Losing Control

by Lynn Hagen

  He spent the next half hour struggling against the tape wound around his torso. The harder he worked at it, the loser the tape became.

  Ramon and Hector needed to take Abduction 101. First, they’d kept calling each other by their names on the ride here. Second, they’d clued in Caleb on the fact they were taking him to Kovachi. And third, instead of securing Caleb’s wrists—which would have been the smart thing to do—Ramon had only loosely secured Caleb’s upper body to the chair.

  Fucking dipshit.

  Even so, Caleb struggled to get out of his binds. No matter how hard he worked, the tape was moving up his shirt at a crawl. So far, he’d managed only to get it to his shoulders.

  Ramon and Hector had also forgotten to take his phone from his front pocket. For a moment, Caleb had feared Kovachi would see the outline. But he hadn’t. Thank fuck.

  Caleb struggled so hard—wiggling his arms and jerking around—that his chair fell over. He hit the ground hard and pain shot through his right arm. He bit back the scream and lay there listening, hoping Kovachi hadn’t heard the noise.

  When the warehouse remained silent, Caleb shrugged repeatedly until the tape was loose enough for him to pull it over his head.

  Next he worked at the tape Kovachi had laced around his ankles. Yes! He was finally free. He scrambled to his feet and tossed the tape aside as he crept to the door. Caleb pressed his ear against the wood. Still silent.

  But he didn’t want to take the obvious way out. Just because he hadn’t seen any henchmen hanging around didn’t mean they weren’t there and leaving out through the door would be too risky. He glanced at the window, but it had boards nailed over it. There was no way he could use the window as an exit.

  Fuck. Caleb would have to take the obvious way out. With the way his luck was running, not only would he be caught, but some vicious dogs would attack him, and the ceiling would fall on his head as a thunderstorm rolled through and lightning zapped him.

  While his heart pounded like crazy, Caleb eased the door open and stuck his head out. He saw machinery parts, stacks of skids, and a metal staircase that led to the second floor that had an open balcony.

  Why the fuck hadn’t Caleb gotten Raven’s phone number? Getting out of here would be easier if he could have called in the cavalry. Or at least had a ride waiting for him when he hauled ass from this place.

  Muscles tense, Caleb slid out the door and quietly closed it behind him. He raced to a stack of crates and hid behind them, listening, looking, and hoping he wasn’t caught. He winced when his phone buzzed, and stupid him took the time to pull it free to see who was texting him.

  It was from Chad.

  Caleb had an urge to throw his damn phone. Instead, he shot toward the open bay door and out into the night. He didn’t feel relieved until he was back on the city streets, working his way toward where he’d left his car. He still couldn’t believe he’d gotten away so easily. There had to be a catch. Caleb’s luck was never that good. Like ever. Still, he ducked into alleys and alcoves every time he saw headlights.

  This life of hiding from the bad guys was for shit. Caleb’s nerves were so frayed he wanted to hop on a bus and—shit! He’d forgotten to grab his wallet from the warehouse floor where Kovachi had thrown it. That meant Kovachi had his address.

  Then again, he’d probably seen it when he looked at Caleb’s driver’s license. Either way, Caleb was totally screwed.

  Chapter Five

  Of all the boneheaded things Raven had pulled in his long life, letting his mate run out the door and not immediately going after him had to top the list. Raven had purposely stayed out last night, then nearly had a panic attack when he saw his mate was gone this morning. It had taken him a good thirty minutes to find a paystub so he could locate where Caleb worked.

  Then, as if Raven weren’t already on a roll, he’d gotten his mate fired. But those fuckups were nothing compared to the hurt look on Caleb’s face when Raven offered to let his mate live at his place and panicked as soon as the words left his mouth.

  Ever since meeting Caleb, Raven had lost his goddamn mind. He didn’t act like this. He wasn’t this careless and neither did he second-guess himself. Now he stood on the street, feeling as if his heart were shriveling as he stared at the open door of Caleb’s Honda.

  This had crime scene written all over it, and Raven’s mind was in such chaos that he didn’t even know where to start looking for him. He rubbed his sternum as the ache of his worry pulsed inside him with a crushing weight.

  Bayne’s green GTO pulled in behind Caleb’s car. He got out and strode over, looking from the car door to Raven. “That’s ominous.”

  Raven had called him, freaking out when he couldn’t find his mate. Now he had Caleb’s car, but no Caleb. “I need you to help me track Kovachi down so I can kill him.”

  “Dude, we’ve been looking for Kovachi for weeks.”

  Raven snapped his head around, pulling his lips back as he bared his canines. He grabbed his Glock from the back of his waistband as he jabbed his finger at Bayne. “He has Caleb.”

  “He was home after we had pancakes, wasn’t he?” Bayne’s brows furrowed.

  He wasn’t about to waste time telling the bear shifter how big of an idiot he’d been. Raven hated feeling this way—out of control, unfocused, and with a deep need to kill. In his youth Raven and his anger had been comfortable bedfellows. But he was an adult now and, better able to handle his emotions.

  Or he would have been if he wasn’t so worried.

  “Hey, Raven.” Bayne touched his arm. “We’ll figure this out. We always do. Kovachi wasn’t able to keep Joelle. We’ll find that monster and make him pay for taking Caleb.”

  But would they be too late? In his insane effort to protect Caleb, Raven had put him in harm’s way. Or was Kovachi even responsible for Caleb’s disappearance? Raven had automatically assumed he was. And not knowing jack shit about this situation was what frustrated him most.

  “We go to his office building and—”

  “Raven.”

  “There’s no arguing about this,” he snapped. “I don’t care—”

  “Raven.”

  He gnashed his teeth “What the fuck is so important you keep interrupting me?”

  Bayne jerked his chin upward. “You might want to turn around before continuing with your invasion plan.”

  With an irritated growl, Raven turned. He squinted at the man moving toward them. At first he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, then relief flooded him at the sight of Caleb limping their way.

  Raven took off toward his mate, then yanked Caleb into his arms and hugged him tightly. He’d never been so glad to see anyone in his life. “Are you all right?”

  “Who took you, how’d you get away, and I really want to know what happened to your other shoe,” Bayne said.

  “Some idiots named Ramon and Hector.” Caleb wiggled out of Raven’s arms and brushed his hair from his face, blowing out a breath. He didn’t look any worse for wear, but Raven had the urge to strip Caleb and check him from head to toe for any injuries.

  “Hector?” Bayne rolled his eyes. “I guess Declan was right. You can’t trust a man who doesn’t suck dick.”

  Caleb cocked his head to the side, his eyebrows diving downward. “What the hell does that even mean?”

  “What happened next?” The rage that had overtaken Raven was slowly ebbing. He felt calmer, but he was still angry as fuck that Caleb had been taken in the first place. And he still wanted Kovachi dead.

  Caleb explained about the van, the warehouse, about Kovachi wanting to know if he was Raven’s mate, and how he’d escaped.

  “I was kinda hoping your story involved a few ninja moves,” Bayne said.

  “I’m just glad his story involves him making it out of there alive,” Raven argued. But now that he had Caleb in front of him, he prayed like hell his mate wouldn’t bring up what happened at his job.

  For Raven, asking someone to move in with him was a huge step.
A commitment he was never ready to make until now. His stomach clenched at the thought of anyone invading his privacy, but he’d have to get over that. Caleb’s life was at stake, and Raven would do whatever he had to in order to protect him.

  Raven turned at the sound of motorcycles roaring toward them. He shoved Caleb behind him, ready to battle if whoever was coming their way was a threat.

  The three motorcycles halted a few feet from Bayne’s car. The front guy spread his legs and planted his feet on the ground. A yellow bandana covered his wavy brown hair, and he looked vaguely familiar. “I hear you need help taking Kovachi down.”

  Bayne looked them over. “And who exactly are you?”

  The guy crossed his arms over his wide chest. He assessed Bayne with his deep blue eyes. “Name’s Tryck Santiago. These are my brothers, Law and Dagon.”

  “Who said we needed help?” Raven had seen Tryck around Brac Village but had no clue who the guy was or why he was here.

  “The Ultionem wants this Kovachi problem solved, and fast.” Tryck rested his hands on the Z-bars of his motorcycle and damn if he didn’t look the epitome of badass. “We know where Kovachi’s office is located. We’ll take it from here.”

  “Whoa.” Raven held up a hand. “And how exactly are you taking care of him?”

  Law’s grin was downright evil. “We burn the building down, and that bitch-ass Kovachi with it.”

  “But there’re other businesses in that building,” Raven pointed out. “You can’t just set fire to an entire office building.”

  “Why not?” Dagon asked. “Our motto is, if we can’t fix it, we burn it down.”

  “You got any better ideas?” Tryck asked Raven.

  “Kovachi isn’t at his office. He’s at the warehouse on the outskirts of town,” Caleb said from behind Raven. “At least, he was there when I left.”

  “Tell me how to get there, shorty,” Tryck said as his motorcycle engine purred.

  Raven was surprised no one had torched the warehouse already. Too much nefarious shit had happened there—like Enrique being discovered as a traitor, Sergei being killed, and now Caleb had been taken there. That warehouse had some seriously bad mojo.

  “Hot damn,” Law said with a whoop. “We get to set fire to something after all.”

  Raven was starting to suspect these men weren’t wrapped too tightly.

  “I’d follow you,” Raven said, “but I need to get my mate to safety.”

  “Fuck, I’ll go.” Bayne looked a little too excited as he hopped into his GTO and reeved the motor.

  “You take care of him,” Tryck said as he nodded toward Caleb. His expression turned grim. “Mates are the most important thing in our world, but I guess I didn’t have to tell you that.”

  It was a kick-in-the-nuts reminder that Raven needed to get his shit together. He’d nearly failed Caleb once, and he didn’t plan on making that mistake again.

  All four men took off and Raven held out his hand. “Give me the keys. I’m driving.”

  Caleb shoved his hand into his pocket, extracted his keys, and handed them over. “After the morning I’ve had, I don’t care what happens. All I want is a hot shower and some sleep.”

  Raven looked down at his mate’s feet. “You never told me what happened to your shoe.”

  “I saw this huge dog coming at me and didn’t bother to stick around to find out if it was friendly,” Caleb said. “I ran right out of my left shoe and didn’t go back for it.”

  “Get in,” Raven said. “When we get back to your place, I’ll draw you a hot bath.”

  Caleb sighed. “Now that sounds like a plan.”

  The one good thing that came out of this was that Caleb was no longer mad at him or telling him to fuck off. Raven would take that as a win.

  Showers were true miracles for the body. Caleb sighed as the stress that had tightened his muscles vanished as the spray cascaded over his skin. Caleb stuck his head under the spray, one hand pressed against the wall.

  He no longer cared about Kovachi, the weird men who had gone with Bayne to the warehouse, or the fact Chad was still texting him—even after the prick had pulled that bullshit stunt at Caleb’s job.

  Caleb also didn’t care too much that he’d been fired. He was worried about what he would do next, but for now, he let the thoughts drain away. The only thing left on his mind was getting some sleep.

  Well, not the only thing on his mind. Raven was in the shower right behind him, running a soapy washcloth over his back. Raven’s strong hand was not only getting him clean, but expertly massaging Caleb’s aching body.

  Raven’s touch was also making Caleb’s cock harden. It pulsed as Raven’s hands worked lower and lower, rubbing in circles as they made their way to Caleb’s ass. But right before he reached Caleb’s backside, Raven’s hand glided around his side and slid up Caleb’s chest.

  Goddamn tease.

  With a grunt, Caleb leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “You should wash people in the shower for a living.” He’d gone from a bundle of stressful nerves to a standing pile of goo. Caleb was unsure how he was still able to stand.

  Raven’s soft chuckle vibrated down Caleb’s body, making his dick tingle. “I think I’ll stick to just you.”

  Caleb had never been turned on from someone scrubbing his arm, but the way Raven washed Caleb’s pit with the cloth was erotic as hell. It also tickled.

  Caleb laughed and knocked Raven’s hand away.

  “Hmm.” Raven used the cloth on the other pit, and Caleb laughed again. “Ticklish?”

  “A little,” Caleb confessed. But his laughter turned into a moan when Raven’s hands glided down his chest and swiped through the patch of hair at his groin. The cloth dropped to Caleb’s feet as Raven’s hand coiled around Caleb’s boner.

  Oh my fuck. Caleb leaned against Raven’s hard chest as his hips shot forward, fucking Raven’s grip. His legs shook as Raven bit at his shoulder, then licked away the sting.

  Caleb grabbed the shower curtain and tugged on it as Raven’s other hand worked at his sensitive hole. He whimpered when Raven crushed him against his chest, his heart pounding against his ribs.

  Raven’s thumb pressed into the slit of Caleb’s dick, and Caleb hissed as he pushed to his toes. “Your hands are amazing.”

  “Just wait ’til you see what my cock can do,” Raven whispered into Caleb’s ear in that deep, dreamy bedroom voice. Then Raven turned him, sliding one arm behind Caleb’s back and explored Caleb’s mouth. He kept tugging on Caleb’s dick as his other hand mapped out Caleb’s back and his tongue swept the interior of his mouth.

  Raven turned him on, and Caleb didn’t hide that fact. He threw a leg up, and Raven wound his hand around it and held Caleb’s knee at his mate’s hip. Caleb wanted to get fucked, to be wrecked by this man, to feel Raven’s cock buried deep in his ass.

  As if reading his mind, Raven reached behind Caleb and shut the water off before carrying him from the shower, their lips still melded. Caleb held on as Raven walked them to the bed. Still wet from the shower, Raven lowered him to the mattress and settled between Caleb’s legs.

  Their bodies became a tangled mess, kissing and touching, unable to get enough of each other. Their cocks glided against one another’s as Raven probed a finger at Caleb’s hole. Caleb rocked against him, making needy sounds. Raven growled into his mouth as his finger breached Caleb’s ass.

  “More,” Caleb panted, desperate, shoving his ass down on his lover’s finger. Raven twined his tongue with Caleb’s, tongue-fucking his mouth as his finger moved in and out of Caleb’s ass like a dick.

  Then he added a second finger, and Caleb winced, shoving at Raven’s chest. “Need lube.”

  When Raven rolled off him, Caleb lay there staring at the ceiling, his body a mess, his skin so sensitive that a stiff wind would make him come right now.

  Raven rummaged in the nightstand and came back with a bottle. He squeezed some clear gel onto his finger, then resumed his position, as if he’d
never left.

  Caleb spread his legs and wound them around Raven’s waist, digging his heels into his lover’s lower back as two of Raven’s fingers entered him. Caleb moaned and grunted incoherently. He grabbed Raven’s nape and pulled his lover down to him. Their kiss was sloppy and amazing, and fuck, Caleb was so wound up he was ready to come. He just prayed he didn’t suffer a concussion, or black Raven’s eye, or have the bed collapse under them, or the earth explode.

  As the kiss deepened, Caleb’s tongue trailed over two hard points. He pulled back and stared at Raven’s long canines.

  “You scared?” Raven asked as he pulled back.

  The sight should have frightened him, but Caleb was turned on by them. Raven didn’t move as Caleb touched each point with his fingertip. “They’re sharp.”

  “The better to nibble on you with.” Had Raven just purred? It had sounded like one, but Caleb was so used to hearing Raven’s growls that he couldn’t be sure.

  Caleb threw his head back whimpering as Raven kissed down his neck. He’d never had such a passionate lover, one who set his blood on fire. He was consuming Caleb, body, mind, and soul.

  And he didn’t care. He wanted to be owned by Raven. Caleb writhed against him, which made Raven growl again. Caleb ate up that sound and swallowed it down because it turned him on like nothing else. The growl wasn’t human and reminded Caleb that this shifter already owned him. They were mates, and no matter what happened, Raven was his.

  Raven pulled back again and looked down at Caleb with intense dark eyes as he removed his fingers from Caleb’s ass and pressed the head of his cock against Caleb’s band of muscles. Instead of shoving inside, Raven teased the head against his hole, swiping the precum up and down Caleb’s crease. The move drove Caleb insane. He tried to chase Raven’s dick with his ass, but the devilish look in Raven’s eyes said he was having fun torturing him.

  He gave up and rolled his eyes back, shuddering and moaning as he palmed his own erection.

  “Fuck, baby. You’re killing me,” Raven hissed. Caleb’s ass burned as Raven’s girth stretched it wide. An arc of pleasure shot through Caleb, along with pain. He focused on the raw need erupting on Raven’s handsome face, dug his nails into his lover’s arms, and tightened his leg around Raven’s waist.