“Better double-check the audit report back then and find out who was in charge of confirming the staff’s placement in the Repository.”
Reed let out a heavy breath that smelled like sulfur. “I’ll adjust the time frame of when it went missing. I have people and teams I trust searching for the staff, as does the PIA. Setsuna has kept the SOA in the dark for obvious reasons.”
Because Ethan and the Dominion Sect had corrupted Patrick’s agency to the bones in the past, and cleaning house was a monumental task no one person could complete in a single directorship. Trust was hard to come by in something like this, and Patrick knew very few people would have made the general’s list for the search. That Setsuna hadn’t told Patrick of the problem was a conversation he intended to have with her later.
“You sent the Hellraisers after the staff, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Reed said, abruptly stopping so he could face Patrick and look him in the eye. “And now I am sending you.”
“I haven’t worn a uniform in three years, sir. I’m no longer under your command.”
“What I and the US government want aligns with what the gods you serve want—Ethan dead and the Dominion Sect crippled. We don’t know who got into the Repository to steal the staff, or how they went about doing so, but we need to locate it before they learn how to use it.”
“I can’t leave my post.”
“Setsuna is willing to look the other way and cover for you when the need arises.”
“How helpful of her.”
Reed didn’t blink, his eyes gold instead of brown with slit-black pupils in a too-human face. “You know what is at stake more than anyone else. I wouldn’t ask this of you if we weren’t desperate, Collins.”
Patrick didn’t speak until the coppery tang of blood on his tongue was just an aftertaste. “Off the record, sir?”
“For now.”
Patrick was acutely aware of Jono and Wade standing just beyond arm’s reach, watching him. He knew whatever he chose, his pack would follow him down that road, and they would all have to live with the consequences of his actions.
“Wade stays with us,” Patrick said.
Reed glanced over at Wade, who had finished all of his hot dogs and was only half hiding behind Jono now, though his soul still shone too-bright to look at. “He carries bad habits.”
“Then teach him better ones before you go.”
They stared at each other for a long few seconds before Reed gestured at Wade. “Come here, fledgling.”
Wade gave Patrick a panicked look before reluctantly shuffling forward. Patrick stepped aside, letting Wade take his place. The teenager flinched when Reed placed his hands on Wade’s thin shoulders.
“Look at me,” Reed commanded.
Wade could do nothing but obey, locking eyes with the elder of his kind. The pair stood frozen in the midday sun, statues no one paid any attention to thanks to Patrick’s look-away ward. Five minutes passed, then ten. With every second that ticked by, the glaring brightness of Wade’s soul shrank until it disappeared beneath his skin. His aura became nothing more than a faint human sheen to Patrick’s senses.
The general finally let him go and Wade stumbled back into Patrick’s arms. He was shaking, hunching in close, and Patrick let him.
“Ow,” Wade muttered.
“I will be here when they no longer are,” Reed said, his voice a rumble in his chest. “Remember that.”
Wade scowled down at his feet and didn’t reply. The general didn’t seem put off by his attitude. Patrick gently prodded Wade to go stand by Jono.
“I’ll need a full report on the staff and the status of the search,” Patrick said.
“I’ll see that you get it.” Reed smiled grimly, blowing smoke out of his nose, no cigarette in sight. “Good hunting, Collins.”
The general walked away. Patrick watched him go for a few seconds before collapsing the tiny mageglobe spinning against his palm. Sound rushed back in around them, the summer day filled with the buzz of people talking, dogs barking, and the distant hum of the city beyond the urban greenery.
Jono stepped closer, wrapping an arm around Patrick’s shoulders. “Come on, mate. Let’s head back to Marek’s flat.”
Walking between Jono and Wade out of Central Park, Patrick carried the weight of an uncertain future with him, chilled down to his bones.
23
Jono reached over the back of the sofa and pulled Patrick’s mobile out of his hand, ignoring his protest.
“Hey, that’s mine,” Patrick said.
Jono got a glimpse of a news article about the mayor’s latest press conference. He wouldn’t have thought anything of it except the picture beneath the headline made him freeze.
Patrick leaned his head back so he was looking at Jono upside down. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Jono turned the mobile around so Patrick could see the screen, with its picture of the mayor surrounded by other officials and aides. “I know that woman.”
Patrick reached up and took his mobile back. “Which one?”
Jono pointed at the blonde woman standing off to the side behind someone else, her face visible over their shoulder. “She was with Ethan when they had me, and I saw her again at the Crimson Diamond.”
Patrick’s grip tightened on his mobile, but he didn’t say anything. He saved the picture though before locking his phone. “I’ll head home and look into it.”
“I came down to tell you supper is ready, not to run you out. They’ve got the table all set up on the roof.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Wade will eat your plate if you don’t join us.”
“He can have it. Considering how many hot dogs he had at the park today, I’m surprised he still has room in his stomach. Think we should enter him in the Nathan’s Hot Dog contest at Coney Island next summer?”
“You’re changing the subject.” Jono stroked his knuckles over Patrick’s cheek. “Stay. You need to eat.”
“I can eat later.”
Jono stared down into Patrick’s eyes before pulling his own mobile out of his pocket. He texted Emma, letting her know they were leaving. “Right, come on. Let’s go.”
Patrick sat up, eyeing him. “Where?”
“Home, like you said. Sage will make sure Wade gets enough grub. We have leftovers back at the flat if we get hungry.”
“You don’t have to leave because of me. You can stay here.”
“I don’t want you gone, I just want you back.” Jono smoothed his hand over Patrick’s messy ginger hair. “You’ve been lost in thought since the meeting in the park earlier today. This news article isn’t helping. I hate seeing you like this.”
Patrick sighed tiredly, the troubled look in his eyes something Jono wished he could wipe away. “I didn’t mean to drag you into this.”
“We’re a pack. Where you go, I go.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”
Jono ignored Patrick’s mutterings. The past week had been hellishly long, with Patrick working loads of overtime to deal with the cleanup and the case. The dark circles beneath his eyes weren’t due to getting punched but from lack of sleep. Jono wanted to lock Patrick up and feed him before letting him sleep for a week straight.
He settled for taking Patrick home.
Patrick spent the drive there with his head resting against the window, staring blankly at the street traffic passing them by. Every line of his body screamed leave me alone, and Jono had no clue how to keep Patrick from chewing on the latest problem. Before the mess with Tremaine and Tezcatlipoca, Jono wouldn’t think twice about using sex to distract Patrick, but they hadn’t had sex since before the night Patrick came down from his drugged-out high.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by his mobile going off, the Psycho ringtone filling the car. He and Patrick shared a look.
“Are you going to answer?” Patrick asked.
“I haven’t answered them all week.”
“Maybe
you should. I know the PCB has been in touch with their lawyers.”
Jono made a face before giving in and letting the call sync to the Bluetooth in the Mustang. “What do you want?”
“We need to talk,” Estelle said.
“I’m not going to help you get your story straight if that’s why you rang.”
“Maria summoned us tomorrow to the construction site in the Meatpacking District. That isn’t her territory and never has been. She said you would be there as well. I want to know what’s going on.”
Patrick raised both eyebrows in surprise at that revelation. “Huh. Didn’t take Maria long to grovel.”
“What?”
“We’ll see you tomorrow,” Jono said before ending the call without giving Estelle the answer she so desperately wanted. Even if he knew it, Jono wouldn’t have helped her.
Patrick already had his mobile out, typing away. “I’ll text Carmen and see what’s up. The meeting tomorrow is news to me.”
Jono left him to figuring out when the meeting was going to happen and what it would be about. He focused on getting them home.
Finding parking on a Saturday night was difficult but not completely impossible. Jono ended up parking a block away, and they walked home in silence. Their hands brushed together, and Jono sighed quietly when Patrick reached for him, tangling their fingers together. Patrick didn’t let go, not even when they made it inside the flat and Jono was pushed up against the closed door.
Patrick’s free hand curved around the back of his neck, fingers running through the short hair there. Jono settled his other hand on Patrick’s hip, staying where he was put.
“You’ve been keeping your distance,” Patrick said, his eyes searching Jono’s. “Is it because of what I did to you at Grand Central?”
Jono shook his head. “I already told you how I feel about you tapping a ley line through the soulbond. It doesn’t bother me.”
Patrick didn’t look like he believed him, so Jono kissed the doubtful expression off his face. Patrick chased after his mouth when Jono broke the kiss, stepping closer. “Then why don’t you want to fuck me? And don’t say it’s because work is getting in the way. We’ve always found time before, but you’ve pulled away every time I’ve tried to initiate something.”
Jono lifted both hands to cradle Patrick’s face, stroking a thumb over his cheekbone. “You weren’t dealing with the aftermath of assault all the rest of the times. You’ve gone back to cigarettes, and don’t think I haven’t noticed the whiskey bottle was replaced twice this week.”
Patrick went still in his arms. “Tremaine didn’t rape me.”
“Doesn’t need to be rape to hurt, love.”
They stood there in silence for a long moment before Patrick spoke. “Most days I’m a living reminder of things I want to forget.”
“Drowning yourself in smoke and liquor won’t take the memories away.”
“I see a therapist.”
“I know you do. All I’m saying is don’t come to me because you think you need to prove something to yourself. I’m not going anywhere, and I’ll wait however long you need to feel okay again.”
Patrick tightened his fingers in Jono’s hair, holding on. His shields that had been raised ever since leaving Central Park slowly disappeared. Jono drew in a breath, smelling exhaustion and weary resignation beneath the bitter scent Patrick carried on his skin, but no fear, no apprehension.
“This isn’t—” Patrick broke off, pressing his face into Jono’s hands. “I don’t want you to fuck me just to prove something to myself, Jono. I want you because that’s what I want. Because that’s my choice. If you don’t want me, then just say so.”
The truth in his words was bright and clean in his scent. Jono pushed away from the door, his hands dropping down to Patrick’s hips, then his thighs, hauling the shorter man into his arms. Patrick wrapped his legs around Jono’s waist, arousal seeping through his scent, slow and thick like molasses.
“Never going to not want you, love.”
“You sure?”
Jono thought about the soulbond that tied them together but knew it didn’t dictate his heart. “It’s not magic that makes me want you, Pat.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.” Jono gently squeezed Patrick’s ass, looking him in the eye. “Now, I’m going to take you to bed, like you want. And if you tell me to stop, I will.”
Patrick laughed tiredly against his mouth, fingers tangling in his hair. “Just make me feel good and I’ll never have to.”
Jono carried Patrick to the bedroom and took him at his word, attuned to Patrick’s body and scent in a hyperaware way. Depositing Patrick on their bed, Jono set about undressing him until he wore nothing but his dog tags, the scars on his body prominent against his skin. Jono kissed his way down Patrick’s chest, tracing over scar tissue with his tongue, mouth drifting down warm skin until he could wrap his lips around Patrick’s cock.
Patrick let out a groan that sounded like it hurt, bucking into Jono’s mouth. Jono gripped his hips and held him in place, taking his time in familiarizing himself with Patrick’s scent and taste. Fingers gripped his hair and pulled, but Jono ignored the desperate tugging in favor of swallowing Patrick’s cock down to the root.
Patrick slid his leg over Jono’s shoulder to dig his heel against Jono’s back. Jono hummed at the pressure, and Patrick made a strangled sound in the back of his throat. “Holy fuck.”
Jono swallowed around the thickening length in his mouth before pulling off, his tongue dragging against sensitive skin the entire way. Patrick breathed in deep, unclenching his hand from Jono’s hair. His pupils were blown wide, a flush coming up on his cheeks.
“Need a moment?” Jono asked with a teasing smile, stroking Patrick’s cock.
“Shut up and get out of your goddamn clothes so you can fuck me. I’ve missed your cock.”
Jono laughed as he stood, already stripping off his T-shirt. “Whatever you want.”
“Exactly.”
He shed his boots and the rest of his clothes, crawling onto the bed after Patrick. Jono kissed him again, letting their cocks slide together as they rocked against each other. Patrick’s hands stroked down his back to grab his ass and pull him in. Jono settled heavily against the cradle of Patrick’s hips, seeking out that plush mouth for a kiss.
“How do you want me?” Jono murmured.
Patrick arched beneath him, panting as Jono sucked at the sensitive skin just beneath his ear. “I want you in me.”
Jono licked his way down Patrick’s throat, biting gently at his collarbone and the thick edge of scar tissue there. “Didn’t answer my question.”
“The hell I didn’t.”
Jono shifted against him, sliding lower so he could lick at Patrick’s left nipple, knowing it had better sensitivity than the other one. “You want me to fuck you like this and take my time? Or put you on your knees and make you scream my name?”
Patrick groaned, his fingers scratching at Jono’s skin. “Both?”
Jono sucked at the nipple until it hardened into a nub, tugging at the other one with firm fingers. Patrick moaned, the sound vibrating against Jono’s lips. He pulled back, the nub caught in his teeth and stretching before he let it go. He grabbed the bottle of lube from the nightstand before stacking up the pillows and lying down beside Patrick.
“Come here.”
Jono coaxed Patrick onto his lap, knees on either side of him, lean body rising over him. He hooked a finger around the dog tags, pulling Patrick down for a long, deep kiss that left them both gasping for air when they broke apart.
Jono uncapped the lube and poured it over his fingers. “Hold yourself open for me.”
Patrick’s eyes darkened at his request, but he didn’t argue. He merely reached back with one hand to grab his ass and open himself up while bracing himself against Jono’s shoulder. Jono slid one finger inside, pushing past the initial resistance. Patrick’s eyes fluttered closed, mouth dropping open a little.<
br />
Jono nipped at Patrick’s bottom lip, hooking his other hand around the back of Patrick’s knee. “There’s a love. I’m going to get you ready, and then I want you to ride me.”
“Didn’t think I’d be the one doing all the work here,” Patrick muttered as he pushed back against Jono’s finger.
“It’s not about work. It’s about control, and what you want.”
Patrick opened his eyes, staring at Jono. He didn’t say anything, but neither did he stop rolling his hips onto Jono’s finger. Jono didn’t look away, breathing in Patrick’s scent and cataloguing every twitch of his body.
Patrick leaned in, his lips barely brushing over Jono’s. “You’re something else, you know that?”
Jono licked his way into Patrick’s mouth at the exact same moment he slipped a second finger inside him. Patrick shuddered against him, biting into the kiss with a needy moan that made his own cock twitch.
“Never met anyone else like you,” Jono said against his lips. “Don’t want anyone else but you.”
Patrick pulled back, face flushed and eyes more black than green. “You mean it?”
“Always. I’m not leaving you.”
Patrick surged forward, nearly pulling free of Jono’s fingers completely as he kissed Jono hard enough their teeth scraped together. It’d been roughly two months since Patrick had walked into Tempest and into his life, and despite everything that had happened, Jono wouldn’t give up what they were building between them for anything.
He reached up with his free hand and got a good grip on Patrick’s hair, pulling his head back. Patrick arched backward, and Jono sucked a bruise against the pulse in his throat.
“Get on my cock.”
“Fuck, yes,” Patrick groaned, flailing for a moment on his knees before he found his balance again.
Jono pulled his fingers free and poured more lube onto them. He slicked up his cock with a few hard strokes. Patrick finally batted his hand away and gripped his cock, giving it a good squeeze. Jono dug his fingers into Patrick’s hips and lifted him higher. Patrick took the hint and shifted back, guiding Jono’s cock to his hole.
All Souls Near & Nigh (Soulbound Book 2) Page 32