As the infirmary emptied, Adrian wondered if he should go and find his mate, but then his thoughts were sidetracked by one of the lists Isaiah had obtained from the company. It was a list of various experiments that had been done, but that wasn’t the reason Adrian was feeling so sad. Even if he had managed to somehow help Troy, he couldn’t forget that he’d been unable to help his own brother. He couldn’t help but wonder if Gabriel was still alive. What if he was and Adrian was here, all comfy in his new home with his new mate? What more could he have done to find him?
He had never felt so impotent. Even if he managed to find out where Gabriel was, what was he going to do? He was a scientist, not a warrior. But...he wasn’t alone anymore, was he? He had Joshua now, and he knew his mate would do anything he could to help him.
Adrian stood up and hurried out of the room. He hadn’t checked with Isaiah yet today, but maybe today was going to be the day, the one in which he finally found Gabriel.
* * * *
“Where?”
“He’s in Alliance. The guy Gareth talked with was a guard there until a few months ago. Gabriel could have been moved, but Gareth told me that since you guys have been attacking labs they try to avoid moving the people around, so there’s a good possibility you’ll find him there.”
Denver nodded at John before looking at Joshua. “I’ll talk with Dominic. I expect you to be ready to leave at eleven PM. That way we’ll be there by two AM.”
Joshua nodded to Denver, then exited the cabin. He had to find Adrian. It was already five PM, so he had six hours to be with his mate until he had to leave, and he had to tell him they had found his brother. He didn’t know what condition the man would be in, but he was alive. They could work with that.
“Joshua, wait!” Denver called from behind him. He stopped and waited for his superior. “John told me something I think you should know.” The news Denver delivered horrified Joshua, and he knew he absolutely had to find Adrian. He would have to make preparations for his brother, and he probably would want to come with them. Joshua wouldn’t have let him in normal circumstances, but after what he had just learned, he knew he would let Adrian come.
He tried the infirmary but Adrian wasn’t there, so he decided to go back to their room and call him. He sat down on the couch and waited for his mate to come back, scared to death that this would change something between them. He knew Adrian still blamed himself for what he had been forced to do to save his brother and for the fact that Gabriel had been kidnapped in the first place, but now that Gabriel had been...what would Adrian do?
“Joshua? What’s wrong? I was looking for you.”
“Come here, angel.” Joshua held his arms out for his mate and waited for him to settle in his lap. “We found your brother.”
“What? Where is he? Is he okay?” Joshua had to grab Adrian’s hips to keep him in place. The man was trying to get up, probably to run wherever Gabriel was.
“We don’t have recent news, but I’m leaving tonight to retrieve him. He’s in Alliance, so we should be back by morning.”
“Okay, explain everything, please. I can see that something is wrong, and I’m going to assume the worst if you don’t tell me what it is.”
“The person who told us where Gabriel is last saw him about two months ago. Gabriel is...well, he’s fine, but they experimented on him, angel.”
Adrian paled as he covered his mouth with his hand. “Oh my god, what have I done?”
Joshua held him tighter, even when he started to try to move away. “You haven’t done anything. You did all you could for Gabriel, and it’s not your fault. They started experimenting right away, angel. Even if they told you he was fine, he really wasn’t.”
“What did they do to him?” Adrian asked from where Joshua was pressing him into his chest.
“We think they spliced his DNA, but they did something wrong. Gabriel is not a shifter, at least not completely. He’s stuck between two forms. The man Gareth talked with said that Gabriel looks mostly human, but he also has a tail, and his ears are those of a tiger. His hands are permanently clawed and his eyes are a cat’s.”
“I have to help him!” Adrian scrambled to his feet and this time Joshua let him go.
“We’re leaving at eleven PM.”
“You’re letting me come?” Adrian’s face would have been funny if the situation had been less tragic.
“Yes. I know how important this is for you, and you’re an adult. You can make your own decisions, and I’ll accept them even if I don’t like them. You’ll have to talk to Denver and ask him if you can come, though, but I’ll support whatever decision you take.”
Adrian was looking at him, his eyes big and his skin still a little pale. He had such hunger in his eyes that Joshua knew what was coming. His mate needed him, needed his closeness and his presence to reassure him that even though he had done terrible things, he was still loved. He needed someone to ground him until the time came for them to head out to Alliance, to help him not become crazy with worry. Joshua was going to give Adrian exactly what he needed.
He reached out and took Adrian’s glasses off, putting them down on the coffee table, then he grabbed his man, pulling him on the couch and pinning him down. He crashed their mouths together, and even if Adrian tried to protest at first, he soon surrendered to the heat between them.
Joshua used his tongue to make his mate forget everything that wasn’t them, pushing it into Adrian’s mouth and taking possession of it as he stroked his man’s tongue with his own. His hands were already pulling at Adrian’s clothes, not caring that he was tearing them. He could buy more if Adrian needed them.
He stopped tugging and tearing only when Adrian was naked under him, his chest heaving and his eyes glazed over by passion. Adrian didn’t protest the rough treatment—if anything, he seemed to relish it. He tilted his head to the side, submitting to Joshua and making his leopard yowl in answer.
The damn cat was so pleased that Joshua was surprised he wasn’t purring, even if he was in his human form. Joshua’s hands trembled slightly when he reached for Adrian’s cheek, cupping it and stroking his thumb on his lower lip. “Beautiful angel.”
Adrian linked his hands around Joshua’s neck. “Hold me, Joshua. Make me yours, always.”
How could Joshua resist this? He leaned down, plastering his body against Adrian’s from thighs to lips and devoured his mate’s mouth. The frenzy had ebbed a little, but the love between them was almost palpable, and Joshua realized that yes, he did love Adrian with all his heart. Maybe it wasn’t the right time to tell him, maybe it was still too soon, but he couldn’t contain the feelings and the words that rushed out of him as he separated their lips. “I love you, angel.”
Adrian’s eyes widened, but the soft smile that played on his lips showed that he was happy at the confession. Joshua held his breath, wondering if Adrian was going to tell him too, to reciprocate the words. He knew his mate had to feel love for him, or if not love, something very close, but maybe he wasn’t ready to tell him. “I love you too, Joshua. Now make love to me, please?”
This time it was Adrian who reached for his lips, who initiated the kiss. It wasn’t as hard and demanding as before, but it conveyed everything they were feeling.
Joshua searched for the lube they had stashed somewhere between the couch cushions, finding it even if Adrian was working on making him crazy with lust. The man was nipping at his jaw, at the cords of his neck, licking the sting away before starting again right away.
Joshua made quick work of opening the lube bottle and slicking his fingers. He found Adrian’s opening without problems, circling the puckered entrance before sliding one finger in. It went in effortlessly, and while the position wasn’t the most comfortable one, Joshua had no intentions of moving. He was enjoying Adrian’s lips on his, his teeth sinking into the sensitive flesh of his upper body. They had discovered that Adrian was quite the biter in bed, and he had no problems being his mate’s c
hew toy whenever he wanted.
The one finger quickly became two, then three. Joshua was trying to be gentle, but the need was building in both of them, and his patience had reached its end. This was going to be rougher than usual, and with the way Adrian was digging his blunt nails into his shoulders, the man was more than ready to be taken.
Joshua took Adrian’s lips into a deep kiss before slipping his fingers out of him and putting his aching cock into position. He pushed in slowly, the urgency leaving replaced by love and tenderness. Adrian was having none of it, though, and he hooked his legs around Joshua’s waist, using them to pull on him and slam him all the way in.
Joshua understood what his lover wanted, so he pushed his hands under Adrian’s shoulders, plastering them together as he set a punishing pace. He pounded into his mate, basking in Adrian’s sweet sighs and groans as he barreled toward release.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but suddenly Adrian’s back was bowing as he clutched at Joshua’s shoulders, his head snapping up and his teeth embedding into Joshua’s neck as he came, flooding the space between them. Joshua’s orgasm exploded, sudden and unexpected and he couldn’t resist sinking his own teeth into Adrian and reasserting their bond. They did it every time they made love, because it felt right.
His cock emptied into his mate’s channel, the jets spurting in time with the pulls Adrian took from Joshua’s neck. He held Adrian tight, not caring that the cum between them was already cooling, not caring that he was still in his mate. He just held Adrian as his angel started to sob, crying for what he had done to save his brother, for what he could have done instead, and for the pain Gabriel had gone through.
Chapter Seven
Adrian twisted his fingers together, too nervous to stay still but unable to actually get up and walk off the stress.
He had been surprised that both Denver and Dominic had given him the authorization to go with the team that was raiding the lab right now. Well, he had been even more surprised at Joshua’s easy acceptance of it. He’d thought his mate would have acted like most of the alpha males did with their mates—they bitched and growled before forbidding to their smaller mates to put themselves in danger. Instead Joshua had understood why Adrian had to go with him, why he needed to be with his brother as soon as they managed to get him out.
He didn’t know what he could do to help Gabriel. He would have to examine his brother, to find out what the damn scientists had done wrong for him to be stuck mid-shift, and he couldn’t do that until they went home. He could show Gabriel how much he cared for him, though, and that was the reason he was there. He was going to help with the liberated shifters and humans, but most of all he was there for Gabriel.
They were taking too long, though. Adrian looked at his watch, and when he saw that only half an hour had passed, he cursed. He didn’t know if it was too long or not, but it had seemed like hours instead of a handful of minutes.
“Relax, they’ll be fine, all of them.”
Adrian looked at Jared. They were both sitting in the back of one of the vans they would use to transport the wounded, and the doctor looked as relaxed as he could be in these circumstances. Of course, he didn’t have a mate fighting inside the lab, but those were still his friends. “Does it always take this long?”
Jared smiled. “If it goes like the other times, they should come out any minute now. They’re just checking that they got all the guards, then we can go in.”
Just then a movement from the corner of Adrian’s eyes made him look toward the open door of the structure his mate had entered, and he saw Joshua coming out of it. He was holding someone in his arms, and while he could see Joshua talking, he didn’t know if the man was actually awake or not. He did know it was Gabriel, though. It had to be him, because even if he couldn’t see the man’s face since it was hidden by dirty long blond hair, he could see the tail that was coming out of his pants and nearly trailed on the ground. Pointed cat ears peeked from under the hair and the hands had a weird form, but he couldn’t see much more since it was dark outside.
It didn’t stop him from jumping down out of the van and running to his mate, though, even if he could hear Soren screaming to get his ass back into the van until he could make sure everything was safe. As if he would do that. He had to help Gabriel, and no one would stop him.
Adrian rushed to Joshua’s side and froze when he saw amber eyes looking at him from his mate’s arms. Gabriel’s eyes had been light brown before they experimented on him, and it hurt somewhere deep inside to see the change. Adrian knew it was his fault, and he would do whatever it took to heal his brother.
“Adrian?”
Gabriel’s voice was surprisingly strong, and Adrian was stunned when his brother started squirming into Joshua’s arms until the man put him down. By the time Gabriel’s feet touched the ground Adrian was there, and he launched himself into his brother’s arms. Gabriel had always been bigger than Adrian, and he still was, even if he had lost weight.
His six-foot-two body had no problems catching Adrian and holding him close as the two brothers started to cry. Everyone let them be, even if Adrian knew he should be helping the other survivors as they started streaming out of the lab, helped by the pride members and some of the council’s enforcers, but he just couldn’t find the will to leave his brother. He felt as if Gabriel would disappear if he let him go, and he didn’t want to try his luck and find out, even if he was conscious it was just a stupid fear.
They had to separate at one point, though, but when Adrian stepped away Gabriel seemed to fold on himself. “Don’t look at me, Adrian. I’m a monster. They made me a monster.”
Adrian reached out and stroked one of Gabriel’s tiger ears. They were soft under his finger, and he grabbed his brother again when he felt him flinch and try to move away. It wasn’t hard for him to get his brother to look at him, since he was smaller, even being the eldest. He just stepped even closer and looked up. “You’re not a monster. You’re my brother, and I will never cast you away. It doesn’t matter to me if you have a tail and cat ears. I love you anyway. Besides, I’m a squirrel, so it’s not like I’m scared of animal parts.”
Gabriel’s eyes were wide. “Squirrel?”
“It’s a long story, but the short version is that while those guys fucked up with you and stuck you in the middle, I can shift into a squirrel. I’ll help you, Gabriel. I’ll help you and you will be able to become a tiger.”
Gabriel shook his head. “I don’t know if I want to be a tiger. I just want to go back to my life as it was before.”
Adrian knew it wasn’t possible, but now wasn’t the right moment to point it out, especially as Joshua came up to them, worry written on his face. “Angel, we need you to take care of the other guys. I don’t think Jared can handle everything on his own.”
Gabriel shot a curious glance between Adrian and Joshua, so Adrian smiled at him and presented his mate. “This is Joshua. He’s my mate, my husband.”
Gabriel’s eyes went wide, but he started smiling. “You’re married? Gosh, Adrian, it’s been too long since we last saw each other. I’m sure you have so many things to tell me.”
“And we’ll talk as soon as we get home. It will be a new home for you, but you’ll be safe there.”
“Okay. Let’s go and help them. Some of these guys have become my friends, you know?”
They worked for part of the night, and even if Gabriel was far from being fine, he helped Adrian as much as he could. He had a way of calming even the most agitated of the survivors, who said he’d looked out for all of them while they were imprisoned, and it eased Adrian’s heart a bit to see that Gabriel hadn’t been alone all this time.
He also saw how some of the pride members looked at his brother, and he wanted to growl at them and beat them up. He could understand why they were wary, but Gabriel was different, just like they were. He hoped that in time they would become nicer, because there was no way he was staying in the mansion
if they couldn’t accept Gabriel just as he was.
“Everyone is in the vans, guys, so get in. We’re going home,” Denver said loud enough so that everyone could hear him. The rescued people had been divided between the pride and a local herd of horses, so they would bring home only four survivors plus Gabriel. Adrian really couldn’t wait for the council’s hospital to be built so that they all could stay together.
“Come on, Gabe. Let’s go home.” Adrian took his brother’s hand in his own and pulled him toward the last van. He settled next to Joshua and leaned into him, the exhaustion starting to get to him. He saw that Gabriel was looking at the two of them, a smile on his lips.
“Yeah, let’s go home.”
About the Author
Catherine lives in Italy, country of good food and hot men. She used to write fantasy as a child, but it was reading her first gay erotic romance novel that made her realize that that was what she really wanted to write.
After graduating from college in English language and translation, she divides her day between writing, reading, taking care of her son and reading some more.
You can find her on Facebook and Twitter or on her website: authorcatherinelievens.wordpress.com
Email: [email protected]
Adrian [Whitedell Pride: 8] Page 11
