Wishes for the Wolf: Men of the Pack Book Two (Silver Moon Pack / Men of the Pack 2)

by Parker Skye

  “You know why he can’t be my mate. As much as I want him to be, it's not in the cards for us. You told me yourself that I only had three days to finish this job and then I’m history. I’m just trying to give Ryan what he needs before I disappear.”

  “Are you really? It seems like you are giving Ryan anything but what he needs,” Evergreen commented. “Or is misery and loneliness really what every werewolf is looking for these days?” Izzy sat silent, stunned for several moments mulling over Evergreen’s words.

  “Don’t pretend you have Ryan’s best interests at heart. I may not remember why you hate me so much, but I’ve been around enough fae to know that their prime motivation is a desire to spread chaos,” Izzy replied. “Besides, how could I be anything someone as good as Ryan would need? I’m an abomination; a real live demon dressed up to look human. Why would anyone want that as part of their lives?”

  “Because that is not all that you are and not all that you were. You truly don’t remember me, do you?” The look of pain in Evergreen’s eyes was unexpected. Enough so to have Izzy trying to dig through his memories, as faint as they were from before the curse, but nothing was there.

  “No, I don’t. I’m sorry if that upsets you, but I don’t have any memories from before I became this,” Izzy replied, gesturing at his now dust-covered form. “All I remember is waking up in the lamp that first time and then the eons stretched and blurred from there. I don’t even know how long I’ve been a D’Jinn.”

  Evergreen sighed almost sadly. “I’m a fool, as well, then. I hoped to teach you a lesson but how could you learn if you don’t even remember who you were before.”

  “Please, Evergreen, if you know something more about me and how I came to be like this, would you please tell me? I need to know. I know it won’t change anything, but I at least need to know,” Izzy pleaded.

  The sand around them started to swirl and the wind picked up. Fear began to bloom across Evergreen’s pale face. “Please, Evergreen. Tell me something, anything.” Izzy continued, putting one hand on Evergreen’s arm to draw her attention back again.

  Evergreen’s head shook slowly. “No, I’m sorry. I’ve made a mistake in bringing you here. Go back, Ezhekiel. Go back and finish your job. Remember, your time is almost up. I’m coming for you again soon and then it will all be over. Use your time wisely, little D’Jinn,” the fae’s voice faded out as the light bled from the world and Izzy knew nothingness again.

  Chapter 31

  Ryan

  The bar was emptying out slowly but surely as it neared last call. Ryan was thankful their night was almost to an end. Adam was practically asleep, leaning on his mate’s shoulder in the booth they had commandeered. Ryan had spied Logan rarely through the evening, still tied tight to the blonde cat. He hadn’t laid eyes on him in almost an hour, though. Ryan was almost starting to worry. At least Izzy had taken the hint and headed off so Ryan was no longer distracted by his very presence.

  “Are you ready to go home?” Ryan asked when Adam yawned wide again.

  “I think we should go soon, before Adam turns into a pumpkin,” Ben said before placing another kiss lovingly on his mate’s hair. Just then, Ryan spied Logan stalking toward them adjusting his shirt tail, trying to cover his still blatant erection.

  “Hey, guys, I’m going to catch a ride with Lila if that’s okay with you,” Logan said, handing Ryan the keys.

  “No problem, Logan, oh fearless pack leader. Go ahead and take off leaving us a man down when we are supposed to stick together,” Ryan replied, sarcasm dripping from every word.

  Logan’s blue eyes hardened and ice crept through his voice. “Don’t be such a dick, Ryan. You are all safe and I’ll even walk you to the truck. Nothing is going to happen on the way home. Stop being such a cock-block just because you’re not getting any.”

  “Hey, hey, that’s uncool, Logan. You should apologize for that,” Ben said, standing up and putting himself bodily between his brother and his best friend.

  Logan sheepishly agreed, “You’re right, Ben. I’m sorry, Ryan. That was a really shitty thing for me to say. I’ve had one too many and I’m just dying of sexual frustration over here. Please, please, please can I just have this one night on my own?”

  “Whatever, Logan. Ben, you guys ready?” Ryan turned and headed for the door, not waiting for their response.

  “Shit. I really fucked up, didn’t I?” Logan asked his brother.

  “Gotta say, Logan, when you put your foot in your mouth, you go all the way, don’t you?” Ben replied, slapping his brother’s shoulder affectionately. “Ah, don’t worry too much. He’ll get over it eventually. Be careful tonight, okay? Call me if you need me to come get you, alright?”

  Logan nodded and gave his brother a quick bro hug, pushing another on Adam, much to Adam’s dismay. He stood stiffly arms to his sides as Logan squeezed him tightly. The kiss on his cheek was too much, though, and Adam pushed Logan off with a loud blech. “Get off, get off. Ben, get your brother off of me!” Adam joked as he used his shirttail to wipe the kiss off his cheek vigorously.

  When Ben failed to laugh along, Adam put his shirt down and look up to find Ben’s eyes glazed with lust as he took in his mate’s bared stomach. Without another word, they grasped hands and headed for the door, leaving a chuckling Logan in their dust.

  Ryan endured the drive home as well as could be expected with the mates frantically humping each other in the back seat the entire drive home. The smell of lust and sex was so thick he finally rolled down the front windows even though it had started to drizzle. By the time they pulled into the garage, his jaw was ready to crack from clenching his teeth so hard. Ben’s faint ‘Goodnight, Ryan’ as the mates headed for the bedroom was a blessed relief to his shattered psyche.

  He dug through the kitchen cabinets until he found the fifth of Jack Daniels he had purchased the other night. He took it back to his bed and took a few hits directly from the bottle. He stared morosely at the empty sofa where his mate’s scent still lingered. He rose again and grabbed Izzy’s abandoned pillow and shoved it into his face, breathing deeply. His wolf howled in pain and a harsh growl sounded from his chest unbidden. He lay down on the sofa this time and hugged Izzy’s pillow tight. When the groaning and creaking of bedsprings started, Ryan shoved in a pair of earplugs and kept drinking. It was going to be a long night and if he had anything to say about it, he wouldn’t remember any of it by morning.

  Chapter 32

  Izzy

  Izzy woke up confused by his surroundings for the second time that evening. He felt like he was trapped on a bad episode of Star Trek with all the transporter malfunctions going on. He soon realized he was exactly where he should not be if he wanted to maintain his self-imposed vow of celibacy, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. Izzy shifted on the air mattress and took in Ryan’s disheveled form crammed onto Izzy’s couch. An empty fifth of Jack was lying on its side on the floor and from the looks of it; Ryan had consumed the entire thing. The air was thick with the smell of whiskey and fumes replaced Ryan’s normally sweet breath. Izzy suspected if he lit a match right now, the house would explode.

  Ryan’s eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. His bottom lip was cracked and bleeding from where he had obviously been chewing on it in distress. Izzy hoped Ben hadn’t really liked his couch too much as it was now sporting several claw-shaped punctures and the stuffing was protruding from more than a dozen slashes.

  The now destroyed sofa was still too small for Ryan’s impressive form. One of his legs was bent in an unnatural way and the other was spilling off the edge of the seat, onto the floor. If Ryan hadn’t been practically boneless from his level of intoxication, Izzy was sure he would have rolled onto the floor by now. Izzy knew he shouldn’t do it, but he couldn’t leave Ryan like that. Izzy closed his eyes and used his powers to levitate Ryan’s unconscious form back over to the bed next to him. He put Ryan on the outside of the mattress and kept the space closest to the wall for himself. Rolling Ryan on
his side, facing out in case he got sick, Izzy settled in for the night. He berated himself for his own weakness, but he couldn’t resist placing his hand on Ryan’s hip, needing even the hint of contact as much as his mate.

  Izzy wished he had wishes of his own. He would wish for nothing more than more time with Ryan, but he knew he would only hurt his mate by giving in to his desires in a moment of weakness. He would take what comfort he could while his mate was dead to the world. What Ryan didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, after all.

  Ryan’s groan of pain brought Izzy back from a deep level of sleep he hadn’t expected. Even more unexpected was his current position, wrapped tightly around Ryan’s back, one arm tight around his waist and his nose buried in the brown locks at the base of Ryan’s skull. Izzy made to move back before Ryan noticed, but he was too late. Ryan’s hand gripped his arm tightly before he could move more than an inch.

  “Izzy?”

  “Um, yeah, it’s me,” Izzy practically whispered.

  “I’m a little confused right now,” Ryan admitted, still unwilling to release Izzy’s forearm from his firm grip. He groaned again as talking obviously caused him more pain. “And I think I may be more hungover than I’ve ever been in my life. Pretty sure something crawled in my mouth and died. Damn, I wish I hadn’t decided drinking a fifth of Jack by myself had seemed like such a good idea last night.”

  Izzy’s smiled at Ryan’s innocently-made second wish. He probably didn’t even realize he’d said the words. The air crackled and fizzed around them again and Izzy whispered in his master’s ear, “Your wish is my command, Master.”

  Instantly sober and pain-free, Ryan rolled over and captured Izzy’s hands. He shook his head as if testing for residual discomfort and smiled wide when he found none. “Damn, that could come in handy, but I guess only for one more time, huh?” Ryan stared down at Izzy until Izzy couldn’t stand the intensity in his gaze any longer. Izzy broke eye contact and his tongue crept out to flick the hoop in his lip.

  Ryan’s answering growl should have had Izzy fleeing if he had any hope of keeping his distance any longer, but in that moment, he admitted to himself just how lost he was, too. Ryan’s face descended slowly, giving Izzy plenty of time to push him away, but he didn’t want to. No, not that he didn’t want to, he physically couldn’t push his mate away again. If this was all the time he would have with Ryan, then Izzy decided he wasn’t going to waste any more of it trying to protect them both. It only caused them more pain.

  When Ryan’s lips brushed faintly across his own, he moaned desperately, needing more of Ryan’s taste. Izzy threaded his fingers through Ryan’s locks and pulled until Ryan got the hint. He opened for his mate and let himself be devoured. He felt the tears falling onto his cheeks and wondered why he was crying. He had never been happier in his long life than he was in this moment. When he realized they were Ryan’s tears, he pulled back to meet his gaze questioningly.

  “Why?” was all Ryan asked, his voice trembling with apparent fear.

  “Because I couldn’t stay away from you anymore. I couldn’t keep pretending not to feel our bond. I wanted to protect you from the pain of when I leave, but I realized I’m just hurting you more. If you experienced even a tenth of the pain I felt every time I pushed you away, then it's too much to bear,” Izzy admitted in barely more than a whisper.

  Ryan’s smile was blinding as he took in the implications of Izzy’s confession. “You feel it, too?” Izzy nodded, unable to resist running one hand up his mates’ muscular back, over the thin cotton of his t-shirt.

  “You can’t leave me again, Izzy. I love you,” Ryan said.

  “I love you, too, Ryan, but I won’t have a choice. I won’t want to leave you. It’s why I was trying so hard to keep from getting involved. My time on this plane is almost up. When my puppet master pulls the strings, then that’s it, I’ll be gone.”

  “No, I won’t let that happen. I will do everything in my power to keep you with me. Do you trust me, Izzy?” Ryan asked his mate with such conviction; Izzy almost believed he would do it, too.

  “Absolutely. I’d trust you with anything, Ryan.”

  “Then I will find a way. You can count on it,” Ryan said and Izzy chose for that moment to believe. After all, fairy tales usually had happy endings, didn’t they? If a genie and a werewolf finding their forevers in each other wasn’t a fairy tale, then Izzy wasn’t sure he knew the definition anymore.

  Chapter 33

  Ryan

  Ryan would never get bored with the taste of his mate. It was like the first kiss every time he delved into Izzy’s mouth. His tongue tangled with the silver stud piercing his lover’s tongue which was obviously ticklish as it made Izzy smile every time. Izzy’s hands curled into fists in Ryan’s hair made him want to howl his pleasure loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear.

  “Shit, sorry, guys,” Ben said as he backed down the hall toward his own room again. “I was just getting Adam some water but he can wait.”

  Ryan shot his best friend a glare but stopped him before he retreated too far. “Stop, Ben. Get Adam some water. And snacks. Lots of snacks. I don’t want to see you guys again for at least...” he looked over his mates’ flushed face and decided, “four hours. Yeah, at least four hours. Got it?” Izzy faintly nodded in agreement.

  Ben seemed so happy for his pack mate, he virtually glowed. “Got it,” he replied, quickly rummaging through the fridge and pantry, putting his spoils into a recycled grocery sack. He retreated to the master bedroom, shooting a ‘have fun’ over his shoulder on the way.

  When they were alone again, Ryan rubbed his nose along his mates’ slim neck, breathing in his scent. “Where were we?” he whispered as he placed gentle kisses all along Izzy’s collar bone. When he reached the dip in the center, his tongue lapped into the depression. Izzy’s full body shiver made Ryan hum with pride at his mate’s response to his touch. Ryan felt Izzy’s hands grasping and pulling at the back of his shirt, insistent it be removed. Happy to do anything his mate desired, Ryan reached back and pulled it overhead in one swift tug. He felt Izzy’s gaze lock on his naked chest and decided turnabout was fair play. He partially shifted one hand and used one sharp claw to pop the buttons free from the front of Izzy’s shirt. The buttons pinged as they shot in different directions, happy to be free of their thready bondage.

  “Good thing I know how to sew,” Izzy mumbled, pretending to be irritated, but the way the electricity danced in his luminescent eyes easily belied his true feelings on the matter.

  “Well, if you want to be able to wear these jeans again, you better get them off,” Ryan replied, lips quirking up to one side. His hand brushed over the zipper of said jeans, gripping Izzy’s answering hardness. Izzy couldn’t stifle the gasp of surprise. His eyes closed and they were suddenly both fully naked.

  “What the... Well. That could be handy,” Ryan said, huffing out a laugh.

  “It’s about damn time my powers were used for something good,” Izzy agreed, his fingertips digging into the firm muscles of his mates’ lower back.

  Chapter 34

  Izzy

  Ryan’s hot form lying over his own was like being engulfed in a furnace. His mate radiated heat, and love, and forever. Izzy was swallowed whole. He’d decided to drink the Kool-aid and damn if it wasn’t the best decision he’d ever made.

  When Ryan’s tongue attacked his nipples, one after the other, he thought he would die right then from pleasure overload. He could feel Ryan’s answering smile as he tweaked each bar with his teeth, eliciting deep groans from his mate. Izzy guessed if he didn’t want anyone to be able to guess his erogenous zones so easily, he shouldn’t have pierced so many of them. Well, there was one that wasn’t pierced, and Ryan’s tongue was still quick to find it.

  Ryan’s hand gripped the base of his shaft, causing the blood to pulse through his erection with added intensity. He licked a stripe from root to tip, swirling his tongue in Izzy’s opening, gathering the pearl of moisture wa
iting there to be claimed. Taking his mate into his mouth, Ryan hummed in appreciation and Izzy almost lost it. The firm pressure applied at the base of his cock let Izzy know that Ryan was well aware of his propensity for a hair trigger. He shouldn’t be surprised after eons of celibacy. Now that he was sexually active again, he was definitely going to have to work on rebuilding his stamina.

  Ryan’s mouth continued to attack his throbbing cock, licking under the head and adding suction at just the right level, almost painful, but not quite. When Izzy felt himself bumping the back of Ryan’s throat, he tried to pull back to avoid gagging his mate. He should have known better. His mate wanted it all. The answering growl at his attempt at retreat had him thrusting forward reflexively. He felt himself lodge deep in Ryan’s throat and his mate happily swallowed around him.

  “Oh, God, Ryan,” Izzy groaned out loud, biting his own fist hard to try to distract himself from his impending eruption. After a few more dives of Ryan’s head, Izzy’s cock popped free.

  “How did you learn how to do that?” Izzy said, sounding half-drunk.

  Ryan kissed his mouth deeply before he replied. “When you're motivated, you can do anything. I’d say you’re pretty good motivation, Mate.”

  “Is that so?” Izzy replied, pushing Ryan over onto his back and climbing on top. Hearing Ryan refer to him as ‘Mate’ had his heart beating triple time with excitement.

  “All it takes is motivation and I can do anything, huh? Well, I think I’m pretty damn motivated right now.” He ground his pelvis down onto Ryan’s impressive length, feeling the head slip over his opening teasingly. Confusion showed on Ryan’s face after the second pass and Izzy laughed when Ryan couldn’t resist the need to check. His fingers reached back and brushed his opening and came back slick.

  “Did I miss something?” Ryan asked.

  “Motivation, remember,” Izzy groaned out as he sat back on Ryan’s cock, feeling it slowly slip past the tight ring of muscles into his already well-lubed channel.