by Lynn Hagen
Wolf did chuckle this time. “I like that plan a lot better.”
“Did I ever tell you how handsome you are when you smile?” His mate blushed, his eyes darting around the room as he grabbed some things to pack.
Aw, his mate was so cute when he was shy. “No. But I’m listening.”
Jaycee waved a hand at him. “Stop teasing me.”
Wolf leaned against the windowsill, his eyes locked onto the yard below. “I’m not teasing you, Jaycee. I like when you give me compliments. It lets me know my zaterio wants me.”
Wolf glanced at his mate as Jaycee walked around the bed and stopped right in front of him. “Your Cheerio will always want you, Wolf. I may not say it enough, but I think you are the sexiest man to walk the earth, winged beast.”
Wolf was the one feeling his face heat up this time at Jaycee’s words. His mate’s brown eyes were smoldering with lust as he gazed up at Wolf. If only they could fool around, but Wolf didn’t want to be caught off guard if something wicked showed up.
“Remind me to thank you later.” He winked and then looked out of the bedroom window.
“I can do that,” Jaycee said just as his phone rang. His mate snatched his phone from his back pocket and glanced at it. “It’s for you.”
Wolf frowned when Jaycee handed the phone to him. Who on earth would be calling him on his mate’s phone? He glanced at the caller ID and saw that it said Mom. Oh, hell no! “It’s your mom, Jaycee.”
“She probably wants to yell at me for not calling her. Go ahead, big bad winged beast, talk to her.” Jaycee opened his dresser drawer and began to pack the gym bag.
Wolf felt his palms begin to sweat as he hit the send button. “Hello?”
“If you weren’t my only son, I’d strangle you for ignoring my calls. What the hell has gotten into you, Jaycee? Are you trying to worry your mother?”
Wolf wiped his hand across his sweaty forehead. He didn’t have a mother and was clueless on how to deal with an irate one. “This is Wolf, ma’am.”
The silence stretched on for so long that Wolf thought the woman hung up. “And who in the hell is Wolf?”
Wolf shot Jaycee a glare, but his mate just hummed and continued to pack as if he didn’t see the terrified look crossing Wolf’s face at that very second. He was going to make his zaterio pay for this. “I’m Jaycee’s…friend?”
Wolf would never in his life deny his mate, but he wasn’t sure what in the hell to say to this woman. Truth be told, she lightweight scared him. He knew his mate loved his mother, and Wolf didn’t want to say anything to offend her.
“He’s my boyfriend, Mom,” Jaycee yelled across the room.
“Oh,” Ms. Raynes said, and then Wolf heard a soft giggle. “When am I going to meet my boy’s boyfriend?”
Wolf shot a pleading look to his mate, but Jaycee just shrugged. “When can I leave my cage and go visit my mom?” he asked loud enough for his mother to hear. Wolf groaned, slapping his hand on his head as he glanced out of the window.
“It’s like that?” Ms. Raynes asked. “Now I know I have to meet you.”
He could hear the light teasing in Jaycee’s mom’s voice, but it did not put him at ease. “I swear there is no cage, Ms. Raynes. Jaycee is just teasing you.” And he was going to spank the shit out of his mate for this one. Wolf was so damn embarrassed that he wanted to hang up and go hide somewhere. He had never dealt with a mother before, and was at a loss of what to say.
Jaycee wasn’t helping.
She laughed. “Too bad. Just bring my son over this Sunday for the cookout.”
Wolf pulled the phone away and stared at it when Jaycee’s mom hung up. “Cookout?”
“My family gets together every Sunday for a cookout. I guess you’re going.”
“But, zaterio, it isn’t—”
Jaycee held his hand up, stopping Wolf’s protest in its tracks. “Then you call Mom back and tell her we’re not coming.”
“But what if one of the hounds makes an appearance, or worse, the demon?”
Jaycee paled. “I hadn’t thought about that. Damn. Mom is going to be pissed if I don’t show.”
A very small part of Wolf blew out a breath of relief that he wasn’t going to have to meet his mate’s mother. He dodged that bullet very nicely. He mentally high-fived himself.
“Just have the winged beasts patrol the area.”
Bullet, one. Wolf, zero.
Nazaryth paced his bedroom, filled with worry over Renato. The winged beasts had no luck finding the man, and by now he knew Renato’s mate was surely dead. He just couldn’t understand how everything had gone so wrong.
The human shouldn’t have been able to breach the wards he had placed on the castle. He should have felt the compulsion to turn around and leave as soon as he entered the nearby forest. Nazaryth knew Renato’s mate was human. He had sampled the blood on the floor in the green room. The noxious taste of the hell dweller had also been detected, so there was no doubt in his mind that the human had been bitten.
“You’re wearing a hole in the carpet,” Theo said as he slid his arms around Nazaryth’s waist.
“I’m worried, zaterio. Renato will go mad, and we can’t find him. If he unleashes his sorrow and pain on the world, people will die. He won’t discriminate between a hound and any other person who gets in his way.”
“Are you sure he’s human?” Theo asked. “Maybe he’s a shifter and he’s fighting the fever right now like I did.”
Nazaryth wanted to believe what his mate was telling him, but he knew better. The blood was human. He had no doubt about that. “No, Theo. As much as I would take comfort in believing Renato’s mate stood a chance, I won’t allow the lie to take root. He is human.”
“Damn, that just sucks,” Theo said as he rested his head against Nazaryth’s chest. Nazaryth enveloped his mate in his arms, resting his chin on Theo’s soft hair.
“I know. I never thought one of my men would suffer this greatly. I always thought we were invincible. Being immortal, I thought we could withstand it all.”
“But even being immortal, you can’t withstand a broken heart, Nazaryth. There is no way to stop that from happening no matter how invincible you are.”
Wasn’t that the truth.
“Can’t you use your pull as the commander and call him back?” Theo asked as he pulled back slightly and tilted his head back to look up into Nazaryth’s face, hope shining in his gorgeous eyes.
“The thought had crossed my mind. But if I open the call up, all winged beasts will hear me, and the king himself as well. If Zephyr knew that Renato was going mad, he would send in a legion of hell hounds and demons to hunt the beast down to kill him. Zephyr would take great joy in watching Renato suffer. I can’t risk that.”
He was caught between finding Renato, and risking the king’s wrath, or remaining silent and praying they found the beast in time. Nazaryth never hated the king more than he did in that very moment. If it took his last breath, he was going to see the king dethroned.
Chapter Eleven
It was Wolf and Silo’s turn to patrol the streets of Pride Pack Valley. They had Caymen from Zeus’s grey wolf pack with them as well. It was the grey wolves’ territory, after all. But Wolf didn’t like a shifter patrolling with them.
Not that he had anything against the wolves, but it was too dangerous for anyone but a winged beast to deal with a hell hound. Winged beasts could handle a hound. The shifter only complicated things. Wolf felt as if he were babysitting instead of patrolling.
But Nazaryth and Zeus had decided that the winged beasts needed to show the shifters how to fight the hell hounds. The two leaders wanted the wolves to know how to defend their own territory. They wanted the beasts to show the wolves how to fight without getting bit.
Wolf was still trying to figure that one out himself.
As they walked, Wolf thought about what Nazaryth had told him right before he left for patrol. Dr. Samuel had called and confirmed that the dead body found in Jaycee’s house w
as indeed Mike Baxton, his zaterio’s roommate. He knew the hounds hadn’t mistaken the human for Jaycee, so the only other explanation was that the hounds were playing with them.
Wolf was not looking forward to telling Jaycee that one of his roommates was dead. He wasn’t sure if Jaycee was good friends with Mike, but delivering bad news always sucked.
“So he sent two demons?” Caymen asked as his eyebrows sat high on his forehead. “What do they look like?”
“Like demons,” Wolf replied in a deadpan voice. He really didn’t want to be out here walking the streets. He knew the patrols needed to stay in place, but there was too much going on for him to be away from his zaterio. His mate wasn’t safe, and Renato still hadn’t been found. He shouldn’t be out here walking around. He should be somewhere fighting or looking for the missing beast.
And he missed Jaycee.
“Thanks, jackass,” Caymen replied with a slight growl in his voice. “If I want smart-ass answers, I’ll go hang around Rave and Taz.”
Wolf hadn’t a clue who those people were, and didn’t care at the moment. He was worried about Renato. He was worried about Jaycee. And he was worried that the hounds would find another way into the castle before Nazaryth finished with the new spells he had found in the Zantharian library he kept in his bedroom.
Hell, he was just plain worried.
Wolf rubbed his thigh, feeling the low throb. He had been cleared by Dr. Samuel to resume his duties, but Wolf hadn’t been ready to leave his mate to patrol the streets. His leg was scarred. There was no getting around that. But he was walking without a limp now.
Yee-fucking-ha.
He would have preferred to be limping and lying in his bed with his zaterio where he could keep an eye on Jaycee. But Wolf knew it was a joint effort to keep the streets safe for the residents of this town. He was created to kill hounds, so he needed to suck it up and stop complaining to himself about having to patrol.
Wolf had other frightening things to worry about besides what he was already worrying about.
Like meeting Jaycee’s mother. Now that thought really did scare him. He had never had a mother. What were mothers like? He was dating her son, after all. Well, he had claimed Jaycee, but as far as she was concerned, they were just dating. From what he had learned about humans, mothers were extremely protective of their offspring.
“Have you guys ever dealt with a mother before?” Wolf asked the two men who were currently discussing the brimstone demons.
Caymen and Silo stopped talking and stared at Wolf strangely. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut.
“I was created, Wolf. You know that,” Silo replied as he scratched his head. “I don’t know the first thing about mothers.”
“I was taken at an early age by Jackson. I don’t remember my mother,” Caymen confessed. “Why?”
Wolf wondered if he should even bring it up. In the larger scheme of things, it wasn’t something he should be worrying about. She was human. She was a mother. How harmful could she be? Wolf had fought hell hounds, brimstone demons, and a whole slew of other creatures in his lifetime. What was one tiny human to him?
“Never mind.”
“No,” Silo argued as he stopped walking and turned toward Wolf. “You brought it up. So why are you asking about mothers?”
“Jaycee’s mom wants to meet me.” Saying that out loud only made his fear of meeting her seem ten times more ridiculous to Wolf. He couldn’t believe he had brought it up. She was a human. What was there to be afraid of?
“Did she threaten you to stay away from her son?” Caymen asked.
“No,” Wolf said as he shook his head.
“Did she offer to feed you?” Silo asked.
“Yes.”
“Then what in the hell is the problem?” Caymen asked. “She didn’t threaten to cut off your balls, and she is going to feed you. Stop worrying.”
“Unless she plans on poisoning him,” Silo muttered to Caymen. “It could happen. I read about that stuff all the time online.”
“Man, what in the hell are you reading about that stuff for?” Wolf asked, feeling even more nervous about going to meet Jaycee’s mom now. Silo was going to get his ass kicked if he didn’t stop planting those seeds in Wolf’s head.
He always knew Silo was one strange beast. He was jittery and bouncy, talking as if he had a damn nervous tic or something. But reading about people poisoning others was just downright strange.
And scary.
“I don’t think arsenic can kill a winged beast,” Caymen replied and then looked between the two. “Can it?”
“I’ll go ingest some and let you know,” Wolf replied dryly.
“I read about this one case where the mother poisoned her son and his lover, all because she was too chickenshit to admit to her friends that her son was gay. She tried to blame her son’s boyfriend, but with today’s forensics, they busted her ass.”
“Stop!” Wolf growled as he rubbed his temples. “Neither of you are helping me here. You were supposed to tell me it was going to be cool, not scare the holy shit out of me.”
“Oh,” Silo said. “If you wanted a candy-coated answer, you should have said so.”
“It’ll be cool,” Caymen replied. “Just don’t eat or drink anything.”
“But it’s a cookout,” Wolf pointed out.
“You are so screwed,” Silo replied.
“You know, Silo, I—” Wolf stopped talking when he scented something strange on the air. He tilted his head back at the same time Silo and Caymen did, all three sniffing.
“What is that smell?” Silo asked.
It smelled like hounds, but there was something strange mingled in with their scent.
“Hounds?” Silo asked.
“No.” Caymen shook his head. “Vampire rogues.”
The three glanced at each other for a second and then began to follow the scent. “I heard that the hounds had promised the fey to protect them against rogues for something in return. Do you think they’re working together?”
That was one scary thought. But Wolf wouldn’t put it past the hounds to exploit the vampire rogues and use them to their advantage. They were from hell, after all. They had no morals. They would use any means available to them to cause havoc and mayhem.
The scent carried them closer to Harold’s Deli, but then the smell faded. Wolf stood on the corner of Trenton Street and Route 14 as he glanced around. He scanned the gas station across the street to his right and then looked left to where Pride Pack Valley General was located, but didn’t see anything out of place.
It was three in the morning. No one was out. The streetlight on the corner was blinking red, and the wind was blowing by gently, but there were no hell hounds or vampires in sight.
“That’s strange,” Caymen stated. “The scent just disappeared.”
It was strange, and Wolf needed to let Nazaryth know that the hounds and rogues were possibly working together. Or more accurately, the hounds were controlling the rogues now.
Neither idea was pleasant.
Jaycee quickly glanced away to keep from laughing when he saw Wolf fidgeting with his collar. It was the third shirt the man had put on, and he found something wrong with each one of them. Wolf was going bonkers. There was no other explanation.
“Wolf, it’s a cookout, not the inaugural ball. You look fine.”
He really did, and it didn’t seem to matter what he wore. He was still gorgeous. Wolf’s jeans hugged his legs like a second skin, and they wrapped around his cock like they were made to put the hard length on display.
Jaycee licked his lips as he looked his mate up and down. Oh yeah, the man was totally drool worthy. Besides his skintight jeans, every damn shirt he put on showed off the hard muscles of his chest and abdomen like a wet dream.
“Maybe we should just stay home.”
Wolf’s head snapped around, a hopeful look on his face. “Really?”
Jaycee sighed, giving up his fantasy of spending the next few h
ours wrapped in Wolf’s arms. “No, sorry, babe. You have to meet my mother or we’ll never hear the end of it. But when we get home…” Jaycee watched Wolf’s shoulders slump as he let his statement hang in the air. “It’s not going to be that bad, Wolf. I promise. If I love you then my mother is going to love you.”
“My leg is nearly all better,” Wolf said. “I could make it worth your while to stay home.”
Jaycee’s jaw dropped. “Are you trying to bribe me with sex?”
“Is it working?”
“Uh…no.”
“Then it was just a suggestion.”
“What would you have done if I had said yes?”
Wolf shrugged. “Stripped you naked, sucked your dick until you screamed my name, and then fucked you into the mattress.”
Jaycee gulped. “Oh damn.”
“But, since it’s more important for us to go visit your mother…” Wolf trailed off as he walked toward the bedroom door. He turned at the doorway and winked at Jaycee over his shoulder. “We should probably get going.”
Jaycee stood there in stunned silence as his mate disappeared through the door. He couldn’t seem to make his body move for several moments, mostly because his cock was threatening to explode and he was afraid if he moved he would need to change his pants.
He swallowed hard and reached down to thump his hard cock. He winced at the sharp pain and then started for the door. “I may have been a bit hasty.”
Wolf’s laughter met him as he walked out of the bedroom. “Too late now, zaterio. Your mother awaits.”
Wolf didn’t look quite so amused when they pulled up in front of Jaycee’s mother’s house thirty minutes later. In fact, he looked downright scared out of his mind. Jaycee wished that there was some way to reassure his mate that everything would be fine, but only time, and meeting Jaycee’s mom, would show Wolf that.
“I promise that everything will be fine, Wolf,” Jaycee said as he patted his mate’s leg. “My mom will love you.” Jaycee leaned over to kiss Wolf on the cheek. “I do.”
“What exactly happens at these cookout things?”
“Uh…well, there’s lots of food, people, and just generally hanging out and catching up on the latest family gossip.”