It was so tempting to follow Daniel and share the bed with him, not even for sex – although he wouldn’t object to that – but to wrap his arms around the other man and hold him securely. Even with Richard’s scent all over him, Daniel remained way too attractive. Stephen shook his head, gave himself a firm scolding and headed into his bathroom for a painkiller, then sauntered into his bedroom. He toed off his shoes and sat down on the bed to remove his trousers. Right now, even taking off his sweater was too much effort. The bandage was still clean, which was reassuring; the last thing Stephen wanted was his wound re-opening. He crawled into his bed and pulled up his blankets, getting comfortable. It wasn’t long before he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
~*~
He woke up feeling groggy, and blinked when he saw his clock. It was a little after twelve already. He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept this late. He sat up, rubbing his hands across his face in order to feel more awake. As he swung his legs out of the bed, he was relieved to feel better than he had this morning. Standing up and walking didn’t hurt as much either, and it was easier to put his trousers back on. He was still resolved to see his doctor on Monday, though, like Nathan had advised him. He wouldn’t be surprised if McClanahan carried some sort of disease.
Was that bacon he smelled coming from the kitchen? His stomach rumbled as he smoothed out the wrinkles in his sweater from having slept in it. “Daniel?” he asked, although he didn’t need to. Who else would be here, making lunch?
“Stephen, you’re awake,” Daniel greeted him happily, bacon sizzling in the frying pan on the stove. “I hope you don’t mind, but I went out and did some groceries. Don’t worry, I didn’t take your car, but, er, I did take your wallet.”
“Right,” Stephen replied. He needed a few seconds to process this, his brain was still stuck on the bacon. “But there’s food?”
Daniel smiled with relief. “Yes, there’s food. I’ve also bought waffles and muffins; I didn’t know what you’d like, and you were nearly out of milk. Oh, and there’s toast, if you’d rather have that.” He gestured at the toaster on the counter. “And I didn’t really know how your coffeemaker worked, so I left that one alone.” He gave Stephen a worried glance. “Stephen? Do you need to get some more rest?”
Stephen was staring at Daniel. He had gone through all this trouble to get him lunch. Well, it was for both of them, but still… Had Daniel bought enough groceries to cook them another dinner? Tonight was the last full moon this month, if they dealt with McClanahan, would Daniel come back or prefer to be on his own? The thought of that hurt, which was ridiculous, he had only known Daniel for a few days. He shouldn’t be this attached to the man already. But his inner wolf was already urging him to do something, anything to keep Daniel around, even if Stephen couldn’t entirely be sure Daniel wanted him as well. He still smelled like Richard far too much.
Daniel turned down the gas and put a hand on Stephen’s arm. “You okay?”
It was the concern in Daniel’s eyes that made Stephen grab the front of the hoodie and pull him closer. “Yes.” Yes, he wanted this man and yes, there was a big bad wolf after him but Stephen didn’t want to fight his attraction anymore. He lowered his head to kiss Daniel, his lips as soft as Stephen had thought they were.
Daniel made a soft noise of surprise as he pressed closer, his arms wrapping around Stephen’s neck.
The only thing Stephen could think was that he should’ve done this last night. Heat spread through his body as Daniel kissed him back eagerly, lips parting and letting Stephen deepen the kiss. His hands slid down Daniel’s chest and slipped underneath the hoodie to find naked skin. Daniel moaned while Stephen stroked his stomach, trying to get even closer, then suddenly pulling back.
Stephen was breathing fast and his eyes were wide, wondering why Daniel had stopped. “What?”
“Fucking finally,” he said, but he smiled. “Took you long enough to get a clue.”
“I -” So he hadn’t imagined the flirting, then. That was good. “We had other things on our mind. Like McClanahan, and you being hurt.”
“And now you’re hurt, and McClanahan is still coming back tonight,” Daniel reminded him. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Just wondering.”
“I didn’t want you to leave,” he blurted out, then felt his cheeks turn red when Daniel’s grin widened.
Instead of saying anything, Daniel pulled him into a tight hug. “I don’t want to leave,” he said quietly.
Stephen wrapped his arms around Daniel’s waist, nuzzling his hair. Now that he was this close, it was easier to distinguish between Richard’s and Daniel’s scent, and Stephen could smell the arousal of the latter. “Good,” he replied. “You smell delicious.” He couldn’t resist the urge to lick Daniel’s neck, loving the way he whimpered.
“Mmm, you only realised that now?” Daniel asked, tilting his head to give Stephen more room.
While he didn’t want to stop doing this to give Daniel an explanation, he probably should. “Actually, yes,” he replied, raising his head to look Daniel in the eyes. “Richard’s scent is all over his clothes; it mixes with yours and masks some of it. I couldn’t smell your… interest.” That was one way of putting it.
“And as a wolf you didn’t exactly interest me like that.” Daniel nodded in understanding, then glanced up at Stephen mischievously. “So this would’ve been a lot easier if I had walked around naked?”
Stephen both loved and hated that idea. “In a way.”
Daniel grinned at him. “Getting jealous already?”
“Maybe,” Stephen replied, brushing his lips against Daniel’s before kissing him again. His hands slid down Daniel’s back, briefly running across his ass before moving up to caress his naked back.
Daniel moaned happily into the kiss, squirming slightly as Stephen brushed against a spot that had to be ticklish.
He turned them slowly so Daniel’s back was against the kitchen counter as they kept kissing, tongues sliding against each other. The slight stubble of Daniel’s cheek was scraping against Stephen’s skin and as wonderful as this was, there was one question nagging away at him. With some reluctance, he pulled back. “Fucking finally, right?” he said. “Why didn’t you do anything? You must’ve smelled me.” And now he wondered how often Daniel had noticed.
Daniel looked flustered, his soft lips swollen and slick. “Well, I didn’t realise what it was at first. I thought it was just your scent.”
Right, Daniel was only used to McClanahan. “And once you knew?”
“I was worried it might be because of the wolves in your pack,” Daniel muttered, his cheeks turning redder and he glanced out the window briefly. “I was worried you’d turn me down, and with me sleeping here I didn’t want things to get awkward.”
“That makes sense.”
Daniel gave him a relieved smile. “So now that we’re on the same page,” he said, his voice low and meaningful, “maybe we should do something about it.” He raised one eyebrow significantly, his smile growing.
Stephen definitely agreed, and he was about to suggest they head to his bedroom when his phone rang. He had left it on the kitchen table when coming home that morning, and he reluctantly let go of Daniel to pick it up. It was Richard, which meant he couldn’t ignore it. “Yeah?” he asked, while Daniel grumbled behind him.
“Ah, you’re awake. Good. Can you get hold of an excavator so we can use it this afternoon?”
“What?” Stephen spluttered, his mind still on kissing and touching and licking Daniel. “Why?”
“You know how trapping pits work, right?”
~*~
One of the small excavators they used for clearing tree stumps had been left at the site near the cabins, and the ranger at the entrance hadn’t batted an eye when Stephen explained he had left a few things behind yesterday. He’d waved Stephen and Daniel through, reminding them to be careful and not stay too long.
It was already two in the afternoon by the time St
ephen was able to get started and he was pretty sure that if it hadn’t been for Richard’s and Peter’s attempts at helping out, he would’ve been done a lot faster.
“Eight feet is deep enough,” Stephen declared from the excavator, once he had dug a pit of five feet by five.
“Keep going!” Peter shouted.
“Look, there’s no wait he can jump this high, maybe if he was able to run up to it, but he won’t have the space,” Stephen said. “We still need to cover this up, I still need to put the excavator away safely, and we have to finish all that before sunset.” Since he had dug the pit close to the edge of the forest, it would be easy enough to spread the extra dirt around. But with sunset a little under two hours away, they’d be cutting it close.
Peter and Richard exchanged a look, then Peter shrugged. “Good point,” Richard said. “Fine, you get rid of that thing, me and Peter and Daniel’ll work on covering this up. Do you have any planks around that can help with that?”
Stephen glared down at him. “I can find some, yeah, but you’re helping me put it all back tomorrow. I can’t have my colleagues find out about this on Monday.” He’d also have to fill up the hole again. Hopefully he’d be able to convince his workbuddies some wild animal must’ve disturbed the ground.
By the time he came back, the other three were hard at work covering the pit, although Stephen didn’t think it looked very convincing. As the rest of the pack turned up - Richard had called them as well - they joined in and eventually, the pit was covered with a combination of longer planks, shorter branches, a lot of leaves and some of the ground Stephen had dug up earlier.
“It’s obviously a trap,” he told Peter, only minutes away from sunset now. He felt a tingle at the bottom of his spine, a sign that the transformation wouldn’t be long now. “I don’t think McClanahan is going to fall for it.” Or in it.
Peter gave him a grin that was distinctly wolfish. “Depends on the bait, doesn’t it?”
~*~
It turned out that the pack’s morning meeting had been a lengthy one, and Stephen wished he could’ve been a part of it. Trapping McClanahan in a pit until morning was a good plan. Using an excavator to get the digging done was even better. But using Daniel as bait? “It’s too risky,” he growled, once the sun was down and he had shifted.
Peter had recovered faster from his transformation. “We all know McClanahan wants Daniel. And you’re right, that pit is damn obvious. You really think McClanahan will come anywhere near it unless the bait is something he wants?”
The thought of that made Stephen growl. “What if the trap doesn’t work? What if McClanahan doesn’t fall?”
“Then I will fight him,” Daniel declared, who was still looking slightly shaken after his own transformation. “And you will be with me. And the others will be nearby.”
While Daniel’s obvious confidence in him warmed Stephen thoroughly, he also knew that ‘nearby’ was actually pretty far. The rest of the pack couldn’t be too close, or McClanahan would catch their scent.
“The less time McClanahan spends around that pit the better, right?” Karen said. She’d been sniffing around the edges of the pit. “So Daniel shouldn’t be waiting around here; he should be in the middle of the forest and then he can lead McClanahan here.”
“And McClanahan will be too focused on catching his prey to notice the trap.” Lily added.
“What, and leave Daniel by himself?” Stephen asked. “Not gonna happen, Lily.” He growled briefly at her, but Lily barely even flicked her ears in response.
“Calm down. After what you did last night, McClanahan’ll be expecting you,” she replied. “I’m suggesting you stay with Daniel, then briefly fight with McClanahan so Daniel can run off.”
“And you want me to lose so he can hunt down Daniel?” He understood the reasoning behind the plan, but he didn’t like the idea of having to fight McClanahan again. What if the other wolf didn’t accept Stephen surrendering to him?
“Exactly.”
He turned to Daniel, whose ears were flat, his low tail indicating he was nervous. “What do you think? Can you outrun him?”
“I’ll have to,” he replied in a quiet whine.
Stephen moved towards him to brush his shoulder against Daniel’s. “Hey, you did it before.”
“We need to agree on a few signs, though,” Peter remarked. “How else will we know McClanahan’s in the trap?”
“I’ll howl once if he is… twice if I am or Stephen is or the plan went wrong somehow,” Daniel suggested.
Stephen didn’t want to think about ending up in the pit himself, unable to help while McClanahan continued to chase Daniel. “So that’s our plan?” Somehow, it seemed too simple, too easy. Just lead McClanahan on a merry chase and hope Daniel was faster. And that McClanahan wouldn’t wonder why the ground looked different on top of the pit or smelled something was off.
“You got a better one?” Richard asked. “’Cause if you do, you should’ve said something sooner.”
And he didn’t, he really didn’t. “Fine. Let’s go hunting.”
~*~
“I hate this.”
It was a few hours later, and Stephen had tried to distract himself and Daniel by chasing after a few hares, but his heart wasn’t in it. Even his inner wolf’s sharp hunting instincts had dulled, too preoccupied with McClanahan to focus on something else. “The waiting?”
“The not knowing. What if he doesn’t come? What if he’s waiting for me back home?”
He wouldn’t be able to help Daniel then. “I’m only a phone call away,” he reminded Daniel, but the other wolf remained quiet. “I mean it.”
“I just want this to be over.” Daniel huffed, pawing at the ground. “I don’t want to go home and still have to be afraid of McClanahan; I want to go home and call you for different reasons.” His brow was oddly furrowed as he looked at Stephen.
Stephen tilted his head. “Is that meant to be seductive?” he eventually asked. “Because you look like you ate some rotten old carcass.”
Daniel let out a brief, amused bark. “I guess wolves can’t do that.”
“I’m glad, I don’t want to be attracted to a wolf.” Stephen shuddered at the thought.
Daniel winced as well. “Neither do I. Come on, let’s keep moving and see if we can find McClanahan.”
Stephen ran after Daniel, already dreading the moment they found him.
~*~
They were about a mile away from the cabins when Daniel scented McClanahan, and it wasn’t long before the other wolf found them. “There you are,” he growled, baring his teeth.
Stephen snarled back, putting himself between McClanahan and Daniel. Even if a fight hadn’t been part of the plan, he still would’ve, no matter how much it was going to hurt. “Are you that bad at tracking?” He could smell that Daniel was already backing away, preparing to run. Hopefully Stephen would be able to delay McClanahan to give him a decent head start. If McClanahan caught up with Daniel too soon, their entire plan was ruined.
McClanahan moved closer. “Your pack isn’t here to save you; you should surrender to me now.”
Stephen stood up straight, trying to make himself look as big as possible. “Daniel,” he said. “Run.” Then, when Daniel ran and McClanahan was about to follow, Stephen lunged for him, slamming his body against McClanahan’s in an attempt to tackle him to the ground.
The other wolf managed to dodge him and growled, looking from Daniel to Stephen.
For a long second, he worried McClanahan was going after Daniel, but then he came for Stephen, teeth glinting in the moonlight.
There was no way Stephen was going to win, not with the dull ache in his hind leg. McClanahan’s teeth grazed his fur, and Stephen focused on not getting bitten again, once was bad enough. When McClanahan lunged for him again, Stephen fell, and the two wolves rolled on the ground. Stephen was panting, trying to get up again, but McClanahan was too big and heavy, not to mention too strong. Soon, sharp fangs were on his nec
k and Stephen whined pitifully. “I surrender!”
Eventually, McClanahan raised his head, and growled a warning. “Don’t come after me, or you won’t be so lucky next time.” Then he quickly bit Stephen’s right shoulder, and while it hurt like hell, the bite wasn’t as deep as the one last night. McClanahan ran off into the night, and Stephen slowly got up, his heart beating fast. Damn, and his other wound had only just about healed. If that was the other wolf’s idea of a warning nip, Stephen didn’t want to find out what he’d do to Daniel if he caught up with him.
He did follow McClanahan, but at a much slower pace. Daniel had had some time to get away, to get closer to the trap. Hopefully it would be enough.
~*~
When he heard Daniel howl, Stephen froze. His ears perked up, but there was no second howl. He could barely believe it, tried to contain his feelings of relief and happiness. Stephen sped up, ignoring the pain from his right front leg. He had to see, smell for himself that McClanahan really had fallen for their ridiculous trap.
Karen and Lily were already there, snarling down at the other wolf. Daniel noticed him and ran up to meet him, his tail wagging proudly in the air, but it lowered when he noticed Stephen’s slight difficulty moving. “You’ve got blood everywhere!”
Stephen kept walking, although he moved slower. Karen and Lily were there, McClanahan couldn’t get out now. He could smell the fear and anger in the air. “It’s not as bad as last night,” he replied, his eyes on the pit. “So it worked?”
“Yes,” Daniel replied, walking by Stephen’s side. “I ran across it and it was already creaking, so I stopped on the other side, pretending to be tired. I know what he’s like, that he wanted to gloat before attacking me. He stopped right on top of it and was in the middle of threatening me when he fell through. You should’ve seen the look on his face.”
But despite Daniel’s good news, he was still worried. “I’d like to see the look on his face now.” Stephen exchanged a glance with Karen and Lily, then stood at the edge of the pit, looking down.
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