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A surge of pure fire shot down Nicky’s spine as his balls drew up and his cock curved in his lover’s hold. Pleasure speared through him, and he shot hard, coating Marco’s hand with his cum. Marco smoothed his other hand over Nicky’s dampened hair as Nicky fought to breathe again. Rolling over, he touched Marco’s face in wonder and gazed into his eyes. He loved Marco beyond anything, beyond life, beyond death, and he would never love anyone like this again. He could understand why couples who shared the bloodlust couldn’t live long without each other, and usually died within a few hours of the other. What would be the point of going on without Marco?
* * * *
“Oh my God,” Gabe said, leaning inside the ATV to hug Nicky to him while running a hand down his arm. “Look at you! You were always gorgeous, but now…”
Nicky gently pulled away, embarrassed and vaguely uneasy. Gabe had run outside to meet them as they pulled up, followed more slowly by the others. At the first sight of Gabe, the wolf inside him stirred restlessly, and Nicky got an almost immediate erection. As usual, Gabe looked a little outrageous with his tight jeans and a woman’s mesh tank top that left nothing to the imagination. His black hair was a little longer than Nicky remembered, and as he leaned over to kiss Nicky, he tucked it behind one ear, revealing a diamond stud.
Nicky was surprised at the kiss, and he glanced back over at Marco in confusion, but Marco was already getting out of the ATV. Marco smiled at Gabe good naturedly, going around to shake hands with his cousin, Zack. Thank God there was cloud cover that evening and near darkness had fallen while they were on their way up the mountain. Stiffly—in every sense of the word now—Nicky got out of the vehicle and turned to greet the others, hoping that under the dim porch light no one would notice his problem.
Gabe tucked an arm in his and kept up a constant chatter as they walked inside. “Looks like I’m the only pet here tonight with all these big, handsome wolves. For dinner anyway. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I couldn’t believe how much Jax has grown in the last couple of months and now you.”
Zack came over and tugged Gabe into his arms and away from Nicky. “Give him a chance to breathe, baby.” He smiled at Nicky and extended his hand. “Nice to see you recovered, Nicky. We heard all about what happened, of course. Gabe and I both were worried about you.”
Nicky gazed down at Zack’s hand for a moment before extending his own. This must be a mark of his new status—Zack had never offered to shake his hand before. Of course, if he had, Marco wouldn’t have liked it. Even after all this time he wouldn’t want any other wolf touching his mate, probably why Zack had come over in the first place to pull Gabe away from him, thereby staking his own claim.
He noticed Zack sniff the air. It was subtle, but Nicky saw him do it and then frown in what looked like puzzlement before shifting Gabe to his other side, away from Nicky. He gazed long and hard into Nicky’s eyes, so long, in fact, that Marco came over to stand beside them.
“Anything wrong, Zack?”
“Hmm? Oh no, nothing wrong. It’s hard to get used to, that’s all. Nicky’s very—different.”
Nicky felt an unreasonable antipathy for the man wash over him out of nowhere. To hide it, he gave him a tight smile and walked over to speak to Jax and Cade, still acutely aware of Zack’s arm around Gabe behind him, his hand resting negligently on Gabe’s hip. Well, why shouldn’t he have his arm around his own mate, for God’s sake? It was just that Nicky had never realized before how irritating Zack could be.
By the time they got into the dining room for dinner, things weren’t much better. Gabe had managed to sidle up to Nicky again, sitting beside him over their meal and shooting an occasional defiant look at Zack. It felt good to have Gabe so close. He’d never noticed before how often Gabe touched people when he talked to them. A hand on Nicky’s arm, a brush of his thigh against Nicky’s, or simply leaning into Nicky, his hand on his knee under the table as he told one of his stories, Gabe always seemed to be in motion. His scent floated delicately in the air around him too—musky and unbearably sweet.
Gabe was leaning forward now, his thigh against Nicky’s as he told a story about being pulled over for speeding earlier that week.
“So there I was, minding my own damn business, when I hear the siren behind me. I can think of only two worse things in the world to hear than a cop’s siren behind your car—a doctor saying, ‘it’s malignant,’ or the pilot of your plane saying, ‘sorry folks, but the cabin’s losing pressure.’” He laughed gaily at his own joke, and Nicky couldn’t help but smile warmly at him. Gabe’s sapphire blue eyes were twinkling madly and his face was flushing a little from the wine he was drinking. God, he was beautiful. These new wolf senses he was developing must really be something, because why had he never noticed before how seductive Gabe could be without even trying.
Nicky glanced up to see Zack gazing at him speculatively and as Nicky met his eyes, he quirked up one eyebrow at him. Nicky stared back at him and deliberately shifted his body toward Gabe to allow him to lean in closer.
“So anyway, I stopped the car but I couldn’t find my driver’s license, so I thought if I made friends with the guy, he might let me go. I said, ‘Officer, I know a great joke about the police, do you want to hear it?’” Gabe dropped his voice low, imitating that of the officer. “‘Sir, I am a policeman,’ he says.” He smiled over at Nicky. “So I said, ‘I know, so I promise I’ll tell it real slow.’”
Nicky laughed along with the others, not really paying attention to what Gabe said so much as the way he said it. He glanced up and around the table and saw that now all three of the wolves were staring not at Gabe, but at him. Marco and Cade looked merely curious, but Zack seemed to be slowly smoldering down at his end of the table. Deliberately provoking him, Nicky slipped an arm around the back of Gabe’s chair and leaned in closer.
Nicky whispered in Gabe’s ear. “You’ll get yourself in real trouble one of these days with that smart little mouth.”
Gabe turned toward him, bringing his lips to within a few inches of Nicky’s. He smiled roguishly up at him. Nicky leaned in to drop a kiss on those lips, that sweet mouth too enticing at such close range. The smell of the boy was thick in his nostrils and his wolf leaped inside him. Mine. Mine. Nicky put his arms around Gabe’s shoulders and drew him closer.
Both of them were startled when Zack surged to his feet, knocking his chair over backward. Marco jumped up too, but Cade, who was sitting on Nicky’s left, got in front of Nicky first. He pushed Zack backward, keeping his hands on his chest. Zack had moved so fast around the table that Nicky had seen nothing more than a blur of motion, and Zack was still trying to throw Cade’s hands off him.
The next few minutes were a little chaotic as Jax tugged Nicky’s arm to lead him away from the melee, and Marco rushed past him to yell in Zack’s face. Gabe was already doing some yelling of his own, so Nicky tried to wrench his arm away from Jax and go to him. Jax held on firmly, though.
“Stop it, Nicky, don’t make it worse,” Jax was saying urgently. “Come with me to the other room while they sort this out.”
Nicky allowed Jax to pull him out of the room. He’d ruined the dinner party, and he realized he wasn’t even sure why. What in the hell had just happened? Now that he was away from that room he couldn’t even remember exactly what had prompted the whole thing. Still trying to figure it out, he followed Jax to the big open great room, where several of Jax’s pack were already gathered. They must have heard all the noise, because they glanced at him curiously before looking away. Most of them were gammas or pets, and they seemed uneasy in the presence of an alpha who wasn’t their own.
A few of them drifted out of the room, and others gathered in small groups near the hearth. It had begun to rain in earnest outside, one of those sudden storms that could turn violent so quickly on the mountain. Lightning burst like artillery fire outside the windows, followed almost immediately by the loud boom of thunder. Nicky prowled restlessly over to the big uncurtained picture glass window to gaze out at the night.
Rain pelted against the glass like bullets, and another explosion of lightning lit up the woods around the lodge with a lurid light. Nicky gazed upward, but not so much as one watery star could be seen as the stormy night whipped its way across the sky. He felt Jax standing close behind him and glanced over his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Jax. I honestly don’t even know what happened.”
“You kissed Gabe, that’s what happened.”
“I know that, but I didn’t mean anything by it. Gabe and I are close. We always…” He ran out of steam as another loud
crack of thunder sounded outside. He shrugged and shook his head.
