Wolf in the City

Chapter Three – To Have Lost vs. Not At All

He needed to busy himself with something, so he began preparing the small sofa where he and Vince dropped like potato sacks to binge-watch the latest sci-fi series. There was no way this thing would be enough to accommodate his guest's impressive frame, but it wasn't like he could invite Ryder to sleep with him in his bed. With so many misunderstandings running rampart around his small studio apartment tonight, he might end up doing something he'd regret in the morning. Or not. He might regret not regretting it, which could make the whole thing rather complicated. What was better? To have fucked and lost or not to have fucked at all? Vince would sure know the answer to this one.

As if one of the naughty demons in hell was watching over Danny turning the sofa into an inadequate bed, his phone buzzed with an incoming message.

All good, buddy?

Danny huffed and decided to call Vince for a short talk.

"Fuck, you're calling me, which means that you're not with your ass up, getting rammed properly by that buff guy," Vince said without any preamble.

"No, I'm not, and I'm in quite the pickle because of you and your crazy ideas. He misunderstood everything. He thinks I'm offering him lodging for the night."

"Oh, fuck," Vince snickered at the other end, "what a story to tell your grandkids. So, where is he?"

"He's taking a shower."

"That's a good sign. He wants to bang you."

"No." Danny scowled for his own sake. "He obviously doesn't. He must be from one of those communities that aren't interested in going to the city unless they want to show their young the depraved ways of the world."

Vince's laughter grated on him to no end. "Awesome. Although he doesn't look that young, and he's nothing like one of those innocent boys. He's definitely been around the block. You're so getting banged tonight. You just don't know it yet."

"No, no, you're projecting your porn fantasies onto me here," Danny protested some more. "Sex is not on the menu. He even wanted to pay me for a bed and a roof above his head. Yes, that's pretty much the way he talks."

"He sounds like a riot. Bag him or you're not my friend anymore."

"Bye, Vince. Don't call me again."

"So, lunch tomorrow?" his friend asked smoothly. "There's this new place that just opened."

Which Danny surely wouldn't be able to afford.

"My treat," Vince continued. As someone who worked in the financial district, Danny's bestie had no problem with checking out every new place that opened in the city.

"Vince," Danny tried to protest.

"Come on, you know how lonely I can get if you're not with me."

"For half an hour during lunch?"

"It's a very important meal of the day. The second most important, right? But you'll always come first for me," Vince joked.

Danny knew he couldn't resist. Vince always treated him, and he knew Danny felt bad about his almost constantly empty pockets. But such was the nature of their relationship. And there was a bit of truth in what Vince liked to joke about, such as feeling awkward if he had to have lunch by himself. As successful as his bestie was in his career, and as many acquaintances he had, there were hardly a handful of people Vince could call friends. Danny knew he was at the top of that list and he always would be. And he felt damn proud about it.

"See you then. I have to get the sofa ready for my guest," Danny said quickly, stealing a look at the bathroom door. The water was no longer running, which meant that Ryder would soon be out, wearing the horribly small clothes Danny had found for him.

"That giant won't fit there," Vince said like the expert he believed himself to be in what man size went in what bed. Danny was low-key envious of his friend, but he couldn't hold it against him; his bestie was too much of a looker, and that signature smug grin that defined him made it look like he deserved it all.

"It's the best I can do."

"He'll end up sleeping with you. With his cock in your ass."

"Bye, Vince. Go to sleep already."

"Fine, ugh. Tell me everything tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah, I don't kiss and tell."

"You don't kiss, to begin with."

"Keep it up and you'll enjoy your little luncheon all by yourself."

"Okay, I'll shut up now. Have fun with that giant. Take pics of his cock."

Danny groaned and ended his convo quickly. Just in time, too, because he heard the bathroom door opening.

***

Although his host appeared to have had the best intentions in mind, the clothes he had left for him were impossible to wear. After fighting to get into the pair of shorts and the t-shirt and ripping the latter, Ryder had found it impossible to do anything but walk back into the main room as naked as he'd been the day he was born.

Joe turned on his heel, and his eyes grew wide upon seeing him like that. Ryder was acutely aware that he was breaking the human city's customs, but there was no help for it.

"I'm afraid I ruined your garment while I was trying to attire myself with it." He held up the ripped white t-shirt. "I will pay you for it."

"I should have known they wouldn't fit you," Joe said, nodding sagely. His eyes were darting sideways. "And you don't have to pay for it. It was an old thing anyway that I should have thrown away ages ago."

"I must insist, Joe. I've been nothing but a nuisance to you ever since we met."

"Joe. Why are you calling me that?" The bemused look on his host's face was genuine, like every attitude the young man had displayed to him so far.

Ryder furrowed his eyebrows. "Should I call you Mr. Average, then?"

Joe looked down, rocking himself back on his heels, and then started laughing. Ryder felt tempted to smile. Even the way this human laughed tickled his hearing the right way. The more time he spent with him, the more Ryder liked him. In his pack, he was the one least likely to take a liking to a human, and even Cassandra, who was half-wolf, had had a hard time getting him to listen to her visions.

"Damn, I haven't introduced myself properly, right? I'm such an airhead. Let me do that properly." His host offered his hand. "Hello, my name is Daniel Wilson. You can call me Danny."

For the first time tonight, Ryder felt a twinge of displeasure at the human before him. "You lied to me? Why?"

The smile faded from Daniel's – Danny's – face. He withdrew his hand too. "It was, um, how do I say this so I don't sound like a complete freak? I didn't think you'd say 'yes'. Or that anyone else I asked that question would say 'yes'."

Supposedly, other people in the street didn't need lodging for the night the way Ryder needed it, so that was probably an accurate guess on Danny's part. Still, it didn't explain the ruse.

Danny was shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Average Joe is an expression," he babbled. "It describes someone who's average in everything and never stands out. It describes me."

"And why were you asking people in the street if they would sleep under your roof? You don't appear to need the money."

Danny bit his bottom lip, and Ryder's frown deepened as he observed his host carefully. The whiff of desire was still there, but tucked under other layers. The wolf in him could smell many things, fear being one of them. Only that it wasn't the usual sort of fear – no, Danny didn't fear that the wolf in front of him would devour him for his wiles. He feared other things, but without expressing them verbally, Ryder couldn't understand them.

"I suppose I have to come clean," Danny murmured. "Yes, there was a misunderstanding, and it stemmed from the fact that you took my words in the most literal sense. I didn't ask you if you wanted to sleep under my roof," he said and looked straight into Ryder's eyes. "I asked you if you would sleep with me. Which is the euphemism we use around here for, well, for sex."

Ryder knew why he disliked the city and its dwellers. They were prone to trickery, and now he understood Danny less and less. Just earlier, he had told Ryder that sex wasn't included. And now, he was saying that his initial intention had been to offer exactly that.

"You're mad at me. I can tell you're mad at me," Danny said quickly. "It's so weird, because we've basically known each other for like an hour, and we're already burning through so many stages."

"Stages of what?" Ryder asked carefully.

"Don't mind me. Look," Danny said and took one deep breath, "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. I came at you in the street with one intention, but it was only because I was certain you'd say 'no'."

"Why?" Ryder wanted to understand the human's reasoning, and the only way to clarify it was to ask the correct questions.

"Because," Danny said with renewed energy. "I mean, look at you. You're handsome. And now look at me. Do you see the problem?"

"No." The more they communicated, the less Ryder understood. Wolves were nothing like that; they said what they thought, and they meant what they said. Danny the human was like a tangled up ball of yarn, and Ryder was no cat to want to play with it.

"Okay, I suppose I deserve the humiliation, and I single-handedly managed to get myself into this situation." Danny took another deep breath. "My friend challenged me to walk up to you and say those words to see if I could get anyone to say 'yes' to having sex with me. No one ever wants to have sex with me, so I thought I was safe asking you, such a great-looking guy, the same thing."

"Why would no one want to have sex with you?" Ryder asked patiently. Now he was beginning to understand the meaning of the fear he had smelled all over Danny only earlier.

"Because I'm average! I'm Average Joe!" Danny exclaimed.

"You're not Average Joe," Ryder riposted. "You're Daniel Wilson. You told me so just now. Unless that was a lie too."

Danny stared at him for a moment and then chuckled. "You're correct. Of course you are. Of course I'm Daniel Wilson. I can show you my ID."

Ryder didn't care about such things. "Is that where I will sleep?" He pointed at the small sofa. He would hardly fit in there. If that didn't work, he'd take to the floor. He had no qualms with doing that.

"Yes. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding." Danny made a short bow to show his regret.

"There was hardly one. I would have said 'yes', should I have understood the meaning of your words."

Danny stared at him, dumbstruck and wide-eyed. "Why?"

"You smell good," Ryder said promptly. He needed the rest now. Making the effort to understand humans took a lot out of him. Hunting and fighting weren't nearly this exhausting.

***

Danny wrapped himself up in his blanket, his back to the small sofa where Ryder was struggling to fit his large muscular body. Even with his eyes closed, he couldn't get the sight of that out of his head. As much as he had struggled not to stare earlier while they were having their strange conversation, he had stared plenty. They definitely didn't make men like that in the city; you definitely had to go out to the countryside to find them. Ryder's body was trim and strong, seemingly unaware that people usually had fat in all the places he had muscles. His entire body was carved out of granite, and his muscles could rival those of any gym rat in the whole of Glasstone. Even Vince would have done a double take if he saw Ryder naked. Not that he'd get the chance. Danny was glad he was the only one who was getting to ogle the guy. Sure, he felt a little like a perv about it, but he could live with it.

Also, the revelation that he smelled good and that qualified him for having a man as handsome as Ryder want him for a little romp in the hay did wonders for his self-esteem. He wouldn't doctor his photos like Vince suggested, but he would add that he smelled good enough to fuck to his profile. Yep, that sounded like a great asset to have. Could he get Ryder to take a selfie with him and post it all over his dating app profiles? Danny bet a lot of guys would end up being interested in him if he did that.

The little voice in his ear telling him that it wouldn't be enough needed to shut up already. Every time he heard that he was good at something, or that there was a trait in his whole makeup that could be considered above the norm, that little voice went into high gear.

"Shut up," he mumbled.

He couldn't sleep and wanted to hang on to the pleasant sensation of having received a compliment, but it looked like his anxieties were hungry for every morsel he could give them.

He tossed and turned, more and more dissatisfied with the inner voice he couldn't shut up. Ah, damn it, tomorrow he had work – yes, it had been a weird idea to go bar-hopping in hopes of a hookup on a Wednesday, but what was new about him and weird ideas? – and now he couldn't sleep.

Carefully, he peeked over to see if Ryder was asleep. The lights intruding into the room from the city outside weren't much help, because the sofa was angled in such a way that there wasn't very much of it he could see. Still, he should be able to see Ryder's legs hanging over one end, right?

What if his guest had decided to leave since he couldn't sleep in such a cramped place? What if he'd stolen Danny's stainless steel toaster?

"Shut up," he grunted again. What he needed was to drink some water and get back to bed. How did that advice go? That if you couldn't sleep, you should just start moving around the room until you grew tired because you didn't realize just how tired you were?

But he couldn't pace the small apartment to his heart's content now that he had a guest. Danny swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He'd tiptoe very quietly while spying on Ryder. That might help him get to sleep. Or his guest might wake up and give him a good thrashing for being a weirdo. That might also put him to sleep.

***

Someone was moving about. Ryder's nostrils flared, smelling prey. His eyes opened wide, and he started moving, all his hunter's skills awakened to life. His palms met the flat surface of the laminated floor, and he quickly realized he wasn't home, and this wasn't his forest. Nonetheless, his instincts didn't lie. Prey was close, unaware of the hunter getting ready to pounce.

He moved quietly, not making a sound. As he rose, he noticed immediately why his nose would mistake what he was smelling for a hunter's prize. His host was shuffling around the room, his shoulders hunched, his knees bent, his entire body weight – not that it was much to talk about – perched on his toes.

Ryder observed him curiously. As far as his knowledge of city dwellers went, humans weren't nocturnal creatures unless they watched television until late at night or went out to do something called partying. What Danny was doing right now struck him as highly unusual.

Observing him for now was the only way to understand the human's behavior. Danny's body, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, painted a dark silhouette against the tall windows overlooking the city below.

Danny turned his head suddenly in Ryder's direction and gave out a loud yelp. Ryder dropped low and took in his surroundings quickly.

"What?" he asked in a gruff voice. "Where's the danger?" He knew for a fact that there was none, all the more reason to ask his human host about it. Maybe it was the type of danger only city dwellers could see and understand.

"No danger," Danny replied, waving both arms, straightening up from his strange position. "You just gave me a hell of a fright!"

"How did I do that? I don't eat humans," Ryder protested. Why would this human fear him?

"Um, were you sleeping on the floor?" Danny asked.

Ryder could see Danny clearly enough, but he needed to avert his eyes. He didn't need his human host noticing the way they burned in the dark.

"Yes. I appreciate your care in preparing a bed for me, but I find the floor more comfortable."

"Oh, gawd, I'm so silly," Danny said and walked over to Ryder. He grabbed his arm. "I hope it doesn't make things weird, but how about you sleep in my bed?"

"I cannot take your bed," Ryder protested.

"We'll sleep together in it. And no euphemisms or anything. I really mean sleeping. Like in resting for the night."

"You are very generous."

"Thank you. I just can't bear the thought of you sleeping on the floor. Not when I created this strange situation in the first place."

"May I nuzzle your neck?" Ryder inquired politely.

"Why would you—ah, I see, you really like the way I smell."

"I find it calming and very pleasant."

"Okay," Danny agreed. "Let's sleep. And ignore my traipsing around. I didn't mean to wake you up, but I'm glad I did."

***

He wasn't so glad, though. As soon as they were in bed, Ryder draped one arm over him and planted his nose against Danny's neck.

Also, there was something hard poking at his back. The flimsy shorts he wore weren't going to be much protection when it came to guarding his ass from getting impaled by that huge thing.

Ryder was sleeping soundly. So he had absolutely no reason to worry so much. Between having fucked and lost on one hand, and not at all on the other, the Average Joe in him seemed perfectly capable of hitting the exact middle.

TBC