“And the halves of the carvings? How do they know who belongs to who?”
“We, the wolf kind, know who to pursue by scent. Humans have a rougher time finding their human counterparts. But it seems that if a human is meant to be with a wolf, they’re instantly attracted to them. Sometimes a human will scent their wolf, too.”
Cameron relaxed a little, feeling as if he’d reached stable ground now that Gabe had said something he could relate to. “I get the scent part. You know, because of pheromones and all. And I have been interested in you from the start… Smelled you…” He glanced down at the dust-covered hardwood floor and sighed.
How could he believe some of Gabe’s story but not all of it? Either it all had to be true or it didn’t, right? Yet there were scientific studies done on the sense of smell, and there was the curse. He’d had dreams relating to what Gabe had said. He knew Gabe.
But still. Immortals? Shifters?
“Is seeing believing?” Gabe asked.
Cameron looked up and bit his lip to keep from screaming. Wide-eyed, he stared at the tour guide whose facial features and earlobes had elongated into the snout and pointed ears of a wolf.
Chapter Ten
“I’m so sorry.” Gabe’s face immediately returned to normal, and he reached out to steady Cameron. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just didn’t know what else to do to prove that I’m above board.”
Cameron nodded and stepped away from the man who could perform a bizarre parlor trick. The trip. The canyon. Meeting Gabriel Dyson. Kidnapped. Seeing Gabe change. Sure, Cameron had odd encounters with wolves and dogs. There really weren’t any shifters in the world, though, right? Except Gabe had just shown him something incredible that blew everything he knew about the physical world out of the water. He didn’t know how much more he could take before his mind short circuited. “It’s okay. I’m okay. A lot to take in, ya know?” He shook his head and muttered under his breath, “Your teeth. My neck. Twice.”
“God, Cameron. I apologize for that, too. I just wanted to keep you safe until we could cross paths and become one as a couple. You know, it really sucks being an immortal and having a human as a lover since humans tend to get sick, or get hurt and die easily. Including you over the centuries. Every time we got close and I was about to claim you, you died, and I had to wait for your spirit to come through to the physical again. This time, though, I’d given you a gift, one which I’d hoped would benefit us. The scratch of my wolf fangs helped you survive that traffic accident. It helped our minds to stay connected. I’d hoped, in the long run, the gift would benefit our relationship by allowing you to accept me … us … easier. You must have seen after the bites that your skin was fine. Have you ever thought about why you heal so easy and fast? Why you survived that crash?”
He couldn’t deny that those questions had crossed his mind over the years. The air deflated out of Cameron’s lungs in a heavy breath, and he turned back to the window. “How I never seem to catch a cold or the flu anymore? Yeah, I’ve wondered about it. Part of me figured I’ve been lucky.” He glanced over his shoulder at Gabe.
The man had hung his head, and his body stance even seemed defeated. “I’ve done all I could to keep you safe and healthy until we joined, to make sure we could become one as is our destiny.” The words were quiet, almost as if he was talking to himself. “Though I’ve tried, I can’t make this easier for you to hear and to accept my confession about who and what I am, making you believe we’re two halves of a whole.”
With a sigh, Gabe raised his head and gazed at Cameron with a softness Cameron remembered from his dreams. “If you don’t truly remember or trust our connection, then I can’t try to force you to anymore. Just know this. I love you, Mate. Always have and always will. Perhaps in your next life you will be—”
“What did you just call me?” Cameron asked and took a tentative step toward Gabe. He found it hard to believe what he’d heard after all the shit Gabe had spewed.
“What I’ve always called you. Mate. You’re my friend, my companion … my mate.”
Visions of the hut replayed in his mind’s eye. Memories of the past several years followed, swelling and cresting, until they overflowed in his brain. All that Gabe had told him coalesced with everything Cameron remembered about his supposed past lives and the dreams of Gabe he’d had. Then one thought rang clear. Dyson … Dice. “Board games?” he croaked out.
Gabe laughed, breaking the tension in the room. “Yes. Love them all … to the bane of my sister’s existence since she’s normally the one who has to play with me. She’s the one who gave me the nickname decades ago, saying it went well with my affinity for games using dice and our last name.”
Cameron wavered and Gabe was immediately in front of him, bracing him by the upper arms. He didn’t want to believe the stuff Gabe had told him about his family and the sticks since it all seemed so fanciful, but he couldn’t dispel the fact that everything made sense now. Plus, deep down he knew it was all true. Gabe spoke nothing but the truth. Gabe had saved him again and again.
Other than his immediate family, no one had ever loved him enough to watch over him as Gabe had.
He looked into the beautiful green eyes with their flecks of gold. I can’t believe I’m with my dream man, the guy I was instantly attracted to as a teen. In his soul, heart, and mind, he finally accepted Gabe’s story. Shifter or not, wolf or man, he realized he loved Gabe and wanted to be with him. He couldn’t imagine living without Gabe now that they were together.
“Gabe? Could I ask you one more thing?”
“Yes, Mate?”
Cameron embraced him. “Now that we’re face to face, and we’re alone without a chance of being interrupted, could we make love? I want to feel my man’s body against mine in the here and now.”
Gabe answered in the form of a kiss and sought dominance with a probing tongue. As they made out like a couple of teenagers left home alone, he turned Cameron and backed him up against a wall.
Clawing at Gabe’s back, Cameron smiled against the man’s mouth, and his heart thudded in his chest from excitement. He still couldn’t believe being with Gabe was real, that it wasn’t a dream. Wanting more, to hold him and never let him go, to touch him with every inch of himself, he pressed his body up against Gabe’s solid form. He reciprocated in the kiss with as much gusto as Gabe put into it.
“This is amazing,” Gabe said as he paused for air. “You’re with me. We’re together. At last. I’d have continued doing anything, including moving heaven and Earth to find you. To be with you.”
“I agree. It’s amazing,” Cameron answered and leaned away. “You’ve possessed my spirit for ages, my mind with our shared dreams, and soon you’ll possess my body. I’m almost speechless with how happy I am.”
“I’m happy, too.” Gabe clasped the back of Cameron’s head. “And once I possess your body as you put it, you’re mine. No other man will ever have you again.” His voice rolled low and seductive. He pressed his mouth upon Cameron’s in a quick kiss, then laid a hand upon the bulge in Cameron’s shorts. “You’re nice and hard.”
Tingles raced through Cameron’s body. He trembled from Gabe’s bold statements and touch. He swallowed hard. “You do happen to have condoms and lube handy this time, don’t you?”
“Actually, I do.” Gabe captured his mouth in another quick kiss, then said, “Take off your clothes. Now.”
His blood boiled like molten lava at Gabe’s sexy command, and keeping his gaze pinned to his man’s, Cameron pulled his shirt up and over his head, then slipped his shorts and underwear down his legs.
Cameron watched Gabe’s gaze travel up and down his naked body. Every second of Gabe’s frank appraisal made him want the man even more.
“The couch isn’t all that comfortable, as you’ve probably noticed,” Gabe said. “There’s no bed in here either. There’s a bench outside and a few pieces of lawn furniture cushions. If you’re feeling kinky, we could do it out there.”
&n
bsp; “Sure. I’m up for it.”
“Great. After you, Mate.” Gabe swept his arm toward the door.
Naked as the day he was born, Cameron headed out onto the porch with Gabe close on his heels.
“Around to your left,” Gabe directed.
Cameron stopped next to the bench and faced Gabe. “What would you like me to do? Tell me.” Like Gabe, he’d do just about anything for his mate.
“Just stand there for the time being. Stay facing me and put your hands on the railing behind you.” As Cameron did as requested, Gabe smiled. “Nice.” He smoothed a hand down the center of his chest and abdomen, then gently fondled his cock. “I’m going to taste you now. Spread your legs.”
Once again, he did as the tour guide asked. Goosebumps broke out along his arms as a mountain breeze swept over them. Keeping a slight hold on Cameron’s cock, Gabe sank to the floorboards, coming to rest on his knees, and then kissed and licked the head and shaft. Gabe’s breath rustled the fine hairs of Cameron’s crotch, and Cameron couldn’t quash the massive flight of butterflies in his stomach.
“Take me, Gabe. Let me feel myself inside you.”
Cameron watched as inch by inch his shaft slid into Gabe’s mouth. Nerve endings throughout his body arced with electricity from the soft feel of the man’s lips on his length. Yes, definitely better in person.
He wanted to reach down and clasp Gabe’s head, thread his fingers through his almost white locks, but Gabe hadn’t told him to let go of the banister. The more Gabe glided along his cock, licking and sucking, teasing his balls with the tip of his tongue, the more Cameron enjoyed how erotically charged the situation was. Outdoors. Naked. Unable to touch his lover while said lover was still completely clothed and giving him a blow job. Tilting his head back, Cameron closed his eyes so he could better savor Gabe’s command of his cock. “Fuck, Gabe. Your mouth feels incredible.”
Gabe licked his way off his shaft, grasped it in a semi-closed fist and pumped his hand as he stared up at him. “I’m going to go grab what we need. You, lay down on the bench on your back with your head hanging over the end.”
After Gabe disappeared into the house, Cameron got into position, then watched, upside down, as Gabe, now naked himself, returned with a bottle in one hand and a box in the other. He placed the items on the deck next to the bench.
“Take my cock into your mouth, Cameron.”
Gabe didn’t have to ask him twice. Cameron swallowed down Gabe’s velvety steel shaft. The mushroom head hit the back of his mouth and slid into his throat. Gabe bucked his hips, shifting his length in and out of Cameron.
Cameron showered the cock with enthusiastic attention while Gabe hovered over him and began to finger his puckered hole. He couldn’t keep his mouth or his hips still as Gabe stretched his ass. Just as he found a good rhythm with the blow job, Gabe slid out and stood.
“Stand up and turn around.” Gabe twirled his finger. “Lean on the railing.”
More heat raced through Cameron’s veins and into his cock. How it got harder, he didn’t know, but he wasn’t complaining. Moments later, cool lube coated his crack, and Gabe’s fingers worked the gel in and around his sphincter. The guide’s touch alone seemed to elicit every smidgen of pleasure available in Cameron’s body. He couldn’t wait to experience the thrill of Gabe’s cock in him.
As if reading his mind, there came a tear of foil, and seconds after, Gabe stepped up behind him then buried his cock in Cameron’s ass. He held onto the railing as Gabe rocked his hips and thrust his penis in and out of him. Consumed and overflowing with primal desire, every thought about the past few days fell away, and all Cameron could do was enjoy the ride.
Grunts, moans and heavy breaths filled the area around them. Gabe reached around and grasped Cameron’s cock, stroking him in time with the thrusts.
This act of intimacy with Gabe was wonderful, was miles above all his other lovers. He couldn’t imagine being with anyone else anymore. “I love you, Gabe,” the words fell out of his mouth without thought, but they were the truest words he’d ever spoken. “Ever since I saw you sitting at that fire, I knew you were the only man for me.”
“Would you like to be with me for eternity?”
Eternity? Could he make that kind of commitment? Did he even want to become immortal? Cameron glanced over his shoulder and caught Gabe’s passion-filled gaze. His heart swelled with love, and his mind once again filled with memories of all they’d experienced together in their dream and waking worlds. So if he had to make that kind of life-changing decision… “Yes. Claim me. Make me yours forever.”
Gabe rubbed his back in gentle circles. “To claim you, I’ll have to bite you. Not just a scratch this time. It’s the only way I can bring you on the immortal journey with me.”
He stiffened. “Uh, will I shift after?”
“No.” Gabe chuckled. “It’s not like in the werewolf movies. The mix of blood and saliva will transfer the property needed for immortality, but that’s it.”
“All right. If it will allow us to be together for always, then go for it.” He went back to staring at the vast landscape, not yet wanting to see the process Gabe had to go through to be able to bite him.
It took a minute before Cameron felt the needle-like sting of teeth in his back. The punctures were weirdly painful and pleasurable at the same time. At first he wanted to scream and moan, writhe away from Gabe. But his love held firm to him and soon a feeling of bliss swept through Cameron. The scents that reminded him of holidays at home—cider, pie and pine—surrounded them.
“God, Gabe, you feel and smell so good. I can’t wait any longer. I’m going to come.”
“Then come, my love. I’ll soon follow.”
As they burst with their climaxes, a thought that sang through Cameron’s head was that he was finally home.
Satiated from their lovemaking, they sat on the bench, wrapped in each other’s arms. Cameron couldn’t believe how complete he felt, as if missing pieces of himself had been put back and sealed in place. “Gabe?”
“Yes, Mate?”
“I know that to us our relationship has progressed on a somewhat normal course. For the two of us at least. That me wanting to be with you for eternity and your claiming me wasn’t a quick, spur of the moment decision and action. I mean, after all, we’d known each other in other lifetimes. In this one we’ve been together, albeit in our dreams, for almost two decades. For you and me, it’s more like it’s about time rather than holy shit you two committed to each other pretty quick. But since others will only see that we just met and put our relationship into the abnormal, holy shit slot, you think we could keep all this quiet for a while? Pretend we’re having a normal, um … human relationship? Then a few months from now do the whole commitment thing, like an engagement followed by marriage? That is… If… If that’s a route you want to go.”
“Oh, babe.” Gabe gave Cameron a squeeze. “Of course that’s a path we can take. I’d love to show the world that we’re united as one being, one soul, sooner rather than later, but I understand where you’re coming from. That people will only see the whirlwind relationship and won’t understand how we’ve been connected for ages. We’ll do as you suggest, and when we both feel the time is right, we’ll have the biggest commitment ceremony and celebration anyone has ever seen.”
“That sounds wonderful.” Cameron gazed at Gabe and kissed him, a brief, tender peck to the lips. “Thank you.”
“Anything for you, Mate.”
Cameron settled against his man again, happier than he’d been in ages. Once they returned to their campground in the canyon, he’d have to thank his brother, Jarrod, for dragging him out to the middle of nowhere. For it was in the canyon Cameron had finally found his other half—the man with the wolf soul and spirit, the man with whom he’d be happy for centuries to come.
Epilogue
Hours later at the ’pound…
“Blood! Blood! Blood!”
The gang’s frenetic chanting echoed
off the mountains surrounding the canyon. People pushed toward the perimeter of the fighting ring created from thin rustic wood logs. Vertical pieces were supported by others in the shape of an X. The sparring boundary had been quickly erected the night before, and like all the other times it’d been assembled when needed, it wasn’t the sturdiest. In their haste, the men hadn’t pounded the ends of the Xs into the ground very far. Not like anything could be stuck securely into the cement-like Nevada dirt without the proper tools and time.
Dante “Tex” Valentin looked at the poles nestled in the Vs of the Xs. They weren’t roped down.
Easily accessible. Too handy.
No doubt the combatants would each grab a log from the barricade and use it as a weapon in hopes to get the upper hand at some point.
I’d sure use anything at my disposal. He let out a short grunt-slash-chuckle sound. Then again, I have. This time all Tex cared about was that it wasn’t him on the other side of the fence beating the shit out of one of his Helldorado Mongrels brothers.
Been there. Done that. Bored with that activity, he thought with apathy. Seemed like nothing exciting happened in the god forsaken, hot desert wasteland anymore. Just the same ol’ shit day in and day out … drinking, fornicating, stealing, killing, riding, fighting then repeat.
Except for the past few days.
A horn sounded. The crowd erupted in a deafening cheer and surged in a frenzied mass. Tex no longer could hear himself think. People pressed into the gaps around him. He fought his way out of the sea of bodies to put some distance between himself, the group, and the ring.
The whole scene reminded him of gladiator movies. Crazy crowds. Tyrannical leaders. Men in loin cloths battling with their sheer brawn. Soon he’d witness something like in the movies in the compound’s ring.
“Tex, where you think you goin’?”
A beefy hand came down on top of Tex’s shoulder. “Nowhere, Thumbs. Don’t want to feel like a sardine today. That’s all.” Unlike everyone around him, he wasn’t thrilled about watching the upcoming event. Something he’d been scenting on the wind had been unsettling him. For the life of him he couldn’t figure out what it was, and with his mind otherwise occupied, he couldn’t bring himself to enjoy what was about to happen.
Possessed by Him Page 8
