The guy’s eyes wheeled in his head, his mouth gaped, spit ran down his chin, and only when he saw resignation did Ben let go.
Judd coughed, hacking up a lung by the sounds he made, and the smell of beer and nuts met Ben’s nose. He didn’t move from his crouched position over the other man as he waited for him to talk.
“It was us, me, Roy, Tommy, and William, the four of us. When the Devil’s men came to set us straight about how things ran here, we asked for a meeting and came to an agreement.”
His throat worked, and Ben growled impatiently. “What agreement?” Deep in his gut, he knew. It was there in the files he’d read. He just needed to know for sure that he wasn’t missing something.
“That we’d continue with our assassins to order program, and we’d supply test subjects gaining information on how they performed out of the lab environment to assess the benefits of our work.”
Ben’s stomach roiled violently at how Judd spoke without remorse. The man was a monster, with no compassion for the children he’d tortured or caring for the ones they murdered. In Judd’s eyes, his mates were nothing. Ben sank back to allow his panther out. The man underneath him shit himself as Ben’s panther screamed his fury. He slinked slowly off the couch and eyed the man.
Do whatever you want.
His panther didn’t need any further prompting. It ripped the tendons and flesh off first one calf, then the next. The screams were deafening as the man writhed, trying to use his upper body to shift as far away as possible.
“Please… have… mercy…” Judd screamed as the panther’s claws dug into his upper thighs and flayed the skin from the bone.
“What mercy did you show us?” Teilo asked as he stepped closer, shortly followed by Nico.
The large panther glanced at his mates and purred its pleasure, before his gleaming eyes returned to the man in front of him. The roar this time shook the windows before he gutted him. His bowel spilled from his guts into his lap. The panther cast one look at the dying man, his stare one of total disinterest as he stepped away and went to butt his head against his mate’s legs.
Two powerful hands brushed over his messy fur as they murmured their approval.
“We need to get out of here. Despite this place being relatively isolated, someone was bound to have heard you, Ben.” Kylo strode to the couch. “He’s not dead yet, but it won’t be long.” Kylo glanced at Ben’s panther and shook his head, though Ben could sense his brother’s pride. “Did you have to make such a mess of him?”
Ben’s panther snarled.
Kylo rolled his eyes. “Alright, point taken. Are you going to shift back?”
His panther relinquished its hold, and next, Ben stood, naked and bloody. He sighed as he looked down. “You’re gonna need to bring the car closer. We don’t want to shock the neighbors.”
Nico stripped off his T-shirt and rubbed at the bloody stains on Ben’s skin. His chest was once more full of fuzzies. He met Nico’s gaze. “Thank you. Only I think I’ll need more than that. I’m sure I’ve got flesh in between my teeth, too.”
“Oh gross. You always were messy when going after a kill.” This came from Felix, who was grinning.
“The time and place for that conversation is not now,” Kylo muttered as he got them moving out of the house. They avoided being seen and could hear sirens as they turned towards home.
In the car, they made the drive in silence back to Ben’s childhood home. Teilo and Nico came with him as he made it up to his bedroom, wanting a hot shower and a toothbrush. Maybe not in that order. Ben sensed they wanted to say something, yet neither man was projecting what it was.
In the bathroom, they stepped in behind him as he reached for the toothbrush and cleaned his teeth. Then, for good measure, flossed them. When done, he turned and faced both mates. One brow rose. “Want to tell me what’s going on with you two?”
“You’re like us.” Teilo was the first to reply, and then he looked at Nico as if needing reassurance at what he’d just announced.
Ben was a little confused. Did they mean panther? Or were they referring to his killer instinct? One he didn’t often allow out because he believed that taking a life, or two, had to have a real purpose. Death marred the soul. It left an indelible mark. A soul had to live with that, so Ben was careful.
“What happened to talking?” Nico asked, sounding perplexed. “You said talking was important.”
“And I believe that. We can often resolve things through talking. He gave both men a sexy wink. “Or with other forms of communication… like sex.”
“Or killing,” Teilo added.
“Yes or killing. Those men”—Ben came forward and cupped both mates’ cheeks—“they hurt you for no valid reason. They took pleasure in your misery. I could hear it. See it in their expressions. They were soulless and deserved to die. They contributed nothing good to this planet, with two exceptions.” He kissed first Nico, then Teilo. “You two. For that, they got off lightly.”
“Oh! You are like us.” Seemingly thrilled at that idea, Teilo wrapped his arms around Ben’s waist and then tugged Nico to them. He fluttered his eyelashes at Ben in an adoring way. “You mentioned… sex as a way to communicate.” The fluttering increased, as did the sexy scent coming from both mates. “Maybe we should practice a bit more of that?”
Nico maneuvered the three of them into the shower, it was a tight squeeze, and turned on the water. The freezing spray was refreshing after the muggy heat outside. His skin buzzed from the icy spray that quickly turned to fire when Nico lapped at his flesh.
Both mates licked at his body. Cleaning him as he’d done to them, only he’d been in cat form. By the rasp of their tongues, it was their cats washing him of blood.
