by Lisa Oliver
The door to the sitting room opened and Liam poked his head around it. “They need you guys in the office so this plan can be finalized. Is everything all good?”
“Yep, everything’s fine,” Sean said, lifting Caden and setting his feet on the ground. He grabbed hold of Caden’s hand and walked him out the room, his head buzzing. His mate loved him. That was awesome, right? Expected between mates, and it meant that Caden would always stay with him. So why the fuck didn’t he say it back?
Sean had a horrible feeling he’d just committed a relationship no-no. It would have taken guts for his mate to open up like he did, and as the two men made their way to the office where the others were waiting, he had a horrible feeling his mistake was going to bite him on the ass, big time.
Chapter Twenty
Caden tugged at his tie, annoyed that he had to wear one at all. But when Marla had heard that he was about to give his first ever interview, in Phoenix, no less, the distance hadn’t been enough to stop her jumping on the first flight and taking over all of the details. Caden had won the skirmish about wearing his comforting leather coat and his well-worn boots, but he’d lost the battle about everything else. He resisted the urge to scratch at his face – the makeup was nothing short of annoying.
“Have you gone over the list of questions you’ll be asked?” Marla appeared by Caden’s side as though by magic and he jumped. As per usual Marla was dressed to kill in a power suit that probably cost a fortune, her dark hair immaculately swept up in a bun at the back of her head. Small diamonds graced elegant ears, and Marla’s makeup was perfectly applied. Caden had never seen the woman in casual clothes, and he had no idea what his agent might look like without makeup – given her personality, she probably wore it to bed.
“Yes,” he replied for the tenth time since arriving at the studio. He looked around for Sean, but couldn’t see him anywhere. Not that he’d been left on his own - he caught sight of Matt and Josiah by the door of the room he’d been asked to wait in.
“You’ll remember to mention the agency and my name?” Caden nodded, but he didn’t think his agent noticed. Marla was fussing over non-existent lint on Caden’s coat – leather didn’t attract lint, so he wasn’t sure why the woman felt the need to touch him. He shuffled slightly to one side, and tugged at his tie again.
“Leave that alone,” Marla snapped, more in keeping with the normal way she behaved. With clients, Marla was polite and charming – with artists she could be like a pit bull with a bone – relentless, pushy and bordering on rude. Like now, ripping Caden’s tie from around his throat and then retying it.
The door to the waiting room opened, and Sean strode in, instantly finding Caden in the chaos. He gave a slight smile, but didn’t come any closer, choosing to talk to Matt and Josiah instead. Caden’s heart lurched. Sean had been damn near avoiding him since he’d opened his big mouth and proclaimed his love like a stupid teenager. The irony of it was Caden had known that something would drive his mate away – he had never dreamed it would take just three little words. He dropped his eyes and headed to where a small buffet table had been covered with refreshments. Caden couldn’t stomach eating anything, but he could definitely do with some coffee.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea mentioning you’re engaged to be married to a man?” Damn, he hadn’t realized Marla had followed him. “It could alienate some of your more conservative patrons.”
“I don’t have patrons, Marla,” Caden said with more force than necessary. He tried to swallow the hurt he felt over his mate’s behavior and managed a small smile. “I have people who choose to buy my paintings. They don’t influence what I paint, they have no say in the way I live my life. My paintings are all orientation and gender neutral. Maybe I should change my style, paint more graphic scenes, now that I’m getting married. What do you think that will do to my sales?”
Marla opened her mouth as if to say something scathing, but Felix came up beside her, giving her a brief hug. “You’re not trying to upset the man of the hour, are you sweetheart. Our famous artist needs to be cool, calm and collected for his first-ever interview.”
“You’re right, of course, Felix,” Marla cooed. Caden shook his head as he fixed a cup of strong coffee. Marla was a completely different woman around Felix. Even the introduction of Liam into his friend’s life, wasn’t enough to dampen her flirtatious manner. “I was just a little concerned that Caden’s relationship with Sean might be misconstrued by some of his buyers.”
Felix frowned and Marla backed away. “You should be thanking Sean for pulling Caden into the spotlight. You’ve been trying to get him to give interviews, and publicity shots for the past two years. And what’s to misconstrue? They’re engaged to be married. Two men in love with each other…”
Caden couldn’t stay to hear the rest of what Felix had to say. His stomach clenched, his heart lurched and he knew he was about to lose his breakfast. He stumbled past where Josiah, Matt and Sean were still talking and disappeared down the short hallway to the bathroom. Thank the Fates there was nobody else in there. To be sure of his privacy, Caden jumped into the furthest stall from the door, turning the lock quickly. He pulled down the seat on the toilet and curled up on it, gripping his knees, trying to calm his breathing.
I will not cry. I will not cry. But deep inside Caden already knew his heart was broken. It had been three long days since he’d opened his mouth and made a fatal mistake – three days where Sean would hold his hand, but hadn’t kissed him. For three nights Caden had been encouraged to go to bed alone, because Sean had just one more thing he had to do. Three mornings Caden had woken up in bed alone, with only a lingering scent on the sheets letting him know Sean had been there at all.
Admittedly, Caden knew his mate was doing his best to ensure the trap the men were setting for Collins and anyone who happened to come with him was air tight. Sean was working around the clock, analyzing plan after plan, trying to keep him safe, which is what an Alpha wolf would do. But Caden was more worried about what would happen after Collins had been captured. Would Sean leave him and go on living the life of a carefree bachelor? With the threat to his life gone, would Sean ever want to be around him again?
The moisture in his eyes had him reaching for the toilet tissue. He couldn’t bear the thought of having to go through makeup again. Although the way he was feeling, Caden was half inclined to stay in the bathroom until the stupid interview was over, until everyone had gone home. Hell, he could stay in his little hideaway until Hell itself froze over. The more Caden thought about it, the more he knew he couldn’t do the interview – couldn’t play his part. Now that Sean had made it plain he didn’t want anything to do with him, Caden didn’t care if Collins found him. Death would be a preferable alternative to living with nothing but emptiness in his life.
But what about the children? Mickey’s words resounded in his head and Caden sighed and stood up, straightening his clothes. He knew what he had to do, but as he stalked out of the bathroom he was determined he would wrestle as much control as he could out of the wretched situation.
/~/~/~/~/
Sean felt his arm tugged roughly as Felix pulled him out of the waiting room, and slammed him against the wall. He surprised me, Sean thought. He couldn’t have done that otherwise. He snarled at Felix, who didn’t seem at all worried about it and in fact, snarled back. For a human, Felix would have made an impressive wolf shifter.
“Problem Felix?” A show of teeth might not have been necessary, but Sean’s nerves had been on a knife edge for the past three days.
“I was going to ask you the same thing.” Felix wasn’t fazed by teeth either – interesting. “Why the hell are you being an ass to Caden? He doesn’t need your shit when he’s worried sick about the interview.”
Sean stood as straight as he could, and smoothed down his suit jacket. “I haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about. Caden and I are fine.”
“Oh yeah?” Felix stepped right into Sean’s personal space
and Sean had nowhere to go. His back was hard against the wall, but if he lashed out at Felix, Liam would have his throat. “If everything’s all rosy and sunshine, then why did my friend go racing out of here with tears in his eyes?”
“I wasn’t anywhere near him, you were. So I should be asking you the same question,” Sean blustered, although inside his heart was aching. He knew there was something wrong with Caden. What’s more he knew exactly what that something was. But he was hardly going to talk to Felix about it.
“And why weren’t you with him?” Felix moved even closer and gripped Sean’s suit jacket like he was going to throw him to the floor or punch him. Either scenario was likely. Sean’s wolf rose at the challenge, but Felix was either too angry, or too stupid to recognize the threat.
“You’re his mate, asshole. Mates can’t keep their hands off each other. You’ve been keeping your distance from Caden for three fucking days. Did you think we were all too stupid to notice?”
“It’s none of your business, Felix. Now let me go or you’ll be sorry,” Sean growled. He would put Felix down if he had to, his wolf wouldn’t allow anything else.
“Let him go, Felix,” Caden’s voice called down the hallway.
“Caden.” Felix let go of Sean’s suit and stepped back. “I was just…”
“I know what you were trying to do Felix and I thank you for it. But everything’s fine. If you must know, I made the mistake of telling Sean I loved him. He doesn’t feel the same way. Now, I want to get this interview over and done with, then I am heading back to L.A. alone. I will be the verbal bait for your trap, because those kids in my ex-pack deserve a better life than the one they have. But as soon as this interview is over, so is my part in all of this. Sean can go back to his life, and I’ll go back to mine.”
“Caden, that’s not…”
“Mr. Wolfe?” Sean saw another man with a clipboard appear around the corner. “We’re ready for you now.” Caden gave a brief nod to Felix, and ignoring Sean completely, he turned and followed the man with the clipboard.
“You’re an even bigger ass than I thought,” Felix snarled quietly. “I hope you realize what you’ve just lost there, Alpha. There isn’t any level of groveling in the world to make up for what you’ve done to my friend. I know that only an idiot would throw away the love of a mate, and I’m human.”
Felix stalked into the waiting room, probably into Liam’s open arms. Within seconds his brother would also know that Sean had apparently taken Caden’s heart and smashed it to smithereens, turned their mating into a mockery, and committed the unforgivable sin of hurting an Omega wolf. Sean was having trouble getting his feet to move. It was as though he was frozen solid. He knew if he moved one tiny inch his whole body would shatter into a million pieces. With his wolf howling and snarling in his head, desperate to get to Caden, Sean stood and looked down the empty hallway. For the first time in his life, Sean didn’t have a clue what to do.
Chapter Twenty-One
“So do you want to tell me why my son, a man I have always been so fucking proud of, was incapable of telling his mate that he loved him?”
“Christ, Dad, does everyone know the reasons why Caden left?” Sean snapped. He was hardly a model of patience at the best of times. Sitting in a motel on the edge of Williams, waiting for an attack by a rogue Alpha was enough to set his teeth on edge on any normal day. Knowing his mate had flown back to L.A. with Marla just compounded the situation.
Caden hadn’t said a word to him since they had seen each other in the hallway. The interview had gone perfectly. Caden was charming, funny and flirtatious. He’d dropped all of the hints that Matt and Josiah had asked him too, and even managed to talk about his “engagement” without missing a beat. Sean hoped he was the only one who noticed the slightly red-rimmed eyes, and how Caden’s gorgeous smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Liam told me all about it when I asked him why the hell my son would allow his claimed Omega to leave town without him. I thought you were being a gentleman and ensuring Caden’s safety, but when I was informed that Caden left with a human woman, no guards, enforcers or anything, I figured you had been knocked on the head. Now, I’m sure of it. I’m fucking glad that Liam and Felix decided to head back too, or I would be really worried.”
“My head is fine, Dad. I’m an Alpha. We don’t go spouting off about loving someone. Hell, I don’t even know what the word means, and I bet most other people don’t either. It’s just a fucking word.” Sean thumped his feet on the faux wood coffee table, feeling it shake under his boots. Stupid thing would probably break under his weight and a perverse part of him wished it would. Breaking something might make him feel better.
The motel they were holed up in was luxurious and all, but Sean hated the bland wall paper, the hard cushions on the easy chairs, and the faint smell of cleaning products. It was clean, it had the basics, but just being confined in such a sterile place made Sean’s skin crawl. Normally he would be quite at home in such immaculate surroundings, but since meeting his mate - his mind flicked back to the messiness of Caden’s bed. Now that was comfortable…
“Love’s just a word, eh?” Ian’s feet joined Sean’s on the table, and the table threatened to tip, before it stopped shaking. “So, you don’t miss him at all, then?”
“Of course I do. We’re mated and I have gotten used to him being around.” Sean took a swig of his beer, and stared at the ceiling. Could do with a wash, he thought idly.
“And you’re not worried about him at all?”
Ian seemed to have an agenda, but Sean couldn’t work out what it was. He gave a mental shrug. He had enough respect for his dad to hear him out. Not as though they could do much else until Collins showed up. And he would show up. Caden had done all that was asked of him, laying a trail from the studio, to the motel, albeit by car, but if anyone was watching they would know where Caden was supposed to be staying. Caden’s scent was all over the door, and some of his dirty laundry was in the bathroom, and on the bed. Any wolf with half a nose would smell his presence.
“I’m an Alpha, he’s my mate. I’m hard-wired to worry about him. But he’ll be fine. He’ll go back to his loft and start painting again, I imagine. He never does anything else.”
“Hmm, is that right?” Ian’s voice sounded amused, and Sean straightened, looking at his dad suspiciously.
“It’s all Caden ever does, Dad. He doesn’t go out. He hates publicity and he’s scared of his own shadow.”
“Oh.” Ian shrugged his massive shoulders. “Liam must have got his facts wrong then. I’m sure I heard that he and Felix were meeting Caden at your club tonight. They’re all having dinner together. Liam said it was something Caden and Felix used to do all of the time before you two boys claimed them. Maybe I got the night wrong.”
Sean seethed as a picture of Caden walking into his club, wearing those tight pants, and that ‘fuck me’ coat of his burned in his brain. He wasn’t blind; he’d seen how much interest his mate had attracted on their one and only date.
“How could Liam be so fucking stupid? Caden’s in danger if he goes out.”
Ian snorted, and took a drink of his beer, looking far too relaxed considering the situation they were in. “I know you’re the older brother and all, but Liam is perfectly capable of keeping an eye on Caden in his own freaking club. He’s an Alpha wolf too.”
“Yes, he’s an Alpha, but he’s so fucking obsessed with Felix, he won’t be thinking about anything else. Caden could get hit on, or mugged, or anything.”
“He’ll get hit on all right. He’s a pretty man, that mate of yours; sexy, rich and talented. They’ll be lining up in droves for a chance at him, I imagine. But why should it bother you? You said yourself you don’t love him. Why should you care what he does?”
Shit. Sean was going to hit his father in a minute. He hadn’t said that at all. There were sexy men at the Rising Moon club – Sean should know; he’d fucked more than his fair share of them. But they acted like a pack
of fucking piranhas and Caden was fresh meat.
But Ian had made a good point with his ‘mate of yours’ statement. Caden was his mate, so he couldn’t get aroused by anyone else. Sean had nothing to worry about. He leaned back and took another swig of his beer.
“I bet he’s an amazing dancer, your mate,” Ian said, his head back and eyes closed as though he was imagining Caden moving to some mythical beat.
Sean didn’t know if Caden could dance, but given his grace, that lithe slim body, and his shifter genetics…Sean stifled a groan. Damn it, now he was imagining it. Caden dancing in the club, men all around him, but in Sean’s head the spotlight was only on his mate. He’d move with such grace, flinging his head about, that flop of hair hanging over his eye just so, those pouty lips probably slightly open because he’d be getting hot. He’d probably take his shirt off; most men in the club did, tucking his shirt into the back pocket of his pants, showcasing that slim torso and gorgeous ass of his.
“I used to go dancing with your mother all the time,” Ian mused quietly. “It was the most delicious foreplay. I remember those touches, glances, bumping body parts together, holding her close and burying my nose in her hair.”
Sean had a vivid imagination. He could see the scene as if he were in it. He imagined how it would feel to have Caden in his arms, rubbing his cock against that tight behind, Caden’s arms lifted and wrapped around his neck leaving Sean’s hands to roam up and down that sexy body…
“I do hope Caden finds someone to love him, someone who’ll treat him right. I imagine you are thinking the same thing.” Ian’s words doused him like a cold hose, and Sean glared at his dad.
“I’ve claimed him, he’s claimed me. He won’t be having sex with anyone else again.”
“He’s a bottom I presume, so there is nothing stopping anyone having sex with him, provided they use lube of course,” Ian said, apparently unconcerned with Sean’s bad temper. “And I wasn’t talking about sex. Caden has that look that makes big men want to protect him, cuddle him close and keep him safe. If he can find one patient enough, another shifter, for example, he and his new partner could work through things easily enough. Both Patrick and George have asked for time off so they can go visit the sweet man in L.A. as soon as this business is over.”