Running Wild

this new development.
“Did Pete call while I was gone?” Ri asked.
“Yes.” Seamus slumped. Then he added, “As did Jonah. The lynx wants you to contact him.”
“Maybe I will.” Ri looked thoughtful. Something changed in his expression, the worry being displaced by intensity, and his gaze pinned Seamus.
He shivered a little as Ri stood and pulled Seamus to him. Ri after a shift was a slightly different Ri. Their bodies melded together, and Ri’s long hands came to hold Seamus’s neck, tipping his face up to Ri.
“I want you,” said Ri.
“You’ve got me.”
    Ri slept deeply. Between the shifting and the sex, and knowing Seamus was safe in his arms, he let go. But when Seamus stirred the next morning, Ri came up from the depths of his sleep and jackknifed to sitting.
    “Hey, no worries,” said Seamus, sitting up himself. He landed a kiss on Ri’s cheek.
There were worries. Ri could tell that Seamus had allowed himself to think that Pete might not be entirely benign, and he wasn’t happy about it. Ri’s first solution, not one he bothered to take seriously, was that they both run. He didn’t like that idea himself. He was growing attached to their plans of setting up a home base here—if they could get rid of the werewolf threat.
How many of Pete’s pack were out there? It was good that Pete could control them, they hadn’t returned in years after all—if you didn’t count Pete. It was not so good if Pete couldn’t control himself.
“Ri?” asked Seamus.
“I need to call Jonah.” He was the only possible ally Ri could think of.
“All right.” Seamus looked troubled. “I still don’t think Pete would want to hurt us, though I don’t know what he’s doing hanging out over here.”
Hanging out. Sounded so harmless. Ri cupped Seamus’s face, ran a thumb over his stubble and gave him a quick kiss before exiting the bed.
Seamus punched a key to dial Jonah’s number, since Ri wasn’t up on the use of cell phones, in fact, found it difficult to think this small rectangle was going to work. But Jonah’s sleep-infused voice came through, as voices did on these things.
“Hello? Seamus?”
Ri cleared his throat. “It’s Ri.”
“Ri.” Jonah sounded more alert. “How are you?”
“I’m fine.” He paused. “I think we need to talk. In person.” The phone just didn’t feel right.
“Absolutely. So…can we come out to your place? Are you and Seamus okay with that?”
“Who would come?” Ri didn’t want Pete in on this conversation.
“Trey and I.” As if reading his mind, Jonah added, “Pete’s not here. In fact…” he seemed to search for the correct words, “…we need to talk to you about Pete.”
“That’s funny. Because we need to talk to you about Pete too.”
“He’s disappeared,” Jonah warned. “Listen, hang tight, keep an eye on Seamus, and we’ll see you in two hours.”
Hang tight. Keep an eye on Seamus. As if there was a danger, Ri thought as he hung up.
“What?” asked Seamus who’d been watching Ri.
“Something has happened with Pete.”
    Seamus observed Ri basically vibrating with nerves over the next two hours as they waited for Jonah and Trey to arrive. Finally, he asked his question. “Do you think they mean us harm?”
    “Jonah and Trey? No.” Ri sounded certain about that, until he added, “We have to trust someone sometime if we’re going to live here, right?”
“What’s the alternative?”
Ri shook his head.
“Running?”
“Of course.”
“I guess it’s a kind of freedom.”
“It’s also a kind of prison.” Ri pulled in a deep breath. “I have to go with my instincts. I don’t trust Pete, I never have. But Jonah, there was a kind of delight when he saw me. And not as if I’d be his next meal.”
Seamus winced.
“Joke.”
“I think I’ve lost my sense of humor today. I do not understand what Pete’s doing. He was a decent boyfriend. I mean he didn’t understand why I was ending it, it was hard to push him away, but I always thought that was normal not-letting-go behavior, not…obsessive.”
“What about your other boyfriends?”
“Well, my first dumped me.”
“And got his ribs broken,” Ri put in. His gaze sharpened. “Any of the others get hurt?”
“No,” said Seamus instantly. “I mean, nothing to do with me.”
Ri pursed his lips.
“What are you implying?” Seamus began to feel a bit lightheaded.
“Your other boyfriends, did anything happen to them?”
“They weren’t really boyfriends,” Seamus