Trickster (9 page)

He got out and went over to the SUV
as Caren and Red got out. “Any problems?” Caren asked.

“No,” he said shortly, pulling the
flash drive out of his left jeans pocket and handing it back. “The website
should be live by now.”

“Great.” She tilted her head at the
SUV. “Well, if you want to climb in, I’ll just go in and activate my code.”

Mark folded his arms, keeping his
eyes on the ground. “I’ll wait out here, thank you.”

“Suit yourself. Boris, keep an eye
on him.”

Red/Boris nodded and moved to Mark’s
side as Caren opened the SUV passenger door. A high-end laptop sat on the seat
and she flipped up the lid, fingers tapping across the keys. As Mark watched
she opened a web browser and surfed to the credit union’s website, entering a
userid and password in the login section, then hit Enter.

After a moment, an “Invalid User”
screen popped up. Frowning, she re-entered the userid and password. The same
invalid user screen appeared.

Livid, she turned on Mark. “You
screwed up, sweetie,” she snarled, yanking a smartphone out of her pocket and stabbing
at the buttons. “Congratulations —you just killed your boyfriend.”

“Did I?”

She froze, staring at him. Comprehension
dawned. “Oh, you little son of a bitch. Boris, kill him.”

Suddenly the garage lights went out,
plunging them into darkness. Mark stepped back, yanking out the compact stun
gun Delaney had given him and jamming it blindly into Boris’s ribs. The thug
screamed, jerking away and dropping to the concrete with a meaty thud.

An enraged scream echoed through the
garage, Dopplering up into a furious feline yowl. Under that Mark could hear a
loud scrabbling noise interspersed with panting yips, the sound of a coyote
pack on the hunt. A mass of low shapes rushed past him, growling and snarling.
One stayed against his legs, pressing against him and pushing him back.
Delaney.

He dropped to a crouch, throwing
his arms around his mate. “Hey, Caren?” he called. “I think my boss wants to
have a word with you.”

The lights came back on, dazzling
him, and he buried his face in Delaney’s ruff. “Love you, angel,” he whispered.

A pulse of affection through their
connection was his response. When his vision cleared, he saw that the rest of
the pack had cornered a hissing, spitting bobcat.

The biggest coyote shimmered and
shifted upwards, turning back into Scott Devlin. “Ms. Dawes,” he said to the
bobcat, “you might want to shift back now. It’ll make it easier for you to talk.”

The bobcat yowled at him, then
shifted back to human form. Absently, Mark noted that Caren was just as hot
naked as he’d thought she’d be. In his arms, Delaney growled.

Not interested
, he thought to his mate.
At all.

Across from them, Caren sneered at
Scott. “You think you’re so fucking clever,” she said, hands planted on her
hips. “So you stopped me. Big fucking deal. What are you going to do now, call
the cops? Because I promise you, you and every other coyote shifter out there
will regret that big time.”

Scott considered her. “Yeah, I
figured you’d have some sort of dead man switch set up. No, we’re not going to
call the cops. We’re not going to call any human authority whatsoever.”

The accent on
human
made Caren frown. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like.”
Scott turned as the elevator dinged. “I’m going over your head, Ms. Dawes.”

Caren whirled, and paled as a man
walked out of the elevator. To Mark’s eyes the new arrival was tall, with blond
hair and a pleasant if unmemorable face. To his shifter mate senses, however,
the man radiated the power of an Alpha. “Thank you for calling me, Devlin,” he
said, nodding to Scott as he walked up to Caren, glowering at her like an Old
Testament prophet. “I’d been told that this one might show up in my territory.
Frankly, I hadn’t thought she’d be that stupid.”

To Mark’s shock, Caren actually cowered
away from the tall man, swallowing hard. “Alpha,” she said, “please, let me
explain—”

“Hush.” Her speech cut off like a
switch had been thrown. “You’ve made enough trouble for yourself tonight, kit.
Don’t get yourself in any deeper.”

With another nod to Scott, he
turned and headed back to the elevator. Caren rocked in place, trying to resist
the invisible pull. She glanced at Mark, eyes wide and pleading. “Please, you’ve
got to help me!” she begged. “You don’t know what they’ll do to me!”

Mark stared at her coldly. “You
tried to kill my mate. Frankly,
sweetie
,
I don’t give a shit what they do to you.”

The bobcat Alpha turned, snapping
his fingers. “Come!”

Even Mark could feel the whiplash
pull of an Alpha’s command. Caren lurched forward, still struggling, and
followed him into the elevator. The doors shut, and they were gone.

Mark felt an electric tingle over
his skin as Delaney shifted back to human form. The shifter stood, glancing at
the twitching form of Boris. “What about him, boss?”

“I’ll call 911 as soon as we clear
the area.” Scott walked over, toeing the thug’s leg. “Turns out this gentleman
has got quite the rap sheet, as does his partner. I’m sure Plano PD is going to
be thrilled to get both of them.”

With a nod to Mark, the Alpha
turned and shifted back to coyote form. He trotted back down the parking ramp,
the pack falling into a loose group around him. Delaney stayed human, however, slinging
an arm around Mark’s shoulder.

Mark leaned into his comforting
warmth. “Shouldn’t you be going with them?”

“Nah. Scott can take it from here. He
doesn’t get paid the big bucks for nothing.” Delaney kissed his forehead. “You
okay?”

“Yeah.” He grimaced. “Okay, so I’m
not that much of a hardass. What
will
they do to Caren?”

“She didn’t break shifter law so
she can’t be executed or anything like that. Her Alpha will most likely keep
her on a tight leash and find something useful for her to do. Knowing bobcats,
I suspect a mate and kittens are in her very near future.”

“Barefoot and pregnant?” Mark grimaced.
“That sounds really medieval.”

“I know, but it also binds her
loyalty. Do you really want her out there on her own and causing more trouble?”

“No. But if she stays local, that
could get ugly at some point.”

“Don’t worry. Bobcats and coyotes
tend to stay out of each other’s way. I have no idea how Scott talked their
Alpha into coming here tonight, but I doubt we’ll ever see that happen again.”
Delaney gave him a squeeze. “So, ready to go home?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

****

They drove back to Delaney’s place,
the shifter slipping into the jeans and t-shirt he’d left in Mark’s car. Neither
of them said anything as they went in, heading straight up to the master
bedroom.

There, they stripped each other
slowly, safe in the soft darkness that forced even Delaney to rely more on
touch that sight. The only sounds in the room were their heated breathing and
the soft press of lips and tongue to exposed skin, two greedy hearts thrumming
together.

Naked, Delaney urged Mark into the
bathroom, adjusting the taps in the huge shower until it was blood warm, then
pulling his mate into the streaming water. He grabbed a washcloth and dumped
body wash into it, carefully washing every inch of his mate. It was
instinctive, a ceremonial cleansing away of Caren’s poisonous touch.

He turned Mark and pushed him
gently against the tile wall, then knelt. He kissed and bit his way along the
inrolling curve of Mark’s ass, pushing deeper until he could lick soft, musky
skin and the tiny iris there. Listening with pleasure to Mark’s soft pleading
and whimpers for more, he bit and sucked, pointing his tongue and spearing the
tight furled muscle.

He reveled in the forbidden taste
of his mate, the ability to give him this frantic, illicit bliss. Holding Mark’s
cheeks open, he dove back in and lapped, licked, sucked with abandon. Fucked
the tight little hole with his tongue, listening to Mark’s cries growing louder
and more desperate.

When he judged the other man was on
the verge of coming, he got to his feet, kissing his way up the pale knobs of
Mark’s spine. An unmarked bottle on the shower shelf held lube; he grabbed it
and dribbled the clear fluid over his fingers. Reaching down, he pressed in
with one finger, then two.

“Oh, fuck. Stop teasing me and fuck
me already,” Mark said, voice thick.

“Okay, babe.” But Delaney added
more lube to his fingers, smoothing it over Mark’s crease and his own cock, before
pressing the mushroom head into position. Leaning forward, he pushed into his
mate. “God, that’s so hot.”

Mark groaned, dropping his head against
the wet tile. “Yeah, just like that. Oh, fuck.”

Delaney pushed forward in
increments until he could feel his balls against Mark’s ass. Widening his
stance, he pulled out until only the tip was inside, then drove back in. He
started a deep, rolling rhythm, wrapping one arm around the other man’s chest
and the other around his hips so that he could stroke Mark’s cock in time with
his thrusts.

Mark twisted his neck around, pupils
blown as he bit at Delaney’s cheekbone and jaw. Desire surged back and forth
along their bond, mimicking the action of their bodies. Delaney buried his
mouth in the crook of Mark’s neck, tasting salt, clean skin and something that
was indefinably his mate. He licked over the now-healed scar of the mating
bite, sucking hard on the skin.

A rising note in his balls signaled
his oncoming orgasm. He thrust harder, almost lifting the smaller man off the
shower floor. “Yes. Oh, fuck, yes! Come with me!”

“Ahh!” Mark clenched his inner
muscles, a delicious ripple along the length of Delaney’s cock. He howled as
his vision whited out, shooting hard and deep into his mate. Mark screamed, and
thick, sticky wetness coated Delaney’s fist.

He managed to stroke his mate
through the rest of his orgasm, relishing each contraction squeezing his cock,
until Mark finally begged him to stop. Leaning against the other man, he kissed
the damp curls at the nape of Mark’s neck.
Mine.

Yours
,
Mark thought back, his internal voice soft and languid now.
And you’re mine.

All yours.

****

They got out just as the water
started to cool, Mark laughing as Delaney grabbed one of the big thick bath
sheets and played towel boy for both of them.

Still slightly damp, they crawled
into Delaney’s huge bed and got comfortable, legs loosely entwined. The shorter
man rested his head on Delaney’s shoulder and yawned. “Have I told you recently
how much I love your shower? If it were legal in Texas, I think I’d marry it.”

Delaney snorted. “Great. You’re
already throwing me over for household fixtures. In that case, I’ll have to
insist that you move in. If you’re going to be fooling around with my shower, I
want it to be a threesome.”

“Well, if you insist.”

Delaney took a mental deep breath. “I’m
serious. Why don’t you move in?”

Mark shifted, looking at him. “Really?”

“Yeah. God knows I’ve got more than
enough space, and one of the guest rooms will make a great office for you. And
we can carpool, and I know you like the hot tub so you can use it whenever you
like, and there are some great running trails around here—”

Mark cut off his monologue with a
kiss. “Stop babbling. I’ll move in. But I’m warning you, I come with a shitload
of action figures.”

The last small knots of anxiety in
Delaney’s gut loosened, and he fought the urge to laugh. “You geek. Fine. It’s about
time we move the collection downstairs, anyway. Oh, by the way, we’re getting
this week off with pay. If anyone asks, it’s a bonus for the release. And Scott
wants to hire you permanently, if you’re interested.”

 
“Sweet. I accept.” Mark wriggled closer with a
sleepy sigh. “A whole week off. What are we going to do with all that time, I
wonder?”

“Once we get you moved in, you
mean?” He pretended to think. “Well there’s always Boggle. Or maybe a
Stargate SG-1
marathon?”

“You ass.”

“Yep. But I’m your ass.”

“Damn straight.”

“Huh. Well, not so straight anymore—”

“Del?” Mark yawned.

“Yeah?”

“Shut up and go to sleep.”

Delaney smiled, content. “Yes,
dear.”

The End

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