TITLE: "CRY OF THE WOLF"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "Highlander"/"Wolf Lake"

PAIRING: Duncan MacLeod/Tyler Creed series. Tyler/Ruby.

RATING: NC-17

STATUS: New.

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

SERIES/SEQUEL: SEQUEL to "PASSION"

WEBSITE: http://www.carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "Tyler puts his trust in Ruby. Duncan becomes more disturbed about her hold over him."

The usual disclaimers apply. No infringement of copyright is intended.

He was burning up. Woke bathed in sweat, uncomfortable. In pain. For a moment he did not know where he was then a pair of smooth cool arms wrapped around him and he felt Ruby's tongue slide in his ear and cracked open his eyes. She was still there. Amazing. All the effort he had gone through trying to force her into co-operating. Giving them a chance to be together, to change her mind so that she would accept the inevitable. That he was going to be her mate whatever she said. Now she was with him, willingly. A smile teased his lips. Ruby stroked his jaw and began to rub herself against him. He tensed and closed his eyes in pain as her leg brushed his penis. She froze and looked down at him in concern. "Tyler?"

He could not speak. Eyes fastened tight as if closing them could shut out the intense pain. She touched his face more gently, easing back to look down his body as she drew the covers back. Now she could see properly. His cock was slowly weeping but it was the pus of infection. She realised he must be in absolute agony.

"Tyler." He did not respond. She stroked his cheek and willed him to open his eyes. "Tyler, you need medical attention. Your penis is infected."

His eyes fluttered open, at half mast. Trying still to block out the pain. "I'll be alright Ruby, just need to keep it clean and rest."

She shook her head. "No, this is no time to be stubborn." She paused. "It's my fault..."

He shook his head gently, bit his bottom lip to control himself then raised a hand to gently brush back her hair and touch her face. Such intensity of feeling in those eyes that he made her feel like a fraud. "No Ruby, it's not your fault. I knew the risks, remember?"

"I shouldn't have asked you."

"Sssh, it's gonna be alright. I'll heal, mend, then it will be forgotten."

"Let me at least get you something to ease the pain. I could call on Sherman and..."

He shook his head, firmer this time. "No. This is private Ruby, between you and me. I'll deal with it."

Her eyes asked questions but he gave no answers. "Just trust me."

"At least let me wash and clean the infection. Do you have any antiseptic?"

He nodded. She was right but he knew it would hurt. Ruby got up and padded to the bathroom. He lay back and stared up at the ceiling. Glad that Duncan had gone into town last night. That he would be gone most of the day. He did not stop to think what he might be doing in town. That was Duncan's business, just as Ruby was his. His. The word brought a smile to pained lips. His. Then she was back with a small bowl of luke-warm water, a towel, some tissues and antiseptic cream. She looked at him for a moment as she set down the bowl beside the bed. "You need antibiotics."

"All I need is *you*, Ruby."

She kissed the hand he extended to stroke her hair. "This is going to hurt."

He nodded and looked up at the ceiling again. Then gently, carefully, she began to wash him. He cried out softly before he could stop himself, managing to stifle his cries into whimpers that faded slowly as he closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing. Slowing his heartbeart as she worked until he fell silent. She flicked her eyes up at his face. No. He had not passed out. He was simply controlling his reaction to the pain. Tears rolling slowly down his cheeks but no more sound coming out of him. Whatever else she had ever hated about Tyler Creed she had to admire his control. It was the one pure thing about him. Well. She smiled as she looked at his well made body, the nicely honed muscles, the golden skin shining through his sweat with the strength and beauty of youth. He was physically a beautiful man and when he was not trying to Lord it over them and force people to do what he wanted he could be the most charming and charismatic of people. But like all of them in Wolf Lake, Tyler Creed had a dark side. And it had been his dark side that terrified. The thought of being wed to his darkness had made her run. She had seen it as glimpses of evil. Twists in him that marred what could have been. Yet she was twisted too. Just in a more gifted way.

She looked at where she had cut him, the ragged lacerations from her wolven form tearing and bruising the delicate flesh of his foreskin. The sensitive head itself was scratched and that had to be the most painful part of it all. He was still leaking pus, this time from the slit. She would have to clean that too. Ruby sucked in a breath and looked up at his face. "Tyler?" She said softly.

Without opening his eyes he answered. His voice quiet but tight. "Yeah?"

"You are still weeping pus. I'm going to have to massage you to get it to come out, to run clear again."

He bit back the groan. "I don't know if I can let you do that, Ruby."

She wiped her hands on the towel and moved up to the top of the bed, stroked a gentle hand down his face, kissed him so sweetly. His eyes fluttered open for her, their eyes locking. She saw the pain trapped there where he had hidden it from her through the night. Something inside her cracked a little but she forced it back into the locked room that had only one key. "You have to, love." She stroked his hair back and kissed him slowly. Felt him relax as he kissed her back, their tongues gently entwining as their lips parted. He knew what she was thinking, what she was going to do. She was going to rouse him, drive him into a frenzy until he ejaculated so that the uretha could be cleared. The damage to the exterior tissues was not the problem. The infection was.

He nodded. Ruby pulled away and moved the bowl and other things to one side then climbed on the bed beside him. "Just look into my eyes, my love, and we will get through this together."

Tyler said nothing but let his thoughts sail upon her touch, a hand caressing a breast while the other hand cradled the side of her face, fingers splayed as they brushed her cheek and slid through her hair to cup her head as they kissed. He lost himself in her, her hands teasing his nipples and travelling lower, his breath drawing in to be captured in her lungs as she gently settled a hand upon his weeping flesh. She could taste the salt of his tears as she caressed him. So gently at first, riding the damaged foreskin up and down his slowly hardening erection. The pain excruciating. His back arched but he made no sound, Ruby's lips fastened like a clamp over his mouth, his heartbeat eratic, his control slipping, giving in to the pain despite his best efforts. Ruby broke off the kiss to let him breathe, began to nip and bite him, minor distractions but welcome. Her sharp teeth demanding his attention. It was something else to focus on while impossibly she continued to arouse him through his agony.

Now she was stroking him, more demanding, no longer the gentle languid touches that feared to hurt him. She wanted to bring him to a screaming orgasm, to break his control and drag it out of him. His pain was so intense but so was his arousal, the desire to flip pricking his skin where the hair began to pierce up through his writhing body. She leaned in and hissed in his ear. "No, Tyler, you must not flip."

His words were broken pain-filled things that delighted her ear. "I don't know that I can hang on..."

"You must, you must. Concentrate on me Tyler, let my teeth relieve you of your agony."

Then she bit down hard on his nipple and he cried out. She sucked on the little puncture wounds and licked and bit again. He did as she said and concentrated on the new pain to vanquish the old but it was difficult. Hurt so damn much. She had him wired so tight but the pain was preventing her from bringing him off as she had planned. She visualised what she had witnessed through the window and smiled. Licking and kissing the bruised and bloodly nipple she moved down, her hand still working uninterrupted on him. Sliding weeping flesh in the hard caress of her hand, she positioned herself between his legs and with her free hand began to stroke and caress his balls. He groaned. Pain and pleasure twin torments. Ruby smiled and slid the hand off his testicles and under him, seeking out the puckered opening to his back passage. He did not yet know what she was intending but then her finger pressed and shock recoiled in him. What was she doing? She had never touched him there before. Only Duncan. The thought of the highlander made his cock weep. Her smile broadened. She had been right.

Without moistening or lubricating the finger, Ruby began to thrust and massage her finger into him, timing the pressure to coincide with her caresses on his cock. It hurt but memory was the best traitor of all and his memories were crystal clear and erotic. She fed them to him with her manipulation, at last forcing the finger inside him passed the first knuckle, then the second. Her finger turning as she pressed up inside the dry channel catching him with her nail. He was so tight, so hot, and she was getting turned on just doing this to him. Despite his pain his hips began to jerk up, seeking more contact, his hormones at odds with the pain receptors in his brain. His whole body wired wrong. The skin on his back pierced with pinpricks of hair thrusting and wanting to break right through. Ruby rubbed the dry finger harshly in and out of his entry, coaxing and testing the tight ring of muscle, squeezing his cock and loving how hard he shuddered, his throat whimpering with a mix of emotions and desires that she bled out of him. She inserted a second finger and after just a few deep strokes which had him crying out she inserted a third then rammed all three hard up inside him until she prodded his prostrate and he jolted as if electrocuted. She had never heard a cry like it come from a human voice box. It shook and excited her. His ejaculation so hard it sprayed over her hand and the front of her blouse weeping pus and blood amid the jism.

Before she could remove her fingers he passed out. Ruby slid her fingers out, one nail slick with blood. The channel she had breached was not dry any more.

* * * * *

Duncan knew that Joe was right but still he fought it. In his mind he could not shake off the feeling that Tyler needed him. It was nonsense. He had Ruby. Ruby. He thought about her and wondered. The impression he had picked up was that they were somehow promised to each other. Tyler's possessiveness over her was the territorial imperative of the male, that was clear. Yet Ruby did not reciprocate. Instead she had run away from Wolf Lake and Tyler and gone headlong into a relationship with John Kanin. He mused about Kanin. The man was in Wolf Lake looking for her. What had brought him to Wolf Lake? How had he known where to find her? Or had Ruby told him? Now there was a single minded man and no mistake. He wondered

what would happen when Kanin found out Ruby was with Tyler. It unsettled him. Nothing boded well.

"Mac, you can't fix this."

He looked at Joe. The man was wise in so many ways yet he did not know everything. For one, he did not know Tyler. Just picking up the prejudices around town was not a true snapshot. Yet why was he defending him? Tyler was a bully, a drug dealing property developer with links to the underworld that were anything but healthy. He had a temper which could turn to murderous rage in a heartbeat and was not beneath all kinds of unsavoury acts if they achieved his objectives. But the man was not all bad. His darkness dipped into the well of evil but was not evil of itself. He knew there was good in him. Had seen it. Touched it. Tasted it on his tongue, in his mouth, rippling through his body as they made love. Love. He ached for the man and could admit it to himself now. He was in love. His passion deep and exhaustive. His love tender and true. Did Ruby love him? Perhaps but not like he did. Never like he did. In the short time he had been with Tyler he had seen the young man respond positively to being in a loving, nurturing relationship. The dark excess of his nature tamed to the loving touch of their exotic union. Would Ruby build on what they had created or would she tear it down around Tyler's ears? Why had she come back? What did she want?

"I have to go and see him, Joe."

Joe shook his head gently. "That would be a mistake."

He wanted them to go now. Leave this creepy backwater town and let them get on with it. "You don't understand, Joe. I love Tyler, yes. I would leave him now if I was sure he was going to be okay but I have this feeling, this sense, that I should not go just yet. I can't explain it but he needs

me even if he doesn't know it yet."

"You're in love, Mac. It's clouding your judgement just as it did a hundred years ago."

Duncan felt exasperated. "This is nothing like then."

"Then let it go." Said his friend softly.

Duncan MacLeod of Clan MacLeod met Joe's eyes and for a moment time stopped, stretched out and waited for the highlander to restart the clock. "I can't." He said with quiet authority.

Joe watched him leave without a word. Stood by the window but did not pull back the curtain. Within seconds the broad back of Duncan MacLeod was lost to view. The melting snow turning to a murky sludge in his wake. He stood there for almost an hour, deep in thought. He did not give a solitary damn about Tyler Creed but he did care passionately about Duncan.

* * * * *

Sophia Donner was not sure she should have gone with him but Luke had something he wanted to talk to her about and he needed privacy to do it. They walked a couple of blocks, not wandering off into the forest or going indoors. This was as private as it got. She stopped and looked up at him. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You. Us." He paused. "Well, you mostly."

That caught her attention. She really liked Luke. Was attracted to him. She just was not sure she could trust him. Could trust herself around him. "I know you're scared but that's natural. The first time is hard for everyone."

"Was it hard for you?"

He nodded. "I'll be here for you, Sophia."

She could not speak. Some deep instinct told her he would always be there for her even though he had a girlfriend and that should have been enough for her to back away. But she could not. There was just something that sparked between them. "I want to flip but I'm afraid. What's it like?"

"You've already seen me change..." She nodded. "Well it's like giving control over to a deeper more primal part of yourself. It's scary and exciting at the same time. Once you've flipped nothing is ever the same again. Like if I'm looking at you as a wolf I see your energy, your heat. I smell your senses as well as your emotions. No truth can be hidden from me. It will be the same with you, Sophia."

She shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand. What do you mean, no truth can be hidden?"

He did not try to touch her but the intimacy was in his eyes. They held her like ties of steel. "In our human form we can occasionally hear each other. If we are linked through mating we can hear each others' thoughts as clearly as you hear what I am saying right now." He stopped speaking and thought what he wanted to say to her next. Her eyes widened. He smiled. "Did you pick that up?"

She nodded, suprised and pleased. "You love me?"

"Yes."

"But you don't know me, Luke. Not really."

He nodded back. "That's why we need to talk. We need to get to know each other better so you won't be scared. Trust me, let me help you. We can do this."

* * * * *

Once she was sure he was asleep and would not wake any time soon, Ruby finished cleaning him up then washed through the blood soaked towel and threw the tissues away. She looked down at her splattered blouse but decided not to worry about that for now. She stepped back into the bedroom and looked at Tyler as he slept. Her feelings all jumbled up inside but with one thought

ascendant. He would not be able to go anywhere for the rest of the day. Recovery would be slow and hopefully painful. That would give her time. She was not sure what to do about Kanin. Part of her wanted to go to him, tell him everything and go back to the city. Back to Seattle. But she was not sure that was possible now. Not because of Tyler but because she herself had changed. Had been made to face some brutal truths about her own nature. Yet she did not want anything to happen to Kanin either. How could she protect him when she could not let him see her? How could she make him return to Seattle unless she went with him? She needed to get out the house, to think.

Gathering her things, Ruby let herself out and took a short cut through the forest. She had a safe place to hide, somewhere no one else would think of looking for her but close enough to keep an eye on Kanin and make up her mind about what to do next. The wedding was only days away. She did not want to marry Tyler Creed no matter what she had said to him but she had to find a way out for Kanin. Knew now she could never marry the Seattle cop. If she did that the pack would kill him. Whether at Tyler's insistence or not. Kanin was oblivious to her true nature and she knew she would never be able to hide it from him forever. She did not think she could bear the thought of him leaving her if he found out. So she was left with some hard choices to make. Choices that would be easier if she were not under Tyler Creed's roof.

* * * * *

Duncan reached Tyler's house a couple of hours after dawn. He let himself in quietly and went to check on the fire. It was almost out. Quietly he built it up again then went into the kitchen. It was fast becoming one of his favourite places. Cooking helped to calm him, organise his thoughts and he carefully peeled and chopped onions, mixed herbs in the little stone mortar and pestle he had found, and then began to mix ingredients while he let his mind sort through what was troubling him. He did not hear Tyler get up until the man spoke, his voice soft and like the sweetest caress to his starved ear. "Mac, I didn't expect you back until later in the day."

A wash of guilt flashed through him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

Unusually, Tyler had a dressing gown on. It was pure black silk with a red dragon embroidered on the back. Nothing too fancy but it made the man look even lovelier to Duncan. He swallowed carefully and tried to hide his lust. "Want some coffee?"

Tyler nodded, distracted slightly. His head turned as if tuning in to the noises of the house. "Where's Ruby?"

"I haven't seen her. I thought she was with you?"

"She was."

For a moment neither man spoke. Tyler wondering why Ruby had left. Duncan afraid to analyse his thoughts. His feelings burning through his veins. He fussed about with the coffee pecolator. Began to rumage through the cupboards. He paused and looked at Tyler. "Do you have any chilli?"

Tyler looked dazed. Come to think of it, he did not look too good. Looked like he needed a good night's sleep. Duncan tried not to go there. Did not want to think of Tyler and Ruby in the throes of passion. His jealousy must not become an issue here. Tyler blinked, seemed to get himself together a little more. "Um chilli? Powder or capsicum?"

Duncan smiled. "Powder. The hotter the better."

Something tense in Tyler vanished. He smiled, stepped up to him and stroked his right hand down Duncan's cheek, stroked his neck. Such love in his eyes. "You should have been a chef, Mac."

Tyler kissed him gently, his lips brushing Duncan's. No tongues this time. Ducan smiled back. "I thought you'd be hungry."

"I'm tired more than hungry."

Tyler missed the flicker of pain in Duncan's eyes. The highlander trying to hide how the innocent words affected him. Made his heart flare against Ruby for touching what was his. His? That was bold assumption. Tyler had not lied to him. Not misled him. He had told him about Ruby. It was he who had sedduced Tyler not the other way around. The ache in his heart grew. The proximity of Tyler doing nothing to his self control. God. He just wanted to take him now. Clear the things off the table with one sweep of his hand and ram him senseless. Love him until neither of them could stand. Tyler seemed to sense some of what he was thinking.

"Mac, this is the way it must be." He said softly.

He nodded and could not stop himself closing in for a deeper kiss, his body aligning naturally with the younger man's, his hands sliding the silk dressing gown off him. Tyler was not quick enough to step back, the brush of Duncan's arousal against his crouch almost made him double in pain. Duncan pulled back, alarmed, his eyes searching Tyler's for an explanation. He saw tears gathering though none fell. "What is it Ty? Tell me what's wrong."

Tyler could not speak. He put a hand out and Duncan took it, guided him gently to a chair then his eyes dropped and he saw him properly for the first time. His mouth dropped open in shock. The weeping pus telling it's own story as did the damage to his scrotum. Anger struck sparks in his eyes. Tyler hissed as he sat. Duncan knelt beside him, careful not to touch. "What happened? Did Ruby do this to you?"

"You don't understand..."

"Then explain it to me. Tell me why I shouldn't cut her head off with one stroke."

"We have a different nature to you, Mac."

He shook his head. "Bullshit. No one hurts those they love like this. I don't see this as an accident, Ty. So tell me exactly how it happened. Know that I will know if you lie."

Tyler felt a little faint. Duncan saw and swiftly picked him up in his arms and carried him back to his room. As he approached the bed he noticed the bloody and messy sheet and swore softly, his heart contracting painfully. He had been right. Tyler was in trouble and needed him even if he would rather die than admit it. No matter what Joe said, he could not leave Tyler now.

* * * * *

END