“Me,” Emery quietly said.
Sean looked at him and nodded. “Yeah. Or me. Any fucker crazy enough to try to kill me is crazy enough to stoop to actually killing another dolphin. Erik knows if he can stay out of the way of anyone else, he’s home free. What are you going to do, go to the police and tell them dolphin shifters are getting murdered? No.”
“And he knows that,” Emery grimly said.
Joseph rubbed his face. “Christ, you’re right.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with George’s disappearance,” Alexis insisted again. “I want him found safely. He’s the father of my child, and I do love him.” She looked up at Carter, then to Joseph. “I’ll take whatever punishment you want to give me for being a lousy wife, but I didn’t have anything to do with him going missing.”
“Normally,” Sean said, “like the rest of you, I’d be willing to have a healthy dose of skepticism and say y’all’d be stupid not to make her the prime suspect. But she’s a dolphin. She knows damn well what would happen to her if she had anything to do with her husband’s disappearance. Why wouldn’t she just divorce him if she wanted out?” He pointed at Louise. “You told me yourself that happens. That’s what normal people do, they get divorced. Okay, yeah, some people are nutjobs, but those kinds of people aren’t worried about their own extended family doing them in, either.”
Louise spoke up. “For what it’s worth, Joseph, I believe her. I know for a fact she had never met Carter before.” She looked at the couple. “I also know he’s engaged to a shifter from the St. Augustine pod. The daughter of the pod’s Alpha. I seriously doubt he would jeopardize his pod relations over a fling with a pregnant, married woman whose husband has disappeared under mysterious circumstances.”
Joseph turned to her. “Where’d you find that out?”
She shrugged. “I made some phone calls today. You aren’t the only one with connections, husband.” She nodded toward her son in law. “Besides that, I spent some time talking to Brad, since they’re from the same pod. Duh.”
Wyatt’s phone went off. He answered after looking at the display. Everyone watched as his expression turned grim. “Okay. Thanks.” He hung up and directed his comment to Alexis. “One of my cousins just found him. I’m sorry.”
Joseph looked enraged. “Where?”
“In the mangroves in Placida. Close to where we found Barry.” He coughed and glanced at Emery. “And in nearly the same condition.”
* * * *
Louise insisted on going with them. Sean opted to wait at the boat ramp with her while Joseph, Wyatt, and Emery went to retrieve the body.
“Thank you for speaking up,” Louise said.
“What?”
“Back at your place. For saying what’s been on my mind for years about this stupid code of silence we have.”
He felt his face heat in the darkness. “Just telling the truth. It’s dumb to have this kind of secrecy.”
“I know. And if it were women running the show, there likely wouldn’t be any. But pod Alphas are always men.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “Before, it was always the men fighting for control. As the world moved on and shifters had to integrate with human society, they couldn’t afford to have territory wars any longer. The common enemy, so to speak, was humans. We still haven’t progressed to the point of a woman running a pod, though.”
Another car drove up. Carter and Alexis got out and walked over.
“You don’t have to be here,” Louise gently said.
“I want to be. I…I still love him.”
They waited in silence. Twenty minutes later, the man that had accompanied Joseph to pick up Barry’s body arrived in his pickup truck to join the vigil.
No one spoke when they returned with George’s body. Wyatt shifted back to human form and helped Emery carry the plastic-shrouded form to the pickup truck.
Alexis stepped forward before the tailgate and topper hatch were shut, but Joseph put a staying hand on her arm. “You don’t want to see,” he gently told her.
No one moved, no one spoke while she stood there staring at the shape that used to be her husband. “Do you think he suffered?” she softly asked. “I feel so guilty. What if I could have done something more?”
Louise took over. She slipped her arm around Alexis’ waist and led her away from the truck, Carter flanking the widow’s other side. “Don’t ask yourself those questions,” Louise told her. “He was helping his pod. He died loving you. He would want you to be happy. If you hadn’t met Carter, you would be alone now. What happened was horrible, but you didn’t cause it. Nothing you did could have changed the course of what happened. It is a tragedy, but the Goddess reached down and touched you, blessing you at the same time.”
She leaned against Louise and sobbed.
Sean uncomfortably shifted his weight and studied the parking lot’s dark asphalt. Louise helped Alexis into the backseat of the car before turning to Joseph and pointing at the car. Her message was clear. I’m going with them. Then she climbed into the backseat with Alexis while Carter got behind the wheel.
When the car’s taillights disappeared down the road, Joseph turned to his friend. “Please make sure this is done as quickly as possible. She will need the closure.”
The man nodded, closed the tailgate and hatch, and drove off.
Sean joined them. “I guess you’re done suspecting her and Carter?”
Joseph looked grim. “Yes. I just don’t know what else to do. I’m afraid to send anyone else out looking for Erik for fear of them meeting the same fate.” He addressed Sean. “Thank you for being so forthright about all of this. For what you said back at your house.” He turned to his son. “You couldn’t have asked for a better mate to help you as the pod Alpha, son.”
Emery nodded. “Thank you, Dad.”
* * * *
Emery and Sean drove Wyatt back to his car. When they returned to their house, Sean thought Emery would want to grab a shower and go to bed, but without a word Emery grabbed him and pulled him into the shower with him.
He grabbed Sean’s hand and pinned his arms above his head against the tile wall. He proceeded to ravage Sean’s mouth with his lips, his tongue plundering. Sean needed no magic to sense Emery’s deep need to put what had happened that evening out of his mind. And what better way to do it than to get his brains fucked out.
Sean thrust his hips against Emery, his cock quickly inflating the longer Emery kept him pinned like that. Emery pulled back, his eyes blazing with a deep, painful hunger Sean longed to quench for him. Sean laced his fingers through Emery’s. Then he stepped away from the wall, turning and pinning Emery against it.
Sean’s teeth grazed the side of Emery’s throat, nipping, teasing. “Tell me what you want,” Sean whispered.
Emery’s eyes dropped closed. “Please, fuck me.”
Sean let go of one of his hands, dropping it into Emery’s hair, where he tightly grabbed hold. He pulled Emery’s head back, exposing his throat. Sean licked a path from the hollow up along the tendons, along his jaw, up to his ear. “I’m going to fuck your brains out, baby,” Sean hoarsely said.
Then, using Emery’s hair as his handhold, he pulled Emery off the wall and bent him forward, under the shower’s spray. Emery braced himself on the tub as Sean probed the seam of his ass with his fingers.
Then the shifter let out a loud moan when Sean found his puckered rim and began pressing, teasing. He pushed back against Sean’s hand.
Sean rewarded him with a swat to his ass. “Be still.”
Emery obediently quit moving.
Sean tormented him for several minutes before grabbing the bottle of lube they kept in the shower and pouring it over him. His own cock screamed to be buried inside his lover’s tight ass, but he didn’t want to rush. Slowly, he fed the throbbing head of his cock into Emery’s channel, pausing to take a deep breath and keep himself under control.
Then he reached under Emery and found his cock
, hard and twitching with every move. “You let me do the driving, babe,” Sean said. “I got this. Just relax and enjoy it.” Sean slowly worked his own cock deeper inside Emery’s ass as he stroked the other man’s cock with his hand.
Emery responded with a passionate groan, but he held still as ordered.
Sean let go of Emery’s hair, holding on to his hip for balance while fucking and fisting him. At first he had a little trouble picking up a rhythm, but then he found it and started moving. Slowly at first, as his balls swung against Emery’s tight ass, he knew he wouldn’t last long. He picked up the pace.
“Come for me, Em. Squeeze my cock with that sweet ass of yours.”
Emery moaned in response, his head hanging as he struggled to stay still as ordered. But Sean felt how hot and hard his lover’s cock had grown and knew it wouldn’t take him long to make it.
Sean closed his eyes and tried to hold back, focusing more on the hand job, on Emery’s pleasure, than his own. “Give it to me,” Sean groaned. “Show me how good it feels.”
He didn’t know if he felt it first in Emery’s cock or his ass, but as Emery’s body clamped down on Sean’s cock, he felt Emery’s cock begin to pulse in his hand. His lover let out a loud, deep moan.
“That’s it.” Sean slammed his hips against Emery’s ass, fucking him hard, racing to completion until he felt his own balls tighten, signaling the start of his climax. He let go of Emery’s cock and held on to both his hips, thrusting fast and deep until that sweet explosion nearly took his legs out from under him. He fell still as his juices poured out of his cock and into Emery’s ass.
Neither man moved for several minutes, the steamy water pouring over them as they caught their breath. Sean stroked Emery’s back. “You all right?”
Emery nodded. It was then Sean realized he was crying. Now scared, he untangled himself from Emery and made him turn. “Babe?”
Emery reached for him. Together, they sank to the bottom of the tub, Sean cradling his lover against him as he got it all out of his system.
Sean didn’t bother talking, knew Emery would say whatever he needed to when the time was right. He stroked his wet hair and comforted him.
After a few minutes, Emery spoke. “It could have been you. Or Dad or Mom. Or my sisters or brother. Anyone. He nearly succeeded in killing you once already. How the hell am I supposed to protect everyone as Alpha? Dad can’t even do that.”
Sean nuzzled his forehead with his lips. “Exactly. Not even your dad can do that. Some things are beyond one person, Em. I think you’re going to make a damn good Alpha. And I’ll be right there beside you. Well, you know what I mean.”
Emery rewarded him with a soft laugh. “And now look at me.”
“Dude, I was starting to worry about you, quite honestly. Dealing with that not once, but twice. Not to mention how tired you are from all the searching. I knew you had to have a breaking point somewhere. You’re only human.” He snorted as he realized what he said. “Well, you know what I mean. Everyone sometimes needs to have a breakdown when they know they’re safe.”
Emery let out a long sigh. “I love you so much, Sean. It’d kill me to lose you.”
“Yeah, well, it’d kill me to lose you, too.” He kissed Emery’s forehead. “Now let’s get rinsed off and go snuggle in bed before we use up all the hot water.”
Chapter Ten
Frustrated by another day of fruitless searching for the pod, Erik returned to his hideout. They’d found and removed George’s body, as well as Barry’s. That it hadn’t made the news proved to him it was the shifters and not humans. Otherwise, the local media outlets would have been all over it.
The fact that for several days he’d been unable to locate any dolphin shifters in the water meant Joseph had pulled everyone from the search.
It also meant he wasn’t able to get a shot at Emery’s human.
He’d even staked out the marina where the human kept his boat, watching, shifted, from the safety of a nearby mangrove, and had seen no sign of him.
All he could do now was watch and wait.
* * * *
Over the next several days, Sean and Emery both threw themselves into their work. Erik and the two dead shifters weren’t mentioned, although plans for the superpod continued unabated. Helen and Sam Morita didn’t mention the events that had transpired at the Nadels’ house, but they did start acting more normal toward Sean and Emery.
Wyatt stopped by for beers one evening after work. “Any news?”
Emery shook his head.
“I wanted to let you know everyone’s behind y’all. I’ve been talking to my contacts. Even the wolves offered to help out if you need them.”
“I don’t think wolves will be much help in the water, but tell them thanks.”
“Hey, you never know where this sumbitch will turn up.”
“True.”
“And if it makes any difference, we’ve been spreading word around the whole Gulf coast. Dude shows up, lots of people got their eyes open for him. He’s good as dead.”
“I don’t know what to do about the superpod,” Emery said. “I told Dad I thought maybe we should reconsider having it here, but he won’t listen.”
“Naw, don’t change your plans. Besides, you’ve got a lot of us who’ll come in and help with the perimeter. Maybe that’s what we need, to set a trap for him.”
“I don’t want any other innocent people dying because of him.”
Wyatt shrugged. “Not your fault.”
“It kind of is.”
“Dude, you listen to yourself?” the Cajun said. “You didn’t kill them people. Erik did.”
“Thank you!” Sean said. “That’s what I keep telling him but he won’t listen.”
Wyatt leaned forward. “Let me tell you something. Man can do what he did to those two people, he’s not right in the head. Y’all know he tried to kill your mate. That right there’s enough fucked up that he needs to go.” He took a swig of beer. “Don’t know how y’all do things, but someone tries something like that among our kind, he or she’s marked for death. No second chances. Whether he did or didn’t cause the deaths of those other two is irrelevant. He’s bad. None of us can risk someone like him running loose. Shifter life’s hard enough to juggle without an asshat like him running around making things harder on ever’body.”
“Yeah,” Sean said. “I personally have no problem with him taking a dirt nap.”
* * * *
They were out in Sean’s boat the next Monday, working to scout the best location for the superpod. Complicating matters was the fact that they needed to keep the gathering in open water, due to the sheer numbers and that at least a few outsider humans would likely wander into their midst to see what was going on.
On the other hand, in open water, it would be easier to form a perimeter around the superpod and keep an eye out for Erik.
Sean throttled back into neutral once they were clear of the marina and pulled his waterproof chart out of the console. “I’m thinking here,” he said, pointing to an area off Gasparilla Island and Cayo Costa. “It’s deep, and the tarpon aren’t running right now, so it won’t be wall-to-wall boats out there. People can park on Boca Grande and swim out and in from there. Plus we can take some people over to Cayo Costa and drop them off by boat and they can swim out and in there, or even from Bokeelia…here. It’s close, really close. So less chance of Erik being able to pull something. Yet plenty of places close by for people to get into and out of.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go take a look.”
* * * *
Erik held back, watching. Finally, after several days of staking out the marina, he’d lucked out and spotted Emery’s human whore getting into his boat. Even better, Emery was with him.
Now I just have to figure out how to get him.
He followed them down the channel and south, toward Gasparilla Island.
* * * *
Normally Sean would be able to relax and enjoy the water. The breeze in
his face as he pushed the 250-horsepower Yamaha outboard wide open. The feel of the boat skimming over the glassy rollers. The salty tang of the air.
He couldn’t.
He knew part of it was Emery, who remained on high alert from the moment they stepped into the boat at the marina.
“Dude, will you please relax.”
Emery glanced at him before returning his gaze to the horizon. “Sorry. I just keep thinking.”
“Well, stop thinking and focus on what we’re doing out here today. Wait, that came out wrong.”
At least his fumbling earned him the ghost of a smile from Emery, who’d done precious little of that since recovering George’s body.
They took a spin around the area Sean had pinpointed on the chart. Emery agreed with Sean’s assessment that it would work well for the gathering. Sean shut the engine down and looked around.
“Hey, Em. You want to…” He tipped his head toward the water and grinned.
* * * *
Of course he wanted to. He always wanted to make love to his mate, especially in the soothing, warm Gulf waters.
Unfortunately, today he wasn’t in the mood. He’d had a nagging feeling at the base of his spine ever since setting foot in the boat that morning. Unable to quit looking around for any sign of Erik, he hadn’t been able to fully enjoy the morning or the boat ride, much less Sean’s suggestion to get freaky and naked in the water.
Even Sean’s playful grin wasn’t enough to coax him into letting his guard down in the open. “Not today, babe. I’m sorry. Not here.”
“You’ve been jumpy ever since we left the marina.”
“I didn’t think you noticed.”
Sean cocked an eyebrow at him. “Dude, seriously? You’re like a Secret Service agent without the suit and wrist radio. You should be an owl instead of a dolphin, the way your head’s been swiveling around out here.”
“I’m sorry, I just don’t want to do anything out there.”