4. Jaime
Chapter 4
Jaime
HALLOWEEN EVENING
E ventually, Jaime and Finn made their way into the living room with the big bowl of candy in hand and a plate of soft, still-warm cookies fresh out of the oven. Finn had even began warming up a crock of hot apple cider to hand out.
They did not find Sam and Silas in any compromising positions, and thankfully, the ax was resting against the wall by the door, undisturbed.
Sam was standing at the window, lit by the candles lining the windowsills, and turned to greet them as they all gathered together to wait for the doorbell to ring.
Looking around, Jaime assessed the rest of his decorating. He'd strung jack-o'-lantern shaped twinkle lights over the kitchen doorway, and dropped a white sheet over the newel post at the foot of the stairs to make it look like a ghost, with black felt cutouts glued on to serve as a face. They’d turned off the overhead lights, allowing the glow from the candles in the windows and the lanterns Jaime had placed along the floor and stairway to softly light the room.
He may have gone a little overboard, but hey. Halloween only happened once a year.
From his perch near the window, Sam asked, "Are there very many children in Silver Rapids? Do you think we’ll have a lot of trick-or-treaters?"
Silas walked up behind him. "We get a few every year if we leave the porch light on. I suspect we'll have a lot more this year, though, with all of the decorations outside."
Sam didn't quite smile, but he did look happy as he turned back toward the window to keep watch.
Jaime recalled how much Sam had loved taking him trick-or-treating when they were kids. He'd always dressed up too, even after most would consider him too old for it, and they'd walk around together gathering candy until Jaime’s legs grew tired. Then, they’d find somewhere to sit and gorge themselves on their haul.
Back at home, they'd fall asleep with one of their favorite Halloween movies playing in the background—Jaime loved Under Wraps and Halloweentown , and Sam loved Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire . Looking back, Jaime thought Sam had probably enjoyed the holiday just as much as he did, even if he was older and spending it with his goofy baby brother.
"I hope they come," Sam said softly.
“They will,” Silas replied.
Jaime felt like he was intruding. It was clear that Sam’s time here with Silas had been good for him. He may be naturally more standoffish compared to Jaime, but he had never been a loner. They had been a family of two for almost as long as Jaime could remember, and in his bones he felt that Sam was meant to be a part of the family they were building now.
A part of the pack.
Still, Jaime couldn't shake the sense that Sam was hiding something. It had been easier to convince him to dress up in a costume than Jaime thought it would be, and he had the distinct sense that Sam was humoring him on more than one occasion this afternoon.
Suddenly overwhelmed by the sense that Sam was there, but not really there, Jaime strode over to his brother, handing him a cookie and slinging an arm over his shoulder. “I’m so glad to be here with you. This is the best Halloween we’ve had in years. Thanks for doing this with me.”
Sam smiled, and it was real. “I’m glad, too.” He bit into the cookie and moaned. “Seriously Finn, these are amazing.”
Jaime grinned. “I know, right? He uses the peanut butter M more at peace. Besides Sheppard, Jaime had everyone he loved most in the world right there. They had spent an amazing day together, and Jaime had truly forgotten about all of their worries for a few hours.
Plus, he was about to be chased through the woods and railed by his hot wolfy boyfriend. Life was fucking good.
With two cookies in one hand and shoving a third into his mouth with the other, Silas said, “That was so much fun. We have to do that every year.”
The three of them grunted in agreement.
Next to him, Finn tapped Jaime’s foot with his own.
Right, ready to go.
Jaime pretended to stretch, suddenly not tired at all at the promise of what they had planned for the rest of their night. Picking up on his act, Finn yawned. "Well, I'm worn out. Let's head home for some shut-eye, yeah?" he said to Jaime.
Silas and Sam leveled them both with a look, like they weren't fooling anyone.
Jaime stood, and pulled Sam off the couch, wrapping him in a tight hug. "Thanks for dressing up with me. This was a great night.”
Sam gripped him back, hard, and buried his face in Jaime’s shoulder. “Yeah, it was.”
The four of them traded hugs with each other before Finn and Jaime walked out to the truck, arm in arm.
When they were both seated with the doors shut and the heat gently blowing on their feet, Finn reached over and palmed Jaime’s thigh, just below where his cock lay. “I’m requesting one alteration to our plans tonight.”
Jaime quickly looked up, trying to read Finn’s features in the dim light of the truck cabin. Instead of the caution he expected to find, he saw that Finn’s eyes had gone nearly black with want. His canines were as large as Jaime had ever seen them outside of his full shift, but he understood Finn perfectly when he growled, “These fucking pants stay on , until I decide they come off.”
The command zipped down Jaime’s spine like a lit fuse, simmering low in his belly and ratcheting his arousal directly to high. His cock chubbed up, drawing the crotch of his pants even tighter. Finn palmed him there, almost like he couldn’t help it, and Jaime whimpered. “Yes, ok. You decide.”
Finn cursed, and drew his hand back, raking it through his hair. “Those pants should be fucking illegal on you. Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep my hands to myself all evening?”
Emboldened, Jaime leaned over and nipped at Finn’s ear. He slid his own hand down, cupping where Finn lay hard and thick against his thigh. “Why don’t you show me?”
Finn groaned, guiding Jaime back into his seat. “Buckle up, baby,” he said, and dropped the truck into gear.
Jaime stepped out of the warmth of their kitchen into the backyard, the air crisp and nipping at his exposed chest. He’d unbuttoned his ruffled shirt all the way to his naval and tucked it into his tight, high-waisted pants. He’d kept the boots and cape on, too, per Finn’s request.
The air was colder than when they’d left Silas and Sam’s, and judging by the wave pattern on the lake, it looked like the wind was shifting from the north, now. Snow was forecasted for tomorrow, and he could just make out clouds distantly moving in to hide the faint green aurora borealis meandering across the sky above them.
Just as he was about to call out for Finn, Jaime heard a branch snap, and turned to see him emerge from the tree line.
His breath caught at the sight.
Illuminated by the light of the blood orange moon, Finn was naked and partially shifted, with his cock hanging heavy and full. He looked like a forest creature; a beast come to claim what was his—more wild than Jaime had ever seen him. If he wasn’t intimately familiar with the softness in Finn’s gaze, the gentle way he held Jaime through his darkest nights, the tender caress of him as he moved inside Jaime when he needed to be reminded that he was safe, that he was Finn’s—if he didn’t know all of those things, he might have been afraid.
But he did know all of those things. He knew all of Finn. And so Jaime strode over to his mate, a fierce possessiveness rippling through him that this man, this beautiful, wild, loving, gentle, ferociously protective man, was his.
Mine. He’s mine.
Jaime’s emotions must have shown on his face, or maybe Finn sensed them through their bond, that warm tether connecting their souls, because as he approached, Finn stood taller. His shoulders squared, and he settled into his full height and breadth.
Finn did not make himself smaller before Jaime, and Jaime did not hide how fiercely proud he was of that.
Reaching him, Jaime placed a kiss in the center of his chest. “All clear?”
Finn ran a shaky hand up Jaime’s arm. “All clear. Are you ready?”
After they’d returned home, Finn had left for a quick patrol run while Jaime went inside to remove the plug and quickly rinse off. He’d stuffed several packets of lube into the waistband of his pants, before he met Finn outside.
Jaime pressed his smile into Finn’s skin, already needing to be closer. “Ready.”
Finn blew out a heavy breath and rumbled, “Your colors?”
Jaime shifted from foot to foot. “Green, which I am right now, because I know you will ask. Yellow is for pause, and red means stop.”
Finn nodded, his voice shaky and low, the way he sounded when he was holding his wolf back. “Right. Ok.” He pressed a flashlight into Jaime’s hand—one of Finn’s requirements, so he wouldn’t run face-first into a tree.
Jaime gripped the torch, a reminder that even though Finn was a predator, he was playing this game with someone who put his safety before everything else. Glassy-eyed, he tipped his head back and caught Finn’s gaze. “I trust you, Finn. And I trust your wolf. With my deepest, most vulnerable desires. With my safety. With my heart—it’s all yours. You won’t hurt me. And your wolf won’t either. You are mine, and I am yours.”
Finn let out a soft whine, grasping Jaime by the hips and pressing their foreheads together. “I love you, more than anything.”
Jaime hummed. “I know,” he said, and pressed his mouth to Finn’s, opening immediately when he demanded entrance with his tongue and teeth.
Finn yanked himself away too soon, breathing heavily. His voice was raw, and his eyes gleamed in the way they did when he was more wolf than man. Thickly, he said, “Good. Remember that, because I’m going to fuck you into the ground right where I catch you.”
Jaime sucked in a breath, suddenly lightheaded from all the blood rushing to his cock. Finn prowled around him, circling, his gait smooth and lupine, and Jaime felt like a rabbit—frozen, staring into the maw of the big bad wolf. Finn pressed his chest into Jaime’s and grabbed him by the hips, spinning him around to face the trees.
Leaning down, he whispered, “Now… run.”
Finn snapped his teeth in the air by Jaime’s ear and he jolted, the urge to flee competing with the desire to lay down and present his ass for fucking right there in the grass.
The urge to run won, for now, and he tore into the trees, high on a mix of adrenaline and lust so overwhelming he didn’t know where one ended and the other began. The combination of them coursing through his veins was deeply primal, and he felt all of his worries and anxieties slipping away, sinking into the same soft feeling that overcame him when Finn gave him a command.
This was what Jaime needed. This was easy. All he knew was that Finn was chasing him, and he had to run, so that he could be caught.
Only by his mate.
Jaime kept to the trail that Finn had made in the forest surrounding their home, his frequent patrols wearing a path in the ground and creating a tunnel through the tangled brambles and snapping limbs with his claws and bulk.
Still, the red cloak billowing behind him caught on stray twigs and tiny stones sticking up out of the earth, and it ripped and tore as he ran. Jaime couldn’t hear Finn—he hadn’t even heard him follow into the trees when he first started running—but he could sense him.
Whether through the mating bond, or some long-buried instinct that was awakened by this game of theirs, he wasn’t sure, but he knew when Finn was right behind him. Jaime sensed when to dart around a tree just in time or dash ahead, feeling the ghost of Finn’s outstretched hand as he gasped at the near catch, the snapping of Finn’s canines propelling him forward.
Somehow, Jaime could feel Finn watching. Prowling. Stalking him through the woods, keeping just out of sight so that every time he turned his head, he saw only dark trees illuminated by the orange moon and the chaotic beam of his flashlight.
Of course Finn could have caught him at any time, but he let Jaime run—growled and nipped at his heels to egg him along. The knowledge that this could all come to an end with one swipe of Finn’s arm pinning him to a tree made Jaime’s cock swell, and his adrenaline surged again. He sank even further into that easy headspace, letting his instincts guide him as he dashed down the path away from the big, bad wolf.
Out of breath and sweaty despite the chill in the air, Jaime threw himself behind a tree, pressing his back up against the trunk while he tried to catch his breath and gather his wits.
I’m going to need to do more cardio if we make this a regular thing.
Jaime huffed a quiet laugh, and pressed down on his hard cock in an attempt to calm his arousal, unmistakable in the skin-tight pants he still wore.
Snap.
Jaime whipped his head toward the noise, sounding like a twig or pinecone breaking underfoot off to his left. Holding his breath, he strained to see any hint of movement in the dark, but the flashlight only reached five or six feet in front of him, at most. He quietly let out the breath he’d been holding, but he was still panting, and his next inhale was loud in the muffled quiet of the forest.
Snap. This time, the noise came from his right.
Finn was toying with him.
Cornered like this, with his back pressed up against a tree and sensing Finn’s wolf all around him, a shiver ran down Jaime’s spine. But not in fear. Well, not totally in fear. Now that he wasn’t caught up in running away, it hit him how creepy it was to be alone in the woods at night.
But he wasn’t alone, not really. And his raging erection didn’t lie—Jaime was so into being chased through the woods.
A howl cut through the quiet, sounding too far away to be Finn but close enough to send a real bolt of fear through him. Ok, so Jaime only enjoyed being chased through the woods by Finn. He definitely didn’t want to be chased by anything else.
Jaime stepped away from the tree, thinking he’d change direction and run back toward their house and further away from the distant howling, only to smack face-first into a warm, hairy chest.