Wolf at the Door

Evernight Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2012 Rebecca Brochu

ISBN: 978-1-77130-161-9

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Marie Medina

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.  No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

For you as always.

WOLF AT THE DOOR

Rebecca Brochu

Copyright © 2012

Chapter One

Darin isn’t really sure how this came to be his life, what sort of cosmic party he’d crashed in a past existence or whose puppy he’d kicked, but he does know how it all starts.  He has a routine, one that he’s stuck to for years now, one that helps keep him relatively sane and non-homicidal after a day of following bitchy doctors around and getting shit for being a
male
nurse from every asshole who comes in through the emergency room doors.  It’s not like he hasn’t heard every fucking joke there is to hear about his career choices or anything.  Anyways, every day after work he puts on his sneakers, gets his hoodie out of the hall closet, and sets off for an evening run.

Even after an entire day on his feet running is something that helps him unwind, helps him relax so he can actually manage to get some sleep at night.  He always goes down the local hiking trail, the one that cuts through the woods near his house and runs parallel to more than one stream before it eventually ends at the local lake.  Granted it’s not what most people would call the safest place for him to run, but there’s never anyone out on the trail that late, which is the problem and the solution all at the same time, and the woods have always set him at ease.

He’s jogging down the path one evening, hood up and mind blank, when he trips over something and goes tumbling face first towards the ground.  He isn’t fast enough to catch himself or anything like that, so instead he clenches his eyes shut tight, throws his hands out in front of him, and braces for impact.  Instead of hitting the ground his palms land on something warm and smooth, and Darin blinks his eyes open in shock.  Beneath his outstretched hands is a tanned and muscular torso that leaves him breathless.  Darin can see abs that make his mouth water and his cock stand to attention as well as flat brown nipples that he deeply considers biting.  His hands flex, fingers sliding over the body in his grasp for a second before a low rumbling chuckle causes him to jump back, his hands flying up and away from the body he’s just groped and his head jerking up to stare in horror at the face of the guy he’s just borderline molested.

The stranger’s tall, a good six inches taller than Darin, who’s just shy of six foot himself.  His face is smooth and captivating, his hair a disheveled mess of thick black locks, and his mouth is lush even when it’s curled in an amused smirk.  It’s his eyes that really captivate Darin; they’re a bright hazel and framed with thick black lashes.  There’s a glint of something wild in them, something barely restrained, and that impression is only reinforced by the glint of sharp-looking teeth that catches Darin’s eye when the other man turns his smirk into a full-blown grin.

“Where,” Darin breathes out shakily, “in the fresh hell did you come from?”

“Are you always this polite to people who rescue you from breaking your pretty face on the ground, or am I special?”  The voice that answers him is low and smoky and it makes Darin’s toes curl and his heart skip a beat even as he feels his face flush.

“I uh … yeah, thanks for that, but seriously
where
did you come from?  I could have sworn I was alone out here.”  Suddenly realizing just how vulnerable he is, Darin takes a step back from the stranger and scans the area warily.

He’s a grown man and fully capable of defending himself, but he’s also not an idiot.  This guy has him by half a foot and at least thirty pounds of what looks like solid muscle.  There’s no way his own slimmer, runner’s build would be able to help him in a fight against this guy; the best he’d be able to hope for is a quick escape.  Plus, he’s been queer bashed before and it’s not an experience he’s looking forward to repeating in any way, shape, or form any time soon.

“I’ve frightened you.”  The man seems honestly displeased with the thought, but when he stretches out a hand as if to touch him, Darin takes a step back and out of his reach.  The stranger frowns, his dark brows lowering as he drops his hand back down to his side.

“That wasn’t my intention.”  His eyes are locked on Darin, and his gaze is unwavering.

Darin’s at a loss for words for a moment because the guy seems sincere and the whole situation is just a bit surreal.  He’s in the woods, in his running gear and having an almost conversation with a sexy,
shirtless
stranger who has just saved him from taking a nasty spill.  When he finally manages to gather himself enough to speak he realizes too late that he doesn’t really seem to have complete control over what exactly his mouth chooses to say.

“You’re not going to eat me or anything, are you?  ‘Cause I’m gonna have to tell you that I’ll probably taste horrible.  Like disappointment and shame or something equally disgusting sounding since that’s how my life works and that means I probably wouldn’t even be appetizing to a creature that killed me.  Not that you’re a creature or anything since you don’t look like one.  I meant that in a more relative sense, and oh my God, I need to stop talking now.”   Darin barely stops himself from whimpering in humiliation, but he does feel the way his already red cheeks flush an even darker shade.

The other guy just stares at him for a moment, head tilted to the side and eyes wide and bright with what looks like awe or amusement.  He seems to shake himself out of it after a few seconds, and then the amusement is obvious in the way his grin from earlier comes back full force.  He reaches out a hand to Darin again, but he doesn’t try to touch him this time, just lets the hand hang in the air between them.

“I’m Raylan, Raylan Loup. And I swear that I’m not going to actually eat you or anything unpleasant like that.”

Darin debates with himself briefly for a moment, but then he musters up his courage, and his fine motor skills, and wipes a sweaty palm on the front of his hoodie before he wraps his fingers around Raylan’s.

“Darin Brightmore.  Nice to meet you and if you could be kind enough to forget basically everything I’ve said up until this point I would greatly appreciate it.”  He smiles shakily at Raylan, embarrassment making his voice stutter and his cheeks flush an even darker shade of crimson.

He goes to pull his hand away, but Raylan seems to have other ideas because he only tightens his grip instead of letting go.  Raylan takes a step closer to Darin, who’s frozen in place with a growing sense of almost horror mixed, terribly enough, with a faint hint of arousal, and raises Darin’s hand upwards towards his face.  Darin can only watch wide-eyed as Raylan turns his arm until his wrist is facing upwards and then Raylan lowers his face until his nose can run lightly across Darin’s skin.  He can feel the way Raylan’s taking in his scent, can feel warm puffs of breath against his skin as the other man seems to luxuriate in his smell for a moment before he finally stops.

Raylan lets his wrist go and takes a large step back; Darin can’t help but notice that his eyes are even brighter than before and when he grins his teeth gleam in the low light.  Darin shivers at the sight of Raylan even as his hand is still raised in the air in front of him.  It’s a moment before he manages to remember that he should probably put it down.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Darin, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other in the future.”

Darin’s speechless, which is something that doesn’t really happen to him a lot in his experience, but Raylan seems to have that effect on him.  He watches as the other man turns on his heel and jogs farther up the path in the direction that Darin was going until his almost fall and this strange encounter stopped him.  Raylan slows to a halt just before he rounds the bend and when he does he turns around and grins at Darin again, all sharp-looking teeth and dimples.

“Oh, and Darin?  You might want to rethink your wardrobe a bit.  Red’s never a good color to wear when you’re running through the woods at night.”

He’s gone after that, disappearing around the bend with a flash of tanned skin and strong legs.  Darin just stares at the place where Raylan used to be and wonders for a moment to himself how this could possibly be his life.

Chapter Two

His encounter with the mysterious and sexy Raylan throws Darin off to the extent that he skips his run the next evening and then the evening after that as well.  By day three he’s so agitated that he has to force himself to stay away from as many sharp objects and stupid people as he can.  Since he’s a nurse and there’s actually activity in the local hospital’s emergency room, it’s a solution that doesn’t exactly work for more than five maybe ten minutes at a time.

He gets home that evening and doesn’t even hesitate.  He tears through his house like a hurricane, throws his scrubs in the direction of the laundry basket, tugs on the first pair of shorts he can find and some sneakers before stopping to grab his hoodie.  He’s halfway to the trail before he realizes that he’s forgotten to zip the thing up, but the cool breeze that’s flowing across his bare chest is surprisingly nice so he says fuck it and keeps going.

He’s rounding the bend that’ll bring him back to the place where he’d met Raylan those few days ago when he hears the sound of something crashing through the underbrush.  He skids to a halt, shoulders tense and eyes alert, but his mouth drops open in shock and his heart stutters in fear when something giant and black comes crashing out of the trees.  At first, Darin thinks it’s a bear, and he takes a moment to panic and try desperately to remember everything he’s ever read about handling this sort of situation, but then it turns and looks directly at him, and he realizes he’s mistaken.  It’s not a bear, and once he gets a real look at it he’s confused as to how he could have possibly thought it was a bear for even a split second.

It’s a wolf, granted an unnaturally large one that stands almost equal to him in height so maybe he can understand his own initial confusion, but no matter how unreal it seems it’s still a wolf.  Its coat is coal black, the fur thick and wild looking, and its eyes are bright amber.  It takes a step in his direction, ears perked forward in interest, and it almost seems to grin at him, massive lips peeling back to reveal large, intimidating teeth that have Darin freezing in fear again.  It woofs softly at him and takes another step forward, slow and measured like it’s testing him, which is ridiculous because it’s a wolf, but Darin doesn’t move.  He’s not even the least bit ashamed to admit that it has more to do with bone-chilling terror than nerves of steel; hell, he probably couldn’t move even if he actually had to.