by Lynn Hagen
Tristan jumped into Hunter’s truck, his art bag clutched to his chest. Hunter locked the doors, pulling from the drive. He scanned the neighborhood as he drove through it, keeping an eye out for anyone paying too close attention to them.
They made it to Zeus’s house, but Hunter bet his life that they were still being watched. He quickly helped Tristan inside, informing the soldiers of his gut feeling. Avanti and Sully headed out, going to look for his gut instinct. One of the Alpha’s mates, Jasper, showed them to a room. “Let me know if you guys need anything.”
“Thanks.” Hunter set the bags by the dresser, checking out the room they were in.
“This is nice.” Tristan set his art bag on the bed. Hunter was going to have to ask if they had a drawing table in this place. If not, he’d go get Tristan’s from the house.
“I guess this is our hotel until Xavier is caught.” Hunter walked into the bathroom, checking, for what, he wasn’t sure. The look of utter defeat on Tristan’s face was too much for him right now. Hunter didn’t know how to fix it, he didn’t know how to fix Quinn, and he didn’t know how to fix any of this fucking mess. What kind of mated shifter was he if he couldn’t help his mates? He was the Alpha of the three. This should come easily to him. But it didn’t.
Hunter sat on the toilet seat, wondering what he was going to do to get back to where the three used to be, like that evening in the living room when they danced around, not caring about the world outside. How easy it was to forget the good when you fucked up.
“Hunter?”
Hunter blew out a long breath and stood, running his hand through his hair as he exited the bathroom. “Yeah, rainbow?”
“Is Quinn really going to be here?”
“I wish I knew.” Hunter grabbed his mate in his arms and held him close. “We can’t give up on him. No matter how much he hates us right now.”
“I don’t hate you.”
Hunter and Tristan spun around to see Quinn standing in the doorway. His instincts were to pull Quinn into their arms, but the look on his face stopped him. Quinn wasn’t ready. Give him space.
“Are you sure? I miss us.” Tristan took a step in Quinn’s direction, but their mate shook his head.
“I’m not sure about anything right now, but I can assure you I don’t hate either of you. I’m just very pissed and hurt right now. If what I’m told is true, then mates are for life, and you start ours off with a lie?”
“We didn’t lie,” Hunter said.
“No, but you omitted the truth. It’s the same thing in my book. How do I know I can trust you now?”
Tristan stood there shaking. “Trust? I made a bad judgment call. I won’t say it’s the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but it was in good intention. If you want to talk about trust, think about how much I’ve given both of you. Do you know how much courage it took me to give both of you my trust? I fucked up and I’m sorry, but don’t punish us, at least not at a time like this.” Tristan’s voice broke, his scent smelling of fear and anger.
“Tristan.” Quinn took a step into the room. “That was something major you chose to keep from me. How do I know you won’t do it again?”
“I might. I make bad mistakes. Look at Xavier. But mates forgive each other. Hell, partners, lovers, and friends forgive each other as well. I didn’t withhold the information being malicious. I did it out of fear. Fear that you would leave us if you found out. All I’m asking is that you understand why I did it.”
Quinn twisted his fingers together and laid them on top of his head, staring at the ceiling. “I understand, but both of you need to understand how much of an outsider I feel like.”
“Why?” Hunter closed the distance between them, cupping Quinn’s face. “Talk to us.”
“You’re both shifters. I’m not. How would that make you feel?”
“I never thought of us like that. I don’t see you as human and us as shifters. I see us as mates, friends, a team fighting against an evil after our mate, being there for each other, not shutting anyone out.”
Quinn began to chuckle. “So now we are superheroes?”
“We could be, but you’re wearing the tights.” Hunter loved hearing that laugh once more. He missed it. Having discord between them wasn’t something any of them should go through.
“I need both of you to promise me that you’ll never hide anything from me again,” Quinn stated with conviction, his voice brooking no argument. “If I’m your mate—”
“You are. There is no if about it,” Tristan corrected Quinn.
“Fine, since I’m your mate then you are the two people in this world I shouldn’t have to worry about keeping secrets from me.”
All three turned when someone knocked on the door. Zeus stood there with Eagle and Torem. This couldn’t be good.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but the fire department is at your house, Quinn. Someone just burned it to the ground.”
Chapter Seven
Quinn watched as the fireman finished putting out the fire. The house was completely ruined. Whoever had done this meant business. “It was a rental. I’ll have to get in touch with the owner. I hope he had insurance,” Quinn said to Hunter and the fire chief. Thank goodness they had taken all their personal items to Zeus’s.
“They used an accelerant. Gasoline is the predominant scent here. Whoever did this,” the chief said, looking at the house and then at the pair, “wanted the occupants dead.”
So the chief was a shifter as well. He just used the word scent. Quinn kicked at a chard piece of wood with the tip of his boot. He hated feeling like the odd man out. It wasn’t so much that Hunter and Tristan had kept the news of being mates from him, it was more of the fact that they automatically knew and Quinn hadn’t. He was already attracted to them and couldn’t imagine being without them, so the revelation of being mates wasn’t what ticked him off.
Dino had said that the way they were acting with each other was the same way he, Torem, and Sidney were, as mates. It was like Hunter and Tristan shared a secret he wasn’t privy to.
“Do you have any idea who may have started this?” the chief asked.
“No.” Quinn wanted to talk this over with his mates and the Alpha before divulging any information. He didn’t want to lie, but he wasn’t ready to divulge his suspicions just yet.
Quinn took one last look at the charred ruins before turning away and walking to the truck. This was no idle threat against Tristan. If this was indeed Xavier, then he upped the antes, making this a death threat.
He and Hunter rode back to the house in relative silence. Quinn knew he was being childish and needed to get over his “I want what you guys have” fit. It wasn’t fair to Hunter or his jellybean. Quinn pushed the sunglasses up from his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. This had been one hell of a day.
Quinn walked exhaustedly into the house and up the stairs once they got back to Zeus’s. He dropped his keys on the dresser and noticed Tristan’s drawings. “Hey, Hunter, come look at these.” Quinn picked up a few drawings that were lying on the dresser. It appeared Tristan was using the dresser as his table for now.
“Tristan drew those?” Hunter asked as he looked over Quinn’s shoulder.
Quinn picked up one drawing after the next. Most were of the new house being built. The details and design were exemplary. “When he said he liked to draw, I had no idea he was an artist.” Quinn shuffled through a few more, one sketch catching his attention.
A grin spread across his face as he looked at a rendering of all three of them. Tristan was standing in the middle, wearing one of his outrageous outfits, including his fedora hat. But he had drawn Hunter and Quinn as Roman warriors, complete with studded collars, adjustable waist wraps, and lace-up cuffs. “Is this how he sees us?”
“His protectors.” Hunter took the sketch from Quinn’s hand and studied it. “Wow, the depiction of me is so detailed,” Hunter said in an impressed tone.
“I think Dino and Zeus
would like to see the additions Tristan added on in these drawings. They’re incredible.” The rendering was better than their blueprints. The elevations were sharp, and the angles were irregular and stood out. Tristan missed his calling. “He used a thirty-degree angle instead of a standard ninety degree.”
“What does that mean?” Hunter asked.
“It just means when people see something out of the ordinary, they’re drawn to it. It’s not your typical box shape but something more original.” He pointed out the different views Tristan had used in his renderings. “It’s absolutely amazing.”
“You really think so, sir?” Quinn and Hunter looked over their shoulders to see Tristan standing in the doorway, shifting from foot to foot. The look on his face mingled uneasiness and hopefulness. “I was told my drawings were mediocre at best.”
Quinn shook his head, holding up the sketch of the three of them. “There is nothing mediocre about this, jellybean. You have a talent most people wish they had.” Quinn could see Tristan’s eyes light up at his praise. How could he stay mad at him, or Hunter?
“Thank you. That’s all I ever wanted to hear, that I’m good at something.” Tristan took the sketch from Quinn’s hand. “Yes, that’s how I see both of you.”
“Then I can see myself ordering online.” Quinn chuckled.
“Speak for yourself.” Hunter grunted. There was a faint hint of humor in his dazzling eyes. “You two are not putting me in a skirt, even a man skirt.”
All three began to laugh at Hunter’s protest. Tristan turned his head and batted his eyelashes at him. Quinn didn’t think his jellybean did it on purpose, but his stomach twisted in anticipation when he saw the lust in Tristan’s eyes. His jellybean wanted them to wear the outfits. He was turned on as well thinking of the role-playing.
“Get on the bed.” Quinn pointed, looking Tristan in those emerald green eyes. “Hunter and I have need of you.”
“Need of me, sir?” Tristan giggled. “I like that.” Tristan sat the drawing down, ran across the room and closed the door, engaging the lock before stripping his clothes off and jumping on the bed. “Need away, my barbarians.”
“I think he really wants us to wear those damn costumes.” Hunter looked at Quinn with a quirked brow and a devilish grin.
“And I plan on it.” Quinn said as he shucked his clothes and crawled between Tristan’s legs. “Even the skirt.” Quinn ran his tongue from base to head, watching Tristan’s eyes roll to the back of his head. His jellybean’s legs spread further apart, his hands reaching out for Hunter.
“What does my rainbow want?” Hunter teased as he tossed his clothes aside. Fuck, it must be a shifter thing because Hunter’s cock was large and thick, just like Tristan’s. Talk about glorious romps together.
Tristan was so hard his cock hurt, and to see Hunter standing there asshole-naked, his salivary glands were working overtime. “I want to suck you.”
He was getting better at not saying sir. He wasn’t where he wanted to be with the word, but it was better than the word coming out with every sentence he spoke. His goal was to eliminate it completely from his vocabulary.
Tristan licked his lips as Hunter crawled on his knees across the bed, that supersonic cock in his hand. He wasn’t sure what he wanted more, for Quinn to fuck him or to suck that delectable cock Hunter was showing off.
Decisions, decisions.
Why not both? Tristan pushed up to his elbows and licked at the head of Hunter’s cock while Quinn tried to siphon his sperm from his balls through the eye in his cockhead. Tristan didn’t want to come that way. He wrapped his legs around Quinn’s head, using his thighs to suppress the need to donate his little soldiers to Quinn’s saliva.
“Someone wants me to fuck him.” Quinn slapped Tristan’s hip as he rose from between his legs. “On your knees.”
Tristan gave one more lavish lick to Hunter’s cock before getting into the leapfrog position. Hunter walked on his knees to the headboard, repositioning himself so his prick was directly in front of Tristan’s mouth.
Naughty, naughty man. Tristan opened when Hunter tapped his cock against Tristan’s cheek. He suckled and slobbed, taking in as much as he could. Quinn’s preparations were driving him crazy. He could scent Quinn’s desire, and it was distinctive from Hunter’s. Quinn rolled his balls around while stretching his hole. This only drove him more insane with lust.
Tristan hummed around Hunter’s cock, drinking in the pre-cum as Quinn slid the head of his cock into Tristan’s asshole, and then he pulled out. Tristan wanted to protest, but that was kind of hard with an extra-large dick in his mouth. Quinn slid in again, and then pulled free.
Tristan grabbed the base of Hunter’s cock and pulled it from his mouth. “Will you fuck me already?”
Quinn chuckled evilly behind him. “I was wondering how long it was going to take for you to say something.”
“I was enjoying this big cock in my—ugh.” Tristan squeaked.
Quinn thrust in all the way to the root. He would swear to anyone that he could feel every vein and ridge of Quinn’s dick in his ass. Hunter opened Tristan’s mouth and began to fuck it with his dick. Tristan clawed at Hunter’s muscled thighs as his mouth and ass were being well used. Having both major orifices filled was a thrill he wouldn’t tire of anytime soon.
“You have such a sweet ass.” Quinn rubbed his hands over Tristan’s mounds, praising them as he fucked Tristan’s ass.
“And such a sweet mouth,” Hunter added, caressing Tristan’s swollen cheeks, running his fingers over Tristan’s throat muscles. He knew his mate was feeling the muscles work Hunter’s dick. “I’m gonna come soon, rainbow.” Hunter hissed as he snapped his hips harder.
“Almost there.” Quinn grunted behind him.
Tristan knew he was going to be the first. Having two powerful men love on him like this was an aphrodisiac unlike anything he’d ever experienced, and he loved it. He reached under himself and grabbed his own cock, tugging at it as Hunter fucked his mouth and Quinn fucked his ass, feeling both cocks work his senses over.
Tristan hummed around Hunter’s prick as he came, his body convulsing with his release.
“That’s it, rainbow, come for us,” Hunter cooed. “Because I’m about to come for you,” Hunter warned and then stiffened, holding Tristan’s head as he came down his throat. The taste was divine against his tongue.
“Hell,” Quinn shouted, ramming his cock deep into Tristan’s ass, feeling Quinn’s prick throbbing with its release. His anus seemed to milk every last seed from Quinn.
“I need a V8.” Tristan fell forward, right into Hunter’s thighs.
“Come on, rainbow, I have you.” Hunter chuckled as he rolled Tristan to his side.
Tristan walked into the living room, softly humming to himself as he looked around. It was homey enough, a comfortable arrangement. But it wasn’t Quinn’s place.
“Hello, Tristan.”
“Uh, hello.” Tristan spotted the dark-haired man sitting off in one corner. His expression was a mixture of sad and thoughtful. “Who are you?”
“My name is Chey. I’m Torem’s brother.”
Tristan took a closer look. The man was wearing long sleeves and leather gloves. It was a little too hot for that. “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you dressed like it’s fall outside?”
Chey smiled at him sadly as he looked down at his leather-covered hands. “My touch isn’t always welcomed,” he said softly, sadly.
What kind of touching did Chey do exactly? “I don’t understand, si—Chey.”
“Let’s just say people fall apart if they come in contact with me.” Chey turned his head, pretty much dismissing Tristan. None of it made sense, but if the shifter didn’t want to talk about it, who was he to pry? It wasn’t like he was an open book himself about what happened with him and his life with Xavier.
Tristan took a step back, feeling like he was invading on the man’s quiet time. “I won’t bother you.”
Chey looked bac
k at him, shaking his head. “It’s okay. I just wanted you warned before you accidently touched me. God forbid I have a heart attack and you have to do CPR on me.”
Well, that was sure morbid thinking. Were all the occupants of this house so grim? Tristan wasn’t sure what to make of Chey. The man didn’t look crazy, but his words were sounding like he sure was.
“You a mate?” A short-statured Asian man walked into the living room asking. “We being crowded here.”
“But this house has, like, fifty thousand rooms,” Tristan pointed out.
“So, still too crowded. Who you with?” The man glared at him, looking him up and down.
“Hunter and Quinn?”
“Not know them. You must go.” The guy began jabbing his finger at the front door. “And take funny hat with you.”
That’s it. He was tired of people making fun of him. “There is nothing wrong with my hat, mister. I happened to like it and my clothes, and only my opinion matters!”
“You say words, but I no hear.” The man moved his fingers in a talking gesture. “It still funny hat.”
“Did they find out who burned your house down?” Chey sat forward as he asked.
Tristan ignored the hostile human in front of him. “No, I wish they would so we can find our own place.” Tristan stopped talking and sniffed the air. Oh, man. That smell was entering his nostrils and going straight to his stomach. How long had it been since he ate bacon?
“Smells like Jasper is up and cooking,” Chey stated. “Want to go see if he made enough for everyone?”
“I don’t want to be a bother.” But he did want to be the bacon tester if Jasper needed one. Was that hickory flavor he smelled?
Chey grinned, waving his hand toward the doorway. “Let’s go find out what he’s cooking.”
Tristan’s stomach followed Chey to the kitchen. If he could eat the scent, he’d be obese right now. Heck, Tristan would be happy to gain twenty pounds. He’d always been a skinny guy, a small wolf, and the shortest around. It seemed no matter what he tried, he couldn’t gain weight.