by Marcy Jacks
“Uh-huh.” Sethraghck didn’t sound the least bit impressed. His claws looked meaner than ever the longer they got.
It was as if a monster was coming out right in front of Josh.
“Dimitri, get out of my way. I’m going to slit their throats.”
“What?” Josh couldn’t believe it.
Zane groaned. “Oh fuck, Jesus Christ, fuck!”
Dimitri didn’t move. “No, we can use them. You’re just being stubborn.”
“Even if Varrick knows our backstories, it’s too late to do anything about it now. He would have read all those files. Short of getting him alone and killing him, we can’t force him to unlearn anything about what we’ve been doing all this time. He’ll still know about Andrei’s dead wife, he’ll still know that he was the one who killed Stefan’s and my parents, and he’s going to use that information however he sees fit to psych us out. Besides…”
Sethraghck leaned a little to the side, his sneer harsh as he stared at Josh. “Those two fucks get zero sympathy from me. They can talk about how scared they are and how they don’t want to work for monsters anymore, but they were still working in this house when they knew what was happening to Miles, and all the other pleasure slaves. They were around when Jesse was getting beaten for not doing his chores right, when Miles was forced to share a bed with Varrick, and they might have even been in on the planning that took Taylor from this house. I say fuck ’em. I’ll kill them both myself, take their bodies outside to light them on fire, and piss on the ashes for all it should matter.”
“We’re not evil,” Josh said. There were some words that would make this go away, that would make the alpha dragon see reason and spare him and his brother, but Josh had no idea what those words were or how to summon them. He was well and truly fucked.
“What if you gave one of them to me?” Dimitri said.
Josh blinked. What?
“What?” his brother said out loud. “Fuck you! You’re not taking us for slaves!”
“Only one of you,” Dimitri said, and the way he glanced over that perfect shoulder, his heated gaze landing on Josh, made him tense.
He knew exactly what the man was getting at now.
Holy shit. No fucking way.
The worst part was the way Josh’s body vibrated at the thought. Which was insane! He shouldn’t be listening as this dragon spoke about turning him into some sort of pleasure slave for his own use and getting excited by it.
But he was. It was happening, and when his dick twitched twice, heat rushing south and filling his cock, he didn’t know how to stop it.
He wasn’t going to.
“That’s fine by me,” Josh said quickly. “If he wants one of us”—though he knew which one Dimitri was after—”then I’m more than fine with it. You want me for a bodyguard? I’ll do it. You want me to tell you the layout of Varrick’s other homes? I’ll do that, too. I’ll even scrub your toilets and do your laundry if that’s what you’re really after.”
He knew for a fact that was not what Dimitri would be wanting him to do.
Josh could feel the heat of his brother increasing next to him, an enraged aura that was getting ready to explode. “None of you are touching either of us.”
Right. Zane was apparently not going to play along with this lie Josh had tried to set up to protect him.
One of the dragons sighed. “Whatever. I’ll take the other one, but you’re fucked up, Dimitri. I won’t be using him for that!”
Dimitri flipped off his friend. “Screw you. I can already tell he’s more than ready for it.”
Dimitri grinned down at Josh with such a look of triumph on his face that it made the heat increase in Josh’s body, though not in a good way.
Uh-oh. Had he misread the situation? Fuck.
“What makes either of you think I would go along with this?” Sethraghck asked.
Dimitri looked at his alpha. “Seth, come on, you can totally tell why I would want him.”
He could? What were they talking about?
Seth lifted a brow at the man who appeared to be more of a friend than a subordinate.
If anyone beneath Varrick had spoken to him the way these dragons spoke to Seth, there would have been major hell to pay.
It was strange to watch, but when Seth shrugged and sighed, that hope rekindled in Josh.
“Fine, whatever. Just make sure you keep control of him. Marxus, if that other one doesn’t take to you—”
“Christ! I’m not going to rape him, fuck!” The one called Marxus looked down at Zane with interest. “I guess he can scrub my toilet. I could use a valet.”
“Fuck you,” Zane sneered.
At least his bravery was returning.
“Fine, then it’s agreed, but make sure you guys keep them leashed. I’m not taking any risks on this.”
Josh blinked. That was it? It was over? There was no more threat to his life?
Dimitri pumped his fists. “Yes!” he said with a low hiss, turning and looking down at Josh. “Guess we should get to know each other, right?”
If it had been anyone else other than this man, Josh would have been freaking out. The fact that he was on his knees and Dimitri was standing above him, inches away, put Josh’s face right in line with the man’s crotch.
Had he not bothered to put pants on after bringing Josh back, Josh would have been lined up perfectly with the man’s cock.
Dimitri reached down, helping Josh to his feet. “All right, let’s get out of here.”
Zane positively flipped out when the dragon named Marxus hauled him over his shoulder.
Holy Jesus. Josh really hadn’t thought this through when he’d come up with this plan.
Chapter Two
“They’re gone?”
The guard in front of him swallowed hard. Varrick could tell, even from beneath the black mask that hid everything but his eyes. “Yes, sir. They didn’t return from their patrol.”
Varrick leaned back in his seat. He threaded his fingers over his stomach, regarding the pitiful creature in front of him. “What’s your name?”
“Zed, sir.”
“I see. I sent you out to find out what happened to James and my omega. You had an unprofessional answer for me then, too.”
Another hard swallow. Varrick sometimes didn’t understand why he bothered with the shifters. The wolves were supposed to make for good guard dogs. It was traditional, as a vampire of one of the highest classes, that he use them. The wolves and their omegas had been little more than pets for longer than Varrick had been alive. Since before the time of his great-great-grandparents. The old vampires of Europe.
And yet there were always a few times throughout his life when a few pockets of them would cause trouble like this.
And Varrick was not pleased with that. His son was still missing. His favorite omega had not yet been returned to him, and now there was a worm standing in front of him claiming two more of his hired men had not returned from their shifts.
“Have the grounds been searched for bodies?” It was possible they were dead. That was the usual answer that came when something of this nature happened.
Most would never betray him.
“We found nothing, sir. There were footprints leading off the property and then tire tracks.”
“Hmm.” Varrick thought it over. “They were part of my original household, were they not?”
“They were.”
Varrick would double-check his records on his own at a later time. If he wanted something done right, he would have to do it himself, after all.
“Hmm.” He was going to have to have a proper think about this before acting. He didn’t appreciate it when people acted without thought. Varrick did it himself from time to time. Sometimes it worked out, and sometimes it didn’t.
His son was likely dead, Miles was gone from him forever, and now there were pests in his house who were leaving him.
They could take any sort of information to the enemy. Those lizards that had
stolen his house and were now shitting all over it.
“We can send men out to search again for them,” Zed said.
“Why? So you can fail?” Varrick glared at the man. Zed said nothing. “No, likely they will be in hiding.”
“Do you think they went to the dragons?”
Varrick had just been thinking that exact thing. “Possible.” Most likely. “Any information they can bring to the dragons will be a valuable tool against me.”
“Don’t worry, sir,” Zed replied. “They had no security clearance. They’ll know nothing that the dragons can use against you.”
Varrick felt the flash of anger, and instead of containing it, he released it.
He was across his desk and in front of the shifter in an instant, his teeth in the man’s neck.
Alpha blood always tasted poorly. Not as soft against the back of his throat as an omega’s blood. As Miles’ blood.
Varrick released the venom from his fangs into the shifter’s bloodstream. A rare gift even among vampires, and it worked quickly.
He didn’t put too much in there. He wanted to make sure the man was still conscious when he released him.
Varrick sucked back hard and swallowed two nice mouthfuls of blood. He didn’t need it. He wasn’t hungry, but that wasn’t the point.
He pulled back sharply. The guard gasped heavily and made a valiant attempt at staying on his feet, but was unable to do so. He dropped to his knees. Varrick pulled the man’s protective mask off. He sneered at the ugly face that greeted him.
He was like a snake. Hideous. The scale tattoos didn’t help either.
One of those shifters that possibly hated his inner animal and wanted to be something else.
“Do not ever tell me to not worry.” Varrick hissed his words, letting his fangs slide out longer and sharper from his mouth. He licked away from of the blood from the tip of one of his fangs. It cut his tongue as though he’d slid it against a box cutter.
“Do you understand?”
Zed nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” Varrick released him. The man fell down onto his hands. Pitiful. He returned to his desk. “It doesn’t matter what sort of clearance they had. The point is that they know enough of this household, the employees within it, the slaves, the layout, any number of things that do not require clearance they can pass along to my enemies. I do not like that.”
“Understood, sir.” Zed managed to push himself to his feet.
Varrick swore that if the man shit or vomited right there that he would kill him.
“Good.” Varrick thought hard about his next move. “I want you to go to the old house. You can bring up to five others if you wish, but no more than that. I want it kept small. Search around, see what you can discover about the house. If you find any traces of the traitors, then you can report back to me.”
“What if the dragons find us on the property?”
Varrick looked the man right in the eyes. “Then they will outnumber you and kill you. Don’t let that happen.”
Zed’s eyes flew wide. He swallowed hard again. Varrick was not amused by that little nervous tell he seemed to always have.
“I will find out whatever I can for you, sir.”
“Good. Now get out. I want a report by the end of the day.”
Zed’s eyes widened again. He was intelligent enough to not question Varrick. He bowed and left.
Varrick watched him go. He took a moment to calm himself when the man was out of his presence.
Too many things had been going wrong as of late. He didn’t like that, and he didn’t want those dragons to find him here either.
They wouldn’t. Even if they did, he was too far away for them to bother with.
But he wasn’t done tossing his resources at them. They killed his son, took his favorite omega from him, and likely he was now dead as well thanks to the fuckup from James.
He needed a cigar, and then he would plan out every detail on how he would end Sethraghck’s life like he should have all those years ago.
* * * *
It wasn’t until Zane was out of sight, and Josh could hear the sounds of his shouting and fighting getting louder and louder, despite how much farther away he was getting, that some of Josh’s panic began to resurface.
“Okay, wait, what’s going to happen to my brother? That guy isn’t going to hurt him, is he?”
Because if he was, then Josh was going to have to start fighting back. He didn’t know how he was going to end up defeating the dragon walking him along in the hallway, but he was damn sure going to try everything in his power to get out of here.
“Your brother will be fine,” Dimitri promised, still smiling that eager smile that made heat pool into the bottom of Josh’s belly. “Marxus will take good care of him.”
Josh quirked his head to the side. “Uh…”
“Not like that,” Dimitri promised then laughed. “No, Marxus was being serious. He might just sit on your brother’s chest until he calms down then force him to clean the windows or something. He said he’s not going to hurt him, so he won’t.”
Josh was relieved to hear that, and then it shocked him to realize just how relieved he actually was. He believed this man. He believed that Dimitri knew what he was talking about and was going to keep his word.
That wasn’t smart. That wasn’t remotely smart, and yet Josh couldn’t help himself.
It was there. This thing that compelled him to listen to every word Dimitri said with rapt attention, soak it all in, and follow the man’s lead no matter where it took him.
“Did you drug me when you caught me?”
Dimitri tensed, his eyes flying wide, and he stared down at Josh as if Josh had nut-punched him without warning. “Are you serious?” he sputtered. “You think I drugged you? For real?”
Okay, now Josh felt guilty, which he knew he also shouldn’t be feeling since he was the one with his hands tied behind his back, but again, he couldn’t help it.
“I don’t know what this is, or…are you going to have sex with me?”
He wanted it, but at the same time, he was nervous for it.
“Hmm, probably. I mean I was planning on it, but if you’re scared of me, that might ruin the moment, you know?” Dimitri winked at him.
And Josh’s shoulders bunched up as he was suddenly faced with the very real sense of heated defense that rose up within him.
“I am not scared of you!”
It was partly true, so he used that to bring about all the outrage he could. In truth, he was petrified. Petrified of the control this man had over him.
Dimitri was playing Josh like an instrument, making his body react and heat up, and he’d barely touched him.
No way was Josh going to let this dragon shifter think Josh was here peeing his pants because he’d been caught.
Dimitri laughed. They turned down into another wing of the house, the wing where Varrick’s visiting relatives used to sleep.
Josh’s first reaction was to feel weird for being here, and that nervous tension returned. He had to remind himself that there were no vampires in this house anymore, so the old rules did not apply.
“Good to know you’re not scared of me. I was wondering what a guard on Varrick’s team was doing all that time if he was so easily spooked.”
Josh wasn’t going to get into that again, about how it didn’t matter how easily spooked he was or not. The point was that he was still able to do his job with a clear head.
“I’m not one of Varrick’s guards anymore.”
“I know. And trust me, that’s good to know. We’ll still have to talk about why you became one of his guards, and hopefully Seth won’t be all that into punishing you. It won’t be that bad,” Dimitri insisted, and his hand moved down, heatedly sliding over Josh’s lower back. “But I think you’ll like it all the more if I’m the one doing the punishing.”
Josh had a pretty good idea of what he wanted for punishment, and damn, he wouldn’t mind getting a little of
that either. The immediate pleasure that surged through him, the need to be touched and stroked, to have the man’s hands sliding all across his body…it was almost too much to bear.
He moaned. He couldn’t keep it in.
Dimitri didn’t yank his hand back, the way Josh thought he would. No. He pressed himself up against Josh’s back, his mouth coming down against the crook of Josh’s neck and shoulder.
The man inhaled deeply through his nose, his other hand sliding across Josh’s chest.
“God, you smell so good,” he moaned. “I’ve been thinking about this from that first minute I caught you, what you smelled like, touching you like this.”
Josh imagined the only thing that had stopped the man was the fact that Zane had been so close by.
“What’s happening?” Josh swallowed hard. He could barely think or react over the heat that was getting the better of him. It surrounded him like a cloud, something thick and wonderful he wanted to sink into.
He didn’t want to get away from this. He wanted more. “What’s happening to me?”
Sharp teeth nipped at Josh’s throat. “You’re going to be my mate, that’s what’s happening. Stupid Seth. He was just scaring you, by the way.”
Even Dimitri’s voice as he attempted to comfort Josh was still heated and low, the sort of sound Josh expected to hear in a porno.
And his dick jumped.
“Think we need some privacy for this.” Dimitri pushed open a door. Josh hadn’t realized they were standing in front of a door, but they were, and then he was being shoved into a dark bedroom.
He stumbled. A bed was there, and he fell against it, his stomach catching the side of the mattress.
“Fuck,” he groaned. That was embarrassing.
The door shut behind him. Josh heard the slide of a lock clicking into place.
The lights didn’t turn on, but he heard the sound of Dimitri’s chuckle as the man came up behind him.
“I always thought a bodyguard, or whatever it is that you are, was supposed to be a little more graceful than this.”
Josh growled at the man. “My hands are still tied behind my back.” The word asshole was unsaid.