Chapter Four
Damon
Hemlock Mountain
“I’m Damon. He/him,” I managed to spit the words out despite all the nerves doing their distressed tap dance through my body.
“You know pronouns?” Treg asked as I squished their cold face into my hairy chest.
“Yeah. Doesn’t everyone?” I croaked back. “Anyway. They’re in books. I have a library card. Why did you make them all yell for me?”
“Huh?” my alpha asked, the syllable all squashed against my fur.
“Snow Damon! Snow Damon! Snow Damon!” I whisper-chanted and the little bitey wolf laughed at me. I dragged my mate a step back in case he was still hungry.
“Oh!” Treg said, leaning their head back to look up at me. “They were chanting Snow Demon!”
“Why were they calling for Wess?” I blinked at them. “Never mind. I do not want to fight the bitey one. I didn’t realize fighting was part of the mating ritual for Hemlock Wolves.”
“It’s not,” Treg rolled their eyes. “Chasten… Er… He’s easily frightened.”
“I am not!” the bitey wolf protested, pulling away from his mate to stomp through the snow to stand next to us again. “You… I…”
“Chasten,” Kirk said, his voice full of warning.
“I’ve never seen anyone like you! I thought you were the snow demon!” Chasten said.
He tottered back and forth, and my mate pulled away from me to catch him. No! I’d killed him! How did I kill him?! Wolves in the city weren’t usually this easy to kill! Had I scared the bitey little carrier wolf to death?
“Shit!” Treg swore under their breath. “Shit! Do you have that sugar paste crap, Kirk?”
Kirk was already digging in his pockets.
I expected him to pull out a sweet treat but instead he pulled out a tiny needle while Treg took off his friend’s glove.
Then Kirk stabbed his mate in the finger.
He had to squeeze the cold digit to make the red stuff come out and I took two big steps out.
You should never make a nursing carrier bleed.
They’ll eat your face and vomit it back up so their puppies can eat it too.
“He’s low,” Kirk nodded as if confirming some shared suspicion he had with my alpha.
Then he pulled out this tube and squirted what looked to be toothpaste into his mate’s mouth.
The bitey wolf made a horrible expression and a ‘uck’ sound before muttering about squirting it up his mate’s ass if he did that to him again.
Kirk laughed. Who was I to judge their mating rituals?
“He’s diabetic,” Treg explained, passing off Chasten to Kirk. “That means—”
“That his body does weird things with and without sugar,” I nodded. “And it’s the sugar in everything. Even potatoes. I heard someone talking about it on the bus one time.”
“You ride the bus?” Treg asked.
“Yeah. When I have the money. I can’t walk everywhere.”
“We’d have heard about you before if that was true,” Chasten muttered.
“I have other forms. I’m—” I stopped. I trusted my mate because everyone knew that your spirit-mate wouldn’t harm you.
They’d never sell you out either. Losing a spirit-mate was like having one’s own heart carved out and eaten while it was still attached to your own nerve endings.
I just wasn’t sure how much I should trust the bitey one and his mate.
“They’re my family,” Treg said, reaching out for my hand. After double-checking they had no needles hiding between their fingers, I let them take it. This trio was unlike anyone I encountered out and about on Hemlock Mountain. “You can trust them.”
“I have a form that looks like yours,” I said.
“Well, sort of. Like your fleshy form but I have different color hair. It’s still white like this,” I said, running my free hand over my chest and stomach.
Treg bit their lip and I grinned. They were lucky they were facing me or Kirk and the bitey one would’ve seen how hard they were from just watching me pet my own fur.
I did it a few more times because what can I say?
I’m a glutton for punishment. “I have a wolf form too. The others only have two forms.”
“Others?” Chasten asked and I frowned. Would he bite my sisters too?
Had he tasted me to see if I was good enough for Treg?
I couldn’t take him back to our little village in the caves if he was going to go around biting people.
Then again, he was Treg’s friend – family – and he was obviously in need of help.
“I think we should go home, Chasten,” Kirk said again.
“We don’t know this dude! I’m not leaving Treg alone with him!” Chasten protested, trying unsuccessfully to wiggle out of Kirk’s arms.
“Chasten!” Kirk sighed. “Stop wiggling around. You’re going to fall over again. We need to get you home and in warm, dry clothes. You need to eat too. You just fainted in case you---”
“I did not forget but I’m not that big of a weenie! I’m not leaving my friend to fend for themselves!”
“Against my mate?” Treg asked, keeping hold of my hand but turning to face the bitey wolf.
“Do you not want me here?” Chasten asked, his lip trembling.
Oh no! There they came! The sad post-pup tears of a carrier.
Chasten managed to get to his feet and I stomped across the snow to him.
He opened his mouth to ask me what, but there was only one way I could solve this.
Treg and Kirk would have to carry themselves.
I hoisted Chasten over my shoulder and ran for my sisters.
Hopefully, they figured out what we were having for dinner because I was bringing home three guests!
He might be a bitey wolf, but he was feeding a pup and that meant he deserved whatever hospitality I could shove down his throat past his sharp bitey teeth.