Devon's Gamble (Wolves' Heat)

by Odessa Lynne

  “Until?” the masked wolf asked.

  “The trackers. He told me they were meant to keep the humans safe. That way if anything went wrong and they got separated, they’d be able to find each other, but he didn’t want wolves finding the signal first and the beacons had to be able to get through the usual signal block in case someone got taken to a den against their will.”

  “You didn’t suspect this person had a deeper motive? That this person might want someone to get taken to the den so these rescuers had a reason to come in and attack our people? A reason that would garner them sympathy and support from other humans?”

  Devon took a deep breath and looked at Kem. “I suspected,” he said. “But I ignored my gut feeling and I did it anyway because I needed the money.”

  The atmosphere in the room had gone dark and hot and he could feel the alpha’s eyes on him and see Kem’s stare, so cold he thought his heart was going to snap in two.

  The masked wolf growled and took a step closer to Devon.

  “Stop,” the alpha snapped.

  The masked wolf moved away and Kem’s cold-eyed stare followed the wolf every step of the way. Devon’s gaze flickered down. Kem’s claws often gave away more about his mood than his expression and Devon felt a twist in his gut at the sight of Kem’s claws fully extended.

  “I’m sorry,” Devon said. “I really am. But I had to make a choice and I chose to worry about the fate of a friend over the fate of people I didn’t know and if I could go back in time and change things I would have found another way to get the goddamn money. I wouldn’t have let myself be fooled by—by old loyalties and people who can’t be trusted.”

  The alpha stepped forward. “Who did you create the trackers for?”

  “I didn’t create them. I just configured them. That’s what I do. I know how to get around the standard protocols and make things as invisible as humanly possible. He supplied them and I fixed them up. I can give you all the frequencies and codes.”

  “We won’t need them. We have one of the microbeacons.”

  “That won’t be enough.” Another thought came to him. “I can show you how to remotely activate every microbeacon I configured—if you guarantee you’ll turn over the renegades to my government for trial.”

  “Things have changed. Traesikeille will decide the fates of anyone found conspiring against us and the treaties we have with your Earth governments.”

  “I—” Can’t, he’d been about to say, but really, why not? Brendan was already here. Devon didn’t give a shit about any of the rest of those guys. “What will he do to them?”

  “If they’re found guilty of a crime, they’ll have to submit to First Alpha’s rule or fight for their right to defy him.”

  “And the catch is they’re not going to have a chance in hell of winning, right?”

  “Traesikeille is First Alpha for a reason.”

  “But they’ll have a choice? They get to choose if they submit or not to his rule?” And then, “What’s his rule?”

  “They’ll swear fealty to whatever pack he chooses for them and they’ll find ways to make themselves useful.”

  Devon’s sucked in a breath as he had the chilling thought that maybe Brendan really had been right when he’d said the wolves would just make sex slaves out of them all eventually if they didn’t do something now to stop it.

  “I’m sure those who are wise enough to choose to submit will have skills of some kind.”

  “Oh,” Devon said, dropping his gaze before his eyes gave him away. He exhaled harshly. “Sounds like a stupid move to me. Letting the enemy into your ranks. They can just find ways to turn it to their advantage. You’ll have moles everywhere.”

  “There are ways to monitor a person’s activities and drugs to ensure truthful answers. So no, we would not be worried about any of those things. In fact, there could be opportunity for us there.”

  Devon snorted. “You really think you could turn any of those guys?”

  “It only takes one person in the right place. Say, someone like your friend.”

  Devon frowned. “Ian wasn’t one of them.”

  “Ian isn’t the friend I’m talking about.”

  “Shit.”

  “Your phone had more than one questionable message on it, Devon.” Kem didn’t sound nearly as angry as Devon expected. “But you don’t know what happened while you were gone, so you might still feel bound to protect him.” Kem addressed the alpha. “He should know.”

  “Agreed.”

  “What?” Devon asked, looking between them while his stomach tightened. He didn’t know if he wanted to hear whatever they were going to tell him.

  “Ian helped us set a trap,” the alpha said. “Unfortunately, the plan fell apart and he ended up on his own. The one he calls Brendan found him. The details of what happened aren’t important, only the outcome. Another Alpha had made a bargain with your friend and he was willing to sacrifice Ian to the alpha because Ian continued to refuse to join him and the renegades.”

  “God. That’s what he meant then.”

  “Explain.”

  “Brendan said you have a faction that wants to replace the First Alpha. He said he’d been approached—there was this guy, one of the humans in the basement, name was Jay, and he was the contact, Brendan said. He said they had an opportunity to make some real progress, or something like that, I can’t remember exactly. But Ian’s okay, right? You said he was doing okay.”

  “Ian has a broken wrist, while your friend Brendan has a broken ankle.”

  Devon nodded absently. He rubbed the side of his nose so he could have a second to think. Finally, he said, “There’s a lot of shit I can show you about the trackers and beacons and other stuff besides. Just promise me you will eventually let me see Ian.”

  “If I believe you’re being truthful here, I’ll let you see Ian—if he wants to see you.”

  It was the first concession Devon had gotten and he felt a surge of relief.

  He couldn’t imagine Ian not wanting to see him, even if it was just to cuss him for getting him into this mess. Devon would take the bitching so he could have some peace of mind about Ian’s condition.

  “When did your friend join the renegades? The pack he made the deal with claims he was a leader in the group. Ian isn’t certain. What do you know of it?”

  Devon looked to Kem again, who was already watching him. “I don’t know. The way he acted sometimes, I think he wanted to be more than he was, but he did have some authority. He paid for the work I did from his own gold account.”

  “If it’s any consolation, he has denied that you’re a member of the renegades, very strongly. If the evidence in this bag didn’t exist, you would have been above suspicion.”

  “Because of Kem?”

  “Because of Ian.”

  “Well.” Friends in high places, he thought. Fucking the alpha must have gotten him some nice perks.

  “About Brendan…” the alpha said, tone encouraging.

  “I don’t know what happened to him. When we met—”

  “When did you meet?” Kem asked.

  “The year after you came. We were—ah, you know, involved.”

  “You were mates?”

  “If you want to call it that. Like your heat mates. Temporary.”

  “Is that why you’re protective of him?”

  “I’m not—shit. I can’t help it. He didn’t used to be a total asshole and I don’t know what happened to him. I can’t cut him loose. It doesn’t feel right. But if what you say is true about what he did to Ian, I guess I’m going to have to accept that the guy I used to know is completely gone. He would never have let anything happen to Ian. God, he’s been in love with him for his whole damn life.”

  The look he got from Kem and the alpha said he hadn’t quite managed to hide his bitterness over that fact.

  “You love him,” Kem said, voice quiet and…something. Something Devon couldn’t identify through the accent.

  “I don�
�t love Brendan,” Devon said. “Not like that, not like a boyfriend. I probably did, but that’s been years ago. The guy who would’ve let Ian get hurt, that’s not the guy I was in love with, that’s for damn sure. You’ve got to understand, Brendan hid his interest in the growing renegade groups those first few years really well. Then one day, he started dropping clues and before I knew it, he was all in. I had my own problems to deal with. I wasn’t paying that much attention to what was going on with him.”

  “Why were you in the woods the day you were caught trespassing in our territory?” the alpha asked.

  “A couple guys and me were talking about your new repression drugs and the rumors of how good they were getting. I said I’d heard they were the best yet and that they worked—I know somebody who knows somebody else who works in the medical field with some of your scientists, somebody I met a long time ago, so I had a hunch the rumors were true. The guys bet me I didn’t have the balls to let myself get caught out in the woods by you guys to prove it.”

  “You’re a fool,” the alpha said.

  “I knew it was risky, sure, but the payoff was a lot of money and I needed it. The downside was having to keep my mouth shut and letting one or a few wolves fuck me. ‘Submit and live. Just do whatever it takes to survive.’ There’s you a direct quote from the last heat season survival training session. I thought the odds were in my favor. If I’d been one of the renegades, I’d have known enough not to take the bet because they stopped your drug supply. Even then, I survived, didn’t I?”

  Kem reached out and touched the side of Devon’s throat where the healing slash marks curved around his neck. Devon’s breath hitched.

  “You survived,” Kem said.

  “I don’t think you know how lucky you’ve been,” the alpha said.

  “Yeah. Lucky. Luck’s a fickle bitch,” Devon muttered, thinking about Gran.

  Kem reacted with a soft sigh and Devon tried to figure out why what he’d said would have disappointed Kem. Maybe he couldn’t read him that well, but he knew disappointment when he heard it.

  “Why?” Kem asked. “Why do you need money so badly that you would do something so stupid to claim it?”

  “You’ve seen my dick. Doing stupid shit for money isn’t that new for me.”

  The alpha raised his eyebrows and stared down his straight nose at Devon’s crotch. “When heat season is over and the risk isn’t so great, Wentarki, you’re going to have to show me your mate’s penis.”

  Devon’s eyes flared wide.

  Kem showed his teeth in a strange approximation of a smile that definitely wasn’t a smile. “Only if he wishes you to see.”

  The alpha nodded and Devon wanted to sigh at the relief he felt. Not that he had a problem showing off his penis when people wanted to see his tattoo—he had nothing to be ashamed of, not in front of other guys, but wolves? He’d never really thought of himself as self-conscious but shit, he’d never measure up to any of them.

  “Why?” Kem asked again and Devon knew he couldn’t put off telling the truth any longer even though he was afraid of how Kem and the alpha were going to react.

  Devon shifted on the hard chair. “I used to live with my grandmother, and when I left, I stole some money from her—a lot of money. Enough to live on for nearly three years, and I’m not talking beans and potatoes, and now she wants it back.”

  Kem and the alpha shared a look. “Beans and potatoes?” Kem said.

  “Cheap. I didn’t live cheap the first few years.”

  “Ah.”

  Brendan’s collection of guns had grown quite a bit that first year after they’d met, because Devon hadn’t seen any reason not to be generous with his gifts. Devon had paid for most things in those days, to be honest, because Ian had always been short of funds and Brendan—well, Devon had still been fucking around with Brendan and he’d got a thrill out of spending Gran’s money on his boyfriend.

  The alpha stared hard at Devon with eyes that glittered dangerously, but it was Kem who spoke.

  “So you’ve done all this—given technology to someone you knew was connected to the renegades, put your life at great risk, and even returned here, ready to barter your submission in a trade, and all of it’s been because you’re running from a crime you committed against one of your own family? You were willing to sacrifice lives to gain the funds to repay a debt.”

  Chapter 24

  Devon clenched his fist against his thigh and sat up straighter. “There’s more to it than that. I regret configuring those trackers for Brendan but they were only going to be useful if someone got one into a den. How was I supposed to know Brendan would stick one on Ian without him knowing? I know Brendan’s a manipulative son of a bitch but I never thought he’d do something like that.”

  “Then explain to me why you did it, because as things stand, I can’t protect you. If you’re responsible for the deaths of innocents, you’ll have to face Traesikeille. Not even your status as my mate will protect you from his judgment.”

  “You know what?” Devon said. “You might should have considered the fact that you didn’t know shit about me when you decided we were going to mate.”

  “Devon.”

  “You say that as if I’m supposed to understand what you mean just from the sound of my name. I don’t.”

  The alpha eyed Kem, as if to see how Kem would react.

  “Then let me make myself clear.” Kem crouched in front of Devon and used his finger to raise Devon’s chin. “Submit. Stop going on tangents. Pay attention to the questions and answer them, because I’m losing my patience. Answer these final questions so that we can leave here and return to my bed. I want to fuck you and if I have to continue to resist my needs, when I finally allow the drugs to wear off, I’ll spend so much time inside you that it will take you days before you can walk without a wince. We’ve been apart for much too long through my heat cycles and I want this over with. Now. So tell me, if you’re so desperate for money you would sell yourself to me, why?”

  Devon’s mouth parted.

  He’d had the impression Kem was doing fine. Now he noticed the glint of Kem’s eyes under the light and the faint sheen of sweat for what it was, instead of assuming Kem—like Devon—was sweating because the building was overheated and stuffy.

  “Gran’s threatening to turn Geoff in for something he did when he was a kid if I don’t pay up. Gran does this every time I think I’ve finally got her off my back. Comes up with something and holds it over the head of someone I care about and then demands I pay her some of the money I stole. I wouldn’t give a fuck about paying her back if not for that. She could go rot in hell for all I care. But Geoff, he’ll go to jail for what he did, no way he won’t, because Gran’s in good with the piece of shit law in the area. He makes too much money off Gran to go against her.”

  Kem brought his other hand up to Devon’s face. He traced the line of Devon’s scar. “Is the one you’re talking about the one who did this?”

  Devon cleared the tightness from his throat. “Yeah.”

  “Why do you care about the fate of this Geoff?”

  “We grew up together. I know what he did and I know why he did it, and he doesn’t deserve to have to go to jail for it.”

  Kem looked into his eyes and Devon stared right back. It wasn’t his place to spill Geoff’s secrets but he would if he had to to gain Kem’s help.

  But Kem didn’t ask. He put his hand on Devon’s knee.

  Devon covered Kem’s hand and let his thumb trace the tip of one of Kem’s long fingers. The dark fingernail-like material at the end felt very much like a human fingernail, except a little longer, a little wider, and smoother than Devon’s own. After the last joint, there was just enough room for those inch and a half long claws to hide.

  He realized he really hadn’t spent much time exploring their differences and he hoped he would get the chance to do that.

  But first—

  “Are we done?” Devon asked. “I’m tired of all the questi
ons and I need to know if you’re going to help me. I’ve told you what I have to barter. The trackers, information, submission.”

  “We’ve mated. Every time you mention bartering for my help, you’re insulting me. You’ll never have to barter for my help. You are my life.”

  Devon swallowed and felt a strange lightness well up inside him. “Thanks,” he said, voice almost cracking on the word.

  Kem leaned toward him, pupils widening in a sudden rush even as Devon watched.

  Kem kissed him, right there in front of the others, and Devon responded by opening his mouth and breathing in Kem’s hot breath right before Kem’s teeth nipped Devon’s bottom lip.

  Kem crowded closer.

  “Wentarki, no!”

  Devon’s heart stuttered at the alpha’s roar of what he was sure was the sound of Kem’s true name.

  Kem tore his mouth away and buried his nose to Devon’s throat, pushing his head up and back.

  “I should not—” Kem said, words hanging in the air, the thought unfinished. His mouth closed on Devon’s throat, teeth scraping dangerously, but not breaking the skin.

  Whatever had been holding Kem together had snapped quickly.

  A dark thrill raced through Devon as Kem’s teeth moved down the column of his throat. He grabbed Kem’s shoulders to steady himself.

  He heard a scuffle behind Kem but he couldn’t see around him with his head tilted back.

  “Leave!” he heard the alpha say, followed by a growl and then something heavy slammed into the wall. Devon jerked and his heart thudded.

  Kem’s hand curved around the back of Devon’s neck. With his other hand, Kem tugged Devon’s shirt up and rubbed his hand flat on the overheated skin of Devon’s chest, stopping to tweak Devon’s nipple hard.

  Devon started to get hard, fast, and he gasped at a twinge of pain in his dick. Goddamn jeans were too tight in the crotch for a hard on while he was sitting in a straight-backed chair.

  “Mine,” Kem said right against the base of Devon’s throat, a dark inflection to the accented word. “You are mine.”

  Another growl from either the alpha or the masked wolf, and then the door slammed open and then closed.