Chay blinked. “Peta, as in the ‘people for the ethnical treatment of animals’?”
“Nope. Pita, as in ‘pain in the ass’.”
Chay chuckled and peeked down at Pita, shaking his leg a little, playing tug-of-war. “It fits.” Chay pulled out a chair and sat down. “Did he keep you up all night?”
“He would have, but I got smart and put him in bed with me.”
“You’re brave. He didn’t pee in the bed?”
“Nah, we had a nice long talk about what happens to puppies who go in the house.”
Chay smiled and ducked his head under the table. The growling had stopped. Was that the smell of…? “Are you sure he speaks English? ‘Cause he just went in the house.”
“Oh damn.” He’d been taking Pita out every hour. Keaton looked at the clock. Shit, he’d gotten wrapped up in reading the Apache book Chay had given him and he’d forgotten to take the pest outside. He glanced down at Pita and pointed. “Bad dog.” He grabbed the pup by the scruff of his neck, showed him the puddle, swatted his behind and took him outside.
Pita had done all his business inside, because once Keaton set him down outside the little pest took off pouncing after a grasshopper. Keaton shook his head.
He smelled Chay before he heard the door close. Two hands landed on his shoulders and began kneading. “I cleaned up the puddle.”
“Thank you.”
“Welcome. We have to go meet with John, my pack leader, in about an hour.” Chay bent and kissed the back of his neck, nipping before he straightened.
That was nice. Keaton shivered at the sensation. And damn if his cock didn’t stand straight up. Well not straight up, it was sort of to the side. He had the urge to reach down and adjust. He shifted a little, wiggling side to side. It didn’t help.
Chay chuckled. “What are you doing?” He placed another kiss on Keaton’s neck.
“Cut that out.”
“Why?” Chay breathed the words across the bare skin above his shirt collar.
Not fair. Keaton shivered again. “You’re giving me a boner.”
Chay squeezed his shoulders, his thumbs digging in. “Is that a bad thing?”
Oh, really, really not fair. He dropped his head forward, relaxing into the massage. “It is when we have an appointment to keep.”
“I haven’t touched you since the other night.”
Was that a pout? Keaton’s cock twitched. Damn, Chay was something else. The man sounded disappointed. He smiled remembering “the other night”. “Since the ‘episode’?”
“Exactly. And stop laughing at my terminology.” Chay’s fingers dug in harder, reprimanding.
“I’m not.” He tilted his head side to side, then glanced up to check on Pita.
“Yes, you are. I can hear it in your voice.” He kissed the side of Keaton’s neck. “I’d called it a temper tantrum, but you seem to object to that.”
He snorted. “I wasn’t throwing a temper tantrum.”
“Whatever you say, Bit.”
He turned to face Chay, chuckling, making his glasses slide down. “That’s right, don’t forget that. Whatever I say goes, and we’ll get along great.”
Chay smiled, his eyes twinkling. He pushed Keaton’s glasses back up his nose, before settling his hands on Keaton’s hips. “You look sexy in glasses.”
“I look like the nerd that I am.”
“No, you look smart. It’s hot.” He ran the backs of his fingers down Keaton’s cheek. “You only need them for reading?”
“Uh-huh. I’m farsighted.” Keaton leaned into the touch.
Chay caressed his neck, staring at Keaton’s lips. “No problems seeing in wolf form?”
Keaton shook his head. Damn, the smell of arousal poured off Chay. He knew if he looked down, Chay would be every bit as hard as he was. It made his head swim. He loved how Chay always touched him.
What had Chay asked? Oh yeah. “No, Dr. Winston, I have perfect vision in wolf form.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. Canine eyes and human eyes are different.” Chay’s head dipped toward his, those brown eyes still zeroed in on his lips.
Keaton raised up on tiptoe, waiting for those sensual lips. A car horn honked, jerking him out of his daze. They were outside. Geez. This man made him lose his head. Chay may not care what people thought of him, but Keaton did. He did not want Chay to end up being an outcast. He stepped back.
Chay blinked and met his gaze. “Spend the weekend at my house.”
Whoa. He should refuse, he knew he should, but he didn’t want to. He bit his bottom lip.
“You want to. I can see it in your eyes. Geez, Bit, you’re as hard as I am, I can see it, smell it. Just agree.” He dragged his thumb over Keaton’s bottom lip, freeing it from his teeth.
Chay swore he knew what he was getting into. “I want to. But…”
“But what? You’re not still caught up in the whole gay/not gay thing, are you?”
Not so much, but he feared Chay being ostracized for loving him. Okay, in the back of his mind there was the fear that Chay would wake up one day and decide he didn’t want him anymore. “I dated this guy in college. He was straight, well he claimed to be anyway. He said it was just me, something about me.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. He was a wolf too. Even though I didn’t feel anything, I tried to convince myself he was my mate and that’s why he was so drawn to me. After meeting you, I know it was a line of crap. When his friends found out he was seeing me, he tried to deny I was his boyfriend. I found out later that he’d never even broken up with his girlfriend. I was some sort of experiment or some sort of sexual exploration for him. I got tired of it.”
Chay kissed him right there out in public, in front of his apartment where anyone could see. It was a soft, gentle kiss, tender.
Keaton sighed into Chay’s open mouth. He should pull back…for Chay’s sake, but it was too nice. His cock throbbed, getting more and more uncomfortable. He quickly decided to pull back for his own sake.
Chay let him. “I’m not like that, Bit. I’m sorry you got hurt, but I’m here for the long haul. You’re stuck with me. This isn’t some sort of sexual identity crisis for me. You are my mate. Mine. You belong to me. And quite frankly, even if you didn’t, I think I’d want you.”
Whoa. Keaton felt like the ground moved out from underneath him. He was speechless, but it was a good speechless. He knew Chay told the truth. It was still hard to believe, but he did believe it. Keaton grinned.
Chay grinned back. “Does that mean you’ll spend the weekend with me?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I will. Let me get some clothes and Pita’s bowls and dog food. We can go meet your pack leader, and I’m all yours until Sunday night.”
“I like the sound of that. But you don’t need to get anything for Pita. I bought him stuff for my house too.” Oh boy. That smacked of commitment.
Keaton launched himself at Chay, forcing the man to catch him. He kissed Chay breathless. He didn’t even realize Chay held him off the ground until Chay set him on his feet and pulled back.
Chay started laughing and glanced at his feet.
Keaton heard the growling and saw the slight sway Chay made and looked down.
Pita had a hold of Chay’s scrub pants again, growling and shaking his head. The pup’s tail was going ninety to nothing.
When they drove up to John Carter’s house, the place was surrounded by cars. It looked like a pack meeting. That was odd. Chay racked his brain trying to recall a reason the whole pack would be here, but couldn’t think of any.
“Hey, isn’t that your dad?” Bit started waving to someone.
Sure enough, it was his dad, standing out in the yard with a couple other pack members. His father waved at them. “Yeah.” Chay waved back and parked his truck by the curb several yards from the pack leader’s house.
“Uh, Chay?”
“Huh?”
“Why are there so many people here?”
“I have no clue. I thought we were only going
to introduce you to John. Normally that’s how things work. You meet the pack Alpha, then you run with the pack for a couple of full moons, then you’re either admitted to the pack or not.”
“Yeah, that’s how it works in my pack too.”
“Well, whatever it is, it’s not bad. My dad would’ve warned me. You ready?”
Bit nodded, scooped Pita up from between them and into his arms. “Yeah, lets go.”
They got out of the truck and his dad met them. “Hey, boys. What have you got there, Keaton?”
Bit smiled and held the puppy up. “This is Pita.”
Joe scratched the puppy’s head. “Hey there, little fella.”
“I can see where Chay got his love of animals.” Bit winked at Chay.
Oh man! His Little Bit was flirting with him. Chay grinned, ignored the fluttering in his stomach and clapped his dad on the shoulder. “What’s going on? Why is everyone here?”
Joe looked up from petting Pita. “Well, to welcome Keaton into the pack of course.”
What? “But, Dad, Keaton hasn’t even met John yet.” Chay glanced over at Bit.
Bit shrugged, seeming as puzzled as Chay felt.
Joe took Pita out of Bit’s arms and grinned. “John is waiting for the two of you in the kitchen. I’ll watch Pita. I’m going out back to grab a hamburger. I’ll see the two of you when you’re done.” He turned and walked off. Immediately several cubs who’d accompanied their fathers to the meeting, rushed at him wanting to pet the Golden Retriever.
Okay, something strange was going on. Why would John admit Keaton to the pack without meeting him first? Granted Chay’s father was one of the pack Betas, but John had never let someone in without meeting them first. Chay frowned. Unless… Did they know Keaton was his mate?
“What? You look like something is bothering you.” Bit touched his arm.
Chay looked at him and shook his head. “Nothing. Come on, let’s go meet John so we can eat. Smells like they’re grilling burgers.”
Bit raised a brow at him but didn’t question him further.
They found John and his wife Mary in the kitchen, gathering up condiments, plastic utensils and paper plates. John came to them as soon as they entered, his brown eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled. “Chayton.”
“John.”
The pack Alpha’s eyes widened when he meet Keaton’s gaze.
Keaton immediately turned his head, baring his throat in a show of respect.
John frowned and cocked his head, a lock of his short salt and pepper hair falling into his eyes. “Why in the world aren’t you leader of your own pack?”
Bit raised his head and met John’s gaze. “I’ve no desire to lead. I’m actually next in line for the position in my birth pack, but I have no intention of taking the job.”
Lead? Chay frowned. What had he missed?
John nodded and extended his hand to Bit. “John Carter.”
Bit greeted him with a handshake. “Keaton Reynolds. Nice to meet you, sir.”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Keaton. Joe has had nothing but nice things to say about you. He said you were powerful, but…” He whistled. “You don’t want to run your own pack? I don’t think I’ve ever met a wolf who has three forms who wasn’t a pack leader.”
Three forms? Bit had three forms? Chay stared at Bit like he’d never seen him before. How had he not realized that? It was extremely rare to find a wolf that had three forms. All wolves could shift from human to wolf, but a rare few could also shift into a half-wolf, half-man form.
John chuckled. “You look shocked, Chayton. Didn’t you know? Can’t you feel the energy coming off of him?”
Chay shook his head. He was too busy trying to control his errant cock when Keaton was around. The only energy he felt was due to their mate bond.
“Ahh, interesting. Your senses are confused because of who he is to you.”
Bit’s gaze shot to his.
His shot to Bit.
What did that mean? How did John know Keaton was his mate? Before he could ask, John patted Bit’s shoulder and smiled.
“I have to admit, I’m a little leery of your power, but you can sense that already, can’t you?”
Keaton nodded. “Yes, sir. I’m used to it.”
John smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes becoming more pronounced. “I bet you are. Because of Chay, I’m going to do something I don’t usually do.” He extended his hand toward Keaton again. “Welcome to the pack, Keaton.”
Keaton shook John’s hand again. “Thank you.”
“Come, let me introduce you to my wife Mary and then I’ll take you outside so you can meet the pack. Then we can all eat. It’s nice outside, we decided to set up tables out back. I figured this may be the last nice day we have this autumn. Don’t you agree, Chay?”
“Yes, sir. It is nice.”
John led Keaton over to Mary while Chay stood there, shell-shocked. How had John known about them? Did his dad somehow guess? And how in hell had he not realized Bit was as powerful as he was? Chay had never met a wolf with all three forms before, but he was sure he’d recognize it if he had. He could tell when a wolf was an alpha wolf or not, and he hadn’t even realized Bit was that dominant. It was clear he wasn’t an omega wolf, but Chay hadn’t thought Bit was even more of an alpha than he and his dad.
“Chay? Would you mind helping me carry this stuff out?”
Chay looked up at Mary and blinked. When had Keaton and John left the room? “Sure, Mary.” He grabbed the ice chest she indicated and opened the door, allowing her to pass with the plates and a picnic basket full of condiments.
“I like your friend, Chay. He’s very polite. He looks very young though. Such a pretty boy.”
Chay grinned. Yeah, Bit was pretty all right. Prettiest man he’d ever seen, with that smooth pale complexion, those big blue eyes… Oh damn, his cock stirred. “Yes, he is.” He wasn’t sure which statement he responded to, but Mary didn’t question it, and he didn’t bother clarifying.
After helping Mary set up, Chay was bombarded by questions about Keaton by pack members. Everyone wanted to know where he was from and why he wasn’t a pack leader. And the most frequent question was about his age. Chay decided not to tell Bit about that, knowing he wouldn’t be amused.
“Chay.”
Chay turned to find his father, John Carter and Frank Red Hawk standing behind him. “Yes?”
John motioned him over. “Chay. I talked to Keaton about the shooting the other night and he seems to agree with Frank that it was poachers. What do you think?”
“Well, we haven’t had poachers on pack land, or in the reservation in years, but I don’t see any evidence that says it’s not poachers.”
His father nodded. “That’s what I said.”
John dipped his head. “Given that Keaton’s new here and no one has a reason to want him dead, I think that is the most logical conclusion too. We need to keep an eye out though, just in case. Chay, you let us know if you get any more animals with gunshot wounds.”
“Yes, sir. I will.”
“And, Frank, you’ll keep us updated from your end as well?”
“Sure will.”
“Good, good. I’m going to go find my mate.” John waved and left, leaving him with his father and Frank.
Frank smiled. “It looks like our little white wolf is grown after all. A college professor, huh? Nice fellow. When John introduced us, I apologized to him for tranqing him.”
Chay grinned. Yeah, his mate was a nice fellow when you got to know him. It made Chay feel good that others could see that too. “Yeah, he teaches Ancient Civ. Beware. He has quite an interest in the Apache. He’s relentless with his questions.”
Frank laughed. “I know. John told him my brother was tribal chief when he introduced us. Bobby came to my rescue. Said they met the other night at a poker game.” Frank’s stomach growled, making him chuckle. “I guess that’s my cue. I’m going to go get myself a burger. Talk to you gentlemen
later.”
“Later, Frank,” his dad called out.
Chay waved.
His dad smiled. “Keaton seems to fit in well. John and I took him around and introduced him to everyone.”
Chay nodded. “Where is he?”
“Last I saw, he was eating a burger and talking to Bobby.”
“Dad, what’s going on? Why did John allow Keaton into the pack so quickly? I’m not complaining, but—”
“Joe.” A couple of his dad’s friends came up and started talking to him. Chay’s presence was soon forgotten.
Chay sighed and shook his head. Oh well, he’d find out later. It wasn’t like he didn’t know where to reach his dad. He went in search of food then Bit. He was walking around eating a burger, drinking a coke, when he found his missing mate. He heard Pita before he spotted Bit.
Bit rolled around in the grass playing with Pita and four little boys. It was the cutest thing. The boys, Bit and the puppy were all in a pile, laughing and tickling each other.
God, the man was sweet. He wondered if Bit had any idea how appealing he was when he laughed. Chay had the urge to go join the fun, but figured people might not appreciate him rolling around on the ground kissing the life out of Bit with their cubs present.
He’d known Bit didn’t feel comfortable among people his age. He should have known Bit would get along well with children.
Pita saw Chay first. The pup bounced over and grabbed Chay’s pants, growling and tugging.
Chay laughed, reached down and petted the pest.
Smiling, Bit caught Chay’s gaze, his eyes shining. “Hey.” He pushed himself up and jogged over to Chay, leaving the kids playing together behind him. “They rescued me.”
“Rescued you?”
Bit leaned in and whispered, “Yeah, look to your left.”
Chay looked and noticed three of the pack member’s teenaged daughters, giggling and staring at Keaton. Chay threw his head back and laughed. Apparently, Bit wasn’t comfortable around females either.
Chapter Seven
What a strange evening. Nice, but strange nonetheless.
Keaton adjusted the water temperature in the shower and started undressing. He smelled like a dog from rolling around in the grass. He’d forgotten how much fun it was to play with the cubs. In his birth pack he’d always gotten along better with the cubs than he had the adults.
Without Reservations Page 6
