Navigating Sanctuary

by Flynn Eire

  “Want to tell me what you were doing with that woman and why you were touching her?” Ashton asked quietly a few minutes into our clipping.

  “No.”

  “There are a lot of us in a litter so we can help each other, Brother.”

  “Thanks, but sometimes more isn’t more helpful. If I need it, I’ll ask.”

  “As you wish,” he sighed, shaking his head and focusing on the cucumbers.

  Once we were done, I really had to hurry, running home and showering before quickly walking all the way back so I didn’t get sweaty but not screwing around or I would be late for our date. I found him waiting by the sandwich bar and headed that way.

  “Sorry, I was totally nasty, so I had to run all the way back to the castle to shower.”

  “No worries. I just got here,” he said easily. “Hungry?”

  “Starved. Our shift runs through lunch and then I worked the greenhouse with my brothers so I forgot. It was fun though.”

  “Yeah, they are. My little brothers get a kick out of them,” he told me as we loaded up a few sandwiches. “We do the depositor for our chore time, and it’s soothing to watch it run.”

  “What do you mean? I don’t know that machine,” I admitted.

  “It’s like a cookie depositor,” he explained, moving his hand along as he talked to show like the imaginary line of stuff. “It spurts out the same amount each time and six wide or whatever. It’s uniform, repetitive, and flows. It’s relaxing, like waves on a beach.”

  “I get you. Like watching when my mother spun yarn long ago. The wheel would go round and round, and I always wondered how it didn’t lull her into a nap.”

  “Like that,” he agreed. We finished getting our food, adding fries because fresh fries with a thick sandwich was perfect. Then drinks and we were done, taking it to go. I let him lead us to the woods on the property, finding a dry spot with some sun shining through the leaves to sit down. “Can I ask what it’s like?”

  “What is?” I checked after I swallowed the bite I’d just taken.

  “Being a hound. Shifting.”

  I thought about that a moment. “You know that moment right before you orgasm and you feel like you’re falling? Or we went on roller coasters once and it was like that. That dropping sensation. Not like the whole ride as other hounds speak of, but that one instant where you feel almost weightless and then you’re not and your hound comes out and catches you or vice versa.”

  “So it doesn’t hurt?”

  “No, not at all. We’re born as hounds.”

  His eyes flashed shock and then looked back to his food. “I didn’t know that. Are you hounds then that change into humans?”

  “Does it matter?” I checked, wondering why he phrased it that way. “We’re both.”

  “No, I guess it doesn’t,” he said after a few moments of thought. “I guess I haven’t thought about it too much since coming here. My mind keeps going back to fairy tales and princes turning back from frogs or the mice in Cinderella.”

  “I can’t imagine what it would be like to learn about this whole other side of the world you didn’t know existed,” I muttered, shrugging. “It’s just always been for us.”

  “Can I see you shift?”

  “Sure.” I pulled off my clothes, noting the way his eyes filled with heat when he saw me naked. I changed forms and gobbled one of my sandwiches right up, still starving. Then I leaned in and licked his face, glad when he giggled, sounding almost like a little kid then. I went one further and flopped onto my back, giving him my belly.

  “I’ve not really seen you guys up close like this besides when the mad dash happened, and then it wasn’t goofing around and a lot of panic,” he murmured, rubbing my tummy. “It really is you. I can see it. Your eyes are still you. So you know it’s me, but you think differently when you’re a hound? Barry said Tristan told him it’s more basic and urges and stuff like that.”

  I shifted back, not moving so his hand was still on my stomach. “It’s not like the dog treat commercials basic sort of thought. It’s more—an animal doesn’t second guess themselves. They don’t read into things like we do as people. He’s hungry so he eats. He doesn’t think about calories or maybe that the fries might make me feel bloated when I want to look good for you and I’m going to be naked.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about bloating,” he complimented, running his fingers along my abs. He reached my hip though, and I burst out laughing, curling up. “Oh, are you ticklish?”

  “Don’t tell anyone,” I begged, knowing my litter tortured me with it sometimes.

  “No, I like keeping it a secret for me,” he admitted, tickling the same spot.

  “Uncle, uncle,” I gasped when he kept going.

  “What will you give me?” he teased.

  “Anything you want,” I answered honestly, throwing him from the surprise in his eyes. “What do you want, Dublin?”

  “I’d like to learn archery,” he admitted, his hand moving over my stomach again. “Those arrows with the holy water in them are wicked cool, and I want to learn more.”

  “I’ll teach you.” I leaned in closer so I was inches from his mouth. “What else do you want, Dublin?”

  “I want you to suck my cock again, but your fries would get cold.”

  “Screw the damn fries,” I growled, my hands going to his fly. I sucked on him with all I had, glad when he made happy noises and a few minutes later filled my mouth with his release. “Good protein.”

  “Dork,” he chuckled, running his thumb over my lower lip. “You’re really good at that.”

  “Call on me anytime,” I purred, rubbing my face against his groin. “Anything else?”

  He opened his mouth, but then my stomach growled loudly. “No, eat. We can play later.”

  “Fine, but I’m staying naked because I like how you look at me.”

  He shrugged like he wasn’t going to deny it or ask me to dress. I finished, glad my fries weren’t too bad, and lay down on the grass, watching the sun set.

  “Can I ask you something personal too?”

  “Sure,” he answered, not sounding like he wanted to.

  I turned on my side to face him. “What was the deal for your soul? I—I keep wanting to ask because I’d never heard of people selling other souls, and I guess after hundreds of years of seeing the fallout of those deals, I wanted to know what they were. Is that horrible to ask?”

  “It’s a sensitive topic, but I’m okay with it,” he muttered, cleaning up his wrappers and adding mine to the paper bags we’d used to carry it all. “All the crack my mom could smoke or ever want. My parents were real gems. I mean, just top rate people. They were total junkies that thought having a fucking kid would clean them up, and apparently it worked for like two seconds.

  “Well, it worked for my dad, but when he got sober, he realized how worthless my mom was and bailed when I was a toddler. But before that, they did the whole thing with getting married. On their honeymoon they won or something to Dublin, my mom couldn’t take sobriety anymore and made the deal for me. So that’s why she named me Dublin on top of it.”

  “That’s horrible,” I murmured, shaking my head. “I thought no one could ever be worse than my father and uncles, but wow, there are really people like that.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked, lying down too.

  I reached out and touched his exposed stomach, wanting the comfort to tell him. “My father is the eldest brother of the eldest line of Hales. So Gerald is his heir, and he’s always been hardest on us. But more than that, it’s his fucked up views of what we are. He makes it seem like some great honor to be one of us and a Hale to boot. Like we single handedly keep the balance instead of dragging souls to Hell.

  “And sometimes souls we shouldn’t have taken? There’s no honor in that. They lied to us. That’s not shocking, but don’t drag me into the dirty like that. If people sold their souls, they deserve what they get. I don’t care if they pay their price eve
n if they had no idea how bad it would be. Others say no, so that was their choice.”

  “Who did you take that you shouldn’t have?” he asked as he took off his sweater, giving me access.

  I scooted closer. “Clean souls. Souls that made the deal to save others. We didn’t know they got a pass. If they didn’t know and did it selflessly, they were supposed to get a pass.” I shook my head. “I’ve had such a hard time coming to terms with that because some have haunted me.”

  “You’re thinking of one in particular,” he muttered.

  I nodded. “The guy who invented penicillin. His wife made a deal to save him from the sickness killing so many, that he was researching to save so many. When it was time to collect her, her soul was pure white and so, so good. She accepted it though with grace. She said to us, ‘he was needed more than me as he will now save millions. That was worth one soul even if it was mine. This is what I can do to save so many.’

  “And it has always haunted me because of all the people who didn’t deserve Hell, she was at the top of my list. But to think there was some honor or righteousness in taking her to Hell is just demented. We were so, so pissed when Miranda told us that there was a trap for hounds before they try to retire. I thought Gerald was going to lose his mind when we confronted Father and he looked at us like we were dense.

  “He knew, and that’s why Hales never retired. We knew. We knew, and we didn’t even warn other Hellhounds. How is there any honor in that? What the fuck had we done so worthy to act like we’re some noble bloodline or fucking royalty? It’s all crap, he’s full of crap, and berating us for not having the next generation and showing our dedication to Hell is crap. We were born into the role. What else we do is completely up to us.”

  “The other hounds don’t talk about all of that,” he admitted, reaching out and rubbing my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s hard to talk about it with a human because, well, they either don’t know about us or judge. It’s not our fault we were born as we are. I even understand the need for us, as some of the people are truly horrible and getting them out of the world so they can’t do more harm is fine with me. But being Hell’s lapdog is something I never wanted to be. I can’t be. I just can’t no matter how much it disappoints my father.”

  “Families suck,” he murmured, moving closer.

  “My siblings don’t,” I corrected, rolling us so I was straddling his lap. “They’re good people. So are our cousins.”

  “I didn’t mean them,” he promised, running his hands up my legs.

  “Thanks for letting me vent,” I whispered as I leaned over and kissed him. “It’s nice to have someone to talk to.”

  “It is,” he agreed, clearing his throat. “Barry told me something fun. Want me to try it?”

  “Yes.” I had no idea, no clue what it was, but if my mate was interested or wanted it, I would give it to him.

  It turned out to be for me. He said the words, and instantly I was slicked up and stretched out for him. I moaned loudly, shaking it felt so good. I moved his cock to my hole and sat on him.

  “That good, huh?” he teased me, raising an eyebrow at how fast I jumped him.

  “Yeah, that good.” And then I fucked myself on his dick, moving faster than he could, faster than I had the night before, losing my head. “Fuck, fuck me, Dublin. Come inside me again. Oh fuck, so good. I want to feel your cum leak out of me like before.”

  “Shit, the mouth on you,” he moaned, basically lying there and enjoying it. He came hard, and I did too, getting my seed on his naked chest and abs. “You weren’t supposed to do that until I got my fantasy.”

  “Sorry. That’s a really, really good spell,” I panted, leaning over and kissing him. “Fuck me again and again, Dublin. As hard as you want, however you want. Use my body.”

  He covered my mouth with his hand. “You guys really are as horny as Barry and everyone else say. Wow. Give a guy a minute.”

  I licked his hand until he moved it. “Will you touch me? Please? Just jerk me off, and I’ll beg or do whatever you want.”

  He smirked at me. “You already promised that.” Still he grabbed my dick and tugged it hard, moving faster and faster. I moaned against his lips, staring into his eyes. It didn’t take much with his half hard cock still in me and I was finishing all over him again. “You are too fucking sexy.”

  “Glad you think so,” I gasped, glad when he smiled.

  He was ready for another round by then, pulling out of me and making us stand, having me hold onto a low hanging tree limb as he pounded into my willing body. We took a break, and he did me twice more, and I started to think maybe my mate could become as addicted to me as I was to him.

  I really hoped so, or I was totally screwed.

  3 ~ Dublin

  Just over a week after meeting Trevor, and I thought I might be addicted to him. I hadn’t seen any of the normal people I did and pretty much went right to him if I wasn’t training, working, or hanging with my little brothers. Barry and I were taking an early morning Sunday jog while the security meeting went on, and I was lost in my thoughts.

  “So how’s Trevor?” he asked when we took a break to stretch.

  “I was just thinking about him,” I admitted. “I like him.”

  “Good.”

  “No, I might like him, Barry. That’s not good. I play.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe you don’t have to anymore. Maybe you can just have fun with him.”

  His tone was funny, and I went to ask what he meant, but he took off running, singing that Trevor and I were kissing in a tree like a dork. I laughed though and easily caught up with him since he had shorter strides than mine. My mind shifted to dirty thoughts about last night and how much fun we’d had, like really had. Trevor was totally open and willing to let me try out anything I wanted.

  And crap, was it good. I shivered just thinking about how good it was, wondering if I could catch him after the meeting for more or if he had his guard shift.

  We reached the cafeteria, and I was ready for food. I went over to the scrambled egg bar and bumped into someone I’d been messing around with.

  “How’ve you been?” I asked quietly, keeping cool with her kid not far away. “I haven’t heard from you.”

  “Oh, yeah, been super busy. We’ll catch each other soon,” she said quickly, giving me a wave before hurrying off.

  I frowned, watching her and thinking that was weird. Then I thought about it some more. What she’d said was just about what someone else had texted when I’d asked how she’d been and not even meaning I wanted sex. She’d been sick, so it was sort of a weird response. I frowned as I ate, only half listening to Barry.

  It hit me just as I finished up. Or I should say when it started to hit me.

  “That son of a bitch,” I hissed, getting to my feet. I quickly took my tray to the right spot, Barry on my heels and calling after me. I went to the greenhouse, knowing where one of the women I messed around with would be on a Sunday because it was where we’d met up after to have fun. I walked right over to her and pulled her off to the side. “Why are you avoiding me?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied, not looking at me.

  “Did Trevor warn you off me?” I demanded, growling when she flinched.

  “No, not exactly, and definitely not how you’re thinking.”

  “Yeah, uh-huh,” I drawled, turning on my heel and heading for the door.

  “Dub, chill,” Barry muttered, moving in front of me now that he had caught up. “Think about this.”

  “Sure, all the way to pounding him.”

  “Dude, think,” he pushed, not letting go of the door, knowing I wouldn’t hurt him. “I think Trevor’s your mate, man. That’s why I went to him that night. The way he looks at you is the way Tristan looks at me. The way I see hounds look at their mates.”

  I flinched, not having considered that. Then I shook my head. “It’s even worse if that’s true, Barry. He manipulated
me.”

  “Give him a chance to explain. You know things aren’t that simple ever.”

  “Like telling me? He could have just told me,” I snapped.

  “Dub, how fast did you tell him you weren’t into something real?” he argued gently.

  “Doesn’t matter,” I bitched, picking him up and moving him out of the way. “Still doesn’t make it right.”

  “I know, but you were just saying you liked him,” he tried, hurrying after me.

  “Apparently because he was engineering it.”

  “Telling others to piss off isn’t the same as that and you know it.”

  I took off, not wanting to hear his very rational and calm arguments, liking my anger better. He couldn’t keep up, but he was doing a damn good job of not giving up. I was tall with long legs, no matter how heavy I was, and I was good at running.

  I’d had reason to enough times.

  I reached the Lundbergs’s first, knowing the meeting was now there since they had invited more people to it. I reached the main entrance as people were starting to leave, which made it easier for me since I didn’t have to drag him out of the meeting. A few minutes of looking around and I found him with his siblings and the female Hales. I didn’t care, charging right over there and grabbing his arm.

  “Did you tell people to stay away from me?” I growled, shaking him. “Tell me you didn’t do that.”

  His eyes went wide. “I have no idea why you doubt your intelligence if you figured that out already,” he blurted, wincing. “Wait, let me—”

  I was so pissed he was mocking me on top of it, I pulled back my fist and slugged him, sneering at him when he went down. “Stay away from me. Don’t come near me again.”

  “Wait, Dublin, please wait,” he begged, getting to his feet.

  I turned to leave, ignoring him… And found myself faced with a lot of angry hounds.