The Wolf At My Door

by Sam Hall

  But I didn’t have to decide today! I popped the lid of the Gatorade bottle and swallowed the drink down, it tasting like both manna from heaven and fizzy, slightly salty bile. I forced myself to scull it, some of it running down the sides of my mouth and spilling down my neck. I jerked back when I felt a tongue running up my neck to catch it. Slade laughed when I spat the last mouthful out, not even caring that it went all over him. He just wiped his eyes and grabbed me around the waist, “C’mon beautiful, we’re going to the gun range.”

  11

  Army guy was Aaron, apparently. He introduced himself once we bundled into the car, Slade taking the back seat, moving to sit right by my side and pulling my hand into his. “Y’know, I’d find you a lot hotter if you were a bit distant and unapproachable, like from the other side of the backseat.”

  “Oh, don’t you worry,” he said. “You’ll find me plenty hot enough tonight.”

  “Now I’m just scared,” I mumbled, and the whole car started laughing. Fucking men. “Why are we going to a gun range, again?

  “We’re going to see how well you shoot,” Finn said, looking at me in the rear vision mirror.

  I looked from one to the other, disbelief plain on my face. “Are you fucking serious?” I grated out. Extra strength the painkillers might be, but I still felt like warmed over shit.

  “Sometimes we get wild animals that come into the compound. You’re restricted in the places you can go until we gauge your gun proficiency,” Finn said.

  “And this has to happen the day I am stupendously hungover?” I said.

  “I’m free, and Aaron’s back from a trip to town. Seemed like the best time to get it done.”

  I mumbled something about Finn’s parentage, which just set the rest of the car laughing again. Apparently, I was nowhere near as quiet as I thought I was, and hilarious to boot. “What about some breakfast, then?” I asked. “I could murder a greasy bacon and cheese…” Aaron leaned down and plucked a wrapped white object from the cooler between him and Finn and passed it back, eyes on the wheel.

  “Is that…? Oh my god, it’s still warm! Wait, what do I have to do in exchange?”

  “Anything you want, honey,” Aaron replied, his lips twitching as he watched my expression in the rear vision mirror. I wasn’t comfortable with that, but dear god, pain relief and wellbeing were just a few bites away. I peeled the paper away to reveal a fluffy bread roll chock-a-block full of bacon and cheese. I took a bite, not giving a shit that bits sprayed everywhere. Today was gonna be messy, no matter what.

  Slade groaned, shuffling back so as to get a better view of what I was doing. “Stop getting horny watching me eat,” I said, spitting crumbs.

  “Too late,” he said, and reached down to adjust himself. My eyes widened when I saw an indication of what he was packing down there, but I kept eating.

  I stumbled out of the car, feeling mildly better with food and medication in me. I was pretty sure they thought they could put something else in me to make me feel even more awesome, but I instead marched up to the door of the range. I turned the handle and stepped inside ... and wanted to walk right out again. Blam! Blam! Ratatatatatata! “Oh, fuck,” I groaned, grabbing at my ears, my headache back with a vengeance. The place, unsurprisingly, was full of men shooting guns. “Here,” Aaron said, and put some ear muffs on me. Now it sounded like a muffled gun fight was happening around me.

  “So, what do I have to do?” I asked, probably too loud.

  Aaron smiled, moving over to one of the walls and producing a key from his pocket to unlock the cabinet there. He pulled out several guns that looked way too big and scary for me to be on the other end of, and tossed them to Finn and Slade before grabbing his own. He held it so the stock tucked into one shoulder, the other hand holding the grip thingie at the front. “Wmm dmm omsmm,” he said.

  “What?” I said, pulling off one ear protector.

  “We’ll go to the range outside.”

  Yay, I thought, casting a dark eye at the dusty paddock that served as an outdoor range. Less noise but more sun, and I wasn’t sure what was worse. I was sweating already, that funky mix of sour body odour and alcohol leaving the building. I was gonna be so sexy when Slade finally got me for alone time.

  “So this here is a blah blah gun thingie,” Aaron said seriously, showing me his fine weapon. “It’s great for blah and manly things.”

  “Uh huh,” I said.

  “So to use it, you do blah, blah and blah and then slowly squeeze your finger on the blah…” Boom! A hail of bullets came firing out of the machine gun thingie and into the target some metres away.

  “Right,” I said, swaying slightly, “Don’t squeeze the blah too hard. Boys always say that.”

  “What?” Aaron’s eyes snapped to Finn. “You sure she’s up for this?”

  “I need her ready to go beyond the gate. No gun, no gate,” Finn said.

  “There’s no rush…” Slade said.

  “She’s employed to be my offsider, so yeah, there is a rush,” Finn snapped.

  “This got anything to do with last night?” Slade asked. “Because stampeding into this…”

  “This is too early,” Aaron said to Finn. “Once we know, she’ll be able to handle this no problems, or she won’t. But right now…”

  “That might not happen,” Finn said. “She needs to be able to defend herself.” All of the men fell silent after that.

  Aaron shrugged, taking one of the guns and passing it to me. “Never point a gun at anyone you don’t intend to shoot,” he said, pushing the muzzle so it faced the targets. "Be aware of what is in front of and behind your target. Keep your finger off the trigger until you decide to take a shot, and leave the safety on until then.”

  I held it in what I thought was a mirror image of his pose. He sighed and came to stand at my rear, putting his arms around me to correct my hold and stance. I wasn’t sure this was strictly necessary, it felt like maybe he was trying to cop a feel. I arched my hips back slightly, so my arse grazed his groin. His body turned to iron, and he became very still. Slowly, he pulled away. “Chamber a round, then take the safety off and give it a go. Just be careful, there’ll be some recoil.” Right, the safety. Where was the safety? Aaron sighed and flicked it for me, and then gestured for me to proceed.

  I had no fucking idea what I was doing. The last time I’d shot a gun was some peewee air rifle my brother had been given by my uncle. We’d gone out with Dad and Pa and Uncle Bill, and learned how to shoot cans in the home paddock when I was ten. Well, I was committed now. I looked down the barrel, my hands starting to shake. You should back out, back the fuck out, my brain screamed hysterically. You can hurt yourself or others. This is part of my job, I retorted. I couldn’t follow Finn without showing I could do this. I squeezed the trigger gently and…

  Blam! I’m not totally sure what happened, but somehow I was lying in the hot dirt, staring at the sky, and Finn, Slade and Aaron were all standing over me. “Are you OK?” Finn asked, eyes wide.

  “Princess, if you wanted to get out of the date, you just had to say,” Slade said.

  “I told you it was too early,” Aaron said to Finn.

  “Yeah, alright,” Finn said with a curse. “Let’s get Doc Hobbes to have a look at her.”

  Which was how I ended up lying on the cold metal bench in the doc’s surgery, my head throbbing worse than before. “So, what happened?” she asked.

  “Julie had a go with one of the rifles and wound up on her arse,” Slade said.

  “Weapons training? That’d be better done after the full moon, wouldn’t it?” she said, flashing a torch across one eye, then the other.

  “She needs protection,” Finn ground out.

  “So assign one of the young bucks. They would be more than happy to protect her.”

  “I’d be happy to volunteer,” Slade said.

  “Me too,” said Aaron, meeting my eyes with a steady gaze when I looked at him in alarm.

  “She’s supposed to
be my offsider.”

  The doctor glanced up at Finn without expression, then sniffed. “Well, who better to protect her? You can take her past the gate if you’re by her side. Sooner the better, I think. She seems OK, someone’s going to have to stay with her tonight, wake her up every couple of hours and look out for any sign of brain injury. Slurred speech, dizziness, vomiting… Anything out of the ordinary, give me a call on my mobile. So who’s going to do it?” The room went silent as the guys eyed each other.

  “My night tonight,” Slade said with a shit-eating grin.

  “Hey, if you want to spend it with her flat on her back, spewing, be my guest,” Aaron said.

  “Yep, but then I get to hold back her hair and clean her up and rub her fevered brow,” Slade said. Aaron’s brows pulled down into a frown.

  “Slade, take one of the bikes or carts up to her place and collect her dog from Nerida’s. Aaron and I will take her up in the car.”

  “Sure thing, boss.”

  I started to push myself upright on the table, but Finn swept me up in his arms, despite my protests. “Give Slade these,” Doc said, handing Aaron a box of medication. “We have to wait until the aspirin has cleared her system, but she can have two of these after eight hours.”

  12

  So there I was, lying in bed with Slade sitting in a chair at one end.

  “You can lay down,” I said, my voice raspy with exhaustion, “as long as you’ll sleep. I am so not up for anything else.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it, princess,” he said. “Which is why I’m all the way over here. Go to sleep, I’ve got to wake you in a couple of hours, but I’ve got a book to keep me company.”

  “Well, if you’re sure…” I mumbled, burying my head into the cool, clean pillow. I dimly heard his chuckle as I drifted off. Sweet, sweet oblivion. As I start to doze, the pain faded away so quickly I let out a languorous sigh. The removal of pain is almost as good as sex after a while. I felt the soft sheets around me, the comforting weight of the blanket as I went deeper and deeper…

  I lay on a bed covered in red silken sheets that slipped sinuously as I moved. I opened my eyes a crack, and saw that I’d been sleeping on a massive four poster bed with gauzy white curtains hanging down from the canopy.

  “Hello.” The mattress dipped as someone came and laid down beside me, pulling my body against theirs. I looked over my shoulder to see Slade, looking much cleaner but with the same reddish-brown scruff of a beard, his hair a short crop of a slightly lighter colour, gazing down at me. He reached over and caressed my face, and I saw his bare arm.

  “Are you naked?” I asked, rolling over to face him. He ran delicate fingers up my arm, trailing over my neck and cupping my jaw, brushing a thumb over my lips.

  “I can if you want me to be. Your wish is my command,” he purred, running the flat of his hand down my neck and collar bone, my nipples pulling tight in anticipation of his callused caress, but he veered off down my ribs, rubbing up and down them, getting closer and closer to my butt. My clit began to throb lightly, sure that he was going to slip his fingers between my thighs and…

  Instead he pulled me closer, so our bodies meshed, and his hand dropped down to my waist, lingering in the small hollow at the end of my spine. It sent curious shivers through my body. “So…” I gasped, “you’d do anything for me?”

  “Within reason, love. Talk to me about what you want, and I’ll see what I can do.” His mouth was suddenly busy, lipping at the skin of my neck and shoulders, the prickle of his beard a tantalising tickle. “Tell me what you want,” he said, skimming his palm up, up over my stomach and ribs, getting closer and closer…

  “Uh…” I moaned, but his hand returned to my jaw, drawing me in for a kiss. I wanted dream Slade to caress and pluck, tug and suck and spear his fingers inside me. Freed from pain, my sex drive came rollicking back, twice as strong. I felt the slickness between my thighs as they moved restively, and I dug my hands in his hair, tangling my tongue with his, pushing my body against his, wanting and seeking more.

  “What do you want?” he insisted as I fought to catch my breath. “I’m not doing it until you ask. Tell me, Jules.”

  “Tell you what?” I whined, writhing, trying to drag my nipples across his chest, anything for some blessed friction. He pulled back, pushing me down on the bed and clasping my wrists. He reared over me, shutting out the light, holding me within the broad shadow of his body. He kicked my ankles wide but didn’t settle between them, even when my hips bucked underneath him.

  “What. Do. You. Want,” he said.

  “Touch…” I whimpered.

  “Touch what, Jules? Just say it, and I’ll do it. Touch what?”

  My eyes flicked open to find I was in my normal old bed, top pushed up around my neck, the sheets draped around my hips. Slade hung over me in the exact position I’d been dreaming about. “What’s going on?” I said, blinking. My body throbbed, not struggling to make the transition from sleep to awake like my mind was.

  Slade jerked back. “You were still asleep. Fuck, Jules, I’m so sorry. I was trying to wake you up, trying to do it gently, and then you started moaning and talking back to me…” He turned to leave, but I grabbed his arm. God, his body was like iron.

  “It’s OK,” I said.

  Yeah it is! my body said. Let’s tell him what we want and get things started. Now a little tweaking on the nipples, not too forceful. Both at the same time would be just grand… I shook my head, trying to bring my attention back to the concerned looking Slade. “I was half awake and was kinda dreaming you were doing and saying the same things…”

  “We alright? How’s your head? Still hurting?” I nodded. “Let me get you your meds.” He disappeared, returning a moment later with a glass and some pills. I pulled the sheet up to cover myself and then swallowed them down. “Lemme have a look at your eyes,” he said, coming in close. I smelt the tobacco on his breath as he looked at one, then the other, and felt the heat coming from his body as he bent over me. He reached up and cupped my chin, turning it towards the light a little, bringing my mind back to the feel of his stubble scraping over my skin. “Apart from the pain, no light sensitivity or dizziness?” I shook my head carefully. “OK, well, go back to sleep, and I’ll…” He went to pull away, but I didn’t let go of his arm. His eyes went from my grip, then back to me. “Princess…?”

  “I want…” His hazel eyes grew dark and hard as he watched my mouth move, like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

  “Mmm…”

  “I…” He took some pity on me, tangling his hand in my hair, then dropping the other to run his palm across my collar bone. “I….”

  “You gotta say it, Jules,” he said. “Men, your mum, society has been teaching you all your life not to. But here, you gotta make sure the other person is clear on what you want. You might have noticed, most of the guys here are bigger and stronger than you. The thing that protects you is spelling out what you want.” I made an inarticulate growl, my eyes dropping down. I couldn’t keep staring into his, it felt suddenly too close, too intimate. “Your instructions are like a contract. They make it clear what people want…” his lips grazed over mine, “and what they don’t want.”

  “Gah!” I flopped back down, instantly regretting it when the pain in my head flared in intensity. “You guys are always pushing me! Do this, accept this, be open to this! Maybe I just want to be swept off my feet. Did you ever think of that? Maybe I want you to push me down on the bed, turn me on with awesome foreplay, and then let me see what I want to do from there!”

  “Well, OK, princess. I can definitely work with that.” All of a sudden, my wrists were caught together and pulled above my head, forcing my back to arch and my tits to thrust out. He dropped his head to one, his tongue flickering out. I whimpered as he circled my nipple with the tip, the sight as much of a turn on as the sensation. He blew on it and smiled as the skin puckered. “If you consciously give away control…” he said, pulling back an
d ripping off his shirt, then pulling his belt free. He fed the tongue through the buckle. “Then you can get it back, anytime you want…” I looked at him wide-eyed as he caught my wrists in the loop, pulling it tight enough I couldn’t pull free, then tying it off against the bedhead. “You don’t like what I’m doing, you want me to get you free, you feel dizzy or sick, you say the word Buddy, right?”

  “What is that?” I looked up at the belt. “A safe word?”

  “Been reading some BDSM mummy porn, or are there some hidden depths there, princess?” he asked in a low rasp, moving down my body until his head drew level with my breasts. He looked up at me with a sly smile, then wrapped those lips around my nipple and sucked.

  “Uh!” My body drew up taut as a bow, struggling to move under the intense onslaught of sensation, his mouth sending rolling waves of pleasure through my body. Just as I struggled to get my head around that, his other hand circled the other, plucking and stretching the tender tip, almost to that point where intense pleasure bordered on pain.

  “I… I…” I gasped.

  “No need now, princess,” he said, letting my nipple pop loose. “You want to be swept away in something bigger than you? I’m your man. You don’t have to say a word unless you change your mind. Now, where was I?”

  I don’t know how long he took, lavishing caresses on my breasts, but by the time he pulled free, the tips were throbbing right along with my clit. The air itself seemed to caress them almost painfully. He pulled away, toeing off his socks and then removing his pants. He smiled when he saw me watching, pausing and taking it a little slower with his underwear. I swallowed when I saw him bob free, thick and curved and tending to veer slightly to the left, just like I’d thought. I would have rolled my eyes that I was looking down yet another huge dick, but all I could think of was how it was going to feel going in. I’d had a boyfriend with a similar orientation, though not quite as blessed as Slade, and knew from experience that the tension between his body and mine as his dick was forced away from its natural bend for a while, would create the most amazing drag inside me. I had to clench my legs together to cope with the sharp feeling of need.