Microsoft Word - Jacks-Marcy-Hunted-and-on-the-Run.doc (15 page)

116

Marcy Jacks

“May I ask you a question?”

Mick blinked down at him. “All right. Shoot.”

Storm cleared his throat. John had already had this discussion with him, but now he needed to hear it from someone else.

“John has told me that your leading alpha, and you as well, have both mated with males? Is that true?”

Now Mick really blinked down at him. His face turned a little red as well.

He cleared his throat before responding, and Storm worried that he may have overstepped his boundaries with the question.

“Yeah, uh, it’s been happening an awful lot with the alpha males around here. The unmated females are admittedly starting to get a little worried, but Ariel recently came out, claiming she was mated to Meg, and they’ve been making it work.”

Storm relaxed a little. So this was a natural occurrence here.

Maybe he should tell James about what was going on with the werecats and how they were slowly going extinct.

That could wait until after he’d seen John. “Thank you. I was just curious.”

Mick nodded. “Yeah, that’s natural. I’ll leave you to it and let the omegas come back in to see you.”

Mick left him alone, and Storm was a little surprised to note how Markus did not follow the older alpha.

He seemed to be struggling with something just as much as Mick had when he’d apologized. He wouldn’t even look Storm in the face.

“You…you take care of him. You got that? I don’t care if you’re mated to John, you ever hurt him again, even on accident, and I’ll make you wish you were never born.”

Storm should have known it wouldn’t be that simple. There would still be those who were protective of their friends. Still, he nodded anyway. As far as punishments went, this was the least he deserved.

“I won’t hurt him.”

Markus snorted and left the room.

Hunted and on the Run

117

The omegas hustled back in, and they all quickly worked together to pick out the last of the shotgun pellets. They bandaged him up, claiming he was lucky that none of the shotgun pellets had struck his good eye, and that because his injuries had been small and because of his healing abilities, scarring would likely be minimal, and not anywhere near the extent of what their leading alpha was carrying around.

By the time they bandaged him up, he felt like a wrapped mummy. They offered him some pain pills, but he refused to take anything that would make him feel drowsy. He gladly accepted the creams and lotions they offered for swelling and itching, thanked them for their work, and then left the cabin.

One of the omegas, Tristan, who had been the one to complain the loudest about being kicked out of the room when he’d been working on a patient, had pointed the way to where John would be.

Storm was new to the land, and all the sights and smells he did not recognize put him on edge. The omega took pity on him and guided him toward the cabin where John lived.

He knocked before entering and then led Storm to where John’s room was located.

“We share the cabins here,” Tristan explained. “My mate wants to build some more, and James is working with him on that, but for now most of us have roommates.”

Storm didn’t mind that at all.

Tristan left him alone when they came upon the door that belonged to his lover, quietly wishing him luck.

Storm thought he may have found a friend in that omega.

He inhaled a deep breath and opened it slowly. John was lying in bed, resting, but his eyes were open. James was in the room with him, and from the look of them, it seemed that Storm had interrupted a conversation of sorts.

James saw him and then nodded to John. “I’ll let you get your rest now. We can finish this in the morning.”

118

Marcy Jacks

John nodded to his alpha. Storm stepped out of the man’s way as he exited the room. Storm couldn’t help but look at him as he left.

The omegas said that his scarring wouldn’t be as bad as James’s, apparently because James had been shot in the face with silver pellets, but would Storm’s face resemble that? He never thought of himself as a vain man before, but now with his eye lost in a battle for his life and the likelihood of having his face scarred as well, it worried him that John might lose his interest in Storm. Physically, at any rate.

Scarred for life with only one eye. He shuddered.

“You come to see me or are you just going to stand there?”

John’s words pulled Storm out of his musings. He practically jumped.

John was grinning at him like an idiot. When he held out his arms for Storm, he went to the other man and all but fell into them.

With the both of them washed of the blood and gore that had accumulated on them, their mouths came together. Storm had almost forgotten what those lips felt like, and once again, the fear came upon him of how horrible it would have been to never be able to kiss those lips again.

“Where are you injured?” Storm said after forcefully pulling himself away those lips and that tongue. His eye scanned over John’s body. The covers had not been pulled to his chin by any means, so he had a good view of most of him. Bandages had been wrapped here and there from where he’d been scraped and cut from the car crash, but it hardly looked to be of the serious nature that Storm’s face was.

“It’s not bad. I’ve got some wraps over my knees, too, but Maggie, our wise woman, said that these could all come off in a day or two. My ankle will take a bit longer, and someone’s going to get me a cane to use so I can walk around,” John said, sounding very much like that last bit displeased him.

Storm was simply happy he could keep the foot at all.

John’s hand reached up and touched Storm’s bandaged face.

“How are you feeling?”

Hunted and on the Run

119

Storm pulled away from the touch. “There will be scarring. The omegas are confident that it will not be much, however, and I’m sure there’s something I can use to make it as unnoticeable as possible.”

“It wouldn’t matter to me anyway. You’re alive, and you’re in one piece. I’ll take it.”

Storm opened his mouth to argue, to tell John that he would say otherwise when Storm’s bandages came off and he saw how truly ugly he’d become.

John stopped him by kissing him, gripping his shoulders, and pulling them closer until their bodies were firmly pressed together.

John grabbed Storm’s hand and put it between his legs.

Storm laughed. “Can you really not take the time to rest without sex?”

“You’re just as eager as I am from the feel of it,” John said, pressing his hips against Storm’s.

Storm groaned as his erection was rubbing through the quilts that separated them.

“See? I still want you. And I’ll keep wanting you, no matter what happens with these come off,” John said, touching the bandages gently once more.

Storm never felt so loved or so filled with love for another person in his entire life. He could hardly believe that he’d denied himself this for so long. His mate had come for him, and now they had each other.

“I love you,” Storm said. “I love you with everything inside of me. I thought I would die of fear when they took you. I’m sorry I made it difficult for so long. I just―”

“Shh.” John kissed him. His younger lover rubbed his shoulders and his neck, soothing away all of Storm’s fears.

Storm found himself kissing back just as passionately, touching everywhere he could on John’s warm skin. Though he had the man in his arms, his brain needed constant reminders that this was real, John was safe, they were both safe, and they were together.

Storm was the one to break apart from their kiss.

120

Marcy Jacks

“I want to. I will, I mean,” Storm said, stuttering over his words.

“But for now can you just hold me?”

John kissed him again, and they did just that, both strengthened by the presence of the other.

THE END

WWW.MARCYJACKS.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marcy Jacks lives and works in Ontario, Canada, where she is fervently pursuing the writer’s life while writing about lots of gorgeous guys. She loves hearing from readers, and you can reach her at [email protected]

For all titles by Marcy Jacks, please visit

www.bookstrand.com/marcy-jacks

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com