Were wolf Claimed

Chapter One

Draven lifted his lupine head and sniffed the air. He couldn’t get enough of it. Compared to downtown Toronto, the scents up north in Muskoka were clean and fresh. Maybe that was why he felt drawn to come to the lake house on Buck Lake more often than not lately. It was good to get away from the smog, to run through the bush as a wolf.

Then there was the whole Rick fiasco. God, Draven couldn’t believe he had called that scumbag a friend. Rick was the lowest of the low, and deserved being kicked out of their pack. The other man’s last words to Draven had been a threat to find him and make him pay for turning Rick in. His ex pack mate knew Draven had a lake house here, but Draven doubted Rick would be so stupid as to follow him. If it came down to a fight, Draven was the stronger of the two. And Rick knew it.

Draven loped through the trees, enjoying the fact there was no one else around for miles. No mortals he’d have to hide from while in this form. He’d made sure when he bought the lakefront property twenty years before that he could purchase the lots on either side of it. He liked his privacy and didn’t want mortal neighbors intruding upon it.

Lowering his nose to the ground he smelled the scent of a rabbit that had recently been in the area. Draven didn’t bother to try to pick up its trail. He wasn’t in the mood to chase one for the fun of it. He’d arrived late that morning and hadn’t been able to ignore the call of the great outdoors. He’d already been out running for a few hours and it was now early afternoon.

He continued on his way, making the wide loop he’d set for himself back toward the house. The sun that managed to shine through the thick foliage high above him was hot. It was a perfect day for a swim. He intended to jump into the lake and do just that very soon.

Reaching the back of the place he considered his second home, Draven reached for the magic deep inside him and shifted to his human form, willing his athletic shorts and muscle shirt on at the same time. He’d go inside, change into his bathing suit and head for his dock.

Draven had only taken a step in the direction of the sliding glass door when he heard a male voice swearing up a storm. Sound traveled better over the water, but with his sensitive werewolf hearing, he knew the man wasn’t far from the waterside of his property. Deciding he’d better investigate, he changed direction and headed toward the front of the house.

He spotted a small boat on the lake about twenty feet away from the end of his dock. A solitary man stood at the back of it, smacking the hell out of the top of the outboard motor.

Draven quickly walked down the well-worn path to the dock. He smiled as the man swore again.

“You goddamn mother fucker, start already.”

“You sound as if you could use a little help,” Draven said loud enough for the man to hear.

The other man’s head whipped around, causing the boat to rock. He used his hand to shade his eyes as he looked at Draven. “Maybe a little. This piece-of-crap motor won’t start. It seemed fine when I left the cottage.”

As if to show the truth of his words, he took hold of the manual pull start and roughly yanked on it. After the third time, the boat rocked so violently the man lost his balance and fell over the side into the water. Draven roughly pulled off his shirt, prepared to dive in after him, but the other man surfaced a few seconds later.

He smacked the water. “Just fucking perfect.” He swam closer to the boat and hauled himself into it.

“Why don’t you use one of the oars to paddle over to my dock,” Draven called. “I’m pretty handy when it comes to motors.”

The man snorted. “I would if I could. Dumb-ass that I am, I didn’t think to look to see if there were any in the boat before I left. And wouldn’t you know it, there aren’t. I’ve drifted, allowing the current to take me wherever it wants for the last twenty minutes.”

“Hold on. I have some rope that should be long enough to reach you.”

Draven took off at a run and went to his boathouse situated close to the dock. Inside, he grabbed the length of coiled rope out of the bottom of his power boat before heading back outside. At the end of the dock, he tied it to one of the attached metal rings.

“Are you ready to catch?” he asked the man.

“Yeah, but I don’t know if you’re going to be able throw it this far.”

Without answering, Draven flung the coil of rope out over the water, putting all of his werewolf strength behind it. It came up a little short, but the other man was able to fish the end out of the lake. Seeing he had a good hold of it, Draven pulled, towing the boat toward the dock. Once it was parallel with it, he held the side of the small water craft while the man used another rope to tie it to the dock.

Draven backed away as his visitor stepped up beside him. The breeze changed direction, blowing in his face. Drawing in a deep breath of the man’s scent, realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He stiffened, fighting not to pounce on him as his mating urge roared to life. His cock instantly became hard. It was all he could do to stop the growl of need that built inside him from pushing past his lips.

Completely unaware of Draven’s state, his would-be mate said, “Thanks, man. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t happened to come along. I’m Wyatt, by the way.” He stuck out his hand.

“Draven,” he said, gritting his teeth against the shot of arousal the simple touch of shaking hands caused.

“Do you think you can fix the motor enough for me to get back to the cottage, Draven?”

“I’ll give it a shot. I just need to get some tools first. You must be new around here. I haven’t seen you before.”

“You could say that. I’ve rented a cottage on the other end of the lake for a couple of weeks. I thought I’d try a little fishing.” Wyatt motioned to the rod and tackle box that sat on the bottom of the boat.

While Wyatt spoke, Draven ran his gaze over him, taking all of him in. His would-be mate was about four inches shorter than him, standing around six feet. His body was muscular, though not as big as Draven. And from the way Wyatt’s wet t-shirt and shorts clung to him, there didn’t appear to be an inch of fat on him anywhere. His short, dark-blond hair just brushed the top of his collar. Wyatt also had rugged good looks.

Wyatt came across as straight, but that didn’t mean he was. And just because he set Draven’s mating urge off, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that Wyatt was into men. It just meant he was the one for Draven, who happened to be. At fifteen hundred years old, he’d known for a long time that a woman would never be his mate. He’d slept with one once, but had found it totally unsatisfying and unappealing.

Pulling himself back to the present, Draven found Wyatt’s hazel-eyed gaze directed on him. He realized he’d been silent for a bit too long. Draven cleared his throat, trying to pull it together. It was hard to concentrate on anything else with the mating urge riding his ass, making him so horny for the man in front of him he wanted to go down on his knees and suck Wyatt’s cock.

He didn’t. Instead, he said, “The fishing usually isn’t good this time of day. It’s better to go out in the early evening. That’s when they start biting. I think I know which cottage you’re staying at. It’s the only one on the lake that is a rental, as far as I know.”

“I’ll have to try later then,” Wyatt said in return. “If the boat is up and running again, that is.”

“Let me get some tools and see if I can get the motor to start.”

Drawing one more lungful of his would-be mate’s scent, Draven felt it fill him as he burned it to his brain to never be forgotten. He turned and walked down the dock toward the boathouse where he kept his toolbox.

Wyatt watched Draven walk away and felt the tension in his body slowly leave him. It had been a strain to act as if nothing was really out of the ordinary when it had been far from it. Getting his first look of Draven up close, Wyatt had been instantly attracted to him. The man was his walking wet dream with model good looks, longish brown hair and light-green eyes. The man also had a body of a bodybuilder, all cut and well padded with muscle. Plus, Wyatt liked the fact Draven was taller than him. He was always attracted to a man who was bigger than himself.

He shook his head at his musings. The odds were very good that Draven was as straight as they came. Most men who looked like him were. And given Draven’s size, there was no way Wyatt would test the waters. He didn’t feel like finding out how much strength Draven could put behind a punch.

It only took a few minutes for Draven to return, carrying a small toolbox. Wyatt couldn’t help running his gaze over him as he watched him walk down the dock. God, he wished he could explore that hard body with his lips and tongue. Men who looked like Draven were few and far between, and were usually way out of Wyatt’s league, if they happened to be gay in the first place.

Drawing even with Wyatt, Draven said, “You can stay on the dock, since there isn’t a whole lot of room on the boat.”

“Sounds good to me. One dunking is enough.”

Draven stepped into the boat, and with ease walked to the back to the outboard motor. Wyatt followed his movements with his gaze, marveling at how easily the other man was able to keep his balance without rocking the small craft. Christ, if Wyatt tried that he’d end up in the drink for sure.

Once Draven had the cover off the engine he bent over, giving it a closer look. Wyatt stared at his wide, tanned back, watching the muscles move as he poked at a few of the parts of the motor. Wyatt bit back a moan, resisting the urge to adjust his hardening cock in his shorts. He was torturing himself, but he couldn’t stop looking at Draven.

“I think I see the problem,” Draven said after a few minutes. “This is a newer engine, so it’s a four-stroke, which means oil needs to be added separately instead of using an oil-and-gas mixture that older two-stroke engines require.” He straightened and looked at Wyatt. “From the looks of it, oil hasn’t been added for a long time and there wasn’t enough, so the motor is seized. I doubt an oil change has ever been done on it.”

Wyatt blew out a breath. “So in other words, it’s completely fucked.”

“Basically. Sorry, but I can’t fix that kind of damage.”

“Well, shit. There goes some of the fishing I’d planned to do. I was hoping to troll for perch. You can’t catch those from the shore.”

Draven replaced the cover on the engine before stepping onto the dock. He met Wyatt’s gaze. “There’s not many of them left. What I’ve been mostly catching is sunfish, rock bass, catfish and a few smallmouth bass. The first two you can’t eat—one being full of bones and the other, worms.”

“Good to know.” Wyatt did his best to keep his gaze on Draven’s, but it was a losing battle. It skimmed down the man in front of him, taking in his well-defined chest and abs. He forced his gaze to rise back to his face just before he reached the crotch of Draven’s shorts.

Draven picked up his toolbox. “It looks as if I’ll have to give you a tow with my boat back to the cottage where you’re staying.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.” Wyatt took a deep breath before he said, “For all your help, would you like to have a beer with me? It doesn’t have to be right now if you’re busy. You can stop by later.”

He held himself still, waiting for Draven’s answer. He hoped the other man would say yes. Wyatt might not be able to touch Draven the way he wanted, but he wouldn’t mind getting to know him better as a friend.

Draven smiled, one that made Wyatt’s cock twitch. “A beer sounds good. I’m also in the mood to do some fishing later today. Why don’t I take you out on my boat? That way your holiday won’t be completely ruined.”

Wyatt nodded like an idiot. “I’d like that. If we do go fishing, I can cook some burgers for us to go along with the beer, then we can go out in your boat.” The words came out in a rush, making him sound completely desperate, at least to his ears.

“You know what? I’ll take you up on that offer,” Draven said with another devastating smile. “I only arrived this morning and I haven’t had a chance to go into Gravenhurst to buy some groceries. There isn’t a whole lot in the fridge.”

For the first time Wyatt glanced at the house behind Draven. It was larger than all the other cottages in the area. From what he could see of it, it was gorgeous and the type of place he wished he could have afforded to rent for his holiday.

“You renting as well?” Wyatt asked.

Draven shook his head. “No. It’s mine. I’ve had it for a number of years. I had the house totally rebuilt not too long ago, since I seem to spend more time up here than I have in the past.”

If Draven could afford to do that, he had to have a hell of a lot more money than Wyatt did. “It’s really nice. Now I’m not so sure if you’ll be comfortable in my dinky little cottage.”

“As long as there are food and beer, it’s all good.”

It was Wyatt’s turn to smile. “There’s plenty of beer, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Then I’m definitely in. Let’s get your boat towed to your cottage, then I’ll come back whenever you think those burgers will be ready.”

“I’ll shoot for around five. That way we can eat early before we go out fishing.”

“Good plan. I’ll put my toolbox away then get my boat out of the boathouse.”

Once Draven turned and walked away, Wyatt couldn’t stop grinning like a dork. He reminded himself it wasn’t a date, but he still had that excited feeling in the pit of his stomach he got when he met a new guy and they went out for the first time. He still had no reason to assume Draven was anything but straight, though that didn’t mean Wyatt couldn’t dream.

The sound of a powerful engine being started drew Wyatt’s attention to the nearby boathouse. A few seconds later the door on the end lifted and a sleek powerboat slowly backed out. It looked as if Draven had the fancy toy to go with his fancy lake house.

The larger boat pulled up to the dock and Draven cut the engine. He secured it before he hopped out and rejoined Wyatt. “Tying your boat to the back of mine is the best way to do this. I just won’t be able to go too fast.”

With a little jockeying about, they managed to get his boat tied up behind Draven’s and then they were leaving the dock. Wyatt sat in the seat at the back just to make sure nothing went wrong during the towing. His gaze kept straying over to Draven as the other man drove the powerful boat. One time he thought for sure Draven turned his head to stare at him with something like desire showing in his light-green eyes, but Draven quickly looked away.

Once they reached the other side of the lake, Wyatt directed Draven to his rental’s dock. It didn’t take them long to secure the smaller boat. He made a mental note to contact the owner of the cottage about the motor no longer working.

Straightening from tying the rope he worked on, Wyatt turned to face Draven. “Thanks for the tow. I guess I’ll see you in a little while then.”

Draven nodded. “I’ll be here right at five.”

They stood silently staring at each other. Wyatt held his breath when he saw what he thought was hunger lingering in Draven’s eyes. He swallowed, not sure if he was reading the other man wrong or not. Afraid to move in case he was mistaken and acted on the desire Draven roused in him, he waited to see what Draven would do next.

The air left Wyatt’s lungs in a whoosh as Draven turned without a word and got back into his boat. The engine roared to life and the powerful watercraft sped away.

Wyatt walked toward the end of the dock, now completely confused. If Draven was in fact straight, he wouldn’t have looked at him like that, would he? Just thinking about it made his cock throb. He’d have to wait and see what happened later. And Wyatt hoped to god he read the signs Draven gave him correctly.