by Odessa Lynne
If Gerald had been a big believer in the preordained, he’d have thought the hand of God was involved.
As it was, he just felt lucky he’d finally found a way to do something nice for Liam after the fuck up that had been the only real relationship Gerald had ever had.
He’d been twenty at the time. The year of the first heat, when everything went to hell. Dumbest six months of his life, spent fucking around with a seventeen year old who couldn’t even tell his family he was gay because of the threat of being disowned. Gerald hadn’t been able to believe that shit still went on in the world, but he’d learned the hard way that Liam wasn’t exaggerating after he accidentally outed Liam to Liam’s entire family.
Of course, the wolves knew about Eli and Liam and Chen now, but they knew only what Gerald knew and that wasn’t as much as it could’ve been. And in the meantime, Gerald knew exactly what his failing had been that had put him here.
Not kindness, not duty, not loyalty to an old friend.
He’d broken a promise, and fuck if he wasn’t paying for it in spades.
Chapter 18
Leif came to Gerald’s rescue. “Leave him be,” he said to Raleigh.
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Alpha?” Gerald asked.
Raleigh crouched in front of Gerald and started removing Gerald’s boot.
When Gerald’s foot came free and his left sole touched the wood floor, a shudder went through him. “What the fuck, that’s cold.”
The floor’s warm color was deceptive, and it only looked like wood; it felt more like stone.
Raleigh moved on to the other foot, both wolves ignoring Gerald’s gripe.
“Are you sure this is a good idea? I don’t want to end up at the center of a wolf fight when things go to shit because somebody’s heat cycle is coming on again.”
“That’s why we need to do this quickly. We’ve both mated recently enough to resist your scent, but that resistance won’t last indefinitely.” Leif eyed Gerald’s chest, then lower, and Gerald felt a flutter of misgiving at his belly. “I have faith in Alpha’s ability to defend himself. He’ll return before we have a problem. And you are older. Your scent isn’t so impossible to resist as some.”
That perked up his attention. So the age factor really did make a difference. Gerald had never been sure. Some things you heard were fact, and some were just misinterpretations of the truth and outright lies spread by those who wanted the aliens gone.
“I can resist him,” Raleigh said, a bright smugness to his tone that reminded Gerald of the day they met.
He glanced down at Raleigh’s head just as Raleigh pulled off Gerald’s boot with more force than Gerald expected.
He teetered and made a grab for Raleigh, his foot coming down hard on the cold floor. His fingers tangled with Raleigh’s soft, fine hair and he gripped tight before he could stop himself.
Raleigh’s breath hitched—Gerald heard it as sure as he heard his own quiet grunt. Before Gerald could release his hold on Raleigh’s hair, Raleigh pressed into the touch, a soft whimper leaving his throat. He dropped the boot to the floor and gripped Gerald’s hips.
The position was embarrassingly suggestive and Gerald had to fight back the thoughts that immediately crowded his mind.
Tanis was out there fighting, possibly for his life, and here he was having trouble controlling his dick around the two wolves meant to take care of him until Tanis returned. What the hell kind of mate was that?
Ah, but that was the nut of it. He’d already known he wouldn’t make a good mate, for anyone, and especially not for a jealous wolf, and he’d been pushed into it anyway, to save the damn treaty.
Leif’s voice came quietly from beside them. “Raeshikid.”
Raleigh’s gaze had drifted to Gerald’s semi-hard penis. Gerald wasn’t sure what to do about it so he didn’t do anything. Submit, Tanis had said. Gerald wasn’t a fool; he’d submit all day long if it kept either one of these wolves from going for his spine or throat.
Leif stepped up behind Raleigh and grabbed the back of his neck. Raleigh gasped then twisted and tried to grab Leif’s wrist.
Claws bit deep into the back of Raleigh’s neck, blood welling as Leif hauled Raleigh away from Gerald. Raleigh’s ass hit the floor hard.
“Okay, okay,” Gerald said, hopping back and out of the way of their struggle before he ended up in the middle of it.
But Leif’s attention was fixed on Raleigh and Raleigh’s attention was fixed on freeing himself from Leif’s unyielding grip.
“Submit!” Leif demanded.
Raleigh cringed, just before his whole body loosened into a boneless heap.
Leif dragged Raleigh several more feet away from Gerald before releasing him. A deep growl seemed to be building in his chest, rumbling outward and raising the hair on Gerald’s arms. The pointed ends of his eyeteeth were fully visible and his claws had come out, their sharp points thick and dark.
Gerald watched with bated breath, wishing it was a good idea to throw his clothes back on and get the hell out of there, but common sense prevailed. He was in some random wolves’ compound in the side of a mountain. Running wouldn’t get him anywhere except fucked or dead.
“Your overconfidence is unappealing,” Leif said in a firm, hard tone. “Unless you want to fight Alpha, you don’t offer sexual submission to his human without his permission. You’re my heat mate and I have to accept responsibility for your foolish behavior.”
Raleigh gave Leif a sour look, a look Gerald wouldn’t have suspected the wolves capable of if he hadn’t been witnessing it himself. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I wasn’t offering—”
Leif roared and lunged at Raleigh.
Gerald jerked, the attack was so sudden.
Just as quickly as Leif moved, Raleigh stretched out, bowing his back and offering his throat. Leif clamped his teeth down in Raleigh’s flesh, while Raleigh let out a soft whine.
They stayed that way for nearly fifteen heartbeats.
Gerald knew, because he counted every one of them.
And then it was over. Raleigh whined again, and Leif raised his head, eyes glittering.
Gerald just tried not to breathe.
Leif rose, then offered Raleigh a hand, and even as he hauled Raleigh to his feet, he rubbed the back of Raleigh’s head, and Raleigh turned into the touch.
“You’re learning,” Leif said. “I’m pleased.”
Curiosity burned through Gerald. He tossed aside the fact that he wasn’t supposed to ask questions—asking questions was the one thing he was really good at. “What’d he learn?”
Leif’s attention abruptly shifted focus. He pointed to an area near the corner of the room, where the plants stopped short of meeting the back wall. “The bathroom is there.”
“It’s an empty wall.”
“Go.”
Gerald gave Leif one glance and then followed his direction. As he approached the wall, an invisible seam split apart and a door slid open. He glanced back at Leif who watched impassively.
Gerald entered the room.
The room seemed small. A toilet of a design he’d never seen before extended from the wall and he was sure it was a toilet because it was the only thing in the room that could pass for one.
He glanced through the doorway. “How do I close—”
The door slid shut before he even finished.
He didn’t second guess the issue. He took care of business, grateful to his bones to finally have a moment to himself, and then stood in the middle of the room trying to figure out how to get some water and a cloth for a quick wash up. He was still shivering, which was a good sign that his trip through the snow hadn’t done any real damage to his current health, but fuck if he wanted to stand there naked for a moment longer than he had to. The floor was a slab of ice under his feet.
A waver in the wall caught his eye and he frowned. He stuck his hand into the stone, then jerked back when it went right in. He bent for a closer look.
An
optical illusion. There was a sink there, but it was damn hard to see unless you knew what you were looking for.
He couldn’t help his smile. It was fucking brilliant. He fondled the wall at the back, and water started to pour out. It took him too damn long to figure out what gesture to make on the panel to turn the water from cold to hot, but he finally got a steaming mix of warm water pouring into the sink.
Within seconds of that he had a cloth soaked with warm water and he was scrubbing cum out of his hair.
Tanis could fuck himself if he thought Gerald wouldn’t take advantage of the oppor—
The water stopped flowing.
Gerald cursed under his breath and tried to get the water to come back on, but nothing he did worked this time.
The door opened behind him.
He scrubbed faster with his cloth, determined to get as much of the dried cum off him as possible.
“Stop cleaning away Alpha’s scent.”
Gerald turned toward Leif, washcloth clutched in his fist. “I’d say make me, but you’d do it, wouldn’t you?”
“Alpha’s scent needs to be strong to keep the others away. To keep you safe.”
“Shit.” Gerald let the washcloth fall to the floor and exhaled a heartfelt sigh. “I just want to feel clean. It’s been days.”
“It’s for your own safety. Submit to Alpha’s will.”
“God. What do you think I’ve been doing?”
“Fighting your desire to submit.”
“Bullshit. I’ve bent over forwards and backwards to do what’s expected of me. Don’t tell me I’m not submitting. I can’t do any better than this.”
Leif’s gaze lingered, his mouth a patient line, his eyes as fathomless as the sky. Gerald remembered kissing that mouth, feeling Leif’s hands on his body as Leif touched him in places only a lover touched. It was disconcerting to know they were just supposed to be… What? What were they?
Gerald cleared his throat. “What am I supposed to do?”
Leif stepped backward, across the threshold. “Go to bed. Sleep.”
Gerald rubbed his forehead and followed Leif from the bathroom.
“How’m I supposed to sleep when I don’t even know what the fuck is happening with Tanis?”
“You’re human, and you’re tired. You’ll sleep.”
Gerald scowled. The fact was, he was tired, and with Leif and Raleigh acting like nothing was wrong, it was hard to keep up his worry about Tanis. Tanis would be fine. Of course he would be.
He reached the bed and sat on the edge, letting his hands smooth over the soft bedding. His fingers made wrinkles in the fabric that shimmered blue and green under the warm glow of the ceiling. He looked up at Leif. “These aren’t from Earth, are they?”
Leif gestured at Raleigh. “Join him.”
“What? No.” Gerald scooted back on the bed, knocking aside pillows as he went. “What if he decides he wants to fuck or something? Unh uh. No way.”
“Submit,” Leif said gruffly. “He’ll only stay until you sleep.” Leif directed a sharp look at Raleigh. “Do you understand? Alpha will kill you if you don’t control yourself with his human.”
Raleigh huffed under his breath but nodded, then crawled onto the bed.
Gerald crawled backward.
Raleigh’s teeth glinted in the light. “I’m not stupid. I won’t try to take you from Alpha. Stop stinking up the bed with your fear. It makes me want to mate.”
Gerald glared up at Leif. “The fuck if I’m letting him near—”
Raleigh flattened Gerald to the bed and an oomph of air cut off Gerald’s complaint. Raleigh’s hot, naked body squashed him, but then Raleigh rolled them both, wrapping his leg around Gerald’s hip and pushing Gerald’s face down against his chest.
Pale, soft hair tickled Gerald’s cheek and lips, but the heat felt unbelievable after all he’d been through. He couldn’t help it, he dug in tight to Raleigh’s hot body and let the bone deep chill that had been dogging him for the last hour bleed away.
He didn’t even care if it meant he might wake up with one of Tanis’s wolves trying to fuck him. He just wanted to feel warm again.
He was drifting there thinking about the fact that Raleigh definitely smelled like sex when a noise startled him and he jerked and opened his eyes.
It was dark and he was staring at a wall of shadows. A few seconds passed as he tried to make sense of the world, and then he remembered.
He rolled over, but he was alone in the bed, and he was warm.
Overhead, leaves glimmered with iridescent light and their branches pulsed with a low hum. He blinked a few times, but the glow didn’t fade and the hum continued to tickle the back of his neck.
Then one of the room’s shadows took life and separated from the rest. “Sunny Lane, how the fuck did you end up here?”
Gerald sat up, staring hard at the shadows. “What the fuck…”
A low laugh carried with the weight of a whisper. “Son of a bitch, Sunny. It is you.”
Gerald shoved the covers to the side and lurched his way out of the bed on sleep-heavy legs. “James swore you were dead. How the fuck? It’s been—fuck it—three years?”
“No time to talk. Your two guards left in a hurry and I don’t know when they’ll be back. If you see me around, you don’t know me.”
“Sure, sure,” Gerald said.
He grabbed the shadowy form and hauled him in close for a tight, quick hug. The fact that he was naked didn’t even cross his mind until his dick came uncomfortably close to something cold and hard high on Lamar’s thigh.
“Goddamn, Sunny, you don’t know how nice is it to see a friendly face.” Lamar’s voice shook as he squeezed back. But when he pulled away, he was already looking toward the doorway leading from the dark room beyond.
Gerald rubbed the back of his neck, thought about all the questions he wanted to ask, and resigned them to the dark. “Go on, get out of here before somebody catches you.”
“It was hard as hell to get away. I shouldn’t have come but I had to know.” Lamar turned to go, then stopped and looked over his shoulder, his stark profile lit by the unearthly glow coming from the plants on the other side of the room. “Be careful. Those wolves you came in with are dangerous. The way I hear it, their Alpha’s a mean son of a bitch who’ll tear you apart just as soon as look at you. Every time he moves up in their hierarchy, somebody dies.”
Lamar left, and Gerald exhaled roughly, digging his hands through his hair. He sat back on the edge of the bed and stared into the shadows while the questions he hadn’t asked burned bright and hot in his thoughts for a long time.
It wasn’t questions of Lamar’s whereabouts for the last three and a half years, nor questions of what James did or didn’t know. It was questions about Tanis and the hope Gerald couldn’t let die that Tanis was the kind of person Gerald wouldn’t hate himself for—
For what? He wasn’t in love. He barely knew Tanis. But he felt something for Tanis and his wolves, and whatever it was, it kept him awake until the ceiling began to glow with the light of a pale daybreak and his eyes burned with the need for sleep.
He slept then, and woke to the sound of a growl in his ear.
“Your human friend has made a terrible mistake,” Tanis said, “and now he will have to pay for it with his life.”
Chapter 19
Tanis’s red and gold eyes looked like hellfire when he was angry. That was the thought that ran through Gerald’s mind as Tanis threw the bedding to the side and thrust his nose in tight to Gerald’s sternum. The wolves had a highly developed sense of smell and if they could smell arousal on him, how could any of them miss the scent of another human during heat season?
“Shit, Tanis, listen—”
Tanis’s clawed hand came down in the center of Gerald’s chest, forcing Gerald back to the bed. Those claws pricked at his flesh before disappearing before they could break skin.
“I do not share what’s mine with any but mine.” Tanis spoke in the
wolves’ language, but he spoke with such clear precision that Gerald understood every word.
“That’s not—”
“Hush, human.”
Gerald shut his mouth.
For two seconds. “Look, Tanis, this isn’t—”
“You belong to me. You are mine. Submit!” But even Tanis seemed taken aback at the power of his words and he stopped, breathing deeply through flared nostrils, chest rising and falling with unnatural speed.
Wolf hearts beat faster than human when they were agitated, aroused, or on the hunt, and slower when calm. Gerald knew that. They breathed faster, too, in those same circumstances, and their stamina was remarkable in nearly all things.
And their bodies’ design—it was a breathtaking thing. A wolf could survive an injury that would kill a human ten times over and heal within days to a point where no one would know what had happened. He didn’t understand how they healed so quickly, and from such deadly wounds, but they did.
None of that knowledge stopped Gerald from catching his breath and staring at Tanis when he finally realized something was wrong with Tanis.
A visceral pang of sympathy pain shot its way through him, making his stomach flip.
He reached out. “Your arm. What the hell happened to it?”
Tanis’s mouth pressed tight, his lips a thin line. He glanced dismissively at the wreck that was his left arm. “An accident. Nothing to concern you.”
But his eyes flickered, something there that Gerald wished he could read.
Gerald curled his fingers around Tanis’s wrist and carefully removed the weight of Tanis’s clawed hand from the center of his chest. Tanis let him—he couldn’t have done it otherwise.
When Gerald released Tanis’s wrist, Tanis stepped back, chest still rising and falling inhumanly fast, eyes still fixed on Gerald.
Gerald rolled to his side and sat up on the edge of the bed. “Where are the others? Is anyone getting you medical care?”