by Marcy Jacks
He didn’t want to get into these kinds of details. Cole might’ve stayed cheery, but Everett’s mood dropped with every second they got closer to doing this. “Sure,” he said, following Cole.
Cole was able to wrap the chain twice around the tree itself, and using the other shackle, he locked it firmly around the other links, preventing Everett from getting away.
Everett tended to twitch his feet around when he got impatient about things, and he blew out a breath.
“Are you okay?” Cole asked, putting his hand on Everett’s.
“Not really,” he admitted.
Cole looked away from him. He reached into his back pocket and pulled the key out. “I’ll put this on that rock right there.” Cole nodded toward the miniboulder that was only a couple feet away from where Everett stood.
He looked as Cole walked around him and placed the key carefully onto the rounded surface. “If you stretch out enough, you should be able to get it with your foot and drag it back to you.”
It was also just that perfect length of far away so that Everett couldn’t just take hold of it, unlock himself, grab one of the guns that Cole had left in the bag, and then make his great escape.
He clenched his jaw and nodded instead of pointing that out. Cole already knew it, and that was the point. He wanted enough time to shift so he could come back and find that Everett was still here.
“Your whole body is shaking, relax,” Cole said.
Everett didn’t even realize the man was on front of him until he felt Cole’s hands press firmly against his shoulders.
He couldn’t help it. His body twitched with the urge to run, to escape, to survive. He couldn’t do it while he was tied like this, but he’d agreed to it. Even if he said no, Cole wouldn’t unlock him because there was already a method for Everett to escape. He just had to reach it before Cole returned as a snarling animal.
“I’m a little too trusting, I think,” he said.
Cole smiled at him. “What?”
He shook his head. “I just can’t believe I’m letting you do this. I’m the worst hunter in the world and probably incredibly stupid.”
“Then I’m glad for that.” Cole’s hands went to his face this time, and they were warm instead of cold as he pulled Everett closer for a long and comforting kiss.
It was like the warmth of the kiss spread through Everett’s body, ceasing his trembling and only marginally reducing his fear.
He kissed Cole back. Cole was right. He did still love him. He loved Cole enough to become a hunter and try to avenge him, and he loved him enough that, even if Cole did come back through those trees with a foaming wolf mouth, then at least Everett would die knowing he’d given the man his shot to prove himself.
Hell, his former team was after him anyway, with one man already dead, so it wasn’t like he was going to live much longer anyway.
Cole gently opened Everett’s mouth with his tongue, and Everett had only the briefest of seconds to reach out and touch it with his own tongue, to feel the slick push of Cole inside his mouth, before the other man pulled away.
“I’ll be back in two minutes,” he said.
Everett felt cold again when Cole removed his hands and started walking into the tree line. He was already pulling his clothes off as he went, and then he started running the rest of the way as the hair began pushing through his skin, changing him.
Everett focused all his attention on getting that key the second Cole vanished from his sight. His panicked mind was taking over, preventing him from thinking about anything but escape.
He wouldn’t unlock the chains, he told himself. He just wanted to hold the key in his hands. It would be like a security blanket of sorts. If Cole came back and he looked wild and vicious, then, and only then, would Everett unlock himself and try to make a break for it.
Try, being the key word there.
His boot just touched down on the little metal skeleton key before he heard a long howl from several yards down into the woods.
Everett instinctively stopped what he was doing and turned toward the sound. He didn’t think Cole would be done with the shift that soon. From how he understood it, the massive change that the body went through in order to become a wolf was never instantaneous like how the movies depicted it. The most skilled of werewolves could transform in ten seconds or less, but Cole hadn’t been a wolf that long to be that skilled with putting off the pain of the change and shifting so quickly.
Or maybe he had.
He stretched his leg out farther, trying to nudge the key toward himself. When it slipped down the other side of the rock, where Everett wouldn’t be able to reach it at all, despair clouded around him.
He swallowed hard, his throat hardly daring to work as he turned his face back to the spot where Cole would be making his appearance.
There was nothing he could do now. Without the key, he was just going to have to stand here and wait to see if death would be coming for him in the twisted form of his former lover.
He heard the snuffling sounds of hard breathing and twigs crunching as Cole came closer, but he couldn’t yet see the wolf itself.
He braced himself, he didn’t know for what because it wasn’t like there was anything he could do to defend himself, but he got ready all the same.
The bushes rustled, and out from behind the shade of the canopy and from between the long grass and branches of the trees and shrubs, a gray wolf head emerged.
It looked about the same as any other wolf, except that it was larger, and the eyes glowed a golden color as Everett and the wolf looked at each other.
His heart beat an unsteady rhythm that made his head swim a little, but he forced himself to keep it together. He wasn’t about to pass out for this. Cole was here now, so he was going to see what the other man, or wolf, would do now that Everett was helplessly tied here.
The wolf’s head lowered to the spot where the key was supposed to be sitting on the rock, and a strange groaning sound emerged from deep within his throat as he looked back up at Everett.
“It slipped over the other side,” he explained, not really knowing why he bothered. It wasn’t like Cole could understand him. Could he?
An expulsion of gasping air then came from the animal. It shoulders actually shook as it looked away from Everett.
He couldn’t believe it. “Are you laughing at me?”
The wolf got down on its belly and stuck a paw over its eyes, still making that sound.
“Knock it off,” Everett muttered, still hesitant to yell anything at a werewolf of all creatures.
Then the wolf did stop its laughing, and when it looked up at him, Everett froze. His fear came back onto him as he and Cole stared at each other. The wolf was just lying there, paws down and head up, all proper like. It didn’t look like it was about to rip his throat out. It didn’t look anything at all like the wild things he’d watched the other hunters kill.
Then, slowly, Cole lifted himself to his feet and approached.
Everett stayed perfectly still, and those golden eyes remained as cautious on him as Everett was sure his eyes were on Cole.
When he was close enough, Cole stretched out his neck and started sniffing at Everett’s legs. He still remained at a partial distance, as though he was afraid that Everett would try and kick him away.
In the beginning, he thought he might try something like that, but now everything was beginning to seem much less frightening. Those eyes were intelligent. Cole really wasn’t going to hurt him.
“You really are in there, aren’t you?” he asked.
Cole sat down and smiled at him, the way most dogs smiled. Mouth open, tongue out, he was the picture of innocence.
Everett laughed. The sound was part relief, part happiness, and part hysteria, but he was still mostly just happy.
His lover wasn’t a crazed animal. Cole really was going to be fine.
Chapter Six
It was amazing the things Cole was capable of doing while he was still i
n wolf form. It seemed he still had his human mind to work with, despite the new body, and he was even able to grab the small key to the handcuffs with his mouth and bring it back to Everett so he could unlock himself.
It had been the final test for him. He couldn’t exactly reach out and take the key because of the way his hands were bound, but stretching out his fingers to Cole’s mouth had nearly made him break out in a sweat.
Cole had his lips pulled up, the key clenched between those sharp teeth. Everett had taken hold of the key and Cole had given it to him with no problems at all.
That was more than enough. When he was finally free, he got down on his knees, put his hands around Cole’s shoulders, and held him so tightly he was probably hurting him.
He didn’t care. It was almost like finding out his lover had come back from the dead. There was the werewolf thing, sure, but Cole was okay. He wasn’t dead, and he wasn’t a monster. He was okay.
They’d quickly gone hunting for something to eat after that. Cole did most of the work since Everett could barely keep up with him, but they’d worked out a simple system for communication. Cole would bark to get Everett’s attention from wherever he was, and if Everett asked any questions, it was one bark for yes and two for no.
Everett had lost sight of Cole for nearly twenty minutes, but he continued to try and track down something small that they could eat. It nearly killed him, trying to contain his impatience for the other man to return, but somehow he managed it. He didn’t want to be too clingy, after all.
That attitude left him the second Cole came back into sight through the trees. He was in his human form, naked, and carrying several dead pheasants by the legs.
“No buck?” Everett asked, locking his eyes onto Cole’s face to keep himself from looking down at his cock. He thought of how much he wanted to sink to his knees. His joints fought with him to do just that. He wanted to get down and put Cole’s dick in his mouth and suck him until the man was begging Everett to fuck him.
It didn’t help at all that Cole was hard.
“I think the bones of something like that would be a little harder to do away with,” Cole said, lifting his hand a little. “These should keep us in good shape.”
Everett nodded. “Uh-huh.”
Cole wet his lips, which also didn’t help Everett’s state of being. “I know what you’re thinking.”
That pulled Everett out of his lusty thoughts pretty damn quick. “You do?” His face went furnace hot. “I thought werewolves could only read the minds of other werewolves.”
“They can’t even do that. It’s complicated, but I’m not reading your mind. I’m reading your body. Your temperature just went up, I can hear your heart beating faster, and I can smell your lust.”
Everett was embarrassed but still extra aroused by this new fact.
Cole smiled at him. “I think cleaning these can wait a couple minutes. You and I should have a bath before we do anything, though.”
They walked back to their camp silently. There wasn’t anything to say. Cole had just basically told him they were going to have sex. That was good. That was exactly what he wanted, and he wanted it so badly he thought he would combust with the urge to sink his dick into Cole’s body.
They definitely needed a bath. They were both dirty and sweaty and disgusting, even if Cole looked ten times better now that he’d had his transformation. Still, Everett wished they didn’t have to wait until he could just throw Cole down and fuck him.
Cole put their birds on a flat rock and then started walking toward the river. He was already naked, so he didn’t have to undress. He just splashed his foot around to test the water.
“How cold is it?” Everett asked, taking off his jacket and pulling his shirt above his head.
Cole grinned at him. “It’s actually pretty warm today.”
Everett stopped with his hands on his belt buckle. “It is?”
“Well, not warm, but tolerable. We won’t jump in and freeze.”
The grin on Cole’s face let Everett know that he was thinking pretty much the same thing Everett was. They didn’t have to wait until the end of their bath to have sex.
“I don’t think you know how gorgeous you look like that,” Cole said.
“I—” Everett looked down at himself. He hadn’t realized the way he’d been standing, but it was suddenly reminding him of one of the many pin-up boys in those calendars. Shirtless, hands on their pants, as though about to take them off.
Cole had once told him that was his favorite pose in those magazines and calendars. Everett hadn’t realized he’d been doing it.
He looked over at his lover, warmth spreading through him. “I never forgot how gorgeous you look naked.”
He was even more beautiful when he blushed. “Come here,” Cole said, backing into the water.
His skin didn’t pebble, and he didn’t hesitate when the water came up to touch his dick and balls. The water really was nice.
What a happy surprise.
Everett couldn’t help the feeling of excitement that ran through him. He kicked off his boots and pants as fast as he could and practically ran to the water.
Cole saw him coming and tried to swim farther in, but he wasn’t fast enough to get away from him. He grabbed Cole around the shoulders and brought his face forward for a mouth-meshing kiss.
Cole might be faster than Everett was on land, but in the water, as far as speed went, they were on pretty equal footing.
Cole put his hands in Everett’s hair and gripped tightly, just the way Everett liked and remembered, and he moaned into Cole’s mouth. Their tongues clashed as they gripped each other and fought for supremacy. The water was lukewarm, but definitely not cold enough to do away with Everett’s erection. He pressed himself against Cole, their dicks gently touching at first, as though they were being reunited.
Cole lifted his leg over Everett’s hips and began humping against him, and the friction felt so good. Everett pressed back, but it wasn’t enough. He reached down and gripped the twin swells of Cole’s ass and brought him forward. The harder sensation was perfect, and they were both moaning against each other.
“Fuck that’s nice. I missed you,” Cole said with a sigh. He threw his head back just continued to ride against Everett’s hips.
Because they were in the water, it was much easier to hold Cole suspended like this as he bounced the other man on top of him. If someone were to look at them right now, it would almost look like they actually were fucking, but Everett hadn’t even scratched the surface of what he wanted to do to Cole just yet.
The current here was also weak, just barely floating by them, so there was no danger of Everett losing his footing and the both of them floating down river, even though the water went up to their chests. It was just the two of them enjoying each other, just like they used to.
Everett broke off their kiss in favor of licking and kissing at the base of Cole’s neck, then his upper chest, until he finally decided to hell with it, adjusted Cole’s weight on top of him, and then bent his head to take one of those pink nipples into his mouth.
Cole’s breathy moans just became louder, and the back-and-forth motion of his hips became sharper and stronger.
Cole was about to come, and so quickly, too. Maybe that meant he hadn’t had anyone in a while. Maybe he’d had no one since he and Everett were separated.
He liked that idea. He only wished he could say the same.
“Oh, fuck! Rhett! Fuck!” Cole cursed, the water splashing around them as he moved harder and faster against him.
A warmth spread around his hips under the water as Cole came, and it was nearly enough that Everett came with him, knowing he could still bring a reaction like this out of the man.
Cole’s arms tightened around Everett’s shoulders as his tight body went lax. Everett pulled his mouth away as Cole relaxed his body against his. Everett never felt more love for the man in his entire life than when Cole put his leg down and rested his head on Everet
t’s shoulder.
Cole reached his hand down and quickly found Everett’s erection, but Everett pushed his hand away before he could do anything to him.
Cole looked curiously at him.
Everett had to get this out of him. “I’m sorry, for being a hunter, and for kidnapping you.”
“You don’t have to apologize for anything.”
“Yes, I do,” Everett said, lifting one of Cole’s hands out of the water so that he could see the bruising that was still on his wrists from when he’d shackled him. They were healing now, and the skin was no longer peeling, but he still could hardly believe he’d been so wrong.
“I put you in chains and threatened your life.”
Cole actually grinned a bit at him. “You thought I would turn into a violent monster at any second and kill you. I wouldn’t worry about it. I’m not holding any grudges. Not to downplay your apology or anything either, but I’m thinking that we’re going to have to get a pair of handcuffs for later.”
Everett would like to use the ones they had now, but all things considered, he didn’t think it was the safest time to be tying each other up anymore. Not with the men Everett had worked with on his tail. Plus, those handcuffs were made of silver.
Cole put his hand on the back of Everett’s head and pulled him forward for a chaste kiss. “Stop thinking about it. You’re forgiven. I just…I don’t want to be clingy or anything, but I’m just really glad to have you back, and I want to keep you close for now.”
Everett blew out a laugh. “I was thinking the exact same thing about you earlier. About how I was going to try not to be clingy.”
“We’ll set some ground rules later, right now…” Cole took hold of Everett’s hand and brought it down beneath the water. He wasn’t sure what Cole meant to do with his hand, at first, but then he felt the erection Cole sported, and his eyes went wide.
“Jesus Christ, it’s been less than a minute!”
Cole was still smiling stupidly at him. “I know. Isn’t it great?”
“It’s because you’re a werewolf?” Everett asked. He kept looking down into the water, trying to see the firm cock for himself, but at the depth they stood in, the water was too dark for him to see it. That was fine because he could feel it perfectly.