“Here you go. I’m sorry you hit your head, but you shouldn’t have been so stubborn and try to get away.”
Andrew hesitated, but in the end he had to make a decision, and telling the truth hadn’t got him anywhere so far. “I know. I was just scared someone would find out about us.” He raised his hand to his neck and felt for a bite, but there was nothing more than smooth skin and the raised scar of Soren’s bite. “You didn’t claim me.”
A flash of hurt passed in Fred’s eyes. “I would never do that while you’re unconscious. I don’t want to only claim you, I also want to make love to you, and you have to be conscious to do that.”
Thank God, the man seemed to have some ethics. “Oh, okay.” Andrew wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, but he slowly got up, keeping an eye on Fred. “I have to go to the bathroom.”
Fred didn’t try to stop him, but he did grab Andrew’s hand and tugged lightly on it, indicating he wanted Andrew to follow him. He stopped in front of a door in the hallway, and Andrew let out a relieved sigh. He was going to be able to have a few moments to himself. He pushed the door open and slid in, closing it behind him. He didn’t lock it, but he did lean against it so that his weight would stop anyone who tried to get in. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do.
The bathroom was so small he could reach into the cupboards from where he was standing. He moved things around as silently as he could, smiling when he found a pair of scissors. He tucked it into his back pocket, hoping he wouldn’t end up stabbing his own ass then, he flushed the toilet and washed his hands and face, taking care of eliminating all traces of blood from his head. The wound didn’t look too bad, and that was good. It was one less thing to be worried about.
Andrew wanted to stay in the small bathroom until Soren ran to his rescue, but he was stronger than that. He was so not going to play the role of the damsel in distress, even if he was scared to death. He knew he didn’t have many chances against a shifter, but he was going to try anyway, damn it!
After taking one last deep breath, Andrew opened the door, not surprised to see Fred standing there in the hallway. “Feeling better?”
Andrew didn’t know how to answer that, so he just shrugged. “I’ll be fine.”
“Come on. I cooked you something. It’s not much, but you need to keep your strength up for later tonight.”
The glance Fred gave him told Andrew exactly what he was planning for later tonight, but Andrew wasn’t planning to stick around that long. He just had to find the right opening to get out of the house and maybe neutralize Fred. He wouldn’t get far if he didn’t do that.
Andrew followed Fred into the kitchen and immediately noticed the back door. He just hoped Fred hadn’t locked it. Andrew didn’t want to stab him with the scissors he had in his pocket, though. He didn’t want to hurt Fred, even after what the man had done to him, but if it was a choice between the two of them, he would do it without hesitating. He just couldn’t do it in cold blood.
Andrew saw his opening when Fred turned toward the pan sitting on the burner. He rushed to the man’s side, his voice way too high as he said, “I’ll help you cook!”
Fred started to turn toward him, but Andrew was already by his side, his hand grabbing an empty pan that was there on the counter. The thing was heavy as he swung it up toward the bear shifter’s head with all the force he could muster, the thunk as it crashed against it loud in the small room. The pan had been heavy enough to cause some damage, and Fred crumbled on the floor at Andrew’s feet.
Andrew didn’t move. He couldn’t, not right away. His heart was threatening to punch a hole in his chest, but as the minutes ticked by and Fred remained on the floor, Andrew slowly convinced himself that the man really was unconscious. His hand relaxed and the pan clattered on the linoleum, the noise incredibly loud.
Andrew knew he had to take advantage of the time in which Fred was going to be unconscious, so he turned off the burner and reached for the back door, saying a silent thank you when he found it unlocked. The handle turned easily and Andrew stepped into the cool evening.
* * * *
Soren ran after Nate toward the small houses in front of them. They were all the same, with only a tiny bit of space between them and placed in a row of what looked like never ending bricks. It had to be hell to be so close to the neighbors, especially if some of them were noisy. The only things that separated the houses were thin walls, and shifters really needed privacy, which was obviously lacking in this case. The only upside was that the houses looked out to the woods, so a shifter could go there to let out his animal.
Soren shook his head and mentally cursed. Why the hell was he worrying over Andrew’s stalker? It was going to be hard enough as it was to get to the house without anyone seeing them. As Nate suddenly stopped, he looked in the direction in which the jaguar was nodding and felt immediately relieved. Andrew was coming out the door of one of the houses, hurrying toward the woods.
Soren gave a short roar to get his attention and Andrew’s head snapped up, his eyes wide as he tried to see something in the darkness. Soren quickly shifted, not caring about his nudity. He stepped toward Andrew, taking care of getting into his sight but trying to avoid being seen by anyone who could by chance look out a window. It wasn’t an easy thing to achieve, but he really didn’t care, especially when he saw the look of relief and joy on his mate’s face.
Andrew swiftly walked toward their little group and Soren stepped back in the shadows. There was no need to push his luck.
“What took you so long, tiger?” Andrew stood in front of Soren, his hands on his hips and one of his brows raised. He was trying to look cocky, but Soren could read him, perhaps better than Andrew thought he could. He could see the fear and the worry into Andrew’s stance, into the way his hands slightly trembled and his lower lip shuddered.
Soren moved quickly, engulfing his mate into his arms, and Andrew let him. The man clutched at Soren’s waist as if it was a lifeline, finally letting go of the pretense. Silent sobs rose from Andrew’s chest, but his eyes remained dry. Soren stroked his mate’s back, slowly and firmly, murmuring soft words of reassurance until Andrew slowly calmed enough to move a bit away.
The other cats had moved a little farther to give them privacy, but once Dominic saw that Andrew was feeling better, he moved closer and shifted to his human form.
“Shit, this was something I could have done without! Do you really have to flash me all your naked bits?” Andrew said with a scowl, closing his eyes as tight as he could.
Both Soren and Dominic laughed. Andrew was back to his usual snarky self, and Soren hoped it was a good sign that even though this experience had been hard on him, he would be fine now that the stalker had been stopped. “Wait, what happened to your stalker?”
Andrew snorted and waved toward the house he had gotten out of. “I took care of him, what do you think?”
Soren gaped, his jaw nearly hitting his chest, and he saw that Dominic and Nate were very much in the same condition, although in Nate’s case it was pretty funny. The jaguar’s tongue lolled outside his gaping mouth and his eyes were perfectly round. Soren couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped him at the sight, but he quickly went back to the reason for which they were all surprised. “What happened? I mean, I know you’re strong and everything, but the guy was-is a shifter. How did you manage to...”
“Knocked him out. I didn’t kill him.”
Soren nodded and reached for Andrew, since the man looked like he was about to be sick. “You did good, love.”
“I don’t know if I would have been able to kill him, even to protect myself.”
“You don’t have to think about that. You knocked him out and you escaped. Now, are you going to tell us what happened?”
Andrew told them how the stalker had knocked him out at his house, and how he had woken up in the shifter’s room and faked being the man’s mate. “—then I just grabbed the pan and hit him with it.”
<
br /> Soren pressed his lips together. Andrew had been brave and really good at saving himself, but...a pan? “We should get in there and see if the man is still out of it.”
Dominic’s face shifted into his commanding Alpha one and he took the lead, carefully crossing the tiny back yard to the back door. Soren wasn’t sure what would shock people the most if they saw them right now—the two naked men walking around or the jaguar following them. Either way, he was glad when they got to the door and slipped inside. His eyes immediately went to the man lying on the linoleum.
“Hey, that’s douchebag!” Everyone looked at him. “I saw the guy this morning at Andrew’s house. He was going to help install and set up the alarm system, and he looked so pissed that I thought about him as douchebag,” he explained.
Andrew nodded. “His name is Fred, but yes, he was there this morning. He helped Clint, but he also was the one who broke the window.”
Nate had shifted and was tying Fred up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. Bear meat ought to be harder to eat than turkey, though. “You think he broke it on purpose?”
Andrew shrugged. “On purpose or not, it doesn’t change anything. He got in, disarmed the alarm, and took me.”
Soren placed a kiss on his mate’s forehead. “He just didn’t know what he had on his hands with you, huh? You beat him good, love.” That he had. Even from where he was, Soren could see the bump already appearing on the back of Fred’s head. It was going to be a huge one, and it didn’t surprise him since he had noticed the pan on the floor. It was made of cast iron and it looked heavy as hell.
Soren watched as Dominic’s gaze went blank for a few seconds. He so wished he could do that same thing with his mate. He could have known right from the start that something was wrong, and Andrew wouldn’t have had to go through a kidnapping. Soren’s arms clenched around his human mate, which brought him even closer. Andrew didn’t say anything. He just squeezed his own arms around Soren’s waist, silently telling him that he understood what Soren was thinking, and that he was safe.
The air shivered in the small kitchen and Nate hurried out of it, dragging Fred with him. There wasn’t enough space for all of them in there. Only a few seconds later Finn appeared with Nysys, the two men not even stopping before they launched themselves at Andrew. While it was good seeing that Andrew had friends who cared for him, Soren didn’t like the fact that he had to let his mate go, and he couldn’t stop the small growl that escaped him.
Finn turned around from their group hug and glared at him before slapping his naked chest. “Hush. We care for him too, you know?”
It made Soren feel guilty, so he moved to Dominic. “What are you going to do with him?” he asked, jerking his chin at an awakening Fred through the kitchen’s doorway. The man was groaning and trying to move, but he wasn’t able to, not with the way he was tied up.
“I’ll put him in the council’s jail until I can have a meeting with all the council members. We’ll decide together what to do with him, although I’m not sure jail is the right place for him. From what I gathered, he really thinks Andrew is his mate, so I’d like to know if everything is in his head or if somehow someone did something to him.”
It was a scary possibility, especially with what they knew about the Glass Research Company and what it did to shifters and humans. “Even if they did do something to him, the stalking was his own doing.”
Dominic shrugged, and Soren could see the worry on his face. “As I said, we’ll decided together, but we have to know everything before making a decision that could alter the man’s life. He will be punished for the stalking and the kidnapping, but I can’t tell you how yet.”
It made Soren feel both angry and guilty. What if the man really hadn’t been himself? Still, he had hurt Andrew, and Soren couldn’t excuse that.
“I want to go home.” Andrew said behind Soren, and Soren didn’t lose any time gathering his mate in his arms again.
“Dominic, could Finn or Nysys give us a lift home?”
When Dominic nodded, Soren felt Andrew relax in his arms. God, it was so good to have him there again!
* * * *
As Finn shimmered Soren and Andrew away, Andrew was confused. What seemed like a thousand feelings twirled in his head, from residual fear of what could have happened to relief, passing by love for his mate and a deep need to...claim Soren? Andrew had never felt this type of need, like he would die if he didn’t reaffirm his bond with his mate, and while he thought it might be a normal thing to feel for a shifter, he was human, so it just added to the things he was worried about.
He wasn’t going to think about all that right now, though. As soon as Finn waved goodbye and popped away, Andrew turned around and grabbed Soren’s shoulders, pulling him in his arms so fast that Soren stumbled and literally fell forward. Andrew had no problems keeping him on his feet, and while he did see his mate’s eyes widen in surprise, he really didn’t care.
Andrew smashed their lips together, urging Soren’s mouth open with his tongue and conquering it as soon as Soren complied. He took control, and Soren let him. Andrew stroked with his tongue and nipped with his teeth as he tightly hugged Soren to him, his hands sliding down to cup his mate’s ass cheeks.
Soren was still naked, so Andrew easily slipped one of his fingers into his man’s crease to ghost it on Soren’s entrance. The moan coming from his mate’s throat made Andrew feel smug. He was the one giving Soren pleasure, and he was doing so by dominating his man. It still amazed him that Soren could submit to him without problems, without feeling like he should be the one in charge since he was bigger and stronger. The man truly was perfect for Andrew.
“Hey, where did you go?” Soren’s soft voice startled Andrew out of his thoughts and he realized that yes, he had stopped kissing his man. That wasn’t good.
Andrew let his need take him over once more, and this time he wouldn’t allow anything to distract him, not even himself. He was going to shut down his brain for a little while and think only of how good Soren felt plastered to him, how silky his skin was and how hot his mouth felt against his.
He attacked Soren’s mouth once more, teeth clicking together as he squeezed Soren’s ass harder. He had never been so glad not to have a TV in his bedroom, because it meant that when the need hit him, he jacked off in the living room, and the tube of lube hidden in the small table that was placed between the two couches was just what they needed right now.
He pushed Soren toward the couch, taking care to check he wouldn’t stumble on anything. He didn’t want to hurt his mate.
Soren let himself be led, and once they reached the couch, Andrew lightly pushed him. It took only that small push for Soren to fall down on the couch, and while the thing was definitely not as comfortable as Andrew’s bed, the urgency Andrew felt wouldn’t allow him to move this elsewhere. It would have to do, and Soren seemed to understand it.
As Andrew leaned toward Soren, his mate rose up to meet him halfway, their lips meeting in a hungry kiss even as Andrew blindly reached to the side and opened the drawer, his fingers searching for the tube he knew was there. His hand closed on it just as Soren moved, ending the kiss and turning around. He leaned his forearms on the back of the couch and opened his knees on the cushion, effectively exposing himself to Andrew’s hungry gaze, his long blond hair shielding his face from Andrew’s hungry gaze.
“Is this what you want, tiger?”
“For now, yeah. But be ready, because I’m going to claim your ass back as soon as you’re done claiming mine.”
Soren looked at Andrew from above his shoulder, eyes peeking from the curtain of his hair, a smirk on his lips. God, the man was gorgeous, and he was Andrew’s. No one else was ever going to touch him from now on.
Andrew stroked Soren’s spine from nape down, the touch possessive. He wanted to brand his mate, to leave a mark everyone would see, and he smiled when he saw that the bite he had given to Soren yesterday hadn’t completely healed yet. He c
ould see the pink, raised mark, and it oddly looked as if it had scarred.
Andrew reached out and fingered it, loving the way Soren shuddered in response. His man’s pale skin was flushed, telling Andrew he was as excited as he was. Leaning down until his chest was flush with Soren’s back, he reached around his mate, grabbing the hard cock he encountered and relishing in Soren’s low moan. Andrew was just as hard, his own dick nearly painful, and the need to take his mate clawing inside him as if it was a being of its own.
Andrew moved his hand up and down Soren’s erection, unwilling to let go of it even to uncap the tube he still had in his other hand. He solved the problem by opening it with his teeth before gingerly flipping the tube until the opening faced his palm. He squeezed it, getting way too much lube in his hand, but it would have to do. He had no intentions of letting go of Soren’s shaft, not with the way the man was squirming and moaning under him.
Andrew spread the lube on his fingers as well as he could, not caring that his whole hand was now slippery as hell. Once that was done, he reached between Soren’s ass cheeks, seeking the puckered flesh hidden between them with one finger. He massaged the tight star, willing it to open up for him, his other hand never stopping its steady rhythm of ups and downs.
Andrew didn’t wait for Soren’s entrance to relax completely. He couldn’t, not with the craving to possess his mate rising inside him. As he slipped his finger inside Soren’s scorching channel, he kept an eye on his man’s behavior to check if he was hurting him, but Soren’s reaction reassured him. The tiger wanted this as much as Andrew did, and when his back arched and his face moved to face the ceiling for a brief instant, Andrew saw only pleasure on it.
Andrew [Whitedell Pride: 9] Page 10
