Heartsblood (11 page)

Surprised at the violence of his own thoughts, he realized he was already beginning to transform. From beside him, he heard a soft whine and saw that Jax was changing too, probably responding to all the testosterone and posturing in the group around him.

“Back off, Casey,” Jax said, his voice garbled with a mouth full of extra teeth. “You too, Zack. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.” He looked directly at his alpha partner, Cade. “Stop this now, Cade. It’s not going to work. I have a bad feeling about it.”

Cade shook his head. “We’ve come this far. Nicky, no one wants to hurt you or your wolf. Transform so we can see him. He needs to learn to be a member of this pack.”

The air around Cade shimmered a little as his body elongated, bony protuberances morphing his form into the shape of a wolf. Cade fell down on all fours, and thick, brown hair sprang up over his body. His face melted and pushed out, reforming itself. His big wolf looked around and focused on its mate as Jax also fell to the ground, fully shifted. The others followed suit until only Marco and Nicky were left standing together, the only ones who hadn’t yet transformed.

“Well, what are
you
waiting for?” Nicky said, backing away from Marco while keeping his eyes on the wolves standing silently in front of him.

“We’re in this together, baby. I’ll shift when you do.”

Nicky laughed shortly and snarled down at Casey’s wolf, who had stepped aggressively forward, growling at him. Nicky was beginning to transform, his eyes turning yellow, glowing slightly. With a suddenness that surprised Marco, he shifted fully and fell down in front of Casey, nipping at Casey’s flanks, immediately on the attack.

Casey’s wolf, who hadn’t been expecting it, fell back, but then turned and came charging forward again. By this time, Marco’s wolf was in front of Nicky and met Casey’s charge head on, leaping on top of him and forcing him onto his back. Marco’s eyes were full of blood, a haze so thick he could barely see. The sight of Casey attacking his mate had sent him over the edge, and he might have killed him had Zack not ripped into his flank with sharp claws, then pushed him off Casey with his body when his attention was distracted.

Marco leaped back to Nicky’s side, aware that Jax was there too, and the three of them faced off against the others, heads lowered and ears laid back on their heads, saliva dripping from their mouths. Cade’s wolf immediately backed away, its ears back, unable and unwilling to attack its own mate. Zack’s wolf slunk toward Nicky, its eyes filled with hatred, but backed off when Marco and Nicky both lowered their heads and came forward to meet him, Finally, he leaped off the trail and into the bushes. They could hear him scrambling through the thicket as he ran into the woods. Casey followed with one poisonous glare and a growl aimed in their direction, and as quickly as that, it was over.

Nicky’s wolf didn’t retreat, however. Instead it leaped away back down the trail in the direction of the lodge. Marco jumped forward to follow him into the night, leaving Cade and Jax together, facing each other in the moonlight.

* * * *

The wolf, who was inside Nicky, but who was
not
Nicky, ran headlong down the trail, gaining speed. He wasn’t as large as the big silver wolf behind him, but he could run fast, and he ran now as if his life depended on it.

He wanted only to get away from the others, who would never accept him, never understand him. It had always been that way, since long before he awoke in this body. He couldn’t remember his life before, not really. It came back to him in brief images. Snatches of conversations and sometimes smells that made him remember—something. The beautiful dark-haired boy had been important to him once, but it was hard to remember why. All he knew was that he was possessive and jealous of anyone near him, especially the big alpha Marco whom he hated more than anyone else. Or was it Zack? They all looked so much alike, and things were so mixed up in his brain.

He remembered fighting him once—or had that all been a dream? Whatever it was, it was long ago and almost forgotten until he’d seen the dark-haired boy again. And talked to him. And touched him. It had almost brought the memories back. Almost, but not quite. They were so tantalizingly close, like shining fruit that hung just out of reach. It made his head hurt to think of them.

The big silver wolf had almost caught up to him and when it did, he wasn’t sure what would happen. Maybe he would fight. Maybe he would surrender at last, just give up and let it all go. He was very tired of running.

With a chuff of breath, he fell to his back and rolled as the big wolf leaped on him and forced him over. He thought he would feel its teeth digging into his throat, but the wolf stood over him, its sides heaving for breath. This wolf had protected him—had come to his aid along with the smaller brown wolf when the others attacked. Could it be the silver wolf meant him no harm? The huge wolf bent over his snout and gently placed its teeth around it, staring down into his eyes. He never bit down, just held him in place until his heart stopped its wild thumping. Then with a final little shake, the wolf released him and transformed back into a man.

The wolf inside the human relaxed for the first time that evening, thinking he should allow the human to call him back inside. The big silver wolf could have killed him so easily. Why hadn’t he? He gave the man one last look of confusion and sank down deeper inside the human than he’d ever gone before.

* * * *

As Marco watched, Nicky’s body returned to its human form. Nicky blinked his beautiful eyes up at Marco, disoriented, his brain perhaps still not fully human. When he finally recognized who it was that hovered over him, he held up both arms to him and spoke in a soft voice, still hardly more than a whisper.

“Marco.”                           

Whatever tattered fragments of control he’d managed to gather together since he’d shifted back to his human form blew up in Marco’s face. He fell down beside his mate, his only thought to care for him, to make love to him, to hold him close and never let him go. He spit on his hand and eased first one and then two fingers inside him carefully, stretching him as Nicky moaned and writhed beneath his hand. Suddenly Marco’s incisors were back, brushing his sensitive lips as he ached to bury them in his mate’s neck.

He stretched him as carefully as he could, fighting for control. When he was satisfied that he wouldn’t hurt Nicky more than he had to, he eased his big cock inside his mate’s tight, soft hole, gripping his hips and pulling him back toward him. Nicky cried out and he waited for Nicky to adjust, feeling his heart beat steadily along with Marco’s own. They were one body now, one soul. It was when he was joined with Nicky like this that he wondered how he survived the other times without him. It seemed like an amputation to be apart, like losing a part of himself that was the best part, the essential part. Easing in farther, he pulled Nicky’s hips onto his lap and angled upward to brush against the spot inside him that would make this easier for him. Nicky groaned with pleasure mixed with pain and pushed his hips down toward him.

“Harder,” he cried, panting for breath. “Take me harder. I need you.”

Marco sank his cock deeply into Nicky then, and at the same time he buried his fangs in the soft flesh at the side of his neck. After only a few hard thrusts Marco felt his semen flooding into Nicky, and the fierce possessiveness swept over him again. This man was his. No one would ever take him away or be allowed to come between them.

Easing out of him and panting for breath, Marco pushed Nicky’s limp body gently off his lap and back onto his side on the ground, then spooned Nicky gently as he curled up beside him. He looked down at Nicky and tucked a curly lock of hair behind his ear. His breathing was steady, though a little fast. Pulling him closer, he wrapped an arm around his waist and finally allowed exhaustion to overtake him. Just before he’d claimed him, Nicky had cried out to him, “I need you.” Marco closed his eyes and let those words sink deep inside him, bringing warmth and comfort.

* * * *

As soon as Jax saw Nicky’s wolf running down the trail toward Mountainwood with Marco right behind him, he sagged in relief. This might not be quite the disaster he feared after all. He heard a noise behind him and whirled to see Cade, in his human form crouching on the ground, looking a bit disoriented. The moon was still high overhead, exerting its strong pull.

Jax wasn’t as affected by the full moon as Cade was, maybe because his transformation wasn’t anything he’d been born with. At any rate, he was the first to recover and knelt down beside his mate. “Are you all right?” he asked, trailing the back of his fingers along Cade’s cheek.

Cade nodded and pulled Jax down beside him. “Where’s Nicky?”

“He ran toward home. Marco went with him.”

“Zack? Casey?”

“No idea. They ran off that way,” Jax said, pointing into the woods.

Cade nodded again and Jax sat quietly beside him, giving him time to get his bearings. After a few more minutes, Cade glanced over at Jax. “You’re angry.”

“A little, yeah. Nicky was right—that was like some kind of stupid gang fight. It wasn’t what I signed on for.”

“It got out of hand, but it had the effect I was looking for.”

Jax laughed bitterly. “What effect would that be? To drive a wedge between Marco and the rest of you? He won’t forgive what happened, you know.”

Cade turned his head to gaze into Jax’s eyes. “What exactly do you think happened?”

“You and the others jumped on Nicky. Casey and Zack were about to attack him, damn it.”

“No,” Cade replied, shaking his head. “Casey and Zack pushed Marco into taking a stand alongside his mate. Now maybe the wolf inside Nicky won’t look on him as an enemy anymore. Hopefully, he’ll begin to rely on him as an ally, and then they can work toward becoming a true alpha pair.”

Jax angled a skeptical look at Cade. “Oh really? And you had this figured out all along?”

Cade smiled and shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Liar,” Jax said, leaning over to brush his lips against Cade’s.

Cade laughed and the sound was like a balm on Jax’s frayed nerves. “Well, maybe it did kind of occur to me right in the middle of things when Casey started to get belligerent. It all worked out in the long run, though, right?”

“Lucky you.”

“It’s skill, baby, not just luck.” Cade pulled Jax closer to get a proper kiss, his hand gentle on Jax’s cheek, his fingers trailing down Jax’s neck as he pulled away.

A noise coming toward them from the woods made Cade get to his feet and pull Jax along with him. They were standing in the moonlight facing the trees when Zack and Casey, back to their human forms, came out of the woods.

Both men were winded, as if they’d been running under the moon, but Zack actually looked unwell. He was pale and his hands shook as they came closer.

“What is it, Zack?” Cade asked. “Did something happen in the woods? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I think I have,” he said, shaking his head. “Nicky’s wolf? I’m almost positive it was Tim.”

“Tim?” Jax said blankly. “What do you mean? Who the hell is that?”

Zack glanced over at him miserably. “Tim was my cousin. I killed him myself over two years ago. He’s buried behind my lodge.”

* * * *

Marco paced up and down the length of his office, upset and angry. He still hadn’t forgiven the other alphas for what they’d put Nicky through, and he wasn’t sure he could even trust them anymore. He sure as hell didn’t want them in his office so early in the morning, before he’d even had breakfast.

They sat at the long table he set up as a conference table and all of them looked uneasy. They had reason to. All of them, with the exception of Jax, had aligned themselves against Nicky. That meant they had aligned themselves against Marco too.

Marco glanced over at Nicky, who sat beside his desk in an armchair, looking much calmer than Marco felt. This latest story Zack had come up with was insane, and Marco wasn’t sure he even wanted to listen to any more of it.

He stopped his pacing and fixed an angry gaze on Zack. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I think this is just another attempt to discredit Nicky.”

“I’m telling you, that wolf is—was Tim’s. The minute I saw him last night, I knew him. He was my cousin. We grew up together, damn it.”

“You said he was dead.”

“He is. And buried on my own property. I told you. I killed him myself.”

“Explain to us all again what happened, Zack,” Cade said quietly. “Maybe it will help us to understand better.”

Zack sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Tim and I were first cousins, on my mother’s side, so you probably wouldn’t remember him. We were raised together, both alpha males. We always knew, I guess, that one day we’d face each other in the ancestral ring. A pack can have only one leader, after all. Whichever one of us didn’t win would have to go out and start a new pack.”

“Like you did back in Louisiana, Cade,” Jax spoke up for the first time. He’d been standing quietly beside Nicky, leaning up against the wall, showing solidarity with his nearness.

“Yes,” Cade said, “but you mustn’t think it’s easy. All wolves love their pack land, and all have a close emotional attachment to it, so starting up a new pack is not only difficult, but almost unthinkable. And that’s pretty much what Tim and I did when we were younger—we just didn’t think about it. Neither one of us wanted to think about leaving our home. It’s not that either of us would have made the other one leave, but it’s just too hard to accept the domination of another alpha. That’s why there are so many young rogues roaming the woods at any given time. Sometimes they’re literally left homeless until they can either find a new pack or swallow their pride and go back home.”

“And that’s what Tim did?” Jax prompted.

“Finally, yes. Being alone is an almost foreign concept to wolves, you know, so most of the so-called rogues eventually go home. They need the pack. Tim was gone for over a year. We’d tried to find him, but it was as if he’d disappeared off the face of the earth. Just when we had almost given up hope, he reappeared. He said he’d been living as a wanderer, doing odd jobs and just drifting. Finally, he said, he couldn’t take being away from his family and his home any longer, and he asked to be allowed to come home. I welcomed him back with open arms. I truly did. He was my best friend as a boy, and I made him my lead gamma, giving him a place on the council. I tried to help him fit back in, but all of us could see how different he was. Not just quiet and moody, because he was that, for sure, but…off. Growing up, Tim was my best friend. My closest companion. But he was changed. He couldn’t seem to assimilate back into pack life again. He’d go off by himself for days at a time. We were all worried about him, but I thought if I gave him enough time, he’d be okay.”