by Zoe Perdita
The road to get there was more of a path, and his car was covered in dirt and fern fronds. Sharp probably should’ve mentioned that a four wheel drive vehicle would be best, but Felan wasn’t going to worry about that now.
At least the cabin looked sturdy enough. The wood was dark and looked like it was being devoured by moss, but it was in good repair. The windows were solid, as was the door, and the surroundings were idyllic for a wolf on the full moon. Even when Felan focused his senses, he couldn’t pick up any sounds from the city, only the chirping of birds and the beat of Ari’s heart and his steady footsteps on the cabin’s small porch.
Ari opened the door, and Felan let him step inside first and followed.
One bed, neatly made with clean bedding, sat pushed into a corner near a window. There was a single kerosene lamp on a roughly hewn table with two chairs. It also had a small kitchen with a sink and a counter. A door to the side led to a bathroom, but Felan didn’t bother looking inside.
“This works,” Ari said and set down his load, eyeing the bed carefully as he did.
Felan’s chest eased. At least the healer didn’t say he’d have to sleep in the car or something. “Does it?”
“Yeah. I think it does. It’s better on the inside than the outside. Plus, Conner keeps it neat. He’s not Seth,” Ari said with a snort that told Felan plenty.
“Is that why you two never dated? He’s not neat enough for you,” Felan asked and started unloading the food onto the meager kitchen shelves. They were open to the room, little more than two by fours attached to the wall.
“Me and Seth? Ha! Why the hell would I want to date him? He’s been a mess for years. Sharp is a mess too, but I think they balance each other out. Plus, he’s too pretty for my taste,” Ari said, and Felan swore the healer’s cheeks flushed.
“Too pretty? I didn’t know there was such a thing.” He’d been a mess, and that broke them apart. No wonder Ari didn’t want to deal with someone else like that.
“It is.”
“What is your type?” Felan asked, and nearly bit his tongue after he did. That was a dumb question, but it got Ari to think of something else, not the weight that had just been thrust upon his shoulders. He probably shouldn’t think of ‘thrusting’ and ‘Ari’ in the same damn sentence right now, actually, or his memories of those kisses—those stolen moments—might come back.
Ari snorted, a plastic bag clutched in his hand. It crinkled as he moved toward the bed and dropped it. “Shut the hell up. You know my type. Just like I know your type.”
Felan’s skin heated, even though the still air in the cabin was quite cool. The canopy of trees and the lush underbrush kept it shaded enough that the sun didn’t filter through. The alpha stirred. Perked his ears. He probably shouldn’t say it, but the words slipped out before he could stop them. “I only have one type: you.”
Ari had his back to Felan, and his shoulders stiffened at those words. He expected the healer to spin around and pin him with a look, instead, he ducked his chin to his chest and started unbuttoning his shirt. “I need to wash my wound. You brought the stuff?”
“It’s in the car,” Felan said and forced himself to walk out the door and get it, his thigh stinging, instead of watching his mate strip. He wasn’t sure he could control the alpha not to move forward and run his fingers over that smooth flesh. Kiss the back of Ari’s exposed neck and trail his tongue across the slick skin.
And if he did that Felan didn’t know how Ari might respond. Give in? Yes, he could handle that? Push him away? Not so much.
When he got back inside, Ari sat on the bed, his shirt strung over one of the chairs along with his pants and his boxers.
Nude.
Felan blinked. Maybe the silver had messed with his mind and he was seeing things. No, Ari was still there. Still naked and looking at him with bright green eyes, like the moss that grew outside.
“The kit?” Ari asked and pointed at his side and Felan’s leg.
Felan held it up.
“The bathroom doesn’t have hot water, and it’s only a pump that goes into a metal bin. I think we can heat it on that stove,” he said and nodded toward the kitchen. A large pot sat there, but Felan didn’t bother to look at it.
Hell, he wasn’t sure he could’ve torn his eyes away from Ari unless something was on fire. Even then, it was debatable.
“You’re naked,” Felan said as Ari grabbed the kit from him.
“And you’re a regular Sherlock, aren’t you? Take your pants off.”
Felan didn’t need to think about it to comply. The alpha was pacing now, eager, but he told the beast it had to do with the wound and nothing more. Only, Ari needn’t have stripped for the gash on his side.
But he had.
The alpha undid his pants and let them pool on the ground as he toed off his loafers (not hiking shoes, but he didn’t know this is where they’d be going), and stepped out of them.
Ari watched.
Licked his lips, and the way that pink tip of his tongue darted over them set Felan’s blood on fire.
“Shirt too,” Ari said.
Felan carefully picked at each button, managing not to rip it off. He wasn’t sure where he found the patience. Probably from years of dealing with Ari not wanting him. He tossed it on the chair with the clothes Ari had borrowed.
“Why are you naked?” he managed to ask, his voice a rough growl. All alpha.
Ari leaned forward, his body taut and firm, if a little thicker in the middle. He’d been quite thin when he was younger, now he wasn’t all skin and bones. Either way suited Felan fine, because Ari was beautiful no matter what. His dark lashes fluttered as he yanked the bandage off the alpha’s wound with those tapered fingers, deft as ever. “It looks good. No silver pieces came off in the wound, and I saw to it before it could fester, no thanks to you being a stubborn asshole.”
“Ari, why are you naked?” Felan repeated, because if he didn’t find out soon, he wasn’t sure what he might do. “If you want to take a bath—”
“Check my wound. Tell me how it looks,” Ari said, cutting him off and peeling back his own bandages with a slight flinch.
Felan leaned in. Sucked in Ari’s musk, the smell of green things and herbs mixed with his sweat.
“No red streaks. It's scabbing over nicely. Looks a bit sore, but that’s it. The stitches are holding,” Felan said, and didn’t let his fingers wander too near, no matter how badly he wanted to trace every inch of Ari’s body.
Ari glanced at it. “We can let them breathe for a bit before we apply more salve.”
Then he did the last thing Felan expected and scooted back onto the bed, not bothering to put anything on.
“Are you trying to drive me insane?” Felan growled and pressed a knee into the mattress. It was firm but comfortable enough to live with for a few days.
“I’m trying to relax. Why? Does seeing me naked make the alpha inconsolable?” Ari asked, his voice on the edge of either humor or scorn, and at that point, Felan found it impossible to decide which it was.
The blood rushed from his brain to his cock, and that was the only thing that seemed up to functioning properly at the moment.
“More like insatiable,” he grumbled and crawled across the bed toward Ari, who eyed him with a heat Felan hadn’t seen in years. He caught a hint of it the other night, but he was sure that it was only a faint glimmer.
This was more like an inferno, ready to scorch them both to the very soul, and he was fine with that as long as he got to be with Ari again. Hear him moan and see him squirm for more pleasure—another release. He’d give his mate everything he wanted, if only Felan got that much from him in return.
Ari didn’t scoot away. He spread his legs, putting his cock and dark pubes, trimmed short, on full display. “And how can I help with that?”
Felan growled, the alpha so close to the surface it would be impossible to leash now. At least Ari didn’t look like he was going to get up and bolt. Or change his mind.
Plea
se, don’t let him change his mind.
“I thought it didn’t mean anything,” Felan said, despite the alpha and his cock, which twitched the closer he got to Ari.
Ari met his level gaze. “It didn’t, but this . . . . This does. Because I realized I don’t want to lose you the way we lost Kian.”
The name stung, a prick right to his chest, and Felan swallowed it down. Nodded in perfect understanding and pressed a kiss to Ari’s bony knee.
Ari let out a breath, half exasperated. “That’s not what I had in mind.”
“Well, how else shall I sate the beast, healer?” Felan asked, and let his hot breath and tongue trail up Ari’s thigh to his waiting cock. It flushed purple, filling with blood and half hardening.
Ari bit his lip, his chest heaving, and scowled. It didn’t hold the same fire as his old scowl.
This was part of their game. Felan could see that now. Ari never made anything easy, and that’s part of why Felan loved him.
The challenge.
“I’m going to tease you until you’re hard and dripping. That’s how I want you when I swallow you whole,” Felan growled and lapped up Ari’s hip, to the bone that stuck out, and nipped at it gently, just enough to bruise.
Ari hissed, and his hips pumped into the empty air. “Bastard,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No.”
Ari’s fingers snagged in Felan’s hair, but he didn’t push or demand, just let his fingers play with the strands and scratch on his scalp—something Ari knew drove the alpha crazy in the best way.
“Now you’re playing dirty,” Felan said around a groan as his cock flooded at Ari’s touch. He dragged his mouth across the healer’s stomach, and it flinched and shivered under him.
Ari’s cock stiffened with each touch, and the desire coursing through Felan’s blood to taste it, lap at the rounded head until it burst, filled him from his toes to the tips of his ears.
Felan gave into it. No point holding off. Not after everything that had already happened. Not after waiting so damn long.
He leaned back enough to take in Ari’s body one last time, the way his chest heaved and the lust that shone brightly in his eyes.
Then the alpha leaned down, mouth open and hungry for his mate.
His lips slipped over the head slowly, pausing to listen to the breath Ari took, the high-pitched moan that slipped out of his throat. His fingers tugged harder in Felan’s hair, but he could take a little pinch if it meant he got to taste his mate again.
“Shit,” Ari groaned as the alpha inhaled him to the root.
The shaft throbbed on his tongue and between his lips, thick and sweet, the tang of musk sharp. Felan hummed as he sucked and bobbed, Ari’s pubes tickling his nose.
If this were the past, he’d have taken his time. Licked and teased until Ari was writhing beneath him, but they weren’t the same men they’d been back then. And that’s not what he thought Ari needed right now. Nor was it what the alpha needed.
Felan moved his head faster, swirling his tongue over the shaft madly, letting Ari’s hips buck into his mouth, completely random and wild. The fervor of the moment crept up his cheeks and down his chest, and he clamped his hands on Ari’s knees and sucked until the tip of the healer’s cock hit the back of his throat.
Felan squeezed it, sucking as hard as he could. As if he could pull the desire out of Ari and let it fill him. Bask in its glow for as long as he wanted.
Or, at the very least, show Ari what he meant to Felan. How much the alpha missed him—missed this.
Ari writhed, his breath hitched.
His legs trembled under Felan’s hold, telling him Ari was close, and he pulled back and milked the tip, lapping at the head until Ari came in his mouth, gasping and thrusting his hips into the source of pleasure.
Felan swallowed. Licked Ari’s fading erection clean and let his mouth pop free.
Ari sprawled on the bed, his eyes closed and chest heaving. His wound still looked good, and Felan crawled next to him and kissed his temple.
“You—” Ari managed, but Felan cut off whatever he was going to say with a kiss. He licked his way inside Ari’s compliant mouth and groaned when he pulled away.
“You need rest. I do too. Sleep, Ari,” Felan said and rested his head next to his mate’s.
His own lust might’ve been achingly unfulfilled, but seeing Ari like this made it worthwhile.
Kian filled his dreams again, but instead of a rotting vengeful corpse, he was alive. His brown hair had been darker than Felan’s, and it fell into his eyes when he played piano. He never bothered to move it, and in the dream, he didn’t either.
Ari stood next to him, a look of calm settled over the healer’s face. His fingers wrapped around Kian’s shoulder, and a jolt of white hot jealousy shot through Felan’s chest, jabbing him in the heart.
Kian smiled, showing his fangs.
The song’s tempo changed from steady to erratic. The notes off kilter and wrong, but Ari and Kian kept smiling at each other as if everything was right with the world.
Then, out from under Ari’s firm grip, Kian faded into nothing.
Yet the music still played, and Ari still smiled.
And Felan was stuck watching it all like some kind of outsider, unable to move or speak. Bile rose in his throat when he tried to call out. It felt as if he needed to wake Ari from that dream, because if he didn’t, his mate would stay like that forever as the house and world crumbled around him.
The cabin was dark when Felan opened his eyes. Not unusual since they’d been up half the night and all morning. He wasn’t sure when they’d finally gotten to sleep, but it’d been sometime in the early afternoon.
The thing that woke him, however, wasn’t the darkness in the room. It was the sound of water running, and Ari letting out a hissed curse every few minutes.
“There’s a lantern,” Felan said and sat up. The wound on his leg was slick with fresh salve, but Ari hadn’t covered it yet.
A pale sliver of moonlight peeked in the worn curtains, and he spotted Ari stick his head out of the bathroom. “I can’t figure out how to light the damn thing.”
“Says the man who owns an antique shop,” Felan deadpanned and got up. Stretched. Then walked over to the lantern. There was plenty of kerosene in it, and he saw matches on the shelf.
“Shut up. I don’t specialize in human antiques. If I did, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Ari said and came into the cabin proper with a pot of water. He remarkably didn’t slosh any on the floor.
Felan helped him set it on the stove and lit it before Ari could try. It was propane—he’d noticed the tank outside, and Ari had the sense to crack open a window already. The cool night air drifted in, fresh with the scent of life and soil—growing things.
Ari still looked a little pinched around the eyes and paler than normal but better than he had the morning before.
“That needs to heat so we can wash with warm water, at least. What the hell does Conner do out here that doesn’t require hot water, anyway?”
“Shift and sleep, I’d guess. If Alwen comes with him—”
“I got it,” Ari said and his mouth twisted between a smile and a frown. “And they obviously use that bed. Guess we’ll have to wash the sheets when we leave.”
Felan let those words settle over him like a warm summer breeze. “It’s the polite thing to do, even if we didn’t make a mess.”
“Not yet,” Ari said, and Felan swore the healer’s eyes glinted before he turned toward the door. “Watch the stove. I’m going to go pick a few herbs. The light of the moon is when certain plants are the most potent. And when I get back . . . .”
His voice trailed off, and the fire in Felan’s groin flared to life again. “Stay close. Scream if you see anything out of the ordinary. I don’t like letting you out of my sight.”
Ari paused at the door and nodded. “I’m not going far. You’ll be able to see me.”
Fel
an watched Ari go and knelt on the bed to see him slip through the ferns and trees. He had no idea what the healer saw, only that Ari could spot things that were magic with more refinement than even a shifter could smell them. Most plants smelled too strongly for the magic to be detectable, in the alpha’s experience, unless they were so powerful the scent of magic overwhelmed everything else.
The plastic bag crinkled next to his knee, and Felan lifted it up. Ari hadn’t unpacked it when they arrived. In fact, Felan didn’t remember ever seeing what the healer bought when they stopped for food.
He dumped the contents on the bed, and his heart sped up.
Felan laughed.
Either Ari had developed a crueler sense of humor than Felan realized, or his mate was giving him a not so subtle hint that Felan had a second chance.
He wasn’t going to ruin it this time.
But first he needed to know what Ari really wanted. And if it wasn’t the same thing the alpha needed; he’d have to walk away for good. The thought chilled him, set a stone in his stomach.
However, it was the right thing to do.
The thing Kian would’ve told him to do, and for once, Felan listened to it.
11
Ari hadn’t been outside in nothing more than his underwear in ages, not since he was a boy, he guessed. But he wasn’t about to put those pants on when he hadn’t showered in over twenty-four hours. Hence the bath and the bottle of lube he left on the table.
Hopefully, Felan would take the hint.
Ari wasn’t sure he’d been in his right mind when he bought the damn thing, still reeling from the overload of information. The hunters and the cops, all after him, of all people. All because of some knife that was hopefully still hidden and safe in his house.
The thought of his home made the back of his throat sore and his chest ached. He pinched his eyes shut and shook it away. Any damage they inflicted could be repaired. But Kian was trapped there, alone, and if something happened to the Victorian what would that mean for Kian’s spirit?
Would he remain on the land or would he fade away—go wherever the dead are supposed to go after they die?