A Naughty Moon

Rage filled Gordon's face. "You bit him? You bit white boy here? You're not going to get away with this! He's not welcome here, and neither are you if you stick with him."

"That's not your decision to make," Trevor insisted, his anger now simmering as he took a step that brought him nose to nose with the incensed Gordon.

"Don't tell me you don't still have feelings for me," Gordon managed, his eyes softening and his lips pursed to steal a kiss.

Trevor was caught off guard, and was helpless to stop Gordon from launching a moist, handsome mouth onto his stunned, trembling lips. In a split second his fingers were also entangled in Trevor's hair, pulling his face closer. It held him in place for determined lips that sought to ignite old magic and rekindle love sparks long since gone completely cold.

"You're wasting your time," Trevor snapped, prying away his captured mouth. "My feelings for you are dead, and they're never coming back."

"We'll see about that," Gordon managed bravely, feeling rejected and humiliated, adding, "this ain't over yet, you'll see!"

He then turned abruptly and marched down the hillside.

"Wow, he really has the hots for you still, doesn't he?"

"I would think it's more of a case of him having a bruised ego. He's too proud to accept that he lost something that once belonged to him. He cheated on me, and that's something I can't and won't forgive. No doubt he's insanely jealous, but he should have thought about that before he went off skinny dipping in the moonlight with another member from the pack."

"What are you going to do? Should I be worried? Will he try to hurt me?"

"I wouldn't worry about him too much," Trevor answered reassuringly. "His bark is worse than his bite. He's really only full of bluster, all wind, and I should know." This time his words were accompanied by a smile and the atmosphere of melancholy began to lift.

"I sure hope you're right," Ashton whispered, reaching over to pepper his face with a flurry of kisses. "I don't want anything to come between us. And I don't want anything to mess up our scheduled lovemaking during the next full moon."

"Nothing will get in between us, not ever, and no-one, not Gordon or Byron or anyone else in the pack will stop us from making love on that blessed day," Trevor assured him.

"During the naughty moon," Ashton whispered approvingly, as he slipped his head lovingly onto Trevor's shoulder.

"That's right, during the naughty moon," he added, playfully tapping Ashton's delighted nose with his index finger.

A tiny splash suddenly fell onto Ashton's cheek. He broke free from Trevor's shoulder, holding his hand out in mid-air, to feel for other drops.

"Rain's coming? How is that even possible? There wasn't a cloud in the sky earlier."

"The Texas sky can do that to you sometimes, lull you into a false sense of security. But where there's one or two drops, there's bound to be a whole lot more. We'd better get back into the cave for shelter."

"Oh, I don't know," Ashton whispered, adding a hopeful sigh. "Sometimes it can be seductive and tantalizing to just let the water leave your clothes clinging to your skin, and your hair drenched to your scalp. For me, the sound of water beating off the ground like a frantic drum is, well, it's rather romantic, don't you think?"

"I've never sat out in the rain on purpose before, except of course under a full moon. Whenever you're in your transformation you often don't care about such things."

"What's it like, then, being a werewolf, you know, I mean when you've actually changed."

"There's nothing quite like it," Trevor managed, his mind suddenly adrift at the thought, his eyes waxing over with a glaze that betrayed a wondering mind.

"Tell me about it," Ashton prodded.

"Well, let's see. If I had to describe it, I would say it's like being in a world of wonder, where your senses are on high alert. Everything seems sweet and sensual to your touch. The wind along your spine, the brush of your fur against the jutting tree bark, the touch of cool water, tickling your ankles as you cross the river. Even the seductive noise it makes when it splashes. The alluring sight of your own breath, clouding the air when it's a rare freak Texas chill. I don't know how else to put it, really, except to say that whatever you take for granted now, will seem like a miracle when you are transformed under the full moon."

"The naughty moon," Ashton corrected.

"It's as if time stands still, and for those few days your are in your change, an overwhelming joy captivates your mind and body, casting a spell of deep fulfillment and a longing never to change back to human form. But of course, you always do change back."

"Hmmm, I see," Ashton whispered, "but you still haven't elaborated on how it feels to, well, you know, on how having sex rates from when you're in werewolf form or human form."

"There's no comparison," Trevor declared. "Having sex as a werewolf is a hundred times sweeter. As I said, your senses are all so heightened. Each brush of lips off the fur on your cheeks, each snarl and gently scrapping of the fangs brings such mind blowing pleasure. Hearts thumping in chests that are meshed together, paws roaming seductively over bodies that are on absolute fire, fur covered cocks that throb with sensations so fucking heavenly, that even the slightest touch will have you howling at the moon."

"At the naughty moon," Ashton again corrected, his pulse racing frantically at Trevor's hypnotic words.

Ashton pulled Trevor's cock into the open air and stroked it. "And how will it feel during that transformation, when I make you cum? Stroking your furry cock like this?"

"Hmmm, you know, you cum when you are in your change, but you stay hard and horny. It's like the sensation always stays there, only a hundred times as powerful and sweet as any orgasm you can have as a human. And it's like you just keep imploding over and over, your body awash with unimaginable bliss, until your lover finally sticks his furry cock up your ass and then, and then, and-"

"And what?"

"And then it's just like paradise itself, and you howl all night long, in pleasure so torturously sweet that you don't want it to end, not now, not ever."

"Hmmm, it all sounds so deliciously yummy," Ashton concurred, his face deliriously beaming.

"Having sex as a werewolf is...is...just think of being in heaven and that's where you are, believe me."

"I can't wait," Ashton muttered, almost mindlessly, his thoughts captivated by Trevor's descriptions of what was to come under the naughty moon. "I am just so absolutely, resolutely, desperately and positively ready to let you hump me all night long."

"Patience," Trevor whispered. That moon will get here soon enough."

Chapter Two

Detective Brad Mirswall stared at the couple with a look of sadness. His fingers tapped impatiently, drumming onto the coffee table with a rhythm that clearly betrayed his frustration.

"Is there anything new to report about Ashton?" Mr. Bond asked.

"Nothing to tell you as yet," the detective answered.

"Surely you must be able to tell us something." Mrs. Bond managed, trying to suppress more tears. "It's been a whole eight days since he's phoned us. He used to phone us every day! We called his friends, who say he's disappeared from the college campus. He's missed his classes. They told us he's never skipped classes before."

"I honestly don't know what to tell you, Mrs. Bond. We've followed all the leads you've given us and yet, it's as though we've come up against a brick wall. You're son Ashton is nowhere to be found."

"He can't have just vanished into the wind," she answered, her lips trembling and her eyes reddened from all the constant crying. "He always phoned us from his college dorm room each night, to let us know he was okay. I keep telling you that he was in his last year at college. He had no job and no money. He lived off of money we sent him. With so little, where could he possibly have gone? Do you think someone hurt him, or that he's...that he's...oh damn I can't even say the word."

"We can't assume he's dead," Mr. Bond whispered.

"Your husband's right. We're not yet assuming he's been murdered. Instead, we're now working from the assumption that he met someone, and is still with that someone."

"Met someone? No! He would have told me if he had," she insisted. "Ashton was extremely shy, especially around girls. Even at age twenty-two, he rarely dated."

Detective Mirswall sighed, then held her trembling hand. "Mrs. Bond, I wasn't thinking in terms of a lady friend. More like a male companion."

Her face became etched with a quizzical stare, and she glanced at Mirswall cautiously. "There were a few male friends from college while he lived on campus. They sometimes studied together, or horsed around a little, going out for a beer now and again. But they never kept in touch."

"I wasn't talking in terms of a mere male acquaintance, I was talking in terms of a male lover."

"A male what? What are you trying to say? That Ashton, my son was...was gay? That's not possible. I would have known. No, he was a straight as they came."

"Our son was gay," whispered Mr. Bond, his thinning grey hair and heavily wrinkled face a testament to the fact he'd married a woman much younger than himself."

She turned at her husband and glared. "You're getting senile in your old age. Our son was a church goer. We raised him not to believe in such things."

"Our son was gay," Mr. Bond repeated. "One day, when I went to visit him on campus, he had accidently left his dorm room door ajar. I had a box of groceries for him and didn't know he was in there. When I opened the door to leave them there, I saw him masturbating with all these magazines sprawled out onto the sink and counter. There were dozens of pictures of naked men. He begged me not to say anything to you. I kept it a secret."

She sought to respond but her mouth merely remained dangling open in shock, with no sound coming out.

Mirswall spoke again. "We questioned his room mates and class mates at college. They all described him as being a straight A student who was well mannered, well liked, yet very secretive and shy. We finally came across a close friend of his, named Anthony, who admitted to us they'd had a brief affair, which lasted for three months. Now this Anthony asserts that the affair stopped abruptly when Ashton said he was seeing someone else. When Anthony asked him who it was, Ashton would only say that it was not a fellow student, but someone living off campus. He also said he was experimenting with chocolate. His friend Anthony took that to mean that his new boyfriend must have been black."

"I've never seen him with any black friends," Mr. Bond asserted. "All of the students he hung around, whenever I'd stop by to visit, were always white."

"Hmm, I see. Well, Anthony recalled that there was a first name that Ashton once mentioned. Have either of you ever heard Ashton speak of a Trevor, before?"

Mrs. Bond was still speechless, and merely nodded no.

"That name is new to me, as well," Mr. Bond said.

***

The early morning sun was rising, adding to an already oppressive Texas heat. The air was dry and stifling.

"Too bad there's no air conditioning in this cave."

Trevor smiled at his words. "Am I really that hot?"

"Man, you are literally smoking!"

"It's nice of you to say, but I'd rather talk for a moment about your parents. It's been over a week now, and you haven't called them. They must be worried."

"And what would I possibly be able to tell them, especially my mother? That I left the campus because I'm gay, and with my gay lover? She has no clue. She always talks about how much she hates gays. She would never approve of us."

"Soooo your father, he knows then, that you're gay?"

"Yes."

"Well why not just phone him then? Just so he knows your safe. What if your parents suspect foul play, and call the police? Why have them snooping around?"

"And what would I have told him, that I've run off to be a werewolf? He's not going to believe that, is he?"

"Still," Trevor said, "I'm begging you to at least let them know you're alright. Having them come looking for you or reporting your absence to the police, would not be wise."

"I just want to forget all about my past," Ashton answered, his eyes growing tortured, and his skin turning pale. "As far as I'm concerned, the old Ashton is dead. And the entire world that I'm coming from and all the people in it, are dead to me now. If they want to think I've died, then all the better. Besides, I've fallen head over heels in love with you, Trevor. You're all I care about now, and my new life as a werewolf with you. Please don't ask me to ever care about anything or anyone else."

"As you wish," Trevor whispered. "Let's just hope everything will turn out alright."

"It will, my love. As long as I am here, in your arms, it most definitely will."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you."

The new voice startled both men, and Trevor was incensed that one of the pack could dare have such a disrespect for privacy that he would sneak up on them like that, to eavesdrop and no doubt spy.

"Jarred! What the hell are you sneaking up on me like that for."

"Just wanted to warn you, Trevor. The pack is not so keen on taking whitey here into the fold. So far, I count ten members dead set against it, and another eight sitting on the fence. It's only six of us that are a definite yes to letting him in."

"Damn," Trevor spat out, under his breath.

"Just what does all that mean?" Ashton asked.

Jarred turned his face to Ashton, and added a concerned sigh. "What it all means, is that the pack is not immediately willing to let you in. They think Trevor should have come to them first, before giving you the bite that's gonna turn you on the next full moon. By the way, I'm Jarred, Trevor's half brother."

Ashton took hold of his out stretched hand and shook it tentatively.

"Can they do that?" Ashton asked, flashing a concerned look of his own at Trevor.

"They can do whatever the hell they like," Trevor replied. "Although to deny you entry, wouldn't make any sense. They have to know I would exile myself along with you."

"Well, you wouldn't be quite alone," Jarred added. "I was talking to the other six members who are adamant about wanting whitey here admitted, and they are threatening to leave the pack to join you, if the vote goes against you."

"Hmm, this is definitely getting more complex by the minute."

"You'll have to blame Gordon for that I'm afraid. He's been up all night, twisting arms and making threats, not to mention slinging lies about poor Trevor here in an attempt to have his way. It's so typical Gordon," Jarred said, now turning squarely to face Ashton. "When I had sex with Gordon some time back, he had failed to tell me that Trevor was to be his official mate. Gordon used me then tossed me away like a dirty rag. I'm just glad that Trevor here had the heart and courage to tell him to fuckoff for good!"

"And my answer to him will always be, to fuckoff!"

"Well, I'd better get back," Jarred declared. "I left under the guise of watering some crops so I'd better get to it. The entire pack is under a vow of silence not to let you two know how discussions on the upcoming vote are going. I will keep you informed, however, whenever I get the chance."

"When is the final vote to be held?" Trevor asked.

"That's hard to say. They keep shifting the date around. All I know for sure, is that it has to be some time before the next full moon, before you two have had a chance to officially mate. That way, I guess Gordon feels he has a chance to force his way back in your life."

"I'll never go back with him," Trevor insisted, his nose flaring and top lip rolling into a snarl.

"And Trevor, there's something else," Jarred added.

"Go on."

"Gordon is saying that if you break your vow and won't go back with him by the next full moon, he'll want an honor duel with you. Well, I really must be getting back." Jarred turned abruptly and sauntered quickly back down the hill.

"An honor duel? What's that?" Ashton asked.

"That's when two werewolves with an issue have a circle drawn around them by the rest of the pack. Then they fight it out," Trevor replied.

Ashton was immediately horrified. "Till one is dead?"

"No," Trevor answered. "It usually doesn't come to that."

"Usually doesn't? You mean sometimes it does?"

Trevor sought to allay his fears. "You mustn't worry. He knows damn well, that if he dares step into the ring with me, I'll unleash a fury that will stop him for good."

"Hmm, sounds like you're just as tough as he is."

"I'm a whole lot tougher."

***

Byron slammed the newspaper down on the table then smashed it with his fist.

The rest of the pack shuddered at his anger.

"Did I not tell you all that we should've sent Trevor and his white friend packing the minute they showed up here together? You all ignored me and wanted meeting after meeting and preliminary voting, and so much other crap to stall until the next full moon. But in just a few short days, look what's happened!"

"It's on the TV news as well," Gordon piped in, trying hard not to show his unfettered glee. "Aren't you glad I lectured you all on the dangers of trusting that fool. And just look what he's done, bitten a human who will become one of us at the next full moon. And not just anyone of us, but one who is currently on the front page of a major daily Texas newspaper as being missing and feared murdered. You would think Trevor would at least have the sense to make sure this Ashton contacted his parents to say he was alright and that he was just going away for a while so they wouldn't think the worst and contact police. Now, not only is Ashton's picture on the front page, but they have a composite drawing of Trevor as well. As werewolves, we can't afford to have the authorities searching for Trevor, then perhaps stumbling on our community while they snoop around. If they find us, and discover we're werewolves, well, I think you'll agree our very lives depend on not letting that happen."

"But the police are already searching for Trevor. How do we possibly stop them now?"

"My point exactly," Gordon added. "How the hell do we stop them now?"

***

The darkness hung like a shroud, dangling itself around the Texas desert, as crickets chirped incessantly, and meandering snakes paused at mole holes to sniff for prey.

A tiny sliver of silver light suddenly shot upward like a funneled beam, as the sun poked its head onto the horizon.

I had been six hours since Trevor had left. Ashton peered out of the cave mouth, hopeful Trevor might be finally on his way back up the hill. He was not.

Ashton rolled his weary eyes upward. Patches of dark purple began to unfurl, and stripes of yellow, red and rusty brown began to wrap themselves around the brightening morning sky.

Trevor had been summoned for a meeting with the pack over the newspaper debacle, leaving Ashton all alone in the cave. The air was dry and parching, and the night was heat was sweltering. Trevor had warned him he might not be back until the morning, and sitting alone in the middle of the desert continued to frighten him.

A lone coyote howled in the distance, and Ashton cringed at the sound. With Trevor gone, every sign of life signaled the possibility of danger, making him jittery. Add to that, the news he'd just heard, the night before, that his picture was on the front page of a major Texas daily, and he sighed in utter frustration. He now hated himself for not listening to Trevor. So what if his mother would hate him for being gay? By trying to hide that from her, all he had accomplished was to put the whole pack in danger.