Home is Where the Heart Is (Cloverleah Pack Series Book 15)

by Lisa Oliver

  But this was now, and Cass was in the moment. Hands raked up and down his back sending his nerves tingling, as Wes rumbled behind him. It wasn’t a purr, more like a very happy canine grumble. Cass braced himself so he didn’t jump or flinch as he felt his butt cheeks palmed and parted. It wasn’t that he hadn’t bottomed – he was young once – but when he fought with his friends, a couple of fingers up an ass was a perfect distraction, so he tended to flinch away from it as a rule.

  Not this time. “You cheated.” Wes’s rumble was laced with approval. “I would have prepped you. I’m not a bully.”

  “Want you so bad.” Cass wasn’t lying. If he arched his back a bit towards the mattress, the tip of his cock brushed against the cloth – teasing but not enough.

  “Next time leave it to me,” Wes growled against his butt. “I wanted to rim the fuck out of you first.”

  Damn, me and my impetuous nature. Cass couldn’t grumble though. Not when one of Wes’s sneaky hands had slid around and was palming his neglected dick while the other one was guiding Wes’s not-insubstantial length into his magically prepped hole. “Damn, Hades.” Cass curled his toes.

  “Is it customary for you to yell another man’s name when someone is shafting you?” Wes kept pushing.

  Has he used my magic to enhance his size?

  “Just an expression.” Cass panted. “Grip me harder... Better to yell for a god I know... Fuck yeah, like that... instead of one who might smite me.” The ‘me’ was more of a squeal than a word, but between the squeeze around his cockhead and the brush of Wes’s dick against his prostate, Cass figured he could be forgiven. How the hell…?

  But the how didn’t matter. Hunched over him so far, Cass could feel the breath on his back, Wes was moving, thrusting his still-bony hips hard enough to bruise Cass’s behind. The moves were so-so, but as a demon, Cass could feel Wes’s want, his need, his desire, and the force behind his claim. And it was a claiming, there was no disguising that. Whether it was his being shunned by that wretched Adair, or the pack or… Cass couldn’t say. But Wes’s passion filled the air and it was intoxicating.

  To Wesley too, it would appear. “Never thought… never dreamed… feel so good… too good, you sneaky demon… gods…”

  See, now Cass was going to have to break Wes of that habit of yelling ‘gods’ because the only god in the Underworld was Hades. Hades wasn’t plural. He was the only god that mattered to a demon. And yes, he was trying desperately to distract himself because as any demon who participated in the pits blow job challenges knew, it was not good form to finish first.

  Wes bit him. On the nape of his neck. Cass felt a slight graze of something sharp, then that rush of adrenalin as Wes’s fangs sunk deep. Cass yelled. It would have been impossible not to. Between the strong scent of his precious wolf, the arousal, and then a bite? Cass climaxed, his body sagging with every pump of spunk through his dick. He beat me, but oh, if Cass was going to go down for anyone, he was so glad it was Wes.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Wes pottered around the kitchen, putting together a meal of sorts with what he found in the refrigerator. His wolf was settled, strangely calm considering the events of recent days. Wes felt his cheeks heat as he remembered how roughly he’d taken Cass hours earlier. The demon was snoring before his head hit the pillow and Wes had some fun then, using his mate’s magic to clean them both and get Cass all neatly tucked up under the blankets.

  But Wes was too restless to sleep. Biting Cass – taking him in his demon form. Wesley wouldn’t have even thought about asking, if he hadn’t just let go of his wolf form.

  He let me do that.

  He is pack. The wolf was smug and rightfully so. Wes mulled on the pack statement. It made sense, sounded right. That is why I feel more settled. I have a pack with my mate.

  Pulling a batch of muffins out of the oven, Wes squeaked as he turned around and found a demon behind him. Not Cass or his brother Myka, who Wesley remembered catching a glimpse of at Cloverleah. This demon had blue stripes where Cass had red and his face was wider, and flatter somehow. He was also completely naked and had a blue and black striped tail that was wound around his leg.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here?” Wes slid the tray of muffins onto the counter, so he’d have his hands free.

  “Nothing much. Just looking.” The demon grabbed one of the hot muffins from the pan and stuffed it into his mouth. “Good baking,” he said in a spray of crumbs. “I could get to like it here.”

  “Excuse me?” Wes wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “This isn’t your house.”

  “Isn’t yours either, shifter.” Another muffin disappeared down the demon’s throat. Wes moved the tray out of reach. The demon grinned as if he found Wesley’s actions amusing. “The living don’t belong down here, so I’m guessing you found a loophole.” He stepped closer, suddenly in Wes’s personal space and Wes stepped back. “How did you get down here, shifter, and more to the point, how can I get out? You tell me that, and I’ll give you anything you want, anything at all. We can make a deal, you and I.”

  “I don’t make deals with demons.” Wes reached for his collar, rubbing over the gold and jewels. “I’m mated to one – true mated, and he’s going to be pissed off you’re here.”

  “Oh, you’re a demon pet.” The demon’s grin got wider, showing blue teeth and a blue tongue. “That will make my stay here all the more enjoyable. Now serve me up some of that roast I can smell cooking in the oven, and then you can show me where I can fuck that skinny ass of yours. Or you can sit on my lap and I can do it while I eat. I’m not fussy.”

  “Well, I am fucking fussy and I’m not a pet!” Without thought, Wes pushed out from his chest, his only thought to get the annoying demon out of his space. The demon flew back, landing heavily against the wall with a huge thud.

  “I will not serve you food I’ve cooked for my mate.” Wes advanced, his whole body tingling with fury. “I will definitely not let you kiss my skinny ass, much less fuck it, and as for sitting on your lap, you can go suck your own dick. You’ve got no right being here.”

  “Wes, what’s all the commotion?” Cass came running in, still gloriously naked and in his demon form. But then he caught sight of the fallen demon and ran to his side. “Bron? Bron,” he said, slapping the demon’s face. “Are you all right? What the hell happened to you? Did another demon attack you? Who was it?”

  “He’s a friend of yours?” Wes couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

  “Bron? Shit yes,” Cass grunted as he lifted the blue and black demon to his feet. “We work in the torture pits together. We’re old friends.” He slapped Bron on the back.

  “You… you… He called me a demon pet. He ate two of the muffins I made for you, and then demanded I serve up the roast I cooked for you and sit on his lap so he could fuck me while he was eating.” Wes was so angry he was trembling with it. “I told him I was true mated, and he still called me a pet and wanted me to feed him and let him fuck me.”

  “Ah, yes, well.” Cass ran his hand over his hair. “Bron was just messing with you, weren’t you Bron? He’s a good guy, and some demons do call their mates pets – it’s a term of affection.”

  “You’re all right with the idea of your friends fucking me?” Wes growled, his fists clenched. “You think it’s okay for your friends to demean me, steal the food I cooked for you, and then proposition me like it’s normal?”

  “Well, no, but Bron didn’t know what you are to me, and he was just being funny.”

  Cass’s arm was still around the blue demon’s shoulder and Wes saw red. He pointed at his collar. “You pretty much told me this collar would protect me. That every demon who saw it would recognize it carried part of your soul and would treat me with respect. But that’s bullshit, isn’t it? This asshole saw it and laughed. Called me a pet, as if I was a dog.”

  “It’s Underworld humor, babe.” Cass said with a shrug. “You have to have a thick skin if you’re going to hang around wit
h me and my friends.”

  “I don’t need a thick skin, and I don’t see the need to be friends with dickheads like you two.” Wesley stroked along his collar with his finger, thinking about the rock Cass gave him. He smirked as he felt the weight of the rock in his pocket. “Enjoy the roast, fuck each other for all I care, because I am fucking out of here. I am not now and never will be a pet and until you get that through your thick head, you can stay away from me.” He disappeared from the kitchen, remembering just in time, he had to have a location to translocate too. Italy sounds nice this time of year.

  /~/~/~/~/

  “Bron, Bron, what the hell were you doing, tracking me down like this?” Cass sighed and shook his head as he stared at the spot Wesley had disappeared from. “You had to recognize my collar, man. You were with me when I forged it. And now look what you’ve gone and done. Wes is in a snit with me, and it took me long enough to get him to trust me.”

  “You should be getting at him, not me. He was the one who zapped me into the wall.” Bron lumbered over to the tray of muffins, taking two and stuffing them in his mouth. “How was I supposed to know he’d get all huffy? I was just testing him out for you, man. You know, tempting him with all my lusciousness to see if he’d prove to be a faithful mate to you.”

  The smell of bullshit stunk, competing with the smell of roasted meat. “Shifters are incapable of being anything else but faithful to their mates. Try again, Bron. I can smell your shit from here and it ain’t pretty.”

  “I farted.” Bron shrugged and wandered over to the oven, opening the door of it. “Hey, this roast looks good. There’re veggies too. I wonder if he did gravy?”

  “Leave the roast alone,” Cass snarled. “What were you doing, fucking telling my mate you wanted to fuck him and calling him pet? How did you even know I was here?”

  “Your Myka’s got a big mouth, and then there was those two incubi, the ones you’ve got holed up in that house of yours? Yeah, well, they were in the bar too, man, pining because they hadn’t sucked your cock for ages. So, when Myka told me where you were, I offered to come and return you to their warm embrace.” Bron lifted the roast out, slamming the pan on the counter. “Ouch.” He flapped his hand around.

  Cass wasn’t in the mood for playing games. For one thing, he’d been having a delicious dream when Bron’s wall-shattering woke him up. Then, to know his mate had run off, Hades knew where, patience was way down the list of feelings he could call on. Crossing the kitchen quickly, Cass slammed Bron into the nearest wall. “Stop lying to me. My mama cleared those incubi out of my house the moment she knew I’d found my mate. Myka might have a big mouth but you had no cause coming here and stirring shit. I won’t ask again, what the fuck are you doing here?”

  “Devon put the roster up.” Bron grinned, completely unfazed. “You and me are working the pits together in four hours. Hey, maybe we’ll get those souls who have their limbs pulled apart every five minutes. They’re always fun to watch. You like them. We’ll have a few brews, have a giggle, wank off a time or two.”

  Cass was disgusted to feel Bron’s hardened cock bobbing on his leg. He pushed away from his friend. “You’re still bullshitting me, but then what did I expect? That’s all you ever do.”

  “That’s what makes us such good friends,” Bron said with a smile. He came closer, draping his arm over Cass’s shoulder. “So, what do you say? We might as well eat this roast. There’s no point in it going to waste. And then we can visit those incubi of yours and give them something to wrap their sad little mouths around, and still get to work in enough time to stop Devon losing his shit. Although, that can be funny too. Do you remember when Histler…”

  “You can eat the roast. I don’t care.” Cass shrugged off his friend’s arm. “I’ve got to go to Hades’ office, get taken off the duty roster, and then take my permanent pass to earth, so I can find my mate. The mate you ridiculed and harassed. The mate you insulted for no other reason than you’re jealous. And the next time I bring him down here, you’d better be on your knees groveling to him, or I’ll kick you into the fires of Tartarus myself. Got it?”

  “Fuck.” Bron tore some meat off the roast and stuffed it in his mouth. “You used to be such a cool dude. Mating hasn’t done you any favors.”

  “Yeah, well, despite being my supposed best friend, you haven’t done anything positive towards my mating either. In fact, you’ve done your level best to smash it to pieces. Don’t think I’ll forget that in a hurry. You owe me, asshole.” Clicking his fingers, Cass disappeared. He had a mountain of paperwork to do before heading to earth. Paperwork that would have been a lot easier, if Wes had been with him.

  Chapter Twenty

  Positano, a small village on the Amalfi Coast was a beautiful place. Stunning deep blue seas, bright whitewashed houses clustered all together up the side of a steep cliff, with the wide expanse of beach below. Arriving on a quiet corner of the beach, Wesley made sure he was dressed appropriately, had money in his pocket, and then inhaled deeply.

  The sun, the sparkling sea, the smell of salt in the air – air that moved with the light breeze. I’ve missed this. I’ve missed this so much. Blinking rapidly, Wes held his hands out in front of him, marveling at how different the brightness of the sun made his skin appear. He was pale, so very pale, and while that was to be expected, it hit him with a jolt, just how long he’d been away.

  I never thought… damn Cass and Cloverleah… I had this… this was right here all the time and I let them distract me from what was really important. The one time he’d been on earth in months was when Cass dragged him to Cloverleah – at the pack house, in the dark. The pack house had felt and seemed no different from the house he’d been staying in at the Underworld, and at the time, Wesley was more worried about his pack’s reactions to him than stepping outside.

  But this… this is what I’ve been missing. Wesley turned his face up to the sun, closing his eyes as the glare was harsher than he remembered. His heart lurched, as he heard the sound of children laughing, and he felt an ache all over again. Frankie and the others will have that, he reminded himself fiercely. They’ll get to play in the sun, and splash in the rain, and make cute little snow angels in winter. Gods, I missed this. Who’d have thought, I would have missed the changing seasons and the weather.

  Unwilling to engage with people just yet, Wesley slowly walked down the beach, nodding a greeting if anyone caught his eye, but keeping his eyes trained out on the water when he could. He was getting a headache, unused to the sun, and magicked his sunglasses into his pocket – a pair he remembered leaving on his dresser at Cloverleah. Slipping them on helped reduce the sun’s glare and gave him the sense of anonymity he felt he needed.

  I’m on earth. Wesley kept mentally chanting that to himself as he ambled along the waterfront. On earth, with no demons who just popped in and insulted him, no shifters who hated the very idea of his existence, no evil half-elves who wanted to take over the world. From behind his glasses, Wesley saw family groups with excited children, and stressed parents trying to keep the sand out of their sandwiches and salads. There were young lovers, caught up in their own little world, or posing for their equally young friends. All human. All living completely normal lives, and for the first time in longer than he could remember, Wes ached for the lack in his human life.

  He’d never regretted his wolf, but as he strolled along the sunny beach, Wesley realized how much he’d pushed his human half as if he always had something to prove. He’d gone into the FBI as soon as he was old enough, doing the drudge work until he got promoted to special agent status, working every hour he could, trying to right the wrongs in the human world.

  When in ninety percent of cases, there was nothing wrong in the human world. Earth wasn’t populated by billions of people all out to rip each other off and hurt one another. Sure, every race and social group had their bad guys, but they were the exception, not the norm. When was the last time I appreciated simply watching people have fun at th
e beach?

  The answer was depressing. Spotting a small café, Wesley cut across the sand, managing to order a coffee with a lot of pointing and hand gestures. The lady who served him seemed concerned about him, and he guessed it was because his face was as pale as his hands, but Wes smiled, nodding, and indicated as best he could that he was fine.

  It would take a while to get bored with this. Wes sipped his excellent coffee, staring out at nothing in particular. It hit him again, how much he’d taken for granted when he’d lived on earth before. And that was how he saw his life now – in clear cut terms of before and after the Underworld. He purposefully wasn’t thinking about the low-life demon he’d mated, who had showed in five minutes flat he understood nothing of protecting one’s mate both physically or his reputation. Nope. Definitely not thinking about that. Wesley was thinking about what he could do now he was free, and back on earth, and with a few magical powers he didn’t have before.

  Which could be helpful seeing as he didn’t have any money. Or do I? Wes had to stop and think a moment. What did I do with my wallet? It’d been on him during his captivity. The dark ones hadn’t bothered to strip him of anything, probably realizing there was nothing there he could use to get free anyway. He had it at the house. I left it on the dresser just like I would’ve done at Cloverleah. Cloverleah. Yep, another thing he wasn’t going to think about. But his thoughts could help with other things. Wesley smiled as his battered wallet appeared in his hand.

  It had been a long time since he’d opened it. It’s been a long time since I’ve needed to use it, but there was a sense of familiarity as Wesley checked through the contents. He checked the expiry date on his license – still valid for another year, thank goodness. The last thing Wes wanted to have to do was deal with the DMV.