Bailey Bradford - Southwestern Shifters 07 - Revolution (13 page)

Jameson was half-afraid he’d blink and Adam would be gone. He kept finding himself touching Adam, little brushes against his arm or shoulder. It didn’t escape his notice that Adam was doing the same thing even though he was leaning back against Todd.

“Why don’t we find someplace less crowded so y’all can visit?” Todd’s voice was soft and deep, had that Texas twang to it that Jameson hadn’t heard in too long. He found himself picking it up, when he’d thought he’d lost most of his accent.

“There are a lot of rooms here,” Jameson said as he touched Adam’s wrist. When Adam took his hand, it surprised him, but only for a second. They were being much more touchyfeely than that had been years ago, but considering what had happened to them both, it was understandable. “Just down this way is our room. We can go there if you want.”

Todd patted his shoulder. “Y’all go on and I’ll be there in a bit. I’m gonna find us something to drink. Beer’d be great…” He dropped a kiss to Adam’s cheek then tapped his butt. “See y’all in a few.”

“He seems like a good guy,” Jameson murmured as they watched Todd walk away. “Nice butt, too.”
Adam snorted then laughed. “Oh yeah, nice
everything
, trust me.” He watched a moment longer then turned to Jameson. “Come on, show me where we can have some privacy.”
Jameson led Adam out of the living room and down the hall to the room he shared with Luuk. “It’s right here.” He opened the door then let go of Adam’s hand and stepped back, allowing his friend entrance first.
“Thanks.” Adam entered the room and Jameson followed, shutting the door behind them. Adam looked around the place and whistled. “This is nicer than our room. Todd and I are gonna have to push the twin beds together.”
“Yeah, well, with Luuk being who he is and all…” Jameson didn’t figure he needed to explain.
“Yeah, and I’d bet Marcus and Nathan are going to have a big ol’ bed, too.” Adam chuckled. “Well, they’d have to, since Marcus is a big guy.”
“He is at that.” Jameson gestured to the small table. “We can sit, or—”
“Or this,” Adam said as he spun around and caught Jameson in a hug that threatened to crack a rib or two. “Damn, I’m just so glad we found you. I was worried—”
“Me too,” Jameson squeaked out. He thumped Adam’s back with one hand and held on tight with the other. “Been afraid for a long time.” The admission caught him off guard. Jameson hadn’t meant to say anything more than the agreement he’d first uttered.
Adam held him tighter and Jameson thought he was going to have to cry uncle, but Adam gentled his hold after a few seconds. He ran his hands in small circles on Jameson’s back and pressed his forehead to Jameson’s, staring at him with dark eyes Jameson knew so well.
“Don’t ever disappear on me like that again.” Jameson opened his mouth to protest but Adam talked right over him. “I know you didn’t have a choice. I understand that Luuk didn’t tell you about shifters right off the bat, and this isn’t about me, it’s not. But I still get this stupid fucking hurt feeling because you didn’t think you could tell me about shifters. It’s dumb, I know it’s dumb. Todd was hurt that Gabe kept it from him for so long, too.”
Jameson would carry that guilt with him for a while. “I didn’t know until right before I left with Luuk. I could have told you, yeah, but I couldn’t grasp it. I didn’t know what to do, but talking to you would have helped. Instead I was distracted and we walked right into an ambush.”
Adam raised his head and scowled. “You couldn’t have helped that.”
Jameson hitched one shoulder. “What’s done is done, and I am sorry I didn’t tell you. I really didn’t know whether to even believe it myself, and worried I’d fallen hopelessly in love with a man who was delusional. Then we landed and there were men turning into wolves and blood and…well…” He didn’t want to go into detail about that. “It was bad, and after we got away, Luuk had to change me.”
Adam flinched and darted a glance down, as if looking at Jameson’s groin. “I had to change Todd like that.”
Jameson’s eyes bugged and he leant back. “What? Why? Aren’t there other ways?”
“I’ve been told, but Todd insisted it be me who changed him.” Adam’s wicked little grin made Jameson chuckle before the man continued. “We cheated, though. Used topical anaesthetic and made small cuts with a very sharp scalpel. At least we know it doesn’t have to be pain and biting—oh.” He blushed. “Er, I didn’t mean—”
“It’s fine,” Jameson said with a wave of his hand. Adam cocked a brow at him. “Okay, it wasn’t fine at first. I didn’t want to do it, and sure as hell didn’t want it done to me, but once I understood the alternative would be Luuk’s death—because no way could I survive the mountains and wilderness in human form—then it wasn’t so hard to do.” It’d hurt like a damned bitch, though.
Adam nodded and stepped away but kept his hand on Jameson’s elbow. He led them to the chairs and they sat. “We came looking for you a while back,” Adam began, then he filled Jameson in on what had happened and how Adam and Todd had become shifters.
“You ingested a pill made from a dead guy?” Jameson asked when Adam paused. “And that turned you into a shifter?”
Adam sighed and pushed the sleeves of his shirt up. “Yeah, but it was a really old, powerful shifter in that capsule, and I thought I was going to die because I have never experienced such agony in my life. And then, lashing out and hurting Todd… Jesus. I
wanted
to die then. Some part of me knew it’d kill Todd for sure if I did.”
“Y’all are mates. Hurting each other goes against everything in you.”
“It does,” Adam agreed. “Todd is an amazing man, Jameson. He’s been through so much, experienced so much hatred and abuse at the hands of people who should have loved him, and yet he’s the kindest man I’ve ever met.”
Jameson flashed back to the moment when Todd had shifted, to the scars on his body that were impossible not to notice. He’d wondered but would never have asked. “He’s okay with you talking about whatever gave him those scars?”
“He’d rather I explain it than have to go through it again even just verbally,” Adam told him. “That’s part of why he’s giving us time, because he figured you’d want to know about him, and there are things that he just doesn’t ever want to talk about again.”
Jameson shook his head. “Then don’t tell me. I don’t want him uncomfortable around me. All I need to know is what you’ve told me, that he’s good, kind…and has a great ass, along with other parts.” Jameson winked, and Adam laughed but he could tell by Adam’s expression that he was going to keep talking. Jameson was fine with that, too, if it was what Adam needed to do.
“His parents were monsters, Jameson. You saw the scars, well, those were from his childhood. Then his father almost killed him right when we were beginning our relationship.” Adam paled and tears filled his eyes. “It’s the worst thing, ever, to find the man you love lying bleeding and helpless on the ground. Then to know it was his own father who did it—”
“I can’t imagine,” Jameson murmured. His own parents had been distant, as if they’d adopted him only so they could show him off in their social circle. When they’d died months apart from each other, Jameson had been sad but not devastated. At that point, they were strangers to him, embarrassed by his lack of a brilliant career. Him being gay they could have dealt with, but him not having the drive to succeed at all costs was unforgivable.
“His mother’s a total bitch, too,” Adam said, sniffling and wiping at his cheeks. “His father died in prison, and his mother…just, ugh. She’s horrible.”
“Is Todd happy?” Jameson asked.
Adam looked at him for a moment, as if surprised by the question, then he beamed. “You always did pare it down to the essential truth. Yes, he’s happy. He didn’t let what was done to him warp him, and he’s the best man. I’m very lucky.”
“I bet he says the same.” Jameson nodded towards the door. “Is he coming in here soon?”
“In a few minutes. I want time to make sure I don’t look like I was crying.” Adam dabbed at his eyes with the hem of his shirt. “Not like he won’t know, but still.”
“Do you regret being turned?” Jameson asked then held up a hand to forestall Adam’s answer. “Wait. Let me rephrase that since I imagine you do as you weren’t turned willingly. Now that you’re a shifter, you and Todd both, would you go back to being just a human being if you could?”
Adam raised one eyebrow. “Just a human?”
“You know what I mean,” Jameson grumbled, cheeks going hot with embarrassment.
“Oh, I don’t know. I think those three words sum up a lot of it, don’t you? I mean, I didn’t want to be a shifter in the first place, or maybe I never thought about it because how was it ever going to happen?” Adam shrugged. “But now, being able to shift and run with Todd, to experience things as a shifter does, with the enhanced senses… To share a mental bond with Todd, like I’d never imagine possible? No, I wouldn’t go back to being just a human.” He leant forward and drilled Jameson with an intense look. “Would you, if you could? I don’t just mean yourself, but if you could make it so that you and Luuk were human, and didn’t have to deal with any of this…this betrayal and death and shit? Would you rather be just a human?”
Well, there was a question Jameson wished he’d never asked, and he wouldn’t have if he’d known it’d be turned back on him.

Jameson shook his head. “No, because Luuk would need me to be stronger for him, he’d need me to be a shifter even if this coup hadn’t occurred. What might his packs say if he’d had a mate who refused to be turned? That’d be an insult to them.” He picked at a thread on the seam of his pants leg. “And if he wasn’t the Alpha Anax? If we were just two men who had met and fallen in love?” Jameson sighed and looked up at Adam. “I can’t even imagine it, you know? Part of what makes Luuk the man he is, is his wolf. I don’t think he’d be the same person without it. It’s not like us”—he gestured between them—“people who were turned later in life. Luuk grew up in the pack, and it shaped him in every way. To try to picture him without that is just impossible.” Then Jameson snorted. “So I guess the short answer is no, I wouldn’t have us both be humans, even despite the threats to our lives.”

Adam canted his head just as the door opened. Jameson was surprised he hadn’t heard Luuk approaching, but he’d been pretty involved in their conversation, and he’d not felt a flare of alarm from Luuk so he knew his meeting was going okay. Adam’s entire face lit up and Jameson saw Todd hovering in the doorway.

“Come in,” Luuk said, stopping a couple of feet in and turning to Todd. “I’m not sure they’re all talked out yet. They’ve got years to make up for.”
Todd came in and blushed as he glanced around the room. “S’a lot bigger than ours, but we appreciate being put up. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful.”
Luuk frowned as he looked around. “I’m sure Mem will be happy to put you two in a larger room, if there’s one available—”
“No, no,” Todd said as he waved his hands in front of him. “No. I don’t want to be a diva or whatever. We’re fine where we’re at. And anyway”—he shot a quick grin at Adam— “I was thinking maybe we shouldn’t push the twin beds together after all. We can get real close on just one.”
“Yeah, we can,” Adam agreed. “So, Luuk, I imagine Marcus told you he’s had several dozens of his guard here not only looking for you, but fighting against Luther’s regime.”
Jameson looked at Luuk, who came over and put a hand on his shoulder. Todd struck up much the same pose with Adam. “Yes,” Luuk rumbled, “he did, and I am humbled by his assistance. There was no reason for Marcus to have to get involved. That he did astounds me.”
Adam leant forward and whispered, “Well, Marcus is a pretty amazing guy, and a leader that anyone would be lucky to follow—but don’t tell him I said so. He’d keel over if he thought I paid him a compliment or two.”
“I need to meet this guy for more than a minute,” Jameson muttered. The North American Alpha Anax was impressive-looking, and obviously strong—in numbers as well as other ways. To be able to spare guards like he was doing, to have the courage to step into a war that wasn’t his own, all for…for what? “Why’d he do it? Marcus, I mean,” he added when everyone looked at him with confusion.
“Because he didn’t like what was going on, and he thought it was wrong.” Adam shrugged. “Or because he wanted to keep our mutual friends, Gabe and Mika, happy. Gabe and Todd are totally BFFs for life,” Adam said with a flutter of lashes that brought that blush to Todd’s skin again. Adam winked at him. “Well, it’s true.”
Todd coughed and turned redder before he managed to speak. “Ah, yeah, he’s right behind you on that best friend thing, Adam. As for Marcus, he’s just…” Todd turned his eyes up at the ceiling like he’d find the answers there. “Well, he’s just trying to do the right thing. There’s that saying about how all it takes for evil to win is for good people to do nothing, or something like that. I think that’s Marcus’ philosophy, especially since he’s been held captive and tortured and could have lost his position as Alpha Anax if his brother hadn’t held it for him.”
Jameson opened his mouth to ask about that when another knock sounded at the door and they turned to see Marcus himself standing there, along with his mate.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Marcus said, looking right at Todd, who was surely going to erupt in flames if he blushed any hotter. “And Todd is right. I couldn’t let step back and not help, not once I found out that Luuk is a good man, and Luther…not so much. Unfortunately, Luuk’s brother isn’t quite as, er—”
“Capable,” Luuk supplied. “He has good intentions.”
Marcus nodded. “That he does, but he lacks the strength and leadership to take on Luther. And, from what my guards have learned, there’d be many unwilling to follow Maarten.” Marcus grunted and looked at his mate. “What? I was being tactful.”
“Not really,” Nathan told him, glaring at Marcus.
“He’s right, Nathan,” Luuk said, chuckling a little. “Maarten is a good guy, but he’s not up to leading our continent’s packs. He wouldn’t want to, either.”
“See? Luuk understands and isn’t all—ouch!” Marcus yelped and narrowed his eyes at Nathan. “Oh really?”
“Yeah. Really.” Nathan stood straighter and turned his attention to Jameson. “I’d like the chance to talk with you about the whole being the mate of an AA thing. The stories we can swap…” He ruined his stern look by snickering. “But seriously, we came because Mem wants us to eat, and she is insisting that the AAs and us—that includes you, Adam and Todd, as well as Gabe and Mika—eat first, and at the large table she has decked out to the nines. The longer we stand here chatting, the hungrier everyone else is gonna get.”
“You could have said so sooner,” Jameson said, practically jumping up from his seat. Adam moved as an almost mirror image of him.
Nathan flapped a hand and turned for the door. “Dinner wasn’t ready yet,” he said over his shoulder. “Mem said ten minutes, and that’s about now, isn’t it?”
How the hell would he know when Mem had talked to Nathan? Luuk huffed, sounding entirely too amused for Jameson’s liking. Then Luuk had to go and leer at him in just the way that made Jameson’s dick go from soft to hard in about two heartbeats as he stepped into the hallway.
“Someone’s horny.”
“Someone’s tactful,” Adam snarked, laughing right after as he turned. “Hey, Gabe— Mika having trouble keeping you under control?”
Mika grunted and grabbed Gabe’s arm as he glared at Adam. “Are you
trying
to make sure he breaks my damn ribs?”
Jameson looked from Adam to Mika to Gabe then back again, and realised none of them were truly upset. This seemed to be some familiar joke between them, and it made Jameson’s arousal dwindle as he tried not to feel jealous of the other close friends Adam now had. It wasn’t like he was in junior high or whatever. He wasn’t a kid or unable to reason out that duh, of course a great guy like Adam would have new or more friends. Jesus, he was a dick.
“No, you aren’t, you’ve just missed him and that’s understandable. I’m sure you’ll like Gabe and Mika if you give them a chance, love.”