Marcel, Zoey - Wrestling with Temptation [Temptation, Wyoming 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More)

by Zoey Marcel

  “What is this mammoth-size facility?”

  “It’s called a hospital. I noticed you didn’t have a purse. I hope you have your insurance card with you.”

  She looked at him blankly.

  “You don’t have any ID, do you?”

  “Idea concerning what?”

  “God, I don’t have time for this. Look, I’ll help you get checked into the ER. Just tell them you’re with me and I’ll pay your way at the end. But while they’re checking you out, I’ve got to see Damon. Come on.”

  After getting Hilary into the emergency room, he went to Damon’s room. Quinn got a sinking feeling in his gut and his heart seized with anguish when he saw Damon lying in that bed seriously injured. Morrigan was already there with him.

  “Hey there, Quinn, check out my epic battle scars,” Damon said with a feeble grin.

  Quinn forced a weak smile. Even in the clutches of misery he still managed to joke. He loved that about his mate, but it broke his heart to see him this way. “What happened?”

  Damon became somber. “I don’t exactly know.”

  Morrigan pulled Quinn aside and kept her voice hushed. “Jack attacked Damon in his wolf form.”

  “What the hell for?”

  “I don’t know. He said he was going to drag me down to hell. Quinn, what’s wrong with him? Why is he doing these things? I’m so worried for him and Damon.”

  Quinn held her close when she started to weep. She was warm and soft like a woman should be. Her natural cinnamon scent reminded him of homemade pumpkin pie. He stiffened when the door opened and Jack’s personal aroma wafted in. He was about to kill the alpha when to his surprise, Mark walked in alone. Why the hell did he smell like Jack?

  “How is he? Oh, wow.”

  “Hey, buddy,” Damon greeted him. “Looking good.”

  “Yeah, you…shit, Damon, you look like hell. Are you okay?”

  He shrugged. “I’ve been better, but at least you guys are here.”

  “Have you seen Jack?” Quinn asked.

  Mark became almost comically uneasy. “No. Why? I’ve been working and then I came here. Where else would I have been? God, Quinn, mind your own business.”

  Okay.

  “Jack attacked him and threatened to take me to hell,” Morrigan filled him in.

  “Hell, you mean like the hell?” Mark sounded skeptical.

  “Yeah, something is different about him. It’s like he’s someone else.”

  Quinn knelt by Damon’s bed and held his hand. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?” he teased.

  Quinn managed a weak smile. “You’re going to make it through this and then we’ll get married.”

  “Not until I’m fully recovered. I want to look nice in our wedding pictures.”

  “If you shift you would heal faster.”

  Damon’s countenance saddened. “It hurt too much when I tried a bit ago. I just want to lie still and let time and the good painkillers do their work.”

  Quinn kissed him gently.

  “I too have enjoyed fornication with my own sex,” a female voice stated.

  He turned to see Hilary close the door behind her after she entered.

  “That was quick.” He stood. “Are you all right? You don’t need any crutches or medication?”

  “I shall not trouble the good physicians or your coin bag. I’m using nature to heal my wound.”

  He kept from rolling his eyes. “Hilary, we’re in the middle of a hospital. Hippie or not, you would be wise to take advantage of it.”

  She looked puzzled. “Hippie? Are these the members of your clan?”

  “Yeah, this is my family. This is Morrigan and Damon and that’s Mark over there.”

  “’Tis an honor, good people.”

  “It’s good to meet you, Hilary. How do you know Quinn?” Morrigan asked.

  “We met on the road. She was getting attacked by Jack and I was about to stop it—”

  “And then you did stop it,” Hilary interrupted.

  Quinn wondered why the woman was so adamant about hiding her knowledge of witchcraft. This was the twenty-first century. She had nothing to worry about.

  “Wait, you can’t just blame Jack. I mean, that could have been any wolf,” Mark patronized.

  “It was him, Mark. I know his scent and his eyes.”

  Hilary seemed curious. “You know that dire wolf?”

  “Yeah, he’s our glorious alpha,” Quinn said facetiously.

  “He is,” Mark mumbled, eyes becoming starry like a dreamer. What was his problem?

  “Wait a minute,” Damon said, “did you say dire wolf?”

  “Aye, ’twas a black dire wolf who attacked me. I must say I’m not surprised to see him leading a pack of werewolves. Dire wolves are so much stronger and more cunning than regular wolves.”

  “Hey, he may be bigger than the rest of us, but he’s not smarter or stronger,” Quinn complained.

  “Yeah, he is, so smart and powerful,” Mark muttered with a glazed expression. Maybe he was drunk.

  Damon struggled to prop himself up. “Wait, so when you say dire wolf, do you mean as in walked with prehistoric animals, or summoned from the depths of Hades?”

  “Both,” Hilary answered.

  Morrigan was in awe. “Are you saying Jack walked with dinosaurs and has seen hell?”

  “Aye, he is a dire wolf. His aura suggested that he was Eversor the destroyer and Samael’s right-hand man.”

  “Who’s Samael?” Morrigan asked.

  “The death angel,” Quinn replied. “The one who carries lost souls away to hell.”

  “I had never encountered Eversor before today, but I read of him a long time ago. He is one of the most evil dire wolves to ever serve in Samael’s realm.”

  “What did he do?” Morrigan asked, sounding reluctant.

  “What did he not do? He murdered holy men, committed arson, gobbled youngsters, ravaged virgins—”

  Quinn stopped Hilary before she could continue. He couldn’t imagine deeds any worse than that and knew Morrigan would be utterly devastated to learn of his heinous crimes. Today had been bad enough. “We don’t really need to get into it now.”

  “’Tis a lengthy, gruesome tale. There is a book on Eversor should you care to read it. There is so much information and masterful drawings to give you a proper visual,” Hilary provided.

  “I’m sure the magic shop has it. They have a mystical library in the back.” Damon sounded excited.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Quinn objected. “You need to rest and heal. I’ll take care of Jack.”

  Mark’s tone was hushed. “A whole book on Jack…with pictures. Whoa.”

  Quinn rolled his eyes. Maybe his brother was in shock because of everything that was happening all of a sudden.

  Morrigan tugged his arm. “What do you mean you’ll take care of Jack? You can’t really believe what a stranger says about him.”

  “I don’t know if what she said about him is true or not. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that Damon is lying all gashed up in a hospital bed because Jack up and decided to go off the deep end. Well, two can play at that game.” Quinn reached for the door, but she blocked his way.

  “Please don’t hurt him. I love him.”

  “I love Damon. Now get out of the way.”

  Her eyes welled. “I won’t let you. It’s not right.”

  “What happened to Damon wasn’t right! Jack deserves what’s coming to him. Now get out of my way and stop defending a murderer.”

  “He is not a murderer,” she sobbed. “Something is wrong with him.”

  “Yeah, no shit.”

  “We just need to find out what happened to him so we can fix it.”

  “He mauled an innocent woman while I was on my way here and Damon, his friend and omega, and I’m supposed to sit back and ask myself what bug crawled up his ass? I don’t care. He’s going to pay for what he did.”
Quinn’s hands shook fiercely. This woman was a sweetheart, but she was starting to irk him with her sympathy for rabid Jack.

  Mark jumped up and hurried over. “Quinn, you can’t just kill Jack.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s Jack.”

  “And that’s Damon. What the hell is wrong with you two, defending a homicidal psychopath?”

  Hilary spoke. “You cannot kill a dire wolf so easily.”

  “A silver blade or bullet would work,” Damon suggested. “Not that you should.”

  Hilary shook her head. “Aye, with regular werewolves, but with dire wolves they can only be killed by pure silver during a full moon or a blood moon. However, that is usually the time they are at their most bloodthirsty.”

  “I’m not waiting until the full moon. I want the son of a bitch dead,” Quinn decided.

  Mark yanked his arm when he reached for the door. “You can’t kill Jack.”

  Quinn grabbed his arms, shoving them away. “Get your hands off me!”

  The scent of smoke and black licorice was stronger now—Jack’s scent, mingled with Zino Davidoff, the cologne he wore. A light came on, spooking Quinn when he caught a glimpse of something red and fresh peeking out of Mark’s shirt. He tugged the collar aside and his mouth fell open when he saw the mating mark on his brother’s flesh.

  “What the fuck is this? I thought you were straight and better than me. I thought you didn’t know where Jack was.” Quinn shoved him away in aggravation.

  “What’s wrong?” Morrigan asked.

  “Why don’t you ask your bicurious mate. Jack bit him.”

  “Are you hurt?” she asked.

  “I mean he claimed him.”

  Her countenance was one of pure shock and injury. “Why would he claim you and not me?”

  Mark blushed. “It was an accident. He’s been crazy today. He attacked me.”

  Quinn became angrier. “No, he attacked Damon and Hilary and he threatened Morrigan. He just fucked you. Why is that? Did you beg him like a little twink and promise to be his bitch if he spared you?”

  Mark whirled around, face blazing. “It wasn’t like that, you asshole! He forced himself on me. There, you happy? Big, tough cop Mark got overpowered by a fucking wolf and came in his pants from it. Yeah, one bite and now I’m half gay, Quinn. Does that make you happy to know I lost control to a wild animal and shamed myself? Because if it does, then you’re no better than the monster you’re so hell-bent on killing.”

  Mark stormed past him and out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

  Quinn wasn’t sure how to respond to the information.

  Morrigan looked dazed. “Jack was a wolf before he was a man?”

  “Aye,” Hilary responded.

  “I fell in love with someone who was more beast than human.”

  “Your clan is…interesting,” Hilary murmured to Damon.

  He nodded. “You have no idea.”

  * * * *

  Mark drove home lost in the oblivion of anger and confusion. He knew nothing, felt nothing, except Jack’s seductive voice in his head and the spark of lust that grew steadily stronger with each passing minute. He felt hot and dirty, ashamed and aroused.

  “I’m thinking about your cock, Mark. It’s such a nice cock. Would you like to see mine?” Jack’s mind communed with his. “It’s glorious. It’s so wide it could rip you apart, so long it will touch the very deepest places inside of you.”

  Mark shivered, cussing under his breath when he felt the stirring in his loins. Damn Jack for this.

  The man chuckled in his head. “Am I turning you on, dear boy? I’m unzipping my pants. Listen closely and you’ll hear the zipper giving way to the inevitable…just like you will when I get my hands on you.”

  Mark’s breath caught and his eyes closed briefly before refocusing on the road that was quickly fading into the mental image of Jack undoing his fly to carnal thoughts of him. “You always were a pervert, Jack. Just stay the hell away from me and I’ll think about forgiving you for this.”

  Jack laughed. “Oh God in heaven, what will I ever do if you never forgive me?”

  Mark burned with indignation at the cackling smart-ass in his head, cursing his own name at how sexy the sound was. “Screw you, Jack.”

  “No, no, screw you. Would you like that, Mark? You enjoyed my finger up your ass when I showed Morrigan where your prostate was.”

  “I enjoyed the stimulation she gave me, not you.”

  Jack chuckled. “Mark, Mark, there is something I’ve always wanted to tell you and now that you’re pissed off and horny, I think you’re finally ready to hear it. Remember that time you went into that private video booth at the club?”

  Mark was on edge. “Yeah, what about it?”

  “It was me on the other end of that glory hole.”

  Now he was fucking pissed. “You son of a bitch, that was you?”

  “I was good, wasn’t I? You came so hard in my mouth. I can still remember how heavenly you taste.”

  “You bastard, you sucked my cock!” Mark shouted aloud as he drove. He was almost home now.

  Jack laughed. “You should have looked to see who was in there.”

  “I did! It was a woman. I walked away for a minute to get something to drink and when I came back, I thought she was still in the room next to me.”

  “No, my dear eunuch. That was me.”

  “I’m not a eunuch, you retard!”

  “You certainly have the piety of one, but not physically. Oh, no. Sexually you have the drive of a male whore. Are you my bitch, Mark?”

  “Shut up!” His knuckles were clenched white against the steering wheel. “You’re going to pay for what you did and all the people you’ve hurt.”

  “So are you.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “You’ll see.”

  Mark was relieved when Jack’s voice finally disappeared from his mind, but the pounding ache in his dick was still there.

  Once he got home, he shed his clothes, grateful for the solitude and the invention of indoor plumbing. He stepped into the large shower and stood tired and weary beneath the deluge of hot water and steam. The heat would relax his tense muscles while he washed and then he would rinse off with cold water to tamp down the inferno of desire that threatened to burn him alive.

  He heard a noise and saw a flesh-toned figure on the other side of the steamed up glass door. He opened the shower door just as Jack calmly said his name.

  Mark screamed, startling him. “Get the hell away from me or I’ll knock your head off!”

  Jack threw up his hands in panic. “Mark, what’s wrong?”

  “Why are you naked?”

  “Why are you naked?”

  “I’m in the shower! Why are you naked?”

  He made apologetic gestures with his hands as he reached for a towel and wrapped it around his waist like a loincloth. “I just shifted back into a human, that’s why. What happened? Where is everyone?”

  “Nice try. Enough crap, you lunatic!” Mark covered his groin with his hand, astonished that it felt slightly bigger than it usually did in his flaccid state. It rode a little higher now too rather than dangling in repose. “Uh-oh.”

  Jack gave him a half smile, but his expression was one of perplexity. “You’re the one who’s screaming like one. Now just calm down and tell me what’s going on.”

  “That’s what I’d like to know. What happened to you earlier?”

  He rolled his eyes. “That’s what I’m asking you. Where is everybody and why are you behaving like a scared chicken?”

  Mark was ill at ease, but he relaxed a bit when he saw how baffled Jack looked. “You seriously don’t remember what you did?”

  “No, what did I do?”

  “You attacked Damon and put him in the hospital.”

  His eyes widened in genuine surprise. “Oh my god.”

  “I know. What the hell, man? He’s your friend and omega. H
ow could you do that to him? I’ve never seen Quinn so pissed off before. He’s literally going to kill you.”

  A mocking flicker of amusement lit Jack’s penetrating, dark-brown eyes before his face became serious with worry again. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s messed up pretty bad, but he’ll be okay once he heals.” Mark tried not to stare into those deep, hypnotic eyes, but he was powerless to do otherwise. The way the man’s shaggy, brown hair framed his face looked alluring. His muscled chest was manly and perfect and the tattoos adorning his arms oozed sex appeal. Only the white towel covered the forbidden package Mark didn’t want to see but was awfully curious about. Jack’s tidy beard and mustache were small and close to his face, making him look classy, scruffy, and incredibly sexy. Mark wondered if the man’s facial hair would tickle if he kissed him. Morrigan would know, not that he would ever be crazy enough to ask. He didn’t care.

  Jack smiled a little, or maybe his eyes were glowing, but whichever it was, it sent a jolt down to Mark’s cock. He tried to discreetly move his other hand over his crotch, so both shielded his growing pleasure at the male eye candy before him. He was straight and Jack was a dirty freak, end of story.

  “How is our mate doing?” Jack asked in a hushed tone that reeked of temptation.

  The word brought his cock to half-mast and sent a flush of heat to his cheeks. “I’m not your mate.”

  Jack cocked a curious eyebrow and a slow, devious smile. “I never said you were. Do you want to be?”

  Mark blushed and pulled his head back into the shower so he could shut the door. “No. Morrigan’s fine, except for the part where you threatened to drag her down to hell.”

  “I never said that.”

  “She says you did and frankly with all your psychotic exploits today, I’m more inclined to believe her over you.” He turned but couldn’t see Jack anymore. He was probably in the corner over by the linen closet if his voice was any indication.

  It sounded like he muttered, “Wise boy.”

  Mark freaked. “What did you say?”

  “I said so I was a bad boy, huh?”

  “You were horrible. What happened to you, Jack? You really had us worried.” Mark was all clean now with one final part to pay heed to. He soaped up his ass as quickly as possible, determined to get out of there as soon as he could. It made him uncomfortable being alone and naked in the same room as nude Jack.