Devin's Mercy [Shifters of Mystery 4] (21 page)

“I have amazing stamina.”

Oh, hell.
Devin was in trouble.

“Move for me, tiger. I want you to fuck me.”

Devin was confused by the request until Mercy stilled, looking

down between them to where they joined. “Move.”

Devin gripped Mercy’s shoulders tighter and began to impale

himself over and over again. He wrapped his legs around Mercy’s

waist, clutching and moaning at the feeling of taking over and giving

Mercy pleasure.

“That’s it, tiger. Take what you need from me. My body is yours

to play with.”

Devin lost himself in Mercy. The problems plaguing him were

forgotten, even if for just this moment. He rode the man he loved as

he felt his body tighten, his heart expand, and his soul begin to heal.

He had a long way to go, but with Mercy helping him, Devin knew he

could make it.

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Mercy reached between them, pulling the cage from Devin’s cock.

“Come for me, tiger.”

Devin cried out as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, his

orgasm erupting at Mercy’s command. He could feel Mercy’s seed

once again filling him.

“You are so damn beautiful, tiger.”

Devin panted as Mercy slowly lowered him to the bed. The man

took such gentle care of him that Devin knew he couldn’t live without

Mercy. The man was his point of safety, his anchor, his refuge.

“You amaze me with your strength. I never thought I could have

you the way I wanted you.”

Devin licked his dry lips as he slowly opened his eyes, gazing up

into two points of grey. “You never know how strong you are until

being strong is the only choice you have.” Devin hadn’t a clue where

those words had come from, but he knew them to be true. He was

stronger than he had given himself credit for.

And in the moment he realized that, the pain and suffering he had

felt at Martin and Charles’s hands was just a blip on his radar. Being

with Mercy for the rest of his life was what he was going to focus on

now.

“Words to live by, tiger.”

146

Lynn Hagen

Pat sat in the living room, staring out of the window and

wondering if Sam was even still alive. Martin wasn’t known for his

kindness—not since he went mad. The thought of Sam being hurt

gutted Pat. He may have been mad at the man, but he never wanted

the sheriff hurt.

He had grown to care about the guy.

Until he took his last breath, Pat was going to search for Sam.

Pat glanced up when he felt the couch dip. It was Jeremiah. If the

man said sorry one more time, Pat was going to punch the guy. “Save

it, Jeremiah. I already told you that I’m not mad at you.”

Jeremiah didn’t say a word as he sat next to Pat. They both stared

out of the window, both lost in their own thoughts. And then Jeremiah

spoke. “I may have chosen Sylvester over Sam, but that doesn’t mean

I don’t care, Pat. We’ll find him. I promise you that.”

Pat wiped the tears from his eyes as he stared out into the

darkness, wondering where Sam was at that moment, worrying if he

was safe, and terrified that he was hurt. “You can’t promise me that, J.

I know Martin. Sam may not even be alive.”

Jeremiah reached for Pat, pulling him into strong arms as Pat

openly cried. If only he hadn’t kicked Sam out. If only Sam hadn’t

taken so long to come to terms with what Pat was. If only…

“Shhh. I can promise you we’ll find him, Pat. I promise you that

I’ll never give up until Sam is in your arms.”

“I miss him, J. I’m so scared that I lost the chance at happiness.

How in the hell did things get so screwed up?”

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Jeremiah ran his hand down Pat’s back, gently rocking him back

and forth as Pat fell apart in his friend’s arms. “Bring him back to

me.”

“With my last breath, I promise.”

Pat nodded, resting his head on Jeremiah’s shoulder, wanting to

run out into the night and find his sheriff.

“We’re ready,” Sage said as he walked into the living room.

“Ready for what?” Pat asked as he sat up.

“To go looking for Sam.” Sage crossed his arms over his chest,

his eyes narrowing. “We’re family, Pat. When one of us hurts, we all

hurt. We won’t abandon Sam. He needs us, so we’re going to scour

the area. Maybe Martin hid him somewhere close.”

Pat jumped up from the couch, throwing his arms around Sage.

“Thank you.”

Sage patted his back. “Stay here and keep everyone safe.”

Pat knew that Sage wasn’t comfortable with affection—unless it

was his mate, William, giving it to him. But Pat was so relieved that

something was being done that he couldn’t help himself.

“Go bake something,” Sage said, feigning surliness.

Pat hurried down the hallway, praying that they found Sam before

Martin tortured the guy. If he injected Sam with that serum, neither

heaven nor hell was going to keep Pat from ripping every inch of

flesh from Martin’s body.

Whether Sam knew it or not, he belonged to Pat and Pat wasn’t

going to allow his man to be hurt, not while he held a breath in his

body.

* * * *

Sylvester stood in the bathroom mirror for the hundredth time,

examining his image. He didn’t notice anything wrong with him, but

that bastard had said that Kell had finished some damn experiment on

him.

148

Lynn Hagen

What experiment? Cloning? That was impossible. How could

Martin clone himself if Sylvester was already made? It didn’t make

one lick of sense to him. Maybe the madman had implanted

something inside of him.

Oh, gods!
What if he had?

Sylvester began to check for strange growths. He had already

gone through enough when Martin injected him the first time. That

had been so painful that Sylvester had thought he was going to die.

And then the headaches had begun.

He had thought that Kell had cured him. That had all been a lie.

Sylvester wanted to find the good old doctor and beat the snot out of

him. But first he wanted to know what was wrong with him.

“Are you checking yourself again?” Jeremiah asked as he stood in

the doorway to the bathroom.

“What if he implanted me with something? Check my back and

make sure I don’t have a head growing out of me.”

Jeremiah looked like he wanted to argue, but did as Sylvester

asked. “Nothing back here but smooth, creamy skin that I’m dying to

lick.”

Sylvester rolled his eyes. “Not now. I have to make sure I’m not

turning into some sort of sideshow freak.”

Jeremiah growled. “You are not a freak.”

“Then what did he do to me?” Sylvester was falling apart. He

needed to know what Kell had done to him.

“Come here, hon.” Jeremiah pulled Sylvester into his arms. “It

seems I’m comforting way too many men today.”

Sylvester forgot about his problems. “Who in the hell have you

been comforting?”

Jeremiah kissed him on the cheek. “Jealous?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Pat.”

“Oh,” Sylvester said, feeling the anger drain from him. “How is

he?”

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149

“Not good,” Jeremiah answered. “Sage, Isaac, and I are going to

scour the surrounding area to try and find clues. I need you to keep

Pat company, make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“I can do that.”

“I knew you could,” Jeremiah replied as he led Sylvester toward

the steps. He knew what his mate was doing. Jeremiah was trying to

make him forget about the experiment. Sylvester knew he had to, if

only for a little while. Pat needed him.

He walked into the kitchen to find Pat sitting at the table, looking

out the back window, his expression screaming the man’s depression.

Sylvester knew one way to keep Pat occupied.

“Can you check my back for another head?”

* * * *

Mercy sat at the dining room table with his laptop, researching

what he would need to start up his bookstore. He hadn’t a clue how to

run his own business, but he was learning. It was going to take a lot

more than he originally thought. Inventory alone was mind-boggling

to him.

“You need some help?” Devin asked as he wandered into the

dining room.

“Yeah, can you translate my notes?” Mercy slid the pad over to

Devin, feeling drained from his research.

Devin picked the pad up and then looked over at Mercy. “You

have the messiest handwriting I have ever seen.” He glanced down at

the pad. “Either you want to order coffee or a coffin. I’m not sure

which.”

Mercy growled. He knew his penmanship sucked, but it wasn’t

that damn bad. He could read it. He just didn’t feel like organizing his

list. “Can you organize it?”

“I’ll see if I can crack this Da Vinci code.”

150

Lynn Hagen

Everyone was a critic. Mercy left Devin to his notes as he

continued to search online. There had to be a website that gave him

step-by-step instructions. So far, he only had bits and pieces of what it

would take to get his store up and running. In a minute, Mercy was

going to slap his laptop closed and just wing it.

He paused when he saw a link that was pretty damn peculiar. He

clicked on it and gasped.

“What?” Devin asked as he stood, coming around to Mercy’s side

of the table. Mercy quickly closed his laptop, not wanting Devin to

see the gruesome site.

“I have to find Sage.”

“What is it?” Devin insisted.

“Not now, tiger.” He stood, grabbing his laptop from the table and

hurrying out of the dining room. If Devin saw what Mercy had been

looking at, the man would have freaked out. Shit, he was freaking out.

“Where’s Sage?” he asked Pat.

“He and a few of the men are out scouring the area for signs of

Sam.”

Shit and double shit.

He quickly walked to the front of the house and out onto the

porch, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. Mercy dialed Sage’s

number, pacing the porch as he waited for the man to answer.

“What’s up?”

“I need you to get back here.”

“Are you under attack?” Mercy could hear Sage breathing hard

and knew the man was running.

“No, but there is something that you need to see. I found it

online.”

“Can’t it wait?”

Mercy wished. “No.”

“I’m on my way.”

Mercy took a seat on the top step of the porch, tapping his fingers

on the laptop as he waited for Sage. His mind went back to what he

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151

had seen and prayed Pat never saw the website. The man would go

insane.

Twenty minutes later Sage pulled up, Jeremiah and Isaac jumping

out of the truck behind him.

“What was so important that you pulled me away from our

search?” Sage asked as he climbed the steps, looking peeved.

Mercy set his laptop on the porch and opened it, the website still

on his screen. He turned the laptop toward Sage and waited.

“Fuck me,” Sage whispered.

Isaac drew closer, his eyes glued to what was on the website.

“Where in the fuck is that coming from?” Jeremiah asked.

“I haven’t a clue. I don’t know shit about webcams.”

“Is that really Sam?” Isaac asked.

Mercy glanced back at the screen, seeing Sheriff Samuel Reese,

naked, his hands tied together, and dangling from a meat hook. His

eyes were swollen shut, and blood was speckled all over his body.

Mercy shuddered at the image.

“I stumbled on it when I was researching my bookstore. The

website is called Martin’s House of Nightmares. It seems he has

branched out, showing the world his sick little kinks.”

“I feel like I never knew the man,” Sage said as he rubbed his

hand over his mouth. “That is not the father I grew up with.”

Mercy hated to bring this up, but the thought had stuck in the back

of his mind since Martin’s little visit. “I think you need to find out

where your mother is, Sage.”

Sage snapped his eyes away from the screen, his look horrific as

he stared at Mercy. “You think…” Sage took a step back, looking

green. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed what Mercy assumed to

be his mother’s cell phone.

Mercy glanced back at the screen, but instead of staring at Sam,

he studied the room Sam was being held in. The walls were a dingy

grey, stained, the paint peeling. He could see overhead pipes and got

the feeling that wherever Sam was, it was in some sort of basement.