Sam’s breaths were slow and soft, his thin shoulders curled inwards and his chin tucked down. Markus pulled the blankets up a little for the thousandth time, covering him to the point of his pale chin. He still couldn’t believe the words he had heard him mumble… He couldn’t believe Sam had even said it let alone that he had actually done it. ‘I Killed Brandon.’, Markus kept going over homophones in his mind, trying to find a three-letter sentence that sounded anything like what he thought he heard. And if Sam did say it, if he really did admit to killing the crazed beta, why would he say it to him? Did he think it was a joke? Cassie was his closest friend, Markus figured he would take the incident a little more seriously.

He let his fingers follow the curve of Sam’s round jaw, to his ear and back down his soft pillowy cheek, tracing over his freckles with the lightest touch Markus had ever attempted to use in his life. He decided to push the thought from his mind, it was most likely just a delirious rambling, people said all kinds of strange things when they were unwell. Markus was a notorious sleep-talker as a child and the things he would come out with always had his friends in stitches during sleepovers. There was no point dwelling on the confession, it wasn’t physically possible for an omega to kill a beta.

Sam had slept consistently soundly since Markus had plopped him into his plush mattress and wrapped him up like a baby burrito but if he didn’t wake up soon, Markus was considering giving him a little shake… As angelic as he looked all bundled up and warm, his stomach had growled a few times as he snoozed.

At the same time… Markus never got to feel the kind of peace and tranquillity that exuded from his mate when he was relaxed, the last time he remembered feeling this pure soothing sensation was literally the night he discovered his mate was his, another night of staring at Sam’s sleeping face…

Just as he was leaning in to give him a wiggle, Sam mumbled something and began to push himself up, Markus shushed him gently and pulled him in close, dragging his finger tips through the smaller boy’s chocolate mop.

“Hey.” He whispered.

“Hi.” Sam whispered back groggily.

“How’re you feeling?”

“M’hungry.” He buried his face into Markus’ chest and the alpha had to remind himself to breath, why was this tiny wolf so damn adorable? It was almost physically painful.

“I’ll get you something,” He mumbled into the crown of Sam’s head. “what do you want?”

“I can…” Sam began to push up from Markus’ chest, “I can find something, I have leftovers in the fridge…” when his hands slid in Markus’ shirt the alpha grabbed his torso and stabilised him before sitting up, holding him close to his chest like he would a puppy.

“I can find my way around the kitchen,” He continued to keep his voice low and hushed, “you stay here, you don’t have the energy to spare.” Sam was so cute in this sleepy, dazed, mumble-y phase, the last thing Markus wanted was for him to wake up fully. With the slowest and gentlest touch he managed to turn the pair of them over and then release Sam, dragging his hands over his skinny warm arms and climbing out of the bed.

He pulled the thick duvet up to Sam’s nose and leant in to stare down into his half-lidded eyes, usually a bright powder blue but now in the dim room they had darkened to a deep navy. Markus hovered for a few moments and Sam blinked up at him as though he were looking straight through his forehead. Such a sweet and tranquil expression that it drew Markus forward like a magnet until his deep breaths were rustling the dark hair on the omega’s forehead, that magnetic force was definitely what drew him to press his lips against Sam’s warm forehead, definitely. When he pulled back, Sam’s eyes were closed.