A Man's Worth [Brac Pack 31] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove)

by Lynn Hagen

  “Ahm, we need to talk.”

  Speak of the devil.

  “Come in, Nara,” Ahm said because he knew telling his cousin to stay out wouldn’t work. The woman did what she wanted, when she wanted to do it. She didn’t listen to anyone, not even him, and Ahm was the leader of the Shadow elves.

  “You missed your luncheon with Darla.” Nara crossed the room to stand in front of Ahm’s desk, crossing her slim arms over her chest as she glared down at him. “Do you know how long it took me to set up that meeting with her father?”

  “Nara, I told you, I am not mating with Darla.”

  “You have to.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Her family is one of the most prestigious in the elf world. With her bloodline combined with ours, we could rule the throne for centuries to come.”

  Ahm leaned back in his chair and folded his fingers together to keep from reaching for his cousin’s throat and strangling her. They had this argument almost every single day. He was getting damn tired of it.

  “Darla is not my mate, Nara. I will not bind with her just to make you happy.”

  “You have to have a mate.”

  I have a mate, Ahm wanted to growl at the woman but he knew he couldn’t. Not only did he have to be careful of the whole shifter thing around his cousin, he didn’t dare mention that his mate was a man.

  Nara would lose her mind.

  Ahm wouldn’t put it past her to go after Bryce. He might not be able to claim his mate, but Ahm would protect him with his last breath. “I will find my mate when fate decides I need one. Not before then. And I will not accept anyone else.”

  Nara glared for several tense moments then dropped her eyes. “I just want you to be happy, cousin.”

  Bullshit!

  Ahm was immune to the simpering look his cousin gave him. He knew Nara too well. She was up to something. He didn’t know what it was or how much trouble it was going to cause, but he knew it was going to give him a migraine. It always did. The woman was power hungry. Ahm had no doubt that if she could best him, she would off his ass in a heartbeat.

  “I’m perfectly happy, Nara.”

  “You’re not though, Ahm. You spend way too much time working, and you never have time for anything else.” The speculative glint was back in Nara’s eyes and it made Ahm very wary. “Maybe you need to take a few days off.”

  Ahm’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you want me to take a few days off, Nara?” There could only be one reason Nara wanted him out of the way. “Who’s coming to visit?”

  “What makes you think that someone is coming to visit?”

  “Because you want me out of the way too badly.”

  Nara dramatically rolled her eyes. It was actually a pretty good eye roll. Ahm was impressed, just not enough to let the woman off the hook. He knew she was up to something because she was breathing.

  Ahm stood to his feet and stretched himself up to his full height. He placed his hands on the desk and leaned over them. “Nara, I asked you a question. I expect an answer.”

  Nara glanced away. That was Ahm’s first clue that he wasn’t going to like what she had to say. Nara could never look him directly in the face when she lied to him.

  “I just invited a few friends to come stay the weekend. I can do that, can’t I?”

  Ahm sighed and tried to remember that Nara hadn’t done anything to cause him to kill her…yet. Her mother had been sisters with his mother. And while their mothers had been very close, Ahm and Nara were not. He couldn’t stand the conniving little bitch.

  “Which friends, Nara?” Ahm was pretty sure he had an idea when Nara refused to look at him. He sighed and leaned back, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “I did not invite Darla or her father here, Nara. You did, so you will entertain them.”

  “But—”

  “And if you give them one inkling that I invited them or want them here, I will kick you out on your ass.”

  Nara’s head swung around so fast that Ahm thought he might have heard something pop in her neck. “You can’t do that!”

  “Oh yes, I can. This is my home, not yours. You live here at my grace. Piss me off and I’ll send you back home so fast your head will spin.”

  Nara’s eyes narrowed to tiny little slits of anger. It was not a good look on the woman. “I hate you.”

  “Duly noted. Now, shut the door on your way out.”

  As much as he wanted her gone, Ahm still winced when Nara stormed out and slammed the door behind her. He had no doubt that he would be getting a phone call from his uncle, Nara’s father. The man refused to see his daughter as anything other than his little princess. Ahm just wished the man would take the little princess back to his castle to live.

  He hated having Nara here. He only did it as a favor for his uncle. Nara was a handful and Blythe had no clue what to do with her—except send her to Ahm.

  Ahm sat back down at his desk and picked up the papers he had been going over. If he didn’t find a way to bring all of the Shadow elves under control, they were going to die out. They refused to see that they needed new blood in their ranks.

  The bloodline of the Shadow elves was becoming too inbred. If it didn’t stop soon, they would start having babies with two heads. Already, their infant mortality rate was so high that women hesitated to get pregnant.

  Ahm racked his brain and tried to come up with a solution to his dying race but it eluded him. If he could get his people to agree to accept other species into their ranks, the bloodline would be stronger and he knew it. He just didn’t see that happening.

  And he didn’t know what to do.

  But he knew someone who might.

  With grim determination, Ahm gathered up his papers and put them inside his desk drawer. He didn’t know why he didn’t think of this sooner. If anyone knew how to continue a bloodline, it was Prince Christian LeAnthony Espelimbergo.

  * * * *

  Ahm frowned as he shimmered into a dark corner of The Manacle. The music was so loud he felt like his ears were going to start bleeding at any moment. This had to be the reason he chose the soothing sounds of jazz to listen to. Rock and rave music was a monstrosity.

  Pushing away from his dark corner, Ahm started scanning the main floor of the club for the prince, or at least someone that could tell him where the prince might be. He didn’t really feel like walking through the crowded place looking for Christian himself.

  He spotted the man in question coming out of a hallway on the far side of the room and walked toward him. Christian’s head snapped in his direction before he even reached the man. No big surprise there. Christian seemed to be quite aware of what occurred in his club.

  “I would appreciate a few moments of your time, Prince Christian.” Ahm eyed the two men standing slightly behind the prince. “In private.”

  “Of course.” Christian gestured to the steps behind him. “Let’s go upstairs to my booth. We can talk privately there.”

  Ahm nodded and followed Christian upstairs to a private balcony overlooking the dance floor below. It wasn’t as private as Ahm would have liked but he supposed it would have to do. He already didn’t like asking for help from anyone, but if he was going to save his race, he needed to set his male pride aside and talk with the prince.

  A smaller man sat next to Christian with his arms crossed over his chest. The look in his eyes dared anyone to cross him. The two large men who had accompanied the prince took up positions behind the prince. They looked intimidating but not as much as the small man glaring at him.

  “This is my mate, Minsheng,” Christian explained when Ahm looked at him. “You’ve met, but you’ve never been formally introduced. He is also my Consorapagno.”

  Well, that certainly explained why the man was there. Even Ahm understood what a Consorapagno was. And truthfully, having another set of eyes on his problem might not be such a bad idea.

  Ahm still felt odd as he settled back on the seat across from Christian and his mate. He wanted m
ore than anything to not be here explaining his issues to the prince but he could think of no one else that might be able to help him.

  “My people are in trouble.” Ahm began, sitting with his back rigid, showing the prince that although he was asking for help, he was still a proud and strong male. “As a species, we’re dying due to our continued inbreeding and my people’s refusal to accept anyone not a Shadow elf into our world. If a solution isn’t found soon, I fear that my people will die out.”

  Christian looked as if he were considering Ahm’s words. “How many of you are there left?”

  “Less than a thousand.” And that number ate at Ahm’s heart. “We used to number in the tens of thousands. But so many of our people have passed on and our infant mortality rate is so high that our women fear to get pregnant.”

  “What about your men?” Minsheng asked.

  “Uh…our men?”

  “Male Shadow elves cannot get pregnant, little one,” the prince replied.

  “Oh.”

  There was a glint of sympathy in the young prince’s eyes that made Ahm wonder what the man knew that he did not. He just wasn’t stupid enough to ask. Even he had heard of the fierce possessiveness Prince Christian displayed when it came to his two mates. He liked his head where it was at.

  “If I remember my history correctly,” the prince said, “at one time, the Shadow elves were asexual. Due to overpopulation, your elders devised a plan to put an end to that. I guess it worked.”

  Ahm could have no more hid his surprise than he could have cut off his head. This was something he didn’t know. But it gave him a glimmer of hope. He clasped his hands together and sat forward. “Then there might be a way to reverse this?”

  “After this many years, probably not.” Christian looked regretful that he had to answer that way. “Too many generations have been born. I doubt that whatever your elders did can be reversed after all of this time. You need to look for another solution.”

  Damn.

  That wasn’t what Ahm wanted to hear.

  “I’m willing to listen to ideas.” At this point, he couldn’t think of much he wasn’t willing to do to save his people. He’d already given up any hope of claiming his mate. Everything else seemed pretty small compared to that.

  “I’ll have to do some research and get back to you.”

  Ahm nodded and stood to his feet. No matter how much he wanted it otherwise, he didn’t expect to receive an answer right away. This problem had been building for centuries. It would not be solved overnight.

  “I thank you for your time, Prince Christian. I will wait for your…” A flash of light green and the deep timbre of laughter down on the main floor caught Ahm’s attention. He almost stumbled when he realized that his mate was out on the dance floor, wrapped in the arms of another man.

  Ahm felt a deep growl start to build in his throat. Bryce was his mate. No one should be touching him. His hands itched with the need to rip someone’s head off. He gripped the railing until he heard it crack.

  All reason and logic fled as he watched the man who he should have claimed years ago with a pleased look on his face that should only be meant for Ahm. The anger boiled up and flowed over. He may not be able to claim Bryce until he found a solution to his tribe hating outsiders, but he wasn’t going to stand by and watch the man be pawed right in front of him.

  Ahm shimmered from the balcony down to the dance floor right behind Bryce. The urge to eviscerate the stranger holding his mate was so strong that Ahm had to actually force himself to turn away from the guy. Instead, he grabbed Bryce’s arm, ripping his mate away from the man that held him.

  “Mine!” Ahm snarled at the stranger.

  “The fuck I am!” Bryce shouted as he yanked his arm out of Ahm’s grasp. “You didn’t want me, remember?”

  “You have a mate,” Ahm reminded him in a low and deadly tone.

  “You’re mated?”

  Ahm growled at the man Bryce had been dancing with, the man’s words reminding Ahm that he was there. “Go away before I kill you where you stand.”

  The man’s eyes widened for a moment before he took off like a bullet. Ahm returned his attention to his mate. He could see that Bryce’s eyes were slightly dazed and it angered him beyond reasoning that the bear would be in this club gyrating with another man. “It is not acceptable for you to conduct yourself in such a manner.”

  Surprise stiffened Bryce’s features. “Excuse me?”

  “You may not go out without a guard.” Ahm started flipping his fingers up as he listed off all of the reasons that Bryce’s behavior was not acceptable. “You may not dance with other men. You may not—”

  Ahm reared back and blinked rapidly when Bryce snorted and held a hand up to his face, palm out. “Talk to the hand, dude, ’cause I’m not listening to your bullshit.”

  “Bryce!”

  Ahm’s eyes rounded when Bryce leaned in close and then burped right in his face. “Fuck. You. Ahm.”

  Bryce spun away before Ahm could say more. Ahm reached out when Bryce staggered, but Abe was there to catch Bryce. He shot Ahm an evil glare then lifted Bryce’s arm over his shoulders and wrapped an arm around the man’s waist. Ahm could hear Abe whispering to Bryce as they walked away but damned if he could figure out what the Wood elf was saying.

  “That seemed to go extremely well.”

  Ahm snapped his head around and sent Christian what he hoped was a withering glare. The prince was happily mated to two men. He did not have the same problems that Ahm did. There was no way he could understand the strain that Ahm was under to not claim his mate.

  “If you will excuse me, Prince.” Ahm’s eyes narrowed as he turned to look at the exit Bryce and Abe had just walked through. “I have to go speak to someone.”

  “You do realize that Bryce is a Lakeland, don’t you?”

  Ahm paused and glanced at the prince again. “Yes, I am fully aware of his family heritage.”

  “Then you know what happens when you corner a bear.”

  Ahm cocked his head to one side, confused by the prince’s words. Bryce was a warrior. Ahm had seen the man fight with his very own eyes. That did not mean that Bryce would attack him or worse. Ahm refused to believe that his mate had evil intentions.

  The prince walked smoothly forward, his eyes on the door Bryce just exited. “Corner a wild animal and he will attack.”

  “Bryce is not a wild animal,” Ahm snarled.

  Christian smirked. “If you say so.”

  Prince Christian was off his rocker. Ahm shook his head and dismissed the prince’s words as he followed his mate out the front door.

  Chapter Three

  Bryce was steaming mad. He was beyond mad. He wanted to go back into the club and tear Ahm apart. Who the fuck was he to demand anything from Bryce?

  “Calm down, big bear,” Abe said as he ran around Bryce and pushed the palms of his hands into Bryce’s chest. “You don’t want to go back in there and start a fight.”

  “Oh, yes I do.” Bryce tried to gently set Abe aside—considering Bryce was three times the man’s size—but Abe was a quick little fucker. He kept running back in front of Bryce, stopping his progress.

  “No, you don’t. I like coming here and you are not about to get us permanently banned,” Abe argued. “Let’s go for a walk so you can cool off.”

  “I don’t want to cool off,” Bryce said from between clenched teeth. “I want to kill a used-to-be blue elf.”

  “If taking a walk doesn’t cool you off, I’ll help you bury the body.”

  Bryce stilled, gazing down at Abe, and then gave the man a wicked grin. “Somewhere no one will find him.”

  “Deep in the woods.”

  “You got a deal.” Bryce turned away from the club and headed toward the street. He needed to calm down. He knew this. Christian would hand him his ass if he went in there and wiped the floor with Ahm.

  They had just remodeled not too long ago.

  There was no doubt in his mind sh
it would get broken if he and Ahm went at it. Besides, his pa would kill him as well for acting like an ass. Bryce may be a grown man, but his pa still had the power to put fear in him.

  “There’s a fish place around the corner,” Bryce said. “Papa Dock’s. Are you hungry?”

  Abe grinned up at him. “You bears are always hungry, but yeah, I could use a bite.”

  In all honesty, Bryce wasn’t really hungry. Seeing Ahm had hurt more than it should have. He had decided to let the man go, to forget that his mate didn’t want him. But after the scene in the club, Bryce knew forgetting the man wasn’t going to be an easy task.

  What he didn’t get was Ahm’s behavior. For an elf who had avoided Bryce for years, the man sure as hell became enraged when Bryce was dancing with another man. Bryce felt he was justified in seeking out company. What was he supposed to do, go the rest of his life without sex, pining away for a man who didn’t want him?

  He had wanted a mate for as long as he could remember, but fuck if he was going to have blue balls because the elf didn’t mate outside his race.

  Ahm could kiss his hairy ass.

  “Bryce,” Abe whispered his name.

  Bryce was pulled from thought when he saw a handful of men sauntering his way. He was getting bad vibes from these men. Abe must have felt it as well because the little fey looked as if he were about to wet himself.

  “Get behind me,” Bryce said in a less than audible voice, but knew Abe had heard him. The slim man slid behind Bryce just as the strangers began to surround him.

  “Looks like we have a snack,” one of them said as his eyes raked up and down Bryce’s body with a hungry leer. “And a big one at that.”

  Bryce had heard that rogues were joining forces, which went against what a rogue was. They were supposed to be solitary creatures with nothing but killing on their mind. They shouldn’t be able to reason things out, and they sure as shit shouldn’t be in a small group.

  But he knew they were vampire rogues by their red irises. It was a sign that they had given in to their baser needs and had killed their victims while drinking from them.