Broken Pieces

by Deja Black

  “Deborah, I’ll always be that man for you, always be your big brother.”

  “I know. I just had a... moment. I’m not perfect.”

  “No one is.”

  “But not being perfect doesn’t mean I have the right to doubt you, either. You’ve never failed me.” There were tears in her words, and they were breaking his heart. He never wanted her to cry. Couldn’t stand it when she did.

  “I hope I never will, sweetheart. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Just know I love you no matter what.”

  “I know.” She sighed. “Well, I’m glad that’s over.”

  “Me, too.” When they were finished, Remi had a new recipe and a smile that warmed his heart.

  Now, Remi stood in the glow of his refrigerator contemplating salad items for dinner. Deciding to wait until later to try Deborah’s bourbon chicken recipe, he reheated leftovers instead. He was surprised when he heard knocking at his front door. Wiping his hands, he headed toward the door. His guest was impatient, knocking harder the closer he got to the door

  He didn’t bother to look, just opened it half wishing it was Peter eager to see him, but he didn’t know where Remi lived having never been there before. Who did stand there on the other side was a shock in itself. Blue eyes burned at him with an intensity he hadn’t felt from Peter’s right-hand man before. His Native American features stood out, the tanned skin brilliant against the black tuxedo he wore.

  “Remi.”

  “Caleb. Why are you here?”

  “There’s no time for that right now. You’re needed.”

  “Needed?” Remi’s heart raced. “Peter?”

  “Yes, right now. We have to go.”

  “Okay, let me get my keys.” Whatever was wrong, it was enough to make Caleb Waneek come to his door. If he was here that meant Peter needed him.

  “No, I have my car. It’s faster than that tank you drive.”

  Raising an eyebrow at that, he huffed and said, “All right. Better you drive since you know the way.” Snatching his wallet and his keys from the table in front of the door, he charged after Caleb out into the night.

  Caleb’s Audi hugged the road as he took curve after curve, in complete control of its movements.

  Remi noticed Caleb’s eyes glanced over to him repeatedly.

  “I hope you are worth it—worth him,” Caleb said quietly.

  “I hope so, too. He must think so if he sent you after me.”

  Caleb grunted.

  “You must think so, too, if you were willing to come and get me.”

  “I did as ordered. My opinions are negligible.” The last words were dragged between clenched teeth.

  “Come on, Caleb. If you thought I couldn’t be who Peter needs, you wouldn’t have come for me no matter who ordered you to.” Remi pressed his lips together, then spoke. “I’ve wondered something, though.”

  “Yes.”

  “Earlier Kristoff mentioned filling my role. Know anything about that? My role?”

  Caleb was quiet for a moment, his gaze focused on the road ahead. When Remi had given up on receiving an answer, Caleb said, “Family. We’re a family, Remi, one that you need to be ready to take your place in.”

  “My place?”

  Caleb’s look was tense, noticeably opposed to saying anything further. He’d wait him out. Remi didn’t get anywhere by rushing a suspect. Take time, draw them out. They’ll offer more on their own.

  Time flew by at warp speed until they arrived in the hilly outskirts of Louisville. Traversing the mountainous rise, Caleb’s car climbed and climbed.

  “Your place at Peter’s side as his Supruga. You will give him what we all need,” Caleb said.

  Remi turned toward him, but Caleb pulled through an open gate, killed the engine, and opened his door to hurriedly step out.

  “Hurry, Detective. Your fate awaits.”

  He had a moment to look around and realized he must be on the Tolliver compound which was confirmed by Kristoff Dumanovsky standing at the entrance. Remi poured himself from Caleb’s low-riding sports car and stood to greet his lover’s uncle who watched him with sharp eyes.

  He’d passed the first hurdle, because Kristoff strode toward him, his hand outstretched. His grip was strong and would have been crushing if Remi wasn’t prepared to bear the tension he felt there. Kristoff appeared colossal now, larger than before.

  “Remi, you are here. Come. Your mate awaits and now you must prove your worth.” There was the proving again. What was going on?

  Remi followed Kristoff into the home. As he walked by, a man with midnight blue-black hair and a gray streak stood watch. Kristoff bowed to him as he passed. There was a slight nod of acknowledgment from the other man.

  Remi felt an awareness, power sliding over him. Jeremiah Tolliver. Pay attention to your instinct. His grandmother made him remember that, drummed it into him daily, and he recognized the need for that piece of advice right now.

  Remi looked around the massive home. Paintings were hanging on every wall, including photos he believed were Peter’s. Along with the upscale wooden furniture, wall hangings from another century were draped nearby.

  There were people everywhere surrounded by huge dogs or—fuck—wolves, in a house that was easily three or four times the size of his own home. Hell, he understood the need for animals as security but fucking wolves. That was taking it too far.

  The animals were alert, though, ready with ears perked up. There was something here that had gotten their dander up, and that something stood behind a substantial wooden door, growling loud, warming the blood in Remi’s veins.

  His body recognized it, the tone, the need and he was helpless to stop himself as he approached the closed door. He needed to be in there. He looked around at the wolves who moved closer.

  He heard a voice he recognized and looked up. Walking down the stairway was Aiden Kavanagh, the one he’d played basketball with only days before. “Yes, they are wolves, Remi. They won’t harm you. They belong to Caleb, and by way of proxy, you. But, you don’t have time to worry for your wolves. You need to get to your mate.”

  “My mate?” he questioned.

  “He is right, son. Peter needs you right now. He is too strong and the current running through him too intense. Before long, he will start clawing his own eyes out to part himself from the struggling creatures within,” Jeremiah responded.

  Kristoff asked Aiden, “Did you try? What if this is not the right thing to do?”

  “Yes, I tried. You are preternatural, so is Peter, and I am a Sandman. Remember my ability is for the human world, not those beyond it. I have no control over Peter.”

  “But with the mixture of blood drinker and wolf, I thought somehow he would—”

  “Would be open to me? No, Kristoff. Even if I could attract the human blood—were he to drink it—I cannot stop him from imploding.” Aiden moved closer. “I am not your Goddess. And, before you ask, Shelly has tried to reach him, too. There is no one here that can get through that haze. Allow Remi to try. If there is anything I can hear at all, it is this man’s name, again and again, screaming through Peter’s consciousness.”

  Remi didn’t need Kristoff’s permission. He was moving toward the door. I need to get in there. His heart was racing, urged on by the agonizing bellows of the creature on the other side. He ached to be closer to Peter, felt his need so much it flailed against his own spirit. He was desperate to get to him, the anguish writhing beneath his skin.

  “That urgency you feel is for your mate. It’s your pull to Peter,” Caleb said.

  That pull was tearing him apart. He needed to see Peter, touch him, would die if he didn’t get to him right now.

  “That boiling you feel in your blood, the way you feel like your heart will explode if you’re not there, all of that is answering our Korol’s call.”

  Remi barely registered what Caleb was saying. In his head, he heard Peter calling for him, his name a repeate
d chant, drenched in terrible bone-crunching need. He staggered, the weight of Peter’s hunger so heavy.

  “Remi!” His name was a roar, the pain in that cry unbearable. Unable to hold back any longer and using Caleb as support, he approached, slamming his hand against the cold door.

  “Peter!” He shouted. “Come on, baby. I’m here. Argh.” A wave of pain crashed over him as Peter’s need crested again. The growls were louder as he stood before the heavy wooden door, locked on the outside, barred.

  “What?” Remi asked as he touched the cold metal of a bar across the door.

  “It is for his protection. The door also has iron wrought within to keep him inside.”

  “What is wrong with you people? Are you torturing him?” Now, Remi shook the bar, the weight of the beam nearly impossible to move on his own.

  “Doing to him?” Kristoff shook his head then shouted, “Peter, my nephew. I have your mate.”

  The roar following made the walls tremble in its wake.

  “What the fuck is that?”

  “Remi, I’ve watched you tremble every time he has called to your soul. As you’ve said, you’re a detective. Go with your gut.” Kristoff turned back to the door. “Peter, your mate is here. Back away from the door. Back away from the door, please, Peter. I won’t let him in if you don’t step back.”

  Harsh breaths rushed on the other side, grunts as a body slammed itself against the door. The door bending underneath the onslaught. A roar sounded again. Then, heavy footsteps moved away, snarls and snaps accompanying them.

  “Open it. Let me in.” It took two men wearing gloves to move the bar, and then the door was opened. Remi stepped in.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  He barely saw him in the shadows. He was immense, his arms and legs long, his upper torso outsizing Remi. This man that stood in the dark? It couldn’t be Peter. Shouldn’t be. But, it was, and he needed Remi. Remi felt it in his bones, in the way his heart beat.

  He moved closer, reached out for him. He was covered in hair layered over an impressively muscled body. Enormous shoulders bowed out from a frame that would probably crush a person on the wrong end of those hands. His head was lowered, hidden but he looked up sharply when Remi neared him.

  Blue eyes pierced him, tracking his movement, then his mouth opened to reveal fangs that were long and thick. Remi had no doubt that delicate flesh subjected to those weapons ripped apart with ease.

  But, instead of being afraid, Remi was drawn to him. He wasn’t stupid. The creature observing him hungrily should inspire fear, should make him feel the need to run and get the hell out of there. Yet he was compelled to move closer, to touch him. There was a glow over the creature’s body, light racing over and around him as Remi drew closer.

  “Shit,” he murmured.

  Peter stepped back further.

  “S’il te plait mon amour. Ne cachez pas. Please, my love. Do not hide.”

  Peter cocked his huge head to the side, the fangs covering his lips catching the light from the lamp on a table near the armchair. He didn’t move though, just breathed heavily.

  Remi stumbled when he felt the floor move, the heat rising in the room. But, rather than focus on the strange illumination pouring off Peter, he focused on his lover. Carefully, he stepped forward, his hands out to calm his magnificent beast.

  A heady scent wafted from Peter, one that made Remi want to wrap himself in it, cover himself with it.

  But, first? First, he had to get near enough to his love in order to make that happen.

  A low growl rose from Peter, a warning.

  “You won’t hurt me, baby. You need me. Need this man who can’t wait to get his hands all over you, touch that big sweet body of yours. You want me? Want to have me, don’t you big guy? I want it, too. Need it. Come on, mon amour, my love,” he purred to his big man.

  “I don’t know if you realize what you’re asking here, Remi. He wants you, may want more than you’re ready to give.”

  Remi heard Caleb, but the scent of Peter was too strong. It was clouding his mind, and the only thing he could think of was making himself available to his lover. Filling that yearning that crashed into him again and again, fingers of energy grasping his arms and legs.

  Without turning around, he shouted, “Shut the door.”

  “You need to listen to us.”

  “I’m here. He needed me, you got me, and I’m here. Shut. The. Fucking. Door.”

  Remi didn’t look back. He heard the door click, the lock settle into place. Peter’s green eyes, more animal than man, danced toward the closed door then back to him.

  “Yes, baby. Just you and me. Come on.” Suddenly, Peter was there, next to him, surrounding him.

  He was immense, so damned strong as he rubbed against Remi, marking him with his scent. He saw his face better now, elongated with the muzzle of a wolf, but the fangs that showed, those were completely unique.

  Electric current rode Remi as gripping hands tore his shirt away, lips slid down the side of his neck, a large cock pressed against his belly. His own dick pulsing now, wetting his briefs, was just as eager to get to Peter, and Remi would die if he didn’t get more of him all over.

  “Hungry, baby?” Remi looked up to Peter because, at his own height, Peter was now towering over him. “I want to kiss you, Peter, want to taste those lips of yours, but that dental work you’re rocking right now? It’ll make things difficult. Let’s go slow here.”

  A grunt indicated the message was received and with Remi held tightly in his arms, Peter bent to taste him.

  Peter’s long tongue poked in between his lips, pressing itself beyond Remi’s teeth. The muscle slurped at the inside of Remi’s mouth, sliding back and forth fucking him. Remi’s dick doubled in size, and his breath came in harsh gasps when he was able to take in air.

  Claws bit into his shoulder, then his ass, lifting him, tugging Remi toward him. His nerve endings all but sizzled as the ebb and flow of Peter’s spirit roiled through him. Unable to do anything else, he opened his legs and wrapped himself around the massive hairy figure gripping him.

  When his mouth was empty long enough, he panted, laying his head against one of Peter’s shoulders. That was the only time he had before he was walked over to a bed and thrown on top of it.

  He looked up to see Peter standing before him, cock in hand squeezing and stretching while he angled his head, his eyes hungry. Light blazed over fur revealing his Peter who looked at him with glaring blue eyes, eyes that were once a crisp green. It was Peter, and then it wasn’t.

  He stood tugging, the glistening pre-cum on his dick making Remi thirsty for a taste. He was incredible, man or beast. To think all of this was contained in that slim package waiting to overwhelm him, command him. It was a kink he didn’t know he had.

  “Come on big guy, let me taste that dick of yours. You’re fucking huge, so I need to take baby steps, but I’m willing if you are.” Peter growled, gave his dick one last pull and climbed on the bed, a bed that was more than big enough to take the two of them.

  “They thought of you when they made this bed, didn’t they? Or, do they all come in your size?” Remi groaned when the spongy head of Peter’s dick made it to his mouth. Peter’s thighs, still massive, spread on either side of his neck, his hands wrapping around Remi’s skull.

  “Suck me, mate.”

  Damn, the first words Remi had heard, and he was eager to follow their demand. He opened wide, grunting when Peter shoved his cock in.

  Covering his teeth with his lips, he slurped and groaned taking thrust after thrust, greedy for Peter’s dick, as much as he could take. He’d watched a few videos, done some research, but nothing prepared him for the face fucking he was getting right now.

  Thrust after thrust and all Remi could do was moan wantonly. He looked up to see Peter’s gaze bearing down on him. Eyes still a bright sapphire blue. Remi looked for the eyes he knew, but they were too far gone. The animal was there
now taking him, spearing his flesh into his throat, again and again.

  “Wider,” Peter growled.

  Remi didn’t want to drown in his cum, but he opened wider as requested, prepared to do just that. Peter groaned, pumping faster and shouted his release. Fragrant seed flooded his mouth, poured over his lips and trailed down his neck. Peter’s iron grip didn’t ease though, and he moaned as his still hard dick smeared sticky cum over Remi’s lips and across his chin.

  Remi hadn’t realized he’d closed his eyes until he looked up and saw the face of his Peter, not the wolf, not the magnificent creature with daggers for fangs that just blew his mind, but his lover. Peter looked down at him, his smile tentative.

  “Guess we need to talk?”

  “Oh, you better believe it, sweetheart.”

  * * * *

  Peter couldn’t believe Remi wasn’t running out of here screaming. To have him here, beneath him, their lips slammed together while they kissed, Peter tasting his own essence in his lover’s mouth?

  It was like having every prayer answered, every dream fulfilled. But, was this real? Or, was Remi in shock and just hadn’t come to grips that this wasn’t a fantasy? Peter returned to his human form, but he wasn’t finished. He couldn’t let Remi leave without fully claiming him when they’d only just begun.

  “Mm, Peter. Baby, baby. Oh. Damn,” Remi groaned when Peter wrapped his fingers around his hard dick, squeezing and dragging. He ran his thumb under the glans, swiping up the cum that spilled earlier.

  “Talk, baby. We have to talk,” Remi managed to get out.

  “Now?” Already, Remi’s scent was changing, his body taking in Peter’s essence.

  “Oh. Right now.” Remi leaped over him, bending to kiss him gently on his nose. “Shower, first. Then, talk.”

  “Okay,” Peter responded. How much would his human want to know? How much was he ready to hear?