"Jackal? Vlad?" Sebastian's voice came from the bathroom. "Is that you?"
"It's us," Vlad called back, wincing as he watched me pull the ropes from my pocket and retie the Alpha, this time to the frame of the chair.
"Great, I was thinking.." Sebastian answered as he walked into the room, trailing off at the sight in front of him. "Umm, what's going on?"
I caught Vlad's eye and he sighed but nodded.
"Vlad will fill you in," I said. "I'm going to go get the bike."
I pulled the door closed behind me as Vlad spoke up. "Sweetie, you might want to sit down."
Chapter Thirteen
Sebastian
I listened to Vlad explain what he thought was affecting Alrick's behavior in a state of shock. It wasn't something I was familiar with – not that I would be, I admitted to myself. The only werewolves I knew were the members of the coruscation pack, and I'd only known them a few months, but it seemed to make sense. Except for the part where he thought Alrick wantedme, specifically. That part made me laugh. Still, there didn't seem to be any other shifters in the town we 'd ended up in, which meant that we were a little short of volunteers to help, ahem, resolve his situation.
I glanced over to where Alrick was still out cold, small snores huffing out every few breaths.
"So, when you say he needs relief," I swallowed at the thought. Hard. "You mean just sex? Or would he have to claim me?"
"Just sex," Vlad said quietly. "But you don't need to do that. Jackal is going to ride out and see if he can get a cellphone signal to call for help. We can keep him sedated until we get back to a safe place."
"Then what?" I asked, my eyes still glued to the Alpha who had made it his mission to keep me safe. "What happens then?"
Vlad shrugged. "I'm sure once we're back in shifter territory it won't be hard to find someone to help him."
"No."
"What?" Vlad's eyes widened. "What do you mean, no?"
"Exactly what I said," I stated firmly. "Alrick saved my life. I'm going to help him." I stood up and crossed to the chair, tugging ineffectively on the tight knots. "Help me get him untied." I growled in frustration when Vlad stayed where he was, staring at me. "Please?"
"What? Oh, of course." He crossed and began unlooping the ropes. "You're sure about this?"
I flashed back to Alrick's words from a few days earlier."The only reason I did was that I didn't want you to regret it. I would have loved to finish what you started."He'dsaidhe was willing. Did I really want to take this chance to act out every dark, dirty fantasy that I'd entertained about the gorgeous Alpha? Umm, yes, please!
I nodded and Vlad closed his eyes for a second, muttering under his breath.
"What?"
"I said, Jackal's not going to like this," he repeated.
I laughed.
"Vlad, seriously. I'm not a virgin. You already said it's not a commitment - he just needs sex. Would you look at him? He's gorgeous; I hardly think it's going to be a trial." I'd been working the Alpha out of his borrowed clothing while we talked and finally had him down to just his pants; those would have to wait until he was on the bed, so I pulled back the covers. "Help me lift him?"
Alrick weighed a ton – I vaguely remembered having read somewhere that werewolves have denser bones than other beings – but between the two of us, we maneuvered him onto the bed and I began to strip out of my own clothes.
"Um, Sebastian?" Vlad looked alarmed. "Are you going to do itnow?"
I laughed. "No. But I am tired and it sounds like I'm going to need my energy when he wakes up, so I think I'll get some sleep."
"Oh. Okay, then." Vlad shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Um, I think I'll wait for Jackal outside, then."
I grinned. "Knock before you come back in." I waited for the door to close and then tugged Alrick's pants off before crawling into the bed and snuggling up against the hot, musky Alpha.
Still sleeping deeply, he shifted to wrap his arms around me and threw one muscular thigh over me, burying his face in my neck. It only took a couple of inhalations before he began to harden against my thigh and my body immediately began to respond. Yeah, I was pretty sure that this wasn't going to be any hardship at all.
