Man to Man [Wolf Creek Pack 3] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (8 page)

“Are you saying you don’t want to wear my shirt?”

“No,” Jim said as he shook his head and took the shirt. He pulled it over his head and down his chest, smoothing the material with his hands as he looked down at it. “I look good wearing your stuff.”

“You look better wearing me,” Donovan replied, letting out a small chuckle.

Even after the very satisfactory bout of sex they had just had, Jim could still feel his face heat up with embarrassment. He turned even redder as Donovan laughed and reached over to brush his hand down Jim’s cheek.

“You’re so cute.”

Jim rolled his eyes. “Say that within anyone else’s ears and you’ll find out just how cute I can be,” he threatened. While Donovan’s words made him feel warm inside, he didn’t want anyone else hear him say the word “cute.” It was embarrassing.

“Promise?”

Jim pointed his finger at Donovan. “You have a humorous streak in you, Donovan Morgan,” He turned and walked toward the door, smirking to himself when he saw Donovan’s jaw drop. “We’re going to have to do something about that.”

“You don’t like humor?”

Jim smiled. He could hear the confusion in Donovan’s voice. When he reached the door, Jim stopped to look over his shoulder at Donovan, flashing the man a big grin as he batted his eyelashes at him.

“I love humor, but payback can be a real bitch. Say I’m cute in front anyone else and you just might wake up with pink toenails.”

Jim turned away from Donovan’s astonished face and opened the door. As he walked through it, he could swear he heard Donovan mumble under his voice.

“I like pink.”

He almost stumbled at Donovan’s words. Seriously? His big muscle-bound mate liked pink? He started to laugh. He might actually have to make good on his threat and paint Donovan’s toenails pink. Or red.

Jim was still chuckling a moment later when they reached the downstairs. He could hear voices coming from the kitchen and went in that direction, Donovan close on his heels.

“Jim!”

Jim blinked a little at his brother’s loud yell. Joe stood in the kitchen with Nate, Ben Nobles, who was the pack enforcer and a deputy under Joe.

“Yeah?”

Joe turned to look at Jim the moment they walked into the kitchen. “I’m going to take Nate to the circle. I want you to go get Dad while Ben informs the rest of the pack. I want everyone to meet us at the circle. It’s time for this pack to step up and protect one of their own.”

Wow, what had he missed? “Okay, Joe, but are you sure you want us to leave? Don’t you need us here to protect Nate, too?” Jim asked. Jim really didn’t like the idea of Nate being left unprotected considering Roger was involved in whatever was going on with the Teacher.

Roger Drummond had accused Nate of assaulting him and then administered punishment to Nate in front of the entire pack. He had whipped Nate, even knowing that Nate was innocent of the crime. When it was discovered that Roger had lied, the man had been banished from the pack, and now it looked like he wanted revenge.

“I do, but I think it would be a little better use of your time getting the rest of the pack together. You can all meet us down circle. Besides, Donovan will be here to help me keep Nate safe. I just don’t want to have him here at the house. This is sure to be the first place that Roger brings the Teacher.”

Jim nodded as he glanced over at Donovan. He wasn’t ready to be separated from his mate. They had just claimed each other, and the need to stay at Donovan’s side rode Jim hard. But his brother didn’t know about them yet, and Jim wasn’t quite ready to share his news. He needed to keep Donovan to himself just a little longer.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Okay, Ben, you’re with me,” Jim replied as he walked out of the kitchen. He was almost to the front door when he heard Donovan in his head.

“Wait up a minute, baby.”

“Why don’t you go ahead and get into the car, Ben? I’ll be just a moment,” Jim said as he gestured toward his truck before turning back to see Donovan jogging up to him. “What’s up?” he asked when Donovan reached him.

“You forgot something,” Donovan replied, a strange twinkle in his hazel eyes.

“What?” Jim asked in confusion.

“This,” Donovan said as he wrapped his arms around Jim’s shoulders and drew together, lowering his lips to explore Jim’s mouth. His kiss was slow, thoughtful, and full of promise. And Jim ate it up.

He groaned in disappointment when Donovan finally pulled his lips away. He actually whimpered. He felt Donovan’s hand gently caress the side of his face.

“I still think you’re cute,” Donovan whispered. “Now go, and keep your sexy ass out of trouble. I have plans for it later.”

Jim jumped when Donovan swatted him on the ass. As Donovan turned and walked away, Jim stood there, dazed.
Damn, that man sure could kiss!
Jim was still dazed, a silly grin on his face. He’d think about how his cock started to fill from that swat later. He turned and walked to his truck and climbed inside.

He cast one last look in Donovan’s direction, feeling his face burn as Donovan blew him a kiss, before backing his truck out of the driveway and heading toward his father’s place. He looked over at Ben, surprised at the grin on his face. He was pretty sure he had never seen Ben smile in the entire time he had known him.

“What’s so funny?” Jim asked hesitantly.

“You,” Ben replied, his amusement clear in his voice. “I didn’t know you were gay.”

Great
. He was out of the closet whether he wanted to be or not. “Yeah, well, don’t go spreading it around,” Jim replied. “I’m sure everyone is going to know soon enough. I’d rather get this thing with Nate over with first.”

“He your mate?”

Jim nodded. “Yes, why?” Did Ben have designs on his mate? Jim started to growl. Donovan was his.

Ben just shook his head. “Just wondering. You two seem to be rather chummy.”

“You will be, too, when you meet your mate. There’s just no avoiding it. Once you meet her or him, it’s over for you. You might as well just give in and go with it. You’ll live longer,” Jim said.

“No, there’s no mate out there for me,” Ben said.

Jim looked over at him in concern. There was a wealth of sadness in that sentence. It matched the sadness in Ben’s voice. “There’s a mate out there for all of us, Ben.”

“Not for me,” Ben replied. “Who would want to be saddled with me?”

“Ben—”

“I will never subject a mate to what I am, Jim. There’s no one that deserves that.”

“Ben, you’re not a bad guy. Any man…er…woman, would be—” Jim stammered, not sure of Ben’s sexual likes.

“Man,” Ben quietly supplied.

“Okay, man then. Any man would be proud to have you as a mate. You’re not a bad-looking guy, and you’re certainly strong enough,” Jim said as he looked over at his six-foot-nine friend. Ben was huge, easily strong enough to protect nearly any mate he might have.

“I’m also a pack soldier. That means I do the fighting for our pack. What man would want to be saddled with that? Not only could I die at any moment, but fighting is my life. And I have the scars to prove it,” Ben said.

Jim shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. When you meet your mate, you’ll learn to make concessions, to compromise. Trust my words, Ben, you won’t have a choice. A mate is a mate, and you’ll be damn grateful when you find yours. I am.”

“I’m not sure I believe that, but I’m happy for you.”

Jim smiled. “I am, too.”

“Have you claimed each other?”

“Oh yeah.” Jim chuckled, remembering just how well they had claimed each other. It was more than obvious that their sexual relationship was not going to be a problem. Donovan turned Jim on more than anyone he had ever met. He just hoped that the rest of their relationship was as easy.

“It must have been hard to leave him.”

Jim sighed and glanced down at his hands. “Yeah, it was, but we have to do whatever we can to make sure that Nate and his friends are safe. That is the entire reason Donovan was sent here by his alpha.”

“They will be,” Ben said with confidence. “Chase and his buddies are already moving in on the location Justin gave us. We’re hoping that if we keep the Teacher occupied with Nate, it will make it easier to rescue them. That’s the plan anyway.”

“Good.” Jim really had no idea how Chase had moved so quickly but Donovan seemed confident in his brother’s abilities to pull the job off. “What about Roger?” Jim almost growled.

He’d like just five minutes in a locked room with that man. Besides that fact that the man was a rat bastard, he had been sniffing after Joe for years. Personally, Jim believed that Roger had hooked up with the Teacher just to get revenge on Joe for mating Nate.

The man was psychotic. He had lied about breaking into Joe’s house and then punished Nate in front of the entire pack for something he didn’t do.

“He’s not breaking pack law by being in the area after being banished from the pack, but he’s nothing but trouble.” Ben’s voice was stern and rough. “The alpha should have let me deal with the situation.”

“If it comes down to it, I’m sure my father will let you take care of Roger Drummond and the Teacher. Once one of our pack members is threatened, you know my father won’t sit by and let them get away with it.”

“I know, I just—” Ben growled as he pushed his hand through his hair.

“You just hate seeing a pack member in danger.” Jim wasn’t best friends with Ben, but he had known the man for many years. Ben was somewhat of a loner, but that was due to his position as a pack enforcer. He knew Ben didn’t want to become too attached to someone he might have to punish. But Ben never made any bones about the fact that the pack was always his first priority.

“It’s my job to keep them safe.”

Jim smiled at Ben. “It’s our job to keep them safe, and the faster we get the rest of the pack to the circle, the faster we can do that.” And the faster he could get back to Donovan.

* * * *

Donovan hung up his phone and dropped it in his pocket. He crossed his arms over his chest as his mind wandered to his new mate. Jim was something else. Donovan was amazed at how quickly he was beginning to care for the man.

It just didn’t seem possible. A few hours and the whole course of his life had changed and, as much as he didn’t know what the future held, he knew that Jim would be a part of it. That knowledge sent a small thrill through Donovan’s body as he envisioned all of the nights they had ahead of them.

The sex had been more phenomenal than even he had imagined. Donovan didn’t know if it was gay sex or just being with his mate, but he had been amazed at how much he had enjoyed it. And how much he wanted to experience it again.

He looked up when he heard people walking toward him to see Joe and Nate coming toward him.

“Ready?” Joe asked as soon as they reached the truck.

“Yeah,” Donovan replied. “I left a message on Chase’s voice mail. He’s probably going into the warehouse right now, so he wouldn’t be answering his phone. He’ll call me back as soon as it’s safe to do so,”

He saw Joe nod his head as he turned and climbed into the driver seat. Nate climbed into the backseat. Donovan opened the front door and peered inside the vehicle. “Uh, Joe? Shouldn’t Nate be sitting up here with you?”

When Joe gestured to him, Donovan climbed into the front passenger seat. He was a little confused that he was sitting up front when Nate was Joe’s mate. He would have thought Joe wanted to sit next to his mate.

“Normally, that would be true,” Joe said as he started the vehicle, “however, I want to know what your intentions are toward my brother. For that, I want to be able to see your face. Besides, it’s easier for Nate to know if you’re telling the truth if he doesn’t have to swing around in his seat.”

Donovan suddenly remembered Nate saying that he could tell if someone was lying or not, right about the time that Nate’s hand landed on his shoulder. Donovan just rolled his eyes as he looked over at Joe.

“What do you want to know?”

“I want to know what your intentions are toward my brother. You do know he’s not gay, right? If you have plans on seducing him, don’t,” Joe said as he drove the truck down the road.

Well, shit!

Donovan rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. He suddenly knew what a deer caught in the headlights felt like. If he said anything, he’d be letting Jim’s secret out. While they had agreed to be together, they had never discussed how they were going to be together. There just hadn’t been time.

“Look, Joe,” Donovan replied, wishing he was anywhere but where he was. “I understand where you’re coming from, really I do, but this is between Jim and me. I do want you to know I am serious about Jim. I’m sorry, but I can’t discuss this with you without Jim’s permission.”

“Fair enough,” Joe replied, confusing Donovan even more.

Donovan was just about to ask Joe what he meant when Joe glanced into the backseat, his face going white when Nate cried out. Donovan swung around to see Nate, eyes glazed over, staring off into space.

“Nate? Baby?” Joe asked anxiously. “What’s wrong?”