Arrow Inferno
Chapter 72: Stanley ‘STAN’ Norris vs. Ian ‘WILL’ Williams ~ Standing up for his man!

***

"Hello, Will." Gloria laughed softly as she hugged Will. "How have you been?"

"I've been great, Mama G." Will grinned. "How about you."

"Stressed, thanks to that naughty grandson of mine." They all laughed. "This is Joel, Paige and Philip's dad."

"Hello, Uncle Jo." Will shook the hand of the older man. "I've heard so much about you."

"Hello son," Joel patted Will on the arm. "Good to finally have you home."

"Thank you." When Will finally looked at the other woman, he gasped. "I know you."

"Do you recall where?" Deloris gave a knowing smile.

Will frowned, then turned to look at Stan who shrugged. Will looked back at Deloris. "Are you by any chance a warlock?"

"I am." Deloris nodded.

"Oh my god, it's you." He hugged her and then picked her up to the amusement of everyone. He'd seen her in the dream he'd had about his mother. His mother had called her a friend. "Thank you so much for what you did."

"I'm glad I could help." Deloris laughed as Will put her down.

"So you two have already met?" Philip drawled. "Where?"

"Long story," Stan muttered. "I'm famished. Can we eat?"

'Well, better get ready to spill after dinner.' Philip drawled on their mind-link.

'I will.' Stan assured his friend and alpha.

The only reason he hadn't told his friends about that part of the story was that until the day before, he hadn't even spoken to Will about it. And Stan hadn't felt it was right to discuss it when he hadn't done so with his mate whom it was about. They all had fun getting to know Will over dinner. Pete and George wanted Will to take them along on his missions. They promised to catch the bad guys in mere minutes.

"Well, now that he's going to be a werewolf, I think the government should probably be paying him extra for the miraculously amazing job he's going to be doing," Ryan said. "You need to make whatever you do appear real though." "I'm pretty sure nothing will change." Will grinned.

"Wanna bet?" Philip chuckled.

"Hey mum," Troy called out. "How long does it take a human to heal after getting marked?"

If the elders noticed how quiet the room went, they said nothing.

"First of all, humans are not supposed to be marked because they can't heal," Gloria said.

"At all?" Troy tilted his head curiously.

"It's not encouraged because it's dangerous. A human has to be turned first so that they can self-heal." Gloria explained. "Well, where there's an alpha around to generously apply his healing tongue, that human would heal faster. With the help of the magic of a warlock, the human could heal. My mother told me about a human who was once marked by her mate. The mate was a lone wolf. Didn't have a pack. She was scared of being turned so her mate only gave her the mark. She still had the wound after four months. And she was in constant pain."

"Really?" Will chuckled. "So what would you say if a human being gets marked and heals in say...three days?"

"Can't possibly be human," Gloria said emphatically.

"Or that person might have a supernatural gift," Deloris murmured, her gaze on Will. "Could even be a witch." She smiled at Will who smiled back.

"Oh my god, you're a witch Will," Paige gasped.

"Not really." Deloris chuckled. "Just one of the special people with gifts that even surpass witchcraft."

"Wow... I'm just a soldier, folks." Will raised his hands in a form of surrender when all eyes turned on him.

"Get used to it, soldier." Deloris laughed softly. "The kind of gift you have manifests when you least expect it. And it does so in ways that you don't even notice. I bet it's saved your life lots of time but you don't even realize it. Don't take that shit for granted, son."

"I won't, ma'am." Will nodded.

"Good. Enough of witch stories." Stan stretched. "Anyone up for some Pawz action?"

"Hold on, young man." Joel's voice boomed in the room. "From all this talk I'm assuming Will has been...marked?"

"Stan marked the hell out of him, Uncle Jo." Pete grinned, totally ignoring the glare from Stan.

"I see." Joel's eyes turned on Stan.

"Oh, and Will fed us this bullshit story about asking for it." Troy laughed. "Of course none of us bought it."

"I did." Ryan smiled.

"You would, Prof." Philip chuckled. "You're too nice."

"Wait, is there a punishment or something for him marking me?" Will's voice was low...dangerous. He recalled how terrified Stan had been about the bite. "Just know that I won't allow it." He spoke with so much authority everyone froze. Then he turned eyes filled with fire on Jeremy. "You are at the top of the hierarchy so I think you're the one I should address."

"Will..." Stan groaned.

"Shut up, Stan." He snapped. "If you attempt to punish or sanction him in any way, I'll raise so much hell y'all will regret even thinking about it. And trust me, I know how to raise hell."

"Jesus Christ!" Ryan gasped. "Maybe this is how I should have reacted when you were being sent to the fort."

"Relax, Will," Jeremy grunted as he reached out to draw Ryan into his lap. He knew how thoughts about the fort still terrified his mate. "No one would dare punish him. In fact, if anything, he deserves an award for all that restraint. Didn't know he had it in him." He kissed Ryan to the shock of Will.

"He sure did surprise all of us," Philip chuckled. "Could have been worse."

"Yep." Jeremy nodded. "So we're good."

"Oh, thank you," Will breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"What would you have done though?" George asked.

"I'd have thought of something." Will grinned. "I can be very...resourceful."

"I need him on my team, Alpha." George turned to Philip.

"Get in line pal," Pete growled.

"Looks like you're going to be hot cake around here, Lt. Williams." Philip laughed.

"You know you wouldn't have stood a chance though, right?" Stan couldn't hide his amused but tender smile.

Will snorted. "I know."

"You're something else, you know that?" Stan reached out to run his fingers through Will's hair without a thought. "That was brave and sweet," he murmured huskily. "Thank you."

Seeing Will defend him with such passion had roused so many sweet emotions within Stan they made his heart clench. He leaned in intending to kiss Will on the cheek but the soldier turned his head in the final moment, making their lips meet instead. Stan would have pulled back but Will slipped his fingers into his hair to hold him steady as he kissed him soundly. He figured that if no one was paying attention to Jeremy and Ryan openly sucking face, then they wouldn't be bothered with him kissing Stan.

"Who looks dazed now?" Will whispered against Stan's lips when the kiss ended. "You're blushing."

Stan's answering moan was not because of what his mate had said, but rather because of the purely erotic look on his face. He'd caught his lower lip sexily between his teeth and was giving Stan a look so hot the belly of the werewolf quivered with a ferocious need.

"Jesus, Will..." Stan gave a breathless groan. A groan that turned into a growl when he looked up to see faces staring at him. Some with smirks, some in surprise, and others with impressed smiles. "Do you mind?" he blushed even harder to the amusement of everyone.

'You have it so bad for him, my Stanislav.' Paige chuckled on the mind-link she shared with Stan, Philip, and Jeremy.

'Didn't he say this was never going to happen though?' Philip murmured as he unwrapped a butterscotch toffee and fed it to Troy.

'Ya think you know a guy.' Jeremy drawled, making the others laugh.

Stan didn't respond to their banter. He rather addressed everyone in a voice hoarse from searing lust and longing. "Pawz, anyone?" There were choruses of yeses from the younger people gathered.

"Ready to have some good time?" Stan asked his mate.

"Hell, yeah!"

Will was surprised at the feeling of contentment he felt as he looked at the delight on the faces of the people in the room. He felt so much at home even though he was meeting most of them for the first time. He also felt safe even though he knew they had supernatural powers and could hard him if they wished. What blew his mind was how accepting they seemed to be of him even though they didn't know him. It sure did feel good to know that not only was his mate crazy about him, but his family was also eager and happy to have him as part of them.

What more could a guy ask for...