I leaned against the wooden side of an old barn shoulders rounded gently and one foot pressed to the greying slats behind me. I wish I had a ten gallon hat that I could pull down above my eyes and boots with spurs to spin and chime as I walked. I wanted to climb the wooden railed fence and pretend I was a cowboy but Peter had told me to wait in this exact spot and not move. After the last day's adventure I was more than willing to follow his directions to the letter.
A loud honking bray sounded from behind the barn. Between the calls of equine fury and splintering wood I could hear Peter cussing a long detailed string of expletives that impressed even me. Torn between wanting to stay out of trouble and curiosity about what could make Peter cuss like a drunken sailor I managed to wait a couple more minutes before darting around the building and climbing over the three post fence.
Peter was struggling to hold the reins of a large brown mule. His ears were long, their insides covered with a thick fur that looked soft to the touch and large brown eyes surrounded with enormous lashes. Pulling back to the end of the lead the mule was tossing and bucking, the mound of packs strapped to his back bouncing as the kicked and leaped sideways across the corral towards me.
"Hey boy is that mean old werewolf scaring you." The mule froze, facing me with stiff legs and flagged tail. "Shhhh, it's okay. I won't let him eat you." Moving slowly I scratched my fingers up the center of his head until I could reach his ears. They did feel like silk, soft and velvet smooth.
"How the hell did you do that?" Peter sounded out of breath and annoyed.
"Well, I've had lots of practice dealing with jackasses these last few weeks." I tossed a smirk over my shoulder at him. He just walked right into that one.
I continued to run my hands up and down the mule's head finding places to scratch that made his ears droop forward and his eyes close to half mast. Using the lull in mule kicking to his advantage, Peter quickly finished packing up the bundles of our supplies onto our new mule's broad back.
Pulling the last strap tight Peter turned and handed me a cloth wrapped bundle. Opening it slowly I found a sleek black compound bow and dozens of arrows. "I was able to get it at that sporting supply store a couple of blocks over. No one around here knows how to use it so I was able to get a fairly sweet deal on it. It doesn't look like your old one but I was hoping that it would be okay."
It felt like Christmas or my birthday and part of me wanted to go all girly and jump up and down. I held that part of me down and settled for a manly hug instead. "Thank you. Now I won't be a 'kept' man anymore. I can make a contribution to the team."
"I thought you considered your sharp wit and steady stream of sarcasm to be your contribution to the team." Pete brushed by me with a smile, his hand running across the curve of my ass as he passed.
"See what I have to put up with?" I asked the mule who continued to look at me with lidded eyes. "This is why I know we will be the best of friends, Peppercorn. I'll kick his ass verbally and you can kick it physically."
"And I can eat you both." Peter's threat couldn't be taken seriously when he was pressed against my back kissing my neck as he said it. Peppercorn on the other hand seemed more impressed, his eyes widened showing a hint of white as he tossed his head a bit and moved further away from my werewolf as I leaned back to get closer. "Seems the mule has a better survival instinct that you do."
"Pftt…he just doesn't know you yet. Give him a couple of days and he'll find out you're just a big softy."
Peter twisted me around to face him cupping my face, thumb resting on my jawline and his fingers tucked behind my ear. "Only for you." His kiss was long and hard with a little more teeth involved than I really liked but it still made my toes curl and I pressed myself as close to him as I could until a voice cleared behind us.
"Right." Nodding to the grey skinned creature holding the corral gate open, Peter grabbed the lead and headed out. I followed keeping Peppercorn's body between me and the gargoyle.
We were at the outskirts of town before Peter spoke again. "Why Peppercorn?"
"I went with my second choice because of his color and his spicy kick."
"Your second choice?
"Well Peter was already taken which would have been the perfect name for a jackass."
"Do you want me to turn this mule around and take you back?" It felt good, the way he teased me back, matched me at every turn. Noticing the warmth in his eyes as he looked back at me, I felt a heat pool deep in my abdomen. At some point in the last few weeks Peter had become so much more to me than a way to stay alive. Peter was becoming important, but I was left wondering what I had become to Peter.
(***************************************************************)
After two days of trekking through the woods and keeping off the main roads, it started to snow. The flakes were huge spinning down from the sky to melt slowly on Peppercorn's lashes and my tongue. Peter scowled at them and hurried us along.
"We need to pick up the pace Stiles."
I was already moving as fast as I comfortable could but I hurried along without complaint. I knew that us being out in the snow was my fault. If not for my little hang ups about human's being treated as pets, or slaves, or snack items back in town we could have still been warm and cozy in the hotel.
Peter kept to his usually pattern of ranging ahead, leaving Peppercorn and I to follow his path until he came back to check on us or change our course. Peppercorn was good company if not a little on the quiet side and I found myself chatting to the brown eyed mule as we traveled.
"It's nice to have someone to talk to that doesn't threaten to eat me at odd moments." Peppercorn huffed through his nose and bobbed his head as if agreeing with me.
"Peter should be heading back soon. This snow is getting deep so we better hope he finds a place to stop soon or you and I will be popsicles." Peppercorn planted his hooves in the deepening snow and tossed his head back at the same time that I heard a strange chuffing in the woods. The mule hopped back lifting his head in a half rear that dragged me off my feet as he backed away.
Using the reins I pulled myself upright I grabbed hold of the halter. The sound seemed to echo from all directions. "What the hell is that?" I asked the white eyed mule. Peppercorn didn't answer, just flicked his ears back and forth as he breathed against my winter coat leaving a trail of condensation and snot down the front.
With a heaving bray Peppercorn swung around, sending me crashing to the snow covered ground, kicking both powerful hooves backwards to meet the tawny colored blur that was leaping towards us.
The cougar was enormous, easily reaching my waist when standing on four legs. With its fur on end and snarling as it recovered from the kick Peppercorn had sent its way it looked even bigger.
"Holy fuck!" I grabbed Peppercorn's reins and ran lifting my knees high over the unbroken snow drifts. There was a small road not too far back and if we could reach it I was sure I could hop aboard Pepper and hopefully out run the cougar on our tail.
Just as the road appeared in front of us the cougar leaped onto the back of Peppercorn trying to bring him down. The heavy packs kept its claws and teeth away from tender mule flesh but the added weight and snarls drove Peppercorn mad and he took off down the road kicking and braying.
Dodging between the frozen caravan of cars, Peppercorn managed to dislodge the giant cat that looked over his shoulder and spotted an easier meal: me.
"Shit, shit, shit!" I yelled as I ran the opposite direction down the road pulling on the doors as I passed. "It's the end of the world and people took the time to lock their doors. This is seriously fucked up." A large blue Kia van was unlocked and I scrambled inside. The cougar snarled in anger at me through the closed window and I blew a raspberry at it.
"Better luck next time Sylvester."
I leaned back in the seat closing my eyes and trying to catch my breath. I knew that Peter would be able to follow my trail and I hoped that together we could find Peppercorn. I checked the mom-van, finding a box of crackers in the glove compartment and a small portable DVD player that still had a charge. The only movies in the van were Disney cartoons but after months of nothing but books Finding Nemo was treat.
Little Nemo was bravely swimming out to touch the boat when I heard the clattering of hooves. Peppercorn galloped by with wild eyes and a foam flecked mouth. Knowing the cougar had taken off in the other direction I peered through the falling snow to look ahead on the road. The van's height let me see over the tops of the cars in front of me but the snow created a hazy white screen that kept me from seeing too far up the road.
Slowly forms took shape moving oddly as they shifted through the cars ahead of me. I felt the bile rise in my throat as the snow cleared for a second and I got a good look at what was coming my way. A plague of zombies Peter had called them and I tried to swallow down my terror as they moved in a large pack toward my van.
I ducked down deeper down into my seat trying to keep my breathing shallow and silent. The first lumbered past my window, its body bloated and discolored. The second passed by a little closer allowing me to see the way its skin was pulled tightly over the swelling mass of its body, black tar-like substances flowing down from where the skin had split. Even through the closed window I could smell the stench.
The third one bumped against the passenger side window leaving a putrid smear from its severed arm. I could see the black areas on its skin where frost bite had frozen the dead flesh. Unblinking eyes seemed to stare right at me and in a moment of panic I did the unthinkable; I pressed the automatic lock button and alerted them all to my presence.
The skin over their distended fingers split and oozed as the zombies pawed and scratched at the windows to get at me. Within seconds I could no longer see out the windows, a mass of zombies clawed and scraped at every pane of glass. The review mirror came off with a pop and the windshield wipers were torn away.
Black fingers with bone showing through worked at the door's edges slowly peeling away the rubber that sealed the window to the door. Spider webs of cracks formed under the relentless assault of the dead. I slammed my fist onto the horn, blaring out three short and three long blasts in rapid succession hoping that Peter was somewhere within hearing range.
I pounded the horn until the cracks widened and then I crawled over the divider into the back of the van. I prayed the prayer of the hopeless; like a drowning man with his last gulp of air, a pilot just before his plane strikes the ground. "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God."
The passenger side window gave an agonizing whine before turning white with cracks and then shattering inward. Two zombies pushed their heads through the crack creating a blockade as neither one would back away to let the other through the small space. Thank God for dead brain cells.
The glass sheared away their flesh as they pushed forward sending black pus and ooze streaming down into the front seat. I had pushed myself to the very back of the van. Desperate as the first zombie managed to get an arm inside the van I let out a scream, "Peter! Peter help!"
I didn't really expect to be saved. I expected that Peter would find my gory remains, be briefly pissed that he wasted all that time on me and never got a piece of my ass, and then move on without a backwards glances. What happened next was beyond all my hopes.
The roof of the van dented briefly along with the clatter of nails and then Peter, in wolf form, was snapping and snarling at the zombies trapped inside my window. He ripped and tore at their necks using both his teeth and the serrated glass to cut through to the bone. With a savage jerk he tore the body away from one and then worried at the other until he pulled it from the van and finished it off with a meaty crunch.
From my position cowering in the back of the van I couldn't really see much of Peter but I could see the results of his battle. Two zombies dropped immediately on my left the sounds of flesh being shredded the only hint of their demise. I saw his head briefly as it popped into view, bore down on an arm and ripped it from its socket. It got to the point that I couldn't watch anymore and I tucked myself down on the floorboards and tried not to listen to the growls and wet crunching sounds that came from outside the van.
And finally there was silence. There was nothing but the sound of the wind blowing through the open window and I was just about to panic that Peter was out there hurt when I heard the clip clop of hooves on pavement. I slowly uncurled just in time to have a heart attack as Peter calmly tapped on the glass for me to let him in the van. I reached forward and pressed the automatic lock before letting myself drop back to the rear.
Tying Peppercorn's reins to the back bumper Peter quickly slid into the back naked as the day he was born and completely oblivious to the cold. "Sorry it took so long. Hope you didn't mind the wait."
"Yea, not a problem." I waved the half eaten, crushed to crumbs pack of crackers that I still had tightly gripped in my hand. "I had some crackers while I waited."
Peter chuckled and moved into the back and sat next to me on the carpeted floorboards. I managed to hold myself together for maybe thirty seconds before I was throwing myself into Peter's arms and sobbing like a four year old boy. Peter didn't say a word, just held me tight and rubbed his hand in soothing circles on my back while I cried.
He continued to hold me while I shook and quivered and until my tears stopped and dried on my cheeks. His body was warm under mine own and smelled like pine trees and snow. After a while I started to notice how smooth his skin was under my head and the perfect golden color of his skin. I had heard about bodies having a certain response to near death experiences, but this was my first time experiencing the sensation for myself. My body suddenly decided that not being dead was a big deal and wanted to have a party to celebrate the fact. A party with Peter.
Peter's chest was hairless until just above his navel where light brown hairs swirled around his belly button before plunging downward and thickening as they reached the juncture of his legs. My thumb idly traced their trail while my eyes were transfixed on the shape and color of Peter's nipples. They were almost the same soft brown color as his hair, perfectly shaped, and displayed on the most delectable pectorals I have ever seen.
I don't know what came over me, one minute I'm a quivering mess in Peter's arms and the next I'm attacking his lips, driving my tongue deep as I claimed his mouth. My hands were everywhere along the long lines of his body but it wasn't enough, not enough skin. I needed more, I needed Peter.
I have this brief flash of memory of his face, a combination of shock and amusement, as I grabbed him by the hips and pulled him flat onto the floorboard so that I could straddle his hips. It seemed like my body was made solely of hands, lips, and teeth and I used them all, running up and down Peter's body as he spread himself beneath me.
Damn fabric, damn clothing. There was just too much between Peter and me. Fumbling with buttons and zippers, I frantically kissed, stroked and rutted up against Peter. It wasn't until he took pity on my uncoordinated self and helped that I got anything off my body. Once I was as naked as Peter I wrapped his legs around my waist and ground my body against his own.
"Peter, please, Peter," I panted as I pressed my body to his. Peter took my hand and guided my fingers to his mouth, swirling his tongue around each digit as I keened and mewed. He guided my hand downward with whispered instructions to my ear that sent sparks flying down my spine and I quickly followed his lead. By the moans escaping Peter and the way he pressed his hips up against my fingers, I knew I was doing something right. Peter wrapped his hand, wet and slick with moisture, around my dick and spread his legs wider, lifting his hips and guiding me forward into the most amazing warmth and tightness.
After the first couple of shallow thrusts I let my head drop against Peter's shoulder, dropping kisses along his collar bone as I asked, "Is this okay. Peter, please let this be okay."
"You're perfect. Come on Stiles." Peter thrust upward, driving me a little deeper into his heat and then I was pounding into him with everything I had. I could feel Peter starting to stroke himself and I placed my hand on top of his letting them work together until I had to go so that I could grab Peter's hips and tilt him just a little but more for my last few thrusts before my vision went white, the dust motes taking on rainbow colors and hues that I never knew existed.
Panting I collapsed on Peter's chest peppering it with kisses as Peter stroked the back of my head and held me close. After a few minutes of cuddling I could feel the cold starting to seep into my bones. Picking up a small pink discarded shirt Peter cleaned us both off and kissed me before climbing out of the van. I watched, brain still mostly off line by the sudden attack of sex in the back of a mini-van, as Peter pulled clothing out of the saddle bags and got dressed.
Meeting my eyes through the lightly tinted glass he smiled and turned as he wiggled into his jeans so that I had a good view of his naked ass as the jeans slowly slid up his muscular legs.
I pulled my own cloths on with a little more grace than I pulled them off. Emerging from the van I felt more than a little embarrassed by my behavior. Shit, I had basically jumped Peter without warning, almost forcing myself upon him.
Peter took one look at my red face and smiled his predatory grin. Leaning forward he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me flush with his own body, kissing me until I was breathless. "Not how I envisioned our first time but I am not complaining. But next time…"
He smile was contagious and I felt my lips echoing its curl. Blinking I leaned forward to nip his bottom lip. "Next time you will show me how it's REALLY done?"
Peter pressed me closer, tucking my head against his shoulder and holding me tight. "Yeah," he breathed into my ear. "My thoughts exactly."
"I can't wait."