The Link That Binds (10 page)

A feral smile showed on Link’s face before Jace suddenly got flipped onto his stomach and he heard the sound of a zipper being lowered just before Link groaned.

Giving a feral grin of his own as he looked over his shoulder, he saw the turned on look of his mate with delight just as Link discovered the butt plug Jace had inserted earlier.

The heat had been unbearable and without Link there to help him out, he’d taken some measures… well
after
jerking off on Link’s pillow. He’d lubed up one of his plugs with liberal amounts of the cooling gel, hoping that it would keep him from bursting into flames while he waited for Link to return.

Jace moaned as Link reached down to play with the plug, which Jace had to admit was an embarrassing shade of hot pink, but the color hardly seemed to matter as his mate started fucking him with it.

Panting, Jace started humping against his desk. “Please!” he groaned as Link kept up his relentless attack with the plug.

“Please what, Jace?” his mate teased. “Do you like toys, Jace?” he continued, “Will you let me play with you, Jace?”

Instead of answering, Jace let out a purr.

“Oh, God!” Link groaned and in a violent yank the plug disappeared from Jace’s ass and something much hotter started to push in, rocking back and forth a few times before being seated balls deep.

The plug he’d worn had been big, but Link was so frickin’ thick and Jace loved how his mate filled and stretched him, giving a bite of pain that made his balls string up tight against his body. “Fuck! Link, more!” Jace demanded in a rough purr.

Not able to help it when Link bit him on the side of the neck at the same time as he nailed his prostate, Jace came forcefully all over his desk; thankfully missing the papers he’d spent hours working through.

Link groaned as Jace tightened around him, but he seemed far from ready to shoot yet, making Jace a very happy kitten indeed.

For several minutes Link kept up a series of powerful upwards thrusts, lifting Jace off the ground with each one. Jace moaned blissfully as his mate started to nail him harder in shorter strokes signaling his coming release.

Link roared out his release and buried himself as deep as he could as burst after burst filled Jace from the inside. At the force of the impact, Jace surprised himself when he started coming again; he’d been too focused on how it felt to have Link pump into him to even realize he’d grown hard again.

Jace whimpered slightly when Link withdrew from his ass, a bit sore from the ride. His mate turned him onto his back again and settled his weight atop him, absentmindedly stroking his hand through Jace’s hair.

“You’re home early,” Jace stated with a contented smile and let his hands rub across his mate’s back.

Link chuckled and gave Jace a slow mind-melting kiss. “Don’t think you’re the only one who’s gone into heat,” he explained.

Laughing, Jace put his arms around Link’s neck and brought his mouth down to his again. “Oh, I’m so not gonna apologize for that.”

Nipping at Jace’s bottom lip, Link snorted. “You might have to apologize to Trey, though. I left him in the middle of the midnight rush.”

“Screw Trey!” Jace rumbled. If Trey ever kept Link from coming back and fucking him like a Wildman, they were going to have issues.

“Rather screw you.” Link growled as he unceremoniously lifted Jace off the desk and threw him across his shoulder, carrying him out the door.

“Link, I’m not wearing any underwear, for fuck’s sake!” Jace argued as he tried to squirm out of his mate’s grip. The sight itself had to be ridiculous, they were practically at the same height and, although Link might be a bit broader than he was, Jace wasn’t exactly slight either. A slap on his bare ass made him yelp and Jace’s face went bright red as he felt the remains of Link’s release trickle down his inner thigh.

If anybody saw him like this then… just…
fuck!

Link watched as Jace slept, sprawled all over the bed with the sheets just barely covering the man’s ass. An incredulous smile crept across Link’s face. These… feelings he was developing for the guy were unsettling, but, whenever he looked at Jace, all he wanted was to pull him closer.

They’d settled into a sort of routine the past couple of weeks and during that time Link hadn’t stayed a full night at the bar, cutting down his hours by a third of what was usual. Whenever he tried to stay longer, the scar on the side of his neck would eventually start to itch and heat up and he ended up walking around with a hard-on that just wouldn’t quit.

So now he’d gone as far as hiring another bartender to pick up the slack and to keep Trey company whenever Link needed to take off.

By the time Link got back, Jace would either jump him or be waiting for him in bed, primed and at the ready. Link wasn’t a fool, Jace’s heat had passed, but it seemed his own had just started and Jace seemed to have a wonderful time reminding him.

But it wasn’t all sex either. Some nights they would just sit, somewhat snuggly, on the couch in the pride’s media room watching some lame-ass comedy and talk… Link couldn’t really remember ever just hanging out with anybody like that before. They usually ended up making out on the couch with Jace rubbing himself all over him. Somehow they always managed to make their way to Jace’s bedroom without really noticing the journey there.

Link also loved to tease Jace, he was just so damn adorable when he snapped or started growling at him.

Jace had let out a string of curses when, in front of the entire pride, Link had pulled him onto his lap at the dinner table, mimicking the way Maddox always seemed to have his lap full of Leo. Link was almost afraid Jace would end up shredding him to tiny bits when he held up the piece of barely cooked steak to his mate’s lips, but was surprised when Jace ate the meat from his hand.

Jace’s ears had turned a pale pink in the process, as he grumbled and squirmed every so often, testing Link’s grip on him. Link was even more surprised to discover Jace’s rock-hard dick when he’d put his hand down to rub Jace’s thigh, almost causing an incident right there at the dinner table.

Now, watching Jace sleep, Link had long decided that there were a hell of a lot of worse things in the world than waking up to the same man every morning for the rest of his life, particularly if that man happened to be Jace.

Jace wasn’t just a sexy piece of meat; he was feisty and smart and caring… a bit wicked at times and lewd as all hell.

Stretching out his hand, he couldn’t help but play with a stray lock of Jace’s hair, tugging on it lightly. Jace made a rumbling sound and sleepily batted his hand in Link’s direction before stilling again, the frown that had creased his face vanishing.

Link barely managed to suppress a chuckle, turned out his mate could be pretty damn cute even when he didn’t try to… although Jace’s version of cute leaned more on the not-so-innocent catholic school girl side.

Hearing something vibrate down on the floor, Link fished his cell-phone out of the pocket of his jeans.

Fuck.
He had two missed calls from Debra and a text telling him to
quit jerking off and answer the damn phone
.

Glancing back at Jace, Link really didn’t look forward to the talk they would soon need to have. Solomon’s deadline was already running out and, whenever Debra started reaching out to him she usually kept pestering him for weeks before leaving him alone again.

Link was worried that Jace might turn him away once he knew his secret. He didn’t think he would, but still, there was always a sliver of a chance that Jace might turn his back on him.

Hopefully, his mate being a shifter would keep him at his side because even as much as Link had started to need and feel for Jace, his mate had been drawn to him by much stronger powers. Link was Jace’s mate and Jace had obviously tried to keep away from him before and when you compared his secret to working for vampires and dealing drugs, then it did seem somewhat tame in comparison, even if it might pose a whole new spectrum of issues for Jace.

But Jace wouldn’t push him away; push him around and bitch, sure, but he wouldn’t turn Link away and Link somewhat reluctantly realized that he would never let him.

The cell started vibrating again and Link, reluctant to leave Jace’s bed, grumbled as he was forced up. He stepped into the bathroom, making sure to close the door behind him. Whatever Debra had to say to him, he hoped she’d be quick about it. Couldn’t be an emergency or she’d have written it in the text, so she was probably calling to bitch about something.

“What do you want, Debra?” Link growled as he took the call, trying to control the volume of his voice so not to wake Jace from his peaceful slumber.

“You’ve got some nerve, Link,” a female voice growled right back at him.

“You’re the one calling in the middle of the night, you wench, so don’t you fucking talk to me about nerve. This better be important.”

“Oh right, you are absolutely right, this is my bad.”

Link could almost hear the sneer in Debra’s voice.

“Well guess what, dear, it isn’t my fucking fault you’ve got some floozy on a string, thinking you have something together and is
fucking
coming to ME for answers about who you’re fucking now. She showed up at my fucking job, Link! It was goddamned lucky the manager wasn’t there. Last thing I fucking need is being on that prick’s radar.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Debra? The only women I’ve been with this past year have been one-night fucks and, I assure you, none of them had any misconceptions that it was anything more than that,” Link growled.

“Yeah, well, Miss Peroxide Blonde Psycho seems to think otherwise and apparently she’s really distraught by the fact you’ve strayed from her so you could go and fuck some tight twink ass.”

Twink ass? Link looked at the door in the direction of where Jace would be sleeping, certain his mate would not be happy knowing he’d been classified as a twink… although he did have an awesome tight ass.

Frowning, Link asked, “Debra listen to me, this woman, did she give you a name?” Link had a sneaking suspicion about what was going on, but prayed he was wrong…
please let it just be some stalker groupie.

“No, she didn’t give me her name.” Debra stated, in an annoyed, but calmer tone. “I swear to god, Link, if this woman is going to cause problems for us…” She drifted off and Link knew exactly what she referred to.

“I can’t be sure, Debra, but if she does, I have people who might be able to help us now.” Link sighed.

“What, your new boy-toy?” She snorted into the phone.

“His name is Jace and he’s not going anywhere, not ever,” Link said, putting as much meaning into the words as he could. The other end of the call went still for a while and Link tensed waiting for the reply.

“Yeah, I never really thought you’d settle down with another woman, again,” Debra stated with something oddly resembling a caring, but annoyed tone. “If this is the real deal, Link, then I’m happy for you, I really am.”

Link had to admit he was taken a little aback at Debra’s acceptance, but he hadn’t realized how much he craved her consent. They’d been through too much for him not to care about her or about what she thought.

“But seriously,” Debra continued, her voice losing all trace of caring and tenderness, “if something happens because of you and your
hobbies
, you better pray you go down with it or else I’m gonna hunt you down and blow off every piece of your body, one by one ‘til there’s nothing left but a mangled upper torso and a head.” With that said the call went dead as Debra disconnected.

Damn.
The woman sure had a way with words.

* * * *

Debra’s phone call still buzzed through his mind as he sat in the office behind the bar checking this month’s numbers. He couldn’t be sure, but whoever had been yapping off at Deb sounded way too much like Christa, Mika’s psycho wanna-be girlfriend, for Link’s comfort.

He knew he would have to talk with Solomon, but he didn’t really know if the guy would help him out or not. Solomon had kept his word and not told Jace about his secret, but he also knew he couldn’t hold off telling him any longer. Definitely not, if the vampires had started sniffing around.

Being with Jace was addicting and, frankly, if the guy wasn’t already mixed up with this vampire business, Link would have been out of there in a minute. But backing out now would do nothing to keep Jace safe. He had no excuse to let Jace slip away… and, honestly, just that felt pretty good, although his flight instincts were bickering a bit.

“Deep in thoughts, Link?” A sneer sounded from one of the corners of the room.

Link started and shot to his feet, his hand reaching for his gun at the same time.

“Don’t bother, Link.” Mika chuffed, stepping into the light. “You think a little piece of lead is gonna stop me?”

While Link was used to Mika looking like shit, he nearly winced at the crazed look in his eyes. He looked sick.

“What? No ‘welcome, Mika’?” he chuckled darkly. “No matter. Not here to make friendlies. I’ve heard some rather distasteful rumors, Link,” Mika stated as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

“You shouldn’t believe everything you hear,” Link replied as he sat back down, still keeping his gun trained on him.

“DON’T lie to me, Link!” Mika yelled and Link could have sworn the guy’s eyes turned blood red for a second there.

“You’ve been fucking that cat-shifter, Link, and I can’t help but wonder what else you’ve been doing for him. You know,
other
than reaming his ass.”

Link gritted his teeth together to keep from talking back to the vamp. Mika looked pale and feverish. He didn’t get it. Mika had almost looked better the last time he saw the guy. Clearer somehow, but now…

“I knew you were holding back on me. With the antidote. Should have figured it out when you told me you couldn’t solve the problem. Somehow I just figured you hated these beasts as much as my kind, non-sapiens so to speak. Wasn’t ‘til Shamus told me he’d seen you hanging around with defect Damian, and Christa told me she saw Jace lurking around the bar a couple of times that I realized you’re a goddamned fur lover.” Mika cackled.