The Link That Binds (6 page)

Ouch.

“So what kind of tests does an average Joe have to get done to get a drink around here?” Jace quipped as he tried to hide his nerves. His hands were literally shaking at the close proximity to his mate. Even the scent was too intoxicating for him to breathe properly through his nose. The bigger problem though—when he tried breathing through his mouth, he could have sworn he could
taste
Link on the tip of his tongue. And he tasted good; fucking fantastic.

Link merely stared at him with a tight jaw and an icy glare.

Well, this is going well.
Jace thought as the uncomfortable silence went on. He had no idea how to proceed. Not that his mind worked properly, what with his blood having drained to another part of his anatomy.

“What do you want?” Link asked in his characteristically cold voice.

Despite the hostility in Link’s tone, a shiver went through Jace’s body and his dick throbbed. “Well, personally I’ve always wanted a puppy…” Jace muttered.

Link got straight up in Jace’s face and nearly growled. “If you and your pussycats are here to settle a score, you should know I’ve got this entire place rigged with explosives. You know, for special occasions.”

Jace barely registered the death threat, focusing more on the heat of his mate’s body standing so close to him and trying really hard not to press himself against Link’s body and purr. The desire to purr was an odd one, but right now, Jace could really use a nice scratch behind the ears.

* * * *

Link saw the glazed look in the cat’s eyes and frowned. The cat seemed almost as if he was still drugged from the last dose he’d gotten. The effects would have worn off long ago, but something had obviously gone awry. Jace seemed to be nearly vibrating and he had a tight grip on the bar as if afraid he’d fall if he let go.

“Is everything cool?” Trey asked as he took his place behind the bar when a small crowd of thirsty drinkers gathered.

With an audience there, Jace seemed to snap out of it and suddenly stiffen. His lips were pressed together in a thin line that didn’t really suit his face. His lips looked better plump… like they were after they’d been kissed.

Link gave Jace a once over before turning to his bouncer. “Yeah, we’re fine.” Looking back again though, he saw Jace taking off out the back door. He never even noticed him move. Link took off after him, not really expecting to catch up, but ended up almost running straight into him when he got through the door.

Jace was pacing and biting his nails. Something was definitely up. “Jace? Why are you here?” he tried in a calmer voice, starting to worry now.

Jace stopped and looked at him for a while before he spoke. “I need you to fuck me.”

Did he just…?
“What?”

“Look, let’s not make a big deal out of this.” Jace said as he started pacing again. “It’s just sex.”

The way he spoke didn’t really sound right… besides, Jace had to be out of his mind to return here after what had happened to him the last time. “If you’re after more drugs, you’re out of luck,” Link sneered.

Looking like he’d been slapped in the face, Jace hissed. “Oh, fuck you, shitface! Just forget I said anything in the first place!”

Link was starting to suspect Jace really had wanted to have sex with him after all; the knuckle sandwich that nearly broke his nose pretty much confirmed it.

He barely got the chance to feel the devastating beginnings of a skull crushing migraine before the cat molded himself into his body and sealed his lips to his.

Those lips tasted better than he remembered and he could have sworn Jace had been eating cherries sometime that day.

Jace’s tongue found its way into his mouth and dueled his. Link could feel the scar burn as they fought to dominate the kiss. Just when he started pulling Jace closer to his body and grinding their erections together, Jace pulled back, slightly out of breath and jammed his knee straight in his groin.

“FUCK!” Link ground out as he fell down on his knees to the asphalt.

“That’s for drugging me after we had sex…” Jace panted and seemed to fidget a bit, “See ya,” he said before taking off at a run, leaving Link behind to groan in pain at the forceful impact that threatened to bruise his entire penis.

Well… wasn’t like I didn’t have it coming…

“His scent is on you at least, what happened?” Solomon asked when he met him at the other side of the gate, where Jace hadn’t been granted his access yet.

Hell, when he got there, Kett had strict orders not to let him in without notifying Sol first.

“I hit him, now let me in,” Jace hissed when Solomon didn’t open the gate for him straight away.

“I met up with him, things got fucked… in the bad sense of the word, but I saw him and even had a nice little talk with him. So for the love of Bast, let me the hell in already.”

Solomon frowned suspiciously, “What else happened?”

“We made out…” Jace started.

“Well that’s good,” Sol smiled, probably thinking there was an upside to the whole thing.

“Yeah, well, I also jammed my knee in his fun parts and left him in a painful, heaving, groaning mess on the ground in an alley behind his bar. Then I told him
toodeloo
and went on my merry way.”

“Jace… how the hell are you supposed to mate the guy if he’s afraid you’ll rip his balls off?” Sol groaned as he reluctantly opened the gate. “That is not a good thing to do, Jace.”

Jace glared at his friend. “The bugger deserved it! And if he can’t handle me, then tough fucking luck.”

“Jace,” Sol growled as he shoved him up against the fence, which thankfully wasn’t electrified while the gate was still open, “you need your mate, especially since you’ve already had sex with him.”

“Says who?” Jace snarled and tried to get out of Solomon’s grip. He’d done perfectly fine on his own and just because he had this… infatuation with Link, didn’t mean he
needed
anyone.

“You can be so thick sometimes, Jace. Already you’re in pain and you can’t even fucking admit it to yourself. I feel you, Jace! You’re burning up and your pheromones are all over the place. You may feel uncomfortable now, but this will only get worse and it’ll get worse
fast
. The only one who can spare you the pain, you just kneed in the fucking groin!” Sol growled, this time startling him by slamming his lips to Jace’s.

Those lips had heated Jace’s on more than one occasion. Hell, he’d worshipped those lips numerous times, but this time Jace jerked away and heaved.

The moment the taste of Sol’s lips registered, Jace’s entire body recoiled. His stomach cramped up and his head hurt like a mother fucker. It felt so fucking
wrong,
yet with Link it had felt so right, downright tingling even.

Gasping for fresh air, Jace looked up at his friend. Fuck, he understood now. Whether he
needed
Link or not, he craved him, and only him… he couldn’t just find a replacement and hope his mating heat would pass.

He could barely stand Sol’s lips on his without his entire nervous system screaming out. How the hell was he supposed to be able to have sex with anybody else?

He fought the tears pooling in his eyes; he really couldn’t just ignore this. No matter what Link had done to him in the past. And how the fuck was he going to explain to Link that they were mates and why in the world would Link even care?

He was human. He had no idea about even the concept of mates and oh yeah, he also happened to be working on a virus to waste the entire shapeshifter community on the vampires’ behalf.

Lovely.

Taking several deep breaths, Jace felt some of his color slowly returning to his cheeks. “I think I need to rest for a bit,” he told his friend and nearly stumbled as he tried to walk past him.

“Whoa there!” Sol grabbed hold of him before he could hit the ground and, even as much as Jace hated it, supported him the entire way to his room. He just felt so drained.

Sol’s body felt far too close and as if he was being pressed closer and closer to Sol’s chest the farther towards his room Sol led him. As he started to smell some nasty fumes, Jace couldn’t help but crinkle his nose at his friend. “Damn Sol, when was the last time you took a bath?” Sol’s scent was horrid.

“Those would be your hormones telling you to get the hell away from the guy who’s not your mate.” Sol chuckled as he helped Jace get into bed. “You know, for a doctor, you should really know more about this stuff.”

“Yeah, well, they didn’t exactly have shifter physiology 101 where I got my MD. Erh, but seriously dude, you smell like bad eggs. Could you at least take a shower or something?” Jace whined. That scent was just way too gnarly to be mismatching hormones floating around his breathing space.

“Wouldn’t work.” Sol grinned as he turned to leave.

“Yeah, well, humor me,” Jace just managed to call out after him before the door closed.

God
.

The smell really lingered. He should have asked Sol to get him a bucket before he left, he wasn’t all too confident he’d make it to the bathroom in time if he needed to vomit. So much for the joys of mating…

* * * *

Link shifted the bag of ice as he sat awkwardly near the end of the bar. Jace, the little minx, had nailed him a good one. Hours later and his dick still throbbed painfully at every beat of his heart.

Even Trey had started getting to him. Apparently, his employee had witnessed the little scene and was having a tough time keeping his smirk from showing. The man wasn’t known for his good sense of humor, but, right now, Link was contemplating whether resignation or strangulation was the better option for dealing with him.

Fuck.

The little kitty sure was something and he didn’t exactly know what was up, but something had to be cracking in the guy’s head.

He’d seemed confused, too, and conflicted, to put it mildly, about something. One minute he was trying to crawl into his pants, and then the next, he nearly castrated him in the alley. And the
see you soon
thing…

When the last customers started to stumble on home, Trey turned the open sign and joined him at the bar, placing a mug of beer in front of him along with a fresh ice pack.

“You wanna talk about it?” Trey snickered.

“Bite me.” Link sneered as he threw away the now melted ice pack and sighed in relief at the coolness of the new one. Maybe he should consider wearing a cup from now on.

“I never really cared much for the business you do on the side, Link. But this new bit, I gotta say, is pretty… interesting,” Trey said as he took a sip of his own beer, “Never considered you to be gay either for that matter.”

“Term you’re looking for, Trey, is
bi
and, as for my extracurricular activities, you already know my reasons.”

“Hm,” Trey nodded, “I wonder what Debra would say to all this though…”

“What? About me being
bi
or the fact that I’m working for the forces of darkness.” Link snorted as he drank down the rest of his beer.

“Both, I guess, but what’s up with you and that guy anyway? From what I could tell he was sending you some seriously mixed up signals… with him going kickball on your nuts and all.”

“Trust me, from what I’ve heard, he had it coming,” a large broad-shouldered man voiced out as he approached the bar with a predatory walk that said the man was all business.

Link instantly reached for his gun, swearing low as he remembered he’d left it behind the bar.

“Relax, I’m not here to start anything, I’ll have some scotch, though, if you’re offering,” the man stated as he took Trey’s seat when he went behind the bar to get the man his drink.

After all, you didn’t let a guy his size wait around for too long.

“If you haven’t guessed it already, I’m Jace’s Sorena, Solomon Jorgens,” the man called Solomon offered when Link didn’t recognize him.

“Jace’s Sorena? What’s that? You his bodyguard or something ‘cause I gotta tell you, Jace seems fairly adequate in fighting his own battles,” Link grumbled as he remembered his earlier encounter, feeling another painful throb down below.

He didn’t like the thought of the man being something more than a bodyguard to Jace either though. If this guy had some claim over him, he’d…

Solomon chuckled. “Bodyguard, huh? Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m the Sorena, the leader, of our pride. Just like an Alpha is for a pack, only I’ve got bigger claws.”

Link didn’t like the way this conversation was going. He’d been doing experiments on one of this guy’s acolytes, working with the vampires. Somehow he didn’t figure the two of them would get along all that well.

The man drank his scotch in one gulp as Trey put it in front of him. Link didn’t miss the subtle gesture Trey gave him that he had the gun and without using words asking how to proceed.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Solomon said as he gestured for Trey to refill the glass. “Even if you shot me in the head, it would take more than one bullet to finish me off and, frankly, you wouldn’t even have the time to remove the safety for the first shot before I’d hand you your ass.”

“What do you want? Retribution for your little
friend
?” Link sneered.

Solomon chuckled as he turned to look at him. “I think Jace managed that pretty well earlier, don’t you think?” He seemed to consider something before asking, “Do you know what a Keefe is?”

Confused at where this was going, Link frowned. “What?”

“Hm, I figured as much.” The man paused again before continuing. “Then let’s start with something easier; what does Mika have on you?”

Link tensed; no way he’d trade one blackmailer for another. At least he knew how to handle Mika; this Solomon guy however, seemed far too perceptive for Link’s liking. “What makes you think he has anything on me at all?”