Loco's Love [Brac Pack 9] (2 page)

He could have done without the fear in his mate’s eyes though.

They were filled with a curiously deep longing that Loco had felt as well, but that hint of fear had detracted from the beauty of them.

“Hey, Loco, wanna shoot some pool?” Loco was snatched out of his pensiveness at the sound of Gunnar’s voice. The shifter was
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standing there with pool sticks in both hands, a curious look on his face.

“Sure.” He was scheduled for patrol duty later but needed something to take his mind off of Tangee for now. Loco grabbed the stick and pushed everything else to the back of his mind. No sense torturing himself with longing over someone he wouldn’t be able to see until tomorrow night.

“Wanna beer?” Gunnar tossed one his way. Loco twisted the cap off and took a long swallow. Too bad Timber wolves couldn’t get drunk. If they drank, it was for the taste. He leaned his back against the wall as the wolf took his turn.

Thoughts of those tattoos running down his mate’s arms entered Loco’s mind. He wanted to run his tongue from wrist to shoulder, tracing the outline of each dragon. Damn, so much for pushing those thoughts away.

Loco smiled when the mate Keata came running into the room. He had been asked by Kyoshi, Keata’s cousin, to keep an eye on the guy.

Keata ran off at the first sign of something sparkly. It was a job and a half, and then a solid headache, to keep up with him.

“Have you see Tank?”

Loco chuckled. Keata’s broken English was improving. “In the kitchen.” Where the warrior stayed most of the time he wasn’t on patrol.

He finished his round of pool with the Sentry and then jogged upstairs to shower before he shifted into his wolf form and prowled the grounds of the estate. At all times, six Sentries roamed the forest, ensuring the mates of the warriors lucky enough to find theirs stayed safe. They had rogue wolves and a pack to the East to be concerned with. With the way things were going lately, Maverick needed to consider enlisting more warriors. Six just didn’t seem to be enough anymore.

Loco’s skin itched to go to his mate, claim him, and bring him home. He knew he had to wait. Even if Hawk excused him to go find
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Tangee, which his commander would, he wouldn’t know where to look.

The place had to be closed by now, and his mate home safe in bed, a place Loco wanted to be, cuddled up to him. Making love to him and claiming him.

“There’s always tomorrow,” he muttered as he headed upstairs.

* * * *

Tangee cursed as he looked at his alarm clock. He needed to invest in a better one—or a better memory that would remind him to set that damn thing. It was the one he had as a child and half ass worked. Either that or he slept right through it.

He tossed the covers aside as he quickly showered and got ready for work.

It seemed all he did was work, no social life, no real friends except for Mark. He had tried dating, but none of his boyfriends ever stuck around when they saw how Tangee struggled financially, and they got tired of never seeing him.

“There has to be something better than this.” Talking to himself, Tangee ate a bowl of cereal and looked around to make sure everything he needed was waiting for him by the door. Setting the bowl in the sink, he rushed out of his apartment, having to come back to lock it.

Why, on a day he was running late, like almost every day, was the bus late? Tangee wanted to scream at the top of his lungs at the injustice of the world. He knew he was spreading himself thin, but what else could he do? He always told himself he was young and could handle it, but lately he wasn’t so sure. Days like today made him want to just walk away from it all, but to where?

“Sorry, Mark.” Tangee huffed as he ran into work. Thank goodness no one was in the shop.

He didn’t need a repeat of yesterday’s money loss.

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“No prob. Set up for me. I have someone coming in a half hour.” Mark set off to the office in the back.

Tangee pulled out the equipment Mark would need. The several colors of ink normally used when doing tattoos, fresh needles, gun and an assortment of other things were laid on his work station. He heard the door buzz as someone came in, the client must be early.

Tangee hurried to ready Mark’s area, not wanting to lose this job.

His boss was understanding and laid-back, and that was hard to come by. He finished up and ran to the back to tell Mark his customer was early.

“Go get us something to eat while I work.” Mark tossed him a twenty before heading up front.

“Gotcha.” Tangee headed out of the back door and down the street to one of those soul food places. The fried catfish was banging. He already knew to get Mark a corned beef sandwich. It seemed to be his everyday staple.

“Hey, tattoo freak. You cut us in line.” Tangee looked around to see who the guys were talking to. The only
tattooed freak
in there was him. Shit, just what he didn’t need.

Tangee couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag, but he wasn’t going to let these guys know that. Why did it seem like no matter where he went trouble followed?

“Sorry.” He stepped back behind the men who accused him of cutting, although he couldn’t be sure if he did. He wasn’t paying attention.

“You can buy our food since you’re being so considerate.” The accuser’s words were menacing and void of humor.

Tangee turned to the side, trying his best to ignore them. His heart was beating out of his chest, and he could feel himself shaking. He hated fighting because he was never on the winning end or it. Tangee thought once he became an adult he would be past all that, but apparently not.

“You hear me?” The prick shoved his hand into Tangee’s
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shoulder, shoving him back a few steps. Tangee needed to get out of there. He’d hit the hamburger place down the street. Catfish was so not worth this. Turning around to leave, the guy pushed him again while taunting him. Tangee could feel the tears welling up and cursed himself for his weakness.

“Since you ain’t gonna buy my dinner…” Tangee saw stars when the guy punched him in his eye, shards of light exploded behind his eyes. Fuck, that hurt. With an instant headache and throbbing face, he took off running, forgetting that Mark had sent him for food as he ran into the back door of the parlor and into the bathroom.

“You okay?” Mark yelled from the other side.

“Yeah,” Tangee yelled back as he looked at his eye in the mirror.

It was red and angry-looking and starting to swell already. The headache seemed to be getting worse the longer he stared at his eye.

He knew Mark would see, and his other boss at the mini-mart was going to have a fit. Maybe he could wear those black glasses people wore when they got their eyes messed with at the doctor. It would cover it.

Ten minutes later Mark was at the bathroom door. “If you don’t come out, I’m coming in,” Mark threatened from the other side while he jiggled the handle.

Taking a deep breath, Tangee cracked the door open, and Mark pushed it wide open.

“Who in the hell did that to you, Tangee?” Mark roared. His boss was a big dude with tattoos all over. He was tall as hell and muscle-bound. He reminded Tangee of a rough biker.

“No one.” He tried to pull away, but Mark grabbed his arm, turning him back around to access the damage.

“Yeah, I’d like to know as well.”

Tangee’s head snapped to the side. The silver-haired man came to the back, looking at him like he was going to murder someone, with his jaw set and his eyes narrowed. If the boogeyman were real, this
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guy had to be him.

Tangee twisted his fingers together nervously. “Shit, these dudes down at the soul food joint. Said I cut them and tried to make me pay for their food. Knocked me good when I tried to leave.” Tangee was humiliated. The guy who haunted his dream last night got to share in his shame.
Just great.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the silver hair and black eyes, but he could have done without him seeing Tangee in his cowardly state.

“What did they look like?” Mark grabbed his leather, shrugging it onto his shoulders.

“No, it’s okay. You got a customer coming.” Tangee turned toward the silver-haired dream god, “Unless you’re the customer?”

“No, I came to see you. Looks like not soon enough. Description, Tangee.”

Tangee described the two dudes that had harassed him and the one who hit him. Mark and Silver—the name Tangee had given him—left him in the shop as they took off down the street.

This was even more embarrassing, having two hulk guys running to defend him. He was a grown man, twenty-three years old. He didn’t need anyone running to slay the dragons.

Tangee felt like a helpless chick in some tower while his knights rode off to protect his virtue, if he still had it.

Tangee paced back and forth, looking out of the big window, wondering what was going on. Why couldn’t he be more like Mark?

Or even Silver?

It was almost as if fate had stamped
wuss
on his forehead at birth.

There was always a bully messing with him, as far back as he could remember, like they knew he didn’t have a backbone.

There was nothing more self-loathing than knowing you couldn’t defend yourself. If only he could win one fight, just one, he would feel better about himself. He should have gone with them. No, he should have stayed home today.

Tangee remembered the bullies in high school. They always
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seemed to set their sights on him because he was tall and gangly.

His physique screamed loser.

He was always letting the other guys take his property from him, and he never tried to get it back. Graduation couldn’t come fast enough. His mother always told him to turn the other cheek, use his brains instead of his fists. Well, he wasn’t the one she needed to tell that to.

Tangee glanced at the clock. They had been gone thirty minutes now. What was taking so long? Maybe the other guys had left, and Mark and Silver were hunting them down. He hoped not.

Mark’s appointment had been sitting here waiting for a good ten minutes now, and Tangee trying to make the guy as comfortable as possible. He hoped the man didn’t leave.

That would mean Tangee had made Mark lose business. Tangee wished he was stronger and more able to defend himself, but fate had thought otherwise.

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Chapter Two

Loco felt somewhat better after he and Mark found the three and taught them how to treat his mate. They shouldn’t be bullying anyone for a long time to come.

Seeing his mate bruised only cemented his resolve to take Tangee home with him tonight. There was no way he was leaving him in the city by himself when the guy apparently couldn’t defend himself.

He didn’t care if Tangee was weak. That’s what he was there for.

To protect him, take care of him, and love him. His tall and gangly man would fit right in with the other mates living at the Den.

Loco would have to warn Tangee to stay away from Cecil and his harebrained schemes.

The Alpha’s mate came up with more ways to have the warriors running around searching for them. Cecil wasn’t a bad mate, just an extremely bored one who took his entertainment into his own hands and dragged the rest of the mates into mischief with him.

They walked back to the parlor, Loco pulling his leather off as they came through the door. Tossing it in one of the empty chairs, he went in search of his tattooed love.

“Tangee?” he yelled into the back room.

“Coming.” Tangee ran from the backroom, his arms full of many small boxes that looked as though they were going to topple any minute.

Loco grabbed some of the boxes from him, helping him set them down behind the counter. Loco began opening them and handing his mate the supplies inside, inhaling Tangee’s magnificent scent as he knelt down beside him and began to open the boxes. Being so close to
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him, his erection was pressing into the front of his jeans. Damn, he wanted him.

“So, what’s your name besides Silver?” Tangee asked as he accepted the bag of belly-rings from Loco.

“Loco.” He smiled when Tangee’s eyebrows rose.

“Is it your personality, too?” Loco had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. The look on his mate’s face was comical. Tangee’s eyes were wide, and his lips were parted. Loco was dying to lean over and kiss those deliciously appealing lips.

“Only when it needs to be.” Loco purposely held one of the bags tighter so his mate would have to grab his hand. He wanted contact, skin to skin. Anything would do right now. The electricity shot up his arm when Tangee’s fingers grazed his.

“Oh, okay. So why did you want to see me?” Tangee stacked the inventory in the glass showcase, looking everywhere but at Loco. He knew his mate was young and needed time to adjust to someone as large as Loco being interested in him. If the guy only knew he was the safest person on the planet when it came to Loco’s anger.

He would never do anything to hurt him.

“You caught my eye last night. I wanted to see you again, talk, and get to know you.” Loco grabbed the empty boxes and took them to the backroom, stacking them near the back door.

Tangee followed him. “Why?” It shocked him that his mate looked so stunned.

Didn’t he know how absolutely gorgeous he was?

He went back to the display case and grabbed the last of the empty boxes. Tangee was watching him closely from the corner of his eye.

Loco had an urge to strut but thought better of it. There would be time to show off his prowess later. Now was the time for getting to know him.

“If you have to ask me that, then you haven’t been dating the right people.” Loco pushed the thought of his mate in another man’s arms out of his head. That was one thought that would send him into a rage.