Trickster (3 page)

The thieves glared at each other,
then at him. “What kind of dumbass leaves his own laptop at work?” Greasy said.

“This one,” Red said, looking
disgusted. “Get up, dumbass. We’re going for a drive.”

Mark’s gut went cold. If he got in
a car with these two, chances were nobody would ever see him again. “Look, I’ve
got my d-desktop in the office,” he said, holding up his hands. “You can take
that. It’s brand new, worth way more than my laptop.”

Greasy’s eyes narrowed. “You do any
work for Trickster on it?”

Confusion joined fear. “N-no, but—”

“Fuck this,” Red said. “We need the
laptop. Come on.” He leaned over to grab Mark’s arm.

Greasy suddenly screamed, dropping
to one knee and clutching his leg. Blood spurted between his fingers as a hair-raising
snarl ripped through the room. “Dog! He’s got a fucking dog!”

Mark froze as a large grey-brown
shape bounded forward, crashing into the larger man’s knees and knocking him to
the floor. Bellowing, Red lashed out at the animal, and its jaws closed on his wrist,
viciously tearing at it. A gun tumbled out of Red’s jacket, sliding partway
under the nearby sofa.

The dog moved until it was in front
of Mark, growling. Panting in pain, Red tried to kick backwards, bumping into a
whimpering Greasy. The smaller man rolled onto his hands and knees and
scrabbled away, heading for the bedroom.

The larger man got to his feet, clutching
his dripping, gory wrist as he stared at his attacker. He tried to inch towards
the sofa and the gun. The dog shifted position, ready to lunge.

Red grimaced. “Oh, fuck this,” he
muttered, turning and lurching after his partner. The dog chased him out of the
room, and Mark heard a banging noise and squawks coming from his bedroom. After
a minute the dog trotted back into the living room, stopping a yard away from
the sofa. It licked gory red droplets from its chops.

Oh, my God. That’s not a dog.
In shock,
Mark recognized the long legs and bottlebrush tail.
That’s a coyote. A fucking huge coyote.

Coyotes were hardly a rare sight in
North Dallas. Having been evicted from their native territory during the height
of suburban construction, they had returned in the last few years with a
vengeance, making new niches for themselves in the suburban landscape. But the
local animals he’d seen before usually stuck to the underbrush and open lots on
the city’s outskirts. This coyote, however, had not only decided to enter his
apartment, it went after his attackers. It didn’t make sense.

Swallowing hard, he sat up, praying
it wouldn’t turn on him next. “Nice coyote,” he said, slowly raising his hands.
“
Good
coyote. I donate to the Sierra
Club and Greenpeace, okay? Please don’t bite me.”

The coyote’s head rotated to one
side, tongue lolling out of its mouth. Mark suddenly had the weirdest feeling
that it was laughing at him. It licked its chops one last time, then sat down
on its haunches and stared at him.

“Okay. You’re sitting down. That’s
... good?”

The animal seemed to sigh. It got
up, and Mark cowered. “Good coyote,
good
coyote. No biting,” he babbled.

The coyote rolled its eyes at him.
Then it shimmered and disappeared.

In its place, quite impossibly,
stood Delaney Smith. A very buff, very naked Delaney Smith. Stunned, Mark found
himself at eye level with the other man’s groin. It was impossible to miss the
thick, dusky cock hanging between muscular thighs.

Smith raised his hands in what was
obviously supposed to be a calming manner. “I can explain,” he said.

Mark was rather proud of the fact
that he nodded, as if getting attacked by thieves and rescued by a horny Trickster
executive who could also turn into a coyote was all perfectly normal.
Just another day in the life of Mark
Fellows, ha ha.

Still nodding, he passed out.

Chapter Three

“Aw shit.” Delaney lunged forward,
dropping to a knee and catching Mark as he slid out of the chair. Grunting, he
swung the smaller man into his arms and kneewalked to the couch, gently laying his
burden out on the cushions and doing a brief check for injuries. Apart from
rising bruises on one arm from his assailant’s grip, his mate seemed to be all
right.

Delaney’s coyote howled to shift
and track down the thieves, then tear the shit out of them for daring to lay a
hand on his mate. His human side overrode the instinct, remembering the
conversation he’d overheard.
Those
bastards wanted something from Trickster, something they thought Mark would
have. The question is, what?

I’ll figure it out later. Right now, I’ve got bigger problems.
He sat back, studying his mate. As
he’d guessed, Mark had a runner’s build with long, lean legs that looked like
they could go for days. His upper body was toned without being over-muscular,
and a slice of nicely taut abs showed in a gap between his t-shirt and shorts
waistband.

Delaney couldn’t help looking
further down, at the good-sized bulge under the dark blue material. His mouth
watered, and he swallowed hard. This close up, the mating scent mixed with Mark’s
clean sweat and the tang of fear, and was just this side of overpowering. It
took everything in Delaney’s willpower not to lean over and pull Mark’s shorts
down, lick that gorgeous cock and feel it grow thick and hard in his mouth,
listen to Mark’s moans as he woke up to ecstasy—

Mark moaned, stirring. Delaney
realized he was half crouched over his mate, and hurriedly leaned back. As for
his already half-hard cock...
Well, maybe
Mark won’t notice.

After a moment the human opened his
eyes, blinking groggily at him. “Wha...” Some of the glassiness cleared, and he
struggled to sit up. “You.”

“Yeah, me.” Delaney raised a hand
in a wave. “Welcome back, by the way.”

“No. I mean, you— You were the—”
Mark’s face went pale, and he looked like he was about to pass out again.

“Just lie back,” Delaney said
quickly, urging him back down. “Long deep breaths. Try to relax.”

Surprisingly, Mark obeyed, but
those blue eyes never stopped staring at him. “You changed into a human. From a
coyote. You were a
coyote
.”

Delaney took a deep breath. “Yeah.
I’m a coyote shifter. It’s kind of like being a werewolf, except that it’s not
a curse and I can shift whenever I like.” He winced at the look of disbelief on
Mark’s face. “Look, I know this all sounds crazy, but you didn’t hit your head
or anything when you passed out. I can show you right now and shift back, if
you like.”

Mark bit his lip. “Uh ... yeah. Do
it.”

Delaney backed away from the couch,
then concentrated. The familiar buzz ran through him as he shifted, and
suddenly he was much lower to the floor and the room was in crisp black and
white. He panted and let his tongue loll out of his muzzle, trying to look cute,
before shifting back. “See? It’s all real.”

Mark had wriggled into a sitting
position, still staring at him. “Wait. That was you following me, wasn’t it?
While I was running,” he accused. “I thought you were a dog.”

Delaney grimaced. “Yeah. I know I
should apologize for following you, but on the plus side it meant I was here to
chase off those assholes.”

Some color came back into his mate’s
face, which was a huge improvement. The rising scent of anger, however, wasn’t.
“Why are you following me?” Mark demanded. “Did those guys have something to do
with you?”

“No, although I heard them asking
you about your laptop and Trickster. I’m guessing they thought you might have
brought restricted files home with you.”

“I wouldn’t do that. Besides, my
laptop’s still in the office.” He glared at Delaney. “Mainly because you tried
to kiss me this morning. What the hell was that all about?”

“Yeah, about that.” Delaney settled
back on his heels, wondering how to phrase it. “Shifters can smell their mates.
It’s kind of like meeting your soul mate, only we get confirmation with our
noses. The long scientific explanation involves pheromones and matching body
chemistry, but the short version is, I scented you the moment I walked into the
office. It took everything I had not to go find you and beg you to go home with
me.”

Still upset, Mark glanced away. Delaney
could see a flush of pink along one cheekbone. “I’m not gay. I already told you
that.”

Delaney laughed softly. “Yeah,
well, my last three girlfriends are going to be really surprised about this,
too. But the mating bond doesn’t give a rat’s ass about sexual orientation. It happens
when it happens, and you just have to roll with it.”

“No, I don’t. I’m not ... one of
you.” Mark waved at him. “I’m just a regular human, and I’m damn well not your
mate.”

The frayed cord of Delaney’s
patience unraveled just a bit more. “Fine. Prove it.”

“How?”

“Kiss me.”

“What?”

“Kiss me,” Delaney repeated. “Just
a plain old kiss, no tongues or anything. If you’re not my mate, then you won’t
feel a damned thing. And if that happens, then I’ll leave you alone. You won’t
even see me for the rest of your contract with Trickster.”
Of course, if Scott hires you that’s going to be a whole ‘nother kettle
of fish.

Mark looked torn. “And if I feel
... something?”

Delaney shrugged. “Then you give me
a chance. Go on a date with me, get to know me, let me get to know you. I swear
to God, I’m actually pretty personable when my dick isn’t trying to drain all
the blood from my body.”

That dragged Mark’s attention
downward, and his eyes widened. “Jesus. You’re—”

“Hard. Yeah, I know.” Delaney looked
down at his throbbing cock and sighed. “If I can ignore it, so can you. Just
kiss me once, and we can get this all over with.”

“This is insane.” But he could
already hear Mark’s heartbeat speed up. “One kiss. And no tongues.”

“Shifter’s honor.”

Mark muttered something under his
breath, then nervously licked his lips before puckering them in a perfect
duckface.

Delaney grinned. “Really? That’s
how you kiss someone? No wonder you haven’t gotten to first base with your
girlfriend.”

Mark pulled back, stung. “You’re
the one who suggested it, asshole!”

“Okay, okay. Look, just relax.” He
moved closer to the couch, acutely aware of the velvety upholstery rubbing
against his aching dick, and gently slid his hand around Mark’s jawline. He
could feel the muscles there flinch, as if readying to pull away. “Seriously,
just relax,” he breathed. “Let me lead?”

As he expected, Mark’s pupils had
already dilated again at his touch, and heartbeat and respiration were speeding
up as well. “A-all right.”

“Here we go.” Delaney leaned in,
brushing his lips against Mark’s. The simple contact sent an electric spark
dancing through him, grounding out in his balls.

The effect wasn’t one-sided either,
to his relief. Mark made a soft, hungry noise, lips slowly but definitely
pressing back against his own. Delaney kept his tongue securely in his own
mouth as promised, but that didn’t stop him from savoring the plump feel of his
mate’s upper lip sliding between his own, or the way their mouths caught and
clung together.

He pulled back just enough to look
into Mark’s dazed eyes. “Should I stop?”

“Wha?” That damned tongue came out
again, slicking and teasing at the same time. “N-no.”

“Okay.” Delaney dove back in,
losing himself in the warmth and sweetness of Mark’s mouth, the way the other
man responded so passionately. He was just about to try nibbling his way down
to his mate’s jawline when he heard a soft clanking noise.

Mark pulled away, dazed and
blinking. “That’s my phone.”

“Oh.” Delaney sat back, rubbing his
tingling lips. “Yeah. You want to get that?”

“Um.” The other man fumbled in his
shorts pocket. To Delaney’s delight, the action pulled the fabric tight against
what was obviously a half-hard cock. Finally Mark pulled the phone free and swiped
his thumb across the screen, reading it. “Oh. It’s Caren.”

“Your girlfriend?”

“Yeah. She —never mind.”

Delaney wanted to pluck the phone out
of his mate’s hand and read the message, but refrained.
It’s bad enough I’m pushing him like this. I don’t need to look like
the world’s biggest asshole as well.
Instead, he sat back, trying to drag
together the last shreds of his self-control. “I think you need to call the
cops and get them over here. And I better go before that happens.”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
Mark sat up slowly, tugging his t-shirt down so that it covered the bulge at
his groin. Delaney got to his feet and his mate blinked, staring at his cock. “You,
uh ... you’re still...”

“Hard enough to cut diamond.” Delaney
gave him a wistful smile. “I can’t help it. It’s what you do to me, babe.”