Chasing Seth (16 page)

“How was I supposed to find my mate when I wasn’t around others like me?” Seth blazed, suddenly very angry. He buried the hurt deep inside to be processed later. When he was alone, he could grieve over Nick and their friendship.

“Do you remember your father bringing… strange men home for brief time spans? Always telling you they were people he worked with?” Nick grimaced as he remembered the last time Seth’s father had attempted to locate his son’s mate. One of their unmated pack members had been invited to dinner, and it hadn’t ended pretty. He’d actually had to help keep the man away from Seth.

Seth nodded in response to his question, clearly waiting for a detailed explanation of why he’d mentioned those times.

“They were others from your pack, Seth. Your father tried so hard to locate your mate in order for you all to return home. Only… none of the ones he brought to the house were your mate. The last attempt he made with one of them did not go so well. Do you remember a night where your father had a man named Charles Drakson over for dinner? Your mother pulled you out of the room without warning?”

Shock held Seth immobile as he processed everything his friend told him. His father had been trying all that time to find his mate? “I remember,” he murmured.

“The man almost attacked you right there at the dining room table. I had to help your father get him away from you. He would have claimed you right there if we hadn’t stopped him.” Nick shuddered at how close a call it had been.

“How did you know he wasn’t my mate?” Seth asked curiously.

A sad look came over Nick’s face. “Because no matter how badly your mate wanted to claim you, they would never hurt you to do so.”

“Why did they only try men?” Kasey interjected, frowning. “Why not try female wolves too?”

“Because Seth came out to his parents when he was fifteen. They figured if Seth was gay, it must mean his mate would be male. I guess it never occurred to them to try women. Though it seems that they were right,” Nick explained, gesturing at Kasey toward the end.

Kasey’s question barely registered as a fine shudder went down Seth’s slender frame at the memory of Taggart claiming him, how painful it had been. Perhaps if he hadn’t been kept ignorant of it all, he would have known Taggart wasn’t his mate. “No matter whether my parents and you wanted to protect me or not, you had no right to hide everything from me. If I had known the truth of my past and who I am, then maybe things would have been different with Taggart!” Seth growled fiercely, shoving up from the couch.

Bullet whined and padded around the couch from where he’d been lying to press against Seth. Seth’s hand dropped down automatically to rest on top of the dark-golden hair. “I would have known Taggart wasn’t truly my mate! And maybe I would have found the strength to run away.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Nick asked in an agonized voice, his eyes pained. “You think I don’t remind myself of that every single minute of every single day? You’re my best friend, my brother, Seth, and if I had only told you the truth and explained to you about mates, the feelings they stir, you’d have known what Taggart was. But I didn’t, and I live with my mistake every day. The memory of how broken you were when I finally found you haunts my dreams, Seth. But I can’t change the past, only make up for it with the present and the future.”

“Then why did it take Kasey telling you to tell me the truth before you did?” Seth challenged, his canine teeth beginning to lengthen in his anger.

“Because… because I feared you’d cut me out of your life, Seth,” Nick said softly, his voice taut. “I was afraid you’d think me to be like Taggart and wouldn’t want me around anymore.”

“You should have given me the chance to make that decision for myself!” Seth shouted. “I’m sick of everyone making my decisions for me, telling me what my life should be and who I should be. Just… just get out, Nick. I don’t want you here right now.”

Nick flinched at Seth’s words. His hands gripped the arms of the chair tightly. “I can’t do that, Seth. I can’t leave you until we know for sure if Taggart is truly alive, and if he isn’t, then who is the one who trashed your clinic?”

A rumbling sound started in Seth’s chest, and he glared at Nick. “I can take care of myself.”

Kasey couldn’t just watch silently any longer, and he stood, moving to Seth’s side. His fingers encircled Seth’s wrist gently. “We know you can, pup, but we want to help you,” he soothed quietly. “Nick cares about you, Seth.”

Trembling, Seth felt as though he would be buried beneath the wealth of emotions flooding him. Fear, anger, betrayal, and yet it was tinged by lust and affection for the man standing next to him. He tilted his head back to look up at Kasey. His eyes were wild with all of the thoughts racing through his mind. “I… I just—” He choked off, dropping his head into his free hand.

Tugging slightly, Kasey pulled Seth into his arms, holding him close. “Shh, pup. I know it’s a lot to take in, and so much has happened, but everything will be okay.” He ran the palm of one big hand down Seth’s spine in a brief caress.

Seth leaned his forehead against Kasey’s shoulder, and Kasey looked up at Nick. “I think he’s had enough for one day. We’ll talk about the Triad later. For now just let him rest.”

Kasey could feel Seth’s jumbled emotions and his exhaustion, not just physically but mentally. He nuzzled at Seth’s temple with his chin. “I think you need to get some sleep, pup. You can sleep without fear. We’ll both be here to make sure nothing happens.”

Nick stood and walked out of the house to the front porch to give them a few moments alone.

Seth shuddered. “It’s not the fear he’ll come for me that keeps me awake,” he whispered. “It’s the dreams, the memories.”

The shattered way Seth said it made Kasey want to rush out and find the bastard named Taggart. If he was dead, Kasey wanted to drag him back from the depths of the hell he was in and send him right back into the heart of it. But if he was alive, Kasey would drag him from whatever hole he’d curled up in for the moment and rip the son of a bitch apart. But his mate needed him more than he needed a furious werewolf, so he breathed in deep, his embrace tightening. “If you’ll allow me to, pup, I’d like to hold you while you sleep. To help fight away the demons I can’t see,” he murmured quietly into Seth’s hair.

To his embarrassment, Seth clung even tighter to Kasey. Why couldn’t he be strong around this man? Why did he feel as though he wanted to lay his soul bare to this stranger who’d come into his life so abruptly? A stranger he felt as if he’d known all of his life, and they seemed as deeply connected, if not even more so, than he and Nick were. Was this what it felt like with your mate, he wondered, this insane urge to hold on and never let go?

Kasey must have taken his clinginess as a yes to his question, because the next thing Seth knew, he’d been swept off his feet and into Kasey’s arms. A bright flush spread over his cheeks. “I can walk,” he protested weakly, ignoring the butterflies fluttering in his stomach at the romantic gesture.
A gesture that usually leads to more than just sleeping
, he thought and immediately chastised himself for thinking such things.

“Let me do this for you without you arguing for a change,” Kasey replied teasingly, dark eyes sparkling.

Seth rolled his eyes but relented, hesitantly slipping one arm around Kasey’s neck. He felt… warm and… cherished. It wasn’t something he was used to feeling, and he shifted in discomfort. Kasey’s arms felt strong, like he could lean on them forever.

The words the Cheyenne had whispered to him in the woods echoed inside his mind. Kasey loved him. Seth didn’t know why, but he believed him, someone he’d known a few short days. He believed Kasey did love him. The declaration rolled around in his head as he analyzed his own feelings toward Kasey. He knew he was nowhere near ready to put that kind of name to how he felt about the man, but he knew his feelings for the gentle sheriff were growing by leaps and bounds.

Since Kasey had found out Seth was his mate, the hostile edge that had always been around the sheriff in his presence was gone. He treated Seth as if he were a precious gem, something that could shatter at the briefest touch, except during those passionate moments in the woods. Seth’s cheeks heated at the memory of Kasey inside him and the warm, calloused hands gripping him so tightly.

Kasey disturbed him from his thoughts when he carefully lowered him to the bed. He watched as Kasey’s gaze flitted around the nearly empty room. A strange light came into the man’s intensely beautiful dark eyes.

The only furniture in the room was the king-sized bed, a dresser, and a nightstand with a lamp. On the nightstand were a couple of photographs of his parents and him with Nick. Seth wondered what Kasey thought of his barely furnished, barely lived-in house.

Kasey sank down onto the edge of the bed next to him. “When this is all over, pup, I’m going to show you what it’s like to have a real home.”

Seth jerked at his words. His eyes widened, becoming deep-blue sapphires in his pale features. He opened his mouth to say something, but Kasey laid one tanned finger across his lips. “Take off your clothes, Seth.”

Seth’s breathing deepened, and his lips parted on a small intake of air. Kasey smiled. “Not for that, pup. I want to give you a massage. To help you relax.”

Kasey stood and went into the bathroom to wash his hands and face. Dirt still covered him from their romp in the woods.

Seth quickly stripped to his boxers before sitting down on the edge of the bed to wait for the dark-haired sheriff.

When Kasey returned to the room, he pulled the sheets back and told Seth to lie down on his belly. Seth wanted to protest at first, realizing how vulnerable a position he would be in, but he took a deep breath and reminded himself Kasey wasn’t going to hurt him. The sheets were cool against his skin as he slid facedown, turning his head to the side so he could watch Kasey. “I don’t have any massage oil with me,” Kasey said regretfully. “It would make it feel even better and help you relax more, but another time.”

The implication that there would be more time with Kasey in the future eased some of the tension from Seth, and he let himself relax into the mattress only to tense again when Kasey straddled the backs of his thighs. “Relax, pup. I’m not going to hurt you,” Kasey said gently, setting his palms in the middle of Seth’s back carefully.

The first strokes of his palms calmed the skittish wolf, and Kasey began to knead the muscles beneath his pale flesh. His eyes devoured the soft skin, learning where each mole and freckle speckled his body. His tanned skin showed starkly against his mate’s. He noticed a tattoo on Seth’s upper arm. He’d missed it before in his desperate need to claim Seth as his. His fingers brushed over the small paw prints encircling his arm, feeling the slightly rougher skin. “When did you get this?” he asked huskily before returning to the task at hand.

Warmth slowly seeped through Seth, and he started to feel drowsy. It took effort to answer Kasey’s question coherently. “When I turned nineteen,” Seth answered sluggishly. “Nick and I wanted something to represent our friendship, so we each got a matching tattoo.”

Kasey pressed his thumbs into the muscles at the base of Seth’s neck, eliciting a groan from the slender male. He couldn’t stop his body from responding to the almost sensual moan, but this wasn’t about passion. It was about comfort and making his mate feel good. A tinge of jealousy rose up at the realization his mate and another male had made matching marks upon their bodies to connect with each other. His lips turned down at the corners, but he didn’t say anything, just continued the path down Seth’s spine. The tips of his fingers gently stroked over Seth’s shoulder blades before sliding lower. When he reached Seth’s lower back, his hands gentled even further as they traced the hollowed indent. He resisted the urge to bend down and press his lips there, instead choosing to knead his way back up to Seth’s shoulders.

The way Seth’s ribcage stood out against his skin made Kasey wonder if his mate had been eating properly. Seth was so slender and skinny it felt like Kasey could snap the younger wolf’s bones with the just the slightest bit of pressure. Concern flitted through him. From now on he would make sure Seth ate properly. He trailed his hands down Seth’s arms, amusedly watching the skin twitching. It appeared his mate was ticklish. He filed that bit of information away for later. An image of Seth handcuffed to the bed, helpless underneath him and begging for Kasey to fuck him, flashed into his mind, and his cock throbbed. Kasey shook his head. Seth would never allow him to do it, and he would die before he hurt or scared the fragile vet. The image persisted, though, and his hips rolled forward, grinding his hard-on into the rounded cheeks beneath him. Perhaps he’d discuss it with Seth first, but it definitely left him lusting for the opportunity to make Seth submit.

He could feel the massage taking its toll on Seth. A sense of peace settled over his mate, and he felt his heart swell with love toward his stubborn man. The sound of Seth’s breathing deepening as he drifted into sleep made Kasey smile. He carefully moved off the bed, stripped, and slid back in beside his mate, pulling him close to his side. Seth nestled unconsciously into him, one hand, curled into a fist, coming to rest over Kasey’s heart. Kasey placed his hand on top of Seth’s and closed his eyes, praying they could catch whoever was tormenting his mate quickly so they could concentrate on each other. He wanted the time to woo his mate, to court him without the threat of Taggart or the Triad hanging over their heads.

Seth felt so safe and comfortable. A serenity he hadn’t felt since his parents were alive washed over him, and he didn’t want to let it go. His eyes refused to open to find out what had caused it in case it disappeared. The warmth pressing into him moved against him, and the memory of just hours before rushed over him. Kasey slept next to him, and their limbs were tangled together. A long, muscular leg rested between his. Eyelashes fluttering, he carefully pried open his lids and found the other’s face quite close to his own. The breath from Kasey’s lips whispered over his, sending awareness spiraling through him. His cock throbbed with desire for Kasey. He experimentally rubbed himself on the hard thigh between his legs, sucking in a breath at the pleasure it caused. He did it again, moaning softly.