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“Oh, this will be good.”
Tanner looked down at me. “Robbie.”
“Tanner.”
“Do you want to murder us?”
Chris coughed roughly.
“Um. I don’t… think so. No?”
Tanner looked relieved. “Good.” And then he tackled me.
It took me a lot longer than I care to admit to understand he wasn’t trying to hurt me. In fact, as soon as he rested his entire weight on top of me, he relaxed and sighed. “That’s better. And man, if you tell anyone what I’m about to do, I will deny it and make fun of your hair behind your back.”
“What? What are you going to do? And what the fuck is wrong with my hair?”
“It’s too long and stupid,” Chris muttered. “You need to cut it. Original Flavor Robbie hated having long hair. Robbie 2.0 looks like a hipster douche. I swear to god if I see a man bun at any time, Tanner will hold you down while I light your head on fire.”
“Get off of me!” I cried, trying to shove Tanner away, but he was dead weight, and it was damn near impossible. He ran his hands up and down my sides, huffing out short, quick breaths against my neck and the side of my face. It dawned on me that he was trying to get our scents to mingle. I didn’t smell like them, and I was pack, which would have irritated the wolf in him.
I sighed.
“There,” Tanner said after what felt like the longest nonsexual rubdown ever. “That’s better.”
“You should feel bad about what you just did.”
“Nah,” he said, hopping up. “I mean, maybe. But nah. Chris, go for it. Make sure you really get it in there.”
I barely had time to flinch before Chris jumped on top of me, doing the same. His movements were almost frantic, and it wasn’t as strange as I expected it to be. Granted, anyone who came across us might have thought otherwise, but thankfully we were alone.
Once Chris had gotten his fill, he rolled off to the side, lying next to me on the grass. “Wow,” he breathed. “That does feel better. Joe was right. And you can never tell him I said that.”
“Trust me,” Tanner said, “we’re not going to talk about this ever again.”
“Thank Christ,” I said, scooting over slightly as Tanner lay down on my other side. He folded his hands over his stomach, and we watched the clouds go by.
I waited, not sure what was supposed to happen. What they needed from me beyond what they’d already done. I owed them everything, and I couldn’t find the words to tell them as much.
Chris didn’t seem to have this problem. He said, “I like being a wolf. Yeah, it took some getting used to, but all in all, it’s not so bad.”
I was cautious, unsure of where he was going. “Would you have….” I couldn’t finish.
But he knew. “Taken the bite anyway?” Tanner asked. “Maybe. One day. Getting older sucks. My back always hurt from working in the garage, and my eyesight was getting pretty bad.”
“I knew it,” Chris said. “You were always squinting at everything.”
Tanner shrugged. “Now I don’t have to worry about it. Sure, I mean, I have to turn into a slobbering giant every time there’s a full moon, and I accidentally hunted a deer and was eating it raw before I realized what I was doing, but I can punch through walls now, so it’s pretty much a fair trade-off.”
“Dude went to town on that deer,” Chris whispered, even though it was pointless to do so. “It was so gross. Like, entrails everywhere.”
“That you ate,” Tanner retorted.
“I have a thing for guts when I’m shifted,” Chris said as if it were nothing. “Don’t hate.”
Tanner laughed. “Don’t hate. Listen to you. You’re in your forties. Start acting like it.”
“It’s not—”
