Man to Man [Wolf Creek Pack 3] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (4 page)

“Chase, Donovan, thank you for coming. We can really use your assistance,” Daniel said as he shook both of their hands and then gestured for them to come inside. “I’m Daniel Nash, alpha of the Wolf Creek Pack. This is my son, Joe, our pack enforcer and the local sheriff. The man sleeping in his lap is his mate, Nate.”

Donovan nodded in greeting to the man sitting on the couch with a smaller, sleeping man curled up in his arms. He didn’t want to wake the man, but he couldn’t prevent the small twinge he felt when he saw the loving look Joe gave his mate. Would he ever experience that? With the way things were currently going between him and Jim, he was going with no.

“He’s the reason we are here?” Chase asked as he gestured to the sleeping man.

“Yes,” the alpha said. “If you want to come sit down, I’m sure we can fill you in.”

Donovan sat down across from Joe. He smiled at the man in Joe’s arms, but his attention was on the man that went to stand behind him. He tried to ignore the sweet scent that Jim was giving off when Joe began speaking. He didn’t have much success. Jim smelled fantastic.

“We need to keep our voices down. Nate just fell asleep, and he needs all of the rest he can get,” Joe said softly, gesturing to the man in his arms. “He’s had a rough time of it and hasn’t been getting enough sleep.”

“What can you tell us?” Chase asked quietly. Donovan nodded his agreement to Chase’s question. They needed to know as much as possible about the situation if they were going to be of any use.

“There’s a man—Nate calls him the Teacher. We don’t know his real name yet. He has spent the better part of the last twenty years making Nate’s life hell. He finally escaped the Teacher two years ago, but he’s been on the run ever since. The Teacher has his hands in a lot of cookie jars and has a very long reach. No place has been safe for Nate for very long.”

“Why does this guy have such a hard-on for your mate?” Donovan asked.

He was surprised when the little man opened his eyes and sat up, looking over at him. “’Cause I’m just that damn cute,” Nate said.

Donovan watched with amusement as Joe nuzzled his hair. “Hey, baby, did you have a nice nap?” Joe asked.

“Not really, but I suppose I needed it. So, who are the mountains masquerading as men?” Nate asked, nodding his head toward him and Chase.

Chase leaned forward holding out his hand. “Chase Morgan. My brother, Donovan, and I were sent down here by our alpha to give you a little added protection.”

Nate grabbed the hand that Joe held out before leaning forward and shaking Chase’s hand, then Donovan’s. Donovan felt him pause briefly, staring at him before releasing his hand. Did he know about Jim? Could he tell that it was everything Donovan could do not to reach back and touch Jim?

“I guess you want to know about the Teacher?” Nate asked as he released Donovan’s hand and sat back in Joe’s arms.

“I think we need to know as much as you’re comfortable telling us. The more that we know, the better we will be able to protect you,” Donovan replied as he sat back in his seat.

“I’ll try to give you the short version then,” Nate replied before taking a deep breath.

“The Teacher was made my guardian after my mother died. He uses people like me to make him money, lots of money. I’m one of his top—I get him the most money. That’s why he wants me back so bad.”

“You’re a prostitute?” Chase asked, his voice laced with horror.

Donovan could only gape at the little man. Nate seemed too sweet to have lived that kind of life.

“Not exactly. I have certain abilities. The Teacher sells my services to the highest bidder—government agencies, businessmen, drug dealers, you name it, and he sells our services to them. That’s how he’s gained so much power.”

“Services? Abilities? Mind filling us in on what in the hell you’re talking about?” Donovan asked quietly, totally confused at this point.
Was he a prostitute?

“For one, I’m a human lie detector. I can tell if someone is lying just by touching them. Two, I can read people’s emotions. For example, I know exactly what you are feeling right now and for whom,” Nate replied.

Donovan’s jaw dropped as he watched Nate’s eye rise up to the gorgeous man standing behind him. He could feel his face heat up when he realized that Nate could sense his desire for Jim. Did he know that they were mates, too?

Donovan snapped his mouth closed when he heard his brother chuckle.
Asshole.

“That’s got to make things interesting, but I can see why the Teacher might want to get you back. So, I guess our job here is to keep him from accomplishing that?” Chase asked a moment later, serious once again.

“Well, I would really appreciate it. Just the thought of that…that man getting his hands on my baby makes me see red,” Joe stated as he stroked his fingers through Nate’s hair.

“So, from what I understand from my alpha, the Teacher has been seen in town, correct?” Donovan asked.

Joe and Nate both nodded. “Yeah, Joe and I were out eating when I spotted him through the window.”

“Are you sure it was him?” Donovan asked, again, his voice very quiet.

“Oh yes, I’m positive it was the Teacher. There’s no mistaking that man. He’s been in my life for nearly twenty years. I could spot him in a crowd just by the way he walks. Besides, I’ve been expecting him.”

“You’ve been expecting him?” Chase asked in surprise.

“He’s been looking for me ever since I escaped two years ago. I knew that if I stayed in one place for too long, he’d find me.” Nate sent his mate a small smile before looking back at Chase. “Joe convinced me to stick around this time.”

“But how did he find you?”

“There are others like me. The Teacher has a whole group of us. Some have used their abilities to keep him away from me. Some have not. I assume that is how he found me. But mostly I think it’s because I stayed in one place for more than a few days.”

Chase sat forward in his chair, his hands knotting together. “There are more of you? Where are they, and why haven’t we heard about this before now?”

“The Teacher moves us around a lot, so I’m not real sure where they are right now. And I suppose the reason you haven’t heard about us is the same reason not many people know about you. Sometimes, it’s better to keep things hidden.”

Chase nodded. “I can understand that. But I’m curious, what about these others like you? Is the Teacher holding them hostage as well?”

“Most of them, yes. But there are a few of them that like the life that the Teacher provides for them. We call them the Teacher’s pets. They like the money and power that they get from doing exactly what he says. The rest though, their lives are pretty much hell.”

Donovan watched tears form in Nate’s eyes right before he bent his head. Joe’s arms immediately went around him, comforting him. He wondered if it could be that way between him and Jim. If they were mated, would he be able to hold Jim whenever he wanted? Would Jim allow it? Donovan had never been a cuddler in the past, but he could see himself going in that direction if it meant having his mate’s arms wrapped around him.

“I had always hoped to go back for them, the ones that don’t want to be there. I just don’t know how,” Nate said a moment later, raising his head back up. “I don’t know where they are, and I’m certainly not strong enough to get them away from the Teacher and his army of guards.”

“Is there any way to get them a message?” Donovan asked curiously.

“No”—Nate’s forehead wrinkled—”well, maybe. But I couldn’t guarantee it would get to them or that the others wouldn’t get the message or even intercept it.”

“How?” Donovan sat forward on the couch, clenching his hands together to keep anyone from seeing them shake. “How can you get a message to them?”

“Okay, this is going to sound funny, but I’d have to…meditate. Some of the students have telepathy. If they were receiving at the same time I was sending, they might get the message, especially if they were close by.”

“How close?” Donovan asked, the beginnings of a plan forming in his mind.

Nate shrugged. “I’m not sure exactly. Justin has been known to read someone as far away as five hundred miles. So, within a few hundred miles at least. The closer the better.”

“Justin?”

“Justin Reid. He’s my best friend. He’s a telepath. Justin can read someone’s thoughts. The Teacher uses him mostly for business meetings and mergers. He also takes Justin with him when he’s discussing a deal with someone to make sure that they’re being truthful with him and not hiding anything. Justin has been keeping me safe for a while now.”

“Safe? How?”

Nate smiled. “He sends me messages every once in a while, telling me when to leave a certain area or to avoid certain people.”

“If he can do this, why didn’t he warn you about the Teacher this time?” Joe asked.

“He may not have known. The Teacher doesn’t exactly share all of his plans with us. Justin also might be away on another job or too far away to reach me. Worst case scenario, the Teacher found that he was helping me and has stopped him.”

“Would he hurt Justin?” Joe asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. He never physically hurt us, but he did isolate us. That may not seem too terrible to you, but when the only contact you have is with the other students, you come to appreciate them, a lot.”

“Okay, say you could contact your friend, could you get him to tell you where he and the others are?” Chase asked, looking very serious.

“Yeah, why?”

“What the Teacher is doing is wrong, Nate. I don’t care what abilities you and your friends have. It’s wrong to hold people against their will and make them do things they don’t want to do.”

“You know, don’t you?” Nate murmured quietly a moment later.

“Know what?” Chase said hesitantly, looking quickly over at Donovan.

“You know what it’s like to be held against your will.”

Silence filled the room. Donovan leaned forward, patting his brother on the back before looking over at Nate. He briefly felt Jim’s hand squeeze him on the shoulder, silently giving him encouragement.

“We don’t know personally what it feels like, but we nearly lost our little brother that way. Someone found out that he was a shifter and kidnapped him. They wanted to study him and learn how the shifting worked. By the time we found him, he had been so abused and tortured that he was never the same again.”

“Is he—is he alive?” Nate whispered.

Donovan nodded. “I’m not sure you can call it living, but he’s breathing, if that’s what you mean. He won’t have anything to do with people he doesn’t know, and he rarely leaves his room. It’s like he can’t connect with anyone outside of the immediate family.”

“Oh my gods, that’s terrible. How could someone do that? Don’t they understand that you are human just like they are? Everyone has differences. It doesn’t make it okay to treat someone like a science experiment,” Nate said, his voice filled with disgust and horror.

“Not everyone believes the way you do, baby. Some people believe that they have a right to treat people how they want for their own self-interests. Others believe that people who are different don’t have the same rights as they do. Either way, they’re both wrong.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Joe,” Chase said, his voice husky with unshed tears. Donovan could smell them on his brother and knew Chase would hate for him to acknowledge that they were there. His brother hated showing weakness. “I think it’s important that we save not only Nate from the Teacher, but the others as well. The ones that want to stay with him have that right, but the others…” Chase just shook his head.

Joe nodded. “Okay, so what do you have in mind?”

“The first thing we need to do is have Nate contact his friend. We need to know where the Teacher is holding all of them. In the meantime, I’ll contact a few of my friends and assemble a strike force to go in and get them out.”

“You can do that?” Nate asked, astonished.

Donovan chuckled but didn’t say anything. His brother had connections, most of them the unsavory kind. There was a period in Chase’s life when he had left home on his own. He never discussed what he had done, and Donovan didn’t really want to know. He had seen the hollowed-out man his brother was when he came home. It had taken ages for Chase to open back up again, and even then he wasn’t the same man that had left home. He was harder, more closed off.

But he was also connected.

“I can, yes. I know several people, some pack and some not, that would be very willing to help us. All I have to do is call them. It may take a few hours for them all to get here, but if I call them, they’ll come,” Chase replied.

“You can get people together that fast?”

“It’s just a matter of knowing who to call. One of my friends has his own plane. He’ll fly around and pick everyone up and deliver them here. He doesn’t do any of the fighting, mind you, but he’ll transport them.”

“What do you need me to do?” Nate asked quickly.

“Get a hold of your friend and find out where the Teacher is keeping him and the others. We’ll take care of the rest,” Chase said as he stood to his feet and looked at Joe. “Is there someplace quiet around here? I need to make some phone calls.”