Luke's Surprise (13 page)

“Come for me, Luke.
Wanna
feel you come on my cock.”

Mark’s hand on his cock and words of encouragement were apparently all Luke needed to take him over the precipice he had been balanced on. He cried out his release, shaking and spilling his seed over Mark’s hand and the bed beneath him.

Luke’s ass clamped down so tightly on Mark’s cock when he came, Mark felt like his dick was in a vice. He waited for Luke to finish coming, then thrust inside once more and then he was coming too, lights dancing in front of his eyes in a myriad of colours as he spilled himself into his mate.

Luke collapsed on the bed taking Mark down with him, his legs shaking so much they couldn’t support his weight any longer. Mark laughed and rolled to the side, pulling Luke into an embrace.

“Are you alive?” Mark chuckled.

“Barely.
Wow. That was incredible.” Luke panted.

“It was perfect. It just keeps on getting better, and tonight we get to do it all over again.”

Luke felt his cock try to twitch back to life at the suggestion but his body and mind were thoroughly exhausted. He wrapped his arms around Mark and sighed contentedly.

“I’m going to try to talk to
Kelan
about his plans for the ranch before he goes to the pack meeting tonight. I’m sure he’ll jump at the chance of opening this place up as a working ranch again.
Especially now that you’re here.”

“I don’t know about that, Luke. I don’t want
Kelan
to feel obligated to do anything he hasn’t got time for just for my benefit, you know? I can always find work someplace else.”

“Trust me,
Kelan
will love the idea. Between you and me, he hasn’t been the same since our daddy sold all the livestock. He put his whole heart into this place and although he has other interests now, he hasn’t got that same sparkle in his eye every day.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

Luke left Mark to watch the lasagne he had cooking in the oven and went to find
Kelan
. He caught up with him in the barn just as he was locking
Firebolt’s
stall.

“Hey,
Kelan
.
Mind if I have a word with you?”

“Sure, I was just about to head in to get showered. What’s up?”

“Well, it’s about this place actually,” Luke said, sweeping his arm around. “And it involves Mark.”

Kelan’s
eyebrows lifted and his mouth curled up into a grin.

“I think I know what you’re
gonna
me ask and I’ve been thinking on it a lot myself these past couple of weeks.”

“Huh?”

Kelan
laughed. “Well, it seems to me your man needs a job as a foreman and we’ve got a perfectly good ranch and spread right here going to waste.”

“You’ve been thinking about re-opening the Crazy Horse?”

“Every day.
You know I wasn’t real happy when Pop closed this place down. To be honest, I miss the work. I was good at it.”

“Wow. I was hoping you’d say that. Mark’s been talking about finding a job, but there isn’t anything going around here and if he looks further away then I’m afraid I won’t get to spend as much time with him. Although I’m
gonna
have to start looking for work soon myself.”

“Now just hold your horses. If I do decide to open this place up again, I’m
gonna
need someone to do the bookkeeping. Mom used to take care of that side of the business and you know I’ve never been any good with figures.”

Luke smiled so widely, his face hurt. “Are you serious?”

“Of course.
Why don’t we all sit down and talk about it when I get back from the meeting?”

“Okay great.”

* * * *

Luke and Mark were seated together on the large sofa in the living room as Cody and
Kelan
were leaving to go to the pack meeting.

“Hey, you ready to go?”
Kelan
asked.

“Sure thing,” Cody said, “be right there.”

Mark ran his hand down Luke’s thigh. It would be nice to have the place to themselves for a few hours. He was already thinking of all the things he was going to do to his mate when they were alone.

“Hey, you two not
coming?”
Cody asked.

“Nah, we’re going to have a quiet night in,” Luke answered.

“Quiet night my ass,”
Kelan
said.
Neither Luke or
Mark answered but both men heard
Kelan
mumble, “
Loud
night in is more like it,
”
as he left the house.

After they said goodbye to Cody, Mark drew Luke into his arms.

“Alone at last,” Mark said with a chuckle. “What
are
we going to do with ourselves?”

Luke grinned back at his mate. “I’m sure we can come up with something.”

Chapter Eight

Mark switched off the action movie he and Luke had been watching and turned to look at his mate. Luke was cuddled to his side, a soft snore reverberating against Mark’s chest. He chuckled.

“Luke, wake
up—the movie’s
over.”

“Hmm?”

“The movie’s finished. Come on, let’s go to bed.”

“’Kay,” Luke said without opening his eyes.

“You rest while I take the dishes to the kitchen, then I’ll carry you upstairs. I’ll be right back.”

“
Mmm
.”

The second Mark got up from the couch Luke started snoring again. Mark laughed and picked up the empty bowl they’d used for popcorn and the glasses that had held their ice tea. He took them to the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks.

“What the hell?” he said, depositing the glasses on the kitchen worktop.

He crossed the length of the room and stared blankly at the open back door. He walked out into the empty yard and looked around. Nothing appeared to be disturbed. When he returned to the kitchen, he shut the door behind him, making sure it was locked. Normally you didn’t have to worry about locking doors in these parts, but with Ethan’s threats of late, Mark didn’t want to take any chances.

“Luke! Did you open the door for anything earlier when you made drinks?”

Mark waited for a reply, when none came he strolled back into the living room to wake his mate.

“Luke did you… Luke?”

Luke wasn’t sleeping on the couch where Mark had left him. He quickly walked back out into the hall and shouted up the stairs.

“Luke!”
You up there?”

A faint muffled noise behind him caught his attention and when he turned around he noticed the front door was slightly ajar.

“What the hell is going on here tonight?” Mark wondered aloud, crossing the hall to the front door and throwing it open.

Mark’s worse fears were confirmed when he stepped out on to the porch. The sight he encountered caused his stomach to lurch so violently he almost threw up. He grabbed hold of the post at the top of the steps in an effort to keep himself upright. Luke was lying face down in the dirt, an angry looking Ethan towering over him, his boot resting on Luke’s back and a shotgun pointed at Luke’s head.

“What the fuck?” Mark shouted, making his way down the porch steps. “What’s going on?”

“Don’t come any closer,” Ethan warned, eyes never leaving Luke’s back.

“Luke, you okay?” Mark asked.

“Yeah,” Luke mumbled. “Stay back.”

Mark was at a loss for what to do. He was so angry he could feel his teeth itch his gums and his skin start to prickle, tell-tale signs of the onset of the change.
Oh God, not now
, he thought numbly, eyeing the shotgun which was still pointed at his mate. It wouldn’t do himself or Luke any good if he changed into his wolf form now. He needed to remain human so he could at least try to reason with Ethan.

“Ethan, why don’t we go inside and talk about this reasonably?” Mark asked, trying to contain his anger. “There’s no need for this.”

Ethan laughed. The sound was cold and devoid of humour. It caused the hackles on the back of Mark’s neck to rise. Mark was desperate to rush forward and tackle Ethan, to get him away from Luke, but he was powerless to do anything while Ethan still held the gun. If anything happened to Luke as a result of his actions, Mark would never forgive himself.

Ethan took his foot off Luke’s back.

“Get up,” he ordered.

Luke got to his knees awkwardly then stood up. He immediately turned to Mark and offered up a half smile. Mark felt a lump form in the back of his throat when he saw Luke’s bruised and swollen face. Luke’s left eye was half closed and already starting to blacken, and his lip was split and bleeding.

“What have you done to him?” Mark demanded, unable to stop himself from taking a step closer to Luke.

“I told you not to come any closer,” Ethan fumed, swinging the shotgun to point at Mark.

Mark lifted his hands in front of himself and took a step back.

“You don’t want to do this, Ethan. Put the gun down.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Ethan spat.

Mark could see the rage and insanity burning in the larger man’s eyes. His gut told him in that moment that things were going to end badly. There was no way Ethan was going to listen to reason. Mark tried to calm down before he did something he would only come to regret.

“What do you want, Ethan?” he asked, quietly.

“You know what I want. The same thing I’ve always wanted. I want Luke.”

“But I don’t want
you,
Ethan,” Luke vowed. “You’ll never have me.”

“The hell I won’t,” Ethan seethed.

Mark could tell Ethan was getting more and more agitated, so he tried another tactic to try and calm the man down.

“Okay, if it means you won’t harm Luke anymore then I’ll leave. Is that what you want? I can get my stuff together now and just go. You’d never have to see me again. The more I think on it, the more I’m sure that would be the best option for all of us.”

Luke turned to Mark open-mouthed.

“What are you saying? You can’t just leave me.”

Mark didn’t want to see Luke upset but it was the only thing he could think of to say to Ethan that might placate the man.

“I’m sorry Luke but it’s the only way,” Mark said with conviction, looking directly into his mate’s eyes.

The look on Luke’s face turned from confusion to hurt. Luke looked lost. The hardest part of all for Mark to stomach was that Luke could believe him so quickly. How could Luke think for one second that Mark could ever leave him? He loved him too much. Didn’t Luke know that?
How would he? I never told him,
Mark thought bitterly.

“No,” Luke breathed.

Ethan’s eyebrows pulled together. He looked from Mark to Luke and then back again.

“I don’t believe you,” Ethan eyed Mark warily. “You’d never leave your mate.”

“Why not?”
Mark challenged. “I’ve caused Luke nothing but trouble since I met him. I think it would be best for everyone if I just disappeared. Luke will get over it eventually and then maybe the two of you will have a chance together.”

Mark could practically see the wheels turning in Ethan’s head. To his relief, Ethan slowly began to lower the shotgun. It was almost pointed to the ground when two large men came running into the yard from around the back of the house. Mark didn’t know the two wolves, but from the smell of them he knew instantly they were the wolves that had shot out the tyre on
Kelan’s
truck, the same wolves that had been with Ethan the night of the full moon. They stopped at Ethan’s side and regarded the scene in front of them. Both sets of eyes rounded when they took in the bruises on Luke’s face. Mark could have sworn he saw their mouths curl up into a smirk. He was so angry in that moment he wanted to hurt them the way Luke had been hurt.

“What the hell are you two doing here? Gus, I thought I told you to stay at the pack meeting to keep an eye on
Kelan
,” Ethan said.

The taller of the two men stepped forward.

“Sorry, boss. We just came from there. Thought you’d want to know that the meeting ended early.
Kelan
just left. We didn’t know if he was heading back here or not.”

“Shit!” Ethan swore.

Mark could see the rage pouring off Ethan once again. During the discussion, Luke had edged further away from Ethan. Luke was turned away from Mark so he couldn’t see his mate’s face, but the slump in his shoulders told him all he needed to know. Luke felt deflated and Mark knew it had nothing to do with Ethan. Mark’s own words to Luke earlier were the cause of his pain.

When the three men finished talking, Ethan looked up and noticed Luke was moving away from him. As he lifted the gun, Mark leapt forward and grabbed hold of Luke’s hand. He dragged his mate up the steps to the house in an attempt to flee from Ethan. Mark had to try something and this might be the only chance they had to get away.