“What?” André asked, blinking.
“The bar’s closing. You need to go home.”
“Oh. I don’t I think can drive.” He giggled. “I guess that cab we talked about earlier might be a good idea.”
“You think?” Nicky said, his tone softer than he’d intended it to be. He held his hand out. “Give me your keys. I’ll drive you home.”
“Aww, I knew you wanted me.”
“Whatever.”
André tried to put his hand in his pocket and started to fall forward again. Nicky reached out, and André landed right in his arms. That was when Nicky realized what was happening, and he had to use all his control not to run away.
André was his mate.
* * * *
André wasn’t really as drunk as the sexy bartender thought he was. He felt a bit guilty about faking it, but when would he have another opportunity to have the bartender hug him like he was? “What’s your name anyway?” he asked, since the bartender didn’t seem to want to move, and that was more than fine with André.
“Nicky.”
André looked up and blinked. “You don’t look like a Nicky. You look... bigger. Stronger.”
Nicky’s lips twitched. “I look bigger than how a Nicky should look?”
“Yeah.”
Nicky shook his head, and André could see how he was trying to suppress a smile. “My name’s Nicholas, actually.”
“Ah, that makes more sense.”
“It does?”
“Yeah. I told you, you don’t look like a Nicky.” And maybe André was a tiny bit drunker than he’d thought. Oh, well. He was still in Nicky’s arms, so it was more than fine with him. “More like a Grant, or a Clarence maybe.”
“Okay, well, you need to go home and sleep, because if you think I look like a Clarence, you’re clearly drunker than I thought you were.”
André tried to steady himself and to push away from Nicky. He did need to go home, if anything because he wanted to make sure no one started looking for him. He didn’t think Nicky would try to get into bed with him—he didn’t seem the type, and he’d just said André needed sleep. There was no reason for André to hang around if he wasn’t getting laid, no matter how much he liked Nicky.
He finally managed to step away, immediately regretting the loss of Nicky’s warmth. He took a wobbly step toward the door, then another. He could do it. He wasn’t that drunk, really. His knees felt like jelly because he’d spent too much time sitting on that stool.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Nicky asked from behind André.
“Huh, home, why? You said I needed to go, although if you’d rather take me home with you, I’m game.”
“Slow down, tiger. You’re going home and sleeping in your own bed.” André turned to look at him, and Nicky quickly added, “Alone. But you can’t drive.”
André knew it was true, but he still protested. “I’m fine.”
“Sure, and I’m the president. Shut up and give me your keys.” Nicky wiggled his fingers in a gimme gesture.
André sighed. He pushed his hand into his pocket, took the keys out, and let them fall onto Nicky’s palm. “So I have a driver now? That makes me feel so special.”
Nicky closed his hands and gently steered André toward the door again. “For now, yes, but don’t get used to it.”
“How will you come back here to get your car?”
“I don’t have a car.”
“How will you go home, then?”
“I live above the bar.”
André leaned against the outside wall while Nicky closed the bar. “But... how are you going to come back?” he asked again, because while the mansion wasn’t that far from the bar, it also wasn’t too close to it.
“I’ll walk.”
Nicky gave André a push and André showed him the way to his car. Not that Nicky could have missed which car was André’s, since it was the only one left in the parking lot. Nicky unlocked the car and hovered by the passenger door while André slid inside, almost smacking his face on the roof when he bent. Nicky made sure André’s legs were where they were supposed to be then closed the door and climbed into the driver seat.
He fiddled with the seat, moving it backward until there was room for his legs. He put his hands on the steering wheel and looked at André. “Where to?”
“I can ask someone to drive you back here.” Really, Nicky shouldn’t have to walk back home. It was too far away.
Nicky arched a brow. “What?”
“So that you don’t have to walk. I’m sure one of my roommates will do it.” With fifty plus people living in the mansion, André was pretty sure he’d find someone who could drive Nicky back. He’d even pay them if he needed to. Not that he thought he’d have to, but still. He wanted to keep all his options open.
Nicky cleared his throat. “I don’t need anyone to drive me back, but I do need to know where you live.”
André blinked. He knew the mansion’s address, or course he did. He just couldn’t seem to remember it right now. “Umm, you know the huge house that’s over there?” he asked, waving toward the left.
Nicky’s smile disappeared. André pouted, but before he could ask Nicky to smile again, Nicky grabbed his arm and dragged him closer. He pressed his nose against André’s neck, and André knew it meant something. He just couldn’t remember what at the moment. It didn’t mean he wasn’t going to enjoy it, so he slumped a bit against Nicky’s chest and risked putting a hand on Nicky’s hip.
“You’re human,” Nicky said after sniffing André’s neck.
“Huh, yeah, of course.” He paused, thinking about Nicky’s words. “Wait, does that mean you’re not?”
“You live in the mansion. Are you mated?” Nicky pulled on the collar of André’s sweater and André giggled and batted his hands away. He slapped his hand on his mouth when he realized that yes, he’d just giggled like a four-year-old. Again. “No, I’m not.” He pulled on his collar to expose his neck. “See? No bite. Of course, I could have it somewhere else, so I guess you’ll have to see me naked to make sure of it.”
“Of course you’re not mated. You can’t be. I’m an idiot.”
“Huh?” André asked. He couldn’t think of anything else to say right then, because Nicky was still so close, and André’s mind seemed to have problems processing that.
“Can’t exactly leave you here on your own, though,” Nicky said, apparently more to himself than to André, because André couldn’t understand what the fuck he was talking about.
Nicky gently pushed André away and checked his seat belt before driving out of the parking lot, and André felt like he wasn’t even there anymore. Had he become transparent without realizing it?
“Why can’t I be mated?” he asked after a while since Nicky wasn’t talking.
Nicky’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t answer. André hated when people didn’t acknowledge him. If Nicky didn’t want to talk to him, then he could fucking tell him instead of playing who stayed silent longer.
“Why can’t I be mated?” he asked again, this time with more force. He tried to sit up straighter and scowled at the seat belt when it snagged onto one of his jacket buttons. “Answer me.”
“So you know about shifters,” Nicky said instead.
“About shifters, about Nix, and all that stuff. Yup.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Nope.” So maybe Nicky was interested. That was good. Now if only André could push him to actually do something about it.
“Why do you live in the mansion, then?”
“Mmm, I know Dominic. He’s a friend. I don’t actually live there always, just sometimes, when I want to get away from my dads or from New York. Although I guess I’ve been spending a lot of time there lately, so maybe I kind of moved in. Huh.”
Nicky arched a brow. “Dads?”
“Yeah. I have two of them.”
“Of course yo
u do.”
André tried to sit up again. “What the fuck are you trying to say?” No one could insult his fathers, not even cute barmen who drove him back home when he was drunk.
“Nothing. I was just wondering why you lived here. As far as I know, the humans who live with the pride are all mated or somehow related to another pride member.”
André cocked his head. “Wait, so you know about shifters, and about the pride. Are you a shifter?”
Nicky chuckled. It was short, because he pressed his lips together and stopped almost right away, but André heard it anyway. “A gold star for you,” Nicky said.
“But... if you’re a shifter, then why aren’t you a pride member? Do you belong to another pride? Wait, are you even a cat? Well, not that it matters, at least not for Dom. I’m just curious.”
Nicky took the turn to the private road that led to the mansion. “I’m a jaguar.”
“So a cat? Why don’t I know you? Why aren’t you a pride member?” André was aware he was repeating himself, but he really wanted answers, and Nicky didn’t look like he wanted to give them to him. Maybe repeating would help wear him down, although André seriously doubted it.
Nicky didn’t answer. Of course he didn’t. Instead, he took the remote for the gate and opened it. André wanted to ask more questions, but even as drunk as he was, he could tell Nicky wouldn’t answer them, so he might as well save his breath.
“Fine. Be that way,” he mumbled, crossing his arms on his chest and looking at the house.
Nicky parked as close to the door as he could and got out. He looked ready to murder someone as painfully as he could, so André didn’t protest when he walked around the car and helped him out. He kept a hand on André’s arm as they walked toward the front door, and once there, André held his hand out to get his keys back.
Nicky handed them to him, but before André could try to stick the key into the lock, the door swung open.
* * * *
Nicky decided that right now was a great moment to leave. He tried to step away, not wanting to look at whoever had opened the door, but André grabbed his wrist and dragged him inside.
Nicky could have broken his hold, of course, but his jaguar was rumbling in delight at their mate’s touch, and no one had touched Nicky ever since he’d left the mansion right after the challenge. He’d been the one to avoid touch, but he hadn’t realized he’d missed it so much until now.
“What the fuck is he doing here? Oh my God, André, did he hurt you? I’m calling Dominic!”
Nicky sighed. Of course it had to be Nysys who’d opened the door. Anyone else might have been reasonable, but even though Nicky barely knew Nysys, he did know Nysys was anything but reasonable. A good look at him was enough to know it. No one reasonable would die their hair pink and sport that many tattoos and piercings.
He raised his hands, André’s still attached to his wrist, in the hope it would be enough to placate Nysys. “I’m leaving.”
André looked at him. “Why? I don’t want you to.”
“He didn’t tell you who he is and what he did?” Nysys asked in a shrill voice.
André winced, and Nicky’s instinct overwhelmed him. He pulled André behind himself to protect him. From what, Nicky didn’t know. He just knew he didn’t want his mate to be hurt.
“Oh. My. God. You’re protecting him. He’s your mate?” Nysys asked, his voice growing higher and louder with every word.
“Would you shut up? You’re making his head hurt.”
“What’s happening here? Nysys, it sounds like someone’s killing you, and if they are, I want to thank them,” a low voice asked from near the stairs. Nicky stiffened. He would have recognized it anywhere, and it belonged to the last person he’d wanted to see tonight, or ever.
“What’s happening? Nicholas Sykes is happening, that’s what,” Nysys said.
“Hey, it’s a nice name,” André said from behind Nicky. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Nicky’s waist. “You didn’t tell me Nicky was short for Nicholas.”
“I did,” Nicky answered. He briefly closed his eyes. He was going to die. Dominic Nash was going to kill him, and Nicky couldn’t even blame him. He’d known what he was doing when he’d entered the mansion. He might not be an alpha anymore, but one couldn’t just invite himself into a pride’s dwelling. He hadn’t been able to leave André alone, though. He’d half wanted to, but he hadn’t been able to. Story of his life. He really needed to learn to leave things—and people—alone.
“Nicholas,” Dominic said, his voice careful. There was no way he hadn’t noticed how André was clinging to Nicky, yet he hadn’t said anything about it. Maybe he’d kill Nicky without asking questions, then.
“Alpha Nash,” Nicky said. He tilted his head to the side in submission. The gesture was almost painful, and he hated doing it, but he had no choice. He wasn’t an alpha anymore. He was nothing, hadn’t been anything ever since he’d lost the challenge.
And now he’d found his mate, and he didn’t want to lose him, no matter what he had to do to obtain that.
“What are you doing here?”
“He drove me home,” André said, stepping from behind Nicky. He didn’t release Nicky’s waist, though, and Nicky was immensely grateful for it. André couldn’t have missed the way Dominic was talking to Nicky. Even if he didn’t know about Nicky’s past, he had to know something bad had happened between him and Dominic.
“He drove you home?”
“Yeah. I’m a bit drunk, and he didn’t want me to get hurt.”
“You could have called. Someone would have come to get you.”
André leaned closer to Nicky and looked up at him. “Is it true?” he asked.
Nicky didn’t have to ask what André was talking about. He nodded, thinking now would be the moment when André stepped away. He was human. He didn’t have to be with Nicky. He wouldn’t lose anything if he didn’t want to, not like Nicky would.
André nodded and looked at Dominic again. “Why should I have called when my mate offered to drive?”
Nicky swallowed and his shoulders sagged in relief. André wasn’t completely disgusted by him, obviously, but then he didn’t know what Nicky had done. Not yet.
Dominic looked at André and Nicky. Nicky could see he was thinking about the implications of what André had just said. What those implications were, Nicky didn’t know, but he was ready to bet they wouldn’t be good for him.
Dominic’s gaze finally went to Nicky again. “Is it true?”
Nicky swallowed again, more heavily this time. “Yes.”
Dominic sighed heavily. “Of course it is. What was I expecting, something to go the way it should for once?”
Nicky bristled. André was his mate, so things were going exactly how they were supposed to go.
Dominic noticed it and snorted. “You can’t tell me André is what you’d have chosen as your mate. I seem to remember you challenging me because, how was it? You didn’t want a fag leading the council?” he asked, his tone not unkind, yet uncomfortable.
Nicky looked down when André stepped away from him. It shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did. André was his mate, yes, but they’d just met. He shouldn’t have been able to hurt Nicky so much with a simple gesture.
“You attacked Dom?” André asked.
Nicky looked at him. He wasn’t proud of his past, but he wouldn’t negate it. “I did.”
“Why?” André’s lower lip wobbled, but he didn’t look like he was about to cry.
“Because he’s a homophobic asshole.” Nysys said. “I’m kind of happy your mate ended up being a man, but I feel sorry for André. He deserves better. Ah, well, it doesn’t matter. He’s human. He can have anyone he wants, right?”
“Why don’t you go back into the living room, huh?” Dominic said softly. “Or in the kitchen. I’m sure we’ll need something to drink after this is over.”
Nicky didn’t look at N
ysys, but he couldn’t avoid hearing him stomping away. He was relieved the man wouldn’t be there to see him getting kicked out of the mansion. He didn’t know Nysys, or Dominic, really, but he could see they were André’s friends. If he wanted a chance with his mate, he knew he’d have to make peace with them. Being humiliated in front of Nysys wouldn’t have helped.
“Why?” André asked again.
Nicky forced himself to look at him. He knew what he’d see in André’s eyes—disgust, pain, horror. All because of him, for him. “Because I was stupid. I was the alpha of my pride. I should have been stronger, but I knew what would happen to me if my beta or any of my pride members found out I was gay, so I let them push me into doing something I didn’t want to do. It’s not an excuse, I know that, but I paid for what I did. I lost everything—my pride, my family, my home. Everything. I like to think it was a high enough price, but losing my mate would be another punishment. I’ll accept it.”
Not that Nicky would have a choice. He might want André more than anything else in the world, but if André told him he never wanted to see him again, Nicky would obey and stay away. André deserved to live his life like he wanted, even if it meant Nicky wouldn’t be in it.”
“What happened?” André asked.
Nicky sighed. “When the council was created, my beta and my inner circle didn’t like the fact that we were going to be represented by Dominic. By a gay man, or bisexual, whatever. It doesn’t matter. I didn’t care about any of that, but I couldn’t exactly tell them. They’d have killed me, alpha or not. Besides, I didn’t want to lose my life. I’d worked so much after I became the alpha. I was for about a year, and then, well. I made the stupid mistake of challenging Dominic for his council seat.”
“And you lost.”
“I did.”
“Why didn’t you go back home?”
“Because just after the challenge, while I was still bleeding out on the grass, my men said they didn’t want a weak alpha. Dominic would have sent me back home without repercussions, but they didn’t want me.”
André Page 2