Unwilling - 13. Family Issues

Darwin

A sea of blood filled the small room, splashing first against the trim seaming the edges of the wooden floor, then up against the wall sockets and licking against the frame of the bed and in a glimpse swallowing even that. Then suddenly the room fell away, unveiling an ink-black, endless sky. Gasping for air, Darwin treaded the thick, luke-warm liquid to keep himself afloat, retching at the sticky, satiny feel of liquid life against his body. Black sky, black, bloody sea, nothing as far as the eye could see. He was drowning, he knew it, but that didn't make giving up any easier. Giving up was never easy.

"... no, he isn't. And you standing in my way doesn't-"

Darwin knew that voice, but he hadn't expected to hear it ever again. Something brushed against his leg, a wet, slippery touch that made him squeak and swim harder, towards that voice, towards that faint knowledge of safety. Each breath through his mouth brought another sickly wave of that rich taste of meat with it, making him spit and retch.

"Last warning. He is mine!"

A thunderclap echoed over the vast sea, followed by a sharp, painfully bright lightning flash. A tiny rowboat suddenly bobbed on the thick waves, looking forlorn and foreboding and dry as old driftwood. Darwin grabbed the rim and pulled himself inside with a groan and shivering muscles, swallowing against the rocking motion. Waves lapped softly against the wooden sides, low, dry, drum beats in the pitch black. The boat was warm, so warm,-- too warm.

Darwin awoke with a jolt and a scream, instinctively slapping the arms holding him. His wolf snarled through his head, hovering just below his skin, ready to burst out at the blink of an eye. His attacker grunted, tightened his grip to the point of pain and buried Darwin's face in a soft shirt and against a taut chest. Darwin took one deep breath, initially to scream again, but the scent filling his nose stopped him mid-gasp. Then he threw his arms around that muscular, hard chest and sobbed. Jared's scent. It wafted though Darwin's brain like a lifeline, driving away the last, dark tendrils of whatever nightmare he had been stuck in. The wolf retreated but hovered in the background, as wary as Darwin felt disjointed.

"Shh. I'm here, I'm alive. Calm down." Jared's throat sounded sore. It was the most beautiful sound Darwin had ever heard. He tried to say something but whatever words he tried to utter came out as a jumbled, snot-riddled mess, soaking Jared's shirt and rubbing his throat raw. Jared just hugged him tighter and crawled onto the bed with him, pulling him against his body and bathing him in the scent of home. And pain. Jared stunk of it, and of blood. And death. His wolf didn't like it, but trying to melt into Jared met his approval. Darwin dug his hands into that soft shirt, just to be sure he was really there, really alive, and even then he kept his head pressed against Jared's chest to listen to his heartbeat. Images of Jared's gored neck, the blood on Darwin's grasping fingers, those wet, raspy gasps for air, tried to come back, but Darwin drove them away by clutching tighter and tighter to that shirt. Only Jared's pained grunt made him let up.

"Am I hurting you?" Darwin croaked, sniveling through snot and swollen eyes.

A huff of hot breath rustled through his hair but Jared didn't answer, just jerked his head to the sides. Not a denial, but a clear enough invitation to keep hugging him like this, no matter the pain it caused. His fingers left hot little dents on Darwin's back, digging in and then easing up again, dancing to the tune of whatever emotions had struck him silent. Whatever drugs had taken Darwin down and into that scary blood-sea still cursed through his body, slowing down the world and leaving a faintly metallic taste on his dry tongue. Still, that scent and Jared's body heat, his oh so low sniffling, felt like a soothing blanket for his mind. The rush of love coursing through Darwin was almost too much, almost too strong, just this side from torture. Remnants of fear bristled every hair on his body, made him want to run. But he couldn't, didn't want to leave again, risk losing Jared again. So many questions danced through his head, so many truths he wanted to ask about and didn't want answered at the same time, it was choking him. What could he say? What should he say?

No confession, no profession of deep, profound realizations could ever measure up to that turmoil inside him. The tension was killing them both and it had to go. With that realization, Darwin knew exactly what to say.

"You're crying, aren't you. How un-manly."

"No I'm not. And fuck you for scaring me," Jared mumbled, congested and teary as he fought back a laugh and held Darwin tighter. Darwin's wolf forced a happy grunt out of his lips and finally relaxed a little.

Someone was thumping against the door, muttering curses at Jared for locking it, demanding to be let in, proclaiming the danger of being alone in there, alone with 'him'. The words didn't make much sense to Darwin's spinning mind. It was such an easy thing not to pay attention to that beating and hollering, to wrap himself in Jared's scent and voice and warmth instead, to listen to his heartbeat and to the soft, woolen creak of the bandages tensing against their own layers whenever Jared readjusted himself. His mate was here, his Alpha, he would take care of everything. No need for vigilance.

"Go away," Jared barked hoarsely towards the door, then buried his face in Darwin's hair, huffing warm air against his scalp. "They've been keeping me at bay for three days, saying you'd gone feral. That you'd attack me because I smell like prey, with the wounds and all. That you wouldn't know it was me you attacked if I went in here," he grumbled and giggled softly. "At first I let them, mostly because I was too weak to come here on my own, but then I decided that this was stupid and they don't know you as well as I do. And that I'd rather be mauled by you than stay away any longer."

Darwin kept quiet as he examined the words in his mind. His wolf didn't pay much attention to them, happy to stay in the now, in that cloud of happiness in Jared's proximity.

His wolf. Wait, my wolf?

Darwin tensed and shuddered, closed his eyes more tightly and tried to remember how to breathe. His wolf was there, right there, aware and connected but way too close, too big. How hadn't he become aware of its proximity sooner?

Jared rubbed his back, sending tingles through his tense flesh. "Shh, breathe. Everything is alright. Think calm, breathe calm, or you'll shift again. Like that, yes."

Each breath burned through his throat, ballooning his lung too forcefully and hissing out in a huff. Listening and acting accordingly felt like a monumental task, tiring and useless, but the longer he did it, the less his skin tingled. Even the sharp pains in his gums receded and the blood pounding in his ears lessened. When all he could hear was his own pitiful breathing, Darwin closed his eyes and ground his teeth.

"Guess they're right about the feral thing," he said with a voice that still wasn't quite his own.

Jared relaxed his hold on Darwin and rubbed his back, shrugging awkwardly. "I don't care. If you go all feral, I'll buy a dog bed big enough for both of us. We could move deep into the mountains, just you and me. Be done with all this drama and just live our lives. I won't let you down again, I simply won't."

Something dark and fearful bubbled up from the depths of Darwin's memory and he tensed. He spoke before he was sure he wanted to know the answer. "Even though I deserted you?"

"Even though."

Something broke inside Darwin's chest and suddenly he was crying again, clutching and clawing at Jared's shirt as he sobbed loudly through the void the fear left in his chest. The last tendrils of darkness fled his body with those sounds, hurting his head just as his heart stopped aching. And all through his breakdown, Jared held him, soothed him and kept his mouth shut. Even the hammering on the door stopped, finally leaving them to themselves.

After a while, the urge to shift disappeared completely and Darwin realized how wet Jared's shirt had gotten. He slowly pulled away, patting the dark patches awkwardly as he blinked his swollen eyes. "Sorry about that," he muttered, sniffling.

"Don't worry about it," Jared murmured, rubbing endless circles on his back. "How much do you remember?"

Darwin winced and his heartbeat sped up. "You dying. Me shooting Carl." Strangely, the thought of Carl did nothing to him, now that he was dead. The memory of Jared's pale-blue face and the gushing wound still threatened to make him sick, though.

Jared nodded. "That was three days ago. They tranqed you like a rabid dog and pulled you off me because you wouldn't let their medic take over and kept screaming at everyone. Then you shifted and went a little berserk, but luckily that was when the tranq kicked in. At least that's what they told me when I asked them why the hell I couldn't see you. I still think they overreacted, but what can you do? It's done now. Margo had us all taken to her pack house- much more impressive than the roadhouse, by the way- and put you in lockdown. Then they patched me up and--"

A knock on the door interrupted Jared's tale. It was a much more polite knock than before and it stopped both of them in their tracks. "Who is it?" Jared called, narrowing his eyes at the offending door.

"George and Mary. Can we come in?"

Darwin was off the bed and at the door in a blink. "Dad!" He ripped open the door and all but fell into George's lap, ignoring Mary's shocked squeak. "You're here!"

George gasped, then patted Darwin's back awkwardly. "Of course. Where else would I be? My son is hurt, they'd have to use a forklift to keep me away."

"I threatened to do just that yesterday," Mary snarked and proceeded to roll them into the tiny room. "Good to see you're somewhat sane again, boyo." A short pause, then she offered Jared a curt nod, followed by an icy, "Jared."

Darwin frowned and carefully slipped off his father's lap. Jared was staring at all three of them, his eyes hooded and his face carefully blank. George didn't spare him a single glance and Mary was glowering daggers, if only out of the corner of her eye. Something was off, and in a bad, bad way. Darwin's wolf stiffened at the sheer tension in the room, hackles rising. "Guys? What happened while I was out?"

Jared got up and patted Darwin's shoulder. "Leave it be for now, they just got you back. I'll be upstairs."

Darwin stared at Jared's retreating back until the door fell shut, then he knitted his brows at his family. "Okay, what's going on?"

George didn't hesitate. "When you told me that you found a boyfriend, I pictured someone nice and responsible and trustworthy. And what did I find instead? A self-centered, glib little frat-boy with no respect for anyone or anything! Did he tell you that he fought with Margo and almost got kicked out? Or that he punched Graham when he asked if Margo would be willing to do a burial ceremony for Carl?"

"Please George, calm down," Mary implored, kneading his shoulders as he started to gasp for air. Her eyes found Darwin, silently blaming him as she tried to loosen his tense muscles. "I'm sure Darwin had no idea Jared could be like that. You know he's a good boy, he would never fall for someone's looks alone."

Darwin swallowed and sat down. The tightness in his chest was back, as was the vertigo. His cells thrummed beneath the low growl of his wolf, that universal warning to back off or else. This was not going like he had imagined it would. Rather, it was almost opposite of what he had hoped for and nowhere close to what he needed right now, unstable as he felt. After all, George and Mary were the most important people in his life after Jared. But were they still? As things were going, chances were high that his father would tell him to leave Jared, but could he? He tried to imagine his life without Jared. Without his scent, or his rumbling voice. Without that feeling of utter security and bliss. The growling in his head changed to a high, anxious whining.

Unthinkable.

But could he live without his family? Could he really hurt his father like that, dismiss him and risk never seeing him again? No more Friday dinners, no more phone calls, no more hot cocoa in front of the fireplace,... It was just as unthinkable.

George had gotten his breath back under control, but he wouldn't let up. "Seriously, boy! What were you thinking?"

Shivering, Darwin looked down at his white-knuckled fists. The skin was boiling, moving, about to sprout a pelt that had no place on a human body. This felt so unreal, so utterly contrary to his expectations, it was almost physical pain. "I was thinking that he's my mate and I love him," he whispered.

George snapped. "He killed Carl!" he yelled, surging forward. His broken body tumbled to the ground and Mary shrieked, jumping to his aid and shoving Darwin out of the way.

"Look what you did! You know what the doctors said! How could you upset him like that!" she screamed and grabbed George to pull him off the ground. "George? George! Are you okay?"

It was too much. With a torn snarl, Darwin turned and fled.

 

#

Darwin stumbled out of the room and into a darkened, deserted hallway. His whole body was itching, tingling, caught between shifting shape and exhaustion. He had no idea where he was or where he should go, but the steps to his right seemed like a better choice than the even darker left side of corridor. As long as he got away from that room and the terror it held, anywhere else was fine with him.

The stairs blurred before his eyes and not just because of the soft crackling of changing bone in his eye sockets. He hadn't thought there were any tears left after his breakdown, but here he was, stumbling up the staircase and barely swallowing the sobs threatening to pour out of him. His mind kept going in circles, taunting him with the demand to choose; father or mate, father or mate, it whispered cruelly. There was no way to run from his own thoughts, but Darwin did his damnedest to try, at least try.

He burst through the door at the top of the stairs, trying to blink away the tears as he ran forward blindly, smacked against a table and spun off to one side, fumbling for something to catch himself on. His fingers found a chair and he leaned onto it, scraping its legs across the floor as he fought for balance, coughing out a half-snarled sob.

"Whoa, Darwin," a familiar, female voice called, then a hand caught his arm and pulled him upright. "What happened? What's wrong?"

Darla, of all people. It didn't matter. Nothing she did could ever hurt as much as the impossibility his father had imposed on him. And if she hit him, it was still better than facing all of... this. Darwin grabbed her, hugged her like a drowning man, and bawled against her neck with a voice that wasn't quite his own. If she was surprised by his sudden clingyness or alarmed by the signs of him losing control and shifting, she didn't let it on. Instead, she hugged him back and more or less dragged him until he felt something pushing against his calves and sank onto a still warm couch.

When had be become such a crybaby? Why couldn't he stop, pull himself together? Voices talked in the background, too low for him to understand what they were saying over the sound of his own bawling, but someone moved away and a little while later, another pair of hands pulled him away from Darla. It was only then that Darwin realized that the crackling and tingling had stopped, that his skin had stopped boiling, and that all the noises in the room were those of him crying and nothing else. Somewhere along his breakdown, the change had stopped in its tracks.

"Jesus, Darwin, what's wrong?" Harry asked and pulled him closer until Darwin's head landed on his lap. That felt better, good enough to slow down the tears into whimpering hiccups. He still didn't have a clue why he couldn't stop crying, how he had actually stopped himself from shifting, or what to say. What wasn't wrong with his life?

Still, he tried to answer. There was a lot of sobbing and clutching Harry's shirt, misunderstandings and confused inquiries, but after a while, they got it. And them understanding why Darwin was this distraught helped him finally calm down all the way.

The couch moved a little as someone readjusted themselves. Darla was the first to break the silence, if only to talk over Darwin's head. "I get it."

"I don't," Harry growled. "That's the cruelest thing I ever heard, telling your son he has to leave his mate. Who does that!" Combing his fingers through Darwin's hair, he looked down at him. "Are you sure you understood him right? That doesn't sound like your father at all."

A hand touched Darwin's shin and petted it. Darla kept talking, ignoring Harry. "He's responsible for what happened to Darwin, you know? At least he feels like it. In his eyes, he let it happen. In his eyes, nothing is as it was supposed to be. The person he trusted- an Alpha- used his power for evil and he didn't do anything against it. And now another Alpha is after Darwin. What is he supposed to think when he couldn't even trust his own with his son?"

"That's stupid," Darwin mumbled, burying his face into Harry's shirt. His his throat felt raw, but at least he sounded more like himself again. "He's in a wheelchair. He would have been no match for Carl. That's why I didn't tell him in the first place, he would have gotten himself killed!"

Darla's hand kneaded his leg as if to take the sting out of her words. As unusual as her sensitive behavior was, Darwin appreciated it. "That's the point. You are a submissive. He's a dominant. You patronized him and risked your life in the process and you're not supposed to do that. He is supposed to protect you, not the other way around, no matter his physical condition. It's instinct and you know that. Shielding him from everything was okay as long as your family thought you were dominant, but a submissive protecting a dominant? That must be a horrible position to find yourself in. It had to hurt when he found out what happened. And then you were saved by a stranger who is now in the process of taking you away from him and there's nothing he can do against it, except scream at you and forbid it. You took his balls, just like you took my freedom."

Darwin flinched. As calm as Darla sounded, her words burned him more surely than a physical punch. He tried to say something, deny her allegations, he even opened his mouth to tell her to fuck off, but no sound passed his lips. What if she was right? No, she probably was right, at least a little. Didn't matter. "I had no other choice!" he whined, still buried against Harry. "He couldn't have helped. He has to know that!"

The sound of blood rushing through his veins filled the following silence. The rubbing on his back and the massage on his leg went on, pulling the last shreds of energy out of him until he felt more like an empty shell than a person. Maybe Darla was right. Maybe his father would never accept Jared, because Darwin had fucked up. But there had to be some way out of this, some way around losing everything he had. He just couldn't think of it. Not yet.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"Well," Darla huffed and shoved his legs from her lap as she stood up. "Give the man back his balls."

 

Jared

Jared found Margo in the spacious kitchen, fiddling around with the coffeemaker, her face scrunched up in concentration. She glanced at him, huffed and pushed a few buttons. "I hate these modern things. They never work like they're supposed to and those horrible little tabs cost a fortune," she muttered. Scratching her head, she straightened and abandoned the machine to look at Jared. "Why the long face? I thought your boy found his sanity again. At least that's what I surmised from Rich whining about you forcing your way into Darwin's cell."

The exit on the other side of the kitchen suddenly looked very tempting. "He did. His father's with him right now," Jared said and slumped against the fridge. He felt positively pouty, now that Darwin was alright.

Margo smirked. "Ah."

Jared clenched his teeth, trying his best to keep his voice calm. "What? I didn't do anything to George, except exist. He hated me from the moment he met me, how is that my fault?"

"I didn't say anything," Margo retorted, turned around and smacked the coffeemaker. It clicked, hissed and started up. "Ha, gotcha!" She grinned and shoved a cup beneath the spigot. The scent of fresh coffee flooded the kitchen as the machine gurgled and worked its magic.

Jared settled on watching the dark drops dribble into the cup. "Then do say something, because I'm on my last rope here."

Margo snorted, poking him out of the way as she got milk out of the fridge. "Nope. I'm not your Yoda and I'm too much of a redneck to play fairy godmother. Deal with your own shit."

Jared tensed. White-hot rage shot through him. The emotion came on so suddenly, he instinctively reined it in and gnashed his teeth, more out of surprise than out of respect for her. Still, he couldn't hold back the words. "Oh, so it was okay to deal with my shit before, but not anymore? You had no qualms taking over at the cabins and you've been ordering me around for the last three days, but suddenly it's my problem?"

At the Alpha's searing glance he clicked his mouth shut halfway through the rant. It had been simmering in his mind ever since he had woken up on a bed in the medical room, half dead and helpless. In the following silence, Margo added some milk to her coffee, put the carton away and took a sip. Then she sighed, leaned her butt against the kitchen counter and inspected Jared's face. "This is what you don't seem to get, Jared. It's always been your problem, I just tried to keep Darwin safe like I'm supposed to. I ordered you around because you're in my home and I won't let you put doubts into the minds of my people about who's in charge around here. That doesn't mean I'm willing to play nanny for you any more than I have to. I'm willing to take care of Darwin since he's a submissive, but you are stretching your welcome thin."

Take care of Darwin? Give Darwin up, leave him here? The thought alone drove a shudder through Jared's body and sent his heart racing. Jared balled his fists, snarling at Margo as he paced up and down the kitchen. The need to hurt her was almost overwhelming, breathtaking, painful. "You'd better watch what you're saying, Margo. I will not leave him with you!"

Margo lifted a brow. "You must have had the shittiest of all upbringings if you actually believe I'd take your mate from you just because I could."

Jared stopped pacing. He took a deep, forceful breath and examined Margo, trying to still his twitching arms. He wanted to believe her, he really did, but all his experiences contradicted her words and her expression. After all, his brother would have done exactly that. Hell, even his uncle would have, just to prove his superiority. To prove who was in control.

His lips twitched into something resembling a faint smile. "Not shitty, just... crowded. Very crowded. Both my brother and uncle are Alphas too." Okay, so it wasn't a real apology for bitching at her like that, but it was close enough.

Eyes widening, Margo guffawed. "Holy smokes, that must have been fun. No wonder you're so skittish." She paused, then frowned. "Actually, that explains a lot of things."

"Like what?"

"Like why you have no idea what a real Alpha can do, for example. Every normal wolf experiences the powers of a true Alpha all through his life. Even, well, normal Alphas are taught by their pack's leader, we don't live forever after all. But with you it's different. Your Alpha brother is older than you I assume?" Jared nodded and Margo continued. "Now I get why you don't seem to know anything at all. If I had a rival in my own house, sitting at my table, eating my food and constantly threatening my own reign, I probably wouldn't teach him how to become even more powerful either. I'd try to get rid of you as quickly as possible."

Which was exactly what had happened to Jared. Awkward. How was he supposed to react to something like that? Sure, he had kind of sensed that something wasn't right with him, noticed Hector's pondering glances or the way Margo strict-mothered him, but to believe and to know were two different things. And to think that all this time, Tobias had concealed knowledge from him, that his own brother had known that Jared had found a new pack and wouldn't come back and still he hadn't confessed to leaving him high and dry?

The familiar rage came and went and left nothing but a faint, bitter taste on Jared's tongue. Just one more indignity in a sea of indignities. He shuffled, stepped back and crossed his arms. "Fine, now that we've established that I'm a whelp, could you pretty please help me out and tell me what I'm supposed to do about Darwin's family?"

Margo sipped her coffee, licked foam from her lips and grinned. "Nope. Still not Yoda. Deal with your family on your own."

Huffing, Jared left the kitchen.

 

#

Jared surprisingly found Darwin in the living room instead of the cellar. The scene couldn't have been any more peculiar or unsettling; amidst the stench of despair and tears, Darwin lay on the couch, all puffy-eyed, propped up by both Harry and Darla. Even Graham was there, leaning against the dinner table. He turned his attention away from Darla as Jared stepped in, watching him with a slightly worried expression. Harry taking care of Darwin wasn't out of the ordinary, but seeing Darla lay her hands on Darwin in a friendly manner felt eerily like Freaky Friday.

"What the hell happened? I was gone no more than ten minutes!" he asked exasperatedly, moved in and picked Darwin off of Harry's lap. He cradled him in his arms and glowered at the room. "Where's George?" Holding his mate brought a wave of relief over him and he clutched Darwin closer. Darwin wrapped his arms around Jared's neck and huffed hot breath against the skin above his pulse. Even exhausted and torn like this, nothing, nobody else, smelled this good to Jared. Safe, like home.

"Well," Harry began, squirming on the couch.

Darla beat him to it. "His father decided to forbid him to be with you. He thinks you're not worthy of him."

"Darla-," Graham interjected, stepping forward to lay a hand on her shoulder in a way too intimate gesture. She shrugged him off. "What? It's the truth. And we all know how this will end, too." A pause, then, "Badly. It will end badly."

Not worthy. The words could have come directly from his brother. Not worthy of being called an Alpha. Not worthy of learning the ropes. Not worthy of becoming something more than a flighty jock. Too dangerous, a bad influence, good-for-nothing. The words breathed through Jared, tightened around his heart and then faded. The weight in his arms was real, as was the breath against his neck. Someone thought he was worthy of this. Someone had bet their life on him becoming something more. Darwin's scent wafted up and even the stench of heartbreak couldn't keep Jared's body from reacting, from pumping blood into his cock.

He smiled. "I see. Excuse us, I have to have a talk with my mate. And thank you for taking care of him."

He turned away from their surprised faces and started walking, swiftly carrying Darwin up the stairs and past a few of Margo's pack members. The door to his guest bedroom slammed shut behind him as he shouldered his way through. The loud bang reverberated through the building and Margo called out in protest somewhere in the house. Jared didn't care. He carefully draped Darwin on the bed and crawled in next to him, sidling against his back and drawing him into his arms.

Darwin wiggled until every last inch of his body was pressed against Jared, then sighed. He sounded congested and shivery, but his body relaxed in Jared's embrace. Silence built until the sounds of their beating hearts and their soft breaths was all that was left.

"My father hates you," Darwin finally mumbled, breaking the quiet.

Jared sighed and buried his face in Darwin's hair, sucking in lungfuls of that enticing, hypnotizing scent. "I know. But I can't bring myself to care right now."

"But you should, you know? He's my father, my family, and I want you two to get along." The pliant body in his arms wiggled a little, brushing a pert ass against Jared's already confused crotch. His cock followed the call and plumped up further, straining against his jeans. Jared gnashed his teeth and hid his grin in Darwin's tresses.

"That's what everyone keeps telling me, but I sure as shit don't get what I did wrong or why George despises me so much." Jared found the hem of Darwin's shirt and flipped it out of the way, sneaking his fingers under the warm cotton. Darwin's skin felt like hot satin, tightening beneath the small touches. The idea of forgetting everything and getting lost in the utter joy of touching him fought for purchase in Jared's mind. And why not? They didn't have to run anymore, their enemy was dead, and all that was left to do was plan how to best return home to Banes. If they wanted to.

Darwin sighed, stretching restlessly beneath the small circles Jared drew on his belly. "Darla says it's because you don't treat him like a dominant. I'm not sure I trust her, though. She may just be trying to stir up more conflict, get you to rough up a wheelchair-bound senior and all that."

Jared stopped his caresses, pulling up his brows in surprise. Beat up George, the renitent, snarky dominant who provoked him constantly? Now there was an idea. But beating up George, the quadriplegic father of his mate? Not so much. Jared made a face and buried his nose in Darwin's hair. His fingers took up their movement again. "Yeah, no, I don't think I could lay a finger on your dad. He's... fragile."

"That's the problem, if you believe Darla," Darwin said and snorted sarcastically. "She says, since nobody treats him like the dominant he is, legs or no legs, he acts up. And that you have to treat him like a man to make him see reason. Stupid, right?"

Actually, no. Jared blinked and pulled Darwin closer, shoving his hand deeper into his shirt and petting his sternum. Come to think of it, if Jared ever ended up in a wheelchair, he would be furious if someone treated him like a dainty flower. Sure, he couldn't ask George to take a hike up a mountain and beating him up was still a very bad idea, but was it right to decide that for him? Shouldn't he treat George like any other dominant and give him the choice to back down? Now there was an idea.

"I think I know how to fix this and not break your heart. But right now, you are more important to me than your father and we didn't have a chance to reunite properly before," he whispered, tracing his fingers down Darwin's front. The soft hisses and the way Darwin squirmed and wiggled made him hot with anticipation. Slowly, ever so slowly, he worked his way down to Darwin's crotch, humming when he found hardness there to rival his own. The feel of Darwin's hot bulge beneath his hand sped up Jared's own pulse and he grabbed the waistband of Darwin's pants hard, gasping as he rubbed himself against his ass. He strained to find his voice and when he did, he couldn't do more than rasp. "Talk later, sex now?"

Darwin's hand joined his and he pried open the button of his pants, opening an easier path down to his cock. Jared groaned, tearing one-handed at Darwin's pants as he forced the zipper down, then switched to the small of his back to pull at the denim and bare that wiggling ass. The soft skin beneath his fingers, the hot friction of naked skin against the bulge in his pants, was sweet, utter, torture.

Jared tugged at his own pants, ripping them open and pushing them down until his cock sprang free and slapped against that warm ass pushing back against him. The warmth and the soft hairs tickling against his sensitive length tore a deep groan out of him and tightened his fingers around Darwin's length, which in turn added another rumbling moan to the echo in the small room. Skin against skin, Jared felt the soft, nervous twitch of that tight, wrinkled muscle against the underside of his cock. The thought of how soon he would be buried inside that tight orifice drew drops of pre-come out of his tip and the sensation of his corona rubbing against the wetness he left on Darwin's ass drew up his balls.

"There's lube in the nightstand. You better get it before I go all over your ass," Jared hissed, kneading Darwin's thigh as he fought for control. Mine, his wolf whispered, gleefully spurring him on to claim the body of his mate. His instinct didn't understand the finer points of gay sex.

Darwin wiggled and huffed as he half-rolled, stretched and fumbled the drawer open. The soft 'snick' of the lube tube cut through the heavy atmosphere, then he dangled the opened bottle over his shoulder, offering it to Jared nonchalantly, if slightly breathless with anticipation.

Too much. "I don't think I can stop myself from biting you this time," Jared warned breathlessly, grabbing the lube and squirting it haphazardly somewhere in between his crotch and Darwin's ass, soiling the bed as much as hitting his target.

The shudder running through Darwin's body shook the mattress. He raised one leg and tilted his ass, all but offering himself to the hard rod rubbing against his slick ass as he made breathless little sounds. "Then don't," he mumbled and sounded almost annoyed with the necessity of talking at all. "Bite me!"

Jared's eyes rolled into the back of his head. He grabbed Darwin's hip hard enough to bruise and slammed in, tearing a pained, ecstatic scream out of him. Little jolts of pure elation twinged through his back as he pulled Darwin's twitching body closer, angled his face forward and closed his teeth around the warm, soft skin at his neck, groaning harshly. The vise grip around his cock was utter torture, muscles twitching, contracting, pulling him deeper in sync with the stream of sharp little groans and moans, gasps and whimpers coming from Darwin. This had to hurt, at least a little, but Darwin still let him do it, still submitted, writhed in his embrace, thrust his ass back to bury him deeper.

Bliss.

The taste of blood, just a little, no more than a hint, spurred him on and he started to move, slowly at first, luxuriating in the roll of hips, the hot tightness, the scent of sweat and pre-come drifting up from the wrecked body in his arms. But soon it wasn't enough anymore. Jared bit deeper, groaning sharply against the bruised skin between his jaws, and sped up, each thrust a harsh slap that stung against his thighs as much as it bit against Darwin's tense ass.

Darwin shifted his leg, straining back to change the path Jared's cock took into his tight channel, and shouted when he plunged deeper, rubbed against that spot inside of him that made his own length dribble and throb. His channel tightened around Jared, squeezing him until he saw stars and sputtered to arrhythmic jerks, and suddenly there was no ways left to go and he came.

The intensity robbed him of sight, voice, control. Belatedly, he felt Darwin come, shudder, and squirm between his cock still pulsing inside his ass and the teeth Jared still dug into his neck. It cut his invisible threads and he sagged back onto the bad, gasping for air and drenched in the sweetest of sweats.

Darwin murmured breathless endearments, drunk on endorphins and exhausted, and Jared pulled him closer and wrapped his body around his sweat-slick mate. Give this up? Never. He'd rather die.

 

#

Leftover anger more than choice led Jared back the way he had come, out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the living room. He almost stumbled over his feet when George and Mary suddenly appeared in the hallway leading outside. They stared at him with a mixture of surprise and the same brooding anger that had ruled their interactions since the day Carl had died. Jared bristled before he could get a hold of himself, rolling his shoulders against the tension creeping up his back. He so wasn't ready for another exchange of snide remarks, but this would have to happen sooner rather than later. Still, his lips went numb at the thought of what he was about to do.

"George, a word," he asked as curtly as possible.

George just huffed. His face twitched as he tried to decide on an answer, his gaze flitting from Jared to the living room door behind him.

This was it. After all the worrying and the talks, after turning the situation over and over in his head, he had finally decided to do something and this was the answer he got? No. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. A snarl hijacked his face and he stepped closer before his mind could catch up to his mood and stop him. The growl trickling out of his throat was deep and warning, a sound fit for bloodshed and death and definitely enough to catch George's attention. The old man's eyes snapped back to Jared's face.

"This is not a request. I offer you privacy, but if you don't take it, and I mean now, we can do this in front of everyone. Your choice." He should have felt silly talking like this to a man more than twice his age, but that feeling didn't come. Instead, a tight knot in his stomach loosened and a wave of force, for lack of a better word, rushed through his chest and right into his head. The room suddenly was smaller, the air fresher, colors brighter, like he had shrugged off a layer of too-tight skin.

George felt it too. Even wheelchair-bound as he was, he sat up straighter, winced a little and gulped, his eyes widening as he lowered his gaze. "Lead the way," he said and nodded once. At what, Jared had no idea.

"Good choice." Jared turned on his heels and stalked off, setting a healthy pace down the hallway and towards the terrace. Not the most curteous move, but Jared needed the few moments of Vorsprung to think, to decide what to do next. He went outside and left the terrace door open and leaned onto the banister, staring blankly at the mountainous woods. What would Tobias do in his place? What would his uncle have done? They wouldn't have let things go on for this long, that much Jared knew, but how would they have solved it?

Jared snorted. His uncle would have killed George. His brother would have thrown him out. None of those options were acceptable, which meant he had nothing to go on but his own intuition and no way out but through. "Being the Alpha really sucks," he mumbled and tugged at his hair.

"I wouldn't know."

Rubber wheels clacked softly as George maneuvered his chair through the door and onto the wooden planks, nimbly coming to a halt next to Jared. He looked much more composed than before, calmer than Jared had ever seen him. Not that he knew much of George besides Darwin's stories.

"Sorry, I didn't mean for you to hear that," he admitted and grinned lopsidedly. "But it's true, you know? It sucks. Especially for me. I have no idea how to be an Alpha, but I guess you already noticed that."

George snorted and frowned at the mountain peaks along the vista. "Hard not to notice. Which is why I don't want you anywhere near my son. He doesn't need another dysfunctional Alpha in his life."

"But he wants me there and frankly, nobody asked you. Yet."

"Yet?"

"Did you know your son was a submissive?"

Admittedly, Jared had hoped for a little more than the silence George bestowed on him, but the quiet spoke its own words. He'd had no idea, just like the rest of his pack. Even Darwin's father had been blind to the truth sitting right in front of him. Jared shook his head and huffed. "And you call me dysfunctional."

The banister cracked beneath George's fist. Black, web-like fissures appeared along the carved wood, a stark reminder of the power still left in the broken body. He couldn't do much more than that, but the force spoke volumes, as did the tear in the corner of his eye. He wiped at it angrily, stopping its path halfway down. "Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? My failures as a father?" he asked, his voice tight and rough.

Jared shifted, straightened and turned to George, keeping his face pleasantly blank. "No. I wanted to talk about your behavior towards me and Darwin. I have no idea how I'm supposed to act because you're his father and I really want you to like me, but I think I've gone about this all wrong. I'm not just your son's boyfriend, I'm his mate and on my way to become your Alpha, and as the pack Alpha I've let you trample all over me. I've given you the impression of weakness for all the wrong reasons and now we're here and it's almost too late to patch up things. For that I'm sorry. But I'm not sorry I found Darwin or that he loves me and I won't stop seeing him just because you don't approve. I know that you're out of your depth. A few days ago you thought he was a dominant and now he isn't. You're worried for his safety, any good dominant would be, but you're forgetting something. I always knew what he was and he knew it too, which means that you're the only one still confused about how to treat him, how to see him. He didn't change, your opinion of him did."

Fresh winter wind carried off the last words and swallowed the echo. George kneaded the armrest of his wheelchair, chewed his lips and grunted noncommittally, but whatever force had fired his rage was suddenly gone. He looked old, cold and brittle, his jaws clenched as if to keep quiet by force. Jared turned his head and took in the view, at a loss for words now that he had said his piece. What else could he do to make George understand he wouldn't leave Darwin?

George snorted and shook his head. "Why are you telling me what I already know? Or did you really think that little heart-to-heart would make me see things your way?" He turned his chair, leaned back and threw Jared a loathing look. "I don't care what you want, I won't let you ruin him. I forbid it."

Familiar ground at last. Jared smirked and nodded. "As you wish. You leave me no other choice then: I challenge you, George."

'Dumbfounded' was too mild a description for the look on George's face. His jaw dropped and he sputtered, gasped and fumbled for words. At last he got his tongue back, eyes wild as he said, "You can't be serious!"

Now that the impasse loomed over him, Jared doubted how serious he was himself. If George didn't back down, now that the gauntlet had been thrown, a fight would be inevitable and Jared would be forced to hurt or even kill George. The choice between fucked and utterly fucked.

Cold wind howled by, rattling the banister and tugging at Jared's collar as the gust raced around the house. Seconds stretched and stretched, torturous time spent with staring, hoping, trying to keep his expression blank as George searched his face for hints of a bluff. A slight vertigo nudged at him, trying to steal the balance he had so easily held all his life.

Then the moment was over. George's face hardened, his lips nothing more but a whitened line as he turned his chair towards the balcony door. "I forfeit," he said, cleared his throat and repeated in a steadier voice, "I forfeit the duel."

"Then you accept my dominion over you?"

Teeth creaked as George tightened his jaws, his words a slithering thing, barely thick enough to crawl out of his mouth. "I do."

Something hard, tight and cold around Jared's chest loosened and he took a deep breath, closing his eyes. A trickle of laughter clogged his throat, barely held back by his will for fear of ruining the unsteady truce he had just forged. It took a while to cram down his elation deep enough to be sure it would stay hidden and only then did he open his eyes again. Nothing was more frightening than a quadriplegic, disgruntled father-in-law.

George was staring at him, his face intent and sharp.

It made Jared cringe a little. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

The old man hesitated, hissed, and shrugged. "No. Just wanted to make sure you weren't having a laugh on my account."

"And?"

A small smile tugged at the mobile part of George's mouth and he nodded slightly. "And you weren't. Thank you."

Then George wheeled himself back inside, leaving Jared to stare after him with bemused surprise and a little bit of anxiety on his face. Now that it was done, what the hell was he supposed to do next?

 

Darwin

The feet on his lap stank. Two days of constant travel did that to anyone's feet, but having the source of the odor sitting right there and right below his nose made it worse. No amount of turning his head or cracking the window open to catch the cold winter breeze helped for long, and the constant movement of the car did its part to twist Darwin's stomach in a tight, sick, knot.

"Could we please pull over at the next rest stop?" he begged, head held high and turned to escape the fumes. The owner of those feet, no other than Harry, snored peacefully, his head burrowed into Rayne's sweater to keep out the daylight.

Darla huffed, swerving around another unsuspecting motorist dumb enough to stick to the speed limit. Somewhere, miles behind them for all Darwin knew, Mary was probably having a coronary event. Or she had given up on keeping up. "Again? What is it this time, Darwin?"

Torn between truth and lie, Darwin sucked in a hesitant breath. Sock sweat immediately coated his tongue and crept into his gullet as he swallowed convulsively. "I'm gonna be sick if you don't!"

Swearing, Darla cut off a truck and almost sheared against the picketing as she pulled off the highway, sending everyone into a confused uproar and waking Harry. Not that Darwin cared; as soon as the car stopped, he popped out the back, stumbled to the side, and plastered the lawn with what little coffee and pancakes he had managed to force down at breakfast.

It wasn't the first time this had happened, too. Ever since the group had decided to leave Renton and go back to Banes, his whole body felt tight, tense, and off. Sure, Darwin was giddy with elation that Jared had made peace with his father, however unstable it was, and he was out of his mind with joy to know they would all stay together, both his new pack and what was left of his old one. He even agreed with Jared's reasoning, having their own territory and a chance to re-build the Banes pack like it was supposed to be was a giant step up from squatting and being run off every few days. But....

He spit a few times, coughing at the bitter taste in the back of his throat, and got up on wobbly knees. If the trip went on like this, they would never reach Banes. On the other hand, would that be such a bad thing?

The others stayed with the car, chatting in low voices, but a hand grabbed Darwin's arm to help him up and a set of lips kissed the scarred bite on his neck. "I feel exactly the same," whispered Jared, a tight smile on his lips. "Too bad we can't simply elope and run off to Hawaii."

Darwin turned and hugged him, burying his face against his sweater. He stank of sweat and too much deodorant, just like everyone else, but Jared's unique scent never made him sick. If only it had been his feet on his lap, instead of Harry's.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm not usually so weak," Darwin mumbled and swallowed remnants of bile. "Maybe I've caught a stomach bug or something."

Jared chuckled softly and hugged him tighter. "Yeah, right. I think it's called 'nerves'."

"What!"

"Don't be so tense, nobody's blaming you for it. You've got every right to be freaked out."

"I am not freaked out!" Darwin wiggled and shoved against Jared's chest, but he wouldn't let go. It only made him feel more trapped. There was nothing to be freaked out about, nothing at all! They were just going home to Banes, his home, the place he had lived in his whole life, a familiar place, nothing more. Granted, he didn't have fond memories about Banes-- or his pack, for that matter-- but Carl was dead, so what could go wrong?

His stomach did a backflip and he twisted, dry-heaving to the side while Jared held him upright. His abs hurt from the sheer violence of the contractions and he groaned exhaustedly when the fit finally passed.

Well, so much for a stomach bug. "Okay, so I'm a little freaked out, so what?"

"So nothing. I just came over here to tell you that we understand and that you don't have to worry about appearances. You're not the only one worried about going back, you know? Rayne has been pacing all night before we took off and Darla was almost at the point of proposing to stay with Margo. Graham had to talk her down for hours. The only ones not feeling the pressure are Harry and Graham, but, you know, they are Prince and King Valium compared to everyone else."

"Really?" It shouldn't have made him feel better, but it did. The impulse to play dominant, to try and control everything and everyone, still haunted him at times, but those moments weren't as bad as the ones where that tiny, inner voice whispered strings and strings of self-deprecations to him. Weak, it said, weak and fragile, useless, unworthy. The thought of anyone thinking those things about him was too much, but what if they weren't?

"I promise you, we're all shaken. I didn't tell anyone about what Carl did to you, but they seem to sense that it's harder for you. Nobody said a word and that's how it will stay." Jared hugged him again, squeezing his cramped insides between his powerful arms, and grinned broadly. "Don't worry about the puking. We'll get you mouthwash if it starts to bother us."

"Har har." Darwin rolled his eyes and straightened carefully. His tummy stayed quiet, cramping but too empty to be a risk any longer. A group of deer stalked through the nearby field, eying first them, then the highway and the flitting cars warily. Even nervous like this, they still looked calm and happy. Fear didn't stop them from enjoying the winter sun, so why should Darwin let it stop him? "Okay, fine, I'm freaked. And I'll probably puke again, but I can do this. I will do this. Carl can suck my--"

"--oh no, he can't, that's my job," Jared interrupted him, picked him up and all but dragged him back to the car, ignoring Darwin's protests and breathless cackling.

"Let's go home."

* The End *