An Ignited Passion

by Sandrine Gasq-Dion

  “It’s your birthday,” Nadine shrugged. Laughter filled the house as they all took turns talking about Wyatt’s

  childhood. The group made their way out to the bonfire with cups of coffee and sat down on the variously sized stumps that doubled as seats. Wyatt was pulled into Preston’s lap and he nestled into his boyfriend’s warm body as Archer took his spot in front of the group. Stories of shape shifters were told, stories of their heritage that Wyatt had never bothered to learn.

  Hours had passed and Wyatt yawned, feeling Preston’s warm body beneath him. Wrapped in a cocoon of warmth, Wyatt closed his eyes as talk flowed around the fire. When he opened his eyes he was in Preston’s arms and they were walking to Wyatt’s house. The fire was being put out behind them and Wyatt fell back into a state of perfect relaxation. He felt his body being lowered and then his shoes coming off. Wyatt rolled over and grabbed at a soft pillow burying his face in it. Warm lips touched his and he moaned softly. “Nite,” Wyatt sighed.

  “Night, baby,” Preston brushed a strand of hair from Wyatt’s forehead. “I love you.”

  ~~ The white wolf was running next to him, they played in the water and wrestled on the white sand. The sun high in the sky, Wyatt rolled over his mate and nuzzled his neck, whining. The white wolf stood tall looking at him; beautiful brown eyes conveyed so much. “I love you, Wyatt.”

  Wyatt sat up in bed breathing hard. He looked at the time - nine in the

  morning. Wyatt stood up and stretched; he grabbed his socks and tiptoed down the hall to Xander’s old room. Preston was asleep on his stomach, one leg stuck out from under the heavy down comforter. Wyatt sat on the edge of the bed and stared at Preston’s back. The tattoo of the wolf was in full view and Wyatt looked closer. He gasped. The tattoo was of him in wolf form. The black wolf with green eyes was him. Wyatt stood up and left the room quietly. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a coffee cup. The coffeemaker was percolating and Wyatt grabbed it mid-brew. He left the house quietly and stood outside looking at the sky. Why did Preston have a tattoo of him on his shoulder?

  Wyatt sat down on the front steps of the porch and took a deep breath. His nose caught Sebastian’s scent before he saw him. Wyatt stood up and walked towards the fire pit; Sebastian was seated on a stump smiling at him.

  “What part of ‘it’s over’ did you not understand, Sebastian?” Wyatt set his coffee cup down on one of the other stumps.

  Sebastian stood and looked at Wyatt. “I thought I said it was over when I said so.”

  “Go away, Sebastian, and don’t come back.” Wyatt turned to go back to the house; anger suddenly filled his senses and he turned in time to catch Sebastian’s fist before it hit his face. He held it firmly, applying pressure on the knuckles. “I don’t want to hurt you, Sebastian, but I will if you don’t stop.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Wyatt turned to look for Preston but he wasn’t there. Wyatt’s brows knitted. He’d heard Preston, he knew that for sure. Preston’s voice was loud and clear in his head and yet Preston was nowhere to be seen. It hit Wyatt like a wrecking ball and he gasped. “Oh God; it’s Preston.”

  “What’s Preston?” Sebastian was trying to get his hand loose. A white wolf emerged from between the houses and Sebastian’s jaw dropped. “Uh, can you let go now?”

  Wyatt let go and Sebastian made a run for his car. Wyatt turned to look at Preston and saw him backing away. “Oh, no you don’t!”

  Wyatt walked over to him and knelt down. “Don’t you dare, Preston! You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do!” Wyatt’s face was nuzzled by a cold nose and then a soft whimper. “Stop trying to butter me up and go shift back.” Wyatt waited impatiently for Preston to return. He finally came out in faded blue jeans and a firehouse T-shirt.

  “Why, Preston? Just tell me why.” “I…I knew you were my mate when I was thirteen, Wyatt.” Preston stopped and waited for the information to sink in. “You were seven at the time and I knew I couldn’t make you mine then. So I waited, I kept tabs on you, watched you over the years and when you turned eighteen I went to tell you who I was. Imagine my surprise when my mate was in the arms of another man,” Preston sighed and sat down on the front porch. “There were so many times I wanted to tell you who I was, but I wanted you to love me, Wyatt, for me, not just because we were fated to be together.”

  “All this time,” Wyatt shook his head. “Everyone told me I was crazy. That I made the whole thing up, that my mate – you - didn’t exist and it was all in my head. I actually thought for the longest time that I was crazy and now I find out that not only do you exist, but I’m already in love with you.” Wyatt looked at Preston. “You all lied to me. Did you get a good laugh at my expense?”

  “It wasn’t like that, Wyatt! I was six years older, hell, you didn’t know what having a mate entailed and there was no way in hell I was going to stick around through my teen years being attracted to a kid six years younger than me! Don’t you get it, Wyatt? I had to wait for you. I didn’t have a choice!”

  “Everyone has a choice, Preston. You chose wrong.” Wyatt turned to go back to the house.

  “I wanted you to love me, Wyatt, without knowing why.”

  Wyatt turned to look at Preston. “Well congratulations, you succeeded.” Preston watched as Wyatt shifted and ran for the forest. He contemplated running after him and in the end sat down and buried his face in his hands.

  Stupid! I was so stupid! Wyatt ran through the forest as fast as his four legs would take him. He swung to the right and hit the beach, running through the water. His head pounded with the pack trying to breach his mind. No. He would not talk to them. For eleven years Preston was his mate and kept the truth from him for eleven fucking years. His whole family knew and acted like Wyatt was crazy for even thinking he’d found his mate. He’d never forget that day in the forest. The bad men came and took Dakota, and Wyatt watched as they loaded Dakota into a truck. Then he was picked up carefully between long canines and moved down the hill.

  That was when the white wolf had masked Wyatt’s scent with his own, Preston’s scent. Wyatt ran back into the forest on the other side of the beach and hoped he had covered his tracks. He didn’t want to be found, didn’t want to hear the excuses of the people he thought loved him. Where would he go now? Home? Back to the dorms? The pain of betrayal and lies invaded him and if he was in human form he would have been bawling. He was in love with Preston and that would never change. Wyatt skidded to a stop and let out a loud, devastated howl.

  Preston sat on the roof of the firehouse watching life go on. Two weeks. Two weeks gone without a word from Wyatt, either aloud or mentally. His heart hurt and he couldn’t breathe. The

  separation was crushing him and Preston could barely get up out of bed. He talked to John almost every day hoping to hear that they had heard from Wyatt; so far, not one word. Even Olivia searched for Wyatt. She was blowing up his phone on a daily basis. Preston sighed and closed his eyes, bringing forth an image of Wyatt: his green eyes, his smile, his laugh. Preston could hear the people below on Main Street laughing, going about their day. Couples having coffee at the tables in Occidental Park; life was going on for them. His life was in shambles.

  “Preston,” Sean coughed quietly. “Dude, you have to try—” “Try to what, Sean? Get over it?” Preston shook his head sadly. “Not going to happen. Wyatt is my mate and you will never understand what that means. I can’t breathe without him, don’t you get that?”

  “But you were good before, what the fuck changed?” “I marked him, made him mine.” Preston saw the confusion in Sean’s eyes. “I made love to him and then I bit him. I sealed our bond.”

  Sean sat down on the concrete and hung his legs over the side of the building. “I didn’t know how all that shit went down. So that makes a big difference?”

  Preston moved next to Sean and looked at the people below. “Yes, he’s mine,” Preston sighed and lie back looking at the sky. Clouds were forming, gray ugly-looking rain clouds. “It’s going to c
ome down on us tonight.”

  They both heard a soft cough and turned to see Austin shuffling his feet. “Um, hey guys.” Austin ran his hand through his hair and gave them a lopsided grin. “S’okay if I sit with ya?”

  Preston nodded to the open rooftop. “Pick a spot. How’s Tucker?” Austin smiled and blushed. “He’s good. We’ve gone out to dinner and the movies. I took him out to the cops versus firefighters football game. He was shouting and stuff and totally into it, I didn’t even know…” Austin blushed again and averted his eyes.

  “That gays liked football?” Preston watched Austin’s reaction and smiled. “We do, and we like hockey, too, the tighter the pants the better.” Preston tilted his head. “Did he tell you what he does for a living?”

  “He wanted to know all about me, where I grew up, where I went to

  college,” Austin blinked in surprise. “We never did talk about what he does. What does he do?”

  Preston smiled wickedly. “He’s a cop, Austin.”

  “No shit?” Austin shivered. “Wow, that’s kind of hot.”

  “Well, seems like the cop has the hots for the fireman,” Preston winked. Austin cracked up. “The way he looks at me, you know? I’ve never had a chick look at me the way he does,” Austin sighed and looked out over Main Street. “He doesn’t hold my hand or try to kiss me, either. He’s just real sweet to me.” Austin realized he was talking out loud and looked at Preston and Sean smiling at him. “Knock it off.”

  “Hey if this guy lights your flame dude,” Sean shrugged his shoulders. “You know how the guys in the house are. They don’t give a shit that Preston’s gay.”

  “That’s because you threatened to step on them,” Preston laughed and rolled out of Sean’s reach. “How’s Olivia, huh, Big Red? Has she seen your Big Red?” Preston yelped at the punch to his arm from Sean.

  “A gentleman never kisses and tells.” Sean crossed his arms over his chest.

  “So there has been kissing!” Austin puckered his lips.

  Sean smacked Austin’s lips with the back of his hand. “Shut up, probie.” “Damn,” Preston took a deep breath. “Can you smell the gyros? Who’s making a run to Main?”

  Preston and Sean both looked at Austin. “Fine,” Austin threw his hands up in the air. “As long as I don’t have to wash the hell bitch.” Austin saw Preston’s face fall and immediately kicked himself. “Aw man, I’m sorry.”

  “No, it’s okay,” Preston sighed and stood up.

  The alarms went off and all three men sighed. “Time to save some lives,” Preston put his arms around Sean’s and Austin’s shoulders. “Think we can get the gyros to go?”

  ~~~~ Wyatt rolled over on his side and flipped through channels on the TV. Nothing good was on, thousands of channels and nothing was on. Wyatt sighed and flipped on his back, hanging his head off the side of the bed and watching TV upside down. His dad had brought him back to the dorms and Wyatt said he would call. He didn’t. Anger led him now and he couldn’t see past it. He shut off his scent and his ability to communicate with the pack. The first week back was spent running at night. He went to Wenatchee and just ran. Ran to forget, ran to lessen the hurt. He dodged Olivia and Sean as much as possible. He didn’t want to hear it. The rest of the pack was constantly trying to communicate with him and Wyatt kept himself shut off.

  Now he was camped out in his dorm room watching TV and eating popcorn. He missed Preston, his hands, his lips, his eyes. Wyatt sighed and looked at the time. Preston would be at work. The worst part? He knew Preston was right. He wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on anything else but Preston had he known. Didn’t mean he wanted to admit to it. The knock on his door startled him and he sat straight up on the bed. Sebastian. Fuck.

  “Open up, Wyatt.” Sebastian knocked on the door.

  “Go away.” Wyatt flopped back down and put a pillow over his head. “I’m not leaving until you open up.” Wyatt threw his pillow at the door. “Why can’t you all just leave me alone?” “Who are you all? I’m just here to apologize.”

  Wyatt sat up again. “What?” “Can we not talk through the door? This feels stupid.” Wyatt flung the door open.

  Sebastian stood with his hands in his pockets. “What?”

  “Look, I just want to say I’m sorry for the way I acted. I never should have gotten so angry with you. I should have never put my hands on you.” Sebastian ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his face. “My dad is pissed at me because of my grades and he came down on me pretty hard. I’m sorry I took that shit out on you. I can’t change the shit I’ve done but I can try to make it up to you.”

  Wyatt went to open his mouth, and sniffed the air. “Nikolai…” “Yeah?” Nikolai poked his head around the door. “How do you always know, dude?”

  “I thought you went back to

  Russia?” Wyatt hugged Nik tight. “I did. Came back to kick

  Sebastian’s ass,” Nikolai winked. “Besides, isn’t it your birthday?”

  “Was my birthday,” Wyatt grinned. “Did you get me a cake?” “Nah, got you a male stripper, but you weren’t here,” Nikolai cracked up. “I can still strip for you, though,” Nikolai waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

  Wyatt eyed Nikolai’s massive frame. “As good as that sounds…” “Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m just a friend,” Nikolai grimaced, taking Wyatt’s hand. “You okay?”

  Sebastian looked at the TV behind Wyatt. “Holy shit, man, is that at the pier?” Wyatt turned to see the news on. A reporter was waving behind her at a building on fire. Wyatt turned the sound up.

  “The building has been burning for over two hours now and firefighters are having trouble controlling the blaze; we’ve been told one firefighter is still in the building and may be injured.”

  Wyatt closed his eyes and opened the lines of communication. “Preston…” Wyatt waited hoping to hear anything from his mate. Nothing, not even a fleeting thought.

  “I have to go, like, right the fuck now.” Wyatt grabbed his cell phone and turned it on as he made his way down the stairs, out of the dorms, into the parking lot. The phone rang and he saw the Caller ID: ‘Big Red.’ Wyatt flipped the phone open. “Sean! Is it Preston?”

  “Yeah, man,” Sean turned around cupping the phone with his hand. “He needs you man; chief won’t let us back in, it’s too hot. Wyatt… Preston was hit in the head. I couldn’t get the shit off of him and then a beam fell …” Sean felt his throat closing up.

  “I’m on my way!” Wyatt jumped in his truck and backed out of the parking area, tires squealing. He threw his hazards on and floored it. The drive had never seemed to take so long and Wyatt tried again and again to get through to Preston mentally. It was quiet and that scared him more than anything else. His mate was in trouble, trapped in a raging inferno, injured. Wyatt took side streets to the Alaskan Way Viaduct and then he saw it. The fire lit up the sky like daytime and Wyatt felt his heart pounding in his ears. He pulled off and parked two blocks over, running to the scene. Police were

  everywhere trying to push people back and Wyatt saw Sean.

  “Sean!”

  Sean pulled Wyatt alongside the building. “Come on!” Wyatt ran, the heat searing his skin as he made his way closer to the mouth of the fire. “We lost him on the first floor, he got hit in the head and then another part of the ceiling came down in front of us. He’s blocked in there, Wyatt, and we can’t even get close enough to bust down the damn wall. We’ve been trying to douse the shit for hours but the bitch is hot.”

  Wyatt looked at Sean, then at the building on fire. He stripped his clothes off and handed them to Sean. “Hold these.” Wyatt shifted and looked up to see Sean staring at him wide eyed. He turned and ran into the blaze, his nose working overtime trying to pinpoint Preston’s location. He pushed the lines of

  communication open again, hoping to hear his mate. The fire licked at his tail as he ran. A long wooden beamed blocked his path and Wyatt stepped back and eyed it. He’d have to get some serious momentum. He
ad down, claws digging into the floor, Wyatt leapt with all his might and cleared the beam, singeing his tail on the way over.

  He landed on the opposite side and finally saw Preston. His forehead was covered in blood and a beam lay across his torso, pinning him down. Wyatt shifted back and grabbed the beam throwing it like it was a feather. “Preston!” Wyatt got to his knees and assessed his mate. “I’m here, oh God, open your eyes, babe.” Preston didn’t move but Wyatt knew he was alive; his pulse was slow, but Wyatt could hear it. He grabbed Preston in his arms and looked at the fire behind him. “Shit, shit, shit.” Wyatt looked around and saw that the stairs to the floor above weren’t on fire. He could do this.

  Wyatt made his way up the stairs holding onto the railing with one hand. An explosion went off and Wyatt tightened his grip on Preston. The next floor was on fire as well but the window was somewhat clear. The glass had been shattered and Wyatt knocked the loose pieces off. Flames licked up his legs, searing his flesh as he grabbed hold of the window frame hauling up himself and Preston. He looked down and saw Sean below. “I got him!”

  “Get out of there!” Sean shouted. Wyatt steadied himself over the ledge as the intense fire moved in close enough to blister his back. He closed his eyes and, hanging onto to Preston tightly, he jumped. The ground rushed up to meet him and Wyatt landed hard on his feet, Preston’s added weight making Wyatt’s knees and ankles crack at the force of the landing. Wyatt put Preston down gently and looked him over. “He’s probably got a concussion.” Wyatt moved the bloody hair from Preston’s face. A large gash was on the right side of his forehead.

  “Wyatt, get your clothes on; let me get on the radio and get the EMTs over here.” Sean handed Wyatt his clothing. “I thought you guys couldn’t get hurt?”

  “Of course we can! We can get knocked out just like anyone else. If he’d been conscious he could have made it out on his own. And if he’d been burned, he’d recover – but how would he explain it to everyone?” Wyatt yanked his pants on and got back to his mate. “I’m here,” Wyatt kissed Preston’s forehead. “I’m here and I’ll never leave you again.”