by L. P. Maxa
“Oh my god, don’t stop.”
Her cries were getting louder, and he fucking loved it. He switched to the other breast and she started to meet him, thrust for thrust. She was keeping up with him and demanding more. He was hammering into her, fighting his orgasm with everything he had. She felt so fucking fantastic; her pussy was gripping his dick like a fist. “Fuck, baby…”
The headboard was slamming into the wall, no doubt damaging the drywall beyond repair. But there was no stopping, not now. They were on the edge, only needing another few seconds before they both flew over. “Don’t stop, Baze, it’s so good.”
He sucked again, using his fingers to tweak the other nipple at the same time. She screamed out her release, and his name over and over. He buried himself inside her, as far as he could possibly go. She milked his cock and he came for what felt like forever.
***
“You couldn’t sleep either?” Baze walked past Jace and opened the fridge. He pulled out the pan of leftover enchiladas and one of Linc’s beers. Pen was in a deep sleep and he hadn’t wanted to wake her with all his tossing and turning. He didn’t feel restless; it was almost like he was on the prowl.
Whether it was finally bonding with his girl after all this time, or the events from earlier tonight, his shifter was on guard.
“Nah, tonight was a lot.” Jace shut the laptop he’d been typing on. “But even though it doesn’t seem like it, it was a point in our favor.”
“I get it, man.” Baze took a big bite, then talked around it. “Franklin doesn’t act out of anger, and tonight he did.” After the girls had gone back upstairs, they’d contacted Matias. He’d removed over eight hundred thousand from Franklin’s main account that afternoon. They’d been a little surprised that he’d noticed so quickly, but again Matias had been right. Money meant the most to him. “I mean, a rabid fox? That’s a little insane.”
“He used to call me a clever little fox.” Jace’s voice was low, quiet. “When I was younger, I’d hide from him. Especially when I knew I was going to be punished. I was so young, maybe four the first time I remember doing it? The fox was for me.”
Baze’s heart dropped at Jace’s memory. Who had to grow up like that? The fact that Jace hadn’t turned into a monster like his father was a true miracle. “Jace.”
“It’s okay.” He shook his head, meeting Baze’s eyes. “Don’t feel sorry for me. I made it out, and now I have the power it’s going to take to end him once and for all.”
Power the kid did have; he had it in spades. “I’m lucky to have you as my second.” It was the first time Baze had acknowledged their pack standing out loud like that. But it felt right, and it felt warranted. “You’ve saved us. You’ve saved this pack. You have the knowledge, you have the skill. You have what it takes to do what needs to be done. You’re the best beta a man could ask for.”
Jace let a smile ghost over his lips. “I take it you forgive me for the whole mate sharing thing then?”
Baze pointed at him with his fork. “I find you checking out my girl, I’ll slit your throat.”
Jace chuckled quietly. “Honestly, when I first read about it, I was kind of terrified. I don’t really want the universe deciding anything else for me for a while.” He took Baze’s beer and finished it in one swallow. “It’s not like that though, I promise.”
“What’s it like? How does it feel?” Baze wasn’t jealous, not anymore. He was curious though.
“I think about her a lot. Like I wonder if she’s safe, or if she’s cold or if she’s happy. It started happening after I questioned her about the kidnapping. When she left the room, I kind of wanted to follow her.” Jace grimaced. “And tonight when you yelled at her? I felt like my brain was being ripped in two. I wanted to yell also; how dumb was it to go investigate like they did? But at the same time, I wanted to punch you in the gut for talking to her like that.”
“Does that happen all the time?” Poor kid, the universe kept shitting on him. All the problems of a bonded male without any of the perks.
“It’s becoming increasingly frequent.” He sighed. “I’m not jealous of you though, and I don’t lie awake and think of her naked or anything.”
“Well, thank god for small favors.” Baze sent him a tight smile. “I wouldn’t want to have to kill you.”
“Just the sperm donor, huh?” Jasper breezed into the kitchen followed by Linc. He went to the fridge and grabbed two beers, handing one to his older guru. When Baze pointed at the beer and then him, he shrugged. “I can’t sleep, the beer should help.”
“No amount of sex is getting rid of this energy I have right now. You?” Linc leaned his elbows on the bar, looking at him.
Baze shook his head. “I can’t sleep at all, man. I don’t even feel remotely tired.”
“I could run a fucking marathon right now if someone asked me to.” Dom came into the room, immediately grabbing the pan of leftovers and sliding it his way. “What gives?”
“Don’t know.” Keller stepped in the kitchen and sat down next to Jace at the island. “But this is going to suck some major donkey dick tomorrow.”
“Corey said I could skip school.” Riley came in, a pleased smile on his face.
Jasper rolled his eyes. “She’s not your mom, she can’t write you a note because your bitch ass is draggin’.”
She couldn’t, but she no doubt would if he asked her to. Corey and Riley had formed a special bond long before they figured out that he was cosmically linked to the baby. Jasper and Linc were so much alike, it was scary. And now Jace was Baze’s beta, and had an odd new bond with his mate. Living in a pack like they were was going to be a huge learning experience for all of them.
“So. Are we going to talk about the fact that Baze is our alpha? Or are we going to pretend it’s not happening?” Keller pursed his lips, looking around the kitchen island.
“Do we have to discuss it? I feel like if we start to tell him how great he’s doing, he’ll get a big ego to go along with his big pack role.” Linc made a gagging noise and then took another gulp of his beer.
Did Pen say something to them? Did she say something to the other girls? Or had they really noticed it on their own, like Pen had when she’d first come back into his life? Baze cut a glance at Jace, and his beta gave him a slight shake of his head. He didn’t know where all this was coming from either.
“I didn’t ask for this.” Baze wanted it to be clear that he didn’t take the position from anyone, that he didn’t want it. That he thought any one of them would have made a great alpha. Well. Except for Linc.
Dom clapped him on the shoulder. “We know you didn’t, bro.”
“But you’re good at it.” Riley nodded. “You and Jace both.”
“My brother, the Lex Luthor of pack betas.” Jasper held his beer up in a one-man salute. “Franklin’s not going to know what hit him.”
“I’ll cheers to that.” Linc held his drink high, and the rest of them held whatever was in their hands, whether it be a fork or a cell phone. “Let’s kill this mean bastard so we can go back to our own places. Madden refuses to give me those screams I like with kids living in the same house.”
After another few minutes of giving each other a hard time, everyone went back to their rooms. Baze didn’t know about the rest of his pack, but when he lay down he finally felt like he could rest.
His girl was by his side, his friends had his back, and in this moment all was right in his world.
Chapter Thirty
Penelope
“I’m getting a little tired of being locked in this house.” She looked to her right where Corey had been sitting for the last two hours. “How ’bout you?”
“Are you kidding me? I feel like I’m crawling out of my own overly stretched skin.”
Jace had been tasked with staying home to keep an eye on her and Corey. But the rest of the group had gone to work. With everything that happened last night, they were moving up their timeline. Before the end of the school day, Dean Mc
Cormick would be served with papers shutting the school down temporarily. Matias had forged them, fake phone numbers included. St. Leasing would be closed until next Tuesday, when the “asbestos” could be tested.
“You want to go for a walk? Get some fresh air?”
Corey looked down at her rounded belly, where a carton of yogurt was currently balanced. “Really?”
“It’ll do us both some good.” Pen got to her feet, and then helped Corey do the same. “You know that this house is going on lockdown the second everyone gets home, right? We’ll be prisoners until Franklin is taken care of, so we might as well enjoy the outdoors while we can.”
“Ugh. You’re right.”
They made it to the back door before Jace came around the corner to stop them. “Where do you two think you’re going? Did you hear gunshots? Are you going to investigate?”
“Funny.” Corey rolled her eyes and opened the sliding glass doors with dramatic flair. “Come on, beta, take us on a walk.”
Before Baze left for work he’d filled Pen in on his conversation with the guys last night. She was so glad that there were no more secrets and that everything was out in the open. Now Baze could act like the pack alpha he was without worrying what everyone else was going to think.
Her mate was alpha. She smiled at the thought. She’d kept him at arm’s length, afraid to get to know the man he’d become. She’d worried that he wouldn’t be like the boy she’d fallen in love with. But she had been wrong: he was everything she remembered and more. He’d grown into such an amazing guy, and he was all hers. Forever.
Jace helped Corey down the back steps and then waited for Pen. She could see his hand twitch at his side. He wanted to help her too, wanted to make sure she didn’t fall either. It was sweet, and a little odd. She was used to Baze being protective, but not Jace, not yet. She’d learned about mate sharing in packs, but like the other things that hadn’t concerned her back then, she hadn’t paid close attention. If she was actually going to teach a class one day, she would have to re-learn everything.
“We’re staying inside the interior fencing.” Jace was walking between them, alternating his attention.
“So, how’s the big plan going?” Corey put her hand on her lower back.
“The plan to kill Franklin?”
“Shush?” Corey looked up into the sky. “Aren’t you worried he’s listening? We’re outside, he could have the same drones you do.”
Pen had thought the same thing, but Jace shook his head. “There are so many scramblers around the house that there is no way any listening devices would work.” He tapped the side of his skull. “I know the way he works, which means I know all the ways to foil him.”
Corey stopped and sat on a wood and steel bench that was placed by a concrete fountain Pen had never seen before. “You need to talk to me, kiddo. I need to know that offing the man you share DNA with isn’t going to cause you any lasting damage.”
Pen knew that Corey was a counselor, but this was the first time that she’d witnessed her slipping into that role. Her tone changed, her whole demeanor changed. Jace took Pen’s hand in his and she followed along behind him as they made their way to the bench. If Corey noticed the gesture, she didn’t say anything. The three of them were sitting, watching the water bubble up and out of the small water feature.
“I used to wonder why he hated me, why he wanted to hurt me. But then the older I got, I stopped caring about the why. It was like I shut down when it came to him.” Pen almost stopped breathing when Jace began to openly talk about his father. She assumed he’d change the subject, or simply go silent. But Corey had asked him to talk, so he was. “When he came to town and hurt Jasper, all the anger and hatred I’d been burying came back to the surface.”
“I know, we’ve discussed at length how hard it was for you to see your brother abused like you were.” Corey put her hand on his back. “It was hard for you to let that anger go too. Has it come back? Is that what this is about?”
“It’s a different type of anger. It’s like this controlled burn inside me or something.” He was looking out into the yard, his eyes constantly searching for hidden dangers. “He’s hurt so many people I love, not only my twin. My family, my pack, everyone is in danger now. And no matter how many steps ahead we get or how hard we try, we don’t have anything we need to put him away.” He glanced at Pen, and then to his hands. “I even contacted Matias on my own, asked him to use his hacker skills to see if he could find anything to give to the Feds on Franklin. I’d never been able to, but I thought maybe a fresh set of eyes would help.”
“I take it he came up empty-handed too?” Corey started rubbing circles on his back, and suddenly Jace looked like a little boy. He looked young and tired, like he needed to lay his head down and take a nap.
He nodded. “Yeah.” He was quiet for another few minutes, like Corey and the water were lulling him to sleep. “We don’t have another choice. He has to die.”
“Jace, you need to understand that killing your father—”
“No.” He turned to face Corey. “He’s not my family, he’s nothing more than a monster that’s threatening everything and everyone I love. Killing him will do nothing but bring me the peace I’ve been denied since the day my mother let him take me.”
“Okay. Okay, kiddo.” Corey kept rubbing his back and the water kept flowing in the fountain.
They both watched as his eyelids got heavy and his shoulders started to slump. Corey leaned forward a bit and met Pen’s gaze. She gestured to the kid sitting between them and then she helped him lie down with his head in Pen’s lap.
Pen started to rub her fingers through his hair and with every stroke her love for him grew. It wasn’t like her love for Baze, or even her love for her friends. It was different, softer. She wanted him to be safe, and she wanted him to be happy. She wanted to make sure he got the peace he deserved.
Eventually Dom came out, helping Corey to her feet. And then a few moments later, Baze stepped around the corner. He smiled at her, and then sat where Corey had been. He leaned down and picked up Jace’s feet, putting them into his own lap.
“He’s just a boy,” Pen whispered as she rubbed his soft hair.
Baze had his hand on Jace’s shin, the gesture so fatherly it made her heart ache. “He’s a man who never got the chance to be a boy.”
“It’s time now, isn’t it? The next time we leave this house it’ll be because Franklin is gone and we’re all safe.”
Baze nodded. “Matias took the rest of his money about thirty minutes ago.”
“Should we wake him?” She looked down at her mate’s beta; he was sleeping so soundly in her lap. His hands were resting under his cheek and he appeared so young.
“No, we can let him sleep for a few more minutes. We can give him that.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Baze
When he walked around the corner to find Jace sleeping soundly in his mate’s lap, he wasn’t mad; he wasn’t even jealous. Instead he felt at ease. Like it was right, and it was good. Jace didn’t want to take Pen from him. Baze knew that like he knew the sky was blue and the grass was green. It was a fact among facts.
He also knew that Jace needed them, him and his girl. He needed to have a safe space, somewhere he could be vulnerable. Baze had that with Pen, and now so did Jace. Until he found his forever, and then she would be his reprieve from the stresses of running a pack full of shifters.
He knew that Jace would be embarrassed if he woke up and Baze was there. So when he started to stir, Baze went back into the house.
“Where’s my twin?” Jasper walked into the living room, munching on an apple. “Plotting daddy dearest’s demise?”
“He’s talking to Pen.” Baze cut a glance to Dom and Corey, the only other two people in the house who knew what Jace was really doing. Corey sent him a smile and Dom a slight nod. Neither of them were going to say anything and ruin Jace’s small moment of peace.
“About what?” he sp
oke around a mouth full of fruit, spitting juice everywhere.
“None of your fucking business. And close your mouth when you chew, you ingrate.” Jace came into the house through the doors leading to the deck, Pen trailing behind him. “Baze? A word?”
“Sure.” Baze got to his feet and followed Jace to his über techno office, pausing to give Pen a kiss on his way.
“I’m sorry about—”
“Stop.” Baze held his palm out. “Don’t apologize for that, okay? I’m glad you got some rest. It’s going to be a long night.”
“Yeah, but she’s your mate and I shouldn’t have—”
“Quit.” He shook his head. “I’m serious, man, it’s okay.” And it was.
“Okay.”
“Okay. Good.” Baze sat in the leather chair, his hands resting on the cool metal arms. “What’s step one? How do we do this?”
“Step one is convincing the girls to climb into my safe room and stay there until we let them out.” Jace sat behind his desk, his fingers flying across his keyboard. “Absolutely nothing can get to them, it’s state of the art.”
“I had no doubt.” Everything about the kid was fancy and electronic. “But we both know that no matter how nice it is, they aren’t going to want to be separated from us.”
“I know. That’s why you’re going to get Pen to help.” Jace looked away from the screen, shooting him a quick grin. “And then, step two is shutting down some of the security measures. Which will be tricky because we need to make sure that Franklin doesn’t get suspicious or spooked.”
“How’s that?”
“If I shut everything off, he’ll know it’s a trap.” Jace slid a piece of paper across his desk, pointing with his finger to a blueprint of the compound. “But if I do it systematically, he’ll think it’s simply a system malfunction.” Jace turned his large monitor around. “Lucky for us, there’s a storm coming.”