by Kira Stone
He paused and lifted his muzzle into the night air, sniffing deeply. There were so many scents to sort out. His lupine mind did it on automatic pilot, letting him know that there were several nutria about as well as the remains of a teenage drunken tailgate party.
He spent most of the time as a wolf now. His new body fascinated him. It also guaranteed that his sister wouldn’t find him. He hoped she’d given up on him and gone back to Tacoma, but he also knew she could be mule stubborn at times. If she couldn’t find a lead on him that would take her out of the bayou, she might never leave. Maybe he could ask Martin to —
Humans!
Casper’s sharp thought scattered Chase’s line of thinking. He cocked his head, listening for whatever it was that had alerted the older wolf. Normal night sounds were all he heard at first, but then the sound of a boat engine crept up on his consciousness.
Run.
The large black wolf darted to the left, taking a route that led away from the water and toward the safe haven of Martin’s laboratory. Automatically, Chase started to follow his mentor, but then the loud rapport of a gun being fired stopped him short. Poachers!
Casper’s mental voice reached out for him again. Run. This way.
Poachers, Chase repeated. His grasp of the wolf language was minimal, so he tried to convey his sense of outrage with a deep growl. No more death.
Not your fight, Casper sent back with an alpha’s commanding stare.
My land. Must protect.
Chase didn’t stick around to argue further. He took off toward the sounds of a boat motor ramping up for a speedy departure. Green leaves whipped by in a blur. Earth sprayed up in clumps behind him as his claws bit into the soft earth. He kept to the banks, knowing he’d be gator bait if he tried to take a more direct route through the swamp water.
And he got there just as the boat disappeared up the channel.
He let out a long, frustrated howl.
Fool, do you want them to hear you?
Chase spotted the glowing amber eyes of his mentor among the low-hanging mangrove branches. Yes!
You have so much to learn.
Fury raced through his veins, triggering the shift. Chase rose to his feet, naked, and confronted the wolf. “I’m not a child.”
No, you’re a pup.
“Even so, I know the difference between right and wrong. What they’re doing is wrong. Someone has to stop them.”
Why must it be you?
Casper’s sexual musk drifted over to him, further angering Chase. “Cut that out! I’m tired of you trying to lead me around by my dick.”
You turn me on. So what?
“So then fuck me already!” It wasn’t like they hadn’t had plenty of opportunities over the past few weeks. But every time they got close, Casper stubbornly clung to his lupine form and Chase wasn’t ready for puppy love yet. Maybe he never would be. It seemed to be the only line he hadn’t crossed between man and beast, and he stubbornly clung to that morsel of humanity.
And yet there was no other beast he wanted more than Casper, in either form. The werewolf haunted his dreams and his days. He was the alpha male in a pack of three. Martin took his orders from the wolf, but they didn’t share a bed. That honor went to Chase. Except all they ever did was sleep in it.
Shift, and I’ll fuck you senseless.
Angry and desperate, Chase let the quicksilver magic course through his veins, altering his appearance from the inside out. The fur had barely settled along his spine before he reversed the flow. As soon as his vocal cords formed, he said, “There. Satisfied?”
A low growl was the only warning he got before the wolf tackled him. The momentum rolled them over. When they stopped, Casper had flashed into human form and straddled him. His hands held Chase’s shoulders to the damp earth. His amber eyes burned with an inner fire Chase knew he struggled to keep banked even during the best of times. “You go too far.”
“You don’t go far enough,” Chase replied, reaching between them to stroke Casper’s rigid length. The satiny skin felt cool under his fingers which were burning from the effort of two rapid shifts in quick succession.
“I do this for your own good.”
Chase swept Casper’s cock head with the pad of his thumb, lightly scraping it with the nail. “This isn’t good?”
Casper hissed through his teeth, his whole body practically vibrating with tension. “You must be wolf in all things, as you were once human in all things.”
“Why?”
“To survive.”
“Am I really in imminent danger of dying because I haven’t known puppy love?” Chase couldn’t imagine that anything had the ability to hurt him now. Not physically. Emotionally he felt all too vulnerable around Casper, and his fear of getting hurt kept pushing him back from challenging the alpha wolf.
But not any more.
“Answer me, Casper. Am I really in danger here?”
“More than you know.”
“You know what I think?” Chase skimmed his hands up Casper’s ribs and pulled the man forward. Casper came hesitantly. When their lips were within inches, Chase continued, “I think you’re afraid of me.”
Casper’s laugh came out sounding like the bark of a mad dog. “You are fierce, little one, but I do not fear you.”
“You fear having sex with me.” Chase raised his lips to kiss Casper’s chin. “Like this.”
Casper tilted his hips, rubbing his thick erection against Chase’s abdomen. “Does this feel like fear?”
“No, but this does,” Chase said, putting his hand over Casper’s rapidly beating heart. The answer had sprung upon him, unexpected. But the more Chase considered it, the more sense it made. Casper avoided human intimacy. Even with Martin he seemed more comfortable in lupine form. He’d spent decades as a wolf, and now it seemed he feared he couldn’t be human enough to satisfy a furless partner… whereas in wolf form he had fewer doubts. “Let me show you how good human lovemaking can be.”
Chase arched off the ground and twisted, rolling Casper under him. The fact that Casper let it happen at all was all the consent he was likely to get. Chase wished there was more light filtering through the dark green canopy so he could see the man’s face.
He leaned forward, fitting his body to Casper’s large frame. His hard cock throbbed against Casper’s where they were pinned between their bodies. Slowly, keeping his eyes on Casper, he lowered his head.
A half second before their lips met, a hand grabbed a handful of hair and jerked him back a few inches. “Promise you won’t go looking for the hunters alone,” Casper demanded roughly.
“Promise,” Chase said, meaning it. He wanted to stop the poachers, badly, but he could see how foolish it had been to go charging in unprepared and alone.
The grip on his hair tightened a fraction, then their mouths came together in a heated kiss. Immediately Chase opened his mouth and welcomed Casper’s thrusting tongue. His hands roamed his lover’s body, trying to find a grip that would bring them closer together. And yet no matter how close they were physically, Chase knew it wouldn’t be nearly enough until he felt Casper moving inside him.
He undulated against the larger man. The friction of their bodies was cooled slightly by the copious amounts of pre-cum spreading across their stomachs. In between stringing kisses along Casper’s neck, Chase murmured, “Want you. Want you inside me. Real bad.”
Casper’s throaty growl was music to Chase’s ears. He pushed himself upright, so that he sat on Casper’s erection. Little teasing jerks of his hips had Casper’s cock sliding between his legs, brushing against his balls.
“No lube,” Casper pointed out.
Nothing could make Chase stop now. Yeah, it would be a little rough but then so was his lover. Rough, playful, caring, dominant, angry, wild. Dangerous and comforting, often at the same time. No one had ever suited Chase better. He longed for their bodies to be joined, not only to soothe the ache in his cock but also to heal the wounds Casper’s constant rejecti
on in this most intimate way had left on his heart.
“No worries,” Chase finally replied.
He raised himself up on his knees, then spread his ass cheeks and lowered himself onto the massive erection Casper held in position. The plump head invaded his body with an eye watering burn. He wouldn’t admit to another cause for the tears as he sank lower. His gaze locked on to Casper’s shadowed, scarred face. Once Chase had asked him about the jagged lines on his left cheek and neck, but Casper had refused to answer then worked him twice as hard to keep the question from being raised again. Now Chase simply accepted them as a sign of Casper’s strength and courage. He let his admiration flow out of his heart and into the man filling him with exquisite patience.
“Don’t be gentle,” Chase told him. “I don’t need it.”
Casper grabbed Chase’s hips, resisting his efforts to hasten the complete joining of their bodies. “What if I do?”
“Then I’d say I’m all yours to take any way you want.”
“Damn right you are,” Casper growled.
Inch by inch, Casper slid into Chase’s tight body. The burn persisted, as did the intense warmth of Casper’s flesh, until Chase’s full weight rested on Casper’s groin. The tiny dark curls tickled Chase’s balls with every minute movement. He felt stretched, full and, for the first time in a long time, at peace. It was the rightness he felt upon finishing a special piece of art, knowing it was somehow more than the sum of its parts.
“Move,” Casper commanded.
Chase leaned back to plant his hands on Casper’s muscular thighs. He pushed up, then sank back down on Casper’s rigid length. Casper raised his hips to thrust deep with each stroke. His nails raked over Chase’s skin, everywhere he could touch. Chase kept the pace languid and teasing. Casper’s amber eyes turned almost orange as they burned so bright with lust.
“Next time, I will suck these until you beg for mercy,” Casper vowed as he fondled Chase’s balls with one hand.
Next time. God, it felt incredibly good to know he’d done the right thing by pushing Casper into human sex, that the werewolf was already thinking about a next time. That knowledge combined with the erotic image of Casper on his knees — dominant and defiant as ever — licking Chase’s balls nearly caused Chase to lose all control. As it was, his rhythm faltered, and a second later he was on his back.
Casper’s black, sweat-soaked hair brushed against Chase’s shoulder with each pounding thrust. The animal in him was loose now, and Casper showed him no mercy. Their bodies came together with a slap that echoed through the surrounding trees. Their boisterous grunts of pleasure chased away all the fauna. They were kings of the bayou, wild and free. Chase’s heart could barely stand the pressure with all the emotion he was feeling packed inside.
“Come,” Casper demanded. “Come for me now.”
Chase didn’t get a chance to answer as Casper sealed their lips together once more. Chase wrapped his legs around Casper’s waist and clung to the big man. His body trembled with the force of the contractions as his semen spurted between them in thick gouts.
With a guttural cry, Casper came too. Casper gripped his shoulders fiercely. His nails left gouges in Chase’s skin. Each lunging thrust pushed him across the forest floor, driving Chase’s own pleasure higher. Warm fluid filled his ass, and as much as anything else the wolf had done for him, it cemented them together as a mated pair in his mind.
The aftershocks of release were almost as potent as the main event. It took several long minutes before the all-consuming pleasure faded enough to allow them to collapse on the ground, panting yet still locked together.
Casper rolled onto his back, taking Chase with him. When they were nestled together, he stroked Chase’s back with a touch so tender it made Chase’s heart squeeze with love. “Tired?” Casper asked him.
“Happy,” he replied.
Casper tensed under him and Chase wondered if even that small confession was admitting too much too soon. Then Casper’s arms tightened around him, hugged him close. “Me too.”
*
They must have fallen asleep, Chase realized perhaps an hour later. As much as he wanted to stay in Casper’s embrace, he had some personal needs to attend to. He wandered through the dense vegetation toward the water’s edge. Perhaps if he shifted to wolf form there’d be no need for washing, but that seemed wrong somehow. He understood his wolf side better, thanks to Casper and Martin, but he still didn’t feel quite comfortable in his new fur coat. Like learning any new skill, it would take time to get used to —
Snap!
A rope jerked him off his feet and lifted him high into the air. His head dangled over the black water, his short hair sweeping through the current. He thrashed and twisted, but he only succeeded in tightening the rope around his ankle.
Fuck! He’d been caught in one of the poachers’ traps!
Chapter 11 — Hands of the Enemy
Casper knew something was wrong the second he woke. Perhaps it was that sense of wrongness which had woken him, or perhaps he just missed the warmth of Chase’s body. He’d been surprised by how good it felt to be with a man in human form, one other than Martin who occasionally fucked him out of deep friendship and compassion rather than sexual desire. Chase wanted him, that much was clear. Heaven only knew why. But for how long?
The answer would have to wait. First, he had to find Chase. Then he’d look into whatever had made the surrounding territory go so quiet.
On four padded feet he used his nose to follow his lover’s trail. Calling out might have worked just as well, but wolf instincts still dominated his thinking. The trail led pretty much straight to the water. Had Chase heard something and gone to investigate even though he’d promised not to?
“Well, well. Lookie what we got here, boys. A naked ape.”
O’Grady. And the loud guffaws were coming from his buddies, at least three of them. Casper paused, trying to absorb what facts he could from the conversation. O’Grady liked to play with his prey before he killed them, so there was time. As long as Chase didn’t do anything foolish…
“Ha, ha. Very funny. Now cut me loose,” Chase demanded.
“Oh, and it talks too,” one of the men added.
“What do you think we ought to do with him, boys?” O’Grady asked.
This conversation had been played out so many times over the decades that Casper could already see where this was headed. He was thankful for the wind that would cover the slight sound of his movements until he got real close. All he had to worry about was O’Grady. Being part wolf himself, the sheriff had an uncanny knack of knowing when other creatures were around.
Through the copse of trees and vines, Casper spotted Chase dangling from the end of a rope by his ankle. Blood ran down his leg from where the rough fibers had cut into his skin. Scratches from their lovemaking remained visible on his shoulders and back, telling Casper that he hadn’t shifted since he woke up. Otherwise, the marks would have healed. He looked pissed off, but not seriously injured. Yet.
“Roast ’im, boss. I bet he tastes just like chicken.”
“Nah, he’s a scrawny thing. No meat on ’im,” another commented. “I say we chop ’im into pieces and use him for gator bait. They don’t care if he’s all skin and bones.”
Casper trapped an angry growl behind his teeth. Chase was no chicken-legged beast. He was beautiful, both as man and as a wolf. Muscles that flexed with graceful precision, strength, a growing agility…
… and some dumbass need to single-handedly save every single creature in the swamp from O’Grady’s favorite pastime — killing things.
Now Chase himself needed saving, and for one long moment Casper wondered why he should bother. The man-pup had promised he wouldn’t go after O’Grady and his men, and broken his word mere hours later. Perhaps that was partly Casper’s own fault for not fully explaining the dangers, but there were some things about his past that he didn’t want Chase to know. Martin had argued against it, but Casper thought
he knew better. He thought he could force Chase into accepting the laws of nature, that only the strongest survive so it didn’t matter what happened to the losers. They were goners anyway.
But losing Chase mattered, more than Casper thought possible.
Damn his stubborn hide.
Even with a werewolf’s extra skills, it would be a difficult task to save him now. But Casper’d do it, or die trying.
“He looks kind of feral to me, boss,” the last one said.
Casper’s breath stilled in his throat. Markum. The man was living evil. He was the only one who could rival O’Grady when it came to pure meanness.
“You think he might be one of those demon critters?” one of the others asked.
“Maybe,” Markum replied. “Won’t know unless he lets out that beast.”
“Well, how about it? You got fangs and a tail?”
The groan of the rope told Casper they were twisting him around, playing with him. It wouldn’t be long before they left teasing for real torture. Casper was getting closer, but he still had no winning plan for taking on three grown, armed men. Chase was going to have to hang in there a little while longer.
“Fuck you! Let go of me,” Chase demanded.
“Feisty,” O’Grady observed in a slow drawl. “Markum, why don’t you see if you can settle him down a bit?”
The rasp of leather against fabric told Casper what was coming next. A whipping wouldn’t kill Chase, but it was sure to hurt. Too much pain, and he’d shift. Chase couldn’t help himself. That’s what O’Grady was waiting for. Then the fun would really begin.
Take the pain, Casper said in the way of wolves. Don’t fight him.
“Are you crazy?” Chase shouted.
Casper hoped the men thought his response was directed at Markum, who was now brandishing the belt as though it were a whip, cracking it in the air and putting on a show. “I ain’t the one livin’ out here in the swamp like some kind of animal.”