Yev nodded, and the smile he gave Radek was so soft, so full of encouragement it both reassured and scared Radek.
Because what if he failed?
Chapter 15 – Yev
Radek would be his.
Only for the duration of Yev’s stay in Dybukowo, of course, but once that was over, he’d pack their time together into a keepsake box at the back of his mind and look at the memories they made together whenever the need for touch became hard to bear.
This way, maybe the foxy boy would stay with him forever.
Radek remained still as a log in the seat next to Yev’s, his smooth, copper waves reflecting daylight. They were the one bright thing about the dense atmosphere in the cab. It was difficult to see him like this, defeated and afraid, but he was still very young and hadn’t tasted much bitterness at all. Yev would help him through this difficult time. Put a smile on his angelic face.
Tempt him back into the sheets.
Bite his throat like he would do to claim a female mate forever.
There was something so visceral about making Radek submit to the knotting. Not with handcuffs and blindfolds, no matter how much fun those could be, but in the primal way a predator held his prey captive.
“What if I shift in front of people?” Radek asked in a trembling voice, staring at the concrete fence surrounding the fox farm as they approached.
“Then we’ll have to kill them all,” Yev said, his mind still lingering on the moment his knot pushed its way into Radek, and on the little whine Radek had made.
Yev had never felt more himself than in that moment. Father or Burian could say whatever they wanted about Yev’s sexuality. His desires did not change when God looked on him with his White Eye in the sky, and wasn’t that gaze supposed to reveal a werewolf’s true nature? He'd wanted Radek more than ever during the full moon. And he wanted him today as well, so how could his cravings be unnatural?
The boy snorted and finally perked up. “What?”
Yev grinned. “I said it. So you better not shift, or their deaths will be on you.”
“Okay, that’s reassuring.” He took a deep breath when Yev stopped the car in front of the gate. “Let’s do this…” he muttered to himself and opened the door.
Radek slid out and approached the rusty intercom. Pride swelled in Yev’s heart at the sight of Radek going through with the plan instead of trying to wiggle his way out of trouble. None of this would be easy for Radek who’d lived in a bubble all his life, but he was now making his first steps into taking responsibility, and it was weirdly endearing. Like watching Ember take his first steps after the amputation had been. Yev hoped he’d get to stay enough to see him run too.
The gate opened, and Radek looked back Yev's way, his face twisted in a forlorn expression. But one had to deal with problems himself to learn.
Yev nodded at him and drove into the muddy yard that smelled of feces and rotting food, while Radek walked next to the car, offering sparse smiles to the staff.
This would be a difficult afternoon even for Yev, who could hear the frantic pacing and whines echoing in all the long sheds constituting this murder farm.
Radek stood straighter as he started talking to Mr. Gawron, an older man with parched skin that made him appear older than he likely was. Yev vaguely recognized him as one of the men spending their free time drinking alcohol on dingy plastic chairs by the only store in Dybukowo. Mr. Gawron’s face was wrinkled already, but as he listened, every groove in his skin deepened. Yev had to clutch the steering wheel because he was itching to snap the bastard’s neck the moment he raised his voice at Radek.
“Is there a problem?” he asked, sliding out of the truck, his skin on fire as Gawron’s watery eyes shot back at him.
“I know you!” The man snarled, and his voice drew a few more people from their work to the spectacle. “Did you set the kid up to this?” He pointed to Radek who gasped in shock.
“I’m not a kid! I’m twenty two. And your boss!”
Yev laughed, shaking his head. “Your boss saw the conditions here and had been agonizing over it ever since. He didn’t need to be put up to anything.”
Gawron snarled. “It’s all legal! Don’t put your nose where it doesn’t belong or we’ll come for you!”
He did not specify who “they” were, but Yev just shook his head. He wasn’t afraid of the village drunks.
“You’ll come for me? Mr. Gawron, I’d be surprised you’d get anywhere in your usual state.”
“Oh! Now you’re asking for it!” Gawron’s graying moustache twitched and he grabbed the pitchfork that had been propped nearby. “Get off the property!”