by Lynn Hagen
Jayce felt like a real badass. He gave himself a second to grin at his triumph. Holy fuck! He’d taken down an actual bad guy! If he survived this, Jayce was gonna celebrate.
With a shaky hand, he dialed his own number and waited for his mate to answer.
* * * *
Deon was seated in the back of Darren’s SUV. He’d been too wired to drive, but being a passenger hadn’t proven to be any better. He kept bouncing his leg, watching the scenery go by. The ride felt as though it was taking forever. What was Ruiz doing to Jayce right now? How badly was his mate hurt?
And who was their backup? Deon hadn’t bothered to ask. He was too anxious to get out of his house and rescue his mate.
He frowned when he heard a phone ring. It wasn’t a ringtone he used, but the sound was coming from his pocket. Deon pulled out Jayce’s phone and recognized Ruiz’s number. The guy had constantly called his sister when Selene had been alive, and it wasn’t a number easily forgotten. Not when the first three numbers were all sixes.
Why was Ruiz calling Jayce’s phone? Deon slid his finger across the smooth glass to answer it. “When I get my hands on you, I’m going to relish your screams, you sorry piece of—”
“It’s Jayce, and I don’t know how much time I have to talk, so stop threatening me and listen,” his mate said bullet-fast. “Ruiz took me and brought me to what I assume is his clubhouse. Baxter is here, and he’s been drugged. I’m in Ruiz’s bedroom.”
Deon’s canines punched free as he snarled. “What did he do to you?”
“Nothing. I knocked him out with a bat I found and tied him up. He’s unconscious, but I’m not sure how long he’ll stay that way. I actually knocked out a bad guy!” Jayce sounded ecstatic. “God, I wish you could see me. Anyway, there’re about fifteen guys in the building, but there might be more. I also saw a bunch of women. Tell me you’re on your way.”
Deon was stunned. Jayce had overpowered Ruiz? As dire as the situation was, Deon grinned like an idiot. “Yeah, we’re on our way. We should be there in about twenty minutes. Is Ruiz’s room still the last one?”
“That’s the room he took me to. I would’ve climbed out of the window, but I’m not leaving Baxter behind, and he can’t escape.” Tears choked Jayce’s voice. “I don’t know how they got him or what they did to him, Deon. He’s so out of it.”
“We’ll get him looked at, sweets.” Damn it. Deon had told Baxter to leave things alone, that he might get hurt, but the guy hadn’t listened. He was gonna call Mike and find out what had happened to Baxter’s babysitter. Ruiz shouldn’t have gotten his hands on Jayce’s best friend. “Right now I want you to stay safe.”
“I pushed the big dresser in front of the door. That’s about all I can do. I doubt I can move the bed in front of the dresser. I got Ruiz’s gun, but…” Jayce sucked in a shuddering breath. “I don’t know if I can actually use it to kill someone.”
Deon hated that Jayce had been put in this position in the first place. Ruiz better stay knocked out, because if he was awake when Deon got there…
“I hope you don’t have to use it,” Deon said in a smooth, reassuring voice. “Just keep yourself and Baxter safe. We’re fifteen minutes out.”
“Fifteen minutes is a very long time when you’re in enemy territory,” Jayce said. “Can you make it ten?”
Deon leaned close to the driver’s seat.
“I heard him.” Moose pressed his foot harder into the gas pedal. “Tell your little guy we’re almost there.”
“Ten minutes.” Deon sat back as they entered Falls Bend. It had been forever since he’d last been to this town. Nothing had changed since five years ago. He directed Moose to the clubhouse but told him to pull over a block from the building.
He’d been on the line with Jayce the entire time. “We’re here. Give us a minute to hash out a plan, and then—”
Deon shot from the SUV when he heard Jayce scream.
“Jayce!”
His mate didn’t answer. Deon heard a loud crash as he took off toward the clubhouse. He came to a hard stop when he spotted three strangers sitting atop their hogs. Deon knew they weren’t Black Python members. One, they were outside the locked gates. Two, he’d never seen an MC member who looked this badass.
The guy on the far right looked as though he breathed pain. The air around him crackled with power and authority. His long, black hair was braided, and he had so many goddamn muscles that the sight gave Deon pause.
The guy on the far left had honey-blond hair that was cut short and stylish. He had crystal-blue eyes and wore a deadly expression.
But it was the guy in the middle that made Deon sweat. The man had to be close to seven feet tall, lean with muscles, and had black hair that hung all the way down his back. He had light gray eyes and wore a goatee. He got off his bike in one smooth stride.
“You’re lucky I was in town,” the guy in the middle said. “If you’d waited another hour, we would’ve been on the road.”
Darren grinned. He turned to Deon and pointed to the guy on the right. “Deon, this is Hawk.” He pointed to the guy on the left. “This is Kota.” He chucked a thumb at the imposing man in the middle. “And this is Maverick Brac.”
Deon had no idea who these men were but was glad they were on his side.
Maverick narrowed his eyes as he looked at the locked gate. “If there’s one thing I hate, that’s a mate being fucked with.”
Deon watched as Maverick grabbed the metal lock and twisted it clean off. He shoved the gate aside and looked over his shoulder. “Ready to clean house?”
Deon jerked his head from side to side, cracking his vertebra. “Let’s do this.”
Six deep, they stormed the clubhouse, tearing through the members as the females tried to fight alongside the men. Deon would never put his hands on a woman, but these bitches weren’t acting like women.
Still, he bared his canines and made them cower behind the bar as the others wiped the floor with the humans. Deon took off down the hallway and raced into Ruiz’s room.
Casey, who still had gold caps on his front teeth, which Deon thought looked ridiculous, had Jayce in a tight hold, a gun to his head. Ruiz was seated on his ass, his hand against his head, seeming out of it.
“Come any closer and I’ll snap his neck,” Casey threatened. “You should’ve never come into our lives. You lured Selene away from me, filling her head with ideas of a better life.”
Deon had slept with her only once before she’d gotten pregnant. At the time, he’d had no idea she’d grown up in his life. Once he’d found out about the MC, and that she was carrying his child, true, he’d talked her into moving in with him.
Again, he hadn’t wanted Matty to be any part of this. “She was slumming when she was with you. There was no way I was letting her come back into your fold, especially with my son.”
The glint in Casey’s eyes hardened. What the hell had Selene ever seen in this guy? “Your son? I guess she never told you that she was already a couple weeks pregnant when she met you.”
The sucker-punch to Deon’s gut nearly dropped him to his knees. No. He refused to believe that Casey was Matty’s father. Would Selene really have done that to him? He knew she’d been sneaking back to see her brother, and he’d had a suspicion that she was still fucking around with Casey…but…
“You’re lying.”
“She was playing you for a fool,” Casey sneered. “The only reason I didn’t drag her back here was because she would’ve snipped my balls in my sleep.”
Selene had been a wildcat. Brazen, headstrong, and feisty. Those were qualities Deon had liked about her, until he felt her emotionally pulling away from him. After a few years, Deon had thought divorce was the only answer. But he never would’ve let Matty go. Not to this kind of life.
“Let. Him. Go.” Deon took a step forward. When Ruiz tried to get up, Deon slugged him in his jaw and made him fall back on his ass. “You have no idea who you’re fucking with.”
He f
elt someone behind him but knew he wasn’t in danger. The shifters had cleaned house, and he doubted any humans were still standing.
“You heard the man.” It was Maverick. “Let the mate go.”
Casey furrowed his brows. “Mate? What’re you, British?”
“Do I fucking sound British to you?” Maverick snarled. “Let him go or face the consequences of interfering in a mating.”
Casey curled his lip. “You took my old lady and my son from me. How about I take someone precious from you?”
Deon moved so fast that Casey didn’t get a chance to react. He knocked his mate aside just as the gun went off, missing Jayce by the narrowest degree. Deon snarled and shifted, attacking Casey. He clamped down on the man’s jugular, images of his terrified mate in his head, images of Casey nearly killing Jayce.
He tore Casey’s throat out and then turned to Ruiz. Deon started forward, but Maverick stepped between them. “A quick death is too good for him. I think he might enjoy the accommodations in the underworld. I’m pretty sure he has enough bad memories to replay over and over again for a very long time.”
Deon shifted back into his human form and wiped the blood from his mouth.
“What the fuck?” Ruiz paled as he scooted backward until he was up against the wall. “What the fuck are you?”
“Your worst enemy,” Deon snarled. “You should’ve left things alone.” His body vibrated with the need to end Ruiz’s miserable life, regardless of what Maverick said. Ruiz didn’t deserve to live. The son of a bitch was a blight on humanity. Deon owed Ruiz a death for cutting the brakes on the car that took his son, for kidnapping the one man who meant everything to him.
“I know that rage,” Maverick said. “Felt it more than once. Trust me, he’ll suffer a hundred times over in the underworld.”
Moose came into the room and looked around. He stepped over the fallen dresser and headed for the bed. The giant pulled out his cell phone and made a call. Seconds later, Dr. Bjord and his assistant appeared.
Ruiz shouted and cowered in the corner. Some badass he turned out to be.
“We’ll take him back to the clinic,” Dr. Bjord said. “Do you know what kind of drug he was given?”
Deon glared at Ruiz. “What did you give him?”
“Nothing,” Ruiz said, his arm over his head. “Casey shot him up. I don’t know with what.”
Deon slugged Ruiz in the head. “Tell the truth.”
“I am!”
Deon leaned in and bared his canines. “Who was the guy in the barn?”
“Some homeless guy. No one important.”
Maverick snarled. “Just because the guy was homeless doesn’t mean he was less important than anyone else.”
Gavril, the doctor’s assistant, whispered something to Ari. The doctor nodded and then looked at Deon. “We’ve got this covered.”
The doctor, Gavril, and Baxter flashed from the room.
Maverick wrapped his hand around Ruiz’s throat and lifted him so high that Ruiz’s feet dangled. “Remind me to visit more often.” The guy smirked. “This was fun.”
He walked out, dragging Ruiz behind him. Deon was finally able to turn to Jayce and haul his mate to his chest. “You’ve got a black eye.”
“That’s okay.” Jayce grinned. “I’m a badass now.”
Deon chuckled. “That you are.” He kissed his mate gently. “Let’s go home.”
He led Jayce down the hallway and noticed that no one was in the building. The members had cleared out. Good riddance. Deon had never liked anyone in the club. They had all been hoodlums in his eyes.
As they pulled away from the clubhouse, Deon saw black smoke billowing from the building. He didn’t care if the place burned to the ground. He had his mate back in his arms and never planned on letting Jayce out of his sight again. Deon refused to dwell on what Casey had said to him. Even if Matty hadn’t been his biological son, Deon had loved him as if Matty had been his own. The truth didn’t matter, only the love he had felt for the boy.
“I love you.” He kissed his mate thoroughly, uncaring of the other men in the SUV. This slip of a man was his everything, and Deon wanted to show his mate every day how he felt about him.
Jayce snuggled close, resting his head on Deon’s shoulder. “I love you, too, but we’re getting a steel door put on the sunporch.”
Deon chuckled. “We’ll see.”
* * * *
Jayce smiled as he looked at the crop they’d planted two weeks ago. Already some of the vegetables were sprouting. Knowing he had helped Deon plant the crop made Jayce feel accomplished.
“It looks good, doesn’t it?” Deon joined him and curled an arm around his shoulder. “I’ll make a farmer out of you yet.”
“What about your stud ranch?”
Deon shrugged. “I have enough money to last me a lifetime. I think I’ll stick to what I know. That’ll give me more free time to spend with you.”
Jayce loved that idea. Since that fiasco with Ruiz and Casey, he’d been on edge, waking up at night with sweats and afraid to venture farther than the farm. But Jayce was working on that. Slowly. He was even taking Deon to Sunday dinner at his parents’.
Ruiz’s threat had been empty, as far as Jayce’s parents were concerned. They were fine, and his dad had even grown to like Deon. That was a miracle. Jayce was surprised his dad hadn’t come up with a conspiracy about gay men, but his dad took Jayce and Deon’s relationship in stride.
It was Baxter that worried Jayce. His best friend was withdrawn, turning down the multiple invitations Jayce had extended. They’d both been through a traumatic experience but Baxter even more so. Jayce knew his best friend had been drugged, but he refused to say what else happened to him.
What really pissed Jayce off was the fact that Ruiz had lured Baxter away by telling him that, if he didn’t come quietly, he would kill Jayce. The bastard had used their friendship against Baxter.
But Jayce wasn’t giving up on his friend. He never would. He had no doubt Baxter had a long road ahead of him, and Jayce planned on being there for his friend.
He looked up at Deon and felt nothing but love in his heart. “Tell me this is the real deal, that you’re really mine.”
Deon kissed his temple. “I’m the real deal, sweets. Let me prove it to you.”
He laid Jayce down in the field and spent the rest of the day proving it.
THE END
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