“From loving you,” Sean finished, his voice nearly inaudible.
Dae smiled warmly, then heaved himself up onto the sofa next to Sean. He gathered Sean into his arms and held the man close, burying his face in Sean’s soft black hair, breathing in the scent that was uniquely Sean. He began to lay soft kisses on the crown of Sean’s head, then tilted Sean’s face up, kissing Sean’s forehead, eyelids, cheeks, until his lips found Sean’s again.
Sean slid his arms around Dae’s waist and returned the kiss passionately. He parted his lips, encouraging Dae’s tongue to slip between them and meet his own. For a long time they remained that way, tasting one another.
Finally, Sean pulled away. “You shouldn’t be doing this. You should be resting, Dae. You were shot, remember? Not to mention that you probably have a concussion from kissing the grill of that pickup last night. The painkillers are working, but your injuries haven’t magically disappeared, you know.”
“Don’t worry about me, Sean. Werewolves are a notoriously resilient breed,” Dae replied, conscious of the fact that he was still naked and now sported a full-fledged erection. He made no move to cover himself, wanting Sean to see how the kisses had affected him. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You’re injured, and I don’t care if you’re a human, a werewolf, or an iguana, injured means that you need to rest. C’mon, I’m taking you home,” Sean retorted firmly, slipping out of Dae’s arms and standing up.
Dae wanted nothing more than to continue kissing him forever, but Sean was resolute about not allowing the heat of the moment to overrule common sense. That Sean didn’t want to risk Dae’s health was obvious, although from the flush on Sean’s face and the angle of the pitch in his pants, he was having a difficult time keeping his resolve. Every time Sean’s eyes strayed to the thick, erect penis that was listing heavily toward Dae’s thigh, he would jerk his head away.
Dae grumbled in frustration but reluctantly agreed, giving in and standing up. “All right, Mommy. Let’s go.”
Sean huffed in mock irritation at the teasing, then smiled up at Dae. “Don’t forget to grab some antibiotics. You’re going to need them. I don’t want those incisions to get infected.”
“Yes, Doctor.”
“Not funny, Dae.”
“It’s a little funny.”
“C’mon, Dae. Let’s go,” Sean smirked, grabbing hold of Dae’s elbow and leading him out of the office. “Don’t make me get out the muzzle.”
“Oh, now you’re making wolf jokes. Not funny.”
“It’s a little funny,” Sean laughed, tossing Dae’s words back at him with a grin.
Dae snorted, then walked into the treatment room and retrieved the blanket that Sean had given him earlier, wrapping it around his waist. Grabbing a bottle of antibiotics to keep infection at bay, he followed Sean outside, waiting for his assistant to lock the doors of the outbuilding that housed the animals and those of the clinic itself. Together they walked to where Sean’s lemon-yellow VW Bug sat in the parking lot.
THEY FILLED the short ride to Dae’s apartment with small talk about their patients as though nothing had happened. It was almost as if they thought that if they spoke about what had happened between them, it would vanish like a dream.
That they would become lovers went unsaid, but was understood. Privately, Sean was adamant that nothing physical would happen between them until Dae had healed, but Sean had the feeling that if Dae had his way, he’d be on Sean like white on rice the minute the door shut behind them in his apartment. Sean smiled to himself, noticing that Dae’s blanket still had a noticeable tent pitched in it, and hoped that he’d have the fortitude to resist Dae when that blanket came off again.
Reaching Dae’s apartment building, Sean slid his car into a spot between a Chevy that had seen the last of its better days somewhere in the ’70s, and a shiny, new, apple-red Ford Expedition. The Chevy belonged to the infamously closeted Mr. Peterson, who’d bought it fresh off the assembly line back when Hector was a pup. The Expedition belonged to Dae, his one major purchase in the past four years. Luckily for Dae, they were the only two cars in the lot, allowing him a modicum of privacy as he stepped out of the Volkswagen wearing nothing but his blanket kilt.
Climbing the stairs to Dae’s second-floor apartment, Dae suddenly stopped in midstride and smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. Sean tried to catch Dae’s hand before it reached his forehead, but was a hair too slow. Not the smartest move Dae had ever made, and Sean winced along with Dae in sympathy.
“Oh, shit! My keys! They were in the pocket of my shorts!” Dae groaned, looking over Sean’s head toward the door to his apartment.
“And your shorts are…,” Sean prompted him, reaching out and grabbing hold of Dae’s hand to prevent him from striking his already sorely beaten head again.
“Somewhere along Highway 46,” Dae said miserably. “Now I’ll need to go to the superintendent to ask him to let us in. How do I explain this?” he asked Sean, picking up an edge of the blanket that wrapped his waist.
“Toga party?” Sean snickered. He sobered at once when he saw that Dae was serious. “C’mon, Dae, they have to understand that you have a life besides being the town vet.”
“The town vet does not run around bare-butt naked with only a blanket wrapped around his waist. The town vet is respectable. The town vet keeps a low profile. The town vet does not lose his keys because he decides to strip naked while jogging!”
“The town vet has a great chest that he should show off more often.” Sean grinned, loving that he now had the freedom to make Dae blush.
Dae smirked, looking a little embarrassed, but pleased. “Wait here. I’ll go get the super.”
Sean watched Dae walk away, eyeing his firm rump as it rolled sweetly beneath his blanket. Out of curiosity, he jiggled the doorknob of the front door of Dae’s apartment. To his surprise, it turned easily in his hand.
“Dae!” he called out, just before Dae reached the bottom of the stairway. “It’s open! You must have forgotten to lock it last night.”
Dae stopped short on the stairs and looked up at Sean in surprise. “What? I never forget to lock my door,” he called back. “Don’t move!”
He took the stairs two at a time and hurried back to where Sean waited on the narrow porch. Cautiously, he creaked open the door and peered into the darkened apartment. Sniffing the air, he whispered, “Something doesn’t smell right. Wait here.” He removed his blanket and handed it to Sean, then shifted, ignoring Sean’s muttered oath and rolled eyes.
PADDING INTO the apartment, Dae prowled through the living room and the kitchen, searching for anything that might have been amiss, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Still, something didn’t smell right. It smelled familiar, though, and with a start, Dae realized what it was. Following the scent, he nosed open the bedroom door and growled when he spotted a figure lying on his bed, fast asleep.
Jack.
“Dammit,” Dae swore under his breath after he shifted back into his man-form. “I knew I should have had the locks changed.” He picked up a pair of jeans that he had left draped over a chair near the window of the bedroom and slipped them on before turning on the light.
“Jack!” he thundered, delighted by the way his former lover jerked upright in the bed, startled out of sleep. “What the fuck are you doing in my apartment?”
“Our apartment. I’m on the lease, remember?” Jack said, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the bright light. “What’s wrong, baby? You act as if you aren’t happy to see me, and I know that can’t possibly be true!” He grinned.
It was that grin. That lopsided, boyish grin that had never before failed to shoot directly to Dae’s groin.
Except this time.
Dae grinned back, although his own smile was fueled by the realization that Jack no longer held any power over him. Sean had seen to that with a few soft kisses. Jack’s grin, the one that had always brought Dae to his knees before, had absolutely no effect o
n Dae now.
“You were removed from the lease after I threw you out the last time, Jack. What happened? Did your new boyfriend get grounded by his mommy and daddy?”
“Dae, Dae, Dae. Pull in your claws, hon. So, I made a mistake. I’m only human, you know,” Jack said, sitting up and letting the sheet fall down to his lap, exposing his beautifully sculpted chest and flat, hard belly. “C’mon, you know you missed me. I’ve heard all about how lonely you’ve been since I left.” He patted the side of the mattress. “Come to bed, and let’s kiss and make up.”
“Are you having short-term memory loss? You didn’t leave. I threw you out.”
“Let’s not get picky over semantics, Dae. Come to bed,” Jack insisted, smiling the seductive smile that had always gotten him out of hot water with Dae before.
“Dae? Is everything all right?” Sean asked from the bedroom doorway. He walked in and slipped a possessive arm around Dae’s waist, glaring at the man in Dae’s bed.
“Yes, everything is fine, Sean. Jack was just leaving, weren’t you, Jack?” Dae said, tossing Jack’s pants onto the bed.
“Ooh, you’ve been a bad boy, Dae. Screwing your assistant? How cliché!” Jack hissed, making no move to get up out of the bed. “And you had the nerve to remark on my lifeguard! He’s practically young enough to still be wetting the bed!” He made a dismissive gesture toward Sean. “Don’t get attached to him, kid. He’s mine. We have a history together.”
“You know the funny thing about history, Jack? It’s in the past. Get the fuck out of my bed and out of my apartment before I give myself the immense pleasure of throwing you out. I threw you out naked before, and I’ll have no problem doing it again. And I’ll enjoy doing it just as much this time!”
“You’re serious? You’re going to choose this thumb-sucker over me? I love you, Dae!” Jack whined. He looked shocked that Dae was giving him a hard time. Dae had always taken him back. Always. He’d always been able to lead Dae around by the cock, but now he must have felt his grip slipping away, and his uncertainty showed plainly on his face.
“No, I’m choosing this man over the selfish bag of shit in my bed. You wouldn’t know love if it snuck up behind you and bit you on your two-timing ass. Get out!” Dae bellowed. “And leave your keys this time!”
“This isn’t over, sweet cheeks,” Jack said, sliding out from under the sheets and pulling his pants on. He made sure Dae and Sean got a good long look at his substantial package as he did so and took his sweetass time pulling on his T-shirt as well. Stepping into his shoes, he said, “I don’t like losing, Dae. You know that. I’m not giving you up without a fight. You belong to me.”
“There will be no fight, Jack, and I never belonged to you. It’s over. We’re over. We’ve been over for months now,” Dae said, suddenly feeling very tired. “No, I take that back. In reality, we were over before we even began. Please, just get out and stay out. Out of my apartment and out of my life.”
“It’s not over until I say it’s over! You want to plow his south forty for a while, well then, fine. Hey, I’ve sown some seed myself from time to time. But you’ll get tired of him, Dae. He’s not me, and you need me,” Jack retorted, stepping up into Dae’s face.
Dae turned his head away and took a step back, his nose wrinkling as if he smelled something rotten. “I don’t need you. I’ve never needed you, Jack. Actually, I owe you an apology. I’ve realized that I used you as much as you used me. You used me as a cash cow and a warm body when you had nothing better going on, and I used you to fool myself into thinking that I was loved. Trust me when I say it’s over. Now leave, before I pitch you headfirst out the window!”
“You’ll regret this, Dae. You’ll see. You and your twink lover both,” Jack said, brushing roughly past Sean. His voice crackled with anger and a hint of something else. Panic.
“The keys, Jack!” Dae reminded him as Jack stalked toward the door.
“They’re on your dresser!” Jack snarled back. He slammed the door shut behind him, rattling the picture frames on the walls.
Dae closed his eyes, feeling as if he’d drained the last dregs of energy from his reserve. He felt Sean’s arms wrap around him, holding him tightly. Resting his head on Sean’s shoulder, he breathed deeply, calming himself.
“You okay?” Sean asked softly, turning his head and kissing Dae’s neck.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I was just surprised to see him here. Felt kind of good getting to throw him out twice, though,” Dae chuckled. “But I’m sorry that you had to get caught in the crossfire.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m a big boy with a thick skin. He’s just an asshole with really bad timing.”
Dae laughed then reluctantly disengaged himself from Sean’s embrace. He walked over to the dresser, searching for the keys Jack said he’d left there.
They weren’t there.
“Dammit, that son of bitch still has my keys!” Dae said. “I’ll have to get the locks changed in the morning. That ring had the keys to the clinic on it too. Goddamn him!”
Dae froze as a thought occurred to him. He ran to the front door, flung it open, and walked out onto the porch. He stared down over the railing at the empty parking space next to Sean’s VW bug. “Fuck!” he yelled, striking the railing with his fist. “That asshole stole my truck! Goddamn you, Jack!”
“Should we call the police?” Sean asked, having followed Dae out of the apartment.
“I should. I should have his ass thrown into lockup. Let him see how Bubba and the men of Cellblock C treat a pretty boy. Then again, the slut would enjoy that too much,” Dae spat. He sighed. “Let it go for tonight. If he doesn’t return it tomorrow, I’ll file a report. Right now, my head is killing me, and the local’s wearing off on my shoulders. I just want to get some sleep.”
“Okay. C’mon, I’ll get you settled in,” Sean agreed, leading Dae back inside the apartment.
Sean went into the kitchen and filled a glass with water so that Dae could take an antibiotic, then fluffed the pillows on the bed and straightened the sheets and quilt.
Dae took off his jeans and lay down wearily, grateful for Sean’s attention and reveling in the rare feeling of someone taking care of him for a change. He grabbed Sean’s wrist as Sean reached to pull the covers up over Dae’s chest.
“Don’t go,” Dae whispered. “Stay with me.”
“Dae, I shouldn’t. You need to rest.”
“I will, I promise. I won’t try anything, I swear. I just want to hold you, Sean. Please.”
Dae prayed Sean wouldn’t say no, although he feared the answer would be exactly that. The thought of spending the night spooned up against Sean made his heart beat faster and his groin tighten pleasantly, even though he agreed that having sex would be a bad idea right now. Dae knew he needed to rest after everything he’d been through, and knew Sean was aware of that fact. The exotic animal specialist Sean had spoken with earlier had told Sean to keep the wolf sedated because strenuous activity might be detrimental to its health. It stood to reason that the same would hold for a werewolf, no matter which form Dae was in at the moment. But he wanted Sean to agree to spend the night, even if it was only to sleep.
To Dae’s surprise, Sean nodded and turned the light off. He walked to the other side of the bed and stripped down.
The room was completely black, but Sean didn’t realize how well Dae could see in the dark. He drank in the sight of Sean’s body, memorizing every plane and valley. Sean’s chest was sprinkled with dark hair that trailed down his belly in a thin line to his groin. There, in a nest of thick, black curls hung the most beautiful cock Dae had ever seen. Circumcised and perfectly shaped, it lay in repose over Sean’s heavily furred sac. The sight of it made Dae’s mouth water, and he drew in a short, quick breath. He got a fast glimpse of Sean’s sweetly rounded ass as Sean turned and sat down on the edge of the bed. His shoulders, while not overly broad, were well developed, and his back tapered into a narrow waist.
Dae wanted Sean more t
han he wanted anyone before in his entire life.
As Sean lay back on the bed, Dae’s skin burned where their bodies touched.
Dae slid over, slipping an arm under Sean’s head and pulling him in close. He rolled himself onto his side, and ignoring the pain in his shoulder, spooned himself next to Sean. Pressing his lips to Sean’s and running his hand over the hard muscles of his shoulders, Dae rubbed his erection against Sean’s firm thigh.
Breaking away from Dae’s kiss, his voice husky, Sean said, “This isn’t going to work, Dae. You promised.”
“I can’t help it, Sean. I want you,” Dae replied truthfully. He ran his fingers through Sean’s chest hair.
Sean took a deep breath, as if willing himself not to respond to Dae’s touch. “You promised, Dae. Remember? Not five minutes ago, you swore there’d be no funny stuff. Just sleep. I’m going to have to go home. You need to rest!”
Dae sighed then rolled to his back, defeated. “You are one tough customer, Sean, and quite possibly the most stubborn man I’ve ever met. You win.”
“No, I don’t believe you. Look, I want you too, Dae. This isn’t easy for me either,” Sean said softly, sitting up. “But I’ve waited four years for you. I can wait another couple of days. I think it would be best if I went home.”
“Please don’t go,” Dae said, cringing when he realized how needy he sounded. “I’ll shift, if it will make you feel better. I just want to be near you tonight.” He tried to look contrite so that Sean wouldn’t want to leave him, but in truth he didn’t feel sorry at all.
“Okay, then shift. Change shapes. Do that voodoo that you do so well,” Sean answered after a moment. His eyes gleamed with wonder when Dae did as instructed. “Now go to sleep, and don’t get any ideas during the night!” he chided, lying down and throwing an arm over the shaggy fur of the wolf.
Dae lapped his tongue over Sean’s cheek, much to Sean’s obvious chagrin, before settling down and curling up on top of the quilt. Wolf-form or man-form, he found that he loved feeling Sean’s body next to his. Exhausted from his ordeals that day, he swiftly relinquished himself to the arms of sleep.
Running With the Moon Page 4