Bad Blood (5 page)

Kerrick smiled lazily at him. “Need some help? But then we’d never get out of the bedroom, would we? No, as tantalizing as you are, it’s best to wait until later.” He gave Blaine’s ass a hard pinch and swung his legs off the bed. Taking his clothes from a chair next to the bed he started pulling them on.

Blaine quickly rolled off the bed and stood glaring at him. “Where are the rest of my men? What have you done with them?”

“Me? I haven’t done anything with them—they’re around here somewhere. They’ve each been assigned a new master. Some of them will wind up as mates, I suppose, and the others will serve however they’re needed.”

“My people are not your slaves. And if you’ve hurt any of them…”

“No one’s been hurt, Blaine. As I tried to explain to you before you shot me, we only wanted to join your pack. We need mates. You’re the one who made it necessary to use force.”

“I didn’t mean to shoot you. It was an accident, I swear.”

Kerrick stared at him a long time. Blaine could have sworn he felt something touch his mind, but the touch was soft and not hurtful. He knew instinctively that it was Kerrick probing his thoughts, and he didn’t resist, opening himself up so Kerrick could see the truth. After a long moment, Kerrick nodded.

“All right,” he said curtly. “I can see I misjudged you. Good to know.”

“So if you know now that it was an accident, you can go. You can take your men and leave us alone. You can’t just force your way in our pack like this.”

“Apparently we can.” He lifted one shoulder. “We already have. And now that we’re here, we’re not going anywhere.”

“We don’t want you here. You’re not even our kind.”

“And we’re graciously willing to overlook your inferiority as a breed. Within a couple of generations, we can breed out the inferior DNA, or most of it anyway.” He turned to smile down at Blaine. “Our genes are very dominant.”

“Yeah, well, they’re not the only things. You bit me. You forced the mating bite on me.”

“I only expedited things. It was inevitable, and you know it—I know you felt it too. Our people needed to see us united, Blaine. It will go a long way with my pack to erase the
simultas.
”

“The what?”

“The
simultas
—the bad blood. It’s an ancient concept for my people, thousands of years old. It’s like a grudge in a way. Retribution and punishment for wrongs committed. When you shot me and drew my blood, my pack had a
simultas
to avenge me. A blood oath.” He pulled back his collar to show Blaine a raw patch of skin on his neck where the bullet had scraped past. It was an angry red and looked inflamed.

“They take these things very seriously, so it was necessary to show them that I forgave you. That I still wanted you as my mate.” He leaned over and gave Blaine a hard, quick kiss on the lips. “You’ll still have to be punished, of course, but now I don’t have to draw your blood.”

Blaine scrubbed at his lips with the back of his hand and jumped to his feet. “Draw my blood? What the hell are you talking about? You can tell them it was an accident.”

“It wouldn’t do any good now. They’re already committed to it.”

“To what?”

“To your punishment to satisfy the
simultas
. I haven’t decided on it yet, but I’ll make it as painless as possible. Maybe a public lashing with a flogger. Something showy, but not too grievous. I could strip you naked, I suppose. A little humiliation would go a long way.” He reached for the doorknob and shrugged apologetically. “My pack was very angry.”

Blaine picked up the lamp by the bed and threw it at him as hard as he could. Kerrick dodged out of the way as it smashed on the wall beside him and Kerrick shook his head. “Such a bad temper. We need to work on that.” Blaine leaped for Kerrick, but he ducked out the door before Blaine could reach it, locking it from the outside. “I’ll send up some food in a little while, pet. Be a good boy and I’ll see you later.”

After trying his best to kick in the door for about five minutes, Blaine finally gave up, cursing solid wooden doors, the entire Dire Wolf Pack and Kerrick in particular. He went over to the window and pulled it open. His room was on the second floor, and he stood there for a moment, contemplating the jump. With his luck, he’d break an ankle, and though he would heal quickly in the manner of his kind, it wouldn’t happen soon enough for him to escape. Still, he might have taken the chance except for a burly member of Kerrick’s pack stepping out from under the eaves of the lodge and staring up at him.

He ducked back, but knew the man had seen him framed in the window. Damn Kerrick! He’d put a guard beneath his window. Deciding to bide his time and wait for a better chance, he went into the adjoining bathroom and took care of business, then got in the shower. He let the warm water run over the bite on the back of his neck and wondered why it hadn’t already healed over—maybe a mating bite was different from other injuries, or at least one from a Dire Wolf. Considering how Kerrick had bitten him twice over, he’d probably get blood poisoning and die. He should be so lucky.

When he stepped out of the shower, he examined the bite as best he could in the bathroom mirror. It was a large bite, and didn’t seem infected, though it was still more or less an open wound, tender as hell and at the right spot for any shirt collar to irritate it badly. He found a large piece of gauze to put over it and taped it down so it wouldn’t seep blood on his shirt.

Sighing, he shaved and then went back into the bedroom to get dressed. Someone had brought food while he was in the shower and put the tray on the end of the bed. It was loaded with fresh fruit, eggs, bacon, toast and even waffles. Way too much food for Blaine to eat, and he wondered where it had all come from anyway. They’d been running out of most all their stores during the last days of Kerrick’s little siege on the lodge. He glanced at the clock by the bed and saw that it was nearly two o’clock. Plenty of time, then, for someone to go to town for supplies while he’d been sleeping off the effects of Kerrick’s venom that morning.

After he pulled on some jeans and a soft T-shirt, he picked around at the fruit and a little of the egg, wondering if his pack was being fed. He went to the door and banged on it.

“Kerrick! Open this damn door—I know you can hear me. Kerrick, open this door or I swear to God, I’ll find a way to break it down.”

After five minutes of banging and threatening, he still heard nothing outside the door, so he spent a few minutes dismantling the footboard from his bed. Picking up the heavy piece of pine furniture, he used it as a battering ram, shoving it again and again into the door, trying to concentrate most of his efforts on the doorknob.

The door burst open after a few minutes and Kerrick stood glaring at him from the threshold. He quirked up one eyebrow. “Did you need something, pet? It’s really not necessary to destroy the furniture to get my attention.” He glanced down at the dents in the door. “Not to mention the woodwork.”

“Apparently it is. I’ve been shouting and banging for the past ten minutes.”

“I was busy.” He folded his arms over his chest. “Now what can I do for you?”

“You can let me the fuck out of this room!”

Maddeningly, Kerrick calmly shook his head. “I’ve explained why that isn’t possible yet. Not until the
simultas
has been settled satisfactorily. My pack won’t go against my orders to not harm you, of course, but I don’t want to upset them unnecessarily.”

“Upset them! Upset
them
! What about me? You say I’m your mate, but you keep me locked up?”

“I don’t just say you’re my mate, you
are
my mate, pet. That doesn’t mean you aren’t also a pain in the ass. I don’t have time to watch over you right now, and I don’t trust any of the guards around you. They’re all still too angry. An unfortunate
accident
might happen. I already had to pull them off you once during the last fight, and I can’t be with you every minute.”

“Who said you have to? I can take care of myself—and any of your mangy pack of curs.”

Kerrick shook his head. “This is what I’m talking about. You have to accept my pack as your own now, pet. You need to get used to the idea of being my mate. I can give you a demonstration if I need to, but I was trying to give you time to get used to the idea.”

“You touch me and I’ll kill you.”

Kerrick smiled. “You don’t mean that.” He walked slowly toward Blaine. “You don’t want to kill me. You took great pains to tell me that just a little while ago.” He wrapped a hand around Blaine’s waist and pulled him into his arms. Images of their naked bodies entwined on the bed pushed their way into Blaine’s mind, and his knees went a little weak. He put a hand up to Kerrick’s chest.

“I don’t want this. I hate you.”

“No, you don’t, pet.” He bent his head to cover Blaine’s mouth with his own, teasing his bottom lip with his teeth for a moment before pushing his tongue gently inside and tangling with Blaine’s. He moved his hands down to cup Blaine’s ass, massaging and kneading gently, unhurriedly, as if they had all the time in the world. “You don’t hate me—never have, never will.” He ground his cock against Blaine’s through their jeans, and Blaine let his head fall to Kerrick’s shoulder. It felt good to rest against him for a moment before he renewed his attack—which he
would
do—maybe. In just a moment.

“Yes, I do hate you,” he said against the hollow of Kerrick’s throat. He realized he sounded petulant, like a child, but at the moment he couldn’t be bothered to care. The images that he knew Kerrick had put in his mind were becoming insistent, but he somehow found the strength to force them out and pull himself away from Kerrick.

“We-we need to talk. I can’t do that when you keep putting those things in my head.”

Kerrick smiled and allowed him to move away. He sat down on the end of the bed. “Okay. Let’s talk.” He picked up a piece of bacon from the tray. “You didn’t eat much breakfast, Blaine. You need to keep up your strength.”

“Where are my people? Where’s Colby? Did you kill him?”

Kerrick narrowed his eyes. “What if I did? What is he to you?”

“Did you?” Blaine asked sharply.

After a moment, Kerrick shook his head. “If you mean that hothead on the porch with the gun last week, then no. I could see he’s a troublemaker, so I made him leave. He took three females with him and four of your males.”

The relief was so strong it made Blaine a little weak. Leaning against the dresser, he said, “Thank God.”

“Why?” Kerrick’s tone was sharp now too, and his eyes blazed at Blaine. “Why do you care about that one so much? Why did you let him countermand your orders on the porch that day? Is he your lover?”

“No!” Blaine shouted the word a little louder than he’d intended, but Kerrick’s brow unfurrowed a bit.

“What then?”

“Colby is my cousin, but we were raised together like brothers. He’s an alpha too, and a little older, but my grandfather chose me to lead the pack. He was hurt, but he became my second, and we’re very close.”

“Hmph!” Kerrick snorted. “
You
may be, but he resents you. It’s best that I made him leave here and start his own pack. Your grandfather should have done it years ago, and you should have too. He’d only cause trouble if he stayed around here. I gave all your people the same choice, but they were the only ones who chose to leave.”

“You didn’t give me a choice.” Blaine said, bitterly. “Why didn’t you ask
me
? And why did the rest of the pack stay behind with me? Why didn’t they leave with Colby? I don’t understand.”

“They stayed because they love you. They stayed for the same reason I couldn’t let you leave. Because they can’t do without you.”

Blaine looked up sharply, his eyes bright with moisture. “You don’t even know me.”

Kerrick shrugged. “I know you. And we have the rest of our lives to get to know each other better. You’re not on your own here, pet. You’ll never be on your own again.”

Blaine tried to cover his emotion with a short laugh. “That sounds kind of ominous.”

Kerrick stood up again and came nearer. “I don’t mean it to be. I’m serious about joining our packs. We can build a good life here. Our combined pack will be the strongest anywhere on the eastern coast, strong enough so that no one will ever challenge us.”

“But you’ll be the alpha.”

“The strongest in any pack is always the alpha. You know that. You’ll be my second now—and my mate.” He took Blaine in his arms again and kissed him tenderly. “You’ll make an excellent second. And just as soon as we satisfy the
simultas
, we can get started.”

Blaine pushed him away. “The fucking
simultas
again. I’m not going to let you beat me. You can just forget that shit.”

“It has to be done.”

“No, it fucking well does not.”

“My pack will resent you if it doesn’t happen.”

“What the hell do I care? Mine will resent you if it does. None of them will respect me anymore. A pack only respects strength. How can I lead them if they see me being publicly flogged? It’s bad enough as it is that I’m being—being….”

“Fucked by the alpha? You worry too much. Your pack understands the mating urge. And both packs will respect you more because you took your punishment like a man. None of them will be allowed to touch you—only your alpha. They’ll understand an alpha has to discipline his second if it becomes necessary. Then afterward, all would be forgiven. The
simultas
would be satisfied.”

Blaine pointed a finger in his face. “No.”

“Yes.” Kerrick captured the finger and stuck it inside his mouth to suck at it.

“Stop,” Blaine said weakly, sagging against him.

“I can’t. I want you, sweetheart. I don’t think I can wait any longer to have you again.” He gazed down at Blaine, his eyes dark with need and hunger. Unable to hold his gaze, Blaine shifted his eyes to Kerrick’s chest.

“Then damn it, don’t wait,” he said breathlessly.

Kerrick’s face softened, and he made a soft growling sound at the back of his throat, putting a possessive hand over Blaine’s crotch.