Still Here
Later that night the pack house had settled into a heavy, exhausted quiet. The five of them sat in the living room still carrying the leftover adrenaline of the mountain pass, the dragon, and how close they had come to losing Cass for good. Conversation came in low, scattered pieces. They rehashed what they had seen, what Lucian had risked, what the Void Dragon’s black fire had done to everything it touched. No one was ready to sleep.
Roan lasted longer than anyone expected before the fear finally broke through.
He set his drink down, climbed onto the couch, and pushed Cass onto his back with steady paws. Cass looked up, ears lifting in question, but the moment he saw Roan’s face he understood what his Alpha wanted. The black wolf’s golden eyes were still too tight, too raw. He had watched his mate get thrown off a mountain inside an armored truck and then disappear under black water. The terror of that moment had not finished working its way out of him.
“I need to feel you,” Roan said, voice low and rough. “I need to know you’re still here.”
Cass didn’t hesitate. He spread his thighs and reached for his Alpha. Roan undressed him with care, peeling away shirt and pants until Cass lay bare beneath him. Then Roan shoved his own clothes down just far enough, lined up, and pushed in.
The first stroke was slow and deep. Roan sank into the tight heat of his pup until his knot pressed against the rim, then kept going until he was buried. He stayed there for a long moment, breathing hard, forehead pressed to Cass’s, simply feeling the living warmth around his cock. Cass wrapped both arms around the bigger wolf’s shoulders and held on.
"Daaaamn, that's a hot penetration," Kiran said, smiling. Zariel chastized him to cut it out and let them be.
Roan started to move.
It was not frantic. It was heavy and tender and almost desperate in its restraint. Long thrusts that dragged every inch of him through Cass’s body, knot bumping and stretching the rim on every stroke. Cass moaned softly into Roan’s neck, legs hooked high around the black wolf’s waist, taking everything he was given. The wet sound of their mating filled the quiet living room. Roan’s paws slid under Cass’s back and held him close, as if he could fuse them together if he just pressed hard enough.
“You’re here,” Roan murmured against his ear, more to himself than to Cass. “You’re still here. I hate how easily I let them walk you out of the pack house, right under our noses.”
Cass turned his head and kissed the corner of Roan’s muzzle. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
"Yeah, that was some invasive shit. Fucking Dream Walkers." Zariel was legit angry. He did run the trials to be more prepared and it feels like they are more vulnerable than they've ever been.
"Yeah but wolf, you shot a Void Dragon with a 2 million dollar bullet!" Kiran said.
"It will probably survive that, sadly," Khepri added.
Across the room Khepri had already pulled a small camera from somewhere. The hyena moved around the couch in a half-crouch, adjusting angles, checking the light from the lamp, muttering under his breath about composition and focus. He filmed the slow roll of Roan’s hips, the way Cass’s belly flexed every time the knot stretched him, the tight grip of the black wolf’s paws on his mate.
“Just in case,” Khepri said when Kiran glanced over. “Material for later. If the pack ever wants to start posting on KnotHub again, we’ll have something actually worth watching. The star couple of the pack, Alpha Roan and the Midnight Wolf.”
On the other side of the living room Zariel had Kiran bent over the arm of the second couch. Usually when spontaneous pack sex breaks out, everyone gets in the mood. Khepri usually takes what he can get, and they pleasure him frequently as well. He doesn't feel like a fifth wheel.
The big white wolf was buried to the knot, hips working in that deep, dominating rhythm the little red fox craved. Kiran’s tail was lifted high and trembling. Soft, broken sounds spilled out of him every time Zariel bottomed out in his hole. He loved being under the bigger wolf like this, loved the weight and the stretch and the way Zariel didn’t hold back once he was inside. His fit curved ass looked amazing to Zariel, especially with his large red cock disappearing into it over and over.
Roan knotted Cass with a low, shuddering growl. His cock pulsed hard as he started to fill his pup, thick ropes of cum pumping deep, wet, filthy, intimate and loved. He stayed locked for a long time, simply holding Cass, breathing him in, letting the slow pulses of his orgasm reassure them both. Cass stroked the thick fur of his Alpha’s back and took every drop.
When the knot finally softened, Roan eased free with a wet sound. A trickle of cum followed. He pressed a lingering kiss to Cass’s muzzle, then stood on slightly unsteady legs and went to the kitchen for sodas.
That was when the knock came at the front door.
Roan answered it still half-dressed and returned with two unexpected guests. Dante, the big lion with the easy smile and the kind of natural charisma that made disagreement feel almost rude, stepped inside first. Remi followed a pace behind, looking like he would rather be anywhere else.
Zariel, still knotted tight inside Kiran, grabbed a throw blanket and yanked it over both of them just in time. The blanket tented awkwardly over his raised hips and lifted tail. Kiran made a small, muffled noise underneath him as Zariel kept giving slow, involuntary pulses of cum into the fox, clearly trying and failing to stay completely quiet.
Dante took in the room with one raised brow but chose not to comment on the obvious. “Remi will be staying here for the time being,” he said. His voice carried that effortless authority. “Along with someone else.”
A young deer stepped in behind them. A buck, maybe twenty, lean and nicely built, with warm brown fur and a set of short, velvet-covered antlers. He looked around the living room with polite curiosity.
“This is Stark,” Dante continued. “He knows dreamwalker techniques. He’ll teach you how to pull someone out of a forced sleep and a few other useful tricks. The reason for the extra bodies is simple. A dreamwalker can only influence up to five minds at once. From now on I want at least six anthros in this house at all times so you can watch each other. No more full-house blackouts.”
Remi’s ears flicked. He glanced around the room. “Where’s the fox?”
From under the blanket Kiran’s voice came out cheerful and slightly breathless. “Over here, buddy. I’m here, don’t worry.”
Stark’s ears flushed under his fur as he registered the moving shape under the blanket and the wet, rhythmic sounds that had not quite stopped. He looked at Dante.
“Is this… a common thing I’m going to be around?”
Dante clapped the young buck on the shoulder. “Yes. Try to ignore it. Or join in if they like you. Just make sure you prepare them to deal with that damned super dreamwalker.”
"Hopefully not too super, he's already showed some tricks that make me jealous, the cocky son of a bitch," Stark said. The deer has a unique voice and accent, serious sounding but also sexy in a way. He could say anything and it wouldn't sound silly.
Stark shook his head, laughing under his breath despite himself.
Seven anthros in the house now, even if some of them were temporary. Remi stood near the door with his arms crossed, expression closed.
“This doesn’t mean I’m in your pack,” he said, and there was clear old history in his tone. “I don’t want a pack."
"Remi was betrayed by the last pack he joined. I keep telling him, but..." Dante trailed off.
Dante straightened. "We’ll have a more permanent solution soon. Until then, try not to kill each other. And amazing job boys, we lost as few lives in that operation as we can expect.”
"You shouldn't lose any lives for me!" Cass said.
Dante turned to Cass. "Midnight Wolf, void touched wolf. You are important to the resistence, even if we don't know how yet. We saved you for selfish reason, I assure you, so don't feel guilty. You're an asset. And on top of it, we took out a lot of the enemy and we can't be sure why Nox'Thar wanted you. It's a top priority of the resistance to protect you and stop whatever plans the enemy has. It wasn't lives traded just so you can enjoy yours, to be honest and cold about it. Also... Lir is going to be stopping by in a few days. It's time you learned more about the Void, from someone who has walked through it many times and bears a void mark. Good night, boys."
Dante was clearly looking at Cass' purple electric eyes, power of the Void, before turning away.
He left them with that and the quiet click of the front door.
-------
Lucian staggered through the trees with his wrists still bound in front of him. Blood soaked the fur of his thigh and shoulder where Cass’s rounds had punched through. Every step sent a fresh spike of pain up his leg. The mountain air smelled of smoke, scorched metal, and cooked flesh.
He kept the cracked phone propped against his forearm so the camera stayed on his face. Nox’s image filled the screen, green eyes sharp even through the poor connection.
“I’m still mobile,” Lucian said, breathing hard. “Barely.”
Nox’s jaw tightened. “How bad?”
“Shoulder and leg. I’ll live. The Midnight Wolf used some kinda void power, it clouded my mind and then he attacked.” Lucian glanced back toward the pass. Orange light flickered between the trees. “The humans are coming. Police, FBI, the whole circus. Resistance firebombed the roads on the way up to slow them down, but it won’t hold forever.”
“I know. I’m watching the feeds.” Nox’s voice stayed low and controlled, but something rougher sat underneath it. “There’s nothing left alive up there but you. Burned bodies. Bullet-riddled corpses. Wrecked vehicles. It looks like a war zone.”
Lucian gave a weak huff of laughter. “It was.”
“Just get down the mountain,” Nox said. “I’m sending a pickup team. Stay off the main roads. Keep the phone on so I can track you.”
Lucian opened his mouth to answer, but the first shot cracked through the trees and tore into the back of his already wounded leg. He went down hard with a sharp cry. A second round punched into his other leg. He dropped the phone, rolled onto his side, and threw both bound paws up as far as the cord would allow.
“I’m down!” he shouted. “I’m not armed!”
Boots crashed through the undergrowth. Flashlights cut across his face and the blood-soaked fur of his legs. Human voices barked overlapping orders. Someone kicked the phone farther away. Another agent planted a boot between his shoulder blades and forced him flat while plastic cuffs replaced the cord on his wrists.
On the cracked screen, still lying in the leaves, Nox’s voice came through small and tinny but clear.
“Hold tight. You will not be captive long. Do you hear me, Lucian? Not long.”
One of the FBI agents crouched, picked up the phone, and looked at the glowing image of the big red and blue tattooed panther. He ended the call without a word and slipped the device into an evidence bag.
They hauled Lucian up between two of them. His legs would not take weight. Blood ran freely down both calves. The agent who had spoken earlier leaned in close enough that Lucian could smell coffee and gun oil on his breath.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” the man said, “but I’m not going to sound like a bad movie. We do have ways of making you talk, animal. And we are going to use every single one of them. Your little underground circus has the entire human world losing its mind. You’re going to help us open it up.”
Lucian said nothing. He kept his green eyes half-lidded and his breathing shallow, already cataloguing faces, weapons, the direction they were dragging him. Somewhere behind the pain and the plastic cuffs, Nox’s last words still sat warm in his chest.
Not long.
He was counting on Nox to save him... after he just betrayed Nox in the worst way. Lucian felt dirty, the guilt hurting him more than his wounds.
They half-carried, half-dragged him toward the flashing lights farther down the slope.
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