Chapter 13
Having Marcus around and in a more ambulatory state was the best of things, and it was also the fucking worst of things. He was incredibly distracting.
When Linc took Marcus up to his office after breakfast to help our mate with that fucking email from the asshole ex, I went out to finish the deck, but I still listened for any movement from inside in case Marcus needed a hug or a cup of tea or, hell, if he wanted another blowjob, I was so there for that.
The waiting was anxiety inducing, and a half hour in, I was jumpy and ready to slip out of my human skin and into wolf, but I wasn’t willing to leave our mate. Plus, the deck had to get done. I didn’t want Marcus to go outside and fall because half of it was missing.
Lucky for me, just after I got all the boards neatly in place, Marcus walked down the stairs. I decided it was time for a break, so I put my hammer down and went inside. I could paint everything later.
Marcus gave me the briefest of glances. He looked sort of tired. That bright-eyed spark he’d had when he’d seen the den I’d built was gone. Made me want to bite someone.
I wanted to walk right up to him and wrap him in my arms, kiss it all better, but we’d talked about this last night when Marcus had been asleep.
Fuck, even Vi had decided to give me the glorious nugget of advice not to push our boy too hard.
She was Ell’s family, but fucking Vi. The fact that she was right was the fucking worst.
Marcus headed to the dining room with his laptop under his arm. I fought against the need to follow him and touch him to offer comfort. Instead, I stayed in the kitchen.
I was still debating whether I should make Marcus more tea when I heard his footfalls. He stepped around the corner a moment later. He examined the kitchen and quickly zeroed in on the oolong that was still out on the counter.
“Let me make that for you,” I offered.
“I’m not too frail to make myself some tea.” He punctuated that with a bout of coughing.
I was beside him and running my hand up his back before I could stop myself. He looked up at me, bewildered, as if no one had ever touched him for comfort before.
“My kitchen, my rules.” I shrugged.
Marcus rolled his eyes. “How come your face is black, but the rest of your hair is just as ginger as you? When…when you’re a wolf, I mean.”
I heard Linc chuckle from upstairs. Oh, the bliss of a closed door.
“I like to think it makes me more handsome.” I tried hard to sell that, tried not letting the fact that our mate was asking about my stupid ginger fur get to me.
“Is that a thing?” Marcus watched me make him his tea, and I hoped I was doing it right.
Tea drinkers had opinions. We had half a freezer full of Linc’s coffee beans since coffee drinkers had opinions as well.
I wasn’t sure how many more snobs this house could handle.
“Does it not matter what a werewolf looks like in person-shape so long as their wolf form is hot?” He scrunched up his face.
“Not that I find canines inherently sexy. That’s the monsterfuckers, and I’m not even sure they distinguish between tentacles and tails. ”
From the sounds of it, Linc was rolling with laughter. Those two were just peas in a pod.
“Well, I only have the tail. But, Marcus, are you saying this—” I indicated my well-filled-out person-shape, as Marcus had put it, “—is ugly? Or that you find me ugly as a wolf? Which is it?”
Marcus blushed. “I didn’t—you’re not ugly! I don’t… I just saw a big fur mountain, and I thought you were the dog the other two fed their victims to. Still not one hundred percent sure you all going furry wasn’t a fever dream.”
I poured the hot water over the tea leaves to let them steep, then pulled off my tee.
“Whoa, dude!” Marcus raised his hands.
I put the shirt on the counter and slowly walked up to Marcus. His scent was crazy enticing—excitement mixed with desire—even with that sour pinch of lingering sickness.
“There’s nothing wrong with looking at bodies. Whoever came up with thinking naked bodies are something to be ashamed of can go suck a porcupine as far as I’m concerned.” I let my pants drop, glad I wasn’t sporting a semi right now. “You should never be embarrassed to look at your mate.”
Then I shifted. It put me below Marcus’s eye level, but it enhanced all the lovely scents I could discern. On the one hand, there was that tired frustration, on the other, the zing of curious newness.
Marcus stared, but he wasn’t scared. He sank to his knees and started petting me. Like this, he had to look up at me. It made sense that me resembling a dog would make it easier for him to cross that barrier toward physical contact, and I liked it.
“You’re huge.” His hands ran down to my right front paw, his fingers following my claws.
Yup, I had big paws, for sure.
I made a grunting sound, the wolf equivalent of duh, and since Marcus seemed to enjoy feeling me up, I decided to be bold. I shoved him with my muzzle, not hard, but enough to unbalance him.
His first instinct was to throw his arms around my neck to steady himself, and that was kind of perfect, not just because the reaction came so easily, but also because it allowed me to carefully maneuver him onto his back by simply taking a step toward him.
Marcus yelped in surprise, but I had him where I wanted him now. The kitchen floor was very clean, so I didn’t mind having Marcus on his back. I stood over him, looking down, his hands burrowing into my fur.
“What a big strong wolf you are.”
Just loved our sassy mate.
I huffed and started sniffing his face, his neck.
When that didn’t freak him out, I licked his skin right above the neckline of his shirt.
Everything inside of me screamed for me to just give him my mating bite right here and now, but I wasn’t so fucking weak that my instincts could ride me like that.
This really was too perfect an opportunity to pass up though, so I shifted back, right on top of Marcus. Got me the cutest wide-eyed stare ever.
“Um,” Marcus said, and then he snapped his mouth shut.
“Wasn’t going to French you without asking first.” Damn, but I did have a bit of a semi situation going now.
If this were Linc or Ell underneath me, or any other wolf, they’d see it as a compliment, they’d know they’d turned me on.
Marcus’s reaction would probably fall more into the human realm of oops, awkward.
“I wasn’t—I didn’t—you’re the embodiment of a big bad wolf.”
I threw my head back to laugh. When I looked down again, Marcus’s lips were a bit pouty and his forehead was pinched, making him look adorably shy, maybe embarrassed.
I waited until he met my eyes before I spoke again. “I’m making a run to the hardware store. Maybe even get some more geraniums just for the fun of it. Wanna come along, Little Red?”
Marcus snorted. “I need some tea first, and off this floor.”
“Under-floor heating’s nice though, right?” I asked with a grin before I got to my feet and pulled him up with me.
“Right.” Marcus’s eyes wandered down. “Suuure…”
The poor thing got a serious case of tomato head.
I’d have shrugged it off, except for some reason, that red-cheeked look made me want him all the more.
I would have liked to take his hand and lead him over to the cuddle puddle, strip him, lick his dick, his balls, his hole.
Maybe he’d have even let me. Except we all needed him to not just want to be here with us for the sex but, well, for us.
So I regretfully put my pants and shirt back on, and Marcus watching me made me want to preen and strut around the house and around town like a goddamn peacock.
Linc walked into the kitchen, took one look at our gorgeous mate, another at me, then did his scowling thing to hide the smile that wanted out.
He wasn’t prudish by any stretch, but his family just wasn’t the type to shift in the open or ditch clothes around the house.
He’d loosened up about that considerably since moving out here with us, but sometimes I could swear that particular stick up his butt had left scars.
He cleared his throat and went about making a fresh pot of coffee while I handed Marcus his tea.
“Remember there might be a hunter in town, Dom.”
“Thanks,” Marcus said when he took the mug from my hands. Poor thing could barely meet my eyes.
“Anytime.”
I risked brushing my knuckles over his cheek. He didn’t pull back, although his cheeks went tomato all over again.
Marcus took a deep breath. “What’s with that hunter business? Don’t you get them on a regular basis?”
Linc leaned against the counter, his arms crossed. “We get hikers and climbers a lot more. This looks like someone who is out to hunt our kind.”
“People?” Marcus’s eyebrows shot up his forehead.
“Werewolves, Little Red,” I told him.
He sipped some of his tea, and I could see his shoulders release some tension. “Meaning some people do know, but they don’t like it? Or are werewolves a lot more bitey than you guys’re letting on?”
Linc gave Marcus a level look. “When you or those you love are threatened, you fight. That’s true for humans, werewolves, and every other creature living on this planet.
Hunters sprang up a few hundred years ago, along with the werewolf legend.
Their goal is eradication, not self-defense.
Why else shoot a regular wolf? Wolves aren’t aggressive; they try to avoid people wherever possible.
” He tilted his head. “There have been cases where entire families have been murdered by hunters, including the children.”
Marcus went still. Then he dropped his gaze. “Sorry. I didn’t mean—sorry.”
Linc pushed off the counter and cupped Marcus’s cheek. “It’s fine. I didn’t mean to be so reactive. I just want you to be careful, okay? Even if I know thinking about getting hunted down by people with guns shouldn’t be on anyone’s mind.”
Marcus shrugged. “Well, I do like true crime, and I wish I could say it’s never happened before.”
Linc drew circles against Marcus’s skin with the pad of his thumb. It was distracting. I liked watching Linc and Ell sometimes, and the thought of watching Linc and Marcus was even hotter than that. Linc always enjoyed taking his time with a partner, and he could be really giving.
Linc smelled what the sight was doing to me, so he let go of Marcus, pulled me close, and kissed me in that sloppy, stormy way I liked.
“Ooh…” Marcus said as I let Linc take my mouth. “Oh! Wait. Guys with guns.”
“Some might use a crossbow, but yes,” Linc said.
“The dead wolf was shot with a gun though. Between the eyes,” I said.
Marcus cocked his head. “Guns make noise. Doesn’t that carry in the woods?
Like, don’t get me wrong, I’ve never held or fired a real gun, so I don’t know what they sound like, but you know what I distinctly remember while I was stumbling through those fucking woods the other day?
Nothing as loud as a gun going off. If I’d heard that, it would’ve freaked me out to no end. ”
Linc’s eyes narrowed. “They could’ve used a suppressor. Then again, the shot could’ve gone off where the echo wouldn’t carry. Acoustics can be misleading in this particular part of the forest.” His nostrils flared. “To think you were out there at the same time as hunters…”
I hugged Linc, looking at Marcus as I did. “He’s right here, and he’s fine.”
“Thank fuck for that.” Linc’s words weren’t loud enough to carry as he breathed them against my ear before straightening.
I couldn’t stop myself from grinning at Marcus, who couldn’t seem to help staring whenever he saw us show affection to each other.
“We’re assuming the dead wolf in the woods was shot that day we found you. When’d you leave your car?”
Marcus scratched his head but flinched when he got too close to the stitches. “A little before sunset. I thought I was going to make it through the woods before then, but… Yeah, I underestimated how fucking dark it gets out there, and how fast.”
Linc nodded. “It does. No going into the woods by yourself again, Marcus. I’ll call Vi and fill her in. At a minimum, everyone should be especially careful if they go out there shifted.”
Linc gave both me and Marcus a thoughtful look.
Knowing Linc, he wanted to tell Marcus it would be safer for him at the house, which it would be, except Marcus was human, and we couldn’t lock him up.
Maybe we could once he was our mate—well, not lock him up, but make sure he was too comfortable to ever want to leave much.
I filed it away as something to possibly explore later.
Linc apparently came to the same conclusion, because he just poured himself a large mug of coffee while the machine was still running.
“Get Marcus some hiking shoes while you’re in town,” he said.
“I have shoes.” Marcus put a hand on his hip. “Plus, you just said not to go into the woods.”
“I said hiking shoes.” Linc gave Marcus his levelest alpha gaze. “And you’re not allowed—sorry. I’d ask that you not go into the woods by yourself for now. Doesn’t mean don’t go ever.”
Marcus finished his tea and put the mug on the counter. “I do not hike.”
Linc chuckled. “You’re on vacation. We’ll show you the area while making sure you don’t fall or get lost. It’s the least we can do. If it gets too much, you can always hitch a piggyback ride.”
Marcus looked unimpressed. “The most I had planned was to explore the rose garden at Corpsewood.”
Linc smiled his most charming smile, the one I had fallen for. “Hmm. Then I’m challenging you to a little adventure.”
I bumped into our mate playfully. “You won’t chicken out when an alpha challenges you, right? You’ll show him.”
Marcus snorted. “You two aren’t subtle.”
“Were we supposed to be?” Linc turned the heat up on that smile of his. It would have been enough to drop my pants, but Marcus was still coy. Or maybe shy, maybe still getting over Steven, whose balls I wanted to bite off.
“Oh, whatever. Fine, I’ll hike, but I reserve the right to complain about it.”
Linc’s eyes twinkled. “I reserve the right to give you a piggyback ride.”
I growled. “You’re hogging him again.”
Linc shrugged. Cocky bastard. Cocky bastard I loved.
I sighed. “Marcus, let’s head into town, just the two of us.”
“You know no one’s going to get to hog me, right? I’ll hog myself.”
The best thing was, despite his words, Marcus didn’t sound upset about being hogged at all.