Page 23

Chapter 23

G ordon, by nature nocturnal, stayed with his two wolves while they ran. For a young wolf, Milea was very disinterested in the waterfowl, and for whatever reason, she never really ran too far away from Gordon. She doubled back to check on him several times though, almost as if Gordon needed to be reassured he wasn’t being left out.

The three of them took the subway home along with a few other wolves, their humans, and just the assorted late-night-early-morning New Amsterdam crowd.

Adler-wolf, because he was big and beautiful, what with his nearly black fur, drew a lot of stares. Just like he always does, Gordon thought. And I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.

Once they were back at Adler’s apartment, Mil circled Gordon’s legs, and he bent down to pat her. A few full moons ago, Adler had educated him that this was fine when you knew the wolf and when they sought physical contact. By her satisfied huff, she enjoyed the touch and soon went off into the guest room.

Adler-wolf did his silent presence thing, and he was uncannily good at this, sticking to the shadows and remaining hidden there until he once more decided to make himself seen. Hiding like that shouldn’t have been possible for such an imposing wolf.

“Well, today was a long day, and I’m tired,” Gordon said. “I believe you said something about curling up in bed next to me. I would like that.”

Adler-wolf huffed out a laugh, walked up to Gordon, raised his front paws to put them on Gordon’s shoulders. The vampire and the wolf looked each other in the eye, and Gordon blushed.

“Yeah, I mean it’s cool in the morning. You know. When you wake up next to me all man-shaped. Obviously, you big, handsome, mountain of fur.” Fuck, he’s strong when he’s like that. And if he’s Willa’s second and this imposing, I really, really don’t want to get on her bad side on a full moon. Or at all .

Adler-wolf very gently bumped his nose against Gordon’s, then went back to all fours and walked ahead of Gordon to the bedroom where the wolf gracefully hopped onto the bed and sat.

He was doing that very prim and proper thing where he looked like a perfectly trained dog, but the eyes examining Gordon with a playful glint gave that away as a ruse.

“I think you watching me undress is weird,” Gordon said after closing the bedroom door so Mil-wolf wouldn’t hear them. “I mean, I like watching strippers myself.” Adler-wolf growled. “What? I said watching. Nothing is inherently wrong with watching other people and admitting they are beautiful. Don’t tell me you never saw a wolf who was better at running than you and thought, wow, they’re beautiful, I wonder what they’re doing to make their fur look like that.”

Adler-wolf’s ears twitched with amusement and he shook with wolf laughter.

“Oh, fine. I’m stalling. Here.” Gordon took his left shoe off and tossed it aside. “Watch me strip, detective.” The other shoe followed. “I have to warn you, I am not good at this.” Gordon wriggled out of the turtleneck he was wearing, but of course the garment got stuck around his head briefly, and Adler-wolf huffed out another laugh that increased in volume when Gordon blew a strand of his messy blue hair out of his face. “You know, this is not at all encouraging. And it’s unfair. I mean, you’re naked but also not.” Gordon started on his pants, but since he liked his jeans tight—a much better style for him than the bell bottoms that had been in when he’d still been human—getting those off was never sexy.

One leg got stuck around his foot, and Adler-wolf jumped off the bed, somehow managed to maneuver Gordon toward the bed, then pushed him on it and pulled the vampire’s legs free by gripping on to the jeans with his very pointed teeth.

“Thanks,” Gordon said. “And I don’t even mind the wolf spit.”

Adler jumped back on the bed, gently tipping Gordon back with his weight, and licked across Gordon’s face.

“Oookay.” Gordon was now giggling as well. “Fine. That’s a good night kiss. Plenty of wolf spit. No one will ever doubt you are my mate now.”

Instead of more wolfish laughter, Adler-wolf loomed above him, carefully pinning one of Gordon’s shoulders with a paw, and looking on quite seriously. Gordon reached up to stroke Adler’s head, and Adler exhaled, his warm breath brushing over Gordon’s face.

“You’re my mate, and I’m yours.”

After Adler-wolf stared into the vampire’s eyes for another good minute, he moved, actually tucking the sheets around Gordon until he was satisfied Gordon was comfortable.

Adler smoothed his warm, soft body against Gordon as soon as Gordon’s head had hit the pillow, and the wolf breathing contentedly next to him soon dragged Gordon off to sleep.

This chapter has an alternate (and spicy!) ending that I wasn't able to include in this version because of vendor policies. You can read it here !