Jory wasn’t there. He was supposed to be there. “Oh, baby, where are you?” he whispered to himself.
“Right here,” Jory answered quietly, slipping his hand into Stavion’s.
Stavion whipped around, almost passing out in relief at the sight of his mate standing next to him. He pulled Jory closer, crushing him in his arms, and rained kisses all over the top of his head and down the side of his face. His hands skirted over Jory’s body, checking him for any sign of injury.
Jory just giggled. “Stavion, relax. I’m fine.” His arms went around Stavion’s waist, and he squeezed gently. “Breathe, big guy.”
“Breathe. Right.” Stavion sucked in a big lungful of air and let it out slowly as he tucked Jory into his side and kept a firm hold on him.
“Don’t move.”
Jory snorted and rolled his eyes but didn’t comment.
Now that Jory was with him, and Stavion knew his little man was safe, he turned his attention back to the chaos surrounding them.
It felt a little like overkill to Stavion, but he wouldn’t turn away willing allies. Still, it wasn’t like they were going to win The Council over with brute force. So, what exactly did Blaise have up his sleeve?
Stavion had no doubt that this whole little episode was Blaise’s doing.
It had the alpha’s fingerprints all over it.
“Excuse me!” Elder Macintosh screamed. Apparently, he was tired of being ignored in his own courtroom. Oops. “Who are these people? What are they doing here?”
“Nicholas McCarthy has no claim to Malakai,” Cole, Blaise’s mate, answered as he stepped forward. Stavion nodded to Raven and Varik, and they moved in to take up a defensive stance behind Cole.
Cole and his other mate, Willow, went on to explain that since Malakai had yet to disassociate from the Snake River Coven and swear fealty to Stavion, the contract was not binding as the contract had to be presented to Malakai’s coven leader. Stavion couldn’t help but be impressed as they outlined loopholes and the technical working of vampire law. He also thought he’d drop to his knees with relief when he realized what they were saying was true.
When they’d finish speaking, Elder Macintosh stood and scrubbed at his face as if he found them all very tiring. “If no one has anything further to add, then I hereby declare the contract null and void. Malakai is to stay with his mates.”
There was probably more said after that, but Stavion didn’t stick around to hear it. He dipped past the guards and hurried out of the room, still holding Jory to his chest.
“That’s it? It’s over?”
Stavion twisted around just outside the double doors and pinned Jory to the wall, anchoring him there with his much larger body.
“That’s it, baby. Malakai gets to stay with his mates, and I get to stay with you.”
“Yes!” Jory shouted, smiling brightly and full of joy.
“Mmm,” Stavion purred. “You look good enough to eat.” He tried to capture Jory’s lips, but the man squeaked and jerked his head to the side, dodging his advances.
“Stavion, we can’t do that right here!”
“Who says?” Stavion asked distractedly, still trying to get at Jory’s mouth.
Jory pushed at his shoulders, his wide eyes looking up and down the deserted corridor. “Someone could see us.”
“So?”
“So? Stavion, they have public decency laws, you know.” Since Stavion couldn’t get Jory’s lips to be still long enough to kiss them, he went for the sweet-smelling skin along his mate’s throat instead. “Be quiet.”
Jory continued to squirm, but he stopped pushing at Stavion and dropped his head back against wall, arching his neck and giving Stavion more room to play. “This is a bad idea.”
“I think it’s a great idea.” In fact, it was the best idea he’d had in a very long time. Pulling Jory’s shirttail free of his slacks, he caressed the soft skin of his mate’s abdomen, loving the way the muscles jumped and clenched for him. He continued kissing and nipping his way up Jory’s neck, then along his jawline, and was finally able to claim the prize he sought.
Their lips met in a heated kiss, and Jory opened right up for him, all signs of resistance gone. He moaned and growled, tightened his arms to drag Stavion closer, and attacked his mouth like a starving man.
Jerking his mouth away and panting for breath, Jory looked into Stavion’s eyes and grinned wickedly. “I have a surprise for you.”
* * * *
“Does this surprise involve my cock in your ass?”
Jory chuckled breathlessly as Stavion continued tormenting his senses. “It just so happens that’s exactly what it involves.”
Stavion didn’t say a word as he set Jory on his feet and started tearing his clothing off of him. Jory was still nervous about someone coming down their little strip of hallway and seeing them, but he couldn’t deny his body’s reaction to his mate. Stavion’s eagerness, the hunger in his eyes, set Jory’s body on fire and made his cock throb.
Small tremors rocked his frame, making him shiver right down to his toes as he spun around, pressed his palms against the wall and showed off his surprise. It had technically been Willow’s idea, but Jory thought it was a damn good one.
Stavion’s sharp intake of breath and the groan that followed made Jory feel like a god. His mate’s big hands roamed his back, smoothed over his hips, and gripped his ass in a firm hold. “I knew you were only playing hard to get.” Jory could hear the smirk in Stavion’s voice as the man tapped the base of the butt plug.
Jory shook his head quickly then stopped and nodded. He stopped and shook his head again. “Yes, I wanted to surprise you, but I didn’t mean for it to happen right fucking here.”
“Fucking here is exactly what I want to do.” Jory rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t wipe the goofy smile off his face. Sex with Stavion was fun. That didn’t make it any less mind-blowing, but Jory loved the playful side of his usually serious mate.
When the silicone plug began to move, pumping in and out of his twitching hole in tiny increments, Jory thought he’d lose his mind.
With every inward push, the tip of the toy bumped against his prostate, making his cock jerk and his heart hammer. A strange groan fell from his lips, and Jory dropped his forehead to the wall in front of him. “More.”
The rasp of a zipper made his ass clench greedily. Stavion gave a few more pumps and a couple twists of the butt plug before easing it from Jory’s slick hole and dropping it to the floor. Jory whimpered at the feeling of emptiness. “Please!”
“Hush now, baby. Don’t I always give you what you need?” The tip of Stavion’s thick cock slid up and down Jory’s crease, brushing over his needy hole but never entering. He did it several times, teasing Jory until he thought he’d explode.
Just when he was about to scream and demand Stavion fuck him into the next day, his lover surged forward, breeching Jory’s entrance and stretching him wide. Stavion didn’t pause until he was balls deep and his groin settled against Jory’s ass cheeks.
“Ready?”
Instead of offering a verbal response, Jory arched his back and rocked back, impaling himself further on Stavion’s hard length. His lover’s fingers curled around Jory’s hips in a bruising hold as they both panted and moaned.
Stavion took him fast and hard, snapping his hips and driving into his channel at a demanding tempo. His muscled arm snaked around Jory’s waist, lifting his feet off the floor and changing the angle as he drove his cock into Jory’s body over and over.
The sweat dripped down his face, dampened his hair, and made his grip on the wall precarious. Jory barely noticed any of it. His balls ached, his dick pulsed, and every nerve ending in his body sizzled from the onslaught of pleasure he was receiving.
Just when he thought he couldn’t take anymore, Stavion leaned forward, covering his back, and long fingers encircled his jumping cock. Stavion held him in a tight grip, stroking him from tip to base in time with the motion of his hips.
“Come for me, baby. Show me who you belong to, Jory.” Jory tried to answer the unspoken question, but his orgasm ripped through him, cutting off anything he might have said. Pearly ropes of cum erupted from his slit to splash against the wall or fall to the floor, and Jory sagged limply into Stavion’s arms.
His mate growled, plunging as deep as he could get into Jory’s convulsing tunnel, and stilled. His large frame shuddered, and Jory could feel the vampire’s heart pounding against his back. Sticky, wet heat filled his passage, painted his inner walls, and seeped back out around Stavion’s still-hard cock.
“You dirty hypocrite,” someone said with a loud chuckle.
Jory whipped his head to the side to see not only Boston, but just about every fucking person he knew standing just outside the door of the meeting hall. Some small part of him said he should be embarrassed, but it was kind of hard for him to feel anything at the moment but boneless.
Stavion chuckled along with the others as he eased out of Jory’s hole and wrapped him up in his arms, hiding most of his bits and pieces. “He’s too tempting for his own good.”
“Oh, he’s so cute!” a short, blond man squealed. “Why didn’t you tell us you have a mate?”
“Keeton.” A man Jory assumed to be Logan stepped up behind the blond and placed a hand over his mouth. “He’s not a kitten, love.”
Keeton spun around to face his mate, but Logan just laughed and shook his head before he could speak. “And no, we can’t keep him.” Jory’s eyes widened in alarm, and he peeked up at Stavion as he wiggled further into his mate’s embrace. “He wants to keep me like a pet?” he whispered.
Everyone gathered around them burst into laughter, including Keeton. Stavion kissed the top of Jory’s head and caressed the side of his face. “You’ll get used to Keeton, sweetheart. Besides, it doesn’t really matter what he wants. You’re mine.” Jory dipped his head curtly and stuck his tongue out at Keeton.
“Yeah, I’m his.” Everyone laughed harder, and Jory joined in this time.
So, this was what it was like to have a family—dozens of people around to tease him, laugh at him, and interrupt his playtime with his mate.
People who always had his back, stood together with him against the bad guys, and made him feel safe and welcomed—that was family.
Yeah, he could live with that.
Chapter Twelve
The next several months were spent making drastic changes to the estate. Forty small cabins were built across three hundred acres. They had a huge three-day party to burn the cabin at the back of the property to the ground. Two barrack-style buildings were constructed, each with the capacity to house at least twelve men and women.
Kendall had actually been the one to come up with a way for them to fund the improvements. The man was a genius when it came to financial planning. He’d even been able to help Cole work up a proposal to present to the elders. Every alpha, leader, beta, or member of the inner circle they arrested was forced to pay a penalty on top of their prison sentence. It had gone a long way in padding their bank account.
“Raven and Cassius are bringing in three more today,” Jory said as he walked into the office. He strolled around the desk and pecked Stavion on the lips in greeting. “Two guys and a chick. One of the guys and the female are werewolves. The other guy is lycan.” Stavion cringed. While their coven had become a refuge of sorts for wayward paranormals with nowhere else to go, he was leery of bringing werewolves in. They were already housing the six weres who’d been scavenging near the edge of their property line. It turned out they were on the run from their pack—which just happened to be the Cheyenne Pack, and the alpha was their father. Stavion was still waiting for the fallout from that one. No one had stepped out of line or caused problems, but their presence still made him nervous.
“What’s their story?”
Jory looked down at the paper in his hand and shook his head.
“Same as the others it looks like. They were all sold by their families to a werewolf pack in Kansas.” Jory looked up and frowned. “What’s the difference between a lycan, a regular wolf shifter like Boston, and a werewolf? I thought lycan was just another name for werewolf.”
“There’s not really much of a difference.” Stavion grabbed Jory’s hips and ushered the man into his lap. His little mate had made enormous strides in past few months. His confidence had grown in leaps and bounds, he was currently working toward his GED, and Stavion couldn’t have been prouder of his man.
Every day, Jory was learning to trust him just a little more. Each day brought new discoveries as pieces of Jory’s personality shined through the years of mistrust and caution he’d shrouded himself in.
As each new puzzle piece fell into place, Stavion found himself falling just a little more for the man.
“Well, that was helpful.” Jory rolled his eyes and nipped at Stavion’s bottom lip. “I’m hoping there’s more to that explanation.”
“Oh, right.” Stavion always had a hard time keeping his train of thought when Jory was around. He’d much rather have his mate with him than be able to think straight, though. “Well, werewolves don’t really have an animal form. They’re somewhere between a man and a wolf, but mostly wolf. Lycans are the same. They shift into a half-wolf form on the full moon, but they’re more man than beast. Werewolves have to shift on the full moon. Lycans don’t. Werewolves are quite a bit bigger in their shifted forms than lycans. I guess that’s about it.”
“What about wolf shifters?”
“They’re just like any other shifters. They transform completely into their animal counterparts. Most shifters don’t have to change at the full moon, but Boston does.”
“Because he’s a white shifter.” Jory nodded his understanding.
“Him and Malakai explained it a little to me.”
Stavion was thrilled that Boston and Flynn had agreed to move to Wyoming and live at the estate with Malakai. Flynn had been able to keep his job as an Enforcer, but his duties mostly consisted of guarding the grounds and policing the residence. He was more like a sheriff of the coven than anything else.
Things were really looking up for them. Not only had Flynn decided to stay, but his brothers as well. As fully trained Enforcers, they had been invaluable in helping track down the captives that were still missing and bringing their tormentors to justice. Bannon Murphy, especially, was unchallenged in his abilities as a Tracker. Stavion had never seen anyone better.
“I’m so proud of you.” Jory tickled the seam of Stavion’s lips with his tongue and sighed. “You are amazing.” Stavion felt amazing. Once he realized the kind of good he could do as a leader, he’d embraced the job willingly. All of his enforcers, including the Murphy brothers, Boston, and even Malakai had sworn their allegiance to him and officially joined his coven.
The original members left from the Redway rule had been slow in coming around, but he couldn’t blame them. Their lives had been hell under Cyrus’s thumb. Once they saw the changes Stavion wanted to make not only to the estate but to the coven as well, they’d pitched in to help with everything from construction to teaching some of the younger refugees to read and write.
“Okay, I accept that I’m amazing,” he teased. Catching Jory’s chin in his hand, he placed a brief but passionate kiss on his lips.
“What brought this up, though?”
“You’ve made this place a home, Stavion. It’s not just slaves and captives that need a place to go. All kinds of preters are coming in, wanting to join your coven. This is a place where people can be themselves, have a good life, and not have to worry about people hurting them. You have completely revamped this coven.”
Stavion’s throat burned and his eyes stung with emotion. He hadn’t done it all on his own, though. “You made this place a home, Jory. I just found us some new family members.” A slow smile spread over his face as he thought back over Jory’s words. “Revamped, huh?”
Jory frowned at him for a full minute before his bro
w smoothed out and his eyes rounded. “Oh, because you’re a vampire, and I said you re vamped the place. Oh, I get it!” Then he fell against Stavion’s chest and laughed his fool head off.
It was that excitement and joy that Stavion adored most about his mate. Jory was also smart, funny, kind, and the most generous person Stavion had ever met. He’d give a stranger the shirt right off his back in the dead of winter and never complain about it being cold.
“I’m glad we decided to rename the coven.” Jory stopped laughing and sat up straight. “Me, too, big guy.
Haven Coven fits perfectly for what we’re doing here.”
“Then it’s a good thing I have such a very smart mate who thought of it.” Stavion poked at Jory’s ribs, delighted by the shrieks and giggles that erupted from Jory’s mouth. “I have a secret to tell you.”
Jory’s eyes lit up even as he panted for breath. “Tell me.” Stavion’s heart fluttered and his palms began to sweat. He knew how he felt about Jory, but he’d never said the words to anyone but family before. It had only been six months since Jory came into his life. Was it too soon? Would Jory return his feelings, or would he run scared?
“I—”
His ringing cell phone interrupted him. Stavion didn’t know if he was annoyed or frustrated by it. Either way, he doubted it was a friendly call to shoot the breeze. Snatching the phone off the desk, he frowned at Raven’s number on the display screen.
“What happened?”
“The pack leader, his beta, and three of his sentries disappeared when we went in after the captives. Well, we found them, or maybe I should say they found us. We’re about twenty minutes from the front gates, but we’ve got company. Apparently, Alpha Deerfield isn’t ready to give up his slaves. There are two cars full of werewolves on our asses.”
“Fuck!” Stavion jumped up from his seat, almost dropping Jory to the floor. He caught his mate and set him gently on his feet, kissing the top of his head in apology. “Just get here. We’ll meet you at the gates.”
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