Bailey Bradford - Southwestern Shifters 06 - Reverence

by Bailey Bradford

  “Yeah, just like that. Help me fuck you,” Harley mumbled, and Val grunted as he used his arms to push himself back even harder. “Yes!” Harley began driving into him with more force, the sharp blades of his hips slamming against Val’s ass. “Fuck yes, fuck, fuck,” Harley babbled, and Val wanted to preen at having driven the man to such a state.

  But Harley canted his hips, and his dick dragged over Val’s gland, and Val’s smugness evaporated as heat shot up from inside him, spiralling with pleasure and making him scream as he rutted wildly, cum spurting from his cock.

  “Oh yeah, that’s it, come, lemme feel it,” Harley muttered. “Fucking squeezing me so tight, ungh!” Harley thrust into him and stilled except for spastic jerks of his hips as he shot off inside Val.

  Val felt each hot jet of spunk as it coated his inner walls, and he clenched his ass, trying to milk even more from Harley.

  “Jesus, you’re killing me,” Harley rasped, then he draped himself over Val. “God. Ugh. Can’t move.”

  Val snorted, pretty content to stay there with Harley’s cum warming him from the inside out. Then it began to trickle from him and that tickled his inner thighs. He squirmed and Harley raised up, his cock slipping free.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, speech slurred.

  “Tickles,” Val managed, reaching behind himself to feel the sticky mess.

  “That’s mine,” Harley told him, batting his hand aside. “Wow. That’s either really sexy or really icky, depending on your point of view. Since I like cum, I know which one I vote for.”

  Then Harley shocked the hell out of Val by sliding down and lapping at his pucker. Val squeaked, startled, and almost sat up, but Harley put a hand to his lower back to encourage him to stay still.

  Which he would have done, but the sudden violent pounding on Harley’s door sent them both into a panicked skitter.

  Chapter Ten

  One second, Harley was doing something he’d never have thought he’d do, licking up his own cum, revelling in the taste of himself and Val mixed together, the next he was grabbing his chest as his heart tried to beat right out of it.

  “Get in the bathroom,” Val ordered. “Whoever’s trying to tear your door off its hinges isn’t a friend.”

  “I don’t have friends,” Harley said, eyes huge in his face. “Besides you.” He stood then stopped after taking a few steps. He turned back to Val. “I have a brother, but we’re not super close—maybe because he’s a lot older than me. Well, eleven years. I don’t see him regularly, but he’s always been okay to me. His name is Ryder. We had different dads, and our mom was kind of a mess.”

  “Does he look like you?” Val was beginning to get a very bad feeling. Very bad.

  “No. He’s a lot bigger.” Harley started back towards him. “Why?”

  Val looked around for his bag, found it and took out sweats while the man outside kept banging away. “The shifter in the alley. He said some things…”

  Harley ran to the door and looked through the peephole. “Ryder?” he shouted, most likely trying to be heard over the ruckus. “Is that you?”

  “Open the fucking door, Harley! I know he’s in there! You aren’t safe!”

  “Guess it’s a damn good thing no one else is on our floor,” Harley said, “and what the hell does he mean?”

  Val joined Harley at the door. “Can I take a look?” Harley stepped aside and when Val peeked he got an eyeful of a familiar snarling angry man. “Harley,” he began, trying to figure out how best to break the news to Harley that his brother was a shifter.

  “Let me open the door, Val. Step back, okay? Or, or wait in the bathroom, maybe? He sounds like he’s really angry, like he knows you’re here and that’s just weird.” Harley was opening the locks, talking as he did so, but Val didn’t leave. There was no point. Ryder knew he was with Harley. “At least he quit banging on the damn door. Shit, I don’t know what to tell him about what happened to me.”

  Val stepped back as did Harley when he released the last lock. The door flew inward with enough force it would have seriously hurt them had they been in the way.

  “You fucking freak!” Ryder yelled, his eyes darkening as he glared at Val. “I won’t let you do it!” He lunged, pushing Harley aside and ploughing into Val. “You fucking smell like him! What did you do? What did you do!”

  Val couldn’t even answer, he was too busy trying to keep from having his brains pounded out of his ears. Ryder was in a rage, and Val, although he probably should be furious, instead felt sorry for the man, because his fear for Harley was palpable, and with what he was yelling now, what he’d said in the alley, Val was beginning to think both brothers had been done very wrong by shifters. And that was something Marcus needed to know, as soon as possible.

  “Get off him, Ryder! Stop!” Harley jumped in the fray, and Val was more afraid of accidentally hitting him than he was of dying at Ryder’s hands. “God damn it, Ry! What the hell is wrong with you? Leave him alone, I mean it! Stop or get out!”

  Val didn’t want to cause trouble like this between the brothers, but he couldn’t leave Harley. He might not be experiencing the full strength of the destined mate bond, of its pull, but he for damn sure felt something strong for Harley. Ryder’s rage didn’t ebb, if anything it increased at Harley’s words, and Val saw the elongated canines, the promise of death in Ryder’s eyes.

  Hoping he could appeal to the wolf inside the man, he quit fighting and arched his neck, baring it to the stronger beast. He’d been right before—Ryder was an alpha through and through. He should be leading his own pack somewhere, but, if what Val suspected was true, he might end up being a very dangerous enemy instead.

  “No!” Harley screamed as he tackled his brother. The two went down in a tangle of arms and legs. Harley was still naked, Val realised dimly. He rolled to his side and grabbed Harley as he straddled his brother’s chest. Ryder wasn’t fighting him, but he was glaring daggers at Val.

  “What the fuck have you done to my little brother?” Ryder growled, his big hands curled into fists. “I swear to whatever damn god allowed freaks like us to be, I’ll kill you.”

  “Ryder?” Harley said hesitantly as he allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. “Ryder, what…? What do you mean, freaks like us?” Harley looked at Val, fear and anger rolling off him so strongly Val couldn’t miss it. “What happened to him? He’s one of you, isn’t he?”

  Val nodded. “I don’t know any more than that, Harley. I didn’t know the shifter following us was your brother. I—”

  “Fuck you,” Ryder snarled, jumping to his feet with an ease Val would never have. “Fuck you, whoever you are. I can see you didn’t bite Harley, otherwise I’d kill you right now no matter what he said.”

  Harley surprised the hell out of Val, and apparently Ryder, by slapping the big man so quickly it was only a blur. Ryder jerked his head back, either from the strength of the blow or in shock. His eyes rounded and he cupped his cheek. “Harley?” he said, sounding suddenly very unsure. “You hit me.”

  Harley turned a light shade of green and he shook his hand out. “I’m sorry, unless you really mean to hurt Val, then I’m not. I can’t explain it, but you can’t hurt him without hurting me, Ryder. He’s not like the others, like the ones who broke in here and took me. Val, and some of the other shifters I met, they’re…they’re good.”

  “Right,” Ryder scoffed. “They’re all fucking animals. I should know since I’m one, too. Fucking doped me at the bar and turned me, left me alone and—” Ryder stopped and pointed at Val. “You’re one of them.”

  “Stop it,” Harley snapped, slapping his brother’s hand aside. “Didn’t you hear what I said? Are you so lost in your anger you can’t listen to reason?”

  “Yes!” Ryder bellowed, throwing his hands up. “I’ve spent years and years screwing up, doing things I’m not proud of and staying away from you so I didn’t taint you with whatever it was that made me the thug I am! You’re good, Harley, and I never have been.
You’re my brother, and I love you. I know we’ve never been close, but that’s on me. I didn’t want you to know your brother was a criminal, and that’s all I was. So I stayed away until I couldn’t stand it, until I had to see someone who loved me, who I loved, okay?” Ryder stopped and rubbed at his chest as he lowered his gaze to the floor. “But would you have loved me if you knew what all I’ve done? I stole, cheated, whatever I had to do to survive and get the drugs I thought I needed. And look how I turned out.” He held his arms out, hands turned so his palms were towards the ceiling.

  Harley shook his head. “Don’t you know I’d love you no matter what, Ry?”

  Val wanted to slap the big man. He was wrapped in his own misery instead of listening to Harley. “Do you give a damn that a shifter kidnapped your brother and tortured him? Do you? Or that others rescued him, gave him a safe place, a chance to heal, sent me to watch over him?”

  “By fucking him?” Ryder snarled, then a flush spread up from his neck and he seemed to just crumple as he sat on the floor. “Someone hurt you, Har?”

  Val nudged Harley gently and he moved to sit on the couch while the brothers sat together on the floor. “It’s okay, Ry. Seriously. But you need to know some things about shifters. They aren’t all horrible, they’re just like regular people, except they have more strength, I guess. Let me tell you what happened to me, then I want to hear what happened to you, because it sounds like there’s a shifter out there turning people against their will, and that can’t be a good thing at all.”

  “No shit,” Ryder muttered, glancing at Val. “What about him? He makes me nervous. And what happened to his eye?”

  “You can ask Val that yourself,” Harley told him. “And you better be nice to him from now on, because, for all intents and purposes, he’s like your brother-in-law.”

  “The fuck he is,” Ryder burst out, nearly coming to his knees before Harley thumped him on the chest.

  “He is, and you’re gonna listen to me and quit being a hot-headed asshole, got it?”

  Harley’s firm tone brooked no argument, and Ryder cringed a little as he hunkered back down. “Okay, fine. But I don’t have to like him.”

  Val snorted softly. He totally understood Ryder’s sentiment there, but he was wise enough to keep his mouth shut and listen as the brothers talked.

  Eventually, he stood and went into the kitchen, his stomach growling and the need for sleep making him nod off too many times. He found the coffee, got that started, then decided to make a stack of grilled cheese sandwiches. Simple, quick, and, if he could find a loaf of bread, there’d probably be enough for all of them.

  Val had just tossed the last sandwich onto the platter when Harley and Ryder both entered the kitchen. Harley looked worried, and Ryder just looked like a mean bastard. He had none of Harley’s finely chiselled features, although with the face fuzz grown wild Val admitted he could be wrong about that.

  “Fixed some food, then we need to sleep, if possible.” He poured himself a cup of coffee, which, while not conducive to sleep for some, never bothered him much. It was weird how caffeine could help him stay awake but it didn’t keep him from sleeping. Maybe it was a shifter thing. “Want some?” he asked the other two. When they nodded Val poured two more cups of coffee. He handed Harley his and thought about being petty and making Ryder get his own, then he remembered he was thirty-four not three. “Here you go,” he said as he passed Ryder his cup. “Cream and sugar’s on the table.”

  They sat and Val took a couple of sandwiches. He could easily have eaten half a dozen of them, but Ryder had a look about him, despite his bulk, that made Val think he rarely had enough food. Harley took a sandwich and moaned around the first bite. Cheese stringed from his mouth to the toasted bread as he closed his eyes. “Oh God, this hits the spot. Can’t think of when I last ate more than a snack.”

  “This is a snack,” Ryder said, mouth full of food. “S’good, though.”

  Val figured that was as close to a thank you as he’d get so he tipped his head in acknowledgement. They ate in silence after that, then Ryder surprised him by offering to clean up the kitchen.

  “And Harley, you really need to get up the courage to go into your bedroom,” Ryder added as Val was following Harley out of the kitchen. Harley stopped and Val nearly ran into him before catching himself.

  Harley peered around him to look at his brother. “What, now you’re going to be giving me advice?”

  Ryder hitched one shoulder up and down. “Maybe it’s time I start being a big brother instead of a criminal and a coward.”

  “You’re not a coward,” Harley said. “And you don’t ever have to be a criminal again, Ry. You can be a better person than you were.” Harley touched Ryder’s shoulder. “You’re something different than you were born, sure, but maybe you can see it as a kind of rebirth, you know? The change left you immune to the drugs you’d been addicted to, so you’re free of them. That’s a blessing.”

  Ryder sneered as he spoke. “So you want me to use my powers for good? Do I need a cape and tights for that role?”

  “He wants you to quit being an asshole and start being the brother he needs you to be,” Val snapped. “Mocking that makes you less of a man than you’ve probably ever been.” Val pivoted and left Ryder standing there. Harley was gawping at him, admiration in his pretty eyes, and Val winked as he took Harley’s hand. “Where do you want to sleep? I need to crash for a few hours, then I have to call and try to get a hold of Marcus or Nathan. They need to know about what was done to Ryder. Did he remember what the man—woman?” He didn’t know which, hadn’t thought to ask before.

  “Man,” Harley clarified. “Ryder’s gay, and it was a man, that’s about all he remembers, that and pain and being scared. I want to find whoever did that to him and beat them myself.” Harley sighed and stopped them in the hall between the large guest bathroom and the bedrooms. “It’s weird, how both me and him ended up in your world, you know? What are the chances of that? Have to be astronomical.”

  “Yeah,” Val agreed, wondering if there was more to it than that. “How long has Ryder been a shifter?”

  “A year,” Harley said. “If we’d been closer, maybe he’d have told me, but with our age gap and the differences in our life choices, Ryder’s always kept a distance between us. I hope that will change now.”

  “You mentioned that your mother was a mess.” Val tilted his head to one side and debated prying more, but Harley started talking, as if he needed to share his past.

  “Mom was an addict, so it probably shouldn’t be a surprise to me that Ryder was one, too. I guess I just really didn’t want to see it.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes before continuing. “The thing was, our mom wasn’t always messed up. She’d go to rehab or decide she was saved by God and quit doing drugs for a while, and I’d hope—and I’m sure Ryder did, too—that she was really going to quit for good. She never did, not for long. Our dads were never in the picture. There’s not a name on either of our birth certificates where the father can be listed. Mom said she didn’t know who could have fathered us because she was fucked up when she got pregnant with each of us. We’re lucky not to be damaged by the drugs she used. Anyway, Ryder was gone by the time I was seven, and Mom died from an infection in her heart’s lining when I was nineteen, which was six years ago.”

  “You’ve been alone since then,” Val said, giving in to the need to hold Harley. “And you sought comfort through whatever means you knew how.”

  “I guess,” Harley mumbled. “I hated being alone.”

  “You’re not made for it. Some people are loners, and you aren’t.” Val nudged Harley’s chin until he could look into Harley’s eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with needing someone, or with being a sociable person.”

  “Okay.” Harley lowered his lids, looking up through thick lashes at Val. “I think I’m a sociable person without the social skills, though.” He gave a weak smile and Val bent to kiss those sweet lips.

  When he raised his h
ead again, Harley’s smile was a lot more confident and Val felt good about easing his mind somewhat. He thought it was safe to ask a few more questions. “Did Ryder say if he remembered many details about being changed?”

  Harley shook his head. “No. Either he doesn’t remember or it doesn’t want to remember it, or talk about it.”

  “He’s going to have to do it again. Marcus will not settle for hearing it just from us, and he sure won’t want a rogue shifter on the streets, and Ryder is definitely a risk to us, Harley.”

  Harley nibbled on his bottom lip for a moment as he nodded. “I know, but no one will make him join a pack or whatever. I’ll get him to agree to go in and talk to Marcus and Nathan, but no tricking him, no making him stay if he doesn’t want to.”

  Val understood, but he thought Ryder might be difficult just to be a shit. “He needs to learn about what he is, just like you’ve begun to learn about us.”

  “I guess.” Harley glanced at a door then shuddered. “He’s right, about the bedroom, I mean. I haven’t even been in here. Will you…will you come with me?”

  “Of course,” Val answered. He took Harley’s hand and opened the door. What he saw took his breath away. Harley gasped beside him, and Val looked at him. “Hadn’t you even seen it?”

  “I tried not to. I just shut the door and ignored it, but wow,” Harley said as he turned his head, taking in the entire room. “This doesn’t even look like my old room. It’s gorgeous!”

  “It is.” Val edged them into the room. The colour theme was predominantly white— thick, soft white carpet, white blankets, white curtains, furniture stained an aged white—but there were hints of colour spread all around. Blues and creams, greens and burgundies, even a bit of golden yellow. Pictures were hung on the walls, and paintings, all celebrations of the beauty of the Southwest. Pottery and sculptures decorated the two nightstands and the table in the nook by a large window. Pillows in a variety of colours littered the bed. All in all, the room exuded a rich warmth that Val found comforting.