A Mate Beyond Their Reach (7 page)

Trent’s sharp canines dug into Valerius’s flesh, and the slight pain triggered an amazing orgasm. He thrust inside Drew one more time, howling as he found his completion. It went on and on, his ecstasy prolonged when the wet heat of Trent’s semen bathed his insides. The scent of Drew’s pleasure combined with theirs, and Valerius’s entire being begged to be one with his second mate.

Moving together with Trent, he lowered his fangs over Drew’s skin. Drew exposed his neck, and Valerius experienced a brief pang of surprise. How did Drew know what he intended? Humans generally didn’t have such predilections.

Realization struck him with such force it chased away all the lingering haze of his orgasm. Horrified at what he’d almost done, he recoiled, pushing Trent away and dislodging himself from both his mates in the process. Thankfully, Trent must have sensed his panic, as he retracted his fangs before Valerius could do anything stupid like tearing his own throat out on Trent’s fangs.

Somehow, Valerius managed to leave the bed and tried to gather his bearings. Silence stretched inside the room, made even more uncomfortable by the lingering scent of sex. When he thought he could speak with his two mates without breaking, Valerius turned toward them. “This should have never happened,” he said. His heart broke at the pain and shock on Drew’s face, more so when they were quickly masked.

“Well, it did,” the human replied. “But we’re all adults here. We can handle it.”

“You don’t understand,” Valerius answered, frustrated. “Trent bit me. I nearly bit you. I almost claimed you. It would have turned you feral. It would have driven you insane.”

For a few seconds, Drew didn’t speak. “So let me get this straight.

If I understand you correctly, spirit wolves claim each other through a bite. And you can’t claim me, because the bite would set the feral virus in motion.” He paused, then looked from Valerius to Trent. “But you can claim each other.”

Valerius nodded. When Drew put it this way, it sounded horrible.

They were excluding Drew out of their relationship for something that, in the end, wasn’t his fault. But Valerius couldn’t see any other way. He still remembered Caesar’s pain, and the sight of the flames that consumed Caesar’s home would be forever branded in Valerius’s memory. He’d killed his own brother because of the feral virus. He could not kill his own mate. He preferred letting Drew go.

In his heart, he’d always known it might come to this. He’d avoided the spirit wolves’ social gatherings for this exact same reason. A mate meant affection, and love automatically brought pain with it.

“I’m sorry,” he told Drew.

Drew shook his head. “Don’t be. It’s quite understandable.”

The pain had morphed into aloofness, and the passionate mate who’d writhed under Valerius turned into the cool doctor. Valerius didn’t know what to think about that. He knew from experience suppressing one’s emotions never brought about anything good.

When they did burst out, they did so with a bang. Case in point, himself, and his near bite of his human mate.

Trent gaped at both of them, his eyes wide with disbelief. “You can’t be serious. Surely you don’t mean to give this up.”

Valerius sighed. He liked Trent’s innocent optimism, but he could not see any other way out of this.

Drew ignored Trent and stared at Valerius, and Valerius had the peculiar sensation of being analyzed under a microscope. Oddly, he found both sides of his mate arousing, and much to his distress, the wolf inside him reemerged, demanding that he break Drew’s façade of control.

But Drew’s next words distracted Valerius from any sensual pursuits. “I have a question,” Drew said. “Under normal circumstances, what would you do with a human who found out about the spirit wolves? I assume this is not the usual treatment he or she receives.”

The cool sarcasm in those words irritated Valerius. True, Drew had every right in the world to be pissed, but Valerius was only trying to do the right thing. He’d thought his mate would understand. He prepared a scathing reply, but it froze on his lips when Drew offered him a sad smile. “Sorry about that. It was uncalled for, and a low blow.”

Valerius shook his head, his heart melting. “You have nothing to apologize for. It’s a very stressful situation. But to reply to your question, usually, by now, your memories would have been erased, and those of any others who might have witnessed anything suspicious regarding our nation. Should your location be in any way compromised to the ferals, you’d be relocated and given a new life, a new name, everything.”

Drew gaped at him. “But what of our loved ones, our friends?”

“Your closest kin would be taken along. As for the rest, the usual procedure is to have them all think you died.”

“You can do that?” Trent asked, visibly shocked. “But how? I didn’t think it was even possible.”

Valerius grimaced. Once, he hadn’t thought it possible either. But the abilities of the spirit wolves went way beyond what hunters used for the purpose of finding their prey. “It is a skill I learned for my position as a Judiciary, but theoretically speaking, all spirit wolves can attain it, once they reach a certain age. I don’t recommend it though.”

Trent looked puzzled. “Why not?”

“It’s not…pleasant.” Valerius rubbed his eyes. He’d never shared this with anyone in his life, the burden he’d been forced to carry since taking his current position. He knew he shouldn’t complain. All Judiciaries had the same tasks and responsibilities, but it seemed to Valerius most became immune to the true meaning of what they were doing. Essentially, they were hurting humans, even if the entire purpose of their struggle was to avoid it. Once a Judiciary wiped a human’s memory, the mind never fully recovered. In his heart, that person would always know he’d lost his real identity. Some humans even remembered, too attached to their previous existences for the compulsion to work. On occasion, they ended up in madhouses, rambling about their real selves, fractured between the life that had artificially been inserted and the one they’d actually lived.

Valerius would have preferred to allow them to live on like they had before and just wiped away the memory of the moment when they’d seen the spirit wolves. The lucky ones did get away with just that. But Drew had come into contact with ferals, as well. Eventually, the beasts would come to find him, if only because he’d helped Trent.

For the spirit wolves, this needed to be avoided at all costs.

Supposedly, the whole process was for the humans’ protection. In truth, Valerius sometimes wondered which was the greater evil, death or this uprooting, this displacement of identity. In the past, he’d even tried to limit the times he used this method, instead choosing to convince the humans they were on the run from the mafia or something along that line. But in the end, the humans always broke down. He couldn’t help them, and his opinion didn’t count. In the scales of hierarchy, the law of tradition ruled all.

The idea that he might have to do this to his mate made him sick to his stomach. “But I won’t do it to you,” he told Drew. “I refuse.

We’ll just have to pretend I did and keep the secret. It’s the only way.”

To Valerius’s surprise, Drew got off the bed and padded to his side. Pressing a brief kiss to Valerius’s lips, he whispered, “It’s not the only way, not if I can help it.”

“What do you mean?” Trent asked.

Drew arched a brow. “I’m a doctor. For once, I’ll use what I learned for myself. There has to be a way to make this work. There always is.”

“You mean to find a cure for the feral virus? Drew, that’s impossible.”

“Why?” Drew shot back. “How do you know? Have you ever tried?”

Valerius heard fire and decision in Drew’s voice, and he hated to cut into his mate’s enthusiasm. Even so, Drew needed to acknowledge the difficulty of the task he meant to take on. “I haven’t tried it myself, no, but we have medics as well. We’ve been fighting the ferals forever. If there had been a way to cure the virus, we’d have known it by now.”

Drew shrugged. “Well, you know what they say. Always get a second opinion.”

The idea that a human scientist could succeed where they’d all failed before boggled the mind, but Valerius was willing to try. Hope emerged in his heart. If anyone could do this, it was his mate. Even from their brief exchange, Valerius understood Drew’s medical talents went way beyond that of normal human doctors. Clearly, Trent’s injuries had been quite severe, and yet Drew managed to help him. Besides, no matter what, they couldn’t just give up. They needed to try to find another solution before they resorted to a separation.

“I can cover your tracks and claim you’ve received a new life,” he said, “but you wouldn’t be able to research this in any normal lab. It would be too risky.”

“I meant to take him and the others to my family home,” Trent piped in. “They’d be safe there. Our borders are well protected, and not even Judiciaries would encroach on our territory without just cause.”

Valerius distantly recalled that, indeed, the Harts were well-connected with the upper echelons of their kin. The oldest Hart boys had become experienced and successful hunters, and the eldest, Ash, was even expected to one day take the role of a Judiciary. Valerius once met the senior Harts—Grant and Marion—when he’d been younger, before his Judiciary days and, he believed, before Trent had even been born. Today, the Hart couple tended to be reclusive, and Valerius himself preferred solitude. Their influence would certainly protect Drew.

“Excellent idea,” he told Trent. “You must go then, as soon as possible. Paul and Daniel will go with you, of course. I will do my best to stall and give you time to get to Maine.”

“Maine?” Drew repeated.

“My folks own a large part of the forest there, through various individuals and corporations,” Trent explained. “Don’t worry about it.

We’ll be safe there.”

Drew looked thoughtful. “My son, too?”

Trent nodded. “We can have a private tutor assigned until it’s safe for him to go to school.”

Drew considered their words for a few moments, and then said,

“All right. That sounds good. Now, do you have a bathroom around here? I really need to clean up and go check on him.”

Valerius chuckled and directed the human to the bathroom adjoining his bedchamber. As they walked inside, Valerius admired Drew’s naked body unashamedly. Even with everything that seemed to stand in their way, Valerius still wanted Drew. He wanted both his mates, and he was willing to give away his position as a Judiciary for it.

Trent joined them and closed the bathroom door behind him.

“How about we all take a quick shower together?”

Drew shook his head. “I really have to go see if Paulie’s all right.

This is all so new to him. I’ve dragged him into something very dangerous, and it will only get weirder from now on.”

In spite of Drew’s words, Valerius could tell his mate felt tempted. He smelled it all around Drew and saw it in the human’s fidgety motions. Nevertheless, his mate didn’t give up on his decision.

Valerius acknowledged Drew’s need to see Paulie, and he made a mental note to have a chat with the young human as well. If they were going to try to make it work, Paulie would be family, after all.

Since he didn’t know where exactly Drew’s clothing ended up, Valerius chose one of his own outfits and set it out for Drew. It would be loose on Drew’s more slender frame, but his mate couldn’t exactly wander around naked through the penthouse.

Drew came out of the bathroom and stole a look at the clothes.

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” Valerius replied as his lover dressed. “Go talk to your son.”

Trent intercepted Drew just before the other man left the room.

Under Valerius’s very eyes, he pulled Drew into his arms and pressed his lips to the human’s in a devastating kiss. Valerius’s wolf demanded that he join in on the action, but he kept it in check. Such activities would have to wait.

The kiss between Drew and Trent broke. “Come back soon,”

Trent whispered against the human’s lips. “We’ll be waiting.”

Drew wordlessly nodded, looking dazed, then rushed out. As one of Valerius’s mates left the room, the other grinned at him. “We do have a chance.”

For once, Valerius found that, perhaps, he could trust his future to someone else.

Drew hastened out of the room, feeling dizzy and blown away. He could still taste Trent’s kiss on his lips and feel Val’s cock inside him.

God, what was he doing? How could he jump in bed with two men he barely knew?

His heart thundered, and he took a few moments to calm down and regain composure. It didn’t help that his body begged to be close to the two men again. As for his heart, it seemed divided between his mates and his son. That had never happened before. Drew never let anyone or anything be more important than his son, especially not since he’d moved to Tennington. It bothered him that these strangers could shake his resolve with such ease.

Then again, Trent and Val weren’t strangers, not really. Drew felt like he’d known them forever, like he could see in their hearts and they could see into his. The pain he’d heard in Val’s voice when the other man spoke about his dead sibling still tore Drew apart. He’d also felt the self-disgust Val experienced at his own job and duty, as well as Trent’s affection for his family and his growing feelings for both Val and Drew. How could this be?

Shaking himself, Drew made his way through the corridor and headed in the general direction of the foyer. Since he couldn’t exactly go look in every room of the huge penthouse, he needed to find the efficient Thom and figure out where Dan and Paulie had been taken.

Then, he’d have to change and at last, go talk to his son.

As it turned out, Thom’s presence proved to be unnecessary.

Drew spotted Dan smoking in the lounge, sitting on a leather couch and absently staring at the ceiling. He knew his friend would realize something happened between him and Val, but it would all come out in the end. He was an adult, and he had nothing to be ashamed of.

“Hey,” Drew greeted his friend. “What’s up? Where’s Paulie?”