“Not like we didn’t try.” Stefan narrowed his eyes at Andrei.
“I would have paid to see that.”
Devin sighed and turned to see Christophe leering at Andrei with a grin. “I bet.”
“I have the DVD.” Chris waggled his eyebrows. “Both of them.”
Viktoriya approached her father and smiled. “Aw, Daddy, you look so happy!”
Andrei hugged his daughter. “Thank you, I am.”
Viktoriya turned her attention to Special Agent Lyons.
“Take good care of my dad, Devin.”
“Oh, I will.” Devin took Andrei’s hand.
A loud noise from the kitchen caught Devin’s attention and he pulled his gun from the waistband of his tuxedo pants.
“The hell!?”
A body flew out the kitchen doors and sailed at least twenty feet. Devin closed his eyes as the person landed right on his wedding cake. The kitchen double doors slammed open again and Jude Brooks stood in the doorway with a look of rage on his face. His chest was heaving. Devin had never seen the man look so angry. His violet eyes were almost red.
“Are you kidding me? Did you just try to kiss me, Cock? Now you’re gay? After years of picking on me for that, you’re gay?!” Jude roared.
Devin elbowed Andrei. “Isn’t that supposed to be us fighting at a wedding?” he whispered.
“Shhh!” Andrei put his hand over Devin’s mouth.
Hayden stumbled onto his feet and did his best to straighten his tux and wipe the cake from his ass.
“Explain yourself!” Jude shouted.
“Jude,” Jonas said quietly.
“No, Dad! I want Cox the Cock to explain why he just tried to kiss me!”
“Jude!” Jonas growled.
“What?” Jude looked over at his father and that’s when he noticed it. Every single eye in the room was on him and half the jaws were dropped. Jude exhaled and closed his eyes. There was no way to explain how someone of his stature had just thrown Hayden through the air—not to mention his canines were elongated and his claws were extended. He’d just exposed them all. “Shit.”
“I see we now have some explaining to do,” Wayne turned to look at the assembled guests. He motioned to the other room. “Would the Youngblood/Santorno teams please follow me?”
Jude stood looking down at the floor. “I’m sorry, Dad,” he whispered.
Jonas helped Hayden clean off the rest of his tux and took his arm. “Go change.”
“But—”
“No. Go, Hayden.” Jonas turned to look at his son. “You, outside. Now.”
Devin whistled under his breath with Andrei’s hand still clamped over his mouth. “He’s in trouble now,” Devin muffled.
“Well, never a dull moment in our group, is there?” Josh chuckled, draining his champagne. Mark smacked his ass. “What?”
“Shhh, be good, please,” Mark grinned, getting up on his tiptoes to kiss his husband.
“Aren’t we missing some people?” Mateo looked around. “Well, I mean besides the ones who are about to get a surprise when Wayne tells them about the, um, ‘special’ guys in his group.”
Riley scanned the room. “Yes, we are.”
James snapped his fingers at the remaining men as he frowned at his cell phone. “We have a problem.”
“What? What is it?” Derek looked over his husband’s shoulders.
“Gary Riviar made bail.” James looked up at the group. “Now he’s missing. Look who bailed him out.” James showed the picture to the group.
“It’s that Petey guy!” Seth snarled. He looked around the room and saw his mate, Will, talking with Kory.
“You know what this means, Seth,” James said quietly.
“Yes, I do. It means Will’s ex-boyfriend Gary will be turned into a rogue and come after Will. Fuck! Why didn’t Wayne just kill Petey and his buddy?”
“Because, rescuing the little boys was more important, and we wouldn’t have known where they were being held if we hadn’t bargained with those two creeps. You can keep an eye on Will; we all will. Those little boys deserved a life, and if they hadn’t been taken out of the mines…”
“I would have killed them when I made everything explode.” Chance covered his face with his hands.
“You didn’t know, Chance.” Logan rubbed his mate’s shoulders.
“Point is,” James looked at all the men. “We keep a close eye on those we love.”
~*~
Jesse sat on the gazebo steps and looked up at the sky. He’d had to go through the wedding sitting right across from Noah. It was killing him. His brother Justice hadn’t relented on his order that Jesse stay away from Noah. His other brother, Jaxon, tried to help, always giving Jesse and Noah some private time on the phone when Justice wasn’t around, but it was never enough. He’d never even gotten to kiss Noah and the curiosity was killing him. One of the shrubs moved and Jesse grinned when Noah popped out from behind it.
“Hi!” Jesse ran to him and hugged him hard. “I missed you.”
“I don’t have a lot of time.” Noah palmed Jesse’s face. “God, I’ve missed you so much,” Noah whispered.
“I missed you, too.”
“It’s killing me to be away from you. I wish I could stop feeling this way, but I can’t. I want you so much, Jesse. I’m so sorry about the way I behaved in Alaska; I thought you’d never speak to me again.”
“I was angry, but not angry enough to stay away from you.” Jesse licked his lips looking at Noah’s mouth.
“I don’t have to hear you to know what you’re thinking,” Noah whispered, trailing Jesse’s bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. “I’ve stayed up night after night wondering what it would be like to kiss you — to hold you. I know if I do, though, it will never be enough. I’ll want you even more than I do now.”
“Please kiss me, Noah.” Jesse looked into Noah’s eyes. “Just once. I’ll hold onto that for as long as I can.”
Noah cupped Jesse’s face. “My God, you are so beautiful,” he whispered, leaning into Jesse’s tantalizing mouth. Their breaths met and Noah closed his eyes.
“Jesse!”
Noah jerked back and stepped away from Jesse.
“No, please don’t go.” Jesse reached for Noah.
“We can’t…you know that.” Noah backed further away. The distance between them was already killing him slowly. “You know how I feel. I’ll call you soon, I promise.”
Jesse watched as Noah disappeared into the forest. He felt his anger rising as his brother’s voice got closer.
“There you are! Where have you been?” Justice smelled the air. “Noah was here?”
Jesse turned on his brother. “Yes, he was! And you ruined it!” Jesse stalked back to the mansion.
“I’ve told you, Jesse—”
“Yes, you have. You’ve made it very clear big brother, but let me clue you in on something: I’m old enough to make my own decisions. You keep this up with Noah and I’ll walk away from you for good.” Jesse set his jaw tight. “And then I’ll go straight to him and make him bite me!”
“Don’t you ever say that to me again!” Justice snarled. “I’m keeping you safe. I don’t want you to become a werewolf like me and Jaxon. I don’t care if you hate me in the process.”
“Well, congrats brother,” Jesse hissed. “I hate you already.”
Justice stood in shock as Jesse ran for the mansion.
“Hey.”
Justice looked over his shoulder to see Devin smiling at him.
“Hey yourself. Congrats on the wedding, Lyons. Never thought you’d be the marrying type.”
“Oh, I’m not. Not for just anyone.” Devin motioned to one of the benches.
“Devin?” Andrei’s voice came from around the corner.
“Over here, Andrei.” Devin grinned as Andrei came over to him and sat in his lap. “Oof, you’re heavy.”
“I am not fat!”
“No, but I can see you pushing maximum density. You shoul
d cut back on the vodka, babe,” Devin snickered.
Justice smiled at the two of them. “You guys look really happy.”
“I am a good actor,” Andrei grinned.
Justice chuckled. “So are you going to lecture me?”
“Nope,” Devin shook his head. “I think you’ll beat yourself up more than we could.”
“You have a lot to think about.” Andrei patted Justice’s arm.
“Yes well, I’ll do it later. You two have fun.”
Devin squeezed Andrei’s ass. “Oh, we plan on it.”
~*~
Hayden strolled the grounds, taking in the scenery. He’d only been to Russia on missions; it didn’t give him much time to sightsee. The sun was slowly setting, casting a glow over the gardens. He let out a deep sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. He’d fucked up so badly this time with Jude, he didn’t think he’d ever come back from it.
“Oh, you will.”
Hayden turned to see Ross grinning.
“Stop listening in.” Hayden frowned.
“He was pissed. Like really pissed,” Ross guffawed. “Why do you think that is?”
“Um, because I tried to kiss him?”
“I don’t know, Hayden. I think somewhere deep down, Jude cares about you.”
Hayden snorted. “Yeah, right. He’s hiding it really well.” Hayden grew serious and took Ross’ hand. “Are you okay? I saw Stuart with Sabine.”
“Yeah, well, we were just friends. He’s straight, so…” Ross shrugged.
“He cared about you.”
“As a friend, sure. He’s not Josh or Logan; he was never going to ‘swing’ that way.” Ross smirked. “You still have cake on your ass.”
“Oh shut up.” Hayden sighed in frustration. “What the hell was I thinking? Jude is never going to forgive me.”
“He will, just give it time.” Ross looked towards the sky. “I say we go to Seattle and go to the club with Scott and Tristan. You ever been to Cuffs and Stuff?”
“Nope.”
“Well maybe we can both take our minds off things. Maybe I’ll find a hot piece of ass for the night.”
Hayden chuckled, shaking his head. “I don’t want anyone else, but I’ll go as your wing man.”
“Hell, the way you look, they’ll go home with you instead of me.”
Hayden smiled and looked at his friend. “Look at you. You’re tall, muscular, with a beautiful face and piercing blue eyes. Who wouldn’t want you?”
Ross sighed. “Yeah? So where are all the guys lining up for me then?”
“Seattle?” Hayden laughed and took Ross’ hand. “Come on, let’s go.”
~*~
Devin was sexually sated for the moment. Who knew eating cake off someone’s ass could be so damned arousing? They’d managed to keep a good portion of the cake whole. The top layer had somehow survived the crash. Andrei was on his stomach breathing in short gasps. Devin trailed his fingers down Andrei’s delectable spine.
“God, you are just perfect,” Devin sighed, looking at the man he’d just married.
“I believe at the wedding I saw a tear in Sabine’s eye,” Andrei chuckled.
“Really? Because I swore she didn’t take her eyes off Stuart through the whole thing.”
“You noticed that too?” Andrei got up on one elbow.
“Yes, I also saw Ross’ look of loss,” Devin sighed, closing his eyes.
“What is wrong?” Andrei pulled Devin into his arms.
“I mean I’ve seen it happen with the guys, you know? Some of them only dated women, like Josh, but when love came around in the form of man, he didn’t even think twice about grabbing it.”
“You are worried for Ross? I think his love is still to come.” Andrei kissed Devin’s forehead. “You are becoming a sap.”
Devin growled. “Don’t make me tie you up again, Panchenko.”
Andrei grinned. “Oh no. Please….don’t…stop…”
Devin rolled over on Andrei and took his mouth in a crushing kiss.
“I didn’t realize you liked it so much,” Devin purred, biting Andrei’s bottom lip.
“Only with you will I walk freely into the Lyons den.”
Devin silenced Andrei with a kiss.
~The End~
Sneak peek at “The Nik of Time”
~~Prologue~~
Andrei grinned at all the men huddled in the nursery. They were gathered at Vince and Andrei’s house, putting together their fifth crib in several days. Jake and Dante were standing by the bedroom door with Jason and Jay, drinking beers and watching the rest of them try to figure out the crib. Alex looked at them standing there smiling and shot them a look.
“You know it would be nice if you guys actually came over here and helped seeing as how you’ve already put cribs together.” Alex scowled at his friends.
“Yes we have,” Jake smiled. “And it was quite the learning experience for all of us.”
“Yes it was.” Jason chuckled. “I thought for sure Josh would throw it out the window.”
“When the last one was done and we still had a screw left I thought he was going to scream,” Jay snickered.
“Oh you mean like this one?” Vince held the screw up and looked at Andrei. “Where the fuck does this one go, then?”
“I do not know…” Andrei looked at the instructions. “Maybe it is an extra one?”
Dante chuckled. “Maybe.”
“Oh fuck off, Russo.” Chris looked at him, laughing.
“How did your crib go?” Kyle crossed his arms and looked at Alex.
“It went……out back in the tool shed,” Dylan laughed.
“I bought the floor model,” Alex grinned.
“Um…Andrei?”
Andrei looked up; their surrogate, Wendy, was bleeding.
“Oh my God!”
“We have to go and now.” Reece glared at the men just standing there. “Move it!”
“Keys…where are the keys?” Vince was mumbling to himself looking around the kitchen counter.
“Just come with us.” Lorenzo dragged Vince out the door.
Andrei went with Wendy in Mark and Paul’s car and held her hand; she was screaming at the top of her lungs and Andrei winced.
“What can I do?” Andrei palmed her face.
“I want to scream at you but you’re so damn gorgeous I can’t,” Wendy smiled and then let out another loud howl.
They all made it to the hospital and found Stefan and Jordan were waiting for them. Wendy was taken straight into the delivery room with Vince and Andrei following. The screaming was so loud that Alex tensed up. He looked at the rest of the group.
“She’s early.”
“We’ll have to wait and see if the baby’s lungs are mature enough.” Reece ran his hands through his hair.
“Daddy?”
Paul crouched down to his son. “What is it, buddy?”
“Is the baby going to be OK?” Colin asked nervously.
“We can pray.” Paul held him tightly.
~*~
The doctor was looking at the ultrasound and shaking his head. Vince was giving him the evil eye and Andrei took Vince’s hand and squeezed.
“The umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck, Wendy; we need to get him out now.”
“Then do it, doc,” Vince fairly snarled.
“You two have to leave now.” The nurse eyed Vince and Andrei.
“Not a chance. Do it.” Vince crossed his arms and fixed the doctor with his most dangerous look.
The emergency C-section was done and Vince watched them take the baby out - his face was blue and he wasn’t crying. The nurses rushed him over to the table and started trying to revive him. The doctor looked over his shoulder at Vince.
“I’m sorry.”
“Fuck you.” Vince pulled out his gun. “That boy is a Markov, he will live. Now keep going!”
“Mr. Markov…..”
“Vince…” Andrei pleaded with his husband. “We must
do something!”
“Get the fuck out of my way.” Vince shoved them all aside and began trying to revive his son. They finally heard a faint cry and Vince picked up his son and smiled.
“I knew you could do it, Nikolai.” Vince wrapped him up and handed him to Andrei. “Say hello to our son.”
Andrei took the baby and smiled down into his face. “He is so beautiful, Vince.” Andrei touched the baby’s fingers gently, tears streaming from his eyes.
Vince turned on the nurses. “Get out. Right. The. Fuck. Now.”
Vince followed them out into the hall and called Jordan in. He checked on Wendy and moved everyone back so another doctor could finish the surgery and new nurses could clean up Nikolai.
“You didn’t give up.” Jordan clapped Vince on the back.
“I will never give up on my son,” Vince smiled and looked at Andrei reluctantly handing the baby to the nurses.
When everything had calmed down, Vince brought everyone in to see his new son.
“Can I see?” Colin was climbing up on the chair.
Andrei crouched down and Colin looked at Nikolai; he took his little fingers and kissed his forehead. “Hello, Nikolai. I’m Colin.”
The baby squeezed his fingers and Colin smiled at him. Andrei looked at Vince and felt the tears coming.
“You saved him.”
“He is our son, Andrei….I would do anything for him.” Vince took Andrei in his arms and they both admired their son.
Stefan shot a look at Jordan. “You better go take care of the doc before he gets security in here.”
“Not the first time there’s been a gun in this hospital,” Jordan laughed, looking at Josh and Justin.
“Whatever,” Justin laughed. “The asshole had it coming.”
“No shit,” Josh cracked up.
“Vince…” Jordan made his way over. “We are going to have to put him in the NICU just for a bit, OK?”
Vince held his son tightly to him. He wasn’t ready to let go. “All right, but Andrei and I go with him, all right?”
“Whatever you want,” Jordan smiled and hugged them.
“Can I go, too?” Colin looked up at Vince.
“Oh, Colin,” Paul began.
“If it is okay with your father I would love for you to come with us. Nikolai needs a friendly face.” Vince winked at Colin.
Into the Lyons Den Page 19