The Link That Binds (9 page)

Groaning, Link took Jace’s hand and pulled it to his side. “You do realize you just had that
cat that got the cream
look, don’t you?”

Giving his mate a wicked grin, he snickered. “But I did get the cream.”

With a quirk of his lip and badly disguised chuckle, Link pulled the sheets on top of them and ordered, “Just shut up and sleep already.”

No sooner had he said it, than Jace felt his eyes slide shut and his entire body relax for the first time in what felt like forever. “You better be here when I wake up or I’m so gonna kick your ass.”

“I’ll be here, kitten,” Link promised.

“Don’t call me kitten…” Jace grumbled before letting his sated body rest.

“Whatever… kitten.”

When Link went along with Solomon, he figured he’d be in for an easy gig. He’d just suck off Jace and that would be that. He hadn’t expected his own reactions to the guy.

Wasn’t the first time Link had seen Jace in the throes of passion, but not like that, begging and pleading and needing… and then the purring!

Fuck, Link wasn’t into the whole bestiality thing, but when Jace started purring, he’d gone rock hard in a second flat. It had been hard enough simply trying to stay calm with Jace laid out before him like a buffet.

Having Jace jacking him off afterward had been fucking hot too. Thank fucking god for the cooling cream.

He’d pushed his limits by sleeping together afterward, but despite the drying cum, it had felt… kind of nice, which was a new experience entirely since he’d never really been able to sleep with somebody else in the same bed. Not even with Debra had he ever been able to zone out like that.

Waking up hadn’t been half fucking bad either. Jace had wrapped those lush lips around his cock and sucked him down deep while stretching himself. Then he’d straddled Link and lowered himself down on his dick, and you definitely couldn’t complain about the guy’s enthusiasm. Link had been ridden hard and sported quite a few new scratches as evidence.

They’d had sex twice more after, before Link needed to go to work. Time had vanished disturbingly fast and, while Link definitely wouldn’t have minded sticking around for round three, Thursday night had turned into Friday night and it wouldn’t be fair to ask Trey to work the bar alone when the crowds came.

Solomon stood true to his word and didn’t try to stop him from leaving, even if he did send him with an escort, but it had still been quite a job peeling Jace off him.

He chuckled to himself as he recalled how Maddox and Kett literally had to hold him down as Link headed off to the bar.

Jace had gotten increasingly aggressive after they’d taken off the edge of his mating heat, but seemed to have no problems
submitting
to Link as long as he got his itch scratched.

Frankly, Link didn’t mind that part either, not one bit. Having Jace snarl and almost lunge for Kett when he’d apparently been checking out Link’s ass had been oddly endearing in a twisted kind of way. The fact that Jace’s clinginess didn’t faze him barely even registered.

“You’re in an awfully good mood,” Trey remarked as he moved past him to grab a bottle of brandy off of one of the shelves. “Feel like filling me in?”

“Get stuffed, Trey.”

“Looks like you’ve been doing enough stuffing for the both of us lately.” Trey snickered as he wiggled his eyebrows.

Link rolled his eyes as he filled a pitcher with beer and handed it off to one of the costumers.

“I mean, seriously, there’s Jace, who even I have to admit is pretty fucking hot.”

Link tried to ignore the annoyed anger he felt when his friend
complimented
Jace. True or not, Jace was his or whatever… he would have to keep those two apart. Right now, he didn’t have much trust in Trey.

Not noticing Link’s internal conversation with himself, Trey continued. “But when push comes to shove, he ends up getting real close and personal, in a not what I would call comfortable way and nearly destroys your family jewels. Then there’s tall, terrifying and somewhat gorgeous from last night, whom you left with by the way, and now…” Trey nodded towards the pale, attractive man who’d followed him into the bar. “You’ve got Mr Personality over there, who I also gotta say is one fine piece of male, but who is totally dissing my advances… I mean either you’ve got these guys under some kind of spell, which if you do I think you should fucking share, or my ego just suffered a severe blow.”

Frowning, Link put down the glass he’d been cleaning and stared at his friend.

“What?”

“Dude, you’re straight,” Link reminded him… or at least he’d thought Trey was straight. What the hell was he doing vying for the attention of guys and what the fuck was up with his sudden appreciation for the
hot pieces of males
coming through here?

“So? I’m used to being desired by male and female alike. Just because I like the females doesn’t mean I don’t want to be desired by the rest of ‘em,” Trey explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Wow, you are so vain…” Link said, not that he hadn’t already realized his friend had an unhealthy obsession with anything reflecting his image, but still…

“Dude, whatever! But seriously, what is up with this shit? You’ve gone from drug dealing for the unholy dead to pimping yourself out to whatever the hell those other guys are?” Trey snapped at him.

Link wasn’t used with his friend getting so worked up over things, but all he succeeded in was pissing him off. “All you need to know is that Jace is off limits, the rest is none of your goddamned business.” Link brushed him off and thankfully Trey backed off before Link did something he’d regret.

This possessiveness wasn’t necessarily new to him, but it wasn’t something he’d ever experienced with a lover, male or female. He sure as hell hadn’t been this way with Debra and she’d ended up being a big fucking piece of his life.

Pouring himself an oversized shot of whisky, Link downed the drink in one gulp. He’d started feeling feverish and for the last hour or so his scar had started itching again. Scratching didn’t do one damn bit to soothe it either.

“It’s the mating,” his pale stalker, aka Solomon’s guard dog, stated, startling Link since he’d forgotten the man was even there, partially hidden in the shadows.

“What?”

“Did you honestly think only Jace would be affected by this? You’re his Keefe, his beloved, which is why he’s reacting so strongly to you, but you seem to have missed the fact that Jace is also
your
Keefe. You might never be as strongly affected as Jace because you’re human, but you’ll feel it just the same.”

Blinking, Link’s mind buzzed with the new information. He hadn’t realized that this could, in any way, be a
two
-way thing. He’d thought it, but it hadn’t really registered. “What’s your name?” Link enquired. He hadn’t even thought to ask on their drive over and, past knowing that the man was part of Solomon’s litter, he didn’t know much. The man didn’t exactly strike him as feline though, in fact he reminded him more of Mika, if you overlooked the evil aura oozing off his self-declared employer.

“Damian.”

“Just Damian, huh? Well, Damian, would you like to tell me what a vampire is doing playing mouse for a bunch of cats?”

The vampire glared briefly before schooling his features. “None of your business, Link, but I assure you, I’m not playing mouse for anyone,” he finished coldly.

“Yet, you’re the one having to do Solomon’s dirty work. How quaint.”

Gritting his teeth, Damian growled. “I’m here for your protection, ass-wipe. Vampires might not have the best sense of smell, but they’ll pick up shifter fast enough. Somehow Sol thought it best to limit the feline scent to this place, in case Mika drops in to say hi and decides you’ve been changing sides.”

“Do you even care, Damian? Seriously, would my death mean anything to you?” Link sneered.

“YES!” the vampire shouted at him with a growl and Link stopped still, completely baffled. He hadn’t expected that.

Damian sighed. “Jace is one of my best friends, okay? He’s helped me through some tough shit over the years. If something were to happen to you, Jace would be lost too. God knows it was bad enough witnessing his pity-fest after we got him back. I don’t even want to think what would happen if he lost you. Stuff like that’ll break a guy.”

It was a nice speech, but Link saw straight through it and practically growled himself. “Is there any of you who
doesn’t
have a fucking hard-on for my mate?”

Damian’s eyes widened slightly before a big grin covered his face. “Caught on to that, did you?” He leered, pissing Link off to ungodly levels. “Relax, Link. I’ve never touched your
mate,
” Damian answered, putting some extra meaning into the last word.

Fuck, Link had just called Jace his mate. Hadn’t even fazed him when he did.

“This is a good thing, Link, trust me. Jace is a great catch and I meant what I said. I don’t want anything to happen to you that would put Jace off his rocker… and while
I’ve
never had my hands all over Jace, doesn’t mean he hasn’t had his hands all over me.” The vampire smirked, showing off fangs.

Son of a…

* * * *

Jace had a continuous flush on his face as he slowly managed to fill in the urgent papers he needed to sign. He still wasn’t quite over how desperate he’d been when Link took off. Bad enough he’d clung to the man like a frickin’ groupie, but Mad even had to peel him off his mate.

He hated that he’d appeared so fucking desperate in front of Link. Hell, he’d probably end up scaring the guy away before they’d get anywhere near a working relationship.

The moment his mate was well and gone though, Jace had crawled back into bed. It proved far too difficult to resist the scent of his mate on his pillow and, in his frisky state, Jace had literally rubbed off on it.

Said pillow was now in the washer.

That in itself wasn’t too awful, but running into Kett on the way there…
Fuck
, Kett would never let him forget. Sometimes the enhanced senses he shared with his pride-mates were a goddamned bitch and a half.

Every few minutes, Jace checked the clock up on the wall of his office. Link got off at two in the morning and, with any luck Jace would be off by two thirty. Just sucked his watch seemed to be stuck on eleven o’clock, it just wouldn’t fucking move.

Damian had promised to keep his mate safe and to make sure Link got his firm ass back to the pride manor when his shift finally ended… hopefully, Damian wouldn’t have to
make
Link return.

It hurt not knowing how Link felt.

His mate liked to take control, but seemed equally happy when Jace did, but still didn’t show any bottom vibes. They’d only gotten to talk some between their bouts of nekid friction, and then it only revolved around really basic, non-important stuff that only served to make Jace smile.

Little things like how one of Link’s favorite movies in high school was Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the fact that his mate secretly loved anything chocolate, even if said chocolate happened to be in the form of a martini. Jace was already thinking of going with it and stock up on chocolate syrup to see just how much his mate enjoyed his treats.

Jace groaned. His ideas had him hard in no time at all and without Link there to give him relief and with his own reluctance to even attempt to stroke himself off in his very public, as far as his pride-mates were concerned, office, he was left wanting.

Kett kept popping in unannounced to gossip and he, of course, wanted the scoop on Jace’s mate. He’d indulged the cat with what he knew until he started getting a little too intimate in his questions and Jace literally snarled at the guy when Kett asked him if he had any pictures of his mate’s privates.

Bastard.

And why in the world would I take pictures of it?

He tried to soothe the aches by pushing his palm down on his straining bulge, but the damn thing refused to go back to sleep. Slowly starting to pant, Jace recognized the signs of the heat taking him over again.
Fuck
.

Chugging down almost an entire bottle of water didn’t seem to help much either and he could feel his hormones working in overdrive. He couldn’t remember Maddox ever acting this needy when he was in heat for Leo, so why the fuck did Jace have to
need
so fucking badly?

If the heat didn’t ease up soon he’d probably end up humping his own goddamned desk for crying out loud. Hell, the pillow should be clean and dry by now, but he didn’t think the pillow would have quite the same effect without Link’s scent on it.

Just as he considered the idea, a scent so alluringly similar to that of his man reached his nostrils, and he let out a moan. Checking the clock again he knew it couldn’t be though; Link still wouldn’t be back for hours.

Thankfully, Jace was proved wrong when his mate slammed open the door. The action startled him, but the wild look on Link’s face made Jace shiver in pure ecstatic delight.

There were no hi or hellos or any how was your days going around, nope his mate had apparently decided to go barbarian on him and practically yanked Jace across his desk, lifting him from under his arms and making Jace yelp.

It was ridiculous how turned on that made him. Jace wasn’t exactly what you’d call a small guy and the fact that his
human
mate could just pick him up, without seemingly straining at all, was thrilling.

Lips were crushed to his as Link pressed him down hard on the wooden desk and attacked him hungrily, shoving his tongue into Jace’s mouth as he began tugging on Jace’s clothes.

Helping, Jace soon found himself stripped of clothes and he wrapped his legs around Link’s waist. Bucking up against him, Jace growled when he felt denim fabric rub against him instead of the skin he wanted. Breaking the kiss, he hissed at his mate, “Get your fucking pants off, now!”