Page 25 of Only You, No One Else

His voice filled the room, but still Mark remained stuck in whatever was attacking him. Desperate, Caster found his most dominant tone, shaking Mark’s body with enough force to rattle the bed, and still, the jerking movements, the painful moans wouldn’t dissipate.

An invisible force, one he had little hope of resisting, pulled Caster’s body forward, his eyes drifting shut as pitch-black darkness enveloped him. Caster had never experienced a panic like this before. He opened his eyes, too aware that he was no longer in the room with Mark, too aware of his fear that he’d lost him when familiar brown eyes met his in the darkness. The color shifted to amber, the white fur of Mark’s wolf shining through the darkness, and Caster breathed a sigh.

“Mark?”

The wolf stepped forward, and the panic’s grip on his heart eased. The animal tilted his head to the side, and Caster followed his lead, turning in the direction he indicated. At first, there was nothing but more darkness, but he gasped when, a second later, red eyes, the same red eyes that had threatened Mark ten years ago, pierced the darkness. Caster put his body between Mark’s wolf and the new threat, certain in his conviction that he would die before letting the demons anywhere near Mark.

The demon eyes flickered, a low growl filled the space, and a gray wolf stepped out of the darkened Veil. Zeke.

Caster held his ground, and Zeke’s wolf growled. Mark’s wolf let out a painful whine, but Caster resisted the almost overwhelming urge to comfort him. He wouldn’t turn to him, not when the threat was right in front of him. Zeke stepped forward, and Caster’s body tensed, his claws ready to tear the wolf to shreds.

He was aware that he was in Mark’s mind space, but the limitations of his actions here wouldn’t stop him from protecting Mark the only way he knew how. Nothing would.

“Stay away from him.” His voice was a low growl, distorted by his overwhelming need to protect Mark.

“He was mine first. He’s mine.” The voice, Zeke’s voice, seemed to come from the darkness itself.

Caster stepped forward, ready to tear his head off. “Touch him, and there will be nowhere for you to hide.”

Zeke’s wolf stepped back, growling its intent.

The growls intensified, but each one ended on a whine, the longer the standoff persisted. Mark’s wolf had drawn closer to him, its whines of fear dying down to a few sighs.

Zeke’s amber wolf-eyes regained some of the blue of his human self, and he glanced at Mark before returning his attention to Caster.

Caster stepped even closer to the giant Alpha, his claws itching with the need to rip him apart, but the darkness dissolved to reveal the bedroom, Mark’s harsh gasps of breath, the door torn off its hinges, and an angry Kyle scanning the room for nonexistent threats.

Unsure what had just happened, Caster pulled Mark into his arms, needing the comfort he intended to offer, and shook his head at the questions in Kyle’s hardened expression.

CHAPTER 16

How it would even be possible for Caster to be in a mind space he only shared with his wolf, Mark couldn’t begin to analyze. Not when Caster’s hold, tightening by the second, drew him further away from more fear than he thought was possible to experience.

Zeke’s attack on his wolf, and that is what it was, an attack, had come so fast, he’d been unable to resist. It didn’t help that his wolf had been off guard, a consequence of the safety they both felt in Caster’s presence. How had Zeke known to attack him in his most unguarded moment?

Caster pulled away from the embrace. “You think he’s watching us?”

Mark started to nod, but his fractured attention was torn further by Riley’s sudden appearance in the room. He jumped. Caster didn’t even seem fazed.

“What the fuck?” Riley seemed impatient, urgency infiltrating his movement as he stepped closer to the bed.

It was only then that Mark noticed a frantic Kyle by a door that was broken beyond repair.

Even with the added protection Riley’s immense power promised, Mark couldn’t contain his panic. He reached past the barrier, keeping his wolf contained, and he breathed when the animal was there, signaling its trust for both Caster and Riley by flooding his body with its unique blend of healing hormones.

“Get us out of here.” Caster’s voice sounded strained, almost out of reach.

His questions died when the now familiar sense of Riley’s power overtook his body. His skin tingled with its effect, the unsettling flip of his stomach indicating a teleportation spell, and he was in an unfamiliar room, still in Caster’s arms, still naked. But the calm, safe feeling he only experienced in Caster’s presence was back, and when he reached for his animal companion, the wolf seemed contented enough to relax. He followed his animal’s lead and sighed into Caster’s embrace.

Caster’s sudden movement stopped all thought. He only had a moment to analyze the unfamiliar room before Caster pushed him to one of the armchairs next to the very large bed. The room was much like the bedroom they’d shared in Caster’s mansion, but much larger, retaining the same black-and-gold décor. He took a breath, and his body was awash with Caster’s unique scent.

“Where are we?”

Caster stared at him for a long moment, looming over him, both of them unwilling or unable to cover their nakedness. Then he moved towards an open door, Mark assumed was the bathroom. “My father’s house. This is my room.”

He disappeared into the bathroom, and though they were close, Mark couldn’t help the feeling that their experience in his mind space had created some distance between them.

“What?”