Chapter 14
Dexter
L eave it to pack to show up at the most inconvenient times. Although I supposed they could have shown up when Toby was down my throat, and then I might’ve actually killed them.
Toby had been so sexy, so responsive, that I hadn’t been able to help touching myself. When I’d tasted him, my own orgasm had rushed through me, and my hellhound had been perilously close to the surface. I had the urge to devour him, to have him under me, submitting in the most sensual way possible. I wanted to be inside him in every way imaginable, causing him to make those sexy little sounds while I filled him up with my seed.
I supposed it was good I’d heard the faint sound of the car engine and the music, otherwise I wasn’t even sure what I would have done. My instincts seemed to be taking over with Toby, and I didn’t want to scare my pretty human.
As I grabbed his hand and led the way outside, I came to the conclusion that I was keeping Toby. Permanently.
I nodded to myself as that decision was made. I pondered for a moment whether that would be agreeable with Toby. He liked me. I turned him on. He liked his orgasm. He wanted to “return the favor” (like it had been a favor and not a magnificent treat). He trusted me.
It would be fine. I would just have to… not move too fast. Humans were weird about dating and stuff like that.
They had inconveniently short life spans, too, but Corbin might be able to help with that. And Jude would be able to help me navigate the whole human thing. I didn’t think it was a coincidence that those were the two packmates who were currently pulling into my driveway, either. I heard Toby humming along to the Beatles song Jude was playing, and I almost smiled. At least they could bond over music.
I pulled Toby close and tucked him under my arm as Jude shut the car off and his music stopped. I heard Corbin muttering, “Blackbirds are not corvids.”
Jude just happily laughed, both of them turning toward Toby’s porch and walking over. I suddenly felt a spark of protectiveness, and I sized up my packmates. Jude was slightly shorter than me, and his curly, light hair and easy smile made him seem more like a puppy than a hellhound. Corbin’s long, dark hair was up in some kind of man-bun, and he was slightly taller than both Jude and I. They were both muscular and fit, and they were probably considered sexy by others. They certainly seemed to draw both men and women to them.
Would Toby think they were sexy? I gripped Toby tighter, a low, subvocal growl emanating from my chest before I could stop it.
Both Corbin and Jude stopped walking, and I heard cawing from the trees. Corbin looked up at the crows and ravens that were, of course, perched there. They hadn’t been there earlier. Jude elbowed him in the side, though, before Corbin could do anything witchy, then he smiled at me.
“Hey Dex! Gonna introduce us to your… friend?” Jude called out, emphasizing that Toby was mine.
It seemed to calm something in me, but Jude’s hesitation must have made Toby nervous, because I felt him tense up. I shook myself a bit. Jude and Corbin were pack. They were friends. They wouldn’t steal Toby away or hurt him. They would help protect Toby.
And now I’d gone and fucked things up. I could sense Toby’s unease and… insecurity, maybe? I looked down at him, but he wouldn’t look at me, and he tried to pull away from under my arm. I wasn’t letting him go, though. Jude and Corbin observed the slightly awkward wrangling that ensued as I tried to grip him tighter and he tried to wiggle away. Jude looked like he was trying not to laugh, and Corbin had his head tilted inquisitively.
“He’s my boyfriend,” I blurted out, and at least Toby stopped struggling to be free from under my arm. In fact, he put a hand on my chest and looked up at me, his mouth slightly open in surprise.
I hadn’t called him my mate or anything. Hopefully boyfriend was an acceptable human term. I had swallowed his seed—didn’t that make us boyfriends? It’s not like I did that with just anyone. I’d also placed cameras all around the outside of his house to protect him. Not that he knew about that, though. Huh. Maybe I should tell him. Was that sweet or weird? I thought it was sweet, but humans were prickly things.
Jude would probably know.
Toby still hadn’t said anything, though, and now I was getting nervous. I didn’t sense that he was upset. He just looked… shocked.
Jude finally did laugh then, and he bounded up the steps, hand extended to shake Toby’s hand. Corbin followed slowly behind, looking up into the trees again where the crows and ravens were watching.
“Nice to meet you, Dex’s boyfriend,” Jude said, smiling his puppy dog smile.
I resisted growling when their hands touched. Barely. Corbin wisely only nodded his head at Toby.
“Toby. It’s nice to meet you too,” he said, and then both Jude and Toby stared at me.
Fuck. I was supposed to be doing something, wasn’t I? I had no fucking clue what, though. Human manners and all that were Jude’s thing. He’d been the one to grow up with them, after all. Corbin was certainly not going to be any help. He was staring off into the trees rather than paying us any mind, and I thought he was subtly scenting things as well.
Jude cleared his throat, finally saying, “We’re… friends of Dexter’s.”
Even I knew that sounded suspicious.
“Brothers,” Corbin said, finally looking over at Toby and inhaling deeply. “This is a good place,” he commented.
Jude rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I guess you could say we’re brothers. I’m stuck with these two socially inept weirdos whether I want to be or not. We all grew up together as family.”
It must have been the right thing to say, because Toby laughed and seemed to relax against me.
“I don’t know too much about Dex’s family, but it’s great to meet you,” Toby said softly.
“There’s a few more of us, but we’re the only two you’ll have to put up with for now,” Jude smiled.
“You guys want to come in and have some tea?” Toby asked politely.
Jude looked like he was about to accept, but Corbin cut in. “You have friends who visit you?” he asked. “Two of them?”
Jude elbowed him, and he grunted and gave him a dirty look.
“Yeah, his friends were just here the other night,” I answered.
Corbin nodded, then he focused on Toby, reaching his hand out for a handshake. Jude and I were both kinda shocked—Corbin didn’t often touch humans—but Toby gamely shook his hand. Corbin nodded once, said, “Welcome to the family, Toby,” and then turned around and walked off toward my house.
And I thought I was bad at dealing with humans.
Jude laughed though, saying, “There Corbin goes proving my point. I’m Jude, by the way, and although tea sounds great, Corbin probably wants to check out the house first, and we need to get settled in. We’ll definitely take a rain check, though. It’s really great to meet you. Maybe you can come over to Dexter’s tomorrow for lunch and we can all get to know each other. As long as you don’t mind socially awkward people,” he joked.
“I’m a hermit writer. I’m the definition of socially awkward,” Toby joked back, and Jude laughed easily.
I wasn’t usually jealous of Jude’s ability to get along with humans, but I hugged Toby closer to me at his chuckle. I wanted to be the one to make him chuckle. Toby casually put a hand on my chest again, almost like he was comforting me, and I practically rumbled in happiness at the touch.
Jude smiled and then turned to go, calling out, “We’ll see you tomorrow, Toby!”
He was down the steps and heading after Corbin, who was making his way around my house and toward the property on the other side. Trees and distance made it hard to see—at least for humans—but Corbin would find it just fine.
“Umm, they’re passing by your house,” Toby said.
I looked down at him, unable to resist giving him a kiss on the lips. He looked bemused at that.
“Boyfriends, huh?” he asked.
“Is that ok?” I asked back, not that I was sure what I would do if he said no. I could woo him, though. I’m sure I could figure that out. I didn’t think tying him up in my bedroom was a good alternative, although it did briefly occur to me. It would solve the stalker problem, too, if he was always attached to me. But humans liked having their space, unfortunately.
“Yeah,” he murmured, blushing. “That’s great. Do you want me to come over tomorrow?”
“Of course I do. I always want you to come over, Toby,” I responded.
“And those are your… brothers?” he asked.
I could tell he would drop it if I didn’t want to answer questions. While I couldn’t tell him everything, at least not yet, I certainly wanted him to have some details.
“Yeah,” I answered. “We were all raised by a guy named Wilder. Some of us had family but didn’t fit in, and some of us lost our parents, but we formed a… family, I guess, and we’ve been close since we were kids.”
I almost told Toby we’d formed a pack, but that wasn’t human-speak.
“They seem nice,” Toby said.
“Jude seems nice, and Corbin is weird,” I responded.
Toby chuckled at that. “Yeah, although I think he was distracted by all the birds. I swear we don’t usually have so many crows around. It’s kind of cool.”
I smiled. I was glad Toby thought so, because they weren’t going anywhere with Corbin around. He had an affinity for corvids, and Toby would see that before too long. I almost couldn’t wait to eavesdrop on his next conversation with his friends to see what supernatural story he came up with for Corbin.
Speaking of stories… “You going to go do some writing today? Or do you need to run errands?” I asked.
“Writing for me,” Toby sighed. “And I really do need to get to it. I’m on a deadline, and I got a little derailed by those emails. Is one of your brothers the one who is looking into it?”
“Yeah, Liam is, but he isn’t here. He’ll do what he can, though, and I’ll let you know. What scene are you working on now?” I asked. If Toby needed more inspiration, I was sure I could provide some.
He blushed, though, mumbling something about his MCs reuniting. I figured that might mean a sex scene, so I leaned down and kissed him again. By the time I pulled back we were both breathing heavily. I gave him a wink, hopped off the porch, and sauntered over to my place to go inside.
I heard him mutter, “So sexy,” and I tried not to strut too much when I walked inside.
I barely had time to get a glass of water before Jude and Corbin were coming in. Corbin, of course, had a fucking crow on his shoulder.
“He better not shit in my house,” I grumbled.
Corbin smiled. “They only shit on your stuff at the compound because you kept eating the peanuts I left out for them. I told you they hold grudges.”
Yeah, they sure as fuck did. Jude got pretty stones and baubles dropped at his feet and I got shit on for a week until I made it up to them. Vindictive little fuckers. It sort of made me respect them more.
New crows, new opportunities, though. I’d have to start leaving treats out and make nice with Corbin’s new friends. I also realized they’d be a great warning sign for Toby.
“They’ll let us know if anyone is coming, right? An early alarm system?” I asked.
“Of course,” Corbin replied.
“Liam told us about Toby’s stalker,” Jude answered. “We’ll work together to protect him for you.”
“This is a good place,” Corbin reiterated. Jude and I both looked at him. Corbin was… odd, even by hellhound standards. His mother had been a witch, and he’d obviously gotten a lot of her traits. What he said also carried weight because of it.
“We checked out the house,” Jude added. “The current owner is a sweet old lady who was happy to let us look around. She’s already in the process of organizing her stuff to move. She’s going to hire people to clean it all out and asked if we wanted to keep furniture or anything. She thinks she can be out in a month. She’s excited to move.”
“You think this will work for a new pack central location?” I asked.
“Yes,” Corbin answered.
“You’re right—it feels good here,” Jude added. “And we didn’t smell any rot in town, but there’s plenty of cities nearby to go hunting. Of course we won’t all always stay here, either, but it’ll be a good home base. I think we should run the perimeter of town anyway, though. I think you probably need to get out, too.”
I knew Jude meant in our hellhound form, which we rarely did, but he was right—I did need to let my hellhound out. It would be good to run with pack, too.
I showed Jude and Corbin up to two of the guest bedrooms and let them get settled in, and the afternoon passed with us catching up and exchanging stories. They both rolled their eyes when I told them my stray human story, but thankfully I didn’t get any lectures like I had from Liam. Jude had apparently been traveling around and doing city sweeps, and Corbin had been hunting down outliers in smaller villages and urban areas. He had a gift for sensing where to go beyond even just scenting a rotting soul.
By the time night rolled around, we were all itching to get out, and when the last bits of daylight had faded, we all headed out the back door, in sync on running as our hellhounds. Jude and Corbin started to strip, but I took a moment to look over at Toby’s house, breathing in deeply. His downstairs light was on, and all was quiet. I stripped out of my clothes, my eyes on his windows, hoping for a glimpse of him.
I let my hellhound form out, shaking myself out and looking over at my packmates. They were grinning their hellhound grins, flames lightly emanating from their dark fur coats. Jude was the first to bound off into the night, and Corbin and I followed, running through the forest and occasionally bumping into one another playfully.
We made a full circuit of the town in very little time—our hellhound forms were even faster than our human forms, but it wasn’t long before I was ready to head back. Corbin gave a little huff at me as I broke away, and Jude gave a low, eerie howl that I knew would probably freak out anyone close enough to hear. I simply chuffed at them and turned to race back toward home.
I was called to Toby, and I wanted to be close to him. Surely a little peek in his window wouldn’t hurt.