Picking Battles

I dozed in the warmth of Peter's body, my nosed pressed just below his chest where I could breathe in the wild scent that was uniquely him. I've never smelled anyone like Peter, not that I had made a habit of smelling men in the past but I just can't imagine anyone else smelling of wild forest and ozone after a heavy rain.

I could tell when Peter fell deeply asleep, his face relaxed in ways that it never did when he was conscience making him look younger. I found myself wishing I could have known him before the pain of losing his family rent his heart into jagged shards. I let my fingers trace the line of golden hair showing above his shorts upward until it swirled around his belly watching to see if he would stir. Nothing. Best to let sleeping alphas lie.

Slithering out of the bed, I quietly pulled on my pants and sweater, grabbing my tools from the pack before easing out the door. Hoping I would be back before Peter woke I didn't take the time to leave a note about my plans. It was just as well, note or no note, when Peter found out what I was planning he would kill me. Well, not kill but he would be furious and wolf out.

And that thought should not make me as horny as it did.

Keeping to the shadows and watching for Others, I made my way to the yard where the humans were kept. Circling the small shed twice proved that there were no guards watching and I crept over to the door. The lock on the shed was impossible for me to break but I was hoping that I could loosen the pin from the hinges of the door and open it that way.

The broken cobble made a low thunk as it struck the screwdriver I wedged under the pin. The metal didn't budge but alerted an older man inside who peered through the slats of the shed at me.

"What are you doing?" Like many humans I had met he was thin with dark hollows under his eyes. The human race was turning into a species of skinny raccoons. We all were starting to sport the same black ringed look.

"Trying to free you. If I can get the pins out you all can make a run for it." The man backed away from the door, head shaking in disbelief.

"You're insane. They would hunt us down, hunt you down." Our whispered conversation woke the rest of the small group and a hushed exchange took place within the cluster. I couldn't catch much of what they said but "we'll starve" and "they will kill us" seemed to be repeated at regular intervals.

Rattling the wooded boards to get their attention I hissed, "You can't want to stay here. Do you want to be slaves?"

The man, obviously the spokesperson for Slaves R Us, returned to the door. "We won't go. Even if we escape and they don't track us down, how do you expect us to survive the coming winter? We will freeze and die. At least here we have a warm place to sleep and enough to eat so we don't starve."

Shocked beyond self-preservation I half yelled, "Are you out of your mind," before a large furred hand was clamped over my mouth.

"I am going to start chaining you to the bed. What in the name of all that is holy, unholy, and has half a brain do you think you are doing?"

"Setting them free," was mumbled from beneath fur and claws but Peter seemed to understand perfectly.

"Damn Boy Scout!" Turning to the group he asked, "Do you want me to free you?" The lock looked minuscule in his hand as he rocked it left and right, judging the amount of forced needed to break it.

"No, our chances of survival are better here." Peter nodded sagely and turned, seizing my arm and dragging me back to the hotel. He was deadly silent the whole way back, only the heavy pant of his breath hinting at the fury boiling just beneath a layer of ebony black fur. Oh, yeah. I was in SO much trouble.

Peter dragged me up the stairs, through the door, and tossed me on the bed in without uttering a single word. Each time I started to say something he would glare at me with his burnt ember eyes and I found the words dissipating like smoke in the wind. Bouncing twice from where I landed I watched as Peter rifled in his packs pulling out a length of familiar yellow rope.

"No. Just no and hell no. You are not trussing me up like a Thanksgiving turkey. No. Peter, no!" All my demands went unheeded and I was secured to the bed within seconds. I should have been afraid. I should have been furious. Damn, I was just horny as hell.

"I know you aren't THAT stupid. Did you even stop to think? The whole town would have been after us had you been able to free those people. I wouldn't be able to protect you from that many Others. You would have been killed or worse."

"What's worse than killed?" I wiggled experimentally with my bonds. My hands were tethered above my head with enough give that I wasn't uncomfortable and my legs were free. I could feel myself hardening as Peter glared at me.

"Being taken, being eaten. Who the hell knows what they would have done to you." I knew Peter was fighting his emotions because he didn't shift back to human. His head rolled back, the usual tell that he was about to shift but the fur and claws remained. Nostrils flaring Peter stilled, his entire focus shifted completely to me.

"Stiles?" My name was spoken in a reverent hush as he stepped closer to the bed. Deadly claws caressed my leg, running pads up as Peter ghosted his nails up the inseam of my pants. With a shake of his head he pulled away and gathered himself in the center of the room. The rapid rise and fall of his chest let me know that I was not the only one affected by this little bondage scenario.

"You need to promise me you won't try that again. You can't save everyone Stiles. If you keep trying you are going to get yourself killed."

"But not trying makes me feel that I am dying on the inside, that I've let this horror win. Peter, I just can't give up."

Peter stepped toward the bed his fur smoothing to perfect skin as he reached out to cup my chin and place a fang free kiss on my lips. "I'm not asking you to give up; I just need you to pick your battles better. Okay?"

"Okay," I mouthed against his lips. Lifting up I tried to reach him to deepen the kiss but he pulled out of reach and pushed me over to the side of the bed, crawling in beside me.

"Go to sleep. We are leaving tomorrow before you get yourself killed." Rolling over he threw a leg over my knees and rested his head on my chest which was a new sensation.

"You can un-tie me now. Peter, un-tie me. Really you can't expect me to sleep like this. Peter?"

Peter's only response was to snuggle deeper into the covers and press a soft kiss to my nipple before going to sleep.

And it was at that moment that my nose began to itch. Damn!