Waking up with Owen was always one of the best parts of my day. It was closely tied with coming home and having Owen there waiting for me. He almost always awoke in my arms, me holding him close, him snuggled right back into me, our bodies connecting at multiple points. Sometimes when we woke up I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off him and we’d find ourselves having morning sex, other times we’d just get ourselves ready for the day, and eat breakfast together.

After we’d showered in turn and had breakfast, I left Owen for the day to go about my rounds. Though today was a little bit different as I had some of the younger members of the pack meeting me at an abandoned campsite to teach them wilderness skills. It may not have seemed like the most exciting thing for them, but I was going to do my best to make it a fun experience. Living out here, there were a few things it was absolutely essential for them to be able to do and I was going to teach them.

This was something I was good at. Even on the days when I doubted my leadership or thought that I wasn’t strong enough to lead this pack (I’d heard the whispers and they weren’t all that kind) I knew I could teach and lead the younger generation. So I took great pleasure in doing it.

They were already gathered at the old campsite, the same one Owen and I had been on our date. A couple of boys and a couple of girls all of varying ages, as young as eight and as old as fifteen.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning, Dante!” They chorused back.

“Wilderness skills,” I said, trying to sound excited so that it might be a little bit infectious. I wasn’t sure how effective I was being. “So essential when you’re living out here. They can help you get out of a bind and also help you to help others if you find yourself needing to help civilians when they get lost.”

They were listening, which was a start. There were a couple of them who were even taking notes, which was pretty sweet.

“First thing you need to do if you’re caught out there by yourself is SPEAR, who knows what that means?”

“You need to make a weapon?” One of the younger boys said, excitedly bouncing on his heels.

I chuckled. “Not quite,” I said. “It’s an acronym. You need to Stop, Plan, Execute, Assess and Re-Evaluate. This will help you to keep calm when things feel like they’re going out of control. It’s so important to keep that attitude when you’re out here on your own.”

I carried on like that, telling them where they should make a shelter if they need to, how to start a bonfire if they manage to catch anything and they want to cook it. I made a mental note to show them what berries and fungi were safe to eat in the forest. That could be quite useful. Horus would probably have a book on that I could borrow.

As I was talking, I could see someone approaching in the distance. He was in a hurry, that much I could see and he was obviously looking for me. There would be no other reason for him to come up to the abandoned campsite, not unless he was one of the parents.

As he got closer, I realized it was Lesander and my heart sank. What did he want? I didn’t want to be distracted by him right now. He’d been so…off lately, it was hard to be around him.

“Dante, may I speak with you for a moment?” Lesander said when he reached me. He was firm in what he said, but he looked agitated which set me on age. “Please. Now, if you can.”

I bristled a little. He hadn’t exactly been the most welcoming with Owen. He always seemed to be a little…frosty with him. Which I didn’t like all that much.

“I have a class to teach,” I said, realizing how pompous it sounded the second it came out of my mouth. “Can it wait?”

“Please,” he said, and I could have sworn the plea actually made it to his eyes. Something was the matter. Something had either happened or was about to.

I sighed. “Of course,” I tried to soften my face. “Is here okay?”

“If we could find somewhere a little more secluded, I think that would be best.” He seemed really rattled. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him at all.

“No problem,” I said, turning to the rest of the pack that had gathered. “Take a quick break, we’ll come back to this shortly.”

I followed him away from the abandoned campsite and into the trees. We’d been going for a few minutes when I refused to go any further. “Lesander,” I said firmly. “I’m not going any further with you, please tell me what the matter is.”

Lesander sighed and turned around. He seemed so unsteady, it was unlike him. “I don’t know how to tell you this,” he said. “It’s all probably so innocent and doesn’t matter at all but it didn’t seem right to keep it from you.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve seen Owen speaking with Horus.” It seemed so innocuous it threw me off balance. Owen spoke with a lot of people. He’d been out with Martha to pick flowers before, no doubt they were talking then too. He was fully a member of our pack now, why wouldn’t he speak to Horus?

“I don’t see the problem, Lesander.”

“You’re not hearing me, Dante–”

“I think I am hearing you, and I’m hearing that you don’t particularly like Owen so you’re trying to stir up trouble.”

“Dante, no–”

“Well, that’s how it sounds.”

“He’s talking to Horus about you, Dante,” he shouted. “They went for a walk through the forest and I overheard them talking about your relationship, about what Owen should do next and about what he needs to do and say to keep you interested.”

It didn’t seem right. Owen wouldn’t do that, would he?

“He doesn’t love you, Dante, he’s using you to pay for his pack’s medical bills and to make sure he gets to keep his home,” his face was twisted in disgust. “I’m sorry to have to tell you. I didn’t want you to find out this way.”

After everything that had happened between us over the past few weeks, Owen and I were so close. We stayed up late at night just talking; we went on dates, on walks, everything.

“Look, I don’t know what you think you heard, but that can’t be right,” I said, trying to shake it off, trying to shake off the feeling of everything falling apart. “I appreciate your concern Lesander, I truly do, but I know Owen well enough to know that he’s not like that.”

“You know what he does with his days, Dante?” he asked, venomous. “You know what he does when he’s not going on rounds with you. You think he just stays at that cabin, playing house waiting for you to come home?”

“Stop it.”

“He’s pumping Horus for information. There is no one in this pack who has known you for as long as Horus has, who could make sure that Owen gives you exactly what you want better than him, huh?” he spat.

“That’s enough!”

“It’s not enough Dante,” he snapped. “I don’t blame Horus, he’s only looking out for you and wants you to be happy, but Owen is a conniving, calculating little snake who is using you and I won’t have it.” Lesander visibly sighed. He did it with his whole body. He looked so disappointed. “I don’t trust him and I’m just trying to look out for you, Dante,” he said. “You seem a little blinded by the potential of love. You don’t have any time for me since Owen.”

I stepped towards him, reaching out and placing my hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry for that, Lesander, I truly am,” I said. “It’s the start of a relationship, I’ve needed to give that time to Owen, at least for now. I’ve been a pretty crappy friend.”

He snorted. “You really have.”

“Alright, don’t push it.” I sighed. “I’ll make more time for you Lesander, I promise. And you should take some time to get to know Owen.” He rolled his eyes. “I think you’d really like him.” He didn’t seem convinced. “Let’s get back, they’ll be wondering where we are.”

We made our way back to the rest of the pack, most of them watching the forest to see us come out. I tried to continue my teaching but my mind couldn’t quite focus. I kept thinking of Owen, of what he might be talking about with Horus if it wasn’t what Lesander had told me it was. Maybe he was having more trouble settling in than I thought. Or maybe he was just being neighborly. One of the first things Owen had seen me do was go and look after some of the older members of the pack. He was just repeating that, wasn’t he?

I couldn’t take not knowing and let my class have another break. Before I could stop myself I was wandering down towards Horus’ cabin. I was about to peek through a window and see if Owen was inside when I saw Owen approaching. I hid in a nearby bush, trying to make sure I remained unseen.

So he was going to see Horus. I didn’t know how often he did this. Maybe Lesander was lying. Maybe this was the first time and it was just coincidence. A feeling deep in my gut told me that it wasn’t.

I heard him knock on the door and Horus open up, bellowing “Owen, my dear boy, how was last night?” My blood ran cold. We’d been out for a walk in the mountains last night, had that been at Horus’ suggestion? I needed to get out of there.

I hurried back to my class and continued teaching, semi-distracted by what I had heard. Maybe I should give him a chance to explain. Maybe there was more to it than what I heard. Lesander had got in my head and I hated it.

I told myself I would talk to him, I would let him explain. I owed him that, surely. When the day was over I went back to the cabin to find Owen sat in the chair in his underwear reading the fourth Harry Potter book.

“Hi Dante,” he smiled over at me. “You’re back early.”

And I lost all my resolve and advanced on him.

“Dante?” He seemed suddenly worried, throwing the book down on the coffee table. “Dante, what are you–?”

Interrupted him by kissing him hard on the mouth, something he reciprocated with vigor He fell back onto the sofa and I followed him, his legs automatically going up into the air to wrap around my lower back. I liked that, he knew I liked that, but in that moment I didn’t want him to know that I liked that. I didn’t want it to be soft and tender, I didn’t want it to be sweet and loving. I wanted to fuck him. I wanted to fuck him so hard these thoughts left my head and we could just carry on.

I grabbed hold of his t-shirt, pulling it off over his head and throwing it halfway across the room. I started playing with his nipples because I knew he liked that, I knew it would drive him wild, and I wanted to lose myself in him right now, I wanted to forget everything that Lesander said and lose myself in Owen and make it all go away.

He was moaning under my touch, writhing as I nibbled on his neck and played with his tits. He liked it, I could tell he liked it, his dick was rock hard in his pants and leaking so much that it was coming through the fabric.

“Oh my god,” he moaned. “This is amazing, what did I do to deserve this?”

I got off him, standing up and moving away from him. He didn’t follow right away. “Owen, bedroom,” I growled. I’d never seen him move so fast, grabbing his t-shirt and hurrying over to the bedroom.

I slammed the door behind us, letting the room rattle as I stripped down and stood completely naked in front of him. My dick was already dripping and it only took a raise of my eyebrow to get him on his knees sucking my dick.

I grabbed the back of his head and thrust into him hard, listening to him gag and choke, getting off on him drinking every last bit of precum I had to offer. I stopped him when I got too close, grabbing him by the chin. He looked somewhere between scared and enthralled. I didn’t know what I wanted him to feel, I just knew I didn’t want to feel anything.

“Clothes off,” I said, firmly. He obliged, throwing them onto the floor. “Come here.” He walked over to me and I picked him up. He wrapped his legs around me and I slammed him into the wall. He cried out, that mix of pain and pleasure again, and I started biting at his neck, sucking hard, branding him, making him mine. Then I took him over to the bed and lay on top of him, kissing him hard and rubbing our dicks together, the wetness pooling between us.

“Lube up,” I growled into his ear.

He skittered away and grabbed the lube from the bedside table (it hadn’t lived in the drawer for a long time) and covered his asshole with it. He reached inside and took out a condom, passing it to me. I hesitated. For a second I almost took it and put it on, going back to how we had been doing things before, but I wanted to be closer to him this time. I wanted to feel myself inside him and I wanted him to feel it. I shook my head and he looked surprised, scared even.

“Bend over,” I commanded and he got on his hands and knees on the bed. I climbed up behind him and didn’t waste any time thrusting my dick deep inside him. He cried out, but I started thrusting already, pushing my dick in him, fucking him as hard as I could, my length sliding in and out of his lubed up asshole.

He moaned, he groaned, he screamed, he called my name so loud I thought someone would come and check we were okay. It was wild, it was out of control, and still I kept thrusting.

He begged me to give it to him harder and I obliged, fucking him harder and harder. This was what I needed, this was exactly what I needed right now. If I was going to forget it all, if I was going to lose myself, this was going to be the way to lose myself. It had to be this, it had to work.

“Oh Dante, I’m going to come,” he screamed. He wasn’t touching himself. He hadn’t touched himself through this entire fuck session and yet here he was, blowing his load all over the bed hands free.

I kept thrusting, the tingles flooding my body as I got closer and closer. “Oh fuck,” I managed, my voice strangled. “I’m gonna come.”

“Don’t stop,” he pleaded, his hair sweaty and matted, his voice coming out high and whiny. “Oh my god, Dante, don’t stop.”

I didn’t stop. I kept fucking him until that feeling of ecstasy over took my body and I could feel the cum flooding out of me.

With one final thrust, I came inside him, a loud moan escaping my mouth as it went inside him. I kept fucking him for a little while, pumping it into his asshole, until I got tired and fell forward, the weight of my pushing him down onto the bed too.

“Dante, that was unbelievable,” he panted. “Where did that come from?”

I kissed the back of his neck. I could taste his sweat, I could taste him and somehow it didn’t manage to satisfy in the way that I wanted it to. “It doesn’t matter,” I grumbled. I got myself up, pulling out, feeling some of my seed coming out of his asshole with me. He started to clean himself up with his underwear and he lay back on the bed, waiting for me to join him.

I looked down at him, looking at that sweet face, trying not to believe that he was talking to Horus behind my back, trying not to believe that he was using me just to stay, trying to believe that he actually cared about me.

“What’s wrong?” he said. “You look all thoughtful. Is everything okay?”

I cleared my throat. “Yeah, it’s fine,” I said. “Long day. I’m just tired.”

“Oh,” he said. “Okay. We can...we can go to bed, if you want?”

“I think I might,” I said. “You don’t have to join me though, not if you don’t want to,”

“No, I do,” he said, climbing under the duvet cover. “Come snuggle with me. Let me snuggle your bad day away.”

For some reason, him talking like that made me burn. I knew it was something I’d told him I liked but was it just another thing he was using to keep me sweet? To make me feel like he was falling for me.

In spite of myself, I climbed into bed with him and allowed him to cuddle me close and fall asleep on my chest. But I found myself getting lost in my own thoughts, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the night to take me. It wouldn’t and I was lost.