by Marcy Jacks
“You did not do that,” Edward said.
“Yes I did. I killed him,” Craig replied, but it sounded as though half of his soul was missing.
“No,” Edward said. “Listen to me very carefully. You did not kill that man. He killed himself. He brought that onto himself when he came into your home and attacked you, attacked me. He would never have been in the position he was in if not for his own ignorance and stupidity. He did that to himself. Do you understand me?”
Craig hesitated, and his body was still trembling, but he nodded his head. “I…I understand.”
“Good,” Edward said, and he pressed a soft kiss to Craig’s lips. The last thing in the world he wanted was for his mate to be mourning the death of a man who would have burned him on a stove right before killing him, or worse, waiting for him to go into labor and then cutting the pup out of Craig’s body to do Lord only knew what with.
Those were nightmarish scenarios that Edward didn’t even want to contemplate.
“Let’s get you up and out of this kitchen,” Edward said, and it was easy for him to stand and pull Craig up with him.
“What about—?”
“I’ll deal with him,” Edward said. “You go back to our bedroom. No, wait, there’s still wolf’s bane in there.
And the silver coins. Edward also still had the pellets that he’d been shot with. He’d dropped them outside and hadn’t had the chance to use them, but perhaps they would still serve a purpose. He would give them to his brothers and warn them about what the weapons of today were going to be used on them.
“I’ll bury the body,” Edward said. “You should go on the deck. Get yourself something cold to drink, and I will take care of the rest.”
Craig looked very much like he wanted to say yes to that, but then he slowly shook his head. “No, I need to help you with this. If I let you do all the work and take care of it yourself…I don’t know, that just doesn’t feel right.”
“I’m not unaccustomed to hard labor,” Edward said. He was the woodcutter for his brothers, and then later for his mate when winter came and it was time to light fires all throughout the day instead of just the night.
“It’s not that,” Craig said. “I know you’re telling me that what happened wasn’t my fault, and I guess I can see your point on that. It was…self-defense. That’s not murder. But I was still the one to kill him. I need to help you clean him up. He’s my mess.”
Edward wanted to protest that, but he stopped himself. He sighed, stepped forward, and then cupped his mate’s cheek. “You will not rest easy if I take this from you, will you?”
Craig put his hand over Edward’s. “I just want…I don’t know, but I think this will help. Make me realize that it’s real.”
Edward was not good with emotions, and that was why he was going to trust that his mate knew what he wanted where this was concerned. “All right. You get your way, but I will dig the hole and bury the body. You can come with and even kick the bastard inside if you wish, but I won’t have you doing any heavy lifting while you’re carrying a pup.”
Edward worried that he was going to have some sort of argument on his hands for that one, but there was nothing. Craig nodded his head, and that was it.
* * * *
It took Edward less than an hour to dig a hole six feet deep and wide. Craig admitted to being quite impressed by this, but that was about the extent of the merriment considering the task they had to perform.
As promised, Edward allowed his mate to kick the bastard who’d hurt him inside of the hole that Edward had dug. There was no glee in Craig’s eyes, and Edward quietly filled the hole back up with earth.
“What if someone comes looking for him?” Craig asked. “I mean, we’re a ways away from the cabin now, but it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch for someone to come here looking for who was responsible after a dead body was found.”
Edward patted the top of the fresh earth with his hands when he finished with the burial. “Hunters don’t usually keep friends, and they tend to hunt with their families. I doubt this man has a wife and children waiting for him at home,” he said. “Also, no one will think there’s anything amiss with this place should they stumble across it anyway.”
“How do you know that?” Craig asked.
Edward put his palms down flat on the earth where just six feet lower, a dead hunter would sleep forever. Unlike Edward and his brothers, there would be no waking from this.
Edward focused his power, and new plants and grass began to grow from the place where the hunter was buried.
Moss came, and three small trees sprouted up along with numerous flowers. Edward continued to push his powers into the earth, pulling all the life that he could out of it, until the trees were varied in size, from his height to even larger than that. Vines twisted around them, and more weeds and flowers sprouted and died, until that spot was just another invisible part of the forest.
“Wow,” Craig had said. “If I didn’t see you dig the hole, I wouldn’t have known anything was there.”
“And that’s entirely the point,” Edward replied, and he got to his feet and brushed off his knees. He was still naked. He thought it best to not wear clothes while he disposed of a body and cleaned up blood. That way he wouldn’t have to burn a fine set of garments.
He and Craig returned to the house, and Edward allowed his mate to help him clean away the blood because it seemed important to him, and he also seemed to know how to best use the foul-smelling cleaning fluids that were in his house.
Edward was glad when it was all over. When they finished, there was no trace of the hunters left, aside from the wolf’s bane and silver that was on their bed, but Edward wanted to clean that away later on. At the moment, he felt incredibly filthy and wished to bathe himself.
“While I was sleeping,” Edward started, and he and Craig looked at each other. “I heard people speak of showers. I have yet to have one of those and was wondering if you would share one with me?”
Craig’s eyes softened. “Yeah, that sounds good,” he said, and he grabbed on to Edward’s hand and laced their fingers together.
Chapter Thirteen
Craig could hardly believe the things that had happened today. Then again, he was still reeling from the weeks he’d spent in captivity, and all that because he apparently didn’t fit the exact definition of what it meant to be human.
“You’ll have to burn those clothes that you’re wearing,” Edward said as Craig undressed. “There should be no traces of what occurred here.”
“Makes sense,” Craig replied, and he kicked his pants and underwear, the only thing those hunters had let him put on after they’d taken him from his bed with Edward, into the corner. “Nothing’s ever going to be the same now, will it?”
Edward looked at him, and then down at the slight bulge that was now his stomach. “Not the same the way you knew it, no,” he replied.
That only made Craig feel more depressed. “I guess that makes sense,” he said. “I mean, being a werewolf doesn’t exactly bring easy living to mind.”
Edward smiled and cupped his face. “It won’t all be bad. Even in my time, you were too gentle to have seen much bloodshed. I will…introduce you to my brothers. We will need a pack, and the more of us that there are, the easier it will be to keep you safe.”
“Your brothers,” Craig said. “Even the one who…killed me?”
Edward’s lips thinned. “I don’t exactly treasure the idea of introducing you to Alistair, but I believe I have punished him enough. I think he will want to make amends by protecting you.”
Craig had to think about that for a minute. He loved and trusted Edward, and if he said that what had happened in their past was an accident, and that it was over, then he supposed he should believe him. “I want to give your family a chance,” he said. “But I’m not going to lie and tell you that the idea of meeting them doesn’t scare the hell out of me,” he said.
“I know,” Edward replied. “My other b
rothers, Rowan and Brishen, had nothing to do with what happened to you that night. Alistair and I still barely get on, but if you don’t feel safe around any of them, Alistair especially, then we will go off on our own and make a new pack. At the very least we will need an alpha luna werewolf anyway to help you give birth. Only they can cut open your stomach without killing you and the pup you carry.”
Craig blew out a long breath. “All right,” he said. “We’ll meet your brothers first and then make the pack bigger later. I’ll still want to find a job after the baby is born though. I liked what I did and I want to keep doing it.”
“And I would never wish to stop you from doing something that you love,” Edward said.
Affection bloomed inside of Craig’s chest at those words. This was going to work. They were a partnership here, and no matter how dangerous things got, things were going to work our between them.
Craig then recalled that they were both naked and dirty, and even though his cock was starting to have thoughts of its own, Craig still wanted to get into the shower.
He grinned at his mate, and he leaned to the side, reaching for the tap and turning it so that water poured out.
Edward looked at what Craig was doing, watching as Craig adjusted the water temperature so that it was just right.
Craig pulled on the metal nozzle that got the shower running, and he stepped under the spray. “All right, get in here with me,” he said.
Edward grinned at him, and he lifted his leg to step over the tub and inside of the stall.
Craig knew where this was going. His body was still humming from the adrenaline of the kill, even hours after cleanup, which had been gross as all hell.
They were both hard, and they were going to have sex, but Craig at least wanted to clean the blood, dirt, and smell of chemical cleaners off of them before they got down to the good stuff.
It was nice. Craig was almost able to forget about the fact that a man had died on his kitchen floor, and that before that, both of those hunters had shot Edward and had tried to burn Craig’s face on the stove.
He pushed those thoughts out of his mind. His face wasn’t even hurting anymore, and Edward looked great, so he figured there was no point in making himself relive those memories. He was going to have to be strong if he wanted to live as a werewolf. A werewolf who was pregnant and mated to someone who was also a werewolf, but clearly something else.
“Turn around,” Craig said. “I want to wash your back.”
Edward was smiling at him, as though he thought that Craig might have some ulterior motive for getting him to face the shower wall. “I recall something along the lines of saying that you could have me if you wished it. Are you sure that’s not what you’re doing right now?”
“What? Tricking you so I can ravish you against the wall?” Craig asked. He would play along if that was what Edward wanted.
“Sounds like an interesting trick,” Edward replied, looking over his shoulder and down at Craig.
The man’s shoulders were wider than Craig’s. By a lot. He was also a few inches taller, and as Craig reached for the body wash, he also couldn’t help but stare at the man’s perfect ass. Even with the dirt that was washing down his body and pooling at his feet, he still managed to look like something out of one of Craig’s fantasies.
“How is it that you can look so good, even after getting shot at and dealing with a dead body?” Craig asked, and then he immediately wished that he hadn’t said anything when he mentioned the body.
Edward’s shoulder tightened only a little, but then he let out a hard sigh. “I hope you don’t think me a monster,” Edward said.
“I was the one who killed him,” Craig said quickly. “I know you said it was really his own fault, but he was going to stab you with that knife. I wouldn’t think you’re a monster for the things you never did.”
“And the things I did do?” Edward asked. He turned around, and Craig was all up in the man’s personal space now as they stared at each other.
“That wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you for that,” Craig said.
“Oh? And why was it not my fault. Where is the line drawn on how much responsibility I should take on the fact that your kind was nearly wiped from the earth?”
Craig wasn’t sure he liked where this was going. “What are you saying?”
Edward bit his lower lip and looked away from him for the briefest of seconds. “I’m saying that, like you needed to help with the body for your peace of mind, my peace of mind requires your forgiveness. Because whether you threw that plate or not, I would have killed one of those men. I would’ve had to before they would finally stop, and I would have enjoyed taking my revenge on them for the things they would have done to you.”
Craig sucked in a hard breath, and he wiped some of the water out of his face. “This is one of the hard things about being a werewolf that I’m going to have to deal with, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Edward said, and he nodded.
Craig frowned as he looked up at the other man. “I can't blame you for a curse you didn't create, Edward. You lost a mate, just like Alistair did, but your grief didn't make a curse. Even if you were involved with it, I would forgive you anyway."
"And the hunters I killed? Or would have killed?" Edward asked.
"Are you sorry about them?"
“Not in the least. If it meant saving my own hide, perhaps a little. If it meant saving yours, however, that’s another story, and a comparison that you probably do not like.”
“Not really, no,” Craig said, but he had his answer now. “I forgive you,” he said. “And I want to be with you.”
“Then that’s all I will ever need,” Edward replied.
Craig’s heart actually jumped in his chest, in a good way, not from fear or anything like that, when Edward leaned down and pressed his mouth against Craig’s.
Craig moaned into the kiss, and that was about when Edward stepped even closer than he already was, and Craig could feel the length of the man’s hard cock, pulsing and all but begging for attention against his lower stomach.
“I want you,” Edward said against Craig’s lips.
Craig pushed the other man back, but he wasn’t rough. The last thing he wanted was for him to accidentally make Edward slip and kill himself in the shower after they’d both just survived getting ganged up on by a couple of crazed hunters.
“Turn around. I didn’t even start to wash your back yet.”
The disappointment on Edward’s face was cute. “You would actually have me wait?” he asked.
“Yup. A little teasing always makes it better, right? Now turn around?”
Edward smiled, and he looked something like he had a plan of his own.
Craig realized what it was when the man’s hand came down, and his fingers curled around Craig’s own aching cock.
It throbbed at the sudden touch of his mate, and Craig couldn’t help but bite down on the moan that otherwise would have left his mouth.
“Are you sure you wish to wait? Feels rather like you’re more than ready already.”
Craig had to summon ever last ounce of willpower that he had inside of him as he pushed Edward’s hand away from his dick. “Yes, we’re waiting, and that was an evil move you pulled,” Craig said.
Edward shrugged, now trying to pretend as though he wasn’t as desperate as he showed Craig he really was. “Very well. I suppose the longer we wait, the better the pleasure will be when you finally have me.”
Craig swallowed as Edward turned around again, revealing his ass. Fuck. He was starting to feel like a virgin all over again. It was ridiculous.
Craig grabbed one of the washcloths and started to lather it before he began cleaning off Edward’s back, removing the blood, dirt, and sweat. All the while the only thing he could think about was what if he wasn’t any good? What if he came too soon?
“Where did you get these scars?” Craig asked, noting the crisscrossing slash marks over his shoulders. He’d seen them w
hen they were making love, but he thought it would be a good time to ask at the moment. That way he could get himself under control and maybe breathe a little easier.
“Battles with other alphas,” Edward said. “And Alistair.”
His brother. Shit. Craig shouldn’t have brought that up.
Soon Edward’s back and shoulder-length black hair were perfectly clean, and Craig was only putting off the inevitable because of his own insecurities and fears.
“Did you know that your hair has green highlights in it?” Craig asked, and he moved down lower around Edward’s waist, but he wasn’t sure if it would be weird or not to start cleaning his mates’s ass cheeks.
Grabbing them and squeezing them as he was getting off, sure, but cleaning he wasn’t so sure about.
“Do I?”
“You didn’t know? I guess I didn’t either at first until just now, but in this light I can see it. I thought it was just light reflecting off the trees when you were outside—”
Craig abruptly stopped when Edward reached down, took his hands, and then brought them up to Edward’s chest.
The move forced him to be closer, and it pushed his chest right up to Edward’s back, as though he was hugging the man from behind. He could both feel and hear the steady thumping of Edward’s heart.
“What’s the matter?” Craig asked, and despite the lulling of the heartbeat, it was incredibly difficult for him to ignore the throbbing of his cock as he was being pressed against Edward’s skin like this.
Edward knew it, too. “I can hear your heart racing,” he said, and he brought one of Craig’s hands up to kiss it. “Take all the time you need in the world.”
Craig sighed, and he didn’t even realize how relieved he would be by those words until just then. “I think I’m going to like having a werewolf for a lover if you can read me so well,” he said. “I think anyone else would’ve lost their patience by now.”
Edward chuckled and gently squeezed Craig’s hands. “My patience for want of sex is running a tad thin, but I wouldn’t take out any frustrations on you. If you didn’t want to do anything, it would be as simple as that.”
