Page 18 of Destined Prey
“Maybe you’re a dog?” Jack hazarded a guess. “A dog with yellow eyes and really sharp teeth.”
Buddy groaned and shook his head. Jack’s laugh came out thin. “Right. And next you’ll tell me you prefer medium-rare.” His palm was damp around the bat, and the urge to reach out—to test that uncanny intelligence with a touch—pulsed through his fingers.
Jack was so shocked that he almost dropped the bat. “No. You didnotjust understand what I said.”
Buddy rose up on his front paws just a few inches and yipped, head bobbing. “I did.”
Jack felt the blood drain from his head as ice-cold fear coalesced in his gut. “No. I didn’t hear you say that.” And hedidn’t.It’d been very clear and loud in his mind, though, and the voice…it’d sounded just like a certain sexy man he’d spoken with a few nights ago in the alley.
“Jack? Jack!”that familiar voice shouted, bouncing around Jack’s skull and terrifying him to no end.
“No. What’s happening?” His heart was beating too fast, and his mind was spinning, and darkness etched around the edges of his vision.This is it. I’m losing my mind, having a breakdown, panic attack…hell.The world tunneled; sound warped like it was underwater. He caught one last flicker of gold—eyes, not teeth—and the ground tilted up to meet him.Jack tried to breathe, then the world went black.
Despite his best attempt, Ben wasn’t fast enough to catch Jack and save him from crashing to the ground.
Ben leapt over the trough and fence, landing beside Jack a second later. He reached for him and groaned. Paws weren’t what he needed. Frustration knifed through him. Claws and strength were useless now; he needed hands. Words. He forced the change, bones grinding, skin burning, the beast bucking once before settling beneath his will.
Despite his worry for Jack, Ben had enough sense to make sure no one else was around before he shifted into his human form. It only took a moment, then he felt for Jack’s pulse, found it strong and steady.
“Good. God, don’t scare me like that ever again.” He spotted the baseball bat and almost laughed at the idea of that as a defense against a shifter.
He was giddy with relief, certain that Jack was okay. There was no scent of sickness about him. Ben’s shifter was very close to the surface for several minutes after he transformed, and he retained more of his heightened senses until he’d been human for a while. Even then, he had better vision, hearing and scent than the average person did.
He sniffed Jack again, and the aroma went straight to Ben’s dick. It hit him like a warm current, steadying and dizzying at once—clean soap, skin, the faintest thread of coffee and something uniquely Jack that loosened the knot between Ben’s shoulders. His pulse slowed to match the rhythm under Jack’s throat.
“Aw, come on, you gotta be kidding me,” he groused. “Now? Really?” Ignoring his erection, he scooped Jack up in his arms. The bat caught his eye again, and Ben grunted as he bent to grab it as well.
If someone came into the yard by the corral and saw the bat, they might assume something bad had happened to Jack.
Even if something kind of badhadactually happened.
Something weird had definitely gone down between them. Ben didn’t understand it, but he’d have sworn Jack had heard his thoughts right before Jack passed out.
And there’d been a blast of chaotic gibberish that had slammed into Ben’s mind right at that instant. He wasn’t going to dwell on it, because if he did, he’d freak himself out.
Ben loped across the yard, nude and very aware of that fact, praying that no one would see him as he toted Jack to the house.
Once he’d made it up the porch steps, the rest was a breeze. He toed the screen door open, turned sideways and shimmied into the house. “Nice,” he murmured, catching a glimpse of prettyyellow walls and framed family photos. He wanted to look those over sometime, but not when he was in a rush. Not when every instinct screamed protect, hide, keep. The house was a map of the man already—scuffed boots by the door, a sweater tossed over a chair, a pencil tucked behind a cookbook. It made Ben’s chest ache with a wanting that was far bigger than heat.
The house smelled good too. He scented raw meat, which made his mouth water. He gave the kitchen a wistful look as he passed by.
Ben sniffed until he found the bedroom that smelled the most like Jack. He nudged the door open all the way, then entered and grinned upon seeing the messy state of the room. Jack wasn’t a neat-nick. If things progressed between them and they lived together somewhere, there’d be no bickering over one of them leaving their clothes on the floor.
Not that the room was a disaster. There was Jack’s pajamas puddled on the floor by the bathroom door, and a few pairs of shoes strewn about. Books, magazines, a laptop—and a sketch pad. That last one had Ben’s curiosity rising. Rather than snooping, he settled Jack on the bed, then felt his pulse again.
“Still steady and strong. I bet you’re the same, aren’t you, Jack?” Ben leaned down and nuzzled Jack’s face and neck, running his nose over warm, soft skin, taking in every aroma having to do with him.
Ben’s dick was harder than ever. He placed a chaste kiss on Jack’s neck, right where his pulse started fluttering faster. “You’re okay,” he breathed, barely sound, letting the words ghost over skin instead of touching again. Leaving cost him, but staying would cost them both more.
Ben knew Jack would wake at any moment. Instead of lingering, Ben needed to get out of the house, and away to somewhere safe.
It wouldn’t be a good idea for him to be there, naked as the day he’d been born, when Jack woke up or Rhett returned.
The porch door banged open. “Jack!” And once again, Ben hadn’t been fast enough. “Whazzit n whyz bats heads,” Jack mumbled, eyelids flickering. Ben scrambled for cover, diving under the bed as Rhett came thundering down the hallway. “Shit,” Jack rasped just as Ben managed to tuck himself as far under the bed as was possible.
“What happened?” Rhett demanded.
Ben wrinkled his nose. Rhett reminded him a lot of Casey. They were both big and bossy.Assertive. Whatever.The bed squeaked and dipped, then Jack’s legs appeared as he set his booted feet on the floor.
