Azure [MxM]

Chapter 1

THIRD PERSON ▪︎ POV

Kade rubbed his hand down his face with a sigh of frustration, his body feeling heavy from exhaustion. After another day busy fixing houses for other families within the pack lands, his hands were sore and spotted with calluses from lifting bricks and heavy tools. His muscles ached and he needed a good shower to wash off the dust that clung to his clothes, the smell of sweat and even some spots of blood from small accidents.

Kade was part of a small team of construction wolves who helped to maintain the homes of those living within the packlands. Whether it entailed nailing up pictures for the older folk, or building new houses for the freshly mated families moving in, Kade's days at work were busy, long and tiring. Not that he really complained. It paid well, it gave him purpose around the pack and he'd never been a gym rat so construction kept him in shape. He was tall and broad with thick abdominal muscles, bulging biceps and thighs. His skin was golden from working under the sun, his dirty blonde hair streaked with brighter, golden strands. His eyes were a honey brown, hooded and shadowed by his thick eyelashes. His nose was strong, his lips full, his square jaw dusted with scruffy stubble.

Kade was a good looking dominant werewolf, and not only was he good looking, strong and young, he was also single and a huge topic of interest amongst eligible submissive wolves around the pack. However Kade didn't have time for dating, and even if he did, there was one small, black, fluffy, clawed problem that would forever stop him from finding a life mate. Azure.

Azure was a cat shifter Kade had rescued one night, two years ago. It had been a completely coincidental event that had led the wolf shifter into taking the abandoned kitty home with him. He'd been travelling to a nearby town for building supplies when he found Azure, in his shifted form, hiding behind a dumpster. The cat had matted fur, open wounds along his underbelly and a pitiful look on his face, Kade just didn't have the will power to ignore.

He'd been a hissing little thing even while he was weak and injured back then. Kade had bite marks all along his arms, but eventually he'd managed to help the cat, take him back to the pack, stitch him up and feed him food and water. Azure had refused to shift back into his human form for a week, but he healed, accepted the care given to him and slept inside Kade's home while the other went out to work. Kade hadn't known where Azure came from or how he'd gotten hurt, but he couldn't know or help him until Azure shifted, so they lived that way for a while.

When Azure finally shifted, Kade had come home to find a naked, dark brown skinned boy crouched on his dining table with a ripped box of cereal spilled around his feet, glaring with bright blue eyes right back at him. He was beautiful, slim and lean, with skin like molten chocolate, hair as dark as night and tightly coiled like springs on his head. But those eyes, those cat-like, azure-blue eyes were absolutely gorgeous and Kade felt his attraction to the feline shifter stir.

But Azure was... a handful to say the least. The feisty cat found ways to make Kade's blood pressure spike at least once an hour whenever he was home. After Azure admitted that he was homeless and had been attacked at the shelter he'd been staying at, Kade took pity on him and decided to let the boy stay until he could figure something out. But Azure had no intentions of leaving and it didn't seem like he ever could live independently again.

He was more feral than sane, more cat than human. He pranced around naked, hissed and scratched, was bratty and overall a nuisance to Kade. He destroyed Kade's furniture, ate through his cupboards of food, packaging and all, didn't listen to Kade's rules and even used the bathroom everywhere other than in the actual bathroom. But even still, Kade couldn't ask him to leave. No matter how angry, no matter how frustrated he became, Kade just couldn't say no.

Perhaps that's why things were slowly getting out of control. Because when it came to Azure, he was weak. He didnt know why but the troublesome cat had wound himself around his heart, claws and all. Kade sighed, apprehensive about returning home, not knowing what mess he was going to find. He wanted to shower, eat and fall into bed.