Among Wolves (9 page)

He screamed as his body began to change once
more. The pain was so extreme he had no idea how he could tolerate
it. He clawed the cement floor and instantly felt ice cold. When he
opened his eyes, he could see his black wolf mate, stalking this
enormous white alpha male.

Charlie struggled to his two feet and looked
for something to use as a weapon. He picked up a pitchfork and held
it up, threatening the big canine.

Instantly he was confronted with a man,
dressed in black, holding a large broadsword.

"Holy fuck!" Charlie trembled where he stood.
"Who are you?"

Roman went into attack mode and lunged at the
man.

Charlie yelled, "No!" and Roman snapped at
thin air.

His body shaking from the terror and the
cold, Charlie felt his eyes sting with emotion as Roman fell to his
side on the floor of the barn and curled up.

The apparition vanished.

Charlie threw the pitchfork and rushed to
Roman's side. "No. Oh, no. Roman? Did he hurt you?"

Roman began to return to human form, and when
he did, he had a red mark from his neck to his groin.

Charlie inspected it. It appeared as if he
was burned, not sliced. "I do not get what is going on! I do not
get it!" Charlie heard the sound of joyous laughter, as if the
women were returning from their trail riding.

He looked at the piles of clothing and his
naked partner. Charlie struggled with Roman's size to pick him up,
and did, lifting him into his arms. He brought him inside an empty
stall and lay him down on the fresh hay, then scrambled outside it
for their clothing.

Once he brought everything into the clean
stall with him, he got dressed, shaking, terrified but trying not
to change into anything again.

Roman opened his eyes and touched the seared
skin of his chest, looking confused. "What happened?"

The noise of horse hooves and giggles filled
the barn. Charlie put his finger to his lips and held out Roman's
clothing, helping him get dressed.

Butch said, "I hope you enjoyed the ride,
ladies."

"It was great! Wow. I wish we could come
every weekend."

"Well, yer welcome to."

Charlie helped Roman with his shoes and
socks, assisting him with his coat last. He tugged his pant legs
over his own cowboy boots and stayed still, holding Roman as he
appeared to be injured and recuperating.

Charlie listened. The horses were being
brought into the barn and Butch said, "Thank y'all. It was a
pleasure."

"Thank you, Butch! Have a good
Christmas!"

The women's voices faded away and Charlie
heard Butch's boot scuff on the cement. Charlie opened the stall
door. "Butch!"

"Huh? Where are you?" Butch walked closer,
holding a western saddle in his arms. "Why're you hidin' in
here?"

"Roman's been hurt."

"Hurt?" Butch set the saddle down and stepped
into the stall.

"I'm okay." Roman held up his hand and rubbed
his chest.

"How?" Butch asked.

Charlie thought about mentioning the man with
the sword, and didn't.

"I said, I'm okay." Roman stood, using the
wall to get upright.

"Uh…" Charlie looked at Butch. "You need help
with the horses?"

"I do. I have to clean their shoes from all
the ice and get the tack off them."

"Go. I'm fine." Roman nudged Charlie.

"Will they let me near them?" Charlie watched
Butch pick the saddle back up.

"I hope so. I don't want to have to do
everythin' by myself."

"Go tie them up first in case they run.
Okay?"

"Okay." Butch walked away with the
saddle.

Charlie spun around to Roman. "Did he burn
you?"

"I have no idea. I thought he cut me in two
with the sword." Roman raised up his shirt. The mark was gone. Both
he and Charlie inspected his skin. Roman appeared more surprised
than anything else. "Did I imagine it?"

"I'm at a loss, Roman. And you may be right.
We need to go to Utah. Now."

Roman cupped Charlie's jaw and kissed him.
"Thank you."

"Let me get them horses settled. You go
inside and make sure yer okay."

"I can help." Roman and Charlie emerged from
the stall. All of the horses shifted and made noises of
distress.

"Damn." Charlie lowered his head and walked
slowly to one of their hack geldings, trying to help Butch get the
saddles and bridles off. "Okay. It's jus' me. Will ya settle down?"
He unfastened the cinch and the horse was a nervous wreck, shifting
and moving its ears as if it was confused.

Charlie brought the saddle to a wall peg and
hung it up. Butch was scraping out the ice from Scout's hooves.

When Roman moved closer to help, one of the
horses reared and slammed into a wooden wall with a loud bang,
making all four of the animals panic.

"Roman!" Butch said, avoiding a kick from his
horse. "Can ya just go? Ya smell more like a wolf to them than a
person."

"Jesus." Roman sniffed his hand. "I can't
smell it."

Charlie tried to settle the animals down
again, but he was almost as bad as Roman was in that department at
the moment. And Butch's frustration was evident.

"All right." Charlie removed the bit and
bridle from the anxious gelding slowly. "I'm not even goin' to try
to clean their shoes, Butch. I'll get a kick to the head."

"I know." Butch picked up his horse's back
leg and worked on the ice again.

"Bye." Roman crept to the door so he wouldn't
startle the horses.

When he left the animals were slightly easier
to deal with. Charlie managed to get them all out of their saddles
and bridles and brought them to their stalls until Butch could tend
them, brush them down, and make sure they were free of ice and
packed snow.

He adjusted his cowboy hat and observed Butch
settle Scout into his stall.

"I need to get the other horses inside,"
Butch said.

Charlie nodded. "I can at least do that."

"You scare 'em up the mountains, I will kill
you."

"Nope. I'll send them this way. Promise."
Charlie headed outside and looked up at the sky, which was cloudy
and there was a slight chance of more snow.

Feeling tired, Charlie moved to the paddock,
opened the fence, swinging back the wooden gate. Then he walked to
the farthest end of the corral and stood there. The small herd of
eight horses trotted out of the paddock and directly into the barn.
He followed them, making sure Butch was able to get each one into
their stalls as they huddled close to each other, as if in defense
mode.

Although he made them nervous, Charlie took
hold of their halters and one by one, brought them to their stalls,
making sure they had water and food.

Once they were closed into their stalls,
Charlie shook his head. "This really sucks."

"Tell me about it." Butch tossed the pick he
had been using to clean the ice into a tack box and took off his
gloves so he could rub his face. "If you and Roman are goin' to
terrify the livestock, I need help."

Charlie didn't want to hire someone full
time, not when he could be doing the work himself. "If when we get
back from Heber, I…we…still have this problem, we'll talk about
it."

Butch shook his head as he left the stable,
muttering, "Why? Huh? Why is this bullshit back again?"

After picking up the basket of eggs, Charlie
shut the light overhead and followed him. He wanted an answer to
the same question. It just didn't make sense.

~

Roman stood in front of a full length mirror,
topless, and inspected his chest. A slight residual pain was
present, but the mark was gone. Roman stared into his own eyes,
seeing the wolf inside him clearly now.

He gasped and spun around.

The man with the sword had shown himself in
the reflection.

"Who are you!" Roman yelled, looking around
the room. "Show yourself, you coward!"

He heard a low growl and it made the goose
bumps rise on his arms. Roman backed up and made for his duty
pistol, which was on the dresser. He pulled it out of its holster
and gripped it tightly. "Show yourself! What do you want?"

Something moved. Roman could see it out of
the corner of his eye. He spun around, aimed the gun and it
vanished. "Chicken shit." Roman inspected the bedroom, gun raised
and ready to fire. He ended up pointing it at himself in the
mirror. Behind him a figure stood, holding a sword, but not
threatening, the point lowered down to the floor.

Roman spun around again, aiming his pistol
but the man had vanished. He snarled in frustration and faced the
mirror, lowering the gun. Again it materialized.

"Who are you?" Roman asked, softly, but
growing angry…which made his body react badly.

When the man's lips moved, his voice was out
of sync with the words, as if he were watching a video that had
been dubbed. In a strange frequency, that made Roman wince, he
heard, "Your Alpha."

"My…?" Roman narrowed his eyes at the image
and again, whipped around, his hand sweaty on the gun grip, seeing
nothing. "My what? My alpha? What the fuck does that mean?" Roman
looked into the mirror again.

"Roman?" Charlie's voice was outside his
door.

The door opened and Charlie poked his head
in. Charlie opened his mouth to speak and then spotted the gun.

Roman walked to the dresser and put it back
in its holster.

Charlie entered the room and looked around.
"Please tell me you were practicin' dry-firin'."

"No." Roman sat on the bed and rubbed his
face, trying to keep a level head.

Charlie sat beside him, leaning on his
shoulder. "Butch is lettin' Vernon know we're going up there
tomorrow."

"Okay." Roman rested his head on Charlie's,
trying to find comfort.

"Come 'ere, baby." Charlie cupped Roman's jaw
and brought him to his lips.

At the contact, Roman turned to face Charlie
and they lay down on the bed together, kissing. Charlie touched the
naked skin at Roman's neck and shifted on the bed to get closer.
Roman began unbuttoning Charlie's flannel shirt, opening it wide on
his chest. Charlie shrugged it off and went for Roman's zipper,
their passion heating up. Roman shifted on the bed and stripped off
his lower half of clothing as Charlie did the same. Once they were
nude, Roman dragged Charlie under him, so they were lying
lengthwise on the bed. Roman straddled Charlie and righted their
cocks, rubbing against Charlie's pubic hair and swirling his tongue
around Charlie's in their mouths.

Under him, Charlie moaned and ground against
Roman.

"Wanna fuck you," Roman said between their
lips.

Charlie grabbed Roman's hair and pressed
their mouths harder together, whimpering and writhing on the
bed.

Roman broke the kiss and sat up, over
Charlie, looking down at his fit body, sculpted chest and powerful
arms. His vision was drawn to Charlie's brown pubic hair and stiff
blushing cock. Roman lowered down on the bed and enveloped
Charlie's cock into his mouth. Charlie thrust his hips up and held
Roman's head tightly as he fucked his mouth.

Roman inhaled Charlie's scent like a drug,
and held the base of his gorgeous cut cock, sucking to the tip.
Breathy gasps came from Charlie as he drew closer to a climax, his
leg muscles tensing and thrusting upwards.

Roman tasted his pre-cum and moaned, sucking
harder and faster, meeting his lips with his hand as he jerked
Charlie off simultaneously.

"Roman! Yes!" Charlie gripped the bedding and
arched his back, gasping and stifling a roar of pleasure.

Roman's mouth filled with Charlie's cum and
he hummed as he held it on his tongue, milking Charlie for more. As
Charlie recovered, Roman knelt up, feeling more like a top predator
each day the wolf lingered inside him. He spread Charlie's legs and
went for Charlie's rim, using the slippery cum in his mouth to
lubricate his man. He forced Charlie's thighs apart, and pointed
his cock at his wet rim. They met gazes.

Charlie was drenched in sweat and panting to
catch his breath. Roman thrust in.

Charlie hissed out a breath of air and closed
his eyes, his fingers clenched to the bedding. Holding Charlie's
knees, Roman fucked him, staring at the connection, the contrast
between his jet black pubic hair and Charlie's light brown. Roman
thought about edging the climax but didn't, since another sensation
was trying to overtake the pleasure.

He kept his gaze on the penetration and came,
huffing out air and staying still, feeling his cock pulsating in
the hot, tight hole. Charlie moaned and closed his eyes.

Roman thrust once more and pulled out,
feeling the drops of sweat run down his temple and pits.

Then something pinned him to the bed, on top
of Charlie. The force was so strong, Charlie had the wind knocked
out of him and he made a noise of pain.

Roman tried to get to his elbows, to lean
upwards to get away from the pressure, but he couldn't.

His neck was being held tightly, as if
someone had their hand around it, and his legs were being forced
apart. At the sense of being violated, Roman went wild, fighting an
invisible foe.

Charlie was trapped underneath him,
struggling to gain air and pushing against Roman's shoulders to
move him away, but Roman was trapped.

"No!" Roman felt something between his legs
and went into a cold panic. Pain seized him instantly and he yelled
out in agony and dropped on Charlie as the pit of his stomach
pinched and twisted.

~

After Butch finished his chores he entered
the house and removed his coat, hat, and boots, intent on a shower
and food. He was surprised Charlie wasn't in the kitchen cooking
lunch, or dinner, or whatever they needed to eat. It was after
three and he was starving. "Charlie?"

He walked down the hall when he heard noises.
At first Butch assumed Charlie and Roman were having sex, but as he
drew closer to their bedroom door, it sounded like something else.
Something bad.