Babe had never known anger more than when they heard that question.
Especially when Asher tells them to ignore it. He knows Babe loves him, mate notwithstanding. They're married, for fuck's sake. And it was that same exact reason that Babe wanted to skin alive the person asking them that question. It was a joke being made in poor taste, suggesting they would be better off with David.
"I get asked that too," David reassures them, and suddenly the rage doesn't feel as criminal anymore. "Why it seems like the mates Asher and I have are the other way around."
"Do you feel like raging out too?" Babe laughs hollowly, the same sound David often heard his Beta making whenever he felt the need to lighten the mood.
"All the time." David nods, almost guiltily. "... All the time."
Asher is insecure, and that's fine; Babe is, too. But there was something about that damned question that scratches claws down their spine and makes them see red. They had seen werewolf shifting. It seemed visceral and grotesque, though Asher often assures his mate that shifting feels like taking out the knots in your shoulders after a long day. If there were some unempowered human equivalent to that violent, brutal transformation, Babe wanted to use it to defend Asher.
"I love you," He peered up at Babe one evening, when they were cuddling in bed. An hour or two after Babe returned from work, and Asher paced back and forth throughout the house, worrying how to soothe his mate best. "Literally, I don't give two fucks what the rest of the world has to say, Babe. You are mine, and I am yours."
Caring too deeply. A memory stirred, when Asher once described Babe as caring too deeply. Babe sighed, playing with Asher's hair as they pulled him closer. They placed a gentle, tender kiss on his lips, and felt that knot of anger in their spine untwist when Asher started kissing them back.
In between pecks, he murmured onto Babe's mouth. "My mate. My Babe. My partner."
"David will never be an option. Okay?" Babe gently held Asher at a distance, holding his gaze. "He's cool, but he's also like, an older brother. That's disgusting... Plus, he's Angel's bitch."
Asher cackled, taken by surprise. Babe claimed the joy in that sound for themselves, pulling their husband by the collar for another, deeper kiss. My husband. My Asher. My mate.
