"If you want," he said, his voice husky with desire and he slipped his dong deep inside me again, but he didn't pound me like he did last time. This time he began to massage my shoulders and neck. "Feel good?" I mumbled something. Then he stretched out atop me, still inside, and just lay there. "Jon, I love you." I said it back but it wasn't very intelligible. "My father was right. Those months ago...I found the one person I want to be with for the rest of my life." He pulled out and rolled over to prop himself up on his elbow. "Even if it is just friends, I never want to lose you, Jon. I need to see your face as you smile, to hear your voice, to smell you. If only for brief periods I..."
I stopped him from talking with a kiss. "Patrick, those months ago I discovered something I thought a fairy tale. You see it in movies, you read about it in books, but you never see it in life unless you are very lucky."
"Werewolves?"
"Love at first sight," I said softly and he smiled so sweetly back at me. "It was your smile that made me ask if you wanted to hang out. Then I got to see you outside of work, and I didn't realize it but I loved you when I woke up and kissed you the first time. I mean, all of the insanity of seeing Lycans for the first time, seeing you hurt, killing one of them, all this stuff and I was glad it was you there with me."
"Glad?" He looked at me like I was either insane or trying to make fun of him, but liking either.
"Look at it all. Moving out here from sun and surf to snow and forests. Going from the sat office to the Main Office of the entire company. Total relocation." He was nodding, toying with my chest hair a bit. "I meet you and you throw my entire life into turmoil. I find out Lycans exist, I find out that the person I have fallen in love with is a guy, the person I hope will help me raise my adopted son, the reason my life is so amazing now is you. Through all this change, all this insanity, you have been there. And I'm glad it is you."
"So you're hoping this is long term?"
"I'm hoping it's forever." Pat's eyes began to tear up. "Imagine it. You, me, Dylan, all of us together as one family. Our own land, no stupid Pack laws or customs saying who is acceptable and who is not. Just us." Pat curled up next to me and wrapped my arms around him. His need to be Alpha was done, I could tell, and now we were in the mood to be loving.
"That sounds so nice. Somewhere...somewhere I don't have to hang my head. Our own Pack of family." I could almost see it too and it was a lovely picture. "But it will never happen. Angus will never sanction us to be together exclusively." I nodded and as much as I didn't like it Angus was the Leader and I had to fit myself into the Lycan world.
"But we have here and now. Just the two of us." Pat smiled a nuzzled my neck.
My phone rang. I looked at it like it was out of place. Sighing I went to go answer it because it was Dylan's ringtone. "Hey, Dyl."
"Actually it's Betty. You need to come home now. Something strange is going on with Dylan and we're all at a loss."
I felt a tinge of fear. "We're on our way." Pat was already getting up and grabbing our clothes. Dressing like it was an Olympic event, we were out of the door in less than five minutes. "What now? Why is it my son?" Pat just held my hand while driving like a maniac back for my house.
When we pulled up I was opening the door before the Hummer had stopped and was at the door before Pat had even parked. Betty, Gene, Michael and Mr. Andrews were all there and Dylan was laid out on the floor with ice packs on him. "What happened?"
"He was feeling tired and we thought nothing of it as we were up until five in the morning watching movies and whatnot." Betty shook her head. "I felt his forehead like any other mom when he said he didn't feel well. He has a fever, but one hotter than anything I have ever felt in a human." I went over and knelt by his head. I could feel the heat radiating off him. It was higher than a human should be able to take without dying.
"Why is he like this?"
"He just laid down and said he was taking a nap. Then he was out like a light. I called the Leader and the Head because I am now out of my league."
I looked at the elder Lycans. Mr. Andrews shook his head. "I have never seen anything like this and I have raised human children. He's stable at 115 degrees. If I didn't know what to look for I would say he was on the verge of a first changing."
I wondered if the Lycans that attacked us hadn't infected him, but he had been treated for infection. They had also treated me... Michael stood over him with a concerned look. "Gene and I...well we have a silly theory. We've seen things as Hunters that Travis and Betty never would." I looked up at him like anything was worth listening to. "Now, I know you don't know much about the other types of Lycans, but Gene has mentioned Solaris."
I sat down on my rump. A Solaris...Dylan? "Aren't they, like, a myth or extinct?"
"Not a myth," Mr. Andrews said, "as I have spoken with one once when I was very young as a Lycan. Haven't seen one since. I don't know enough about them to know if the theory is true and I don't know how to find them."
"I know of a place you can start looking," said Gene. All heads turned to him. "Angus has files locked in his office on all sorts of things, but one file is locked up tight. I might be able to get a peek inside if you want."
It was a long shot. "Don't get caught Gene." The older wolf just smiled. "So you think this may be him...going through puberty and becoming a Solaris but you can't prove it." Michael and Gene nodded. "God, it would make sense though. His intimate knowledge of Lycans has to come from somewhere. And this would be something those Hunters would be wanting to get their hands on. Solaris blood."
"Those 'goods' you mentioned," Gene said and I nodded. "I'm going to go to the office and poke around Angus' files." He left with a lively step. He was on the trail and like any Hunter he was going to get there quickly and efficiently.
I looked down at my son. So much seems to happen to him, I thought. I felt his forehead and his eyes shot open. "Whoa, Dyl, you okay?" He shook his head. "Do you know what's going on?" Again he shook his head. "Neither do I," I whispered when his eyes slid shut again.
"He appears to be stable," Mr. Andrews said. "Perhaps you and Patrick should go wash up and get changed." I looked at him and when he tapped his nose I know I turned all shades of scarlet.
"You...Oh my god." I mock glared at Pat as he walked in. "This is all your fault." His expression was shocked. "They can...smell you on me. Hell they can smell you've been in me!" I watched his face melt into a huge grin. "Now everyone will know I bottomed. I am going to go shower." I kissed him on the way by. "Our lives just keep getting freakier and freakier."
Dylan woke up before sunset and just sat up. "I'm hungry," he declared and we all just looked at him. "You guys are funny looking right now."
I was going to comment when I felt the pull of the moon. I had been ignoring it because of my worry, but I couldn't any longer. The shorts I had been wearing were toast and I could see Dylan's eyes were bugged out of his head. This was the first time he had seen me change all the way and I could tell he was going to be doing a lot of drawing later. "Okay, that one caught me off guard." I watched as Mr. Andrews finished his own change and I thought about how much more painful it looked than my own.
Pat came in from the kitchen, ducking through the door, and sat down. "Stress can hide the feeling until you have no choice but to change. How do you feel, Dylan?"
"Better. Not tired, not hot." He got to his feet and wandered into the kitchen.
"You're spooky, Little Dude." I heard him laugh as he was making a pastrami sandwich. With spicy mustard, lettuce, tomato, on sourdough. He hates sourdough. When he came back in I saw the size of the sandwich and just marveled. I could eat it, but even all wolfed out I would barely be able to finish it. "You are hungry."
"Yup."
"Sourdough?" Pat asked. He knew Dylan's eating habits as well as I did.
"Too hungry to care and the wheat was behind it." Pat and I exchanged glances while Mr. Andrews came over and began sniffing him. Dylan just looked at him like he was being odd.
I smell...something, he whined. If the Alpha is at a loss, then you know this is something strange.
All night Dylan was being slightly spookier than normal. We would be talking with whines and growls and he would answer the question we posed. None of us had taught him anything from the language, but he was answering anyway. He would lapse into silence and just walk over to the window and look up at the sky. "I miss the sun," he said once and then said nothing again for an hour. We all went to sleep about 4 am.
When I awoke it was like sleeping next to a furnace. Dylan was feverish again, but it was no worse than yesterday. The bad thing is I had to got to work. I called his school to tell them he was going to be out sick. Then I called Mr. Andrews. "Thanks, Mr. Andrews."
"You know, Jon, you can call me Travis. I will gladly sit with the pup. If he was anything like yesterday then it won't trouble at all. Be sure to see if Gene found anything out. I haven't heard from him." Not good.
At work Pat and I got to the office to find an email from Gene. It was not sent to my business account but to my personal one.
Jon,
I have found something. Heading down south to see if it pans out. Be back on Saturday.
Gene
I looked at Pat and shook my head. Then I remembered his story. Had he really seen a Solaris when he was a Hunter down south? I checked my other emails and saw one from Angus. It was short and simple, a temporary password for that trouble spot he asked me to check weeks ago.
I logged into my sector accounts and put in the password. With that I looked up the number and found something that made me wonder. The number I could not get access too was a security number, one of the border guards we covertly had out there to keep Ferals out of the Pack territory. The thing is the guard was fictitious. He didn't even exist. I trailed it all back, the paperwork, the files, everything and found out this person was "hired" the same time my predecessor was. The money was being sent to an account based in Ontario and routed over to Saskatchewan. I dialed payroll. "Jones."
"Dennis, it's Jon from Great Lakes." I didn't have to say I was the hatchet man. "I have a question."
"Shoot."
"I have a fake employee in my sector. Mr. McLeod put me on the trail due to my predecessor's embezzling habits. I would like to cancel all payments to account number 556-89876-0011 and place all current funds on hold."
I heard some clicking away. "Wow, there is a lot of money in that account. It's been withdrawn from recently. The sum of two hundred thousand dollars."
"How recently?"
"Three days ago." That was the day after we overheard the Hunters. "There, the account has been frozen. Nothing we can do about the money withdrawn."
"Thanks Dennis. Send me an email if anything happens." I hung up and dialed Angus.
I got his secretary instead. "Mr. McLeod is in a meeting, Jonathan."
"Thanks Nancy. When he gets out can you ask him to call me please?"
"Sure."
I kept reading about the account transactions and I was starting to notice a pattern. All of the withdrawals for the last season have coincided with Dylan's big times. His foster parent's murders, the attack at our house, and now this. Someone was really trying to get him alone and god help me I would kill whoever was trying to hurt my son. I was growling deep in my throat and Pat came in, closing the door. "That is loud enough for me to hear, Jon." I pointed to the screen. He scanned the pages I was reading and I smelled him get as angry as I was. "Got it. Just keep it down. Can't help the anger. I'll call Dad and tell him what we've found." I also told him about Gene. "Okay."
I picked up the phone when it rang. "So what is this about Jon? I have another meeting to get to."
My thoughts were pretty much that his meeting would probably be a waste of time compared to what he should be looking in to. "About the oddity in my sector you asked me to check into. I have frozen a dummy account, but several withdrawals have been made in the past few months, one a few days before you fired the previous guy."
There was a moment of silence. "Good. I'll send an email to payroll for the details. Is that all?"
"Until I can fully find out, yes." He hung up in my ear. "Dick," I said and heard Pat chuckling. I went about my day normally.
Tommy came by around noon with mail for the floor. Normally Pat would just take it but Tommy came into my office. "Here is your mail for the day, Mr. Davenport." He looked me in the eye with a brief smile and handed the sealed envelope.
"Thank you. Tom, right?" He nodded. My work self would not know much about him. "Thanks." He whisked away on his rounds. I felt the heft of the envelope. Probably close to a hundred pages. When I opened it I smelled Gene. Instantly I pulled the papers out and saw strange copies of files and a CD. Pictures of Lycans during the day, accounts of humans seeing Sasquatch, Lupus rumored to have seen Solaris...all things Gene had been looking for. But the biggest things are the locations. All of them were either from the Mexican or Canadian borders. Hadn't Gene's experience been from the southern border? Everything he had found he copied and it was here in my hands. I just put it back in the envelope and went back to work as if the contents were not important to me.
At home I found Travis was reclining with a book and Dylan was awake but looking drained. "How you feeling, Dyl?" I felt his forehead. No fever.
"Just really tired." He gave me a hug. "I know I've been a stress case lately."
"Yeah, well, your life has been rough these last few months. Stress does strange things to the body." I handed him the envelope. "Here's something that might interest you. Call it a homework assignment from me and Gene."
He sat up as quickly as he could and pulled out the files. Travis glanced at them and then sat up too. "All this...on Solaris?" I nodded. He began to read.
I pulled Travis to the other room. "How has he been?"
"Fever broke around ten. He's been taking it easy but the odd behavior has passed for the moment. Appetite is back to normal. Do you think it wise to give those papers?"
"Not really, but if the theories are true, then he should be prepared for it. Plus he would kill me if he knew I had them and kept them from him." He nodded with a grin. "Besides, I can't devote the mental energies to reading all that and making sense of it."
My phone rang and I smiled. I knew that ring tone. "Hey Pop."
"Jon, you didn't tell me it was below freezing in Massachusetts right now."
I registered the implications. "Pop...are you coming for a surprise visit?" There was a knock at the door. "God, all my family just drops in." I hung up. Dylan, put your homework away. Your grandpa just decided to fly out." I heard him shoving the papers under the couch and then went up stairs to put on a shirt. I went to the door and there was my dad.
Well built under the layer of padding, he had been a rugby player in his youth. He still had a full head of strawberry blond hair that was kind of shaggy and almost looked like a lion's mane. There had always been a down to earth gleam in his green eyes and I was glad to see that it was still there. "Hey Pop." I pulled him into a huge hug. Funny thing is he seemed a bit tense.
"Jon, you look indecently well." I grabbed his bags. "So, where are...well, well, Travis Andrews." My dad and Travis just looked at each other and I swear I had never seen the Alpha look so shocked. This did not bode well for keeping certain family stories secret.
"It has been a number of years, has it not, Alan?" They shook hands like old friends. "The summit of '83, right?"
"You've a good memory." This seemed to come as a bit of a surprise.
I just stared. "So...I guess I don't need to introduce you. My world just went bang. Have a seat, Pop. Dylan is getting on his sick day best and Pat will be here after he finishes up his work at the office." Pop went and sat after taking off his shoes. Most of the people I knew from California didn't wear shoes. Less sand to track into the house. "Summit of '83?" I asked Travis.
"Two years after Miriam was born. Just got a promotion within the company and went out to the Summit with the then CEO." Travis went and sat with his book.
"Sick day best?"
"Dylan has had a fever for the past two days and it broke this morning. Don't expect sparkling conversation." Actually I didn't know how the little dude would react to my dad. I could see so many possibilities. I heard him coming down the stairs a little bit heavier than normal and looked to see him with jeans and a nice shirt on, shoeless, and his hair somewhat brushed. It was a nice touch that would show Pop that Dylan was not neat and tidy but he wanted to make a good impression. "Pop, this is Dylan. That is my foster dad, Alan."
Pop stood and came over to look at Dylan with a look of mixed sorrow and joy. I had not told him everything about his past, only that his last fosters had died and I swooped in and saved him from the system. Their eyes seemed to be locked, and in a moment of clarity, I knew there would be very little awkwardness. Most of that was Dylan leaped into his arms. "I have a grandson." Dylan was dwarfed by my dad's hug. He whispered something in his ear and Dylan nodded with the biggest smile on his face.
That was the scene Patrick walked in on and his smile was huge. He looked at his own dad with that same look. Family. These guys were my family. None of them were related to me by blood, although you could argue that with Pat since it is his blood that ran through my veins. Yet I loved them. I looked at my Pop, my son, my boyfriend and a good friend and I realized I needed nothing else in my life at all. My life was complete, here and now. Of course, not being under Angus would make it all the sweeter.
Pop looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Pat. "Dear god, Travis, did you clone yourself?" Dylan snickered and stepped aside.
"Pop, this is Pat." I know I sounded like a love sick puppy.
He eyed my walking muscle up and down. He had done the same thing with every girl I brought home, I was not too surprised. "Hmm. Nice to see that my son didn't choose an ugly guy just to make himself feel better." I grinned because he said the same thing about any girl I brought home. It was his way of saying I had good taste.
"Why don't the three of you get acquainted and I'll start dinner." I gave a kiss to Pat and a gentle shove to Dylan which made him snicker.
Once dinner was done, we sat around the living room. Pop and Dylan hit it off fabulously and Dylan was regaling him with stories of how awesome I was to have as a dad. Honestly I don't think I have ever been that embarrassed but pleased in my life. "Are we talking about the same Jon here? The one sitting over there?" He gestured to me.
"Yeah." Dylan grinned. "You did good, grandpa." I cringed at the horrid grammar but my dad just laughed.
"I did, huh?" He sent me a wink. "Now, it is getting late here, and I am sure you will be going back to school tomorrow. Is your homework done?"
Dylan nodded but then remembered the papers he stuffed under the couch. "All but one research paper." He grabbed the pages and the folder and ran up stairs.
When he had gone Pop got his serious face on. "That child thinks the world of you, Jon." I nodded. I didn't know how to deal with such praise. Parents get use to it over time, teaching and learning along side their children, but I was in the ultimate crash course. "You really saved his life?"
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