Chapter Text
Their combined labored breathing and heated bodies sagged on the worn wooden floor, taxed from a night of activity.
Ezra normally would’ve never considered falling asleep covered in filth, but that night he was too exhausted to even care. The sound of Buck’s labored breathing next to him, slowing down to even breaths made his own eyes grow heavy, joining his companion into the world of slumber.
The next morning Ezra never even registered the sound of the footsteps outside his room approaching. He didn’t even hear when the door was opened to reveal a very much annoyed Inez.
“Senor Standish,” came the falsely calm voice, “I hope you’ll be returning my husband to me today.”
Ezra gave a tired groan as he lifted his head, eyes still heavy. His vision took in the very hairy form of Wilmington, still in his wolf form. Inez, who was standing just inside the room, had her hands on her hips, leaning slightly back to counterbalance her growing middle.
His eyes went back down to look himself over, and what he saw, he was definitely not proud of. One of his legs was slung over Buck’s wolf while an arm did the same as if he’d been cuddling with the big beast the entire night. Ezra found that he was completely naked, having sometime during the night shifted back into his human form. His arms and legs, hell even part of his face were covered in dried mud and blood. The feeling made him shudder at what he’d been up to during his hunt with Buck the prior evening.
It had rained the majority of that night, and though the pair had arrived back in town at a rather decent hour of one in the morning, Ezra’s wolf clutching his first kill in his mouth, Inez point blank refused to let the boys back into her clean saloon. Instead, they were subjected to having to be let in through the back entrance, where Buck surreptitiously shook off a bunch of water and mud onto the floor and walls. After that, Inez had confined the two in Ezra’s room, where they were free to ruin since it would be the gambler who’d be paying for it later.
Right now, Standish was very much feeling the crushing headache of the totality of what they’d done. Letting out a sigh, Standish pushed his messy hair from out of his face and took in the state of his room. They had, no doubt Buck, done a number to the floors.
“My sincerest apologies, Senora Inez.” He drawled, letting out a yawn before removing his leg from the wolf. Buck stirred a bit from the movement, but his eyes remained closed. Ezra wasn’t sure if the wolf hadn’t noticed or not that their pregnant wife was glaring daggers down at him.
If he has, the man’s either brave or an idiot.
Gathering the scruff of Wilmington’s hair at the back of his neck, Ezra pulled the wolf up into a standing position. The lupine let out a growl that was half-hearted but complied and stood up on his haunches. Buck gave an impressive yawn, revealing a row of sharp teeth as he did so. Using his hind leg, he scratched behind his ear before giving what could only be described as the wolf version of Buck’s grin as he smiled wolfishly at his wife.
Standish, using the wolf to half cover his lower half, escorted Buck to the door to return the wolf to his annoyed wife.
Inez’s gaze fell to look at her husband as he nuzzled her swollen middle, looking every bit like the proud soon-to-be father of his growing family. She ran a hand through his soft fur for a moment and then withdrew it as Buck shifted back into his human form. Now she had to look up to meet his gaze.
He was still smiling, grinning like a fool, but now completely naked.
“Mornin’ beautiful.” He said sweetly, leaning down for a kiss.
She covered his mouth with a hand, and created some distance between them, “I suggest you clean yourself up, Senor Recillos or you’ll be sleeping outside tonight.”
Buck chuckled, loving how she’d tease him by switching their names, telling Wilmington exactly who wore the pants in their relationship and was in charge.
He still was able to steal a peck on her cheek, dodging the swat she gave him, and slipped past her out the door. Luckily the third floor of the saloon which Standish had added was for only their pack’s use. So, no one would come across a naked man walking down the hallway.
Ezra couldn’t help but smile, loving his two friends and their relationship.
Putting on some of his less-than-fancy clothes that he didn’t mind ruining, Ezra gathered the things he’d need to quickly head to the bathhouse. He didn’t relish the stares and looks he was no doubt going to receive, looking how he did, but he had no one to blame but himself. No, he could blame Buck. It was definitely that man’s fault and not his own.
Inez turned to Standish, “I’m sure you’re aware that in our business contract, nowhere does it say that decaying skunks could be placed indoors. I suggest you remove it before it ends up in here as well.”
He winced, recalling the horrid putrid smell of the skunk on himself, and seemed to even now linger on his person. His wolf’s nose must’ve eventually gotten used to it when he had been carrying the dead thing back into town. Now, after being told what the smell was, it was hard to dismiss it again.
Ezra groaned, thinking about how difficult it was going to be to get the smell of death and skunk out of his room.
Inez grabbed the doorknob, preparing to leave, “A special bath is waiting for you and my husband in the private room.”
“Thank you,” Ezra let out a relieved sigh, at least not having to suffer one humiliation today.
After an hour or so of soaking and scrubbing in the bath prepared by Inez, Ezra, and Buck were allowed to get dressed. Buck, unwilling to assist but more than willing to spectate, watched as Standish had to remove the skunk from off the saloon’s property to dispose of it.
Ezra washed his hands multiple times afterward, silently cursing Buck who sat laughing from the boardwalk.
Later that morning Buck was still going on about it, much to Standish’s frustration. They were now seated with Nathan for lunch, or in Ezra and Buck’s case, a late breakfast.
“I still don’t see why you don’t want to keep it. It being your first kill and all.” Buck barked a laugh. Ezra sent the man yet another deadly glare, which was again ignored by Buck. “Hey now, don’t blame me. You were the one who hunted it. I’m just surprised and even impressed you kept going and caught it. I thought for sure after it hit ya you’d quit.”
Nathan could only shake his head in sympathy for his friend who was getting teased mercilessly. Though Buck knew not to overdo it, Jackson felt he should divert the conversation a little.
“It’s not as if you smelled any better, Buck. Inez said she kicked you right up there with Ezra after you ruined her clean floors.”
Buck wrinkled his nose at the memory, “Yeah after I eat, I have to go clean that up.” He jabbed a thumb in Standish’s direction, “But the reason I smell is because this one here couldn’t carry the damn thing. He was dead set on bringing it back with us to show off.”
“No! That’s not what I said.” Interjected Ezra. “I said, I’ll bring it back because you thought no one would believe it that I caught the infernal thing and that I had just called it quits after being sprayed.”
“Same thing.”
“No, it’s not. Also, I distinctly recall that it was you who pointed out the skunk in the first place and told me to try catching it. I didn’t even know what it was until it was too late.” The last part of that statement was said in a growl.
Buck grinned deviously, “That’s only because I was trying to help you. If you’d known what it was ahead of time, you’d backed out.”
“Obviously!” Ezra threw up his arms.
“I was only trying to help eliminate any hesitation. We were both tired by then and I wanted to get home to my wife. You were downright pissy, complaining non-stop about how hard it was to catch a rabbit or squirrel. Not to mention you were too scared to take down a deer, which would’ve been significantly easier, but you wanted something smaller for your first time.”
“Well, considering that you didn’t get that time with Inez, I think you got what you deserved,” Nathan murmured around a cup of coffee.
“Yeah, instead I had to spend the night with this little stinker.” Buck kicked Ezra’s chair leg, causing Ezra to fix his chair back, with another glare. “But you should’ve seen him, Nate. All focused and everything. When that little guy sprayed him, Ezra was rolling all over the place, legs flailing. I nearly lost my shit.”
Ezra’s fork, which he’d been eating with was suddenly bent and snapped in half, the gambler low growling at the older man.
“You know,” Nathan chimed in, “if you don’t want your skunk, Ezra, I can take it off you.”
“You want that thing?”
“Depending on what condition it is, yeah. It’d be a shame to let your first kill go to waste. I can use the extract it secrets for something I’m working on.”
“Well, should you need a special bath afterward, just let Inez know,” Buck said as he pushed his chair back and collected his dirty dishes to put them away.
“He means well,” Nathan said after the man was gone.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to knock him down at least once,” Ezra muttered, dropping the pieces of his fork on the table and leaning back into his seat.
The doors to the saloon were pushed open and two little figures ran in. They moved directly towards the men’s table and collided with Nathan’s leg. The twins, Benjamin and Gemma were already two years old and growing up fast. Gemma, who was the oldest, shoved a letter that she’d been carrying into her pa’s face as soon as he’d pulled her into his lap.
“Hey baby girl, what do you got there?” he asked.
Gemma pointed a finger at Ezra, still not saying anything. Though the two-year-olds knew how to speak, they rarely did so in public. They mostly spoke their little gibberish to each other but still knew how to get their points across to the adults by pointing.
Benjamin, her younger brother, crawled onto Ezra’s lap without bothering to wait. He took up his usual perch and like always, pulled the gambler’s hand towards himself with the ring and busied himself with playing with it. The emerald gem was a sparkly fascinating thing the boy loved to look at.
Ezra reached and took the envelope from Nathan who handed it over and awkwardly opened it with one hand to avoid disturbing the toddler.
He skimmed over the words, reading it silently, seconds passing as he did. His mouth thinned and he frowned.
“Did you get bad news?” asked Nathan, readjusting his hold on his daughter.
“Worse, I just got a letter from my mother. She’s here.”
Ezra got to his feet and set Benjamin down in his vacated seat. Running a hand through his hair, he tried to come up with what he needed to do before meeting with her. Usually, she’d drop in without announcing her presence upon arrival. He wondered if there was something important, she needed to disclose and sent the letter so that he’d go and meet with her.
“But weren’t you expecting this? She sent a letter a while back saying she was coming.”
“I was hoping she was lying like she typically does. It’s not as if she likes doing ‘family reunions’.” Ezra snorted. “Worse than that, I haven’t exactly told her about the whole, not being completely human anymore.”
“What have you been telling her this entire time then?”
Ezra shrugged, picking at his cuffs, “That I was working on a new great investment.”
“And were you?”
“I hardly doubt she’d consider my owning a saloon, a ‘great investment’ located in a backwater town in the middle of nowhere. No offense.”
“So, you’re worried about her being disappointed in you?” Nathan stated, not bothering to soften his delivery, knowing the man wouldn’t appreciate it.
“I’ve found it not worth getting my hopes up on her being anything else than disappointed in me. Not once has she ever told me she was proud of me or something I’ve done.”
Nathan looked down at his children, not being able to imagine being the sort of parent that never told their child that they were loved and that he and his wife were proud of them. Yes, the Standish family was different, both mother and son being gamblers and con artists, but still, Nathan couldn’t imagine receiving any praise ever.
“Knowing my mother, she’ll take her time settling down after her long trip. I’ll change for now and think of something before I go down to meet her.” Ezra said, rushing off to prepare.
Inez watched the gambler leave to go upstairs and she frowned. Making her way over to Nathan and his children, she asked, “Is Senor Standish alright?”
“Yeah. . . well at least I think he will be. He’s just got a visitor come into town, and he’s trying to impress them. I think he’s just a little agitated is all.”
Inez raised an eyebrow at the cryptic reply, knowing the healer knew more than he was telling her.
“You know, if you’re fixin’ to play with that skunk and you get covered in its scent, I may just let you wear it until it eventually rubs off. Raine doesn’t know the recipe.”
Nathan had to hand it to her for her way of getting what she wanted.