Authors: Marcy Jacks
Tags: #none
Going home was not an option while he was like this, even if he knew which way to go. Assuming he really was the same person he always had been, he knew nothing about himself, or what he could do. He lived alone and had no close family, but putting his neighbors in danger while he tried to figure out how his new body worked was the epitome of irresponsibility, and he wouldn’t even risk the life of another human being.
There were some people who could help him, one in particular that Corey would prefer, though he had no idea why. It was like the farther away he got from James, the worse he felt inside. James had said they were connected, after all.
James had saved him, and Corey ran away from him. The sting of guilt did not feel good, but it was there all the same, and Corey could not push it down, no matter how much he tried.
James had saved his life twice. If Corey asked nicely, maybe he would teach him how to control this new aspect of himself. Maybe Corey had nothing to fear from the beginning.
His decision made, Corey continued to sit on the ground for another fifteen minutes before he finally worked up the balls to get to his feet and run back to James’s house.
* * * *
Though James had done as he’d said and let Corey go and then got himself a cold drink from the fridge so his hands could have something to do as he waited for Corey to return―
please, God, let
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him come back
―James was still antsy as fuck.
Then his ears twitched, and he smiled.
He heard the sound of Corey’s out-of-breath panting and heard the drumming of his heart seconds before the man appeared from between the trees. He’d been running back and had slowed to a stop as he cleared the trees. Clean sweat made the too-big T-shirt he wore
cling to him, showing off his body.
Some of James’s men had been walking around, gathering firewood, or carrying around that day’s catch, and they all turned to look at the new person who’d just entered their space, confused, and readying for a fight.
Not everyone in James’s pack would’ve had the chance to see Corey when he was brought in or take in his scent.
James got up from his seat and leapt over the wooden rail of the deck before anyone could make a claim to the territory in front of their new brother.
“As you were,” he barked. An alpha couldn’t always be nice with werewolves. Unless it was an omega he was dealing with, they, for the most part, only responded how James wanted them to when he put a little strength into his voice. For James, that had to be most of the time.
Everyone walking around took one look at their alpha, and then at the dirty newcomer―had he fallen down a hill and into a ditch?―and then went back to their duties.
James approached Corey, as casually as though he hadn’t been waiting with bated breath for the other man to return. “You’ve come back,” he said, fisting his hands into his pockets, looking up and down Corey’s body, checking for anymore possible damage.
If anything had happened, Corey’s new werewolf regeneration abilities would care for him a thousand times better than James ever
could, but he couldn’t help himself.
Corey nodded, looking very much like a kicked puppy. “What did
you do to me?”
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James put his hand on the other man’s shoulder, delighting in the warmth of the touch, and the way Corey didn’t shrink away from him. “Come with me and I’ll show you.”
* * * *
Dean Lefroy arrived at the small, square brick house belonging to his former boyfriend, let himself in with the key kept hidden under the loose bit of stone that acted as the steps to the porch, and searched for anything, any possible clue that he could have previously missed that would let him know exactly who Corey Black was and how he had come to be with Dean.
He checked his mail first, then in all the usual places someone would hide their letters or photographs, flipping through the pages of the other man’s books just in case something loose were to slip out.
Nothing. Nothing in the trash bins, nothing weird on his phone bills. Nothing.
Dean knew Corey was not a werewolf. On their first date, Dean had been sure to arrange it on a full moon night. It was one of his safety procedures when meeting new people. Get a look at them in the sun, and then a nice romantic dinner with that bright silver circle beaming down on them through the windows. Though most werewolves nowadays could control their transformations, a full moon still made a werewolf twitchy. Sometimes extra hair suddenly sprouted, and they wanted to run and transform to satisfy the urge
anyway.
Corey had passed both tests. He was human, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a supporter, and Dean had grown careless. He’d allowed his guard to lower. The sincerity in the other man was too much for him, and he’d actually believed it when Corey seemed to know nothing of what went bump in the night, until the night that Dean foolishly told him.
To be fair, Dean had been lonely. He always went so long without
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human companionship. Sometimes the most company he would ever have were on the nights he captured a vampire, goblin, or witch and had to do things to make them speak about their nests or packs.
Corey had been the longest real relationship Dean had ever had, and he got stupid.
Corey was involved with the werewolves. From which pack, it didn’t matter. That one monster had all but eaten the engine of his van during the attack, and though Dean had been doing his best to defend himself, he was in the proper frame of mind to look over and see the way the big one, an alpha no doubt, had shielded Corey with his body.
Not attacking with intent to kill, like the other one.
Shielding
.
It had been the worst sort of betrayal Dean had ever felt, even while struggling with the possibility that Corey was not the man he seemed to be during the drive, the confirmation crushed his insides into his dust. Embarrassment at all the affection he’d ever shown him
and shame for letting him in on Dean’s mission, giving him vital information that could later be used against him, against all hunters really, had flooded him.
Dean was a disgrace.
He was going to find and kill Corey for that.
Before he left the house, he made sure to sprinkle the gas can he’d brought along the floors and walls. He was careful not to be overly obvious about it, the police should at least have to work a little to discover it was an act of arson, and that would give Dean more time to get out of town before any questions were asked of him, seeing as he was the boyfriend of the man whose house was about to get torched.
He didn’t stay to watch it burn. Something like that would only have brought Dean satisfaction had Corey been inside with the flames. Corey and that goddamn werewolf he was working for.
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Chapter Seven
Corey’s body was on fire. He was molten-lava hot and polar-ice cold at the same time. Sweat drenched him. Everything itched, and his new senses were still driving him nuts.
Those squirrels chasing each other in the trees weren’t helping either. Corey wanted nothing more than to chase them down, grab them by their scrawny necks, and make their stupid twittering and chatting cease.
The weird thing was, he wanted to chase them on all fours and grab them with his mouth. His jaws, really.
“You’re still fighting it,” James said.
“I am not.” Corey seethed. He was on all fours in the dry earth, several yards away from the group of cottages that made up the homes of James’s pack. James was currently standing in front of him, naked as the day he was born, yet standing like he was wearing his leather jacket and jeans. Arms crossed over that massive chest and legs parted to make an intimidating stance.
If Corey put his head up, he was going to find himself at perfect eye level with the man’s cock, and he was already having a hard enough time of it keeping his face from heating up like a stove on
max.
James was either very proud of his body, or had zero shame and wanted Corey to know it.
Maybe it was both.
“You are fighting it. Otherwise you would have made the transformation by now. This isn’t good for you. Just relax and let it come. You’re making yourself sick.”
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No kidding.
Corey had only been with James’s pack for three days, but apparently, he was long overdue for his first transformation. He wasn’t looking forward to it either, but at this point, he just wanted to get it over with.
Admittedly, it would be so much easier if James would stop showing him how it was done and put his clothes back on.
Corey was naked for this as well, and he’d been kept naked almost constantly after he’d returned to James’s house, asking for help.
It seemed that transforming while wearing clothes was not the recommended procedure.
He might have an easier time of this if he’d get his head out of the gutter and stop imagining James getting on his knees for him and using that mouth for something other than barking orders.
He really needed to get laid. The fact that they were both naked and alone was not helping either.
“This isn’t working. Watch me again,” James said, forcing Corey’s eyes back up to that magnificent body.
He made it look so easy, the bastard. James just allowed himself to fall forward, and just like that, his hands became paws before they touched the ground. A full, heavy coat of wolf fur had grown and spread along his body. A long tail seemed to stretch from the bottom of his spine, and his snout lengthened and nose became large and black.
Like he said. The bastard made it look so easy. Corey could even hear the bones in James’s arms and legs snapping, but he’d said it
would
hardly hurt
, and after a couple of transformations he
wouldn’t feel a thing.
The sound still creeped him out.
Now you try
, James said, talking in Corey’s head again. He was still deciding on whether or not he liked that.
At least it made these lessons easier when James was in his wolf
form, but then there was the risk that the other man, wolf, whatever,
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would hear Corey’s horny thoughts.
He nodded, forcing his attention back to the matter at hand. “All right, letting it happen.” He stretched his shoulders and cracked his neck, trying to become limber.
But it was difficult to focus. When he closed his eyes, all he could picture were the burned remnants of his house. One of the werewolves living on this land hadn’t needed to tell him about it. It had made the local news.
Dean usually set the homes of the witches and vampires he discovered on fire. It wasn’t his signature, necessarily, but he did say the fire cleansed the land.
The fact that Corey could never go home again or might very well have been inside that house as it lit up had he not gone back to James freaked him out, and he became a bundle of nerves every time, losing his concentration.
“Goddamnit, I can’t do it.”
He looked up and found James’s wolf snout in his face, the canine eyes looking down at him with disapproval.
You need to transform. If you don’t―
“What?” Corey demanded.
James sat down, his bushy tail curling around his legs.
The silence didn’t bode well on Corey. “You said it wasn’t good for me to not do it. What will happen if I don’t?”
He’d been under the impression that not transforming wasn’t good for him in the same way that not getting his daily exercise or vegetable intake was not good for him. After being with the werewolves for so long, he learned that most were in complete control of their wolves after only a few transformations. Corey had nothing to worry about as far as turning into a monster went, but now James was making him worried.
Maybe he would get a little sick. He certainly didn’t feel all that great right now.
James explained it to him while still in his wolf form, which was a
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good thing. Corey didn’t think he could handle seeing anymore of the man’s naked body.
Your wolf wants out. If you don’t let him out, he’ll force his way out of you.
Corey shivered. “What does that mean?”
James’s chest puffed out in what looked like a massive sigh.
I’m not saying this to make things more difficult for you, but a wolf that has to use force to come out generally doesn’t come out a happy camper. He’ll be angry, he won’t want to go back in, and I’ll have to restrain you until you can change back.