by Stormy Glenn
Rue shouted as his back arched as hot jets of seed were ripped from his balls. White lights exploded behind his eyelids, making the world around him swim. Rue panted heavily, trying to regain the air that should be in his lungs. He leaned his head against Zus’s legs again as he settled his body back down. The vibrator was still on, keeping Rue just on the edge. Zus’s fingers tangled in his hair as the vibrations slowed, leaving Rue’s ass aching but in a good way.
“Thank you, mate.”
“You are very welcome, pet.”
Rue smiled as he glanced up at Zus. “I love you.”
Zus’s eyes glitters suspiciously. “Oh, pet.”
Rue gasped as he was yanked to his feet and then lifted. All of the air rushed from his lungs as he was slammed back against the shower stall wall. Rue would forever be grateful he had been stretched out. Before he could draw in another breath, Zus thrust forward and filled Rue’s ass with his hard cock.
“My mate!” Zus growled.
Something dark and feral flashed behind Zus’s eyes, and Rue suddenly felt like he was no longer dealing with just the man, but the animal just beneath the surface.
Submissive instincts had Rue tilting his head back and to the side, offering his submission to both the man and the beast. Zus’s thick cock plunged into him over and over again as Zus roared. Just having come moments before meant nothing. The moment Zus struck, sinking his teeth deep into his flesh, Rue screamed and shot between them, his orgasm ripped from the depths of his soul.
A moment later, liquid heat filled his ass and Zus’s large muscular form shuddered against him. Zus withdrew his teeth and licked at the bite mark before pulling from Rue and slowly lowering him to the floor. Rue laid his head against Zus’s shoulder as the man’s arms wrapped around him, cradling him.
“I love you, mate.”
Rue sighed happily, smiling.
Yep, just about perfect.
Chapter Eleven
“Babe, I have to go into the office for a little while today.”
Rue’s shoulders slumped.
“Sorry.” Zus chuckled. “I’m the boss man. If I don’t go in, the work doesn’t get done. No work, no new office for my baby.”
“Office?” He had forgotten about that. Falling in love with his mate seemed so much more important.
Zus nodded as he tucked his shirt in and then zipped up his jeans. “Stefan will draw out the plans, so you need to talk to him about anything specific you might need. Once we have the architectural design, we can begin to clear the sight on the side of the house and get the building started.”
“How long do you think it will take?” Rue could feel excitement start to take a hold of him. They worked from home right now as it was, but their home office was pretty cramped. They were always tripping over each other. A new spacious office would be so fantastic.
“Well, barring bad weather, no more than six weeks or so. Mikhail said you all can use the family room in the meantime.”
“As long as we have Internet to contact our clients, we’re pretty good to go.”
Zus cocked an eyebrow. “Does that mean you don’t want an office?”
Rue pressed his lips together, shaking his head.
Zus chuckled at his quick denial. “Walk me to the door, pet.”
Rue couldn’t prevent the happy little smile that played across his lips as he followed Zus out of their room and down the stairs to the front door. Why he was smiling when Zus was leaving could only be attributed to the hand Zus kept wrapped around the nape of his neck.
It was comforting.
“I won’t be more than a couple of hours, love.”
Rue nodded, the smile starting to slip as the reality of being on his own for the first time since he accepted Zus became apparent. “Mate.”
“You’ll be fine, pet.” Zus’s finger threaded through Rue’s hair, fisting, yanking his head back. “And do you know why you will be okay, Rue?”
Rue gulped. He didn’t really care why. The fierceness in Zus’s eyes had full confidence that whatever Zus said would be true and Rue was helpless to deny it.
“You’ll be okay because I say you will.”
Rue drew in a deep breath, and something inside of him settled. The calmness that he felt was almost alien to him. He glanced at Zus, opening his mouth to ask how that could be, only to have Zus’s fingers press against his lips.
“I am your mate, Rue, your master.” Rue almost purred when Zus’s warm callused hand cupped the side of his face. “You are the most important thing in the world to me, Rue. You are my forever mate. I would never leave you in a situation that I do not feel you couldn’t handle.”
“Okay.”
“Now, kiss me and think about how I am going to punish you for doubting me when I get home.”
Rue’s eyes widened as Zus claimed his lips. He was going to get punished again? He didn’t know whether to drop to his knees to thank Zus or run. Rue was still standing there pondering his options when Zus lifted his head. There was a definite smirk on the man’s face as he turned and walked out the front door. Rue watched until Zus got in his truck and drove down the driveway and then went looking for coffee…smiling the entire time.
Liam was already in the kitchen when he walked in. The slim man was pouring himself a cup of coffee. Rue sent the man a nod when Liam glanced up and then grabbed another cup, pouring coffee into it before handing it to Rue.
“Thanks.”
Liam just nodded. Rue knew not to try and get Liam into a conversation before he had his morning coffee. Liam wasn’t as bad as Jace—who terrified armed men before he had his coffee—but it was a close thing.
Rue heard laughter from the dining room. He headed in that direction, Liam on his heels. “What’s so funny?” he asked as he slid into a chair across from the two men.
Liam sat down next to him.
It took Jace a moment to stop laughing so that he could reply to Rue’s question. “We were just discussing the work uniform for the guys when they came to help us with all the heavy lifting and packing.”
“Jock straps,” Rue replied without missing a beat, sending both Jace and Bay back into fits of laughter. His lips curved up with amusement. He could just picture the Kугуар brothers in jock straps. What a sight that would be. He very seriously doubted that they would be in them very long.
Liam just sat there with a very confused frown on his face.
“So.” Rue’s expression turned serious because he knew there was a huge subject that they all needed to discuss and were kind of pretending didn’t exist. “We’re all in agreement then? We’re packing up and moving here?”
Rue was moving with or without his friends. He was hoping they would come with him, but he needed to be with his mate. Zus was the first man he had ever met that understood him. Zus gave him the dominance and control he had craved his entire life, but he did it with love and understanding, not physical abuse.
“Stefan said they would design us an office attached to the house anyway we want it,” Bay said. “We work from home anyway so having an office to work out of would kind of be a step up.”
“I’m not leaving,” Liam said firmly, using a tone the man never used. “I’m never leaving.”
Jace’s eyebrows rose. “Not even to go home and pack?”
“No.” Liam’s lower lip slid out in the cutest pout. “Yuri likes me.”
Rue lifted his coffee cup to hide his smile. Liam was the shyest of them all. For him to even make a statement like that was a pretty big deal for the little man. He prayed that Yuri understood the gentleness Liam needed. Brother of Zus or not, if Yuri harmed Liam, he would have four very angry humans after him.
“You could bring Yuri with you, you know,” Jace said. “We’re going to need all of the muscle we can get.”
Liam’s face lit up like it was Christmas day. “I’ll go if Yuri goes.” God love Liam, he was glued to Yuri’s side.
“Okay then.” Jace took another sip of his cof
fee. “So, we—”
Rue jerked when the front window shattered. He jumped to his feet and raced toward the living room. Smoke was quickly filling the room. As he stood there trying to figure out what was going on, a silver canister leaking smoke came flying through the window.
Jace rolled his eyes as he walked over and picked the canister up, tossing it right back out the window. “Tear gas? Really?”
Rue grabbed the other canister and tossed it out the window just as Jace had. “What freaking idiots.”
Even Liam rolled his eyes.
“It’s that Ezra guy,” Bay said as he stood by the wall and peeked out through the broken glass. “He has friends with him this time.”
“How many, Bay?” Rue asked. They needed to know what they were up against before they could make a plan of action.
“I count about seven out front, but I can see at least four going around the side of the house.”
“We should probably call Mikhail and the others and let them know what’s going on.” Jace pulled his cell phone out and started dialing.
Rue listened in on Jace’s phone call as he pressed himself against the wall by the front window and watched out through the shattered glass. He could see several vehicles in the driveway, and he even recognized a couple of them as the trucks Ezra and his boys had come in before. But there were other vehicles he didn’t recognize at all. Ezra Craigen had invited friends to the party this time.
“Hey, babe,” Jace said calmly, “just thought you’d like to know that Ezra and his boys are back. They are currently tossing tear gas canisters through the front window.”
Rue glanced at Jace when he heard Mikhail shouting through the phone. The man was so loud that he should have been able to hear him, but the shouting from outside was just as loud, the two kind of canceling each other out.
“Oh please,” Jace said. “We’ve been to more gay rights protests than I have shoes in my closet.” That said a lot. Jace was a shoe whore. “Tear gas doesn’t bother us.”
Rue shrugged. “Makes my mascara run.”
“I’m not leaving.” Liam blinked rapidly as he crossed his arms. His eyes reddened around the rims, a few tears streaking down his cheeks. He was a little less used to tear gas than the rest of them. “And they can’t make me.”
Jace held his cell phone out. “Liam, take this and go upstairs. I need you to keep Mikhail informed of what is going on, and the second-floor window at the front of the house is your best spot for watching the show.” He shook a finger at Liam after the man took his phone. “Lock the door after you.”
Liam nodded and hurried from the room. A moment later, Rue hard his light footsteps running up the stairs and then the sound of a door slamming.
“Rue, do you have your knives?”
Rue’s head cocked to one side, smirking. Jace should know him better than that. He almost always had his knives on him. Besides, Zus seemed to like the fact that he was armed with deadly weapons, and knew how to use them.
“Forget I asked.” Jace waved a hand. “Bay, let’s raid the kitchen. I’m sure we can find something in there to defend ourselves.”
Bay just stood there, staring. “Am I the only one here that understands that we are being attacked by a bunch of people that can shift into tigers?”
“No, I got it,” Jace replied. “I just don’t care.”
He wouldn’t. This was how they ended up in so many scrapes. God love him but Jace didn’t take shit off of anyone. Bay and Rue usually ended up having to rescue him.
“They can kill us,” Bay insisted.
Jace waved his hand back toward the shattered front window. “They are no different than the bigots back home that call us names and try to beat us up when we walk down the street because we have more fashion sense then they do. I, for one, refuse to allow them to make me leave, especially now that I’ve found someone that loves me just as much as I love him.”
Bay’s eyebrows rose in a single line. “You’re in love with Mikhail?”
“Yes.” He frowned as he looked at the flush on Bay’s face. “Are you in love with Stefan?”
The red on Bay’s face deepened, moving down beneath his collar. “Maybe.”
“Okay, maybe is a start, but wouldn’t you like the chance to find out if there is something more there?”
Bay sighed heavily. “Fiinne.”
Rue rolled his eyes. While the kitchen was a good idea for finding weapons, he worried a little about his friends getting hurt with whatever they found. They were trained to defuse situations and defend themselves if needed. They were not trained to take on an entire pride of tiger-shifters.
Jace walked back in with a round cast iron flat skillet as well as a few of the sharp knives. He held the skillet with both hands and swung it like a baseball bat. Grinning, he turned to Bay and Rue. “I’m ready.”
Bay shook his head. “You’re insane, that’s what you are.” He waved his hand toward the front window. “They have guns and claws and shit. A cast iron skillet is not going to give you the upper hand.”
“Bay, we have one thing on our side.”
Bay cocked an eyebrow.
“We’re human.”
“And that gives us the upper hand how?”
“They think we’re idiots.”
“You mean we’re not?” Bay scoffed.
“They think we’re going to be cowering in the closet frightened out of our minds. They are not expecting us to fight back.”
Bay’s eyes were wide and round as he nodded. “The closet is sounding pretty damn good right about now.”
“Bay.”
“Fiinne.” Bay walked over to stand beside the front door, his rolling pin raised in the air. “I’ve got the hallway,” Jace said as he headed for the bottom of the stairs. He pressed himself against the wall leading into the kitchen.
Rue took up position near the front window. “Here they come, guys.” He waited until one of them got onto the porch and then threw a knife, grinning with satisfaction when the blade’s aim was true.
The front door opened. The man coming in made it in two steps before Bay brought his rolling pin down. The guy dropped like a rock. Bay reached down and tore his facemask off and tossed it back out the doorway before stepping back into his original position, rolling pin raised over his head.
Rue saw a shadow appear through the kitchen doorway. A moment later, a man with a gasmask on his face stepped through the archway, gun in his hand. Jace swung, the edge of the skillet hit the guy right in the goggle piece of his mask. The man shouted and dropped his gun as he grabbed for the mask, yanking it off his head. Blood was pouring down his face from where the broken goggle piece had sliced into his face.
His eyes were enraged as he turned to glare at Jace. “You—”
Jace brought the skillet up again. The man didn’t even cry out before he dropped to the ground. Jace grabbed the gasmask and tossed it away.
Satisfied that Jace had things under control, Rue turned his attention back to the front of the house. The people attacking them seemed to be avoiding the front porch. The bleeding body on the porch might have something to do with it. The men hurrying around the side of the house either didn’t see the body or they didn’t care, and that worried Rue more than the blood on the porch. While he could count heads and had a general number of how many people they were up against, he really didn’t know exactly what they were up against.
Rue didn’t think that shifters played by the same rules as humans, and that meant he needed Zus, and he needed him now.
Chapter Twelve
Zus made another calculation with his measuring tape then made a note on his pad of paper. “It looks like we are going to need another six inches on the master bedroom if we are were going to fit that new tub Mrs. Baxter want into the master bath, Mike.” It drove him nuts when clients changed their minds when the build was halfway done. Only the fact that he would be charging Mrs. Baxter for the extra work involved in giving her the bathroom of her dr
eams kept him from telling her where to put her new bathtub.
“Okay,” his foreman Mike said as he studied the blueprints Zus had spread out over the hood of his truck. “Do you want me to have the tub ordered or wait until the flooring gets done?”
“Better wait. Mrs. Baxter might change her mind again.”
Mike chuckled. “Right?”
The woman had changed the build three times already. Too many more and Zus was going to make someone else deal with her, like Mikhail.
In the construction company they all owned, each of them had specific jobs that they were good at. Mikhail was the front of the business. He ran the office, did the books, and greeted the clients.
Stefan was their architect. He worked with the clients to make their dream homes come to life in blueprints he drew up. Yuri worked with the suppliers making sure that they had everything they needed to build with. Zus ran the crews that actually worked on the houses.
All of them had a job to do, and they were very good at their jobs. But in a pinch, any of them could temporarily do the job of one of the others. Zus just thankful he had three other brothers to get through before he had to work with the public.
“I’m going to need a small crew to work another site just as soon as Stefan gets the blueprints done. It should take about six weeks, give or take a week.”
“Small job?” Mike asked.
“We’re adding on a large office to the house.” Zus grinned broadly. “We found our forever mates.”
Mike was part of their pride. He would understand how significant it was to find a forever mate. Mike’s smile was almost as wide as Zus’s. “Congrats, boss. Which brothers?”
“Surprisingly, all of us.”
Mike’s eyes rounded. “Really?”
Zus nodded.
“Damn, maybe there’s hope for me then.”
Zus patted Mike’s shoulder. “There’s always hope, Mike.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Mike didn’t sound convinced. Zus knew he had reason for doubting he might ever find the forever mate for him. Many didn’t, which was why it was so special when someone did. “So, when do we get to meet this mate?”