by Lynn Hagen
Jaycee abandoned the bedroom door he was currently inspecting to glance at the next one. Wolf shook his head. The mating heat was making his skin feel tight, itchy, and he could feel his hands clenching and unclenching to grab Jaycee and run back to his bedroom. His groin felt like a hot rod was branding him as he gazed at his mate innocently running his lithe, long fingers over the carved wood, and wished to the gods it was his cock that Jaycee was brushing his fingertips over.
Since Jaycee had woken up, Wolf’s cock had stayed hard. It was painful as hell. He wanted relief so badly that he had to fight not to reach out for his mate. The longer his cock remained unserviced, the bitchier Wolf felt. He had also noticed that as the hours ticked by, the lust was only growing stronger inside of him. No wonder a winged beast went mad. Wolf wasn’t sure he would last two whole days.
“According to Wolf, I’m his Cheerio. But my mom calls me Jaycee,” his mate said as he turned toward Nikoli with a tight grin on his face. “And according to Wolf, I’m stuck here until the bad little doggies are no longer interested in me—which, according to Wolf, is when hell freezes over. So, who are you?”
Wolf could see Nikoli fighting the smile that was pulling at his lips, and then the man started laughing. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”
“He is Nikoli,” Wolf answered his zaterio.
“Is he a vampire as well?” Jaycee asked as he began to walk down the hallway, studying the next door. Wolf was curious as to why Jaycee was so damn interested in the wooden doors when all he could think about was sinking his cock deep into his mate’s ass. Didn’t Jaycee feel the attraction? Didn’t he want to get sweaty in the sheets as they knocked boots? Good god, he needed to stop hanging with Silo. The computer geek was corrupting his damn mind.
“No,” Nikoli replied. “I’m a winged beast.”
“Same difference.” Jaycee waved Nikoli off. “Semantics.”
“Haven’t claimed him yet, have you?” Nikoli looked from Wolf’s obvious erection and then to his face, a sparkle of humor in his dark eyes. “Poor bastard.”
“I can hear you two,” Jaycee sang as he moved further down the hallway. “I’m human, not dumb.”
“Same difference,” Nikoli teased. “Semantics.”
“Take that back!” Wolf gave a deadly growl as he grabbed Nikoli by the front of his shirt, twisting the fabric in his hand as he shoved the beast into the wall. “Apologize to my zaterio for the disrespect you’ve just shown him.”
“It’s cool. I was just bantering with him. I meant no harm, Wolf.” Nikoli held his hands up in a surrender gesture as he glanced from Wolf to Jaycee. “We cool, little man?”
“Just as long as you never in your life call me little man again, we’re cool.” Jaycee patted Wolf’s hand. “You can let him go now.”
When Jaycee’s hand touched Wolf’s, his entire body stiffened and a warm flow of desire spread throughout his body. He wanted the man. Wolf felt hot and bothered, multiplied by one hundred, and the need to claim his mate was overwhelming. He gritted his teeth as he closed his eyes, breathing out slowly through his mouth.
His zaterio was also too damn close to Nikoli, Wolf realized when he opened his eyes. Wolf’s chest vibrated as he released Nikoli and pulled Jaycee into his arms, turning so his mate wasn’t standing right there in front of the beast.
“Now what?” Jaycee asked as he glanced up at Wolf, who was letting out a low and rumbling growl. Gods, Wolf just couldn’t think straight with Jaycee in his arms. He could only think of Jaycee writhing under him as he fucked the man senseless. His wings fluttered furiously as sweat began to surface all over his body. His cock was pulsing, throbbing, aching to be released and to find release. Wolf’s entire body was tingling and buzzing with need.
“Now I get the hell away from you before Wolf tries to pull my tongue out through my ass,” Nikoli said as he walked toward the living room.
“That sounds painful,” Jaycee said from behind Wolf.
Wolf closed his eyes for a moment and prayed for strength. Jaycee’s scent was so strong that it was clouding his mind and pushing his reasoning away. His beast was getting closer to the surface at the same time. Wolf wanted nothing more than to take his mate right here in the hallway and bind them together for all eternity. It was something all winged beasts craved, to find their mates and claim them, but having his zaterio so close, and unclaimed, was playing havoc with Wolf’s mind and body.
He needed a moment away from his mate. Wolf wasn’t sure he could hold his composure much longer. His body was coiled and ready, and Jaycee wasn’t. “I’ll take you to the kitchen now.”
Jaycee walked around Wolf, his fingers sliding sensually over Wolf’s bare arm. Wolf shuddered and pulled his arm away.
“Zaterio, you are killing me here.”
Jaycee stilled, glancing up at Wolf, and then began to point his finger between his head and Wolf’s. “You’re doing that mind thingy again.”
And Jaycee was making Wolf’s cock so hard that he feared it would shatter into a thousand pieces in his pants. Taking a deep and unsteady breath, Wolf stepped back. “Kitchen.”
Jaycee nodded, but kept his head tilted back as he stared at Wolf. “Kitchen,” he repeated.
Even with the need slowly burning behind Jaycee’s chocolate-brown eyes, Wolf wasn’t going to take any chances with his mate. He wasn’t going to rush him. Not that much anyway.
He did only have two days, after all.
But what Wolf discovered while tending to his wounded mate was that the mating heat was absent when his mate was injured. Fate may be a fickle little bitch, but at least it had a conscience.
But now that Jaycee was well, it was like the heat had gone into overdrive. He waved a hand toward the end of the hall and then began to walk stiffly, feeling his hard cock pulsing in his pants with every step.
Jaycee yelped as Wolf growled when the very castle itself rocked on its foundation.
“What was that?” Jaycee asked as he grabbed Wolf’s arm. “Was that an earthquake?”
It wasn’t an earthquake. Wolf had an idea what it was as he grabbed his mate’s hand and rushed toward the monitors that sat on one wall in the living room. The living room was in total chaos. The winged beasts were shouting and running toward the same wall as Wolf.
“What happened?” Vydeck shouted as Nazaryth scanned the monitors.
“Are all these men vampires?” Jaycee whispered from behind Wolf.
“They are all winged beasts, except Theo.”
“Good to know,” Jaycee replied as Wolf watched his commander, waiting for Nazaryth to tell them what had just happened.
“Hell hounds?” Dog asked.
“No,” Nazaryth said as he shook his head, his face grim. “I believe our gift has finally arrived.”
Wolf’s stomach knotted at the reminder of the gift King Zephyr sent every one hundred years. They all had thought the king had forgotten since their anniversary of being banished had come and gone.
But they weren’t so lucky.
“What did he send?” Ruthless asked.
Nazaryth slowly turned from the monitors, his face slightly pale. Wolf was not going to like this. It took something colossal to make Nazaryth look that way. There was very little the commander feared, and what he did fear made angels wet themselves.
“Two very large brimstone demons.”
Wolf hurried over to the monitors and saw the ten-foot creatures slamming their oversized fists into the side of the hangar. They had two large black horns on either side of their heads that curled crudely under each ear. They also had one small black horn that jutted from their chins. They were pasty white, as if they had never seen a day in the sun in their miserable lives.
Their foreheads slanted downward, and thick, black claws extended from their fingers. Wolf knew that their claws were deadly to any being that came into contact with them.
But the nastiest part about the demons was the fact that they could spit acid. A winged beast could su
rvive the acid spit, but they would scar. It was one of the very few things that could scar them.
King Zephyr must really miss the winged beasts to send such a special gift.
“What in the hell are those?” Jaycee asked, his voice barely a whisper.
“Brimstone demons,” Wolf answered.
“Yeah, I heard the first guy. But what are they?”
“Very nasty creatures who have an IQ of a shoestring, but are damn strong,” Dog answered for Wolf and then turned to Nazaryth. “So what’s the plan, boss?”
Nazaryth ran his hand over the back of his neck, staring intently at the monitors as he shook his head. “We shift into our beast forms and fight. We can’t allow them to reach civilization. They would tear through Zeus’s town like a hot knife through butter.”
The winged beasts began to shift, but Wolf pulled his zaterio over by Nazaryth’s mate, Theo. “Can you watch Jaycee?”
“You got it. I think this time I’ll pass on the fighting,” Theo said as he looked over at the monitors. “Those aren’t hounds, and I’m only a wolf shifter. You can go play peek-a-boo without me.”
“Wolf shifter?” Jaycee asked as he swallowed, eyeing Theo like he was one of the demons.
Wolf cupped Jaycee’s face, planting a quick kiss on his mate’s nose. Anywhere else and Wolf wasn’t going to make it out of the castle to fight. The mating heat was still riding him strong. “I’ll answer any questions you have when I return. Stay by Theo. He has half a chance of protecting you if things go wrong.”
“Go wrong?” Jaycee asked, his eyes as wide as twin moons.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Theo snapped. “I’ll go sit in a corner in my wolf form and lick my balls while you men go out and fight.”
Wolf was not trying to get into a debate with Nazaryth’s mate. Theo had a way with words, and Wolf didn’t have time to tongue spar with the man. “Thanks.”
Wolf took one last long glance at his mate as he released his beast and headed for one of the exits. He prayed they defeated the demons, because if they didn’t, Jaycee had bigger things to worry about than hounds coming after him.
Jaycee stared at the monitors and swore he was watching a movie instead. It had to be. There was no way he was really seeing this. There were two fucking demons, actual demons, on the monitors, beating the holy hell out of that hangar.
“This can’t be real,” he whispered.
“Oh, it’s real,” Theo commented from beside him. “But as long as we stay inside, the spells should protect us.”
“Should?” Jaycee asked as he glanced at the man. “Should?” he said a little louder this time, his voice taking on a higher pitch. “Should doesn’t sound so damn good right about now.”
He was going to be sick. Jaycee couldn’t get over the fact that he was seeing two demons right before his very eyes. “Where did they come from?”
“Hell,” Theo answered. “And from their name, I would suspect the very bowels of hell.”
Oh, no. Jaycee had to get the fuck out of there. Wolf was gorgeous and all, but not even a good-looking man who wanted him was going to convince Jaycee to stick around this place.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Theo asked as Jaycee headed toward the hallway he had just come down.
“Bathroom,” he called over his shoulder, wondering how in the hell he could get out of this crazy-ass place. There had to be a way out. All places had exits, even castles. He could feel the panic take hold and pull him along quickly. Those were demons on the monitors, hounds were after him, and Theo was some kind of wolf. He felt like he was going to be sick. As much as he wanted to stop and think this through rationally, Jaycee didn’t see anything rational about this whole bizarre situation.
No, running would be very good right now.
“Don’t be too long.” Theo’s voice drifted toward Jaycee, but he was running by the time he had heard it. First he was attacked by hounds from hell. Then Jaycee was rescued by a freaking vampire with wings—and the wings were still debatable since he hadn’t seen them yet—and now there were two brimstone demons knocking at the door? Wolf must be out of his ever-loving mind if he thought Jaycee was going to stick around for the next show to begin.
This place was a psychotic loony bin from…well, hell.
Jaycee began to search every room in the long hallway, but couldn’t find a way out of this place. He knew Theo would probably come looking for him soon, so he was running out of time.
How in the hell had the vampires with invisible wings gotten out? He would rather take his chances with the doggies from hell than those two extremely large creatures trying to get in. Jaycee didn’t care if they were dumber than doorknobs. They had claws and horns. That was good enough for him.
But as he searched every room, unable to find an exit, Jaycee was beginning to think he would never get out of here. Where in the hell were the doors?
He slid out of the last room he had searched, inching his way down the hallway. Jaycee stuck his head around the corner, scanning the living room, and saw that it was empty. Theo must be searching for him.
Let the man search. Jaycee was going to keep looking for a way out until someone stopped him. He shot across the living room and headed down the hallway on the opposite side of the room. Jaycee’s heart rate picked up when he saw a large wooden door.
He crossed his fingers and then pushed it open. There were steps leading downward, small torches to light the way. He prayed he didn’t run into anything from hell down below as he glanced over his shoulder to make sure the wolf shifter—gods, he couldn’t believe he was thinking that—hadn’t come back.
Jaycee blew out a long breath and then stepped into the tunnel. When he reached the bottom, he saw he was in a room full of plants. They were everywhere. He wasn’t sure where he was, but Jaycee searched quickly for a door.
His heart beat faster as he saw a large metal door on the other end of the room. He wasn’t sure where the door led, but it was better than going back upstairs.
He just hoped like hell that it didn’t lead right into the battle outside.
“Watch the acid!” Ruthless shouted as Wolf flew out of the way just in time. The spit missile had barely missed his head. It smelled like sulfur and gasoline, with a side of vomit. Wolf was ready to upchuck his last meal as the smell lingered behind.
“Stab their fucking marks!” Nazaryth shouted as he flew over one of the demon’s heads, grabbing the sword from the sheath down his spine and pulling it free, slicing the sword through the air, missing by a hair’s breadth.
The damn things were quick to be so lumbering.
Every creature that came from hell had a mark somewhere on their heads, just like the hell hounds. They could be killed and sent back to hell. The trick was stabbing them in their mark. The demons may be dimwitted, but they knew to keep their mark protected.
They had chased the demons to the other side of the mountain, the side where no humans should see them accidently from the road. Although they lived far enough back, it would be just their luck to have a lost human stumble upon them. Wolf was relieved they had moved. He didn’t want one of those vile things to get inside the castle. There were spells and wards to protect the castle, but even dimwitted demons had dumb luck, as Nazaryth would say.
Plus they were in their beast form.
Try and explain that to a human.
Trap and Silo flew around the demons’ heads, trying their best to confuse the beast as Renato went in for the kill. But as soon as Renato got close enough, the demon spit. Renato shouted and flew past Nazaryth, holding his arm with his hand.
Damn. This was getting ugly.
“Be careful, damn it!” Nazaryth shouted. “I don’t need any of you dying on me.”
Wolf hadn’t planned on dying. He sure as shit hoped that wasn’t his fate. He swung around the demon that had just spit at Renato and jabbed his sword toward the damn thing’s head, but the demon moved out of the way in the nick of time.
“What the—”
“They vanished!” Layne shouted. “Where in the fuck did they go?”
Nazaryth growled as he flew toward the top of the mountain. “Wherever they went, you better believe they’ll be back.”
Wolf glanced toward the west and wondered if the demons were going into a populated area, but Nazaryth didn’t seem concerned. The commander must know something, or he would be giving the command to chase after them.
He forgot about the demons as the mating heat kicked in big-time. Wolf dropped down onto one knee as he landed and then walked toward the entrance to his bedroom. That was what he loved about this castle so much. Each room had a secret passageway to the outside. No beast could ever become trapped. There was even one off of the living room, and an exit down in the room they housed the healing plants in.
He waved his hand in front of a large boulder, watching as it slid aside. Wolf slowly returned to his human form as he entered his bedroom. He smiled over at the bed, his mind wandering to the wicked sex he and his zaterio were sure to have real soon. Jaycee was sexy, witty, comical, and someone Wolf couldn’t wait to have in his bed.
He had heard about the mating ritual from Nazaryth, how special it was, how intimate it would be. The commander had said that it was something a winged beast could only experience with their zaterio.
Wolf couldn’t wait.
He sauntered into the living room to find Theo over by the monitors playing kissy-face with Nazaryth, but Wolf didn’t see Jaycee. He ignored the mated pair as he walked into the kitchen, feeling his cock harden and his skin grow tight as he rolled his shoulders, hearing his vertebrae crack from the tension.
Wolf stilled when he didn’t see his mate in the kitchen either.
Where could Jaycee be?
“Theo,” Wolf called out as he turned on his heel.
“What?” Theo asked, breaking apart from Nazaryth.
“Where is Jaycee?” Theo chewed the side of his lip and Wolf’s heart plummeted. “Where is my zaterio?”