by Lynn Hagen
“You’re a sick fuck, Jason,” Deon said.
Wheeler’s features darkened. “Let me show you just how sick I am.”
He reached for Jayce, but Deon snatched his mate out of the way, shoving Jayce behind him. “Lay a hand on him and I’ll rip your spine out.”
Scott looked toward the door when he heard a noise, so low none of the humans inside the cabin heard it. Something had snapped. Twice. He looked at Deon, but the guy was staring intently at Wheeler.
“Jayce and I can take maybe one,” Baxter whispered. “Can your lion kill the rest?”
Scott wanted to laugh. He really did. It was Baxter who’d turned into some sort of Rambo.
“What’re you whispering about?” Wheeler straightened and grabbed for Baxter, but Scott shifted and roared.
The men behind Wheeler backed away, stunned looks on their faces. Deon shifted into his panther and yowled.
A malevolent smile spread over Wheeler’s face. “Now that’s what I’m talking about! A challenge.” He pulled his gun free. “Thank you for making this more exciting.”
The guy was off his flipping rocker.
Scott and Deon inched closer. Wheeler waved the gun between them, as if trying to decide which animal to kill first.
One of the men in the back pulled his gun free. He didn’t get a chance to aim it.
Caine appeared out of thin air, his eyes ablaze and long, curled horns on his head. He stood between Wheeler and his men. “Any one of you interferes and I’ll eat your fucking soul.”
One guy in the back wet himself. Another tried to open the door to flee, but it was stuck closed.
Caine smiled. “No one is going anywhere.”
Scott was glad Caine was on his side. The smile was so chilling that Scott would swear the temperature in the room dropped.
The guy who’d pulled his weapon shoved it back into his waistband.
“Good call.” Caine winked.
“You can’t do this!” Spittle flew from Wheeler’s mouth. “No one invited you here. Get out!”
Caine turned, giving the other men his back. “You’re lucky I’m letting Scott and Deon have you, or I’d rip your goddamn tongue out.”
Is that what the demon was doing? Keeping the other men from jumping in so Scott and Deon could take Wheeler down?
Baxter curled his fingers into Scott’s fur. Jayce just kept staring at Caine with wide eyes.
Caine dipped his head. “You guys can proceed.”
Scott shifted. “Take Jayce into the kitchen,” he said to Baxter. “You don’t need to see this.”
Baxter slowly nodded. He appeared dazed as he grabbed Jayce’s hand and hurried away.
“Get back here,” Wheeler snarled.
Scott’s leg was still killing him, but he advanced forward. “You interfered in a mating. You took Baxter from me with the intention to kill him. You tried to set him on fire.”
“That was Dooby,” Wheeler argued. “I merely drove the car.”
The guy was straight-up lying. Scott swatted the gun from Wheeler’s hand. It flew across the room. “Do you think the details matter? You attempted to kidnap him once and succeeded the second time. From the needle in Dooby’s neck, you planned on drugging Baxter, too.”
“Sounds like some serious charges,” Caine said. “How do you plead?”
Scott curled his hand around Wheeler’s throat. If Baxter and Jayce hadn’t fought back, Baxter would be high as fuck right now, destroying the sobriety he’d fought so hard to achieve.
He yanked Wheeler close enough that their noses were almost touching. “I’m the one who’s gonna get the enjoyment out of killing you.”
Not really. Scott wasn’t a psychopath. He was just enraged that Wheeler had done all that to his mate.
Deon yowled.
The guy deserved some payback, too.
Scott shifted, and his lion and the panther attacked. They tore Wheeler apart as Wheeler’s screams died.
Caine rolled his shoulders. “Anyone else want to use the mates as pawns?”
Everyone shook their heads.
“I don’t trust your compliance.”
Scott backed away as Caine laid waste to them. The demon had some serious anger issues, because the sight of him killing the guys made Scott’s stomach turn.
When Caine was done, he looked at Scott. “Make sure you pay my fee. Twenty grand in my account by end of day. Nice doing business with you.”
“Fuck,” Deon whispered seconds after he shifted into his human form. “I think you better pay him right away.”
Scott shifted and wiped the blood from his mouth. “No shit.”
* * * *
“You look amazing,” Scott said when he came into their bedroom. “Are you sure you’re ready?”
“No hovering,” Baxter warned. He stood in front of the full-length mirror as he slid his hand down his tie. Coco sat at his feet, wagging his tail.
“All I want are positive thoughts on my first day.”
Sheriff Copache had hired Baxter as the new receptionist at the police station. Or one of them since Renny Fenton worked day shifts. It had been a month since the cabin, and Baxter was doing much better. Scott’s bullet wound had healed as soon as his mate had shifted and gotten some rest. There hadn’t even been a scar left behind.
He’d given Scott the hidden syringe, though it had been a hard thing to do. But Baxter was going to meetings with Jayce at his side. Baxter even had a sponsor now.
One day at a time.
“Are you sure I look okay?” Baxter spun and spread his arms. “Do I have anything in my teeth?”
Scott chuckled. “You don’t have to start for another hour, and the station is five minutes away.”
“I’m just nervous.” Baxter wrung his hands. “I need a kiss to calm me down.”
Yep, Scott was his new choice of drug, and Baxter loved that he could indulge as much as he wanted.
Or needed.
Scott gave a low, sexy purr. “Ask for something complicated.”
He swept Baxter into his arms and kissed him until Baxter needed air. Coco ran circles around them, barking.
Scott pulled back with a grin. He went to the door and shooed the dog out. “Later, buddy.”
When he closed the bedroom door, Baxter took a step back. “Oh no. You’re not making me get undressed. I’m not gonna be late on my first day.”
Scott winked. “We’ll make this a quickie.”
It was never a quickie with Scott. The guy had the stamina of a god. “If you put one wrinkle in my outfit or mess up my hair, I’m gonna strangle you.”
Scott stripped out of his clothing. Then he started on Baxter’s, carefully unbuttoning the dress shirt, loosening the tie, and folding the shirt and setting it on the dresser. Since Baxter didn’t have anything on his feet, all he had left on were his slacks and underwear, which Scott folded nice and neat.
Baxter wanted to laugh. His mate had actually folded the underwear.
Scott moved in with a look of lust in his eyes.
Baxter held up a hand. “Not a strand out of place.”
“No messing up the hair. Got it.” He looked at the clock. “A quickie, I swear.”
“Yeah, right.” Baxter tried to hide his smile as Scott spun him and hemmed him up against the dresser, raining kisses over his bare shoulder and back.
“You’re the sexiest receptionist I’ve ever seen.” Scott nipped his skin. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my hands off you.”
“Like you could keep your hands off me before I got this job.” Baxter wiggled, desperate to feel Scott’s cock in his ass.
Scott chuckled softly against Baxter’s shoulder. “You got me there.”
His mate opened the top drawer and pulled out a bottle of lube. Baxter’s breath caught as Scott wet his fingers and inched them inside his hole.
“God, yes. Purr for me.” The sound always turned Baxter on like some kind of aphrodisiac.
A purr rumbled in Sc
ott’s chest, which was pressed into Baxter’s back. The sound vibrated all the way down to Baxter’s toes.
“Get inside me already,” Baxter begged. He curled his fingers around the edge of the dresser and exhaled when Scott replaced his fingers with his cock.
His mate had to lift him slightly for the right angle, and then Baxter was lifted over and over again as Scott fucked him. Baxter leaned his head back and moaned as tingles erupted all over his body.
They were so lost in lovemaking that Scott forgot his promise and gripped Baxter’s hair. Baxter didn’t care. Not when Scott made him feel so alive. His rescuer. His hero. His firefighter. His lion. His mate. That was what Scott was to him. All those things wrapped up in a man who had stolen Baxter’s heart.
He was thankful Scott had gotten nosy that morning then barged into his apartment, playing the hero and saving his life.
“I love you,” Baxter groaned.
“Love you, too, Bax.” Scott sank his canines into Baxter’s soft flesh, rocking him to his core with his orgasm.
Baxter knew from the way Scott held him, kissed him, and loved him that being with his mate was right, so pure and true. He might stumble a few times in his recovery, but Scott would always be there to pick Baxter up and dust him off, encouraging him to keep going.
With someone like that, Baxter was in good hands.
THE END
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