Caster nodded. “They’re safe.”
“That’s not good.” Dean’s expression betrayed nothing of the frustration the news should have brought. He remained so calm, Caster was sure he already knew.
“No shit.” Damien didn’t try to hide his frustration.
He thanked the Goddess that the Prime Alpha had left his brother out of this. Mark and the distraction his presence brought were not needed, not when the future of everything hung in the balance.
They sat at the table in Damien’s dining room, today serving as a makeshift conference table, the tension they each tried to contain growing despite their efforts.
“I will need to convene my council.” Dean looked at Caster with none of the challenge his stare often carried. “This is so far beyond the—”
“I know.” Caster needed the alliance the treaty had created and the friendship and mutual respect that had grown since.
The Prime Alpha nodded as if granting it. “What do we do?”
“Nothing has changed. Lucien is still working with the witch, so our best option is to find the witch,” Riley said. “The locator spell we came up with last night is scouring the planet for her as we speak.”
“And it will work this time?” There was no challenge in Dean’s tone, and Caster thanked Riley for not reading too much into the question. An angry Riley was not easy to deal with.
“Yes. Three witches trump one. Even one whose magic comes from darkness.”
“Good.” The Prime Alpha rubbed at his face, the frustration he’d been holding on to bleeding through for a moment. “My council won’t come here, so I have to go to them.” This time, when he leveled Caster with his best stare, the challenge was unmistakable. “I can leave my brothers with you?”
Caster nodded. “They’re safe.”
Dean stood. “Let me know as soon as you locate the witch. James will also stay.” Then he was gone.
“How soon do you think you can locate her?” Caster asked.
Riley looked at his watch. “If the vampire last night was telling the truth, we have a search area to focus our power, so not long.”
“By morning?” Impatience clawed at him to find and kill the witch before Uncle Lucien could use her power for what he was certain were nefarious purposes.
“You know how these things work.” Riley pushed his chair back and stood. “Are you staying here tonight?”
Caster’s nod was automatic. He was hiding from Mark, but he wasn’t about to analyze that thought more than was necessary.
“Ben’s here. He hates my guts right now.” Caster and Damien laughed, drawing Riley’s ire. “Just make sure he’s fine.”
Laughter was a welcome reprieve from the utter dread coiling around in his belly from the moment he’d learned of his uncle’s plans.
This would not be the easy fight he’d hoped when he’d first asked the Prime Alpha for assistance.
It would call on all their strength before it was over.
Damien gave him an encouraging nod, and he thanked the Goddess for his support. He would need it. They all would.
§
His designated bedroom in Damien’s house seemed empty as he sat on the bed. Caster couldn’t deny what was missing, but that didn’t mean he was willing to admit it to himself. Still, thoughts of Mark invaded, and he worried that the effects of their separation would prove too much for his wolf.
His intention to seek his mother’s wisdom about the unique situation he found himself in had been derailed by his father’s summons.
He’d only had time to make her promise to ensure Mark got the security only a powerful protection spell would provide.
She’d talked him into connecting the protection to him, so he would be summoned whenever Mark was in danger, and like every time in his long life, Caster couldn’t deny her anything.
Did Mark know? It seemed a frivolous thing to do when his mother had suggested it, but he’d grown to see the wisdom in it. Until he could be certain of the witch’s intentions, he had to keep Mark close. The protection spell and its connection to him would ensure that even at a distance.
Thought after thought of why the witch would be so fixated on Mark invaded his mind, chasing away any need for sleep.
Could it have something to do with his position in wolf society?
But if that was true, why not go after the Prime Alpha?
He scoffed at the thought. Anyone who’d ever seen the Prime Alpha in action wouldn’t want to come face-to-face with his ferocity.
Perhaps the witch was afraid? She’d be wise to be.
Dean had impressed even Marcus with his strength and capabilities as a warrior.
Few came up against him and lived to tell the tale.
His phone’s shrill ring interrupted Caster’s memory of the war and the thousands of his kind Dean had decimated. Mark?
“Hi…”
A low moan, clear in its origins, floated through the device. He looked at the screen again, just to be sure he was speaking to the right person.
“Mark?”
“What do you want from me?” His voice, strong but low, eased some of Caster’s worry. He sounded half asleep.
“Baby, you’re the one who called me.”
Another moan filled his ear, nudging his arousal to the surface. “Why do you call me that?” And another moan.
“What are you doing?”
Mark gasped.
“Do you want me to repeat myself?”
The sigh on his lips was familiar, calling to Caster’s dominance like no other submissive had before.
“Let me see you.”
“No.”
Another moan brought Caster’s arousal to the peak. “Did you just tell me no?”
He gasped again. “I’m sorry…” His voice was clearer, unaffected by the pleasure he no doubt experienced.
“No, you are not, but you will be. Let me see you.”
“OK.” A few seconds later, the voice call switched to video, and Mark’s flushed face filled the screen, clear evidence of the exertion his activity caused.
Caster couldn’t help his smile. “You need my permission?”
His hand, out of view, moved with a rhythm that was unmistakable in its goal, the haze of pleasure calling to him, causing his eyes to lose focus. His nod was just as furious, the moan escaping his lips begging the dominant in Caster to control the situation.
“No.”
Mark’s eyes widened, and his hand stopped its frantic movement.
“Show me first.”
The tinge of embarrassment coloring his cheeks was no match for his need to please. The camera’s view traveled past his shirtless abs to the cock pulsing in his grip, angry and raw in its demand for release.
“That’s beautiful, baby. Keep going.” Caster couldn’t contain his hiss when Mark moaned his obedience. His cock begged to be let in on the games, but he restrained his need. There would be plenty of time for that later.
Mark’s hips rose, his entire body straining with the force of the pleasure he held back, the pleasure he couldn’t have without Caster’s permission.
“Come!” Caster granted it, only because he was too close to joining him, and that, he would only do when they were in the same room.
Mark’s cock pulsed with his release. The phone fell out of his hand, and Caster heard his keening cry as he took the pleasure he’d sought. He’d seen it a few times before, and like his brand of violence, it was unique in its honesty and intensity.
The sound of Mark’s harsh breaths, easing into contentment, made him smile. “I can’t see you.”
Mark’s flushed face, a thin sheet of sweat coating his brow, appeared on the screen.
“Good?”
He nodded.
“Why are you still awake?”
He shrugged. “I’m sorry about this morning. I know you wouldn’t go after the witch without me.”
“I promised I wouldn’t deny you your vengeance, and I’ll keep that promise.”
“You didn’t.”
He frowned, mirroring Mark’s position against the headboard.
“You didn’t promise.”
“I may not have been explicit with my words, but I did.” He dared to ask. “How are you?”
Perhaps it was the relaxation his orgasm brought, but the anger he’d expected didn’t come. In its place was a small smile. “Your mother is very good at distracting me.”
Caster chuckled. “Oh, no. What did she do?”
“Endless tea sessions, stories of your childhood…”
Yes, that sounded like his mother.
Mark yawned.
“Go to sleep.”
He nodded. “When are you coming back?”
“I’ll be there before you wake up.”
“OK.”
As his face disappeared from his screen, leaving an empty blackness, Caster was certain Mark had been half aware of his actions.
Still, it warmed him more than it should that he’d called, the pride filling his chest at Mark’s need to seek his permission more than he should claim.
The shift this single phone call had elicited in their strange relationship couldn’t be ignored, and he was certain he had his mother to thank for it.
She thought she hid it well, but he’d seen enough of her subtle interference in Ben and Riley’s complicated relationship to recognize it when it was aimed in his direction.