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  Every thrust of that thick member grazed against something inside him that he had never known existed. It felt as though his body was about to fly apart, and yet the man’s firm hold kept him grounded and gave him a sense of security he’d never experienced. Deep, hazel eyes caught and held his and the emotions he saw in them rivalled the ones that threatened to devour him in their intensity.

  Warm lips pressed down against his in a desperation that stole his breath away. There was a startling jolt as the salty taste of the man’s tears burst across his tongue, and he felt a tingling sensation race through his body. It started at his scalp and the tips of his toes and ran like rapid ropes of fire to his groin, where every feeling in his body coalesced into a burst that had him screaming out his release. At the same time he felt those lips leave his and a set of sharp teeth pierce the tender skin between his neck and shoulder.

  Pain shot through him but quickly combined with the ecstasy of his orgasm, filling him with a magnitude of pleasure that was so ferocious and tender at the same time that his vision went black.

  After two more powerful thrusts, a low growl rumbled against his skin and he felt warmth spilling into him, filling him. All he could hear was the pounding of his heart matching the fast-paced rhythm of the one beating through the chest pressed tightly against his.

  Strong pulls of the mouth still attached to his throat brought on a multitude of vibrating and intense aftershocks that coursed through his system and refused to release him from his rapture. Eventually, the sucking slowed and came to a stop, much to his surprised chagrin, and he felt a rough tongue graze over the puncture marks on his neck.

  For countless minutes, Michael lay there, encircled in the younger man’s arms, trying to breathe through the shock of what had just happened.

  He’d been tracking Stephen’s scent for miles, to this large barn on a fairly vast stretch of land, but the smell that had hit his nose upon entering the building had taken over his senses. It’d invaded every part of his being until he was drunk with the fragrance of wild flowers and the tang of salty ocean spray.

  His wolf’s body had practically buzzed with the excitement of finding his mate and he had wanted to howl in exultation at the thrill of feeling complete again. For so long, he’d been living with an ever-widening pit of despair tearing his chest apart. To feel it heal itself within a matter of moments, all due to the simple presence of the tiny form beneath him, had been too much to hold in.

  This man was his, and he would never allow him to disappear again.

  Before he could find his voice to express his thoughts, though, a streak of fury speared through his body like a knife and the delicate arms of his mate fell away. The feeling disappeared once he raised himself up and lost physical contact, but that only left him feeling bereft and empty.

  He stared down into the violet eyes of the young man beneath him, now narrowed in anger, and felt remorse tug at his heart.

  The man raised his hands and shoved them at Michael’s chest, delivering a blow of anger that was so strong, it sent him reeling onto his backside a good two feet away. The pain from hitting the ground was nothing compared to that which showed on the beautiful face before him.

  With careful movements, Michael edged back towards the small figure of his mate when he saw him start to fold in upon himself with an expression that spoke of severe emotional pain. He placed a gentle hand on his mate’s shoulder, wanting to regain that brief connection they seemed to have built during their torrid sexual encounter of moments ago.

  Pain and anger and guilt slammed into him with just as much force as before, but this time he was prepared for it. A grunt escaped his lips as the feelings raged through him, but he was able to tamp them down, channel and redirect them to a separate part of his mind. The sudden understanding that the alien emotions coursing through him were his mate’s feelings and not his own brought on a realisation that had him reeling.

  “Oh shit, you’re a mage.”

  Immediately after saying those callous words, he wished he could take them back, but the smaller man lying before him didn’t seem to acknowledge his voice at all. Concern began to take the forefront of his emotions, which he was still trying to disentangle from those of his mate, when a faint whimper broke through his concentration.

  “Please,” a faint voice pleaded. Michael leaned in closer to his mate.

  “What is it, sweetheart? What’s wrong?”

  The man tilted his head to the side and opened his eyes, allowing Michael to see all of the pain shining through them, pain that he could also feel just from touching him. The man reached out a trembling hand to Michael’s chest and shook his head, pleading with his eyes and obviously trying to tell him something. It took him a few seconds before clarity dawned and he asked, “You can feel my emotions too, can’t you?”

  His mate gave a slight nod and Michael almost pulled back his hand before stopping himself. He knew all mages were gifted with some kind of ability. Although Michael still had a lot of questions about how the young man’s particular gift worked, they would eventually need to get used to each other. Sooner rather than later.

  His mate’s eyelids drooped as if they had become too heavy to keep open.

  Michael glanced at Stephen’s ravaged body but didn’t bother to check his vitals. Judging by the amount and temperature of the blood pooling underneath his body, Michael knew he was dead and had been killed not too long ago.

  He was picking up three distinct scents apart from his mate’s, but they were new to him, which meant that the killers belonged to another clan. The probability that his mate had been there during the murder had his heart racing with fear.

  What might have happened had I not shown up in time?

  It was too stressful to contemplate at the moment, and there was still work to do. He concentrated on the unique mental path he shared with all of his Betas and reached out to Dennis. The man had insisted on following him in a vehicle some distance away, just in case Stephen was unable to travel in wolf form when they found him.

  “Dennis, I need a pickup down the road leading to Henry Connel’s farm. I’m heading towards you now from his barn. Joseph, Nick, you’re on clean-up duty. Stephen was attacked by at least three unidentified wolves that left before I got here. He’s dead, so I’ll need you to dispose of his body. Let’s all meet up at my place once you’re done here.”

  “Shit,” Nick sent. “Guess he finally got in over his head this time. Any clue as to which clan his attackers belong to?”

  “No, but I might have a possible witness.”

  “What are you going to do with this witness?” Joseph asked.

  “Take him back to my place. I’ll explain everything when we reconvene there.”

  There was a pause before they sent him their mental equivalents of assent and closed their link. Michael knew they had more questions for him, but those could wait until he had his mate safe and secure in his house.

  He grimaced as he noted the damage he’d done to the smaller man’s clothes in his haste to get at his body. It would only take Dennis about ten minutes to meet them, and he needed to find something to wrap him in. Aside from the chill in the air, there was no way he would allow anyone else to see his mate naked.

  Looking around the barn’s interior, he spotted a shelf with a few rough, cotton blankets and supposed that would have to do.

  “I’ll be right back, okay?”

  His mate remained unresponsive, which was starting to worry Michael, but there was nothing he could do at the moment. If the man was simply in shock, that would be the least of Michael’s worries. He crossed to the other side of the barn and grabbed one of the blankets from the shelf, keeping his eye on his mate the entire time. He shook out as much dust and hair as he could and draped it over the other’s crouched body, then scooped him up into his arms.

  He caught a glimpse of the lost look on his mate’s face before it was pressed against his chest—in an effort to hide from him, no doubt. As Micha
el slipped through the sliding doors of the barn and began to jog around the main house to the road beyond it, he tried to focus on his emotions.

  His mate had acknowledged that he could pick up on Michael’s feelings when they were touching, just as Michael could pick up on his, so he pushed aside all of the turmoil and excitement of the night and concentrated on emanating warmth and confidence. It was a lot easier said than done, but after a few minutes, he felt the slight frame in his arms begin to lose some of its tension. By the time Dennis met them at the side of the road, the younger man was fast asleep.

  Michael placed him in the back seat, then dressed in the spare set of clothes Dennis kept in his trunk. He climbed into the back and pulled his mate back into his arms, making sure that the blanket covered as much skin as possible as he caught Dennis staring at them in confusion.

  “I’ll explain it all as soon as everyone gets back to my place. Meanwhile, I need to get this pup into a warm bed. I think he might have gone into shock but he’s sleeping for now.”

  Dennis nodded his head and didn’t waste any more time getting them back to Michael’s house. It took them almost twice as long to get home as it had taken him to reach Henry Connel’s farm. There were no roads that cut straight through the countryside, which was one of the many benefits of travelling in wolf form.

  For the entire trip, Michael worked to keep his emotions at bay, getting better at focussing on feelings of peace and contentment, but it was a struggle to maintain. The extreme joy he felt at finally having found his mate was tempered by the knowledge that he had claimed him almost against his will.

  The smell of his mate’s blood, combined with his mere presence after so many years of abstinence and longing, had robbed Michael of his better judgement. He’d very nearly lost all control, forgoing pleasantries and foreplay in his eagerness to possess him. Even though he knew the man had been aroused, that didn’t justify his actions.

  He only hoped that his mate could eventually forgive him. For everything.

  As Dennis pulled into his driveway, he saw his father’s pickup next to his own and assumed that Nick had related the news of Stephen’s death to him. Even though Michael had taken over as Alpha of their clan four years ago after his father had retired, Sam still showed his support and gave advice whenever he thought it was needed.

  Dennis parked the car as close as he could get it to the front steps, then jumped out and opened his door for him. Rising gingerly from the backseat, he settled his mate more comfortably in his arms and absently noticed his weight. The little guy couldn’t be more than maybe one hundred and twenty-five pounds soaking wet.

  Michael’s protective instincts screamed at him and he was already planning out what he would make his mate for breakfast when he walked through the front door that Dennis held open for him. Once inside, he noticed that his father, Nick and Joseph had stopped talking to wait for him to join them in the living room, but he had to take care of his mate first.

  He went straight to the couch, which Joseph was lounging on with his feet propped up on the coffee table, and growled down at the man. Joseph’s eyes widened and he quickly stood up and moved out of the way as Michael proceeded to lay his mate down gently, making sure to keep his small body covered by the blanket.

  He knew he should probably put the pup in his bedroom, or at the very least get him some clothes or a clean blanket, but he had things to discuss and he was reluctant to let his mate out of his sight for more than a few seconds. The enormity of finally finding him after years of painful and disappointing searching was still hard to grasp.

  Michael knelt down beside the couch and leaned over his mate, tilting his head to the side to get a better look at the bruises on his face. They were healing already, but one looked older than the other, maybe by a day or two, letting him know that the other man had been injured on two separate occasions.

  Had someone on the ranch been abusing him? Michael knew Henry personally. He’d given the older man financial advice on more than a few business deals over the years. There had been nothing in his character that caused Michael to think he would stand for abuse in any form, but his integrity didn’t exactly extend to all of his employees.

  A cough brought him out of his reverie, and he looked over to see his Betas staring at him with more than a little consternation. His father, however, was wearing a grin so wide that it was a miracle it didn’t split his face in half.

  Michael felt heat flush his cheeks as he pivoted his body to sit on the couch next to his mate, pulling the man’s head into his lap.

  “Is this the witness you were telling us about?” Nick asked. After Michael nodded, Nick followed with, “Do you know him?”

  Michael hesitated at that question, but he couldn’t bring himself to lie. They’d smell it on him anyway.

  Taking a deep breath, he said, “Actually, we both know him. We first met him outside of that club you dragged me to four years ago.” Michael watched as Nick took a step towards his mate and peered closer at his face. He knew the moment his friend recognised who his mate was because his expression changed from one of confusion to one of utter disbelief in less than a second.

  “The…the whore?” Nick sputtered. Michael was on his feet and over the coffee table before he knew what he was doing, eyes locked on his friend’s throat, but his father was even faster. Sam swiftly stepped in between the two men and took the brunt of Michael’s forward momentum. Nick wisely backed up several steps while Sam struggled to keep his son in check. Once Michael had stopped snarling and trying to fight his way to his Beta, Sam released him but stood his ground.

  “Son, I understand what you’re feeling right now, but I think it’s time for you to come clean.”

  Michael slowly let the rage bleed from his body and took in the compassion lining his father’s face. It was time to tell the truth, and surprisingly, the words flowed from his mouth with a lot more ease than he had anticipated over the years. He’d spent so much time lamenting the loss of his mate that finally admitting that his mate was male and that he’d deserted him held no fear for Michael.

  “This is my mate. I’ve known he was mine since he first approached me in the parking lot of that club so long ago. I…” Michael had to pause and swallow the surge of self-loathing that threatened to overwhelm him. “I rejected him because I thought that being Alpha of our clan meant that I should mate with a female. I denied him because he was male, and weak. And because I was worried about what everyone might think.”

  As much of a relief as it felt to finally confess his greatest mistake to one of the men he trusted most in his life, each excuse that he brought to light for abandoning his mate felt like a sharp knife through his heart.

  “Wait, wait. Are you telling me that you let this pup roam around the streets for years, unprotected, because you were too chicken-shit to admit that he was your mate?” Nick exclaimed.

  The sudden change of sides caught him by surprise, and this time, it was Nick that Sam had to stop with his body. Nick pushed himself away from Sam’s restraining grasp and glared at his best friend in contempt. “Just tell me that you didn’t wait this long to try to find him.”

  “Hell, no! I realised my mistake almost immediately. Why do you think I had you drive back to the club that night? But he was already gone. I let him down. I know that, and I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to him. I don’t know…”

  A small groan from behind him interrupted his defence, and he whipped around to see his mate stirring on the couch. Instantly, he rushed over to the slight form, concerned that the high emotions in the room might have affected him. He had no idea of the scope of his little mage’s power.

  The pup fluttered his eyelids before opening them, giving Michael a full view of that gorgeous, deep blue colouring. Those eyes, framed by thick, blond lashes, began to widen as recognition seeped in. “You,” he whispered.

  Michael tried to smile to allay some of the fears he knew must still be plaguing the boy,
but it probably came out as more of a grimace. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

  Rage suddenly contorted the face of his mate and the man flung the blanket off his body before Michael could react and jumped over the back of the couch, out of reach. His naked form was bared for all to see, but Michael didn’t think that’s what held their attention so much as the scars that were now clearly visible under the bright lights in his living room.

  His chest was covered in a latticework of thin, horizontal scars, both pink and silver, that stood out in stark relief against his pale complexion. From the brief glimpse of the man’s backside, which he was sure his father and Betas had also seen, he knew that the scars covering his chest were nothing compared to those that decorated his back and ass.

  “Oh, sweet Mother…” Sam breathed.

  His mate’s entire body vibrated, though whether it was from fear or anger, Michael couldn’t tell. He suspected both. Once he managed to get over the initial shock of seeing the marks upon his mate’s body, he picked up the discarded blanket and slowly walked around the couch to him.

  “Let me put this back on…”

  “Don’t. Touch. Me,” the man seethed.

  Michael’s assessment of his mate’s mood was definitely veering towards anger. He continued to advance and tried not to let his surprise show when he saw that the man was standing his ground.

  “I won’t touch you. That causes you pain, doesn’t it?”

  The frightened man flicked his nervous gaze away from Michael for a brief second to take in the still forms of Michael’s father and Betas. When his eyes returned to Michael, they were so full of pain and confusion that Michael felt his breath hitch in his throat.

  “You left me. You left me and he knew.”

  “Who knew, baby?”

  His mate swallowed convulsively and looked down at his body, as if just realising that he was naked. The salty scent of tears filled the room and Michael watched a few droplets fall to the floor as the young man tried to cover his groin as much as possible.