Unwilling Ch. 02

'Tell him what?' Harry's mind contemplated, drunk with desire for more. Then he remembered the question.

"No, he--" he began, shivered violently for a second, and finally wrung his arms around Jared's body. "He didn't," he managed breathlessly, and mumbled, "I said I'd ask. If you're an Alpha, that is. It's important. To me. Because of Darwin. His family."

He would have rambled on and on, but Jared stopped his morse-code with a kiss. Jared also didn't try to be shy about it, because just a second after their lips touched he parted his, and his tongue pushed forward to conquer Harry's mouth.

This was nothing like the amusing, lighthearted fumbling Harry had had with Darwin in the past, definitely not. This was a hot, honest-to-god epiphany as to what two men could feel if the roles were clear. Jared's hand brushed up his back, eliciting goosebumps wherever his fingers went. When Jared jerked his hand back down and drew angry red welts on his skin, Harry moaned harshly into the kiss and arched his back in sheer pleasure. Those scratches would be healed within minutes, but having someone use that kind of controlled force on him was a monumental turn-on.

They only stopped kissing when their lips started to hurt.

"What about his family?" Jared purred, nipping the skin beneath Harry's ear. It made the hairs on Harry's arms stand up in salute to the pleasure it brought.

Some part of Harry knew Darwin would kill him if he answered, but it was merely a fleeting thought. "You can save him from them." The words felt like gauze on his tongue, nearly unintelligible with the way his breath raced.

Jared's lips wandered lower, and his tongue licked over the jumping pulse at Harry's neck. When he reached the collar of Harry's shirt he snorted displeased, and grabbed the hem at Harry's back with one hand. In one quick movement Jared peeled him out of the interfering garment, threw it behind him, and went back to nibbling and licking Harry's chest.

"Who does he need saving from?" Jared didn't stop his ministrations while talking, and his lips vibrated against Harry's chest.

"His Al--" Harry began, then groaned harshly, bucking against Jared, whose teeth had clamped down around Harry's nipple, grinding it with a mixture of force and loving carefulness. "Oh, oh, don't stop!"

Jared let go after a moment, licked the over-sensitive skin his teeth had just worried, and mumbled jokingly, "His al-what? Alter ego? Alimony? Algorithm?"

"Alpha." Harry's hands found their way into Jared's hair. He tugged at the short strands, then started a massage Jared would have found very relaxing under other circumstances. But right now Jared was a man on a mission, and Harry's reverie stood in his way.

His hands stroked down Harry's lean flanks and settled above the waistband. "What about his Alpha?" he whispered, then his fingers dug into the denim and traced it to the front, opening the buttons. Jared could feel the strain against Harry's underwear, radiating from the throbbing, hard prick there. Harry's body was begging to be touched, but Jared held back, suspecting Harry wouldn't manage another word as soon as he touched his member. Jared needed answers first.

There was a soft whimper coming from Harry, followed by a few helpless tugs at Jared's hair. "I can't tell you. I promised," he whined desperately, trying to pull Jared closer and push him away at the same time. "Please don't be angry, please! He's my friend, I can't--"

The wailing only stopped when Jared's fingers found their way into Harry's underwear, and wrapped around his dripping cock. It cut off the lament in mid-sentence, and replaced words with breathless moans.

"That's nice. Just the right size." Jared whispered, and licked Harry's cheek. His hand enveloped Harry's cock from behind the tip to the root, making it easy to fondle and knead him with every stroke. The soft white boxer briefs slowly slipped downward, following Jared's forearm until the elastic waistband gave in to the draw and snapped down beneath Harry's balls.

"I understand that you can't tell me details," Jared purred as his hand slowly worked Harry's cock, "But there must be a reason why me being Alpha would be such an important thing."

Harry's arousal was nearly painful in its intensity. Jared's hand was warm, tight, and its movements tormentingly slow. Every attempt on thinking clearly was instantly destroyed by waves of pleasure that left him begging for more, without ever reaching the peak. For a few seconds he tried to wrestle out of his trousers, but Jared kept him pinned into a half-sitting position on the edge of his desk, wedged between his knees and keeping Harry's legs open. It was a lost cause, but one not too important. Finally Harry gave up and wiggled his right hand under Jared's shirt, while his left hand stayed in Jared's hair. His voice sounded strained and raspy when he finally managed to utter, "It is, because you could make him yours, take him away."

~*Jared*~

Harry was easy prey for someone as experienced with one-night-flings as Jared. His body reacted to the slightest touch, and 'shy' definitely wasn't a fitting adjective to describe the writhing mass of lust sitting on Jared's desk. Trembling legs tried to wrap around Jared's hips, and squarish hands alternated between pulling his hair for more and kneading his back to beg for mercy. Jared had never seen such short fingers, but Harry's were also strong and agile, and definitely something to dream about.

Everyone had their own fetish, and Jared liked hands and wrists. The constant hair-tugging and those deft, massaging fingers on his scalp and back were nearly driving him insane, but he didn't have time to relish it. First of all, it was Harry, not Darwin, and secondly, Jared had a purpose, and it wasn't wild and dirty sex in his dorm room.

It was hard enough to get Harry to talk while having to fight the growing urge to just push him backwards and take him, but Jared wasn't going to give up just yet. "Harry, Harry, you're not making any sense," he purred haughtily, and gave Harry's dick a few loving tugs to keep him on edge. He could feel Harry's ball-sac twitching and tightening in anticipation of a speedy eruption, so he clamped down on Harry's cock. No way was Jared gonna let him come without talking first.

Harry's squeak was heartwarming and simply cute. "Please, let me--" he gasped, drawing his nails over Jared's back in distress. "I can't tell you! But you need to save him, take him away. Far, far away from his Alpha. He's gonna kill him." The words were shaky and breathless, but at least this time Harry had actually said something useful. Well, it was more or less not making any sense in the literal way, but it had been a full sentence, with a subject, a predicate, words between and whatnot. Jared relented with a sigh, loosening his grip on Harry's cock and giving him a few hearty strokes.

The result was immediate and explosive. Harry arched his back, nearly pulled Jared onto him in his bliss, and shot three hot, sticky globs of cum onto Jared's hand and shirt. Then he sagged, groaning in spent pleasure, and gasped for air. "Darwin's gonna kill me," he muttered as soon as he got his voice back.

"What? Oh. Don't worry about that," Jared mumbled, absent-mindedly wiping his hand into his own shirt. It was already dirty anyways, and he was too preoccupied to give himself the pleasure of watching the submissive werewolf lick his hand clean.

It took Jared a few seconds to identify the dismay on Harry's face. The poor guy was shivering, pale and on the verge of tears, but somehow Jared didn't think it was because of what he had done. He very nearly dismissed the matter, when Harry's voice broke the thoughtful silence. "He's never gonna talk to me again if he finds out." He sounded so hopeless and distressed.

Sighing, Jared leaned forward and hugged Harry to his chest. If Harry went to see Darwin in this condition, bad things were going to happen, and not just to their friendship. Jared had to at least try to ease Harry's mind.

"He won't find out, okay? Just tell him--" Jared rubbed Harry's back, digging through his memory to find something useful, then it hit him. "You'll tell him I'm an Alpha, and he'll be so giddy and excited he won't even ask why you're smelling like me."

When Jared loosened the hug Harry still had a doubtful expression on his rascally, southern face, but he didn't look like he was going to have a nervous breakdown anymore. His chocolate brown eyes even lit up a bit when he studied Jared's face. "So I was right? You're an Alpha?"

Jared bared his teeth at that question, even though Harry shrank at the dominant, aggressive expression. Jared didn't see the good in his birthright, and he hated talking about it, or even admitting it.

When his family had discovered, that not only one, but two of their three sons had been born as Alphas, they had thought about giving Jared away for adoption, knowing what kind of danger their sons would pose to each other, once they'd hit puberty. But somehow they had managed to raise them without incident, getting them to love each other in spite of nature's demands. Their family even had survived Tobias' ascension to Alpha of the pack, when their late Alpha had stepped down.

However, one could bend nature only so far before it snapped back to its well-known ways. As soon as Jared had hit his eighteenth birthday, things had gone downhill. Accepting another Alpha in his lands had cost Tobias respect in his own pack and had made him edgy and aggressive. Jared couldn't count the numbers of brawls he had had with his brother in the last year, and even though Tobias had gone out of his way in his efforts to not kill Jared, it had gotten worse and worse. When an attempted coup against Tobias by some of their pack members had been exposed, he had snapped. Jared was to leave his lands in the next fourty-eight hours, or they would fight to the death.

His mother had begged Jared to stay, to just submit to Tobias and his dominance, but again it had been nature that had kept him from doing so. He had packed his belongings, stuffed his little Beetle with his goods and driven off to a new life. It had left him bitter and spiteful of 'nature' and his 'condition' to leave his family like that.

Shaking his head, Jared lifted a hand and tousled Harry's hair. "It's okay. Don't be afraid. And yes, you're right. I'm an Alpha." Stepping back, he combed through his own hair and gestured to the door. "Now hop it, sweet-cheeks. I bet Darwin's waiting for you." Jared even managed to smile and wink at Harry. At the same time his heart gave a painful twinge. Goddamnit, he missed his family something fierce!

Blushing, Harry got off the table and pulled up his trousers to close the fly, picked up his shirt, and then scuttled towards the door. His last glance met Jared's eyes, and he seemed to sense the sadness in the higher-ranking werewolf. Harry even stopped and started to say something, but another sharp gaze herded him right out the doors in silence.

*

The nostalgia stuck to Jared's mind like cobwebs to a fly, but Jared tackled that problem like he did every other inconvenience these days: he intensified his stalking of Darwin. Wherever Darwin went, Jared was there already. In his math class, in the cafeteria, in the gym, and Jared even found Darwin's favorite place in the small park next to the university.

Harry pretended not to notice, but his nervousness hung sickly-sweet in the air whenever his eyes found Jared. Jared realized that Harry couldn't lie if his life depended on it, which would have been a good thing were they playing poker, but in this situation it was a serious drawback.

Darwin seemed to notice Harry's strange behavior pretty quickly, but he didn't comment on it. He looked even more worn out, tired, nervous, and short-tempered than usual. Even though Jared normally took great delight in letting Darwin see him and then watching him combust in anger, Jared's instincts told him that it wouldn't be healthy to provoke Darwin any more right now.

Maybe it would have been prudent to ease up on the stalking for a few days altogether, but Jared had never been good with prudence. The whole concept was simply too tiresome for his young mind to even try it.

Granted, he should have seen it coming, but even in his wildest dreams Jared hadn't anticipated the dimension of anger his constant presence elicited in Darwin.

It took just one second of negligence on Jared's part. It was Friday, and Jared was standing in the hallway, right next to Darwin's class. He was waiting for the end of the last lesson, typing away on his smartphone, when someone had the guts to shove him against the wall and slap the small gadget out of his hand.

"What the fuck are you doing here!"

Darwin was seething, hands balled into fists, muscles tense enough to make him shake softly with rage. His eyes looked reddened with lack of sleep, and the rings beneath his beautiful blue eyes were black like bruises. A nervous twitch made his cheek quiver ever so often. He looked ready to strike out again, or even to kill. It was fearsome, and endearing at the same time.

Jared instantly had the urge to hug Darwin tightly, to banish the deep fear and pain from Darwin's mind, and to protect him from whatever or whoever had shaken the submissive werewolf that intensely. The impulse was so sudden, it frightened Jared to the core, and he instinctively answered with anger.

Jared didn't want to hit Darwin though, so he did the next best thing.

"I'm waiting for Harry," he answered, icily calm while his hackles rose to the challenge and the drive to strike back. He averted his gaze, looking at Harry, and held out his hand. "Would you like to have lunch with me?" Jared asked Harry, masking his anger with a sweet smile.

He watched Harry blanch and close his eyes in horror, then his eyes snapped back to Darwin, catching his expression of hurt.

"I KNEW it!" Darwin hissed, then the hurt was gone from his face, replaced with deadly hate. He whirled around, threw a murderous glance at Harry, and hissed, "You're dead to me."

Then he was gone.

Jared had the presence of mind to jump forward when Harry fainted, and caught him in his arms. "Well, that went well," he muttered, trying to shake off the instant guilt.

~*Darwin*~

Darwin didn't pay attention to where he was running. He just ran until his breath wheezed out of his screaming lungs, and he only stopped when the honking of a truck made him dig his heels in. His flight had lead him to the offshoots of the nearest highway, nearly 4 miles away from Banes Central University. It didn't matter though, no distance could have stopped the pain in his chest. Panting, he turned around and blindly started his way back. He didn't even know what hurt more, Harry's or Jared's betrayal.

Was Darwin even entitled to feel betrayed by Jared? After all he had pushed Jared away whenever he had had the chance to do so. Granted, secretly he had enjoyed the attention, and surely he would have given in sooner or later. He just hadn't anticipated Jared losing interest in him so soon. And in favor of Harry of all people!

Darwin didn't cry as he followed the dirt road back. He had no tears left for something as small as a lost fling. It still hurt like hell though, and the hurt constricted his chest and made breathing harder. How had he run that far like this?

His best friend, betraying him like that! The thought just wouldn't fit into Darwin's view of the world. Harry would never ever. . . But he had, and he did. Probably right now, at lunch. They would be shoving bits of food into each others mouths, all lovey-dovey. And afterward they would fuck. If Darwin were in Harry's place, he would. Fuck, that is. Who wouldn't want to fuck that prime specimen of virility?

Well, Darwin should have suspected it. Staring down at the dirt beneath his slowly trudging feet he shook his head. He had wondered all week why Harry got skittish and nervous every time they met Jared, but he had been too preoccupied with his own problems to ask. He should have asked when he had had the chance. It would still have hurt like a dagger to the heart, but he would have gotten over it sooner. Now it was Friday, hours before the pack meeting, and his heart was broken.

He contemplated the possibility of surrender to the 'loving care' he would surely receive at the hand of his Alpha later that night, simply because it was a good way to stop the other aches and pains life held for him, but he decided against it. No one was worth dying for, his adoptive father George being the sole exception.

When he reached the city limits he decided to skip going back to BCU, and headed for his father's house. He didn't want to risk meeting Jared or Harry again, or heaven help, both of them at once.

George was surprised to see him, but even though Darwin looked horrible, neither George nor Mary commented on it, or asked questions.

For once Darwin was relieved to be alone. His room still had all of his things, a change of clothes included, but instead of getting changed and going down to face his family he dropped face down onto his bed and closed his eyes. Sleep came easily, and it was mercifully dreamless.

*

Four hours later Mary woke him up. Darwin crawled out of bed, feeling even more tired than before, but an icy shower fixed that quickly. He threw on a black, soft turtleneck shirt made from knit wool that didn't cling to his skin and obscured his slender, athletic upper body, and light brown corduroy pants with ripped hems that went perfectly with his black sneakers. Using the blow-dryer to tame his mid-length black hair, going with a side parting because it made him look defying and restive, and because Carl hated that look on him.

It wasn't so much that Darwin wanted to provoke his Alpha. The things Carl did to him were horrible enough on their own, but if Darwin tried to avoid behavior his Alpha despised, he would sense weakness, and act upon it.

In the last year the numbers of submissive in their territory had dwindled alarmingly, but nobody knew why. Some of them died in accidents, others decided to move into another territory, and some simply vanished. Darwin had his suspicions as to what had happened to the vanished ones, because all of them had been male. Interestingly, all of the emigrants had been female and single so far, and those with accidents had had family. It was a pattern nobody but Darwin seemed to recognize. On the other hand, Darwin didn't think that anyone but him knew what Carl did in his cellar. No one but him knew about Carl's madness, or his hate for male submissives.

Darwin gave himself a once-over in the mirror, then nodded approvingly. His outfit was nice, something he would have worn to a first date in a restaurant. Classy, but not too high-strung. His guts clenched at the thought of for whom he had chosen this look, and again he felt the distinct urge to cry. It was such a waste dressing up to get torn to pieces, instead of showing himself off to Jared or even Harry.

"Hurry up, munchkin! We're gonna be late!" Mary's voice came from the anteroom, then the front door clicked. Mary would stow away George into the car, so Darwin had another minute to get his things and follow them outside.

He went back to his room and stared at his wallet and his mobile phone, pondering. He would need his wallet to be able to pay a cab once Carl was done, optimistically assuming he survived the night. Sighing, he grabbed both items, stuffed them into his back pockets, and stalked down the stairs and outside. There was nobody he wanted to call, but one never knew when a phone came in handy.

*

As predicted, everybody was pretty upset about the attack on Giselle. There were lots of suggestions as to who could have done it, and why, and what would happen next, or what should be done about it, but Darwin didn't really listen. Sipping his water he feigned disinterest, staring blankly at the table in front of him. The Alpha, Carl, sat on the other side of the table, and right in front of him, but he didn't acknowledge Darwin. It was as if Darwin didn't exist in Carl's little world, but on the other hand, every other dominant in the room got the same treatment. Only those speaking got their Alpha's attention, and since Darwin would have rather died than speaking up, he was spared.