by Flynn Eire
By the time we were done, several more teams were there with trees. Some weren’t as big as the one we’d just handled, but either way, I realized we could use about a dozen more of us on this end to keep up with the flow we were going to be getting. If only this had been scheduled two weeks later. There were five more pre-trans about to become post-trans by that time.
Then again, we were pretty much useless for several weeks after our transition. So it was good they were of some use at least.
“I remember there being more post-trans helping on this side last year when we were dragging them down,” Mark commented, saying what I’d just been thinking.
“Yeah, they had at least fifteen,” Zibon agreed as we tossed limbs into the chipper. “The second those guys made warrior they got transferred, stationed at that coven in Quebec that got attacked by Zakasacs and nearly wiped out, remember? Most of the post-trans got sent early to finish their training there and help out.”
“No, I’d forgotten about all of that,” I admitted as I brushed off my jeans. “We were over in France, dealing with that mess Yuri’s mate was in.”
“Right, yeah. Wow, lots of shit all at one time. Then this crap with Ben and Dean? I keep wondering what’s coming next,”
“You’re not the only one,” Verge agreed. “That’s why I’m with Wally on not focusing on a specialty. Shit hits the fan and I wanna be ready to jump in wherever to make sure our asses are covered and we make it out of anything. I’m not going down being Zakasacs dinner. I ain’t going out like that. My parents died like that, trying to fight with shovels and tools before warriors could get there. I’m not going to be like that.”
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, clapping him on the back. “I didn’t know.”
He shrugged, wiping his nose with his forearm. “I was young. I don’t like to talk about it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dissing my parents. They were brave to fight without training. They bought my sister and I time for help to arrive. I’m just saying I want to be prepared for anything.”
“Amen to that, brother,” Zibon chimed in. “Amen to that and then some.”
We worked for a while longer but as the wood chipper finished cycling through the wood we’d thrown in, my head snapped up, hearing vehicles approaching. I raced over to the truck and grabbed one of the radios. “Dimitri, someone’s coming.” I squinted, checking out what I could from way down the road. “Looks like Wyoming State Parks.”
The radio gave me static when I let go of the button and then Dimiti’s voice came back over it. “Just be cool. You know the cover story. I’m coming down. It’s probably the same yahoo who comes and checks on us every year as if this year we’re going to run off with gold that’s not here or something.”
He made it down just as the two vehicles pulled up by us, Zibon and I making sure the wood chipper was going non-stop, hoping they might leave if they had a hard time gabbing. It didn’t work. Instead some older looking human with beady eyes gave us the signal to turn it off. Zibon rolled his eyes since he was hidden from their view and hit the kill button.
“You’ve got a lot less helping you down here this year, Dimitri,” the guy greeted, three others with him.
“Yup, had several join up and ship out,” Dimitri replied, shaking the man’s hand. “We’re real proud of them.”
The cover for the camp was it was a non-for-profit that worked with inner-city programs and helped kids from broken homes get a new start far away from the influences from low-income neighborhoods… Namely gangs, drugs—anything that broke the law and the end goal was to prepare us to enlist in the human military so we’d be useful to society and serve our country.
As they talked, the rest of us moved like humans and loaded other bigger branches but not the trunks. We’d have to wait on those. I closed up the back of the first full truck and headed over to Dimitri.
“Sorry to interrupt, but we’re loaded. I’m going to take this one back.”
“Okay, be careful,” he agreed. I nodded and went to turn away but the human spoke up.
“You joining up, son?”
“Yes, sir, already did. I ship out in a few months,” I lied.
“Where are you heading?” I blinked at the man for several seconds before glancing at Dimitri. I didn’t know what to answer. “You don’t know where your boot camp’s going to be?”
“No, he knows,” Dimitri chuckled easily before mentioning someplace I’d never heard of. I nodded immediately though. “We just teach them that privacy is important and to keep their heads down. We don’t want to send a bunch of gossips for the military to deal with.”
“I heard that,” the guy snickered. Then he nodded to the truck. “You able to drive that thing, boy?”
I bristled at his tone and calling me boy, but I politely smiled. “Yes, sir.”
“Let me see your license for it.”
I snorted. “Sure, as soon as you suddenly come up with a police badge instead of a Wyoming Parks one.”
“Wally,” Dimitri snapped. “He still serves the state and doesn’t deserve lip from you. Now go on and get that truck back. There’s people waiting to cut those up.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You have fun with the Marines, boy. They’ll make a man out of you and get rid of that smart mouth.”
“Yes, sir,” I ground out, giving a respectful nod. I headed over to the back of the truck and chained it up.
“Sorry about that. They get a little anxious when they’re leaving soon and start lashing out. It’s hard when they’ve been kinda sheltered. It’s not like they came from the best places to start with.”
“No, you certainly got your hands full,” he chuckled. “Hope those maps I gave you helped out.”
“They did. Thanks a lot. Hopefully this will help cut back the chances of any brushfires next summer.”
“We haven’t had any the past several so this plan must be doing something right. Okay then, I’ll leave you to it. Call if you need anything, Dimitri.”
“Will do. You take care.”
I glanced over and saw they were heading back to their trucks, so I took my sweet time with the chains, deciding I’d rather get chewed out now than when I got back. I always found it was best to get it all out of the way instead of dragging it out and worrying how bad it was going to be, because for me, that was a whole different level of torture.
Sure enough the second the trucks pulled away Dimitri came storming over to me, his eyes narrowed and nostrils flaring. “What the fuck was that? You didn’t know your cover and you smarted off to the guy.”
“He wasn’t a cop! Who the fuck was he to ask for my CDL to prove I could drive the truck? I don’t know any twenty-five-year-old I’ve ever seen on TV that would ever have just handed it over.”
“He’s got a point on that,” Nate mumbled quietly.
“Fine, but next time do it in not such a bitchy way,” Dimitri conceded. “Wyoming Parks can ask to see identification while on their lands so he could have asked for it, just not to check you could drive the truck. There was a better way to handle that. Our goal is to stay below the radar, not piss the humans off so they start talking or send the sheriff out here to check all our credentials.” I winced, he was totally right. “Next time something like that happens, you defer to me. And you should have known what base you were supposed to be going to if you said you were shipping out. You know that.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t expect him to ask.”
“Humans are nosey. They think everything is their business and right to know. It’s not but they do it anyway. Not having answers prepared will raise red flags. He had a badge, doesn’t matter if it’s not a cop’s badge. You always defer to playing the idiot and giving them what they ask for even if you know they shouldn’t be asking. If you want to make the point he shouldn’t have, you say it while giving it over.” I nodded and he blew out a loud breath. “Take the truck back and grab more drinks for the cooler. The pre-trans are sweating buckets.
”
“Sure thing.” I booked it to the driver’s door, grateful to get out of there. I made sure to drive carefully and stay just under the speed limit all the way back, glad when I saw the gates of the camp. They opened them for me and waved me right through. I backed up to the barn, someone running over to open the doors and guide me in, probably having been called from the gate that I was there.
This was the easiest part even if I was doing it on my own. The huge saw was auto everything. I just had to push whatever was on the back off the truck onto the conveyor that lined up with the bed. It did the rest. It sliced, split, and shot it all out in a pile in the back of the barn. Then later we’d load it up into massive carts and take it to the chutes on each building and send it to the basement.
Or we’d bring it inside and set it up by the main room fireplaces like in the cafeteria. Luckily we were guys and didn’t really care that for months there was a huge wall of firewood that was the decoration. It wasn’t meant to be pretty—though it kinda was to me—it was functional because putting it downstairs just to drag it back up was stupid.
I was bitching to myself as I heaved off the first branch, cussing up a storm at the human and being so stupid as to not know my own cover story. I jumped when I grabbed the fifth one and the truck shook. Suddenly Roarke was there with me, picking up the other end.
“Wanna tell me what’s got you so hot I could hear you swearing over the saw from about a hundred yards away as I was walking back from the shooting range?” he asked as we tossed it onto the conveyor.
“I didn’t mean to be so loud.”
“Wally, you were hollering. Who’s the fucking human you wish you were throwing on the belt? I didn’t think you had a mean bone in your body?”
“Some Wyoming Parks guy.” I sighed when he raised an eyebrow and told him the whole story.
“So now the plan is to—what? Grab him and throw him on the saw?”
“No, I’d never hurt a human like that,” I admitted before pushing on the next tree trunk. “It just sounded really good. I didn’t think people seriously still walked around calling others boy. I had three inches on the guy and he had more on me but in fat.”
“Wanna feel better?” he hedged, glancing around. I nodded and a second later he pressed me up against the cab of the truck and kissed me. I melted, anger completely gone. “Screw him. Tonight we’re going to have lots of fun.”
“Okay,” I panted, chasing after his lips.
He chuckled and moved away, helping me with another trunk. “You’ve gotta get back. But don’t feel bad, first time I met a rude human after I transitioned, my fangs came out and I hissed at them like a damn cat. We all screw up when we’re new. It’s why we don’t go out by ourselves.”
“Yeah, thanks, that helps.” We finished up, and I thanked him again, noticing his eyes filled with heat. “Guess I should thank you properly tonight.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” he murmured, studying me as he adjusted his neck. “I’d demand a blow job right now but I’m sure they need the truck.”
“And I’ve got to get drinks for the pre-trans,” I chuckled.
“Yeah, I’ve gotta jet too. See you tonight.” He hopped off the bed and disappeared as fast as he showed up. At least I felt better.
I turned off the saw, pulled the truck out of the barn, and jogged into the cafeteria with the empty cooler. I headed to the fridge with all the bottled drinks but did a double take when I saw Roarke in line for food. Now why had he raced off when he was just going to the same place I was? Why couldn’t he just have gone there with me?
Maybe he had a stop to make first or hadn’t planned on getting food yet. I shrugged it off, deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt and not make it a thing, but still, I thought it weird. Even more so when I walked by him and he acted like he didn’t see me. Granted he could have been lost in thought but I didn’t think so. Was he not wanting to say anything about us publicly yet?
In a way I guessed that made sense. He was new, we were new, and not even really anything yet. A lot could happen or not even really become anything. What was the point of acting like we were dating or together after one night?
5
But it wasn’t only that one time. Roarke never acknowledged me in public as anything more than just another post-trans. Hell, I got downgraded from us kinda being friends who had sat by each other during a few meals to getting the I know you nod before he went and sat with his new buddies and I went by mine.
At night though? I went to his room every night we could, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other—and not just fucking, oh no. That was the confusing part for me. He was into the kissing and touching just as much as I was. And he never hinted I should leave again. It was assumed I would stay because we both liked morning sex. I’d wake with him wrapped around me and we’d go at it again before heading off to work.
When we were on the clock though… We were basically strangers.
The first week, I thought it was just because we were new and he was new there, not wanting to get in the gossip pool in any other way.
The second week, I assumed it was because we hadn’t had much of a chance to date or do anything outside of Roarke’s room. I mean, with chopping month, I pretty much was working from breakfast until dinner with barely enough energy for the hot sex I craved with him.
The third week, I was out of excuses and wondering what I’d done wrong. It had to be my fault after all. Why else would he be acting this way? Had I given some signal I wasn’t open to being something real with him? I’d been the one who’d pushed for the kissing and more than a hook up. I’d finagled the overnight.
By the fourth week, I was hurt and frustrated, having trouble looking at him without an ache in my chest. Was I the dirty little secret everyone feared becoming and was too stupid to have caught on earlier? I think he noticed something was off during the sex, asking me if I was wiped from all the wood cutting and trips off the camp. I nodded and didn’t say anything, unable to form words that would be a lie about something so painful to me.
It was the fifth week, when I was back at camp all the time, chopping month finally over and the fall really on us that the shit hit the fan. I was coming into the main building, rushing to get inside through the pouring rain. I saw Roarke step outside of the command center and walk down the hall. Making a snap decision, I decided to just man up and ask him to lunch, try and change our pattern.
Obviously waiting things out wasn’t going to do it.
He turned down a corner and I followed after him. I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, I truly had meant to talk to him.
“Hey, yeah, thanks for holding,” he said quietly into his phone. “Too many ears in the command center.”
I flinched and, without even realizing what I was doing, ducked into a doorway so he couldn’t see me if he looked back. Why did he need to be somewhere that no one was listening?
“Yeah, I’m really good here,” Roarke chuckled deeply. “The people are great, they’ve got their shit together. I fought my way up to the job I wanted right out of the gate. I swear I’m good. You didn’t have to call and check up on me like a kid going off to college.”
Oh, it was a personal call he just didn’t want everyone listening in on. I felt stupid, but after the crap with Ben and Dean, I didn’t think anyone could really blame me for possibly jumping to conclusions. I was about to walk away when I heard him go on.
“Of course I let off the straight and mated ones from the sex. You know me. But I totally banged the rest. Damn it was a lot of sex.” There was a pause and I told my feet to move. I shouldn’t have been listening in on this. He snorted and I peeked out of the doorway and down the hall, watching how he leaned against the wall, one foot up and his head tipped back. “Right, yeah, I’ve been celibate since. Keep dreaming.”
I held my breath. Was he going to tell his friend from back at his last camp about me? Okay, all could be forgiven if maybe he just didn’t want to make us a
thing with people he barely knew if he’d tell his real friends or something.
“No, I’m banging this hawt post-trans every night. God, so sexy and obedient. He begs for it like you wouldn’t believe. Gives the best blow jobs that are out of this world and just loves my cock. I can’t get over how insatiable he is. Anything, anyway, anytime I want it, he jumps to give it to me. I’ve lost count how many different ways or times I’ve fucked him or he’s sucked me off.” He laughed and it echoed off the halls. “Well if you didn’t want to hear details then you shouldn’t have asked. I can’t help you went and got mated.
“You’re stuck with one guy forever and he’s a bore. Sucks to be you. You should have been smarter about it. I’ve got a young post-trans begging for my cock all night long and you’re pissed. Too bad.”
I wrapped my arms around my stomach as my eyes burned. That was what he told his friend about me? Oh god, I wanted to die of embarrassment. Then he put the final nail in the coffin.
“No, of course it’s nothing serious. He shows up at my room, we fuck until we pass out, then I bang him once more in the morning and he leaves smiling, comes back for more when we’re done with work. That’s it. He’s got the sex drive to match mine, he begs, gives me everything I want, and doesn’t ask for more. He’s gorgeous and that’s it. I’m not stupid enough to mate him or anything.”
I stumbled out of the hall, unable to hear anymore. I wasn’t sure where I was going until I pushed the doors open for the main entrance and went back out into the rain. It was maybe about ten feet before I threw up all over the ground, bracing my hands on my knees. I ended up on all fours, still puking until I dry heaved.
Next thing I knew, Zibon was there shaking me. “Dude, what’s with you?”
“I think I ate something bad,” I lied.
