Bayou Shifters: Chase

by Kira Stone

  Chase couldn’t say he heard the wolf answer, but he did understand the wolf was against the proposal. How could he possibly know that? Part of him wanted to pursue it, the other half of him wanted to cut and run, and never look back.

  Martin continued to argue with his furry friend. “That’s because you are one. The rest of us don’t think like you do.”

  Another pause where Chase felt frustration and certainty coming from the wolf was followed by the doctor’s response. “I agreed to help you, and I will. My way, first. If he doesn’t respond to sweet reason, then we’ll try yours. Now, let him up.”

  Chase picked up on the wolf’s reluctant consent to that suggestion. It was all the warning he needed. As the wolf shifted his weight off Chase’s chest, Chase shoved him away with both hands.

  He’d grown stronger than he’d realized, and the large animal crashed into the stone wall with a sickening thud. The creature yipped in pain. The sound tore at Chase’s heart, but he had to take his shot at freedom. He lunged for the door and raced down the hall toward the rickety wooden ladder. He heard the sounds of the other two giving chase, but he didn’t slow down to see how close they were.

  Too close, it turned out as he felt the barrel of a gun invade the privacy of his ass before he hit the third rung. “One more step, Chase, and I guarantee you’ll learn a whole new way to get fucked.”

  He didn’t think Martin was lying. The wolf, as far as Chase could tell, didn’t seem to think the doctor was bluffing either. “What’s the deal? I thought you were all for sweet reason. Not exactly the hallmark of Smith and Wesson.”

  “That was before I learned you have more balls than brains.”

  With the gun pressing against his ass in a thoroughly disconcerting way, Chase felt another hand slipping below the waist of his jeans shorts. “Hey, now. You already got a good peek at my balls today. How is it my fault if you misjudged them?”

  The wolf laughed, or at least Chase thought he did. It was hard to tell as the impression was quickly smothered by a wave of pain.

  “The size of your balls didn’t interest me then. Now they do.” Martin tugged on Chase’s waistband. “Get down here.”

  The wolf added a silent echo to Martin’s demand. Chase might have blown off the man, but the animal compelled him to obey in a way he didn’t like or understand.

  Reluctantly, Chase backed down the ladder and faced his captors with his hands up in a position of surrender. “Now what?”

  Chapter 7 — Coming to Terms

  “Finally, a reasonable question.” Martin goosed him with the gun.

  Chase took the hint and started walking down the dark hall. “You gonna give me a reasonable answer?”

  “I suppose that depends on your definition of reasonable.”

  All this verbal sparring was starting to get on his nerves. He’d never been one to solve problems with his fists, but the idea was seriously tempting him where Martin and his furry friend were concerned. “Reasonable, as in logical to the average human.”

  “None of us are average, Chase. That’s the first thing you have to accept about this situation.”

  Martin directed him to the room where they’d originally found the wolf. The animal padded in after him, noticeably limping. Martin followed last. The barrel of the gun never wavered from Chase’s chest.

  “Ripped it open again, didn’t ya?” Martin asked the wolf.

  The animal sat on his haunches but said nothing. His eyes were on Chase, as if considering whether he might try to bolt again.

  “You need stitches,” Martin insisted.

  The wolf shook his head, not in a human fashion but Chase had a feeling he still meant no.

  “I got a tranq dart that says you will…”

  Martin was holding him hostage with a tranquilizer gun? God, this was turning into a B-class midnight special.

  The wolf barked sharply, apparently vetoing Martin’s suggestion.

  “Too bad. Go willingly, or go quietly. Your choice, brother.”

  Chains… first.

  The words came into Chase’s mind like whispers out of a dark, empty room. He strained to hear more, wondering if all that physical activity had taken his swamp fever to a new level.

  “Yeah, all right. I don’t like it, but I see your point.” Martin took a step toward Chase, forcing him to take a step back. “Sorry, Chase, but Casper insists that you’re shackled before he’ll submit to medical attention.”

  “Too bad,” Chase replied. He didn’t much care for the way he’d been treated so far. Being chained up wasn’t going to make things any better. “I’m not going to let you hold me prisoner here.”

  “Tranq darts work just as well on humans as they do on Casper, you know,” Martin said, conversationally.

  Can’t… shift… soon.

  What was the creature trying to say? Chase couldn’t puzzle it out.

  Martin sighed. “As you can see, there’s just no reasoning with him when he gets like this. You’ll have to be restrained, Chase. You’ll find the chain already bolted to the floor, under the cot behind you.”

  “I don’t think so.” He wasn’t afraid of a dart gun. He could use a nice long nap. He just didn’t want to be shackled for the duration.

  The wolf growled and rose to all fours.

  Okay, that was a little more serious. Those long teeth could do him major bodily harm.

  Chase took a step back. The wolf advanced, snarling and limping. He didn’t seem to be saying anything in particular this time, and Chase found that worrying. Why would he go back to acting like a normal animal just now?

  “You better protect your gonads if you don’t want to end up singing soprano,” Martin said, amused. “This one fights dirty, especially when he’s pissed. And I’d say he’s a mite unhappy right now.”

  “Call him off then.”

  “You’ll agree to being bound?”

  “There’s no need. I’m no threat to you.”

  “We’ve had this conversation. It won’t end differently this time. Now grab the chain and lock it around your ankle. Casper is drippin’ blood all over the floor, and it’s startin’ to annoy me.”

  Chase thought he could delay his imprisonment a little longer, but doubted it would matter much in the end. He wasn’t going to escape. Not now. And if he secured the chain himself, maybe he could keep it loose enough so that he could free himself later.

  He found the chain, under the bed as Martin had said. One end appeared to be bolted to the wall. He tugged on the other end, sliding the length out into the open. There was an old-fashioned leg iron at the end. Both were rusty. “You think this is going to hold me?”

  “It’s held bigger men than you,” Martin informed him. “Hurry up.”

  Chase shrugged, figuring it wasn’t his problem if the man underestimated the strength of the metal. He clamped the binding around his leg. It was a tighter fit than he’d expected. The rough surface would certainly cut into his skin if he moved around too much. Since the other end was bolted to the wall, he didn’t think that was going to be a problem.

  Suddenly the wolf slumped to the floor. Instead of slowly sinking, he looked as if all remaining strength had deserted him and he just collapsed. Martin set the gun down and started cursing. “Stubborn old coot. I knew you were in worse shape than you were letting on.”

  Such a vibrant creature looking so still and lifeless unsettled Chase. He didn’t want the wolf to be dead. “Is he gonna be okay?”

  “Yeah, sure. This time.” Martin grabbed a bowl and filled it from a supply of bottled water. He placed that on the floor next to the wolf. “Start cleaning away the blood so I can see what I’m doing.”

  “You want me to get close to him? After all that growling?”

  “Yeah. I brought you here to help him, remember?”

  “Forgive me if I find that hard to believe.” He shook his foot, causing the chain to rattle.

  “That was Casper’s decision,” Martin replied, as if he’d had n
othing to do with it. He quickly snatched a handful of medical supplies from the shelves at the opposite end of the room, then sank to the floor. “If you’re not going to help, then get out of my light.”

  Chase hesitated. He didn’t like to see any creature in pain. He really didn’t like the fact that he’d apparently been the one responsible for inflicting said pain on this particular creature. However, the coppery, rich scent of blood was doing odd things to his stomach. And then there were those teeth…

  “Yeah, I know it hurts,” Martin said as the wolf growled softly. “The blood is caked onto your fur. Just quit whining and let me —”

  Martin turned his head to the side and retched. He no sooner turned back to his task than he convulsed again. This time, he didn’t stop until he reached the sink at the other side of the room and emptied the contents of his stomach.

  Chase watched the wolf rather than the man.

  The wolf made a soft noise in his throat. Not a growl, more like a plea. Help him.

  Whether Chase imagined the words or not, the wolf’s request did what Martin’s arguments alone could not. Instinct and heart overruled logic, and Chase dropped to his knees. He took up where Martin had left off, cleaning out the wound so it didn’t get infected.

  The fur felt thick and warm under his fingers as he worked. He remained alert for the slightest indication that the wolf would turn on him. Amber eyes tracked his movements just as closely, but apparently a truce had been called. Neither of them seemed willing to break it.

  “Thanks,” Martin said, when he returned a few minutes later. “I can handle sewin’ skin together, but the sight of an open wound gets me every time.”

  The rest of the messy job went quickly after that. Chase shifted position, moving toward the wolf’s head so he didn’t get in the way. He reached out to stroke Casper’s muzzle, wondering if it was just as soft as the rest of him. He stopped as soon as he recalled the way the wolf had reacted to Martin’s petting, and curled his fingers into a fist.

  The wolf’s wet nose nudged his hand.

  “Well, I’ll be…” Martin said, tying off the surgical thread.

  “What?” Chase asked him.

  “I’d take him up on that invitation to pet him if I were you. It may be the only one you’ll ever get.”

  Martin withdrew, taking the detritus of the minor procedure with him. Chase eased closer, slowly uncurling his fingers. The wolf nudged him harder, and Chase was strongly tempted to stretch out next to the animal and wrap himself around him. The thought brought a painful throb to his stiff cock.

  Suddenly he sensed someone approaching and his head snapped up to see Martin standing a few feet away. He held something in his hand that he tossed toward the wolf. Casper rolled onto his belly and surrounded it with his huge paws. With his head lowered, he began to eat the dead rabbit.

  And Chase’s stomach growled.

  “Hungry? There’s more where that came from.”

  “You think I’m going to eat raw meat like that? No way.” His body wasn’t paying any more attention to his protests than Martin was. His mouth watered, his belly ached to be filled. He could almost taste the meat on his tongue…

  Martin dangled a haunch in front of his face. “Here. Try it.”

  Chase scrambled back. “Fuck that.”

  “It’s an option,” Martin said genially. “But that’s not going to take care of your hunger pains, now is it?”

  “I’m not some wild animal,” Chase protested.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Positive.” Except he wasn’t, really. He hadn’t been for days now. Something was taking over his mind. He didn’t know how or why, and he certainly wasn’t stupid enough to walk up to a doctor and ask for an explanation, but it was obvious that his behavior was far from normal for most humans.

  “You’re lying.” Martin dropped the second rabbit beside the wolf. “You’re scared, you’re confused, and your body is sending you signals your mind doesn’t know what to do with.”

  “So?”

  “So you’re about to become a werewolf. Congratulations.”

  Chapter 8 — Turning Point

  Casper knew words weren’t the way to convince Chase. His DNA was already half wolf. That’s the part of the man-pup they needed to connect with. Human logic would only get in their way.

  Humans talk too much, he yipped to Martin.

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Martin replied.

  I no longer remember.

  “You no longer want to remember. A different thing entirely.”

  Nothing positive would come out of pursuing that topic, so Casper dropped it. He picked up on Chase’s rapidly shifting mood instead. Irritation and fear slid into anger and confusion once again. His body chemistry was playing merry hell with every biological system as it tried to sort itself out, find a happy state. Soon he would shift, becoming what he was meant to be. Casper waited for it with grim patience, knowing far better than the tortured man-pup that shifting would be both a blessing and a curse.

  Chase started pacing the floor like the caged predator he was. “You’re talking to the wolf again.”

  Martin nodded. “You can too.”

  “No, thanks. I’d rather not.” He slid his hands into the back pockets of his shorts. The soft fabric molded to his hips, outlining his rising sex.

  Another side effect of the genetic alterations going on under his skin. Once the foundling practiced, the change would happen so fast that the side effects would be momentary rather than perpetual. However, his body had been working itself up to this point for weeks, maybe even months. Chase’s cock would rise regardless of what the rest of him wanted right now.

  That was why being around him was so dangerous. A thin line separated sex from violence when one’s emotions were fluctuating faster than the air pressure during a thunderstorm. His human brain had to process input from the heightened animal senses, which only became more intense the closer he got to his first shift. No doubt about it, the first transformation sucked.

  All the more reason to get it over with.

  Explain, then go.

  Martin shook his head. “He’s already broken three of your ribs. You can’t handle him alone.”

  Better than you can. Not even Martin could argue against that. History had recorded his failures, most written by his own hand. His friend had a big heart and often assumed the rest of the world did too. Casper adhered to the law of the jungle, classifying every creature he met as foe or fodder. Between the two of them, Casper was disappointed far less.

  “Together we stand, divided we fall,” Martin replied cryptically.

  “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Chase demanded.

  Tell him.

  Martin rubbed his hand over his glossy black hair. “It means, Chase, that I trust this wolf with my life. You’d be wise to do the same.”

  “He attacks me, and I’m supposed to trust him for it? I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid.”

  “You’re alive, aren’t you?”

  “Because O’Grady came along when he did.”

  Casper growled, hackles raised. He didn’t realize he’d been so obvious in his dislike until Martin tweaked his ear in warning.

  “If you honestly believe that, then we might as well turn you loose. Then you’ll be crazy and stupid.”

  And dead. Casper projected his thought at both men. O’Grady has already started playing his game by showing up at Chase’s place. It was an attempt to force him to do something rash, to send him deeper into the bayou. To begin the game of cat and mouse that would only end when O’Grady netted him and tortured him to death.

  Had the man-pup heard him this time? He stood so still, so silent. A skill Chase had learned from him.

  Finally, Chase started moving again, his mouth as well as his body. “Trust the wolf. Fine. But what’s the point? It’s not like he can do anything to help me.”

  “He can, if you’ll let him,” Martin replie
d. “We both can.”

  “How? He’s just a wolf.”

  Casper wanted to laugh. He’d never been just anything. Not even when he’d been a man-pup himself. Chase was no different. The mysterious were-power throbbed in his veins. It overshadowed everything he did, knowingly or not. The werewolf DNA would continue to dominate him in either form. Another lesson for the foundling to learn.

  Martin also seemed amused. “When you shift, you’ll be glad to have him around. I guarantee it.”

  “Shift. Into a werewolf. Riiiiight. Is that going to happen anytime soon? Because, you see, I kinda had other plans for the rest of my life, and I’d like to get on with them.”

  “Smart mouth,” Martin said to Casper.

  I was much the same way.

  “Still are.” To Chase, he drawled, “We’ll try to hurry things along, just for you.”

  “Thanks ever so,” Chase replied with saccharine venom.

  Martin gestured toward the rock-strewn floor. “Make yourself comfortable.”

  Casper shifted position. Pain balled up in his side, but the sharp sting was gone. Good thing he healed quickly. The next few hours would test his strength as well as his patience.

  Chase looked at the floor as if it was going to bite his ass when he complied with Martin’s order. “What are you going to do to me?”

  “Give you what you need.”

  The obvious sexual invitation in Martin’s voice trigged a sharp jump in Chase’s already heightened sex drive. The scent of his arousal kicked up Casper’s own want. He hoped that, when given a choice, Chase picked the answer that would give them both what they were craving. A thorough fucking.

  “I don’t need anything from you. I do just fine on my own.” Chase ran the flat of his hand over his sheathed erection, giving his words a dual meaning.

  “If you don’t shift, you’ll die.”

  “Is that an old bayou myth? We have one back in Tacoma, too. Fuck or go blind. Funny, I haven’t had real sex in months and I can still see you.”

  He continued to pet himself. Casper longed to do it for him. Watching was driving him crazy. But that was the whole point. Fill the room, and Chase, with lust to the point where baser instinct overrode thought, goading his inner wolf out into the open.