Shivering slightly in the cold now, Sean closed his eyes and tried to distract himself with other thoughts. It was too painful to think about how Mark was trying to rationalize being with him. He just wanted to enjoy him for however long he had him to himself. Especially, since Mark was growing more... cuddly. Laying over his back in such a protective way. His soft lips trailing along his neck as if to taste his scent rather than smell it. It made Sean weak in the knees to feel so adored by him. A sharp inhale hissed from him as Mark's teeth grazed over the perfect spot for a bite where his shoulder met his neck. Mark appeared to know it too. His teeth gently pressing down on the spot, causing Sean's cock to harden and his legs to spread more. He could almost feel Mark grin, before whispering over the spot. "Your body reacts so beautifully when I nip you here. I almost can't resist the urge to claim you..." A shiver rippled down Sean's back but it wasn't from the cold.

Licking the spot tenderly, Mark growled deeply to him. "You even manage to take me deeper. It's torture..." Taking a shuddering breath, Sean breathed out slowly. "How do you think I feel? Wanting you. Having you. But still unclaimed by you. It's maddening, Mark." Nuzzling his warm cheek against his, Mark told him slightly pained. "You need to start fighting me off, Sean... You can't let me continue to do this to you." Rolling his eyes, Sean huffed out as he shifted his legs to take Mark's weight better. "I tried, arsehole. You won't let me wander off and you couldn't even let me play with myself." Mark kissed his neck, mumbling out in a deep compassionate voice. "I can't help it. You belong to the pack. I can't let an outsider have you. My job is literally to protect you from them. Only my superior or the Apex holds sway over me. Everyone else is a threat and a challenge for what I want." Glancing over his shoulder, Sean blurted out. "And not letting me pleasure myself? Where does that fit into your job description?

Mark blushed, answering while nuzzling his shoulder with his lips and avoiding his eyes. "You should have snapped at me. You shouldn't have teased me. You wanted me to chase you... You knew what talk over other Alphas and Betas would do to me. You did it on purpose to get a rise out of me... and you won." Sean opened his mouth to deny it but shut it without a word. He couldn't deny it. He had known. Alphas were very territorial and deep down... he'd used that to stir the animal within Mark. He could have easily bitten and attacked Mark to fend him off. Mark could still easily overpower him either physically or with his Alpha voice, but any decent Alpha would have backed off. However, that had not been what his intention was and he knew it. Kissing his shoulder, Mark coolly told him. "I don't know how to fight off this addiction, Sean. I've never had sex and now... Now that I'm familiar with you. It's gonna be difficult for me to convince myself to stop. If you let this continue..."

Mark drifted off, but Sean understood. The wolf would grow attached to him for the wrong reason. Why claim the Omega when the Omega gave him what he wanted for free? That familiarity could result in toxicity between Mark and his claimed mate. After all, if his mate refused to give him what he wanted... surely the other wouldn't deny him. He wanted to put the blame on Alphas for their lack of control... but clearly their training lacked the sexual awareness that was acknowledged among young Omegas. Bowing his head, he told Mark gently. "Fine. This will be the last time. So... enjoy it." Mark kissed his neck, his voice deep and surprisingly loving when he said. "I am. That's the problem." Even when Mark's knot went away, allowing him to step back from him. Sean immediately straightened up and turned into him. Hugging him close. His every breath inhaling Mark's sweaty scent. Meeting his eyes, Sean whispered over his lips. "The nights not over. Shall we go to the tent and work this lust out of our system for good?"

Sean got his answer, when Mark's heated cock rose up between Sean's chilled thighs. Giving him one last kiss, he followed him into the tent. Before dawn had even crested the horizon, Sean was wide awake. He hadn't slept for more than an hour or two between Mark's bursts of knotting lust. He was exhausted physically but not mentally. Shifting his hips a little, he felt Mark's cock slide free of him now. Behind him, Mark snored deeply. They'd practically gone at it like rabbits all night. Mark's lust and stamina ran much higher than he'd expected it too. Easing his arm off of him, Sean slipped silently out of the tent. Collecting his clothes by the smoldering fire, he folded them on the log before taking a seat. Sighing heavily, he removed the pill bottle from his jacket. Part of him wanted to dump the fucking things into the fire. Or bury them. Which scared him. Fighting the petty thoughts of it away, he opened the bottle and quickly took two pills.

He really only needed to take one, but with how... eager Mark was last night. He decided that two would be better. Mark was a virile Alpha in his prime, after all. He doubted one would do anything as he watched the thick sperm run down his thigh. Getting up, he used the snow to clean himself up. When he finished, he shifted into a wolf and trotted off to try his luck with hunting some breakfast for them. He was hungry and Mark wasn't going to get up anytime soon, he was sure of that. He'd never hunted in his life, but he couldn't imagine that it was too hard. He'd chased Omegas and 'play hunted' before. Sniffing the snow, he flicked his ears back and forth to listen for prey. He caught faint traces of deer and squirrels. Until he picked up the fresh smell of rabbit. Following his nose, he traced it to a berry bush and sank low in the snow to wait and watch for it. The smell was strong here. It had to be here. His heart raced and his mouth salivated.

He could hear it chewing but couldn't see it and didn't want to get too close to the thorns. After a minute, the white rabbit appeared. It's soft fur and grey eyes ever alert. He tried to remain very still, but the rabbit easily spotted his colored fur amongst the snowy ground. The bunny made a mad dash across the clearing and with a whine, Sean raced after it. The zig-zagged around and through other bushes, but Sean kept right on his tail. The bunny was in panic mode. Trying to find a place to hide that he couldn't get into. It circled back and Sean's jaws snapped just short of its hind leg. The damn thing was nimble and quick! Running after the bunny at full speed, he began to gain on it. The bunny was heading back to the thorn bush of berries, but Sean didn't slow down. He was about to catch it before it reached the bush. Parting his jaws, he went for its throat, just as something swooped in and snatch the bunny!

Lost in both shock and bewilderment, Sean forgot to stop and rushed into the thorn bush. His distressed and painful yelps filling the forest as he struggled to get free of it. Upon limping out, he glanced up at a tree to see a hawk with the bunny draped over a branch. Cocking its head, the hawk looked down at him smugly before raising its middle claw to lightly scratch its beak. Snarling angrily at being flipped off by a bird, he rushed to the tree and barked up at it. "HEY! THAT WAS MINE! Give it back, arsehole!" The hawk ignored him, prompting Sean to pace and whine out in distressed frustration. "That's not fair! I saw him first!" The hawk teasingly began to eat the bunny with slow loud clacks of its beak, causing Sean to snarl up at him. "You're lucky I can't get up there! Or I'd rip you to shreds, you fucking pest with wings!" Snorting, Sean growled loudly. Only to stop when a soft crunch of snow caught his ears.

Folding his ears back with worry, he glanced around and saw nothing. His voice came out in a low nervous whine. "Mark? Is that you?" There was no answer, but he heard a strange aching sound of wood from somewhere close. Sniffing the air, he tried to catch a scent, but the wind was blowing from behind him and carrying the scent away from him. A soft whistle came from behind a tree, and he shifted to look at it better, his ears perking up. His whole body was tense, but he didn't understand why. He was a predator. Nothing hunted a predator like him. From another tree came a short shrill sound and instinctively he dropped down to his belly moments before something hit the tree beside him. Glancing up, he saw the black arrow with red feathers. Rising to sniff it, he caught the traces of silver before another arrow whizzed toward him. Yelping, he jumped sideways and stumbled over a buried rock. The arrow hit the rock with a soft tinging sound, barely missing Sean's ribcage.

Rolling over in the snow, Sean scrambled to his feet and shot off into a run. More arrows impaled into the trees as he dashed around them. Or shot into the snow as he crawled under logs to escape. Becoming frantic that he was being hunted, he cried out into the woods. "MARK! HELP!" An arrow shot into the tree in front of him before he reached it, causing him to slide into a stop. It had been a mistake. The person leapt out into view; her black bow raised with a notched arrow as she yelled out. "GOT YA!" Sean let out a whimper as she released the arrow. He couldn't move. He was frozen in fear. He didn't know what to do. He could almost see himself in the polished silver of the arrow tip... when a set of jaws snatched the arrow mid-flight. Snapping the arrow between his teeth, Mark let out a ferocious snarl that made Sean curl up meekly in the snow. The woman gasped at the sight of Mark's size. Mark's hackles were raised and his saliva leaked from his parted jaws like a savage.

The woman turned to run, yelling aloud. "ALPHA!" Mark didn't hesitate. He dashed across the distance so fast that Sean was simply in awe of him. He had a powerful stride, and he easily calculated where she'd run. Leaping onto the side of a tree, Mark launched off it to bypass the mounds of snow and tackled her from behind. His jaws clamping mercilessly on her throat and the snap echoing throughout the area as they puffed into the snow. Lifting his head, Mark scanned the trees and ducked as a loud 'BANG' woke the woods into fluttering chaos! Birds shot into the air and prey ran for cover. Mark flinched as something clipped his shoulder, causing red droplets to splatter the snow. With another snarl, Mark turned to flee. Racing up to him and nudging him to run and he yelled out. "GO! It's the red guard! RUN!" Shakingly getting to his feet, he started to run as he asked over his shoulder. "The who? What's going on?!"

Sean hadn't realized how far he had run from the campsite, until he was trying to follow his tracks back to it. Behind him, Mark kept glancing back as he answered in heavy pants. "Humans. Wolf-hunters! Run!" Reaching the campsite, they quickly turned back and changed into their clothes. Mark gathered their stuff and off they went again. Sean led the way, panting over his shoulder. "What do they want with us?" Mark was starting to stagger behind as he said a bit strained now. "They want Loup-Garou out of Romania. Out of power... In short... they want our kind dead!" Slowing to catch his breath after a few hours, Sean turned to see Mark struggling to keep up with him. Jogging up to him, he asked him anxiously. "Mark...? What's wrong?" Dropping their stuff, Mark sank to his knees and let out a weak whine. Black veins were appearing up his neck. Quickly opening his jacket, Sean gasped. Mark's shoulder had been clipped by the silver, and it had been enough to poison him.

Shaking his head, he uttered out in distress. "Mark? Mark, what do I do?! I'm so sorry... This is all my fault!" Pushing one of the bags to him, Mark told him distantly as he struggled to stay upright. "The EpiPen. Get it... Quick." Snatching the bag, Sean dug through it like a madman. Finding the box with a four inside, he pulled out as Mark fell onto his side. His breathing turning into a wheeze as his body began to shake. Unsure what to do, Sean read the label faster than he realized that he could. Popping the red cap off to expose the needle, he pushed Mark's shirt up and prayed to the great Luna for the strength to do this. Pushing Mark onto his back, he took a breath and slammed it against Mark's chest over his heart. At first, he thought he'd missed and wasted it... but slowly the black veins faded to a silvery scar color and Mark's breathing leveled out. Falling over Mark's belly, he curled up against him and tried to calm himself down.  To Be Continued...