by Lisa Oliver
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I hear shots being fired,” Josiah said as the SUV carrying him, Matt, Sean and Ian rounded the corner by Caden’s apartment.
“Fuck, Caden has a gun. If he’s resorted to firing it we’re too late,” Sean swore, slamming on the brakes. “You two,” he pointed at Josiah and Matt, “head for the door at the top of those stairs. It could be locked, but if it is, break the fucker down.”
“Where are we going?” His dad asked, hopping out of the vehicle.
“Heading for the fire escape, it’s quicker,” Sean said, sprinting around the side of the building. He saw the ladder to Caden’s apartment had already been pulled down, and his wolf rose up as he ran for it, climbing as fast as he could, his father hot on his heels.
As he reached the ledge, Sean heard the click, click noise of a gun with no bullets. He peered around the edge of the window to see Caden reloading, two decidedly bloody men on the floor.
“Caden,” he called out, as Caden turned, his gun pointed to the door, where Josiah and Matt were taking Sean at his word and trying to break it down. “Don’t shoot, it’s Matt and Josiah. Don’t shoot.”
Caden looked towards the window, and shifted his gun to the broken glass. Then he swung it again as the thumps on the door got louder. Sean knew he was taking a hell of a risk, but he stepped out to where Caden could see him, his hands raised high.
“Don’t shoot, precious. It’s the cavalry. A little late by the looks of things, but we made it.”
“Sean?”
“Yes, it’s me, precious,” Sean kept his voice low as he carefully stepped around the broken glass that littered Caden’s wooden floor. “Dad’s here too, and Josiah and Matt. Felix and Liam are on their way. Can you put the gun down?”
“I…err…I…” Caden waved his gun at the two men on the floor. The scar on Collins’ face gleamed under the harsh light, and Sean couldn’t help the pride he felt at his mate taking out such a despicable rogue single-handedly.
“They’re dead, precious. I’m sure they’re dead.” If they aren’t they soon would be, Sean thought as he stepped closer to his mate. The strong smell of blood, mixed with paint thinners, oil-based paints and the tension screaming off of his mate made his nose twitch. A quick glance at the bodies showed that both men had been hit more than once, and the pool of blood surrounding the bodies was at least a foot wide.
“I won’t let him take me,” Caden said, frantically. “I won’t be a slave anymore. I won’t go back, I won’t.”
“We’ll take care of it. You never have to see them again, precious,” Sean soothed as he moved closer. His little mate was clearly in shock, but with that wicked gun in his hands, Sean didn’t dare touch him. He heard the door open and looked up to see that Ian had unlocked it, Josiah and Matt bursting through the opening. Ian’s arm stopped them from coming into the room too far.
“How about you give me the gun, please precious.”
“I can’t. I’ve got to stop them. They were in my space.” Caden’s voice rose on a wail, and Sean moved without thinking, pulling the gun out of Caden’s hands, dropping it carefully onto the floor, and pulling his mate into his arms – where he belonged.
“Caden, Caden, it’s all right. No one is going to hurt you.” Sean tried to get the little Omega to calm down, but not a lot seemed to be working. Caden’s panic was rising and Sean did the only thing he could think of, and pushed his lips against Caden’s mouth as hard as he could.
Caden immediately relaxed in his arms, and opened his mouth to Sean’s tongue, and Sean gave a mental sigh of relief. Gods, he had missed his mate. But his relief was short-lived, because in under a minute, Caden had pulled back, and shoved Sean’s chest, hard. Sean, still in a kissing frame of mind, stepped back, frowning at Caden’s stern expression.
“What’s wrong?” Okay, dumb question.
“You have no right to kiss me,” Caden snarled. “You don’t love me and if I’ve got anything out of this mess it’s the knowledge that I deserve to be loved.”
“You do, you definitely do,” Sean said nodding his head and thinking fast. Conscious of the fact that his father and two council enforcers were standing in the room, he stepped close again, piercing Caden with his eyes, praying that there was a look of utter devotion on his face. Who knew? It’s not as though he’d ever practiced it in the mirror. “Tell me those words again, precious.”
Caden knew exactly what he was talking about and his eyes got brighter as he glared. “Why would I do that? So you can hurt me all over again? Why would I do that to myself?”
“Tell me those words again, please, precious. I want a do-over.” Sean looped his arms around Caden’s back, loose enough so the man could get away if he wanted.
“A do-over! You can’t get a do-over for that sort of thing.”
“Please, my mate, let me have this one do-over. Say the words for me again.”
“I don’t want to.” Caden pouted, and it was so cute. “I’ve changed my mind. I wasn’t thinking clearly the other day.”
Sean knew his little mate was lying, and he really couldn’t blame the man. His one moment of weakness and stupidity had caused Caden’s confidence in their mating to drop substantially, and Sean was going to have to work hard to fix it. But the smell of panic coming from Caden had been replaced with arousal, and Sean could work with that.
“Please, precious. For me.” Sean tried hard for the puppy dog look so many of his conquests had tried to use on him. He heard footsteps outside Caden’s door and knew his brother and Felix had arrived. Please don’t let Felix come in and break the moment.
“You don’t get a do-over when it comes to declarations of feelings.” Caden’s voice wasn’t as harsh as before, and Sean inched forward until there was barely an inch between them. He could feel the lump in Caden’s sleep pants, and that knowledge was playing havoc with his own cock.
“A do-over, what the…” Liam’s outburst was quickly cut off, and despite having a strong urge to look over and glare at his brother, Sean kept his eyes firmly on Caden’s.
“Please,” he whispered.
Caden huffed, and then huffed again. Come on, come on, please, please, please. “Fine. I love you. Happy now?”
“You have no idea,” Sean beamed. “And just for the record, I love you too, and I always will. I promise.”
Whatever Caden was going to say was cut off by Sean’s aggressive kiss. He had to taste those pouty lips again. He plunged his tongue into that moist mouth, feeling Caden’s arms wrap around his neck as Caden climbed his body. This was absolute heaven. Yes, there was blood on the floor and two bodies. Caden’s studio was an absolute mess. The smell from the evenings events still tickled Sean’s nose and he should probably be embarrassed by the clapping and cheers from the other men in the room. But in that moment, all Sean wanted to focus on was the man who had stolen his heart. Thank the Fates Caden was safe, and back where he belonged, in his arms.
/~/~/~/~/
“You know, you could probably appeal to a whole new genre of collectors, with these bullet-splattered canvases,” Felix said thoughtfully as he checked over the painting he was holding. Caden flicked a look at the one Felix was looking at, naked Sean with his wolf. A bullet had gone through the canvas, a neat hole the only blemish on an otherwise lovely piece of work.
“The whole lot is going to have to be dumped, burned, whatever,” Caden said with a sigh. The adrenaline that had fueled his rage, and allowed him to defend his territory was wearing off fast, and Caden found he could barely stand. He felt his knees go, and he started to fall. He dimly heard Felix call out to him but Sean was there, his big arms holding Caden close.
“I’ve got you.” Sean’s deep voice was soothing, and it helped, but Caden knew that his nervous system had hit a major overload.
“I need to go…” Caden looked around helplessly. Where would he go? He was in his home, but it had been trashed. Some super silent “clean-up crew” had removed the bodies and we
re working on the stains that had soaked into the floorboards. Caden had tried to insist that he would take care of his canvases himself, but… he was so tired, and he had a horrible suspicion he was going to cry, and he honestly didn’t want to appear weak again.
“You’re coming home with me,” Sean said firmly. “You need rest, lots of rest. This will all still be here tomorrow, or at least later on today.” Caden flicked a quick look at his clock. It was after three in the morning. No wonder he felt exhausted. Between the interview, the stress of thinking that Sean didn’t love him, and then…
“Come on,” Sean said, holding his shoulders and leading him away. “Josiah, you’ll lock up?” The mean-looking wolf shifter came over, Caden’s keys in his hand. Caden wondered why the man, who apparently had such an ingrained hatred for anything smaller or non-shifter, was looking at him with what Caden would swear was respect.
“Caden, what you did tonight took real guts,” Josiah said gruffly. “I’ve never known an Omega who could fend for themselves in such a capable manner. I’m proud to have met you.”
“Wow, umm…yes, well, thank you.” Caden felt his face heat up but he managed a smile.
“That is one impressive weapon you have there.” Josiah indicated the gun which was now resting on the kitchen counter. “However, you might want to reconsider your bullet choices, especially if you are trying to protect yourselves against shifters.”
“What do you…?”
“Josiah, can’t this wait. Caden needs to get to bed,” Sean interrupted. He didn’t sound very happy, and Caden managed a small smile in his direction.
“Please, Sean, just a minute. I need to know about things like this.” Now Sean didn’t look happy either and Caden realized with a rush that he was probably feeling like Caden didn’t trust his protective abilities. “You can’t be with me all the time,” he added. “This will just take a minute.” He looked back at Josiah.
“The AK47 looks mean, but it doesn’t have a very good kill percentage. There are guns out there with a lot more efficiency for your buck. The bullets in your weapon tend to go straight through, especially on a straight shot. You got lucky tonight because you were swinging the gun around so wildly, and had it on automatic, so the bullets were hitting the target at an angle, causing more damage. But you have to know that swinging a gun around like that means you are more likely to miss your target, than hit him.”
“Yeah, I know,” Caden said, and he knew his cheeks were bright red again. “The gun instructor I went to explained all that, well about the not swinging the gun part of things. I guess I panicked.”
“And you did really well. Those two won’t be bothering anyone else again.” Josiah reached into his back pocket and pulled out a card. “This has my personal cell number on it. When you have had time to relax and get things straightened out, give me a call, and we can talk about more suitable firearms and the types of bullet you can get through the council.”
“You can’t buy weaponry from the council.” Sean sounded very definite on that, but Josiah grinned.
“Who said anything about buying? I’ll make sure your mate gets everything he needs.” Sean snorted loudly, and Caden quickly slipped the card into the back of the jeans Sean had made him put on before the cleaning crew arrived.
“Thanks Josiah, I’ll leave you to it then.” He turned to Sean. “Can we get out of here now?”
Sean’s responding grin probably shouldn’t have been so lust filled or possessive, but Caden was beyond caring. Besides, it was a good look on his mate’s face. He just needed…fuck. He didn’t know what he needed, but hopefully Sean would be able to work it out. His brain was on the fritz and he needed to shut it down for a while.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sean lay on his side, softly twirling the long length of hair that Caden had on the top of his head. His mate was still sleeping, although from the amount of light that streamed into the bedroom, Sean guessed it was at least midday. By the time Sean had driven them to his place, the horror of what Caden had gone through and the impact of making his first kill had hit the little man hard. Sean had lain with Caden in his arms for hours, letting the smaller man cry, rant, and cry some more, until his mate had eventually fallen asleep. Sean had dozed off for a bit, but after keeping his distance from Caden for three days, and then the man almost getting killed – he and his wolf needed to keep an eye on the man. Gods, he had been so stupid.
“I can feel you staring at me,” Caden said softly, and Sean looked down to see sleepy blue eyes staring right back. “What’s got you thinking so hard?”
“Thinking about how stupid I was, and how I could have so easily lost you.” Sean shook his head. Where had that honesty come from? But his words had put a smile on his mate’s face. He stroked a finger down Caden’s cheek, thrilled at how soft the skin was. Caden never had to worry about shaving; he had no facial hair at all except for his fine eyebrows, and thick eyelashes.
“I don’t understand what happened,” Caden said, and a small frown appeared on his normally smooth brow. Sean wiped it away with his finger. “Okay, I probably shouldn’t have let my feelings spill out like they did, and I never expected you to say something similar back, but why did you treat me like I had the plague or something afterwards?”
This time it was Sean’s turn to frown as he thought about how to answer the question. “I think I was embarrassed. When you said what you did…”
“That I loved you or words to that effect.”
“Yeah. It caught me by surprise. I always thought if anyone was going to say something like that, it would have been me. After all you’ve been through in your life, I…” Oops. Caden’s glare let him know he was heading in the wrong conversational direction.
“You think because I’ve spent my life being abused, and treated as though I was the scum of the earth, that I don’t know the extent of my feelings? Didn’t you believe me?”
“Oh hell yes, I did believe you, I do believe you. I know you love me, and I love you too, I really do.” Sean leaned over and pressed a series of quick kisses across Caden’s mating mark. Caden’s skin was so warm, and he smelled so good, Sean’s cock responded with vigor. However, dense as he was about emotional matters, Sean knew he had to dig himself out the hole he had dug for himself, before he could try striking up a conversation with his body.
“Then what?”
“I guess I’m an Alpha in a lot of ways.” Caden snorted, and Sean ignored it, trying another tack. “I was only little when my mom died. But I do still remember how devastated Dad was. For about six months, I barely saw him. He didn’t want to run the pack. He let himself go – not washing, shaving or taking care of himself. He told me last night that he had wanted to die himself, and that the only thing that stopped him was because he had two boys to take care of. Liam was two years old before he started taking an interest in our daily lives, spending time with us and being more like his old self.”
“That must have been hard for you.” Sean felt Caden’s hand stroke his chest and leaned into the touch.
“I didn’t know any better, I was a child. But then, when I was about ten, my uncle’s mate died and they didn’t have any children. He was dead within a month of my aunt’s passing.”
“So you thought what? That if you love me and something happens to me, you’ll fall apart or something?”
“No, not exactly.” Sean was getting uncomfortable with this type of conversation, but Caden deserved to know why his own mate had treated him so coldly for three long days. “I thought that love made someone weak, especially if it was love between mates. I’m not proud of that idea, but after seeing what happened with my dad, and my uncle; watching my dad go through so much pain, and my uncle stopped wanting to live. How could I be a strong, decent Alpha if I let myself go the same way?”
Caden was quiet for a moment, but his hand was still stroking Sean’s skin, and Sean stayed focused on that. It was so lovely, simply being touched. It flashed through Sean’s mind
that Caden had never experienced affection until they met, and that sent a bolt of pain through his heart. No matter how his dad had struggled after his mother’s death, the man pulled himself together and Sean had always known he was loved by his father and his brother. Caden never had that.
“So what changed your mind? Why insist on your do-over, and then share your feelings, if you think it makes you weak?”
“Because my dad reminded me that I was dwelling on what might happen after a loved one was gone. I hadn’t even considered the sheer pleasure and joy that comes from being in love, and happy with a mate. On the trip back from Phoenix last night, he told me stories about how being with my mom had made him so much stronger while she was alive. They were together for more than twenty years before I was born. Dad told me, that even after her death, he never regretted a day that he’d spent with his mate. He told her he loved her within two days of meeting her, and made sure he repeated himself every single day, right up until she died. He said…” Sean broke off, blinking rapidly as his eyes were suddenly filled with tears. “He said that the words ‘I love you’ were the last words that passed my mother’s lips, and the last words she ever heard.”
“Oh my God, that is so beautiful, and so sad. Poor Ian.” Caden’s tears flowed freely, and Sean leant forward intent on kissing them away. That was one of the things he loved about his Omega – how easily Caden could feel compassion for others, even when his own life had been so hard. It was a good five minutes before both men broke apart long enough to continue the conversation.
“So you didn’t say anything, because you thought expressing any feelings you might have would make you weak?” Caden asked.