Marcus stopped in front of Dallas.
Dallas had known Marcus for years. He wasn’t nervous to stand before Marcus, or to wait while Marcus studied him. Dallas stood tall—as tall as he could at five-seven, anyway—and didn’t fidget.
He also smiled, not having to fake it, either.
Nathan chuckled as he joined Marcus. “You are always so upbeat, Dallas.”
“Thanks.” It even came natural to him. “I don’t see the point in dwelling on bad stuff.” He let his smile broaden. “There’s too much good going on.”
Nathan shook his head just a bit but didn’t appear to be disagreeing.
Dallas thought he was more amused than anything else.
Movement caught Dallas’ eye. He went back to watching Marcus, who raised a hand up and cupped the left side of Dallas’ head. Marcus stroked his thumb over Dallas’ temple. “How do you feel?”
Smug probably wasn’t a wise answer, though Dallas did dart a glance at Keegan. “Fine. I think my senses are a little screwed up, but I can still help. If nothing else, I can keep some of the guards from getting cold at night.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Marcus snorted at him. “That’s not an argument in your favor, Dallas. Distracting the guards.” Marcus tutted but Dallas could see that the man was trying not to grin. “You’re a distraction when you want to be, and you know it.”
“Even when you aren’t trying to be,” Nathan added.
There was no reason for Dallas to take offense, so he didn’t. He was, after all, an unrepentant flirt, and he liked sex, a lot.
A lot, lot.
“Well, when you look like this.” Dallas fluttered his lashes and gestured at himself.
Marcus did laugh then. He stopped rubbing Dallas’ temple. “You’re one of my pack. You aren’t going to be left behind.”
Dallas whooped and flung himself at Marcus for a hug. As soon as he let go, Dallas went after Nathan. “You guys are the best!” So what if he was informal as all get out with the Alpha Anax and Nathan? Dallas knew they were shifters just like the rest of them, first and foremost. They weren’t deities, despite their perfectly sculpted physiques.
“We’re never going to hear the end of this, Sissy,” Keegan warned.
Dallas did a little shimmy and wagged a finger at Keegan and Sissy both. “That kind of admission is enough for me,” Dallas said, before he calmed himself down.
Marcus placed a hand on his shoulder. “Pack sticks together. As long as Dallas isn’t wounded so badly that he can’t travel, he’s coming with us. It doesn’t matter that he’s not a guard.”
Which was a nice way of saying that Dallas wasn’t a skilled fighter, not any more than an actual wolf would be. If he was honest with himself, a wolf was probably way more skilled than he’d ever be. Dallas was truly more of a lover. That whole pain thing was a huge deterrent to unpleasant physical altercations.
“I just thought he’d be safer here.” Sissy held up her hands. “I was wrong.” She pointed to Keegan. “He agreed with me.”
Keegan stiffened his spine like someone had shoved a hot poker up his backside. “My priority—”
“Is doing your job, which entails following your Alpha Anax’s orders,” Nathan finished. “So yeah. Leaving Dallas behind isn’t happening. He’s not disabled, and if this Butler guy sends people back this way, two guards might not be enough, so everyone’s sticking together.”
“We could send him back to Ryder,” Keegan argued. “He’d be safe there.”
Dallas’ cheery disposition was taking a hit. He glared at Keegan. “Do you just not like me anymore? Is it something I’ve done?” Dallas had made a pass at Keegan on the jet but that was before Keegan had met Olin, his mate. Dallas had known when he’d agreed to be the steward for that flight that part of his job would be to loosen Keegan up.
Not that Marcus had said any such thing. Dallas just took it upon himself to make sure he did everything he could to keep his passengers happy. If they were sexy male passengers, Dallas liked to see if they were interested in some in-flight fun once he’d finished his work duties.
Keegan gave an exasperated sound and came as close to losing his temper as Dallas had ever seen. “It isn’t that at all, Dallas. This is about me being able to do my job in the most effective manner possible. I’ll have to make sure you’re being protected as well, since you haven’t recovered all of your senses.”
“They aren’t completely gone, and Marcus already said I could go. You should quit arguing with the Alpha Anax, right?” Dallas beamed at Keegan. “You know, with Marcus being the boss and all.”
Keegan growled and Dallas ratcheted up his smile. He patted Keegan’s arm. “I won’t take it personally if you don’t.”
“Of course I won’t.” Keegan didn’t look thrilled, but that was okay.
Sissy nodded at him. “You won this round, kiddo.”
A victory dance would not go over well, so Dallas settled for a somewhat dignified departure from the room after thanking Marcus and Nathan once more.
The borrowed clothes he’d found in the closet were chafing him and he wanted to see if there was anything else he could find. Someone would be strapping packs onto them. But would there be room for clothes? A few, certainly, in case someone had to approach a village or people. It was nothing new for shifters to see each other naked. Indeed, it inspired loyalty to see someone like Marcus, who led the North American packs, naked and so buff it was mind-boggling. It had to deter many would-be challengers, too. One look at all those muscles on muscles Marcus had would surely make a shifter rethink fighting him for position.
Nathan wasn’t a toothpick, either. He was a stocky little guy. Shorter than Dallas. Maybe five-seven wasn’t super-short to humans. Shifters tended to be over six feet tall, male and female alike. There were exceptions—him, Nathan, a few others.
Dallas was short, and he was very thin by shifter standards. He didn’t let it bother him much. He was a happy, easy guy who liked pleasing others. Most people found that hard to resist.
In the tiny guest bedroom, Dallas dug through the closet. There were a few boxes of clothing in there, and while he wasn’t a thief, he wasn’t against borrowing things. He’d either send money or the items he borrowed back to this address, depending on the state of the clothes he took.
The shorts and T-shirt he currently had on were too big. He’d just grabbed the first things he’d seen earlier. Now he took a little more time and finally pulled out two pairs of Lycra shorts and two crop tops. They were women’s clothing, according to the tags. Dallas doubted anyone would notice since the shorts were solid black and so were the shirts.
After he put a pair of the shorts on, Dallas jogged over to the dresser with a big mirror above it. He stood up on his toes and checked out his dick and balls, then smirked. The shorts emphasized his private parts very nicely. He spun around and peered over his shoulder at his butt. Yup, Lycra was definitely his new best friend. His ass was his best feature, and it looked pert and perfect in the shorts.
Dallas decided to ignore his own lack of muscular definition and sparse body hair. He slipped a tank top on then carried his other outfit with him to the living room. “Is there room for these?” he asked, holding up the little scraps of fabric.
More than one jaw dropped as several guards turned to look at him.
“What?” Dallas asked them. It wasn’t like a lot of them hadn’t seen him naked already when they’d had pack runs. Marcus’ guards had. Dallas realized half the guards there weren’t from Marcus’ pack but from Ryder’s. “Oh. Hey.”
A couple of them looked promising, he decided—the man with the dark hair, pretty skin and green eyes, and the one with sandy blond hair and brown eyes. Both were definitely appreciative of his outfit, and both were standing beside each other. Oh man, if he was lucky, they’d both want to play with him—at the same time, even.
Dallas didn’t do coy. He strolled past everyone else, heading right to his potential sexual partners. “I’m Dallas,” he began, his voice dropping to a more sultry register than usual. “You two are—”
“Interested,” the dark haired one answered, his thick accent sending a pleasurable throb of desire through Dallas. “I am Davi, and this is Ramon.”
Ramon nodded but didn’t speak. Instead he looked Dallas over hungrily.
“How long before we leave?” Dallas asked, as he handed the clothes over to Davi.
“Soon,” Davi answered, a smile playing around the edges of his full lips. “We will have to stop and rest sometime.”
Dallas winked at him. “Yes we will, and I can sure help you two get a good night’s sleep.” Dallas gave them a little wave then left the room. He wasn’t normally a tease and didn’t think he was being one then. The guards had jobs to do, and he wouldn’t be interfering with that.
The front porch was calling his name. Dallas stepped outside and grimaced at the humidity. He felt like he was melting, not sweating. There was a hammock twenty feet or so away from the house. Tied between two palm trees, the hammock was shaded and irresistible.
Dallas was careful. He looked the area over for several minutes, listened, sniffed and did everything he could to ensure his own safety. Even with his senses messed up, they weren’t totally gone.
The sand was warm beneath his feet. “Ohh, instant pedicure! Well, almost.” He wiggled his heels every time they came down. If he were lucky, the skin there would be soft as a baby’s bottom.
“That’s just a weird saying.” Dallas rolled his lips in and silently chided himself. Talking to himself was a habit he’d had ever since he could remember. As an only child, he’d been lonely a lot, even being surrounded by pack members. A lot of shifters weren’t fond of runts.
The hammock consisted of a multi-colored rope. Dallas might have liked to see if he could figure out how it made in case he had the urge to try to create one on his own when he was feeling crafty, but time was short and he wanted to flop down in that thing for a few minutes. He did, careful not to tip himself over.
“God, this is the life,” he whispered, barely managing to keep his eyes open. “Mm. Yeah.”
The slight sway of the hammock, the breeze chasing the sweat from his skin, the smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves all conspired to tug him down into a nap. That was his theory, anyway, as his eyelids slid shut.
Chapter Three
What a delightful find.
Tiago sauntered toward the figure in the hammock. He knew he only had a few minutes before someone came outside looking for Dallas. After all, the wolf shifters were planning on setting out to find the same human Tiago wanted to track down. If he was lucky, he’d get rid of the wolf shifters and the drug runners all at once. How, he didn’t know. He’d figure something out.
For now, he wanted to get closer to Dallas. The pull was irresistible, coming from the core of Tiago’s being. He had to admit, he’d never been so attracted to someone before. Odd and disappointing that it’d been a wolf shifter that had caught his eye so firmly.
It had to be the tiny, tight black shorts and shirt. Dallas was thin but he was displaying a nice package into those shorts, and his lean chest—Tiago was entranced, that was all it was. He had always had lovers big and muscular like himself, even the females he’d bred with to help propagate their species. Not that
that
was going so well.
Tiago pushed aside thoughts about extinction and let his mind focus on the form in the hammock. Dallas had thin legs and smooth knees that Tiago wanted to nibble at. He had a thing for knees. Dallas’ weren’t knobby, for all his thinness.
There wasn’t much body hair on the man, either. That was another one of Tiago’s turn-ons. He was hairless on his torso and legs, including his groin. Why he had armpit hair, Tiago had no idea. It was just the way his kind was made.
Dallas didn’t even have a treasure trail peeking over the waistband of those shorts.
Tiago licked his muzzle as he silently approached his prey. Jaguars were apex predators—nothing topped them in the food chain. They could and did stalk their food with a skill no other creature had.
While Dallas wasn’t food, he was being hunted.
Tiago knew he wouldn’t be heard, and the breeze was carrying his scent off rather than to Dallas. There was nothing that should alarm the man snoozing in the hammock.
Keeping a close eye on the house as well as Dallas, Tiago crept forward. A small voice in his head was screaming at him, asking him what in the hells did he think he was doing. Tiago had no answer for that voice. He’d never been so driven to another man before.
Here he was, risking life and limb, all because he had to be closer to Dallas. It was insane, and yet he kept heading for Dallas rather than turning tail and running to a safe distance away.
Tiago’s cock was half-hard, too, which wasn’t enjoyable in his shifted form. It certainly wasn’t usual, either. Even a female jaguar in season didn’t cause the kind of internal turmoil he was experiencing. Hot, cold, tense, jittery—Tiago had so many things going on with his body, he couldn’t pinpoint just one sensation.
But he could keep his paws moving as he flicked his gaze from the house to the figure sleeping in the hammock.
Dallas’ soft breaths aroused Tiago even more.
What is wrong with me?
He should be able to leave instead of taking such a risk. There were predators not more than fifty feet away.
They weren’t apex predators.
Tiago was, and wolves wouldn’t intimidate him. They might outnumber him, but he wasn’t worried. The rainforest was his home, and he knew parts of it that no one else ever would.
I can take Dallas to some of those places. Take him there, seduce him, mate with him until he’s out of my system. One night, two days, I can catch up with the wolves at any time. They are slow, cumbersome beasts.
It was a flimsy, crazy plan.
Tiago couldn’t shake it. His heart grabbed onto it—or at least his libido did, his cock firming up the rest of the way. It was bizarre to be aroused by a human in this form. Tiago wondered if he’d be as turned on if Dallas was in his wolf body.
Then he started speculating on the possibility of inter-species sex.
Could a jaguar fuck a wolf? Why not?