Caleb Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 7] (14 page)

The night was cool and damp. The stars were bright since the moon wasn’t up yet. When it eventually rose, it would be a tiny sliver, offering very little light against the full dark of the evening. But Caleb wasn’t concerned. Into one of his many pockets he’d tucked a small flashlight. He was ready for just about anything. Drawing a deep breath, he moved toward the long drive. When he reached the spot they’d been at two nights ago, he stopped and watched as Gage emerged out of the darkness. Tonight he was alone, but as soon as he came into view, four red dots danced over his chest.

Caleb grinned. His brothers were right on cue. No matter what happened, he knew they would do everything they could to protect him. Rather than watch from the cramped room, McBride was up on the veranda with Caleb’s brothers. He had found an old spying glass that would allow him to see any hand gestures Caleb made, but he wouldn’t be able to hear what was said. Even the butler wouldn’t be able to make out their conversation with the wind. It wasn’t a harsh gale, but enough that it messed with his implanted microphones.

“Caleb.”

“Gage.”

“Have you decided?”

“I have.”

Gage’s eyebrows rose.

“But I have some questions.”

Down his brows went. “I thought I made it clear—”

“That you weren’t going to reveal everything until I was at your base. Right. I got that part. But I don’t want to live there with you.”

Gage considered the big house behind Caleb. “What we have is nicer than this place.”

“It’s not that.”

“I already said you can bring your pet.”

“No. I find that he’s sentimental.”

Gage uttered an annoyed sigh.

“I’m willing to help you, but I want to stay here.”

“That won’t work. We need you in town.”

“Why?”

“Because you can’t fix it from out here!”

Gage’s outburst told Caleb more than he probably realized. Was that all this was? They’d heard through rumors that he was good at fixing things and they wanted him to repair something for them?

“I’m happy to help you fix whatever equipment you’ve got, but I really don’t—”

“We need you to help us use it.”

That put Caleb back where he had been just moments ago informationwise. He had no clue what Gage was talking about now. He couldn’t imagine what was so important that a bunch of slammers would be willing to give him the last pure thrall.

“Why did you give me Timon?”

Gage made a face that indicated he’d never bothered to learn the thrall’s real name.

“Angel.”

“Oh. We thought that would get you to agree to help us.”

“And if I refuse you want him back?”

“I don’t think you will refuse.”

Caleb wanted to laugh and say something condescending about Gage knowing him so well after being in his presence for a grand total of twenty minutes, but something about his certainty held his tongue.

Gage looked over his shoulder, presumably back toward his group of men, and then he returned his attention to Caleb. “What if I told you that we have a breeding machine?”

“We have one.” Caleb shrugged. “They’re all over this part of the world since men used to breed farm animals.”

“No. We don’t have an animal breeder. We have one for humans.”

Into Caleb’s mind came the image of McBride’s face as he confessed his thoughts about them growing old without children. McBride had downplayed his longing, but the truth had been there for Caleb to see. He wanted kids. Caleb was willing to do anything to make that happen for him.

“Are you interested now?”

“I am.”

As Gage set off, Caleb fell in next to him, flashing a hand gesture behind his back. More than anything he hoped McBride got the message.

“What the hell is Caleb doing?” Quintus was next to McBride on the upper deck where they had an excellent view of the long drive. It was dark, but he was still able to make out his mate and the leader of the slammers. As soon as Gage had come into view, Caleb’s brothers riveted their guns to him. One false move and he’d be dead long before he hit the ground. It seemed to McBride his earlier worries were meaningless now. Judging by the look on Gage’s face, Caleb was clearly telling him something he didn’t want to hear.

But then Caleb walked away.

McBride’s heart leapt up to his throat.

“What’s he doing behind his back?”

McBride looked at the gesture and knew instantly what he was trying to say. What worried him was how vigorously Caleb was making the motion. “He’s asking me to trust him.”

“Trust him with what?”

“With what he’s doing.”

“He’s leaving.”

“I know.” McBride swallowed hard against the panic that tried to get him to call out or run after his mate.

“And you’re just going to stand here? What if he’s going because Gage threatened him?”

“There was a different signal for that.” McBride lowered the spyglass as soon as the darkness swallowed the two men up. He wanted to keep it screwed to his eye, but desperation wasn’t going to part the night. The only solace McBride could take was that he’d watched Caleb walk away once before. He’d let him go then because he loved him enough to give him his freedom. The question was did he love him enough to trust his judgment? “Caleb knows what he’s doing.”

“You’re just going to let him go?” Jonas voiced the question that was clearly on all the brothers’ minds.

“I have to.”

“Well, I don’t.” Devon hiked his gun up onto his back and turned to go into the house.

“You do.” McBride kept his voice low and even. He stepped in front of Devon, blocking the only exit to this part of the upper deck. “Please listen to me.”

Since they didn’t have much of a choice, they did. Their arms were crossed, their faces expressed their fear and annoyance, but they didn’t plug their ears.

“Caleb told me he wanted to go with them.” Rather than listen to him, McBride had immediately berated him for wanting to do something so foolish. Caleb had fought back for a while, but then he’d given in. Not totally. Just a little at a time. With his slow and methodical surrender, he’d waylaid McBride into thinking they were in agreement. However, once he was on his own, Caleb had done exactly what he’d wanted to do all along. “I trust that Caleb is doing the right thing for all of us.”

Dubious looks met his remark.

“If it were me going off with Gage, would you trust me?”

And now those looks turned guilty.

“He’s my mate. He loves me. And if that’s not enough to convince you he’ll be back, we’re bloodbonded. Caleb wouldn’t put that at jeopardy for no reason.”

“But why did he go?”

“I don’t know. But it had to be something important.” McBride turned from the door and went deeper into the house. His men followed him in silence. They crossed through the large guest room then went down three flights of stairs to the dining room. “Let’s help Ollie clean up, and then we can go into the parlor to talk.”

They did just that, but no one was very talkative. They stayed in their pairs with the only solo men being McBride and Timon.

“Sir?” Timon had stayed in the parlor while everyone else went off to watch Caleb with Gage. He was afraid if Gage thought Caleb didn’t want him, Gage would demand he give Timon back, and Timon didn’t want to go.

“What is it, Timon?”

“I don’t know that this matters, but Caleb asked me something before he went outside.”

“What did he ask?” McBride glanced around and realized the other men weren’t paying them any attention at all. That was good. If Caleb had somehow tipped his hand to Timon, McBride wanted to be the first to consider the information.

“He asked which one of the slammers I liked.”

“Why?” McBride wasn’t getting anything from that information at all. He couldn’t fathom a reason why Caleb would care about who Timon might have an interest in. Or maybe he was simply trying to find out who the kindest or most tenderhearted slammer was. Did Caleb intend on taking over their group? That sounded utterly nuts considering they wanted him to lead them anyway. Why take over when they were willing to give him the position?

“I don’t know. But I told him. He just nodded and didn’t say anything else.” Timon considered McBride. “Does that help at all?”

“It does. Thank you. If you think of anything else, you’ll tell me?”

“Yes, sir. But I really don’t know anything other than what I’ve already told you.” All of the sudden Timon’s eyes went wide.

“What’s wrong?”

“You won’t make me go back, will you?”

“No.” McBride wrapped his arm around Timon’s shoulders and pulled him close. “I’m not going to make you go back. You can stay here as long as you’d like.”

Timon relaxed against him, so McBride continued to hold him. As much as he was giving comfort, he found the act of simply holding someone eased his worry. Caleb was out there doing who knew what, and McBride was stuck in his big house holding on to a tender thrall. After all they’d been through to be together, they simply couldn’t end this way.

As he sat there, listening to the insects chirping outside the windows, he wondered how long it would take before his blood hunger became unbearable. He and Caleb had been feeding from one another with astonishing regularity, but Caleb still took far less blood than McBride. His teeth extended and the tips itched, prompting him to look at Timon’s neck. The thrall was delicate as all thralls were, and his hair was pale blond, almost wispy. He looked so fragile that one strong bite would crush his neck.

Gently, McBride extricated himself. “Bailey? Can I feed?”

“Sure.” Bailey kept Ferris on his lap, but he willingly tilted his head to the side.

McBride got behind him and sank his teeth in without any preamble. He drank deeply then licked the wound closed. For a moment, he thought he’d have to ask another brother, but his teeth abated, and he returned to the couch, where he took Timon back into his embrace.

“Did I cause that?” Timon asked.

“No. It’s the usual time for my nightly feeding.”

They stayed silent after that, and then Ferris took Timon up to the bedroom across from him and Bailey. McBride found himself alone in the parlor with nothing to do to occupy his mind. He considered the bar, but he didn’t want to be out of commission if the valet should ring his bell. Since he couldn’t sleep, he decided to do all the tasks he’d let slide while he and Caleb fornicated the day away. Now that Caleb had gone with the slammers, McBride wished he had spent even more time with him.

For some reason, he left the big house behind and went out to Caleb’s little home. The door was unlocked like usual, so he walked right in. The first thing he noticed was that it was clean. Not obsessively so, but just enough that he was aware Caleb had gone over the place after McBride had left this afternoon.

He made his way to the bedroom, but rather than turn on the light, he went over to the bedside table and relit the candle there. Soon the room was filled with a flickering, golden glow. Caleb had made the bed. When he peeled back the covers, he found fresh sheets. For some reason, that bothered him, but he wasn’t sure why. And then he had a terrible thought that prompted him to go to the closet. He panicked when he didn’t see the art book right away. If that was gone, it meant that Caleb had no intention of coming back. Just when he’d given up hope, he found the collection of drawings. His relief was so profound he grabbed it and settled on the bed.

Caleb would never willingly have left the book behind.

McBride settled in and spent the entire night flipping through the pages, loving the profoundly moving ability of his mate. Somehow, holding the book and looking at it made him feel close to Caleb.

Each image he considered evoked emotions. Some were good, some were bad, and some were downright perverse. McBride had always resisted Caleb’s lusty suggestions, but now he realized the taunting things Caleb had said to him over the months simply scratched lightly at the surface of his wickedly dirty mind. Caleb was able to turn the most innocent thing, such as McBride gearing up his
dressiter
, into an erotic romp with leather straps and makeshift sex toys. Against his will, McBride was aroused by what he saw. Not that they would ever act any of it out, not that he needed to, just that it was so raw with sexuality the sheer intensity was astonishing.

“I can actually see myself strapped to the saddle of my mount with Caleb riding me from behind.” Before he could get too caught up in that fantasy, he flipped a few more pages, noting that Caleb’s mind continued to find twisted expressions in everything he saw McBride doing. Each moment in time that had been frozen, bent, and erotically exploited made McBride appreciate his mate even more.

As difficult as it was for him to admit, McBride silently confessed to himself that he missed Caleb. Not that the idea of that was so shocking. They were new mates after all. But he missed Caleb not for his body, his blood, but for his soul.

McBride considered the altar of white wax. All that expended as Caleb sat and drew his pictures, silently begging for McBride to come to him. To claim him. To surrender to him. Turning, McBride considered the bed he’d spread himself upon for Caleb’s lusty pleasure this afternoon. By his sharing his drawings, Caleb had surrendered himself.