Timothy (20 page)

“Yeah well, I’d have taken this asshole out too if he hadn’t been waiting for me in the stairwell.”

Tim dipped his head down to look in Dane’s eyes. “Why were you taking the stairs anyways?”

Dane might have smirked, it was hard to tell at this point. “Because Gansukh had just dropped me off and I reeked of sex, and I looked like I’d been thoroughly fucked. A few times. There were people at the elevator.” Dane shrugged and grimaced. “Shit. Remind me not to do that. Anyway, I take the stairs sometimes just because I like the exercise. When I’ve been fucked and am pleasantly sore, each step’s a reminder, you know?”

Tim did indeed know.

Dane patted his chest. “Yeah, you know. I’m glad Otto can give you that. I’m just not wired to top. So I got to the second flight of stairs, and this guy not much taller than me, kinda dumpy, like he had just hit middle age and was going soft, you know?”

Dane waited for a nod then continued. “He was dressed in faded jeans, cheap ones, and a denim shirt. I stopped short of asking him if he needed help since he was just standing there, when I saw he was wearing a black ski mask. The kind with just the eye openings, the really fucking creepy kind. Before I could even back away, the guy was on me. He hit me with a Taser, pretty much did me in for fighting. The next thing I knew I’m taped up and getting the shit beat out of me. Every time he hit me, the asshole would mutter something about hating shifters, losing his soul, wanting to destroy all of you. He’s certifiably insane. Or maybe not, since there really are shifters.”

Tim kept rubbing Dane’s back and shoulders while he talked and answered Otto’s questions.

“He sounded like he might be a native of this area, or else he’s a very talented linguist. It’s possible.” Dane frowned and his expression took on a faraway look before brightening. “But I saw his hair! It was longer, about to his shoulders, and kind of thin. He had light hair, a blond-ish white, so maybe he was a blond when he was younger but his hair is turning with age?”

Otto stood up and patted his pocket, pulling out his phone once he felt it. “Well, I doubt he’s from Dalanzadgad then, but I could be wrong. There aren’t a lot of blonds here, besides Tim. Gansukh and his family have lived here for I don’t even know how many generations. They’d know if there had been someone like this fucker living here at any point.” Otto pointed the phone at Dane. “Plus, Gansukh might want to know you’ve been hurt.”

Tim couldn’t tell if Dane was blushing again or not, but his skin sure did seem to warm up where it touched Tim’s. “I doubt I’m more than a fuck for him. He’d probably only be worried he’d lose his piece of ass.”

The sound Otto made was no less than a growl as he cupped Dane’s chin. “Don’t underestimate my friend or yourself in such a way again. You and Gansukh are both better, both deserve better than to be categorised as you just did.”

The assertiveness sent heated arousal straight to Tim’s balls, and even Dane squirmed, although he might have been feeling guilty.

“Gansukh is very pissed, and he’s on his way,” Otto told them a few minutes later. Or told Dane, Tim corrected, because it had been Dane whom Otto glared at. “And I suppose he’s mad at me, too, for not calling him as soon as we found you. And for not forcing you to the hospital.” Strangely enough, Otto chuckled. “Love can make us fucking stupid, can’t it?”

Tim looked up from watching Dane to find Otto watching him, his dark brown eyes full of so much emotion, so much—dare he believe?—love, it stole Tim’s breath and damn near made his heart stop beating. Yes, love did indeed make him stupid, but it had been fear of being hurt that had made him blind to the emotion he now had to acknowledge, if only to himself.

Then Otto smiled, and if he’d thought the love in his eyes had been something, it paled in comparison to the entire look Otto gave him. Tim dropped the walls around his heart, around his mind, walls he hadn’t even been aware of erecting to try to protect himself and his vulnerable emotions. He opened himself fully, letting Otto feel the entirety and depth of his affection, and found himself ensconced in a sensation of comfort and warmth, love and safety, he’d never known he could experience, as Otto’s love flowed into him.

Chapter Seventeen

To say Gansukh had been pissed had been an understatement. Otto was damned lucky he hadn’t ended up fighting the man. After the anger was handled, it’d been time for the conversation. Otto suspected Gansukh was, if not in love with Dane, certainly on the brink of it, and such being the case, he would never ask Dane to keep the secret of shifters from Gansukh.

Otto had very nearly ended up in a fight again. Gansukh, for all his brute strength and size, was a sensitive man whose feelings were deeply hurt by Otto not confiding in him sooner. There would be friendships to repair and make stronger, but Otto believed it could and would be done. None of the four of them—Tim, Otto, Dane or Gansukh—were shallow people. They’d work at their relationships.

“Your mother and sister are insisting on meeting us tonight,” Tim said when Otto came into their suite. He’d been helping Gansukh get Dane into his vehicle. Otto was pretty sure no one was going to get through Gansukh to hurt Dane again. Now he had another concern on his hands.

“You told them what we were doing?” He tried to keep the accusation from his voice but wasn’t entirely successful.

Tim harrumphed and threw a pillow at him. “
You
try lying to your mother. I sure as shit couldn’t do it, not even over the phone. I just know she’d know and then all hell would break loose.”

Otto clutched the pillow to his chest and his irritation fled. “Yes, she probably would have known. She’s uncanny about being able to detect untruths. It really sucked when I was home for the summers and trying to sneak out. Talk about impossible.”

“Rebellion is futile,” Tim snickered. He became serious again shortly. “I imagine your dad will be there, too. I can’t picture him sitting at home, waiting for the missus and daughter to return. Although he’d be able to pull off wearing pearls and heels.”

“That’s just wrong,” Otto got out after the image of it stunned him stupid. “But no, he won’t wait around the house. If nothing else, he’ll stay in the truck with a gun big enough to kill a bear. It’s illegal as hell, but no one’s ever caught him with it yet.”

Tim goggled at him but his eyes were unfocused. Otto had no doubt he was trying to picture Steve waving a shotgun around. “He really has a gun?”

“Several, actually,” Otto informed him. “He could probably be on one of those end of the world specials on TV, you know the ones. Where people stock up with guns and ammo and years’ worth of food and supplies, bragging how they’re going to be the only survivors when the apocalypse hits.”

“Yeah,” Tim said, a hint of derision in his tone. “Showing it all off on TV, and not realising they’re making themselves target number one should the apocalypse ever really happen.”

Otto pulled out a different set of clothes. “I agree. Everyone in their neighborhoods at least will know who has the food and medicine, gasoline and such. So.” Otto set the clothes on the bed. “I was thinking it’d be a good idea to leave in an hour or so and head around the other direction, come to the foothills from the west. It might not throw this guy off, but then again, it might. We probably should also take Gansukh up on the offer to use his father’s old beater truck. Chances are, our vehicles are known.”

“I’m sure you’re right, and okay, sounds like a good plan to me.” Tim stood and strolled over to him. His blue eyes darkened and he stared at Otto’s lips. “There’s a lot we can do in an hour.”

Otto’s cock twitched and his hole clenched as he flexed his ass. He tried to keep every hint of excitement out of his voice and expression, but he figured Tim could feel it regardless. Still, it was fun to play. “What did you have in mind?”

Tim popped the button on his khakis and slid his hand down past the material to fondle his cock. “My dick, your ass, lots of screaming, panting and coming.” Tim flicked a glance at Otto’s neck. “Biting.”

Someone was feeling dominant, and damned if it didn’t flip Otto’s switches. Tim’s little victorious-looking grin also caused a quivery sensation in Otto’s belly. “That sounds absolutely—” His phone rang, the shrill sound in no way melodic despite it being part of a song. Anything that interrupted the fucking Tim just promised him was an annoyance.

“Answer it.” Tim pulled his hand from his pants. “Otto, answer your phone. It might be important.”

Otto shook off his lust-daze and checked his phone. He groaned and turned his eyes to the ceiling. “It’s my mother.” And he just had to see Tim’s reaction.

Which was a loud groan. Tim refastened his pants. “Total mood-killer.”

“No shit.” Otto answered the phone. “Hello, Mother.”

A second of silence. “Mother, is it? I must have interrupted something good.”

Otto wished she were here so he could glare at her in person. No, wait, he didn’t. “We didn’t even get to the good part. Just the talking about the good part.”

“Well, at least we won’t be intruding nearly so much when we knock on the door in about two minutes.” His mom’s laughter reminded him of the tinkling glass pieces on her wind chimes. “It’s a good thing I called first, isn’t it?”

It’d have been even better if she’d just left this visit for a later time.

“Be nice,” Tim scolded. He began picking up the suite, clearing away dirty glasses and scattered clothing.

Otto concluded the conversation—no point in chatting via the phone when Lona and Steve were at the door. Vendelia, too.
“Any chance you and I had of being alone before we go after the poacher is now completely gone.”
As if Tim wouldn’t have figured it out himself, but Otto wanted to bitch, and he doubted doing it out loud to his family was the way to go. They’d just tease the shit out of him.

“Well, we could lock ourselves in the bedroom and fuck regardless of them being here. I’m not sure who’d be more mortified, us or them.”

Since Otto could feel the tingling excitement Tim was trying desperately to hide, he figured he knew the answer. Someone with a sexy, long pony tail and soft, silky hair liked the idea of putting on a show, even if it was all just audible and not visual.

“But not for your family. Ick. Although I do think it’d teach them not to just show up like this.”
Timothy’s mental sigh was loud enough to make Otto wince.
“My family will be even worse, though, trust me. There’s a lot more of us, and the words boundaries and personal space are not in their vocabulary.”

“I can’t wait,”
Otto returned. He thought he’d probably have a lot of fun with Tim’s family. Tim brought out a playfulness in him Otto couldn’t remember feeling since he was a child. The idea of a whole herd of cousins to tease and joke with was a balm to the soul of the lonely boy he’d been years ago.

“We wanted to go over the plan for this evening,” Lona began, obviously unwilling to wait until Otto and Tim were ready for whatever she had in mind. “Your father will be standing watch with his lovely rifle—”

Tim snorted out a laugh and Lona seared him with a look. Tim shut his mouth only to open it again. “Sorry, it’s just your choice of wording.”

“It really is a lovely gun, though.” Vendelia sat on the coffee table rather than the floor, since her parents were on the couch. Otto had taken the only other chair and Tim was sitting on the arm of it beside him. Vendelia waxed on about the gun’s beauty for a few moments—the dark blond stock, the perfectly sighted scope, the firm trigger and the good solid kick the gun gave.

Otto was beginning to believe his sister had some sort of penis-firearm envy going on. Tim pinched his arm hard. Otto got the message to derail that particular train of thought.

Lona waved Vendelia off. “Enough about the rifle, sweetie. It’ll be yours in a few years, once your dad finds a gun he likes better.” Vendelia didn’t quite squeal, but it was a close thing. “Now, as I was saying before, Steve will wait at the vehicle, either inside or outside of it, wherever he feels most comfortable. Have you mapped out a search pattern?”

Otto and Tim looked at each other. “No. We haven’t had time.”

“We’d have had an hour,” Tim pointed out.

“Like you’d have been playing with maps,” Vendelia scoffed.

“Leave your brother and his mate alone,” Steve intervened before Otto could leap to Tim’s defence. “Lona and I can plot out a course for the search, unless Tim or Otto would rather do it.”

Tim shrugged. “Actually, Otto was going to shower. So was I, but we sure aren’t doing it together with an audience here. I don’t have a problem with you figuring out the best way to hunt. I’m not familiar with this place so it’d be stupid of me to pretend I knew best.”

Otto stood. “I know the area, but I do want to shower.” He took Tim’s hand. “And you can wash my back, no fooling around. I would like your company.”

Tim only hesitated a few seconds before rising from where he sat. “Okay. We’re going to be pushing our planned departure time anyway as it is. Best get this done quickly.”

Otto ignored his sister’s titters and strode to the bath room. Tim tugged his hand free and got their clothes.

“I just needed a few minutes alone with you before we leave,” Otto confessed once they were naked and standing under the hot water. “I just need to touch you.” He slanted his mouth over Tim’s.

Tim opened for him beautifully, eagerly. He moaned almost soundlessly and took Otto’s hardening cock in hand. With his other hand, he palmed Otto’s balls. There was no build-up, just Tim jerking him, hard, fast strokes that weren’t exactly pleasurable due to the roughness of the movements, yet they caused Otto’s climax to explode up from his balls, shocking him with his lack of restraint. Tim had hardly even masturbated him, surely not even a dozen jerks, and here Otto was panting into Tim’s mouth, cum spitting from his slit.

But Tim owned him, so Otto shouldn’t have been surprised. He just hoped he’d been quiet during the jacking, because he honestly couldn’t have said if he shouted or whimpered or what.