by Marcy Jacks
At the moment, it looked like shit. He could never bring Chris in here until he got this place cleaned up.
One step at a time, however.
Eli ran into the bathroom and kicked the door shut behind him.
Thank God Andrew had shifted so that Eli could have something to wear. It was one thing to be walking around with Chris standing so close to him, but it was entirely another to be naked and Chris walking so close to him. With his scent right under Eli’s nose that whole time, Eli’s dick swelled painfully more and more.
Had it not been for the jeans, he was sure Chris would have looked down and noticed at some point.
He hadn’t, and now Eli had to take care of this or else he wasn’t
going to be of any use to anyone.
He pulled down the jeans, and they were like a second frickin’
skin. The hot weather, combined with his sweat, and the fact that
Andrew had a boney ass, meant he had to peel the cotton off his legs.
He got them down as far as he needed, and he wrapped his fist around his cock, his eyes sliding shut at the immediate jolt of pleasure as he stroked himself.
Fuck, that was good.
Eli rested his hand against the wall, leaned down, and pumped himself, his breathing hitching with every stroke.
It was good, but not quite what he wanted.
He reached under the tiny sink and pulled open the little cupboards under there, reaching for the bottle of skin cream he kept, though not for his skin.
He squirted a little into his hands and rubbed them together to slick his palm just enough, and the next time he grabbed his cock, he nearly came.
36 Marcy Jacks
“Fuck! Chris,” he moaned.
He’d seen Chris with his shirt off. He knew what his chest looked
like, so there was no fantasy where that was concerned. He imagined himself licking that chest, the ridges between his smaller muscles, pulling one of those little brown nipples into his mouth.
Chris would screw his eyes shut, spreading his legs, inviting Eli in to claim him.
No, Eli pictured himself turning Chris over, putting him onto his hands and knees, touching his hole with his tongue, making Chris buck and moan before Eli stilled him by putting his hands on Chris’s hips and thrusting his slick cock inside and―
Eli groaned as he came, shooting into the toilet bowl.
He rested his face on his arm, giving himself a minute to catch his breath before finally releasing his dick and pulling the toilet seat
town.
He cleaned up and showered, throwing the borrowed jeans into his
ever-growing laundry pile. He took the bandage off his face before it could have the chance to get wet. There was a little blood soaking through it, but otherwise, the slice had closed up.
Those blades the weres were using couldn’t have been silver, otherwise he would have been sick and his wounds wouldn’t be
healing all that quickly.
Thank God for small miracles.
He sat on his unmade bed and rubbed his hands through his hair.
Christ, was this what it was like to have an unclaimed mate so close
by, but holding off on taking them?
They said that humans, despite being human, were capable of experiencing the same emotional and physical needs as their lycan counterparts when they were close to their mates.
Please God, let Chris be feeling these things, too, Eli silently prayed, his cock already twitching as the faintest thought of Chris
naked and calling to him entered his mind. He didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to hold off on just taking the other man, or else he
Eli’s Reluctant Mate 37
would go insane if he had to stay this horny and needy all the time.
* * * *
“I’m banning you from the bars,” James said when Eli finally managed to get his ass out of his cottage and go and see him. “If I ever find out you went there without just cause within the next twelve months, I will banish you from the pack.”
James had been angry enough as it stood, considering Eli had been late to show up, and whether Eli had found his mate as a result from going to the bar or not, the fact stood that he had disobeyed ten times too many, and now James clearly had enough.
He had a couple of bottles hidden under his kitchen sink anyway. He could take sips from them now and again whenever the reminder of Eric’s death got to be too much, and slowly, he could wean himself off the stuff.
He had to get sober now that he’d found Chris anyway.
“Yes, sir, of course.”
James looked at him skeptically. He wasn’t the sort of leader to admonish his alphas while sitting behind a desk. No, they were both standing, and James had his back to his new bookcase, and his arms were crossed as he stared at Eli. “You’re giving me your word on this?”
Eli nodded. If he was careful with the amount he had, he could
probably make it last for a couple of weeks. That should be more than
enough time for him to get his ass on the wagon. “Yes, sir.”
“And I’m not going to find out you snuck on down to town to buy
more booze?”
“No, sir, definitely not.”
“Good.” James uncrossed his arms and stood straight. Eli got the message that he was being dismissed.
“Go find your mate now. Corey and Tristan were with him, last I heard, trying to get him used to us, but he’ll be needing you.”
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Eli blushed. This was where things got awkward. “James, how am
I supposed to claim him?”
James’s brows went into his hairline.
“I know how to fuck him,” Eli clarified. “But how am I supposed claim him? Will he be for it if I just go up to him and, I don’t know, throw him over my shoulders or something?”
That actually sounded like it would make for really good sex. Eli could go up to him and, caveman-style, just grab Chris around the waist and walk off with him.
But Chris was still a human. Regardless of the fact that they were mated, and that Chris was probably feeling the same things Eli was, there was the great big, glaring fact that he probably wouldn’t appreciate being hauled off like that.
“Hm,” James said. “I don’t know. Corey was a werewolf himself by the time we claimed each other, so his case is a little different. You might want to ask Tristan or Isaac about that one.”
Considering all the money he owed to Isaac, Eli wasn’t too concerned about asking him for anything.
“You’re both adults,” James said. “He’s your mate, so he is sexually attracted to you at the very least. Just go up to him, offer him a drink, non-alcoholic, and explain your situation or don’t, I don’t think it matters, and you should have him in bed soon enough.”
That was right, and Eli couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it before. “Okay, thank you, sir.”
“Eli?”
Eli halted before he could turn around and make his escape.
“Yeah?”
“Have you ever had sex with another man before?”
Eli wasn’t embarrassed by the question. This was his mated alpha asking him this, so it wasn’t like the question hurt his sense of morals, thin as they’d been recently. “Yes. I am gay. I just never thought I’d mate with a man.”
James nodded, looking thoughtful. “It does seem to be happening
Eli’s Reluctant Mate 39
an awful lot lately.”
And Eli thanked God for that. With all the shit he’d had to deal
with lately, having a woman he wasn’t interested in thrust upon him would have sucked to high heaven. Of course, being mated to a woman would have made him interested in her, enough to produce pups, and maybe they would even get along as good friends, but Eli just wasn’t interested in women that way.
Maybe Romulus and Remus were just taking a little pity on him. They sent him a male mate,
and he was also something decent to look
at, too.
“I’m going to go and find Chris.”
“He’s in Nick’s old cabin,” James said, and Eli left to claim his
mate.
40 Marcy Jacks
Chapter Five
It was beginning to drive Chris a little crazy how mellow everyone was acting, considering they were all beings that shouldn’t exist. Corey seemed like a friendly guy, though Chris wondered how his hand got to be so badly scarred. It looked like a fire burn over all of his fingers and the hand itself. He didn’t mention it, however, and Chris didn’t think it was his business to ask.
Tristan was funny. Somehow he managed to tell a story that would make Chris laugh, even though he was in a campsite filled with werewolves and no one from the outside knew where he was.
Wasn’t like he had anyone to report back to anyway.
Despite these worries, Chris slowly found himself relaxing around the pair of them, even when they began talking about the fun they had chasing rabbits through the trees and pouncing on a family of squirrels in their wolf forms, like that was normal for them.
They both gave Chris curious glances from time to time, especially whenever Chris locked eyes with them. However, they didn’t try to pounce on him or anything.
Maybe it was because they had their own significant others. At least, that was the impression Chris got whenever Corey or Tristan spoke about men named James and Isaac.
Didn’t mean they weren’t occasionally acting strange about something.
If Chris didn’t know any better, he’d say these men were babysitting him.
“Would my eyes really bring me trouble? With other werewolves, I mean.” It was still strange, having that word pass his lips.
Eli’s Reluctant Mate 41
Werewolves. This was going to take a little getting used to.
Both men looked at each other. Corey was the one to answer. “Mostly this will only apply to unmated weres. There is something instinctual about it, though.”
“Yeah,” Tristan said. He was sitting on the bed, his ankle crossed over his knee. “I mean, I’m looking at you, and I kind of want to hit on you, but I don’t want to throw you down on the bed or anything like that.”
“Most of the unmated weres here will probably try flirting with you to get some attention,” Corey said. “The mated ones will be curious, but a few of them will probably try shaking your hand or something.”
“To see if that will pass on any of my good luck?” Chris asked.
Corey shrugged. “From what I understand, basically, yes.”
Chris didn’t feel very lucky. He didn’t think anything about his situation was lucky at all. Nearly getting raped by some huge bearlike man, who was actually a werewolf capable of ripping him in half if he wanted to, and then having to come here for his safety to hide from anyone else who might make a try for him …
It definitely wasn’t the way he’d hoped to spend his time searching for his brother.
“So,” Tristan said, clearing his throat. “What do you think of Eli?”
“Eli?”
“The werewolf you rescued,” Corey said, as though Chris could have ever forgotten him. “That’s a pretty cool new way to meet new friends.”
Chris didn’t think so, nor was he even sure that he’d even rescued
Eli, considering the man was healing just nicely on his own anyway. Admittedly, Chris was still struggling with the memory of Eli walking around his motel room naked, like that was the most natural thing in the world to be doing.
It still heated his blood with embarrassment.
Both men in front of him seemed to see this, and Chris realized
42 Marcy Jacks
that he was blushing, and they were smiling about it.
Only one thing they could be thinking about right at this moment. “No, no. There’s nothing going on between him and me. Not happening.”
“Sure,” Tristan drawled, grabbing one of the beers that had been put on the nightstand for them. He took a swig from the bottle, still somehow managing to keep his eyes on Chris and that knowing smile on his lips.
“Okay, I get it. It’s my eyes, right?” Chris asked. “Well, I did drag him back to my motel, but I was only doing that to try and help him. Nothing happened in there, and nothing ever will,” he said.
“Really?” Corey asked, his brows raised.
Chris hoped he wouldn’t come off as a jerk, especially since these two men were obviously part of the other team. “I’m not even gay. I mean, is that why you guys are asking about him?”
Had Eli spoken to these other wolves, staking his claim? Is that why everyone would rather send him curious glances rather than just introducing themselves like normal people?
Chris wasn’t afraid of people who were gay. Far from it. Even he was able to recognize beauty in its male form, and Eli had lots of that in spades, but if either of these men were under the impression that there was something going on between him and Chris, well, Chris was going to have to set them straight on that front.
Both Corey and Tristan looked at each other thoughtfully.
“Hm,” said Tristan.
“Well,” Corey said, looking back at Chris, “the two of you will
get that all settled. Sorry we jumped to conclusions.”
“But what about―”
Corey elbowed Tristan in the ribs quickly, and Chris’s suspicion meter started sounding alarms inside of his head.
He needed to think, to get his head on straight for when Eli did return for him, especially if he thought he was going to claim Chris as his, or however it was the werewolves termed it.
Eli’s Reluctant Mate 43
“I’m going to take a quick walk.”
Tristan and Corey got to their feet. “Great, we’ll go with you,”
Tristan said.
More evidence that these men were here as guards rather than as
friends.
“I’d rather go alone.”
They both looked at each other again in that way Chris was growing to despise. “Uh, look,” Corey said. “I’m sure you’ve probably already guessed that we’re here to watch you, but it really is for your protection.”
Chris liked to think of himself as the sort of guy who was capable of being calm, even when he wanted to blow his top. “Okay, can you explain that to me? I thought we were safe here.”
“We are, relatively safe, anyway,” Tristan said. “But attacks have been known to happen here when weres from other packs try to take over the land. There was an attack here two months ago, and it affected quite a few of us.”
“So, it’s not safe here,” Chris said.
“It’s safer for you to be here, where you can be watched, instead of strolling around the woods by yourself, where a wild were from another pack could be lurking,” Corey said. “And it’s safer for us, too. You’re still a stranger to everyone out there. For all anyone knows, you’re a spy send by a hunter or something.”
“I’m not a spy,” Chris said, the anger rising inside of him.
“And we believe you,” Tristan said. “But it makes for better common sense if we don’t let you roam free around the place. We still have to be careful.”
Christ, now how in the hell was Chris supposed to argue against that? He couldn’t. Their reasoning was too solid for him to fight against it. Any thought-clearing meditation he did, it would have to be done in the presence of these two men here.
“Fine, let’s go then,” Chris said, getting to his feet and heading for the door.
44 Marcy Jacks
It might irk him, but he really needed to stretch his legs. Maybe when he met Eli next, these two would be allowed to give them some privacy.
Chris needed to make sure that Eli understood that there would be
nothing happening between them, but he also trusted the man enough
that he wanted to ask him about Dean. Him and no one else.
If Eli had some feelings for Chris, whether they were based solely on the color of his eyes or not, then maybe he could count on Eli to help him dig up some information.
And if it turned out someone here was responsible for Dean’s having gone missing, well, then he would just have to hope that Eli’s feelings stretched far enough that he wouldn’t want to see Chris vanish the same way his brother had.
* * * *
Eli didn’t find them in the small cottage, but the scents of all three men was strong, meaning they’d just left minutes before he’d arrived.
It made following their trails too easy, and Eli came upon them walking through the trees several yards away from the nearest house.
His protective instincts flared, and he was nearly upon the group of them before Tristan turned up from whatever they were looking at to see the anger on Eli’s face.
He backed up a step, his hands raised. “Whoa, man, relax,”
“What the hell are you two doing bringing him out here?” Eli snapped. He didn’t care if Corey was James’s mate either. He was going to yell at him, too. “There’s other wolves prowling around who want a piece of him, and you bring him this far past the tree line?”
“We’re not that far out,” Corey said, looking beyond Eli to where the brighter clearing of cottages could still be seen in the distance, out from under the heavy canopy of trees.
If Eli strained his ears enough, he could still hear some of the children playing while the other omegas did their chores. He couldn’t
Eli’s Reluctant Mate 45
make out exact words, not from this distance, but the noise, and the
sight of their home, had probably given these two omegas here the false sense of security that had allowed them to come out this far.
“It doesn’t matter,” Eli said, refusing to be placated. “Other alpha wolves have come this far in before. They’ve snuck in further, and as long as he’s here, they’re going to think they have a reason to attack us.”