A/N: so i'm posting this today cos i'm going on holiday for a week on friday and i'm not sure if i'll be able to post or not, also another thought on Quinn: when he's on strike he's actually like hot? like albert's trying to bargain and he's like 'nahh mate' and pulls his sweet ass fedora over his face and kicks his feet up like why do i find that attractive 😤 (drake's still the best tho)

Warnings: welllllll so no smut exactly but there's some ✨kissing✨, guns, swearing, really unrealistic description of shooting a pigeon

Word count: 1448

The high pitched rasp of the Pack Leader's voice wakes me.

'Darkness say we go where Whip Hand go.'

I blink my eyes open. It's light, morning by the looks of it. 'Whip Hand, huh?' I mutter.

Drake shifts me in his arms. 'Yeah. They were being a bit snappy about our pace so I got a bit of practice with it.' The tip twitches against my ribs, and I reach down and brush it with my fingers. It's warmer than I expected, smoother, dryer. He curls it around my pinky, and I smile sleepily.

'I'll give you a break, hm?' I say, still a little dazed.

'That would be nice,' he replies dryly, lowering me to the ground, and I stretch out my legs, examining his face.

'You do look tired, but I don't really want to try and carry you, especially with the whip hand,' I smirk, and he grins back.

'It's fine, we're nearing the treeline close to Coates.'

A wood pigeon coos overhead as I reach back into my waistband to check if my pistol is still there. It is, so I pull it out, checking how many bullets I've got left - the rest of my ammo still back at Coates. I flip the pistol in my hands so it's in the position to fire, aiming at the pigeon. I squint, aiming at it while it coos down at the barrel.

'Pigeon's got to be similar to chicken, right?' I say to Drake. 'All the fresh meat's gone off and I'm not going to eat the rabbits our coyote friends catch.'

'Go ahead, we'll cook it when we arrive.'

My finger squeezes the trigger before he's even finished the sentence, and I take a few quick steps forward to catch the dead pigeon while something near a hundred coyote eyes watch the meat fall from the sky like something from the Bible. I turn around, facing them, dangling the pigeon by its legs from my fingers. 'See, magic.'

I sling the pigeon over my shoulder, blowing the smoke away and winking at the coyotes. Linking arms with Drake, I throw him a smile as we carry on walking. The coyotes lope ahead of us, sensing we're near to our destination, and they stream ahead of us as we break through the treeline at the edge of Coates. I see Caine raise his hands, Diana frowning as she watches the coyotes, COmputer Jack cowering behind her. I stride out into the open, ahead of Drake.

'Stop!' I yell. 'They won't hurt you.' I throw Diana a devilish smile. 'But this might.'

Drake comes up behind me, and I see her face pale, Caine's hands lower, eyes widening.

'I thought you were dead,' he murmurs.

'I'm back, and better than ever,' Drake says, using his signature shark smile. He cracks the whip hand, slamming it down on Diana's shoulder. 'Sorry,' he snarks, eyes on the small trickle of blood on her now off white blouse. 'I'm still working on my aim.'

I grin to myself at the look of shock on Diana's face when Caine, instead of lashing out at Drake for hurting her, simply smiles. 'Welcome back, you two.'

I show him the pigeon. 'Thanks, but Drake and I have to do some cooking.'

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Stomach as full of pigeon meat as it can get, I shower in the Coates bathroom then go back to the classroom where Drake and I slept after Computer Jack filmed Andrew's poof. Grabbing one of Drake's hoodies - black, like the rest of his clothes, minus his Coates school uniform - I curl up on the floor, slipping it over my head and grabbing my pistol to clean it. Caine peeks in, and I look up.

'What?' I ask curtly.

'Where's Drake?'

I raise my eyebrows. 'Coming up the corridor behind you.'

'What?' Drake snaps, mirroring my irritation.

'Do you have guards around Coates?'

'Yes, I have guards around Coates, I'm not a moron,' he growls.

'I'll be next door,' Caine answers for no apparent reason.

I smirk. 'Sure, if we have any nightmares, we'll come and cuddle, dad.'

Caine flips me off and stalks next door, and Drake chuckles, pushing me against the wall and kissing me. I grin against his lips, hooking an arm around his neck and pulling him closer, drowning in the sensation of our bodies pressed together. His fingers tangle in the strands of hair at my nape, and he tilts my head up, slipping his tongue in, letting me taste him while he tastes me. Slowly, he pulls away, leaning with his hands against the wall either side of my head, like he can't even bear to be further away.

'You remember when we burnt Astrid's house?'

'Yeah?'

'You remember that you said that when I knew what I wanted you to say for me, you would?'

I nod. He hesitates. 'Spit it out, Merwin,' I tease. 'I can't say it if I don't know what it is.' He bites his bottom lip, grey - blue eyes boring into me.

'Say you're mine.' He says it softly, yet with so much burning intensity that I'm stunned for a few seconds, simply staring at him.

'I'm yours,' I whisper eventually, and he goes absolutely feral.

'Rebel,' he growls, and then he's on me again, hands running down my waist, fingers roughly grabbing my hips and yanking me forwards until my lips collide with his, holding me there. Twisting, I break out of his grip and throw him a disarming smile, pushing him down on one of the desks and stalking forward, watching as his eyes flick down my body, his chest heaving. I lick a stripe up his neck, and he goes absolutely rigid, a low groan ripping through his gritted teeth as I lean over him and put my lips to his collarbone.

'Fu - Fuck,' he moans as I start littering his neck with hickeys, biting the cord of muscle where his neck and shoulder connect. His hands come up into my hair, holding me there, grip turned to iron. He gasps my name, and I smile and glance up at him.

'My turn now, babe,' he pants. When I don't move, he adds, 'Please?'

I can't help but laugh, and suddenly he's flipping me over, switching our positions. He pins my wrists above my head, knowing perfectly well I can escape his grip if I want. He kisses down my throat, making a shiver run down my spine.

'Like that, hm?' he says against my skin, and my eyes slowly drift closed at the feel of his breath against my skin. A whine leaves my lips of its own accord, and he chuckles, freeing my wrists to slip his hands under me, making his way up my jawline. He sucks at the skin there, biting lightly, and I whimper his name, grabbing the back of his shirt, needing something to hold onto. My neck arches, giving him better access, and I moan as he nibbles at my skin.

Suddenly, someone bangs on the wall, and a voice sounds.

'You two, stop fucking and go to sleep or torture animals or whatever you do at night, just shut up!'

'Feeling lonely, Caine?' Drake yells back, then kisses my cheek, and with no warning, bites down on my earlobe. A solid scream rips from my lips, my eyes rolling back in my head, my hips growing a life of their own and bucking against Drake's. He wraps his warm fingers around them, smirking.

'Steady there, babe.'

I blush, turning my face away, just as Caine busts open the door.

'If you two don't shut up I'll lock you in different rooms!'

'Fine, we'll be quiet,' Drake says with a grin in my direction. 'Won't we, Rebel?'

'Extremely,' I say, miming zipping my lips. 'Not a sound.'

Caine mutters something which is definitely a swear word, then slams the door shut. Drake picks me up and I curl up on the floor next to him, cuddling into his side. He tilts my chin and presses his lips to mine, nothing like before, but soft, gentle, almost sweet. I hear myself murmur his name, and his tentacle wraps around my waist, squeezing me with enough strength I have to struggle to breathe. I look up at him, and the emotions in his eyes are so different to what they usually are, I feel my heart flutter a little.

'Mine,' he growls, and I know that if he could, he would tell me the meaning of each of those emotions swirling behind his eyes, but just that one word is enough. It'll always be enough.