“I prefer men, damn it,” he muttered.
“Stop the cussing. It’s not attractive on you,” Zan told him.
Cade bared his teeth in a growl. “You’re not my man, Zan,” he said icily. “You’re a fuck whenever we both have time.”
He stalked toward the bathroom and Zan grabbed his arm and jerked Cade up against him. “Why do you have to be so damned hard on this issue?” He kissed the side of Cade’s neck. “You pushed until you got me in bed.”
“Alicia invited me into your bed, and I still don’t know why since she wants you all to herself. I guess she realized you’d never give yourself to just her.”
He backed Cade into the wall next to the chair. Zan put one hand on the wall next to Cade’s head and cupped his jaw with the other. “Be that as it may, whenever we are together, you belong to me for that space of time, and you’ll obey me, Cade,” he said in a hard tone.
“You want to claim rights?” Cade demanded, snarling at him. “Fine. You have rights.”
Zan grunted and the calculating gleam in Cade’s eyes made him back up, wary. If Cade thought they were mates, then he had probably formulated some kind of plan in his head. That’s what lawyers did. They schemed and planned.
Cade reached for him, fingers curling at Zan’s waist. “Get back here,” he murmured.
“Careful, Cade, you could end up over my knee,” he warned in a tight tone.
“Only if you adhere to my terms for this little whatever it is,” he said, waving his free hand.
“Terms? There are no terms. You’re available when I want you, end of story,” Zan muttered in an irritated tone.
“Guess again,” Cade said softly and gave him a little smile. “You want some of this ass? Then you’ll bother to listen for a change, or don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
Zan cocked a brow at him. “Think so? I can have you in a heartbeat,” he murmured and pushed Cade back against the wall and put his arm across his throat, but didn’t press hard. He leaned in, inhaling the scent of sweat and the lingering hint of lavender of the moisturizer Cade used.
“But you have no idea what to really do with me, do you?” he asked in a mocking tone.
Zan wanted him so bad he ached to his soul. Zan brushed his lips against Cade’s. The kiss was butterfly soft but deliciously sweet and he wanted to stay just like this forever. When he was with Cade everything he wanted to forget about was forgotten.
Zan lifted his head and continued to look down at Cade. There was so much hope in his blue eyes it tugged at his heart.
“We can’t keep doing this. You can’t handle the man I am,” Zan said as he stepped back.
“And she can?” Cade demanded, taking a step toward him. “Isn’t she even the slightest bit pissed that you’re with me?” Cade demanded.
“I doubt it,” he answered in a tone rough with frustration. Zan’s phone vibrated on the nightstand, and he reached for it, grabbing it just before Cade did. Cade had already broken two phones.
“Tell that bitch to wait her turn,” he muttered, giving him a hard look.
Zan grunted, glancing at the display. “Shit.”
“I guess that means I’m spending the rest of the night alone.” He grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it at Zan.
“What is it?” he asked his older brother, Keyos, as he caught the pillow.
“The results are in. You need to get over here.”
“I’m on my way,” he said and ended the call.
“What’s up?” Cade demanded.
“The election results are in,” Zan told him. He’d been on the ballot as the deputy mayor. The family had thought it would be a good idea for him to run in case Jarvis won.
None of them trusted Jarvis or his plans for their town. Besides that, the southern elders, men who lived in the southern area of Willow Brooke, their town, would likely attempt to have Jarvis assassinated. With him gone, they’d need a new mayor and his brothers and their supporters, the cat shifters, would prefer one of their own in office.
“I’ll ride over with you unless you’re too macho to show up with a man.”
“Why would I be?”
“Everyone will know you’ve just dragged your ass out of my bed,” Cade said snidely.
“They won’t know a damn thing, and I don’t give a shit what they think,” he said. He hadn’t been with any other man since the first time he’d had sex with Cade. Zan had walked away from him satisfied and hadn’t felt the urge to go looking for anyone else.
“Yeah. I can tell you have balls of steel like Keyos, because you never take me anyplace and you never meet me in public.”
“No matter who won this election, changes are going to happen. I’m not going to stay in the closet any longer.”
“Good, because taking me out for a meal is now a requirement before sex,” he said and stomped into the bathroom.
Zan sighed as he watched Cade’s tight little ass wiggle away. He had the sexiest walk Zan had ever seen on a man.
Cade had the most beautiful body, too. He stood five eleven and a half with compact, defined muscles and gold skin that glowed.
He had a delicately drawn tattoo that started at the back of the top of his ass and trailed down over his hip bones to his pubic area. Zan had never seen one but he knew it to be the mark of a Barrian gay man from the East.
His home planet had been an interesting place with each sector having its own way of defining its people, both physically and culturally.
He heard the water turn off and sat on the chair to pull on his boots and socks. Cade was the one, so he had to get things right between them before he could bring a woman into their relationship.
“Cade?”
“Getting ready. I won’t be more than five minutes.”
“We’re going to have to talk,” he said.
“We have talked,” Cade replied upon exiting the bathroom.
“I mean seriously about us,” he said. “A woman has to be in my life.”
“I take it that means you expect me to be your piece on the side?”
“Would it do me any good to expect anything you’re not willing to give?” Zan asked softly. Cade always made himself available to him. All he had to do was look like he was going to ask and Cade was willing to be there.
Cade jerked some fresh briefs on before throwing him an angry glare.
“You know I can’t say no to you. That’s why I spend so much time in the city.” He tugged on a shirt. “And I can’t take seeing you with Alice, or is it both Alice and Alicia?”
“Neither,” he confessed. “They’re both good girls, unlike Daisy.”
Cade grunted at the joke. Daisy was Zan’s older brother’s wife. She was an Utarian-blooded cat shifter.
Willow Brooke was the singular alien town, as far as they knew, that had been populated by Barrian and Utarian scientists over a hundred years ago. The planets Barria and Utaria were both gone now. They’d been hit by the same rogue asteroid that had left Utaria a barren shell of a planet while incinerating Barria, a planet of rock, dirt, and ice.
Before the planets had been hit, seven ships carrying children had departed for Earth with a diverse group comprised of soldiers, educators, and business people. Their job was to raise the children and ensure Barrian and Utarian survival on this planet with those scientists being ports of call and contact for the newcomers.
“So now you’re free to sleep in my bed all night?” Cade asked. “We know you won. There is no question of your popularity. Every woman loves you and several men want to be you.”
Zan shook his head, lips pulling into a grim line. “No one sees me as much of a threat to their way of life, especially if Jarvis won.”
“If he did?” Cade stepped into a pair of loafers to complete his preppy look.
Zan had never dressed that smart in his life, but then again, he worked the family orchard. Spiffy clothes were a crime against dirt.
“I think we both know things are going to get nasty around here
no matter who won. It’s a matter of taking sides and battening down the hatches now.”
Chapter Two
“So, what do you think?” Nina Aconite asked quietly.
“I don’t like it,” Danten Aconite, her husband, answered just as quietly. “These people are all fools and if we aren’t careful, the transformation will be interrupted by federal agents.”
Zaria turned from the crowd gathered inside for a look at her father’s handsome face. The tension in it was something she’d started to see often in the last six months. He kept telling them this town was falling apart, part of it anyway.
“The southern elders are going to take over no matter who wins and the rest of us are going to have to decide who we’re backing.”
“You’re right,” her mother agreed quietly. Nina’s beautiful face was marred with concern, her brown eyes on the crowd of Jarvis’s supporters filling the meeting hall in anticipation of his victory. “Do you agree then that Jarvis is dangerous to us?”
Jarvis was a sneaky bastard and her parents had no idea just how dangerous he was. He was like a spoiled child determined to have his way or make everyone else miserable.
Her father nodded and glanced around, taking in the people at the small bar where part of those gathered were merrily socializing.
“Definitely. He has some of the relics and artifacts his cousin swindled a good many people out of over the years. So he has enough power to defend against those of us with strong abilities, though not defeat us,” Danten murmured, looking at his wife again.
“One of us should open dialogue with the northern and eastern elders,” Nina said. “And there’s Cade. You’re going to have to broach the subject with him.” Her mother looked at her then and Zaria saw something in her eyes that gave her pause.
Both her parents were from pure alien stock and had been trained in their homes to follow the customs of their people, and they’d passed those down to her.
Zaria knew what was expected of her and had no plans to disappoint her parents.
“I will,” her father said, looking at her now, too. She had his brown eyes right down to the tiny black whorls that swirled when she was angry. “I’ll take care of it soon, but, Zaria, I am curious about your opinion.”
“About Jarvis? He is dangerous. I heard him talking to someone on the phone yesterday, but I don’t know who, about disrupting the lives of the cats.”
“Why?” Danten demanded and the whorls in his eyes slowly moved in a counterclockwise motion.
Some people despised the cat shifters for their semi-secular lifestyle, but her father praised them for their wisdom in not allowing their children to be tainted by outside influences.
“He thinks they’re freaks,” she said. She worked for Jarvis, was one of the legal secretaries in his law practice. One of the other girls had been out so she’d been working late these last few days to cover her shift. “I don’t know exactly what he’s planning but I do know he’s going to call in the feds if he doesn’t win.”
“He’s going to out them?” Nina demanded.
“He’s probably going to do that anyway,” Danten replied in a tone vibrating with anger. He clenched his fist on the table. “That little shit will have to be removed if he wins, but it’ll be tricky if we can’t get Andron on board.”
“We’ll have to get someone to spy on him,” Nina murmured. “But who? He won’t just let someone new into his little camp.”
“And you think Cade can do this?” Zaria asked. He wasn’t actually spy material, but he was sexy as hell with those odd blue eyes that boasted barely noticeable black whorls like hers and her father’s.
Then again, she thought Zan Andron was pretty hot, too. Zaria wasn’t sure if he and Cade were seeing each other or not, but she was certain she wouldn’t mind them spending some of their time with her.
Danten gave her an amused smirk. “No, I don’t,” he said. “I was thinking you’d keep your ears open for any hints of what Jarvis is planning to do. He certainly will want to get rid of Andron. I don’t expect him to allow Jarvis to do just as he pleases.”
“I will,” she agreed. “He thinks he’s got you two on board as supporters. He’s looking forward to getting Mom to use her public relations skills to create a campaign to get half of the undecided on his side if he wins. If not, he wants Mom to be a real propaganda machine to turn people against Jaxon.”
“Don’t disabuse him of the notion,” Nina said, giving her a devious smile. “We need every advantage we can get.”
* * * *
He and Zan stepped into Zan’s brother-in-law, Jaxon’s, office, which had become campaign headquarters to a subdued and small crowd. Kelphon, Zan’s younger brother, was seated next to Jaxon, talking to him in low tones while the rest of the family and supporters talked quietly.
The first to notice them was Rhys, another of Zan’s younger brothers. He rushed over wearing a grin. “Hey, man,” he said.
Dade, the sheriff and Rhys’s husband, was on his heels sticking out his hand. “Congrats, man.”
“We’re looking forward to a wild ride,” Rhys said with a grin. “How’s it going, Cade?”
“What’s up?” Cade replied with a nod and his gaze drifted to his friend Jaxon.
Zan glanced at Cade and Cade held his stare, wanting to wrap his arms around him in congratulations, but he wasn’t about to allow Zan to treat him like shit in public. He was worth better than that, so he headed to Jaxon, leaving the group that suddenly gathered around Zan behind.
“I just heard,” he said quietly and gave Jaxon’s arm a light squeeze. “At least you can get back to your real life now.”
“I was just saying that,” Jaxon said and gave him a rueful smile. “Do you think they’ll think I’m a jerk if I don’t give a concession and congratulatory speech?”
Cade shrugged. “Yeah. They’ll think you’re being a sissy drama queen,” he teased.
Jaxon nodded and smiled. “I guess you’re right. Where did you vanish to earlier? Travis and I thought since Zan had sneaked off, you’d stick around a while.”
“I had some paperwork to finish up for my case.” He almost felt like a fraud, but Jaxon knew how attracted to Zan he was. He even knew how jealous he was of the women Zan dated.
Jaxon nodded. “I guess I’ll walk on over to Jarvis’s headquarters, even though I probably won’t be able to stand the stench of gloat.”
Cade chuckled. “Likely not.”
“How’s that case coming anyway?”
“That discrimination case?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re settling,” Cade told him with a wry twist of his lips. “That asshat defendant had rather settle than allow anyone to find out he’s a jerk.”
“Well that’s good,” Jaxon said. “What about that murder case?”
“The guy fired me because I wasn’t what he was looking for,” Cade retorted.
“Which is?”
“Straight.” He shook his head. “He said he’d lost confidence in me because the woman he’s accused of killing is a lesbian, and we fruity fruits stick together.”
Jaxon laughed. “So, what case did you have paperwork on then?”
“The settlement,” he said. “I had to finalize some papers.”
“Great. Then, why don’t we have breakfast in the morning? I want to talk to you about something.”
“Eight? I don’t have to be in the city until ten.”
“That works.” Jaxon gave him a smile. “Zan won though, so the brothers are having a little celebration dinner tomorrow night. Why don’t you drop by?”
Cade shook his head and slanted a look in Zan’s direction. He was laughing at something Alicia was saying. She was gorgeous and virtually glowed.
He put a hand on his tight stomach as he met Jaxon’s gaze again. Zan could charm women as easily as he could men, and it ate at him that he wanted this man—one he probably would never be able to have.
“I don’t know. I have to see w
hat my schedule looks like.”
“Zan’s not seeing either of them,” Jaxon murmured. “So stop by. It doesn’t have to be for long. Alicia will be there with her new boyfriend, but Alice won’t be.”
“You’re a jerk,” he muttered.
“What? I was just saying.” Jaxon gave him a wide-eyed innocent look.
“Wanting Zan’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Kel said quietly. “Besides, if I can settle down, so can he.”
“With a woman,” Cade retorted coldly and ran his fingers through his short blond hair.
“Zan’s always been about duty, Cade,” Kel told him. “You have to learn to deal with that part of him that’s tied to our family and its survival on this planet. Daisy has agreed to be our surrogate when the time comes, but Zan knows he has to take a wife since Rhys and Dade don’t have one.”
“They might,” he muttered. “Dade likes women.”
“But they might not find one with as much of our blood as Jori had,” Kel said gently. “You’re going to have to accept a woman into your relationship or destroy Zan.”
He didn’t believe it was that crucial. It was a line some bisexuals used to excuse their refusal to choose.
“I have to go.” He turned and headed for the door. This had been crazy. What had he been thinking? Had he thought Zan would tell everyone they were lovers?
What a twit.
As he passed Zan, he watched him, gaze sliding up his back and down to caress his ass. The man was so fine and built just right. He wanted to march up to them and go all possessive bitch and tell Alicia to take her hands off his man. Instead he walked out.
Chapter Three
“I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Zaria stopped in her stride toward the parking lot to face her cousin. Alexa was three years older than her, but the two had always been friends. She’d always admired her cousin for her ability to follow her dreams, be her own person despite their parents.
Alexa’s mother was as staunchly against the girls becoming too humanized as Zaria’s parents. However, Alexa’s father was only half Barrian, and had wanted to keep Alexa in the dark about their heritage, raise her as a human child.
Passion’s Brewing Storm [Alien Passions 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 2