Under the Moon by Julia Talbot Read Free Book Online

Under the Moon
    By Julia Talbot
    "Do you swear under the moon to protect and serve the pack, to watch over the elders and children, and to keep our secrets to your death?"
    Jamie fought the urge to roll his eyes and stuck his nose deeper into his book. His roommate was a nice guy, really. The whole werewolf gaming thing was annoying as all hell, though. Really, who laid their dice and candles and shit out on a moveable altar made out of a silver platter? The assholes who came to play smoked in the bathroom, spit and peed in the yard and had no fucking idea what wolf culture was really like.
    They had no idea that was why Jamie had left home.
    The whole pack thing could be... limiting. Either you were an alpha or a beta and alphas needed to mate and shit. Being gay was not so much frowned on as just not very useful. It was also really unpopular to be bookish in wolf society. Athletic? Sure. Forceful? Absolutely.
    Being a walking dictionary was just not a handy skill where the pack was concerned.
    That would be why Jamie had gone to college and was now on his second advanced degree. He was also stuck with a very smart yet creepy roommate who studied social theory and anthro, and liked to game on the weekends. Anton thought werewolves where really a cool idea and had given up D&D in favor of berserking super-wolf beings who communed with nature like giant hippies.
    Bizarre.
    Before the little granola girl Anton was waving an athame at could answer, there was a knock on the door. Anton frowned, his forehead wrinkling in a very unattractive way
    "Jamie, could you get that? That's probably our last player."
    Jamie pondered telling Anton no. He really should just go to his room instead of silently protesting this nonsense by sitting in the front room and sighing a lot. He finally got up and headed to the door, an unholy sort of curiosity making him go see who would be coming to play wolf.
    Opening the door, Jamie found a mountain of a man standing there. The guy was tall, maybe six four, and had to weigh a muscular two-twenty. He had shoulders that blocked the dying sunlight, dark brown hair that curled wildly, and bright green eyes. He was amazing and a little intimidating.
    He smelled like heaven.
    Jamie tried to ignore the instant hard-on that sprang up in his pants, stepping back to let the guy in. “You here to game with Anton?"
    “He invited me to come over for a beer if that's what gaming means, yeah. Maybe watch some werewolf movies.” The smile was wry, the little twist of the guy's lips making Jamie want to pant and show his belly. ENDEXCERPT
    "Jamie.” He stuck out his hand instinctively, not even thinking about it until after.
    "Tyler. Ty. Nice to meet you. You're the roommate?"
    "I am."
    Ty took his hand and brushed past him, their skin touching in all sorts of places as Ty went by. Jamie's nerves jumped, his nipples going tight. Christ. He might as well just start scratching his balls and whining.
    "Well, it's nice to meet you,” Ty said, squeezing his hand before letting go.
    "You, too. I'll, uh, get you that beer.” He had to escape before he did something stupid. Ty almost smelled like pack, and that was just silly. There was no such thing in this part of Boulder. That was why Jamie was there, right? He'd gotten away from that, and he didn't need to get dragged back in.
    When he'd pulled the beer out of the fridge and turned around, Ty was right there, making him jump near out of his skin. He hadn't heard the man follow him at all. He was slipping, living soft like the townie he was and all.
    "Here.” He thrust a Coors at Ty, hoping that was okay. They had Fat Tire, too, which might be more manly or whatever.
    "Thanks.” Ty watched him, eyes bright with curiosity. It made Jamie's nose want to twitch, but he controlled himself.
    "Sure. So, uh, do you like werewolf stuff?"
    Tyler smiled, a little toothy thing that made Jamie's leg want to thump. “I'm studying wolf conservation. I guess that makes Anton think