by Marcy Jacks
Voices that got louder as they went into the safety of the bushes.
The trees and thorny shrubs back here weren’t so dense, so Taylor still had to be careful. He didn’t want to draw any attention to himself. When it looked as if both men were going to stop walking, Taylor quickly ducked behind one of the trees to have a listen.
He didn’t like not doing what James told him to do, but he couldn’t help it. If he stayed at a proper distance, maybe that would be enough and he wouldn’t distract James from…whatever it was they were going to do out here.
The conversation still seemed to be…harsh. It was as if they were just barely holding back from thrashing each other.
Was it bad for Taylor to hope that if a fight happened, it would be James who came out on top? Van’s overprotective behavior didn’t sit well with Taylor, but he definitely didn’t want James getting hurt over…whatever this was supposed to be.
Then James spoke of siblings. Taylor was stunned by that one. He hadn’t known James had a family, but he’d also never asked him about his life before they’d met.
There hadn’t been much time to talk about anything. Things had happened between them so quickly. James had been holding Taylor captive, dragging him around the forest after his getaway vehicle had been tampered with, and then taking care of him and defending him from those people who’d wanted to either kill him or take him back to Varrick so they could collect whatever reward there had been for Miles.
Then James had been hurt in that fight, and the injury made him sick. The roles reversed, and it was Taylor taking care of James, and then they’d started having sex.
So fast. Taylor knew almost nothing about relationships, and even he knew things had happened between them incredibly quickly.
When Van had called James his mate, Taylor’s heart swelled and burst. He almost choked at those words because he wanted them to be true. He would like nothing more than if the man he loved was his mate.
Then they could be together forever, and Taylor could learn so much more about the man he was in love with. He could find out about his family. Was he born and bred to be the way he was? Or had he and his siblings been taken at a younger age?
From the sounds of it, they were definitely dead, and now Taylor’s heart wasn’t bursting with affection. It was hurting, aching. He wanted to go to James and just…hug him.
As if that would make the loss of his family easier to manage.
Taylor had to snap himself out of it. He missed part of what Van and James were arguing about, but James seemed to be accusing Van of something. Did he just say he didn’t want to bring Taylor home? He would let Van do it if he hadn’t been banished?
Jesus, what was happening back at the mansion? Everything sounded as though it was in chaos.
The two men roared and flew at each other. Taylor could hardly stop himself from running to James. He almost left the safety of his hiding place before he could get a grip and stop himself.
What the hell was he thinking? Oh God, they were going to rip each other’s faces off!
“James.” Taylor groaned his name. He wanted to shout it, to yell out for them to stop as the roaring and snarling became louder and the ground shook beneath their feet as they slammed each other onto the ground.
If he called out to James, it would just distract him. It might get him killed. It was better to say nothing and just watch.
The two men slashed and bit at each other. James grabbed Van by the throat and actually threw him. In Taylor’s direction.
Taylor dived out of the way. He felt the whoosh of air across his body. He landed wrong, on his arm as he tried to catch himself, but he scraped his skin over the rocks and thorns from the many weeds in this area.
“Ow.”
“Taylor?”
James’s voice sounded both angry and shocked at the same time.
Then Van was immediately there, standing between Taylor and James. “You dumb motherfucker! Watch what you’re doing!”
“I’m okay. I just landed wrong.” Taylor got up easily enough. There was nothing wrong with his legs. “You can stop fighting now.”
He tried to walk around Van, but the man moved, keeping his back to Taylor but also keeping himself between him and James.
James growled, a dangerously low noise that had even Taylor fearful.
“Get the fuck out of his way.”
“No. I’m going to take him back to his home, where he belongs, and you can fuck off. You said you didn’t want to take him back anyway.”
Even though Taylor had already heard that, he couldn’t help but look at James.
He wanted James to say something, to deny it to Taylor’s face, even if it would mean that he had admitted to it behind his back.
James looked sorry instead. His eyes changed, transforming from angry and battle-ready, to guilt-filled. That look was the thing that sank Taylor’s heart.
“I can’t go with you.”
Taylor’s throat closed painfully. “Why?” His voice croaked. “I thought…I thought…”
“I can’t,” James said. “It’s too dangerous. Varrick will come for me if I don’t deliver you. He’ll come for me when he finds out I slept with you. He’ll come for me because I took the wrong person and he’ll think I did it on purpose. Any one of those things on their own is enough to get me and everyone I love killed. I will not now, nor will I ever, put you through that risk.”
Taylor didn’t care. He shook his head, his eyes burning and his throat hurting. This strange betrayal that bubbled within him was something he couldn’t have fathomed ever feeling.
It hurt that badly.
“I can’t do it,” James said, his fangs and claws sinking back into nothingness. “It’s too dangerous for you.”
“I don’t care.” Still more croaking, but he couldn’t stop speaking. “I want you to stay with me.”
That was the only thing he was able to say as Van suddenly sprang on James when he didn’t have any of scales out to protect himself.
Chapter Ten
“No!” Taylor ran for them. He couldn’t stop himself this time as Van landed on top of James and those suddenly huge teeth came down hard on him.
James lifted his arm, stopping the other dragon from biting his throat. Barely.
Taylor grabbed the back of Van’s neck and then his hair. He gripped tight and pulled back hard. When that didn’t get the reaction he’d hoped for, Taylor let his own smaller claws out and grabbed onto Van’s ears.
He didn’t have all of his yellow scales out, so it was nothing but tender pink flesh that Taylor’s small claws sank into.
That seemed to be enough. Van roared again, his arm flying back, catching Taylor across the jaw.
The strike was the most painful thing Taylor had ever experienced. More painful than being struck with a belt, more painful than when he’d been grabbed up in the woods and those people tried taking him away from James.
His body flew as if he were made of dry leaves. He landed much harder than that. The wind flew from his lungs. He couldn’t breathe!
Taylor pushed himself to his hands and knees. He coughed and sucked back air as though he were trying to breathe through a straw. A clogged straw.
He clutched at his throat and chest, willing his lungs to open, and for the longest, most frightening moment, they wouldn’t.
When they finally did, it was for tiny sips of air. It was enough. Enough to let him know he wasn’t going to pass out and he wasn’t going to die.
Taylor collapsed onto his side, still clutching his chest, still focusing on breathing. When he was finally able to think about something else, he looked toward both dragons.
James somehow managed to get a leg up in the fight. His face was a shade of red that couldn’t be healthy as he slammed punch after punch against Van’s face and nose.
He wasn’t attempting to bite the man, and it didn’t look as if he was trying to slash his throat or kill him.
It looked more as if he
was trying to turn Van’s nose inside out, and Van appeared helpless to do anything but let it happen.
He was totally at James’s mercy.
When had that happened? When Taylor had been trying to breathe? Wow. James was incredibly powerful.
The sound of James’s fist smacking against Van’s nose and jaw again and again was almost enough to make Taylor feel sorry for the man, but the throbbing in his face was definitely a reminder as to why he shouldn’t really care if Van was going to get his ass handed to him.
James huffed a heavy breath when he threw Van down onto the thorns and dirt Taylor had fallen into, and then he stood over the man like a conquering Viking.
“You touch him again and I’ll kill you! Do you hear me? I will fucking kill you!”
James pointed his finger down at Van’s face as if he was pointing the end of a blade down at it.
The tip of his claw that appeared was certainly enough to make it seem that way.
Van didn’t appear to be in any state to agree or disagree. His eyes opened and closed, but they did so sluggishly, as if he wasn’t quite there. Dark blood drenched his upper lip from where it spilled from his nose, and it drooled from his mouth as well.
He must have bitten his cheek when James had been punching him so hard.
James growled down at him. Taylor wanted to call out to him, to tell him he didn’t want anyone to die. He just wanted James to stay with him.
Taylor reached his hand out. He wanted to touch the other man, but James was just out of reach.
James half turned suddenly, looking down at him, as though he couldn’t quite believe Taylor was on the ground to begin with.
He fell to his knees by Taylor’s body, his hands barely daring to touch Taylor for long, painful seconds before he apparently decided he wasn’t going to hold back. He pulled Taylor into his arms.
Taylor’s heart warmed, and that warmth spread to the rest of his body as he leaned against James’s chest.
His mate. This was his mate. He knew it in his heart, and he wasn’t going to let anyone tell him otherwise.
“You come near us again, and I will slit your throat,” James growled.
It was a testament to his patience, and his honor, that he didn’t kick Van while he was down.
But it also confused Taylor when James began to walk away.
“You’re not going to kill him?”
His voice had croaked when his heart shattered earlier. Now it sounded as if he’d just swallowed a bucket of sand. Dry as all hell.
“I knew you wouldn’t want me to,” James said, and that was the only thing he said as he walked across the parking lot with Taylor in his arms.
His ears exposed and his tail out, he looked around. No one who was outside seemed to notice him. There were fewer people now than there had been before, and most that were in sight were too far away to have noticed the fighting.
Probably because they were still looking toward the hill.
It started to drizzle just as James opened the door to their motel room and let them in.
* * * *
James cleaned up the scratches and wounds on Taylor’s arm. He didn’t want to give the man too much stress. When he’d seen the way Taylor had been clutching at his neck and chest after Van hit him like that, he’d nearly lost his mind.
There hadn’t been any time to properly think. He could hardly breathe, and he didn’t fight the rage that built up inside him as his inner beast roared to the surface.
The hybrid spirit of his dragon and wolf saw the attack on the man they loved, and they had been willing to go to war in an instant for him.
Now James wanted to just…hold him. He wanted to hold him and never let him go.
He could have died. It terrified James to think about, but he’d seen omegas who had been hit just a little bit too hard get knocked down like that and then never get back up.
He lay against the headboard in bed, Taylor in his arms, and he held the man close to him. He stroked Taylor’s hair and his fox ears. Comforting the man in his arms, as well as himself, as he soaked in Taylor’s body heat and felt the softness of the fur of his ears.
James also watched the door to their room with a heavy suspicion. Any hint that the lock was about to break and the door kicked in was enough. That was all it would take and he would fly back into defensive mode.
It didn’t happen. The rain actually picked up. He could hear the sound of it outside, soothing him, pouring much harder than the news had called for.
The radio was on but also on low volume. The fire was being put out, and it seemed there had been minimal damage. Soon the body, or bodies, James had left behind would be discovered, assuming they hadn’t been moved by anyone else on the hill.
He would tell Varrick what had happened, which meant James would have to move quickly. Get Taylor back to his home tomorrow at the very latest.
“I’m glad you didn’t kill him,” Taylor said after some time. “I don’t want you to kill people.”
James kissed the top of Taylor’s head. “I don’t want that either.”
“Did you ever have a choice?” Taylor looked up at him, his eyes searching, as though he desperately wanted to believe James wasn’t the monster he had presented himself as in the beginning.
James had to think about the answer. “For the most part, no. I never even thought about it as a question of morality. Your master tells you to do something and you do it. If he wanted to watch me fight with another shifter in a cellar for his amusement, then I did that, too.”
James had to have another think about what he said next. “I did know the difference between right and wrong. I thought I did, I should say, but I still never thought much about it. I knew not everyone did what I did and some people were scared of me.”
“Were your siblings assassins, too?”
James shook his head. “No. One was a pleasure slave, the other a cleaner.” It hurt so much to think about them. He’d tried not to for so long, and yet here he was. Talking about it to the man he was in love with.
“My brother killed himself. He just couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t even know until three days later, after the body had been thrown into the furnace to heat the slave quarters where I slept.”
Taylor cringed in his arms. “I’m so sorry.”
“Me, too,” James replied. “But he went out on his own terms. I’m happy he at least had that choice.”
“Should I not ask you about this? Does it hurt to bring it up?”
“It does.” James nodded then wet his lips. “But telling you feels right.” It felt as if they were establishing something deeper than what they’d had when Taylor had saved his life out there in the woods.
He could have taken James’s money and weapons and run for it. He hadn’t. Taylor was braver than he gave himself credit for.
And a little more foolish.
“My sister was killed when one of the vampires hit her. I was there for that one. I saw it. He just backhanded her.” Now James’s body began to tense. “It looked so much like the way Van hit you. He hit her too hard, and she went down awkwardly and…then it was over. As fast as that. I would have trouble hitting someone like that for a kill. It was a fluke, but the only thing that stopped me from killing that son of a bitch was…I suppose I was shocked over it. I went to her body. It was the first time I didn’t want to believe that there could be a corpse in front of me.”
James took a heavy breath. “I suppose I numbed myself after that. If I continued to do my work, then I could gain my freedom. I’d wanted to earn it for them, but they were gone, and then there was you.”
James looked down at him, and the mix of shame and love, lust and want and regret came rolling back into him. “Van is not wrong. When I thought you were Miles, I was perfectly willing to hand you over. That is not a noble thing for me to be doing.”
“But you had a reason.”
James thought he had a reason, too. He shook his head, though he didn’t release
the man in his arms. “I don’t care for my reasons. They aren’t enough.”
Taylor was quiet in his arms. He didn’t say anything, though he squirmed a little.
“Say what’s on your mind,” James said.
Taylor’s fox ears flicked on top of his head. They were always so cute.
“I know what you were doing was bad, but I can’t help it. I forgive you for it.”
“Then you’re a fool.”
Harsh words. Maybe he needed to be a little harsh right now.
“Yeah, I’m a fool,” Taylor said.
James couldn’t tell if the man was sad for the insult or taking it as a compliment. He was being difficult to read at the moment.
“But I still forgive you, and I want you to come home with me.”
James shook his head.
Taylor growled at him, his arms tightening around James’s middle as he glared up at him.
“Okay, fine, if you really want to make it up to me, then escort me home and let Seth punish you.”
James tensed. He looked down at Taylor with a raised brow. “You understand that dragon might decide to kill me for what I did, do you not?”
Taylor’s expression didn’t change. “He won’t. He’ll listen to me, and even if he wants you to work for him for a while, to protect the mansion and the omegas there, you can take that as your punishment.”
James chuckled. “I think you have a different idea about how some alphas handle their punishments.”
“Seth won’t hurt you, and even if he tries, you’re powerful. You can escape.”
“And now you’re playing to my ego and strengths.” James adjusted his legs, putting one of them between Taylor’s. “I think I like that.”
Taylor grinned up at him. “I’m in love with you. I don’t know if you’re my mate. I think you are, but please, even if you’re not, I want you with me. If Seth doesn’t want you around, you can just kidnap me again and we can leave.”
Taylor had his full attention when he mentioned the mate part.
Because James had been thinking about that, too. It was impossible to not think of it, especially when Taylor was in his arms.
