Sam #2
“Want to know what mine would say to you?”
Sam’s heart gave a little nervous flutter and he couldn’t help but peek over at Vaughn. The alpha was staring at him intently, with hope and a little nervousness in his eyes. “Yeah,” Sam said softly. “I’d like to know.”
Vaughn grinned and leaned over. “I like you, do you like me? Yes or no.”
He’d whispered the words against Sam’s ear, sending a shiver of pleasure down Sam’s spine. His breath caught and butterflies danced in his stomach. “Yes,” Sam whispered back.
Vaughn straightened again, but when Sam snuck another glance, he was smiling so widely his cheeks dimpled. It was the most beautiful sight Sam had ever seen.
“I gotta tell you, though. We had one hell of a first date. What are you going to do to top introducing me to this world?”
“Oh, I’m sure I can think of something.”
Thumping footsteps sounded behind them and both Sam and Vaughn looked over their shoulders as the front door to the house opened and Emily appeared. “Alpha!”
“Yes, Emily?”
The little girl had blossomed after a good night’s sleep.
Her eyes sparkled with that same bright blue as all the wolves and being safe and well fed had done wonders for her.
Sam wondered if that was the true magic of pack.
He’d have to ask Vaughn about it later. He should start carrying a notebook to jot down all of his questions.
“Nana Jean said I had to ask nicely if we can shift and play! Can we?”
Vaughn looked at Sam and raised a brow in question. Sam shivered again, the automatic acceptance he’d received by Vaughn both thrilling and a little scary. He needed to unpack his emotions later, really think about what he was getting himself into.
Yesterday, he’d been almost alone in the world. Only his dad would have noticed if he wasn’t around. And today he’d suddenly become… parenting partners with an alpha werewolf and six cubs who’d been abused and neglected. And he wouldn’t change a thing.
“What do you think, Sam?”
“I have no idea. I’m curious but… other than that, I don’t know if it’s okay or not.”
Vaughn grinned and nudged him with his elbow. “I was thinking that if everyone said they’d eat their vegetables with dinner that maybe we could think about it.”
Emily bounced up and down, clenching her hands in front of her. “Please, Sam? We’ll eat our vegetables!”
Sam shot a look at Vaughn before turning back to her. “If everyone agrees, and that means Ollie, too, then yeah, you can shift and play.”
“Yay!” Emily tore back into the house, drawing a snicker from Vaughn.
“What was that noise for?”
He shook his head, stood, and reached out a hand to Sam. “Just happy,” Vaughn said. He sounded surprised, and then his smile widened and he pulled Sam closer. “I’m actually happy.”
His eyes twinkled, the blue in them sparkling in the afternoon sun. Something in Sam stirred again, his body responding and easing him closer. This wasn’t a scary cliff to jump off. No, he was diving into a ball pit filled with fun and adventure and laughs. He couldn’t wait.
Sam licked his lips and leaned in, quickly pressing his mouth to Vaughn’s. He retreated just as fast, skipping away and up the steps before Vaughn could think about what he’d done. Sam pressed his fingers to his lips and held back a laugh. He was happy, too. He’d worry about the rest later.
Emily had shared the good news with the others, and the kids were all waiting on them to come inside. Six sets of excited eyes looked at him and Sam’s grin returned full force.
Vaughn came up behind him and they stood shoulder to shoulder. “Okay, we have rules. Ollie, buddy, you listening?”
“Yes!” Ollie grabbed Ben’s hand and used it to climb the older boy like a tree. Ben lifted his arm and helped Ollie scramble up onto his shoulders, a move they’d clearly perfected over time.
Vaughn waited until he was settled before continuing. “We stay inside the fence. If you cross the fence, we won’t be able to shift again like this unless we have a lot more of our pack around. Understand?”
“Yes, Alpha,” five voices chorused.
“Ollie?”
“Inside the fence!”
Vaughn chuckled and walked over to Ben.
“C’mere you.” He plucked Ollie off Ben’s shoulders and held him in front of him for a second. “You’ll be good and stay with me, right?”
Ollie nodded, his eyes turning the vibrant shade of blue that Sam now recognized as part of his wolf.
“Say the words.”
“I’ll stay with you.”
“Good boy. Let’s go show Sam what we can do.”
Ollie nodded and wiggled his way up onto Vaughn’s shoulders. They were all practically vibrating, an energy forming around them that even Sam could feel. Vaughn led them out the back door and to the open expanse of lawn between the house and the clinic.
They walked over to the small patch of trees on the other side of the yard with Ollie still balanced on Vaughn’s shoulders and the others hopping excitedly around him.
Sam trailed a little further behind, not really sure of what was about to happen but excited at the same time. What he hadn’t anticipated was for everyone to begin stripping. Vaughn helped Ollie down first, and the little guy was naked in thirty seconds flat. The other kids moved just as fast.
And Vaughn. Sweet mother of all that was holy in the universe.
Vaughn pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on the ground.
He toed off his shoes and unsnapped his jeans.
Sam couldn’t look away. He couldn’t. Absolutely one thousand million bazillion percent was unable to take his eyes away from Vaughn’s body.
When his jeans passed over his hips, revealing his firm, muscled ass, Sam actually made a little noise.
He couldn’t help it. Perfection like that had to be admired.
Vaughn smirked as he dropped his pants the rest of the way, bent over and tugged his legs free, and then stood again while turning to face Sam.
Sam finally managed to force his attention elsewhere but he could feel his face burning like the fires of a thousand suns.
Vaughn barked out a laugh. “Sam.”
“Yeah?” The sky was a very nice color of blue. Not many clouds. But that one kind of looked like Vaughn’s… nope.
“Look at me.”
“Nope.”
Vaughn snickered again. “Sam.”
“Yeah?”
“I want you to watch. Please.”
Dammit. He had to be nice. How could Sam deny him anything? Sam turned back, and they were all standing there as naked as you please, smiling at him like he was the weird one. Well, everyone but Henry, who had mercy on him and walked over to hold his hand. “It’s okay, Sam. It doesn’t hurt.”
Vaughn made another noise, and Sam glared his way. Which meant he caught another glimpse of… Nope.
“I know, Henry. But thanks for staying with me.”
Henry smiled up at him. “Watch. It’s really neat.”
And it was.
Vaughn knelt, touching one knee to the ground and leaning on one hand. The kids took similar positions as their bodies began to shift. Fur appeared, legs extended, ears changed, and… they grew tails. “Holy crap,” Sam murmured.
“Yeah,” Henry said quietly.
“It really doesn’t hurt them?”
“Ben says it doesn’t, and I don’t think Ollie would always be asking to change if it hurt, you know? He’d probably not want to at all because he’s so little, right?”
Sam nodded. “Does it ever make you sad that you can’t shift?”
Henry shrugged instead of answering, but he knelt down before Sam could ask anything else.
A gigantic bear lumbered over to Henry and stuck its head into Henry’s belly.
Henry grinned and wrapped his arms around what Sam realized was Ben’s furry head.
He was the size of a fully grown bear, easily several hundred pounds, and wasn’t that weird?
The teacher in Sam wanted to know. Ben didn’t weigh as much as the bear so how did he manage to turn into an animal larger than he was? And where exactly did the animal go when they were in their human forms?
And were they still human in their minds or were they animals with animal instincts which would mean that Henry shouldn’t have such a tight grip on the bear’s neck because that was dangerous and could be taken as a threat?
But Ben made a little grunt of happiness and Henry let him go with a beaming smile on his face. So it was clearly okay.
Then a tiny furball of a wolf jumped on Sam’s leg, and he knelt down. It had to be Ollie as he was significantly smaller than the others.
He leapt up into Sam’s arms and licked his face and neck. Sam couldn’t help but laugh. Then a tiny orange fox put its paws on his chest. “Oh, Natasha. Look at you, pretty girl.”
He held Ollie in one arm and ran his hand down the fox’s back with the other. Two more wolf cubs pounced on him next, and Sam went down in a pile of puppies so cute they should be illegal. He laughed as every available inch of his face was licked, and then he heard a sharp huff.
They all scrambled off of him. Sam pushed up on his arms and found Ben sitting beside him with the most adorable expression on his face. “Bring it in, buddy,” Sam said.
He waggled his arms, and Ben moved closer. Even sitting, Ben’s animal form towered over Sam. His head was huge and covered in deep blackish brown fur. Sam reached out to touch, and Ben leaned his head into Sam’s hand.
“So cool. You’re awesome, Ben.”
He actually didn’t even know if they could understand him. He hadn’t thought to ask if they could. He turned to ask Vaughn then remembered that Vaughn wasn’t Vaughn anymore. He was a wolf.
Wolf Vaughn sat half a dozen feet away, his brilliant blue eyes locked onto Sam. The kids had all walked over to him, with Ben leaving Sam’s side once he realized Sam’s attention was no longer on him.
“Wow,” Sam said.
Henry sat down on the grass next to Sam, smiling at his friends.
“You knew who they were,” Henry said. “It took me a long time to tell them apart. Well, Ben and Natasha are easy. But Emily and Jack are harder ‘cause they look alike. Ollie’s easy too, ‘cause he’s so little.”
“It wasn’t so bad.” He turned his attention back to Vaughn. “I feel like I’m supposed to do something.”
Henry nudged him. “You gotta go greet the alpha, Sam. Everybody knows that.”
“I don’t know that.”
Henry rolled his eyes. “Everybody knows, Sam.”
“You didn’t greet him.”
“Yes, I did,” Henry said. “When they were licking your face off.”
Vaughn cocked his head to the side, waiting, almost daring Sam to come closer.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Just go talk to him. You gotta go to him ‘cause he’s the alpha.”
“How do you know this?” Sam asked.
Henry shrugged. “I just know. Go on. Don’t be a baby.”
“Hey!” Sam protested. “That’s not nice.”
Henry scrambled to his feet and held out his hand. “Come on, Sam.”
Sam stood and reached for Henry’s hand. It was weird that a kid was comforting him and keeping him from being so scared, and Sam knew that underneath all that fur was Vaughn.
The eyes were the same and Vaughn did that same head tilt thing when he was thinking. It didn’t change the instinctual fear from making his belly flip nervously.
He was standing next to a wolf. And a bear. And a fox. And a mage.
“Sam, you gotta greet him.”
“How do I do that?”
Henry sighed like he couldn’t quite imagine how Sam had survived to adulthood. He knelt in front of Vaughn and bared his neck. Vaughn licked him there, sharp teeth incredibly close to very vulnerable human skin. Then Vaughn turned his blue-eyed stare back to Sam.
Waiting.
Sam slowly moved closer, his heart pounding nervously in his chest. When he was close to Henry, he knelt down beside him. He’d never respected the predator/prey relationship more.
He sucked in a breath then let it out slowly and tilted his head to the side. Vaughn leaned closer, his big wolfy eyes locked on Sam’s. He licked him once, twice, and then raised his head.
“That was kinda terrifying,” Sam whispered.