Wolfsbane [Dark Hollow 5] (16 page)

Nicky spoke first. “Hi, Evan. Did your master let you out for a few minutes?” At Evan’s look of surprise, he shook his head and smiled at him. “I’m sorry. I’m just so damned mad at Casey’s question and Zack’s answer.”

Evan shot a look at Gabe, but he smiled and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that’s my man. Insufferable, conceited, full of himself—pretty typical wolf behavior, I’d say.” All three of them smiled, and Gabe touched his collar self-consciously. “I went into this whole thing kicking and screaming, especially the whole domination thing, but now I kind of like it. The collar’s pretty and kind of makes me feel protected. But I’m probably different from you guys. I like a little kink myself, and I like it when Zack goes all Dom on me. I have a feeling Nicky would hate it.”

Nicky touched the collar too, and looked thoughtful. “I wouldn’t wear it. I’ve worn them before when I first came and much uglier than this one, but for me, it represents what I’ve been fighting against for a long time. It would please Marco, but it wouldn’t be real for me. It represents real submission, and I don’t have that. What about you, Evan?”

“No, I wouldn’t wear it either. I really like the rings though.”

“Oh, hell yes, they’re gorgeous. I noticed Zack was wearing one too, for all his talk about ‘he’s wearing
my
ring.’”

Gabe smiled and put a companionable arm around both Nicky and Evan. “I have an idea, boys. A way to get back at Zack for his little remark about the collar and your wolves for how much they admired it.  Will you help me?” Nicky looked eager and laughingly nodded his head. Evan pulled back a little.

“I don’t know about this. What kind of lesson exactly? I don’t want to make Brett mad at me again.”

“These collars they think control us so much—what if we all wore one and yet acted completely out of their control? Let them know that when the collar goes on, our so-called
good behavior
goes out the window.”

Just then Brett called out. “Evan!”

Evan turned to see him standing near the hallway to their room, his face scowling because he was talking to Nicky and Gabe. He snapped his fingers at him. “Over here! Now!”

Back to this shit again?
Evan turned back to Nicky and Gabe, his face dark with outrage. “Count me in, Gabe, whatever it is.  I think my mate could use a little lesson too.”

Chapter Eight

Brett could hear the music from the moment they stepped out of the room, loud country music, the raucous kind with a boisterous, urgent beat. Nicky had picked a country-western theme for this party and it sounded like he already had it in full swing. Brett hadn’t wanted to go to the party in honor of Zack and Gabe, but he didn’t exactly know how he could get out of it gracefully either without pissing Marco off. Reluctantly he’d taken a hot shower and tried to get all the paint off his fingers, clean up and look respectable for the evening. He’d been working hard all day, priming and painting over at the new addition, and he wasn’t in much of a party mood.

Evan looked happy, though, as he stood by the sink shaving, a skimpy towel wrapped around his cute ass. Tempting, very tempting. Brett sighed. He’d like nothing better than to curl up on the sofa with a cold beer in one hand and Evan’s cock in the other tonight. He certainly didn’t feel like dancing, or watching the two alphas’ pets shaking their asses this evening, like he knew they probably would be.

Really, it was plain embarrassing. Both young men were gorgeous, if a little too flamboyant for his taste. If they got out there tonight dancing around and grinding their hips, what was a red-blooded young wolf supposed to look at? Better not be his alpha’s mate, if he knew what was good for him. Besides, he’d much rather look at his own mate’s shapely hips, and he could do that just as well at home.

Evan passed him on the way out of the bathroom, tossing him a flirtatious little glance as he went, pulling the towel off at the door so he could get a good look at that shapely little ass. Damn, now he had a raging hard-on to contend with on top of everything else. He turned a blast of cold water on for as long as he could stand it, and then got out of the shower and dried himself off. He peered at himself in the mirror for a moment, decided he didn’t really need a shave, then used the blow dryer for a few minutes on his mane of auburn hair. He walked out to the bedroom and stopped dead in his tracks.

Evan was wearing perhaps the tightest pair of leather pants he’d ever seen. He must have lain down on the bed to get them zipped. He’d paired it with a black t-shirt, also skin-tight, and a pair of black boots that laced up the front and went all the way to his knees. His blond hair was a little tousled and held in place with a touch of hair gel. He looked hot as hell and he knew it. He turned and gave Brett a little smile, and just as Brett opened his mouth to tell him to take off that fuck-me-please outfit, he whipped out a black leather strip from the dresser and held it out to Brett. “Would you like me to wear this too, babe? I saw how much you admired Gabe’s collar.”

Brett took the leather strip in his hands and looked up at Evan wonderingly. “Really?”  Brett’s mouth had gone instantly dry as his cock raised up again so fast it almost bounced. He had a hard time talking as he took it from his mate, and when he finally managed to speak his voice came out hoarse and ragged. “What...um...what made you decide to do this?”

“Well, I noticed how much you admired Gabe’s gold collar. What is it you like about them so much, Brett? Are they like a symbol of something for you?” He angled another coquettish look up at him. “You do like the way it looks, don’t you, Brett?”

Brett nodded and cleared his throat. “Oh hell, yeah. Yeah, I like it.” He stepped forward and buckled the thin leather strip around Evan’s throat, running a finger under it to make sure it wasn’t too tight. Then he bent down and trailed kisses down his throat, stopping just above his collarbone, where he sucked the tender skin up into his mouth to raise a mark. When he pulled away, he was happy to see a little hickey placed strategically beneath the collar where it couldn’t be missed or mistaken for anything else.

Evan clapped a hand over his neck and pushed Brett away. “Damn it, Brett!”

Brett just smiled and slapped him on his ass as he walked to the bed to pick up his own clothes, jeans and white, long-sleeved button-up shirt. He pulled on leather cowboy boots to complete his outfit and stood up, holding out his arms. “How do I look, sweetheart? Do I look l country enough for this party of Nicky’s?”

“Well you act like a redneck, that’s for sure. Come on, let’s go to the party. I feel like dancing tonight.”

Brett followed him, but the first hint of unease hit him as he walked along behind his mate, his ass swinging along provocatively in his too-tight leather pants. When they walked into the main room, he was distracted at first by the dim lights, the loud music and the large number of people in the room. Evan slipped into the crowd and Brett lost sight of him right away, but he saw a table where Casey was sitting with Rory and made his way over to it. They were both eating from the buffet tables, so before he sat down, he walked over to fill a plate. He was starving and hadn’t eaten since early that morning, so for a while all his focus was on the food laid out for them on the buffet. He looked around again for Evan, but didn’t see him right away. He filled his plate and sat down with Casey and Rory.

“Your boy’s looking good, Brett,” Casey nodded across the room. “He and Nicky could almost be twins.”

Brett jerked his attention up to where Casey was pointing. Evan was standing with Nicky near the little dance floor, and he could see they were dressed almost exactly alike. Same leather pants, black t-shirt and laced up boots. Nicky, too, was wearing the little strap of leather around his neck. Since both the good-looking men were blond and about the same size, they almost did look like brothers. Two more people joined them and Brett felt steam rising. It was Gabe and Logan, wearing the exact same outfits and sporting the little black leather collars. They looked like some kind of little gang, and the twinges of unease he’d felt earlier became full pangs of alarm. What the hell were they planning?

The music started, some loud twangy party song about rowdy friends “gettin’ down”, and all four of the men pulled off their t-shirts and threw them on a nearby table. They stood in a little circle and started to dance, but not just regular dancing. This dancing was dirty, raw and hot as hell. All of them gorgeous, young and buff, they were thrusting their hips at each other and generally looked like they were having sex on the dance floor.

Casey started laughing and looked over at Brett, who had half-risen from his chair. “Better tighten up on that, Brett, before somebody else does.”

Brett threw down his fork and stood all the way up, shooting a look of pure fury around him. He saw everybody’s attention had been drawn to the four young men, and he didn’t at all like the kind of attention they were getting. A few of the unattached young gammas were pointing and nudging each other and one or two even moved over next to the group and were dancing alongside them. One of them looked up and caught Brett’s eye as he stalked toward them, froze and melted back into the crowd. The other one made the mistake of standing behind Nicky, making a motion like he was humping him.

Nicky pushed him away and climbed up on a table to dance. Evan climbed up beside him. With wicked looks directed at their respective mates, they both slowly unsnapped their tight pants and began to pull them ever so slowly down their hips. Before Brett could arrive, the young gamma, who was practically salivating by now, had been thrown halfway across the room as Marco arrived on the scene. He then turned, snatched Nicky off the table, and strode off the dance floor with him.

The music stopped as people started trying to gather close to see what was going on, and jostled each other excitedly as the wolf mates arrived. Zack and Brett arrived at the same time, each one snatching up their mates in their arms. Brett saw Ian looming over Logan with his hands on both Logan’s wrists, but he wasted no time with anyone else. He had problems of his own.

He’d thrown Evan over his shoulder to take him from the room, and Evan was making his displeasure known. Yelling and trying to raise up off his shoulders, Evan was furious, but no more so than Brett. He swatted Evan’s backside hard as he took him to their room and threw him down on the bed. Evan tried to jump back up and Brett pushed him back down again.

“What the hell did you think you were doing, Evan? You made a spectacle of yourselves! All of you! Whose brilliant plan was this anyway? Nicky’s? Gabe’s? And you were stupid enough to go along with it.”

“Leave me alone, Brett. How dare you drag me out of there like some kind of fucking caveman?”

“How do I dare? You belong to me, damn it! I’ll do whatever I want to with you!”

Evan opened his mouth in surprise. “Stop saying that! I belong to myself, not you!” He reached up and unbuckled the collar from around his neck and tossed it on the bed. “I wore this tonight to show you it’s a bunch of crap. My wearing a stupid collar means nothing to me. You don’t control me. I’m your mate, and I love you. But I’m not your possession. It’s fine for Gabe, because he and Zack have that kind of relationship. It’s something Gabe wants. But this collar is something
you
want because of your pride. It has to be about both of us or it’s meaningless.”

“You and Nicky both were flaunting your bodies!”

“If I was, then it’s mine to flaunt! I can do whatever I want, Brett, and you don’t control me!”

“You can do whatever you want, huh? I don’t control you? I think it’s time to explain a few things to you, Evan.” He leaned over the bed and began to take off Evan’s boots. “Don’t fight me, Evan,” he said as he started to struggle and kick. “I’ve let you get away with far too much, and it’s over. As Casey told me, it’s time for me to tighten up.”

* * * *

Nicky was having a second cup of coffee when Logan tapped on the door and came in.

“Is the coast clear?” he asked with a smile. At Nicky’s nod, he came all the way inside and sat at the bar beside him. “Is Marco still mad?

“Oh hell, yes, but he’s always mad at me about something, though I must admit this one is worse than usual. It wasn’t the dancing that pissed him off so much—he’s seen me do that before and even joined me on the dance floor. He hated me unsnapping my pants. I tried to convince him I was only teasing, but he wasn’t buying it. He says I’m ‘an instigator’ again too. Heck, it was Gabe’s idea, I only went along with it. Although I guess I did go a little too far.” He dipped his head in embarrassment. “What about you?”

“Yeah, Ian huffed and puffed about it for a while, but it’s pretty much blown over now. He was not too pleased about the leathers and the collars. He said some of the older human pets still wear them, and we shouldn’t make fun of things we don’t understand. I can see his point, but that wasn’t what we were doing exactly. I mean, Gabe’s a submissive who wears his all the time, and that’s his choice. I respect that. I still don’t like it when it’s forced on someone, and I didn’t much like Casey’s and Zack’s attitudes about human pets and collars when you told me,” he shrugged.

“I tried to explain to Marco it was just a joke, but he said it wasn’t funny to a lot of people. Brett got really mad at Evan, I understand.”

“Really? Have you talked to him?”

“No. Brett’s got him locked down in his room. Marco told me to stay out of it, but I was actually getting ready to go check on him. You want to go with me?”

“Sure, I have time. The self-defense class doesn’t start for another hour yet. Can we get in to see him?”

Nicky smiled. “I have the passkey. I stole it off Marco’s key ring this morning. C’mon, Brett should be at work by now.”

They walked downstairs down halls that were mostly empty this time of day until they reached Brett and Evan’s door. Using his key, Nicky opened the door. “Anyone home?” he called softly. There was no answer, and he glanced over at Logan uneasily.