Chasing Seth

by Loveless, J. R.

  “It took me months to get Seth back to even a fraction of who he used to be. These past two years have been hard on him. A lot of moving around and just trying to function again. This clinic was his attempt to return to a normal life. And it would seem that is what Taggart was waiting on. For Seth to come out of hiding. Dammit!” Nick growled low in his throat, his eyes flashing from human to canine and back again. “Two years! If Seth falls into his hands again, I don’t know if we can ever bring him back.”

  A fierce look came over Kasey’s face. His dark eyes glowed with power and strength as he spoke. “I’ll break him into little pieces before he touches Seth again. I promise you. I want to know what he looks like, what he smells like, what his habits are, everything you can tell me. Because I fully intend to take the son of a bitch down before he can even so much as look at Seth.”

  Nick smiled. Seth had finally found his mate. Now if only his friend could accept Kasey into his heart and as his mate, then he would truly have the chance to be happy. When wolves mated, they mated for life, and they protected their mates as ferociously as a mother bear protected her cubs. Nick’s heart ached that he hadn’t found his own yet. He tried to fight off the loneliness with whatever warm body would accept him, but it wasn’t the same.

  When Kasey growled impatiently, Nick shook himself out of his thoughts. Melancholy didn’t suit him, so he never really dwelled on it too much.

  For the next ten minutes, Nick pumped out as much information about Taggart as he could remember. Taggart, a mean bastard, was big, tall—about six foot five—with a huge scar across one of his dark-silver eyes, rendering it almost useless, and a nose that was crooked from being broken in one too many fights. Nick had done some research on Taggart’s history before he became one of the Created and disappeared from the human world. He’d been a violent man by nature even before being bitten, in and out of jail several times for armed robbery and rape. “The most defining feature is the scar. He got it before he became one of them, so it didn’t heal like ours would.”

  Kasey cataloged each and every detail. He wouldn’t allow Taggart within a hundred miles of Seth if he had anything to say about it. “Fine. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my mate needs me.”

  He turned to leave, but Nick grabbed his wrist from where he sat. Kasey glared at the other wolf, growling in warning. “Just take it easy with him, Sheriff. Have patience. He will come to accept you if you just give him the chance. No wolf can deny his mate forever,” Nick said, grinning lopsidedly.

  A tight nod of his head was Kasey’s only acknowledgement of Nick’s words, and then he rushed out of the office. No matter what his mate said, he wasn’t leaving his side.

  Seth sat on the hood of his own vehicle, just staring forlornly at his clinic. The look of desolation on the slender man’s features caused Kasey to growl in frustration. He stepped up to the front of Seth’s car, practically standing between his mate’s thighs. Instinctively, he reached out and brushed a strand of hair that had blown across Seth’s pale cheek behind one ear. “Everything is going to be all right,” he murmured soothingly.

  “How can you possibly know that?” Seth croaked out, ignoring the way his heart leapt inside his chest at the tender gesture from the taller wolf.

  Kasey quirked his lips in a soft smile. “’Cause I say so. I’m very stubborn, which you will soon find out.”

  Seth wanted so badly to just give in to it, to let Kasey take care of him, to lean on the older male, but it wasn’t what he’d trained himself to do these past two years. He pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes, digging them in. No matter how hard he tried to forget, he couldn’t get the image of his office out of his mind. The sweet smell of the dog’s blood stung his nose as if he were still standing there. He jerked, startled, when he felt warm hands drop onto his shoulders and start kneading the tense muscles there. “I’ll find him, pup. I swear it. He won’t get near you again.”

  Seth tensed even further, knowing without having to ask who Kasey meant. His hands dropped, and he glared at Kasey. “It’s none of your business, Kasey.”

  “It is my business, dammit,” Kasey snapped. “Whether you choose to believe it or not, I am your mate.” His voice gentled as he cupped Seth’s face in his hands. “I will protect you, Seth. I can do nothing else.”

  Seth’s eyes stung, and he blinked furiously. Depression had long since settled over him. It left him reeling, and without thinking, he threw himself against Kasey’s chest with a sob. His face pressed into Kasey’s throat tightly. “I don’t want to go back to him,” he cried desperately.

  Kasey naturally wrapped his arms around the shaking, slender form of his pup. His hand rubbed over Seth’s back. “Shhh. You won’t go back to him. I swear to you.”

  Seth greedily accepted what Kasey offered right then. He knew he should pull away and stand on his own two feet, but he didn’t have the strength to push the warm body away. His lungs drew in the sheriff’s scent deeply, and his body reacted. The wolf side of him strained to be closer to the other man. He could feel it just there beneath the surface, begging him to let it free. He’d never felt such a sense of “home” when Taggart claimed him. The idea of accepting the feeling of rightness singing out inside of him frightened him.

  The uncertainty swirling through him allowed his canine half a bit of freedom, and his lips pressed to the pulse beating beneath Kasey’s throat. He felt Kasey shudder against him, and his arms tightened around him. Seth’s tongue slipped out to pass over the same spot, licking wetly, hotly over the smooth, salty skin. Kasey pressed forward between Seth’s thighs, urging them further apart. The hard length digging into Seth’s belly stripped a harsh groan from Seth’s throat.

  “Seth?” Kasey questioned hoarsely, his breath stirring the strands of hair atop the dark head.

  Seth realized what he was doing and jerked away from Kasey with a horrified look, almost falling off the hood of his car. He would have if Kasey hadn’t reached out to steady him. “God, what am I doing?” Seth growled, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

  Kasey knew it had been his wolf side coming through, begging to be with its mate, but it still stung that Seth seemed so angry with himself for kissing him. He could smell Seth’s arousal from where he stood, and it left his own body hard and aching. “Your wolf was responding to mine,” he said flatly, his voice void of all emotion.

  Standing, Seth moved away from Kasey. He looked up and could see Nick standing and talking to Chessie. Seth wanted nothing more than to go back to his house and just curl up in his bed. His hands clenched tightly at his sides. “I can’t handle this right now. It’s too much. I just wanted a peaceful life here. It doesn’t look as if I’m ever going to have it,” he said bitterly, wearing an agonized expression that ripped through Kasey like a sharp knife.

  Suddenly Kasey felt as though his shoulders would collapse in despair. Would Seth ever open up to him? Accept him as his mate? He’d been overjoyed to find him, and he’d never imagined his mate wouldn’t know him or accept him. “You will have it, Seth,” he replied quietly, still watching his mate with a longing in his eyes he wasn’t even aware of. “And I hope someday you’ll choose me to be a part of your life.”

  He didn’t wait for Seth to respond before turning and stalking back toward Nick. “Stay with him. He doesn’t want me around right now. And I need some time to think.”

  Nick frowned, tilting his head slightly. “What about what just happened over there? He seemed to accept you easily enough just now.”

  “He didn’t accept me, just the comfort I offered him,” Kasey said in a pained tone. It ravaged him, and the pain etched itself deeply into his face. Chessie gave him a sympathetic look, which he ignored. “I’m going to check with my deputies at the station. See if there has been anyone new in town or drifting through town. See if they match the description you gave me. Just… please stay with him.”

  “Give him time, Sheriff. He’ll come around,” Nick said quietly. He could on
ly imagine the pain Kasey felt when his mate rejected him so adamantly, but he knew the only reason Seth didn’t feel the connection was because of fear. If Kasey treaded lightly enough, Seth would begin to trust him soon enough. “I’ll be by his side every minute.”

  Kasey gave him a tight smile of thanks and left. As the clinic fell from view in his mirror, he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that he’d left a part of himself behind, vulnerable and aching. His jaw clenched to hold back the howls of rage and anguish his wolf wanted to let forth. The Created one had destroyed more than his chance to claim his mate, but a piece of Seth’s soul Kasey could only hope he would someday be able to return to him. He wondered if the background check he’d placed on Seth had come in yet. There might be information in there that would lead him to Taggart.

  Seth watched the sheriff’s truck leaving the clinic parking lot. He felt a sense of panic invade him when the taillights disappeared. He tried to shake it off, but his hands trembled. Why? He looked helplessly at Nick standing at the other side of the parking lot. It felt as though he were drowning in fear. Not fear of Taggart or what they would do to him if they were truly still alive, but the fear Kasey wasn’t coming back. It literally drove him to his knees in anguish. His eyes were wild, and his body shuddered. He could hear his name from a long way off. “Seth?”

  “Doc?” A soft female voice followed it. Then a pair of strong hands lifted him to his feet. He blinked and focused enough to see Nick holding him up. Seth’s teeth were elongated as the wolf side of him fought for dominance, and his eyes had bled into their canine counterparts. “What’s wrong with him?”

  Nick sighed at his friend, shaking his head. “He’s reacting to the sheriff leaving him after such a traumatic event, the big idiot. The sheriff is his mate, and though he hasn’t recognized or accepted the fact, his wolf side reacts very strongly to it. His wolf is burying his humanity and attempting to take over. You wouldn’t happen to have Kasey’s number, would you?”

  A whimper tore free from Seth’s throat at the mention of the other wolf’s name. A suffocating weight dropped over him, blanketing him in a heavy sheet of despair. He felt as though he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t understand what was going on. “Nick?” he managed to croak out in question once Chessie had gone back inside the clinic to use the phone.

  “It’s okay, Seth. Let’s just get you back to your house for now. Chessie is calling the sheriff to meet us there.” Nick didn’t launch into an explanation, because he wasn’t even sure if he could explain it to Seth enough to make him understand. Once a wolf found its mate, it held on for dear life, and with Seth being a Rho, his instinctual reaction to feeling abandoned by his mate would cause a depression so severe it could literally drive him to take his own life. And if Nick tried to explain that to Seth, he’d have to tell Seth the truth about himself, because otherwise how else would he know?

  Seth allowed Nick to help him into his car, and he leaned weakly against the seat. He found it hard to concentrate on anything. Sounds were muffled to a dull roar, and he could feel the wolf side of him pushing forth, so strong. It felt as though it were the night of the full moon, one of the few nights he couldn’t truly leash the wolf inside him. The sense of hopelessness crowding in on him reminded him of being held captive by Taggart and his pack. But it seemed stronger and more intense. His canines elongated further and pressed into his lower lip, cutting into it.

  The passage of time had no meaning for him. It could have been twenty minutes or even an hour by the time he found himself in his house. The shifting of his eyes between wolf and human sight was making him dizzy. Would it be easier just to shift? Or would that be worse?

  The human items surrounding him made no sense to him in those moments either. The wolf side had no use for them. What did he care for a television set when he felt as bereft and barren as an empty desert stretching on forever?

  Not since childhood had Seth’s wolf side pushed so hard for control. His skin itched to change, to mold into the canine counterparts that were always there. The smell of the forest called to him. The solitude of the forest screamed for him to embrace it. He dug his nails into his scalp to try and erase the thoughts, to garner a semblance of himself. It wasn’t enough. He gave Nick a helpless look. “I’m sorry, Nick,” he whispered before he fled out of the house and straight into the woods.

  Before he’d even been completely engulfed by the shade of the trees overhead, he’d shifted into his wolf form, racing through the trees and bushes. He wanted to outrun all of his demons, the pain of his past and present, to forget the emotions Kasey stirred in him. A loud howl rent the air around him as it burst forth from him uncontrollably. The unbearable sadness in his wolf consciousness made Seth wonder if maybe Kasey had been telling the truth. A shudder wound its way through him at the thought of letting himself believe it, though. The thought of being vulnerable again terrified him more deeply than the thought of Taggart kidnapping him again.

  Like the other day, he found himself just running flat out to burn off the restlessness inside of himself. The muscles in his legs burned by the time he managed to slow down to a trot before eventually collapsing in the same clearing as he had the night he’d first come across Kasey. Somehow he’d instinctively found his way back to this same place. Everything always came back around to Kasey—his thoughts, all of the events of the past few days—and as he lay there thinking of the other man, he knew he felt a deep attraction for the arrogant Cheyenne who had come crashing into his life. He couldn’t deny it any longer.

  He whined deep in his throat, bringing both paws up to cover his ears. He just wished he’d never come here. It’d taken two years to recover enough of himself to return to the human world completely, and now he was on the verge of losing those fragments again. Only this time to a strong yet amazingly gentle werewolf who didn’t know how to take no for an answer. He should have been overjoyed Kasey had taken the hint and left him alone, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling of abandonment. To the wolf inside him, it seemed like the end of the world. It wasn’t like Kasey wouldn’t return, but he couldn’t seem to get his wolf to understand.

  The sheriff held some kind of pull over his wolf. It was as if it were a hypnotic aura demanding he submit to the older wolf. Whenever he was near Kasey, it took all of his strength not to roll over and show his belly in submissiveness, like a wolf to its Alpha. When he’d felt Kasey’s teeth scraping against the side of his throat that night in his office, it had seemed so natural to want to allow his head to tilt further, granting him access. An intense desire for Kasey to sink his teeth into his throat had almost consumed him. He’d never wanted Taggart or any of the others to dominate him. When they’d forced him to submit, there had never been such a deep sense of rightness to it. His body had never sung out for them to touch him. The lust gripping his stomach when he was near Kasey was so strong and fierce that it stole his breath.

  The fur along his body rippled with the shudders tearing through him. Heightened emotions always made him this way. Seth didn’t like to be in environments that weren’t peaceful and calm. Anything else always left him unsettled and restless. Thunder rolled overhead from dark, ominous clouds, the sound almost drowning out another one. He lifted his head when he heard another wolf call in the distance. It caused him to flinch, but he knew it wasn’t Taggart. He knew Taggart’s call quite well and would never forget it. Instinctively, he recognized Kasey’s call, and before he could try to control himself, the wolf once again took control and let forth a joyous howl, calling to the other wolf. He growled at the wolf within him, but the wolf just wagged his tail happily as he waited in eagerness for his mate.

  Chapter Seven

  Kasey was just looking over the report on Seth when his cell phone rang. He flipped it open without looking at it, barking, “Yeah?”

  An anxious female voice came over the phone. “Kase?”

  He immediately sat upright in his chair, dropping the file. “Chessie, what’s wrong?”

&n
bsp; “It’s Seth. Nick said you need to get to Seth’s house right away. Seth was acting strange. Nick seemed to think he might hurt himself.”

  A swear word slipped free from Kasey, capturing the attention of his deputy, Julian. “I’ll be right there.”

  Julian lifted an eyebrow at him. “Trouble?”

  “Nothing for you to worry about. I’ll be back later.” Kasey threw his jacket on and raced out of the station. He berated himself for leaving his pup. He should have listened to the instincts telling him to turn around, but he’d just assumed it was because of his wolf not wanting to leave his mate. Of course, it had been that and more.

  The drive felt interminable, and by the time he reached Seth’s house, his teeth were gnashing together. Nick stood on the front porch waiting for him. “Where is he?” Kasey demanded.

  “He took off before I could stop him. He’s in the woods somewhere,” Nick stated flatly. “His wolf is reacting to being left behind.”

  “You were supposed to watch him!” Kasey growled before stalking toward the back of the house. He wasn’t even inside the woods before he shifted, immediately scenting for Seth and darting off in the direction his pup had headed. With no idea how much of a head start his mate had, Kasey let forth a loud call in the hopes his mate would answer. If the wolf had as much of a hold on Seth as he suspected, there should be an answering call.