AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER FOUR
Dallas drove home slowly, the young cougar never far from his thoughts. He shouldn't have let him go, but the situation was far from ideal. The realization that Andy was his beloved hit him like a thunderclap, and processing that shock took a few minutes. Seeing him get hit by that asshole wolf shifter brought home very clearly what the young man meant to him.
The fight made everything so difficult, and then the Sheriff's involvement ended any possibility of them being able to stop and just talk for a moment. Andy was obligated to care for his brother, and then he was gone. He shouldn't have let him go. That thought remained, and the fact that he was alone in his car driving home after finding his beloved did not sit well with him either.
Instead of driving home to the Palace, he turned off on the dirt road that led to the forest and to cougar territory. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but he was doing something; he had to do something to appease the longing that was bubbling up in his soul. He needed to see him and talk to him, but he couldn't just go barging onto cougar lands and make his claim at this hour of the morning. Andy left with his brother; he did not stay. There were so many questions to be answered.
Dallas parked and got out of his vehicle, standing, looking off into the darkness. He could feel his beloved. It was impossible, but he could sense Andy in the air, the fresh evergreen and rain that was his scent, and it was setting him on fire with a need deep and pervasive. His mind would not clear, and he could think of nothing except that young cougar, Andy Burns.
He started walking and soon found himself on the border of cougar lands. His heart was racing, and his breath was coming out in rapid pants. He needed to calm down, for he could not go forward. He was not ordered to enter cougar lands, and to breach would go against protocol. He would not be blamed since he was in the bonding thrall, but he didn't want to upset his beloved. He needed to know more about Andy's feelings for him and for their bond.
Dallas started walking the edges of their territory back and forth over a mile distance there on the forest ridge. He started calling to his beloved in his mind, urging him to come, begging him to hear and come to him. They weren't bonded or connected in any way apart from their first meeting and the touching of flesh, which was fleeting at best, but he hoped his yearning would be felt and headed.
Andy listened as Elroy repeatedly explained why he left with the others and, after the fifth time, told him it was okay. "You did what you thought was right, and you followed Ford, who is your superior. You did nothing wrong, Elroy." Andy just wanted to end the discussion and go to bed. It had been one hell of a long night, and he was ready for it to be over.
“Is Billy going to be angry with me?” Elroy was not letting it go.
"Everyone left Elroy, not just you; if he gets mad, it will be at everyone, and I doubt he cares. I'm sure that Billy would have left you if it had been you unconscious on the floor. Let it go, Elroy nothing will be said, I promise you." Andy knew that Billy did not hold his men to a standard like other leaders. He would not have expected anyone to stay and help him.
"Okay then, I'm going home, but if you hear anything more about it, tell me. I want to be prepared in the event that Billy is upset." Elroy persisted, and Andy promised.
"He is not going to be angry. He's home in bed sleeping; he is not angry." Andy drove it home, and finally, Elroy nodded and said goodnight. Andy walked him out and then closed and locked his door. He was headed to his bedroom when suddenly he was overcome by a desire to go for a walk. The sudden urge came out of nowhere, and he could not stop himself from grabbing his jacket and heading back out.
The night was dark, and the forest was silent, but he just kept walking. He needed to get to the border that connected cougar lands with Coven lands. A burning desire was pushing him, and his cougar was excited and eager, demanding that he go faster. It was his mate; his scent was in the air. His scent of fresh-cut mint and vanilla was laden across every breath that he took.
Dallas was probably asleep in his quarters at the Palace and totally oblivious to what was happening and what Andy was feeling. They were mates, but nothing had been said. He saved him from the shifter, and he protected him during the brawl, but he never spoke of their connection, and he let him leave.
Andy kept walking, his hands in his jacket pockets and his head down; the chill in the air did not deter him from his goal to reach the border. Something inside of him was calling, and he was helpless to refuse. He knew the limit of their property. The rough, untended wilderness was cougar, the healthy, organized forest was Coven, and it was that stark change that delineated the two lands.
Andy looked back and forth along the border, gazing into the darkness. He thought he saw something but couldn't be sure, and then he heard someone moving. There was someone there walking toward him, and he knew them, he recognized them, he was there.
"Andy." The voice, soft but firm, called to him, and he stopped and waited. He was there; this was why the pull to go to the border was so strong. Dallas had called him. "You came." He said to Andy and walked up to stand in front of him, looking down at him, looking pleased and even comforted by his presence. Dallas reached out and touched the side of Andy's face, letting his fingertips trail down his cheek and across his chin.
The touch was electric, stirring thoughts and feelings deep inside Andy's heart. This man was his mate, and he was here. "You're my mate." Andy blurted.
"And you are my beloved," Dallas responded with a sexy grin. "I had to see you again, sweetheart." He moved closer, and Andy stayed still, waiting expectantly. Then he wrapped his arms around him and pulled him up close, flush against his body.
"You feel so right and fit so well. You are mine." The words were spoken in sincerity, and Andy felt his hands begin to tremble with the need to touch and hold. He, too, wrapped his arms around Dallas, feeling the solid muscle beneath the jacket he wore and wishing for more.
His warm breath, sweet and welcome, fanned the side of Andy's face, and his cheek brushed across his jaw. Dallas was not ashamed or put off by Andy's cougar. He was captivated.
"You're mine," Dallas repeated in a whisper and took Andy's lips in a kiss that overwhelmed and owned. Andy pressed into Dallas, eager for the taste of this man and delighted in the harried and anxious manner of his kiss and his touch.
Dallas' needs matched his own, and although they did not know one another, the belief of being connected was fierce. This was a vampire, a high-ranking vampire leader, and the notion of a lowly cougar gardener being one with him was preposterous, but here they were.
Dallas started walking Andy slowly backward until he felt his back come up against a tree. They were on Coven land, and the tree was one of the massive hardwoods that populated the area. Dallas pressed his body firmly against Andy, holding him in place and kissing him until he thought he would pass out from the fervor of pleasure that coursed through him.
Their pants and groans and whispers of need and desire wafted through the silent forest as the cool night breeze caressed them. Dallas brought the ravenous embrace to an end but continued to press Andy to the tree and rub his cheek against his jaw. They needed the touch they were craving.
"I hunger for you, Andy. My body aches to possess you. My mind is filled with visions of you, and my heart belongs to you." Dallas spoke between heated kisses to Andy's throat as his need was building. Andy wanted to feel him to feel the euphoria of their connection; he was drowning in the desire to experience his bite. Andy turned his head to the side, baring his throat completely and making his offer clear.
"Taste me, Dallas. Let me feel you taste me." He said, and instantly, Dallas' eyes flashed red, and his teeth showed. The vampire within him was present, and Andy was not afraid. He'd never been this up close and personal with a vampire before, and he was finding the experience heated and erotic, but he doubted any other vampire would have the same effect.
He yanked him close and sunk his teeth into the soft flesh of Andy's throat. The initial sting lasted but a second, and then he was awash with a sizzling sensation of contentment and joy. His flesh prickled, and his breath caught in his throat as the pleasure mounted. Andy felt his cock hardening as the desire was fast mounting to a fearsome climax.
Dallas' fingers dug into Andy's shoulders, and then his left hand began sliding into the front of his jeans. The button popped, and the zipper opened, and suddenly Dallas had Andy's cock in his large hand. He nearly came with just a touch, but Dallas squeezed, staving off release while he finished feeding and began licking the wound closed.
Then came the slow strokes along the sensitized flesh of his hard cock, and Andy thought he would lose his mind. Dallas had a firm grip, and the pressure and strokes were utterly delicious.
