Gregory nodded. “Kelan thought he was someone that could be trusted, and at first so did I, but now we’re not so sure.
“At the meeting, Dean said he’d received information about Stan Michaels, that Stan had been involved in illegal activity with Joe Walker, one of Kelan’s pack members.
“While we were dealing with some wolves at the council, Dean told us he’d had word that Stan was on his way to meet with Joe. I tried to find Ashton to tell him, but he’d already left to go to Joe’s.
“I called him on his cell phone and he told me he was on his way to make Stan pay for what he’d done. Kelan, Dean and I followed him to Joe’s, but by the time we got there, Ashton had shot Stan, but he hadn’t killed him yet.
“I pleaded with Ashton to think about what he was doing, but there was no reasoning with him. He wasn’t in his right mind—he had to have been thinking about what had happened to his mate.
“He shot Stan a second time, and then Dean shot Ashton. He killed him.”
“I’m sorry for what happened to your friend,” Hayden said quietly. “But it sounds like Dean was doing his job. What makes you think he’s behind the murders?”
Gregory sighed and lowered his gaze. “I did some checking into Dean’s background and it turns out he’s an excellent marksman. Which means he knew exactly what he was doing when he killed Ashton—it wasn’t just an unlucky shot.
“He didn’t have to kill him. Ashton wasn’t a threat to any of us. I think Dean had been feeding information to Ashton about Stan and was worried that Ashton would point the finger at him, so he killed Ashton to silence him.”
“What would Dean gain from making it look as if Stan were responsible for Tania’s death? Do you think he did it just to throw suspicion off himself?”
“You know that there are members in the council who believe shifters should live openly—should come out to humans?”
Hayden snorted. “That’s ridiculous. It would never work.”
“I agree, and that’s one thing Dean and I see eye to eye on. He’s incredibly vocal about his views on shifter politics. Well, Stan belonged to a group that had been campaigning for shifters to come out, expose ourselves.
“He’d gained a considerable following by all accounts. From what I’ve been able to find out since, Stan had created a petition to take to the elders to propose they allow us to reveal ourselves to humans if we desired.
“The word at the council is that there are a lot of names on that list.
“Apparently, Stan had been working his way through each pack, trying to get the majority of members to sign. But he always went for the troublemakers in the pack first.
“He sought out the shifters that would love nothing more than to stir things up. I guess those pack members feel superior to humans and were happy to sign. Dean has been fighting to put a stop to the petition before it’s given to the elders, but I suspect he’s taken it a step too far.
“I think he used Ashton to get to Stan. That got one very large opponent out of his way. But I haven’t been able to find a connection between Dean and the death of the mates at the council. I’m sure there’s something there, but I’m missing it.”
“Wow,” Hayden said at last. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“I know. And I debated whether or not I should tell you, but it’s a volatile situation and I figured, if you’re going to be staying at the Crazy Horse, you needed all the facts, needed to know what is going on around you.”
And you’re my mate, Gregory added mentally. If the council members found out about Hayden, he would be in great danger, too.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Hayden asked.
Gregory gave his mate a tired smile. “Yeah, stay away from council members, especially Dean White.”
Chapter Nine
When Hayden opened his eyes he wasn’t surprised to feel Gregory’s arm wrapped around his waist, or a heavily muscled leg pushed between his, the coarse hairs tickling where they touched.
They’d started the night on opposite sides of the bed.
Hayden hadn’t been able to fall asleep for hours because he’d slept so much in the car. While he had lain awake, halfway through the night, Gregory had turned in his sleep and sought him out like a heat-seeking missile. He’d wrapped an arm around Hayden and pulled him closer until their bodies were touching from head to toe.
The shelter of Gregory’s arms had made him feel safe and he hadn’t even considered waking Gregory to make him aware of what he was doing. It made him smile to think Gregory wanted to snuggle against him, even if he didn’t know he was doing it.
If Hayden had found it difficult to sleep before, he’d found it damn near impossible wrapped in Gregory’s embrace, especially with the man’s hard cock pressed up against his ass. How the hell did he stay so hard while he slept? Hayden had been out of his mind with lust, his own cock begging for attention. He’d ignored it, of course, he had to. He needed to stop thinking of Gregory in an amorous way because no good could come of it.
“Hmm,” Gregory moaned in his sleep and pressed himself closer to Hayden’s back.
Jesus, if the man wasn’t still hard.
Hayden groaned, allowing himself to enjoy the embrace for a solitary moment, to delight in the contact, and wallow in the fantasy. But right before he made to pull out of Gregory’s arms, the man started to purr, the low rumble in his chest like music to Hayden’s ears. He could gladly listen to the sound for the rest of his days on earth. Hayden couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so contented that he’d purred.
But Gregory made him want to.
He made him want a lot of things.
Lying in Gregory’s arms was torture. Hayden had to do something. He turned around to face Gregory but it didn’t rouse him from his slumber, so Hayden took a moment to study him. Jesus, he was beautiful. He looked so peaceful while he slept that Hayden very nearly left him that way, but they had to hit the road soon, and they had to get out of this damn bed before they did something Hayden was certain Gregory would regret.
“Gregory, wake up.”
Very slowly, Gregory opened his eyes. The second he met Hayden’s gaze, his mouth stretched into the widest smile Hayden had seen on the man yet. He waited for Gregory to awaken fully, to realize where he was and to push Hayden away, but he did the complete opposite of what Hayden expected. He was becoming used to Gregory doing the unexpected, which was ludicrous considering how long they’d known each other, but that was the truth of it.
Gregory tugged Hayden closer and pressed their lips together. The low rumble of a moan came from both their chests, as if in unison. Pushing his tongue inside, Gregory stole Hayden’s breath, the wet heat of his mouth wringing an even louder moan from his throat.
Hayden knew he should stop the kiss, but Gregory’s lips felt so perfect against his, so undeniably right, and when Gregory forced his mouth wider and pushed his tongue in further, deepening the kiss, Hayden let him. He couldn’t have stopped now if he wanted to, and he didn’t want to.
Firm hands slid down his back until they reached his ass and kneaded. Nimble fingers dug into his flesh and dragged him closer until their hard cocks came into contact. Gregory’s purring increased in volume, all but drowning out the sounds of their whimpers and moans. With a low, throaty growl, Gregory flipped them until he was on top of Hayden, pinning him to the mattress beneath his firm body. Their bare chests pressed together, igniting a fire in Hayden’s stomach he never wanted to be put out.
When Gregory started to rock, Hayden’s own hips lifted to meet each gentle thrust. Closing his eyes, Hayden pressed his head back into the pillow and let himself get lost in the feeling of Gregory’s body grinding into his.
The closeness of their bodies made him incredibly happy.
It filled his heart so full he thought it might burst right out of his chest. He knew it was just lust. He was attracted to Gregory, but as their bodies moved together he dared to dream that it could be something m
ore meaningful. Then Gregory ground harder against him and Hayden lost the ability to think at all.
He needed to come so badly he could taste it.
“Hayden, open your eyes.”
Gregory’s raspy voice pulled him from his reverie and he did as instructed.
When he looked up, he saw that Gregory’s eyes and teeth had shifted to their cat form. There was something so incredibly erotic about Gregory losing control like that…for him—for Hayden—someone that most people couldn’t stand to look at.
As their bodies continued the sensual dance, Hayden’s cat began to stir. Even though he was so used to pushing it deep inside himself, he could sense its restlessness, was aware of it begging for the release denied to it for so long.
What could it hurt if he let him out to play for a while?
He didn’t think his cat could be a danger to Gregory, didn’t think it possible any part of his being could hurt the man writhing above him.
But then he couldn’t be sure, could he?
And so he did the only thing he could think of to do. He tried to push his cat even further inside himself—tried to banish it to the deepest recesses of his being. He might have been successful if Gregory hadn’t leaned down and mashed their lips together, stealing his breath along with his common sense. The slide of their wet tongues made him forget himself, it made him forget what he had to do to keep his cat at bay.
If Hayden let go, if he gave himself over to Gregory and to the feelings that were becoming so powerful for the man above him, the inner battle he’d fought for so long would be lost.
Gregory reached a hand between them, slid it into the front of Hayden’s boxers then grabbed hold of his rigid cock. When he began to stroke, to slide back the foreskin, gently at first and then with more pressure, Hayden wasn’t sure how much more he could take or how much longer he could hold out.
He didn’t want to hold out.
He needed this.
His cat needed this.
“Let go, Hayden,” Gregory rasped. “Do it for me—give into it. Please.”
The pleading tone to Gregory’s request stripped away Hayden’s defenses layer by agonizing layer.
Gregory nuzzled into his neck, inhaling him, drinking in his scent like an addict taking a fix, and the groan that tore from his throat was ragged, primal. His tongue scraped deliciously up Hayden’s neck followed by a graze of teeth and the pressure of sucking lips and all the while Gregory kept stroking him, kept making his body want to fly apart.
And then it did.
The pressure inside built and built until there was nothing left for it to do but erupt in a burst of light and feelings and emotions.
He couldn’t hold it back any longer.
Hayden’s cat burst through the walls he had constructed for himself.
His cat rose to the surface, clawing desperately at his insides until it was finally free. Hayden’s incisors ripped from his gums, his eyes shifted, his claws tore from his fingers and a low hiss burst from his throat.
But, while all the physical changes were altering his body, it was the things going on inside that stole the breath from Hayden’s lungs.
Gregory’s face seemed to glow so brightly from within it nearly blinded Hayden. His entire body filled with the light from it until there was no space for anything else. Tiny currents of electricity zapped him everywhere at once, and, Jesus, but that smile…
The smile on Gregory’s face said everything, answered everything.
It was a knowing smile, a triumphant smile. That smile was the last thing Hayden saw before a pleasure unlike any he’d experienced took over his body. And when he came he shouted out the only word it seemed he had left in his vocabulary.
“Mate!”
Chapter Ten
Gregory had never been as happy.
As he stared down at Hayden’s face, contorted with pleasure, and heard him scream out the word he’d been longing to hear since the moment they met, a rush of pure adrenaline surged through his body. It was like a tidal wave of pleasure threatening to drown him.
He was certain it would embarrass him later, but as he spent himself in his briefs—still gripping Hayden’s overflowing cock and crying out his name—he didn’t care.
Nothing mattered but the man beneath him.
His mate.
When he finally stopped trembling, he opened his eyes and looked down at Hayden’s face. He wasn’t sure what he had hoped to see there, surprise maybe or happiness, even a small amount of fear, but the one thing he prayed not to find was regret. Relief unlike any he’d known coursed through his veins when he took in Hayden’s wide eyes and open mouth.
There was definitely surprise etched on his face but beyond that was wonder, awe, and a little incredulity.
“You’re… You’re…”
Hayden couldn’t finish the sentence.
Gregory placed a hand under his mate’s chin and tilted it until their gazes locked. “I’m yours,” he said with conviction.
Hayden choked out a sob. “You knew. All along you knew.”
Even though it hadn’t been a question, Gregory answered with a nod.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Leaning down, he placed a gentle kiss on Hayden’s lips.
“Can you honestly say you would have believed something like that without feeling it, without experiencing it for yourself?”
“I don’t know,” Hayden said quietly. He seemed to think about it for a moment before continuing. “I guess not.”
“I didn’t think so. It was something you had to find out for yourself.”
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
The words were spoken so quietly Gregory had to bend lower to hear them, and when he let them wash over him, he didn’t like them.
His reply stuck in his throat but he managed to choke it out. “What are you sorry for?”
Hayden rolled out from underneath Gregory then sat on the edge of the bed, covering his face with his hands. He scrubbed them roughly over his eyes then got up and headed to the bathroom. Gregory thought he wasn’t going to get a reply but then Hayden stopped just inside the door and turned to look at him, his eyes full of sadness and pain.
“I’m sorry you got landed with me for a mate. You deserve better than someone like me.”
Before Gregory could argue or refute or even shout at his mate for being so goddamn stupid, Hayden disappeared into the bathroom and locked the door, signaling the end of that particular topic.
The hell it was.
Gregory fell back on the bed and tried to gather his thoughts, to calm some of the anger building inside. Had Hayden’s parents throwing him out made him feel that worthless, or had something else happened since?
Was it because of his scar?
There had to be a terrible story behind the scar, but he couldn’t force it out of Hayden.
His mate had to want to tell him how he’d got it.
Whatever the cause, Gregory was determined to get to the bottom of it. If it took him the rest of his life, he would show Hayden how precious he was, how invaluable.
He would make him realize he was someone that deserved to be cherished and more...to be loved.
The ride back to Texas had been difficult for Gregory.
A stony, uncomfortable silence had filled the car and every time he’d glanced at Hayden, his mate had been staring out of the passenger window, his bottom lip pulled between his teeth.
Gregory had made a few feeble attempts to lighten the mood and to involve Hayden in a conversation about the Crazy Horse and some of the people who worked and lived there, but for the most part, Hayden had replied with one-word answers and offered nothing further.
The mating bond was something that shifters revered, something they cherished, but Hayden was acting as if it was the worst thing that could ever happen to a person.
His indifference to their bond made Gregory’s heartache.
Didn’t he realize how good they could be t
ogether?
Didn’t he care?
Since Hayden had emerged from the bathroom that morning his cat had been absent, shoved back into his hiding place, and now Gregory wasn’t even sure if his mate could feel their bond anymore. He wasn’t certain about a lot of things.
Hayden was a mystery, and he wasn’t forthcoming with any clues.
When the journey was nearly at an end, about five minutes away from the Crazy Horse, Gregory had had enough. He decided to question Hayden because not knowing where he stood was killing him. They probably wouldn’t get the chance to talk when they arrived at the ranch and then he’d have to report to the council, so, if it were to happen at all, their talk had to happen right then and there.
“Aren’t you happy we found each other?”
Gregory took his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at his mate.
Hayden shrugged.
“That’s not an answer!” Gregory snapped. “Is it me? Are you sorry your bond is with me? Is that it? Don’t you like me?”
“I like you,” Hayden said quietly. “I just don’t get how you could like me. Let’s be honest here—if it wasn’t for our bond, you wouldn’t have given me a second look.”
Gregory lost it. “Don’t you dare tell me what I would or wouldn’t have done, Hayden. You don’t even know me.
“For your information, I watched you for three goddamn days in Las Vegas when I should have picked you up because I was mesmerized by you. I couldn’t take my eyes off you, and that was before I got anywhere near you and knew anything about our damn bond!”
“Is that true?” Hayden whispered, his eyes wide with surprise.
Gregory placed a hand on his knee and squeezed.
“Yes, it’s true. I wouldn’t lie about something like that. You intrigued me, and damn but I thought you were beautiful. I still do.
“And before you say anything, I didn’t even notice your damn scar. Are you ready to tell me how you got it?”
Gregory didn’t need to be looking at Hayden to tell that his mate’s entire body had stiffened.
“I can’t talk about it, I’m sorry.”
Gregory's Rebellion (2019 Reissue) Page 6
