Chapter Three
Roscoe
He was in deep shit. Yeah, leaving Sawyer at Maggie's without any answers had been a mistake, he knew that now. How could he not see before how tenacious his boy was? And there was the other issue. It was clear to Roscoe the moment he left Maggie's exactly what Sawyer was. His. Only he didn't know what to do about it. He knew what he wanted to do, what his bear demanded he do. But he hadn't gotten as far as he had by blindly following the urges of a mostly wild animal.
The pack would talk. Hell, the pack was talking right now. He'd protected a human over one of his den mates. Protecting anyone over a den mate was cause for an uprise, but a human? The next few days weren't going to be easy. Especially if he didn't have Gaia on his side. She had the ability to speak to the pack in a way that calmed them. They trusted her as much as they cared for her. Another issue. They would see Roscoe's actions as a betrayal not just to the pack, but to Gaia.
Fuck, fuck and double fuck.
Despite every single one of his problems being able to be solved by letting Sawyer walk out the door and out of his life, he still wasn't able to, because Sawyer was his boy. His strong, foolhardy, quick thinking mate. He clenched his hands into fists to keep from touching him.
"What do you mean, I can't leave?" Sawyer snapped. "I have legs, I can use them to walk. Away."
As much as he liked to think he controlled his bear and not the other way around, he knew there was no way his animal would let Sawyer walk out that door, into a pack of bears, without a mating scent. He was unclaimed in the eyes of the pack. In the eyes of any shifter. There was a wolf shifter pack that controlled the territory to the north. Roscoe had heard that they had a new, calmer pack master. That didn't stop any one of them from finding Sawyer and seeing how delectable he was, how beautiful his body bent under a firm touch.
Letting Sawyer out of his sight without Roscoe's mating scent smothering him was not an option. But, was mating him right now an option either? Sawyer's arms were crossed over his front, and his eyes shone with determination. His bottom lip stuck out just enough to call it a pout as he turned his head up to look into Roscoe's face.
His body language wasn't conveying that he was open to a mating. Roscoe wondered what he could do to change that. "I was trying to save you from all of this," Roscoe said. "But I was also selfish. I haven't been pack master for very long. The bear I had to face to take control of this pack, he wasn't a nice man. This necklace I wear, I earned it, and it marks me as pack master. This isn't something I bought in a store," he said, holding out the bone. "I earned this tooth by killing a man who led with fear, but I don't want to do that. Which only makes my job harder."
Sawyer's arms relaxed ever so slightly across his front. "Why are you telling me this?"
"So you'll understand." Roscoe relaxed his posture as well. "Gaia was promised to the old leader. It was a deal their families had made long ago."
"That sounds barbaric."
"That may be, but she's been groomed for a life of leading, for being a mate to the pack master. When she followed my lead after I defeated him, many just assumed."
"That you hertwo would hook up," Sawyer said without emotion. Indifference was worse than if Sawyer had just screamed at Roscoe. "Does she think that? Are you going to?"
His chest clenched. He wanted to be truthful to Sawyer, everything that happened after this moment would depend on it. But it would hurt him, and he didn't enjoy that thought. "In the beginning, I had considered it. When I found this location and moved the pack in, we fell into a friendship. After my brothers left to gather more building supplies, she easily fell into the position of second in command. To some, that could have looked like courting."
"Did you fuck her?" Sawyer asked, his arms tight across his body again.
Roscoe growled. He didn't like Sawyer's choice of words or the manner in which he spoke them. "No. I have never touched her in that way." Had he expected that to relieve Sawyer? It didn't. He looked just as closed off as he had moments before. "Let me make you something to eat," Roscoe said, herding Sawyer in the direction of the kitchen. At least, in that room, he didn't have to worry about blocking the door. Roscoe would make it to the door long before Sawyer if he tried to run.
"I'm not hungry," Sawyer snapped, but his stomach took that moment to betray him, letting out a fierce gurgle. "Means nothing, I have gas."
Roscoe laughed. "You are so stubborn. You'd rather admit to having gas than just admit that I was right." He opened his fridge and rummaged out some cheese. He grabbed an apple and began slicing the two, layering them together.
"Cheese and apples?"
"Have you ever mixed the two? It is a flavor combination that cannot be described accurately enough to do it justice."
Sawyer sat down on the very edge of the stool that faced the kitchen island. "You sound like a stoner right now." He squinted through his eyes and spoke with a raspy voice, "C'mon man, you gotta try Twinkies wrapped in bacon."
While Twinkies wrapped in bacon sounded good, Roscoe resented the drug comment. He watched Sawyer remember his own stash and set his bag on the table, likely to search for it. He wouldn't find anything. Roscoe had already found the weed in Sawyer's bag and had thrown it into the fire the day before.
"Don't tell me," he wailed and then looked up at Roscoe, betrayed. "You stole my stash!"
"I destroyed it," Roscoe said as he lined the cheese slices on the apple.
"You? What? Who the hell do you think you are?"
He set the knife in the kitchen sink and put the excess cheese away before turning back to Sawyer. "I know I am the alpha and pack master of this forest."
"And I was trying to get out of your forest!"
"You don't need that shit," Roscoe replied obstinately.
Sawyer got to his feet. "You don't get to make those decisions!"
Roscoe had been holding his natural animal tendencies back so much, but Sawyer had finally crossed a line that needed correcting before moving on. He needed to be completely aware of what Roscoe was to him and what Roscoe's responsibilities were. He stalked around the kitchen island and caged Sawyer in with one arm on either side of his body as he gripped the counter. "I do get to make those decisions and any other decisions that involves this patch of forest and your body," he said softly.
"Like hell—"
Roscoe pressed in, still not touching Sawyer, but making his presence known. "I tried fighting this, tried keeping you separate and keeping my distance, but you came back to me."
"Because I wanted to yell at you!"
"Because you never feel as good as when you are with me." As he spoke, he nuzzled the side of Sawyer's neck, loving the feel of his soft skin and how strong his wonderful smell was. "I feel it too. I told myself you are too young, too naive, that you didn't know anything about what you were getting yourself into. But now that you're here, I can't let you go, Sawyer. You're mine now."
Sawyer made a noise like a whimper but there was no fear in it. Only desire.
"This is craz—"
Roscoe kissed him but was careful to keep it light, surface level. He'd just delivered a bombshell of information and Roscoe didn't want to overwhelm the poor boy. But, Sawyer moaned and pushed up on his tiptoes, smashing their lips together harder as he reached for Roscoe's body. Roscoe held onto Sawyer's wrists. There would be time for exploring each other later, right now, Roscoe was on a mission to make Sawyer see his new reality. Eventually, Sawyer stopped struggling to touch him. He rewarded Sawyer's subservience by swiping his tongue along Sawyer's tongue, mimicking what he would do to Sawyer's dick with his mouth. Sawyer moaned into Roscoe's mouth, and he swallowed it, willing to take anything Sawyer would give him at this point. Roscoe knew that by the time they were finished, Sawyer will have given him everything, but he'd settle for a moan, for now.
"You can't just kiss me every time I—"
Roscoe pressed his lips against Sawyer's nose. "I could," he warned.
That worked just as well in silencing him. "There are choices that you need to make though, Sawyer. I won't force you." He would never force his boy into anything, but he would spend a lot of effort convincing him. "You come from the human world. You don't have any concept of what it means to be mates. Life here, among the bears, it won't be the same as how you were living."
"That doesn't sound like a bad thing," Sawyer quipped, and Roscoe reminded himself to ask Sawyer about his life up until this point.
He needed to know if there were any asses that Roscoe needed to kick. Right now, he was just elated that Sawyer had stopped fighting the concept. It didn't seem like there was a question of if they would be mates, but what it would mean. That was a step in the right direction, and Roscoe hadn't even had to resort to any tactics that he would regret later. He opened his arms and grinned when Sawyer stepped into his hold immediately as if they'd been comforting each other for years. He brought him to the dining room and set the apple tray down. "I may need to have you stay in town for a bit, just until I know it is safe in the pack," he insisted after seeing Sawyer's face. "If my brothers were here I would know I had someone to trust to watch my back and yours. But they aren't due back for months, and it is going to be bumpy around here. I'm confident, Sawyer. If I can pull this pack out of the hole we were in and organize them into building their own town, I can get them to accept my mate."
Already, he was imagining watching their little town grow. At this point, there were a handful of cabins that they slept in. Roscoe was the only one who had his own cabin, perks of being pack master. Each home was vaguely mirrored off the Native American longhouses, longer than they were wide and made with local timber. Roscoe's had a fire pit in the middle with a smoke hole that he could cover when weather required. The others were slightly different, some with more rooms to accommodate families but the basic structure was the same. Their homes had electricity and plumbing, of course, thanks to the generators they brought with them and a lot of shovel work. Soon, they would have other buildings necessary for civilized life.
A nursery, a school, and a library were high on his list, next to the obviously necessary structures, an infirmary, kitchens and a place for them all to meet. Roscoe had plans to solidify the infrastructures over time until they were at a point where they were completely self-sustainable. The idea that Sawyer could be beside him when that happened was too amazing to hope for.
"But, what if they don't accept me? I don't want to cause any trouble."
Roscoe picked up a slice of apple and handed it to Sawyer. "Let me deal with them. I've got the skills. Besides, if it comes down to it, I'll just point out that I am the strongest." He flexed his biceps and enjoyed Sawyer's eyes bulge. Sawyer licked his lips and gave Roscoe a look that told him he was hungry, but not for apple.
They could eat after.
He heard the knock at the door a fraction before he swiped everything off the table and took his mate right there. "Wait here," he growled and stalked out of the kitchen to the front door. He knew who it was before he opened the door, thanks to his heightened shifter sense of smell. What he didn't know, was what they were here to say.
"Gaia," Roscoe greeted the shifter who had quickly become his second in command. That was always how he had viewed the other shifter and hoped that that was how she viewed herself in relation to Roscoe.
"People are angry, Roscoe," she replied, straight to the point. "Garth has got them all wound up, and they are starting to suggest some pretty crazy things. May I come in?"
Roscoe weighed the possible dangers of letting her into his home and near his soon to be mate. He trusted Gaia as much as he could trust a shifter not directly related to him. She would never hurt Sawyer. Though, she might not do something to stop him from getting hurt.
"I can't believe you haven't been out to speak with them," she said before the door had even shut. "You protected a human over your own kind."
Roscoe growled quietly. "Not just a human, you know that."
"I know he doesn't carry your scent like a mate would. I doubt you performed a secret bonding ceremony with him. Which means he isn't anything yet. Not officially. Now, I know that Garth went about it the wrong way—"
"He's lucky to still have arms," Roscoe bit out.
"That may be, but he wasn't wrong. You haven't been honest with any of us. After what we've been through, what we've sacrificed. How could you do that?"
"And what do you think you needed to know? That I walk the perimeter of our camp every morning? That I've made connections with people in the nearest town over in case we ever need their assistance?"
"Let's talk about that. You won't even let me into Noel, and yet there is this woman named Maggie that you are friends with?"
He didn't need to wonder how they knew that name, but he wasn't angry with Sawyer for one moment for blurting it out. "Yes, there is. She owns an inn that would be pretty useful if horrible weather strikes here and we need someplace for the children to stay."
"I guess that makes sense," Gaia said begrudgingly. "But why can't you let a few of us into Noel. We could help you with your supply runs."
"I wasn't sure the townspeople could handle it," Roscoe said. "But I think they can. They ignored the northern wolf pack pretty well and up until a while ago, they made more noise than we ever would." He studied Gaia's face. She was pretty, that much was obvious. Her glossy brown hair cascaded over her shoulders and shimmered as she shook a few strands back and out of her eyes. But she wasn't his mate. Even before Roscoe had met Sawyer, he had known that. He didn't know then that his mate was out there in the form of a twenty-year-old smart-mouth wanderer, but he knew it wasn't Gaia, no matter how easy that would have made things. "Things are moving forward, we're branching out. It's happening exactly like we wanted it to."
Gaia sighed. "I know, and I am sorry I doubted you for even a moment. Garth is just so…stubborn." She put her hand on his forearm and gave him a squeeze. "I think he was more excited about being den brother in law to the pack master than I ever was to be mated to one. It's harder for him to see that dream slip through his fingers."
Roscoe stilled. Gaia never brought this up. It was always there, unspoken in the background. But they never discussed it. "I'm sorry if I've given you the wrong idea."
"Of course, you didn't. But I also noticed how you didn't squash the wrong idea in other people's minds. You let them believe. You used me, Roscoe."
Roscoe would not look down or away, it would show weakness, and while he could be apologetic, he could not be weak.
"I would have done the same thing if our positions were reversed." She stopped speaking, hearing the same thing Roscoe had heard. The quiet click of a door latch. They were in view of the front door, which meant someone was at the back.
He sprang into action. The dining room was empty, a sight that made his heart nearly pound out of his chest.
"Roscoe," Gaia called out. She was in the hallway near the back door holding a piece of what looked like a map. "Your little mate has run," she said with a tight grin.
Roscoe gave the note a single glance.
Roscoe, I heard you talking with that Gaia girl. There is obviously something more there. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but it really seems like your life would be easier if I wasn't in it. This sucks but it is for the best. You'll see. I'm going back into town for a few days, you can call Maggie and check. Thanks for everything.
He crumpled the note and let it drop as he fought the urge to shift there in his hallway. He'd be much too big and would cause too much damage.
"I guess that was nice of him," Gaia commented.
"That was idiotic of him. He's going to traipse through that forest without my mark? Without my scent?" Roscoe went through his door, stomping toward the forest line.
"Roscoe, the town is that way," she said, pointing in the direction of Noel, the opposite direction of where he was going. "You can cut him off if you take the direct route."
Roscoe shook his head. If there was one thing he knew about Sawyer already, it was that he was sneaky. "He was never going back to Noel. Don't let the pack kill themselves before I get back," he said before disappearing into the woods.
He followed Sawyer's quickly dwindling scent trail. Bear shifters didn't normally track by scent the way a wolf shifter might. They excelled at tracking by other means though. He could see Sawyer's hurried steps in the mud. At some point, Sawyer had begun to run, as was indicated by the changes in his prints. Bears also weren't quite as fast as wolves, an especially irritating fact at that moment. But they were stronger. A wolf's best defense against a bear was to run away, fast. Like how Sawyer had tried to run from him. Roscoe didn't give a flying fuck why Sawyer ran or if he thought his reason was noble. He just cared that his mate had run away behind his back. If he'd stayed and brought his concerns up to Roscoe, that would have been different. As it was, Roscoe would make it clear that Sawyer would never run from him again.
As he followed the trail, he began to hear Sawyer rather than just seeing his tracks. He was breathing hard and must have tripped since he let out a string of curses that would make a retired sailor blush. Roscoe would tame that wild mouth as well. There was no reason for him to talk like that. His mate wouldn't have the need for it.
"Stop, Roscoe!" Sawyer yelled.
It took him a half second to realize that Sawyer couldn't see him through the trees yet, he was just screaming into the dense forest for him to stop, like he knew Roscoe was behind him, closing in.
"I'm trying to save you like you tried to save me," he continued.
Roscoe homed in on Sawyer's location. He wasn't too far ahead. Suddenly, he heard movement from the side and Roscoe looked over in time to spot a large mountain lion. It wasn't large compared to Roscoe or another shifter. It was just a regular mountain lion and posed no threat to Roscoe, but it had the capacity to tear Sawyer apart. Roscoe growled at the cat, and it took off in the other direction. He was sure it had been stalking Sawyer just as Roscoe had been doing and that knowledge infuriated him. "You put yourself in danger," Roscoe said, knowing Sawyer could hear him. "You disobeyed me."
Sawyer didn't reply, he only scurried forward. Roscoe could hear his footsteps fall haphazardly. He was going to trip if he wasn't careful. A moment later came Sawyer's soft, "Ouch."
Roscoe took the last steps that brought him into view. His mate was on a log, having caught himself on top of it. His hands braced against the dying wood as his ass wiggled while he tried to push his body upright. Roscoe smoothly came up behind him and brought his hands to Sawyer's hips, causing a shocked yelp to escape his lips.
"Roscoe, I—"
"Shh, mate. The time for talking has passed. You ran from me."
"I heard your conversation. The first part of it anyway. You guys spoke so familiarly. I could tell in that second of eavesdropping how well you would lead the pack together."
"I see, you've known about my pack for all of fifteen minutes and have already decided what is best for its leadership?"
Sawyer tried to push up off the log, but Roscoe kept him in place. "No, but…" He didn't say anymore as if he knew he had no reply that sufficiently contradicted Roscoe.
"You could have gotten hurt," Roscoe whispered, going to his knees. "I spotted a mountain lion on your trail. If I hadn't chased after, what do you think would have happened?"
"You saw a what?" Sawyer squeaked and whipped his face back and forth. Clearly, he didn't realize Roscoe's power if he thought the mountain lion was anywhere near them. Roscoe would have to show him.
"I cannot allow you to put yourself in danger, Sawyer. You are too important. This is for your own good," he said, peeling Sawyer's pants down so that he was bare ass over the log. He leaned in to inhale Sawyer's delectable scent, the one that called to him. His lips found Sawyer's back hole, and he kissed it softly, making Sawyer hiss. As Roscoe continued to kiss and nibble, Sawyer relaxed. He sighed softly, draping his body over the log instead of bracing his body against it. Keeping his mouth in place, Roscoe lifted his bare hand and smacked Sawyer's ass. The snapping noise bounced off the trees almost as loud as Sawyer's shocked shout.
"What the hell?" Sawyer managed to utter before Roscoe released a series of smacks on his firm cheeks. The entire time, as Sawyer begged and cursed, wiggling and bucking against the log, Roscoe held on, never moving his face. Or, more importantly, his lips and tongue, from their current position. Sawyer began making a different noise, one of pleasure, cut off by a yelp, only to morph back into a moan as if he couldn't decide whether Roscoe's mouth felt better than his hand hurt.
"When it concerns your safety, you will obey me," Roscoe said roughly, punctuated his words with spanks. He wasn't hitting too hard and even thought his boy could handle it a little rougher, but he'd save that for next time.
Because, if there was one thing Roscoe knew, it was that there would be a next time. Sawyer was too headstrong for there not to be. He stopped talking and returned to his position, shoving his tongue through the ring of muscles at Sawyer's backside as he delivered a series of final smacks.
"Yes!" Sawyer screamed before coming loudly, his creamy fluid splashing against the log and forest floor.
As much as Roscoe wanted to get a taste of his little mate's release, Roscoe needed to be deep inside of him before the tenuous hold he had on his inner beast snapped. He positioned his cock against Sawyer, letting his precum leak out to coat and lubricate the area. Sawyer groaned as Roscoe's special shifter ejaculate did its work. It was as if Mother Nature knew that with huge cocks, came great responsibility. Roscoe would never want to hurt Sawyer with his lovemaking, but without his ejaculate there to relax his inner channel, he might hurt him simply because of how large he was. Roscoe pushed in, his boy was so tight he had to go slowly, letting his body become used to being dominated. Soon, Sawyer would crave it. Once his body finished preparing to support life, he would go into heat. Sawyer would crave his cock more than anything else. What they were doing now, the initial contact, started that process of transformation.
And Roscoe would certainly be there to give him his cock, as he was now, feeding it to Sawyer's body, inch by glorious inch. Sawyer mumbled into the log, speaking words, and phrases that Roscoe couldn't follow. He didn't think even Sawyer knew what he was saying. At one point he moaned that it wouldn't fit but followed that outburst with a beg for Roscoe to fill him up.
Roscoe massaged Sawyer's ass, his hips, any part of him he could touch as he took his time. Eventually, he was fully seated, deep inside his mate. Sawyer mewled like a small animal, making feeble attempts to ride him but he was so large, the slightest movement pushed an overwhelming about of pressure on his prostate.
Sawyer turned his face back, and Roscoe had never seen him look more beautiful. His eyes were black with desire, and his lips were red. Roscoe saw the indents of Sawyer's teeth in his lip line from where he'd bitten down too hard. He would kiss that away, the same he would kiss away anything that ailed him. Sawyer was his to care for now.
He felt his climax approaching. He'd known that he was choosing one or the other, to hold back his animal or hold back his orgasm. He couldn't do both, and right now it was more important that he remain in control. He concentrated on keeping his grip light and feared he would still leave bruises on Sawyer's beautiful skin as his cock swelled with his orgasm. His dick expanded still larger, locking him inside of Sawyer's body. Roscoe roared into the sky a second before latching down on the soft spot between Sawyer's lower neck and his shoulder as he came, in pulsing jets, inside of his mate. He released his teeth and licked over the spot that he'd bit. He hadn't punctured the skin, but there would be a mark. This mark, Roscoe would be proud of, and his mate would wear it like a letter, 'C' for claimed.
When Roscoe was able to pull out, Sawyer whimpered. He'd been reduced to basic noises some time ago as he had screamed his throat raw. His screams were of pleasure though evident in the contented way Sawyer cuddled up against him when Roscoe pulled his small body against his harder, hairier one. Roscoe remained that way. Not caring that he was naked while sitting against a tree, not caring that he needed to get back to his camp and talk to his pack. Nothing mattered except cuddling his mate as he licked and kissed his body until Sawyer was in a deep sleep. Even after that point, Roscoe couldn't bring himself to stand and separate any part of their bodies. So he held him as the day went on without them.