“Let’s bag everything up first,” Leif said, “then once that’s done, we’ll get the truck back in the unit and I’ll Change. I can carry this all without any trouble, so no need for the sled. You’ll need to get the harness and then the bags on the harness for me—I won’t have hands.”
“How have you done this before without help?” Alec asked as he and Leif went through the grocery bags and got everything into the nylon bags.
“I paid the storage unit employee to help me last time I did this,” Leif looked at Alec with a grin. “Glad I don’t need to pay someone now.”
Alec sputtered out a laugh and took a pretend swipe at Leif, who dodged in an exaggerated manner, making Alec laugh outright.
Teasing his mate was fun, as Leif had a good sense of humor.
Leif stripped down, handing Alec his clothing one piece at a time. Leif made no move to turn away, smiling when Alec took the bold invitation to stare at every inch of skin that was revealed by the casual striptease. Alec folded the clothing and stuffed it into the backpack they’d used coming down the mountains, and the warmth of Leif’s body clung to the garments.
Leif took off his pants and then his socks, standing in skin-tight boxer briefs that hugged his bulge and left nothing to the imagination. Leif was thick with muscle and his thighs were massive, the iliac crest of his hips defined and lickable. Leif was a big man and it was all muscle.
Alec bit his lip and fought the urge to reach out and grab Leif—gently, of course. He behaved, and Leif grinned at him and his very obvious struggle not to get sidetracked.
“If I watch you Change, will that bother you?” Alec asked, desperate to change the subject so they both didn’t end up naked in a storage unit. “I’ve only seen the movie and TV versions of it.”
“You can watch,” Leif assured him. “I’m old, and I Change fast. You won’t see much unless I slow it down, but that’s a bit difficult. It’s more effort to hold it back.”
“Don’t hold back on my account,” Alec said. “I’m just curious.”
Leif stripped off his boxer briefs and tossed them to Alec with a wink, and Alec grinned wide at the delicious sight of his naked mate. Leif’s cock was thick and plump, groin neatly trimmed and his balls temptingly large. Alec stuffed the underwear into the backpack and zipped it shut, watching patiently as Leif began to Change.
Leif was right—there wasn’t much to see. It wasn’t a horror show of mutating flesh—there was a shimmer of muted light that swept over Leif and he grew taller and then leaned forward, falling to his four paws as a giant wolf in less than a second.
“Fuck me, that was fast,” Alec muttered, eyes wide.
Leif was a gorgeous, rich brown and medium gray, a dappled mixture of colors that matched the trees and underbrush perfectly in the dense hills. He was as stunning in the daytime as he was in the moonlight. Big ears brushed the ceiling of the storage unit, and Leif ducked down and exited the unit, giving Alec space to hop in the truck and back it into the unit. It fit with a couple of feet to spare, and Alec hopped out and locked the truck, making sure to put the keys in the same pocket Leif had when their trip began.
Alec dragged the harness out of the unit, and Leif crouched down to help Alec get the harness on him easier–with Leif explaining the process, he got the massive leatherand nylon harness onto Leif, tugging and reworking straps until it was snug, and nothing was too tight.
“Now the bags, little greenbough,” Leif directed in that deep, rumbly voice.
Alec snapped the bags onto the harness, making sure that the weight was distributed as evenly as possible. By the time he got the last bag snapped into place, it was approaching late afternoon and Leif was laden with a half dozen huge nylon bags stuffed with everything they’d bought that day. Alec shrugged on Leif’s backpack and eyed the space on Leif’s back. He would fit, but Leif was already carrying a lot of stuff and he didn’t want to weigh down his mate any more. Leif was not a mule.
Alec made sure the lights were off, the truck and cabinets locked, and then closed the steel door to the unit, dragging it down until it landed with a thump on the concrete floor. Alec locked it, making sure to put the keys in the same pocket as the truck keys before zipping it up.
“Ready?” Leif asked.
“Ready!” Alec hefted the backpack onto his shoulders and started heading for the woods, stamping his feet to make sure his new boots were snug and fitting perfectly. He wouldn’t normally wear new shoes for a hike—that was a great way to get blisters—but he was able to alter the structure of the boots at the molecular level and make them more comfortable, avoiding blisters altogether. He just needed to break them in a bit to find the friction points before changing anything.
“Smell anything suspicious before we get in the woods?” Alec asked, eyeing the empty lot and the storage unit buildings around them. He saw nothing and no one, the front gatehouse near the entrance holding one person on duty that was out of sight and several buildings away.
“Nothing. I don’t hear anything, either. I think we’re okay,” Leif grumbled, sniffing the air.
“Alright, let’s go!”
Leif walked slowly beside him as they entered the woods, the slope of the hillside gentle and not at all steep enough to worry Alec yet.
“I can carry you too, greenbough,” Leif rumbled. “It’s not any trouble.”
“I can walk,” Alec stressed. “You’re carrying a lot of stuff already.”
“If you insist,” Leif grumbled good-naturedly, shaking his massive head a bit, ears flopping a little as he shook himself out, settling the harness and bags.
Leif was soon in the lead on the nonexistent trail—he knew the way, unlike Alec. He wasn’t woods-savvy or at all familiar with rural living—the most hiking he’d ever done was a field trip in middle school. He was still recovering from his captivity, too, but he refused to voice how tired the hiking was making him, and figured his labored breathing was telling Leif enough on its own.
Alec was soon realizing the error of his decision when thirty minutes passed and they were making horrible time. The terrain was growing steeper, and Alec was struggling to keep up, forcing Leif to halt and wait for Alec to catch up numerous times before his mate finally stopped and crouched down in front of Alec.
