Page 43

Blake tensed, his hand gripping the edge of Pember’s seat. “Pem,” he whispered, their lips ghosting over one another.

“Yeah?” Pember breathed.

Without another word Blake leaned forwards, mouth parting and tongue sliding against Pember’s bottom lip.

Pember inhaled, and within a breath their tongues were pressed together in a slow, sultry dance.

They moved into it, Pember sighing softly as Blake nudged him back against the condensated window.

Both his hands slipped into the alpha’s hair, the tendrils soft and freshly washed, smelling of coconut and peach.

Their seatbelts clicked, then released, and Pember wound his arms around Blake’s neck. Blake’s palm slid up the length of his thigh, fingers skirting over his jeans until they rested just below his left hip.

Pember let out a trembling breath, uncurling one arm to press Blake’s hand between his legs. The alpha growled, thumb roughly pulling on Pember’s chin to open his mouth wider.

“B-Blake.”

Pember was shaking, not from fear or dread. But because Blake was gently squeezing his trapped cock between his thumb and forefinger. It felt as though all his nerve receptors had crackled to life at once.

“Come here,” Blake whispered, hooking a hand behind Pember’s knee, the other around his waist, pulling him into his lap.

The leather seats creaked and Pember’s heart thundered as he straddled Blake’s thighs. He gripped the headrest as Blake’s soft mouth slipped to his neck, fangs grazing the cords of his throat, mapping each of them with his tongue.

The cool air conditioning soon evaporated, making the windows fog and Pember’s breaths ragged.

He yelped as Blake gripped his waist and pushed him back against the steering wheel, sounding the horn in one sharp blast. They ignored it, and Pember gripped handfuls of Blake’s gym T-shirt as he pulled it up and out of his jogging bottoms.

“Come inside,” Blake growled, running a hand up Pember’s shirt with equal fervour.

“Yes,” he replied, jaw slack.

Somehow, Blake managed to drag them both out of the car, and Pember wasn’t even sure his feet touched the ground until Blake pressed his back up against the front door.

He impatiently kissed Blake’s jaw as he drove a hand into his jacket pocket, snarling when he couldn’t immediately find the keys.

Then Pember saw it—the African Grey parrot sitting on the front wall. “B-Blake,” he shuddered, gripping the alpha’s shoulder as he tried to get his eyes to focus. “Blake, it’s Cherry. Cherry’s on the wall.”

Blake’s head jerked up. “Fuck,” he hissed, stepping back.

Pember whined, following his gaze until it landed on Val’s front door. It was wide open.

“Shit,” Blake said, stepping over the three-foot wall that separated their houses. “Val!” he called from the doorway. “Valerie?”

Pember made a grab for Cherry. She put up a valiant effort to flap away, but he managed to loop his hands around her body to yank her back to earth.

“The house is in darkness,” Blake said, holding out a hand to him.

Pember took it, tucking Cherry under his arm as he hopped over the wall and into her living room. “Val?” he called. “It’s freezing in here. You only left, what, forty-five minutes ago?”

Blake nodded and followed him in. “The back door’s open too. She’s probably gone wandering into the woods again. Do you have any sweets on you?”

Pember snorted. “No, nothing.” He placed Cherry on her perch by the back door, but she immediately flew up to sit on top of the kitchen cabinets.

“Wait here. I’ll go out and find her,” Blake said, beginning to pull off his coat.

Pember exhaled sharply. “What? No, I’m coming too.”

The alpha huffed. “It might’ve been dry in town, but it’s been raining most of the evening here. The undergrowth is going to be incredibly slippery.”

Pember squared his shoulders and crossed his arms. “It’s going to be just as slippy for you as it is for me. Besides, what if you fall and hit your head? Then I’ll have to drag both of your arses back.”

Blake sighed, glancing out the window, then back at Pember. Eventually, he dropped his coat around Pember’s shoulders.

“There’s a torch in the cupboard. Can you find it whilst I check upstairs?”

Pember’s nostrils flared as he slipped Blake’s coat off and hung it over the kitchen chair. “Thanks, but no need.”

Blake frowned, quickly looking away when Pember started to pull off his shirt.

“You sure?” Blake said, peeling his own T-shirt off.

“Yeah,” Pember replied, dipping around the corner to pull off his trousers.

Blake said nothing as he went upstairs, taking the steps two at a time.

Nervous energy rolled through Pember’s body.

His wolf was already there in his mind, padding and pawing beneath his skin.

He wanted to shift, and for the first time it felt as though he and his omega wolf were on the same page.

Less than a minute later, Blake came lurching back downstairs. “She’s taken the throw off the bed.”

“A throw?”

Blake nodded. “There’s this big pink parrot throw that Earnie used to have. I’ve found her wrapped up in it before. She… I think she tries to scent him. It usually means she’s settling in for an illness.”

Pember shuddered. “Oh no.”

“We’ll find her. Last time the doctor recommended that I surround her in Earnie’s scent. Pile up his old clothes,” Blake said, the sound of clothing being discarded and the click of his heart rate monitor being unclipped making Pember flush.

“O-okay. Like a nest.”

Pember poked his head into the kitchen, blinking when he saw the naked form of the alpha silhouetted in the moonlight. Silver caught his skin, sinking into the valleys of his powerful shoulders. Pember shuddered. Thankfully, Blake’s lower half was blocked by the table.

“It’s different in the dark,” Blake said, eyes dragging up and down Pember’s semi-exposed body as he hung around the corner. “Stay close to me and don’t wander off.”

Pember flushed, keeping his eyes forward. Blake held out a hand and he took it.

“What if you get knocked out of your shift again?”

Blake hummed and bent down to drag his nose through Pember’s hair. “I should be alright. My wolf knows your scent now, and if it gets lost we’ll follow it. Ready?”

Pember nodded, pushing open the door as they set off into the night.

The trail through the woods was incredibly boggy, and Pember’s paws were slipping and sliding all over the place.

Blake pressed his huge head between Pember’s back legs, scooting him up the hill as the undergrowth turned to sludge.

It was raining, the kind of annoying mist that seemed to completely soak everything in sight.

There were tracks in the mud, and Pember’s heightened senses could just about pick out the old alpha’s scent on the leaves. Pressing his nose to the ground, he tracked the scent all the way up the hill, until he found Val’s slippers lying in a sodden heap under a mulberry bush.

“ Here ,” he said over the bond, and Blake slipped alongside him to sniff the slippers. His head jerked up, and before Pember could scoop them up in his mouth, the alpha was leading him along another track between the trees.

They didn’t have to go far, because lying within a cluster of ferns was a great grey wolf.

“ Alpha! ” Pember called, trying to reach for her across the bond.

She twitched, her massive head moving in his direction. Pember pressed his muzzle to the ground as he ran over. He licked her neck and head, swiping the rainwater out of her eyes. Her undercoat was drenched as it clung to her bony frame. She was shivering, her wispy paws pulling in on themselves.

Without hesitation, Blake opened his jaws and clamped them around her thinning crest. Her eyes popped open, and she growled instinctively at the other alpha scruffing her. It was enough to get her to her feet, and soon she was walking on shaky legs between the two of them.

Pember pushed feelings of comfort across the bond. Val nuzzled into him, her gaze unfocused as she let them guide her back down the hill.

“ Mate? ” she said, taking a long inhale of Pember’s fur.

“ Gone ,” Pember replied, nuzzling her back.

Val whined—a low, mournful sound that even Blake reacted to. He pressed his chin across the top of her head, like a mother hen holding out a wing to her chick.

“ Pack? Where is pack? ” Val whimpered.

He and Blake shared a glance before Pember licked her neck. “ Here, alpha. We’re here. ”

He could feel Blake’s uncertainty across the bond, but he quickly tamped it down with feelings of comfort for the old alpha.

A pang of sadness cut through both Pember and his wolf.

It wasn’t rejection, but it felt pretty damned close.

Pember had no right to call them pack, but if it brought Val some comfort he’d say it ten times over.

Val’s movements slowed when they reached the perimeter of the back garden, and Blake had to lead her through the gate and up the stairs by her scruff. Pember stayed downstairs, shifting back and hastily pulling on his clothes. He mopped the floor, ridding it of the muddy puddles they’d traipsed in.

Moments later, Blake appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a sheet wrapped around his waist. Seeing Pember fully dressed, he quickly pulled on his own clothes and flicked on the lights. “I got her to shift back, but my scent is aggravating her. She thinks I’m a threat.”

“Shouldn’t we take her to the hospital? What if she goes into shock?”

Blake shook his head. “At her age she’d be at more risk of getting an infection from the hospital. She’s told me before that her biggest fear is dying away from home.”

“Dying?!” Pember gasped. “Oh my God, you think she’s dying?”

Blake sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not saying that. I’m saying she’d be mad as hell if she woke up in A&E.”

“R-right. Okay.” Pember huffed with relief. “Do you think we should light a fire? The house is absolutely freezing.”

Blake nodded. “I’ll message the doctor. Hopefully he’ll come and see her in the morning.”

“Earnie! Where’s Earnie?” Val cried hoarsely, the words sounding gummy, as though she’d spat out her false teeth.

Pember swallowed. “Should I go and see her?”

Blake nodded, bending down to stack sticks in the fireplace. “It might help. Having me in Earnie’s old nest makes things worse.”

Pember’s chin started trembling as he padded up the stairs. “It’s okay, Valerie. It’s Pember from next door,” he called. When she didn’t answer, he poked his head into the room. “Can I come in?”

Val gave a grunt in reply.

Running the back of his hand over her forehead, he grimaced at the coldness of her skin. She was shivering, which Pember knew was actually a good sign, but even so, he tucked the blankets tighter around her

“There we go,” he whispered, stroking her head as she stared at the ceiling. She looked old. Obviously, she was old. But with her hair pushed flat and her false teeth missing, she looked every one of her ninety-something years.

“Earnie, is that you?” she groaned, gaze cloudy.

Pember only hummed and handed her one of Earnie’s shirts that Blake had placed on the chest of drawers. She began mumbling incoherently, but settled when Pember surrounded her with a few more of Earnie’s things.

He hummed a random tune whilst stroking her hair, and she eventually began to settle. Heat from the fire permeated through the floorboards, giving the room a comforting warmth.

Pember sighed, pulling the CPAP machine over her face before padding back downstairs. He gripped the banister, letting out an exhausted sigh before collapsing on the sofa next to Blake.

“How many times have you found her like this?” he asked, eyes flitting to the alpha.

Blake shrugged. “Half a dozen or so. She doesn’t always shift. It took me hours to find her the first time.”

Pember’s heart ached, thinking of Val all alone in the woods in the middle of the night. “What a mess,” he whispered, eyes growing heavy as he watched the flickering flames. “Is she going to be alright?”

“I hope so,” Blake said, sliding a hand around Pember’s. “She’s been through worse.”

“She was… she was calling for Earnie. Do you think she was looking for him? For her pack?”

Blake nodded. “Pack abandonment is a real problem for people her age. Eighty years ago she’d be taken into the care of her extended family, but now…”

“We’re all alone,” Pember said, picking up the words.

Blake nodded. “Government pack restrictions have really done a number on her generation. We’re used to it to some degree, because it’s all we’ve ever known. But for her…”

Pember squeezed his eyes shut. “We’re used to the loneliness,” he whispered. “I really want to write her children a letter, Blake. Get them to come and visit her, before…”

Before she dies.

“So do I,” Blake said, slipping an arm around Pember’s shoulders. “I’m going to keep an eye on her overnight. Get yourself to bed.”

Pember looked up at him, frowning. “Not a chance. You said yourself, your scent aggravates her. I’ll stay, you go.”

The alpha sighed. “And what happens if she runs off again? She might be old, but she’s stronger than she looks.”

Pember scoffed. “You don’t think I can handle a ninety-year-old lady?”

Snorting, Blake slipped off his trainers and tugged a knitted blanket from the back of the sofa. “How about we both stay, at least for a little while.”

Pember watched as Blake settled onto his back, resting an arm behind his head. He shot Pember a playful look and slid his eyes to the space next to him. The thought of being pressed against the alpha’s body saw heat returning to Pember’s face that had absolutely nothing to do with the fire.