Feral Northern Shifters 2

“We’ll look after the dead wolf in a moment,” he told his subordinate. “Let me say goodbye to these men first, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
Bram was so light-headed he felt like he wasn’t quite in his body during the last five minutes it took to get back to the van. He and Ethan clambered into the back while Trey took his leave of Kingley.
“Call me if you have any other problems,” Trey said, tone totally neutral.
“Oh, you bet,” came back the bland reply.
Trey climbed into the driver’s seat, took some kind of instrument from Kingley and pointed it at Ethan’s chest for about ten seconds. After which he checked something on it. “Dead,” he said with a glance at Kingley. “That’s it?”
“Yep.” Kingley took back the instrument and turned on his heel, leaving them be.
As Trey backed up, Ethan hissed, his front paw scratching at the collar.
“Yeah, I know, but not yet. Just wait.” Bram rubbed his face against the top of Ethan’s head. “So sorry. Look, you’ve got to drink.” He pulled out a water bottle that Ethan guzzled with Bram’s help.
After they passed through the two sets of fences and the guards, and were outside the facility, Ethan hissed again and Bram took the collar right off.
A shudder rippled through Ethan.
“I think it’s over,” said Trey as Ethan climbed on top of Bram, draping his body all over him.
“Don’t shift yet,” Bram said holding him tight for a moment. “You need some energy first.”
As Ethan ate hungrily, Bram asked Trey, “What the hell were you doing at the end there? What was that thing of Kingley’s?”
“I was killing the transponder.”
“Huh?”
“That ‘thing’ was a transmitter. I gave Ethan’s stomach a burst of radio-wave frequency to kill dead the RFID so it’d stop swimming around in his acidic stomach and pass on through him. Is that helpful?”
“I guess,” said Bram dubiously. He felt too tired to make sense of Trey’s explanation.
“I disabled the tracking device. The last thing I want is for them to be able to follow us.”
“Well, no .” Bram would look this all up later. He needed to understand it better. “Where are we going?”
“Not back there, I can assure you. Kingley was useful, but he’s not to be trusted.”
“So why did he help you?”
“Because I pay back favors. I’m reliable that way.” There was a slight edge to those words, and for the first time, Bram felt a little worried for Trey. He went silent, wondering just what kind of burden Trey had taken on.
“I’m driving to Liam’s, by the way. I think you guys’ll do better there.”
“Liam’s?” Bram said in dismay while Ethan made a chirp. “You mean, Canada?”
“Yup. Ethan likes Liam. Or is that the problem?” Trey actually grinned into the mirror, to Bram’s amazement.
“No,” said Bram, feeling about ten years old because he was blushing even if there was something rather reassuring about being teased by Trey. It made him sound like he thought the ordeal was over. But Canada? He wanted Ethan to himself, no matter how grateful he felt.
Ethan purred against him in reassurance, before pulling away to curl up in the corner.
He was fast compared to Bram, shifting to human in less than fifteen minutes, and when he woke he looked absolutely wiped out by the past few days, wan and thin. Haggard. But it was the sweetest moment ever when Bram took Ethan back into his arms to rest against him.
“Christ, Bram,” he muttered against Bram’s neck. “You killed Doug. Are you okay?”
Bram kept forgetting he’d killed Doug. It might take more than an hour or two for it to properly sink in. He ran fingers through Ethan’s hair and focused on his lover instead. “If you’re okay, I’m okay.”
Ethan laughed. Or Bram thought it was a laugh at first, until he realized it was more of a sob. “No more of this pet business, okay?”
“Shhh. You did good.”
Ethan shook his head against Bram. “Jesus. Too much.”
“Yeah. But it’s over.”

Epilogue
    The snow was falling thickly, like a curtain. And through it, Ethan glided, pushing himself up the hill. It was a long hill and the cross-country skis slipped back a few times because he wasn’t used to them. When he reached the top he stopped to catch his breath. Cougars didn’t have quite the stamina of wolves and sometimes it showed, even in human form.
    “So?” asked Bram who came alongside, not nearly so breathless, and grinning. “What do you think?” “Well, skiing is different