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“So this is it?”
For parting number two, I wasn’t sneaking off base like a thief in the night, afraid to meet my long-time partner’s eyes. Instead, our paths diverged as we reached the sidewalk lining the front of his apartment building.
Stooge was in uniform, heading in to work. I was in borrowed jeans, scuffed and worn but fitting considerably better than the pair I’d snagged from the thrift store a couple of days earlier. They smelled a heck of a lot better too.
“I’ll be in touch,” I promised. Then, plucking at the sleeve of my t-shirt. “After all, I’ve gotta return these.”
In response, Stooge’s face twisted into his characteristic smirk, but the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes. After all, he and I both knew our relationship would never be quite the same after this.
Because, yeah, you can take a man out of the EOD without taking the EOD out of the man. But you can’t really take a pair of brothers out of daily proximity and expect them to still finish each others’ sentences when they catch up during infrequent vacations stolen away from very different walks of life.
I was losing a lot more than I gained by casting aside Stooge’s unfailing loyalty in order to run back to Stormwinder’s manipulative pseudo-friendship. And yet...I found that I couldn’t resist Angelica’s blue eyes and her challenges to better both her way of life and my own.
“I’ll see you later, dude,” I continued, punching my friend on the shoulder before putting a little more distance between us. I’d seen male shifters rolling around on the ground in impromptu wrestling sessions as a way of showing affection. But here on a military base, a single shoulder slug between men would have to suffice.
To my surprise, Stooge was the one to call my bluff. He pulled me in for a guy hug, all aggressive back-pounding and stiff posture. But, up so close, I couldn’t miss the pheromones that gave away his true emotions.
Regret, melancholy, love.
“You too,” I whispered, responding to the unspoken words. Then, louder: “Take care of yourself, Paul.”
“Ditto, Swamp Beast,” he replied, offering up the call sign I’d never merited until it was too late.
Then the best friend I’d ever known was walking quickly in the opposite direction while I slid behind the wheel of my stolen pickup truck. And if I found it hard to see for a couple of minutes as I drove off base? Well, obviously it was only because a gnat had flown into my eye.
***
I ALLOWED CHAD TO AMBUSH me. The kid needed a way to save face after our previous scuffle and this was the best solution I’d been able to come up with on short notice. So I parked at a distance and made sure I entered pack boundaries right where Stormwinder’s only son was patrolling. Then I didn’t resist when he took me down in a chokehold I could have snapped out of with a flick of my wrist.
The knee in my kidney was neither necessary nor anticipated. But you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
“I’m here to see your father,” I said after spitting out a mouthful of leaves. Wait, was that a centipede crawling in front of my nose? Maybe there was time for a quick protein boost before we got down to business....
Focus, Hunter.
“What you want and what you get aren’t always the same thing,” Chad replied smugly, yanking me onto my feet while twisting my right arm up behind my back.
Or, okay, so he tried to yank me back onto my feet. But muscles are heavier than flab and we would have both ended up in a heap on the ground if I hadn’t deftly reversed our orientations in an effort to remain vertical.
Bad move, kid.
Nose to nose, I allowed my wolf’s presence to speak for both halves of my being. We didn’t even have to growl before terror entered Chad’s eyes and his wolf began whimpering beneath his human skin. No, all it took was a single disappointed glance and my opponent was ready to fall onto his knees and beg for mercy.
Immediately, though, I dialed back the aggression. I wanted Chad to clue in to where we both stood, but I also wanted to leave his three henchmen in the dark. Because Stormwinder Jr. wouldn’t save face if his companions knew I possessed the upper hand.
Time to make a deal, I thought, hoping Chad would be bright enough to realize what I was offering when I gave the illusion of being dominated by his measly inner wolf. Would the kid be mature enough to understand that I expected moderation in return for my fake submission?
Oh, yeah, and there was one additional problem associated with my oh-so-clever plan. I wasn’t entirely certain I was capable of backing down in the face of a weaker wolf.
Still, I’d spent quite a bit of time pondering Angelica’s parting line during the long ride west. And what I’d come up with was as simple as it was profound.
Spending too long in my two-legged form made my cooped-up wolf unruly. Meanwhile, if I got too overwrought worrying about lesser beings’ safety, then my wolf also tended to seize the reins in an effort to protect us both.
But I’d prepared for my current meeting well in advance. I’d shifted recently and had allowed my inner beast to vent its aggressions with a growl here and a stare-down there along the way.
In response, my lupine half was now both mellow and malleable. So I raised both eyebrows in warning...then I relaxed and willed the kid to gaze deep into my entirely human eyes.
Chad nearly yelped when he saw the terror-inducing beast disappear from my demeanor. Then, when I rounded my shoulders and averted my gaze in mimicry of the submissive postures I was so used to seeing all around me, Stormwinder’s son lengthened his own spine in unconscious reaction.
Now—would the kid throw the gift back in my face and force me to overwhelm him in front of his buddies? Or would he dredge up a little of his sister’s wisdom and accept the gift in the manner which it had been intended?
For a moment, I was sure Chad was more like his father than like his sister. But then he smiled wryly and nodded once. “Yeah, Dad will want to talk to you,” he concluded. Finally, stepping back to allow space for me to walk unhindered, he ushered his supposed prisoner down the path toward clan headquarters.
To our audience, it appeared as if Junior had managed to clamp me firmly beneath his thumb. Meanwhile, I wasn’t pulling a muscle being manhandled by someone who didn’t know the first thing about hand-to-hand combat.
In other words, we were both happy.
One day soon, I’ll have to teach the kid how to actually subdue an unwilling opponent, I thought with a sigh.
But that was okay. There would be plenty of time to turn Stormwinder Junior into the alpha wolf I was giving him the ticket to become.
Assuming, that was, I could make a similar deal with his heavy-handed father.
