Chapter 59: The Strengthening Of A Bond

The Peterson Residence, Fallon Creek, Michigan...

Casey Allen Peterson had been frantic in his one-man search for Rick Channon after the hazel-eyed brute of a man suddenly appeared and took him away. He had not gotten a wink of sleep following the day Rick disappeared and it was a good thing they had been on a three-day weekend from school otherwise it would have truly been a problem. Casey had rushed to get dressed and scrambled out the door in search of his missing lover only to find little to nothing about Rick's whereabouts. Casey did his best to keep himself composed as the urge to look for Rick continued to grow but he had not the faintest idea of how to go about it. The brute had taken him so fast that Casey hardly had any time to breathe as he collapsed onto the ground feeling the sudden onset of agony that seemed to come from out of nowhere. He didn't like being separated from Rick any more than Rick liked being separated from him. Their time together had been something that bonded them in ways that Casey had not known to be possible.

With each step into the woods, it was as if Casey could feel Rick's distress as if it had been his own and he wanted nothing more than to be reunited with him. He didn't know much about werewolves nor that the brute had been capable of but he wasn't going to sit back and let Rick stay missing. The handsome arrogant jerk had come to mean a lot more to him than what he let on and he had even finally gotten him to admit that he had feelings for him. There was no way Casey was going to go back to being alone, especially not after what he and Rick shared werewolf or no werewolf.

Casey Peterson trekked into the woods alone and without much in the way of a weapon despite the obvious threat the older man that took Rick seemed to pose. The young lad couldn't explain it, but he felt something of a pull direct him as he moved through the trees and the light stream that he passed by. With his heart pounding within the confines of his chest, Casey ventured deeper into the woods looking for any sign of Rick and his brutish captor.

As he walked amid the rocks and trees that had been unfamiliar to him as a whole, he thought back to how his life had been without Rick, the teasing and bullying got so bad that he'd end up with his fair share of welts and bruises no matter how much he tried to get it over with. He'd been something of a coward then, letting them do what they wished to him. Now here he'd been about to venture into the territory of a monster unlike any he'd ever seen before and all because he had known Rick Channon.

He couldn't let Rick down no matter how difficult the situation seemed to be.

The lone lad walked until it was near nightfall when he finally reached what looked like an encampment and something that he recognized to have been a cage, his heart seemed to flutter as he rushed up toward it noting the enormous black werewolf lying on its side amid the dirt and grass inside the cage. He didn't have to see him in human form to know exactly who it had been.

"Rick!" said Casey rushing toward his imprisoned lover.

Rick's dark eyes flickered with a mix of recognition and annoyance as he snarled in the wake of Casey getting too close.

Casey had not taken note of the glowing red eyes that were watching him from the distance as the brute began to stalk what appeared to have been prey. Casey set to work trying to find a way to get Rick out of the cage. He'd been so busy with the rescue efforts that he had not checked to see where the massive brute of a man had been. The vicious howl of the brown creature had finally reached Casey's ears and all his instinct had told him to run for his life.

Rick seemed to take note and immediately tried to get himself free of the cage, but it was to no avail as the brown brute came roaring up toward Casey who had taken off running as fast as his legs could carry him.

"SHIT!" shouted Casey doing his best to keep up his pace as he rushed toward a few nearby rocks. "He's fucking huge, a fucking bear in place of a man!"

The brown brute snarled and swiped at Casey missing the first few rounds and then smacking the running lad across the chest, causing him to tumble to the ground as the brute pounced on him. Rick howled and snarled as he did his best to break free of the cage seeing all too well that his mate was in danger.

The distress and Casey's screams seemed to be all that he needed in the way of a push as he broke free of the bars with enough force to snap them at the gates' rusted points and dashed toward the brown brute. He blocked Casey with his body and took the brunt of the brute's blows before driving it off in a huff.

Rick's battered body despite his transformation was bleeding profusely as had the scratch along Casey's belly. The older lad collapsed onto his love inadvertently mixing his freshly pouring blood into the wound of his gasping younger lover as they lay there amid the trees and the agony of having been clawed by the brutish werewolf that had initially taken Rick captive.

Casey blacked out around the same time as Rick unsure if he could even move his body with all the heaviness of his muscles from running for so long and the added bonus of having been clawed across his belly courtesy of the bigger werewolf had taken on a good deal of effect.

He vaguely recalled Rick speaking to him as his heart rate increased, his body began to feel intense heat and the pain kept coming.

Hold on Casey." said the voice of a rather concerned Rick reverted back to his human form. "Just hold on, I'll get you back to town."

Casey attempted to reach up for the older boy's face just as his delirium had set in and he'd been too weak to keep his eyes open.