Hagen, Lynn - Knox [Zeus's Pack 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting ManLove) (7 page)

All too soon Trevor pulled back and licked his neck. He shouted and came into Sammy’s ass. Knox stiffened behind Trevor, releasing his passion into Trevor. Trevor laid his cheek on Sammy’s chest, and Knox fell to his hands, sweat pouring down his face as he licked Trevor’s back.

Sammy knew Knox was lost in the sated pleasure. Otherwise he probably wouldn’t be so gentle with the vampire, which was a shame. The two looked good together.

Knox pulled from behind Trevor and rolled to his back, his arm falling over his eyes as he caught his breath. Trevor pulled Sammy from the floor, taking him to the bedroom and crawling onto the bed. He spooned Sammy, nuzzling his neck. Knox came into the room, staring at the two.

“Come on.” Sammy held his arms out, and Knox got into the bed, pressing his chest against Sammy.

Sammy smiled, feeling content as a kitten.

* * * *

Knox fought hard as he tried to get Jackson’s hands from around his neck. He clawed at the Alpha’s face, a face that was pulled back in a menacing smile.

“You’ll kill her or I’ll kill you,” Jackson snarled.

Knox knew he couldn’t do it. She was an innocent. He heaved his body, falling to the floor and rolling around as Jackson shifted, his claws raking across Knox’s chest.

“Knox, wake up!”

The scene faded, and Knox blinked his eyes a few times to clear his head. He looked down at his hands wrapped around Trevor’s neck as the vampire fought to free himself. It took a second for the ramifications of what was going on to sink in. He jerked his hands back, staring in horror at the vampire.

Sammy was on Knox’s back, his arm wrapped around Knox’s neck, pulling with all of his might. “He’s not Jackson. Let him go.” Sammy was sobbing and yanking.

Knox pulled Sammy off of his back and set him down with Trevor. He shot off of the bed and knocked his body into the wall a few times as he tried to run from the room. What had he done?

“Knox.” Sammy ran after him.

“No.” He held his hand up. “Stay back.” The monster was loose, and he didn’t trust it around his mate. The monster that Jackson had created. His ex-Alpha had tried to rip his humanity from him, and Knox was fighting for his sanity right now.

“Who’s Jackson?” Sammy cried.

There was no way he could tell Sammy or anyone else what had taken place in that house. It was a horror-filled life back then, and he would die with those haunting secrets.

Knox reached down and grabbed his clothes. He needed air. He needed to get away from his mates in the mood he was in right now.

Even though he fought against his mating with the vampire, questioned fate about the pairing, he would never purposefully hurt the man. Knox was
not
the monster Jackson tried to torture out of him.

He couldn’t be.

Fate wouldn’t have given him Sammy and Trevor only for him to turn around and harm them. No, he needed to think. Knox’s head was a mess right now and he needed time to himself.

“Go back to bed, Sammy.” Knox pulled his shoes on, avoiding his mate’s eyes. Shame filled him at what he had done.

“Where are you going?”

“Home. I’ll come by later to see you.” Knox grabbed his keys and slammed the door behind him as he left Sammy standing in the living room.

He drove home and then walked the path to the pond all the soldiers seemed to take solace at. Jackson’s presence was still with him. He could feel it down to his bones. Knox knew Jackson was being held below the house somewhere. They all did, and they all had searched to find him. None of them had any luck, and Zeus wasn’t forthcoming with the location. His only answer had been to let the son of a bitch rot, lonely and with his own demons.

Knox rocked back and forth, growling out his anguish. How could he face either of those two again knowing what he had done? He sat there alone watching the sky slowly grow pink, wondering if Trevor was safely out of its harmful rays.

That was another thing that weighed heavy on his mind. When he first discovered Trevor was his mate, he wanted to grab Sammy and run as far away as he could. But after spending time with Trevor, Knox was slowly getting to like him. He wasn’t supposed to like vampires. They were the enemy. But his way of thinking was changing, and that scared Knox.

When he was inside of Trevor, all his reservations fell away. His mate had been so responsive and soft to touch. Knox was craving him again already. He wasn’t supposed to want a vampire.

And yet he did.

Knox stood when he saw Bald Eagle sitting off in the distance. “Do you always invade a person’s privacy?”

Eagle shook his head, his eyes resembling a lost soul. Knox knew that Eagle was the one who suffered the most at Jackson’s hands, and he was surprised the soldier was even sane.

“No,” he said quietly. “I was trying not to disturb you. I spend ninety percent of my time out here.”

Knox nodded, leaving the pond to Eagle, who seemed to need it the most.

* * * *

Knox prayed the new house had been built overnight. To his dismay, it was only getting underway when he pulled up to the construction site. He spotted Torem sitting in his truck, watching the men work.

Knox knew there was only one man Torem had his eyes on. He spotted Dino talking with a few men and saw how Torem’s mouth was pulled back in a scowl.

“Hey.” One of the workers headed Knox’s way. Knox went through his catalogue of faces to names in his mind quickly to remember the guy’s name.

“Hey, Quinn.” Knox shook his hand. The soldiers had learned that not all who worked on the crew were human. The guy smiled as he looked over at the site.

“It’s going well so far, but we’ve just started.” He chuckled. Knox felt better knowing the new house was being built. Although it was months away from completion, just knowing he wouldn’t be under that roof anymore made his heart lighter.

“Looks like it’s going to be a perfect day to get started. The forecast calls for sun.” He looked down at Quinn. The guy was chiseled and well-defined, but seemed to have a lot of energy to him.

“Yeah, it’s perfect. I need to head back over. Laborers are laying mesh this morning, and we need to get it done before the concrete trucks show up tomorrow, our first pour. Just wanted to stop and say hi.”

The guy took off when Dino yelled for him to get his ass back to work. Knox laughed at the way Quinn saluted Dino and then ran to help the laborers.

“Where are your mates?”

“At home,” Knox answered one of the soldiers named Sully who approached him. He got along pretty well with the guy, but if he started in on him about Trevor, they were going to have issues.

“So, it’s true?”

“Yeah, you got a problem with it?” He was shocked at how protective he was with his vampire when he himself was still struggling with it, even after last night.

“Not at all. You don’t choose who fate gives you. As long as he’s not rogue, we should get along just peachy.” Sully grinned and patted Knox on his shoulder before heading away.

Knox made for his truck, anxious to see Sammy and scared as hell to face him. He knew he had until this evening to face Trevor and was thankful for the time. With no sleep, Knox drove to town.

When he pulled into the parking space in front of Theo’s, Knox decided to visit the florist. He walked around the corner and pushed the door open to Julien’s Floral shop. Knox had never been in there before, never had the occasion to visit it, and felt like a pansy for getting flowers for Sammy.

“Can I help you?”

Knox saw a nice-looking young man standing over by one of the displays smiling at him. He’d never noticed this guy in town before. “I need some flowers.”

The man smiled a knowing smile at him. “Do you know what kind?”

“Flowers?” How many kinds were there?

The man chuckled. “I thought you looked a little lost when you came in. What’s the occasion?”

I’m an idiot with more baggage than an airport so please forgive me.
“Saying sorry to someone.”

“Roses are always nice.” The man walked over to a beautiful display of red roses. Knox noticed the man limped more than walked and wondered about it. He pushed the thought aside when he saw all the beautiful roses the owner was showing him.

“I’ll take them all.” What the hell, couldn’t hurt.

“Wow, how far in the doghouse are you?”

The guy had no idea. He was going to give half to Trevor. Hopefully that got him out of the doghouse, as this man put it.

“My name’s Julien. If you ever need flowers or fruit basket of any kind, here’s my card.” Julien handed it over and Knox took it, shoving it into his pocket as he gave the address to Theo’s for Julien to deliver.

“But I want half of those delivered at closing time. Is that okay?”

“Sure, I close at eight. Do you want them delivered to the same address?”

Knox had no clue where Trevor lived, so Theo’s was his only option. Maybe Julien would deliver them to the back parking lot. It’s where Trevor always was. “Yes.”

He paid for the flowers and then made his way around the corner. The closer he stepped to Theo’s, the more nervous he became. What if Sammy didn’t want to hear what he had to say? It was a chance he had to take.

Knox walked into the tavern, his eyes automatically scanning for Sammy. When he didn’t see him, he assumed his mate was in the kitchen.

“Where’s Sammy?” he asked Theo as he took a seat at the bar.

“He called down, said he wouldn’t be in this morning. I asked was everything fine and he said yeah.”

Knox was immediately on his feet, making his way up the back steps to Sammy’s. He turned the handle to Sammy's apartment door and found it opened. Knox crossed the threshold and saw Trevor and Sammy’s clothes still lying in a heap on the floor. Not knowing what to think, Knox headed for the bedroom.

It was empty. What the hell?

He stood still, his eyes scanning, when he heard whimpering coming from the closet. Knox moved slowly toward the closet door, listening closely. He heard the whimpering again and reached for the handle.

He opened it and stood there stunned.

“Shut it!” Sammy yelled.

Knox walked into the large closet and shut the door behind him. “What’s going on?”

“Trevor overslept and the sun got him.”

Chapter Five

Trevor lay under the blanket Sammy had thrown over him in a world of pain. His skin was blistered and peeling. He whimpered again when Knox knelt down and pulled the blanket back. “Shit.”

Trevor looked up into Knox’s eyes. His mate looked helpless. “What can we do?”

“You don’t want to know,” Trevor tried to tease, but it came out more like a whine.

Knox clenched his jaw and extended his claw, slicing across his wrist and shoving it at Trevor’s mouth. As much as Trevor wanted to refuse, he latched on and drank deeply.

He could see the struggle on Knox’s face but was feeling the healing effects immediately. His skin no longer felt like it was on fire and his eyes were beginning to moisten again, the burning and scratching no longer there.

Trevor also saw the bulge in Knox’s jeans. He was aware how sexual a feeding could be, experienced it thousands of times himself. Somehow he knew Knox wouldn’t welcome relief right now. The wolf seemed to be barely dealing with feeding Trevor.