Summer Camp - 9. Avoiding Detection

Sunday evening Paddy had finally phoned home to explain to his parents that yes, he had found his mate and he had also ended up in stitches. It had been hard to tell what his mother had been the most concerned about.

“Mam, wid ye calm doon? I’m fine.”

“But ye had stitches! Yer sure ye d’nae want us tae drive doon thar an’ see yo?”

Paddy sighed.

“Put Da on wid ye?”

“Hello there Paddy. Your mother is all in a flap, what’ve you been and done now?”

“Nothing Da. Me and Troy got in a bit o’ a fight is all.”

“Troy is?” His father left the sentence hanging and Paddy realised that apart from his three word text, he hadn’t actually given his parents any other information.

“He’s my mate Da,” Paddy sighed, suddenly wistful. “He’s a lynx and he’s Norwegian and he’s gorgeous.”

“And you had a fight with him?”

“Aye, we seem tae be fightin’ a lot. Da?”

“Yes Paddy?” His father’s voice, sensible and steadfast on the other end of the line, made Paddy miss home all at once. It was like a sudden punch to the gut.

“I daen’t ken what I’m doin’ half tha time. We seem tae fight aboot everythin’ and it’s nae at all liek I thought it’d be.”

“Go on.”

“I can feel where he is, and we cannae be apart. It hurts. And he’s messy and lieks tae sleep outside an’ he eats meat and he does nae believe in the Great Spirits and we hae nothin’ in common.”

“Do you love him?”

“Well aye.” Paddy frowned at the phone, just as he would have done if his father had been standing in the room.

“And there’s what you have in common. You have forever to get to know him son. Just let it happen.”

“But Da…”

“Go son. You’ve always been damn good at getting what you want. I’d best calm your mother down. We’ll speak to you soon.”

“OK. I love ye Da.”

“Love you too son. Have fun. Well done.”

*

His arm kept him off full duties for a week, and as their next group was small, Noah managed to persuade Nic to have paddy team up with either himself or Troy on some of the activities. Paddy spent most of his afternoons standing at the base of the Tall Tree with the remainder of the group while one kid climbed the staples and abseiled down in turn. Much of the time he had to remember not to look up at Troy’s arse in his climbing harness.

When the bandages came off after eight days and Troy drove him back to the hospital to have the stitches out, plenty of people told him he looked like he’d been mauled by a cat. Paddy simply joked that unless there was some kind of cat cross loch ness monster living in the kayaking lake, he wasn’t going to worry much. The scars began to heal up without issue, and Paddy enjoyed being back outside in the sun and occasional torrential downpour that sent every kid running for the big marquee as though the sky was literally rather than figuratively falling down on their heads. When those days happened, they played lots of drama style games, Chinese whispers, sleeping lions, wink murder. Troy gathered up a sack full of assorted bits of flint and showed some of the brighter and more responsible children how to make arrow heads.

Things between them were good, but uneasy, and the bond joining them seemed to get shorter and shorter every day even as Paddy healed up. Anything more than a hundred yards was enough to bring one of them running for the other as the tensions along the rope reeled them in. It was exhausting. They didn’t have sex, and though Paddy trusted his mate, he found himself not wanting to turn his back on him too often.

It wasn’t just the two of them who were affected. The tension spread throughout the camp and made everyone slightly uneasy, not least because Levi was now trying to sit with Paddy whenever he could and Troy still refused to tell people they were a couple. Levi’s smiles and carefully planned little touches made Paddy feel sick, but they made Troy palpable with rage.

“I daen’t ken wha ye want me tae do?” Paddy snapped at his mate as they walked into their cabin one evening after bonfire, “Ye wi nae tell people we’re together and ye snarl every time him comes near me!”

“Tell him to leave you alone.” Troy practically threw his boots across the small room as he took them off.

“I hae! He’s a persistent little bastard.” Paddy slumped onto the bed, head in hands. He stared at the curved lines marking his skin “It’s liek ye daen’t trust me.”

“Well you don’t trust me!”

“Well at least I hae a gid excuse fer tha!” Paddy snarled, gesturing to his arm.

“I said I was sorry and you said you forgave me!” Troy’s temper was fierce and hot, his eyes flashed, every muscles tense. The cord between them twanged.

“An’ I thought I had!” Paddy roared back, “But ye niver want tae talk aboot anything important and ye cannae fix all tha things we disagree aboot by having sex!”

“It’s not as though we’re even having sex.” He countered, “It’s fucking frustrating.”

“Aye, ‘cause yer tha only one wit tha problem aten’t ye!”

There was a knock on the door, followed by Noah’s soft voice. He was speaking too low to be heard had they been human, but both the shifters listened to what he said.

“You’re being loud. Again. Storm’s due tonight, get out into the woods and sort this out. You two are becoming insufferable. I’ll cover for you.” And then he was gone.

Troy’s voice dropped an octave and he scuffed the floor.

“I miss you.”

“I’m ri’ here babe.”

“I’m sorry I hurt you.” Troy stepped closer, “I never should have lost my temper, but I was so scared.”

“Wha wi ye scared of babe?” Paddy opened out his hand and found Troy’s fingers in his palm instantly.

“The only other shifter I ever loved was killed in front of me. I was scared if someone knew, about us, somehow they’d take you away from me. I can’t lose you. I need you.” Troy sniffed as tears started trickling down his face. He turned away, but Paddy held onto him.

“What happened tae yer Da was awful babe. But I aten’t going anywhere. I promise ye.”

“But Noah…”

“Is our friend. He’d nae gonna tell a soul, ‘cept maybe his family in Canada.”

“See!”

“Who are all bears, or related tae bears. He’s on our side pet.” Paddy stood, taking Troy with him, “Come on. Let’s go an’ run in tha woods. Everything’ll seem better after tha.”

They both took off running the moment they left the cabin, the thin wooden door slamming behind them. Neither spoke, nothing in the woods but the thud of their boots, the loudness of their breath in the still night. Paddy jogged his way to the hollow of trees where they had kissed secretly in the middle of the first day when everything had seemed simpler. Without speaking, Paddy picked at the laces of his boots, and within a minute they were both naked in the space, staring at each other. Perspective changed, and Paddy rubbed his muzzle against the soft fur of his mate’s back. Troy purred automatically.

Troy turned and ran, and Paddy followed, overtook him and ploughed ahead through the trees. Their feet pounded the earth and Troy leapt over bits of trees and fallen logs, dashing through the undergrowth while Paddy powered through with big feet and superior weight. They ran like their lives depended on it. The more they ran, the more Paddy felt the cord between them slip and lengthen, breaking the painful constriction around his heart. As they came out of the woodland at the edge of the fields leading across the archery lanes, Paddy couldn’t help the roar that rose from his throat. At his side, Troy snarled and yowled.

Paddy glanced up at the far crest of the hill where he knew the natural stone tor’s of the scrambling course were. Troy grinned and flicked his ears forwards. Bear and lynx raced through the short grass, feet and claws pounding up the hill. Both of them could climb so rather than racing around the back of the rocks to the path at the back, they threw themselves at the twisted rock face. Troy was smaller, quicker, and better able to use the ledges and holds which the humans used. Paddy knew no such techniques, used to climbing big trees and the wet rocks of the lake, and simply used claws and big feet to lift himself up the side of the boulders. Troy beat him to the top and Paddy snarled, and leapt for a tree root just out of reach. He slipped.

Two strong hands caught his paw and hung on, and Paddy found himself staring into the smiling face of his lover, Troy’s blue eyes sparkling.

“Hrunnt?”

“I got you big guy.” Troy hauled him up, even though as a bear Paddy significantly outweighed him. “Come look at the view.”

Long black claws scrabbled at the stone, and then Paddy lifted himself over the ledge as he changed.

“Is tha the storm?”

“Yeah…” Troy sounded breathless and peaceful, “Dad always used to love storms in the summer. He said god was in the rain.”

“I liek tha.” Paddy stood with his mate and surveyed the storm clouds which rolled like a movie across the sky towards them. The sky under them was dark with rain, “God is in tha rain.”

When the first drops fell, both young men turned their faces upwards to be beaten by the falling water. Troy flung his arms up with a shout of joy and screamed into the rain as it poured down onto them, turning the dust into rivulets which became streams. It was not the sort of storm which would last, but as the boom of thunder echoed across the sky, Paddy felt an answering stroke as the band around his heart eased off.

“Yer happy.”

Troy laughed silently.

“Nae, I mean, I can tell liek.” Paddy reached out for his mate and put a hand against his heart, “I can feel ye in me heart.”

“I never left.” The rain was pelting down now, so loud Troy was forced to step close to him or shout. He chose the former option, “It was my fault, I tried to break this thing between us.”

The thunder rumbled.

“Nae babe, we’ve both been stupid. Look a’ us now, standin’ in tha rain liek proper ejits.” Paddy wrapped an arm around his mate, “You wanna talk first?”

“Given our issues with falling asleep straight away afterwards, I think it might be wise. Come on, there’s a cave.” Troy lead the way down the slope and between two sheets of sandstone slick with the rain, where the path turned unexpectedly upwards and under a gnarled tree root. The cave was a space in which neither of them could fully stand up straight, but it was dry and afforded a view between the two rocks out across the valley, of the forest and the campsite.

“I should have never done that to your arm.”

“An I shuid a’ told ye aboot Noah before. It wasnae fair of me.” Paddy took a deep breath and looked levelly at the man he loved, “We shuid tell people.”

Troy shook his head quickly.

“Levi is goin’ tae keep stickin’ his nose in.”

Troy growled.

“I don’t know why I don’t want to tell people. I just have this feeling it’ll be bad. Nic will stop posting us together if he thinks we’re off fucking in the woods.” Troy drew distracted patterns in the dust of the cave floor, “He’ll send me up here every day and right now, I can’t be out of your sight. Surely it can’t be this bad forever?”

Paddy tilted his head, considering Troy’s words. His parents were mates, and his father had often told him the story of how they met, the classic eyes meeting across a crowded room sort of thing, and how he’d known right away she’d been the one. He’d never mentioned not being able to leave the same room for a month afterwards.

“It were nae liek this at tha beginning babe. When we agreed on things, tha bond were longer than it is now.”

“We weren’t really agreeing with each other though, were we?” Troy sighed, “I mean, I still don’t get why you freaked out about the rabbit.”

Paddy was about to snap, to show his teeth and get angry with his lover, until a little voice in the back of his mind spoke to him. You never did explain it to him, you just expected him to understand.

“We ain’t neither of us been fair tae each other hae we?” Paddy took his mate’s hand, “Ye shuid see the garden back home babe. Mam grows so many colourful vegetables she could even make ye want tae eat them. I swear. And the lake is full o’ fish, we hunt in it all the time.”

“Hunting rabbits is no different.” Troy offered.

“But back home, we just daen’t do it. I can walk into the forest behind me grandda’s house and the animals thar ken me. We are friends.”

“You are friends with rabbits?”

“Will nae rabbits specially, but deer and the ravens and the fish eagle. They ken I d’nae want tae hurt them.”

“So…” Troy seemed to consider this, “You want me not to eat meat?”

“Nae!” Paddy couldn’t help but pull him closer, “Yer a carnivore, you shuid eat meat, but maybe ye can try some vegetables tae?”

Troy frowned.

“I dunno, sounds dangerous.”

“Babe…”

“Anything to make you happy Paddy.”

“Anything?”

“Umm…” Even in the dim light from the rain washed sky, Paddy could see his lover blush. “I don’t know if I can do that yet. I mean, you’re pretty well endowed.” Troy bit his lip in a way Paddy thought was adorable. “Maybe we can work up to it?”

“Sure thing babe.”

For a while they sat in companionable silence as the storm rolled away across the sky. When the thudding of the rain slowed to nothing more than a gentle patter and the thunder had rolled off into the distance, they extracted themselves from the cave and the network of the stones.

“Isn’t it your birthday next month?” Troy asked, stretching his shoulders and rolling his neck. Paddy couldn’t help but stare at him, naked in the starlight.

“An two days.”

“So we got until then to get me ready eh?”

“Ye gonna make me wait that long?”

Troy punched his shoulder and shook his fingers out, wincing.

“I forget how fucking buff you are.”

It was Paddy’s turn to laugh before flexing his shoulders, making the muscles of his chest and abdomen tense up.

“OK, that’s just sexy as fuck.”

“Walk back wi me?” Paddy held out his hand to Troy as they both headed for the path down the hill. Troy took his hand without hesitation, “This is nice.”

“Fuck instincts.” Troy blurted suddenly, “We’ve never even been on anything like a fucking date. I swear normal people have it better.”

Paddy shook his head.

“Nae babe.” He gestured to the healed scars on his arm, “I get to stay wi ye forever. I’d go through it all again fer that.”

“Your nuts Paddy.”

“Aye.” They were quiet as they crossed the archery fields, the paperless target blocks looking forlorn in the rain. “You really gonna teach Sean to make a bow?”

“Yeah,” Troy arched an eyebrow at him, “Why, you want to learn too?”

“Aye. Will ye teach me?”

Troy’s laugh made the string around Paddy’s heart vibrate with energy, but it felt nice.

“Babe, you don’t even have to ask. I can show you so many things. Blow the top of your head clean off.”

Paddy elbowed him back.

“I cuid say tha same thing tae ye babe.”

Troy was a little quiet after that.

In the hollow of the trees, their cloths had survived the battering of the rain mostly unscathed, but neither of them got dressed. When Paddy glanced at his mate, he grinned to see he was half hard too. He took half a step forwards, and then paused, uncertain. Troy watched him through messy strands of his dripping hair.

“Please tell me we’ve not reached the point where we’re actually waiting for permission to touch each other.” Troy’s smirk was sharp enough to cut through the tension which made the air in the hollow thick.

“Ye cheeky fucker.” Paddy reached out, grabbed Troy’s narrow waist and pulled him up against his chest firmly. He growled low and Troy matched the noise before Paddy drowned him in a kiss. “Fuck I missed this.”

The lynx dug sharp fingernails into his back, crushing the two of them together. Paddy could feel the bond between them growing, pulsing stronger with each beat of his heart, pulling them together but in a most delicious way.

“You remember the first time?” Troy held tight to the back of paddy’s skull, fingers in his thick hair, pulling him down to whisper in his ear, “You remember how raw and fantastic it was?”

Paddy snarled in delight and bit at the join between Troy’s neck and shoulder, sucking until he’d raised a blood bruise the size of a birch leaf. Troy whimpered in his ear.

“Aye, I remember.” Paddy worked his way down Troy’s throat, nipping at his collarbone before licking over one tight nipple, “I remember ye fuckin’ the living daylights outta me.”

That was all it took, and suddenly Paddy was flat out on the rough ground. Troy knocked his legs out of the way with his knees, both of them scrambling at the other, trying to push closer, to be more intimate than they had been for so long. It wasn’t like the first time, there was none of the unknown heat and mad desire that had coloured their first coupling, and Paddy made his mate wait, a hand on his chest, panting.

“What?” Troy’s question was half growl, half concerned and frustrated whine. He wanted to be inside the bear, surrounded by the heat of his body while he kissed him.

“Ye hae tae prepare me first. Ye cannae just dive right in.”

“Huh?” Troy looked perplexed.

“Last time were special an mad an amazing, an it hurt liek hell.” Paddy explained, “Normally things liek lube an fingers are involved tae.”

“Oh.” Troy paused, suddenly unsure. “I’m not sure… I mean what do I do?”

“Ye want me tae do it?”

“No!” Troy curled over him and growled, his blue eyes narrowing. Paddy saw the hunter in his lover then, and it made his heart soar suddenly and unexpectedly. Troy could take control like a lion defending its prey and the knowledge made him glad. The big Scot was sure he would always be able to rely on this skinny young man to defend him if things ever got tough. “I want to do it. Teach me.”

I never thought I’d have to teach the man I loved to do this… Was the thought flowing through his mind as he grabbed Troy’s hand in his own and brought his slim strong fingers to his mouth. The string around his heart glowed as he licked the digits and Troy’s eyes widened.

“Umm…?”

“Here.” Paddy took his wrist again and guided him downwards. Troy frowned as his fingers touched at the heat of Paddy’s entrance.

“You’re sure.”

“Rally?” Paddy raised an eyebrow and then bit his lip as troy pushed straight in, “Fuck damn laddie. Ahhh…”

“Sorry.”

“I aten’t tha pliable Troy.

“Oh…”

“Jus, hold still fer a sec aye?” Paddy forced himself to breath, forced his body to push back and then accept the sudden invasion. For a moment he’d held himself on the edge of losing all his breath and he doubted either of them would cope well with him changing around Troy’s hand. “Ok, ye can move now.”

Troy’s eyes were the size of the moon hidden behind the clouds, big as saucers as he watched himself move his fingers in and out of paddy’s body. He couldn’t tear his gaze away, totally fascinated by what he was doing. Then he flexed and Paddy groaned low enough to make the little stones on the ground shudder and bounce.

“What was that?”

“Oh fuckin’ hell dae tha again!”

“I don’t know what I did.”

Paddy fell back against the ground, shoulders shaking. He forced himself to breathe again, but now his mind was spiralling dangerously as his cock twitched and bounced. Troy’s shy touch was so unbelievably sweet couple with the knowledge the lynx could easily tear apart anyone on the planet.

“Curl your fingers upwards a litt-!” But paddy didn’t get to finish the sentence because troy had already done it, stroking the smooth patch of nerve ending and muscle on the inner wall of his passage and made him groan again.

“Oh, that…” Troy seemed fascinated and rubbed the sweet spot again, “Do I have one of those too?”

“A-a-aye…” His mate was now passing over the spot with such regularity Paddy wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold on. “Troy! S-s-s-top.”

“Why?” It was a very feline whine, and Troy looked like he’d just been denied his Christmas presents on a cold December morning.

“Cause otherwise I’m going tae lose it now and that will nae be so good fer ye.”

“Oh!” Troy stopped and wriggled his fingers, making paddy shudder. “Should I?”

“Now? Yes!” Paddy reached out blindly, his eyes practically rolled back into his head and grabbed Troy’s shoulder, pulling him down across his body, kissing his mouth until neither of them had enough air at all.

Troy positioned himself, pushed and gasped as he entered the tightness of his mate. Paddy bit his arm hard enough to break the skin.

“Gonna have trouble explaining that one.”

“Fuck it.”

“Anything you say babe.” Troy grinned and set his hands in the dirt either side of Paddy’s head as he ploughed ahead, “Anything.”

Chocolate brown eyes met glacier blue with something approaching a clang and both young men growled low as they forged the connection between their hearts stronger.