Chapter Six Liam

M orning came softly. At first, I was trapped halfway between dreaming and waking, lost in that place where thoughts became reality, and everything seemed possible. Nothing could bring me down as I willed my dreams to come true before my very eyes.

I saw Cory recognizing me at last and throwing his arms around me in surprise. Tears formed in his eyes as he told me how much he'd missed me. We confessed our undying love to one another and fell into his bed just like we were supposed to those two years previous. We had a lot of time to make up for, and neither of us were willing to wait any longer.

But just as soon as those dreams formed in my mind, they began to slip away. I began to notice my physical body and the pains that sleep had kept away from me only for the night. Now they came back one by one, reminding me that not only was I in bad shape, but that I still hadn't gotten enough food for my werewolf healing to put me back to rights.

Keeping my eyes closed, I lifted a hand, running it across the skin on my chest. I could feel the ridges of my ribs and the tautness of my skin stretched over my bones. I really had lost a lot of weight very quickly. Running across the country for two full weeks without stopping had done a lot more damage than I thought. It would probably take me months to build my muscle tone back up. Alpha genes would help with that, but I'd have to really eat and make sure I got a lot of exercise.

Then my fingers paused and I suddenly realized… I wasn't in wolf form anymore .

My eyes sprang open, and I sat up in bed, looking down at my naked body. A shaft of sunlight from the far window fell across my body, warming the skin of my right thigh. Every bit of me had been scrubbed clean thanks to Cory the night before.

Cory .

My gaze turned to the right and I saw him there, snuggled under the covers with one arm tossed over my waist. I hadn't noticed it at first, but the moment I did it sent a shiver down my spine. Goosebumps broke out over my body as I realized we were skin to skin for the first time in two years.

That and his hand was dangerously close to my cock.

The moment I noticed it, my body started to react. Considering my dick had a tendency to rest against my belly when I was hard, I moved quickly and methodically to make sure it didn't accidentally touch him. We could get to that later. The last thing I wanted to do was wake him up with my dick already in his hand. He didn't know who I was yet and his reaction might be less than pleasant.

Taking as much care as I could, I gently lifted his arm off my waist and moved it to the side, placing it back down on the comforter. I paused for a moment to make sure he hadn't awoken before I slowly worked my way off the bed, making as little noise as possible. As soon as I was free of it, I slipped into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me.

There I spent the next several minutes willing my body to calm down and my boner to go away. In wolf form it was easy to keep it at bay. My animal mind was better at concentrating on things and sticking to plans. But my human mind… well it had a mind of its own. No matter what I did, it liked to jump topics and get distracted at every turn. For most werewolves it was the opposite issue. But not for me. I was the lucky one that got to be weird.

After a few minutes I was finally able to think about long division enough to get my boner to go away. But once I relieved myself and turned back and cracked open the bathroom door, I was faced with a new problem. I was completely naked. And I had no clothing of my own.

I still wasn't really sure how I'd managed to shift back into human form while I was asleep. Usually that was something that took a concentrated effort, especially after being a wolf for two full weeks. After that much time the process would usually be painful enough that it would wake me up.

But I'd been so comfortable and happy next to Cory that I apparently didn't even notice. I said a silent thank you under my breath for that one. It was odd, but I didn't feel bad about missing out on the pain.

That still left the matter of clothing though. I could probably steal some of Cory's, but he was much smaller than me. Well, he had been anyway. After starving myself for weeks I was looking even skinnier than he was. Not to mention, he'd filled out a bit since the last time I saw him. The Cory I knew was a skinny, lanky guy that hadn't grown into his shoulders yet. But the man on the bed with the sheets draped around his waist was muscular, wiry, and he had a jaw that could cut glass. He was clean shaved with the most gorgeous auburn hair I'd ever seen. And that pale skin of his was flawless.

I had to force myself to peel my gaze away. I didn't want another boner that would take several more minutes to get rid of. On the other side of the room I spotted a dresser, and I figured he wouldn't mind if I borrowed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. He probably would've given them to me even if I was a stranger, so I didn't feel too bad about going through his things.

Sneaking across the room, I pulled open the top drawer of the dresser as quietly as I could. It was mostly filled with socks and underwear, so I went to the next one. That one had shorts on one side and jeans on the other. I took a pair of mesh gym shorts and pulled them on. Moving to the next drawer I pulled it open and had to stifle a gasp.

There was a flashlight shaped case tucked between his t-shirts and it was way too big to be an actual flashlight. Of course, the front cap was off, and I could clearly see the soft silicone ass just sitting there. It was a fleshlight, although I'd only seen them online. I reached out with a single finger, poking one of the little cheeks. It was surprisingly soft and of course, it smelled like Cory in the most intense way. Even from my height it was potent. The plastic had absorbed all his scent and pheromones. It was making me nearly dizzy with delight.

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I pulled my finger away and made a note to myself to ask him to let me watch him use it sometime. Maybe once we got everything figured out and settled in, we could get down to catching up on the sexy times I'd been missing.

Grabbing a t-shirt, I pushed the drawer closed and pulled it on. Seeing the fleshlight had gotten me all worked up again despite my best efforts. I took myself over to the small desk opposite the bed and sat down facing the window. I had to concentrate on something else because not only could I still smell his pheromones from his sex toy, but he was looking especially beautiful draped across the bed in the morning sunlight. I had to get my mind off him so I could be more presentable when he finally woke up.

I gazed out the window over the small town of Shifter Grove, watching the people below go about their morning. I wondered how many of them wandering around down there were werewolves and how many were humans. What little research I'd been able to do would lead me to believe the town was mostly wolves. And for some reason, that made me feel a little safer. Shifter Grove wasn't a pack, but there was a feeling of safety that came with being around your own kind.

Fifteen silent minutes passed before Cory finally began to stir. In fact, I was so enthralled with my people watching that I didn't notice he was awake until he sat up.

"Oh…" he yawned, rubbing his eyes. "You shifted back. I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

"I… I took some of your clothes," I said, my voice shaking as I realized things were finally about to come out at last. Cory wa s going to recognize me any moment now. "I hope you don't mind."

"That's fine." He pulled his hands away from his face and blinked a few times. "I was gonna give you some anyway–"

Suddenly he stopped, his eyes widening as he focused on me. A heartbeat passed before he tore the covers aside and jumped out of bed. He rushed over to me, pulling me to my feet so he could get a better look at me.

"L-Liam?!" he whispered, moving back and forth as he tried to pierce the suspected illusion. "Is… Is that you?"

I nodded with a smile. "Yeah, Cory. It's me."

"Y-You were so filthy," he began. "I knew there was something familiar about your scent, but I couldn't figure out what it was!"

"It's okay. I don't mind. I'm just happy to see you again."

"Liam…" Cory said, his hand reaching up to cup my cheek. He turned my face to the side so my scar caught the light. "What happened to you?"

"Father gave it to me," I said, feeling like I was suddenly on display. I wasn't quite ready to talk about everything that had happened yet. I wanted to focus on us. But I couldn't ignore his question either. "He did it the night he caught us."

"He did this to you?"

I nodded.

"And your eye?"

I shook my head. "He clawed me while I was shifted. That eye has never shifted back. To be honest, I can't see out of it at all. Seems like it's just gonna be that way forever."

"I… I'm speechless," Cory said, tears coming to his eyes. "I can't believe your own father would mangle you like this."

"I thought it gave me a sort of rugged handsome look, don't you think?"

Cory did not smile at my joke.

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it now. The scar isn't gonna go away and my eye won't get better. So, I'll just have to get an eyepatch and be a pirate forever I guess."

"I forgot how charming you could be," Cory said softly, his hand going back to my cheek.

"I didn't forget how beautiful you were," I replied, brushing a lock of hair from his forehead. "You're still the most gorgeous man I've ever seen."

He smiled. But then, just as fast as it appeared, it was replaced with anger. Cory tore his hand away with a scoff. "No. We're not doing this, Liam."

"Doing what?"

"We're not gonna get back together."

My heart nearly stopped. "What?! Why not?!"

"Do you think I've fucking forgotten what you did to me?!" His voice rose as he took a step back from me. "Did you think you were just going to waltz back in here after your father nearly killed me and just expect me to fall into your arms? Are you fucking stupid?!"

"What does that–"

"Get out," Cory ordered, pointing toward the door. "Get out and don't ever fucking come back."

My heart broke in an instant. "But I don't… I don't understand…"

"Give it more than two second's thought and I'm sure you can figure it out." He pointed to the door again. "But go do it somewhere else because I don't want to see your face ever again. You've got a lot of nerve sleeping in my bed and letting me take care of you after what you did. I won't make that mistake again."

"Just let me explain–"

"NO!" he roared, his eyes flashing. "I learned the hard way that listening to you just leads to unimaginable pain! I don't want anything to do with you!"

"But… You're my mate…"

Cory gave me a look of disbelief and laughed in my face. "Fuck you, Liam. That shit isn't gonna work on me a second time! Now get out!"

I stood there for a long moment, my body feeling like it was made of lead. My chest was cold, my legs were heavy, and I was fairly certain my heart had stopped beating several seconds ago. In the blink of an eye, I'd gone from full of hope to full extinguished. And I had no idea how to process it all.

"Go," Cory repeated. "Get out."

"Where… Where do I go?"

"I don't know… the front desk. Get your own room and don't bother me again."

"But…"

"Liam," Cory said, his voice shaking as he stared at me. A single hot tear rolled down his cheek. "Please…"

I knew that tone. He was begging… no pleading with me to leave. He was hurting so bad, and I didn't know why. All that I knew was that he blamed me. The one person I loved more than anything in the world thought I had done something to hurt him. I just didn't know what.

All I knew was that no matter how much it hurt, I had to leave his room. He needed some time to get over the shock. Then and only then, I might be able to find out what was going on and explain myself. I'd apologize for anything if it just meant getting him back. That being said, I'd wait as long as it took until he was ready to listen.

"Okay," I sighed, heading for the door. "I'll leave."

"Th-Thank you."

I pulled open the door, glancing back one last time over my shoulder. Seeing him like this and knowing it was my fault made me want to curl up into a ball and die. But there was nothing I could do about it right now. Well, nothing except honor his wishes.

So, with my emotions in pieces, I stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind me.

Everything had gone terribly wrong.