The Kitty Cat's Mates (ManxMen)

27 | Rivalry

Axel stood by the small balcony, savoring the peace and solidarity that he had been craving ever since he had been promoted as the Captain of their men. Don't get him wrong; Axel was passionate when it comes to his job, though a quick break wasn't so bad after the trials they had endured, and maybe to give the inflating bags under his eyes a break as well.

He swirled the wineglass in his hands, watching the people — werewolves and werecats — move around down on the Great Hall. He still couldn't believe his father had agreed to the alliance with the werewolves, but he highly respected and looked up to him.

As he was doing so, Axel blinked, eyes immediately pinning on the brown-haired boy trailing behind his female cousin just by the long buffet line. He was curious about what the lad's deal was for madly gesturing his free hand around while talking, or more like desperately shrieking at Pandora. Then amidst it, the boy stopped to scoop up some Chiftele de pește and pour it onto his already heaping plate. Axel chuckled.

Good old King, he thought.

Axel's smile wore off after he remembered the words that had escaped his lips before. Axel had never meant to confess to King in his lifetime. But at that moment, in that abandoned house, he thought it was now or never. And he wondered, if he wasn't confused and had the guts in the past, how would have things played out differently?

Just then, another man slipped into the red curtains behind him. Axel turned, brows slightly arching.

"Oh, so there is someone in here." Yusef smiled at him.

Axel patted his clothes and had just decided to leave. "I apologize for the intrusion—"

"It's all right. You don't have to leave," Yusef said, moving beside him, "I don't mind having a little company here once in a while."

Axel nodded his head. "Very well, Alpha."

Yusef leaned forward onto the stone railing, and he gazed down at the brown-haired boy who was talking to a bleached blonde kid.

"So how is it going, Captain?" Yusef asked. "Must be tiring for a youngster like you to be holding the weights."

"It is," Axel frankly responded. "But more than all," he spared a glance at his hands and stared down at the werecats moving throughout the ground, "I want to lead them in good hands."

Without a smile, Yusef's observing eyes moved to the corner, examining the expression of the younger boy, who harbored no falsity in his blue eyes. One corner of Yusef's lips slightly curled up at the boy's sincerity.

"I applaud you for that," Yusef complimented.

"Thank you," Axel chuckled and took a sip from his glass.

"How old are you, by the way?"

"I'm nineteen, sir."

"The same age as Mr. Stefan, I see."

Axel paused at what he said, the smile on his face slipping off as he vigilantly studied the man, who was looking down on the ground floor with rather... desirous and longing eyes.

The blonde lad's eyes momentarily moved down to look at King, then back to the older man on his side, suspicion and displeasure unconsciously antagonizing him. Axel slightly clenched his jaw. He didn't like the way Yusef's eyes looked, and his stomach twisted at the thought that it was directed to none other than King.

"... Now that you mentioned it," Axel started, and Yusef looked back at him, "I was wondering what your connection with King is. I'm curious how he got involved with the Lykaios pack."

Both the men stared eye-to-eye at each other, both blue, the other's light, the other's dark, like two oceans that meet but don't really mix. Yusef was the first to break the contact. He huffed out a chuckle, aware of the suspicion Axel was throwing.

"Nothing really," Yusef replied. He slightly scratched his temple with a finger. "It was a simple act brought by a misunderstanding. Nothing too much. "

Axel did not bite.

"And how about you?" Yusef asked, looking back at him with a smile. "What's your relationship with him?"

The two men stared at each other again. This time, sparks flew.

The blonde lad broke the connection this time, bringing the wineglass away from his lips, and he too chuckled. "King and I have a special relationship."

Yusef's smile hardened.

"I mean, we are childhood friends," Axel clarified, smiling back at him.

"... Right," was the only word Yusef replied. He didn't even have to sniff around to know what the stench was, and he didn't have to dig more to see that he was facing another predator who was eyeing on his prey. His instincts started to boil, but one thing for sure, he wasn't letting go of the bone.

"To be honest..." Yusef trailed off, eyeing Gian, who went to carry a tray down below. "... We also have a special relationship." Yusef looked back at Axel, whose eyes rounded and lips pulled apart, with a playful smile on his lips.

"What do you m—"

"You fucking son of a bitch!"

Yusef and Axel's eyes rounded—

Smash!

They snapped their head down below, searching for the cause of the outcry, and both of them paled when they saw Gian, King, and Vance crash down on the buffet line, breaking down the table from the impact, and causing dozens of expensive cuisines to splatter on the marble floor. They rolled around, punching, kicking, and screaming at each other.

"Fuck you!" Gian yelled.

"Fuck you too, bitch!" Vance snapped back.

"Fuck you both!" King roared.

A battle cry raged, and then there were more than three men who were wrestling, breaking glass, hurling chairs and tables, crashing china on the floor, and throwing food at each other.

"Ahhh!" screamed one random man as he broke a highball glass over another random man's head, before being punched straight on the face.

Kain, amused, was watching the hellhole while snickering in the corner until Alistair yelled at him to stop his men. Rolling his eyes, he walked into the battleground. "Oi, stop fighting," he commanded rather unpassionately until a bowl of Ciorbă de burtă flew directly into him, soaking him with the yellowish soup that smelt animalic of garlic and vinegar under his highly sensitive nose.

"You—" Kain trembled. "You little shits!" he roared, before joining into the rumble.

"Oi! You guys!" Axel yelled, but it fell into hundreds of deaf ears. 

Yusef clicked his tongue and ran out.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Axel rushed behind the other man, who hurried down to the ground floor to stop the brawl.