Should have Put a Leash On It (9 page)

Shifters were tough to kill and their beasts often incredibly loyal. Micah knew from experience that shifters could tolerate an incredible amount of abuse and pain without giving in...if they had something to live for, something to focus on. However, if the bond between the shifter and what they were protecting was put in doubt, then the shifter could break on a fundamental level not many could recover from.

Unlike his own two-day experience in the hands of his tormentors before his pack came for him, Rylan had been at Trevor’s mercy for six weeks. There was no telling how much damage Trevor had done. Trevor would have already known what buttons to press. A few beatings and being whipped with a belt didn’t really compare to long-term psychological abuse that was punctuated with physical torture.

“So what do we do?” Micah wasn’t giving up.

Remy and Sage shared a strange look Micah couldn’t decipher. However, he knew it meant that the two shifters had talked about this together before bringing it to the rest of them. Whatever they had to say was going to be bad.

“Sage asked around. One of his contacts said that the best way to repair a damaged pack bond is to re-bond the shifter through a physical connection, usually with the alpha, as soon as possible before the bond fractures further.” Remy didn’t look pleased about that fact.

“Sex...you’re talking about sex. With Rylan.” Zeke sounded shocked and Ashlock’s expression shuttered, closing down to an unreadable mask. Something must have passed between the mated pair because Zeke quickly snapped around in his mate’s direction and delivered a quick poke to the stomach.

Ashlock grunted but otherwise made no other indication that the hit had even made contact. The vampire hissed back at Zeke when his brother growled, but then tipped his head back in a familiar gesture of submission.

Micah couldn’t have been more shocked. His brother and the vamp were more or less matched on hierarchy scale.

Zeke nodded, then offered Ashlock his throat. The vampire immediately pounced, grabbing Zeke by the back to the neck and hauling him close. Zeke threw his head back further and Micah was about to ask what the hell they were doing when Ashlock struck lightning fast, biting Zeke.

Eyes wide, he watched the scene, but he didn’t try to interfere. From the expression of sheer ecstasy on Zeke’s face the vampire wasn’t hurting him.

The moment looked so intimate, a private snapshot in time between mates that Micah had to look away. He noticed the others do the same and everyone shuffled around to the other side of the room to give the couple some privacy until Zeke groaned.

Micah gagged when the scent of his brother’s sexual excitement hit him. Remy was wearing a similar look of nausea. He couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “Please don’t start fucking back there,” he pleaded. There were just some things a big brother didn’t need to know. It was bad enough almost walking in on Remy and Skylar all the time. Every time he turned around one was dragging the other off into some dark corner or another.

Ashlock’s hissing let Micah know what the vampire thought of Micah’s comment, but he couldn’t help it. Micah was seconds away from shoving his face out of the window to take away the scent of Zeke’s arousal.

It was Remy’s turn to roll his eyes, but Micah knew the alpha couldn’t exactly throw stones. “We have important things to discuss, Z.”

Ashlock and Zeke joined them on this side of the room seconds later, clothes a little rumpled. Zeke was red-faced, but Ashlock was definitely on the smug side of satisfied. The vampire must have wanted to stake his claim.

Remy nodded at the couple. “Thank you. As I was saying. Physical intimacy is the best way to repair whatever damage Trevor did to Rylan’s pack bond.”

“So you have to fuck Rylan...
Rylan?
”

This came from Liam and the leopard sounded a mix between appalled and scandalized. Alex, on the other hand, looked decidedly less enthused by the prospect, or maybe it was that Liam might be interested that was the problem.

“There is no way you’re fucking him,” Micah exclaimed in disbelief at what he was hearing. Remy was mated, for fuck’s sake.

Remy blinked at the ferociousness in his voice. “No,
I’m
not. Skylar would skin me alive if I even thought about it.”

“He’s right, I would.” Skylar appeared next to Remy in a freaky blur of movement. Micah really hated when the vamps did that. It made his wolf twitchy.

“But I told you that it had to be the alpha...without you Rylan’s going to go wolf and not turn back!” Sage stepped forward and Micah noticed the subtle dark bags under Sage’s eyes. He knew Sage put a lot of pressure on himself to turn up answers. Maybe he needed to have a talk with his brother about taking care of himself, while ignoring his hypocrisy. Even if he had to revert back to sneaking vitamins and veggies into Sage’s meals like he used to when they were younger and the brat wouldn’t eat anything green.

Remy hand up a hand when Sage would have gone on. “No, you said it was
usually
the alpha. Any dominant shifter in the inner circle should have a strong enough pack connection to pull Rylan back.”

Sage blinked several times without saying anything, then sat down on the desk. “Oh. Yes, I suppose that would work. Good thinking.”

Remy shot Sage an amused smile. “You sound surprised.”

Sage immediately flushed and started backtracking. “I...I mean, no I’m not surprised.”

Even Micah thought Remy was pissed for a minute before his little brother broke into a wide smile. “It’s fine. You need to get some sleep.” The way Remy said it made it clear it wasn’t a suggestion.

“I will. After we figure this out. Rylan is family.” Sage gave Remy a tentative smile back.

“He is, which is why you probably won’t want to sleep with him? So I guess that leaves it to one of you.” Remy turned to the others when Sage nodded.

Asher bowed out first. “He’s like another brother to me.”

Alex refused next, muttering something about not liking Rylan in that way and turned to glare at Liam. The leopard shifter sighed and stepped back, making it clear he didn’t want to put himself in the running.

Micah’s blood pounded in his veins and sweat beaded on his forehead as he watched the others looking amongst themselves. He could see at least three were considering doing it. They were thinking about sleeping with Rylan...touching Rylan. And they liked it.

Gabriel and Mars nudged each other and smirked, nodding.

Micah’s eye twitched and he clenched his jaw to get it to stop.

Hunter stepped forward with a cocky smile, rucking his jeans up in a gesture that clearly showed his interest. Micah’s control snapped and he lunged across the room, hands wrapping around the shifter’s throat. “You won’t touch him.”

“Micah!” Hands grabbed at him, trying to pull him away from Hunter. Even Hunter’s hands clawed at him, but it was all to no avail.

Micah’s wolf was riding him, demanding that he not let anyone touch Rylan. Rylan was theirs. Only theirs.

“You don’t need to do this. Micah. No one will touch him. Rylan’s safe.” Asher kept saying it until the words fully penetrated and his wolf pulled back just enough so that he could process that it was Asher that held him and a couple of the enforcers that were trying to pull him away from Hunter.

“Let him go, Micah. Now.” Remy’s alpha voice broke through his anger and determination like it was a finely forged blade.

Micah’s wolf bowed instantly, intimately aware that they were already on tenuous ground with their alpha for his earlier defiance. He released Hunter and the shifter dropped to the floor, coughing and wheezing.

Micah listened to his wolf and shifted. One minute he was on two legs, looking out of his human eyes and the next he was on four, tangled in his clothes and seeing the world though his wolf eyes.

Asher helped him step out of his clothes that restricted his wolf body. Once Micah was free, he nudged Asher back with his head. He didn’t want Asher getting in trouble for sticking with him.

Asher growled, but moved when he butted him again. No matter that they were the same rank, Asher was far more accepting of Micah’s protectiveness than his other brothers. Micah knew he was being humored, but it still calmed the worry in his wolf a little to see Asher out of the line of fire.

Micah crept forward and Mars and Gabriel moved out of his way warily as if they were afraid he was about to attack them.

He came to a stop directly in front of Remy, head down. He was torn between wanting to offer submission and remaining strong in case others wanted to try and lay claim to Rylan. When he lifted it again and looked up as Remy, his alpha nodded back, accepting his offering.

Most of the tension flowed out of him, only to return when Hunter got his breath back and took one step toward him, shifting and discarding his clothes quickly. The wolf crouched, ready to pounce, and Micah faced him, hackles rising. The remembered scent of the shifter’s lust for Rylan and seeing that Hunter had been at least half hard behind the tight jeans was enough to relight the fury buzzing in his veins.

Micah snapped his jaws and Hunter responded with a snarl, displaying impressive teeth. Hunter was almost as big as him and very quick, but Micah knew he was stronger. He just had to wait Hunter out until the wolf made the first move.

Hunter faked left, but Micah already knew he was really going right. He ducked and leaped forward, driving his shoulder into Hunter’s stomach and then he lifted. Micah braced his feet and put his back into the move, throwing Hunter over his head. It was a move a rhino shifter had taught him years ago and wolf shifters never knew how to counter it.

Hunter landed in a heap and it was obvious the wolf was having trouble catching his breath. Micah reserved that move because once used it wouldn’t work again on the same opponent, they’d know to guard themselves against it.

Before Hunter got back on his paws, Remy stepped between them and called an end to the fight. “That’s enough you two. Hunter, shift back. Micah. It looks like you’ve volunteered to help Rylan.”

The shock of what Remy said made him shift back and Micah scrambled to his feet. “But...I can’t. It’s Rylan!”

Remy took Micah’s clothes as Asher held them out and then threw them at Micah. He caught them as Remy walked toward the office door. “You just made it clear your wolf won’t tolerate anyone else touching him and to be honest I’m relieved. I don’t know how Rylan feels about the others, but I know he at least finds you attractive.”

Micah gave a good impression of a fish, clutching his clothes in front of him like a shield. What the hell had he been thinking? Rylan wasn’t his, he had no claim on him. If Rylan heard about what he’d done the wolf would string him up by his toes.

“Rylan should be awake again soon. You should do it as soon as possible,” Sage urged.

“You can’t expect me to simply go and fuck Rylan, he just got out of hospital!” Micah couldn’t believe what they were saying. Had everyone lost their ever-loving mind? “Rylan didn’t even like me, you said it yourself and besides...I don’t like Rylan in that way,” he pointed out. No one listened. Hell, Micah didn’t even believe that last bit after his strangling act.

“The longer you wait, the closer he gets to falling prey to his own beast,” Sage argued, rubbing at his temples as if they hurt. Micah glanced at Remy pointedly and saw Remy nod, he’d clocked the motion. Remy would take care of Sage.

Micah’s skin prickled with awareness of the others in the room still looking at him as well. He had no way out of this.

Micah still couldn’t believe this was happening, even as Remy handed him a bag and shoved him into Rylan’s room. He heard a lock click into place and had to steel himself against the automatic urge to fight his way out. He and confined spaces weren’t a good match.

Rylan lay on the new king size bed, propped up against the pillows. At first he thought Rylan was still asleep, and he breathed a sigh of relief at not having to face him yet, but his relief was short-lived when Rylan sat upright and glared in his direction. The facial swelling was almost completely gone and only colorful bruises remained.

A part of him had held out hope this this was all a big misunderstanding and that someone was going to leap out of the closet and yell “Gotcha!”

“Why do my things smell like you?” Rylan’s voice held a heavy note of accusation. Shit, what did the wolf think Micah was doing with his stuff?

“Umm.” There was no way Micah was admitting to curling up on a pile of them to sleep. “I brought it here when the construction was complete the room were ready for people to move in. Remy said you’d like this one.” It wasn’t a lie, Micah was the one who brought all this stuff up here. He didn’t mention that Remy also warned him not to unpack anything or Rylan would tear him a new one.

Rylan didn’t look convinced.

Speaking slowly so he could give his brain a chance to catch up, Micah cobbled together a tactful way of wording what he had to say. At least he wasn’t having to battle the wild side of himself anymore—his wolf had quietened as soon as he stepped over the threshold. “You know at the hospital, when you nearly went wolf? Well Remy said that something must have happened when you were away—”

“When I was away,” Rylan repeated in amazement, his face eerily blank of expression.

Micah heard the warning bells even before he scented the burning embers of anger and immediately forged ahead with the rest of it. If Rylan was pissed now, then his reaction to the rest of what Micah had to say would be nuclear.

“When Trevor had you...is that better?”

Rylan’s eyes narrowed instantly and Micah felt like the world’s worst scum. It wasn’t Rylan’s fault that his pack bond needed to be physically reformed through touch or that Micah hadn’t been able to control his wolf nature and essentially made sure it was him that serviced Rylan or no one.

“Sorry. Remy said your pack bond is broken,” Micah said in a rush, thinking that ripping the Band-Aid off was the right approach since Rylan hadn’t let him go down the sugarcoating road.

Rylan dropped his gaze and Micah stepped closer. Rylan looked startled for a moment, but focused back on Micah. “Yes. I can feel my wolf separating from me. That means my wolf might take control for good, doesn’t it?”