* * * *
“Oh my God,” Gabe said, leaning inside the ATV to hug Nicky to him while running a hand down his arm. “Look at you! You were always gorgeous, but now…”
Nicky gently pulled away, embarrassed and vaguely uneasy. Gabe had run outside to meet them as they pulled up, followed more slowly by the others. At the first sight of Gabe, the wolf inside him stirred restlessly, and Nicky got an almost immediate erection. As usual, Gabe looked a little outrageous with his tight jeans and a woman’s mesh tank top that left nothing to the imagination. His black hair was a little longer than Nicky remembered, and as he leaned over to kiss Nicky, he tucked it behind one ear, revealing a diamond stud.
Nicky was surprised at the kiss, and he glanced back over at Marco in confusion, but Marco was already getting out of the ATV. Marco smiled at Gabe good naturedly, going around to shake hands with his cousin, Zack. Thank God there was cloud cover that evening and near darkness had fallen while they were on their way up the mountain. Stiffly—in every sense of the word now—Nicky got out of the vehicle and turned to greet the others, hoping that under the dim porch light no one would notice his problem.
Gabe tucked an arm in his and kept up a constant chatter as they walked inside. “Looks like I’m the only pet here tonight with all these big, handsome wolves. For dinner anyway. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I couldn’t believe how much Jax has grown in the last couple of months and now you.”
Zack came over and tugged Gabe into his arms and away from Nicky. “Give him a chance to breathe, baby.” He smiled at Nicky and extended his hand. “Nice to see you recovered, Nicky. We heard all about what happened, of course. Gabe and I both were worried about you.”
Nicky gazed down at Zack’s hand for a moment before extending his own. This must be a mark of his new status—Zack had never offered to shake his hand before. Of course, if he had, Marco wouldn’t have liked it. Even after all this time he wouldn’t want any other wolf touching his mate, probably why Zack had come over in the first place to pull Gabe away from him, thereby staking his own claim.
He noticed Zack sniff the air. It was subtle, but Nicky saw him do it and then frown in what looked like puzzlement before shifting Gabe to his other side, away from Nicky. He gazed long and hard into Nicky’s eyes, so long, in fact, that Marco came over to stand beside them.
“Anything wrong, Zack?”
“Hmm? Oh no, nothing wrong. It’s hard to get used to, that’s all. Nicky’s very—different.”
Nicky felt an unreasonable antipathy for the man wash over him out of nowhere. To hide it, he gave him a tight smile and walked over to speak to Jax and Cade, still acutely aware of Zack’s arm around Gabe behind him, his hand resting negligently on Gabe’s hip. Well, why shouldn’t he have his arm around his own mate, for God’s sake? It was just that Nicky had never realized before how irritating Zack could be.
By the time they got into the dining room for dinner, things weren’t much better. Gabe had managed to sidle up to Nicky again, sitting beside him over their meal and shooting an occasional defiant look at Zack. It felt good to have Gabe so close. He’d never noticed before how often Gabe touched people when he talked to them. A hand on Nicky’s arm, a brush of his thigh against Nicky’s, or simply leaning into Nicky, his hand on his knee under the table as he told one of his stories, Gabe always seemed to be in motion. His scent floated delicately in the air around him too—musky and unbearably sweet.
Gabe was leaning forward now, his thigh against Nicky’s as he told a story about being pulled over for speeding earlier that week.
“So there I was, minding my own damn business, when I hear the siren behind me. I can think of only two worse things in the world to hear than a cop’s siren behind your car—a doctor saying, ‘it’s malignant,’ or the pilot of your plane saying, ‘sorry folks, but the cabin’s losing pressure.’” He laughed gaily at his own joke, and Nicky couldn’t help but smile warmly at him. Gabe’s sapphire blue eyes were twinkling madly and his face was flushing a little from the wine he was drinking. God, he was beautiful. These new wolf senses he was developing must really be something, because why had he never noticed before how seductive Gabe could be without even trying.
Nicky glanced up to see Zack gazing at him speculatively and as Nicky met his eyes, he quirked up one eyebrow at him. Nicky stared back at him and deliberately shifted his body toward Gabe to allow him to lean in closer.
“So anyway, I stopped the car but I couldn’t find my driver’s license, so I thought if I made friends with the guy, he might let me go. I said, ‘Officer, I know a great joke about the police, do you want to hear it?’” Gabe dropped his voice low, imitating that of the officer. “‘Sir, I am a policeman,’ he says.” He smiled over at Nicky. “So I said, ‘I know, so I promise I’ll tell it real slow.’”
Nicky laughed along with the others, not really paying attention to what Gabe said so much as the way he said it. He glanced up and around the table and saw that now all three of the wolves were staring not at Gabe, but at him. Marco and Cade looked merely curious, but Zack seemed to be slowly smoldering down at his end of the table. Deliberately provoking him, Nicky slipped an arm around the back of Gabe’s chair and leaned in closer.
Nicky whispered in Gabe’s ear. “You’ll get yourself in real trouble one of these days with that smart little mouth.”
Gabe turned toward him, bringing his lips to within a few inches of Nicky’s. He smiled roguishly up at him. Nicky leaned in to drop a kiss on those lips, that sweet mouth too enticing at such close range. The smell of the boy was thick in his nostrils and his wolf leaped inside him. Mine. Mine. Nicky put his arms around Gabe’s shoulders and drew him closer.
Both of them were startled when Zack surged to his feet, knocking his chair over backward. Marco jumped up too, but Cade, who was sitting on Nicky’s left, got in front of Nicky first. He pushed Zack backward, keeping his hands on his chest. Zack had moved so fast around the table that Nicky had seen nothing more than a blur of motion, and Zack was still trying to throw Cade’s hands off him.
The next few minutes were a little chaotic as Jax tugged Nicky’s arm to lead him away from the melee, and Marco rushed past him to yell in Zack’s face. Gabe was already doing some yelling of his own, so Nicky tried to wrench his arm away from Jax and go to him. Jax held on firmly, though.
“Stop it, Nicky, don’t make it worse,” Jax was saying urgently. “Come with me to the other room while they sort this out.”
Nicky allowed Jax to pull him out of the room. He’d ruined the dinner party, and he realized he wasn’t even sure why. What in the hell had just happened? Now that he was away from that room he couldn’t even remember exactly what had prompted the whole thing. Still trying to figure it out, he followed Jax to the big open great room, where several of Jax’s pack were already gathered. They must have heard all the noise, because they glanced at him curiously before looking away. Most of them were gammas or pets, and they seemed uneasy in the presence of an alpha who wasn’t their own.
A few of them drifted out of the room, and others gathered in small groups near the hearth. It had begun to rain in earnest outside, one of those sudden storms that could turn violent so quickly on the mountain. Lightning burst like artillery fire outside the windows, followed almost immediately by the loud boom of thunder. Nicky prowled restlessly over to the big uncurtained picture glass window to gaze out at the night.
Rain pelted against the glass like bullets, and another explosion of lightning lit up the woods around the lodge with a lurid light. Nicky gazed upward, but not so much as one watery star could be seen as the stormy night whipped its way across the sky. He felt Jax standing close behind him and glanced over his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Jax. I honestly don’t even know what happened.”
“You kissed Gabe, that’s what happened.”
“I know that, but I didn’t mean anything by it. Gabe and I are close. We always…” He ran out of steam as another loud
crack of thunder sounded outside. He shrugged and shook his head.
“What the hell, Nicky? You had to know what that would do.”
Nicky passed a hand over his face. “Would you believe me if I said I honestly have no idea why I did it? Gabe’s just a friend—that’s all he’s ever been. But there was something about him just then…I can’t put my finger on it. I was so drawn to him.” He turned to look at Jax. “Look, I love Marco. Always have, always will. I love him, Jax. God, what must he be thinking?” He covered his face with both hands and turned back to the window. Jax was silent behind him and Nicky felt tears prickling the backs of his eyes. He knuckled them away ruthlessly and jumped when he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder.
“I think you’re just feeling a little mixed up, that’s all.” Marco turned him around and drew him into his arms. “Are you okay, baby?” Marco, as usual with the wolves, had moved behind him so quietly Nicky never heard him come up. He held Nicky in his arms gently and brushed his lips over Nicky’s.
“I’m fine, but I guess Zack is furious.” Nicky started to pull away. “I should go back in there and apologize.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” Marco said firmly, catching his arm.
Jax, standing beside them, agreed. “Not right now, Nicky. Give him a chance to calm down.”
Nicky shoved his hands in his pockets. “It was just an innocent kiss. I think he overreacted.”
“It wasn’t just the kiss, Nicky,” Jax said, glancing nervously over at Marco. “You had this look in your eye like you were challenging Zack. There was…” Another quick glance at Marco. “There was a scent in the air. It was pretty strong.”
Nicky frowned and glanced up at Marco. “A scent? Like what?”
Marco nodded. “Arousal, Nicky. We could all smell it. You wanted Gabe, and you were about ten seconds from throwing him down on the floor in there and fucking him.”
Chapter Four
“That’s ridiculous,” Nicky said for the tenth time that evening as he plopped down on the king-sized bed in Cade and Jax’s guest room. The weather had grown progressively worse outside, with the rain coming down in sheets. Fording the streams on the way home would be impossible in this weather, so Jax had shown them to one of the spare rooms upstairs, well away, he said, from the room he’d put Zack and Gabe into.
“I was not about to fuck Gabe, as you so elegantly put it. I simply gave him a little kiss. This jealousy of the wolves is plain stupid, and you know I’ve always thought so.”
“Nicky,” Marco said, his voice quiet and more patient than he had any right to be. “We could all smell the cum dripping from your damn cock. I believe you’ll agree that I’m in a good position to be familiar with that smell. There’s no denying it.”
Nicky skinned off his shirt and threw it violently down on the floor. “Damn it, stop saying that. I would have known if I wanted him that way, and I never have and never will. You and I have a bloodlust, remember? You’re the only man I’ll ever want.”
“I’m relieved to hear it, but you were aroused.”
Nicky got to his feet and started pacing. “Then why are you acting so damn calm? Zack was ready to kill me and you’re suddenly Dr. Phil? You’ve always been the most jealous asshole I ever met.”
Marco glared across the bed at him. “I have no idea who this Dr. Phil is, but I was jealous, damn it. I still am, but I’m trying to remember that you’ve been through a hard time, and you’ve been confused about a lot of things. So rather than storm around and put my fist through a wall like I want to, I’ve decided to act mature about the situation. I won’t even tell you that you embarrassed the hell out of me.”
“Oh really? Well, guess what? You just did. Why don’t you say what you really mean? You don’t want to hit a wall, you want to hit me, don’t you? So why don’t you bring it? I’m right here.”
Marco stood up and came over to stand in front of Nicky, who put up his fists and took a fighting stance. Marco looked him up and down and took a deep breath. “Hit you?” A look of disgust crossed his face. “We’re an alpha pair now, Nicky and at least one of us has to stay in control if the other one isn’t. Besides, I would never deliberately hurt you, and you know that, if you’ll stop acting like a dick for five minutes.”
“Oh yeah, well, it wouldn’t exactly be the first time you hurt me. You almost ripped my throat out on the trail that time when you thought I was collaborating with the rogues.”
Marco’s pained expression almost made Nicky take back the words—almost.
“All right. You made your point.” He lifted his gaze to Nicky’s. “But after that day I vowed never to hurt you again, and I’ve tried very hard to keep my word.”
“C’mon, Marco, you’ve swatted my ass any number of times. Now that I can actually fight you, you’re backing off?”
Marco shook his head and gazed at him steadily. “That was different and you know it. I don’t want to fight you, Nicky. What the hell will that prove?” Marco sighed and turned his back on him, unbuttoning his shirt. “I think you’re trying to start something to avoid the real issue.”
“Oh really? And what’s the real issue?”
Marco hung up his shirt in the closet—they hadn’t brought any clothes with them, so they’d be wearing these same clothes home in the morning. He turned, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He had an expression of hurt and worry on his face that tore at Nicky’s heart. “The fact that you seem to be falling in love with Gabe.”
Nicky inhaled sharply and threw his arms around Marco. “No. I love you, Marco and you know that. How can you even say such a thing?”
“Nicky…” Marco tried to pull away but Nicky tightened his hold.
“No, listen to me. I don’t know what’s happening with Gabe. From the moment I saw him tonight, I felt strange, different. Normally, I would have teased him about his slutty clothes. That constant chattering of his would have just annoyed me after a while. But tonight, it was like I saw him in a whole new light. At the same time, it felt like it wasn’t me—it was a part of me, yeah, but the real me was detached. Like I was looking on, watching myself flirt with him and knowing I was making Zack furious. But I didn’t care. In fact, I enjoyed it.”
Marco was staring at him, and the worry on his face had only intensified. “What do you mean, detached?”
“It’s almost like when that damned wolf inside me wants to come out. Like someone pushes me aside and takes over.”
“Was it your wolf?”
Nicky shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“I don’t understand this. My wolf is like an extension of me. There’s no difference in the way he and I feel. I may not always have a human mind, but on some levels I know what’s going on and my feelings certainly don’t change.” He smoothed his hands down Nicky’s flanks. “I’d never forget you, for example, no matter what. A wolf always recognizes its mate.”
Nicky shook his head. “It’s not like that for me at all. I told you, my wolf hates you. He’s afraid of you too. That’s why he won’t come out—why he hides inside me. He knows you’re stronger than he is, and I think he despises you for it.”
“That’ll have to change. Your wolf has to recognize me as its mate and stop fixating on others.” Marco blew out a breath and shook his head. “We’ve had enough excitement for one evening. Let’s get some rest, and we’ll start for home early in the morning.”
“I hate to leave things the way they are with Gabe and Zack.”
“Give Zack time to cool down. Cade said he’d talk to him—I really don’t trust myself to speak to him right now.”
“You? It’s me he’s mad at, not you.”
Marco looked at him oddly. “He tried to attack you. You don’t think I’d have stood by and let him hurt you, do you?”
Nicky smiled and pressed his body closer to Marco’s. “I know you always have my back. And I have yours. Despite what that crazy bastard inside of me thinks, I know you’re my mate. Though maybe with all t
hat’s happened tonight, you might want to restake your claim. You know, if you’re interested…”
“I’m interested.” Marco deftly turned Nicky around and started walking him slowly backward toward the bed. “But I think after that little performance of yours tonight, you may have to convince me that it really is me you’re in love with. You might even want to stake your claim.”
“Oh yeah?” Nicky said, flicking his tongue over Marco’s nipples and turning him so that his back was to the bed. “Well, I think that can definitely be arranged.” Nicky pushed Marco down on his back and gestured toward his cock. “As a matter of fact, I have the stake right here.”
* * * *
Gabe had been moody and restless all morning and finally, just after lunch, Zack had suggested they take a walk down to the waterfall close to Cade and Jax’s lodge, just to get some fresh air.
The sun was shining brightly after the storm the night before, and the air had been washed clean and fresh. It was even a little warmer than usual, especially after the short hike halfway down the mountain. The little waterfall wasn’t large or especially impressive, but it was a nice one, and one that was almost hidden from view. The winding little trail ended abruptly beside a wide rushing stream, and from that angle the foliage hid the waterfall from view. It could only be discovered by climbing down some rocks on the bank and onto a big, flat rock jutting out over the stream. From there, a look to the right revealed a torrent of water rushing out from between the rocks to land in the stream some fifteen feet below.