“Maybe not a boy in age, but in temperament he was more child than man. Jonas took advantage of his naivety.”
“Did he?” McBride felt like he was poking the angry bear with a stick, but he had to do this for himself and Caleb.
“He turned Ollie into a thrall for him!”
“Is that what Jonas did?”
Ignoring his question, Caleb asked one of his own. “Are you going to leave them alone in your house? Jonas will take him again.” Caleb stepped forward as if he would push McBride away from the door and return to Ollie’s side.
“You don’t think landed gentrymen should have sex with slammers?”
“Of course not!” Caleb tossed his hands in the air. “It’s illegal, isn’t it? You’re the sheriff. Go arrest him.”
McBride nodded.
“What are you waiting for?”
“For you to get the point.”
“I don’t understand you. My brother is at the mercy of our old owner, and you’re standing here arguing with me.”
“I’m not arguing with you. I’m talking to you about the nature of the relationship between a landed gentryman and a slammer. That doesn’t ring any bells in your head?” McBride was hoping he didn’t have to spell everything out, but Caleb was so furious he might not be able to see the parallel between the two of them and Jonas and Ollie.
“That’s not a relationship. That’s a man taking advantage of a boy. Just because Jonas is smaller than Ollie, don’t get any ideas about him being delicate. He fucked my brother while drinking his blood.”
“How do you know this?” Clearly, Caleb wasn’t getting the point, so McBride tried another way.
“All of us knew what was going on.”
“And you did nothing to stop it?” McBride didn’t believe that for a moment, not when Caleb had proven time and time again he might have anger issues, but he was fiercely protective of his brothers. If all the Morgan brothers knew about Ollie and Jonas, and they were as upset as Caleb, they would have ganged up on Jonas. More likely it was only Caleb who knew and Caleb who despised Jonas.
“Once I knew I did. That’s why Jonas brought us here.”
With his curiosity piqued, McBride pointed to the seat at the far end of the table. “Sit.”
“No.”
“Fine.” McBride spun on his heel and reached for the door.
“Don’t!” Caleb let out a frustrated grunt.
McBride heard a chair scrape across the floor. When he turned around, Caleb was seated. McBride took the seat across from him. “I want you to tell me why you think Jonas brought you here to my father’s tallos farm.” The unasked question was what had drawn Jonas to McBride’s father, or vice versa. Since he didn’t know and doubted he would get an honest answer from Jonas, he thought asking Caleb would at least get him some background on the situation.
“Jonas brought us here so he could have Ollie. Jonas thought out here, no one would care what he was doing.” Caleb looked beyond McBride toward the big house. Even though he was seated, it was clear he wanted to run into the house and defend his brother. Against his will, McBride had to admire his protective nature. Caleb could be crass and cruel, but he could be unbelievably compassionate.
“They aren’t going to be doing anything in there other than waiting for me.” Of that, McBride had no doubt. Right now the two lovers were going to do anything to keep him in a forgiving mood.
“How do you know?” Caleb’s concern for his brother made his fury completely understandable.
“I know because they are desperate to curry my favor.” McBride silently conferred with his butler, who confirmed that Ollie and Jonas were sitting in the parlor. They were both on the small settee, holding hands, but they did no more than that. “I also just had the butler check on them.”
That relaxed Caleb a bit, but not very much. He was a man who always wanted to see for himself. McBride could appreciate that. “What did Jonas do to you?”
“Nothing. I would have killed him.”
“And yet you let me take liberties.”
Caleb’s eyes widened. “Are you saying if I condone their relationship, I would have a chance with you?”
Was that what McBride wanted? Zooks. How could he even think such a thing? It was madness. Two wrongs didn’t make a right. Just because Jonas and Ollie were comfortable breaking the law didn’t mean McBride was.
Before he had a chance to answer, Caleb was on his feet. Caleb moved toward him so swiftly that McBride stood, knocking the chair over as he backed away. Caleb watched his retreat with a wounded expression. Lifting his hands to show he had no intention of attacking him, he softly said, “I want you. You know that. I thought I would do anything to be with you, but I won’t sell out my brother to have you.”
“That wasn’t what I was offering.” McBride’s heart was beating so hard and fast his vision wavered. Initially, he was afraid that Caleb was attacking him, but now he was afraid of the determination in his eyes. Caleb truly, deeply, and honestly loved his brothers. The fact that he put them above his own wants touched McBride more than he thought possible. When he believed that they had nothing in common other than lust, they had the strong conviction of right and wrong in common. In that moment, watching Caleb put Ollie before himself, McBride felt the first slender tug of love pull on his heart. Red flashed in his mind, indicating danger, but McBride didn’t know how to put a cap on his emotions. He had to do something, and he had to do it quickly.
“Then what were you offering?” After a moment, understanding filled Caleb’s eyes. “Are you trying to say we are like they are? That our relationship is just like theirs?”
“That’s what I’m saying. If you can rail against Jonas and Ollie, then how in the world can you think you and I could ever be together?”
“Because we’re equals.”
McBride felt his brows lift so high and fast they practically slapped his hairline. “Are we?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, Caleb. I don’t.” McBride looked outside and realized how late it was in the day. He had yet to check in with his office and see if anything had been done on the Larsden case. Worse, he’d left Easton alone in the house with the man who rejected him and his illicit lover. “I think it’s time for you to get back to work.”
“What are you going to do about Jonas and Ollie?”
“That’s none of your business.” McBride wanted to send Jonas packing because that was the right thing to do under the harsh eyes of the law, but if he followed his heart, he would let them stay together. Jonas hadn’t taken advantage of Ollie. He’d done everything he could to stay away from him but found that he couldn’t. As wrong as it was, McBride identified with Jonas.
“I won’t bless their union.” Caleb put his massive hands on his hips and widened his stance. He looked more unmovable than a mountain.
“I’m not asking you to.”
“He raped my brother.”
“He didn’t!” McBride advanced on Caleb, pushing him back toward the kitchen. He didn’t stop advancing until Caleb was up against the wall. “Jonas tried to resist Ollie. He put block after block between them, but he couldn’t help himself. Neither could Ollie. You have it totally backward. It’s Ollie who fucks Jonas, not the other way around.”
“I don’t believe you.” But there was doubt in Caleb’s eyes.
“Jonas sold everything he had and gave the money to Ollie. He wants to be Ollie’s thrall.”
“His thrall?”
“Ollie’s thrall. Jonas loves your brother so much he gave up everything he had just to be in his arms one more time because he surely knew I’d discover him and kick him out.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I understand him.”
“Jonas?”
“Yes. I understand exactly what he’s gone through because I want you. Just like Jonas, I keep trying to find a way to make my craving for you stop, but I can’t.” The confession was out before McBride could
stop it. Instead of letting Caleb comment, he moved closer and kissed him.
Caleb’s lips softened instantly under his. When McBride opened his mouth to deepen the kiss, Caleb moaned and his arms came around McBride. He grasped his buttocks and pulled, grinding their hips together.
Raw passion possessed him, making McBride forget everything but Caleb. In the moment, he forgot who he was, where he was, and what he was sworn to do. Instead, for the briefest moment, he was only a man who wanted another man. Hot, sharp desire made him crazed, and he shoved his hand between their thrusting hips to wrench Caleb’s shorts off. He wanted to palm his prick and then draw him into his mouth. McBride wanted to suck Caleb to climax then turn him and bury his cock to the hilt in his ass. Once he’d climaxed, he would pull Caleb into his arms and hold him until the sun rose in the east.
Sadly, McBride did none of those things.
The moment came to an end when his communication device alerted him to an incoming call. In a flash, everything came back. He was a landed gentryman who had pushed his slammer against a wall. He was grinding their bodies together in his slammer’s house. But worst of all, he was the sheriff and he’d sworn to uphold the law in Woven Spire County, which included his land. In the violence of his need, he’d broken dozens of laws and compounded an already difficult situation.
Tearing himself away, McBride reached up to answer, but Caleb captured his arm.
“Not now.”
“It’s my job.”
“Forget it for just one more moment.” Caleb didn’t force McBride to press against him. He compelled him closer with dangerous green eyes and hungry wet lips. “One more minute won’t kill anyone.”
McBride allowed himself to be moved close, and then he was lost again. No one had ever felt the way Caleb did. No one had ever tasted or smelled the way he did. Sadly, no one ever would again. McBride knew it down to his soul. Caleb was the only man who could spark this depth of longing in him. And only Caleb would be able to soothe his all-consuming need.
“Just one time,” Caleb breathed against McBride’s mouth. “One time and then we’ll let go.”
“You know that won’t work.” As good as that delusion sounded, McBride knew if he gave in once, he’d never be able to walk away. “If I had you, I’d never be able to let go.”
“Then do it and seal our fates.”
“Is that what you would have said to Jonas?”
“Damn it, McBride. That’s not the same.”
“No?”
“No. You don’t want to be my thrall.”
“I want you to be mine.”
“You don’t. You want me to be your companion.”
“Is that what you think?” McBride stroked the scar on Caleb’s neck, loving how his simple touch decimated the man’s strength. “You think I see you as an equal?”
“Don’t you?”
“You’re my slammer, Caleb. I could punish you and have you all I wanted.”
Caleb grinned. “We’ve danced that dance, McBride. You wouldn’t because you know you wouldn’t be able to stop.”
“That’s why I won’t ever let you bite me.” McBride grinned right back. “You and I both know what that would do to us.”
A moment of perfect synchronicity caused them to look toward the big house.
“Did they bloodbond?”
“Oh, hell.” McBride hung his head.
“You knew?”
“I didn’t know. I didn’t think about it. But Ollie has a fresh scar on his neck and so does Jonas.”
Caleb pushed McBride away. “You knew.”
“I didn’t realize until now.” A bloodbond was unbreakable. That was why Caleb had worked so hard to get a taste of McBride’s blood. He felt the connection, both of them did, but it wasn’t a full bond. Another few sips, and they’d be locked into an unbreakable union.
“There is one way to break a bloodbond.” Caleb cracked his knuckles as he looked toward the house.
“I won’t let you kill Jonas.”
“Accidents happen all the time.”
“Not on my land they don’t.” McBride wasn’t about to let Caleb compound an already ugly situation.
“You better get him off this land before I get a chance to handle things my way.”
“One move, Caleb. You make one move toward Jonas, and I won’t have any choice but to sell you.”
“Me?” Caleb reached down and adjusted his prick in his shorts.
“You.” McBride followed suit. He hated what he was about to do, but he felt he had no choice. “This is my situation to resolve in my own way. Not yours. If you interfere, I will sell you.”
“Sell me?”
“You’ll leave me no choice.” McBride watched as the full implications of that sunk in. If he sold him, Caleb wouldn’t be around to protect his brothers. Moreover, since he was solo, he would probably go to a landed gentryman who was too poor to buy him a thrall. If he was hostile and vicious, that man would sell him to another, who would do the same, and on and on. Caleb would be tossed around until he was too old to be of value to anyone.
“It will be a waste of your life, and I will still do what I need to do.”
“And what’s that?”
McBride didn’t answer him. Instead, he left Caleb’s house, but he was careful not to slam the door. He reached up, touched his ear, and returned the call that Caleb had interrupted. It was the crimetech, Quintus, with information about the Larsden case. Unfortunately, when McBride called back, Quintus didn’t answer. He left a message, hoping that this wasn’t another problem for an already long list of them.
As he walked back to the big house, he waited for Caleb to come after him, or perhaps yell something across the yard, but he didn’t. At the doorway of the big house, McBride looked back and found that Caleb had joined his brothers in the field. For a moment, McBride watched him, loving the way he moved, the way he carried himself with pride, the fearless way he called himself an equal. In his eyes, he’d seen Caleb grasp what would happen to him if McBride sold him. He probably also saw that McBride didn’t want to do that.
“But none of that changes what I should do.” McBride didn’t want to give in to Jonas and Ollie, but their bloodbond complicated his decision. Separated, they would go mad with longing. By law, sending Jonas on his way was the right thing to do, but the physical, emotional, and spiritual toll would lead to the death of him and Ollie. Morally, that was wrong. The law didn’t take such things into consideration. If he asked his superiors, they would want him to separate them under the idea that they had earned their cruel punishments by disobeying the law.
But McBride couldn’t be so cold. Compassion filled McBride’s heart. He’d always questioned some aspects of the law because they didn’t allow him to take the entire situation into consideration. People were not machines. He always strove to treat others the way he would want to be treated in their shoes. That was what made such a mess of everything. McBride would want someone to understand that he’d tried everything to keep his hands off Caleb but simply couldn’t. It was only a matter of time before McBride caved and took them to the next level. He thought of what it would be like to claim Caleb’s body. He would want to go slow but knew he wouldn’t be able to. Perhaps after a dozen or more times, he would be able to make it a languid exploration, but those first few times would be an explosion of their needs.
But that still wouldn’t mean they were bound. That was why a landed gentryman could punish his slammer with a violent fuck in the stocks. McBride understood that now. It wasn’t a punishment at all, not really. It was a way for him to have what he couldn’t have without breaking the law. After a time or two or even a dozen, the lust would be slaked, and the master would probably lose his attraction. McBride didn’t think he would. Besides, he had no desire to humiliate Caleb like that. He wanted him alone. He wanted to taste him and kiss him and feel him respond in kind. Raping him was the furthest thing from McBride’s mind.
They could come together
as Caleb suggested, and McBride might still be able to let Caleb go. Maybe. But that was where he and Caleb differed from Jonas and Ollie. McBride and Caleb hadn’t taken the next step when Jonas and Ollie had. They had shared blood. In a normal slammer-and-thrall relationship, the blood flowed one way. The thrall offered up his neck to the slammer, who offered up his neck to his master. Ollie and Jonas drank from each other the way landed gentrymen did when they became companions. Scars on their necks confirmed that truth. Jonas had a mass of ugly scars on one side, which was clearly where he’d directed his lovers to drink, but he’d given Ollie the pure, unmarked side, just as Ollie had done the same for him.
Once a bloodbond was forged, there was only one way to break it.
Caleb knew that truth, which was why he wanted to kill Jonas. It wasn’t revenge so much as he wanted to protect his brother from the pain of being separated from his bloodbond mate. If Caleb killed Jonas, Ollie would grieve, but he wouldn’t die from the loss.
“What a mess.” McBride hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. If he could do anything in that moment, anything without a single repercussion, he would stride into the field, push Caleb down into the dirt, and take him right there. He would bite him, lick him, kiss him, and fuck him until he immersed himself completely. But he wouldn’t, because if he did something that crazy, there would be repercussions.
“What do you mean you already have a mate?” Easton’s strident voice came through the thick door easily, which told McBride he had to be screaming at the top of his lungs or damn close to it. After a bolstering breath, McBride opened the door, crossed over the foyer, and entered the parlor.
Chapter 11
Ollie didn’t want to hurt the thrall’s feelings, but if he couldn’t have Jonas, he couldn’t have anyone, not with a powerful bloodbond. “I’m sorry, but that’s the truth, uh—what’s your name?”
“Easton.”
“Easton. I really am sorry, but I can’t explain.” The last thing Ollie wanted to do was overstep his bounds again and perhaps upset McBride more than he already was.
Ollie Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Page 7