Suspect Of Love

Dante couldn’t believe it.

Someone in Japan could actually go toe-to-toe with him—and not just on the court, but with presence, energy, pull. It was jarring.

The first time he saw him, he was standing next to Maya.

At first, Dante felt... hurt.

An odd emotion for someone like him. After all, he was the one who ended things. He’d done it because Maya refused to attend the same high school. It was petty. Childish. He could admit that now. But still—Dante had never stopped loving him.

He’d been around. Slept around. Hookups, yes. But dating? Never. Not since Maya.

And now? Maya was standing beside someone new, someone tall,.but not as tall as him, with quiet eyes and a presence so heavy it made Dante’s skin prickle. Worse, the guy was undeniably good-looking. If he weren’t with Maya, Dante might have shamelessly tried to sleep with him. Hell, who was he kidding—he still might if the guy asked.

But there was something strange about him. Dante had tried to pick up a scent, anything to guess his secondary gender, but there was... nothing. It was like trying to smell through glass. Transparent. Void.

Weird.

He considered asking Maya about him, but with the Winter Cup around the corner, there wasn’t time. And Maya’s new boyfriend—Taiga—was going to be his opponent in the finals. Great.

Then, before the Winter Cup, he saw him again.

Dante had intended to be civil. Maybe even friendly. But it was like his mouth refused to cooperate with his better judgment. Socializing had never been his strong suit, and emotions? Even worse. So, of course, he did what he always did—defaulted to arrogance and sarcasm.

“Yo. What are you doing here? Can you even afford the stuff in this place?”

Taiga’s reaction was immediate. His brows furrowed. His lips curled back just slightly.

He bared his teeth.

That wasn’t a normal reaction. Not from an Alpha. Definitely not from an Omega. It clicked immediately—only an Enigma would dare bare their teeth at another.

So the rumors were true.

“Who the hell do you think you are, broke-shaming people, asshole?” Taiga had shot back.

Dante hadn’t expected that.

It didn’t anger him the way it should have. In fact, it made something in his chest twist—a dull ache he didn’t recognize at first. Was it... shame?

He hated that.

He was supposed to be the dominant one, the predator. He had come to reassert control, to remind Maya who he used to belong to. But instead, here he was, awkward and off-balance.

Still, he smirked. Tried to salvage the moment. “You don’t look it. Can’t blame me.”

Why did he say that?

Why did he always ruin things before they could even start?

Taiga didn’t bother with a response. Just rolled his eyes and walked away like Dante wasn’t even worth the effort.

It stung more than it should have.

As Taiga’s back receded, Dante found himself frozen. He wanted to follow. To say sorry. To fix... something.

He stared at Taiga’s profile for a long moment, then muttered to himself under his breath, "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

Taiga couldn’t believe it either.

There was actually someone more talented than him—someone who made him push harder, think faster, play smarter.

Maya had introduced him reluctantly.

“This is Dante,” he’d said. “We... used to be close.”

Used to be close. That explained the tension in Maya’s voice. The way his scent trembled just slightly. It also explained why Dante had looked at him not with curiosity, but with quiet challenge.

He didn’t say much during that first meeting. Just looked at Taiga and... smirked.

Was it a smile? Maybe. But it felt more like a test.

Taiga didn’t like it.

He also didn’t like how attractive the guy was. Two or three inches taller, solid build, darker complexion. His hair was a deep ocean blue, darker than Maya’s light sky hue, and his eyes matched. Intense. Quietly dangerous.

Taiga would never admit it, but he found him attractive. That was a secret he intended to take to his grave.

The second time they crossed paths was in a Nike store. Taiga had been checking out new trainers when he heard it:

“Yo.”

He turned, automatically smiling in response to the voice.

The smile didn’t last.

“What are you doing here? Can you even afford the stuff in this place?”

The arrogance hit him like a slap.

Instantly, the smile vanished. Taiga squared up, glaring.

“And who the hell do you think you are, broke-shaming people, asshole?”

The other boy didn’t flinch. Instead, he smirked again—taunting, dismissive.

“You don’t look it. Can’t blame me.”

That was it.

Not worth the effort.

Taiga turned and walked away, every instinct telling him not to waste another second on someone like him. But as he left, he could feel it—eyes boring into his back. Watching. Thinking.

“Asshole,” Taiga muttered under his breath.

It had been two weeks since Maya saw Dante at the shoe store, and he still couldn’t sleep.

Every night, the memory returned like a fever dream: Dante’s smirk, his voice, the weight of his presence. It clung to Maya like a second skin. What was going on? Why was Dante suddenly showing up again? Why now?

Maya already knew the answer. He was still in love with Dante. That part wasn’t a mystery.

The real problem?

He was also in love with Taiga.

He couldn’t choose. He didn’t want to. But trying to keep both in his heart felt like trying to balance fire and water in the same cup. He needed advice. Desperately.

So he called Hido.

Hido had been his best friend since childhood, someone who knew how to cut through Maya’s emotional fog like a sword through smoke.

When Maya explained his situation—Dante back in the picture, Taiga in the foreground, and his heart stretched between them—Hido didn’t even flinch.

“Why not date both of them?” he said, like it was the most obvious solution in the world.

Maya nearly dropped his phone. “I—what? Hido, that’s—”

“A bad idea?” Hido asked dryly. “Is it? You love them both. You don’t want to lie to either of them. Sounds like you just want all your cards on the table.”

Maya sighed, rubbing his face. “It wouldn’t be fair to Taiga. Going back to Dante would be cheating.”

“It wouldn’t be cheating if all three of you were dating each other. Right?” Hido paused. “It’d be open and consensual. I mean, assuming they’re not trying to murder each other.”

“That’s the problem,” Maya groaned. “They hate each other. They’d never go for it.”

But later that week, as Maya stood on the edge of the practice court beneath a blazing sun, his thoughts returned to Hido’s words.

The heat was brutal, turning the court into a sticky slab of steam and sweat. His teammates were exhausted but still running drills. Taiga was throwing baskets from the far end of the court, shirt half-tucked, arms gleaming with sweat, muscles coiled in every motion.

Maya couldn’t stop watching him.

Should he bring it up? Should he tell Taiga the truth—that he was still in love with Dante, and that maybe, somehow, they could make it work between the three of them?

What if Taiga broke up with him? What if he couldn’t handle it?

What if Maya lost him?

Sensing something was wrong, Taiga jogged over, wiping his forehead with a towel.

“Hey, babe,” he said, concerned. “What’s going on? You okay? Need water?”

Maya forced a smile and shook his head. “I’m fine. Just the heat.”

But he wasn’t fine.

And that night, as soon as he got home, he called Hido again.

“Is it even possible for two Enigmas to be in a relationship?” Maya asked as soon as Hido picked up. “I mean, I’d kind of be the connection between them—but wouldn’t they just kill each other?”

There was a pause.

“They’re both Enigmas?” Hido asked, incredulous.

“Well, Taiga’s not confirmed,” Maya admitted. “But I’m sure he is. He’s tall, strong, insanely confident. It fits.”

Hido made a thoughtful sound on the other end of the line. “You’re forgetting something, Maya. Lunas exist.”

Maya blinked, sitting up straighter in bed. “Lunas?”

“Yeah. They’re even rarer than Enigmas. And they rank above every other secondary gender. Luna, Prime Luna, Elite Prime Luna... if one of your boys is a Luna, especially an Elite Prime Luna, that would explain a lot.”

Maya’s thoughts spiraled.

It made sense. Enigmas were powerful, dominant. Their scent—especially the mark scent—was often too much for most Omegas to handle. Dante was an Elite Prime Enigma, the type that would usually be paired with a Luna to balance his intensity. That had been one of the reasons Maya accepted to brake things off. He wasn’t strong enough to contain Dante’s pull forever.

But Taiga?

Taiga’s secondary gender had always been a mystery. People assumed he was an Enigma, and he never corrected them. But just because he looked the part didn’t mean he was one.

If Taiga was a Luna...

It would explain his unreadable scent. His calm. His quiet dominance.

Suddenly, things clicked into place. The pieces were there. Maya just hadn’t connected them.

“I think I have an idea,” he said, getting off the bed and pacing his room. “I’ll figure it out, Hido. I have to.”

“You’re playing with fire,” Hido warned, though his voice was light. “But good luck, you little chaos magnet.”

Maya laughed under his breath and hung up a few minutes later.

Now fully awake and fully committed, he pulled out his laptop. If Taiga’s athletic records listed his secondary gender—and they had to, to compete internationally—he’d find it. If not, he'd find another way. He could catch him off guard. Slip a question into conversation. Push a little. Gently.

He needed to know. For his heart. For this plan.

Because if there was a chance—just one—that he could have them both without breaking either of their hearts, he's willing to do anything.