Bailey Bradford - Southwestern Shifters 08 - Revenge (9 page)

“But he will,” Maarten added, because even he knew Marcus needed that assurance. “I will help him, of course. And you, and Nathan.”
“Thank you.” Marcus stood and offered his hand for a shake.
It meant letting go of Ryder, but Maarten did it, rising up to take the proffered hand. “You are welcome. Thank you for allowing me to come here.” He’d needed it, badly, a break away from his failures. Now he had a mate and a new life, or at least new avenues to it.

“It has to be the one who got away.” Ryder thumped his fist against his leg and glared out of his bedroom window. “Has to be. He must have found out Drake is dead.”
“Possibly, but it could be anyone else, too,” Maarten said.
Maarten had listened earlier when Ryder had explained the theory about the escaped shifter being the culprit. Ryder knew Maarten was right to keep his mind open to possibilities, but Ryder felt the truth in his bones.
“It isn’t. It’s the one who got away,” he said again. “I can’t explain how I know, but I do, and I think Marcus and Nathan know it too.”
“It is the nature of an Alpha Anax to have stronger instincts than other shifters.” Maarten moved in behind him and embraced Ryder. “Their mates, of course, share the traits through their link. I believe in you.”
Ryder tried to keep his eyelids from drooping as Maarten nuzzled his cheek, then moved farther down to place kisses along his jaw and neck. “Mm.” Everything Maarten and he did together felt so good, it seemed almost like a dream. “I’ll have to introduce you to my brother, Harley, before too long or he’ll be pissed at me.”
“Later.” Maarten breathed over Ryder’s kiss-damp skin and it sent shivers through Ryder. “For now, I want to fuck you.”
Shit.
Want seared through Ryder, his cock totally into the idea. He was a little nervous. The last time he’d bottomed, from what he remembered, hadn’t been enjoyable.
“I’ll make it so good,” Maarten promised. “You can have all the control, can do what you want with me.” He ran his hands all over Ryder’s body, warming his skin. “Would you like that, like to tie me up, maybe, after you redden my ass, then ride my cock and control everything—how deep I can go…” Maarten thrust the bulging length of his cock against Ryder’s ass. “How fast, when I can come—”
Ryder spun around and shoved Maarten against the thick window pane. “What do you like?” He had an idea, but wanted to hear Maarten say it.
Maarten’s face pinked up, but he didn’t avert his gaze as he answered. “I like you, and I like to feel. How much, I don’t know, Ryder. I never let anyone do things like you did before, spanking me, bruising my nipples. I want it from you, though.”
Ryder looked at Maarten’s nipples then. Maarten was shirtless, having removed his tank top at some point before pressing against Ryder’s back a few minutes ago. His nipples were erect, the skin there still irritated, but already the healing had begun.
Ryder watched Maarten’s expression as he reached out and plucked at those tender nubs.
“Yes, yes, please.” Maarten sighed happily as Ryder pinched. “Oh, that feels…so—ah.” He hissed when Ryder twisted, but his arousal was undeniable. Ryder could smell it, the scent of pre-cum in the air between them.
“More?” he asked, holding his grip. He didn’t want to push too far, and he hadn’t ever been so rough with anyone he’d intended to have sex with.
“More.” Maarten gripped his wrists and pulled.
“You’ll tell me if it’s too much,” Ryder said.
Maarten glared at him. “You will know as we share our link. This isn’t sex between humans, where we need safety measures. You will know, and you will not harm your mate.”
Even hearing Maarten say those last three words made Ryder feel kind of ill. He couldn’t hurt Maarten, that was true. He’d rather harm himself.
“Just listen to me, my body, what I feel. Please, more,” Maarten begged.
Ryder twisted, turning those stiff peaks back and forth as Maarten began to whimper. Maarten clenched and opened his hands around Ryder’s wrists, and he began humping against Ryder’s hip. Ryder pushed him back with a shove of hips to groin. It couldn’t have hurt, but Maarten moaned and his head dropped back as he shuddered.
Ryder bent and bit his left nipple, tasting salt and copper. Maarten shouted and clawed at his back, his need for more clear to Ryder.
He got a handful of cock and held it tight as Maarten whined.
“More.”
Ryder heard the demand clearly in his head. He shoved his hand down Maarten’s jeans, glad the tight material was stretchy. He cupped Maarten’s balls, then gave them a little squeeze, testing, learning.
Maarten thrust against him again and began scrabbling to get his pants off. Ryder couldn’t imagine enjoying his balls being squeezed, but Maarten clearly wanted it. They needed more room, but the bed was too far away. Ryder settled for knocking Maarten’s feet out from beneath him, calculating that the show of force would add to Maarten’s arousal. It did, and Ryder caught him before he could fall, laying Maarten roughly out on the floor.
“Spread your legs. I want your balls,” he ordered.
“Fuck,” Maarten rasped. He parted his legs, then hitched them up until his knees were near his ears.
Ryder wasn’t going to get to tie Maarten up this time. They weren’t on the bed nor did he have any rope. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t both enjoy what was going to happen next.
Ryder caressed Maarten’s ass, then without warning, he let his hand fly, slapping one cheek.
“Yes!” Maarten bellowed, encouraging Ryder to continue. He reddened Maarten’s ass quickly, need coiling in his groin. Maarten moaned and cursed, but never tried to roll away from the spanks.
Then Ryder cupped his balls. Maarten groaned, the sound low and deep, as if coming from somewhere dark inside him. “Maarten,” Ryder said just as he tightened his grip. The man was beautiful as he writhed, his trust in Ryder perhaps even lovelier than the man himself.
Ryder released Maarten’s nuts and pushed them up to Maarten’s body. He bent and nibbled at them, dragging his teeth over the wrinkled skin.
Maarten’s shout had to have rattled the windows. Ryder lapped at his balls and pinched the base of Maarten’s cock. Maarten’s thighs quivered, and the scent of his arousal grew intoxicatingly strong. Though he knew Maarten wanted to fuck him, Ryder didn’t think it was going to happen this round. Maarten was too close, and there was no lube at hand. Ryder wasn’t going to get up to get any, either, not when Maarten was writhing and keening for him, Maarten’s cock dripping strings of clear pre-cum.
Damn it, Ryder couldn’t resist that. He swooped down and sucked the head into his mouth.
“Agh!” Maarten bucked hard, driving his cock in deep. Ryder tugged on Maarten’s balls, and Maarten yelled again as he shot down Ryder’s throat.
Ryder wasted no time suckling. He scrambled up and straddled Maarten’s hips. Maarten was still panting, shaking, when Ryder began jerking off.
“Fuck, fuck,” he grunted, pumping frantically. He stared at Maarten’s lips, then his stiff, abused nipples, and when he came, Ryder aimed for them, splattering cum on Maarten’s face and chest. Maarten reached up and began rubbing the spunk into his skin, pausing to lick his fingers now and then as Ryder stared, his cock twitching, not softening much at all. He was about to say fuck it and grab the lube when he heard several footsteps pounding down the hall in the direction of Marcus’ office—or his apartments.
“Maarten—”
“I heard, too.” Maarten didn’t sound out of it at all, and they both were on their feet in seconds. “Grab our pants, Ryder. Let me wipe myself off, then we will go.”
“If it’s intruders—” Ryder began, only to have Maarten cut him off.
“It isn’t. There would have been more noise, and I heard Keegan’s voice. They must have news, however.”
Ryder hadn’t heard Keegan, but he’d been in a daze, kind of, as he’d watched Maarten. “Okay, but hurry.”
Maarten nodded. They both needed to know what was happening.

Nathan let the guards into the office. Keegan had been standing watch in the hallway, but he likely had already been told the guards’ news.
“What is it?” Marcus asked.
“We found the cave, and some of the remains,” Bon, Keegan’s assistant captain, informed them. There was no need to explain that. They all knew what wild animals would do if they found a meal.
Keegan nodded at Marcus and Nathan. “They brought back what they could. There was no sign, no messages in the cave.”
“No, there were not,” Bon confirmed. “There could have been, but honestly, we’d not have known since we had to chase off several animals. That is how we found the cave in the first place. It’s approximately two miles west of here.”
“Could you pick out the murderer’s scent?” Nathan asked.
Bon shook his head. “No, sir, I’m sorry. There were just too many odours to discern if one belonged to the assailant.”
“There was nothing else, nothing to provide any more clues?”
“No,” Bon said again, in response to Keegan’s question. “We tried to find tracks all around the vicinity, but either they’d been wiped out or the wild animals wrecked the trails. We kept searching in a circular pattern, but found nothing.”
The knock on the door didn’t really surprise Nathan. He’d expected Ryder to take his duty seriously. “Let Ryder and Maarten in, please.”
Keegan opened the door and Ryder came in, Maarten right behind him. “What’s happened?” Ryder didn’t waste a second.
Nathan filled him and Maarten in. Maarten cleared his throat and edged around Ryder to stand to his right. “If we can be of any help, please let us know. I am a better tracker than I used to be. Perhaps if you decide to send guards back out to continue the search, Ryder and I can accompany them.”
“I don’t like staying here doing nothing when there’s trouble,” Ryder said. “Besides, maybe there’ll be something I pick up that wouldn’t stand out to anyone else. A scent that I can trace back to the times I was around Drake. You know this has to be that shifter.”
Marcus and Nathan had concluded the same thing. There was too much rage directed at Marcus for this to have been an old anger. It was bright and fierce and evil.
“Somehow, he has discovered that I killed Drake.” Marcus tapped the desktop once then stilled his hand. An idea occurred to him and Nathan knew it an instant before Marcus spoke. “That would be possible three ways. Someone from his self-made pack told this murderer, or he saw the challenge somehow.” Marcus looked at Nathan. “Or whoever it is is Drake’s mate.”
Nathan didn’t give a fuck if that was the case. Drake had nearly killed Marcus, and as far as Nathan was concerned, Drake had deserved a slower death than he’d got. “It doesn’t matter if it is Drake’s mate. He still must be stopped and dealt with.”
“Yes.” Marcus faced Keegan. “I want every one of Drake’s former pack members brought back here and interrogated. If there is any reason to suspect someone is holding out on you, bring them to me. I will get answers. Send guards out to hunt this bastard down, but if you find him, don’t kill him.”
Nathan stiffened, his senses suddenly on alert.
Surely Marcus wouldn’t
…
“I will face him in the ring,” Marcus said, giving voice to Nathan’s fears. Nathan quickly buried them. His mate didn’t need to feel his strength was in doubt. “He wants a chance at me, he’ll have it. And he will lose.”
Try as he might to believe that, Nathan couldn’t shake the pervasive feeling of doom. It was just too much stress, especially right after almost losing Marcus only a matter of days ago. Marcus wouldn’t fall. Nathan wouldn’t let that happen. To that end, he had to be strong too. He had to show nothing but faith in his mate.
“Can we go out with the guards? It’ll be a good learning experience for me,” Ryder tacked on.
“Go, but don’t take any foolish chances. You either, Maarten.”
“We won’t,” Ryder assured Marcus.
“Very well. If you and Maarten would wait a moment, I’d like to speak to you both.”
Nathan listened to the rest of the conversations with half an ear. He was trying to think of a way to trap the murderer, but nothing was coming to mind. Sacrificing himself as bait might work, but if he were to die, Marcus would soon follow, and Nathan would really rather they both have long, happy lives.
Once the guards had left, Keegan ushering them out, Nathan moved to sit on Marcus’ thigh. He was feeling needy, clingy, whatever. He just needed to be near his mate.
Marcus hummed softly and began rubbing the small of Nathan’s back. It eased some of the tension there. After a moment, Marcus spoke.
“In light of the current situation, I think it’s a good idea to reschedule the etiquette lessons we’d discussed.”
Maarten’s confusion showed in the way he scrunched up his forehead. “Etiquette lessons?”
“Manners,” Nathan offered.
Maarten’s confusion turned to irritation. “I know what etiquette means,” he huffed. “We Europeans invented etiquette.”
“Okay, sure. Gods know there’s not a rude person in all of Europe.”
Maarten stood taller and looked down his nose at Nathan. “But we do rude with
flair.
”
“Looks that way,” Marcus said. “The lessons were for your mate. I’ll let you two discuss why
Ryder
thought they’d be beneficial. Maybe instead, you can rub some of your European
flair
on him.”
“No dirty jokes,” Nathan snapped the second Marcus quit talking. “Take your horny selves off and Ryder, keep your phone handy. Either Keegan or one of us will let you know when the guards will be going out.”
“Got it. Thank you.” Ryder waved and he left with Maarten.
“Do you really think it’s a good idea to let Ryder go out there hunting?”
Marcus hesitated, staring at the door for a second or two before answering. “Yeah, I do. It isn’t Ryder the guy is after, but maybe, if he sees Ryder, recognises him, he’ll try to talk to Ryder and gain his trust, get an in, so to speak. Keegan needs to go over that possibility with Ryder.”
“I’ll let him know in a few minutes. Until then, I want to sit here and kiss you.” He looked up through his lashes at Marcus.
“As if I’d object.”
Nathan wound his arms around Marcus’ neck and buried his fingers in the thick, curly blond hair he adored. Marcus’ hair was nowhere near as long as his, but it had grown to an inch or two below Marcus’ shoulders and today he’d left it down instead of putting it in a ponytail as he usually did. Marcus bent and Nathan tipped his chin up, then his lips were on Marcus’, his tongue sliding past the parted lips so soft and warm.
This wasn’t about sex. Nathan wanted Marcus, needed him, always, but right then it was comfort for them both. Marcus, for all that he was strong and good, had his moments of doubt about what he did just as any other person would. Nathan sought to make them both feel better.
Marcus caressed Nathan’s back, moaning into the kiss. Nathan turned enough to straddle Marcus’ lap, rutting gently against Marcus’ belly. It felt so good, no rushing to come, no pressure to get off, just slow, easy loving. Later, Nathan would fuck Marcus’ brains out, but for now, this was all they needed.