To Share You (manxman)

Chapter 24

I take my time to get back home. It's a bit of a hit and miss as I try to find my way back. I remember quite well what I passed on my way here, but that doesn't mean it's easy to find the way.

Once I'm in familiar environment, I speed up, suddenly feeling uneasy about just disappearing like that. I was left without any concept of time as I went away, so now I don't even know how long I've been gone.

I race through the woods right outside the town, it's a bit of a risk still, even though I'm in the woods, but I don't care. Suddenly, the feeling of wanting to go as far away as possible turns into the urge to just be at home.

I run and finally sprint all the way home and when I arrive in my backyard, I get tackled before I can even shift back.

It barely does more than push me a few steps back, but the tight hold his arms have on my neck make guilt rise up in my throat none the less. I can hear his breathing, irregular and heavy and I realise there's a real chance he's holding back tears. I growl sadly, and push my head into his shoulder and neck as best as I can in my wolf form. His hands are slightly shaking as he smooths them over my fur, probably more to calm himself down than me.

When he doesn't let go, even after just sitting on his knees and holding me for a good ten minutes, I lick his cheek and whine a bit. Not that I don't enjoy his closeness, his readiness to just do it scares me. It's not like him at all to show his affections so publicly, anyone could walk by.

When he still doesn't move, I change back into my human form and hug him back. He doesn't really react at all, simply adjusts his hold on me to now drive his fingernails into my back.

'Why did you leave?' he finally asks, his voice so low I almost missed it.

'I just needed a run, let off some steam. What's wrong?' I ask when he starts visibly relaxing.

'You were gone for almost two days. There was no way for me to find you and your mum insisted on me staying here to wait, rather than try to find you.' he explains softly, while still not letting go.

'I was worried.' he adds then.

I breath out a sigh as I just hold on to him tightly, trying to forget the pain his nails cause my back and to just reassure him.

But soon, what bothers me the most is the fact that I'm completely naked and we're outside. While I'm used to nudity out of necessity, it doesn't mean I enjoy showing my naked self to my neighbours while hugging my boyfriend.

'Let's take this inside.' I say and slowly lead him back to the house. He complies and just grasps my hand as we walk. When I look over I see that he hasn't actually cried, but he does look bad. Dark rings under his eyes and pale skin; he clearly hasn't slept a wink since I left, but then again, neither have I.

When we reach the house, my mum's there to give me a quick hug and then hand me bathrobe I can slip into.

'Are you feeling better?' she asks with a smile and I simply nod, letting her know that i'm fine. She knows me quite well, since I have a lot of the same habits as her. One of them is the running. Sometimes, especially when I was younger, she would just disappear, rarely, but sometimes for days even. I've taken the habit on and it doesn't feel strange to me at all. I should have at least let Raph know though. He wouldn't know me well enough yet to know that about me, I was careless.

I lead him to the living room, where two giant mugs of hot chocolate are waiting for us, gentle steaming as they sit there on the coffee table.

I look at mum over my shoulder just as she goes to walk upstairs.