Justice (22 page)

Justice did, right after he kissed Paul breathless.

In the bedroom, he stripped Paul’s clothes off, kissing over his bared skin. Justice gently pushed him back on the bed. Paul reached for his own nipples as Justice spread his legs.

“So sexy,” Justice whispered, his breath tickling Paul’s nuts.

Then the hot, wet swipe of tongue put an end to the tickling. Paul left off twisting his tits to instead pull his legs up, offering Justice more of him than he ever had.

“Paul?” Justice’s voice was soft, holding a note of uncertainty.

“Please,” Paul got out. “Let me feel your tongue.”

There had been a time when he wouldn’t have been so vague, but he was a different man now. A better one, he hoped. Paul’s eyes rolled back when he felt that first, bare slide of tongue over his hole. He gripped his legs tighter, so tight it kind of hurt. Paul didn’t care.

Justice lifted his balls, palming them as he began licking Paul’s opening with more enthusiasm. The sounds he started making matched the hungry ones slipping past Paul’s lips. Electric currents of pleasure spread from Paul’s asshole to his cock and balls, then up to his nipples and down to his toes.

His head was definitely spinny, his breaths choppy as Justice rimmed him. When Justice gently sucked at that wrinkled skin, Paul yelped, his climax shoving at him. Justice rolled his balls and Paul let go of one leg to grab his dick. He didn’t even make it before he started to come. Justice licked him, hard, rough, wet, and Paul keened as his cock spurted cum onto his belly.

Justice shook the whole bed as he rutted against the mattress. His shout when he came burst against Paul’s delicate skin. It caused another dribble of cum to leak from his slit. Justice left off rimming him and sucked on one of Paul’s nuts, sharing the happy orgasmic vibrations as he moaned through his release.

Once Paul could think, he was surprised he didn’t soar off the bed from the sheer joy of being able to open himself up like he had to Justice.

He opened his arms to the man, and Justice crawled up Paul’s body to nuzzle his neck.

Paul closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensations building anew in him. He wasn’t healed up all nice and neat, but he was better. With Justice and his newfound family, Paul wouldn’t ever slip back into the mess of a man he’d been. He had the strength of love behind him, supporting him, from more people than he had ever imagined he’d have loving him.

With Justice at his side, Paul was only going to keep getting better.

Epilogue

Paul was fidgety, but that was okay. Justice totally understood that. He was nervous about meeting Remus too. There’d been so much talk of the man, Justice was expecting some kind of huge, powerful-looking god.

Instead, an older man with a trimmed white beard and white hair that hung in a braid over one shoulder was led into the cabin by Marybeth.

Remus’ eyes twinkled when he looked at Justice. “Not quite what you expected?”

Justice found out he could blush as hard as Paul did. “No, sir.” He wasn’t going to lie, not when he feared Remus could read his mind.

Paul cleared his throat. “I think Justice meant he thought you’d be more like Cliff. Huge. And scary.”

Remus tipped his head in acknowledgement of that. “I am just a simple man. Not too tall, or built like a wall of muscle. Just a man who does the work the Fates set out for him.” He gestured at Paul. “Will you let me touch you?”

Paul looked at him like he was off his rocker. “Uh. Maybe? It depends on why.”

Justice was wondering the same thing. Remus smiled, and Justice noticed that despite all the white hair, he didn’t really look old.

“Because I’d like to say a blessing over you, then over you and your mate both. And I have protection for you each to wear, but I must be the one to put it on you.”

Paul jerked back as if the shaman had tried to touch him. “Protection? I thought shifters couldn’t get STD’s and—”

Remus could blush, too. “Oh, no! No, no, that isn’t what I meant at all!”

Laughter came from behind Remus and Justice noticed then that there were other people in their cabin now, too. Paul didn’t seem to be aware of the fact that wolf shifters were in the living room, members of Remus’ pack.

“I meant these,” Remus said, gesturing over his shoulder. “Rolly, bring me the amulets.”

“Sure, Dad.” A man with dark blond hair strode up behind Remus. He had the same delighted glint in his eyes as his father. “Here you go.”

Paul noticed the wolf shifter then. He darted a glance to Rolly, then Remus, then to Marybeth and finally, Justice.

“It’s fine,” Remus said in a soothing voice. “My son will not harm you, nor will any from my pack. Listen to my heart, Paul.”

It should have sounded like a bad romance movie line, but the deeper truth gave the words a weight they would have otherwise lacked. Paul relaxed in minute degrees, until finally, all traces of fear were gone from him.

“You’ve been hurt, your body, yes, but your heart and soul more so,” Remus murmured. “You have a good heart and an old soul. Do not lose faith in yourself, or the goodness of people, human and shifter alike. We are all bound together through the Fates. What shifters and humans haven’t learnt, and might never still, is that one cannot exist without the other. Once we were one. Now we are two, yet parts of one whole.”

That sounded deeper than Justice was able to process then, but he stored the information away to examine later. Marybeth was nodding, adding quiet hums and encouraging sounds.

And Paul was walking to Remus, his movements easy, trusting. Remus held out his hands and Paul walked right between them. Remus placed one hand on Paul’s cheek and the other on his chest.

Justice didn’t understand the words that were spoken, but the power emanating from Remus was thick in the air. Paul moaned softly and lowered his head as white light framed his body. Remus’ eyes were open, the irises as white as the rest, the pupils white as well. It should have been scary, but Justice wasn’t bothered. His mate was getting something from the Fates, something he needed that would help him. It might have only been the ability to forgive himself for ever having got kidnapped, or it might have been a bolster to his strength. Whatever it was, Justice thanked the Fates for giving it.

Then Remus was back to being a normal-looking man, the glow gone as he slipped a leather necklace over Paul’s neck. “Justice?” Remus asked.

Justice walked over to stand beside Paul. Remus didn’t do the whole glowing, white-eyed thing for him, but that was okay. He did say some kind of strange words before putting a leather necklace with a small pouch around Justice’s neck.

“Leave them on as much as you can,” Remus told them. “There is power in them.” He didn’t explain what kind of power, but Justice could feel the pouch warming his skin through his shirt.

“Thank you.” He shook Remus’ hand.

“It’s my pleasure.” Remus moved to take a seat at the table. “Now, tell me about this man, Cliff, and what he’s been doing.”

Justice’s phone buzzed. He wanted to ignore it, because it would be rude not to, but Remus canted his head in a slight nod. Justice took the phone when Paul offered it to him, and read the text.

“I think he’s crazy, maybe even dangerous, but powerful,” Justice said. “He knows you’re here.”

Remus looked startled by that and he held out his hand for the phone. “May I?”

Justice handed it over.

One left. Will need help with this one, I think. Tell Sabin to be careful. It won’t kill him. Remus
—
we’ll meet one day.

Also available from Total-E-Bound Publishing:

Southern Spirits: Whirlwind

Bailey Bradford

Excerpt

Chapter One

Stefan Bausch nudged his friend Ro. “Wanna play football?”

Ro looked horrified for a moment, his eyebrows scrunching together as he gawked at Stefan. “Why would I want to do that? I hated football when I was alive, and what would we use for a ball?”

“A ball,” Stefan said blandly. “Don’t tell me you haven’t learnt how to pick things up yet. You’re with Conner. You’d have to know how to grab corporeal things just to keep up with him.”

Ro scowled. “That still doesn’t answer the why part.”

“Because,” Stefan said as he waggled his eyebrows, “think of the way everyone at the park would freak out if they saw a ball shooting back and forth through the air.” It’d be hilarious…maybe.
Or maybe not, since a lot of the townsfolk believe in spirits—ghosts.
Stefan wasn’t interested in being exorcised. Again.

“Sounds like a great way to freak out someone and end up cast out of this world and into whatever comes next,” Ro muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. “Didn’t something like that happen before?”

How did Ro know what he’d been thinking? Stefan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, and it sucked. It was your grandparents who did it, wasn’t it?”

“I don’t want to talk about them.” Ro glanced around. “You know I still fear that they’re gonna pop up just to try to ruin my afterlife.”

“Conner would handle them,” Stefan informed his friend. Ro had to know that. Conner would never let anyone hurt Ro.

Ro flipped his long black hair. “Sure he would, but I don’t want him to have to. Anyway, I’m pretty sure they would hang around the other part of the family, not the heathen gay side.”

“Maybe.” But sometimes Stefan got so bored he wished someone jerkish would show up. All the spirits he knew were nice—and either straight or hooked up, like Conner and Ro.

“We could go see what’s happening at Sev and Laine’s place,” Ro offered, a hopeful light springing up in his eyes. “Conner’s off greeting newcomers.” Ro’s joy died down and his expression shifted into one of sadness. “How he knows when someone’s going to pop up is beyond me. And him, too, actually. He says he just feels this tug in his chest.” Ro shook his head. “That sounds creepier than us being dead in the first place. Oh man, I sure hope whoever does show up isn’t a psycho criminal. I always worry, but I don’t know why. It’s not like a psycho spirit could kill us all over again. I need to quit watching the news. It’s all bad shit. Why can’t everyone just get along?”

“That’s asking a lot of humanity,” Stefan scoffed. He thought about going with Ro and shook his head. “You go on. I’m in a weird mood and should probably just go off and pout for a while.”

“Are you sure?” Ro uncrossed his arms and reached for Stefan’s hand. Ro’s skin was warm and soft, his grip firm and comforting. “I’d love to have your company.”

Seeing Laine and Sev wasn’t a bad thing, but Stefan didn’t want to hang around another happy, loving couple. Laine and Sev were definitely that. They’d been together forever and still acted like they’d only just met and fallen in love. It was sweet, and caused an ugly spike of jealousy to rear up in Stefan. He hated that about himself.

“Nah, really, I need to just chill out.” Sleep, maybe. Stefan could sleep in his ghostly form just like he had in his live-bodied form. It helped to pass the time when he was bored stiff.

“You sure?” Ro asked again.

Stefan barely refrained from rolling his eyes again. “I’m sure. Jeez, go before I start thinking you’re afraid I’ll float off to the Great Beyond or whatever.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Ro snapped. “It’s not funny.”

“Sorry,” Stefan said immediately. Ro had almost lost Conner to the Great Beyond or whatever came after when Conner had gone chasing after a spirit. It’d been a close call. None of them knew what happened to them once they went up, up and away. None of them wanted to find out, either.

“Really, I’m sorry. I told you I need to go pout. I’m not fit company.” Stefan pulled Ro in for a hug. “I’m an asshole.”

“Love you anyway,” Ro huffed, but the tone of his voice as he said it took the sting out of him not disagreeing with Stefan’s self-description.

“You too.” Stefan patted Ro’s back then stepped out of the embrace. “Go watch the lovebirds. I’m gonna head to the cemetery.”

Ro shivered. “That’s so morbid.”

“I don’t think it is. I like seeing the headstones with the long lives carved onto them. Makes me happy those people had a long time with their loved ones.” Stefan nodded. “Catch ya later!”

Stefan let himself float up a few feet then he shot up high and fast before angling towards the graveyard. He hadn’t been lying to Ro. He
was
glad for the folks who didn’t die young like he had—it gave him hope for his brother and Darren, as well as other people he cared about who were still living. Stefan didn’t want them to die, but if they did, or when they did, rather, he hoped they’d stay here on Earth with him.

As for being alive, he didn’t miss it. It probably made him a weirdo to like being dead a heck of a lot more than he’d liked being alive, but since he
was
dead, Stefan figured it was okay. Surely being a spirit in the afterlife entitled him to some quirks.

Well, more quirks.
Stefan didn’t like to think back on his life much. He’d been deemed ‘developmentally slow’ and jeez, it’d been hard. People had picked on him, bullied him. Johnny Chapman had even killed Stefan over it.

Stefan shuddered. Johnny had done it in the worst way possible for Stefan. First he’d led Stefan on, made him think Johnny actually cared about him. Stefan had been so lonely, and so eager to please everybody, but especially Johnny since he used to pay attention to Stefan.

Never around other people, though. Johnny had explained how being seen with Stefan would kill his cool cred. That had hurt, but Stefan got it. His brain was damaged, and that always made people steer clear of him no matter how happy and giggly he’d been.

And so he’d let Johnny touch him, hurt him in other ways that he’d thought were supposed to be enjoyable. They hadn’t been, but Stefan had been desperate for companionship. Darren had been Stefan’s only friend, and even so, Stefan had known Darren was slipping away from him. Stefan might have been slow, but he wasn’t totally stupid.