Chapter One

mid-October

 

“What fucked up weather is this?” Gale frowned, extending a hand past the shelter of the front door. The raindrops hit like tiny ice needles.

Drew handed him an umbrella. “Rain.”

It didn’t look like any rain Gale had ever experienced. This was his first trip to Dnara and he didn’t like what he’d seen so far or how it made him feel.

Rolling his eyes, Drew opened the umbrella and walked out in a three-layered top, tight jeans, and ankle boots to stand under the contraption.

Gale adjusted the weird coat that crinkled with every movement. “I’ll wear the damned coat but I’m not using an umbrella.” He stepped outside to the side of the front door onto the path extending in a slope on the left.

Jude didn’t look any happier as he emerged in his jacket and pulled up the hood. Behind, Isaac hugged his stomach and slipped under Drew’s umbrella.

Janet walked out in little more than a tank top and tight jeans. “This isn’t rain,” she complained with a sniff. “It’s a good piss.”

Jude snorted, following Drew along the path from the fraternity house, wide enough for two to walk side by side, the surrounding ground a mushy swamp where the grass gave way to mud.

Gale hated the poor way Dnarans cared for the earth, the weather, and the multitude of devices they couldn’t live without, like the mobile gadgets that controlled every detail of their lives. Give him an armchair by the fire, a warm bed and solitude during the rain seasons, freedom to walk outside on the first day of sunlight to a refreshed land, and good company over a home-brewed beer.

When Keon had asked for volunteers to travel to Dnara and recover those Vihaans exiled from their packs, Gale thought it would be easy. He didn’t expect it to take weeks.

Eliseo had done his best to prepare them, letting the fraternity brothers handle the electronic tasks, leaving them to do the leg work. But Gale missed home, the simplicity and ease of the pack, of knowing every member, their history, and their story, as well as he knew his own. Here, everyone was a stranger. The fraternity brothers acted, behaved, and functioned as a pack, but they weren’t m’weko.

They weren’t home.

Gale nudged Jude and raised an eyebrow at his new roommate. “You got a smoke?”

Patting the jacket pockets, Jude pulled out a packet and handed over two long rolls of Vihaan fottai, a special herbal mixture.

“Fuck!” Gale grabbed him by the neck to kiss his temple. “You’re my new favourite person.”

Jude shook his head in exasperation and tucked the packet into his jacket, making sure to zip the pocket. Extracting a lighter from his jeans, he lit Gale’s smoke then took the other and inhaled deeply.

He closed his eyes at the mix of herbs, the sense of home. The smell was unequivocally Vihaan. The pine of the trees from E’Boolou’s largest forest, the shaved wood of working with timber, the juniper of his favourite beer, a salty aroma from cooked rosson over a spit. Home.

He sighed in approval. “I owe you.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Jude cautioned, eyes glazed with the same reminiscence.

Gale didn’t argue. For this, no price was too high. There was nothing like having a piece of home when he was far from it. He’d take what he could get in case he was unlucky enough not to make it back. At least he still had Jude, his roommate, the guy he’d spent countless missions with. The man he’d spent weeks alone with, in a tiny boundary hut, taking their turn to protect the pack borders. The kinship and family bond bred by serving together, in isolation, didn’t compare to what he felt now.

There was nothing brotherly about what shot through his head every time he felt Jude’s eyes on him. Gale had never known a connection like this.

Janet and Marlan were home too but in a different way. A way that didn’t leave his nerves buzzing and heart thumping.

Whatever Dnara had done started something he had no idea how to finish.

“Here we are,” Drew called, distracting his attention from the fottai between his lips.

“What is this?” Janet asked, disgust dripping from every word.

Their guide frowned at the window that showcased a mass of humans standing at various counters. “A bar,” Drew replied in confusion. “You know, a place to drink? With friends.” He glanced between them for a sign of recognition.

Eyeing the building, Gale took another puff. “Why do you need a building to meet friends for a drink?” He didn’t understand Dnara. The rules, the insistence of creating special events or places or inventions when nature already provided what they needed. If they didn’t want to get wet, they should stay out of the rain. If they wanted to meet for a beer, what was wrong with their homes or the forest?

Laughing, Drew opened the door and stood within its shelter to lower the umbrella. “I’ll explain later. The guy is, according to his Facebook page, a bartender. He lives in the city, so this is the best time and place to find him,” he reasoned though half those words didn’t make sense to Gale.

He’d learned what those white signs with red lines meant though. It’s place on the bar door made Gale plant his feet. “No.” He smiled when Drew frowned and took another drag. “I’m not stomping out a fottai because there’s a sign on a fucking door. You can’t get fottai outside of Vihaan.” He held out the smoke for Drew to see.

Drew spoke under his breath. “God help me.” When he looked Gale in the eye, he nodded. “Fine. You stay with Jude to enjoy your smoke. Janet and Isaac will come with me to help this non-Vihaan recognise a native Vihaan.” He held the door open for the others. “I wish I could say I had a better way to spend my time, but this is for Keon,” he mumbled as he stepped inside.

Gale unzipped his jacket and glared at the canopy keeping them dry.

“Interesting,” Jude remarked after the door shut. Gale leaned against the brick of the building, and Jude joined him, their shoulders touching. “I know everything works differently here―” He took a drag as he stretched his feet and crossed his ankles. “―but do you think Drew and Keon had a relationship?”

“Nah. I have a feeling they play on the same side of the table.”

“What?” The spark of his smoke lit Jude’s amused hazel eyes.

“Isn’t that how it works with two guys?” he asked though he wasn’t sure. He hadn’t given it much thought until Jude’s gaze lingered when he was fresh out of the shower or getting changed. “One gives and the other takes? All indications are Keon and Drew are firmly on the ‘take-it’ table.” He couldn’t help wondering what side Jude played for.

He was like Rylee: big, masculine, a typical kalou warrior. Jude had never been careless enough to give away his preference in Vihaan, but Gale understood how he might be more comfortable with the gay men of this world. They weren’t the stereotypical figures that Vihaan culture portrayed them as.

Gale knew the truth of gay men was more complicated than Vihaan liked to acknowledge, because his brother had been gay his whole life. Yosi was far from frail or delicate, and he wasn’t one of those flashy boys from another fraternity that Jude had shown an interest in.

Was that what Jude liked?

“How would you know?” Jude laughed, gazing at the constant activity of the street, despite the late hour and bad weather.

“I’m a certified giver.” Gale winked, making it clear. He may not know what was happening with Jude, but he knew his strengths and limits.

“Sure you are, stud.” Light, smoky laughter filled the space between them as Jude leaned more heavily against Gale. His left hand held his cigarette but the other hung by his side, thumb tucked into a jeans pocket.

The longer they stood smoking and leaning, the more the hand drifted. Gale acted like he didn’t notice, but it was impossible not to: the graze of a finger against his clothed thigh, deliberate and cautious. When Gale didn’t react, the lone finger shifted and caught his hand, a feather-light touch across his knuckles.

Gale was tempted to push Jude, to discover how far he’d go. He took a drag and bit his thumbnail, tilting his head to catch Jude’s gaze, dark-pepper hair slipping across his eyes. Those hazel eyes dilated with lust, zeroing in when Gale darted his tongue to lick the bow of his top lip. He craned his head back against the building, exposing his throat in a clear m’weko challenge. Instead of ‘fight me’, this was a blatant ‘fuck me’. Once he’d taken another drag, he dug fingers deep into his pocket, tugging his jeans low enough to reveal a hint of hair, advertising the lack of underwear. The message couldn’t have been clearer: I’m horny; come get me.

In the chaos of Dnara, Jude swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing as the world whittled to the two. Gale canted his hips and casually brushed his free hand across his stomach. Jude took a drag and gave his cock a sharp tug, adjusting it inside his jeans. Adjusting, sure. Gale could see Jude was a grower, pushing against the denim. He upped the ante, trailing a hand inside his open jacket, under his T-shirt and over bare skin. The way Jude stared with intensity left no doubt he was interested but how interested? Gale pushed his hand under the tee, the fabric sliding over his forearm, exposing everything, then idly squeezed his pec and rubbed a thumb over the nipple.

“Fuck, I’m hungry,” he complained, canting his hips a second time.

Jude caught his eye, lips parting with the onset of words.

The door burst open and Jude flinched, pushing from the wall. His posture screamed guilt and shame as he tossed his cigarette to the ground and stomped it out. When Drew emerged, Jude feigned a smile. “Any luck?”

“He’s the wrong guy.” Drew didn’t blink when Janet stormed off, apparently at the end of her rope with this mission. He opened his umbrella and smiled when Isaac nudged under its cover. “You two okay?”

Gale dropped his hand and took another drag. “Sure.” He glanced at Jude, who avoided eye contact. “How many with the same name?” How long would this fruitless search continue? They’d found most of the names on their list, bar eight who had names too common to single out from the herd.

“Twenty-five.” Drew glanced at the rain and stepped out under the cover of his umbrella. “We’ll consider this one of the few who’ll need to come to us. Onto the next!”

His feigned enthusiasm was cute, except Gale was bored and horny.

He cast a glance at Jude and took a deep drag, already plotting his next move.