Of Wolves and Men (4 page)

“This is a dream, right?”

“It’s anything you want it to be.”

“And if I do somethin’ in a dream, that don’t necessarily mean it’s reality.”

“Suck it, Charlie.”

The smile on Roman’s face was ironic. Who was Charlie kidding? Dream or not, he wanted to suck this man’s cock. But the odd part was, five minutes ago—or was it an hour ago?— Charlie thought he would be nursing this man back to health.

It’s a dream
.

He took Roman’s cock into his mouth, whimpering. With the knowledge that he was indeed asleep and fantasizing, Charlie grabbed Roman’s balls and felt for the first time what touching a man between his legs was like.

It’s so real!

He could smell a musky scent, familiar but he didn’t know why or where he had smelled it before. The taste of a dewy drop that hit his tongue was also something he felt he knew, but had no reason to recognize.

“Take me, Charlie. Fuck me.”

“Why not? I can do anythin’ in a dream.” Charlie sat on his heels and wiped his mouth. Roman reached between Charlie’s legs and rubbed something on his cock, making it slick. Charlie assumed it was spit. He never imagined bringing a gay lover here to the cabin at the ranch, so he had nothing on hand. Maybe that wasn’t smart.

“Am I still dreamin’?”

“Are you?”

“I think so. I mean, none of this makes sense.”

Roman gripped Charlie’s cock and led it between his legs.

Charlie shivered as the head of his cock penetrated Roman’s body. “That is so nice.”

Roman scooted closer, so he was easily accessible to Charlie’s reach. While Charlie got used to this odd dreamy sex with a man who was perfection in every way, Roman gripped Charlie’s neck and dragged him down to his mouth. As Charlie kissed this perfect fantasy man, his body reacted to the extreme. He tried to pull back to gasp for air, but Roman had him in a tight grip. Charlie came, jamming his hips hard against Roman’s ass. The climax was so real, Charlie figured he’d have to change the sheets from all the cum he was shooting on them.

He finally was allowed to part from the kiss. Roman jacked off, his cum spattering his chest in ribbons of white.

“My God. What a dream! I don’t want to wake up.” Charlie panted to catch his breath. “I can say anythin’ to you, right?”

“Right.” Roman swirled his index finger into the cream on his taut skin.

“You are the goddamn best lookin’ man I have ever seen. I mean that. If I am imaginin’ you, I have one hell of a good imagination.” Charlie looked down as his cock retracted from Roman’s body. “You sure this ain’t real and I shoulda’ used a rubber?”

“Charlie Mosby…you are the kindest man I have ever met.”

About to blush from the compliment, Charlie perked up in surprise. “Do pretend men in dreams know your last name too?”

“Men in dreams know everything.”

Charlie leapt on top of Roman and rolled with him on the bed. “I don’t want to wake up.
I don’t
want to wake up
.”

Roman’s rumbling laughter was the last thing he heard before he fell asleep.

Chapter 4

“Yo! Charlie! You in there?”

Charlie bolted upright in his bed. Morning light flooded his

room. He was naked and the blankets were a mess. “Be right there, Butch.”

“Roman?” Charlie whispered, making sure it had been a dream and not real. The last

thing he needed was to be caught with a beautiful naked man in his cabin. The teasing about his sexuality would never stop.

He hopped off the bed and looked around the tiny cabin. He was alone. Before he made his bed, he tossed back the covers, expecting a dried semen stain. Nothing.

“Never had a dream like that. Never.” He washed up at the sink, splashing his face and meeting his blue eyes in the mirror. “A dream.” He nodded. “No other explanation.”

“Can I come in?” Butch called from outside the door.

Charlie hurried to find a pair of clean

briefs and jeans, just noticing light scratches around his hips and low abdomen. He quickly tugged his zipper up and yelled back at Butch, “Come on in.”

“Connie’s got us some breakfast on the table.” Butch stood in the living room. “You’re usually first one out, but I figured you had a late night up the mountain.”

“You see anythin’ on your watch?” Charlie buttoned his flannel shirt and tucked it in, then sat down to put on his socks and boots.

“Nope. Maybe it was some drifters, you know? Passing through.”

“So…you didn’t hear or see anythin’ at all?” Charlie put his coat and hat on.

“No. But that don’t mean I’m not heading there first thing this morning.”

“I’ll talk to Vernon, but I do think we should keep an eye on that area for a while to make sure.”

Charlie followed Butch out of his cabin. He gave his own crotch a squeeze. Did it feel odd? Like he made love? Or…

Butch was about to say something, looking over his shoulder when he caught Charlie’s movement. “Hey, maybe when Vernon’s daughters get back home on break, you and me…we can take them out dancing or something.”

“Huh?” Dating Vernon’s daughters was the furthest thing from Charlie’s mind.

“You know, Sherlane and Suzie…they’re coming home from college for a bit.” Butch headed up the two wooden steps to the ranch house’s porch. “It’s not like they’d be into Goat or JP. So I figure you and me got it easy.”

“Leave Vernon’s daughters alone, Butch. You’re only nineteen and they’re college girls, smart girls.”

“When’s the last time you got some pussy, Charlie?”

For some reason, the comment sounded so disrespectful to both himself and Vernon’s girls that Charlie punched Butch in the face.

Butch stumbled backwards into Vernon’s living room.

“Whoa! Boys!” Vernon hurried over while JP and Goat looked into the room from the kitchen where they were eating breakfast.

Butch held his jaw and glared at Charlie. “That was uncalled for, Mosby.”

“You just watch your mouth, ‘specially when them ladies come ‘round.”

Charlie could see Butch had caught Vernon’s knowing glare. “I didn’t mean nothin’ by it, boss.”

“You better not be referring to my girls.”

Connie interrupted what was soon going to become an argument. “Come eat breakfast, boys.”

Butch walked into the kitchen, still rubbing his jaw. Charlie met Vernon’s gaze. “You don’t worry about the girls, boss. I’ll make sure no harm comes to them.”

Vernon cupped Charlie’s face. “You’re already like a son to me and I’d never object if you were my son-in-law.”

Preventing a reaction to what would never be reality, Charlie accepted the compliment gracefully. “Thank you, Vernon. But your girls can do better than me. They can marry doctors, lawyers…”

“You’re the one with heart, Charlie.” Vernon pounded his fist against his own chest. “You I can trust to be a good loyal husband to one of my baby girls.”

Smiling shyly, Charlie tried to get out of the awkwardness. “Connie, what smells so good?”

“Pork sausages and buckwheat flapjacks. There’s plenty. At least if Goat doesn’t go for thirds.”

Taking the plate she handed him, Charlie smiled sweetly at her. Connie and Vernon were like his mom and dad. But he knew even their kindness would evaporate if he gave any indication he did not want to be with women.

Charlie sat with his coworkers at a long wooden table with a dozen chairs surrounding it. Amid the laughter of what felt like old friends, the men finished their food and drank their coffee.

Charlie didn’t know what he wanted anymore. But that bizarre dream last night made him even more confused.

~

Riding Spirit, rounding up the horses that were grazing outside the paddock, Charlie galloped in the icy morning air as Butch corralled the horses from the opposite side while the hired day workers cleaned the barn. Goat and JP had spread out the hay after making sure the water wasn’t frozen solid from the cold overnight temperatures.

Once the horses had been rounded up, Butch rode Scout right up to Charlie. “I’m going up the mountain.”

“Want me with you?”

“I don’t know. You gonna give me another punch in the jaw?”

“Get movin’.” Charlie tilted his head towards the west. As he rode, he lost himself in the strange dream again. Sensual shivers covered his skin at the scent and taste of that man. The debate in Charlie’s mind over how a dream could be so real was becoming obsessive.

A familiar barking noise came up behind them. Charlie laughed at Harley as he caught up to Scout to lead the way. “Go get ‘em, Harley.”

Charlie expected the energetic dog to do what he usually did, run to the front and sniff his way up the trail. Instead, Harley didn’t pay them any attention, speeding in the direction of the damaged fence and the location of the dead doe from the day before.

“You don’t think he’s tracking something, do you?” Butch turned back in the saddle to ask Charlie.

“Sure looks that way. He may be a crazy dog, but he does know when somethin’s up.” Butch and Charlie urged their horses to keep up.

Spirit seemed to be feeling as energetic as Harley because he galloped past Scout as if they were nearing the finish line at a track.

Harley’s barking intensified until Charlie figured out the dog either had something cornered, or worse, was fighting.

“If that’s another dead animal I’m going to scream!” Charlie removed his shotgun, letting Spirit do the work of getting him to the dog. He cocked the gun and held it by his side.

An enormous black wolf appeared in a spine-tingling standoff with Harley. And fearless Harley thought he was as tough as the big lupine.

“Son of a bitch!” Charlie took a flying leap off Spirit and aimed his gun. Harley was making a clear shot impossible as he zigzagged and hopped vertically in front of the enormous timber wolf. When the wolf noticed Charlie, the green gaze of the animal’s eyes made Charlie stop in his tracks. “What the hell?”

A blast of a twelve gauge sounded beside him. Butch had let off a round. The wolf leapt into the air, so high that Charlie was awestruck. Then it raced off into the dense woods. Harley gave chase but soon came back, his tongue hanging out as he panted.

Butch released the spent shell and adjusted his hat. “Well, now we know. We got ourselves a fucking wolf.”

“Doc McMurray said that deer weren’t killed by an animal. So it ain’t no wolf. It’s some person with a knife. How do you figure a wolf cut out a heart of a doe with a knife, Butch? No.” He walked to where the wolf had been and knelt down to see if it left any tracks. The ground was frozen solid, so nothing was there to see.

“Well, something opened up the fence again.”

Charlie spun on his heels and shook his head. “This ain’t making no sense.” He walked towards Butch who was inspecting the wire. “It’s cut. You see? Clean cut.” Charlie tugged on a piece.

“That wolf had nothin’ to do with this.”

“Sure, Charlie. First time a wolf has been spotted ‘round here, and he’s got nothin’ to do with killin’ a doe.”

“There’re a few reports here and there of wolves being seen. But if he’s here, it’s to eat the carcass. Or maybe that was just a big ole coyote.”

Butch put his shotgun back into the saddle holster. “That weren’t no coyote. That wolf was at least one hundred thirty pounds. I never seen one that big.” He removed a pair of pliers from the saddlebag and began working on the fence.

Charlie tried to shake off the weird feeling in his gut from the look in the animal’s eyes. That connection. It felt too bizarre, like that dream he had.
Those eyes. They were Roman’s eyes. But
that’s impossible. How could a fella you dreamed have the same set of eyes as a wolf?

“You goin’ to help me, or stand there starin’ at the trees?”

Charlie snapped into focus and knelt beside Butch to reconnect the cut wires. “We better look around for a dead animal before we go.”

“Yeah. My thoughts too.” Butch said to Harley, “Hey, dog. Go find us another dead deer. Make yourself useful.”

Harley ignored him, sniffing and marking his territory.

The damage to the fence was minor compared to the previous night. They were able to reconnect the cut wires without having to patch it. While Butch put the tools away, Charlie mounted Spirit and took a ride around the area to see if he could find anything amiss.

He walked the horse in the direction the wolf had been. Charlie looked down at Harley as he sniffed the frozen ground. There were blood stains, or at least it appeared to be blood. Charlie hopped off and knelt down near the dog. He touched the brown color and looked at the tip of his finger. In the icy morning, nothing should be wet. “You hit that wolf, Butch.”

“Naw. How could I hit it? It just ran away like nothin’ was wrong.”

Charlie glanced up at Butch who was atop Scout. He showed him his reddish fingertip. “I think ya nicked him.”

“Shoulda’ killed him.”

Charlie stood beside Scout, leaning on the horse’s neck. “Don’t be killin’ wolves just because you don’t like ‘em.”

“They’re considered pests. I can shoot ‘em.”

“They’re not pests.” Charlie pointed at Harley. “You wouldn’t have him without that ‘pest’.”

“So you’d rather have wolves feedin’ on and killin’ our ponies? What has gotten into you lately? I swear, I thought we were alike when I first met you. But the more I know you, the less alike we are.”

“Are you stupid? Were you at the doc’s when she told us it weren’t no animal that killed that doe? And you think somethin’s gotten into me?” Charlie walked back to Spirit, whose ears were perked as if he were listening to their argument.

“I’m headin’ back to the ranch.” Butch spun Scout around and started walking the pinto down the trail. Harley raced to lead the way back.

Charlie petted Spirit and watched Butch vanish around tall trees. He shook his head and swung his leg over the saddle, picking up the reins. “Ya think ya know a man, Spirit, then ya don’t.”

Spirit answered with a snort into the cold air.

Charlie wandered the perimeter of Vernon’s property line. He paused to look out over the reservoir. Its serenity reflected the blue sky.

“
Charlie
.”