ReidReid should never have had sex with Marcella, he admitted to himself, or he should have stopped it long before. He’d thought it was simple, just two people getting off together, but it had complicated the friendship.He’d been young and stupid when it had started, and it had continued almost like a habit. They’d both been schoolboys stealing drinks and getting stoned together in the back of their cars. A night of alcohol and drugs and two horny young alphas talking about sex in the back seat of Marcel’s car had led to experimenting on each other, exploring their sexuality under the guise of “working out what they liked”.The experiments had become bolder and more regular as they’d expanded into watching porn and had learned new techniques together. Reid knew that most best friends didn’t jerk each other off regularly to porn, but the sex between them was safe, a way to explore his sexuality with someone he knew would never betray him. It had given him the confidence to take other
Reid“Did you have a good night?” Vincent asked casually as they watched the werewolves at the door knock again. The men looked over their shoulders at Vincent who nodded. One stepped back and kicked the door, exploding it inwards in shards of wood and shrieking metal.The few pedestrians on the street paused, looked, and then looked away as they hurried along, eager to get away from the potential danger. A child in a passing car stared open-mouthed and wide-eyed, but the driver didn’t pause.“Yeah,” Reid didn’t want to talk about his night with Jasper. “Let’s go,” he said to avoid any more questions, starting up the stairs as the werewolves disappeared inside. There were screams and smashing. A young human woman in a filthy singlet top and panties tried to flee past them, but Vincent caught her, and threw her back inside, before closing the broken door behind them.The woman fell over a bag of rubbish in the hallway and then scrambled backward on her elbows and heels, crablike, away
ReidClothing scattered behind them as they staggered back towards the bedroom. There was a craze behind the strip, behind the demand of mouths and hands and bodies, as they found each other’s skin, that Reid recognized as the mate bond strengthening and demanding satisfaction. The air was so heavy with pheromones exuded by both of them that he could taste it on his tongue, and on Jasper’s. If there was an omega in a five-mile radius they would send the poor soul into heat, he thought with amusement.Jasper’s wolf was in his eye, and he growled low in his throat as he nudged Reid’s knees apart, all sexy, ruffled alpha, and Reid grinned, showing his sharp incisors and premolars, before tangling their legs and twisting, seeking to drag Jasper under him.Jasper was having none of that, though, slippery as a snake against Reid, he rolled on the mattress, flipping Reid who laughed and surrendered as Jasper’s kissed under his jaw, and down his neck. For a moment, Jasper mouthed the meat of
JasperThey leaned their shoulders against each other and the headboard, tangled their legs, and passed a bottle and a joint between them. For a long moment, neither spoke. They were both hard, their cocks standing to attention and weeping pre-cum, something that Jasper tried to push back from his mind as they needed to ignore the demands of their bodies and talk.Reid was right. Jasper’s thoughts had not moved from his mate ever since that first meeting. Everything that had happened since had been viewed through the lens of taking Reid as his mate. It was both a bit thrilling and frightening to make that realization. In a matter of just a few days, Reid had restructured Jasper’s life entirely, in ways that he didn’t even totally understand.In ways that were irrevocable.Not that Jasper wanted to change it. Oh no. No. He had wanted and needed Reid from the moment the Knave had entered the ballroom. His destiny had been sealed in that moment, and Jasper would never regret that. Reid w
Jasper“I came to the ball in order to meet you,” Reid leaned back in order to look over his shoulder at Jasper. He was sat in the v of Jasper’s legs, leaning back against Jasper’s chest whilst they worked their way through the room-service menu and watched TV. Jasper couldn’t recall a single moment of the show playing. They had spent the entire time talking and feeding each other, enjoying the intimacy left in the wake of sex and the mutual agreement that they were going to fight to make their relationship work.“You did?” Jasper took a bite of a chocolate-dipped strawberry.“Yes. Because of the shit going on between our packs, I had wanted to… you know,” Reid looked away. “I wanted to use you to find out what the Comptons pack were up to.”“Oh…” Jasper chewed and swallowed the strawberry. It seemed to stick in his throat. He coughed slightly and leaned to the side in order to reach his champagne glass. The champagne washed the obstacle away, but not the problem. “About that…”“I kno
JasperReid programmed the address into Jasper’s phone, right down to the GPS map. “See here,” he pointed to a building well back from the main road. “It doesn’t look like much normally, just some sheds. But on fight night, it comes alive, and you won’t be able to miss it. There will be hundreds of cars there, and lights and music. Just remember, there are humans there too, guests, so although it’s a full moon, no shifting.”“I’ll remember,” Jasper loved watching him, the way the hair fell over Reid’s face, the shift of his expressions, how the light caught in the stubble on his jaw. He loved knowing that Reid’s body probably ached for his, just as he did for Reid’s, despite both of them having finished their morning with an orgasm.Jasper’s fingers itched to finish his sketch of Reid and he was eager to get to the folly and begin the painting. The next best thing to being in bed with his mate was to paint his mate in bed, he thought with amusement.“I’ll make arrangements at the fron
ReidReid’s heart was in his throat when he knocked at Marcella’s door before the run. She opened it, wearing her satin dressing-gown. “I was just getting ready,” she turned and walked back into the apartment, leaving the door open behind her.For a moment, relief robbed Reid of the ability to reply, seeming to drag heavily through him, before he pulled himself together and cleared his throat, tapping a cigarette out of his holder as he followed her inside. “I’m early.”The apartment was different. Clean, and the furniture had been rearranged. He raised his eyebrows as he lit his cigarette. “Looks good in here.”“It was time for a change,” she said from her bedroom. He could just see her through the partially open door as she leaned towards the dresser mirror as she applied her makeup. “I was stuck in a rut. I needed a fresh start.”She wasn’t talking about the furniture, Reid thought regretfully as he poured them both a measure of whiskey. “Marcella,” he said. “I am sorry. I did not
ReidHis wolf-form’s vision cast the night in shades of grey, black, and white as he ran along the sand. The waves soft whisper dimmed beneath the pant of his breath, the beat of his heart, and the pound of his footfalls. His nose was filled with the scents of the water, the sharp briny scent of seaweed, and somewhere the wet, slightly sweet smell of some creature rotting.He loved to run along the sand, feeling the grit of it give beneath the pads of his feet, the spray of it kicking up behind him. He loved the way the moon reflected in the water, the sparkle and splash as fish leaped in pursuit of the bugs that flittered over its surface. Summers were spent on this beach, surrounded by the pack, the children playing in the shallows, the sun baking his skin until he took to the water to cool off. And almost every full moon of his adult life, he had joined the pack to run across the night-cool sand.He could hear other wolves around him, see them in his peripheral vision, identifying
Jasper Jasper surfaced slowly. He could hear unfamiliar sounds, muffled voices in the distance, many different beeps and squeals, and the rattle of trolleys. Reid was snoring somewhere nearby, and that was reassurance that wherever Jasper was, he was with his mate. Hospital, he thought as he fought to open his eyes. He was in hospital. He could vaguely remember moments of consciousness, where nurses and doctors had spoken to him. He remembered Reid crying and holding his hand, and his mother, father, and Charlotte… He managed to open his eyes. Yes, hospital, he agreed with himself. He turned his head and smiled as he saw that Reid slept on an armchair recliner next to him. A figure moved near the door and Jasper tensed as he looked over. A guard stood with his back to the room, adding sugar to a takeaway coffee cup. A werewolf, Jasper realized. He did not know if the man was Compton or Morrison, but his presence recalled to him talking to his father on the phone. His pack had come to
ReidReid barely looked up from Jasper as the medics carried him out to the street where the ambulance waited. He was aware of the house being filled with armed men from both packs searching through the possessions within the rooms, and, when they stepped out into the street, that the street was roped off, those civilian onlookers curious enough to brave being on the street in this neighbourhood pressing up against the ropes.He saw that the buildings to either side had also been invaded by the pack but had no chance to ask as Jasper was loaded onto the ambulance. Jasper took the spare chair and held onto Jasper’s hand as the ambulance sped off towards the hospital, sirens blaring and lights flashing.Jasper’s eyes fluttered, his mate surfacing from his faint.“It’s alright, Jasper,” Reid leaned forward so Jasper could see his face around the oxygen mask the medics had placed on him. “I’m here.”At the hospital, however, they were separated, with Jasper wheeled off towards the operati
JasperThe dingy, disheveled little bedroom was empty, however, another door opened into an ensuite through which came the sound of running water, and whiffs of steam drifted out indicating that Jay had been in there for a while, possibly since they had seen him in the window.Reid crossed to the rumpled bed and searched through the clothing tossed carelessly there, shoving the guns and knives that he found there into the bag that he wore. He passed the bag to Jasper.Jasper looked from the bag to Reid. “Just shoot him, Reid,” he whispered as he realized that Reid intended to fight Jay hand-to-hand.Reid shook his head. “He’s naked, unarmed, taken by surprise. That wouldn’t be…” He shrugged.“Fair,” Jasper filled in for his mate, his stomach uneasy. “But dangerous, Reid,” he protested.The water in the shower turned off interrupting Reid’s reply and they both turned towards the door. Through the opening, Jasper caught a glimpse of Jay as the other werewolf dried off, wrapping a towel
ReidThey took a taxi from the hotel. Jasper paid the taxi driver at the drop off whilst Reid swept his eyes along the street. It had been raining consistently through the afternoon, and the water puddled in drains clogged with filth, flooding out onto the road so that passing cars sprayed it up in vile showers. The street was a fucking eyesore of boarded up windows, graffiti and filth. Most of the streetlights were broken, creating shadows in which lower level dealers, prostitutes, and their clientele did business.As Jasper stepped back to join him, moving out of the way of the water that the taxi’s wheels kicked up onto the pavement, he followed Reid’s gaze. “Dad deliberately has encouraged this are into decay,” he said in a low voice. “It drives property values down, makes them cheaper to buy.”“And created the perfect place to hide a rogue pack,” Reid replied. “People come and go, and no one asks questions around here, or looks too closely at one another.”“Yeah. The buildings ar
JasperReid lowered the phone to the mattress, his hand resting over it. His chin sank to his chest, and his body shook as he wept. Jasper could offer little comfort other than to keep holding onto his mate. It had been hard to face his father that morning, but for Reid to have lost his best friend and had to come out to his family and pack at the same time… Jasper was amazed by Reid’s strength of will, to keep going despite the terrible weight of grief that he was carrying.The plan to take out Jay Turner did concern him, he admitted to himself. In the past couple of weeks since he’d come of age, his life had changed so dramatically from studying art to understanding that illegal activities were the backbone of the pack, and now, to be personally involved in what would be, he knew, a murder. He felt under-prepared and ill-equipped for the situation and feared that his inexperience would endanger his mate.He only hoped that his father would come through for him and Reid.He was young
Reid“Do you trust him?” Jasper asked as they watched Gregory leave.Reid considered the question. The beta had abandoned the Morrisons for the Comptons and betrayed their shipping schedule… There was a lot not to trust about him. “Normally, about as far as I could throw him,” he admitted slowly. “But with this? Yeah. I think he has nothing to gain and everything to lose. And…” He leaned slightly against his mate, feeling raw and exhausted. “I think he had a bit of a thing for Marcella and is upset in his way about what happened.”The words brought back the ache of grief and anger. He threw back the last of his whiskey. “I am going to kill them both,” he decided grimly. “Jay Turner and fucking Vincent.”“Okay,” Jasper said but covered Reid’s hand with his own. “But you heard what Gregory said. They’ve been planning this for possibly years and have been recruiting from both packs during that time. They’re not alone Reid, and you and I…” He grimaced slightly. “We are. So, we need to be
JasperGregory Renmark was okay looking, Jasper decided as he followed Reid into a discrete booth at the bar of the hotel bar. Nothing compared to Jasper’s mate though, he added with a warm glow as he watched Reid order for them from the waitress who had shown them to the table. Both men, however, shared pale faces and reddened, swollen eyes.After the waitress left, Reid and Gregory stared at each other across the table. The beta was dressed in a business suit, but the top button of his shirt was undone and his tie was askew. His hair was a mess as if he’d dug his hands through it many times whilst waiting for them to arrive.“She was a fucking bitch,” Gregory broke the silence, the words almost spat across the tabletop. “But she deserved better than that,” was delivered softer.Reid swallowed hard, a muscle in the corner of his jaw twitching, but he held the beta’s gaze until Gregory looked away, establishing Reid’s dominance. “Yeah, she could be a bitch,” he agreed steadily. “But t
ReidThe apartment still smelled like Marcella, but the smell was stale, lingering from the night before rather than because she was within. The sophisticated Indian agarwood, Turkish rose, and sandalwood perfume combined with the smell of smoke and alcohol. Reid stood on the threshold, his breath caught in his lungs, his eyes searching the furniture for something that he knew was not there.Dust caught in the sunlight whirled in the air disrupted by the door opening, was the only movement inside.Jasper placed his hand between Reid’s shoulder blades, the warmth of his palm a comforting reassurance that gave Reid the courage to step inside. Reid crossed to the bedroom, easing open the door and looking within at the messy tumble of bedding, the closet that she had taken such a delight in, and the mirror where Marcella had forever been fixing her face.He moved the items on the dresser restlessly, shifting the compacts, the lipsticks, and the brushes.“Is there…” Jasper cleared his thro
JasperClaud and Brando growled through a spew of vitriol, raising the hair on the back of Jasper’s neck, whilst the elegant she-wolf who had admitted him put her arms around the other woman, whose distress had been forgotten by her husband in his outrage. Jasper kept his eyes on the two men, tensing ready to push Reid behind him if either male attacked.They were big, experienced alpha wolves, but Jasper was quicker, leaner, and fitter than them both. If they attacked him, he would lose, but he would do his best to protect Reid. He stroked his hand over the curve of Reid’s skull.His mate was, as Jasper had suspected he would be upon hearing of Marcella’s death, distraught but, Reid pulled himself together as the two males rounded on them. “Dad, stop!” He held out his hands, palm forwards. “I know this is a shock, but…”“A shock?” Claud Morrison spat the words. “A shock? I can barely look at you for my disgust, Reid. You and he…” He sputtered gesturing to Jasper. “Defiling each other