He moved slowly, grabbing his jeans and slipping on a shirt and shoes. He moved the rock at the cave entrance carefully and looked outside. The wind was chilly this morning. Jude looked over his shoulder; Hayden was still asleep. He made his way down the ridge to the plane wreckage and looked around. The chicken that had been placed there last night was gone, as was the water jug. Jude stepped back into the wreckage and stopped. Right behind the first set of seats was a kid. His hair was deep black, his skin a beautiful copper.
Jude moved around some of the wreckage, stepping on a piece of glass. It cracked under his weight, alerting the kid to his presence. Wide, golden eyes looked at him in fear. Jude put his hands up and backed away a bit.
“I won’t hurt you, I promise.” Jude backed up further as the teen stood up. He was dirty, like he hadn’t had a bath in weeks. His hair was matted and dirt was caked on his feet. Jude’s heart broke for him.
“Were they your parents?” Jude asked quietly.
The kid nodded slowly and Jude swallowed hard.
“I’m so sorry for your loss.”
He stayed a good distance away and leaned against the seat behind him.
“What’s your name?” The kid tilted his head, looking at him. “I promise I won’t hurt you. You’re the werewolf we saw yesterday, aren’t you?” Again, the kid nodded. “My name is Jude Brooks. I’m a werewolf with the Maccon pack.”
Jude was startled when the kid’s eyes widened and he backed up quickly, his head swinging around wildly, looking for a way out.
“Whoa, hey, it’s okay. I promise I would never hurt you.” To prove his point, Jude moved away from the exit of the plane. “You’re free to leave. I won’t try to stop you. I just want to make sure you’re okay. My friend and I came to help you. We’ve taken pictures of the plane to send to a friend of ours to find out who the couple is. You said they were your parents. Don’t you think they deserve a proper burial?”
“Yes, they do,” the kid whispered.
Jude tentatively smiled. “So you do speak.”
“My name is Dasan Black.”
“Well it’s nice to meet you, Dasan.” Jude moved further back. “As I said, you can leave if you want. I’m not here to hurt you.”
“They said…” Dasan looked around nervously. “They said the other pack was dangerous.”
“Who said?” Jude raised his brows.
“Dane, the alpha. He said the other wolves were bad.”
“Oh, well, there are bad wolves here. Rogues.”
“Yellow-eyed ones are bad.”
Jude nodded. “Yes they are. We keep this land so that they aren’t anywhere near humans. We don’t want them to hurt innocent people.”
Dasan eyed the man in front of him. “He said the other ones were bad, too.”
Jude crossed his arms. “Did he now? Well, that’s funny. We didn’t accept him into our pack because he’s homophobic. We’re not. So who’s bad?”
Dasan blinked in surprise. “You’re not homophobic?”
“I’m kind of gay,” Jude laughed.
Dasan’s eyes widened. “You are?”
“Yes.”
“Was that, um, your boyfriend yesterday?”
Jude smiled at the thought of Hayden. Were they together? They’d had sex and Hayden had bitten him.
“Kind of.” Jude smiled at the look on Dasan’s face. “I like him and he likes me. We haven’t had that conversation yet.” Jude sat down on one of the seats. “Are you gay?” Jude kept his eyes trained on the kid. He seemed to fidget and he turned his face away. “Hey, it’s okay if you are.”
“No, it’s not!” Dasan shouted. “They kicked me out because of it!”
“Well I wouldn’t have, and neither would my pack. Almost all of us are gay or bi. We have a few straight ones; you know, we can’t all be perfect,” Jude chuckled. He sobered and looked at the younger wolf. “Why did Lev bring you food?”
Dasan’s eyes went wild. “You won’t tell, will you? He takes care of me. He didn’t like the way I was treated.”
Jude shook his head. “No, I won’t tell. I’ve never met your alpha.”
“You’re lucky,” Dasan snorted.
“He’s a dick, huh?” Jude smiled as Dasan chuckled.
“He didn’t used to be. Then some new people came around and now he’s a huge dick.” Dasan looked around the plane. “I always came here even when I was still in the pack. They found me here. I was ten.”
“How old are you now?”
“I’ll be seventeen in a few months,” Dasan sighed and sat down. “I was almost dead. They bit me to save me. Well, Lev bit me. Dane almost killed me right away. I guess Lev didn’t ask.”
Jude was starting to realize that Lev wasn’t the ass he pretended to be.
“He fought for me, you know? Or he tried. Now he sneaks out to bring me food.”
“I can take you out of here. You’ll be well taken care of and we’ll make sure your parents have a proper burial. Do you have any other family?”
“I don’t think so. My parents always said it was the three of us against the world.”
“You’re the wolf who saved one of our colleagues — Ruslan Borkosky — when we were here before, aren’t you?” Jude smiled as Dasan’s cheeks reddened.
“They were going to shoot him.”
“What were you doing way out there? I mean that’s quite a distance to travel if you’ve been by the plane all the time.”
Dasan bit his bottom lip. “I like to explore. Sometimes I run for a really long time until I get tired. I…smelled that man.”
Jude cocked an eyebrow. “You smelled him?”
Dasan nodded.
Jude stood up. He was going to have to play this just right and be very careful. Pushing Dasan was a bad idea. He needed to just sit back and wait for the younger wolf to come to them.
“We’ll be here for a few days. If you decide you want to leave with us, you’re more than welcome to.”
“That’s it?” Dasan eyed the werewolf. He had the most interesting eyes, like burgundy wine.
Jude turned and looked over his shoulder. “We’re not going to force you. If you want to leave this life and start a new one, Hayden and I will make sure you have it.”
“Is that his name?”
Jude nodded. “Yes, Hayden Cox is the beta of the Oregon pack.”
“He’s hot.” Dasan blushed.
Jude smiled. “Yeah, he is.” Jude walked out of the plane. “If you want to leave, just come find us. We won’t be far.” Jude climbed back up the ridge to find Hayden cooking breakfast. He smiled and sat down on one of the rocks. Hayden glanced his way and winked.
“Nice job.”
“You heard?” Jude grabbed a piece of ham out of the pan.
Hayden nodded, biting into a biscuit. “I think you handled that well. He needs to know we won’t pressure him.”
“I guess we’ve accomplished our mission —we found the lone wolf who saved Ruslan and know his story. So, we’ll stay camped out here then.” Jude wiped some grease from Hayden’s bottom lip.
“Yes,” Hayden grinned. “I’m hot, huh?”
“Shut up.” Jude narrowed his eyes.
~*~
They spent the rest of the day making the cave more comfortable. Jude placed the beds together to make one big one. He and Hayden were going to have to discuss their relationship now. Hayden had bitten him. It was a mark of ownership and it needed to be talked about at length. If they were going to be together, some rules had to be put in place. Jude looked around the cave, and then stepped outside.
The sun was setting and it was getting dark fast. Where was Hayden? A growl off to his right made him stiffen. Yellow, glassy eyes reflected back at him and Jude backed up.
Shit. Walter.
Jude went for the knife in his boot. A loud growl reverberated around him and Jude backed up more. His foot slipped and he caught himself, but not fast enough.
Walter jumped out of the darkness but
was hit before he could make contact with Jude. Hayden rolled off to the side as Walter righted himself. Jude grabbed the knife from his boot and lunged for Walter. Hayden jumped in the way.
“Hayden! Watch out!” Jude shouted.
Hayden let out a howl of pain as Walter’s canines punctured his neck. Jude jumped on Walter’s back and shoved the knife in his eye. Walter backpedaled, howling, knocking Jude off of him and almost off the side of the cliff. Hayden regained his footing and lunged at Walter — sending them both over the side.
“Hayden!” Jude shouted.
Jude grabbed Hayden’s tail and hung on. Walter plummeted to the forest below and let out a loud howl. Jude heard the bones cracking, and then a low whine. Hayden’s tail was slipping through his fingers. Jude grabbed Hayden’s back leg and swung him back on the ledge. He took Hayden’s face in his hands and checked his eyes.
“God, you’ve been bitten!” Jude touched the blood-soaked fur on Hayden’s neck. Hayden whined and his body shuddered. Jude picked him up in his arms and walked him into the cave. He set Hayden down gently on the bed and looked for the supplies.
“Jude…”
“Hayden?” Jude ran to Hayden and crouched down. “What do I do?” Hayden shifted back to human and Jude grabbed a blanket, covering him up. He was already soaked in sweat.
“Why did you do that?! I would have been okay.”
“Ever so appreciative,” Hayden croaked.
“Thank you for what you did out there just now. I know this can’t be pleasant for you.” Jude wiped the blood from Hayden’s neck. The puncture wounds were still there. “God, this can’t be good.”
“I’ll be fine in a couple days. The Maccon blood just has to do its work.” Hayden closed his eyes with a sigh.
Jude sat next to the bed and wiped Hayden’s brow. “You’re not going to…die, are you?”
Hayden opened his eyes. “You mean like Scott? No, I don’t think so. I’ve been bitten before, so I’ve built up immunity.”
Jude wiped the blood still oozing from Hayden’s neck. “It’s not closing up. Is that bad?”
“It’s normal.” Hayden searched Jude’s face. “You’re worried.”
“Of course I am!” Jude exhaled in frustration.
Hayden shivered as the rogue saliva attacked his body. It wasn’t his first time getting bit and he remembered the pain that came with it. He was going to have to tell Jude everything that would be happening.
“Look, this is going to get ugly for the next twelve to twenty four hours. You need to be prepared.”
“Ugly how?” Jude smoothed Hayden’s hair from his brow.
“Well, I’m going to be very hot, so sweating for sure. I may convulse, puke, shit — ”
“Okay, TMI on the shitting.”
Hayden tried to smile, but the pain was already beginning. He was going to go through this with Jude there watching everything. Great. Just what he wanted the love of his life to see.
“God, you’re so pale,” Jude whispered, caressing Hayden’s cheek. “Do you need some water? Your lips are chapped.”
Hayden licked his lips. “Yeah. Um, I need a favor.”
“What kind of favor?”
“I need you to bite me.”
Jude cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“It helps combat the rogue saliva. I wouldn’t ask except I think it might go easier on you.”
“On me? Who cares about me, I’m worried about you.” Jude leaned over and took Hayden’s wrist.
“Um, my neck.”
Jude sat back and eyed Hayden. “Is this some kind of come on?” Jude grinned.
“Yes Jude. I got bit by a rogue on purpose so you could give me a hickey.” Hayden closed his eyes with a sigh. The heat had started rolling up his spine. The worst of the pain was coming.
Jude palmed Hayden’s face and turned his head slightly to the side. He leaned over and let his canines drop. Carefully, he closed them over Hayden’s neck, biting down. A shiver passed through him as Hayden’s hands dug into his hips. Jude let up and backed away slowly. Hayden’s eyes were closed and he was breathing heavily.
“Are you okay?” Jude pulled the blanket up higher on Hayden.
Hayden nodded, his eyes still closed. “Yes. Keep an eye out for Walter. I don’t think he’ll come back tonight, but you never know. We’ll have to find Roy soon and have him watch our backs.”
Jude lifted Hayden’s head up so he could sip some water. The blanket slid down and Jude couldn’t help but look at Hayden’s expansive chest. He ran a finger over one of the skulls on Hayden’s side. The skin rippled under his touch.
“Do you need to shift?” Jude whispered.
“I will when it becomes too much.”
“Should I call someone? I don’t know what to do.” Honestly, the memories of Scott being attacked and injected with rogue saliva were coming back to him. He couldn’t watch Hayden go through the same thing. What if Hayden was wrong? What if he did die? Jude shuddered.
“Hey,” Hayden said softly. “I’m not going to die, I promise.”
“My thoughts are off.”
“Your expressions are on.” Hayden palmed Jude’s face. “You still have those incredible, expressive eyes. I swore you could see right through me.”
“You’re not making sense, Hayden.”
“I was singing to you, Jude, not to Ross. I’m so sorry for the way I behaved back then. I didn’t know what to make of my feelings. I know how I feel now, and I don’t care if you don’t feel the same way. Just know that back then I had feelings for you, and I went about things in the wrong way. I will never hurt you again, Jude.”
“Shh.” Jude pulled the blanket back up as Hayden started shivering. “We’ve already talked about this, Hayden. I do feel something for you, remember?”
“Please say you forgive me,” Hayden mumbled.
Jude sat back as Hayden’s eyelids fluttered and closed. He had perfect lips. Full bottom lip just made for nibbling and a thinner, but still plump, top lip. Long blond lashes fanned out over smooth skin. A slight hint of stubble lined his strong jawline. Jude tilted his head, looking at Hayden’s face. He hadn’t changed that much from middle school — well besides being six-foot-five and bulging with muscles.
Jude got up quietly and changed. He sat on the bed next to Hayden and watched the taller man shiver and mumble.
It was going to be a long night.
~*Chapter Seven*~
Jude wiped Hayden’s brow for the hundredth time. He’d gone down to get ice cold water earlier. He didn’t want to leave Hayden alone for too long. The man had been crying out his name all night. Jude was getting the picture now. Hayden had always had feelings for him — even from the very beginning. Hayden would shout in pain, and then mumble for a few hours, and then it would start all over again. The one constant was Hayden crying his name. Jude leaned over and kissed Hayden’s lips softly. Lashes fluttered and blue eyes looked into his.
“You’re real,” Hayden croaked.
“I am. I’m not leaving you. Try to rest, okay?”
“I’m so sorry, Jude.” Hayden winced as pain lanced up his back.
“Shh, it’s okay. You’ve told me everything Hayden.”
“I love you,” Hayden mumbled.
Jude sat back in shock. Well, that was new. Had he really just heard that?
“I love you so much, Jude.” Hayden arched his back and gripped the blanket.
Yep. He’d heard right. Jude leaned over again and kissed Hayden softly. His skin was on fire and he was so pale, Jude was starting to panic. He closed his eyes and concentrated on Ross or Noah. Hopefully one of them had their thoughts on. Ross was the first one to respond.
“What’s up, Jude?”
“Hayden’s been bitten by Walter. I’m worried about him.”
“Fucking Walter!” Ross snarled. “How’s Hayden? The puking started yet?”
Jude was about to answer when Hayden sat up and violently heaved the contents of his sto
mach. Jude’s first instinct was to throw up. Despite being a paramedic, he was never really good with other people puking.
“Just did.” Jude swallowed and tried not to look at the mess on the blanket.
“Well, I hate to say this, but the bodily functions are going to start, um, losing control?”
“Okay, what else?”
“Just keep him hydrated and cool. It shouldn’t last too much longer.”
“Thanks, Ross. It’s just us two out here for now and I’m really worried. Are you sure he’s going to recover from this?”
“He was bitten not too long ago in the mines and he recovered. He’s strong.”
“Okay. Thanks, Ross.”
“No problem.”
Jude shut the connection off and took the blanket off of Hayden. He grabbed a new one and placed it over him.
“I’ll be right back, okay?” Jude whispered. “I’m just going to clean the blanket.”
“Have to go.” Hayden sat up quickly.
“You need to lie back down, Hayden.”
“No. I have to go.” Hayden stood up and held onto the wall.
Jude studied his face.
“Oh, you have to go.”
He held Hayden’s bicep and walked him outside. He found a spot with some privacy and turned his back to Hayden.
“Can’t go with you standing there.” Hayden gripped the rock in front of him. He closed his eyes, trying to stay focused and upright.
“Okay, I’ll just be down by the river okay? I’m going to clean the blanket and get us some fresh water.”
Jude made his way down the ridge, keeping his eye out for Walter. Why they hadn’t just killed the rogue when they’d had the chance he’d never know. A loud howl of pain pierced the quiet morning and Jude turned toward it. He shot a glance up at the ridge.
“Go, Jude. I heard it too. I’ll be okay.”
Jude ran to the plane and undressed. Shoving his clothing in a bag, he shifted, grabbed the bag in his canines and ran. The howls of pain were coming more frequently and Jude ran full out. The trees became thicker, and what should have taken an hour took mere minutes. Jude broke through the tree line to see Dasan trapped beneath the fencing. The wire had snagged his fur and cut him down his back. The water surrounded him and swept over his head, giving him mere seconds to pull in air before it covered him again.
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