by Lynn Hagen
Chapter Ten
Since Leslie had stopped being pissed at him, the two couldn't keep their hands to themselves. Brady looked around to make sure no one was watching them, then grabbed Leslie's hand and dragged him toward the Pit. "Just some quick head, baby."
Leslie tugged at his hand. "What's in it for me, baby?"
Not wanting him to argue, Brady picked his mate up and tossed him over his shoulder, then hurried toward the bathroom. "You think I'd leave you out of the equation?"
Leslie laughed as he clung to Brady's shirt. God, Brady loved that sound. Laughter was a lot better than getting his ass chewed by his mate.
When they entered the Pit, Brady saw Hennessey behind the bar. Levi sat in one of the loungers, and Ethan and Pierce were shooting a game of pool. Brady whistled as he slowed his pace, pretending nothing was going in.
He reached the bathroom, turned, smiled at the fellas in the room, then twisted the knob and opened the door.
"Hey!" Tap said. "You ever hear of knocking?"
"You ever hear of locking a door?" Brady countered. He didn't want to take Leslie to one of the back rooms. They were used for sleeping between warrants, sure, but they were mainly used for fucking.
With a low growl, Brady headed back up front and went to the bathroom across the hall from Matt's office. But before he could take Leslie inside, Matt stepped into the hallway, one brow arched. "Don't even think about having sex in there."
It was as though his entire pack was cockblocking him. With a disgusted sigh, Brady set Leslie on his feet. He took Leslie's hand and said, "Nope, was just gonna wash my mate's face."
"It's clean," Matt pointed out. "You have a perfectly good bedroom at home."
Brady had a perfectly good truck in the parking lot, too. Maybe he could talk Leslie into giving him head without his mate flipping out about them being in public.
"I'm tired," Leslie complained. "I've been working all day. And I'm hungry, too. You're not getting a thing until you feed me."
Matt smirked. "You heard the guy."
"Fine." Brady led Leslie to his truck and drove to Grizzly's. He spotted Darius behind the counter. "Toss some drinks and some food onto a table. We'll be right back."
He zipped past the bar, Leslie in tow as they entered the bathroom. There was no locking mechanism on the door, so a stall would have to do.
"Are you really that horny?" Leslie looked around the bathroom as he crinkled his cute nose. "I'm not having sex in here."
"C'mon, hon," Brady begged. He pressed his mate's hand against his hard cock. "You gotta help a guy out."
Leslie's smile sucker-punched Brady right in his gut. It was dazzling and made him want to do anything for his mate. "Again, what's in it for me?"
"Whatever the hell you want." Brady shoved open the stall door and snarled when he spotted Jerry standing there, phone in hand, glaring at him.
"I swear to fuck you people never give me a moment's rest." He waved his hand and Brady slammed against the counter of sinks.
"Run!" Brady shouted at his mate.
Leslie spun and grabbed the door handle, but was pulled back and pressed against the opposite wall. He looked at Brady in horror as he struggled to get free from the unseeing force that pinned him there. Brady knew struggling was worthless, but he didn't tell his mate to stop.
Instead, he scowled at Jerry. "You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"
"Funny," Jerry said. "I was gonna say the same thing about you. I've never had to work so hard to kill someone before. I'm catching all kinds of hell from Kings—" He curled his lips in.
Brady narrowed his eyes. "Kingsley is paying you to kill me. Why?"
Brady and his pack already knew that Kingsley had gone feral. They just didn't know what the nutjob's agenda was. As far as they knew, the elder was still hiding out in the veil.
"Uh-uh." Jerry shook his head. "No expositing, remember?"
"I'm gonna wrap my hands around your skinny little neck and choke the life out of you," Brady snarled. "Let my fucking mate go."
"So he can run and tell?" Jerry lifted his hand and curled his fingers into a fist. Brady began to choke, unable to suck air into his lungs. "You're the one who's gonna get the life choked out of him."
The pressure was mounting, and if Jerry didn't let him go, Brady would die.
"No, don't!" Leslie screamed.
With a wave of his other hand, Jerry silenced Leslie.
The door to the bathroom burst open. Darius narrowed his eyes, shifted into his bear, and charged after Jerry. Brady thought the demon would vanish, and he probably would have if Nazar hadn't appeared behind him. He grabbed Jerry's arm and shook him so hard that Jerry's head should've detached from his shoulders.
"I just learned about your little deal," Nazar snapped. "Didn't I tell you Mercury was off-limits?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, but—"
Nazar pressed his palm against Jerry's head, and Jerry's body went up in flames. Darius shifted and gaped at the scene. Leslie slammed his eyes closed. Brady curled his lip as he crinkled his nose. The force keeping him against the wall was gone, and Brady, along with Leslie, fell to the floor.
Brady hurried across the bathroom and helped his mate to his feet, then shoved Leslie behind him as he stared up at Nazar's face. Brady was well over six-three and he had to crane his neck to the look at the king of Hell.
Nazar gave them a menacing glare before he vanished.
"I'm not cleaning that up," Darius groused. "That was just nasty."
"I'll suck you off another time." Leslie hurried from the bathroom.
Darius grinned. "Tough luck for you." He followed Leslie out.
Brady scowled. Jerry had been dealt with, which was a damn good thing, but he was still getting some damn head. He stormed from the bathroom and pulled his cell phone free, then dialed Matt. When his alpha answered, he told him about what just took place in the bathroom.
"Yeah, I know. Darius beat you to the phone call. Besides, I finally got ahold of Nazar and told him what one of his demons was up to."
Brady hated that he hadn't been the one to end Jerry's miserable life. "What about the real Jerry?"
"Unfortunately, he was a casualty in this," Matt said. "As much as I'd like to, we can't save them all. But I just spoke with Braxton an hour ago. It seems Jerry wasn't as innocent as we thought. He's got a rap sheet a mile long, including assault."
That should have made Brady feel better about Jerry being a pawn in all this, but those facts didn't. Mostly. "I'm gonna go enjoy the rest of my evening with my mate." Brady hung up and joined Leslie at their table.
Darius clapped Brady on his shoulder. "After that bullshit, dinner is on me."
The bear shifter winked at Leslie, and Brady growled. With a laugh, Darius sauntered off.
When Brady looked at the table, he saw two Styrofoam containers.
"I asked him to make our dinner to go," Leslie said. "I figured we could eat in the truck and then, I don't know, fool around."
"A man after my own heart." Brady chuckled. He pulled Leslie into his arms and kissed him silly, uncaring who was watching them. He loved Leslie to the bottom of his soul and never wanted to miss a chance to show him. Leslie was his mate, the one guy he would spend the rest of his life with, the man who would give him babies, and there wasn't anything Brady wouldn't do for him.
"Get a damn room," Devin, Darius's father and tavern owner, hollered.
Brady broke the kiss and splayed his hand over Leslie's stomach. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Leslie nodded. "He didn't hurt me."
He cupped Leslie's jaw, amazed at his bravery. "I love you."
Leslie's eyes went wide. "You're just saying that because we survived a demon together."
With a chuckle, Brady kissed his mate's forehead. "Damn straight."
Brady picked up the boxes and they headed for the door. As Leslie tugged him outside, he said, "I love you, too. Now let's eat so I can give you some head."
"Hot damn!" Brady whooped as he raced to his truck.
* * * *
Matt knew for a fact that Jerry wasn't really dead. Nazar didn't believe in killing his own kind. "Did you have to burn up the host?"
Although Jerry had turned out to be worse scum than Randall. Still, that didn't mean every person who became possessed would be a criminal. What if Jerry really had been a nice guy? Matt needed to know there was another way to get a demon out of a body.
"You should be thanking me," Nazar snapped. "That leopard was far eviler than my demon was."
And that was the sad truth. Demons were untrustworthy, scheming, and underhanded, but so were most people who lived topside. "Next time answer my damn call."
The scathing look Nazar gave him didn't scare Matt, but he knew when to be cautious of someone. "The problem was handled."
"Luckily before anyone got hurt," Matt said.
"What you need to be focusing on is Kingsley. He's still at large and was the one who started all of this."
"What I need to be working on?" Matt scoffed. "I thought you were a part of this council."
"I have pressing matters that require my attention," Nazar said. "I don't have time to run to every damn meeting the council has."
Matt glared at him as Nazar vanished from his office. He wasn't sure who was worse, Nazar or Lucian. They both rubbed him the wrong way, and if it was up to Matt, they'd be kicked off the council. But unfortunately, he needed them to keep their kind in check. He also needed the vampires to erase memories.
He dropped into his seat, staring at the picture on the wall that covered the safe. Matt still had to figure out where Randall had gotten that charm. The trinket might be small, but it wielded powerful magic and could take any one of them down.
With a sigh, he turned off his desk lamp and headed out of his office, ready to go home and decompress. Being alpha wasn't easy, but Matt wouldn't trade his position for the world, or his pack. It was growing, and they'd just welcomed a new addition.
He smiled as he exited the agency, scanning the streets of Mercury. This was his town, and he would defend it jealously, one warrant at a time.
* * * *
"Tell me you're still not mad at me," Jimmy said when Leslie answered his phone. He'd been heading into work, but paused to talk to his best friend. "I've been dying to hang out with you, but I'm afraid you'll try to remove my balls."
Leslie was no longer mad at him and wanted to see Jimmy, too. He had to fill the guy in on everything that had happened.
"If it helps, I slashed Ian's tires and egged his house," Jimmy said. "I did it for you. Ian should have appreciated someone like you instead of fucking you over."
Leslie slapped his hand over his face as he leaned against the front of Brady's truck. "He didn't see you, did he?"
"Pfft. I'm better than that and you know it. He won't know who damaged his precious car or who egged his boy toy's house." Jimmy sighed. "Please don't be mad at me anymore. I promise not to keep any more secrets from you."
Leslie decided to put him out of his misery. "Come by the bakery when I get off and we'll talk."
"Oh, I love you so much!" Jimmy squealed. "Save a cupcake for me, hon." He hung up.
"Everything okay?" Brady asked as he slid from the driver's seat and joined Leslie at his side.
Everything was more than okay. Leslie had finally found the perfect man, was now part of a large family, and he had his best friend back. Life couldn't get any better than this.
He kissed Brady on his jaw and loved how his mate looked adoringly at him as Brady pressed a hand against Leslie's stomach. He couldn't believe he'd cried over someone like Ian. Brady was his entire world, and Ian could go suck a lemon.
"Yep, Jimmy's coming by after work and we're gonna hang out." Leslie tucked his phone away and walked into the bakery. Brady had purchased the business, along with the recipe book, but Frank was still there, though not for long. He'd already bought a house in Florida and talked about spending his retirement with his sister.
A sister Leslie didn't know he had.
Although Leslie was gonna miss Frank, he couldn't wait to run the bakery. Jason, Stuart, and Dustin already told him they would help. Stephen worked at the agency, and Shane had just given birth, so he was at home for a while.
Benny was still adjusting to life outside the MC he'd been enslaved to, so Leslie hadn't asked him, but if he wanted to work there, Leslie would be delighted to have him.
He just hoped Jimmy didn't try to eat him out of business. He was surprised his best friend didn't weigh a ton with the vicious sweet tooth he had.
"I'll let you get to work." Brady cupped Leslie's jaw and kissed him, leaving Leslie breathless as his mate walked out the door.
Yep, life was better than perfect, and Leslie couldn't stop smiling as he headed to the kitchen.
THE END
WWW.LYNNHAGEN.COM
[email protected]

Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com