*DISCLAIMER: This story is fiction, any reflection of real life and any description of an area or person is purely coincidental.
This story is about a young man who discovers himself and love as well as a few supernatural surprises along the way. There is death, love, hate, friendship, and bigotry.
There are potentially scenes of M/M sexual contact in each chapter, do not continue reading if reading text of this nature is illegal where you are located, likewise if you are under the legal age to read pornographic material.
Please enjoy and feel free to send comments. This is my first story being submitted to Nifty.
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Chapter 16:
I passed the day just listening to the sounds of the forest, and smelling everything, trying to think of any way I could to try and wriggle my way out of this situation. I had designated a spot furthest away from where I'd decided to make my little nest for my bathroom needs. Around the time the sun was reaching the position of noon, I heard footsteps approaching and soon a small head was poking over the edge of the bowl formation. It was a boy who looked to be no more than 10 or 11. He didn't look familiar at all and I was pretty sure I had seen all of the pack children at the meeting two nights prior, so he either wasn't pack or I was out of pack territory, or I suppose, both.
The boy looked at me in surprise for a short while but then slowly made his way down the wall carrying a small paper bag. He came close to me, and looked me in the eyes. "My name's Derrick, I'm home alone and heard my dad talkin' ta that bad man about holdin' someone here till he dies! I don't want anyone ta die so I brought you some food. I'll remove the duct tape for now and feed you mister, but you can't yell if you want to eat, we don't have much time, understand?"
I nodded enthusiastically, he wasn't going to help me escape, but if he could sneak me out some food it would keep me alive long enough to be found if not provide me enough energy to heal my wounds up. He had a few sandwiches which weren't anything major but they felt like a full meal since it had now been more than 24 hours since I last ate. As soon as I was done eating the sandwiches he looked at me sadly, "I'm sorry, I need ta put the tape back on and hurry home, my daddy will be home soon and he won't be happy if he sees me out here."
I nodded and said quietly, "thank you so much," before he placed the tape back over my mouth and ran away. The time continued to pass slowly, I was able to hear what I assumed was his father returning home a short time after I heard the door to the house close and was thankful that he had had time to make it back and hoped that he had hidden what he did so that he wouldn't get in trouble. The time passed slowly and it felt like forever before I could hear the voices of John's father and the other man walking towards me again, I decided to roll over onto my stomach and cover my face again in case they chose to piss on me or something else, at least my face would be covered.
They made their way down the hill and proceeded to kick me until I rolled over onto my back. I noticed that this time they were carrying knives. They proceeded to use those knives to give me light cuts in numerous locations on my body as they called me names, ending with several hard kicks to the sides and stomach and then more pissing into my wounds. I tried my best not to let any sounds out, I couldn't speak and wanted to do my best to show them that I was stronger than their hate, even if I didn't actually believe I was. They finished shortly after it became dark out and then left me laying on the ground, assuring me they'd return the next day and every day after that to continue the lessons' until I learned' them, meaning, until I died.
The next four days progressed the same as that first one, my body and hearts' aching for John growing more and more by the day. Derrick was able to bring me food during the day while everyone was away, the fourth day, which must have been Friday, he looked very sad as I was finishing the biggest meal he'd been able to bring me yet, "mister, I won't be able ta bring you any food again til Monday when daddy goes back ta work unless my friends' brother is able ta help you. I couldn't hide the secret anymore and told my best friend about you, I asked him not ta tell anyone `cause my daddy would really hurt me if he knew that I told someone, but he told his big brother and he wasn't happy about it. Mark says his brother is gonna try ta help you get away during the night this weekend. I hope he does, but I need ta go now. Good luck mister. I'll be back on Monday if yer still here."
Well, at least I now had something to potentially look forward to. Any modicum of hope at this point was like a beacon shining in the night. I had come to the conclusion that I must be far out of pack territory because I hadn't even caught the scent of a wolf in the wind in the past 4 days, real or were, except for John's father, it made me wonder just how far away I was from my home, but every time I began to dwell on that I had to swiftly stop that train of thought before my emotions kicked in and weakened me. The regular food from Derrick had kept me not only alive but strong enough to mostly heal from the wounds John and Derricks' fathers inflicted on me nightly and it was really starting to get on their nerves. They would kick, punch, and cut me repeatedly each night, asking me how I had the strength to heal and wasn't at the least passing out from hunger after nearly 5 days without food.
Friday nights' punishment continued past dark, I was weak and sore all over, my body had a full meal that day but most of the energy had been used to heal the wounds from the day before, so there was little left over, barely enough to begin the healing process on these new wounds and pains. I fell asleep in a constant dull pain and was awoken by someone touching me lightly on the shoulder, causing me to startle and jump the side cowering away from the touch. The sky was just at the cusp of beginning to lighten, the glow from the moon gave off enough light for me to look up and see the face of a young man who was definitely no one I had ever seen before.
He began talking as he pulled the tape off my mouth, "hey dude, I'm Oliver, my brother is friends with Derrick, I'm not here to hurt you. I brought chain cutters to cut these chains holding you. My dad is friends with Derrick's dad though so I can't help you actually get out of here, I'm already going to be late getting home, I can take that light beating but I probably won't survive if I help you escape and they find out. I'll cut the shackles though and you can run for it, it's better than being held here. I couldn't call the cops since my dad and Derricks' dad are the cops around here."
"Thank you Oliver, just getting me out of the shackles will be good enough, thank you. Thank you so much."
"No problem man, I hope you make it home safe and can report those men. That dude that Derricks' dad hangs with is bad news."
"Yes he is, he's the primary one doing this to me, he hates me."
"Why?" We were talking while he was using the cutters to cut the shackles.
"Because I'm gay and in love with his son who is also gay and in love with me."
"Oh man, I knew he was bad news. Fuck. Ok, there, the shackles are off your wrists and legs now. You have probably a couple hours until morning light, they'll probably be out here early, that man stayed the night here."
"Fuck, thanks Oliver. I won't forget it, I'll get a message to you somehow once I'm better, then if you ever need anything, you just call me, my name is Jake by the way."
"Deal. I need to run now, good luck Jake." With those words he was off running a slight degree to the side of the direction of the house. I assumed he had parked his vehicle off the side of the road and was heading back to it. Knowing for sure now what direction the road lay in, but no clue which way town was, I decided to shift into wolf and hunt a rabbit or something to help me heal up enough to make the trek to a town somewhere.
Shifting to my wolf form felt amazing, I hadn't shifted since the night before the pack meeting and I had begun to miss it. I wasn't conscious of my wounds and physical pains disappearance due to the hunger and heartache overpowering them, but I had renewed hope, so I ran off at a steady speed until I was several miles away, in the opposite direction of the road. I figured, once they found out I was out, they'd first of all know the shackles had been cut, so they knew someone would have found me, second, John's father would have to hurry along the road home to either try and find me or get home and somehow prove he'd been there the whole time, thinking I'd probably immediately head home and try to tell someone. Meanwhile, knowing this wasn't his first kidnapping, he'd probably send Derrick's father in search of me, but I knew that he wasn't a wolf, he may know about wolves since he never questioned my healing, but he wasn't a wolf so he would still think like a human and think that I'd head towards the road and immediately toward town if not in the direction of my town, even though I had no idea where that was.
After I was a few miles away from where I was held, I decided to slow down and make my way downwind from where I was held while I hunted out some sustenance to help me get healed up, simultaneously scoping out potential shelters and keeping my ears and nose peeled for pursuers. After I had made myself a stomachable meal of a couple rabbits, my wolf instincts helped me to find a good place to rest for a few hours. I fell asleep thinking and longing for John and his arms wrapped around me. I awoke some time late in the afternoon of what I could only assume was the same day. I didn't feel like I had slept for more than 24 hours, but with how exhausted I was, I supposed it was possible but decided to just press on.
I roamed through the woods, heading in a southeast direction, the road was south from where I was being held and I ran in a northwestern direction away from there, so I was attempting to angle around that and hopefully come out into a town. However, by time night fell, I was once again hungry and had not yet found any signs of people. I hunted and ate once again and found a suitable place to rest, remaining the entire time in wolf form. It was the longest I'd been in wolf form and was beginning to feel so very comfortable as a wolf. That night I slept without nightmares and more comfortably than previous nights, however, my mind - emotionally - and heart - physically - ached for John's touch, voice, and eyes, causing some minor tossing and turning during the night.
The next morning dawned dark and dreary. A light drizzle was making the already dark and overcast day even more depressing. I woke up and continued my searching for people. Some time later I finally caught the sounds of cars, it was my first sign of civilization since Oliver had released me from my confines early Saturday morning. I began walking in the direction of the traffic, it wasn't long before I came into view of what looked to be a farmhouse, I could hear a person walking around and made sure I stayed clear, the scent told me they were not a wolf but I could not discern beyond that. I was at the edge of the woods and could not get closer to the road without being out in the open and could not see the person that I smelled to see if they posed any visual threat. In my excitement of finding vehicles and another person I had overridden my wolf instincts and was pacing just inside the edge of the woods, forgetting that I did not blend in or hide myself very well while actively pacing.
My senses finally got my attention realizing that I no longer heard the person moving or doing anything and had not heard a door of any kind shut. This realization caused me to perk my ears and stand still, but it was too little too late, my ears registered the sound of a shotgun at the same time as my brain registered the pain of being shot. I had been eating better the past 24 hours and the bullet didn't have the added searing pain indicating that it was silver, so I was confident that I would live through it, I just needed to get somewhere to heal before the person came to try and finish me off.
I was still fully conscious and heard the sounds of what I assumed to be a young boy cheering and then the backdoor of the house burst open and I could hear two sets of footsteps. The pain surged just then as I tried to breathe deep, clouding out my hearing of what the new footsteps were saying. Once the wave of pain passed, I was able to discern a set of footsteps nearing me and they were close, they were downwind from me so my smell wasn't able to give me any more details about the person. I turned my head to look at the person and they regarded me with questioning eyes and a tilted head, their nose twitching! It was a werewolf! I whined at the same time I saw recognition dawn on him. He approached me slowly, "I'm not going to hurt you, the boy isn't pack and is still young, if you'll let me, I'll take you to our pack healer to remove the bullet from you so you can heal. Will you let me pick you up?"
I regarded him steadily for a few seconds before the pain surged again causing me to whimper in pain and I slowly nodded my head. He approached slowly and lifted me up into his arms as gently as he could. The pressure on my side and amount of blood I had lost caused me to pass out briefly. When I woke again I was in the passenger seat of a car and we were parking. "Ok buddy, I need to pick you up again, I'm really sorry, I hoped you'd still be out so I didn't have to hurt you again." This time I was able to keep from passing out but the pain was intense and I couldn't contain my whimpers. It fucking hurt getting shot. The man was walking quickly into the building which appeared to be a veterinary clinic, once inside the man yelled out, "Doc Jones, help!" Seconds later a middle aged man came running out and eyed us, telling the man, Luke the doctor called him, to bring me into the back room.
"Ok buddy, I'll do my best to get this bullet out of you and get you closed up so your body can heal up, I need to put you under though so it isn't too painful." Then before I knew it, I was unconscious.
My senses began slowly returning to me, once I could open my eyes I was able to see out a window nearby that it was morning, I must have slept through the night. I was not caged, but rather was on a soft cushion in what appeared to be someone's home. My body didn't hurt nearly as much. John, nor any of the other wolves, had explained very well the healing process for us. I knew that we healed quickly and could survive most injuries that would kill normal humans or wolves, but no intricacies of it so I just continued laying on the cushion, eyes open and senses alert until someone woke up to check on me. A clock in the room showed 6am, it wasn't even 30 minutes later that the man, Luke, came into the room and looked at me, "oh good, you're awake, why haven't you shifted back to heal up?"
My confusion must have shown on even my wolf face, "oh gosh, you're still a new wolf aren't you?" I nodded and he continued, "ok, well, now that the bullet's out you can shift back to human and the wound will heal up completely without having to worry about having a bullet rolling around your human insides. If you're injured in either human or wolf just shift to heal it up instantly as long as it's not a broken bone and there's nothing inside of it anyway."
I whimpered a bit but decided shifting and being healed was better than worrying about this man seeing me naked. He was a werewolf after all so he must not have an issue with seeing men naked. I shifted back to human and immediately moved my hands to cover myself causing him to chuckle, "no worries dude, you look the same age as my brother, only a couple years older than me, and it's not like I don't see plenty of other men naked being a werewolf, but here's some sweatpants you can wear." I could swear I saw a wink there and thought I sensed some undertones to what he was saying but he tossed me the sweatpants and I pulled them on and immediately felt more secure.
I proffered my hand, "I'm Jake, if I remember correctly, the doctor called you Luke, right?"
He confirmed and asked me what I was doing in his packs' territory, I gave a brief outline of what had happened and where I was from. I learned that I was about an hour and a half driving distance away from my town. Just after he told me what town we were in, a man entered the house and Luke bowed his head, I assumed this was the pack Alpha so I mimicked the motion and then repeated what I had just told Luke. The Alpha explained to me that they were a large pack, his name was Alpha Black, and most of the town were pack members, I had unfortunately wandered onto the land of one of the very few non-pack members who also had just moved in, and Luke had been there that day explaining things to them.
"Well, son, it sounds like you need to get back to your pack. We'll drive you back, I'd like to have a word with your Alpha to discuss some stuff anyway." He turned his attention to Luke, "Luke, will you and your brother mind accompanying us, if I remember Mrs. Davies, we'll be invited for a delicious homemade dinner." His smile hinting that he was remembering rather than conjecturing.
I nodded, "that she will, I'd like to call them to tell them you're on the way. I know Mr. Davies' number from memory but that's the only one sadly, with cell phones now, don't need to memorize peoples' phone numbers."
Luke held out his hand with a cell phone in it, "here, use mine."*