A small smile formed on Keaton’s lips. His expression was painful. “You didn’t stand me up.”
How could his mate think of something like that right now? He had just been attacked, and Keaton had been worried that Kade stood him up? The man needed to sort out his priorities. Kade glanced up when he heard someone approaching.
“I’m Dr. Sheehan. Can I take a look at him?” The doctor hadn’t moved away from the door. He stood there waiting to be invited into the room. Kade could see someone standing behind the doctor.
“Who is he?”
“My mate,” the doctor said. “He is just going to stand by the door and not get in my way.”
Kade’s eyes flickered over to the man and then gave a short nod. The doctor moved closer, sitting on the side of the cot. “Did you heal him?” the doctor asked as his fingers probed at Keaton’s neck.
“I licked his wound.” Kade watched as the human continued to examine his mate. His fingers were slim, his hands gentle. Kade wasn’t sure who this man was, but he could tell the guy cared. Kade stiffened when the doctor reached into his bag and pulled out a needle. “What is that for?”
“I need to draw his blood to see if the vampire who attacked him was infected.”
Infected?
What did the human mean,
infected
? “What would he be infected with?” Kade hadn’t heard anything about a vampire infection. The idea alone perplexed him. Vampires bit. Vampires drank. Sometimes they killed their victims, but most of the time they just fed. The thought of Keaton being infected with anything scared the hell out of Kade.
“There’s a paranormal drug called Liquid Wrath. It is correctly named. It comes in the form of a liquid and although it has a different effect on each species, aggression is the top symptom for every user.” The doctor stored the vials in his bag. “Is this young man your mate?”
“Yes.” Kade didn’t like where this was going. He could tell that the doctor had more to say. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear it.
Kade had heard talk about Liquid Wrath when he was in prison. He heard that it was a new designer drug that was killing people. But of course he had been locked up with nothing but humans. They wouldn’t know anything about what was happening in the paranormal world.
Dr. Sheehan cleared his throat. “If the vampire who bit your mate was infected, then the next time you two are intimate—or I should say the next time you bite him, you’ll convert him into—what is your breed?”
“Snow leopard,” Kade said, his head reeling from what the doc was telling him. He had never heard of being able to convert anyone. Not even vampires had that capability. A person was either born human or other. Kade’s mouth went dry as he stood, wiping his hand over the stubble on his jaw.
Good god, this meant that when he claimed Keaton, his mate would become a snow leopard. The idea both terrified and thrilled him. He hadn’t even gotten around to telling Keaton that they were mates. Now he had to explain to the man that he was going to be converted.
What if that was something Keaton didn’t want? What if Keaton refused him? Kade’s head began to pound with all the unknown variables. He was getting ahead of himself. The vampire may not be infected at all. He needed to wait for the doctor to give him the results before he said anything. “How long will it take before you know?”
“A few hours.” The doctor stood. “Let him stay here and rest. He should gain some of his strength back before you move him.”
Bishop rushed into the room as the doctor was leaving. “I heard what happened. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but I’m not so sure about my mate.”
Bishop’s eyes grew round as he glanced from Kade to Keaton. “I dropped you off in town to find a job, and instead you find your mate. How the fuck did you get so lucky?”
“I might not be.” Kade explained to Bishop what the doctor had just told him.
“I heard about that drug,” Bishop said. “I hadn’t heard that it mutated.” His brother’s eyes dropped down to Keaton and a warm smile appeared on his face. Kade wasn’t sure why Bishop was smiling when he had just explained that Keaton was attacked by a vampire who might be infected. “You did good, bro.”
Ah, that was why Bishop smiled. He had to agree with his brother. Keaton was one gorgeous-ass man. A wide smile parted Kade’s lips as he glanced down at Keaton. “That I did.”
He just hoped that Keaton would allow Kade to claim him. Even though Keaton had chased him down and asked him to be friends, what Kade was going to ask just might scare the man away. He hoped not. Just from the little bit of time he had spent with Keaton, Kade had found the human refreshing and fun. The earlier edginess he had been feeling in the diner was gone and Kade knew that Keaton had something to do with him calming down.
He just wasn’t sure how Keaton was taming his insides.
“I’ll stick around town until your mate is well enough to travel,” Bishop said as he moved close to Kade and patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll be over at the diner if you need me.”
That was what Kade loved about Bishop. His brother always knew when Kade needed time alone. When his brother was gone, Kade crawled back in beside Keaton, pulling his mate into his arms and sending up a prayer of thanks that the vampire hadn’t killed Keaton.
One fucking day back in town and it seemed that all hell had broken loose. Kade hugged Keaton close, inhaling his mate’s scent and relieved that Keaton had survived his attack.
“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Keaton said as his eyes fluttered open. “Mates?”
“Nice room,” Keaton said as he glanced around Kade’s bedroom, noticing how sparsely it was decorated. It almost looked like a prison cell. There was just a bed, dresser, and a nightstand with a lamp on it. That was it. Heck, his office had more furniture than this bedroom.
He watched Kade pace back and forth, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck in an agitated manner. He had just explained a hell of a lot of things to Keaton and his head felt like it was stuffed full with so much information.
“Who did you kill?” Keaton hoped Kade explained to him about his past, the reason he had gone to prison. The guy didn’t look like a murderer. He had seen his fair share of crime shows on television and Kade didn’t fit the profile.
The man was edgy, private, but Keaton wasn’t getting a homicidal vibe from the man.
Kade stilled, his teal eyes glancing to where Keaton was lying, but the man wouldn’t look at him. “I just explained to you about shifters and—” Kade seemed to become flustered, his hands falling to his sides in tight fists.
Keaton hoped the guy didn’t clam up on him. He needed to know what he was getting into and he needed to know that Kade was a good man. He had already felt those vibes, but he wanted to hear how Kade had ended up spending time in prison.
Kade studied the floor for the longest time, his expression resembling a faraway look. It was almost as if the guy had been slung into his past, reliving it in his mind.
Finally, the guy spoke, his tone filled with deep emotions. “Fifteen years ago I was fresh out of high school. I was excited about getting accepted into an Ivy League college.” Kade gave a rueful chuckle and Keaton’s heart hurt for the guy. “I had big plans.”
Keaton sat up, pushing his legs over the side of the bed as he listened. Somehow he knew Kade wasn’t a bad guy. There were men who went to prison for reasons that were valiant. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe there were no bad men in the world. But not all who got locked up were evil.
Kade sat on the bed next to Keaton, cupping his hands in his lap. “Me and a buddy of mine were visiting the city to celebrate finishing high school. On our way back we saw some guy stranded on the side of the road. His car had broken down. I didn’t want to give him a ride but my friend insisted, telling me I was overreacting.” Kade twined his fingers together and rested his elbows on his thighs.
Keaton was riveted to the spot, taking in every word Kade spoke.
“The guy pulled a gun on us and forced my friend…” Kade cleared his throat and Keaton wasn’t sure he wanted Kade to go on. He could see the stress lines around the man’s eyes and mouth. “He forced my friend to do some things he normally wouldn’t have done. Long story short, I wrestled with the stranger to get the gun away. It went off. The guy was dead and my friend was freaking out. He called the cops and told them that I had killed the guy.”
Keaton sat there stunned. He had thought he knew where this story was going, but Kade had just thrown him for a loop. He had not seen the ending coming. “Why would he do something like that? He saw you two wrestling and knew it was an accident.”
Kade chewed on the side of his mouth as he gave a slow shake of his head. He could see the pain in Kade’s teal eyes and Keaton wanted to hug the man, but kept his distance, allowing Kade to finish telling him what happened so long ago. “I think he was more fucked up in the head because I saw what the stranger had made him do and didn’t stop it. I think he blamed me and wanted to make me pay. The gun was stolen, and the cops linked it to a rape and murder of a teenage boy. There was no way to prove that it wasn’t mine. My friend kept yelling that I had stolen it. He was merciless and hell-bent on having me go to prison. I think he was so embarrassed about what happened to him that he wanted anyone who knew about the rape to disappear…including me.”
“They convicted you?” Keaton asked incredulously. “How could they do that?”
“Innocent men go to prison all the time. My friend had told the cops that the stranger had been my boyfriend and we were both trying to rape him. I tossed out the logical question of why would I shoot the man if we were in on it together, but the cops wouldn’t listen. Not after ballistics came back and tied the gun to another crime.
“We weren’t in Brac Village jurisdiction because I knew for a fact that Maverick would not have let that go down. But the city cops had answered the call.”
Kade nearly strangled his own fingers as he glanced over at Keaton. “The justice system is sometimes fucked up, my friend. They don’t always get it right. I was young, stupid, and hadn’t fought as hard as I should have because I thought there was no way they could convict me of a crime that I committed in self-defense. I also thought I wouldn’t be convicted of the crime the gun was linked to.”
Keaton moved closer, placing his hand over Kade’s, wishing he could go back fifteen years and beat the shit out of Kade’s friend.
He knew that good guys didn’t always win and that life wasn’t black and white. There was a lot of grey area. What Kade had gone through and how he had defended himself and his friend was a big grey area. Keaton couldn’t begin to understand what Kade’s friend had gone through, but that gave him no right to blame an innocent man just because he was ashamed.
Kade wrapped his hands around Keaton’s, his fingers skimming over the back of his hand. “The reason my errand took longer than expected was because I was meeting with Kota. He’s the mayor’s right-hand man. He told me the guy was coming to Brac Village where both his sons resided. That if I hadn’t killed him, there was no telling what would have happened.”
Keaton was shocked. “Did his sons know what kind of monster he was?”
Turning his head, Kade gazed into Keaton’s eyes. “They knew. He had molested the oldest one his entire life. Kota can only surmise that he was coming here to try and kidnap them. He never told Blair and Oliver what happened that fateful night. The two don’t know that their father is dead.”
“Oliver Weston? My employee?” Keaton asked, once again stunned by what Kade was telling him. He thought about the Goth man and his stomach twisted thinking anyone could ever hurt such a nice guy. He had met Blair as well. The guy was a bit goofy, but enjoyable to be around.
“He doesn’t want me telling them,” Kade said. “They’ve moved on with their lives and he fears what would happen to Blair and Oliver’s mental state if they knew what their father had done that night and what he had been planning to do.”
“I don’t think that’s his call,” Keaton said. “Wait, if you’ve been locked up for that long, and just out of high school…” He rubbed his hand over his hair and then smiled at Kade. “You are so much older than me.” Keaton was trying his best to alleviate the tension that was thick in the room. He didn’t want to see Kade so hurt, so morose.
“You have no idea.” Kade stood and headed toward the bedroom door. “I have to go running.”
“Is it the whole leopard thing?” Keaton asked. He was a pretty open-minded guy, down to earth, and a free spirit. But what Kade had told him was a little too far-fetched even for Keaton’s way of thinking.
Kade rested his hand on the doorknob, looking at Keaton uneasily. “You need time to adjust to what I’ve told you. I need time to get my head back in order. You’re welcome to stay, but I need to go right now.”
The man was right. Keaton had a lot of thinking to do. Although he felt a connection to Kade, he had just met the man. He believed in love at first sight, but mating at first sight was a whole other kettle of fish.
* * * *
Kade stripped in the backyard, his skin feeling tight, itchy. He hadn’t shifted in so long that he was afraid he would forget how or that it would be truly painful. It had been so long since he had freed that a part of him, that Kade feared that once the leopard was free, it wouldn’t go back.