He sighed. “You know I said I’ll tell you about me at some point? This is one of the things I’ll explain. I won’t freeze. I won’t even really get cold. I could remind you I picked you up wearing just cargo pants and a thin hoodie on a foggy night, but I won’t.” He winked, and slipped through the door, disappearing into the night with a last-minute, “Don’t open the door foranyone.”
I showered, and had a wank to take the edge off. The house was cosy, so I didn’t bother with many clothes, choosing a tight cropped singlet, and a pair of tiny satiny shorts that with any luck would make Luc’s eyes pop. I left my feet bare. Still buzzing but calmer, I decided to explore the house a bit. The kitchen was well stocked with everything half a dozen people could want or need, food as well as tools and gadgets, but it didn’t hold my attention for long. Food had become fuel, and not a joy for me. Although I did spare a second longing glance through the back door to the blood fridge. Perhaps I too could find joy in sustenance, providing I was willing to adjust my diet.
Nope. I was having enough trouble processing my earlier action. Once I’d come to terms with that, and my true nature — because even I couldn’t remain in denial of what was becoming obvious — I’d make some decisions about where I went from here.
For now, I crossed to the mirror above the wood-burning stove in the living room and studied my reflection. I looked better than I could remember in, well, years. My skin was the same ghostly pale as ever, but there was a lustre to it now. My eyes looked clear and bright instead of haunted. I liked what I saw and snapped a quick selfie, pleased to note my phone was behaving for once. How come I had a normal reflection in mirrors, I showed up in photos, and yet I was apparently MIA the one time I needed proof of my existence at a specific time? It was maddening.
But I couldn’t do anything about that right now. I was hopefully safe, at least for a while, from Ledge and his cronies, and I had a full belly, I was warm and comfortable, and there was the very likely prospect of some dirty sex coming my way. Today — tonight — was going well. All I had to do now was wait for Luc to come back from his run.
I queued up a playlist on my phone, propped it on a shelf, and began to dance.
9
LUC
I sprintedalong the driveway to the cover of the copse, and quickly stripped off my clothes, rolling everything into a ball on top of my trainers and placing it all into a carrier bag I took from a pocket of my sweatpants. Hooking the handles over a low-hanging branch, I shifted.
The satisfaction of finally being in my wolf form went a long way to negating the pain that always accompanied the transformation between my two existences. Within a few moments, I was shaking out my thick fur and taking stock of my surroundings with my animal senses.
We really were in the arse end of nowhere here, which thinking about it, made good sense for a safe house. I listened, absorbing the alarmed rustle of small creatures suddenly alert to a predator in their midst, making haste to try and vanish in case whatever it was fancied making a meal of them. But I wasn’t overly fussed about hunting right now, although I’d never turn down a rabbit if it crossed my path. I prowled around the copse, glancing back at the house through a gap in the trunks, noting a light on in the front room. Good, the boy was safe. His name was still there, but without more effort than I was prepared to make, it wouldn’t come to the surface.Boy, safe, mine,though, did. At the time it didn’t occur to my wolf to question the ‘mine’ — they were simply the facts as I knew them.
Once I’d fixed my surroundings in my head, I set off, slowly at first, because I was sure-footed and powerful, but I wasn’t stupid, and this was new terrain. A little caution never hurt. This part of the national park was bleak at this time of year, with little of interest to the eye, the trees and shrubs denuded of their summer foliage. There was a low mist swirling at ground level, but it didn’t hamper my progress as I picked up speed, until I was flat out, bounding over humps in the scrub as if they weren’t there, blood pumping and my legs exhilarating in the thrill of simplybeing.I crossed a small stream with a half-hearted leap from the muddy bank, and surprised a pair of deer who froze, before deciding they were better off dying in an attempt at escape, instead of lying down to offer themselves at my feet, and darting away to disappear over a rocky promontory to my right. I let them go. Maybe another night I’d be less inclined, but this was a run to feel, not to feast.
I ran for several miles, covering acres of the park, half my mind at all times back at the safe house. Like a fixed point on a compass, its presence was a steady glow in my mind, keeping me focused on what was important. Finally, though, my paws began to slow, and I turned for home.
Except, as I groaned my way through the reverse shift and hastily pulled on my inadequate clothing, I reasoned that it wasn’t home. I had no business assigning that label to Charley either. We’d been thrown together by chance, and no matter the way our bodies had instantly attuned to the other’s frequency, we were basically strangers. My wolf protested softly that wasn’t true as I made my way back up the drive, but I refused to listen. Lust was lust. I’d own that. Anything else was…too soon.
The living room didn’t have curtains that closed, having mere fabric strips for window-dressing, and Charley evidently hadn’t felt the need to shut the blinds. He was dancing, graceful and totally uninhibited, as I quietened my steps on the gravel and moved instead to walk on the grass.
The double-glazed windows were no match for my wolf hearing. A club mix of Lil Nas X’s Call Me By Your Name was practically shaking the living room walls. Dipping and twirling, reaching high, then dropping as he spun, Charley was a mesmerising, tantalising bundle of desire come alive, his gorgeous body all lithe muscle and flawless pale lines. He was dressed in snippets of fabric that barely covered enough for decency, and as I approached the window, drinking him in like a man dying of thirst, it hit me like a bolt from on high that my initial feeling of familiarity when we met was more than a feeling. I now knew where I’d seen him before; podium dancing at one of Tratton’s less desirable night clubs. Shock coursed through me that he must have been underage when dancing there — it was some time since I’d been, but knowing he was tangled up with some deathly mess made that knowledge less shocking than it should have been. It was all about priorities, and I imagined whoever had hired him had taken one look at his pretty face and sinewy hips and turned a blind eye to his date of birth. I just hoped he’d been tough enough to fight off any unwanted physical advances. Considering his DNA, it was likely. Score one for the vamps.
I let myself in, and the music flowing under the living room door cut off. Toeing off my trainers, I recalled Charley’s parting words, and my rejoinder, and paused with one hand on the stair rail.‘I like the scent of fresh sweat on my men.’
Who was I to disappoint the guy? With a smile, I peeled off my top and threw it behind me, tugged the waistband of my sweats down so they skimmed my hip bones, and opened the living room door.
Christ.Naked and with his head bowed, Charley was kneeling on the hearth rug, his arms loosely by his sides, palms upwards; defenceless, trusting, and so perfectly exquisite, the sight of him punched the air from my lungs.
Controlling the impulse to ravage him like a sex doll or a cheap whore — neither of which I’d ever done, but his stance didn’t help to dispel the images in my head, and I’d had somedirtythoughts in my time — I pressed the button next to the window frame and waited as the impenetrable blinds lowered to seal us from the world outside. Charley didn’t move. I prowled across to him on bare feet and stood with only inches between us. I eased my index finger under his chin and tipped his face up. “Look at me, babe.”
Blue eyes with the pupils already blown met mine. I caressed his bottom lip with my thumb, and he shuddered. His cock jerked, tapping on his stomach and leaving a wet trail in the scant hairs below his navel. His nostrils flared, but he made no move towards me. I wondered if he was a true submissive in the BDSM meaning of the word, or whether he just liked getting off on being bossed around a bit. Hopefully it was the latter, but if he wanted,needed,a dom, I could learn.
“You’re going to suck me,” I began. He inhaled sharply and his cock bounced again. “And I’m going to fuck your throat. Slap my thigh to slow me down, pinch it hard to get me to stop, okay?” That seemed reasonable.
He made a garbled sound in his throat, then nodded. “Yes. Yes please.”
I hesitated. If he really was who I thought he was, he was a veteran of the gay clubs and bars, but he was still so young. “You absolutely sure you want this?”
“Yes. So much yes. Green. All the green.” He even knew the traffic light code, and green for all systems go. Young he might be, but he was no naïve kid.
Okay then. “Take my joggers down.” I closed the gap between us.
His thumbs slid dutifully into my waistband. My sweats puddled around my ankles and I kicked them off. Sliding my left hand into his dark hair, I wrapped my fingers around a handful and pulled him close, then used my right hand to tap my cockhead against his full lips. “Open up, gorgeous.”
10
CHARLEY
I’d diedand gone to heaven. When Luc had tossed those words over his departing form, I’d assumed he was joking, but decided to proceed as if he’d been serious. And apparently he was.
