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It was dark when I regained consciousness. I was lying in a cramped space. I finally realized I was in the back of a station wagon or SUV. The old Wagoneer! We were moving. Each bump in the road caused a new pain somewhere in my body. My head hurt. I'd done something bad to my right hand . . . as if it needed anything more to happen to it. I heard voices coming from the front.

"Why'd you throw that damn bottle, Bud?"

"Quit with that, Peewee, or I'll hit you with a bottle."

"But you killed him!"

"Yeah, but nobody's ever going to know, 'cause we're gonna put the damn body so far back in the woods no one will ever find it. I just got out of the damn prison, and I'm not going back. Here's the place."

The vehicle came to a stop.

"We're way the fuck back in the woods. All we need to do is drag the fucker away from the road. The damned animals will do the rest for us."

I heard the two men open their doors. The vehicle moved as they got out. I heard a key being inserted into the lock on the tailgate. One of them swore as the tailgate window caught before it was all the way down.

I had no idea where I was. I had no idea if they were armed. I had no chance . . . but I was going to go down fighting.

The tailgate came down. A pair of hands grabbed my ankles and pulled me toward the lowered tailgate.

I tried to be as relaxed as possible to keep them thinking I was dead. As my legs cleared the back of the tailgate, I kicked upward with all my might and connected with something.

I heard a curse as my attacker went down. I tried to spring up from the tailgate, but the other man knocked me back down. He was a heck of a lot bigger than me. I had no chance against his superior mass. A fist came down on the back of my head. I went woozy again.

When I came to, my hands and feet were tied.

The voices came again from the darkness.

"We can't just kill him, Bud."

"That's just what we's gonna do. I told you, I'm not gonna go back to the lockup to be somebody's bitch boy. We thought he was dead before. The fucker will be dead for real when we leave."

"What if someone finds out? I don't wanna kill nobody."

"Shut up! You sound like a goddamn fairy. I'll kill him. You just have to keep your mouth shut, or I'll kill you, too."

The man came at me, a large hunting knife in his hand. He leaned down toward me.

I spit in his face.

He backed up, then with a bellow came at me again.

The wolf, my wolf, charged out of the woods, knocked over my attacker and bit down on the wrist of the man's knife hand.

Both men screamed. The smaller man ran off down the road. The wolf growled and held on to my attacker. The man screamed and cried. The knife dropped from his hand. The wolf let go of the man's wrist and placed his body between me and the man. He growled, and my attacker backed away, ran for the old Wagoneer, jumped in, and gunned the motor.

The wolf chased the retreating vehicle for a short distance down the road, then returned to me. He sniffed and licked at my wounds. I wiggled my way over to the abandoned knife. My hands were tied behind my back. I lay down on top of the knife and, using my fingers, maneuvered the blade so I could begin sawing through my bonds. My right hand hurt like a bitch. The wolf sat by me as I struggled with the rope tying my wrists.

Once my hands were free, it took less than a minute to cut the rope around my ankles. I struggled to my feet.

The air was getting colder. I could smell the approaching rain. I had no earthly idea where I was. I checked for my cell phone in the side pocket of my running shorts. Gone.

The wolf leaned his big body up against me and pushed toward the woods and away from the old road.

"Do you want me to go that way, boy? Do you know the way home?"

My answer was another push toward the woods.

I picked up the knife and followed the wolf into the woods.

It grew darker and colder. The rain started, and soon I was soaked through my thin running gear. Still the wolf moved ahead of me through the woods. I sure hoped he knew where we were going, because if he didn't, I was a dead man.

I got colder and colder. It became difficult to put one foot in front of the other. I tried to stop a couple of times, but the wolf nudged me forward.

After what seemed like hours moving through the woods, I saw lights from a cabin through the trees. I hurried as quickly as my cold legs would allow.

The wolf ran up to the porch steps of the cabin. I struggled to lift my feet high enough to climb the steps toward the door. I looked around. My wolf was gone.

I stumbled to the door. It opened as I leaned against it, and I fell into a pair of strong, warm arms.

"We need to get you warmed up."

I knew the voice. I looked up into the striking gray-green eyes of Wyatt Williamson.

Wyatt helped me into the bathroom. He sat me on the toilet seat and turned on the tap in the bath tub. As the tub filled with warm water, Wyatt gently stripped off my clothes and guided me into the bath. He checked the bruises and scratches on my face and legs. He removed the brace from my right wrist and hand and gently moved each finger. He reassured me he didn't think anything was broken. My teeth were chattering so badly I couldn't answer.

As the warmth of the water began to chase away the deep chill in my body, I started to notice more things. Wyatt sat on the toilet seat. He was naked. His muscled pecs were covered with hair that flowed almost unbroken down his torso and stomach to the denser, dark bush around his very respectable, uncircumcised cock. His muscular legs were well shaped and nearly as hairy as his chest.

"Are you warmer now?"

I nodded.

"Good, let's get you dry and into a warm bed."

He helped me stand and get out of the tub. He gently dried my body, then led me out of the bathroom into his bedroom. He pulled back the down comforter on the bed. I climbed into the bed, and Wyatt climbed in right after me. He turned me on my side and pressed his warm, naked body against my back.

"Now that you're warm and safe in bed with me, do you want to tell me what you were doing out there in the rain?"

I told him about the attack, about being rescued by the wolf, and about being led to his cabin by the wolf.

As I talked, he moved the finger tips of his left hand that was resting lightly on my shoulder. I paused in my story as his fingers moved off my shoulder and began moving across my chest, nipples, and down to my waist. Needless to say, I sometimes lost my place in relating my story. He reminded me each time by gently whispering encouragement in my ear.

I was hard as a rock when I finished the story. I rolled over to face him and out lips met. Incredible! Our kiss was tender but conveyed deep passion. His finger tips moved down and traced the shaft of my raging cock. I moved my hand down his muscular chest and stomach to grasp his manhood. Oh Lordy, it was big! Both long and thick. The head of his penis was almost completely exposed outside of his foreskin. I moved the tip of my index finger across the tip of his cock. It was wet with precum. I lifted my wet finger to my mouth and tasted him for the first time.

He twisted around in the bed and took my erection into his mouth. I looked at his cock pulsing in front of my eyes. I doubted that I could take all of it, but I was going to try.

He moved his mouth off my dick and began licking my balls and perineum. I felt his tongue on the lips of my hole. He moved his tongue and finger into my ass. His finger found my prostate, and his mouth slid back over my dick. I knew I wouldn't last long, so I slathered saliva on my index finger and began probing his ass while trying desperately to swallow all of his long, thick cock.

He started coming first. I felt his dick pulse in my mouth as his ass muscles clamped down on my finger. That sent me over the edge, and I started flooding his mouth with my own cum.

When we were done, he rolled off me and swung around, so that we were face to face again. We kissed for a long time, sharing the remains of our lovemaking with each other.

"I've wanted this since the first time I saw you at the store," I confessed.

"Me, too. Now that I have you, I'm not letting you go."

We snuggled and caressed for another little while. Finally, Wyatt rolled away. "You must be hungry."

"I'm starved."

"Good, so am I. It's way past dinner time. Let me see what I can rustle up something for dinner. This will be very casual. There's no need to dress."

He rolled out of bed and padded naked into the other room. I watched his retreating form. Gawd, he had a great ass!

I heard him moving things around in the kitchen area, so I climbed out of bed and joined him. He was bent over with his head stuck in the refrigerator. I was treated to another view of his fantastic, muscular ass.

"I've got some leftover venison stew. How's that sound?"

"Sounds good to me. Can I help?"

He gave me the task of setting the table and making a salad as he stirred the stew. It smelled wonderful.

After dinner, I used Wyatt's cell phone to make my daily call to Uncle Nathaniel. I explained the use of another number by telling him that I'd lost my phone while jogging. I just didn't tell him any of the details about how I lost the phone. Uncle Nathaniel sounded glad that I was with Wyatt. "You deserve to have someone in your life, especially right now. Just promise me you'll be careful," were his closing words to me.

Wyatt was done with the dishes by the time I closed my conversation with Uncle Nathaniel. He walked over to me. His hardening cock swaying from side to side as he walked. We retreated to the bedroom for another round of lovemaking.

We'd discussed our health status during dinner. I hadn't been with another man in over a year, and my last HIV test, done just before I'd been sent to El Paso, had been negative. He said it had been almost two years since he'd been with another man, so there was nothing to worry about with HIV. In bed, he proceeded to take command. His tongue was everywhere on my body. He gently nipped and lapped at my nipples, my dick, my balls, and especially my ass. He slowly relaxed my hole with his tongue and fingers. When he finally sank his big cock into my rectum, I was more than ready for him. At times, he was like a pile driver pumping into me. At other times, his strokes were slow and gentle ‑ sometimes almost imperceptible. He brought me to the edge three times and backed off, allowing my growing orgasm to retreat. When I finally came, I think I screamed. He drove his shaft home one more time and exploded inside me.

We lay spent in each other's arms and quickly slipped into sleep.

The next morning, his warm mouth on my dick greeted me as I woke. When he had me hard, he straddled me and guided me into him. Our fuck was slow and gentle, but my orgasm was so intense that I think I blacked out for a moment, because the next thing I knew, Wyatt was kissing me and telling me breakfast was ready.

The man was a good cook. The venison stew the previous night had been wonderful. Breakfast that morning was eggs, venison sausage, biscuits, and coffee. Delicious. I normally don't eat a lot for breakfast, but I was famished and had two helpings of everything.

I showered while Wyatt cleaned up the kitchen. I felt better than I had in months. I should have been sore from being knocked around by Peewee and Bud, but I couldn't see any evidence of bruising or scrapes on my face or body. Even my hand, which had been achy and stiff in the mornings, felt better. I figured I'd been very lucky.

After his shower, Wyatt showed me around the rest of his place. My attention had been occupied mostly by his amazing sexiness that I hadn't taken a real look around. The living area of his cabin was pretty simple. A living/kitchen/dining area faced the lake; the bathroom and bedroom made up the original part of the cabin. Off the side of the living area was a single room addition that served as his studio. It had windows along the southern wall facing the lake and also along the western wall, making the entire area bright with daylight. The back wall had his computer/printer workstation with samples of his photography and paintings hanging on the walls. Four easels with oil paintings in various stages of completeness were placed in the middle of the room. I spent some time looking at his art. I'm no expert, but it was very good. Mostly pictures of wildlife, plants, landscapes, and a few images that included people. Right next to his computer workstation, he had a framed photo of his mother, brother, sister-in-law, and their three children . . . two sons and a daughter. The older boy looked to be in his mid-teens when the pic was taken.

Wyatt drove me over to my place late in the morning. We made arrangements for him to come back for dinner, necked like teenagers in the front seat of his Suburban for a few minutes, then parted. It was only later I realized I hadn't had a nervous reaction to being in the Suburban. Guess my mind had been more occupied with the sexy hunk driving than on the memories of the ambush in El Paso. Another step forward in my healing.

I ate two sandwiches of cold cuts for lunch. I was still hungry, so I motored through a couple of apples! Where was this appetite of mine coming from?

After lunch, I headed into Escanaba to get a replacement for my cell phone and to pick up more groceries. I'd thought about reporting the attack to the sheriff, but remembering Wyatt's warning about the locals taking pot shots at the wolf; I decided I didn't want to say anything about how I'd been rescued from the attack. I didn't think it would be in the best interests of the wolf for people, other than Wyatt and me, to know about him.

I accomplished my errands in Escanaba in record time. New cell phone. Groceries. Wine. I got back to the cottage and stowed away the supplies. It had become my habit to take a mid-afternoon nap. But I felt fine, so I decided to go for a run.

I ran along the road toward the north end of the lake. When I got there, I briefly thought about dropping in to see Wyatt, but decided that our relationship was too new to do that. Maybe I was rushing the whole relationship thing.

I was still feeling great, so I decided to continue on the road that circled the lake. About half a mile past the road to Wyatt's, I heard something running in the woods parallel to me. At first, I thought it was a deer, but the sound continued past the time when I figured a deer would have broken away toward the deeper woods.

I stopped. Whatever was in the woods stopped, too.

I stood still. The wolf appeared from the tall ferns. He came to the edge of the road and sat there looking at me. This was the first time I'd seen him in full daylight. He was strikingly beautiful with his dark gray-black coat and a look of intelligence and interest in those gray-green eyes.

He stood up, then dropped his front quarters to the ground. With dogs, that was the play signal. I assumed it was the same for wolves.

"What do you want, boy? Do you want to play?"

He jumped up, ran a few yards down the road, then turned toward me and dropped his front quarters again. His tail wagged back and forth.

I resumed jogging. The wolf ran in the grassy road side next to me.

We ran/jogged parallel to one another all the way back to the driveway leading up to my cottage. I turned up the drive, and the wolf followed. I stopped and began leaning against the side of my SUV doing my after-run stretches. The wolf did a few wolf versions of stretches, then slowly walked up to me with his tail wagging.

I stopped my stretches and slowly held out my hand. The wolf sniffed at the hand, then licked my fingers. I reached up and scratched his head between his ears. He sat on the ground and leaned into me.

I sat down on the ground next to him, and he lay across my legs. I rubbed his ears, head, and shoulders as I told him how thankful I was to him for saving me from Bud and Peewee. He smelled pretty much like a large dog . . . a clean large dog. I dug my fingers further into his thick coat. He rolled over on his back exposing his belly to me. I rubbed his chest and his belly. He enjoyed it. In fact, he enjoyed it enough that the pink tip of his penis began to extend out of its sheath.

I chuckled. "Don't get too excited there, boy. I really like you, but you're not my type. Besides, I'm really interested in the guy at the other end of the lake."

The big wolf stood, planted a very sloppy wolf kiss on my face, and trotted off towards the woods. He quickly disappeared into the tall ferns. I heard him moving for another few seconds . . . then silence.

"Wow." Was all I could manage to say.