Oregon in the Fall - 18. Chapter Eighteen: Confluence

run. run. we run.

My paws thrummed against the forest floor in a rhythm as old as I can remember. And Dave matched it. He surged with a power that filled me with pride. Mine. Dave was mine.

The wind whipped his silver fur, carrying his scent to me—air. He was the air in my lungs. The sun, he was the sun. And spring, for there would always be spring when he was around. He ignited a joy within me.

‘This is… wow.’ His thought brushed against me, kind and silky. I liked his thoughts.

‘This? This is nothing,’ I thought back. ‘Wait until you really let loose.’

Moonlight dappled the clearing below, a perfect hunting ground. Every instinct screamed to charge forward, but I held back for him. This was his hunt.

‘Wait, wait!’ Dave’s thought was sharp, tinged with panic. ‘How do I… do this?’

‘Focus,’ I said, slowing my pace. ‘Ask your wolf. His hunger mirrors yours. Your senses will follow.’

He concentrated, the adorably human furrow appearing between his brows. ‘But, Grey… what if…’

‘What if you can’t kill?’ I finished for him. Oh, Dave. ‘Trust me, that doubt will vanish the moment you make the chase.’

‘But… what about after? How do I… eat?’

My heart ached for him. Dave, the man with boundless compassion, now wrestled with the wolf’s most primal need. ‘We’ll get to that,’ I reassured him. ‘For now, just run.’

He obeyed, lengthening his stride. We weren’t just predator and prey anymore—we were a pack, bound by blood and a bond deeper than either of us fully understood. Yet.

I spotted a hare up ahead. ‘What are you thinking?’ I asked him.

‘It’s… vulnerable. I’m vulnerable.’

‘Not here. Not now.’ My words were firm. ‘You are the hunter now.’

‘I can’t just kill it.’

‘Humans have grown distant from this truth,’ I countered. ‘Sheltered by supermarkets. Ask your wolf. Do you trust him?’

‘Yes.’ Finally, a flicker of determination.

He closed his eyes, focusing. Then, he lunged. Not with the hesitancy and clumsiness of a new pup, but with the precision of a seasoned hunter. I was in awe. Hares were swift, but Dave was faster. No cornering, no team effort—this kill was his alone. He was a blur of motion, and the hare never stood a chance.

I was instantly aroused by the sight of his savagery and cunning in front of me. Fuck. I pushed the thought away.

The snap of the hare’s neck was shockingly loud. I felt Dave’s surge of triumph… then the sharp edge of horror that followed. He dropped the hare, frozen.

‘No. What have I done…?’ His thought was a whimper.

‘It’s ok. This is what we are,’ I thought gently, nuzzling him. ‘You did well.’

‘It’s dead.’

‘That was quick. A mercy.’

‘I killed it.’ He sounded empty.

‘For food.’

I nudged the dead animal towards him.

‘Are you still hungry?’ I asked.

He hesitated for a moment, but then went to rip a large chunk of the animal’s side off. His snout was bloodied. He chewed, he swallowed. Then he looked at me, as if asking if I wasn’t going to join him. Pleading. Almost hurt I hadn’t touched the food he had caught for me.

I was proud. So proud. So I stilled my hunger as well, relishing in the snack that my mate had caught for me. The first of many.

The hunt made me hot. I was suddenly out of breath, when I shouldn’t have been. I shifted back to human and lay on my back on the forest floor, shedding away the sudden hot flashes I was getting. What?

Dave jumped on top of me, playfully growling, his snout against my face, breathing me in. He was big. He was heavy. He was so magnificent. He licked my neck, what the fuck. I shivered, shuddered, let out a gasp.

Dave’s form blurred, his snout receding into a human jaw. A chuckle bubbled up, half-snarl, half-laugh. Then he collapsed onto me, his body human again—solid and warm. His laughter vibrated through me, a wave of relief washing away the tension.

My insanely hard erection was apparent, and not just to me. We were so naked, so entangled. Dave didn’t fare any better. I felt our cocks touching, his hot skin against mine. Every minute movement could’ve sent me over the edge, so I tried not moving. I think I even forgot to breathe.

It was Dave who propped himself up and looked straight at me, a mischievous smile on his face. He licked his lips, then went to attack my neck with his tongue, savoring me. But then his hips started moving, slowly grinding against me… and I… I…

“Ahhh… oh god…” I said, stuttered, drawing in gasps. What was he doing to me?

He stopped. “How… are we clean?” he said.

“Wh… what?” Oh fuck, don’t stop now.

“We haven’t showered for like two days.”

“We shifted. It’s a thing.”

“Huh…” And then he attacked me again. He was on my mouth, his tongue violently entering me. And I let him. Of course I let him.

I thrust my hips upwards, my cock now producing so much precum that everything felt slick. Our bodies were moving in unison. I moaned into his mouth, and again—just as it was becoming too much to bear—he stopped.

“What you’re doing to me is unbearable…” I said.

He looked hurt. “What?”

“In the best way,” I growled, the words a rumble in my chest. My hands tightened on his shoulders, and with a swift, almost brutal twist, I spun us around. He stumbled, tumbled, landing on the floor with a surprised gasp. My grin was predatory. “My turn.”

I licked the side of his face, down his neck, and again up to his ear. I heard his reactions, I felt his shivers. I heard him in my head. I was driving him wild, and in turn, that drove me wild.

I attacked his ear lobe with my teeth, bit down. Not enough to draw blood, but enough to send a jolt through his body. I felt what he felt. This was an endless loop of electricity. Would it, could it ever stop?

I looked up at him. “You know. Just… I need you to know…”

“What?” he said, out of breath.

“There’s no human diseases anymore. We’re clean, ok?”

He nodded furiously. “I figured that. I mean, I healed from the brink of death to… this, you know?” he said, motioning to his body. His insanely hot body.

I laughed. No holding back. I worked my way down his chest. Oh, what the fuck. Back at the Lunar Haven, he was strong, he was sexy. But now? I heard him, felt his thoughts echo in my mind, the raw pull of his attraction to me. It was intoxicating, maddening. His body had changed so drastically, so quickly. That lean strength had always weirdly matched my own, but now… the werewolf’s power surged through him, rippling beneath his skin.

My tongue traced his right nipple, swirling around for a bit. Then I worked my way further down, slowly tracing the outline of his abs. His skin made a bristling sound when I touched it with my tongue, but maybe that was just in my head. Then again, he was a god, wasn’t he?

“You’re so magnificent, wolf man,” I said, looking up just after I had attacked his belly button with a kiss.

“Hey! That’s what I call you!” he said.

“Yeah. Sorry, not sorry.”

My mission was clear. Lower and lower. My nose touched the tip of his cock, his precum leaking seductively. He was huge, and my mouth watered at the thought. I went all in, taking him in whole, not giving a fuck about how he would react. I tasted his saltiness, felt him twitch inside me.

“Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” Exactly the kind of reaction I was going for.

I pulled him out of my mouth, laughing. “You alright there, buddy?”

“Just… you know. Trying not to blow my load.”

“You have so much to learn about being a wolf,” I said, chuckling. If he only knew. But at that moment, I noticed how… bright he was. Almost otherworldly. I was kneeling between his legs, and the spot where our skin touched was even brighter. Golden. Shimmering. Just like the time we were in the shower. The light scattered beneath the outer layer of his skin, yet it was pulsing with a rhythm. Our rhythm.

“What are you looking at?” he said.

“You. Always you,” I replied. I shimmied closer to him, grabbing both his and my cock and encircling them with my hand as much as I could. They were slippery, making the most alluring sound as I slowly stroked up and down.

It drove him wild again, which was of course my intention. But I didn’t fare any better myself. I had to focus so much on not just exploding all over him, but then again… if he only knew that we could go at it again and again and again. Wolf things.

I wanted this to last. I needed this to last.

mate.

Give me time.

no forget!

As if I would…

Dave was squirming below me, his abs rippling and relaxing as he shuddered and tried so hard not to plaster the forest with his seed.

All of this was perfect. But we weren’t there yet. I needed him. I needed to be inside him.

yes.

I let go of our cocks, Dave’s massive member plopping onto his stomach with a hard thud. He looked up at me, being pulled from the trance of not knowing where his head was. His eyes were pleading. So much.

I leaned down, and kissed him. Probing his mouth, suffocating his moans with my own. I reached behind his back and pulled him closer to me, never dropping the connection our mouth’s made. In this lock, I stood up swiftly, carrying Dave in front of me. He instinctively wrapped his legs around my waist.

Stumbling forward, I slammed our entangled unity against a tree. He growled into my mouth. Oh god, this man was driving me insane. Dave shuffled his ass around, trying to find my cock and align it with his entrance. I didn’t have to ask. But I did. “Are you sure?” I said, looking into his eyes.

“Are you seriously asking? Fuck me. Please fuck me,” he pleaded.

Yup.

I pushed against his sphincter, my cock so slick with precum that I was able to enter him easily. Too easily. His ass was begging to let me in. Dave pushed out, ready to suck me in whole. I was slow, but steady. “Harder. More, oh god, Grey, more,” Dave said. I growled at him. If I had seen my own eyes, I’m sure they must’ve burned with a fiery red. He asked for it, so I slammed him down on my cock, fully engulfing it.

I let out a gasp, savoring this moment between us. Dave looked at me with hunger in his eyes. He clearly didn’t agree with stopping right now, as he began riding me, so I met his pace, accompanying each bounce with a thrust upward.

bite.

My wolf was encouraging me to take Dave, claim him for us forever. I kissed him just as furiously as before. Just as I was about to comply with my wolf’s demand, Dave let out a scream. His own fangs shot out, and he drew blood from me. I never broke the kiss. There was no stopping me now. His eyes were blazingly golden, mixed with black. My mouth flew open, my fangs extended. I bit down on his neck, never losing the pace of fucking into him. Harder, ever harder.

I tasted the tangy sweetness of his blood on my tongue, marking him forever as mine. The moment lasted a lifetime, but the sweet release couldn’t come soon enough. With one final brutal thrust, I came and filled Dave with my cum. Wave after wave left me and entered him. I threw my head back and growled so loudly, exposing myself for him in the process. He knew what to do. He bit down on my neck, just as I had bitten down on his. It didn’t hurt. Of course it didn’t.

ours. ours. ours.

Dave came between us, and he wouldn’t stop cumming. I felt his hot seed coating our muscles. He let go of my neck and took his hand to his mouth, feeling his teeth.

“What the fuck,” he said, “What… did we just do?” He didn’t seem startled or horrified though, because he was smiling and started to laugh. I smiled at him mischievously, and shrugged. Now was the perfect time for him to dismount me, so I placed him back on his own two feet in front of me.

“Your taste… your blood,” Dave said.

“Good, eh?”

“You have no idea.”

“In fact, I do. Because you taste amazing, too.”

“I don’t get it. We haven’t even dated, Grey. Yet I feel like I’ve known you for a lifetime already. All my thoughts are about you all the time. I can hear you in my head!”

“Yeah. I don’t know. This goes beyond what mated couples describe. Certainly not the telepathy.”

“And why am I not cold?”

“Wolf things again. You’ll get used to it,” I said back, smiling. I’m sure he also hadn’t noticed how our wounds had already closed. This time however, the marks remained. Forever.

“You do realize we’re standing here in a forest, leaves stuck to our back, and your cum is literally running out of me.”

“Yup. I claimed you.”

“Macho.”

“You like it.”

“I do,” he said, cheekily.

He looked around us, then said, “I’m not ready to go back to my sister and smell like cum.”

“Pay attention. We’ll just shift. It has a cleaning effect.”

“Like a self-cleaning sink.”

“What?”

“You know those sinks that repel water and don’t get dirty?”

“I think the way this works is distinctly different, Dave.”

He chuckled and quickly shifted into his wolf. I yipped, did the same and ran after him.

‘Can you find back?’ I asked him.

‘I think so.’

He was again rushing through the forest with the elegance and agility of a seasoned hunter.

‘I really like you, Dave.’

‘I like you, too. Way too much to bear.’

We reached the flicker of our campfire, Clara and Chronos seated across from each other, their voices hushed in the deepening night.

“And that’s when we left Europe,” Clara was saying. “Strange times, but nowhere near as strange as…” Her voice trailed off as their gazes snapped towards us, the approaching wolves.

I shifted back to human form. Dave followed suit, a hint of a smirk on his face.

“They’re mated now,” Chronos said, matter-of-factly.

A proud wolf likes to boast. “We also ate a hare. Dave caught it for me,” I said, silently acknowledging Chronos’ statement just now.

“Mated?” Clara asked. Then it dawned on her. “Oh…”

“I’m gonna grab some clothes,” Dave said, blushing, and reached for his backpack. I did the same. Was I running out soon?

We settled back near the campfire, the crackle of the flames a soothing counterpoint to the pounding of my heart, which beat for Dave. Obviously. Clara’s eyes flickered between Dave and me, a grin fighting its way onto her face. It wasn’t the judging stare I’d expected—more of a playful amusement.

“Well…” she began, “that explains a few things.”

“Like what?” Dave shifted nervously, the blush now visible even in the dim firelight.

I cleared my throat. “We can reach my pack within a half day’s hike. If we set out early tomorrow…”

“Hold on,” Chronos interrupted, his usual stoicism replaced by a frown. “First, there’s the matter of the curse to discuss.”

He went on, describing Theodore’s thirst for power, his reckless tampering with the balance of the Constructs. “His meddling manifested itself here, in this place where he reached for Wepwawet’s might. Or Grey, as you call yourself. It is a place where space folds in on itself, where truth and lies intermingle, where the Constructs’ laws begin to warp…”

He detailed a realm devoid of sorrow or happiness, where justice was meaningless, where reality frayed, and time twisted into knots.

“But why those things?” Clara asked. “What’s so special about them?”

Chronos’ gaze settled on the fire. “They are the things we Constructs oversee. Happiness, justice, the fabric of reality, the passage of time… It’s where our power is rooted.”

I didn’t get it. But I was tired, thinking I could ask more questions tomorrow.

“We should all get some rest,” I said finally.

Chronos shook his head. “I do not sleep.”

“Well, we do,” Clara said.

Dave and I didn’t argue. He shifted, his wolf form a comforting presence. We curled together in the soft dirt, the shared warmth chasing away the shadows.

Clara, muttering under her breath, summoned magic to her fingers. Branches twisted and wove together, forming a makeshift hut, glowing faintly blue with a protective energy.

Sleep would be restless tonight, I knew, but at least I wasn’t alone.

I was going to meet my family again. My brother. My dad. My mom. The rest of my pack.

But now I had Dave, the rest didn’t matter. And with that, I surrendered to the darkness, a wave of peace carrying me away.