Taken By The Pack (5 page)

other. Part of Danny wanted to join in.

When a shot rang out in the distance, everything changed.

“Get in here!” Danny shouted.

The wolves charged in the house, and Danny slammed the door shut. It wasn’t a close

shot, and Danny knew he’d overreacted. But the need to protect them had taken over. Justin’s dad was one example. But Danny also knew it was so selfish.

These two knew his secret, and if nothing else, Danny could enjoy the sex when they got

extra needy during the full moons. He’d lived with less for a year now.

He grew hard at the thought of having them monthly. As the wolves shifted to naked

men, Danny was even harder. “You need to be more careful,” he insisted.

Brandon smiled and stood. “You need to trust us. We’ve been at this all our lives.”

“I know, but it’s dangerous out there.” Danny felt the need, looking at Justin kneeling

there catching his breath. “It’s a lot safer in bed.”

“The hunting is a problem,” Justin admitted.

“Good. I’m glad you have some sense.” Danny knelt behind Justin and teased his cock.

“Damn. Now?” Justin asked.

Danny pressed his cock between Justin’s cheeks. “Seeing you both wild and now naked, I

can’t help it. I woke up alone. I didn’t even get your ass, and I thought you two bailed on me.”

“We were coming back. Our wolf sides needed a run, and we marked your land as our

territory,” Brandon said.

“Well, I need to fuck your boyfriend now,” Danny replied.

Brandon vanished into the bedroom while Danny licked and sucked Justin’s balls. “You

want it.”

“Yes, but first I need to tell you something.” Justin sounded so serious.

Danny bet that Justin didn’t want him to get his hopes up. To get too attached. “Don’t

worry. I know it’s only sex fun. But you two can come over and use me any time. Full moon or hiding from hunters, whatever.”

Brandon walked in a dropped a condom packet on Justin’s back and drizzled lube

between Justin’s ass cheeks. “You two want to be alone?”

“Get down here!” Justin pulled Brandon to his knees and sucked his lover’s cock.

Danny slapped on the latex and fucked Justin hard. The wolfy feral vibrations hung in the air even though they all looked human. Danny could feel the animal, the danger and the thrill beneath the surface as he ran his hands over Justin’s sexy back.

Justin was tighter than Brandon, and he pushed back more. Danny held nothing back and

fucked the hot shifter. The noises from Justin’s throat were pure animal.

Looking up at Brandon, Danny smiled. Brandon nodded. It was good, all so amazingly

good, Danny didn’t want it to end. He needed to find a way to make this work, shifters or not.

Brandon began to thrust down Justin’s throat, and Justin’s hips snapped back. Danny’s

early morning erection couldn’t resist the throbbing muscle. He came in a blast that left him clinging to Justin.

“We need to shower,” Brandon declared.

Danny nodded. “Then I’ll make pancakes.”

“I need to tell you something, Danny. We both do.” Justin stood up as the men untangled

slowly.

Brandon kissed Justin’s shoulder. “Over breakfast. It’s not life or death.”

They headed to the master bath, but Danny watched Justin’s expression. To Brandon it

might not be a big deal, but Justin clearly thought it was. Probably another warning that Danny was growing too attached.

* * * *

kitchen. Alone for a change, Justin gave Brandon a knowing look.

“You need to relax and enjoy,” Brandon said.

“I have to tell him.” The guilt hurt too much. The shot that morning had scared Justin, but Danny’s touching reaction told Justin it’d gone on too long. “Danny is getting attached, and he’ll want a guy of his own. A few months without us, and he’ll be at the Pipeline dancing and cruising Mr. Right.”

“Maybe.” Brandon nodded and turned off the water.

“I need to tell him about the hunting thing. We know, and he and his brother need to stop it.” Justin toweled off.

“Or what? If we helped him open the closet door, it’s not too much of a threat. He’ll just out himself fast. Leverage gone. And he knows we’re shifters. He’s got the power.” Brandon frowned.

They hung up their towels on the hooks and Justin shrugged. “I need to tell him. We’re

jerks taking advantage of the sex if we don’t.”

“I think he’s enjoying all the sex,” Brandon pointed out.

“You want to lie?” Justin snapped.

Brandon held up his hands in defeat. “Your play, babe. I want the sex and no hunting.

You’re the brains. But the timing feels off today. He’s really starting to trust us. Danny wants us around.”

“It’s deeper than that, and you know it.” Justin opened the door. “Let me explain it.”

Brandon shook his head. “Let’s eat first. We’ll need the energy in order to shift and run home when Danny gets pissed off.”

* * * *

patties, he agreed with Brandon. They needed to refuel. “Thanks, Danny. It looks great.”

“Sure. Now, what’s the big conversation?” Danny asked.

With his mouth full, Justin held up a finger.

Brandon stepped in. “Well, the shot this morning reminded us of an issue in the area.”

“Hunters aren’t exactly new. Always an issue. They don’t normally come that close to the house. How do you guys stay safe?” Danny asked.

“You learn the tricks. Plus we’re shifters only about twenty percent of the time. We like being in human form. But some like the wolf play more.” Brandon dug in.

Justin swallowed hard. “It’s what we wanted to talk to you about.”

Danny frowned. “You mean the blackmail thing? I thought it was all closet related.”

“No, we’ve been hanging out around your place because we wanted to help. But we

overheard something we just can’t ignore.” Justin looked into Danny’s gray eyes. He didn’t want to hurt him.

“What?” Danny asked.

“Your brother’s business plans.” Brandon said. “That’s hard to run from. Hard to have a

chance at all.”

“So it was all a set up to get me to stop the aerial wolf hunting?” Danny pushed his plate away.

“We’re sorry,” Justin said. “We didn’t mean to get so involved. It was supposed to be

sex, kidnapping blackmail, sex and everyone is happy.”

“And now?” Danny asked.

“We’re friends.” Brandon punched Danny’s shoulder. “Obviously, you’ll want your own

man, but we like you. We like hanging out here. We didn’t mean to play you.”

“I don’t hunt.” Danny’s defenses were up.

“We know.” Justin leaned in. “We hoped you’d use your influence to stop your brother

and keep other pilots like you from flying those runs. No pilots, no aerial hunting runs. I know your brother needs a job and it’s a popular thing, but there are other ways.”

Danny sat like a statue.

“Justin is going to start something up at the tourism bureau that might help. Tell him,”

Brandon urged.

Danny stared them down with cold precision. “I don’t want handouts for my family. I can

take care of my blood.”

Justin reached out and tried to touch Danny, but he was tense. “No, listen, Danny. Frank would be perfect for this. No handouts.”

Danny’s eyes darkened. “Then talk to Frank. You don’t need to bribe me with sex or

threaten me with outing to offer him a job.”

“It’s not a job yet. He’d be developing it with me if it gets approval. It’s a proposal right now. But the main thing is not to start the aerial hunting. I know you want to help your family.

That’s why we’re worried you’d fly for his business.”

Danny shook his head. “Do you know how many businesses my brother has tried to start?

He has good ideas, but he doesn’t have the drive to work day and night to make them happen.

Frank is a work for someone else type, not a business owner.”

Justin exchanged a look with Brandon. “You don’t think he’d succeed?”

Danny shrugged “It all depends. He’s talked about bringing in partners, which means it

might, but a lot of it will probably fall through. I don’t want to fly any of those runs, but he was talking about test runs yesterday to promote the idea and get pictures. Someone will do that.”

Danny looked them in the eye.

Justin smiled. “You never had any intention of flying for it.”

Danny looked away. “The pilot could make the hunter miss without even trying. For the

tests, if I flew, Frank wouldn’t have landed a thing. He’d probably give up without one wolf being shot.”

“We knew you’d be on our side.” Brandon grinned.

“No side. I have a job that I like. Now, we all understand each other. You two know my

secret. I know yours. If we all keep quiet and mind our own business, we’ll be just fine. These couple of days will just be a little steam we blew off.” Danny refused to meet their gazes now.

“Come on. We can be friends.” Justin didn’t want to lose a great guy like Danny because

of bad timing. “We had to try and protect our families.”

Danny nodded as his pulsing ringtone went off. “I understand. That’s my phone. You can

show yourselves out.”

Justin and Brandon both stood. It was as cold inside as it was outside. They watched

Danny grab his phone and turn his back on them.

“We should go,” Brandon said.

“What? No, Frank’s not here,” Danny said.

Justin held up a finger.

“No, he left last night. He hasn’t called?” Danny turned to look at Brandon and Justin in fear. “He drove off last night. I’ll go backtrack. You call the police.” He hung up and headed for his closet.

Justin nodded to Brandon. The pair shifted, and as soon as Danny was suited up and

opened the door, the wolves shot out into the cold darkness on a mission.

Brandon raced ahead with Justin on his right. If Frank was stranded, he could’ve frozen

to death in a matter of hours.

“We heard him drive away,” Justin said.

“I know. We’ll get to wherever he is faster.” Brandon could hear Danny’s car coming up

the drive, but they could cut through the woods and still see the driveway several yards off their path. In the dark, their eyes would beat Danny’s anyway.

“He hates us,” Justin whined.

Brandon picked up the pace. “We have to help. Stop the pity party. You wanted him, and

you had him. We can help and prove ourselves. Maybe stay friends.”

That seemed to spur Justin’s energy. They came upon the pickup more than three miles

from Danny’s place. It had skidded off the road on black ice. The driver’s door hung open. The pair of wolves bounded inside and searched. No one.

Sniffing, they caught the scent of the man they were after and headed back out into the

moonlit morning.

“Looks like it’s on the road.” Justin followed a trail of footprints that were partially snow covered.

It was logical Frank would look for help on the road first. But after a certain point, he’d need shelter and heat. The car was the obvious way, but eventually, gas ran out and he’d need to find somewhere else to keep warm.

“Too far back to Danny’s.” Brandon sniffed the air and headed off. Justin followed. They got out of sight as Danny and the police arrived on the scene.

“He can’t be far,” Justin said.

“He’s lived here all his life. Let’s hope he didn’t get cocky.” Brandon knew natives could sometimes trust their instincts and resources too much because they knew Alaska so well.

As the yards flew by, Justin shook his furry neck. “He’ll have frostbite.”

The smell of smoke pulled Brandon to the left. A ramshackle shed stood in the thick of

woods, no doubt used by hunters to escape from odd white-out storms. Smoke billowed from the roof.

“That has to be it,” Justin said.

They took off for the shed and pawed at the latched door. When no gunshots or shouts for help came from inside, Brandon threw his full wolf weight against the door twice before it gave.

The wolves charged in and found Frank flat on his back, covered with blankets and

clutching a cracked cell phone. His booted foot was braced with sticks. Justin pushed with his muzzle on Frank’s neck, the man was unconscious but alive.

Brandon inspected the limb. It was turned. “Probably broken. Lucky, he made it this far.”

A fire smoldered in an earthen pit in the center of the room. The hole in the roof sucked up the smoke. Brandon used his muzzle to move some of the pieces of the broken door into the fire for more heat.

With no cell phone, their options were limited.

Justin shook the snow off his fur. “Shift. We’ll carry him back to help.”

Brandon growled in a scoff. “Naked? We’ll get frostbite in bad places. No. He’s alive.

We can get him help faster.”

He nudged Frank’s head and got a facial reaction. Frank’s breathing was shallow but

steady. The cold and hunger made him weak and unresponsive. The pain of walking all that way with a broken bone took his energy.

“We need to get Danny here. Frank needs help!” Justin whined.

Brandon felt more at ease in wolf form for long stretches than Justin did. Justin liked the running, sex and playing, but once things calmed down, he wanted to be human again. Brandon couldn’t blame him. Justin’s dad had been taken out by a hunter. Being human was safer, but now, it wouldn’t help anyone.

There was only one way to get Danny in the right direction. Brandon threw back his head

and howled. Within seconds, Justin joined in. They ran out to the open air where their howls could travel for miles. They’d be hoarse later, but Danny would come for his brother.

* * * *

Danny trudged along the road and brush with his brothers. No sign of Frank. The police

were looking as well.

Danny looked at his sister-in-law who sat numb and tearing up in Frank’s truck. “He’ll be okay,” Danny assured her.