Exiled 02 - Wolf

by Lynn Hagen

  Taylor took a step back, but didn’t leave. His expression was concerned, like he was trying to talk a man down from a ledge. And Jaycee felt like he was on one right now. He was teetering between what he thought he knew and what was really all around him.

  “I promised you that you were safe here, Jaycee, and I stand by that promise. I swear no one is going to hurt you. I just need you to calm down and talk to me.”

  Jaycee didn’t know who to trust anymore. He was so damn bone-weary tired and sick of running. He was dead on his feet and knew that if he left this place, this town, he wouldn’t make it far. Even knowing Taylor was some sort of freak like every other person he had run into in the last twelve hours, he couldn’t keep his eyes open. He was probably about to ask the wrong question, but Jaycee’s adrenaline rush was zapped out of him that quickly. His head began to throb violently as he glanced around the center.

  “Can I just lie down right now?” He would worry about things after he had some sleep. His eyes were burning, and he swayed slightly.

  “Of course.” Taylor waved his hand toward the back of the building. “There are cots back there, and Remi is on guard. I promise you nothing will happen while you sleep.”

  Jaycee managed a snort. “I wouldn’t be too sure. Winged beasts are pretty damn big.”

  Taylor’s hand hung in midair as he gaped at Jaycee. “Did you just say winged beast?”

  Jaycee was too tired to care about the man’s shocked reaction. All he wanted to do was lie down. His arm was killing him, and his headache was getting worse. Maybe when he was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed he would be able to figure out what to do.

  Taylor pulled his phone from his pocket, walking down the hallway. Jaycee followed.

  “Maverick, we have a situation.”

  That was an understatement.

  “I have a winged beast’s mate here,” he spoke quickly into the phone.

  Jaycee spotted a row of cots and lay down on the first one he could reach. “You’re not going to tell Wolf that I’m here, are you?” Jaycee asked as he yawned. He kicked his shoes off and laid his head on the pillow, wishing he had some pain relievers for his arm. It was killing him.

  “No,” Taylor answered, but didn’t look too sure about his answer.

  “Whoever you are talking to, warn him about the hounds after me and the brimstone demons.”

  Taylor lowered the phone, his mouth hanging wide open. His eyebrows were arched so high that Jaycee thought they were going to slide off of the man’s face. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

  “I wish I were,” Jaycee said as he turned over and closed his eyes.

  “Did he just say brimstone demons?” Maverick asked in astonishment.

  “Yeah,” Taylor answered as he stared at Jaycee fast asleep on the cot, “he did.”

  “I have to call Nazaryth, Taylor,” Maverick said gently but firmly. “I have a feeling Jaycee is running because he doesn’t understand about mates, but I can’t have demons and hounds here in Brac Village.”

  “You can’t,” Taylor quickly argued as he walked toward the front of the resource center, away from the exhausted man. “I promised him that he would be safe. You can’t let this Wolf guy know where he is. It would go against everything I had this shelter built for.”

  “Calm down,” Maverick said and then sighed. “I’ll tell Nazaryth not to say a word to Wolf about where Jaycee is, but his mate must be worried sick about him.”

  That was true. But Taylor wasn’t going to rat the guy out and hand him over to the man Jaycee was running from. He would never forgive himself if something bad happened to Jaycee. The guy trusted him.

  Taylor leaned against the door, glancing outside and watching his mate, Dagon, talk quietly to Remi, a smile lighting up his face at whatever they were discussing. Gods, how he loved Dagon. Taylor knew that his mate would go absolutely crazy if Taylor came up missing. He walked out onto the sidewalk, looking over the sleeping town, and knew he couldn’t allow demons and hounds to invade the small community.

  “I don’t know what to do,” he confessed.

  “Whatever happens, Jaycee’s safety comes first. You know that, Taylor. But I can’t have our pack threatened in the process.” Maverick sighed. “We’re going to have to protect them both. Let your mate and Remi know what’s going on. They deserve to have a heads-up. I’ll call you if shit goes south.”

  “Same here,” Taylor said before hanging up.

  “Is everything all right, cachorro?” Dagon asked as he leaned against his truck, holding his arms out. Taylor quickly walked over, sliding into his mate’s arms and instantly feeling safe and loved.

  “He’s a winged beast’s mate.”

  Remi whistled low. “What are you going to do?”

  Taylor shrugged as he inhaled his mate’s scent. “I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. I won’t hand him over to the man he’s running from, but I have a feeling he’s only running because he’s scared. On the other hand, how can I keep mates apart?”

  “You do whatever is best for the guy,” Dagon answered. “We’ll take care of the rest.”

  Yeah, Taylor knew that. But he was afraid the price was going to be extremely high, if not for Jaycee, then for Taylor’s family.

  He just prayed it didn’t come to that.

  Chapter Five

  “What do you mean you can’t tell me where he is?” Wolf growled the words out as he paced the living room. “I have thirty-six hours left, Nazaryth. You would watch me go mad?”

  Nazaryth leaned against the living room wall, crossing his arms over his shoulder, his expression grim. “I’m caught between a rock and a hard place, Wolf.”

  “The hell you are!” Wolf shouted, feeling his anger and his terror ride the air like a hot, invisible mist. It swirled all around him, threatening to choke him. He wanted his zaterio. He felt the loss so deeply that it was nearly crippling him. Jaycee was out there all alone. There was no telling what trouble he was in, and his commander was between a rock and a hard place? “I’ve done nothing wrong to Jaycee. I haven’t harmed him in any way. He’s just scared. Tell me where he is, Commander.”

  “Have you tried contacting him?”

  Wolf ran a hand down his face, trying his best to gain some measure of control. Nazaryth would annihilate him if he throttled the man, but fuck if it wasn’t tempting. “Yes, but he won’t answer me.”

  “I could go with him. You know, to make sure…” Nikoli trailed off, but Wolf fully understood what the beast was referring to and he didn’t like it.

  “So I won’t hurt my zaterio?” Wolf growled the words out. “You think that I would harm the only man made for me? You would sit there and accuse me of abusing my mate?”

  “No.” Nikoli shook his head. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Then what did you mean?” Wolf asked, feeling his fangs emerging as his claws grew. The mating heat, along with the fear eating away inside of Wolf, was making him aggressive as hell. And if his wings didn’t stop fucking fluttering he was going to cut the damn things off!

  “You want me to tell you where your mate is while you are this aggressive?” Nazaryth asked.

  “It will only get worse the longer I am away from him,” Wolf reminded the winged beasts’ leader. “The longer Jaycee remains unclaimed, the madder I will become.”

  Even Wolf could hear the desperation in his voice. He wasn’t going to force Jaycee to mate with him, but Wolf didn’t want to lose himself to insanity and have to be killed. No winged beast survived the madness. Wolf could feel it slowly building inside of him like a ticking time bomb.

  He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, trying his best to calm down. It had been twelve hours since he had found his mate. Even with Jaycee being wounded, the mating heat had banked its embers, but hadn’t gone away. Why in the fuck had fate only given the beasts forty-eight hours to claim their mates? What if Jaycee refused him? If his mate denied him anytime during the claiming, the bond
wouldn’t form. Wolf felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders at the moment, and time was not in his favor.

  “I think it’s a good idea to have Nikoli go with you,” Nazaryth said. “Take Dog with you as well.” The leader held up his hand when Wolf opened his mouth to protest. “With the hounds on the hunt for your mate, and the brimstone demons out there, you need backup. I will come along with you just in case the alpha is offended by us entering his territory.”

  He knew Nazaryth was thinking logically, even if Wolf wasn’t, but he didn’t like having an escort to go after his mate. He had tried half the night to reach his mate through their growing bond, but Jaycee had never answered him. This not only frustrated Wolf, but it worried him as well.

  The four used the exit in the living room and grabbed the Hummer. Wolf would have just flown, but it was early morning and too many humans were out.

  The ride to Brac Village was agonizing and seemed to take forever. Wolf’s need from the mating heat was becoming increasingly worse. His cock was so hard he was ready to whip it out in the truck and relieve the heavy burden, but he was pretty sure the other beasts would knock his ass out for jacking off in the car.

  He honestly didn’t care, but he would rather arrive conscious.

  “How the hell did the little human make it all this way?” Dog asked from the passenger seat up front. “He must have been hauling ass.”

  Most times, Wolf appreciated Dog’s bluntness, but not today. No, today the only thing Wolf would appreciate was feeling his mate in his arms. He had briefly held Jaycee in the hallway when Nikoli was too close, but that had been it. Wolf’s arms hurt from the need to feel his mate fill them.

  He blew out a breath and sat back, knowing it was going to be a long-ass ride.

  Jaycee opened his eyes to the blinding morning light streaming through a window. The window was pretty high up, but the sun had no problem shining past it and directly into Jaycee’s eyes. Still, it looked like it might be early in the morning yet.

  He groaned and covered his eyes, trying his best to block out the sun. Didn’t this place believe in curtains? Even if the window was high up, it would help block out the damn sun. The sun wasn’t going to budge, so Jaycee turned over, wanting more sleep. He was not expecting to see Wolf sitting on his ass, leaning back against the wall, with his arms resting on his bent knees. He looked as if he had lost his best friend as he sat there, staring at the floor.

  Jaycee’s heart ached to see the man look so lost. He hadn’t meant to hurt Wolf, but Jaycee had been scared shitless from yesterday’s events. Who wouldn’t be? But he was also afraid because no man had ever flirted with Jaycee, or come on to him. Wolf was the first, and Jaycee was confused on how to handle Wolf’s advances. He was confused about Wolf period.

  “I come from a place called Zanthar. It isn’t on any map, and can’t be charted from any place on earth. It is a beautiful place to live, with sights so exotic, so glorious, that one’s breath is taken away from just one glance. It needed to be guarded, to be protected from evil itself. And the gods decided that they would create such creatures to protect Zanthar. They created a race of beings to fight the hell hounds and any other vile creature that escaped hell. And so, I was created, not born.”

  Jaycee pushed up into a sitting position, brushing away his fallen hair from his face. Wolf’s story intrigued him. Maybe if he knew the guy’s story, he wouldn’t be so afraid of him. He knew most fears came from the unknown, so Jaycee sat there and listened.

  “I was exiled from that paradise.”

  “Why?” Jaycee asked before he could stop the words from leaving his lips.

  Wolf’s lip pulled back into a snarl, his head shaking back and forth slightly as he continued to stare at the floor. Jaycee wished the man would look at him. His heart began to ache for Wolf and what he lost, and he had never seen the place, but the hard lines on Wolf’s face told Jaycee just what had been taken from the man.

  “Because the new king feared the winged beasts.” Wolf’s hands fisted as anger marred his beautiful lips. “He was pure evil, Jaycee, and he knew we wouldn’t stand idly by and watch him rule the kingdom that we cherished so much with an iron fist. He wanted us gone, the protectors of Zanthar, so he could rule any way he saw fit.”

  “He sounds like a real dickhead,” Jaycee offered.

  Wolf nodded. “He is.”

  “Is?”

  “He still rules. Until he is replaced, we can never go home. We had no choice but to leave, so we came to the human realm, going into hiding, trying our best to stay off of his radar. He is the appointed king. He has been gifted with powers that make him superior to all others, even winged beasts.”

  “So how do those hounds and demons fit into all of this?” Jaycee was starting to see the hardship Wolf had endured. He wanted to go find that king and beat the snot out of him. No one should have to leave their home just because someone else wanted to be evil.

  “The hounds were released by someone who envied us. Boromyr wanted eternal life. He wanted what he could never have, so he decided to sic the hounds on us.” Wolf lifted his head, sorrow and pain in his pretty emerald-green eyes. “They can’t be put back, Jaycee. If I could give you that one gift, I would. But once they are released, they can only be destroyed.”

  Jaycee slid from the bed and crawled over to Wolf, sitting in front of the man with his legs crossed. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt an overwhelming need to be close to Wolf as he spilled his guts. “And the demons?”

  “Every one hundred years, King Zephyr sends us a reminder that we are still banished and he still rules Zanthar. The brimstone demons are his reminder this time around.”

  “You have to admit, Wolf, that’s a lot for a human like me to take in. It happened so fast, in such a short period of time that I freaked out. I’m used to working long hours and having car troubles, but your boss beats mine hands down in the asshole department.”

  An easy smile played at the corner of Wolf’s mouth. “That he does.”

  Jaycee was growing to really like Wolf’s smile. It softened the man’s features and made him ten times more approachable. Jaycee scooted a little closer. He was amazed to see two dimples appear. He was right to think Wolf looked like a god. The man had an almost boyish charm about him as he sat there telling Jaycee all about his life.

  “This is all just happening too fast, Wolf,” Jaycee said as he laid his hand over one of Wolf’s knees. “If I’m going to be living in your world, I need to know what I’m dealing with. Preferably before it shows up and tries to eat me.”

  Wolf turned his hand over, and Jaycee laid his hand in Wolf’s. The winged vampire twined their fingers together and then gave them a little squeeze. “You really want to come back?”

  Jaycee gave a slight shrug, staring at their entwined fingers. He admitted to himself that he liked holding Wolf’s hand. It covered his and then some, but made him feel like everything was going to be all right. It was a strange feeling, but it started in his gut and began to spread throughout his body. Jaycee glanced up at Wolf to see the man smiling at him.

  “If I went home, not only would the hounds be after me, but my life would be boring as hell after what I’ve witnessed.” Jaycee pulled back slightly when Wolf closed his eyes, his face pinching as if he were fighting some inner turmoil. He wasn’t sure if he should let the man’s hand go. He decided to hold on. “Are you all right?”

  Wolf breathed out a slow and steady breath, but Jaycee could see the sweat glistening on the man’s golden skin. “I’ll be fine,” he said as he slowly opened his eyes. “Nothing to worry about.”

  Jaycee wasn’t so sure, but he let it go. He wasn’t one to pry. The man was probably just as tired as Jaycee was. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. “Truce?” he asked, unsure of where the word had come from.

  “I want a truce with you, zaterio. I want so much with you. You have no idea of the bond that is forming between us, bringing us closer. Why do you fight it so
much?” he asked.

  Jaycee glanced down at his knees, wondering if he should tell Wolf. The beast hadn’t done anything to Jaycee but show him kindness. The guy hadn’t even come after him when Jaycee was hurling half the room at the man.

  Maybe dating the guy wouldn’t be so bad. “I’ve never had anyone interested in me before.” Gods, he sounded like a loser. Wolf was probably wondering what was wrong with Jaycee that no one had been interested. “Not that there is anything wrong with me,” he quickly defended as he blushed, glancing toward the hallway and wondering if he could outrun his embarrassment.

  Wolf used their entwined hands to pull Jaycee closer until he was kneeling between Wolf’s legs. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with you, zaterio.”

  Jaycee swallowed hard when Wolf cupped his face and pulled him forward. He was going to kiss Jaycee. It was in his eyes.

  Jaycee’s head snapped up when he heard loud arguing coming from the front of the center. He wasn’t sure what in the hell was going on, but it sounded like a damn war was about to break out.

  “Oh, hell,” Wolf said as he pushed to his feet, pulling Jaycee along behind him.

  Wolf walked down the hallway pissed as hell. Not only had he just been robbed of his first kiss with his zaterio, but he could hear Nazaryth and Maverick arguing, their voices heated. He saw them standing in front of the resource center, looking murderously at each other. Wolf walked outside, Jaycee following.

  “You promised not to tell him where Jaycee was!” Maverick shouted at Nazaryth, his canines extended. Wolf just hoped like hell they didn’t go blow for blow. “You went against your word.”

  “Am I supposed to watch a man who has been under my command for two thousand years go mad because his mate is scared? Would you do that to one of your pack members?” Nazaryth countered. “Wolf has not harmed his zaterio. Jaycee is just afraid of the world he has discovered around him. They’ll work this out.”

  “How do you know this?” Maverick asked, his grey eyes so dark that they resembled chips of obsidian. Anger lines were formed all over the alpha’s face, and his fists were balled so tight that his hands were turning white, with small lines of pink running through them. “He came to us for protection and you threw that back in our faces!”