"Remember, quiz tomorrow."

Carlos groaned as he hauled himself out of his chair. Most of the class was already out the door, and none of them looked like they paid any attention to the professor. In the hallway, conversations started up about where to get drinks and what clubs would be bumping.

Utterly exhausted, he trudged out to the bus stop. He would have paid his weight in gold to go home and sleep, but after almost failing his last quiz, he couldn't afford to do anything but study. His backpack was stuffed with clothes for tomorrow along with all his books and papers. It weighed him down more than it usually would have as he stumbled onto the bus.

He thought about staying overnight at the engineering library on campus, but the last thing he wanted to do was sit in traffic for two hours in the morning. Besides, the table in the kitchen of the big house had enough room to spread out, and no one would bother him there. His cheap little apartment barely had space for his bed. The fact his mamá would probably take pity on him and make him breakfast may also have factored into that decision.

By the time the bus pulled in at the stop closest to the Caldwells’ neighborhood, he managed to cat nap despite the girl in the back row loudly cursing about her cheating boyfriend. It gave him a little bit of energy as he stepped off the bus, and he decided to walk the rest of the way rather than waiting the twenty minutes for the bus that would take him the last mile. He had to walk through a long line of ratty apartment complexes and a thin strip of more expensive condos, but it would save him at least fifteen minutes.

He would have liked to stop at the gas station on the corner for a soda, but he already spent all the money he had until the end of the week on the drafting paper he needed for his final project and his graduation cap. Optimistic, since he'd have to take six classes in the fall to graduate, but he needed something to remind him he was getting there. He wasn't going to be a landscaper forever.

The apartment complexes closest to the highway were the worst, tagged up and down with the Lions' colors. He could just barely remember living in one of them with his mother, the green of the big houses in the distance like a mirage. They were the kind of buildings that never slept, and even now there were clusters of people hanging out at the edges of the shadows, the thick, acrid smoke of things stronger than cigarettes curling like cursive around their heads.

Carlos trudged past all of it, ignoring both the hostile glares and the friendly greetings he received. Sweat popped out on his skin, and he longed for a breeze to stir the muggy air. It sat around defiantly, fat and lazy with heat, until he was regretting leaving the lackluster air conditioning of the city bus.

He passed into the second layer of apartment complexes, still full of Lions members, but a little cleaner, a little more respectable, the first of the condos rising in the distance, when he heard the voices.

"What kind of idiot doesn't carry a wallet?"

"I don't know, man. You think we should rough him up a little? Remind him this is our turf?"

He recognized the voices immediately, low-level Lions who had been in his classes at school before dropping out. He couldn't for the life of him remember their names. He thought about just walking away, pretending he didn't hear, and letting whatever poor idiot they'd cornered fend for himself. They weren't dangerous or vicious; in fact, the biggest danger came from their stupidity. It was tempting.

"Isn't he the guy from the house Theresa cleans for? The one with the Cadillac that needs a new transmission?"

"Yeah, that's the guy. El León will probably reward us if we break this asshole's face."

His eyebrows shot up, itching as his sweat-soaked hair clung to them. His mother only cleaned for one house. If Peter Caldwell had wandered into Lions territory in a drunken stupor, then he deserved whatever he ended up with.

"I'm looking for a neo-classical building with Grecian pillars," someone replied vaguely. "I know it was around here somewhere, but these are all geometric modern."

"Bastard donkey son of a whore," Carlos cursed, repeating himself in Spanish for good measure. He was too tired to deal with this, but while he might have been willing to abandon one of the Caldwells to their fate, letting the rich, white guy who was staying with them get hurt was probably not a good idea.

"What the fuck did you just say to me?"

Dropping his bag with a loud thump, Carlos leaned around the edge of the building and glared with every bit of irritation he could muster. "Oi, pendejos. Assholes, over here."

The two idiots, one tall and fat, one short and thin, had pinned the red-headed alpha against the brick. Even with his glasses askew on his ghost-white nose, he looked oblivious to his situation, craning his neck to peer down the street.

"Hey, Leoncito," the taller one said. "What're you doing slumming it down here with the rest of us?"

He was too tired for this bullshit. "Let him go."

Both of them laughed. "Yeah, right." When he just kept glaring, they pouted, whining like little boys. "Aw, man. You can't be fucking serious. You hate these guys."

Carlos rolled his eyes. "He's not the guy, dumbass. Just let his ass go before you end up bringing the police down on the neighborhood again because you roughed up some rich guy from New York."

"Connecticut," the alpha said, too stupid to know when to keep his damned mouth shut. They all stared at him and he blinked. "I'm from Connecticut," he repeated slowly like they were the stupid ones.

"See, man? He's from Connecticut. We can rough him up a little, right?" The taller of the two, still a full head shorter than the lanky alpha he gripped by the collar, slammed the redhead against the wall again. "We won't break any bones or anything."

"I'd appreciate that," the guy said, dry and with no hint of intimidation.

"Shut up," Carlos growled at him, wracking his brain for his name. "Are you brain damaged?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Have you seen a neo-classical building with Grecian pillars around here?" The alpha reached up to straighten the glasses on his nose, blinking at Carlos thoughtfully. "You're the landscaper. I'm Teddy. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Victor," the taller guy said, grunting when the little one elbowed him in the ribs. "What? My papá taught me manners, you ass."

Scrubbing a hand over his face, Carlos tried to ward off the headache that was starting to pound at the back of his eyes. Whatever he'd done to deserve this, he was never doing it again. "Just let the loco go, guys. I have so many things I'd rather be doing right now."

Victor sighed, untangling his fingers from Teddy's shirt. "Come on, Chuy. I don't feel right busting up a guy who has such nice manners."

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" The smaller of the two, an omega if Carlos remembered correctly and quick with a knife if anyone remarked on it, gave his companion a disgusted look. Throwing his hands in the air he stomped off down the sidewalk. "You and your fucking conscience. No wonder you're still stuck watching street corners for Wolves and guarding the hookers."

"I like the hookers," Victor said, lumbering off after him, his shoulders slumped.

"Don't pout, asshole."

"Hey, guys," Carlos called after them, reminded to ask about Jose. The pair paused their bickering reluctantly. "That whole thing with the Wolves...?"

"Taken care of," Chuy said with a manic gesture. "I guess they put the fear of God in anybody who thinks that el León being gone means we're gonna go easy."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Carlos nodded. "Thanks."

"Aw, fuck off." Flipping him off, the other omega disappeared around the corner. Victor waved and followed like an overfed Rottweiler.

Left alone, Carlos rounded on the alpha still leaning against the brick, frowning at the wrinkles in his shirt front. "What the hell is your problem?"

Blinking blankly, his eyes huge behind his glasses, the alpha seemed to consider his question and discard it. Shrugging and straightening his clothes, he peered down the street. "I don't know. I'm looking for a—"

"It's on Park Street. You're like...four blocks in the wrong direction." Rubbing his temples, Carlos pointed. There were kids in the neighborhood, the ones who went to the special schools, that got obsessed like that. It was easier to go where they were going rather than try to turn them around.

There were good hospitals in Houston, private and discreet, so maybe the guy, Teddy...Maybe his family sent him to one. He'd seen the rich families do that before. Kids just disappeared when they weren't convenient.

He could have sworn he heard his mamá saying the family was having an award-winning engineer over. It would have been a great opportunity if he could have taken advantage of it. Maybe he'd missed that visitor; finals had been brutal, and he'd almost immediately gone into his summer classes.

"Come on," he said, tugging his bag back on his shoulder. "I'll show you."

"Thank you." The alpha followed him distractedly, his eyes roaming the buildings. Every once in a while he'd grimace in disgust. He must have noticed Carlos watching because he pointed at one of the balconies. "That's terrible." The railings were crowded with clothes, left to dry in the sun and forgotten.

"Some people don't feel like wasting the five dollars on running the dryer," he said, his shoulders tensing. "Don't judge, man." It took him a few feet to realize Teddy wasn't following him anymore.

The alpha had stopped, staring up at the balcony with a frown. "What's the address there?"

"Why? You gonna call Immigration or something? Leave them alone," Carlos snapped, shoving aside the guilt when the alpha turned those vague blue eyes on him. "Everybody hangs their laundry out, man."

"Laundry?" Teddy said, blinking and looking back up at the building. "Who cares about laundry?" He glared around until he saw the sign with the name of the complex posted on the corner. "Hickory Grove..." Pulling out his phone, he tapped away at it for a moment.

"Oye!. What are you doing?" Grabbing for the alpha's narrow wrist Carlos was surprised to find it wrenched out of his hand with impressive strength, the phone held out of reach over his head.

"Don't," he said firmly, pressing a hand to Carlos' chest. "I need my phone, or I'll forget."

It was the first time Carlos had gotten a good look at him, so close he could smell the remnants of bad cologne wafting off of his buttoned-down shirt. He looked older up close, nearer to Carlos' age, even if the freckles marching across his nose gave him an air of perpetual youth.

"Forget what?" Carlos asked, very aware of the heat coming off that slender hand.

Teddy considered that, his eyes sharpening for a moment. "The fact the building is riddled with termite damage. Or everything," he said after a moment. As if to demonstrate, the phone chirped. "Reminder set." His eyes went vague again, drifting away into the distance until his whole face lit up. "Grecian pillars."

"You are one crazy guy, you know that?" Carlos said to his retreating back as the alpha hurried off to stare up at a run-down apartment building on the next block. It was one of the nicer ones, built half a century ago, but remodeled and well maintained.

Without giving any indication he'd heard, the alpha muttered to himself under his breath, counting windows and scowling at nothing. Carlos stuck close, mildly concerned he'd do something to wake up the residents. Mr. Martínez worked sixteen-hour shifts at the county jail; he didn't need some rich guy making him lose what little sleep he got.

"I wonder if I could get the super to give me a tour."

Alarmed, Carlos caught him by the arm. "It's the middle of the night, man. Nobody's awake."

Blinking blankly at the dark sky, Teddy frowned. "I know that, but maybe tomorrow... No, site visit is tomorrow. Maybe this weekend..." He trailed off, tapping away on his phone.

Abruptly done with the whole situation, Carlos started marching down the street, the alpha dragged along behind him without protest. "Worry about it later," he said, hoping that whatever fit of madness this guy was going through would pass, or he'd forget. He almost felt bad about how much he cursed the guy last week. "Let me get you home. Is there someone you need to call? A friend? Someone who takes care of you?"

Teddy stared at him, his long legs eating up the ground between them until they were shoulder to shoulder. "No..." he said with uncertainty. His eyes swept over Carlos like a spotlight, leaving him feeling surprisingly vulnerable. "Let me carry that." He hooked his hand into the strap of Carlos' backpack and in one quick maneuver transferred it to his own shoulder.

Unable even to protest, Carlos stared after him in shock, lagging behind until he realized they'd missed a turn. "Hey, give that back."

"You're exhausted," Teddy said, not stopping. "You should get more sleep."

"You're going the wrong way," Carlos said, hands on his hips. "Not that it's any of your business, but I can't afford to sleep until after I graduate."

Stopping in the middle of the road, Teddy frowned at him. "If you tell me you're studying psychology, I'm leaving. I already have one psychology major analyzing my every move."

So he was there to see a doctor. Carlos filed that little bit of information away, not sure why he cared. "Do you know how to get back to the Caldwells’ house? No."

"GPS," Teddy said, and the cocky fucker actually stuck his tongue out, surprising a laugh out of Carlos.

"Okay, genius. What's the address?"

Frowning thoughtfully, the redhead tapped an abstract rhythm against the straps of the backpack. "Maybe I didn't think that part through," he admitted, his pale skin flushing red enough to be visible from space. "Psych majors can carry their own bags, though."

"I didn't want you to take my bag to begin with, you crazy ass," Carlos said, trying to smother his laughter. "But relax. I'm an engineering major, so when I call you a crazy ass, it's a nickname, not a diagnosis."

"I've had worse," Teddy said with a shrug. He let Carlos direct him down the correct road, and they continued on in a surprisingly comfortable silence for long moments.

"What are you even doing out here, anyway?" Carlos asked as they jaywalked across the street leading to the manicured lawns of the exclusive Sam Hill neighborhood. "You shouldn't wander around at night."

"Why not?" he said, his head tilted in confusion like one of those birds with the long, skinny bodies that sit around on one leg all day. "I was looking for inspiration."

"Did you already forget the part where you were mugged?" Rolling his eyes, Carlos grabbed the strap of his bag to yank the alpha back on course as he drifted down the wrong street.

"I wasn't, though," Teddy said, going along with the change easily enough.

Rubbing his hand over his face and grimacing at the sweat and dirt of a long day, Carlos growled. "You very nearly were. You shouldn't wander around at night. It's not safe." When he looked up again, the alpha was watching him with a bemused smile. "What, loco?"

"Nothing," Teddy said, patting Carlos on the hand. "You worry too much."

Eyes wide, Carlos crossed his arms, rubbing away the heat of the alpha's touch for the second time. "Are you for real?"

"Last time I checked. Oh, I recognize this," Teddy said, striding off down the Caldwells’ driveway. "Watch out for the can."

"The wha—Fuck!" Stumbling over something hard in the path, Carlos barely managed to keep his feet as he flailed wildly. A hollow metal sound echoed around as whatever-it-was went rolling away. Glaring after Teddy, he flipped the back of his head off.

"I did warn you," the alpha said without looking up as he strode along the driveway.

"More warning next time, asshole," Carlos said, shaking out his foot. It barely twinged, and he was grateful he hadn't been carrying the bag. If he'd gone down hard, he might have twisted his ankle, and he couldn't afford to miss any work.

"Noted. I should have guessed engineer from the way you laid out the yard. It's very orderly. I like it."

Rushing to catch up with the taller man, Carlos brushed a few dead leaves off the bushes they passed, automatically checking for signs of bugs or rot. Warmth curled in his gut at the idea that someone appreciated his work, even if it was just some crazy guy. Brushing it aside, he poked Teddy in the arm. "Look, who takes care of you? I don't want to tattle on anyone, but somebody needs to know you're out here trying to get yourself killed at night."

That amused smile and bird-like tilt of the head were easier to see in the light from the back deck of the big house. The whole pose was so innocent, it made Carlos reduce his estimate of the guy's age again. He'd be surprised if he was much older than some of the kids in his classes.

"Who exactly is supposed to be stopping me?" Those long lashes dipped across milky cheeks as the alpha gave him a long look-over.

Ignoring the way his body stirred at the warmth in those blue eyes, Carlos threw his hands in the air. "A family member? Whoever keeps an eye on you on a daily basis? Your shrink?" Maybe he should make time to go to a club one of these days if just a glance from some random stranger was getting him hot and bothered despite his exhaustion.

Teddy laughed, a loud, donkey bray that should not have been endearing. "I suppose you could call Cody, but I think he's out of the country right now, and Nana might throw dishes at you."

"So it's genetic, then? You’re crazy?" Carlos asked, then winced. That hadn't been very diplomatic, but Teddy just laughed harder.

"I guess you could say that." Peeling the backpack off, the alpha handed it to him. "You should get to work on your homework."

"You're not going to go wandering off again, are you?" Cursing his overdeveloped sense of responsibility, Carlos debated walking the guy up to his room.

"No," he said with a little smirk. "I promised Luke I'd get some sleep tonight, so I'm just going to go upstairs. Good night. It was nice meeting you, Carlos."

He turned and walked off before Carlos could respond, disappearing into the house through the big sliding doors.

The omega cursed under his breath. "Why does this shit always happen to me?" Shouldering his bag, he trudged off to the kitchen, exhaustion falling on him like a load of rocks.

The kitchen was dark and warm when he let himself in, and he was tempted to lay his head down on the table and take a quick nap. He knew better, stealing a soda out of the fridge and spreading out his papers. He dug out his prized possession, the expensive drafting pencil he bought himself the day he'd gotten into the engineering program, and got to work.

Two hours later, he was ready to throw the damned thing across the room, scrubbing the eraser across the page as he found another place he used the wrong formula on one of his diagrams. Flipping the pencil around, he took a deep breath and clicked up more lead to start again. Except no more lead came out.

Cursing, he dug around in his backpack, only to fish out an empty lead case. "Fuck." Pressing his forehead to the table, he pushed aside the urge to just give up. He could use a normal mechanical pencil and just be careful not to smudge. Except he loaned his last pencil to one of the girls in his Thermodynamics class. "Carlos, you idiot..."

"Don't be too hard on yourself."

"Jesus fuck," Carlos practically jumped out of his skin, slamming his knee on the leg of the table when he kicked out.

Leaning in the doorway in a truly awful pair of neon plaid boxers and nothing else, Teddy looked much less harmless without a shirt and those enormous glasses. "I didn't mean to startle you," he said, his voice rough with sleep. It sent a thrill down Carlos' spine.

No sound would come out as Carlos stared at the alpha. He was surprisingly muscular, corded arms shifting as he walked across the room and held something out. Unable to look away, Carlos licked his lips and tried not to drool.

"Here. You can keep them," Teddy said, out of nowhere.

Carlos nodded, holding his hand out to accept the gift without thinking. The cardboard box was slick and heavy. "What?" he asked intelligently.

"I have a ton of them," Teddy said with a smile that put color in his freckled cheeks.

Carlos wanted to lick the pink right off his skin. Clearing his throat, he shook himself and glanced at the box. It was pencil lead, expensive, no-smudge, ultra black lead made specifically for his drafting pencil. "How...?" he asked, but Teddy was already shuffling back out the door, scratching his sleep-tousled hair and yawning. "Brujo..."

Staring at the untouched containers of lead, enough to last him to graduation and then some, Carlos shrugged. He'd grown up on stories of wandering witches who cursed people for not being polite. Maybe he'd be cursed for taking bewitched pencil lead from a crazy guy, or maybe he wouldn't. If it meant he passed his quiz tomorrow, he'd risk it.