The Reluctant Wolf (Book 1 Cloverleah Pack) (24 page)

“I am Master Shawn and I don’t like people messing with my mate.  Got it?”

“Yeah man.  Will never touch him
ever.”

“You won’t touch anyone again.”  Shawn’s voice was quietly deadly and the bear started trembling again. Looking back over his shoulder, Shawn saw Kane just a few feet away, with Griff at his side, his big arm over Kane’s shoulder.

“Can I borrow your phone a minute, hon?”  Kane slipped his hand into his now done up pants and handed it to Shawn.  Flipping through the contacts, Shawn found the one he was looking for and dialed.  Putting the phone on speaker everyone could hear when the recipient answered.

“It’s Damien, what do you want?”  The bear shifter’s face went white.

“Hi Damien, it’s Shawn.  I found Bruce for you.”

“Oh good man.” Damien’s silky voice seemed pleased. “Where is he and how did you come to find him?”

“He is at Claude’s.  He was manhandling my mate.”

“Hmmm, and I take it you weren’t overly pleased?”

“That’s an understatement.”  Shawn bit the words out.

“Has he hurt anyone else at Claude’s?”  Shawn looked over at Claude who shook his head.

“No Damien, he has only been a member here for a week.”

“Okay, well I want him back because of what he did to those two subs. Their families are owed that at least. 
Do I get him back in one piece or in bits?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Do you have a preference?”  Shawn’s voice was flat and he hadn’t taken his eyes off of Bruce.

“Do you mind sending him back in one piece?  I have more than enough people here who want to tear him to pieces themselves for what he did. You could zap him to the holding cells here and let us take care of it?”

“Yeah, sure Damien.  Just don’t ever let him leave, okay?”

“He is as good as dead.  You have my word.”  Damien’s voice was still silky but it had a sinister ring to it.

“Pleasure doing business, Damien.  We will see you again soon.”

“I am looking forward to it.” Damien clicked off.

Looking over at Claude, Shawn asked, “Do you have anything you need to do to this fucker before I send him on to Damien.”

Shaking his head, Claude said, “No.  I am just bloody grateful he picked on your mate as his first sub otherwise things could have got a lot worse.  Send Damien his package and let’s all get back to having some fun.”

“Don’t send me back; please don’t send me to Damien’s.  He will kill me.”  The bear shifter was begging now.

“For what you did I should kill you myself and believe me Damien’s way will be a lot more pleasant.”  Letting Bruce stew on his words, Shawn flicked his fingers and the bear was gone. He moved back to where Griff and Kane were standing, gathering Kane up in his arms.

“Shit Shawn, you really don’t like it when someone touches Kane do you?”  Griff’s voice was loud and designed to carry around the room.  Shawn grinned because he knew what Griff was doing. 

“You’re right, Griff, I don’t.”  Shawn’s growls echoed around the club and more than a couple of men quickly looked the other way.  Hmm, that might stop a few wannabees for a while.  He looked at Kane who had his face buried in Shawn’s hair.  The man was still shaking although he was hiding it well.

“Come on hon, let’s get you out of here for a bit, okay.”

Kane nodded. Looking at Griff, Shawn asked, “Will you be okay here for a while longer?  I am taking Kane up to Claude’s suite.”

“No probs, man.  Come and get me in the dance bar when you are ready to go.”
  Griff hugged Shawn, patted Kane’s shoulder and strode off through the crowd.

/~/~/~/

Kane let go of Shawn when they got in the room and started pacing the floor.  Not wanting to freak Kane out any further by sitting on the huge bed that dominated the room, Shawn saw a love seat in the corner and quietly walking over to it, he sat there, watching Kane intently.  It wasn’t long before Kane started talking.

“I have never felt so violated, hon…I didn’t know what to do…I made you a promise you know, and I kept it…but God all I can feel is his fingers in my pants and his fucking cock pressed against my
ass…and I couldn’t do anything about it.  He was a fucking bear shifter.  He thought I was a bloody sub…How was I meant to get out of that grip…God and that smell…argh I just feel so dirty.”

On and on Kane went for more than half an hour.  Shawn just sat quietly and let him talk it all out.  He understood why Kane felt the way he did and he was gutted inside that Kane didn’t call for help sooner.  Shawn knew he should never have insisted that Kane leave him alone while he was
doing the demonstration, but hell who would have thought a bear shifter would have taken that day, in that place to pick his mate as his next fuck toy.

When he could see that Kane was starting to wind down, Shawn flicked his fingers at the bathroom,
sensing that Claude had a huge tub in there that was perfect for up to six people to sit in, submerge themselves and relax.  In seconds he knew the tub was filled with hot fragrant water and soothing oils.  Standing up, Shawn stood in front of Kane, stopping his pacing, and gently put a hand on his chest.  He looked up and gently gazed into Kane’s eyes, letting all of the love he had for his mate shine through. Waiting until he saw a glimmer of the same love in his mate’s eyes, he nodded for Kane to step through into the bathroom.

“Come on hon, let’s get you cleaned up a bit, okay?” Looking a bit panicky, Kane went to take off his clothes, but then he looked at Shawn and dropped his hands.

“It’s okay hon, I will be in the next room if you need me,” and Shawn quickly slipped through the door and pulled it partially closed so Kane had some privacy.

Kane stripped off his clothes and sunk into the hot water.  God, that felt so much better and
the water smelt so good.  Dunking his head under the water, Kane found some shampoo on the edge of the tub and slopping heaps of it into his hand he lathered his hair, before soaping his whole body, over and over to get rid of the smell of the bloody bear.  Only then did he dunk his head again to get rid of the shampoo.

Relaxing his head against the edge of the tub, Kane thought back over the evening.  He knew he should have attracted someone’s attention as soon as he knew he couldn’t get out of the bear’s grasp, but he really didn’t want to break the spell his mate had cast over the crowd.  He also didn’t want Shawn to have to leave that brave sub hanging on the St. Andrews Cross while he dealt with the problem.  And he knew that Shawn would have done that in
an instant, stopped the demonstration, left the sub and flown to his side the moment that he thought his mate was in trouble.

He was so lucky to have a mate like Shawn, he knew that.  It wasn’t so much that his mate was so powerful, although he was definitely that.  Kane realized he was also one of the most decent beings on the planet.  Kane knew that Shawn had wanted to tear that bear limb from limb, and that he could have done it.  But because he knew the bear’s back story, he contacted Damien first and asked him what he wanted done.  And when Damien had said that the families of the subs that had been hurt needed
their own form of payback, Shawn had made that happen.

Hearing a soft tap on the door, Kane turned his head as Shawn walked in with a pile of clothes.  “I…er…got you some new threads and
I’ll get rid of the old ones.  I kinda figured you wouldn’t want to wear them again.”  Shawn put the clothes on the downturned toilet lid, scooped up the dirty clothes from the floor and went back out the door pulling it closed behind him.

Shawn, his mate.  More powerful than a bear shifter and kinder than any man Kane had ever met.
Suddenly Kane realized he wanted Shawn in his arms, not for sex right this minute although he knew that would come soon enough, but just to hold him.  Getting out of the tub, he grabbed the first towel that came to hand and dried himself off quickly.  Throwing on his clothes he opened the door and leaned on the door jam.

Shawn was still sitting on the love seat, his head in his hands.  He looked up as he heard Kane come in, but kept his expression neutral.  Kane grinned at him, “Come on, let’s go dancing.”

A myriad of expressions flashed across Shawn’s face.  Concern, love, surprise.  Yep surprise most of all.  Then Shawn smiled and Kane knew it was going to take a lot more than a grabby bear shifter to stop him from wanting his mate, in bed and out.  When Shawn stood up, Kane held out his hand and they walked out the door, Shawn flicking his fingers as they went.

“You cleaned the bathroom, didn’t you?”

Shawn smiled.  “Well, you never know we might want to use this room again one day and I don’t want Claude to think we are bad guests.”

Laughing together the two men ducked through the BDSM hall and out to the dance bar.  Griff was over at the bar itself talking to some tall
blond bloke dressed entirely in black.  He smiled when he saw Kane and Shawn come in and head straight to the dance floor.  A song by Bryan Adams,
Everything I do, I do it for you
, had just started playing and Kane pulled Shawn into his arms and held him firmly as they started moving to the music.

Shawn rested his arms across Kane’s shoulders and his body melded to Kane’s perfectly, his long limbs and lean torso comforting and sexy all in one go.  When Kane dropped his head into Shawn’s hair he felt Shawn’s fingers gently run up through his own tresses, calming, comforting and loving.
And there they stayed, moving in perfect time with both the music and each other.  For that moment the rest of the world ceased to exist and Kane knew he was the luckiest man in the world. He had his mate, his lover and the man he wanted to be with for the rest of his life in his arms and nothing in the world would ever belittle the love he had in his heart.  He was Alpha, he was a man in love and anything he had to face in his future he knew he could, purely because of the man in his arms.

The End

Excerpt to The Runaway Cat - The Sequel to The Reluctant Wolf

Chapter One

As Griff Matthews strode back into the dance bar after Kane and Shawn had left to go upstairs, he was just really thankful that Shawn was in their pack.  Although he and Kane had been together virtually their whole lives with the exception of Griff’s time in the military he knew they both would have had problems taking on a bloody bear shifter.  But far out, the anger in Shawn and the way it manifested itself was just unbelievable.  The look in his eyes as Shawn had watched the bear on the floor writhing in pain left Griff in no doubt that Shawn would have blasted the man into a million atoms without a second thought.  Yep Kane had a good man at his back and in a way Griff felt slightly relieved. He really didn’t have to watch out for Kane as much anymore and although Kane would always be his cousin, his Alpha, and his very best friend it would be nice to spend a bit of time building a life for himself too.

So now was a good a time as any to get drunk, watch the dancing and maybe, just maybe find someone who wasn’t that intimidated by him that he could get laid.  Griff snorted.  Not likely to happen anytime soon but still the drinks would help
dull any hopes he might have in that direction. The drinks would keep his wolf quiet which wasn’t a bad thing either given he hadn’t gone for a run for weeks.

Griff was under no illusions he looked like trouble.  It wasn’t intentional; it was just the way he was.  At 6’5” he had a
big well muscled chest that tapered down to a surprisingly small waist and ass.  His long legs were strong and supple and in his head designed to wrap around the waist of the man of his dreams. Okay well if that was the way his thoughts were running maybe he would settle for a decent pair of lips around his cock so he could get off on the idea of being screwed even if it wasn’t going to happen in actuality.

His green eyes scanned the bar.  Most guys in the club were dancing, their bodies a frenzied mass of bump and grind
as they desperately tried to find some release.  There were a few guys just leaning on the bar, one of them he recognized.  Saul, hmmm what was that little pup doing here.  Up to his same old tricks as usual Griff presumed.  He grinned to himself as he wondered what the little guy would do if he knew Kane and Shawn were in the club.  He remembered how Shawn had handled the little man last time the pup had the audacity to put his hands all over Kane.  The boy had been given a firm lecture on behaving himself but looking at the way Saul was dressed in his tight leather pants and bright green skintight top Griff reckoned the lecture hadn’t been strong enough.

He went back to scanning the rest of the men at the bar,
Griff’s sharp gaze picked out a new face and body.  Long blond hair, hmmm couldn’t see much else of the face as the man was standing facing the bar, but that gave Griff the perfect opportunity to scope out the body and man what a body.  Dressed entirely in black the man stood out not so much by what he was wearing but the way he was standing.  Leaning over the bar his back muscles flexed as the man raised his drink and chucked it back in one swallow before indicating to the barman for another round.  Griff’s eyes ran down the man’s back to an incredible ass well displayed in black jeans and long legs.  This guy had to be almost as tall, as Griff, maybe 6’3” or 6’4”, just slimmer. A cat shifter, almost definitely. Griff’s mouth started to water.  Maybe tonight wouldn’t be a total write off after all. 

Without thinking much about it, Griff strode over to the bar to stand next to his wet dream and raised his hand at the barman.

“The usual, Griff?”  The barman waited for his nod and started setting out six glasses, filling each one with a double shot of Glenfiddich.  Then he reached behind him and pulled out a bottle of Claude’s own beer brew.  Setting them all on a tray he carried them over and put them in front of Griff with a smirk.

“Thanks Clive, will let you know when I am ready for round two.”

Griff took each glass and set them in a row in front of him.  Then taking the one from the left first he picked them up swallowed them in one gulp, slamming down the glass and picking up the next one.  All six glasses were gone in less than a minute.  Griff could feel the burn down his throat and the buzz starting to run through his body.  It would take a lot more than twelve shots of whiskey to get him drunk but it was a good start.  He put the glasses back on the tray and picked up the beer for a long swallow.

“Well that’s impressive.”  Griff almost choked on his beer.  The Man in Black, ha ha, had spoken beside him and that voice damn it went right through him.  Soft, low and gravelly it reminded Griff of every sinfully decadent thing he could think of.  He looked over to see just for himself if the face matched the voice
and holy shit, it did. Squared, strong face, deep black eyes with amazing eyebrows, a straight nose and full pale lips that were quirked in a half grin as the man was waiting to see if Griff had a response. Yup it was official Griff was screwed.

Griff looked down at the empty glasses before looking back up at the stranger in front of him.

“Impressed about what exactly?  The fact that I can put down 6 doubles in less than a minute, or the fact that I am still standing upright?” Griff was teasing and he let it show on his face. He took another swallow of his beer and stood quiet as the stranger now openly checked him out.

Special Agent
Derrick ‘Diablo’ Franklin had originally planned to just pop into Claude’s get a drink, a fast hook up and pop out again.  He was coming to the end of a long and hard undercover job and he was stressed, tense and in desperate need for some type of release.  His case was wearing on him more than it should for more reasons than he cared to examine.  His cat had been snarky and hard to control for weeks.  Or it had been.  As Diablo looked closely at the man beside him, he honestly felt his cat purr and he wondered where the hell that had come from.

The drinker was definitely worth looking at.  Tall and well built the man held himself with confidence and grace despite his large size.
His chiseled face was topped with bright green eyes, his chin and full mouth framed by a tightly groomed goatee.  The man was drop dead gorgeous. Diablo wondered what his wolf form would look like.  Big, rugged and mean he reckoned. Hmmm he had two days before he had to get back and this tantalizing man in front of him could go a long way to easing some of his tension.

“Both actually.  I am Diablo.” Decision made Diablo held out his hand for a shake.

“Griff.” The larger man took his hand with a gentleness that belied its strength and as he shook it Diablo felt the electricity between them.  He had to force himself to drop the hand after he had held it longer than considered decent.

“I don’t usually drink
very often,” Griff went on to explain, “but I felt the need for a buzz.  It has been a long couple of months and I learned a long time ago the best way to feel the alcohol at all is to slam it in, hard and fast and then let the high flow for a while.  Plus,” he said as he indicated to Clive he was ready for another round, “it saves Clive here a whole stack of running around keeping me happy.”

Diablo had been distracted by the ‘slam it in, hard and fast’ statement and took a moment to reply.  He never bottomed but hell he would give it up for this wolf in a heartbeat although he wasn’t sure why.
  Fascinated he watched as Griff slammed down another 12 shots and then indicated to Clive he was finished.  The barman obviously knew the routine because he just took the tray away leaving Griff with his bottle of beer. Two rounds were clearly Griff’s limit. Diablo ordered another drink for himself, planning to sit on it for a while, simply so he could spend more time learning about the man beside him.

Griff was watching the dancing again, letting the
pleasure of the alcohol flow through him.  His wolf was quiet, his body relaxed and he realized he felt really good.  He saw Kane and Shawn come in and immediately come together on the dance floor, Kane wrapped around Shawn as if he would never let him go and Griff figured he probably never would.  Boy he would love to have that one day.  He looked over to see Diablo watching him closely.

“What’s got your face looking all dreamy?”  Diablo asked.  Griff indicated to Kane and Shawn with his beer bottle
.

“That’s my Alpha, Kane and his mate Shawn.  They have only been together a few months, but man they move well together.”

Diablo turned to look at the two men on the dance floor.  Unlike the other couples and groups who were rutting, bumping and grinding with desperation, these two stood out with the sensuality of their movements.  Slow and unhurried the two were totally fixated on each other.  Diablo watched as the taller man, Kane he presumed, took his head out of his mate’s hair to say something.  In one quick moment he saw both of the men’s faces and the love that flowed between them was precious.  It was more than the fact that both men looked like sex on a stick, it was the feelings they obviously shared that made the scene so sensuous.  Diablo felt his own heart melt as he came to the stunning realization that he wanted something like that in his own life. 

Then as Diablo watched he saw the smaller man’s hand run down his mate’s behind to grab a foreign hand that was groping Kane’s
ass.  Without breaking a step and staying totally focused on Kane, Shawn grabbed the intruder’s fingers and snapped them.  The intruder scurried back clasping his broken fingers in his good hand.  Diablo looked at Griff in amazement.

“Did he just…?”

Grinning Griff said, “Yep, Shawn doesn’t like anyone touching his mate.  Kane had a bit of a past before he met Shawn, well quite a bit and some people haven’t got the message yet that Kane is definitely off the market.  Word is getting around though.”  He laughed, the chuckle coming from deep in his chest and while Diablo warmed to the sound, his cat appeared to want to wallow in it.

“And Kane doesn’t mind?”  Diablo knew that was a dumb question before he opened his mouth, but well, the words were out now.  Griff didn’t seem put out by it though.

“Shit no.  Kane loves that Shawn is possessive.  He feels the same way.”  Griff looked at Diablo intently. “They are true mates, see.  What the Fates have bought together.  Sure they have claimed each other and they even had an Alpha Mating ceremony, but there is so much more to them than that.  They connect in every way and that’s special.  There could never be another person for either one of them and they are perfectly happy with that.  Why, don’t you cats have the same thing?”

“I don’t
personally know any cats that have had mates to be honest.  I don’t know a lot of cats at all.  I suppose you could call me a black panther although I had a cougar mother and a tiger for a father, but I never knew him. They weren’t true mates. I know we can have them,” Diablo had heard enough stories from his mother to know that at least, “and I guess given how cats are really territorial and possessive it would make sense that if they did mate they would feel the same way.” He looked over to where Kane and Shawn were still dancing.  “I would sure love to have what they have in my life.”  His voice quiet, Diablo seemed to be deep inside his head.  Griff looked at him for a moment and then indicated to Colin to get Diablo another drink.

Handing it to Diablo, Griff went back to watching the dancers until he heard a muffled, “What the fuck…”  Turning his head he saw Diablo fighting off a younger blond wolf.  Without thinking Griff grabbed the wolf by the back of the neck and pulled him off Diablo.  Saul, of course, who else would it be.  Diablo was trying to wipe the drink off his shirt and he did look a bit pissed off.

Griff held the struggling Saul until he finally stopped trying to get away and then he put the small wolf’s feet on the ground.

“Hey Saul, whatcha think you’re doing?” Griff’s drawl was always more pronounced when he was angry although he did a good job of hiding it most times.  But now he was
starting to get pissed.  He wanted the man beside him for himself and although he wasn’t sure how he was going to make that happen right this minute he didn’t want Saul interfering.

“What does it look like you big oaf?”  Saul’s voice was shrill and strong and it made Diablo’s cat wince especially when Saul turned his attention back to Diablo.  “Wanna come out the back with me and play?”  He batted his eyes at Diablo who just reacted with disgust.

“No thanks.  I am hoping to get something going with the man beside me.”  Griff grinned at Diablo’s words.  Nice to know the attraction wasn’t all one-sided.

Saul looked at Griff and Diablo for a minute and then laughed.  “Hell no, you are kidding me, it would be like the clash of the titans or something.” He watched a
s Griff and Diablo shared a smirk.  Yep under certain circumstances it probably could be, but Griff didn’t think so.

“And…and…you guys would be so busy fighting to see who tops you would never get anywhere
.”  Diablo looked at Griff who shrugged.  Griff wasn’t about to tell Saul that he was perfectly happy to bottom for the right man - most times he preferred it, and Diablo wasn’t going to tell anyone about his own errant thoughts about Griff. They shared a long look, questions asked and answered without words. Yep they were on the same page.

Griff bent down and said quietly to Saul.  “Did you happen to notice who was on the dance floor?”

Saul glared at Griff and then looked over.  Kane and Shawn stood out simply because they were so different from any other couple on the floor.  Their movements might have gotten a little more heated but it was more a hint of what they wanted to do rather than an overdone hump.