The Cause Sanguine - Section Six

[glasslogic]

Chapter Fourteen

Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey.
                                   ~Lord Byron

Dean didn’t know what to expect when Sam led him into the dark coolness of the bedroom. The only light was that spilling down the hall as he stood just in the doorway, waiting to see what Sam had in mind. Nothing about the evening was turning out like he had expected. All Dean had been planning was a low-key visit with some wildlife enthusiasts and then an early bedtime. Now he stood heart-sick and mostly blind in a cabin he had abandoned more than two years ago, sharing breath with a man he’d never wanted to see again.

Sam’s hands pushed his jacket from his shoulders; Dean let it fall to the floor, then felt Sam’s fingers at the front of his flannel, tugging lightly at the buttons as he worked them open. When the flannel was pooled on top of the jacket, Sam’s hands landed lightly at Dean’s waist, slipping under the edge of the t-shirt to pull it smoothly up. Dean helped, raising his arms for the fabric to slip over until he stood bare to the waist.

When Sam’s fingers brushed the rough cotton of his jeans, Dean stepped back, working the worn denim open himself and skinning out of the rest of his clothes. There was a faint creak of bedsprings, and when Dean sank down onto the mattress beside Sam, he wasn’t surprised to feel bare skin touching his own as he pressed the length of his body against Sam’s heated flesh.

The coolness of the room was shut out by the heavy comforter thrown over them as Dean found Sam’s face by touch and pressed their lips together. Sam opened his mouth under the pressure and Dean licked in, tangling their tongues as he twined the fingers of one hand into Sam’s hair to hold his head at just the right angle. It had been two years since Dean had found any kind of pleasure that involved more than his right hand and imagination. Having Sam wrapped around him again was like being delivered. The intensity of the moment pushed all thoughts of conflict and uncertainly from his mind. He drowned his senses in the familiarity of the body he was exploring as he sought out all the little places he remembered where Sam was especially appreciative of... attention.

Sam moved against him, the soft gasps and low, wordless sounds a comfortable counterpoint to the taste of his skin as Dean mouthed his way low across Sam’s belly to the rigid shaft of his cock. He ignored it, sucking lightly at the tightly drawn up sac until the sounds Sam was making were too desperate to be ignored and he slid back up the fever-hot skin to press another deep kiss to a willing mouth.

Dean slid one hand back down to wrap his fingers around Sam’s erection, slicking precome over his palm and working the shaft with the rough rhythm he knew Sam liked best. Sam shuddered hard and spilled hot over his wrist. Dean bit down on his shoulder and worked his own dick against the sweat-slicked hollow of Sam’s hip.

Afterwards, they lay pressed together, skin drying very slowly in the heated tent the comforter made around them.

“We need something,” Dean finally spoke up. Sam made a sleepy, questioning sort of sound. “To clean with. Before we sleep, or we’ll both be sorry in the morning. And if you still turn furry with the sun, you might be sorrier than me.”

Sam snorted, but rolled over and slid an arm out from under the comforter, letting in a draft of cold air as he fished something off the floor. A moment later, he was clumsily wiping at their skin before tossing the cloth back out and pulling the cover close again. Sam curled his body with Dean’s in a way Dean knew would have him uncomfortably hot and sticky well before dawn, but he couldn’t bring himself to shove Sam away. Not when it might be the last night they would have together. The idea made Dean’s stomach knot with tension and he ruthlessly shoved it away. He could have this night. Sam had promised answers with the next sunset, and Dean didn’t have to deal with anything until then.

“That had better not have been my shirt,” he grumbled, throwing his arm over Sam’s waist and settling in for the night.

Dean woke up some time later when Sam gently pulled free of his embrace and slid out of the bed. He watched as Sam left the room silently, pulling the door gently closed behind himself. Beside the bed, a clock blinked the time in insistent red numbers: 6:48. Almost sunrise. Feeling oddly relieved that at least some things in his universe still operated as expected, Dean rolled over and fell back asleep. He didn’t stir at all when about twenty minutes later a heavy weight settled back beside him on the bed and laid a furry jaw over his hip with a satisfied sigh.

Sunlight was edging brightly around the heavy curtains when Dean woke again later in the morning. He found himself nose to nose with a wolf that gave an enthusiastic swipe of wet tongue across Dean’s face before he hopped nimbly off the bed, experience letting him easily avoid the swat Dean aimed at him.

“I thought we had an understanding about that,” Dean growled, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. The wolf looked unconcerned, and watched with interest as Dean cursed mildly at the chill and quickly dressed in his scattered clothes. But when Dean grabbed his jacket and sat to pull his boots on, the wolf started growling, a low, discontented sound that Dean ignored. It was harder to ignore when the wolf planted itself between Dean and the door with bared teeth.

“I’m taking these,” Dean jingled the keys he had fished from beneath the couch, “and going to get my car. Then I’m going to turn in my apartment keys, find something for lunch, and come back.”

Sam growled louder. Dean frowned at him.

“I said I would come back and hear you out, but I’m not going to hang out here bored all day watching you shed. If you don’t even trust me to do that, then why the hell do you want to talk to me at all?”

For a moment, Dean thought he was going to have to force his way through the door, but after a long stare, Sam flattened his ears and slunk out of the way.

The hike back into town was both better and worse than the previous night’s. It was better because the air wasn’t as cold and he wasn’t stumbling around fuming in the dark, but it was worse because without the preoccupation of his anger... well, it was a fifteen mile hike through a cold, spring morning in Montana.

Dean had no idea what Sam wanted to say to him, he couldn’t imagine anything that would make what the wolf had done okay. But Dean would do what he had promised and hear him out anyway, because there was something between them; last night had underlined that, if nothing else, and it was something that time and distance hadn’t lessened.

Dean had pretty much grown to doubt everything about his relationship with Sam during the two years he fumed on the road. He had examined and doubted every feeling, every memory, every aspect of the year of their relationship, even before sex became a part of it -- but the profound honesty of Sam’s reactions and desperation the previous night -- Dean couldn’t doubt that. So Sam would have his chance to find an explanation that Dean could live with, because otherwise, Dean half felt that he might actually go insane.

The Impala was exactly where he had left her, and then, since the place was still his and there was no rush on time, he dragged his duffle bag back inside and took a long, hot shower to clean up.

When he finished bathing and had done a more careful packing job than the imprudent haste of the previous evening, he took his keys to the office and turned them in. He didn’t need the place; the cabin was his. He and Sam would either come to some understanding, in which case he had a place to stay, or they wouldn’t, and he would be blowing town tonight. Either way, there was no point in hanging on to the apartment.

He lingered over a long lunch at a diner then headed back out. When he got to the cabin, Sam was laying on the front steps, nosing through one of the textbooks Dean had seen in the living room the night before. The wolf jumped up to greet him, and Dean took the opportunity to swipe the book from the porch and examine it.

“Organic Chemistry?” he asked incredulously.

The wolf gave an oddly human shrug.

Dean shook his head and pulled the screen door open, motioning Sam in first. “You know, most people get less weird the longer you know them, not more.”

Dean flipped idly through the books on the table as he waited through the hours until sunset. Sam had reclaimed his chemistry text and was sprawled out on the floor with it again. Watching him carry it over to the rug demonstrated to Dean why all of the books looked like they had been chewed along the spine. The television was running in the background and the fire Dean had built had chased off any vestige of cold. It should have been a comfortable afternoon, but the coming confrontation kept him almost vibrating with anxiety.

And then, finally, it was sunset and the time for waiting was over.

Sam stood up, shook out his fur, and headed into the bedroom. When he walked out human a few minutes later, dressed again in the same clothes from the night before, Dean had piled the textbooks back up and sat waiting, eyes dark and face set.

“It’s time.”

Sam nodded and sank into the chair by the counter. He licked his lips nervously.

“So... you wear clothes now?” As an opening line, it left a lot to be desired, but of all the hundred questions Dean needed answers to, it was the one staring him in the face.

“Ah, yeah.” Sam picked at the front of his shirt. “Actually, it’s kind of a reflex now. I can take them off if you want,” he added after a thoughtful moment.

From anyone else, it would have been an offer for a lot more than just getting naked, or at the least a distraction technique, but the only thing Dean felt from Sam was nervousness. It was reassuring to see that Sam’s newfound humanity wasn’t a perfect mask. Certainly no one else Dean knew would have thought an offer to strip naked to put a guest at ease was a natural thing to do.

“Keep them on. You promised me answers; start talking.”

“I didn’t leave you,” Sam said immediately.

“You said that last night, but I pretty distinctly remember that you did, so that’s not really helpful. And that’s not even addressing all this other shit: you wear clothes, you speak English, you hang out at school and apparently can be human any freaking night you want!”

Sam was shaking his head before Dean was even through the first sentence. “I kept sneaking back; I tried to tell you -- I thought you understood! But then you were gone, and I looked, but-”

“Sam,” Dean interrupted, “you already said that. Where did you have to go? Why did you have to sneak back to see me?”

Sam just looked at him for a minute. “You weren’t happy.”

“What? I was a lot more not happy with you gone, and what the hell are you talking about! Of course I was happy. Why would you think I wasn’t? If someone wasn’t happy, I would have to say it was the guy that left, you know?”

Sam looked stubborn, and frustrated. “I would have stayed here with you for a thousand moons and never wanted to leave. I liked... being able to touch you. Having sex, but even if you had never let me do that, just having you here, I would have been happy. I was happy before you knew that I was... other. When you thought I was like any other wolf. I just wanted you, and it didn’t really matter how I had you!”

“Then why did you fucking leave,” Dean growled. “You think I wanted something else?!”

“I know you wanted something else,” Sam snapped. “You were sad when you came back here, and I was sad for you, but I was happy because you were back. But then you started to get better and you smelled... restless. And then the night when we hunted together to defend your pack and we had sex, I thought that was enough, that that was what you needed to feel like I felt! You could be happy too and we could stay in the valley together. But my cousins told me you wouldn’t. They said you would have to go. And then Bobby came and he said the same thing: that you would have to go. And you were mad at him, but not because you didn’t believe him. I could smell that. You started going to the book place and sometimes you looked at things close, but usually you looked at things very far away. And I tried to be better. I tried to learn things so that when you went I could go with you, but they didn’t make sense. Or when they made sense, they didn’t fit in my head right--” The words were pouring out almost faster than Dean could understand.

“Sam, Sam,” Dean broke in. “You need to slow down and start over. When I came back when?”

Sam had his feet on the cushion and was hugging his knees. “When the cabin was broken. When you came back to fix it.”

“You were happy I came back then?” Dean blinked.

“Of course I was; I’d been waiting forever.”

“What do you mean you were waiting for me?”

Sam looked surprised. “Of course I was waiting for you. I knew you would come back, or I would have to go to you. But Samuel told me if it was meant to be, you would return, so I waited. We’re, you know, mates. We belong together.”

“Like what Bobby was saying, because we had sex your... people, they mate for life?” Dean tried to understand. Sam was saying a lot of things that needed to be explained, but he could only attack one at a time.

Sam shook his head again. “No. I mean, usually. But not always. My people believe that everyone has a mate out there, someone the world wants them to be with. Everyone wants to find this person, but most don’t. They give up and settle, and once you do, you will never find them. The feeling just... goes away. It doesn’t mean you are unhappy or unsatisfied, and we do usually spend our entire lives at the side of whoever we settle for, but it is settling,” Sam said fiercely.

“I wouldn’t think there are so many of you guys that it’s hard to check everyone out,” Dean said skeptically.

Sam smiled, but it wasn’t happy. “Dean, my people were wolves. The idea that there is a perfect mate out there came from that time. Do you know how many wolves are in the world? And we aren’t wolves anymore. We are almost as much of your kind now. Some of my people find their mates from wolves, some find them from humans, and some find them among our own kind. But that is a lot of checking. Lifetimes worth.”

“So you settle.”

“We settle.”

“But not you?”

Hazel eyes bored into his own. “I didn’t have to; I found my mate when I was only twenty-six seasons old. Don’t you remember? Don’t you feel it now? It’s been eight turns of the seasons since you left again, Dean. I’ve waited so long... ”

The misery in his voice made Dean want to touch him, but what he was saying made Dean’s hair stand on end. He did remember. Oh yes, he definitely did. “In the kitchen, that’s what that was?”

“I stepped in the trap and they couldn’t stop the bleeding. Samuel was gone away visiting another pack. But your dad was there, and Samuel had told my people he was safe. So they brought me to the cabin, and I found you.” There was an edge of wonder to his voice, even fourteen years later.

“Samuel Trellis? The guys who helped Bobby and my dad learn about hunting?”

“He was one of us.”

Dean snorted. “I hate to tell you this Sam, but he was human. All the time.”

“As are some of my cousins. But there was a time when he ran on four legs.”

“Hang on, you can choose? Is that why you can be human and it’s not the full moon tonight? Why the hell didn’t you do this before?”

Sam shifted uncomfortably. “It’s not that simple.”

“No,” Dean said darkly, “nothing ever is.”

“Do you know how my people happened? Did Bobby tell you what changed us into... what we are?”

“He didn’t know.” Dean was impatient. “Is it important?”

“It wanted our help to hurt humans; it wanted us to be obedient and cause harm to those who did not harm us. But it wasn’t part of this world, and the humans it wanted to hurt were. Whatever problems we might have had between our species, at least we were both children of the natural order. It was furious, and cursed us to be like the ones we would protect. For generations, my people were maddened, torn between two worlds -- half of one, some of the other, an unnatural melding of kinds and kindred. It was monstrous. But eventually we learned to adapt; we mated and had offspring with real wolves, and sometimes with humans, and we claimed and protected the valley for our own.”

“It?” Dean asked warily.

“You call them demons.”

“You were cursed by a demon?!”

Sam shrugged. “Thousands of years ago. None of my people have seen a demon in living memory. There are other things that try to move into our territory sometimes, but they are no match for us.”

Dean waved a hand and shook his head. “This is all fascinating. But none of it answers my question. You walked out on me -- why?”

“Because you had to leave and I couldn’t go with you!” Sam exploded. “You weren’t happy here; you’re a hunter, you need to defend your pack. You were better, in your head, and you were restless and you needed to go. But I wasn’t ready, and I couldn’t learn from those books. I needed help and that was the price.”

“Leaving me?”

“Testing you,” Sam snapped. “Testing us. They didn’t believe me about the bond. They thought it was dangerous, that I was just infatuated. If you were just any human, they would have tried to help us both, even if they didn’t believe the bond, but you lived here; they might have tried because I believed it. But you’re a human hunter. We know what that means. They worried that you would get tired of me and I would be stranded somewhere, or lost, or you would decide I was a monster after all. They were afraid you would tell other hunters and then they would know, and if you had me, you could prove it. There might be war between our people. They said if I was right, if the bond was real, you would wait. Only Bobby and John of your hunters knew. Bobby was an act of drunken confidence, and your father walked in on one of us shifting when he was visiting Samuel and there was no choice but to tell.”

“Who are they,” Dean demanded, angry.

“My cousins. My family who always walk as human, they have been learning to live like humans and pass as human, and helping other of my kind do it, for centuries. They know how to teach us, and what we need to learn. I learned more in two hours with them than in three weeks on my own. Look at me! Listen! I go to classes at night at the school and they don’t know I’m any different now.”

“You fucking walked away from me!”

“I had to do it!” Sam snarled back. “I did, and if you think about it for even a minute with what I’ve told you, you’ll know it too. Did you really think you were going to stay in Sunvalley for the rest of your life? For me?”

Dean was silent. Even before Sam’s long days away, he had been doing research, feeling restless. And that was after not even a year. He loved Sam, but would he have stayed? Bobby hadn’t though so, and Sam didn’t seem to think so either. Dean couldn’t decide if that was a lack of faith on Sam’s part, or a profound understanding of Dean’s nature.

“And what would I have done?” Sam continued. “I could have gone with you as a pet or something, but that would only have been useful to you when there was something that actually needed to be pulled down. Not for all the other things you have to do to protect your pack. Samuel used to tell me all about it, about how hard it was to keep people safe when they didn’t even know there was something they had to be safe from. You need a partner! You need me able to be your partner.”

Dean crossed his arms. “Even if you couldn’t tell me that, your cousins could have. I was worried! Worried and mad and upset. For no reason!” Though knowing Sam had cousins who lived as human answered the question of how the Impala had gotten back after the mess in Redrock.

“I told you, it was a test.”

“And we failed?” Dean demanded.

“We failed their test; you didn’t fail mine. You did come back. I knew you would.” There was bedrock certainly in Sam’s voice.

“I didn’t have a lot of choice,” Dean growled.

“Of course not.” Sam replied like Dean had said something obvious. “We’re supposed to be together. If you hadn’t come now, I would have gone looking for you soon. The last of my classes finish up next week. I was already working out bus routes. I’ve made some money working on campus, monitoring labs at night.”

Dean blinked. “Where would you have gone?”

Sam walked over to the old wooden chest and pulled out one of the newer albums in it. He tugged a photo out of its mounting and handed it to Dean silently.

It was a picture of Bobby’s house, before the junkyard had piled up around it. Instead of rusting cars and the debris of the business, overgrown grass and distant trees filled the background. Actual landscaping was still evident, even if obviously not recently cared for, and none of the security measures Dean knew were in place showed in the photo. Bobby himself was sitting on the porch, holding up a bottle of what was probably beer as if in offering. He looked at least twenty years younger. Dean flipped the photo over; on the back, written in a firm print Dean immediately recognized, was the address and an order for Samuel Trellis to come visit.

“Why not just call him? Surely your cousins could show you how to do that?”

“I stayed away from you, and so they had to do what they said and help me pass as human. But they won’t do anything to help me otherwise; they still think I’m crazy. But I can get a phone number for a known address.” Sam took the picture back and slipped it into the album again. “I just thought Bobby would be like them, not hating me, but hated that we were together. But I didn’t think he could blow me off as easily if I was actually at his house.”

Dean had to grudgingly agree it was a better plan. Sam set the album precariously on the pile of text books, then sat cross-legged on the wooden floor at Dean’s feet.

“My family doesn’t hate you, and they aren’t bad people. They are worried that I’m going to get hurt. Your dad worried about you too. Why do you think you never came back here after that night?”

“How would my dad know anything about this?”

“My uncle was there; he recognized what had happened. He told your dad; I think he wanted John to bring you by more often. He wanted us to grow up together and understand each other’s worlds. But your dad was spooked; he took you away and never brought you with him again to the valley. My uncle believed in our bond, but he died before you returned. Samuel said something to me once like that John didn’t want you involved with anything supernatural that you weren’t going to try and kill. He tried to tell me why, but I was young and I didn’t really understand.”

“I didn’t know he came back here after that,” Dean said quietly

Sam nodded. “Sometimes. He brought us sticky candy to eat when we shifted and puzzles you didn’t need fingers to work. He was always nice to us. But he wouldn’t bring you back.” Sam looked hesitant for a moment. “Your dad is the only human I’ve ever bitten.”

“You what?”

“He wouldn’t bring you back.” Sam looked both embarrassed and defiant. “He knew you were mine and he kept you away!”

Dean smiled despite himself, having a sudden image of Sam as an awkward cub, bristling and growling at his father. “Wow. I bet that went over well.”

“Not really,” Sam grumbled. “But he deserved it.”

Dean just nodded and moved onto something else that was bothering him. “What about the shifting? How can you be human now? We aren’t anywhere near the full moon!”

Sam held out a hand as if examining it. “It’s only at night. If I drink human blood when I’m in my wolf form, I can change any night.”

“Why didn’t we do that then? You thought I would mind spilling a few drops to have you with me every night?!” Dean asked incredulously.

“I thought it would be hard to explain and you might think I was a monster again,” Sam growled back. “I didn’t care how I was with you, just that I was.”

“You were awfully pushy for not caring how you were with me,” Dean said pointedly.

Sam shrugged. “We belong to each other. We’re supposed to be together, in all ways. It feels good, feels right. It made me crazy when you wouldn’t even let me just touch you. “

“Yeah,” Dean muttered, knowing exactly what Sam was talking about. “So you’re human now; you have bag of O negative stashed in the fridge?”

“A what?”

“Blood. They store it in bags. Is that what you’re drinking?” Dean asked suspiciously.

“Oh.” Sam blinked. “No, my cousins who are helping me, some of them are married to humans. They help out when one of us who shifts is trying to learn. I went to visit them while you were out.”

“Did you tell them I was back?”

“Yes.”

“What did they say?”

“Nothing.” A moment passed and then Sam looked down and spoke in a low voice, “I would never have left you, not for real. Not forever.”

The room filled with a silence broken only by the low crackling of the fire in the hearth. Sam was staring at his bare feet and Dean could only see the top of his head. There was no tension in the room anymore, just a sense of waiting.

Dean reached out and ran his fingers through soft brown hair, until Sam tilted his head back and Dean could see his eyes. When they had first met, Dean had thought there was wildness in the wolf’s eyes, things alien and mysterious. Now the wildness was no less, would never be any less, but what had been alien was now as familiar to Dean as his own reflection. Sam had given Dean the keys to himself and the mystery was laid plain, a misery and longing Dean could feel like it was his own.

“I don’t understand what you want, where you want us to go from here,” he said finally.

“I want to go with you.”

“Sam...” Dean sighed.

“No! No, I’m not like I was anymore. I can read, and talk, and I know all sorts of things. I’m smart, and fast, and I can shoot a gun, and outrun almost anything on four feet or two. You can’t leave me here again, Dean. Not unless you’re staying too.”

“You can fire a gun?” Dean asked skeptically. “I didn’t think your cousins would help you with anything for hunting.”

“They didn’t. But I’ve spent a lot of time down at the range getting evening lessons, when I wasn’t in classes or working. They don’t own me, Dean. They’re my family, and I love them, but I belong to you. With you. And I’m an adult; they won’t stop me from doing what I want to be with you. My choice. Can you leave me? Seriously?”

Dean pulled his hand back and looked anywhere but into those demanding eyes.

“If you try to leave me, I’ll follow you anyway,” Sam warned. “Wouldn’t you rather I was with you instead of stumbling into your hunting when you least expect it?” he added helpfully.

Dean growled.

“I’m coming with you, Dean. It can either be at your side where you can see me, or following along on your trail until you come to your senses. That’s your decision. I’ve already told you mine.” Sam stood up and crossed his arms.

Dean knew when he was outflanked, and he didn’t really know why he was arguing anyway. Sam was everything he had claimed, plus he had senses and skills that would be an incredible asset in the field. And besides -- Dean wasn’t sure he believed what Sam was saying about fate and destiny, but he was pretty sure he was in love with him. If two years apart hadn’t eased the ache of the wolf’s absence in Dean’s heart, then Dean might as well see what living practically in each other’s pockets was like. The fringe benefits alone would be worth the hassle of training Sam up as a partner. He was still angry, furious, with Sam’s relatives, but that was something he could take up with them. Sam had made his position clear.

“When do your classes end again?”

The brilliant smile that crossed Sam’s face was almost worth the dead certainty that when Bobby got wind of this, Dean’s ears were going to ring for a week.

Maybe Sam could tell him.



Chapter Fifteen

"Wolves may feature in our myths, our history, and our dreams,
but they have their own future, their own loves, their own dreams to fulfill."
                                                   ~Anthony Miles

The next ten days passed in a blur. Sam had exams all week, and work when he didn’t have tests. Dean drove him to campus and was waiting for him afterwards. There wasn’t as much reunion sex as Dean would have liked, but Sam was studying constantly and sleeping when he wasn’t studying. Dean satisfied himself that at least he wasn’t the only one suffering. Not if the heated and frustrated looks Sam keep casting his way were any indication. Sam also wasn’t going to his family for the blood he needed to shift. All things being equal, Dean had done a lot worse in his life than donate a couple of drops of blood for a worthy cause, and a shallow scratch on his forearm provided all that Sam needed to have the nights on two feet.

Dean did get his confrontation with Sam’s family. Or at least one of them. She showed up at the cabin one afternoon when Sam was out running off some stress, slim and blonde and almost as angry as Dean. They yelled at each other for awhile, and when the shouting finally wound down, Dean realized it was hard to be angry with her after all. They both wanted what was best for Sam. The risk of hunters finding out was a serious one for them, and Dean knew his own kind well enough that he couldn’t shrug it off -- but at the end of the day, it was Sam they most wanted to protect. Dean understood about family, and fear, and loss. He couldn’t hate them for wanting to be sure, even though there was still a part of him that wanted to.

“I haven’t forgiven you,” he warned.

“Good,” she snapped back. “Because if anything happens to Sam because of you, you won’t be forgiven either.”

“Deal.”

She looked a little surprised, but gave a short nod and turned to leave.

“How did Samuel Trellis become human, permanently, if he was a shifter like Sam?”

She turned back a little warily. “If Sam wants you to know, he can tell you.”

“Why did he do it?”

Her expression softened and grief flickered over her fair features. “His mate died. They were a true bond, like what Sam claims with you. Usually, one does not survive the other, but Samuel was driven to take vengeance for her death. And when it was done and he was still alive, he had other tasks to distract himself with. He said she would not have wanted his death, and he would go to her in time. But his injuries were severe and he could barely walk. As a wolf, these wounds would have proved fatal, no matter how the pack helped. As a human, living among humans, they were barely an inconvenience. He moved to the human valley, and extended his hand to those few of your kind that he trusted and he thought able to appreciate his insight. We have hunted the dark things that prey on both of our kinds since before your people first came to this land; there was much he had to share, and you have benefited from it.”

Dean nodded slowly. “Thank you.”

She studied Dean a moment, as if really seeing him for the first time. “Sam believes that he shares with you the most profound bond any living being may share with another. At the end, it is not for the pack to dictate such a thing, or direct how it might shape those whom it holds. I hope, for his sake, that this is true. But if it isn’t, if out there you find that there is distance between you that can’t be bridged--”

“It won’t happen,” Dean said flatly.

“If it does,” she snarled. “Just...” she made a visible effort to calm herself, “...bring him back to us. Don’t leave him alone in the world.”

“It’s not gonna happen.” He held up a hand before she could rip into him again. “But if it does, I promise to bring him home, if at all humanly possible. I’m not going to hit him over the head and stuff him in the trunk, but I’ll do everything short of that to get him back to you. Satisfied?”

“No. But it’s a start.”

Dean opened his mouth to demand to know what else she wanted, when she spun to look at the door. A second later, Dean heard the short bark that let him know Sam was home, and he was forcibly reminded that no matter how human the woman in front of him looked, she was every inch the wolf Sam was.

She pulled the door open and Sam trotted in. He gave her a quizzical look that she ignored.

“I brought you Scantron sheets for the Classics final tonight. Professor Dodson told the morning session he was going to flunk anyone else who comes unprepared.” She pulled a flat paper bag out of her purse and dropped it on the end table. She left without another word.

When she was gone, Sam gave Dean a puzzled look. Dean shrugged and went to work on lunch.

“What did Julie want?” Sam mumbled much later that night, as he lay pressed up along Dean’s side, test done and hair still damp from the hasty shower he had grabbed. Sam still wasn’t into what Dean would call regular bathing, but not having to coax or shove him into the water was still a novelty Dean wasn’t done appreciating.

“Julie? The chick that was here earlier?” He felt Sam nod against him.

“She’s my cousin. One of the born-human wolves I mentioned.”

“I gathered that from her announcing she was family, and her having two feet in the daytime.”

“She could have just locked her form,” was the sleepy reply.

Dean’s interest sharpened. “Like Trellis did? How does that happen, Sam?”

Sam was silent for a moment. “What did she want?”

Dean frowned in annoyance; when Sam refused to answer a question by just ignoring it, prying answers out of him was like pulling teeth. He would get an answer when Sam was ready to give him one, or not at all. “She wanted to tell me to play nice, and a bunch of other things that pretty much just boiled down to I had better be good to you, or else.”

Sam’s sigh blew warm air across a nipple and Dean felt a stab of regret that Sam needed his sleep so badly, because he really felt like starting something. “I’m sorry about that; I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“She’s just worried, Sam. It’s not a bad thing to have people worried about you. We yelled at each other for awhile, but I think we worked out our differences. We might even be friends now.”

“Really?” Sam asked dubiously.

“No,” Dean snorted. “But she was worried and I think she might be less worried now. Tomorrow your last test?”

“Yes. We can leave Saturday.”

The next night, they had barely walked in the door after Sam’s final exam when the wolf shoved Dean into a wall and proceeded to explore his mouth with such thoroughness that Dean was dizzy for lack of air when he was finally released.

“I didn’t teach you to kiss like that,” he gasped. “Have you been practicing?”

“I’m inspired, and don’t be stupid,” Sam growled back, fingers already fumbling at Dean’s belt. They managed to drag each other out of their clothes in short order, but the bedroom was too far, and they sank down together onto the thick rug in front of the fireplace.

“This would be better if we actually had a fire,” Dean mumbled into the curve of Sam’s neck a few minutes later. But between the radiant heat of the embers from earlier and the hot, bare skin of the werewolf wrapped around him, it wasn’t a serious complaint, and fixing the problem would have required moving away from the very warmth he was seeking.

Sam ignored him anyway and slid down his body, tracing every muscle with his tongue and letting fingers draw soft curses and threats from Dean as Sam pulled him close to the edge, then pushed him back off the pinnacle time and again. It wasn’t a game they had played much in the past, and never with Sam running the show. Sam had never been a fan of drawing things out like this and Dean spared one of his few clear thoughts for how much effort it must be for the wolf to hold himself back.

“Can I?” Sam asked a bit wildly a few minutes later, having nipped and sucked his way back up from Dean’s hip in a way that left Dean with no uncertainty about the trail of red marks and bruises he would have in the morning.

“Can you what?” Dean asked distractedly, busy with his own exploration of the arch of Sam’s neck.

One of Sam’s hands slipped off his waist and over the curve of Dean’s ass, long fingers sliding into the crease, leaving no question about what Sam was asking.

“Oh. Oh, yeah. Um... we need--”

Sam was gone before Dean finished the thought, and back before Dean had time to be cold. He brought with him the heavy comforter from the bed. The fabric was cool as it settled down around them, but not as cool as the lube Sam pressed hastily into his skin, one finger sliding deep before Dean was ready, causing him to squirm and swear. He settled down when Sam kissed hasty apologies to his skin, free hand kneading Dean’s hip in a manner that had Dean shifting with anticipation even as Sam clumsily continued to work him over with the other. Sam had let Dean top plenty of times during the few months they had had, but Sam had only done this once. It surprised Dean that he wanted it now, but Dean certainly wasn’t complaining.

When Sam pressed himself in slowly a few minutes later, the aching sting of penetration was as sharp as Dean had ever felt it, but the overwhelming feeling in his chest and the sizzling pleasure that swept like a wave over every inch of his skin was something wholly singular to his experience with Sam. It made Dean crave the casualness of his touch like a drug, and the only thing better than having Sam weld their bodies together was when it was Dean sinking into him.

He clenched his hands into the muscles of Sam’s back, encouraging him to move, to thrust harder and deeper with each stroke, to press just right against the places inside that made Dean see stars. He almost cried with frustration when the wolf kept to his steady, measured pace. Just as he finally tumbled into the oblivion of release, sharp pain registered as Sam gave up the rough mouthing he had been giving Dean’s shoulder and bit hard, spilling himself deep inside Dean’s body in the same moment. The pain of the bite was swept up in the sensation already swamping him and the last coherent thought Dean registered for some time was that Sam should really drive more often.

Dean was dimly aware after that of Sam wiping him off with a soft cloth and being encouraged to stumble down the hall. The bed proved to be a much softer place to lay than the rug-covered floor, and he fell gratefully into it, Sam curled up beside him with one arm thrown firmly across his waist.

When Dean woke up again, the sun was high in the sky and stripes of light were falling across the bed from the open shades. Dean traced his finger lightly across one paper-thin scar that showed even against the stark paleness of Sam’s skin. Sam mumbled something incoherent and then stilled. Dean played this game idly for a few minutes, enjoying the pleasurable ache in his muscles and ass, only marginally regretful of the entertainment they would add to what would probably be a long car ride as soon as they were cleaned up and dressed, when it suddenly occurred to him what was wrong with the scene.

“You’re human!”

Sam had sat up suddenly at Dean’s rapid intake of air, even before he had spoken, and now just blinked at Dean, obviously still half asleep.

“Human,” Dean repeated, grabbing Sam’s arm for emphasis and shaking it a little.

Sam nodded agreeably, rubbing at his eyes.

“Sam!” Dean hissed.

“You knew we could lock our forms.” Sam sounded almost confused by Dean’s shock.

“Yeah, but...”

Sam flopped back into the warm sheets, watching Dean from beneath heavy-lidded hazel eyes.

“I said I was going to be your partner. I didn’t mean as a part-time thing.”

“So... when do you shift now? Is it like a human in the day time, wolf at night thing?” Dean was still having trouble wrapping his head around the concept.

“It’s a human in the daytime and human at night thing. I’m not a shapeshifter anymore, Dean.”

“You can’t be a wolf again, ever?” Dean stared.

“I am what I am; I just won’t take on my other form.”

“How did this happen?!”

Sam reached out and ran a finger gently below the bite Dean had only distantly registered along his collarbone. Dean craned his neck to see it as well as he could and couldn’t help a wince. It looked worse than it felt; a neat impression of human teeth with bruising already showing around it. There wasn’t much blood, though.

“The bite?”

Sam nodded.

“I thought drinking human blood only let you shift any night.”

“Drinking human blood in my four-footed form let me shift any night. Drinking human blood in my human form...” He shrugged.

“It’s forever?” Dean asked again.

Sam frowned. “Are you upset with me? I told you what I wanted. This was my choice, Dean. You’re my choice.”

“That’s… a lot to give up, Sam.” Dean swallowed and brushed his own finger over the mark on his shoulder. “I feel like you’re asking me to live up to something that I don’t know if I can. I’m afraid we’re going to get out there and you’re going to find that I’m not what you think I am.”

Sam crossed his hands over his stomach and smiled. It was a knowing sort of look that kind of made Dean want to throw a leg over to straddle Sam’s waist and see how much more trouble he could get into with hours in the car to look forward to. Or throw Sam onto his stomach and work up some sweat a different way.

“You don’t have to live up to anything. You just have to be you.”

“That’s easy to say.”

“You’ll see.” Sam glanced at the clock beside the bed. “Do we have to be anywhere at a specific time?”

“Nope. I just thought we would make our way out to Bobby’s house and tell him the good news. He usually has a line on some things that need to be dealt with; maybe find a shake-down job or two along the way and see how you handle it.”

“But we don’t have to go right this minute?’

Dean shook his head, letting his eyes trace over Sam’s abs distractedly. He wasn’t sure he was ready to abandon the startling revelation Sam had just hit him with, but he needed some time to let the ramifications sink in, and Sam clearly didn’t really want to discuss it. “We can leave whenever we want. Did you want to sleep in some mo--”

Dean’s question was cut off as Sam dragged him back down to the mattress and proved without a shadow of a doubt that sleep was definitely not what was on his mind.

“Yeah, Bobby. I’m gonna swing by in a couple of days, if it’s not a problem.”

Dean nodded as he listened. They were at a gas station just outside of the mountains, and Dean was leaning against the Impala, watching closely as Sam filled up her tank. The wolf was doing a good, if serious, job.

“No, no problem. Yeah, Sam and I talked. I’m fine; we worked things out. How?” Sam raised an eyebrow at him and Dean grinned. “Well, it’s kind of a long story; I’ll fill you in when I get there.” He listened again and rolled his eyes. “Of course I got your damn keys. They’re right here in my pocket. Yeah, Bobby. I’ll give them back to you as soon as I get there. Uh huh. Looking forward to it.”

“You didn’t warn him?” Sam asked, as Dean flipped the phone closed and slid it in a pocket. Sam handed him back the credit card.

“Nope. Bobby just loves surprises. Besides, you said you would tell him. I can’t describe how much I am looking forward to watching him lay into someone that isn’t me.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “This doesn’t have anything to do with him.”

“So?”

Sam just looked puzzled, but he slid into the car without any more questions. They had been on the road for less than two hours and already his presence in the car felt natural, like it had always been Sam’s place, and it had just taken Dean his entire life to discover that.

The day was crystal clear and the sky the kind of cloudless blue that spanned a horizon they only dreamed about in the Eastern states. With the mountains to their back and the road a smoky ribbon stretching out ahead, the Impala beneath him and Sam at his side, Dean felt at total peace with the world. Almost.

“Something’s missing.”

Sam looked up from the map he had been examining. “Like what?”

Dean reached out and pushed the tape into the player; almost immediately, the strained chords of Metallica’s Black album filled the car. Sam immediately clamped his hands over his ears. Dean took enough pity on him to turn the volume down a little.

“What the hell is this?!” Sam demanded.

“The beginning of your education,” Dean grinned, and turned onto the Interstate.

END

“The timber wolves will be our friends
We'll stay up late and howl,
At the moon, till nighttime ends,
Before going on the prowl.”
~Calvin and Hobbes


Masterpost

 

And now with Sequel!
Red In Tooth and Claw


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