by Peyton Bogue
“I like to sleep in,” Rhys replies, graciously accepting the cup of coffee Sage is offering him as he settles next to Sage's side, giving one more menacing glare to Kai over the brim of his mug.
Kai scoffs. “I'm immune to those glares, Becker.” He points his spoon. “And I didn't wake you up!”
“The bed was cold,” Rhys mumbles behind the brim, quiet so that Kai doesn't hear. Sage hears him, though, and smiles fondly before affectionately rubbing his shoulder with Rhys's.
Rhys smiles behind the mug, reaching a hand out to rub over the space between Sage's neck and collarbone, scent marking him. An affectionate gesture, but even more meaningful because of the fact that Rhys is scenting Sage, so that he'll smell like Rhys.
Rhys is pretty adamant on scenting Sage however and whenever he can. From what Sage understands and from what Rhys has told him, scent means everything to werewolves, as a way to establish their territory, but also as a way to show affection. And the fact that he's so insistent on making sure that he's marked Sage as often as he can makes Sage's heart flutter. He knows what that gesture means, and how romantic it is.
And Kai, bless him, knows it, too.
“I cannot handle you two acting this way when it is this early in the morning,” Kai groans, scraping his spoon against the bottom of his bowl.
“Get a girlfriend,” Rhys says, his thumb rubbing softly against Sage's clavicle. “Then you can bother her in the mornings instead of us.” He shrugs and doesn't elaborate further.
Rhys isn't particularly friendly with anyone except Sage, but Sage knows that he and Kai just like to poke fun at each other. Rhys doesn't invite many people to be close to him. He would much rather prefer to be around Sage than to ever attempt to talk with anyone else, but Sage can tell by their easy banter and how Rhys actively makes conversation with Kai that Rhys and Kai have a close friendship. It's early in the morning, though, and Rhys isn't a morning person. He's pretty nonverbal in the mornings, even when it's just he and Sage together, but he's also a lot more relaxed and open when only Sage is around. He's much more comfortable around Sage than he is around anyone else.
“He can't,” Sage starts to tell Rhys, feeling his phone begin to buzz in the pocket of his sweatpants, “he's on a cleanse.” Rhys lets him go so he can fish through his pocket easier, and Sage finds his phone seconds later. He brings it up to his ear and says in his professional voice, “Kaelan speaking.”
His voice is still a little scratchy from sleep, and he winces slightly, but doesn't feel too bad at being a little unprofessional when he hears, “Hey, Sage. It's Hazel,” and realizes it's not one of his superiors.
“Hey, Hazel,” Sage replies, setting his mug down and crossing his empty arm across his chest. “What's up?”
“I've got a few things I'd like to show you down in my lab,” Hazel replies, her tone light and cheery.
“Is it about the victim from last night? That was fast,” Sage says, slightly impressed.
“I like to work fast,” Hazel says down the line, like she's whispering a secret to him and trusting him to keep it.
“Kai and I are supposed to head down to Hemera Magazine in about forty minutes, but I'm sure we could stop by before we go,” Sage says, nodding his head at Kai's questioning look.
“Kai is with you?” Hazel asks innocently, but Sage can detect the subtle shift in her voice.
“Yes. We'll be at the precinct in half an hour. Is that okay?” Sage asks, sharing a look with Rhys, who's looking at him with a deliberating glint in his eyes. Sage raises a questioning eyebrow at his stoic expression.
“Yes, that's totally fine. See you then,” Hazel responds, and hangs up a second later.
Sage pulls his phone down and glances at it with a questioning look, before sliding it onto the counter. He goes to pick up his mug to finish off his coffee, because he really needs to hurry and shower if he's going to be leaving so quickly, and catches sight of both Rhys and Kai giving him looks. Rhys is contemplative as he regards Sage, and Kai looks as if he's trying to hold back a laugh.
“What?” Sage asks, confused.
“Who was that?” Rhys asks, taking another sip of his coffee.
“Hazel Kimura, the new Coroner,” Sage replies questioningly.
“'Hazel Kimura, the new Coroner,' likes you,” Rhys says simply.
Kai whoops and shakes his head in an over exaggerated display as he raises his spoon in the air to point at Rhys again, yelling, “Yes! You see it, too!”
Sage stares at them, frowning. “No, she doesn't. She's new and just trying to make friends.”
“I didn't even hear the conversation, and yet I know she was trying to flirt with you,” Kai says, pointing his finger at Sage as he chews loudly on another bite of cereal.
“I heard it,” Rhys growls lightly, “and she was definitely flirting with you."
The second thing about Rhys, Sage thinks, is that he's very possessive.
“She was not,” Sage dismisses, waving his hand at Rhys and Kai offhandedly.
“She was, Sage. And she got very standoffish when she found out that Kai was going to be with you—even though he's your partner—because she wanted to get you alone, and then she hung up on you.”
Sage sighs at Rhys. “I forgot you could hear all of that.”
Rhys lightly taps his pointer finger to his right ear and says, “Werewolf hearing, sweetheart. I hear everything.”
Sage is so used to living with a werewolf now that he often forgets that he's actually living with a werewolf. He's so attuned to Rhys's normal behaviors that he sometimes forgets that it's actually not normal for a person to hear sounds and voices that are more than a few hundred years away.
“I'm not the only one who sees it, Sage,” Kai adds, shrugging unrepentantly.
“When did you notice?” Rhys asks, turning to face Kai at where Kai is sitting at the island.
Kai looks up and snorts. “The minute they met, man. Sage was all It's nice to meet you, Hazel, and she literally swooned. And she never calls me to tell me things. She always calls him.”
Sage rolls his eyes, but Rhys looks back at him with his eyebrows raised and says, “And you still think that she's not flirting with you?”
Sage is so completely enveloped by he and Rhys's relationship—completely used to Rhys's overprotectiveness and how territorial he is—and so in love with Rhys that he barely notices when someone else is trying to catch his attention, and the thought of someone who's not Rhys trying to flirt with him just makes him feel puzzled.
He definitely hadn't thought that Hazel's offhand, friendly chit-chat had been her attempting to flirt with him, but now that he thinks about it, it does seem like she may have been laying it on a little too thick.
“It's really not a big deal, Rhys. She's only been at the precinct for a few weeks and is just trying to make friends. The gal's a little friendly, but it's harmless,” Sage shrugs. “Besides, she knows I'm in a relationship.”
“You've told her about me and she still flirts with you?” Rhys asks, growling again, which makes Kai smirk knowingly behind his spoon.
“Every person at the precinct knows that I'm yours, Rhys,” Sage says quietly to him, chuckling at Rhys's possessiveness.
Rhys has explained to him before that being territorial and overprotective is a formidable consequence of being a werewolf. He didn't want his possessive behavior to make Sage feel like Rhys thought that he had a sense of ownership over him or make Sage think he couldn't act and behave a certain way because Rhys was highly protective of him. “Werewolves are just. . .really protective and territorial over their significant others,” Rhys had told him with embarrassment one night two months into their relationship after he'd practically bit some guy's head off when he'd flirted with Sage. The wolf side of him always wants to make sure that Sage is safe and protected and Rhys's, and because he's a born werewolf, that side of him is pretty dominant.
It's hard for him to see people flirting with Sage sometimes, thoug
h, because Sage is his. Not that Sage belongs to Rhys, but just that Sage is someone who Rhys has physically and emotionally given himself completely over to, and he can't help but to feel protective over someone he trusts and loves so much.
It's the animal side of him that sees anyone who flirts with Sage as a threat and a challenge. The rational part of him—the part that respects and understands human values—understands where everyone else is coming from. Sage is absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous. His eyes are the bluest that Rhys has ever seen. He's got that perfect aquiline jaw, a sharp, muscular definition all over his body, and a shoulder width to waist ratio that is just downright sinful. He drives Rhys wild.
But he's also brave and strong and so incredibly kind. He's got a heart of gold and a mind like a whip, and a moral compass so strong it often breeds trouble. He's New York City's best homicide detective and an even better strong-willed individual. And he's just such a gentleman—always so goddamn polite and respectful to everyone he meets, but still so stubborn as all hell. Rhys understands what people see when they look at Sage, because Rhys is fortunate enough to wake up to him every day and be hit with the full force of Sage's beauty and valor.
It's just, the wolf part of him, and the human part, too, doesn't want to share that with anyone.
And Rhys can smell a person's reaction to Sage. He can hear the way their heartbeats increase when they see Sage or talk to him, and can smell the pleasure, or arousal, that leaks through their pores. It drives Rhys crazy, but he's actively trying not to let it bother him because he doesn't want to come off as an overbearing, jealous boyfriend.
But that's exactly what happens every single time someone flirts with Sage, despite Rhys's egregious efforts.
Rhys's possessiveness isn't really bothersome to Sage, contrary to what Rhys may think.
“I know. You know how I get,” Rhys sighs, scratching the back of his neck bashfully. “I'm sorry.”
“There's nothing to be sorry for, Ree,” Sage replies, smiling that blinding smile that makes Rhys's knees go weak.
Rhys pulls Sage against him softly so that he's nuzzled right into Rhys's muscular chest as he places a tender kiss on Sage's forehead, which makes Sage smile harder.
“Ugh, I hate you guys,” Kai says, throwing his head down into his hands and sighing dramatically.
“You're going to hate this even more,” Rhys replies with a smirk before he tilts Sage's head up and pulls Sage's lips to his, kissing him deeply.
“Gross, Becker,” Kai says, and laughs when Rhys flips him the bird.
◆◆◆
After Sage and Kai have both quickly showered and Rhys has practically shoved a bagel into Sage's mouth while Kai whines that Rhys doesn't care about him enough to at least give him a granola bar on the way out so that he doesn't starve (and, seriously, Kai has already had a bowl of Rhys's favorite cereal, so it's not like he's actually starving), Sage and Kai are out the brownstone and driving past Prospect Park in record timing.
The New York City 88th Precinct on Classon Avenue is buzzing with noise and chaos when Sage and Kai pull up half an hour later, despite the early hour. It's barely eight in the morning, but already the station is a flurry of activity and rushed motion.
Sage and Kai walk into the brick building and immediately turn to the left to begin descending the stairs that lead down to Hazel's lab.
Sage feels a tad antsy as he walks down the steps. He's practically vibrating with the contained energy he wasn't able to work off during his normal morning run. He typically goes on those runs by himself, where he'll run for miles around Prospect Park and watch the sun rise. Sometimes, Kai wakes up early enough to go with him. Other times, Sage gets Rhys to come with him, even though Rhys always out runs him every time because of his werewolf strength and stamina. He doesn't even seem winded most times when they get back to their brownstone, much to his own chagrin.
Contrary to Rhys's normal grumpiness in the mornings, he's all smiles and content to just enjoy being outdoors with Sage and using his physical strength for something other than lifting weights in their small home gym when Sage wakes him up earlier than normal in the mornings so that they can run together.
Rhys is kind of a fitness nut. He's always working out, like doing pushups, squats, sit-ups, weightlifting, or boxing in their apartment, where Sage often joins him. Sage thinks he's so active because he feels like he needs to build his super strength up even further. Rhys says he just likes staying in shape, as if his body wasn't genetically made to keep him in a peak physical figure, and that he needs to work off his extra energy. Rhys's stamina is incredibly higher than Sage's, and all of his extra energy makes him really antsy at times if he doesn't work it off. His body is a lot different than Sage's; he operates on a preternatural level that Sage doesn't. He hardly gets worn out from anything but sex, and it makes Sage hot all over to know that Rhys is pretty much ready to go at all times of the day. Everything about Rhys is enhanced, which includes his libido, much to Sage's continued pleasure.
But Rhys's body does work a lot differently than Sage's. He works off everything so quickly just from his enhanced metabolism alone that he could never pick up a barbell again and still have abs so defined that even a runway model would be jealous. Rhys metabolizes food and medicine so fast to the point where he eats so much food at mealtimes, and he practically burns through any type of medication quick enough that it doesn't even begin to take effect on him before it's out of his system.
Well, Sage supposes, Rhys has enhanced, accelerated werewolf healing if he were to get actually injured and would heal within minutes, but still.
Regardless, going on his morning runs is something Sage likes doing, enjoys it even more when Rhys goes with him, and is more than a little irritated that he wasn't able to go on one with Rhys this morning. By the time he and Kai are keying the code into the keypad attached to a glass door and strolling into Hazel's lab, Sage is really starting to feel the restlessness kick in now that he's properly awake and caffeinated.
“Please tell us that you have something, Hazel,” Kai greets Hazel as he strolls into Hazel's office and pulls one of the spare chairs out from underneath her desk, kicking his feet up on top of the wooden tabletop and putting his hands behind his head as he heaves a dramatic sigh.
Sage rolls his eyes, but Hazel looks at Kai with a smirk.
“I've got a pair of Louboutin's in an evidence bag,” she responds, moving towards a coat rack near her desk and grabbing the lab coat that's hanging on the second peg. She flicks her long, brown, tightly braided hair over her shoulder as she turns around and shoots Kai an innocent grin. “What size shoe are you?”
Kai removes his hands from his head in shock and points at Hazel accusingly, but says jokingly, “You are so callous.”
Hazel ignores him, turning to Sage and smiling brightly. “Hey, Sage.” She puts on her lab coat, and it hugs her vase-like curves as she motions with her hand towards the other side of her lab. “You guys want to follow me this way?”
Hazel's lab is in immaculate shape as usual. The lab itself feels cold and calculating when they all walk into it in the next room over, a stark contrast to the remarkably homier desk and office space that connects the two rooms together.
Sage feels a chill run down his spine when he sees Eliana Kell on the steel slab.
“The head wounds Mrs. Kell obtained are too superficial to have killed her, but she does have signs of low oxygenation,” Hazel starts, snapping on a pair of white nitrile gloves.
“Is it suffocation? Maybe strangulation?” Sage asks, following her around the table as she grabs Eliana's autopsy report that's resting on a tray near Eliana's head.
Hazel shakes her head. “There aren't any ligature marks on her neck or upper torso. And the lack of defensive wounds on her body could mean she willingly put herself in danger, or that she trusted the suspect enough not to feel threatened by them.” She leans down to remove the covering on Eliana's neck and motions to the discolored band ar
ound her neck. “She does have some kind of rash, though. Could potentially be a sign of poisoning. But here's the weird part," she pauses, grabbing the autopsy report and holds it out so both detectives can see it, and continues, “she's got a bruised sternum and cracked ribs. I don't think the killer tried to give her CPR, but someone definitely did.”
“So, after the killer left, someone tried to revive her? Why wouldn't they have just stuck around?” Sage asks, confused, as he shares a glance with Kai.
“That's your job, Detective,” Hazel chuckles, before turning around to grab something else on the autopsy tray. “I did find a hair. I'm running it now.”
“DNA. Way to bury the lead on the wife, Hazel,” Kai says, but he high fives her before turning around.
“Please keep us updated, Hazel,” Sage says politely, handing the autopsy report back to her. He goes to turn around to follow Kai out of the lab, but Hazel stops him with a hesitant hand.
“Hey, Sage, what are you doing tomorrow night? I've got these movie tickets from a friend of mine who can't make it. Free movie, free snacks,” she says, shrugging nonchalantly, as if she's weighing the decision for him. Her hand slips away from his arm a moment later as in afterthought.
“What happened to that Tinder flight attendant?” Kai asks her, leaning against the open door with a smug look on his face before Sage can think of how to respond.
“He permanently transferred to Colorado,” Hazel replies just as smugly back before she turns back to Sage.
“By you, or by the airline?” Kai counters.
“Well, it was coming up on three months,” Hazel replies, shrugging again as she turns and lays the autopsy report on top of her desk before resting her hands on her waist. “I may have pulled some strings.”
“You are one weird lady,” Kai says, shaking his head in wonder.
Hazel looks unbothered as she smiles her patented cheery smile at Kai, before turning back to face Sage, her eyes nervous. “So, what do you say, Sage?”
Sage opens his mouth to tell her that, while he appreciates her offer, he has dinner plans with Rhys tomorrow night at their favorite Italian restaurant when, fortunately, his phone begins to ring loudly in the open space of her office, and he holds back a sigh of relief at having literally been saved by the bell.