The Lamb Who Cried Wolf (9 page)

Bye.”

Without further ado, he cut the connection. The reason he’d given his mother was only a half lie. He still had a half an hour or so before he needed to leave for work. He needed to wait for Shiloh, since yet again, his friend had been away the night before.

All of a sudden, Carson heard the apartment door opening.

“Honey, I’m home,” Shiloh shouted in his typical exuberant manner.

Carson shook his head at his friend’s antics and went to greet him.

As he entered the hallway, a slender body pounced on him, almost making him fall. The swan was taller, but slimmer than him, and at the same time, stronger than he looked, or even remembered sometimes. “Carsie! I missed you.”

Carson arched a brow and extracted himself from the embrace.

“You just saw me yesterday before you went on your date. So, how was it?”

Shiloh shrugged and went into the kitchen. Carson followed behind him. “Exactly as I expected,” Shiloh said. “Hot sex. He won’t call me.”

Carson couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Even if Shiloh didn’t act like a normal swan-shifter, Carson knew that in his heart, his friend still waited for The One. Shiloh waved a hand, as if casting aside the bad thoughts. “Tomorrow is another day, and many gorgeous hunks await.”

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Carson smiled. “And you deserve better than each and every one of them.”

Two years back, Shiloh had been his proverbial savior when Carson didn’t have any place to go, no friends, and no money. On impulse, Carson hitchhiked back to the city and with great difficulty, found the hotel where he’d stayed with Brody. It had taken some stealth, but he’d managed to slip inside their room. He’d realized then that none of the items they’d bought remained there, and understood that the wolves must have come and gotten rid of all the evidence that he and Brody had ever been here.

But as luck would have it, whoever dealt with this task missed one little piece of paper, a paper that had been in his pocket when Brody tore the jeans off him—Shiloh’s phone number. Not knowing what else to do, Carson had called—the best decision he’d ever made in his entire life. Shiloh had given him a place to stay, helped him find a job, introduced him to all sorts of interesting people, and become his best friend. He was an amazing man, and perhaps Carson could have fallen for him, if he hadn’t been still hung up on a certain wolf.

Seeming completely oblivious to Carson’s thoughts, Shiloh sighed. “You know what we have to do? We have to pick up guys.

We’ll take Dani along. What do you say?”

Carson struggled to find an excuse to decline, but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to lie. “You know I’m not much for that sort of thing, and Dani isn’t, either.”

In fact, their friend was very likely to have a heart attack if Shiloh suggested yet another club outing.

Shiloh rolled his eyes. “Too true. I don’t know what to do with you two. Anyway, we’ll just invite him over, eat lots of ice cream, and complain. How does that sound?”

“Sounds great.” Carson grinned. “But now, we gotta go to work.

Now, have a shower. I’ll make coffee.”

Shiloh let out a moan of distress, but Carson ignored him, already familiar with all of Shiloh’s tricks. Thankfully, his friend stole a look
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at the clock on the wall and cursed. “Okay, okay, I’m going. We should find better jobs.”

Or so Shiloh said, but truthfully, both of them were quite happy with their current employment. Shiloh had left the sex shop for the benefit of working in a music store, and found Carson employment in the bookshop section. As it turned out, Carson’s storytelling skills proved to be quite useful. Their employer, another shifter named Nicolas, agreed to set up a special hour for children to come and listen to Carson’s tales. Both parents and kids were thrilled, the shape-shifter community appreciated them, and the income of the shop was soaring. Still, that didn’t mean they could afford to come in late.

Carson made his friend the promised coffee, then retreated to his room and changed his clothes. As he stared at himself in the mirror, an image not his own appeared. Carson blinked and tried to push it away.

“Get out of my head,”
he willed his betraying mate.
“Get out. Get
out.”

It was very strange, really. Brody had broken his heart upon claiming that bitch, and only because of Shiloh’s help did Carson manage to survive it. He couldn’t hear Brody’s voice anymore, and even after two years, he felt it like a missing limb. Even so, their bond remained there, Roxanne’s presence having apparently been unable to break it. The saddest thing was that he knew Brody didn’t intend any of this. Otherwise, they could have come up with something. Carson would have even agreed to be Brody’s side dish, his dirty secret, just to have a little of Brody’s time. But Brody had never once approached him, and as much as Carson wanted to see him, he didn’t know how to find the wolf.

He knew it wasn’t entirely Brody’s fault. His mate had been pushed into this choice by his father. The elder wolf basically threatened Brody with killing Carson. Carson might not know a lot about pack hierarchy, but he did realize Brody’s father was like their overall leader, and a very powerful man. That didn’t make the entire
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thing any less painful, though. Wasn’t love always supposed to win out, to be stronger than anything?

Carson sat on the bed and buried his face in his hands. Would he ever be free of the past? Did he even want to? Sometimes, he looked at the calendar and marveled two years had already passed. How could time fly like that, when he still remembered Brody’s caresses so vividly? They’d just had forty eight hours together, not even that, to be true, and yet, Carson relived those moments every day, yearning for Brody’s scent, for his touch.

A knock sounded at the door, and Carson absently told Shiloh—

because it could only be Shiloh—to come in. His friend slipped inside, and his voice sounded concerned as he asked, “Are you all right, Carson? It happened again, didn’t it?”‘

Carson nodded, appreciating the fact that Shiloh knew when to be serious. “Is it ever going to stop hurting, Shil? It’s been two years already.”

Shiloh plopped down on the bed next to him. “I’m afraid you’re asking the wrong person. You know I’ve never fallen in love. But I can tell you this. All things happen for a reason. If Brody and you were meant to be, he’ll return to your side. If not, fuck him. You’ll find your true destiny.”

Carson couldn’t help a smile. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Shiloh nudged him with his shoulder. “Don’t mention it. Now get a move on. Work, work, remember?”

Carson nodded, thankful for the distraction work would provide.

He and Shiloh left their shared two-bedroom apartment and exited the building just as a car pulled over and honked. Carson immediately recognized it and grinned as their friend Dani lowered the driver’s window.

“Greetings, my friends,” Dani said. “In a rare development, I’ve been granted permission to take out the family vehicle. I decided to visit and perhaps facilitate your arrival to your workplace.”

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The words might have sounded stuffy and strange, but the speed with which Dani spoke them made most of it impossible to understand for the casual listener. All squirrels spoke at this rhythm, Shiloh had told Carson once, but only Dani bothered with long words.

“Thanks, Dani,” Shiloh replied. He grabbed Dani’s head through the window and pressed a sloppy kiss to their friend’s cheek. “I always knew you loved me.”

When Shiloh released him from his clutches, the squirrel still looked unruffled. “And how are the canto lessons going, Shiloh?”

Dani asked pleasantly. “I understand your current teacher is a nightingale renowned for his beautiful voice.”

Carson wished Dani hadn’t mentioned that. Alas, the squirrel also had a propensity for “foot-in-mouth” conversations, making all sorts of gaffes. Case in point, Shiloh. For whatever reason, Shiloh’s life-long ambition, other than his eternal quest for the ideal man, was to learn how to sing. How Shiloh planned to do that was a mystery, since, like all swans, the man was tone-deaf.

But Shiloh didn’t look discouraged or even upset by Dani’s words. “He’s an arrogant jerk, just like I expect. But I’m not worried.

I’ll find the right teacher yet.”

Between the good-natured bantering and Shiloh’s recount of his nighttime adventures, they navigated through traffic without losing their tempers. In no time, they reached the shop, and Carson and Shiloh got out.

“Thanks again, Dani,” Shiloh said. “You’re a gem.”

Dani said something in answer, but Carson didn’t hear it. In his mind something else echoed, the voice of a screaming woman and a pain and a desolation—not his own—but that echoed in his heart.

* * * *

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“I’ve had it,” Roxanne shouted at Brody. “I’ve had it with you and your attitude. This isn’t what I signed up for when I agreed to be your mate.”

Brody took another sip of his beer. “Move out of the way. You’re blocking my view, and the game’s just getting interesting.”

It wasn’t, not really, as Brody couldn’t care less about who won the Super Bowl. Still, sports and liquor provided a welcome distraction, better than anything he’d tried at least. Women certainly didn’t help, and as a guard, he’d become a liability for the pack. He was torn and broken, a shadow of his former self.

He’d been a good boy and done everything his father told him.

He’d claimed Roxanne, left Soren’s pack, and come to live with the elder’s pack. Perhaps the older wolf expected distance to help Brody get over Carson. It hadn’t. Instead, the pain of their separation intensified with each passing day.

Through Liam, he’d learned that Carson lived in San Francisco with a swan-shifter named Shiloh Holden. Brody had of course, remembered the young man from the sex shop. After all, how many swans with that name could Carson possibly know? But even if he was jealous, he knew Carson still loved him.

His father’s plan had backfired. Claiming Roxanne might have destroyed his connection with Carson had the lamb not been his true mate. As it were, it only made three people unhappy. Of course, Brody had been unable to force himself to actually have a relationship with Roxanne. The claiming bite had been the full extent of their intimacy. He couldn’t have gotten hard for her if he tried. Secretly, he found comfort in this. He knew he’d betrayed Carson by breaking their mate bond, but at least he hadn’t taken another to his bed.

“I want you to know I intend to report you to the elder,” Roxanne continued to rant. “I can’t live like this any longer. I want a family, pups, not to waste away with an excuse of a wolf.”

Brody continued to ignore her, and eventually, she went away, like she always did. Once she left, Brody put the beer away and shut
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off the TV. He agreed with Roxanne in one thing. He couldn’t live like this anymore.

But what else could he do? The alternative would be to go after Carson and try to get him back. However, even if Carson might be willing to forgive him for two years of pain and separation, the situation had not changed. They were still predator and prey. Brody’s father still refused to accept the possibility of a mating between a wolf and a lamb. Hell, throughout these years, the man watched his every step and thwarted all his incipient plans of reaching out.

Fuck. Roxanne was right. He was a sorry excuse of a wolf. How could he allow his father to separate him from his mate? How could he perpetuate this situation and turn into a couch potato with nothing to live for?

Growling, Brody took the beer bottle and threw it against the wall.

It shattered and left behind an ugly, damp spot that made Brody even angrier.

He was so lost in his fury he only sensed his father approach when the man was already coming inside the room.

“Finished?” His father crossed his arms over his chest, glowering.

“I’m not at all pleased with your attitude toward your mate.”

Brody took a deep breath, barely managing to keep himself from throttling the man just because of calling the bitch his mate. “I’m afraid I can’t do anything about that.” And he couldn’t care less about it, either.

His father looked irritated. “I gave you a good mate, and you’re pushing her away. Why, Brody? Why can’t you settle down, give her the family she wants?”

“Sorry, but the equipment doesn’t respond with her.” Oh, he could get hard, but whenever he tried having intercourse, Carson’s face popped in his mind, the way the lamb had been the last time they’d seen each other, and he simply couldn’t go through with it. He didn’t want anyone else. He just wanted Carson.

“Can you be serious for once?” his father bellowed.

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Brody cast aside all sarcasm and straightened his spine. “Look, Father. You’re an elder. You know as well as I do you can’t
give
me a mate. It simply doesn’t work that way. You realized this when you saddled me with Roxanne, so don’t come throwing accusations at me.

It’s your own fault.”

His father bared his teeth at Brody. “It’s the lamb. You’re still thinking about him, even after all this time. As if it weren’t enough that you chose a male, he had to be a lamb.” The elder wolf shook his head. “I realize my mistake now. I should have killed the lamb two years ago. That way, you’d have forgotten all about him by now.”

Something inside Brody snapped. He couldn’t take it any longer.

How dare his father threaten his mate? Brody’s wolf emerged, demanding retribution. He’d stayed quiet for two years, but not anymore. He’d rather die than allow anything to happen to Carson.

He didn’t know what emotion urged him to attack. It could have been his anger, his despair, or his need for a mate who was no longer there. Either way, he found himself shifting into his wolf form, something he rarely did nowadays. In this second shape, his bond with Carson felt even closer and even more painful. But now, Brody reveled in that. The sorrow and the hurt made him even more furious, and he found strength in it.