"But I think I am starting to feel better," Anthony said optimistically. "Not improved yet, but less worse, if that makes sense. My hands don"t shake as much, at least."
Nodding, Jed glanced over at Cedric-who, frankly, scared him a little-and rolled his shoulders forward, unsure. "Look, seriously, if you need something... just ask. Supplies or better drugs, some weed, whatever." That was a good way to show support, right? Besides, pot would totally help with the pain.
"Are you angling for another thankful hug?" Anthony raised an eyebrow at him.
"Please, G.o.d, no," Jed returned, arms folded. "Just, you know. Jesus, don"t give me the G.o.dd.a.m.n puppy eyes. I"m just saying, okay?"
Anthony"s expression softened. "I know. And thank you, again. I"m not sure weed will ever be on my shopping list, but medicine might be one day."
Nodding, Jed sat in uncomfortable silence for a few more beats before standing. He felt like something else needed to be said or done, but, at a loss, he wound up sticking out his hand for Anthony to shake. "Good stuff."
Anthony, the a.s.shole, smirked at his awkwardness. "Have a good full moon, Jed."
Back out in the main flow of the camp, most of the busy work seemed to have eased. This was the first full moon at the new camp, and it seemed a little bit like the hours before some kind of government holiday. There were people cooking, a few doing some wash by the stream that came off of the lake, but most people seemed too jittery for mundane tasks. Even the kids Victor was teaching were practically vibrating out of their seats, restless and obviously done with whatever Victor was teaching.
Jed wandered over, hands in his pockets, smirking as one of the kids shifted into a plump dark gray wolf and took off toward the woods, howling its little head off. Three more followed him, and just like that, half of Victor"s cla.s.s was chubby, on four legs, and wrestling with one another in ma.s.s chaos while Victor closed his book in resignation and looked like he was trying to figure out if he should stop them biting one another.
"You look like you could use a drink," Jed informed Victor cheerfully. One of the roly-poly wolf cubs ran straight into Jed"s leg. He stooped down to pick the kid up, carting him under one arm while he took a seat and tugged a flask out of his jacket pocket. Rubbing behind the wolf"s ears, grinning when it nipped at his fingers with a playful growl, Jed tossed the flask toward Victor. "Happy full moon, princess."
Victor only glanced at the flask before pa.s.sing it back. "I"ve decided not to drink in excess anymore," he announced. "But thank you for the offer."
Well, next thing he"d know the sun would be coming up a.s.s backward and s.h.i.tting rainbows. Blinking, surprised, Jed took his own drink and put the bottle away. "What"s gotten into you?" he asked, wrestling lightly with the wolf pup, smiling when two others ran over to help. They were rolling on the ground with little growls that shook through their bodies, tails wagging happily while Jed attacked their stomachs with both hands.
"It"s a long story of contemplation that would no doubt bore you to death," Victor said dryly. "But if my medusa blood is going to kill me someday, chancing liver disease is only adding to my problems."
"You"re thinking ahead?" Jed smirked, shaking his head and watching as the wolf kids decided that chasing one another around trees was far more fun. They waddled off in a run, and Jed kicked back, watching them play. "Seriously, Vickie, it"s like I hardly know you. What"s going on?"
Victor sighed as he turned to the makeshift table that he"d obviously hauled out for the cla.s.s, for the sole purpose of bearing ridiculous numbers of books. As he began getting them into order, he replied, "Before the pack moved here, I was told that I exhibited a number of self-destructive behaviors. Though I initially thought it was ridiculous, I"m beginning to see the truth in it."
"Everybody"s self-destructive," Jed dismissed, taking another long drink. "Wouldn"t have thought you the type to get your panties in a bunch over something like that."
"You only think that because you constantly rush headfirst into things that would happily kill you," Victor pointed out dryly. He paused then, staring at Jed oddly. "Is there something you wanted?"
Yeah, he wasn"t exactly someone who sat down and chatted it up with random people. Especially not Victor. But he"d been surrounded by wolves for a month, and even though he"d be the last d.a.m.n person to admit it, Jed felt... well, like he was something else. And yeah, he knew, Victor wasn"t human either. But he also wasn"t wolf, so maybe they were something else together.
"Anthony just asked me to look after the furry duo when he kicks it." Jed absently picked up a stick, drawing patterns in the dirt while Victor packed up his books. "Not really sure what I feel about that. I mean, he"s crazy, obviously, but kinda couldn"t say no."
Victor made a faint huh noise, obviously surprised. "And are you going to do what he asked?"
"You ever tried to turn down a pleading wolf?" Jed snorted, shaking his head. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, I"d rather the big lug just lived, you know, but I said yes. Redford and I will play mommy and daddy if he can"t." G.o.d, just the thought of it was close to giving Jed a panic attack.
Victor was trying, and failing, to contain an amused smirk. "What an entertaining thought."
Rolling his eyes, Jed took another drink. He"d have to ration himself-he was running low on his booze supply. "So why doesn"t the nerd talk to you anymore?" Christ, maybe there was something in the water. Jed really didn"t want to know, but there he was, asking anyway.
Then again, Jed had watched Victor and Randall dance big f.u.c.king circles around each other for three weeks. Maybe somebody needed to point out that everyone knew they were idiots.
"Because of the aforementioned self-destructive tendencies," Victor replied, his voice clipped. "It"s something I"m addressing."
Oh, well, he"d found a nerve. "Wait." Jed couldn"t help the huge grin. "Are you telling me the virgin blushing geek boy turned you down?" That was hilarious.
"Oh, shut up, Jed," Victor said witheringly. But there was a hint of a returning smirk on his face. "Besides, he"s not a virgin anymore."
Pausing, Jed waited for Victor to walk that back. Surely that wasn"t what Victor meant. But oh no, Jed knew that smug look. He"d had that smug look. "You seductive devil." Jed grinned, raising his flask. "Come on, drink to that, at least. Virgin chaser."
Victor still refused the flask. "Well, none of it"s any good if he continues to avoid me." He went right back to looking morose.
"Come on, princess, I know you"ve got some b.a.l.l.s hidden under all those perfectly ironed slacks. Go after him." Smirking, Jed leaned back. "Try a little pursuit for a change. There"s got to be something in those boring books of yours about how to woo, or whatever the f.u.c.k nerds call it."
Victor looked incredulous. "Are you trying to give me relationship advice?"
"Well, I am in one," Jed pointed out. "And he hardly ever tries to eat me. So yeah. I think I can give you a few pointers." He winked at Victor. "Don"t worry, professor, no charge for this one."
"Jed," Victor said delicately, "I"m not going to say that you"re a s.l.u.t, but you"ve had more b.a.l.l.s in your mouth than the Hungry, Hungry Hippos."
A beat of silence and then Jed started laughing. Oh, Christ. His stomach actually hurt, how hard he was laughing, head thrown back and eyes watering. "You"re a little b.i.t.c.h," he told Victor, grinning broadly. "Come on. I"m going to go get some food. Let"s find Red and get dinner before everyone gets all furry."
Though Victor seemed a bit startled at the offer, he nodded and said, "I should take these books back to my tent first. But I can catch up with you later?"
He and Victor had started to walk, pausing where their paths would split. "Sounds good." Just as Jed turned away, someone collided full on with him, falling back with a grunt. It was Randall, arms loaded with books and maps, everything going flying as he landed on the ground. His gla.s.ses were somewhere in the gra.s.s, and he blinked blearily up at Jed, looking dazed.
"Sorry," Randall automatically apologized, fumbling to find his gla.s.ses again. "I wasn"t looking where I was walking."
"No problem. I wasn"t looking where I was standing." Jed shot Victor a little encouraging smirk, shoving the man toward Randall. "Here, let us help you." This was like a f.u.c.king love connection. He couldn"t wait to tell Redford. Pack gossip was almost better than soap operas.
Victor dropped his armful of books to go to Randall"s aid. He found Randall"s gla.s.ses and picked them up first, holding them out, close enough that Randall would see them. "Here," he said softly. "Are you all right?"
As soon as he realized who else was with Jed, Randall had flushed, gaze dropping away. "Yes, of course," Randall answered stiffly, but something in his expression softened slightly as he took his gla.s.ses back. "Thank you."
Victor started gathering Randall"s books for him, wincing at the sight of dirt on one of the covers and doing his best to wipe it off. "You"re sure? That fall looked painful."
Jed was, honestly, not really helping. He was standing back, giving Victor a huge s.h.i.t-eating grin from behind Randall every time Victor looked over. Randall seemed fl.u.s.tered, unsure of what to do. His and Victor"s hands kept getting tangled together as they tried to gather his books.
"Yes, well." Randall shot Victor a quick glance, obviously awkward. "I"m not really that breakable."
"That"s a relief to hear." Victor picked up the last fallen book and handed it to Randall. He seemed to handle that tome with more caution than the others, making sure it didn"t have any dirt or creases. Randall looked intensely embarra.s.sed that he had seen that particular one out of the stack, but when Jed craned his head, it didn"t look like p.o.r.n or anything. Just an old book, one he"d seen Randall carrying before, with a weird t.i.tle, something about Jeeves. A butler p.o.r.n book, maybe?
"Thank you," Randall said again, softer, standing and cradling his armload closer to his chest, the butler p.o.r.n held closest. "I appreciate the help."
Victor collected his own books off the ground, clearly unsure what to say. "I hope you have a good full moon," he wound up going with. Jed could have smacked him. Randall was obviously going to take the out, and then they"d just go back to being awkward.
So he shouldered Victor aside, grinning at Randall. "And by that he means you"re joining us for dinner. Me and Red and Vickie."
Randall looked a little surprised, eyes darting over to Victor quickly. "I"m not sure-" he started.
"I"d really like if you did," Victor said in a rush. "We"ll get the food together. All you need to do is show up."
Clearly hesitant, Randall fidgeted, foot to foot. "I just-"
Jed didn"t give him a chance to say no. "Great." He beamed, slinging an arm around Victor"s shoulders. "See you in twenty." And then he guided Victor off, sneaking quick looks behind them to catch Randall staring after them, utterly baffled. He"d show up, though. He was far too polite not to.
"Well, I hope you"re in the mood for an awkward dinner," Victor sighed.
"f.u.c.k that. Red and I are bailing five minutes after he gets there." Jed smirked widely. "It"s the full moon. I have it on reliable intel that all the wolves are going to get very frisky. Why don"t you take a little risk?"
"Your attempts to get Randall and I back together are hardly helping," Victor said crossly. "He"ll spend the full moon with his brothers. If he can"t look at me, I highly doubt he"ll want to rekindle the one-night-long relationship we had."
Rolling his eyes, Jed gave Victor a little push toward his tent. "So make him want to look at you. f.u.c.k, Victor, I don"t know. But you two acting like the world is your fainting couch is getting old. Do something."
"What an inspirational speech," Victor said drolly. "Isn"t all this talk on topics other than guns and explosions making you break out into hives yet?"
"Yes," Jed grunted. "So consider this the last time we"re ever doing anything remotely like this."
"Duly noted." Victor looked like he might be almost smiling. Jacka.s.s.
Jed left him to go do his nerd thing and obsessively arrange his books, and went back to the campfires. Redford was busily grilling meat, Edwin already in wolf form and happily gnawing on a chunk of raw something. Venison, probably. Jed sprawled out on one of the logs next to Redford, leaning into his side. "So, Victor and Randall are going to be here for dinner too," he informed Redford, kissing his cheek. "Hey."
This close to the full moon, there was a hint of yellow beginning to show in Redford"s eyes. But there was no menace there, no sign that he was anything but fully within his right mind. Redford budged his shoulder against Jed"s in greeting. "You took a while," he noted, adding some more meat to the fire. "Is Anthony okay?"
There was something wild about Redford now, something just a little more confident in the set of his shoulders, a little more relaxed, like he was learning to be at peace with himself. This was the right thing for him, to be here. Jed might want to go home-and at some point, they"d have to-but right now, this was exactly what Redford needed. Jed could deal with tramping around in mud and being the only human to get to see Redford like this. Eyes darting to Edwin, Jed absently took Redford"s hand. "We"ll talk about it later," he murmured. Probably shouldn"t discuss Anthony"s big plans in front of Edwin. "But Victor"s an idiot."
Though Redford looked concerned, he didn"t push the topic about Anthony and focused on the topic of Victor instead. "Over Randall?"
Snorting, Jed hooked his legs over Redford"s lap, curling up closer. He liked this. There was a fire, there was the smell of cooking meat, and Redford. He was pretty d.a.m.n happy. "Yeah. So we"re going to leave them alone once they get here, and hopefully the wall of stupidity will break."
Edwin gave a wolfy chuff, something that might have even been a laugh. Clearly he approved as well.
Redford snorted quietly. The meat was well on its way to roasting, and Redford left it alone for a few seconds to focus on Jed, curving a hand over his knee. "I bet neither of them were too happy at that plan."
"Like I care." He trailed his lips along Redford"s jaw, happily teasing kisses across Redford"s skin. "They"re annoying." And he was done talking about them for sure. Edwin grabbed his dinner and took off, leaving them relatively alone. Smart kid.
With a low laugh, Redford turned to catch Jed in a kiss, more demanding than usual. "They are," Redford agreed. "But they"re friends."
"Let"s not get carried away." Jed slid his hand up under Redford"s shirt, fingers sprawling against the warm skin. "Anthony asked us to take care of his brothers if he died. I said okay." There, now Redford was all caught up. "Should we go to our tent?" he asked hopefully.
Sadly for him, Redford was too busy looking pleased at the news. "You promised Anthony you"d take care of his brothers? That"s really nice of you."
"I promised we would. We." That was very important. "And by we, I definitely mean you."
"You"ll help, if we need to fulfill that promise," Redford said knowingly. "I know you will."
"Not a family guy, Red," Jed reminded him, arching an eyebrow. "Just the man with the weapons."
"You"re a family guy when it comes to me." Redford kissed him again, smiling. "Trying to convince yourself you"re an island isn"t going to work much longer."
"You are different," Jed murmured against his lips, hooking him in closer. "Two-person island. Two people and a cat. That"s it."
"I"d be okay with that." Redford paused in the middle of kissing him. Before Jed could complain, he heard two sets of footsteps approaching-one from the north, one from the west. Victor and Randall. They had terrible timing.
"Five minutes," Jed insisted. "Then I want you. Got it?"
Victor made a derisive noise. "Can you not talk about your s.e.x life in public? Besides, you won"t have time. It"s getting dark quickly."
"You would be amazed what I could do in fifteen minutes." Jed reluctantly pulled back, grabbing a plate from the stack next to Redford.
"That is rather more information than I needed." Randall approached next, awkwardly, gaze constantly drawn back to Victor despite his best efforts to appear unaffected. "Er. h.e.l.lo."
Redford started dishing the meat onto four plates. Jed caught a hint of his expression: somewhere between bemus.e.m.e.nt and worry for Randall and Victor. "Good evening," he greeted both of them. "I hope the meat"s done enough for you. This is thicker slabs than I"ve worked with before."
"It will be fine," Randall a.s.sured quietly. He took a plate and sat, knees hunched almost up to his chest.
"That"s not true, babe," Jed said, eyes widening. "You are used to way thicker meat than this." A grin slowly replaced the put-on innocent expression he had as he waited for Redford to get the joke and ignored Victor"s scowl.
"That steak we got from the organic market was not cut nearly as thick as this," Redford corrected.
Very lightly, Jed took Redford"s hand in his and casually cupped the front of his jeans with their joined fingers. "Much, much thicker," Jed informed him with a huge smirk.
"Jed!" Redford yanked his hand away, but he was laughing as he did so. "Yes, okay, I get your innuendo now. And you"re completely right-"
Victor made inelegant gagging noises in the background.
"But," Redford continued, "we can talk about that later."
"I don"t know if I"ll be able to talk with your big, delicious-"
"Victor, why don"t we take a walk." Randall had shot straight up, eyes wide, looking at Jed as if he was quite sure he was going to start taking off clothes right then. "Or... go find earplugs."
"G.o.d, yes," Victor agreed desperately. He yanked two plates away from Redford for himself and Randall. "Anywhere but here."
Hey, look. His master plan worked. "Go get yours, princess." Jed was enormously pleased with himself.
Redford just shook his head in exasperation as Randall and Victor took off in a hurry. "Did you plan that?"
"Nope." Jed shrugged. "But hey, it worked." Although, watching them, Randall was obviously standing farther away from Victor than people who wanted to f.u.c.k should. Definitely not his problem, though. Now it was all on Victor. G.o.d help them both.
Redford leaned into Jed"s side again as they started eating. Despite his worry about not cooking the meat right, Redford had done a d.a.m.n good job-better than Jed ever could. He"d never been able to figure out just how the f.u.c.k cooking worked. To his mind, Redford dropped a whole bunch of things in a pot and bam, a gourmet meal. It was pretty much magic.
"Do you want to come to the woods with me?" Redford asked. "Just while I turn. I, um, don"t really know what the instincts will want to do after that. I think I"ll go run for a bit and then I"ll come see you?"
"Sure." Jed ran his fingers idly through Redford"s hair, sharing bites of the spicy meat between them. "I mean, I"ll run with you if you want, or just wait. Whatever you need." He still wasn"t quite sure what the right thing to do was, but he was d.a.m.n sure he was going to let Redford figure it out. If he wanted to go run all f.u.c.king night, Jed would keep up the best he could.
A glint of mischief shone in Redford"s eyes. "You don"t need to come running with me. I think you"ll need to save your energy for the morning."
Now that Jed could agree with. He tugged Redford in for a slow kiss, lightly parting his lips, happy to let Redford take the lead. There was something intensely s.e.xy about Redford"s quiet strength on the average day. Now, this close to the moon, it was completely irresistible.
Redford turned his head to shove his nose against the side of Jed"s throat, inhaling deeply. Words seemed to have lost all importance. Whatever Jed wanted to say, Redford could probably read off of his scent.
The sun was finally beginning to duck the last of itself behind the horizon, and wolves all around them were starting to vanish into the forest. Redford drew back from Jed, his eyes shining fully yellow now. "Sorry, I don"t think we"ll get that fifteen minutes beforehand," Redford apologized.