by Zoey Marcel
“Excluding earlier in the shower, Mark hasn’t gotten any in a while, since he’s been so busy lately. He needs someone to take care of that hard-on he’s hiding under the table,” Jack said nonchalantly.
Now it was Mark’s turn to blush. “Okay. Um, yeah, I’m gonna be leaving now.”
“Sit down, Mark. Do you really want the whole room to see your happy wang?”
“Son of a bitch, Jack.”
They turned to face Morrigan when they heard her cracking up. She wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. Man, I haven’t had this much fun in a long time. These past few days have been great. Thank you. You guys are like an old married couple. It’s so cute.”
Mark rolled his eyes. “Great, Jack, now she thinks we’re cute.”
“At least she doesn’t think we’re gay.”
“She might if you keep talking about my junk and grabbing it.”
Her eyes sparkled with wanton interest. “You touched him?”
“Only for a minute.”
“It wasn’t a whole minute!” Mark lowered his head when a couple of people looked over.
Jack grinned. “My fork fell into his lap. I had to pick it up.”
Morrigan was beaming with excitement. “Was it, you know…hard?”
Jack smiled darkly, seeming pleased by the depraved nature of her question. “Very. He wants you bad, Morrigan.”
“Right now I want to kill you more.”
Her heady whisper sent a surge of lust jetting through Mark. “Was it hot when you touched it?”
Jack’s timbre sounded dark and sensual. “It burned my hand. I think I’ll try my hand at being bi for a while.”
Mark let out a gasp that seemed to ricochet off the walls. “Oh my god!”
Jack grinned and winked at Morrigan. “I just wanted to see his bright-red face. For someone with a gay brother, he sure is homophobic.”
“I’m not homophobic.” Mark rolled his eyes, flinching when Jack pretended to reach for him. Facetious bastard.
Morrigan looked to Jack as if waiting for a cue and he nodded.
“Where are you going?” Mark asked.
“I dropped my fork.” She disappeared under the table.
“When this is over, I’m going to wring your strange, smart-ass neck.”
Jack’s dark-brown irises mocked the empty threat. “Stand down, soldier. I outrank you.”
“I’m a cop, not a soldier. What the hell did I say about touching me, you freak?” Mark grimaced when someone passing looked at him funny before moving on.
Jack grinned and showed him his hands.
Mark’s eyes widened when he realized the palm grazing his denim-covered length was Morrigan’s. She rubbed him faster and he fought the urge to moan. He lost his breath when she started undoing the button fly on his jeans. Oh, sweet heaven, she was going to touch him. With what he didn’t know, but hell, she could rub him with her feet for all he cared and he would still be singing her praises for such generosity.
“I think there might be some people in the corner over there that haven’t looked this way because of you,” Jack teased.
“Yeah, well that’s easy to say when you aren’t the one being fondled by a beautiful woman.” He swallowed a groan when he felt her slender, nimble fingers tracing invisible lines on his shaft. “God, what a tease.”
“She’ll keep teasing you until I instruct her to do otherwise. Isn’t that right, Morrigan?”
“Yes, sir.”
The lust simmering on Jack’s face suddenly became molten at the deference she showed him. “I like the sound of that. Mark, in order to get any head, you need to apologize to your leader.”
Mark rolled his eyes. “Oh, for god’s sake, Jack, we’re in public and eating dinner.”
“Funny, I don’t recall your stiff penis knowing any better. Smack his groin, Morrigan.”
She hesitated, probably torn and surprised by the order.
Mark gave him an irritated look. “I’m not your bitch, nor is this a dungeon scene where you can order around your little subs.”
“Slap his goods or it will be your ass.”
His feeble cry of pain strangled in his throat. The woman might be a shorty, but she packed a mean punch. “You sadistic bastard.”
Jack’s face was pure evil, his smile betraying his lascivious pleasure in all of this. “Squeeze his balls good and tight until they hurt.”
“Okay, I’m sorry,” he said quickly. He liked having his balls played with but had no desire to have the life squeezed out of them as punishment for disrespect.
“Go down on him, Morrigan.”
Mark struggled to breathe and even harder not to yell out in nirvana when her hot, snug mouth sank down on his swollen, throbbing cock. “Oh, yes.”
“It’s going to be hilarious for me when you come screaming like a territorial caveman,” Jack said in between bites.
Mark snickered breathlessly. “We really need to find you a woman to humiliate so you can stop embarrassing me in public.”
“We have. Who the hell do you think is sucking on you? That’s not a dog under there, latched onto you.”
“Yeah, thanks a lot for that mental image I won’t soon forget.”
“Pervert,” Jack accused with a saucy smile.
“Me? You’re the one who said—oh!” Mark was enraptured by her warm, loving mouth. The balmy cavern caressed him tenderly as though he were precious to her. She licked the head steadily and deliberately as though he was a Tootsie Pop she couldn’t wait to reach the center of. She reached into his pants and played with his balls while she suckled him gently.
“We agreed to share her, you know,” Jack reminded him.
Mark groaned. “What do you think earlier was about?”
“You know what I mean. I want us to fill her body at the same time.”
All he cared about right now was the godsend of a mouth working miracles on his smitten boner. He was getting close. He thrust ever so slightly into her attentive mouth, delighted by her soft moan of bliss on his meat. His hands slid under the table and he threaded his fingers in her hair while she summoned his dormant orgasm to life from the very depths of him.
His organs came alive inside of him. The conception of pleasure began in his prick and quickly ignited his balls in erotic flames. Desire begot the birth in his organs which were now teeming with life. Self-control was struck down and killed by reckless abandon, but it wasn’t the end. Through the ashes of helplessness came a rebirth that set his cells ablaze with fiery awareness. His orgasm rose in him like a phoenix, mighty, powerful, and riding a wave of fire to victory.
He was only half aware that Jack was trying to get him to close his mouth and tamp down on his wayward sounds. All he knew was the overwhelming pleasure fondling him all over and that Jack was cramming shrimp into his open mouth. Just why, he wasn’t entirely sure.
“Yes, good shrimp,” Jack said, looking around.
Mark moaned, nearly choking when more was stuffed into his mouth.
Jack’s eyes widened that the noise was louder now and he became louder to throw everyone off. “Yes, that’s damned good shrimp.”
Mark sighed with contentment as he came down from his climax, but he held Morrigan still after she put his happy cock away, so no one would see her come out from under the table.
“That’s bloody good shrimp. More fucking shrimp,” Jack said loudly.
The server went to get more, looking baffled as hell, and Mark tapped him so he knew to shut up.
He passed a napkin to Morrigan underneath the tablecloth to spit his cum into, since she probably had never swallowed before. He fed her by hand, but she waited until most of the people were gone before coming out.
“That was amazing. Thank you.”
She was all smiles. “Glad you enjoyed it.”
“When we get home it’s my turn,” Jack said.
* * * *
The following day, they looked for a Christmas tree to cut down from the large selection
of pine trees on their property. Walking through the frigid winter wonderland felt surreal and distant for Jack, almost like he was dreaming. It was as if reality was suddenly a mirage and his thoughts were truth.
Death would be coming for Morrigan. He had to be the one who sent those harpies. Sometimes the loathsome creatures acted on their own accord, but more often than not, they served as the Grim Reaper’s minions.
Jack couldn’t go through with it. The first time he saw a harpy attack Morrigan in her car back in California he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that no one, not even he must harm her. He’d never known fear, though he enjoyed inflicting it. However, seeing her nearly lose her life to that denizen of hell had sent a cold tremor of fear through him that changed him. Target or not, that was his mate and no one was going to take her from him.
Quinn’s voice sounded far off even though he stood only a few feet from him. “You’re going down, bitch.”
Jack smiled when he realized he was talking to the pine tree.
He was a powerful beast, but even he couldn’t protect Morrigan from Death. None of them could. It was only a matter of time before he showed up and laid claim to her life or dragged Jack’s ass back down to hell as punishment for going against his mission and defending her.
Damon grinned. “Let’s get this thing inside. I’ll get the decorations and ornaments down.”
Jack’s eyes widened with horror. He saw a familiar elf in a long, earth-toned cape standing amidst the pine trees. He only looked like an elf at the moment, but Jack knew what he really was.
“Are you coming, Jack?” Mark called back to him.
He tried not to sound as frantic as he felt. “Yes. You run along and I’ll be there in a minute. I have to do something first.”
“What?”
“Pray.”
Mark looked pleased. “That’s great, Jack. I’m glad you finally got around to letting God in your life.”
“Yes, it was a swell decision.”
“When did this happen?”
The elf moved closer with a smirk, but Mark didn’t see him. The pack wouldn’t see him unless they were dead, undead, or soulless. Jack had no soul which made seeing Death quite easy.
“Yes, jolly good. It’s time for my devos.”
“Devos?”
“Prayer, meditation, you know.”
“That’s wonderful. Let me pray with you.”
“No! I pray alone, damn it. Now depart before I turn atheist.”
“Geez, all right, I’m going.” Mark walked off to catch up with the others.
Jack approached the blond elf warily. “What are you doing here, Samael?”
“You are in no position to be questioning me. Did I not send you to Earth to bring Morrigan to me? Why haven’t you?”
“Pardon my irreverence, but I had more pressing matters to take care of.”
Samael smiled. “Yes, chopping down a tree and sleeping with a banshee, both noble things, Eversor, but not what I asked you to do. You’ve been up here for eight years now. It has never taken you this long to find anyone before. You’ve been living up your time as a human like a gluttonous reveler.”
“You’re one to talk. You’re a fallen angel, father to one of the Nephilim, and the angel of death to the damned.”
“I’m not here to discuss my trespasses.”
“I can’t talk to you when you look like an elf.”
Samael’s smile turned sinister. “Why is that? Is it because it reminds you of something? The first man you ever slept with, perhaps?”
Jack shot him a warning glance. “I was drunk. It was all that rum you kept shoving in my face.”
“Yes, you did like your rum, didn’t you? You liked what I did to you too, as I recall.”
“Are you here to chastise me or seduce me?”
“Neither. I’m here to remind you of the reason you are here.”
“I know why I’m here. There’s no need to send any more harpies to do my job.”
“You weren’t doing your job, that’s why I sent them. Oh, I know you like to toy with your victims sometimes before you kill them, but that’s not what you’re doing with Morrigan.”
“There’s nothing wrong with getting laid first.” Jack hoped he bought it.
Samael’s eyes narrowed. “I’m brother to deception and friend of manipulation. Do not think for a second that you can lie to me. I see what’s really going on here. You’re attached to her and it will be your downfall.”
“I’m going to bring her in. Just back off and give me time. I’ll stick to my end of the deal if you stick to yours.”
Samael raised his hand and a tiny crystal ball hovered over his palm. A white light glowed brilliantly from inside the sphere. “I’ve often wondered why it was you requested I release you from my service and let you live out the rest of your existence on Earth. Now it all makes sense. When I gave you the shroud with her scent on it years ago, I sensed the connection you felt. Now seeing you with her I have come to realize you’ve been brainwashed by the shifter curse. You wanted to live on this Earth amongst mortals in search of something real, but this isn’t real, Jack. It’s only hormones.”
Jack’s spirit became heavy. “What I have now is real.”
“No, it isn’t. You think you’re in love with her, but you’re not. Soulless beings can’t love, not true love anyway. What you feel is a mistake. You’re human and fate allotted you a mate because of your present condition, but we both know it’s only temporary. What you have with her is a counterfeit of what true love actually is.”
“No, I’ve never felt like this before.”
“Nature never told you to feel like this before. And that’s not entirely true. I’ve seen you make eyes at Mark.”
Jack averted his eyes.
“Love lays down its life. Would you die for her, Eversor? You don’t even have a conscience. I could make you kill her for me right now and you would do it because you are bound by my will. You would kill the woman you say you love and wouldn’t feel any remorse, because you have no soul.” Samael sneered.
“You cursed motherfucker!” Jack lunged at him, only to have a whirlwind of snow fly up in his face and knock him back when Samael raised his hand.
“Yes, I can see now she has poisoned you against me. You can’t love her the way you should without a soul and you can’t obtain a soul unless you claim her in your true form. She doesn’t strike me as the type to agree to something like that.”
“I would never claim her in that form.”
“Are you worried you would lose control and kill her, or that your mating would be a success and you would inherit a soul because of it?”
Jack stood without saying anything. Samael would know he feared the potential of either outcome.
“What I hold here in my hand is a soul.”
“I don’t want it.” He didn’t need the remorse a conscience would bring him.
“Then perhaps you should have thought of that before you betrayed me. I should force this on you and let you wallow in guilt and shame for months as punishment for defying me.”
“If my efforts have proven less than satisfactory why don’t you take Morrigan yourself?”
Samael glared at him. “It is not for the master of death to be troubled with the retrieval of a banshee.”
Jack tried to hide his smile. “And here I thought it had something to do with the fact that she’s flesh now and therefore unreachable to you.”
Samael’s expression turned deadly and he pointed a finger at him. “If you do not follow through with your mission I will send another hit man. All you have to do is deliver her to me and I will set you free from my service. You may pursue any woman you wish then.”
“Except the one I want.”
“There are other fish in the sea.”
“And what happens to Morrigan?”
The death angel’s smile was pure evil. “Leave her to me. Once I have her, she is no longer your concern. We’ve been friends since nea
rly the beginning of time. Let’s not ruin that now over a woman. What do you say?”
Jack stared at his extended hand. “Fuck you and that pale horse you rode in on.”
Samael’s eyes darkened with admonition and wicked pleasure that the lack of cooperation ensured he could unleash his retribution. “Bad answer. You may be a Dom in this world, but in the other realm you are my servant and friend. I can still control you, you know.”
Jack cringed inside, fearing for Morrigan’s safety. “Only in my wolf form.”
Samael released the small, glowing ball and it floated toward him.
He walked behind Jack and whispered in his ear. “Reach for it, touch it. You know you want to. You want to know what it’s like, to feel it inside of you, touching every part of you. You want to love her like you should.”
Jack shivered at the chilly breath in his ear and the nearness of his oldest friend and worst enemy. “I don’t want a soul and that’s not why you want me to have one. You merely want me to suffer for my defiance.”
“You know me so well.” Samael breathed against his skin and crushed the ball in his hand, so the light was free and seeped into Jack via his open mouth. He gasped and fell to his knees in the snow.
Samael circled him from above. “It’s a staggering transformation, isn’t it—going from pure evil to innocent and vulnerable. Even your wolf-to-human transformation wasn’t that large of a change by comparison.”
Jack was overcome by a plethora of emotions, some of which he’d never felt before. “It’s too much! Take it back.”
Death grinned at him. “But, Jack, it’s what you wanted—something real. Give yourself time to adjust. You may experience a startling level of guilt and shame, but that is merely your conscience eating you alive for killing holy men, eating children, ravaging virgins, and destroying villages.”