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“He likes you, so I have concerns about his sanity, but otherwise, I think he’s all right.” Jericho pushed up from the armchair and punched Kieran in the arm. “Congrats, bro.” That only left Parker. The man sat forward on the sofa and linked his fingers together between his knees. “You really care about him?

  Already? After one day?”

  “Yes.” He couldn’t explain it, blamed a lot of it on the mating bond, but it was there nonetheless. “He’s important to me.” Parker stared down at his clasped hands and nodded slowly before rising to his feet and offering Kieran his hand. “Then I’ll figure it out.

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  He won’t get any more shit from me. I’m happy for you, Kieran. I’m glad you found your mate.”

  Clasping his brother’s hand, Kieran jerked him into a one-armed hug. “Thank you. It means a lot, Parker.” Obviously uncomfortable with Kieran’s display of emotion, Parker released him with a grunt and hightailed it to the kitchen.

  “He’ll come around,” Jericho offered before following after him, leaving Kieran standing alone in the middle of the living room.

  Kieran didn’t know what Parker’s problem was or why he had such an adverse reaction to all things Braddock, but he intended to find out. He was almost to the kitchen when he heard the shower shut off down the hall. Pausing midstep, he was torn between confronting Parker and sprinting straight to his room and Lynk.

  He must have stood there longer than he realized, because the decision was suddenly taken out of his hands when Lynk stepped through the door and turned to face him. His raven hair was all damp and sleek, brushing against the tops of his shoulders and curling just a little at the ends.

  The dark blue sweatpants were rolled several times at the bottom, and, Kieran imagined, a few times at the waist. The T-shirt he’d left out was one of his favorite, well worn and soft from so many washings. It was a little loose on Kieran, but it completely devoured Lynk. The sleeves alone fell to his elbows, while the hem settled around midthigh.

  Deciding he liked his balls right where they were, Kieran didn’t say a word about how hard his dick was at the sight of Lynk in his clothes and knowing that the man was completely smothered in his scent. He also wouldn’t mention that was why he’d suggested the shower and change of clothes, either.

  He’d detected several different scents on Lynk—some he knew and some he didn’t. None of them had been Kieran’s, though, and that just wouldn’t do. While he didn’t comment on his thoughts, he couldn’t stop the satisfied grin.

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  “You look a little too pleased,” Lynk observed, giving Kieran a shy smile in return.

  “No such thing.” He stalked down the hallway, not slowing until he had his arms around his mate, lifting him up so he could capture that sweet, pouty mouth. Part of his brain screamed that he was moving too fast, that he should back off until Lynk was more comfortable with him, but he’d been dying for a taste since he’d first set eyes on the witch.

  Lynk moaned breathily, his arms slipping around Kieran’s neck and holding on tight. Sliding his tongue back and forth along the seam of Lynk’s closed lips, Kieran growled while his wolf howled in approval. “Open for me,” he demanded, barely recognizing his own voice.

  “Oh, gods,” Lynk breathed, his lips parting to allow Kieran entrance.

  Taking full advantage, Kieran plunged inside, sweeping his tongue around his mate’s mouth, pillaging the moist depths. Lights danced behind his closed eyelids, electricity zinged through his body, and he thought he might actually swoon when his dick swelled to the point of pain and pounded against his zipper.

  Lynk remained passive, allowing him to dominate the kiss, but his hips rocked, grinding his erection over Kieran’s abs as the most delicious whimpers escaped him, pouring into Kieran’s open mouth.

  Their tongues met, twined, swirled together in a slippery dance. Then Lynk’s fingers found their way into Kieran’s short hair, tangling and pulling as though desperate to have him closer.

  Keeping one hand on Lynk’s firm ass to hold him up, Kieran slid his other beneath the hem of his mate’s shirt, pushing it up so that he could get to the bare flesh beneath. Just as he’d imagined, Lynk’s skin was soft and so damn warm, stretched tight over tense, quivering, and tightly packed muscles.

  Stumbling backward into his room, he kicked the door closed and turned to drop Lynk to the mattress, following him down and 28 Gabrielle

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  prowling up his body. Feeling as though he was burning from the inside out, he stripped his shirt over his head then turned his attention to Lynk’s, practically shredding it in his need to get his man naked.

  A very unmanly whimper bubbled up in his throat when he finally got a good look at Lynk’s nude torso. Sinewy shoulders, broad pectorals, and corrugated abdominals—the man was a walking advertisement for sex, only travel-sized. The too-big sweatpants slid down his narrow waist, showing off his hip bones where they protruded slightly to form the triangular valley of his groin.

  The prize Kieran sought, however, was currently tenting the front of the soft cotton, rising up to greet him like a long lost friend. Even through the baggy pants, the outline of Lynk’s cock was enough to make his mouth water and his nostrils flare.

  As much as he’d love to slip a hand inside Lynk’s waistband and wrap it around the turgid flesh, the choice wasn’t his. Lynk was breathing hard, his body responding in all the right ways, but his eyes, which always seemed to know more than he was telling, were too wide, too startled.

  Reeling in his desire, Kieran rolled to the side and propped himself up on one elbow while he smoothed his palm over Lynk’s stomach, trying to calm rather than arouse. “If I promise to behave myself, will you let me sleep beside you while you rest?” Lynk looked a little surprised, but didn’t comment for a long time while he studied Kieran, perhaps searching for the truth in his eyes.

  Kieran kept his expression neutral and gave nothing away. Whatever decision was made, he wouldn’t sway his mate one way or another.

  Then just when he thought Lynk wasn’t going to answer him, a soft, tentative smile curled the corners of his lips, and his head tilted almost imperceptibly. “I’d like that.” Resisting the urge to whoop like a little boy on Christmas morning, Kieran scooted up the bed and under the blankets, holding back a corner for Lynk to cuddle in beside him. To his utter delight, Lynk snuggled right up to his chest, sighed softly, and closed his eyes.

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  Ignoring his persistent erection, Kieran wound both arms around Lynk, pulled him closer, and kissed the top of his head. “Thank you.”

  “No,” Lynk whispered. “Thank you.”

  Kieran didn’t know what the gratitude was for, but he wasn’t going to question it right then. For the first time in his life, he felt like everything was right in the world and he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

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  Chapter Three

  It wasn’t easy getting to sleep with his body so hyperaware of his mate’s proximity. While he’d enjoyed everything Kieran had done to him, right down to his aggressive, take-charge attitude, Lynk had been hard-pressed to control the anxiety that swarmed him. If they had any chance at a future together, he was going to have to come clean with the werewolf. Wrapped up in Kieran’s arms, feeling safe and cherished like he’d never felt before, it was hard to worry about those kinds of things, though.

  He must have eventually drifted off to sleep, because the next thing he knew, Kieran was trailing wet kisses down the back of his neck to wake him up. “You have to meet Varik and Demos in about an hour,” he mumbled, not pausing in his attempt to drive Lynk out of his mind.

  Why on earth would he want to go meet a couple of vampires who would take him to see even more vampires when he had everything he wanted right there in bed with him? Oh, right, because Torren had reason to believe that their brother, Thane, resided somewhere within the walls of the Snake
River Coven.

  Finding their brothers was top priority, not to mention that Lynk missed having his family close. He wasn’t stupid or naïve, however.

  Finding Thane in Snake River was going to incite a war he didn’t know if he was ready to fight. If the coven was holding Thane prisoner, that meant they’d also held Torren’s mate, Aslan, as a slave at some point.

  In the best of circumstances, Torren wouldn’t let something like that slide. Factor in Aslan, the man he loved more than anyone on Flawless 31

  earth, and it was just asking for a battle of epic proportions. Then there was the little detail about Snake River being the former home and coven of not only Stavion, but all of his Enforcers as well.

  While he hoped to find Thane quickly and mostly unharmed, if they found him with that particular coven, all hell was going to break loose.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Kieran’s hand slid up Lynk’s chest and stroked him in slow circles. “Everything is going to be okay, Lynk. I promise.”

  “You can’t promise that. Do you realize that we’re screwed either way you slice this? If we find Thane, then Torren is going to want to wipe out the entire coven, not just because of what they’ve done to our brother, but because of what happened to Aslan. If we don’t find Thane, we’ve still made an enemy for bringing Snake River under suspicion. There is no way to win this one.”

  “If they have your brother, they need to be brought to justice, baby. What I’ve learned since I’ve been here is that these kinds of things don’t just happen in twos and threes. There is no telling how many people they are holding or have bought, sold, or traded in the past. They have to be stopped before anyone else gets hurt. In my book, that’s a win.”

  “You don’t think Stavion will fight against it? That is his old coven.” Lynk rolled until he could face his mate, very interested in what Kieran had to say on the matter. He loved listening to the man talk. Kieran was intelligent, but he didn’t use fancy words or act like he was better than anyone. He simply told it like it was.

  “Honestly, no. Jory came from a situation like Aslan’s, but even worse. There is not a single thing in this world that is more important to Stavion than his mate—not Haven, not his old coven, nothing. And that’s exactly how it should be.”

  Lynk wondered about the eagle-shifters who had held him and the faerie, Camdin, in that abandoned slaughterhouse. “The shifters from Pennsylvania—they’re not in the holding cells at the house in 32 Gabrielle

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  Casper.” Okay, so not a question, but he wasn’t even sure what he wanted to know, let alone how to ask it.

  “No, they’re not.” Kieran growled, and for the first time, it was frightening rather than sexy. “They’re here in Haven, in the basement cells at the main house. They want to find out who the witches are that they’re working with before The Council hands down its sentence.”

  After letting that digest for a few seconds, Lynk dipped his head in understanding and rolled out of bed. The instant he was on his feet, so were his sweatpants, slipping off his hips and pooling on the carpet around his ankles.

  “Well, good morning to you as well,” Kieran teased him, but Lynk didn’t miss the fire in his eyes or the way his tongue darted out to lick his lips.

  Neither did a thing to cool the ardor he felt thrumming through his body. Just by being so close to his mate, his cock was already hard and weeping. Now that Kieran was looking at him like he wanted to eat him, Lynk’s dick jerked and his balls squeezed tight to his body, practically begging for attention.

  Emotionally, he wasn’t sure how he felt about Kieran. His soul bond with the man kept getting in the way and muddling everything.

  Carnally, however, he’d never wanted anyone more. Possessive, commanding, confident—Kieran was all the things he liked in a man rolled up in one incredibly tantalizing package.

  “We need to get you some clothes that will fit,” Kieran said, shaking himself and looking away from Lynk’s groin.

  Grabbing the waistband of his sweats, Lynk jerked them back up his hips and held them cinched together with both hands. “All of my things are in Casper.” He didn’t have much, just a couple pairs of jeans and a handful of T-shirts, but there hadn’t been a lot of time for things like shopping since he’d been rescued from the eagle-shifters.

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  “Where did you come from? I mean, before you were kidnapped, where did you live? Do you have things that we need to have sent here?”

  “No!” Lynk bit his lip and blushed clear to the tips of his ears.

  “I…I, umm, everything I have is in Casper.” It wasn’t technically a lie. None of the things in that big house on Lake Erie belonged to him.

  “We have a cache of extra clothes, shoes, and shit like that over in the dorms.” Kieran rolled out of bed and plodded to the bathroom, not even looking at Lynk. “We never know when people will show up with nothing more than the clothes on their backs—and sometimes not even that much. You can borrow what you need.” Lynk’s heart beat a little faster at the detached tone in his mate’s voice. He wasn’t exactly sure what he’d done, or what had happened, but it was obvious that Kieran was less than happy with him. Taking a deep breath to gather his courage, he shuffled into the bathroom, pausing just inside the doorway.

  The shower was already running, beating against the porcelain bottom of the tub while Kieran stripped out of his clothes, his back to Lynk the entire time. With his heightened senses, he had to know Lynk was there, yet he made no show of acknowledgement.

  “Did I do something to make you angry?”

  “No.” Stepping into the shower, Kieran closed the door with enough force to rattle the glass. “Just wait in the living room, and I’ll take you over to the dorms when I’m finished.” Indecision swarmed him. Should he do as he’d been told and leave Kieran to himself? Or should he make a bold move, step into that shower, and demand to know what was going on? It wasn’t in his nature to be aggressive or forward, but he hated the cramp in his stomach from the thought that Kieran could be unhappy with him for any reason.

  Acting on instinct, he dropped his sweats, stepped out of them, and slid the door back to reveal Kieran’s wet, tanned, naked backside.

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  The werewolf tensed, but said nothing to discourage him, so Lynk stepped into the shower, closed the door, and waited. When Kieran still wouldn’t turn and look at him, Lynk thought he was going to throw up.

  Instead, he grabbed the liquid soap from the shelf, poured a generous amount into his palm, and warmed it before lathering it over Kieran’s back. Ignoring everything else, he focused on the soft skin and tight muscles beneath his palms, scrubbing his mate’s shoulders, back, hips, and his gloriously firm ass.

  Grabbing more soap, he once again let it warm in his hands before crouching down to wash each of Kieran’s legs, starting with his massive thighs and moving down to his surprisingly slender ankles.

  Then he tugged on his mate’s wrist, pleased when Kieran turned to face him, but feeling a slight pang when he kept his eyes closed.

  Repeating the routine, Lynk stroked and cleaned Kieran’s shoulders, chest, abs, down each thigh, and quickly and clinically made a pass over his hard cock and tight sac. “I can’t reach your hair,” he whispered.

  Without a word or opening his eyes, Kieran knelt in the tub, sitting back on his heels and resting his hands in his lap. It hurt to see him like that, but Lynk knocked away the guilt that threatened to undo him and began working the shampoo through Kieran’s short hair, taking the time to massage his scalp and temples.

  “Lean your head back, please.”

  Kieran did as asked, and Lynk quickly rinsed the suds away, lingering just a little longer than necessary because he couldn’t bring himself to release the man just yet. When he finally made himself step away, he was halted by Kieran’s hands on his hips.

  “Be still,” Kieran commanded, his voice deep and raspy. Lynk’s body obe
yed without conscious decision on his part.

  Kieran nuzzled against his stomach, rubbing his cheek over the jumping muscles before placing a soft kiss on Lynk’s belly button.

  His fingers clenched and relaxed, kneading the flesh on Lynk’s hips Flawless 35

  and dragging him closer. After skimming his nose up Lynk’s chest, inhaling deeply the entire way, Kieran followed the trail back down, laving wet, open-mouth kisses over his slick skin.

  “You will not lie to me.” It wasn’t a request. There was a hard, demanding undercurrent to his tone that made Lynk shiver right down to his curling toes. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The words burst through his lips, barely louder than a breath, but Kieran growled his approval before nipping at Lynk’s hip. “You will not hide from me.”

  “No, sir.”

  Kieran growled again, louder this time, and Lynk almost came right where he was standing. “Now, tell me, Lynk, do you want me to stop?” His tongue lapped at the tip of Lynk’s cock and swirled around the engorged crown.

  “No.” He couldn’t take his eyes off of those plump lips as they stretched wide around his throbbing shaft. His knees trembled, threatening to buckle with every slide of Kieran’s tongue along the underside of his length.

  Kieran gave him a couple of good strokes with his mouth before popping off and sitting back on his heels again. “What do you want, Lynk?”

  The inquiry confused him. He’d never been asked that question and wasn’t sure how to respond. He definitely wanted Kieran to keep sucking his cock, but he couldn’t ask for that. Kieran shouldn’t have been on his knees in the first place.

  Shame and guilt slammed into him, making his throat constrict painfully. His thoughts raced out of control, chasing each other around his brain as he fought to find a way to fix this. “I want to suck your cock, sir.”