by Marcy Jacks
66 Marcy Jacks
Chapter Eight
For the second time in his life, Eli was jerked awake by the horrible sensation of melty ice splashing down on his head.
He came up in a rush, still partly asleep and thinking that he’d fallen into the Arctic Ocean and was drowning or something.
The sight of James’s enraged face made him wish that that had been the reality he was waking up to.
James pointed his finger into Eli’s face. “You swore to me.”
The light coming in through the window pierced his eyelids and went straight through his skull, giving him the worst sort of pulsing headache.
He’d finally managed to pass out on the couch, but only after depleting the last of his stock of booze. He pulled the thin sheet he’d been using over his head with a groan, but that barely did anything to shut out the painful light.
James wasn’t having any of that, and he snatched the sheet out of Eli’s grasp and threw it away. “I’m speaking to you. What do you have to say for yourself?”
Eli kept his eyes shut, holding his hands over the lids to keep all that awful fucking sunlight away from him. “That you told me you would banish me if I went down to the bars, not if I drank from what I
still have here.”
Another set of soft footprints came into the room, followed by heavier ones. “They all look empty. That should be the last of what he was hiding.”
“I didn’t find anything either.”
Old Maggie. The pack’s wise woman. Eli still had enough sense
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in him to be ashamed of her having to see him like he was. As for Andrew, well, he didn’t much care.
Eli sat up, and he managed to do it well enough on his own. Most of the alcohol must have gone through his liver already. He needed to take a piss something awful though.
“Ma’am,” he said.
She pointed a wrinkled finger at him. “You do not speak to me in that condition,” she said, her aged face looking almost as mean as James’s.
Then she pointed to the bathroom. “Go wash yourself. How do you expect to make a good impression on a human mate if you look like filth?”
He needed a shower. He definitely agreed with her there. He
nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
She made a hmph sound and walked away, wrinkling her nose at every single dirty dish that he had laying around. Old pizza boxes on the floor from back when he was still trusted enough to go into town to order food. Ants and small vermin scattered as she kicked the
box―Andrew jumped when a mouse scurried beneath his feet―and then she turned to glare one more time at Eli.
His face heated, and he had to look away. He turned to James real quick. “Am I banished?”
James looked like he was struggling for patience. Or that maybe he was struggling to not just throw Eli’s ass out. This was the first time James had seen the inside of Eli’s cottage, and now the other man had a good idea of why none of the omegas wanted to be his
roommate.
“I did give you a pretty wide loophole, so no. But I want you sober. If you need an escape or need to forget about the shit that’s bothering you lately, either take up a book or go running, find a hobby, anything. You are not getting drunk anymore while I’m in command, period, and you’re never having anything with even the least bit of alcohol in it for a year. Got it?”
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Eli nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” James motioned to the general area surrounding them. “Clean this place up and open some windows. Your mate’s been asking to see you all morning.”
Eli was stunned. “He has?”
“Yes. He’s Dean Lefroy’s brother.”
“Dean―” It took Eli longer than it should have to put together exactly who that was. When it clicked, his eyes went wide. “Shit.”
“No kidding. He claims he was unaware of Dean’s profession as a hunter, and I’m inclined to believe him, but I’m still having him watched.”
“Who’s watching him?” He looked to Andrew.
He must’ve been glaring because the alpha raised his hands and moved back a step. “Don’t look at me. I’m not doing it.”
“You are. So get your ass up and clean this place up before he gets here,” James said. “I might’ve convinced him to give you a chance, but it’d take a miracle with the place looking like this.”
Eli was already up and running to the bathroom. He was going to shower the stench of alcohol off of him and get this place clean as fast
as possible.
He didn’t believe for a second that Chis was anything like his brother, so Eli felt there was nothing to worry about on that part. What had him smiling even through the pounding migraine in his skull was the fact that Chris wanted to see him and that he was going
to give the two of them a chance.
* * * *
Chris had been asked politely to wait just a little bit longer, for the fifth time, when he decided he couldn’t handle it anymore. He asked Tristan which house Eli lived in, and the other man, seeing that he was pissed off and didn’t want to be put off anymore, pointed the way with a sigh.
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Chris understood what the holdup had been at the sight of four ugly, plump, garbage bags sitting just outside of the door, waiting to be taken away.
The door opened, and Eli stepped out with yet another full garbage bag, and he dropped it on top of the others―it sounded like there was glass inside it, bottles most likely―before looking up, noticing Chris approaching him.
“Hi,” Eli said.
Okay, relax yourself. Just relax. “Hi,” Chris said.
Eli looked behind himself to the inside of his house then shut the
door before Chris could see whatever it was that had the other man
looking so panicked.
“I was hoping I’d have another hour before inviting you over.”
“Cleanup duty?” Chris asked.
“Something like that. I haven’t exactly paid much attention to the finer details of house cleaning for the last little while.”
Since the death of his brother. Chris knew it without anything more being said between them.
They both stood there, shuffling their feet like a couple of awkward kids, neither knowing how to make the first move.
Chris decided to be a little brave for once in his life and just do something first. “Want some help?”
“Help?”
“Yeah, I could, I don’t know, do your windows or something.”
Eli smiled at him. “Sure. I guess it’s not so bad anymore that if you see the inside you won’t think I’m a complete slob.”
The emphasis Eli put on the word complete made him laugh, and he started walking toward the door. “I was never great at it either. I doubt you’ll shock me.”
Eli pushed the door open, stepped inside with all the glee and energy of a kid inviting his first crush to his house for the first time, and he even held the door open for Chris, too.
What Chris noticed first, and what he was most happy with, was
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that when Eli shut the door behind them, blocking out most of the natural sunlight, Chris didn’t feel any of that panic that he thought he should have. Especially since they were cramped together in such a small hallway.
No, this felt okay.
“It’s all just down here,” Eli said, walking on ahead. Chris followed.
The next thing he became aware of when they got to the kitchen was the smell of orange-scented cleaner. Nothing in here looked too bad. Maybe the stove needed to be wiped off and the floors swept and mopped, but that was about it.
Of course, all those bags outside did mean that it had looked a whole lot worse in here before Chris had come along.
“You sure this is okay?” Eli asked. “Wasn’t exactly how I would envision a first date.”
Chris looked at him at
the word date.
Eli blushed, scratched the side of his head, and refused to return
Chris’s stare.
Give it a chance. Remember, give it a chance. Eli was trying, and he was good looking. Chris had never been able to convince himself that he wasn’t a little attracted to him. He did have the body lots of people spent hard gym time to get.
“It’s fine. It’ll give us a chance to get to know each other.”
Eli smiled at him, a reluctant thing that was still filled with gratitude.
He had a nice smile, Chris realized. And good teeth.
Chris picked up the broom. “I’ll start over here.”
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Chapter Nine
Eli thought they were making great progress. Slow, but still great. Eli had gone from being the scourge of the pack, dirty, loud, depressing, to the envy of all the single men and women who lived under James’s care.
Eli felt great, too. It had been only five days, but he was clean and sober, with a gorgeous mate who was slowly coming out of his shell.
Chris had let Eli hold his hand the other day. Eli had a better idea of where he wanted Chris to put that hand, but they were doing baby steps here. Even if those baby steps left him grasping his cock in the shower by the end of the night, it was still well worth it.
Five days was hardly enough to go from being a full-on alcoholic to sober and trustworthy, however, so he didn’t complain when James told him he would have to sit in meditation with Old Maggie for one hour three times a week.
It had been something he’d been hesitant to let Chris know about, even though the first time they’d met, Chris had seen him out of the bag.
It was one thing to be drunk, but he didn’t want his mate to be afraid that Eli had a problem with it, too.
Of course, Chris was smart enough to figure it out on his own andhad apparently known it from the time they’d met. He was good about it, too, and if anything, it brought them a little closer.
“I drank a lot when I was a kid after my parents died. I know it can make things easier for a little while. Not hard to get sucked in, though.”
They were both lounging on Eli’s porch. He’d pulled out the
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wicker rockers that he and Eric had once used when they were feeling like soaking up the sun. Now, instead of shooting the shit with his brother, Eli relaxed next to his mate.
There was something nice about this, if a little strange. They were both essentially grounded, and neither was allowed to leave pack territory for the next little while. Eli for being a drunk and needing to recover, and Chris because James still wanted to make sure that he
wouldn’t turn into a psycho hunter like his brother had been.
Eli had no doubt in his mind that Chris was nothing like his brother. He and Eric had always been similar, but it wasn’t just blood that did that.
“Can I ask you how they died?” Eli asked, taking a swig of his Diet Pepsi. Even now he was thinking about how much better it would be if there was something a little stronger inside of it, but he was still doing his baby steps thing.
Chris sighed. “Animal attack. Wolves.”
“Oh. Oh,” Eli said, realizing what kind of wolves Chris was referring to. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I didn’t even put it together myself until after James spoke to me,” he said. “It was the only thing I could think of that would make Dean turn to something so violent. He figured out it was werewolves that killed our family, and I guess he went insane over it.”
Eli didn’t want to agree or disagree on that subject. Psychotic killer or not, the man was still Chris’s brother, and Chris, although accepting of the fact that Dean had to die or else he would have killed everyone here, was still hurting over the loss.
Eli struggled to think of something else to talk about, anything to lift their spirits.
The fun part about being put under arrest like they were was that Eli didn’t have to do any of his chores. His entire purpose was to watch over Chris, and Eli still thought that James did that on purpose. A nice way of making them spend time with each other.
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However, today was the day that Eli was going to make his move. He wanted to set the right mood.
“I know we’ve been kind of stuck here for the last couple of days.”
“I’m not complaining,” Chris said with a shake of his head. Eli knew he was thinking about the attack when he ran away.
“I know, but I was thinking that I might ask James if I could take you to our pond.”
“Pond?” Chris looked at him curiously now, and Eli wanted to fall into those mesmerizing eyes.
“Yeah. There’s a pond here. It’s just on the edge of James’s land, and he and another alpha were fighting over it for a little while―” With good reason, considering the healing powers the water had. “Drinking the water can heal us faster, sometimes, and that’s why that other alpha wanted it so much. But he’s gone in hiding now, and James owns all the land. The alphas take the pups out there once in a while to play around. No one can really go by themselves anymore. It’s really nice.”
Chris smiled at him. “That does sound nice. The others will be
there, too?”
They had to be. Although the healing pond was, and always had been, within the pack’s territory, it was now too dangerous for anyone to go alone, even with the alphas that James had positioned to guard the water.
Those wolves were to stay hidden, changing up shifts with other alphas every eight hours or so just in case Deacon ever came back and tried to get at some of the water himself. That water was the only reason why that pain in the ass was still alive and creating wild werewolves who killed Eli’s brother and were currently terrorizing Eli’s mate.
“Usually most everyone goes in one big group, and enough alphas
stay behind here to make sure the houses remain safe.”
“Okay, sure. I’d like to go with you.”
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Did he sound so easy about it because there would be other people there and he wouldn’t have to worry about being alone with him? Granted, Chris was alone with Eli all the time whenever they were in his cabin together, but that wasn’t the same as being alone at the pond, with no one else in a shouting distance. Here, there would always be other people still wandering about. Omegas who did their chores, alphas exercising, and the pups who chased each other around.
The sun was setting. The sky was transforming into a light shade of lavender. Eli had always liked the sunsets. Eric had once accused him of being romantic like that, and he’d punched his brother in the eye for the offense.
He’d been right.
“It’s going to be a nice night,” he said. The crickets were already chirping, and a few lightning bugs were already making their
appearance.
“Yes,” Chris agreed. “There’s Venus.”
“What?”
Chris pointed. “That star right there. That’s Venus.”
There was only one star out right now, so it was easy to find.
“Huh, didn’t know that.”
The moon was already up in the sky as well, full and majestic, but not glowing so brightly since the sun was still up.
Just the sight of that moon made Eli want to howl. It also made him want to mate.
“Maybe I should pack it in, call it an early night,” Eli said, getting up from his rocker. The pull of that full moon called to his blood, and with Chris standing so close, it was gonna be torture before the end of the night.
“Oh, uh, you want me to head back?”
Of course not. I want to fuck you. “I just…no, it’s the moon, is all.”
Chris looked mildly alarmed. “I thought the full moon didn’t
affect you.”
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“I won’t shift or anything like that. That usually just happens to new wolves. But I haven’t mate
d with you yet, and, well…” He decided to let Chris fill in the rest for himself.
Chris’s face turned a pretty shade of red right before he looked away. “Oh.”
“Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Eli hurried inside, shut the door, and was pulling his shirt off in an attempt to stall the heat he felt coming on. It was going to be a long night.
* * * *
Chris got up from the comfortable rocker he’d been sitting in and started back for the cabin where he was staying.
He wasn’t exactly naive enough to think that Eli was just going to be taking a cold shower and that would be the end of it for him. He was going to be touching himself, and he was going to be thinking about Chris as he did it.
The thought made him blush, and not for the first time in the last five days, he really wished he wasn’t such a coward.
“Oh, hey, Chris.”
Chris stopped and turned. The sudden sharp thumping in his chest calmed and returned to a normal beat once he saw Andrew.
The alpha was leaning on the side of one of the cabins, his bent leg up and foot resting against the siding. He had his hand, and the soda he was holding, resting on his upturned knee.
Chris smiled at the sight of him. He turned and walked over to the other man. “Hi, Andrew.”
Andrew had a cooler beside him, and he reached down and pulled out another soda, lifting it from the sloshing ice, and handed it to Chris. “Calling it a night?”
“Yeah, soon I guess,” Chris said, flipping open the tab. He’d just had something sugary with Eli, but he was still trying to make friends here.
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Andrew nodded and took a swig from his can. “Yeah, full moons can get a little crazy around here.”
As though accenting the man’s point, there was a long and loud moan that sounded from one of the cabins. Chris didn’t know where it
came from or recognize the voice.
He lifted the can to his mouth for a drink, hoping to hide the rush