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Bae-Jin felt like a giant mass of aches and bruises by the time he dismounted his borrowed horse. The saddle had a lump, he felt certain of it. Earthy horse smell had permeated his nostrils, even overpowering the dirty cattle around him. Usually his voluminous silky black hair was his pride and joy, but at the moment he feared to touch it because he would feel grease. When he left this isolated place, he must treat himself to a luxurious bath at the best hotel in town.
Despite the crawling sensation of dirt and sweat, Bae-Jin pasted a friendly smile on his face as he thanked and made his farewells to the trail boss who had temporarily employed him to herd cattle. He took his pack and ducked behind a tree. While everyone else was distracted delivering the cattle, he released his homing pigeon. The pale grey form soared up against the bright blue sky.
He waited for a moment, even though he doubted anyone had noticed a single bird’s flight. Then he strode up the hill lined with radiant golden aspen trees. The Moonlight Ranch let their cattle openly graze across the plains, yet their homes were behind high walls better suited to a military compound or a cult. They claimed the walls were to keep werewolves out. Bae-Jin had come here to find out if that was true.
The gatekeeper sat inside a small wooden shelter, reading a book. Bae-Jin took off his wide brim hat politely. “I’m here looking for work, ma’am.” Autumn was not the busiest season for ranching, but the work never ended, and rumor had it that the Moonlight Ranch never turned down a migrant worker.
“Welcome to our home.” She smiled at him. There was something too friendly in it, but he could be biased. He’d never liked overly cheerful people. “What’s your name?”
“Jim Han.” Bae-Jin’s deceased parents had given him two first names, one from their culture and one local. He found Jim very useful when hiding his identity, because he already instinctively replied to it.
“Have you ever worked on a ranch before?”
“I’ve alternated working on farms and ranches for five years.” This was a lie, but he planned to be gone before anyone noticed his inexperience.
She gave him paperwork, directions, and more smiles.
Massive brick buildings had wooden roofs and white shutters around the windows. This place looked large enough to house hundreds. Bae-Jin’s eyes darted around, taking in the chattering people. Did they seem goodlooking and healthy on average? The big hats made it hard to tell from a distance. At least one man with a peg leg definitely couldn’t be a werewolf. A pair of children ran past, shouting. There seemed to be an unusual number of cats and dogs running loose, but then, that was too common on farms to be called evidence.
The gates opened again, and a grey horse carried in the most beautiful man Bae-Jin had ever laid eyes on. He had a strong jawline and dazzling white teeth against his cleanshaven brown skin. Black hair had been styled in a dozen short braids, curling around a tantalizingly long neck. He used no saddle, riding bareback with unnatural grace. Somehow his white hat and white button-up shirt remained as pristine as moonlight.
Bae-Jin would swear those intoxicatingly dark eyes looked straight at him. The rider sniffed the air, then smiled slowly. Delight melted the sternness off his features like spring erasing the snow. That gaze held such deep yearning that Bae-Jin glanced over his shoulder to see if a giant pile of money might be behind him.
“Excuse me, Alain, I have an urgent matter for your attention.” A man stepped out of the tallest brick building.
Their gazes broken, and Bae-Jin could breathe again. He closed his jaw. He’d become painfully conscious of every last bit of travel dirt on his body. Belatedly, he scrubbed his face with a handkerchief. On cleaner days he had used seduction to his advantage, but he could never measure up to Alain’s otherworldly beauty. What a pretty name, Alain. Bae-Jin rolled the sound of the syllables around his head.
Alain dismounted his horse, and someone immediately stepped forward to guide it away. Everyone in the crowd parted before Alain as he walked. Even the animals seemed to lower their heads. The air around him sparkled with something Bae-Jin could not put into words—power, perhaps. Bae-Jin licked his lips. He’d always craved power. He did not know if this longing in his heart came more from wanting the other man or wanting to be him.
The country of Tarin was primarily dominated by a white population, yet everyone present had deferred to Alain without hesitation. Bae-Jin forced down another surge of envy. He’d always had to work twice as hard to get any respect. Others of the same rank and paler skin got higher pay than him. This evidence did not entirely support either of his hypotheses—on the one hand, werewolves cared nothing for the human concept of race, but on the other hand, werewolves did not defer to anyone. They acted like a collection of equals all fixated on the same hunt.
Bae-Jin had been sent here because his boss suspected the Moonlight Ranch to be a front for werewolves. It was an outlandish theory, given the Moonlight Ranch purported to be a haven for who people hated or fled the wolves. They outwardly refused to have any trade with werewolves, even for the precious healing saliva. They had submitted repeated requests for help because people on their ranch had been abducted. The question, though: was management the victims or the perpetrators?
This mission had been volunteers only, and not many spies wanted to volunteer for anything to do with werewolves. Bae-Jin had taken this calculated risk because he’d been promised a promotion three ranks higher. Rather than constantly stake his life on many smaller dangers, this would be one big risk to rise in wealth and power.
Yet Bae-Jin could not shake the irritating and odd thought that a mere military promotion would not turn him into Alain’s equal.
Instead of the usual beans and biscuits, the Moonlight Ranch served an intoxicating feast of steak, chicken, salad, muffins, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to their migrant workers. Bae-Jin mingled in the cafeteria, laughing at other people’s jokes and taking care to be friendly without leaving too much of an impression.
At night, Bae-Jin waited for the breathing of everyone else to even out. Then he dressed in black and slipped a scent blocker around his neck. His lockpick tools shifted in his pocket as he stepped outside. He paused to admire the stars. They were so much brighter than in the city, spreading to the edges of the darkness. The full moon seemed to almost swallow up the sky with its light.
“The night sky is beautiful, isn’t it?” That lovely voice drifted down from the moon, then boots landed behind him.
Bae-Jin’s heart attempted to leap up his throat. How could he have missed that brilliant aura of power creeping up on him? Alain wore white silk, glowing under the moonlight. Now hatless, his braids swayed in the breeze. Bae-Jin swallowed a lump and tried to speak casually. “I heard the stars are brighter out here. I had to see for myself.”
“People say the moon in Tarin is as big as the sky. I went outside to stargaze too. May I show you a better spot?” Alain held out his hand.
It would have been suspicious for Bae-Jin to refuse. That didn’t explain why he took Alain’s hand. Holding hands with a strange man couldn’t be considered normal behavior. Alain’s skin felt velvet soft. Shouldn’t a rancher have more callouses? Although perhaps not the boss? Bae-Jin struggled to think straight while so close to the other’s intoxicating musky scent.
Alain led them up a hill with a well on top. They sat leaning against the stones with the bristly wheatgrass prickling their legs. Alain described the constellations: “See there, the lone wolf hunter? His hat starts at the bright blue star.” The star twinkled even brighter in the moment Alain pointed at it. “The three puppies are near the horizon. I rarely see that one so clear.” Delight filled Alain’s rich, velvety voice.
That voice filled the night like a black hole that might drag this entire ranch in. With effort, Bae-Jin remembered the mission. “The moon is lovely too tonight. Moonlight Ranch is an odd name for a place built to keep werewolves out.”
Alain laughed. (What a devilishly beautiful sound.) “There’s no connection between werewolves and full moons, besides that the First Werewolf came into existence under a full moon.”
“I never heard that before.”
“Well, maybe it’s true and maybe it’s not. That depends on if you believe in reincarnation.”
“Werewolves believe in reincarnation, but I’m a good member of the Church.” This was another lie.
Alain chuckled as he didn’t believe it, but did not challenge the statement. “The werewolves would tell you that the current reincarnation of the First Werewolf said their kind was born under a full moon. I’m named Alain after him. My mother picked my name after she had an encounter with a werewolf a few days before I was born, as a tribute.”
Bae-Jin did not know what to make of the non-sequitur. It bothered him when the enemy moved so openly. What if he’d been lured to an isolated location for a short interrogation before eliminating him? Grass stretched around him, nowhere to hide unless he could make it to the bottom of the hill. Outside the ranch, there was open space stretching off to the horizon. He played dumb. “If your mother met a werewolf, then you’re lucky to be here.”
“I certainly feel lucky to have been born into this world with such fine company to meet,” Alain said cheerfully. “What is reincarnation, anyway? The same person born again? A new person from the same soul? What is a soul?”
These questions were straining the limits of Bae-Jin’s fake religious knowledge. He dodged it. “Irrelevant, because reincarnation doesn’t exist. People made it up because they wanted to believe they could see lost loved ones again.”
“Anyone would want to see someone they loved and lost, no matter the outward form.” Alain leaned closer, his lips very plush. “I like to think that the soul is the dirt that grows a person like a plant. In a sense, each reincarnation is a different aspect of the same person. If I love someone, then I would love any aspect of them.”
Bae-Jin had completely lost the thread of the conversation because he could not tear his eyes away from those lips. It would take such a small movement to touch them with his own. He shivered.
“It’s too cold to stay out here.” Alain leaned close enough to nearly nip Bae-Jin’s ear and whispered, “Would you like to keep my bed warm tonight?”
At first Bae-Jin could not believe the invitation, then he kept turning it around in his brain for a trap. He was still pondering by the time they arrived at the brick mansion. Only then did he think up the perfect excuse: of course he had to accept this offer in order to get into the building where the ranch owner lived. There would be valuable intel inside, and it wouldn’t be the first time pillow talk had proven useful. How nice that he had a good reason.
At the top of the stairs, Alain opened the door to the bathroom. Wooden walls gleamed reddish brown. Two small lights on either side shone off the gold around the mirror. The huge claw-footed tub was already full of steaming rose-scented water. It was shocking a place this rural had indoor plumbing and even more shocking that Alain revealed it so casually. Werewolf territory had better facilities. He said, “I’ve already washed tonight, you can have the bath to yourself.”
Bae-Jin’s cheeks heated. He’d done his best to clean himself off with a sponge earlier this evening, yet he still had likely tracked filth along the red carpet and on the golden banisters. Dirt lingered under his nails and the indents of his calloses. This place was far too fine for him even under his real identity. A muscle in his jaw clenched.
Alain stepped forward. “May I?” he murmured, hand on Bae-Jin’s top shirt button and nearly nuzzling his neck.
That voice was gentle and seductive, yet Bae-Jin could hear the teeth behind it. This entire situation was a risk not worth taking. Even the smallest contact of bodily fluids could sometimes transmit the werewolf infection, and if Alain was not a werewolf then he was still most definitely a very dangerous man. But Bae-Jin was long past calculating his risks, intoxicated on that delicious smell and musical voice. He nodded.
Alain’s nostrils flared as he lifted the scent blocker off last. The sense of danger became so strong that Bae-Jin leapt backward, legs hitting the porcelain white tub.
“Allow me to help you in.” Alain could not entirely disguise the growl in his voice. The dark eyes tracing his abs reminded Bae-Jin that yes, he was in fact considered handsome by mortals, even if he couldn’t compare to this demigod.
Bae-Jin had not expected Alain to stay with him while he bathed. He definitely hadn’t expected the clever fingers working the aches out of his back and shampooing his hair. It didn’t make sense. A ranch owner might take a fancy to a handsome hired hand, but would never get down on his knees and wash him. Things that Bae-Jin didn’t understand were dangerous. Unfortunately, his muscles had melted into a happy pool of endorphins and would not move.
“You wear any face well. I already adore these eyes.” Alain traced his fingers up Bae-Jin’s nose and around his small black eyes. “What’s your name this time?”
The bottom dropped out of Bae-Jin’s stomach. This time. Of course Alain must regularly take strangers to bed, given how easily he’d offered. Bae-Jin was hardly one to judge, since he had a casual attitude toward liaisons. Yet the idea of Alain with someone else filled Bae-Jin with such fury that he choked. One night with the most beautiful person in the world had been more than Bae-Jin had expected an hour ago, yet it no longer felt like enough.
“I’m Bae-Jin.” It had been insanity to give his real name. Checking his paperwork would easily prove him a liar. Yet he could not bear to hear any other name on Alain’s lips tonight. A deadly wildfire raced through his veins. The moment for rational thought had passed. Bae-Jin surged up and pressed their lips together.
Alain tasted impossibly sweet. Bae-Jin got perhaps five seconds of control before Alain sucked on his tongue and made his knees go weak. Alain teased, nipping and flicking his tongue. Fuzzy electric sparks filled Bae-Jin’s brain. He whimpered in protest when the warmth withdrew.
“I promised you a bed. If we keep going, it will be too late for one.” The room spun as Alain lifted Bae-Jin out of the tub.
“I can walk!”
“I can carry you.” Easily, apparently. Alain used only one arm to support an entire grown man as he opened the door. The beautiful blue bedroom had a curtained bed built into a nook in the wall, a golden chandelier, and many shelves of well-worn books. The books had spread across the armchair and the windowsill, bookmarks sticking out the middle.
“My room back home is fancier,” Alain said apologetically. Bae-Jin clamped down his lips to contain a gasp.
Alain tossed Bae-Jin on the mattress, then straddled him in a heartbeat. Those wide eyes had glazed over and his teeth bit down on his own lower lip. At least Bae-Jin wasn’t the only person on the verge of losing control. The low, feral growl should have been terrifying but Bae-Jin felt his blood rushing to between his legs. Teeth lightly grazed over Bae-Jin’s skin, as if tasting which part of him would be the most delicious to devour.
“Mine, Bae-Jin, mine, Bae-Jin, mine.” Alain’s nails dug in with each word, the tips a bit too pointed. His dark face could have perfectly blended into the night if not for the moonlight slipping through the curtain illuminating his very sharp teeth.
Every word from that beautiful mouth made Bae-Jin harder. He grabbed that perfect face and kissed back, desperate to keep up. Barely anything had happened yet he’d already been swallowed up. Every inch of his skin had turned sensitive. He felt as though he teetered on the edge of a cliff, nothing except void below. Chasing the beautiful moonlight, he flung himself straight over the edge.
When Bae-Jin awoke, two arms curled possessively over his body. He hated to leave that delicious warmth, yet it must be done. As he tried to squirm free, Alain growled and dragged him back. The other man never even opened his eyes.
Slowly Bae-Jin removed his shirt and left it pressed against Alain’s nose. This offering seemed to satisfy the divine being. When Bae-Jin glanced over his shoulder, he nearly returned to bed. Awake, Alain had been terrifyingly beautiful. Asleep, he looked adorable with a trace of drool from his mouth and fingers tightly creasing the shirt. It was so tempting to kiss his forehead, but that would probably wake up the beast of the night.
Chilly air made Bae-Jin’s nipples prickle as he opened the window. Leaning out as far as he could without falling, he whistled a particular pattern.
The homing pigeon soared down and landed on the windowsill. Bae-Jin removed a tube attached to the leg, with parchment and a short pencil inside. He wrote, I have found no evidence of werewolf infiltration of the Moonlight Ranch. Wolves have been spotted outside the walls, please send the aid that the ranch requested. He stuck the note back into the tube, then tossed the pigeon into the sky.
Just like that, Bae-Jin’s career and his loyalty to his country vanished into the bright moonlight. Of course he’d been aware Alain must be a werewolf since even before his absurd display of strength. Clearly this ranch existed to lure in enemies of the werewolves for conversation. By removing people who were suspicious of werewolves, the pack was likely also preparing for an invasion of Tarin. Though Bae-Jin did not fully understand the nature of tonight’s game, it would surely be useful to the pack to agree to their request. By giving Alain what he wanted without needing to be coerced, Bae-Jin hoped to prove himself useful enough to stay.
For all of Bae-Jin’s life, he had calculated his decisions with a strict hierarchy that put his life first, then his own benefit, then completing his missions. Yet in the space of one night, his priorities had been overturned. Nothing mattered more to him than keeping the perfect man currently nuzzling his shirt.
Bae-Jin did not have the power to bind Alain to his side. He did not have the wealth and status to be chosen. He could only cling close and attempt to rise in value to the pack.
Sleeping together once did not guarantee an infection. Bae-Jin needed to be certain about becoming a werewolf in order to stay near to Alain. He knelt down next to the bed and stuck his finger into Alain’s mouth, feeling for the fang, then pressed down.
Alain’s eyes shot open. The fang dug in deeper, venom sending dizzying tingles up Bae-Jin’s arm. The moonlight seemed to creep in the window and wrap around him, but surely that must be an illusion created by his fuzzy head. Briefly Bae-Jin feared anger at his ruse, but Alain only took his hand and kissed the ring finger, then pressed the palm to his own cheek. Smirking, Alain said, “You needn’t have worried. The very first kiss was full of my venom. Already you’re starting to smell like one of us. Come back to bed, the transformation requires rest.”
The first kiss had tasted unusually sweet. “For what purpose did you lure me?” Bae-Jin barely dared ask his real question. “Am I at all special compared to the others?”
“Others?” Alain’s eyes widened. “I’ve never taken anyone else to bed before. I was waiting for you.”
No one, ever? Bae-Jin struggled to believe it of someone so handsome, yet he read sincerity in those brown eyes. “Why me?”
Alain pulled Bae-Jin into the bed, wrapping them both up in the blanket. His hands cradled Bae-Jin’s face tenderly, looking straight into his eyes. “I’m the reincarnation of the First Werewolf. I’ve lived many lives. I’ve been a king and a pauper, a warrior and a doctor, the hunter and the hunted. At times I’ve led the pack and other times I’ve been our worst enemy. I’ve dabbled in dozens of professions and passions. I can’t even recognize all my past faces.” His tongue laved at Bae-Jin’s neck like a delicious treat. “Every single lifetime, I’ve loved the same person. To me, that is the proof that I still have the same soul.”
Fangs drove into Bae-Jin’s neck and drowned out any doubts with a love as infinite as the universe.