No, you idiot.His alligator rarely spoke up, but the hiss was unmistakable.He thinks you don’t want him. Grab him.
Beaumont reached out, his hands hitting the solid muscles of the man’s biceps and grabbing them. “The name’s Beaumont. You are?”
“Duron.” Duron glanced at Beaumont’s hands on his biceps, causing Beaumont to worry he was gripping too tight. He loosened his fingers, but only slightly. He really didn’t want to let go.
“We have stuff to do, Duron.” Beaumont made sure he was looking straight into Duron’s eyes—letting him see his soul, if that’s what it took. “Stuff that’s going to be dangerous, and I gotta admit, that scares the hell out of me, taking you along.”
The glare he got was understandable.
“I’m sure you’re capable,” Beaumont added hurriedly, realizing his mistake. “Look.” He glanced around. Ben’s brothers and Duron’s companion were watching them avidly. All they were missing was popcorn. “We need to talk, but we need to make it fast. I’ve been waiting days…”
“We were on another job. We had to wait for vampires to get drugs out of their system.” Duron’s replies were delivered in a monotone, but his eyes were fascinating—it was as if a whole menagerie of animals were all wanting a peek at him.
Him.
Beaumont.
“Vampires. Right.” Duron nodded. “We’ll go back to Ben’s family home. Is that all right? Maybe we can get a bit more privacy than here.”
“You take all the time you need.” Ben’s older brother Kylo grinned, slapping Beaumont on the shoulder. “We’ll fill Wyatt in on what’s been happening from our end, and you can fill Duron in on what’s happening with yours. Sounds like fun.”
No. It didn’t sound like fun at all.Maybe it’s a curse of being a council leader? Ben found his mate while on the job as well.Beaumont wasn’t sure, but he knew the trip back to Ben’s family home was going to be torture and not just because of the work they had waiting for them. His cock had never been so nail-pounding hard in his life.
~/~/~/~
The trip back to the compound seemed to take forever, and was as torturous as Beaumont had imagined it would be. Duron was sitting silently flush against his side—their shoulders and thighs touching, his unusual scent assailing Beaumont’s nose. There was a part of Beaumont (not just his cock) that was fascinated by the man. The assassin’s eyes were never still, watching the surroundings, studying the few people they passed, even taking in all the foliage as the jeep trundled along the driveway to the compound. His lips curled as they drove through the gates, and Beaumont realized Duron had sensed the wards.
“This is not one of the friendliest parts of Paraguay,” Beaumont murmured, even though he knew the other shifters could hear him. “The wards are a necessity.”
Duron still didn’t say anything. Just a brief nod was all the response Beaumont got. Having lived with Ben’s brothers for the best part of a week while waiting for the assassins to turn up, Beaumont had gotten used to everyone having their say, interrupting each other, talking over each other, usually loudly. Duron would be a breath of fresh air if he was usually quiet. That was more what Beaumont was used to—living alone the way he did.Or rather, I did. That’s going to change too.
“We’re going to my room,” he said the moment the jeep’s rickety engine came to a stop. “We’ll need at least an hour. This is,” he indicated to himself and Duron, “an unexpected surprise that can’t wait.”
“I bet it can’t,” Kylo cackled, and his brothers chimed in. Even Duron’s friend Wyatt seemed to be in on the joke, but for Beaumont, there was nothing to joke about.
Grabbing hold of Duron’s elbow the moment the man’s feet hit the ground, Beaumont marched them both through the kitchen, down a long hallway, and into the wing of the house the family had graciously let him use. Closing the door, once Duron was safely inside, Beaumont finally managed to let go of the man who would be his mate, leaning back on the door.
“This is unexpected. A good thing,” he added quickly, raising his head to meet the taller man’s eyes. He didn’t want Duron to get the wrong idea. “Just a surprise for me, as I imagine it is for you, too.”
“We’re mates.” Duron’s eyes roamed all over Beaumont’s body. “You kept touching me. Now you’re not.”
Beaumont glanced at his hands, then back up at his mate. “Don’t you like being touched? I didn’t want you to think I was rejecting you because I’m not. I promise you that.”
“My insides.” Duron waved a hand, indicating his torso. “We want you so bad, but we don’t know what it is we can have.”
How many of you are there in there?Beaumont kept that to himself. He’d studied all of the horrific information that Ben had sent him about the hybrids the cat shifter was mated to. Duron was healthy and huge, and he didn’t have the look of someone who’d been abused recently. But the fact that the man was an assassin from the council’s training program spoke volumes.
Beaumont was sure Duron had gone through some of the sick experiments he’d read about, and if his mate wanted to talk about his experiences at a later time, Beaumont would listen. He would also explain about his late wife and children… later. But for now, he had to address their most pressing needs.
“You rely on your instincts, don’t you?” Beaumont crept closer, keeping his movements slow. He had no doubt the assassin would have him flat on his back with a knife at his throat if the man felt threatened in any way. “What are your instincts telling you?”
Duron ducked his head, shuffled his feet, and stuffed his hands into his jean pockets. “I might hurt you.” The bear was front and center now. Beaumont could see it in the way Duron was moving. “I hurt people when I touch them.”
Beaumont froze. “Sexually?” He really hoped his voice didn’t squeak.
“No. Not that.” Duron’s eyes met his again. “I haven’t done that. I don’t know how sex is done. And I can cuddle babies. The Thalassa babies don’t seem to mind me cuddling them and playing with them. But it won’t be like that between us, will it?”
Glancing down at Duron’s bulge, which was bigger than his fisted hands still in his pockets, Beaumont shook his head and grinned. “Not exactly, no. Grown people can cuddle. I’m sure you’ve seen that.”
