by Odessa Lynne
He continued on until he’d entered the cool quiet of the woods and could spend less effort worrying about stray sounds and more on moving quickly.
The time passed quickly. Cam was traveling at a steady clip through the trees and underbrush, the ropes digging into his shoulders and biceps, when he heard the first stirring of sound from Rick.
He immediately reached into his pocket to feel for the needle Eli had given him. It was still there. Of course, he wouldn’t need it right away, and maybe not at all, but there was relief in knowing it was there.
He stopped and untangled himself from the ropes and dropped his hands to his knees and panted in a few deep breaths. He followed that with a nice cool drink of water from the canteen hanging from a strap over his shoulder.
Then he turned to Rick and squatted down beside him. Rick looked . . . half dead still. No doubt about that. Blood had flecked his face and dried in his eyebrows. The gash across his head had scabbed over even more since the last time Cam had looked.
Cam pushed back the soft, thick hair over Rick’s ear, getting blood all over his fingers, and studied the injury. It was closing up, and Cam marveled at the ability the wolves had to heal such deadly wounds.
And now that ability had been passed on to him. A fierce joy tightened his throat. If he could pass that biotech on to Ava and the boys like Rick had implied he could, he would finally be able to stop worrying about them all the damn—
Rick dragged in a deep breath, startling Cam into jerking his hand back.
After a few seconds of nothing, Cam released a pent up exhale. He pushed his fingers through Rick’s bloody, sticky hair again. “You about to start making a full recovery here, buddy?”
Rick’s eyes snapped open.
This time Cam didn’t jerk away. He stilled, watching Rick cautiously.
Rick’s eyes slipped closed again and his chest rattled with another indrawn breath.
Cam dragged himself to his feet again and started gathering up the ropes. He wanted to put as much distance between himself and those assholes as he could before nightfall. If he had been alone, he would’ve already been within ten miles of his secret headquarters, but Rick was one heavy wolf. He couldn’t leave him out here alone in the shape he was in. The blood might draw coyotes or a bear not too afraid of the smell of wolves. Then again, not many of Earth’s species weren’t afraid of the wolves, with their wicked claws and their fierce roar.
Cam wouldn’t be in the shape he was in if he’d been able to find his horse back at the old water recycling plant where he’d been ambushed. There’d been a wolf in the area even then, although Cam hadn’t realized it until later. When he’d come to and gone looking for his horse, she’d been gone. Dorie had steady nerves, but even she was terrified of the wolves.
Cam would bet good money the wolves had been one of the top predators on their former world.
After another hour of hauling Rick along behind him, Cam felt the litter start to drag. He stopped, huffing with effort and glanced behind him to find Rick’s hand hanging over the side and the strap holding it in place shifted to just above Rick’s elbow.
It hadn’t been his fingers catching in the briars and leaves, though; it had been his claws. Fully extended like that, Rick’s claws made Cam’s pulse flutter at his throat. His blood rushed just a little faster and he swallowed past the tightening of his throat.
Henry’s claws hadn’t been that long. Henry had admitted to being young, though, too young to even ask permission to mate Cam until he’d been through his first heat.
At fifteen, then sixteen, Cam hadn’t given a shit about permission. Henry had not been so cavalier.
In the end, Cam had gotten his way. Henry had—
What the hell was wrong with him?
Cam shook his head. Why wouldn’t thoughts of Henry leave him the hell alone?
Cam left the litter where it was and walked off into the woods, breathing in the sweet, sharp scent of pine. This particular area was overrun with them which might be a good thing. The heavily scented air probably wouldn’t stop a wolf from catching his human scent, but the scent of the pines might act as a bit of camouflage if he deliberately stirred it up and wallowed around in it. He contemplated the thick bed of dead pine needles under the base of a tall pine with a few straggly branches low to the ground. Might not make a bad bed either, because he damn well needed a rest and night was coming on fast. Without his multi-tool, walking through the night would be risky. If he stepped into a hole the wrong way, he might break a damn leg.
That settled, Cam set about making camp. No fire, because he didn’t want to give away his location to wolves or humans. Twenty minutes later, just as the last of the sun dipped behind the horizon, he plopped down onto a thick bed of pine needles and the thin blanket and rested his head back against the lone red oak he’d been able to find within fifty feet.
He liked oak. It was certainly better than waking up with pine sap all over him.
He glanced over at Rick one last time, but Rick hadn’t moved since Cam had stopped them. He finally closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him.
* * *
He dreamed of Henry again. He hated the way he felt in the dreams, happy the way only a kid without any experience of the real world could be. He dreamed of claws raking across his skin and along his spine and a hot mouth on the column of his throat. He dreamed of teeth and claws and when he woke suddenly, he realized he wasn’t dreaming at all.
Rick was awake.
Chapter 10
Cam couldn’t help the way he jumped, startled at the closeness of teeth at his throat and hot breath on his skin.
He wasn’t one to ask stupid questions so he didn’t bother asking what Rick thought he was doing.
Anyone with half a brain knew what he was doing.
Rick’s hands pulled Cam away from the tree even as he mouthed his way down into the collar of Cam’s shirt.
Fabric tore, Cam hissed, and Rick’s mouth covered the nipple closest to Cam’s healing knife wound.
Cam grunted but made no effort whatsoever to fight his way free. He wanted what Rick was offering even if it was going to come at a cost.
Rick’s hot tongue licked across Cam’s flesh, the feel wet and obscene.
Crickets sang in the night and the moon was bright overhead as Rick’s hands tugged at Cam’s sweatpants. The fabric slid down over Cam’s hips without any resistance at all.
He had only seconds to grab at the bottle tucked into his pocket, and his fingers closed around it just as Rick growled and yanked and the sweatpants ended up below Cam’s knees.
Cam spread his thighs and brought the bottle up for Rick to see. “I have lube.”
Rick raised his head and stared at Cam momentarily, only his glowing eyes more than a shadow in the night. He shook his head, slowly, as if trying to regain some semblance of rationality, but then Cam heard him breathe deeply and Rick lowered his head again, burying his nose and mouth tight to the curve of Cam’s underarm.
Carefully, gently, Cam tucked his fingers into the hair at the back of Rick’s head. Rick groaned and then whimpered and rubbed against the palm of Cam’s hand.
“I submit,” Cam said, and he was surprised by how coarse his voice sounded. He cleared his throat. “I don’t want to fight. You can have me, but first I’m going to use this lube before it’s too late.”
Rick didn’t respond to the words. He was lost in his heat, finally, and Cam had a feeling it would be a while before Rick became coherent enough to care about anything other than fucking.
Henry had—
Cam clenched his fist around the bottle of lube until his knuckles ached. He wasn’t going to think about Henry. He exhaled, continuing to rub softly at the back of Rick’s head while he used his thumb to pop the lid. He kicked the sweatpants off and didn’t bother being careful, just spilled a good portion of the oil at his groin and down the crack behind his balls, snapped the bottle closed, and dropped it beside him. His fingers shook a bit when he reached
between his and Rick’s heavy body and rubbed the lube around his asshole. He managed to get one finger inside from that awkward position, but by then Rick was already pulling away.
Cam let his hand fall away from Rick’s hair and dragged it across Rick’s bloody shirt. He fisted the other in the hem of his own shirt and wiped away as much of the lubricant as he could.
“Your smell . . .” Rick said, just before he started yanking at his trousers.
Another pop as the button gave way much like the buttons of Cam’s shirt had.
Cam had the sudden realization they were both going to be finishing this journey half dressed.
He slid his hands under Rick’s t-shirt. Hot, hard muscle and firm flesh scorched his palms and hair tickled his fingers. He found several raised scabs that were probably leftovers from the healing bullet holes and he avoided them in favor of dragging his hands upward and across the breadth of Rick’s chest. God, it had been a while since he’d had such a large, hard body over him. Trevor had probably come the closest, but even Trevor had been smaller than Cam.
Rick knelt, reaching into the opening of his own trousers. The moonlight spilled over his cheeks and nose, forming deep shadows in the hollows of his face and under his jaw.
Cam’s dick hardened at the sight, so reminiscent of—
Fucking memories. Why wouldn’t they leave him alone?
Cam twisted on the ground, pulling one knee in tight to Rick’s hip. “Go ahead, fuck me, I’m ready.”
The shadows made it hard for Cam to see exactly what Rick was doing, but he could see the way Rick’s arm moved. “I need to—” Rick didn’t finish his gasped statement.
A warm splatter hit Cam’s lower abdomen and he sucked in his breath at the unexpected shock of semen spilling across his skin. Rick continued to jerk at his cock as more of the thin, alien semen landed on Cam’s lower abdomen and dribbled into his belly button and down into the hair around his dick.
He had forgotten so much about how—
His throat closed up and he dug his fingers into Rick’s hips. “I want you to fuck me hard, make me feel it.”
Rick growled low, but he dropped forward onto his hands. His claws scratched against the blanket, rustling the pine needles underneath. “If I hurt you . . .”
“You’re not going to hurt me.”
And if he did, Cam wasn’t sure he cared. Anything to stop the thoughts beating at his brain.
Rick’s hot breath grazed Cam’s throat and teeth scraped across his collarbone. Cam stretched his head back and let the dark sparks of pleasure twist through him. Rick’s mouth closed over Cam’s throat and the hard rod that was Rick’s thick cock started pushing inside Cam’s asshole.
Cam grunted at the dull pain of a sudden stretch and then relaxed as his ass made room for Rick’s cock.
God, how he loved that feeling.
Rick didn’t hold back. He started pounding into Cam hard and fast, all the while dragging his hot mouth over the flesh of Cam’s throat and chest. Cam squeezed his eyes shut and rode the feeling with as little thought as possible.
Claws poked at his hips where Rick had dragged his hands up from the blanket and started holding Cam in place for his almost violent thrusting. It didn’t take long for Cam to start feeling the bright sparks of pleasure that warned him he was close to coming.
Rick muffled a roar against Cam’s throat, the vibration turning Cam’s skin into gooseflesh in a rush of tingling sensation. Teeth pressed harder as Rick clamped his mouth around the column of Cam’s throat. The pressure intensified almost to the point of pain.
Cam gasped in a deep breath but didn’t fight Rick’s hold. He clutched at Rick’s shoulders, his blunt fingernails digging deep as hot semen spurted deep inside Cam’s ass.
This wouldn’t be the only time Rick would come in his ass tonight as Rick’s heat drove him to mate. Rick would fuck him until his heat cycle had run its course and left them both exhausted and in desperate need of sleep.
In the meantime, if Cam was lucky, he would enjoy a good, hard fuck like none he’d had in years.
Sure enough, Rick continued to rut against him, his motion frantic and rough. Cam winced at one particularly hard thrust and gritted his teeth. The bright pain faded and after a few more moments, the heat of friction and the rubbing of Rick’s penis against Cam’s prostrate brought him to the brink again.
“God,” Cam gasped out. He started pulling on his dick. “Sweet Jesus.”
That was as much as he did to announce his approaching orgasm. He gasped again when it hit and semen shot out of his dick with breath-stealing force.
His entire body seized with pleasure and for the next several moments he did nothing but ride Rick’s cock and try to catch his breath.
Sweat cooled quickly on his skin and his ass became overly sensitive as Rick kept pounding into him. He needed more lubrication if they were going to keep this up, and so he stretched out his arm and started patting along the blanket, looking for the bottle he’d dropped to the side. He found it after a few seconds and had a hell of a time picking it up because of all the lube he’d spilled down the sides of the bottle earlier.
He managed to get the lid popped again and worked his hand between his and Rick’s body. He squirted lube in the vague direction of Rick’s cock where it entered his ass.
Rick reared up onto his knees, pulling free of Cam’s body, his glowing eyes narrowed on Cam and his sharp eyeteeth glimmering in the moonlight. He lunged forward and Cam jerked his head to the side. Rick snapped at Cam, his teeth coming dangerously close to Cam’s ear.
Cam squeezed his eyes shut without even realizing that was what he was doing until he had to force himself to reopen them. His heart was beating so fast he could feel it against his ribcage.
Rick jerked Cam down the blanket and across his knees.
“Shit,” Cam said, barely getting the word out around the sudden seizing in his chest. His back twinged and one of the organs behind his ribs protested the move with a stab of bright hot pain.
Rick stilled, his chest rising and falling inhumanly fast. “I . . .” He shook his head and to Cam he looked like he was trying to shake off a bad high.
Cam reached under his ass and slapped Rick’s thigh. “We’re not done fucking.”
Rick growled and shoved his cock deep inside Cam. Cam’s breath hitched.
The darkness hid much of Rick’s expression, but Cam didn’t need to see to know how lost Rick was to the fire of his heat. He fucked Cam until Cam was panting with the effort to keep up. Cam’s cock had finally hardened again and another orgasm was coming on fast and he didn’t try to hold it off.
His whole body tensed as he came, his orgasm this time more muted, a little bit painful, but still something to chase to the end.
Afterward, with Rick still frantically moving inside him, the feeling bordering on unpleasant but not there yet, Cam stared up at the moon through the thick branches of pine and listened to the blood rushing behind his ears and he remembered—
Too much.
He hadn’t let himself think about Henry in years. He’d pushed the memories away, buried them under his plans and kept them at bay with promises that someday he’d be able to face them without feeling like his heart was being torn out of his chest and dissolved in acid.
That day hadn’t come yet.
Fucking Rick had been a mistake.
Just then, the moon disappeared behind a bank of bright clouds and Rick stiffened above him, driving himself into Cam with a frantic whimper. Cam felt the pulse of hot semen inside him again.
He reached out and dragged his hand through Rick’s hair, holding the back of his head tight, just the way Henry had always liked. Rick’s whimper turned to a soft gasp and he dropped to his elbows over Cam, lowering his head to rub the side of his face hard against Cam’s chest.
Cam kept hold of Rick’s head, and Rick seemed to calm, his thrusts slowing to a more measured pace, and all Cam could do was let the memories wash over him.
God, he missed Henry.
Chapter 11
“Why are you crying?”
The unexpected sound of Rick’s voice echoed quietly against Cam’s ear.
It was the first time Rick had spoken since his rutting inside Cam had stopped and he’d curled up around Cam, tucked his head in against Cam’s back, and appeared to go to sleep.
Cool predawn air swirled under the edge of Cam’s torn collar as Rick moved, and Cam shivered. He wasn’t as cold as he could’ve been. A few minutes ago, he’d managed to grab hold of his sweatpants and drag them on. He’d thought he’d done it without disturbing Rick.
The edge of Rick’s thumb brushed Cam’s cheek. Rick’s touch was as soft as his voice and it made Cam’s chest ache. He stayed still, breathing slow and even while he listened to the wind rustling through the pines.
“I can smell your tears.”
Rick’s hand moved to Cam’s shoulder. Cam resisted for all of two seconds before allowing himself to roll over.
In the faint light of the coming dawn Cam could just make out the fatigue that tightened the skin around Rick’s eyes.
“You need a shower,” Cam said gruffly. He flicked aside a blood-matted piece of hair that hung down at Rick’s temple. “You’re filthy.”
“If you pretend nothing’s wrong, I can’t help you.”
Cam sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had a headache forming behind his eyes, specifically the one with the missing implant. “I don’t want help. You can’t fix the past.”
Rick frowned and curled a warm hand around Cam’s wrist. He pried Cam’s arm back and stared thoughtfully at Cam’s face. “What happened to your eye? Did someone hurt you?”
“No.” Short and clipped. He twisted his wrist in Rick’s grasp, but as he suspected, Rick didn’t release him.
Another moment passed while Rick stared down at Cam, his eyes lit by a faint glow. “You don’t need to feel threatened by my questions. I only want to help you.”
Cam’s mouth curved at the corner. “Yeah. I got that.”
His sarcasm wasn’t lost on Rick. The skin around Rick’s mouth tightened, but all he did was cup Cam’s cheek in his hand and trace the outer edge of Cam’s eye socket. Cam caught himself holding his breath and he exhaled slowly.