by Macy Blake
“Um, Zaire wanted you guys to come up to her place. She sent me to get you.”
Nick growled, and the guy stepped back.
“You could shower first. That’s probably b-best,” Rowan stuttered.
Jedrek chuckled. “Yeah. Give us a few minutes.”
Jedrek tugged Nick back and shut the door in Rowan’s face.
“You shocked him,” Jedrek said. “And showed him your cock. I thought I said that was mine.”
“Did you?” Nick said. He turned and pressed their bodies together. He wanted again, which he didn’t think possible. They’d fucked for hours, passed out a while, then fucked some more. But he couldn’t get enough.
“Shower. Zaire won’t like it if we keep her waiting.”
Nick nipped at Jedrek’s neck in protest, but let himself be lead toward the bathroom. Jedrek pushed him back once they were in the room and growled at him.
Nick grinned and cupped Jedrek’s ass in one hand, giving the muscled globe a squeeze. “What?”
“Shower.”
Jedrek pulled away and opened the glass shower door before turning on the water. He waited for it to heat up, holding his hand under as a test, then pointed.
“Fine,” Nick said. “You joining me?”
“No, because I can’t keep my hands off you. But hurry up. Rowan’s waiting.”
Nick scowled as Jedrek left the room, but he got in the shower anyway. He wanted to talk to Zaire again, to find out what the plan was for tracking down the magic users. It was just that he wanted to fuck Jedrek again first.
He sniffed the provided bottle of shower gel and scowled at its natural herbiness. He squirted some on his palm anyway before smoothing it over his body, getting rid of the sticky remains of lube and cum that stuck to him. Jedrek came back in the room with a stack of clothes and a toiletries bag in his hand.
“You done?”
“No.”
Jedrek sighed and pulled out his toothbrush and toothpaste. He started brushing, but didn’t look away, watching as Nick continued his shower behind the glass door. A toothbrush had never looked so suggestive, sliding in and out of Jedrek’s mouth.
He leaned over the sink and spit out the foamy toothpaste, which itself was some sort of sign, bending over. His ass just right there…
“Stop,” Jedrek groaned. “This is not sexy.”
But Nick begged to differ. He opened the shower door but didn’t have to step out. Jedrek was right there, hands gripping his hips tight. Then devouring his mouth with his minty-fresh glory.
Jedrek stepped beneath the water, moving Nick back as they kissed, but then he pushed him away again. “You’re too tempting.”
Nick huffed and went for Jedrek’s neck again, but a hand on his chest stopped him. “After.”
As much as he wanted to protest, Jedrek was right. He got out of the shower, refusing to look back. After grabbing a towel, he wrapped it around his hips and made his way into the living room where they’d abandoned his suitcase the night before. He was surprised as hell to find that it contained more than his clothes. His entire wall of research had been dismantled and packed up, tucked neatly in a folder. He had a fair amount of clothes— including his boxer briefs, neatly folded which he never did— and his charger for his phone.
Nick grabbed a change of clothes— it was so weird having everything neatly folded, and strangely unwrinkled. He couldn’t ever remember seeing his T-shirts unwrinkled— and returned to the bathroom with the folder in one hand and his clothes in the other.
Jedrek was rinsing off and, not being a crazy man, Nick paused and enjoyed the view. When the water turned off, Nick sighed, sad the show was over, and began drying off the rest of the way so he could pull his clothes on.
“What’s that?” Jedrek asked.
He’d wisely stayed in the shower, although he’d opened the door and grabbed a towel. Damn, the man was so beautiful, Nick wanted to—
“Nick?”
“Sorry. It’s my notes from my research wall. They were in my suitcase. I thought, I don’t know, maybe Zaire would want to see them.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Jedrek stepped out and grabbed his clothes, but not without sending a heated look Nick’s way.
“See, not just me, is it?”
“Fuck no,” Jedrek said. “But also, Zaire might curse us.”
Nick tugged his shirt over his head and slapped some toothpaste on his toothbrush. He made sure to be as obscene as possible in his brushing, even as Jedrek laughed and ignored him as he got dressed.
He liked the sound. A lot. Damn, he felt good. Better than he had in… ever. He’d never felt this good. So rested and just… calm. Chill. ‘Course, he’d never had such amazing sex before either. He was pretty sure that had a lot to do with it. He grinned and spit before wiping his face and running his fingers through his wet hair. “Good enough?”
Jedrek pressed up behind him and their eyes met in the mirror. “To eat.” Nick pressed back into him, but another knock sounded on the front door. Jedrek sighed and smacked Nick’s ass. “Let’s go.”
Nick shoved his feet into a pair of flip flops from his bag. He really needed to remember to ask just who had packed for him. Rowan looked sheepish when Jedrek pulled open the door. “Uh, sorry to bother you but Zaire is really antsy.”
“We’re coming,” Jedrek said.
Rowan glanced down, as if he thought Jedrek might actually be coming at that exact moment, and immediately blushed. Nick snorted out a laugh. “That’s a filthy mind you’ve got there, Rowan.”
Nick was pretty sure the poor guy’s face was going to burst into flames.
“N-not usually. It’s just—” Rowan waved his arm around.
“I get it. He’s hot like burning. It’s a hellhound thing. But don’t worry. I already took care of the coming part this morning. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“So smug. Such a lion thing,” Jedrek said. He ran his hand up Nick’s belly, pulling up his T-shirt to reveal his abs. Rowan gulped and backed up, but he was too close to the stairs and tripped.
Nick didn’t know he could move so fast, but he managed to catch Rowan and ended up with the poor guy cradled in his arms.
Jedrek cackled. The ass.
“You know, you’re supposedly faster than me. Why didn’t you catch him?”
“Hey,” Jedrek protested. “I could have caught him.”
“Um, could you maybe put me down?”
“Then why didn’t you?” Nick asked. “Because you were too slow. Admit it.”
Jedrek grabbed the folder Nick had dropped in his haste to catch Rowan and walked off the porch. “Faster than you.”
Nick followed him. “Sure you are. I believe the proof is right here.” He lifted the guy, who really didn’t weigh much at all, as proof of his winning status.
“I let you get him. You clearly were trying to impress me. Color me impressed.”
“Impress you? I still needed to impress you? I’m pretty sure I impressed you a lot last night. And this morning. And—”
“Point,” Jedrek said. “Which way?”
Rowan had his hand over his face, which was still unnaturally red. “If he puts me down, I can show you.”
“You sure you’re okay to walk? You seem a little shaky.”
“Goddess save me,” Rowan groaned.
Nick smirked at Jedrek, who met his grin. He put the guy down, and Jedrek grabbed Nick’s arm, pulling him close.
“My hero,” he grumbled, before he nipped at Nick’s neck.
“That’s what I want to hear,” Nick said. He patted Jedrek’s ass and gave him a little more room to work.
“Uh, guys? Zaire? Can we, uh, go?”
Jedrek pulled away and sighed. “You should plan on impressing me again later.”
“Duly noted.”
Nick and Jedrek followed Rowan, who hadn’t stopped blushing, down the street toward one of the larger houses. Nick really didn’t have any expectations fo
r the place, but Jedrek seemed stunned. He kept looking around, shaking his head, and Nick had no doubt he had pictured something completely different.
It was a nice neighborhood, though. The houses were close, but had enough room between so they weren’t on top of each other. There were a lot of trees, but Nick could see garden areas around each of the houses. There were probably a dozen or so places on the street, all built around the house they were walking toward.
Rowan gave a cursory knock on the door before he pushed it open. Inside, a much different looking Zaire sat in an oversized chair with a young man at her side who had to be her son. They were both stunning to look at, but where Zaire had seemed ferocious the last time they saw her, she looked weak now.
Jedrek rushed forward and knelt by her chair. “What happened?”
Rowan carried in a really foul smelling bowl of something or other and handed it to her. “Thank you, Rowan. Will you see if our guests need anything?”
“Sure.”
But before he could ask, Jedrek’s eyes flared. “Zaire!”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Mom, you’re not fine.”
“Keziah, what happened?”
He glanced at his mother once more before turning his attention to Jedrek. “She tried to untangle the magic from the ward on her own. She knows better.”
“And she’s sitting right here and doesn’t appreciate the tone.”
Jedrek growled. “Dumb ass move, Zaire.”
“You should have called your coven together. You’d skin me if I thought about tackling something like that without my coven’s support.”
Zaire scoffed, but she tightened her hold on Keziah’s hand.
Nick didn’t know a thing about all this magic everyone kept talking about. Wards and portals and covens. He’d thought being a shifter was the most abnormal thing around. Of course, knowing his brother was a god was now top of his list of weirdest shit on the planet.
“Hey, are aliens real?” Nick asked.
Four sets of eyes turned to him, equally stunned. Zaire cackled and pointed to the sofa beside her.
“Nick, I think you’ve learned enough of the world’s mysteries for one day. Have a seat.”
Rowan disappeared into the kitchen and returned with glasses of ice water. Berries floated in the mix and Nick eyed them suspiciously before taking a sip.
Zaire and Jedrek seemed to be having a conversation of their own, mostly with glares and flashing eyes. The flashing eyes were all Jedrek. Whatever she’d done to herself had pissed his hellhound off. He liked seeing the fire in him. Made Nick want to find a reason for them to fight so they could make up.
“Dear goddess, he’s horny again,” Rowan groaned.
Zaire turned her attention to the young man before glancing once more to Nick. “Excuse my young friend. He’s clearly never been around a newly mated pair before.”
Jedrek coughed and turned as red as Rowan had been.
Nick didn’t really understand. The word mates and mated had been thrown about a lot over the past day. His brothers both had mates. And if mated meant fucked like bunnies, then sure, he and Jedrek had mated.
His lion rumbled to life, protesting Nick’s thoughts. He narrowed his gaze on the hellhound. “Someone care to explain to me exactly what’s going on?”
Zaire’s eyes widened and Keziah began coughing, having apparently choked on his own spit. Rowan blushed again, and Jedrek… well, Jedrek just sat there stunned.
“Did you, or did you not, bite the back of his neck?” Zaire asked.
“Well, yeah,” Nick said. “It was a heat of the moment kind of thing.”
“Indeed,” Zaire said. She turned her expression to Jedrek, who looked sheepish.
“He didn’t know what he was doing.”
“That doesn’t change anything.”
Nick growled. “What?”
“You claimed Jedrek as your mate.”
Keziah finally stopped choking to death. “Or, as Cody put it, you got hellhound married.”
Zaire smacked her son on the back of the head and he stared at her mutinously. “Ma! I’m not twelve.”
“No, but you’re acting like it. Behave. Show some respect. Nick wasn’t raised in our world and has shown incredible strength and control considering the circumstances. He has just done something which cannot be undone, and yet you laugh as if it is a joke.”
Keziah and Rowan both looked stunned, and Nick felt his control beginning to slip. But where he’d looked to Jedrek before for help, now he didn’t know which way to turn.
“No, no. Nick. Look at me.” Jedrek landed on the floor in front of him, sliding the last few inches on his knees. “You didn’t do anything I didn’t want you to do. And yeah, I wish you’d understood what you were doing, but you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Jed,” Nick growled.
“Outside,” Zaire snapped.
Jedrek leapt to his feet and pulled Nick up behind him. They were on the porch within seconds.
“Nick, hold it, for a moment. Take your time. Undress. You can make it for another minute,” Jedrek said.
“You have the control, Nick, use it,” Zaire added.
Nick breathed even as he felt the lion demanding to be free. He pulled his shirt off, fighting back the urge to just let go. He stripped off his pants, kicking them to the side, and let out another roar. Then the lion was free. He bounded down the steps and ran, but he hadn’t gone more than a dozen steps when he felt Jedrek’s presence at his side.
The hellhound towered over him, but he didn’t out pace him, even though Nick understood that he could. No, they ran together, until Nick reached the end of the road and a closed gate. He turned, and ran along a fence which disappeared into a grove of trees. It didn’t matter. He ran, following the line of the fence with Jedrek at his side until he finally slowed, his heart beating fast and eager for a chase that wasn’t presenting itself.
Jedrek waited, pacing, sniffing the air. Protecting him, Nick realized. He glanced around, recognizing magic in the air. More wards. He called to his human side and shifted back.
This time, it was Jedrek who remained in his animal form. Watching. Waiting.
“You shouldn’t have let me do it,” Nick said. “You should have stopped me.”
Jedrek huffed and steam came out of his nose. He approached and head-butted Nick in the chest.
“Ow.”
Jedrek huffed again, clearly annoyed with him.
“Fine. But don’t act like you can’t just shift back and talk to me like a grown up. Or human? Shit. You know, everything I say now doesn’t quite make sense anymore. My whole world has— see? I was going to say shifted, but now that word means something else, too.”
Jedrek tucked his head under Nick’s hand, and he couldn’t resist the urge to run his hand over the dark fur covering Jedrek’s head.
“You just want to be petted. Giant puppy.”
Jedrek huffed, but this one sounded more like a laugh.
“And this is how you understand me when I’m shifted. I get it. I understand you, too.”
Using his head as a guide, Jedrek began to herd Nick backward until he bumped up against a tree. He looked up at Nick, waiting. With a sigh, Nick looked down. “Look, I think I see what you’re getting at, and you’re cute and a little scary all at once like this, but I’m not putting my bare ass on tree roots. You aren’t that cute.”
Jedrek huffed, and a second later, the man stood where the beast had been. Jedrek stripped off his shirt and tossed it in Nick’s face, and then seconds later he was back in his shifted form.
“No fair,” Nick groaned. But he put the shirt down and sat down anyway. Jedrek sprawled across his lap. “Why didn’t you just stay human and talk to me? Also, why do I have to strip and you don’t?”
Jedrek rolled over and bared his belly. Nick scratched it, accepting it for the sign of trust it was. His lion purred inside him, happy with the display.
“Okay, so you aren�
�t mad at me. You should be. I saw the looks on their faces. What I did was serious business, right? Hellhound married? Because I bit you on the neck? I mean, look, I’m not going to lie to you, in that moment? You were totally mine and we both knew it. And I didn’t know what it meant, but… I mean, damn. I’ve never felt like that before, you know?”
Jedrek didn’t make any sounds but Nick continued to stroke his chest and stomach in long, slow passes of his hand. “You felt it, too. Look at me.”
Jedrek made a little sound and hid his face behind one giant paw.
“Jedrek. Look at me.”
One glowing red eye peeked out. “You feel guilty, don’t you? Like you’re the one who should feel bad about this and not me? How the hell does that make sense? I bit you, not the other way around. And I would have bitten you again, too. Probably this morning if we hadn’t been so rudely interrupted. I mean, fuck, it felt good, you know?”
Jedrek rolled over and put his head into Nick’s stomach.
“But you’re thinking you shouldn’t have fucked around with me because I didn’t know what the deal was. Yeah, I get that, but let’s face it, I wasn’t in the mood for conversation last night, and yeah, I might not have done it if I’d known because I’m not exactly in control of this thing yet, and that’s not the best way to… be. I’m not mad at you, though. So there’s that. I just think it’s crazy that we’re mated or whatever and we don’t know each other. I mean, I always kinda figured I’d find somebody someday and I hoped I would just know. And that’s sort of the way I feel. I mean, you’re so fucking hot, and I trust you. Which is weird. Because I don’t trust people. Only my brothers. You can ask them.”
Jedrek didn’t reply, just laid against Nick for a long minute. The silence stretched and eventually, Jedrek rolled to the side and shifted back to his human form.
“I trust you, too.”
And that seemed to be all he wanted to say on the matter. Jedrek looked at him, really searched his face for a long and nearly uncomfortable minute. Nick let him, though. It seemed important, and Nick tried to let his face say the words he wanted. He was confused, not mad. So attracted, but not sure why his instincts were so loud where Jedrek was concerned. Whatever Jedrek saw, it seemed to settle something in him.