Chapter 12
Wild Thing. You Make Me Sing
The sun was trying to burn away the lake ice when Kit finally opened his eyes. The bed was in shambles, but someone—Yordan—had thrown a blanket over him.
He stretched out stiff muscles, felt aches that made him smile, and searched for Yordan all in one long dance of muscles. Lord, he felt so good. Or he did until he found Yordan sitting across the room and frowning at the laptop in the corner.
That couldn’t be good.
“What’re ya doing over there?” he asked, too lazy to soften his brogue.
“Reading your email.”
Kit sat up fast enough that his head swam a bit. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. You said I was your understudy. I’m studying.”
True. “Okay. What’s the word in my email?”
“You’re in deep shit for wrecking the helo.”
He sighed as he fell back onto the bed. Yeah, he’d already guessed that.
“But they’re glad you’re alive. They already have another one on order.”
“Aye, but that was to replace the one that got trashed a month ago in Hawaii.”
Yordan frowned at him. “Was that from Godzilla’s baby?”
Kit stretched his neck and shoulders as he answered. “That was in Japan.”
“Kracken?”
Again, Yordan surprised him by being so well-informed. But he was still wrong. “That was near Guatemala.”
“Oh. So what did this?”
Honestly, it took a moment for Kit to remember. Oh yeah. “Hawaiian fever dream made manifest. Think spider monkey that burps acid.”
Yordan grunted. “What is it with the acid monsters lately? They’re ripping the hell out of our machines.”
Didn’t he know it. Kit stood up and headed for the bathroom while Yordan kept talking.
“Anyway, you’re forgiven and all that. So long as you find a way to cut costs somewhere else to cover the price of a new helicopter.”
“Not going to happen.”
“I told them that.”
Oh shit. Kit poked his head out of the bathroom. “Um, I was going to ease the brass over to that conclusion. Sweet-talk them with delays and pretend cuts—”
Yordan cut him off. “I said, ‘No fucking way.’ Signed it as Acting Commander me, so it’ll blow my way, not yours.”
Not part of the plan. Kit wanted Yordan in management, not getting bounced out early because he had no tolerance for bullshit. His next question came out tentative.
“So...is there blowback?”
“Nothing so far.” Yordan looked back at Kit. “Apparently they’re all jonesing for you to get more help. They seem thrilled that you’ve roped me into it.”
He nodded. “Everyone likes and respects you. They want you at the home office with more responsibilities.”
Yordan snorted. “I don’t think they realize what they’re asking.” He looked back at the screen. “But they’re getting an idea now. I’ve answered a few more of your emails. If they don’t like blunt and a little crude, then they’ll have to demote me.”
Kit got the feeling Yordan was hoping for that exact result. So maybe it was Yordan who didn’t realize what was happening. No one was going to demote him. At least, not if Kit had anything to do with it.
Kit turned back to the bathroom, already knowing the answer to the question but asking it anyway.
“So, are all the fires out for now?”
“Yup. Pee has most of the money collected. I’ve sent a nyah-nyah email to Gummy, telling him the gators were on him this time. And the rest seems to be cleaning up pretty quick. Funny how a fairy debt gets paid off ASAP.”
“Funny that.” Kit chuckled as he started shaving. Damn, this was pleasant. Bantering over morning email. “Any more spin cycles at the motor pool?”
“Not since all eleven of the guys and girls there paid their debts. Coffee’s sister is going to get a sweet sum of money when this is over.”
Kit lifted his chin to shave his neck. He knew from the paperwork that Coffee’s sister was the designated beneficiary.
At least until Coffee returned from Fairyland or wherever the hell he might be.
He continued shaving, humming a bit as he relived some of the best parts of last night.
It took him a moment to realize that Yordan had left the computer to lean against the frame of the bathroom door.
Kit finished with the shaver and turned, his expression softening as he enjoyed the sight of the man lounging so casually with his torso bare and his sweats slung low.
“Hey there,” he said in his best come-hither voice.
Yordan’s hard expression didn’t crack. Instead, he folded his arms over his chest, making his biceps bulge. “So, about your debt,” he began.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
“It’s not important now,” Kit said airily as he turned back to the sink and started cleaning out the electric shaver.
“Really?” Yordan challenged. “Let me see if I have the timing right. You’re climbing the ranks as a badass werewolf. Became alpha of your pack within a few months. Several successful missions later, the brass is grinning, and Gummy’s pack is cursing your name for getting the juiciest missions.”
Kit flashed a pleased grin. “You guys cursed me? How sweet.”
“Not actual curses, just the usual, ‘Fuck you, asshole’ shit.”
Kit nodded. He knew exactly what that meant. “We said the same things about you—”
“Then suddenly,” Yordan interrupted, staying with the hard tone. “The big bad happens in Wisconsin. Instead of helping out up north like every other combat werewolf, you suddenly turn coward and take a desk job.”
Kit stiffened, even though he’d heard the rumor before. “Is that what you think?” he challenged. “That I went into management because I was afraid?”
“I did. The timing was too coincidental, and you gave no other explanation.”
Now his blood was heating as he leaned back against the sink, consciously mimicking Yordan’s pose.
“We’ve already talked about this. I wasn’t being a coward.”
“It was this kitten thing, right? You left your pack in the lurch. They were already one down, and you made it two. In fact, you gave all the signs of someone who had lost his nerve since you refused to shift.”
Kit winced. “I didn’t lose my nerve,” he said, his voice tight with pain.
“But you made it look that way. You gave up leadership of your clan, too. Or future leadership, right? The new McNabb will be your sister.”
Now that was striking close to home. And fuck Yordan for being so well-informed and yet not understanding a damn thing.
Tired of standing there naked while Yordan grilled him about things he knew nothing about, Kit pushed off the sink and shouldered his way through the door.
All the rooms were stocked with sweats, and he was quick to grab a pair, yanking them on with barely suppressed fury.
“Kit—” Yordan’s voice was gentle, which made everything worse.
“My sister is the better leader. She’s been living there while I’ve been off fighting monsters here. She deserves it.”
“Maybe,” Yordan said. “Or maybe you lost a bet to Coffee. That’s why you change into a kitten, isn’t it? And not just any kitten, but a Scottish Fold kitten. That matches his sense of humor.”
Yeah, it did. And he was an idiot for not realizing that at the time. But with Wisconsin being the flash point to world-ending disaster, he’d had bigger things on his mind than why he was suddenly unable to go wolf.
Still, the whole situation had ripped out his heart.
Losing his combat status, stepping away as the McNabb heir.
As if everything he did, everything he was, was tied up in going wolf.
Except that was bullshit! He was a hell of a lot more than a kitten or dog, as everyone who had a disability or career-ending injury knew.
Everyone, that is, except his entire family. Or the brass at Wulf, Inc.
“Kit...”
“Drop it, Yordan.”
“What was the bet?” Like a dog with a bone.
Kit turned to glare at Yordan. “You asking as my lover or as my understudy?”
Yordan’s brows rose, but he didn’t answer.
“Because if it’s as my understudy,” Kit continued, “your boss just told you to drop it.”
“I’ve got a problem with authority. All my evals say that.”
“No, they don’t.” He knew because he’d read them.
“You have a problem with stupid authority.” Yordan had always walked a very fine line.
He only defied orders when things had gone well beyond questionable into really dumb.
But once he refused a direct order, he did not waver from his conviction.
It was one of the things Kit adored about him.
Until that defiance stomped forward and challenged him eye to eye.
Damn it, Yordan was using a dominance tactic in a test Kit couldn’t afford to lose.
Not as Yordan’s boss and not as his lover either.
He didn’t want their relationship to be one of alpha/beta.
That was not ever going to work for either of them.
So he stood his ground. He didn’t flinch, and he didn’t back away. Kit met Yordan with his chin raised and his hackles up.
“We need to be very clear here, Yordan,” he said, his voice hard. “Last night was fun. Last night was better than I’d ever imagined. But since we’ve left the afterglow behind, I need to know what the plan is.”
Yordan frowned. “What plan?”
“Are we lovers? Is this continuing? Because I’d really like to talk to my lover right now. But if we’re just coworkers, then you can fuck all the way off. I’ve told you everything you need to know.”
He watched as the man chewed on that. It was as if he could see the gears churning in Yordan’s mind. What did he want? What did he feel? And damn the man for not speaking his thoughts out loud. He didn’t. He just stayed silent while expressions almost settled on his face before twitching away.
Until Kit couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Yord—umph.”
The man kissed him. And not just any kiss, but a deep, thrusting, hungry demand.
Well, he could match that. In fact, he did. Suddenly, he was thrusting and grabbing with the same fervor until together they fell together onto the bed. Not so much fell as started mounting each other as they ripped off their sweats.
Kit won that round, pinning Yordan’s shoulders face-to-face as he settled heavily between the man’s knees. But he didn’t thrust yet. Instead, he paused while he tried to control his thudding heart.
“Yordan—”
“Lovers, you asshole,” Yordan snapped. Then he gripped Kit’s ass and impaled himself. He pulled Kit straight inside.
Lovers, then. Worked for him.
He started moving, thrusting a steady rhythm while Yordan writhed beneath him.
“Coffee called me—a fucking pussy cat—a Scottish kitten.”
“Why?”
Kit thrust extra hard, embedding himself fully even as he reached down to stroke Yordan. The man moaned beneath him, squeezing Kit enough to make his eyes roll back with pleasure. But it didn’t stop his words. He needed to say this now while Yordan was spread open and getting stroked by Kit.
“I had a month,” Kit said. “To tell my secret crush how I felt.”
Yordan blinked, his quick mind catching the meaning quickly. But he still made Kit say it.
“Secret crush? As in—”
He rolled his hips just to make Yordan squirm.
“As in you,” Kit said. “I had to tell you how I feel.”
Yordan bit his lip, his back arching to seat Kit even deeper. “Me?” he said, his voice rasping. “You wanted me.” He sounded amazed, even though Kit had said as much last night.
“Yes, you.” His tempo was speeding up. He couldn’t help it. “I. Want. You.”
Yordan bared his teeth in a wide grin. “I want you.”
“Good.”
“Nah. It’s great.”
And that was the end of the talking. There was a great deal more said in the way of bodies. In gasps and moans, in thrusts and squeezes, and yes, yes, yes as they pounded together.
Lovers.
Yes!