But he held his tongue on the words, used it to drive Cain crazy, until he forced the orgasm from him.
It seemed to go on for hours. Angus watched in amazement as the thick ropes of come decorated Cain’s chest. He licked at it—it tasted like nothing he’d ever tasted before. Loved the way Cain groaned and growled and writhed. It made him feel strong.
Finally, he crawled next to Cain, whose eyes were closed but who definitely wasn’t sleeping.
“That was worth waiting for,” Cain told him, his voice husky and when he opened his eyes, they were back to normal. That helped Angus relax and he reached for the chains but Cain shook his head. “Not yet.”
“Okay.”
“You know what I’d do to you if I wasn’t chained?” Cain asked and Angus shook his head. “My fingers would be inside of you, opening you up, readying you for me,” the Were said, his voice a perfect melody of gruffness and growl. “You’d be moaning for me. Mouth hanging open. Taking everything I give you.”
“Yeah,” Angus agreed, closed his eyes and pictured it.
“It’s okay that you can’t let that happen, Angus.” Cain’s words were soft and when he opened his eyes, Angus saw the soft lighted glow around both of them.
“Next time, I want you to be able to hold me,” Angus said honestly and Cain flushed.
“Move closer.”
Angus did, lay on top of Cain, his ear to the wolf’s chest, listening to the fast heartbeat. He held the key in his palm, but he was glad Cain didn’t ask to be unchained because he didn’t want to let the wolf go. What would happen after this . . .
What the hell did you think could happen?
• • •
Cain could sense the human’s mind going a hundred miles an hour before Angus finally blurted out, “I’ll get the weretrappers off Gillian’s trail.”
“Angus, they’ll kill you. And you can’t go back to the hunters either. Not now anyway.”
“I can trust them.”
“You’ve known them less than a month.”
“Some of them I’ve known a lot longer.” There were many retired FBI and CIA agents who were hunters. Lots of former military guys too—all of them who’d had the supernatural curtain drawn back for them.
“Why were you really there that night?”
“Honestly? Because there were reports of monsters running through the woods.”
“And you and your band of merry men are going to fight them?”
“People are getting killed, Cain.”
“And you were almost one of them,” Cain shot back. Figured Angus only escaped because the hounds saw he’d pulled Gillian to safety. He’d come close enough to death to make Cain weak and he hated being weak.
“When I was with Shimmin, I heard about the hunters. Met with them in secret. Found my old FBI partner. I thought he was dead.” Angus closed his eyes, curled a fist on his chest. “He joined the hunters years ago and he told me there was a place for me in the group now that I knew things. He said I’d never be able to go back to my normal life again—I could try, but nothing would ever be the same. And when you locked me in here, I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That no matter what I did, you wouldn’t trust me. Wouldn’t accept me fully.”
Cain considered that for a moment. “But you think the Weres who are hunters do?”
“They’re in it for the common good, many on loan from their packs for just that purpose.”
That was true. “Packs make their own laws.”
“So do the trappers. How’s that working for you?”
“Why here, Angus? Why come back here?” Cain asked.
“This is where they assigned me.”
A lie, but Cain let it go. “Yeah, okay. Good thing you were here.”
Angus glared at him. “Actually, it is. But Gillian is in danger. Why are the Dires so hell-bent on protecting her?”
“They’re do-gooders too,” Cain offered. “You’re really staying with this group?”
“I see no reason not to. But I’d like us to work in conjunction with you.”
“I’ll be moving to Manhattan with Liam,” he said carefully and felt Angus’s body still.
“Is that what you want?” the man asked slowly.
“It’s an honor.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Cain didn’t want to consider why he couldn’t give a more definitive answer. As an omega, his guard would always need to be up. He could be easily used and also be a prime target for kidnappers. Liam told him he thought Cain’s omega status should remain hidden but it was only a matter of time before his healing power was discovered.
Plus, he had special mating specifications. According to werelore, an omega’s mate found him, and that mate was preordained. His mate would be the one to see him glow and Cain had no other omegas to ask because they were literally under lock and key.
He thought about the beatings he’d endured, the endless whippings where the skin had been flayed and it took weeks to heal, because he didn’t dare show what he was.
They thought he was moon-crazed. Had no idea what they’d let go. “You can undo the chains now.”
He sensed Angus’s disappointment but the man didn’t protest, just unlocked the heavy cuffs and Cain pushed them all to the ground.
“Who did this to you?” Angus asked as he traced the scars on Cain’s back. Cain let him do so for a few seconds before turning back to face him.
“My first pack, before they kicked me out. Jinx took me and Cyd in and got us through the worst part of the moon craze.”
“You were lucky.”
“Very. You’ve been lucky too. How many lives do you think you have?”
“TBD.”
“The Weres are going to smell me on you. A shower won’t help.”
“Don’t you have some super secret trick, like your glowing thing?”
Angus was joking but there was something Cain could do. Of course, it was only supposed to work on his ma—
“What the hell did you say about the glowing thing?” Cain demanded.
“When you healed me, you glowed.”
Cain forced himself to breathe as Angus added, “Shimmin said that meant I was your mate.”
“I told you that you shouldn’t get your information on the supernatural from trappers,” Cain managed to say, but he turned away to stare out the window, his heart racing.
He’d have to attempt to protect Angus and see if there was any truth to this. “There’s something I can try, for both our sakes.”
“Then do it.”
Chapter 30
Jinx moved Gillian back into the apartment with Jez a couple of nights later, and he’d left her with Jez while he ran with Rogue and Vice to let off some steam. Since Gillian was finally awake, he didn’t want to keep what they’d discovered from her any longer. And so after he shifted, he took the stairs fast and slammed into the apartment, refreshed by the run. He found her in the living room, curled on the couch and it felt so right to see her here.
He’d missed it here. Missed Jez, although he’d never admit it. And while Rifter had told Jinx that he could stay as long as Gillian needed to recover, he didn’t want to put any more strain on his relationship with his king.
Gillian beamed at him. “Next time you run, I’m going.”
“I can’t say no to you,” he told her.
“Good.” She paused for a minute and then said, “I know about the mating thing.”
“Ah, okay.”
She put her hands on each side of his neck. “You have to know that I fell in love with you. I may have been off the market for a while, but I lived before that. I know what my heart tells me.”
“It’s too soon—because of your shifts.”
“Vice said after the third shift, I�
��d be pretty safe.”
He blinked and was staring at a gorgeous wolf.
“You’re killing me,” he told her.
She howled in response, then shifted back. Her clothes were in tatters around her and he said, “I’m going to kill Vice.”
“Vice is who you think about now?” she said, and then asked, “What is it you want to tell me? I don’t think it has anything to do with mating.”
“You’re right.”
She nodded, went to grab her clothes. He knew she suspected something. That was the problem with Dires—they were all suspicious, their hearing off the chart and they could smell deception on one another.
Gillian was developing these traits more rapidly than he’d thought possible. Taking to her new role easily. Reveling in it, actually. It reminded him how good it was to be a wolf. “We found something out about your background.”
“About my family in Greenland? Because I don’t think I want to know. I’ve had enough of parents and authority figures to last me a lifetime.” She was serious—he knew that—but he also figured she’d want to know about what he’d learned.
“It’s mostly about your sister,” he said quietly and her eyes lit up.
“I have a sister?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“A twin.”
She pressed her hands to her chest, crossed them and bent forward like she was in physical pain. He rubbed a hand on the back of her neck. “Breathe, Gillian. Please.”
“Where is she?” Her voice was tight, her face pale. “Don’t tell me she’s there with those wolves in Greenland. What if she went through the same abuse Stray did?”
God, he hoped not. “Even if that’s the case—and we don’t know that—she’s young. She’ll heal.”
“We have to go get her,” she said, standing suddenly and he knew that if she started running now, she’d never stop. And they’d all have a hell of a time keeping up, or catching her.
“I know. But we can’t let the Greenland pack near you. You are important to me—to us, Gillian. You have to know that. You have to let us help you.”
She seemed to focus at his words. Blinked a few times and then said, “Okay. I understand. But can you tell me everything you know?”
He told her, and it wasn’t much at all. Barely anything to go on beyond the word of a man with faded memories and a shifting sense of time.
She was skeptical, but knowing that Vice was convinced put it into perspective.
“He’s pretty sharp,” she admitted. “He wouldn’t let himself be lied to.”
“No, not about that. The guy was pretty specific . . . and your family’s hard to forget.”
“But the Blackwells have no knowledge of my twin?”
“None. And the lawyer confirms he never even told them.” He spread his hands and shrugged. “Cyd’s going to try to trace the scent on the storage locker for the guy’s files, but it’s a long shot.”
Gillian was up, pacing now, her wolf restless. He wouldn’t be surprised if she shifted right in the middle of the living room, but she held it together. Didn’t ask to go outside, although at points, she stopped in front of the large picture window, raised her palms to press against the pane, put her cheek there as if feeling the sun through the glass.
Maybe that’s what she did when she was at the psych hospital, he thought. She’d been held back for so long.
“Want to tell me what you’re thinking?” he asked.
“She’s out there, shifting for the first time. Alone. Scared . . .” Gillian put her hand to her throat and didn’t finish the thought.
Jinx didn’t know what to say, because she was right. Stray would probably have to check into unexplained animal maulings but that would be no comfort to know that, at this rate, they were more than likely to find her sister through a murder report.
“Shouldn’t I feel her, the way you do Rogue?” she asked, just as Cain let himself into the house, carrying bags of food and some beer and soda.
“Who’s the beer for?” Jinx asked Cain, who pointed to himself, and then Jinx answered her, “We grew up together. Slept in the same bed as infants.”
“But how does it happen? How do you call for him?” she persisted as Cain cracked the first can and chugged.
“It’s just . . . I’ve never had to think about it before,” he admitted, even as he cast a worried glance in Cain’s direction and wondered what the hell was going on. “Rogue can tell if I’m in pain. If I’m upset, nervous, unhappy. It’s not like a psychic prediction. I’ll just feel it and I’ll know it’s his feeling.”
“So say I’m happy and get an odd nervous feeling for no reason?” she asked the unfinished thought and he agreed. “Could be your twin. But it won’t help you to locate her.”
“Cyd and I can pass messages to each other in our minds,” Cain offered, after a loud burp. “Sorry.” But he continued chugging the beer, wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and, Christ, this was going to be another long night.
“Seriously? And you never thought to mention that you communicate telepathically?” Jinx asked.
“I thought you and Rogue could do it too,” Cain explained and Jinx wondered if it had something to do with the omega thing. He rubbed his head, then instructed Cain to call both their brothers.
He thought about excusing himself from Gillian for a second but hell, she’d hear it anyway and it’s not like they needed to hide things from another Dire.
“They’re on their way in,” Cain confirmed. “They were together anyway.”
“Before they get here, want to discuss what’s bothering the shit out of you?”
“No,” Cain said pointedly and opened another beer. “Maybe I should call them and tell them to bring more beer.”
“Or maybe you could answer my question.” Jinx eyed him steadily.
“Angus Young saved Gillian.”
“The guy from AC/DC was in the woods?” she asked, and Cain said, “I kind of love that you know who he is.”
“Are you kidding? I love their music,” she said with the first smile he’d seen all afternoon.
“Okay, hold up. Before you two bond over your love of classic rock, Cain’s talking about an FBI agent.”
“Former,” Cain said. “He’s a hunter now.”
“And don’t hunters hunt . . . us?” Gillian asked.
“It’s really goddamned complicated,” Cain told her as he went to fiddle with the incredibly complicated sound system Jez had installed in here before the opening strains of “Let There Be Rock” rang out overhead. “Want a beer?”
“Yes!” She accepted one and they knocked their cans together and he half expected them to break out lighters and sway together to the song.
But hey, it got her mind momentarily off the heaviness. Cain had a gift for shit like that and Jinx forgot how much he appreciated it. Realized how much he missed that, missed him and Cyd too.
“Cain, do you want to explain . . . about Angus?” he called over the music and Cain called back, “No goddamned way!” as Jez came in and stared at the two dancing wolves for a long moment.
And then the vampire broke into a smile, announced, “I have Guitar Hero,” and Jinx groaned and sank down on the couch because there was no way out of this. If he brought Harm out, this would be an eighties party extraordinaire.
He simply crossed his arms and watched them, especially Gillian, her movements fluid, graceful, her eyes glowing.
He was never letting her out of his sight again.
When Rogue and Cyd came in, they simply stared as Cain, Gillian and Jez danced around making devil horns at the sound system and singing at the top of their lungs. Then Cyd, of course, jumped right into the action and Rogue sat down next to him.
“This is what happens when you fate twenty-one-year-olds, old man,” Rogue told him.
&nbs
p; “You’re only six minutes older than I am,” Jinx reminded him.
“I guess that’s why my knees ache,” Rogue said seriously, bent down to rub them with his palms. “Did you call us here for the concert?”
“She wants to know about our twin thing,” Jinx said. “How we . . . feel one another.”
“You make it sound so dirty.”
Jinx laughed and looked out at the group. “It’s nice that she can have some fun. She’s been through . . .”
“Hell?”
“I didn’t say it.”
Rogue shrugged. “Hell is whatever you think it is. I’m not one to lord it over everyone just because I’ve really been there.”
“Yeah, you are.”
“Of course I am,” Rogue agreed.
• • •
“We’re going to look into your background more thoroughly,” Stray explained. “And we didn’t want to go behind your back. So now that it’s all out in the open, we wanted you to be . . . involved.”
“Thanks for that,” she said. The music blared still and the others were listening and the heavy feelings she’d managed to shed for a little while came back. She supposed that was how it would be from now on, until she found her twin. “Go ahead and talk. I’m okay with it.”
Killian jumped in first. “The Arrow line . . . shit, I mean, there were three daughters around our ages, from what I remember, but Gillian could be a grandkid of theirs at the rate they breed.”
“It’s not like they keep any kind of birth records,” Stray added.
“How about checking psych hospitals?” Gillian suggested quietly.
“All across the country?” Kill asked but Stray was already typing.
“If I set up some search parameters, I might get a hit,” he said.
“Might want to check prisons too,” Vice offered and ignored Stray and Jinx’s glares. “Come on, man. Be realistic. If she’s strong and exhibiting signs of violence like . . .” He jerked his head toward Gillian and made the universal sign for crazy by his ear.
Dire Desires_A Novel of the Eternal Wolf Clan Page 20