Cam swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. With Newell’s death now on the agenda, he doubted that meeting would be a smooth one. “Of course.”
She stopped just before the entrance doors. “Don’t look so nervous. I’m just checking up on something I helped set in motion. This has nothing to do with today’s events.”
Thank fuck for that. Although Cam still had his doubts. “Thank you again for sorting this mess out.” Cam would likely still be locked up if the council had had to drive up from their headquarters.
“You’re welcome, It’s about time I visited here anyway, some things need to change.” As she reached for the door handle, she flashed him a smile. “All that aside, congratulations on your bond, Alpha Harley.”
For the first time that morning, Cam managed a genuine smile. “Thank you.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Gareth sat with his head in his hands. It had all been going so well. He should’ve fucking known Newell would manage to mess it up somehow. He couldn’t even die without causing them problems.
The minutes ticked by as Gareth slumped back against the sofa, trying not to watch his phone.
Waiting sucked.
But the awful feeling of dread he’d experienced earlier had eased, so he was trying to think positive thoughts.
When a text message finally arrived, Gareth reached for his phone and sent it flying across the room in his haste to get to it. With a frustrated growl, he snatched it up off the floor, his heart stopping when he saw it was from Cam.
Heading home now. I’m ok, but don’t call, easier to tell you everything when I get home. Meet me at my flat in twenty mins.
It wasn’t quite the message he’d been hoping for, but Cam was all right and on his way back. That was all that mattered. As Gareth tried to tamp down his disappointment, another message arrived.
I missed you so fucking much.
Gareth’s heart skipped a beat, warmth spreading throughout his body as he read the words. That was more like it. It hurts, he sent back, the ache lessening now he knew Cam was on his way back.
I know.
He clutched his phone to his chest, allowing himself a moment to revel in the fact that they both felt the strain of separation.
Twenty more minutes—that’s all he had to last.
HIS PHONE chimed as he bent to pull on his shoes.
Be home in 5. Leave now.
Gareth grinned as he reached for his keys, anticipation adding a bounce to his step. On my way.
The weather had turned dull and overcast, but Gareth’s mood got better and better the closer he got to Cam’s building. It could be lashing down with rain for all he cared.
A black SUV pulled up to the curb at the same time as Gareth reached the front of the building. He came to an abrupt halt, recognising the driver.
Alec got out, along with the members of his unit, but Gareth hardly paid them any attention—eyes fixed on the rear passenger door.
When Cam got out, Gareth felt the snarl build in his chest, low and feral, and not at all how he’d expected to react. But Cam was covered in dried blood—Newell’s blood—all over his hands and his face, and the scent clung to him, so strong Gareth took a step back.
“Gareth.”
The deep rough alpha voice silenced him in an instant.
When Cam spoke again, it was much softer, warmer. “They wouldn’t let me clean up at the prison. I was lucky they lent me some spare clothes.” He gestured at the ill-fitting T-shirt and jeans. “Let’s go inside so I can shower and change.” He didn’t move any closer but gestured for Gareth to go first and followed behind him.
Gareth kept his distance up the stairs to Cam’s flat and hung back while Cam opened the door.
Cam glanced over his shoulder as he walked inside and headed straight for the bathroom. “I’ll be as quick as I can.” His eyes darkened as he met Gareth’s gaze, intent obvious.
“Don’t bother getting dressed after.”
Cam’s heated look sent a wave of lust through him, and it was only then that Gareth realised the ache had disappeared.
Because we’re together.
But it wouldn’t feel totally right until they touched, until Gareth felt for himself that Cam was okay.
Heading into Cam’s bedroom—because that was the only place they were ending up—Gareth began to undress, leaving his clothes draped over the chair. Once naked, he crawled into the middle of Cam’s huge bed, lay propped up on his back… and waited.
He seemed to do a lot of that these days.
This time Cam didn’t make him wait long at all.
A few minutes later, the bathroom door swung open and steam billowed out. Doing as Gareth had asked, Cam appeared in the bedroom doorway totally naked, only the odd drop of water clinging to his skin. With the blood now gone, Gareth was free to focus on Cam’s scent, the familiarity of it calming him.
Cam’s gaze landed on him, sweeping down and then back up as he looked his fill. Their bond pulsed as though alive, their proximity magnifying everything until Gareth thought he might explode from the sheer want and need ricocheting between them. “Come here,” he whispered, reaching out a hand.
Cam walked towards him, then sat on the edge of the bed, fingers finding Gareth’s.
That one touch alone sent Gareth’s heart racing. He looked down at their joined hands, then back up to meet Cam’s gaze. “I want to know everything that happened, but…”
“Later?”
“Yeah, later.”
Cam exhaled on a sigh. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He stretched out on the bed, fingers still entwined with Gareth’s. “I need to touch you.” Tugging on Gareth’s hand, he pulled him forward until their bodies pressed together from thigh to chest.
“Like this?”
“Hmm.” He leaned in and brushed his mouth over Gareth’s in a barely there kiss. “I was thinking more like this.” Then he kissed him properly, tongue sliding along Gareth’s bottom lip before teasing its way into his mouth.
“Yeah,” Gareth gasped between kisses. “That’s better.”
So much better.
It felt like days since they’d touched, not hours, and Gareth needed Cam so badly it hurt all over again.
“I’ve got you,” Cam whispered, and he rolled them to the side, pinning Gareth to the bed with his body.
Gareth moaned as Cam started to move on top of him—a slow roll of his hips, his cock rubbed against Gareth’s, supplying just enough friction to drive them both crazy. He opened his legs wide, allowing Cam to settle more easily between them, and wrapped his arms around Cam’s back, holding on to him like he might leave any second.
Cam laughed softly, “I’m not going anywhere.” He kissed along Gareth’s jaw, down to where he’d left his mark.
“You felt that?” Gareth would never cease to be amazed at how their bond worked. Knowing in theory and experiencing it for himself were two very different things.
“I can tell you’re worried, and when you hold me like that… yes, I felt it.” He continued his exploration of Gareth’s neck, and Gareth obliged by tilting his head to the side.
“You will, though.”
“Will what?” Cam stopped and pulled back to face him.
“Go.” Gareth looked away, not sure where this was coming from and not liking how whiny he sounded. But today had been hard. “Fuck, I don’t know what I’m saying. Ignore me and carry on with what you were doing.” He slid a hand into Cam’s hair and attempted to coax him back down, but Cam was having none of it.
“I know today was awful, for so many reasons, but I hope you know it was just as hard for me to be away from you. It won’t always feel that bad to be apart, but there’ll be a slight ache when we’re not together.” He ran his thumb along Gareth’s cheekbone and cupped his face. “And yes, as alpha, I will have to leave sometimes. But I will always, always come back to you.” The kiss that followed felt like a promise, and Gareth got lost in it, doubts and worries fading away with every brush of
Cam’s tongue against his.
With Cam’s assurances filling his head and their scents surrounding him, Gareth finally shook off the anxiety that had dogged him all day and relaxed in Cam’s embrace.
Sensing the change in him, Cam pulled back, smiling. “I can feel that, too.”
“What about this?” Gareth reached down and squeezed Cam’s arse, making him laugh. Gareth let his claws slide out and Cam’s breath hitched.
His green eyes turned a deep jade as he looked down at Gareth. “Fuck me.” He rolled his hips again, his smile turning teasing as he did it again and again. “Need to feel you inside me.” He gasped as Gareth’s grip tightened but didn’t tell him to stop.
“Okay.” It was all Gareth could manage to get out with Cam moving around on him like that.
“Okay?” Cam grinned down at him. “After the day I’ve had, I was hoping for something a little better than okay.”
The reminder of where Cam had been and what he’d done forced a growl out of Gareth’s chest, possessive instincts rising to the surface in a rush, and he rolled them over until he was the one on top.
“That’s more like it.” Cam’s eyes danced with a mix of amusement and arousal, before turning serious. “I feel like we’ve been apart far longer than a few hours.”
“Same.”
“I need to get back to how we were this morning. Need to know you’re mine.”
Gareth pressed his lips against Cam’s bite mark and whispered, “I am.”
“Then make me feel it.” Cam ran his hands down Gareth’s back, claws out, and Gareth arched at the sting.
Okay then.
He sat up and reached over to Cam’s bedside table and grabbed the lube, claws sheathed, needing to get this part done while he still had some control. Cam spread his thighs and drew his knees up in invitation, and Gareth didn’t try and stop the growl it evoked.
Shuffling forward a bit, he settled between Cam’s legs.
Cam opened his mouth and let his fangs slide out slowly. He licked over the tips, and Gareth swore under his breath as he fumbled to get the lube open. Seeing Cam like this, ready and waiting for him, sent shivers down his spine, and Gareth felt the tell-tale tingle in the ends of his fingers.
He needed to get a move on.
With two slick fingers, he teased Cam’s rim, rubbing back and forth but not dipping inside. Turning his head to the side, he placed a kiss on Cam’s firm inner thigh. Soft hair tickled his lips, and Gareth hummed in satisfaction.
“Gareth.” Cam’s voice came out rough, a little alpha power creeping in. Gareth looked up at him, eyebrows raised, and Cam managed a strained laugh. “Sorry, but what do you expect. Come on.”
“Hmm… I thought you had infinite patience?” Gareth slowly pushed his fingers inside as he spoke, keeping eye contact.
Cam moaned, his eyes falling closed as he gritted out, “Not… at the moment.”
Smiling to himself, Gareth drew out slowly, then pushed inside again. “You want me to hurry up?”
“Yes.” Cam reached down and grabbed Gareth’s wrist, his grip tight. “We can take it slow later.” He waited until Gareth looked up at him. “I want to forget about everything until it’s just us. Please.”
The please tore at Gareth’s heart and he swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. “Yeah.”
Cam let go of him, and Gareth sat back on his knees. With Cam watching, he squeezed some more lube out and liberally coated his cock. “I’ve got you.” Their bond flared, their connection stronger than ever. “Always.”
He pushed inside Cam in one smooth stroke—both of them groaning at the feel of it. Gareth dropped forward, covering Cam with his body, and Cam wrapped his legs around Gareth’s back.
This close, Cam’s bite mark was clearly visible under the skin, calling to him, and Gareth rested his forehead in the crook of Cam’s neck as he fucked into him again and again. “I want to bite you.” The urge to sink his teeth in, claim Cam all over again, took hold and wouldn’t let go.
Claws dug into his shoulder as Cam grabbed onto him. “Do it.”
Gareth gasped, bright sparks of pain lighting up his nerves, then opened his mouth wide and let his fangs drop. When he bit down, Cam’s back arched, a low moan escaping him. Gareth sucked hard, slipping his arms under Cam’s back and holding tight.
“Fuck.” Cam clung to him, dick pulsing between them as he came.
The scent of sex filled the air and Gareth breathed it in, greedy for it. One, two, three more thrusts and Gareth tumbled over the edge, face still pressed against Cam’s bite mark.
Soft fingers trailed up and down his back, Cam’s claws now sheathed. “Thank you.”
He smiled against Cam’s skin. “It was my pleasure.”
Cam’s answering laughter filled the room, and he hugged Gareth tight. Warmth surrounded them. Whether it was the heat from their bodies or the comfort of their bond, Gareth couldn’t tell and he didn’t care.
The only thing that mattered was that nothing had ever felt as right as this.
“I love you,” he whispered. “I’ve loved you for a long time, but this…” He placed a soft kiss over the bite mark before drawing back to meet Cam’s gaze. “This is so much more.”
“It is.” Cam slid his hand up to cup Gareth’s jaw. “I love you too.” The kiss was slow, deep, and full of everything they didn’t need to say.
Gareth felt it all.
“SO,” he turned on his side and trailed a hand over Cam’s chest. “You want to tell me what happened?”
They’d dozed for a while, their bond a constant steady thrum between them, soothing them both. Cam had wanted to get back to the place they’d been in that morning, and lying in Cam’s bed, their combined scent heavy in the air, Gareth felt that they had. Staying like that a while longer would be easy enough, but Gareth’s mind kept flicking back to the fact that Newell was dead, and he couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer.
Cam let out a long sigh, but he put his hand over Gareth’s and squeezed. “Yeah. Can’t put this off forever, as much as I’d like to.” He reached for his phone and checked the time. “We have about an hour and a half before we need to be down in the meeting room for Jenn’s beta ceremony.”
Gareth frowned. “You still going ahead with that? I thought under the circumstances—”
“It’s more important than ever.” Cam ran a hand through his hair, then wrapped an arm around Gareth, pulling him close. “As much as I hate to admit it, amongst the crap Newell spouted today, some of the things he said were true.”
“Such as?”
“When I spoke to Wes, he told me that Newell had been telling Davies and the others what a shit alpha I was, how I wouldn’t look out for them and had my favourites in the pack.”
Gareth gripped Cam’s fingers tight because, fuck no. “That’s bollocks.”
“Yeah, that was my first thought, too. Which was incredibly arrogant of me. I’m not perfect by any means.”
“No, but—”
Cam laughed and turned to give Gareth a quick kiss. “I appreciate your unwavering loyalty, but let me just tell you what happened, okay?”
“Fine. Carry on.” The thought of Cam blaming himself for any of this mess was ridiculous as far as Gareth was concerned, but he’d do as Cam asked and keep quiet. For now.
“I walked into that cell assuming I was going to hear another stream of lies from him, but….” He sighed again, and Gareth felt his frustration and disappointment. “Some of what he said was far too close to the truth, as much as it hurt to hear it. And he knew it too.”
“What did he say?”
“That he’d told Davies and the others I favoured my old pack over the new one, that I’d never be a fair alpha because I’d kept four of my own betas and only two from P-pack. Which is true, but at the time, I didn’t see it as an issue since P-pack was a lot smaller than ours, but maybe I should have considered how that would appear to others. But the point that hit home for me was when he
asked, ‘How are they supposed to feel part of your pack when you can’t even be bothered to give them their own beta?’” His grip on Gareth’s hand verged on painful. “I thought letting everyone get over losing their alpha was the way to go, give them time to adjust to being one pack before asserting my authority. And while that might have worked for most of the pack, I should’ve seen that certain members were struggling. I’m the alpha, for fuck’s sake.” He let go of Gareth and slammed his hand down on the bed.
“I’m supposed to take care of the whole of my pack, not just the majority and ignore the ones who need handling a little differently. I should’ve seen they were struggling and taken charge, not stood back to see how things played out.” His resigned sigh was one of the worst sounds Gareth had heard—full of regret and self-recrimination. “It’s my fault things went this far. I might as well have taken them to see Newell myself. Of course they’d turn to their old alpha when their new one seemed to ignore them.”
Gareth might have agreed to let Cam finish, but he had to say something. “Davies had Wes for a beta. Getting him to accept you as his alpha was always going to be a challenge.”
“But I could’ve handled it so much better.”
“Maybe,” Gareth conceded. “But you only know this in hindsight. At the time you did what you thought was best for the pack. For all the pack.” He reached for Gareth’s hand again. “You didn’t ignore Davies and the others because they were a pain in the arse; you gave them time to get over what had happened. Finding out your alpha is a lying, manipulative wanker can’t be easy on anyone, and you did what you thought was best. That’s the difference between you and Newell.” He brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed Cam’s knuckles. “They chose to follow that path. So, please don’t let him put doubts in your head.”
Cam hummed, whether in agreement or not, Gareth couldn’t tell.
“What else did he say? Why did you…?”
“Kill him?” There was no guilt or remorse coming across the bond, nor in his voice.
“Yes.”
“Because he threatened you.” As Cam said the words, Gareth felt his worry and he squeezed Cam’s hand. “Not directly, but he alluded to all sorts of scenarios where you’d be in danger.”
Bitten By the Alpha Page 22
