by Shannon West
Nicky smiled and Jax saw a flash of the old Nicky on his face. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed that Nicky until then. Since the incident on the mountain, which Jax had also been a part of, Nicky had been pretty different—moodier and much more subdued.
“Hell, I’ve fucked a lot of animals in my time. Is that any worse than wearing their skins? No, I know, don’t answer that. Besides, they’re not wolf skins, and I only wanted to go in and look. Believe me, Marco will skin me when he sees how much money I spent, and he won’t think twice about it.”
“Come on, let’s go get something to eat. There’s a great pizza place down the street.”
“What’s wrong with that place over there?” Nicky said, jerking his head toward a café on the square with tables out front. Several people were sitting at the tables eating lunch, drinking wine or just enjoying the nice weather. “It’s right here and my feet hurt. I think I might need to go up a shoe size after all.”
Jax groaned. “More shopping? But not until we eat, please. I’m starving to death.”
“Okay, okay,” Nicky said, taking his arm and leading him over to find a table. “Order me a big salad and some iced tea. I’m going to the bathroom, but I’ll be right back.”
Nicky left and Jax looked over the menu. A waitress showed up and took the drink orders and while she was there, Jax also ordered a hamburger for himself and a grilled chicken salad for Nicky. The waitress had just taken down the order and walked away when a man stepped up to Jax’s table.
He was tall and good-looking, from what Jax could see of him behind the oversized sunglasses and baseball cap pulled down low over his face. He was probably in his mid-thirties, and his clothes looked expensive. He bent down and put his hands on the table to avoid the low-hanging umbrella.
“Excuse me, but I was wondering, do you come here often?” He gave a soft laugh. “Sorry, that was pretty clichéd, wasn’t it? But I really was looking for a good place to have lunch. And maybe an interesting companion to share it with.”
Jax smiled back at him. The man’s tone was polite enough, though he was staring down at him a little too intensely. It made him vaguely nervous. “Sorry, but this is my first time here. My friend suggested it, so he might be able to tell you, but he’s in the rest room now.”
The charming smile never slipped. The handsome stranger straightened back up and lifted one elegant shoulder. “Your…friend? Well, you can’t blame a guy for trying. Sorry to bother you. I hope you enjoy your lunch.”
He turned and walked away down the length of the square towards the main street, leaving Jax staring after him. Odd—not to be propositioned, necessarily, though it usually didn’t happen in broad daylight on the streets of a little mountain town like Highlands. This was a tourist town, but despite its influx of visitors and reputation as a haven for the arts, it was still a place with roots firmly planted in the deep south. Nicky pulled out the chair next to him, startling Jax out of his thoughts. He’d never even heard him come up behind him.
“Who was that walking away as I came out?” Nicky said in an odd tone, staring after the man’s retreating back. The man had almost made it to the sidewalk on Main Street, some ten or twelve yards away and still had his back to them. “He looks a little like…”
“Hmm? Oh, I have no idea. I think he was trying to pick me up, but he left when I told him I was with a friend.”
“Pick you up?” Nicky stared after him thoughtfully and Jax followed his gaze. The man had reached the sidewalk and turned back to glance over his shoulder at the two of them. He saw them looking at him and stopped. He turned completely around, reached up to pull down his sunglasses and smiled. When he did, Nicky gasped aloud and fell back in his chair, his face draining of color.
“That’s Jeremy Tate,” he said, in a low, horrified voice. “I’d know him anywhere.”
“What?” Alarmed at how rapidly Nicky’s chest was rising and falling, not to mention the by-now total lack of color in his face, Jax grabbed his arm. “Calm down, Nicky. It’s okay. He’s gone.”
“Call Marco, quick. I think my hands are shaking too hard to dial the number.”
“Okay,” Jax said, trying to keep his own voice calm. He’d only gotten a quick glimpse of Tate that day on the mountain when all hell had broken loose and high-powered rifles were keeping them all pinned down and picking them off one by one like targets in a shooting gallery. He’d gotten an impression of a tall, dark man running toward Nicky, but that was about it. He was too busy trying to stay alive and keep his little brother and the other children safe to really pay close attention to what the guy looked like. His own hands shook a little with anger now, though, to think the son-of-a-bitch had been so close to him a few minutes before. All the wolves had vowed that Tate would pay dearly for the near massacre that day. One pet murdered, three others gravely wounded, and Nicky so close to death that at first they thought he wasn’t breathing when they got to him that day.
Jax dialed Cade’s number, hoping Marco would be with him. “Cade,” he said when he picked up. “Nicky and I are in Highlands, shopping, and…”
“Is Nicky buying out all the stores? Wait a minute, Marco wants to talk to Nicky.”
“No…wait!” But Cade was already handing Marco the phone.
“Hi Jax, is Nicky there with you? Is he wearing my blue shirt? Tell him I said if he spills so much as one drop on that shirt, I’ll…”
“Marco, listen to me. We just saw Jeremy Tate.”
A stunned silence met the words and then Marco asked quickly, his voice low and tense, “Where’s Nicky?”
“He’s right here.” Jax thrust the phone over to Nicky. “Marco’s freaking out.”
“Hello?” Nicky said in a small voice. His entire demeanor had changed since he saw Tate. He looked stunned and frightened. “Okay,” he said softly. “No, I won’t.”
He handed the phone back to Jax and this time Cade was on the line. He sounded winded, like he was running, and he knew they must already be on their way to get them. “Listen to me, baby, don’t move from where you are. No, go inside the building and stay there until we come for you. Did you see any kind of vehicle he might have been driving? Was anybody with him?”
“No,” Jax said, “he was on alone and on foot and we’re perfectly capable of making it back home on our own steam, you know. I’m parked right on the main drag here in town. We’ll be fine.”
Cade started yelling and Jax held the phone out from his ear. He glanced over at Nicky, who shrugged. “Let them come. They’ll want to look for any sign of Tate in the area anyway, though he’s no doubt long gone by now. No sense in arguing with them anyway when they get like this.”
Jax let the loud voice go on for a while before he put the phone back up to his ear. “Should I go after him and see if I can spot what kind of car he’s driving?”
Cade began yelling again, so Jax sighed and held the phone away from his ear until some of the shouting stopped. “Okay, okay. We’ll be here at the café eating our lunch,” he said, and ended the call before Cade could say another word.
Nicky shook his head. “You’re only making it worse. Besides, they’re right. You don’t know Tate. I wouldn’t put it past him to open fire on us right here, and the hell with the witnesses and the collateral damage. We’d better go inside, I guess.”
Jax threw down his napkin in disgust, but he followed Nicky and waited while he asked for an inside table. They were soon seated near a window where they could watch for Marco and Cade’s arrival. It should take their mates about thirty minutes to drive there from the lodge, though Jax was betting on an even faster arrival.
Jax apologized to their waitress when she brought them fresh drinks and delivered their food, but she was gracious and friendly about the whole thing and flirted with both of them outrageously. Jax reached for his hamburger and French fries and attacked them with the delicacy and finesse of a bear just out of hibernation. It had been a long time since breakfast, and once he finished
his sandwich, if Nicky was still picking at his salad, he had designs on it too.
Neither of them had much to say to each other, and Jax was happy about twenty minutes later to see Cade and Marco coming down the sidewalk toward them, their faces serious and determined. Jax had to concede that he was glad to see Cade. He didn’t like to admit it, but it was getting harder to be away from him, even for a few hours. Nicky stood up and went outside to greet them, while Jax paid their bill and collected his and Nicky’s bags.
By the time he got outside, Cade and Marco had drawn Nicky over to a more secluded bench in the square. They seemed to be questioning him urgently, though Nicky kept shaking his head.
“I told you what he was wearing, and that’s really all I know. I never spoke to him,” Nicky was saying as Jax approached. “He came up to Jax while I was inside.”
In a rare display of public affection, Cade slipped an arm around Jax’s waist as he came nearer and kissed his cheek. “Are you okay? He didn’t touch you, did he, or get close enough to slip something into your drink?”
Jax shook his head and pulled away a little, feeling embarrassed and bothered by the sideways glances they were attracting. “Let’s get out of here, okay?”
“We’ll walk you two to your car. Rory and Casey came with us, and I sent them on ahead to make sure no one messed with it. Then they can take you home while we look around,” Marco said, already pulling Nicky toward the sidewalk.
Nicky extricated his arm and glared at him. “Stop it, Marco, I don’t need Rory and Casey to see me safely home. I called you because I knew you’d want to search the area for any sign of Tate, not because I needed you to babysit me.”
Marco glared back at him, his face flushed and irritated. Before he could say anything else, Nicky laid a hand on his wrist. “Look, I appreciate your concern, but Tate startled me, that’s all. Sometimes I forget how bold he can be. Jax can do as he pleases, but I’ll be driving myself home. You should take the others and look for Tate, though I’m sure he’s crawled back in some hole by now. You forget that I know Jeremy Tate better than anybody. This was all about reminding me he was close by, and letting me know he was watching.”
Marco paled visibly and couldn’t seem to stop himself from pulling Nicky close to him again. Nicky allowed it, and gave him a brief hug before pulling away and taking his bags from Jax. “I’ll go home and put all this away. Jax, are you coming with me?”
“Yeah, I think I will. We have company coming today, after all.” He squeezed Cade’s arm and smiled at him. “I’ll see you back at the lodge. Good hunting.”
Following Nicky down the sidewalk, he thought he could feel Cade and Marco’s gaze boring into their backs, but Nicky was probably right. Tate was more than likely long gone by now. He’d made his point.
“Damn,” Jax said, grinning a little. “Are you able to share any of Marco’s thoughts yet? Because Cade is not happy with me right now.”
Nicky smiled back at him. “I don’t have to be able to share his thoughts to know exactly what he’s thinking. I have to keep reminding myself that this is an adjustment for him just as much as it is for me. His natural inclination is to protect me, and after all Tate has done to us, it’s little wonder he’s nervous.”
They had reached the sidewalk by this time and Jax glanced back over his shoulder at Cade before turning to Nicky. “Today was the closest I ever came to meeting Tate, but I have to say he didn’t look like such a monster.”
“Looks can be deceiving. After all, even the devil is supposed to be beautiful.”
* * * *
The night was like a living thing that wrapped its arms around him and caressed his body with soft fingers. Nicky felt free of his burdens, of all the stress and problems that weighed on his mind day in and day out as he ran under the golden moon, night’s breath in his nostrils. He was running toward something—he knew that instinctively, but he wasn’t sure what. There was a scent in the wind, tantalizing him, beckoning to him, and he ran to catch it.
Then ahead of him he caught of glimpse of his quarry, a beautiful boy, bent over a tire as he struggled to change it. He snarled, baring his teeth, and his quarry turned with frightened eyes to look around himself nervously.
Nicky circled around to get behind his new prey, looking for a weakness, something he could exploit for his own purposes. There was that enticing scent on the breeze again, urging him closer.
Nicky saw his prey shift its eyes to the side, checking for a clear exit, perhaps? He was close to a lighted building not far away and Nicky saw him glance toward it, as if looking for someone. An older woman came out of the building and called to the boy, and Nicky was incensed at the interference. He sprang from the woods, leaping on top of her, taking her to the ground on her back, her feeble attempts to free herself merely irritating to him as he quickly and efficiently silenced her screams. His teeth sank into her throat and the slippery blood flowed down his throat, but hers wasn’t the blood he craved. He held the woman in place through her death throes with his powerful jaws and then rose and turned back toward his prey, who was screaming and beating on his back, trying to pull him off the woman.
The boy—the one who belonged to him now—was too close for Nicky to do anything but react, his touch was too electrifying. He could smell the fear overlaying the sweet scent of his mate. He turned and took him down, determined to stake his claim, his teeth clamping down on the boy’s neck and tasting his sweet blood as his hoarse shouts and cries spilled out, along with the blood.
A big truck followed by another car with flashing lights suddenly wheeled into the parking lot, and Nicky turned to snarl at the intrusion. Their lights and horns made him reluctantly slink away as other men ran toward him, shouting and shooting a gun in the air. Retreating into the dark woods, he watched them crouch over his mate and the woman who’d been foolish enough to interrupt. Then the parking lot began to fill with more flashing lights and sirens that hurt his ears. Nicky ran away into the dark, back toward the mountains and away from the noise and confusion. When he felt dawn coming on, he lay down in exhaustion and frustration and waited for the sun to rise.
“Wake up, Nicky. You’re having a bad dream.”
Nicky’s eyes flew open to see Marco bending over him, his face drawn and worried. Nicky gasped and threw his arms around Marco’s neck, pulling him close. Marco must have just come from the shower, because his beautiful body was still damp and gloriously naked. Nicky ran his hands over Marco’s chest and tried to smile at him, though he was still shivering a bit at the weirdness and horror of the nightmare he’d just had.
“Damn, that was a bad one,” he murmured against Marco’s throat.
“It was only a dream, baby.”
“I know, but it felt so real—more like a memory than a dream. I thought they were almost over, but this one was awful. There was this poor woman…I-I killed her…and a boy…”
Marco rubbed slow circles on his back. “Dreams can seem real sometimes. It was probably from the shock of seeing that asshole Tate again, after all that’s happened. You’d never hurt anyone. Now roll over on your stomach and let me rub your shoulders for you. You’re so tense.”
“I have to shower too and get dressed for dinner.”
“You have plenty of time. It’s only five o’clock and we’re invited for six-thirty. We can take an ATV up to Cade’s lodge and be there in ten or fifteen minutes. Hey, you can wear one of your new shirts and make Gabe jealous.”
Nicky smiled. Marco was trying to distract him, so he went along, pushing away the disturbing images still in his head. Just a dream, that’s all it had been.
“What are you going to wear?” Nicky asked, trying to distract himself. He could feel the muscles in his neck and shoulders relaxing as Marco worked them expertly. He probably needed to get up before he melted right into the mattress.
“Well, I was going to wear the blue shirt…”
Nicky looked over his shoulder at him. “But I wore it today. I’m so
rry. I know it’s one of your favorites.”
“I’ll wear it anyway. It smells like you now, and I like that.”
Nicky turned toward Marco who leaned over him for a kiss. Marco kissed his lips and then moved down to the curve of his neck. “I love you so much,” he whispered, and Nicky shivered again despite the warmth of the room and the hot silky slide of Marco’s skin over his. He was bent over Nicky on his knees on the tangled sheets, nuzzling his throat before moving back up to his mouth. He kissed Nicky’s lips again, hot, hungry kisses that made Nicky melt.
Kissing Marco had always been like this—something magical sparking between them and taking fire. When they’d lost their bloodmatch, the heat between them was still good, still exciting, but Nicky had felt the loss keenly. He’d never thought to have it back again, this passionate, intoxicating exchange of breath, this feeling of connection so deep it was as if their souls had blended into one.
Since Tate injected Nicky, and he’d begun to form the bloodlust, it was all coming back again, even more intensely than before. But there really was no name for something this sweet, this intimate, nothing that described it or even came close.
Marco deepened the kiss and Nicky moaned softly, never wanting it to end. How had he forgotten what this was like, even for a short while? When they’d lost their bloodmatch, their relationship had still been good, but this—this was like choosing to have real sugar over a sugar substitute. Like choosing wine over grape juice. The substitutes might be adequate, even good, but they were nothing compared to the real thing. The real thing was raw and dangerous and scary as hell. How could you ever have something this good and survive losing it?
A surge of pure fire shot down Nicky’s spine as his balls drew up and his cock curved in his lover’s hold. Pleasure speared through him, and he shot hard, coating Marco’s hand with his cum. Marco smoothed his other hand over Nicky’s dampened hair as Nicky fought to breathe again. Rolling over, he touched Marco’s face in wonder and gazed into his eyes. He loved Marco beyond anything, beyond life, beyond death, and he would never love anyone like this again. He could understand why couples who shared the bloodlust couldn’t live long without each other, and usually died within a few hours of the other. What would be the point of going on without Marco?
