The Link That Binds

by Dawn H. Hawkes

  Link watched as Jace slept, sprawled all over the bed with the sheets just barely covering the man’s ass. An incredulous smile crept across Link’s face. These… feelings he was developing for the guy were unsettling, but, whenever he looked at Jace, all he wanted was to pull him closer.

  They’d settled into a sort of routine the past couple of weeks and during that time Link hadn’t stayed a full night at the bar, cutting down his hours by a third of what was usual. Whenever he tried to stay longer, the scar on the side of his neck would eventually start to itch and heat up and he ended up walking around with a hard-on that just wouldn’t quit.

  So now he’d gone as far as hiring another bartender to pick up the slack and to keep Trey company whenever Link needed to take off.

  By the time Link got back, Jace would either jump him or be waiting for him in bed, primed and at the ready. Link wasn’t a fool, Jace’s heat had passed, but it seemed his own had just started and Jace seemed to have a wonderful time reminding him.

  But it wasn’t all sex either. Some nights they would just sit, somewhat snuggly, on the couch in the pride’s media room watching some lame-ass comedy and talk… Link couldn’t really remember ever just hanging out with anybody like that before. They usually ended up making out on the couch with Jace rubbing himself all over him. Somehow they always managed to make their way to Jace’s bedroom without really noticing the journey there.

  Link also loved to tease Jace, he was just so damn adorable when he snapped or started growling at him.

  Jace had let out a string of curses when, in front of the entire pride, Link had pulled him onto his lap at the dinner table, mimicking the way Maddox always seemed to have his lap full of Leo. Link was almost afraid Jace would end up shredding him to tiny bits when he held up the piece of barely cooked steak to his mate’s lips, but was surprised when Jace ate the meat from his hand.

  Jace’s ears had turned a pale pink in the process, as he grumbled and squirmed every so often, testing Link’s grip on him. Link was even more surprised to discover Jace’s rock-hard dick when he’d put his hand down to rub Jace’s thigh, almost causing an incident right there at the dinner table.

  Now, watching Jace sleep, Link had long decided that there were a hell of a lot of worse things in the world than waking up to the same man every morning for the rest of his life, particularly if that man happened to be Jace.

  Jace wasn’t just a sexy piece of meat; he was feisty and smart and caring… a bit wicked at times and lewd as all hell.

  Stretching out his hand, he couldn’t help but play with a stray lock of Jace’s hair, tugging on it lightly. Jace made a rumbling sound and sleepily batted his hand in Link’s direction before stilling again, the frown that had creased his face vanishing.

  Link barely managed to suppress a chuckle, turned out his mate could be pretty damn cute even when he didn’t try to… although Jace’s version of cute leaned more on the not-so-innocent catholic school girl side.

  Hearing something vibrate down on the floor, Link fished his cell-phone out of the pocket of his jeans.

  Fuck. He had two missed calls from Debra and a text telling him to quit jerking off and answer the damn phone.

  Glancing back at Jace, Link really didn’t look forward to the talk they would soon need to have. Solomon’s deadline was already running out and, whenever Debra started reaching out to him she usually kept pestering him for weeks before leaving him alone again.

  Link was worried that Jace might turn him away once he knew his secret. He didn’t think he would, but still, there was always a sliver of a chance that Jace might turn his back on him.

  Hopefully, his mate being a shifter would keep him at his side because even as much as Link had started to need and feel for Jace, his mate had been drawn to him by much stronger powers. Link was Jace’s mate and Jace had obviously tried to keep away from him before and when you compared his secret to working for vampires and dealing drugs, then it did seem somewhat tame in comparison, even if it might pose a whole new spectrum of issues for Jace.

  But Jace wouldn’t push him away; push him around and bitch, sure, but he wouldn’t turn Link away and Link somewhat reluctantly realized that he would never let him.

  The cell started vibrating again and Link, reluctant to leave Jace’s bed, grumbled as he was forced up. He stepped into the bathroom, making sure to close the door behind him. Whatever Debra had to say to him, he hoped she’d be quick about it. Couldn’t be an emergency or she’d have written it in the text, so she was probably calling to bitch about something.

  “What do you want, Debra?” Link growled as he took the call, trying to control the volume of his voice so not to wake Jace from his peaceful slumber.

  “You’ve got some nerve, Link,” a female voice growled right back at him.

  “You’re the one calling in the middle of the night, you wench, so don’t you fucking talk to me about nerve. This better be important.”

  “Oh right, you are absolutely right, this is my bad.”

  Link could almost hear the sneer in Debra’s voice.

  “Well guess what, dear, it isn’t my fucking fault you’ve got some floozy on a string, thinking you have something together and is fucking coming to ME for answers about who you’re fucking now. She showed up at my fucking job, Link! It was goddamned lucky the manager wasn’t there. Last thing I fucking need is being on that prick’s radar.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Debra? The only women I’ve been with this past year have been one-night fucks and, I assure you, none of them had any misconceptions that it was anything more than that,” Link growled.

  “Yeah, well, Miss Peroxide Blonde Psycho seems to think otherwise and apparently she’s really distraught by the fact you’ve strayed from her so you could go and fuck some tight twink ass.”

  Twink ass? Link looked at the door in the direction of where Jace would be sleeping, certain his mate would not be happy knowing he’d been classified as a twink… although he did have an awesome tight ass.

  Frowning, Link asked, “Debra listen to me, this woman, did she give you a name?” Link had a sneaking suspicion about what was going on, but prayed he was wrong… please let it just be some stalker groupie.

  “No, she didn’t give me her name.” Debra stated, in an annoyed, but calmer tone. “I swear to god, Link, if this woman is going to cause problems for us…” She drifted off and Link knew exactly what she referred to.

  “I can’t be sure, Debra, but if she does, I have people who might be able to help us now.” Link sighed.

  “What, your new boy-toy?” She snorted into the phone.

  “His name is Jace and he’s not going anywhere, not ever,” Link said, putting as much meaning into the words as he could. The other end of the call went still for a while and Link tensed waiting for the reply.

  “Yeah, I never really thought you’d settle down with another woman, again,” Debra stated with something oddly resembling a caring, but annoyed tone. “If this is the real deal, Link, then I’m happy for you, I really am.”

  Link had to admit he was taken a little aback at Debra’s acceptance, but he hadn’t realized how much he craved her consent. They’d been through too much for him not to care about her or about what she thought.

  “But seriously,” Debra continued, her voice losing all trace of caring and tenderness, “if something happens because of you and your hobbies, you better pray you go down with it or else I’m gonna hunt you down and blow off every piece of your body, one by one ‘til there’s nothing left but a mangled upper torso and a head.” With that said the call went dead as Debra disconnected.

  Damn. The woman sure had a way with words.

  * * * *

  Debra’s phone call still buzzed through his mind as he sat in the office behind the bar checking this month’s numbers. He couldn’t be sure, but whoever had been yapping off at Deb sounded way too much like Christa, Mika’s psycho wanna-be girlfriend, for Link’s comfort.


  He knew he would have to talk with Solomon, but he didn’t really know if the guy would help him out or not. Solomon had kept his word and not told Jace about his secret, but he also knew he couldn’t hold off telling him any longer. Definitely not, if the vampires had started sniffing around.

  Being with Jace was addicting and, frankly, if the guy wasn’t already mixed up with this vampire business, Link would have been out of there in a minute. But backing out now would do nothing to keep Jace safe. He had no excuse to let Jace slip away… and, honestly, just that felt pretty good, although his flight instincts were bickering a bit.

  “Deep in thoughts, Link?” A sneer sounded from one of the corners of the room.

  Link started and shot to his feet, his hand reaching for his gun at the same time.

  “Don’t bother, Link.” Mika chuffed, stepping into the light. “You think a little piece of lead is gonna stop me?”

  While Link was used to Mika looking like shit, he nearly winced at the crazed look in his eyes. He looked sick.

  “What? No ‘welcome, Mika’?” he chuckled darkly. “No matter. Not here to make friendlies. I’ve heard some rather distasteful rumors, Link,” Mika stated as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

  “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear,” Link replied as he sat back down, still keeping his gun trained on him.

  “DON’T lie to me, Link!” Mika yelled and Link could have sworn the guy’s eyes turned blood red for a second there.

  “You’ve been fucking that cat-shifter, Link, and I can’t help but wonder what else you’ve been doing for him. You know, other than reaming his ass.”

  Link gritted his teeth together to keep from talking back to the vamp. Mika looked pale and feverish. He didn’t get it. Mika had almost looked better the last time he saw the guy. Clearer somehow, but now…

  “I knew you were holding back on me. With the antidote. Should have figured it out when you told me you couldn’t solve the problem. Somehow I just figured you hated these beasts as much as my kind, non-sapiens so to speak. Wasn’t ‘til Shamus told me he’d seen you hanging around with defect Damian, and Christa told me she saw Jace lurking around the bar a couple of times that I realized you’re a goddamned fur lover.” Mika cackled.

  Thinking it best not to say anything, Link let the vampire rant.

  “Now, I know you have urges, Link, and it does occur to me that this just might be an opportunity for us to make some headway,” Mika said, wiping his hands on his pants as if they were clammy.

  Whatever was wrong with the guy couldn’t be just because of the drugs. Had he been human, these would have been reasonably understandable symptoms, but Mika was about as human as a dirty dishrag.

  “Solomon Jorgens has some files that I would very much like to get hold of,” Mika started, “And if you treasure the people in your life, you will retrieve them for me. As for Jace, I don’t really care if you fuck him or not, knock yourself out, but get me those files by tomorrow, or else the little kitties will be all you have left in this world.”

  Link sat very still as Mika got into his face and tried not to vomit at the stench of rotting blood oozing off Mika’s breath. “What files?”

  “That’s a good little drug dealer.”

  Chapter 12

  Link regretted that he hadn’t spent more time learning the layout to the manor. Solomon’s home wasn’t exactly lacking in rooms and hunting out his office wasn’t the easiest thing to do. He hadn’t exactly felt comfortable asking Damian about it either. He didn’t want there to be questions.

  He knew where the kitchen was, where Jace’s bedroom was and Damian had already pointed out Jace’s office to him before, but for the love of whatever, he had no fucking clue where Solomon’s office was located. He knew the office had to be somewhere on the first floor, but that was pretty much as far as his knowledge went. Why did the place have to be so damn large?

  Luckily he didn’t have to look too long for the pride leader. The first couple of rooms he checked were a complete waste of time, one room actually being a frickin’ broom closet. The third room he searched had a set of double doors, leading him into what looked like a library and he found Solomon talking quietly with a somewhat worn out looking Maddox.

  Solomon looked up to acknowledge him and Link could see Maddox tense. Solomon said something to the lion-shifter, who then turned to leave. As he passed Link on his way out, Link couldn’t remember anyone ever looking so defeated and… angry?

  “Link, you wanted to speak with me?” Solomon asked as he took his place behind a disturbingly similar desk to the one Jace had in his office.

  Shaking off the images of a naked Jace bent over it, Link started casual. “Is everything all right with Leo?”

  “Leo is fine and so is Maddox. Liam however, whom you just saw leaving, is having some personal issues.” Solomon stated, letting him know that this wasn’t something to be discussed further.

  “Liam? They’re twins?” Link frowned, wondering how he’d been able to miss such a thing. Granted he hadn’t exactly socialized much with Jace’s pride-mates since coming here, but still, he’d even been to dinner with them…

  “Yep, but somehow I don’t think you’re here to discuss the occurrence of twins in the pride. Is this about Jace, have you told him yet?”

  “What? No, this is about me. You remember Debra, whom you overheard me talking about?” He waited to continue until Solomon nodded. “Last night she got a visit by some woman at work, saying she was my girlfriend and looking for information on the twink I’ve been hooking up with.”

  “Twink huh? Bet Jace’ll love that one.” Solomon snickered.

  “Yeah, got a smile out of me too, but this is serious, Sol. She didn’t get her name, but Debra described her as a peroxide-blonde psychopath, and I don’t know about you, but there is one particular female I know fitting that description.”

  Solomon straightened, a look of disgust as he ground out her name. “Christa.”

  “Yeah and she was asking about Jace. Kind of hoped it was just some groupie. There’ve been some chicks who’ve just never really gotten the point, you know, but I got a visit at the bar tonight.”

  “Christa?” Sol asked.

  “No, Mika.” Link clarified. “He knows, Sol, and he’s holding a big fucking gun to my head right now. He wants files. Some crap of yours he apparently thinks would be useful.”

  Sitting back in his chair, Sol looked him over. “Then why are you telling me this? Why aren’t you sneaking in here in the middle of the night looking for those files?”

  Glaring back at the tiger, Link took a deep breath before biting out. “You fucking well know I would never do that to Jace and I’m also not dumb enough to think I could get away with it if I did. And even if I did, I could throw Mika a helluva lot farther than I trust the guy to keep his word.”

  Solomon nodded in understanding before picking up the phone. “Give me the address and I’ll call in a favor and have a security team come in and extract them.”

  Relief filled Link. Solomon would keep good on his promise. He knew he would. Now all he could do was hope Sol got them first.

  Link told Solomon the address and the man started dialing. Before pushing in the last digit though, he stopped and looked up at Link.

  “You better go tell Jace, ‘cause Link, your deadline’s just been pushed up.”

  Realizing the man’s words, Link swore… guess he couldn’t dodge the bullet anymore.

  * * * *

  Link watched Jace sleep a few more minutes, momentarily captured by the sight of the pale, flawless skin of his mate. It wasn’t often Jace slept when he came in, always ready for loving when he got back from work, but he’d headed home early, just as soon as he was certain Mika wasn’t following him.

  Link suspected Jace used an alarm clock so he’d be awake when he got back. The man did need his rest. Jace had a lot of work to handle and Link definitely constituted a distraction, but he always seemed to get things
done and be just as hot for Link’s touches whenever he was around.

  Sitting down on the bed next to Jace, his kitten stirred.

  “Jace? I need to talk to you.”

  * * * *

  “Kids?! You have kids?” Jace sputtered, he so couldn’t have heard that right. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Link seemed to take a deep breath and held Jace’s gaze locked with his. “I used to be married…”

  “You were married!?” Jace started again, eyes wide. “With a woma… mphm.” His words were suddenly muffled as Link’s hand covered his mouth and he was pushed down on the bed. Link’s body covered his and held him still. Jace took a moment to savor the feel of his mate’s hard body pressed against his ‘til he remembered what Link had just said. “Mphm!”

  “Her name is Debra Lawson and we were married for seven years,” Link continued. “During that time, we had two sons, Jason and Kyle.”

  Kids… he has kids… sons… two of them… whoa…

  Jace’s mind spun circles around the new info. This had to have been the last thing he’d ever expected to hear when Link roused him from his sleep, looking all sexy and bare chested… The bugger! He’d probably left his shirt off on purpose, just to distract him. Even his leopard snarled at the cheap trick. Bad mate!

  “Last night, Debra called me. A woman went to her work, asking about us. I’m pretty sure that it was Christa she was talking about,” Link explained, catching Jace’s attention. “Actually, I’m pretty damn certain seeing as Mika came to visit me today, baring fangs.”

  Jace almost sent Link flying to the floor when he sat up abruptly. “We’ve gotta get them out of there!” He was already halfway to his closet to hunt for a pair of pants when someone grabbed him and pulled him back.

  “Link, we can’t just let them stay there! Mika knows, dammit!” Jace snarled, his leopard roaring with him. He was completely caught off guard when Link pulled him into a hug and squeezed him.