Chapter Two

Morning sunlight streamed across Alex’s face, but that wasn’t what woke him. A warm, wet mouth sucking his dick down to the hilt had his eyes popping open as he gasped. He shoved his hands under the sheet, burying them in silky strands of dark brown hair that felt cool on his skin. “Jesus, Harley!” he groaned, rocking his hips up to get that little bit deeper.

A chuckle vibrated along his length, sending tingles to his balls as they drew up tight.

Hands squeezed his quivering thighs as Harley’s throat muscles constricted around his cock.

“Jesus!” Alex shouted, although it sounded more like a gurgle than anything else.

Pleasure flooded him, heating his blood as it surged through his veins.

Harley pulled back and sucked hard on the head, his tongue teasing the bundle of nerves under the rim, and Alex shouted again, nothing but sound and ecstasy as he poured spunk into Harley’s mouth.

Harley suckled him until Alex had to pull away, his dick too sensitive to be touched. He tugged on Harley’s hair and the cute brunet scrambled up his body, his pretty dick bobbing and smearing pre-cum over Alex’s stomach, then his chest as he encourage the man to keep moving.

“Good morning, stud,” Harley purred. Alex grinned up at the man, liking the way his brown eyes sparkled. Then he opened wide and sucked as much of Harley’s dick down as he could in the position he was in. “Oh my god!”

Harley vibrated above him, his fair skin pebbled with goose bumps, his coppery nipples hard little peaks. Alex reached for them, pinching lightly as he’d learned was Harley’s preference. The man squealed in a way Alex found oddly charming, then Harley’s hips surged forward, filling Alex’s mouth and throat with rock hard dick.

“Yes,” Harley hissed. “Take it, just like that, stud!”

Alex didn’t particularly care for the stud part, but Harley was an enthusiastic fuck, and fun to be with even when they weren’t fucking.

The problem was, he’d been so enthusiastic last night—and into the early morning hours—that Alex had been lucky to shower and shave. He’d passed out, sure he’d be drained

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of cum for days, and hadn’t made the phone call to his sister. Harley had said he could use his cell, but then he’d pounced on Alex—literally pounced—and shortly thereafter Alex had his dick buried in the man’s tight little ass.

Now, as much as he was enjoying listening to Harley babble—except for that stud crap—Alex really needed to speed this along. To that end, he increased the suction and tongue play while reaching between Harley’s spread thighs. As soon as he felt that Harley’s ass hole was still lubed, Alex shoved two fingers in deep.

Despite liking his nipples babied, Harley liked his ass pummelled to the point Alex had worried about hurting him. Two fingers inserted without any stretching first was nothing for Harley, nothing bad, anyway since the man slammed his ass back, demanding more as he moaned lustily.

Alex obliged, more careful with the third regardless of Harley’s begging. As soon as he had the third digit in, he licked over the wide dripping slit of Harley’s cock, then stiffened his tongue and delved into it.

Harley screamed, a window rattling, ear ache inducing racket as he came, jerking so hard his cock slipped from Alex’s mouth and shot cum onto his cheek. Alex turned his head; he didn’t like that, wearing another man’s jizz

on his face. Maybe it’d be okay with someone he was with in a relationship, but it was far too territorial for him or his wolf to tolerate from a one night stand.

The rest of Harley’s cum splattered the pillow, a little dribbled on Alex’s neck, which made him growl. It was too much, and he wasn’t as gentle as he’d have been if his wolf hadn’t been clawing to get out. He pulled his fingers off and pushed Harley aside. The brunet landed with a laugh, unfazed by Alex’s pique. He looked at Alex with a satiated look in his eyes and waved a hand in front of him, flopping it back and forth.

“Jeez, you’re something, stud. Any time you feel like dropping in, feel free.

I’m glad I took a chance on you last night. Usually I just don’t do anything this impulsive.”

Alex’s temper eased as he glanced at the man. Harley looked almost delicate next to him. His much shorter stature and thin build would surely make him an easy target for someone determined to hurt him. “You shouldn’t, you know. Pick up guys like me, or any guy, period. You don’t know who you’re bringing home, or if they’ll come back with something…

bad in mind.”

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Harley laughed and slapped at Alex’s thigh. “Right, way to kill the after-glow. Like anyone would bother coming back—I bet you don’t,” he said as he peered at Alex. “And why would someone hurt me if I was going to put out anyway? What, like they’d want to rob me? There’s nothing worth taking here.”

Alex opened up his mouth to try to explain that sometimes people were cruel just for the sake of being cruel, but snapped his mouth shut when Harley bounded from the bed, his pert ass wiggling as he hurried to the dresser. “You said something about needing to make a phone call—here.”

Harley turned and tossed a cell phone to Alex, who caught it easily even though it was a pretty shitty throw.

Harley grinned and gave him a thumbs up. “Awesome reflexes! I’m gonna shower then fix us something to eat, and coffee.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “God, yeah, coffee…”

Alex watched his butt until Harley closed the bathroom door, then, with nothing else to distract him, he dialled his sister’s number, tension tightening his stomach. It rang once then Alison picked up immediately. Of course she would.

“Who is this?” Alison demanded in a tone stern enough to have anyone’s spine snapping straight—anyone but Alex, who bristled instead.

“Alex,” he bit off, irritated for no reason he could pinpoint. It wasn’t like she’d known who was calling, and anyway, he hadn’t expected a friendly greeting even if she had known.

“You ass,” she hissed, her voice dropping to a bare whisper. “You could have called sooner! Do you know how worried I’ve been? And Mom has been beside herself—whatever that means. She’s been upset! How could you do that to her?”

Alex cringed as guilt swamped him. He hadn’t contacted anyone because he’d wanted to be able to tell them he’d been successful in his self-ordered mission. He was a shit to have been so focused on his own wounded heart and pride.

“And Marcus—Alpha Anax Criswell, I mean. He asks every day if I’ve heard from you.

You know he hasn’t let anyone else go after Dobson? Do you?”

“No,” Alex muttered as he closed his eyes and scrubbed at his forehead.

“Do you know why that is?” Alison snapped, either uncaring now if anyone else heard or having moved away from anyone who could.

“No, I—”

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Alison steamrolled right over him, as she’d always done. “Because he believes in you, you idiot. He is smart enough to know you weren’t at fault.

He admits that he should have listened to you and taken some of his guards with him!” Alison’s voice had risen with each word until she shouted the last, “And he’s the Alpha Anax so if he says that’s the way it is, then that’s the way it is!”

Alex had jerked the phone away from his ear while contemplating pressing the end button, but the rumble of a deep, sexy voice over the line had him pausing as, his hand shaking so badly he dropped the phone on the bed.

“Alex.”

That, just his name said in that voice, was enough to set Alex’s emotions spinning in a chaotic whirl. Guilt, shame, fear, anger, love—and yes, lust though it shamed him. Alex picked up the phone and tried not to stutter.

“Alpha Anax Criswell, I—” Alex swallowed then rushed ahead as he heard Marcus inhale. “I think I’ve found Dobson. I’m sure, well as sure as I can be. And his pack wasn’t disbanded, Combs lied about that or maybe Dobson lied to him but there’s close to a dozen scents and one in particular that just smells like fear and pain and—” Alex’s mouth skidded to a halt, slamming the words still wanting out against the back of his teeth. And why did I mention that scent?

“Alex, be quiet for a few minutes and let me get a word in, okay?” Marcus’s amusement came through loud and clear, but so did his sincerity. Alex pressed his lips together as his heart did its best to break out of his chest.

“Now, I knew you’d find Dobson, and I knew you wouldn’t do anything rash like go out and kill him in cold blood. As to that scent…” Marcus’s

voice went strangely tight, as if something pained him. “I only knew one shifter who smelt constantly like terror on legs.

Sean Dobson, Joshua’s brother, and I don’t want a hair on Sean’s head harmed if he’s still with that pack. The rest, you give me the location and I’ll have the guard there to help you. If there’s a dozen or so of them, even you can’t take them on, although I have no doubt you’d try and cut through half of them at least. But it’d be best to wait, if you would.”

Alex’s head spun as he tried to fit Marcus’ words into his own perceptions.

It just wasn’t happening; he’d carried his guilt and all the other burdensome emotions, including his unrequited love for Marcus, for too long to just let them go. Instead he focused on the rest

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of what the Alpha Anax said, mainly the part that pertained, possibly, to that scent that had niggled at Alex’s brain.

“Why, if I may ask, am I not to harm Sean Dobson? And why would he smell like someone scared to death all the time?” Alex had picked nothing else up in that one scent. Not a hint of soap or sweat or anything. It was odd, and troubling, and another thing Alex couldn’t deal with right now.

“Sean Dobson, he’s approximately five-ten, strawberry blond hair—it was cut down almost to the scalp, last I saw. He’s very thin, and he’s his brother’s punching bag. He was also the only person in that whole pack who tried to help me, and he paid for it when Joshua caught him. I think that’s what shook Joshua up, that the brother he kept under his thumb dared to defy him. It probably made him paranoid he was going to be betrayed, and so Joshua took off.”

Alex didn’t buy it. Sean had obviously stayed with his brother, had chosen to. There had to have been plenty of times he could have escaped. If he was

with Joshua’s pack, that had to be because he wanted to be there. He closed his eyes and delved into the dark memories he tried to repress.

Pulling up Joshua Dobson’s thin face, his long lanky build and the thick cock he used like a weapon, was no problem at all. Alex remembered those all too well. What Joshua had done to him when he’d still been a kid was something Alex was still trying to come to terms with—but he wasn’t doing it right this moment. He’d barely begun to acknowledge that Joshua had sexually assaulted him years ago; anything more was beyond his ability to cope with. He shoved those memories aside and tried to remember if he’d ever seen this Sean Dobson. No one came to mind. Joshua’s older brothers, now deceased, he could remember clearly, but not a boy with strawberry blond hair.

Marcus continued after Alex remained silent. “Sean has light brown eyes, almost amber, actually. The last time I saw him, Joshua had just beat the shit out of him for sneaking me food. Sean’s arm—his left, he’s left handed

—was broken, and I think Joshua stopped short of killing him. The kid was a mess, more bruised than not. It was…it was sickening, Alex. Sean didn’t even try to fight back, he just curled up and let Joshua beat him, like it was something he was used to. Probably, he was. Is. For that matter, I hope he’s still alive, that the scent you told me about was his.”

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Alex’s grunt wasn’t any kind of answer, but it was the best he could do. He still couldn’t understand why Sean would stay with his brother when Joshua abused him like that. He wondered if it’d been a twisted show for Marcus, although Alex couldn’t figure out what the point of it would have been. But regardless of his own suspicions, the Alpha Anax had handed him an order, and Alex wouldn’t harm Sean Dobson, if he could avoid it.

“I won’t hurt him,” Alex said, then qualified it. “Unless he tries to hurt me, then—”

“Then you just knock him out, Alex, nothing more. That should be easy enough, there’s not much to him other than big, scared eyes and skin and bones.”

With Marcus’ order handed down, Alex could only agree. “Yes, Alpha Anax. I’ll just knock him out, and try not to break his jaw or worse when I do.”

“Don’t just try to avoid it,” Marcus snapped. “Make sure you avoid it. I trust you, Alex.

I know Alison told you, but I’m telling you now. You aren’t at fault for what happened to me. I ignored your advice, thinking I was invincible or some similarly stupid shit, and because of that, and Joshua Dobson’s hatred of me and desire for my position, I nearly died.

None of that was your fault.”

Alex didn’t argue, though he was tempted. His wolf would have had a fit if he didn’t submit to the stronger alpha, and Harley would probably walk out of the shower to find a snarling wolf on his bed. That’d go over like a ton of bricks. Besides, arguing might lead to Marcus bringing up other things, like Alex’s stupid confession about loving Marcus, which he’d all but shouted to Aidan and everyone else in earshot.

Then Alex thought, for the first time and it stunned him that it hadn’t occurred to him before, that Marcus likely knew about Alex and Joshua Dobson’s disastrous—for both of them in their own ways—sexual experience years ago.

Alex couldn’t get off the phone quick enough. He mumbled the basic directions for how to get to the park entrance outside of Sedona, then he ended the call politely—he hoped.

Truth be told, he wasn’t sure what he’d said. He’d just needed to end that call.

Shortly after, Alex heard Harley shut off the water. Now that he knew he needed to wait on Marcus’ guards to get here, he had a little time to spare—

and he knew just how he wanted to spend that time.

* * * *

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Pain was something Sean was used to, sometimes even to the point of excruciating agony, but whatever was dragging him up from his sleep was a totally new level of hell. His skin felt like it was on fire, stinging in dozens of places. He cracked open his eyes and shut them immediately when bright sunlight threatened to burn his corneas.

“About time you woke up, you lazy little shit.”

Sean’s muscles tensed upon hearing his brother’s mocking voice. Vague flashes of last night pooled in Sean’s mind before exploding in a vivid flash of pain-filled memories. The beating hadn’t been as bad as he’d expected, but it had still been horrible, too painful to bear at times.

Every time Sean cried out, Joshua would laugh like it was just the greatest thing ever.

Sean didn’t want to make Joshua laugh, and certainly not like that. And he’d tried so hard not to, knowing it would only feed Joshua’s frenzy, but there’d only been so much he could take before he’d started begging for mercy, or death. He’d been given neither. Now he could only wait and see what was putting that smug tone in Joshua’s voice.

A hard slap to his bruised cheek set Sean’s ears to ringing and his head to pounding so vigorously he thought something in there had burst.

“Open your eyes, little brother. I want you to see what I’ve got in store for you and a couple of the bitches.”

At the mention of the women—Joshua never referred to them as anything other than bitches—Sean forced his eyes open. It was only then he realised there were sobs coming from his left side. He rolled his head, whimpering as pain shot up his neck.

Even his blurry vision couldn’t blot out the horrible sight he found. Two of the women, Rosemary and Michelle, were beside him several feet away. He ignored his own pain, the blossoming stings spreading over his body, and gaped in horror. Both women were nude, bruised, and tied, ankles and wrists, to stakes in the ground.

A sinking sensation pulled at his gut before it crystalized and shattered into a thousand shards of terror. He craned his neck enough to see that his left arm was extended, his wrist tightly bound to a stake. He tried to wiggle his fingers but couldn’t even feel them, hadn’t known there was a rope around his wrist until—

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Sean jerked his head around so fast he gagged as nausea rippled up from his stomach.

Fighting it down, sure he’d be left to choke on his own vomit, he saw that his other wrist was likewise tied. Then it occurred to him that the women were naked, and he…

“No,” he whispered, his split lips cracking and rolling coppery liquid into his mouth.

“Joshua—”

Joshua laughed and kicked Sean in the ribs, hard enough to make him black out for a few seconds, or possibly longer. He couldn’t tell.

“Figured it out yet? Can you feel the ants crawling on you? Are they stinging? I heard these red ones were really painful, and pretty soon they’ll be all over you, even though I didn’t put you right on their bed. They’ll keep finding their way to you. Imagine how loud you’ll scream then. Wish I was going to be around to hear it, but—well maybe I will, hear it I mean. I bet sound carries really good out here.”

Sean had wanted to die many times over the years, but now that he was faced with the reality of an extended and excruciating death, he wasn’t so eager for it. Something quick, a bullet that splattered his brains all over, or a knife through the heart, even having his throat ripped out—those were ways he’d envisioned dying.

Not like this, naked and humiliated and—and he needed to stop thinking about his own life and worry about the two women out here with him. Sean turned his head again and looked at them both, at their thin bodies stretched out like a vulgar offering to the sun and whatever creature was to come along.

“Why?” he scraped out, aching for Rosemary and Michelle. “Why them?”

He wanted to say more, defend the women. They’d never done anything that Sean could think of, certainly nothing to deserve this.

“Bitches didn’t take when I bred them,” Joshua said scornfully. “Wonder if the scent of them bleeding will draw buzzards? That’d suck, to get ate alive by those ugly fuckers, but it’s not my problem.”

Rosemary and Michelle’s sobs turned to whimpers that shredded Sean’s heart. He swore he’d find a way to help them, if he could, if he didn’t die here with ants pinching away at his flesh. The nasty things were incredibly painful, but Sean had been hurt worse too many times before to so much as flinch—and he wouldn’t give Joshua the satisfaction of seeing him flinch.

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He realised, with a wash of humiliation, that while he’d been prepared to die, he’d never been prepared to have his brother abandon him. As much as Sean hated Joshua, as much as he feared him, he also loved his brother in a twisted way.

Joshua had controlled him with fists and belts and anything else he could use as a weapon for so long, but Sean couldn’t imagine not being with him.

He knew Joshua hated him, had ever since Sean could remember, and he never knew why, but Joshua had never left him behind, had, in his sadistic way, taken care of Sean, providing him with enough food to survive on for the most part, and a pack to belong to.

It shouldn’t have mattered since Sean was sure he was going to die, but it did. He’d thought to die directly by Joshua’s hand in some manner, not indirectly like this, and the terror he felt was stronger than any he’d ever experienced before.

Sean sought Joshua’s eyes with his own and tried to keep his tears at bay.

“J-Joshua, p-please…” Don’t do this, don’t leave me here, don’t leave them here.

Joshua turned his back and started walking away. “If y’all are lucky, maybe the fucker who has been chasing us will find y’all and kill you quick. Or maybe he’ll sit back and watch the show. Either way, y’all ought to be a good distraction.” He stopped, then turned a quarter way around, giving Sean a look he couldn’t begin to interpret.

“If it’s who I think it is chasing after me, you’ll really throw him for a loop, dead or alive.” Joshua laughed, that hateful sound that always made Sean’s stomach twist. “I thought I’d be able to keep you from him forever, and maybe I will if he isn’t quick enough.”

Joshua walked back to him as Sean struggled to make sense of his brother’s words. He couldn’t. Obviously he’d taken too many blows to the head.

“You just remember, little brother, who you belong to—me, no matter what anyone else says. If you survive this, and if the shifter on my trail doesn’t

gut you outright for being my brother—if that fucker Criswell doesn’t execute you… Well, you can bet I’ll come back for you. You belong to me.”

Panic clawed at Sean’s insides, trying to rip its way out. “Then w-why leave me?”

Joshua’s mouth kicked up on one side as he landed a kick to Sean’s hip.

“Because I’m thinking as much as I’ve enjoyed keeping you away from him, handing you over now is the best chance of surviving I have. It’s a me or you situation, and why the hell shouldn’t I be the one to live? I’m going to kill Criswell and lead the shifters the way they should be led. None RENDERED

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of this compassion and tolerance bullshit. I imagine my whip will wear out in no time once I’m Alpha Anax. And you? You’re a worthless coward, good for nothing but hitting.” He shrugged and glanced up. “Think those are buzzards?”

The drugs must have fried Joshua’s brain, he’s making even less sense than usual! Sean wanted to ask more questions, see if he could convince his brother to free at least the women, but Joshua slapped him again, a warning to shut up, then he turned and started towards the rest of the pack.

Sean closed his eyes and let the tears leak from the outer corners. He couldn’t stand to watch the only family he had abandon him.

* * * *

Alex figured he wasn’t disobeying a direct order if he returned to the cliff he’d stood on yesterday and waited for the guards’ arrival. Marcus had said it’d be best for Alex not to confront Dobson’s pack alone. He wasn’t going after Dobson—either of them. He was simply scoping the area out. Plus, he was pretty sure Harley was trying to kill him through sex. Alex had never

known a human who had been so horny. Jesus, his dick was actually raw from all the fucking!

But Harley seemed to be a good person, if rather naïve. Alex hoped nothing bad happened to the man if he insisted on bringing home tricks.

After leaving the borrowed clothes piled up by the fence, Alex loped along, enjoying the scents of nature—oaks, pines, juniper and other plants, as well as the skittering wildlife that ran from the approaching wolf. He tried not to worry about what would happen later.

The worst fear he had was that Dobson—Joshua, anyway—would escape.

Just the thought of it had Alex increasing his speed, his long legs covering the ground as the scenery blurred around him. By the time he reached the end of the forest, his paws slapping against the red earth, Alex was strung tight with fear of failure.

He bolted up the tricky slope, sliding precariously when he hit a patch of loose rocks.

Growling and digging his claws in, he pulled himself up, determined not to fuck up his chance to prove—to himself if no one else—that he wasn’t a complete waste of DNA.

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Once he made it to the top of the cliff, Alex sat for a moment and inhaled gulping breaths. His lungs burned, his muscles, too, then something caught his attention. It was faint, but as he sniffed again, a shiver of excitement went through him. That familiar odour, the one he tried to ignore, lingered in the air, along with two others.

Females, every bit as scared as the male. Alex could smell Joshua Dobson, had recognised the man’s scent early on as it was seared into his memories.

Every time he’d caught wind of it since he’d begun tracking the man, it was entangled with that fear tinged aroma, masking most everything else of what might have been Sean Dobson’s scent.

Alex dropped to his belly and crept closer to the ledge, his keen eyes searching out the source of the smell. He could see nothing below him, nothing of other shifters, that is. The stream split the land and provided a colourful green oasis amongst the red sand and hills, but a flash of movement in the sky drew his attention.

Buzzards…what— Alex’s thoughts collided like cars from a derailed train, smashing end on end as he leapt to his feet. Buzzards, fear, blood, that scent, those scents, that weren’t moving away— Alex turned around and ran towards the scent, driven by an instinct he couldn’t deny.

The guards would have to catch up when they could.

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