Sage's Mystery (8 page)

William curled up next to Terror as he pulled the blanket Sage had brought to cover himself with. It was a lot larger and warmer than the one he had used.

Hopefully Sage returned tomorrow and they could work out the mess with Jeremiah.

* * * *

Sage huddled in the corner of the filthy room, feeling as though his skin was being shredded from his bones. His jaw locked and his body seized as he writhed on the floor in agonizing pain. He was soaked in sweat and pulling in ragged spasms of air.

Sage prayed he didn’t seek William out after his shift. No matter how hard he fought it, he was like a moth being drawn to a flame. He couldn’t seem to stay away from the guy. Sage was so confused about what to do with William. His heart was overruling his mind when it came to the logical thing to do, and he knew deep in his heart that he was a goner.

But nights like tonight, that wasn’t a good thing. It was killing him already to be away from William. He feared for the small man, leaving him alone in the big house by himself. A thousand times he wanted to go check on him.

Sage rolled to his back, crying out as bones crunched, reshaping and transforming. He screamed as his body grew and small hairs sprouted, covering his body in a layer of fur. Sage rolled back to his belly, crawling slowly across the dirt floor as he panted heavily, his claws digging into the dirt as his eyes shifted. He threw back his head and howled as the pain ripped through him once again. He pushed to
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his feet, staggering and slamming into a wall. Sage made it to the door, looking out over the town. His arms slung out to his sides as his head fell back, howling with a strong lungful of air as the shift completed.

He glanced around as his tongue ran over one canine then the other. Once again his heart won out, and Sage headed for home. He just wanted to make sure William was okay. He wouldn’t show himself, but he needed to know the guy wasn’t harmed.

He knew that William would be frightened if he saw Sage in his were-creature form. He stood almost seven feet tall, on his hind legs, with nails and canines that were sharp and deadly.

A typical werewolf he wasn’t. Sage stood on his hind legs, a cross between man and beast with a long snout and pointy ears. William would definitely have a heart attack if he saw Sage in his present form. The small man was afraid of his own shadow, a quality Sage thought endearing.

Sage leapt from the run-down building, his heart beating faster than normal as he made his way home. He cut through the buildings, around the corner of the ramshackle diner, and then he ran through the fields, making his way to the large looming house ahead, the moon guiding him every step of the way.

It was like a homing beacon, guiding him, calling him to the man who had started to mean more to him than his own life. Sage stopped in his race to howl once more, feeling a freedom like no other as images of William played through his mind.

Images of the sexy little man in the throes of passion made Sage hard as a rock. The picture of William giving himself freely over to Sage’s demands was making him want to take William again, now.

William had been a beautiful lover that Sage planned on taking over and over again. It had killed him to leave William in the wee hours of the morning. It had felt good to be curled up around the man.

But it was something he had no choice in. If he had waited for William to wake, his leaving would have been that much harder. He
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just prayed William didn’t regret their time together or think that Sage had left for other reasons.

Sage growled when he heard another howl. His lip curled up as the howl repeated itself, coming from the direction of his home. Sage tore through the field, racing to William. There should be no other werewolf around. He would kill whoever it was if they had harmed the small human.

As the house grew closer, a third howl rent through the air, angering Sage like a beast unleashed. He ran up the dirt driveway and up the front steps, tearing the screen door from its frame as he walked slowly into the house.

His toenails clicked on the wooden floor as he sniffed the air, scenting another wolf in his territory. His head snapped to the left as he saw movement coming from the living room. Sage snarled and snapped as he walked toward the intruder. He wanted to go upstairs and make sure William was safe, unharmed, but first he needed to take care of the sorry bastard unlucky enough to cross into his territory.

He howled when he saw a were-creature standing before him.

Sage swung his arm out, raking the air as his claws missed the wolf by a hair’s breadth. He snarled again, circling the other werewolf.

Recognition filtered into his mind as he stared down the other wolf.

It was Jeremiah.

That didn’t matter to Sage. Best friend or not, Jeremiah was too close to William. He would fight his best friend to the death in order to protect the human. William was his, and Sage wasn’t sharing.

Sage lunged, this time his claws making contact with Jeremiah’s chest as blood spread out across his best friend’s chest. Jeremiah howled and lunged, both werewolves engaging in battle as they crashed into the wall, knocking over supplies.

Flipping his body at the last minute, Sage pinned Jeremiah beneath him. The large werewolf was a worthy opponent, but Sage was playing for keeps. Jeremiah growled and kicked out, but Sage
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didn’t budge. He pressed his knees into the other wolf’s abdomen, his teeth mere inches from the other man’s neck.

At the last second, right before Sage ripped his throat out, Jeremiah tilted his head, showing Sage that he was submitting. Sage growled and gnashed his teeth together, nipping Jeremiah before backing away.

The other werewolf climbed to his feet, backing away. Sage howled his victory and then turned, heading up the steps. He stopped halfway up and growled at his best friend, warning him not to follow.

Jeremiah dipped his head in acknowledgement as Sage finished taking the stairs two at a time. His toenails clicked over the floorboards as he walked down the hallway. When he reached the bedroom that he had slept in with William, Sage reached out and turned the knob, seeing that it was locked. He howled, twisting the knob in his hand, bending it, breaking it. Sage pushed the door open slowly to see William huddled in a corner, shaking badly, Terror tucked behind him.

Terror ran out from behind William as she growled and barked, but William quickly grabbed her and shoved her back behind him.

Sage wanted to grin at the way William was protecting the Chihuahua. It was truly a sight.

“D–Don’t hurt her. She is only trying to protect me,” William said with a bravery Sage couldn’t see in the human’s gorgeous green eyes.

He knew he should back away and leave William be, but once again his heart overruled his common sense.

Sage stepped into the room slowly, making sure his movements were slow and measured. He wanted to inhale William’s scent, not scare him to death. Well, he knew he was scaring him, and that wasn’t his intention, but Sage couldn’t help himself. He needed to be close to the small human.

William pushed his back into the wall, almost smashing Terror behind him as his eyes grew rounder than the moon.

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Sage bent low, sniffing at William, scenting him. Small puffs of air made William’s hair span out, gently taking flight as Sage inhaled his aroma. His tongue snaked out, the tip running up William’s neck, making the small man shiver as he stayed very still.

Sage’s arm reached out before him, his claws grazing William’s skin with the gentlest of caresses. The small man broke out in goose bumps as the tip of Sage’s nail ran the length of William’s cheek. He wasn’t sure if the reaction was fear or desire, but Sage didn’t stop to ask.

“Please don’t kill me,” William whispered under his breath.

Sage placed one claw under William’s chin, tilting the human’s head back, making the small man look him in his eyes, but the human smashed his own eyes closed. Sage gave a light jerk to William’s head, making him open his eyes.

William’s bright green eyes locked onto Sage’s for a moment, and then William inhaled sharply, slow recognition dawning in them. He didn’t want William to fear him. Sage wanted the man to know that he was safe.

“S–Sage?”

“Do you fear me, William?” His voice was rough and gravelly, deep and growly. Sage tried to make it as gentle as possible, but that was a large feat in his present form.

“Are you going to hurt me?” William asked as he cocked his head to the side.

Sage shook his head, never breaking eye contact. He couldn’t.

William was a beautiful sight with the full moon illuminating the room, casting a haloed effect around William’s form. “Never,” he finally answered.

William lowered his eyes, giving Sage his submission. He glanced down at the small human when he heard a swift intake of air. William was staring strangely at Sage’s cock as it jutted out, hard and erect.

Sage chuckled, but it sounded more like a grunt as he watched William’s reaction to his desire for the small man.

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“Stay inside,” Sage warned as he backed out of the room. He had to leave. There was no other course of action to take. If he took William now, Sage knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would bite the small human.

It was inborn in him, the need to mate, the need to claim. He was getting older, and the pull to mate was getting stronger with each shift. If he bit William, the change would begin and on the next full moon, William would become a
vârcolac
, a lycan, a werewolf, but if he bit him while fucking the man, William would become his mate.

It was a decision Sage wouldn’t take from William.

“Don’t go!” William shouted as he pushed to his feet. “I’m terrified of you right now, but I’m even more terrified to be alone,”

the small man confessed. “Please don’t leave me alone.” He whispered his plea.

Sage was torn. He had only wanted to check on the man, but knew he crossed the line when he entered the room and revealed who he was. The fear in William’s voice tore at Sage. He wasn’t sure what he should do.

When a howl and then another cut through the quiet of the night, Sage pulled to his full height. His head snapped around, scenting the air. The howls were distant, further away than Jeremiah, and more than one.

William swallowed and moved closer. “I heard those noises all the time before you came. I heard a lot of weird noises coming from town.”

Sage’s eyes scanned the outside through the window across the room, looking for movement before his eyes slowly lowered to William’s. “No one should be here. Stay here. Jeremiah and I will hunt.”

William nodded quickly, bending at the waist to pick Terror up.

The dog was shaking in William’s arms. Sage reached out and ran a claw over the small dog’s head. Terror whimpered and whined and then twisted around in William’s arms as her underbelly was exposed.

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“Stay,” he commanded gruffly. When William didn’t argue, Sage left the room, closing the door behind him.

“Do you know who they are?” Jeremiah asked from below.

“No, but we are about to find out,” he said as he bounded from the top step, landing on his feet below. Fuck, if he kept up his acrobatics in this house, it was going to fall apart. He was shocked his fighting with Jeremiah hadn’t brought the structure down.

Sage pushed that thought from his mind as he and Jeremiah stalked from the house and headed toward town.

“William says he’s heard these howls before, almost nightly before I arrived.”

“Impossible,” Jeremiah replied. “That would mean these werewolves are mated if they don’t need the full moon to shift.”

“Then let’s find out what they’re doing in my town,” Sage said as he and Jeremiah took off running. His number-one priority was to protect William.

Sage spotted two wolves before they disappeared from sight. He howled, putting on a burst of speed, Jeremiah at his side. Sage could feel his control slipping. He had used every ounce with William in his goal not to fuck the small man and mate the fragile human to him, bringing William into this dangerous life.

Whoever these werewolves were, they didn’t have a damn thing coming to them. He had left his scent all through the town when he had first shifted, so they knew he was there. Sage saw two more werewolves out of the corner of his eye.

Jeremiah must have seen them as well, because he spun left before Sage did. Just how many were here? Sage didn’t care if the town was overrun with them. Mystery belonged to him, and these trespassers were about to learn this.

Sage tackled the first werewolf dumb enough to show himself. He gnashed his teeth inches from the wolf’s face as he took him down.

Sage could see Jeremiah fighting the other, but he focused on the one trying to claw him.

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Sage feigned left, slicing four gash marks into the werewolf’s side. He was playing for keeps, just like the wolf he was fighting was doing. This wasn’t his best friend. No, this was an unknown that Sage wasn’t taking any chances with.

Just as Sage took the werewolf down, two more came rushing at him. He quickly killed the one below him and then spun around, letting out a howl as he leapt toward the closest one.

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William hugged Terror close as the howls filled the air. He prayed Sage was okay. It shocked him, but didn’t, to find out Sage was a werewolf. He had known of were-creatures in these parts. Hell, he had lived through their brutality.

He just wished they had stayed a distant memory.

Tucking Terror under his arm, William slid closer to the window, peeking out. Sage said to stay put, and William had no intention of doing otherwise. As he stared over at the town, he couldn’t see a damn thing. He could hear plenty, but all he saw was a deserted town.