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after months in vast deserts and high mountains. He
longed for silence and peace again, for sunrises
unspoiled by pollution and streams as clear as diamonds.
"I told you Chicago was dreadfully noisome and
loud, Jack," Gerard said, facing the windows. "And this
expo would be filled with nothing but windbags. We
haven't seen the half of it yet."
A soft whish sounded behind him and he felt energy
tingling over his skin like so many pinpricks. He turned.
Instead of the silvery wolf, he saw a man standing
there -- completely naked, well-muscled, with thick dark
hair to his shoulders, a short, scruffy beard, and
glittering eyes. He was handsome, a fine specimen of
strapping young manhood. He was smiling widely,
cunning and wolfish.
"I love it!" The naked man strode to the windows,
arms spread. "I've never been to Chicago. It's so good to
be back in America." He leaned against the glass.
"Come away from the window," Gerard admonished.
"Do you want the whole city to see you?" Gerard
gripped his arm. "Jack!"
Jack laughed and turned, and to Gerard's surprise,
grabbed him around the waist and lifted him off his feet.
Gerard yelped as Jack spun him around, astonished he
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could pick him up so easily when Gerard was nearly a
head taller. But then, Jack was the strong, brutish type.
Jack put him back on his feet and Gerard's cheeks
were burning.
"I promise I'll get you home to Texas," Gerard said.
"I had to do this though. My father would have been hurt
if I didn't come."
"I understand." Jack stretched his arms out, flexing
his fingers. "It's so good to be out of that wolf body. All
that time on the ship, I was starting to think I would be a
wolf forever." He wiggled his toes against the carpet and
then rocked on his heels.
"You can't go out of the room like this, though,"
Gerard said. "Someone might recognize you."
Jack rushed over to the bed. He flung himself out on
his back and stretched his arms and legs, sighing
luxuriously. Gerard attempted to avert his gaze from the
long, lean line of Jack's body, as well as his cock resting
against his thigh, but failed terribly.
"No one is going to recognize me," Jack said. "I
hardly think the Johannesburg police have alerted the
American authorities to the escape of a petty thief."
"You're quite a bit more than a petty thief. You
robbed a museum."
"What I stole belongs to my family. So it's mine,
technically." Jack rolled onto his side and propped
himself up on his elbow. "I've missed you."
"You've been with me all along."
"Yes, snuggled up to you as a wolf." He lifted a hand
and beckoned. "Licking your face. Eating out of your
palm."
Gerard chuckled. "That was endearing." He strolled
toward the bed. "I don't think you should go home to
Texas."
"I have to."
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"They'll look for you there. A criminal should never
run to familiar territory."
Gerard reached the bed, and Jack shot a hand out and
grabbed his wrist. He pulled Gerard down. "I'm not a
criminal," Jack murmured, as Gerard hovered over him,
kneeling on the mattress.
"You don't think so, and I don't think so, but the
authorities do."
"Let them think what they like. The truth will set us
free."
Gerard didn't agree, but ceased to argue as Jack
pulled him down against his body -- warm, bare,
something Gerard hadn't been able to touch in weeks.
Jack's mouth was delicious as their lips met in a hot, wet
embrace. Their tongues tangled, mingling as their
breath. It had been far too long.
Jack broke the kiss and said in a husky tone, "Allow
me to divest you of your finery, young gentleman."
Gerard chuckled. "I had to dress this way. It's
expected of me here. Civilization and all."
"You've not been civilized a day since I met you."
Jack undid the brass buttons of Gerard's waistcoat, a
silk and brocade thing he'd had for ages, probably
unfashionable now but Gerard didn't care. Jack then
removed Gerard's belt and opened his trousers. He
pulled open the buttons of Gerard's shirt, so hasty one
popped off and bounced across the coverlet. Gerard
frowned.
"I don't have many respectable clothes," Gerard said.
"Stop ruining the ones I do have."
"Then stop wearing them."
At last, clothes removed, boots tossed to the floor,
Gerard was equal with his naked companion, his lover
he'd come to know with great intimacy over the past
year. Gerard slid his fingers through Jack's hair and
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inhaled the scent that clung to his skin. He could still
smell the wolf, primal and raw, but also the man, the
scent of his sweat and the human odor of his skin.
"I'm the one who does the sniffing," Jack said.
"Remind me what's so lovely about being a human,
though."
Gerard reminded Jack with firm kisses across his
chest and down to his taut belly, by nuzzling in the soft
dark hair below his navel, and by dragging his tongue
against the silken skin of his groin. He reminded Jack by
taking him in his mouth and feeling the thick stiffness of
his manhood part his jaws to the point of aching. He
listened to Jack's growls and whines and smiled around
the turgid organ, thinking man and beast were never
really far apart at all.
But a beast had never been as careful as when Jack
caressed him, gathered Gerard against his body,
possessive, but not fierce. Gerard drew away to fetch the
lubricant from his bag, a sweet-smelling oil he'd picked
up in a market in South Africa.
Jack prepared him with thick fingers, the invasion
uncomfortable at first, then delightful. Gerard gasped
against the coverlet and Jack hummed approval against
his shoulder. Gerard lifted his hips, silently demanding
more, his cock heavy between his spread thighs.
"I intend to keep you up all night," Jack murmured
close to his ear. "Making up for lost time. So if you want
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