Shifting

by Shifting (anth. )(Rob Knight Editor)(Torquere)(lit)

  He considered getting the spray hose from the kitchen sink for about two shakes, then decided on the wisest of all possible courses.

  Coffee.

  Sugar.

  Cream.

  Two mugs.

  He was right. It was the best thing to do. When they were done, Seamus was the one still standing, and Bruiser was the one on the floor, throat and belly bared. Seamus stood, shook, and stepped back. "You got that coffee, babe?"

  "Yep." Keith stepped over the thrown plate and handed it over, voice calm and steady. He was getting lots of practice at calm and steady. Okay, okay. He was getting lots of practice at pretending to be calm and steady. "Bruiser, pick up your mess, please. You want some eggs, love?"

  "Yeah. Want me to make them while you sit a bit?" There was a bruise popping up on Seamus' cheek, and those strong hands were scratched.

  "I got it." He growled low, snapping at Bruiser to move. Damnit, he was tired of the fighting and the hurting and the growling and...

  Calm.

  Ca-a-a-a-a-a-a-alm.

  Bruiser actually did, slowly, obviously sore. But the kid did what he was told, cleaning up the broken plate and wasted food. Keith would not feel sorry for him. Not.

  He made eggs enough for Seamus, and if there was enough for Bruiser to have some... Well, that wasn't so bad, right? Wasn't feeling sorry for the pup.

  Nope. Not even when the kid sat in the corner, shivering and whimpering rather than growling.

  Seamus took the plate and gave him a soft kiss. "Thanks, babe."

  "No problem. I love you." He fixed another plate and sat it on the table, then went over to the pup. "You wanna try again?"

  "No." The command was sharp, backed up by a full Alpha growl. "He has to prove to me he deserves it. You sit and eat."

  He sighed, giving Seamus a long, quiet look before moving to the table and picking at his eggs. "I hate this, love. All the fighting. Is it always like this?"

  "Only when the kid is as strong as Bruiser." Seamus flashed him a tired smile, followed by a wince. "I was much worse."

  "Yeah?" He reached over, cupped Seamus' cheek. "Did you rumble with your Alpha? I remember arguing with my Uncle Richard -- he's the one who raised me after my folks died. We used to have terrible yelling matches."

  "Oh, man. Yeah. And see, I was raised in packlands, in the territory of the biggest, meanest red there was. I tied it up with him but good. He kicked my ass." Seamus leaned into his hand, those bright eyes closing for an instant.

  His heart beat hard for this man. Keith leaned over and took a kiss, free hand brushing through Bruiser's thick hair as the pup came, whimpering and sorry, looking for forgiveness.

  Seamus took the kiss, relaxed and loving, tasting him long and deep. Then his mate pulled back and touched the deep spot of color on Bruiser's throat. "You ready to behave for your breakfast, kid?"

  Bruiser whined, nuzzling Seamus' hand and nodding. Poor pup -- all tied up in hormones and just wanting to go back to normal.

  Keith could remember that.

  "C'mere." Seamus pulled the pup up between them, across those strong thighs, cradling the kid close and handing over his fork. "Here. Have at. It's all we've got until we can go out."

  "I vote we go eat at the steakhouse and then do the grocery shopping." Bruiser gave him a grateful look. The kid loved the ice cream sundaes there and the art and the smell of leather booths.

  "Yeah. I think that sounds good. But only if someone lets us have some alone time tonight." Seamus winked at him over Bruiser's head.

  He grinned, feeling warmth bloom in his belly. "We'll rent him a movie or two."

  "Lassie." Seamus cracked up as Bruiser growled, ruffling the kid's hair. "Yeah. Sounds like a plan."

  "Cool." He gave Seamus a sidelong look. "We could use a shower..."

  "So we could. Bruise, go get cleaned up while we clean up the rest of the kitchen." Seamus deliberately did not look at him until the pup was gone, moving on Seamus' word like he hadn't since the change.

  He moved over, replacing Bruiser on those strong thighs, fingers stroking Seamus' face. "Hey."

  "Hey." Oh, his love looked worn. "He's gonna be the death of me, babe."

  "He'll be the pride of your life, love." He petted and hummed. "He'll have a pack of his own and he'll tell his puppies about his Alpha, the biggest bad ass in the whole world."

  "Yeah." Nuzzling, licking, Seamus laughed, air puffing across his chin. "I love you. Couldn't do it without you."

  "No. You couldn't." He leaned in, took a long, soft kiss. "We'll get massage oil at the store, yeah? Spend the evening touching each other?"

  "Oh. Oh, yeah." There was the growl he wanted, full of sex and need.

  "Cool." He held his mate for a minute, then stood. "Come on. Let's get things put together and take the pup out and exhaust him again."

  Maybe then they'd survive another day.

  ~Chapter Nineteen~

  "What happens if you get a tattoo, a body piercing? Hell, a cast?" Keith wandered out of the kitchen, licking a popsicle, popping Bruiser's fingers when the brat tried to steal it. "Go get your own, Bruise."

  He bounced down on the sofa next to Seamus, grinning. "So? When we change, what happens then?"

  Seamus stared at him. "What? Are you feeling okay?"

  "Fine. Just curious. Well, I mean, Bruiser and I saw this guy today at the grocers -- all tattooed and pierced and shit. Bruise was asking questions and I didn't know some of the answers." Not only that, but he'd had two coffees at the store and one on the way home, so BOING.

  Seamus was still staring at him. Like, really staring. "Fuck if I know, babe. I don't have any. I was always afraid to get pierced. Can you imagine me all fuzzy with this thing sticking out?"

  He giggled -- hard, tickled down deep. "Oh! Oh, love, that would be... weird as fuck. What about the cast? What happens if we get hurt?"

  "We heal. Usually if we get hurt that bad we go feral, babe. We heal faster in that state." Grinning, all teeth, Seamus leaned over and tickled him.

  He squeaked and arched, almost losing his popsicle as he twisted, giggling and happy. Keith snapped the popsicle up, laplaplapsnapgobble, and then pounced, nipping Seamus' jaw before bounding away.

  Playtime.

  "Oh. Gonna get you, cub. Gonna eat you all up." Seamus bounced along behind him, growling, feet slapping on the floor.

  Oh, yes. He shivered, giving a bright, happy bark, spinning to nip his mate again and avoid being cornered.

  They romped, Seamus moving him inexorably toward the bedroom, pushing and pushing until he was good an trapped, only the bed between him and getting caught. Seamus was laughing, growling. Happy.

  He leapt up onto the bed, ass wiggling, teasing. He was more just happy than needy, but always wanting. Always.

  Leaping after him, Seamus bounced on the bed, tackling him down under that big heavy body. "We should tattoo your butt, cub, see what happens when you change."

  Keith laughed, wriggling until he could breath easy. "Oh no. You first. You're the big stud Alpha male. You go first."

  "Hey, if I'm the big Alpha male I should tattoo your ass with my mark, yeah." Bending, Seamus bit his ass.

  He yelped, jerking hard, cock throbbing (not to mention the spot on his ass). "Toothy bastard!"

  "You know it. Love your ass, cub." Licking, nuzzling, Seamus proved the point, pulling at his pants to get them off.

  "You mean this skinny old thing?" He wiggled again, teasing. "It's taken. Big, red-headed Alpha claimed it."

  "Mmmmhmmm. He's damned happy with it, too. Fuck, cub. Gimme lube." Seamus traced his crease, pushing at him.

  "Pushy, pushy... Oh... That's good. There." He scrabbled for the tube, passing it back as his thighs parted.

  The pants went away, completely ripped free by Seamus' big hands, and Seamus licked and nipped at him, tongue pushing between his cheeks as Seamus grabbed the lube.

  Keith arched, eyes rolling, want going from zero to sixty in no ti
me. "Seamus! Love!"

  "Fuck yeah." Tongue pushing in again and again, Seamus drove him crazy, hands sliding under him to play with his cock and balls. Low growls sounded, vibrating against him.

  He whimpered and moved, body and voice begging for it, shameless and wanton. Loved his Seamus. His mate. Loved.

  "Now, cub. Now. Gonna do you." Seamus moved up close behind him, hands spreading him wide, heavy cock nudging him. Pushing in.

  "Yes. Mate. Now." He pushed back, crying out with the heat and pleasure of it.

  The snarl breathed against his neck made his skin pebble up, and Seamus surged into him, pushing hard.

  Toes curling, Keith bent his head forward, offering Seamus his nape, the action instinctive.

  A sharp bark and the feeling of teeth closing hard on the back of his neck answered his motion, Seamus lunging into him. Hard.

  He cried out, body rippling, lightning flashing along his spine. "Seamus! Mate!"

  "Mate. Mine. Love you, cub." Hard, sharp thrusts rocked him as Seamus took him, claimed him, over and over. The scent was pure, rutting male.

  "Yours. Love you." He reached down, grabbed his cock, started pumping, body clenching around that hard prick.

  They rutted. Grunting and pushing and killing him with pleasure, Seamus gave and took and swelled even larger in him. Those sharp teeth closed on him again, hard enough that he felt his skin open up, Seamus howling as the pleasure took over, that thick cock throbbing deep in him.

  He sobbed, literally sobbed as he came, room spinning wildly, spunk shooting over his fingers, his belly, the mattress.

  "Oh, cub." They went down, Seamus falling half atop him, half off. "Love."

  "Uh-huh. Love. Oh." He shivered, gasping for breath, pushing into Seamus' arms.

  "I don't need a tattoo to know who you belong to, babe." Seamus licked him, tongue rasping on his skin. Then Seamus laughed. "But it would be cool to see what it does when you changed."

  Keith chuckled and snuggled. "Beautiful bastard. Would be, wouldn't it?"

  "Yeah. It would." Laughing aloud, Seamus hugged him tight. "We'll get Bruiser to get one."

  "Property of Liz and Jade."

  "Yeah. Whipped hound."

  They laughed and snuggled and the coffee wore off enough for him to start to doze off.

  But the image of a pierced, fuzzy Seamus chased him into his dreams.

  ***

  They were walking. Outside. At dusk.

  Seamus was impressed. The kid wasn't even fuzzy, not a bit. Bruiser was walking upright, and not stopping to sniff everything, though the occasional pretty girl made that beaky nose twitch. The kid had a nose that wouldn't quit, even as a human.

  But man, did the teenage girls have a thing for him. If they had tails? They'd be squirming and wagging.

  The kid was sex on two legs, really. Bristling with hormones, and throwing out pheromones like there was no tomorrow. Had been for the last week. It was like as Bruiser got better at being a human, walking and talking almost normally, the worse he got with the horny.

  Seamus and Keith were running him until he collapsed at night and then fucking like bunnies from just breathing the air.

  Bruiser half turned as they passed a burger place, licking his chops, and Seamus pulled him back with little trouble, Bruiser growling but acquiescent. Seamus was damned proud.

  "It'll soon be time to take him home, babe."

  Keith looked over, eyebrow arched. "Yeah? He's being good, love. I promised him we'd stop at the arcade if he behaved himself."

  "Oh, yeah. That's fine. And not what I meant." Seamus shook his head. "I mean for good."

  "You mean... " Keith stumbled over his own feet, frowning deep. "No. Not yet. It can't be time already, can it?"

  Oh, man. He knew this was gonna be hard. He shoulda kept his mouth shut until they got home. Seamus grabbed Bruiser to keep him from running off after a sweet little brunette, and righted Keith with his other hand. "Yeah. He's learned a lot. But he's gonna bust at the seams soon, and we can't help him with that."

  "You think they'll let him... uh... you know. With Jade and Lizzie? So soon?" At the mention of the girls' names, Bruiser whined, nostrils flaring.

  "No. He's got a bit more educating to be done. With, oh... shall we say an older woman?" He grinned, remembering his own "education".

  Keith rolled those big black eyes, giving him a look. "And my poor innocent girls? Who's educating them?"

  "No one, right now. See, they won't be at the stage Bruise here is at for a bit. So he gets trained so that when they are? They can go right to him. Pack, yeah?" Sometimes he forgot how little of their structure Keith knew, and felt guilty as hell for not being a better teacher to his own pack.

  "So you're telling me that Wonder Slut here gets some hot old lady wolfie loving and the girls get... raw enthusiasm?" Keith sighed and shook his head, a grin almost hidden. "Man, where is feminism when you need it?"

  Bruiser growled a bit, and Seamus laughed. "Babe. They get a nicely mannered mate, by the time the feminists of the pack are done with him. You get me?" Clapping Bruiser on the back, Seamus steered the kid into the arcade. "Here's ten bucks, Bruise. Go get tokens."

  Keith leaned up, eyes dancing. "Man, those lady wolves must be vicious, if you believe they'll teach that boy manners. I've been trying almost a year."

  The laughter tickled his ear, his jaw.

  Shit. He was hard as anything, just like that. Fucking kid and his fucking pheromones. Seamus slid behind Keith, hiding his sudden bulge. "Well. They'll teach him to be a gentleman to those two sweet ladies, anyway. Under certain circumstances, you know?"

  Thin hips pressed back against him, just barely rubbing. Just trying to make him insane. "You're not going to make me stay behind this time, are you? You'll let me come?"

  He wanted to let Keith come more than anything. Fuck that. He wanted to come. Bad. Seamus grabbed those hips and rubbed hard. "Yeah. Want you to see. You need to go there."

  "Want to see, Seamus." Keith leaned into him and moaned. "Really want."

  "You need to know the history. Meet the Elders." Fuck, he was hard. So hard he hurt. So hard he'd lost track of Bruiser. "Shit. Where's the kid?"

  "In the middle of that group of painted up whores people call teenage girls." Keith pointed at the gaggle of curls and earrings and eyeliner and lipstick surrounding the pup.

  "Good lord." That would never do. "Go get him, yeah? I can't walk right."

  One warm hand reached back and cupped his cock. "Mmmm... feels so good."

  He bucked, a sharp growl trying to force up out of his chest. "I swear, cub. I'm gonna take you home and fuck you 'til you can't walk."

  "Promises, promises." Oh, the little tease, thumb sliding up along his shaft, the scent need just pouring over them.

  "Babe." The warning was clear. Damn it. If it wasn't for Bruiser...

  He got a growl and then Keith slinked off, all raw need and sex, snarling and scattering the girls. For about half a second he thought Bruiser would challenge Keith, but his mate didn't allow it, drawing the pup over to a few games to lose some of their money.

  He would get control of himself. He would. As soon as Keith stopped bending over to make those air hockey shots. If the cub wasn't careful they were gonna have a hell of a scene and what kind of example would that be? Keith knew exactly what he was doing too -- he had to. No one's ass wiggled like that on accident.

  If Bruiser wasn't laughing and happy, looking free and so not stressed... Seamus sighed. No way was he going to ruin the kid's night. He wanted to, though. Wanted to throw Keith down on the floor and fucking pound that skinny ass.

  Halfway through the third game, a tall guy came over, eyes traveling over Keith, admiring, flirting. The look on Bruiser's face was glorious -- part outrage, part confusion, part sheer 'ew'.

  The amusement on Bruiser's behalf was the only thing keeping him from ripping the asshole's throat out. Time to go. Definitely time to go when Keith smiled at the guy and
the prick started looking like food.

  Seamus went to them, stalking like the predator he was, putting his chest and legs into his swagger.

  Keith turned towards him, dark hair falling into that smiling face, sure, unafraid. Wanting. "Time to go home, love?"

  "Yes." He'd better keep it at that if he wanted his voice to stay normal. Seamus jerked his head at Bruiser, who faded back to cover his ass.