Thrown to the Wolves (Big Bad Wolf)

by Adhara, Charlie

  Cooper’s eyebrows shot up and he looked at Park, who was massaging his temples like he was expecting an aneurysm. Or perhaps welcoming one.

  Now that he knew Park had dated him, Cooper took a much more careful look. Eli was shorter than Cooper and heavier—muscular, yes, but with a pleasing layer of fat that made him look soft, cuddly and rather sexy. His black hair was full and long, past his chin, and he had a closely trimmed beard, gray eyes and absurdly thick, dark lashes. He was undeniably attractive—beautiful, even—and he looked nothing like Cooper.

  What was preferable, Cooper wondered, to find out your partner’s ex looked like you or that he didn’t?

  “I didn’t realize—” he started, then shut his mouth because that about covered it. He did not realize. It wasn’t that he was surprised Park had an ex or that said ex was depressingly good-looking. That was the risk of dating someone as undeniably charming as Park. Cooper was often surprised he didn’t need to bat more ex-lovers away. He wasn’t even surprised Eli was a wolf.

  Someone who understands him. Maybe this was exactly who Helena had in mind. What he hadn’t realized was that the theoretical hot ex werewolf lover would be materially here today. Ensconced in an upstairs room playing with Park’s buttons while Cooper was downstairs being spit on by all and sundry and worrying about him like an idiot.

  The silence dragged on. Please don’t make me ask why you’re up here together, he pleaded the relationship gods. But no one was volunteering any information. Eli was still studying him like he was an authenticator and Cooper was a very clever forgery, and Park was glaring so hard at the shelves across the room he might as well have been trying to read the books without opening them.

  “Should I—I probably should go back downstairs,” Cooper said finally. “Sorry to interrupt.”

  “What? No. You didn’t interrupt anything,” Park protested. “Eli was just...”

  “Telling Ollie I found traces of trespassers on the east end of the woods, right on the Park-Rosetti property boundary,” Eli said. “Humans. Three or four of them, I think.”

  “And you were out there because...?” Cooper asked. “Drooling on more stranded motorists?”

  Eli laughed. “Just stretching my legs. I live less than twenty kilometers from there.”

  Oh. Just a casual, impromptu half marathon. No biggie. “You must be very stretchy.”

  “That’s what they tell me.”

  Cooper felt his face heat. He cleared his suddenly tight throat. “So you, uh, live near the border, right? Are you a Rosetti, then?”

  Eli scrunched up his nose in amusement and glanced at Park. “Goodness no. I’m a Park.”

  “Excuse me?” Cooper said numbly. Distantly, in the one-neuron bomb shelter part of his brain still alive and functioning, he registered Park sigh. “What do you mean a Park?”

  “I joined the pack fifteen, twenty years ago? Of course, I was just a wee babe then.”

  Those jokes were always funnier when the person didn’t look like they could literally be that young. Or maybe Cooper just wasn’t in the laughing mood. “So now you live in their woods as, what, their first line of defense?”

  “I like to think of myself more as a canary.” Eli saluted lazily. “Cheep, cheep.”

  “And did you notice anything unusual in the coal mine the day Joe Park died, Tweety Bird?” Cooper snapped.

  Eli raised one well-shaped eyebrow, amused. “You know, I thought I saw a puddy—”

  Park interrupted, “Save the vaudeville act for the road. I’m sure if Eli saw anything he’s already told the others.”

  “Okay,” Cooper said. “So did you? See something, I mean? Or is it a secret only you Parks can know?” The word blistering came to mind. Cooper felt overheated just saying it.

  “Let me guess. You’re bad cop,” Eli drawled. “It’s hot.”

  Park cut off Cooper’s retort. “Anyway, thanks for letting me know about all this. I’ll pass your information about the trespassers on to Helena. She’ll probably send someone to follow up with you tomorrow.”

  Eli blinked, surprised, and tilted his head. “You don’t plan on checking it out yourself?”

  Park gestured at Cooper, like I would if I wasn’t burdened with this one. “We’re probably taking off sooner rather than later.”

  “I don’t mind postponing,” Cooper said quickly.

  There was no way in hell Park was going to use him as an excuse for his weird reluctance to get involved in helping his family. Not after what Marcus had said. And not in front of this...ex.

  Besides, Cooper wanted to go. Three or four humans, Eli had said. It was probably nothing, but Cooper couldn’t help but remember the Freemans’ odd reticence to tell him where they were staying. Every B and B had turned them away. Why not try a little B and E? Or trespassing, at least. He couldn’t imagine the passionate Dr. Freeman willing to stay over an hour away from her beloved “abnormal” wolves.

  “I think we should check it out ourselves,” Cooper said decisively. “We have to wait around for transportation back to Halifax, anyway.”

  “Yeah, Ollie,” Eli chimed in. An unexpected ally. “Don’t be such a party pooper. I’ve missed your sniff and search.”

  All right, maybe not an ally, exactly.

  Park’s eyes narrowed. He said to Cooper, “You know these are just some random trespassers, right? They’re probably hunters or teenagers setting up somewhere to party. They’re not wolves, so they have nothing to do with the attacks.”

  “Sure,” Cooper said. “So even easier. We check it out, tell those kids to get off your lawn, and it’s one less thing for your family to worry about.” Park was still looking at him suspiciously. “Unless...there’s some other reason you shouldn’t be poking around the Rosetti border?”

  “No. No reason,” Park said evenly.

  Eli clapped his hands. “That’s settled, then. From what I can tell, our quarry packs up camp for the day by eight, so I suggest the earlier the better if we want to catch them before they leave. We can meet at my house and put Cooper on a sled while you and I run?”

  “It makes more sense if we all ride,” Park said hastily. “Wouldn’t want to scare the campers. We’ll meet you at six at the latest.”

  Eli nodded, eyes sharp and thoughtful as they flicked between Park and Cooper. “Whatever you say, boss. I should head out. You wouldn’t recognize me without my full ten of beauty sleep. Positively beastly.” He winked and slipped away, closing the heavy door behind him.

  Cooper stared after him. “So,” he said when he felt reasonably confident Eli was out of earshot. “Your ex. He’s really...”

  “Exasperating,” Park offered.

  “...hot,” Cooper finished at the same time.

  “What?” Park gaped at him.

  “Nothing. Was it serious between you two?”

  “Not particularly.” Park shrugged. “I mean, not in the end. Or the beginning.”

  “Yup, that is how a relationship arc tends to go,” Cooper said blankly. “So now he just lives with your family, is part of the pack and shares your last name. That’s cool.”

  “He has his own house on the property,” Park corrected. “And the name carries...benefits. He’s welcome to use it when he wants to. But just as often he doesn’t. Surnames amongst wolves are usually indicative of pack. But if you’re living and working in the human world where they tend to be more patriarchal about it, the shifting around of names can be confusing.”

  “So were you—I mean, you and he weren’t, uh, married?”

  Park raised an eyebrow. “No. Definitely not. Eli became a Park, if you will, before we began a non-platonic relationship. He remained a Park after our relationship ended, long before I even left the pack. His decision to join us—them had nothing to do with me.”

  “You just sweetened the deal.”

  A
dark shadow fell over Park’s face and disappeared. Cooper shuffled in place, unsure he’d even seen it. “Something like that.”

  “So why become a Park if not because of you? What does that even mean?”

  “He has some relatively unique talents that make him a valuable asset,” Park said vaguely. “It’s not really my place to discuss it. But long story short, Joe and Helena offered him a place in the pack and he accepted.”

  “Helena wanted him.” Cooper huffed. “That makes sense.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing. I can just imagine that you two made a good couple.”

  Helena had probably welcomed Eli and all his valuable assets with open arms. No threatening walks over the hill and through the woods to Grandma’s open disgust and dismay for him. And why not? Surely Eli understood all the nuance of werewolf culture and could raise well-adjusted, happy and healthy wolf...cubs? Pups? Children?

  Meanwhile, Cooper didn’t even know the fucking terminology and couldn’t be left alone ten minutes at a wake without getting into a literal fight. He doubted Park ran away to shift out of sight when he was with Eli. They’d probably been shifting and wolfing around all the time. Running twenty kilometers and stretching their legs along with who knows what else.

  Park was frowning at him almost as hard as he had at the books. “Whatever you’re thinking about is doing unspeakable horrors to your face. What do you mean you can imagine we made a good couple?”

  “I can’t help it. I’m the bedraggled one,” he said testily. “I just meant you guys seem well-matched. Have more...in common.”

  “If this is still about me not telling my family you’re—”

  “No, no. I told you it’s fine.” Oh, to have the minor trials and tribulations of yesterday. “It’s just interesting seeing you together, is all.”

  “Is this why you want to go traipsing around the forest at the crack of dawn? You want to quiz Eli? Watch us interact?”

  Cooper shook his head. “Why would I want that? What am I supposed to be doing on this hike? Trying to start a...a...”

  “Investigation?” Park suggested.

  “Threesome?” Cooper finished.

  Park choked. “Okay. We’re obviously not a couple that should be trying to finish each other’s sentences.”

  “Look, forget it. It’s nice your family loves Eli so much.” Cooper held up his hand to stop Park’s protest. “The reason I want to check out these trespassers is because Marcus told me this is a...precarious time for you.”

  Park’s eyes flashed gold. “Marcus should keep his mouth shut.”

  “Actually, I’m glad he was honest with me. It’s not like I didn’t notice everyone staring at us down there. I’d feel better equipped to deal with that if you stopped trying to keep me out of it.” Trying to keep me out of your world, he thought.

  Park combed his fingers through his hair, tugging a little, frustrated, and leaned against the desk. “It’s not just you. I wanted to keep us both out of it.”

  “But you can’t compartmentalize everything,” Cooper said gently. “You’re going to want to see your family again, and if you and I are going to be a...long-term thing, I don’t want them to think of me as that human asshole who dragged you away when the shit hit the fan.”

  Or the guy whose ex-BSI partner had slaughtered wolves out of bigoted hatred under his very nose. But Cooper couldn’t bear to even bring that up. Besides, he knew what Park would say. It’s not your fault, you didn’t do anything wrong, blah blah blah.

  What a load of good-intentioned bullshit.

  “I just don’t want to reflect badly on you,” he said quietly. “Or—or put you in danger because I don’t know what’s going on.”

  “Cooper,” Park sighed. “Come here. Please.”

  Cooper moved to stand between his legs behind the desk and let himself be pulled into a hug.

  “As much as I’d like to say everything I do is for you, this time I’m afraid Marcus has misled you. You’re not dragging me anywhere.” Park started stroking up and down his back. “I don’t want to get caught up in an investigation because then it would look like I’m more involved in the...decisions the pack makes than I am. When I separated from them, it took a lot of work to convince people I was really, truly out. Especially since I didn’t have another surname to take. I don’t want to undo that work.”

  “Okay,” Cooper said. He pushed his nose against Park’s neck. The talk about surnames was making his heart pound for reasons he was not ready to even think about, and Park’s hands were distracting him. Intentionally distracting, he’d bet, but damn, it was working. “I guess that makes sense. But if you weren’t with me, would you still—”

  “If I wasn’t with you, I wouldn’t be with you. And that’s too terrible an idea to linger on, so let’s not.” Park kissed along his jaw, moving slowly up and around the rim of his ear, and Cooper shivered pleasantly. “Not when there’s so many other places I rather linger.”

  He kissed down Cooper’s neck, unbuttoned his top shirt button and lapped at the hollow of his throat.

  “Oh, fuck,” Cooper muttered, tipping his head back. He dragged his fingers through Park’s hair. His skin tightened, prickling with awareness, the sound of a tongue on skin and Park’s heavy breaths sinfully Pavlovian.

  Suddenly Park pushed him backward so that he stumbled and fell, grunting, into the sturdy chair behind the desk, the leather creaking beneath him. “Jesus, what was that for?”

  “I’m being proactive. You were feeling weak in the knees.”

  Cooper snorted. “Oh, was I?”

  “Maybe not. But I was.” Park smiled mischievously and got down on his own knees, one at a time, body too large to simply fall to the ground. He ran his hands up Cooper’s thighs, then back down, studying the way the fabric smoothed and crinkled under his fingers.

  “Did I tell you already? You look really nice today,” Park said. He kissed the inner corner of Cooper’s right knee. “Like a really nice guy.” He started mouthing up the seam of Cooper’s pants.

  “Whoa there,” Cooper gasped. He stilled Park with a hand on his jaw as he got to the fleshiest part of his thigh. “Is now really a good time for this?”

  “Such a good time,” Park said, kissing his palm. Then opening his mouth and kissing it again. His tongue traced Cooper’s life lines, a filthy palm reading that predicted good things were coming his way. “I need to be close to you.” He dropped his lips to the growing bulge in Cooper’s slacks and breathed hot air through the fabric. “Need to taste you.”

  Cooper groaned. Park mouthed at him, coaxing his cock to harden into an uncomfortably tight position, like a siren luring a sailor to his doom.

  Park nudged at him with his nose. “Please, can I? Can I taste you?” Cooper didn’t stand a chance.

  “Yeah, yes.” He unbuttoned, lifted his ass, and shoved his pants and boxer briefs down to his knees with Park’s help before collapsing back in the chair, the relief from freeing his erection a pleasurable goal in itself.

  Park wrapped a steadying hand around Cooper’s dick and examined him. He made a satisfied little sigh, like it was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen, which was, you know, exceedingly optimistic, but love was one helluva drug. Cooper squeezed the arms of the chair to prevent himself from trying to lead the horse to water and begging him to drink up, so to speak. With Park, he’d learned, patience was everything.

  The leather had grown slick with sweat under his hands by the time Park sat up on his knees. His eyes flickered up to meet Cooper’s, and he started to lick teasingly at the head. Little intent kitten licks, like he was chasing the flavor.

  “God, yes. That’s nice,” Cooper said, meaning the visual of it as well as the tingles spreading through his body. There was something incredibly appealing about having all that power kneeling at his feet, focusing on nothing
but pleasing him.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he said, sincerity arching the vowels, like the word itself was bursting with joy.

  Park smiled shyly, a flush appearing on his cheeks. Whether it was from arousal or the compliment, who knew. “Thank you.” He rubbed Cooper’s dick over his lips. “Can I suck you? Please?”

  Cooper dug his nails into the leather. “So polite today. Go ahead, then.”

  Park slipped his lips over the head, whimpering, and slowly, methodically worked his way up and down Cooper’s shaft.

  “Fuck, your mouth is sweet,” Cooper said, grinding his ass down into the seat to keep his hips from bucking.

  “Only sweet for you,” Park murmured, pulling off, then dipping back down and taking him so deep.

  “That’s right you are,” Cooper gasped. “Can’t let anyone else have you like this. Out there you have to be tough and strong. But in here you’re so sweet and soft and eager to please. Just for me.”

  “Mmmm,” Park agreed, working into a rhythm. The majority of him was blocked by the desk, but anyone who opened the door would be able to see his head bobbing up and down over Cooper’s lap and know immediately what was going on.

  “You better make me come fast before someone walks in and sees you on your knees sucking dick under the desk like a professional slut.”

  Park groaned, sending vibrations down Cooper’s sensitive skin. He managed to get his mouth farther down around Cooper’s cock and picked up speed. Cooper cupped the back of his head gently, still letting Park lead but enjoying the rise and fall of it and the idea that this soft touch was comforting to him. That he could feel Cooper’s praise flow straight from his fingers and warm his spine.

  “You’re so good,” Cooper said. “Such a good boy.”

  Park’s hand disappeared from Cooper’s thigh to unzip his own pants, and he started to jack himself off in sync with the motion of his mouth.

  It was this that pushed Cooper over the edge, seeing Park too turned on just from sucking Cooper off that he couldn’t resist jerking himself violently, humping his own hand between Cooper’s legs.