Chapter Eight
Notalus
A Titan and a Wolf
Notalus noticed Dustin trying to conceal his arousal from him, and he didn’t understand why.
When he’d been leaning against Dustin, he’d felt his hardness matching his own, only Dustin tried to keep him from seeing it, feeling it.
Notalus didn’t understand what the situation was, but he’d get to the bottom of it because what he was able to feel, by the gods he wanted it. All of it.
Several pack members were outside, dancing and celebrating the storm passing.
A few were removing the boards and barriers from around their cabins, but most of them were rejoicing at the lush, fertile land that probably appeared in better condition after Notalus touched it than before the storm came.
Dustin’s farmhands who’d come to the cabin with the healers waved to them from across the yard, and Dustin nodded back, but he seemed glad that they didn’t try to come over.
Notalus kept his eyes on Dustin as he surveyed the fields that looked unharmed and ready for working. Dustin’s eyes blazed with appreciation as he turned toward him and gripped his shoulder.
“I can’t thank you enough. The pack owes you a great debt.”
Notalus shook his head slowly, not taking his gaze off Dustin. “I didn’t do it for them.”
Dustin stared hungrily, desire evident in his vivid eyes as he stammered for his words. “I need to shift. My wolf is killing me inside. He’s eager to meet you.”
Notalus turned up the right corner of his mouth, pleased to hear it.
“Likewise.” He didn’t have a lot of experience with shifters, not in the Realm of Autumn, but what he did know was to never challenge an alpha.
However, Notalus was a titan and didn’t cower to anyone, no matter their size or station.
He could only hope he’d pleased the wolf’s master enough to have earned its respect.
They walked a considerable ways past the tree line, up higher into the mountains.
Dustin walked the path as if he knew it well, bypassing towering red spruces and American beech trees that were holding on to their dried brown leaves like stingy thieves while the maple and dogwood shed beautiful orange and red leaves that painted the grounds.
The two of them walked in comfortable silence, both content to simply enjoy the beauty of fall.
“I have not sensed my titan brother here. His west winds are very distant,” Notalus told Dustin. “You all know him by Adres, but he’s the Lord of the West Wind, and his birth name is Orestes, the inescapable.
“He and his mate, Macauley, are still in the fairy lands. They left on vacation last year soon after the attack, and they haven’t returned since. Needless to say, Mac’s family is livid that he shirked his pack responsibilities here for so long.
“Time moves slower in the fairy lands. So what feels like half a year to you, it only feels like a week to them. It’s all bliss, romance, and tranquility there, so I can see why they have not returned.”
“That doesn’t sound good for Mac.” Dustin chuckled.
“I’m sure Adres and his beloved are fine.
The fairy lands is a magical realm that makes us forget about the world we left.
Kind of like Tir an Fhomair,” Notalus said, glancing up at the cloudless sky.
“I’m sure their time is coming to an end there.
Very few are allowed to enter the fairy lands, but no one is permitted to live there except fairies. ”
“Tir an Fhomair.” Dustin frowned. “You mentioned the Realm of Autumn in the cabin—is that where you live? Is that where you’re from?”
Notalus’ heart rate sped up. “Yes. High above the clouds to the most southern hills of the immortal realms. Where fall is the season year-round. Where inspiration and appreciation of the harvest are born.”
“It sounds beautiful,” Dustin mused. “Fall is my favorite of all the seasons.”
Of course it is.
Dustin sighed. “I could live in a world where the harvest moon bathes me to sleep every night and I’m awakened each morning to brisk air, wood-burning chimneys, and dew on freshly sprouted crops. That sounds fuckin’ magical.”
“Really, you think so?” Notalus had been basking in Dustin’s generous praise.
“Hell yeah.” Dustin glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “I wish I could see it.”
That was all Notalus needed to hear. You can, and you will.
Dustin stopped walking at a clearing almost to the top of Mount Lafayette and began to strip off his sweats and T-shirt.
Notalus perhaps should’ve turned and given Dustin some privacy but wasn’t bashful, and it didn’t appear Dustin was either until he hooked his thumb in his long johns.
He paused a moment before tugging them down to his ankles.
With heat rising up his barrel chest toward his throat, Dustin turned and yanked his underwear down and from around his feet.
Notalus frowned at the behavior, but he didn’t have a chance to overanalyze it before the air shimmered around him like heat waves, and a huge, sienna-brown wolf appeared in front of him.
“By the gods.” Notalus couldn’t believe his eyes, unsure if he was hallucinating.
Dustin was huge, his large head coming up to his waist. Notalus had seen a lot of common wolves in his long lifetime, and their lean bodies, short snouts, and one-inch claws were nothing compared to Dustin’s incomparable size. “You are remarkable.”
Dustin shook out his thick fur and slowly came toward him, sniffing around Notalus’ thighs and groin.
His eyes were darker now, almost espresso, as the beast looked straight at him as if he could see right through him.
Notalus chuckled and gently reached up to brush his palm over Dustin’s head, running his fingers through the dense, soft fur that was so deep he couldn’t see his hand buried in it.
“No wonder you live on the borders of the property and you come all the way up here to shift and run.” Notalus cupped his hand beneath Dustin’s muzzle and lifted his head so he could look into the beast’s eyes. “You are a threat to every alpha down there.”
There was no hostility stirring between them as Notalus kneeled to the wolf’s height and ran both hands down the sides of his big body. “Dustin, you can still hear me in there, yes?”
Dustin didn’t nod his head or tilt it to the side like some curious dog, but the way he nudged his large snout into Notalus’ chest told him he very much understood him in that form.
They got to know each other for a bit longer, meaning Notalus allowed the curious animal to sniff around him and their surroundings before he snuffed loudly and took off at a full sprint higher into the mountains.
Notalus wasn’t much of a runner, but he knew a beast who was.
Notalus whispered on the wind for his stallion, and Joldryn appeared at his side, shaking his wild dark mane and rising up on his hind legs.
His horse always loved the earthly realm and all of its unique wildlife that he didn’t get to see in Fhomhair.
Notalus swung his robe behind him and mounted his horse, taking off into a spirited gallop, following the large paw prints left in the dirt.
It wasn’t long before he caught up with Dustin, and Notalus laughed with mirth at the look of shock and then determination on the wolf’s face before he doubled his efforts and tried to run faster than Joldryn, which wasn’t humanly possible, but Notalus wouldn’t tell him that.
The two ran for miles with the cool afternoon air whipping by them, the animals testing and challenging each other, Dustin nipping at Joldryn’s long tail when he fell behind.
When they were both good and tired—well, when Dustin was tired—Notalus slowed his pace until they were walking in silence.
Every few steps, Dustin would nibble at the fallen blueberries, white acorns, or mushrooms on the ground.
Notalus leapt off Joldryn’s back and hit the ground like a boulder, ushering his stallion to fly away until he called upon him again.
Dustin kept his back to Notalus while he dressed in his sweats and T-shirt.
From what Notalus could see, the half man, half wolf god was a fine specimen, one of the most beautiful men he’d ever laid eyes on in the earthly realm.
But to find out that Dustin was a descendant of an agricultural goddess, it all made more sense to him.
Notalus had attempted to stay away from the Volkov pack because he could already sense his strong feelings for Dustin, but he didn’t understand the pull he had on him until he’d returned.
It was time for Notalus to go back to Fhomhair, but he wasn’t leaving without what he could no longer live without.
“I thought shifters were not shy about their nakedness,” Notalus asked boldly, standing almost on top of Dustin when he turned back around.
He blinked and swallowed a lump that bobbed in his throat as he stared up at him in surprise. “We’re not,” he answered. “When the pack goes on a run, there’s a whole lot of rutting and roughhousing that happens, and no one ever worries about covering up.”
“Then why do you hide?”
“I don’t run with the pack. I prefer to run alone.”
“No wolf prefers to be alone. What don’t you want anyone to see?” Notalus couldn’t resist touching Dustin as he laid both palms on his broad shoulders.
Dustin tried to duck his head, but Notalus didn’t allow it. “Answer me.”
A slight warning growl rumbled in Dustin’s chest, but Notalus didn’t cower away.
Dustin licked his lips, drawing Notalus’ attention away from his smoldering brown eyes to his delicious mouth.
“Me. I don’t want anyone to see me. My size is intimidating, and no matter what look I give to another wolf, it’s considered a challenge or demand for submission, when I’m asking for neither. ”
Notalus still wasn’t sure he was getting the full truth—there had to be more, so he waited for Dustin to continue. As if he knew he wasn’t leaving those woods without confessing the truth, Dustin leaned against the thick bark of a hickory tree and started talking.
“I’m not going to say that I prefer to be a lone wolf or that I like running alone, but after the run, especially on a full moon, I’m no longer invited to join in on the rowdiness anyway. I suppose word got around to the unmated shifters after my first couple of runs here.”
“Word about what?”
“When I first moved here, I had my pick of bed partners after my runs. I chose a male beta that lived in the north quarter of the property, in the education dorms. He was a physical education instructor, a big guy, so I thought he’d be able to… I mean okay with…”
Notalus frowned in confusion. “Okay with what?”
“With my size.” Dustin glanced below his waist. “But he wasn’t.
He didn’t want me to fuck him.” Dustin grimaced.
“No one does. Apparently, I’m a little too endowed, and it wasn’t long before the gossip spread.
I’ve tried to mate a few more times since then with men who bothered to come visit me, but I found out they were just curious and wanted to see if the rumors were true.
Most guys take one look and just flat-out deny me—I’m fine with that. But it’s the others that, um… they…”
A vicious pang of jealousy and anger pierced Notalus like a blade. “They what?”
“They laughed in my goddamn face before they scurried out of my bed.” Dustin clenched his fists at his side, his wolf growling beneath the surface. “I usually have to make myself scarce for a couple weeks after to wait for the ridicule to die down.”
Notalus stepped into Dustin’s space, crowding into him until he had to crane his neck back to look him in his eyes. “Too endowed.”
“So I’ve been told.” Dustin rolled his eyes, his neck tinging a burnt red.
Notalus placed his mouth on the rim of Dustin’s ear. “Show me.”