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“They will accept you. If they didn’t, I wouldn’t be staying with them for very long. You and I could find another pack to be a part of, or we could make up our own.”

That had been the last thing Storm hoped to hear. “A werewolf and a werecat entirely on their own without protection? Any hunters who found us would make easy skins of us.”

“Fine, then we’ll find another pack to take us in, and only if mine doesn’t accept you. Which they will,” John said, still being stubborn Hunted and on the Run

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about it and even sounding a little annoyed that Storm was refusing to share his happiness.

Storm pulled the shower curtain back and stepped out. John turned off the water and joined him. They did their best to dry off with the nearly worthless towels, but they were practically just moving the water around on them, rather than absorbing anything.

“What’s wrong?” John asked, his voice filled with suspicion.

“I would like you to promise me something.”

John’s head cocked a little, but that suspicion never left his eyes.

“Okay, what?”

“That if your pack―”

“Storm―”

“That if your pack would rather not have me, you will stay with them and allow me to go.”

This was the first time that Storm had seen John angry. “And what happened to your honor pledge to stay with me no matter what?

You’re just going to forget about that?”

Storm’s spine went rigid at the insult to his morals. “Of course not! I would not…I mean…I don’t know exactly how it would work.

Maybe I could stay in the neighboring town. I’ll be there whenever you want me for anything. That way you would not have to abandon your pack and I will still be there for you.”

That should do it. Storm wouldn’t have to be part of John’s pack if his alpha decided that Storm was too much of a wild card, and he would still be nearby for John so he could fulfill his life-debt. John wouldn’t be forced to leave his pack on some misconceived notion that Storm was his true love, and Storm could keep his honor.

This hardly seemed to make John feel any better. “You’ll just rent a room or a house somewhere and wait for me to sneak over whenever I want to fuck you, right? Sorry, not happening.”

“Why are you being difficult about this?”

“Because we’re mated and I love you, you stupid asshole!”

“You speak that way to the one you love?”

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Marcy Jacks

John’s fists clenched. Storm prepared himself to get punched, but nothing came.

Storm continued speaking while he still could. “You only think you love me because you believe we are mated, which I am still not entirely convinced of. I took your virginity last night, and you’re mistaking the sensations you felt for love.”

Storm knew all about that. Tony had taken Storm’s virginity, and it took him a long time before he was able to realize that what he felt was not love either.

John’s face was red. He looked like he was about to pop.

Storm put his hands on the other man’s shoulders. He winced when John pushed him away.

So much for the loving caresses. “Whether what you feel is real or not,” Storm said, going for a new approach, “you cannot leave your pack for it. You might love me, but you have loved your pack, and they have loved you, for much longer. To abandon them would be suicide. Wolves survive in packs.”

“You survived without a pack. All cats do.”

And look where that had gotten him.

He wanted to say more, but then an odd smell wafted up his nostrils.

John seemed to notice it right when Storm had because he stopped glaring at him to search around for the source.

“That smells like burning,” John said.

“Yes,” Storm agreed. The scent of burning was never a good thing, and there was no stove or fireplace anywhere near this cheap motel that could be blamed for the scent.

Hunters liked to burn things.

“Get the clothes packed. Right now,” John ordered.

Storm didn’t need to be told. He was already grabbing the shirts and jeans that John had brought and stuffing them, along with everything else they’d brought with them, inside the shoulder bag.

John opened the door to the bathroom a crack to peek out.

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He motioned for Storm to follow. The smell of smoke was not coming from their room, and there was no black cloud hanging over their heads, either. Perhaps one of the neighboring rooms was on fire and it just hadn’t spread to here yet. It certainly felt hot enough. They were far from safe.

Storm put his palm against the wall, and it felt hot all right.

John went to the front door and looked out the peep hole.

“I don’t see anyone,” he said. “Shift and we’ll make a run for it.”

Storm nodded, grabbing the last of their supplies before he zipped up the bag and stuck it around his shoulders.

He had to admit that it was much easier changing into his cougar form with only that over his back, and the strap didn’t break or stretch uncomfortably either. It was much nicer than holding his clothes in his mouth. He was going to have to get himself a bag like this if he ever traveled again after this.

Because human hands were required to open doors, John carefully unlocked the door and turned the knob. He opened it just a crack before stepping away and shifting into his wolf. It took him about twenty seconds or so.

“When I open the door, we’ll both run to the cover of the woods.

We’ll keep traveling through them and stay off the roads for as long as possible.”

Storm wasn’t about to argue. It was the very thing he would have done, and he was comforted by John’s ability to think of these things in this sort of situation.

John nudged his nose through the open crack in the door