When No Doesn't Cut It (4 page)

Tapping his head, Shawn closed his eyes muttering “wolf, wolf, wolf, no, not that one, aha, got it, Diablo, got you.”  He opened his eyes.  “Here look at this,” he said, “I can’t recognize the area.” 

Shawn opened out his hands and a blue ball of light appeared.  Peering inside of it Kane and Dean
could see a really big black panther creeping leaping across from one tree to another.

“Okay, you
’ve found Diablo,” Kane said, “Can you expand the picture out a bit so we can see the ground.  I want to make sure the others are there, and see if we can pick up some landmarks.”

Opening his hands wider, Shawn expanded the energy ball and Kane leaned in for another look. 

“Dean take a look at this, do you recognize anything?”  He said shortly.

Leaning over Kane’s shoulder, Dean said, “Yes. That’s the path to the old mill on the west side of our property.  I go there sometimes to paint and stuff.”

“You go by car right?”

Nodding Dean said, “Yes it’s a bit far to hike with my art supplies.  You’ll need the SUV ‘cos the road’s a bit rough.”

“What’s the bet Bruce and his cronies are hiding out at the mill?”  Shawn asked.

“Pretty bloody good,” Kane said as he got up from the table.  “Which means we had better hurry otherwise the fight’s going to be over before we get there.”

All Damien could think of, as the men hurried to the SUVs parked outside, was that if his mate came through this unscathed, then he was going to bed and claim the little fucker and make sure he never left his sight again.  In Damien’s opinion, he was getting too old for this type of shit. Too old to be chasing his mate all over the countryside, while the man was trying to get himself killed. Pleased he had a plan, Damien followed Kane and the others into the wagons, and out onto the road.

Chapter Five

Okay, so it might have seemed like a good plan when the boys set out that morning, but
now Scott, Troy, Griff, and Diablo were confronted with the fact that Bruce and his four cronies were all holed up in the old mill, and this was not a situation any of the men had considered.  They had all figured they would come across their quarry outside - where the fight had a level playing field.  Trying to take on a bear shifter and four wolves in a confined space was not a good idea. Scott shifted to his human form and indicated for the others to do the same.

For the longest time
, the four men studied the old mill from their hiding place about 200 yards away in the trees.  There were no windows left in the old wooden building.  Just wide gaping spaces where the glass had once been.  The mill had been unused for more than fifty years, and was now unstable and falling apart.  Trying to fight in that type of environment was risky and just plain stupid.

“What are you thinking, Scott?”  Troy whispered.

“I’m thinking we need some bait to get those fuckers to come outside, otherwise we aren’t going to get anywhere,” Scott said tersely.  “What do you think Griff, Diablo?”

Griff and Diablo shared a long look and Scott knew they were doing the whole mind mate connection thingy.  He really envied them their connection and their love for each other, something he was never going to have
, seeing as his mate clearly didn’t want him.  Determined to nurse that hurt at a later time, he prodded Diablo and said, “well come on.  What do you think?”

“Yes you
’re right, we do need bait to get them to come out,” Griff answered instead.  “The logical choice would be you Scott, seeing as you are the mate of Damien and all that, but shit I don’t want to get on that man’s bad side if something goes wrong.”

“You’ve only just met the man,” Diablo said to Scott in his chocolate velvet voice, “and he is not here as back-up for you.  He is going to be really angry if you do this, you know that, right.”

“The man made it clear he didn’t want me last night, so I am sure whatever I do today will be of no interest to him,” Scott snapped out.

“But,” he continued
, a sudden sparkle in his eyes, “There’s no reason we can’t use his name to get those assholes out of that mill. You with me Troy?”

“Of course,” Troy said getting to his feet.  “But you do remember I have got a mate I haven’t met in person yet, don’t you?  Let’s not go getting killed over this idea of yours okay?”

“What’s your plan, Scott?”  This time it was Griff who spoke up.

“Simple.  Troy and I will shift and approach the mill as though we are just doing some scouting.  We make out we don’t sense them in there.  We shift to human form, walking back towards here
, arguing like brothers do, dropping Damien’s name and my mate status as we go and…”

“And then we come in like the cavalry,” Griff said sharply.  “Damn
, Scott it is going to be really risky if you two are in human form.”

“We could shift mid argument and act as though we are fighting,” Troy suggested.  He grinned at his brother, “It’s not as though we haven’t done that before.”

“We’ve got to take that bear shifter out quickly,” Diablo said, “and I think I know how we can do that.” 

He turned to his mate
. “Griff, honey, when the guys come out of the mill, can you run in and help the twins?  I need the space to get a run up on that bear.  I figure with my weight and some speed behind me, I should be able to topple him in one go. But I need him clear of the others, and I need the distance to build up as much speed as possible.”

Griff grimaced, clearly not liking the idea
, but the battle he and his mate had had with the other bear shifter the day before was fresh in his mind, and close quarter fighting with something of that size was not a good idea. The only chance they had of getting Bruce off his feet, quickly, was Diablo’s 400 pound shifted weight. He nodded and stroked Diablo’s face gently, noting the risk and accepting it.

“Right,” said Troy, “are we going to do this?”

The men beside him all nodded.

“For Kane and Shawn,” Griff growled.

“For the pack,” answered Diablo and Troy.

For Damien, thought Scott.

“Follow my lead,” Scott said to Troy as they shifted. 

Moments later
, he and Troy came out of the trees in wolf form and sniffed around the area of ground as though they were looking for a scent. The smell of the bear shifter on the ground wasn’t that strong, nor was that of the other wolves, but Scott could feel he and his brother were being watched from the mill. 

He and Troy separated for a bit and then as they came back together Scott deliberately smacked into Troy’s side
, causing his brother to growl at him.  Scott shifted to human form and yelled at him.

“Oh come on, Troy, it’s not like I knew I was Damien’s mate.  How was I to know he was going to fuck me in your bed? It was an easy mistake to make.”

Troy shifted and yelled right back.  “You knew though, when you did it, didn’t you little brother.  You could have stopped him.  But no, just had to get your end away, just like normal. No thinking about me.  But the bastard Damien didn’t claim you though, did he? Oh no, so right now you are just a fuck toy, and you bloody fucked him on my bed.”

Scott could sense movement by the door of the mill
, and he deliberately started heading back towards the trees, knowing Troy would follow.

“He was gonna claim me, but he wants to do it in his own bed, not yours,” Scott yelled even as he kept walking.

“Yeah, like the great Damien would mate with you,” Troy yelled back, following Scott back towards the trees.

“He will.”  Scott actually was angry now.  “He’s my true mate, you hear me. 
Damien is my mate, mine, and you’re just bloody jealous.”

“Fuck toy, fuck toy,” Troy taunted.

“Fuck you,” yelled Scott as he shifted.  Troy shifted just as quickly and the pair of them leapt at each other, clashing and rolling around in the grass, moving closer to the trees with each roll.

Scott sensed rather than saw when Griff ran past them in wolf form, huge and imposing.  Griff was Kane’s cousin
, and an Alpha wolf in his own right. Scott barked at Troy and they broke off fighting and headed towards Griff, who was loping straight for the four wolf shifters, who had come out of the mill and were fixated on Scott and Troy. Out of the corner of his eye Scott could see Bruce the bear shifter ambling out of the mill, well over seven foot tall, when on two feet and in his animal form.

The bear was headed straight for Scott.
Problem was, so was Drake, Damien’s ex-enforcer.  Crap, this could get messy, Scott thought, as he weaved to dodge Bruce’s claws and ran straight into Drake, head butting him in the rib cage.  Drake went down with a thud and then rolled to get back up on his feet again, just as Bruce lunged over him, trying to get to Scott, who darted around his legs.

Scott headed in the opposite direction
, hoping to draw Bruce out away from the others.  Sure enough, he could feel the bear shifter’s breath on his flank as he ran.  Just as he thought Bruce was going to swipe him with those huge claws for sure, he heard a loud yowl and Diablo burst from the trees in full black panther mode.  Bruce was distracted by Diablo’s cry and had half turned from Scott, giving Diablo the perfect opportunity to leap on him.  Both animals went down to the ground rolling, snarling and biting at each other.

Scott had just two seconds to appreciate the full power of the cat
, before Drake caught him on his flank and Scott fell down, narrowly avoiding Drake’s teeth. Rolling away, Scott staggered to his feet and turned to meet Drake head on.  They met in the air, a clash of teeth and claws and then Scott went down again, Drake’s heavy body over his back.

Fuck, he thought, this is not good, even as he struggled to get out from under the much larger wolf.  Wiggling and crawling forward
on his belly, he managed to evade Drake’s teeth that were gunning for his throat, but the enforcer got in a good bite on his front leg before Scott got free. 

Scott didn’t ev
en register the pain in his leg. He was too focused on killing Drake. The bastard had tried to rape him after all, and he had betrayed Damien. This time as he leapt towards the larger wolf, he aimed to go over Drake’s body, snagging Drake’s throat as he went.  The sheer momentum of Scott’s body, and the power of his teeth in Drake’s throat, ripped the man’s neck wide open, and as Scott fell heavily on his injured leg, he registered that his strategy had actually worked. Drake was dead.

Then he howled in misery as his leg buckled underneath him and he would have fallen completely flat on his face if two huge hands hadn’t caught him as he fell.  Hang on a minute,
where did the hands come from? Scott’s muddled mind tried to process what was happening.

Then he heard Damien’s voice yell at him, “Shift damn it,” and well
, he thought, wasn’t that just a bit rude.  Shivering a bit at Damien’s tone, Scott shifted to find Damien standing over him, as he lay on the ground.

Throwing his mate a cheeky grin, because hey
why couldn’t he tease the man just once before the asshole left to go back to Texas, Scott asked, “Did we get ‘em?”

Damien looked at his mate sprawled on the ground, blood pouring from his arm wound, a cheeky as smile on his gorgeous face
, and was overcome with so many emotions he could barely breathe.  Anger and lust were the two big ones and they were threatening to tear him apart. He just couldn’t help himself.  Reaching down, Damien picked Scott up by his armpits and held the man up so they were eye level and an arms distance apart.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” Damien roared and without warning he pulled Scott to his chest and sank his teeth into the juncture between Scott’s neck and shoulder.
Scott’s cock went from zero to one hundred in two seconds flat, and Scott climaxed in spectacular fashion, spilling his seed all over Damien’s abdomen.

Damien drank deeply from the bite in his mate’s neck, overcome with pleasure
that came from the taste of Scott’s blood, the smell of Scott’s come and the feeling of rightness of what he had done.  When he felt Scott sag against him he carefully removed his teeth from the muscle, licking the wound and then raising his head he let out a triumphant howl, proclaiming to all that could hear that he had found his mate.  Scott didn’t hear it though, he had passed out. He’d had a really long day.

Chapter Six

When Scott came too
, he was alone in his bed.  For a moment he had to stop and think about how he got there.  Then his memories came flooding back - the fight, the pain in his arm and Damien.  Damien yelling at him, biting him.  And giving him the most powerful orgasm of his life.  Fuck.  He’d been claimed.  He’d been claimed by a man who had said less than twenty words to him in two days. Worse, he’d been claimed by the Alpha of the San Antonio Pack in Texas. 

But, thought Scott, maybe not.  Damien and Scott weren’t having sex when Damien bit him.  Maybe it didn’t take.
  Then maybe he could just hide in his room until the guys from Texas went home and his life could go back to normal.  Scott was surprised to feel the pang of hurt in his heart at the thought of never seeing Damien again, and knew with everything that he was, that sooner or later he was going to be living in Texas, whether this mating bite took or not. But it didn’t have to be today.

Groaning, Scott went to sit up.  He felt surprisingly good
, considering all of the fighting he had done on the past two days.  Hearing the door to his room open, he was relieved to see the figure of his twin coming in.  He wasn’t ready to face Damien yet.  Not until he had worked out what he was going to do.

Troy came over and sat down on the bed beside him, putting his arm across his twin’s shoulder. 

“How you feeling?”  He asked.

“Surprisingly good,” Scott said, looking down at his arm where he had been injured.  The arm was healed, obviously Shawn’s work.  Then he reached up to find the spot where Damien had bitten him.  That too was healed
, but Scott could feel the ridge of the scarring left by Damien’s teeth.

“Yes, it took,” Troy said, “The scar
’s as plain as day.  Shawn tried to heal it, because we all figured the mating wouldn’t work without sex, but that’s another myth blown to hell.”

“It can’t have taken,” Scott spluttered, “I can’t feel him in my head or anything.
”

Troy laughed.  “That
’s because Shawn has got your mate downstairs encased in an energy field. Seems Damien broke the law when he bit you without permission.  Shawn and Kane are threatening him with the Shifter council and everything.  Damien could lose his pack and even his life because of this.”

“Oh that’s rubbish,” Scott said, reaching around the bed for his clothes.  He found some reasonably clean jeans and slipped them on.  “Diablo claimed Griff without telling him and nothing was done about that.”

Diablo and Griff had met in Claude’s club and were originally supposed to be a casual hook up and nothing more.  Griff was drunk and didn’t realize Diablo was his mate, although when they got together in bed, apparently doing the deed so to speak, Diablo did catch on and couldn’t stop himself from claiming his mate.  The fact that he had to leave to complete an FBI assignment before Griff even woke up caused the two a few problems, but they had got it sorted in the end.

“Yeah, well that
’s because the two of them actually wanted to be together, and look at them now, their mating is perfect.”

“So why is the situation any different with Damien?  I’m not making a complaint against him.  He bit me. 
We’re mates. So what?”

“I made the complaint,” Troy admitted quietly, “and Kane backed me up.”

Scott looked at his brother in shock.  “Why would you do that?”

“Well
, you didn’t want to move to Texas did you?  And Damien is hardly your ideal type.  Come on Scott, don’t be mad.  I’m your twin.  I know what you were looking for in a mate, and face it, Damien doesn’t tick any of the boxes, other than he is really hot looking.”

“He’ll lose his pack over this!  He could be killed because of this!  You can’t do that to my mate, Troy, no matter what you thought I wanted.”

“But if you accept this mating, then you will have to go with him.  You’ll lose your home, your job, your pack and the only family you have left.”

Closing his eyes for a brief moment, Scott acknowledged that Troy was right.  His whole life would be turned upside down.  A life
, that up until today, he had really loved.

“Why would they put him to death?”  He asked quietly.

“Because he bit you.  Claimed you.  It means you won’t be able to get a hard on for anyone else again.  If he’s dead the mating bond is broken, and you can go on and find love with someone else.  They won’t be your mate, but you could be loved, Scott.  We’ll help you get through it.  It won’t be easy, even though you two haven’t really bonded yet, but we will get you through it, and then you can have your life back.”

Scott held his brother by his arms and looked deep into eyes he knew were identical to his.

“You know I can’t let that happen, Troy.  That’s not the type of person I am.  I thought I didn’t want Damien as my mate because of all of the things you have said, but the Fates have never been wrong before, and I have to trust that Damien is right for me on some level.  I don’t know how, and I don’t know why, but I can’t let my mate die, even if it means moving to fucking Texas.”

“I can’t lose you,” Troy said, tears in his bright blue eyes.

“You won’t,” Scott promised, kissing his brother’s forehead softly.  “Your own mate will be here in less than a month and then you’ll be building a life of your own.  But I will always have your back Troy, no matter where I am, and if you need me for absolutely anything at all, you just get Shawn to zap me to where you are. Trust me.”

Troy nodded and they both turned to head downstairs.

“So do you think he’s hot at least?” Troy said quietly.

“I hadn’t noticed.
” Scott lied through his teeth, well aware that his twin would know he was lying too.

“Yeah
, right.” Troy punched him on the arm, as they went through into the kitchen, where it seems everyone was waiting for them.

Damien was sitting at the table, encased in a blue energy field.  His face was surprisingly calm
, considering he was facing the loss of his pack and possible death, but the relief in his eyes when he looked up and spotted Scott was unmistakable.

Scott looked at Shawn
, who was sitting across the table from Damien, with Kane at his side.  Both men looked really angry.

“What’s going on?”  Scott asked
, even though he already knew.

It was Kane who answered, “Damien’s claim on you was forced in that you didn’t have any say in it.  That’s against pack law.  Troy has laid a complaint
, and as your Alpha I have backed that complaint, on the basis that you don’t know this man, he wasn’t having sex with you when he claimed you, which would have implied consent, and your own life will be turned upside down as a result of this claiming. We figured that would be what you wanted.”

Taking a deep breath Scott looked straight at Damien.  “There is only one thing I want if I agree to go through with this mating.  I want the right to claim you in return - properly,” he added.

/~/~/~/~/

Damien’s face shut down and his eyes were bleak.  Scott was only a beta wolf.  The thought of an Alpha wolf of Damien’s power and stature submitting to Scott
, even if it was in the bedroom was almost unheard of.  Damien had never been fucked by anyone, for reasons of his own, and he wasn’t sure he could ever give up his anal virginity, even to his mate. 

“What if I can’t agree to that?  Will I lose my pack, my life?” Damien’s voice was deadly calm and it ran over Scott like a caress
, even if the words themselves jarred his soul.

“No, I would never do that to you,” Scott said
, equally calm.  “Kane and Troy thought they were acting in my best interests and I really appreciate that.  But I won’t have you lose everything including your life because of one moment of angst.  Troy is withdrawing the complaint, so there is no case to answer.”

Surprise etched on his face, Damien asked, “So what will happen if I don’t agree to your terms?”

“You will go back to Texas and resume your life, and I will continue to live here and get on with mine.  Neither one of us will have sex again, but I am sure that will be a small price for you to pay for your pride.”

/~/~/~/~/

If Scott sounded angry, it was because he was.  But he wouldn’t yield on this point.  Damien wasn’t anything like the mate he had dreamed off, and although the sexual tension in the room was growing, simply by virtue of the two of them being in the same room, it wasn’t enough for Scott.  He had to be an equal to Damien in at least one respect, and he wasn’t backing down.

Damien was silent for the longest time and then he raised his head and shook it.

“I’m sorry Scott, I don’t think that I can give you what you want,” the sorrow in his voice evident.

“Fine,” said Scott
, even though in that moment his heart broke in two.  “Have a safe trip back to Texas.”

Ignoring the stunned looks of all of the men in the room
, Scott managed to leave the room with his back straight and his head held high.  It was only when he was out of sight of the others that he crumpled, and seconds later he was in Troy’s arms, shaking and trembling in grief. It was Troy who got him to his room and held him through the long afternoon and into the night, long after Damien and the rest of the Texas men had left.