They’d always had the safety word. It was recommended in pretty much every website they’d visited after buying some strange-looking shit. It allowed them both to be able to say no without really saying no.
This was just like that. Kind of. Everett didn’t want to run, but he was going to panic if Cole didn’t tie him down. The chain would keep him in place.
The only problem was that he was going to be dealing with a possibly wild wolf Cole, not the sensible human he was looking at now.
It went back to the trust thing. “Okay.”
Cole looked at him. “Okay? You’re letting me do this?”
“I’m surprised you’re even asking my permission, considering I’m your prisoner now.”
Cole’s face turned a little dark as he blushed. “I know I wouldn’t hurt you, but I still wouldn’t want to force you. I want you to see this because you want to see it.”
Everett nodded. “Will you give me the key? So I can get loose if you do turn into a snarling monster.”
Cole nodded. “We’ll have to figure that part out so you don’t immediately unlock yourself and start running, but I think we can come up with a way so you can get it if you want to bolt. If you do, and you get away from me, I won’t chase you.”
Everett raised a brow at him. “Not to bring me back or to drag me to your pack for revenge?”
Cole smiled at him. “It was never about revenge. I just wanted my alpha to meet the guy who saved my life.”
It was still debatable on whether or not Everett had even done that. Just because he’d removed the man from the fighting didn’t mean that Cole wouldn’t have been able to handle himself just fine without Everett at all.
He didn’t feel like pointing that out to him. His guts were still in knots over the fact that he was about to let a real werewolf, who was about to get into his wolf form, near him.
“Let’s just get to the river you were talking about.”
They made it there pretty quickly. Cole had been right, it was a crisp and clear river, and they both took long drinks and refilled the canteen they’d been sharing.
Cole dropped their bag onto the dry rocks just before the water. They got started making their camp, and the entire time, Everett kept his eyes on Cole. He watched him, waiting for a sign that he was about to lose his mind and transform.
Aside from the sweating, there was no twitching, no hair starting to poke from out of his pores, and Cole’s mood stayed relatively cheerful.
It didn’t stop Everett from wondering if this was the worst mistake of his life.
After about ten minutes, when everything was set up, Cole started to look around. “That tree over there looks good.”
Everett looked in the direction Cole pointed.
A tall birch tree, thick enough that Everett wouldn’t be able to break through it no matter how hard he tried.
He didn’t want to get into these kinds of details. Cole might’ve stayed cheery, but Everett’s mood dropped with every second they got closer to doing this. “Sure,” he said, following Cole.
Cole was able to wrap the chain twice around the tree itself, and using the other shackle, he locked it firmly around the other links, preventing Everett from getting away.
Everett tended to twitch his feet around when he got impatient about things, and he blew out a breath.
“Are you okay?” Cole asked, putting his hand on Everett’s.
“Not really,” he admitted.
Cole looked away from him. He reached into his back pocket and pulled the key out. “I’ll put this on that rock right there.” Cole nodded toward the miniboulder that was only a couple feet away from where Everett stood.
He looked as Cole walked around him and placed the key carefully onto the rounded surface. “If you stretch out enough, you should be able to get it with your foot and drag it back to you.”
It was also just that perfect length of far away so that Everett couldn’t just take hold of it, unlock himself, grab one of the guns that Cole had left in the bag, and then make his great escape.
He clenched his jaw and nodded instead of pointing that out. Cole already knew it, and that was the point. He wanted enough time to shift so he could come back and find that Everett was still here.
“Your whole body is shaking, relax,” Cole said.
Everett didn’t even realize the man was on front of him until he felt Cole’s hands press firmly against his shoulders.
He couldn’t help it. His body twitched with the urge to run, to escape, to survive. He couldn’t do it while he was tied like this, but he’d agreed to it. Even if he said no, Cole wouldn’t unlock him because there was already a method for Everett to escape. He just had to reach it before Cole returned as a snarling animal.
“I’m a little too trusting, I think,” he said.
Cole smiled at him. “What?”
He shook his head. “I just can’t believe I’m letting you do this. I’m the worst hunter in the world and probably incredibly stupid.”
“Then I’m glad for that.” Cole’s hands went to his face this time, and they were warm instead of cold as he pulled Everett closer for a long and comforting kiss.
It was like the warmth of the kiss spread through Everett’s body, ceasing his trembling and only marginally reducing his fear.
He kissed Cole back. Cole was right. He did still love him. He loved Cole enough to become a hunter and try to avenge him, and he loved him enough that, even if Cole did come back through those trees with a foaming wolf mouth, then at least Everett would die knowing he’d given the man his shot to prove himself.
Hell, his former team was after him anyway, with one man already dead, so it wasn’t like
