“Why isn’t Emery doing this?” he grumbled, not wanting to address Wyatt’s comment.
“He already knows how to shoot. He’s taking the class tomorrow morning so he can file his paperwork.”
“Then why isn’t he here with me now?”
“They’re meeting up with some people,” he said without elaborating on the identities of either party.
Sean suspected the “they” Emery was part of included Joseph and others.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to know who the others were.
Sean’s head thumped against the headrest. “Let me guess, people I don’t want to know about.”
“I’m sure you don’t.”
“Maybe we should just move in with the wolves or the dragons,” he bitterly said. “Live in fear for the rest of our lives.”
“No, and that’s why you need to do this. For you, for them kids, for Emery.” He poked Sean in the shoulder, a little harder this time. “For your momma and dad, the Nadels, everyone.”
“Do you really think he’ll come after us? We don’t even know if he knows where the house is.”
“He knows where your business is. And he took their phones and computer. It won’t take him long to figure out how to access their contacts, if he hasn’t already.”
“Crap.” He unbuckled his seat belt. He felt old, beaten, like something inside him had died and was beginning to rot. “I fucking hate this,” he muttered again as he reached for the door handle.
But he knew, like it or not, he would do it. For his kids, if nothing else.
* * * *
“Now inhale, and relax,” Wyatt said.
Sean did, his heart still hammering in his chest.
“Good. Exhale.”
If it wasn’t for Wyatt standing behind him, arms stretched out along Sean’s, his big hands engulfing Sean’s and helping him hold the gun steady, Sean knew he wouldn’t be able to hit the floor, much less the paper target hanging ten yards away.
“Inhale, Sean.”
Wyatt had told him to focus on his breathing at first. To take the shot between breaths, not during, to improve his accuracy.
Sean squeezed the trigger, still flinching when it went off in his hand.
No holes appeared in the target.
“You’re overthinkin’ it,” Wyatt said. “Just breathe.”
“I’m trying,” Sean said. “But I told you, I’ve never shot a gun before.”
“You want a break?”
“No. I want to get this over with.”
Wyatt pulled his hands away. “Put the gun down.”
Sean did.
“Now shake it out.”
Sean did that, happy to have the weight out of his hands.
“I know you nervous, but you doin’ good.”
“Good? I’ve hit the target three times out of twenty.”
Wyatt flashed a mouthful of teeth at him. “You’ll be hittin’ it just fine before we leave. I promise. And remember, when you’re aimin’ for a person, shifter or not, aim for the gut. It’s the biggest place on them. None o’ that bullshit like on TV, where they aim for a leg or an arm to wound. You aim for the gut. You’ll slow down anyone, you aim for their gut. And don’t forget to just breathe.” He pointed at the revolver.
Sean turned and took a breath.
Then he thought about his three little kids.
Their kids.
He could do this. Would do it.
He picked up the gun.
“Now, inhale,” Wyatt said.
Sean did.
* * * *
By the time Sean returned home late that afternoon to find Gus watching the house, he felt utterly drained. He’d finally settled on a five-round .38 special revolver, small, no safety, no hammer, easy to carry and shoot. He paid for it, but it would stay at the store for the mandatory three-day waiting period.
He’d also made good progress with his aim, according to Wyatt.
Wyatt had already told him he’d go with Sean to pick it up and make sure he was proficient with it.
Comfortable was something Sean suspected he’d never associate with the weapon.
He now also owned a shooting bag and the various required accouterments, such as hearing and eye protection, a cleaning kit…
Extra ammunition.
Wyatt was also consulting with Emery to install a small gun safe in the closet of their master bedroom, one large enough to hold the gun and ammunition and keep them locked well out of range of children’s curious fingers.
It seemed like a lifetime had passed. Not even two weeks ago, they’d been celebrating the official welcoming of the three kids into the pod.
Now…
Now, all three kids belonged to them and he was being forced to learn how to shoot.
After he put all three kids down for a nap, he returned to the kitchen, where Gus was sitting at the counter and reading the newspaper. He was quieter than his brother, not as prone to idle chatter.
“You’re here until Emery gets home, aren’t you?” Sean wearily asked him.
Gus nodded.
“What about your job?”
Gus shrugged.
“How long does the bodyguard gig last?”
“Until Wyatt tell me otherwise.” He had a Cajun accent, but it wasn’t quite as thick as Wyatt’s.
“Why are you doing this?”
Gus finally looked up from the paper. “Because Wyatt tol’ me to.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Gus shrugged again. “You family. Nobody fucks wit’ our family.” He turned the page on his newspaper. “’Specially kids and mates.”
Emery didn’t get home until nearly eleven that evening and the kids were asleep for the night. Gus quietly left after nodding at Emery and Sean.
Sean tried to tamp down his anger, knowing it was at the situation and not at Emery.
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“They’re not babysitters, Sean.”
“Feels like it.” He headed upstairs, wanting to go to bed.
Emery followed him. In their bedroom, Emery grabbed his arm and pulled him close. “Don’t you understand? I can’t lose you. I can’t lose them. I’ll do whatever the fuck it is I have to do to keep them and you safe. If that means you have to carry a gun so I don’t panic every time you’re out of my sight, then that’s what has to happen.”
“What haven’t you told me?”
Emery let go so suddenly Sean almost fell over.
“I’m right, aren’t I? What’s going on.”
Emery heavily sat on the bed. “You can’t tell anyone.”
Sean stood in front of him. “I’m your mate. Tell me.”
He listened without interruption as Emery told him what Gerald had discovered. And the fact that Erik wasn’t at Castle’s house.
Sean stood there, trying to process it. “So I was right this whole time. Erik’s not dead. Son of a fucking bitch.”
“I’m sorry,” Emery quietly said.
Sean ran a hand through his hair. “When were you going to fucking tell me?”
“Hopefully after I had seen his severed head.”
Sean had hoped he might be joking, but the flat, quiet tone in which Emery delivered the line told him otherwise.
“This isn’t the Wild West.”
“No, it’s worse.” He finally met Sean’s gaze. “You want to know why I went to Louisiana with Wyatt? You want to know who we were talking about at Yellowstone? You want to know why Wyatt suggested we boogie out of Yellowstone? There are things out there who make the great whites look like guppies, Sean. Okay? They’re not exactly shifters like the rest of us, but they’re mean and they hate everyone and they don’t give a rat’s ass who they hurt or kill as long as they get what they want. And they abducted a wolf’s mate right out from under everyone’s noses there at Yellowstone. That’s why we had to get out of there, because I couldn’t risk anything happening to you or Isla.”
He stood. “I’m sorry
I can’t tell you everything, but sometimes there are things I’m going to not tell you, because it’s my job to not tell you or anyone else. Sometimes, the Alpha needs to bear these things alone.”
“Is that what your father told you?”
“No, that’s what common sense tells me. We may be coming into a time where it’s not just people like Castle we have to worry about, but things who have as much or more to lose than we do, but who don’t fucking care any longer. And if that means I need to sometimes carry that load alone so you and the kids can sleep at night, then I will.”
“You don’t think I’m man enough to handle it?”
“No, jeez, Sean, that’s not it at all—”
Sean shoved him, hard, Emery’s knees catching the edge of the bed. He landed on his back, Sean on top of him, pinning his arms over his head.
Sean leaned in close. “Let me tell you something, Alpha dude. I might be your mate, and I might be a human, but I’m father to those kids, and I have a right to know all this shit so I can keep them safe.”
Emery started to reply but Sean silenced him with his mouth, crushing his lips, a brutal, bruising kiss that soon had Emery rocking his hips against Sean.
And his cock had grown hard.
Sean felt a righteous fury of his own burning deep inside him. “Let me tell you something else,” he said. “I’m done with the fucking secrets. So there’s shit in this world I don’t know about. Great. Wonderful. Fucking tell me everything. Because, like it or not, just because we were brought together by accident doesn’t mean that we weren’t meant to be together on purpose. Got it?”
Emery nodded.
He leaned forward and kissed Emery again, fucking his mouth with his tongue. Then he nipped Emery’s lower lip, holding and tugging it until Emery let out a soft whimper of pain. “We are in this together,” he hoarsely said. “And you and Wyatt are going to cut out all the bullshit and let me in on this. Right?”
Emery nodded.
Sean sat up and started working on Emery’s pants. When Emery reached down and tried to help him, Sean slapped his hands away. “I didn’t say you could do that.”
He got Emery’s slacks yanked down past his hips, then he flipped him over and pulled him to the edge of the bed so his ass was at the perfect height and position.
He slapped Emery across the ass, hard and fast, until both cheeks were red and the imprint of his hand was visible there.
Then he reached between Emery’s legs. As he’d figured, his lover’s cock was hard, throbbing, and he’d left a wet spot on the bed from his pre-cum dribbling out.
“That’s what I thought,” Sean rumbled at him. “You know who you belong to, don’t you?”
Emery nodded, his hips already flexing in the air, ass bobbing up and down as his back arched.
Sean grabbed a tube of lube and a butt plug and started lubing it up. “Don’t you dare fucking move or I’ll take a belt to your ass,” Sean warned.
He didn’t miss how Emery’s hands fisted the covers, how he drew in a sharp breath at Sean’s words.
And how the tangy odor of his arousal filled the room.
Sean stripped before he worked the butt plug into Emery’s ass and began spanking him again, until his hand fucking stung and he couldn’t spank him anymore. Then he rolled him onto his back and knelt over him, dangling his balls over Emery’s mouth.
“You know what I want.”
Emery eagerly sucked Sean’s sac into his mouth, moaning, the vibrations rumbling through Sean’s body and making his own cock throb. “Yeah, that’s it,” he whispered. “Big bad Alpha’s ass belongs to me, doesn’t it?”
Emery mumbled an affirmative that only added to Sean’s pleasure.
After a few minutes of that, Sean got off him and flipped him over again, still not letting him strip. He pulled the butt plug out of Emery’s ass and immediately replaced it with his cock, slamming home hard and fast and making Emery moan even more.
Then Sean stopped and pulled Emery to his feet. Standing there, Sean reached around him, one hand on Emery’s cock, the other twisting his nipple ring.
“Come!” Sean ordered.
It was all Sean could do not to explode himself as Emery’s body went rigid. His ass squeezed Sean’s cock and ropy strings of cum shot out his cock all over the bed. Sean pushed him down onto the bed, into the puddle of cum there, and started fucking him hard and fast.
“Come!” Sean ordered again.
Emery moaned, back arching and hips frantically rocking in time with Sean’s movements. But Sean felt the way his ass once again started squeezing his cock and knew he’d forced another one out of him.
Harder, faster, driving him into the bed, Sean’s balls slapped against Emery’s reddened, warm ass cheeks with every stroke. “Come!” he ordered one more time.
His lover gasped, body trembling, a low moan rolling from him as once again Sean felt his orgasm wash through him.
That’s all he could hold back. He quit trying to hold on and let out a satisfied grunt as his balls emptied into Emery’s ass. Then he collapsed on top of Emery and lay there, panting.
Emery started shaking. At first Sean worried he might be crying, but then he realized he was laughing.
“What?” Sean asked.
“I’m thinking maybe we need to add some interrogation scenes into our sexy time,” Emery mumbled from underneath him. “That was fucking hot.”
Sean bit the back of his neck. “Well, I think we both needed it.”
Emery felt behind him until Sean laced his fingers through Emery’s. Emery squeezed. “Thank you,” he softly said. “I know you’re frustrated with everything. I’m sorry I haven’t had time to sit down with you and talk about everything else.”
Sean carefully withdrew his softening cock from Emery’s ass. “Yeah, well, you owe me some time for that. But I think tonight I’m ready to clean up and go to sleep.” He delivered one last stinging swat to Emery’s ass before letting him up.
Emery carefully rolled over and examined the cum stain on the front of his shirt. “I think I need to change the sheets before we go to bed.”
Sean walked into the bathroom. “You’d better, because I’m sleeping on the non-cummy side tonight if you don’t.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“All quiet?” Sean asked Wyatt as he walked downstairs a little before seven that morning, bleary and in search of the source of the delicious fresh-brewed-coffee smell. His nerves felt raw, as if someone had taken a cheese grater to his brain and not let up.
Would life ever return to the blissful boringness they had before? Where he didn’t have to rely on armed guards?
Hell, even his dad had applied for a concealed carry permit and bought a gun.
That was something he’d never thought he’d live to see happen. That his mom had encouraged him to do it proved how out of whack all their lives now were. Only eight days since Olivia and Brad were murdered, and it felt like a year. Emery and Christopher had spent the past two days in West Palm, clearing out Olivia and Brad’s house and would drive a moving truck back later that day.
“All quiet,” Wyatt said. He stood at the counter, sipping from a mug. “It’s fresh and hot,” he said as he pushed an empty mug Sean’s way.
“Thanks.”
“Listen, I need to run home for a little bit. Call me when Em lets you know what time they’ll be back today. I’ll call Gus and let him know so he can help unload.”
“Thanks, man.” He fixed himself a mug of coffee and blew across the top before taking a sip.
Isla came down the stairs, Puppy in one arm, rubbing her eyes with her other hand. “Uncle Wyatt, you’re still here.” She rushed over to him and threw her free arm around his legs.
“Good mornin’, Little ’Un.” He set down his coffee and scooped her up. “Give me sugar.”
She bussed him on the cheek, and he bussed her back, making her giggle. She then held up Puppy, who also got bussed on the top of his head.
�
��You didn’t wake the babies, did you?” Sean asked.
“No, Da. I didn’t go in there.”
“Good girl.”
She reached for him, and Wyatt passed her over. “When’s Daddy coming home?” she asked Sean.
“He and Uncle Christopher should be back later today.” I hope.
“I miss him.”
“Me, too, sweetie.” He set her down. “How about you go upstairs and get dressed and I’ll make us French toast. Okay?”
“Okay.” After getting a kiss from her, he set her down and she headed back upstairs.
Wyatt chuckled. “She sho’ is a cutie. You a lucky, lucky man.”
“Don’t I know it.” He took another sip of his coffee.
Wyatt finished his and rinsed his mug in the sink. He waggled a finger at Sean. “Get that gun, you. Hear me?”
“I don’t understand the point. I can’t legally carry it anywhere else until my permit comes in.”
“That’s why I’m going wit’ you for everything else.” He leveled the finger at Sean. “Unless you want my ass here all de time, you wear that gun when you here alone.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“No, none o’ that bullshit, Sean. Those kids need you alive and in one piece.” He walked over to the door, Sean following. “Lock this, then go up and put it on. Got it?”
“Fine. I will. I promise. Happy?”
“You and those babies being safe, that makes me happy.”
Sean locked the door behind Wyatt. He wondered if maybe they should just think about moving. He’d hate to leave the house, especially since it was on the water, but they had three little kids to think about.
He didn’t want to raise them in an armed encampment, where they could stare at the water all they wanted but never venture outside alone.
He went back upstairs and checked on Isla, who insisted she didn’t need any help, before he headed to his bedroom to throw on clothes suitable to care for kids and unload a moving truck, but that would also hide the gun.
He didn’t like that he now had to go around wearing a gun. He liked it even less with a curious toddler in the house, no matter how she’d seemed to respond when Wyatt explained it to her and showed it to her and made her promise to never touch it.
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