Bailey Bradford - Southwestern Shifters 08 - Revenge (8 page)

Marcus couldn’t sleep no matter how much he tried to relax. Someone had slaughtered poor Little Joe, and carved him up to act as a message board for Marcus. It sickened him and enraged him. He wanted to get his hands on the shifter who’d done it. He wanted the fucker dead, after suffering for a very long time.

Normally Marcus wasn’t one for revenge, preferring to remain on the side of justice. If at times that called for another death, he kept his emotions out of it. Every challenger he’d killed, he’d regretted to an extent. That kind of fire and boldness would have been a strong asset had he been able to sway his opponents into submission.

This person, whoever he was—Marcus would enjoy killing him. The sooner the better, too, because he couldn’t help but feel Nathan might be in danger. If the goal was to hurt Marcus, his mate was obviously his weak spot.

There wasn’t anything weak about Nathan. He could defend himself well enough, but just as Marcus would give his life for Nathan, so Nathan would die for him. He never wanted it to come to that, and if he thought for one second he could get Nathan to agree to go away, he’d have begged.

But Nathan wouldn’t leave him, not now or ever. It made Marcus proud even as it increased his concern. Nothing could happen to Nathan. Nothing. Marcus wouldn’t let him be harmed. And he’d avenge Little Joe’s death. He closed his eyes and concentrated on staying his anger. Anger was a liability in a battle, causing one to make rash, stupid decisions. He needed to be cool and level-headed. Marcus spent the rest of the night meditating, trying to find the place of peace he needed so badly to access.

The sun rose, and Marcus was still trying, until finally he had to concede defeat. There would be no true inner peace until the challenger was dead and Marcus knew his loved ones were safe again.

Waking up with a warm, strong body wound around him, it was no surprise to Maarten that his cock was hard enough to be used as a weapon. Ryder was his mate, after all, and though they had managed to talk some after fucking the second time last night, they were still strangers. It was exciting, the sex rough and fulfilling in a way it never had been before. Maarten really wanted to have his turn topping. He wasn’t made to be strictly a bottom.

For now, he just wanted to get off. Ryder tightened his arm around Maarten’s waist and Maarten rolled onto his side, sliding his shaft alongside Ryder’s. “Good morning, mate,” he purred.

Ryder’s eyes were barely opened, and the man had that tousled, sleepy-sexy look that Maarten found so appealing. He was more than happy to have a mate so opposite to himself in this way. Maarten woke looking much like he did before sleeping—he was lucky like that. He liked the differences between them, and he especially liked the way Ryder’s hairy body felt against his.

Ryder licked his lips, and without speaking, made his needs known by putting a hand on Maarten’s shoulder and pressing. Maarten had his ‘duh’ moments, but he knew what that meant, and he was all for it, with a twist.

“Turn about,” he said, figuring Ryder would catch on soon enough. Ryder let go of him and Maarten turned around, positioning himself so that he had his face in front of Ryder’s groin, and vice versa.

“Good idea,” Ryder mumbled, his voice deep and raspy. “Brilliant idea.” “Yes—” Maarten gasped as his cockhead was enveloped in perfect, wet heat. He gripped the base of Ryder’s cock and licked at the slit, getting a moan from his mate that vibrated all the way down from Maarten’s cock to his hole.
Maarten closed his eyes and took Ryder in as deep as he could, relaxing his throat so most of Ryder’s length was in him. In return, Ryder sucked him hard, and pushed a couple of fingers into his tender pucker.
The pleasure-pain was exquisite. Maarten wiggled his hips, wanting more. He’d never taken himself for someone who enjoyed pain, but the way his nipples throbbed, the skin there abraded and those tips so, so sore, along with the burn around his ring, told him he had a lot to learn about himself.
He’d think about that later, when his mind wasn’t melting from pleasure. Maarten sucked eagerly, dragging his lips up and down Ryder’s cock. He fondled Ryder’s nuts, pushing on them gently, feeling them draw up in preparation for release.
Ryder thrust rapidly, driving in deeper than Maarten had thought he could take a cock. Maarten’s hole ached as another digit was worked in, then he bucked hard into Ryder’s mouth as his gland was brushed.
Maarten gasped, his mouth opening wider. Ryder got a grip on his nape and held him there while he fucked Maarten’s face. Maarten couldn’t do anything but take it, didn’t want to do anything else as his orgasm tore through him. It felt like he would never stop coming, and like it ended too soon. He was just floating down from his climax when Ryder left off sucking him and roared as spunk shot down Maarten’s throat.
Maarten winced as Ryder removed his fingers a few minutes later.
“Sore?” Ryder asked, rubbing Maarten’s ass.
Maarten coughed when he tried to answer at first. His throat was raw, abused in a way he could come to crave.
“Yes,”
he answered through their link instead.
“Who knew I would like it?”
Ryder grunted and before Maarten knew what was what, his top leg was shoved aside and Ryder was licking at his sore opening. The idea that Ryder was doing so after having fucked him a few hours ago just about drove Maarten out of his mind. As a shifter, he had an amazing recovery time, and his cock began to firm up again. Ryder growled and shoved Maarten onto his belly. Maarten certainly wasn’t protesting.
His legs were pushed apart, his ass spread, and pleasure raced up his spine and down to his toes as he was rimmed. The sounds Ryder made, the rumbles and moans, even the wet, lewd slurping sounds, all stimulated Maarten unbearably. He wasn’t going to last long at all.
Getting a hand beneath him so he could fist his cock, Maarten had to raise his rump up. Ryder slapped his ass cheeks hard, the left first then the right. It made Maarten’s insides turn lava-hot as need danced along every nerve ending he had. Ryder knew it too, spanking him again and again while licking his hole.
Maarten didn’t stand a chance. He barely jerked himself twice and he was coming again. Ryder shot up over him, and pushed his thick cock into Maarten’s ass.
“Yes, yes, damn it,” Maarten rasped, the intensity of his climax doubling as he was filled suddenly and fiercely. His entire ass hurt, but in a way that flooded him with rapturous bliss.
Ryder held him by the hair and fucked him, driving Maarten down onto the mattress, then white-hot pain seared his shoulder when Ryder bit him. He was vaguely aware of Ryder coming, grinding against Maarten’s ass. Ryder collapsed on top of him, panting, sweaty—perfect.
“I bit you again,” Ryder said after a minute. “I don’t know why I have to do that.”
“Marking me, claiming me,” Maarten got out, once he could speak. “I will do the same to you, I assure you.”
Ryder didn’t say anything to that, but he did get up and get a wet cloth. “It feels like a loss of control. I wouldn’t have done it after rimming you had I been able to think.”
Maarten shrugged and winced as it caused the bite mark to hurt. “It is the way we are, Ryder. If it’s germs you’re worried about spreading, remember that we are shifters. Our DNA and immune systems are much stronger than a human’s. I won’t be catching anything from what you did.”
“Okay, I’ll take your word for it.” Ryder cleaned the bite tenderly, and Maarten began to drift back to sleep. It wasn’t yet morning, and he saw no need to get up. He wanted to sleep with Ryder some more, wake up again and let passion carry them away.
“Sexy,” Ryder said in his ear. Maarten smiled—he thought. It was hard to tell when he was so happy and sleepy. Ryder said something else, something about liking how he could feel what Maarten was feeling.
That was the last thing Maarten was aware of before the sound of voices had him sitting up and grimacing. Damn, but he was sore all over. Worn out, too, apparently, as he’d always been a light sleeper.
Maarten bit back a groan when he got out of the bed. He wrapped the sheet around his hips and followed the sound of voices, familiar ones. Ryder’s, of course, but also Marcus and Nathan’s. Perhaps he should have been offended that neither the Alpha Anax nor his mate had greeted him sooner, but truly, he’d been busy, too. It wasn’t like he was anyone important, either. Just another shiftless shifter. Maarten mentally groaned then. He was becoming an old emo, if such a thing were possible.
Ryder turned from the door, where he was letting Marcus and Nathan in, and gave him a smile that made Maarten weak in the knees. “Did you get enough sleep?”
Ryder, with his hair in disarray, wearing nothing but a tight pair of briefs, was devastatingly handsome. Maarten could only nod, staring at the god Fate had given him. Ryder’s cheeks went ruddy and his smile turned into more of a shy grin.
“Aw, you two are so cute,” Nathan cooed. “Smells like sex, sex and more sex in here. Sheesh.” He fanned the air in front of his face.
“I think I understand a bit more about mates now,” Ryder said as he locked the door. “Do you want some coffee, Marcus, Nathan—” He looked at Maarten.
“Yes, coffee would be good,” Marcus replied. Maarten nodded—although he didn’t want some coffee, he needed it if he were going to be a functioning, coherent adult.
Ryder waited until Marcus and Nathan had settled on the couch, then he approached Maarten. “If you want to get cleaned up and dressed real quick, we’ll wait on you. I don’t know what’s up yet, but Marcus said it was important, but the coffee will take five minutes or so.”
“Thanks, I will make it quick.” Maarten glanced down at Ryder. “You are going to put something else on?”
“Sure, as soon as I get the coffee going. Can’t be taken seriously when I’m sitting in my underwear.”
“I’d take you very seriously,” Maarten told him before turning and walking away. He knew Ryder was watching when he let the sheet drop, so he added a good shake of his ass right before entering the bathroom.
A quick brush of his teeth and hair and a wipe down with a wet washcloth was all Maarten took time for. He pulled on a pair of orange skinny jeans—the colour seemed to be all the rage—and a sunny yellow tank top with three horizontal green stripes. His Sperry’s were grey, but Maarten figured that was okay. Bright shoes with the rest of his clothes would probably make him appear clownish.
“Wow,” Nathan said a minute later when Maarten came back into the living room. Nathan’s eyebrows were up by his hairline, and he looked like he was trying not to laugh. Maarten didn’t care, mostly.
Okay, maybe a little.
No one liked being laughed at.
Ryder glowered at Nathan, who didn’t seem to notice. Marcus did. He glanced at Nathan, then Ryder and finally Maarten. If he’d been angry, it didn’t show.
“I don’t remember you dressing so colourfully in Amsterdam.” Marcus frowned then nodded. “Looks good on you. Different. I don’t think we have anyone here quite as…hip.”
“Hip?” Maarten ignored Nathan in favour of prancing just a little for Marcus and Ryder. “Really, Marcus. Who says—”
He’d swear the floor reached up and grabbed the toe of his shoe. Maarten stumbled, already burning with a blush of embarrassment. He kept from face-planting more by luck than skill. He wasn’t usually so clumsy.
“It’s probably the heat,” Ryder said, coming to Maarten’s aid with an arm around his waist. “Even with the AC rolling through here, it’s still very dry, and a lot of people get dehydrated quickly.”
Well, Maarten felt like twice the fool. He should have thought of that since he’d been aware of the atrocious heat from the second he got off the plane.
“Water first,” Nathan told him. “I’ll get it. Have to say, I like the bright colours, Maarten. Took me by surprise at first, but it’s cool that you aren’t trying to be like everyone else.”
No, he’d wanted attention, that was why he’d started wearing them. Maarten sighed and leaned on Ryder just because he could.
“It’s okay that that’s why you did it,”
Ryder thought to him, sharing their link in such a way for the first time.
“I used drugs, acted out. Other people seek attention in more violent ways. I think choosing to do it by wearing clothes that draw attention to your gorgeous bod is pretty smart. Makes me hard, too.”
Maarten was ready to drag Ryder back to bed, or to the floor, he wasn’t picky, but Ryder chuckled and nudged his hip. “Marcus, what’s going on?”
Every bit of humour left Marcus’ expression, and something sombre and dark took its place. Nathan came in then and handed Maarten a glass of water. “Drink it, then we’ll talk.” He took a cup of coffee to Marcus and went back into the kitchen.
By the time Maarten and Ryder were seated, and Maarten’s water was gone, everyone but him had been caffeinated. Ryder got him a cup of coffee, then they both looked expectantly at Marcus.
Marcus didn’t waste any more time. “Someone is stalking the compound, specifically, waiting to kill me. Whoever it is, he’s already committed a crime against one of his brethren, murdering Little Joe, one of my pack members.”
“Not just murdering him,” Nathan added. “He abducted him, possibly when Little Joe went on a solitary run. We think he got to Little Joe by wearing clothes stolen from another pack member.”
“So the murderer smelt familiar,” Maarten surmised.
“Right,” Nathan agreed with a sharp nod. “Then he tortured Little Joe. A lot. I can’t even comprehend…” Nathan trailed off, a distant expression in his eyes.
“He carved messages to me into Little Joe,” Marcus said bluntly. “He eviscerated him, decapitated him and used Little Joe’s entrails to frame a note to me. All of this we know because the murderer sent vivid pictures of it to Keegan’s phone—the phone only Nathan and I have the number to.”
Ryder took Maarten’s hand in his and held it. “Why are you telling us this?”
Maarten wondered the same thing.
“Because, Ryder, we’ve discussed you issuing a challenge to the South American Alpha Anax.”
Maarten startled at Marcus’ explanation, but remained silent as Marcus continued.
“Nathan and I have talked about this in great detail this morning.” Marcus looked so relaxed, as if they were just having a normal chat about nothing, so his words shocked Maarten to his core. “Should I be killed, I want you to take my place. I’d ask Aidan, but he’s been very clear on not ever stepping into the Alpha Anax position again. He will assist you if he can, if he, too, isn’t dead. Chances are, though, if whoever this is is strong enough to kill me, Aidan won’t survive a fight with him unless I do some damage first.”
“You can’t be killed,” Ryder blurted out. “I mean, you just, you can’t.”
Marcus smiled a little. “Yes, I can.”
“Nathan—” Ryder began, but Nathan waved him off.
“If Marcus dies, I won’t be around long. I don’t want to. I’d try my best to kill whoever took him from me. Win or lose that battle, I’d be dead.”
Maarten frowned. Did that mean Nathan would kill himself to join Marcus in death?
“Whatever I had to do,” Nathan whispered, looking at Marcus.
He’d always heard that lots of mates couldn’t survive if they lost their other half. He supposed it wasn’t surprising that Nathan and Marcus were like that. Ryder seemed appalled, or perhaps confused. A check of his mate’s thoughts and Maarten knew it was the latter.
“Mates become attached to one another very quickly,” he said, squeezing Ryder’s hand as it was still holding his. “Have you ever felt even this much with another lover?”
Ryder looked down at their joined hands. “No, no, I haven’t. It seems so natural, I don’t even care to try to figure it out. It just, it works.”
“Easier for us than some others,” Maarten agreed. “Perhaps because we were both looking for a place to belong, and now we’ve found it, with each other.”
“You seem, I don’t know, calmer, I think,” Nathan told Maarten. “You were kind of annoying when we met before, and I admit, that’s why I paired you up with Ryder. He needed to practise listening and thinking before speaking, but I’d swear, the two of you together changes you both.”
Maarten tried not to frown as he ran Nathan’s words around and around in his head. Yes, he did feel different, but that was to be expected when one found their mate. To what extreme, he couldn’t say. It varied from couple to couple, but thinking about it, he did feel more settled, less lost. Less desperate to prove himself, and in trying to do so, making a fool of himself. He was, for lack of better words, less annoyingly hyper.
“I feel…anchored,” Ryder murmured. “How is that possible in less than twenty-four hours?”
Marcus raised one shoulder in a semi-shrug. “Your souls called to each other. Your wolves sought each other out. Why should it have to take any longer than that, than two pieces becoming one whole? Not everything in life must be complicated, and if there is one thing only you can believe in, it is the power and strength of the bond between mates.”
After a moment of silence, Nathan cleared his throat. “Not to ruin the deep thoughts and all, but back to what we were discussing. We’re sending guards out to find the cave where Little Joe was murdered. Because of the sheer violence of that attack, we are going to put the compound on lockdown. No one comes or goes without our say so, and without guard escorts. We want you, Ryder, to be a part of all of this, as you intend to be an Alpha Anax someday. The power within you is impressive, and should be wielded with an honest hand and heart, as well as with experience and patience. Unfortunately, time is something we might not have a lot of with the happenings in the South American packs. This is another opportunity for you to learn what it means to lead a pack, if only by observing. ”
“And in case something goes wrong,” Ryder muttered. “Nothing better go wrong. I don’t want to lead these packs.”