Chapter 4
~*Carl*~Carl's mind had never been stable, but it had totally crashed and crumbled a few months before what he used to call "the wife-incident". Everything had been alright as long as his late Beta, George, had been there, second-guessing every order Carl gave, making him realize what was normal and which orders were too harsh.
Curling his upper lip Carl rammed the shovel into the sandy ground and heaved another pile of dirt out of the hole he was digging. Dark memories always made him moody, but at the same time he couldn't stop them from coming again and again.
George had always been his conscience, and they had worked so well together. When George had found that little runt of a street urchin' eleven years ago, Carl had been happy for him and his wife, since they couldn't get children of their own, and he had cried and mourned with George when his wife had died a few years later very suddenly. Brain aneurysm the doctors had called it. But where Carl had been able to go on living and finding a wife of his own, George had never stopped mourning his spouse's passing. His heart had been broken, and shortly after his body followed--
A cry of pain echoed up the hills to where Carl was digging, and it stopped him in his tracks. Some lower sounds followed, but they were indistinguishable, and the cry itself hadn't reminded Carl of anyone. Could be Trevor, or Darwin, if that bastard had survived the beating. Carl's rational side urged him to go take a look and find out what had happened, but his mind didn't hold enough sanity to listen - hadn't for a long time. He was digging a hole, and he didn't want to leave any work unfinished. It just wasn't right.
Not right.
Like George abandoning him two and a half years ago. A stroke, a damn stroke had taken his best friend and confidant away, and it had changed their relationship forever. It hadn't killed George, but it might have as well, leaving him incapable of moving freely or defending himself. Carl had never felt so lonely before, and even though he had had a wife at that time, she had never been a fit replacement for George and his ability to stabilize Carl.
And when his wife had betrayed Carl, George hadn't been there. Nobody had been there to talk him out of it, to quench his rage or stop his battering fists, to not make him do something he would regret for the rest of his life. And when all had been said and done, when his wife had been no more, reduced to nothing but a slimy, bloody pulp on the floor of his home, Carl had raged even more because George hadn't helped him, and they both had become widowers.
He had seen the true face of life, and it had made him weep and cry. He had sworn to himself he never ever would forget about the truth behind the happy facade the world was showing, and he had sworn to end it, because it just wasn't right.
The small grave was finished, and Carl climbed out of it with a low growl. What was taking Trevor so long? Now that his work was done he finally admitted to himself that it probably would be a good idea to investigate the sounds he had heard before, so he made his way downhill. There were no more screams, just the soft, lonesome sounds of creatures of the night, and the whispers of an autumn breeze in the trees. It sounded right. The woods also looked right, but the smell was off.
Blood was in the air.
When Carl finally found the ripped up pieces that once had been Trevor, the strong smell of fresh meat and blood had sent him into a hazy trance, making it hard to notice the details. He had to retch and spit five times to get the taste out of his mouth, the scent was that intense, but when he finally had his wits about him, he only needed one 360° spin to put the pieces together.
Werewolf attacks were pretty easy to identify, once you knew the signs. The cut up abdomen, where the body was most vulnerable, the broken neck that at least had granted Trevor a merciful death, and the claw marks. They were everywhere, not only on the body parts, but also on the ground and a nearby tree. Only one pissed off werewolf could wreak this much havoc in such a short time. Carl knew that, because he had been there more than once. It had taken him more than a year to get some kind of control over his rages without George's help. To not make that kind of a mess anymore.
Now Carl killed with control and precision, and it made his life so much easier.
Had Darwin done this to Trevor? Trevor had neither been the sharpest knife in the drawer, nor the biggest hunk in the pack. There were a few werewolves able to subdue Trevor, but to rip him up like that? Carl sniffed thoughtfully, then turned to scent the claw marks at the nearest tree trunk. There was a note of Trevor and Darwin, but another scent mingled with them and made Carl's head spin for a second, raising his hackles and eliciting a deep, low growl from him.
Alpha.
He didn't think about it, he just opened his trousers, whipped out his dick, and pissed over the marks until his own pungent smell covered everything else. There was no way he'd let that strange stink stay as it was, not when he had to call in someone to help clean up. Another Alpha had metaphorically pooped on his front porch, a direct challenge to his reign, and any dominant smelling that other presence would automatically take it as a sign of weakness in Carl.
When the task was done he turned around and walked back towards the house. Since Trevor was obviously out of the picture, he'd have to think up a new, believable tale for his pack. They'd never understand if he told them the truth, and he needed them to follow his orders. Everything depended on it. Everything!
When the door fell shut behind Carl, he suddenly knew who would be able to take Trevor's place. He'd still have to assemble a believable story for the rest of his troops, but the new one, that werewolf everyone just called "the accident", had been nagging him about a chance to prove himself for weeks now, and he seemed increasingly desperate about it. Frowning, Carl searched his contacts, trying to remember the name. Rob? Rick? Ah there, Rayne.
Satisfied with his choice and quick thinking, Carl dialed the number. "Rayne, good evening. You asked me for a chance to show your talents. Well, today's your lucky day! Meet me at the pack house as soon as possible. I'll wait here."
Suddenly things were looking up for Carl. Now he'd definitely be able to set the world right again.
~*Harry*~
Harry didn't notice Jared's disappearance until the pizza delivery guy knocked at the door the third time. "Jared?" he called, then turned off the shower and fished for a towel to rush to the door dripping wet. Jared's room was empty, Harry's mobile phone was lying at the floor, and the pizza guy made a sour face when Harry barely had enough money to pay the pizza, but not enough for a tip.
Harry put the pizza on the empty desk, then went back to the bathroom to finish his shower, unperturbed by Jared's absence. Jared probably just had gone out for a second, and surely would be back soon, Harry mused as he dried his hair. Of course, Jared didn't own a blow dryer, as Harry amusedly discovered, but his short hair would dry just nicely without that luxury this once.
He already felt better, though the thought of Darwin still made his chest hurt. Jared had promised to fix things, and Harry trusted the Alpha to actually be able to do just that. Reckoning Jared would be back soon he put on his clothes, wiped the shower walls dry and sat down at the desk to eat. He left half of the pizza for Jared at first, but when midnight came and went he finished off the last pieces and looked for his mobile phone.
The battery was empty, and to top off his streak of bad fortune Jared didn't have the same make of phone, making it impossible to recharge Harry's phone on the spot. Harry didn't want to leave the Alpha's room, he felt safe there, but at the same time he felt the urgent need to find out where Jared was, and why he wasn't back yet. With a sigh he grabbed the empty pizza carton, left Jared's dorm room and walked out of Statsby Hall.
Harry's room was on the other side of the campus, nearly a half-hour-walk from Statsby Hall, and at that time of night he was all alone. He wasn't afraid of darkness, but the day had already held too many surprises for Harry's taste, and his nerves lay blank. It was probably just fatigue that made him see things, but he couldn't shake the feeling he was followed, and when he saw a shadow move between the bushes of the small on-campus park, he decided that jogging home would be a prudent thing to do.
He reached his dorm room out of breath and sweaty, but safe and sound. Harry did look out of the window though, and when he saw another shadow move down at the street, he had to suppress a shiver of fear. Something was definitely wrong out there.
He checked the lock on his door, made sure the windows were all closed, and connected his cell phone to the charging cable.
Freaking out would be a bad thing, Harry knew that. But the minutes he had to wait for his phone to charge felt like hours, and every time he looked out the window his anxiety spiked even further. Goosebumps crawled all over his body, his breath was rapid and harsh and didn't seem to slow down anytime soon, and when he finally tried to turn on his phone his fingers shook heavily.
Harry felt a change coming, but he tried to suppress it as he dialed Jared's number. His whole body shook with fear and adrenaline as the dial tone sounded once, twice, three times, then the connection broke. Swearing heartily he tried it again, but with the same results. Wherever Jared was, he had no reception, and his voice mail must have been deactivated. Maybe whoever stalked around out there had also been after Jared? Maybe he was already gone, or dead, or hurt somewhere?
"Deep breaths, Harry, deep breaths, don't let it take you," he mumbled through numb lips, trying hard to control the urge to change shape. Shuddering heavily he threw the mobile phone onto his desk, took a few steps back, and rubbed his prickling arms. If he could just slow his breathing, only a little, he would be able to--
There was a wet, popping sound, and he felt the skin on his back break. Not even Harry's prayers could stop the shift to his wolf form now, and he blacked out.
~*~
When Harry opened his eyes again, he was greeted by the sharp tang of dog piss. He was laying on his dorm room floor, surrounded by ripped pieces of clothing, feathers from his damaged pillow and a chewed up shoe, signs of deep unhappiness his wolf had left for him. There was a smallish dog turd next to the scratched up door, wet spots at the table leg of his desk, and at some point during the night his wolf had slept on the bed, making it a dog's dinner, so to speak.
Groaning, Harry closed his eyes again and tried imagining himself into another realm, where people didn't lose their recollections of a whole night just because of a lousy anxiety attack. This kind of thing hadn't happened to him in a few years, and he'd thought he was over such child-like problems. Losing the wolf-memories or even disconnecting the human side from the wolf side in a change was common in teenagers, but stopped when a werewolf reached his adulthood. Which meant that Harry had just had a flash-back episode. Great.
He carefully peeled open his eyes again. His room was still messed up, and nothing had changed.
He collected himself off the floor with a curse, rubbed his pounding head, and took a look around. His books were untouched, his phone still lay on the desk where he'd put it the night before, and since nobody was pounding on his door he could safely assume that there hadn't been any reason for his neighbors to call animal control or the police.
Sending a short, thankful prayer to the powers that be he quickly cleaned up the feces, then scrubbed the desk leg and the floor beneath it with soap and water. Pushing the windows open he let in clean, fresh autumn air that blew around the scattered feathers while Harry collected the leftovers of his shoe and the pillow in a garbage bag. The dirty, messed up bed sheet and blanket covers would require a bit more work, so he just changed them and put them into a laundry basket.
Harry itched to call Jared, to find out if he was okay, but he knew he had to calm down first-- another involuntary change would just cost him a few more hours, and quite possibly a fine for damaging university property. The only way to avoid another attempt to call was for him to go out of his way with busying his hands, and to stay away from his phone. He decided to take his dirty clothes down to the laundry room and try reaching Jared after that.
It took him a total of two hours to get through all of his dirty clothes and the bedding, but when he finally carried his stuff back to his room he felt much calmer than before. All the calm vanished instantly when he heard the distinct ring tone of his mobile phone through his locked dorm room door, and had to drop all the clean laundry to scramble for the keys in his jeans pocket.
The fear of being too late nearly brought him to tears and made him think of the most horrible circumstances in which Jared and/or Darwin could be right now. He didn't even wait to close his door behind him, he just scrambled for his desk, ripped off the charger cable and answered the call breathlessly and in tears.
"Hello?"
"It's me, Jared. I found Darwin, but he's hurt," a moody voice huffed. Harry recognized him right away, but the words nearly made his heart stop. Darwin was hurt? The small bit of information was enough to make Harry's heart race and his vision blur, and it brought back the itching along his back.
"Where are you? Where is he? Can I talk to him?" Harry hissed, balling his free hand into a fist to keep his instincts in check. Jared wouldn't have called him if he didn't need Harry's help, and he wouldn't be able to help if he behaved like an uncontrolled freak again.
"No you can't. He's got healing fever, and it's getting worse, so I need you to do something for me. Are you listening?" Jared sounded so angry, but something told Harry that the anger wasn't meant for him. Whoever had hurt Darwin would pay if Jared ever got to them, that was for sure.
Harry had a pretty good inkling as to who was to blame, but it wasn't his place to tell-- not yet. "What do you need?" he said, although millions of other questions lay at the tip of his tongue.
"I need Ibuprofen, as concentrated as you can get it. Some clothes from my room, something for Darwin too. And some light food. Can you manage that?"
Harry instinctively tightened his grip on his phone, frozen with nightmarish visions about what could have happened to get Darwin hurt so bad he got healing fever, and only when he heard the hard plastic crunch did he snap out of his daze.
"Yes. Send me the coordinates. It'll take me an hour to get the stuff together, but I'll hurry." It wouldn't be too hard to get into Darwin's room, since the dorm master had seen them together dozens of times. Getting into Jared's room would need a bit more convincing, but Harry had a pretty good incentive to get it done. The Ibuprofen was the least of his worries.
Harry still wanted to know what had happened, but before he could ask anything, Jared ended the call with a curt "See you." He stared at his phone for long seconds, then he shook himself and rushed to get his laundry inside before taking off.
He never reached Darwin's room though.
Just as he came to the stair well leading down to the exit, something hard hit the back of his head, hard enough to kill a human, hard enough to send a werewolf to sleep, and he went down as the world around him blackened.
~*Jared*~
"Get out of my way!" Darwin screeched, shoving Jared who was blocking the cabin's doorway by simply extending his arms. If this went on like this any longer, blows would be exchanged, and seeing as how Darwin still was gravely injured, Jared had to decide what to do soon if he wanted to avoid hurting him further.
The news of Harry's disappearance had had a bigger impact than Jared had anticipated, but Jared hadn't calculated in the sheer stubbornness Darwin could develop. Things had gone from a barely contained kind of angry resolve to a yell-fest within minutes, and now Darwin seemed ready to punch Jared just to get past him. It gave Jared an idea.
Stepping out of the way he let Darwin hobble outside and into the cool fall sunshine, but followed him closely. Darwin still was very weak, his injuries occasionally bleeding, so Jared didn't have any trouble keeping up with the simmering submissive.
"Listen, Darwin," he began, and instantly had to dodge a flailing fist directed at his chest. Darwin didn't even stop walking, not caring if he had missed or not. But Jared didn't give up that easily. "Just listen, okay? You can keep walking if you want, but you won't stop me from talking!"
Darwin didn't respond for a few steps, then he stopped with a pained expression and turned around. "Fine. But whatever you say, I've already made up my mind." His voice was dripping acid again, and it made Jared uncertainly take an step back.
"You're hurt. Don't get me wrong, you being all heroic does have a certain sex appeal, but I'm not into dead bodies. If you go out there, you'll probably find Harry alright. And then he'll have to watch you die like a sickly, frail wuss who couldn't even put a scratch on his attackers." Jared took a deep breath and kept his eyes fixated on Darwin's face. The darkness in those icy-blue eyes nearly made him want to back down, but not only was he absolutely sure of his words, he also felt an intense fear he'd never felt for anyone else before, and it freaked him out.
"I don't want to force you to stay, but if I let you walk, you'll fall down and never get up somewhere out there. You'll never even make it to the main road, and Harry will never know what a loyal friend he has. And me? I'll have to watch you force yourself to walk, I'll have to watch you fall and stand up again until you can't, and I'll know if I tried to help you, you'd hate me for the rest of your life. Please, don't do that to Harry and me."
Darwin tried not to let through how much impact Jared's words had, but his gaze started wavering. He looked over his shoulder and down the dirt road as if waging his chances, and Jared kept quiet until their gazes met again. He felt silent panic tingling in his finger tips, not daring to make any move or say too much. Only when Darwin looked down at his shoes Jared resumed talking.
"I WANT you to save Harry. I want to help you save him, but I want us to succeed at it. This is as much my fault as whoever did this to you, and I'm ready to back you up in whatever crazy thing you want to do-- once you've recovered enough to be able to actually do it. We need a plan, and we need to get you better, but we can't do either of that if you stumble down that road right now in the state you're in."
Darwin stood there in silence for a good minute. Then he slowly raised his eyes, looked desolately at Jared and whispered: "What if they killed him?" His voice sounded broken, faint and so full of sorrow, it tugged painfully at Jared's heart.
It was hard to breathe through the shared pain, but finally Jared took a deep breath and murmured, "if they've killed him, you being there won't change that. But if they haven't killed him yet, they'll surely do it as soon as they've killed you. His best chance is you in a condition to fight and actually rescue him."
Suddenly Darwin seemed to crumble and started swaying. Jared was next to him in a split second, both arms extended to catch him if he did faint, but he didn't anticipate Darwin first leaning against him, then hugging him as the black haired hell-dog started to sob silently.
"I hate this! I hate being weak," Darwin sniffled against Jared's chest and eased his wounded arm out of the hug without letting go.
"I won't tell anyone, promise."
They stood like this for a good five minutes, then Darwin slowly let go, wiped his face with one sleeve, and hobbled back into the hunting cabin. Jared didn't like how much Darwin's posture resembled a broken man. He had won this battle, but the victory tasted somewhat bitter.
~*~
Twenty minutes later Darwin was sitting awkwardly on the cot, sipping hot cocoa as he watched Jared buzz through the shelves and cabinets in search for food. They had eaten the last of the canned peaches this morning, and Jared had yet to find the guts to open one of those unmarked, neutral cans sitting in the back of one shelf.
As nutrition and rest were the most important tools in Darwin's recovery, Jared had insisted on being in charge of housekeeping. Had he known how many little things one had to do to keep Darwin on the cot instead of taking over, he might have kept his mouth shut, but now it was too late.
"I want to know what you're planning," Darwin growled, clenching his mug. Jared could feel Darwin's eyes following his every move, and he could feel the inner unrest the submissive werewolf experienced, his frustration about not being able to do anything, and his growing anger at the world as a whole. This was not going to be a fun weekend, but Jared was willing to suffer the consequences of his actions.
He found a plastic box of crackers behind a few packs of sugar, pulled it out and threw it onto the cot. "There, eat," Jared sighed, then sunk onto the camping chair. He already dreaded their talk, though he had no idea why.
"I don't have a polished plan yet, because I don't know who we're up against. It's time you tell me what happened, and why, then we can talk about strategies to fix it," he growled, and pointed at the crackers. "Don't fiddle around with the label, eat."
Jared watched silently as Darwin ripped open the box, threw him a dark glance and started munching. He could hear Darwin's stomach growl in appreciation, but Darwin himself made a tortured face and put the box away after the third cracker.
"It's none of your business, okay? I know who has Harry, and where he is, so let's just work with that," Darwin muttered, picking at the cracker box label again. He wouldn't meet Jared's gaze, but the Alpha was having none of it anymore.
"You can't tell me you love me, and then say your life is none of my business."
That at least got Darwin's attention and made his eyes snap up to Jared's. "I never said that!" he hissed, sounding outraged and panicked at the same time. His fingers bore into the frayed label, ripping it in half without noticing what he was doing, and his eyes were wide.
Jared liked that face. Darwin looked decidedly guilty, and it showed Jared he'd hit a nerve there.
"Yes you did. Yesterday, when I tended to your wounds. You said 'I love you', and then you blacked out." Jared couldn't keep his voice from sounding triumphant, but at least he managed to keep his grin at bay.
A soft, rosy glow emerged on Darwin's cheeks as he looked back down on his lap again. "I was high on pain medication, you moron," he hissed, but his words didn't sound as hostile as usual. There was a moment of silence with Jared letting Darwin stew in his nervousness, and Darwin fighting the urge to fidget, then Darwin sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you. But it's a long story."
When Jared simply nodded, he swallowed and took a deep breath.
"I was about seven years old when I was bitten. I can't remember anything before that, and I don't even really remember how it happened. Everything I do know my adoptive father told me. He said he found me near the highway, behind an abandoned gas station, and that I was nearly dead. They didn't know what had attacked me until a month later, when I first changed." A small smile appeared on Darwin's lips.
"I nearly went crazy, but my adoptive parents did everything they possibly could. They stayed up day and night, taking shifts next to the cellar door where they had to lock me up when I was changed. They never got angry, never allowed me to blame myself when I had hurt somebody, and they never let anyone outside our pack get hurt by me. In return, I moved heaven and earth to become the best son they could ever wish for. I was class president, brought home A's on all the exams, helped at the community center in my spare time..."
His voice trailed off, then he scoffed sarcastically and inspected his palms. The bitter tone Jared had gotten used to was back in his voice when he continued. "But as soon as I changed, I was nothing but a beast, an animal. A mindless, scared, angry killing machine, and they had to lock me up for three days every single month, every time the moon was full. Nothing helped, no amount of love and training could stop the wolf in me from running wild. The Alpha, Carl, even suggested I should be humanely put down to spare my parents the grief, but my father never gave up on me. George, my father, always said that he had faith in me, faith in my ability to get control over my wolf, but I didn't really believe him. Didn't want to believe him, I guess."
"And then, one day, this kid showed up at high school. Shy, dark skin, dark eyes, dark hair, but he made me tingle all over, every time he looked at me. And he knew what he did to me, and he wasn't shy at all, at least not in private." Darwin hadn't looked up while he was talking, but now he grinned at Jared, winked, and then looked down again.
His happy face only vanished when he continued. "Nevil was gay, and when I finally admitted that I was gay too, we became an item, even though he didn't know how long he'd be staying in Banes. His parents moved a lot due to their jobs, but I didn't quite grasp the situation until it was too late. But besides that, I had just turned fifteen, and as you well know, that's an important time for a werewolf. They said I'd know instinctively 'what' I'd be, submissive or dominant, but I hadn't figured it out yet. I only knew that I liked it when Nevil took control, and I knew I was in deep shit when one day my Alpha, Carl, walked in on us. It was then, at that moment, when I saw his crazy eyes."
Again Darwin fell silent for a second, but his body went rigid. His shoulders were pulled up, his head went down, and his hands made fists so hard his knuckles turned white. Only his bitter voice remained unchanged.
"He didn't do anything, didn't say anything, he just gave me that... look, and walked out. Like I was the biggest disappointment he'd ever seen in his life, just because I was the small spoon in bed, instead of the big, hunky spoon. Looking back, I think what made it even worse for Carl was Nevil's lithe and small body. He wasn't an athlete dominating me with sheer power, he was just a tiny boy, and still I went crazy when he took me from behind."
It was the worst time to get a boner, and Jared tried to hide it as well as possible, but he didn't have to worry--Darwin didn't look up anymore, he just shrank into himself further and further.
"I guess he wrote me off as an submissive that day, but I didn't have time to think about it, because just three days later my mother died. It was a stupid thing, a brain aneurysm that killed her instantly, and even though it hit me harder than anything else in my life, my father was worse off. He wouldn't eat, slept all the time, didn't wash or even put on clothes, and I had to run the house for a month. There was no time to think about my outing in the pack, and Carl mourned my mother just as much as I did. But when my father didn't get better, something happened inside the pack. People started disappearing. A whole family left the pack over night and never came back. Rumors started to make rounds about missing or dead submissives from our pack, and even though the deaths were due to accidents, people knew that it just wasn't the whole truth.
Six months later someone broke into our house and attacked my grandmother, who had moved in with us to help my heartbroken father. They beat her up so badly, she drowned in her own blood. When my father found her he had a stroke, and suddenly I was all alone."
Another silence followed, but Jared's boner had long since deflated, and now tried to crawl inside his abdomen from sheer disgust. Whoever had done this to Darwin's family was the real monster, and deep inside Jared wished for a chance to--
"I think it was Carl all along. I think he killed all the other submissives, drove whole families away, and broke into my house to find and kill me. My grandmother was a liability, that's why she had to die. The only reason I can think of why he didn't finish me sooner is my father's stroke. My father is like a brother to Carl, and he must have realized how deeply he hurt him with what he did. As soon as I made that connection I outed myself as a dominant to the pack, and just as I had done as a kid in school I got really, really good at playing that role. Carl didn't fully believe me though, and he started to test me. He made a game of torturing and teasing me, but I met his every move. I was prepared, and I was perfect, because my life depended on it. He first thought he'd catch me red-handed when the moon was full, but my crazy wolf was very consistent with his rages, and behaved just like before. He was never one hundred percent sure if he was wrong or right about me."
Some part of Darwin seemed to realize how much he was cowering, because he instinctively straightened his back and rolled his shoulders until he sat bolt upright. Jared was grabbing the armrests of his camping chair so hard the cloth had started to rip, but neither of them heard it, they were so enraptured. One of them by telling the story, the other one by listening, and fighting a shape change due to rage.
Suddenly Darwin stared at Jared's face, but there was no rage or bitterness in his eyes, just a calm, collected, and coldly calculating glare. "And then you came here. A young, virile, gay Alpha werewolf, isn't that a coincidence?"
Before Jared could voice his protest, Darwin already talked on. "No, don't. Don't try to rationalize it, I know you didn't plan on anything like that, but it was bound to happen one day. You're not the only Alpha without a pack out there, and you're not the first one to come into our lands." He waved off the unspoken words with his left hand, then rubbed his face. "You're just the first one to attract my interest. I spent too much time with you for it to go unnoticed, and someone from the pack saw us. The irony is, he tried to kill me for treason, so he actually must have believed my act at some point. Only dominant pack members can have influence like that, submissives just follow the flow, you know? Or maybe he simply found it convenient to use our... acquaintance as an excuse to finally get rid of me. That's what he had his boy Trevor do when you saved me. And now, here we are. Carl's got Harry, and he'll do anything to finally get me."
~*Darwin*~
Telling his story had taken everything out of Darwin, and left him mentally drained and strangely giddy. It had felt so good to finally tell the whole truth to someone who actually could help, and not just listen and weep for him. Jared hadn't said anything yet, but the blond werewolf looked angry and fidgety. He probably wanted to storm off and punch Carl's face in, but he stayed put where he was, staring at Darwin with wide eyes.
Darwin took the ogling for a few seconds, then his nerves gave in and he started to giggle self-consciously. That broke the ice.
One moment they were both sitting three feet apart, the next moment Jared was on Darwin, gently pressed his back onto the cot, and sat on Darwin's crotch to pin him down. The sudden change of position left Darwin breathless and flushed with excitement, although he instantly tried to squash it down. He couldn't help either of it, be it the lustful reaction of his body to the presence of the stronger man, or his mind's utter disgust and anger with himself and this helplessness.
"What are you doing?" Darwin hissed, his own heart beating so hard he could taste his pulse on his tongue.
Jared's face was flushed, and his eyes darted from Darwin's face to his chest and back again. "Relax, I won't hurt you," he murmured, but his face looked uncertain and shocked by his own actions. "I just need to..." he stammered, then fell silent. Instead of fishing for words Jared leaned forward and sniffed Darwin's face, then his neck, slowly trailing downward. His hot breath gave Darwin goosebumps, and it tightened something in his abdomen that in turn made his cock jolt with sudden interest.
"You just need to--what?" Darwin whispered, and his own breath quickened. The way Jared scented his body made Darwin freeze and not even think about pulling away. He felt strangely frightened by the slow movement and the intensity on Jared's face, but at the same time it made him fiercely horny. With every passing second of Jared's inspection Darwin longed more and more to just rip his clothes off and devour him. To be devoured by Jared.
When Jared pressed his face against Darwin's belly and inhaled deeply, Darwin could feel his cock throb. A wet patch was forming in his underwear, making him even more nervous than before.
"I need to make sure you're alright," Jared murmured against his skin as his hands grabbed the hem of Darwin's pants. "The scent of other people on your skin drives me crazy. I can't decipher who they are, and knowing someone wants to kill you..." He let out a shaky breath that tingled over Darwin's skin, then pulled at the denim of Darwin's trousers until the cloth groaned.
The power of Jared's grip made Darwin's eyes roll back into his head, but he managed to stifle the moan scratching at the back of his throat. The nerves in his body tingled with anticipation for more, and only the pain from the injuries in his back stopped him from writhing under Jared's administrations. "Don't rip my clothes!" he gasped instead, wondering secretly why he didn't ask Jared to stop. The instinct to do so was there, somewhere beneath the sudden lust Jared had awoken in him, but the words just wouldn't come out.
"Then take them off. Either way, they have to go." Jared's voice was adamant, and not even the roughness of arousal managed to dilute the pure resolve. Darwin knew that tone of voice. It was just a notch below using full Alpha mode, and the only possible choices were to obey, or to lose his clothes to Jared's impatient hands.
Just as he decided to do what Jared wanted, he remembered the casts on his hands. Had Jared planned on him being unable to comply with his wishes? Was this some sort of trick?
Breathing heavily Darwin stared at Jared's face hovering above him. The athlete's eyes were glassy, the pupils huge, cheeks reddened and his forehead spotted with pearls of nervous sweat. Jared actually seemed afraid to let go of him, and that small realization massively appealed to Darwin.
His voice was rough and breathy when he whispered, "You'll have to help me. My hands..." and presented the casts to make his point. He could see Jared struggle to tear his eyes from Darwin's face, but when he finally did he blushed an even deeper pink.
"Oh. Right. Of course," Jared stuttered, and Darwin had to bite back another nervous giggle. He had never seen Jared so unsure and flustered before, and even though the Alpha was still there and active, Darwin didn't feel afraid or subdued by him. Well, at least not against his will.
However, the awkward moment was short-lived. As Darwin was fighting against his weird sense of humor, Jared simply took a deep breath, sat up, and grabbed the hem of Darwin's shirt, pulling it off his body with a smooth, quick movement. It still hurt a bit to be moved around like that, but when Darwin saw the glimmer of sheer lust in Jared's eyes roaming over his body, he didn't dare let it show.
Nobody had ever looked at his body with this much adoration and desire, not even his boy love Nevil.
The button of his trousers made a loud, popping noise as it was opened, and still Darwin didn't move, mesmerized by Jared's body hovering over him. He watched Jared's arms bulge and his muscles move as he pulled down the worn denim, carefully peeling Darwin's legs out of the pants.
Only when Darwin felt hot breath caressing his abdomen, he remembered that he didn't like being naked, and that it was time to freak and lash out.
"Jared, stop," he whispered breathlessly, and was promptly ignored. Fingers touched the hem of his boxer shorts and made him lift his casted hands to try and push Jared away, but to no avail. Jared did stop pulling at Darwin's underwear and grabbed his gypsum coated wrists to stop him from pushing at his shoulders, but at the same moment Darwin could feel hot breath against the soft skin of his lower belly, and a set of teeth grabbing the elastic waistband of his shorts. Darwin started struggling.
"Jared, no!"
"Yield to me." Jared's voice sounded rough and breathless against Darwin's skin, the elastic cloth in his mouth making him hard to understand. He wouldn't let go of Darwin's arms though, and when the dark haired submissive started to flail his legs, Jared simply shoved his shoulders between them and blocked the attempts to break free with his own body.
A tight knot of arousal was forming in Darwin's belly, tugging at his ball sac and his cock. The feeling of being trapped beneath Jared's muscular, athletic form made his dick twitch and dribble pre-cum, made his own muscles tremble with the need to give in, made his breath quicken. He wanted nothing more than to tilt his hips, press his straining erection against Jared's chin and let him pull off his underwear with his teeth, but his mouth still worked on auto pilot. "No," it said, and Darwin had to bite his lip to keep his mouth from spurting a whole string of swear words.
Luckily, this time Jared didn't listen to Darwin's traitorous mouth. Instead he took a deep whiff of Darwin's crotch, growled greedily, and snarled, "your lips say 'no', and 'don't', but your body still begs me to keep going. If you won't give in, it will. I'd rather have both body and mind." He moved his head back quickly, tugging Darwin's shorts just far enough down to make his proudly erect cock pop out of the black, soft denim. His gray-ish brown eyes were level with Darwin's wet, shimmering cock head, his lips close enough to his shaft to make him feel every labored breath Jared made, and a dirty, knowing smile pulled at Jared's mouth.
Darwin watched with scared, wide open eyes as Jared extended his tongue and licked a hot, wet path from the base of his cock to the tip. Darwin's answering, deep groan nearly drowned out Jared's growling voice.
"Yield to me. Now."
Even Darwin's neurotic need for control had its limits, and this time his mind couldn't compete with the clearly voiced demand in Jared's voice. His cock twitched and dribbled more clear pre-cum onto his stomach just from the deep, rumbling sound.
Darwin's head spun with the sudden bolt of ecstasy. For a second he stopped breathing, his whole body twitching from that one touch, unable to think, unable to talk. He felt Jared's grip tighten around the casts at his hands, reminding him that an answer was needed, and without thinking Darwin whispered, "yes."
Yes, he would yield to him, to his presence, his demands, his need.
Something clicked inside Darwin's mind, and a sudden wave of relaxation and sheer joy prickled through his body like an army of crawling ants. Every hair on his body stood to attention with the abrupt change of mood, making him shiver and close his eyes with a soft moan. Suddenly Jared didn't need to control Darwin's limbs anymore, but the Alpha still placed his arms above his head and gave a soft push, just to make his expectations clear.
"You're mine now. Don't move your hands until I tell you to."
The words sent another tug of electrifying lust through Darwin's body, but the glorious feeling was quickly replaced by the even more intense touch of a hot, wet tongue licking his cock head. His body jerked again involuntarily, but this time the dunning weight of the gypsum casts and the shooting pain in his back kept Darwin right where he was.
Lips closed around his cock, suckling on it, cleaning away the clear, salty pre-cum, and every tug of the hot, wet vacuum sent another wave of electric heat into his abdomen. The mouth slowly worked its way down, making room for a twirling, slithering tongue, and just when Darwin started to writhe and moan greedily, fingers touched his ball sac and started massaging the orbs beneath the skin.
Darwin wanted to burrow his fingers in Jared's hair, wanted to thrust into his willing mouth to show him how good it felt, but all he could do was to enjoy the touches and manipulations. When Jared started to suck in earnest, it felt like he was sucking the orgasm out of Darwin's body.
There was no time to warn Jared, no time to stop him before Darwin exploded, and when he came, he came with a loud shout, nearly bucking off the cot as strings of cum disappeared into Jareds swallowing throat.
The following pain in his back was drowned out by the sheer ecstasy of his climax, and when he finally came down from it he was drenched in sweat, breathless and dizzy with bliss.
The sound of a zipper made him slowly open his eyes. Jared was still kneeling between his thighs, opening his pants to take out his own hard, dripping cock, staring down at Darwin's happily exhausted body with a dark, needy look on his face.
For a second Darwin thought Jared would just take what was his, and ignore the injuries keeping Darwin on the cot. When Jared started tugging on his cock with one hand and kneading his scrotum with the other, he was relieved and strangely mesmerized by the sight. It took Jared just a few tugs, then he came with a rumbling groan, splattering sticky threads of cum over Darwin's belly before toppling over and nearly burying Darwin beneath his broad frame.
A few breathless seconds later Jared rolled off him with a purring moan, and just when Darwin started to feel cold and lonely, Jared snuggled against his side and put an arm across his chest.
With a hard thud of his heart Darwin realized he had been marked as Jared's property. That he had given in, yielded, accepted Jared's mastery over him. Things would never be as they had been before. And he wasn't alone anymore, maybe never again. A small, old part of him wanted to panic at the thought, to lash out and run, but another part, a new, happy part told him to just close his eyes and savor what he had.
~*Harry*~
When Harry awoke from the darkness his head hurt somewhat fierce. Though the attack had been too quick and brutal to react, he had already realized what had happened when he had gone down, but it proved to be a bit more difficult remembering it now that he had regained consciousness. Something hard had hit his head from behind, that much he knew, and he dreaded the pain promising to shoot up as soon as he would open his eyes.
He also felt that he was lying on the ground somewhere, and that the ground was rough and uneven, so maybe dirt or gravel. His hands were pulled behind his back in an awkward angle, his upper arms cramping from the position, but a soft tug showed him that he wouldn't be able to change that and relieve the pressure - they were bound together at the wrists.
Harry didn't need to open his eyes to know it was dark. He didn't feel any blindfold on his head, and the world right behind his closed eyelids was pitch black. It was also cool enough to let him shiver softly, but not cold enough to be torturous.
A cellar maybe, or a cave, he concluded.
The throbbing in his head eased a bit, but Harry didn't trust that improvement. If he tried to move or stand up, it would definitely come back and maybe make him black out again, or vomit his soul out, as concussions normally went. He did heal a lot faster than a mere human would, and he was more robust than most people thought, but that didn't make him impervious to harm.
Of course, the concussion would go away as soon as he changed to his wolf form, but the bonds on his arms prevented a change more effectively than anything else. And even if he were able to change, he'd be caged in his wolf form for at least four hours until he'd be able to change back. Definitely not a good idea.
It was too soon to feel panicked, and Harry was too dizzy to think clearly yet, but somehow all the old thriller movies came back to him in a rush. Shouldn't somebody barge through a door somewhere around here, and explain his (or her?) evil plan to him? And if that happened, how should he react? Be brave and take the role of the hero, or be frightened and threaten the evil genius with the soon to be expected appearance of the actual hero?
Harry's befuddled mind circled around those crazy thoughts for about ten minutes, then he decided that no such thing would happen. His head seemed to clear up, because he could feel threads of fear and nervousness creep into his conscious mind, but even when he reached full-blown panic nobody came. He screamed for help for a while, but other than making his head throb painfully it produced no reaction, except for the realization that, yes, he definitely was being kept in a cellar, and not a small one at that. He turned his head and extended his tongue to touch the floor and found big, old, worn down cobblestones beneath him, but the dust was minimal. It all pointed to a place in regular use, but as much as he wrecked his brain he couldn't think of any old, big cellars with cobblestones in or around Banes.
Had he been taken away to another town? He couldn't think of any reason for anyone to kidnap him outside of Banes, but within the city limits he instantly could think of someone: Carl.
Carl would definitely benefit from taking Harry a hostage if he wanted to get to Darwin, and that meant that Jared and Darwin had not been found or caught yet. Just as Harry started to feel joy over his brilliant perception, his heart skipped a beat with sudden fear.
His mobile phone.
Jared had sent him the coordinates of their hiding place, and they were readily available on his mobile phone!
Hot and cold sweat broke out on his body as he tried frantically to remember if he'd had his phone with him when he had been jumped, but drew a blank. He just couldn't remember, but a gnawing feeling in his gut told him that he probably had had it with him to spare him the nuisance of having to go back to his room once he had all the required items.
If his kidnappers had even one brain cell left in their heads, they would have checked his phone and found the information. It was a real possibility that they had, because otherwise they would have shown up by now, but Harry just couldn't be sure. And he didn't want to, because that would mean that he would be to blame if Darwin died now.
He was sucking in breath for another round of useless screaming, just to put his fear somewhere, when he heard faraway steps, and two voices arguing.
"I told you, it's broken. I can't un-break it just because the Alpha wants it so, no matter how much you fear him," an exasperated male voice said.
The other person was definitely a female, and her voice grated over Harry's frayed nerves like a wire brush over naked skin. "I don't care, okay? Find a way, it's your fault that it's broken in the first place. You could have caught him as he fell, you know?"
The faceless guy sighed. "Fine. I'll take it down to the electronics shop as soon as I'm done here, but I can't promise anything. Those things aren't built to last."
"Just get it done, Rayne," the female voice hissed imperiously, then one pair of steps withdrew, and another set of feet stopped. Keys clanked, then a lock groaned, and suddenly a stream of artificial light bathed the room and made Harry's head throb again.
He couldn't choke his pained groan, and it was enough of a signal for his visitor to turn on the cellar lights and close the door behind him. "Awake again, I see. I guess you heard the conversation then?" the pleasant, male voice said, but Harry kept his eyes shut and busied his mouth with swallowing bile. A shadow fell over his face, dimming the burning lights a bit, and after a few seconds he dared to slowly peel one eye open. The person leaning over him was nothing but a black outline, but Harry didn't think too much of it until that blackness opened his lips for a broad, friendly grin.
A black guy. A black werewolf to be correct, and a cheery one at that.
"I'm Rayne. Sorry I broke your phone," his captor introduced himself, but Harry just blinked stupefied. The whole situation was bizarre to say the least, and not at all what he had expected! Maybe it was just a ploy to throw him off-course, but if so, it definitely worked. Be as it may, Harry still wouldn't respond, trying frantically to make sense of the whole situation.
That gave Rayne just another incentive to talk again. "And you're Harry, the quiet one. Don't wanna talk to me, huh?"
At least that question gave Harry something to answer. "Let me go!" he tried to bark, but it just came out as a pathetic croak. He cleared his throat, trying to fix the dramatic display with an added "now!", but it didn't help.
When his eyes started to adapt to the light he began to see more details on the face hovering over him. Rayne wasn't old, mid-twenties at the most, and he had more Arabic than African features. His skin was a very dark chocolate brown, his hair shaved down to an inch, and strange enough, he wore a Walmart uniform.
Somehow the thought of having been kidnapped by a Walmart employee outraged Harry. Had he really been that easy a pick to kidnap? If Rayne had been a police officer or security guard or just an old fashioned thug Harry wouldn't have felt so bad about the whole situation, but a Walmart guy?
"Sorry, can't do that. Bosses' orders." Rayne got down into a crouch next to Harry and reached out with one hand like he wanted to touch him. At the last second he hesitated though, and tried to hide it with a smirk. "If I ask you if you know where Darwin is, you're not gonna tell me, am I right?" he said, still hiding behind that sassy grin, but his eyes gave him away. They were dark, unwavering and calculating.
He hadn't asked where Darwin was, Harry realized, he'd just asked if Harry would tell him if he knew or not. It was a game of words that swamped Harry's pounding head enough to actually make him nod, though he didn't know if he'd said yes, he'd tell him or no, he wouldn't tell him.
Rayne was silent for a few moments, then shrugged and got up. "I'll give you two hours to think about it, then I'll come back and ask again. And if you still don't want to cooperate then, you'll meet Carl, I guess. He has a way with people, they just start to talk around him."
Harry blanched at that. From what he'd heard about Carl, people definitely started talking quickly when he got involved, and even that wouldn't stop him from torturing them until he was satisfied. It meant that he had gotten two hours of prolonged life before shit really hit the fan.
Rayne turned around and started walking. "I see you get my drift. Think about it, it would be a shame to lose a sweet little face like yours because of a traitor," he advised, then left the cellar.
As his steps retreated, Harry fought against a confused blush. Had that guy just called him sweet?
~*Jared*~
Waking up felt like he was still dreaming. There was a warm, pliant body cuddled against his chest, snoring softly and smelling like heaven. Jared felt sticky where his cum had dried and formed a crispy shell and the room smelled of sex and musk, but he wouldn't have changed anything for the world.
Darwin's fever had dropped significantly, but he was deep asleep and didn't wake up when Jared carefully extricated himself from his arms to get up. The air inside the cabin was cold and stale, so Jared first fired up the small stove, then opened the windows to let in fresh air.
The sun was just rising, sending the first golden-red tendons of light across the fields and small patches of forest, promising a few more days of warmth before winter would finally head in. It was a most beautiful morning, and Jared didn't care how tacky and romantic he behaved. Not today of all days. Just when he started to turn around, something roused his attention.
Had Jared not been standing there and staring downhill, he wouldn't have noticed the movements in the underbrush about two hundred yards away, and for a moment he thought he saw a deer or a fox. But his heart was suddenly pounding enough to make him dizzy, warning him about something his instinct had instantly recognized.
He didn't wait for confirmation. If he was wrong he'd be able to laugh about it later, but if he was right, they'd be dead if he didn't move fast.
Grabbing his hoodie he ran for the cot, shook Darwin awake and put a hand on his mouth to keep him from protesting. "We have to go. Now. Quickly," he whispered, watching Darwin until his eyes got wide and Jared was sure his mate understood.
His mate.
Just seconds ago he had been the happiest man on earth, and still fate tried to ruin his life.
Letting go of Darwin Jared grabbed the cracker box, stuffed a few hands full into the pockets of his hoodie and threw Darwin's clothes onto the bed before rushing back to the window and watching intently.
Somebody was definitely out there, but nobody was running across the fields yet, so they probably hadn't seen Jared. The sun rose behind the cabin, blinding their assailants, so Jared decided to leave the cabin through the back window.
Darwin appeared next to him to look out of the window too, but he didn't ask anything when he saw the shadows between the trees. He just looked up at Jared patiently, leaving the decision-making to him. Jared would have to talk to Darwin about this atypical behavior later. If there'd be a later, if they survived this... With a low growl Jared shook himself, grabbed Darwin's arm and headed for the back of the cabin.
"When you get outside, don't just run straight ahead. They're coming from the east, so we'll go northwest, then west, then south and straight back to the road," he whispered, then shoved Darwin through the small window above the cot. He followed just as the first three werewolves broke into a run uphill.
Then they ran too.
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