by J. D. Light
"Turns out, he was a shifter. A coyote, actually." I paused, trying to think how to tell him the next part without revealing something I wasn't sure I was quite ready to reveal yet. "He uh… wanted things, and gay or not, I didn't want them. And definitely not with him."
Cowen growled again, his eyes shifting subtly to cougar.
"There was a bit of a commotion, and when the night dispatcher––who also happened to be a shifter, but of course I didn't know that––came running, although he had a really hard time getting the door to work I guess." I shrugged. "I don't really know, but by the time he got the door open, I'd already managed to knock the guy out."
Cowen's eyebrows rose and I swear I saw the corner of his mouth tick. "How did you do that?"
I shrugged. "When he reached for me, he went for my neck. I froze for just a second when I saw his claws and teeth, but then my fight or flight kicked in. I think we both know I'm not flighter." I chuckled when he rolled his eyes.
"He thought I was a weak human, I guess," I said shrugging. "He left four perfectly functioning limbs open. So, I latched on to his hair with both hands, stepped on his foot with my right while dropping back with my left and spun. I led his face right into the lovely concrete-block wall."
He shook his head, lips twitching. "You're such a pain in the ass."
"Take's one to know one, cowboy."
"So, I'm assuming you somehow got out of this prison sentence?"
Nodding, I smirked. "Dispatcher dude called a friend of his who was still working for the shifter division then. He actually moved to the training facility on Terra Mortis. Which is where he eventually sent me."
"You mean Kinsey?" he asked, and I nodded.
"Yep. He basically MIBed me and sent me to his brother."
"He what?"
I laughed at the expression on his face. He looked like he wasn't sure if he should be mad or happy. Not that one could actually tell the difference with Scowly Scowlerson.
"MIBed me. You know Men in Black? Where Will Smith runs down that alien guy and…"
Now he just looked horrified.
"You don't watch many movies, do you?" I asked, already spinning in my chair to start minimizing things, so I could drag this big idiot in the living room to watch some ridiculous, amazing movies. Maybe that would wipe the scowl off of his face.
Not that I was sure that was what I wanted. I was pretty fond of that scowl.
Cowen growled when I flipped off the looped feed of Eugene and Patty before closing it down and minimizing the program.
I turned, giving him my brightest smile and reaching up to pluck his hat off of his head. I plunked the thing back on my own head and grabbed his wrist, dragging him toward the living room and almost causing him to trip over the chair he'd moved over.
"You know you can get in a lot of trouble for all this shit, right?" he grumbled, only resisting my pulling a little. Probably more just to annoy me than actually protest me manhandling him.
I shrugged, looking over my shoulder. "Definitely," I said, winking.
Chapter Three
"Okay," Hollyster said, pulling up the feed to an office where five guys sat around. Besides the bastard, I knew to be Heath Dalton, I also knew two of the four others. Mendenhall and Williamson. The latter of which I was pretty sure the office belonged. Unless there was some other douche that still kept football trophies from high school on their desk. "These same guys have been hanging in this office every day since I put the equipment in there. They haven't talked about anything chosen related, but they also haven't really talked about anything work related, which tells me they are probably all buddies."
I glared at him, still mad that he'd put himself in danger like that. These men were dangerous. Or at least Heath was from all the information I'd been given by Harley and Foster.
He of course ignored me, because for a human he was absolutely fearless. Which happened to be another thing about him that scared me.
And just why the fuck are you so invested in his welfare, Cowen?
"So even if they aren't involved with the chosen stuff, they are still compromised in the fact that they would get any and all information back to Heath if given it," I grumbled, watching his profile rather than the monitor as he switched to different scenes around the buildings that occupied our gated lot.
Shit, he has a lot of hidden cameras. And the most kissable lips.
I could sit here in this chair––probably pulled a little too close to his considering my knee pressed in to the side of his thigh–– and watch those lips as they moved when he talked, or the way he licked them and made them glisten, or when he nibbled the bottom one when he was concentrating on a task, inviting me to suck it into my mouth and add to the shine.
Every day, I found myself invading more and more of his personal space. I'd never been the touchy feely type, but more and more I found myself just barely snatching back my hand when I came a little too close to reaching out and running a finger over whatever skin was exposed to me.
Like right then, he was wearing a loose fitting tank top that showed off the swell of his pecs when he leaned forward, bracing one arm on the desk top while using the other to run the mouse. I could see the perfect brown disk that was his nipple, and all I could think about was reaching out and drawing the side of my finger over the nub. See if he gasped.
His outfit looked absolutely ridiculous really, but still somehow hot as hell. Besides his teasing, taunting shirt, he was wearing leggings. Fucking leggings! Fucking leggings that showed off his muscular, trim legs and ass, all of which had me needing to sit on my hands, so I didn't run my palms over anything.
And his dick. I was going to pass out one of these days with the number of times I'd inadvertently held my breath as my eyes had devoured his package, trying to make out every ridge. And the guy must think about sex a lot, because he was either hard or semi erect at all times and the need to sink to my knees in front of him and pull his gorgeous cock out and take care of his problem for him was becoming harder and harder to resist each time I saw the damn thing twitch.
Was he just one of those guys who got hard at the drop of a hat, or was there something, (mental throat clear) or possibly someone, who was getting him all worked up?
"The thing I worry about is the ones he's got behind the scenes that we don't know about," Hollyster said, chewing on his cheek and drawing my attention from the exposed line of his neck where I wanted to either reach up and drag a finger down the soft skin and make him shudder, or use the day's growth of whiskers on my cheek, leaving a red, irritated glow behind. "What if we used a chosen as bait?"
I shook my head, making a face. "I only know mated chosen and the ones that Flynn is protecting at the leap in Purdy." I'd never ask that of those guys. They'd all been through enough. "And what if we got some poor human hurt?"
Hollyster turned, licking his lips… nervously? Since when was Hollyster Roman nervous. I had never in my life seen such a sight.
I narrowed my eyes, watching his face as he cleared his throat.
"What if the chosen human was skilled enough to take care of himself?" he asked, his voice going surprisingly high at the end and he cleared his throat, meeting my eyes before letting his gaze skitter away, and I was suddenly very suspicious.
"Like who?"
His golden eyes found mine then and he opened his mouth to answer, only to let it snap closed again. Taking a deep breath, he blurted, "Me," his voice barely coming out beyond a whisper.
For some odd reason, my heartrate spiked, and I clutched the back of the chair, hearing the barely perceptible creak as the wood tried to protest my handling.
"Like, you're going to get a mark and hope it doesn't come off in the wash?" I asked before swallowing, needing to get some moisture to my throat in a bad way.
He bit his lip, slowly easing into a standing position. Still looking as nervous as hell, he turned his back to me, giving me a glorious view of his ass, as it was less than a foot from my face
. When he reached up and grabbed the band of his pants and started to lower it.
Eyes wide, I couldn't take them off the sight of the inch or two of skin he'd already revealed. "Wait!" I said, reaching out and grabbing ahold of both his wrists, my dick not surprisingly twitching and hard. What are you doing?"
He looked back over his shoulder at me again, giving me one of those sexy smirks. "Seducing you, duh."
He obviously didn't know how true that was. Licking my lips, I slowly released his wrists, nearly choking when I realized he didn't even have underwear on.
Fuck! His ass was glorious. I was going to have to replace this chair soon. With the amount of time I spent clutching the thing lately as I sat in this room watching this man do his thing… and right then when he was literally revealing his amazing ass to me.
"See?" he asked, watching my face over his shoulder.
I nodded stupidly, licking my lips. "It's… wow." I cleared my throat. "Squats? Lunges?"
I couldn't see his face… because I was looking at the work of art that was his ass, but I heard him choke which ended in a laugh.
"Not my ass, Cowen."
Frowning, I glanced up at his face, noting his laughing eyes before my gaze was once again drawn down to the perfectly formed globes less than a foot from my face. I bit my lip and clutched the back of the chair for dear life, so I wouldn't reach out and palm them in my hands.
"Whose ass is it?"
He laughed again, but I had no idea what for. I didn't even know what the hell I was saying.
"Oh my God." I heard the click of a phone taking a picture and growled when the light flashed in my face, but then he bent at the waist, laughing hard enough his whole body was shaking and… his ass moving even closer to my face. "I don't know when, and I don't know how, but I'm totally using this against you."
Frowning, I reached out and smacked his right cheek, watching in avid fascination as it bounced. Needless to say, he stopped laughing. That I was expecting. What I didn’t expect was for him to gasp, dropping the phone before gripping the back of the rolly-chair.
For a moment, I thought I might have done something wrong. Something that brought back a painful memory, or something with the way he was clutching the chair so hard his fingers were white, but when he once again glanced over his shoulder, there was no missing how dark his eyes had gotten or the color that rose in his cheeks.
He licked his bottom lip.
"Hmm," I said, narrowing my eyes on his face before focusing back on his perfect ass and the red mark already blooming. "Maybe the way to get you to behave is simpler than I thought."
"Don't even think about it, Cowen," he growled, but his voice shook. "Look below my drool-worthy ass."
"I have a long memory, Holl," I said, barely resisting the urge to place my palm against the skin that had to be warm to the touch. The skin that bore my mark. "Maybe I have my own thing to use if needed."
He cleared his throat, his voice strained, when he said, "Just look right below my left ass cheek."
I followed the smooth skin to the crease beneath the gorgeous bubble of his muscular cheek and blinked.
Holy shit!
Standing quickly, I kicked the chair out of the way, barely registering the loud clattering noise that didn't quite sound like a solid chair hitting the floor and staying solid, but I didn't have time to worry that I'd probably just busted that chair to bits as I sank to my knees behind him, gripping his hip in one hand, holding him still.
"Is that… real?" I asked, glancing up when he shuddered. "You're chosen?" I looked back down, reaching up with my free hand to run the pads of my fingers over the barely raised skin of the birthmark.
I heard the choked moan and considered seeing what he would do if I licked the skin there, but the thought that occurred to me next had my blood running cold and I once again stood, using the hand at his hip to spin him around.
Gasping, he stumbled backward, fortunately falling into his chair, because I hadn't really meant to be that rough with him.
"You're working on the same basic location as a man who is trying to traffic chosen and you have this mark?" I growled, trying not to notice how his pants were still down a little and the band had caught on his hard dick, pointing it directly at me.
I wasn't really that successful. Especially when I once again caged him in the chair by grabbing the arms and leaning over him.
It was right there in my peripheral the entire time and all I could think about was how I might not be able to smell him or his arousal at the moment, but if I wrapped my mouth around his cock, I'd sure be able to taste it.
"To be fair, I didn't know until recently that he had anything to do with the chosen trafficking." He bit his lip, cringing slightly with his eyes. "Though I had already figured out that someone from the agency was in on it, I hadn't realized it was him."
"Damn it, Holl," I growled, feeling irrationally angry. Not grumpy like I admittedly did a lot. Angry. I was so mad at him for taking that kind of risk. "You take too many fucking chances."
Rolling his eyes, he pushed against my shoulder, making me stand while he sat up and then also stood, readjusting his pants. "I'm fine. I don't get naked in front of any of those bastards."
Narrowing my eyes, I moved closer, nearly putting my chest to his. "Who do you get naked in front of?"
What the hell was wrong with me? It was none of my business who he got naked in front of. Sure, I understood that I had a massive crush on him, and of course the idea that he was getting busy with anyone that wasn't me, pissed me off enormously, but that didn't give me the right to demand answers to personal questions like that.
He smirked, leaning his head back and watching me with those amused eyes. "Why do you want to know?"
Growling, I stepped back, turning slightly so the idea of taking his mouth in punishment for calling me out on my jealousy wasn't one of the stupid things I acted on tonight. "Just in case they know what that mark means."
"If you’re asking about my sexual partners," he said, proving he'd seen through my lie. "I don't have a ton to speak of. You don't get as good as I am at all the stuff that I do while running around fucking everyone."
I growled. I couldn't help it. I was being absolutely ridiculous. Logically I knew that. But I couldn't seem to get control of myself in the least.
He shuddered and I blinked, realizing he did that a lot when I growled. Was it out of fear… or something else?
He cleared his throat, leaning down to start closing windows and setting a timer on the surveillance equipment so that it would start recording in the middle of the night.
"But the one and only who has ever seen me completely naked was my boyfriend in high school, and I kinda feel like if there was going to be repercussions from him seeing the mark, they would have already happened." He stood, facing me. "The rest––"
When I growled, cutting him off, he rolled his lips between his teeth to keep from laughing.
Raising his eyebrows, both twitching in amusement, he licked his teeth. "Aren't of concern."
Apparently, he found my irrational behavior humorous. I, however, was becoming more and more irritated by it.
"You don't have a boyfriend now?" I asked on an agitated growl, noting how his breath stuttered slightly in his chest before he shook his head.
"Nope. I've only had the one boyfriend. Rick."
I curled my lip. "Rick," I grumbled, spitting the word out like it was something disgusting. Which was, again, ridiculous. I knew plenty of perfectly nice Ricks. I'd never once said their name like that.
"Do you have a problem with the name Rick?" he asked, eyebrows still twitching along with his lips.
"It just sounds stupid."
"Rick is a perfectly nice guy. We still talk occasionally," he said, making me like Rick even less with every word he spoke about the man. He sounded like a fucking douche. "There just wasn't much spark there." He shrugged, batting his eyelashes innocently up at me. "It was more a relationship of c
onvenience. We were the only two gay guys in our tiny town."
I knew better than to believe those innocent eyes. There was only deviousness behind those pretty golden irises.
"Hmm," I grunted, following behind him as he made his way to the living room.
He settled on the couch, already reaching for the remote and settling against the arm on his side.
We were both due to report back to our offices the next day. I'd taken off a little time to help the guys in Purdy, not really sure what to expect when they'd called me out there, and he'd taken off work to come invade my privacy and drive me crazy. Or at least that was what he'd said when I asked.
This had become our routine over the last few days. Breakfast together, followed by working out, which we'd started to do together. Then he'd check in with his people, while I did what I needed to do around the house and made lunch. We'd meet up in my office that he'd pretty much taken over and watch the recordings of the things going on in Williamson's office. I'd usually get up about halfway through and make dinner, which we'd eat while finishing up and then we'd end up in the living room watching movies for a few hours before going to bed.
It was all very domestic, and I couldn't help but wish I could have it every single day. The stupid, ridiculous crush I had on him had turned to full blown affection, and though I wanted to fuck his brains out in a bad way, I also wanted to pull him into my arms and hold him as we watched all these movies. Wanted to take him to my bedroom to sleep every night and wake up with him snoring softly on my chest every morning.
"Let's try to make it through the first three Saw movies tonight," he said, looking hopeful and I knew it was because he was feeling the same sadness I was at seeing our strange time together coming to an end.
Remembering the creepy things that had been on the covers of those movies, I cringed. "We go back tomorrow," I grumbled, sliding into my spot on the other side of the couch and pulling his foot into my lap.
That was another thing. I'd glared at him the first time he'd plopped his feet into my lap on that very first night, but I hadn't fought him on it. Now I didn't feel right without his boney heel digging into my thigh.