"How can you be so calm about this?" Dale’s gaze shifted from the window, where he stood—staring at Juke’s house. He’d been standing there ever since Juke and Paul left to pack.
"How come you’re not?" Kirk asked, from the doorway as he made his way further into the living room.
"This is all new to me and you know it." Dale turned around, rested his back against the cold glass, and folded his arms.
Kirk strolled over to him, and stroked his arm just under the shoulder. "Didn't lover boy float your boat last night?" He tilted his head and grinned at Dale.
Dale pushed off the window, and stood straight, his hands falling to his side. "That’s neither here nor there. This is huge, they’re planning to take us to live with them in Greenland." Why couldn’t he get Kirk to understand, he was desperate and afraid? He didn’t belong in Kirk’s world where he took risks all the time.
Before the other night, he’d been innocent and played the dutiful son—to almost fanatical religious parents. He did what he was told without questioning the reason, and life was easy. Now he was about to be whisked away overseas, to a foreign land. Where he knew nothing and no one. Yet Kirk couldn’t see anything wrong in that.
"So what? You have a passport don't you?" Kirk’s voice tore into his musing.
"You know I do." Dale threw himself onto the sofa, and dipped his head in his hands.
Kirk sat beside him. "Yes I do, and I also know it's up to date, so there’s no excuses for us not to go."
He didn’t need an excuse. He didn’t want to go and that was that. "I don't understand you." Dale leaned his head to the side and scanned Kirk’s face.
Kirk huffed and pursed his lips. "Feeling’s mutual. You have a hot guy who’s willing to marry you even though—I’m only guessing, you’re his first man on man experience, and you're hesitating. I wish I was his mate. I wouldn't think twice." Kirk threw his hair back, folded his arms and then shook his head at Dale.
"Well, I'm not you, and I do have to think twice." Dale stood and strolled back to the window. Maybe if he got another look at Juke, he’d feel better about making a decision. Kirk had followed him, his breath hot on Dale’s neck.
"Why do you?"
Dale looked back over his shoulder. "I just do, one of us has to be sensible in all this."
"And you can't wait to earn the right to be the self-righteous one. You’re just as stupid and judgmental as your parents." Kirk moved away, putting some distance between them, as Dale swung around at him.
"I know it's your penis talking, so I'm going to let that one go, but don't push it Kirk." He gritted his teeth and glared at his friend.
Kirk’s head danced from side to side. "I will push, you're an asshole, and I don't give a fuck what you do. I'm going to pack." Kirk spun on his heels and marched out of the room, leaving Dale to figure out his choices by himself.
Kirk's bedroom door slammed, and made Dale jump. He guessed on some level Kirk was right. It wasn’t as though he didn't find Juke attractive. Also it didn't hurt that he was branded with Juke's mark for everyone to see. The icing on the cake was if what Juke had shown him was true, then being with his own kind was far safer than roaming the streets here, and attacking innocent people, infecting them with his werewolf disease.
Wait a minute—didn't Juke say only an alpha could change people to wolves? His venom would just kill them... Shit.
What choice did he have? Go to Greenland with the hot guys, or stay here in the States and become a mass murderer, not by choice—through instinct.
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Kirk made a valid point. There was no real choice in this, he had to go, whether he wanted to or not. Juke had claimed him and if he ordered him to go with them—he'd have a hard time trying to refuse his request. Did he even want to refuse?
He was just being stubborn, and without good reason.
What’s the worst that could happen?
I’d get a free skiing holiday out of it, he thought. Or, be eaten by a pack of hungry werewolves capable of tearing him and Kirk apart, limb by limb.
Why did his mind have to go there and get him all nervous again?
He strolled from the living room and into his bedroom. Juke and Paul would be back soon to take them to the airport.
He’d pack up and go. If he didn't change into a werewolf when the moon was full, he’d make damn sure he and Kirk were on the next plane back home.
His mind made up, Dale scanned his closet for clothes. He’d nothing appropriate to withstand the weather conditions in Greenland. He wasn't going to ask Kirk for a loan of his clothes. Even if Kirk did have a closet full of clothes for any occasion. More to the point, Kirk refurbished a room, and turned it into a walk in closet dedicated to his mountain of clothes.
Dale shook his head. He pulled out jeans, underwear and socks. He had no warm tops or jackets to add to the pile. He couldn’t wear anything of Juke's. Juke’s clothes would swamp him.
He swallowed his pride, and went to Kirk's room and knocked on the door.
"Come in, you ignoramus. I've been waiting for you." Kirk sat, legs crossed on a leather wingback chair in his room, his arms folded in front of him, staring at Dale in the doorway.
Dale narrowed his brow. "What do you mean you were waiting for me? I told you I wasn’t going."
"I knew you'd change your mind, and then discover you have no clothes to wear. You're never prepared for anything. And you change your mind more often then you change your underwear." He uncrossed his legs and arms slowly for dramatic effect, and set his hand on the arms of the chair and pushed himself into a standing position. Walked over to a suitcase and wheeled it over to Dale. "I've packed you a bag. I'm slimmer on the hips and legs than you, so you have to pack your own pants. You'd never get mine past your thighs."
Dale moved further into the room and took the bag. He turned to leave then stopped and swung back around. "Do you believe I'm going to turn into a werewolf?"
"Yes," was Kirk’s one word answer. Kirk picked up another suitcase identical to the one he gave Dale, just a little bigger. He threw it onto the bed, his back to Dale, and unzipped it.
"Why...Why do you believe it?" Dale asked, and sauntered over to Kirk, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Because Paul can be quite persuasive."
Dale’s hand fell away, and he stepped back. "We heard him being all persuasive with you."
"I'm not talking about sex." Kirk didn't turn to face Dale. "He showed me."
"We all know what he showed you. I think even the neighbors know what you saw." Dale chuckled.
"Shut up...is sex all you think about?" Kirk turned and faced him. Expecting to see anger in his eyes, Dale was shocked by the fear and concern he saw there instead.
"What is it Kirk? What did he show you?" Dale moved closer to his friend and rested both his hands on Kirk's shoulders. "What did you see?" Dale asked again, a little more forceful.
"He changed right in front of me...it freaked me the fuck out at first, he looked menacing. I thought I was going to shit myself. Then he came over to me in his wolf form, and licked my hand and face like a tamed puppy. I didn't feel afraid any more. But when he changed back, he said if you don't go with them, you won't be as tamed as he was. You’d be like some kind of rabid dog. That's how I know, and that's why you have to go with them, and that's why I'm coming with you." Kirk pulled free and wiped the tears that were running down his cheeks.
"Why didn't you tell me that this morning, after they’d left?" Dale licked his lips, and raked his hand through his hair.
"Paul said I shouldn't say anything. If Juke found out he showed me his wolf, he’d have hell to pay. But you need to go with them, whatever it was Juke showed you with his mind fuck—is true and it will happen if we don't leave." Kirk’s tears started up again. "I love you Dale, I don't want to see anything bad happen to you. You'll die if you stay here and your wolf is not trained. Some redneck will hunt you down and shoot the fuck out of you."
Stunned Dale didn't know what to say. He nodded his head. "Okay, I can be ready in like a few minutes." He took the bag Kirk gave him and left to finish his packing.