17. Huff

Warden shook as he leaned back in the chair Drake had recently vacated and closed his eyes. He wanted to tell himself that Drake just hadn't had enough time to cool off yet, or maybe hadn't gotten laid recently, but he wasn't fooling himself. There was no way Drake would kiss someone he didn't want to screw into his bed repeatedly. He wasn't that kind of wolf, horny or not.

"Fuck."

Deciding to push aside his worry for the immediate moment, he leaned forward and began going through what Drake had gotten done. To his surprise, his friend had done a very thorough job of going through the accounts and separating the issues from the normal reports.

I knew I gave you your position for a reason... glad to see that you can still do a solid job.

Reaching to his right, Warden pressed the speaker button, then waited two seconds before talking.

"Hello, please send my scheduled meeting to Drake's office when it's time."

His assistant hurried to acknowledge him with a "Yes sir!"

About thirty minutes later, Warden looked up when he heard a knock on his door. He had read back through the reports, much more slowly and carefully, so that he was ready. "Come in." He said, folding his hands together on the desk before him as he placed a fake smile on his face.

The meeting went exactly how he wanted it to. He got the account numbers to where the man had been stashing the stolen money. Then, after giving those numbers directly over to the other financial employee working that day, he promptly fired him. To his surprise, most of the money was easily recoverable, and the rest, he had no doubt, would be acquired after he got one of their lawyers involved.

With that issue taken care of, Warden set to work on his own job. Since he was already at a computer, he quickly logged out of Drake's account, then logged in with his own information. It was convenient that most of the computers, at least in the higher up management, could all be used by everyone. All they needed was their username and password to log in and out. It wasn't recommended, but he'd be damned if Drake ever did more than change his screensaver to a graphic porn photo when he accidentally left his account signed in.

The memory made him chuckle, because Drake had done just that three times in the past month already. Once, Warden had forgotten to check it, too, and it came on right in the middle of a board meeting.

That had not been fun to talk my way out of.

Going through his files for the day, he quickly got his basic duties finished after only two hours. Since he had worked so much overtime recently, there wasn't too much to weigh him down. The idea of getting home to see Cerat... and perhaps his perverted wolf, made him eager to hasten his pace.

Unfortunately, when he finally clocked out and headed home, a whole two hours early at around six in the evening, he was surprised to walk into the apartment and not have Drake immediately greeting him with either the smell of food, or himself. After setting his briefcase down by the door and hanging up his suitcoat in the bedroom, he glanced around.

Cerat's not here?

Warden quickly realized that Cerat and Drake were definitely not there.

Wait. The bathroom?

Granted, there was no reason why both of them would be in there together, but Drake did get a bit dominant when his wolf was frustrated. He might have shoved Cerat in the shower again...

Hoping that they were both just out for a logical reason, Warden put his hand on the bathroom door, then gave it a gentle shove. It easily slid open, revealing a scene he was not prepared for. At. All. Cerat sat on the floor, a new electric collar fastened around his neck. He wore a pair of Drake's old black basketball shorts with a white tank top that was clearly too big. In front of him, Layla sat, her hand full of playing cards and a wide grin on her face. After a hesitant glance around the small room, he found Drake, but not human Drake. He changed? And he's still sane? And in the bathtub? Warden wondered in absolute confusion as he watched the canine obsessively clean its large front right paw.

"You're going to cause hair loss if you keep messing with that paw." Warden said awkwardly as from where he stood by the door.

With the sound of his voice, Drake's head jerked up, then he tilted his head and whined at the same time his stomach gave out a loud rumble. "You've had all this time to get food and you waited in the bathroom for me to get home?" Warden asked, not sure if he should be more annoyed than confused at that moment.

Both.

Either way, he leaned over to scoop up Layla, getting a squeal from his little sister as he carried her out of the bathroom. He could hear Cerat following after a moment, then the heavyset sound of Drake's paws on the carpet.

"Did uncle Drake come pick you up from school?" He asked Layla as he set her down on the counter and began getting dinner ready. He hadn't changed out of his dress shirt or slacks yet, but he didn't really mind. The one thing he did do, however, was nudge off his shoes.

"He did!" Lay said with excitement as she kicked her feet a little over the edge of the old counter.

She always did really enjoy Drake's company, but he was always too busy pretending to work or with women, to want to deal with his little sister. Seeing that he had gone and picked her up was a very nice gesture... even if he had a feeling that he'd only done it to make up for the way he acted.

Don't dwell on it right now. He told himself as he took out two packages of hamburger meat, vegetables, and two beers. When he turned around, a smile crossed his face at seeing Drake back in his human form, a pair of his grey sweatpants hanging off his waist. They were a little tight on him since they were borrowed, but Warden wasn't going to point that out and give the guy a bigger ego.

Tossing the beer to him, Warden turned and picked out a small juice pouch for his sister. She took it when he offered it, giving him a quiet "Thank you," before she opened it to begin sipping at the sweet juice inside. Turning his attention back to dinner, Warden busied himself making burgers and getting them started in a frying pan. He knew that Drake really enjoyed him using a lot of butter, though it wasn't something he tended to like.

Don't need to gain anymore weight.

Jumping slightly, Warden felt his muscles flex suddenly where Drake's fingers gently settled on his lower torso from behind. He could tell that Drake wanted to say something, because he kept taking in deep breaths, but after a few silent moments of just listening to the sound of the meat sizzling and Cerat quietly speaking with Lay, Drake stepped away with a sigh.

When Warden heard his footsteps leave the kitchen, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He wanted to talk to him. To figure out a way that they could still be friends, but he could tell that Drake was still fighting with himself, and it was never a good idea to push a werewolf that wasn't ready to handle a situation.

So, instead of dwelling on him, Warden focused on making the burgers, butter and all as he sipped on his drink. When he had finished plating them all, he handed the large plate to his sister to bring to the table, then followed with plates and glasses of water.

Cerat excused himself to rest, having said he already fed on Drake earlier. Warden was a bit surprised Drake let him. When Lay sat down at the table, yet Drake was nowhere to be seen, Warden pursed his lips. He knew that Drake was hungry. He was Drake. There was no sated when it came to the lycan.

He decided, however, to let him be until he sent Lay off with the butler that came to pick her up. It was later than he would have liked, but he hadn't seen her in awhile and it felt good to catch up over dinner. It was also nice to know that the maid was taking very good care of the bearded dragon he had bought her. Cerat will be glad to hear about that. She was also okay with them keeping the rabbit there because he told her that Cerat very much missed the bunny.

When he had finished loading the dirty dishes into the dishwasher, Warden grabbed the spare burgers, which happened to be the six he had made for Drake, and carried the plate they sat on into his bedroom. It was no surprise to see the wolf curled up in his thick comforter. Changed again. With a tired smile, he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

Before he even considered trying to actually give the food to Drake, he heard the wolf's nose start up. "Come on, you. I know you want the meat." Warden said, being careful with his words. When Drake gave a coughing-laugh sound, Warden felt his face warm. Meat. Of course he'd think that sounded perverted. He thought as he slid the plate back behind him.

In seconds he could hear the burgers disappearing. When a wet, hot tongue swiped across the entire right side of his face a minute later, Warden rolled his eyes. "Thanks for that. Now I need a shower." The look in Drake's wolf's eyes had Warden's narrowing as he promptly shoved the lycan right off the bed.

"If I'm not mistaken, you stole something from me earlier, and I still haven't heard an apology for that yet." Warden said as he stood up and started for his bathroom. He was just stepping inside the small room when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It easily swung him around, and before he could open his mouth, Drake's was covering it.

The kiss ended almost as fast as it had begun, with Drake whispering a promise in Warden's ear before walking out of his bedroom.

"I'll never apologize for that."

Warden stood frozen in place for nearly two minutes before Cerat peeked inside the room, a smirk on his face. "Looks like there's a chicken about to be eaten by a wolf."

Don't start now.

Even as he thought that, Cerat was stepping inside the room, nudging the door shut as he did so.

"Go get ready for bed. I need to shower, without an audience." Warden said as he started unbuttoning his dress shirt, his fingers fumbling because of his frustration.

Cerat watched him for a moment before stepping closer, drawing Warden's eyes up to his before the vampire leaned in and stole a faint kiss.

"I don't mind sharing, I suppose." He said before nicking Warden's lip with a slightly blunt fang and stepping back.

The glare Warden gave him didn't seem to affect his smile at all.

"Get out!" He yelled when Cerat didn't move.

The guy lifted his eyebrows, but thankfully left after a snicker and wave.

Warden hurried to lock the door. Hopefully Drake wouldn't try to open it and break the door down, but he needed some damn peace for at least a few minutes... or an hour.