ass and smiled when buttocks tensed under the touch. They both needed one another now. Radek didn’t know how to shift, had lost his hand, needed a ride to his family home, and didn’t have clothes. And Yev would gladly help him, even if the sexual fulfillment offered wasn’t on the table.
“You’ll need to leave the house sometime. I don’t have any clothes your size, and I think you should talk to someone about… solutions for your arm,” he said carefully, more than aware that this was a sensitive topic.
Radek laid down on top of him and hid his face against the side of Yev’s head. Then nipped on Yev’s ear, which was another thing he used to do as Ember. “There’s no solution. And since I have no clothes, I’ll just never leave home. You’ll have to feed me forever.”
That didn’t sound like a bad idea at all. Problem was, Yev could not live here indefinitely. He’d have to bend to the pack rules at some point. His refusal to mate with a woman was the only thing he’d stand by, but if he wanted Father to allow him that line in the sand, he couldn’t do as he pleased in every other aspect of his life.
Compromise would be his middle name. But not yet.
“As lovely as you are, you can’t walk around like this all day, or I’d get nothing done,” Yev said and slapped Radek’s ass. “My younger brother keeps a set of clothes here. They should fit you better than mine.”
Radek gave him one more kiss on the cheek before getting up. “It’s almost weird to wear clothes after living in the skin of a fox for a month. You ever feel that way?” He stretched, showing off every freckle. Before the day ended, Yev would kiss and touch each and every one of the flecks adorning that smooth skin. But now it was time to adjust to their new situation.
He pulled away, placing his feet on the floor and grabbing Radek’s hand to pull him up. The smooth hair swept his face, and he couldn’t resist the urge to hug Radek’s beautiful form that still faintly smelled of the soap they used during their early-morning shower, once the knot had shrunk.
“Not really. But when I lived in the city and couldn’t shift often, I missed the freedom of running all night, of breathing the fresh air, and hunting down my meal.”
“You lived in a city? I can’t imagine how that worked. Where?” Radek grinned at him as Yev led him downstairs by the hand.
“Lublin. I studied forestry, because Father thought we needed to fight humans with their own weapons, so they wouldn’t encroach on our territory. It was… a different life. Not only because I ended up earning a new language,” Yev said, walking toward one of the cabinets in the living room. It contained clothes Olek used whenever he came over in his wolf form.
His time in Lublin had been one of great discovery. For the first time, he’d been free to pick from a large pool of men instead of satisfying his secret needs with whoever was locally available at a given time. His superior sense of smell made it easy to pick the correct targets, and that was where he’d gained an identity as a gay man. But the city was also polluted, crowded, and loud, and it hadn’t allowed him to roam freely.
No place ever had offered him a truly satisfying existence.
“Did you go clubbing all the time? I bet you had your pick of guys. I studied tourism, and I often went abroad. Even visited Kiev a few times, so I know you get additional attention when you’re a foreigner. I actually speak Ukrainian,” he added the last bit in Yev’s native language.
Yet another box checked on how Radek would fit in if he moved into Yev’s village. Only that he wouldn’t, because he was a gay man.
“Really? That’s not something I come across often, even here, close to the border. Did you have a Ukrainian boyfriend you wanted to impress?” Yev asked, opening the drawer and picking up a set of sweatpants, T-shirt, and hoodie, along with socks and underwear.
Radek laughed. “There was this one Ukrainian guy I met on a trip, but no. I thought that it could be a good combination with the tourism studies. Why? Did you have Polish boyfriends?”
“I fucked Polish guys,” Yev said, snorting as he presented Radek checkered boxer shorts and kneeled to