The Pack

Concordium Chapter 32

The Pack Chapter 5

Simon

Waking up with Xav wasn't like waking up with Drew. For one thing, Xav's bedroom faced east, and the sun shone onto the bed at 7:00 a.m. that morning. For another thing, Xav had no sense of personal space. We'd fallen asleep lying next to one another, but this morning our arms and legs were entangled and Xav was sprawled across my body. For another thing there was a smell of bacon coming from the kitchen. Xav stirred before me and rose quickly. He had a spring in his step and seemed to enjoy the mornings. He didn't close the door and I could see his sexy butt flexing while he pissed.

I rushed into the bathroom and leaned against the counter. “You… um… last night you were amazing.”

He looked over and replied, “So were you. I knew when I looked at you that you’d be a hot alpha stud, and I was right.”

“It was more than sex. What we did was as much spiritual as physical. I’d never done anything like that before,” I admitted.

Xav finished his business and booted me to one side so he could wash his hands. He smiled and gave me a wink. “If you play your cards right, you could be having sex like that all the time.”

I ran my index finger down his back and then rubbed his butt. It was the most amazing butt I’d ever been inside. “I’m up for it, whenever you are.”

Xav turned and took my hand in his. He was hard again this morning, and so was I. He looked into my eyes and said, “We will do it again, but that’s not what I meant. My intention was to let you know that you could learn to do it like that all the time.”

I thought he was going to kiss me. I wanted him to kiss me. Instead he smacked my butt. “Get dressed and join us for breakfast.”

I did my business in a hurry, washed my hands, and then put on the clothes I’d worn last night. I’d worked up an appetite and the scent of bacon and eggs was making my stomach growl. I stopped to fix my hair in the mirror. I couldn’t make it look good without my products, but I did make it look less messy, whilst still being… “messy”. Then I hurried into the kitchen.

Xav was wearing a pair of loose sweat shorts that hung low around his narrow waist. He stood talking to a middle-aged man with dark skin and medium length hair in dreadlocks. He had a thick build, like a rectangle, but he seemed to carry more muscle than fat. He was wearing white clothes with the Marriott hotel logo and a hairnet. On the table there was a warming dish with compartments for eggs, bacon, and sausage gravy. Next to the warming dish was a basket of biscuits. A large carafe of coffee sat next to a glass carafe of orange juice. The two were deep in conversation, while Xav was filling a plate. He seemed to have a big appetite for such a slender guy.

I walked over and made my presence known by reaching for a plate. Xav paused and said, "Simon, this is Willie Coombs. He works in the kitchen at the Marriott and handles our catering orders. And Willie, this is Simon Carter, a new member of the pack, an alpha. You can talk in front of him."

Willie gave me a once over and continued talking. "There are three new wolves staying in guest quarters at the Wolf House. We need to have a shindy soon, so you all can meet them. I don't like strangers showing up out of nowhere, so remind Drew that we need an alpha at Wolf House, someone to keep order. It's chaos out there."

Xav said, "Can you plan a gather for Sunday afternoon? Is that enough time?"

Willie nodded, "Cook-out, football game, beer. It won't be hard to get together. We can gather at noon and end at 6."

"I can always count on you, Willie," Xav said, "Take this credit card to get what you need."

We had breakfast then and the conversation turned to lighter matters. More skinchangers arrived as we were eating. Most of them were werewolves, but Xav introduced some to me who weren’t.I met Earl Sloan, a man with brown hair and sharp features, who was a were-coyote and Nancy Croft, a thirty something woman with red brown hair who was were-fox. They took plates as well. They had come early for their meetings with the spirit talker, but they were to wait a little longer than usual.

Xav stood up and announced, “I’m sorry folks, but I have to delay our meetings. I have to take Simon here back to campus.”

Willie finished his coffee and said, “I could run him by the school on the way back to the Marriott.”

Everyone cheered Willie, but Xav called for attention. “And I have to speak to my pack leader, so you’ll have to wait. I need to speak to Earl before I go. Oh, and Nora, I know it won’t take us long, since you’re here for old business, but I will see you first when I get back, if you can wait.”

He looked around the room and said, “I’ll see everyone, but it will have to wait until I return.”

They seemed disappointed, but they didn’t complain. They pulled out cellphones and made some calls while Xav conducted his private business with Earl. I didn’t try to pry, but I did notice Earl slip a package to Xav and Xav take it to his meditation room. .

In the truck on the way back to campus, Xav gave me his assessment of my spiritual needs. "Your wolf is determined to get out, even though it's not time. Talk to Darren and tell him that I said you need a program to exercise your wolf. And you'll need to practice the meditations I taught you at least one hour a day. It's better if you do it in the morning and in the evening. And listen to me on this one, you need to refrain from having so much sex. It's affecting your preborn wolf in a negative way. Once per week until I say different."

I was taken aback. He was giving me an exercise program, and two hours of meditation a day and I wasn't allowed to have sex except once a week. He was taking away everything good and giving me so much extra work that was going to eat into everything else. I hated exercise. And Darren would make me do it for sure if Xav said so. All the other alphas were in awe of the spirit talker. I thought he was cool and unbelievably handsome, but I wasn't ready to kiss his ring. Except that I had done that last night, I thought with a chuckle. He was a great fuck, but I couldn't see why he had the right to boss me around like that.

"If you're sure that's what I need, then I'll do it. You're the spirit talker," I lied. I had no intention of limiting my sexual release that way. No one had ever tried to reign me in like that, but it was more than that. There was something inside me that said not to follow orders. It was like a voice hiding deep within that just said, “NO.”

"At least I'll have a lot of energy when we get together next week."

Xav laughed and said, "We'll have sex again if you want it, but not next week. You need to balance your spirit, so the next time you have sex, you must not only play the bottom, but you also must embrace the role."

I shook my head. "I'm not sure I can embrace it. I can do it, but it's not something I hunger for – if you get my drift."

"Your wolf spirit is too aggressive," he said. "You must teach it to embrace its passive side."

"Did you?" I asked, both curious and annoyed. "You seem pretty non-aggressive to me."

"I'm lucky," he replied. "My wolf spirit was even more aggressive than yours. My own nature tempered its aggression. You'll have to pick Drew or Darren unless Zeno shows up. It must be an alpha. If you want to try real passivity, we can let random chance choose for you, or I can tell them to fight it out in a ring and the winner gets to fuck you."

"I owe Drew my butt," I said. "It should probably be him, if it has to be anyone."

Xav pulled into the dorm parking lot. He and Drew shared a vehicle, so it had a parking pass on it even though Xav always had it at his house. "I'm not kidding, Simon," he said with the most serious tone I'd heard from him. "This is the most important thing for you right now. We need to get your wolf under control."

"How long will it take?" I asked.

"I don't know. It will take as long as it takes," he responded. "You must follow the plan, and you must restrict your sexual encounters to once a week, and you must be the passive partner until your wolf spirit has been brought into balance. Promise me that you will do what I've instructed."

"Fine, I promise; I'll do it," I said, but I knew that I wouldn't. This was too personal an issue to surrender control to anyone else.

As we were walking into the building, Xav whispered, "Masturbation is sex by the way."

This was getting better and better, I thought sarcastically. I would have to pretend to do what Xav had ordered. It would be difficult to hide things from him and Drew, but I had to. Didn't I? The voice in my head growled, “Yes.”

 

Drew

It was almost 8:30 a.m. when Xav and Simon came in. I'd been awake since 7:00 a.m. and I'd been watching Ethan sleep fitfully, his thin and sexy body still showing the faintest traces of the blue markings. I had no idea when his first class was today, and I didn't want to wake him. I went and showered and got ready for classes. I was sitting on my bed in a t-shirt and athletic shorts, putting my shoes on when the door opened. Xav had a terrible habit of never knocking before entering my room; he hadn't since we were kids. Ethan sat up quickly and pulled the sheet over his naked body.

Simon started to run over to him, but I grabbed him and said, "Not so fast. I need Xav to look at him first."

Xav came over and sat next to Ethan. He had a way of exuding calm that I envied. I didn't think it could be his wolf spirit. I'd never heard of one that made its human calmer. "I'm going to touch your shoulder now," he said. "Try not to be frightened because I'm not going to hurt you."

He put one arm around Ethan's shoulder. I held my breath, but there was no crackle of electricity. "I need to fully examine the boy. Simon, you need to go shower and Drew stay over there and don't interrupt."

Simon didn't move until I got up and sent him out of the room. Xav was running a finger along Ethan's skin. The blue lines had faded completely, but they became faintly visible as he traced them. "I need to be able to follow the lines in full, so I need to remove the sheet," he said, calmly.

Ethan blushed but didn't object when Xav pulled the sheet off his body, leaving him naked on the bed. He traced the markings down the boy's chest towards his groin, then back up to the abdomen and the solar plexus. The greatest concentration of markings so far was between these, but not too far behind was the groin. "Turn over so I can examine your back," he said gently, and Ethan rolled over.

Xav moved his long fingers from the top of the boy's head, down the spine, to his bottom. The markings flared just as strong from the back, and these two were concentrated in the area from his butt to a point about a quarter of the way up the spine, and from there to a point halfway up the spine. The markings were denser and more complex between the last two.

Xav helped the boy to turn over again and then pulled the sheet over him to give him some modesty. "Have you ever had an experience like that before, Ethan?" he asked. "Has your body ever given off an electrical discharge like the one that burned Drew last night?"

Ethan shook his head and whispered, "No. I have no idea what happened."

Xav helped him sit up on the bed and asked, "Did your mother or father ever display such abilities?"

"Not that I know of," Ethan asked. "What's happening to me?"

Xav heaved a sigh and said, "Let me guess. You were a virgin until last night, never doing more than kissing. And whenever you kissed someone before, you felt heat running through the areas I touched."

"Yes, sir," Ethan said, a little in awe of Xav's apparent prescience.

"Your sexual awakening last night caused your body's spiritual nodes to flare open," he said, calming the boy by putting a hand on his shoulder. "Spirit energy flows through the same channels as sexual energy. I'm guessing that you were slow to go through puberty."

Again, Ethan nodded and whispered "yes", his skin reddening and his eyes wide. Xav gave him a disarming smile and said, "I'm not reading your mind or anything like that. I've heard of cases such as yours. One of your parents was not human. I don't know if it was your mother or your father, but one of them was an air spirit in human form, a sylph or djinni or something along those lines. You've inherited some of their power."

"That's not true," Ethan said. "My dad was a farmer, and my mom just kept the house and took care of me. They were both human."

Xav pursed his lips and said, "Your dad probably was. I've never heard of an air spirit taking up farming. Did your mother sing a lot, and did she seem sad more often than most people you knew?"

Ethan seemed even more in awe of Xav. "She sang all the time," he said. "And she would spend time staring out the window, especially... "

"... if it were storming outside," Xav finished for him. "And I'll bet there was a chest or cabinet or desk drawer or safe, or something like that, that your father didn't allow anyone to touch."

"Wow!" Ethan said. "He had a locked chest inside his gun safe, so it was locked twice. He told me it contained secret treasure and that's why he kept the ammo in the closet instead of the safe. There wasn't room with the box in there. What does it mean?"

Xav seemed reluctant to explain further. He was biting his lip and his left eye was twitching, something he'd done since he was a child whenever he was anxious. I was no help to him because I had no more idea of what he was talking about than Ethan did.

Finally, he spoke. "This is just a guess, but I think it's probably a good guess. Your mom was likely a sylph, a spirit of the air. Somehow your father took her token, usually it's in the form of a simple shawl or open tunic. She would have been in human form at the time. Taking the token would have forced her to remain in human form and would have compelled her to obey your father if he was the one who possessed it. If she got it back, she would be free to leave him."

"She wouldn't leave me!" Ethan cried. His hair was beginning to stand up with static electricity and the markings on his chest were beginning to glow silver. "She was killed by the werewolf Cromwell!"

"Calm down, Ethan," Xav said with a calming voice. "I'm sure she did love you, but if I'm right about who and what she was, she would always feel like she was living in a straitjacket while she was bound in human form. And again, if I'm right, no werewolf could have killed her. In human form she could only be killed if her token were destroyed. I'm not saying she would have left you because she didn't love you. I'm saying that she would finally be free to become the wind, and she wouldn't have been able to resist."

"But the werewolf did kill her!" he insisted. "My Uncle Joe saw her body."

The smell of impending lightning filled the air. The hair on the back of my neck was beginning to stand up and I noticed the sparse hairs on Ethan’s arms were standing upright and dancing.

"Okay, I believe that is what you have been told, but I do need you to calm down," Xav said. "If you're willing to wait until this evening, I can try to summon your mother. If I'm right about what she was, it will work. But I'm afraid I can't do the ritual until then."

He turned to me and said, "Drew can you bring him with you? I need to meet with you and Darren anyway tonight."

"Sure thing," I said. "But I can't keep this a secret from Sebastian. It's too big."

Xav nodded in agreement. Then he called me out into the hallway so Ethan could get dressed. "We need to talk about Simon," he whispered, once we were out of the room. "His wolf spirit is out of alignment. I've told him no sex until Saturday, and then once a week until I say different. He's not happy because I said he must be the receptive partner to balance his spirit. Unless Zeno gets here, I don't know anyone but me who can be receptive and take charge at the same time. That means you and Darren will have to keep an eye on him."

I was a little uncomfortable with this discussion. "Xav, I can't tell him that he must let me top him for his own spiritual health. It seems a little creepy since I'm the pack leader. And it's no better coming from you. You're my brother. I worry that it makes me look like Cromwell topping all the alphas just to show dominance. I can't do it."

Xav said, "Simon's biggest flaws are that he's too confident in thinking he can do whatever he wants, and everything will work out anyway. And that he's oversexed. When we were together, I could feel his energy channels were swollen and irritated. It's from too much sex, with too many partners. His wolf is still neonate. Until it can come out, it's affected, and even shaped, by Simon's activities. And there's no safe way to bring it out until the next full moon which is still three weeks away."

"Fine!" I said. If Xav thought it was necessary, then it was necessary, but I still felt like I was abusing my power, and everyone else was going to think that too. "I'll do it, but I'm not feeling good about it. Can’t we get someone else, someone who isn't supervising him in the pack?"

"Do you want to ask Simon to let one of the betas top him? There are a few who could do it effectively, but his wolf spirit is already in confusion," he said. "Submitting to a beta could confuse it more."

"No, that's a bad idea," I admitted. "What does it mean that his wolf spirit is out of alignment?"

Xav explained, "Simon's wolf spirit is very aggressive. For lack of better terminology, let's call the two sides of our personality dominance and acceptance. The dominance side is aggressive and more prone to use force to get its way. It always wants to control those around them. The acceptance side is more conciliatory, more prone to using compromise and persuasion. My wolf spirit is very dominance oriented, but I'm more acceptance oriented. We're balanced. Both of you and your wolf are well balanced, although the dominance was more prevalent until you met Zeno.

"Cromwell on the other hand was oriented towards dominance and so was his wolf. He was out of balance. The two spirits fed one another until the imbalance became extreme. It's why he was so cruel and domineering. Do you remember how he beat the crap out of me after he mounted me to show dominance in front of the pack? That's because my wolf spirit was able to overcome his own. My own acceptance-orientation lends power to my wolf's dominance.

"Simon has the potential to become as unbalanced as Cromwell. If we can't balance his spirits, he will become more and more out of alignment and then the wolf will start affecting his behavior even when it's locked inside him. If it hasn't already happened, it soon will. I'm willing to bet on it."

"Seriously?" I asked. "Are you saying that Simon could become another Cromwell?"

"Where do you think they come from, Drew?" Xav asked in turn. "One of the biggest problems we skinchangers face as a culture is that some of our most influential leaders are out of alignment, mistaking dominance for leadership. It's why so many of our fellows like to abuse humans and others who are weaker. Do you remember that lynx-shifter who was in the dorm last year? Do you remember how Robert Barton used to torment him? His name was Philip, I believe. He was hounded so badly that we were afraid he’d leave school.”

I nodded. “I remember Barton alright. I made a mistake letting him stay after we drove Cromwell off. He was nothing but trouble.”

Xav nodded sagely. “You couldn’t be more right, but I seem to recall that the council voted and decided not to drive him off. Do you remember how he would strut down the hallways, pushing the freshman mages out of his way? Then, when some mage handed his ass to him in the woods one night, do you remember how angry his home pack was because we wouldn't pay the mages back in blood?"

"Yeah. I do," I said. "He left school after that. Sebastian refused to punish the mage responsible, and Robert kept telling us that his attacker was six and a half feet tall and built like a linebacker. We all thought it was Elijah, but no one could get him alone to get payback."

"Given what we know," Xav laughed, "it was probably Nico who did it. I've met him in the woods a few times myself. He doesn't seem to sleep much. Barton probably blamed it on Elijah because he didn't want to admit that a little guy had given him a thrashing."

Xav and I said our goodbyes. He had to go home to meet his clients, and I went back into the room.

 

Simon

I wasn't happy that Xav kicked me out of the room and sent me to shower like a little kid, but I wasn't going to argue with him. I was soaping up in the shower, wishing Drew were in here with me, or better yet, Ethan. I hadn't tapped his pale little butt yet, and if Xav had his way I wouldn't be getting it anytime soon. I started getting hard thinking about Drew and Ethan, so I started stroking my cock. It was seven inches long, above average in size, and it looked even bigger on my thin body. I was thinking about Ethan. He was my height and build, but he was golden skinned, and his penis was average for his build. When the two of us were kissing, there was no doubt in my mind who was the boss, and his lips were so soft and kissable.

Then my mind moved on to Drew. His body was smoking hot. He was tall, muscular and trim, just what I liked. And his jock butt was round and firm, with muscles that could grip a cock like a vise. I was getting closer to orgasm now, and I wanted to picture Drew's ass when I came. But my vision shifted to Kyle. I saw a lot of him on the days we had classes together, and the other day when I'd seen him doing incline sit ups, his shorts and t-shirt kept shifting up, revealing more of his body. His chest, arm and leg hair had been trimmed, and I was picturing the rest of him shaved smooth. It was Kyle's round jock butt I was thinking of when I exploded and spewed cum all over the wall of the shower.

As I was cleaning up and drying off, I thought how nice it would be to fuck my former roommate. His shorts were so short that the straps of his jock were always showing when he walked. I wanted him more now than I had when we were rooming together, but I knew I couldn't pursue him. Not only was he enslaved by Nico, a man I'd been warned to stay away from, but I was mentoring him through his coming out. It wouldn't be right.

When I went back into my room, Ethan was sniffing at his used underwear and shaking his head. "Do you need something fresh to wear?" I asked him.

He looked embarrassed and sighed, "I just want to get back to my room. Why won't Drew let me go back?"

"He's worried for you," I said. "Those guys were out to get you and you're not protected on your floor. I'll go with you later and you can get some stuff."

"That won't be necessary," Drew said. Neither of us had heard him come in. "Simon will loan you something for now, then I'm going to take you to see Sebastian. I need to take you to see Xav at home later today, so I'll need to know your schedule."

"I'm supposed to meet my Spanish study group at 1, in the library, and then I have a lab at 2," he said. He seemed resigned to doing what he was told today.

I pulled out an outfit for him. We were about the same size. I was a little bit bigger, but my clothes would still fit him. I pulled out a cornflower blue silk polo shirt, a pair of white shorts and the sexiest briefs I had. They were deep blue and would ride low on his hips. But they were cut high on the sides, leaving his legs bare all the way to the waistband. I pulled out my gray cloth belt with the golden buckle. I started to get hard again thinking about him wearing my underwear all day.

Drew said, "I'm going to check with Sebastian to see when he can meet, and I'm going to go over and do it face to face, so he can't avoid me. I'll be back."

I took the opportunity, once Sebastian had left the room, to drop the clothes on my bed and move over to Ethan. He was still naked, wearing Drew's robe. I pulled him close to me and kissed his lips. He was nervous, but he didn't resist, not even when I pulled the robe open and let it slide off his shoulders. I opened my own robe and pulled his slender naked body against mine. We were both hard. His hand slid down to take hold of both our cocks.

"Your cock is a lot bigger than mine," he whispered. "I like it."

Then he started to jack them both. I'd been told to refrain from sex until tomorrow and then I was supposed to limit it to once a week, but this boy felt so good in my arms that I didn't care. I kissed him hard and let my right-hand slide down to cup his smooth buttocks. He had very little hair on his body, and I liked the feel of him.

While he jacked our cocks, I kissed him hard enough to make his lips swell. I was also rubbing a finger between the cheeks of his butt and pressing on his tight little ring. It must have been the wolf spirit inside me that gave me so much sexual energy, but I was ready to cum again, even though I'd already blown a load in the shower. But I heard Drew's key in the lock this time before the door opened, so we pulled apart and I closed my robe. When Drew came in, I was handing the underwear to Ethan, who had his back turned toward the door. He pulled them up over his erection and arranged it, so it was pointed upward and contained entirely in the pouch.

Drew gave me a look that said he knew what we were doing and wasn't amused. "Sebastian will be available in a few minutes, and Darren will be expecting you to join him for breakfast in 20 minutes, Simon," Drew said.

Ethan got dressed quickly and looked around guiltily while Drew finished getting ready.

 

Drew

I thought Simon was just pushing the envelope since coming to college. He'd been with me, the face dancer, Benjy, Xav and this little blond kid from Long Island, but I was beginning to think Xav was right. He was oversexed right now, and I knew that I'd interrupted something between him and Ethan as I was coming into the room, even though he'd promised Xav he was going to refrain. I had no idea how I was going to keep him from chasing every sexy boy on campus. I felt like I was shirking my responsibility, but I was going to pass this one off to Darren. He was dorm daddy to these pups, so it was technically his job, not mine.

Simon had good taste. Not only in pursuing Ethan, who was damned pretty, but also in clothes. He'd made Ethan look like a pale skinned, blond-haired version of him, and I wanted a taste of that boy myself, but I probably wouldn't get it. He wasn't in the pack. I put my arm around him and led him to Sebastian's room

Sebastian had looked terrible when I’d first gone to see him, like he'd been up all night doing something. Since I'd spoken to him a few minutes ago, he'd taken something that had restored his energy levels and faded the bags under his eyes, but his clothes were still rumpled, and his hair looked terrible. Nonetheless, he brightened a bit when he saw Ethan.

He stood up and caught sight of himself in the mirror. He waved his wand and said, "Curo cutemque capillumque barbamque vestimentaque." He punctuated each que with a flick of his wand. His skin took on a freshly washed appearance; his hair arranged itself neatly; his scruffy beard was trimmed to an eighth of an inch; and his clothing straightened itself and looked freshly ironed.

Ethan was staring in amazement. Sebastian chuckled and said, "You are familiar with werewolves and hunters, but you've never seen magic before?"

Ethan shook his head. "No. I haven't."

"Sit down," he said, gesturing to a desk chair. "Would you care for tea, coffee or juice this morning?"

"I'll have coffee if you have some ready," I said.

"Coffee," Ethan said, "if you have sugar and milk."

Sebastian was showing off now. He waved his wand and cups flew around the room. Carafes poured coffee and tea. A slice of lemon squeezed itself into the tea and settled before him just as a sugar cube flew into the cup. A french press pot poured a full cup of black coffee, then the cup slid in front of me. The pot then filled another cup to the two-thirds mark and a small pitcher of cream topped it up.

"Just say when," he said to Ethan as the boy was sitting wide-eyed. His cup of creamy coffee slid in front of him, and sugar cubes jumped in, one at a time.

"That's enough!" the boy said, as the third cube joined the cup.

Sebastian said, "Now, Ethan, Drew has told me about you, at least what Xav was able to determine. I trust him, but I want to have Marvin examine you later to get his professional opinion. It sounds like you are what we mages call a sultator fulmineus or a fulminator. The first means "storm dancer" and the second "lightning thrower". It's a rare talent, but not unknown. Most likely, it means that you have an air spirit in your ancestry, possibly even as a parent. But it also means that you possess arcanum, or magical talent. It could have remained hidden all your life and you would never have known, but it's begun to manifest. This means that you'll need training.

"I'll probably get in trouble with my own superiors for telling you this, but there are two choices available to you for training here at this college. You can train with Xav. I'll be honest, he knows more about spirits and spirit-based magic than anyone I know. Or you can train with the magelings here on campus. Clarissa is a certified mage-educator, and she runs a class for beginners that meets twice a week. She can teach you how to work magic like you saw me doing a moment ago. Xav's magic would focus entirely on spirits, while our training wouldn't touch on it all."

"What if I don't want training?" he asked. "What if I want it all to go away?"

"That's not happening, Ethan," Sebastian said. "Once awakened, your talent must be trained, or it can manifest from your subconscious and that would be bad."

"I don't know enough about any of this to make a decision," he said.

Sebastian took his hand in his own and said, "Ethan, you don't have to decide anything right now. I want you to meet with Xav tonight and with Clarissa tomorrow. Then you can make up your mind."

Ethan seemed relieved. Sebastian was being so kind and understanding, giving him all his options up front, but I knew what he was doing. He'd already put on a flashy show, and he would do everything in his power to make sure that Ethan chose magery instead of spiritcraft. He would make it look so appealing that Ethan would feel compelled to choose his way. Of course, I wasn't sure that it was safe for Ethan to spend so much time around werewolves, some of whom obviously wanted him dead.

"I was going to take him up to his room and let him get some clothes so he could stay with me and Simon for a while," I said. "I told you that he was targeted because he's seen Cromwell around."

Sebastian shook his head. "That won't be necessary," he said. "I'm going to put him in the room with Micah Blume. He needs to be on this floor. I'll take him to get his things after we finish here."

 

Darren

Benjy woke up before me this morning. Usually when he woke up early, he'd just lie on top of me and play with my beard, but this morning I woke up to his sweet lips wrapped around my cock. He must have been careful while he was working it out of the opening in my boxers, either that or I was becoming so comfortable with Benjy that he could touch my junk and not wake me up. In either case, it was a great way to wake up in the morning. I put my hand on his head and he looked up at me with smiling eyes and kept bobbing his head up and down. Then he stopped.

"Was I a bad boy, Daddy?" he asked. "I didn't ask you before I sucked your cock but I was bored and it was poking through the hole and I couldn't stop myself."

He was playing with my erection now and my need was growing. "Should I stop Daddy or should I suck it some more or should I sit on it and bounce or..." It was odd for Benjy to just stop talking, but I think he’d run out of ideas.

He was having fun. If I had more self-control, I would have made him put it back in my shorts and punished him for breaking the rules, but I decided to take advantage of the situation first. I liked Benjy naked when we slept, but I always slept in my boxers. Having him naked while I was partially clothed reinforced the fact that I was in charge.

"You can suck it boy, but I want your cute little butt up here where I can eat it," I growled. His eyes lit up and he crawled quickly into place and slid my boxers down. Benjy had discovered that he loved getting his ass eaten, and there were few things I liked more than having him squirm while my tongue explored his little hole. I loved the taste of him.

He was getting more talented with his mouth. The first time he'd sucked my dick, it was obvious that he'd been practicing on sex toys but hadn't had a chance to suck the real thing. He'd just opened his mouth and bobbed up and down. He'd been enthusiastic, and he had learned to control his gag reflex, but he lacked the skill to really suck. Luckily for me, he was getting better every time. Now I could feel the suction, and he was using his tongue to massage the shaft. In this position, he couldn't reach the sensitive underside, but that was good. I wanted to cum in his ass.

The boy had tried to train his ass with his toys, but he'd used a lot of lube and force to get them inside of him, which had left his little hole fearful of intrusion. It had taken some work to keep it from clenching whenever it was touched, but it was learning to respect its owner. With only a little kissing and licking, it was opening to me, inviting me inside. And an invitation from Benjy's soft little hole was not something I could refuse.

I smacked his butt harder than I would have, except the boy loved it when I left a red handprint on the smooth olive skin of his butt. "It's time to ride Daddy's cock, little boy," I growled at him. Benjy's boy hole quivered when I growled at him.

The boy scrambled around and straddled my cock. Normally he had trouble focusing, but not when he was sitting on my dick. He seemed hyper focused as he slid down on me, his tight little hole opening to welcome my cock. Once he was seated on my groin, he arched his back and sighed.

"Do you like that, boy?" I asked. "Do you like Daddy's cock in your little boy hole?"

He smiled at me and said, "I love it, Daddy. It's the best thing ever having you inside me."

He clenched his hole a few times, squeezing my cock, so I returned the favor. I took my thumb and index finger and squeezed the head of his cock until he squealed. Then he began riding me slowly. I was learning more about Benjy every day. He loved to be touched, and he liked it more forcefully than I would have guessed. I would never really hurt him, but he loved to be fondled roughly. When I took his little penis in my hand and squeezed it, or slapped his nuts lightly, or pinched his little pointed nipples, he always squealed with delight.

He also liked being treated like a boy. He was 18 (barely), but he was small, and he dressed like a kid. It was a fantasy of his that he was happy to live. He liked it when I called him "little boy", and he always called me "Daddy". I was only three years older than him, well almost four, since he was born in August and I was born in November, but with his small frame, hairless body, and tiny penis (it couldn't have been much more than four inches long and an inch wide) he felt like a little boy. It made me feel like a dirty old man to be with him, and that was more of a turn-on than it should have been.

Even as a wolf he looked like a pup, with a small body and overly large eyes. He didn't growl either; he whined like a pup. On the next full moon, I was going to give him a surprise and take him when we were both in wolf form. I was going to take him in the clearing in front of the assembled pack and mark him as mine.

I felt my orgasm coming, so I took Benjy's little cock in my hand and rubbed the head. "Cum for me, baby," I growled. "Cum for Daddy."

"I'm cumming, Daddy! I'm cumming!" he yelled. I was pretty sure the guys who shared a wall with us could hear him. But I didn't care. I let go of his cock and let him spew his load all over my hairy belly, and I grabbed his hips and pulled him down on me so I could get as deep inside him as possible. I growled so loud that the sound bounced off the walls.

When we'd both finished, I noticed that I'd left red marks on his hips from holding him so tight. It didn't dampen Benjy's spirits. He pulled off my dick and then knelt to suck the cum and from my cock. It felt great. Then he licked all his own cum off my belly before crawling up to lay sprawled across my chest.

"I love you, Daddy," he said.

"I love you too, Son," I replied. It was the first time I'd ever called him that and he must have really liked it. He whined a little and ground his soft penis into my belly.

We were still lying like that when someone knocked on the door. Benjy jumped up and answered it, opening the door far enough that anyone in the hallway would be able to see him standing there naked. It was Drew. I was just pulling my boxers back up when he came into the room.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said, looking at Benjy's nakedness.

"Not at all," I said, yawning.

"Not at all," Benjy echoed, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet. "I'd already finished cleaning Daddy's cock. He fucked me this morning and he called me son!"

Drew gave me a half-smile and a laugh. "I'm glad I didn't interrupt you then," he said, tousling Benjy's hair. "But I need you to go take a shower so I can talk to your daddy in private."

"Yes, sir," he said, grabbing his towel and running into the bathroom.

Drew started to speak, but I held up a hand for him to wait. In less than a minute, Benjy peaked around the door and whispered, "I forgot my soap and toothbrush."

I gestured for him to go ahead, and he ran back, grabbed his toiletry bag and shampoo then ran back into the bathroom. I motioned for Drew to have a seat in the desk chair, and I put my robe on and took the other. Drew filled me in on Simon and Xav's prescription for helping him bring his two spirits into alignment.

"I've got nothing but respect for Xav, you know that I do," I said, "but does he really think that Simon could become another Cromwell if he doesn't learn to like taking a dick up his ass?"

"I don't think that's what he means," Drew laughed, "but yeah that was my first reaction too. You know how Xav is. He sees the spirit world more clearly than the mundane world half the time. He's talking about the relationship between the wolf spirit and the human spirit. If they feed only the bad part of each other, it will damage both spirits."

I shook my head, trying to wrap my brain around it. "It still doesn't make sense to me," I said. "I don't see how topping is feeding the bad part of the wolf. I know Xav's about a hundred percent bottom, but it doesn't make sense to me to call bottoming good and topping bad."

"To me either," Drew admitted. "He told me that he prefers the terms dominance and acceptance. It's not that topping is bad. But it is an expression of dominance, unless you're doing it with Zeno of course. Every time I topped him, it still felt like he was in charge and showing dominance by taking me inside him. And I have no idea how he did that. It's the dominance that's out of balance in a man like Cromwell. Xav said he mistakes dominating others for leadership. He thinks that Simon needs to tone down his dominance before it leads him down the same path."

I thought about it for a minute and let it settle in. "Okay," I said. "I'll put him on an exercise program. That should help feed his wolf in a neutral way. And I'll give him a talking to if he can't follow Xav's rules, but unless he's expecting me to put him in chastity, I can't track him around campus to see if he can follow the rules."

Drew agreed with me and then he said, "Xav wants a war council at his house this afternoon or early evening. I want you to tell Meghan and I'll tell Dawn. Cromwell never included the female alphas in his councils, but we're going to – every time."

"Sure thing," I said, "but I'm going to have to take Benjy too unless I can find a sitter. I don't like leaving him alone. Maybe we can take some of the beta boys and they can play ball in the backyard or something."

"We can do that," Drew said, "but I'm not sure Benjy's a beta. No offense to your boy, but he's in a category all his own. Will he play with the other boys without trying to suck their dicks?"

I shook my head. "I never know what that boy will do, but I'll tell you what… If you keep talking up Zeno like you do, I'm going to have to check him out for myself when he gets here, even if you are obsessed with him."

"That's up to him," Drew shrugged. "He's an alpha and no one tells him what to do."

 

Simon

Today sucked. First Xav told me not to have sex until tomorrow when it would be okay so long as I bottomed. Fine. I owed Drew a shot at my ass, so that wasn't a problem. Then Darren had told me to meet him at the track for a run. I hated sports and exercise in general. I was blessed with a naturally slender and fit body.

I had some knit shorts for sleeping, so I wore those. I wouldn't have had those if my moms hadn't insisted. I usually slept naked. I had a t-shirt I could wear, and I put on my one pair of athletic shoes. When Darren showed up, he was wearing sweatpants, a t-shirt, and athletic shoes. This should be a fun run. Darren looked out of shape, with his belly bulging over his sweats.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"I'm ready if you are," I replied. "You want to race?"

He chuckled at me and said, "We're here to feed your wolf with neutral energy, so we're not going to compete. We're going to run around this track for one hour. If you run more laps than me, good for you. I don't care whether you do more laps than me or not, but you'd better not do less than me."

He took off jogging and I kept pace with him. He wasn't fast. "I have to ask you a question, Darren," I said. "I'm not trying to be insulting, but you're a strong guy. Why do you carry that extra weight around the middle?"

"Two reasons mainly," he replied. "Not all of us are blessed with good genes, boy, and I like beer."

Maybe I was feeling mean because I was upset over all this intrusion into my life, but I couldn't let it go. "Wouldn't it be easier to chase down a hunter if you didn't have that extra weight, or even to run away for that matter?"

"I don't usually run away from a fight," he said. Then he stooped down and picked up a rock. "See that joint where the cross beams come together in the goal posts?"

He threw the rock and it slammed right on the joint. "You don't have to outrun someone to catch them in a chase."

He jogged on a little more. Without breaking his stride, he said, "You can't make me mad enough to compete with you right now. When I heard what Xav had to say, I'm ashamed to say that I doubted him. But seeing you trying to goad me into a contest, I can see what he meant. You're trying to show dominance over me, but it isn't going to work. If I ever have reason to take you down a peg, you'll know it."

I could have run faster than him, but it wouldn't prove anything. In the end, I was the one who got fatigued. Darren was out of shape, but he had a lot more endurance than I had. We ran for another fifteen minutes after I was ready to quit.

Darren clapped me on the back and said, "Good job there at the end. If you're ready to stop feeling put upon because you aren't getting your own way, there's a war council tonight at 7:00 p.m. at Xav's place. If you can be an alpha and step up as a leader, you're included. Meet up with Drew in your room no later than 6:30.

I’d been properly shamed. Something inside had been driving me to test myself against Darren, to challenge his alpha spirit and establish myself. It had taken a lot of willpower to force that inner voice to back down.  I felt a little guilty that I'd been trying to undermine Darren and show him up. He’d never been anything but kind to me.

I said, "Yes, sir. I want to do it, sir."

 

Darren

Simon was being a little shit today. I had to ask Xav if it would teach some "acceptance" if I hauled him out into the woods and beat the crap out of him. But I knew he was outside his comfort zone. From what I could tell, reading between the lines of what he'd told us, his moms had let him do whatever he wanted. When he decided to become sexually active, they gave him some condoms and told him to be careful. He'd even been allowed to have sleepovers with boys in high school. He was a good student, so they never had to ride him about doing homework. They had enough money that they could buy him whatever he wanted. He hadn't even done any chores at home except load a dishwasher during the day because his mom Tina was a mage and used magic to keep things clean.

Now he was in college, and he was being handed rules about his personal behavior he'd never had to deal with before. I got it. It was an adjustment for him. But he had been working to gain dominance on me this afternoon. I could see what Xav was talking about. He did equate being an alpha with getting what he wants. This pack had been down that road before, and we couldn't afford to do it again. I didn't always understand Drew, and especially not Xav, but I felt that they had a better vision for the pack, and I was going to do whatever I could to support them.

 

Drew

It took a while to arrange a time everyone could be at Xav's house, but we'd decided to hold our council tonight, at 7:00 p.m. I'd invited some of the beta boys to come along, not to the council, but to the gathering. It wasn't just for Benjy. Xav wanted Ethan to be there too, but he couldn't sit in on our councils. I think Xav wanted to convince him to study spirit magic with him instead of studying with the mages.

Not that there was much chance Ethan would stay with the pack long term. Xav could be as ecumenical and tolerant as he wanted, regarding inter tribal spiritualism, but the betas would not approve of a non skinchanger learning our secrets. And then there was Sebastian. He insisted on coming to watch Xav try and summon Ethan's mother. There was no doubt in my mind that he would convince Ethan to go back with him. And honestly, I felt it was for the best. I was not going to allow anyone to turn Ethan and he wouldn’t be safe around the werewolves if I didn’t. He was young and small. He’d be weak and need protection. Half the guys here would be trying to make him their gamma within a few days. That was one of the problems with werewolf mundane relations - or with werewolf-mage relations for that matter.

The worst news had been when Darren called and told me that he may be late. I was counting on him to drive some of the beta boys. He had something to do with Jason because Kieran was in trouble. I knew that he'd be useless to me so long as he thought Kieran was in danger, so what could I say. I kept hoping that Benjy would help Darren get the red-headed twink out of his system, but it hadn't happened yet.

I was going to ride over with Sebastian for the ritual, then drive back here in time to meet the group in my room. All the alphas were going to be there. The beta boys would be Benjy Gold, Conor Tighe and Kevin McNeil. Ethan would be safe around them. Conor was the one who’d brought that illegal hunt to our attention in the first place, and Kevin was… he was kind of a boy scout. Then Meghan insisted that we bring Chloe Bartok, Vicky Garcia and Tammy McNeil (Kevin's older sister) because it shouldn't just be the boys who get in on the fun. I had no objection to any of them. Not only had Dawn vouched for their behavior, but Vicky would likely take Ethan under her wing. Although she was the one who went to town on Kyle with her giant dildo that night in the clearing, she was always protective towards the more vulnerable of her fellow betas. It was almost surprising she hadn’t begun transitioning into an Alpha, given her behaviors. And she had nothing to distract her from babysitting Ethan since her boyfriend Hugh had a study group he couldn’t get out of on short notice.

Dawn promised to pick up some steaks and stuff for us to eat. She made it clear that the beta boys could do the cooking and the cleanup while the girls set up for a volleyball game they could all play while we were conferencing. If the girls were planning any other kind of games, they were probably out of luck. And particularly Tammy as her brother would be the only other straight guy there. Unless they were happy to share Kevin, who would definitely be up for that. Conor was gay and Benjy was... well, Benjy.

"Are you ready, Drew?" Sebastian asked. He was rocking his nerdy professor look this afternoon, with his plaid shirt and tweed jacket with the patches on the sleeves. His shirt hung over the black jeans he was wearing, and he had brown deck shoes with no socks. He even wore glasses, though I didn't think he needed them. They were probably magical. He had his arm around Ethan's shoulder like they were on a date, or maybe he was trying to keep me from sinking my teeth into him.

Ethan was dressed in a blue muscle shirt with the phrase Beach Bum on it in dark gold letters written under a beach and a setting sun and he had a thin shirt in pale salmon color unbuttoned over it. He wore white shorts that came about four inches above his knees and a pair of deck shoes like Sebastian.

"I'm ready, if you are," I said and followed them down to Sebastian's car.

He drove a blue VW ID4. I sat up front and Ethan took the back. The car made no noise when he started it. "Electric or Numina-driven?" I asked.

He smiled and said, "It never needs recharging."

Of course, Sebastian had the nerd car, and of course he was a very careful driver. His car had all the latest bells and whistles, including GPS so he had no trouble finding Xav's house. It was strange that no one else was there. Usually someone was doing some maintenance for him, but today the only vehicle was the pickup truck that I shared with Xav.

When Xav saw that Sebastian and Ethan were with me, he volunteered to show them the back yard where he would be doing the summons. As he passed, he whispered to me, "Go into my bedroom and take a look around."

When they had gone around back, I opened the door to Xav's bedroom and saw that there was someone in the bed. Dark hair and fair skin, a muscular back and a round butt that the sheets were clinging to. I took a deep breath and borrowed my wolf's olfactory senses. I recognized that smell. I closed the door carefully to make no sound, then kicked off my shoes and lay down next to him. I gently brushed the hair back from his face and his light gray eyes opened and looked at me. He rolled over on his back and smiled, and I threw myself at him and sucked his full lips into my mouth. He responded with enthusiasm. We kissed for an eternity in the next five minutes, then I pulled back and said, "Where the heck have you been, Zeno? I've needed you these last few weeks."

"Shh," he said, putting a finger to my lips. "Let me tell everyone tonight when we're together so I don't have to tell the tale repeatedly. Let me just say that I almost didn't make it. I bring news that will scare the betas, and I also bring some potential packmates."

I ripped the sheet off him and took in his body. He had two unhealed wounds in his shoulder. Both looked like the furrows from bullets. "Silver?" I asked.

He nodded and pressed his hand against my erection through my pants. I was glad I was wearing a jock because I needed the extra support to keep me contained. I stroked his eight inches a few times and then let my finger slide down to his butt.

He put his hands on my wrists and said, "I'm not that clean yet, and I want you as badly as you want me. But we've got company out there. And I must get out to Wolf House tonight. I need to take my new friends and find them rooms, and Xav says that he needs me out there ASAP. Apparently things are falling apart. We must wait unless you want to join me out there tonight?"

"Shit!" I exclaimed. "I can't spend the night away unless I arrange for someone to keep a guard. We've got watchers on campus."

He grabbed my face and pulled me down for another kiss. "I've been without a good fuck for too long, Drew," he said. "I've been traveling with two women and three beta boys, one a total bottom and the other two versatile, but not aggressive enough. I need another alpha to wrestle with. Can Dawn watch everything tonight? She couldn't have lost her edge."

He was squeezing my cock while we talked, and I was ready to shoot off in my pants. "You want me to ask my girlfriend to do my job so I can go to Wolf House and fuck her brother tonight?"

"Fuck yeah," he said. "You were mine before you were hers."

"You two could share me," I mumbled against his chest. He had stubble so I knew he hadn't shaved in a while.

"Not tonight," he replied. "I'll fuck you later, but tonight I want you inside me. You're a stud, but you can't fuck both of us at once. Either one of us can drain you dry."

"Let's talk later," I said. "I can't stay in here too long. Check under the cabinet in Xav's room. He'll have some extra unopened douches. I make him have ‘The Talk’ with all the boys when they decide to try bottoming. It gives him something to do that isn't spiritual. Also it might be best to keep your people under wraps until after the summoning this afternoon. Once we have everyone out of here except for pack members, we can bring them out."

We kissed for another eternity, then I left him to go find Xav. He was smiling at me when I came outside, walking a little funny because I couldn't get my erection under control. It had been more than three months since I'd seen Zeno and he still made me feel powerful and energized every time I smelled him. Spirits! What would I do while I was attending law school? Luckily it wasn't that far to drive from Athens to Severan College.

Xav, Sebastian and Ethan were standing around a low bronze brazier and Xav had just finished arranging the wood. "We can perform the ritual at any time," he said. "If I can't get a response tonight, we'll try again."

Sebastian seemed intrigued by the ritual. "You're going to do this summons using wood, incense, and chanting?" he asked. "You don't have any musical tones or prepared magical vessels or instruments? And you're going to do it alone?"

"I like to keep it simple," Xav said. "I'll call and the spirit will respond, or she won't. I'm not trying to bind her. This is a simple calling. And I never cast alone."

For a moment, there was an image of a massive wolf superimposed over my slender brother. It could barely be seen, but its power radiated over us all. I barely resisted an urge to prostrate myself and Sebastian seemed taken aback. He'd never seen Xav perform real magic, just occasionally whispering commands to spirits he had bound already.

"Do you want me to try now, Ethan?" he asked.

The boy seemed unsure, but he nodded slowly. "If what you say is true," he said, "I need to know."

Xav said that he needed some of Ethan's hair. When the boy agreed, he took out a knife and cut a lock of hair from his head. He worked the hair into three small resinous balls he'd prepared earlier, then he sat them in a silver bowl.

"Can I have three drops of your blood to activate the incense?" he asked gently. Ethan sighed and then nodded. Xav took his knife and pricked the boys' finger. He squeezed one drop of blood onto each piece of homemade incense he'd prepared.

He directed us to stand back, then he stripped out of his clothes. Xav always preferred to perform major magic while naked. He said it made him unite more easily with the spirit world. Sebastian wasn't objecting. He had his eyes fixed on Xav's body. I had to admit that his body was fine and in secret I could admit that he was much more handsome than me, with his deep blue eyes and long golden lashes. He was also my brother, so I tried not to think along those lines. I told myself that I was still hard from smelling Zeno earlier, not from seeing my brother's naked body.

I led Sebastian back to sit next to me on the ground, while Xav whispered to Ethan. They appeared to be in deep conversation, and when they stopped, Ethan removed his clothing as well and stood next to my brother. Sebastian and I had the best seats in town right now.

Xav placed the silver plate onto the fire and began to hum and sway. Ethan seemed hesitant, but he let Xav take him by the hand and the two of them swayed to a tune that came only from somewhere in my brother's throat. The smoke from the incense began to rise into the air and Xav began chanting in a language I didn't know. From the look on Sebastian's face, I took it that he didn't know either. I could only make out two words. One of them was clearly Ethan, and the other sounded like see-oolp-ha. The stress was on the middle syllable and the first was so short that I could barely hear the ee.

The incense became thicker and more pungent, and the chanting began to resonate in my head. Then the strangest thing happened. The silvery marks on Ethan's body flared into light and his hair began to stand on end as if by static electricity. The clouds grew thicker and darker, and the wind began to howl, but it never extinguished the fire. I could see shapes in the clouds, like nebulous horses, then a whirlwind that played across the grass before becoming solid. It was a young woman, with long windblown hair and flashing eyes. She was naked, except for a rectangular cloth that was wrapped haphazardly around her body, covering her breasts and her sex, but leaving everything else bare.

She spoke to Ethan, but I could barely hear anything over the noise the air spirits were making. It was like trying to hear inside of a tornado. So I extended my wolf senses. Still, I could barely hear her. "... sorry my child ... trapped too long ... had to take the chance when ... can't return ... too painful to be solid for long ... the best thing that had happened to me while ... Cromwell ... returned the shawl ... payment ... so sorry ... tears for you ... none for your father."

Then she was gone. Ethan's markings began to fade, and his hair settled down. Xav took him in his arms and held him while he cried.

"Xav was right," Sebastian said. "She was a sylph. And it sounded like she sold out her husband to Cromwell so he would set her free. Poor kid."

Before I could say anything, Sebastian rose and walked over to put a hand on Ethan's shoulder. Xav let him go reluctantly, then put out the fire by calling forth a small deluge of rain just over the brazier. Sebastian flicked his wand and Ethan's clothes flew back onto him. How they managed to get on him while he was standing on the ground, wrapped in Sebastian's arms, I'll never know.

"I'm taking this boy to dinner," Sebastian said. "Then I'm going to make sure he can rest comfortably."

His tone said that he wasn't open to an argument, and I didn't try to make one. I was a little jealous that Ethan wouldn't be sleeping in my arms again tonight, but then I remembered that I was going to have Zeno if I could arrange it. I didn't need a twink, no matter how pretty he was, if I was going to be with a sexy man like Zeno.

**********

I had to drive back to campus and get ready to meet everyone for our dinner tonight. Darren made it back just before we left, to everyone's relief, because Benjy was frantic. He knew that Darren had gone with Jason and that there was going to be a fight and he'd been worried sick. I could tell that Simon had almost been pushed beyond his limits trying his best to look after Benjy. Despite his recent emotional outbursts, he was amazingly patient with the hyperactive beta.

That meant that Darren could drive Benjy and Kevin and I could allow Simon a much needed break and give him and Conor a ride. The girls had their own arrangements,as they so often did. In reality, most larger wolf packs operated as two parallel packs that worked together when necessary.

We were unloading back at Xav's house. Well, Meghan and Vicky were carrying the cooler with the food in it. Dawn had another couple of bags of food and Kevin, Conor and Tammy were unloading the volleyball net. I could hear Kevin and Tammy arguing good-naturedly like siblings always do. "I am not gay," Kevin was saying. "You try riding all the way here with a hyperactive, oversexed twink bouncing on your dick."

I didn't hear everything she said back to him, but it was clear that she knew how to press his buttons without really making him mad. He was a good-looking guy in his way. Not handsome, but nothing to sneeze at. His sister was the same. They were both about five foot ten inches tall, which made her tall for a woman and him average for a man, and they were both muscular from playing sports. Conor was the extra wheel in that conversation.

I heard Dawn squeal from inside the house and I knew that she must have seen her brother. I walked in next to Simon, and Darren tried his best to walk with Benjy hanging on his side. "How did it go?" I asked him as he walked through the door.

"Kieran's alright," he said. "Jason acts like he's made some sort of important breakthrough and told him how proud he was of him. I was getting the full show, with all the kissing and everything, but I kept thinking that I had all I could handle with this one."

He patted Benjy on the back and kissed him on the top of the head. And as if the crown of his head was a start button, Benjy jumped up and wrapped his arms and legs around Darren so he could kiss him all over his face. That boy was cute as hell, but for about the fiftieth time in the couple of weeks I knew him, I was glad that Benjy wasn’t my responsibility. Darren, on the other hand, seemed pleased. He wrestled Benjy onto his shoulders and let him ride into the house that way.

We just socialized while dinner was being prepared. Kevin claimed to be a grill master, so he cooked the steaks while Conor set the table. Vicky supervised Benjy and Chloe getting the rolls in the oven to be heated and preparing a salad for dinner. It wasn't hard because they'd bought bagged salad at the grocery, so she let Benjy do it.

Kevin was good and the steaks were done to order. Everyone wanted rare or medium rare. We all allowed ourselves a beer with dinner except for Benjy. Darren made him drink apple juice. During dinner we met Zeno's three friends. They were all from Middlebourne, West Virginia, but they wouldn't tell their story during dinner. Drew said it would wait until after dinner while the betas were playing volleyball.

Naomi Bentley and Inga Martinez were alphas. Both had olive skin tone, but Naomi's skin was a little fairer. Both had brown hair and brown eyes, but they didn't look alike. Inga had rounder features and a more womanly build, with larger breasts and hips. Naomi had sharper features and was thinner.

The boys were all betas. Samuel Martinez, usually known as Sammy, was Inga's brother. He was twenty-four years old, just two years younger than her. His skin was a little darker than Inga's and his features a little less rounded. His face was of average appearance, but when he stripped off his shirt to play volleyball, his body was ripped. Ivan Kovacs was still suffering from a wound from a silver bullet and couldn't play volleyball, but he sat around with no shirt on anyway. He had broad shoulders, light skin, and golden red hair. On top of his head, it was an unruly mop, but on his body it formed a light dusting. He wasn't as ripped as Sammy, but he had more muscle mass. He was only twenty years old. Chase Morris was the third guy, and he didn't look old enough to live apart from his parents. His driver's license said he would turn eighteen that month, but he looked like a high school freshman with long black hair that hung over his eyes and pale skin. He had thin arms and a thin chest without much definition, but his face was pretty, real pretty.

We sat in the dining room, and we could see the betas playing volleyball. They played modified beach volleyball where two players were in play at any given time and the others rotated in during play. One team was Chase, Sammy, Kevin, and Conor. The other team was Vicky, Tammy, Chloe, and Benjy. Chase and Benjy were both enthusiastic but terrible players. Kevin and Conor were the best players on the first team; Vicky and Tammy were the best players on the second team. In the end the second team won three games out of five.

While they were playing the game, we held our conference. Around the table sat all the alphas of the Severan pack. In addition to myself, there was Xav, Darren, Simon, Zeno, Dawn, and Meghan. The two Middlebourne alphas were also there, Naomi and Inga.

After introductions, I said, "Zeno, tell us what's happened to you since last year."

Zeno stood up and began to speak. "It began last summer back home in New Jersey, spending a little time on the beach and relaxing, but then Dawn gave me some bad news. Some werewolves we'd known since childhood had disappeared. We investigated it and discovered that they'd all disappeared at once, so we went to their spirit grove – it's New Jersey, so the grove was on a private farm – and we found that it had been hit by gunmen. The bodies were gone, but there were a few silver bullets lodged in the trees. While we were finishing our investigation, four gunmen showed up. They were quiet, but I could smell onion and skunk oil on the wind. I don't have to tell you that this is a common mixture hunters use to try and throw us off the scent. It doesn't work, but they keep doing it anyway.

"Anyway, we got them before they got us. We had to get rid of the bodies ourselves since the local cleanup crew was also missing. But we were able to trace them back to a truck parked up the road. Then we were able to piece together enough clues to find the motel they were using, and we found a map with several red spots made with a marker. I realized that two of them represented places where I knew there were shifter packs. Dawn and I drove around and checked those two out. We couldn't find any sign of the wolves.

"Whoever these hunters were, they had very good information, so good that we immediately assumed mages were involved. Dawn came back to school while I tracked down some of the other places marked on the list. Because the college is swarming with mages, Dawn and I agreed to tell no one about the murders except for other werewolves. Dawn touched base with a couple of packs we knew who weren't on this map on her way back to school. Word is spreading slowly. We're not organized like the mages and the vampires.

"I followed a trail of dead packs across Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Then I made it to Middlebourne. I was too late to stop the murders, but I found some survivors. I couldn't leave them behind, so I told them I'd lead them to safety here. On the way, Naomi and I took the opportunity to kill a couple of the hunters by lying in wait for them. They almost killed us that time, so we held back after that and just made our way here as fast as we could. But the one I bit in the woods had a faint trace of vampire blood in his system. So, unless the mages and the vampires are working together, it's not the mages moving against us."

We were stunned for a moment trying to put it all together. "It's not the mages," I said. "They keep the peace with the vampires because they're too powerful to fight openly, but they hate them in ways they've never hated us."

Zeno shook his head. "I think you're probably right this time, Drew, but you're too trusting of them. Don’t get me wrong, I like Sebastian too, but not all mages are like him. If we were just talking Sebastian and Clarissa, and even Dr. Thorne, I'd agree with you, but their leaders have tried to kill our people or put us on leashes for centuries."

I threw up my hands. "I get it," I said, "You don't trust mages; you don't trust anyone who's not a werewolf, but we're agreed that the mages aren't behind this."

Zeno laughed. "You make me out to be a bigot," he said. "I don't even trust werewolves, as a group. I trust some mages, but I don't trust them as a group. I'm anti-establishmentarian. That said, we probably will need to bring Dr. Thorne and her trusted sidekicks in on this one. I don't think we can handle it alone."

We talked for a little longer. Inga and Naomi requested membership to our pack as probationary members, along with the three betas they brought with them. We were going to find them rooms at Wolf House tonight. Xav agreed to drop us off, even though the Middlebourne skinchangers would have to ride in the back. The others would squeeze into Darren, Meghan, and Dawn's vehicles.

As we were preparing to leave, Dawn pulled me aside. "I'm going to take it out of your hide, Janowski," she said. "First you don't tell me that my brother's still alive, then you run off to sleep with him on his first night back, so I can't catch up with him, and I can't have my wicked way with you."

She kissed me and grabbed my cock through my pants. "I know this is for him tonight, but I'm going to collect my fair share, Janowski. God, I love watching you with other guys. If Zeno weren't my brother, I'd make you tape it for me."

She kissed me again. "Go ahead and have fun and treat Zeno right. You've had me and Simon both in the last week and he's been alone for a few weeks. I can tell when he's too horny to think straight."

"I don't deserve you, Dawn," I said with another kiss.

She slapped my ass and replied, "Don't ever forget it, Janowski."

**********

Xav drove us back to Wolf House, and Zeno couldn't keep his hands off me. He sensed how excited I was, so he avoided my dick. He pinched my nipples and bit my neck. Xav tried to ignore us, but I could see him watching out of the corner of his eye, with a smile on his face. He'd always liked Zeno, the only other alpha bottom he knew.

The other wolves at Wolf House seemed excited to see Zeno again and happy that I was paying a visit, even though it was late at night. We put the Middlebourne refugees in guest apartments. Sammy made sure that Chase was sharing with him and Ivan. I heard him mumbling, “no one’s going to bother him at night if I’m there.” We'd offered for him to stay with Xav, but he was anxious not to be separated from people he knew. Zeno told him he could bunk with him on nights I wasn't staying over, but he refused. I'd have to talk to Chase again. He was an easy target for some of the predators around here, and he was underage.

Finally, Zeno and I were alone in his room. We'd saved the master bedroom for him. We kissed gently as we closed the door, then Zeno said, "Fuck this vanilla shit, Janowski!"

He pulled my shirt off over my head and shoved me back onto the bed. Then he grabbed my shoes and pulled them off, tossing them over his shoulder. My shorts were next. He'd stripped me down to my jock in a few seconds. "Looking good, Janowski," he said, dropping onto the bed and biting my cock through the jock with just the right amount of pain.

"Damn, boy, it's like you came here planning to get topped," he said, snapping the straps on my jock. "Maybe later, but that's not what I want right now."

He pulled my jock down, exposing my hard cock. It was red and throbbing from excitement. Then he pulled the straps down my legs and threw them across the room. "Cat got your tongue, Janowski?" he growled.

"How can I say anything, Zeno?" I retorted. "You won't shut up long enough for me to get a word in edgewise."

He fell on me and bit my nipples. I grabbed his hair and pulled on it lightly, too lightly apparently. "Weak ass pussy," he mumbled and moved up to my neck, sucking so hard I knew I was going to have dark hickeys tomorrow.

I pulled his head back sharply by his hair and bit his lips. "That's more like it," he said. "I want you inside me, but nothing bigger than the douche nozzle has been in there in a long time, so you need to eat my ass first."

"Bring it here, bitch, and I'll eat it until you cry," I said.

Zeno turned around and sat on my face. I could breathe through my nose, but my mouth was covered by his sweet stubbly ass. He usually kept himself shaved, but it must have been a month or so since the last time he'd had the time. I licked his crack, taking my time when I crossed his hole. Zeno tasted masculine and musky. He was the one who'd taught me to eat ass, and his was still my favorite. I tongued his hole until it began to relax. Then I could really dig in deep. He was so warm and silky inside that it was like having dessert. His pucker relaxed completely, but I didn't stop. He was ready but I was enjoying his butt so much that even fucking him could wait.

Meanwhile, Zeno was vacillating between pinching and twisting my nipples and playing with my balls. He wasn't gentle, but he knew just how rough he could be. I could tell how much he was enjoying it because his muscular thighs were squeezing my head.

Then he got up and lay back on the bed. He slapped my abdomen. "What are you waiting for?" he said. "I've been fighting off hunters for weeks. I'm tired. You do the work. Get down there and fuck the cum out of me."

I slid down between his muscular thighs and lifted his legs, pressing them back against his chest. I lined up my cock and pressed it into him. He was an expert at taking cock, so he was able to take me without resistance. "I'm not going to last very long, Zeno. You've got me too excited," I said.

He looked up at me and said, "No way, Janowski! You don't cum until I do. You hear me? You fuck me hard, and you don't cum until I say so."

"Yes, sir!" I said, trying to hold back. I fucked him until I was ready to blow then I pulled out and let the feeling subside. Then I plunged inside him again and picked up the rhythm. I followed this cycle five or six times, until Zeno started to tremble beneath me.

"I'm going to cum!" he shouted. Then he did. His cock spewed a dozen loads onto his chest, and his ass clamped on mine so tight that I exploded with one squeeze. We lay there, locked together while our cocks pumped the last drops.

"You're still good at that, Janowski," he said. Now give me your cock so I can get those last few drops."

I turned around and knelt over him so he could suck my cock clean. I licked all his cum off his abdomen and then took his cock in my mouth. Once we were both clean, I threw myself down beside him and put my arm around his chest. "I needed you, Zeno," I said.

"Of course you did, and I needed you," he said. "I love you and you love me. I know it; you know it; and Dawn knows it. I don't care if you love her too, but don't try to pretend that you don't love me. Say it, bitch."

I kissed him again. "I love you too, you slutty bottom boy."

We made out for a while, then went for round two. Later there was a round three. While I was playing big spoon to his little spoon, he kissed my fingers and said, "You'd better clean your ass out next time because we're flipping between rounds. There's something about you that makes me want to top. Not all the time, maybe one in five times."

I nibbled his ear and said, "You're the only one who makes me want to bottom, so we're each a bad influence on each other."

We fell asleep wrapped naked around each other.

---

You can read each story in The Concordium Cycle independently, or you can follow the author's preferred reading order that will blend the stories together. The next chapter in the author's preferred reading order is Magery 1.

Special Thanks to my editor [email protected].