The dream always started the same way.
Hiro was running through a forest he'd never seen before, yet somehow knew intimately. His feet—no, *paws*—struck the earth with rhythmic precision, each impact sending vibrations up through his legs that told him everything about the terrain. The air was thick with scents: pine sap, wet earth, the musk of prey animals hiding in the undergrowth.
But he wasn't hunting them.
He was searching for something else. Someone else.
A flash of silver fur ahead. His heart—already racing from the run—somehow beat faster. Luna. She was there, just ahead of him, weaving through the trees with a grace that made his chest ache. He pushed harder, legs burning, desperate to catch up.
When he finally drew alongside her, she turned to look at him. Her amber eyes glowed in the dappled moonlight filtering through the canopy. She didn't speak—didn't need to. The understanding between them was primal, absolute.
*Mine*, something in him whispered. *She's mine.*
And then the forest changed. Other shapes appeared between the trees. Shadows with reaching hands. Coming for her. Coming to take her away.
The growl that erupted from his throat was nothing human. His vision tinged red at the edges. He placed himself between Luna and the shadows, fangs bared, claws extende
Hiro's eyes snapped open.
His bedroom ceiling stared back at him, familiar and mundane in the grey light of early morning. His heart hammered against his ribs like it was trying to escape. Sweat soaked through his shirt, making it cling uncomfortably to his skin.
"What..." he gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. "What was that?"
The dream was already fading, details slipping away like water through his fingers, but the *feelings* remained. That overwhelming sense of possessiveness. The need to protect. To claim. To—
He sat up abruptly, disturbed by the direction of his thoughts.
That's when he noticed it.
The smell.
Not just one smell, but hundreds of them, thousands, all crashing into his consciousness at once with overwhelming intensity. He could smell his mother in the kitchen downstairs—specifically, the lavender hand soap she always used. The eggs she was cracking into a pan, the butter melting, the bread in the toaster beginning to brown. He could smell Mr. Tanaka's aftershave from three houses down, and the garbage truck that had passed by their street sometime in the night.
But strongest of all, he could smell Luna.
His eyes tracked automatically to his jacket hanging on the back of his desk chair. She'd borrowed it briefly during the field trip when the evening had turned cold, worn it for maybe twenty minutes before giving it back with a shy smile and a mumbled thanks.
That had been three days ago.
Now her scent rose from the fabric like a living thing—warm vanilla and something floral he couldn't quite name, mixed with the earthier smell that was uniquely *her*. It called to something deep in his chest, made his fingers itch and his mouth water.
Hiro grabbed the jacket and pressed it to his face before his conscious mind could stop him. He inhaled deeply, and a sound escaped his throat that was almost a *whine*—
He dropped the jacket like it had burned him.
"No. No, no, no." He backed away from it, heart racing again for entirely different reasons. "What the hell is wrong with me?"
His hands were shaking. When he looked down at them, he saw his nails had grown longer, sharper. Almost like—
The claws retracted as soon as he noticed them, disappearing back into normal human nails. But the damage was done. He'd seen them. Felt them.
Something was very, very wrong.
Downstairs, the kitchen smelled even more overwhelming. Hiro stood in the doorway, one hand braced against the frame, trying not to be sick from the onslaught of scents.
His mother, Yuki Tanaka, stood at the stove with her back to him. She was humming softly—a lullaby she used to sing when he was small. The sound seemed too loud, each note scraping against the inside of his skull.
"Good morning, honey," she said without turning around. "Breakfast is almost ready. I made your favorite—scrambled eggs with cheese."
She set a plate in front of his usual seat at the table. The eggs were perfectly cooked, fluffy and golden. The cheese was melted just right. Toast, buttered and cut diagonally. A glass of orange juice.
It should have been perfect.
Instead, Hiro stared at the plate and felt his stomach turn.
The eggs were *wrong*. Too cooked. Dead. He needed something else, something raw, something with blood still warm—
"Mom." His voice came out rougher than intended. "Do we have any meat?"
Yuki turned, wooden spoon still in hand. Her expression was puzzled. "Meat? For breakfast?"
"Yeah, I just..." He couldn't meet her eyes. "I'm really craving it."
His mother went very still. The wooden spoon lowered slowly. When Hiro finally looked up, he found her watching him with an expression he couldn't quite read. Concern, yes, but something else too. Recognition, maybe. Or worry.
"Hiro," she said carefully, "have you been taking the medicine I gave you?"
The medicine. The bottle with the plain white label that had been sitting on his dresser for two weeks now, unopened.
"I..." He scratched the back of his neck. "I forgot. On the field trip. I haven't started taking it yet."
"Hiro!" The spoon clattered against the counter as his mother set it down too hard. "You were supposed to start *before* the trip!"
"I didn't think it was that important—"
"It IS important!" She crossed to the table, sitting down across from him with an urgency that made his stomach clench. "Especially now that you've turned eighteen. How have you been feeling? Any strange urges? Enhanced senses?"
The question hung in the air between them. Hiro thought about the dreams. The smells. The way Luna's scent on his jacket had made him feel things he didn't want to examine too closely.
"A little," he admitted quietly. "Yeah."
His mother closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, her expression had shifted into something more determined. "We need to talk. After school. Your father needs to be part of this conversation too."
"Mom, what's happening to me?"
"After school, Hiro. I promise we'll explain everything." She reached across and squeezed his hand. "But you need to start taking that medicine *today*. Two pills with breakfast, two with dinner. Don't skip any doses."
The seriousness in her tone sent a chill down his spine. "Is it dangerous? What I'm going through?"
"Not dangerous," she said, but her expression said otherwise. "Just... difficult. Now eat your breakfast. I'll make you some bacon too."
School was a nightmare.
The hallways of Harmony High had always been crowded and noisy, but now it was like someone had turned everything up to eleven. Every conversation stabbed at his ears. Every footfall echoed. The fluorescent lights buzzed with a frequency that made his teeth ache.
And the *smells*. God, the smells.
Body spray and perfume and unwashed gym clothes and cafeteria food and floor cleaner and hormones and—
Hiro pressed his back against his locker, breathing through his mouth, trying desperately not to be sick right there in the hallway.
"You okay, man?"
He looked up to find Takeshi standing beside him, dark eyebrows drawn together in concern. His friend shifted his bag to his other shoulder, tilting his head in a gesture that was purely canine.
"Fine," Hiro managed. "Just tired."
"You look like hell."
"Thanks."
"I'm serious." Takeshi leaned against the neighboring locker, studying him. "You've been weird since the field trip. Did something happen?"
*Everything happened*, Hiro wanted to say. *I'm falling apart and I don't know why.*
Instead, he just shook his head. "Didn't sleep well. Weird dreams."
"Dreams about Luna?" Takeshi's tone shifted to something more teasing, and he elbowed Hiro gently in the ribs. "Come on, you can tell me. You two were pretty cozy by that campfire—"
The growl came from nowhere.
Low, threatening, completely inhuman. It vibrated in Hiro's chest and throat before he could stop it, and Takeshi's eyes went wide. His ears flattened against his head in an instinctive submission response.
"Whoa, okay, okay!" Takeshi held up both hands, backing up a step. "Sorry, dude. Didn't mean to—whatever I said, I'm sorry."
Hiro's hands were clenched into fists. His nails—claws again—were digging into his palms hard enough to draw blood. He could feel his canines lengthening, sharpening.
"I have to go," he choked out, and pushed past Takeshi before his friend could respond.
He made it to the bathroom just as his vision started to tunnel. Inside a stall, he gripped the sides of the toilet and concentrated on breathing. Slowly, carefully, forcing air in and out until the claws retracted and his teeth returned to normal.
What the hell was wrong with him? That was *Takeshi*. His best friend. And he'd nearly—what? Attacked him? For mentioning Luna?
The thought of Luna made something twist in his chest. He hadn't seen her yet this morning, but he knew she was here. He could *sense* her somehow, like a compass always pointing north. She was somewhere on the second floor, probably near the science wing.
His feet started moving before he consciously decided to follow that pull.
He found her at her locker, standing with Yuki Frost.
The two girls were laughing about something, Luna's tail swishing back and forth in that way it did when she was happy. She'd worn her hair down today, silver strands catching the light from the hallway windows. Her skirt swished around her knees as she shifted her weight, and Hiro's eyes tracked the movement with an intensity that should have alarmed him.
Should have. But didn't.
Because she was *beautiful*. When had she become so beautiful? He'd always known she was pretty, objectively, in the same way you might acknowledge a sunset or a painting. But this was different. This made his chest ache and his hands shake with the need to touch her, to get closer, to—
Luna turned her head, and her amber eyes met his across the crowded hallway.
She smiled. Bright and warm and unconscious.
His breath caught. His vision flashed gold at the edges.
*Mine*, whispered that voice in the back of his head. *She's mine.*
"Hiro!" Luna waved him over, and he found himself walking toward her before he could think better of it. "There you are! I was starting to think you were sick or something."
"Just got here late," he heard himself say. His voice sounded normal. How was his voice normal when every nerve in his body was screaming?
"We were just talking about the chemistry project," Yuki said, her fox ears twitching. "Mr. Sato wants us to partner up for the next assignment. I figured you two would want to work together, right?"
"Right," Hiro said, even though he hadn't heard a word about any chemistry project. His attention was fixed on Luna—the way she tucked a strand of hair behind one ear, how her fingers played with the strap of her bag, the subtle rise and fall of her breathing.
He wanted to step closer. Wanted to put himself between her and Yuki, between her and everyone else in this hallway. Wanted to growl at anyone who looked at her too long.
Instead, he clenched his hands in his pockets and forced himself to maintain a normal distance.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Luna asked, and he realized she'd been studying his face. "You look a little pale."
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
"I said I'm fine." The words came out sharper than he'd intended, and Luna's ears flattened slightly. Hurt flickered across her face.
Immediately, Hiro wanted to take it back. Wanted to apologize, to explain, to—
The bell rang, shrill and painful.
"I have to get to class," he muttered, and walked away before either of them could respond.
Behind him, he heard Yuki say something in a low voice, and Luna's quiet reply: "I don't know what's wrong with him."
That made two of them.
By lunch, Hiro felt like he was crawling out of his skin.
He'd taken his medicine that morning as instructed, but either it hadn't kicked in yet or it wasn't strong enough. Every sense was still amplified. Every instinct was still screaming. And every time he saw Luna—passing in the hallway, sitting three rows ahead in English class—that possessive urge got stronger.
He'd brought food from home today. His mother, after their conversation this morning, had wordlessly packed him a container with steak inside. Rare. Almost raw in the middle, blood pooling at the bottom of the container.
It should have disgusted him.
Instead, his mouth watered.
Their usual lunch spot was the school rooftop. Technically, students weren't supposed to be up there, but the door was never locked and the teachers seemed to turn a blind eye as long as no one caused trouble.
Hiro arrived last, pushing through the heavy door to find the others already spread out on the concrete. Takeshi and Kenji were arguing about some video game. Yuki Frost was checking her phone. Sakura was reading a manga with her usual bored expression.
And Luna sat apart from them all, legs tucked under her, staring out at the city skyline.
She looked up when the door opened. Their eyes met, and Hiro felt that pull again—stronger now, impossible to ignore.
He sat down next to her without consciously meaning to. Closer than he normally would have. Close enough that their shoulders almost touched.
"Hi," Luna said softly. There was something careful in her tone, like she was worried about setting him off again.
"Hi."
"Brought lunch today?"
He nodded, pulling out the container. When he opened it, the smell of blood hit him immediately, and he had to suppress a shudder of pure want.
Luna's nose wrinkled slightly. "Is that... raw?"
"Rare," he corrected, and picked up a piece with his fingers rather than bothering with the fork his mother had packed. The meat was cool and slick and perfect. He bit into it, and some distant part of him was aware that he was eating almost savagely, tearing into it with more force than necessary.
"Dude." Takeshi had stopped arguing with Kenji and was staring at him now. "You're really going at that steak."
"Just hungry," Hiro said around a mouthful.
But he could feel everyone watching him now. Could see the concern in Luna's eyes, the curiosity in Yuki's, the slight disgust in Sakura's.
Only Kenji looked unsurprised. The snow leopard demi-human tilted his head, studying Hiro with an expression that was far too knowing.
"Instincts kicking in?" Kenji asked quietly.
The container crumpled in Hiro's grip. "What?"
"Nothing." But Kenji's tail swished once, slowly. "Just... take your medicine, yeah?"
How did Kenji know? Had he gone through this too? Did all demi-humans deal with this at eighteen, or was it just the beast folk?
Hiro wanted to ask, but Luna was still watching him, and he couldn't seem to look away from her. Couldn't stop cataloging every detail—the way the wind tugged at her hair, how the sunlight made her fur shimmer, the small scar on her left hand from when they'd tried to build a treehouse when they were twelve.
His staring was making her uncomfortable. He could see it in the way she shifted, in how her tail curled around her leg protectively.
He forced himself to look away, to focus on his food, to act *normal*.
But normal felt like a foreign country he'd never visited and couldn't find on a map.
The incident happened after school.
Hiro had managed to avoid Luna for the rest of the day, which was harder than it should have been given how small their school was. He'd taken different hallways, skipped their shared study hall, even considered just going home early.
But he couldn't do that to her. Couldn't just disappear without explanation.
So when the final bell rang, he headed for the courtyard, intending to find her and... what? Apologize for being weird? Try to explain something he didn't understand himself?
He'd figure it out when he saw her.
Except when he pushed through the doors into the courtyard, he found Luna already in conversation with someone else.
Ryo Shimizu stood too close to her, one hand braced against the tree behind her in a casual pose that made Hiro's vision tinge red. Ryo was human—tall, athletic, with the easy confidence of someone who'd never been rejected in his life. He played on the basketball team. Had friends in every social circle. Dated frequently and casually.
And now he was talking to Luna.
"—just coffee," Ryo was saying, flashing that charming smile that probably worked on most girls. "Nothing serious. I've just noticed you around, and I thought it'd be nice to get to know you better."
Luna looked flustered, her ears twitching uncertainly. "Oh! I... um..."
She was going to say yes. Hiro could see it in the way she fidgeted with her bag strap, in how her tail swished nervously. She was surprised, flattered, and she was going to say *yes* to this human boy who didn't know her like Hiro did, who hadn't spent years learning her favorite foods and what made her laugh and how she always hummed when she was studying—
The growl started low in his chest.
Everything else faded away—the other students in the courtyard, Yuki standing beside Luna, the sounds of traffic from the street beyond the school gates. There was only Ryo, standing too close to something that was *his*.
*Mine.*
The word echoed in his skull like a drumbeat.
*Mine mine mine mine MINE.*
His hands clenched. Claws extended, sharp and deadly. His canines lengthened into fangs. The world sharpened into crystal clarity—he could see Ryo's pulse jumping in his throat, could smell his cologne and sweat and the slight spike of nervous pheromones beneath his confident exterior.
He could kill him. It would be easy. Just a quick lunge, claws to throat, and then Luna would be safe from this human who thought he had any right to—
"Hiro?"
Yuki's voice cut through the red haze. Uncertain. Worried.
Everyone in the courtyard had gone quiet, and they were all staring at him now. At the claws. At his eyes, which he knew without checking were glowing gold.
But more than anything, Luna was staring at him.
Her amber eyes were wide with shock and something that might have been fear, and that expression—seeing her look at him like that—broke something inside him.
Hiro stumbled backward, nearly tripping over his own feet. "I have to go."
"Hiro, wait—" Luna started forward, but he was already running.
Through the courtyard gate, down the street, not caring where he went as long as it was away. Away from Ryo. Away from the other students' stares. Away from the look on Luna's face.
His heart hammered in his chest. His hands were shaking so badly he could barely retract the claws. And in his mind, that voice kept whispering:
*She's mine. How dare he. How dare anyone. Mine mine mine mine mine.*
He found himself in the old school building.
The structure had been condemned years ago, left standing because the city kept promising to tear it down and never actually following through. Students weren't supposed to go inside, but the barriers were mostly symbolic. Hiro had come here sometimes when he needed to be alone, back in middle school when the world felt overwhelming.
Now he sat on the floor of an unused classroom, back pressed against the wall, trying to get his breathing under control.
His claws had finally retracted. His canines had shrunk back to normal. But he could still feel that possessive rage simmering beneath his skin, ready to burst out again at the slightest provocation.
He'd almost attacked Ryo. Would have, if Yuki hadn't snapped him out of it. Would have torn into a classmate, a fellow student, someone who'd done nothing wrong except talk to a girl.
What the hell was *wrong* with him?
The door crcreaked open.
Hiro's head snapped up, a warning on his lips—and then he saw Luna standing in the doorway, slightly out of breath like she'd been running.
"There you are," she said, relief evident in her voice. "I've been looking everywhere."
"Luna, you shouldn't—" He started to stand, to back away, but she was already crossing the room toward him. "Don't come closer."
She ignored him, dropping down to sit beside him against the wall. "What happened back there?"
"I lost control."
"I could see that. I meant why?"
Hiro pressed his palms against his eyes. "I don't know. I saw you with that guy, and something just... snapped. I wanted to hurt him. For talking to you. For getting close. I wanted to—" He cut himself off, unable to finish that sentence.
Luna was quiet for a long moment. When she finally spoke, her voice was careful. "Hiro, you've been acting strange for days now. Staring at me. Following me with your eyes during lunch. And now this. What's going on?"
He couldn't look at her. Couldn't bear to see whatever expression was on her face. "Something's wrong with me. My instincts are... overwhelming. I can smell everything, hear everything. And when I'm around you, I feel—" He swallowed hard. "I feel things I shouldn't."
"What kind of things?"
"Possessive things." The admission felt like pulling teeth. "Territorial. Like you're mine and no one else should be allowed near you. It's not rational, and it's not fair to you, but I can't seem to stop it."
Another long silence. Luna's breathing was the only sound in the empty classroom.
"The medicine my mom gave me is supposed to help," Hiro continued, words tumbling out now that he'd started. "She said I should have started taking it before the field trip, but I forgot, and now everything's out of control. I don't know how to make it stop. I don't know how to make these feelings go away."
"Do you..." Luna's voice was small. "Do you want them to go away?"
The question caught him off guard. He finally looked at her, finding her watching him with an expression he couldn't read. Her ears were tilted forward, alert. Her tail lay still beside her.
"I don't want to feel like this," he said carefully. "Like I might hurt someone. Like I'm not in control of myself."
"But the possessive feelings?" She bit her lower lip. "Do you want those to go away?"
His throat felt tight. "I don't know. Maybe. Yes? I don't want to make you uncomfortable. Don't want you to be afraid of me."
"I'm not afraid of you."
"You should be. You saw what almost happened—"
"But it didn't happen," Luna interrupted. Her hand found his, squeezing gently. "You stopped yourself. You ran away instead of hurting Ryo. Even when your instincts were screaming at you, you chose not to hurt anyone."
Hiro stared down at their joined hands. Her fingers were smaller than his, delicate, with claws that had been carefully filed down. They were warm against his palm.
"I'm scared," he admitted quietly. "I'm scared I'm going to lose control when it matters. That I'll hurt you somehow. Or drive you away because I can't handle what's happening to me."
Luna shifted closer, until their shoulders were touching. "Whatever's happening, we'll figure it out. Together."
"Luna—"
"I mean it." Her voice was firm now, brooking no argument. "You've been there for me through everything. Through my mom's death, through starting at a new school, through every panic attack and bad day. Do you really think I'm going to abandon you just because you're going through something hard?"
His eyes stung. He blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears at bay. "I don't deserve you."
"Shut up." But there was affection in the words. "You deserve everything good in the world, Hiro Tanaka. Even if you're too stubborn to see it."
They sat there in silence, shoulders pressed together, hands intertwined. Outside, the sun was starting to set, painting the dusty classroom in shades of orange and gold.
Eventually, Luna said, "For what it's worth... I turned him down."
"What?"
"Ryo. I told him no." She squeezed his hand again. "I wasn't interested."
Something warm unfurled in Hiro's chest. Something that should have alarmed him but instead just felt... right. "Oh."
"Yeah. Oh." He could hear the smile in her voice. "Now come on. We should get home before your parents send out a search party."
"Luna?"
"Mm?"
"Thank you. For not giving up on me."
She stood, tugging him to his feet. In the dying light, her silver fur seemed to glow. "Never," she said simply.
His father was waiting when he got home.
Daichi Tanaka sat at the kitchen table, still in his work clothes—a button-down and slacks that somehow looked rumpled despite his mother's best efforts. He had the same grey hair as Hiro, the same sharp features, though time and stress had added lines around his eyes and mouth.
"Sit down, son," he said as Hiro entered the kitchen. It wasn't a request.
Hiro's mother was there too, standing by the counter with her arms crossed. Her expression was serious in a way that made his stomach clench.
He sat.
"Your mother told me what's been happening," his father began. "The enhanced senses. The possessive behavior. The aggression."
Hiro couldn't meet his eyes. "I'm taking the medicine now. It should help."
"It will. But you need to understand what you're dealing with." His father leaned forward, hands clasped on the table. "When male beast folk reach sexual maturity—usually around eighteen—they experience a surge of instincts related to mating and territory."
Heat flooded Hiro's face. "Dad—"
"Let me finish." His father's tone was firm but not unkind. "I know this is uncomfortable to discuss, but you need to hear it. What you're experiencing isn't a rut or a heat like some species have. It's more... complicated. Your beast genetics are trying to assert themselves, telling you to find a mate, protect them, establish your territory. It's biological imperative meeting conscious thought, and the conflict between those two things can be overwhelming."
"Why didn't anyone tell me this would happen?"
"We should have," his mother said quietly. "We thought the medicine would be enough. That if we prepared you for it and gave you the suppressants before it started, you'd be able to manage it without... this."
"What happens if I don't take the medicine?"
His parents exchanged a long look.
"Nothing catastrophic," his father finally said. "You won't go feral or lose yourself permanently. But the instincts will get stronger. More difficult to control. And you..." He paused, choosing his words carefully.
"You've already fixated on someone. Luna, I'm guessing."
Hiro's silence was answer enough.
"The instincts will push you to claim her in various ways," his father continued. "Marking her scent with yours. Driving away perceived threats. Isolating her from others. None of that is healthy for either of you, which is why the medicine is so important. It won't make the feelings go away entirely, but it'll keep them manageable. Give you the space to think rationally instead of acting purely on impulse."
"How long does it last?"
"The surge? Usually a few months. After that, the instincts settle into something more sustainable. You'll always feel protective of people you care about—that's just part of being beast folk—but it won't be this overwhelming need to control everything around them."
"And Luna..." Hiro swallowed hard. "Does she need to know about this?"
"She deserves to know," his mother said gently. "She's already noticed you're acting strangely. Better to explain why than to let her imagine worse scenarios."
His father nodded. "And Hiro? These instincts... they don't define your feelings. If you care about Luna, really care about her, that's separate from the biology. The instincts might be amplifying those feelings right now, but they're not creating them from nothing. Do you understand?"
Hiro thought about sitting with Luna in the old building. About how natural it felt to hold her hand. About how he'd been there for her through her grief and she'd stayed by his side through this.
"I think so," he said quietly.
The next day at school, Hiro kept his distance.
It wasn't what he wanted to do. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to find Luna, to stay close to her, to make sure no one bothered her. But he forced himself to sit on the opposite side of classrooms, to take different hallways, to eat lunch alone on a bench by the gym.
The medicine was helping—his senses weren't quite as overwhelming, and the possessive urges had dulled from a roar to a constant murmur. But he still didn't trust himself around her. Not yet.
Luna noticed, of course.
He caught her watching him during English class, confusion and hurt clear on her face. Saw her waiting by his locker between periods, only to duck away when he appeared. She didn't approach him, though, and he was grateful for that even as it made his chest ache.
By the time the final bell rang, Hiro felt wrung out. He'd spent all day fighting his own instincts, and the effort had left him exhausted.
He headed for the rooftop without consciously deciding to. Their spot. The place where their group always gathered, where he and Luna had shared countless conversations.
Where he knew she'd be waiting.
She was.
Luna stood at the railing, looking out over the city. The late afternoon sun caught in her silver fur, making her glow. Her tail swayed gently, and her ears were perked forward—which meant she'd heard him arrive even though he hadn't made a sound.
"Luna, you shouldn't—" he started.
"Don't." She turned to face him, and her expression was determined. "Don't tell me I shouldn't be here. Don't tell me to stay away. Don't push me away because you think you're protecting me."
"I'm trying to—"
"I know what you're trying to do." She crossed her arms. "And I appreciate it, I really do. But running away isn't the answer, Hiro. We talked about this yesterday."
"That was before I spent all night thinking about what could go wrong. Before I realized how dangerous it might be for you to—"
"Dangerous?" Luna's ears flattened. "You're the least dangerous person I know."
"You didn't see what I almost did to Ryo—"
"But you didn't do it!" She moved closer, closing the distance between them with deliberate steps. "That's what matters. Not what you wanted to do, but what you chose to do. You chose to run away. Chose to protect him even when every instinct was telling you to do the opposite."
Hiro backed up until his shoulders hit the rooftop door. "Luna—"
"Explain it to me." She stopped just in front of him, close enough that he could feel her body heat. "You said yesterday that your instincts were overwhelming. That you felt possessive. I want to understand. Really understand."
He took a shaky breath. "It's... my species. Beast folk. Male ones, specifically. When we turn eighteen, we go through this... phase. Heightened instincts related to mating and territory. It's biological. Hormonal. And my instincts have decided that you're..."
"That I'm what?"
"Mine." The word came out barely above a whisper. "They think you're mine. That I need to protect you, provide for you, drive away anyone who might be a threat. It's not rational. It's not fair. But it's there, constantly, in the back of my mind. Telling me to keep you close, to make sure no one else gets near you."
Luna was quiet for a long moment, processing. Then: "Is that why you've been staring at me? Following me with your eyes?"
"Yes."
"Why you growled at Takeshi?"
"He mentioned you. Made a comment about us being close at the field trip, and I just... reacted. I didn't mean to scare him."
"And the jacket?" Her voice was soft now. "You smelled my scent on your jacket, didn't you?"
Heat flooded his face. "How did you—"
"I'm not stupid, Hiro." But there was no judgment in her tone. "I noticed you kept looking at it. And then you stopped wearing it entirely."
"Your scent was on it," he admitted. "And I couldn't... it made the instincts worse. Made me want things I shouldn't want."
"What things?"
"Luna, I don't think—"
"What. Things."
He couldn't meet her eyes. "To be close to you. To put my scent on you so everyone would know you were... taken. To keep you safe from everything and everyone. To..." He trailed off, unable to voice the more primal urges that came with those thoughts.
Luna reached up, gently turning his face so he had to look at her. Her amber eyes were serious, searching. "You know that's not love, right? That's just biology."
"I know." The admission hurt more than he'd expected. "That's why I've been taking the medicine. Why I've been avoiding you. Because I refuse to let instinct dictate how I feel about you.