Willow Creek Werewolves - Ben and Tanner, Chapter Seven (nsfw) (Patreon)

Hi friends! I'm kicking off my birthday month with the next instalment of these two lovebirds! It's also Orctober, so the monthly story for the Little Ghosties tier will be a big ol' orc lad to celebrate the finest of the monster themed months (I'm thoroughly biased and I don't mind admitting it).

This chapter is the last of the super fluffy, domestic mush chapters before The Plot returns and we get some action... Chapter 8 is fully written and just needs another edit, but after that I anticipate there being two more chapters, maybe three, depending on just how much Plot there is.

Content: tooth-rotting fluff, mention of Ben's scars on his chest from Mac's claws, and Junie being more affected by the sight of a werewolf in full shift than she thought she would be (spoilers - she's totally not over Mac...). There's also a sassy, competitive little horsey too, and a couple of Tanner's pack members make a brief appearance.Nsfw content: Tanner's still shifted from the previous night, wet and messy hand and blow-jobs, Tanner pops a knot, and he shows his submissive side again.

Wordcount: 6557

Chapter One (sfw), Two (sfw), Three (sfw), Four (light nsfw), Five (nsfw), Six (nsfw)

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Ben woke slowly, surfacing gradually from the depths of sleep to find the enormous warmth of Tanner’s wolf form wrapped seemingly all the way along his naked body. The dark wolf was pressed against his back without so much as a breath of space between them from the nape of Ben’s neck all the way down to his toes, which were resting on Tanner’s shins. 

His body ached in a way he wasn’t entirely familiar with, or rather, to an extent he wasn’t entirely familiar with, but it felt good all the same. Really good. Tanner had knotted him the previous night, and he got the sense that it was significant somehow, though exactly what it meant for Tanner, he wasn’t sure.

An aching echo of sadness rolled through him though when he realised it was a one-sided bond. Humans didn’t form a complex mating bond the way a wolf did, and he would never get to experience it. Ben did love his wolf fiercely though, even after such a relatively short time together, and he nuzzled back into Tanner’s fur and smiled at the answering huff of breath he got across his throat where Tanner was resting his muzzle on the side of his neck. 

Tanner’s right arm hung heavy across his waist and he had his clawed hand pressed flat against Ben’s belly. The sight and feel of those wickedly sharp, black claw-tips resting against his very vulnerable looking stomach made a frisson of adrenaline zip down Ben’s spine, and the scars on his chest thrummed with the memory of long-passed injury, but it soon faded into something soft and fond. This was a predator at rest and completely at ease in his mate’s presence.

Tanner’s left arm was tucked under Ben’s head, his bicep forming a surprisingly comfortable pillow for Ben’s cheek, and his nose was buried under Ben’s jawline. His long, slow, deep breaths told Ben he was fast asleep. 

For nearly an hour, Ben lay there on his left side, basking in the warmth and soft-blooming ecstasy of just being held, but eventually, his need to use the bathroom began to make itself known, and he groaned.

As Ben shifted again a little while later, the wolf growled, low and sleepy and vaguely annoyed. 

“Tanner…”

He got another sleepy chuff and a wet nose in his ear for his troubles, and the wolf tugged him somehow even closer to his chest. 

“Tan,” he laughed. “Stop squeezing – I need to pee…”

With a final, reluctant growl, Tanner lifted his arm off Ben’s waist and let him get up. When Ben looked back over his shoulder on the way to the bathroom, he saw Tanner’s wolf nosing sleepily at the pillow where Ben’s hair had been splayed out on the cotton, and smiled. 

When he came out a few minutes later, Tanner was lying on his back, and he was clearly much more awake. 

“You ok?” he asked when he saw those huge, black, triangular ears pricked up and a pair of golden eyes blinking at him. 

Slowly, Tanner nodded, and he watched Ben – still as naked as he’d been when he’d passed out the previous night – cross the room to him and lift back the duvet to slot in beside him again.

With a smile, Ben laid his head on Tanner’s huge left shoulder, and hooked his thigh carefully over Tanner’s left leg. 

“Is that ok?” he asked, and Tanner thought about it for a moment, shuffled a little to get his bad leg more comfortable, then nodded a decisive yes. 

Ben splayed his fingers through Tanner’s smoke-soft coat on his chest, and was rewarded with a deep, low-frequency rumble of pleasure as the wolf tipped his head back and closed his eyes. A second later, he started to pant softly. 

“You really like this, don’t you?” Ben murmured, propping himself up on one elbow instead and rubbing his cheek on Tanner’s shoulder while he scratched his nails up and down Tanner’s torso and belly, getting closer and closer on each pass to his sensitive sheath. 

With his right leg, Tanner kicked back the duvet, clearly far too hot beneath it with his thick fur, and he bucked his pelvis upwards as Ben’s knuckles finally nudged against his swollen sheath. The red tip of his cock was already visible, leaking and drooling a thick stream of pre-come into his fur, and Tanner gave a long, needy whine and let his head loll over to look at Ben with huge, pleading eyes, and ears pinned back pathetically.

“God, you shouldn’t be so damned cute, Tanner,” Ben laughed, sitting up and petting his head between his ears. “You’re a werewolf and a predator, and about seven feet tall, and with all these big teeth –” he pulled Tanner’s upper lip up to reveal his massive canines, but all Tanner did was lick his fingers like a puppy. 

Laughing, Ben shook his head and closed his hand around Tanner’s whole muzzle, pushed downwards to tilt his head down, and planted a huge kiss right between his eyes. 

The wolf gave a snort that might have been an indignant huff or it might have been a fond laugh, and flopped down to lie flat on his back again, chin raised to expose his whole throat to Ben’s attentions. 

With Tanner lying there all soft and pliant, Ben moved to kneel between his legs. He stayed there on his knees as he lightly drew his nails back and forth over the velvet of Tanner’s sheath, making his whole body shudder and spasm with each pass. Then, as it filled and slid free of his sheath, Ben worked Tanner’s growing cock in one fist, just watching the way it thickened in his hand as his whole cock emerged from his grey-black sheath. 

He dripped all over Ben’s knuckles, and soon his chest was rising and falling rapidly, and his arms were clamped down by his sides, his claws perilously close to ripping into the sheets. 

“Behave, Tanner. Don’t tear up my bedsheets,” Ben said sternly, and Tanner nodded, fingers twitching away from the cotton. “That’s good.”

At those words, Tanner gave a long, broken moan, and his heavy cock jerked in Ben’s fist. A second later, he gushed pre-come all over himself and lifted his hips again, desperate for more. 

“God, look at you,” Ben crooned. “You’re so perfect, Tanner. All that power and you’re docile as anything in my hand, aren’t you?”

Tanner nodded vaguely, then let his head fall to one side, tongue lolling out onto the pillow, panting. 

When Ben twisted his grip at the top of his stroke, Tanner’s eyes flashed bright gold, then rolled up into his head, and his spine arched weakly. 

Ben leaned down and steadied his huge cock in his hand before laving his tongue up Tanner’s length in a single, hot stripe from the base where his knot would no doubt form if he could get him worked up enough, all the way to his slit where pre-come was leaking out of him in a constant stream. 

The salt-sweet taste of him filled Ben’s senses and he moaned, pressing his lips in a tight circle down over Tanner’s tip, and the wolf nearly sat upright. His right leg bent and he used it to shove his hips up towards Ben’s mouth again, blindly seeking more, and Ben reared back so that he didn’t end up choking on it. 

“Hey, easy,” he warned, squeezing his fingers tightly around his girth. “You’re really fucking big, Tanner…”

Tanner already had his throat bared, but he stretched his head as far to one side as he could in apology, and whined, ears pinned again. 

“It’s ok,” Ben soothed, scratching circles across the thick hair on his belly with the nails of his other hand and watching the way his inky black coat swirled in its wake. “It’s ok. I should have warned you I was going to do that. It’s intense, huh?”

Tanner nodded frantically, cock drooling everywhere again now that Ben wasn’t there to catch it with his tongue. 

“You’re so beautiful, Tanner,” he sighed. “I want to brush this lovely coat for you too…”

At that, Tanner’s whole body gave another massive shudder, his legs quivering too, his hind paws flexing, and he started to whine again. 

“You’d like that?”

Shyly, he nodded. 

“I’ll have to get a brush then. A wide metal comb should work nicely on your fur, unless you have one already?”

He shook his head. 

“You want me to find one for you at some point?”

Tanner nodded, and again the movement was small and shy. 

“You’re allowed to enjoy this, you know?” Ben said with a smile, slowing his attention with his hands without stopping. “You’re allowed to enjoy your mate taking care of you.”

Those words unlocked something in Tanner, and he threw back his head and gave a low, beautiful howl. It was pretty quiet, more like a croon, but Ben felt like he’d poured his whole soul into that rich, warm note, and he tightened his grip on Tanner’s flushed, wet cock. 

“I love you too,” he murmured, blending his voice into the fading song from Tanner’s chest. 

The base of his cock began to swell then, almost imperceptibly at first as Ben kept working his shaft, but as the permanent string of pre-come that connected from his tip to his belly quivered and thrummed, and as his chest began to heave again, it grew noticeably. 

“You’re gonna pop a knot for me again, aren’t you?” Ben murmured, and Tanner nodded, looking stunned and perhaps a little panicky. “What feels good on it?” he asked, carefully closing his other hand around it as much as he could. “That feel good?”

Tanner nodded, then gave another broken howl that dissolved into frantic panting as Ben massaged it. Tanner’s hands pressed into the mattress, claws pricking into the sheet as he shoved his body upwards, seeking more contact on his knot; more pressure. 

“You need more, don’t you?” Ben said softly. “You wish this was locked inside me right now, just like it was last night.”

He leaned down again and swirled his tongue around the red tip of Tanner’s cock, tasting him and moaning again. He sucked the tip of him into his mouth while squeezing the knot at the base, and Tanner was done for. 

With a snarl of warning, he started to come. 

It was so much more than Ben could ever hope to catch with his mouth, so he pulled back and let Tanner come all over his own belly while Ben held his knot in as tight a grip as he dared without hurting him. 

Tanner half sat up under the wrenching force of his orgasm, his torso curling inwards as he came in great, heaving spasms. His lips were pulled back off his teeth into a ferocious, near-silent snarl and his gold eyes were rammed shut, ears pulled back tightly as he gave himself over to the riptide of pleasure that overtook him completely. 

Minutes later, he stopped coming and slumped back into the bed, barely breathing at all. When Ben made to let go of his knot, he whimpered though, so Ben stayed there, squeezing it as if it were locked inside him again, and whenever he gently massaged it, Tanner’s whole body jolted. Finally, he cracked an eye open. 

“No more teasing?” Ben asked, and Tanner just let his eye roll shut again. “That a no or a yes to teasing your knot, Tanner?”

When he didn’t get a response, he squeezed it again, and Tanner let out a puff of air that sounded suspiciously like an ‘oof’. 

He nodded once. 

“You want me to stop?” Ben asked to clarify. “I have no idea what you want right now, Tanner.”

Tanner shrugged unhelpfully then opened both eyes again. He gazed at Ben like he was the moon, and Ben couldn’t help the dopey smile he gave Tanner in return. “God, you’re so cute,” he said again. 

Tanner ostentatiously eyed the huge mess all across his belly fur, and his slowly-softening cock still clasped in Ben’s cupped hands, and then regarded him with a flat look that clearly said, ‘you seriously think I’m cute when I look like this?’

“Yeah,” Ben laughed. “You look very, very cute when you’re all fucked out. Possibly my favourite look on you yet.”

Tanner shook his head in acceptance or defeat, then flopped back to lie there helplessly with Ben’s hands around his knot until it started to go down. 

Ben was still rock hard, and when he’d used a wash cloth to get most of the mess of Tanner’s belly while the wolf just lay there looking at him with unfocused eyes and blown pupils, he slid back in next to him and said, “You mind if I take care of this real quick? Then we can go get some breakfast, and head up to the top pasture if you’re still up for it?”

Tanner nodded slowly, then rolled carefully onto his left side while Ben began to work his own cock. For a few minutes, Ben was completely absorbed in the flood of relief that came from jerking himself off but before too long, he became aware of how still and quiet Tanner was, and he cast him a sidelong look, his own hand slowing on his cock. 

 From his new position on his side, Tanner was staring at the four, eight inch scars on Ben’s chest, gold eyes wide. When Ben turned to look at him, Tanner blinked and lowered his muzzle, and began to run his nose over them. Then his tongue rasped repeatedly over them, as if he could heal them or wash them away, until Ben finally reached up and caressed his ears with his free hand. 

“It’s ok, Tanner. Mac saved me by grabbing me. I’m alive because I have these scars.”

Growling softly, Tanner scent marked him with another pass of his cheek and jaw over Ben’s chest before moving further down Ben’s body, where he nosed insistently at his hand until Ben released his fingers one by one from his length. 

“Mind those teeth, gorgeous,” Ben said with a genuinely apprehensive little laugh. 

Tanner nodded seriously and licked a tentative stripe up his cock while Ben held it steady for him. The combination of sight and sensation was like nothing he’d ever experienced, and it made his brain white out for a second. 

“Fuck, Tanner, that’s so hot,” he gasped. 

The primal sense of danger at seeing a creature like Tanner with his maw of sharp, predatory teeth so close to his cock, combined with the knowledge that Tanner loved him and would never do anything to hurt him, created a heady mix in Ben’s chest, and he let Tanner take his whole cock into his mouth. The pronounced ridges on the soft palate of Tanner’s mouth felt unbelievably good against his whole length, even more so when Tanner closed his jaw a bit more and let his tongue push Ben’s cock up against the roof of his mouth. 

“Ohhh fuck that’s so good,” Ben moaned, his hand falling away as he relinquished everything to Tanner. 

Tanner began drooling everywhere as he bobbed his head back and forth, with his huge, clawed hands resting on Ben’s hips, and before too long, the slick wetness and the pressure all along his length, made Ben’s balls draw up and he knew he was going to come. 

“Tan, I’m gonna –” he gasped, but Tanner only leaned in further, pressing the tip of his cock almost to the back of his mouth. 

His cold nose pressed against Ben’s lower stomach, but the wolf’s head was a lot bigger than a human’s, and Ben wasn’t exactly the biggest guy on the planet, so there was no way he’d actually hit the softness of his throat when Tanner was in this form. Even so, as Tanner gave one last upward push with his tongue, forcing the pre-come that had been leaking constantly from Ben’s slit down his throat and sparking a low, shuddering growl that Ben could feel through his whole pelvis, Ben’s vision flashed white again. 

He came with a shout and spilled down Tanner’s throat, and the wolf swallowed it all like he’d been doing it his whole life. He didn’t spill a drop, despite all the saliva that was pooling around the base of Ben’s cock and down over his balls even as he kept coming, and Tanner gave another rumbling moan. 

When Ben had finished, Tanner eased off him and lapped his tongue carefully around Ben’s sensitive balls and over his hips before nuzzling him and, presumably, combining their scents in a moment of very werewolf behaviour. 

“Tan,” Ben choked softly as the stimulation got a little too much, and Tanner lifted his huge, black head and blinked at him. His pupils were massive again, and he looked so soft and sweet in that moment that Ben reached out a hand for him and said, “C’mere?”

Tanner curled up alongside him, nuzzling his chin and jawline and collarbones. 

“That was so good,” Ben moaned. “I don’t wanna get up now.”

Tanner rumbled something that sounded like an agreement, and the two lay there for a long time before Ben finally gave a huge sigh and patted Tanner’s shoulder. 

“I need to get up and sort the horses…”

Tanner mirrored his sigh, chest rising and falling like a blacksmith’s bellows, but he let Ben get up. Ben didn’t bother showering, wanting Tanner to smell him all day, and after he’d wrestled on some underwear and an old pair of jeans, with a t-shirt that had a hole near the bottom hem, he shoved a grey hoodie on and turned back to face him. 

Still in his wolf form, Tanner was now sitting upright on the edge of the bed, but he looked tense again. 

“You hurting?” Ben asked, wondering if they’d been a bit too enthusiastic, but Tanner shrugged and shook his head in a way that seemed to say ‘yes, but no more than usual’. “What is it then?” 

Ben came over and stood in front of him. With Tanner seated on the bed, their eyes were level, though if Tanner stood up on his hind legs, he’d completely dwarf his human mate. Ben leaned in and kissed the side of his muzzle, compressing the smooth whiskers for a moment before drawing back. “Tanner?”

Tanner looked down at his clawed, paw-like hands and then, extending only the index finger of each, he made a kind of back and forth motion, then cocked his head in a question at Ben. 

Ben frowned. “I don’t understand…”

Tanner exhaled roughly, and plucked at Ben’s hoodie, then chucked him under the chin with his knuckle. He raked his claws through Ben’s hair, and then showed him his wolfish hand, plucking at his own fur the same way he’d just tugged on Ben’s hoodie. Then he made the gesture again, but this time, he pointed his right index finger at Ben to start with, and his left at his own chest. After that, he made the switch gesture. 

“Oh, you talking about shifting?”

He nodded, then tilted his head like a questioning puppy. 

“You’re… asking me if you should shift?”

Again, he nodded. 

“It’s up to you, Tanner. We can take the quad together up to the top pasture, or I can saddle Achilles and you can run with us.”

With a deep breath, Tanner raised his golden eyes back up to Ben’s face, ears slightly turned back. The effect was like a dog that couldn’t quite believe he’d just heard the word ‘dinner’ or ‘walk’, and Ben’s mouth twitched into a wonky smile. 

“It’s your call. Do you want some breakfast? Do you want to shift back for food and then back again for later?”

Tanner shook his head vehemently at that. 

“No to lots of shifting?” he asked, and Tanner repeated the gesture. “I guess it takes a lot out of a wolf, huh?”

He nodded. Yes. 

“Fair. Though I’m sure June wouldn’t mind if you scarfed down a few bacon rolls as a wolf. I’m not feeding you from my hand though.”

He froze, looking strangely guilty, and Ben laughed. 

“Maybe I will then. Another time. Still, we can stick a few in the saddlebags in case we get hungry later. Actually, if I know Junie, she’ll pack us something anyway. Shall I go check on the horses and then saddle up Achilles then?”

Tanner swallowed visibly and looked nervous. 

“Don’t worry, he’ll get used to you in no time. He’s seen Mac in his wolf form in the past, and horses don’t forget stuff like that. I’ll get him tacked up and then I’ll bring him into the yard. You can come join us out in the open. You’ll hear me from here if I call out, won’t you?”

Yes. 

“Great. Stay here then, and try not to freak yourself out in the meantime, ok?”

Tanner chuffed out a sarcastic, knowing laugh and then leaned forwards to nose fondly at Ben’s neck, rubbing his cheek and jaw over Ben’s head until his hair was in wild disarray and Ben was laughing and shoving him playfully off. 

Still laughing, he headed down the stairs and turned left at the bottom to go to the tack room at the other end of the barn. The horses seemed settled and calm, despite the proximity of a werewolf, and after he’d gone through the barn with a wheelbarrow taking care of each one, Ben finally returned with Achilles’ bridle and saddle, and the horse whickered warmly and came over to him in the large stall. 

“Hey there,” Ben smiled. “You ready to go for a ride?”

When Achilles began inspecting his shoulder and neck, blowing hot air out as he investigated the scent of the werewolf on him, he gave another whicker and scraped his hoof on the floor. 

“I know,” Ben said, rubbing the whorl of white hair on the blaze between his eyes with his knuckles. “It’s not Mac, but that’s Tanner. He’s a werewolf too. You remember Mac, don’t you? June says you used to race him up the pasture sometimes. You wanna race Tanner? He’s got really long legs, so I bet he’s as fast as you. Gonna be a close one, buddy…”

The horse obviously didn’t understand his words, but he picked up on his tone and gave a snort and a loud whinny, raising his head and flaring his nostrils as he called in excitement, and Ben laughed. 

“Come on then. Let me just brush out your coat and check your hooves before we go.”

Five minutes later, Ben was leading the bay out into the yard by his reins, with most of the stuff he’d need to repair the wire in the fences lashed to the saddle and tack somehow, or stowed in a saddlebag, and as he passed the stairs, he called up to Tanner. “Ok to come down now, wolfie.”

He received a disgruntled half-yowl for the nickname that sounded more like a wet cat than a werewolf, laughed, and kept walking the horse out into the open space in front of the barn. If Achilles was going to be nervous about being around a wolf, Ben thought he’d be less freaked out if he had space to get away. 

When Tanner poked his dark head around the open barn doors and stepped gingerly out into the late autumn sunshine on all fours, Achilles lurched around and stared at him, snorting, but he didn’t run. He just stood there, rooted the spot, processing what he was seeing. 

“Easy,” Ben said to the horse, petting his neck and keeping a firm hold on the reins in his other hand. “Steady, boy. It’s ok, Tanner. Keep coming over.”

Tanner walked on all fours, his long, vaguely humanoid limbs looking a little awkward given that he wasn’t at a full lope, and then paused, sinking down to rest on his haunches for a moment to let the horse get used to the sight of him. 

Achilles was still snorting like a dragon, ears pricked so far forwards they looked like they might pop off his head any second, his legs rigid, and as the front door of the main farmhouse opened with a squeak, he jumped and spooked. 

He skittered sideways into Ben and sent him staggering a few paces before Ben steadied both of them and took a big, calming breath. 

“Steady,” he murmured again. “Easy, boy. It’s just Aunt Junie, ok? Calm down.”

June walked a few paces out onto the gravel and took in the scene, then her gaze moved to Tanner and she stared at him for a long moment. 

“God, you’re built a little different from Mac, but it’s still strange to see a shifted werewolf again. May I come over?” she asked him. 

Tanner nodded once, and she approached at a slow, calm walk that was mostly for Achilles’ sake, but Ben sensed she was experiencing some world-shaking waves of nostalgia for Mac as she approached the shifted werewolf. 

The bay gelding watched her go over to him, and, emboldened by her behaviour or perhaps simply not wanting to be out-done, he took a curious step towards Tanner as well. 

June came to a halt at a polite distance from Tanner and regarded him with a wry smile. “I hope it’s ok to say that you’re a very beautiful wolf, Tanner,” she said gently. 

Tanner ducked his big head, ears swivelling back with embarrassment, but he let his tail wag against the gravel once to show her he didn’t mind. 

She and Ben laughed fondly, and Ben led Achilles the rest of the way over to him. The horse came to a halt right in front of him, snorted once, then stuck his nose forwards to inspect Tanner, who had frozen completely and rather comically: head down, shoulders hunched, eyes big and wary of spooking the horse again. 

The horse snuffed at his head between his flexed-back ears while Tanner regarded him warily with his head ducked to allow it. 

Then the horse let out a massive sigh and swished his tail once, and relaxed his entire body. He even rested one hind hock and licked and chewed to broadcast just how nonchalant he was now, and gave another huge sigh that made him seem like he was suddenly terribly bored with the whole situation. 

Tanner looked from Ben to June and cocked his head, and Ben laughed. 

“Guess that means we’re all good now,” he said, stepping into the stirrup and swinging himself lithely up into the saddle, landing lightly on Achilles’ back and shortening his reins in readiness to set off.

 Tanner watched him intently with those golden eyes. He clearly liked the sight of Ben sitting astride a powerful horse, controlling him only with the lightest touch on the reins and the muscles in his legs. 

Achilles raised his head and shuffled where he stood on the gravel, now eager to be going, and June laughed quietly at him. “Wait there a minute,” she said to Ben. “I’ve packed you some bacon rolls for later.”

Ben looked down at Tanner, who was still staring at him with his eyes wide and his ears pricked forwards. “Told you,” he muttered. 

While June fetched their lunch, then returned and slipped it into one of the leather saddlebags behind Ben’s thighs, Tanner just sat on the gravel and silently watched Ben sitting up there on Achilles’ back. 

“What?” Ben asked when his aunt had returned to the farmhouse and left them to it with a warning to be careful, even though they were on their own land. 

Tanner’s jaw slackened just a little but he shook his head. Then he stood, shook out his coat, and jutted his head towards the gate in the nearby pasture fence-line in a ‘lets’ go’ gesture. 

“Nice to have someone to get the gates for me,” he said as Tanner pushed himself up onto his hind legs using the bars of the metal gate and unlatched it with his lupine hands. He used his claws to pluck it deftly from the catch, and Ben shifted a little in his saddle. How was that attractive too?

Tanner shot him a look as Ben guided Achilles past him through the opening with just his legs. He inhaled conspicuously, then snorted as he dropped back down to all fours after closing it again. Busted.

“I’ll have to let Achilles warm up,” Ben told him, nudging the horse forward with a minute squeeze of his calves against the horse’s belly. “A walk through this pasture and a trot up the next one should be enough though. You good with that?”

Tanner nodded and loped quietly off through the long grass, following his nose like a massive hunting hound. 

He wove a knotwork of silver pathways through the summer-spent grasses, checking in on Ben and Achilles’ progress through the field every now and again. By the time Ben was approaching the large, fallen ash tree that marked the boundary between the lower and middle pastures, Achilles was feeling sprightly and keen to get going beneath him, so Ben nudged him into a lively trot, rising out of the saddle with the movement. 

When Tanner’s growl shivered through the grasses a minute later though, Ben sat back immediately and Achilles slowed, his ears alert and uncertain. 

“Tanner?” Ben said, not bothering to raise his voice, as he knew how good a werewolf’s hearing was. He shuffled in the saddle and turned to look behind him at the point where Tanner had begun to catch up with them again. 

For answer, Tanner chuffed in alarm at him, and turned his attention back to the treeline off to the east. It was the same treeline from which he’d come pelting as an injured child, so Ben felt an extra pang of fear go through him, even as he tried to steady his breathing and keep the horse beneath him calm. The wolf was tense, alert, and growling. 

“What is it?”

Then a strange thing happened. Ben thought for a second he was seeing two Tanners. A black-coated werewolf stepped from the treeline and dropped down to all fours, looking eerily like Tanner, with his lithe form, dark fur, and golden eyes. 

“You know him?”

Tanner nodded slowly, and relaxed a bit, though his back stayed stiff and his tail hung tense behind him. 

As the wolf approached him, Tanner dropped his head a few inches and tilted his head to one side a little way in a show of polite submission, though it wasn’t complete obeisance.  Ben caught a slight movement in the trees and realised there was a second wolf, hanging back in the shadows. This one was massive, with a snow-white pelt and strangely pale eyes.

The strange wolf rubbed his body alongside Tanners in greeting as he passed, and then he turned his golden stare on Ben for a long time. 

“Uh… hi,” Ben said uncertainly. “I’m sorry I don’t know you, but if Tanner’s cool with it, you’re welcome here too…”

The wolf just stared at him, before inclining his head a little in a slightly sarcastic little ‘why, thank you, human’, and turning to retreat to the treeline again. On his way past Tanner, he gave a little chuffing bark that sounded like a warning, then he sailed over the fence on the far side like a show jumper and loped off into the dark pine trees with the white wolf at his side.

After they’d vanished, that dark fur blending perfectly with the shadows, Tanner turned slowly to regard Ben. 

“All good?” Ben asked.

Yes, he nodded. 

“So… the one with the dark pelt looked a lot like you…” he said as a memory surfaced. 

Yes.

“I thought you kinda looked like your cousin when I picked you up the other day. Was that him? Nico, was it?”

Yes. 

Mystery solved. “You good to go on?” Ben asked, gesturing up the hill behind him with a twitch of his head. 

Yes.

And with that, he wheeled Achilles around and picked up a trot again.

Seeing that Tanner had circled quickly around to catch up with them, and was now taking up an easy lope, with his back left leg lifted up and barely touching the ground with each stride, Ben asked Achilles for a steady canter, and turned him head on to face the ash tree. 

Tanner gave a soft yip of delight and drew level with them just as Achilles prepared to jump the tree trunk, and the pair of them flew over it in unison, landing light and easy on the other side in almost lockstep. Ben threw back his head and gave a whooping laugh, and Tanner let out a soft, mellow howl as he kept pace with the horse.

Before too long, Ben slowed again to let Achilles continue warming up properly, and Tanner dropped back into a trot as well. 

“Damn, that was fun,” Ben laughed, glancing down at the wolf loping along like their own dark shadow in the grass. 

Tanner sneezed, shaking his head, and looked up at Ben with his tongue lolling happily. 

“Race you when we get through that next gate?” 

Yes. 

“I should warn you, Achilles is fast when I give him his head…”

Tanner growled at him, but not loudly or fiercely enough to frighten the horse, and he fixed him with a contemptuous glare. 

“Ohhh, you’re fast too, are you, wolfie?” Ben grinned. “I guess we’ll see.”

Tanner pulled his lips back into a silent snarl, and loped off up the field to open the gate ahead of them. 

When Achilles trotted through it without slowing, as if it was the starter gate at a cross country race, the horse knew what was up. His head was tossing and he reared, bouncing off the ground onto his hind legs in a move that might have been at home among the Lipizzaners of the Spanish Riding School. 

“Steady, boy!” Ben laughed, absorbing the movement with practised ease. The horse had broadcast the move long before he did it, so it wasn’t exactly as if he’d taken Ben by surprise with it. 

The moment Tanner let the metal latch clank back into place behind them, the wolf was off like a bolt from a crossbow, flying across the grass towards the top of the hill.

Achilles saw him go, and set off at a dead flat gallop a second later, ears folded back against the rushing wind as they both drank it down like nectar. The competitive little shit. 

Ben was already laughing as he leaned forwards in the saddle, lifting his weight out of the seat, and he gave the horse his head and let him run as fast as he wanted to. He hadn’t even needed to touch his heels to Achilles’ sides. 

Damn though, Tanner really was fast. 

Ben would hardly have known that he lived with chronic pain the way he pelted up that pasture, and he could absolutely see why he spent most of the hours of his day as a wolf if it gave him that much freedom of movement in comparison. 

He thought briefly back to the stiff, syncopated gait he’d seen when they’d first met up at Marigold’s Cafe, and the way Tanner had gingerly lowered himself down into the chair with white knuckles and a bitten-back grimace. 

Now, his spine bunched and flexed like a greyhound’s as he flew up the pasture, and Ben felt Achilles kick into another gear when the gelding realised he actually stood a good chance of losing this race. 

Ben and Achilles crested the hill just behind Tanner, and as the werewolf slowed at the approach of the final, rickety fence, a bunch of Junie’s russet-red, heritage breed cattle came into sight in a little dip in the landscape. As he caught up to the wolf, Ben slowed and guided Achilles into a lazy circle at the top of the field to let the momentum fizzle out and let both Achilles and Tanners’ lungs recover. 

Tanner was panting and heaving, drool dripping from his lolling tongue, and as he slowed from a lope to a trot, Ben noticed that he was limping and favouring his right side even more than usual. A twist of guilt went through him at having suggested the race in the first place, but Tanner was a grown man and perfectly capable of setting his own boundaries. If he hadn’t been up to pushing his body like that, he wouldn’t have done it. At least, Ben hoped as much.

Ben slackened Achilles’ reins and turned him towards the fence, trotting him steadily along it until he reached the first of the dodgy bits of wiring. He sat his weight back in the saddle, signalling for the horse to come to a halt. 

Sweat darkened Achilles’ chest and stomach despite the fresh autumn air, and as Ben hopped down and landed silently in the grass, he turned to watch Tanner making his way cautiously along the fence-line, staring warily at the nearby cattle, who’d noticed him now and were staring back. 

“They’ll be fine,” he said. “But maybe don’t try and round ‘em up or anything…” 

Tanner snorted and came right up to Ben where he was standing with Achilles. He was still panting hard, but he crowded close, barged his head and right ear into Ben’s ribcage with obvious affection, and wagged his tail a few times. 

“You liked that, huh?” Ben asked. 

Yes.

“You wanna help me with these fences or are you gonna plonk yourself down with Achilles for a bit?”

For answer, Tanner gave him another ‘hug’, nuzzling closer and closer until he almost threatened to knock Ben off his feet. 

Laughing, Ben leaned down and wrapped his arms around Tanner’s neck and hugged him back fiercely. Surprised, Tanner let out a sudden rumble of pleasure and tucked his head in around Ben’s neck, completing the embrace, and then, before Ben knew what was happening, Tanner dropped into a sideways roll into the grass, taking Ben down with him and cushioning his fall by catching him in his arms. 

Achilles shied a little as they vanished into the long grass, then snorted at them and looked at them in bafflement as if to say ‘what the heck are you two doing?’. Ben let out a guffawing laugh at the comical expression and then buried his face in Tanner’s thick ruff, letting the wolf hold him. All the while, Tanner was rumbling happily deep in his chest. 

“I love you,” Ben whispered into that soft, dark fur and he meant it from the depths of his soul already. “I love you.”

Tanner went still, then tipped his head back and let out a howl of pure joy that rang off the trees in the distance and echoed along the sloping valley down to the farmhouse below. 

Ben shivered in his arms at the haunting sound of it, and hugged him so tightly it almost cut off the sound. Tanner swatted at him, then lowered his head and nuzzled him and left the most delicate array of little kisses around his jawline, light as cherry blossom on his skin. 

I love you too.

__

Hope you enjoyed! Looking forward to your comments as always, and I hope you're having a good start to the best and spookiest of months! Sorry it's been a while since I've updated this series. I'm also working on two other stories for the 'Willow Creek Werewolves' universe, with a third possibly in the works...

Catch up on my masterlist of Patreon stories here.