Sailing Deep (7 page)

              “I wish I could.” He muttered wistfully. Then he shook his head, and his easy going smile returned. Dylan felt a surge of unexpected pride that Blake seemed to like what he saw. “Ready?” Blake asked, holding out a hand.

              Dylan took it with little hesitation. “As I’ll ever be.”

              “That’s the spirit.”

              They followed the flow of people toward the large doors in the back of the room, which led out onto the spacious field surrounding the back of the castle. Blake wove expertly through the crowd, and Dylan tried to follow his lead. Although he wasn’t very self-conscious about being naked, that didn’t mean he wanted to bump into others.

              Once they were passed the door and out in the open, Blake let go of his hand in order to put his arm around his waist. He urged Dylan to do the same, which he did after a moment of grumpy hesitation. Blake held their bodies close together so that Dylan felt their skin brush with every step. He focused on his surroundings to keep his body from reacting to the touch.

              The field was filled with shifters of all different skin tones and hair colors. Dylan was in awe. It was the largest gathering of shifters and naked shifters at that that he had ever seen. He had known the Shadow Pack was gaining popularity, but he hadn’t realized it was this big. No wonder they had been sent to investigate the pack. With a group of shifters this size, and still growing, there was no telling what they could do if they wanted to. They could easily bring the knowledge of the paranormal into the light, and that was something the government wasn’t ready to handle just yet.

              “That’s the Alpha,” Blake whispered, leaning down to put his lips near Dylan’s ear. He put enough emphasis on the words to indicate that it wasn’t just an alpha. It was The Alpha. The leader of the Shadow Pack. Dylan glanced at him and then followed his gaze.

              The man stood in a small group of people, separated from the rest of the mob-like crowd. Although there were several of them in that small group, Dylan had no doubt which one was the Alpha. It was in his presence and in the way he held himself. A large man, he was taller than most with a build to match, and he stood a full head above the others. His black hair was swept back away from his forehead and fell down to his shoulders. His eyes were dark beneath thick eyebrows as they idly surveyed the crowd that made up his pack. He stood straight, with his hands clasped behind his back. He held himself like he wore a business suit, not like he was stark naked in the middle of a field.

              “Him?” Dylan asked though he needed no confirmation.

              Blake nodded. “Arulean Black, founder and Alpha of the Shadow Pack. I would recommend staying away from him.”

              “Noted,” Dylan muttered. There was something … off about the man. His presence gave off an otherworldly vibe that he wasn’t used to getting from fellow shifters. “What is he?” Dylan whispered. The man’s surveying eyes had swung in their general direction, so Dylan looked away to avoid drawing suspicion to himself.

              Blake, on the other hand, caught the man’s eye and waved. Dylan sighed as he pointed to him, grinning, and gave a thumbs up.

              “I thought we weren’t supposed to draw his attention to us?” Dylan muttered as they moved on.

              Blake shrugged. “I told ‘you’to stay away from him
.
I need to stay in his good graces. I threw a tantrum to get you out of the holding cells. The least I can do is to show my gratitude after the fact.” They came to a stop when the general crowd did. He turned to face Dylan, putting his hands on his hips and holding him close so they could continue to whisper. “And he’s a dragon shifter.”

              Dylan’s eyes widened, and his mouth hung open. He was even distracted from how close they stood, their chests barely touching, as well as other parts. “A … dragon?”

              He was smirking. “Have you never heard of the dragon shifters?”

              “Of course, I have. Everyone has. No one believes they actually exist.”

              “Oh, I assure you they exist. They’re very rare, and nearly all of them are centuries old, but they exist.”

              Dylan glanced over his shoulder, trying to catch another glimpse of the dragon Alpha. “Wow …” He muttered. He could see the age and power in the man’s stance though his physical form didn’t look a day over forty.

              “Hey now,” Blake said, gently taking Dylan’s chin and turning him back to face him. He tilted his head up a fraction. “You’re supposed to be paying attention to me, remember?” He tugged their bodies together, and Dylan tried to ignore the way he could feel every inch of the other man.

              “Jealous?” Dylan asked, one eyebrow raised as he tried to keep the tone light.

              Blake ignored him. “Kiss me.”

              Dylan blinked. “What?”

              “Kiss me.”  When Dylan stared at him blankly, he continued. “You’ve only reacted to my affections. You need to get comfortable around me for us to pull this off. Let yourself relax and kiss me.”

              Dylan frowned, but he couldn’t see any arguments against it. Blake waited patiently. Finally, Dylan sighed and leaned up to kiss him. It felt … different being the initiator. Blake didn’t push him but took the kiss at his pace. Soft and gentle, Dylan waited for him to deepen the kiss, but he didn’t. Not until Dylan tilted his head more and let his lips part. Blake reacted in kind, his arms tightening around him. Dylan instinctively stiffened, and he felt Blake hesitate. He forced himself to relax, leaning slightly into the other man.

              He felt Blake smile against his lips as his fingers began to lightly trail up and down his spine.              

              Dylan was mildly alarmed when his body started to react in earnest. He was in the open, surrounded by others, and yet he felt himself hardening. More alarming, he felt Blake hardening eagerly against him, and that only encouraged his body further.

              Blake kept their kisses slow and methodical, gentle and tender. Their bodies slowly moved together, subtly rocking. They didn’t stop until they heard the sudden silence. Strangely enough, Dylan found himself disappointed when they pulled apart. That is until he opened his eyes and he saw Blake’s smirking face.

              The silence was strange and overwhelming. He hadn’t even noticed the general din of mixed voices until it was gone. The silence, so complete save for the sound of breathing, was strange and eery in a group of people this large. He automatically turned towards the Alpha, realizing that everyone else was, too. Arulean stood apart from the others. Even the small group he had been standing with earlier had backed away to give him plenty of space. His body seemed to hum with power, lighting up the very air around the field. Everyone seemed to respond to the hum. Even Dylan’s body vibrated in unknown excitement. Arulean had his head tilted toward the sky.

              As Dylan watched, the clouds separated and the moon’s light lit the field. It fell on the Alpha and the man closed his eyes. He seemed to absorb the light. He then knelt down on one knee; arms held out and up; his head bent toward the ground. The hum of power seemed to swirl violently around him until it appeared to manifest in a swirl of black smoke. It surrounded the man’s body, and then everything seemed to happen so fast. The smoke suddenly spread along his arms, looking nearly like wings, and then he threw his arms down at the same moment he leaped into the air. He launched himself high, his body soaring upward like a dark arrow into the sky. As he did so, half obscured by shadows, the body of a man transformed into that of a dragon.

              He spiraled upward until the transformation was complete, then he cast his wings wide, stopping his sudden upward climb and hanging suspended in the air. The sight took Dylan’s breath away. He never in his life thought he’d see a dragon. The creature’s large black body was silhouetted against the moonlight. The entire field seemed to be breathless in the wake of the show. No one dared to move, and no one dared to speak.

              Then the dragon threw back its head and let loose an earth shattering roar. With a couple of careful wing maneuvers, the dragon began languid circles around the field, above his pack.

              As if on cue, the pack cheered. Their cries were cut off abruptly as everyone seemed to step away from each other and fall to all fours, shifting into their second forms.

              Blake stepped away from him, and Dylan glanced at the other man, momentarily surprised at the sudden missing body heat. Blake was smiling at him, his eyes alight with something that made a shiver run down his spine. He briefly glanced around as Blake fell to all fours to begin his shift. Dylan had known the Shadow Pack consisted of shifters from all backgrounds, as was clearly evidenced by their dragon shifter Alpha. But he hadn’t really realized the extent of that until he looked around and saw such a wide range of animals.

              Though he didn’t really consider the shifters on his SEAL team to be a pack, they were, for all intents and purposes, a minor pack. They essentially lived together, worked together, trusted each other, and shifted together. And they came from several shifter backgrounds. Still, it didn’t prepare him for this. He saw bears, wolves, foxes, coyotes, tigers, panthers, and nearly any sort of animal he had even remotely heard of in the shifter community.

              It occurred to him then that he didn’t know what type of shifter Blake was. He didn’t have much time to think about it before his own shift was upon him. Although shifting the day after the full moon wasn’t a forced shift, it was one that was hard to resist. It was even harder to resist when surrounded by the pack. It was as if the call of the dragon, and the aura of power that surrounded him, forced Dylan to his knees and urged his inner wolf to the surface. It felt strong as if it was the full moon that was calling him to his beast form.

              He clenched his jaw and his back arched, his fingers and toes digging into the damp earth as he closed his eyes. The beast took him swiftly, and when he opened his eyes, his senses were suddenly overloaded. Last night, this land had been filled with new sounds, smells, and sights that delighted his senses and pleased the wolf; now, they were still new, but there are other scents as well. The smell of the earth and the natural foliage of this place. The scent of the native animals and the crisp, clean air without pollution. The slight tinge of salt in the distance from the wind rolling off the ocean.

              But over all the other scents were the scents of the other shifters. He didn’t know how many but his brain raced in the overwhelming bouquet of shifters. He smelled their breed, their excitement, their lust. He could smell the sharp, abrasive scent of the alphas. The alluring, sweet scent of the omegas. And even the subtle, calm scent of the betas. He smelled fur and saliva. He smelled the freshly dug earth as they pawed at the ground.

              He heard growls of different caliber, purrs, and grunts. He heard snarls and yips, both friendly and aggressive. He heard all the verbal communications of dozens of species. His eyes darted around, taking in the sights of the dozens of beasts around him. He couldn’t see far into the crowd. It was far too thick. But he could see those nearby, and they all smelled of strangers.

              Overwhelmed, he hunched in on himself. His ears rotated from perked and listening, to laid back in warning. His tail was low with unease and his hackles were partially raised. Nothing was familiar and everything seemed to be too much. His lips tensed in a half-formed snarl. He might be an omega, but he wasn’t a submissive one. He was a fairly sizable wolf, with brown and copper mixed into his thick coat. His training and fit stature from his human body showed itself in his wolf form. He was strong, and he would use that strength to protect himself.

              He felt a nose prod his shoulder and he jumped, spinning around into a crouch to face the attacker. But it wasn’t an aggressor. By his side stood a tall, lanky wolf with a pure white coat and brilliantly blue eyes. The wolf stood with his head high, regarding Dylan with ears perked forward. His stance was relaxed, and his tail idly moved back and forth.

              Dylan’s growl stopped in his throat as the white wolf’s scent filled his nose. He instantly relaxed, standing straighter and his ears moved forward. He recognized this wolf though the sight of him was as strange as any of the others. His scent was familiar. It was a scent that clung to his own skin. Not a stranger. Ally. Friend. Blake.

              Mate, something in his mind whispered.

              Although the full force of the full moon wasn’t upon him, the wolf was still strong. Dylan remained partially in control though his instincts and the wolf’s desires were first and foremost. While his mind whispered ‘mate’ and his human half cringed at the word, his wolf half regarded the white wolf with a curiosity and eagerness that he hadn’t expected.

              The two regarded each other for several long moments before Dylan took a hesitant step forward and sniffed at the white wolf. Then the two began to circle each other, sniffing and investigating the wolf that their minds whispered ‘mate’ to. He was poked and prodded by Blake’s nose and did so in return. Strong, he noted, both in body and scent. Blake was a strong alpha, and Dylan was responding to him.