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Twenty-Five: Rescued

Twenty-Five: Rescued

He felt warm, and normally that might be comforting, but this was a sick sort of warmth. It felt like the warmth of a fever, a dizzying, scorching heat that was killing him from the inside out. He kept blinking, trying to clear his vision, but it was like someone had sprayed mist over his eyes. Everything was blurry and moving too fast and it was just making his throat tighten like he was going to vomit.

There were hands on him. Hands he didn't recognize, but that seemed to cool the fever a bit wherever they touched, so he couldn't mind them too much. One slid under his shirt, resting over his lower back. The other had worked its way around the back of his neck, pulling Wren forward, into an embrace that instantly cooled him down, causing him to moan in relief.

A low chuckle vibrated from the other person's chest into Wren's. Cool breath blasted Wren's face before a pair of lips covered Wren's, sliding over him with an aggressive hunger.

Some part of Wren wanted to scream, wanted to thrash and pull away from this person, but the rest of him wouldn't listen. He was shackled by the heat.

A tongue probed Wren's mouth and he let it, too lost in the haze to fight it. He didn't know how long this person had been kissing him, but it felt like forever. The hand on his back slid lower, slipping the tips of his fingers past Wren's waistband, getting dangerously close to the place that Wren could feel getting wetter by the minute, although he didn't quite understand why. He didn't particularly feel aroused, so why was his body acting like he was?

A muffled shout nearby penetrated the clouds in Wren's head for a brief moment, more so when the person kissing him pulled away from his mouth abruptly, leaving Wren to once more open his eyes and try to figure out where he was with his vision fogged over like a steamy bathroom mirror.

Someone was standing near the bench Wren was sitting on, and Wren watched in a daze as that person – who he could tell had white hair but not much else – slapped a hand on top of the head of the alpha holding him.

There was a harsh 'thunk' sound when his palm connected and then the alpha holding Wren released him to shout angrily at the white-haired person. Wren couldn't make out what was being said, but he whimpered at the loss of contact, at the searing heat that rushed back in now that the cold relief from the alpha's hands was gone.

Desperate, Wren reached for the alpha, and the alpha happily reached back for him, still rubbing the top of his head, but the white-haired person gave another shout and stomped his foot, this time moving in to shove at the alpha's shoulders, sharp words shooting out his mouth like gunshots.

The alpha growled back, gesturing to the way Wren was clinging to him like he was making some kind of point, but Wren didn't care too much about that, and instead dove forward to bury his face in the alpha's neck, sighing when that scent entered his lungs and cooled him down from the inside out.

Hands – different hands – tugged at the back of Wren's shirt, trying to pull him away from the alpha. Wren glanced out of the corner of his eye to see it was the white-haired person, and he began to get annoyed. Couldn't they see that Wren needed to cool down? Why couldn't they just leave?

Wren's lips curled in a snarl towards the white-haired person, and they paused, huffing in disbelief and saying something sternly to Wren before pulling harder on Wren's shirt. Wren felt one of the buttons on the front of the shirt give way, popping off and rolling to the floor. Seeing that Wren didn't care if the white-haired person ripped his shirt off or not and that he wasn't going to let go of the alpha, they gave up on tugging it and ran their hands through their hair in frustration.

The alpha said something snidely to the white-haired person that made them shout again and point a finger at the alpha threateningly, but the alpha just smirked and tilted Wren's face up to his, licking at his mouth. The white-haired person made a noise of utter disgust at this and pulled out something from their pocket, pointing at it and threatening the alpha with something.

"...call...police....swear to fuck...I will..."

Wren frowned slightly, his gut squirming with discomfort. The heat was still there, still controlling him, making him desperate to cling onto the alpha beside him, but the part of his brain that was screaming in warning had gained a small foothold, and suddenly Wren could make out a few words.

The alpha snorted. "...fucking...do it.... He's...clinging... me...believe you?"

With that, the alpha leaned in to kiss Wren again, and the haze washed over him fully once more, leaving him unable to make out what the white-haired person said after that. Waves of heat and cold took over Wren's body, leaving him constantly swaying between utter euphoria and utter agony. God, he just wanted it all to stop.

Suddenly, the alpha's mouth left his again – actually, his entire person left Wren as he appeared to fly off the bench, rolling to the ground a few feet away and making a few other people watching nearby scatter to avoid him. Wren nearly sobbed as the heat seared his insides with the alpha's absence, but thankfully, someone seemed to understand how much pain he was in, because someone grabbed him and held him tight to their chest, tucking his head into their neck. Wren quieted immediately, melting against them.

Alpha.

But this was a different alpha. Wren could tell, could practically taste the difference in the pheromones. These pheromones were gentle, they encompassed him fully, but they weren't oppressive. He wasn't drowning anymore. He liked these pheromones. He liked them a lot, a lot more than the other alpha, who was getting to his feet at the side to shout angrily at the new alpha.

The alpha holding Wren turned his head to look at the other alpha. He didn't say anything, but the other alpha quieted quickly and stepped back, like he was scared of something. The white-haired person took his chance to speak into the sudden silence, and whatever he said made the alpha holding Wren nod in agreement, getting to his feet while still holding Wren tightly to his chest.

Wren wobbled a bit on legs that felt like noodles, but the gentle alpha steadied him and said something soothingly in a low voice, starting to move through the crowd of the club toward a bright red exit sign. Wren held onto him like he was the only piece of driftwood in the middle of an ocean.

Outside, the cool night air hit Wren's lungs and he gasped, lifting his head a bit from the alpha's neck to see bright blue streetlights and neon signs. A bit of the heat washed away enough for him to make out Beau at his side, looking at him worriedly, and holding him...was Vincent, who stared straight ahead with a dark expression while he walked them straight towards a taxi parked on the curb.

As Vincent got Wren settled in the backseat with Beau sliding in next to him, Wren felt darkness start clouding his vision, an exhaustion so deep that even Wren's confusion and panic couldn't keep it at bay, and he found himself sliding in the seat until his head hit Beau's shoulder.

He fell asleep to the feeling of Beau running his fingers through Wren's hair and the oddly comforting feeling of Vincent's eyes on him in the rearview mirror as they drove away.