Bailey Bradford - Southwestern Shifters 06 - Reverence

by Bailey Bradford

  “Harley,” Val began, then he sighed and rested his chin on the top of Harley’s head, looping his arms low behind Harley’s back.

  “Can we go to your place?” Harley forced himself to ask. It wasn’t his place, but the idea still made him nervous. Not as nervous as Val leaving him alone tonight, though.

  “I thought you wanted to know if I followed you,” Val said.

  Harley suddenly didn’t want to know that. He didn’t want to hear anything that might force him to turn away from Val. “I was chasing you. You don’t seem like a serial killer or anything. If you promise you won’t hurt me, I might believe you.” He really, really might, which was terrifying and wonderful all at once. Of course, he used to never have to ask such things.

  “I would never physically hurt you, Harley,” Val said in a voice stripped raw. “I’m not that sort of man, but if you mean—”

  “I meant physically,” Harley cut him off, desperate to not hear the rest of that sentence. “Totally. It’s just a one-off, or however many offs we can get in a night, yeah?” He waited for Val to nod then continued. “Not like I’m gonna fall head over heels for you that quick no matter how well-hung you are. Never did with any other hook-up, and there’s been more than a few of them.”

  Val did the growling thing again and Harley didn’t ask why, just enjoyed the way it made his balls and cock ache with a need he hadn’t felt in too long. “Your place?” he asked.

  “You’d feel safe?” Val grabbed his chin, made Harley look at him again. “Alone with me, a guy you don’t know, in a locked apartment?”

  Harley frowned, something about the question making him feel exposed, as if Val knew what had happened to him. That was impossible, though. Harley hadn’t told anyone what he’d really been through. Val must have taken the hesitation for a no, because he started backing up. Harley clung to him. “No, I mean yes—”

  Val’s arms tightened around him again then the world spun crazily. Harley squealed as his feet left the ground. Val grunted, the sound carrying a note of pain, then they were moving into the dark alley beside the club. Harley was set on his feet and pressed against a wall. He barely had time to blink before Val dropped to his knees and rubbed his face against Harley’s groin.

  “Oh my God,” Harley gasped, fisting his hands on top of Val’s shoulders. “Please, please, please,” he begged, struggling to keep his eyes open as his heart slammed in his chest. “Please suck me, please, I haven’t—except when I was asleep this morning and I don’t know why—I just—please!” That he’d become a babbling idiot might embarrass him later, but for now Harley would beg and beg for what he needed—Val’s lips around his cock.

  “I have you,” Val murmured, his breath warm through the denim of Harley’s jeans. “Relax, I won’t leave you needing.”

  Harley whimpered and sucked in his bottom lip. He couldn’t see so well in the dark alley, so he gave up and closed his eyes. His head seemed too heavy for his neck and he rested his chin on his chest as Val ran his hands up to pluck at Harley’s nipples.

  “Ah,” Harley panted, then quickly bit his lip again. This wasn’t the place to be noisy, and if he was too loud Val would have to stop. Then Harley would cry.

  “Good,” Val murmured, as if aware of Harley’s decision and determination to keep silent. “I’ll want to hear every sound you make, once you trust me.”

  Harley didn’t know what to say to that, and since Val followed the statement with a hot, open-mouthed drag over his dick, he couldn’t speak anyway. Val rubbed and tugged at his nipples while repeating that move over his cock, and Harley began to quiver, from deep in his belly to his shoulders and knees. When Val used his apparently very talented mouth to unfasten and unzip Harley’s jeans, Harley wanted to write him an ode or something.

  Then Val licked him, that wet tongue on his bare cock as Harley hadn’t bothered with underwear. Harley thunked the back of his head on the wall when he jerked, swallowing a shout. The stars that burst to light behind his lids weren’t all from the head-thumping, either, because Val, bless him, sucked Harley’s cock in to the root in one swift move. Harley’s balls drew snug in a heartbeat, his lungs seizing up as heat raced through his bloodstream and pleasure spread from his core—which happened to be his nuts, it seemed—and shot to his cock.

  Val rumbled around his length, and slick, tight muscles contracted around his tip at the same time his nipples were tweaked. Harley’s lips parted on a soundless gasp as he jutted his hips, cum spurting from his slit into Val’s welcoming mouth.

  It was, he thought a moment or two later once his head reattached itself to his body, the shortest blow job he’d ever had, because he went off like a God damned bottle rocket. That wasn’t all because of him not having come lately, the morning notwithstanding as he’d not been awake for that. Val had some mad dick-sucking skills—that was the main reason Harley had come so quickly. He dragged his lids up and groaned softly as he looked down at Val, who was still gently sucking his cock. Harley didn’t know what to think about the fact that he was still erect. He’d always had a quick recovery time, but not like this.

  Harley realised Val was watching him as he laved a thick vein. Harley unfisted his hands and touched Val’s hair. The short dark strands were as soft as anything he’d ever felt. Harley could only think of comparisons like silk and butter and maybe even that whole baby skin thing but that was too weird considering his current position.

  When Val smoothed his hands down and let his dick slip from his lips, Harley just about sobbed because he didn’t want to leave Val’s mouth, ever. Except he wanted to kiss Val again, and having Val’s mouth on his and around his dick at the same time was…a fucking intriguing fantasy Harley would be beating off to in the near future.

  “We need to get out of here.”

  Harley blinked. What was Val saying? “What?”

  Val began tucking his dick back into his jeans. “I said, we need to get out of here. I feel like someone’s watching us.” Harley stiffened, not in a good way at all as he thought about Nathan’s warning that he’d be watched. Val began zipping him up. “I don’t know if I’m just being paranoid. It’s not the first time tonight I’ve felt it, though, and my instincts are generally pretty accurate.”

  For some reason, those words set Harley on alert. He didn’t want to hear any more about Val’s instincts. “Fine. Let’s go. Have you got good locks on your door?”

  Val finished zipping him up and he stood, a look Harley couldn’t decipher on his face. “Harley, if you can’t talk—” Val cut himself off with a sharp shake of his head. “No, we need to talk—”

  “No,” Harley said firmly, “We don’t. We need to do this some more, except I want to suck you, too, and you can fuck me, maybe, or I can fuck you, or we can both—”

  “Harley,” Val snapped. Then he sighed and glanced around the alley. “Never mind. Now isn’t the time. Let’s get away from here.”

  Harley couldn’t agree more, although he suspected not for the same reasons as Val. He wasn’t going to ask. He didn’t want to know, and he feared, if Val said much more, things would come out that might force him to walk away from the man.

  Chapter Seven

  It had been wrong of him to blow Harley like that, to take him like a cheap trick in the alley, yes, but even more so to do it without telling Harley who he was. Val didn’t know what had happened. One minute he’d been talking to Harley, then they were kissing, and that had blown every bit of Val’s restraint to hell. Then he’d picked Harley up and, the next thing he knew, he was on his knees sucking the sweetest damn cock he’d ever tasted. By the time he’d drunk down Harley’s release and kind of got some sense back, he’d had it again— that sensation of being watched. It’d snapped Val right out of his lust-stupid haze and he’d known he’d really fucked up.

  The thing was, it bothered him a lot that he had most assuredly demolished any chance of having a meaningful relationship with Harley. More even than it did that he’d obliterated
his Alpha Anax’s rules…or so willingly ignored them, at least. The rules were still there, but his obedience, not so much. What did that mean in regards to his loyalty?

  Val couldn’t answer that. He concentrated on searching for their watcher to no avail. Whoever it was, he or she must be keeping to Val’s left. “Can you call us a cab?” he asked Harley.

  “Sure.” Harley pulled his phone from his pocket. Val kept checking the alley, the sidewalk, the street—if he had his wolf’s sight, he would be able to see into the darkness of the alley across from them. This making do with slightly above human shit sucked stinky nads. Val brought them to the sidewalk then closer to the club. They would wait right by the door since people were coming and going from it almost constantly now. Hopefully the flow of foot traffic would discourage any would-be attackers. Maybe whoever was watching them didn’t mean to harm Harley, but Val wouldn’t take a chance on it. He had to protect Harley, not just for Nathan and Marcus but…but because it was integral to some part of him and he couldn’t grasp why. He just liked Harley, his looks, his wounded eyes, his smile and the salty-sweet taste of his cum. Val thought he’d like to know Harley better, a lot better.

  “Should be here in about five minutes since there’s a cab doing a drop-off a few streets over.” Harley sidled up beside him and turned his pretty eyes up at Val. “You’re gonna let me come to your place, right? I really don’t like being alone at night, and lately that’s led to me doing some, uhm, stupid things.” Harley glanced away and Val’s stomach lurched at the confession.

  “Yeah,” he ground out. He was torn between asking and not, but Harley made the decision for him.

  “Some bad shit happened to me a while back,” Harley said, still not looking at him. “I’m fucked up, but I’m working on that. It’s only tonight I’ve realised being fucked up doesn’t mean I’m totally ruined, ya know. I’m not just good for blowing strangers and getting wasted so I don’t have to remember exactly what I did, and with who.” Then he turned back to Val, and the sadness in his expression strangled the anger at the idea of Harley letting other men use him thoughtlessly. “I have to tell you, swallowing was a big, big mistake. I can’t swear I’m c-clean,” he whispered the last then slapped a hand over his mouth, his eyes huge. “I didn’t even think before—”

  Harley appeared to be on the verge of running, crying, or puking…or maybe all three. Val understood, in a manner, what he was trying to say, but the fact was, shifters didn’t catch diseases. They could develop some of the same ones humans did, like cancer, but anything airborne, blood-borne, swapped in body fluids—none of that affected them.

  But could he tell Harley that? Probably not right now when he was so obviously distraught. “It’s not your fault, Harley. I knew what I was doing, the chance I was taking. Even if you have something, the chance of me getting it,” is nil, “was one I chose to take. But we’ll use condoms, if you want to do anything else. I don’t have any at my place, though. I wasn’t expecting to meet anyone.” Telling Harley the truth might be the best thing, even if it meant Val never got to touch him again, because seeing the worry in Harley’s face was killing Val, a weird reaction considering he didn’t know the guy. “We are going to talk first.” Val couldn’t condone deceiving Harley. What he’d done in the alley was bad enough.

  “I’d really rather not talk, if you know what I mean,” Harley said, a sultry note in his voice as he fluttered his lashes at Val. “Unless it’s you or me moaning yes, harder, things like that.”

  Val’s cock sure seemed to like that idea but he shook his head. “I can’t—” Something was moving in the shadows across the street, some dark shape in the pit of the alley was noticeable because it wasn’t the black of the unlit corners, but more of a solid thickness, was the only way Val could describe it. “Get behind me,” he said to Harley, helping the man along by taking his arm and tugging him back.

  “Why?” Harley didn’t exactly dig in his heels, but he didn’t come easily, either. “What’s wrong? Did you see someone?” Harley turned his head and it put him off balance enough for Val to get in front of him. “Val, did you see someone?”

  “Maybe,” Val answered softly, still staring at the moving form coming from the alley. “I think there’s someone over there.”

  Harley pushed at him then pinched his hip hard when Val didn’t move. It hurt and Val was tempted to turn Harley over his knee for it, but he’d said he’d never hurt Harley physically, and he wouldn’t. He did, however, growl and reach for Harley.

  “Stop it. There may be danger…” he began, then stopped when the shape altered and yellow eyes flashed out of the alley at them. “Shit.”

  “What’s—” Harley squirmed and got out from behind Val. He only moved to Val’s side before freezing, gaze shooting to the alley. “Fuck, oh fuck no. They said they—” he shut up so fast his teeth clacked together.

  Val met his panicked look and held it for a second before checking to see if anyone was nearby. There were several people. He couldn’t explain, not here, and Harley had caught himself before he’d blurted out whatever he’d been about to say. A taxi pulled up to the kerb and Val almost wept with relief. “Get in,” he ordered Harley, opening the back door for him. “Take him straight home,” he told the driver, reeling off the address as Harley slid across the seat. “Don’t stop.” Val took a fifty from his wallet.

  “Come on,” Harley urged, glancing nervously towards the alley. He patted the seat. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Val waited until Harley looked at him, and he dreaded destroying whatever they might have had, even if it’d only have ended up being one night. Val would have probably pined for Harley afterwards, but then again there wouldn’t have been an afterwards because he’d intended to tell Harley the truth as soon as they got back to his place. Now he had to dump that plan.

  “I’m not coming, Harley.”

  “What? No!” Harley started scooting across the seat. “You can’t stay here. You don’t know, you have no idea—”

  Val held up a hand, a plea for silence. “But I do know, Harley. I do. Nathan trusts me with you, and I won’t fail him, or you.”

  The dawning horror in Harley’s eyes made Val feel sick. Sweat slicked his brow and upper lip and his stomach did a nausea-inducing roll. Harley skittered away, pressing himself against the door on the other side of the cab. “Go. Get me the fuck outta here,” he rasped to the cabbie, never glancing away from Val.

  Val stood and shut the door before Harley could say anything else. He didn’t want to hear the man curse him and tell him what a vile thing he was. Val already knew. Harley would hate him, did, in fact. He’d certainly never forgive Val for what he was, which Val could do nothing about, and he’d truly hate him for what had happened in the alley, even though Harley had enjoyed it. The fact that a shifter had given him pleasure would probably cement Harley’s hatred of them.

  The cab pulled away and Harley never looked back at him. Val heard the snarl from the beast waiting for him, knew it to be a taunt, and himself to be no match for the shifter, not without some sort of weapon. How had Marcus thought he could fight off and kill other shifters, damaged as he was? But what would happen to Harley if he didn’t? He’d possibly be murdered, maybe even tonight. He’d never be safe.

  Val wouldn’t fail, that was all there was to it. He wasn’t going to walk into a trap, though. He needed time, and something to use as a weapon. Val sent the shifter a cocky grin and flipped him off. If anyone else was watching him, they’d probably think he was nuts, but that wasn’t Val’s concern. He turned and started towards the diner, mostly confident that the wolf wouldn’t come running down a street where there were witnesses. Arizona was an open-carry state in regards to firearms. It wasn’t improbable that someone would be carrying a gun and would shoot at a vicious wolf.

  Val felt the other watching him as he entered the diner. He kept his expression impassive and sat at the diner counter. A waitress who looked surprisingly fresh-faced came up t
o him and smiled. “You need a menu, or you want coffee and pie like most folks do? Our peach pie is famous around here.”

  He didn’t really want anything, except a few minutes to plan and try not to think of Harley’s rejection. That didn’t seem prudent to mention. “Yeah, that’d be great. Black, no sugar or anything, please.”

  “Gotcha.” The young lady winked at him and dashed off. Val spun on his stool enough to keep the street outside the diner in sight. After a few minutes, he had a steaming cup of coffee in front of him, and a huge slice of peach pie—and a clothed man was standing outside the place staring right at him. Goose bumps rippled down his spine. It was the shifter, he was sure of it. Power seemed to roll off the man, nothing as strong as Marcus’ but still apparent for one who knew what it was. Others might or might not feel a prickle of unease, depending on how sensitive they were to the supernatural. Val had lived with it all his life so he knew what he was experiencing.

  Whoever the wolf was, he was an alpha, and Val didn’t know of any of those in the area except the ones leading packs, and none of them looked like his stalker. Val’s plan to snatch a butter knife was looking less intelligent, because the man watching him was fucking huge, and since Val was pretty tall himself that said something. Perhaps it wasn’t his height so much as it was his bulk. Even in his best shape, Val had never carried that much muscle. Stringy brownish hair hung in clumps off the man’s head, and a heavy beard covered most of his face and neck. His eyes seemed to be a dark green and carried enough anger that Val knew he would almost certainly fall under his hand. It wouldn’t stop him from trying, but his life was looking to be a hell of a lot shorter than it had fifteen minutes ago.