Chapter Thirteen
When they reached Percy’s room, Matias held up two fingers, pressed together, signaling everyone to wait. For a moment, he didn’t think Santiago would listen.
Pure hatred was pulsing off of him, but he stopped. Matias—index and middle finger—pointed to his own eyes then at the elongated glass in the door.
Tito was seated on the side of the bed, using his knuckles to stroke Percy’s cheek.
“My wolf might not want you, but you are the most beautiful man I have ever seen. I just wish we could’ve experienced something wonderful together. Unfortunately, I can’t allow you to wake up. I won’t let you identify me, sweet morsel.”
A lethal calm settled inside Matias. The utter betrayal of what Tito had done. Matias had trusted his men, had left Tito in charge of Elijah’s and Percy’s safety.
And the son of a bitch had betrayed them all. How had Matias not seen the sickness inside of Tito before now? Was anyone else hiding dark secrets? This was why Matias believed in transparency.
Tito hadn’t taken Percy as some kind of bargaining tool or other nefarious reasons. This was about twisted, selfish desire. He’d seen Percy and decided he’d wanted the male but knew Santiago already had his sights on the blond twink.
For the first time, Matias felt as if he couldn’t trust his pack. That was dangerous when he felt like he couldn’t trust his own men to have his back.
What did that say about him as a leader? Tito’s sickness had been right under his nose, and he’d been blind to it.
Santiago snarled when Tito leaned forward, like he was going to kiss Percy. A farewell before he killed the male.
With brute force, Santiago slammed open the door, his canines bared, eyes glowing amber.
Tito jumped up, backing away as his gaze flicked between them.
“You bastard!”
Elijah shouted. “I defended you when Matias wanted to choke you out!”
Matias quickly grabbed Elijah, stopping him from closing the distance. His mate wasn’t strong enough to take on a full-grown shifter. “Settle, conejito .”
Matias stepped forward, holding up a hand to stop Santiago from advancing. Not yet. He would allow Santiago his vengeance, but first…
One step then another. Matias rolled his shoulders, feeling his wolf trying to break free—to eviscerate the one who had betrayed everything Matias stood for and against.
“Explain.”
Tito’s gaze darted around, landing on Percy. Matias struck lightning fast, backhanding the wolf. “You are never to look at him again. Explain,”
he snarled.
Blood spurted from Tito’s nose, dripping down toward his mouth. His jaw clenched, his gaze full of defiance, but he refused to speak.
Matias backhanded him again, striking the other side of his face, curling his lip when he heard bone shattering. “Explain to me why you would betray your own family, the men who would bleed for you, would kill and die for you,”
he said in a low, venomous tone. “You know Santiago has feelings for the male.”
Matias grabbed Tito by his shirtfront and pulled him in close. “Did you violate him?”
Elijah let out a sharp cry, but it was the despair in the single breath released by Santiago that gutted Matias. He wanted to spare them but was too enraged. What Tito had done shattered his faith in his own men. He felt as if he’d failed his grandfather’s legacy, let him down by allowing the sick son of a bitch to live among them.
Alverto Salvador had raised him, had taken Matias’s raw aggression and guided it onto the right path. Alverto ruled over thirty-five pack members. A legend. The alpha of wolves.
His blood ran through Matias’s veins, yet Matias hadn’t seen the signs that had surely been right in front of him.
Percy’s suffering was on Matias for not carving out the sickness from his pack.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
Tito used his sleeve to wipe at the blood. “I’m not sick!”
He truly thought he was justified.
“No?”
Santiago moved closer, his hands clenching and unclenching. “Then what do you call kidnapping someone and locking them in a shed to die in boiling temperatures?”
He wasn’t remorseful. He was defensive . Instead of taking responsibility, he blamed circumstance.
“I didn’t know it would get that hot! Besides, I hadn’t planned on being gone that long.”
He turned his blazing eyes on Matias. “But I got assigned babysitting duties.”
He turned it on Matias, as if he’d forced Tito’s hand.
Santiago’s gaze flashed to Percy, raw pain in his eyes, before he turned his attention back to Tito. “Did you violate him?”
The wolf wanted to lie. Matias saw it in his eyes. He wanted to hurt Santiago, to make him suffer. All because Santiago had wordlessly claimed Percy as his.
Matias wasn’t sure if Santiago’s wolf had done the same, but even if it hadn’t, everyone in their pack knew how Santiago felt toward Percy.
“No.”
Matias released Tito. “He didn’t have the time. He was there when Elijah took care of Diablo, was with Suero restocking the bar while I was claiming Elijah—”
His mate’s brows shot up. Matias was going to hear about that later. “And then was with Elijah until our return.”
Matias leaned toward Tito, making the wolf lean back. “Lie to Santiago and I will rip out your fucking tongue.”
It wasn’t a threat but a promise. Matias was one-hundred percent certain of the timeline.
That told him exactly what kind of man Tito was—spiteful, sadistic, and willing to twist the knife just to see Santiago suffer.
“What gave it away?”
Tito asked calmly, as if resigned to his fate. Or being smug. Matias wasn’t sure. He thought he knew his pack, knew Tito, but he’d just been proven wrong in the worst possible way.
“You volunteered to stay,”
Elijah snarled.
His little bunny had claws. Matias loved it but now was not the time to get turned on by his fire.
“You called to say you found Percy,”
Matias answered cooly.
Tito shook his head. “How is that suspicious?”
What an absolute idiot. Matias sighed, done with this. Ready to get the twisted bastard away from him. “You called ten goddamn minutes after I sent everyone out to look for Percy. You took off from the tavern”—Matias stepped even closer—“so how did you end up behind the tavern where the fucking shed was located?”
“Percy was that close the entire time?”
Elijah lunged for Tito. “He almost died and he was right there !”
Matias gripped Tito by the throat, giving him a look that dared him to strike back. Elijah’s punches and slaps were ineffectual, but he needed this, needed to take out his rage, fear, helplessness, and guilt on the man who had caused it.
Finally, Elijah stepped back, breathing heavily, tears in his eyes. But instead of saying anything, he turned toward the bed, sitting on the side of it and took his best friend’s hand in his, silently crying.
For that alone, Matias wanted Tito’s death. But as much as he craved to see the wolf dead at his feet, it wasn’t his punishment to give.
“He’s all yours, Santiago.”
That was their world. Their way of life. Betrayals were met with execution. No trial. No prison. Their justice was swift and merciless.
They weren’t human. An animal heart beat inside of their kind. They lived by their primal instincts, were ruled by it, loved by it, and would die by it.
What Tito had done was unforgivable, and Santiago would have his justice.
Santiago snatched up Tito and pulled him from the room, vengeance burning in his eyes. Diablo started to follow.
“Go see the doctor,”
Matias reminded him. What the hyenas had done was frightening, and Matias wanted to know, needed to know, if it would wear off or if there was a way to counteract it.
The drug was a danger to all shifters, but it was his pack Matias was responsible for.
“As soon as Santiago is done, I’ll head there,”
Diablo said before walking out.
Beyond the window, the sun was setting, the golden light bathing Elijah in its soft glow. Matias stood there, gazing at his mate as a soft smile touched his lips.
From the moment he’d spotted Elijah walking through the doors of Sin & Steel, the male had belonged to him. Elijah was full of fire, challenging Matias, pushing him past his control, and Matias was enjoying every second of the passion that followed.
And whether Elijah realized it or not, he was a natural-born caregiver. Something Matias sorely needed but never knew he was missing until the human had entered his life.
Matias Salvador was now mated to his blue-eyed bunny. He would love, cherish, and protect what was his, thankful for the pool game that had changed his life.
Because it had been in that very moment when Elijah had claimed him and Matias’s wolf had claimed him right back. And the very same moment his conejito had stolen his heart.
* * * *
Elijah laughed as Matias grabbed him by his hips, pulling him back. “Where do you think you’re going, mi elegido ?”
Finally, Elijah knew what that meant. My chosen. His mate had been giving him Spanish lessons over the past week. Pathetically, it had taken Elijah three full days just to learn how to roll his tongue. And he still messed it up at times.
His pronunciation of words? As “Spanish high school lessons”
as it could get.
“I was heading to the shower.”
He batted at Matias’s hands. “I have you all over me.”
A playful growl rumbled in Matias’s chest. “Who said I was done being all over you?”
The man was insatiable. When he had downtime, he had Elijah bent over somewhere. They’d nearly gotten busted in the kitchen late one night. That was when they’d started sneaking off to Matias’s house, but he hated to be far from his pack. So, the tavern was starting to feel more like a home than Matias’s house or Elijah’s apartment.
Elijah didn’t mind. The room was nice, spacious, and as long as he was with Matias, Elijah didn’t care where they spent their time.
“Are you ever satisfied?”
he teased, groaning as Matias ghosted his lips along his jaw. Elijah was addicted to the whisker burn his mate’s trimmed beard always left behind.
“With you, never.”
His hand slid over Elijah stomach, trailing lower. “It seems you aren’t either, conejito .”
Elijah hissed as a firm hand curled around his hard cock. He arched like a lazy cat stretching, his back to Matias’s chest.
A soft gasp left his lips as Matias tightened his grip, stroking him slow, measured, like he had all the time in the world. And maybe he did. Maybe in this moment, in this space, time didn’t exist beyond the press of Matias’s body against his own, beyond the heat coiling low in his belly.
“Elijah,”
Matias murmured, the deep timbre of his voice curling around the name like a brand.
Lips found his neck, tongue tracing just behind his ear. Matias knew exactly what that did to him. A shudder racked through Elijah, his heart threatening to give out.
“Matias.”
His name fell from Elijah’s lips like a breathless plea, but it wasn’t for mercy. Never for mercy.
He wanted more. Needed more.
One strong hand tipped his chin, tilting Elijah’s head back. A kiss, deep and searching, stole the air from his lungs. Matias took his time, drinking him in, savoring him. The rough drag of his palm along Elijah’s cock contrasted beautifully with the slow, teasing flick of his tongue. Matias always knew how to unravel him, how to drive him just to the edge before pulling him back, keeping him in the sweet torment of anticipation.
But Elijah wasn’t the only one unraveling. He felt it in the way Matias’s breathing had turned ragged, in the way his grip tightened like he didn’t want to let go, like letting go would be the end of him.
Matias leaned back just enough to guide Elijah forward, pressing him against the bed. The moment his hands and knees hit the mattress, Matias pushed inside him in one fluid stroke.
Elijah’s hands fisted in the sheets, a sharp moan spilling from his lips. The stretch was perfect, like they’d been made for this, for each other. A claim that had already been cemented in blood and bond but was reaffirmed every time they came together like this.
Matias groaned against his shoulder, fingers digging into Elijah’s hips as he sank deeper. “So fucking perfect, conejito .”
A slow roll of Matias’s hips sent a shiver racing through Elijah. Heat flooded through him, pooling low, burning him alive from the inside out.
God, he’d never get enough of this man.
Matias set a rhythm, deep and steady, each thrust deliberate, each motion dragging Elijah closer to that sweet oblivion. One hand slid up Elijah’s chest, fingers spreading wide, pressing against his heart like he could feel it hammering beneath his palm.
Like he could feel it beating for him.
Elijah turned his head, capturing Matias’s lips in a desperate, open-mouthed kiss. It was messy, breathless, nothing refined or controlled about it. He wasn’t sure who was chasing who anymore, wasn’t sure if he was holding on to Matias or if Matias was holding on to him. Maybe both.
Pleasure built, sharp and unrelenting, winding him tighter and tighter until he was on the verge of breaking. His fingers clawed at the sheets, at Matias’s forearm still splayed across his chest.
His thrusts grew rougher, his cock driving deeper, his growls turning guttural as if his wolf clawed for full possession. The grip around Elijah’s cock tightened, stroking in perfect rhythm with every plunge inside his ass. The tension in Elijah’s body coiled tighter and tighter, breathless whimpers escaping his lips as pleasure crashed through him like a storm surge.
“Elijah,”
Matias rasped, voice raw, edged with dominance. “Come for me, carino .”
The words alone shattered Elijah.
His back arched, his entire body locking up as he came hard, pulsing over Matias’s fingers and onto the sheets. The pleasure wrecked him, his vision white-hot, a sharp cry breaking from his throat.
A fraction of a second later, Matias snarled, sinking his canines into Elijah’s shoulder as he felt Matias’s cock throbbing with release. Elijah gasped, the sharp, intoxicating pleasure-pain sending another ripple of ecstasy through his spent body. The possessive grip on his waist softened, a warm tongue soothing the bite mark.
His alpha. His mate.
Breathing ragged, Elijah melted into the mattress, utterly spent, Matias still wrapped around him, still inside him, still holding him like he never planned to let go.
“I love you,”
Matias murmured against Elijah’s lips, voice low, reverent.
Elijah’s breath caught, his heart slamming against his ribs. It wasn’t the first time Matias had said it, but this—this moment, tangled together, hearts pounding in sync—was everything.
And it hit Elijah all at once.
The weight of it. The permanence of it.
This was his home now.
This man, this pack, this life.
He’d gone to Sin & Steel to forget Trent, but found his future instead. Matias Salvador.
THE END