Out Of The Shadows Read online

  “So, are you going to sit down or just stand there all night?” he asked dryly.

  Jai nudged Dane and he moved to the space that had been cleared for them near to the man who had spoken.

  The man leaned past Dane. “Since he’s being rude, I’ll introduce myself,” he said to Jai. “Hi, I’m Stephen.”

  “Jai. Nice to meet you.”

  When Jai had been introduced to everyone else, including a gorgeous blonde woman who turned out to be the much wondered about Georgina, he nudged Dane.

  “You doing okay?”

  Dane nodded.

  Stephen was quiet for a moment before he finally turned back to Dane. “Where did you go?” he demanded, sounding angry. “You just disappeared, Dane. You didn’t even bother to call and let us know where you’d gone. I thought we were friends.”

  “I’m sorry that I didn’t call. I just had to get away from here.”

  “Your dad has been shooting his mouth off,” Stephen continued. “Is any of what he’s saying true?”

  Dane shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Dad hasn’t spoken to me since he came to visit—he disowned me—so I don’t expect he’s been too complementary about me.”

  “Very well, we’re listening.”

  Jai laid a hand on Dane’s knee under the table, offering support, and Dane took a deep breath.

  “After I left, I joined a new pack up north,” he began. “When I was here, I was pretending, lying to you all, and I couldn’t do it any longer. I used to go to bars in the city and pick up men but I didn’t want to admit to myself that I was gay, and I knew that Dad would never accept it anyway. I thought that by starting again, somewhere new, I could stop.” He smiled, glancing at Jai. “When I met Jai, he made me realise that there was nothing wrong with preferring men, that I didn’t need to be ashamed of what I am.”

  Rich, one of the other men at the table, looked between him and Jai. “You two are…?”

  Dane nodded. “Jai is my boyfriend,” he confirmed. “My mate, actually.”

  “Mate? I can’t say I’m not surprised, but congratulations, both of you.”

  Dane turned to Stephen. “I didn’t dare to tell you, any of you, because at least this way I knew you were still my friends, even if I didn’t see you any more.”

  Any remaining anger drained away from Stephen’s face and he sighed, slinging an arm around Dane’s shoulders.

  “You thought we’d stop being your friends?” When Dane looked up, glancing at the arm around his shoulders, Stephen added, “Don’t get any ideas, mate, because this doesn’t mean I want to sleep with you, too.”

  “You really aren’t bothered by this?” Dane asked him.

  Stephen rolled his eyes. “Are you a different person from the guy who I went through my first shift with, the person I grew up with?” he asked. “No? Well then does it mean that you’re going to start hitting on us guys when we shift back, naked, after a run? No? Well, then, why should we be bothered?”

  “It doesn’t affect me what, or who, you do in your own time,” Rich agreed.

  * * * *

  Jai cast Dane a smile that said “I told you so,” as he noticed Georgina watching him with a faint smile on her face. Obviously she hadn’t been as clueless about Dane as he had believed. She didn’t look quite as shocked as the others.

  “You know, I’ve heard a lot about you,” he commented.

  “You have?” She looked a little surprised at that, before she joked, “All good, I hope.”

  “Of course,” Jai told her, smiling. “Although, he failed to mention how absolutely stunning you are.”

  Georgina frowned. “What?”

  “It’s called a compliment, Georgie,” Stephen teased.

  She leaned over the table to smack him but he ducked away, laughing. “I know that, moron.” Sitting back down, facing Jai, she smiled. “I thought you were gay.”

  “Bisexual, actually,” he corrected. “Besides, liking men doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a beautiful woman.”

  She tried to hide her delighted smile but failed.

  * * * *

  As the others began to fill Jai in on some of the things Dane had got into trouble for over the years, Dane asked Georgina if he could talk to her in private. They went out to the driveway where it was quiet, sitting on the low wall that ran along the side.

  “I wanted to apologise to you,” Dane told her. “I should have done the right thing, instead of leading you on for so long.”

  Georgina shook her head. “You don’t have anything to apologise for—”

  “Yes, I do. I was going to the bars while I was with you. I lied to you.”

  “You were picking up strangers and then coming back to me?”

  “I am so sorry. I felt awful doing it but I couldn’t stop.” Dane kept his gaze firmly on the ground by his feet, not daring to look at her. “I never meant to hurt you; you were my best friend.” There was silence. “Georgina? Please say something, even if it’s just to tell me what a total dickhead I am.”

  It seemed that ages passed before she finally spoke. “You are a dickhead. I can kind of understand why you did it,” she told him. “What hurts is that we were close, even if it wasn’t sexual, but you still felt like you had to hide from me.”

  “If it helps, I was hiding from myself at that point.”

  She smiled and hugged him. “I wouldn’t have judged you, you know, not like your dad did. Did he really say that he disowned you?”

  Dane nodded. “He asked me to choose between him and Jai and he didn’t like my answer.”

  “You’re really fond of him, aren’t you? Jai, I mean.”

  “I love him.”

  Georgina stood up and set off back to the party, her arm linked through Dane’s.

  “I can understand that,” she commented with a sly grin. “He’s gorgeous. If he wasn’t with you, I’d probably have made a move on him myself.”

  It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, knowing that his worst fears weren’t going to come to light. His friends were still there for him, the only damage done by his leaving without word. Even the one person who had reason to hate him was still here.

  “Georgina?” She turned. “Thank you.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I take it that went well?” Jai asked as he returned.

  Dane watched as Georgina sat down and smiled. “We’re fine.” He glanced around at the various other pack members, standing around, talking.

  “He isn’t here,” Jai told him quietly. “I checked with your mum a few minutes ago but even she hasn’t seen him. I’m sorry, babe.”

  He really had expected his dad to show up, especially after his mum said that it was his dad’s idea for them to visit. Dane leaned into Jai as his mate put an arm around him, offering comfort. Jai knew how much he had wanted his dad to be here; hell, even speaking to him would be a huge breakthrough at this point.

  “Cute, ain’t it?” Stephen’s voice said, amused.

  Dane looked up to see everyone at the table watching them and felt his face heat up. He began to back away from Jai and then stopped as it hit him. It didn’t bother him. He was in public but for the first time, it didn’t bother him that everyone was staring.

  “Oh, shut up.”

  Stephen laughed. “After all the shit I got from you whenever I brought a woman home? Not a chance.”

  Dane laughed along with the others. Stephen was right; there had been plenty of times when one of the others had brought dates to pack functions and he had happily joined in with the teasing. He honestly hadn’t expected it this time, though. The others were just being natural with him, no sign of the judgement that he had expected. He looked at the amusement on the others’ faces and then grinned.

  “Better give you something to talk about then,” he said, sliding a hand to the back of Jai’s head and pulling him in for a long, deep kiss.

  * * * *

  Jai was a little surprised for a second b
efore he opened up, letting Dane inside. He knew that this was Dane proving something to himself, showing the world that he was not going to hide any longer. Dane’s kiss was rough and enthusiastic, tongue delving deep, clashing with Jai’s, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way. If they had been alone, he would have persuaded Dane to use that enthusiastic mouth somewhere a lot more interesting, but they weren’t. The feel of Dane’s hot mouth on his and the sheer abandon he was displaying was making his cock swell behind the tight denim of his jeans. They had to stop this, and soon; there was no way he could sit though the rest of the evening in sticky jeans. He drew back from Dane, realising that the man was half in his lap, one hand between them, cupping his erection. When had that happened?

  “We are so continuing this when we get home,” Dane murmured. He gave Jai one last squeeze and then turned, grinning at the catcalls and comments of “Get a room!” from around the table. There were a few either uncomfortable or amused stares from other pack members nearby but they ignored them.

  Stephen laughed. “You know, if you hadn’t come up for air when you did, I was going to separate you before you suffocated.”

  “You’re just jealous,” he told them, staying where he was, pressed up against Jai.

  “You could have just stripped and done it right here on the table and it wouldn’t have been as hot as that kiss, or should I say grope?” Georgina said.

  “We weren’t that bad,” Dane complained.

  “I’m straight and even I have a boner after watching that,” Rich said, looking slightly embarrassed to be admitting it.

  “Are you sure you’re straight?” Jai asked, a wicked gleam in his eye.

  Rich grinned and nodded. “Definitely,” he replied. He raised one brow. “Why, you interested?”

  “Oh, honey, I certainly am,” he said, looking serious now. “You have the most perfect mouth. Just looking at it makes me want to come over there and kiss you, to feel those luscious lips against mine.”

  Dane had to bite his lip to stop himself laughing as Jai laid it on as thick and camp as possible. He saw Georgina frowning and winked at her to let her know he was teasing. Rich may have started this, but Jai was better.

  “Do you work out, Rich?” Jai reached over to give Rich’s bicep an appreciative squeeze.

  “Yes, sometimes,” Rich replied, looking a little unsure now. “Why?”

  “I bet you have a fabulous body, Rich. You’re a good looking man and I think you should come back with us,” Jai continued, moving his hand to trace over the muscles that stretched Rich’s shirt over his chest. “I’d like to undress you slowly, tasting every inch of flesh as I expose it. Have you ever been with a man, Rich? You’d enjoy it, I know you would.”

  “Look, I’m flattered. Really I am, but like I said, I’m not…”

  Jai burst out laughing, unable to keep his face straight any longer. As Dane, Georgina and the others joined in, Rich finally twigged that they were playing with him.

  “The look on your face just then was priceless,” Jai told him, chuckling as he slung an arm around the other man’s shoulders. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it.”

  “I thought you were serious, that you were trying to pick me up and right in front of Dane,” Rich told him. “I was actually getting offended on his behalf.”

  “It’s nice to know you’re looking out for him but I wouldn’t have done that to him,” Jai assured him. “I mean, why would I want to pick up other blokes when I have someone as gorgeous as Dane to go home with?”

  * * * *

  It was after midnight when the party finally broke up. Some of the others had children and had left earlier, everyone else staying until the beer ran out. Dane arranged to meet up with his friends again the following day at a bar they used to frequent before they too headed home. Dee drove them back to the house, commenting on how well it had gone. She was right, Jai realized, sitting in the back with Dane. Dane had caught up with the others in his old pack, chatting with his former Alpha. Despite some slightly uncomfortable or curious looks in their direction, it seemed that his dad’s views were not shared by everyone else. Oh, there had been one or two guests who showed their disapproval early on but that all but vanished by the end of the evening. Jai put it down to the fact that probably not many of them had been around gay couples before and simply weren’t sure how to act. There had been only one downside to the evening, really; Gil had not shown his face at all, and not even Dee knew where her husband was.

  “You look a lot happier than you did before we set off,” Jai commented. They were sitting on the sofa, both Dee and Sasha having already gone to bed.

  Dane nodded. “I am,” he said. “It was just like old times with them, when we used to have a laugh.”

  “I’m glad it went well.” Jai squeezed his hand. “I can see why you like them.”

  “Me and Stephen went through our first shift together, grew up together. We were friends straight away, looking out for each other. He’s been my best friend for more years than I can count,” Dane said. “My biggest fear was that we’d lose that friendship. He was the one person I worried about treating me differently. I didn’t want to think what would happen if he wouldn’t accept my relationship with you. I knew that if he tried to make me choose it would be the hardest thing I’d ever had to do but I would never have given you up.”

  “You would have chosen me over Stephen?” Jai asked, pulling Dane into his arms and brushing a kiss across his forehead as the other man nodded. He moved lower then to press his lips to Dane’s.

  “We have unfinished business, you and I,” he said. He got Dane’s jeans unzipped and slipped his hand inside.

  Dane’s eyes widened slightly as he glanced at the stairs. “What if someone comes?”

  Jai smirked. “The only person coming will be you,” he said. His hands stilled and he sighed dramatically. “They won’t care what we’re doing.”

  If they weren’t werewolves, there wouldn’t have been a problem but a wolf’s hearing was so much better than a humans.

  “Dane, just relax. No one will say anything.”

  “Yes, but it’s not your mum who’s upstairs,” Dane pointed out.

  Jai stopped his protests with a hard kiss, clenching his fists in Dane’s shirt to pull him closer. Eventually, he felt Dane relax and begin to kiss him back. It seemed that Dane was as eager to finish what they started earlier as he was, despite his protests. His mate practically crawled into his lap, never breaking the kiss as he straddled Jai’s legs. Sitting as they were, Jai felt Dane’s groin press to his, hearing the soft whimper as Dane rubbed against him. He grabbed Dane’s arse, bringing him close as he thrust up against Dane’s denim-clad erection. The friction of material over his cock was almost too much; he wanted his mate naked, to feel skin against skin. A faint noise from upstairs made them both pause.

  “Bed.” Jai saw the look on Dane’s face, and his quick glance at the ceiling, and sighed. “To sleep,” he added.

  Dane got off his lap and stood, holding a hand out to Jai. It was probably for the best. They still had seen neither hide nor hair of Gil, and Jai figured that the last thing they needed was for him to walk in and hear them upstairs. That would only make the already strained relationship between father and son even worse.

  He and Dane climbed into bed, curling up together under the duvet.

  * * * *

  “Jai? Thanks for making me do this, and for coming with me this weekend.”

  Jai smiled. “No problem. I liked your friends; it was nice to meet them all. I just wish you could have made up with your dad,” he said.

  “He doesn’t want to see me; he made that pretty clear by not bothering to go to the pack gathering,” Dane pointed out miserably.

  “Or maybe he didn’t want to face your mum in public,” Jai told him. “I get the feeling she’s a bit angry at him for not being at the train station this morning.”

  That cheered Dane up slightly. “She does have a temper if someone upsets h
er,” he agreed. “Me and Sasha found that out often enough when we were little.”

  Jai hugged him closer, getting comfortable and trying to ignore the urge to let his hands wander over the naked flesh currently curled up against his chest.

  “There’s always tomorrow,” he said. “He’s got to come back sometime, right?”

  * * **

  But he didn’t. By the time they left two days later, Gil still hadn’t reappeared. Jai tried to reassure him, to convince him that there would be a good explanation, but it didn’t make Dane feel any better. It was becoming more obvious by the day that his dad was not going to accept him. He couldn’t even be in the same house.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jai awoke with a start as warm fingers crept up his thigh and eventually found their target. His eyes still closed, Dane sighed in his sleep as his hand brushed over Jai’s cock. Jai groaned; even that slight touch made his dick harden. If only Dane was actually awake enough to do something about it. They had arrived home late last night, going straight to bed. Between spending the day with Dane’s friends and his mum insisting that they all go out for a drink in the evening, followed by the train journey, they had been tired enough to fall asleep instantly.

  “Dane?” Jai brushed a finger down his cheek and his mate stirred. “Babe?”

  Dane’s eyes fluttered open and he blinked at Jai as he licked his lips. Leaning in, Jai closed his mouth over Dane’s. His mate was still half asleep; he smiled as Dane sighed softly, watching him with a groggy gaze. Jai was tempted to try and wake him fully so that they could have a bit of fun before they had to get up, but then he would have to put up with a cranky mate who hadn’t had enough sleep. No, he could let Dane doze a while longer and then he would think of some inventive way to make sure he stayed awake. Oh, the possibilities, he thought as he got out of bed.