Chapter 8 #3
“No, he really doesn’t have to if he doesn’t want to,” Bel quickly countered.
River turned so that he was partially facing Bel, allowing Wyatt to still see the smile forming on his lips. “No, I was just giving Wyatt grief. I don’t mind. There isn’t much to the story, and now I feel like he’s built it up to be something big.”
Bel turned on his stool and placed his hands in the pockets of his lab coat, giving River his full attention. “Wyatt was telling me that young werewolves must perform their first shift in front of the entire clan, making it a big event for everyone.”
“More like a nightmare,” River muttered, but he shook his head and pushed on.
“I was fourteen, determined to shift before my older brother who was turning sixteen in a month. I talked to everyone I could about their first shift and how they shifted. I was going to do it. My parents were humoring me by letting me even attempt it. If Dale hadn’t shifted yet, then they were sure I wouldn’t. ”
“But you were going to show them,” Bel prompted with a growing smile.
“Damn straight. I was fourteen and knew everything.” River stepped away from Wyatt so that he was completely free to gesture.
He spread his legs apart as if bracing himself while tucking his arms against his sides, hands balled into fists.
“I picked a nice open spot in the field, stripped naked, and blocked everyone out.” He closed his eyes.
“Just me and the cool grass under my feet. I focused on what I was sure I was going to look like. Black fur, big ears, long nose, sharp teeth. I was going to be furry death.”
“But you’re gray and white,” Bel whispered.
“A shifter doesn’t know what he’s going to look like until he changes for the first time. Colors don’t necessarily carry down from parents,” Wyatt said.
River cracked one eye open and smirked. “And every wolf wants to be big, black, and scary like Wyatt.”
“Your wolf is gorgeous,” Bel quickly said, and River straightened, his chest puffing up as if his inner wolf was preening under the praise.
“Back to the story,” Wyatt prodded.
“That’s right!” He got into position, eyes closed.
“It took only a couple of minutes before the pain started. It was incredible. Every muscle burned. I thought bones were breaking. But everyone had warned me about that. I pushed on. After a few minutes, the pain eased, and I opened my eyes. I was furry and on four legs. But my brother and dad were laughing. My mother looked horrified. She just kept crying, ‘Where’s your tail?’ ”
“What?” Bel gasped.
“I had no tail,” River moaned.
Wyatt chuckled. “River got stuck in a partial shift.”
“In all my imagining, I forgot about my tail. It got stuck and didn’t come out during my first shift.”
Bel rubbed his hand over his mouth, like he was trying to either hide his smile or just use it to hold in his laughter. “How did you fix it?” Bel asked, his voice rough for a moment. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I’ve seen your tail. It’s very nice.”
“I had to shift to human first.” River shook his head, but there was still a smile on his face. “By the time I was human, I was so exhausted, I couldn’t try for wolf again that night. It took another week for my body to stop hurting enough to make another try. Just with my dad that time.”
“And the tail?”
“Not a problem.”
River stepped over to Wyatt and leaned against his chest while settling between his legs.
“My dad was so proud of me. One of the youngest wolves to shift in quite a while. He didn’t care that I hadn’t gotten it quite right on the first try.
My brother was pissed. He stomped off and wouldn’t talk to me for months. ”
The laughter died off, and the mood in the room grew solemn again.
It was difficult at times to talk about what it meant to be a werewolf when so many painful memories were tangled up in their stories.
Thoughts of family were so complicated. Wyatt had wasted too many nights wondering if any of his siblings would accept him if it wasn’t contrary to pack law.
All werewolves grew up believing family was the center of everything.
To do anything that would force a wolf away from his family was thought to be insane.
But then, Wyatt would do anything to keep River with him.
Tilting his face, Wyatt brushed a kiss across River’s temple and nuzzled his hair.
“I think that’s enough work for tonight,” Bel suddenly declared, breaking the silence that had descended upon the room.
Wyatt’s head snapped up and he looked at the austere clock hanging on the far wall. They hadn’t been in the lab for more than a few hours. They usually didn’t take a break for food for at least another three hours.
“Are you sure?” Wyatt asked. “If—”
“Oh, yes. I was just remembering that it’s been a couple of weeks since I last hunted. I need to go out and grab a bite,” he said and sent a playful wink at River. He was trying to lighten the mood, but there was something stiff and pained in his tone.
“You know my offer still stands. You don’t have to leave,” Wyatt said gently, and Bel immediately flushed and dropped his eyes to the table.
“No, that’s fine. I don’t mind. I thought I would stop by and see Rafe for a bit.
He’s still angry that I missed the last family dinner.
A visit will soften him up again.” As he spoke, Bel quickly tidied his work area, lining things up just so.
“I will probably be gone for several hours, but I’ll tell my brothers that I’m with Rafe.
No one should stop by here and disturb you. ”
And then Bel hurried out of his lab, his footsteps a whisper of sound on the stairs to his bedroom.
River turned in Wyatt’s arms, lines of worry cutting across his forehead. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No, not at all.”
“So why did he run off?”
Wyatt leaned forward and brushed his lips across River’s bristly chin. “He knows memories of our family are tough. This is his way of giving us some space and privacy.”
River’s concern turned to a disgruntled frown. “Why not stay here and snuggle with us?”
“Because he doesn’t think it’s his place.”
River made a disgruntled sound. “I don’t think he wants us. If he wanted us, he’d stay.”
Wyatt could only smile and press another kiss to River. “I don’t think that’s the problem. I think maybe he wants us too much, but he’s afraid.”
Another snort came from River, and Wyatt smiled at the sound. His River could be incredibly stubborn when he set his mind to something, and right now Bel was his entire focus.
“I’m thinking we need to inform him of a special werewolf holiday that’s coming up,” River announced.
“Oh yeah, what’s that?”
“National No Clothes Day.”
“That’s mean.”
“And he has to participate. You know, out of respect for our culture.”
Wyatt pressed a kiss to River’s temple, but he couldn’t bring himself to argue. They both wanted the vampire. Wyatt also wanted to keep the peace in the house. Everything was going too perfectly. If they pushed too hard too fast, would they lose Bel forever?
Bel stood in Blush, the loud music assaulting his ears. His brother’s nightclub was the one place in the world he felt utterly out of place but completely welcome. Of course, that might have had to do with the fact that he knew his brother would always welcome him with open arms.
Maybe.
Would he still welcome Bel when he discovered that the same wolves who’d attacked him were now living with his brother?
Shoving that thought aside, Bel stood on the edge of the crowd, his eyes scanning over the faces for that one familiar face.
He didn’t normally hunt at the nightclub.
He preferred to wander through shadowy parks where late-night walkers didn’t pay him any attention.
Hunting for blood was the one part of being a vampire that he truly didn’t care for.
He didn’t like assaulting strangers and stealing from them, even if he did leave a hundred-dollar bill in their pocket.
Wyatt had no idea how tempting his offer was. The promise of being able to feed just once every two weeks from the comfort of his home. To go to someone who knew exactly what he was doing and have them willingly hand over their blood.
Of course, Wyatt’s blood would make the feast all the sweeter. He’d finally be able to hold the strong man against him, to breathe in his scent until it was the only thing in his lungs. He wanted to taste his skin, hear his moans of pleasure and need before he sank his fangs in.
But that was never going to happen. He was never going to feed from Wyatt or River.
They’d given up enough of their freedom, handed over too much of themselves as payment for whatever assistance and protection they could scrape together. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair.
Their companionship each night was payment enough for what Bel was providing them.
He treasured every moment he spent with them.
He didn’t need anything else, and definitely didn’t want them offering their blood because they felt they had to.
If Bel couldn’t feel Wyatt’s genuine pleasure each night when he was working with Bel in his lab, he would tell the wolf to go do whatever he wanted, even if Bel would much rather have Wyatt at his side.
As it was, he needed to remember to start spending at least one night a week out of the house just so Wyatt and River could have some time to themselves.
Not that he wanted to be away from them.
Even now, his skin crawled with worry and need.
He wanted to turn around and head straight home.
This twisting in his gut wouldn’t subside until he laid eyes on them, until he touched them and saw their smiles.
“Bel!”