Gregory's Rebellion (7 page)

“Ashton was in pieces for months. I had to force him to eat, to shower… Hell, it was a struggle to make him get out of bed. Then one day he came into work as though nothing had happened, just another day at the office.”

“Why the sudden turnaround?”

“I think his grief finally turned into anger and he needed to do something about it. Ashton pulled me aside that day and made me promise to help him find out who had killed Tania and their baby and make them pay for what they’d done. He said he wanted justice, but I know it was revenge he was craving. I couldn’t blame him. I probably would have wanted the same thing if I was in his shoes. I agreed, of course. I would have done anything to help him and I was glad to have my friend back, but he wasn’t the Ashton I’d known for all those years. He was different, changed in some fundamental way.”

“Some people never recover from losing their mate,” Hayden commented.

Gregory hung his head. He wanted to reach out and grab Hayden’s hand, to tell him about their bond, but he forced his mouth shut and fisted the sheets beneath him to keep his hands busy.

“I found out recently that Ashton wasn’t the only council member to lose his mate. There’s a definite pattern beginning to emerge. The others’ mates all died under similar circumstances.”

Hayden gasped. “So you think someone at the council had her killed?”

“I’m sure of it.”

“But why would they do that?”

“The council doesn’t look favourably on its members mating. It’s no secret that they discourage it, which in itself is ludicrous because what shifter is going to stay away from their mate once they’ve found them? Their reasoning is that because the bond is so strong, because a shifter will do anything to protect their mate, it creates a weakness and they become a liability. Weak shifters are of no use to the council.”

Hayden nodded his head. “I guess I can understand their reasoning but it’s hardly realistic. Did you ever find out who was responsible?”

A lump rose in Gregory’s throat, but he tried to swallow it down. “At the time we thought we had. A wolf at the council called Blake Deveraux started to help us. I never really understood why. I thought it might be because he felt sorry for Ashton and didn’t believe the council’s story about his mate’s death. He said he’d learned that the man responsible was someone called Stan Michaels, a high ranking member of the council, but he hadn’t been able to find any concrete proof.”

“Around the same time, there had been trouble in Wolf Creek, the town in which Kelan is alpha. We believed the council to be behind the trouble so Kelan called a meeting to discuss what we could do. He said he had a friend working on the council and, when Ashton and I went to the meeting, we met him. His name is Dean White and he holds a very powerful position. He’s the man I told you about earlier, the one Kelan said has been asking questions about me.”

“But I thought you said he was Kelan’s friend?”

Gregory nodded. “Kelan thought he was someone that could be trusted, and at first so did I, but now we’re not so sure. At the meeting Dean said he’d received information about Stan Michaels, that Stan had been involved in illegal activity with Joe Walker, one of Kelan’s pack members. While we were dealing with some wolves at the council, Dean told us he’d had word that Stan was on his way to meet with Joe. I tried to find Ashton to tell him, but he’d already left.

“I called his cell and he told me he was on his way to make Stan pay for what he’d done. Kelan, Dean and I followed him to Joe’s, but by the time we got there, Ashton had already shot Stan, but he hadn’t killed him yet. I pleaded with Ashton to think about what he was doing, but there was no reasoning with him. I know he wasn’t in his right mind—he must have been thinking about what had happened to Tania. He shot Stan a second time, and then Dean shot Ashton, killed him.”

“I’m sorry for what happened to your friend,” Hayden said quietly. “But it sounds like Dean was doing his job. What makes you think he’s behind the murders?”

Gregory sighed and lowered his gaze. “I did some checking into Dean’s background and it turns out he’s an excellent marksman. So he knew exactly what he was doing when he killed Ashton—it wasn’t just an unlucky shot. He didn’t have to kill him. Ashton wasn’t a threat to any of us. I think it was Dean that had been feeding information to Ashton about Stan and he was worried that Ashton would say something that would point the finger at him, so he killed Ashton to silence him.”

“What would Dean gain from making it look as though Stan were responsible for Tania’s death? Do you think he did it just to throw suspicion off himself?”

“You know that there are members in the council that believe shifters should live openly, should come out to humans?”

Hayden snorted. “That’s ridiculous. It would never work.”

“I agree, and that’s one thing Dean and I see eye to eye on. He’s incredibly vocal about his views on shifter politics. Well, Stan belonged to a group that had been campaigning for shifters to come out, expose ourselves. He’d gained a large following by all accounts. From what I’ve been able to find out since, Stan had created a petition to take to the elders to propose they allow us to reveal ourselves to humans if we desired. The word at the council is that there are a lot of names on that list.

“Apparently, Stan had been working his way through each pack, trying to get the majority of members to sign. But he always went for the troublemakers in the pack first. He sought out the shifters that would love nothing more than to stir things up. I guess those pack members feel superior to humans and were happy to sign. Dean has been fighting to put a stop to the petition before it gets before the elders, but I think he’s taken it a step too far. I think he used Ashton to get to Stan. That got one very large opponent out of his way. But I haven’t been able to find a connection between Dean and the death of the mates at the council. I’m sure there’s something there, but I’m missing it.”

“Wow,” Hayden said at last. “It’s kind of a lot to take in.”

“I know. And I debated whether or not I should tell you, but it’s a volatile situation and I figured, if you’re going to be staying at the Crazy Horse, you needed all the facts, needed to know what is going on around you.”
And you’re my mate,
Gregory added mentally.
If the council members find out about you, you’re in great danger, too.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Hayden asked.

Gregory gave his mate a tired smile. “Yeah, stay away from any council members, especially Dean White.”

Chapter Four

When Hayden opened his eyes he wasn’t surprised to feel Gregory’s arm wrapped around his waist, or a heavily muscled leg pushed between his own, the coarse hairs tickling where they touched. They’d started the night on opposite sides of the bed. Hayden hadn’t been able to fall asleep for hours because he’d slept so much in the car. While he had lain awake, halfway through the night, Gregory had turned in his sleep and sought him out like a heat-seeking missile. He’d wrapped an arm around Hayden and pulled him closer until their bodies were touching from head to toe. The shelter of Gregory’s arms had made him feel safe. It made him smile to think Gregory wanted to snuggle against him, even if he wasn’t aware he was doing it.

If Hayden had found it difficult to sleep before, he found it damn near impossible wrapped in Gregory’s embrace, especially with the man’s hard cock pressed up against his ass. How the hell did he stay so hard while he slept? Hayden had been out of his mind with lust, his own cock begging for attention, but he’d ignored it…he had to. He needed to stop thinking of Gregory in an amorous way because no good could come of it.

“Hmm,” Gregory moaned in his sleep and pressed himself closer to Hayden’s back. Jesus, if the man wasn’t still hard. Hayden groaned, allowing himself to enjoy the embrace for a solitary moment, to delight in the contact, and wallow in the fantasy. But right before he made to pull out of Gregory’s arms, the man started to purr, the low rumble in his chest like music to Hayden’s ears. He could gladly listen to it for the rest of his days on earth. Hayden couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so contented that he’d purred. But Gregory made him want to, made him want a lot of things.

Lying in Gregory’s arms was torture. Hayden had to do something. He turned around to face Gregory but it didn’t rouse him from his slumber, so Hayden took a moment to study him. Jesus, he was beautiful. He looked so peaceful while he slept that Hayden very nearly left him that way, but they had to hit the road soon, and they had to get out of this damn bed before they did something Hayden was certain Gregory would regret.

“Gregory, wake up.”

Very slowly, Gregory opened his eyes. The second he met Hayden’s gaze, his mouth stretched into the widest smile Hayden had seen on the man yet. He waited for Gregory to awaken fully, to realise where he was and to push Hayden away, but of course he did the complete opposite of what Hayden expected. He was becoming used to Gregory doing the unexpected, which was ludicrous considering how long they’d known each other, but there it was.

Gregory tugged Hayden closer and pressed their lips together. The low rumble of a moan came from both their chests, as if in unison. Pushing his tongue inside, Gregory stole Hayden’s breath, the wet heat of his mouth wringing an even louder moan from his throat.

Hayden knew he should stop the kiss, but Gregory’s lips felt so perfect against his own, so…right, and when Gregory forced his mouth wider and pushed his tongue in further, deepening the kiss, Hayden let him. He couldn’t have stopped now if he wanted to, and he didn’t want to.

Firm hands slid down his back until they reached his ass and kneaded. Nimble fingers dug into his flesh and dragged him closer until their hard cocks came into contact. Gregory’s purring became louder, drowning out the sounds of their whimpers and moans. With a low, throaty growl, Gregory flipped them until he was lying on top of Hayden, pinning him to the mattress beneath his firm body, their bare chests pressed together, igniting a fire in Hayden’s stomach he never wanted put out. When Gregory started to rock, Hayden’s own hips lifted to meet each gentle thrust.

Closing his eyes, Hayden pressed his head back into the pillow and let himself get lost in the feeling of Gregory’s body grinding into his own. The closeness of their bodies made him happy. It filled his heart so full he thought it might burst clean out of his chest. He knew it was just lust. He was attracted to Gregory, but as their bodies moved together he dared to dream that it could be something more meaningful. Then Gregory ground harder against him and Hayden lost the ability to think at all. He needed to come so badly.

“Hayden, open your eyes.”

Gregory’s raspy voice pulled him from his reverie and he did as instructed. When he looked up, he saw that Gregory’s eyes and teeth had shifted to their cat form. There was something so incredibly erotic about Gregory losing control like that…for him—for
Hayden
—someone that most people couldn’t stand to look at. As their bodies continued the sensual dance Hayden felt his cat begin to stir. Even though he was so used to pushing it deep inside himself, he could sense its restlessness, was aware of it begging for the release denied to it for so long.

What could it hurt if he let him out to play for a while? He didn’t think his cat could be a danger to Gregory, didn’t think it possible any part of his being could hurt the man writhing above him…but then he
couldn’t
be sure, could he? And so he did the only thing he knew how. He tried to push his cat even further inside, tried to banish him to the deepest recesses of his being. He might have been successful if Gregory hadn’t leant down and mashed their lips together, stealing his breath along with his common sense, the slide of their wet tongues making him forget himself, making him forget what he had to do to keep his cat at bay.

If Hayden let himself go, if he gave himself over to Gregory and to the feelings that were becoming so powerful for the man above him, the inner battle that he’d fought for so long would be lost.

Gregory reached a hand between them, slid it into the front of Hayden’s boxers and grabbed hold of his rigid cock. When he began to stroke, to slide back the foreskin, gently at first and then with more pressure, Hayden wasn’t sure how much more he could take, how much longer he could hold out. He didn’t want to hold out. He needed this. His cat needed this.

“Let go, Hayden,” Gregory rasped. “Do it for me—give into it. Please.”

The pleading tone to Gregory’s request stripped away Hayden’s defences layer by agonising layer.

Gregory bent down and nuzzled into his neck, inhaling him, drinking in his scent like an addict taking a fix, and the groan that tore from his throat was ragged, primal. His tongue scraped deliciously up Hayden’s neck followed by a graze of teeth and the pressure of sucking lips and all the while Gregory kept stroking him, kept making his body want to fly apart. And then it did.

The pressure inside built and built until there was nothing left for it to do but erupt in a burst of light and feelings and emotions. He couldn’t hold it back any longer. Hayden’s cat burst through the walls he had constructed for himself. His cat rose to the surface, clawing desperately at his insides until it was finally free. Hayden’s incisors ripped from his gums, his eyes shifted, his claws tore from his fingers and a low hiss burst from his throat. But, while all the physical changes were altering his body, it was the things going on inside that stole the breath from Hayden’s lungs.

Gregory’s face seemed to glow so brightly from within it nearly blinded Hayden. His entire body filled with the light from it until there was no space for anything else. Tiny currents of electricity zapped him everywhere at once, and, Jesus, but that smile… The smile on Gregory’s face said everything, answered everything. It was a knowing smile, a triumphant smile. That smile was the last thing Hayden saw before a pleasure unlike any he’d experienced took over his body. And when he came he shouted out the only word it seemed he had left in his vocabulary.