Unwilling: a shifter romance

by Hannah L. Corrie

  Darwin raised his gaze to meet Jared's. There was no rage or bitterness in his eyes, just a calm, collected, and coldly calculating glare. "And then you came. A young, virile, gay, Alpha werewolf, isn't that a coincidence?"

  Before Jared could voice his protest, Darwin already talked on. "No, don't. Don't try to rationalize it, I know you didn't plan on anything like that, but it was bound to happen one day. You're not the only Alpha without a pack out there, and you're not the first one to come into our lands." He waved off the unspoken words and rubbed his face. "You're just the first one to attract my interest. I spent too much time with you for it to go unnoticed. Someone from the pack saw us. The irony is, he tried to kill me for treason, so he actually must have believed my act at some point. Only dominant pack members can commit treason, submissives just follow the flow, you know? Or perhaps he found it convenient to use our... acquaintance… as an excuse to finally get rid of me. That's what he had Trevor do when you saved me. And now, here we are. Carl's got Harry and he'll do anything to kill me."

  Darwin

  Telling his story had taken everything out of Darwin, leaving him drained and strangely giddy. It felt so good to have at last told the whole truth to someone who genuinely could help and not just listen and weep for him. Jared kept quiet, but the blond werewolf appeared angry and fidgety. He nevertheless stayed put, staring at Darwin with an intent expression, almost heat, on his face.

  Darwin took the ogling for a few seconds, then his nerves gave in and he started to giggle self-consciously. That broke the ice.

  One moment they were sitting three feet apart, the next moment Jared was on Darwin, gently pressed his back onto the cot, and pinned him down. The sudden change of position left Darwin breathless and flushed with excitement and confused rage. He couldn't help either of it, be it the lustful reaction of his body to the presence of the stronger man, or his mind's utter anger with himself and this helplessness.

  "What are you doing?" Darwin's heart beat so hard he felt his pulse in his lips.

  Jared's face was flushed and his eyes darted from Darwin's face to his chest and back again. "Relax, I won't hurt you," he said, but his face looked uncertain. "I just need to..." he stammered, then went quiet. Instead of fishing for words Jared leaned forward and sniffed Darwin's face, his neck, trailing downward. His hot breath raised goosebumps and tightened something in Darwin's belly that in turn made his dick jolt with interest.

  "You just need to, what?" Darwin whispered, his own breath quickening. The way Jared scented his body froze Darwin and erased all thoughts. The slow movement and the intensity on Jared's face frightened him to the bone, but at the same time it made blood rush into his dick, thickening it until his pants tented. With every passing second of Jared's inspection Darwin longed more and more to rip his clothes off and devour him. To be devoured by Jared.

  When Jared pressed his face against Darwin's belly and snuffed loudly, Darwin's cock throbbed and dribbled. A wet patch was forming in his underwear, making him even more nervous.

  "I need to make sure you're alright," Jared murmured against his skin as he grabbed the hem of Darwin's pants. "The scent of other people on your skin drives me insane. I can't decipher who they are and knowing someone wants to kill you—" He let out a shaky breath that tingled over Darwin's skin and pulled at the denim of Darwin's trousers until the seams creaked.

  The power of Jared's grip made Darwin's eyes roll back into his head, but he managed to stifle the moan scratching at the back of his throat. His skin tingled with anticipation for more. Only the pain from the injuries in his back stopped him from writhing under Jared's administrations. "Don't rip my clothes!" he gasped instead, wondering secretly why he didn't ask Jared to stop. The thought to do so was there, somewhere beneath the sudden lust Jared had awoken in him, but the words wouldn't come out.

  "Then take them off. Either way, they have to go." Jared's voice was adamant, just a notch below using full Alpha mode. Either Darwin obeyed, or he would lose his clothes to Jared's impatient hands. Breathing heavily, Darwin stared at Jared's face hovering above him. The athlete's eyes were glassy, the pupils huge, cheeks reddened and his forehead spotted with pearls of nervous sweat. Jared seemed loath to let go of him. The sight was almost endearing. And hot. He did that to Jared, just him!

  "You'll have to help me," he said hoarsely and presented the casts enveloping his hands to make his point. Jared was struggling to tear his eyes away from Darwin's face, but when he did, he blushed an even deeper pink.

  "Oh. Right. Of course," he stuttered and Darwin bit back another nervous giggle. He had never seen Jared so unsure and flustered before.

  However, the awkward moment was short-lived. Jared took a deep breath, sat up, and grasped the hem of Darwin's shirt, pulling it off his body in one smooth, quick move. It still smarted a bit to be manipulated like that, but when Darwin saw the glimmer of pure lust in Jared's eyes roaming over his body, the pain was all but forgotten. Nobody had ever looked at him with this much adoration and desire, not even his crush Nevil.

  The button of his trousers made a loud, popping noise as it was opened. Darwin stayed frozen, mesmerized by Jared's body hovering over him. Arms bulged and muscles moved as he pulled down the worn denim, carefully peeling Darwin's legs out of the pants. Only when his hot breath caressed his belly did Darwin remember that he didn't like being naked and that it was time to freak and lash out.

  "Jared," he hissed and was promptly ignored. Fingers touched the hem of his boxer shorts and he lifted his cast-covered hands to try and push Jared away, but to no avail. Jared did stop pulling at Darwin's underwear and grabbed his gypsum coated wrists to stop him from shoving against his shoulders, but at the same moment, he felt hot breath against the soft skin of his lower belly and a set of teeth grabbing the elastic waistband of his shorts.

  "Jared,—"

  "Yield to me." Jared growled against Darwin's skin, the elastic cloth in his mouth muffling his words. He wouldn't let go of Darwin's arms, though, and when he started to flail his legs, Jared simply shoved his shoulders between them and blocked the attempts to break free with his body.

  A tight knot of arousal was forming in Darwin's belly, tugging at his cock. Being trapped under Jared's muscular, athletic form made his dick twitch and dribble, made his own muscles tremble with the need to give in, made his breath quicken. He wanted nothing more than to tilt his hips, press his straining erection against Jared's chin and let him pull off his underwear with his teeth, but his mouth still worked on auto pilot. "Never," it said, and he bit his lip to keep his mouth from spurting a whole string of swear words.

  Jared took a whiff of Darwin's crotch, growled, and snarled, "your lips say 'never', and 'wait', but your body still begs me to keep going. I'd rather have both body and mind, so make a decision." He moved his head back quickly, tugging Darwin's shorts just far enough down to make his proudly erect cock pop out of the black, soft denim. His eyes were level with Darwin's wet, shimmering cock head, his lips close enough to his shaft to make him feel every labored breath he took, and a knowing smile pulled at his mouth.

  "I—," Darwin croaked, swallowing against his tightening throat. He was afraid, so very afraid, but he couldn't remember what exactly he was so afraid of. His inner voice, the one that had kept him alive for years, screamed at him to stop ruining his cover, to not go down this path, to remember what would happen if he gave in to his true nature, but Jared's hot breath against his rigid flesh made it hard to pay attention. What should he do? What could he do?

  "Help me."

  Darwin watched with scared eyes as Jared licked a hot, wet path from the base of his cock to the crown. Darwin's answering, deep groan almost drowned out Jared's growling voice.

  "Yield to me. Now."

  Even Darwin's neurotic need for control had its limits and this time, his mind couldn't compete with the demand in Jared's voice. His cock twitched and dribbled more clear pre-cum on his stomach just from the throaty rumbling. Darwin's hea
d spun with the sudden bolt of ecstasy. For a second he stopped breathing, his whole body twitching from that one touch, unable to think, unable to talk. Jared's grip tightened around the casts at his hands, reminding him that an answer was expected. "Yes."

  Something clicked inside Darwin's mind. A wave of relief and sheer joy prickled through his body. Every hair on his body stood to attention, making him shudder and shut his eyes with a soft moan. From one moment to the next, Jared didn't need to control Darwin's limbs anymore, but the Alpha still placed his arms above his head and pushed against them to make his expectations clear.

  "You're mine now. Don't move your hands until I tell you to."

  The words sent another tug of electrifying lust through Darwin's body, but the glorious feeling was quickly replaced by the even more intense touch of a hot, wet tongue licking his cock head. His body jerked again, but this time the dunning weight of the gypsum casts and the shooting pain in his back kept Darwin right where he was.

  Lips wrapped around his cock, suckling on it, licking away clear, salty pearls of pre-cum. Every tug of the hot, wet vacuum sent another wave of electric heat into his abdomen. Jared's mouth slowly worked its way down, making room for a twirling, slithering tongue, and just when Darwin started to writhe and moan greedily, fingers touched his ball sac and started massaging the orbs beneath the skin.

  Darwin wanted to burrow his fingers in Jared's hair, wanted to thrust into his willing mouth, but all he could do was to accept the touches and manipulations. When Jared started to suck in earnest, it felt like he was sucking the orgasm out of Darwin's body.

  There was no time to warn Jared, no time to stop him. Darwin exploded.

  He came with a loud shout, almost bucking off the cot as strings of cum disappeared into Jared’s swallowing throat.

  The following pain in his back was drowned out by the ecstasy of his climax and when he came down from it, he was drenched in sweat, breathless and dizzy with bliss.

  The sound of a zipper made him slowly open his eyes. Jared was still kneeling between his thighs, opening his pants to take out his own hard, dripping cock, staring down at Darwin's happily exhausted body with a dark, needy look on his face.

  For a second, he thought Jared would take what was his and ignore the injuries keeping Darwin on the cot. When Jared started pumping his cock with one hand and kneading his scrotum with the other, he was relieved and startlingly mesmerized by the sight. A few tugs, then he came with a rumbling groan, splattering sticky threads of cum over Darwin's belly before toppling over and burying Darwin beneath his broad frame.

  A few breathless seconds later, Jared rolled off him with a purr. Just when Darwin started to feel cold and lonely, Jared snuggled against his side and put an arm across his chest.

  His heart jumped. He had been marked as Jared's. He had given in, yielded, accepted another’s mastery over him. Things would never be as they had been before. And he wasn't alone anymore, maybe never again.

  Harry

  Harry awoke in darkness to a punishing headache. The attack had been too quick, too brutal, to react in time. Something hard had hit his head from behind, that much he knew, and he dreaded the pain promising to shoot through his brain as soon as he opened his eyes.

  Going by the way his back hurt, he was lying on rough and uneven ground, probably dirt or gravel. His hands were hogtied behind his back in an awkward angle, his arms cramping from the position. Harry didn't need to open his eyes to know it was dark. He wasn't blindfolded and the world right behind his closed eyelids was pitch black. Cool air brushing against his back made him shiver.

  A cellar maybe, or a cave.

  The throbbing in his head eased a little, but Harry didn't trust that improvement. If he tried to move or stand up, it would doubtlessly come back and make him black out again, or vomit his soul out. He did heal a lot faster than a mere human and he was more robust than most people thought, but that didn't make him impervious to harm. Of course, the concussion would go away as soon as he changed to his wolf form, but the bonds on his arms prevented a change. And even if he were able to change, he'd be caged in his wolf form for at least an hour. Definitely not a good idea.

  To panic would be premature at this point and Harry was too dizzy to think clearly yet, but somehow this situation reminded him of those old thriller movies. Shouldn't somebody barge through a door and explain their evil plan to him? And if that happened, how should he react? Be brave and take the role of the hero, or be frightened and threaten the evil genius with the soon to be expected appearance of an actual hero?

  Harry's befuddled mind circled around those thoughts for a while, then he decided that no such thing would happen. He called out for a while, hoping to lure someone to him and get them to loosen the ropes around his arms at least a little, but other than making his head throb, the noise gained no reaction, except for the realization that, yes, he was being kept in a big, musty cellar. He turned his head, extended his tongue to touch the floor and found big, old, worn down cobblestones beneath him, with minimal dust. Everything pointed to a place in regular use, but where? Had he been taken away to another town? No, nobody outside of Banes had a reason to kidnap him. Within the city limits, one name came to his mind though: Carl.

  Carl would unquestionably benefit from taking Harry a hostage if he wanted to get to Darwin. That meant Jared and Darwin had not been found or caught yet. Just when Harry started to feel joy over his brilliant realization, his heart skipped a beat with sudden fear.

  His phone. Jared had sent him the coordinates of their hiding place and they were readily available on his phone!

  Hot and cold sweat covered his body as he frantically tried to remember if he'd had his phone with him when he had been jumped. He drew a blank. He just couldn't remember, but a gnawing weight in his gut told him that he'd had it on him. Having to go back to his room would have been a nuisance, once he had all the required items, and Harry didn’t do nuisance-y things.

  If his kidnappers had even one brain cell left in their heads, they would check his phone and find the information. It was a real possibility that they already had, because otherwise they would have shown up by now. Still, Harry couldn't be sure.

  He was in the process of sucking in breath for another round of useless screaming, just to put his nerves somewhere, when he heard faraway steps and two voices arguing.

  "I told you, it's broken. I can't un-break it just because the Alpha wants it so, no matter how much you nag me," an exasperated male voice said.

  The other person was obviously a female. Her voice grated over Harry's frayed nerves like a wire brush over naked skin. "I don't care, okay? Find a way, it's your fault it broke in the first place. You could have caught him as he fell, you know?"

  Faceless guy sighed. "Fine. I'll take it down to the electronics shop as soon as I'm done here, but I can't promise anything. Those things aren't built to last."

  "Just get it done, Rayne," the female voice hissed imperiously. One pair of steps withdrew and another set of feet stopped. Keys clanked, a lock groaned, and suddenly a stream of artificial light bathed the room and made Harry's head throb again.

  He couldn't choke down his pained groan. His visitor turned on the cellar lights and closed the door behind him. "Awake again, I see. I guess you heard the conversation, then?" the pleasant, male voice said, but Harry kept his eyes shut and busied his mouth with swallowing bile. A shadow fell over his face, dimming the burning lights a bit, and after a few seconds he dared to peel one eye open. The person leaning over him was nothing but a black outline, but Harry didn't think too much of it until that blackness opened his lips for a broad, charming, grin.

  A black guy. A black werewolf to be correct, and a cheery one at that.

  "I'm Rayne. Sorry I broke your phone," his captor introduced himself, but Harry just blinked stupefied. The whole scene was bizarre to say the least. Maybe it was a ploy to throw him off-kilter, but if so, it worked. Be that as it may, Harry still wouldn't respond, tryi
ng desperately to make sense of his predicament.

  Rayne chattered on. "And you're Harry, the quiet one. Don't wanna talk to me, huh?"

  At least that question gave Harry something to answer. "Let me go!" he tried to bark, but it came out as little more than a pathetic croak. He cleared his throat, trying his damned best to fix the dramatic display with an added, "now!"

  When his eyes started to adapt to the light, he began to see more details of the face hovering over him. Rayne wasn't old, mid-twenties at the most, and he had more Arabic than African features. His skin was a very dark chocolate brown, his hair shaved down to a buzz-cut, and he wore a Walmart uniform.

  Out of all the things the day had thrown on him, the thought of having been kidnapped by a Walmart employee outraged Harry the most. Had he really been that easy a pick to kidnap? If Rayne had been a police officer or security guard or an old fashioned thug, Harry wouldn't have felt so bad about the whole situation, but a Walmart guy?

  "Sorry, can't do that. Bosses' orders." Rayne crouched down next to Harry and reached out with one hand like he wanted to touch him. At the last possible moment, he hesitated and tried to hide behind a smirk. "If I ask you if you know where Darwin is, you're not gonna tell me, am I right?" he said, still hiding behind that smirk. His eyes gave him away, though. They were dark, cold, unwavering, calculating.

  He hadn't asked where Darwin was, Harry realized, he'd just asked if Harry would tell him if he knew, or not. It was a game of words that swamped Harry's pounding head and made him nod belatedly, though he didn't know if he'd said yes, he'd tell him or no, he wouldn't tell him.