Part 16
Evan gave a little shake of his fur as he padded out of the woods and into the back yard of the pack house. He could make out Justin, Josh and Alex on the steps leading up to the big sprawling deck that dominated the rear of the house. Beside him he felt Lex tense and without breaking stride he butted his head against the other man's thigh, licking the exposed flesh as he tried to calm his suddenly tense packmate.
"Oh piss off," huffed Lex fondly, ruffling the little wolf's head as he snapped, "I'm not a pup needing reassurance from shadows, you know, furball."
Evan huffed at him playfully and head-butted him again, the little chocolate wolf all but grinning up at him.
Justin gave a yap of recognition and bounding down the steps he pounced on Evan. The spiky black wolf knocking the smaller chocolate wolf flying and within moments they were rolling around with other, yapping and chuffing joyfully as they played together, strengthening the pack bounds that already existed between them.
Shaking his head at the two wolves Lex continued up toward the deck. He cocked his head as he noticed the look on Josh's face. The omega looked on the verge of tears and the man sitting beside him looked no better. Not caring that he was stark naked in front of a total strange, Lex strode up to them asking, "What's up, Joshy? Who stole your candy?"
Josh gave a ragged breath and without really looking at Lex he replied unconvincingly, "Nothing's wrong. I just...we…" he gave a slight gulp, sniffing slightly as his throat closed up.
Realising something was most definitely up Lex glanced back over his shoulders hoping one of the others wolves would realise what was going on and come save him from having to deal with an emotional omega. He was out of luck – Justin and Evan were having far too much fun roughhousing with each other to notice anything else.
Never very good with emotions Lex gave Josh a wary smile then, shrugging his shoulders and blatantly changing the subject, he glared at Alex and asked sharply, "And you are?"
"Riley. I work with these guys," offered Alex, stretching his hand out.
Lex looked at the outstretched hand, his wolf snarling at the unknown shifter invading its territory before looking Alex straight in the eye and snapping, "That's nice but why are you here? Now? At our home?"
"Hunter invited him," explained Josh giving a slight smile when Evan padded over and started to snuggle against him, the little chocolate wolf all but sitting on Josh's lap as he listened to the exchange taking place around him.
"Why?" asked Lex eyeing Alex suspiciously, "What's so special about you that the boss bought you home?"
"I'm a shifter," explained Alex, his tiger snarling at the way Lex was staring at him, the smaller man obviously not intimated at all by the size difference between them. "Hunter offered me a place to stay," continued Alex trying to ignore the easy way Josh was snuggling with the small chocolate wolf, "My former partner kicked me out when he discovered I was a tiger and…"
"You're a tiger?" interrupted Lex excitedly, his eyes suddenly sparkling with mischievous delight.
"Umm yeah" repelled Alex smiling hesitantly, he'd never been around people who were excited by his ability before.
"Man I wanna see!" exclaimed Lex, "Aww come on," he pouted when Alex seemed less than happy to show him his animal, "You can't tell me you're a tiger and then not show me. Dude I want to see you get furry. Come on shift for me, big guy."
"I bet you say that to everyone," grinned Alex realising he actually liked the cocky naked man standing in front of him.
"Not if he wants to live," called Justin shaking himself as he shifted back to his human form. He ducked the play punch Lex threw at him and settled down on the step beside Josh and Evan, his hand automatically going to Evan's fur, stroking the smaller wolf as he leant back to watch the show.
"So come on," called Lex moving to lean on the railing beside his pack mates, "Show us what you've got, Tigerman."
Realising he wasn't going to get away without shifting, Alex stood up and, with his gaze lingering wistfully on Josh, he undid his belt. Sliding off his boots, he hesitated. He'd never shifted with an audience before and suddenly having four sets of eyes staring at him, watching his every move as he stripped was more than disconcerting. He bowed his head then taking a deep breath he reached down deep inside and within seconds a large white tiger sat staring up at the packmates his head tilted expectantly.
"Fuck me," hissed Lex, a salacious grin breaking over his face, "You're gorgeous!"
He pushed away from the railing and wandered over to the large cat. He reached out to stroke the cat but the tiger had other ideas. Ducking under Lex's outstretched hand the big white cat padded past him and headed straight towards the huddle of bodies on the steps.
Evan gave a nervous bark, the little wolf not too sure about the large shifter padding toward it but instantly he calmed down as Josh and Justin both stroked the thick chocolate fur, Justin bending his head down to brush a kiss against the soft fur whispering, "Easy, baba, easy."
The little chocolate wolf turned and licked his face giving a happy yap as his pack mate soothed away his worries.
Josh though couldn't take his eyes off the advancing tiger. There was something about the sheer power rolling of the impressive beast that called to his own wolf. Moving as if on autopilot, he pushed Evan off his lap, not even pausing when the little wolf gave a very disgruntled bark at being dumped on Justin's lap. He came down the last few steps his eyes locked with the tiger's. Barely remembering to breathe, Josh felt his wolf roll over, his submissive wolf whimpering with longing as the cat drew closer and closer.
Then before anyone could act the tiger pounced.
Josh gave a loud huff as he landed flat on his back with Alex draped over him. The big cat pressed down on him, the massive paws pinning Josh to the grass. For a moment Josh panicked and he sent up a scared howl, his little wolf calling for its pack mates to come and rescue him. But before the howl had even finished sounding he was giggling in delight, wriggling uncontrollably as the tiger licked his face. A rough hard tongue lapped at his cheek as the tiger pinned him down even more, the heavy body lying full length along Josh's own form.
"You're beautiful," breathed Josh, bringing a hand up to caress and stroke the warm white fur.
Alex's tiger gave a low rumbling purr, obviously enjoying both the sentiment and the feeling of Josh's hand against its fur. He bent its head down, rubbing its cheek against Josh's face, all but marking the little wolf as his. As a human he might feel conflicted and totally out of his depth but in his feline form no such conflict existed. Josh was his. Pure and simple. His tiger wanted him and wasnot going to let him go. And he was going to make sure everyone knew it. He lapped at Josh's face again loving the giggle the move drew from the smaller man. He was so lost in the delightful sound he didn't hear the other, lower, more aggressive sound and it wasn't until he was knocked sidewise that he realised that someone else was less than happy with that idea.
Shaking his head to clear his vision Alex turned and saw a large blonde wolf standing over Josh. For a moment he thought the wolf was attacking the small man but then he noticed the way the wolf was standing – he wasn't attacking Josh, he was protecting him. And it was like a knife to his heart when he realised that the wolf was protecting Josh from him. The large blonde wolf thought he was a threat to the little man.
Never one to back down from a fight, even one he wasn't looking for, Alex turned in a tight circle, his tail lashing back and forth as he took up a fighting stance opposite the snarling wolf. Lex had grabbed Justin out of the way and was preventing the other man from interfering. The little chocolate wolf was watching them intently, knowing eyes focused on the large blonde wolf as if waiting for him to make a move.
But it was Josh who moved first. Scrambling up from where he'd been lying he rushed around and placed himself between the blonde wolf and the white tiger. Staring down at the blonde wolf he felt his own wolf shake slightly, the normally timid beast finding the courage from somewhere to stand up to his larger, more powerful pack mate as he called hurriedly, "John, stop it. Please he wasn't hurting me. He..."
John growled at him, snapping his teeth in annoyance but he didn't' move. He cocked his head as if listening to Josh's words even if he didn't' quite believe them. Glancing behind him Josh realised Alex had padded closer, the tiger slowly inching nearer and nearer. For once knowing he was standing between two powerful beasts who could quite easily rip him apart didn't actually worry him. What worried him was that if they fought the two shifters could get hurt. And for some reason he didn't want either man to be injured. The thought of either man being hurt made his wolf howl with distress. Sinking to his knee he reached out towards both shifters, murmuring softly, "Please don't fight. You shouldn't fight your attraction to each other. You should just.."
The blonde wolf gave a questioning yip and closing the gap between them, he pressed a paw to Josh's thigh. Leaning heavily on the smaller man, the blonde wolf leant in and nudged Josh's face with his muzzle, another soft yap escaping the powerful jaws. Tilting his head to one side the blonde wolf gave Josh a questioning bark before turning and fixing his gaze on Alex.
Sensing the fight leaving John, Josh risked a look behind him and nearly whimpered when he saw the look on Alex's face. The tiger was wearing the saddest expression Josh had even seen. With his heart breaking and not understanding why, he absently leant in closer to John his wolf needing the comfort of his older more powerful pack mate.
He stroked the blonde fur, his own wolf relaxing slightly as he felt his pack mate relax. A nudge against his back made him look over his shoulder and smile as he realised Alex had moved closer as well and was now standing just inches away from him. Close enough that he could stroke the thick white fur without losing any bodily contact with the blonde wolf.
With a slow realisation that his wolf wanted to have contact with both shifters, he frowned and absently pressed his free hand against the thick white fur of the tiger, earning a loud rumbling purr of approval in response. But the moment his hand closed over the white fur a jolt of electricity shot through all three shifters. The jolt was powerful enough to send Josh falling backwards and to make both shifters yelp in surprise. Laying sprawled on the grass Josh stared at both shifters in something akin to horrified amazement. Then as his wolf sensed arrival of his alpha, he looked up at the deck and asked breathlessly, "Hunter?"
"It's all right, Josh," growled Hunter, his voice flowing over the three startled shifters like soothing velvet. Putting a little of his power into his voice he added, "it's nothing to worry about I promise."
He came forward to lean on the railing, a very knowing smirk curling his lips as he surveyed the screen below. Glancing back over his shoulder he caught Shawn staring at him and locking eyes with his grinning mate, he growled with a chuckle, "Well, this is interesting."
TBC