It was a little intimidating, just a little, to see the massive wolf come sprinting straight for him. Wren’s ears were flattened back, his head and tail held down low. It wasn’t a friendly approach, but it wasn’t aggressive either.
Wren slowed to walk and slunk into the gazebo. He crawled under the table and lay down. Jackson stared at Wren’s tail - the only visible part of him from where Jackson was sitting.
“Kia will probably be out there for awhile.” There was no response, but Jackson hadn’t expected any. When Wren was human he barely responded, as a wolf, Jackson figured it was useless. “Why don’t you get up on the bench? It’s more comfortable than the floor.”
To his surprise, Wren slowly crept out from under the table. His ears were still flattened tight to his head. He stepped up on to the bench and lay down. Jackson held back his laugh. Wren was almost too large to fit, but he squeezed his
Jackson left Kia in charge of showing Wren how to use the tub and shower. She joined him not long after. “You showed him the selection of soaps?”“Yeah. He seemed a little overwhelmed so I pulled out the ones you use in case he just wanted to stick with that.”Jackson hummed. Kia’s hair was stuck in unattractive clumps. He thought he saw a twig buried in the thick strands. “You might want to shower too.”“Yeah.”She fell onto his bed instead. He pulled his feet out of the way just in time for her land with a muted thump. “He was protecting you earlier.”In the gazebo, when he’d growled at Kia. “That’s what it was? Thank God. I thought he saw you as a threat.”She snorted and rolled her head to the side to look at him. “Nope. He was just telling me to watch it. I just can’t decide if that’s a good sign or not.”Yeah. He kne
Kia sat up and cocked her head to the side. “Wren’s out of his bath. Want me to go get him?”“Yeah.”Jackson was just assuming Wren wouldn’t feel comfortable coming over by himself. To be fair, Kia was the only who really felt comfortable just coming into his room.Kia came back with Wren following behind her. Jackson stared. Wren’s hair was messy, wet, and dripping onto his shirt. He clutched a comb in his hand. his jaw was clenched tight, his shoulders tense. Jackson dropped his gaze back to the comb, then looked back at his hair.“Do you want help combing your hair?” It was a guess, but it was a good guess. Wren’s jaw unclenched at the words and there was only a moment of hesitancy before he nodded.Wren sat in the same chair as before. Jackson took the comb from him, carefully brushing his fingers against Wren’s in the process. Wren didn’t flinch away. Jackson grinned and m
Wren had been through a lot in his life. He’d hurt countless wolves. Countless. He’d been stuck in the same routine of fighting and fear for so long that he’d forgotten what the fresh fear of a brand new situation felt like. The market hadn’t even scared him. He knew what was going to happen. He’d be purchased by a different owner who would run him in the fights again.It hadn’t happened. He never thought it would be scarier to go to someone who wasn’t actively hurting him.He had no control over the whine that left his throat. The first touch, the bending of his fur, he was prepared for pain. Jackson hadn’t hurt him so far. He hadn’t given a single indication of getting enjoyment out of other’s pain. Wren tried to remember that. Jackson’s touch wasn’t forced. Jackson’s touch wasn’t a precursor to pain.So far.Wren held out as long as he could. Every absence of the hand,
Wren whined without realizing he was doing it. His mind was completely caught on the word free. No more collar. No more fear of paralyzing heat, of the inability to move, to escape.Jackson’s hand was gentle on fur. He whined with each stroke. He forced his brain to slow down, his breathing to slow down, to match the pace of Jackson’s strokes.What would Wren do if he was actually free to do as he pleased? A couple days ago and he would have sworn up and down that he’d be happy to hear this news, and part of him was, but… what would he do? He didn’t know how to do anything except fight. He couldn’t… What would he do?“You’re ok.” Jackson spoke from above him and Wren realized his whining was getting louder. “It’s ok if you want to stop. If you don’t like this then we don’t need to do it.”Jackson’s hand was hovering over Wren’s head, n
The car was packed and ready to go. Jackson’s dad was nowhere to be found, but that was expected. Kia was crying and Margaret gave a couple sniffs as she clutched the picnic basket tighter in her hands.Jackson gave them a fond smile. “We’ll be back soon you know. It’s not like we’re leaving forever.” Yet.Margaret sniffed again. Jackson shot Wren an exasperated look and took the basket from her. He handed it to Wren. “I love you, Margaret and I’ll see you soon.” He wrapped her up in a tight hug and held back any laughter as she very deliberately rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. He leaned his head down against hers and gave her as long as she needed.“I love you, too. Stay safe and if you need anything then don’t forget to call. I’ll get your dad to take care of it if I have to kill and impersonate him myself.”Jackson laughed and Margaret gave him a smile before turning t
Night time was chilly in the mountains. Inside of a hotel room, Jackson shouldn’t have noticed the temperature dropping. He should have been nice and warm under the shitty hotel blanket. Instead he was shivering and considering going to get his quilt out of the car.Wren was still in front of the open balcony door. Night had fallen long ago. There was too much cloud cover to see any stars and the wind had only increased. Jackson shivered again and pulled the blanket even tighter.The room was dark, almost all of the light from the moon was smothered under the clouds. Jackson could barely distinguish Wren from the shadows in the room. Another breeze brushed over the exposed skin of Jackson’s face and he tugged the blanket over his head. There was a shuffling sound outside the blanket, but Jackson didn’t want to expose himself to the chill again just yet.
The entire building was saturated with the scent of wolves, hormones, artificial cleaners, and perfumes. It burned his nose. His ears hurt from the multitude of voices screaming and laughing and crying. Jackson’s heartbeat was something to focus on, but it couldn’t drown out the sounds completely. Jackson’s scent was smothered out completely when they passed by a room that was actively spraying air freshener.Wren forced himself not to gag. His head started aching at the onslaught of scents.The stairwell was a bit better. The sounds were muffled, but still loud enough to bother him. Jackson’s heartbeat ticked up as they climbed the steps. Wren found it amusing, which was a newer emotion he was still learning to handle.The top floor wasn’t as bad as the first. Less than half of the rooms had people in them and no one was spraying any fake scents in the air. Quiet mutters were being exchanged in the rooms, but Wren tuned them out to
He stepped back. The instant onslaught of cleaners hit him again and he closed his eyes against the smell, against seeing any anger on Jackson’s face. He couldn’t believe he did that. Pushing into his space, forcing Jackson into letting him -“What’s going on?”“The smell.” He forced himself to talk, but kept his eyes shut. He wouldn’t make Jackson wait for an answer this time. Jackson had been so good to him, so far, but Jackson’s heart was still pounding. He was angry. He had to be so angry. “The cleaners used-” His words cut off as a scraping sound filled the room and a gust of wind diluted the scent.Wren opened his eyes. Jackson was leaning against the window sill. He smiled and shook his head. “Wren, you have got to start talking to me. Tell me when things are wrong or hard. Let me know.”Wren stared. He couldn’t figure out what was happening. Jackson… wasn&rs