Buster woke up the morning after the full moon, feeling better than he had in weeks. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to wallow in the feeling because, before he even opened his eyes, he felt the foreign touch on his face. He knew straight away that it wasn’t Val because his charming roommate woke him up either with a pillow to his face or a swift kick to his side. In fact, no one touched Buster like that. Soft finger trailed from his temple to his hair, brushing down his cheek, tracing the outline of his jaw before, finally, brushing against his bottom lip. Buster’s heart skipped and his breath caught. The hand froze and Buster opened his eyes. Gideon Reis lay beside him on the floor, propped up on his elbow, head resting in his hand, his other hand now frozen against Buster’s cheek. For a long second, Buster just stared up at his mate in disbelief. He didn’t remember anything from his frenzy the previous night; he’d blacked out as soon as the full moon rose in the sky. He had no
Val had never worn a proper blazer. Even in high-school, before she became a sixth-former, she didn’t have enough money to buy that expensive piece of fabric that did nothing to keep out the cold and only made her shoulders look square. She’d nearly driven her teachers to an early grave wearing only a raggedy jumper over her rumpled shirt and faded trousers. But Ellie had told her that her old leather jacket wasn’t something she could wear to work and Val hadn’t argued when the red head deposited a stack of clothes at the last building on Bay Street. Now, mid-December, she was starting her intern. She couldn’t help but feel a little proud, standing in front of the towering building in the centre of the city, dressed in smart jeans and a burgundy blazer over a black shirt. She came from nothing – abusive, alcoholic parents, no roots, no inclination as to what her talents could be apart from brute force. Now, with all the mess between Jamie and Art and Gideon and Buster, she felt like
Jamie knew what he said to Diego was unfair, and that just made him even more pissed off. He walked through the winding streets of the city, hands tucked under his armpits. It was freezing and he hadn’t grabbed his jacket when storming out of Diego’s place. He couldn’t calm down. His head was full of Diego. Jamie hated being dependent on others and yet so easily, he’d let Diego settle in his life – let Diego take care of him. Walking around those streets, freezing his ass off, made Jamie realise that he was an ungrateful little shit. Diego had only ever wanted to make sure Jamie was safe and happy. Jamie wrapped his arms around himself protectively at that thought. It felt weird. He and his friends looked out for each other – that was normal, even if it did take some getting used to at the beginning. But Jamie never offered Diego anything in return – he was mostly rude and mouthy, he rarely did anything aroun
Jamie and Diego fell asleep with their backs to each other. In the morning, however, Jamie woke up sprawled atop Diego. Groaning, he sat up. He rolled his shoulders and then his neck to work the kinks out, feeling Diego stir behind him. He felt embarrassment from crying his heart out to his mate the night before, but not nearly as much as he thought he would. He rubbed his eyes sleepily. Despite his sore muscles and headache, it had been one of the best sleeps of his life. Diego grunted and shifted, lying on his side. He tugged the blankets over his muscular body and Jamie kissed his teeth in annoyance, slapping the small of his back lightly, ‘’oi. Wake up.’’ ‘’Afternoon shift,’’ Diego mumbled sleepily. ‘’Wow. Lucky you,’’ Jamie said sarcastically, ‘’I have to be at the coffee shop at eight,’’ he ignored the painful knowledge that the coffee shop – and his life as he knew it – would be closed soon. Today was Christmas Eve. Tomorrow was Christmas. After that, a week u
Somehow, Gus and Alex ended up in Alex’s hotel. It was a rather small bed & breakfast. It was a wooden hut stuck between two modern buildings, the only reason why it hadn’t been renovated being that it was ‘picturesque’. Alex had the attic bedroom. He led Gus there, holding his hand. Once inside, Gus took off his jacket, looking around as Alex put their coats up on the pegs by the doors. The room was mostly dark, moonlight falling in stripes through the slanted window on the equally slanted roof. The room was pretty small but neat. Alex’s things were all carefully put in the right places, though he didn’t have very many belongings. His military uniform hung, unused, on a peg by the window. Seeing it gave Gus a mixture of feelings – pain at the realisation that Alex wouldn’t be around forever and pride for his accomplishments. Gus turned away from the uniform, fiddling with his fingers, not k
Jamie sat, unmoving, throughout the whole movie. He’d sat on the couch, tucked his legs under his chin and watched the movie silently, not daring to glance at his mate. He sat even through the credits and by the silence from the armchair; he knew Diego was under the influence of his wolf. Eventually, Jamie turned the movie off. The TV went static, casting a soft light on the otherwise dark living room. Jamie knew he had to move, but he also didn’t want to. If he moved, then he’d have to go to his bedroom and leave Diego in his armchair. For some reason, Jamie didn’t want to be alone. Or, maybe, he just didn’t want to be apart from Diego. He sighed softly. He’d been aware of those feelings surfacing over the last weeks and he knew he couldn’t ignore it forever. He turned towards Diego, set on saying goodnight and catching some sleep. Diego’s eyes were glowing gold; his intense gaze was set on Jamie and th
Diego sat up in bed so quickly he jostled the mattress and woke Jamie up. ‘’What...what the...’’ Diego’s astounded voice made Jamie go from who-the-fuck-dares-to-wake-the-beast to a stomach-dropping, nauseating nervousness. He remembered all that happened the night before. The movie. His stupid decision to unlock Diego’s chains. The shockingly amazing sex. The realisation of what had happened the night before hit Jamie with a heart-wrenching realisation that now was the time to face the consequences. Slowly, Jamie opened his eyes and pulled himself up onto a sitting position. His ass and hips ached like he’d been running away from serial killers for the better half of the last seventeen years. He tried not to wince but failed, and Diego caught the expression. He was standing by the bed in just his boxers, staring around wildly, trying to find claw marks or signs of having forced hi
At eight thirty pm on New Year’s Eve, the whole Bay Street gang landed in Ellie’s apartment, where she was hosting a party for her pack. Ellie had invited them weeks prior and all of them accepted – because of their mates, inability to refuse free booze or the fact that from tonight until the end of reparations, they were barred from the building that was the centre of their world. Half of them low-key expected something fancy and proper, like Ellie seemed to be – maybe a dinner with red wine and thick napkins. Instead, it looked rather...chill. Ellie had dragged her coffee table to the corner and it was loaded with every alcohol imaginable from champagne to prosecco to 40% vodka. There were mixers somewhere between the bottles but not nearly enough – it looked like half the guests would be getting smashes tonight. The party was strictly for pack – and for mates – which made it intimate and relaxed. Fritz’s sub-pack was lounging around, eating and wrestling on the couch. Dom