Mating Games (4 page)

Sebastian held out his hand, waiting. Dobry kept his eyes on Sebastian as he moved toward the door of his cage. It seemed so much safer to be inside than outside, but he wanted to be closer to the man. He couldn’t explain why.

“So, why are you so special?” Dobry asked after he sat down outside the door of his cage. Realizing how that sounded, Dobry quickly held up his hands in apology. “I mean you said you were a different wolf. I did not mean to imply—”

“I get what you meant, Dobry, and I understand you don’t have the same understanding of the language as I do. I promise I won’t assume something until I ask you, okay?”

“Thank you,” he replied, giving Sebastian a nod.

“Deltas are different because in our wolf form, or our werewolf form, we can turn invisible. Supposedly, we were made this way to hunt down rogue or feral wolves. Also, we give off a certain scent that drives wolves, humans, and even vampires a little nuts for us. That way, if we need to hunt them, it distracts them into dealing with their hormones instead of getting away.”

“So you’re saying I should be all over you like duck on his water?” Dobry frowned. “Then how come I’m not?”

“I have a theory on that, but you won’t let me close enough to smell you.” Sebastian chuckled quietly. “The other difference we Deltas have is that we have two mates, not one like normal wolves or werewolves.”

“Werewolves have mates?” Dobry asked, scooting a little closer as his curiosity overwhelmed his better judgment.

“Yes,” Sebastian said, nodding, “werewolves have one mate, or in my case two, that fate has decided is our other half. We can spend our lives looking for our other half. Many of us go our entire lives without finding them.”

“What does that have to do with you smelling—” Dobry started to say, but stopped when he suddenly guessed the answer himself. He swallowed past the sudden lump of fear clogging his throat. “You’re saying I might be your mate? That’s why I’m not affected by your scent?”

“Yes, Alphas, Betas, other Deltas, cubs, and our mates are immune to our scents. Mates will be drawn to us like a normal mate but nothing extra because we are a Delta.”

“I don’t know if I’d use the word drawn.” Dobry grimaced. “I do find you gorgeous, but have you looked in the mirror lately? I’m sure lots of people are drawn to you.”

“Can I just move a little closer to smell you?” Sebastian asked, pointing to the space on the floor next to Dobry. “I promise I won’t touch you, okay? I understand you’ve been through a lot.”

“Okay, just move slowly, please.” Dobry lowered his head, embarrassed at how skittish and beaten down he was.

“You must be my mate,” Sebastian said before he even moved.

“All I want to do is hold you in my arms and make your fears go away. I want to comfort you almost as much as I want to tear them apart for ever hurting you, and I promise you I will.”

Not knowing what to say to Sebastian’s words, Dobry gradually crawled toward Sebastian. He was so frightened he shook, but he was trying to listen to his heart. It screamed that this man wouldn’t hurt him. Dobry’s head told him to run and hide. Dobry decided to ignore his head.

Sebastian seemed to take Dobry’s lead and slowly crawled toward him, meeting him in the middle of the shed. It was a small shed, so there wasn’t far to go. Sebastian moved slowly and still stayed several inches away but seemed to sniff Dobry’s neck.

“It is you,” Sebastian whispered almost in awe. “I’ve finally found you.”

Dobry looked up to meet Sebastian’s stunned gaze and realized their noses were almost touching. He had an overwhelming urge to kiss the man. He was so hot. Dobry didn’t know if he’d ever get another chance to kiss a man this sexy. Besides, he needed something to dream about when his mind reeled from too much torture.

He looked up to see the man had his eyes closed, and he leaned in to brush his lips against Sebastian’s. A jolt of electricity raced straight to his cock. Dobry wanted more, so much more from him.

Dobry felt a hand touch his neck. He cried out and scooted back to the door of his cage, crouching down to hide his body from further abuse.

“I’m—I am so sorry, Dobry,” Sebastian stuttered. “I just wanted to kiss you more. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I know. It’s not your fault,” Dobry whispered. “I just can’t stand the idea of anyone touching me.”

“It’ll get better,” Sebastian promised. “I can wait.”

“I can’t ask that of you,” Dobry said, feeling saddened by his overwhelming fear. He shrugged. “Besides, I want to get the hell out of this town as soon as we get out of here.”

“Do you have family?” Sebastian asked. “I mean, where is your home?”

“I don’t have a home. The woman who taught me English, my foster mother, passed away about four years ago. I sold her house and started traveling. I wanted to see all the things I had missed out on. I stopped at this town, took a job as a busboy, and decided to stay a bit.

Great decision, huh?”

“Well, would you consider staying with me? I know you don’t know about mates, but we’re meant to be together. It’s determined by fate.” Sebastian looked a tad bit uncomfortable. He kept glancing down then looking back up. His fingers twisted together. “I swear I’ll take good care of you, Dobry. You won’t ever be hurt again.”

“So you can’t have anyone else because fate decided it for you?

You never would have chosen me if fate didn’t?” Dobry couldn’t believe he was upset over that. He bit his lip, wishing he’d kept his mouth shut. Sebastian was a werewolf. Who knew how he’d react.

“No, I’m saying our being together is destiny and I’d like to get to know you better. I’d like to be with you. I’ll go as slow as you need me to go, Dobry.”

“You mean, like, date?” Dobry asked. He really didn’t understand what Sebastian meant. Maybe it was the language barrier. Maybe this was something he hadn’t learned yet.

“Mating is for life, Dobry, but if you’d like to start out dating, we can do that,” Sebastian said. “Look at it this way, fate gave us a way to recognize each other. What we do from there is up to us. I’m not one to ignore fate. Of all the Deltas, I was the one sent here to find you. We’re attracted to each other. Why not see if fate is right?”

Dobry thought about it. Sebastian made a good point. Plus, he was right. Dobry did want him, even with all that had happened. He wanted Sebastian like he wanted his next breath. “Okay, if we get out of this, I’m willing to see where it goes. As long as you understand I’m coming into this, well, damaged.”

“You’re not damaged, Dobry.” Sebastian shook his head. “You’ve been abused. It’s not your fault. You didn’t deserve this, and you don’t need to be ashamed. We’ll get through this, okay?”

“Thanks for the
we
, even if I don’t know you that well. I feel I finally have help,” he replied, tearing up, “that I’m no longer alone.

It’s nice to not feel alone.”

“Don’t cry, baby,” Sebastian said as he held his hand out to Dobry. “Can you come to me? I just want to hold you and comfort you. I promise.”

“My heart is telling me to trust you,” Dobry said. “My head is screaming to run, hide from you and everyone.”

“I guess the question is which are you going to listen to?”

That was the question of the day, wasn’t it? Since he didn’t have an answer, Dobry just shrugged. He knew he wanted the comfort.

He’d never had much of that in his life, but after what he’d been through, the idea of anyone touching him made him shiver.

“Can I hold you?”

Dobry nodded. Sebastian must have taken that as an okay to touch him. He moved toward Dobry, sitting on the floor next to him. Very slowly, Sebastian touched Dobry on his arm, then around the waist.

Dobry tensed when Sebastian picked him up. He wasn’t so sure he was comfortable sitting in the man’s lap, but the arms that wrapped around him felt wonderful. He laid his head on Sebastian’s chest and waited to see what the man would do.

A little at a time, he was able to relax in Sebastian’s hold and finally sank in and cried. He let out all his tears from everything that had happened in his time as captive.

“It’s okay, baby, ssshhh,” Sebastian whispered in Dobry’s ear.

Dobry felt Sebastian’s hand gently run through his hair. “I won’t let them hurt you anymore. I’ll keep you safe. I’ll always keep you safe.”

Dobry heard the words, and somehow they affected his head and his heart. He was no longer frightened of Sebastian. Once he seemed to cry out all his tears, he wanted to think of something, anything else.

“Tell me something happy.” He sniffled.

“Something happy? How about the house I’m having built? It’s where we’re going to live.” Dobry nodded. That sounded like an idea to him. Sebastian went on. “Well, it’s going to have three bedrooms, one really large one. I got the idea from Zac’s old house. Zac is a Delta like me.

“My best friend, Aiden, is Zac’s mate, along with another man named Matt. Anyways, Zac was sent to kill Aiden because Aiden was going against our old Alpha. That’s a huge no-no with werewolves, but our Alpha was going against council laws. Aiden wouldn’t do what he wanted. So, afraid that Aiden could beat him in a fight, the Alpha made up some bullshit and got the council to deem him a rogue werewolf.” Sebastian chuckled. “As you can guess, werewolves can’t be amongst humans in jail or whatever, so they have to be killed if they go rogue or feral.”

“Is this your idea of happy?” Dobry interrupted.

“No,” Sebastian replied with a chuckle, “but I’m getting to happy.

Zac was sent by the council to kill Aiden, but when he got there, he saw Aiden was a good guy. When Zac realized Aiden was also his mate, they called me in to talk to the council. So we were able to escape and went back to Zac’s house.

“That’s where I was going with this story,” Sebastian said. “Zac, like me, always knew he would have two mates and set up his house that way. I designed our house like his old one. It has three bedrooms, one of them really big with a specially ordered bed to fit three adults.

I also put in three large closets and a master bathroom with a spa bath, a huge shower, and three side-by-side sinks. There’s also going to be two studies, a large kitchen, nice dining room, living room, and a huge deck.”

“What else?” Dobry asked, imagining the house in his mind.

“What else?” Sebastian chuckled. “Um, well, a three-car garage and another full bathroom upstairs and a half bath downstairs. I know, I didn’t tell you where it is. That might be important. It’s a few hours outside of Atlanta. It used to be land that belonged to an old pack that broke up. The town has been deserted for about thirty years or so.

After what happened with Zac and Aiden, we decided to have a pack for just Deltas and their mates.”

“I get that the Alpha was a bad guy, but all of them can’t be, right? Why make your own pack?” Dobry asked, a little confused, but then again, this was a lot of information to take in.

“Well, since only a few of our pack members aren’t affected by our scent, Deltas live on the outskirts of the pack. I mean that in the physical and emotional sense. We can’t go to pack functions, be involved in everyday pack life, nothing. It’s a very lonely, secluded life. And after what happened with Aiden and Zac, we decided that we needed to be centralized. That way all council orders can be verified and hunts can be done in pairs or teams.”

“That makes sense,” Dobry replied. “It helps keep you guys safe.”

“We’re hoping,” Sebastian said. “At least that’s part of the idea.”

Dobry felt Sebastian’s lips brush against the side of his head. “Feeling better, baby?” Sebastian asked.

“Yeah, a little,” Dobry answered, surprised that he was.

“Good. A few more hours and I’ll bust us out of here,” Sebastian said. “At nightfall, probably, but I’m going to get us out of here, I promise. You’ve been here for a while, malnourished. I’ll probably have to carry you, so I want you to be prepared for that.”

“How?”

Sebastian frowned. “How will I carry you?”

Dobry rolled his eyes. “How will you get us out of here?”

“Well, I might have to shift forms.” Sebastian gave Dobry what he could only see as a cautious look. “If I do that, are you going to be okay?”

“If it gets us out of here, you could turn into the boogey man and I wouldn’t give a shit.” Dobry snorted.

“You’re very brave, my little mate, very brave.” Sebastian chuckled before kissing Dobry on the head and cheek. Dobry believed him. Sebastian would get them out, and maybe, just maybe, Dobry would never be alone again.

Alastar was pissed he had to go on this little errand. The Alpha from the local pack wanted his coven leader to look over some business proposal, and his covenmaster sent him to run right over.

Alastar knew he was young compared to most of his coven, but the amount of value the coven placed on birthright was ridiculous. So what if he was an orphan? That made him a second-class vampire because he wasn’t born with the right name?

Pulling up in front of the Alpha’s house, Alastar shut off his car.

He grumbled at being used as an errand boy then put on his happy face. He climbed out of his car and headed to the front door.

Knocking on it, he waited.

“Hello?” asked the woman who opened the door.

“Hello, I’m here to speak to Alpha Rodrick,” Alastar said sweetly.

“I’m the representative from the local coven.”

“Your name, young man?”

“Alastar O’Conner, ma’am,” he replied, keeping his snarl at bay.

Young man?
He just said he was a fucking vampire. He could be any age as far as she knew. He was probably older than her.

“Please wait here. I’ll see if Rodrick is receiving visitors,” she replied, starting to shut the door.

“What do you mean
if
?” Alastar snapped. “I drove all the way out here at his request!”

“Well, then I’m sure he’s expecting you. Let me check,” she answered, sounding annoyed before closing the door.

Of all the nerve!

Alastar was getting tired of people always making themselves out to be more important than they really were. Standing there stewing, debating about leaving, Alastar decided to wait it out. Not because the Alpha deserved it, but he didn’t want to deal with his coven leader.