by Fel Fern
Deacon pulled him close for a hug, scenting him. “Yes, we’re going to come out of this better and stronger. We’ll never underestimate our enemies again.”
Chapter Seventeen
Deacon sensed his mate’s presence even before Daryl announced himself. He heard the front door close, and Daryl appeared in the kitchen where Deacon currently watched Sylvia. Two weeks passed since the incident with Zane. There was no denying he had his hands full these past fourteen days.
With one of his enforcers down, Santino being moodier and unstable, and Isabella still recovering from her hard pregnancy, Deacon needed every wolf on deck. He’d doubled the patrols and closed off the territory to any outsiders, except to other paranormal allies and groups they traded goods and services with.
Deacon also had talks with the other paranormal leaders in Devil Hills, reassuring both them and the townsfolk that nothing like the Zane incident would ever happen again. He had to admit, it felt strange not having Sabine by his side, and Santino had grown even more temperamental and unmanageable lately.
Fuck, but Deacon missed spending quality with his mate. Deacon felt a little burnt out. Even Lance told him to take the day off, so he really appreciated spending time with Sylvia. The Beta certainly stepped up during the past two weeks, shouldering some of the responsibilities.
“How’s he holding up?” Daryl asked, referring to Santino.
“Not so good,” Deacon answered. Santino remained upstairs by his sister’s side.
Sylvia looked up from her coloring book on the kitchen counter.
“Daryl!” Sylvia greeted his mate.
“Hey, sweetheart. What you up to?” Daryl asked, peering at her book.
“Coloring for Mama,” she said with a toothy grin.
His heart cracked, hearing those words. Elaine told him that Sabine could wake up any day now, but it also meant she might not regain consciousness for a long time, too. Daryl flashed him a worried look but continued talking to Sylvia. His mate was always good with kids.
“I’ll play with Sylvia,” Daryl offered. “Why don’t you go talk to Santino?”
“The last time we had any sort of decent conversation, we had a bloody fight,” Deacon grumbled. In fact, Santino and he only agreed on one thing these days and it was looking after Sylvia.
Santino was one of the few werewolves in the pack who could keep up with him in terms of strength and speed, so any fight between them usually ended in a bloody brawl. Neither of them had held back, either.
Daryl winced. “Don’t remind me. After that fight, you were in such a black mood that all the submissive wolves in the pack were terrified to go near you. You guys can’t continue being pissed off at each other, though. You’re practically family, and the pack needs to be united.”
Trust his mate to be the reasonable one.
Deacon ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I’ll sort things out with him.”
Deacon gave Sylvia’s head a kiss before dragging himself upstairs. He looked at the picture frames on the staircase wall, ranging to those of him, Santino, Sabine, and Sylvia, to Alex—Sabine’s departed mate—and to group shots of packmates. Unthinkingly, Deacon brushed his fingers over those photographs, remembering why Sabine put them here, to remind herself she had a reason to wake up each day, to live.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, before climbing the rest of the steps to reach her room, the master bedroom which she used to share with Alex.
He found Santino where he left him, seated on the arm chair next to the bed, gaze on the opened window. Santino looked up and, seeing him, gave him a warning snarl.
“I’m not here to fight,” Deacon told the other man calmly, choosing to sit on the edge of the bed. “She looks peaceful, doesn’t she?”
Santino made a protesting noise in his throat. “Elaine said she’d wake up.”
“Not yesterday, maybe not today, either, but soon,” Deacon said.
“Don’t lie,” Santino snapped.
“I’m not. Tell me. What the hell are you beating yourself up for, Santino? You were the one who told Daryl that any enforcer would do the same and risk his or her life for the Alpha pair,” Deacon said.
Santino clenched his jaw. “Don’t you get it? I failed you.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“If I didn’t turn my back for a second, then Zane wouldn’t have taken Daryl and Sylvia. My sister wouldn’t be shot.”
Stunned, Deacon stared at him for a few moments. “You’ve been blaming yourself?”
“Who else?” Santino said bitterly.
“Stand up,” Deacon commanded, firmness in his voice.
Santino understood he wore the face of the Alpha and warily stood. Deacon went up to him, clasped his shoulder. Then he took that opportunity to give Santino a brotherly hug. He could tell it took Santino by surprise. Deacon had seen his mate do this when comforting a packmate before and it seemed to work.
He could sense Santino’s wolf, which always seemed ready to fight everything these days, finally calm down. Santino’s wolf recognized its Alpha. Deacon pulled away from the hug before it became awkward. When he first found the siblings years ago, they didn’t like being touched, only after he extended his offer of friendship and his promise he’d become a good Alpha that they began trusting him.
He continued, “None of this is your fault. Sabine’s right. The world’s changing and we can’t always keep our borders closed. If we take in fugitives, risks like these are always bound to happen.”
“We don’t need to do that. You’ve built this pack, then this community from the ground up,” Santino remind him.
“Not alone. I had the help of the pack, the hawk shifters, the vampires, and other smaller groups. When I spoke to them after the incident with Zane, some of them disagreed with the notion of letting more fugitives in, but most do.” Deacon thought about all the information Daryl told him. In the end, they decided Walt could stay and with Bob's help, try to heal the mental wounds the Discipline Squad inflicted on him.
Deacon continued, “The Humans Matter government is tightening their control over their cities, and if we don’t help those they consider non-humans, who else will? Those fuckers would only keep on taking Espers, brainwashing them to use as tools.”
It still pissed him the fuck off, knowing what the Discipline Squad did to Espers, what they planned on turning his mate into. Shifters and other paranormals were harder to control, easier to identify and kill, but Espers?
Some of those Espers born in Humans Matter-run cities didn’t even know how to use their abilities, were practically defenseless as scared humans. It was logical the Discipline Squad would choose to target them and, instead of disposing them, use them. It made him sick.
“Do I hear Daryl in that argument?” Santino asked skeptically.
“I’ve also been doing some thinking on my own. Kindness doesn’t necessarily translate to weakness, my Esper mate taught me that. I once believed he’d become my source of weakness, but it’s the opposite, he’s made me stronger, helped me understand other packmates who’d been afraid of me before.”
Deacon decided that while he wouldn't do a thing to change his image of the 'demon Alpha' to outsiders, he'd try opening his heart to his pack mates more.
Santino let out a breath, then ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve been neglecting my duties, but I’ve been hearing from the others about this new change. You’re right about sheltering runaways. I don’t like the fact these humans have been torturing Espers and using them against us. I can’t imagine what would happen if they caught Daryl.”
Deacon had that discussion with his mate. Worst-case scenario, they would agree to take their lives first rather than let their enemies make use of them and fracture the pack. He didn’t tell Santino that, however, because Deacon had no plans of letting these humans get their way.
“I’ll be better, Deacon. I’ll trust in your belief that my sister will wake up soon. In the mea
ntime, I’ll continue being your enforcer,” Santino said.
“Good. Lance has been complaining lately that he has no free time anymore.”
Santino scowled. “The Beta seems to be good at that, complaining, I mean.”
Deacon twitched his lips to a smile. “Don’t be so hard on him. He really pitched in this week, and Daryl and I will be happy to look after Sylvia, too.”
“I appreciate that. She hides it well, but she misses her mom.”
“She’ll grow up to be a formidable dominant female wolf in the future,” Deacon said with fondness. He recalled how Daryl told him about Sylvia helping him get out of his bonds and attacking Zane when other werewolf pups would have been frozen with fear.
Santino snorted. “She can be a little demon sometimes, takes after her mother more than her father.”
Deacon had to agree with that. He looked at Sabine’s sleeping profile, took her smaller hands in his, and gave them a squeeze. He searched for her wolf, found it sleeping inside of her. “Don’t make us wait too long,” he told her, bending down to kiss her cheek. He rose to his feet. When Deacon reached the door, Santino spoke again.
“Deacon, you guys don’t need to babysit Sylvia today. I’ll bring her to town, maybe we’ll catch a movie together. Spend some much needed time with your mate.”
Deacon regarded the other enforcer, who seldom left the house since the incident. It was a pretty big deal that Santino would offer to bring Sylvia to town. “All right then.”
They both headed downstairs and returned to the kitchen.
“How did it go?” Daryl asked, sitting beside Sylvia, coloring pencil in hand.
It still amazed Deacon how behaved Sylvia became around his mate when she would have otherwise wreaked havoc with anyone else watching her.
“Relatively well,” Deacon told his mate, moving behind Daryl to give his mate a hug.
“Did you ask Deacon to give me a hug?” Santino asked Daryl grumpily.
Daryl looked surprised to see him there.
“Uncle ‘Tino, look at what we did,” Sylvia said excitedly, holding up the coloring book.
“That’s wonderful, sweetheart. What do you say we go get ourselves some ice cream in town?” Santino asked her.
“Ice cream?” Sylvia couldn’t seem to contain her excitement, then glanced at the wall clock near the fridge. She furrowed her brows. “Mama says no ice cream before dinner.”
“Well, let’s make this one exception,” Santino said, ruffling her hair. “Get dressed, okay?”
“Okay!” She hopped out of the stool and sped out of the kitchen like a bullet.
“Wow, that must have been a really fruitful discussion, huh?” Daryl asked, looking up at his mate. Deacon took that opportunity to crush Daryl’s mouth with his. Daryl gripped his bicep, panting after Deacon released him, eyes wide. “Ooh. We get some time off to ourselves?”
Santino growled at them. “Gag. You two are being insufferable again. Get out of my house.”
Daryl stuck a tongue at him. “No one tells the Alpha to get out,” Daryl stated, then Deacon recognized the mischievous glint in his mate’s eyes. Daryl continued, “Besides, I can’t wait for some poor soul who happens to be your mate to ensnare you. Then we can double-date and become insufferable together.”
“Like that will ever happen.”
Deacon chuckled. Never in a million years did he think anyone would be comfortable with Santino to joke with him like this. Another snarl from Santino made Daryl rise to his feet.
“We’ll do breakfast soon,” Daryl told Santino.
“Even without her?” Santino asked, looking guilty again.
“Sure, because she’ll join us soon,” Daryl told him, fierce confidence in his voice.
“You’re all right, Esper,” Santino finally said.
“Well, for some nicknamed the Devil by packmates, you’re not scary at all.”
“Daryl,” Santino warned.
Deacon nodded to Santino and gently steered his mate out of the house.
Chapter Eighteen
“Deacon, check it out,” Daryl whipped out his phone from his back pocket and showed his mate the timer.
Deacon frowned at the device. “Twenty minutes?”
“I timed our walk. Before, it used to take me much longer to get here. I’m getting physically stronger.” Daryl squeaked when his powerful werewolf mate pulled him close, wrapping one muscled arm around his waist, while the other lifted his chin.
“I’m proud of you for these past two weeks,” Deacon told him. “You’ve come so far.”
He blushed, still not used to compliments. Since the Zane incident, most of the Devil Hills community had been shaken by the fact a single individual could do so much damage. Realizing he needed to get a handle on his growing abilities, he returned to his mentor Bob, but continued between alternating between his pack duties and working the clinic.
Forrest had taken over his training, and he had to admit, he did miss Santino’s strict and no-holds-barred sessions a little. Thank God the enforcer seemed to be getting back on his feet again.
“We’ve come far,” he corrected his Alpha.
Then Deacon took his mouth again, the kiss all heat and bite. Daryl no choice but to surrender, to drown in the heat and hunger of his mate’s mouth. Their teeth clashed, tongues tangled. He let out a muffled groan when Deacon ran his hand down the length of his body to tug at his denim-covered prick.
“Inside?” he asked, trying to recover his breath as Deacon released his mouth.
“Hmm, I’ve debated taking you on the porch seat,” Deacon mused out loud.
“Out here?” he asked, blushing at the same time.
The erotic image sprung to his mind. They had all the privacy they wanted, and it was the Alpha’s day off. It was unlikely Deacon would be called away.
“Come.” When Deacon used that tone, one that expected nothing but obedience, he shuddered with anticipation. The Alpha took a seat on the porch seat, gestured at him to come forward. Feeling mischievous, Daryl peeled off his shirt slowly.
“Giving me a strip tease?” Deacon asked, pupils turning amber.
“No?” he teased back, knowing full well what his mate wanted.
“Hurry up before I lose my patience and rut you here and now.”
“Stripping is an art. Be patient, Alpha.”
He tossed his shirt aside, stalked over to his mate and began working the button of his jeans. Deacon’s snarl of impatience made him speed up the process. There was no denying that Daryl wanted to feel his mate buried deep inside him. Both of them had been busy these past few days. While they slept on the same bed, both Deacon and he had been too worn out to do anything else but sleep.
No doubt there would be plenty of busy days ahead, so he wanted to spend as much quality time with his mate as possible. Deacon peeled off his shirt in response. His pulse quickened, mouth going dry as he silently devoured the hard planes of muscle.
“Yummy,” he murmured.
Deacon chuckled, the sexy sound turning his bones to liquid.
That proved to be incentive enough to get out of the rest of his clothes. Daryl dropped his pants and boxers, stepped out of them only to kneel in front of his mate. Deacon speared fingers through his hair as he worked Deacon’s jeans and pulled out the Alpha’s rising cock. Wetting his lips in anticipation, he ran his tongue over Deacon’s leaking tip, savoring the taste of the Alpha’s need.
Daryl sucked on the cockhead hard before opening his mouth further to take Deacon’s prick down his throat. He didn’t gag like he did the first time and was proud of that. Daryl reached out and began applying a bit of pressure to Deacon’s balls, knowing his mate liked that. Deacon let out a rumble of approval as he continued bobbing his head up and down. Aroused by the sounds of pleasure coming from his mate, Daryl’s own shaft thickened between his legs.
A tug on his hair made him pause.
“Hold your mouth open,” Deacon commanded.
He h
eld his jaws in place as his mate began to push his engorged cock in and out of him. It didn’t take long for Deacon to reach climax. After several thrusts, Deacon exploded, sending jets of cum down his throat. Daryl took care to swallow each drop. Some jizz spilled down the sides of his mouth, but Deacon swiped them away, licking his fingers after.
Daryl blushed as Deacon pulled his prick away. He watched eagerly as Deacon took off the rest of his clothes before sitting back down and patting his lap. Understanding what his Alpha wanted, Daryl straddled his mate, fully aware Deacon’s heated gaze went down his chest to his hardening prick and balls. His groaned when Deacon settled one hand on the curve of his ass, keeping him in place and the other, he used to explore. Deacon gave his dick a few pulls. He nearly came then, but held his orgasm back as Deacon moved his hand lower to fondle his balls, then trace his pink and puckered entrance.
The Alpha took his nipple into his mouth, licking and sucking at it. Daryl whimpered, his body responding eagerly to the possessive touches of his mate. Deacon left a perfect imprint of his teeth on his nipple before stooping down to grab the lube from the back pocket of his jeans.
“Ever ready for me, baby?” he teased, moaning when Deacon licked at the mate mark on his neck.
Golden eyes met his.
“Mine,” Deacon told him simply, with the confidence of a man who knew he owned Daryl, body, heart, and soul.
“Yours,” Daryl agreed.
Deacon pushed the lube into his hand. “Ready yourself for me. I want to watch.”
Blushing, he nonetheless did as his mate asked. Daryl uncapped it, applied a generous amount on his fingers, then added plenty more into his hole. His heart hammered as he traced his hole. His entire face felt like it was on fire, but the thought he was incredibly exposed for his Alpha, prepping his own asshole for penetration, turned them both incredibly on.
“That’s it, show your little hole for me, baby,” Deacon said.
