William and the Wolf

The Peppers

As he looked at William’s happy smile, waiting for his due praise, Anthony knew that he was in a lot of trouble.

He had never really guessed what his mate was going to be like when he’d searched for them years ago. Everyone he knew with a mate had never seemed guess correctly the person their mate would turn out to be, so he never set a particular image in his mind of his own mate. Girl, boy, human, werewolf, unicorn, he’d had no idea.

But now he did. Now it was all too clear what kind of person was perfect in his eyes.

And to have him standing there, just a couple of strides away, smiling at him so innocently, was making Anthony lose control.

He swiftly turned away and opened a cupboard, any cupboard, and started taking things out of it. Anything to keep his hands busy.

“Hey!” He heard William behind him, sounding put out. “That at least deserves a thank you!”

“We’ll see if they actually show up,” he responded tightly, knowing he wasn’t being gracious, even though he wanted to be, but if he did what he wanted to do right now, his mate would have a lot more to worry about than not getting a thank you.

Well, it COULD be considered a thank you… Anthony nearly broke the cup in his hand. Don’t you dare go there.

He heard William huff in exasperation behind him. “They’ll be here.”

“Go pick some green peppers.” He needed William out of here so he could operate with his head again.

“What?”

“In the garden greenhouse. I have peppers. Go pick some.”

There was silence behind him, but he didn’t dare turn away from the cupboard.

“Okay…” There was irritation in William’s voice, but soon he heard steps towards the garden door and the quiet bang of the screen door closing.

He glanced over his shoulder just to make sure William was really gone and then expelled a large sigh, looking down at the evidence of how much he was being affected by William’s smile.

This was pure agony. Why was he doing this?

He didn’t need William to write an article about him. It had been annoying, sure, but he’d been able to keep even the nosiest of people at bay. And racing after them was great exercise for his wolf form.

And now, if the security system was installed, that should be enough to keep out any more unwanted pests. He could send William on his way within the hour.

But he knew he wouldn’t.

Every time it looked like William might leave, might disappear into the sun as quickly as he’d arrived in it, Anthony hadn’t been able to stop himself from following.

Even now, he could feel himself on edge, wondering if he’d gone too far, been too rude. Was William really picking peppers like he’d asked—ordered… or was he leaving through the gate he’d come through?

But no, William wanted this article. He’d said so. He’d stayed here in a stranger’s place to get it. Anthony’s expression darkened. How many strangers’ places had he stayed in before to get what he wanted? What had he done in exchange?

Anthony knew this was a terrible road for his mind to travel, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. Couldn’t seem to stop his imagination stripping William down so he could see if he had anyone else’s mark on him, exploring him so he could see if anyone else had explored—

At the sound of William fumbling with the mudroom door, Anthony zoomed out of the kitchen and into the closest bedroom, stripping in seconds and transforming into his wolf form.

He quickly pushed his clothing under the bed with his paws and lid down, panting as he tried to calm his fevered mind.

In wolf form, he seemed to have much better control over his desires and could be around William without this incredible drive raging through him, always wanting to claim him forever as his own.

He sighed, his head on his paws. What was he going to do?

“Anthony?”

He heard William’s exasperation and sheepishly got up to trot back into the kitchen.

William was looking around, incredulity plain on his face, before he spotted Anthony at the door.

“Mate!”

Anthony heart leapt, like it did every time William called him by that name. Yeah, that had been a really stupid idea. It felt far too good.

“Where did your master go now?” William was looking confused at what had to be the random stack of dishes Anthony had left on the counter, out of view from Anthony’s wolf’s point of view.

Anthony refrained from asking what his mate needed and just sat, staring blankly up at him. Thankfully, his mate had taken to talking to him in his wolf form anyway. He’d like to think it was because William’s soul knew that it was really him. But it was probably just William’s habit to talk to animals.

“I don’t know if he means the little green peppers or the big green peppers.”

Anthony blinked. Don’t tell me… he doesn’t know the difference between bell peppers and jalapeno peppers..? Who doesn’t know the difference between bell peppers and jalapeno peppers?

Anthony stood up and walked past his mate to head out into the garden.

It was a sunny day, warm, and Anthony enjoyed the heat coming through his fur as he walked William back into the green house.

Ugh. It was far too hot in the green house to be covered in fur though. Panting, he walked over to the green bell peppers and sniffed them. Then sat down next to the plant, looking up expectantly at William.

William was looking uncertain, still glancing at the jalapeno peppers on the other side. “How do you know he means those big ones?”

Anthony just stared at him, panting. He wanted to say, “Why don’t you give them a try?” but alas, that bit of fun would have to wait until he was in his human form. And it’s too damn hot to stay in here. He snorted and walked back out, leaving William to fend for himself. He’d told him the right ones, that’s all he could do.

William ended up picking a couple of both peppers—fine, don’t listen to me—and washed them and set them on the counter. He picked up his box of spaghetti noodles that Anthony hadn’t had a chance to put away and started looking through the cupboards to learn how Anthony stored his food.

Watching his mate familiarize himself in the kitchen was cleansing for the soul, and Anthony couldn’t help himself. He walked up and leaned his shoulder against his mate’s leg, just as he’d seen dogs do to their owners.

Was it sneaky and foolish to act like a dog to get closer to his mate?

Absolutely.

Was feeling good when William absently petted and scratched his head in return incredibly pathetic?

Absolutely.

But apparently Anthony was sneaky, foolish, and incredibly pathetic. The things he was learning about himself were not encouraging.

Finally, forcing himself to leave his mate to his own devices, which seemed to include taking pictures of the most random things in the kitchen—why would he possibly want a photo of the contents of Anthony’s drawer?—Anthony trotted to his work room.

Never knowing when William might show, he grabbed a spare set of clothes from a desk drawer and then leaned up against the closed door to transform and get dressed.

He took a moment to pull out the canvas he’d hidden behind others and look again at the sketch he had made the previous night, then tucked it back again and started work on one of his restoration commissions.

Unsurprisingly, William showed up at his work room after little time had passed.

“So… which ones did you want?”

Anthony looked over from his work at the peppers in each of William’s hands. He just barely managed to keep the grin off his face until he turned back to his work. “Why don’t you try them both and see which one you prefer?”

“Oh, okay.” William disappeared again.

Anthony waited, pausing from his work to listen closely in the silent house.

It took about a minute before he heard strangled curse words and the water suddenly running from the tap.

It was only moments after that, as he was trying very hard to wipe the grin off his face, that loud footprints came down the hall back to his work room. At the last second, he rearranged his easel, so he was hidden behind it from the view of the door, because he still had an enormous smile across his face.

“Oh, har, har!” He heard the affronted voice of his mate from the door as William entered the room. “Very funny!”

His angry mate’s red face came around the easel and Anthony tried, tried to act innocent as he asked, “So which one did you pref-ffer?” but he choked on a laugh at how red William’s cheeks were and couldn’t keep his laughing quiet.

“Nice to know you have a sense of humour,” William said sarcastically, his arms folded over his chest as he frowned, but his frown was already quirking into a grin as he watched Anthony laughing.

“Who doesn’t know jalapenos from bell peppers?” Anthony rasped as he got his laughter under control.

“Well, I do now—stop laughing, you sadist!” William said that angrily but he seemed to be laughing, too. “Goddammit, I will be paying you back for that one! How about I get everyone pouring through your gates, huh?”

“Sure, but that means you’d have to stay here forever,” Anthony shot back at him with a grin, locking eyes with him on purpose this time just to shake him up, and also send a subliminal message to his mate that that was exactly what he should do.

As always, William became dazed staring into his eyes, his cheeks pinkening, and Anthony slowly rose from his stool to walk up to him, his heart thumping hard in his chest. How can you look at me like this but pretend that I mean nothing? “Is that what you want? To stay here forever?” Anthony asked softly, daringly.

DING DONG.

They both instantly looked out to the hall at the sound of the doorbell ringing.

Anthony cursed silently. Fate’s a real b*tch sometimes.