Chapter Fifteen – The Alpha Who Smelled Too Good
"Seriously," Jack mumbled under his breath, "just leave the hard work to the small guy." After his little tantrum from earlier when he had almost caught Theodore and Vince in the act trying to have fun without him – probably – the tough CEO-slash-alpha had warned him that the nights were chilly and if he didn't move his ass to carry enough firewood inside, Jack would be on his own when it came to getting warm at night.
Two log chunks. That was the maximum weight he could carry at a time and, even so, he struggled. He groaned, wobbling under the weight of the two split logs and muttering curses under his breath.
"No one here sees me for my delicate self," he continued his self-pitying speech. "This is so barbaric. I was only made for shuffling cards and telling the future."
By the time he had managed to drag the load inside, his hair was plastered to his forehead and his hoodie was askew. The hearth loomed in front of him, dark and cold, mocking him with its unlit emptiness.
"You and me both," Jack said. "We could both use a bit of warmth in our lives."
Since he'd started living alone, he'd gotten into the habit of talking to himself. It made the loneliness feel… well, less lonely. Talking to inanimate objects usually did the trick.
He crouched by the hearth and began stacking the split logs. For a moment, he admired his handiwork and adjusted the position of the logs so they looked pretty, like in pictures. Now, since it would probably take a while for the hearth to do its job, Jack needed to fulfill his lumberjack cosplay by lighting up the fire.
Oh, goodie, he thought, excited by the mere idea of doing stuff people from Glasstone never even thought of doing. No one had to make a fire there. But here, Jack, the city boy, would do it.
How hard could it be? He rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie, a procedure that took a good minute, and set himself to work. A bit of crumpled paper would go in there… and then lighting up a match should do it…
The little flame he managed to produce fizzled and died out in under ten seconds.
"Oh, great. Do I have the time to start learning wilderness skills? I wonder if there's Internet service here." He began searching his pockets for his phone.
"Who are you trying to contact?"
Jack turned at the angry snarl that accompanied those words, holding his phone and looking guilty for absolutely no reason.
"Hey," he said, pushing himself up to face the dangerous alpha who smelled too good, "you left me in charge of the fire while you got to do all the fun stuff."
Theodore grunted a non-reply and walked over. He pushed Jack away and began fiddling with the logs. Jack leaned forward to watch over Theodore's shoulder. His large, beautiful hands worked quickly, rearranging the logs.
"Are you watching what I'm doing?" Theodore asked in his usual terse voice.
"Yeah. Are you going to use magic? Because I don't see how you'll get that to burn."
"I will not use magic. If you ever intend to stop being useless, pay close attention. You never stack them like this," Theodore explained. "You need to leave spaces for airflow. Next, you need kindling." He added several thin sticks.
Jack watched in fascination as Theodore lit a match. The fire took quickly, making a nice, crackling sound that Jack had heard before in sleep-inducing videos online.
"Wow, it is magic," he whispered.
Theodore turned his head to look at him. Jack only then realized that their faces were really close in this position. He could stare at the mighty Theodore Pembroke right now and he did so shamelessly. That bone structure was to die for; if he ever gave up on being annoying and broody all the time, Theo could seriously go for a career in modelling.
Jack bit his bottom lip as his eyes fell to Theodore's lips. Firm lips, so used to spewing angry retorts, but still so beautiful. If he leaned over just a little bit.
"What do you think you're doing?" the alpha growled, dispelling the magic happening in Jack's brain.
"You have something on your face," Jack said quickly and pulled away.
Wow, wow, wow, he really needed to control himself so he didn't end up pouncing on the unaware alpha. Whatever the cards were saying, Jack still needed to rein in his abnormal desires. It didn't matter that Theodore freaking Pembroke looked like he'd just jumped out of a fashion magazine spread.
Jack had been taught better than this. Actually, he had taught himself, but that wasn't important right now.
"That really works," he added, pulling away while Theodore was rubbing his cheeks with a frown on his face. "I mean, is it hot in here or what?"
He needed to get out and fast. For a thing that hadn't been used much in the past, his dick was really doing the thinking for him, and it wasn't funny.
Great. Just another layer of difficulty in dealing with life on a daily basis, as if Jack needed it.
***
Vince watched from the door, barely holding in a smile. So, Theodore was fighting the attraction he felt toward his fated mates – he couldn't use any other term to describe himself and Jack – and Jack was doing the same, although both for different reasons.
It was entertaining to watch the two dance around each other, but Vince couldn't help wondering if they would manage to work out their differences by the time their bond was required. Once they reached the mystical world beyond the veil, it was important that they were bonded.
That meant he had his work cut out for himself, too. He was the only one who had no qualms about getting it on with both guys, but at the same time, he understood perfectly why Jack and Theodore had their fair share of hang-ups. Jack, for all his sunshine and rainbows personality, had wounds and scars that weren't visible to the naked eye. Vince intended to wait patiently for the cute clairvoyant to open up to him, all in his own time.
Theodore, on the other hand, had to be even more miserable. He had reluctantly agreed that there was a chance for him to rebuild his pack, but, at the same time, he was opposed to the idea, preparing instead for revenge. For him, bonding wasn't mere sex; it was the kind of connection that only other shapeshifters could understand completely.
And, of course, there was the growing sexual tension between them that was on the verge of blowing up in everyone's faces if it went unresolved for too long. Vince intended to appeal to Theodore's logical side if physical teasing wasn't enough to help him take steps in the right direction.
He intercepted Jack on his way out. The clairvoyant looked flushed and a bit out of breath.
"Is it my imagination," he whispered, "or were you just looking at Theodore like he was the last slice of a delicious cake?"
Jack, as expected, scoffed in denial. "That fire is too strong. He might burn the house down."
"I will not," Theodore countered from across the room. "And I am not finished with the two of you. You, clairvoyant, will lay down your cards for me to see. And you, guardian, know your place. Without discipline, my mission is doomed to fail."
"Your mission?" Jack protested. "Vee, do something. Theo is a total meanie and thinks we're his employees or something."
"My employees," Theodore said sharply, "would know better than to make things difficult by being incompetent and ignorant of their tasks."
Jack groaned and grabbed Vince's arm to drag him outside. "I don't want to hear another word."
Vince followed but he knew that Theodore was likely to follow right behind them. "We will have to look at the cards together, Jack. And no matter how embarrassing what they say is, you need to tell Theodore the whole truth."
"Fine," Jack admitted. "I will. Just give me a minute."
***
He had asked the annoying field mouse to do this reading, but now that it was happening Theodore couldn't get comfortable. He had tried to sit, but it didn't feel right. Standing had him fidgeting and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. But he settled for that anyway.
Jack had chosen to sit cross-legged directly on the floor, with the cards fanned out before him. Theodore stared at the cards and knew the meaning of the symbols. If this city clairvoyant believed he could fool an alpha about the message the cards conveyed, he'd have to think twice. This wasn't the first time Theodore had his future told.
Also, under his watchful eye, the field mouse wouldn't be able to spew more lies. However, he pretended to be ready to listen, as impatient as he felt, and no matter how much he longed to be anywhere but here.
He paced the room slowly. His eyes were drawn to the curve of Jack's nape, peeking out from under his oversized hoodie with the hood thrown back. It was an enticing sight, and Theodore's body reacted accordingly. Fed up with himself, he chose to move his gaze to the human guardian.
Not that it helped much. Vince was wearing a tight-fitting t-shirt with short sleeves that offered an unimpeded view of his thick, muscular arms. That was a human Theodore could count on, albeit reluctantly.
"Well, here we go," Jack began, clapping his hands once. "No matter what I do, they fall the same way lately. For Ryder, they did change as he made his own choices, and that means that we might also still have a chance to get off the hook from… you know what."
Theodore walked closer. "Explain," he said in an icy tone, pointing at the spread out cards.
Jack gave him a short, reproachful look, but obeyed. "This," he said, picking up a card that showed half a sun, half-obscured on the right by darkness, "is me. Don't ask me how I know. I just know. This clairvoyance thing is tricky. But it's so obviously me. I mean, it's full-blown energy, right? Also, the way I read the cards, they basically point to optimism and a bit of recklessness, two other things that are definitely me. Have you understood me so far, Theo?"
"Yes, continue," Theodore said, giving up on correcting Jack's use of a diminutive when there was nothing diminutive about himself.
Not that Vince wasn't getting the same treatment. And there was nothing diminutive about the human guardian, either.
"And this," Jack explained, touching a card on which half a moon occupied the space of the opposite side of the card from before, "is Vee. Because you know. Cool, level-headed, dependable. Totally him."
"That is all interpretation," Theodore argued, although what the field mouse was saying made perfect sense.
"All life is interpretation," Jack concluded philosophically. "And this is you."
Theodore stopped when he saw the last card Jack considered important for his explanation. It represented a wolf set against a large fire, both symbols enclosed in the shape of a full moon.
Jack's bony hands moved to place that card on top of the other two that met with their dark sides in the middle. The wolf covered that part completely.
"Do you see it now, Theo?" Jack said with a sigh. "It's really not because I want to get into your pants, but the cards are saying that there's simply no other way. We have to create this bond before we reach that world beyond the veil or else—well, we're going to end up as a trio of dudes who have problems staring into each other's eyes because of all the awkwardness."
"What awkwardness?" Theodore asked in an irritated voice.
"You know, in case we do things, but we don't go all the way."
"That's ridiculous," Theodore protested some more.
"Hey, don't shoot the messenger or interpreter or whatever," Jack said. "You wanted the truth. There it is. Vince and I are like celestial besties, and you're the wolf who needs us. And smells so good. Ignore that last part!" Jack covered his face with both his hands and groaned.
"Don't worry. I will," Theodore snapped.
He needed space. He shouldn't have lit the fire so early in the day. How could the two humans tolerate so much heat?
The house usually took a long time to reach a proper livable temperature, the rational part of his brain warned him. But such reasonable explanations came second. Theodore could feel his body taking over.
***
When he returned late in the evening, he could hear the two humans quarrelling over his bed upstairs. He made sure to close the door with a thud, to announce his arrival.
That brought whatever conversation was taking place to a halt.
The field mouse, unaware of what just the sound of his voice could do to a strung-out alpha, began yapping.
"Theo, didn't you think about the fact you have a single bed when you brought us here?"
"It doesn't matter, we will all sleep in it," Vince added, his voice so calm and measured that Theodore felt tempted to believe the truth of his words.
But no, it felt more like a trap.
"You two can have it," he said. "I will take the sofa."
"That's nonsense," Jack protested. "It's like the most used trope in all of romantic fiction."
"What trope?" Theodore asked while proceeding to shed his clothes.
"Well, maybe not the most used, but it's at the top of the list of popular tropes," Jack continued his irrational reasoning. "If there is a single bed, then you shall use it and fall in love. The end."
Theodore felt his skin prickling the more he undressed. The fire gave off a pleasant warm light, and he could use some rest.
"I intend to go to sleep. Do the same, and do not bother me. Tomorrow, make sure that the two of you know the way we're heading. I don't have time for your shenanigans."
"But what about team building?" Jack complained.
"You hated carrying logs," Theodore said matter-of-factly.
"That's true," Vince added. "And there's nothing you can teach me anyway, Theodore. I know how to fight. Do you think I'm a guardian in name only?"
"You two are just strangers to me, regardless of what your silly cards pretend to know. All I need from you is the information required to reach the end of my journey and avenge my pack."
"Hey, Theo's naked!" Jack exclaimed.
Caught up as he had been in exchanging barbs with the humans in his house, he had undressed completely since he preferred to sleep naked. Now there was no way out and putting at least his underwear back on wasn't even an option.
He pulled the blanket from the sofa abruptly. That cramped space would have to do, not that Theodore hadn't slept in much worse conditions before. He dropped down on the sofa and pulled the blanket over himself.
Only to realize that it smelled of cinnamon, which meant that the clairvoyant had spread his scent all over the place.
His cock twitched in recognition of what it wanted. It appeared to be guided by Theodore's wolf, who longed for bonding, too. Neither would get what they wanted. Not tonight. Not ever.
***
His throat was dry, but his skin was covered in sweat. Strange dreams of ice and fire troubled his sleep, and it was hard to brush them off.
But beyond that, his body was betraying him, stretched and taut like a string. Theodore was aware of a need growing inside him, impossible to resist.
Two strong arms caught him as he was about to fall to the floor.
"I've got you," he heard a whisper in his ear that had the unexpected effect of calming him down.
He could also feel a smaller hand running slowly through his hair. "I think it was just a bad dream, Theo," Jack's mellifluous voice reached him. "Come on, you can't sleep alone. We aren't going to let you."
"No," Theodore protested, his voice raw and clipped. "You have no idea what it will mean to have me in bed with you right now."
"Does it mean that you want to get it on with us?" Jack asked.
Not even the cinnamon smell irked him anymore. Instead, it fueled his desire, which was a more dangerous thing to feel.
"It's all right," Jack said, although he didn't sound entirely convinced. "The cards don't say anything about the mechanics of it all, but if it exists, there's naughty content for it, right? So, if other people do it--"
"Field mouse," Theodore growled, "you are too weak to receive the power of an alpha."
Vince was still holding him, and Jack was still caressing his hair.
"Hey, I'll have you know that I'm stronger than I look," Jack protested. "Probably. Also, while it's important for us to do the deed, maybe we can start slow? Slow-ish?" he added, sounding hopeful.
"You can't ask that of me," Theodore growled. "You're safer if you go away. Both of you."
"I'm afraid we can't do that. You see, Theodore," Vince said kindly, "as much as you might think you're the only one affected by this attraction, the truth is you're not. Come to bed with us. We promise to be gentle."
"Speak for yourself," Jack said in a teasing voice that poured like honey into Theodore's ear, making his entire body sing. "I plan on biting a little. My teeth are all tingly."
"Jack," Vince reproached, "don't scare Theodore right now."
What an absurd notion. An alpha didn't get scared so easily. Yet, his entire body was trembling, and he couldn't stop the shivering that had turned into a pleasant frisson that made his mouth water and his cock erect.
"Should we go upstairs?" Vince asked softly, wrapping his rough yet gentle hand around Theodore's manhood.
"Yes," he whispered.
Regrets might come with the morning, but morning was far away.
TBC