Resilience (36 page)

If Adam gulped a little, well, that was okay. Todd felt like whimpering himself but he buried his fear because Adam needed him strong, and he could do that for his mate. Todd gave Adam a kiss that left him looking dazed—maybe not the best idea under the

circumstances, since Adam would soon be wielding a scalpel, but what was done was done.

Then Todd rolled over onto his back and spread his legs as he fisted his cock, stroking himself firmly. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“Oh, God,” Adam moaned as he looked from Todd’s dick to the nightstand. “Are you

sure you wouldn’t rather—”

“No,” Todd interrupted. “Just you and me, unless you don’t want it this way.”

Adam shook his head. “I’m just scared, but I’d be scared either way. I don’t want to fuck this up.”

“You won’t,” Todd assured him. “I trust you.”

Adam took a deep breath then exhaled slowly. He did it again, then again, before he

picked up the small tube of what Todd assumed was an anaesthetic of some sort. “It is, like we discussed.” Adam uncapped it and squeezed out a small amount. “It won’t take much, and I don’t want it all over or you’ll never cum until it wears off.” Adam plucked up a cotton swab and dabbed at the cream. “Ready?” he asked as he held the swab up.

“Yup.” There was no other answer. Todd lowered his hand to the base of his cock.

Adam didn’t hesitate after that, applying the topical anaesthetic to a small spot right below his crown.

“Just give it a few minutes,” Adam murmured, then sat back and treated his own cock

similarly. “It’ll just be a small nick. Marcus said he didn’t think it took much blood, not like in the other ceremony…”

“Hope he’s right,” Todd said, feeling the oddest urge to laugh, “I sure don’t want to do this again if we can avoid it. But I will.” He looked Adam straight in the eye. “I’ll do whatever it takes to be able to run with you.”

Adam hadn’t thought it possible to love Todd any more than he already did, but that declaration sent a swell of love right to his heart. “Me too,” he scraped out, and the lingering fear over what they were doing vanished under the wealth of the emotions between them.

“Numb?” he asked as he pinched at the spot where he’d applied the anaesthetic to his cock.

Todd tapped himself and nodded. “Yup.”

“Oh, good.” Adam scooted closer and pushed at Todd’s legs. He wanted them both ready to blow before he messed with the scalpel. “Up.” He tapped at Todd’s thighs. “Let me at your sweet spots.”

Todd huffed as he raised his legs, pulling his knees to his chest. “Sweet spots?”

Adam nodded as he lowered himself down until his nose was an inch from Todd’s

balls. “Yeah, that’d be all of you, but for now I meant—” He licked Todd from balls to hole then back up. Todd hissed and shuddered and Adam nosed under his sac to suck at the smooth patch of skin there.

“Fu—fuuuuuck,” Todd rasped, “Adam—”

Adam moved lower, lapping up the pink puckered skin as Todd’s voice hitched,

turning his words into something unintelligible. It filled Adam with pride, bringing Todd to such peaks of pleasure. He cupped Todd’s ass and wedged his thumbs into his crease to massage that tight hole. Todd’s cries grew louder, shakier. Adam pushed the tips of both thumbs inside, spreading Todd’s opening, and Todd jerked, his balls pulling up tight.

Adam’s cock was wet with need, Todd’s sounds, his reaction to Adam’s loving the best aphrodisiac in the world. Adam was up in a shot, barely remembering to grab what he

needed, what they needed. He barely winced, refusing to think about the fact he was

wielding a very sharp instrument over their respective bits. But Adam’s hand was steady, guided by need and love and hope as he did what needed to be done.

He didn’t feel a thing as blood welled, dark and bright all at once on his skin. Adam refused to let his stomach lurch—much—as he nicked Todd, but he couldn’t help but

grimace at having to do it. Still, Todd was barely managing to hold still. His want was battering at Adam, at his restraint, his own desire, and Adam made the careful mark then tossed aside the scalpel. He straddled Todd’s shoulders, his cock dripping with more than pre-cum now.

Adam gripped Todd’s dick and didn’t waste a second. He opened up and sucked Todd

in deep at the same time his own shaft was encased in wet gripping heat. Adam’s lids closed as he moaned around Todd’s cock, then he sank down, taking Todd in to the root as Todd swallowed him, those smooth muscles contracting around Adam’s length and stealing any hope he had of holding back.

Adam whimpered as his balls tingled, as he thrust uncontrollably into Todd’s throat.

Pleasure suffused him as Todd took him and gave himself, pushing into Adam’s mouth,

breeching his throat and writhing beneath him.

Spunk jetted from Adam’s cock with a painful force, his climax rendering him

breathless, thoughtless, motionless except for the hard clench of his ass as he came. Then Todd’s cum spurted into him as well, and dizziness slammed into Adam. Everything spun around him, a hellish mix of vertigo and resounding ecstasy racing through him.

Adam lifted his head and shouted, his wolf rejoicing inside him. He rolled aside and scrambled around as he started to reach for Todd as the first ripple of shift went through his mate. Adam caught himself before he touched Todd, keeping his hands hovering above Todd’s shoulder. Now might not be the time to try to grab a part of Todd, not when those parts were being shuffled into something different. Would Todd hurt, would he be afraid as his body twisted and morphed into something new? The idea of either slapped away Adam’s lingering sexual euphoria.

Todd’s back bowed, then he shook from head to toe in the split second before bones

and tendons snapped and popped. Thick fur sprung over his skin, and his face stretched, bulged. It seemed to take forever and yet pass in a few heartbeats, Adam alternating between fear and hope, finally settling on the latter when a beautiful, pale orange wolf looked up at him with Todd’s green eyes.

Adam’s nose burned and he blinked furiously as he finally put his arms around Todd’s neck. He rubbed his face in the silky fur. “Welcome to our new world.” Adam was looking forward to exploring it together.

It was hard to explain, exactly, how Todd felt different. He guessed the best word he could find to describe it was simple even though everything was really complex—he just felt like he was more. Stronger, faster, his senses so, so much sharper, and there was this…this peace inside that he wouldn’t have expected. Like he’d finally found every bit of himself.

He supposed it showed in the way he carried himself. Manny had been eyeing him

weird-like all day. Like he was doing now. Todd gave his deputy an inquisitive look and Manny huffed before crossing his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes at Todd.

“I just can’t figure it out. There ain’t an obvious difference, so I guess it’s just that you really needed that long-ass vacation.”

“I did,” Todd agreed as he leant back in his chair. “But we did get home a few days

early, and I even came to work instead of chilling at home.”

Manny shook his head and held up a hand. “Please, don’t say chilling. And it’s chillin’, anyways, and both of us are too old for that word.”

“Speak for yourself.” Todd was kind of affronted until he saw Manny smirk. Dick. “I’m cool no matter what.”

“Yeahhhh,” Manny drew out before snorting forcefully. “I’ll agree ‘cause you’re the

boss. Now I’m gonna get home and chillax since I’m no longer solely responsible for this town.”

Todd shuddered. “And you were giving me grief over my choice of words?” He

chuckled and stood, then rounded the desk to hold his hand out to Manny. “Thanks again, Manny. You did a great job. I really appreciate it.”

Manny opened his mouth to reply at the same time the door chimed signalling the

arrival of someone in the lobby. “I got it,” Todd told him, kind of relieved to be done with the touchy-feely conversation before it got too intense. He had a flash image of him and Manny giggling like schoolgirls and gave an internal groan.

“Good thing since it’s your best buddy,” Manny muttered, and for a second Todd had

the very real fear Manny had read his mind somehow until he caught a whiff of cherry Pop-Tarts®. “I’ll see ya tomorrow.”

Todd followed Manny out of his office and slapped his hands over his ears when Gabe

squealed and launched himself at him. “Todd! You have some ‘splaining to do!”

Manny gave him a sympathetic grimace and quickly bolted out of the front door,

shrieking a bit when he almost collided with Mika, who was coming in.

Gabe latched onto Todd like some kind of space alien-octopus-plunger mix. Todd was

fairly certain he couldn’t have prised Gabe off with a dozen crowbars, and he couldn’t even hug him back properly, what with Gabe tangled on him, arms and legs all over and—

“Shit!” Gabe yelped, and Todd had to agree as he stumbled. They bounced off the wall then hit the floor hard enough to knock the breath from their lungs. Pain shot out from too many places to count, nothing major, just the usual crap that happened when one did

something like fall over. Then Mika was there pulling them both up with more force than grace.

“That was almost as funny as it was ridiculous,” Mika groused. “You coulda got hurt.”

Todd wasn’t sure who Mika was talking to, him or Gabe or both of them, but he did

point at Gabe. “It was his fault. He attached himself like a huge leech.”

“I didn’t suck on anything, jackass,” Gabe retaliated with, then ruined his snark by laughing. “I’m just glad you’re alive and oh my God, you two did it! You’re one of us!”

Todd and Mika both looked around nervously. The uniformed officer was either

deliberately ignoring them or was asleep at her desk. He grabbed Gabe’s arm and dragged him into his office. “Could you maybe not tell everyone in the whole world?”

Gabe flapped a hand and rolled his eyes. “Please. And I get called a drama queen?

Whatever.”

“Well, at least the people in Shasta,” Todd temporised his claim. “I’d rather you not shout it out for everyone to hear in town. Or anywhere, really.”

“Well, duh.” Gabe huffed but couldn’t hold his pout, grinning widely and bouncing onto his toes. Todd prepared himself for another launch, and, sure enough, Gabe tried, but Mika caught him and growled in Gabe’s ear. Gabe’s shudder was not one of fear, and the spicy scent of arousal blossomed in the office. Todd sat down behind his desk. “Uh, guys?”

Mika growled again then nipped Gabe’s neck, and for a second or two Todd was afraid

he was going to be traumatised by having his best friend fucked right in front of him. Gabe was more like a brother to him, and that was just—not something he wanted to see. He grabbed the bottled water off his desk, uncapped it and took a sip.

“Behave, caveman,” Gabe rumbled in a surprisingly low voice. Mika actually sniffed

and looked like he might be the one pouting for a change. Gabe arched his brows at Todd.

“So, you did the whole bite the wang thing, huh?”

Todd sputtered, having just taken another drink of water. “Jesus,” he gasped, or

squeaked, but he didn’t really like having to admit to that. He swiped at his mouth while Gabe and Mika both snickered at him. Todd glared at his friends and rubbed his nose, just in case he’d spurted water out from there, too. “What are you, twelve? Wang? ”

Gabe nodded. “Well, yeah. Or your baloney pony, man meat, wiener—”

“All of those are meat products,” Todd felt oddly compelled to point out.

“There’s dozens of them, buddy, just check Google sometime and expand your

vocabulary in minutes.” Gabe plopped down right on Todd’s desk and bent until he was almost nose to nose with Todd. “Seriously, how bad was it? Was that really easier than being fucked in front of Marcus and other people?”

How could he explain it, the need to keep such a special exchange between him and his mate only? Todd shrugged and felt his cheeks burning. “Adam used stuff…down there, so nothing hurt.” God, he was gonna die if he had to explain it any more than that, at least if he had to talk about the actual sex part of it all.

But Gabe murmured softly and nodded. “Well, of course. Adam has some good drugs.

What a smart guy.”

“Yeah, and, as for the other, it wasn’t so much doing it in front of other people”—

although he didn’t care for the idea—“as much as it was just something between me and him, only. I didn’t want someone else’s blood or whatever in me. Only Adam’s. Ever.”

Gabe sighed and fluttered his lashes, and a dreamy expression settled on his features.

“Aw, man, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard! Does that make me a ho-bag since I was too chicken and had another man’s blood in me?”

“No,” Mika said before Todd could even figure out how the heck to answer the

question. “Marcus is our AA and I surely didn’t have anything to numb our”—he smirked at Todd—“love muscles with.”

Todd groaned and slapped a hand over his eyes. “I’m gonna be subjected to stupid

penis terms for a while, aren’t I?”

“Yup,” Gabe agreed. Todd didn’t see the thump to Mika’s ribs but he recognised the

swift intake of Mika’s breath along with Gabe’s snickering. “But that one was really lame.

Even yogurt slinger would have been better than that. “

“That’s gross,” Todd grumbled. “Can we lay off the food names?” Besides, he’d had

yogurt of various colours, so to imagine his dick spurting some of it was just nasty.

“Nope.” Gabe bounced over to him and Todd just managed to catch him for a hug that

rocked him back in his seat. “You know I love ya, man. I’m so glad you and Adam are like us now. We have got to run.”

“Okay,” Todd said as he patted Gabe’s back. “Go on then—”

Gabe snorted loudly in his ear. “No, dumbass, I mean, the four of us need to run.

Maybe tomorrow night, if y’all are up to it? Come over after work.” Gabe finally released him somewhat, enough to lean back and look at him. “Talk it over with Adam, I can’t wait to see y’all shifted! What do y’all look like? No!” Gabe slapped a hand over Todd’s mouth, a little too hard in Todd’s opinion. Gabe grinned. “Hey. Whoops. But really, come over, and I’d rather see y’all shift than be told, ya know? This way me and Mika can make bets and the loser gets fucked…” He straightened up and tapped his hip. “Which means, of course, no one is the loser but it’s still fun to bet.”