Jacks, Marcy - Mason Returns to His Mate [DeWitt's Pack 8] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (13 page)

* * * *

Mason woke up to the warmth of the sun on his body and the warmth of Derek’s body beneath him. He was so comfortable that for a moment he’d thought he was lying in bed with his mate, just waking up before the alarm could start its bitching for the day.

No. They were still at the pond.

Mason picked himself up onto his hands, pulling his weight off of  Derek’s back.

The other man shivered with the sudden chill then opened hiseyes, looked up at Mason, and smiled.

“Morning,” he said.

Mason breathed a sigh of relief. Though he’d been assured by the man beneath him, some part of him still chewed over the possibility of what would happen the morning after. He’d been frightened, but  Derek was awake. From what Mason could see, there was no blood

between his legs, and he was smiling up at Mason.

Mason Returns to His Mate
                    
89

Mason cleared his throat. “Good morning.”

Derek lifted himself, prompting Mason to pull the rest of his weight off of his lover, and then Derek looked around. “Wow. Can’t believe we spent the whole night here.”

Mason could, and he’d been stupid for allowing it to happen, all by themselves as they’d been. “We should get out of here.”

“Sure, just give me a sec. I’m filthy.”

Mason watched as Derek stepped into the pond, carefully at first, adjusting himself to the cold temperature, and then diving in.

Mason could hardly deny him the quick wash, not with the way they were both covered in dirt and dried-on cum.

Derek came up for air, shaking the water out of his hair. It was the most gorgeous sight Mason had ever seen in his life. “Aren’t you coming?”

Mason clenched his fists, and then he carefully sniffed the air. He scented nothing that that should concern him. No other foreign scents, aside from Ivan’s, but that had long ago faded.

Why not?

Mason went in after him. They swam around for a bit, enjoying the water and each other, and then they lazily made love again on  Mason’s rock before getting back into the water to wash off one more time.

The only  thing that was a factor in making them leave was how hungry they were both getting.

That, and Mason didn’t want to risk that some of the omegas and pups came to spend the day here and saw two men having sex.  Werewolves were pretty good with nudity, but he  didn’t want to teach any young kids about the birds and the bees.

“I’m never going to fit into these jeans,” Derek complained when it came time for him to dress.

The best he could do was put on his boxers, wearing them like shorts, and force his T-shirt over his head before sticking his feet into

his shoes, still damp from the night before.

90
                          
Marcy Jacks

“You could always just go au naturel,” Mason suggested,  wiggling his brows.

“Not in this lifetime,” Derek said. “Just because you have no  shame doesn’t mean I don’t either.”

Mason was both looking forward to and dreading the day when  Derek broke free of that shy nature of his.

“Let’s head back.” They’d dawdled long enough, and Mason was beginning to get antsy without really knowing why. Those were the worst feelings to have. It meant his instincts were going crazy, but whether it was danger, some of the pups playing pranks, or an animal coming onto his territory, he wouldn’t be able to identify it until he saw it or smelled it.

Mason made sure to hold Derek’s hand tightly  in his, and Derek just had to notice that they were power walking the way back.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing, just hungry,” Mason lied.

He heard the growl in Derek’s voice and noticed right away the way the other man’s hand tightened in his.

“Mason,” Derek  warned.

His wolf didn’t like the challenge, but for the sake of some immediate peace, Mason decided to let it go. Derek wanted honesty, and Mason had to remember to treat him like an adult when it came to

these things if he wanted to keep him.

This was going to take some getting used to.

“My senses are going a little crazy. I’m worried and scared, and  that only tends to happen when there’s something to be worried about  lurking nearby.”

Derek shivered, but his grip on Mason’s hand never wavered. If  anything, it tightened reassuringly. “Okay.”

That…had been so much easier than Mason had thought it would  be. They kept right on walking and were another couple of minutes  away from the safety of the pack when Mason jerked the both of them

to a stop.

Mason Returns to His Mate
                    
91

His ears twitched, and his bare feet registered the feel of footsteps coming toward them from far away.

“What is it?” Derek asked.

Mason turned to him and put his finger to his lips then motioned toward the shrubs just before pulling them into the safety of them.

What are we doing here?
 
Derek mouthed once the thick branches and leaves were hiding them.

Then he froze as the sounds that Mason had heard came close

enough for human ears to pick up on.

“The pond is this way. Little far out, but the kids like to go  swimming there,” James said.

“I hope you have life jackets,” said another voice that Mason did  not recognize. It was authoritative, though, and considering what they  were talking about, the owner of that voice could only belong to one  profession.

Cop. Someone had finally come to check out DeWitt’s pack and  see if Derek was anywhere over here, hiding.

“No, but they’re not allowed to go without at least four  accompanying adults, and they all know how to swim.”

Mason watched between the leaves as James and the officer, who

was in full uniform, passed by.

As the officer spoke, asking more questions about this and that,  James’s eyes looked down toward the shrub where Mason and Derek  were hiding. Their eyes met right before he went back to his  conversation, both passing on by, heading toward the pond.

Mason waited a minute, until his sensitive hearing couldn’t pick  up on the sounds of his brother’s and that cop’s voices or their  footsteps crunching in the twigs and leaves on the trail.

Then he and Derek stepped out from their hiding place. “They’re  making sure you’re not hiding here,” Mason said.

“For the first time I’m glad I didn’t come with any personal  possessions,” Derek replied.

That was right. If Derek had a whole load of things back at the

92
                          
Marcy Jacks

guest cabin where he was staying…

He didn’t. There was no clue for the cop to see that Derek was  with them. Hell, for all Mason knew, James had said that only Mason  was staying in that cabin.

Which, for the last couple of days, had been true.

“We need to get back,” Mason said. He and  Derek hoofed it back  to the houses.

They didn’t know what to expect when they got back, which was why Mason slowed them down and they hid behind some more of the larger pines and shrubs.

There was a cop car. Parked smack dab in the middle of the drive,

blocking any other cars or trucks from coming or going.

There was another man leaning against the driver’s side door. Not  in uniform, and he was wearing a duster like he was in the Wild West  or something.

Derek squeezed Mason’s hand, grabbing his attention.
 
What do we  do?
 
he mouthed.

Wait
, Mason lipped back, because that was all they really could

do.

Wait they did. For nearly a half an hour. Mason didn’t know what exactly James was doing with that other guy in uniform at the pond.  Did the guy want to drain it  or something? Mason was pretty sure there were no bodies in the water, though a few had been known to get buried around the land.

Still, it had been so long that Derek had long since lost the fear of being caught and had started to doze against Mason’s chest.

Mason was about ready to join him. The boredom was killing him, and apart from how mildly funny it was that every werewolf walking around in the pack knew he was hiding there and the cop didn’t, there was little to entertain.

Then the snap of a twig a  little too close to their hiding location pulled him from his almost-nap.

He looked up and around, but his hiding place was a little too

Mason Returns to His Mate
                    
93

good because his visibility of his surrounding area was next to  nothing.

Then another snap, and footsteps, then voices.

Mason relaxed as he recognized James’s voice, still speaking to  the cop in uniform as they walked down the path and back to the  pack. James was promising the officer that he would call if he ever  saw anyone fitting Derek’s description and yadda yadda, but Mason’s  muscles bunched up again and that instinctual fear took over once

more.

There was something else nearby, and it had gotten closer while  Mason was distracted with his brother and the cop.

It was enough that Derek had come out of his dozing to look around with him. There was no wind, the trees were absolutely still, so whatever it was, the scent wasn’t reaching Mason’s nose just yet.

Another snap of a twig, and then a metallic click, and then the scent did come to him.

Human, oil, metal, and a whole  lot of pissed-off tension hung in the air. Mason was about ready to get up and risk being caught just so he and Derek could find another hiding place when the hard steel barrel of a gun pressed into his neck.

“You don’t move any more than that.”

He was fast, Mason had to give him credit for that. He looked up into the face of an older male with a square shape and silver hair. His expression was of the serious kind, seriously pissed off, and he would kill Mason if he tried to move.

It was Derek the old man was staring at, though.

Shit, this was one of the hunters belonging to that group Derek had fought back at the pawn shop.

He seethed into Derek’s direction. “You murdered my son.”

Oh, fucking Christ. That was even worse. Mason grabbed a hold of the barrel of the rifle before the hunter could point the thing at his

mate.

The guy growled at him. “Let go, or I will kill you.”

94
                          
Marcy Jacks

“That gun fires and you’ll have every werewolf on the pack land  after your ass,” he retorted. “It’ll only be another couple of seconds  before they figure out you’re in here with us. You snuck up on me,  but you won’t get by thirty werewolves.”

“Won’t matter when my boys start attacking.”

What? He had more sons?

Whatever the case was, it didn’t matter because the guy had basically just said he had backup and that they were going to carve through the pack.

He tried to quickly think of any way he could take this guy out without killing himself or Derek, before Derek made the first move.

Derek lunged out from his hiding place in the shrubs and started running full speed to James and the cops.

“Hunter! Hunters are here!” he yelled.

“Fuck!” the old man seethed, turning his gun around and smacking Mason in the face with the butt of the rifle.

He saw stars and fell back but didn’t pass out. The human  was desperate if he thought a move like that would accomplish anything, but when Mason blinked, he saw how the hunter was pointing his rifle through the branches and leaves of the shrub. Likely he was pointing that thing at Derek.

Mason launched himself at the man with a roar, knocking him onto his side, the gun firing as Mason threw them both down to roll onto the ground, each fighting for the weapon.

Mason was strong, but for a human and someone who looked like they could qualify for the senior’s menu at  the local diner, he was also pretty tough. Perhaps the sloppy nature of Mason’s attack had something to do with it, as well as the loud ringing in his ears brought on by the blast of the rifle, but all he was concerned about was putting this hunter out of  his misery before he hurt Derek or any member of

Mason’s family.

More gunshots sounded, and for a split second Mason thought that they, too, were coming from the rifle that he and the hunter battled

Mason Returns to His Mate
                    
95

for.

No, the barrel didn’t get hot again, and the shots sounded far away, even to his damaged ears.

The shots could be coming from the cops or the other hunters that this man supposedly had waiting around the pack land.

The gunfire continued, and Mason realized that so much shooting couldn’t come from only two men. The hunters were attacking.