by Sy Walker
He started to find it odd that he hadn’t heard from Saber in a few days. Usually about three days was the maximum that they had gone without seeing each other, but for some reason, Saber hadn’t shown up. Maybe he had seen him driving around town and found out that he had been checking up on him. Mack was sort of ashamed of himself for it, but he needed to know the kind of person that he was dealing with. He really wanted to figure out his feelings, and it was more important than ever now that he was trying to figure out the next stage of his life. If he wanted to spend it with Saber, and he wasn’t sure that he did, he would have to figure it out now, because he couldn’t stay a camper forever. He was starting to get homesick. But not for LA. More for anyplace that he could call his own. Sleeping under the stars for a while was nice and refreshing, but he didn’t want to make a habit of it. He needed a roof over his head, and somewhere to take nice hot showers. The stream was refreshing, but he was really starting to miss temperature-controlled water.
He finally decided to pop into the car and head out to find Saber. He was really starting to miss the way that the man could make him feel. He was starting to wonder if he was really staying in the Joshua Tree National Park for himself or if he was hanging around because he was hoping to catch sight of Saber. The tale that his aunt had spun had been sad, and now that he had seen the man in a softer light, he was desperate to talk to him.
When he realized that Saber wasn’t home, his stomach turned. He hadn’t wanted to talk about this at the MC, everybody there seemed to have prying eyes. However, when he had shown up before, Saber had been able to save him from the harshness of the judgment from the men there, and they usually ended up escaping to be alone together. Maybe that would happen again. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling in his stomach.
He parked outside the MC and stared at the dark windows. He hesitated for a moment before getting out of the car and walking nervously toward the door. He had been confident enough the first time, but that was before he had heard Saber telling his men that if Mack had anything to do with the destruction of the conservation area, they would have his blessing to kill him. Remembering this made his uneasiness even more extreme, but he decided to keep going anyway and hope for the best.
He pushed into the doorway of the MC.
All eyes turned to him, and he swallowed hard. Saber was staring across the room at him, but the look in his eyes was strange. Distant and aloof. He wasn’t sure that he would be saved from the men this time. What had he done?
Chapter 19
“Mack, you shouldn’t be here,” Saber said without budging from the wall.
“But-”
“Yeah, scram, you little twink!” said the same man who had been trying Mack’s nerves since the beginning. He tried Saber’s nerves too, but instead of correcting him, Saber only narrowed his eyes.
“I’m serious, we’re in the middle of something. Could you just –”
“What are you in the middle of? What’s the big secret? What does the MC do? Deal drugs? Have an underground empire to run? Why don’t you just tell me what’s going on!?”
An old man, still tougher than Mack was, lunged at him. Somehow, before the blow landed, Saber was between them and pulling Mack out of the bar by the collar of his shirt.
“What do you think you’re trying to pull, busting in here like that and making accusations? You’re not going to make any fuckin’ friends that way, I can tell you that much. What do you want, Mack?”
Mack suddenly felt deflated. “I guess I just want to be close to you,” he said with a heavy sigh.
“I thought I already made this clear. I can’t get close to you. I can’t do what you want me to do. I have a lot of secrets, all right, and I’m not interested in sharing them with you. You wouldn’t understand.”
“No, I already spoke with your aunt! I do understand. I know about –”
“You don’t know shit,” Saber interrupted, his blue eyes dark and threatening. He pushed past Mack and disappeared into the din of the MC. “Get the hell out of here,” he growled, and slammed the door behind him.
***
Mack felt the heat of embarrassment flush his cheeks as he walked quietly to his car. He could hear all the men in the MC jeering at him and cheering as he was forced away. He had never felt more humiliated in his life. All he had wanted to do was get closer to Saber. And somehow he had just created a memory that he was sure would haunt him for the rest of his life. So much for a great new start with a good guy. That didn’t seem to be possible. He had already set himself up for failure; there was no chance that the universe would let him change hands now.
He decided that he would leave the Joshua Tree area and never look back. He was too humiliated. But when he dug his hand into his pocket, he realized with a pang of anxiety that his phone wasn’t there. He must have dropped it at the campsite.
“Ugh!” he growled, slamming his fist against the steering wheel. The horn let out a sharp honk and he could hear the laughter of the men become louder and more obnoxious through the open window of his sports car. Mack tried not to let himself cry as he headed back to the Joshua Tree National Park.
He searched for about half an hour before he found his former campsite. His cell phone was lying on the tree stump, right where he had left it. He sighed and pocketed it, taking a deep breath to try and collect his thoughts. So what if Saber wanted nothing to do with him? He had come here for himself, not for anybody else. And there was still a trail left that he hadn’t gotten a chance to hike yet. He wouldn’t let the idiots from the bar bother him. He would spend his last day at the park doing just as he had intended to do – hiking and spending some quality time with himself and himself alone.
Chapter 20
Mack made sure that his gear was packed tightly away and headed toward the trail. He felt a surge of excitement despite his terrible experience at the MC. But if he could train himself to try to steel his emotions about Saber and the whole sorry lot, then he could get over what he had experienced and start his life over somewhere new. Somewhere people had never heard of him before.
With a renewed sense of adventure, Mack set off on the trail, checking his map to make sure he was on course. Once he was deep in the woods, he started feeling uneasy, as if somebody was watching him. The discomfort followed him for another half hour, until he started hearing strange noises coming from the brush.
Suddenly, the savage man from the bar, the one who had insisted on calling him a twink and making everything more difficult for Saber sprang out from the bushes.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he said with a leering grin. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Like hell. You’ve been following me, haven’t you?”
“Plucky! I wouldn’t have guessed that. Though I guess there’s got to be some reason that Saber was into you.”
“Just leave me alone, all right?” Mack said confidently, turning away. However, his legs were shaking despite himself.
“Not so fuckin’ fast, little twink. I got me an appetite for something soft and sweet like you. You get me?”
The man came close to Mack. He towered above him, and now that they were closer together, Mack noticed that his face was pockmarked and scarred, full of ugly red gashes. His teeth were crooked and his eyes were beady and fierce. He had stringy black hair that hung limply, just grazing his shoulders, and the beard that covered his face was thin and unkempt, unlike Saber’s full, neatly groomed facial hair.
“I said, do you get me? You know what I want from you, twink?”’
“Would you stop calling me that please?” Mack said, his voice barely above a whisper. He couldn’t do much against this man, that much was certain. If he made an advance, there was no way that he would be able to defend himself.
The vile man’s hands were suddenly pulling Mack forward by the shoulder straps of his hiking bag, and he stumbled, falling to the ground hard on his knees. He tottered for a second, trying to gain his balance and stand.
“No, no,
no. I’ve got you right where I want you now, twink. You stay right there,” the man said, grinning cruelly down at Mack and forcing him down with his head in his crotch. It smelled sweaty and sour, and Mack recoiled as the man’s meaty fingers fumbled at the button of his jeans. Just as the zipper was about to free the man from his pants, a mighty roar made them both jump.
“Oh hell no!” the man shouted, whipping around, his eyes darting to the green foliage of the forest. “What the hell are you doing here?”
A wolf, the white wolf that Mack had been seeing so frequently around the forest, suddenly lunged at the man. He jumped back, narrowly avoiding a lethal blow. He suffered just a scratch on the abdomen, and looked down at his ripped leather vest.
“Goddamn it! You owe me for this one! It was Frank’s, you fucker!”
Mack paled as his attacker let out an earth-shattering roar and coarse black hair began to spring out all over his body. He crouched, his clothes falling onto the ground in a heap as his body contorted from a human form and into that of a wolf.
Mack stared at him in disbelief as the scraggly black wolf lunged at the majestic white wolf that had saved him from the man’s advances. They were coming violently to blows not far from where Mack was still kneeling in shock. He got shakily to his feet and watched the fight. The white wolf clearly had the upper hand, snarling confidently as the other threw himself at it. Mack squeezed his eyes shut as the black wolf howled in pain, and then lashed viciously at the white wolf, who whimpered briefly before apparently retaliating.
Mack was suddenly knocked onto the ground as the wolves tumbled toward him, rolling around in a fight for dominance. He had never seen anything like this, though he’d been scarred on his arm a while back trying to break up a dog fight. That was scary but it was nothing like what he was seeing with the wolves now. Though they were both fighting to the death, nothing could have prepared him for the feral wildness of this battle.
The white wolf suddenly roared loudly in pain, its cry echoing throughout the forest. Mack whipped around just in time to see it flung into a thick tree and collapse in pain. The black wolf caught Mack’s eye, and he could have sworn he saw a gleam in it. Their eyes remained locked as the wolf began to walk tauntingly toward him, as if he had intended to finish what he’d started before dealing the finishing blow. As if for some reason he wanted the wolf to see that he’d won.
Mack trembled as he scrambled along the dirt path, cursing the bulkiness of his huge backpack. It was probably going to cost him his life now, and he tried to unthread his arms from the straps so that if he had a chance to run, he could bolt up a tree unimpeded.
He needn’t have feared though. A howl of anguish suddenly erupted from the black wolf, and he collapsed to the ground. Behind him was the white wolf, its snout drenched and stained red with blood. The black wolf lay dead on the forest floor, its throat ripped open inches away from Mack. The magnificent white wolf gave its enemy the once over, confirming the kill, before crumpling to the ground.
Mack watched in disbelief as the white wolf began to change right before his eyes, its white fur receding and changing into long, golden strands of hair, and revealing a naked, beautiful body writhing in pain. He suddenly recognized the face of the man who lay passed out in front of him – the man who had saved his life. It was Saber. And he needed help.
Chapter 21
Mack grimaced as he laid Saber down in the backseat of his sports car. He hadn’t regained consciousness yet, and Mack had done his best to bandage him up using the first aid kit that he kept in his backpack. He hadn’t realized the man would be so heavy, but that was all right. Although Mack was scrawny and couldn’t fight to save his life, he had stayed in shape and was determined to help the man he loved. After all, that was what had been developing in his heart, whether he wanted to admit it or not. The secrets Saber had been keeping from him, the distance, it all started to make sense.
He started the car and took off down the road, turning the corner as quickly as he could without going off the road.
Saber groaned in pain. “Mack?”
“I’m going to get you to a hospital,” Mack said in his most reassuring voice. In truth, he was scared beyond belief.
“No,” Saber said firmly. “No hospital will know how to treat this. You could have just left me there.”
“I can’t just let you die,” Mack said, shocked at the notion. “Not when I…I mean, not after you saved my life.”
Saber seemed too pained to speak again and closed his eyes, nodding quietly at Mack. “My aunt,” he said. “She’ll know what to do.”
“Right,” Mack said. This made him feel immensely better. Now he had a plan, and they would be able to make sure that something happened, whether Saber could go to the hospital or not. Mack could follow the plan. It was one thing he had always been good at.
They drove in silence until they got to the diner. There was a single man eating inside, and Mack glanced in the rearview mirror at Saber. He would try to make this as discreet as possible.
“I’ll be right back,” he promised. “Hang in there.”
Saber gave him a sardonic look, and Mack laughed despite himself. He had never laughed in the gravity of a serious situation before, and he wasn’t sure if it was his nerves or if Saber just had that effect on him.
As soon as Saber’s aunt saw him, she noticed the blood smeared on his shirt.
“Saber,” he mouthed.
She nodded, immediately understanding. “Dan, I’m sorry, but there’s a bit of a family emergency and I’ll need you to take the rest of your food to go. Now. You can keep the plate.”
“I –” Dan looked confused.
“Now,” she said.
The man nodded, suddenly understanding how serious it must be for her to be shooing him out of the diner and grabbed the plate, walking out the door. Thankfully he didn’t think to look in the back of the sports car as he left.
When he was finally out of sight, Mack led Sandy to his car, and she gasped when she saw Saber in the back.
“You usually win in a fight,” she said, shaking her head at him.
He grinned weakly at her. “I did,” he said.
“Well, this won’t do. We need to take him down the block, to the farm. Grew up tending to all sorts of animals. Reckon I still have enough iodine for this sorry ass.”
This made Saber grin broadly, and Mack laughed shakily.
“I’ll drive you,” he said. Sandy climbed into the passenger’s seat and they hurried to her property, where she had him pull in down a long driveway and park beside a wooden building.
“Let’s get him inside,” she said softly.
Mack nodded, and they carried him as easily as they could into the building. Mack was surprised by how comfortable it was when they went in. It looked like a shack from the outside but inside it was heated and clean-looking tables and equipment lined the walls. Sandy whipped a blanket onto a table and helped Mack lift Saber onto it.
“If you’re the squeamish type, you might want to look away,” she said with a grin.
“I want to make sure he’s all right,” Mack said, staying stubbornly in his spot.
“Suit yourself, city boy,” she said with a small laugh. “You’ll see what I mean soon enough.”
But Mack held his ground as Sandy began slicing and stitching. Saber winced in pain, and only cried out once. After what seemed like hours of torment for all three of them, Saber was stitched up, but still barely clinging to consciousness.
“Pay attention to how I wrap him. And what in the hell happened?” Sandy asked finally, as she wrapped gauze around Saber’s broad chest.
“He got into a fight with a guy from the MC. He was following me on the trail and tried to…well, Saber saved me and killed the guy. But…”
“Damn. The wolves are going to turn if they catch wind of that,” Sandy said. “It would be best to clear off for a while, at least until he’s feeling better and he can take care of himself if they decide to
punish him for killing Vlad.”
“Where should we go?” Mack asked, suddenly nervous. He’d planned on leaving, and this was the very question that had been haunting him all day.
“Anywhere. Just drive. Get far the hell away. I’ll wash and bundle him up, spray him with something that will dilute his scent. But you have to change your clothes, too. And you can’t take that pretty car of yours. You know how to ride a motorcycle?”
Mack opened and closed his mouth. The truth was that he did, but the idea of disappearing with Saber on a motorcycle was just too astonishing. But he was willing to do whatever it took.
“Yes,” he finally said.
“Good. I have a few of his backups in the shed. Change in there. I’ll give you the keys. Take one with a sidecar on it since he’s injured and pull it up in front so you can take off as soon as possible. The bigger the head start you get on these guys, the better. Things will settle down eventually, but like I said, it’s better to let him regain his strength to deal with this shit.”
Mack nodded dumbly, taking the keys from Sandy and heading to the building she had pointed at. By the time he pulled the bike up to the side of the house, Sandy and Saber were walking slowly and carefully to the entrance together.
“He’s got some internal bleeding and has a bunch of wounds that needed stitching. Clean them three times a day, apply this salve, and give him this medicine for his organs. Make sure he lies low for a few months. Then he’ll be back to his old self and he can come see what a mess he’s made of this place.”
Sandy winked at Mack and gave Saber a kiss on the cheek.
“You’re making me ride in the bitch car?” Saber whined.
“Just for now,” Mack said with a grin.
He mounted the bike after easing Saber in beside him and revved the engine. He could feel Saber’s eyes on him and felt briefly self-conscious. But he realized that he wasn’t being judgmental. Saber just really seemed to like the way he looked on the bike.
“Mack!”
Mack paused as Sandy called to him.
“Put this on, it gets cold at night!”