Adrian [Whitedell Pride: 8]

by Catherine Lievens

  Adrian wasn’t a virgin, but he’d had only a couple of boyfriends in his twenty-nine years, and none during the past two. He hadn’t wanted to put them the company’s line of fire, but even before that, it wasn’t like he had had a line outside his apartment’s door. He had been told he was too geeky, too lost in his science to be appealing.

  Adrian drifted to sleep still thinking about Soren, and he woke up to his phone chirping on the nightstand, telling him he had a new message. He didn’t even remember putting it there, but he was glad to see it was another text from his tiger friend. He was just saying good night, or in Adrian’s case good morning since he had slept the day away, but it put a smile on Adrian’s lips.

  Joshua wasn’t in the room, so Adrian decided to take his time in the shower. He knew that even if the man didn’t like him he would never abandon him, so he wasn’t worried, and it gave him the time to school his expression and to get his feelings under control. Joshua didn’t want him, he had been very clear. As much as it pained Adrian, Joshua wasn’t the only man on earth, so in time he would find someone who wanted him. It was time for Adrian to let Joshua go.

  * * * *

  Joshua tapped his fingers on the counter. He had awakened only half an hour earlier, and after taking a shower he’d headed out to grab coffee. Adrian had still been asleep, and it wasn’t surprising, since he’d spent what seemed to be hours texting before finally falling asleep.

  Joshua couldn’t help but wonder who the man had been chatting with. He had been tempted to read the texts when he slid the phone from Adrian’s hand in the morning, but he’d resisted. He’d put it on the nightstand and had literally run from the room before he could change his mind.

  Had Adrian met someone? Before or after he’d spent time with the pride? Did he have a boyfriend? Joshua knew he shouldn’t care, that it didn’t concern him in the least, since he had told the man that he didn’t care, but he was unable to stop wondering. It wasn’t only his cat that was spitting and snarling at the idea of someone else touching their mate, making love to him. Joshua was in about the same state. His stomach was churning with jealousy when he thought of seeing his mate in another man’s arms.

  Yeah, he’d been the one to push Adrian away, so he couldn’t blame him for finding someone else, but didn’t Adrian feel the mating pull? Was it that easy for him to be with another, to forget Joshua?

  “Here you go.”

  Joshua attempted to smile at the girl behind the counter, but he didn’t think it had come out right, not with the puzzled look she gave him. He grabbed the two coffees and the bag with the cinnamon rolls and headed out, wondering if Adrian would be awake by now. Maybe he could take a peek at his phone if he was still sleeping.

  The whole situation made him want to hit his head on the wall. He wanted Adrian, but he didn’t want him. He didn’t want Adrian to have another man, but he couldn’t say anything if he did. Talk about twisted plots and soaps. Joshua could give them a run for their money.

  He stopped in front of their room’s door and took deep breath. He had to, if he wanted to survive entering a room that was saturated with both their scents. Joshua could smell Adrian on him even now, his clean scent reminding him of a rainy day. They could snuggle under a blanket and watch the rain fall outside the window—not. Joshua had to remind himself that it was never going to happen, and he actually had to rein his cat in before the animal made him do something he couldn’t do.

  Joshua reached and opened the door, letting out the breath when he saw that Adrian wasn’t in the room. He could hear the shower going and his eyes zeroed in on the phone lying on Adrian’s pillow. His hands itched to grab the thing and check who the mysterious man Adrian had been texting with was.

  He put down breakfast on the small table under the window and froze when he heard Adrian start singing. The sound was muffled by the water and the closed door, so he couldn’t identify the song, but Adrian’s voice...it wrapped around Joshua and wormed its way in his heart, his brain. The sweet sound reached deep into him and even as he tried to ignore the feelings bursting in his chest, he knew that he was falling in love with his mate. He might not ever act on it, but he was in love. It hurt him to hear Adrian so happy because of another man’s words, and he acted without thinking.

  Before he could stop himself or even think about what he was doing, Joshua grabbed Adrian’s phone and used his thumb to bring up the text messages. Thank god it wasn’t password protected—he was going to have to say something about that to Adrian, because it wouldn’t do. Anyone could take the thing and read his messages or his emails.

  He stopped thinking about passwords and security when he read the name of who was making Adrian so happy. Soren. Joshua didn’t move, couldn’t move as he read that a man he had thought was his friend had asked his mate out, had told him that he could have protected him as well as Joshua was. Adrian’s wish that Soren had been his mate instead of Joshua was a direct hit to his heart.

  Joshua was conflicted. He knew that Adrian being with Soren would be good for his...mate, but he didn’t think he could stand seeing the two together. And what happened if Soren found his mate?

  Wait, what the fuck? Was he really thinking about giving Adrian up to Soren? But if he didn’t mate with the man, did he really have the right to say anything about who he was going out with? He knew Adrian wouldn’t remain single for life. It wasn’t fair of him to ask it from Adrian, as much as it hurt him. He had been the one to decide he wouldn’t mate with Adrian, after all.

  Joshua was still lost in his thoughts when the bathroom’s door opened and Adrian stepped out, a cloud of fog following him. He knew he’d been busted with Adrian’s phone in his hand, the screen still illuminated on Soren’s messages. Adrian’s eyes immediately went to the phone and he crunched his nose.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Joshua?” Adrian didn’t move to take the phone, though. He just stood there, the only thing covering him a towel held up low on his hips and a few drops of water still glistening on his chest. He crossed his arms on his chest and arched a brow at Joshua, making him feel like a kid who hadn’t done his homework and was being scolded.

  Joshua dropped the phone on the bed and desperately racked his brain to find a good reason he could have taken Adrian’s phone. He couldn’t come up with one, so he decided to go down the honesty road. “I wanted to know who you were messaging with last night.” Or rather this morning, but it didn’t really matter.

  “And why on earth would you care?”

  “I...I don’t know. I just care, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  Adrian tsked and stalked to Joshua, grabbing the phone from the bed. “Really? You don’t want me to get hurt? Why? You’re the one hurting me in the first place, so does it mean that you can hurt me but no one else can?”

  “I...no, I don’t want anyone to hurt you, not even me.”

  “Yeah, well, who I talk to, go out with or even have sex with is nothing that should bother you. You don’t want me, but someone else does, and hell if I’m going to be a monk because you decided you couldn’t mate with me without even explaining why that was!”

  Joshua’s blood boiled when Adrian mentioned sex and his mind created an image that he would gladly have done without. He could see them, Adrian and Soren, entangled together on a bed, naked as they writhed together, their skin gleaming. He felt the anger rising and he couldn’t seem to stop himself when he reached for Adrian, who was still standing so close to him that he could feel the heat pouring out of him.

  Joshua grabbed Adrian’s wrist and pulled, moving fast as he slung his mate on the bed and plastered himself against Adrian’s still damp body. He mashed their mouths together in a heated kiss, demanding that Adrian submit to him. He knew it was too raw, too hard to be their first kiss, but just like everything else that had to do with Adrian, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from demanding.

  He growled when Adrian didn’t kiss him back, and i
t seemed to jolt the man from his stupor. Adrian started to push against Joshua’s chest, but the only thing he achieved was to move the towel that covered up his legs. Joshua wished he could feel all that pale skin under his, but this might be the only kiss he would ever exchange with his mate, so he pushed his tongue inside Adrian’s mouth, stroking it against the man’s own tongue as he coaxed it inside his mouth. Adrian shuddered beneath him and Joshua felt him starting to respond, his tongue snaking out to lick at Joshua’s. He groaned, taking his mate’s taste in and trying to send everything to memory. It hurt him to think that this would be his only memory of being somehow intimate with the one man who was perfect for him. For the first time since meeting Adrian, Joshua wondered if old resentment was really a good enough reason to deny himself his mate.

  Chapter Three

  Adrian wasn’t sure what had happened. One second he was standing up near the bed, ranting against Joshua and his god damned nosiness, and the next he was flat on the bed, the heavy weight of his mate’s body flush against him and Joshua’s tongue in his mouth. What the fuck?

  Not that he was complaining, not right now. Adrian knew very well that he would regret the kiss once it was over, not because he didn’t want to kiss Joshua but because Joshua didn’t want to kiss him, not really. He, on the other hand, was in heaven. He just knew that he was going to remember this for the rest of his life. This was perfection—the way in which their bodies molded against each other as if they belonged, the way Joshua’s scent surrounded Adrian, the way his lips were soft yet demanding on his mouth.

  He surrendered. There was nothing else he could do, nothing else he wanted to do. If this was going to be their only kiss, Adrian wanted to make the most out of it. He opened his mouth, shuddering when Joshua’s flavor hit his tongue, engraving itself in Adrian’s brain. Yeah, there was no way he would ever forget this.

  Adrian tentatively stroked Joshua’s tongue with his own, relieved and overjoyed when the man kissed him even deeper. He felt as if any second now, Joshua would realize what was happening. Then he would jump up and once again put the distance Adrian hated so much between them.

  Adrian gripped Joshua’s shoulders as he tried to get even closer. He wanted skin, but he knew that if they were to separate, Joshua would come back to his senses, and he didn’t want to risk it. He sucked and licked into his mate’s mouth until air became a necessity. Only then did their lips leave each other’s.

  Adrian looked at Joshua’s face, and the man had never been so sexy. His cheeks were flushed, his lips red and swollen, his eyes gleaming with lust. Adrian held his breath, waiting for the nth rejection, so he wasn’t surprised when Joshua bolted from the bed so fast Adrian wouldn’t have been able to follow the move if he hadn’t been a shifter.

  Adrian sighed and stood up too, reaching down to grab the towel when he felt it slip. He had to get dressed—now. He was feeling too vulnerable like this, practically naked. He knew his chest was flushed—it always was when he was horny—and the whole situation made his blush even worse. And there was the small detail of the tent his cock created from under the towel. “That was...interesting.”

  Joshua grunted as he busied himself with the bags, pushing clothes into them without looking at Adrian. Yeah, he had seen this coming, but he couldn’t help the pain that grabbed his heart and twined around it. It had somehow dwindled thanks to Soren, but now it was back in full force, and it nearly took Adrian’s breath away. “Look, we can just ignore what happened. I know you didn’t mean anything by it, that it was just your reaction when you found out someone else was interested in your mate. I get that. Just...you don’t want me, so you don’t have the right to tell me who I can or can’t talk with.”

  Adrian grabbed his phone and wished he could talk to Soren right now. He desperately needed a friend, but he knew everyone was probably asleep right now. They had slept until late, and they needed to get back on the road. Adrian wanted to get to the pride as soon as they could, because the rest of the trip was going to be hell.

  It turned out he was right, just not about why it was going to be so bad. Sure, it wasn’t easy to be in such a small space with the man who didn’t want him, his scent twirling around the car and imprinting itself into Adrian’s pores, but things became even worse when Joshua noticed a car following them. They weren’t far from Whitedell by then, just an hour or so, but it was still long enough for the company’s thugs to hurt them.

  Adrian turned to look at the car and wondered once again how on earth they had found him. He had left the phone he used for work at the lab, he hadn’t used his credit cards, not even to fuel the car, and the room they had slept in had been booked under Joshua’s name.

  “Call Dominic and tell him where we are. Maybe he can ask Nysys to shimmer someone in,” Joshua said handing his phone to Adrian.

  Adrian had no idea who Nysys was, but if he or she was able to shimmer, then it had to be a Nix.

  “Joshua?”

  “Uh, no, it’s Adrian. Joshua is driving right now, but we’re being followed.”

  “Okay, do you think he can pull to the side of the road or something? I don’t want Nysys to shimmer into a moving car, too dangerous.” It made sense.

  Joshua nodded after Adrian asked him if he could, and he stayed on the phone while Joshua looked for a good place to stop. He could hear people talking on the other side of the line but he wasn’t really listening, too preoccupied by what was happening. That was why Adrian was startled when he heard Soren’s voice. “Adrian?”

  “Oh! Soren. Hi.”

  “Are you okay?”

  Adrian saw the glance Joshua shot him. The force of the feelings he conveyed in that one small glance made him shiver. He realized that while he might be able to go out with another man, he would never completely forget those burning eyes. Joshua would always have a place in his heart. “I’m fine, for now. I don’t know how they managed to find us, though.”

  “I’ll be bringing something to check your luggage. Maybe they placed a microchip in something of yours.”

  Shit. Adrian hadn’t thought about that when he’d packed. He just hoped the chip was in something he owned and not on him. He had had to pass several physical examinations when he had started to work for the company, so they could have placed one in him if they had wanted to.

  “Adrian?” Dominic’s voice asked.

  “Yes?”

  “Tell Joshua that we found you a safe place to stop. It’s a safe house.” Dominic rattled the address and Joshua nodded to let Adrian know he’d heard it, then he accelerated. They had to lose the tail before stopping, and the house wasn’t that far from where they currently were, so they didn’t have that much time.

  Joshua was good, though, and after only ten minutes Adrian had already lost sight of the SUV that had been behind them for miles. It took them a little longer to get to the house, since Joshua was making sure they weren’t being followed anymore, but they finally arrived.

  The house was big and dark, but as soon as Adrian let Dominic know they had stopped, he saw the air shimmer not far away from the car. It was barely visible in the cold dawn light, but it was there, so he wasn’t surprised when seconds later a pink haired guy, the same one that had been present when Jared had examined Adrian, shimmered with Soren, Ward and Casey. The Nix disappeared right away, but Adrian didn’t have the time to wonder about him because the door on his side of the car was opened and he was suddenly engulfed in warm arms.

  A low growl came from behind him as he was lifted from the car, but Soren didn’t seem to care about Joshua’s reaction, not this time. He snapped his teeth at Joshua. “You don’t have a say in this, Josh. You made it clear.”

  Soren didn’t even stay long enough to hear Joshua’s answer, if there was one. He lifted Adrian in his arms and stalked to the door of the safe house, opening it with the keys and turning the light on. He moved swiftly and deposited Adrian in one of the chairs in what looked like a kitchen, although th
e room clearly wasn’t finished yet since it was missing most of the cupboards and the appliances.

  “Are you okay?” Soren’s hands cupped Adrian’s face, and while he liked the feeling of someone caring for his well-being, he also felt a bit of unease, as if Soren shouldn’t have been doing this. Damned mate bond.

  Still, Soren was his friend, so he nodded to him before sinking into his warm embrace. It was nice to be held once in a while.

  * * * *

  Joshua had to stop himself from running after his so-called friend and his mate. He had watched as Soren had hugged Adrian and as he had picked him up and taken into the home, and as Soren had said, he didn’t have a say in it. He could growl and snarl all he wanted, but until he decided to give Adrian a chance, he couldn’t protest. The disapproving glances Ward and Casey were giving him didn’t help, so he growled at them, but neither of them looked impressed or scared. Damn, Joshua was losing his touch! “What?”

  Casey shook his head as they started taking out Adrian’s stuff from the car and passing a small electronic thingy above them. “I don’t get you. If Oliver was able to forgive him, why can’t you? It’s not like he did it because he liked it or for the money. He did it to save his brother, and what’s more he just quit, even knowing that they will probably kill Gabriel.”

  Joshua sighed. No one apart from Dominic knew what had happened with Delilah. Sure, they were his friends, but he hadn’t told anyone. Maybe now was the right moment to do it. Maybe they could help him get over whatever it was that was keeping him away from Adrian. He didn’t fully understand it himself, to be honest. Sure, there was the fact that Adrian had worked for the company and had experimented on shifters, but Joshua would have done the exact same thing for Delilah. He would have even killed without a problem or regrets for her.

  He also knew that Adrian had nothing to do with what had happened to his sister. The man had been a newborn at the time, and of course Joshua didn’t blame him for it.