Rick's Reluctant Mate (7 page)

Chapter Nine

Jordan sniffed the food, smelled the drugs
that were supposed to keep him compliant—he'd made
that
mistake yesterday when he'd thought he'd be best to keep his
strength up so he was ready to escape the moment he got the opportunity—and
refused to eat the spoonful of raw meat that was pushed against his snout. His
captor didn't look particularly pleased, but since Jordan was inside a
steel-walled truck, locked inside a very solid cage, and wearing both leg and
arm manacles that kept him at an awkward, strength-sapping position, his captor
didn't look particularly worried either.

"Your choice, asshole," the guy
said as he flicked the spoon and dumped the raw meat into Jordan's fur. Jordan
didn't bother to react. That would simply be a waste of energy. His only chance
of escape was when they finished traveling and transferred him from this cage
to wherever they intended to keep him.

The only thing he was certain about was
why
he'd been abducted. Rick's name had
come up in more than one conversation between the three morons holding him
captive. It was almost hilarious that they intended to use Jordan to try and
manipulate Rick into helping them with a poorly thought-out plan to defraud
several banks via the Internet.

Rick may care enough for Jordan to do as
they asked, but his mate wasn't stupid. He'd know Jordan's captors had no
intention of releasing him while Rick jumped through their hoops. His mate
would find a way to stop these idiots
and
save Jordan. Of that he was very certain.

Fuck. If he'd been in human form he would
have laughed in a self-deprecating manner. When had he begun to think of his
mate as a grown adult capable of not only looking after himself but the people
around him as well? Jordan had spent the past four years watching his mate grow
into a mature, intelligent, truly incredible man, and yet, for some reason,
he'd continued to think of him as someone not quite capable of running his own
life.

Perhaps it was the age difference. Jordan
barely remembered being twenty-two, but it was clear that he was finally seeing
the real person Rick had become and not the eighteen-year-old human he'd busted
through a wooden window louver to protect.

Even in his head he'd begun to think of his
mate as "Rick"—the name everyone else used for him these days—rather
than the childhood version he'd grown up with.

His stomach lurched uncomfortably as the
truck once again began to move.

He had absolute confidence that his mate
would find him, but it was going to be a whole lot harder while they kept him
moving around. Hopefully they'd get wherever they were going soon.

~*~

Rick sat staring at the screen and wondering
if something had gone wrong with the GPS. Why would his mate be heading south?
It was possible that he'd changed his mind about claiming Rick as his mate and
had literally run in the opposite direction, but Rick didn't really want to
believe that. His dad had been positive that Jordan had planned to come home to
Rick.

Home.

He hadn't even realized how comfortable he
was among the
Alateekas
and their security people. It
was true that his skills made him different to them all, but somehow he fit in.
Perhaps it was because everyone here was unique in some way. They were a bunch
of misfits that somehow fit together.

He belonged here and so did his mate, even if
Jordan didn't understand that yet.

It was a rather strange thing to notice at a
time like this, but it was probably a good way to distract
himself
while he waited for Brody to do an aerial sweep of the continuously moving
coordinates Rick had found.

Rick answered his phone before the first
ring even sounded.
"Dad?"

"We found Jordan's car and his clothes
on the side of the highway and we're picking up unusual scents. We're not sure
why he stopped, but there's evidence of a fight. Did you have any luck with the
GPS tracker?"

"Not yet," Rick said, trying to
stay calm. "It's moving fast, like he's in a car, but if it's not his car,
and he left without any of his things, it's possible he's not there of his own
free will."

Again emotion thickened Rick's voice. Was
this how Jordan felt anytime he thought of
Rick
being
attacked or abducted? God, even if Jordan was rejecting him, Rick was going to
talk to the alpha of Lupinville. No way was he staying human when this was how
terrified he felt for his mate who was actually a werewolf.

Just the thought of how much stress Rick
being young and human must have put on his mate was enough to make him feel
queasy.

"It's a truck," Lilly said,
relaying whatever her brother was telling her on the phone, "driven by
hyenas." She rolled her eyes, apparently well acquainted with the species.
"If Jordan was abducted, there's a good chance they're the people behind
it."

Again Lilly did that short-hand style of
talking that she and her twin seemed to do, but as far as Rick could tell, they'd
already contacted Trent and were planning to stop the truck, liberate Jordan,
and perhaps even refer his abductors to some sort of paranormal judicial
system.

Lilly smiled as she hung up the phone.
"We'll have him back in no time."

"
Lil
, I can't
just sit here," Rick said, too agitated to sit still.

"
Which is why Adrian
is going to swing by and pick us up.
"

Rick grinned, grateful for the woman's
thoughtful reaction. "Thanks,
Lil
."

~*~

Jordan groaned as the truck came to a sudden
stop. He had no way to protect himself the way he was bound, so he could only
grind his teeth and hope he would have a chance to change forms soon. He'd
already considered it more than once but the steel manacles would crush his
human shaped bones and he'd be in even more pain than he was right now. Whoever
these people were, they apparently had enough knowledge to know how to
discourage a shifter from shifting.

But the sound of voices yelling for the
driver to get out of the truck was music to his ears. He wasn't sure who had
stopped the vehicle—if it was humans he might find himself in the zoo—but at
this stage he didn't particularly care who rescued him, just as long as Rick
was safe from the manipulation these people had planned.

He was almost embarrassed when Trent climbed
into the back of the truck and came straight to him. The soft chuckle was
unexpected.

"I'm assuming you're responsible for
the guy with a busted hand and the other one's painful-looking limp. It sure
made it easier to stop them from running away."

Jordan curled his lips into a
wolfy
grin. Yeah, he'd been quite pleased to realize that
hyenas didn't heal during a shift.

"Let's get you out of here. I know
someone who is really looking forward to seeing you."

It took a good five minutes to find all the
keys and get him completely free, but he didn't hesitate to shift into his
human form as soon as he was able.

"Thank you, sheriff," he said
respectfully. He was damn tired so he didn't even protest when Rick's
stepdad
wrapped an arm around his back and helped him lift
to his feet. He was no longer injured but something was messing with his
equilibrium. "How did you find me?"

"Rick gave us coordinates and a
description of the truck. It was pretty simple after that."

Jordan grinned and nodded his head. "I
knew he would. My mate is pretty amazing."

"Cody and I think so too," Trent
said with a soft laugh. "Lukas is worried that you're dehydrated so he's
going to check you over and then we'll get you out of here."

Jordan cooperated sleepily as someone helped
him drag on a pair of shorts and then he found himself lying on a makeshift bed
in the back of Goldie's white van.

"Sorry for the location, but I couldn't
take the ambulance without explaining to the humans," Lukas said as he
hooked up an IV to the back of Jordan's hand. "You should be fine, but
this will help you get back on your feet faster."

"Thanks," Jordan whispered
tiredly.

"Lukas and Goldie are going to take you
back to Lupinville while we sort out the rest of this mess," Trent said in
a confident tone.

"Get some rest," Goldie said as he
and Lukas helped him settle comfortably on the mattress. "Rick is already
on route to meet you halfway."

"Thanks," Jordan said as thoughts
of his beautiful mate filled his head.

He didn't even realize he'd fallen asleep until
the van came to a halt and his mate climbed in.

~*~

Rick was a little shocked to see Jordan
looking so pale, but he didn't hesitate to carefully lie down beside him and move
into his mate's embrace.

"You okay?"

Jordan was shaking all over but he whispered,
"I am now," before tightening his hold just a little more.

"I'm so sorry," Rick said quickly,
needing to confess his guilt over the GPS tracker but also to apologize for not
realizing that, as Rick's mate, Jordan might be a target as well.

"Babe, no," Jordan said sleepily.
"You found me. You have nothing to be sorry about."

"Well I kind of do," Rick said,
lifting the small crescent moon pendant away from Jordan's skin. "I
planted a GPS tracker in your gift. I felt really bad about it afterward and I
promised myself I'd never use it, even if you didn't come back, but then you
went missing and everyone was sure you'd been on your way back to me, so I used
it and found you, and I'm really sorry, and I promise I'll never do anything
like that again."

Rick dragged in an unsteady breath and
wished he hadn't dumped that rambling confession on his mate when it was clear
that he really wasn't up to hearing it.

"You didn't use it," Jordan said
pulling him closer. "Not for yourself."

"But I—"

Jordan pressed his hand over Rick's lips to
stop him from talking.

"We all make decisions we regret
later," Jordan said. "It's what we do afterward that counts. You
taught me that, Rick."

"Is it okay if I don't regret it as
much now as I did when I thought you were safe?"

Jordan laughed softly. "Yeah, I think
we can put this one down as the best mistake you ever made."

Rick nodded against his lover's arm.
"Were you really coming back to me?"

"I was," Jordan said. "I
am." He pressed a kiss to Rick's forehead. "I love you, Rick, and I'm
selfish enough to want to stay with you forever if you'll let me."

"Well I think that works out for both
of us then, because as it turns out, I'm rather selfish too. I love you,
Jordan."

"Perfect."

Epilogue

Jordan
couldn't help but admire his lover's beautiful body as the newly made werewolf
practiced changing forms. He'd been at it for an hour or more so Jordan didn't
feel the slightest guilt for intervening. There
was
such a thing as too much practice.

The moment
his mate was back in human form, Jordan launched himself in his direction,
capturing Rick within the circle of his arms.

"Well
hello there," Rick said with a smile in his voice. He leaned backward and
pressed his delectable ass against Jordan's rapidly rising cock. "Is that
a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?"

Jordan
couldn't help but laugh at Rick's corny human pick-up line. He honestly hadn't
believed humans had such ridiculous mating rituals until Rick had produced
website after website full of "dating advice." Some of it was
completely mind boggling. Why would humans put themselves through that?

He inhaled
his mate's sweet scent and thanked whoever was in charge of the universe that
he'd been born a werewolf. Now that his mate was also a werewolf his life felt
absolutely perfect.

Rick turned
in his arms, grinned mischievously and said, "Kissing is a language of
love"— he waggled his eyebrows and leered for affect—"so let's have a
conversation."

Jordan
laughed wholeheartedly and pulled his mate closer.

Some days it
seemed so strange to be this happy that he often found himself wondering if any
of it was real. Who would blame him, after everything he'd seen, for retreating
into the perfect fantasy life?

But then his
mate asked, "What's a nice guy like you doing in a filthy mind like
mine?" his attention was completely diverted, especially when Rick
couldn't contain his own chuckle. Jordan had laughed more in the past month
with his mate than he had in the one-hundred-and-sixty years beforehand. He
still wasn't sure that he deserved this second chance, but there was no way he
was going to squander it.

He lifted
Rick into his arms and spun toward the bed. His mate laughed happily when
Jordan pretty much threw him into the middle of the mattress and then followed
him down. He pressed their cocks together and groaned with need as Rick made
another joke about him "coming here often."

Humans were
definitely a strange species.

Jordan
leaned
forward,
pressing a kiss to Rick's lips as he
lazily rubbed their cocks together and felt his lover's arousal rise higher. He
groaned as his own need to be inside his mate threatened to overwhelm good
sense. He reached for the lube and quickly squirted a generous amount onto his
hand. Rick grinned and then groaned softly as Jordan pressed his fingers
against his ass and explored him intimately.

"I love
you, Jordan," Rick said on a gasping breath, his tone serious, his gaze
filled with contentment. "Thank you for choosing to love me back."

Jordan
stopped moving as something he'd never thought about occurred to him. He
had
chosen. He'd fallen in love with his
mate over time, watching him grow and change into the man he'd become. The mate
link had created the physical attraction and the biological need to protect,
but love, pure and unselfish, had grown on its own.

"I love
you, Rick," he said reverently as he pushed inside his mate, "and I
promise to love you for a lifetime."

Rick grinned
widely, lifted up to press a fierce kiss to Jordan's lips, and whispered the
word that seemed to sum up their relationship over and over.
"Perfect."

THE END

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