Meta and the Marines 8

A different take on the traditional M/M werewolf romance topic: less romantic, less traditional, more disturbing and with conniving wolves, vampires and submissive marines.

You will find a discussion forum for this book at: https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/topic/40241-metaseries-ranting/


Comments can be emailed to MetaWolf@gmx.com. Depending on reception, I will post more chapters.


JAR

Meta & the Marines

CHAPTER 8

The truck was deserted.

His palms were sweaty.

He was on autopilot.

The letter hadn't been a good-bye letter. It had been a plain simple threat: `We got them. You are next' in an old-fashioned handwriting. Maybe even today's vampires didn't use computers, email or printer.

That's why they were gone.

A moment of relief warmed his body. They hadn't deserted him. At the same he got worried even more. If this letter wasn't a joke, his wolves were in serious danger. Because of him.

He pushed Terrence.

"What's up, man?"

"Can I borrow your car?

"Man, it's past midnight. In heat for your army trash?"

"Kinda. Will fill it with gas on return."

"Okay. But need it at ten."

"Sure."

He didn't know where to go. He hoped he would pick up their scents somewhere guiding him to them. The only chance he had.

When he left the dorm, he realized how vulnerable he was: It was in middle of the night. He had to walk at least ten minutes to get to Terrence' old Buick. Perfect for anyone to kill a 21-year old scrawny kid without witnesses.

He heard steps, but couldn't see anyone.

He smelled something oily, but nobody came.

Some trashcans seemed to hit each other in the wind. He jerked around ready to face some flying vampires. But nothing.

He was so nervous he dropped the car keys. Could barely find them in the dark. Finally, he was sitting behind the steering wheel.

And where to go now?

He knew Prime had been around the dorm when he fell asleep. The pine scent had been there. But not Brian and CE. So somehow he must have left Colt to get to the others. Maybe they'd told him they needed help; maybe because he'd sensed it; maybe because whoever sent the letter had also left a message for Prime.

So where would Brian and CE have been in the first place?

He had a feeling, but he didn't know the boys well enough. He didn't know where they spent their free time. And he regretted again having been so distanced in the past weeks because he felt so sorry for himself.

Logic please, he called himself to order.

Where would human wolf shifters be at midnight?

At home asleep.

In the forest running.

Out and about protecting people from stinky vampires.

In this order of probability. He excluded home as they'd told him vampires could have never attacked them in their house, as they can't come in uninvited. Hence, if they'd stayed at home they shouldn't be in trouble.

He made a mental note himself to find out all the rules vampires and wolves had to comply with. They sounded a bit too random.

Hence, in the forest running was the next likely scenario.

And there he was. On the clearing, where they'd gone after the movies and the bar last time; where they had told him everything kinky about metas and gay packs. Where - he now realized - he might have lost them.

The truck was open; nobody there.

"Prime?" he shouted into the dark. Hoping.

"Brian?"

"CE?"

Nothing. Silence.

He couldn't smell them. Either they were too far away or something stopped their distinctive signature.

Or they were dead.

Again he felt so vulnerable. He was so alone. In the middle of deserted hills with forests around him. Without a weapon. Not that he knew how to use a weapon. He had always used his brain to survive.

And this time this fucking brain might have cost him his first love; what an incredible intoxicating, debauched and honest love it could have been.

He hopped into the truck.

Weapon. Where is a weapon?

Obviously, the boys didn't need one. First, they were strong enough to knock most men unconscious in any fist fight and second, they could always shift; becoming deadly beasts; who had always been so gentle to him.

A dagger.

They must have put it there after the party. Seems it was their human weapon of choice to deal with vampires.

He started to run. He hated himself for getting out of breath so quickly, but he pushed himself on.

He was in running up a path he could barely see. The trees blocked the light of the stars and the moon. Several times he stumbled. At the end, he was so exhausted he didn't get up anymore after his fall.

He had been so stupid.

Throwing away a good thing because it was too different. Or maybe because he was scared it was too good to be true: a once-in-a-life-time trip that had to end eventually. Or maybe because Brian had been right: He was afraid of his own capability to love; given his screwed up life.

Brian.

Somehow he picked up a faint smell.

Faint but not old. Something like dried cherries and wheat grains forgotten in the barn from last year's harvest.

Brian was here somewhere.

And he was hurt, severely injured.

Colt forced himself up, even if his lungs complained with cutting pain.

Up, he said to himself.

He left the path and crawled up the hill. Through bushes and fallen trees. Some thorns caught him. Sometimes he slid back because it was too steep.

But the faint scent was unmistakable.

The terrain flattened.

He heard a whimpering. So he ran on.

And there he was. An unearthly beautiful wolf shimmering white and silver in the little light of the night.

He was lying on the ground in pain. Somehow he couldn't move. Whined.

Pulling on one of his forelegs. Desperately.

Colt approached him slowly, trying to catch his breath. The beast jerked his head in his direction as if only noticing him now.

Colt knelt down two meters away from the bewitching blue eyes of the wolf.

"Brian, can you hear me?"

The wolf whined. Strongly. As saying: "Get the fuck out of here!"

Colt stayed calm. "I will try to help you. Let me look at your leg. - Please stay still, I won't hurt you."

`Please don't bite me because you are in pain,' he prayed. He crawled to the beast's side.

Brian's right paw was caught in a cruel leg hold trap. The teeth had cut deep into the leg.

The pain must be terrible.

He wondered why Brian couldn't shift back into his human form, in which he could use his hands to try to open the trap. Was it the pain? Or being captured?

As long as he was caught in this barbaric device he wouldn't be able to heal.

"Brian, can you hear me?"

The wolf whimpered but turned his head.

Somehow Colt thought he saw tears.

"I'm going to try to open this. It will hurt even more. Please don't bite me. Do you understand me?"

Whimper.

Colt wasn't sure.

He looked closely at the trap. He'd never seen something like that; he'd never been into hunting, seemed so senseless.

Whining.

"Okay Brian, I think there's an opening mechanism."

He stepped on a ledge bent.

The wolf jerked.

"Shhhh, Brian." He pulled at the two iron clamps. He couldn't get a proper grip. And the teeth in the leg hold trap hurt the wolf even more.

He closed his eyes. He pulled.

His hands screamed with pain, but he felt movement. A little bit more.

He opened his eyes. He knew he couldn't drag it open further. It had to happen. He shouted through his clenched teeth: "Brian, you need to pull now even though it hurts!"

The wolf pulled but stopped in pain.

"NOW!" Colt shouted in desperation.

The howling sound was unbearable.

Brian pulled at his wolf leg again.

Colt wasn't sure what noise he heart. A broken bone, a ruptured muscle. All together.

But he was free.

The leg looked horribly mauled as if somebody had tried to break it off and half succeeded.

Brian limped on his three uninjured legs away from the trap. 50 m further, he fell to the ground, howling like the world was coming to an end.

Colt looked at the trap. He was not an expert. It looked new and too shiny for regular iron. But he didn't know what to think about it.

He walked to the silver wolf that licked his injured leg.

He lay down to look into those mesmerizing eyes. He saw fields of wheat. He smiled. Brian would get better.

He touched the head of the wolf, who whimpered at the gesture. "Brain, seems you can heal now. But I need to look for the others. Where are they?"

The wolf licked him. "We can do puppy kisses later. Where is Prime? Where is CE?"

The silver head seemed to tilt his head questioningly but then looked to the left as if pointing further up to the mountain.

"Got it. I'll go. Not sure how fast you heal now hat you are free; but find me when you can run again. Take care. I love you, Brian."

For a second Colt couldn't move. It was the first time in his life he'd told someone he loved him.

The beast licked him again gratefully and Colt touched the soft fur on his head. He got up and jogged even if his lungs filed an official protest with the pain center in his brain.

Up and up.

More scratches. Bushes.

A twig hit his face mercilessly. No wonder he'd never liked forests. He liked the view of them, but not crawling through them like a ... wolf.

Smell. He stopped. He needed to catch his breath and he needed to pick up the scents. Otherwise he would be completely lost.

Soil.

Or was it just the dirt on his hand?

No. This was CE. Even if mixed with some metallic hints, which could have made Colt nearly miss him.

He didn't run now. He followed his nose. Carefully. And when the slope of the hill flattened and revealed a little hollow, he saw him.

Silence.

Colt approached CE's scaringly big brown wolf with the light brown friendly face reflecting the gentle nature of this big man. Well, gentle to his friends.

When he came closer, he saw two arrows sticking out the hind hips. Too far away from the wolf's mouth to pull at them.

He lay helplessly and quietly. Not whining.

Colt's heart jumped. Maybe he was too late.

No, the scent, he told himself. CE was still alive.

When he came closer, the beast opened its eyes and growled.

Colt couldn't decode it. It wasn't friendly, but it wasn't hostile either. He tried to imagine what CE would have said in a situation like this if he'd been in his human form.

And Colt knew. "No, CE, I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving you like this. Let me see what I can do."

The wolf growled again. More intensely.

"I said no. And that's it." Colt's voice was firm. "And now lie down quietly and let me look at this! Have I made myself clear?"

The wolf looked at him annoyed but put down his head obediently.

Colt saw the little bit of blood. Again, he wondered what the vampires had done that CE couldn't shift back. Those arrows in his human body might hurt, but he could have done something about it. He still had to learn so much about his wolves. And he would, if they got out of all of this.

"CE, I know you're still strong enough to kill me, so please, I need to check those arrows. That will hurt."

A growl as if `can't hurt more than now.'

He tried to pull at one but it wouldn't move. It didn't look too deep, but it was caught inside.

He was afraid that pulling it out would break it, and he'd never get the tip out. Despite the pain he must have caused to the wolf, CE barely moved. Somehow he felt the pain was not yet getting to him, only the feeling of being so powerless and not being able to do what he was genetically determined to do: to protect his Alpha and his pack.

"Okay, CE. Seems I need to use a knife to broaden the wounds to get out the arrow tips." He walked to the front, knelt and looked at the animal. He was quiet. Stoically quiet. "Did you hear me? I will have to hurt you."

The look was apathetic. A little whimper.

"I consider that a yes, big guy. But if you hit me with your claws and paws I will be angry with you for the rest of our miserable lives!"

Colt never could bear to see someone else's blood. He didn't mind his own as he'd learnt to deal with it the two times he was beaten heavily by his drunk of a father. But a medical career was out of question. No blood, no human flesh. Maybe it helped CE wasn't in his human form.

He got the dagger out of his cargo pant pocket and aligned it with one of the arrows. He estimated the depth and marked it on the dagger with some of the beast's blood.

And then he pushed the dagger next to arrow into the flesh.

Now CE did react. He howled, howled like an injured beast -- which he was. But he didn't move except for his head.

Colt prayed that this worked. He twisted the dagger a bit and pulled gently at the arrow. It loosened a bit. Maybe a quarter of an inch. Another twist and then Colt just had to do it and pulled at the arrow quickly and mercilessly.

Colt fell on the ground with the bloody arrow and his dagger in his hand, barely missed by an angry jerk by the beast.

He caught his breath.

CE didn't move further. Second arrow.

Colt went to CE's head again, he laid down to face the eyes. No wide field with black soil yet. But CE looked at him.

"See, I got the arrow. See!"

The beast nuzzled at it as if to check for his own blood.

"But I need to do it a second time. You have another arrow. Can you do this?"

Colt wasn't sure anymore whether CE understood. Whether it was his wolf state, the pain or whatever was on these arrows that stopped him from shifting. But it seemed to get to him finally; CE was drifting away from him.

Colt got up, looked at the second arrow and squeezed the dagger in his hand even harder.

Somehow he felt he had to be quick.

He pushed the dagger next to the arrow, nearly a bit too forcefully. Blood splattered on to him. But he didn't pay attention.

The arrow moved, barely. He had to twist the dagger. Now the wolf growled in a very annoyed way. His instincts might soon take over and deal with the human who was hurting him so badly.

Another twist and then he pulled. Pulled for his life. It got stuck midway, but he pulled. And got the arrow but without the fucking tip. He was frantic. CE was clearly losing it. Without thinking his two fingers reached into the wound searching for the tip.

There.

He spread his fingers not to push it deeper.

His grip was slippery with all the blood, but he got it and pulled, taking the dagger with him in a swift motion throwing himself to the ground 10 meters away. His instinct was to run away from the growling big wolf. But he knew: If CE wanted to get him, now the arrows were gone, he would catch him within meters. Better not to move but try to talk to the beast instead. To connect to his human conscience, to his protective instinct for Colt.

CE did get up with the most frightening growl Colt had ever heard. He was scared.

The beast looked for him. Approached him with a menacing look. His fangs were visible.

Colt swallowed.

"CE, can you hear me?"

No reaction.

"CE, I got the second arrow and the tip. You should be healing now."

"See you can walk again."

"It is me, Colt. The little nerd who you said wasn't pegged to get into trouble. And look where we are. In the biggest shit ever."

No reaction. More steps.

He limped a bit; one of his hind legs gave in for a moment. Now the wolf was directly in front of him; towering over a frightened Colt trying to protect himself by moving into a fetal position.

It needed only one bite, and his neck was gone.

Another growl. `You are toast,' it said.

"Please, CE, please."

A touch, he jerked.

But it was a tongue.

CE licked his hand. He licked the hand with his blood: the hand that had given him so much pain because he ripped out the arrows. Colt wanted to cry but was too upset.

He crawled to his feet and instinctively hugged the big wolf. He felt the warmth, smelled the plums. Sweet plums, heavy dark blue; big as apples.

"You, you big lap dog you, scaring the shit out of me like that," he whispered.

CE had to lie down again. Seems the pain was still strong, but had wanted to say `thanks' to the boy.

"Okay, enforcer. I've already found Brian. He was trapped. He should be healing now as well. But I can't find Prime. Where is he?"

He didn't get a clue from the brown wolf, just looked at him with loyal eyes while Colt stood over him.

"I need to find our Alpha, CE! I feel he's fighting for his life. I don't know what to do."

The wolf tried to get up. Barely succeed. And then his muzzle touched Colt's chest, making his shirt bloody.

"You're such a romantic. Follow my heart?" Colt was trying to cover his panic. "You know it's not my strongest feature. I've always followed my brain ... or my dick. But never my heart."

The beast touched him again. Same spot. And fell on the floor. He was in serious pain slightly wincing.

"Okay, I'll do that. When you're healed try to find Brian, try to find me. I'll keep looking for Prime."

"Always will," he said to himself.

"Take care, big bad wolf."

But CE was not noticing him anymore. He was surprised about the extent of the pain as the wounds hadn't been so deep. And he thought two arrows like that would just be an inconvenience. But maybe he was wrong. Maybe these were special arrows used by vampires to hunt wolves. Like wolves used special daggers to hunt vampires.

Dagger. He looked around, found it, put it and the tip of the second arrow into his pocket and walked.

It didn't make sense to run. He was too exhausted. And he didn't know where to run to.

So he walked, for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes. It was a quarter past three according to his watch and he was lost. He'd no clue where he was, whether he was walking in circles or coming any closer to Prime.

And how should he pick up a pine scent in the middle of a forest? He doubted himself, just when he walked into a fresh breeze with a touch of strawberry. The strawberry was sickly sweet rotten. But it was strawberry.

And there he was. A big wolf hung in a noose, the rope leading over a mighty branch of a pine tree to the base of another tree. Thick rope, solid noose, unbreakable branch, his eyes picked up in a second.

By jerking around the wolf was basically hanging himself; slowly suffocating like caught by a python. Colt knew hanged people died of the rope breaking their necks and not by suffocation, but the wolf's neck was too strong. His own weight was too much though for this throat.

And then he smelt oil. And metal. Rusty metal. Two kinds of oils.

Two `things' materialized in a little whirlwind.

Vampires.

They looked surprised. The taller one reminded him of the first vampire, from whom Prime had rescued him weeks ago, still thinking it was a frat prank. They could have been brothers. He was tall, pale like milk and all fingernails. Even his outfit was all frills and with a Victorian beard.

The second one was small, fatter, with a surprisingly undistinguished face and hands like a construction worker. No long fingernails.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, he thought.

Seemed though, they quickly assessed their situation. As in: He was easy picking because all his wolves were far away healing or hanging themselves in the rope high in the trees.

Colt didn't know what to do.

The biggest love in his life was slowly dying. And he instinctively felt that it would be over soon. He was facing two vampires, knowing he couldn't even fight one; not talking about two and rescuing Prime at the same time.

For some reason he thought it was a bit of a waste to die at 21, but he also knew he wouldn't be missed. Maybe there was a next life. And maybe that one was better than his current one. At least the life he had lived until September.

The two vampires zoomed in on him with their odd levitating movements. They were by far not as fast as Twilight had made him believe. Fuck Hollywood. But those movie vampires also didn't kill people and could be friendly with wolves. Well, and those wolves were also a bit small, at least in their human form, and of course boyishly cute to be sexy but completely unthreatening to the dumb young female audience.

The tall, skinny vampire raised his hands towards Panza, moonlight shining through his long transparent fingernails as if saying: `Stop, he's mine.'

And then everything changed.

Colt picked up this strong wheat scent, like freshly breaking through fertile soil. He saw orchards of plum and cherry trees mixing the flavor with ... dying strawberries.

He would never understand how he did it, but it happened as if he'd never done anything else in his life. "Brian, take the small vampire. Break his fucking neck!"

A confirmative growl came from his back as if to say: `With pleasure.'

"CE, you need to bite through the rope. He is too high, we can't lift him. The branch is too strong, will not break. Bite through this fucking rope. Save our Alpha!"

While Brian moved into an attack position to take on the half dead version of Sancho Panza, CE ran to the rope.

"Oh, shut up, you meager excuse of human. The stinking dog is already dead. Can't you see? He doesn't move anymore."

Keep thinking that, Colt thought.

"But now I will deal with you, you little wannabe wolf. Didn't expect you would join us."

"Oh I got a little invitation letter ..."

The vampire looked confused.

Colt was surprised how well he could read them. And why would they be so confused given this elaborate plan with traps, arrows, nooses and threatening letters? He had many other questions, but they had to wait -- if he made it out of this alive.

Sancha Panza was a much better fighter than he'd assumed; seemed his human physical appearance did not correlate with his vampire fighting capabilities. But now Colt needed to focus on the big guy.

"Well, nice that you RSVP'd so quickly then. It is going to be pleasure to kill you today. And rewarding in multiple ways."

"Rewarding?"

"Yes. Don't you know your stinking dog killed my brother?"

Colt had been right. He was surprised he guessed that right. He was normally incapable of making such connections with humans. Colt couldn't identify siblings even if they stood side by side in front him.

"Oh yes, I remember. He had the same bad fashion taste. Where are you from? 1850 Paris?"

"1780," the vampire corrected.

"Nice, pre Napoleonic. Shame you cannot tell me more about that time ..."

"I said shut up, mortal!" The half dead got bored playing with his food.

CE was working on the rope, but it didn't move. The strawberries began to stink terribly. And Panza seemed to be resilient.

The vampire was in front of him.

His left hand grabbed Colt's shoulder and squeezed.

Iron grip. Colt tried to push him away with his left hand. But the vampire was too strong. His lower arm didn't feel like flesh, more like metal, as if the vampire was a machine and not ... a vampire.

Colt wondered when his shoulder bone would crack.

The vampire opened his mouth wide exposing his ugly yellow fangs and a smell of rotten flesh hit him, which itself could have nearly killed Colt.

"I thought you guys only bite virgins," Colt tried to distract the half dead.

"We do, you stray dog. I won't bit you ... you surely taste like dog shit." The vampire smiled at Colt's confused expression. "No, I will squeeze so long and so hard until your bones are broken and you're dead. It's going to take some minutes, and I will enjoy every second, you deformed wolf loving mutt."

Colt went to his knees, the pain clouded his brain. The stink made him dizzy.

"Kneel in front of me!"

Colt dropped his hands in resignation. He whined loud.

The vampire laughed. He never noticed how Colt slid the dagger out of his side pocket when on his knees, until he rammed it into the chest of the 1780 Parisian vampire.

The half dead looked first at the dagger sticking deep in his upper body, then unbelievingly at the kneeling Colt. He tried to grab the dagger to pull it out, but his hands got burned by the handle.

Colt was in rage. He took hold of the handle himself and pushed it even further into the monster, which now fell on his knees.

"I will never kneel in front of anyone, you monstrosity," ignoring the deluge of foul smell coming from the mouth of his opponent. "Go fuck yourself wherever your ugly vampire brother is rotting!" A final push.

The vampire collapsed to the ground.

And the flesh, or what Colt had thought was flesh, started to rot away in fast motion. He instinctively tore the dagger out of the decomposing body.

"He, you fat vampire over there! Your friend is gone ... you are next," he screamed in rage and made a step towards the vampire fighting Brian.

Panza looked at him for one second, and Brian didn't hesitate to talk advantage of his distraction. A bite and the monster was dead -- again -- within seconds.

They ran to CE.

"Go away, CE," who was frantically biting into the rope ignoring his bloody gums.

He didn't move. "Step aside!" screamed Colt. He was losing it.

The big wolf reluctantly made a step back.

The rope had frayed already quite a bit, but the thinner it got, the less effect the fangs had.

The dagger. Consistent sawing motions.

Another string ripped.

More sawing.

Another string.

And finally, the weight of the golden wolf tore the rest of the rope.

Prime fell with a big thud on to the forest ground. In seconds, Colt was next to him pulling at the ropes around his head.

The skin on his hands was torn and bloody by the time he got it off.

It was quiet.

The two wolfs stood next to him, not knowing what to do.

"Prime!"

No reaction.

Colt bent down, putting his eye close to the muzzle. There was the faintest breath. Rotten strawberries now far away as if disposed in an outside trash can.

"He is not healing. Why not?"

He looked at the wolves.

Brian walked back. His bones broke. He was shifting. And he knelt naked next to Colt and the dying wolf.

"Why is he not healing, Brian? Are we too late?"

"Silver."

"Silver?"

"Yes, there was silver everywhere. You know wolf shifters lose their powers when they are in contact with silver."

"Like this?" Colt showed him the tip of the arrow, which had stuck in CE.

"Yes. That's why CE was so weak and couldn't shift. There was silver around the trap I was caught in, that's why I couldn't shift. And there is silver in Prime's fur where the rope has cut in."

Colt instinctively tried to brush some of the silvery substance out of the fur, but he only partly succeeded, as the dust just spread further.

He ripped his bloody shirt and undershirt of his scrawny body. And for the first time in a long time he didn't give a shit if somebody saw him with a naked upper body as if he mistakenly thought he was a jock in summer playing leisurely football.

"CE, find water," he held the T-shirt and the brown wolf grabbed it with his teeth and ran off.

Colt swallowed and formed a ball of cloth with his bloody shirt. He looked at Brian. "Piss on him!"

"What?"

"I said piss on him. Now." He said it quietly, as screaming might not have helped Brian to piss quickly.

But the blond boy understood. He stood, spread his legs and closed his eyes.

Colt didn't say anything. Just waited.

And waited.

Waited of what seemed like an eternity.

But then the stream broke loose.

"Aim at his neck."

Colt waited until the fur was soaked and flattened and then he wiped with gentle strokes. When he looked at the shirt, he saw that it was working; he refolded the cloth and continued.

"Stop pissing!"

Brian uttered a frustrated howl but made himself stop.

"We need to turn him around."

Brian and Colt took the big wolf's legs and used them as lever to flip Prime on to the other side.

"Piss again."

Brian whimpered. But he pissed. Hard.

And Colt wiped.

He didn't notice the acidic burn on his hands when Brian's piss hit him wiping the neck. He just needed to get as much of this silver dust off Prime.

When Brian couldn't force himself to piss anymore and most of the dust seemed to have gone, CE came running with a dripping wet T-shirt in his muzzle.

Colt wiped again. He looked at the cloth. Barely dust left. He should heal now.

The breath was so weak. But it was still there.

He lay down next to the big wolf touching him between the ears.

"Prime, please heal. Please gather all your Alpha strength and heal."

No reaction.

"I know it's all my fault. I was so scared of you and me and everything. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't want to get you into danger. I'm so sorry."

"Please come back to us. We need you. We need you as the strong Alpha you are. Possessive and decisive. I need you. I need you to love me. I need you to love you. Please."

Brian and the shifted CE also petted the golden fur.

"You should have seen Colt today," CE whispered. "He ripped two arrows out of me. I thought I'd felt pain before, but I nearly went over edge, it hurt so much. I think he nearly enjoyed doing it. I hope he will never have to punish me, because I know it will hurt."

Colt's face had an odd expression when looking at the friendly brown haired guy with the cute little nose and the `I'm a teddy bear please love me' smile.

"It's a compliment," CE said.

"A CE compliment," Brian added. "But you knew that about Colt, didn't you? Did you see Colt vanquished a vampire? He pushed one of our daggers into him. Three times. I think he enjoyed that as well."

"Your wolves think I'm a monster, it seems," Colt was caressing the wolf, kissing his big muzzle. "But this monster has made up his mind, Prime. Whenever you guys are ready, I'm happy to become the pack Meta. I will want to make sure you boys never suffer again because I'm stupid. I want to be with you Prime, I want to be with your pack."

He kissed the muzzle again and whispered: "I love you more than you know."

A fresh touch of pine made Colt open his sore eyes.

He saw into the most heart breaking green eyes of his life. Unclear shades of mountaintops barely visible.

"He's coming back," stated Brian quietly, feeling the neck.

"Let's give him some space." Colt planted a quick kiss on the face and stepped back.

A cough.

He was healing.

Colt sat on a rock looking down the valley. Down there somewhere was the car. It was close to five and soon the sun would rise. He was tired. And his whole body hurt. And he froze with his chest being naked. Obviously, the wolves didn't care it was November and they ran around like on the first day of their lives.

"I'm going to get clothes, if that's okay with you," Brian informed him.

"Sure."

"He'll be fine, Colt."

"Good." He smiled.

"It's not your fault," Brian added.

"We'll talk about that later. A lot of things didn't make sense here, but I'm in no state to think. I'm cold, tired and aching."

"Okay, back in 20."

The moon was waning, he noticed for some reason. And he thought he heard the first birds indicating the sunrise wasn't too far away.

And then a cold nose poked him in his neck.

He turned around.

"Prime. You are back."

The nose came to his face, and the pink hot tongue licked all over him.

"He, why are you guys into puppy kisses today?"

But the wolf didn't stop; his nose went to Colt's naked chest, his thighs and even his midsection.

`He is checking whether I'm injured,' Colt thought instinctively, and let it happen.

When the tongue reached the palm of his right hand, Colt screamed. "Fuck that hurts, Prime!"

He looked at it. There was a deep cut.

Until now he thought the blood had been from CE's wounds. But it was his. It seemed when he rammed the dagger into this ugly vampire, he had hurt himself. And he hadn't noticed until now due to the adrenalin rush.

"Oh fuck, that hurts."

"We need to get you to a doctor!" A deep voice said behind him. Prime in his human form.

"Hug me first you beast!" Colt ordered.

Prime smiled and opened his arms, locking the sitting boy tightly.

Colt inhaled the pine scent like a heroin addict after years of deprivation. "I was so scared, Prime."

"I know."

"We thought we'd lost you."

"I thought I had lost you. I knew you were here when I passed out in the rope. My world had come to an end. My pack slowly dying of silver traps, my Meta to be crushed to death by vampires and me, hanging myself."

"Okay, you're back. Our wolves are okay now."

"Thanks to you."

"I thought you'd left me ..."

"I sensed my pack was in danger. You were sleeping and reasonably so safe, so I made a choice ..."

"You made the right choice, Prime ..."

"No, you made the right choice," was a slightly mischievous answer.

"Coming here although I'd no clue where you guys were when I got the letter?"

"Letter?"

"Later."

"No, accepting our proposal."

Colt smiled. He said softly: "If I ever find out all of this was another big trick to get me to agree, I'm not stopping at ripping off your balls."

Prime smiled warmly back and hugged him again tighter.

"Thanks anyway."

"Well I still expect a proper proposal."

"Like me having to go on my knees ... again?"

"Yes"

"Okay." Prime was serious and went on to his knees. "Colt, as the Alpha of this pack, I would like to offer ourselves to you as our Meta." He took Colt's right hand, who jerked.

"I accept your offer, Alpha. ... But"

"But?"

"... it comes with some terms and conditions."

"Listening ..."

"When I've slept, eaten, showered and had lots of pain killers, not necessarily in this order."

"You're right, my fault. Let's get you to a doctor."

---

"Is this your boyfriend?" The doctor asked in her soothing voice while carefully placing stitches to close the cut on his hand.

Colt was light headed. He knew he was drugged now. He tried to read the time; it took him ages until he deciphered the clock as 06:35 am. He'd gotten a bunch of injections as preventive measure and some to kill the pain, so they could clean the hand of all the blood, his and others, and the dirt, and then stitch it together.

The doctor had warm hands despite the gloves and smiled at the boy, who looked like he'd been beaten to the bone today.

"Alpha wolf," he answered in trance.

"That's a nice nick name. He's big and I think he growls at me."

"Very possessive."

"Well, tell him not to eat me, I'm just helping. But he looks nice."

CE looked at the boy in Prime's arms. When the doctor had finished, CE wanted to carry the boy to the truck, but Prime just growled. Alpha prerogative it seemed.

They were driving home, with the tranquilized boy lying on Prime's lap on the back seat.

"He fought like a wolf today, Prime," CE said.

"I know. I think I underestimated him."

"Maybe. Do you think they wanted him again in the first place?"

"I think so, but I'm not sure what went wrong. When we were all hurt in the forest, they could have killed him at least in the moment he left his dorm building."

"Weird."

"Weird," Colt repeated. Seemed he was dreaming. "Big wolves, three big wolves. So warm, pine scent. Makes me horny."

"We know, young man," Prime whispered touching his warm cheek. "We know that you our scents drives your dick crazy."

"So horny. All naked wolves."

"He is a little pervert," CE commented.

Prime chuckled but caught himself. "You know if you say that once he is our Meta, I'd have to beat you up."

"I know. Don't worry, Alpha. After what this boy did today to free me from the silver arrows, I'll treat him like the alpha of all alpha wolves. I owe him that. I'll do whatever he wants whenever he wants. Would even join the army."

Prime smiled. "And that means something, marine."

"Like marine," Colt mumbled.

"We know that as well," whispered CE, opening the door to Colt's room.

Prime put the sleeping boy on his bed. He heard CE whisper to Terrence to go back to sleep. "Little accident."

"Marines have nice haircuts with ears and smooth bodies ..."

`He is still dreaming,' Prime thought.

CE was giving him a knowing look, though. Seemed Colt dreamt about something very sexy given his erection poked through the briefs when they undressed him.

"I love my wolves ..."

CE bit on his lips, when Prime kissed Colt on his forehead.

When they closed the door Prime said: "I guess we're hitched for the rest of our wolf lives."

CE nodded in warm agreement. "And we have quite some things to organize ..."

---

The pale women smiled.

The trap had worked perfectly.

Her rival's henchman was dead. She herself had killed him ripping out what was in the place of a human heart.

He'd tried to cross her and get favors of the Lord and of Washington by doing his own stunt.

He failed.

Now she could wait as originally planned, while claiming being the protector of the orifice.

Yes, it had been good choice to come to this stinking place.

And it would get even better.