by Lynn Hagen
Trevor shrugged. “I’m used to it.”
“You shouldn’t be, and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” He picked the pan up and dumped the dishes into the hot water, feeling like a real heel.
“I’m not trying to be a bother.”
Sammy sighed and turned around. “I know. It’s just been a rough night. Are you hungry? I could feed you.” Sammy saw the humor in the man’s eyes.
“I’m not hungry, but thanks for asking.” Trevor smiled at Sammy, and he felt all warm and fuzzy inside. He quickly forgot about the teeth with a sexy smile like that. All Sammy saw was someone wanting acceptance. That’s how he perceived it anyway, and that’s how Sammy felt, too.
“I have to go back out there. Will you stay?”
The hurt looked vanished as Trevor stood up straight. “Not going anywhere, little darling.”
Sammy blushed at the endearment and the way Trevor was looking at him. He ran back out into the dining area. Knox was over at the bar talking to Theo but winked at Sammy when he spotted him. Sammy quickly turned his head and cleared another table.
“Excuse me, could you take this glass for me?”
Sammy walked over to the next table and took the empty glass from the man’s hands. As he turned, fingers pinched his butt.
Sammy watched in horror as Knox growled and stormed across the room like a predator after its prey. He backed away, unsure what was about to happen. Theo was right behind Knox, his face twisted in anger.
Did they think he was flirting with the customers? Was he about to lose his job? Sammy stood there frozen, unable to move or think as Knox pulled the guy from the booth and collared him. “Do you have a problem keeping your hands to yourself?”
“N–No.”
“Get the fuck out,” Theo snapped at the man.
Knox pushed the guy toward the door, and Sammy was left standing there stunned. Theo walked back to him, and his eyes became soft. Okay, this wasn’t going exactly the way he thought it would.
“Does that happen often?” Theo asked gently.
Sammy didn’t want to answer him. What if he told the truth and Theo fired him for being too much of a headache to deal with?
“Answer me, Sammy.”
He nodded, unable to find his voice. He glanced over to Knox, who looked really mad. “I want you to tell me or Theo the next time that happens,” Knox said.
“But why?”
“Because you shouldn’t be dealing with that at work, or anywhere else for that matter,” Theo explained. “I wish you would have brought this to my attention when it happened the first time.”
Sammy shifted from foot to foot, not sure what to say. He had thought for sure he would be fired. Knox stepped closer, and Sammy felt as though he couldn’t breathe. The man’s presence was overwhelming. He wanted to crawl into the man’s arms because they looked so safe and warm.
He shouldn’t be thinking of that. There was no chance in hell this man wanted him in that way. Sammy picked up his dishpan. “Thank you for helping me.” He turned on his heel and made a beeline for the kitchen.
“Your pan is empty, but you’ve been gone for twenty minutes,” Trevor said when Sammy came back into the kitchen. Sammy groaned to himself. Was this night ever going to end?
“I had other things to do,” Sammy stated. “Besides, the cook should be coming back soon, and you shouldn’t be in here.” Why were his emotions flip-flopping around with Trevor?
“I can wait outside. Will you come out when your shift is over?”
Sammy bit his lip, unsure of what to say. He felt an attraction toward Trevor, but he also had one toward Knox. Trevor seemed to be the more obtainable one. “Okay.”
“Sammy?”
Sammy turned to see Knox standing just inside the kitchen door. Trevor hissed and pulled Sammy behind him.
“Fucking vampire.” Knox leapt across the space, grabbing Trevor and pushing him to the floor.
“No!” Sammy pushed Knox back, his hands pressed against Knox’s hard and muscular chest. “Don’t hurt him.”
“Stay back, Sammy,” Knox ordered him. “He’s a filthy vampire.”
Sammy pummeled his fist against Knox’s chest. “Stay away from him.”
Knox bent his knees, leaning closer to Trevor, glaring at the undead. “No.” Knox backed up as his eyes grew wide, Sammy still pushing him back. “It can’t be,” Knox whispered.
Trevor glared up at Knox, his lips pulled back in an irritated twist. “I’m not too happy about this either, mate.”
Chapter Two
Knox looked at the vampire lying on the floor. He had an urge to pick him up and hold him. To make sure he wasn’t harmed.
Hell no.
This couldn’t be happening. He had a vampire for a mate? Knox took a step back, staring at the undead with repulsion and, at the same time, want.
He couldn’t deal with this right now. The creature lay on the floor glaring at him, but Knox could see the hurt in his eyes. His emotions were conflicting as he was torn between walking away and pulling the vampire into his arms.
Shit.
“Stay away from Sammy.” Knox spun around, grabbing his smaller mate’s wrist, and nearly tore the door open as he went back into the dining area. He had to think. He needed fresh air.
Knox walked past the bar and headed for the front door when Sammy yanked his hand away. “That was just plain old mean.” His mate spun around and stomped back toward the kitchen.
“Sammy, don’t.” He wasn’t sure what the vampire would do to his small mate, and Knox wasn’t going to take any chances. He grabbed Sammy’s wrist again, pulling him to a halt.
“Let go. I have to check on Trevor. That was really mean what you did, and he has feelings, too.” Sammy yanked his hand away and continued walking.
Knox balled his hands into fists and clenched his jaw. He walked after Sammy to the kitchen. Knox palmed the door and pushed it open, but only Sammy stood there.
Trevor was gone.
“Now look what you’ve done. He probably won’t come back.” Sammy narrowed his eyes as he pointed an accusing finger up at Knox. “I hope you’re happy, mister.”
Knox wasn’t. As much as he wanted to walk away with just Sammy, a yearning began inside of him for Trevor. God, he was so fucked up. Knox was aware that he could possibly have two mates. Their Alpha Zeus and one of the soldiers, Avanti, each already had a pair. But why did one of his have to be a vampire?
“Where did he come from?” he asked Sammy.
“I don’t know. He just showed up here. But he seems really nice, and you shouldn’t have done that.” Sammy sighed, and his shoulders slumped. “I guess it doesn’t matter now, since you scared him off.”
“I didn’t mean to, but he’s a vampire.” Knox stated the obvious.
“And that makes it okay for you to treat him like that?”
He was a little thrown off by Sammy’s acceptance. “Doesn’t it scare you?”
“I’ll admit, it did when he bit me—”
“He what!” Knox reached out to Sammy’s shirt and jerked it aside. Two little reddened pinpricks were visible. It almost looked like it was healing. “I’ll kill him.”
Sammy batted his hand away. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. He’s been nothing but nice to me since. How can I fear a nice man?”
“Very easily.”
“Maybe for you it is.” Sammy’s gaze cast downward. “If you put half the effort into making friends with him as you did pushing him, he may not have left.”
Knox couldn’t begin to explain to the human the dangers Trevor posed. How could he make his mate see that Trevor was one of the creatures the grey wolves had been fighting against? Somehow he knew that even if he explained the whole wolf-vampire-rogue thing that Sammy would still want him to be friends with Trevor.
Friends wasn’t the only thing fate had planned. He wondered if Sammy would be so receptive if he found that out. Knox rubbed the back of his neck, unsure how he sh
ould handle this situation. “I’ll try harder next time.”
“To be friends or to knock him down?” Sammy looked up at him skeptically.
“Both?”
Sammy narrowed his eyes as he took a step back, looking for all the world like he wanted to kick Knox’s ass. “Not funny.”
Knox knew it wasn’t, but he was trying to make Sammy smile.
“You know, I was tricked into hurting a friend of mine, and it’s not a nice feeling. To do it purposely is even worse,” Sammy confessed.
Knox knew that Sammy had been a pawn in Dirk Alvisio’s plan to kidnap his nephew, Craig, and kill him. He had heard how Sammy was used to lure Jesse into the bathroom by gunpoint and then both of them were kidnapped.
Now he was feeling like a real heel. But how was he supposed to look at Trevor like a human being? He was a vampire for fuck’s sake.
“Okay, next time I won’t be so quick to temper,” Knox promised.
“Thank you.” Sammy smiled this time, and Knox felt like a million dollars. “It’s getting late, and I need to clear the rest of the tables.”
“I can help.” Knox scented a small amount of arousal, and it was such a fucking turn-on. He cleared his throat and took a step back. His erection would show through his jeans, and right now Sammy was not happy with him. Maybe turned on, but the look on his face told Knox to back off.
“No, it’s my job.” Sammy grabbed the dishpan and headed to the kitchen door. A mixture of annoyance and lust wafted past Knox’s nose.
He followed that scent, right out into the dining area. “It’s no problem.”
“No, now go on.” Sammy turned his back, and Knox knew when he was being dismissed. He walked over to the bar, watching Sammy as he cleared the tables. Knox’s eyes perused his mate’s body, appreciating every fine line.
“You’re about to drown me in lust if you don’t stop watching him.” Theo waved a hand in front of his face, sliding a drink to Knox.
“He’s my mate.” Knox picked the glass up and took a swallow while watching Sammy wipe down tables.
“No shit.” Theo sounded surprised. “He’s a nice guy, couldn’t ask for a better mate.”
Knox agreed. Now if he could only figure out what to do about his vampire mate.
Trevor sat back in his car, chewing on his thumbnail. He wondered if Sammy was still going to come out after what happened in the kitchen.
The scent had hit him while he was lying on the floor. The large man was his mate. It was screwing with Trevor’s head big-time. And to make matters worse, the large man was a shifter.
How the hell did he end up with a human and a wolf? The human he could deal with. He was actually proud his mate was human after the way his coven had treated him. Trevor didn’t want a vampire for a mate.
But a shifter?
He wasn’t too sure how happy he was about that, considering the dog made it clear he didn’t want any part of Trevor. That was fine by him. Trevor was used to rejection. One more wasn’t any sweat off of his back.
His eyes darted over to the screen door when it squeaked open. A small grin pulled at his mouth when he saw Sammy once again peek his head out. Trevor reached up and clicked on the dome light.
“Trevor?”
“Over here, little darling.” He watched Sammy hurry over to his car. “I didn’t think you would come.”
“Why?”
Trevor leaned out of his window. “I thought maybe the shifter would have poisoned your brain.”
“What’s a shifter?” Sammy tilted his head and looked at Trevor curiously.
“Get in, I’ll explain.” Trevor reached across the seat and pushed the passenger-side car door open. Sammy ran around and climbed in.
“You’re not gonna bite me, are you?”
Trevor felt shame wash over him. “No, I’m not going to hurt you.”
Sammy nodded and buckled his seat belt. “Where to?”
Trevor started the car and pulled out of the lot from behind the tavern. “Anywhere you want to go.”
“How about a nice drive? It doesn’t matter where. It just feels good to get out.”
Trevor knew that feeling. He turned left onto Trenton and then right onto Route 14. A nice country drive should make Sammy happy. “So, did you grow up here?”
Sammy shook his head as he stared out of the window. “No, I came here after my boyfriend kicked me out.”
“His loss.” Trevor had to take a moment to control the anger that welled up in him. For anyone to mistreat this nice guy was cruel, and when the guy turned out to be his mate? It was downright fucked up. Trevor wanted to go find the guy and teach him a lesson.
“I had enough money to make it here, and then the sheriff and his deputy got me the apartment and the job at Theo’s.”
“That was real nice of them.” He was glad to hear not everyone in town was an ass. Trevor glanced over when he felt a breeze in the car. Sammy had let the window down and stuck his head out, the wind blowing his hair around. He was amazed at the serene look on the guy’s face as Sammy enjoyed the fresh air.
Trevor laughed. It must be nice to take such pleasure in the small things. It had been too long since he had done that. He reached over and tapped Sammy’s arm. “Be careful.”
Sammy leaned back. “It felt good to do that.” He twisted around and stared up at Trevor. “Now tell me what a shifter is.”
Trevor rested his left arm on the door, running his finger over his chin. “You know I’m a vampire, right?”
Sammy nodded. “I figured that one out.”
Trevor glanced sideways, looking over at his mate. “I’m real sorry about that. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, just scared me.”
Trevor nodded. “A shifter is someone who can change between human and animal.”
“Holy…wow.”
He chuckled. The look on Sammy’s face was priceless. His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open. “Knox is a wolf shifter.”
“I’m not sure why, but I’m having a little more trouble with that fact than you being a vampire.”
“It’s the whole changing into a wolf thing.” Trevor kept his eyes on the road, but he could see Sammy’s head nodding.
“Yeah, that’s it.” His mate turned to look back out of the window. “So, is he the only one?”
“Shifter?” Trevor asked.
“Yeah, but I meant, here, in town.”
Trevor could hear the confusion in his voice. He wanted to reach out and pull Sammy into his arms and tell him the world was still the way he had always seen it, only it was expanded now.
He shook his head as he stared ahead. “No.”
Trevor pulled over to the soft shoulder, cutting the engine. Sammy still stared out of the window, as if he were searching for something. “Are you okay?”
“No.” His voice sounded distant.
“Sammy, look at me.”
His mate slowly turned his head. Trevor’s breath caught at the cheerless look in his eyes. It didn’t match his personality one bit. It bugged Trevor because he always had an attention for detail. How had he missed that?
Trevor reached over and rubbed his hand up and down Sammy’s arm. “It’s a lot to take in, I know.”
“It’s not only that.” Sammy dropped his eyes.
“What?”
“It’s too embarrassing.”
Trevor grinned. “You can tell me.”
Sammy’s hands clenched in his lap. “I like you both.” A blush fanned across his mate’s face.
Trevor had figured out that all three were mates. Sammy was supposed to want Knox. Too bad Knox didn’t want Trevor. The man was stunning. “Don’t be embarrassed. You’re our mate. It’s okay to want us both.”
“What’s a mate?” Sammy looked up then, his brows pulled together.
Was Trevor going to be the one to explain it all to him? It looked that way. Knox should be sitting here doing some of it, too. It was only fair. He didn’t want Sammy looking at him
like the bad guy.
“Mates are people who fate has matched together. Fate has decided the three of us would be perfect for each other.”
“Then why did Knox act that way?”
Trevor turned away. It had been obvious in the kitchen. “Because I’m a vampire.”
“So, he’s a wolf. If you ask me, that’s the pot calling the kettle black.”
Trevor agreed with the human.
Sammy was having a hard time processing all this information. Both of them were his? How? He glanced over at the man sitting next to him. Trevor was very handsome. The vampire was really tall and very masculine in features, resembling a runway model in Sammy’s opinion. His dark eyes and hair made Sammy want to reach over and run his hands through the straight, dark strands.
And Knox? He was just as tall, but bulkier, with a lot of muscles. The wolf was good-looking as well. His black hair and hazel eyes made Sammy want to pant and beg for attention. And here he sat, little ole Sammy, plain as a bagel. It was a wonder either of them wanted to be bothered with him.
Connolly hadn’t, and he wasn’t anywhere near as good-looking as these two. Why would fate think he would be good with these two? He felt like a booby prize in the bottom of a Cracker Jack box.
“Come on, little darling, let’s finish our drive.” Trevor smiled at him, and Sammy felt like he was back in his own personal meadow. “Let’s leave all this stuff behind and have some fun.”
Sammy beamed at him. “Let’s have some fun.” Trevor was truly a nice person. Why couldn’t Knox give him a chance? The vampire turned the music on, and Sammy bounced around to the rap music. He felt alive and carefree for the first time in a very long time.
Trevor threw his head back and laughed when he saw Sammy dancing. He couldn’t help but laugh. It was contagious. Trevor drove down back roads and around farms for what felt like hours, Sammy loving every minute of it.
“Time to get you home.” Trevor was driving back down Route 14 and heading for town. Sammy was a little disappointed their time was up. He was having such a good time.
“Stop pouting.” Trevor smiled as he turned onto Trenton Street. “We can go again tomorrow night if you’d like.”