by Lisa Oliver
Finally, after what seemed like hours to Kyle, but was probably only a matter of minutes, Teric’s muscles gave way and he was able to get his fingers fully inside. A crook of the fingers led to a couple of brief swipes across Teric’s prostate. Now his mate was fully on board, if the moans, leaking cock and gasps were any indication. Without missing a beat with his fingers, Kyle bent himself in half, swallowing Teric’s cock down his throat. His mate’s heartfelt moan was nirvana to his ears.
A few more solid sucks and Kyle slipped his mouth off and raised himself up over Teric’s body. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, pushing his hardened length deep inside his mate.
“Don’t ever be sorry for wanting me,” Teric said softly, even as his eyes narrowed at the burn Kyle knew he had to be feeling.
“I do,” Kyle moaned, willing himself to hold still and give his lover time to adjust. “I want you so very much.”
Letting out a long breath Teric smiled, and Kyle felt the man’s inner muscles relax. “As I want you,” he said softly, pulling Kyle down for a kiss. “Now move lover, and claim me as yours.”
As Teric’s simple sentence penetrated his brain, Kyle groaned anew and took his lover at his word. Crushing his lips to Teric’s, his hips thrust as though they had a mind of their own. Seeking solace through pounding, Kyle kept moving, hammering into Teric’s willing body, desperate to get deeper, further, as though he could totally submerge himself in the sexy body beneath him.
Teric wasn’t a passive lover either. One leg thrown over the back of the couch and the other planted firmly on the ground, Teric raised his hips in total harmony with Kyle’s movements. Noting Teric’s leaking cock, Kyle lowered his abdomen, giving his mate something to rub off on. Teric expressed his appreciation by pushing harder against Kyle’s thrusts, quickly bringing Kyle to the point of no return.
“Damn it Teric, what you do to me,” Kyle moaned as he felt his climax build. Then out of nowhere it hit him, waves after wave of pure pleasure, searing down his back, through his cock, settling deep in his soul. Plunging his teeth into Teric’s mating scar, Kyle felt his mate shudder beneath him and seconds later his abs were covered in warmth. Teric had him gripped tightly to his chest, as though his mate never wanted to let him go and for just a few moments, Kyle allowed himself the luxury of enjoying the endorphins that flooded his body.
“Mine,” he said firmly, looking deep into Teric’s pleasure wrecked face.
“Fuck yes.Mate.Yours. No question,” Teric gasped out.
Giving into an urge Kyle had never had before, he carefully pulled Teric into his arms and held him snugly, brushing his nose through Teric’s hair. A soothing sense of calm seeped into his bones and he knew that he could never be without the man in his arms. Teric fit. It was as simple as that, and Kyle would kill anyone who tried to take his mate away from him.
From the back of Kyle’s pants came an annoying ring tone. “Fuck it,” Kyle swore. “The Alpha. I’ve got to get this.” Teric nodded his understanding and stood up, grabbing his clothes. Kyle didn’t have to do anything but zip up his pants. His need for his mate had been that intense he hadn’t bothered to get undressed and he didn’t want to wash the smell of his mate’s come from his body. He wore it as a matter of pride. Slipping one hand into the offending pocket, he tugged the now dressed Teric towards him, holding snug under one arm.
“Yes Alpha,” Kyle said with a grin for his mate.
“You done with Will?” Pearson’s voice came through the other end of the phone.
“Yes Alpha.”
“Meet us in your rooms, five minutes.”
The phone clicked off before Kyle could respond. “Ready to go back to work, lover,” he asked Teric, stealing a quick kiss.
“The sooner it’s done, the sooner we can build a life together,” Teric said, stealing a quick peck of his own.
Feeling a lot better about his relationship with Teric, Kyle led them back to their room. He couldn’t help but wonder what the hell had been going on while he and Teric had been busy, but he had learned a long time ago there was no point in worrying about anything until he knew he had something to worry about. So if the calm he was feeling, as he walked with Teric back to the unit they were sharing, was based on a false sense of complacency, Kyle wasn’t aware of it at the time.
/~/~/~/~/
Teric was surprised to see so many wolf shifters in Kyle’s apartment. He immediately felt defensive, especially knowing that every wolf in the room would be able to smell the sex that he and Kyle had just shared. Although Teric’s shifted form was huge, his human form was smaller than everyone present, and the fact that so many eyes looked at him with a mixed range of emotions, set Teric’s nerves on edge. His cat didn’t do so well in group situations.
Kyle, fortunately, seemed to know how to break the tension. “Having a party in my rooms, Alpha. How nice of you to invite us.” Teric loved the carefree grin on Kyle’s face, almost as much as he loved the security of the strong arm that was wrapped around his waist. Thanks to their double bite, Teric and Kyle now shared a stronger bond and Teric was sure that his mate could sense his unease. While it was typical mate behavior to want to protect a partner, the arm around his middle made Teric feel cherished, and he had never had that in his life before.
“We know this is one room where we can speak freely, without fear of being listened in on,” Pearson said with an answering smile. Nope, Teric thought, Pearson’s smile didn’t do it for him. When Kyle smiled it turned the man from dark angel into someone that belonged in the heavens – it was as though the sun shone from his face. Okay, he thought, probably best to keep my mind on the game and leave thoughts of Kyle’s beauty to another time. One when there weren’t so many other shifters present.
“Did the tracker work?” Teric asked, allowing Kyle to pull him into his lap, after the big man scored the last chair in the room.
“It did, thank you,” Steel said, Levi on his lap as well. There was a shortage of chairs in the small apartment. “We tracked the radio waves to a house just down the road and took six shifters in for questioning.”
“But the damage has already been done,” Pearson broke in. “The information about you, your position on the Council, your mating with Kyle and your plans for taking Favo out, have already been passed through to Favo’s compound.”
Teric jumped up off of Kyle’s lap, looking for his bag. If Favo knew he was coming, then Teric had to get there fast. The Council had guessed that Favo had more than one place of operation, which is why getting the information they had, on the place in the Blue Ridge Mountains, had been such a breakthrough. The man was sneaky and to date they had no other leads.
“Where are you going?” Pearson snapped.
Teric had the commonsense to stop what he was doing, but only just. “I have my orders from the Council, Alpha,” he said, trying not to rush. “If Favo thinks there is a threat coming, then he will move on and it could be months before we can find out where he is again. I have to go now, and get this job done, once and for all, or none of you are safe.”
“You are not going on your own.” Kyle stood up, ready to follow his mate anywhere. “Alpha, permission to go with Teric.”
“No!” Pearson said. “That’s why we are all here. We are all going after Favo. Teric, I understand your orders and I have already spoken to the Council and explained about the need for additional back up. They have agreed and incidentally have passed on congratulations for your mating. But you are not going without back up, and that’s final.”
Teric took a deep breath and tried to control his anger. Taking on the Alpha of his mate’s pack would not bode well for the future. “Alpha, I appreciate the support,” he said, trying to be as respectful as possible. “But two things force me to say that this is a bad idea. Firstly. The repercussions, if your enforcers kill members of another pack in my defense, are still going to apply. Secondly, speed is of vital importance here. For all we know Favo could already be on the move.”
&n
bsp; “I’m aware of both of those things, Teric, and I thank you for putting pack safety first. However, after speaking to the Council, it appears that a case can be made that anyone who is following a known shifter criminal, can be considered rogue by their home pack. The Council has already sent out a memo to that effect to all packs. Anyone who is known to consort with Favo, for any reason, is to be considered to have no pack. Therefore no retaliation.”
“As for speed,” Pearson continued, as Teric stood listening, stunned at the change of events. “We were all just waiting on you two. Let’s head out. You and Kyle will be in the car with me, Dante, Steel and Levi. The rest of you get yourself sorted in the follow cars.”
Spying his bag of tricks in the corner of the living room, Teric snatched it up and headed out after Pearson and Dante, Kyle hot on his heels. He wasn’t sure he liked the wolf way of doing things. As a cat shifter, Teric was used to sneaking up on his prey. Scouting things out. Planning his attack and using stealth and the element of surprise as his two main weapons.
Heading into a known enemy area in a fleet of black SUVs was a bit OTT for Teric, but he kept his mouth shut. Although he didn’t know Kyle that well, he would be stupid if he underestimated the loyalty Kyle had to Pearson and his pack. He had come across enough wolf shifters in his time, to know how important that was. He only hoped that when Pearson realized how big of a cat shifter Teric actually was, that Pearson didn’t rescind his offer of pack membership. That could make things really awkward.
But as Teric followed Kyle into the back of the SUV, he forced himself to focus on Favo. None of the Washington pack had much of a future if Favo couldn’t be eliminated.
Chapter Fourteen
Kyle sat quietly as they made the one hour trip into the Blue Ridge mountain area. He was impressed with Teric’s skills as a strategist. Teric and Steel had spent most of the trip discussing how to access, what Kyle found out, was a huge living area, likely to be filled with Favo fanatics. Regardless of what his Alpha might order him to do when they got there, as far as Kyle was concerned his first, and biggest concern, was Teric’s safety. Yes, he was feeling a bit better now he had seen just how big Teric was as a tiger, but the thought of anyone harming a hair on his mate’s curly head bought every protective cell he ever had pushing to the fore. His wolf could sense the danger they were driving towards, and didn’t like it.
“We’re about five minutes out now Alpha,” said Levi, who had been silent as he drove the SUV.
“Time to head off road,” Pearson said with a grin. “Let’s see if these SUVs are as tough as they are supposed to be.”
“Yes Alpha,” Levi said, swinging the steering wheel wildly and careening into the forest area. The trees close to the road were quite small and sparsely situated, but Levi headed them towards a more densely packed area, where the trees were well established and would provide ample cover for the vehicles. Kyle could see the four other vehicles in their convoy doing the same thing.
Once parked, and everyone was out of the vehicles, Pearson whistled for everyone’s attention.
“Listen up. Here’s what we are going to do. I want all of you to pair up with a buddy. One of you will be going in shifted, the other in human form. We are not sure how many people we may encounter, and wherever possible we are looking for containment rather than kills. The Shifter Council wants to interview as many people as they can in connection with Favo’s activities.”
“No one,” he said firmly, “Is to interfere with Teric’s job, which is to kill Favo. I understand that for some of you there is pack pride at stake, and believe me when I tell you that I feel the same way. But the Council was very firm on this point. It is Teric’s job to kill Favo. It is our job to run interference to ensure that this can happen. Do you all understand this?”
The chorus of “yes Alpha,” might have been muted but it was sincere and Kyle was pleased to see that everyone seemed to be going along with the plan. He didn’t know why the Council was so adamant that Teric was the one who should perform the kill. Especially in light of what the Council had said about the other wolves with the fanatic. If they were all rogues, including Favo, then who the heck cared who took down the main man?
Maybe it was a power play from the Council, insisting that the Washington pack conform to their rulings. Kyle thought that could be a possibility and if it was, he was a bit pissed off that Teric was being used in such a way. But that type of thinking wasn’t going to help Teric or Pearson, and Kyle was honor bound to help them both.
Flicking the button on his jeans, Kyle disrobed quickly and shifted. Shaking out his fur, he couldn’t help looking at Teric who had watched him shift with a fascinated expression on his cute little face. As Teric moved towards him, Kyle stood still. He was proud of his wolf and he wanted his mate to appreciate him in this form.
“Wow, Kyle, you are a truly awesome looking wolf,” Teric said quietly, stroking his hands across Kyle’s big head. Kyle was bigger than a lot of wolf shifters, although not quite as big as Pearson. Unlike his natural counterparts, Kyle’s wolf was quite muscled through his chest, body and legs, and his thick red and black fur created a solid look. He bunted Teric’s hand when it stilled on his head, wanting the petting to continue.
Teric chuckled. “I can’t believe it, you’re a cuddle wolf,” he whispered in Kyle’s ear. Kyle couldn’t help but give a little growl at that. No wolf was cuddly – well, not when they were heading into a fight situation at least. But Teric just stroked down his fur, and whispered how powerful and deadly he looked, and Kyle’s wolf was mollified. He guessed so long as no one else knew how much he loved the feeling of his mate’s hand in his fur, then his reputation would stand.
Dante came to stand by Teric, looking down at Kyle – a huge black wolf at his side. In his wolf form Pearson was big. There was no other word for it, and Kyle guessed that Pearson had chosen the wolf role because he was better able to protect his mate that way. Also, with Pearson shifted, there was no way that anyone would know for a fact that it was the Washington pack that were on the offensive.
“You ready to head out,” Dante asked Teric. Teric ran his hand through Kyle’s fur one last time, and then stepped away, nodding. Without a word, he headed north through the trees, setting a fast pace considering he was still in his human form. Kyle quickly followed with Dante and Pearson by his side, the rest of the enforcers falling into place behind them.
It was the strangest run that Kyle had ever been on. For a start at least five of the shifters, apart from Teric and Dante, were in human form, which never happened on a pack run. Second, it was conducted in total silence. Both man and beast being careful to tread lightly and to move quickly. In a normal pack run the wolves howled, growled, snapped and played with each other, but the deadly intent of the group today could be felt thick in the air around them.
The other thing Kyle noticed, as they all moved steadily north, was that there were no sounds of other animals or birds in the trees. The moist earth under Kyle’s feet could account for the deadening of any footfalls, but Kyle couldn’t smell anything other than the trees, earth and other vegetation, and there were no sounds of birds, or any of the smaller animals you would normally find in a forest area. It made the long hair on the back of his neck stick up and he felt tense and edgy.
Up ahead, Teric and Pearson stopped at the end of the tree line. Padding forward until he was level with Teric, Kyle’s sharp wolf eyes picked out every blade of grass on the clearing that opened up in front of him. In the middle of the clearing was a huge house, but there wasn’t any sign of anyone, either in the building, or outside of it.
“I don’t like this,” Teric whispered. “If Favo was here, then there should be guards around. The guy’s paranoid about his safety. This is either one big fucking trap or…”
“Or we’re too late,” Dante finished.
Kyle caught sight of a shadow at the window, and whined, pointing with his nose to the house. Teric looked at him for a moment, and then g
ave a small smile. “That mind link thing would sure come in handy right now. I’m guessing you saw something, yeah?”
Kyle nodded and tried to control the flush that ran through his furry body at the thought of Teric topping him. He whined softly and pushed closer to Teric, who grinned down at him. “Nice to know you’re still thinking about it,” Teric said under his breath and then he turned his attention back to the house.
/~/~/~/~/
Steel crept up, naked, as he had left where they had parked the cars in wolf form. “How long do you reckon it would take for you to get into the house?” Teric asked him.
“What’s your plan?”
“Drawing people out, if we can,” Teric said, still watching the house. “I’m hoping some well-placed wolf howls might do the trick and at least incite some sort of reaction from anyone inside.”
“What are you going to be doing, given that you don’t howl?” Steel said with a grin.
“I’m hoping that if your wolves go that way, and do a set of howls,” Teric pointed to the left of him, “and I go that way,” pointing to the right and straight across to the house, “then I’m hoping no one will actually see me until after I’m inside.”
Steel took some time considering the distance between the trees where they were hiding, and the house itself. He shook his head. “I’m not sure I like it, but it’s such a simple plan, it just might work.” He looked across at Pearson, who was watching Teric with his intense hazel eyes. In his wolf form, they were shot with yellow.
Dante, who was kneeling beside Pearson, his big hands almost swallowed up by the length of the wolf’s fur, said quietly, “Pearson agrees with Steel’s assessment. The howl of a wolf can be a powerful thing and as far as we know all of the shifters in the house are wolves too. He’s not so sure about your sneaking ability, but he’s prepared to go along with this for now. However,” Dante held off a moment, listening to Pearson in his mind. “If you are not out in ten minutes, then everyone starts looking for you. Apparently the Council wants your ass in one piece.”
