赤裸裸的滑稽故事

Peter placed his hands on Myka\'s shoulders and tried to shove him away, but Myka held him tightly.

The kiss was electric, and Peter wasn\'t exactly miserable about it. But that, more than anything, was why it needed to stop.

Peter lowered his hand onto the bandage and pressed into it.

“Fuck!” Myka hissed as he pulled away, backing into the exam table.

Peter took slow deep breaths as he tried to regain his composure.

“A bit rougher than I remember, Peter,” Myka said with a grin as he took deep breaths.

“You can just go ahead and forget again,” Peter said. He turned around to Bell. “How about we trade patients?”

“Well,” Bell smiled, “I would, but I think it\'d be more fun if you took him, so I\'m going to go over here now.”

Bell pointed back to the privacy curtain covering the other patient.

“You two,” she said, pointing between Peter and Myka. “Whatever this is, I love it.”

“Traitor!” Peter hissed.

Bell blew him a kiss and disappeared behind the curtain.

“Well, doctor,” Myka said, still grinning. He hopped up onto the table. “Guess you better check me out.”

Peter sighed deeply before washing his hands and putting on gloves.

After ten minutes of silence and Myka holding a personal best for staring, Peter finally finished cleaning and suturing the wound.

“There, all done,” he said.

Pushing his chair away from the table and standing, he removed his gloves. Once he had thrown them away and washed his hands, he turned around with a gasp.

Myka was directly behind him. He put his hands on either side of Peter\'s body on the counter behind him, locking Peter in place.

Peter swallowed but looked away.

Myka leaned forward, sniffing the air around Peter.

“You still smell amazing,” he whispered. Leaning closer to Peter\'s throat and along his shoulder. “Especially here.”

“Personal space, ever heard of it?” Peter growled.

Myka chuckled.

“We\'ve been much closer than this before,” he whispered.

Peter took a deep breath.

“I just did some very nice stitch work on your chest, do not make me ruin it by shoving you across the room.”

“You could just not push me away,” Myka suggested.

Peter growled in response.

“Okay, okay,” Myka said with a laugh, backing away from Peter. “I just wanted to see you again.”

“Now you\'ve seen me,” Peter said, gathering his things. He looked back at Myka. “Let\'s not do it again.”

“Oh, come on, Peter. As soon as Winter was mentioned, I volunteered. I wanted to see you.”

“You wasted your time,” Peter said, turning to leave.

“Peter, just give me one chance!” Myka called out.

Peter stopped in his tracks. He took a deep breath.

“I knew you\'d come around,” Myka smiled.

Peter turned back with an angry look in his eyes.

“I gave you a chance, Myka. I believe you compared marking each other to suicide,” Peter replied angrily.

Myka swallowed and lowered his eyes.

“That\'s not fair, Petey,” Myke said softly.

“Peter!” he growled. “My name is Peter!”

Peter took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“‘It would be the end of my journey, the end of my life.\' Those were your words, Myka.” Peter continued. “Do you remember mine?”

“Peter…” Myka whispered sadly

“You don\'t remember?” Peter asked. “Fine, I\'ll repeat it.”

Peter took a step toward Myka. He licked his lips and took a deep breath before looking up into the eyes of the man before him.

“I reject you as my mate, Myka.”

For the second time in his life, Myka felt the heavy, oxygen depriving pain in his chest. He swallowed and tried to hold himself upright.

With those parting words, Peter left the room.

The sound of the curtain being drawn drew Myka\'s eye. Before him was the woman that Peter had spoken with about trading patients.

Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she had an angry look in her eyes.

“I thought Peter was just being his grumpy self when he wanted to trade. If I had known how he really felt about you, I would have stitched you up. Without the anesthetic,” she said and turned to leave the room.

When Bell reached the door, she paused and turned back.

“And just so you know, Peter is the end of the journey. Not because your life would be over, but because he is the fucking destination, you moron,” she growled. “So, if you care at all about him, then do what he asks. Accept his rejection so that he can find someone who understands how lucky they are to have him care about them.”

***

The first meeting between the Alphas and the nomad representatives did not go well. It was as if they were speaking different languages.

Myka had left the conference room, feeling trapped and stifled inside. He wandered to a small courtyard and sat on one of the benches.

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. All he could think of at this moment was whether or not Peter might be thinking of him.

He sighed.

It had been five years since they met. Peter had been traveling between packs, some kind of outreach for those with fewer doctors on hand. They had literally run into each other on the road. Their connection was instant, and they spent three blissful weeks together.

Toward the end of those three weeks, there was a full moon.

Peter asked Myka to mark each other under the light of the Goddess. But Myka refused.

He knew Peter wanted to stay in Winter, and Myka had no interest in becoming a pack wolf. It made no sense for them to be bound together.

But it didn\'t hurt any less when Peter rejected him. In the end, Myka had never been able to accept it.

He knew that it wasn\'t fair to Peter. That refusing to accept the rejection meant that they were still bound together in some form, even if they weren\'t together. But breaking that bond was something Myka didn\'t have the strength to do.

He sighed to himself.

“Hello there,” a gentle voice called to him.

Myka opened his eyes.

Before him, he saw someone unexpected. The current Luna of Winter, Corrine.