More Than Human

Chapter 95: An Unlikely Pair

The relationship between König and Horangi was an interesting, and an unlikely one at that. Sure, Rudy and Alejandro's relationship was a bit surprising, a siren and a chupacabra were decidedly unexpected together. But, König and Horangi, the odds were against them. König had honestly never been particularly interested in the pursuit of another, and neither had Horangi for that matter. They were both solitary creatures, at least, they were until they joined Price's pack.

Outside of that, they didn't seem to have much in common. König, as a kraken, thrived in the water. It made him feel at home, and at peace. But it wasn't something that he could share with Horangi. It wasn't that Horangi would melt like a witch in the Wizard of Oz if he came into contact with it, but the way he acted you would think so. The team all chalked it up to his cat-like nature, but Horangi despised getting wet. They had to set a specific time every other day to get the man to take a bath or a shower, and even with the schedule in place, it nearly always ended in a tantrum or a moping session. Slightly unbecoming of the grown man, but they all had their things, and that was his. König seemed to find the tiger griffin's tiny rampages endearing, and maybe even cute.

Either way, König was a little bummed that he wasn't able to share the thing he loved so much with the person that he...

Well.

He didn't want to think about the L-word. Not yet. He didn't want to rush into that. Especially since he and Horangi hadn't made anything official yet. Nor had they talked about... anything of the sort. Horangi was a proud man, and König was a little nervous about scaring him off.

Horangi was having a different internal battle. He really liked König. Like, really liked him, and that was a little frustrating. During his time in Makarov's lab, he thought every day about what had happened with his last team. How they had abandoned him under the rubble. He honestly hadn't thought that he would ever be on another team. But then König found him, and somehow managed to convince him to join them. And as much as he tried to avoid it at first, he had actually grown fond of all of them. Price had been so welcoming and thoughtful when he and König had taken him to the hospital for treatment when they found him in the woods. And their team, their pack, cared for each other with everything they had. After being left for dead by his last team, it was shocking to see.

Even Soap, the dog, was able to worm his way into Horangi's heart. His energy was intimidating at first, and dogs had always stressed him out, but the way he loved on every member of the team unconditionally. Ridiculous.

Allowing himself to grow attached to them after everything was one thing, but dare he say, falling in love? That felt nearly like betraying himself. Like betraying the version of him that was poked and prodded and sliced at, back in the lab. The one that had been carelessly tossed to the side when his life had seemed like too much trouble to preserve.

His instincts clearly disagreed. He found himself trying to impress König at every turn. Feats of strength and endurance during training and everyday activities. Catching small animals in the early morning and leaving them outside his bedroom door. His instincts had no problem with succumbing to his feelings for the massive man.

He wanted to get it together, but also he didn't.

Allowing himself to let go and give into his courting instincts felt so good. It was good and that irritated him too. But he was starting to think that maybe he should just give in. To let himself go, and to let himself love. Especially when every little touch König gave him felt so good. Or even just simple attention from him.

The warmth in his eyes.

Holy hell.

He really had it bad, didn't he?