by Parker Skye
He wasn’t even recognizable. His face had been replaced by one giant purple bruise. His raccoon eyes were impressive and he was surprised he could see as well as he could, given the extent of the swelling. His nose appeared to be slightly slanted to the left now and was swollen at the tip, dried blood caked at the opening of both nostrils. His lips were split in several places, ruining his smile. A shallow gash ran across his left cheekbone, well scabbed but still swollen. The obvious handprints around his throat made Adam swallow reflexively to make sure he still could.
The mark on his neck looked strangely like a bite, which was even more alarming. Charles had never bitten him before, no matter how crazy the beating had been. Adam ran his fingertips lightly over the faint silver wound that was already starting to scar at the base of his neck. Adam had no memory of having received a bite, but guessed it could have happened when he was unconscious. Finally, Adam couldn’t tolerate looking at himself anymore and turned his gaze to the face in the mirror over his shoulder. He could see Ben’s sadness and guilt in the gaze that met his.
“Does the rest of me look this bad?” Adam had to ask. Ben just nodded silently. Adam could have sworn he saw tears swimming in Ben’s eyes.
“He will never have the chance to hurt you again, Adam,” Ben replied, his sad expression quickly morphing to anger, “But I am so sorry I didn’t get there in time. I could have prevented this, but I was so stupid to allow you to go back there. I knew you weren’t safe with him. I’ll never forgive myself for not protecting you.”
Adam, supported by the sink in front and Ben’s hips behind, slowly turned around until he was facing Ben directly. He reached up and took Ben’s face in between his hands. Adam stared into Ben’s eyes until he was sure he had Ben’s full attention. In that moment, even Adam could feel the connection flowing between them.
“I don’t ever want to hear you say that again,” Adam said, eyebrows bunching together in frustration. “You saved me. Do you hear me, Ben Sterling? You saved me from that asshole and I would not be here if it wasn’t for you. He was going to kill me this time. You know that, don’t you? Yet, you came to me when I didn’t even call. I don’t know how you knew I was in trouble, but I will never be able to thank you enough.”
Ben’s voice cracked as he replied, “I will always come for you, Adam. We are connected. Don’t you feel it?” Adam nodded once, causing a huge smile to erupt across Ben’s face.
“And don’t you dare try to thank me for what happened tonight. I couldn’t do anything but come for you. There was no choice in the matter for me. But, regardless, you are here now, with me. That’s all the thanks I will ever need.”
Ben stooped again and lifted Adam into his arms. As they proceeded down the hall back to Ben’s room, Adam casually asked, “So, Ben, when are we gonna talk about the wolf thing?” Ben began to laugh so hard, Adam was afraid he was going to be dropped. He tightened both arms around Ben’s neck in defense and chuckled along.
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Adam’s next few days passed in an oddly soothing rhythm. Wake up, be carried to the bathroom, return to bed, go back to sleep. Meals, fluids, and ibuprofen highlighted his conscious moments in bed. As the days progressed and the bruising started to fade, his periods of wakefulness began to last longer and longer. Ben still hadn’t left his side, but Adam had finally been able to convince him to leave his uncomfortable looking perch on the chair. Instead, Ben had built a wall of pillows on the bed between them to ‘keep from rolling over on your bruises by accident’ as Ben had put it.
On what Adam suspected was the fourth night since his life had so drastically changed, Adam awoke to a room almost as bright as daytime. He could see the moon through the bedroom’s window, not a cloud in the sky. A chill ran down his spine as he realized he was not alone, but Ben was gone. Sitting in front of the open bedroom door in the moonbeam’s strong light sat the golden wolf again. Adam was mesmerized by his majestic beauty. He couldn’t stifle the gasp when the wolf turned its head to meet his gaze directly.
Adam watched as the blonde wolf…Ben, he guessed he could think of him as Ben… approached the side of the bed. Adam stifled a laugh as Ben sniffed him from head to toe. He’d always been too ticklish for his own good. Ben used his nose to nudge the ibuprofen bottle closer to the night stand’s edge. Adam taking the hint opened the bottle and took two tablets with a large gulp of water.
“Guess opposable thumbs really do come in handy,” Adam said, smiling. The wolf responded with a snort and shook his body from head to toe like he was trying to shake off the insult to his formidability. The wolf backed up a few steps and Adam’s mouth dropped open, awareness of what was about to happen blossoming.
“Wait a minute, let me get up first,” Adam rushed forward as he tried to scramble out of the way. Before he could move much at all, the wolf had launched himself over Adam’s prone form to the other side of the bed. The wolf turned three times and lay down, his head rested on the pillow wall between them. Adam breathed a sigh of relief and huffed out a short laugh. The wolf seemed to hum, as if pleased Adam thought this was funny.
“I guess it is your bed after all. Just don’t blame me when it’s full of hair tomorrow,” Adam said still smiling. He placing his hand on the back of the wolf’s neck and massaged. A noise rumbled out of Ben’s chest that Adam could only assume represented pleasure. Both yawned widely and closed their eyes, letting sleep claim them once more.
The next morning, Adam woke up alone. The other side of the bed was cold and Adam briefly wondered if the night before had been a dream until he took a closer look. The obvious blonde and brown animal hairs on the other side of the bed answered that question. Adam sighed and sat up. He was finally able to get up and move around on his own, for which he was exceptionally thankful. After finishing up in the bathroom and brushing his teeth, Adam went searching the house for Ben.
He found Ben sitting at the kitchen table, clutching a steaming coffee mug. He was obviously watching the hall for Adam’s arrival. Adam casually strode into the room and grabbed a coffee mug from the rack and added more cream and sugar than coffee. His father had always made fun of him for liking his coffee this way. Adam shook his head, trying to banish the memory. He didn’t want to think of his father anymore.
Adam finally crossed the room and took the open chair across from Ben. He calmly blew on his coffee to cool it, and then took a deep drink. He sighed in satisfaction and put the mug down, careful not to slosh any over the side. Ben met his gaze expectantly as if waiting for the questions to start. Adam oddly, just didn’t feel the need for twenty questions right then. He was too happy with just feeling better to risk ruining it with more drama right now. If he could put his head in the sand for a few more days and pretend nothing was wrong, he was damn well going to do it.
“What’s for breakfast? I’m starved,” Adam said enthusiastically, his stomach growling loudly like an exclamation point.
Chapter 24
Ben
Ben chuckled softly in relief and got up from the table to scrounge up some food for his mate. He was innately pleased that Adam seemed to be taking things so well, especially after everything that had happened. He knew Adam must have questions, but even Ben wasn’t sure he was ready to answer them all yet. If only they could have a few more days of peace and quiet.
While Adam was physically almost healed, they had both been through a mental and emotional roller coaster, as well. What they really needed was time, time alone together to solidify their connection. That was his reasoning at least as he ignored the incoming call that came through while he was still flipping pancakes.
Ben made sure that Adam spent the rest of Friday and Saturday buried in missed school work. Ben had called the school pretending to be Adam’s father and reported he had the flu. It was believable as there was a bad case of the illness going around. No one in the office batted an eye when Ben sauntered in to pick up Adam’s school work, figuring he was just a concerned cla
ssmate doing his friend a favor.
Ben understood how important educational success was to Adam. He knew Adam had worked hard to be graduating top in his class. Ben wasn’t sure how he was going to make it happen, but he was determined Adam wouldn’t have to miss out on that accomplishment. Ben sat at the kitchen table with Adam pretending to work on his own backlog of assignments, having missed the entire week as well. In reality, he was researching areas they could run and hide once Adam graduated from high school.
Ben felt no need to keep up the charade of successful high school student more than necessary, especially now. Once he’d gained Adam’s trust, his only purpose was to continue to protect Adam from harm. After what felt like hours hunched over his laptop, Ben stood up and stretched, both arms over his head. He smirked as he caught Adam’s gaze pinned to the strip of skin peeking out from under the hem of his shirt.
“See something you like?”
Adam blushed bright red and dropped his gaze back to his school work. Ben rounded the table and ruffled Adam’s hair with one hand. He leaned down and kissed the top of his head for good measure.
“I like it when you look at me like that,” Ben whispered in Adam’s ear, chuckling when Adam shivered.
“I’m going to run to the grocery store, okay? We are getting scarily low on supplies. Any requests?” Ben asked, backing off to let Adam focus on finishing his work.
“No, whatever you want is fine by me. I’ll eat anything.”
“Meatloaf okay for dinner then?”
“You know how to make meatloaf?” Adam asked, eyes wide in disbelief.
“Do I know how to make meatloaf? Oh, you just wait ye of little faith. It was one of the first things my mom taught me to make before my folks passed away,” Ben replied, brushing another kiss across the top of Adam’s head as he walked past.
“Oh, Ben, I’m so sorry,” Adam said, standing to wrap his arms around Ben in comfort.
“It’s okay, Adam. It was a long time ago. I still miss them, but I’ve been on my own for a while now. Well, I guess I’m not on my own anymore, am I?”
“Nope, you aren’t alone anymore,” Adam agreed, squeezing Ben tight before releasing him again.
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Ben restocked the essentials as well as could be expected in the brief time his wolf would allow him to be away from Adam. Forty-five minutes later, he was rolling back into the garage and unpacking groceries into the fridge. He was really starting to think hard about getting them a car. Fitting groceries for two healthy young shifters on his motorcycle was going to get old quick. Besides, Adam needed a mode of transportation for the times he needed to go places on his own.
His wolf bristled at the thought of Adam needing to go anywhere on his own, but Ben knew that was unrealistic in modern day society. Adam may have started to accept his role in Ben’s life, but that didn’t mean he would be willing to give up his independence. He couldn’t expect Adam to stay home barefoot and pregnant, waiting for Ben to return from a hard day at work. Especially the pregnant part. He was pretty sure Adam would draw the line at that, even if it were physically possible. Ben briefly got caught up imagining a towheaded toddler with electric green eyes giggling wildly as he ran with the other shifter pups back home.
By six o'clock, the smell of meatloaf resting on the stove wafted through the house. Ben was putting the finishing touches on mashed potatoes and a salad, when Adam poked his head into the kitchen. Adam’s grumbling stomach could probably be heard a mile away.
“You ready to eat, babe?” Ben asked, looking over his shoulder.
“Absolutely. God, I can’t believe how hungry I’ve been lately. It’s like I can’t get enough to eat. It must be the healing process.”
Adam quickly went about setting the table while Ben carried the steaming platters over so they could eat family style. Adam filled up two glasses with iced tea and took his spot across from Ben, eyes trained on the buffet before him.
“You have a little drool there, babe,” Ben teased, wiping the edge of his own mouth in demonstration.
“Oh, suck me, Ben. I’m fucking starving. Pass over the meatloaf before I eat my own leg over here.”
Ben chuckled as he cut a huge serving of meatloaf and placed it on Adam’s plate. Adam started eating before Ben had even had a chance to serve him anything else. Ben continued to push food onto Adam’s plate, dodging Adam’s diving fork, smiling to see his mate eating so well. Adam groaned in appreciation as he polished off his first piece of meatloaf. He eyed the pan guiltily, just then realizing Ben hadn’t even had a chance to serve himself yet. Ben didn’t mind, though. His wolf preened at Adam’s obvious pleasure in the meal Ben had provided.
He gladly served Adam a second huge helping before taking an equally large share for himself. Before they were both full, they had consumed all but a sliver of the meatloaf. The mashed potatoes and salad were both long gone. Finally full, Adam pushed back from the table, hands rubbing his full belly. Adam groaned in misery as he cursed himself out loud for the third serving of mashed potatoes.
“God, I’m so full. I couldn’t even dream of eating another bite.”
“Me, too. I think if I try to put anything else in my mouth today, I’m going to explode,” Ben agreed.
“You sure about that?” Adam asked snarkily. Ben froze, pupils blown wide as he picked up Adam’s changing tone of voice and the scent of arousal starting to work its way through the room. Who knew food was the way to his mate’s heart?
“Well, maybe not anything. There might be one or two things I could handle some more of today,” Ben replied, voice gravelly with need. “You want to help me experiment with that?”
Adam didn’t even respond, just pushed up from the table and ran for the bedroom. Chuckling lightly, Ben followed close behind.
Chapter 25
Adam
Adam was positive he was going to die from a case of blue balls. No matter how much he was working up the nerve to push out of his comfort zone, he just hadn’t been able to move past touching Ben above the waist this time…and kissing… lots of kissing. He never figured he would be as in love with kissing as it seemed he was, but it was becoming his absolute favorite pastime.
Ben crawled over Adam’s prone form and dug his fingers into his crazy auburn locks. He stared deep into Adam’s electric green eyes, long enough that Adam felt his very soul was being examined. Adam leaned up and captured Ben’s mouth again with his own, swallowing his moans and loving the feel of Ben’s hands on him. Adam pushed the edge of Ben’s shirt up, running his hands up and down the hard planes of his chest and abs. Adam plucked at the shirt in irritation wanting it gone. Ben pulled away long enough to pull the offending shirt overhead. Ben’s hands relieved Adam of his own shirt shortly thereafter.
Adam stopped and stared up at Ben’s muscled form. Ben wasn’t built like a bodybuilder, but more like a runner who lifted weights on the side. He was long and lean, with ropey muscles covering his arms and chest. Adam couldn’t stop himself from tracing the smooth skin of Ben’s chest and back with light brushes from both hands. A grumbling growl sounded from deep in Ben’s chest. Adam loved the way Ben was looking at him in that moment, like he wanted to consume him whole. He’d never been looked at like that before and found while it was slightly intimidating, it was also strangely empowering.
When Adam closed the distance between them again, someone groaned as their tongues battled for control, neither was sure who. Ben rolled onto his back, allowing Adam to tower over him this time, totally in control. Adam looked deep into Ben’s eyes as he gently placed both of Ben’s large hands palm up on the bed above his head. Adam knew there was no way he could hold Ben’s hands still if he really wanted to be free. Ben made no move to take over, however, letting Adam pin him to the bed as Adam plundered his mouth.
Releasing Ben’s hands, Adam traced the grooves of Ben’s almost eight-pack. Try as he might, he couldn’t find a trace of give a
nywhere his hands caressed. His mouth watered as he considered following his hands with his tongue. He looked up into Ben’s golden gaze to find he was watching his every move intently, like a predator waiting to pounce. Adam was pleased to find he wasn’t as nervous in this position, Ben trapped underneath him, still holding his hands high above his head. Adam could see the struggle Ben was fighting to stay so still, both hands clenching rhythmically.
A wicked smile played across Adam’s lips as he gazed down at his patient man. Twice now Ben had let Adam set the pace, never once pushing Adam for more than he was ready to give. Adam decided that deserved a reward. His head dropped, mouth taking the place of his hands as he tasted every inch of Ben’s chest and moved lower still.
Ben gasped and made a noise surprisingly like a squeak, causing Adam to shake with a silent chuckle. Ben’s left hand started to lift from the bed, but Adam stopped his ministrations, glaring at the wandering hand. The hand returned to its prone position so fast, a ripple passed through the comforter. Ben groaned out a faint ‘sorry’ and Adam returned to planning Ben’s destruction.
