McBride’s mouth was watering as he remembered the taste of Caleb’s hot, gushing blood. The last time he’d fed from him they’d shared a body-shattering climax that had kept McBride satisfied for much longer than he’d thought possible. Just thinking of the way he’d gushed on Caleb’s bronzed back made his cock strain against the fabric of his trousers.
“What was it you feared?” McBride wasn’t going to let him go until he found out the truth. Something about being held captive had made Caleb far more submissive to McBride’s needs. As he stood there, toying with his scar and considering why he would fear something he so clearly enjoyed, McBride suddenly understood. “You fear how much you love being at my mercy.”
Caleb made a suppressed growl that told McBride he was correct.
“Knowledge is power.” McBride lowered his lips to Caleb’s neck and licked along the scar. “And we both know you weren’t remotely interested in that boy.”
“I could have gotten used to him.” Caleb tried to sound as if he didn’t care, but he did. He wanted McBride to feel uneasy about his willingness to take just about any man as his mate.
“Ah, is that it?” McBride kissed the edge of Caleb’s ear and pulled back, shocked at himself for doing something so intimate. “You were trying to pay me back for Jonas?”
“You don’t love him.”
“No, I don’t.” McBride didn’t see any point in lying. “But you had a ringside seat to the show, didn’t you?”
This time, Caleb growled and gnashed his teeth at McBride.
“Did I make the big, bad man angry?”
“You bastard.”
“I assure you, my decanting was quite legitimate.”
“I had to watch you put on that ridiculous charade as if you loved him, and cared for him, and then the bonding!” Caleb turned his head, straining to look at McBride. “You did that to deliberately hurt me.”
“I did.” McBride took the chair to the right of Caleb and pulled it up so that they could sit very close. “I wanted you to see that there was no hope for us at all.”
“That’s why you sold out my brother to his molester?”
The accusation stunned McBride. He had no idea that Caleb’s hatred for Jonas ran so deep or so misguided. “He didn’t molest your brother.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know that you and your brothers couldn’t have been sold until the youngest was at least eighteen. That’s the law.”
“Right. And thralls are supposed to be untouched until they’re eighteen, but that didn’t stop Easton’s master from taking a nip of him when he was thirteen.”
McBride’s stomach clenched. Last night was a blur, but he now recalled that the scar on Easton’s neck had been high, faint, and tentative. It was obvious he’d been bitten very lightly then let go. Possibly the thrall master realized what he was doing and pushed him away. It didn’t excuse the behavior, but at least the man had stopped there before it went much further.
“Just like that thrall master took advantage of Easton, Jonas took advantage of Ollie.”
“He didn’t.” McBride wanted to go and apologize to Easton for what had happened last night. He had overreacted, and he wasn’t even certain why. All he knew was that he was enraged because someone had taken advantage of him. McBride hadn’t stopped to consider that someone had taken far greater advantage of Easton. If he had just cooled his heels and taken the time to listen, none of this would have happened. He could have smoothed things over between Jared and Easton. He could have made it right, but he’d gone off the deep end and didn’t have any idea why. Always, he’d been a contentious and considerate lawman, but now he was an overgrown child who couldn’t seem to control himself. When his communication implant started to itch, he scratched at it absently then made himself stop.
“I don’t want to argue with you anymore. Either kill Jonas, let me do it, or let me leave.”
“Leave?”
“I won’t stay on the same patch of land with him.” Caleb met McBride’s eyes with defiance. “You can say he didn’t hurt Ollie, but I know he did, and the fact you are harboring him under your roof so he can continue molesting my brother is despicable.”
McBride narrowed his eyes. “I own you.”
“Great. Have the local law hunt me down. Oh, wait, you are the local law. If you won’t arrest Jonas for his inappropriate relationship with my brother, then I guess you probably won’t do anything when I walk away.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Going to keep me bound all the time? I sure hope you’ll stop by a couple of times a day to hold my dick while I piss.”
McBride realized that, unless he locked Caleb up, he could simply gather his possessions and walk. A big man like him wouldn’t be hassled. In fact, he’d be hired in an instant to provide someone with protection. Caleb could go anywhere and do just about anything he wanted. In the new world, he was a very valuable commodity.
“I’m not setting you free.”
Caleb met his eyes. “Then you have a choice. You have to decide between me and Jonas, because there is no way both of us are staying on your farm.”
Chapter 11
Jared heard someone enter the house, but he wasn’t about to unblock his bedroom door. He was conflicted terribly over wanting Easton back but also wanting to reject him because he wasn’t perfect. He’d been sitting in his room, staging his protest, not knowing which way he wanted things to go until he heard someone enter his home. Suddenly, he knew exactly what he wanted, and that was Easton back no matter what had happened.
He struggled to get everything out from in front of the door. It seemed to take forever, but eventually he freed himself and ran toward the front room. The last thing he was expecting to find was Easton, swaddled up in a blanket, looking confused and afraid.
“Hi.” Jared couldn’t believe that was what came out of his mouth, but it did and he was stuck with it.
“Hi.” Easton looked away and out toward Caleb’s house.
“Did he hurt you?” Jared took a step closer, but Easton backed away.
“You hurt me.”
Jared stopped advancing and stood there, unsure what to say or do. “I’m sorry. I was angry.”
“So whenever you’re angry you’ll hurt me?” Easton wrapped the blanket a little tighter around himself.
“No. I was stupid because I didn’t listen.” Jared sat down on the couch. “I know it’s a little late now, but please tell me how you got the mark on your neck. After time to think, I realized the mark is very pale and in an odd place. Is it a bite, or does it only look like a bite?”
A look of hope crossed Easton’s face as he settled in the chair that was set at ninety degrees to the couch. “It’s a bite.”
“Oh.”
“It happened when I was thirteen. That’s why it’s in such a strange place. It was lower, but then I grew.”
“Someone bit you when you were a child?” Jared even further regretted his hasty anger the night before. Had he given his mate the benefit of the doubt, he could have held him, consoled him, and told him everything would be all right. He realized he could still do that, if Easton would let him. “Please come sit by me. I won’t do anything but hold you while you tell me.”
Easton considered for a moment. Jared could almost see that he wanted to hold off, to make sure that Jared’s motives were genuine, but ultimately, he decided that they were. Easton left the chair and settled next to Jared. Moving slowly, so as not to startle him, Jared reached out and clasped Easton’s hand.
“He was the thrall master.”
“I thought they were aged thralls who didn’t thirst for blood?” Jared realized what he’d said could be taken as him disbelieving Easton’s claim, but it was too late to take it back.
“They are, but something happened to him that day.” Easton seemed baffled by the entire event, and Jared realized he was more confused than traumatized. “I didn’t even realize that what he’d done would hu
rt me—hurt me when I was sold—until I was much older.” Easton looked to Jared and then away. “Devers said that my slammer wouldn’t believe me. He said I’d end up with a ripped hole and a scar-encrusted neck because no one would ever want me for long.”
“No. No, that’s not true. I do want you.” Jared gripped his hand a little tighter but not too tight because he didn’t want to scare him. “I overreacted because I thought you tricked me. I’ve always been so careful not to let anyone know I cared about something. I mean, look at my house. You can’t even tell what I like because I hide everything.”
“Your brothers mocked you?”
“Yeah. I like—” Jared took a deep breath. “I like to paint. And I like to make clothes.”
“Really? I think that’s wonderful.”
Relieved, Jared felt he could share the rest. “I never let a man know that I cared about him, because then he’d have the power to hurt me.”
“You thought I would hurt you?”
“If you knew how much I liked you, you might.”
“I like you, too.” Easton’s voice was very quiet, and he looked at Jared and then away very fast. He wasn’t embarrassed, just shy.
“Why did you go to Caleb?” Jared wanted to pelt him with a dozen far more pointed questions, but he didn’t dare. Hurting Easton a second time seemed cruel, and he wasn’t about to compound his error.
“I thought that next to McBride, he was the biggest man on the farm.” Easton looked toward Caleb’s house, and so did Jared. McBride had yet to leave, but since the sun was high and Caleb didn’t have any interior lights on, he couldn’t see what was going on inside. “I didn’t have a collar on.”
Jared noticed that he didn’t have one on now. “I’m sorry. I should know what that means, but I don’t.”
“A thrall without a collar can be claimed by any man who sees him.”
“Any man?” Jared had no idea that ripping off his collar put Easton in such a terrible position.
“If a landed gentryman found me, he could claim me and give me to a slammer, but a slammer could simply claim me for himself.”
Jared looked at Easton and wondered if he covered himself in the blanket to hide the fact that Caleb had injured him.
“Don’t bother worrying.” Easton moved a bit closer to Jared. “Caleb was a perfect gentryman.”
“He’s a slammer like me.” Jared didn’t like the idea of his eldest brother being elevated.
“I know, but he behaved very sweetly toward me. Just as you have done.”
“I put you on my kitchen table to examine your hole.” Jared winced at how vulgar he had been.
“I didn’t mind.” Easton blushed and grinned at him. “The only thing Caleb did was kiss the edge of my ear and have me mount him.”
“What?” Jared thought his eyebrows were going to shoot off the top of his head.
“Oh, no!” Easton shook his head. “He saw McBride coming and asked me to jump up and straddle his waist.”
Jared felt like he’d been punched in the belly.
“Oh, I’ve made a mess of things again!” Easton shook his head, and Jared thought he was going to run off, but he stopped right where he was, straightened his shoulders, and faced Jared. “I must explain that Caleb never wanted me in that way. Never. And I never wanted him. We made a deal to help one another get what we wanted.”
“What was it that you wanted?”
“I wanted you.” Easton moved close. “I remember going to Ollie’s door and seeing him, but I saw you out the corner of my eye and I wanted you because you were so lonely looking.”
“You saw me that day?” Jared thought he’d been too far out in the field to be seen.
“I could see your face, your eyes, but then I saw the way you licked your lips.” Easton looked down then back up into Jared’s eyes. “In my class on attraction, the teacher said that sometimes men lick their lips when they see a man they are truly enamored of.”
“Really?” Jared could believe it. Every time he saw Easton he had an insane urge to lick his lips and clutch his hand to his cock.
“Yes. Do you think that’s true?”
“I do.” Jared moved a bit closer and examined Easton’s neck.
“You can turn on the light and look if you want. I won’t be upset.” Easton willingly bared his neck, and Jared felt a rush of longing shoot from his brain down to his cock.
“I have to be honest.”
Easton nodded and clearly braced himself for the worst.
“I don’t want to look so much as I want to bite.” Jared reached out and stroked his fingers over Easton’s neck. But rather than touch the side that his master had marked, he reached for the other side. “I want to taste you.”
“Are you sure?” Easton sounded hesitant but hopeful.
“I’m very certain.” Jared moved closer and embraced Easton. Resting his head on his shoulder, he kissed and spoke against the spot on his neck right above his vein. “I want to bite into you and mark you as mine.”
Easton let out a whimper that hardened Jared’s prick.
“Is that what you want?” Jared didn’t want to push him, not after he’d made such a mess of things.
“I want. Oh, I want.” Easton turned and pushed Jared down onto the couch. “I want you.” He straddled Jared’s hips and kissed him as if he could bind them together with their mouths alone.
Jared surrendered and let his passionate mate kiss him and grind his body against his. Eventually, the blanket fell away and then Easton got to work on Jared’s pants.
“I can’t get them to come apart!” Frustrated, Easton was now tugging on the pants rather than trying to undo the fasteners.
“Whoa! Let me have a go at them before you tear them apart. Remember, we’re trying to conserve our resources.”
Easton grinned. “Right. But I want you now.”
“We should have McBride here. We need a witness for the ritual.”
Easton bit his bottom lip and then grinned.
“What?”
“That was the old way.”
“It was?”
Easton nodded as he helped Jared pull his pants down and off. “The world has changed. You and I should be able to bond to one another without anyone sticking their nose in it.” Easton extended his back and looked over at Caleb’s house. “Besides, I don’t think McBride is finished with Caleb.”
Jared didn’t care what was going on with Caleb, McBride, Jonas, or anyone else on the farm. He had found his mate, lost him through his own ignorance and arrogance, only to get him back. He was grateful for all that he had, and Jared was going to do all that he could to protect the things that he loved.
“Is it too soon to say that I think I could love you?” Jared felt silly for asking, but he didn’t want to push Easton where he wasn’t ready or willing to go.
“No.” Easton lowered his body down until he was pressed fully against Jared. “It’s not too soon, because I think that I could love you, too.”
Chapter 12
Easton couldn’t believe how quickly his fate had changed. Just last night he had thought he would have to give himself to a monster of a man who turned out to be one of the most gentle of giants. Caleb hadn’t taken advantage of him in any way. He’d wrapped him in a blanket and snuggled him on his couch while he went back to his bedroom alone.
Today, Caleb had put his collar on him, kissed his ear, and begged Easton to straddle his hips, but it was over so fast when their master came and broke them apart. As Easton went off to Jared’s home under McBride’s command, Caleb had flicked his chin at him and grinned, like they were both getting exactly what they wanted.
Easton didn’t know about Caleb, but he definitely had what he’d been after all along. He had Jared below his body, and they were ready to bond in blood. As nervous as he was, Easton was also excited. He knew this would be completely different from what had happened with the thrall master. This was real, and unlike that man, Jared’s teeth would be sharp enough
to fully pierce his skin so he could draw his life force into him.
After all the tales and stories, Easton didn’t know what to believe about how it would feel to give up his neck to his mate. He’d been told so many things that he refused to even speculate. The only thing he knew for sure was that he wanted to surrender himself—body, soul, and blood—to Jared.
“Are you sure?”
“I am. I’ve never been more certain.” Easton rose and then Jared climbed off the couch. He took Easton’s hand and led him into the bedroom. There, he turned the lights off and lit a lone candle.
“It’s blue, which doesn’t stand for the body, soul, or blood, but it’s all I have.”
“Then it stands for everything.”
Jared considered.
“If we don’t need a witness, then we don’t need three candles when one will do just fine.”
“I like that.” Jared turned and cupped Easton’s hands. “And I like that it matches your eyes.”
“You are very sweet.” Easton leaned over and kissed his mate.
“Are you ready?”
“I am.”
With Jared’s help, Easton relaxed on the bed on his back. He was a little nervous, but far more excited than anything else.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Me, either, but I think we should do what we did last night. The only difference tonight is that when you reach your climax, you should bite my neck.” Easton turned his head, showing the unmarked left side of his neck. “Here.” He stroked his fingers over the area, exciting himself. “This is where you should bite me.”
When Jared didn’t respond, Easton looked up and realized Jared’s brown eyes were so dark they were almost black. Lust owned his features as he climbed onto the bed. With clipped movements, he parted Easton’s legs then dove down between. Easton wasn’t sure of his intent until Jared pushed on the backs of his thighs and exposed his hole. Lowering his head, Jared proceeded to tongue Easton until he was on the verge of climax.
“Oh, my love. Please. I can’t hold off.”
Jared Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Page 10