by Liv Rider
Dev had heard his mental call and come back, and Dev was a wolf. Somewhere underneath Aidan’s anger and fear, a distant part of him marveled at that fact. Dev was a wolf. A beautiful wolf, with glossy dark brown fur that he would appreciate properly some other time when he got out of these damn manacles!
And then he was going to show Dev how to fight properly. He had good instincts, but he was unsteady on four feet, unused to the way his body moved, and he was going to lose because of it. Aidan could see that, see that even though Dev was younger and bigger, the other wolf had experience on his side. Watching it, unable to help, Aidan felt every claw and bite as if it were into own flesh.
Dev’s sides heaved, fur soon coated with blood splotches. The other wolf was toying with him, sadistically drawing the fight out. Aidan battered furiously against both the magic and physical bindings, straining so hard he saw stars.
His heart leapt as Dev got in a lucky strike at the other wolf’s front leg. But it only motivated Carl to escalate, growing abruptly tired of his game. With a yelp and a scrabble of claws, he threw Dev against the wall.
He would kill Dev, and Aidan couldn’t stop him. Terror thrilled through him, and time slowed until the distance between each heartbeat could be counted in years. In that deep stillness, the future flickered in front of him. This time, Aidan’s brokenness was going to hurt more than just himself.
He wasn’t fine with that.
Subconsciously, he’d been resisting the pull of the mate-spark between him and Dev, not wanting to be even more of a burden. But Dev was his, and no rabid monster was going to get between them. Both sides of his nature were perfectly aligned on the need to go to his mate right now.
He widened the fledgling channel between him and Dev as far as it would go. It was gossamer-thin, un-Claimed, but Aidan grabbed it without hesitation, shoving his roiling emotions along it. He could change to human when Dev and he connected, and what was mate-spark but connection?
Dev had changed into a wolf for him. How could Aidan do anything less in return?
The change came differently, this time. Instead of a liquid wave, it slammed into him like a lightning strike.
Time restarted.
Aidan slipped free of the manacles and scrambled towards the two wolves. Dev was growling, trying to shake himself free, but Aidan watched him weaken as the other wolf’s grip tightened.
Aidan snatched up the tranquilizer gun from the bench, wobbled over to the wall, and emptied it into the other wolf. Carl released Dev, snarling and trying to snap at Aidan, but his reflexes were impaired enough by the tranqs that even Aidan could dodge his attempts.
Dev sucked in air and limped to stand between the other wolf and Aidan, his hackles on end.
Carl’s mind-speech dripped with poison as his yellow eyes met Dev’s.
Dev changed back to human, gasping with the transition, and Aidan got an arm under him, keeping him from collapsing.
Together they looked down at the unconscious wolf.
“I’m not a monster,” Dev said. “I’m just a werewolf.”
Chapter 31
Dev stared down at the wolf who’d haunted his nightmares for more than twenty years. He seemed smaller than Dev remembered, even in his enormous werewolf form.
“Dev!” Aidan’s hands were on him, moving feverishly. “Fuck, you’re bleeding.”
Dev lifted a hand to his neck, grimacing as it came away red. “Ow,” he croaked.
As if that had been permission, the combined pain of all his wounds came rushing into his awareness.
“Sit down before you fall down,” Aidan suggested, pushing him onto a folding plastic chair.
Dev didn’t want to sit down, not within a five-hundred-mile radius of his father, unconscious or not, but his body had other ideas. He swayed, light-headed. Blood loss, probably.
There was a lot of blood, he noticed with surprise as Aidan folded him onto the chair. And he was naked. Why was he naked? He should find some clothes, but when he went to rise his legs folded under him and he sagged down onto the concrete.
Aidan was saying something, his voice higher-pitched than normal. He sounded like he was talking down a tube, somewhere far, far away.
“Okay. You’re gonna be okay.” He pressed something fabric against Dev’s neck. “Hold that, okay?”
“Are you okay?” Dev frowned. Why had the thought taken so long to form? It was hard to focus. The edges of Aidan had gone slightly fuzzy, but he didn’t look injured. Dev swallowed, remembering that moment of cold horror as his father had leapt. The image kept playing on repeat in his brain. “I saved you,” he said. “He didn’t get you.”
“Yeah, you did. And now you’ve just gotta hold on for a bit, okay? I’m going to go get help.”
Another thought swam up out of the murk. “’m sorry for what I said. Was an…asshole. You’re perfect. Even if you stay a wolf forever.”
Aidan’s choked laugh sounded more like a sob.
A wrenching sound of iron as the doors to the warehouse slammed open. A roiling sense of power, flowing out from the man in the doorway like golden light, filling up all the dark spaces.
Dev went up on one elbow, the beast—the wolf—inside him responding defensively. Protect. He had to protect Aidan, who was his. But Aidan sagged in relief against him, and the wolf relaxed, recognizing the presence. It didn’t like Sabas, but he wasn’t a danger to Aidan.
The world went fuzzy, sound stuttering in and out.
“—losing too much blood!”
“—pack healer’s coming.”
“—easier if you were properly mated.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t fix that right now!”
“Are gonna be properly mated,” Dev grumbled, but the words came out garbled.
“Dev!” Aidan, shaking him. “Stay with me. Dev!” he repeated when the darkness threatened to pull him under again. “This is important. Will you agree to be part of BlackEdge? For me?” He sounded urgent, but Dev was having trouble following him.
“What?”
“Sabas can feed the pack healer energy to heal you, but only if you’re pack. Will you do that, for me?” He squeezed Dev’s hand.
It was like trying to solve complex algebraic equations after a half dozen tequila shots.
“Want to stay with you,” he mumbled, because that was definitely true. He made an effort, got the words out he needed to. Sort of. “Including wolf-you.”
“Good enough for me,” Sabas said dryly, somewhere out of Dev’s field of vision. He turned his head, which hurt like hell.
Everything went dark.
Chapter 32
Dev woke to the sound of distant voices. He sat up. He was in Aidan’s guest bedroom, fluffy pillows and white sheets disorienting him for a second. His mind was still in that warehouse, but his body felt good, and not, say, like he’d had half his throat ripped out. He put a hand to his neck, touched smooth scar tissue. Not a dream, then; his father really had shown up and tried to kill Aidan.
And I changed.
A few days ago, the thought would’ve been accompanied by a wave of horror, but today it settled in his chest quietly, like a missing piece slotting into place. He was a werewolf, and that was okay. Well, it was weird, but okay-weird rather than bad-weird.
“Good, you’re awake.”
The soft, unfamiliar voice startled him, and he whirled towards the sound. A slim, curly-haired guy with glasses adjusted the bookmark in his book and set it to the side. He looked young enough to be a college freshman.
“Who are you?”
“Ben. Apprentice pack healer.” He grinned. “Cara deemed you stable, so you got the newbie watching you till you woke up. Plus, you wiped her out with all the juice she had to give you, so she had to go nap anyway. Cara’s the pack healer,” he added at Dev’s blank look. “I
guess you weren’t really conscious when you met her.”
“Where’s Aidan?”
“I threw him out.” He laughed at Dev’s obvious disbelief. Aidan might not be the most coordinated human in the world yet, but there was still no way this skinny guy could throw a grown man anywhere. “Yeah, I know. Your mate’s pretty fierce.” His face slackened in awe. “He nearly bit the Alpha’s head off when he tried to come in here.”
Dev frowned. That didn’t sound like Aidan.
Ben shrugged. “But I told him he’d wake you if he didn’t stop pacing. It’s not good to wake up too soon from a deep heal. Speaking of, I should stop running my mouth off and get on with the medical checks, right?”
Dev got out of the bed warily, pulling on a pair of loose pants and shirt someone had helpfully left on the bedside drawers. His body felt strange, but Ben didn’t seem worried as he checked him over with cheerful efficiency and declared Dev good to go for the moment. “Be gentle with your scar tissue though; it’s still healing.” He handed Dev a jar of ointment. “That’s to keep the scarring to a minimum, keep the skin flexible. Massage in gently twice a day.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Or get your mate to do it. Also works great as lubricant.”
Dev nearly choked on his own tongue. Ben didn’t look like he could legally drink yet.
“Thanks,” he said flatly.
“Just passing on all the relevant public service announcements.” Ben grinned at him. “Duty of care and all that.” He left.
Dev wandered downstairs, wondering where Aidan had gotten to.
“—You move against him, Triumvirate’s not going to buy BlackEdge isn’t trying to start a war.” A woman’s voice, unfamiliar. A rumble of agreement.
“No one takes a swing at my pack and gets off scot-free.” Sabas’s growl made Dev’s inner wolf still.
Alpha, it said quietly. The wolf was both respectful of and content with that. Wolves should have a pack, and it was good that their Alpha was strong. The instinctive stream of thoughts startled him.
“No one attacks my mate and gets off scot-free,” Aidan said emphatically, and the sound of his mate’s voice made all other thoughts fall away.
“And what about your brother and Oscar? They’re still in DC.” A second unfamiliar voice.
Dev walked into the living room and found it bursting with people who gave him a faint ping of connection. Packmates, his wolf said. Very dominant ones.
Conversation stopped, and Sabas paused mid-pace, his dark eyes glowing in anger. Dev recognized Jamila and Idris, plus another two guys and a woman he didn’t know, but Dev only spared them half a second. All his attention locked on a pair of blue eyes that lit up at the sight of him.
“Dev!” Aidan flung himself across the room and then tried to pull his momentum up short at the last second. It didn’t work, because Dev met him with a hard oomph. Wrapping his arms around Aidan, he breathed in the warm, familiar scent.
“I love you,” he said, without thinking.
Aidan blinked at him, as if the words didn’t make sense. “You…do?”
Dev had a lot of making up to do, if his mate thought there was any room for doubt on that. He kissed him, filled with a deep, possessive urge that gave no fucks for the audience. Aidan was his. Another piece of his soul slid into place. Aidan was okay, here and alive and whole. He wanted to kick all these damn wolves out and carry Aidan back to the bedroom right now.
Someone catcalled.
Aidan’s cheeks were flushed when they broke apart, but his hands went straight for the bandages on Dev’s throat, a brief, worried touch. There was so much fear in his eyes, and Dev wanted to wipe it away.
“Um, so, yes, I love you too.” He grinned. “You couldn’t have picked maybe a different, less-crowded moment to say that?”
But Dev had just remembered something. He took a step forward, out of Aidan’s embrace, putting himself between Aidan and Sabas. “It was your blood in that warehouse. Your blood that triggered my latent werewolf genes. Your company trying to win the biggest development contract Morimoto Enterprises has ever put out. You got anything to say about that?”
Sabas considered him, his expression impossible to read. “I have nothing to say about the contract,” he said calmly after a moment. “Everything we can offer is in our tender documents. If Morimoto Enterprises accepts our tender, then we go into contract negotiations. If they don’t, then there’s nothing to talk about, is there? In terms of my blood….” He grimaced. “Some of my blood has apparently ended up on the black market, and trust me when I say finding out how the hell that happened is at the top of my priority list. Well, one down from dealing with our wannabe fae ruler.”
“A fae guy called Barnaby White sourced black-market Alpha blood to try to turn you,” Aidan interjected.
Dev spun back to his mate. “What?”
“You missed that part.” Aidan filled him in on what had happened before he’d reached the warehouse—and after.
His father was back in the shifter prison and looked set to stay there until he rotted—good, Dev thought viciously. But his anger grew as he realized Mr. White, the fae who’d turned his life upside down just to increase his chances of winning over the local fae court, was apparently still at large.
“That’s why the Seconds are here,” Aidan finished, gesturing at the people in the room. “We’re trying to figure out what to do about him now. He knows if BlackEdge takes him down, it will look bad to the Triumvirate. And Mahon and Oscar are still in DC.” Worry flickered in his eyes. “Zeke is trying to pin the prison bribery on him, but it’s a maze of shell companies and he’s got like, a gazillion well-paid lawyers.”
The conversation he’d overheard started to make more sense. “This guy uses his wealth to buy power, right?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” Aidan looked tired.
Dev shrugged at his assembled packmates. “Well, you guys can sort out whatever payback you want, but I’m going to break his company to pieces and salt the fucking earth when I’m done. If he can’t buy influence any longer….” He met Sabas’s gaze, managed to hold it for a few seconds.
The Alpha’s grin was savage. “That works.”
Dev had a feeling that Mr. White would deeply regret it if he was still in the city once the fae court’s internal politics resolved and BlackEdge was free to take vengeance on individual fae again.
“Good plan. Now if everyone who is not my mate could fuck right off ASAP, that would be great,” Aidan said flatly to his packmates. The heat in his expression as he met Dev’s eyes sent a shiver of anticipation down his spine.
There was a beat of startled silence, which shifted into laughter and ribald jokes about two seconds later—but they did start to get up, which was frankly all Dev cared about right now. To his astonishment, he found himself on the receiving end of a few good-natured slaps on the shoulder as the various Seconds departed.
“Yeah, yeah, there’ll be time for the pack welcome parade later, guys,” Aidan grumbled, shooing them out of the house, ignoring the various bits of advice being lobbed at him.
And finally, finally, they were alone.
For a moment, all Dev could hear was his own heartbeat, loud in the sudden absence of other people in the house. Then he was moving, or Aidan was, but they were suddenly in each other’s arms, in a roar of desperate want.
Chapter 33
It took twice as long to get naked as it should have because neither of them could keep their hands off the other long enough to remove clothes the sensible way. Aidan needed to reassure himself that Dev was really, truly, fine, and that meant touching and being touched as much as physically possible.
His hands moved feverishly, pulling at Dev’s shirt at the same time as Dev tried to pull his shirt off. Aidan gave a strangled laugh as they got tangled up, his cock hard and throbbing against its confines. With a groan of frustration, he let Dev pull his shirt over his head and started frantically on his jeans as soon as his arms were out. His cock sprang free
, and he let out a sigh of relief at the cool air against his over-heated skin.
And then they were both finally naked and Dev was pressing him up against the closest surface—the door—bumping their hips together, just as hard as Aidan. Sensation arced through him, and he dug his hands into Dev’s muscular shoulders and groaned. His magic eddied under his skin, wanting to jump across the space between them so badly he had to grit his teeth to hold it back.
Dev caught his mouth in a searing kiss, pulling their bodies flush.
“I want you,” he growled.
“Ditto.” Without thinking, Aidan’s hands moved lower down Dev’s body, over his abs. His fingers spread, magic thrumming in his palms. Realizing what he was doing at the last second, he managed to jerk his hand back, but Dev caught his wrist, held it there.
“Yes.” Dev’s gaze was rock-steady, filled with something deeper than lust. “I want it. Your Claim. If you’ll take mine.”
Aidan sucked in a breath. “Hell, yes.”
It was like releasing a floodgate. Magic surged from his hands, drowning his senses in his own familiar mint, twined with a rich, velvet-and-malt scent he knew as Dev’s. His fingertips began to tingle, extra sensitive against Dev’s hot skin, as if they'd sprouted a whole new set of nerve endings and every one of them had a direct line to his balls. Each finger-line pulsed with magic, jerking pleasure through him in waves.
There was a hint of wolf-gold in Dev’s eyes, his teeth slightly longer and sharper than normal as the wolf in him surfaced.
Aidan’s head fell back with a groan, baring his throat in invitation. Dev leaned forward, his breath stirring goosebumps on Aidan’s skin, his lips a soft contrast to the bristle of his stubble. Aidan’s whole body gave a throb of want.
“Yes,” he moaned. “Yes. Claim me.”
Dev bit him, bright, sharp pinpricks at the join between Aidan’s neck and shoulder. Aidan groaned and felt his magic flare even higher in response. Dev bit harder, and the pinpricks became brilliant starbursts of sensation, thrumming through him—them—to the same rhythm as Aidan’s magic. The pain-pleasure of the bite amplified the feelings coming through his magic, growing until it was so intense he saw stars.
