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CHAPTER TWELVE 
     
EMERY
When we break through the trees and into the middle of a road, I have to admit I’m surprised. Honestly, the idea that we’d never make it out of the forest had crossed my mind a time or two. I hadn’t lasted long riding behind Otis, especially when I full-on decided that horseback riding just wasn’t for me and jumped off to carry on with my own four feet (three and half at the moment).
The thing is, Otis claimed to know the woods well from the times his father had taken him out hunting, but I’ll have to admit, I really thought the timid teen didn’t have a lick of an idea where he was going. Hell, sometimes it seemed like his horse had a better idea, but here we are, right along the edge of a main road.
“Wait,” Graham says as a car speeds on by, not planning at all to stop for us. I’m not surprised. I’m not sure I’d stop for a group that looked as shitty as all of us. We look like we went through hell and back and then back to hell, and then we took a detour through the hellier side of hell and were spit out of hell’s asshole.
At least that’s what I feel like.
He turns to the woman who was guiding Willow. “I’m sorry, what was your name again?”
“Jayla,” she says.
“Jayla, people are going to be way more likely to stop for a woman and child. We just need a phone, and I’ll call for help,” Graham says, and I find myself unreasonably annoyed at the kind voice he’s using with her. I would be even more annoyed if he was rude to her, so I’ve decided my brain died at some point and left behind all the stupid parts.
She nods before shifting into her human form and Willow does the same.
“Here!” Otis says as he grabs for his saddle bag and extends some clothes out to her while I glare at him. He never once thought to offer me any clothes while he forced me to ride his horse naked. What the hell?
With them clothed enough to be decent, they stand on the side of the road and wave at a couple of cars before one takes a chance on them and pulls over. The man rolls his window down and looks over at them. “Are you two alright?”
“Could we please use your cell phone to call for help?” she asks.
The man looks a bit hesitant but must decide she’s alright. Graham gives me a nod. “Can you go? You look a little less… menacing.”
“Is this because I look beat to shit?” I ask as I shift. I have to stand still for a moment to deal with the horrible pain in my arm and hope it’s the last time I shift for a long while. If I were under proper treatment, it’d be well on its way to healing at this point. “I’m naked and am going to scare them off.”
Otis takes his coat off and holds it out. Putting it on my upper half probably will make me look even worse, so I tie it around my waist after thanking him and hurry over to help out Willow and Jayla. I must look like death because the driver hesitates until Jayla looks over at me.
“He’s okay. We were hurt. We just want to call someone to help, please,” she says.
I sit down in the grass, deciding it’d be less menacing and give my weary legs a chance to recover. The man gives in and hands her the phone which she carries over to me.
“Tell me when you’re ready and I’ll give you the number,” Graham says from where he’s hidden in the woods.
I give him a nod and he rattles off the number. I realize I didn’t even ask whose number it was as it rings, but it’s immediately clear.
“This is Deke Warren.”
“Deke… you’re Logan’s friend, right?” I ask.
“Yes… and this is?”
“Emery. We need your help. I don’t know where we’re at, but they’re tracking us,” I say.
He makes a sound of surprise. “Emery… Is Graham with you?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck. Okay. Fantastic. Can you give me your location?” he asks, sounding relieved.
“I don’t know, but the man whose phone this is probably could. Hold on.” I push up to my feet and look at the man. “Could you give directions to this guy?”
“Sure,” he says as he takes the phone back and starts talking to Deke. Deke must deem it good because the man hangs up. “He said to tell you he’d have the local cops respond, and then be there as soon as he can.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
“Need anything else from me?” he asks.
“No, thank you.”
I sit back down in the grass as the car drives off, knowing I should shift back before I freeze, but not wanting to deal with the pain in my arm. Graham steps out of the brush and walks up to me before sitting in front of me as a wolf. I quickly squeeze onto him, telling him I’m doing it to get warmth from him.
“Thank you. The only reason we got through all of this is you,” he says.
I shrug, not quite sure what to do with the compliment. It makes me feel oddly good, even though I feel like I just did everything I had to in order to survive and keep the others alive. “I didn’t do that much.”
“You did a lot,” he says as he inches forward. I reach out, wanting to touch him again but unsure how to without making it weird, so I just give his ear a tug.
When the police show up, they tell us they’re just staying on guard until Deke’s men arrive about an hour later. Deke isn’t with them, but they hand Graham, who’s back in his human form, a phone where he can talk to Deke before Graham agrees to let them load us up in a large combat-style vehicle that has benches in the back. Once inside, they give each of us a blanket to cover ourselves with, especially because it’s freezing out. Otis decides to stay behind with his horse, and I can’t help but wonder what’ll happen to him now. If they try to send him back with his father, I’ll likely tear some limbs from some bodies. I had Graham give him some contact numbers for the pack so he can reach out to us if he ever needs help.
I must fall asleep in the transport vehicle because the next thing I know, Graham is gently nudging me awake.
“We’re here,” he says as I look at the open door and question how I slept through it opening. I follow him out of the vehicle and look around for a moment before realizing we’re facing a large building with little character. It reminds me of the building we’d just escaped from, and when I look behind me, I see a fence that immediately makes my blood run cold.
“What’s this?” I ask anxiously.
“I don’t know, I guess their headquarters or something. They said they have their own infirmary and will help you here,” he says as he tries to guide me for the front door where they’re taking everyone else. None of them seem to have a problem with it, but I sure as hell do.
I balk at the idea of going in that building. This wasn’t the plan. The plan was to go to Quinn and the village.
I shake my head, adamant that I’m not going inside. “No. Where’s Deke? Where’s Quinn?”
Graham sets an arm behind my back to keep me from fleeing. “Emery, you have a fever and an infection. You can’t go back to the village just yet. We need you to get better first and they have an infirmary where they’re going to help you.”
That makes sense, right? I know they have Dr. Lambridge, but he just doesn’t have the resources other places would.
“Then I can go to the pack?” I ask. “After they’re done?”
“Of course.”
He guides me to the front door, and as soon as we’re inside, I see a group of people talking to each of the shifters we’d brought with us. They seem to be inquiring about wounds and other issues and separating people by who needs to go to the infirmary and who doesn’t.
A woman walks up to me and smiles. “Hi there, can I get your name?”
I stare at her, planning on telling her nothing. She doesn’t need to know anything about me.
“His name is Emery. I don’t know his last name,” Graham says.
“It’s nice to meet you, Emery. It looks like you need some medical attention. So why don’t you come with me?” she urges.
“No,” I say, very determined to go nowhere with this woman.
Graham gives me a gentle nudge toward her. “It’s fine, Emery. I’ll be right there when I’m done talking with them.”
The small part of me that’d been willing to go with her immediately dissipates as I realize he’s not planning on coming with me right now. “W-What? No. I’ll go with you, then.”
He gives me a smile and a gentle push toward her. “Emery, I’ll be there before you even get settled in. Okay? The quicker they get you fixed up, the quicker I can get you back to the pack.”
That’s the final push I need, so I give him a nod and let the woman lead me off. She takes me down a long white hallway where the walls are leaning down on me as I walk, and this twisting feeling is snaking up into my stomach and twining its way through my chest. It’s absolutely suffocating in here.
When she opens the door, the noise makes me jump, but she just smiles and guides me in and over to a bed. “Have a seat.”
I anxiously walk over to it as she heads to a cupboard and grabs a gown to replace the blanket I’m using. “Alright, Emery, the doctor will be in shortly. My name is Opal, and I’m going to get you settled in. Can you tell me your date of birth?”
I know it but the moment she asks it, it’s like my mind is blank. Completely blank. Instead, I feel a knot forming in my stomach that’s impossible to stifle.
“Do you have any allergies?” she asks.
I force myself to shake my head, even though I really don’t know. I just want her to go away and maybe she’ll leave if I answer her stupid questions.
“Let me just do an initial check while we wait.”
She reaches for me with a stethoscope, and while I sit still for that, my skin crawls at the feeling of her touch. I sit stone-still for her entire exam until she returns with a needle and fluids.
“I’m going to get an IV started, okay? Just a little poke.”
She wipes the area down as my eyes drop to it a moment before she unveils the needle. I push her off me hard enough she slams into the chair behind her and falls over it. The realization that I’ve fucked up hits me as I shift quickly and bolt. I’m stuck in the gown, but I easily tear it with my teeth as I push out into the hallway and track my way back toward the front door we’d come in through. When I reach it, I come face-to-face with the steel door, but even after I shift and try the doorknob, I can’t get it open.
The nurse is behind me, yelling something, but I’m deaf to her words as I turn and run. I’m stuck inside again, surrounded by fucking “doctors” who want to poke and prod at me. I’d rather die than go through that again. They can’t take me back. They can’t do this. I finally got free. How could I have been so naive to let them draw me back into this?
Quickly, I push past someone blocking my path, looking for any way out. I have to get away. Terror pulses through me as I search for an escape, fearing I won’t find it. Fearing that I’m locked in here and my life will again become four blank walls crushing me.
      
GRAHAM
Someone busts into the room, startling me and the woman I’m talking to. Her name is Suzuki and to my understanding, she’s directly above Deke in the hierarchy of things here, but it’s suddenly clear the newcomer isn’t looking for her when he motions to me.
“Sir, one of your shifters fled the infirmary and is trying to get out. We tried stopping him, but he won’t listen to us,” the man says.
Shit. Emery! “I’ll be right back,” I say as I step out into the hallway, glad I’d been given some clothes so I at least look decent. “Where’d you last see him?”
“This way,” he says as he hurries off with me after him.
When I reach the main hallway, I debate shifting into my other form to follow his scent, but I find that he’s easier to track than any of the other shifters, even in my human form. It’s like I’m drawn to everything about him no matter how much I try to push it off. I hurry down the hallway and when a few people try to follow me, I put my hand up.
“Let me handle him alone. He won’t hurt anyone,” I assure them as I keep moving.
I wander through the unfamiliar halls for a bit before reaching a room that I can tell he went into. Slowly, I open the door and feel around for the light.
“Emery?” I ask when I get the light turned on. It looks like it’s a supply room with shelves laden down with things, hiding him from my view.
When I find Emery in the corner, it startles me enough that I halt for a moment. He’s in his human form, pushed up against the wall, shaking. He’s not looking up at me and I’m not sure he’s noticed me as I step toward him.
It feels like someone’s pummeled me to the ground and beaten me within an inch of my life as pain fills me at seeing him like this. Why the hell did I leave him alone? I knew he didn’t want to be alone, so why would I have done it?
“Emery?” I ask, voice gentle as I step toward him slowly.
He jerks back so hard his head hits the wall. “Please, no. Please? I don’t want to. Please?”
Every word that escapes his lips twists the knife deeper inside me. “Emery, they want to help you.”
He shakes his head, and when I grab onto him, he fights against me. “They’re lying. They’re lying. They’re going to hurt me again. I’m done. I want to be done. I don’t want to hurt. I don’t want to hurt others anymore. Please?”
I kneel before him and grab tighter onto his wrist, refusing to let go no matter how hard he fights me. Needing to comfort him, I pull him onto my lap. This insane rush of anger fills me, and I want to tear apart anyone who ever hurt him. I want to protect him from anyone touching him as I pin him close to me.
“I won’t let them hurt you,” I say as my fingers dig into his back. He is mine and I will not let anyone lay a finger on him or I’ll destroy them. I’ll keep him safe. I’ll get him away from here, away from every—
Wait… no. I have to protect him by letting them help him. He’s hurt. He’s in pain and he has an infection. I can’t just whisk him away no matter how much I want to. They’re here to help him, not hurt him.
He’s stiff in my arms, like a part of him still wants to fight against me, and I just can’t understand how he can’t trust me. Does he not feel the things I feel? Does he not have the same thoughts flooding his mind as I do? Has something that’s happened to him changed him?
“Emery, I’m right here,” I say softly.
“Why’d you leave me? You fucking asshole. You left me,” he says, words sharp but the way he says them shows his pain. I feel his tension slipping as he grabs onto me and squeezes me tightly. “Why the fuck did you leave me?”
“I’m sorry,” I say, not sure myself. I guess it’s because he’s so convinced there’s nothing between us that I feel like the only way I can survive this is to distance myself when I can. But isn’t that just selfish? If he’d had a normal life, he wouldn’t have grown up like this. He wouldn’t have to second-guess it every time he puts trust in anyone. And isn’t he relying on me more than he relies on anyone? Isn’t that enough? “I shouldn’t have left you.”
“They were going to do shit to me.”
“They were trying to help you,” I say, voice gentle, otherwise I’m afraid he’s going to start thinking I’m taking their side.
He’s shaking in my arms as I run my fingers over his back, hoping to calm him enough that he settles down and I can get him some medical attention. Honestly, at this point, I’m not quite sure how without him freaking out. So I just hold him close to me and whisper words of encouragement. If only I could keep anyone else from ever hurting him.
But when he goes from leaning into me to pushing back and fighting against me, I’m quickly reminded this is my stubborn Emery. When I see that his face is red, I realize he’s embarrassed.
“I’m fine. I don’t need to be babied. I’m fine,” he says as he tries to get out of my grip.
“Just… stop,” I say and something in my voice makes him hesitate.
He still seems shaky, even though his expression is defiant. “I’m fine.”
“Of course you’re fine, but maybe I’m not,” I say, since I know him well enough to understand that he wouldn’t want to upset me.
He looks up at me. “What do you mean? What’s wrong?”
“I need a hug,” I say, even though he’s well aware I don’t actually need one, but it makes him stop fighting against me. And when he lets me pull him back into me, I’m filled with relief. I have to comfort him. Just because his panic attack has passed doesn’t mean I can’t still take care of him.
“You just want to hug me because I’m naked,” he says.
“Of course. That’s the only reason why I want to hug you,” I tease.
He’s relaxing even further into my arms as he takes a deep breath and the tension in his shoulders leaves. “I heard you be all like ‘Oh, look at the naked guy, I must fondle.’”
“Can you imagine how many people I’d be fondling? Everyone is normally naked around me. And besides that… I’ve…” I shake my head.
He pulls back enough to look at me. “You’ve what?” He’s staring closely at me and while I’d rather not talk about this, I know it’ll distract him.
“I’m not usually attracted to men. I’ve been interested in men before but never really pursued it.”
Emery raises an eyebrow. “And then the moment you saw me, it was all over? You liked the penis?”
“No, you looked like a caveman and I was like ‘What the hell happened to me?’ The other men I’ve been attracted to, I could at least see their face and it wasn’t covered by a mound of hair.”
“They sound stupid,” he says as I pick up his hand that still has a slight tremor to it. I press my forehead against Emery’s as I squeeze his hand.
“Emery, I know it’s horribly hard to trust me. I know you’ve spent countless years being forced to fend for yourself, but I’m here right now. They want to help you, and I trust them.”
“I trusted Stone too. You can’t trust anyone but yourself,” he says, but it doesn’t hold the conviction it used to when he’d say things like this.
“Can you trust me?” I ask.
He doesn’t answer, so I deem it good enough.
“Come on. I was talking to Deke’s boss and she said they have rooms for us to stay in to keep us comfortable and safe until they can get Quinn here. We’ll get you cleaned up first. Come on.”
He’s hesitant, but when I rise and pull him with me, he stands up. I tug my shirt off and slide it over his head. It falls down enough to cover him. But when I take his hand, he puts on the brakes.
“On second thought, I want to stay here. So how about when it’s time to go, you come get me?” he asks.
“You just want to be a supply closet gremlin?”
He doesn’t seem to have a problem with that as he nods. “Yes, please.”
“M’kay. I’m going to say no,” I say as I give him a gentle tug. He just stares at me. “Trust me. You trust me, right?”
With a deep breath, he takes one step forward before following me back to the infirmary—the biggest show of trust. When I lead him inside, I can just feel the tension fill his body, but I don’t let him run. I stand right beside him, hand on his shoulder, as a doctor comes in and smiles.
“Hi there, Emery, I’m Doctor Potts,” she says as she gets him a pair of pants before sitting down. “We’re just going to get you cleaned up, on some antibiotics and send you on your way, okay? We’re going to skip the IVs and all that other jazz.”
Emery doesn’t respond but I give her a nod. She’s quick as she cleans up his arm, opting not to do anything more besides starting him on some oral antibiotics. Since she assumed Emery would want to take a shower, she left it unwrapped but gave me instructions on how to clean and wrap it after the shower. It’s clear she wants it so everything possible can be done by me, which seems to sate Emery.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Emery more excited than he is when he escapes out of that room. Right outside, Suzuki is waiting for us with a smile. “Pleasure to meet you, Emery,” she says, but Emery ignores her. She doesn’t seem to mind and turns to me. “Deke is dealing with something and will be here, hopefully, within a few hours. I’d really like to keep you here until we know it’s safe, even if it’s just for a night, but I understand if you have to go. Please at least stay until Deke is back, if that’s possible. We have some rooms set up for you, too. Come on, you can take a shower and get cleaned up, take a nap, whatever you’d like.”
She leads us along down a different hallway and to a set of small rooms the other shifters we’d been separated from are probably in. “Graham, you can have the one on the right and Emery, you can have the one on the left. As soon as I hear back from Deke, I’ll let you guys know. But for now, get a shower and some rest.”
“Millston,” Emery says.
“What’s that?”
“Where the trucker said he was taking us when I threatened him. He said Millston, but that’s all I know,” Emery says before hurrying through the door into his room.
“Interesting. I’ll see if I can come across anything when I run that through the system. Tell him I said thank you,” Suzuki says before giving me a smile and heading back the way she came.
OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER THIRTEEN 
     
EMERY
As soon as I’m out of the shower, I look around the dreadfully small room. At least there’s a huge window that I can open and see out of. I sit at the head of the bed and stare out the window for a good ten minutes before realizing that it’s still fucking stuffy in here and the walls are far too close for comfort. I hurry out into the hallway before going to Graham’s room.
Without bothering to knock, I push the door open, pleased to see it’s not locked, and look around the empty room that appears identical to mine. I can hear his shower going from the small connected bathroom.
But how long does it take him to shower?
I quickly open his window, letting in the cool breeze, before heading into the bathroom. I’m clearly uninvited, but I have my doubts he’ll mind.
“Are you alright, Emery?” Graham asks from inside the glass shower.
“It’s not Emery,” I say.
“Of course not,” he says as I pull the door open and look in at the rather naked man. He has his eyes closed, washing some soap out, but opens them to look at me in confusion as I watch the water roll down his bare chest over his stomach and disappear between his legs.
I glance up as he stares at me, far too gentlemanly to say anything about me perusing his body with my eyes. Without waiting for anything, I drop the clean shirt that’d been delivered to my room as well as my pants before stepping in with him and sliding the door closed.
“W-What are you doing?” he asks, like he could possibly be confused.
“Giving you a blow job,” I say as I drop to my knees.
“Uhhh… hold on…” he says as I grab his cock.
I “hold on” and look up at him even though his eyes clearly state he’s not into “holding on.” I raise an eyebrow, finding myself amused by his expression. “No blow job?”
He really looks like he wants one. The battle of his expressions is rather amusing. “Um… I thought… you didn’t really like me that way. You refuse to let me get close to you, and my god, it’s really distracting talking to you with your hand on me.”
I glance down at his cock that’s still in my hand then up at him. “I don’t need a wedding ring to give you a blow job. Do you want one or not?”
It’s clear he wants one. He’s fooling no one as he stares at me. “You’re hurt and should be resting and—”
“I’m pretty sure a blow job isn’t as strenuous as hiking forever. I’m fine,” I assure him as I slide my fingers along his cock. “You sure look interested down here.” I glance up at him, pleased to see how interested he is as his eyes lock on to mine and the water hitting him splashes off to sprinkle down on me.
“Well… yes… I might be… but…” He can’t even come up with a good excuse.
I slide a finger under the base as I raise an eyebrow. “But?”
He’s really debating this, though he’s failing miserably. “But… but…”
“But? Or butt?” I ask with a smirk.
“Do you even like me?” he asks.
I stare at him, refusing to answer such a dumb question when I’m sure he could figure it out himself. Does he really think I’d have followed just anyone around? Or listened to them? Or let them hold me or comfort me?
His expression changes, like maybe something’s finally dawned on him.
I use the look as encouragement to rub my hand around his cock that’s growing hard. He’s way more into this than he’s letting on and that fills me with some weird sense of pleasure. When I swirl my tongue around the tip, he’s all done talking about “buts,” and I have his full attention on me.
And it pleases me so much.
It’s like I’m overwhelmed suddenly with the desire to make him happy, make him stare only at me, care only about me. I’ve felt things about him since I met him, and I know I’ve viciously stomped them all down and stubbornly refused any semblance of a relationship with him. But I’m not sure how much longer I can feign indifference when I keep letting him in more and more.
I sink down on his cock as I shift my unhurt hand down to my own erection. The rumbling groan that escapes him fills me with so much happiness and pleasure. He’s mine. All mine. And I’m making what is mine happy.
Fuck…
I push those thoughts away and just focus on making both of us feel good. I slide my mouth down him as I reach up and rub my fingers over his base. It’s like he’s melting into my touch and I can’t get enough of it. Even when he’s getting close and he gives me a gentle warning, I refuse to pull back.
And as he comes into my mouth and I can hear his moans, I’m filled with this ridiculous amount of pleasure that he is mine. He’s here with me and he’s not going to hurt me or leave me.
Graham pulls me up and his mouth crashes against mine as one hand grabs my ass cheek, pulling me forward as he fumbles with something a moment before his slick fingers wrap around my cock. I moan against his lips as he begins to stroke me. His strong arms hold me close as his tongue brushes against mine and I let them tangle, let myself fall into all of this as heat rises everywhere my skin touches his.
It doesn’t take long for me to reach my climax; I was already throbbing for release by the time he pulled me up to him. And just his simple touch seems to be driving me crazy as I moan and come hits his lower stomach, quickly washed away by the shower.
Even then, he doesn’t let me go—he holds me in close, his fingers roaming as mine stay pressed against his chest. A part of me wants to let them wander, they’re aching to do so, but now that the heat of the moment has passed, I feel a bit hesitant.
What if I’m letting him in only to be completely destroyed when he leaves?
“Hold on. Your arm. You need to be resting and… stuff,” he says, snapping me out of the horrible part of my brain that falls into the darkness created by those I’d previously trusted.
He shuts the shower off, quickly dries me, and ushers me over to the bed all before I can process what’s happening.
“I’m not as fragile as you think I am,” I say stubbornly.
“I don’t think you’re fragile at all. I’m more than positive you could kick my ass with two hands tied,” he says, even though he towers over me. It pleases me that he thinks so. “But I’m still going to make sure you’re okay.”
I give him a rather unattractive grunt that kind of tells him I get what he’s saying but also tells him I think it’s ridiculous.
“Why’s it so cold in here?” he asks as he looks around. It is rather chilly.
“Because I opened the window,” I say, which he’s already eyeing.
“I see that. Why’d you open the window?”
I don’t want to tell him it’s because of how stuffy the room felt, so I just shrug.
He hurries over to it before closing it and coming back to me where he continues to dry me off like I have no functioning hands. Then he grabs the medical supplies the doctor had given him and sets to work on fixing me up.
And I find that I don’t even mind the window being closed when he’s in here with me. The feeling of suffocating in here has slowly passed because I have him standing beside me.
When he finishes, he looks up at me from where he kneels. “I think we should get some sleep.”
“Fine. I’m sleeping in here,” I say as I crawl into the single bed that clearly won’t fit both of us. “Come, boy.” I pat the bed like I would for a dog.
Graham sighs and shifts into his wolf form, immediately knowing what I was asking for, before climbing into the bed. I grab onto the fluffy monster and cling to his warm body.
“You’re rather naked,” he mutters.
“I sure am. You feel really fluffy on my naked body,” I say as I squeeze him to me.
“Is this weird?”
“It’s only weird if you think about it too long,” I assure him as I pull him in close and tug the covers over us. It is rather chilly from the window being open for so long, so it’s good I have him to warm me up. “When we get out of here… what do we do?”
“Like?”
“For fun?”
“Hmm… you’ve been on some of Quinn’s pack runs. We started that when we were young. We didn’t have anything but each other while we struggled to get food or find shelter some days, but one thing we always tried to do was go for a run on the weekends. There was something extremely freeing about it. Something… that allowed us to just forget everything else and feel the wind and nature and be with each other.”
“That sounds amazing… I’m sorry you had a shit childhood but I’m glad you had your brother.”
“I’m not sure what I’d have done without him. I’ll guarantee you I wouldn’t have ended up the person I am today.”
“But what did you do for fun? Like… collect rocks or something?”
“I like to do fairly normal things like watch TV. I also like sports.”
“Is it because they get to throw a ball around and you’re a dog at heart?”
He huffs, but he’s clearly amused. “Maybe.”
“Do you play sports?”
“Eh, sometimes I can talk the pack into our own mini football or baseball game. Sometimes soccer. But it’s always just for fun since no one really knows what they’re doing.”
“Sounds kind of fun.”
“Do you like sports?”
“I don’t know. Never really watched them.”
“Well, I’ll make you watch them with me.”
“Sounds torturous.” I smile as I close my eyes, and even though I feel like everything has gone to shit around me, I feel at ease for the first time in a long time. “I’m only holding you because you’re warm.”
“Of course. How dare I think anything else?”
I grin as I press my face into his fur and realize this bed really isn’t made for a huge wolf and me, but it’ll have to do.
Especially when I feel the best I have in a very long time.