Epilogue #2
I laughed. “We’ll get caught up tomorrow night. Run with you then, if you like.” When I stood, Wade did too. “Congratulations,” I told the guys. “Give us ten minutes before you rip each other’s clothes off.”
“Five,” Shawn said, tweaking Zay’s nipple through his shirt. “Shift fast.”
We made it out of clothes, into fur, and out the back door before the newlyweds took kissing to the next level.
I trotted across the lawn toward the trees, smelling the remnants of cider and ham and cake.
Wade paced at my shoulder, sniffing the air too.
Stars shone overhead, and the three-quarter moon was bright enough to make travel easy.
I nudged Wade and turned for the hills, finding the path Shawn had shown us that led to the nearest ridge.
Up there, we threaded between the trees, sticking to where the underbrush grew thick and lush with spring growth.
A few miles into the park, we found a clearing on a hilltop.
The light breeze brought the scents of deer and rabbit, bird and mouse, but no humans.
In a sheltered depression lined with moss, I stopped, lay down, and shifted. Wade followed suit, and stretched out beside me, gloriously naked. “A bit chilly for this, don’t you think?”
“Come here and I’ll keep you warm.” I pushed to sitting and opened my arms.
He sat in front of me between my legs, his back to my chest, and I wrapped my arms around him. “Mm,” he said. “I like this.”
“Me too.” I kissed his temple. “Did you mean what you said, about not wanting a wedding or a bond?”
“Yeah. Why, do you?”
“Not really.” Although when I considered the nearness of the Chicago wolves, and the usefulness of a bond that would let me find Wade, no matter where they took him, I was tempted.
“Yeah, I can hear you worrying and plotting from here.” Wade leaned harder on my shoulder.
“Well, it could be a good precaution. We don’t need a bond between us, but I like the hidden advantage.”
“You meet with Rick once a month for his training. Do you think he could sense if we’d bonded?”
That was a very good question. “Probably not. It’s hard for anyone outside your own pack to know. With luck, he might just assume we’d finally figured out who was Alpha.”
Wade tilted his head so our gazes met, and we said, “Not it,” in unison. Wade continued, “You think Rick has any suspicion about us?”
“I’m trying damned hard to make sure he doesn’t.
” We met for his lessons at the new office I leased in downtown Darville.
Wade made sure to stay away, and I showered intensively before I got anywhere near Rick.
Wade and I had never had sex in the office, no matter the temptation.
We should’ve been safe, but Rick had sharp intuition for a wet-behind-the-ears kid.
“If he does, he hasn’t said anything to his Alpha.
” The Alpha would’ve been on us like white on rice if he’d had any clue.
“You don’t think Rick’s gay, do you?”
“I can’t tell. If he is, he’s given me zero indications but he also never asks me about women or dating. When we’re together, he’s all business. Another reason not to rock the boat.”
Wade sighed and slumped comfortably in my arms. “I don’t need to rock anything. Your PI business is going okay, right?”
Surviving, anyhow. I had a ways to go before I’d be bringing in the income I had in Chicago, but by now, I could pay for my apartment next to Wade’s with the hidden connecting door, and afford food, gas, film, and office rent, so no complaints.
“And my carvings are selling.”
“I keep telling you to raise your prices.” Wade’s stuff was becoming popular enough that he sometimes sold out at the craft shows. I’d encouraged him to branch into bigger, more artistic pieces and he’d sold a couple.
“Yeah. I might do that.”
“He listened to me! Hallelujah, will wonders never cease?”
“Shut up.” Wade nipped the angle of my jaw. “I listen to you a lot.”
“Yeah, you do.” I hugged him hard.
“So we’re doing all right.” Wade said the words with quiet satisfaction.
I didn’t feel the need to add anything. We sat there with the stars wheeling overhead, bare skin to bare skin, a little whisper of arousal sending tiny sparks between us but nothing urgent.
Not yet. Eventually, Wade shivered. “I’m chilly.
I want to run in fur. We can fuck at home, but we don’t have this kind of space to run. ”
“True enough.” I pushed him away and grinned at him. “Race you into fur?” Back home, we generally shifted one at a time, the other watching for danger. But here, in the wild, with scent telling us the only nearby fauna were herbivores, we could do this together.
“You’re on.”
I lay on the moss and reached to the sky, seeking that gift of change from the universe.
Wolf, my other self. When I wrapped the golden energy around me, my shift came quickly.
Fur ran over my skin, my hearing sharpened, my bones bent and changed, all of my energy focused on becoming wolf.
When I was done, I shook myself and turned to where Wade had started his shift.
He lay fully furred in a lion pose on his chest, twitching his ears and a little bleary-eyed, pretty much in the same state as me.
I guess it was a tie. A big downside to wolf form was no speech, but the upsides were many.
I launched at him, going for the thick fur of his neck, trying to bear him down.
He reacted almost as quickly, giving way so he didn’t hit the dirt, snapping at my muzzle.
We play-fought until he got his jaws on my foreleg and I waved a paw in surrender.
Wade chuffed in satisfaction and set out running, his tail flicking in catch-me-if-you-can.
I had longer legs, he was more agile. It took me five minutes to catch up to him, draw alongside, and bowl him over with a heavy nudge of my shoulder.
Wade rolled and bounced to his feet panting, his jaw open in a canine grin.
I went over and licked his nose. He sat and sneezed, then tilted his head.
His eyes were husky-blue in this form as well, still filled with his human intelligence.
I met his gaze, and the urge to proclaim him as “Mate. Mine,” rose inside me.
Wade lowered his ears in affection and the line of his lips softened.
I guessed he was thinking the same thing.
But we’d have hours on the road home to talk. Days, months, years to work together and laugh together, and put whatever name we wanted on this love we’d grown between us.
For now, we had a lush, wonderful wilderness, a free night, and a good reason not to head home too soon.
I yipped the bark that suggested travel, and Wade mumbled agreement.
He headed off and I trotted after him, content to be at his shoulder.
We’d shake the city out of our legs, cover some more miles, maybe catch a rabbit, or if we got ambitious, a deer.
Later we’d lie together and nap, before turning for home.
In the morning, we’d be Wade and Dustin in human form, watching to see if Shawn had gotten pranked by the blue food coloring I’d put in their lube, or if he’d caught it in time. Wade and me, sharing work, sharing meals, sharing laughter.
He was my mate. I didn’t need my wolf or a bond to tell me so. I knew down in my soul that we belonged together till the stars went cold.
### thank you for reading Dustin and Wade’s story ###