Jared Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove)

by Anitra Lynn McLeod

  “Because you are going to claim me?” Easton waited, holding his breath for Caleb to confirm his supposition.

  “Two can play at the faux mate game.” Caleb spoke under his breath while darting a determined glance toward the big house. “I’m not going to let any more of my brothers make foolish choices that will get them hurt in the end.”

  “So you are going to claim me?” Easton needed a clear answer rather than strange comments that made no sense and meaningful looks that baffled him.

  “Can you keep a secret, young Easton?”

  “I kept the secret of the biting for years.” Moreover, he’d kept the secret that Jonas and McBride weren’t really—“You know.” That’s what that cryptic comment about fake mates had meant.

  “Know?”

  “About McBride and Jonas.” Easton realized that if Caleb didn’t know, he’d pretty much just told him and also proved he wasn’t the best man at keeping a secret. It seemed that he simply couldn’t do anything right out in the real world. In the thrall house, he’d been a star, praised for his punctuality and almost-photographic recall, yet out here, he was nothing but a walking disaster area.

  “Don’t look so glum. I knew from the very moment McBride took Jonas into his house that they weren’t ever going to be companions.” Caleb made a fist that was just about as big as Easton’s skull. “But I need you to keep a secret just between us. Can you do that?”

  “Will it help me get Jared back?”

  A gentle smile eased its way across Caleb’s face. “You really do like him, don’t you?”

  “I think I could love him.”

  “Even after how he’s hurt you tonight?” For some reason, Easton’s answer seemed to matter a great deal to Caleb. Almost as if Easton could forgive Jared for hurting him, then Caleb could forgive someone who had hurt him.

  “Even after tonight, I could still come to love him.” All Easton had to do was picture Jared’s face when he spoke about Alden’s deafness. His compassion for his brother’s mate was crystal clear. Easton believed that if Jared took some time and found out the truth, he would be as compassionate toward Easton as he was toward Alden. Neither Easton nor Alden was responsible for what had happened to them. Once Jared understood that, he would want Easton back. As long as his brother hadn’t defiled him. Easton had a feeling if Caleb used him in any way, Jared would never touch him again.

  “I’m glad that you’re willing to give my brother a second chance.”

  “Like you said, I think Jared reacted without thinking. He was hurt because I didn’t tell him the truth. My only hope is that he’ll give me a second chance.” In Easton’s opinion, both of them could have behaved better.

  Caleb was silent for a long time, his attention on the big house. “Like you, I was hurt by another. I don’t think I can forgive him.”

  “Have you tried?”

  “No.” Caleb looked at Easton. “But I would like to see if he is happy with what he’s done.” Caleb’s attention drifted back to the big house, and Easton followed his gaze.

  “Do you want Jonas?” Easton was perplexed because there were only three men in the big house. One was Caleb’s brother, Ollie, and Easton knew Caleb did not want him. That left either Jonas or—“Is it McBride?” The words tumbled out more breath than voice.

  Caleb’s nonanswer was all the answer Easton needed. When Easton said the master’s name, Caleb’s gaze sharpened, and he quickly licked his lips, almost like he was savoring the taste of the man’s blood.

  “You don’t have to say.” But Easton understood now how Caleb had been hurt. If he knew Jonas and McBride weren’t really together, then he must know that Ollie and Jonas were. “Why would McBride perpetrate such a lie?”

  “Because he thought if he did I would no longer pursue him. And he was right.”

  “Then why do you care what he does?” Easton didn’t believe Caleb for a moment. He could say he didn’t want McBride any more, but the truth was still clear to see in his face. Caleb might be angry, but he still wanted McBride. In a way, Easton had to admire Caleb. He had certainly aimed high. Going after not only a landed gentryman but also his master was ballsy to say the least. When Easton pictured the pairing, he could easily see the two strong men working well together, and not just in the bedroom. Combined, they would be a powerful force.

  “I don’t care what he does.” Caleb fingered the decorative collar again. “But I’ll bet he cares what I do.”

  Easton stared at the collar and thought he understood. “You want to make him think you’re happy with me to see what he does?”

  Caleb nodded.

  “But Jared won’t want me if he thinks I’m with you.”

  “Yes, he will.” Caleb spoke with conviction.

  “But you—I—you’re very big.”

  “What in the world does that have to do with anything?”

  “I don’t want to be unfaithful to my mate.” Easton was so embarrassed by what he was trying to say that he wasn’t able to look at Caleb. He found this utterly strange, because he’d discussed milking with several men and even allowed them to watch.

  “I swear, I won’t touch you.” Again, Caleb made the statement with perfect faith in what he was saying. “Like I said, you’re beautiful, but you’re not what I crave.”

  Easton realized that he and McBride were completely different in their appearances. Whereas Easton was slender, pale, and hairless, McBride was muscular, bronze, and dusted in brown body hair.

  “But, well, won’t Jared think we are being intimate?”

  “He might, but I will tell him the truth once he’s come to his senses and realizes he doesn’t really want to let you go.”

  “If he wouldn’t take the time to ask me about my neck, why would he even ask about this?”

  “Trust me, if I fucked you, you wouldn’t be able to walk for a week. Jared will figure it out pretty quickly.”

  Easton wasn’t sure this was a good idea at all, but since he didn’t have another plan, he really had no choice.

  Chapter 10

  McBride woke up in his own bed, but he had no memory of the last twenty-four hours. His earlobe itched, and he scratched at it, but that only seemed to make it worse. He wanted to put another ice pack on it, but to do that, he was going to have to get up and go downstairs. When he sat up and turned to the side to put his feet on the floor, he realized he was still dressed. His entire body ached unbearably, almost as if he’d put in a full day on the fields then came to the house and put in an entire night cleaning.

  The idea of cleaning made him remember the cupola, and then the bottle of brandy. Had he gotten so drunk he blacked out? He shook his head and cupped his hand to his face. His beard was at least a day’s worth of growth, and his mouth tasted like something he’d accidentally stepped in. Whatever he’d done last night, it clearly didn’t involve any personal hygiene.

  For all he could tell, he’d been on one hell of a bender, but he didn’t recall any of it. The last clear memory he had was of being in the cupola yesterday morning, talking with Jonas. Everything after that got muddy. Rising to his feet, he wavered unsteadily and dropped right back down on the bed. He felt weak and shaky. His heart kicked into high gear when he wondered if he’d finally gotten whatever had ailed his father. From what Jonas had told him, his behavior got progressively stranger until he became an utter recluse. Right now, McBride wanted to curl back into bed and never face anyone on his farm again. But that wasn’t from illness. More than anything he felt embarrassed. He’d never lost control of himself, and now he’d done it two nights in a row.

  McBride stood up again and forced himself to go into the bathroom. One look at his face in the mirror made him wince. He looked dreadful. His normally full cheeks were sunken, his skin was ashen, and his eyes had the hollow look of a madman. He was dehydrated, and he hadn’t eaten anything since the heated-up breakfast Ollie had given him.

  “I don’t want to be my father.”

  McBride couldn’t
think of a worse torment than becoming crazy and not knowing that he was mentally ill. Larsden was out of his misery rather quickly, but McBride’s father had lingered for years. No matter what, he didn’t want to follow in his footsteps. He didn’t know what he could do to avoid the situation, but there had to be something.

  First thing first, he was going to get cleaned up. Unstable people wallowed in their own filth, so he would do the opposite. He thought that was a grand plan. Whenever he wanted to do something nutty, he’d just do the reverse and that would keep him sane. Much like Easton’s cooking ability, it sounded good in theory, but he had no idea how it would play out in real life.

  McBride stripped out of his clothing and took a long hot shower. When he got out, he shaved, brushed his teeth, combed his hair, slapped on cologne, and looked at himself again. Better, but he still had a long way to go. He picked out clothing, dressed, and pulled on his boots. For a long time, he sat there staring at his boots. This wasn’t his favorite pair, but he couldn’t remember what had happened to them. Everything came rushing back. He’d gotten blood on them at the Larsden crime scene. He’d had to burn them in the back with the rest of his clothing.

  That got him thinking of hunger. Taking stock of himself, he felt very hungry for food, but he had no interest in blood. That was odd, because most mornings he woke wanting both. Actually, most mornings he wanted sex, blood, and food, pretty much in that order. Since his usual routine was to eat and then have a quick sip before he set to work, he decided that was what he was going to do today.

  He took his time going downstairs. He wasn’t going to rush about and make himself feel off-kilter. Slow and steady would win this race. Eventually, he’d recall everything that happened yesterday. The table in the main dining room was empty, but that was where he normally sat, so that’s where he went today. After a moment, his butler entered, took his request, and departed. Within moments, he brought him food and an ice pack.

  “Where is everyone?”

  “Jonas is directing the planting of the expanded garden. I believe most everyone is with him.”

  One look out the window told McBride that Jonas was doing fine organizing the new kitchen garden. They had enough stores to see them through until next spring and beyond, but they would be wise to keep ahead of demand. Still, they weren’t going to have any problem keeping the men fed. Clothing wouldn’t be an issue either, once McBride got the machinery up and running. He was hoping to have that completed today.

  “Has the valet being keeping watch?”

  “Yes, sir. If he sees anything, he will report to you.”

  Given how wonky his implant had been behaving, McBride directed that the valet should communicate to both him and the butler and the butler should confirm with McBride in person that he’d gotten the message. That way, there would be nothing missed. Unless he had another blackout. To err on the side of caution, he told the butler to also inform Jonas. Like it or not, Jonas had proven himself to be adept at taking command. He might long to be a thrall in the bedroom, but in the front room, he was all alpha leader.

  That caused a memory to burst to the surface. Jonas was calmly telling McBride to put someone down. He was shaking someone and hurting him. The feel of the man’s shoulders under his hands was frighteningly fragile. One hard grip would have snapped his bones like twigs. Unfortunately, McBride couldn’t see anything other than Jonas’s calm features and couldn’t hear anything other than his cultured voice.

  Shaking off the half-formed memory, he forced himself to eat a hearty breakfast, and then he went out to the field. They were making tremendous progress. When the men put their minds to it, they could do a great deal of work very fast.

  “Jonas? May I speak with you?”

  He was wearing a wide-brimmed hat and gloves, but the coverings for his hands looked worn. Very soon he would have calluses on his palms and the tips of his fingers. That caused another fragment of memory to come back to him because he’d discussed that with Jonas yesterday.

  “Amazing progress, yes?”

  “Yes.” McBride drew him away from the others. “What happened yesterday?”

  “You accused me of drinking from Easton.”

  “Why in the world would I do that?”

  “I honestly don’t know. But I calmed you down, got you into bed, and you stayed there all night.”

  “How do you know that?” McBride could have been gallivanting around the county all night.

  “Because I stationed the butler outside your bedroom.”

  “Oh.” That made sense. The butler must have left his post when he heard that McBride was up.

  “How do you feel?”

  “Sick. Confused. But there’s so much that needs to be done.”

  “There is, but we have many strong backs and lots of hands. Everyone is pitching in.”

  McBride’s attention returned to the men working on the new garden. He frowned.

  “I know. Both of them are in Caleb’s house.”

  “Caleb stole Easton from Jared?” McBride was utterly stunned.

  “Apparently, when Easton left the big house last night, he wasn’t wearing a collar. Jared went to bed, still angry about Easton lying—”

  “Lying about what?”

  “He has a bite mark on his neck. You thought I had put it there, but to my eyes it looked very old, possibly done to him when he was a child. But Jared was livid. He felt tricked and ignored Easton, who apparently wandered outside.”

  “And without a collar that made him fair game.” McBride rubbed his face with his hands. “What a mess.”

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  “I’m going to go talk to Caleb. I need to get this sorted out because we can’t have chaos on this farm. We just can’t fall apart like the rest of the world.” McBride was determined to hold things together. Lawlessness was no doubt running rampant in the county, but that didn’t mean he had to stand for it on his land. “Go finish up on the garden. I’ll see what I can do. Wait, where’s Jared?”

  “He’s in his house, in the bedroom. He’s put something up across the door and won’t let anyone in. He swears that Caleb stole his mate and he won’t come out until he gets him back.”

  “Lovely.” The mess was just going to keep on getting bigger. As McBride turned on his heel, he saw Caleb exiting his house with Easton right behind him. Around Easton’s neck was a stunning green collar. Caleb leaned over Easton, and even though Easton’s head blocked McBride’s view, he was fairly certain that Caleb just kissed the edge of Easton’s ear. That caused McBride to walk toward them a little faster. When Caleb grasped Easton’s buttocks in his massive hands and pulled him against his body, McBride increased his pace. But what practically sent him running was when Easton parted his legs and wrapped them around Caleb’s waist. The intimacy of the gesture utterly enraged him. He couldn’t remember ever being so angry.

  By the time he got to the porch, Caleb had settled Easton back on his feet. “McBride, how good of you to come to bloodbond me to my new mate.”

  “Get in the house. Now.” McBride didn’t want to hear it. He would no more bear witness to Caleb and Easton’s bonding than he would shoot himself in the foot. “You are going home.”

  “To the thrall house?” Easton looked devastated.

  McBride reached out and yanked the collar off his neck. “Go home to Jared right now.”

  “He wasn’t wearing a collar last night. That made him fair game.”

  “In the house, Caleb. Or I swear, I’ll get the restrictor.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Go, Easton, or I’ll have to punish you, too.”

  Easton took off running toward Jared’s house. McBride strode over to the equipment shed, retrieved the jacket and the prod, and returned to Caleb’s house. He was inside now, leaning against the wall that separated the dining room from the kitchen.

  “Sit.”

  “Make me.”

  McBride flicked the end of the
prod at Caleb, which sent a shock through him that caused him to collapse on the floor. By the time he came around, McBride had him trussed up in the restrictor and sitting in a chair.

  “You think you’re very clever, don’t you?”

  “I don’t think that.” Caleb grinned. “I know it.”

  “You’re nothing but a damn bully and thief.”

  “Well, well, well. Look at how furious you are at the notion of me having a mate.”

  “It’s not about you having a mate.” But it was. Seeing Caleb kissing Easton and holding him tight about made McBride’s head explode. He didn’t want him to have anyone in his arms but…him. Damn. McBride had tried so hard to push him away, and all he’d done was make himself crazy. “You can’t steal your brother’s mate.”

  “I didn’t steal anything. Jared didn’t want him, and Easton was afraid of being on a farm full of men without a collar. He came to me for protection.”

  “Please tell me you didn’t take advantage of that boy.”

  “Tell me the truth about you and Jonas.”

  McBride grasped the edge of the jacket and tugged, exposing the scar on Caleb’s neck. His teeth extended so hard and fast he almost staggered backward. Blood hunger merged with the need to fuck. No matter what he did he was never going to be free of his inappropriate lust for Caleb.

  “Go ahead, McBride. Drink.”

  “Tell me why you always feared the restrictor.” McBride teased his fingertip over the scar, loving the way Caleb squirmed.

  “I don’t.”

  “You did. You do. You’re afraid right now.” McBride lowered his head so that his breath would play over the scar. “I can see your heartbeat is slamming hard in your veins.”

  “It’s knowing you’re going to feed.” Caleb turned his head to the side as far as he could, which brought his lips much closer to McBride’s. He knew by the smell of his breath he hadn’t fed from Easton, and that was more of a relief than he thought it should be. “You haven’t fed from me in days.”