Unwilling - 8. The new girl wakes up

~*Darwin*~

After sitting in the shower for what had felt like eons, Darwin suddenly couldn't get out of it fast enough. The feeling of wanting Jared went from being there like a mild after-thought to roaring through his body like a fire storm in the blink of an eye. His overheated skin felt too tight, his cock thickened so quickly he got dizzy from it, and his fingers tingled with anticipation. He couldn't put words to it, but there was no need to. The only need present was that of Darwin touching Jared, as often and as intimately as he could.

Maybe it was just the knowledge of actually being allowed or even expected to be close to his mate that finally gave him the freedom of mind to not hold back anymore. But whatever it was, strangely enough, Jared didn't seem to feel the same way.

Sure, he carried Darwin to their shared bedroom in a newly-wed kind of way as soon as he was dry enough-- and decent enough, by the ways of a towel around his waist--, and he even draped Darwin onto the bed. But instead of ravishing him like they do in a two-dollar-romance novel, Jared did the opposite.

As soon as Darwin was lying there in all his almost-naked glory, Jared took a big step backwards. His breathing sounded ragged and harsh, a sheen of sweat was coating his forehead and his pulse was a living thing at the side of his neck, but that was it. He didn't touch, didn't come closer, he looked almost afraid to move.

The amount of self-restraint Jared exerted would have been funny if Darwin weren't so horny.

The artificial light from the lamp overhead did nothing to really show the glory that was Jared, but even without the play of sunshine the man looked good enough to eat. He still wore his towel around his hips, and the white cloth stood in stark contrast to his tanned skin and the light coating of hair on his arms and chest. There was a slightly thicker, t-shaped patch of fur between his nips that trailed down to his navel in a thin line, but in the yellow twilight it was nearly hidden by the grooves of muscles around it.

There also was a visible bulge in the front of his towel.

Darwin still felt a little dizzy and overheated, but the way his breath hitched had nothing to do with the hot shower he'd had, and everything with the way his own cock reacted to Jared's presence. He was strikingly handsome, and Darwin wanted him.

"Come closer," he whispered, afraid someone from the outside might hear him.

Something close to fear passed over Jared's face, and he shook his head slightly. It looked involuntary and unintentional, but it was still a silent 'no'. Tension sang through the blond hunk's body, enough to accentuate the contours of his muscles in a beautiful display of fitness.

Darwin bared his teeth in frustration.

"If you don't come closer, I'll have to do everything on my own," he threatened with a haughty purr in his voice, and slowly trailed his fingers over the edge of the towel on his own hips. His hands were shaking with nerves, but he managed to wrap them around the knot keeping the towel where it was, and untangle it without fumbling.

The last time he had been this forward, he still had pretended to be a dominant with no hope of being ravished and the secure knowledge of having to do all the ravishing himself, of having absolute control over everything that would happen. But this time around it felt different, another form of nakedness, and a total loss of control. The idea of luring Jared into bed with his body held a very exciting new possibility.

Jared's face tightened as Darwin carefully unraveled the towel. With every inch of heated, naked skin he revealed, the tension in Jared seemed to grow and strengthen. The play of muscles along his arms and abs finally proved too much for Darwin's cock, and with another hearty throb it parted the soft cotton and pushed its way into freedom.

Jared fixated on that movement with a glare of pure hunger. He even took a half-step forward, but then he froze once more with an expression of torment on his face. His valiant attempt on restraint was crumbling before Darwin's eyes, but he still held on.

The only warning Jared got was a flash of fire in Darwin's eyes. Then Darwin wrapped his hand around his throbbing flesh, trailing upwards with a sure grip around the length. When he flicked his thumb over the swollen, flared tip he groaned softly, and rubbed the drop of clear liquid over the spongy head.

An involuntary shudder wracked his body, and he sighed.

It was enough, finally. Jared gave a low growl, then he took two big steps to reach the bed and crawled on it with controlled haste.

Darwin stilled, but kept his hand wrapped around his own cock. The scent of lemon showering gel and industrial fabric softener flooded his nose, hinting how close Jared was, but he still didn't close that last bit of distance. Darwin growled frustrated.

"Would you please, please touch me?" he groaned, giving his cock another tug that made him shudder. At this rate he would be spent before Jared even laid a finger on him, although that particular thought had its own allure.

Jared leaned closer, supporting the weight of his muscular body on one arm as he hovered over Darwin's writhing form. He looked guarded, but hopeful, and very, very excited. "Will you think the same tomorrow, or is this going to blow up into my face as soon as we're done?" he asked softly. Something about Jared's demeanor set off alarm bells in Darwin's head, but the guilt was stronger. Jared looked so cute, it was hard to focus on anything else.

"I promise, I want this. I want you," he murmured, and tangled his free hand in Jared's short, blond hair. He didn't get much farther than that, though.

The words barely had left his lips when Jared grabbed for Darwin's wrists. He pulled his hand away from where it had grabbed Jared's hair, and he extricated his other hand from around his cock with a sure move.

"Good. It's my turn now," Jared growled, grinning suddenly. "I held my promise to give you space and go slow, and you asked me to break it, remember that."

Darwin struggled against his forceful grasp. "You played me," he accused breathlessly, but there was nothing he could do against Jared's manipulations. He didn't really want to break his Alpha's hold, so he didn't put all his might into his struggling, but he probably wouldn't have been able to anyway. His cock twitched and released another clear drop of pre-cum at that thought.

Jared guided his hands to the top edge of the bed, putting his fingers around the headboard. "Hold on to that and don't let go, or I'll stop," he ordered with a fierce glint in his eyes that made Darwin do as commanded without hesitation.

Then Jared swooped down and closed his lips around one of Darwin's nipples, sucking and licking it without reserve. His strong, warm hands stroked over Darwin's flanks on their way down, then took a tight hold on his ass cheeks. Every lick and pull on his sensitive nip sent a wash of stomach-clenching lust through Darwin's body, heightening his arousal until it was hard to hold on to the headboard.

Darwin really wanted to feel those warm, strong hands on another part of his body though. Wiggling in Jared's grip, he tried to rub his leaking cock against Jared's abs to get some kind of friction, only to have him tilt his body to break the contact.

"Oh no, you don't," Jared purred and grabbed his waist to push him down. "I want to enjoy this, you just keep still."

It felt good to struggle against the grip Jared had on his hips, but Darwin didn't keep it up too long. He didn't want Jared to stop, and distracting him from what he had wanted to do would only draw out his own suffering.

Ever so slowly, Jared mouthed his way across Darwin's chest to nuzzle his other nipple, only using his teeth once and sending a spike of pleasure and pain through his body. His thumbs pressed into the grooves next to Darwin's hip bones, and this too triggered a flash of lust that roared directly into his weeping cock.

His tongue left a wet trail as it licked downward and crossed his taut stomach, dipped into his navel and finally reached the outskirts of his pubes.

Darwin stopped breathing for a second.

His wet glans brushed against the stubble on Jared's neck.

With a mighty shudder, Darwin let go of the head board with one hand, and grabbed the root of his cock to stop himself from spurting. Someone was groaning, but the sound was muted and distant and didn't sound like himself at all.

Hot air brushed against his hand and cock as Jared laughed silently, and this too made Darwin cringe with the need to come. He gasped for air.

"Don't let go, I don't want you to come before I've buried myself in you," Jared whispered. "And don't think you'll get away with disobeying my command that easily!"

He waited for Darwin to nod once, then his hands stroked along the undersides of Darwin's legs, grabbed him at the knees and bent him in half.

When Darwin's knees touched his chest, he blushed a deep red and made an embarrassed huff. It was a strangely erotic feeling to know where Jared's eyes would wander, now that his ass was being presented like this. He was torn between the need to cover himself and make Jared look away, and the need to squirm closer to Jared's hovering body.

When Jared finally leaned forward and his hot, wet, slippery tongue touched heated skin between Darwin's butt cheeks, he nearly let go of his cock. His fingers spasmed around his precariously hard flesh as he gasped and groaned harshly, but somehow he managed to hold on.

"Jared, so close," was all he could mumble, then all thought was lost with the dip of a tongue.

Jared rimmed him like he kissed, intense and demanding. He forced the tip of his tongue into his twitching hole, only to pull back and trace the tightening ring all around his entrance. Every time the blond Alpha repeated this, Darwin loosened up a little, having to harden his grip on his weeping erection a little more.

When Jared finally stopped his ministrations, Darwin was more than ready to beg for more, but unable to form coherent words. Luckily, no words were needed.

Jared let go of Darwin's legs, and they settled across his thighs with the squirming Darwin couldn't suppress. Leaning across him, Jared opened the uppermost drawer of the night stand, pulled out a travel-sized package of lube and grinned. "You won't believe what kind of stuff you can find in vending machines at some rest stations."

"You didn't buy condoms? Confident fucker," Darwin huffed, only to fall silent with a shudder when Jared breached his ring with one slick finger. They wouldn't need condoms, at least as long as none of them had had unprotected sex with a human in the last month. Being a werewolf came with its perks, one of them being the inability to get sick. They could carry diseases from one human to another, but they'd never get symptoms themselves, with very few exceptions.

Still, the words made Jared grow still for a moment. He stared down hard at Darwin. "You wanna tell me something? Or maybe about someone?"

Just when Darwin tried to answer, he inserted a second slick finger into his channel, scissoring them a little. It burnt enough to drive Darwin from the brink of orgasm, but not enough to soften his cock. At the same time, Jared coated his own cock in lube. His hard flesh looked angry, dark and glistening as it was.

"Depends. You fuck Harry?" Darwin replied, and regretted the words instantly. Where had that come from?

Jared stilled once again, staring at his face with furrowed brows as both hands came to a stand-still. For a second he seemed at a loss of words, and a little bit guilty, but before Darwin could drive his fangs into that expression Jared shook his head and rubbed the tips of his fingers against his prostate.

"Oh, no, deary. You're not gonna fuck this up," he growled, "I did not fuck Harry, and you're not getting out of this the easy way." And just to prove how much he meant those words, he inserted a third finger and built up a slow pace that robbed Darwin of his faculty to speak.

Every thrust of those fingers sent another wave of mind-numbing pleasure through his body, and when Jared pulled out, Darwin was ready to beg. He must have made some sort of noise, because Jared crooned at him when he shuffled closer.

"Shh, you'll get someone to barge in if you keep that up," Jared murmured, and hoisted his legs over the crooks of his arms. With another shuffle and nudge, the flared head of his cock slowly breached Darwin's ring.

The feeling was like nothing Darwin had ever experienced before. It wasn't so much the sex itself, he'd had that before, but never with a dominant of his own species, and surely never with an Alpha, or his mate. His body went numb and hypersensitive at the same time, turning him into whimpering goo under Jared's careful moves. He could feel every inch of Jared's cock entering his body, stretching his insides to accommodate his length and girth. When Jared finally bottomed out, Darwin let go of the headboard altogether, and instead tried to hold on to Jared's arms.

"That's the second time you disobey me," the blond hunk growled, but there was a strain in his voice, hinting how hard it was for him too to hold on to his senses. With a suppressed groan, he grabbed for Darwin's wrists with one hand, pulled them together and pinned them to the bed above his head. He started moving, but it was too slow and too careful to match what Darwin really wanted. His other hand never left Darwin's waist, pulling him against his slow, deliberate thrusts.

As much as he wanted to scratch and groan and get Jared to let go of his control, he couldn't. He couldn't move, couldn't squirm, couldn't even stop himself from tumbling closer and closer to the brink of orgasm. All Darwin could do was take the sweet torture Jared put him through. Every thrust rubbed against his sweet spot, making him groan and gasp and shiver as a light coat of sweat started to build up on his captive body, as Jared's muscled form moved above him.

A shiver ran through Jared's taut body, and he picked up speed until the sound of flesh slapping against flesh filled the room. Darwin could feel Jared's cock twitch in its tight confines, warning him of his impending orgasm. But just before Jared spurt, he dipped down his head, nudged Darwin's chin to the side and opened his jaws to bite him at the crook of his neck.

The pleasure of pain shot through him, finally making Darwin erupt with a harsh groan and twitching limbs. It very nearly made him forget how to breathe as he bucked and strained against Jared's grip.

Only seconds later, Jared added his own shout as he coated his insides with his cum, thrusting three more times before he sagged onto his mate and gasped for air. Their sweat mingled just as their juices had before. The air was thick with the smell of sex and male exhaustion.

Darwin never wanted to lose this one moment of pure, true bliss, but at the same time he knew it was impossible not to. He also knew that he would spend the rest of his life hunting it like an obsession.

~*~

Five hours later Darwin crept through the darkened kitchenette, wearing nothing but the sweat pants Jared had given him on the other day. As much as he had wanted to stay in bed and bury himself in Jared's warm body and scent, he couldn't sleep any longer. His body hurt in all the right places, but his skin still tended to itch from time to time. It was his body's way of reprimanding him for that way too hot shower, and it sucked.

Luckily, the coffee maker was an old model, one that only worked with already ground beans. Darwin couldn't function without a cup of coffee, but waking up everybody with the clarion sound of a bean grinder would have been out of the question. Coffee didn't taste as good from pre-ground coffee powder, but that was one thing he could live with.

The sky outside the window was still dark, but there was a blueish tint to it, and a touch of cold in the areas near the windows. The sun would rise in the next hour, which limited the time Darwin had to work out how he should react to Harry's and Rayne's glances. He was sure they would snicker and stare and probably make embarrassing remarks about the sounds they had heard last night. Darwin blushed just thinking about it, and adjusted his crotch with one hand. He could still feel Jared and every time his back entrance twitched with the memory, he popped a boner. He felt like a silly teenager.

Just as the last drop of coffee dripped into the pot, the door to Harry's bedroom opened. He looked sleepy and disoriented, following the scent of fresh coffee like a sleep-walker through the dark room. Darwin pulled out another cup and filled it for his friend, smiling to himself. Some things didn't change, come rain, storm or sunshine.

"Why are you up so early?" Harry mumbled as he grabbed his mug, leaning his pert ass against the kitchen counter.

"I could ask you the same question," Darwin rebutted, and hid his grin behind his own beverage. Harry didn't look awake at all, but he had always been a heavy sleeper and pretty much useless in the morning.

Harry yawned around the first sip of unsweetened coffee. "Darla was trying to get out of bed for most of the night, so I couldn't sleep much. But now she's settled down," he explained.

Darla. Darwin had forgotten about her for just a moment, but the guilt over what he had done to her quickly returned at the mention of her name. "I'm sorry you had to watch her. I'll let you sleep tonight." Unloading his problem on Harry was unfair, but Darwin planned to make it up to him. "If you're not too tired, we could go shopping today. Leave the warriors at home," he offered, clutching his own mug tightly. He still had to talk to Harry about what had happened, and maybe apologize. No, definitely apologize for his behavior.

"Sounds fun. But no designer shops-" Harry started, but the rest of his words was toned out by the sound of cracking wood and glass.

Too shocked to move, they stared at each other for a few seconds, long enough to have Rayne come through the front door and yell at them, and to take off again.

"Shit. Darla," Harry whispered, his eyes going wide with realization.

Shit, indeed.

They both started running, but Harry was a bit faster and entered his bedroom first. Darwin followed close behind, gasping when he saw the destruction in Harry's bedroom. The bed was empty and littered with shards of glass, and the window was ruined. Darla had obviously used her moment of solitude to try and make a run for it, and she wasn't going to be caught easily, judging by the way she hadn't even bothered to try and just open the window.

"She's feral," Harry gasped, but Darwin didn't bother answering that. He started running and jumped out the same way Darla had. It wasn't easy dodging the shards of broken glass, but then he didn't try anyway. All the cuts would be healed before he'd be back at the house, and there definitely was no time to put on shoes.

As Darwin started running, he could hear screaming somewhere in the distance. It wasn't exactly a female voice screaming, it was more of a barking, high scream, and it didn't bode well for Darla. As Darwin ran into the outskirts of the pine dominated forest, he could see some bushes rustling, then a thin, young tree shook followed by another scream and the dull thud of flesh beaten by flesh.

The next scream was male, and it sounded outraged. Darwin ran in its direction, pumping his arms to gain more speed. It would be his fault if Rayne killed Darla, or, although improbable, Darla killed Rayne. Either way, it was a loss he didn't want to risk.

Darwin skidded to a halt when he reached the small clearing the fight was taking place. It was a sight to behold.

Both Darla and Rayne were fighting in what looked like the middle of their respective shifting, and both didn't look the least bothered with it. Maybe the pain of rearranging bones, joints and muscles was enough of a distraction to make them not feel the wounds they were ripping into each other.

The winter morning air was thick with the scent of pine resin, ice and firewood, burning cold as Darwin took deep, harsh breaths. It was too dark to see the ground in detail, but where the light from the rising sun hit the tree trunks, he could see spatter patterns of dark blood. It was still warm enough to steam slightly, which meant the fight he was seeing hadn't escalated. They weren't fighting to the death, at least not yet.

"Rayne!" he yelled, only to have to jump out of the way as the two half-furred shapes rolled closer. He stumbled into a lush, many-branched bush that scratched his back to all hell, and he had to fight a few moments before he managed to untangle himself from the plant.

Just as he got back to his feet, a heavy, sticky, furred shape hit him at chest height and toppled him over again. This time he hit his head at the base of a tree and made a pained sound that was nearly drowned out by the angered growl of whichever werewolf was now straddling him. God, he hoped it was Rayne. If Darla was truly feral and without instincts to prevent her from attacking submissives, this would be Darwin's last moment alive.

At the same time, his head started to hurt fiercely, and he made another high keening pain sound. It wasn't his usual reaction to such things, but more of an instinctual reaction to the growl above him. He wouldn't have made it anywhere near Carl, but being with Jared made him slip up more and more.

The wolf above him stilled, eying him warily. He-- or she?-- slowly lowered their head to sniff the air above Darwin's mouth, and he could feel the claws on his chest bore into his muscles a bit more. He didn't dare move, but he couldn't halt his rapid, fearful breathing, not even with the weight of a werewolf crouching on his chest.

One of the dark, furred ears twitched confusedly, but finally the wolf hopped off him and started to turn away.

In that moment the other wolf made their move and tackled the dark one to the ground. This one was colored the natural gray and brown of a timber wolf, and he didn't seem to have any problems with putting the other wolf into its place.

Within seconds, the dark wolf was lying on its back, struggling and gasping for air around the teeth of the other wolf that had grabbed its throat.

A pair of hands came out of nowhere, grabbed Darwin's arms and pulled him back to his feet. Jared's scent floated his senses just as the Alpha wrapped his arms around his chest and rubbed their cheeks together as if to scent-mark him. "You alright?" he murmured, but Darwin knew his eyes were on the conflict in front of them.

Jared would never have let him get killed. And he had been close. Darwin sighed a breath of relief. "Yeah, just a little bump to the head," he answered as muted as Jared, but he turned his eyes away. Rayne was winning, and those fights for dominance always made him queasy.

Harry was standing three feet away on the other side of the tree his head had hit, wringing his hands nervously. Darwin knew that Harry's pack was healthy and 'normal', for lack of a better word, so he probably wasn't worried about the outcome. It did mean, however, that Harry was worried for Rayne. Like someone in love would.

All of a sudden, Jared let him go and walked around him towards the wolves, leaving Darwin to stumble and brace against the tree. Darla had finally stopped struggling against Rayne, and he was just about to let her go. Jared crouched down three feet away from them, resting his elbow on his knee as he bent forward. He was probably scenting Darla to imprint her personal smell to his memory, but he kept enough distance not to panic her again. Right now she wasn't herself, more wolf than human, as a werewolf was bound to be on his or her first change.

"Can you manage alone, Rayne?" Jared then asked the other wolf, who was shaking the remains of aggression off with an indignant huff. He answered with a soft growl and a pointed look over to Harry.

Sighing, the Alpha got up again and turned. "Harry, please accompany them. Darla seems to have joined the ranks of dominants, and your presence will definitely calm her down," he said to the brown haired man, who perked up and nodded with a grin. He was definitely happy to oblige.

Accompanied by the sounds of another shape change, Jared walked back to Darwin and embraced him with a deep sigh. "That leaves us for guard and sleeping," he mumbled, pressing his face into the crook of Darwin's neck and inhaling his scent deeply. "Do you feel up for guard? I'm still pooped."

Darwin's heart gave a painful thud. It might not have looked like much, but Jared trusting a submissive to keep guard while he was sleeping was actually a very big deal. It proved he trusted him, and it proved he wouldn't treat Darwin like a kept trophy.

"Yes. I love you," he whispered. It was the right thing to say.

~*~

Keeping watch actually was quite exhausting, as Darwin found out. He walked in wide circles, keeping himself to the edge of the clearing around the cabin so he wouldn't get blinded by the rising sun, and stayed warm by jumping up and down, rubbing his arms and stretching his legs whenever the cold became too intense. Every rustle of leaves or crunch of pebbles caught his attention and made him look around nervously hoping it was nothing, because, honestly, what was he supposed to do if someone came and attacked him?

After three hours of not being allowed to read, to watch TV or to sit down and get warm he was more than happy to see the three wolves break out of the woods and trot towards their cabin. The sun had risen completely and it was getting a bit warmer with every hour, but the air still had a nip to it and carried the smoky smell of snow. If they stayed here too long, they would get snowed in. Darwin wasn't all too keen on being stuck in the mountains for the whole winter.

Walking around the house in Rayne's thick coat, he kept an eye on the dark brown wolf he had come to know as Darla. She looked happy and exhausted as she pranced around the other two wolves, snapping at grass and sticks and sniffing the ground. Darla the human probably wasn't aware of what really was happening, still locked inside herself with her emerging wolf-sister steering their shared body, because she sure as hell wouldn't have looked like a bouncing puppy if she were. Finding out you'd have to cope with wolf instincts and perpetual changes for the rest of your life was a horrible thing for someone not born as a werewolf, Darwin knew. Nobody coped well with that revelation.

He reached the front door at the same time as the three wolves, and of course Darla growled at him as he moved to open it. Freezing in mid-motion, he rolled his eyes and tried to keep his irritation out of his face as he waited for Darla to decide what she wanted. This was one of the reasons Darwin hated being a submissive. Having to wait for other people to do whatever the damn they pleased, and being unable to do anything about it.

It was Rayne who shortened their stand-off. Maybe he was cold too, but whatever the reason, he snapped at Darla's cheek and made her squeal and back off. "Thanks, it's getting too cold for that shit," Darwin grumbled relieved, and finished opening the door.

The wolves piled in, Darwin followed. He shouldn't have, he knew that much, but with three wolves having roamed the countryside for miles, there was no way anyone would be able to sneak up on them in the next fifteen minutes, and he was tired of walking around, hungry and in a bad mood.

Surprisingly, Jared was awake and preparing breakfast. The wolves crowded around his legs to rub themselves against him and licked his hands with happy little yips, and even Darla joined the happy reunion. They filled the room with the smell of dog breath and wet fur. It was a better scent than what would follow as soon as they changed back-- the smell of lymphatic fluid, wet bone and blood had its own throat tingling odor, and Darwin wasn't looking forward to it.

"Guys, maybe you could shift outside?" he suggested as soon as the group quieted down a bit, and Darla growled at him again. Her dislike for him was palpable, if unusual. Was her wolf remembering what he had done? Or maybe he hadn't lost all of his learned dominant behavior, and something on him provoked her? Darwin was at a loss for answers on this one.

As the group trotted out again, he left the door half open and walked over to Jared, who kept putting bread into the toaster and piling toasted slices on a plate. He felt better the minute he hugged his Alpha, and breathed in deeply.

"You haven't showered yet, you still smell like sex," Darwin mumbled with a hushed voice, and rubbed his cheek against his shoulder blades. "And you're awake. Were you checking up on me?"

Jared gave a deep growl of satisfaction, leaning back just enough to assure Darwin his touch was welcome. "Maybe. Would it be a bad thing if I worried about your safety?" He pulled out a few packages of hotel size butter, jam and peanut butter, then he reached down and grabbed one of Darwin's hands to kiss his palm.

The hot lips on his hand were distracting, and the warm breath wafting against his fingers made his cock throb with interest. It made it hard to remember the question, and even harder to get angry. "So I froze my ass off out there, and you were in here watching me the whole time?" he finally grumbled with a breathy note in his voice. Having managed to utter the words made him proud nevertheless.

Jared laughed, and the vibrations continued through Darwin's arms and chest and right into his libido. He probably would have said something in return, but just when he took his next breath, the door swung open again, and three naked people piled in.

Darla looked very, very pale and shocky, and she was clinging to Harry's arm with fierce resolve. Rayne stopped next to Jared, but the other two didn't slow down in any way, but hurried to their shared bedroom. Darla shut the door in Harry's face and left him staring at it with confusion. A few seconds later he turned around stark naked, and shrugged. "She wasn't good outside, but she was as okay as a person could be in this situation. I don't know what happened."

Three pairs of eyes turned to Darwin, and then hurriedly looked away. There was no way to know what they were feeling, but their thoughts were all too obvious: In their eyes, he was the reason for Darla's misery. And they were right. Totally, absolutely right.

Darwin frowned, then his expression hardened.

"Let's eat breakfast. Harry and I need to go shopping soon, if we're supposed to do it for all of us," he grumbled defensively, then grabbed the bread plate and turned away.

Rayne went to get clothed with Harry's eyes following his naked butt, then Harry wrestled his way into the room with Darla, only to emerge seconds later with a puzzled frown and a bunch of clothing in his arms. "She won't come out yet, it's too crowded for her," he proclaimed with a shrug.

"Or maybe she doesn't want to watch you get dressed," Jared replied with a grin, and sat down with the plate full of breakfast spreads in his hand. "But that's okay. It's Rayne's turn to get rest, and I'm her favorite person in this cabin. She'll be fine with just the two of us."

He looked totally relaxed as he prepared his first slice, like he couldn't care less about the goings-on around him. The sight irritated Darwin more than Darla's behavior. Why wasn't he stating the obvious? Why was everybody dancing around Darwin having bitten Darla, when it was screaming into their face like this? Maybe Jared thought Darwin couldn't take it. Maybe they all thought he was too sensitive and weak to be taken serious.

Or maybe he was overreacting.

There was too much going on to trust his own feelings right now. Sighing, Darwin sat down next to Jared, and hooked his ankles around his shin. It was all the contact he allowed himself for now, and even that he only did because there was no way he could sit next to his mate without having the naughtiest thoughts.

"We'll need shopping lists from both you and Rayne, and from Darla. Clothing sizes, food, toiletry, whatever you need, you write down. We'll handle the rest," he said with a voice much more euphoric than he felt. No need to darken the mood, he thought, it would happen soon enough, and everybody would finally speak their mind. It was inevitable.

Darwin wasn't sure if he was looking forward to that moment.