“Well here’s your check boy. You’ve had a good week, and if you get short of cash, just let me know. I’m happy to give you an advance.”
Devin smiled again because he was expected to, and he nodded his head in a half bow, again because he was expected to. Ben flashed him a quick smile, but he was already looking at some papers on his desk. As Devin walked out into the night air, he wondered what in heaven’s name he was going to do stop himself from going completely crazy for the next week.
Maybe he could put his tracking skills to good use and find that hunk of wolf shifter who had looked at him like he was lunch. Could be a diversion, if nothing else and Devin definitely needed a diversion if he was going to stop from crawling out of his skin before he went back to work. Hmmm. Time to put some of his expert tracking skills to the test.
Chapter Two
Gritting his teeth hard, to stop the snarls of frustration escaping his lips Ace watched the object of his angst chatting and laughing with two huge men. Ace knew all three men and it didn’t make him feel any better. Steel, Bound and Bonded’s head enforcer and head of their security; Kyle, lead enforcer and all round rat as far as Ace was concerned, and Teric. Ace couldn’t even say the name without getting a foul taste in his mouth. The fucking cat shifter who had wandered into the Bound and Bonded club and turned Ace’s life upside down.
Ace had been watching the smaller man for the past three weeks and was no closer to his goal of killing him, than he was when he escaped the pack. It seemed his plan of scaring Teric with the dead house cat on the front steps of the club, complete with crudely written note, had backfired. Ace hadn’t killed the cat of course. He wasn’t cruel. The cat had been a natural, semi-wild animal that was dead on the road, probably the victim of a run in with a car. Seeing the dead body as an opportunity to get his message across, Ace had just run with it. But since then that pesky cat shifter hadn’t been out on his own, and Ace was getting thoroughly fucking frustrated.
He should have realized that Kyle’s protective instincts would kick in. The man was a true wolf, through and through and that’s why Ace couldn’t understand how the man could lower himself to mate with a cat shifter. Everyone knew that cat shifters were sneaky and unreliable – loners who didn’t believe in the concepts of pack and the bonds that only wolves truly understood.
Ace had to get Teric alone. There was no way he wanted to take on another wolf. He would never hurt a fellow wolf shifter, unless they were threatening his pack. Not because he didn’t think he would win in any fight he took on. Nope. He knew he was a good fighter and could hold his own in both wolf and human form. He was big in both forms. Sweeping his eyes over his body, he quickly assessed his six foot three frame and solid build. He couldn’t help his lip from curling in a sneer.
Yes that poxy cat shifter had taken him down in Pearson’s office the day they met, but the man had pulled his hair for fucks sake. What fighter with half an ounce of honor did something like that? Ace was proud of his hair. He knew that he wasn’t the world’s best looking shifter. His face was ordinary at best – his nose just a bit too big, his lips overly full and his eyes were dark, almost black. All of the color in his face came from his chestnut hair. Ace purposefully kept it long, and when it hung down his back it came almost to his ass. Not that he left it hanging loose much anymore – he learned his lesson when Teric grabbed hold of it and used his leverage on it to shift his center of balance and knock him to the floor. That wouldn’t happen again.
From what Ace had been able to observe, Teric was working with Steel’s security company, which should have given Ace ample opportunity to get to him. Although Ace had never personally worked for Steel outside of the pack, he knew that Steel had a number of human and other paranormal clients that he provided security services for. Surely to god Teric should have been sent out on his own to work by now.
But every day the routine was the same. Ace would track Kyle and Teric from the Bound and Bonded club, where they were clearly still living, to Steel’s home about two miles away. Kyle would usually leave Teric there, and head back to the club. As he was one of the lead enforcers his job was to be with the Alpha – Pearson and his mate Dante. If Teric did any work outside of Steel’s office then there was at least one wolf shifter with him – usually Steel, but sometimes Levi, Steel’s mate.
Ace thought he might have gotten his chance at Teric the first time he saw Teric and Levi alone together. Levi was a lot like Teric although his dark hair was straight, where Teric’s was curly. Both men had slim builds and green eyes. Remembering Levi from a scene he did with the boy before Steel came in and staked his claim, Ace knew that Levi was surprisingly strong. He also knew that if he dared touch a hair on Levi’s head then Steel would kill him in a heartbeat. Not the most effective way to get his place back in the Bound and Bonded pack.
No, he had to be stealthy about this, and get Teric alone. But it didn’t look like today was going to be the day. Teric was walking off with Kyle on his arm, and it looked like the two men were heading back to the club. Ace knew it was risky being so close to the club and pack he had escaped from, but he couldn’t help himself.
The need to be back in his pack – to be back with wolf shifters who understood him and the way he wanted to behave, was getting stronger by the day. Ace wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to control his animal side. His wolf didn’t have a problem with Teric, it was Ace’s human side that wanted to get that infuriating cat shifter out of what had been a well ordered life. His wolf wanted to be back with other wolves, enjoying the security that came from being part of a pack. Those feelings had gotten stronger since he had sighted Devin just two nights before. Now his wolf was getting positively pushy – wanting both Devin and his pack.
Heaving a sigh, because it looked like he wasn’t going to get his chance at Teric today, Ace trudged away from the club, and the pack he longed to return to. When he escaped from the cells under the club, he had to abandon his small apartment as well and he was currently staying at a motel just out of Washington. It was dreary, run down but cheap, and that had been Ace’s only requirement when he had booked the room.
Throwing his keys on the tiny, two person table that served as eating place and office desk, Ace heaved himself through to the tiny shower. The cubicle barely had enough room for him to turn around in and he had to bend his head to get his hair wet. Forcing thoughts of the huge bathrooms at the Bound and Bonded club from his head, Ace took a cursory shower, and went back out into the bedroom/living area.
Take out for dinner again. Ordering two meat lovers’ pizzas Ace slumped down on the couch, wrapped only in a towel. That was something else he missed – the meals at the Bound and Bonded club. Fuck it. Annoyed with himself for being so whiney in his head, Ace rethought over his plan to kill Teric. In hindsight it was easy to see where he had done so many things wrong.
He shouldn’t have mouthed off about Teric to Pearson – but how the hell was he supposed to know that Pearson was so adamant about his pack and club being open to all types of shifters? It’s not as though the situation had ever come up before.
No, if Ace had kept his mouth shut, he would have been part of the mission Teric was on to kill Favo, a fanatical wolf shifter who hated gay wolves and same sex matings. No one would have noticed if he had quietly gutted the guy if they were all busy fighting Favo’s supporters.
Ace knew he probably shouldn’t have escaped from the cell he had been put in, after Pearson’s rant at him either. If he had kept his wits about him, he should have just apologized to Pearson when the man came down to talk to him. Pearson would have probably let him out of his holding cell, and everything would have gone back to normal. But no. When Pearson had come down to the cells to talk to him, he had tried to convince his Alpha that having Teric in the pack was a bad idea. Who knew the Alpha was so fucking stubborn about his all shifters were good shifters stance?
Resting his head back on the couch, Ace tried to think of anything except the mistakes he had made. Devin. Fuck no, he didn’t want to think about the boy either. His mate. He knew it the moment he had caught the boy’s enticing scent. A throbbing cock and a panting wolf in his head were more than enough to alert him to the fact.
Ace hadn’t thought much about meeting his mate until Pearson found his mate, Dante. Watching the two big men together was like watching a continuous long running porn show. Although Ace preferred his men smaller, and a lot more submissive than Dante was, he couldn’t deny the heat and passion that positively emanated from his previously impassive Alpha. Pearson was in love and didn’t care who knew it. Steel and Levi were much the same way – always touching each other and Steel was so damned possessive of Levi it would have been sickening if it wasn’t for the fact that Ace really wanted that for himself.
Because he didn’t share the typical good looks wolf shifters were known for, Ace had made do with virtually any sub that would have him at the Bound and Bonded club. The pain sluts in the pack quickly cottoned onto the way Ace could paddle their ass, and if they had to give up a fuck or a blow job for the privilege, most of them didn’t seem to mind. Ace prided himself on being a caring Dom, but most subs he had enjoyed would only lie quietly in his arms as they came down from subspace. No one really wanted to stick around with him afterwards, or have a meal with him unless he ordered it as part of a scene. And Ace wanted that. He wanted a connection beyond a scene.
A true mate would want to be with him. Well, he would if he were a wolf shifter. Ace wasn’t sure about vampires. Devin’s flash of red eyes at the club could mean anything from the boy was hungry, in lust, or had scented his mate. Ace didn’t even know if vampires had mates. Gods, wouldn’t that just be plain bad luck for him if Devin didn’t feel the same pull to be with him, that Ace had been battling with for the past two days. It might be mean, but Ace hoped the man was as unsettled as he was by their split second connection.
Cursing his errant thoughts, because the last thing he wanted was to be mated to someone who wasn’t a wolf shifter, Ace caught a hint of pizza smell just before someone knocked on his door. Checking that his towel was secure, humans seemed to have some hang-up about naked bodies, Ace opened the door, looking down to see Devin smiling at him over the top of two pizza boxes.
“What the hell are you doing here?” He snarled as he felt his cock tent his towel like someone had flicked a switch in the thing.
“Bringing you pizza,” Devin said pleasantly enough, but Ace had seen the flash of hurt in the man’s violet eyes.
“We need to talk,” the smaller man continued, seeing Ace blocking the door.
“We don’t have anything to talk about,” Ace said, although his wolf was quivering with excitement. All Ace had to do was reach out his arm and he would be touching his mate – the gorgeous man who was chosen by the Fates to be his for the rest of his life.
“Fine, we’ll just eat together and have sex. You can’t tell me you don’t want that,” Devin said, pointedly looking down at the tent in Ace’s towel. Then he pushed past Ace with surprising ease, and headed for the couch. In a daze Ace closed the door, watching as Devin set the pizza boxes on the table and then sank gracefully to his knees beside the couch.
Chapter Three
Devin held his breath as he knelt on the floor, sure that Ace was going to kick him out. It wasn’t the smoothest move in the book, intercepting the pizza delivery boy and making the delivery of Ace’s food himself, but after watching Ace for the past two days, he didn’t have a lot of options. It seemed his fated mate, his
amatus,
was a wolf with a lot of secrets and no pack that Devin could scent out. Figuring that the lack of pack would make any wolf shifter nervous and distrustful, Devin had to hope that the pull he felt towards the large, taciturn man, was reciprocated in some way.
Of course he didn’t know that the man would come to the door wearing nothing but a towel. Years of training kept the look of lust off of Devin’s face, but nothing could stop his cock going from zero to eighty in a split second. He hoped by kneeling that his
amatus
would understand that he meant no harm, that he was open to anything that Ace might want, and fuck, as he carefully nudged his cock in his tight jeans before putting his hands behind his back, he sure hoped those wants included sex. Devin was having trouble keeping his fangs in his mouth as the smell of rum and walnut hit his senses. Frankly Ace smelled delicious and Devin was hungry.
Not daring to look up, Devin heard Ace make his way across the floor and sit down heavily on the couch. Then Devin felt a strong hand in his hair, almost stroking for moment, before it was withdrawn.
“Look at me,” Ace ordered and Devin was pleased to hear the Dom note in his mate’s voice. If Ace could consider this a scene, then maybe Devin would be allowed to touch at some stage. Fuck touching, Devin knew he wanted to bite the man, but he didn’t think Ace would be too keen on that idea.
Slowly tilting his head, Devin took in the long, solid lines of Ace’s body. Thick leg muscles, strong thighs, a flat washboard stomach that clearly showed the wolf shifter’s delineated abs, topped by two large pectoral muscles adorned with pebbled brown nipples that Devin longed to nibble on. A thick neck supported Ace’s wide face and Devin was drawn to the intensity in the man’s deep black eyes.
“Why did you come here?” Ace demanded softly.
Devin desperately wanted to drop his head again – Ace’s eyes looked as though they knew every secret in his soul. But he hadn’t been given permission, and as he chose to kneel then Devin knew he would have to accept the situation, as it was, for now.
“I needed to see you,” he said. “We have a connection. So I tracked you down and intercepted the pizza delivery man.”
“So these are my pizzas?”
Devin nodded. He wished he could tell what Ace was thinking, but until he was allowed to bite the man, he had to rely on body language, and Ace wasn’t giving much away. Although his erection was still making a massive impression in that towel Ace was wearing.
“I prefer words,” Ace growled. “It would pay to remember that.”
“I understand,” Devin said quietly, swallowing hard as the timbre of Ace’s voice travelled down his spine and lodged firmly in his balls.
Ace watched the action and his eyes seemed to glow – Devin guessed it was the man’s wolf trying to come out and play, but Ace simply said, “Have you eaten?”
Devin went to shake his head, and then quickly remembering what Ace had said, said, “No. Not today.”
Ace fiddled around with the pizza box lid and pulled out a couple of slices, handing one to Devin. Then he stopped and a puzzled look flashed across his face.
“You do eat, don’t you? Food I mean.”
“Yes, we eat food,” Devin said with a small smile. Maybe that was why the big wolf shifter was so reticent. Perhaps he didn’t know anything about vampires. But Ace didn’t ask anything else, just handed him the slice of pizza and started eating the piece in his other hand.
The two men ate in silence, Ace handing him an extra piece every time Devin had finished one. When the boxes were empty Ace handed Devin some napkins to clean his hands and removed the boxes from the coffee table, setting them on the floor. Then, still without saying a word, Ace nudged Devin’s head until it was resting against the bigger man’s thigh, his big hand resting lightly in Devin’s hair. Devin thought he could probably stay in that position forever – or at least until his knees gave out.
“There’s no place for a vampire in a wolf pack.” Ace’s stark words cut through Devin’s feelings of peace and belonging like a hot knife through butter. Stuff that – the knife kept going because Devin could feel it literally ripping his heart in two. Finding one’s
amatus
was a time for celebration, the end of a very, very long life spent otherwise alone. Vampires could enjoy sex with others, but they couldn’t form a connection with another unless they were Fated. Devin had been looking for Ace for over five hundred years.
And it was the wisdom of those five hundred years that stopped Devin from leaping to his feet and raging at Ace, or storming out of the door. Instead, he stayed on his knees, his head still resting on Ace’s thigh. Forcing himself to speak calmly he said, “Why is that, if you don’t mind me asking? I have known other wolf shifters take mates not of their own kind.”
“Wolves belong with wolves,” Ace said shortly. “That is the way the Fates intended things. Wolves being together with other wolves in a pack situation that no other paranormal being or shifter type can understand.”
“I didn’t realize you had a pack. My apologies for not understanding,” Devin continued softly, his mind racing with the little he knew about his
amatus
. He had watched from the shadows while Ace had tracked some other men – wolf shifters and a cat shifter, if his nose was not mistaken. But Ace didn’t have the scent of a pack on him, and he had been in a human club when Devin had first smelled him.
“I don’t, at the moment,” Ace said and not for the first time Devin wondered what the man was hiding. From the tension in Ace’s thigh under the side of his face, it was clear whatever happened was a source of upset for the unhappy man.
“But I will,” Ace continued. “When I’ve taken care of a certain cat shifter, then things can go back to the way they were.”
“If he hurt you, I will kill him myself,” Devin said, suddenly filled with an anger he didn’t understand. He felt his fangs drop, and knew his eyes would be bright red as he fought to control his breathing.
But Ace laughed. “The cat shifter can’t hurt me. But he has no place in my old pack and once I’ve taken him out then my Alpha will see that, understand the man’s weakness then he’ll take me back.”
“There’s a cat shifter in your pack? How the hell did that happen if only wolves are allowed?” Devin asked, confused as fuck. His mate was not making any sense.
“He mated into the pack,” Ace said firmly. “To an enforcer, but Kyle had no right to take him as a mate. Wolves mate with wolves and that’s the way the Fates intended it. His mating with that poxy cat was a mistake, or a trick, or something, but the Alpha will understand that when Teric is gone. So will Kyle.”
Devin thought about what he knew about shifters in general. “But if they
are
true mates, this Kyle and Teric that you are talking about, then killing Teric will kill Kyle too, won’t it?”
“If they are true mates,” Ace agreed. “But they’re not. The Fates don’t give a wolf shifter a non-wolf mate. It goes against the natural order of things.”
Damn there was that shaft of pain in his heart again. It hurt to hear his intended talk so flippantly…no, fuck it all, his mate was being an ignorant ass.
Taking a deep breath, Devin continued calmly, “So this attraction we have for each other – we’re not mates, as you call it? You are not my
amatus
?”
“I don’t deny that you are attractive. You’re gorgeous in fact. I loved the way you took the whip the other night. Your ability to take pain, so effortlessly, was a huge turn on for me. Kneeling at my feet as you are now, sharing my food,” Ace broke off and took a deep breath of his own. “It is everything I could have ever dreamed of, but when the Fates see that I won’t claim you, they will send me a wolf to meet my needs.”
“You are sure of that?”
Ace nodded but didn’t say anything. Realizing that pursuing this line of conversation wasn’t going to get him anywhere, Devin took one last sniff of Ace’s skin. The blood running through Ace’s veins called to him like no other. Swallowing down his thirst, and covering his fangs, Devin gracefully stood up.
“Where are you going? I thought you wanted to talk,” Ace said, clearly startled.
“
Amatus
,” Devin said holding his hands up, stopping Ace from saying anything further. “I don’t see things as you do but I can’t be sorry for that. I
know
you are the one I’ve been searching for. However, if you do not wish us to be mates, as you call it, and you believe that the Fates will give you another, then I must find someone else to meet my own needs. I did not become a house sub at Whips simply because I couldn’t get another job.”
“What do you mean?” Ace was growling now, and Devin remembered just how possessive shifters could be. Vampires were much the same, but Devin had obviously had more experience in hiding it, than his young wolf shifter had.
“I am an old vampire,” Devin said carefully, wondering how much he should reveal. “I get blood urges and I trained as a sub to help me control those urges. The pain of the whip, being bound, any kind of physical pain, helps me to stay focused, and live my life as normally as possible. From what you said earlier, you are one who gets off on giving pain, and so in my head at least, we would have been perfect for each other. But as you are denying I am your mate, well, I must find someone else to give me what I need.”
“You will go back to the club, as a house sub?”
“For a short while, yes,” Devin admitted. “But I already know that the Fates would only give me one
amatus
. You have made it clear you will never claim me so I think it is time I found a permanent master. I only stayed at Whips because I was hoping to meet my other half. We’ve met. You don’t plan to claim me but I need a master. I will find someone full time that I can give my life to. I know a number of wolf shifters who would be glad to claim me, fated mate or not.”
“Why another wolf shifter? Wouldn’t you be better with your own kind?”
Devin shook his head, reminding himself that Ace didn’t know anything about vampires or how they lived. “No, that won’t be possible,” he said. “A vampire can’t feed from another vampire and they very rarely have sex without feeding. A human doesn’t have the strength to give me what I need over the long term and because their blood is weaker, it doesn’t sustain me for very long. A shifter is the best idea, and a wolf shifter is stronger than most.”
“So if we had sex, you would need to feed from me too?” Ace didn’t look upset at the idea. If anything the smell of arousal in the room increased and Devin had to stop himself from just flinging himself across Ace’s hard body and biting into that tempting man’s thick neck.
Focus. Answer the man’s question. “Yes,” Devin said shortly. “I would want to bite you if we had sex. But as you have rejected our mating, and I know you are my fated one, I can’t feed from you casually. From the moment I took one drop of your blood, you would be the only one I could feed from. That is the way of mates with our kind and why we never mate with another vampire. We could never give each other a claiming bite, and the sex would be restrained as well.”
“So you would give yourself to another wolf shifter, even though you know of my existence?” Yes, his mate was growling and it would have been cute if Devin wasn’t trying so hard to get his point across.
Making his face as sincere as he possibly could, Devin said, “You give me no choice,
amatus
. My needs grow stronger and it will only be a matter of time before my ability to heal and the amount of pain I can take will be noticed among the humans. I have to have someone full time, who can take care of me, or I would become dangerous to others and I have never wanted that.”
“But another wolf pack won’t take you. They won’t accept a vampire in their midst.”
“Actually they will. A lot of packs don’t worry about having non-wolf members. We do have some skills that are valued in the shifter community,” Devin said with a small smile as he remembered the packs he had been involved with over the years. “It is my preference for male company that seems to put most packs off. But that is fine too. I know of lone wolves who have offered me what I need. I can find them again if I need to.”
Ace stood up then, his large frame moving with a grace that mirrored his animal spirit. The man towered over Devin, but he knew he didn’t have anything to worry about. A wolf shifter could not hurt his mate, even if Ace’s words were doing a damn good job of it.
“You will give your body to these men – have sex with them and feed from their veins?” Ace’s hands were clenched in fists, and his jaw was tight, his eyes flashing as his wolf made itself known again. Rather than fear, Devin felt his arousal, which had been simmering quietly since the two men had eaten together, flare back into life again.
“You give me no choice,
amatus
. In the long run, it is that or die, and if I take a permanent master then I must do as I am told no matter who that man is.” Okay, that would have sounded so much better if he had been able to keep his voice steady, but Devin was overwhelmed by the sheer power of his mate and he wanted nothing more than to rip his clothes off and fall to his knees again.
Devin could see the tension in his mate. Ace’s jaw was clenched tight, his fists held steady by rigid arms. His whole body trembled with emotion and Devin knew he had to hold still. If he moved now, Ace’s wolf would chase him down, and while that thought definitely had some positives to it, Devin wouldn’t allow Ace to claim him unless the man was absolutely sure that was what he wanted. Devin had some pride after all.
“Go,” Ace finally said harshly. “Go now I order it. I won’t be responsible for my actions if you don’t.”
Pain flashed through Devin’s body like wildfire and his eyes filled with tears. Taking one last look at the resolve in Ace’s eyes, Devin turned and slowly walked to the door. He stopped for just one second as his hand reached for the handle, but then, with the last shreds of his dignity, he opened the door and stepped outside, closing the door behind him. Checking that no one could see him, he disappeared in a blur of movement, the need to get back to his own apartment so automatic, he didn’t need to think about it. No. The thinking, and the hurt, he would deal with later. Alone.