“You never told me why you came here,” Tristan said to Josh, tossing a pebble into the creek, and then searching for another suitable one.

Josh turned to look at him, and finally, he was out with it.

“I want you to turn yourself in, Tristan.”

Tristan gritted his teeth. He didn’t like that idea, but after all he had put Josh through, he couldn’t blame the man for suggesting it.

“I can’t do that,” he tried to explain.

“Of course you can. Senior is good friends with the Sheriff, they’ll turn you in nice and safe, and I hear most guys just get a general discharge these days.”

Tristan didn’t think that would happen. He was pretty sure he would go to prison, and he knew it could be life.

“They’ll make an example out of me.”

“I can’t imagine how you would know that for certain,” Josh pointed out, and Tristan didn’t like his tone, so he moved to stand up. Just then, across the field, they both paused when they heard the sound of footsteps.

“Get down,” Tristan whispered, stripping quickly.

“Who’s there?!” a loud voice called, and Tristan recognized it as the man who had shot him before, and the same one that Josh had faced off with outside the bar. Hank.

“Shit,” he told Josh. “We need to go.”

He shifted into his wolf form, and the moment he felt Josh shift behind him, he broke into a run. As white as his coat was, he wasn’t very good at camouflage, in this form, but he was much, much faster. He heard gun fire and couldn’t stop to check if Josh was hit, but he looked behind him and saw his mate. With Josh just at his heels, running right alongside him, he crossed over a hill and deeper into the bush.

He led the chase for several miles, until he felt Josh start to slow behind him, and only then did he slow and begin to sniff out a spot to rest. They had made their way over several hills, and as they rested atop one of them, he caught sight of a cave embedded in its side. A few more tired steps down the hill, and they were safe, the small cave was dark mostly hidden.

More than that, Tristan knew that they were safe because he had lost Hank’s scent completely a few miles back. Only when he settled down on the stone did he realize that he’d lost everything. The truck, his supplies, his clothes, were all left with Hank, and he couldn’t risk going back. Josh shifted into a human and gave him a scathing look.

“If I had known that Hank was after you... ”

Tristan shook his head, but he reluctantly shifted into a human so that they could speak. He knew Josh wouldn’t leave him alone about it otherwise.

“He caught my scent after that face off, came after me with a gun… I guess he hasn’t given it up.”

Josh frowned.

“But why?” he asked.

Tristan shook his head.

“That night, I guess he was just drunk. But he started rambling about things...he might do to you. So I told him that if he ever put his hands on you, I would kill him,and then I guess he took that as a threat.”

“Well,” Josh said with a little smirk, obviously trying not to be amused. “It was a threat.”

Tristan nodded. “Well, I have to be more careful. I’m supposed to be keeping a low profile.”

Josh reached for him and pulled him close.

“Or, you could just turn yourself in,” he pointed out.

Tristan growled. “It’s my life, Josh, not yours.” It seemed easy for Josh to suggest that he turn himself in, when he wasn’t the one that had to deal with the consequences.

Josh frowned, stroking his fingers through Tristan’s shaggy hair.

“It’s our life. I’m your mate.”

Those words hit Tristan hard, and he was quiet for a while as he tried to process what that meant. Josh really seemed to believe that if he turned himself in, everything would work out fine, but to Tristan,the idea sounded like a death sentence.

“Will you stay here with me tonight?” Tristan asked softly.

Josh sighed and nodded, kissing the top of his head. He shifted back into a wolf, and so did Tristan. He curled up with his omega, cuddling close to him, their warm fur keeping them both cozy even in the cold, dark cave.

It was a risk, but Tristan wanted to stay with Josh just one last time. His omega had always kept his nightmares away, and Tristan had a feeling it was going to be a rough night.

* * *

Tristan was running, running for his life, but no matter how fast and hard he ran, it was never fast enough. The ground turned to quicksand beneath his feet, and then to something thick and slick, and as he looked down at himself, being pulled into the ground below, straining to run from whatever was behind him, he realized it was blood. He was wading through a river of sticky, congealing blood. Terror bubbled up like tar in his throat and he tried to scream as he was pulled into the bloody river.

“Tristan, wake up!”

Tristan gasped into the waking world, his heart pounding in his chest, and saw Josh’s familiar features in the darkness. He sighed in relief and panted for breath, shutting his eyes for just a moment.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Josh assured him, and the omega pulled Tristan’s head to his chest and held him, comforting him without being asked. He stroked over Tristan’s back until he was calm.

“Thank you for waking me up,” Tristan whispered.

“Of course.”

Tristan looked up at Josh. He only had a week before he was redeployed, and the nightmares had just kept getting worse.

He realized he was trembling when Josh kissed him, stroking over his chest.

“You’re shaking,” he whispered, and kept stroking over his warm skin, soothing him.

“I’m sorry,” Tristan said softly. He’d always been prone to nightmares, and war hadn’t helped. He was sure Josh still didn’t understand why he’d wanted to be a soldier at all.

“I told you,” Josh murmured. “You don’t have to apologize. I don’t want you to go back there, though. If the nightmares are this bad, the reality has to be…”

Tristan shook his head.

“Most of the time it’s fine, I promise. Just hanging out at the barracks with the boys.”

“Oh, well when you put it like that…” Josh clearly didn’t buy it, from the look on his face.

Tristan chuckled, giving his omega a little smirk.

“Look, I’m not going to say we don’t see our fair share of excitement, but… maybe I belong there. This town is so slow. All anyone does is drink.”

Josh shook his head.

“So you’d rather be on a military base in the desert than here because it’s too slow?”

He seemed personally insulted by that idea, so Tristan held his tongue and pulled Josh into his arms.

“I’m going to miss you so much,” he whispered. “You believe me, don’t you?”

Josh sighed and nodded. “Yeah. I still have all your letters.”

They both knew that Tristan had been a lot nicer in his letters than Josh had, and Tristan had kept sending them even when Josh had stopped writing.

“And you’ll keep writing me this time? It’s only six months.”

Josh nodded, nuzzling against his chest, and Tristan smiled until he realized that Josh was sniffling, and his chest was wet. He sighed.

“I’m sorry. I never meant for this to be so hard on you.”

Josh shook his head. “How could it not be?” he growled. “Don’t even...just be quiet. Just kiss me.”

Tristan wanted nothing more than to hold Josh, and kiss him, and he had less than a week left to do it, so he let it go. He wiped Josh’s tears away and kissed him, slowly at first, his lips brushing over Josh’s full mouth. Tristan slid his tongue along Josh’s lips, parting them, and then pushed it into his mouth, gratified when he heard Josh’s soft groan and felt his tongue against his own, coaxing him closer.

Josh’s hands slid along Tristan’s shoulders, sending shivers through his body. Tristan growled softly into his mouth as he rolled on top of him, rocking against him as he hardened, his pulse still quickened from that terrifying dream, but Josh’s warm scent and soft touch made him feel safe, and home, and ready for him.

A soft noise from Josh and two insistent hands on his chest made him stop in the middle of spreading the omega’s legs.

“What is it?” Tristan asked with concern.

“Stop,” Josh said, and Tristan let go of him, frowning in confusion.

Josh took a deep breath as Tristan looked at him for an explanation, and Josh shook his head.

“I don’t want to get pregnant before you leave,” he admitted. “I don’t want to have to do that on my own. It only takes three months for shifters, you wouldn’t see your baby for three months, Tristan.”

Tristan felt sort of dizzy, suddenly. Josh had never gotten pregnant before, and he hadn’t been thinking about that.

“You could already be,” he said quietly. “We’ve been...for the last three months…”

Josh nodded. “But I’m not. I know I’m not. And...I feel a heat coming on,” he said softly.

Tristan looked at the gorgeous man, and he nodded. “It’s okay,” he assured Josh. “You can have me, or we can...we’ll find ways.”

Josh gave him a little smirk. “Now that you mention it…”

He kissed down Tristan’s chest, pushing him onto his back, and nuzzled against his long, hard cock, kissing its swollen tip. Tristan groaned softly as he watched Josh open his mouth and let Tristan’s cockhead slip between his full lips.

He opened wide for him, letting Tristan slip deep into his mouth, and glanced up with a smile around his hard length when he heard Tristan’s gasp and felt his hips twitch toward him. There was no fear or sadness on Tristan’s mind anymore, and he thought to himself wryly that it was certainly one way to deal with a nightmare.

Josh moaned softly himself as he began to suck, moving his head so that Tristan slipped between his lips and against his hot tongue.

Tristan reached down for him, his cries becoming louder as he got closer, and Josh bobbed his head faster until he tasted that hot release, his eyes locked on Tristan’s handsome face as the man was overcome with pleasure. Apparently satisfied with himself, Josh licked his lips, stroking the last few drops from Tristan’s twitching body.

“Josh,” Tristan panted, touching his face. Josh seemed too smug, clearly thinking he’d worn Tristan out. Tristan rolled over on top of him and pinned him down, kissing down his throat and making Josh squirm.

“Your turn,” he whispered against the shell of his omega’s ear.