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“You really are good at this,” Lance said, feeling spoiled by all

the attention.

Markus laughed against his neck, accidentally blowing a raspberry in the process. “Keep talking like that and I might just get a little full of myself.”

Lance was so relaxed and comfortable, even while his back was

still firmly pressed against a hard rock, that he knew he would fall  asleep if left here.

That was out of the question. He still had work to attend to.  Research to do and animals to track.

Carefully, he pushed Markus off of him, feeling cold all over his body when Markus’s body heat was no longer on him or inside of him.

The feeling wasn’t something that he liked. It put a drop in his stomach that was damn near depressing.

Markus looked like he was struggling with something as well. He wouldn’t look at Lance at all as he did the backstroke back to the

shore where their clothes were.

Lance followed him, taking his time as the sharp pain of what they'd just done made itself more known now that the fun was over. It was a little difficult getting back into his jeans and shirt, uncomfortable, too, considering he was still dripping wet as he dressed. He got his things on, however, and was only a little damp in his clothes after the fact.

Now he just had to figure out how to broach the subject. This was only supposed to be a one-night stand, or one-day stand, whatever, so how did he ask if Markus wanted to meet up with him again while  Lance was still in town?

Markus cleared his throat and started talking first.

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Great. He was going to offer to walk Lance back to his hotel or whatever, and then they would never see each other again.

“Do you want to, I don’t know, meet up again?” Markus asked.  His cheeks were a tad pink as he looked at Lance from the corner of his eye. “I know you’re only in town for a little while, but maybe we can hang out or something until it’s time for you to leave.”

The “or something” part made Lance want to laugh. “You did offer yourself as a guide to me, didn’t you?”

Recollection dawned in Markus’s eyes, and he smiled. “Yeah, I did.”

Lance was suddenly feeling a lot better about where they stood.  “We can go back to my motel room right now, if you want,” he said.

Markus put his hands over his heart in a way that Lance found to be cheesy and endearing. “‘If I want,’ he says.”

Lance grinned, and he reached down for his bag.

His inhaler fell out of the side pocket, and the plastic container bounced off of one of the dry rocks where they’d tossed their clothing.

“Shit!” Lance yelled, rushing forward when it looked like it might go right into the water.

Markus was faster and closer. One step and an outreached hand and he had the inhaler safely in his grasp.

He looked down at it and then up at Lance. “Asthma?”

Lance nodded, taking back the inhaler when Markus offered it.  “Thanks, and yeah. Nothing too serious, really. I haven’t had an attack in nearly two years.”

Suddenly Markus looked worried. “Uh, I don’t know much about what causes that kind of thing, but I kind of keep dogs around—”

“No, don’t worry. There shouldn’t be anything in your clothes that’ll give me an attack. Pets are fine, and I don’t smell any smoke off you either, so we’re good.”

It almost looked like a light went off behind Markus’s eyes.  “That’s why you wanted to get away from the restaurant before the

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dinner rush came in?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, smoke can set it off.” And some bars and

restaurants in smaller towns like this still allowed smoking on the  property. “Anyway, let’s go,” he said.

“But you’re okay? Right?” Markus said, his eyes going down to  the little pocket where Lance had stashed the inhaler.

Lance didn’t much like speaking about his asthma. It wasn’t  serious enough to warrant a talk with everyone he met, and a lot of  people didn’t understand it enough to bother anyway. There were  either the people who thought all asthma was the same and that Lance  was about to drop dead at any second, or the people who didn’t think  it was a big deal at all. Sometimes Lance had trouble figuring out  which group was more annoying.

“I just keep the puffer for safety, but really, it’s fine. You just  made me as out of breath as I could be in the water. Trust me, I’m

okay.”

That brought a smile out of the other man. “All right. Let’s go.”

Markus put his hand on Lance’s shoulder as they walked. “We  can discuss the terms of me being your guide after I get you out of  those damp clothes.”

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Chapter Five

Markus had him again before the sun went down. Lance was eager as could be when Markus put him on his hands and knees on the rough motel bed, and he’d loved every second of it. More so because they’d stopped to pick up some lube at the gas station before getting down to this part.

He could still recall the grin on Lance’s face when he wiggled the newly purchased bottle between his fingers while they were in bed.  “Last time was great and all, but let’s use this from now on.”

Markus had made sure to do just that, and he would do anything so long as Lance would enjoy his attention even more. He’d almost forgotten that Lance was a human back at the water, and now that he thought about it, he was kind of surprised the man hadn't thrown him off while they’d fucked.

Werewolves could handle sex without lube and still enjoy themselves just fine. It had something to do with their strength and endurance, that was all he knew. Humans, not so much, so Markus

had made sure to use a generous amount of the little bottle before  taking Lance again.

Whether he was putting his mouth over Lance’s pucker, or on his  cock, or just kissing him, Markus made sure to leave part of himself  over every inch of Lance’s skin. Lance was his, and this way every  werewolf would know it, too.

Clearly Lance was a human, and so he didn’t understand the connection between them, but by the time Markus was finished making the man sing his praises for a third time, he was more than certain Lance wouldn’t forget him.

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They’d had their night together, and now that Markus was his guide, he could slowly introduce him to the idea of werewolves and other creatures of the night.

At the very least he’d sealed the deal so that Lance would have second thoughts about going back to…wherever it was he’d come from.

They hadn’t done much talking. The next time they saw each other, Markus was going to have to rectify that. He wanted to know everything there was to know about his mate. So far he knew that  Lance was a part-time vegetarian, had a slight case of asthma, was far sighted, and was into hiking and nature. He also knew where all his sweet spots were, but it was debatable on whether or not those counted as actually knowing him as a person.

He was grinning so much his cheeks were actually starting to hurt, and it was enough that the people closest to him in the pack actually stopped and took notice.

Maybe Markus hadn’t realized just how miserable he’d been acting lately.

“Hey, you look good,” John said.

Markus spun at the sight of him. John was a good five years younger than he was, but they had always been close.

Now, for the first time in what seemed like forever, he was

actually glad to see his friend again. That old heartache that had been  following him around ever since John brought Storm, his mate, home  with him was gone.

Things really were starting to look up for him.

“I feel good,” he said, still smiling.

“Good,” John said, actually laughing a little as the cautious  suspicion left him in favor of some genuine good cheer. “What’s up?”

He was so bursting with happiness that he wasn’t about to hide it.  “I just met my mate.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, let’s go get some drinks and catch up or something,”

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Markus said, hooking his arm around John’s shoulder.

Unlike in recent times, John didn’t squirm out of his hold or try and make an excuse to get away from him.

Even John had his limits on what he could take whenever Markus

had been depressed and had gotten a little too touchy.

John did wrinkle his nose, however. “I think a drink is the last

thing you need. I smell beer all over you.”

Markus cursed, but he wasn’t angry. He’d forgotten all about that  part. “Well, I’m sober now, but yeah, maybe we’ll grab a Pepsi or  something,” Markus said.

They made their way over to one of the new picnic tables and  each grabbed a cold can from a bowl of ice that had been left over  from lunch.

“So, tell me what he looks like. What’s his name?” John asked,

his can hissing as he popped the tab.

“Lance,” Markus replied. The name rolled so perfectly off his  tongue that he wanted to say it over and over again.

“He got a last name?”

Markus thought back to when he and Lance had met. “Malloy.  He’s my age, and he’s got the nicest blond hair I’ve ever seen. I didn’t  think I cared about a man’s hair, but it’s perfect. He wears these box  glasses, too, that make him look…” Markus made a sound of  appreciation. “Give me all kinds of bad thoughts.”

“So you like guys with nice hair and glasses. Didn’t know you had  a type like that,” John said, smiling. He suddenly stopped before he  could bring the can to his lips. “Lance Malloy?” he asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“You both share the same initials. I mean, you do but in reverse,”  John said.

Markus thought about that. M and L were his initials, and L and  M were Lance’s. He grinned. “See? We’re perfect for each other.”

“James is gonna want to know about this when he comes back from hunting,” John said.

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“I know. I should have a shower before that happens.”

“Is he human?” John asked, and this time his words weren’t quite  so happy as they had been before.

That was to be expected. This was always the difficult part for  werewolves. Introducing human mates to a pack of werewolves was  never easy. In this case, DeWitt’s pack didn’t just have werewolves  either. There were two vampires, one of whom could see ghosts, a  former hunter, Ryan shifted into a wolf and a large green dragon, and  with the addition of John’s mate, a werecat as well.

That would be tough for anyone to take in, but Markus was determined to give it a try.

So far everyone else who had taken a human mate was doing well.  Either because the human in question had to be transformed or because they’d already known about this life. But that was fine. He wasn’t worried. He and Lance were mated. It was only a matter of time before they worked out the details.

“He is human, and he tells me he’s only in town for about a week or so. I can’t really remember. I was too busy getting him naked.”

John blushed and shook his head. He tried hiding his blush behind the can he held, but it didn’t work out so well. “You’re still the same,

I see.”

“I just need to convince him that leaving Brampton is a bad idea.”

“I’m glad Storm came here with my pack. Don’t know what I  would’ve done if we had to leave,” John said.

That was always the thing with taking mates. Sometimes it required leaving the pack. If a werewolf found himself mated to a wolf from another pack, then there would naturally be the discussion on where they would live.

Lance was human. If he decided he didn’t want to stay in  Brampton—which wasn’t going to happen, Markus reminded himself—then Markus wouldn’t be able to follow him. If Lance lived

in the city, then there was no way Markus could be with him. The  only way they would be able to make it work was if Lance owned his

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own house somewhere and enough private property for Markus to

become his wolfy self without scaring any neighbors.

But what were the odds of that?

“You’ve actually got me a little worried now,” Markus confessed.  “Kind of wish I had a way of asking him about his plans, you know,  without sounding like I’m being pushy or anything.”

“When do you see him again?”

“Tomorrow. I told him I’d be his guide and show him around the  area.”

John nodded. “That’s a good idea. You can keep him away from the dangerous trails and away from our trails whenever we run in our wolf forms.”

That was right. Markus would have to be there to protect Lance from wild werewolves. They hadn’t been coming around here quite as frequently as before, but he didn’t want to take the risk.