Taming the Enforcer’s Flirt (12 page)

Cornelius just bet. Being six foot, he’d barely fit on there, making it easier on them and harder for him to find a way to escape. As he watched first one man, then the other leave, he spotted something sticking out of the backs of their waistbands. It wasn’t until he saw it in Paul’s pants that it registered what they were.

The butt of a gun.

Do they all have weapons? Oh, shit!

Pain exploded through Cornelius’s temple. He jerked sideways and grunted, lifting his hand to rub his head.

“Pay attention!” Corbin practically roared, spittle flying from his mouth.

Cornelius realized Corbin must have been talking to him and got tired of being ignored, for he’d punched him with the butt of his gun.

“Ow, shit,” Cornelius snapped, taking a step back, away from him.

“You should be stripping you worthless piece of—”

The shattering of glass drowned out the rest of Corbin’s words. Instinctively, Cornelius lifted an arm to shield his face from the flying shards. Right in front of him, Corbin did the same. The human at the table screamed, leaping to his feet as Vane’s massive red form lunged toward him.

“Holy shit!” Corbin yelled. His arm swung, re-aiming his weapon at the gargoyle.

Cornelius leaped forward, bringing his hand up and knocking Corbin’s arm just as he fired. The shot went wide and the wood trim of a window casing splintered. Natalie screamed, and from the corner of Cornelius’s eye, he saw her topple from her chair and scoot along the floor like an inch worm, wriggling her bound form under the table.

Knowing his sister was sort of out of the way, Cornelius refocused on his ex. He balled up his fist and swung. Although his aim was a bit off, the hit landing on Corbin’s jaw instead of his temple, his ex still stumbled back a couple of paces. Cornelius wasn’t a fighter by any means, but as a rhino shifter, even one of the smaller breeds, his punch would still pack a wallop.

Since Cornelius had Corbin off balance, he pressed his advantage and lunged, grabbing for the other shifter’s arm. He wrapped both hands around Corbin’s wrist and yanked on the limb, his one goal to make the man release the gun.

A fist to Cornelius’s kidney made him loosen his grip, but he managed to hang on. This time when the gun went off, glass exploded. He doubled his effort, jerking and twisting Corbin’s wrist. He heard a pop right before Corbin screamed and the other shifter finally dropped the gun. Cornelius released him and searched for the weapon.

Another shot fired and, this time, the unmistakable thud of a bullet hitting flesh sounded through the room. Vane grunted.

“Everybody freeze,” Paul shouted.

Cornelius obeyed, eying Paul and Smithy, who now stood in the doorway, their weapons raised.

“What the fuck is that?” Smithy screamed. From the slight tremble of the man’s weapon, it didn’t take a genius to realize the sight of Vane’s massive red form freaked him the fuck out.

“I’m a gargoyle, human,” Vane snarled, deep and mean. He currently rested on one knee, his black wings half lowered, shielding Natalie from view. His red eyes narrowed, he pulled his thin lips away from his pointed teeth. “And if you shoot me again, make sure it’s in the head, because if it’s not, it will be the last thing you ever do.”

Of Corbin’s three buddies, two of them were human, Smithy and Lence, and the latter already appeared to be incapacitated, lying on the floor. Cornelius couldn’t see Lence’s eyes because his head was turned away, but from the amount of blood starting to pool under him, it didn’t look good for him.

“Calm down, Smithy,” Paul ordered, resting his hand on the human’s shoulder.

Cornelius knew Paul was a wolf shifter and was only a smidge shorter than him with broader shoulders. Paul enjoyed jacking off to the sight of others fucking a bound man, then he’d often spray all over Cornelius’s hair. He’d hated it.

“You okay, Corbin?” Paul asked.

“Fucker broke my wrist,” Corbin snarled. He glared at Cornelius, hatred shining from his eyes. “I think I may just have to return the favor. Maybe a knee or ankle, that way you can’t run again. How’s that sound, pet?”

As he talked, he reached down for his dropped weapon with his good hand.

“Attempting to steal a gargoyle’s mate is not a particularly bright idea.”

Einan’s voice, booming from the hallway behind the pair, never sounded so good.

Smithy spun around and screamed, firing his weapon wildly. He must have missed, for seconds later, Einan appeared and batted away Smithy and his gun as if he were nothing more than a bothersome insect. Smithy screamed again, his weapon flying and skidding across the floor. He started to scramble after it, but Einan ordered, “Don’t move, human!”

At the same time, Vane lunged forward, unmindful of the blood oozing from his thigh, and tackled Paul. The two grappled together, fighting for the upper hand.

While Einan spoke to Smithy, Corbin raised his gun and fired at Cornelius’s mate, screaming, “The rhino is mine!” Fortunately, it was his bad hand, and he missed.

Cornelius’s rhino, incensed upon seeing someone endangering his mate, begged for release. On the same page as his animal, Cornelius shifted, his skin changing, thickening, his limbs realigning, his clothes tore from his body as he grew.

Bugling, Cornelius charged. He ignored Smithy’s keening and the thuds and grunts coming from the grappling pair. Focusing on Corbin, he watched his ex’s eyes widen and swing the gun back toward him. Cornelius reached him before he could complete the arc and slammed his head into the shifter, embedding his eight plus inch nasal horn into his abdomen.

Corbin grunted and flew backward, right into Einan and his claws. Seconds later, Corbin lay sprawled across the floor, a stunned expression etched on his features, as the light of life faded from his eyes.

Just then, Paul went flying across the room and slammed into the opposite wall. His head hit the wall with a thud. Paul slowly levered himself into a sitting position, blinking repeatedly, looking dazed.

“Stay down, wolf,” Vane ordered roughly. “I won’t give you another chance.”

Paul blinked twice more, then focused on Vane. He pressed his hand to his side and nodded once. “I won’t move,” he promised.

“Good choice,” Vane stated. The red gargoyle turned and headed toward the dining room table. He dropped to his knees and held out a hand. “I’m Vane. You’re safe now.”

Natalie glanced toward Cornelius. Unable to speak, he nodded, instead. She took in how Cornelius leaned into Einan’s touch, then peered up at Vane and held out her bound hands. A quick swipe of the gargoyle’s claw freed her. With motions far gentler than Cornelius would have given him credit for, Vane rubbed Natalie’s wrists.

“Change back, pretty mate,” Einan crooned. “I need to kiss you, touch you. I need to reassure myself that you’re safe.”

Liking that idea very much, Cornelius shifted.

Einan’s pounding heart slowly began to ease as he watched Cornelius shift from animal to human. His mate, so handsome in rhino form, had scared the ever-loving shit out of him. He wanted to praise his mate for coming to his defense and spank him all at the same time.

Finally, once Cornelius had finished shifting, Einan grabbed him and wrapped him in a tight hug. His mate’s arms wound around him just as snugly, and Einan inhaled his shifter’s pleasant scent.

Cupping his mate’s jaw, Einan tilted his man’s head up a bit and slammed their mouths together. He thrust his tongue in deep, ravishing Cornelius’s mouth. If he’d ever wondered what his mate’s tonsils tasted like, he knew now. Feeling his mate sink into his embrace, give himself over to his kiss, caused the rest of his tension to ease. As Einan drew the kiss to an end, sipping and nibbling Cornelius’s lips, all he felt now was arousal, his dick pressing insistently against his tight trousers.

Never had he missed his loincloth more than now.

The strange human’s whimper drew his attention, reminding him of his responsibilities. Lifting his head, Einan looked toward the completely panicked man. He took in the way he clutched his arms around his legs and rocked on his ass.

“I don’t like the guy, but I wouldn’t have wished this kind of introduction to paranormals on anybody,” Cornelius whispered.

“Got that right,” Einan agreed. “Who is he?”

“His name is Smithy, uh, that’s what everyone called him. I don’t know if that’s his last name or first name or even a nickname,” Cornelius admitted, frowning at the human. He pointed at the downed shifter and added, “That’s Paul.”

Einan nodded. He remembered Cornelius mentioning them both when he’d told him all about Corbin and how he’d abused his mate. What he really wanted to do was walk over to the human and rip out his throat, but that would be unethical. On second thought, what did humans who raped others get charged with? Maybe he needed to do some research.

At the moment though, he needed to do something with Smithy and the wolf shifter…and Natalie, who at that moment, launched herself into her brother’s arms. Einan pecked a kiss to Cornelius’s temple, then released him, letting him tend his sister.

He crossed to the human, drawing on his human form as he walked.

Crouching in front of Smithy, Einan scowled at the human. “Your name is Smithy?”

Smithy looked up at him, his big blue eyes dominating his pale face. “Y-yeah. Who are you? Can you see the demon, too?” Smithy peered over Einan’s shoulder, looking around wildly. “What happened to the other one? Is it gone? Did the red demon kill Lence?” The babbling human reached out and poked Einan’s arm, then looked relieved. He clutched Einan’s lower arm tightly in both of his hands, leaned close and hissed, “I saw Cornelius turn into a rhinoceros, then he changed back. How is that possible?”

Einan bit back a groan. The human seemed to have completely gone round the bend. He wasn’t processing what he’d seen well at all. He turned toward the second man, the wolf shifter, and found him looking incredibly pale with blood oozing between his lips.

“Son of a bitch,” Einan snarled.

He scrambled to the guy’s side and eased him to the floor. “Damn,” he mumbled upon feeling the movement of bone under his fingers. Paul moaned. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a broken rib and had trouble breathing?”

Paul actually managed to roll his eyes. “Would you have cared?” he whispered.

Einan shrugged, not knowing what he’d have done. He turned to Vane and ordered, “You have two hours until sun-up. Can you get him to the mansion before then?”

Vane looked up from where he was wrapping a dish towel around his thigh and nodded. “Yes, but it’ll be cutting it close.”

“Better get started then and have Perseus take a look at your thigh, too,” he ordered. “I’ll let him know you’re coming.”

Watching Vane scoop up the wolf shifter, Einan pulled out his phone and did just that. Next he touched base with Maelgwn, letting him know about Smithy, then asked for several mated gargoyles to be dispatched to aid in cleaning and getting them out of rhino territory before they were discovered. Without having permission to be there, Einan wasn’t certain what their reception would be by the controlling alpha shifter—regardless of the fact that they were saving one of his people—and didn’t really want to find out.

Maelgwn assured Einan that several gargoyles would be there within a couple of hours.

Never had Einan been more grateful to be mated, giving him the ability to hold his mate and watch the sun set.

It’d taken most of the day to clean up the mess in Natalie’s home and calm Smithy—Dorean
Smithy
Smithson—allowing them to transport him to their manor. Currently, he was tucked in an out of the way room so Einan didn’t have to see him…hopefully ever again. Because he was so close to the situation, he’d passed on the responsibility of finding out the depth of Smithy’s involvement to Tobias. The gargoyle beta would figure out an acceptable punishment for Smithy and Paul, who Perseus had been able to save.

Now, Einan lounged on his suite’s balcony in human form, sprawled on the swing. He rested his left leg onto the seat and propped his right leg up on the balcony, gently pushing against the metal, slowly rocking them. He held Cornelius on his lap.

Einan slid his hands under Cornelius’s shirt and stroked his fingers over his mate’s chest, feeling his warm smooth skin. He gently licked and nipped the mating mark he’d left on his shifter’s neck, loving the way Cornelius tilted his head to the side and gave him more room.

The only way it could be more perfect was if his dick was buried in Cornelius’s ass. Just that one thought had his erection thickening in his loincloth. Cornelius moaned and shifted on his lap, rocking his sexy ass against his thickening cock.

Grabbing Cornelius’s pert ass, Einan pulled him more firmly against his groin and rocked up into him. “I ought to spank this little ass of yours for going into danger without talking to me,” he growled.

Cornelius moaned, the scent of his arousal thickening.

Einan’s brows shot up at that reaction. “Oh, like that idea, do you? Then, maybe you better get undressed.”

His mate couldn’t seem to move fast enough.

Watching Cornelius quickly strip, fold his clothes, and set them aside, flooded Einan’s shaft with blood. He yanked the ties of his loincloth and tossed it open, allowing his thick cock to bob in the cool evening air. Need to reconnect with his mate flooded him, but first, he wanted to warm his man’s ass.

“Lie down,” Einan ordered gruffly, repositioning on the bench so he faced forward, giving his mate room to lie across his thighs.

Cornelius did it without delay, telling Einan exactly how much his mate wanted, maybe even needed this, judging from the hard, leaking prick he sported. Einan settled one hand on Cornelius’s back to steady him, while gently rubbing the other across his thigh.

“Are you ready, Cornelius?” he crooned, feeling a bead of pre-cum ooze from his prick at the sight of Cornelius’s pretty pale bottom. Need to redden his mate’s ass surged through him. Not even trying to resist, Einan lifted his hand and landed it hard on one pale cheek.

His mate moaned, his back arching. Einan rubbed his hand over the red mark, soothing the skin that he knew must be tingling. “You will never go running into danger again. Do you hear me? You will tell me and we will handle it together.”