Wolf

Nothing much changed during the next two years. At least, not to Jack. He was pretty content with his life; having Alex by his side, a werewolf pack behind his back, and an always welcome, warm house to return to.

But Alex had changed. Jack had noticed the longing look in his eyes when he was watching the kids play in the living room or run around the house. The amount of time Alex spent playing with them had changed, too. And then one day, Alex asked if they could have sex without a condom. Did Jack think twice about it? No. Of course it would be okay to have condom-less sex.

He had heard before that some werewolf men were able to get pregnant, but he never thought of Alex as being one of them. At the beginning of their relationship, the thought had crossed his mind, but Alex never gave him any sign of something like that, so he just forget about it... only to be reminded of that when Alex shyly said, “I’m pregnant.”

Jack was sure that he looked like a fish out of water. Or even worse. The happy, expectant look on Alex’s face changed to disappointed and sad as seconds passed by and Jack said nothing, a while later only coming up with, “What?”

“I’m pregnant,” Alex replied a lot quieter than the first time.

Jack knew he had to calm down. Alex could hear his heart beating against his ribs, he could smell the panic rolling off Jack, and that did not help Jack and his situation. He felt like he was being put back in high school and fighting against his feelings toward Alex. Only this time, he had Alex’s feelings on game, too.

“You don’t want this,” Alex stated after few minutes of silence, turning away from Jack to look out of the window.

“No, I… I’m just… how did you…” Jack was stumbling over his words, coming closer to Alex, but feeling intimidated and scared to actually touch him. “Why didn’t you just…”

“You know that we can get pregnant, right?” he asked, not looking at Jack and only getting a quiet hum in reply as Jack was trying to process everything. “Well then, you should get the idea of how. That’s what happens when you have sex, Jack.” Alex sighed kind of an annoyed sigh.

“But why didn’t you just talk to me? Why would you just… do that?” Jack’s voice got louder.

“Having sex without a condom is literally asking to get pregnant!” Alex turned around to look at Jack, his eyes dark.

“It’s just sex without a condom! Why would I think that you were one of those men? You never told me!”

“It’s not that I knew that for sure,” Alex exclaimed.

“Still, why didn’t you say anything?”

“You think I would ask you to use a condom every time we had sex during those… seven or something years if I would be sure that there’s no way I could get pregnant? I wouldn’t bother!” Alex yelled.

Jack wanted to ask him to lower the volume of his voice because he hated to make a scene. Everyone would’ve been able to hear them even if they would have been talking in a normal tone. At least the ones in the rooms closest to theirs, but now Jack was sure that the whole house knew about their fight.

“You still could’ve talked to me normally. Discussed everything,” Jack said quietly.

“Do you want this?” Alex barked at him, the tone of his voice attacking and almost physically hurting Jack.

“I don’t… I don’t know,” Jack answered. “I haven’t even thought about that before, how could I…” But he couldn’t finish it. Not because he didn’t know how, but because Alex was storming out of the room and down the long hallway towards the stairs.

“Alex! Stop!” He nearly sprinted after him.

“Leave me alone!” Alex had stopped in the middle of stairs and was looking at Jack.

Jack stopped immediately. He had never seen Alex in such a state, and now he subconsciously understood why Alex refused to let him see his wolf-self. His eyes were nearly black, his teeth clenched, hands pulled in fists, and his whole body shaking. He was close. Close to changing.

Jack was sure that if Alex hadn’t been born this way, he would be dead by now. Born werewolves have more self-control than the ones who get bitten, and Jack was thanking every possible god for letting Alex to be born this way.

He looked after Alex as he stormed down the rest of the stairs and ran in the direction of a garage. He knew that they usually left their clothes there before their full moon runs. He guessed that Alex had planned to do the same—leave his clothes there and run. Maybe dig another hole. He liked to do that.

“Wow, you really pissed him off.” Jack looked behind him to see Josh, Alex’s closest friend in the house, standing in the doors of his room and smirking at Jack.

They usually got along pretty well, but right now, Jack just wanted to hit him right in the face and get that smirk off of it. Although, he was aware that he would lose if he tried to put up fight with a werewolf.

“You’re lucky that Rick isn’t home at the moment or you would have had to hear some serious shit from him. You know how he feels about Alex,” Josh said, scratching behind his ear.

And Jack knew. There were rumors going around the house that Alex was Rick’s unsuccessful mate, and he was always treating Alex better than others, seeing as Rick was their alpha and just could do that. Jack was certain that all the werewolves knew if that was true or not, but to him and other people in the house it was left as a mystery.

Jack sighed and sat down on the floor, pressing his back against the wall and putting his head in his hands.

“He really wants that, right?” he asked, hoping that Josh was still standing there and hadn’t left him in his misery alone.

“Yeah.” He felt him come closer and sit down next to him, putting his arm around Jack’s shoulders. “I don’t know if you know this, but when we are in our wolf states, we can kind of easily get inside each other’s heads. Mostly to communicate, but sometimes we can catch other things… I’ve noticed that lately this thing has been on his mind a lot,” Josh told him. “He would probably kill me if he found out I told you this.” He chuckled.

It wasn’t that Jack didn’t want this. He did want a family with Alex. He did want to have kids with him, and if Alex being a werewolf gave Jack the opportunity to have kids with Alex’s beautiful eyes, then he could live with it happening now. He was just scared of having to do that in the house where they’re surrounded by such a large amount of other people and werewolves. Werewolves who would definitely enjoy a new baby in the house.

“I know Alex already asked you this, but do you want this?” Josh asked him in a whisper.

“I guess,” Jack said in the same tone. Now thinking everything through, he understood that he wants it. Of course he was scared, but he wanted it.

“Then tell him that,” Josh pat him on the back, “and all the other shit you’ve been thinking.”

“I don’t know where he is,” Jack mumbled to the floor.

“Oh. Right. Well… I can bring you to him. Maybe calm him down a bit before you try and talk to him.”

Ten minutes later and Jack was following a big grey wolf inside of the forest. He never would’ve thought that his first time being this close to a changed werewolf would be with someone else who isn’t Alex. Jack knew that they were big, bigger than a real wolf, but he wasn’t expecting Josh to be nearly to his shoulder level. Jack was a tall guy. That scared him.

He tried to ignore the sharp nails digging into the ground, tried to ignore the big paws that definitely had enough strength in them to break some (or all) of Jack’s bones. He tried not to think of what kind of teeth were inside of that mouth. That would just make him lightheaded and then lead him to fainting. He didn’t need that right now.

Josh had said that he’d give him a warning look when they’d be close to Alex, and then he should wait for Josh to go and talk to Alex, try to calm him down. He got the warning look and stopped. He would’ve stopped even if they hadn’t discussed it before. That look wasn’t a warning. It was scary.

Jack looked after Josh, his tail swaying after him and disappearing behind the bushes.

Alex was lying on the ground, looking at nothing, his head resting on his paws. He didn’t even look up when Josh approached him and sat down next to him, his tail brushing against Alex’s leg.

‘You just caught him off guard,’ Josh’s voice echoed in Alex’s head, but he ignored it, closing his eyes and breathing loudly.

‘Let him explain himself. He has a good explanation. Not that he even needs one because he didn’t do anything that bad. Yes, he was kind of an idiot by… not exactly having the response to the news that you clearly expected, but still…’ Josh always tended to be annoying in such situations, and this one wasn’t that different.

‘Leave me alone.’ Alex’s voice was still full of anger.

‘He’s here,’ Josh stated, ignoring Alex’s warning tone. 'You should really just hear him out.'

Alex growled, low and deep, the sound coming from the depths of his body. Even Jack was able to hear it, what with standing pretty far away, hidden by bushes, trees, and grass.

‘Stop with the growling and just hear him out,’ Josh repeated.

‘I said leave me alone,’ Alex growled louder, sounding more intimidating as he jumped up from his lying down position, attacking Josh and going for his throat, his teeth sharp and his hold strong, but Josh was quick to shake him off. ‘This is none of your business,’ he kept growling, mixing in with some snarls, his teeth white and ready to repeat his previous attack.

Jack couldn’t see what was happening, and he wasn’t even sure he wanted to. What he was sure of was that he wanted to be back in his and Alex’s room. Preferably hiding under the bed and never coming back out. Not to the forest, that was made pretty clear.

Another quiet growl joined in with the previous loud one and then more barking, snarling, and teeth clicking together. Jack couldn’t feel his legs out of fear. How had he ended up like this? Living with dangerous werewolves that were about to kill each other and then probably Jack and the rest of the people in the house.

Jack didn’t know for how long the teeth-hitting-against-teeth sound and growling continued, but then Josh’s wolf figure appeared behind the brush, coming closer to Jack. He was limping, and Jack noticed blood on his leg, but he still gave Jack the look that should mean he was okay to go and talk to Alex. But he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to see someone who could hurt his best friend like that.

He was still standing in his spot when he felt a strong force push him forward. He looked back at Josh, who had pushed him forward with his muzzle.

“If he kills me, it’s your fault,” he huffed at Josh and walked through the bushes in the direction Josh had previously come from.

He came out in a little clearing, big enough for two werewolves to have a little fight. A big, light grey, nearly white wolf was sitting with his back turned towards Jack. ‘Typical Alex,’ he thought before walking closer to him.

“Um… hey,” he said, hoping to get Alex’s attention although he probably already had it. Alex was definitely aware of his presence.

Jack let his eyes travel over Alex’s body, his strong legs and big paws with sharp nails, his fur thick, his ears, perked up on his head like he was listening to something happening far away from them, his eyes a few shades darker than usual, black nose, which made Jack wonder if it was cold and wet like a dog’s nose.

“I wasn’t ready for what you said to me and… that freaked me out,” he started, feeling brave. Almost equally as brave as that day when he asked Alex out. “It’s not that I don’t want this with you because I do. I want it. I want a little baby with your eyes, preferably not your werewolf temper.” He noticed Alex’s shoulders relax. “You just gotta warn me next time you decide on something like this because I’m just a human and humans are kind of dumb.” There was suddenly a weight on his shoulder, a cold nose pressing against his neck, and a wet tongue lightly licking his jaw, a long sigh following that and making goosebumps appear all over Jack’s body.

“You’re kind of intimidating like this,” Jack mumbled, warily looking at Alex, his wolf face close to Jack’s, his muzzle with all the threatening teeth hidden behind black lips.

And then Alex licked his face. From his jaw, all over his face to his forehead, all wet and sloppy.

“Ew, stop!” Jack whined and pushed Alex’s big face away without thinking, his fingers brushing against the thick coat.

He expected Alex to keep sitting next to him or lie down, or maybe go back home, but then Alex stood up and walked away, further into the woods.

“You want me to follow?” Jack asked, hating how he couldn’t understand this weird wolf-like behavior.

Alex snarled at him and kept walking away.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Jack mumbled, being sure that Alex heard him.

Jack was left standing alone there, not sure what to do with himself. Was he supposed to leave and go back to the mansion? He wasn’t sure he knew the way back. He had never been this deep in the forest and he knew he would get lost. More than he ever got lost in the mansion while looking for Alex’s room.

He examined the lines from the fight that happened there less than ten minutes ago left on the ground. Damn, those nails were something. He did not want to imagine what would happen if those nails were to press against someone’s skin.

“Hey.” The quiet sound of Alex’s voice startled him, his heart jumping in his throat.

“Don’t do that! You scared me!” He pressed his palm to his chest.

“Sorry.” A completely naked Alex walked over to him, wrapping his arms around his neck and pressing his face against his skin. “So you’re okay with this? You’re not going to leave me?”

“Of course I’m not going to leave you. Why would you even think that?” He wrapped his own arms around Alex’s waist, letting his hands rest on Alex’s lower back.

“I don’t know. I’ve seen that happen and didn’t want that to happen to me. I’m sure that the baby would be fine with everyone else around, but I wouldn’t. I want to do this with you,” he explained.

“And we will.” Jack pressed a light kiss to Alex’s hair. “Your pack is just scaring me. Are they like… going to steal the kid and not give it back?”

“What?” Alex laughed. “No one is going to steal a kid.”

“They like children so… they might do that.” He shrugged.

“Our baby is going to be a member of this pack, so they’ll just be trying to help. That’s normal. And you should let them do that. Not that they would listen to you if you don’t, but… just for your information. It’s going to be really easy because everyone is going to be ready to help at any moment, and if you don’t feel like changing a diaper or getting up in the middle of night to feed him, then someone will do that. Don’t worry and…” He looked at Jack’s perplexed expression. “And I’ll just shut up now.”

And really, that calmed down Jack’s nerves more than anything else could have. Maybe he’d fuck up, won’t know what or how to do something, but there’s going to be at least half of the pack ready to help him. And Alex. Although Jack was sure that Alex knew more than he did and was more experienced with children than Jack. After all, he grew up in a house like this. A house full of other children.

“I love you,” he said quietly, leaning down to leave a trail of kisses along Alex’s jaw and down his neck, letting his hand slide down to cup his bare ass.

“Na-ah, no sex in the woods.” Alex reached behind to grab Jack’s wandering hands and place them back on his back.

“Is that your wolf rule?”

“No. That is my rule.” Alex pressed a quick kiss to Jack’s lips. “Let’s get back to the house.” He grabbed Jack by the hand, leading the way out of the forest.

Yeah. Jack was never going to regret the day he got the courage to ask Alex out. That was the best decision he had ever made in his life, and there weren’t many of those, but this was one of those few. He felt loved and needed and he was doing everything in his power to make Alex feel the same.