Jared held his breath, trying to digest those revelations. His body took some time to decide between the rush of sudden lust boiling up at the thought of Darwin getting pleasure from submitting to him and the pang of surprise that submitting did actually bring pleasure instead of being an instinct he simply followed. He knew that dominating other werewolves held perverse pleasure for him, pleasure so intimate and private that he wouldn't talk about it to anyone but Darwin, but he had never thought about the experience from another point of view.
Another wave of need rushed over his back and along his arms right into his fingertips, and this time the sensation got almost painful.
He must have made some kind of noise, because Darwin's face changed to a probing glance. "Are you hurt?" he asked cautiously.
Darwin's worry fueled the need to touch him. Jared whimpered, haltingly scooting closer to him, slow enough to give him a chance to flee if he wanted to. The stench of wounds, blood, exhaustion, cheap gas station soap and Darwin's unique scent filled Jared's head until it spun with sensory overload and he had to close his eyes for a moment.
"Jared, look at me!" Darwin commanded, and touched his shoulder. "Are you hurt?"
That one small touch was enough to break down the last of Jared's self-restraint. A soft sound escaped his throat, then he rushed forward and wrapped both arms around Darwin's body, very careful not to press down on his wounds, not to move him too much, but desperate to touch as much of his body as possible.
Darwin's lithe form against his own made him shiver with relief. He made another sound low in his throat, dangerously similar to a contented huff, and almost overheard the small relieved sigh coming from the man in his arms. He didn't dare comment, but smiled nevertheless. Maybe he wasn't the only one on edge. Maybe his mate just hid it better.
"Not anymore," he said, not trying to keep the satisfaction out of his voice.
"That's good. So, are you going to say something in return?" He couldn't be sure, but Darwin sounded better than before. Perhaps he truly felt it too, this strange need to be close, the irritation when they were apart.
Jared mulled it over, allowing his hand to stroke Darwin's flank a little, enough not to spook him and ruin the moment.
"I would, but..." He let the words trail off, turned his head and rubbed his nose against the crook of Darwin's neck, "... there is nothing to say. I wouldn't change you for the world, sorry. You are perfect. Perfect for me."
With those words, a mixture of anger and joy rippled through him. Darwin didn't reply though. For a second, Jared feared they would argue again, but Darwin just sighed and stood.
Jared clung to him until they both were on their feet again, then he let go. The itching didn't return, a good sign.
"I think Harry is trying to cook dinner. If you don't want to go hungry, we should intercept," Darwin said and this time his voice sounded light and humorous, almost happy.
Jared returned the small smile playing on Darwin's lips as he climbed the five steps behind him. They were safe, at least for the time being, and regardless of the things that had brought them here, Jared was content with the world.
Darwin
All the worries and troubles from before vanished the moment Jared hugged him. The jock rubbed his face against Darwin like a big cat, filling Darwin's nose with his scent and his mind with that powerful, calming presence. It titillated him, entrancing in its power, and came to him so naturally he didn't notice the change. A second before he had felt threatened and lonely and subdued, and suddenly this... this stranger, for lack of a better word, cuddled him like a life-sized teddy bear. And he happily let him do it.
When they broke apart to stand, Darwin had to remind himself of the things he had just said. How he hated his reaction. How he feared Jared wouldn't respect him anymore, now that he acted like the submissive he was. He still doubted Jared's reassurances, but he felt better. Not perfect, but better.
"I think Harry is trying to cook dinner. If you don't want to go hungry, we should intercept."
He turned and trotted up the wooden stairs. Jared followed close enough for his breath to tickle Darwin's neck, but said nothing. He liked having him this close, even if he would never admit it.
Darwin opened the door and started to step inside, but the view right in front of him made him stop dead in his tracks.
"What the heck?"
Rayne turned his head towards the door, looking decidedly guilty. In front of him and encased by his arms and the kitchen counter stood Harry, beet-red and huffing for breath in a way Darwin recognized as an expression Harry normally reserved for the bedroom. They both seemed at a loss for words.
Jared snickered behind Darwin, but he ignored him.
"Are you pawing my best friend?" He stomped into the cabin, making a bee-line for the kitchen corner.
Harry looked panicked, but Rayne didn't move a muscle. A small but pleased smile crept over his dark lips as he watched Darwin come closer like a pale, dark-haired storm. It only vanished when Darwin shoved him away, replaced by anger in the next moment.
Rayne shoved back, his hand pushing hard against the open wound on Darwin's shoulder. The pained scream put Jared into gear, but he didn't manage to catch Darwin before he fell to the ground, groaning in agony.
Holding his shoulder, Darwin saw Jared's face scrunch up with anger through a haze of pain, and for a moment he thought the blond hunk would hit Rayne. And Rayne looked just as ready to hit back, stupid as it may be. The whole situation only halted when Harry whimpered with fear, cowering against the counter as best as he could, all but sandwiched between Jared and Rayne.
"Stop this," Harry begged with a shivering voice, his eyes closed so hard there were white spots on his eyebrows. "Please stop this, I can't take any more violence. Please!"
It did as much good as it did bad. Jared seemed shocked and ashamed when he saw Harry's fear, but Rayne glowered with anger. He reminded Darwin of a car owner who had found a scratch on his brand-new Mercedes, Harry being the Mercedes in this equation. Yes, plainly ownership, not love, not yet. "A submissive attacked me and you pick his side?" Rayne snapped and tensed.
The tension ruined all chances of ending the conflict there and then. Jared stepped close enough to corral him against the counter next to Harry and got right into his face. "If that's all that's needed to startle you, you really should work on your self-confidence, my friend. That was a submissive who shoved you, not some big hairy dominant trying to push you around. He was trying to protect his friend because he doesn't know you, and frankly, if he hadn't, I would have."
Although Jared spoke with a crisp, hard, controlled voice, Darwin could see a vein on Jared's temple grow until it stood out like an angry snake. His conviction was plain to see when Jared added, "and if you ever shove my mate like that again, I will take it as the challenge it might be. Do we understand each other?"
Rayne tensed his arms until the muscles stood out in stark relief. He wasn't bulky or overly muscled, but the show still made Darwin scramble backwards a bit. The air got hard to breathe as both werewolves let go of their tight control over their respective powers and in a heart beat their presence filled the room to the brim. Darwin didn't want to lie on the floor next to them if they started fighting, but the pain had left him shaky and numbed and he wasn't sure if he would be able to stand.
"He had no reason to get physical with me! I didn't do anything Harry didn't want," Rayne growled back and grabbed Harry's arm with one hand. The grip wasn't painful, but another gesture of ownership. That touch alone told everyone beyond doubt, 'this is mine'. Rayne hadn't earned that gesture in Darwin's book, so he growled, although faintly.
Jared grabbed Rayne's arm and pulled his hand away from Harry. "You haven't earned the right to act like this yet," he said firmly, echoing Darwin's thoughts like they were his own. "And I don't need this kind of tension on the first day we are safe, so you'll keep your hands to yourself until Darwin—," Jared pointed to him, "—is okay with you dating.
I won't have you ruin their friendship over your libido, and I won't have you stir up trouble in the first week."
Rayne was livid. "You can't order me to—"
"Excuse me, the tomato sauce is starting to smell burnt. Please go somewhere else for your testosterone tango until I'm finished cooking," Harry quipped, trying for cheery even with the audible waver of fear in his voice. It took the tension out of both dominants, much like deflating a balloon. And just like that, the fight was over.
Rayne glanced at Harry like he had been hurt, but he walked into the main area without another word. Harry went back to stirring the pots with now shaking hands and Jared waited until Rayne sat down before he helped Darwin up.
"You shouldn't have done that," Jared stated under his breath but audible for everyone as he supported Darwin and led him towards what Darwin assumed was a bathroom. "You're not a dominant, you don't need to play the role anymore. Rayne could have hit you instead of toppling you over and he would have been in his rights." Jared didn't sound happy at all but it was true.
Darwin feeling angry and helpless didn't make the words any less valid. "Would you shut up and let me sit down? I feel sick," he mumbled, but the words sounded hollow. He wanted to crawl into a bed and sleep until the day was over, and it had only just begun.
"Fine. I'll check your wound in the bedroom then," Jared huffed and changed course. Rayne's eyes followed both of them, but the heat was gone and with it that neck-ruffling pressure of clashing powers.
Darwin had no attention left for the interior of the bedroom Jared steered him into. He tried to sit down on his own, but Jared had to maneuver him like a fragile old man to keep him from blacking out. When Darwin finally came to rest on the bed, he was happy to be conscious. The wound wasn't so bad and the pain was already fading, but the deep exhaustion, possibly even late onset of shock, knocked Darwin on his ass.
Jared did his best to work around his state, checked his wound and helped him out of the sweater to make him more comfortable, but Darwin only noticed half of it. At the time the door shut behind Jared, he was already dozing.
When Darwin came to, he felt more like himself again. The sun still shone outside, proving he hadn't slept the whole day, and the aroma of spaghetti and meat sauce wafted through the gap beneath the door, enticing him to rise and join the others. His shoulder still hurt, but not as bad as before and the bed rest had helped him regain some of his energy.
This positively perky mood was unusual in itself. He was never perky. Grumpy, sarcastic, forward and calculating, yes. But happy? Never. Something was clearly wrong with him. Listening into his own mind, he tried to find out what had changed, but there was nothing, no answer echoing from the depths of his muddled brain. There was only the soft tug on his heart, beckoning him to go find Jared and relish the closeness he offered.
Putting on a sweatshirt, he stumbled to the door and opened it just enough to look through the gap. Rayne and Jared were sitting at the small dining table next to the kitchen counter, both working their way through a pile of spaghetti. Harry was nowhere to be seen, but Darwin could hear the shower buzzing somewhere in the cabin and Jared's hair was still wet.
He tried to sneak through the door unnoticed, but it didn't work. As soon as he set one foot outside the bedroom, both pairs of eyes turned to him and gave him a once-over. Jared smiled, Rayne didn't. Darwin didn't hold it against him. After all, he was the reason Rayne's perfectly fine evening plans with Harry were ruined. Served him right, for all Darwin cared.
As soon as he sat down, Rayne got up and went to wash his dishes without so much as a second glance. Or maybe Jared and Rayne had had a good, long conversation about how to act around each other and Darwin still had to have his part of it.
For now, all Darwin cared about was the aroma of food coming from the big metal pot in the middle of the table. The noodles weren't hot anymore, but still warm enough to savor, and Darwin hadn't eaten anything worth being called 'food' for days. "Smells good," he said more to himself than to Jared as he filled his plate, piling together spaghetti and meat sauce until it started spilling over the rim of the dish.
Jared watched him unobtrusively as he dug in. He had been observed continuously for days now and Jared was wearing him down. And since he had agreed to be his mate, he had a whole life of being stared at by that hunk ahead of him. If they didn't get killed soon, of course.
Only when Darwin's plate showed through the mess of noodles did Jared stop staring and instead leaned back to slide down into a more comfortable sitting position. "I promised Rayne that you wouldn't attack him again," he commented, stretching his arms before he placed his hands behind his head. "And since I'm pretty sure that promise is worth shit, I also told him he'd be allowed to punish you next time. I won't like it, but you're responsible for your own actions and I seem to be the only one forgetting that."
"I can take care of myself," Darwin grumbled, but the words didn't hold their usual bite. In hindsight, he had been damn lucky and he knew it. Had it been Carl and not Jared, he would have suffered broken bones for his insolence. And seeing as how Rayne had lived his life up until now, he could have reacted worse and nobody would have held a grudge. A dominant who didn't hold his own rapidly went down the social ladder and the deep end was a dark, dark place that didn't let go so easily.
There was only one thing he could say in this moment and it wasn't meant for Jared. Darwin glanced across the room to the kitchen sink and watched Rayne's back twitch and tighten under the movements of his hands.
"I'm sorry. I was way out of line shoving you," he offered more loudly. He didn't bother promising not to do it again, because he agreed with Jared on this one. It would doubtlessly happen again. Maybe not soon, but some day he would get into it with Rayne again and denying it was useless.
For a few moments Rayne didn't react, but kept washing the dishes. The anger was still palpable in his movements, but either Rayne was the most peaceful dominant Darwin had ever seen or he had already found a solution with Jared because after a short silence, he shrugged.
"Alright." He turned off the water.
When Rayne turned around, he stared at Jared's face for a few heartbeats, then his dark eyes jumped to Darwin. He still looked miffed, but Darwin got the feeling his bad mood wasn't about being shoved. "But you're gonna have to give me something. I'm not a saint and you piled up enough attitude for a day."
Darwin turned down his eyes and forked the last remnants of his dinner around on the plate. Rayne was talking about Harry, the one point Darwin didn't feel like giving in on.
"What do you want me to say?" he asked with a level voice, "I don't know you well enough to trust you with my best friend's heart. I know him and I won't let you hurt him." And hurt him he would, Darwin knew. Relationships always brought hurt, one way or another, but if there was a way to keep the hurt to a normal, healthy minimum, he was ready to take the heat. He just had to ensure Rayne understood what he meant.
"I don't oppose a relationship between you and him, but Harry is not as resilient as me. He'll give in straight away and trust you completely, whether you've earned that trust or not. And as long as I don't know you'll stay with him at least long enough to give this between you a chance, I will stand in your way."
Rayne sighed, irritated. "So what you're saying is, I have to play the good boy if I want to be with Harry?" He gawped at Jared next, pointing at Darwin accusingly. "And you're just gonna sit there and let him dictate the rules?"
Jared, who had kept his mouth shut diplomatically for the whole discussion, tilted up one eyebrow. Darwin couldn't interpret the expression on his face, but it appeared neutral enough.
"We're all new to this pack thing. The way I see it, the only two people really intimate with each other are Harry and Darwin, and I'm willing to trust his judgment for Harry's sake. He says it's best for Harry if you go slow, what's there to object to?" He turned enough to stare at Rayne more directly and added, "if you think Harry is the one for you, you've
got all the time in the world. You'll never be happy with him as long as Darwin doesn't back you up and you know it. So prove your intentions to him, it's not asking too much."
He sounded so very reasonable, very Alpha-like. Darwin lowered his eyes to the plate to hide his own expression from both of them, mostly because it was a bad moment to fawn over Jared.
Rayne didn't look any happier than before, but he kept quiet. He wiped his hands and put away the dishes, then turned around, grumbled, "I'll go have a look around," and left without another word.
Jared
Rayne stayed away for almost two hours. When he came back, he looked calmer but not happier and wasn't in a talkative mood. Darwin had finally let himself be talked into a shower after helping Harry get Darla settled, and now Harry was in Darla's room reading a book as he watched over her.
It left Rayne with no real choice of what company to keep. When he flopped onto the couch next to Jared, he brought a breeze of frosty air with him, telling tales of the temperatures outside. Jared, a southerner by heart, dreaded the thought of walking outside without a real coat, but Rayne didn't look troubled by the weather.
Jared browsed through one of the nature magazines he had found in one of the drawers, but his mind didn't follow the stories. It served as a place to put his eyes, but his thoughts were on other things altogether.
Unwilling: a shifter romance Page 18
