Alpha (3 page)

“Can I help you when I’m better? I hate lying around doing
nothing,” Fred said. He was used to being his father’s assistant and had even
considered going to school to be an EMT once he’d saved up enough money.

Doc smiled. “Sure, I’ve missed having another set of hands.
Travis’s younger son tried to help me for a while but the poor thing hates the
sight of blood.”

Fred’s eyes widened. “How can you be a wolf and hate the sight
of blood?”

“Doesn’t bother him when he’s Wolf,” James said.

Fred had seen the pack go after a deer before and shivered at
the memory. Fangs and blood and awful howling. They’d torn the thing apart like
so much tissue paper, flinging blood and guts in piles on the ground. Up until
then he’d wanted to be one of them. He’d envied their strength and speed. After
that night he’d had dark dreams where he was the deer being eaten alive. From
then on he’d been glad to be human. Glad to have no claws or fangs.

James put his hand on Fred’s shoulder. “Come on now, let’s get
you to bed.”

Fred rolled his eyes. “I’m not an infant.”

Despite his protests, James managed to push him into his room
after his father left. Fred immediately felt exhausted. He closed his eyes,
promising himself that he’d only sleep for a few minutes. Then he’d go see what
Kyle was doing.

Fred dreamed that he was inside a wolf’s belly. He clawed and
clawed at the flesh but nothing gave. He breathed and tasted only blood. He was
that deer again, bleating for help. None came. None would ever come.

He woke gasping with James looking down on him with concern.

“Don’t eat me,” Fred said, unsure whether he was still dreaming
or not.

“And why not?” James kissed Fred’s chin. He scraped his teeth
across the muscle of Fred’s chest, parting the loose shirt away from the skin
he wanted access to. Fred felt a little self-conscious of his thin chest and
pale skin. He crossed his arms in front.

James looked down at him, pulling his arms away from his chest.
“You’re gorgeous.”

“Erm…James? Didn’t my father tell us no sex?”

“No, what he said was no strenuous activity. I plan to have you
so relaxed you never have any bad dreams.”

“I don’t feel very relaxed,” Fred said, shakily.

James bit Fred’s right nipple, the one he’d pierced once upon a
time. The thing had gotten so painful and infected he’d been forced to go to
his father for help. He still shuddered at the pain of taking the piece of
metal out.

“I could smell your fear. I don’t like it when you’re afraid,”
James said.

“I’m not afraid of you. I’ve never been afraid of you,” Fred said.

James smiled against Fred’s stomach. “No, you’re not. You’re
nervous. Aroused. Trust me. I’ll take care of you.”

He untied the drawstring in Fred’s pants, pulling the loose
cotton down his legs and past his feet. Fred felt a little like a child being
undressed. He remembered the pair of underwear he’d put on that morning and
groaned.

James laughed. “SpongeBob undies?”

“They were on sale,” Fred said. He wasn’t defensive. No he
wasn’t.

“I’d say I think they’re sexy, but that would sound disturbing.
So let’s take them off,” James said.

He removed the cartoon briefs, pausing to kiss the bobbing head
of Fred’s flushed cock.

“You taste good,” James said. “Salt and sweet. Are you going to
ask me not to eat you again?”

Fred‘s breath was coming out in panting hiccups. He shook his head,
afraid his voice would squeak like wipers on a dry windshield.

He saw the white of James’s teeth as he grinned, kissing Fred’s
cock again. Once he’d pulled Fred’s underwear off, he bent down further,
smelling the darker place behind Fred’s balls. He licked, causing an electric
sensation in Fred’s spine.

James sucked the head of Fred’s cock. Fred moved, making
involuntary pleading whines in the back of his throat. He wanted more of James’s
mouth. More of James’s touch.

“Greedy cat,” James said. “You’re supposed to be relaxing. Be
still.”

Fred eyed the tent in the front of James’s pants. “You don’t
seem to be relaxing,” he huffed.

“I’m working here,” James said, biting the top of Fred’s thigh.
“You keep moving and I’ll stop. We’ll have a nice long cold shower.”

Fred’s body went still. He took a long deep breath. His legs
wanted to jump. His arms wanted to reach. He had to touch all of that warm
skin, trace the tattoos on James’s arms.

“Can you be still?” James asked.

Fred nodded, though he wasn’t sure he could be still. James bent
down again, sucking the head while Fred made those whimpering noises again. He
swallowed when Fred’s cock hit the back of his throat.

“I love the sounds you make,” James said, when he came up for
air.

He swallowed again, hollowing his cheeks. Despite James’s orders,
Fred wasn’t still. He pulled at James’s hair, trying to get closer to him.
James kept swallowing, hitting the head of Fred’s cock with the back of his
throat. He watched Fred’s face, his eyes never leaving Fred’s.

Flushed, Fred tried to tell James he was going to come. The
sensations were too much. He couldn’t hold out. He couldn’t stop himself. All
that came out of his throat were puppy sounds. Stupid throat. He arched his
back against James, cumming in his mouth in long hard spurts.

James swallowed, allowing some of Fred to drip out of the sides
of his mouth. He rubbed his face against Fred’s groin, humping his cock against
the lower half of the bed. Fred pulled on James’s hair again, sharply this
time, the way he knew James’s liked. James groaned, low and deep. He bit down
on Fred’s thigh, hard enough to make it bleed. Fred saw a wet spot bloom on the
front of James’s pants.

James fell forward, panting heavily. Fred stroked his hair and
back.

“Been a while?” James asked eventually.

Fred nodded, pulling James up higher so they were chest to
chest. James looked down into his eyes.

“I missed you,” James said.

“I missed you, too,” Fred said.

James turned his face to the side, rubbing his cheek against
Fred’s. 

 “You came.” Fred said.

 “Like a schoolboy in my jeans.”

Fred smiled. “You want me to do your laundry?” He kissed James’s
nose.

“If you want. And you wear a white apron.”

Fred laughed. “Am I barefoot?”

James nodded. “Completely naked.”

“Is there bacon?”

“Always,” James said.

Fred wanted to regret what they’d just done. He knew they were
only temporary. Fred would leave once he thought it was safe. James would mate
a nice wolf lady and they’d have nice wolf puppies and Fred wouldn’t have the
urge to murder their parents. No he wouldn’t.

“You’re frowning,” James said, smoothing the lines on Fred’s
forehead. “You want to go get something to eat?”

“You keep feeding me! All I’ve done here is sleep and eat.”

“And snuggle,” James said, nosing at Fred’s cheek.

Fred pictured him as a puppy and smiled. James could be cute
when he was soft and warm like this. He smoothed James’s hair back from his
face. He got up and put on a new pair of pajama pants. James had to help him
put his shirt on. His ribs and arm still hurt too much to do that himself.

James changed his pants and his shirt. They still smelled of
each other but it wasn’t as obvious. Though with wolves, everything was obvious.

A woman met them just as they descended the stairs. She had
frizzy yellow hair that she’d tried to tame into a bun. Fred thought he’d met
her before. Melanie? She made bread for local stores and had given his father
muffins or cookies a few times.

“Alpha, I need a moment,” she said.

James nodded. “Sure.”

She coughed, looking from Fred to James and back again. James
sighed. “Go on and get whatever you’d like, Fred. I’ll meet you once we’re
done.”

Pack business. Frustrating.

Fred didn’t want to leave James alone with a female. An eligible
female, if he remembered. But he went anyway. He was sort of hungry and he
didn’t want to cause any friction within the pack. He was going to eat his
fruit and be happy. He was not going to think of James alone with that woman
and whatever important thing she’d wanted to talk about.

He saw Gavin and another man in the living room as he passed to
go to the kitchen. They looked to be in deep conversation but Gavin eyed him as
he went by. Okay, maybe he couldn’t just eat his fruit and be happy.

He tried anyway, fighting not to be afraid. They’d smell it.
Damned wolves smelled everything. He was bending over to the bottom tray in the
fridge when he heard someone come in the kitchen.

“You stink,” the voice said.

Fred’s hand froze on the container of cantaloupe. He turned
around to see the man who’d been speaking with Gavin. He was tall and muscled
with a brown beard. His hair was cut brutally short.

“You must be Thomas,” Fred guessed.

Thomas’ mouth moved in a parody of a smile. “I don’t care if
he’s sleeping with you, you’re still human. Your stink overpowers even the
smell of him.”

“Well…you smell like an old lady,” Fred said. Thomas didn’t
really smell like an old lady, but Fred had never been good at insults. He’d
always been much better at running and hiding. In the kitchen there was no
place to run, so he couldn’t do that.

Thomas’s eyes narrowed. He opened his mouth, revealing two very
sharp canine teeth.

“If I kill you, he won’t even miss you. He has his pick of any
woman in the pack. Why would he want a scrawny human?”

Fred couldn’t come up with an answer right away. He’d often
asked himself that very same question. He swallowed nervously. “What we do is
none of your business.”

Thomas pushed him back against the fridge, causing the door to
close with a thump. Fred dropped his cantaloupe. Thomas’ mouth was so close to
his throat. He wanted to run but was frozen, remembering when the wolf attacked
him in the forest. He’d wanted Fred dead. It looked like he still did.

“Thomas,” James said. “Step away from him.” His voice was so low
Fred could barely hear him. Pressure filled the room as though some great force
was pressing down on them.

Fred didn’t breathe. Not until Thomas slowly stepped away.

“He’s a human. Fair game,” Thomas said, never taking his eyes
off of Fred.

“He’s my mate. Mine. No one touches him but me,” James growled.

Fred yelped. Mate? James had never said that before.

“You can’t mate a man. Or a human. It’s not our way,” Thomas
said.

James cornered Thomas against the wall in much the same way that
Thomas had cornered Fred a few minutes earlier.

“I am Alpha. I make the rules. Unless you want to Challenge?
That didn’t work out for you the last time, did it?”

Thomas made an angry grunting noise, but he bared his neck in
what Fred knew was a gesture of submission. James nipped Thomas’ throat,
drawing a small drop of blood, and then let him go.

“Don’t bother my mate,” James said.

Thomas hunched his shoulders and left. If he’d been in wolf form,
his tail would have been between his legs. He’d looked defeated, but Fred knew
that wasn’t so. He’d see the man again.

James put his arm around Fred’s shoulders. “You should have
called out for me.”

“I’m not a child,” Fred said. “I can take care of myself. And
why’d you tell him I’m your mate?”

James kissed him on the mouth, licking at his lower lip.
“Because you are. I’ve known that since I first smelled you. It’s how wolves
mate.”

“It’s not how I mate…er, marry. I’m a human. You can’t just
decide that.” Fred ignored the growing bulge in his pants.

“You belong to me. You’ve always belonged to me. You were made
for me,” James said.

“Why did you let me leave?” Fred asked. He’d half expected James
to follow him to the city and demand he come back. He’d felt almost
disappointed as the weeks and months had rolled by. He’d imagined James happy
and in love with his female wolf which made him blindingly angry.

James licked at the skin below Fred’s ear, marking him by
rubbing his face against Fred’s chin. “You had to be free to make a choice. You
came back here. To me.”