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Stone had wanted to take Loren back to their cots and pick up where they’d left off on the boat, but then he decided that he needed to date Loren. Court him. He couldn’t take him to a fancy restaurant out here, but then again, he didn’t need to. He could ply him with his cooking, fantastic beer, and the wonders of the great outdoors.
Stargazing felt like the exact right place to start.
While holding him against his body, Stone nuzzled the top of Loren’s head, breathing in his scent.
“I must smell like the river.”
“A bit. You still smell like Aventus.” Stone would never be able to smell that cologne without thinking of Loren. That thought made him tighten his hold.
“You smell like the wild.”
“The wild?” Stone echoed.
“Yeah. Like the river and the wind and sage.” Loren drew a deep breath and sighed. “You smell like outside, but you feel like...home.”
Home.
The one word just about knocked Stone off the rock and on his ass. He hadn’t felt at home until he’d met Jon. Even then, he hadn’t felt it the way he did now. Could that be what flowed between the two of them? That destiny and danger thing was really a sense of homecoming? It would explain the danger part, at least for Stone. Home had once been a place of trauma. But not with Jon, and certainly not with Loren.
“You smell a bit like the city, but you’re getting more wild on you.” Stone kissed the top of Loren’s head. “And you feel like heaven.”
“You just like my tight little butt against your big hard cock.”
“Well, yeah, but there’s more than that.” Stone had a semi, but he wasn’t humping against Loren. He didn’t feel the need for that right now. He wanted slow seduction, not vulgar banging. “You just feel good. You fit perfectly against me. I swear, I could hold you like this all night.”
“I think I could let you.” Loren yawned.
“Sleepy?”
“It’s all that amazing food and that great beer.”
“That’s my magic.”
“Food and beer?”
“Yep. A few more meals, and you’ll be mine.”
“So you’re like the fey?”
“The who?” Stone asked.
“I think that’s how fairies enchant human beings. They feed them.”
“Ah.” Stone wondered how wolf-shifters enchanted humans. Well, he knew one way, but he didn’t want to do that with Loren. Why settle for a one-night stand when he could have a forever-after mate?
“Why did you wear that shirt today?”
“My Power Top shirt?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know. I just...did.” But Stone did know. And he knew where Loren was going with his questions. He almost tried to cut him off, but then he decided they should have this conversation now instead of later.
“You hookup with guys on river trips.” Loren didn’t accuse him, exactly, but it was a rather pointed statement.
“I have.”
“Is that...” Loren trailed off then gathered the courage to ask, “Is that all I am to you?”
“No.” Stone didn’t hesitate.
“Okay.”
Stone wanted to say more but didn’t want to push Loren a direction he might not want to go. He felt a simmering urge to claim Loren as his mate, but didn’t know what was going on between Jon and Channing. Messing up their mating by doing something with Loren... Stone just couldn’t take that risk.
“You’re not to me either. A hookup, I mean. I don’t do that.” Loren’s whole body tightened. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’m not trying to put you or anyone down, just that I don’t do that. Or I never have.” Loren uttered a strangled sigh. “Criminy.”
“Relax.” Stone stroked his hands over Loren’s arms then wrapped them over his chest. “I’m not offended.”
“Good.” Loren relaxed then chuckled, vibrating his sweet ass against Stone’s cock. “I’ve never done anything like what I did today, being all sexy and come-hither.”
“Come-hither?”
“Or whatever you call it. I think I got that word from an old movie.”
“You like old movies?”
“Oh, yeah. Especially the old black and white ones. All moody and dark.”
“Film noir.”
“Yeah.” Loren nodded. “The Maltese Falcon.”
“The Public Enemy.”
“I also like pulp fiction.” Loren lifted his head to look at Stone. “The books, not the film.”
“Me too.” Stone kissed his head. “How did you ever get into film noir and pulp fiction?”
“My aunt. She had a whole bunch of old movies on VHS and stacks of pulp magazines in her garage.” Loren gasped as a shooting star went by. “I remember being fascinated by the covers.”
“Pretty tawdry.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Did you want to save the damsel in distress?” Stone asked.
“I think I more wanted to be the damsel in distress. Not literally but, well, having a big strong man rush in to save me seemed like...well, not that I’m...”
“That’s not what happened between us.”
“Kinda is.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s bad.”
“Sounds a little bad. Like I’m some sad sack who can’t take care of himself.”
“Really?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Let me put it to you this way.” Stone wanted things between them to be clear. “If you really couldn’t take care of yourself, then why is it that dipshit moved in with you instead of the other way around?”
“Okay. I stand corrected.” Loren chuckled. “Or I lie corrected.” He wiggled gently against Stone. “You’re good at this.”
“At what?”
“At therapy.” Loren’s breath hitched. “Wait a minute. You haven’t always been an adventurer, have you?”
“I might have dabbled in psychology.”
“Why didn’t you go into that field?”
“I was going to, and then Jon took me on a trip down this here very part of the Colorado River, and I found my destiny.” Stone sighed. “I never looked back.”
“Wow.”
“What?”
“It always fascinates me how one little thing can change your whole life around.”
“You just never know.” Stone’s life had taken so many big twists and turns he’d just gotten used to it. Maybe that was why he wasn’t fighting what seemed to be happening between him and Loren. He’d enjoyed his time bedding sexy humans, but now he felt ready for the next big change. A mate. A forever-after partner. Someone to spend his life with and, hopefully, share the most important parts of himself with. His packmates understood his beastly side, but he wanted a man who not only understood but loved him despite that part of him.
Usually, when night fell and the humans on the trip crawled into their beds, he and some of the others left the camp behind to shift into their true forms and explore the canyon. Stone felt the urge ripple along his skin but tempered the longing with the joy of simply holding Loren close. He could shift almost any time. Right now, he wanted to imprint himself on his future mate.
Another shooting star streaked across the sky.
“Did you see that?” Stone asked. When Loren didn’t answer, Stone rose a little and realized Loren had fallen asleep. He smiled so wide someone could have probably seen his teeth from space.
Gently, Stone wrapped his arms around Loren, giving him as much warmth as he could. He stayed there on the rock, holding him, gazing at the sky until the night grew too cold and Loren started to shiver.
“I’ve got you.” Stone rose, keeping Loren close. He cradled him in his arms then carried him to where they’d set up their cots earlier. Starlight washed the beach with clear blue-white light, giving everything a magical glow, especially the light blond streaks in Loren’s hair.
When Stone placed him on his cot, Loren stirred. “I fell asleep?”
“Yeah.” Stone smiled again, just as widely as he had before.
“Why are you so happy about that?”
“Are you kidding?” Stone tucked him in and pulled the sleeping bag up around his shoulders. “That you trust me enough to fall asleep against me says more than words ever could.”
“I do trust you.” Loren cupped his chin.
“I won’t ever let you down.” Stone kissed the palm of Loren’s hand then tucked his arm in too. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“At least one kiss. One little goodnight kiss.”
Stone worried he’d be unable to control himself, but he couldn’t say no, not when the starlight highlighted the freckles across the bridge of Loren’s nose. “You have no idea how incredible you look right now.”
“Me? You should see you.” Loren reached out and stroked over Stone’s beard. “You have all these silver strands in your beard and on your head.”
“So do you. Well, not the beard.”
“I couldn’t grow a beard if my life depended on it.”
“That’s okay. I can grow one big enough for both of us.”
Loren laughed then urged Stone closer.
Stone leaned over him but hesitated again. Only, this time, he wasn’t sure why.
“Kiss me. Please. I won’t be able to sleep unless you do.”
Stone closed his eyes, lowered his head, and pressed his lips against Loren’s mouth. He groaned. Nothing in the world had ever felt as good as kissing this man. Just as he thought he should pull away, Loren whimpered. The sound called out to the primitive part of Stone, sparking a ravenous hunger. Knowing he should pull away didn’t stop him from cupping the back of Loren’s head and deepening the kiss.
Loren lifted his arms, wrapping them around Stone’s shoulders, pulling him closer, silently demanding more.
Again, Stone tried to end the kiss and move back, but Loren parted his lips and slid his tongue inside Stone’s mouth. The act flipped a switch, turning Stone from gentle lover to hungry beast. He crushed Loren against him, took control of his mouth, and kissed him so violently he caused the cut on his upper lip to bleed.
When the blood touched his tongue, Stone yanked back.
In an instant, he turned from man to beast.
With his wolf eyes, Loren seemed gilded in silver by the starlight, but it was his nose that drew him closer to the sweet human. Stone wanted to get to the source of that compelling scent. Stone wanted to bury his nose against Loren, breathe him in, and never, ever let him go.
“Oh my God!” Loren gasped then struggled backward. Tangled in his sleeping bag, he fought to get free but in his panic, he managed to tip the cot sideways.
Horrified that he’d hurt Loren by kissing him so hard, and then shifting into his true form because of the taste of his blood, Stone ran toward the side of the canyon. When he reached the wall, he moved along the narrow path there, dodging through the rocks, brush, and pointed cacti.
“You decided to come after all,” Hodge said directly into Stone’s mind.
“Yeah.” Stone just left it at that.
“I’m surprised he managed to leave that little cutie.” Hennessey smiled with his big wolf face, looking both sinister and slightly deranged.
“He probably had to so the boy could recover.”
Stone didn’t know who said it, but he didn’t care. He wanted to tell them Loren wasn’t a boy and he hadn’t done anything with him other than romance him, but he thought it better to keep that to himself. Let his packmates think Loren was just another hookup. It didn’t matter what they thought. Besides, right now, Loren might be safer if they didn’t realize exactly how important he was to Stone, not when they didn’t know what might be going on between Jon and Channing. The whole issue of mates and mating was so new none of them could be counted on to keep a clear head.
“Now that he’s done, maybe we can spit roast him,” someone suggested. “You know, like we did with that one guy on that trip in March? By the gods, that human couldn’t get enough cock.”
Stone saw red.
Instead of saying anything, Stone pushed past his packmates until he gained the head of the line moving up the trail. He needed to get away from them, away from the voices in his head, away from the taste of blood on his tongue. More than at any other time in his life, Stone needed to find solitude or he’d go crazy.
Behind him, his packmates muttered about his moodiness, but they stopped talking at him. Distance allowed Stone to cut himself off from their mental communication completely. When he reached the top of the canyon wall, panting raggedly, he settled on his big furry butt and watched as the moon, a few days shy from full, rose over the Grand Canyon.
He’d spent years hating himself for what he was, but then he’d found Jon, who not only helped him but convinced him he deserved happiness. The very idea had been so foreign to him Stone would have left if he’d had the strength. Luckily, he hadn’t. Stone had been forced to stay with Jon and suffer his kindness, his generosity, and his own clumsy brand of psychotherapy. In the end, Stone emerged stronger, more secure, and more driven than he’d ever been in his life.
If not for Jon, Stone wouldn’t be where he was now. To think he’d ruined everything with one kiss would certainly haunt him for the rest of his life. Worse, Loren had been terrified when he’d seen Stone’s wolf form. Undoubtedly, Loren would say something about what he’d seen. Nothing in the world would make him stay silent. When they got back to civilization, they’d have to sell the house. They’d have to change their names, start over, and it was all his fault.
Stone lifted his head and howled his frustration.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Jon’s voice bellowed into Stone’s head. As the pack leader, he was the only one who could override a block and communicate with any packmember no matter the distance. “There aren’t supposed to be any wolves here!”
“Sorry.” Stone threw himself down on the sandstone ledge, peering at the river. From high above, it looked like molten silver. He almost told Jon what had happened, but decided to let him have one decent night’s sleep. Soon enough, they’d have their hands full with an unhappy client.
Stone picked out Loren’s cot but couldn’t tell if he’d righted things and climbed back in or not. If he had, he might think the whole thing had been a dream. Gods, that would the best thing that could happen, but Stone doubted it. Loren had been awake, hungry for a kiss. If Stone had trusted his instincts, he would have kept his lips to himself, and he wouldn’t be in the mess he was now.
Just as they’d realized earlier, the path of one’s life could twist without warning. Only Stone had had a warning. He’d just ignored the danger. Whatever pulsed between him and Loren had most certainly changed their lives forever.