.

The kiss only lasted a fraction of a second, but when Ash pulled away, the taste of him still lingered in River’s mouth. The arousal which burned inside him all morning had returned, hotter and more intense than ever, choking his breath in his lungs. A dull throb started to beat in his groin.

No distance remained between the two of them now. As before when they embraced on top of the Impala’s hood, their bodies were lined up together so perfectly that no daylight could shine between them. Chest to chest, hip to hip, they stared into each other’s eyes with the tips of their noses touching together as delicately as a flutter of butterfly wings. River could see himself looking back from Ash’s irises, and the effect had him dizzy.

“Did you think,” Ash whispered, “that you’d seen the last of me?”

“You didn’t respond,” River murmured in return. “When I texted you. I thought I frightened you away.”

“Just busy. Just distracted. Work, life. Doesn’t matter now. I wanted to see you before…” Ash trailed away, then shook his head. His long, thick hair tickled its way under River’s shirt collar. “You’re here. And your cock is on my thigh. Do you know how long I’ve waited for this?”

“About as long as I have.” River pressed his hips closer to Ash, feeling the bulge in his jeans strain towards freedom. He had never dreamed of such sexual freedom before in his entire life, but now there was no way of stopping himself, no way to gain the control that he had lost at some point this morning. Pressing harder, he started to grind his cock on Ash’s thigh.

His weight pressed Ash backwards, but the omega was strong and stood his ground. His hands rose and started roaming just as they had four days ago, but there was something different in their touch this time. His long fingers lingered here and there, caressing, savoring.

“You’re here, and I’m here. What’s stopping us?” Ash moved his hands down to River’s ass while posing the question, pulling River even harder against him.

River groaned and stopped grinding as a surge of heat went spasming through his body, igniting his core. His cock stiffened somehow even further, swelling to painful limits. If he kept moving, kept rubbing, he was going to lose his grip and come in his pants like a teenager.

What was stopping them?

“Uh,” River stammered in response. A heated shiver ran down his spine. Nothing was stopping them. He didn’t want anything to.

Ash waited, grinning. He was going to get what he wanted. He knew it. River knew it. The omega couldn’t be resisted. He was tempting, taunting, goading the wolf inside River onwards with himself as both the bait and the prize.

Just as River was about to give in to the demands of his body, he remembered what had stopped them last time they did this. “You aren’t in the business of performance art.”

Ash frowned at him before his green eyes lit up with understanding. With all these windows, anything they did to each other would be visible to everyone walking by. River had a hard enough time dealing with just an erection when he was on his way here. No damn way was he going to have sex in public.

Lifting one finger, Ash licked the tip and then brushed it teasingly over River’s lips. “We’ll do it back in my studio.”

“No windows?”

“No windows.”

How could he possibly resist now, when there were no more obstacles in the way?

“You up for it?”

River looked very deeply into Ash’s eyes, past his own reflection and into the striated green depths beyond. Lifting his hand, he took Ash’s in his own and guided it down to his erection. “Does it feel like I’m up for it?”

Ash let out a little sigh of delight. His hand curled around River’s bulge, squeezing ever so gently. Gasping, River bucked against him.

“Let’s go.”

Their hands clasped between them as they headed to the back of the gallery together, walking perfectly in step. If River closed his eyes, he could fool himself into thinking that they were just boys again, reveling in the presence of the other while heading down to the local ice cream shop, where they would argue over who had the pleasure of paying for the other. Those had been the days. Long summer days, balmy summer nights in a tent out in the backyard of one of their houses, depending on whose turn it was to host the sleepover. Stolen kisses in the high school bathroom, before River graduated. The rough winters spent with childish delight, watching the snowflakes bat against the foggy window like pup paws.

They had gone through it all, and now they had wound up here.

It wasn’t a bad place to be at all.

Ash shut the door to his studio and turned around, dropping his hands down to the front of his jeans to undo the button there. He pulled his zipper down in tiny increments, teasing the fuck out of River.

Letting out a growl from deep in the back of his throat, River advanced on Ash and pushed his hands away to yank the zipper down himself. Placing his hands on Ash’s waist, River forced the jeans down off his hips so that they bunched up around his shoes. He could see the outline of Ash’s dark bush through his underwear, and the veiny, needy jut of his cock.

Ash wrapped his arms around River’s neck and kissed him. Their tongues danced together as River pushed his underwear down; freed, Ash’s cock pushed against him hard, leaving a smudge of desire on the denim.

River dropped his hands down and now he held Ash as the other man did the same thing for him, undressing him and baring him to the faint breeze that blew through the studio.

“Holy shit,” Ash murmured, breaking the kiss off so that he could look down. “You’re huge.”

River grinned, feeling almost drunk from the sensations flooding through his body. He guided Ash’s thigh between his legs and started to grind against it, bucking his hips. Step by step, he forced Ash back against the wall and pinned him there. “That’s all for you,” he whispered, touching his lips to Ash’s ear. “It’s always been all for you.”

Ash whimpered with desire and held his ass, sliding one finger down between his cheeks to press against his opening. The feeling was odd for an alpha, but the spasms shaking through River kept him from denying that he liked it.

However, it did give him second thoughts.

He was an alpha. Ashton was an omega. He knew how this was supposed to work but he had no practice with this particular act. He didn’t know how to do what his body wanted him to.

Ash must have sensed his hesitation because he stopped and drew back just a little. His eyes were hazed over with desire, but open and friendly. “What’s up?”

“I…stage fright? Cold feet?” His cock was as hard as could be. He could feel how swollen his tip was, knew how engorged and red it looked, leading down to a tracery of veins that went all the way down to the base of his shaft. His balls felt tender and full, which wasn’t something he had known could be pleasurable until now. “I don’t know if I know what to do. I’m sorry. I’m not much of an alpha.”

“Hey,” Ash said. Reaching up, he wrapped his hands around River’s face and pulled him down for a kiss. “I’m pretty sure there’s more to being an alpha than just fucking everything with a pulse. Or else we wouldn’t be human.”

That helped, but not by much.

“Look, you had six kids. You clearly know what to do.”

River felt his cheeks flush with heat. If he wasn’t mistaken, his cock also blushed. “That’s different.”

“But close enough for a cigar, right?”

“I don’t think that’s how that phrase goes.”

Ash giggled. He actually giggled. A 38-year-old man giggled. It was simply absurd, but River found himself smiling in response to it. “So? Neither of us went to school for etymology.”

“I’m impressed a mere painter knows such big words.” River accepted the pretend punch that Ashton threw at his shoulder.

“Look, smartass. I know what to do. And you kind of know what to do. The skills transfer over. Just don’t go all jackhammer on me and we’ll be okay.”

River laughed out loud and felt most of his remaining tension fade away. “I’m too old for that shit.”

“Good! But could you let go of me for a second? We need something.”

Curious, River released his grip from Ashton and watched as the omega stepped out of his jeans and walked over to his desk. His ass cheeks moved delectably as he walked, and his hips swayed temptingly from side to side; his cock bobbed straight out in front of him like a dowsing rod.

I have never seen anything hotter in my entire fucking life.

Ash bent over, offering River a very nice view of his ass, and rummaged around through a desk drawer before letting out a triumphant exclamation. Holding something square in his hand, he sauntered back towards River.

River looked at that little square, off-white contents in a clear container with a blue lid, and recognized it instantly. “Vaseline?”

“Yep.” Ash popped the lid off the jar and dipped his fingers into the slick, sharp-scented jelly.

“What the hell do you use with Vaseline in an art gallery?”

“A little bit on a paint brush after washing helps it retain its shape. Now, stop asking questions and get busy.” Ash pushed the jar towards River, then turned around and started rubbing the Vaseline on his fingers deep between his ass cheeks. His skin grew shiny and slick as he rubbed deeper, spreading himself so that he could smear the jelly directly on his opening.

When he pressed one finger inside his tender ass opening, River felt a wave of desire so strong that he felt as if he might faint from it. After that, he got the hint and wasted no time in smearing some of the contents of the jar over the length of his huge cock.

How could I forget about lube? God, that just goes to show how much I don’t know about all of this.

But, he felt that he was safe in Ash’s capable hands, quite literally. He could learn, and this was his first lesson.

When every inch of his shaft had been covered in a thin layer of Vaseline, River turned to Ashton to see what the next step was. His answer seemed to be that it was time to fuck, because instead of a handsome face he was looking at a pert little round ass.

Ash looked over his shoulder from where he was bent against the wall, bracing himself on it. His ass wiggled, urging River towards action. “Don’t think about it,” Ash said. “Just do it. You know what to do.”

River hesitated, but that was only in his mind. His body moved of its own accord, led forward by his cock. The wolf inside him strained forward, needing this, and needing it now.

Holding onto Ash by the hips with one hand, River guided his cock towards his trembling opening with the other. He pressed his dripping head against that wrinkled pucker of flesh and gasped at how easy it was to slide in without even really trying.

Ash curled his fingers against the wall and pushed backwards, easily taking another inch inside his lubricated ass. “More,” he growled.

More? More? It was going to get better than this? There was no way at all he’d be able to handle that. Already he was shaking, his body tormented by tingling little spasms that had every part of him clenched, from his teeth to his toes. Letting go of his cock, he braced himself against Ash’s ass with a hand on either side of his waist. Pushing in further, he tossed his head back at the overwhelming commotion this caused inside his body. He could feel every individual ridge of Ash’s ass around his cock, could feel the other man trembling, bearing down on him. His mind was filled with a white noise of sex, his pulse pounding and pounding. His blood streaked through his veins as if there was a race to win.

The further he buried himself inside Ash, the more the world shrank around him. By the time his hips were pressed flush against the other man’s ass, he wasn’t aware of anything at all but the sounds they made together and the motion of their bodies. He was lost to the pleasure, part of a thoughtless paradise reserved only for the two of them.

Ash pressed back against him and groaned softly, grinding on River’s cock. River gave up on holding his ass and braced himself on the wall as well. His body overlaying Ash’s sparked something inside him that he had never known existed, making him feel powerful in ways he never had while sharing a bed with Jeanine.

“Fuck yes,” Ash growled. He dropped his head down and panted roughly. “Fuck yes. Joined. You. Me. Just like it was always meant to be.”

River’s cock was so swollen now that he couldn’t have separated even if he wanted to. Like true wolves, they were locked together until completion.

River was beyond words, beyond anything. All he could do was close his eyes and start to thrust. Ash fit around him so perfectly, his inner walls like a glove. There was no pain, no hesitation, no awkwardness between them. There was no fumbling, no readjusting.

As River thrust inside Ash, Ash bucked back against him. Their bodies moved together, back and forth. The sound of flesh slapping against flesh filled the quiet studio. Grunting, groaning, growling, Ash bucked harder against him. River bore down, grinding inside him, reaching as far as he possibly could.

Suddenly, an urge swept over him that was so all-consuming there was no way in hell he could have resisted. Grabbing at Ash, River pushed him up flat against the wall and thrust harder inside him, thumping both of them against the wall.

Ash squealed and the muscles in his ass went tight, grabbing down around River’s cock. That was all River could take. Throwing back his head, he let out a hoarse cry. A high, clear note joined his, Ash’s orgasm scream. Together, they sounded like a wolf howling for the pure joy of unbridled freedom.

For a time, River was lost inside his own pleasure, feeling the tremors ebb and fade. When he managed to come back to himself, he lay on the studio floor with his back to the wall. Ash lay beside him, looking up at the ceiling with a glazed, contented look on his face.

“Ash?” River nudged his companion. He struggled to catch his breath, little trembles still shaking him. “You okay?”

“No.” Ash sighed, his chest heaving. “I died. I think you killed me.”

Propping himself up on his elbows, River looked down at him. Worry nagged at the back of his thoughts but the truth was that he was worn out, tired in muscles he hadn’t even known he still had, and it was hard to feel much of anything. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“I didn’t expect you to go that hard.”

Now it wasn’t worry nagging at him but guilt, and that broke through the wall of tiredness in his mind. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I lost control.”

“Sorry?” Ash turned his head to look into River’s face. His hazy eyes were glistening with what could only be described as joy, though River felt certain that couldn’t be it given the circumstances. “Are you kidding? You were fucking great, River! I’m glad! You liked it! You liked me!”

A lump formed in the back of River’s throat and tears simultaneously burned in his eyes. “I loved it. And I…”

He stopped just short of saying the words, that he loved Ash. He did. Very much. Always had and always would. But maybe lying on the floor of the studio less than a week after reuniting was pushing the limits of plausibility a little bit. He was no young man. He knew that things often weren’t what they seemed now. It would take time before he figured out if his love was a remnant of the past, clinging to an ideal of something that had been, or if it was the real deal.

Ash wasn’t looking at him, when River glanced at him to check if he’d caught on to what he was about to say. Instead, Ash was looking over his shoulder, towards the door. The expression on his face was more an absence of expression, like a slate that had just been wiped clean.

“What are you looking at?” River asked.

Ash didn’t answer. He closed his eyes.

River sat up and turned to face the doorway. He didn’t exactly know what he expected to see, but it certainly wasn’t two burly men, both of them wielding knives.

Oh, this isn’t a good time to be naked.

“What are you doing back here?” River growled. He moved to his knees and put one hand on the floor to push himself up to his feet.

One of the large men lifted his knife and pointed it at River. “I wouldn’t move another inch if I was you. This is none of your business.”

Ash sat up now as well, and his fingers curled around River’s wrist to restrain him. “Don’t,” he said. “They’re right. This isn’t any of your business.”

River turned to look at him, and saw that he didn’t look afraid in the slightest. Instead, he just looked vaguely accepting. “What’s going on here, Ash? Who are they? You know them?”

“Of course he knows us,” the second man snapped. “Stay the fuck out of this or we’ll cut off your goddamn dick. Okay, old man?”

A slow rage started to burn deep inside River, causing his hands to curl into fists. If he tried to take on these men as a human, he would almost certainly die. Even worse, they just might cut his dick off and leave him to bleed out. Or, they might have something else in store. He wouldn’t put it past these sort of men, and it wasn’t just because they were holding knives. Everything about them screamed of danger, from their rigid posture to the passive looks on their faces. Situations like this were clearly familiar to them, as casual as work could be.

But had they ever dealt with a shifter before? If they really had no idea what they were up against, he just might be able to grab hold of that advantage and use it to beat them back. What might happen after that was something he didn’t know, and he wasn’t going to even bother considering it. For this one time in his life, he was going to have to act without knowing all the variables.

The first man, the one who held his knife up, approached Ash. Ash didn’t move or even take a step back, though his eyes widened slightly when the attacker brought the point of the knife up close to his chin. Then, his expression just faded back toward blank acceptance. To River, the message was clear. Ash had known this was coming, had been expecting it to happen, though maybe not as soon as this.

“You got the money for us yet, princess?” River could smell his breath even from this distance, reeking of tar and rot. The rest of the man seemed to defy the foul reek pouring from his mouth, as he was dressed in an immaculate striped suit with a red tie of the perfect length. Pricey fabric strained against bulging muscles. At any second, the buttons secured over the man’s torso might give under the pressure and go flying away like shrapnel from some miniature explosion.

But beneath all that, inside the perfection, something very nasty was lurking.

“I need more time,” Ash said. He sounded as emotionless as a corpse, a far cry from the expressive man who had breathed so much life and care into his artwork. “I recognize you. You were there when Vinny gave me two weeks. It hasn’t even been a week yet.”

He was bargaining, but without much hope. He was like a man who had sold his soul to the Devil, knowing he no longer had anything to offer.

“See,” the man said, “it was two weeks at the time. But we’ve decided to collect a little early. Sorry about that princess, but we got a business to run just like you do. So, where’s the money?”

River looked towards the second man, trying to figure out what exactly he could do here. The second man watched him, clearly considering him a threat even if he hadn’t tried to pull anything yet. He looked rougher than his companion, his suit showing a great deal of wear in some places despite the fact that it didn’t seem to be old enough to be falling apart in such a manner. With a bit of imagination, those torn patches and scuff marks could easily be the result of fighting.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out who had won.

“I don’t have the money,” Ash said. “I needed two weeks to get it. I told Vinny that.”

“But let’s face it,” the man grunted, interrupting him. “You weren’t really going to have it all anyway. So let’s cut to the chase here. Give us what you got, and we’ll make it easy on you. Keep resisting like this and we’re still going to get it. But you? We’ll have some fun with you before we finish. So what’s it going to be?”

Ash’s lips pressed together into a firm line. His face went a shade whiter and sweat beaded up on his forehead, but otherwise he still had that same blank look. It was as if he wore a mask now. Or, perhaps, as if the mask he wore had been lifted and this was all that had been beneath the entire time.

“Okay,” Ash said. “Okay, fine. Okay. It’s in my desk.”

The man dropped his knife from Ash’s chin and gestured with it towards the cluttered desk. River tried to hold back his sigh of relief, not wanting to let these horrid men figure out that he was planning on acting out. If he attacked before, a flinch might have sent that knife slashing across Ash’s throat. That was no longer a dilemma. He needed to do something before this opportunity disappeared. His thoughts raced, his eyes darting around the room.

The second man narrowed his eyes. His fingers flexed on his weapon. He knew something was about to happen. River couldn’t hide that any longer. He just had to hope and pray that he had as much of an advantage as he thought he did.

“So, get it from your desk. We don’t fucking have all day. What drawer?”

“I…”

“What fucking drawer, you little fucking pansy?” The first man moved in threateningly, his massive bulk casting a shadow over Ash’s thinner frame.

Ash finally reacted, twitching away from the threat. “Top drawer! Top drawer! Christ, don’t hurt me!”

“Can’t promise that. Fucking idiots like you need hurt.”

Bending over the desk, Ash’s manhood pressed against the wood in a way that probably hurt a whole hell of a lot; River winced with sympathy, causing the man watching him to tense up at the sudden movement, but Ash hardly seemed to notice. He fumbled with the drawer before finally managing to pull it open.

The first man moved, shoving Ash out of the way. He hit the wall, jaw clenched to restrict a cry of pain.

After pawing through the drawer for a moment, the man looked back at Ash with smoldering eyes. “There ain’t shit in here.”

“The key,” Ash said. “Should be a key. Taped to the side. It goes to the cash register.”

Judging from the faint ripping sound that followed, the burly man had found the key. He held it up, a miniscule glimmer of metal dwarfed by his ham of a fist. “Mick, I’ve got the register.”

The man watching River, who he now knew was named Mick, gave a serious nod. No other communication seemed necessary, as the other man pushed his way back through the doorway. His broad shoulders barely fit through the gap and he twisted slightly to avoid scuffing his suit. Heavy footsteps echoed through the cavernous gallery as he headed up towards the front, where the register was perched on top of the small counter.

Mick advanced a few steps towards River, twisting the knife around in his grip so that the blade stuck out sideways from his fist. “Bet you’re real fucking proud of that cock of yours.”

River’s hands curled into fists against the floor. His breath locked in his lungs, and for a terrifying moment, he forgot how to move. Looking into those glazed eyes locked so fiercely upon his, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to do anything. He might be a wolf but he was also a man who had never been in a serious fight in his entire life. Occasionally, he scuffled with Jeanine when their arguments reached a crescendo where words would no longer suffice to convey the intensity of what they felt. The problem with that was that they were wolves, animals who communicated easily in such a way because part of their language was touch. Wolves nuzzled, they bit, they scuffled, they fought. They did not intentionally wound another wolf, when an argument could be put to rest through a display of simple dominance.

He had no practice hurting people. God, all he’d wanted in life was to help people. That was the entire point of guiding them through their money-related issues, to prevent them from sinking down to a place like Ash had, from which there was no real way to return.

As far as alphas went, he was damn useless. Hadn’t even known how to have sex with his preferred sex until a few minutes ago, and he had only been able to do that through Ash’s encouragement.

Ash wasn’t going to encourage him now. He was utterly silent, staring down at the floor. And meanwhile, the bastard Mick was advancing on him, dropping down to his knees with the serrated edge of his knife pointed towards River’s dick.

He watched, hopelessly, as the blade approached.

Some fucking wolf I am.

But what was it Ash had said? Don’t think about it. Just do it. Why did his thoughts keep returning to that, as if it would somehow help him? It was too late. He was about to be maimed. And then as soon as this bastard was done toying with him, he would be killed. His last moments would be nothing but pain. And that really wasn’t how he wanted to die, although he did have to admit that he didn’t have much to live for these days.

Mick teased him, the knife dancing closer to his organ before flicking away again. Footsteps echoed through the gallery, approaching. At least, they seemed to be approaching. Hard to tell through the echo, through River’s own labored breathing.

The world narrowed down to a pinprick, as it had when he was approaching orgasm, buried deep inside Ash.

Ash, who really was the only thing worth caring about right now. When River was dead, they would kill him, too.

Something very, very deep inside River clenched tight.

“You better be fucking joking,” another voice said. The first man, right outside the door to the studio and growing closer all the while. “This isn’t even a fucking fraction of what you owe, princess.”

River heard someone else speak. “Ever heard of a goddamn bank?” And he didn’t even recognize it as his own voice until he was moving, the tight place inside him uncoiling like a spring. Jerking around, he grabbed at the leg of Ash’s easel and swung it back around towards Mick’s face. Wood splintered with an abominable cracking sound and splinters flew through the air.

Mick hadn’t even moved an inch, though an enormous red streak blossomed on his skin and immediately started darkening into a nasty bruise.

River scrabbled backwards across the floor, struggling for purchase until his clawing hands finally found the wall behind him. He stood, his legs shaking so violently that it was a miracle he was able to be upright at all.

I shouldn’t have done that, River thought, but his inner voice was so quiet that he could barely hear it. The world turned red before him, as if the color was leeching from Mick’s face and into the atmosphere.

The other man re-entered the room with a wad of money clenched in his hand. He stopped and the only part of him that moved were his eyes, taking in the scene before him. “What is this?”

“Lou,” Mick said. Whatever else he was about to say no longer mattered, because in that instant River felt himself start to transform.

He hadn’t known that he was going to do it for real or if his scheming from before was the result of desperation. He hadn’t decided to do it at all, and especially not now, when he could hardly even think. But this was beyond thought, beyond a businessman’s comprehension. There was a fire raging inside him and he was furious, angrier than he had ever been in his entire fucking life. All this time he let himself be pushed around, surrendering to the whims of others who thought they knew what was best for him, and he suddenly couldn’t do it anymore.

Fur exploded across his body, his skeleton rearranging faster than a blink. Dropping down to all four paws, dull nails ripping at the studio carpet, River threw himself across the floor at a speed so blinding not even his predatorial eyes could keep up with it. He was beyond thought, beyond anything at all. The alpha in him had broken out of its cage, urged on by the taste of freedom it received during sex with Ash, and it would no longer be silenced.

“What the fuck?” someone shrieked, but River didn’t know if the cry came before or after he grabbed Mick’s leg in his jaws. Biting down, he felt something snap and give, and blood burst on his tongue. The copper tang of it would have been hideous to a man but to a wolf, it was fuel to the fire.

Pushing forward, River shoved the man over and bit again and again, putting the entire force of his powerful body behind the attack. His claws came out and he ripped at the man writhing beneath him, sending scraps of flesh and fabric flying through the air. Blood spattered against the floor, the walls. Pain burned a line across his shoulders but he hardly even noticed it because now Mick’s neck was in his sight. He lunged, jaws open wide, trailing scarlet in his wake.

Just as his fangs touched flesh, something heavy struck his chest and sent him reeling backwards. Skin ripped under his teeth as he retreated, filling him with satisfaction and also regret, because he knew that the damage done wasn’t enough to kill.

Regaining his footing, River leaped around so that he stood in front of Ashton. Snarling, blood and saliva drizzling from the corners of his mouth, he lifted his tail up high into the air in a gesture of dominance. His fur spiked out in ragged tufts, making him seem larger than he already was.

Mick staggered toward the door with one large hand wrapped around his throat. Trickles of scarlet ran down over his fingers. In the other hand was his knife, but he held it loosely as if forgetting that he had it. His eyes were wide with shock, and he seemed to have trouble standing. No surprises there, since River was pretty damn sure that he’d severed a ligament with that first bite.

At Mick’s side, Lou stood in complete contrast. He still held the money, and now he shoved it into his pocket. His expression was curious but decidedly unruffled, and now he was grinning. “I’ll be fucked sideways. They’re real.”

More real than you will ever be, River thought. Some shifters were capable of speaking even while in their animal form and he knew from experience that he was one of them, but doing so took massive amounts of effort and he didn’t have much of that to spare. Some part of him knew that speaking would just be a waste of time, anyway.

“You a dog too, princess?” Lou said. He turned his grin in Ash’s direction. The reek of fear exuding from his body was almost as powerful as his breath.

Ash didn’t respond.

River stepped forward and snarled, flattening his ears back against his skull. Both men fell back slightly in response, cowed by his presence whether or not they would ever admit it.

But, they didn’t leave. Their fear of him was probably nothing compared to their fear of the man named Vinny, who had set them on this task. They were sent for money, and if they didn’t return with it, there was no telling what might happen.

And there was Ashton to consider. Even if these two men were chased away—or killed—this wasn’t exactly the sort of problem that just went away. Others would come.

Growling low and deep in his chest, River gnashed his fangs and advanced on the men. They retreated until they were both pressed against the doorway, incapable of going any further unless one of them backed off and let the other go through. The way things were, that was unlikely. River was glad. The last thing he wanted right now was to have this fight out there in the gallery, where anyone could look in through the window.

Clicking his fangs together again, he threw himself towards Mick and was rewarded with a high, shrill sound of terror that couldn’t be described as anything else but a squeal. Mick’s hand whipped out automatically, with no real finesse, bringing the knife with it.

River landed on his front paws and pivoted, leaning around so that the knife missed him by a mere inch. Opening his jaws, he brought them together around Mick’s fist. Bones crunched, sounding hideously like snapping wood. Another squeal and the knife dropped from ruined fingers down to the floor.

Placing one paw on the hilt on the fallen weapon, River pulled it close to himself and then picked it up in his mouth. Narrowing his eyes, he snarled at Lou so that his lips pulled up to reveal the damage his fangs were doing to a piece of solid metal.

The message was clear, and Lou dropped his own knife, then kicked it out of his reach. “Okay. Fucking okay, you goddamn freak. What the fuck do you want us to do? He owes us money. A whole shit ton of a lot of money.”

River couldn’t respond. He only held the knife in his mouth and ground his teeth against it, anger making his jaw clench again and again. The things he wanted, that he could have communicated, were lost behind the rage boiling inside him.

“Look,” Lou tried again. “It’s just how these things work. He’s going to keep owing us money until he pays it all off. And there’s interest.”

There were pieces of the puzzle here, but River would look at them later, when he was capable of thinking clearly. Right now, he was just pissed.

“Even if we put a freeze on his interest, we…”

River interrupted him by dropping the knife. He panted, working his jaw to keep it from stiffening, and then he backed up a step.

Lou shifted on his feet.

Instantly, River reared up on his hind legs and lashed his claws in the air. Dropping down, he feinted forward and nipped at Lou’s ankle before lunging backwards again.

The men just stared down at him, not really comprehending. They were so fucking stupid, hopeless bastards who no doubt lived their lives in this manner because they were useless for anything else.

Letting out a short, sharp bark that scraped in his lungs, River stepped backwards again. This time, neither man moved. Mick clutched at his ruined hand, balancing on one leg to keep the weight off the severed tendons in the other. Tears streaked his face, the wetness glistening in the light of the studio. He seemed to be unaware that he was crying, shocked beyond comprehension. He seemed to no longer be much of a threat, if indeed he was still a threat at all.

On the other paw, Lou looked cowed, but there was a shine to his eyes that River didn’t like. Clearly the smarter of the two, he looked as if he was still trying to make sense of all this, to take advantage of it as River had.

Need to keep an eye on him.

River loped sideways over to where his jeans and underwear still lay on the floor, undisturbed by the events of the past several minutes. He kept the men in his vision, not trusting them even for the amount of time it took to move a few feet.

Lowering his head, River grabbed his jeans and tugged them around until he could manage to stick his snout in his pocket. Finding what he wanted, he grabbed it and trotted back over towards Lou and dropped it at his feet. Then, he circled back around to press against Ash’s legs, wanting to reassure him that everything would be okay soon enough.

“Alright. Your wallet. You want me to look in your wallet, mutt?”

River nodded.

“Then, I’ve got to move to reach it. Don’t fucking bite me or anything, or I’ll smash your face in.”

It was an empty threat. They both knew it.

Lou bent over and picked up the wallet. New, hotter depths of rage filled River at having someone so disgusting touching anything he owned, but he only growled and tried to hold himself in check.

Lou held the wallet open and riffled through it with expert, impersonal fingers. River knew exactly what he was looking at, because he kept his wallet as organized as every other part of his life. Each card had a proper spot, a specific order.

“There’s money in here,” Lou said.

River growled at him, but it wasn’t a threat. Somehow the other man seemed to understand this, and he pulled out a handful of bills and started to count them. He handled the money as deftly as a bank teller, confirming again for River that this type of a job was not unfamiliar to him.

At last, Lou looked up. “There’s $4,000 in here. What kind of guy just carries around four grand like it’s nothing? Are you a fucking idiot?”

Having so much money on his person was indeed a risk, but River believed in being prepared for anything at all. After a great deal of calculations and guess work, he estimated that if $4,000 couldn’t get him out of a bind, no amount of money would.

“What you’re saying, mutt, is you want me to take this to pay for your little friend here.”

River tilted his head down slightly, the barest of nods.

Much to his surprise and fury, Lou threw his head back and started to laugh. “Are you fucking kidding me? You think that piddly-ass little amount is enough? Even adding what was in his register, he still owes us 240 grand. What the fuck are you going to do about that?”

Oh.

That was…unexpected. River faltered, his fur flattening slightly with surprise. He should have known that the intensity of this visit would hint to a large sum of money, but never ever would he have guessed it to be that large.

“Yeah, you didn’t expect that, did you?”

Though he was loathe to do it, this now left River with only one option. He tilted his head and made a chuffing sound, trying to signal that he wanted his wallet back.

The way Lou was watching him with such intensity, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that he understood and tossed the wallet at River’s feet.

River transformed back into a human, picking up the wallet as he did so. Now, more than ever, he was aware of his vulnerable nakedness. The pain on his shoulders grew more fierce as well, now that he had denied himself of his hardy wolf form. Pushing all that from his mind, he opened his wallet and pulled out one card in particular.

He hadn’t had much use for his money throughout his life so far, but now he thanked God that he had saved as much as he had. Being a smart man who dealt with money, he had his various assets split up and placed in several different bank accounts at different venues.

River held up the card he’d chosen, showing it to the man named Lou. “I assume you have the sort of connections that would allow you to break into this.”

“Yes,” Lou replied. His eyes narrowed as he caught onto what River was proposing. “You want us to suck you dry?”

“That is exactly what I want you to do.” Even if they were capable of breaking into this one card, the others were all separated from it and protected in their own various ways. The rest of his money would be safe. “In that account, I have over $100,000. Take it. Put it all towards Ash’s debt.”

“That won’t even cover the half of it.”

“I know.” He would have given even more, but even this one sacrifice was going to cost him dearly. Besides, he was intent on paying for that house entirely up-front and he couldn’t do that if he didn’t have the funds for it. He was attempting to clean up some of Ash’s mistakes here, not cause problems for himself. “But you’ve seen what I can do to you. Look at your friend.”

Lou glanced towards Mick with distaste, clearly uninterested in his sniveling companion. “He can be replaced.”

“So can you, I bet.”

Nothing came in response and though Lou didn’t move a muscle, River knew he had struck a nerve.

“There are more than just myself who can shift,” River growled. “More who can do more damage than I just did. Who can kill.”

“And there are more involved here than just myself and this whimpering bitch standing beside me,” Lou said. “Your point?”

“You think anyone will listen to you? No one will know that we exist. But we know that you exist. Any attack you try to pull will just be put down.” River lifted his hands and cracked his knuckles, a habit that drove Jeanine out of her mind. It felt damn good to do. “Take that money of mine. Take my card. Empty that account. Bring it back to the fucker who put you up to this. Freeze the interest on what Ashton owes you.”

“And the rest of it?”

“I don’t suppose you’d take the threat of death as reason enough to drop it?”

“You fucking mutt, we deal in death.”

“I didn’t think so.” River nodded to himself. “So, what you’ll do is give us six months.”

“Six fucking months? You’re a lunatic! The agreement was for two weeks!”

“And here you are in less than one,” River snapped. He could feel that strange place inside him tightening again, but he held onto it as best as he could, knowing that if he shifted again, there would be two bodies to clean up in addition to the rest of the mess here. He didn’t want to kill. He wanted these idiots to carry his message back to their master so that he wouldn’t have to go through this a second time. “Six. Months. If I see any of your kind again before that time is up, a lot of humans are going to die.”

“Even if we tell that to Vinny, he won’t agree.”

“Make him. Show him the poor bastard with his foot dangling from his leg, and tell him that he will suffer a fate a thousand times worse unless he agrees.”

Lou narrowed his eyes, seeming to consider what River was saying. Finally, he just shook his head. “Fine. You are one crazy fucking dog.”

Snarling, River shifted and dropped down to his paws. Dashing forward, he opened his mouth and lunged for Lou’s leg to maim him as he had done to the other man.

For just a moment, Lou’s aloof mask shattered and revealed the real man within. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped, fear slackening his features. Turning, he shoved Mick out of the way and lurched through the doorway. Mick cried out in agony, a scream bursting from his lungs at a frequency more shrill than his large lungs should have been capable of producing.

“Wait!” Mick screeched. “Wait, Lou! Don’t leave me!” Staggering, stumbling, he grabbed at the wall to try and support himself against it, and then went careening across the gallery floor. He left a trail of blood in his wake.

All River could do was stand there and watch, breathing roughly. It occurred to him rather vaguely that injuring the man so badly would bring attention to the gallery. You didn’t just witness a man fleeing for his life from some unknown source of agony without sending someone to investigate.

However, as the men fled to a car parked illegally at the curb, none of the other passersby seemed to be paying them the slightest bit of attention. This was, after all, a city, and people could be very blind when they wished to be.

The car pulled away from the curb, performed a shaky U-turn that sent it thumping up against the sidewalk on the other side of the street, and then shot through a red light into oncoming traffic. River winced, expecting at any moment to see a horrific crash, but somehow the car swerved through the obstacles and emerged on the other side unscathed. Then, it was gone.

As soon as the men were gone, River sat back on his haunches. Relief and exhaustion flooded through him, threatening to knock him over. He couldn’t even stand to maintain his wolf form at that point, though he didn’t realize he’d transformed until he reached up with a distinctly human hand to wipe sweat from his face.

I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that just happened. I can’t believe that was real. Was it?

It had to be, because his mouth ached like an abomination and his shoulders were stinging with a sharp sort of pain unlike anything he had ever known before.

From behind him came a very small voice. “I can’t believe it.”

Ash.

No matter what personal hell he had just gone through, Ash was what mattered the most right now. River pushed himself up to his feet, which made him aware all over again of how much energy he’d expended in such a short period of time. “Ash. It’s okay. I don’t think they’ll be coming back.”

As he turned to face the other man, he found himself staring into green eyes filled with fury that outmatched even what he’d felt during his attack on Mick. He hadn’t known exactly what he expected to happen now, but it wasn’t this.

“I can’t believe it,” Ash repeated. His hands tightened into fists. “I can’t believe you! What did you think you were doing?”

River stepped backwards, holding up his hands. The sight of blood congealing on his fingers made him want to retch, but he valiantly fought down the urge. “What do you mean? What do you think I was doing? I just saved your life!”

“Great, so now I get to live for another six months until they come back again to put me out of my misery. And that’s the best case scenario here.” Ash tossed his hands up in the air. “Thanks a whole hell of a lot.”

Gritting his teeth even though the action pained him, River dropped his hands down at his sides, where they curled into irritable fists. “Maybe a better question for me to ask would be what you thought you were doing. A loan shark? You went to a goddamn loan shark? Why?”

“Apparently because I’m an idiot. Isn’t that what you think, Mr. Financial Advisor?”

“You’re going to be angry with me because I know how to work with money? That’s ridiculous, and you know it, Ash.” God, he didn’t want to argue right now. They’d just had sex. Their hormones had been all over the place even before this disastrous visit from the loan shark’s goons. There was no way in hell that they were going to be capable of having a calm, coherent conversation until they wound down a little.

Ash didn’t seem to be interested in winding down. He moved like a caged animal, pacing this way and that. Not seeming to know what to do with his hands, he let them gesticulate wildly this way and that. His head twitched around and his face ran through a variety of expressions without ever landing on a single one for longer than a few seconds.

“It’s not the fact that you know how to work with money. It’s the fact that you think your way is the only way to live! You’ve been so pent up and…and squashed by that disgusting woman that you don’t know how to live!”

“Is debt a good way to live?” River snapped. “Everything I’ve seen seems to point to the contrary!”

Ash spun back to face him. His cheeks were red with fury, and his face was twisted in such a way that he was almost unrecognizable. “I’m not talking about me! I’m talking about the rest of the world! Not everyone can be like you. Not everyone wants to be like you.”

“Maybe they should! Ashton, I work with people like you every single damn day, and you know what they always tell me? They tell me they want something. Fine. But you have to think about what you need before what you want, so this type of shit doesn’t happen!”

“So, everyone in the world is just supposed to hold off on their dreams because someone like you says so?”

“No! But dreams don’t happen overnight! You can’t just rent an expensive gallery without being able to afford it! You start small!”

Judging from the way Ash flinched, River knew that he’d struck a nerve.

“Get the fuck out of my gallery, River.”

“I’m not leaving until we’ve had a calm, coherent conversation with one another. I’ve had enough of this arguing shit in my marriage.”

“If you don’t leave, I’ll call the cops. I’ll say you’re trespassing.”

Empty threats.

River gestured around to the mess that had been made of the studio. “Go ahead. Call the cops. Tell them what happened, that you’ve gotten yourself mixed in with some illegal loan dealers. Bring them into this place with blood everywhere and a broken easel. I’m sure you’ll enjoy all the questions they ask.” He paused. “Sorry about the easel, by the way.”

“It was my favorite,” Ash snarled. Then, abruptly, his shoulders slumped. “But I’ve got like two more in the closet. It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters. I’ll get you another one. For Christmas or something.”

Shaking his head, Ash went to his desk and sat down in the chair, then slumped forward. “Do you even think I’ll be alive by Christmas?”

“Well, six months from now will be in the middle of March.”

“That’s if they listen to what you said.” Ash dropped his forehead down to the desk. “You should have just let them kill me. There’s no way in hell I’m ever going to get that much money by then. And god, all your money…”

“Don’t worry about me,” River said. “Money is money. You mean a whole hell of a lot more to me than any amount of it.”

He held his breath after letting the truth come out, knowing that it was very likely that Ash didn’t feel the same way as he did. There was still so much separating them, and after the argument they’d just had, it seemed like there was more incompatibility than ever.

Ash lifted his head and looked over at River. There was a red mark on his forehead from where he’d pressed it against the desk. “It’s only because of you that I’ve made it this far at all. You have no idea what you mean to me, before we even met again. But I…I don’t want us to be like that. I don’t want to be indebted to you. And I don’t want you to feel like you have to work with me like I’m some sort of charity case. Maybe you should just go.”

If Ash had been anyone else in his life, River would have left it at that. You couldn’t save someone who didn’t want to be saved. You couldn’t help the stubborn ones who insisted that their track in life was the right one.

But isn’t that what I’ve been doing as a career?

He didn’t want to go back to being the way he was before, not when he had this new life ahead of him.

Crossing the distance between himself and Ashton, River placed one hand on his lover’s knee. “I didn’t offer to help.”

“Oh.”

River laughed softly and then shook his head. “I was going to, but I figured I’d wait for a better time. But since you mentioned it, I’m going to take that to mean you really do want my help. You just don’t think you deserve it.”

“Can you blame me?” Ash’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “I’ve sat through two lectures on how you think my lifestyle is wrong, now. And the sad thing for me is that you’re right.”

“Maybe I’d change my mind if you would share with me. And in return, I’ll share some of my money-making secrets with you. We’ll help each other.”

Ash seemed as though he was considering the idea, but he shook his head. “That doesn’t seem like a fair deal to me.” Tentatively, he touched the back of River’s hand and then stroked it with his thumb.

“Seems fair to me.” River lifted his hand and placed it over the top of Ash’s, to hold it securely between his. He looked up into Ash’s eyes, trying to make him understand. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. When we were younger, I promised you that I would wait for you. I gave you my heart, and all these years later, you still have it. If anyone’s being indebted here, it’s me.”

For a long moment, it seemed as if Ash would just deny him again. In that case, all River could do was continue to try to convince him otherwise, but he hoped he wouldn’t have to do so. They needed all the time they could get if they were going to claw their way out of this money pit, and precious days might be wasted going down that path.

Then, Ash smiled sadly and placed his other hand on top of River’s. His fingers were long and pale, streaked with marks of faded color all the way up to the wrist. “When you put it like that, how can I resist? I love you too, River.”

If there was ever a time when a person could die from happiness, River was certainly a candidate for that phenomenon. His heart skipped several beats and then thundered back into place, like a member of a marching band who had tripped and fallen out of line. “Really?” he breathed. His heart soared, bolstered upwards by a warm thermal of joy.

“I waited for you too, you know. I never loved anyone except you.”

Ash looked down at him, still smiling that same little sad smile, and River couldn’t resist the urge inside him. Reaching out, he wrapped both arms around Ash’s shoulders and drew him in close, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. Something warm and tender stirred around inside him, and he buried his lips ever deeper in that wild tangle of dark hair.

After a slight hesitation, Ash gripped him back as tightly as he could, fingers digging into his ribs. “I don’t think it’s going to be so easy.”

“The best things never are.” River stroked his fingers through Ash’s hair, gently easing away a tangle. “We’ll have to work at it, but I think if anyone is going to be capable of doing it, it’s us.”

“I think you’re right.” Ash leaned his cheek against River’s, and for a moment, they just held each other.

Then, River leaned back and looked at his lover again. “I think the first thing we need to do is make sure that there aren’t any more secrets left between us. That’s the only way anything will ever get resolved. I’ve told you everything about me. What about you?”

Tilting his head, Ash seemed to be thinking hard. “I don’t think there’s anything else. You’ll want the details of how I got myself into such a fucking mess, but there aren’t any secrets there. I think you’re going to find it all pretty par for the course.”

“We’ll see. I’ll probably be fascinated, just because it’s you.” River paused, still idly toying with Ash’s hair. “There is something I’d like to ask you, just because I’m curious about what you meant.”

“Ask me anything.”

“What did you mean when you said that I have no idea what I mean to you, before we even met again?”

God, what a mouthful. You’d think this is my first time learning how to talk.

However, it seemed only natural to River that a person should occasionally be tongue-tied around the person they loved so much, and he decided not to make a big deal out of it. This was his personal life and not an important meeting, after all.

Ash seemed to understand exactly what he meant, a contemplative air surrounding him. “I don’t think you’d believe me unless I showed you first. I sold all the original paintings, but I made prints first.”

“Paintings? Of?”

Ash gestured out towards the gallery. “You saw some of my later work. Done in the past couple of months where I’ve really been reaching. They were made when I was coming down off of a wave of inspiration. Because of you. On the tail end of it, so to speak.”

“Because of me? I don’t really understand.” All he’d seen were landscapes. Eerie, dreamy landscapes that looked as if they might have emerged from some sort of gritty fairy tale, true, but there was nothing to do with him. Besides, the timeline didn’t add up. They hadn’t known the other existed until a few days ago.

“I want to show you, but I think we should do it out in the gallery. I’ll get the prints from storage and join you out there.”

“Why does it have to be out there?”

“Until I can get things cleaned up, I’d rather not have a serious talk in here.”

River understood that, at least, even if the rest of what Ash was saying was a damn mystery. He stood up after pressing another kiss to the top of Ash’s head, then changed his mind and leaned down to kiss his lips as well. Finally, after parting from the lingering kiss, he headed toward the door to the gallery.

“River? Pants?”

He stopped. “Pants would probably be a good idea.”

Turning back, he dressed with Ash at his side and then went out into the gallery. It felt like a lifetime since he’d last stood out here, trying to understand what it was about art that made some people go crazy for it. He still didn’t really understand that, though he thought perhaps he might have a better grasp on the lengths a person would go to in order to protect their right to produce it. As insane as it was to get lodged this deep in debt for a career when there were so many other viable jobs on the market, it did show a great deal of dedication. You didn’t do that over something you didn’t care for.

While he waited, he looked around at some of the other paintings, but none of them held that same sort of dreamy-yet-dreamless quality as the others. He was just about to start comparing the dates on the plaques when soft footsteps behind him told him that Ash had arrived.

Turning around, he found that he definitely wasn’t prepared for the amount of prints that Ash had prepared to show him. He expected one or two, four at the most, but Ash held what looked to be nearly two dozen sheets of expensive, shining papers in various sizes.

“That’s a lot,” he commented, simply searching for something to say.

Ash didn’t laugh. He just nodded and turned the first print around and handed it over.

River looked down at the image. What he was seeing didn’t quite register for several long moments. It was a portrait of a man from the shoulders up, set against a deep blue background. The man looked stern but not humorless, with gray hair and silver eyes. Light from an unseen source caught in his features, accenting them, rendering them serene and stately. Some of the blue from the background was reflected in his hair and on his clothes, giving him a transparent feel. He didn’t seem quite real, yet the image was so detailed that it could only have been done while looking at an actual model.

And it finally sank into River’s brain. He was looking at himself. This detailed study, it was of himself. An idealized version of himself, as perfect as he had been on only a few occasions when he was attempting to impress a person of utmost importance, but himself all the same.

His fingers were dimpling the pristine surface of the print, but he couldn’t make himself relax. Looking up, he met Ash’s gaze. “This isn’t recent.”

It wasn’t a question. River had no knowledge of the art world, but he did pride himself in having a good head on his shoulders. He noticed things about his surroundings that others might not. For instance, Ash’s tired expression could be accounted for by looking at all the canvases that had been lining the studio walls. There were well over 20, perhaps as many as 30. Some of them were glossy, covered with a fixative, while others still needed that treatment. They started out skillfully enough before descending into a state of wobbly Impressionism. Going by all that, River could easily draw the conclusion that Ash had been painting his ass off for the past four days in an effort to have enough things to sell to put a dent in his debt.

Some of those paintings looked completely unsellable, but that was beside the point. The point was that Ash had been incredibly busy and wouldn’t have had enough time to set aside to go out and make prints of anything, even if he’d been capable of painting this masterpiece in the first place.

And it was a masterpiece, without a doubt. River couldn’t deny it. There was such skill here that it blew the rest of the gallery out of the water. This was art. It had such feeling, such tenderness. It wasn’t a product. It was a goddamn child, born into this world timeless and beautiful.

So, where had this print come from?

Where had the rest of these prints come from?

River suddenly looked back at the rest of the papers that Ashton held. He felt as if he was floating, adrift on a dark ship headed towards some unknown land. “Are they all like this?” he whispered.

“Why don’t you look for yourself?”

River accepted the untidy stack and looked at the print on top. It was another portrait of himself, but this time half of his face was lupine. Each silky tuft of fur had been crafted with utmost care, and the animal eye was so piercing as to be unnerving.

The next piece was a full wolf portrait, looking up towards something just out of frame.

After that was another wolf, this time displaying the full, graceful body lounging against a background of dark pines.

River started flipping through the prints faster. Dark pine forests, meadow clearings, an ancient well. There were fragments here of the other compositions he’d seen hanging up on the wall but these were far more powerful because they focused on a single aspect at a time, letting no miniscule detail escape. He could taste the cold grit of the stone well, scented the sharp odor of pine needles. He could feel a damp, moody wind tugging through his hair.

All of it was accessible to him, a shard at a time.

At last, he came full circle to the first image of himself. He looked up again, shaking a little and not caring. “Ashton? What is this? How do all of these connect?”

Ash looked at the wall, his green eyes dark and filled with a mysterious want that River didn’t quite understand. “Would you believe me if I told you that all of those are months old?”

“At this point, I would believe you if you told me the moon was made of cheese!” River exclaimed. He started to restlessly flip through the prints again, though it was more just to have something to do with his hands rather than because he was looking at them. “What is this? Was it a connection between us, somehow? Did we come in contact without really knowing it?”

Such things were common in the world of wolf shifters. Animals were not bound to the same rules of courtship as humans were, which meant that a connection with another person could be strong and instantaneous without any prior interactions. It was a difficult thing to deal with at times for a variety of reasons, but it was the only thing here that seemed to make any sense to River. They must have crossed paths at some point. The wolf spirits inside them had recognized each other. It was the only thing that could have caused this.

But Ash was shaking his head. “It started with a visit from my pack leader. Remember Donald?”

Of course River remembered Donald, as the old man had once been his pack leader, too. That was before he married Jeanine and became part of her pack.

“Well…”

And Ash told him everything.