Page 66 of Night Call

Pember whimpered, pushing up on his tiptoes to latch his mouth around the scent gland beneath the alpha’s left ear. Tasting him. Drinking him in as the perfect nectar of his scent poured into his mouth. He sucked Blake’s skin, rupturing the blood vessels and bringing a red welt to the surface.

The shower room filled with a heady cocktail of both their pheromones, and it did something to Pember’s insides, making him hot and breathy as he sucked the scent gland raw.

Blake snarled, baring his teeth. “Now,” he said, the word rough in his throat. His cock hung heavy under the towel, the thick length of it pressing into Pember’s belly. Pember pushed into it, his own cock almost poking through the rough material.

“Kiss me again,” Pember whimpered.

Blake’s Adam’s apple jerked sharply. “No.”

“W-why?” The word sounded needy as it left his mouth.

Blake turned off the shower and spun Pember towards a side door. “Because you’re stressed and upset, and the moment I start kissing you it’ll become about what I want, and not what you need.”

Pember groaned, almost falling over as Blake led him through the shower room and towards a door to the side. It opened onto a grassy run, the type installed in shifter parks to keep elderly wolves on the right path. Wooden railings ran up the sides, directing a track into the woods.

“Ah, ah—ow!” Pember cried, dropping to his hands and knees.

Dark brown fur sprang through his skin, his bones cracking and muscles ripping as his body changed on its own. Bloodgushed into his mouth, fangs dropping through his gums in place of human teeth. Four long canines clacked together and his gums receded, letting his lips peel back around his long muzzle.

Pain bloomed between his eyes, the intense surge of smells ripping through his airways, making his nervous system shudder and spasm. He felt every drop of rain, the pattering on his coat like razor blades cutting into his flesh.

The world went black, and when he awoke, cool earth pressed along his body. His muzzle was half-buried in the disturbed soil, the coolness of it keeping him grounded.

A warm weight lifted from his back, and when he was finally able to raise his head, he realised another wolf had been lying alongside him.

Blake. Blake with his tawny fur and the bright, blown-out irises of his lupine form. His eyes were still mismatched, and he had a thick, shaggy mane that ran across the crest of his neck, down his chest and between his front legs.

There was a hot, wet sensation between Pember’s ears, and he realised Blake was licking his head.

“Safe.”

The word rattled around Pember’s brain, tasting sweet on his tongue. It wasn’t a thought—he and Blake had slipped into shared awareness almost seamlessly, the alpha’s warm, heavy presence like a ball of pent-up energy in the back of his mind.

“Alpha,”his omega wolf whined, fear and confusion thrumming across the bond.

“Safe,”Blake said again, licking his ears and at the blood dripping under his chin. “Stand. Now.”

Blake stood, sliding his muzzle under Pember’s shoulders to roll him onto his front. All four of his legs were trembling, but with Blake’s head under his belly he was able to stand and stretch his nose towards the sky. Closing his eyes, he drew inthe sweet scent of the grass and the deep earth of the woodland ahead.

Shaking out his body, he stumbled to the side and dropped to his paws in front of Blake. He was beautiful. A huge, scruffy beast with paws as large as dinner plates and ears pointing up like spears. Blake dropped his head and ran his wet nose between Pember’s ears and all along his back, briefly pausing to sniff above his tail.

He was scenting him, Pember realised, and something about that made his inner wolf shudder with joy.

“Come,”Blake said across the bond, his massive canine head turning towards the trees.

Pember’s eyes flitted to the woods, then back to Blake as he loomed over him. It made Pember shiver, the sensation both alien and familiar as his sinuous canine heart rapidly pumped blood around his body and made the pads of his paws tingle.

He wanted to run, he really did, but he knew he’d get tangled up in his own legs as soon as he tried. Shifting should have come naturally, like slipping on a well-worn coat, but thanks to his mum it did not.

Blake stared down at him, his massive paws leaving indents in the ground. “Up,”he said, those mismatched eyes boring into Pember’s soul.

Pember dragged his belly along the ground before his legs pushed him to stand. He was unsteady, almost tottering to the side again before Blake shoved his muzzle under his chest and held him up.

They stood together at the bottom of the track, Blake’s huge body pressed to the side of Pember’s. The size difference was immense, with Pember’s head only just reaching the top of the alpha wolf’s shoulder.

“Come,”Blake murmured across the bond.

Pember swallowed, sparing one last glance towards the police station before moving. He was unsteady at first, all four of his legs struggling to coordinate themselves, making him look like a lame horse. But the further they got up the track, and the more he got used to the rain, the less he needed to lean on Blake.

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