by Lynn Lorenz
Peter needed someone his own age. Someone he could fall in love with and experience that first blush of true love.
Ted’s chance at the blush of true love had long passed. The closest he’d ever let himself get had been with Douglas. He’d fallen hard for his good-looking, kind, and open-minded patrol partner. And because of all the pain he’d felt when Douglas died, he’d never let anyone else into his heart.
Until now.
Damn Scott Dupree.
“You haven’t eaten a thing,” Kirsten said. “Are you feeling all right?”
“Just tired. Had a bad night and didn’t get much sleep. Now I’m paying for it.”
“Well, you can catch up on your sleep tonight.” She smiled at him, with what looked like affection in her eyes. Despite the fact she was his subject, he’d grown fond of the young woman.
“Right.” He gave her back the smile he trotted out for such occasions. Damn, he might just go back to the Bayou End and take a nap before Scott came by.
And just like that, he was thinking of his wolf.
Stop right there, buddy. He’s not my wolf.
And after tonight, both Ted and Scott would be free to go on with their lives, just like before the voodoo spell, the lightning strike, or whatever the hell had possessed them.
And that was fine with Ted. Loving someone just hurt too damn much.
Anonymous bar fucks and blowjobs had been enough before, and they’d be enough again.
Liar.
»»•««
Ted lay on the bed watching the hands of his clock move around the dial. He’d tried to sleep, but his mind just kept spinning.
What the hell would happen tonight? He’d heard stories about voodoo ceremonies, seen a few late-night B movies, but all he could remember was a squawking chicken, drums, and a painted voodoo priestess.
Scott didn’t seem like the kind of guy who had a voodoo priestess for a mother. He seemed like a straight arrow, pun intended. Honorable, sincere, a natural leader, but that was probably due to his alpha wolf status.
If this had been another time and place, and Scott had been gay, Ted would have been all over him. Scott had the same characteristics he’d believed Douglas had until Ted had learned the truth about his “hero.”
No way could he ever see Scott in that same light. Douglas had been dirty, and it might have been the worst decision Ted had ever made to sacrifice his career for Douglas, but he’d done it for the wife and kids.
They’d deserved more than having a husband and father who was a dirty cop.
And Ted had deserved more than unrequited love.
He deserved the real thing.
And damn it, if he hadn’t thought he’d felt it last night with Scott. When Scott took his face in his hands, touched him so tenderly, he could have sworn he’d seen more than lust in Scott’s eyes.
He rolled over and groaned.
Just a figment of his imagination, that’s all. He was seeing what he wanted to see. Scott didn’t care about him, not really.
Oh, Scott’s wolf thought he was hot shit; the animal practically drooled all over him, but the man? He’d backed off so fast, it had spun Ted’s head around.
He got up, grabbed his clothes and headed to the shower. Might as well get clean and dressed. He’d go downstairs and wait, maybe read a magazine or a book until Scott got there.
He went over the case he was working, what little there was, to keep his mind off Scott while he soaped up in the shower. He didn’t let his hands linger on his cock and balls and quickly slipped over his chest and nipples before he rinsed off.
Once dry, he stared at the mirror. He really needed a shave, so he got to work, taking care not to nick himself. Then he dressed and headed downstairs.
He checked his watch. Ten o’clock. An hour left to go. The living room was empty. He supposed everyone was upstairs sleeping, or maybe they’d gone out. Ted went to the window and looked out, spotted Kirsten’s car, and relaxed.
He went back and sat on the couch, picked up the local newspaper and opened it to the hunting and fishing section. Read the tides, read the weather forecast, even read the obituaries, and only another half hour had passed.
Marie came through, carrying a fresh tablecloth in her arms. “Hey, you. Got a date?”
“Just waiting for Sheriff Dupree.” He tried to be as nonchalant as possible.
“Scott? Good man. The woman that catches him will be a lucky girl.” She went into the dining room and got to work changing the cloths and resetting the table.
“Uh-huh,” Ted replied.
“Nice man. Took over after the previous sheriff Bobby Cotteau, when he retired. How do you know Scott?”
“Mutual friends.” Ted kept it vague, and it seemed to satisfy her, or maybe she just knew when not to ask questions.
“That’s nice. Well, I’m done here. Have a nice night, Ted. If you’re back late, the key is under the mat, you can let yourself in. We leave the porch light on all night, by the way.”
“Thanks.” He waved at her as she headed into the kitchen.
Then he sat back on the couch and counted the minutes until he saw Scott again.
Chapter Eighteen
Ten long minutes later, the front door opened, and Scott stepped inside.
“You’re early.” Ted stood, unsure what to do or say.
Scott shrugged. “I didn’t have your number to call and let you know.”
Ted pulled out his cell phone, and they swapped numbers, but with any luck after tonight, neither of them would ever use them.
“Let’s go.” Scott turned, and Ted followed him out, closing the door behind him.
In the drive, the big black truck sat, engine running. Scott went around to the driver’s side, and Ted got in the passenger side.
The cabin filled with their scent, and Ted could smell their arousal, but he grabbed the door handle, and Scott gripped the wheel. Both of them seemed determined not to let what happened last night happen again.
“We need to talk,” Scott said between gritted teeth. Ted watched him, and if he didn’t know better, he’d say Scott was pissed as hell.
“That’s never good.” Ted couldn’t think of what he’d done to irritate Scott. Well, besides being his mate.
“I did some checking around.”
“Oh?”
“About you.”
“Oh.” Ted waited for the shoe to drop. He had a feeling he knew right where this conversation was headed, the same place shit always flowed—downhill.
“You were kicked off the force three years ago. Implicated in the death of your partner, and the word is you were taking protection money.” Scott’s grip turned white-knuckled.
Ted tensed. “So?” He didn’t owe any explanations to Scott, not now. They were just an hour away from being out of each other’s lives for good, and the last thing he wanted was to drag Scott any closer.
“So? What the fuck do you mean, so?” Scott’s explosion took Ted by surprise.
“What does it matter to you?”
“It matters.” Scott shook his head. “I’m the sheriff. It might be a little one-horse Cajun hick town to you, but I’m respected here. I can’t associate with someone like you.”
“Like me?” Now Ted’s hackles stood on end. “Look you self-righteous prick, I know exactly what you heard from the boys in blue, but I’m telling you, there’s two sides to every story.” He crossed his arms over his chest and set his jaw. He’d kept the truth hidden for years to honor Douglas’s family, buried and festering like an old sore.
“Two sides?” Scott pulled the truck over to the side of the road and faced Ted, eyes blazing. “You were tossed off the force, just escaped jail time, and your partner was killed because of you.”
If Ted had been a cartoon, steam would have been coming out of his ears about now. This guy had no right to look him up or to confront him about this. But something deep inside Ted wanted Scott to know the truth. As much as he hated it, Ted valued Scott’
s opinion of him, and this hurt.
Ted leaned forward and poked Scott’s shoulder with his finger. “Listen to me. My partner was shot because he walked in on a robbery in progress. The perp panicked and shot him and the clerk. I was outside on the sidewalk writing a ticket.” Man, Ted really didn’t want to get into this, but Scott just dragged him there.
“That’s not I was told.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you were told a whole lot of things about me, none of them good.” Ted looked out the window. “Do you believe them?”
Scott ran his hand around the wheel, his fingertips tracing the outer edge. He seemed to deflate as he exhaled a long slow breath. “Okay, tell me your side.”
Ted sighed. “I will, but it can’t go any further, you hear me? No one knows, and that’s how I want it to be.”
“Sure, man.” Now he had Scott’s attention. Swear a man to secrecy, and he was all over it.
“I told you Douglas was my happily married patrol partner in the Quarter for three years, right?”
Scott nodded. “Was he in the closet?”
“No.” Ted shook his head. “Douglas was straight. And he was dirty. He was taking protection money from a Vietnamese shop owner. That night, he suggested we stop for coffee, but he really stopped to pick up his payment. He walked in on the robbery.”
“Did you know?”
“I had no idea he wasn’t on the up-and-up.” Ted ran his hand over his face. “The perp shot the clerk and then shot Douglas. I heard the shots, ran in, shot the perp. Douglas bled out, lying on the floor. He died in my arms.” Ted turned his face away to hide the hurt he knew still showed in his eyes. “I couldn’t stop the bleeding. There was so much blood.” He placed his hand on the door window, and just like that, he saw the thick, sticky red fluid oozing through his fingers as he pressed his hand to Douglas’s chest. Douglas’s eyes looking up at him as he gasped for air.
Scott didn’t say a word, but Ted felt his heart hammering in his chest.
“I was in love with Douglas, but he was straight as they came. He adored his wife and those kids, and they adored him. He was their hero.” Ted’s voice cracked.
“So you took the fall,” Scott whispered.
Ted nodded. “I couldn’t let them suffer. They’d have lost not just a husband and father, but all the honor, glory, and benefits. The cop community would have turned their backs on the family, and I couldn’t let that happen.”
“Damn.” Scott rested his head on the wheel and exhaled. “I didn’t want to believe it, Ted.”
“But you did.” He wouldn’t admit how much that hurt.
“Yeah. One cop to another, what you gonna believe?”
“Hell, you don’t know me, I shouldn’t expect anything more. I’m a disgraced ex-cop, a PI, and gay. Three strikes, right?”
Scott looked up into Ted’s face. “Come here.”
Those two words, more than any of late, had some sort of power over Ted. Maybe it was just Scott’s voice or the tone of command, but he slid across the seat and into Scott’s arms. It took everything he had not to bawl like a baby. To let it all out, the anger, the sorrow, the grief he’d held inside for so long.
Strong, safe, comforting, Scott held him tight. “I’m so sorry, cher. Sorry you lost everything. Sorry you fell in love with someone who couldn’t give back to you. Sorry no one knows what you did for his family.” Scott rubbed Ted’s back, soothing him with his touch and voice.
“It’s okay. It was my choice.” Ted straightened and pulled away, trying to put distance between them. He cleared his throat. “I don’t regret it, and I’d do it again for the man I loved.”
“Lucky man.”
Scott leaned in and kissed Ted, but this time it was so soft and tender it nearly broke Ted’s heart. Goddamn fate. Whoever was up there hated him, really hated him.
He just couldn’t catch a break.
“No, Scott. Don’t. It’s just too hard.” Ted pulled back, his hand resting on Scott’s chest for a moment, and the hard thumps underneath his palm nearly weakened him, nearly drove him back into Scott’s arms.
Scott let him go and pulled the truck back onto the road. “We’ll be at my mom’s in ten minutes. I have to warn you, she’s a little eccentric.”
“She cast a love spell on us, so I’d say that pretty much says it all.”
“She’s my maman, and I love her.” Scott shrugged. “But sometimes, I could kill her.”
“I completely understand.” Ted’s own mother had kept in touch with him after he left NOPD, but his father had cut him out completely. Being gay was one thing, but being a dirty cop? Not even his father could get past that sin.
“Look, Ted. I just want to say, I hope you’ll understand about the mate thing.”
“Don’t worry. I understand. You’re straight, even if your wolf isn’t.” Ted shrugged. “You have a career in a small town that might not be too fond of their sheriff having a male partner. Your wolf gang—er, pack—won’t like it and might kick you to the curb. I get it. I didn’t stand a chance, did I?”
“Not really.” Scott sighed. “But my wolf really, really likes you.”
“It must. It got you to let a man suck you off.”
Scott groaned. “Don’t remind him.” He rubbed the bulge at his crotch.
“Sure. Keep your cool, wolfman.” Ted snorted. “I’m saving it for someone who appreciates it.”
Scott growled at the mention of another man.
Ted just laughed. “You can’t have it both ways, Scott.”
“Tell that to my wolf.”
»»•««
After they’d turned off the main highway, the truck jostled over a gravel road with only its headlights to guide the way. All around them the darkness was a solid curtain of black, almost like something physical.
Scott pulled up in front of a small raised cottage and parked. “We’re here.”
“Right. Let’s get this over with.” Ted got out and waited for Scott to join him.
They walked up the steps, and Scott knocked. The door opened, and a small woman with a cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth stood in the doorway, wearing a flowered housedress and pink fuzzy slippers. The word Princess was embroidered across the tops of them.
“That’s him?” She eyed Ted, then nodded. “Come on in, cher.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Ted nodded and stepped past her into the living room. A black cat stared at him from the back of the sofa.
“So, you’re the mate for my Scott, huh?” Her eyes twinkled. Maybe she thought this was the funniest joke ever.
“Not exactly. I think both Scott and I have determined that wouldn’t be a good idea.” Ted glared at Scott, folding his arms across his chest.
“Maman, please. Just do the ceremony.” Scott ran his hand over his face.
She nodded, went into the kitchen, and came back with a flowered pillowcase, a candle, and a box of matches. “Scott, you carry the shovel.”
They followed her outside. Scott picked up a shovel leaning against the side of the house. “Here, take my flashlight, Ted.” Scott handed it to him.
Ted flicked it on and shone the light on the ground, ahead of the old woman.
The cat padded along, weaving in and out of the light as it danced around Scott’s mother’s feet, always just one step away from tripping her. They reached the end of the clearing around the small house and stopped.
The cat sat.
“This has to be done just right, or it won’t work. Even then, I’m not making no promises.” She took a deep drag of her cigarette and flicked it into the damp woods. It hissed as it hit water.
Ted shone the light around. They stood on the edge of the swamp. Here and there, moonlight shimmered off the dark soup.
“Are there alligators?” he asked.
“Sure. Snakes, gators, and mosquitoes big enough to carry off a small child.” She cackled at the joke. “And don’t forget”—she paused for effect—“the rugarou.”
Te
d jerked the flashlight to her face, and she cackled.
“He’s a skittish one, Scott. Good-looking, but skittish.”
Then she stepped into the darkness, and Scott motioned for Ted to follow. He played the light on the ground and found the path she took.
The cat didn’t follow them.
Chapter Nineteen
They walked for a few minutes as darkness and the creepy sounds of the swamp surrounded them. Every now and then, Scott’s breath would puff across the back of Ted’s neck, and he’d relax. Nice, but odd.
She stopped, and Ted nearly ran her over.
“We’re here,” she announced.
Something big slipped into the water on his left, and Ted shivered.
“Just a gator,” Scott said, perhaps trying to reassure him. It wasn’t working.
“Right. You Cajuns are nuts.”
“Mais oui, cher.” Scott’s mother nodded. “That’s what makes us so powerful.” She winked at Ted, and he couldn’t help but grin. Princess, huh? Voodoo queen, maybe.
She wasn’t painted, and there wasn’t a chicken in sight, or drums pounding, so whatever she had planned wasn’t going to be like in the movies.
A fallen log rested on the ground near the water, and in front of it, a small dirt clearing. He shone the light around it, looking for snakes and gators.
“The gators don’t like the light.” Scott chuckled. “But if you shine it out on the water, you might see their eyes. They reflect the light.”
Ted played the light over the darkness and jumped as half a dozen points of light winked under the beam of his flashlight. “Damn! They’re everywhere? Is this safe?” Right about now he wished he’d brought his gun.
“Oh, they won’t come near us.” Mrs. Dupree had kneeled by the log, placed the candle with a picture of the Virgin Mary on it on top, and lit it. A soft glow illuminated a small area around the log.
“Where should I start digging?” Scott motioned with the shovel.
She turned and looked around. “Right about here.” She pointed to a small mound of earth. “Not too deep.”
“Hold the flashlight for me, Ted.” Ted angled it at the ground, and Scott put the blade of the shovel in the dirt and pushed with his foot. It sunk easily into the soft clay. He tossed the first load of earth to the side. And the next.
