Jacks, Marcy - The Hunter's Omega Mate [DeWitt's Pack 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (5 page)

Tristan’s heart did a painful lurch in his chest, and he didn’t like  it, nor would he respond to that comment or think about how much  he’d like to be doing this for more than one night as well.

He reached up to take Isaac’s balls in hand before the other man  could keep talking like that, and Isaac’s knees buckled as he came.

It was so sudden he had no time to warn Tristan about it, but that

was all right. Just being a werewolf made Tristan pretty confident that  if Isaac had anything—and he couldn’t scent any sickness on him— Tristan’s immune system would destroy it before he even developed

any symptoms.

Sometimes being a paranormal creature had its advantages.

Isaac dropped to the floor, handed Tristan the ice cream first, and  then did up his pants.

Tristan took the treat with a grin and ripped open the paper.  “Thank you.”

Isaac laughed. “You’re crazy.”

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Chapter Six

At least he’d stopped looking around, as though waiting for the boogie man to jump out of the shadows to get him, Isaac mused as he and Tristan walked the streets of the town. To be perfectly honest,  Isaac couldn’t even remember the name of the town. He was too

caught up in enjoying the cool night air with his new friend.

They kept on talking, enjoying each others company and the last  of the ice cream Isaac had bought, and eventually made their way  back to the river. Because the river stretched through the town, the  bank here had a paved walkway and was lit with yellow street lamps.  Clusters of dandelions spotted the grass, and for the first time, the  sight of all that water didn’t make Isaac break out in sweat.

The thought of never seeing Tristan anymore, however, was  something that didn’t sit well in his stomach.

“So, where do you think you’ll be moving to?” Isaac asked.  “Maybe when I’m done here I can drop by and come see you.”

He tried to sound casual about it, reminding himself that he only  just met Tristan that morning, and despite the fact  that they’d gone to  bed together, that didn’t mean the guy was up for some sort of  relationship. Even a casual one.

“To be honest, I’m not sure where I’ll be settling just yet. I don’t  even have a phone on me.”

More of that hesitation that Isaac could turn into a positive. “Well,

everyone nowadays has an e-mail address. We can trade ours, and that  way we can keep in contact.”

Tristan stopped walking suddenly to look at him. Isaac stopped  with him.

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“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Tristan just looked at him like he’d never seen him before, like he  was something entirely out of this world.

Isaac was about to apologize for pushing it, but then Tristan’s  cheeks and lips lifted in an eager smile. “Yeah, all right. I’ll do that.”

Isaac’s heart did a happy little jump. Tristan didn’t think he was  creepy, and they were going to keep in contact with each other after  his hunting business was over with.

“Okay, great,” Isaac cleared his throat. “We’ll write ’em down  when we get back to the motel.” Where they would order take-out  pizza and spend the rest of the night having more of that fantastic sex.

“Right.”

The sweetest part was the way Tristan took his hand and linked  their fingers together. He wasn’t just saying it to put Isaac off track.  They were really doing this.

They’d  been walking for all of two more minutes when someone  came down from the other end of the trail. That person was nothing  but a shadow in the night, but he stopped suddenly before he could  step under one of the beams of yellow light coming from the lamps.

Tristan seemed to think nothing of it, but Isaac stopped, pulling on  Tristan’s hand to keep from going any further.

Tristan looked puzzled. “What is it?”

Isaac frowned as the stranger continued to hold still. “Him.”

Tristan looked, and for the first time, seemed to notice there was

someone ahead of them, watching them.

Tristan seemed to inhale deeply, but then turned to Isaac. “Do you

know who he is?”

No, but some stranger slinking around in the dark was always enough to set off the warning signals in Isaac’s head.

Not all the monsters in the world were of the paranormal variety.

Then some of his anxiety left him as the man—because a bulky build like that could only belong to a man, despite the long-looking hair—started walking forward.

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Tristan was the one to tense up, however, when the stranger stepped under the light, revealing his face.

“Tristan? That you?”

“Turn around and start walking,” Tristan muttered, following his own advice before Isaac could ask any questions.

A protective instinct spiked within Isaac.

This was the man Tristan was hiding from.

“Hey! I’m talking to you, cub!”

“Fuck off!” Tristan shot over his shoulder.

Not how Isaac would have handled that.

It really seemed to piss off the stranger as well, because he ran forward, shooting out his hand to grab Tristan by the shoulder.

Isaac was faster. His dagger had been the one thing he hadn’t taken off when he got ready to climb that tree earlier this morning, and he had it out of its hidden sheath and to the guy’s throat just as his finger’s touched down on Tristan’s arm.

“Back off,” Isaac commanded.

The stranger was already doing just that, though he hardly looked intimidated. He looked angry, his face twisting up like a pissed-off troll. “The fuck is this?”

Tristan put his hand on Isaac’s shoulder, the other on his arm.  “Isaac, please, put the knife down.”

“Yeah, Isaac,” Troll Man said, sneering his name. “Put the knife down.”

“Shut up, Tanner,” Tristan said, glaring at him.

Only because Isaac didn’t know full well what was going on did

he lower the blade, but he still kept it raised between himself and

Tanner.

“You get yourself a boyfriend, Tristan?” Tanner said. “Don’t

think my brother will like that very much.”

“Deacon does not own me,” Tristan snapped.

“As of now he does. You’re out here, by yourself ”—

“James would never allow it.”

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“He’s not here, is he?”

“I’m here,” Isaac snapped. “And I’m going to tell you right now  that Tristan is with me, and you can fuck off somewhere before I start  cutting you open.”

Christ, it was worse than he thought. Tristan wasn’t on the run  from an abusive relationship, he was running away from someone  who wanted to put him
 
into
 
an abusive relationship, and whoever  Deacon was, he had other people doing his bidding for him, big,  muscular goons from the look of it.

That made things even more dangerous.

He didn’t at all like the way Tanner laughed at his threat either.  “What exactly do you think you can do to me?”

“Tanner, don’t,” Tristan said, clutching at Isaac’s arm.

All of a sudden, Isaac got the feeling that he was the one being  protected.

“Thinks he’s a tough guy with a blade like that in his hand, don’t  you?” Tanner mocked, addressing Isaac toward the end, that same  wolfish smile on his face, and then the eyes flickered gold, the pupils  transforming into thin diamond slits before they became normal  again.

Like a light switch going off, Isaac knew what he was dealing  with, and he wished with everything inside of him for his guns that  he’d left behind at the river, the ones loaded with silver bullets.

“Tristan, run away,” Isaac said.

“Oh, yes, Tristan, run so I can chase you.”

Isaac swiped out his dagger. Apparently Tanner was a little too  into his game of playing wolf because he was a split second too slow  to react, and Isaac sliced him just across his nose.

A meaty hand came up to inspect the damage. Only a little blood  trickled at first, but when he pinched his nose, he released a sharp cry  as the sliced wound yawned open, spilling more blood.

Then he got mad and started advancing. “I’m gonna eat you alive,  boy.”

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Isaac backed up, but was being half pulled by Tristan. “I said run,

Tristan!” he commanded.

The last thing he wanted was for Tristan to watch him kill this

guy.

Or, if Isaac failed and was the one to be killed, he wanted Tristan

to have a good head start.

Tanner’s face had already begun to shift. In Isaac’s experience,  the shifting process weakened some wolves because it could take  anywhere from one second to one minute to complete.

Tanner appeared to be somewhere in the one second vicinity, even  wearing clothes, which he hadn’t bothered to take off and were  currently in pieces around his paws. Tanner was on all fours, his lips  curved upward in an enraged snarl that really made Isaac wish he had  more than this knife.

It was just a standard hunting knife. He hadn’t even had a chance to line it with silver yet.

Isaac felt behind him for Tristan’s strong chest, found it, and pushed him away. “I said run, Tristan!”

“No.”

The calm acceptance in his voice had Isaac turning to look at him. Too late he realized what a mistake that was, and he and Tristan

just barely managed to jump out of the way of Tanner’s flying leap

for their throats.

Jesus Christ! What had he been thinking?

“I’m not going with you, Tanner,” Tristan said, fists clenched.

The body of the werewolf shuddered, as though Tanner were laughing at him.

That good humor lasted a good second before the wolf made another lunge for Isaac’s throat. The reach of those paws, and the claws with the lycan venom in them, was much longer than Isaac’s reach, even with the  dagger he held. He could do nothing but jump out of the way, letting Tanner chase him, play with him.

Christ, Isaac wasn’t even wearing anything to protect the skin of

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his arms or neck. If he made it out of this alive, it would be as a

werewolf.

“Tanner! Stop it!” Tristan yelled.

“Stay back!” Isaac shouted as Tristan tried to come between them.

Was he crazy? What did he think he could do aside from get in the  way?

The fact that he would do such a thing, risking his life and health  for Isaac, made him realize that Isaac would most definitely face the  consequences of this battle for him.

Isaac flicked the dagger in his hand, bent his knees, and got into  his standard attack position.

Bring it on.

Tanner circled him once then did a quick run and another flying

leap, claws outstretched, jaws open wide, and murder in those wild

eyes.

“Isaac! No!”

Something slammed into Tanner’s wolfy body before he could reach Isaac. A white something. A white hairy something, and the snarling and rolling in the grass and dirt commenced.

Both wolves, in their rolling battle, kicked up a cloud of dust and weeds that almost made it difficult to see them.

Isaac knew another werewolf when he saw one. He searched

around for Tristan, ready to take him by the hand and book it out of

there, when he realized that no one else was there.

Just him and two werewolves, fighting a furious battle like they were in a war for territory or something, and Tristan's clothes were scattered on the ground

It took him point three seconds to realize where Tristan had gone, and the world went into slow motion on him as he turned to look at

the spinning, rolling, snarling wolves still at each others throats in the  flowers and grass.

Tristan was the white werewolf, and from the looks of things, the  blood that began soaking his white coat, he was getting his ass kicked.

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The blood nearly looked black under the yellow light, but that was not the reason Isaac’s knees nearly gave out on him, or why he felt the desperate need to puke.

Tristan was a werewolf. He was one  of the creatures Isaac was

sworn to kill, and Isaac had…

He couldn’t think it.

The fighting and rolling seemed to mostly slow down as Tristan was overpowered. That was a little too quick for a fight of this sort.  Guess that made Tristan an omega.