Chapter Nine
Noah woke feeling even more exhausted than when he’d fallen asleep. Glancing behind him, he saw Quinton sprawled out on his back, one arm curled over his head, the other lying across his chest. Thank goodness the guy owned an oversized bed, or Noah might have found himself sleeping on the edge.
Quinton was a bed hog. Noah wondered what other things he would discover about his mate.
As he let his gaze drift downward, his face doused in flames as he stared at his mate’s flaccid cock, remembering how incredible the hardness had felt buried in his ass.
Now Layne and Harris could get off his freaking back since Noah was no longer a certified, card-carrying virgin.
Quinton had ripped that card up then set it on fire.
Layne wasn’t going to freak out too badly that Quinton looked like a mountainous biker. Just like Noah, his brother knew about mates.
It was Harris that Noah might have to smack around. From the moment Killian, Ryker, and their friends had pulled up to Harris’s house, Noah’s best friend had judged them.
He loved the guy dearly, but Harris could be a tad judgmental. He would have to get over it, though. Quinton was Noah’s mate, and they were stuck together for life.
Okay, he would have to find a better way of saying that. “Stuck”
sounded too miserable and resentful.
After Noah sat up, he looked around for his phone, finding it across the room where his mate had lifted him off his feet and Noah had curled his legs around the man’s waist.
Glancing back at him, Noah blushed again as his eyes landed on his mate’s cock.
I am definitely getting some more of that.
His brows knotted when he saw ten missed calls from Harris. Why hadn’t he heard his phone ring? The first call was made after Noah had arrived at Quinton’s. But he’d been in the same room with his phone the entire time.
Checking the side button, he rolled his eyes when he saw it was on vibrate. With his and Quinton’s arguing and subsequent sex, he hadn’t been paying attention to anything but his mate.
Noah doubted he would have noticed a herd of elephants stampeding past the bed. Quinton knew how to make someone focus solely on him and what he was doing to their body.
Quickly digging through his bag, Noah pulled out a pair of board shorts and a T-shirt, forgoing underwear. He would shower or go back to sleep after he talked to Harris’s overreacting ass.
It was six in the morning, so his best friend should be up and getting ready for work.
After stepping into the hallway—ooh, the carpet was so soft beneath his bare feet—he dialed Harris then took a seat on the top step of the stairs.
He didn’t even hear it ring before the guy answered. “Noah?”
“I know I owe you an explanation.”
Noah sighed. “It was wrong of me to dump that on you and then bounce.”
It was surprising Harris wasn’t already giving Noah a piece of his mind, especially after what he’d revealed to his best friend and then taken off with what looked like a gang of bikers.
“Well, I am miffed,”
Harris replied coolly. “How long have we known each other? And then you pull a stunt like that on me? Consider yourself lucky I even answered the phone.”
Noah frowned. Damn, his best friend was seriously pissed to say something like that. Harris always spoke his mind, but he’d never been bitchy before.
What was he even talking about? Clearly Harris wanted to talk to him, or he wouldn’t have called so many times last night.
“I promise to make it up to you.”
Noah ran a hand through his hair.
“You can make it up to me by joining me for breakfast,”
Harris said pointedly. “My treat, though it should be yours since you’re the one who has to make up for basically using me.”
Noah pulled his phone away from his ear, frowning as he glanced at the screen. He’d called the right number, but Harris wasn’t acting like himself. They’d never, not once, kept score or accused the other of “using” them.
How many times had Harris been dating some girl and called Noah with a crisis, only to hang up without telling him what was going on? More than a dozen.
Was Harris really that angry at him? Noah sat there biting his nail, uncertain breakfast would fix this. He’d never seen or heard Harris so hostile before.
The guy would normally act catty, groan, or chastise, but he was acting downright pissed off over something he’d done himself in the past.
“So now you’re going to ignore me?”
Harris huffed.
Another thing his best friend wouldn’t do. There were times when they’d hung out on the phone, both too lazy to drive to the other’s house, so they’d pretty much left their phones on speaker as they puttered around the house and talk, many times falling silent for a long stretch of time.
“I’m not ignoring you,”
Noah gently argued. “I’m thinking.”
He was trying his best to recall if Harris had ever behaved this way before. Honestly, twenty years was a long time, and an incident or two might have slipped his mind.
Though Noah was pretty sure he would recall his best friend acting like a dick to him. They’d had plenty of arguments in the past. No one with a two-decade friendship escaped them. But they usually resorted to name-calling—sometimes it was effective, as long as you didn’t cross a line—then someone would crack up at a stupid name and the argument would be over.
After racking his brain, Noah thought the closest they’d come to a really heated argument was five years ago when Harris had had a pregnancy scare.
Noah had read him the riot act for not using protection. The two had ended up in a verbal slapping match then stolen some of Harris’s dad’s beer. They’d gotten wasted and were sick to their guts the next day.
That night Noah had learned not to drink copious amounts of inexpensive beer—the kind that never went on sale because it was already the rock-bottom cheapest.
“What is there to think about, Noah?”
Harris asked angrily. “It’s a simple yes or no invite.”
“I get you being upset with me.”
Noah stood and stormed back to Quinton’s bedroom. “But that’s not an excuse to act like snot for brains.”
He walked into the bedroom, forcing himself not to slam the door.
Quinton was awake, lying there with a sheet draped partially over his lap, a sexy hipbone showing. For a moment Noah forgot he was in the middle of the worst argument he’d ever had with his best friend.
Now all he could think about was crawling onto his mate’s lap and bouncing on his fat cock until his brain was rattled.
“Oh, that’s so mature,”
Harris shot back. “Name-calling? Grow up, Noah.”
Before he said something he was sure he’d regret, Noah hung up.
“Is everything okay?”
Quinton sat up, the sheet slipping farther off his mate’s lap but not enough to reveal his cock.
Noah had to blink several times to reboot his brain and clear away all the smut circling his thoughts.
“ It’s Harris. I guess me taking off with your sons and their friends pushed him over the edge.”
He shrugged. “He invited me to breakfast, but who in their right mind wants to be bitched out over their pancakes and sausage?”
His phone beeped. A voicemail. Jesus. Just how many calls had he missed yesterday? Noah’s phone had decided to blow up on the one evening he was finally getting laid.
“Hey, Noah. It’s Layne.”
Noah only listened to a small part of the message, starting it over so Quinton could hear it as well.
“Your bestie called me two hours before I got off work, having some kind of tizzy meltdown about you being involved with dangerous men and letting a biker gang deflower you.”
That part Noah wished to god he could’ve skipped over, but his mate had leaned across the bed and grabbed the phone from him.
The bastard had the nerve to give Noah an air kiss after the word “deflowering.”
“Harris demanded I come over. Which I did, but he wasn’t there, and his front door was open. I get that we live in a small town, but have a talk with your boy about at least closing the damn thing. And about having one of his meltdowns all over me. It was not fun.”
Noah gagged. Gross. It was also the part he’d stopped the recording so he could play it for Quinton.
“Anyway, I’ve tried to call him several times, but he hasn’t answered. Oh, and by the way, I stopped by Mom’s to talk with Dickhead, seeing if maybe he knows anything about the situation you’re involved in.”
Noah tried to snatch his phone back, scared of what Layne might say. Lord only knew what would come out of his brother’s mouth, and Noah didn’t want the guy embarrassing him.
But Quinton held the phone above his head like a flipping toddler. When Noah scrambled across the bed, Quinton jumped up, the phone still in the air, the sheet gone.
Along with Noah’s ability to concentrate.
“Are you completely out of your goddamn mind, bro?”
Layne shouted through the speaker on the phone, snapping Noah out of his dick daze. “Really, bro? Loan sharks? I’m beating your ass as soon as I mount a rescue operation to get you away from those bikers, bro! Jesus. We said to lose your virginity, not your fucking mind,”
he snarled.
And so did Quinton.
Anytime Layne repeatedly used “bro,”
he was beyond pissed off.
“You better call me,”
he went on with his never-ending voicemail, which Noah wished had ended ten minutes ago or had never been sent to begin with. “And have a damn good excuse why you’re with those guys. I swear, if they passed you around—”
Noah launched off the bed toward his mate, desperate to get the phone from Quinton. But all he’d managed to do was get smashed against his mate’s body when Quinton caught him around the waist.
“—Jack’s asshole buddies to kill their asses.”
Layne finally hung up.
“So glad to see not even Midnight Falls escapes judging someone before they get to know them,”
Quinton snarled as he set Noah on his feet, belatedly handing over his phone.
“Only a handful,”
Noah argued.
“Only humans,”
Quinton fired back too rapidly for it not to be the truth.
“Well…”
Noah crossed his arms, glaring at his mate. “Glad to know you have an issue or two with humans. By the way, hi, I’m Noah, your human mate.”
“But it’s okay for Harris to have an opinion about men he has never even met? My sons and our close friends?”
Quinton argued. “If I remember correctly, it was those same friends who dropped everything and showed up to protect you while they got you back to me. Not Harris or Layne. My people.”
“How is it my fault they’re narrow-minded kumquats?”
Noah retorted. “I can’t control what they think, Quinton, no more than you can control how our family and friends think.”
Quinton opened his mouth then frowned. “You can’t win an argument by taking my side,”
he said, as if he was genuinely confused Noah had outwitted him.
But that wasn’t what he’d done. Noah had simply spoken the truth. He was mated to Quinton, so his sons were now Noah’s, as were their friends.
“Do you hear how you sound?”
He walked over to his bag and rummaged through it, using the moment to set aside his hurt. He couldn’t control what his brother or best friend thought when it came to men like Quinton and the people around him.
When Noah had first spotted Quinton in the bar, he’d thought the same thing. Biker. Only because his mate had been wearing a leather and looked like one.
But Noah had still talked to the guy, had played Quinton’s silly, but fun high-stakes game of get-to-know-you. Noah really liked Killian and Ryker, and he assumed he would like Hyett when he finally had the chance to get to know the youngest brother.
He didn’t believe in prejudging anyone. But whether people admitted it or not, everyone had done it at one point in their life.
Appearances were the first thing someone noticed. That didn’t make them a bad person for prejudging. It gave them room to grow. If they refused, it was their loss on meeting new and amazing people like Noah had.
“Sweetheart.”
Quinton crouched next to him, placing his hand on the small of Noah’s back. “ I’m sorry. I’ve just been alive for over three centuries, and that’s an exceptionally long time to deal with…”
He sighed. “You’re right. You can’t control what someone else thinks, and I’m sorry for taking out my grievances on you. I don’t care if you’re human, babe. Hyett’s mate is human, and Wesley is a wonderful man, just like you.”
“Something isn’t right with Harris.”
Noah grabbed the same pair of socks three times, only to toss them aside just to grab them again.
“ I’m going to refrain from sarcasm, but I will point out that you left that statement wide open for attack.”
Quinton grabbed the socks Noah kept taking out. “Tell me why you think something is wrong, hon.”
His back still hurting from his extensive workout last night, Noah sat on the carpeted floor. “The Harris I just spoke with is not the Harris I’ve known for twenty years, Quinton.”
Noah explained the shift in personality, the snide and hurtful remarks. “Plus, he wouldn’t call Layne in a panic then not be there.”
He looked his mate in the eye. “Harris has never left his front door hanging wide open, and he has never called off from work because he wants to have breakfast with me.”
“Get dressed.”
Quinton stood.
Noah jumped up, ignoring how tired he was. “Why?”
His mate tapped his nose. “We’re going to Harris’s. Call him back and say you’ll meet him for breakfast. When he leaves, Ryker, Killian, and I will sniff out his house. Would you happen to know if he has nonhuman friends so we can rule them out?”
Quinton was already pulling clothes from his drawer. Then he picked up his phone and began typing, presumably to tell his sons to get dressed.
“He hangs out with coworkers, but I’m the only friend who goes to his house.”
Noah quickly dressed. “What are you thinking? Please tell me.”
“You have a vampire after you.”
Noah nodded while pulling on his jeans.
“Toro has already tried, and failed, to send people to grab you. If he can’t get to you because of me and my family—”
“He’ll try to get to me through my friends and family.”
Dread filled Noah. “Layne has a wife and two little kids.”
The thought of something happening to Elisa or his niece and nephew made Noah’s blood run cold. Sarah was only two, and Benji had just turned four.
“But I just talked to Harris,”
he pointed out.
“Did that sound like things Layne would say to you on that voicemail?”
“Unfortunately, yeah.”
Noah snorted.
“Then we can rule out he’s been tampered with.”
“Rule out what?”
Noah grabbed his mate’s thick bicep, telling himself not to get distracted by all those muscles. “Will you hold still for five seconds and tell me what you’re talking about?”
“Vampires,”
Quinton said, as if the single word cleared everything up.
“Will you stop feeding me breadcrumbs and give me the entire loaf?”
Noah demanded.
“Sorry.”
Quinton smiled. “Kind of got lost in your pretty green eyes.”
“Flattery just scored you brownie points.”
Noah grinned back at his mate then scowled. “Can we both keep our minds off the other’s body for a minute?”
“Not a chance.”
His mate growled playfully.
Despite seeing Quinton’s bear with his own two eyes, Noah still had a hard time believing this man and that humongous beast were one and the same. “Vampires?”
“That whole bedazzle thing you’ve seen in movies,”
Quinton replied.
“Look into my eyes,”
Noah said in a creepy, poor imitation of Dracula.
“Already did.”
Quinton winked, his smile soft. “ They’re beautiful, baby.”
“Are you saying vampires can really do that?”
Noah’s lips parted. “Do you think Toro fiddled with Harris’s mind? Is that why my bestie is a dick now?”
Quinton sat on the bed to put his boots on. “Normally, no. A victim doesn’t turn into a jerk, but look at the vampire we’re dealing with. And, yes, vampires can really do that, but they mainly use the talent to subdue people they want to feed from. Which makes me think Harris is under Toro’s control, though you can bet it’s not to feed from him.”
Noah saw the look in Quinton’s eyes. “But he won’t pass up a chance to feed when he has a hypnotized human.”
He covered his neck with his hand. “Are all vampires…”
He didn’t want to ask since he’d just had a heated argument about prejudging people, but damn. They were talking about vampires .
His mate rested his hand on his knee as he sat up. “You have your bad apples in every species, babe. Not all vampires are evil. Jax, one of the men who showed up to protect you, has two mates, one of which is a vampire. Arion is a real nice guy. Then you have vampires like Toro, who make a bad name for their kind.”
“Wait. Two mates?”
The thought of sharing Quinton with someone else made jealousy rear its ugly head. The bear shifter was his.
“It happens.”
His mate stood. “Ready? I’m only taking you along for the meeting with Harris. I want you to lure him outside.”
“Then what?”
Noah was still stuck on the two-mate thing.
“Then we snatch him and find a vampire to undo whatever Toro has done to Harris’s mind. Simplest way is to have the vampire who performed the hypnosis undo it, since only they know exactly what was done. But we both know Toro isn’t going to.”
Noah’s gut told him that whatever Toro had done to Harris was going to take a miracle to reverse, if that was even possible at all.