*So I hadn't planned on putting up another installment because "Unthinkable" and "Inconceivable" are both going to be published through Lulu.com (as will the entire Tate Pack Series) but since yesterday was so fabulous and today was EVEN BETTER and Lucy/Kat asked me for another installment, I'm going to post up part 14 for you all! {HUGZ AND SQUEEZES} Vee/Vic*
Part Fourteen:
Tommy swayed his hips in time with the music, his head thrown back as he sang "You and I" by Lady Gaga at the top of his lungs. He wore a tight black leather mini-skirt, an extremely low cut silk white blouse, black high heels, his hair was pulled up into an elegant up-do, with tendrils of his black hair framing his face. His flawlessly, make-up covered face. He looked stunning and he knew that he did. As he continued to perform for the audience he looked out over the faces that were there and saw that none of them seemed to be enjoying his performance. They all seemed horrified by him. He stumbled on the stage and looked around wondering what was the problem and saw a trail of blood all over the stage. He froze mid lyric and gasped. Who was bleeding on the stage? Looking around he realized that no one was up there but him. Was he bleeding? But how was that possible? He couldn't feel any pain or the loss of any blood. Maybe it was a practical joke.
Looking back out at the audience he saw that there were two men standing. He squinted his eyes, the stage lights momentarily blinding him. When his gaze cleared he saw himself looking into the hateful eyes of Adam Quinn.....Adam Quinn holding a gun pointed at Tommy. Turning his gaze to the other man, he saw that it was Ton and he looked furious. The only problem was he was looking at Tommy.
"Ant?" he questioned as he stepped forward, his hand outstretched. He heard Adam pull release the safety and felt fear ice his veins. He heard Ton growl and he looked back at him, confused by his reaction.
"Don't. You. Dare," Ton growled at him and Tommy took a step back.
"Me? Dare what?" Tommy asked, his voice frantic as he watched Adam take aim at him again.
"Don't you dare let him take you away from me," Ton said angrily.
Tommy shook his head. Surely Ton understood that it wasn't his choice? Adam was holding a gun. How was he supposed to fight against a gun? He wasn't a wolf shifter. He wasn't big and strong like his mate. He was a human. A frail human. A small, cross-dressing gay man. How the hell was he supposed to fight against a bullet?
"Love," he heard Ton respond and his shocked gaze swung to him.
"What?" he croaked out and he watched with equal parts trepidation and hope as Ton walked up the steps to join him on stage. The bigger man stopped in front of him and took his face in his hands gently. He smiled down at him and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.
"Love. Didn't you say that you loved me?" Ton asked and Tommy merely nodded. Ton grinned, "Well, I love you too and you can't leave me. I won't survive with out you. So if you really love me like you say you do then you'll fight to stay with me. You'll fight for us. That love will bring you back to me. So don't you dare let him win."
Tommy nodded and lifted up on his toes to kiss his mate. That speech had been the most beautiful and eloquent thing that he'd ever heard the cowboy say. Richard must have coached him. He heard Ton growl and giggled when he realized that the other man must have understood his thoughts. He opened his mouth when he heard Adam yell out and heard the gun fire. His body jerked as if shocked and he clung to Ton's neck.
"CLEAR!" he heard a distant voice yell seconds before another jolt of electricity shot through his body.
"C'mon baby, don't give up. Don't let him win. Fight!" he heard Ton yelling at him. He nodded and tried to speak again.
"CLEAR!" that voice sounded closer and Tommy felt another, stronger jolt of electricity shock through his system.
"Come back to me! Tommy please!" Ton was crying now. Why was Ton crying? And then Tommy saw it. A bright light shone on one side of the stage and Ton stood at the other side. The light felt warm, comforting and inviting. But.....Ton was waiting for him and Ton was crying. But the light felt so good, it was welcoming him home and he could hear his grandmother's voice. Without another thought he took a step................
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.........and with a deep breath opened his eyes to the sounds of a siren, yelling voices, crying and complete and utter chaos. What the hell was going on?!
"BABY! You came back to me!" he heard Ton yell as he gathered him into his arms. Tommy's mind was filled with images of the strange dream he'd had, the utter chaos surrounding him as pack members, ranch hands and the like all ran around barking orders at each other, and the events that led to him lying on a gurney. Suddenly memories assailed him. Ton talking him into riding a horse by riding with him. He and Ton laughing and teasing each other. The feeling of being watched. The sound of gunfire. The horse falling, the searing pain in his back and then the blissful feeling of nothingness.
"Ant?" his voice croaked as his hands clutched his mate to him tightly. "Am I paralyzed Ant? Baby? Answer me! Please!" he pleaded with his mate when the other man stayed quiet. He felt Ton's body shaking with sobs as he lifted Tommy and sat on the gurney before pulling his body into his lap. Tommy looked down and realized that he couldn't move his legs, He felt tears roll down his face before Ton even responded.
"They won't know until we get you into a hospital, but it doesn't look good," Ton answered ignoring the paramedics who tried to get him to move so that they could get Tommy into an ambulance.
"Will you still want me? Even though I can't walk?" Tommy asked in a small voice as he gasped for breath, his body convulsing in pain.
"Sir! We really need to get your...boyfriend to a hospital!" one of the paramedics yelled at Ton. Ton growled at the man and gently lowered Tommy back to the gurney.
"He is my husband! My mate! My partner," Ton responded with an angry growl at the paramedic who jumped a bit at the aggressive tone before nodding and grabbing the head of the gurney to assist his partner in getting Tommy into the ambulance. Tommy locked eyes with Ton, afraid that the man wouldn't be joining him in the vehicle. Afraid that he wouldn't want him anymore. He breathed a sigh of relief when Ton climbed inside and took one of his hands while the paramedic worked to make sure that he stayed stabilized.
Ton leaned down, close to his ear, "Nothing in this world would ever make me not want you. You are my mate. For better or for worse. In sickness and in health. To love, honor and cherish. For richer or for poorer. Forever. You are mine and I will never let you go," the bigger man told him, his words loving and thick with emotion.
"Me too," Tommy responded with a smile before he closed his eyes and tried to calm his racing his thoughts and his pounding heart. He had thought his life had been turned upside down when he'd mated a wolf shifter...but that was nothing compared to now. Would he be able to handle being paralyzed and what about Adam? Did anyone catch him or was he still out there...waiting for his next chance to finish the job?
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Adam followed the ambulance with a grim smile on his face. He hadn't meant to shoot Tommy. Tommy was his baby. His love. He would never do anything to seriously hurt him. Oh, he'd have to rough Tommy up a few times, so that he knew his place, but he would never want him to die or to be paralyzed. The bullets had been met for the other man. The one they called Ton. The huge, hulking mass of idiot that thought he could take Tommy away from him. He'd gotten off easy last time, but next time he wouldn't miss. Next time Ton would be the one fighting for life while Adam took Tommy to France with him...where he belonged...forever...until death did they part.
I'm not normal, I love being different, and it's one of the sexiest things about me...next to my creative brain and "Lil' Big Vic".
No H8
Showing posts with label violence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label violence. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Inconceivable: Part Thirteen
Part Thirteen:
Tommy looked at the brown mare with fear, his stomach roiling within him as he struggled not to turn and run for the hills. Okay, so there weren't any hills nearby, but he would certainly run for his bedroom and hide underneath the covers.
"It's not going to bite you unless you do something to piss it off," Ton whispered behind him and he nodded slowly as he bit his lip.
"Yeah, but what if she gets pisses off just because it's me on her back?" he asked in a soft voice, trying to remember what Ton had said about not spooking the horse.
"This is the same mare that Richard was first trained on. I think it would be fine for you," Ton replied, amusement evident in his voice. Tommy rolled his eyes and turned to face his mate, planting his fists on his hips.
"There is a big difference between Richard and I," he practically growled. He could see the flare of annoyance in his mate's eyes and watched as the other man squared his shoulders. Ton was fighting his wolf and Tommy knew that. He knew that the wolf was seeing insubordination in its mate and wanted to bring him to heel underneath him, but he didn't care right then. He was scared and his mate wasn't helping him by comparing him to Richard.
"And what is the difference between you and Richard? Besides the fact that you're smaller and more beautiful than Richard could even dream of being?" Ton asked, his head slightly tilted to the side in confusion. Tommy fought a blissful sigh at his mate's sweet words and shook his head.
"Thank you for the compliment but no. Richard is graceful. He's a dancer, that's sort of a requirement. He would have a very easy time flowing with the movement of the horse. Me? I can't dance worth shit and I doubt that the horse will take it easy on me if I cook for it or sing for it or teach it how to wear women's clothing properly," he pointed out and heard the whine in his voice...which he found perfectly justified. He watched as Ton's lips tightened as if he were struggling not to laugh and he grew even more annoyed.
"Well have you offered that to the horse? Maybe she'd like that," Ton muttered seconds before bursting into loud howls of laughter. Tommy crossed his arms and glared at his mate. Was he seriously finding this amusing? What was amusing about this? Tommy was terrified. Terrified of being on that horse. He was scared of what would happen to him and what he would do accidentally. He didn't know enough about horses, about riding horses to even begin to sit on one, much less ride it.
Not for the first time he wished that Ton was an alpha so that they could share a mental link as well, just like Richard and Vet. It was something exclusive to alphas and if Ton should ever become the alpha of his own pack then he and Tommy would have a mental link, but for now all they had was a hyper awareness of each other, a need to protect, care for, and love each other, although Ton had yet to admit to feeling such a thing, and a desire for each other. A fierce, aching desire. One that overwhelmed all rational thought. They could sense each other's feelings which was sort of good, but he wanted Ton to be able to see what he saw whenever he looked up at that horse.
"What has you so scared beautiful? Why are you so afraid of riding this horse?" Ton stepped closer to him and bent low to speak directly into his ear. Tommy shivered as his mate's warm breath brushed against his neck, goose bumps rising along his skin and his cock growing hard behind the zipper of his jeans.
"Every time I look at this horse, all I see is me falling off of it. I see me falling off, breaking my arms, my legs, my back, my neck when I hit the ground and then I see the horse getting spooked by my cries of pain and her clomping down on top of me, killing me, as she's running away," Tommy admitted softly. He waited for Ton's laughter and when none came, he chanced a glance up at the bigger man's face.
Ton didn't look amused or disappointed, he looked...caring. His eyes had softened considerably and he saw genuine caring there for him. He was baffled at this response, especially since he had been expecting another one. He could have handled Ton being angry with him, teasing him, being disappointed in him...they were all emotions expressed by different people in his life the day he'd come out as being gay and then again when he'd come out as being a cross-dressing drag queen. But this? This...caring? This look of possessiveness and kind indulgence? What the hell was he supposed to do with that?
He opened his mouth to make an innuendo about riding Ton instead when Ton spoke and shocked him into silence.
"I'll ride with you," the other man said.
Tommy stood there in a daze. No one had ever volunteered to take care of him like that, especially not in the face of all of his drama, paranoias and fears. Richard was nice, loving also, but Tommy knew that sometimes his best friend got annoyed by the sound of "I can't do that" forever leaving Tommy's lips and Tommy always felt bad about saying it, but who would understand his irrational fears and still love him regardless? It was why he'd been content with the short-term affairs and week-long flings he'd found himself in over the years. He'd never had a partner, much less thought that he'd have a mate, someone that fate had sat aside just for him. He was floored with emotion.
His eyes filled with tears and he launched himself into Ton's arms. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he muttered over and over again as he kissed every inch of Ton's face and neck, his legs wrapped around the other man's waist, his hands holding his face as he kissed him. He heard Ton chuckle over his exuberant reaction and pulled back to smile into his arms.
"If I had known that that was all it took to get you to ride this damn horse, I would have offered a fucking hour ago, when we first got out here," Ton teased before setting Tommy down on his feet.
Tommy didn't even mind the teasing now and just offered his mate a big grin. He was going to ride a horse for the first time in his life...with his mate. Someone who cared enough about him to ride on the horse with him.
"Now, I'm going to put you on the horse first, you just find your seat in the saddle, that's the place where you feel most comfortable, and then I'll mount up behind you and we'll be off," Ton said with a blush at his words. Tommy decided to let him pass on that one, since he seemed to already know what he'd said and his mind had apparently already gone to that place...or at least that's what the thick bulge straining the fabric of his jeans hinted at.
Tommy walked back over to the horse with determined strides and stood next to it. He felt Ton kneel down next to him and offer to boost him up into the saddle. Putting his right foot in the stirrup, he lifted his left foot into Ton's hands and then with a one-two bounce, lifted his leg up gracefully over the side of the horse and sat down very close to the saddle horn, almost knocking his testicles into the hard piece of...leather? Plastic? Well, whatever the hell it was, it would have hurt him badly if he'd sat down on top of that.
His mind had so wandered that he didn't realize that Ton was behind him until he felt the horse shift and then felt Ton's arm wrap around his middle and pull him back tightly into his chest. Both men groaned at their close proximity to each other and Tommy found himself wondering what it would feel like to have Ton fuck him on the back of a horse.
"It's definitely something that we'll have to try out," he heard Ton growl in a low voice full of arousal and Tommy realized that he'd spoken aloud. Blushing, he turned his head to the side and kissed Ton deeply, their tongues dueling, that feeling of being swept under the maelstrom that was Ton rising over him again and it was with great reluctance that he pulled his lips away from the other man's and turned back to face forward.
He took a shuddering breath and felt Ton take his own just moments later. He struggled to clear his mind of its lust induced fog and cleared his throat before speaking.
"So where are we riding to?" he questioned. He felt Ton's erection against his ass and he struggled not to squirm
"I figured since this is your first time that we'd just kinda ride around the corral. You know real easy and gentle like. The saddity folks call that a canter," Ton responded before pressing his booted heels into the horse's flanks and setting them off at a slow pace.
"A canter is what the other people call it. What do you call it Ant?" Tommy asked, one hand holding onto the saddle horn for dear life, the other one held tightly to the arm that Ton had wrapped around his waist, Ton's other hand held the reigns.
"Oh I don't know, a trot. Vet and Richard started calling it a canter. I just say a slow, easy ride," Ton responded.
Feeling a little more comfortable on the horse, Tommy felt his body start to relax and so he answered back cheekily, "Well, it'd be nice to have a slow, easy ride for once, all you ever give me is fast and hard ones."
"You sure aren't complaining when you're shooting your load all over yourself," he heard Ton's teasing reply.
Tommy never got a chance to respond because at that moment three gunshots sounded in rapid succession. One hit Ton in the leg, one hit the horse, Catherine, in her chest, killing her instantly and the other ripped through Tommy's spinal column.
All three bodies went down. First Catherine's body tilted to the ground taking the bodies with her, landing half on top of Tommy, who couldn't move and wasn't breathing and half on Ton who was screaming for help and attempting to free himself so that he could shift and heal and then take his mate to the hospital to be cared for, before he returned to the woods to kill Adam Quinn because he knew that it was him that had shot at them.
Tommy's thoughts were a jumbled mess. He knew that Catherine was dead, but that he and Ton were alive. He could hear Ton cussing up a blue streak about "the damn bullet" in his leg, the horse on top of him and his mate and the bullet lodged in Tommy's spine. He also knew that he couldn't move or feel his legs, though his arms and hands were just fine, as was his head. He looked down at his legs, his useless legs and then over at Ton. Would the man still want him if he couldn't walk anymore? What about having sex? What if he was incapable of getting an erection? What if he couldn't have an orgasm anymore?
These thoughts swirled through his head like a tornado until finally the blessed darkness washed over him, taking away the thoughts, the fears and most of all the sound of Ton's fear-filled profanity and the sound of Richard's pleas to be "okay." He'd never be okay again. And with that last thought he closed his eyes and knew no more.
Tommy looked at the brown mare with fear, his stomach roiling within him as he struggled not to turn and run for the hills. Okay, so there weren't any hills nearby, but he would certainly run for his bedroom and hide underneath the covers.
"It's not going to bite you unless you do something to piss it off," Ton whispered behind him and he nodded slowly as he bit his lip.
"Yeah, but what if she gets pisses off just because it's me on her back?" he asked in a soft voice, trying to remember what Ton had said about not spooking the horse.
"This is the same mare that Richard was first trained on. I think it would be fine for you," Ton replied, amusement evident in his voice. Tommy rolled his eyes and turned to face his mate, planting his fists on his hips.
"There is a big difference between Richard and I," he practically growled. He could see the flare of annoyance in his mate's eyes and watched as the other man squared his shoulders. Ton was fighting his wolf and Tommy knew that. He knew that the wolf was seeing insubordination in its mate and wanted to bring him to heel underneath him, but he didn't care right then. He was scared and his mate wasn't helping him by comparing him to Richard.
"And what is the difference between you and Richard? Besides the fact that you're smaller and more beautiful than Richard could even dream of being?" Ton asked, his head slightly tilted to the side in confusion. Tommy fought a blissful sigh at his mate's sweet words and shook his head.
"Thank you for the compliment but no. Richard is graceful. He's a dancer, that's sort of a requirement. He would have a very easy time flowing with the movement of the horse. Me? I can't dance worth shit and I doubt that the horse will take it easy on me if I cook for it or sing for it or teach it how to wear women's clothing properly," he pointed out and heard the whine in his voice...which he found perfectly justified. He watched as Ton's lips tightened as if he were struggling not to laugh and he grew even more annoyed.
"Well have you offered that to the horse? Maybe she'd like that," Ton muttered seconds before bursting into loud howls of laughter. Tommy crossed his arms and glared at his mate. Was he seriously finding this amusing? What was amusing about this? Tommy was terrified. Terrified of being on that horse. He was scared of what would happen to him and what he would do accidentally. He didn't know enough about horses, about riding horses to even begin to sit on one, much less ride it.
Not for the first time he wished that Ton was an alpha so that they could share a mental link as well, just like Richard and Vet. It was something exclusive to alphas and if Ton should ever become the alpha of his own pack then he and Tommy would have a mental link, but for now all they had was a hyper awareness of each other, a need to protect, care for, and love each other, although Ton had yet to admit to feeling such a thing, and a desire for each other. A fierce, aching desire. One that overwhelmed all rational thought. They could sense each other's feelings which was sort of good, but he wanted Ton to be able to see what he saw whenever he looked up at that horse.
"What has you so scared beautiful? Why are you so afraid of riding this horse?" Ton stepped closer to him and bent low to speak directly into his ear. Tommy shivered as his mate's warm breath brushed against his neck, goose bumps rising along his skin and his cock growing hard behind the zipper of his jeans.
"Every time I look at this horse, all I see is me falling off of it. I see me falling off, breaking my arms, my legs, my back, my neck when I hit the ground and then I see the horse getting spooked by my cries of pain and her clomping down on top of me, killing me, as she's running away," Tommy admitted softly. He waited for Ton's laughter and when none came, he chanced a glance up at the bigger man's face.
Ton didn't look amused or disappointed, he looked...caring. His eyes had softened considerably and he saw genuine caring there for him. He was baffled at this response, especially since he had been expecting another one. He could have handled Ton being angry with him, teasing him, being disappointed in him...they were all emotions expressed by different people in his life the day he'd come out as being gay and then again when he'd come out as being a cross-dressing drag queen. But this? This...caring? This look of possessiveness and kind indulgence? What the hell was he supposed to do with that?
He opened his mouth to make an innuendo about riding Ton instead when Ton spoke and shocked him into silence.
"I'll ride with you," the other man said.
Tommy stood there in a daze. No one had ever volunteered to take care of him like that, especially not in the face of all of his drama, paranoias and fears. Richard was nice, loving also, but Tommy knew that sometimes his best friend got annoyed by the sound of "I can't do that" forever leaving Tommy's lips and Tommy always felt bad about saying it, but who would understand his irrational fears and still love him regardless? It was why he'd been content with the short-term affairs and week-long flings he'd found himself in over the years. He'd never had a partner, much less thought that he'd have a mate, someone that fate had sat aside just for him. He was floored with emotion.
His eyes filled with tears and he launched himself into Ton's arms. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he muttered over and over again as he kissed every inch of Ton's face and neck, his legs wrapped around the other man's waist, his hands holding his face as he kissed him. He heard Ton chuckle over his exuberant reaction and pulled back to smile into his arms.
"If I had known that that was all it took to get you to ride this damn horse, I would have offered a fucking hour ago, when we first got out here," Ton teased before setting Tommy down on his feet.
Tommy didn't even mind the teasing now and just offered his mate a big grin. He was going to ride a horse for the first time in his life...with his mate. Someone who cared enough about him to ride on the horse with him.
"Now, I'm going to put you on the horse first, you just find your seat in the saddle, that's the place where you feel most comfortable, and then I'll mount up behind you and we'll be off," Ton said with a blush at his words. Tommy decided to let him pass on that one, since he seemed to already know what he'd said and his mind had apparently already gone to that place...or at least that's what the thick bulge straining the fabric of his jeans hinted at.
Tommy walked back over to the horse with determined strides and stood next to it. He felt Ton kneel down next to him and offer to boost him up into the saddle. Putting his right foot in the stirrup, he lifted his left foot into Ton's hands and then with a one-two bounce, lifted his leg up gracefully over the side of the horse and sat down very close to the saddle horn, almost knocking his testicles into the hard piece of...leather? Plastic? Well, whatever the hell it was, it would have hurt him badly if he'd sat down on top of that.
His mind had so wandered that he didn't realize that Ton was behind him until he felt the horse shift and then felt Ton's arm wrap around his middle and pull him back tightly into his chest. Both men groaned at their close proximity to each other and Tommy found himself wondering what it would feel like to have Ton fuck him on the back of a horse.
"It's definitely something that we'll have to try out," he heard Ton growl in a low voice full of arousal and Tommy realized that he'd spoken aloud. Blushing, he turned his head to the side and kissed Ton deeply, their tongues dueling, that feeling of being swept under the maelstrom that was Ton rising over him again and it was with great reluctance that he pulled his lips away from the other man's and turned back to face forward.
He took a shuddering breath and felt Ton take his own just moments later. He struggled to clear his mind of its lust induced fog and cleared his throat before speaking.
"So where are we riding to?" he questioned. He felt Ton's erection against his ass and he struggled not to squirm
"I figured since this is your first time that we'd just kinda ride around the corral. You know real easy and gentle like. The saddity folks call that a canter," Ton responded before pressing his booted heels into the horse's flanks and setting them off at a slow pace.
"A canter is what the other people call it. What do you call it Ant?" Tommy asked, one hand holding onto the saddle horn for dear life, the other one held tightly to the arm that Ton had wrapped around his waist, Ton's other hand held the reigns.
"Oh I don't know, a trot. Vet and Richard started calling it a canter. I just say a slow, easy ride," Ton responded.
Feeling a little more comfortable on the horse, Tommy felt his body start to relax and so he answered back cheekily, "Well, it'd be nice to have a slow, easy ride for once, all you ever give me is fast and hard ones."
"You sure aren't complaining when you're shooting your load all over yourself," he heard Ton's teasing reply.
Tommy never got a chance to respond because at that moment three gunshots sounded in rapid succession. One hit Ton in the leg, one hit the horse, Catherine, in her chest, killing her instantly and the other ripped through Tommy's spinal column.
All three bodies went down. First Catherine's body tilted to the ground taking the bodies with her, landing half on top of Tommy, who couldn't move and wasn't breathing and half on Ton who was screaming for help and attempting to free himself so that he could shift and heal and then take his mate to the hospital to be cared for, before he returned to the woods to kill Adam Quinn because he knew that it was him that had shot at them.
Tommy's thoughts were a jumbled mess. He knew that Catherine was dead, but that he and Ton were alive. He could hear Ton cussing up a blue streak about "the damn bullet" in his leg, the horse on top of him and his mate and the bullet lodged in Tommy's spine. He also knew that he couldn't move or feel his legs, though his arms and hands were just fine, as was his head. He looked down at his legs, his useless legs and then over at Ton. Would the man still want him if he couldn't walk anymore? What about having sex? What if he was incapable of getting an erection? What if he couldn't have an orgasm anymore?
These thoughts swirled through his head like a tornado until finally the blessed darkness washed over him, taking away the thoughts, the fears and most of all the sound of Ton's fear-filled profanity and the sound of Richard's pleas to be "okay." He'd never be okay again. And with that last thought he closed his eyes and knew no more.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Inconceivable: Part Nine
Part Nine:
Tommy swallowed thickly and tried to push back the fear clawing at his throat as he stood shakily to his feet and muttered something unintelligble to the room before rushing towards the bedroom where he grabbed his bag and began to stuff his clothes and belongings inside of it. He felt more than heard Ton follow him into the room. He ignored him and continued to grab clothes and shoes, undergarments and only stopped when Ton grabbed his arms and held him tightly against him. It was only then that he realized that he was shaking.
"Ssshhh. It's okay beautiful. Don't you know by now that I'm not going to let anything happen to you? Don't you remember what happened to the last men that attacked you?" Ton whispered reassuringly into his ear. Tommy nodded as he remembered his attack and the news reports that came in shortly after about the "wolf" attack on the men who had done it. He knew that Ton would do everything that he could to protect him and although his mate was huge and a wolf shifter to boot, he wasn't Adam Quinn. Adam Quinn was ruthless, cold-hearted, and he had connections...seedy, underhanded, illegal connections, as well as respectable, wealthy, high society ones. The fact that he'd been arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced was largely in part because of the overwhelming evidence, photos, videotapes, audio recordings, threatening emails and text messages that proved that Adam had been ruthlessly and senselessly beating Tommy for a while. If they hadn't had those key pieces of evidence Adam would never have seen a courtroom. So it didn't make sense that the man could be out of jail. That he could have found him. That he was still threatening his life.
Tommy pressed his body close to Ton's and took a shuddering breath, "I don't want anything to happen to you," he whispered into the bigger man's chest. He felt Ton stiffen slightly and pull back a little to look down at him.
"You were trying to run to protect me?" he asked incredulously. Confused by the disbelief in his mate's tone Tommy merely nodded his head. Had he broken some sacred wolf shifter mate code or something? Was he not supposed to try and protect his mate? Was he supposed to simply let Ton take care of him but never reciprocate? Tommy snorted mentally. That would never happen. If Ton insisted on taking care of him and protecting him then he would just have to get used to the fact that Tommy would be doing the same thing for him.
"I can't remember the last time that someone tried to protect me," he heard Ton whisper in shock and he felt his body fill with warmth at the underlying sound of awe that tinged his mate's words.
"Well, get used to it. I may be small and like to dress up in drag, but I am all man under here and I protect what's mine," Tommy said fiercely, wrapping his arms around Ton's waist and placing a kiss on the cowboy's chest. He felt Ton's chuckle rumble through his chest and sighed contentedly. He was still afraid for Ton, and for everyone else on the ranch, Adam could be vicious when provoked. He didn't want to put anyone in danger but it seemed as if his mate was refusing to let him leave and to be quite honest, he didn't really want to go anywhere anyway. He had never felt safer than he did at that moment with Ton's arms wrapped around him tightly, their hearts beating in sync with each other. He wished the rest of the world would just fade away, but he was aware that that was impossible. Life continued, regardless of the tender moment that he was sharing with his mate, the world kept spinning, and their guests were still sitting in the dining room, probably wondering what was going on...THEIR GUESTS!
Tommy stiffened and then stepped out of Ton's arms with a gasp. Ignoring the other man's look of confusion, he hurried into the bathroom and gave a small cry of dismay at his appearance. His hair and makeup were smudged. Shooing Ton out of the bathroom he set about the task of fixing his appearance before returning to the dining room table and the people who waited there.
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Ton grunted when the bathroom door shut in his face and turned to head back into the dining room, barely sparing a glance at his mate's hastily packed bag knowing that the smaller man wasn't going anywhere without him tagging along. Stepping back into the dining room he was happy to see that no one had left. He was coming to realize that the number of people who cared about him was a lot bigger than just his sister Luci. He hand friends, their mates, their families and now...he had his own mate. A little spitfire who had been willing to leave him, just to keep him safe, even though Ton was so much bigger than him. It was almost as if Tommy didn't see his size. It was a little bit of a relief, especially when that seemed to be all that others could see.
"How is he?" he heard Richard ask and he nodded with a small quirk of his lips. He had never been happier than the day he'd gone to pick up the alpha mate's best friend and smelled his mate among the crowd. When he saw the beautiful little man sashaying his way he had struggled to remember that his mate was there when all he wanted to do at that point was to lift Tommy into his arms and fuck him against the nearest wall. He'd been the happiest cowboy around when he'd discovered that the beautiful little man and his mate were one and the same. He had been waiting for his mate his entire life and he'd be damned if he was going to let some punk ass come and threaten the man that he loved.
Ton pulled up short, his head tilting to the side and his eyebrows flew into his hairline. Loved? Did he just say love? He didn't love Tommy. He couldn't love Tommy, it was too soon. Regardless of what those romance novels that his sister read and he, you know, glanced at occasionally said, mates did not fall in love instantly. The possessiveness, the protectiveness was there, the connection was deep and long lasting, but love? Love was not an automatic thing. He shook himself out of his mental stupor. He couldn't love Tommy, it was way too soon. He'd obviously just thought that because of the fact that his mate's life was in danger, yeah, that was it. The danger to his mate made his wolf snarl and growl and struggle to get out, while making his human self, emotional and mushy. Just like he was some goddamn chick in one of those sappy romance novels. Next someone would ask him what was wrong and he'd answer and say something stupid and Tommy would be standing right there, they would argue and Tommy would leave then Adam would kidnap him and he would spend the next...oh fifty pages or so, trying to get him back, when he would then admit his love for the smaller man, Tommy would say it back and the book would end with them having sex in some impossible way, with a lot of moaning, groaning and trite dialogue. Life did not imitate art.
"Hey man, what's wrong?" he heard Ross ask him and before he could open his mouth and say something incredibly stupid like, "Oh you know, my mate, you know the cross-dressing human? Has got someone trying to kill him and I think I may be feeling something for him, but that's not possible, because he's a human and I'm a wolf. He may be my mate, but he'll never be my lover," he smelled his mate return to the room. Turning towards him, he felt his mouth drop open in amazement and his breath catch in his chest.
Tommy had changed into a pair of tight jeans with a red cotton shirt that hung off one shoulder, the sleeves coming ending right at his wrists. He had pulled his hair up into a ponytail at the top of his head, He had replaced his makeup, his lips were a soft shade of red, looking plump and wet, and he was wearing a pair of red pumps. He looked breathtaking and Ton felt his wolf growling inside of him, wanting to claim his mate, on the table in front of everyone. More than that, however, he wanted to fall to his knees before the other man and wrap his arms around him and beg him to never leave him or let him go.
With that thought in his head, the truth smacked him like a two by four. He was a character from a fucking romance novel because he realized at that moment that he loved his mate. Hopelessly, fiercely and forever.
Shit.
Tommy swallowed thickly and tried to push back the fear clawing at his throat as he stood shakily to his feet and muttered something unintelligble to the room before rushing towards the bedroom where he grabbed his bag and began to stuff his clothes and belongings inside of it. He felt more than heard Ton follow him into the room. He ignored him and continued to grab clothes and shoes, undergarments and only stopped when Ton grabbed his arms and held him tightly against him. It was only then that he realized that he was shaking.
"Ssshhh. It's okay beautiful. Don't you know by now that I'm not going to let anything happen to you? Don't you remember what happened to the last men that attacked you?" Ton whispered reassuringly into his ear. Tommy nodded as he remembered his attack and the news reports that came in shortly after about the "wolf" attack on the men who had done it. He knew that Ton would do everything that he could to protect him and although his mate was huge and a wolf shifter to boot, he wasn't Adam Quinn. Adam Quinn was ruthless, cold-hearted, and he had connections...seedy, underhanded, illegal connections, as well as respectable, wealthy, high society ones. The fact that he'd been arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced was largely in part because of the overwhelming evidence, photos, videotapes, audio recordings, threatening emails and text messages that proved that Adam had been ruthlessly and senselessly beating Tommy for a while. If they hadn't had those key pieces of evidence Adam would never have seen a courtroom. So it didn't make sense that the man could be out of jail. That he could have found him. That he was still threatening his life.
Tommy pressed his body close to Ton's and took a shuddering breath, "I don't want anything to happen to you," he whispered into the bigger man's chest. He felt Ton stiffen slightly and pull back a little to look down at him.
"You were trying to run to protect me?" he asked incredulously. Confused by the disbelief in his mate's tone Tommy merely nodded his head. Had he broken some sacred wolf shifter mate code or something? Was he not supposed to try and protect his mate? Was he supposed to simply let Ton take care of him but never reciprocate? Tommy snorted mentally. That would never happen. If Ton insisted on taking care of him and protecting him then he would just have to get used to the fact that Tommy would be doing the same thing for him.
"I can't remember the last time that someone tried to protect me," he heard Ton whisper in shock and he felt his body fill with warmth at the underlying sound of awe that tinged his mate's words.
"Well, get used to it. I may be small and like to dress up in drag, but I am all man under here and I protect what's mine," Tommy said fiercely, wrapping his arms around Ton's waist and placing a kiss on the cowboy's chest. He felt Ton's chuckle rumble through his chest and sighed contentedly. He was still afraid for Ton, and for everyone else on the ranch, Adam could be vicious when provoked. He didn't want to put anyone in danger but it seemed as if his mate was refusing to let him leave and to be quite honest, he didn't really want to go anywhere anyway. He had never felt safer than he did at that moment with Ton's arms wrapped around him tightly, their hearts beating in sync with each other. He wished the rest of the world would just fade away, but he was aware that that was impossible. Life continued, regardless of the tender moment that he was sharing with his mate, the world kept spinning, and their guests were still sitting in the dining room, probably wondering what was going on...THEIR GUESTS!
Tommy stiffened and then stepped out of Ton's arms with a gasp. Ignoring the other man's look of confusion, he hurried into the bathroom and gave a small cry of dismay at his appearance. His hair and makeup were smudged. Shooing Ton out of the bathroom he set about the task of fixing his appearance before returning to the dining room table and the people who waited there.
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Ton grunted when the bathroom door shut in his face and turned to head back into the dining room, barely sparing a glance at his mate's hastily packed bag knowing that the smaller man wasn't going anywhere without him tagging along. Stepping back into the dining room he was happy to see that no one had left. He was coming to realize that the number of people who cared about him was a lot bigger than just his sister Luci. He hand friends, their mates, their families and now...he had his own mate. A little spitfire who had been willing to leave him, just to keep him safe, even though Ton was so much bigger than him. It was almost as if Tommy didn't see his size. It was a little bit of a relief, especially when that seemed to be all that others could see.
"How is he?" he heard Richard ask and he nodded with a small quirk of his lips. He had never been happier than the day he'd gone to pick up the alpha mate's best friend and smelled his mate among the crowd. When he saw the beautiful little man sashaying his way he had struggled to remember that his mate was there when all he wanted to do at that point was to lift Tommy into his arms and fuck him against the nearest wall. He'd been the happiest cowboy around when he'd discovered that the beautiful little man and his mate were one and the same. He had been waiting for his mate his entire life and he'd be damned if he was going to let some punk ass come and threaten the man that he loved.
Ton pulled up short, his head tilting to the side and his eyebrows flew into his hairline. Loved? Did he just say love? He didn't love Tommy. He couldn't love Tommy, it was too soon. Regardless of what those romance novels that his sister read and he, you know, glanced at occasionally said, mates did not fall in love instantly. The possessiveness, the protectiveness was there, the connection was deep and long lasting, but love? Love was not an automatic thing. He shook himself out of his mental stupor. He couldn't love Tommy, it was way too soon. He'd obviously just thought that because of the fact that his mate's life was in danger, yeah, that was it. The danger to his mate made his wolf snarl and growl and struggle to get out, while making his human self, emotional and mushy. Just like he was some goddamn chick in one of those sappy romance novels. Next someone would ask him what was wrong and he'd answer and say something stupid and Tommy would be standing right there, they would argue and Tommy would leave then Adam would kidnap him and he would spend the next...oh fifty pages or so, trying to get him back, when he would then admit his love for the smaller man, Tommy would say it back and the book would end with them having sex in some impossible way, with a lot of moaning, groaning and trite dialogue. Life did not imitate art.
"Hey man, what's wrong?" he heard Ross ask him and before he could open his mouth and say something incredibly stupid like, "Oh you know, my mate, you know the cross-dressing human? Has got someone trying to kill him and I think I may be feeling something for him, but that's not possible, because he's a human and I'm a wolf. He may be my mate, but he'll never be my lover," he smelled his mate return to the room. Turning towards him, he felt his mouth drop open in amazement and his breath catch in his chest.
Tommy had changed into a pair of tight jeans with a red cotton shirt that hung off one shoulder, the sleeves coming ending right at his wrists. He had pulled his hair up into a ponytail at the top of his head, He had replaced his makeup, his lips were a soft shade of red, looking plump and wet, and he was wearing a pair of red pumps. He looked breathtaking and Ton felt his wolf growling inside of him, wanting to claim his mate, on the table in front of everyone. More than that, however, he wanted to fall to his knees before the other man and wrap his arms around him and beg him to never leave him or let him go.
With that thought in his head, the truth smacked him like a two by four. He was a character from a fucking romance novel because he realized at that moment that he loved his mate. Hopelessly, fiercely and forever.
Shit.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Inconceivable: Part Seven
Part Seven:
Tommy opened his eyes slowly. He was disoriented. The sound of "Paint" still played in the background. Where the hell was he? Then his mind cleared from the haze of the earth shattering orgasm he'd just experienced and his body became aware of a few things all at once. He was wrapped in the big, muscled arms of Ton. His mate. The two of them were covered in paint from head to two. The room they laid in was covered in paint...and his ass ached as if he'd been impaled on a battering ram. He grinned at that thought. Ton was very well endowed so he wasn't too far from the truth with that one. He shifted his hips slightly from where he lay on the floor with one of Ton's muscled legs wrapped around his own and winced at the delightful pain. When he felt slight pressure in his rear, he knew that it was time to expel all of the white seed that Ton had shot within him. Moving slowly he tried to extract himself from the bigger man's protective hold on him.
"Where do you think you're going?" Ton's deep voice growled, rough from sleep.
Tommy turned his head and placed a small kiss on Ton's lips before replying, "I've got to go to the little boy's room." He watched as Ton's eyes opened and stared at him. Then the wolf's eyes traveled over his face, down his neck and to the juncture where his neck and shoulder met, focusing on the sign of their mating. The mating mark began to throb deliciously the longer that Ton stared at it and Tommy felt his morning erection get even harder. He moaned and began to rub his ass against the larger man's own erection.
"Iffen you wanted to go to the bathroom, I suggest you go now, otherwise, I'm liable to keep you on this floor for the next five hours or so. However long it takes me to make you come five more times," Ton drawled, his voice filled with amusement.
Tommy growled himself at Ton's words and then without another word he rolled out of Ton's arms and hurried to the bathroom, although his gait was a little off from the pounding that his ass received. He heard Ton chuckle at his enthusiasm and his walk but he didn't care. He wanted to go and empty his ass in the bathroom and take a piss and then he wanted to go back into the living room and have Ton fill him back up all over again. With that thought in mind, he closed the bathroom door and set about getting his business done.
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Seven hours later, Tommy and Ton fell back onto the couch in their finally, fully painted living room. They'd had to paint the mantle of the fireplace, the front door, the window sills in the living room and Tommy had decided it would be a good idea to paint every other stone in their stone fireplace, and it had given the fireplace a really nice affect and made it flow with the rest of the room. Or atleast that's what Tommy had told him. Ton didn't really know all that much about fashion and colors and palettes and light and contrasts...but his mate did so that was all that really mattered.
He opened his mouth to ask his mate about what room they were going to paint next and what color they were going to paint it when his stomach growled loudly. Tommy giggled and he felt himself blush for the first time in decades.
"I guess we haven't really eaten in a while huh?" Tommy said with another grin. Ton loved his mate's smile, it was all innocence and sunshine and hot, steamy sinfulness all rolled into one. Ton became more and more enamored of his mate each time that the smaller man smiled. He'd give the man whatever he wanted as long as he kept smiling at him like that.
"Not since yesterday before we started painting," he stated, his gaze fastened on his mate's full lips, he leaned forward to kiss him and fell face forward into the cushions. Confused as to where his mate was and why he wasn't underneath him where he belonged, he turned his face to the side and saw Tommy looking down at him with amusement in his eyes, his lips pulled up into a beautiful smile.
"First we eat and then we paint our bedroom a deep blue color which is supposed to encourage intimacy and arousal and then you can fuck me through the mattress, okay?" the smaller man offered before turning towards the kitchen. Ton nodded, although his mate was no longer standing before him. Tommy was right, they needed to eat if they were going to keep his strength up. They needed to paint the bedroom so that they could sleep peacefully in the completely boring white walls room. More than that, they need to fuck, to have sex, to mate. They needed to do that more than anything.
Ton stood up and followed his mate into the kitchen. He watched as Tommy's ass shook in his tight green aerobic pants, his white shirt pulled tight and the hem of the shirt twisted and tied above his belly button, as he stirred something in a bowl. He leaned against the doorway and watched as his little man fluttered around the room, preparing a meal. There were chicken wings and drummettes, all rinsed and ready to be smothered in something, waiting in a bowl on the counter. There was a pot with fresh broccoli and cauliflower boiling in another pot. There was romaine lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, cilantro, garlic powder, fresh garlic, Italian seasoning, and Cajun seasoning all sitting on the counter.
"What are you making?" he queried, raising his eyebrows in curiosity when Tommy reached up to grab the flour from the cabinet and dumped some into the bowl he was stirring before grabbing the bowl of chicken and dumping them in that bowl.
"Breaded Parmesan Chicken wings, Greek salad, a Broccoli and Califlower Rice mixture, and for dessert I'm going to make a cherry cobbler," Tommy stated without stopping or looking over at him. Ton's stomach growled angrily at the sound of the food, desperately wanting to be fed the delightful meal right then but he knew that he would have to wait.
"Sounds good babe," he stated as he walked up and kissed the back of Tommy's head,the smaller man had pulled his gorgeous black hair up into a ponytail at the top of his head and Ton took a moment to sniff his hair before leaning over and placing another kiss right on Tommy's mating mark. He grinned when the other man shivered, glad to know that the mark had become an erogenous zone for his delightful mate and stood to his full height. "I'm going to go ahead and check on things with the alpha and with the ranch, but I'll be back in an hour, is that enough time for everything to be done?" he asked.
"That's perfect. Just don't forget to wash your hands before you sit down to eat okay Ant?" Tommy stated as he turned up the music on his iPod home, effectively cutting off Ton's reply. Realizing that his mate didn't need an answer and that he'd been summarily dismissed, Ton grinned again and turned to saunter out of the house. He stepped out of his now dry, freshly painted front door and closed the door behind him. The Texas sun was shining brightly and he wished for a moment that he'd grabbed his sunglasses from the bedroom, but realizing he was only walking from his house into the alpha's he decided against it. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than his wolf smelled the scent of another man on his front step. A man he didn't know. Sniffing around gently, he turned to face the door and saw the envelope taped to the front of it. How had he not seen that before?
He pulled off the envelope and saw his mate's name scrawled across the front of it. He should probably give this to Tommy without reading it, but the feeling of trepidation that crept over his spine warned him against it and he opened it instead. Seconds later he was glad he did when the words that had been written to his mate filled him with rage, protectiveness, possessiveness and a hint of fear:
Hello Tommy-Boy,
Did you think that if you moved out to Hicksville, TX that I wouldn't find you?
Did you think you were safe?
You belong to me. Always have, and always will.
It doesn't matter how big your new boyfriend is. He'll just fall all that harder with a bullet in his heart. And he will fall. And when he's dead, I'll have you and I'll listen as you cry for him. I'll masturbate to your pitiful sounds of heartbreak and I'll come to your screams of torture as I finally, finally make you mine, in every way.
It won't be long now, Tommy-Boy.
Yours Forever, A.Q.
Someone was after his mate and this person had no problem going through him to get the smaller man. Ton had to protect his mate, no matter what he had to do.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Inconceivable: Part Four
Part Four:
Ton looked down at his sleeping mate before looking over at his sister Luci. The two of them shared a smile before he placed the smaller man back down on the bed and covered him with a sheet. He sighed as he brushed back the hair on his mate's forehead.
"You love him already don't you?" he heard Luci's voice as she stood and began to walk towards the suite's kitchen. He snorted at the thought. Tommy was his mate yes, and he was wildly attracted to him, they were even able to speak with ease and they had a lot in common but he wasn't in love with the man. He didn't even believe that he was capable of the emotion. He was too possessive, to aggressive and too domineering to ever be able to love someone as sweet and as beautiful as Tommy.
"I don't even know what that word means," he replied back to Luci, before rising from the bed and joining her in the kitchen area.
"You love me don't you? I mean you raised me after Mom and Dad died and you were 18 and I was only 10. You did a pretty decent job too. And you didn't have to raise me," she reminded him and Ton felt his chest tighten and his throat close up with emotion. He'd barely been an adult himself when his parents had died in that car accident. Wolf shifters weren't immortal, they lived longer and it was harder to kill them, but they weren't immortal by any stretch of the imagination. Ton had been preparing to take off and work on a ranch in Montana while trying to be a bull rider. His parents hadn't wanted him to go and they'd had a terrible argument, he'd stormed out of the house and took off on his motorcycle. He hadn't gone home that night, choosing instead to sleep over at Alex's house. Although he and Alex hadn't really slept. Both of them had been enjoying their new-found sexuality and they'd spent the entire night have hot sex, so they were both passed out asleep when the phone call came in the next moment about Ton's parents. He'd been so disoriented that it had taken him a while to understand that his parents were both dead, killed on impact because neither of them had been wearing their seat belts, and his baby sister was now an orphan and would be moved to one of the other families in the pack if he didn't step up to take care of her. He knew he didn't have a choice. His guilt over his last words to his parents still haunted him today.
"I had to take care of you, no one else could put up with your annoying personality," he teased Luci, bumping her lightly with his hip.
"Shut up Metric Ton," she teased back, using her nickname for him from when they were kids.
He growled playfully, "Don't let Tommy hear you use that name!" he admonished her with a grin. The siblings laughed and then went about preparing a meal. Ton had gone out to buy groceries earlier, while Luci watched over Tommy. Leaving his injured mate behind was the hardest thing he'd ever done.
"You know your mate and I are going to be best friends right?" Luci stated cheekily as she dumped chunks of tomatoes on top of the salad. Ton snorted as he removed the grilled chicken breast from the George Foreman grill.
"I have no doubt about it, it's just the way fate works," he grunted. They finished lunch and carried the plates over to the small dining table. Ton turned to wake up Tommy only to find the smaller man awake and sitting up in bed.
"Hey baby, how are you feeling?" he asked as he walked over to help the other man out of the bed.
"Sore. In pain. Hungry and like I have to take the world's biggest piss ever," Tommy grumbled before giving Ton a small smile.
"You know if you had already mated and marked him, he'd be healed by now," Luci stated as she filled their glasses with iced tea. Ton groaned internally when Tommy froze in place and looked up at him.
"I could be healed already?" he whispered and Ton nodded. He watched as Tommy's face turned red and knew without even scenting the air that his mate was angry.
"Are you getting off on me being in pain or something? Is this some sort of wolf, predator, mate thing? You LIKE seeing me in pain and barely able to walk or move on my own? Is that why you didn't do something to FUCKING HEAL ME ALREADY?!" Tommy yelled, poking the bigger man in the chest.
"You don't understand Tommy," Ton sighed, struggling to contain his wolf which was howling at the aggression being displayed by his mate and wanting desperately to make the smaller man submit to him.
"So fucking explain it to me," Tommy panted out as he leaned against the wall, his strength rapidly deteriorating.
"In order for me to mate and mark you, we would have to be having sex and I am not going to have sex with you when you can barely walk, barely move, barely breathe! I have too much respect for you to do that. You are my mate and I will take care of you, protect you, even if it means that I have to protect you from myself and not claim you or mark you until you feel a little better," Ton gritted out between clenched teeth.
Tommy huffed and Ton stepped closer to the smaller man and lowered his voice so that his sister couldn't hear, "Nothing would make me happier than to claim you beautiful, nothing. Not just because you would get better and heal quicker but because I want to mark you as mine for all the world to see, but I will not give into my wolf, I will not be an animal and make love to you when you'd be in too much pain to appreciate it. When you start feel better, however," Ton lifted his hand to Tommy's chin and lifted the other man's face until his eyes met Ton's passionate gaze, "nothing in this world will stop me from claiming you and marking you as mine."
Ton was surprised but pleased with the scent of his mate's arousal wafted up to his nostrils, he closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply. "Fuck but you smell good," he groaned before giving himself a mental shake. He looked back down at his mate who now had a small smirk on his face. "Let's get you to the bathroom and then have us some dinner. I believe my sister wants to become best friends with you and Luci always gets what she wants," he grinned before scooping the smaller man into his arms and heading towards the bathroom without another word.
Ton looked down at his sleeping mate before looking over at his sister Luci. The two of them shared a smile before he placed the smaller man back down on the bed and covered him with a sheet. He sighed as he brushed back the hair on his mate's forehead.
"You love him already don't you?" he heard Luci's voice as she stood and began to walk towards the suite's kitchen. He snorted at the thought. Tommy was his mate yes, and he was wildly attracted to him, they were even able to speak with ease and they had a lot in common but he wasn't in love with the man. He didn't even believe that he was capable of the emotion. He was too possessive, to aggressive and too domineering to ever be able to love someone as sweet and as beautiful as Tommy.
"I don't even know what that word means," he replied back to Luci, before rising from the bed and joining her in the kitchen area.
"You love me don't you? I mean you raised me after Mom and Dad died and you were 18 and I was only 10. You did a pretty decent job too. And you didn't have to raise me," she reminded him and Ton felt his chest tighten and his throat close up with emotion. He'd barely been an adult himself when his parents had died in that car accident. Wolf shifters weren't immortal, they lived longer and it was harder to kill them, but they weren't immortal by any stretch of the imagination. Ton had been preparing to take off and work on a ranch in Montana while trying to be a bull rider. His parents hadn't wanted him to go and they'd had a terrible argument, he'd stormed out of the house and took off on his motorcycle. He hadn't gone home that night, choosing instead to sleep over at Alex's house. Although he and Alex hadn't really slept. Both of them had been enjoying their new-found sexuality and they'd spent the entire night have hot sex, so they were both passed out asleep when the phone call came in the next moment about Ton's parents. He'd been so disoriented that it had taken him a while to understand that his parents were both dead, killed on impact because neither of them had been wearing their seat belts, and his baby sister was now an orphan and would be moved to one of the other families in the pack if he didn't step up to take care of her. He knew he didn't have a choice. His guilt over his last words to his parents still haunted him today.
"I had to take care of you, no one else could put up with your annoying personality," he teased Luci, bumping her lightly with his hip.
"Shut up Metric Ton," she teased back, using her nickname for him from when they were kids.
He growled playfully, "Don't let Tommy hear you use that name!" he admonished her with a grin. The siblings laughed and then went about preparing a meal. Ton had gone out to buy groceries earlier, while Luci watched over Tommy. Leaving his injured mate behind was the hardest thing he'd ever done.
"You know your mate and I are going to be best friends right?" Luci stated cheekily as she dumped chunks of tomatoes on top of the salad. Ton snorted as he removed the grilled chicken breast from the George Foreman grill.
"I have no doubt about it, it's just the way fate works," he grunted. They finished lunch and carried the plates over to the small dining table. Ton turned to wake up Tommy only to find the smaller man awake and sitting up in bed.
"Hey baby, how are you feeling?" he asked as he walked over to help the other man out of the bed.
"Sore. In pain. Hungry and like I have to take the world's biggest piss ever," Tommy grumbled before giving Ton a small smile.
"You know if you had already mated and marked him, he'd be healed by now," Luci stated as she filled their glasses with iced tea. Ton groaned internally when Tommy froze in place and looked up at him.
"I could be healed already?" he whispered and Ton nodded. He watched as Tommy's face turned red and knew without even scenting the air that his mate was angry.
"Are you getting off on me being in pain or something? Is this some sort of wolf, predator, mate thing? You LIKE seeing me in pain and barely able to walk or move on my own? Is that why you didn't do something to FUCKING HEAL ME ALREADY?!" Tommy yelled, poking the bigger man in the chest.
"You don't understand Tommy," Ton sighed, struggling to contain his wolf which was howling at the aggression being displayed by his mate and wanting desperately to make the smaller man submit to him.
"So fucking explain it to me," Tommy panted out as he leaned against the wall, his strength rapidly deteriorating.
"In order for me to mate and mark you, we would have to be having sex and I am not going to have sex with you when you can barely walk, barely move, barely breathe! I have too much respect for you to do that. You are my mate and I will take care of you, protect you, even if it means that I have to protect you from myself and not claim you or mark you until you feel a little better," Ton gritted out between clenched teeth.
Tommy huffed and Ton stepped closer to the smaller man and lowered his voice so that his sister couldn't hear, "Nothing would make me happier than to claim you beautiful, nothing. Not just because you would get better and heal quicker but because I want to mark you as mine for all the world to see, but I will not give into my wolf, I will not be an animal and make love to you when you'd be in too much pain to appreciate it. When you start feel better, however," Ton lifted his hand to Tommy's chin and lifted the other man's face until his eyes met Ton's passionate gaze, "nothing in this world will stop me from claiming you and marking you as mine."
Ton was surprised but pleased with the scent of his mate's arousal wafted up to his nostrils, he closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply. "Fuck but you smell good," he groaned before giving himself a mental shake. He looked back down at his mate who now had a small smirk on his face. "Let's get you to the bathroom and then have us some dinner. I believe my sister wants to become best friends with you and Luci always gets what she wants," he grinned before scooping the smaller man into his arms and heading towards the bathroom without another word.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Unthinkable: Part Twelve
*So I am SO unbelievably tired today and late with putting up this installment, but in true Vee-Vee fashion, I got an idea for a new book and had to start writing it. Outside of the "Passion's Hero" series and the "Sacred Duets" series, both of which are fantasy/paranormal M/M romance, then the other day I was talking to a friend and she said, "You know you're gay right?" and while I laughed, it was instantly the first line in a new book for me. So I've spent some time outlining and getting to know Markus Nelson, one of the wealthiest businessmen in the nation, built like a linebacker, gorgeous and an extremely closeted gay man, Tiffany Nelson, his outspoken, proud, lesbian younger sister, and Ethan Wells, the beautiful waiter he falls in love with. It's the first contemporary book I'm attempting and it's in first person so it gives me an opportunity to actually BE that gay man that that psychic told me that I was in a past life. LOL. I always get so excited when I first start a book or a story, because the characters are always so fascinating to me, I get to find out why they think, act and feel the way that they do. That leads the story the way it goes. Not even that, today I had a Hollywood moment when my car filled up with smoke as I was driving and slowed down until it stopped on the side of the interstate. I had two police officers, a Road Ranger and a tow truck guy all stop (the tow truck guy was actually from Allstate Motor Club, which I have). If I had been in a Hollywood movie, I would have begun a love affair with one of them. If I were in a porno, I would have been fucked by each one of them only to have my car start up perfectly fine at the end. In my dreams, they all would have been really hot gay men and had sex with each other, while I watched...then again it's my dreams so I would've been a gay man myself and gotten in on the action. LOL. Anyway, during all of this I got an idea for Part Twelve of Unthinkable, so here it is.*
Part Twelve:
Richard followed Ross through his small kitchen and into his living room and froze. He turned around and looked again. He hadn't left Ross's house and entered the Central Intelligence Agency, but he was surrounded by screens, monitors, gadgets, cameras, robots, video cameras, and all manner of spy devices. As he looked at one screen he saw what appeared to be the back of his home with Vet. His eyes widened as he realized that it was a live camera feed of their home. Turning very slowly he turned to look at Ross with suspicion, stepping away from the other man, cursing the fact that he was standing so close to the triplets who still slept inside their stroller.
"So...how do you know Vet?" he asked suspiciously as he walked closer to the stroller and began to pull the triplets away from Ross.
"Oh, me and Vernon go way back to preschool. We both discovered that we liked boys at the same time, lost our virginity to each other, both of us topping the other, we shifted for the first time together," Ross sighed. "We've been together for a really long time."
"So, I guess you were upset when you heard that he'd found his mate huh?" Richard asked as he continued to back away from Ross who had his back to him. He watched as Ross's shoulders stiffened.
"No, not upset. Vernon and I always knew that we weren't mates," the larger man responded, his voice tight with an unidentified emotion.
Richard nodded though he was aware that the other man could not see him. "So if you weren't upset that he'd found his mate then why didn't you go help him when you looked at your monitors and you saw the huge battle he was running into?" he asked quietly as he hid the triplets in their stroller around the corner of the room, in the hallway. His eyes jerked up at the sound of Ross's gasp and then braced himself for the man's angry reaction.
It never came.
What Richard saw instead was Ross's shoulders shaking and he wondered if the other man was laughing. He opened his mouth to rebuke the man when he heard his sob. He was shocked when Ross's hands came up to brace against the edges of the desk he stood in front of.
"I was fucking some closeted football player when it started. I rushed him out of the door when I heard what was going on, hours later. I was just about to shift and go down to help when you called. I knew that Vernon would want me to help you, more than he'd want me to help him. So I came to help you," a sniffle, a groan of despair and then a growl emanated from the bigger man's direction. "I don't regret helping you and the babes, but my best friend is out there somewhere, maybe hurt or worse and I-"
Ross's words were cut off by the sound of rapid pounding on the door. Ross turned and sniffed the air before a big grin broke out over his face.
"Then again, the bastard could be on the other side of the door," he stated excitedly before rushing over to the door and swinging it wide open. Standing there, supported by Ton and Howell was Vet, looking bruised and bloodied but alive. So wonderfully alive. And to Richard, he'd never seen anything better.
"Where's my mate?" Vet's voice rasped out moments before Richard launched himself into his mate's arms. Vet lifted his arms from Ton and Howell's shoulders and caught the smaller man in his arms, sinking to the floor and pressing his face into his air and inhaling deeply. Richard felt his throat tighten, and his eyes burn with unshed tears. His mate was okay, he wasn't going to have to try and live without him. Everything would be okay now.
"So what happened? Me and the little guy were just about to come down and join the party," Ross teased thought everyone could hear the emotion in his voice. Vet growled and clutched Richard to him tighter.
"Well," Howell, a broad shouldered black man with long dreads that hung down like thick black ropes to his shoulders and stormy grey eyes, said with a tilt of his lips, "seems as if Bobby Ray was a little bit upset that our alpha is a gay man with a gay man for a mate. So he went out and found a group of rogue wolves to try to take over the Tate Pack. He didn't tell the other wolves why he wanted to overthrow Vet though. They didn't find out until after we were all fighting and biting and snarling at each other. The one of the rogue wolves heard Bobby Ray yelling about finding the alpha's 'queer mate' and stringing him up and he sort of stopped fighting. He yelled out in anger and raced towards Bobby Ray and started to fight against him."
Richard lifted his head from Vet's shoulder and looked at Howell in confusion. "Turns out that they were rogue wolves because they were thrown out of their pack for being gay and many of them are mates. Of the twenty five men that came with Bobby Ray, only three of them are single," Vet said and Richard stared at him with wide eyes. He leaned into the hand that Vet pressed against his cheek and closed his eyes with a purr of contentment.
"So the fighting pretty much stopped a few hours in, but we couldn't find Vet, seems as though he was supposed to be beaten and kidnapped, so he could be 'reeducated' about his new role as a gamma to Bobby Ray or some nonsense," Ton rumbled. "So we tied up Bobby Ray and took him with us while the rogue wolves took us to where they were supposed to meet up and start Vet's lessons. The other wolves explained what was going on and Vet was released, badly bloodied and bruised. We were going to let him just kill Bobby Ray right there, but he wanted it to be honorable so the two of them shifted and fought to the death and well..."
"You won. You survived. You came back to me," Richard whispered, love and gratitude that his mate had survived shining through his words.
"I promised you that I would beautiful and I always keep my promises," Vet responded before pulling his mate into a deep, loving kiss.
*Tomorrow's installment will go up in the morning. I promise!*
Part Twelve:
Richard followed Ross through his small kitchen and into his living room and froze. He turned around and looked again. He hadn't left Ross's house and entered the Central Intelligence Agency, but he was surrounded by screens, monitors, gadgets, cameras, robots, video cameras, and all manner of spy devices. As he looked at one screen he saw what appeared to be the back of his home with Vet. His eyes widened as he realized that it was a live camera feed of their home. Turning very slowly he turned to look at Ross with suspicion, stepping away from the other man, cursing the fact that he was standing so close to the triplets who still slept inside their stroller.
"So...how do you know Vet?" he asked suspiciously as he walked closer to the stroller and began to pull the triplets away from Ross.
"Oh, me and Vernon go way back to preschool. We both discovered that we liked boys at the same time, lost our virginity to each other, both of us topping the other, we shifted for the first time together," Ross sighed. "We've been together for a really long time."
"So, I guess you were upset when you heard that he'd found his mate huh?" Richard asked as he continued to back away from Ross who had his back to him. He watched as Ross's shoulders stiffened.
"No, not upset. Vernon and I always knew that we weren't mates," the larger man responded, his voice tight with an unidentified emotion.
Richard nodded though he was aware that the other man could not see him. "So if you weren't upset that he'd found his mate then why didn't you go help him when you looked at your monitors and you saw the huge battle he was running into?" he asked quietly as he hid the triplets in their stroller around the corner of the room, in the hallway. His eyes jerked up at the sound of Ross's gasp and then braced himself for the man's angry reaction.
It never came.
What Richard saw instead was Ross's shoulders shaking and he wondered if the other man was laughing. He opened his mouth to rebuke the man when he heard his sob. He was shocked when Ross's hands came up to brace against the edges of the desk he stood in front of.
"I was fucking some closeted football player when it started. I rushed him out of the door when I heard what was going on, hours later. I was just about to shift and go down to help when you called. I knew that Vernon would want me to help you, more than he'd want me to help him. So I came to help you," a sniffle, a groan of despair and then a growl emanated from the bigger man's direction. "I don't regret helping you and the babes, but my best friend is out there somewhere, maybe hurt or worse and I-"
Ross's words were cut off by the sound of rapid pounding on the door. Ross turned and sniffed the air before a big grin broke out over his face.
"Then again, the bastard could be on the other side of the door," he stated excitedly before rushing over to the door and swinging it wide open. Standing there, supported by Ton and Howell was Vet, looking bruised and bloodied but alive. So wonderfully alive. And to Richard, he'd never seen anything better.
"Where's my mate?" Vet's voice rasped out moments before Richard launched himself into his mate's arms. Vet lifted his arms from Ton and Howell's shoulders and caught the smaller man in his arms, sinking to the floor and pressing his face into his air and inhaling deeply. Richard felt his throat tighten, and his eyes burn with unshed tears. His mate was okay, he wasn't going to have to try and live without him. Everything would be okay now.
"So what happened? Me and the little guy were just about to come down and join the party," Ross teased thought everyone could hear the emotion in his voice. Vet growled and clutched Richard to him tighter.
"Well," Howell, a broad shouldered black man with long dreads that hung down like thick black ropes to his shoulders and stormy grey eyes, said with a tilt of his lips, "seems as if Bobby Ray was a little bit upset that our alpha is a gay man with a gay man for a mate. So he went out and found a group of rogue wolves to try to take over the Tate Pack. He didn't tell the other wolves why he wanted to overthrow Vet though. They didn't find out until after we were all fighting and biting and snarling at each other. The one of the rogue wolves heard Bobby Ray yelling about finding the alpha's 'queer mate' and stringing him up and he sort of stopped fighting. He yelled out in anger and raced towards Bobby Ray and started to fight against him."
Richard lifted his head from Vet's shoulder and looked at Howell in confusion. "Turns out that they were rogue wolves because they were thrown out of their pack for being gay and many of them are mates. Of the twenty five men that came with Bobby Ray, only three of them are single," Vet said and Richard stared at him with wide eyes. He leaned into the hand that Vet pressed against his cheek and closed his eyes with a purr of contentment.
"So the fighting pretty much stopped a few hours in, but we couldn't find Vet, seems as though he was supposed to be beaten and kidnapped, so he could be 'reeducated' about his new role as a gamma to Bobby Ray or some nonsense," Ton rumbled. "So we tied up Bobby Ray and took him with us while the rogue wolves took us to where they were supposed to meet up and start Vet's lessons. The other wolves explained what was going on and Vet was released, badly bloodied and bruised. We were going to let him just kill Bobby Ray right there, but he wanted it to be honorable so the two of them shifted and fought to the death and well..."
"You won. You survived. You came back to me," Richard whispered, love and gratitude that his mate had survived shining through his words.
"I promised you that I would beautiful and I always keep my promises," Vet responded before pulling his mate into a deep, loving kiss.
*Tomorrow's installment will go up in the morning. I promise!*
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Unthinkable: Part Seven
Part Seven:
After hanging up with his friend Tommy, Richard grinned and gave a happy sigh. He hadn't seen Tommy since he'd returned from Europe and he'd missed his friend who looked better as a woman that he ever would as a man. He was perfect for the large wolf shifter, Anton. Shoving his cell phone into the back pocket of his jeans he grabbed the handles on the stroller holding the triplets and made his way towards the back door. He wanted to check out the greenhouse and the vegetable garden. He was even thinking about making dinner for his mate and his mate's friends. His mate. The words were still strange to say. He hadn't held out much hope that he would ever have anyone to call his own or that he would ever belong to anyone himself. It wasn't because he was gay, he knew a lot of gay couples that were happy. No, his disbelief in a "happily ever after" for himself had more to do with the damage inside than any sort of outside influences.
Opening the sliding door to the backyard, he pulled on his sunglasses, the wide straw hat that Vet had given to him, along with the garden gloves that he pulled on and looked down at himself. He snorted. What a picture he made, with his designer boots, designer jeans, soft cotton T-shirt that clung to his lean frame and cost him $200 and his Gucci shades whose cost he shuddered to think about. Then there was the straw hat and the gloves, both of which had maybe cost Vet $10...from Walmart. Richard cringed when he realized that he sounded a bit like a New York snob, then he shrugged, he was a New York snob...sort of. Hearing the chattering of the triplets, he remembered what he was supposed to be doing and stepped out onto the back pork backwards, pulling the stroller with him gently. When he turned he was happy to see that there was a ramp down one side of the porch and turning the stroller in that direction he headed that way. He looked around the land that he now lived on and felt his heart pounding in his chest.
He had grown up in the Bronx with his mother and "aunt," some woman that his mother had sex with whenever she wasn't having sex with this John or that John. He'd grown up knowing that his mother was a drug-addicted, prostituting lesbian. He hadn't cared...or atleast that's what he'd told the kids at his school when they'd teased him about it. When he'd gotten older, he'd cared even less when the guys in the class started being the ones who were paying to sleep with his mother. When she overdosed he'd been a little relieved and a lot alone. With only one year left until graduation, he'd lied and told his school that his father had returned and was taking care of him. That was the year he'd started dancing in strip clubs for money. He'd kept stripping and dancing for money all through college, but he'd gotten a full-ride scholarship so the money he made in the clubs he'd used for nice clothes, dildos, shoes, dildos, mani/pedis, dildos, hair styles, dildos, and more sex toys than any one gay man really ever needed. He'd met Amanda Lynn and she'd seen right through his wall of bullshit. The two of them had been inseparable and she'd been the only person that had ever truly loved him. Then she'd died also.
He looked up from where he crouched next to a tomato plant and found his eyes connecting with Vet's where the other man stood watching him from beside the barn. Now he had Vet and AL's triplets. Maybe he would finally get to have a happy ending, people that would love him forever and wouldn't die any time soon.
His thoughts were cut off abruptly when a pair of boots came into his line of vision. He looked up a pair of muscled legs encased in a pair of form-fitting Wranglers and up a wide barrel chest, square jaw, thin lips, a nose with a bump in the middle, showing that it had been broken at least once before, to a pair of grey eyes, wide forehead and wavy blonde hair that brushed the gorgeous man's collar of his checkered shirt.
"So I hear your name's Richard and you're the alpha's new mate and the guardian of Mandy's babies," the stranger stated, his voice deceptively nice, but Richard could hear the disgust underlying the pleasant words. He just wasn't sure if the disgust was aimed at him or Vet. He stood up and pulled off the gloves, his basket full of carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, peas, green beans, lettuce, and amazingly beets all but forgotten. Brushing off his hands on his pants, cringing at the sight of the dirt that had still managed to get underneath his manicure, he held out his hand to the unknown man.
"That's right and you are?" he asked pleasantly, aware of the sounds of whining coming from the triplets as if they were upset by the stranger's presence.
"Name's Bobby Ray. I'm one of the farmhands here and I'm the alpha's right hand man," Bobby Ray said, puffing his chest out in pride.
"I thought Vet's right hand man was Anton?" Richard asked in confusion, shocked when Bobby Ray's voice turned almost purple in rage.
"That big, dumb moose? He's a fairy just like you," Bobby Ray stated and Richard realized then that that show of earlier disgust had most definitely been aimed at him.
"Well, your alpha's gay, so does that make him a fairy as well?" Richard asked with an exaggerated lilt to his voice, just to piss off the homophobic asshole. He stood his ground when the larger man stepped dangerously close to him, a growl emanating from his chest.
"Now you listen up you butt monkey. My alpha ain't no fucking fairy like you. I don't rightly know what you did when he went up to find you up there in New-Fucking- York-Queer City, but I'm gonna do all I can to change him back and either get you booted off this land along with that shit-packer Anton or I'm going to see you both dead. We hang guys like you here in Texas," Bobby Ray threatened and Richard felt his face flush with anger and dread. Before he could open his mouth he heard a low, menacing growl coming from behind Bobby Ray and saw the biggest, black wolf he'd ever seen standing feet away from the both of them.
I want you to get your basket and the triplets and go in the house, don't come out until I tell you it's okay, he heard Vet's voice in his head. Was that big, black wolf Vet?
Vet? he questioned.
Don't ask questions, baby, just do what I said. No one threatens my mate and gets away with it. I'm going to take care of this little asshole.
"A-Alpha Tate. I was just introducing m-myself to y-your mate-" Richard heard Bobby Ray stammering and as he picked up his basket of vegetables and pushed the triplets back towards the house, he almost felt sorry for the man. Almost. He heard Vet's growl grow louder and sped up, almost running as he pushed the triplets towards the safety of the house. He wanted Bobby Ray scared, yes, because he'd practically scared the piss out of him with all of his "we hang guys like you" talk, but he didn't want Vet to kill him. Then he'd be no better than the homophobe. Everyone was entitled to their opinions, their beliefs and their right to live. As he shut the sliding door he heard the sound of a second wolf and wondered what was happening, but not enough to turn around and look. He pushed the triplets into the kitchen and after placing the basket on the counter he placed each baby in their high chair, gave them each a handful of the small chunks of peaches he'd cut up earlier and began to wash the vegetables, getting them ready for the stew he planned on making. He would put what was happening outside out of his mind. He had to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vet couldn't remember ever being as mad as he was at that moment. He circled around the blonde wolf. Bobby Ray had shifted when his attention had been strayed a bit to make sure that Richard and the triplets had gotten inside okay, but that was fine. Vet was easily twice as big as him, the smaller wolf was no match for him, besides he had a huge motive to stay unharmed and to win...his mate. His heart had nearly stopped when Richard's fear had reached him through their mental link. He'd only seen Richard talking with Bobby Ray but he knew that whatever the other man was saying, it was causing his mate undue stress. Without a thought he'd stripped and shifted, making his way up behind Bobby Ray quickly and quietly. He'd gotten there just in time to hear Bobby Ray tell Richard that they "hung" guys "like him" and all he'd known was rage. He'd wanted to tear the little bigot limb from limb, but he didn't want Richard or the babies to see. But now they were in the house and he could take care of the little shit alone.
He growled low in his throat taking a menacing step towards the other wolf, giving him plenty of time to back down and show submission. When the other wolf did no such thing, he gave up being cordial and pounced. The two wolves growled, baring teeth, grappling, trying to find a point of weakness on the other. He howled when he felt the other wolf's teeth bite his shoulder and no longer trying to merely maim his opponent, he was now going for the kill. He turned and latched onto a paw with his massive teeth, biting down hard until he heard the bone snap, the other wolf howling in pain. Before he could go for the throat however, the sound of pounding footsteps reached his ears, he turned his head for a moment and when he swung his head back the other wolf had already taken off for the edge of the property. He shifted back, not as quickly as before, his injury slowing him down but once he was human again he placed his clenching fists on his naked hips and yelled towards Bobby Ray as loud as possible, "You threatened the mate of the alpha and you ran during a challenge like the coward you are. I want you off my land and out of my pack you asshole!!!"
He scowled when he heard the sound of squealing tires and knew that they belonged to Bobby Ray. The little shit didn't even have the balls to respond. Turning back to the men who stood there, all of them tense with the urge to protect their alpha and the alpha's mate and children, he grinned.
"Don't worry boys, I took care of him. But, Bobby Ray's been banished. He's not to step foot back on this property ya' hear? I mean it. If you see him, let me know. I'm not done with that asshole yet," he admonished all of them, before turning to walk slowly towards the house, uncaring about his nudity. He was going in the house to check on his mate and their babies, shower, and then have his still slightly damaged shoulder bandaged and cared for. He rolled his shoulders and hissed at the pain. It would probably take him a few more shifts before he was better, while in his human form almost any injury that he sustained could be healed with just one shift, if he was in his wolf form, it took two or three shifts to heal any injury.
He opened the sliding door and stepped inside. He heard the clatter of silverware and the sound of Richard's running feet. He braced his feet and opened his arms for the smaller man who launched himself into his arms.
"What happened? Are you okay? Did you kill him? I hope you didn't kill him. Was that him I heard driving away all fast? Are you bleeding? Oh my gosh, you're bleeding! Can't shifters heal from that? Go take a shower and clean that thing and come back and I'll put a bandage on it and wrap it for you. I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried about you," Richard spoke rapidly and Vet blinked his eyes at the verbal assault. He merely smiled in the face of his mate's concern and with a deep kiss on his lips, turned to walk upstairs to shower and change so he could come back and be taken cared of.
Oh yeah, this being mated thing was turning out rather well.
After hanging up with his friend Tommy, Richard grinned and gave a happy sigh. He hadn't seen Tommy since he'd returned from Europe and he'd missed his friend who looked better as a woman that he ever would as a man. He was perfect for the large wolf shifter, Anton. Shoving his cell phone into the back pocket of his jeans he grabbed the handles on the stroller holding the triplets and made his way towards the back door. He wanted to check out the greenhouse and the vegetable garden. He was even thinking about making dinner for his mate and his mate's friends. His mate. The words were still strange to say. He hadn't held out much hope that he would ever have anyone to call his own or that he would ever belong to anyone himself. It wasn't because he was gay, he knew a lot of gay couples that were happy. No, his disbelief in a "happily ever after" for himself had more to do with the damage inside than any sort of outside influences.
Opening the sliding door to the backyard, he pulled on his sunglasses, the wide straw hat that Vet had given to him, along with the garden gloves that he pulled on and looked down at himself. He snorted. What a picture he made, with his designer boots, designer jeans, soft cotton T-shirt that clung to his lean frame and cost him $200 and his Gucci shades whose cost he shuddered to think about. Then there was the straw hat and the gloves, both of which had maybe cost Vet $10...from Walmart. Richard cringed when he realized that he sounded a bit like a New York snob, then he shrugged, he was a New York snob...sort of. Hearing the chattering of the triplets, he remembered what he was supposed to be doing and stepped out onto the back pork backwards, pulling the stroller with him gently. When he turned he was happy to see that there was a ramp down one side of the porch and turning the stroller in that direction he headed that way. He looked around the land that he now lived on and felt his heart pounding in his chest.
He had grown up in the Bronx with his mother and "aunt," some woman that his mother had sex with whenever she wasn't having sex with this John or that John. He'd grown up knowing that his mother was a drug-addicted, prostituting lesbian. He hadn't cared...or atleast that's what he'd told the kids at his school when they'd teased him about it. When he'd gotten older, he'd cared even less when the guys in the class started being the ones who were paying to sleep with his mother. When she overdosed he'd been a little relieved and a lot alone. With only one year left until graduation, he'd lied and told his school that his father had returned and was taking care of him. That was the year he'd started dancing in strip clubs for money. He'd kept stripping and dancing for money all through college, but he'd gotten a full-ride scholarship so the money he made in the clubs he'd used for nice clothes, dildos, shoes, dildos, mani/pedis, dildos, hair styles, dildos, and more sex toys than any one gay man really ever needed. He'd met Amanda Lynn and she'd seen right through his wall of bullshit. The two of them had been inseparable and she'd been the only person that had ever truly loved him. Then she'd died also.
He looked up from where he crouched next to a tomato plant and found his eyes connecting with Vet's where the other man stood watching him from beside the barn. Now he had Vet and AL's triplets. Maybe he would finally get to have a happy ending, people that would love him forever and wouldn't die any time soon.
His thoughts were cut off abruptly when a pair of boots came into his line of vision. He looked up a pair of muscled legs encased in a pair of form-fitting Wranglers and up a wide barrel chest, square jaw, thin lips, a nose with a bump in the middle, showing that it had been broken at least once before, to a pair of grey eyes, wide forehead and wavy blonde hair that brushed the gorgeous man's collar of his checkered shirt.
"So I hear your name's Richard and you're the alpha's new mate and the guardian of Mandy's babies," the stranger stated, his voice deceptively nice, but Richard could hear the disgust underlying the pleasant words. He just wasn't sure if the disgust was aimed at him or Vet. He stood up and pulled off the gloves, his basket full of carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, peas, green beans, lettuce, and amazingly beets all but forgotten. Brushing off his hands on his pants, cringing at the sight of the dirt that had still managed to get underneath his manicure, he held out his hand to the unknown man.
"That's right and you are?" he asked pleasantly, aware of the sounds of whining coming from the triplets as if they were upset by the stranger's presence.
"Name's Bobby Ray. I'm one of the farmhands here and I'm the alpha's right hand man," Bobby Ray said, puffing his chest out in pride.
"I thought Vet's right hand man was Anton?" Richard asked in confusion, shocked when Bobby Ray's voice turned almost purple in rage.
"That big, dumb moose? He's a fairy just like you," Bobby Ray stated and Richard realized then that that show of earlier disgust had most definitely been aimed at him.
"Well, your alpha's gay, so does that make him a fairy as well?" Richard asked with an exaggerated lilt to his voice, just to piss off the homophobic asshole. He stood his ground when the larger man stepped dangerously close to him, a growl emanating from his chest.
"Now you listen up you butt monkey. My alpha ain't no fucking fairy like you. I don't rightly know what you did when he went up to find you up there in New-Fucking- York-Queer City, but I'm gonna do all I can to change him back and either get you booted off this land along with that shit-packer Anton or I'm going to see you both dead. We hang guys like you here in Texas," Bobby Ray threatened and Richard felt his face flush with anger and dread. Before he could open his mouth he heard a low, menacing growl coming from behind Bobby Ray and saw the biggest, black wolf he'd ever seen standing feet away from the both of them.
I want you to get your basket and the triplets and go in the house, don't come out until I tell you it's okay, he heard Vet's voice in his head. Was that big, black wolf Vet?
Vet? he questioned.
Don't ask questions, baby, just do what I said. No one threatens my mate and gets away with it. I'm going to take care of this little asshole.
"A-Alpha Tate. I was just introducing m-myself to y-your mate-" Richard heard Bobby Ray stammering and as he picked up his basket of vegetables and pushed the triplets back towards the house, he almost felt sorry for the man. Almost. He heard Vet's growl grow louder and sped up, almost running as he pushed the triplets towards the safety of the house. He wanted Bobby Ray scared, yes, because he'd practically scared the piss out of him with all of his "we hang guys like you" talk, but he didn't want Vet to kill him. Then he'd be no better than the homophobe. Everyone was entitled to their opinions, their beliefs and their right to live. As he shut the sliding door he heard the sound of a second wolf and wondered what was happening, but not enough to turn around and look. He pushed the triplets into the kitchen and after placing the basket on the counter he placed each baby in their high chair, gave them each a handful of the small chunks of peaches he'd cut up earlier and began to wash the vegetables, getting them ready for the stew he planned on making. He would put what was happening outside out of his mind. He had to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vet couldn't remember ever being as mad as he was at that moment. He circled around the blonde wolf. Bobby Ray had shifted when his attention had been strayed a bit to make sure that Richard and the triplets had gotten inside okay, but that was fine. Vet was easily twice as big as him, the smaller wolf was no match for him, besides he had a huge motive to stay unharmed and to win...his mate. His heart had nearly stopped when Richard's fear had reached him through their mental link. He'd only seen Richard talking with Bobby Ray but he knew that whatever the other man was saying, it was causing his mate undue stress. Without a thought he'd stripped and shifted, making his way up behind Bobby Ray quickly and quietly. He'd gotten there just in time to hear Bobby Ray tell Richard that they "hung" guys "like him" and all he'd known was rage. He'd wanted to tear the little bigot limb from limb, but he didn't want Richard or the babies to see. But now they were in the house and he could take care of the little shit alone.
He growled low in his throat taking a menacing step towards the other wolf, giving him plenty of time to back down and show submission. When the other wolf did no such thing, he gave up being cordial and pounced. The two wolves growled, baring teeth, grappling, trying to find a point of weakness on the other. He howled when he felt the other wolf's teeth bite his shoulder and no longer trying to merely maim his opponent, he was now going for the kill. He turned and latched onto a paw with his massive teeth, biting down hard until he heard the bone snap, the other wolf howling in pain. Before he could go for the throat however, the sound of pounding footsteps reached his ears, he turned his head for a moment and when he swung his head back the other wolf had already taken off for the edge of the property. He shifted back, not as quickly as before, his injury slowing him down but once he was human again he placed his clenching fists on his naked hips and yelled towards Bobby Ray as loud as possible, "You threatened the mate of the alpha and you ran during a challenge like the coward you are. I want you off my land and out of my pack you asshole!!!"
He scowled when he heard the sound of squealing tires and knew that they belonged to Bobby Ray. The little shit didn't even have the balls to respond. Turning back to the men who stood there, all of them tense with the urge to protect their alpha and the alpha's mate and children, he grinned.
"Don't worry boys, I took care of him. But, Bobby Ray's been banished. He's not to step foot back on this property ya' hear? I mean it. If you see him, let me know. I'm not done with that asshole yet," he admonished all of them, before turning to walk slowly towards the house, uncaring about his nudity. He was going in the house to check on his mate and their babies, shower, and then have his still slightly damaged shoulder bandaged and cared for. He rolled his shoulders and hissed at the pain. It would probably take him a few more shifts before he was better, while in his human form almost any injury that he sustained could be healed with just one shift, if he was in his wolf form, it took two or three shifts to heal any injury.
He opened the sliding door and stepped inside. He heard the clatter of silverware and the sound of Richard's running feet. He braced his feet and opened his arms for the smaller man who launched himself into his arms.
"What happened? Are you okay? Did you kill him? I hope you didn't kill him. Was that him I heard driving away all fast? Are you bleeding? Oh my gosh, you're bleeding! Can't shifters heal from that? Go take a shower and clean that thing and come back and I'll put a bandage on it and wrap it for you. I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried about you," Richard spoke rapidly and Vet blinked his eyes at the verbal assault. He merely smiled in the face of his mate's concern and with a deep kiss on his lips, turned to walk upstairs to shower and change so he could come back and be taken cared of.
Oh yeah, this being mated thing was turning out rather well.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Black History Month Day Three
Here it is: Day Three of your Black History/Our History education!!
On February 03, 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment to United States Constitution was ratified.
The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen suffrage based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (i.e., slavery). It was ratified on February 3, 1870.
The Fifteenth Amendment is one of the Reconstruction Amendments.
Text
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
The Fifteenth Amendment is the third of the Reconstruction Amendments. This amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from using a citizen's race (this applies to all races), color or previous status as a slave as a voting qualification. The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld this right of free men of color to vote; in response, amendments to the North Carolina Constitution removed the right in 1835. Granting free men of color the right to vote could be seen as giving them the rights of citizens, an argument explicitly made by Justice Curtis's dissent in Dred Scott v. Sandford:
Of this there can be no doubt. At the time of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, all free native-born inhabitants of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina, though descended from African slaves, were not only citizens of those States, but such of them as had the other necessary qualifications possessed the franchise of electors, on equal terms with other citizens.
The original House and Senate draft of the amendment said the right to vote and hold office would not be denied or abridged by the states based on race, color or creed. A House-Senate conference committee dropped the office holding guarantee to make ratification by 3/4 of the states easier. The amendment did not establish true universal male suffrage partly because Southern Republicans were reluctant to undermine loyalty tests, which the Reconstruction state governments used to limit the influence of ex-Confederates, and partly because some Northern and Western politicians wished to continue disenfranchisement of non-native Irish and Chinese.
Thomas Mundy Peterson was the first African American to vote after the amendment's adoption. Peterson cast his ballot in a school board election held in Perth Amboy, New Jersey on March 31, 1870. On a per capita and absolute basis, more blacks were elected to public office during the period from 1865 to 1880 than at any other time in American history including a number of state legislatures which were effectively under the control of a strong African American caucus. These legislatures brought in programs that are considered part of government's role now, but at the time were radical, such as universal public education. They also set all racially biased laws aside, including anti-miscegenation laws (laws prohibiting interracial marriage).
Voter registration card, Alamance County, North Carolina, 1902, with statement from registrant of birth before January 1, 1867, when the Fifteenth Amendment became law
Despite the efforts of groups like the Ku Klux Klan to intimidate black voters and white Republicans, assurance of federal support for democratically elected southern governments meant that most Republican voters could both vote and rule in confidence. For example, when an all-white mob attempted to take over the interracial government of New Orleans, President Ulysses S. Grant sent in federal troops to restore the elected mayor.
However, in order to appease the South after his close election, Rutherford B. Hayes agreed to withdraw federal troops. He also overlooked rampant fraud and electoral violence in the Deep South, despite several attempts by the Republicans to pass laws protecting the rights of black voters and to punish intimidation. Without the restrictions, voting place violence against blacks and Republicans increased, including instances of murder. Most of this was done without any intervention by law enforcement and often even with their cooperation.
By the 1890s, many Southern states had strict voter eligibility laws, including literacy tests and poll taxes. Some states even made it difficult to find a place to register to vote.
The Congress proposed the Fifteenth Amendment on February 26, 1869. The final vote in the Senate was 39 senators for, 13 against, and 14 absent. Several fierce advocates of equal rights, such as Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, abstained from voting because the amendment did not prohibit devices which states might use to restrict black suffrage, such as literacy tests and poll taxes. The vote in the House was 144 to 44 with 35 members not voting. The House vote was almost entirely along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the bill and only 3 Republicans voting against it.
On April 9, 1869, the Congress amended a pending reconstruction bill to require Virginia, Mississippi and Georgia to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment in order to regain representation in the Congress.
The following states ratified the amendment:
Nevada (March 1, 1869)
West Virginia (March 3, 1869)
Illinois (March 5, 1869)
Louisiana (March 5, 1869)
Michigan (March 5, 1869)
North Carolina (March 5, 1869)
Wisconsin (March 5, 1869)
Maine (March 11, 1869)
Massachusetts (March 12, 1869)
Arkansas (March 15, 1869)
South Carolina (March 15, 1869)
Pennsylvania (March 25, 1869)
New York (April 14, 1869, rescinded on January 5, 1870, rescinded the rescission on March 30, 1870)
Indiana (May 14, 1869)
Connecticut (May 19, 1869)
Florida (June 14, 1869)
New Hampshire (July 1, 1869)
Virginia (October 8, 1869) (required for representation in the Congress)
Vermont (October 20, 1869)
Alabama (November 16, 1869)
Missouri (January 7, 1870)
Minnesota (January 13, 1870)
Mississippi (January 17, 1870) (required for representation in the Congress)
Rhode Island (January 18, 1870)
Kansas (January 19, 1870)
Ohio (January 27, 1870, after having rejected it on April 30, 1869)
Georgia (February 2, 1870) (required for representation in the Congress)
Iowa (February 3, 1870)
Ratification was completed on February 3, 1870. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:
Nebraska (February 17, 1870)
Texas (February 18, 1870) (required for representation in the Congress)
New Jersey (February 15, 1871, after having rejected it on February 7, 1870)
Delaware (February 12, 1901, after having rejected it on March 18, 1869)
Oregon (February 24, 1959)
California (April 3, 1962, after having rejected it on January 28, 1870)
Maryland (May 7, 1973, after having rejected it on February 26, 1870)
Kentucky (March 18, 1976, after having rejected it on March 12, 1869)
Tennessee (April 2, 1997, after having rejected it on November 16, 1869)
Why the Ratification of the 15th Amendment is Important to History:
Well, this does seem like a rather sill question doesn't it? Every person, male or female deserves the right to vote, the right to choose who will determine the laws that will govern, rule and restrict their lives.
Until the ratification of the 15th Amendment, blacks were unable to vote in the United States, so they had no say in who the president would be and no say in what laws were passed, oftentimes having to suffer the consequences of laws that only benefitted whites, especially white slave owners. These laws almost always negatively affected blacks. Especially blacks in the South.
If it had not been for the 15th Amendment there would be no President Barack Obama because while this amendment was about allowing former slaves, blacks, the right to vote, it also opened the door for blacks to start to think about running for governmental offices in order that they may have what they felt were more acceptable candidates for election.
Blacks marched for the right to vote, marched to be able to vote without oppression and violent tampering from the Ku Klux Klan and others who did not think that they should have that right. They were beaten, some were killed, they were threatened, some lost their jobs, they were incarcerated and it tore some families apart, but they kept pushing forward, pushing for freedom, pushing for equality and they would settle for nothing less. There are still those of us who will not settle for less than full equality in all areas of our lives, those of us who will continue the good fight of our ancestors, for us and for others who enjoy the freedom to vote, February 3, 1870 is truly a special and significant and yes, a blessed day in history.
Your thoughts? Any stories you've heard about people trying to vote?
On February 03, 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment to United States Constitution was ratified.
The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen suffrage based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (i.e., slavery). It was ratified on February 3, 1870.
The Fifteenth Amendment is one of the Reconstruction Amendments.
Text
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
The Fifteenth Amendment is the third of the Reconstruction Amendments. This amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from using a citizen's race (this applies to all races), color or previous status as a slave as a voting qualification. The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld this right of free men of color to vote; in response, amendments to the North Carolina Constitution removed the right in 1835. Granting free men of color the right to vote could be seen as giving them the rights of citizens, an argument explicitly made by Justice Curtis's dissent in Dred Scott v. Sandford:
Of this there can be no doubt. At the time of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, all free native-born inhabitants of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina, though descended from African slaves, were not only citizens of those States, but such of them as had the other necessary qualifications possessed the franchise of electors, on equal terms with other citizens.
The original House and Senate draft of the amendment said the right to vote and hold office would not be denied or abridged by the states based on race, color or creed. A House-Senate conference committee dropped the office holding guarantee to make ratification by 3/4 of the states easier. The amendment did not establish true universal male suffrage partly because Southern Republicans were reluctant to undermine loyalty tests, which the Reconstruction state governments used to limit the influence of ex-Confederates, and partly because some Northern and Western politicians wished to continue disenfranchisement of non-native Irish and Chinese.
Thomas Mundy Peterson was the first African American to vote after the amendment's adoption. Peterson cast his ballot in a school board election held in Perth Amboy, New Jersey on March 31, 1870. On a per capita and absolute basis, more blacks were elected to public office during the period from 1865 to 1880 than at any other time in American history including a number of state legislatures which were effectively under the control of a strong African American caucus. These legislatures brought in programs that are considered part of government's role now, but at the time were radical, such as universal public education. They also set all racially biased laws aside, including anti-miscegenation laws (laws prohibiting interracial marriage).
Voter registration card, Alamance County, North Carolina, 1902, with statement from registrant of birth before January 1, 1867, when the Fifteenth Amendment became law
Despite the efforts of groups like the Ku Klux Klan to intimidate black voters and white Republicans, assurance of federal support for democratically elected southern governments meant that most Republican voters could both vote and rule in confidence. For example, when an all-white mob attempted to take over the interracial government of New Orleans, President Ulysses S. Grant sent in federal troops to restore the elected mayor.
However, in order to appease the South after his close election, Rutherford B. Hayes agreed to withdraw federal troops. He also overlooked rampant fraud and electoral violence in the Deep South, despite several attempts by the Republicans to pass laws protecting the rights of black voters and to punish intimidation. Without the restrictions, voting place violence against blacks and Republicans increased, including instances of murder. Most of this was done without any intervention by law enforcement and often even with their cooperation.
By the 1890s, many Southern states had strict voter eligibility laws, including literacy tests and poll taxes. Some states even made it difficult to find a place to register to vote.
The Congress proposed the Fifteenth Amendment on February 26, 1869. The final vote in the Senate was 39 senators for, 13 against, and 14 absent. Several fierce advocates of equal rights, such as Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, abstained from voting because the amendment did not prohibit devices which states might use to restrict black suffrage, such as literacy tests and poll taxes. The vote in the House was 144 to 44 with 35 members not voting. The House vote was almost entirely along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the bill and only 3 Republicans voting against it.
On April 9, 1869, the Congress amended a pending reconstruction bill to require Virginia, Mississippi and Georgia to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment in order to regain representation in the Congress.
The following states ratified the amendment:
Nevada (March 1, 1869)
West Virginia (March 3, 1869)
Illinois (March 5, 1869)
Louisiana (March 5, 1869)
Michigan (March 5, 1869)
North Carolina (March 5, 1869)
Wisconsin (March 5, 1869)
Maine (March 11, 1869)
Massachusetts (March 12, 1869)
Arkansas (March 15, 1869)
South Carolina (March 15, 1869)
Pennsylvania (March 25, 1869)
New York (April 14, 1869, rescinded on January 5, 1870, rescinded the rescission on March 30, 1870)
Indiana (May 14, 1869)
Connecticut (May 19, 1869)
Florida (June 14, 1869)
New Hampshire (July 1, 1869)
Virginia (October 8, 1869) (required for representation in the Congress)
Vermont (October 20, 1869)
Alabama (November 16, 1869)
Missouri (January 7, 1870)
Minnesota (January 13, 1870)
Mississippi (January 17, 1870) (required for representation in the Congress)
Rhode Island (January 18, 1870)
Kansas (January 19, 1870)
Ohio (January 27, 1870, after having rejected it on April 30, 1869)
Georgia (February 2, 1870) (required for representation in the Congress)
Iowa (February 3, 1870)
Ratification was completed on February 3, 1870. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:
Nebraska (February 17, 1870)
Texas (February 18, 1870) (required for representation in the Congress)
New Jersey (February 15, 1871, after having rejected it on February 7, 1870)
Delaware (February 12, 1901, after having rejected it on March 18, 1869)
Oregon (February 24, 1959)
California (April 3, 1962, after having rejected it on January 28, 1870)
Maryland (May 7, 1973, after having rejected it on February 26, 1870)
Kentucky (March 18, 1976, after having rejected it on March 12, 1869)
Tennessee (April 2, 1997, after having rejected it on November 16, 1869)
Why the Ratification of the 15th Amendment is Important to History:
Well, this does seem like a rather sill question doesn't it? Every person, male or female deserves the right to vote, the right to choose who will determine the laws that will govern, rule and restrict their lives.
Until the ratification of the 15th Amendment, blacks were unable to vote in the United States, so they had no say in who the president would be and no say in what laws were passed, oftentimes having to suffer the consequences of laws that only benefitted whites, especially white slave owners. These laws almost always negatively affected blacks. Especially blacks in the South.
If it had not been for the 15th Amendment there would be no President Barack Obama because while this amendment was about allowing former slaves, blacks, the right to vote, it also opened the door for blacks to start to think about running for governmental offices in order that they may have what they felt were more acceptable candidates for election.
Blacks marched for the right to vote, marched to be able to vote without oppression and violent tampering from the Ku Klux Klan and others who did not think that they should have that right. They were beaten, some were killed, they were threatened, some lost their jobs, they were incarcerated and it tore some families apart, but they kept pushing forward, pushing for freedom, pushing for equality and they would settle for nothing less. There are still those of us who will not settle for less than full equality in all areas of our lives, those of us who will continue the good fight of our ancestors, for us and for others who enjoy the freedom to vote, February 3, 1870 is truly a special and significant and yes, a blessed day in history.
Your thoughts? Any stories you've heard about people trying to vote?
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