Jacks, Marcy - Eli's Reluctant Mate [DeWitt's Pack 5] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (6 page)

That was right, and Eli couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it before. “Okay, thank you, sir.”

“Eli?”

Eli halted before he could turn around and make his escape.

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever had sex with another man before?”

Eli wasn’t embarrassed by the question. This was his mated alpha  asking him this, so it wasn’t like the question hurt his sense of morals,  thin as they’d been recently. “Yes. I am gay. I just never thought I’d  mate with a man.”

James nodded, looking thoughtful. “It does seem to be happening

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an awful lot lately.”

And Eli thanked God for that. With all the shit he’d had to deal

with lately, having a woman he wasn’t interested in thrust upon him  would have sucked to high heaven. Of course, being mated to a  woman would have made him interested in her, enough to produce  pups, and maybe they would even get along as good friends, but Eli  just wasn’t interested in women that way.

Maybe Romulus and Remus were just taking a little pity on him.  They sent him a male mate, and he was also something decent to look

at, too.

“I’m going to go and find Chris.”

“He’s in Nick’s old cabin,” James said, and Eli left to claim his

mate.

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Chapter Five

It was beginning to drive Chris a little crazy how mellow everyone was acting, considering they were all beings that shouldn’t exist. Corey seemed like a friendly guy, though Chris wondered how his hand got to be so badly scarred. It looked like a fire burn over all of his fingers and the hand itself. He didn’t mention it, however, and  Chris didn’t think it was his business to  ask.

Tristan was funny. Somehow he managed to tell a story that would make Chris laugh, even though he was in a campsite filled with werewolves and no one from the outside knew where he was.

Wasn’t like he had anyone to report back to anyway.

Despite these worries, Chris slowly found himself relaxing around the pair of them, even when they began talking about the fun they had chasing rabbits through the trees and pouncing on a family of squirrels in their wolf forms, like that was normal for them.

They both gave Chris curious glances from time to time, especially whenever Chris locked eyes with them. However, they didn’t try to pounce on him or anything.

Maybe it was because they had their own significant others. At least, that was the impression Chris got whenever Corey or Tristan spoke about men named James and Isaac.

Didn’t mean they weren’t occasionally acting strange about something.

If Chris didn’t know any better, he’d say these men were babysitting him.

“Would my eyes really bring me trouble? With other werewolves,  I mean.” It was still strange, having that word pass his lips.

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Werewolves. This was going to take a little getting used to.

Both men looked at each other. Corey was the one to answer.  “Mostly this will only apply to unmated weres. There is something instinctual about it, though.”

“Yeah,” Tristan said. He was sitting on the bed, his ankle crossed over his knee. “I mean, I’m looking at you, and I kind of want to hit on you, but I don’t want to throw you down on the bed or anything like that.”

“Most of the unmated weres here will probably try flirting with  you to get some attention,” Corey said. “The mated ones will be  curious, but a few of them will probably try shaking your hand or  something.”

“To see if that will pass on any of my good luck?”  Chris asked.

Corey shrugged. “From what I understand, basically, yes.”

Chris didn’t feel very lucky. He didn’t think anything about his  situation was lucky at all. Nearly getting raped by some huge bearlike  man, who was actually a werewolf capable of ripping him in half if he  wanted to, and then having to come here for his safety to hide from  anyone else who might make a try for him …

It definitely wasn’t the way he’d hoped to spend his time  searching for his brother.

“So,” Tristan said, clearing his throat. “What do you think of Eli?”

“Eli?”

“The werewolf you rescued,” Corey said, as though Chris could  have ever forgotten him. “That’s a pretty cool new way to meet new  friends.”

Chris didn’t think so, nor was he even sure that he’d even rescued

Eli, considering the man was healing just nicely on his own anyway.  Admittedly, Chris was still struggling with the memory of Eli walking around his motel room naked, like that was the most natural thing in the world to be doing.

It still heated his blood with embarrassment.

Both men in front of him seemed to see this, and Chris realized

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that he was blushing, and they were smiling about it.

Only one thing they could be thinking about right at this moment.  “No, no. There’s nothing going on between him and me. Not  happening.”

“Sure,” Tristan drawled, grabbing one of the beers that had been  put on the nightstand for them. He took a swig from the bottle, still  somehow managing to keep his eyes on Chris and that knowing smile  on his lips.

“Okay, I get it. It’s my eyes, right?” Chris asked. “Well, I did drag  him back to my motel, but I was only doing that to try and help him.  Nothing happened in there, and nothing ever will,” he said.

“Really?” Corey asked, his brows raised.

Chris hoped he wouldn’t come off as a jerk, especially since these  two men were obviously part of the other team. “I’m not even gay. I  mean, is that why you guys are asking about him?”

Had Eli spoken to these other wolves, staking his claim? Is that  why everyone would rather send him curious glances rather than just  introducing themselves like normal people?

Chris wasn’t afraid of people who were gay. Far from it. Even he  was able to recognize beauty in its male form, and Eli had lots of that  in spades, but if either of these men were under the impression that there was something going on between him and Chris, well, Chris was  going to have to set them straight on that front.

Both Corey and Tristan looked at each other thoughtfully.

“Hm,” said Tristan.

“Well,” Corey said, looking back at Chris, “the two of you  will

get that all settled. Sorry we jumped to conclusions.”

“But what about―”

Corey elbowed Tristan in the ribs quickly, and Chris’s suspicion meter started sounding alarms inside of his head.

He needed to think, to get his head on straight for when Eli did return for him, especially if he thought he was going to claim Chris as his, or however it was the werewolves termed it.

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“I’m going to take a quick walk.”

Tristan and Corey got to their feet. “Great, we’ll go with you,”

Tristan said.

More evidence that these men were here as guards rather than as

friends.

“I’d rather go alone.”

They both looked at each other again in that way Chris was  growing to despise. “Uh, look,” Corey said. “I’m sure you’ve  probably already guessed that we’re here to watch you, but it really is  for your protection.”

Chris liked to think of himself as the sort of guy who was capable  of being calm, even when he wanted to blow his top. “Okay, can you  explain that to me? I thought we were safe here.”

“We are, relatively safe, anyway,” Tristan said. “But attacks have  been known to happen here when weres from other packs try to take  over the land. There was an attack here two months ago, and it  affected quite a few of us.”

“So, it’s not safe here,” Chris said.

“It’s safer for you to be here, where you can be watched, instead  of strolling around the woods by yourself, where a wild were from  another pack could be lurking,” Corey said. “And it’s safer for us, too.  You’re still a stranger to everyone out there. For all anyone knows,  you’re a spy send by a hunter or something.”

“I’m not a spy,” Chris said,  the anger rising inside of him.

“And we believe you,” Tristan said. “But it makes for better  common sense if we don’t let you roam free around the place. We still  have to be careful.”

Christ, now how in the hell was Chris supposed to argue against that? He couldn’t. Their reasoning was too solid for him to fight against it. Any thought-clearing meditation he did, it would have to be done in the presence of these two men here.

“Fine, let’s go then,” Chris said, getting to his feet and heading for the door.

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It might irk him, but he really needed to stretch his legs. Maybe when he met Eli next, these two would be allowed to give them some privacy.

Chris needed to make sure that Eli understood that there would be

nothing happening between them, but he also trusted the man enough

that he wanted to ask him about Dean. Him and no one else.

If Eli had some feelings for Chris, whether they were based solely on the color of his eyes or not, then maybe he could count on Eli to help him dig up some information.

And if it turned out someone here was responsible for Dean’s having gone missing, well, then he would just have to hope that Eli’s feelings stretched far enough that he wouldn’t want to see Chris vanish the same way his brother had.

* * * *

Eli didn’t find them in the small cottage, but the scents of all three men was strong, meaning they’d just left minutes before he’d arrived.

It made following their trails too easy, and Eli came upon them walking through the trees several yards away from the nearest house.

His  protective instincts flared, and he was nearly upon the group of them before Tristan turned up from whatever they were looking at to see the anger on Eli’s face.

He backed up a step, his hands raised. “Whoa, man, relax,”

“What the hell are you two doing bringing him out here?” Eli snapped. He didn’t care if Corey was James’s mate either. He was going to yell at him, too. “There’s other wolves prowling around who want a piece of him, and you bring him this far past the tree line?”

“We’re not that far out,” Corey said, looking beyond Eli to where the brighter clearing of cottages could still be seen in the distance, out from under the heavy canopy of trees.

If Eli strained his ears enough, he could still hear some of the children playing while the other omegas did their chores. He couldn’t

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make out exact words, not from this distance, but the noise, and the

sight of their home, had probably given these two omegas here the  false sense of security that had allowed them to come out this far.

“It doesn’t matter,” Eli said, refusing to be placated. “Other alpha  wolves have come this far in before. They’ve snuck in further, and as  long as he’s here, they’re going to think they have a reason to attack  us.”

“Shouldn’t I leave then?” Chris asked. “If I’m going to be causing  these kinds of problems, then―”

“No!” Eli snapped. “You can’t leave. You need protection as  much as anyone now that they’ve seen you.”

Seen your eyes, he wanted to say. If Chris really was some kind of  walking good-luck charm to whomever claimed him, then any were  who saw him would want him. They would kidnap him, try to force  him to become part of their packs. They would change him against his  will. Some would rape him.

Just the thought of that other wolf on top of Chris, trying to take  his clothes off while Eli had been lying there, almost too weak to even  do anything to save him …

It made him see red. It made him want to run off and hunt down

that son of a bitch right now and finish what he’d started.

Relax
.
 
Stay calm.
 
Eli took in a deep breath.
 
You’re just having a  strong reaction because your mate is right there. He’s safe for now.  Nothing is hurting him.

Corey and Tristan looked at each other and then at Chris.

“Maybe we should leave you two alone,” Corey said, walking  around Eli and heading back to  the cottages.

“Yeah,” Tristan agreed, following behind him.

With the way he’d acted, Eli half expected Chris to put up some  sort of protest at being left alone with him. He said nothing.

“You and I need to talk,” Eli started, hooking his thumbs into the

pockets of his jeans.

“Yeah,” Chris said. “Did you go around telling everyone in this

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camp that I’m yours?”