by Lynn Hagen
They did that for the next five aisles. Time felt as if it had slowed down, and the store was way too bright. Aiden looked at every person who passed him. The mother with her bratty children. The two guys who needed to pull their pants up to their waists. The two elderly women who kept bickering over what the best coffee was. They all passed Aiden as if he wasn’t even there. As if he wasn’t sweating and ready to pass out.
“You have got to try this.” Rudy help up an ice cream sandwich. “Taste it. It’ll melt your taste buds.”
Aiden couldn’t stop staring at the people walking by, until Rudy shoved the ice cream against his lips. With a frown, Aiden looked down at the human. “What’re you doing?”
“We’re gonna pay for it. I just want you to let the strawberry melt on your tongue. Let the flavor consume you. It’s already given me an orgasm.”
Aiden’s attention snapped to Rudy, everything else fading around them. He licked the sandwich Rudy still held in his hand. “That’s the best I’ve ever tasted.”
Only because he hadn’t tasted Rudy yet. And Aiden was dying to. All day he kept thinking about stripping the guy naked and sucking his cock. It was almost becoming an obsession for him. The thought of wrapping his lips around Rudy’s dick, of sucking the hard flesh to the back of his throat…
“Right!” Rudy chuckled, pulling Aiden from his fantasy. “Eat the whole thing. I’ve got a box of them that we can eat while we shop.”
As soon as Aiden finished the treat, Rudy handed him another one. They grabbed some sodas, too, because ice cream made you thirsty.
By the time they consumed the box and finished their drinks, they were at the checkout. Rudy smiled at him, and Aiden snickered. His mate had ice cream smeared on his chin.
Although Aiden was questioning if mates truly exited, his brain still thought of Rudy as his.
He tapped his own chin. “Right there. You’ve got a smidge of strawberry.”
Rudy licked his palm and wiped it across his chin. “Gone?”
Aiden licked his thumb and helped Rudy get rid of the rest of it. The cashier stared strangely at them as he rang up their things.
“I know what you did for me,” Aiden whispered to him. He sucked in Rudy’s sweet scent. Now he was standing in the checkout with a hard-on. Aiden wanted to bend the human over the conveyor belt and thank him in a more intimate way.
“And it worked.” Rudy beamed, and his happy look went straight to Aiden’s heart. “You were too busy enjoying your treats to realize how many people were around you. If we have to do that every time we come here, I’m blaming you for my weight gain.”
Aiden’s first trip to the grocery store in over six months had been a small success, and he had Rudy to thank for that.
Chapter Four
“I think we should make a light dinner,” Rudy said. He was starving and didn’t want to wait for a long preparation. Besides, he had the night off at the tavern. From what Mike had told him, Calhoun was gonna do the cooking.
Rudy wasn’t sure how experienced the barback was in the kitchen, but he didn’t care. He was gonna enjoy his night off.
“What did you have in mind?” Aiden worked alongside Rudy to put the groceries away. They had enough food to last them awhile, that was if Aiden didn’t eat like an actual bear.
“French bread pizza?” Rudy sucked in a quiet breath when Aiden’s arms brushed up against his. The closeness had him thinking about all the ways they could fuck in the kitchen and how many flat surfaces they had to work with. But Rudy had been the one to set the “no sex” rule, and he needed to stick with it.
No matter how badly he wanted Aiden to kiss him.
Aiden snorted. “That’s a snack for me.”
“Speaking of snacks.” Rudy waved his hand at the congested L-shaped counter. He’d never seen so many sweets in his life. Just looking at them gave him a toothache. “Do you live off this junk?”
“The Oreos are yours,” Aiden said as he shoved the box of pasta into the cupboard. The guy smelled so good that Rudy had to curl his fingers in so he wouldn’t grope Aiden.
“One thing,” Rudy pointed out. “I grabbed one freaking snack while you bought at least sixty dollars’ worth of junk.”
“I’m a bear.” Aiden winked, and Rudy’s heart rate kicked up a notch. “We like sugary things that make our mouth water.”
“And cavities.” Rudy forced himself to ignore Aiden’s heated glance.
“I don’t have a single one,” Aiden argued. “My teeth are perfect.”
Aiden didn’t have an ounce of fat on him, either. Rudy should know. He’d seen the guy naked, and Aiden was nothing but pure muscle.
He needed to stop thinking about Aiden’s naked body, or Rudy would throw his “no sex” rule out the window. He couldn’t give in to his body’s craving. What if things became awkward between them and Aiden asked him to leave? This was the first real home Rudy had had in three years, and he didn’t want to lose it.
“Then what do you want to cook?” Rudy stored the canned goods in the pantry. He needed the space between them before he grabbed Aiden’s ass and begged the guy to fuck him. Rudy couldn’t remember ever being this turned on.
And the lust consuming him was giving him dirty thoughts. The image plaguing him now was dropping to his knees and sucking Aiden’s dick. Or better yet, Aiden sucking his since the guy had put that thought in Rudy’s head when they were setting the rules.
“Maybe I’ll cook—” Aiden snapped his head up and glared toward the kitchen entryway. He let out a low snarl as he narrowed his pale green eyes.
“What is it?” Rudy looked around, but he didn’t see or hear anything.
Aiden pressed his finger to his lips before he headed away. Rudy followed. They stopped at a large cabinet in the living room where Aiden pulled out a long, black metal rod. Rudy had no idea what the thing was.
Until the end crackled with electricity.
It was a cattle prod.
What was going on? Rudy started to ask, but Aiden moved quietly down the hallway toward his bedroom. He heard drawers opening and closing. The noise must have been what drew Aiden’s attention in the kitchen.
It was scary that Aiden’s hearing was so good. Better than Rudy’s. He grabbed the back of Aiden’s shirt as they reached the doorway to Aiden’s bedroom. Someone grunted and cursed. Had a thief really broken into the cabin?
Rudy’s heart beat like crazy as Aiden pressed the tips of his fingers against the bedroom door and eased it open. The room reeked of whiskey. Rudy had never liked the smell of alcohol since his dad had smelled like that all the time.
When Rudy had been a kid, he’d joined the Little League. His mother had never once come to a game, but his dad had. He’d shouted obscenities while drinking beer after beer, calling the players losers and acting as though the kids should’ve been playing like pros.
Two weeks after joining, Rudy had quit, no longer able to stomach the embarrassment. All throughout school Rudy had gotten good grades and stayed out of trouble for fear his parents would be called in.
That was the last thing he ever wanted.
Parent-teacher conferences were a nightmare. His dad showed up drunk and his mom had hit on Rudy’s science teacher. Shockingly Rudy hadn’t grown up to be a serial killer.
He was pulled from his thoughts when Aiden entered the room. Rudy’s jaw dropped when he saw a naked man standing by the dresser. He had a cigarette dangling from his mouth and a bottle of booze in his hand.
The stranger also had feathery wings. Wings!
He turned his head and looked at them. Rudy gasped. The stranger’s irises swirled with what looked like a nebula, not a certain color. They looked like the cosmos was captured in them. Did…had a shooting star really streaked across his right eye?
With a deep and deadly snarl, Aiden shoved the prod against the guy and lit him up. Rudy screamed and watched as the stranger hit the floor.
He shoved at Aiden. “You didn’t have to kill him!�
�
“You break into my house and you pay the price.” Aiden knelt and checked the guy’s pulse. “He’s still alive.”
“What the hell are you doing with a cattle prod anyway? Who keeps one in their cabinet?”
Aiden held the prod up and hit the trigger. The thing lit up like the Fourth of July. “I keep it for instances like this.”
“Because you get break-ins on a regular basis,” Rudy said sarcastically.
“I live in the woods. I’m isolated. This was better than ripping his throat out with my claws.” Aiden stood and stared down at the guy. “Does he really have wings?”
“What is he?” Rudy moved a little closer. The guy was lean with muscles and had dark hair, a mustache, and a beard that came to a rounded end on his chin.
He was gorgeous. Thankfully he hadn’t said that out loud. Aiden would’ve probably used the cattle prod on him if the guy knew he thought the stranger was smoking hot.
Aiden set the prod on the dresser. “We need to tie him up.”
“What?” Rudy looked incredulously at Aiden. “We need to call the cops.”
Aiden waved at the wings. “And how do you want to explain those?”
The guy groaned. Aiden snatched the prod from the dresser and zapped him again. The stranger fell silent.
“Will you stop before you actually kill him?” Rudy bit his nail, wondering what they were gonna do. Okay, so the cops weren’t a possibility. So now what?
As if reading Rudy’s mind, Aiden said, “We tie him up, toss him in the trunk of my car, and dump him somewhere far from here.”
“On what planet does that sound sane?”
“He’s not human,” Aiden gave the needless reminder. “I can’t identify his scent, either. The only creatures I know with wings are the winged beasts, and he’s not a winged beast.”
Rudy frowned. “A what?”
Winged beast? Rudy thought of a two-headed monster with wings.
“I’ll explain later.” Aiden walked out of the room and returned with a roll of duct tape. “We need to get him out of here before he wakes up. Since I don’t know what he is, he might kill us both.”
“You’re the one who shocked him. Twice. I had no part in this.” Rudy couldn’t stop staring at the guy’s wings. If he didn’t know any better, he would say the stranger was an angel.
But that was insane.
As insane as Aiden being a bear and Reese being a rhino? Crap. They were in serious trouble.
“Press his ankles together.” Aiden lowered himself to his knees, duct tape in hand.
Rudy shook his head and backed away. “I’m not touching Mr. Naked. When he wakes up and smites you, I don’t want him turning his rage on me.”
Rudy’s gaze lowered, but not to stare at the stranger’s ass. He was watching Aiden’s muscles bunch and flex as he taped the guy’s ankles together then pulled his arms behind his back and taped his wrists.
“I’m pretty sure we’re committing a bigger crime than his breaking and entering. Isn’t this considered kidnapping? I’m pretty sure this is considered kidnapping.”
Aiden rolled his eyes as he stood. “Who’s he gonna tell? He’s not going to the cops any more than we’re gonna call them. We just need to get the winged guy out of here.”
“You keep saying we like we’re in this together.” Rudy was on the verge of pissing himself. He’d never committed a crime before. If he was about to start now, Aiden could at least start with something small, like running a red light.
Kidnapping?
Fuck.
Aiden grabbed a sheet from the hallway closet and curled it around the stranger then lifted him and dumped the guy over his shoulder, fireman style.
“You look like you’ve got a dead body on your shoulder.” Rudy stepped aside so Aiden could leave the room. “This is insane, Aiden. Can’t we just call Reese and ask him what to do? This is wrong on the deepest level,” Rudy said as he followed Aiden to the front door.
“He’s gonna be pissed when he wakes up. Do you want to deal with his wrath? We don’t even know what he is, and like I said, we have no idea what his powers are. I’d rather not take any chances.”
For someone with social anxiety, Aiden sure seemed capable of dumping a body. Rudy shouldn’t have thought about that. He didn’t want Aiden to add murder to this fucked-up situation.
“Just don’t zap him again.” Rudy held the front door open for Aiden to walk through. He could not believe he was going along with this.
“As long as he stays knocked out, I won’t have to.” Aiden opened his trunk and dropped the guy in.
Rudy was seconds away from passing out. “You’re a really bad influence on me.”
Aiden slammed the trunk closed. “I’m the best influence you’ve ever had. Now get in.”
Rudy debated all of five seconds. He looked around—even though Aiden didn’t have any close-by neighbors—before he slid into the passenger’s seat.
“Shit. Hang on.” Aiden got out and ran into the house. Rudy sat there bouncing his leg, praying he didn’t go to prison for this. He looked awful in orange.
Aiden returned, prod in hand. “Almost forgot it.”
Rudy covered his face as Aiden drove off. “We’re gonna be locked up for the rest of our lives. I just know it.”
At least he would have a permanent roof over his head and three square meals a day. Had he really just thought that?
Aiden pulled Rudy’s hands away from his face. “Hey, I would never let anything happen to you.”
“We just turned into Bonnie and Clyde, only instead of robbing banks, we’re dumping bodies!”
The crazy things people put up with when the person they liked was hot. But was Aiden hot enough to justify what they were doing? Hell no.
Rudy kept looking over his shoulder, as though flashing lights and sirens would be behind them at any second. What had he been thinking? Rudy should’ve just stayed behind and let Aiden handle this instead of coming along. He was now an accessory. Wouldn’t his parents be so proud? Rudy had turned into a criminal, just like his dad said he would.
They drove for what seemed like forever before Aiden pulled off the road and drove down a side path that took them into the woods. “Why does it feel like we’re about to bury him?”
It was November, and darkness came early. Rudy could only see by way of headlights, the woods around them dark. He jumped and nearly shouted when a deer ran past the headlights.
“We’re not burying him.” Aiden looked at Rudy. “I don’t have a shovel.”
He shoved at Aiden’s arm. “This isn’t a joke. That guy’s gonna freeze out here.”
“He’s not human,” Aiden said. “He’ll be fine. Besides, he shouldn’t have broken into our house.”
Rudy noticed that Aiden had said “our.” Why did he care about that right now? He should be more worried about leaving that stranger out here in the cold.
But Aiden was right. The stranger wasn’t human. For all Rudy knew, the cold made the guy thrive. He also couldn’t shake the feeling that the man was an angel. Who else had white feathery wings? All the guy lacked was a halo.
And some damn clothes. Why did Rudy keep running into naked men?
“Look,” Aiden said. “We get rid of him, go home and eat, and settle down to watch a movie.”
“Like this never happened?”
“Exactly,” Aiden said. “Maybe he’ll think twice before he breaks into another house.”
Aiden stopped the car but left the motor running. Rudy should’ve stayed inside, but he got out and joined the bear shifter at the trunk.
As soon as the trunk was opened, the stranger flew out, slamming his fist into Aiden’s jaw. Rudy ran back to the front and grabbed the prod. He threw it to Aiden, who used it to bring the winged guy down.
Great, now Rudy had participated in zapping the guy. He was going straight to hell.
Aiden pulled the stranger from behind the car and dumped him between some trees. Rudy prayed t
he guy didn’t return. Because if he did, they were screwed.
* * * *
Deputy Joshua Hayley was on patrol, driving down the dark country road, when he spotted a guy stumbling from the woods. He hit his brakes and yanked on the steering wheel in order to miss hitting the stranger.
He sat there for a second when his car came to a stop. His heart was racing, and Joshua took a second to remember how to breathe again before he got out.
The first thing Joshua noticed was how very naked the guy was. The second thing was the fact that the guy was swaying as though he was drunk.
And lastly…did the stranger really have wings?
Joshua slowly approached with his hand on the butt of his gun that was holstered at his waist. He wanted to get closer, to reassure himself that the wings were attached by some straps because any other explanation would be too farfetched.
“Hey, buddy. Why don’t you come over here and get out of the middle of the road?” Joshua looked to his right then left to see if the guy had been in a wreck. He didn’t see a car anywhere.
He used the mic on his shoulder to call this in before he moved closer.
“Where’s that damn bear?” the stranger snarled. “I’m gonna rip him apart.”
What was he talking about? “Hey, why don’t you move closer to my car?”
With his head hanging, the stranger turned and glared at Joshua. He held out his hand, and a bottle appeared in his palm. Next he made a cigarette appear, lit it, and then tossed the lighter aside. “Why don’t you go fuck yourself?”
Over the past year Joshua had noticed a lot of strange things going on around Maple Grove. Things he was unable to explain. This was one of those things.
“You need to get out of the road before you get hit by a car.” Joshua took a few steps closer but kept his distance. The stranger was freakishly tall, muscled, and naked.
No way was he wrestling this guy down to the ground. But he was close enough to see there were no straps around the man’s shoulders. The wings were tucked, and they looked as though they were coming right out of his back.