Bailey Bradford - Southwestern Shifters 08 - Revenge (7 page)

Maarten grunted and added his hand to the mix, pumping his dick. Ryder left off working him there and instead cupped those smooth balls he’d touched earlier.
“Yes, yes, please,” Maarten rasped.
Ryder liked this, liked having Maarten come apart for him. Whether other sexual partners had been this responsive, he couldn’t say. When he’d been a young teenager fooling around, it’d all been about getting off fast. That didn’t even compare to what he and Maarten were doing now.
“Bed.” Maarten squirmed and Ryder stood, reluctantly leaving Maarten’s ass alone. He helped Maarten turn around, and Ryder couldn’t help but touch the stiff peaks of Maarten’s coral-coloured nipples the moment he saw them.
“My legs will give out if you keep that up,” Maarten said as he pushed his chest out. “Yes, hell, I don’t care if I fall, just don’t stop.”
Grinning, Ryder dipped his head and bit one tit gently, then with more strength when Maarten yelled and grabbed his head, holding him there.
“More,” Maarten demanded. Ryder used his hands and mouth again, pinching and biting, sucking and twisting until Maarten’s nipples were hot and swollen. Only then did he leave them alone, nosing his way to one bare armpit.
“This had to hurt,” he said, “but damn, I like it.” He pushed Maarten’s arm up and licked over the smooth skin.
Maarten shook for him, undulating against the wall, scrabbling to hold onto him. Ryder moaned his approval of Maarten’s need, the way he clutched at Ryder. Never had he felt so necessary, so vital to anyone. He sucked on the tender skin beneath Maarten’s arm, bringing a dark spot up there. How Maarten stood it and even more, enjoyed it, was beyond Ryder. He was ticklish as hell in his pits.
He went back to the closest nipple and gave it a sharp bite.
“Shit!” Maarten grabbed his head, pushed him back then jerked him close again, almost mashing Ryder’s nose against his chest.
Ryder grinned and flicked the tip with his tongue, then he licked a path down the indenture bisecting Maarten’s belly, stopping only to lave his navel. Maarten wobbled and slid down the wall, barely stopping from landing with a thud. His legs splayed open, displaying his balls and hairless groin, his thick, long shaft curving up to his belly button. Ryder clenched his ass just looking at that cock. He wanted to feel it in him, even though he’d always hated bottoming before. Somehow, he knew it’d be different with Maarten.
“Suck me.” Maarten traced Ryder’s lips, visually then with his fingers. “Suck me, fuck me, I want it all.”
“You’ll get it.” But not on the floor. Ryder straightened up and held out a hand. He hefted Maarten up when he caught Maarten’s wrist, then with a wicked grin, he hooked an arm around Maarten.
“What—hey!” Maarten sputtered as Ryder hefted him onto one shoulder. His muscles strained under Maarten’s weight, but he could handle the bigger man.
“Speaking of spanking earlier—” He popped one ass cheek. “Like that?” he asked when Maarten panted. “You do.” Ryder really liked the way that golden skin turned red in the shape of his hand.
He swatted Maarten again, then a third time before walking to the king-size bed and plopping Maarten down. Maarten gasped and bounced while at the same time reaching for his bright red buttock.
“Oh, that smarts, Ryder.” He winked and rolled onto his belly, wiggling his ass at Ryder. “You should make the other side match, or you could fuck me finally.”
Ryder crawled onto the bed, up between Maarten’s parted legs. He manoeuvred himself over Maarten, bracing himself on knees and elbows so that he could slide his cock up and down Maarten’s crease.
“Yes,” Maarten sighed, dropping his head down to rest it on his arms. He rocked up into every thrust, meeting Ryder eagerly.
Ryder let his cockhead drag over Maarten’s hole. The skin there was still damp, soft. He could probably nudge his way right on in, and it’d feel good for him, but maybe not so much for Maarten.
“Where’s the lube?”
Maarten blinked slowly, as if it were difficult to keep his eyes open. He swallowed noisily then shrugged. “One of my bags. Lotion is in the bathroom, on the counter.”
Lotion would work just fine as condoms weren’t necessary. Ryder knew that much about shifters, at least. “I’ll be right back. Think of me while I’m gone.” He spanked Maarten’s other cheek, the sound on contact loud in the room.
“Shit! Ow.” Maarten rubbed at his butt and grinned. “I almost came. You’d better hurry.”
Ryder got up and sprinted for the bathroom, his cock thumping his belly with each step. He saw the yellow bottle of lotion and grabbed it, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He looked like a wild thing, a hairy wild thing at that. For all that Maarten was waxed smooth, Ryder looked like he’d stolen a fur rug for his legs and chest. His ass was just as hairy. He hoped Maarten wouldn’t mind. Worrying about it now was pointless, though.
Ryder strode from the bathroom, slightly calmer than he’d been. Maarten had rolled onto his back and scooted up to the centre of the bed. He had one leg bent and the other splayed to the side, showing off all of his genitals in a lewd and sexy display while he played with his balls.
“I like all of your hair,” Maarten said when Ryder stopped by the bed.
Ryder frowned at him. “How—”
“Our bond,” Maarten explained, tapping his head. “I can feel what you feel, if you push it out far enough.”
“By ‘push it out’, you mean worry,” Ryder guessed.
Maarten shrugged. “Or think about it much, I would wager. I’m not the best with words and explanations. I’m trying.”
“I get it.” Ryder looked down at Maarten’s bare, smooth skin, then his own fuzzcovered body. “If you like hair, why wax?”
“Why not?” Maarten asked. “It allows for more sensation. I can grow it out, if you’d like.”
“That’s up to you.” Ryder kind of liked the smooth contrast, but he wouldn’t pressure Maarten.
Maarten’s little grin reminded Ryder that they shared that whole mental-bond thing now.
“I’m going to be an open book.” He shook his head. “Guess it doesn’t matter.”
“So will I, like now, for instance.”
Ryder was inundated with a fierce need, roiling desire and impatience. He knew it was Maarten’s, mingling with his own chaotic feelings. Ryder was on the bed and pouring the lotion in seconds. Maarten laughed and pulled both legs to his chest, offering up his hole.
“Pretty,” Ryder whispered as he slipped two slick fingers into Maarten’s ass. Maarten purred and wiggled, working the digits in deeper.
“Not much, please, Ryder. I…need you.” Maarten closed his eyes and Ryder tried not to get all mushy over those last three words. They didn’t know each other, and it was just Maarten’s body that needed someone.
“You,” Maarten snarled, opening his eyes and glaring. “I need you, not someone.”
“Okay.” Ryder was beginning to catch on. Mates—it was something he’d seen but not understood. Now he was enjoying a crash course in it. He slicked up his dick and shuffled into place before withdrawing his fingers. “Let go of your legs. I’ll have you.”
Maarten did as he was told and Ryder hooked his arms under Maarten’s knees at the same time he began pushing into Maarten’s hole.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Maarten chanted, his eyes rolling back before shutting. Mind-boggling heat surrounded Ryder’s cock, contracting muscles and shifting inner walls pulling his shaft in deeper. He moaned and added his own pressure, sinking in to the hilt as Maarten keened.
Maarten fisted his cock with one hand and palmed Ryder’s nape with the other. Ryder leant down, thrusting in small movements, trying not to come yet.
“Fuck me,” Maarten begged, moving beneath him.
Ryder nearly had the man bent in two, but for all of his bulk, it didn’t seem to bother Maarten. It felt so good, the silky inner walls massaging Ryder’s cock. He almost didn’t want to move. The need to thrust was upon him though and he pulled out almost completely before pushing back in.
Maarten hissed and Ryder did it again, then again before his control shattered and he began pounding away at Maarten’s ass.
Wordless sounds passed between them, grunts and moans, a whimper or two as Ryder went deep and found Maarten’s gland. Ryder kept at that angle, working the small nubbin inside. Maarten shouted and bucked, jerked and Ryder had to let go of his legs, Maarten’s strength too great for restraint when Ryder was slamming into him over and over.
Ryder’s mouth began to ache, his gums burning. Somewhere in his mind, he knew the signs, but he couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything except give into the instincts driving him.
One second he was holding himself up, fucking Maarten with powerful thrusts that had Maarten bracing a hand against the headboard, and the next he was lying on Maarten, biting him, sinking his teeth into the warm flesh where shoulder and neck met.
Blood—the taste of it registered, but rather than repulse him, it threw Ryder right into climax. There was a loud roar, whether from him, Maarten, or only in his head, he’d never be certain. Ecstasy suffused him, spiralling out from his dick in Maarten’s welcoming body, racing up his spine to his head. The world tilted and spun, darkness slammed down, enveloping Ryder in warm blackness. He swallowed the coppery liquid in his mouth and sucked in time with each jet of cum he shot into Maarten.
Maarten’s shout made Ryder’s ears ring a second later, then he felt the warmth of Maarten’s release between them, smelt it in the air. If this was how it would be as mates, they might never do anything other than fuck.
“Which would be perfectly fine with me,” Maarten said, “although I won’t always be the one on his back.”
Ryder could live with that.

Keegan woke Marcus and Nathan in the middle of the night while Nathan’s shaft was still ensconced in Marcus’ ass from their second round of fucking. Both he and Marcus awoke instantly upon hearing the coded knock on the hidden door to their room.

“Shit,” Nathan muttered, blinking rapidly. “Emergency.”
“Yeah.” Marcus was up and moving, rolling away from Nathan. He stood and was striding to the door in their closet before Nathan had managed to untangle his feet from the sheets. Cold feet were the bane of his existence, and Nathan had to have something over his feet when he slept. Now that hang-up was literally tripping him.
“Damn it all,” he groused as he jerked at the material. He listened as Marcus ensured it was indeed Keegan doing the knocking. Nathan got the sheets unwound and was at Marcus’ back when he let Keegan in.
As he peered around Marcus, his shifter senses allowed him to pick up on the pallor of Keegan’s skin at the same time Marcus did, despite the darkness of the room. “What’s wrong?” he and Marcus asked simultaneously.
Keegan swiped at his face then turned and locked the secret door. Finished with that, he pivoted around and Nathan saw that he was shaking. “Can I sit down, please?”
If Keegan was so shaken up, then something bad had happened. Nathan and Marcus exchanged a worried glance, then each of them took one of Keegan’s arms, uncaring of their nudity, and led the man to a settee in the living area of their apartment.
“Do you need something to drink?” Nathan asked as they got Keegan to sit. He wanted to know what was going on, but Keegan looked awful, and it wasn’t like Nathan wouldn’t know what Keegan said if Nathan went in the kitchen. He could listen through the bond he shared with Marcus, and he’d probably hear it with his ears, too.
“Water, please.” Keegan closed his eyes but snapped them back open, going even paler when he did. He pressed a hand to his stomach. “Oh gods. Maybe not.”
Despite being able to see well in the dark, Nathan headed for the lamp.
“No, don’t,” Keegan protested.
Nathan stopped and looked at him. Keegan shook his head. “I don’t want there to be any clue that I’m here, in case…in case there’s anyone watching.”
“Watching how?” Marcus asked, an edge to his voice. “No one can see into our rooms. The windows are tinted and the blinds pulled.”
“Light showing under a door, or even the slight glow around the blinds, through the tint—” Keegan coughed, pushed harder against his stomach. “It’s not worth the risk.”
“What’s happened?” Marcus stood in front of Keegan, and Nathan could feel the power from his mate. It could be soothing or intimidating, depending on how Marcus used it. Nathan was mostly immune to it, likely a mate defence mechanism to ensure there was no abuse of power between the two of them. Keegan began to breathe easier, long, deep inhales and slow exhales until he wasn’t so pale. Marcus waited much more patiently than Nathan felt, though he managed to keep it inside.
“Better?”
Keegan shivered at Marcus’ question and pulled his cell phone from his shirt pocket. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be so…so freaked out. I just—it’s bad. It’s bad and someone got to me, and they shouldn’t be able to—”
“Sh,” Nathan said as Marcus took the phone. “Calm down. Whatever it is, we can—”
Bile rose up his throat as he saw the first picture in the text. Nathan heard Marcus curse softly, then his heart was thumping so loudly it sounded like it had split and moved into his ears.
“Nathan.” Marcus tugged him close, holding him. Nathan could feel the anger and sadness in Marcus as they looked at the remains of Little Joe.
“You just got these?”
How Marcus could speak was a puzzle to Nathan, but there was a reason Marcus was the Alpha Anax. He was so strong, inside and out.
“Y-yes,” Keegan got out. “I was sleeping. It’s not my shift and my phone went off, six times, rapidly. I—” Keegan gulped and held his head in his hands. “I’ve seen death before, seen friends and pack members killed, but this is…this is different. This is evil.”
Nathan had to agree as Marcus flipped to the next image.
“Poor Little Joe,”
Nathan thought, tears burning his eyes. The first image had been Little Joe’s decapitated head, horrible, but the second was worse. Little Joe was alive in it, and clearly in agony. There were strips of skin missing all over his body, and his genitals had been mutilated. Blood poured from his mouth. Nathan squinted even though he didn’t want to look closer, but—
“Fuck, his tongue was cut out. Who would do something like this? I thought everyone that sick was dead.”
“No, Nathan. Evil flourishes as surely as good does. This could be anyone who hates me, or no one who does. It could be Little Joe himself who was hated, although that doesn’t explain why the murderer sent the pictures to Keegan.”
Marcus flipped to the third picture and went so still Nathan couldn’t even feel him in his head. He understood the why of it when he looked at the picture. There, carved into the brutalised skin of Little Joe’s back, was a message for Marcus.
Challenge.
“You see it.” Keegan got up and touched Nathan’s arm. “There’s more.”
“I don’t understand this. Why not just issue the challenge to Marcus?” Nathan whispered around tight throat muscles.
“Because whoever did this hates me, like the ones who’ve tried to kill me before. They want me to hurt, to be angry, to be afraid, even, but I’m not. A coward does this,” Marcus said, touching the screen where the backs of Little Joe’s legs were inscribed with
My date
and
My time.
The fourth and fifth picture were more images of Little Joe alive and being tortured, then the final one sent a spike of fear through Nathan. It was also the most grotesque, with entrails and blood used to emphasise the words written on a large white surface.
Your rule will end on my terms. Your life, under my power, my hands, my paws, my teeth.
“Who has your number, Keegan?” Marcus asked, still holding the phone.
“Only you and Nathan have this one. I have the other line for everyone else.” Keegan moved back to the couch and sat again. “I swear to you, I’ve never given the number out to anyone else.”
“The clothes,” Nathan murmured. “Marcus, back up to the second picture.”
Marcus did and Nathan pointed to a shirt sleeve just at the edge of the frame. “Look. That’s the shirt that went missing.”
“It is,” Marcus agreed.
Keegan was back beside him, staring. “I missed that. I’m sorry, I was just—”
Marcus put a hand on Keegan’s shoulder. “Keegan, it’s understandable. Little Joe wasn’t fighting in a battle, defending our home or species. He likely had just gone for a run, and this bastard tortured him, used him to hurt us. It isn’t the same as the other deaths you’ve seen. It’s okay to be upset and scared.”
Keegan ran his fingers through his hair and gave it a tug. “It doesn’t feel like it is. I’m so angry, and how,
how
did this fucker get my number? Who is it?”
Marcus began forwarding the pictures to his own phone as he answered. “Anger is good, but don’t let it make you careless. Whoever this is will come for me, and I think that will happen when he thinks I’m at my weakest.” He looked at Keegan. “You will not let Nathan out of your sight.”
“Now wait a minute,” Nathan began as Keegan nodded. “I don’t need a keeper.”
Marcus arched a brow at him. “I plan on having a guard with me at all times except when you and I are having sex. Then we will have our guards at the door. Does that make it any better?”
Nathan was surprised at the concession, but yes, it did help and he nodded.
Marcus gave him a chaste kiss before speaking again. “I would imagine a decent hacker could access phone records.”
“We don’t shred our bills,” Nathan murmured, the stupidity of that failure hitting him like a smack to the head. “The trash, even when we have burn piles, there’s still some that’s hauled to the dump. Gods, that’s stupid!”
“It’s a mistake,” Marcus conceded, “one we are rectifying as of this moment. Keegan, take care of it. I want some coffee, then we are going to sit down and go over these pictures in detail, see if we can figure out where this occurred.”
“Somewhere close, I’d imagine. There’re plenty of caves in the mountains.” Nathan shuddered, remembering when he’d first found Marcus, chained and starved in a cave in New Mexico.
“Go ahead, Keegan, get someone to bring us coffee while Nathan and I clean up in the shower and get dressed.”
“Yes, sir,” Keegan said. He took out a different phone then hesitated. “Should I get it myself? Maybe we shouldn’t let on that anything is going on.”
Marcus shook his head. “No, there is no pretending. I’m sure the sender knows you’ve gotten the texts. Anyone here won’t question you if you tell them it’s for us. They wouldn’t dare. Besides, we have the kitchens staffed at all hours since we have our guards on duty around the clock. It won’t be the first time Nathan and I have asked for coffee in the middle of the night.”
“Yes, sir.” Keegan resumed what he’d been doing. He let out an odd sound that had Nathan and Marcus both turning back to him when they’d been heading to the bathroom.
“Problem?” Marcus asked.
Keegan huffed and nibbled his lower lip before speaking again. “No, not a problem, but I did intend to make sure you were informed of the latest pairing of mates since you keep track of all the pack members. It’s just, this one has got to be the weirdest mating of, well, ever.”
Nathan frowned, trying to think of who Keegan could mean. There was really only one possibility—“Maarten?”
“Ryder?” Marcus said at the same time.
“Yes, to both,” Keegan answered. “Poor Sissy was a little let down when she told me about it. She’d been waiting to have a go at Ryder.”
“Huh.” Marcus idly scratched his chest. “I’m not sure that combination won’t get on my nerves quick.”
Nathan nudged his shoulder. “Don’t be a negative Ned. Mates are paired up by Fate and you know it. I doubt the two will be bouncing off the walls. More than likely, this will centre them.”
Marcus grunted and led them to the bathroom. Nathan hoped to hell he was right, and even more, he hoped whoever had done that to Little Joe would die a slow, painful death before ever coming around to make good on his threats.
He was afraid all the hoping in the world wouldn’t make a goddamned difference in this case.
Inside the bathroom, Marcus turned on the light. Nathan pressed himself up against his mate, needing comfort from him. Marcus wrapped him in a hug that settled some of the unease whirling in his mind.
“We’ve gotten through so much together, we’ll get through this.” Marcus petted his hair, reminding Nathan it was all over the place and likely a tangled disaster. “It’s beautiful. Stop fretting.”
“This is different,” Nathan forced himself to say, vocalising the words that made him tremble. “This is worse. Little Joe could be annoying and mouthy, but he wasn’t a bad man. He didn’t deserve to be tortured and killed as a means to send us a message.”
“No one deserves that, with the exception of some very cruel bastards. It happened, and there’s no undoing it.” Marcus kissed the top of his head. “All we can do is be vigilant, and when the time comes, make sure that I rip the throat out of the fucker who killed Little Joe.”
Nathan refused to give thought to any other outcome. He believed in the power of positive thinking, even if sometimes he faltered. This time he wouldn’t.
“That’s my mate,” Marcus said quietly, still stroking Nathan’s hair.
Eventually they showered, making it quick and towelling off half-assedly since Keegan was waiting for them. They left the steamy comfort of the bathroom and dragged on sweats and T-shirts before joining Keegan, who had a laptop open.
“I’m enlarging the pictures on here. It makes it worse,” he informed them, his voice cracking. “Better detail, though.”
Nathan fixed them both a cup of coffee, letting his thoughts out as he did so. “Do you think it’s that missing shifter, the one that got away from you and the other guards in Sedona, when Drake and his makeshift pack were captured?”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Keegan admitted. “I didn’t get a good look at him, but he had to be quick to get away, and smart to remain free when we’ve been looking for him. Doesn’t mean it is him, necessarily. There are still other shifters not thrilled with a gay Alpha Anax.”
“There’ll always be shifters unhappy with whoever is in this position,” Marcus pointed out. “Can’t please everyone. Can’t kill them all, either. Makes the survivors nervous.”
Nathan barely held back a laugh as Keegan’s head shot up, his eyes rounding and just huge until he caught on to the fact that Marcus was joking. “Oh, ha ha,” he grumbled, but he smiled just a little and Nathan knew that had been Marcus’ goal.
Nathan took a sip of his coffee and almost moaned. It was perfectly made, strong and hot enough to scald his tongue. Marcus looked to be in a coffee-induced state of bliss too, his eyes closing as he savoured his first sip.
“Oh, oh, this is heavenly,” Marcus said before taking another drink.
“Shelby makes the best coffee,” Keegan mumbled. “Look. Is this a footprint?”
Nathan and Marcus both moved around to look at the screen. It wasn’t as awful as the picture had been on the phone because Keegan had cropped out the gorier parts.
Keegan pointed at a spot and Nathan stared so hard his eyes started to ache. “It looks like one. Not a very big one.”
“But not Little Joe’s,” Marcus said. “That’s the right foot, and Little Joe was missing his pinky toe on that foot.”
“Maybe this is a woman after all.” Keegan clicked on the screen, making the image bigger but blurrier. “Damn it. I need to open up the programme I have for pictures. It can clear some of this up.”
“I still think it’s a man. I think it’s a man, and he doesn’t have to be big to be deadly.” Marcus rubbed his belly and Nathan had to agree. Drake had been small. “I could be wrong, of course. Let’s see what else we can figure out.”
After an hour of poring over each picture, they had little more to go on. The cave was almost certainly one in the nearby mountains, and Keegan already planned to send out groups of guards to scour them, looking for Little Joe’s remains. They did concede that Marcus was right.
In the picture where the shirt sleeve was seen, so was a strip of flesh. The forearm was covered in dense, red-gold hair. They agreed they had seen some hairy women throughout their lives, but never one as hairy as that.
“Let’s try to get some sleep, then in a few hours, we’ll send out the guards. Keegan, take the couch.”
Marcus was really taking the danger seriously, keeping Keegan there with them, though Nathan knew part of the reason for that was because Keegan had been in such a state earlier.
It still helped him to sleep a little better.