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the sounds of things…”
Danny in the Dark
39
Lars glanced at him. “And you’re sure they’re mates?”
Danny bit his tongue. He could guess why Lars was so reluctant to
believe, but Alex seemed to take his comment differently, continuing
their cryptic conversation. “You still don’t believe, do you?”
“I’m just trying to figure out who would end up mated to Jasper.
He’s probably screwed every willing man in the state of Texas.”
Danny’s head jerked up. Two weeks he’d been in the house, but
he still couldn’t get used to the easy way the brothers talked about
things together—everything. Even, apparently, their sex lives. It was
all right, though, the way they joked around with each other like that.
It made things feel comfortable around here, like a real family.
Things had scarcely been like that with Danny’s parents, where
everyone was always nervous and on edge all the time, always trying
to keep everything so damn quiet, as if the truth would break them if
they said it out loud. He winced, thinking about how bad things had
been then, how lonely it was. When he’d taken the steak knife from
the diner, it had been as much out of loneliness and desperation as
anything else. Now, in a house full of people, he could hardly believe
it had only been two weeks ago that things had been so bad.
Maybe thinking about a more permanent arrangement here wasn’t
such a bad idea after all, he considered, but that was as far as his line
of thought went.
All logic fled from his mind when a door upstairs flew open and
sixty pounds of snarling, rabid wolf came bounding down the stairs.
* * * *
“Damn it, Ben!” Jasper shouted, following close on the heels of
the wild young wolf as he stumbled down the stairs after it, stark
naked except for the pillow he was holding over his cock.
As he reached the foot of the stairs, he tackled the wolf to the
floor, pinning him to the ground with both hands. He dropped his
40
Ellen Ginsberg
head within an inch of the wolf’s face. “Calm down,” he growled,
vying for dominance with the animal squirming under him.
For a few happy days when he was sixteen, Danny had gotten a
job at an animal shelter. In spite of the beast inside of him—or
perhaps because of it—he had always loved animals. His dad had
done everything he could to discourage the trend, which he saw as
entirely too close to accepting his own wolf, even forcing Danny to
come along on his semi-annual hunting trips, and the job had lasted
less than a week before he found Danny out and made him quit.
In that time, though, Danny got to see a lot of animals—hurt
animals, sick animals, unloved animals, even abused animals. He took
a special interest in the abused ones, feeling a sort of kinship with
them. The dogs that had come in with broken bones or missing legs
always acted the same way, snapping and biting any time anyone
would come near them. Danny could tell Jasper wasn’t trying to hurt
the wolf he was struggling with, only get it under control, but the wolf
seemed to view every touch as an attack, jerking away as if he were
being poked by a hot iron.
In his fearful state, the animal would probably bite a hand trying
to offer it food or medicine or shelter, much as the dogs Danny had
cared for had at first. Because they were too scared to be loved, he
had had to take it slow with them, to show them they had nothing to
be afraid of.
Ignoring Jasper’s threatening growls, the wolf snapped at him,
trying to bite the air. Jasper jerked back, and the wolf twisted out from
under him, his nails clicking across the floor as he struggled to find
his footing. It was heading straight for Danny.
There were little patches, on his neck and one of his legs, that
looked like they had been shaved, and he was thin, like he hadn’t been
getting much to eat. He didn’t know what Jasper was doing with the
animal or where he had found it, but he figured they were probably a
lot alike. Both of them had had a rough past. Both of them were
reluctant to accept the love that was right in front of them.
Danny in the Dark
41
Danny stared at it, his eyes wide, his face expressionless as the
wolf snarled and jumped at him. Lars rushed to move between them,
and Jasper followed closely on its heels, but neither of them could get
a hold of the excited wolf to still his frantic jerking and snapping.
“Stop moving,” Danny said, quiet but forceful. His eyes were on
Jasper. “I think you’re scaring him.”
Jasper shot Danny an indignant look, but held his ground all the
same, and eventually the wolf calmed down, panting as he stared at
Danny. Slowly, Danny held out one hand, and the wolf approached it,
tentatively, then lapped at it once.
Danny kept a close eye on the wolf as he carefully leaned in to
stroke its head and ears. “I think he was abused,” Danny said,
glancing up at Lars.
“His name is Ben,” Jasper said ruefully.
Danny shrugged. “Okay, I think Ben was abused. I used to work
at an animal shelter.”
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