the way and a hand on the door in case she had hung up on him because she was angry and she\'d decided she didn\'t want to continue the conversation.

[Saccharin]

She tilted her head back to look up at Dominik. Her face was splotchy red and the skin around her eyes damp, despite her best efforts to rub away evidence of her tears with the heel of her hand before she opened the door. Her professionally waxed eyebrows lowered marginally as she frowned at him.

"I did," she confirmed. Her voice lacked all the fire it had when he\'d talked to her before.

Carrie turned from him, and as she walked back to the kitchen, she ran both hands through her hair. "Sable is back," she said, and climbed onto a  bar stool. "I hung up  because he came in. You were being an ass, anyway." She polished off what wine had remained in her glass and then lifted the bottle to serve herself a refill, only to notice it was empty. She shook it despondently.

"He hates me," she said thickly, "and I try, but he hates me. I think it\'s your fault. He talks about this place like it\'s a prison. Like I\'m his captor. And maybe I am. That\'s what you wanted me to do, right?"

[pinkroses]

Dominik had got a lot better at dealing with people over his time being Oligarch, but most of that was business, no emotions, so when he saw she’d been crying he wasn’t quite sure how to react initially.

The shifter followed Carrie through her house after shutting the door behind them. He could instantly smell Sable had been in the house. He was about to ask if the boy was alright, but as Carrie emotionally gushed out about Sable, Dom guessed the boy was healthy enough.

Dom moved swiftly to Carrie’s side, wrapping his arms around her and ignoring any attempts to push him away.

“He’s young, stupid. We’re doing this for the best, he‘ll understand eventually,” Dom said softly, nuzzling his nose into her hair. “He’s downstairs? What did he say to you?” he asked in a soothing voice, although he had every intention of going and telling the boy what he thought of him if he’d said anything too nasty to Carrie.

[Saccharin]

As she felt his arms go around her, she relaxed. She probably should\'ve been annoyed with him still, but the embrace was familiar and comforting, making it difficult to remember why she\'d been upset with him to begin with.

"Not much, actually." She reached up to idly run her fingers over his arm, stroking the hairs that covered it. "It\'s nothing, really. It\'s fine. He just thinks that I\'m kind to him because you ordered me to be. Thinks it\'s an act, I guess." Her fingers stilled and she shrugged. "I don\'t really blame him for thinking that, given, you know... His record." Even understanding that, it was difficult to toil tirelessly for someone who always suspected her of only doing it because she had to. Or worse yet, suspected that she had ulterior motives.

"It\'s something we need to work out, Dom. That\'s all. I\'m just not handling things well today," she said.

[pinkroses]

Dom shut his eyes for a moment. He hated being part of the cause of her pain, but he had to put work first, it was for the best. At least that’s what he kept telling himself when this came up.

“You have had a stressful day. But if things go well at the full moon, if you think he can handle everything, he won’t have to stay here too much longer,” Dominik said, lifting on ehand to gently stroke her thick hair.

“I think you’re handling this better than a lot people. Despite what he thinks, you do care. And that’s why I asked you to do this,” he said, deciding it would be better to stay here with Carrie for now rather than going to scare the wits out of the boy again.

“And he’s safe here. Everything’s fine. You don’t need to worry,” he murmured.

[Saccharin]

"I can\'t help but to worry," she said with a small laugh. "It\'s a good thing I never had children. I would\'ve been a complete mess by now." She likely would\'ve been the mother who followed her offspring with bottles of antibacterial solution and wipes, so to make sure nothing could infect them. In doing that, though, she would\'ve prevented them from having built up their own immune system. Maybe there was something to what Dominik had said on the phone, about giving Sable room to breathe - a chance to be independent.

"Sable ran into some vampire while he was out. Someone who works at the Oligarchy. He\'s making noise about wanting to work there now. Do you think he could get on there? I had something lined up for him at the coffee shop, but he wasn\'t interested." Huge understatement, but she was afraid to elaborate. She knew Dominik well enough to want to avoid giving him a reason to confront the lad.

[pinkroses]

“You would be a brilliant mother. Sable just has no idea how to have a family. He can’t see you’re trying to help him and you just have to accept that,” Dom said in a smooth voice, still gently playing with her hair as he spoke.

As she mentioned Sable meeting a vampire Dom’s hand stilled. Vampires and werewolves didn’t get along, he knew that well enough from experience in his job, and more often than not, it was the were who came off worse. Apparently it hadn’t gone too badly though, not if Sable wanted to work at the Oligarchy.

“I could speak to our personnel department. With his work experience though, I would imagine it wouldn’t be more than cleaning or preparing food. And with the amount of vampires around the building… it would really have to be something low profile. Werewolves are not really seen to be… it’s completely unfair, but some see them as a lower class. Especially by vampires. I’m surprised one was friendly enough to encourage him to want to work there,” Dominik said thoughtfully, a small frown creasing his forehead as he straightened up, leaving one hand on her lower back.

[Saccharin]

After he unraveled his arms from around her, she mourned the loss of heat. Shifters always seemed to run a few degrees hotter than average, making Dominik a very convenient blanket. She rubbed her bare arms with her palms while she listened to him speak. He\'d grown more articulate since she the first time they\'d met, but she suspected she wouldn\'t mind hearing his deeply masculine voice, whatever he chose to say.

"He\'s said he doesn\'t care what he does there, so I think whatever you can do will be fine."

She sighed when he spoke of vampires. She\'d tried her best to avoid the politics of the Oligarchy, but when you were stared down by some pale, otherworldly looking creature when you tried to walk past it, politics were difficult to ignore.

"I\'d gathered as much," she deadpanned.

Carrie turned her head to examine his unshaven profile. "Why do you think this one is different?" she asked, her voice colored with concern.

[pinkroses]

Dominik pursed his lips thoughtfully for a moment and then shook his head a little.

“Individuals are not defined by their race and there are exceptions to every rule. Maybe he’s a sympathiser to werewolves, maybe Sable doesn’t smell of Lycanthrope enough yet for it to have been too repulsive to him. It doesn’t really matter,” Dominik said, reaching down to turn the stool Carrie sat on so that she faced him and he pressed her knees apart, stepping into the space left, moving his hands to her hips.

“Now, what can I do to make this better? To convince you this isn’t the end of the world?” the shifter asked.

[Saccharin]

She laughed as he spun her around. "I can think of one way," she said, smiling widely and at the same time reaching upward to run her hands over the short beard Dominik had grown.

"I really like this," she mentioned, distracted by the coarse hair under her fingers. She hadn\'t thought it possible, but Dominik had found a way to make himself even more attractive to her. All it\'d taken was neglecting shaving for a few weeks. "But... hmm. Sable is downstairs."

[pinkroses]

“Oh yeah? Maybe I’ll leave it like this for a while,” Dominik murmured, leaning in to kiss her, but pausing as she mentioned Sable being downstairs. He gazed at her for a moment, then glanced towards the door, giving a small shrug.

“And your bedroom is upstairs. That’s a lot of doors in between. You think I can make you scream that loud? Sounds like a challenge,” he said with a grin. Her eyes were still red and puffy, but she was beautiful all the same. And he hated seeing her unhappy. If he couldn’t fix everything straight away, at least he could distract her for a while.

[Saccharin]

"You make a valid point, sir," she said, lowering her hands to rest on his chest. "My room is upstairs and his downstairs. But maybe we should try to be quiet. I don\'t want to traumatize him."

She was made uncomfortable by the idea that Sable might figure out how her \'meetings\' usually ended with the shifter. It was unprofessional, come to think of it. He was her Oligarch, for Christ\'s sake. He made sure she was secured every full moon. She did small jobs for him. He was... sort of like a boss?

But as she looked up at the man, she came to the exact conclusion she did every time she questioned their relationship: it didn\'t matter. They found enjoyment in one another, and if that was unprofessional, then so be it.

[pinkroses]

Dom had a nagging feeling that he should really go see Sable, have a go at him for scaring Carrie, tell him to grow up, any number of things, but what good would it do? It would annoy and frustrate him, scare or make Sable scared. Probably upset Carrie further too. The boy would grow up in time - maybe with a job he would get a little perspective, feeling some responsibility.

But the shifter didn’t want to be thinking about the young were right now.

“Lead the way, love,” Dom said, stepping back and gesturing with a smile for Carrie to lead the way, taking her hand with his warm one as he followed her up the stairs, enjoying the view from behind immensely and keeping close to her.

[Saccharin]

Between a bottle of wine and a night spent reacquainting herself with every delicious inch of Dominik\'s body, she wouldn\'t have been able to think about Sable and all the drama associated with the teen even if she\'d wanted to. As she\'d drifted off, she\'d felt Dominik make to leave the bed, but she coaxed him back into her arms. It was hugely selfish, keeping him there when he probably had tons more work to finish up before the full moon arrived, but the Oligarchy be damned - she wanted to cuddle. She half suspected he\'d leave anyway once she fell asleep. It wouldn\'t hurt him to stay until then.

Her surprise was great when she woke to found he hadn\'t left. Sliding an arm over his chest, she scooted over until she could drape herself over him. And while she ran a bare foot over his leg, she rested her cheek against his chest and just enjoyed being next to him before ruining it by thinking about things like... How exactly were they going to pretend they weren\'t sleeping together when Dominik came downstairs with her? Yeaaah. Probably wasn\'t going to work. Sable wasn\'t an idiot.

"Dom?" Her voice was thick with sleep and she cleared it before continuing. "You want breakfast? I can do toast without burning down anything."

No sneaking around. They would go downstairs and they would have breakfast. Sable could just deal with it if he didn\'t like it.