“You’re going to die, dog,” she yelled.
Reece braced himself, waiting for the fatal blow to fall. He closed his eyes and sent up one final prayer that Devlin would get Keeley to safety in time and then resigned himself to his imminent death.
Chapter 12
Keeley skidded to a stop on the front porch, taking in the horrific scene playing out below him. There were several dead and bloody bodies littering the ground. But that wasn’t what scared Keeley.
What scared Keeley the most was seeing Reece on his knees being held between two large werewolves. He had just enough time to take in the small smirk of satisfaction that crossed Reece’s face before Adrianna started screaming.
“Kill him, now!”
“Touch him and die!” Keeley yelled out, gaining everyone’s attention instantly. He saw the sudden frantic look on Reece’s face when he spotted Keeley, followed by deep heartache as Reece realized that Keeley hadn’t gotten to safety.
“So, the little pet has decided to come out and play,” Adrianna smirked as she turned around to face Keeley.
“You really don’t want to see how I play, Adrianna,” Keeley said. “I don’t play well with others.”
“Ohhh, so the little human has a backbone.”
“I thought you would have figured that out when you tried to kill me last time. Need a refresher?” Keeley asked, one eyebrow going up in query.
Keeley’s breath caught in his throat and he tried to appear nonchalant when Adrianna grabbed a handful of Reece’s hair with one hand and yanked his head back. She pulled a knife from her shirt with the other hand and held it against Reece’s throat.
“You don’t want to do that, Adrianna,” Keeley said casually.
“And why not? How are
you
going to stop me?” She shouted.
“Oh, I’m not, but they are,” Keeley said as he pointed around the small clearing. He could see the surprise fill Adrianna’s face, followed quickly by outright fear as men began popping in from thin air. They enclosed Adrianna and her little group of werewolves until they were totally surrounded.
“I don’t play well with others, Adrianna, but I do like to invite my friends to a party,” Keeley said as he walked down a couple of steps until he stood just feet from her. “Now, how about you let Reece go, and I might let you live.”
“How did you—who are—what—” Adrianna stammered as she looked around at all of the men surrounding her. “Who are these people? I know they’re not werewolves. I can smell it. They’re humans.”
Keeley crossed his arms over his chest and raised and eyebrow at her. “Yeah, so?”
Adrianna let out a bitter laugh. “You think a bunch of humans can stop me? Do you even know what I am?”
“A bitch, would be my guess, but I could be wrong. My sense of smell isn’t as good as a werewolves, thank god. I’d hate to have to be smelling your skanky ass,” Keeley replied.
“How dare you!” Adrianna screamed, letting go of Reece’s hair to step towards Keeley. She pointed her knife at him as she continued to shriek at him. “I am Princess Adrianna Ivinovav. I am—”
“Yada, yada, yada. Damn, you do like to hear yourself talk don’t you?” Keeley jabbed at her. He could feel his legs shake as Adrianna glared at him, knowing she was going to come after him any second.
He just had to get her far enough away from Reece that the others could help free him. Then they would deal with her royal highness. Goading her seemed to be doing the job just fine. Keeley took a small step back as Adrianna advanced on him.
“I’m going to enjoy slitting your throat, human, and I’m going to make your mate watch as I drain every last drop of blood from your body,” Adrianna snarled as she took another step towards Keeley.
“You can try, you old witch!” Keeley said, hoping desperately that his voice didn’t sound as strained as he felt. “Or would that be bitch?”
“Rrraaa!” Adrianna screamed as she flew at Keeley.
Keeley raised his arms and tried to ward Adrianna off. He cried out as he felt her knife sink into his arm, wincing when she pulled it out. Keeley scrambled backwards, away from Adrianna. As she raised her arm to stab at him again, he fell backwards, the knife coming down over his head.
As Keeley pushed at her body and tried to scoot out from under her, he heard a loud roar. Suddenly, Adrianna was lifted off of him. Keeley watched in shock as Adrianna’s body went flying through the air to land heavily on the ground with a sickening thud.
Hearing heavy breathing over the top of him, Keeley turned his head to see a large furry figure standing above him. He shrank back as huge clawed hands reached down for him before he spotted the somber black eyes staring down at him.
“Reece,” Keeley whispered as he reached for the werewolf standing above him. The moment he was lifted up, Keeley threw his arms around his mate, wrapping his arms around Reece’s neck and holding him tightly to his body.
Keeley let out a squeal of surprise when he was suddenly picked up and carried into the house to the study. His breath rushed from his chest when Reece swiped the top of his desk clear with his arm and pushed Keeley down over it.
A moment later, Keeley heard a tearing sound and felt air pass over his ass as Reece ripped away his pants. Without a word, the butt plug was pulled from his ass and replaced by Reece’s hard cock. Before Keeley could even grasp the edge of the desk, Reece was pounding into him.
Keeley started to turn his head to ask what in the hell was going on when Reece grabbed his hair and held him still with one hand, tilting his head slightly to the side. The other hand held him down to the desk by pressing against his hip.
“Mine!” Reece growled into Keeley’s ear, his voice deep and gravelly, as he bent over him.
Keeley felt himself begin to respond to the seduction of Reece’s claim. A deep feeling of peace entered his being as Reece sank his sharp canines into the soft skin just below his ear, claiming him as only he could.
A golden wave of passion and love flowed between them as Reece continued to thrust into Keeley’s tight body. Reece’s hands began to explore the soft lines of Keeley’s back, his waist, his hips.
Keeley couldn’t control his outcry of delight when Reece’s pace increased and he became nearly frantic. When Reece reached under him to palm Keeley’s hard cock, Keeley moaned aloud with erotic delight and gave into the soaring ecstasy flowing through his body.
A moment later, Reece possessed him even more as he groaned loudly and filled Keeley with his hot release. Keeley’s body vibrated with liquid fire as Reece’s knot took hold of his body, prolonging his orgasm until the pleasure became too much and he blacked out.
* * * *
Reece lifted his head slightly and licked at the small wound in Keeley’s neck until it stopped bleeding. He took several deep breaths as he waited for his body to transform back to human, watching as the claws in his hands receded.
As the knot in his cock did the same, Reece pulled himself from his mate and stood up. As he looked down at Keeley, he was abundantly grateful Keeley had been wearing a butt plug. As out of control as he had been he could have caused Keeley serious damage.
Reece shook his head as he grabbed some wipes from his desk drawer and cleaned them both up. He wasn’t sure that Keeley fully understood what a werewolf went through when they won a fight for their mate.
Werewolves were naturally possessive of their mates, more so than most humans. If they were challenged for their mates, that possessiveness increased several times over. They had an uncontrollable need to claim their mates once the fight was won.
And he had won, fair and square. Keeley belonged to him. The proof was in the mating bite on his shoulder, and the claw marks in his hips. Reece winced when he saw the red scratches along Keeley’s sides.
As he gazed down at his mate, Reece hoped that Keeley understood the need he had to claim him, and to forgive him for it. It wasn’t easy to have a mate that turned into a savage beast at the drop of a hat. Reece hoped that Keeley would give him the time to prove that it wasn’t always that way.
Hearing a small groan come from below him, Reece quickly reached down and picked Keeley up in his arms before sitting down in the desk chair. He cradled Keeley’s small, delicate body to his, feeling like a monster as his eyes caught each red mark, each little scratch on Keeley’s body.
“Reece?”
“Yeah, baby?” Reece asked through the lump in his throat. Would Keeley be afraid of him now? Would he want nothing to do with him now that he knew what a savage beast Reece could become?
“You still owe me a manicure,” Keeley whispered as he tucked his head under Reece’s chin.
“Okay, baby,” Reece answered, feeling tears of joy fall down his cheeks.
Reece sat there silently, holding Keeley close to his chest as the tears slid down his face until he felt small fingers plucking at him. He glanced down to see Keeley pulling at the soft cotton of his shirt.
“Need your shirt,” Keeley whispered.
Reece sat forward a little and reached for the hem of his shirt. He quickly pulled it over his head and handed it to Keeley. Reece couldn’t contain his smile of delight when Keeley whipped his own shirt off only to pull Reece’s shirt over his head.
As Keeley settled back into his arms, Reece brushed the honey blond curls back from his face so he could see his eyes. “So, want to tell me why you disobeyed me?” Reece asked. “I thought I sent you to safety with Devlin…and where is Dev anyway?”
Reece watched with amusement as Keeley’s face turned a deep shade of red and his eyes dropped down to his lap. “I sort of—” the rest of what Keeley was saying was lost when the study door swung open with a loud bang.
Reece’s body tensed until he saw Devlin standing in the doorway, his chest heaving and his eyes wild. “Dev?”
“I swear to god, Keeley, if you hit me one more time, I’m going to smother you in your sleep. What the hell did you hit me with this time?” Devlin shouted as he glared at Keeley.
Reece was in no way surprised when Keeley jumped to his feet and ran across the room to get in Devlin’s face. Keeley had one hand on his hip, the other pointing a finger into Devlin’s chest. His baby had quite the temper.
“It was a tree branch, moron. And if you had any brains in that thick head of yours, you’d know that. When you’re out in the woods, you use what’s at hand. You’re just damn lucky I didn’t have any cookie sheets on hand,” Keeley yelled back.
“Keeley, if you—” As Devlin began again, Reece decided it was time to step in. They had bigger worries than Keeley hitting Devlin over the head. Namely, the people outside.
“Devlin, that’s enough. We have guests and we need to go outside and figure out exactly what happened. We’ll get back to why Keeley wasn’t with you in a few minutes,” Reece said as he stood to his feet and walked over to join the pair.
“What people?” Devlin asked as he followed Reece and Keeley outside.
“Ask Keeley. He brought them. Saved my ass, too. Adrianna was about to slit my throat when Keeley showed up,” Reece replied as he stepped out onto the front porch. He looked around the driveway, noting the dead bodies lying everywhere. Seems the core members of the pack hadn’t made out too well.
Neither had Adrianna. She was lying on the ground right where Reece had tossed her, her lifeless eyes staring up into nothing. Reece didn’t know if he had been the one to kill her or the knife that was sticking out of her chest. He hoped he had been the one to finish her.
“Keeley,” a voice from beside them called out and a young man walked up, “if you’ve got everything under control here, we’re going to head home. Justin and I have a hot date tonight with Chase.”
“Yeah, Taylor, thanks for everything. Tell the guys thanks, too. They were a huge help. We should be heading down to Wolf Creek as soon as we get things cleared up, so I’ll check with you in a couple of days.”
“Sounds good. Later, dude,” Taylor said. He raised an eyebrow and smirked as he snapped his fingers…then he simply disappeared.
“Fuck!” Devlin said quietly.
“Uh, Keeley? Is there something you forgot to tell me?” Reece asked as he turned to look down at his mate in shock.
Keeley chuckled. “Did I mention that a few of my friends have some unusual abilities? One of them being teleportation?”
“Tele-what?” Devlin asked in confusion.
Reece let out a large sigh as he raked his hand down over his face. He took a deep breath and turned to look at Keeley. “From the beginning, Keeley.” His lips twisted into a smirk as he watched Keeley roll his eyes.
“I didn’t want to leave you alone to fight on your own. I was afraid I’d never see you again so, as Devlin and I were running through the woods, I called out for a few of my friends from back when—”
“Back when the Teacher had you, yeah, I kind of figured that. How did they end up here, Keeley?” Reece asked.
Keeley shrugged his shoulders. “Taylor answered me. After I told him what was going on, he said he had a plan. I just needed to get back to you and make sure there was a clear area for everyone to get here.”
“By get here you mean teleport? And just how does that work? I didn’t think any of your friends were that strong,” Reece said in confusion.
“Normally, that’s true. But if we all channel our powers together into one person, that person’s abilities become stronger. Levi can teleport cups and stuff like that but anything bigger needs more power.”
“Levi?” Devlin asked curiously. “Who’s Levi?”
“He’s one of the students that was being held and used by the Teacher, just like Nate and I were. Chase and Donovan helped free us.” Keeley turned to look over at Devlin in surprise, then at Reece. “Didn’t you explain this to him?”
Reece shook his head. “I haven’t had time. I’ve been too busy fighting off a psychotic bitch bent on killing my mate. A mate that is still in trouble for not getting to safety like I told him to do.”
Keeley waved a hand at him, then crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, get over yourself already. You’re my mate, not my master. I’ll do what you say if I feel that it’s a good idea. If not…” Keeley shrugged his shoulders.