Taking the Leap

Chapter 20

Writer's Note- I don't always reply to comments but I read them all so thank you to the verbal few who say they really like the story. It makes me happy. Sorry this chapter is a bit long but it's kind of heavy, lots of emotions.

Also— this is a sweet song, probably how Achilles views Xander in this chapter.

~Xander~

After dinner I became properly aquatinted  with a number of Achilles' pack. Most of them were nice if a bit distant, a lot more liberal than I expected. I'm not saying I was ready for homophobic slurs but there was little if any pushback. They seemed more disappointed that I wasn't a wolf.

The full moon happened to be on a Friday and apparently a lot of the shifters stayed in the cabins that were on the grounds over the weekend. Some of the pack members ran some kind of glamping high end wilderness retreat.

After everyone who was leaving for the night had already left, they brought out the alcohol. Achilles drank liberally, quickly growing misty eyed and affectionate. Soon, hewas a bit buzzed as he played with my hair, twirling a strand between his fingers and being endlessly fascinated when it shrank back to a curl after he removed his finger. The alpha's children were playing under the table and growling at one another while she seemed to be still working with the pack executives on something. 

The plains of her face were too hard to be called attractive but she definitely had a certain quality to her. One that made her noticed.

Achilles caught me staring and waved a hand in my face, "Hey, Xander. Let's go to bed." He surprised me by an open show of affection by nuzzling my cheek. He hummed while rubbing his cheek against mine and I felt like it was a wolf thing but not quite sure how.

Achilles said goodnight to the few people left in the dining hall and then escorted me to an open office inside the kitchen where there were a few labelled keys left over. Achilles signed a sheet beside the key number and whistled off key. He turned to me, kissing the side of my neck, "I love you."

My heart swelled, but I tried to play off my excitement, "Yeah, same here." It was ridiculous how Achilles could embarrass me with his sometimes random proclamations of love. Drunk Achilles could also be unpredictable, overly affectionate but mostly goofy wursts strange moments of almost clarity.

But, I'd only ever seen him just a bit drunk never completely wasted like the day we first met.

"This is just the key to one of the nightly stay cabins. Let's go to our cabin and you can get ready for bed." Achilles was basically undressing me with his eyes and his desire was palpable. He leaned in to give me a kiss, raising a hand to caress the curls at the back of my neck. The kiss was unexpectedly sweet if a bit uncoordinated and sloppy. But, it was still Achilles and no one could make me melt the way he did.

When he stopped kissing me I couldn't help but blurt out, "I love you, too, Achilles. Like, a lot." Achilles kissing me made my mind fog, my heart pound and my body hot.

He closed the office door, and locked it, lowering himself to his knees. Holy fuck, his eyes were so intense as they sized me up. Crazily, Achilles' fingers squeezed my upper thighs and he started to unzip my pants, licking his lips.

I coughed, realizing what he was doing and unable to stop looking at the door. "Okay, I get it, you're drunk. This is not the kind of place where we do things like that." I helped Achilles off the floor and hurriedly zipped my pants.

He stood up under his own power and changed the subject without a care in the world only slurring slightly. "I'm glad everyone took it so well. I mean all they have to do is look at you, right? One look at your curls and green eyes, how could they not accept you?"