Hiding His Wolf [Urban Affairs 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove) (11 page)

Simon rinsed off quickly and hustled Noah out of the shower. He dried them both off with towels and led Noah to the bed. Noah immediately lay on his back, raised his knees, and planted his feet flat on the mattress.

An offering
.

But not one that he would accept. Tempted beyond reason, Simon ignored Noah and started dressing. He wished there were clothes for Noah so he wouldn’t have to look at the blond’s slim, hairless body any longer. Noah had lost weight, but he still had muscle tone. Someone had made sure he exercised. From the corner of his eye he saw that Noah was flushed. Simon was amazed that such a well-used man could still blush. He appreciated Noah’s spirit. He’d never come across a man who had been tortured and trained for so many years and yet still retained his humanity. If things were different…No. He tried to push away the thought, but he kept remembering how Noah’s body had felt against his in the shower. How it felt to hold the boy’s hard cock in his hand. The little animal noises that Noah tried to hold back but couldn’t.

Shit!

The boy was his for the taking, but it would be wrong. He pushed Noah’s knees down and covered him with the blanket. Then he sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at him. Spread out over the flat white pillow, Noah’s hair looked darker now that it was wet. Yellow-gold strands framed his high cheekbones and full lips. Those blue eyes stared up at Simon. They turned him to mush. He didn’t know if he wanted to grab Noah and run for the hills or cover his slim, hairless body and fuck him senseless. What would happen to Noah when he left? His conscience nagged at him. Maybe he could convince Graham to let Noah off the island. Fat fucking chance. Graham had already insinuated he wanted Noah for himself. Instead of helping Simon figure out his next move, coming here had only served to confuse him more.

Focus on your job, Simon.

“Do you feel better, Noah?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, I need to ask you a few questions.”

A look of trust flickered in Noah’s eyes. Why? Just because he hadn’t beaten or sodomized him. It was wrong. He’d done nothing to earn this boy’s trust.

Simon forced himself to continue. “Can you remember back to when you were first kidnapped by the Weres?”

“Yes,” Noah whispered.

“Do you remember Levi?”

“No.” Noah shook his head, and Simon knew he wasn’t lying.

Simon smacked his forehead with his open palm.
Of course!
Levi had changed his name when he escaped. “Do you remember the boy who lived with your family back then? What was his name?”

Noah chewed on his lip but didn’t say anything.

The boy was compliant but loyal. Obviously he didn’t want to say anything that might hurt his friend. “I won’t hurt you. Or him.” Simon looked around. Force of habit. He already knew there was no surveillance equipment in here. Graham had told him that state-of-the-art technology would be installed as soon as the architects and engineers got their shit together. “In fact, I might be able to help him.”

Noah’s eyes darkened with the tortured dullness of disbelief. “He’s dead.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because he would have come—” Noah stopped short, as if he’d already given away too much.

Simon put a hand on the blanket over his leg. “It’s okay. What was his name, Noah?”

“Rolf,” he said softly.

“His name is Levi now.”

Noah’s face crumbled. Something very close to real heartbreak showed in his expression. All these years he’d held on to the hope that the half-breed would come if he could. And he’d been right. Levi’s love for the boy was obvious. It had given him the incentive to search for Noah, and even though he had little chance of finding him, he’d never given up. The connection between these two men amazed Simon and gave him a new appreciation for the wolf. Noah had seen the good in Levi and it had given him an anchor all these years.

“You’ve seen him?”

“Yes, and so have you.”

Noah bolted up, his whole body was shaking. “You’re a liar.” Then he realized his mistake and froze.

Simon squeezed his leg. “I already told you I’m not going to hurt you. And I’m not a liar. The boy you knew as Rolf calls himself Levi now. He works at the club where I bought you.”

“You bought me?”

Noah had been so drugged he’d hadn’t been aware who bought him. Now a bit of hope showed in Noah’s eyes, and Simon was sorry he was going to have to squelch it.

“Yes, but you don’t belong to me. I was only acting for someone else.”

The light went out in Noah’s eyes, and Simon hated himself for being the cause. This emotional crap was not helping either of them and he debated telling Noah more about Levi. A happy reunion was not in the cards and Noah would just suffer more disappointment. Still, the kid deserved to know that his faith in his friend had not been misplaced.

“Listen to me, Noah. Your friend, Levi, Rolf, whatever, he recognized you. He’s been looking for you all this time. He actually threatened to kill me unless I told him where you were.”

“Oh my God.” The light came back on. “Is he here?”

How could the kid look happy and sad at the same time?

Simon shook his head. “No. If I had brought him here, he’d have been locked up, too.”
So what’s the difference smart guy? He’s still confined, just in a more luxurious prison.

“Thank you,” Noah whispered. “Please…”

“What is it, Noah?”

“Please tell Rolf…I mean Levi. Please tell him I know it wasn’t his fault.”

Simon’s throat went tight and he couldn’t speak. How much more proof did he need that Levi was no monster? If this beautiful boy cared for Levi, he had to be a decent guy.

“And tell him I love him.”

Oh, fuck.
“You’ll tell him yourself one day.” Simon waited for lightning to strike him down dead for lying.

Noah smiled sadly.

He knows
. “I’ll tell him.”

“Please don’t bring him here. I’ll do whatever you want if you protect him.”

What harm can a little white lie do, especially if it makes the kid feel better?
“I’ll try my best, but whatever happens, you can’t tell anyone we had this conversation.” Could the kid hold out if Graham beat him?

Can I?

The thought of Noah being hurt again made Simon sick to his very core. He wondered if the boy would be better off sedated, but there’d be no more drugs to help him get through any abuse the director might dish out.

Almost as if Noah could read his mind he broke in. “I’m not weak. I won’t say anything. I promise.”

“I know that.” Simon really, really needed to get out of this room and put some space between him and the boy. “You’re not weak, Noah. You’re very brave. You’re a survivor, and if Levi was here, he’d say the same thing. You did whatever you had to, in order to survive.”

But will you survive this island?

Simon was almost tempted to spend the night with Noah. Almost. He squelched the idea real fast.

This is a job. This is a job. This is a job.

He kept repeating the mantra while he walked back to the barracks. And in the long run it wouldn’t be helping the kid. On the contrary, spending more time with Noah would only make the boy more dependent on Simon. It would just get his hopes up and that would be the cruelest thing Simon could do to the boy. It would only make it harder for him when Simon left the island for good. For damn sure, he didn’t plan on coming back again.

Don’t be so sure about that.

If Graham finds out about Levi…

What do you mean, if?

Fuck. The longer Simon put off telling Graham, the more he risked. Why was he putting off the inevitable? He saw his career going down the tubes.

Tell him. Tell him now
.

But he couldn’t do it. Not after coming from the boy.

I’ll tell him tomorrow when we meet for breakfast.

Having made a decision, Simon felt a little better. His stomach rumbled, and he realized he hadn’t eaten. Hoping he wouldn’t run into the director, he went to the kitchen and looked in the fridge. Frozen meals packed the freezer. At least there was beer. He choked down a nuked chicken dinner, grabbed another beer, and went to his room. Gulping down his meal only made his stomach feel worse. He chewed a couple antacid tablets. A couple of beers and jetlag were enough to knock him out, and he slept for hours.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Simon woke in a sweat. He’d been dreaming about Noah. They were in the alley having hot and dirty sex. Simon had been fucking the boy, and Levi caught them at it. He’d pulled Simon off the blond and turned into a wolf right in front of Simon’s eyes. The beast drew his lips back in a snarl and crouched, ready to leap on Simon and tear his throat out.
Christ, it had felt so real.
His heart raced wildly. No way could he fall back to sleep.

An urge to see Noah again came over him. Just to make sure the boy was okay. He pulled on a pair of shorts and flip-flops and left the building as silently as a cat. The cellblock wasn’t far. An island paradise with a barracks and a cellblock.

Jesus.

A different guard stood in front of the door. Any unexpected activity would be reported to Graham for sure, and how could Simon explain away a visit in the middle of the night? He turned around and went back to his room.

It took forever to get back to sleep. When he woke again, sunlight shone through the shutters, but Simon had time for a quick shower before he met Graham. Simon’s bathroom was a little better than Noah’s. At least it had a working toilet and a sink. It seemed like all he did was take showers since he arrived. This place made him feel dirty. The water streamed over his shoulders and pounded some of the tenseness out of him while he thought about what he was going to say to the director.

You don’t have to say anything.

And then what? Just let the half-breed go? Levi would not go quietly. He would want information and he’d stalk Simon until he got it. Or until they both ended up dead. There was no easy way out of this. Not for the wolf, not for Noah, and not for him. If Simon was lucky he’d get to keep his job, but for the rest of his life he’d hate himself.

Is the job so important?

What else did he have in his life? The job was his life. Maybe he could make something up, tell Graham he had a lead on the half-breed. When he got home, he’d pretend to be tracking the wolf, and in a few days, he’d capture the man. Yeah, and what if the wolf opens his big mouth and tells Graham what really happened? Would Graham even believe him? Simon couldn’t take the chance. If Graham found out he lied, it would only make things worse.

This was crazy. Simon was never at a loss. He was one that Graham came to for help. He attributed it to the isolation of being on this godforsaken piece of land. Surrounded by the ocean, he felt as imprisoned as Noah.

Noah.

He’d made promises to Noah that he wasn’t sure he could keep, and guilt was pulling at him again. His head was spinning like that possessed girl in the movie. He needed a fucking exorcist to release the demons inside him.

Right now he needed to get out of this room. Simon dressed in chinos and a T-shirt. He took a deep breath and walked out of his room. For the first time he noticed there was no lock on his door. No privacy if he wanted it.

Graham doesn’t trust you.

Tell me something I don’t know. The man is paranoid.

Worry for the wolf nagged at him. If Graham sent someone to the condo, Levi could already be detained.

Now who’s being paranoid?

Simon pulled himself together and left his room. Graham was already seated at the long dining table drinking coffee. He looked up and nodded. Simon took a seat across from him and poured himself a cup from the pot on the table.

Graham looked at Simon expectantly. “Did you get anything useful out of him?”

“No. Nothing.” Simon shook his head. “He’s still groggy from the drugs. Maybe later…”
Maybe if I see him again something will come to me, some plan that will make this right.
Even he knew it was foolish to think that. Seeing Noah again would just distract him more. He needed to get over this whole sympathy thing and concentrate on his job. Right now, he needed to fess up to his boss, instead of putting his career, maybe even his life, in jeopardy.

“Richard, I—”

“No more drugs.” Graham’s gray eyes were cold, like a shark’s. He didn’t look happy. “I’ll question him later. Maybe I can convince him to open up.”

Convince him how?

Simon hoped like hell that Noah would keep his mouth shut. “He knows me now. I should be there.”

“No.” Graham stared at him with those fish eyes. “We’ll try it my way today. You’re looking tired, Simon. Not sleeping well?” The director didn’t wait for an answer. “I know it’s not the most luxurious place you’ve ever stayed at.” Graham chuckled dryly. “Take the day off. Look around. Figure out what we need here to make life more comfortable when we return.”

Return? Hell no!

Simon had no desire to come back, but he nodded. “I’d be glad to make some suggestions, but I don’t know the real purpose for this place. Is it a prison camp?”

“Think of it as a training camp. Thanks to your good work and the positive PR we’ve been getting, the president hasn’t decreased my funding. Now I need to show him some positive results.”

“How does Noah fit in?”

“He’s the perfect candidate for a new program I’m instituting here.”

“And the half-breed? What will you do with him? When we find him that is.”

“The same. Training and breeding.”

“Breeding?” Simon was taken aback. “I thought the idea was to decrease the Were population.”

“Not if we can breed a more docile species. I’m looking for a female Were to mate with the boy and a human woman for the half-breed. Think of it. A creature with less wolf blood raised in captivity could prove to be very useful. We’ll meet again tomorrow morning and talk more.”