A different take on the traditional M/M werewolf romance topic: less romantic, less traditional, more disturbing and with conniving wolves, vampires and submissive marines.
Comments or requests for more of Meta (& the Marines) can be emailed to Meta.JohnAR@gmail.com or check out www.amazon.com/author/johnar.
Depending on reception, I will post more chapters.
And if any military boy wants to start a MetaPack, let me know ...
John A.R.
Meta & the Marines II
(Meta Origins)
He woke up.
It was dark.
Where was he?
His dorm room?
Why was he in his old room?
Terrence wasn't here, fucking some sorority girl, for sure.
He touched his face.
No goatee.
Strange.
It was 0500 in the morning. Still dark.
No sound.
He couldn't smell anything but old socks. No pine, no wheat, no soil, no lake. Nothing.
He felt alone.
He slipped into his pants and sneakers to go to the toilet. He needed to piss.
In the brightly lit hallway, he heard a voice. Without contacts he could barely see who it was. Sounded like Prime.
He followed the shadow.
Out of the dorm.
Nobody awake yet on the campus.
"Colt" somebody whispered.
He came to the parking lot, where his wolves had parked when picking him up.
No truck though.
No wolves.
In the distance, he could hear a passing car. Through the open window he recognized Reba's song `I am survivor.'
When he stepped into a mess of old French fries and ketchup, he heard an unpleasantly familiar voice: "Colt."
He turned around.
MaryAnn in her full glory, dark gleaming eyes, long fingernails and an outfit worthy of a lady of 1865 in South Carolina. Maybe more like a vamp than a vampire.
He swallowed. He wanted to run, but couldn't. His voice cracked. "Prime!"
MaryAnn smiled coming closer to him. Walking not levitating. Was she a vampire or not?
"Prime doesn't exist. And you know that," she said like to a little boy, who was talking about his invisible friend.
"CE!"
"Who's that? Another one of your dream friends? Whose picture do you use to do unspeakable dirty things to yourself?"
"Brian! Sam!"
"Oh sure, in your dreams you are such a stud, getting all this action with hunky boys."
He could smell her now, she was so close. Her smell wasn't unpleasant. Just too much face cream as usual.
She even smiled bit as she put her right hand on his shoulder, nearly gentle, nearly caring, nearly motherly.
"You have always known this has just been a wet dream for you. And I'm here to tell you now that it's over."
And with that she squeezed, her grip was like an iron vice.
He winced, he cried. He went to his knees. His right hand was desperately looking for his pocket, but it was empty. No dagger.
"Oh you poor boy. Such fantasy, fucking hunky wolves and killing robot vampires," she said condescendingly.
"But ..."
"Shhh. Just accept it. It has just been a dream."
A prick. The pain shot through his body. Bones broke.
He gave in to the pain. Not to the pain caused by MaryAnn, but the pain of knowing he was alone; had always been alone; the pain of knowing his pack had just been a long, much too long, much too good to be true dream, drug trip or hallucination.
"You should have chosen differently."
And then it went dark in Colt's eyes.
His body shook fighting death. Tried not to give in to the last call. Resisted the pulling on his shoulders, resisted the unknown.
The pulling had gotten stronger.
"Colt, wake up."
When he opened his eyes, he saw black, a black T-shirt. It felt so comfortably warm. "What?" he managed to whisper through his sore throat.
"Wake up, Colt." A warm hand was shaking him gently.
He lifted his aching head. A string of spit connected the shoulder under the black T-shirt with his lips. He used the back of his hand to clean himself up, noticing he had left a puddle of drawl on somebody's shoulders.
Not somebody, Prime's. Prime was here, not just an imaginary hunk he used to masturbate over.
"Where am I?" He rubbed his sore eyes to get the sleep out of them.
"Somewhere in fucking Eastern Texas," Prime said with his warm deep voice, which cleared the fog in Colt's mind like by magic.
"Oh, shit."
"Yep, you had your nasty nightmare all over. The bitch killed you again?"
"Need water."
Somebody, not somebody, CE, who sat in the last row of the transporter, handed him a chilled, open water bottle: "Here, boss." The caring sound of his voice went down his spine. Can't be a dream then, CE was here, the protective pit-bull dog he never had as a kid, though he would never confess this comparison to the wolf shifter.
"Thanks." Colt took a big gulp of the Evian water, cleaned his mouth again with the back of his hand and sat up straight. "For how long had I been gone?"
"Two hours. Only started to dream in the past two minutes," Prime reported like a good soldier; sorry, marine.
"Felt longer. Yes, the Carolina bitch got me again. I think I can never in my life hear Reba again or watch one of her shows. And you know I am into red hair even on women," Colt tried to joke to lift the mood. His wolves were seriously concerned. He wondered whether about his health or about what those dreams meant at the end for all of them.
"Seems I need to get mine dyed," Sam stated with an amused smile looking back from his seat, while brushing through his tightly cropped hair. Colt was relieved; also Sam was real in all his Italian handsomeness. Fuck the lying bitch.
Sam sat next to Brian, who drove the rental car stoically as if nothing had happened. Final tick, fourth member of the pack accounted for, Colt noted in his head, admiring the surfer tan on the blond Mormon boy, who got first eye raped by the receptionist this morning and then eye chewed out by Prime for letting it happen.
"Request not authorized," Prime answered Sam's suggestion with a smirk on his face trying leaning forward to hit the boy on his head, held back inconveniently by his safety belt. Prime only used formal military language when he was under stress or when he wanted to tease.
Sam bowed forward to escape the Alpha's hand. "Hard copy," Sam responded mimicking Prime's marine language. "You just don't want competition," Sam challenged Prime very civilian mock hurt.
Colt smiled at the exchange. It was great to see how well Sam had developed in the past months. When he'd joined he would have never dared to banter with Prime in such a way, now he loved it, though he still made sure he stayed on the obviously playful side of things. He also had gained nearly 10 kgs of muscle, so he looked like a delicious hunk in his tight green tank top with his chain on full display. He had already reached Prime's height, and with the continued training by CE and the necessary nutritious support, he might soon outweigh the ginger Alpha marine.
"You OK now?" Prime asked worried about Colt.
"Yeah, sorry to have made such a mess on your T-shirt, I feel like a baby." Colt chewed on the cap of his bottle.
"It's okay. I have some more shirts with me." Prime used a paper tissue to remove some of Colt's saliva. "She's really getting to you."
"It's not her I'm concerned about," Colt answered truthfully, then taking another sip from his water, playing with the screw cap, looking at the three mountains picture on it, which reminded him so much of Prime's enchanting green eyes.
"What then?" CE asked crisply. He had the last row to himself and stretched out comfortably. As he had some space on the floor he kept one of the cooling boxes in the back handing drinks and snacks to his pack members as required.
"It's the thought that I'm alone. Nobody of you guys close-by or even exists. The incisively painful thought you guys are just a figment of my perverted college student imagination." Colt wondered whether he came across like a drama queen. Or whether it was something else.
"Well, then I guessed my imagination fucked me yesterday," Brian said chuckling behind the steering wheel.
"Not sure that was wise by our Meta given you're driving," Prime teased Brian.
"Not wise, but good," Brain made an indecent noise with the word `good.'
"Oh shut up, Mormon boy," CE said. "If you weren't driving I'd tell Sam to hit you right now. And you know he hits much harder than you, girl."
Brian grinned at the young enforcer next to him as if asking conspiratorially: `You would never do that, would you?'
Sam chose not to react to Brian's grin but pretended to continue reading on his smart phone.
"Traitor," Brian whispered with a chuckle.
Prime shook his head, then turned to Colt and said: "So why do you think these nightmares keep coming? Do you need some professional help?"
"You mean a shrink? Oh fucking no. The last one was too weird." Colt made some cracking sounds with the half empty bottle.
"You were with a shrink?" Sam asked with youthful curiosity, it seemed the smart phone was much less interesting than his Meta. When CE stared at him like a drill instructor would at a recruit who had just royally screwed up, Sam knew this meant that tonight he would exercise until he fell asleep doing push-ups. He tried to get out of this hole adding quickly: "Sorry I asked." And returned his attention to his smart phone.
"No, it's okay, boys. You know, all of us have 10 hours for free with a counselor, part of the student package. Anyway, I tried it to see what happens ..."
"You wanted to mindfuck a shrink," Prime feigned reprimand, as he was not surprised about Colt's unstoppable desire to screw with other people's brains. It was a sport for him like asserting dominance for Prime or making jokes for Brian.
"Not really." Colt hesitated for a second thinking about Prime's point. It had been a tough low point of his life. "Maybe a bit. Anyway, he insisted that deep inside I wanted to be like my dad."
"The drunken waste of space?" Prime asked incredulously.
"Yep, all straight, and pussy chasing, butch and into male things like drinking, football and burping," Colt summarized what he thought was the least aspirational male figure in his life. "Anyway, I told him he was utterly nuts and should hand back his license. Didn't really work well for the next session, which was the last coincidentally."
"So, no shrink for our Meta then." Prime was visibly relieved. Not sure how he would have felt about this, although he would have never volunteered these feelings to the pack openly. He'd always known that having a meta would bring unique challenges for him, but he didn't think a shrink would have been part of it, irrespective how respectable it was nowadays to pay a professional to listen to one.
"I think what's going on is that a big part of my brain still resists accepting I have found you boys - that I'm happy for the first time in my miserable life. So my brain keeps making the story up that my real life is actually a dream, while my miserable dream must be real life, because in that one there is no Prime, no Brian, no CE and no Sam. That's the only way to explain what has happened to me over the past months, the only way it thinks to be able to keep sane." Colt hesitated for another second; he felt he'd shared too much. He chastising himself quickly, though, as he'd shared much more with his pack before, and they'd always rewarded him with nothing but endless devotion and support.
"Sucks," CE said from the back.
"Yep, and not in a good way," Colt added noticing how Sam turned crimson remembering he had blown Colt this morning after the shower. Colt was sure the wolves still could smell him all over poor Sam. Sam's innocence and propensity to blush reminded Colt of himself when he'd joined the pack as Meta. It had been a challenge for him in the beginning to speak so openly about sex with his pack members. He knew he was getting better, and he knew so would Sam eventually.
"So we're your invisible friends, then," Brian stated a bit amused, patiently accepting that a sexy silver Mercedes convertible overtook them in their sturdy van as he was traveling within the required speed limit. Initially, he'd protested renting a `fucking breeder's car' as he called a van suitable for transporting eight people, i.e. large families, but he'd finally accepted the humiliation driving it, as putting five men into their truck back home would have become a bit uncomfortable on the long way from California to Texas.
"Yep. Didn't have them as a child, so I guess, now is the right time, at least that's what my subconscious seems to think." Colt emptied his water bottle and put into a plastic bag, in which they had collected their trash since this morning.
And there was a lot of trash. Countless water bottles, which had hydrated five fully-grown men, few Diet Coke cans from Colt, myriads of beef jerky plastic wraps and the odd ice cream wrapping, courtesy of CE's sweet tooth.
Colt had originally insisted he could go to his parents in Texas on his own, but Prime in his capacity of possessive and anal Alpha had made it clear this was completely out of question and that he wouldn't accept any more argument on this. Obviously, the Beta, the CE and an enforcer in training wouldn't stay behind if their Meta and Alpha were traveling across half of the North American continent.
So all five of them went on a 1300 miles road trip east on the I-40. The ride had been quite some fun until they'd reached central Arizona, but once they had left the mountains behind them, the miles got a bit boring. Instead of chatting they'd started to read or watch videos on their phones. They were lucky to have enough charging connections in the car; Colt assumed traveling in a `breeder's car' had to have some advantages.
After a night in an acceptable motel with the not very imaginative name `I-40 Motel,' they'd crossed the Texan border and were now on their last leg to Colt's parental home.
Colt had never been good in sleeping in new rooms; all the unfamiliar noises and lights disturbed him. Prime, when staying with him, made fun of how he tried to hide every little light before going to bed, be it the smoke detector light, the standby red sign on the TV or the phone charging indicator. After Colt had twisted his nipples brutally for making fun of him, Prime now prepared the room accordingly without complaint.
But even when Colt succeeded in blocking out all the lights in the room, he still had to deal with the noises: the neighbors', the cars' outside or that of an old air conditioning unit.
Anyway, he hadn't really been able to fall asleep last night so he messaged Brian to visit him, which led to hot sex, which Brian proudly had referred to just before. The blond boy loved when his pack members knew his ass had been destroyed the previous night. He seemed to be a bit of an exhibitionist for pointing it out, as it wasn't really needed to be shared explicitly he'd been fucked last night, as Colt was sure the wolves smelled it anyway the moment he had left Colt's room -- or have heard them `doing it.' Colt chuckled to himself.
As a consequence of all of this, lights, noise and sex, Colt was beat in the morning hopping into the cool air-conditioned car. He fell asleep after few minutes resting on Prime's wide and supporting shoulder.
"So do you believe we're reality now or do you still think you're dreaming?" Brian asked, raising his pack members' laughs. "What?" he asked in self-defense.
"I'm pretty certain this is reality. I'm doubtful that in one of my dreams I would be driving back to my parents to Texas in a `breeders' car.' And also, I wouldn't have sore muscles in my dreams. Gift of our chief enforcer," Colt tried to be as convincing as possible.
"We had another vampire killing training yesterday," CE quickly rectified any indecent thoughts by the other wolves, although he wasn't ashamed of having sex with Colt either.
"Good to know that the bitch has no chance anymore in real life after CE's lessons," Prime rubbed Colt's right triceps supportively fully aware what that did to Colt's midsection.
"It's just ... it's so realistic." Colt scratched his head. `In contrast to my usual surreal burning numbers dreams,' he thought, which he attributed to his slight nerdish arithmomania. "I see my dorm room so clearly," he continued pushing numbers aside, "I can feel the humid air on my skin. I can hear the cars. One car radio playing that `I am a survivor' song. I can even feel the mushy mess I'm stepping into on the parking lot, some French fries, or whatever. Even the fact I can remember everything so clearly now I'm awake, is so unsettling. Normally, I'm not recalling such details of my nightmares. Actually, I have rarely had nightmares before. Maybe because my life had been nightmare enough already."
Nobody said anything.
"Do wolf shifters have nightmares?"
"Yep," said Prime. "Of vampires mostly."
"Why that?"
"We're genetically programmed to fight those bastards. So our brain is `practicing' when we sleep," Brian answered as he felt this was a beta question.
"Maybe I'm training then as well. Maybe too much practicing with CE," Colt concluded.
"You wish," CE said in an unusual mocking tone. At least unusual for him towards his Meta, whom he always treated with ultimate respect and loyalty.
"I know. It doesn't feel that I'm practicing. I feel those dreams want to tell me something else, but I don't know what it is. -- I guess one of you has always to sleep with me to wake me up, in case of a nightmare."
"Oh, life in this pack is sooo tough," Sam chuckled showing his small white teeth to Colt, who reached out to the young enforcer, grabbing his chain from behind and playfully choking the dark hair wolf shifter.
"Naughty pup."
"Grrgggg," Sam pretended suffocating, happy like a little puppy that his owner played with him.
Colt released the grip with a laugh, remembering the ritual of initiating Sam to the pack some days ago, which had started in the tattoo parlor ...
"Hi, Prime, nice to see you again, old devil dog," Jack, the owner, greeted Prime with a warm smile and wide arms.
"Hi, you old mutt, still misspelling tattoos?" Prime slapped the back of his old friend hard as normally only straight men did to reassure themselves of the correctness of their feelings.
"Only if I don't like them," Jack joked. He looked like a wolf shifter had to look, at least in traditional male romance were-creature novels. Tall; taller than Prime. With thick black hair and a full beard, which showed the first signs of graying. His body hair was substantial, sprouting out of the white wife beater shirt up to his shoulders. He wore leather pants stretched a bit by his beer belly, which wasn't large enough to be unattractive, but reassuringly straight. Of course, two full tattoo sleeves covered his thick arms: several wolf pictures, a portray of a seductive woman, who Colt thought, must have been his female mate, a sentence in what seemed an Asian language he didn't know and various surely magical or mystic signs and patterns. Everything in all color shades of the rainbow; not particularly repulsive but not necessarily attractive for Colt, either. Maybe it was a straight thing. Or he was just too conventional to appreciate this art.
Jack even had one golden tooth making his wide laugh a bit unsettling.
"Then I guess you don't have a lot of repeat customers," Prime continued the teasing.
"Enough to pay the rent."
"For this shack, I guess," Prime continued to tease Jack. Finally, he pointed to the young nerdish man with the closely trimmed dirty blond goatee standing to his left. "Jack, you surely remember Colt."
"Of course," Jack smiled shortly and then dropped his eyes to the floor.
For a second, Colt was confused about this but then realized Jack had just acknowledged him as a superior with that gesture. Despite his surprise about this open display of submission, given he wasn't even a wolf shifter, he decided he should play along. He knew Jack was unusual as he had a dominant female as partner. "Nice to see you again, Jack. I never had the chance to thank you personally for the amazing tattoos on my wolves." He reached out with his hand, which Jack shook firmly but not aggressively.
"Was a pleasure, Colt. Though, doing it three times on one day was quite some work." Jack feigned exhaustion.
Colt nodded. "Good then you have to do it only once today. -- This is Sam."
Jack put on what seemed like a purposefully mischievous smile and looked up and down the handsome tall man with his dark, shortly cropped hair and healthy Italian complexion. For a second Colt thought that Jack was checking him out and assessing Sam's qualities in bed, when Prime growled.
"Sorry, Prime," Jack caught himself, not wanting to upset the alpha wolf in the room. "Nice to meet you, Sam."
"Jack."
"Nervous?"
"A bit, but ready. Today's the big day." Sam couldn't contain his excitement.
"So you are also getting one of those locks?"
"I hope so. If the Meta wants me ...," Sam answered submissively, while lying down on a table after he had removed his T-Shirt exposing his smooth nicely muscled chest.
Colt again had to appreciate how much the young man had grown in the past three months. He was officially hunky now, and Jack's appreciative eyes confirmed that. Colt wondered for a second if Jack's mate knew Jack was also checking out boys, and submissive boys they were.
"Do you still have the template?" Prime asked.
"Sure, already prepared after you called me. We can start immediately."
"Sam?" Prime asked.
"Yes, Sir, please."
"Okay, Jack, do your best. And no spelling mistakes!" he joked.
"Well `CP' is not too tough to remember even for a dumb wolf," Jack answered while starting to clean Sam's back, right shoulder and the right upper arm. "Do you need something to bite on?"
Colt didn't know whether Jacks question was genuine concern or a sexual innuendo.
"Let's start without. If it hurts too much I'll let you know," Sam answered with courage but also with humbleness.
"Okay. It'll take some hours."
Sam looked with his dark puppy eyes to Colt.
Colt nodded. "I'm proud of you Sam," touching his jaw for a second. "Let's start."
Jack was reassuringly thorough and spoke only when he cleansed Sam's skin or when he had to fill in areas that were easy to do. "So how is college, Colt?"
"Okay. One more year. Then I'll be a salary slave."
Prime growled.
Colt frowned but didn't say anything.
"Yep, this modern world is not ideal for wolf shifters. Couldn't live behind a desk."
"Well, I'm not a wolf ...," Colt clarified unnecessarily.
"Sure," Jack said in a way, which Colt could not decipher. Was he sending hidden messages? Was he concerned about the wolves in his pack?
"Anyway, my guys need another two years, so we won't leave this place very soon I think."
"Good for me and my business."
Colt laughed. "Not sure we will have sooo many new pack members you can make a living of tattooing them." The thought, though, aroused him, which earned him Prime's wicked smile.
"Maybe. But since your boys have started roaming campus with my tattoos, business has been picking up quite a bit."
"So you should actually pay us then for being your walking billboards," Prime challenged the other wolf.
"You better not make me angry me while I'm working on this pup," Jack said dryly.
Sam made a move as if he wanted to clarify that he wasn't anyone's pup anymore but a proud future enforcer. Jack sensed what was coming, so he stopped his work, grabbed a sealed bag with a gum protector often used to shield teeth during martial arts fights, and pushed into the mouth of a surprised Sam. The boy obeyed and bit on it without a word.
Colt smiled noticing what was going on. He had learned well enough by now that wolves always needed to establish hierarchy and while Jack accepted Prime as superior to Jack, he was making sure Sam understood that he was considered inferior to the tattooist. Colt wondered for a second where he stood, until he realized that was a stupid question. He wasn't a wolf, hence, he didn't have a place in this hierarchy, and Jack didn't give a damn about this. He only tolerated Colt as quasi superior because Prime had accepted him as Meta.
Prime smiled at the big hairy man. "Understood. You know what's going to happen when you screw up with Sam?"
"You beat me up?" Jack asked, nearly hopefully.
"No," Prime waited until Jack removed the needle from Sam's skin to clean off some of the color. "I'll tell your Missus," he continued with a hint of sadistic smile.
Jack grinned. "You got me then."
Sam's face was showing the first signs of exhaustion and pain.
Colt was pretty sure CE and Prime back then couldn't give a damn about the needle, but he wondered whether Brian had suffered as much as Sam was now. And for a second he was unsure whether he had done the right thing. Had he been thinking too much with his own dick, choosing a tattoo, which he thought was sexy and an effective mark, but maybe too painful to get in one session?
Prime got up and put his hand on Sam's other shoulder, saying with a soothing voice full of timbre: "You're doing great, boy."
"Thanks, Sir," was the boy's grateful answer. It was unclear whether the watery eyes were due to the pain or due to Prime's supporting words.
"So college boys into tattoos nowadays?" Prime asked Jack, who now worked on the letter C.
"Pretty much so it seems. Particularly jocks. Well, normally I only get the guys. Girls are dealt with by the Missus. But quite some girls as well as far as I can see."
"Strange, when I joined the Corps, it was still a bit of an outsider thing ..." Prime didn't seem to be happy that tattoos had become so mainstream; he had like the outside aspect.
"Things change, Alpha. I mean look at you," Jack pointed his apparatus at the marine, then continuing meticulously with the pattern around the letters.
"Meaning?"
"I haven't seen you clean shaven and in high'n'tight since you left the Corps ... seems even your legs are smooth like a baby bum nowadays."
Prime blushed.
Colt suppressed a boyish smile. And his boner told him he liked the confirmation that other wolves recognized Prime was his now and marked accordingly.
"And what about that lock under your T-shirt? Seems Colt has you around his little finger." It was obvious Jack enjoyed himself having observed things so closely, realizing he wasn't the only big badass wolf with a submissive streak.
"As does your Missus have you around hers?" Colt retorted, sensing Prime needed some help. "I'm sure she tattooed your dick."
Jack stopped for a second before continuing his work, looking at the nerd with narrow eyes: "How do ...?"
Colt smiled wickedly. "Now I do."
Prime chuckled, granting Colt an appreciative smile that lit his green eyes with pine trees. "What does it say: `Property of Alexandra?' Quite a lot of letters."
"Sorry, Prime. Not telling." Jack shook his head in disbelief and returned to the letter `P.' He had to be careful with this nerd.
They drank water, had a snack, fed a reluctant Sam a chocolate bar and resumed their banter while Jack continued his work around the CP letters, only stopping once to go to the bathroom; washing his hands in front of everyone thoroughly afterwards and putting on new gloves.
When he was done with a big sigh admiring his masterpiece, he put wide professional dressings over the tattoo area, fastening them with sticky Band-Aids. "Not that it's really necessary for you, one shift and you're fine, pup."
Sam must have been annoyed about not having been able to say anything throughout the hour-long process, so he got all the more agitated now: "Jack, don't call me `pup!'" His voice was firm and would not tolerate contradiction.
Colt and Prime observed the situation not without a hint of pride.
Jack's wide grin disappeared slowly, evaluating whether he should consider it a challenge or not. Colt sensed that he wouldn't have been unhappy about a mock fight to establish hierarchy, but Jack seemed to decide against it, at the end Sam was his customer, even if Prime paid. "Okay, young man, `Sam' it is. How are you feeling?"
"Okay, a bit dizzy. But I shall be fine."
Prime went with Jack to the cashier, while Colt hugged the cute young man, carefully avoiding the tattooed area. "You did great, Sam."
"Thanks, Meta. I ...," his voice broke. "I'm ..."
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry, Meta. I know it shouldn't be ... but I'm so horned up right now, you better not touch me again, otherwise I'll come into my pants." The young man was crimson, in a mixture of pain and shame.
Colts mouth twitched. "I see, you're a little pervert converting pain into pleasure like CE."
"If you say so, Sir." Sam tilted his head to offer his neck to Colt.
"No, no biting. You might soil yourself," Colt answered in a good mood.
"Who soiled himself?" Prime asked with his serious alpha face ready to enforce proper conduct.
"Nobody, everything's pure, Alpha. Let's go, I'm hungry."
"Bye, Jack," Prime greeted for all of them.
"Bye, Colt's Pack!" Jack waved from his cashier's area with a genuine smile.
"'Colt's Pack?' I didn't know that name was public knowledge."
Prime shrugged his shoulders. "We haven't really given ourselves a name, so I guess people just call us what seems natural."
Not convincing, Colt thought.
They were in their usual clearing. The moon shone silver bright, not a single cloud disturbed the clear black sky. They could even see twinkling stars despite the `light pollution' from the city. In contrast to their first ritual, it was not a serenely quiet night, though. It had seemed that every single animal inhabiting the forest around them had decided to be as noisy as possible. Even the ants crawling up the heavy-duty tires on the truck did their best to contribute.
However, the boys weren't bothered by the sound track of nature and went excitedly about their ritual. The wolves took a long run. All four of them. Colt loved how predictable they were in that. First, he smelled the deep soil scent close by, then cherry and wheat, at the end rich strawberries and woody fresh pine. They made sure one of them was always close to Colt in case something happened.
Admittedly, the past months had been quiet. No more attacks by rogue wolves or vampires, but one could never be sure, was Prime's thinking, ensuring the Meta was being protected 24 hours. As Sam hadn't been an official member of the pack yet and as CE hadn't cleared him yet as a proper enforcer, either, Sam wasn't considered able to protect Colt. Hence, during the run the pleasant fresh lake scent was rarely close enough to be picked up. And Colt knew so far Sam hadn't had protection duty on campus yet, either.
When they returned, Colt had to force himself not to choke on his feelings. The sight of his majestic wolves was too oneiric. Golden, silver, brown shaded and anthracite gray might moving as one. For a second he realized that while Sam might be as tall as Prime in his human form, he was still a bit smaller in his wolf form; but the dark gray made him look impressive in his own right. Yes, one day he would be a formidable enforcer.
Colt welcomed Prime back, as the Alpha of the pack, and then he petted Brian and let CE lick his hand, following the hierarchy as he had learned. Finally, he knelt in front of Sam's wolf looking into the intensely dark eyes, which showed a calm Northern lake surrounded by mighty trees and white rocks. He could smell the freshly thawed water from the glacier.
"Sam, wolf of this pack, with this chain I bond you, your pack and me. With this gift I will forever be your Meta to protect you and your pack and to further its long term happiness, health and success."
He put the chain around the dark gray wolf, who hesitated only for a second before he lifted his head, so Colt could close the lock. "With this lock, I am yours and you are mine," he completed his vow as he had done the first time.
And then they howled. Howled as if their lives depended on it. And Colt was relieved the night was already so loud anyway, providing the perfect camouflage for his wolves going nuts over the new pack member.
They ran. And played around him touching his sides, licking his hands. Chased each other, mock fought with each other. Colt watched closely how Sam had no problems anymore overpowering Brian in their play. Seemed Sam was a bit surprised about this as well, as he quickly disengaged and offered his neck to his Beta as a sign of submission. Not only Colt had noticed, Prime and CE had stopped their play for few seconds to observe with satisfaction what was going on.
When Brian accepted Sam's gesture they ran up the hills coordinated as only a tightly knitted pack could do.
Colt turned off his Kindle when he heard them return. He was grateful they had already shifted and approached him in their human forms. Despite all these months he still had to control himself not to become sick from the obnoxious noise of bones breaking during the shift.
Prime was so sexy. His slightly tanned but still reddish blond pale body glistened with a thin layer of sweat, making his freckles dance in the light. He smiled, wearing proudly his lock. He guided a slightly unsure Sam to stand in front of Colt.
Brian grinned like a boy who had gotten an extra present for Christmas and CE stood proud like a father whose son had just scored a homerun.
Sam swallowed and assumed the `at ease' position as surely CE had taught him. Colt got aroused. In line with his recently acquired `hunk-status,' Sam's pecs had become full, his biceps big and his abs ripped. Nothing was left of the beaten, scrawny and fearful boy Colt had to rescue in a restroom from his bullies. Today, he would turn those bullies' heads into toilet brushes.
Colt fumbled with the cage ring. Despite him seeing his men with this contraption on a daily basis, he still felt a bit weird handling it. He connected the cage itself and put the lock through. A second he thought his pack must be quite disappointed he still hadn't found a way to ensure his packs' purity without such a clumsy device as was expected from him. Sam's grateful and submissive sigh, though, made him push away the thought. "With this gift I accept your eternal submission and chastity." Colt didn't even think about the fact anymore that `eternal' was quite theatrical.
"Thank you, Meta," was the tearful reply.
Colt kissed the young man, who opened his mouth willingly.
And then the other pack members hugged the newest member. "Well done, Sam," Prime praised, and Sam seemed to grow another inch.
"Seems I'm the weakest in the pack again, you hunk," Brian joked.
"Sorry, Beta."
"No, problem, we need strong pack members." Brian sounded sincere and hugged the dark boy, who smiled gratefully.
CE kept a bit of his distance and Sam became wary. "CE?" he asked carefully.
"Alpha, with your permission?" CE asked very officially, as if processing a criminal in front of a military court.
"Go ahead, CE."
The naked CE went to the truck and grabbed a little bag from the passenger seat.
"Sam, our Meta has made you an official member of our pack. I'm pleased to have you as my pack brother. But ..."
Sam swallowed. He thought he was in trouble.
And CE seemed to enjoy that for few seconds. "But the pack has also decided to make you the second enforcer of this pack," CE finally spilled the beans.
Sam lit Christmas tree style like and ran to CE hugging him as if had found his long lost father. "Thanks, CE."
"Here's your official enforcer polo."
Colt lifted his eyebrows in surprise. This was the same red Rugby shirt he had seen on CE first when they went to the Alpha3 party and rarely after.
"I'll do everything worthy of wearing this, CE."
"You better, otherwise I'll spank you. You might be stronger now than Brian but not than me," CE threatened with a smile.
Sam proudly pulled on his new polo shirt, while the other men also got dressed, CE even in his own special red enforcer shirt.
Colt couldn't see the crest on his chest, but it looked different than what he remembered from the Alpha3 party.
At home, he stole a quick glance at the two enforcers. He smiled when he recognized the crest. It resembled now the CP tattoo his wolves were wearing permanently on their skin.
He smiled gratefully to CE, who acknowledged the thanks and just slightly tilted his head offering himself to Colt.
They celebrated with barely cooked steaks, luscious strawberry cakes and yellow moist cherry pies and lots of laughter. When the first sunrays hit the window, they put down the shades and fell asleep on the rug puppy style.
And with that pleasant memory, Colt's head fell on Prime's warm shoulder.
"Seems you wore him out this morning, Sam," Brian teased the young enforcer next to him boxing him on his shoulders as he normally did to CE.
Sam blushed like a little boy who has been caught pulling a cat's tail.
"Shhh," Prime reprimanded them.
And then Colt was gone, smiling at the thought of his protective alpha wolf and caring pack. This time his sleep was dreamless.
---
"Yes?" the woman snarled impatiently when he accepted his call.
"He's on his way," he said with a slightly excited voice.
"OK," the woman acknowledged, killing the connection quickly.
He smiled satisfied despite his sweaty hands and heavy breath. Earning 5000 bucks had never been so easy or sexy.