This story is fictional, I'm sorry (actually I'm jelous) if it resembles your life in any way shape or form. Constructive criticism is welcome. If gay relationships offend you, then "How did I manage to start reading this story?" is a good question to be asking yourself. However you're still welcome to read it!
This story is owned solely by Gaco and may not be copied by any means by any unlicensed individuals, groups, or organizations.
Copyright 2020 Gaco. All Rights Reserved.
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Chapter 23
We arrived at our first stop of the day, an upscale mall on the north side of Atlanta, after a terse discussion with Zeke over what he found. After realizing that he had no other additional new information and that we had no way of knowing how to use it, even if it were true, we decided to continue with our plans for a day of Christmas shopping.
After parking, we exited the parking garage. Bryce was on my left holding my hand as we walked and Zeke was on my right, staying within arm's reach.
"Where to first?" Bryce asked us as we stepped through the mall entrance.
"Let's just walk until we see something we like." I suggested, gesturing with my right hand towards the shops on that side.
We slowly made our way through the mall until we came across a high end fashion store and decided to browse.
"Good morning gentlemen." The salesperson greeted us with a wide smile as he leered at Bryce, causing me to growl quietly.
Bryce just smiled and nodded in return. Zeke subtly poked me, drawing my attention from the clerk who apparently had the same taste in men as I did. My wolf snarled in my head, showing me the many ways in which we could deal with the perceived threat to our mate. I used our joined hands to gesture towards a rack of shoes in front of us, snapping the guy's attention away from Bryce and onto me for the first time.
"Do you have that style in any other color?" I asked, looking at the far too bright shoe in front of me that would have had an interesting design if not for the poor color choices.
After nearly half an hour in the store we left having purchased a couple gifts and a new pair of running shoes for myself.
"It seems we both have problems with other guys eyeing our mate." Bryce said with a grin once we were back in the flow of the crowds walking through the mall.
"You get angry at even our pack though." I laughed in return. "That guy isn't part of our family. It's different."
"If you say so." Bryce squeezed my hand a little tighter as we continued to walk through the mall.
Eventually we found ourselves inside an electronics store when I realized I had used the last of my cash in the previous store. I was content to only browse until I noticed Zeke on the other side of the store seemingly enthralled with a laptop that appeared to also come apart into a tablet as well and could be used for writing and drawing.
"I don't have any more cash." I whispered to Bryce sadly.
"I almost forgot!" Bryce said excitedly as he pulled out his wallet and handed me two cards. "These came for you yesterday. Justin gave them to me this morning before we left."
I looked down at the two pieces of plastic in awe. The first was a drivers license with a photo that looked suspiciously like the one from my college ID. The day and month were different but it still had my birth year as the same as the old one. The name printed on the license was Thomas Williams.
"Williams." I said softly. "Isn't that your last name?"
Bryce smiled down at me. "I know it was a bit presumptuous, but I had a feeling you'd eventually take me as your mate and I wanted us to be joined. As far as the state is concerned we're already married. That is a real license, they can scan it and it will go through all the standard checks with no problem. We have a contact inside the DMV and the local courts."
"Wow." Was all I could say as I continued to stare down at my name joined to his.
Until that moment I had not given a thought to getting married to Bryce but now, hearing it was technically already legally done, I felt a bit cheated that we hadn't had any sort of ceremony.
Feeling the direction of my thoughts through our bond, Bryce continued. "We can have a real ceremony with the pack and others eventually, when you're ready."
I nodded absently, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that at least my fake identity was as a married man. I looked at the other card and noticed that it was a credit card with my new identity inscribed upon it. I turned to Bryce to ask where the money came from but he had already picked up the thought from my mind again.
"Since we're already technically married" He laughed "I linked our accounts so you'll have access to my lines of credit. The card can also be used as a debit card to withdraw cash with no extra fees. I won't say the pin number out loud but I think you'll be able to pick it up."
I stared into his eyes for a few moments before the sequence of numbers just popped into my head.
"Wow." I said in awe as this was the first time I had picked up his thoughts since just after the bond was created.
I watched as Zeke headed back towards us as I slipped the cards back into my pocket.
"Distract him, will you?" I said to Bryce with a grin.
"Sure." He smiled back at me and walked over to Zeke asking him if he wanted to try out the virtual reality demo which was set up on the other side of the store. I checked out the computer Zeke had been drooling over and noticed that it had several different price points depending on the included hardware. When one of the many salespeople came by I arranged to have the model with the best specs delivered directly to the house the next day. I also asked for several accessories to be included as well.
After completing my first purchase with my new credit card I walked back to the guys and watched as they fought off hordes of zombies together. Once they were overrun and the game ended they removed the virtual reality gear and thanked the associate for allowing them to play.
"That looked fun." I commented as we left the store. "I'll have to try it next time we come in."
"It was definitely cool." Bryce said. "Games have come a long way since I was a kid."
"Compared to ball in a cup or whatever they played a thousand years ago I would imagine so." I laughed and received a light shove from Bryce in response.
"I'm not that old." He growled out.
"Whatever you say, grandpa." I laughed and jumped away before he could retaliate again.
By dinner we had managed to get gifts for everyone in the pack and before leaving the second mall decided to have dinner at a very upscale steakhouse. Bryce and I sat across from Zeke in a booth, secluded from most of the other guests. All three of us ordered the massive 40oz Porterhouse steak and I finally got to use my new ID and ordered a cocktail.
While waiting for our food to be brought to our table Bryce leaned down and kissed my neck, right on top of my mating scar. The effect was instantaneous as I grew hard and squirmed uncomfortably in my seat. Zeke looked up from his phone, sniffed deeply once picking up the scent of my arousal with a smirk, before returning his attention to whatever he was looking at on his phone. I reached down and gripped Bryce's inner thigh tightly.
"I'll get you for that." I pushed the thought to him with a smile as I slid my hand up until it encountered his growing erection.
"You're getting good at that." I could feel the excitement and arousal in his thoughts.
"Speaking through our bond or... This?" I asked as I slid my hand further up and gripped his hard cock before releasing it quickly as our server appeared with our food.
"Both." Bryce grinned at me before thanking the server and we dug into our food.
An hour later we were walking to the car when all of our phones rang at the same time.
"That can't be good." I groaned.
We each checked our phones. Bryce answered the call he received while I noticed that mine was alerting me to motion on the cameras.
"Fuck." I breathed out, seeing a still image of Seth standing in the front yard. I quickly pulled up the live view to see he was standing in the front yard with another five men yelling towards the house. I enabled the audio as we quickly got into the car.
"Just give us the bitch and we'll leave." Seth screamed at whoever he was looking at. The person must have been under the camera since they were not in the frame.
"Even if Tom was here we wouldn't give him to you." I heard Justin's commanding voice respond.
"If any of you come any closer I'm going to start giving out free silver door prizes." He added and I heard the rack of a 12 gauge shotgun chambering a round.
"We're watching the feed." I heard Bryce say to whoever he was on the phone with. "Just stall them until we get there.
I continued to watch the stream and nearly dropped the phone when I heard the blast of the shotgun Justin had just threatened to use. Two of Seth's new friends fell to the ground screaming in pain. The two other men with Seth quickly grabbed him and pulled him back, heading towards the gate.
"I'm going to fucking destroy this disgusting pansy filled den you faggots have created here." Seth growled out before turning and herding the men quickly out to the road.
"Yeah. We saw. We'll be home soon." Bryce said before hanging up and the car accelerated quickly. "John is pretty freaked out. Alexi is calming him down though I think."
"That shotgun worked pretty well." I commented. "I think Justin said he loaded a few of them with silver birdshot. Hopefully with only one shot the neighbors won't be too sure where it came from."
"We'll find out soon enough." Bryce growled out.
We arrived back at the den in time to see a single police car driving past slowly as if looking for something. There were no lights or sirens, however, and we pulled into the driveway with no problem. As we were getting out of the car Justin came into the garage, stress evident on his features.
"He'll no doubt be back with a better plan soon enough." Justin said in greeting. "I don't think he expected us to see him coming, and definitely didn't expect the silver throwing two of his friends out of the fight before it even started."
"I figured that's what you used by how quickly they went down." I said with a grin.
"We need to take care of him for good." Bryce said with a growl. "Did Alexi get the tracker in place?"
"Just like we planned." Justin nodded, causing Zeke and I to look between them in confusion.
"Pack meeting in ten." Bryce said, knowing Justin would fill everyone in on what happened.
I helped Bryce and Zeke unload the car and we carried our haul from the day upstairs to our rooms to be wrapped later when things calmed down. Once we were back down in the entertainment room everyone was waiting for us.
"You all know what just happened. You guys did great at keeping the pack safe and secure. I'm proud of all of you." Bryce said quickly. "As soon as we get a solid location from the tracker Alexi placed on the car Seth used to get here we'll begin planning on how to deal with him and the rogue wolves he's gathered around him."
"We should go in before the next full moon in case he's been biting people like he did me just to boost his numbers." I said, realizing he could raise an army very quickly if he truly wanted.
"I wish that were an option but the next full moon is only a couple days away. We'll need more time to plan and get everything lined up once we have a location." Bryce said grimly.
I rocked back in shock and surprise realizing it had been nearly a month since my first shift at the full moon. The disgust and horror I felt over losing myself to my wolf and being forced to kill other humans to survive was still as strong as ever. Bryce gave me an apologetic look, no doubt feeling my emotions coming across our bond.
"Speaking of the moon..." Bryce began, turning to Justin. "Could you, Alexi, and John see to our needs?"
Justin nodded as if it were no big deal. I reasoned that he and the rest of the pack must have become desensitized to the reality of our existence in time. I fidgeted in discomfort, worried that I too would one day become so callous and uncaring when speaking of other sentient beings as nothing than food.
"We'll take care of it tonight." Justin said while looking at the other two for confirmation.
Bryce put his hand on my shoulder, over the mating scar, to comfort me. As always, his touch had an immediate calming effect on me which at least allowed my thoughts to stop bouncing back and forth between thinking I was a monster and picturing all of the lives I would have to end to continue living myself.
Moments later the meeting broke up and Bryce led me to the basement.
"We should get some sparring in before we confront Seth." Bryce said as he began to strip. "I could tell by your thoughts when we were discussing Seth that you want to join the pack when we go after him. I would prefer you stay here where it's safe but I know nothing short of locking you in one of the cages would keep you here, and after what happened when we cemented the mating bond I have doubts that even the cages could hold you now if you were truly determined."
I also stripped down as he spoke, nodding with a glare at him when he suggested leaving me behind.
"I'm not letting you out of my sight when you're near that bastard." I growled.
Bryce began by leading me through the stretching exercises Justin had started to teach me over a month prior. After we were appropriately warmed up Bryce guided me through several new fighting styles and techniques. He made me follow his moves painfully slow to ensure I had the proper form and technique. I was able to see in my mind the moves he intended to show me while he walked me through the motions. This helped me pick up and learn the moves much faster than when I had been training with Justin.
An hour later I had worked up a sweat even though we had been moving agonizingly slowly in our actions. While we were not rushing and thrusting through swings or blocks, several of the throws and deflections Bryce had shown took a great deal of strength even with my newly enhanced muscles.
"Let's fight." Bryce said with a grin.
Rather than wait for an opening as I had with Justin I immediately went on the offensive. I feinted a body shot with my left fist before coming in with my right elbow attempting to strike Bryce's jaw. He completely ignored the feint and easily blocked the elbow as it quickly came at his face. My next few swings were blocked just as easily. Bryce had yet to attack. I increased my speed and found that he was having a harder time keeping up when a blow nearly slipped through, but he was still able to block everything I threw at him. I backed off to catch my breath for a moment and wait for him to come to me instead. He didn't make me wait long as he charged across the space and tried to tackle me. Using a throw he had shown me earlier I dropped to the mat, using his momentum against him to throw him down to the hard concrete floor.
"As soon as you thought of what you were going to do I instantly knew it." I said eyeing him. "Is that what it was like when I was attacking earlier and you blocked everything I threw at you?"
"Yep!" He grinned back at me as he stood. "You're incredibly fast, though. Even knowing what was coming I was having a hard time keeping up."
"So I guess other than training for speed we can't really fight each other." I sighed. "Can we block each other out?"
"I'm not sure how. No one I've ever spoken to had a mating bond. It's not like we can just go out and start asking other shifters either without inviting scrutiny." Bryce said after a moment of thought.
Remembering a book I had read many years previously that had dealt with magic and telepaths I pictured a crystalline shield around my mind that wouldn't allow anything in or out. After a few moments of focus I could feel the discomfort of my wolf at no longer being able to reach our mate.
"Again." I said with conviction, putting up my fists in the ready stance Bryce had shown me.
Bryce eyed me wearily. His gaze seemed to be trying to peer into me to ascertain my thoughts and plans. His eyebrows went up after a moment when he realized he could no longer see my thoughts. He put his fists up to match my own stance, indicating he was ready.
I put all of my speed into my next series of attacks. I felt a wave of calm wash over me and before each blocked strike I was already considering my next move. It was as if I had an extra second or two between swings to analyze our positions and movements and react. I kicked out at his knee and he dodged before I could hit it but I had already adjusted the kick into a lunge and caught Bryce in the temple with a right hook. He sprawled out on the floor beneath me panting.
"Fuck." He gasped out. "You're faster than anyone I've ever fought before. Even the hunters couldn't move as fast as you just did."
We continued to spar for another hour. Each of us accumulated a number of scrapes and bruises as we fought but they quickly faded during the breaks between each battle. When Bryce helped pull me up off of the hard floor a final time we turned when we heard a slow clapping coming from the direction of the stairs.
"You guys are amazing." Zeke said as he stood from where he had been sitting and began walking down the stairs towards us. "Do you think you could teach me to fight like that?"
"You've never seemed to have much interest in it before." Bryce said softly as he examined the shyest wolf in the pack.
"I think I need to learn..." Zeke said staring towards one of the cages with a haunted look. "I need to be able to protect myself better so that.... Things... Can never happen to me again."
Hours later, after we had slowly begun building up Zeke's stamina and experience, we entered the kitchen just as Justin, Alexi, and John were heading to the garage.
"We're headed out." Justin waved to us as he walked past, keys in hand. "See you in the morning."
We bid him goodnight as the three of us headed up to take showers and enjoy a quiet night in the house.
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