Unwilling: a shifter romance

by Hannah L. Corrie

"I need your help to make this work," he said, not looking up.

  Rayne shuffled around a bit as he took off his sneakers and pulled up his legs. Maybe he was cold after all. "How insightful of you to realize that," he sniped, but the words lacked real anger.

  Jared sighed and put down the magazine. It landed on his knees, slid lower and folded together as it came to a halt between his thighs. "Me asking you for help is not a bargaining chip for going around Darwin, you do understand that?" He didn't expect an answer, instead watching Rayne's face do the dance of a beaten man.

  Rayne had obviously held on to hope, but he let go of that hope just as promptly. "Fine, I'll let it go for today, but only because it's been a long fucking day and I'm not up to round three." He smiled at his own words, but the expression disappeared right away. "What do you need?"

  Jared was relieved Rayne didn't try his nerves a third time, but he hid it as best as he could. If Rayne knew how exhausted Jared was, he would ride him one last time just for the sake of winning.

  "I don't trust the locals and that Hector guy gives me the creeps. We need to set up guard shifts and we're too few to leave out the two beauties. You and me can't stand guard all the time, but I'd like to have you organize the schedule and give Darwin and Harry the least dangerous shifts."

  Rayne nodded, his face showing approval. "You'll be gone all day, every day, right? And we'll need to go shopping for groceries and clothing soon. Then there's Darla." He sighed sharply and rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "She won't be a problem today, but tomorrow she will. If she survives the fever. We can't have her run away half-crazed and panicking, so someone has to stay with her at all times."

  Jared closed his eyes at the list Rayne recounted. He had known most of the things before Rayne brought them up, but they sounded so much worse put together like that. They were a half dozen hands short and he couldn't do anything about it.

  "So one of us sleeps in her room until she dies or until we are fairly sure we can trust her. One of us has to be awake and keep guard, I'll be gone most of the time, and one of us can actually sleep. Sweet!" he exclaimed sarcastically and Rayne chuckled in reply.

  "Welcome to your very own pack. Fun, isn't it?"

  With a bit of compromising, they found a guard schedule that gave everyone enough time to sleep, eat and have a few minutes to themselves. Rayne would take the first watch, Harry would relieve him, and at noon Darwin would relieve Harry. Jared would take the evening patrol, as long as someone other than him cooked dinner. Curiously, Rayne didn't argue when Jared guardedly suggested Harry should sleep in Darla's room for the time being. It gave Jared the opportunity to share a room with Darwin whereas Rayne would be alone.

  Judging by the knowing look on Rayne's face when he got up and walked to the bathroom, Rayne knew exactly what Jared was thinking and what part of Jared was calling the shots.

  Jared himself didn't spend another thought on Rayne as soon as Darwin's scent flooded his nostrils. He stopped at the door to the bathroom, listening closely. He could hear the shower running, but there were no sounds of someone splashing around and Darwin had been inside for a long time.

  Knocking lightly, Jared grabbed the door knob and asked, "Can I come in?"

  No answer. He waited for a good minute, then knocked again and opened the door.

  The bathroom was filled with steam and Darwin's scent. The heat slapped Jared like a dizzying wave as he crept inside. He leaned against the door frame to keep his footing through the short vertigo. "Are you trying to cook yourself?" he snarled and reached to the side to close the door. Maybe the temperature had a purpose and in that case letting the room cool down by keeping the door open would not add any brownie points to his account.

  Darwin was sitting in the shower cross-legged and motionless, his face turned upward into the hot stream. He still wore his sweater, now soaking wet, but the rest of his clothes was piled on a chair next to the sink. The intense scent was coming from them, or to put it more bluntly, they stank to high heaven.

  Unsure what to do, Jared stayed next to the door. "Darwin?" he asked again, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

  When Darwin turned his head and opened his eyes, Jared took a breath of relief. "What's wrong?" he asked more quietly and took a step closer.

  Darwin replied with a soft laugh. "I can't get out of the damn sweater," he slurred. He sounded drunk, numb maybe, or dizzy from the heat, it was hard to tell.

  "Because of your shoulder?" Jared asked, pulling his own shirt over his head. It seemed stupid to try and not make a sound while undressing, but he didn't want to upset Darwin any further today.

  Darwin either didn't notice, or he sincerely didn't care. "Yeah. I tried, but every time I lift my arm the pain starts. I thought I could tough it out but it made me dizzy." His eyes followed Jared as he stepped out of his pants and underwear. For a moment there was a glint of fire in them, but he didn't move.

  More damp heat brushed against Jared's body as he walked closer. The fine blond hair on his body caught the minuscule droplets, making him tingle all over and waking his cock. Darwin did look at him as he stepped into the hot stream and crouched down next to him, but he just laughed airily. "We always end up in the shower," he noted, grinning, then huffed as Jared grabbed his sweater and pulled it off his body.

  The wet cloth made a slurping sound as it hit the floor outside. "There's no way that will dry until tomorrow," Jared said and turned back to Darwin. The shoulder wound was pale pink colored and uneven, but that meant it healed nicely. It most likely still hurt like hell though, especially if Darwin tried to lift his arm above his shoulder.

  As soon as he tore his eyes away from the wound and looked over the rest of Darwin's body, his pulse rose.

  The black-haired man looked miserable and luscious at the same time, his wet hair sticking to the gaunt, fine-cut face and the eyes, oh the eyes... The icy blue iris had given way to his dark, dilated pupils, nearly jumping out of his pale face in startling contrast. A small smile tugged at the edges of his bloodless, full lips.

  The water was too hot, though. Jared leaned over and turned the temperature down, accidentally pressing his chest against Darwin's face in the process. The young man started shivering instantly, though the water was still warm enough to make Jared sweat just kneeling near it.

  "I hate you. You make me weak," Darwin said and pressed his face against Jared's chest, inhaling deeply. His too-hot hands stroked up his sides, then he embraced him mid-height and pulled him into the stream.

  Jared came all too willingly, spreading his knees to pull Darwin between them and against his body, trying to stop his shivering through closeness.

  "You make me weak too," he admitted with a small, disarming grin. "But you're also the reason I try to be strong."

  Darwin's hard cock came to rest against Jared's crotch, animating his own length to twitch in tune and sending waves of prickling lust up his stomach. He wanted nothing more than to grab both of them and bring them to completion there and then, but there was something so open and helpless about Darwin sitting forlorn and wanton in that shower. Jared feared for his heart, afraid of hurting him by rushing things.

  He could wait. And he would wait.

  Instead of giving them what Darwin clearly wanted, he grabbed for the bottle of shower lotion and maneuvered Darwin half out of the stream. The feverish hot skin beneath his kneading fingers was almost as good as sex, especially because this time he didn't resist. A part of Jared's mind wanted to worry about that as his fingers reached the perky, peach-fuzzed behind, but Jared swiftly shoved those thoughts away.

  Darwin didn't have a lot of hair on his body, but he had it in all the right places and it was incredibly soft beneath Jared's fingers. He didn't want to stop touching him, but the heat was too much for his beaten body.

  "Why did you turn up the temperature so much?" Jared asked and tugged him back beneath the stream to wash off the soapy suds. Now only his hair needed washing and h
e could finally drag Darwin to bed.

  Darwin laughed. "I was cold when I undressed and the water didn't warm up fast enough, so I turned it higher. Then I had that fight with my sweater and the pain made me dizzy in addition to cold, so I sat in the water to warm up a little. And it got hotter and hotter until I was too dizzy to turn it off or get out." He paused for a moment, then put his arms around Jared's chest and licked a trail of water off his skin. "But I'm not cold anymore," he confessed, chuckling under his breath.

  Jared shook his head and tried not to blow his load at the feel of that tongue against his chest. How could someone so infuriating be so damn sexy?

  "I'll do my best to keep you warm for much longer, but first we need to wash your hair." He rubbed shampoo into the black strands until foam dripped from his hands. Darwin didn't move from his touches and hummed contentedly as Jared doted on him.

  After such a long time of being unable to come anywhere close to Darwin without him getting worked up, angry or moody, it thrilled him to be allowed to touch him to such an extent. At the same time, Jared remembered how fragile their truce really was. One wrong move, one step too far, and Darwin would explode in his face and probably deny him for good. He would have loved to capitalize on Darwin's affectionate state, but it would have been a short-lived joy.

  Instead he pulled his soapy head into the stream, rinsed his hair carefully and tried not to lose his mind over the things Darwin did with his tongue. It was the hardest thing he had ever done.

  Darwin

  Maybe he should have told Jared what else he had been doing in the shower, seeing as how his initial story sounded ridiculous to any sane person. But Jared wasn't sane, at least not when it came to Darwin. He was obsessed to the point of all but forgetting how to breathe when Darwin shed his clothes.

  Darwin liked that. He liked it a lot.

  Of course, he suffered the same effect where Jared's naked, hunky body was concerned. He usually just hid it better. That evening was an exception to that rule.

  His shoulder did actually hurt enough to make him dizzy, but the pain didn't come from trying to undress. It had grown with every minute he spent trying to jerk off until he’d had no strength left to take off that sweater. And of course, all the work had been for nothing. He hadn't reached his peak, try as he might. At least the hot water had helped him wrestle his cock into submission before he poked out someone's eye.

  Jared's obtrusive behavior offered a ways out Darwin hadn't expected. He should have seen it coming, after all Jared was pushy, hard-headed and prone to disregard all his rebuffs. And for some reason Darwin didn't want to think too much about, Jared wasn't drilling him for details. He welcomed the change of pace.

  Getting washed by surprisingly careful hands was another nice surprise, although it ruined all the work Darwin had done to keep his libido in check. Those nimble fingers massaged his back and hair in a most exquisite way, exquisite enough to forget they were still in the bathroom with company in the adjoining room.

  Had Jared gone for the kill, Darwin would have let him take what was his. A week ago, Jared would have done that without hesitation, but not this time. He did react to Darwin's searching tongue and fingers, but every time he got close to the 'good parts', as he called it, Jared would catch his wrists and maneuver them somewhere less susceptible to lust and carry on soaping him up and rinsing him down.

  Darwin had enough. "Don't you want me?"

  The question made Jared go still and look down at Darwin's face with a confused expression. "Of course I want you." He let go of one of his arms to turn off the water, "But I'm not sure you're yourself right now. If you aren't, you'll rip me a new one tomorrow."

  "And if I am? Myself, I mean."

  Jared thought about that for a few moments, then shrugged. "I'd miss an opportunity I've been waiting for, and I'll probably rip myself a new one."

  He knelt there, thinking for a few seconds, and his face showed the effort with deep wrinkles between his brows. His breath hitched when he attempted to say something, but he hesitated and murmured, "I'm missing an opportunity right now, aren't I?"

  Darwin smiled and nodded.

  Swearing quietly, Jared grabbed and lifted him, carrying the added weight comfortably. He sat Darwin down on the single stool the little bathroom offered and got a towel. "You could have given me a hint," he complained with an amused lilt to his voice as he rubbed Darwin's body dry, but only got a broad grin in return.

  Yeah, he could have, but that would have ruined all the fun. Darwin knew he was acting oddly, different than before, but he hadn't been himself then. Hadn't been for a long time, too afraid of giving away his secrets and getting killed for it. He was still afraid, still guarded and cold most of the time, but the moments where his real self broke through the mental walls became more frequent with every day they were away from Banes.

  He looked at Jared's face, scrunched up with concentration on his task of toweling off Darwin, and a hot wave of love and desire washed through his chest. The realization that this sexy, sun-kissed jock belonged to him, and only him, hit him with such a force it left him giddy and breathless. His heart jumped, then raced with sudden excitement.

  "Take me to bed, Jared."

  After sitting in the shower for what had seemed like eons, Darwin suddenly couldn't get out of it fast enough. The feeling of wanting Jared shifted from being there like a mild after-thought to roaring through his body like a fire storm in the blink of an eye. His overheated skin felt too tight, his cock thickened so quickly he got dizzy from it, and his fingers tingled with anticipation. He couldn't put words to it, but he didn't need to.

  Maybe it was being allowed or even expected to be close to his mate that gave him the freedom of mind to not hold back anymore. But whatever it was, strangely enough, Jared didn't seem to feel the same way.

  Sure, he carried Darwin to their shared bedroom in a newly-wed kind of way as soon as he was dry enough— and decent enough, by the ways of a towel around his waist—, and he even draped Darwin on the bed. But instead of ravishing him, Jared did the opposite.

  As soon as Darwin lay there in all his almost-naked glory, Jared took a big step backwards. His breathing sounded ragged and harsh, a sheen of sweat coated his forehead and his pulse jumped like a living thing at the side of his neck, but that was it. He didn't touch, didn't come closer, he appeared almost afraid to move.

  The amount of self-restraint Jared forced on himself would have been funny if Darwin weren't so horny.

  The artificial light from the lamp overhead did nothing to really show the glory that was Jared, but even without the play of sunshine the man looked scrumptious enough to eat. He still wore his towel around his hips and the white cloth stood in stark contrast to his tanned skin and the light coating of hair on his arms and chest. A slightly thicker, t-shaped patch of fur between his nips trailed down to his navel, but in the yellow twilight it was all but hidden by the grooves of muscles around it.

  There was a visible bulge in the front of his towel.

  Darwin still was a little dizzy and overheated, but the way his breath hitched had nothing to do with the hot shower he'd had, and everything with the way his own cock reacted to Jared's presence. He was strikingly handsome, and Darwin wanted him.

  "Come closer," he muttered, afraid someone from the outside might hear him.

  Something close to fear passed over Jared's face and he shook his head a little. It appeared involuntary and unintentional, but it still was a silent 'no'. Tension sang through the blond hunk's body, enough to accentuate the contours of his muscles in a beautiful display.

  Darwin bared his teeth in frustration.

  "If you don't come closer, I'll have to do everything on my own," he threatened haughtily and deliberately trailed his fingers over the edge of the towel on his own hips. His hands were shaking with nerves, but he managed to wrap them around the knot keeping the towel up and untangle it without fumbling.

  The last time he had been this forward
, he still had pretended to be a dominant with no hope of being ravished and the secure knowledge of having to do all the ravishing himself, of having absolute control over everything that would happen. But this time around, he felt naked in a different way, out of control. The idea of luring Jared into bed with his body was a very exciting new possibility.

  Jared's face tightened as Darwin carefully unraveled the towel. With every inch of heated, naked skin he revealed, the tension in Jared seemed to grow and strengthen. The play of muscles along his arms and abs proved too much for Darwin's cock. With another hearty throb, it parted the soft cotton and pushed its way into freedom.

  Jared fixated on that movement with an expression of pure hunger. He took a half-step forward but then froze again, an expression of torment on his face. His valiant attempt on restraint was crumbling before Darwin's eyes, but he yet held on.

  This wouldn’t do. Darwin sneered and wrapped his hand around his throbbing flesh, pulling upwards with a sure grip around the length. He flicked his thumb over the swollen, flared tip and groaned softly, rubbing the drop of clear liquid over the spongy head.

  An involuntary shudder wracked his body and he sighed throatily.

  Jared gave a low growl, then he took two big steps closer and crawled onto the bed with controlled haste.

  Darwin stilled, but kept his hand wrapped around his own cock. The scent of lemon showering gel and industrial fabric softener flooded his nose, hinting how close Jared was, but he still didn't close that last bit of distance. Darwin growled frustrated.

  "Would you please, please touch me?" he whined, giving his cock another tug that made him shudder. At this rate he would be spent before Jared laid a finger on him.

  Jared leaned closer, supporting the weight of his muscular body on one arm as he hovered over Darwin's writhing form. His expression appeared guarded but hopeful and very, very excited. "Will you think the same tomorrow, or is this going to blow up into my face as soon as we're done?" he asked. Something about Jared's demeanor set off alarm bells in Darwin's head, but the guilt was stronger. Jared looked so cute, it was hard to focus on anything else.