Authors: Lavinia Lewis
The second Mark sank his teeth into Luke’s
neck,
Luke thought he might pass out from the pleasure. A second, stronger orgasm rushed through his body, taking him completely by surprise. He fisted his hands in Mark’s hair, holding him to his neck while he shuddered and jerked through his release. His wolf was euphoric at being claimed by his mate. He could feel the bond between them deepen with each drop of blood Mark pulled from him. Mark finally pulled his teeth free of Luke’s neck and collapsed on his mate’s body. Both men were panting hard, clinging to one another. When Mark’s breathing came under control, he lifted himself off Luke’s chest and moved to lie down next to him.
Luke didn’t like that one bit. He didn’t want Mark pulling away from him. He grabbed Mark’s shoulders and tugged the larger man back to where he’d been. Mark laughed and settled himself on top of Luke again.
“I’m squashing you,” he chuckled.
“I like it.”
Mark leaned up and kissed Luke gently on the lips. “There’s no going back now that I’ve claimed you, Luke. You’re mine.
Forever.”
“I like that too.” Luke said, blushing furiously.
“Me too, baby, me too.”
Luke sighed happily. He felt warm and safe and unbelievably happy to be surrounded by his mate. Sated and filled with contentment, he fell soundly asleep in Mark’s arms.
Chapter Four
A loud bang woke Luke with a start. He sat bolt upright in bed, clutching the sheets to him as he dazedly looked around his room in confusion.
“What was that?” Mark
asked,
himself still groggy from sleep.
“I don’t know, I think it came from the yard. I’d better go check it out.”
Luke got out of bed and began pulling on his jeans.
“Not without me you don’t,” Mark said, leaping from bed and reaching for his own jeans.
When they finished dressing, Mark followed Luke out of the bedroom. They ran into
Kelan
in the hall.
“Did you hear that too?” Luke asked, noting his brother’s fixed shoulders and tightly set lips.
“It sounded like a gunshot,”
Kelan
replied, his eyebrows pulling together in a frown. “I’m
gonna
go check it out.”
“I’ll come with you,” Luke said, following his brother down the stairs.
“No way,” Mark said quickly. “I’ll go with
Kelan
. You can stay inside the house.”
“What? I’m not staying anywhere. I’m going to go help my brother.”
“Oh, no you’re not,” Mark insisted. “There’s no way I’m letting you go outside. It could be dangerous.”
Luke gaped at Mark open-mouthed. He couldn’t believe his mate’s nerve.
“You’re not
letting
me? Who in the hell are you to tell me what to do?” Luke glared at Mark.
“I am your mate!” Mark fumed.
“Are you two sure you only just met?”
Kelan
asked
,
his mouth curled up in a smirk. “You sound like an old married couple.”
“He started it,” Luke said, petulantly. “Tell him.”
Kelan
rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.
“What are we, in second grade? I’m telling both of you. Cut it out. And for what it’s worth, Luke, I happen to agree with Mark. We don’t all need to go out there. You stay here and wait for us. We won’t be long. If we need anything we’ll call, okay?”
Luke stared back and forth between his brother and his mate. He couldn’t believe this.
Kelan
raised an eyebrow, daring him to argue, and Mark just looked smug.
“Fine, whatever.
I’ll just stay here like the good little wife, shall I?” he said, stomping off into the kitchen.
Mark tried to hide his smile as he watched Luke walk off in a huff.
Seemed as though Luke had quite the temper on him at times.
He looked over at
Kelan
, who looked just as amused by Luke’s tantrum as he was.
“Is he always like this?”
“You haven’t seen anything yet,”
Kelan
chuckled. “Come
on,
let’s get this over and done with so I can get back to bed.”
That sounded like a plan Mark would be only too happy to put into action, but he wasn’t sure how easily Luke would accept him back in his bed after their argument. He was almost out the front door when Luke came rushing in from the kitchen. He crossed the room and stood in front of Mark, eyes to the ground.
“I’m sorry,” he said, bashfully. “I don’t want to argue with you. Be careful, okay?”
Mark wrapped his arms around Luke’s waist and pulled the smaller man close for a kiss. “I promise.”
Mark felt all of his tension leave his body. It felt good to have his mate in his arms. He didn’t like Luke being angry with him. Even though he barely knew Luke, his opinion mattered. Mark could easily see it becoming everything to him. He wanted to please his mate any way he could. He wanted to take away Luke’s frown and replace it with his beautiful and radiant smile.
“I’m sorry too,” Mark said. “It just made me nervous to think of you out there where you could be in danger. I’ve only just found you and I couldn’t stand it if something were to happen to you.”
“I know,” Luke whispered. “I feel the same.”
Outside, the yard was quiet and sat in darkness, illuminated only by the light shining out of the kitchen window. Of course, Mark’s and
Kelan’s
wolf eyesight meant they could see perfectly well in the low light conditions.
Mark’s senses told him that he and
Kelan
were currently alone in the yard, but he could smell the lingering scents of wolves.
“Do you smell that?” he asked, following
Kelan
to the barn.
“Yeah, wolves.
I’m picking up two scents but I don’t recognise either of them.
How about you?”
Mark shook his head and frowned. “What do you think they were doing here? Nothing seems to be out of place.”
“I don’t know, but it’s a shame they left in such a hurry. I have a few questions I’d like to ask them.”
“Do you think it was cubs playing around?”
“No, the scents are from older wolves, I’m sure of it.”
Mark raised an eyebrow at
Kelan’s
response. He had no idea how old the wolves were or how many there were, but maybe alphas had a better sense of smell than ordinary wolves like himself.
The barn was empty when they reached it and nothing looked as though it had been disturbed. It took them ten minutes to check the horses and the other outbuildings. When
Kelan
was satisfied nothing had been taken, they made their way back to the house.
The scent of wolves grew stronger as they neared the front of the property once again. Mark didn’t like it. Not this close to his mate.
Kelan
walked around the side of his truck and stopped short, cursing loudly.
“Son of a bitch!”
“What’s wrong?” Mark asked, joining
Kelan
by the truck.
“Guess that explains what the noise was. They shot out a tyre on my truck.”
Kelan
crouched down to inspect the damage.
“Why would anyone do that?”
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.”
“You don’t think this has anything to do with Joe, do you? He was pretty angry when we left today.”
“The man’s an ass, all right, but he’s too much of a coward to do something like this. His new hands I can’t vouch for, though. They’ve only just joined the pack.”
“Do you mean Dan and Lyle?”
“Yeah, they moved here a couple of weeks ago from a pack in Ohio.
Haven’t really had the chance
to get to know them.”
“I didn’t really talk to them much, but one thing’s for sure—they are definitely homophobic. You should have seen the look on their faces when you told Joe you were gay…
Disgusted doesn’t even cover it.”
“Hmm.
Maybe I’ll have a little chat with them.”
“Do you think someone is deliberately challenging your authority?”
Even though it was the dead of night, Mark could tell that
Kelan’s
eyes had darkened. He could smell the anger pouring off
Kelan
in waves. In Mark’s own pack, an act like this against the alpha wolf would have been seen as a direct challenge to his position. Maybe someone wanted
Kelan’s
pack for themselves.
“I don’t know, doesn’t seem all that likely. If they wanted to challenge me they’d have stuck around, not skulked off like cowards.”
Mark wasn’t so sure but he didn’t argue. His only thought was for his mate. He didn’t like the fact that wolves with guns had been anywhere near Luke. He shuffled his feet, looking back nervously at the kitchen window.
Kelan
looked up at him and grinned.
“Man, you’ve got it bad, haven’t you?”
Kelan
chuckled. “Come
on,
let’s get you back to your mate. We can deal with this in the morning.”
“Thanks.”
Mark called out for Luke as soon as he entered the house. Luke appeared in the doorway, his face breaking into a wide smile as soon as his eyes met Mark’s. He crossed the room quickly and practically fell into Mark’s arms.
“Thank god you’re alright. I was worried.”
Mark wrapped his arms around Luke and kissed the top of his head. He could relax now that he knew his mate was safe.
“I’m all right too,”
Kelan
muttered, as he passed. “In case you were wondering.”
Luke grinned, the heat rising in his cheeks.
“Uh yeah, sorry, I’m glad you’re okay too, bro.”
“Right,”
Kelan
said dryly.
“What happened out there? Did you find anything?”
“Yeah, the tire of my damn truck has been shot out. It was wolves, two of them, but I didn’t recognise the scents. They were long gone by the time Mark and I got there.”
“Who do you think it could have been?”
“I don’t know, Luke. But the mood I’m in tonight, they’re lucky I didn’t catch them. Anyway, I’m going back to bed. Could you please try to keep the noise down?”
Kelan
raised an amused eyebrow at his brother.
Luke groaned and hid his face against Mark’s chest. Mark could only laugh at the embarrassment his mate was trying to hide. Luke was so cute. It was rare to find a wolf that embarrassed so easily. After all, wolves were used to walking around naked together before and after they shifted into their wolf form.
“It’s not funny,” Luke huffed, slapping Mark on the arm.
“It is, actually.
You
are adorable.”
Luke couldn’t help but smile at his mate. He hated being teased but he liked the fact that Mark found him adorable.
“I made pot roast earlier,” Luke said. “I’ve just reheated it.
You hungry?”
“
Mmm
. Starved.”
Luke led the way into the kitchen and fixed them both large helpings of the hearty meal. They sat down and started to eat in silence.
“Wow,” Mark said, after a few mouthfuls. “This is incredible, Luke. You made this?”
“Yeah, my mom taught me how to cook. She tried to teach
Kelan
and Cody but they never took to it.”
“Cody?”
“Cody’s my older brother, younger than
Kelan
. He’s an artist, lives in New York now. He’s the one I told you about earlier who’s gay.”
“I thought you were talking about
Kelan
.”
“No, that came as a complete surprise.
Gonna
have to talk to him about it in the morning.”
“Wow, so the three of you are gay,” Mark commented, breaking off a large piece of crusty bread and using it to mop up the juice in his bowl. “What are the odds on that?”
“
I’m
not gay,” Luke said indignantly before he had a chance to really think about what he was saying.
Mark raised an amused eyebrow. “You could have fooled me. I didn’t see you complaining when my lips were wrapped around your cock earlier.”
Luke flushed ten shades of scarlet.
“That’s different. You’re my mate,” he said, quietly.
“I know, I was only teasing you. You know, this really is good, Luke. I can’t cook worth a damn. The only thing my mom ever taught me was how to finish a bottle of Jack in one sitting.”
“She drank?”
“A lot.”
“That must have been tough growing up.”
“Yeah, but I had my sister there. She’s five years older than me and she practically raised me herself.
Wasn’t too bad.
My dad was okay too, when he was around.”
“Our dad was our pack alpha. He was pretty hard on us most of the time, but he was still our dad, you know?”