The Link That Binds (11 page)

Thinking it best not to say anything, Link let the vampire rant.

“Now, I know you have urges, Link, and it does occur to me that this just might be an opportunity for us to make some headway,” Mika said, wiping his hands on his pants as if they were clammy.

Whatever was wrong with the guy couldn’t be just because of the drugs. Had he been human, these would have been reasonably understandable symptoms, but Mika was about as human as a dirty dishrag.

“Solomon Jorgens has some files that I would very much like to get hold of,” Mika started, “And if you treasure the people in your life, you will retrieve them for me. As for Jace, I don’t really care if you fuck him or not, knock yourself out, but get me those files by tomorrow, or else the little kitties will be all you have left in this world.”

Link sat very still as Mika got into his face and tried not to vomit at the stench of rotting blood oozing off Mika’s breath. “What files?”

“That’s a good little drug dealer.”

Link regretted that he hadn’t spent more time learning the layout to the manor. Solomon’s home wasn’t exactly lacking in rooms and hunting out his office wasn’t the easiest thing to do. He hadn’t exactly felt comfortable asking Damian about it either. He didn’t want there to be questions.

He knew where the kitchen was, where Jace’s bedroom was and Damian had already pointed out Jace’s office to him before, but for the love of whatever, he had no fucking clue where Solomon’s office was located. He knew the office had to be somewhere on the first floor, but that was pretty much as far as his knowledge went. Why did the place have to be so damn large?

Luckily he didn’t have to look too long for the pride leader. The first couple of rooms he checked were a complete waste of time, one room actually being a frickin’ broom closet. The third room he searched had a set of double doors, leading him into what looked like a library and he found Solomon talking quietly with a somewhat worn out looking Maddox.

Solomon looked up to acknowledge him and Link could see Maddox tense. Solomon said something to the lion-shifter, who then turned to leave. As he passed Link on his way out, Link couldn’t remember anyone ever looking so defeated and…
angry
?

“Link, you wanted to speak with me?” Solomon asked as he took his place behind a disturbingly similar desk to the one Jace had in his office.

Shaking off the images of a naked Jace bent over it, Link started casual. “Is everything all right with Leo?”

“Leo is fine and so is Maddox. Liam however, whom you just saw leaving, is having some personal issues.” Solomon stated, letting him know that this wasn’t something to be discussed further.

“Liam? They’re twins?” Link frowned, wondering how he’d been able to miss such a thing. Granted he hadn’t exactly socialized much with Jace’s pride-mates since coming here, but still, he’d even been to dinner with them…

“Yep, but somehow I don’t think you’re here to discuss the occurrence of twins in the pride. Is this about Jace, have you told him yet?”

“What? No, this is about me. You remember Debra, whom you overheard me talking about?” He waited to continue until Solomon nodded. “Last night she got a visit by some woman at work, saying she was my girlfriend and looking for information on the twink I’ve been hooking up with.”

“Twink huh? Bet Jace’ll love that one.” Solomon snickered.

“Yeah, got a smile out of me too, but this is serious, Sol. She didn’t get her name, but Debra described her as a peroxide-blonde psychopath, and I don’t know about you, but there is one particular female I know fitting that description.”

Solomon straightened, a look of disgust as he ground out her name. “Christa.”

“Yeah and she was asking about Jace. Kind of hoped it was just some groupie. There’ve been some chicks who’ve just never really gotten the point, you know, but I got a visit at the bar tonight.”

“Christa?” Sol asked.

“No, Mika.” Link clarified. “He knows, Sol, and he’s holding a big fucking gun to my head right now. He wants files. Some crap of yours he apparently thinks would be useful.”

Sitting back in his chair, Sol looked him over. “Then why are you telling me this? Why aren’t you sneaking in here in the middle of the night looking for those files?”

Glaring back at the tiger, Link took a deep breath before biting out. “You fucking well know I would never do that to Jace and I’m also not dumb enough to think I could get away with it if I did. And even if I did, I could throw Mika a helluva lot farther than I trust the guy to keep his word.”

Solomon nodded in understanding before picking up the phone. “Give me the address and I’ll call in a favor and have a security team come in and extract them.”

Relief filled Link. Solomon would keep good on his promise. He knew he would. Now all he could do was hope Sol got them first.

Link told Solomon the address and the man started dialing. Before pushing in the last digit though, he stopped and looked up at Link.

“You better go tell Jace, ‘cause Link, your deadline’s just been pushed up.”

Realizing the man’s words, Link swore… guess he couldn’t dodge the bullet anymore.

* * * *

Link watched Jace sleep a few more minutes, momentarily captured by the sight of the pale, flawless skin of his mate. It wasn’t often Jace slept when he came in, always ready for loving when he got back from work, but he’d headed home early, just as soon as he was certain Mika wasn’t following him.

Link suspected Jace used an alarm clock so he’d be awake when he got back. The man did need his rest. Jace had a lot of work to handle and Link definitely constituted a distraction, but he always seemed to get things done and be just as hot for Link’s touches whenever he was around.

Sitting down on the bed next to Jace, his kitten stirred.

“Jace? I need to talk to you.”

* * * *

“Kids?! You have kids?” Jace sputtered, he so couldn’t have heard that right. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Link seemed to take a deep breath and held Jace’s gaze locked with his. “I used to be married…”

“You were married!?” Jace started again, eyes wide. “With a woma… mphm.” His words were suddenly muffled as Link’s hand covered his mouth and he was pushed down on the bed. Link’s body covered his and held him still. Jace took a moment to savor the feel of his mate’s hard body pressed against his ‘til he remembered what Link had just said. “Mphm!”

“Her name is Debra Lawson and we were married for seven years,” Link continued. “During that time, we had two sons, Jason and Kyle.”

Kids… he has kids… sons… two of them… whoa…

Jace’s mind spun circles around the new info. This had to have been the last thing he’d ever expected to hear when Link roused him from his sleep, looking all sexy and bare chested…
The bugger
! He’d probably left his shirt off on purpose, just to distract him. Even his leopard snarled at the cheap trick.
Bad mate!

“Last night, Debra called me. A woman went to her work, asking about us. I’m pretty sure that it was Christa she was talking about,” Link explained, catching Jace’s attention. “Actually, I’m pretty damn certain seeing as Mika came to visit me today, baring fangs.”

Jace almost sent Link flying to the floor when he sat up abruptly. “We’ve gotta get them out of there!” He was already halfway to his closet to hunt for a pair of pants when someone grabbed him and pulled him back.

“Link, we can’t just let them stay there! Mika knows, dammit!” Jace snarled, his leopard roaring with him. He was completely caught off guard when Link pulled him into a hug and squeezed him.

“Thank you,” Link whispered against his cheek before taking Jace’s mouth in a devastating kiss.

Only his leopard, reminding him of the issue at hand, had Jace pull back. “What the hell is wrong with you, Link? Your kids…”

“Are fine,” Link finished for him and not in the way he’d expected. “Or they will be; Sol already has people on the way to get them to a safe location. He’s gonna get us when everything’s been confirmed.”

Jace felt like he could breathe again, not even realizing he’d been holding it in, but neither he nor his beast were completely at ease and they could both sense the fear and tension running through Link’s body. One thing struck him as odd though. “What were you thanking me for?”

Link smiled at him and let his thumb caress Jace’s lower lip with a soft look in his eyes Jace hadn’t seen before. “For caring about what happens to my kids even though you haven’t met them yet. Hell, you didn’t even know about them until just a few minutes ago.”

“Of course I care! Those kids are part of you and,” Jace tried to explain, realizing something as he went, “and… they’re mine.”

Jace was having trouble wrapping his mind around the idea, but these were
Link’s
kids and Link was
his
mate… his leopard confirmed it with his possessive thinking of these kids. These were
their
cubs too. Well fuck…

His thoughts were interrupted when Link ambushed him. Link had his tongue down his throat before he could even react. There was a hunger in the kiss, a desperation telling him his mate needed distracting. And frankly, so did he.

Fumbling, Jace managed to get hold of the lube on the bedside table without pulling away from Link. While Link appeared busy feeling up every piece of Jace’s skin he could get to, Jace slicked up his fingers and reached down between them to get himself ready. He was still pretty stretched from their earlier activities but he moaned as he pushed two fingers inside.

He growled when Link pulled away, but his mate wasn’t focused on him. Link was focused on the fingers that were stretching Jace’s ass. Experimenting, Jace pushed them in further and Link groaned.

Jace shivered as Link caressed the area where he stretched himself. Locking eyes with Jace, Link asked him. “Jace… will you let me tie you down?”

Both Jace and his leopard tensed, he knew his mate had kinks, but…
bondage
? Jace hadn’t the heart to say no even with how uncomfortable he felt. “Not with chains,” Jace managed to get out, trying hard not to show his unease. But he trusted Link. Hell, he fucking
loved
the guy, probably had since he first saw him. He just hadn’t worked up the courage to tell him yet.

“Shh, I won’t do anything to hurt you, Jace. I won’t use chains and If it gets to be too much just say so and I’ll stop,” Link promised.

Jace felt vulnerable as Link left the bed and started going through one of the dressers Jace had cleared out for him. The shifter was somewhat relieved when his mate returned with several pale blue, silk ropes.

Kissing his way up Jace’s stomach and chest, Link brought the hand that Jace had just used to prepare himself towards the headboard. Jace drew in a breath as the smooth silk closed around his wrist. Jace was confident that if he really needed to get out, his Triferus would be more than strong enough to shred the bindings, but he didn’t think he would have to. Link handled him gentler than he’d expected and didn’t tighten the ropes too much so Jace still had some sense of mobility.

Jace lifted his other hand up to his mate, who kissed the pulse on the inside of his wrist before gently tying it to the other side of the headboard. Jace half expected Link to tie his legs as well, but Link seemed perfectly content with restraining just his hands… or at least until Link brought forth a silk scarf and moved to blindfold Jace.

“Wait!” Jace only now realized he was shaking.

“Jace, baby, I’m right here. I know you’re scared,” Link said, soothing Jace’s tense muscles with his hands. “Just trust me, okay? Please? If it gets to be too much, I’ll stop.”

When Link kissed him again, Jace felt starved for his touch any way he could get it and was panting by the time the kiss broke. “Okay,” he whispered with his head buried against Link’s neck, calming down as he took in his lover’s scent.

“You sure?” Link asked and Jace nodded, pulling back to look into Link’s eyes.

“Just… pull it off if I say so, okay?” Jace needed Link to promise. He’d never let anyone tie him down before, not willingly, and he needed to remember that this was something completely different. He still felt like he would freak when he couldn’t see his mate.

He focused on his breathing as Link placed the soft material over his eyes, kissing his forehead and rubbing Jace’s chest and stomach, which had a calming effect. He just needed to remember that it was Link, that they were in bed together and Link just wanted to bring them pleasure. Hell, the man wanted to fuck him into the mattress, something Jace was all for.

Jace’s prick certainly perked up at the thought, it was a sensual thing, not a violent one and Jace moaned as his mate started torturing his nipples with his mouth.

“Use your senses, Jace,” Link practically purred at him, a sound Jace had never heard from his mate before. Jace usually ended up doing the purring. “Scent me, Jace; feel me,” Link continued.

Jace panted as Link began licking his way down, dipping his tongue in Jace’s bellybutton. His mate was right, even if he couldn’t see him, Jace sure as hell could smell him. Sniffing the air, Link’s scent came across strong and potent. The scent, combined with Link’s ministrations with his tongue, had Jace leaking clear droplets of pre-cum.

“Please…” Jace gasped when Link lapped at the head of his cock.

“Please what, baby?” Link teased as he licked Jace’s cock from root to tip.

“Aw god, stop fucking around and suck me already.” Jace purred, out of breath. He wished he could see Link, see him posed above his hard, leaking dick…
ah hell,
he just wanted to know where the fuck to aim!

Hearing his mate chuckle, Jace cried out when Link swallowed him down to the root in one gulp… he didn’t even gag…

Jace had to fight the desire to wrap his legs around his mate’s head and thrust like he wanted. His beast, though, wanted nothing more than to shed the ropes and pounce, mounting its mate in the most primal way and Jace could feel how his leopard tried to push the Triferus to the surface so that they could experience their mate together.