In The Company of Wolves 5/9
The two wolves both looked to be in their late teens, early twenties tops. They were about the same height, an inch or so shorter than Jensen, but broadly built because of the constant training of their wolf bodies. When they changed they were hard to tell apart for unpracticed eyes.
The two wolves circled Jensen in a standard attack pattern, staying opposite each other to make defence harder. They growled and snapped intimidatingly, but Jensen just spun slowly with them, keeping both wolves in his vision at all times. The muscles under his pale, freckled skin were taut as he waited for the attack. Jensen hadn’t made the opening move all day, always waiting for his opponent to start the fight. The staff was held loosely in front of his chest, and he was waiting, anticipating.
Jared saw the moment the two wolves looked at each other in rapid communication, before they both pounced, trying to use the double attack to force one of them through while Jensen struggled with the other. The former human jumped sideways, stepping out of reach of the first wolf and swinging his staff in a cut parallel to the ground that smacked the legs out from under the second wolf in mid flight, sending him into a head spin that ended with a loud crash as the young wolf hit the ground back first.
It broke their stride. While the fallen wolf was shaking his head to clear the daze and struggling to its feet again, the other jumped once more, earning a booted foot to the nose. He winced and shook his head, huffing out a breath while resuming his former circling. The second wolf joined him, and this time they feathered out enough to cover Jensen’s front and back. It obscured their visual communication but made it virtually impossible for Jensen to see both of them at the same time.
A deep growl sounded, and they both pounced once more, sure that one of them would get to the Luparius this time. Jensen completely ignored the wolf at his back but took a two step run at the one going for his throat and jamming the staff out in front of him. For a second, Jared thought Jensen had miscalculated as the staff passed the wolves face, but then it planted hard on the ground, and he catapulted himself over the gaping maw of the slightly startled wolf. Jensen flew three yards through the air his hold on the staff unwavering. As both feet hit the ground again he snapped around, feet planted wide, and knees bent into a low crouch. The single move had brought both wolves on one side of him again, and Jared heard a few of the onlookers whistle and clap in appreciation.
“Give up boys. You can’t win this.” Jensen had an air of self-confidence and strength that made Jared’s chest swell in pride, and his face break out in an involuntary grin.
The two rookie wolves didn’t take the man’s advice though, and one of them went for another attack, not waiting for his friend. It went straight for Jensen’s throat, and this time the man didn’t sidestep the move but brought the staff between himself and the young wolf, intercepting the bite. Fangs clamped down on wood, and the wolf pulled hard, trying to dislodge the weapon from Jensen’s grip. The second wolf came bounding up, seemingly confident that he could sneak an attack while Jensen’s weapon was tied up. It didn’t expect Jensen to let out an inhuman growl as all the muscles in his back and arms visibly strained. He swung the staff forwards pushing the wolf still clamped on it off its feet and threw him backwards. The wolf let go with a yelp and crashed into his comrade.
This time Jensen didn’t give them time to regroup. One of the wolves rolled off the other shaking his head and trying to get onto his feet again. He was struck down with a whooshing swing of wood that knocked its head to the ground, followed by a mean stab of the blunt end of the staff against its neck that caused the whine of the blow to cut out unexpectedly. The second wolf was madly scrambling to get back on its feet while Jensen sank down, knee pressing hard against the throat of the wolf he'd just struck down, bringing himself low into the field of attack of the second one. To Jared’s horror, Jensen dropped the staff as the second wolf turned towards him, jaws snapping.
Jared let out a shout of warning that went unheard as Jensen reached out with both hands instead, grabbing the ears of the wolf as its drooling maw hovered only three inches from the man’s throat. He held on tight, arresting the wolf in his forward movement as the sensitive flesh stretched hard. A low growl rumbled over the three fighters on the ground, and it took Jared a moment to realize that it was Jensen who was making the sound. His eyes had turned nearly luminescent forest green, while his knee still held one struggling wolf to the ground. He stared down into the gaping maw of the second wolf as they faced off in a nearly impossible situation. If Jensen let go, the wolf would rip him apart. If he didn’t they could sit like this forever. Sharp nails ripped into Jensen’s calf as the wolf on the ground started struggling more, panicking at the continued compression of its throat. Jensen’s growl made Jared shudder, and the second wolf tried pulling back, out of the death grip Jensen had on his ears, whining and wanting to get away from the man who looked like he had only murder in his heart.
Jensen didn’t let go, had to prove his point, and Jared let it go on for a short moment, counting to five inwardly before stepping in, more to stop the struggling wolves from carving Jensen’s skin off his arms and legs with their claws than to stop Jensen from hurting them further.
“That’s enough!”
Three long strides brought Jared to the middle of the training area, and his hand carefully slid onto Jensen’s shoulder. It was a risky move to make when a wolf was so entranced by the fight, but Jensen had both hands full at the moment, so Jared dared it. For a second, Jensen’s whole body tensed.
“Let go, Jensen. You won. It’s over.”
For a moment Jensen remained as if frozen, then a slow breath of air left his lungs and took all tension with it, muscles releasing, hands falling at his side releasing the whimpering wolf. Jared’s hand squeezed the man’s shoulder approvingly for a moment, and Jensen slid sideways off the wolf he had knelt on, moving towards Jared and pressing his shoulder against Jared’s knee for a second. Jared wouldn’t acknowledge the amazing feeling that ran through him as Jensen knelt at his feet, instead beckoning him up and leading him out of the middle of the circle, leaving behind two vanquished young wolves. Jared’s hand lay against the back of Jensen’s neck, warm and calming, and Jensen fell into step easily.
The circle of spectators parted as Jared led Jensen away, some nodding their heads in respect, and it was plain that Jensen had just made more than clear what his position would be in the pack. Jared’s eyes caught those of his father. The Alpha had felt the stir in the pack as the fight began and had joined those watching to see for himself what the commotion was about. He nodded at his son with a thoughtful look before turning around, leaving Jared to handle things the way he saw fit.
The other training wolves helped the two beat-up youngsters back to their feet, and Jared knew that the only thing permanently damaged would be their egos. Although he couldn’t say that this would have been the case if he hadn’t stopped the fight.
Training was over, and it didn’t take more than a look from Jared to the trainees to have them know that. He led Jensen away from the impressed pack and only stopped when they were out of earshot, down at the river-shore.
They hadn’t said a single word since they started walking, and Jared simply pushed Jensen to sit on a sun-warmed stone slab next to the water. The new wolf sank down easily and closed his eyes, sun warming his sweat-slick face, and Jared felt something stirring inside himself as he watched Jensen take a few calming breaths.
“I’m sorry.” Jensen’s voice was quiet and just a little rough, and Jared frowned at him for a moment while he tried to decide what to do next.
“What for?”
“I shouldn’t have challenged them. It was unnecessary and stupid.” His eyes were still closed, freckles gleaming in the noon sun, and Jared wondered how this man, and the one from only a few minutes ago could ever fit together. Jensen was a mystery to him sometimes.
“No. It was your chance to prove your worth to the entire pack, and you did. The respect you earned today will make your life from now on a lot easier.”
Green eyes opened and looked at Jared uncertainly for a moment. “What if I had hurt them, really hurt them. The pack wouldn’t have liked that.”
“I wouldn’t have let you. I stopped you, didn’t I?”
“And if I hadn’t listened to you?”
Jared chuckled flopping down next to Jensen, bumping their shoulders together. “That’s not really an option.”
Jensen looked at him with questioning eyes, and Jared shrugged, slightly uncomfortable. “I’m the alpha here. You already acknowledged my authority during your change. I’m kinda irresistible.”
“What does that mean? You can tell me what to do, and I can’t do anything about it?” Jensen bristled a little at the thought, and Jared wondered when foot-in-mouth had become his usual way of conversation.
“No. You’re kinda compelled to listen to me when I force it, but if you really don’t want to, then there is nothing that can make you. But I’m pretty sure you didn’t really want to hurt them, so when I cut in, it was like a wake-up call. Me being an alpha only means that you will hear the wake-up call loud and clear, so to speak.”
“That doesn’t really make sense…”
“I’m sorry about that.” He really was. Jared wanted - needed - Jensen to understand, but it seemed he never really found the right words. “I wish I knew what to say to make it all clear, but…”
He shook his head sighing out in annoyance and deciding to change the topic for now. The smell of blood was strong in his nose and he slipped off the stone to stand in the chill waters of the river soaking the bottom of his pants. The wolves mostly refused to wear shoes at all. They took too long to take off when need be.
“Show me your leg.”
Jensen looked at Jared slightly confused, and the alpha cub just reached out, grabbing Jensen’s blood-soaked pant leg and pulled, ripping the already torn fabric in half all the way up to his thigh. Jensen jumped a little at the unexpected attack on his decency and stared at Jared, mouth agape.
“What was that for?”
Jared silently cupped clear water in his large hands and started rinsing the cuts on the new wolf's leg. They crisscrossed all the way from his ankle to his knee, concentrated around the shin and varying from mere skin abrasions to deep lacerations. The moment the first cold water hit the bloodied skin, Jensen hissed and looked down at his leg with a slightly puzzled face.
“Damn. Those are worse than I thought.”
“Your adrenaline rush will wear off fast enough, and you’ll be grateful when they are treated by then.” Ripping off a piece of cloth from the mangled pants, Jared washed it out in the river’s water before using it to carefully clean out the cuts that were smeared with dirt from the wolf's claws.
“Don’t werewolves heal faster?” Jensen seemed slightly transfixed by the red smearing his leg as he watched Jared carefully treat the wounds.
“They do; but the actual process is the same as human healing. The cleaner the wounds the better they heal.”
Jensen nodded watching Jared dab out the last scratches, until the old blood was completely washed off. He pulled off his shirt to wind it around Jensen’s wound and keep it clean. It left them both half undressed, and Jared could see Jensen flushing from his belt to his scalp in a wave of redness that had the taller werewolf grinning.
+++
They sat quietly by the water for a while, and Jared enjoyed the calm around them and the sun on their bare shoulders, chuckling when Jensen bumped them together, seeming bored. He wondered if he was reading too much into things, or if Jensen was sometimes flirting back. He couldn’t quite let himself hope.
They made their way back to the Den slowly. Jared watched Jensen walk out of the corner of his eyes, looking for signs that his leg was troubling him. The man had a slight limp, but seemed otherwise unbothered, and Jared was reassured that no major damage had been done. Jared blamed it on being distracted by assessing the state of Jensen’s health that he didn’t smell it earlier. The moment they stepped into the centre space of the den, his head snapped up, and he frowned, taking in a deep gulp of air to verify the smell that crept into his nose.
It was nothing uncommon, but it was unexpectedly strong. It was the scent of alphas ready to mate. He looked sideways to see if Jensen had picked up on it, but the beta seemed naïve about the smell, although he seemed to have stepped closer to Jared as they entered the confined space of the Den. Once again it seemed that Jensen’s instincts were working by simply bypassing active thought.
The first wolf to creep up to Jensen’s side was a girl. She was maybe sixteen if she was a day, but her attitude and forwardness spoke alpha loud and clear. “Hey Jensen.”
The former Luparius looked at her with a slight frown but just nodded politely before turning away again, seemingly startled by her sudden appearance and the leering grin she sported. Jared threw her a harsh look as she made to follow them, and she stopped, looking like she was about to stomp her feet on the ground in a tantrum but didn’t make any more advances.
Several male wolves were staring quite obviously, and the stench of hormones got stronger the further into the Den they came. Jensen started fidgeting, looking around at the predatory smiles and wiggling eyebrows, and Jared wanted nothing more than to lock him into his cave and keep him there, until the alpha cub had a chance to show each and every one of the suitors who had the highest rank in this pack. It was prehistoric and purely instinctual, and he didn’t have a chance to go through with it, because his father called him over with a half-amused look on his face as he watched his pack practically battling it out over the new prize beta.
“Why don’t you go back inside and get dressed. I’ll be there in a bit.” Jared forced a smile as he saw the other wolves scan over Jensen’s nearly naked form with appreciative eyes.
Jensen just nodded and sped up his pace considerably, while Jared set his jaw to keep from criticizing his father for calling him back at a moment like this.
“Father.” He dipped his head sideways in greeting and had to force down his anger as he saw the Alpha’s pleased grin.
“Today’s display was quite formidable. It seems they all think so, too.” Brown eyes skimmed over the general arousal in his pack.
“I don’t think that’s funny, father.”
“Oh? I find it hilarious.” The smile on the Alpha’s face was that of pure satisfaction, and Jared knew deep down that he had deserved it for wooing Jensen despite the Alpha’s disapproval. “I watched you with him today. He doesn’t seem to be impressed by any other alpha so far.” Gerald actually laughed, when a sudden exclaimation of pain came from the far end of the Den where Jensen had twisted a male wolf’s hand at an angle that suggested it was close to snapping. The former human was making it very clear that he was not to be touched like that without his permission. “He’s got a strong mind and body.”
“I told you he’d be perfect.” Jared could feel his blood boiling, wanting to rip that offensive hand off right there.
The Alpha looked at his son for a long moment. “Maybe. But he’s also very young, and he knows nothing about our ways. He’s still human at heart. Have you even broached the subject with him yet?”
“No. But seeing how things have panned out, I think I have to now.”
The older wolf hummed, cocking his head as he looked at his son. “I am not sure this would be the best for either of you.”
“I’m sure it would be the best for me, and looking at the current state of things, it would probably be the best for him too.”
“Do you really want him to mate with you, because you’re the least of two evils, Jared?”
That stung, and the alpha cub bit his tongue hard, tasting blood. “No. I want him to want me.”
“I don’t think that’s gonna happen.” The Alpha sounded nearly sad as he spoke, and Jared shot him an indignant look.
“You saw how he reacts to me. His wolf and mine fit perfectly. All his instincts are attuned to me.” He said it with pride and total conviction.
“He’s more than just instincts Jared.”
“Yes, he is. He’s Jensen, and that’s who I want.” He didn’t wait to be dismissed but turned away and stomped the way Jensen had fled from the general harassment. Maybe if he wasn’t obviously jealous as hell from the taste of every unmated alpha in the pack competing for Jensen’s attention, his father would have called him on it. Instead, he let his son walk away, watching with a worried frown.
+++
“Jensen?”
The man sat on his bed looking a little out of breath and a lot weirded out. “What the hell was going on out there? Did everybody turn completely mad?”
“In a way…” Jared leaned on the inside of the doorway, not trusting himself to sit next to Jensen as he usually would while jealousy still bubbled around his stomach.
“What the hell was that? What was that weird creepy smell?”
“That was the smell of way too many werewolf hormones at once.” Jared sighed rubbing his nose as the salty odor still clung in there.
“What??”
“It seems that your epic victory over some of the best fighters in the pack made you a great catch for every unmated alpha in the pack.”
Jensen looked at him like he had gone crazy for a minute before laughing out loud. “Sure, that’s very funny, Jared.”
“It’s not a joke.”
Green eyes blinked at him for a moment, and Jensen’s jaw went slack for a minute. “They were trying to? No. I mean, but for that crazy little girl, those were ALL MEN out there acting weirdly and trying to grab my…”
Jared rose to a towering stance, ready to take off any hand that had grabbed any part of Jensen. “Who? Tell me their names, and I swear they will never grab anything again.”
Jensen frowned at him with a slightly worried look but waved him off. “Thanks. I think I made myself clear though. But as I said. They were men… males… whatever you call yourself.”
“So? Jensen, there are about three unmated alpha females in this pack, and none of them is older than seventeen. So unless you are interested in that ‘little girl’ as you called her, the probability of you mating with a female anytime soon is pretty slim.” It was the insensitive approach to the subject, but Jared could feel his sheer jealousy crawling underneath his skin, and it was hard enough to not just show Jensen that he was to mate with nobody else.
“What? I… no. I mean I’m not interested in any children but… they’re MEN. How could I ever…”
“We’re werewolves, Jensen. There are several same-sex couples in the pack. It’s not unheard of at all.” Maybe Jared was pleading just a little for Jensen to just accept that fact, but he knew it would not be that easy.
“What? That’s… I won’t mate with a man.” He looked seriously disturbed at the idea, and Jared bit his cheek to stop from interrupting him. He had to remind himself that Jensen had been human until just a short while ago, and that he didn’t know better. Still it stung like a slap to the face. When Jensen looked at him it was with a glint of hope. “It’s not like that… I mean you are an unmated alpha too, and you are not behaving like a lunatic.”
Jared couldn’t stop himself from laughing, and when Jensen looked at him with wide eyes he couldn’t resist walking towards him, dropping to his knees in front of the bed and settling his hand on the back of Jensen’s neck the way he did so frequently these days. He pulled Jensen’s face just a little closer, and the man didn’t even think of hesitating to comply. Jared’s other hand was resting lightly on Jensen’s knee, and he took a deep breath to drown the remnants of the excited alpha smell with the warm, earthy smell of Jensen.
“I think you don’t get it yet Jensen. I might not make a complete ass of myself, but I’m probably the worst of them all. I liked you since the first time I laid eyes on you, but ever since you became one of us, I…” He didn’t know what to say, and previous experience showed him that he wouldn’t be able to find the right words anyway. Instead he leaned up, mouth smothering Jensen’s, while his hands held the man in place with light pressure, although there was no sign he was trying to escape.
Jared didn’t try to push any further. He was already toeing a very fine line. He just stayed where he was for a long moment, savoring the soft feeling of Jensen’s lips, the slight scratch of his facial hair, regrowing after the morning shave. When he pulled back, he could see wide green eyes looking at him with a complete deer-in-the-headlights expression. For a second Jensen seemed frozen and then one hand came up to cover his lips with his fingers as realization seemed to strike, and Jensen’s eyes slipped closed as if to shut out this confusing world.
Jared feared that he had just ruined everything, and all fight slipped out of him. He let his head fall forward to rest on Jensen’s knee as his hand slipped off Jensen’s neck to rest lightly against his side. “I’m sorry. I need you to know that I am your friend. I just didn’t know how to tell you that I want to be more.”
They were as if petrified for a minute, and Jared was happy to just stay like that, half hugging Jensen’s knees before the fatal blow would be dealt. When Jensen spoke it was quieter than Jared had expected.
“Jared, I… I can’t.”
The alpha cub looked up with sad puppy eyes, pulling away from the man he wanted so much. Jensen looked confused and smaller than his usual self as he shrugged.
“I’m really sorry, Jensen.”
The man nodded, seemingly willing to accept Jared’s apology as honest. “I need to process this. I… you have to go.” His mouth pinched together in a tight line, and Jared felt the slap of rejection. He nodded, swallowing hard around the lump in his throat and getting up off the floor.
“Sure. Take your time, I’ll… try to scare off your other suitors, so you will have some peace… unless you want to-“ He broke off knowing that he was acting like a jealous ass.
Jensen shook his head pulling his legs up in front of his body, where he still sat on the bed. “I don’t… I don’t know what I want.”
+++
To say that Jared felt like crap at the way things had gone would be an understatement. Jensen didn’t stick his head out for the remainder of the day, and instead of going to him himself, Jared sent Megan to bring the new beta some dinner when he missed the meal. She didn’t mind, smacking her brother over the back of the head for obviously making an ass out of himself but still giving him an encouraging smile.
Jared spent most of the day glaring at the alphas in heat around him. He didn’t really trust himself not to start a fight with any - or all - of them, and so he decided to go back to the roots for the night. He undressed and walked across the Den in all his naked glory shoulders broad and tense, jaw set, and head held high. The pack watched him, some envious, some smitten. He couldn’t say that he didn’t soak it up. He turned without looking back at the pack and took off on four legs to roam through the nightly woods of their territory.
...next part...
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*hugs* Birdie
P.S.: I'm 12h earlier than usual posting just past midnight rather than around noon. That's because I have an exam tomorrow and I don't want to get pressed for time when I really shouldn't stress myself over posting on a day like that :P I thought you guys shouldn't mind since everybody wanted me to post early, right? Right?!