by Lisa Oliver
Teric looked up when he saw Kyle’s hand slap down on top of his. Apparently he had been tapping out some sort of rhythm on his mate’s leg. But he had every reason to be agitated. He had wanted to go after Favo on his own, and then inform the Washington pack of what he had done. His superiors wouldn’t hear of it, saying that the Washington pack needed to be included in the whole deal. Now they were darn near taking over.
Given that their plans were all discussed in Pearson’s office, there was a good chance that Favo already knew that Teric was on his way, with three pack enforcers. A sharp thread of fear hit Teric in the heart when he remembered that Kyle had introduced Teric as his mate, also at the meeting. That would give Favo added ammunition against him and make his job that much harder. There was no way that Kyle would be left behind. In which case, Pearson’s offer of all ten of the enforcers going too, might not be a bad idea.
Realizing that because of his mate’s safety, he really didn’t have any choice, Teric said, “Yes, Alpha,” quietly. “I’ll go and find Will, and then see you down in the holding cells, Kyle.” Nodding his head to Pearson, Dante, Steel and Levi, Teric slipped from the room and started focusing on what he could do for now. Track down William Jacobs. Everything else could be sorted out later.
Chapter Twelve
Will was surprisingly, or not if you considered his attention seeking behavior, easy to find. Teric tracked him to one of the private rooms, which was unlocked, as he found when he carefully turned the handle. Listening intently at the door, Teric didn’t hear anyone else in the room, although the room, being part of the main play area had seen a lot of traffic, if the scents were anything to go by. Teric decided to take the casual approach and opened the door, spotting Will, naked, and kneeling on a large bed – Teric’s papers laid out in front of him.
“You know, that look does nothing for me. You are far too skinny for my tastes,” Teric said, as he closed the door behind him and leaned against the wall.
Will scowled, and leaped off of the bed, grabbing his pants that were neatly folded, Teric noticed, on the chair at the foot of the bed.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Will snapped. “Where’s Kyle?”
“Why were you expecting Kyle? Did you two have an appointment? An agreement to hook up?”
A malicious gleam flickered in Will’s blue eyes, but it disappeared just as quickly as it arrived. Now Will was striving for innocence. “Master Kyle and I have a regular appointment at this time, every day. My instructions are to be naked, and ready to serve him in every way. Just the way he likes it. Not that you would know anything about that.”
Teric waved his hand around the room. “And yet, he’s not here. I wonder why that would be.” Teric stood up and wandered over to the bed, looking down at the papers that were spread out all over the coverlet.
“This display was for Kyle?” He asked, gesturing at the papers, quickly noting that the notes on Will himself, were curiously absent. But Teric’s orders from the Council and his position as a troubleshooter were front and center.
Will’s eyes narrowed, but he made no move towards the papers. “You tricked him. He thought you were a sub, or he would have never have touched you,” Will snarled. “I’ll show him that you’re not. You might be good for a one time fuck, but he needs a real sub, someone who will show him the respect he deserves as a Master. He’ll never have you in his bed again.”
Teric picked up the papers off of the bed, keeping a watchful eye on Will all of the time. Once he had them all gathered up, he rolled them up and slipped them into the back pocket of his jeans. “I tell you what we’ll do. I know where Kyle is. We’ll go and see him together. You can tell him all that you have found out about me and we can see what he has to say. How does that sound?”
Will was instantly suspicious, and Teric had to respect the man for that. After all, Teric wasn’t pack. Hell, he wasn’t even a wolf shifter. But Will wasn’t getting any of the attention he was looking for, sitting in this room. Teric was not who he had hoped to snag. Teric was relieved in one respect. It would seem, that Will’s only motive for his crimes was to discredit Teric in front of Kyle, who this guy seemed to have a real boner for. If Teric could manipulate that, then, well, it was better than knocking the guy out to get him down to the holding cells.
Teric sauntered back towards the door. “Kyle is working guard duty down at the holding cells. He asked me to go and see him. It’s up to you, whether or not you want to come too.” Teric kept his tone deliberately casual although he had no intention of leaving without Will. Even if Will hadn’t spread any of the information he had found around the pack yet, he would, and that had to be stopped. Teric could only think of one other way of doing that, short of killing the man.
“I’m not having you go down there and tell lies about me, asshole,” Will said, the jealousy clear on his face. That was the problem when you told lies for a living like Will seemed to do. You imagined everyone else would do the same thing.
Shrugging, Teric went to open the door, knowing now that Will would be hot on his heels. Using the back stairs, so as to avoid the main club areas, Teric and Will hot-footed it down to the holding cells, where, sure enough, Kyle was standing in front of one of the cell rooms.
“Master Kyle. Master Kyle,” Will called out, hurrying to Kyle’s side and sinking to his knees.
Teric noticed that Kyle scanned over Teric’s face and body, and only looked down at Will after he had assured himself that Teric was all right. “What do you want, boy?” Kyle said in a gruff voice. Oh, Teric wished his mate wouldn’t use that tone, and that timbre when Teric was supposed to be working. That voice sent enough shivers down Teric’s spine to cause goose-bumps. He didn’t even want to think about the state of his cock that was responding in its normal way to the old scotch and almond smell of his mate.
“Master Kyle. This man, Teric. He’s not what he claims to be.” Great, that was what Will was going with. Teric stayed back, waiting to see how Kyle would respond.
“Explain yourself, boy. You’ve been snooping in my quarters, haven’t you?”
“I had to Sir, to protect you,” Will said in such an innocent voice, if Teric hadn’t of been the one stolen from he might have been convinced.
“You think I need protecting?”
Teric kept his snigger to himself, but good god, even he knew that it was never a good idea to suggest to a Dominant wolf shifter that he might need protection. Kyle had every right to sound pissed off about the whole thing.
“I meant no disrespect, Master Kyle. I was trying to help you.” Great, now Will was using his poor little boy voice and that did grate on Teric’s nerves. It seemed his mate didn’t like it much either, because Kyle glared down at Will, who was still on his knees.
“You had better explain yourself right now, Will, or I will lock you up until you start to make sense.”
“Teric works for the Shifter Council,” Will said in a rush. “He’s an assassin, or so he claims. But you can tell that is a lie, because the man is just too small to kill anybody. And he is not a sub although he pretended to be when he met you. He’s all wrong for you. He lied to you. Sir, he has information on some of our pack members, including the Alpha and the Alpha Mate. Master Kyle, I think the man is working for Favo. We must go and see Alpha Pearson immediately and tell him. You can get the Alpha to listen to me.”
Will didn’t look too pleased when Kyle just laughed at him. And it wasn’t any little snigger, or polite little laugh either. It was a raucous, knee slapping humdinger of a laugh that seemed to come from deep inside Kyle’s body. Teric couldn’t help but smile in return. His mate’s pleasure was a joy to behold.
Tugging on Kyle’s arm, Will said, “Look, I know you don’t believe me, but it’s all true. You have to believe me. Teric has those papers in his pocket. He took them off of me. But you ask him. You get the Alpha to ask him. I’ll go with you and tell the Alpha all that I know and I know plenty.”
Kyle looked at
Teric and winked at him. But in a perfectly serious voice he said, “Is that true Teric? Did you get all of your papers back?”
“All except the notes I had on William Jacobs,” Teric said with a grin.
Will’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits and he hissed out, “You’re lying, you sneaky fucking cat. You have nothing on me. I’ve never done anything wrong. You are just trying to make me look bad in front of Master Kyle. You’re a fucking liar.”
“You dare to call my mate a liar?” Kyle roared, grabbing Will by the arms and pulling the lad off his feet, suspending him in midair.
“Your mate?” Will’s face dropped, and now he looked like he was going to cry. Holy hell, the guy tore through different emotions like a whirlwind.
“Yes, Will,” Kyle snarled, still holding Will aloft. “My true mate, Teric Styles. Shifter Council troubleshooter sent here by the Council to help our pack with Favo.”
“He can’t be,” Will yelled. “Look at him. He’s too small. You could take him in an instant. He is lying to you all.”
“God, I am getting so sick of this sizest shit,” Teric said. Looking at Kyle he said, “Is there a room down here free. Preferably private?”
Kyle flicked his head back over his shoulder to indicate the room behind him. Teric nodded, and went and opened the door, pulling down the zipper of his jeans as he went.
“Close the door sweetie,” he said to Kyle as Kyle walked in, still holding Will. He pulled his muscle shirt off, over his head. “Put your baggage down there on the chair.” Kyle put Will down, and moved away, standing by the door.
Teric kicked off his boots and dropped his trousers. “What is this,” Will said in a loud voice. “Is this some sort of sex thing? I’m not having sex with you, you’re nothing but a runty little liar.”
Over Kyle’s growl, as Will once again did the unthinkable, Teric said calmly, “I wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole. I’m going to show you why I am the best assassin the Shifter Council has. Now shut up.”
The air around Teric shimmered for just one second and then suddenly, in his place, was a huge Siberian tiger. In his shifted form Teric was almost totally black and to say he was big would be a gross understatement. All shifters usually present with larger versions of their wild counterparts and Teric was no exception. He was close to 1000 pounds and almost 15 feet in length. He stood taller than a traditional tiger, and if he stood on two feet, he would be bigger than a bear shifter.
“Holy Jesus,” Kyle said from his posse at the door. “You are absolutely stunning mate, abso-fucking-lutely stunning.”
Teric smiled as best as he could in his tiger form and padded over to Will, his huge paws barely making a sound. Will screeched, and dived off the chair, trying to get away, but Teric herded him up against the wall, using his bulk to hold the small wolf in place. Stretching up, just barely lifting his front paws off of the ground, Teric opened his huge jaws, his eye teeth dropping and looking ferocious in their own right, and put his open jaw right over Will’s face. Then he growled, and as he did, the smell of urine hit the air at the same time as Will shrieked loud enough to wake the dead.
Wrinkling his nose in disgust, Teric moved away. He didn’t want to be stinking of some other shifter’s urine. He padded over to Kyle and breathed in the intoxicating smell of his mate. Damn, even in tiger form, Teric could appreciate the smell of scotch and almonds. He nudged and rubbed Kyle’s hips and Kyle dropped down onto his knees. He ran his big hands over Teric’s fur, something Teric had never experienced before. Chuffing softly, Teric wished that tigers could purr, because he was sure, if he could, then he would.
“I don’t think I have ever seen anyone so beautiful, and so freaking powerful, in all my life, sweetheart,” Kyle whispered. “You are truly gorgeous. I can’t believe you’re mine.”
Taking one last deep sniff of his mate, Teric moved back to his clothes, and shifted back into his human form, donning his jeans and shirt quickly. Dropping down into the chair that Will had vacated, Teric started pulling on his boots, throwing a quick look at Will, who was crumpled on the floor.
“Still questioning my abilities, Will?” Teric said, his voice deceptively calm.
“No Master Teric,” Will whispered.
Teric let out a long, frustrated breath and after checking his boot buckles, he looked Will squarely in the face. “I am not a Master, Will. I agree with you that I’m not a sub, but Kyle is the Dominant one in our relationship. I am Kyle’s mate.No labels. Nothing, but two men who have been brought together by the Fates. Now, I am going to ask you a few questions, and I want you to answer them honestly. Kyle will tell me if you are lying, because he can smell it. Ready?”
Will nodded, but said nothing. Teric felt the shifter was probably more than a little shell-shocked, not to mention embarrassed he was sitting in his own pee.
“Okay, who have you told about the information you found in our room?”
“Nobody,” Will whispered. “I wanted to show the stuff to Kyle first.”
“Because you wanted him for your own?”
“Yes.”
“I take it you understand that he doesn’t want you now, and never will?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Kyle is mine. I would hate to have to eat you.” Teric’s tone of voice hadn’t changed, but his words obviously hit home with the small wolf.
“Yes. I mean no. I mean. I don’t want to be eaten.”
“Excellent,” Teric smiled. “Now, when was the last time you heard from Havyn?”
“Havyn?” Will’s face went deathly white. “I haven’t…I…I don’t know who you are talking about.”
“You are rejecting the name of your true mate?”
“He rejected me first,” Will screamed and then he burst into tears, for real this time.
Flicking a look at Kyle, who was watching the whole scene with a poker face, Teric gave Will a few minutes to calm himself down and then he carried on speaking. “I don’t know if you are interested,” he said slowly. “But I have it on good authority that Havyn is single now. The woman he claimed over you, died in childbirth some five years ago. Word on the Council is that he is looking for you, but it seems every time he gets close to finding out where you are, you have up and moved to another pack.”
“Havyn’s been looking for me?”
Teric could have sworn that there was genuine hope in Will’s voice this time. But then with this particular wolf shifter it was hard to tell. He nodded and said, “I rang Havyn earlier today, after I found out you were the one who had stolen my stuff. He’s coming here and wants to see you.”
Will jumped up, looking to get out of the room. “I’ve got to get ready. I’ve got things to do. My house needs cleaning. I’ve got to get some food in…” He stopped when he saw the look on Teric’s face.
“You’re not going anywhere. You broke into Kyle’s rooms, and you stole important information from me that was meant to be confidential,” Teric said firmly. “We will arrange for some fresh clothes to be bought in for you, and you will be allowed to shower. But you will be staying in the holding cells, at least until Havyn arrives. Possibly longer, but that will be up to Alpha Pearson.”
“But I need my stuff,” Will cried out. “My hair, my face, my skin.”
“You don’t need any of that shit, Will,” Kyle said gruffly. “Why don’t you try meeting your mate as a true fucking wolf, instead of a made up drama queen.”
“Because he won’t like me,” Will wailed again. “Nobody does.”
Teric was getting a bit sick of Will’s mood changes, but even he had to admit that his heart broke a little at Will’s obvious lack of self-esteem. Standing up, he reached a hand down, to pull Will up off of the floor.
“Be yourself and trust in the Fates,” Teric said. “Things were really hard for gay men and gay wolf shifters thirty years ago. Havyn didn’t reject you because you weren’t good enough for him. He was scared and trying to conform to your home pack rules. Greet him like the
wolf shifter you are, and I promise you, that he will think you are perfect.”
Leaving Will in the holding cell, Teric and Kyle left the room. They still had to report back to Pearson, get something to eat, and sort out some clothes for Will. All Teric wanted was to spend some quality time in bed with his new mate, and not for the first time, he cursed his job.
Kyle surprised him by ducking into another room, down the end of the holding cell block. The room just had a couple of big couches in it, a kitchen bench with a sink unit and a large coffee machine.
“What’s this room used for?” Teric asked, looking at Kyle as though the man had gone nuts.
“Guard’s coffee room,” Kyle said with a sexy leer. Then without another word, he swept Teric up in his arms, crossed the room and dumped his mate onto the couch, flat on his back.
Chapter Thirteen
Kyle knew he should be heading straight for Pearson’s office. All of the enforcers, and Teric, still had so much to do before this Favo threat was eliminated. But the sight of Teric in his shifted form, all that power, beauty and sensual grace, was too much for Kyle and the need to claim his mate once more- as though all the other times were a fluke the Fates might ignore - was too intense to ignore. No one would ever touch his mate again. He had to claim him. Fast.
“I fucking need you more than my next breath,” Kyle snarled into Teric’s hair, after coming down on top of his prone mate. Forget about foreplay. He couldn’t do gentle. Being nice just flew out of the window. He had to get his cock encased in his mate’s heat, and his teeth in his mate’s neck. Now, if not sooner. He quickly pulled at Teric’s clothes, rendering the man naked in less than a minute.
“The romance has gone from our relationship already,” Teric said with a smile and a gasp, as Kyle pushed lubed fingers into his ass. Yes, Kyle carried lube. He always had. But never had he been so grateful for those little single use sachets, that fit so snugly into his back pocket, than he was right in that moment. He moved his fingers impatiently in and around Teric’s opening, almost forcing the man to relax enough to let him in. Even in his frantic need, he refused to hurt his mate.