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  “That bastard. That fucking bastard.” Wyatt’s tears covered Stone’s neck. “That’s why he didn’t send anyone after us before now. He knew where we were all along.”

  Chapter Three

  Wyatt had reached breaking point. Three years, six states, more than fifteen moves and all the while, Horridge had known where he was. Like a cat playing with his food, he let Wyatt and Maddie get settled and then he’d send some sign, letting Wyatt know he hadn’t been forgotten. At first Wyatt could write it off to Maddie as a game, but the constant traveling, the forever looking over his shoulder; it had all taken its toll and Wyatt wasn’t sure how much longer he could go on.

  This time the “sign” had been Stone. “You’ve been paid to take me back, haven’t you?” Wyatt pulled his head out of Stone’s neck and hurriedly wiped his face.

  “I’m not taking you back, you or Maddie.”

  “But you didn’t know about her, did you?” Wyatt had seen Stone’s eyes widen when he went in the bedroom. “Of course not. She wouldn’t have been mentioned,” he scoffed. “Girls don’t have pack position and Horridge knew damn well, if you found us both, you’d bring Maddie along too. He’s a cheapskate getting you to retrieve us both for a single person price. I hope you got your money up front.”

  “He wanted you alive.” Stone seemed shocked.

  “If you think I’d willingly go back while I’m still breathing, then you’re as dumb as a pile of rocks and I’ll die defending Maddie. Did you know he’s already promised her to his head enforcer? She’s four and her mate has been picked for her already.”

  “Why don’t you start at the beginning and tell me how all this came about?” Stone’s hand seemed insistent Wyatt bury his face in the big man’s neck. He didn’t have the strength to resist. It’d been so long since he’d been hugged by someone bigger and stronger than him and he curled in, hoping the smell of his arousal would go unnoticed. Not that it was as strong as before. Thinking about…Wyatt knew he had no choice but to tell the truth and pray Stone would help in some way.

  “My mom and dad were killed in a car accident three years ago. Maddie was two. She was a…surprise. I don’t think my parents dreamed they’d have another child. I got told it was rare for omegas to have siblings and I’d already gone through my first shift.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss.” Stone’s voice was grave, his touch gentle.

  “Thank you. Anyhow, this was just before my eighteenth birthday. Horridge said I wasn’t old enough to look after Maddie by myself and moved us into the main house.” Wyatt shivered. “I hated it. I was barely allowed to see Maddie. Horridge assigned one of the pack women to come in every day to see to her needs. I was expected to accompany him all the time. Meetings, pack runs, even if we were just hanging about the house, I never had a minute to myself.”

  “Maybe he valued your opinion on pack matters?”

  Wyatt chuckled and even to his ears it sounded false. “It’s clear you haven’t spent much time in the Mason Pack. No one has an opinion but the alpha. My job, as Horridge succinctly put it, was to sit still and look pretty. If I ever opened my mouth, he shut it for me and if he couldn’t be bothered clenching a fist, one of the enforcers would do it for him.”

  Stone’s thighs were rigid under his legs, and his scowl was fierce, but Wyatt was beyond caring. This man wanted his story? He’d get it. All of it. “On my eighteenth birthday, Horridge told me there was going to be a full pack party on the night of the full moon which was four days later. He informed me he was taking me as a bonded mate and I was expected to be willing and compliant.”

  “Fuck. No one should be bonded until they’re at least twenty-one. Not even fated mates.”

  “Horridge figured I was old enough. He planned to strip me of my virginity with the whole pack watching.” Wyatt could still remember Horridge’s betas laughing and cheering when Horridge told them all. “I would’ve gone through with it. He threatened Maddie. Said if I didn’t do as he ordered, he’d dump her in a human town and leave her to fend for herself. She’s my baby sister. I couldn’t let anything happen to her.”

  “But surely, you would’ve had some power as Alpha Mate? You could’ve changed things for you and Maddie within the pack once you were mated.”

  Wyatt reminded himself the stranger he was curled up on had no idea how things ran in the Mason pack. “Horridge already has an Alpha Mate; a woman he bonded with in a pack merger. He also has two other female bonded mates who serve as concubines, servants, or whatever you want to call them. At least he did three years ago. Goodness knows how many he has now.” Wyatt looked up, unable to read the expression on Stone’s face.

  “Horridge isn’t gay,” he continued. “He despises gays. He simply wanted the only omega in his pack under his control and it seems he doesn’t have a problem getting his dick hard for me. But see, that’s why he didn’t want to lose Maddie. He doesn’t care about her; barely acknowledges she exists most of the time, which is another reason I took her when I ran. He thinks she might be an omega too, although it’s too soon to tell. If that was the case, then Berrin, the head enforcer, would miss out and Horridge would take her for himself, kicking me out of the pack at the same time. I’m not making this up,” Wyatt wasn’t sure if Stone believed him or not. “Horridge was very clear about his plans for me and my sister and went into great detail about it.”

  Stone seemed to be wrestling with inner demons, although Wyatt didn’t know why. For some strange reason he felt safe though and if this was the only hug he got before he disappeared with Maddie again, he was going to milk it for all it was worth.

  “How did you get away?” Stone said at last.

  Wyatt looked down at his hands. He wasn’t proud of the next bit. “I stole my dad’s car,” he whispered, ashamed of his actions. He wasn’t a thief by nature and hadn’t touched another thing that didn’t belong to him before or since. “One of the pack members had fixed it up after the accident. It was a classic and I knew it was worth a lot of money. I couldn’t take anything else except my laptop and a change of clothes. I grabbed as much for Maddie as I could carry, waited until Horridge and the others were sleeping, and disappeared. I sold the car two towns over so we had money to live on and we’ve been on the run ever since.”

  Chapter Four

  The only thing stopping Stone from driving back to the Mason Pack and tearing Horridge’s head from his shoulders was the weight of Wyatt’s body on his. An alpha with a pack could rule pretty much however he liked. If his members didn’t like it, they could leave and become lone wolves like himself, or petition to join another pack. There was no law saying Horridge couldn’t have three wives if he wanted them. Most packs were closed communities, interacting with the human world infrequently and while polygamous relationships weren’t common, they did happen. The Mason Pack was on the outskirts of Albuquerque, far enough away to stop any human authorities interfering with them.

  But to go against family; to threaten banishment on an innocent child as a means to force a young man barely legal to mate with him? Stone felt sick for the part he’d been forced to play in the whole situation…although. Stone grinned. “You and Maddie don’t have to worry about Horridge anymore. Once I’ve taken you home with me, he won’t ever know where to find you and if you’re claimed, then he can’t try and force a mating bond on you either.”

  “Claimed!” Wyatt’s wiggle was unexpected, and Stone found his arms empty as his mate paced the floor. “That’s your price for letting us go? You want to mate with me instead? How is that any better than what Horridge wanted? You might be better looking but I don’t even know you.”

  “Don’t ever compare me to that asshole,” Stone growled. “Listen to your wolf, use your nose. What did you smell when you were sitting on me?”

  “Aged oak and mulled wine. It’s nice.” Wyatt blushed.

  “And that smell made you horny.” Didn’t Wyatt know anything about fated mates?

  “Oh…well…yes, but….”


  “Have you ever felt horny smelling anyone else before?”

  “No, but then, it’s not as though I go around sitting on strange men’s knees or sniffing them.”

  Damn, now he won’t even look at me. “Wyatt, what do you know about fated mates?”

  “Nothing. I’m mean, I remember mom…mom used to tell me stories when I was little about how she met dad and she just knew he was the one for her. But I’ve never heard of fated mates before. The alpha decides who is going to mate with whom. I thought all wolves were paired like that.”

  “In some packs maybe, but that’s not the way it has to be. Come here, please, Wyatt.” Stone’s arms ached to hold his precious mate again. He held them out, waiting, barely breathing, until Wyatt stepped into his embrace. “What do you feel when you’re close to me like this?”

  “Safe.” Wyatt inhaled sharply and then clambered onto Stone’s lap. “Safe and horny and my wolf’s in a tizzy.” His slender arms wrapped around Stone’s neck. “I feel as though I’ve known you for a million lifetimes. Why is that?”

  His last words ended on a whisper, his breath brushing Stone’s face. “Because we’re fated mates. Fated mates trump bonded mates, alpha orders and everything else. Fated mates are what every shifter dreams of,” Stone growled. “I promise you, right here, right now, I’m never letting you go.” Wyatt’s whimper tugged at every protective instinct Stone ever had. Pulling his mate closer, Stone gave into the desire he’d had since he first saw Wyatt on the floor. He nudged their noses together, rubbing his cheek against the softness of Wyatt’s skin before gently brushing their lips together.

  “Oh wow, I never knew….” Wyatt’s arms were like a vice around Stone’s neck and he pressed his lips harder, his tongue gently caressing the seam of Wyatt’s mouth.

  “Open for me.”

  Wyatt’s lips parted like a flower under the sun, but it was Stone who was burning. He groaned as the full impact of Wyatt’s essence bloomed along his tongue, filled his nose, and hardened his cock to the point of pain. Wyatt’s responses were clumsy, reeking of inexperience, and Stone’s wolf howled with pleasure at the idea of just how untouched his mate was.

  Naked. He needed to feel the silkiness of Wyatt’s skin, but his lips refused to give up their prize. A hard man, Stone saw kissing as a necessary evil when hoping to convince a hook up but meshing his lips with Wyatt was an orgasmic experience in itself. Unable to wait, he shifted his claws, Wyatt’s shirt ripping under them as easily as paper.

  Yes. Wyatt’s skin was as hot and silky as he hoped it would be. Slender build, every muscle in Wyatt’s back was lightly defined. Stone’s hand caressed every inch. Wyatt broke their kiss, panting hard as he edged his fingers under the waistband of Wyatt’s jeans.

  “Please don’t rip them,” Wyatt panted. “I don’t…I haven’t…I’ll take them off if you give me a minute.”

  Without any of the shyness Stone expected, Wyatt slipped off his lap, shrugging off his slippers and pushing his jeans to his knees before kicking them off. He stood there, his skin illuminated by the candle, and Stone groaned as he stood up, shedding his clothes just as fast.

  “Bed?” He asked, tugging Wyatt back towards him, his skin heating as they came together.

  “You were sitting on it.” Wyatt chuckled.

  Of course. Maddie has the only room. Stone hoped she was a sound sleeper. Hooking his jeans with his foot, Stone caught them one-handed, searching for the one-use lube packets he always carried with him. “I’m going to fuck you,” he said, wincing at how harsh his voice sounded in the gloom. “I’m going to fuck you and bite you and from that moment forward no one will ever touch you again. If you have any doubts, you tell me now.”

  “What about Maddie?” Wyatt’s chin went up.

  “She’s family.” Wyatt’s raised eyebrow made Stone want to punch himself. “I will treat her as my own sister. She will always be cared for and protected, and I won’t let anyone harm her.”

  “Even if something happens to me?”

  Stone frowned as a red flag in his head tried to get his attention. Unfortunately, when raging hard, his cock had the louder voice. “I promise I’ll care for her as a cherished sister for the rest of my life.”

  Wyatt’s bright blue eyes searched his face for a long minute before the younger man nodded. Then just as quietly, he turned, bending over the back of the couch, his pert ass on full display. Stone swallowed and then swallowed again. He was not a spiritual man, but he could worship those gently rounded mounds for days.

  “Changed your mind?” Wyatt peered over his shoulder and Stone pinched himself as he moved forward.

  “Not on your life.” Stone ripped the lube packed with his teeth, spreading most of the contents on the fingers of his left hand as he spat out the packet. Using his right arm to hold Wyatt steady, he rubbed a gentle circle around the tight muscles guarding Wyatt’s hole. They were surprisingly soft, and his fingers slipped in easily.

  Omega mine, his wolf howled in his head and Stone recalled some distant memory about the anomalies omegas showed when they met their fated mates. The self-lube and prep was probably necessary to prevent damage from impatient alphas. Stone sent a vote of thanks to the Fates as he spread the remaining lube on his length instead.

  “Are you ready?” Stone gripped Wyatt’s hips firmly although it wasn’t as though his mate was going anywhere. Apart from an imperceptible tremor down his spine Wyatt didn’t move.

  “Do it.” Wyatt’s head came up and his knuckles turned white as they gripped the couch.

  I’ve got more class than to just pound into you, baby, but then you don’t know me yet. You will. Stone smirked as he lined up his cock and gently thrust inside.

  Or maybe I left my class at home!

  Wyatt’s body sucked him in and Stone went willingly. Every other fuck felt sterile in comparison to Wyatt’s heat. Like the difference between sleeping on a cardboard box and rolling in a feather duvet. One was necessity, one was heaven and Stone was in horny heaven.

  “Tell me when I can move,” he grunted as their balls slapped together.

  “Now.” Wyatt braced himself and Stone thrust. Lust clouded his brain, his wolf pushed forward, causing Stone’s fangs to drop and like a piston, Stone pounded into his mate’s willing body. This is going to be the shortest claiming in history. He feels so fucking goooooood….

  Chapter Five

  Wyatt groaned under Stone’s onslaught. He’d seen people having sex before. Horridge was fond of unzipping his pants and sticking his dick in the nearest hole, uncaring of who was watching him. It was just a power trip for him. Women, men, it didn’t make a difference to the alpha who would berate one of his men for being gay one minute and shove his dick in the man’s mouth the next. But what Stone was doing was different. Wyatt couldn’t put his finger on why he didn’t get the feelings of revulsion he usually got watching sex. Maybe it was because they were mates, but he knew he’d bend over for Stone anywhere, anytime.

  His own hard on was another surprise. He was wolf. Sex was a natural part of life but for years his cock had been firmly in the off position. Now, leaking like crazy, banging against his abs as Stone rocked into him, Wyatt felt he’d go mad if he didn’t get the friction his dick demanded. One hand came off the couch and Wyatt fell forward, hurriedly resuming his grip on the cushions.

  “I’ve got you.”

  Wyatt moaned as Stone’s hand found his cock and caressed it. Held as he was, Wyatt lost control of his body; his brain emptying of everything except the force of Stone’s thrusts and the exquisite pressure on his cock. His wolf howled, and Wyatt tilted his neck, recognising the power of the stronger animal. A low growl sounded behind him and seconds later Wyatt felt a pinch of pain before his body exploded. Every ounce of tension, all his worries, anger, and stress disappeared as his balls pulsed and streams of spunk coated the couch. Closing his eyes, all Wyatt could do was pray his knees would hold out as his wolf’s spirit, normally a timid creature,
greeted the older Alpha with the exuberance of a puppy, curling into the stronger wolf spirit’s embrace. Safe.

  Safe. Wyatt could feel it too and while the idea he may have to go back to Horridge one day still tickled the back of his consciousness, the weight of the world fell off his shoulders knowing Maddie would be safe. Stone wasn’t the type of man to let her down; something Wyatt knew deep in his soul. As Stone carefully pulled his fangs from his neck, he twisted Wyatt’s body, pulling them both onto the couch. “You’re mine now. No more thoughts of Horridge,” Stone whispered in his ear. But Wyatt barely heard him. Encased in Stone’s arms, he felt nothing but relief and happiness as he sank into a deep sleep.

  ****

  Stone’s sense of pride increased as Wyatt curled up against him. There was another emotion tickling his system. Happiness. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time. Oh, he knew, like any other matings, there would be times when he and Wyatt would disagree. But that was what make-up sex was for. Stone couldn’t wait to try it. For now, he didn’t want to move, unwilling to shatter the perfection of this one moment. He’d done what so many shifters longed for and never had. He’d found his mate; his untouched mate. Well and truly claimed, any shifter who came within three feet of Wyatt now would smell the stronger shifter on him.

  Shaking his head, Stone mused about the mysterious ways the Fates intervened and pulled mates together. When Horridge first approached him – him, not his team, he wanted to dismiss the arrogant alpha’s offer outright; chasing errant omegas was an insult to his considerable skills. But the money the scurrilous alpha offered was double his usual fee. Looking down at Wyatt, he grinned. He’d got half his fee upfront and there was nothing Horridge could do about getting that back.