Jared Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (13 page)

“You think you’re very clever, don’t you?”

“I don’t think that.” Caleb grinned. “I know it.”

“You’re nothing but a damn bully and thief.”

“Well, well, well. Look at how furious you are at the notion of me having a mate.”

“It’s not about you having a mate.” But it was. Seeing Caleb kissing Easton and holding him tight about made McBride’s head explode. He didn’t want him to have anyone in his arms but…him.
Damn
. McBride had tried so hard to push him away, and all he’d done was make himself crazy. “You can’t steal your brother’s mate.”

“I didn’t steal anything. Jared didn’t want him, and Easton was afraid of being on a farm full of men without a collar. He came to me for protection.”

“Please tell me you didn’t take advantage of that boy.”

“Tell me the truth about you and Jonas.”

McBride grasped the edge of the jacket and tugged, exposing the scar on Caleb’s neck. His teeth extended so hard and fast he almost staggered backward. Blood hunger merged with the need to fuck. No matter what he did he was never going to be free of his inappropriate lust for Caleb.

“Go ahead, McBride. Drink.”

“Tell me why you always feared the restrictor.” McBride teased his fingertip over the scar, loving the way Caleb squirmed.

“I don’t.”

“You did. You do. You’re afraid right now.” McBride lowered his head so that his breath would play over the scar. “I can see your heartbeat is slamming hard in your veins.”

“It’s knowing you’re going to feed.” Caleb turned his head to the side as far as he could, which brought his lips much closer to McBride’s. He knew by the smell of his breath he hadn’t fed from Easton, and that was more of a relief than he thought it should be. “You haven’t fed from me in days.”

McBride’s mouth was watering as he remembered the taste of Caleb’s hot, gushing blood. The last time he’d fed from him they’d shared a body-shattering climax that had kept McBride satisfied for much longer than he’d thought possible. Just thinking of the way he’d gushed on Caleb’s bronzed back made his cock strain against the fabric of his trousers.

“What was it you feared?” McBride wasn’t going to let him go until he found out the truth. Something about being held captive had made Caleb far more submissive to McBride’s needs. As he stood there, toying with his scar and considering why he would fear something he so clearly enjoyed, McBride suddenly understood. “You fear how much you love being at my mercy.”

Caleb made a suppressed growl that told McBride he was correct.

“Knowledge is power.” McBride lowered his lips to Caleb’s neck and licked along the scar. “And we both know you weren’t remotely interested in that boy.”

“I could have gotten used to him.” Caleb tried to sound as if he didn’t care, but he did. He wanted McBride to feel uneasy about his willingness to take just about any man as his mate.

“Ah, is that it?” McBride kissed the edge of Caleb’s ear and pulled back, shocked at himself for doing something so intimate. “You were trying to pay me back for Jonas?”

“You don’t love him.”

“No, I don’t.” McBride didn’t see any point in lying. “But you had a ringside seat to the show, didn’t you?”

This time, Caleb growled and gnashed his teeth at McBride.

“Did I make the big, bad man angry?”

“You bastard.”

“I assure you, my decanting was quite legitimate.”

“I had to watch you put on that ridiculous charade as if you loved him, and cared for him, and then the bonding!” Caleb turned his head, straining to look at McBride. “You did that to deliberately hurt me.”

“I did.” McBride took the chair to the right of Caleb and pulled it up so that they could sit very close. “I wanted you to see that there was no hope for us at all.”

“That’s why you sold out my brother to his molester?”

The accusation stunned McBride. He had no idea that Caleb’s hatred for Jonas ran so deep or so misguided. “He didn’t molest your brother.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know that you and your brothers couldn’t have been sold until the youngest was at least eighteen. That’s the law.”

“Right. And thralls are supposed to be untouched until they’re eighteen, but that didn’t stop Easton’s master from taking a nip of him when he was thirteen.”

McBride’s stomach clenched. Last night was a blur, but he now recalled that the scar on Easton’s neck had been high, faint, and tentative. It was obvious he’d been bitten very lightly then let go. Possibly the thrall master realized what he was doing and pushed him away. It didn’t excuse the behavior, but at least the man had stopped there before it went much further.

“Just like that thrall master took advantage of Easton, Jonas took advantage of Ollie.”

“He didn’t.” McBride wanted to go and apologize to Easton for what had happened last night. He had overreacted, and he wasn’t even certain why. All he knew was that he was enraged because someone had taken advantage of him. McBride hadn’t stopped to consider that someone had taken far greater advantage of Easton. If he had just cooled his heels and taken the time to listen, none of this would have happened. He could have smoothed things over between Jared and Easton. He could have made it right, but he’d gone off the deep end and didn’t have any idea why. Always, he’d been a contentious and considerate lawman, but now he was an overgrown child who couldn’t seem to control himself. When his communication implant started to itch, he scratched at it absently then made himself stop.

“I don’t want to argue with you anymore. Either kill Jonas, let me do it, or let me leave.”

“Leave?”

“I won’t stay on the same patch of land with him.” Caleb met McBride’s eyes with defiance. “You can say he didn’t hurt Ollie, but I know he did, and the fact you are harboring him under your roof so he can continue molesting my brother is despicable.”

McBride narrowed his eyes. “I own you.”

“Great. Have the local law hunt me down. Oh, wait, you
are
the local law. If you won’t arrest Jonas for his inappropriate relationship with my brother, then I guess you probably won’t do anything when I walk away.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“Going to keep me bound all the time? I sure hope you’ll stop by a couple of times a day to hold my dick while I piss.”

McBride realized that, unless he locked Caleb up, he could simply gather his possessions and walk. A big man like him wouldn’t be hassled. In fact, he’d be hired in an instant to provide someone with protection. Caleb could go anywhere and do just about anything he wanted. In the new world, he was a very valuable commodity.

“I’m not setting you free.”

Caleb met his eyes. “Then you have a choice. You have to decide between me and Jonas, because there is no way both of us are staying on your farm.”

Jared heard someone enter the house, but he wasn’t about to unblock his bedroom door. He was conflicted terribly over wanting Easton back but also wanting to reject him because he wasn’t perfect. He’d been sitting in his room, staging his protest, not knowing which way he wanted things to go until he heard someone enter his home. Suddenly, he knew exactly what he wanted, and that was Easton back no matter what had happened.

He struggled to get everything out from in front of the door. It seemed to take forever, but eventually he freed himself and ran toward the front room. The last thing he was expecting to find was Easton, swaddled up in a blanket, looking confused and afraid.

“Hi.” Jared couldn’t believe that was what came out of his mouth, but it did and he was stuck with it.

“Hi.” Easton looked away and out toward Caleb’s house.

“Did he hurt you?” Jared took a step closer, but Easton backed away.

“You hurt me.”

Jared stopped advancing and stood there, unsure what to say or do. “I’m sorry. I was angry.”

“So whenever you’re angry you’ll hurt me?” Easton wrapped the blanket a little tighter around himself.

“No. I was stupid because I didn’t listen.” Jared sat down on the couch. “I know it’s a little late now, but please tell me how you got the mark on your neck. After time to think, I realized the mark is very pale and in an odd place. Is it a bite, or does it only look like a bite?”

A look of hope crossed Easton’s face as he settled in the chair that was set at ninety degrees to the couch. “It’s a bite.”

“Oh.”

“It happened when I was thirteen. That’s why it’s in such a strange place. It was lower, but then I grew.”

“Someone bit you when you were a child?” Jared even further regretted his hasty anger the night before. Had he given his mate the benefit of the doubt, he could have held him, consoled him, and told him everything would be all right. He realized he could still do that, if Easton would let him. “Please come sit by me. I won’t do anything but hold you while you tell me.”

Easton considered for a moment. Jared could almost see that he wanted to hold off, to make sure that Jared’s motives were genuine, but ultimately, he decided that they were. Easton left the chair and settled next to Jared. Moving slowly, so as not to startle him, Jared reached out and clasped Easton’s hand.

“He was the thrall master.”

“I thought they were aged thralls who didn’t thirst for blood?” Jared realized what he’d said could be taken as him disbelieving Easton’s claim, but it was too late to take it back.

“They are, but something happened to him that day.” Easton seemed baffled by the entire event, and Jared realized he was more confused than traumatized. “I didn’t even realize that what he’d done would hurt me—hurt me when I was sold—until I was much older.” Easton looked to Jared and then away. “Devers said that my slammer wouldn’t believe me. He said I’d end up with a ripped hole and a scar-encrusted neck because no one would ever want me for long.”

“No. No, that’s not true. I do want you.” Jared gripped his hand a little tighter but not too tight because he didn’t want to scare him. “I overreacted because I thought you tricked me. I’ve always been so careful not to let anyone know I cared about something. I mean, look at my house. You can’t even tell what I like because I hide everything.”

“Your brothers mocked you?”

“Yeah. I like—” Jared took a deep breath. “I like to paint. And I like to make clothes.”

“Really? I think that’s wonderful.”

Relieved, Jared felt he could share the rest. “I never let a man know that I cared about him, because then he’d have the power to hurt me.”

“You thought I would hurt you?”

“If you knew how much I liked you, you might.”

“I like you, too.” Easton’s voice was very quiet, and he looked at Jared and then away very fast. He wasn’t embarrassed, just shy.

“Why did you go to Caleb?” Jared wanted to pelt him with a dozen far more pointed questions, but he didn’t dare. Hurting Easton a second time seemed cruel, and he wasn’t about to compound his error.

“I thought that next to McBride, he was the biggest man on the farm.” Easton looked toward Caleb’s house, and so did Jared. McBride had yet to leave, but since the sun was high and Caleb didn’t have any interior lights on, he couldn’t see what was going on inside. “I didn’t have a collar on.”

Jared noticed that he didn’t have one on now. “I’m sorry. I should know what that means, but I don’t.”

“A thrall without a collar can be claimed by any man who sees him.”

“Any man?” Jared had no idea that ripping off his collar put Easton in such a terrible position.

“If a landed gentryman found me, he could claim me and give me to a slammer, but a slammer could simply claim me for himself.”

Jared looked at Easton and wondered if he covered himself in the blanket to hide the fact that Caleb had injured him.

“Don’t bother worrying.” Easton moved a bit closer to Jared. “Caleb was a perfect gentryman.”

“He’s a slammer like me.” Jared didn’t like the idea of his eldest brother being elevated.

“I know, but he behaved very sweetly toward me. Just as you have done.”

“I put you on my kitchen table to examine your hole.” Jared winced at how vulgar he had been.

“I didn’t mind.” Easton blushed and grinned at him. “The only thing Caleb did was kiss the edge of my ear and have me mount him.”

“What?” Jared thought his eyebrows were going to shoot off the top of his head.

“Oh, no!” Easton shook his head. “He saw McBride coming and asked me to jump up and straddle his waist.”

Jared felt like he’d been punched in the belly.

“Oh, I’ve made a mess of things again!” Easton shook his head, and Jared thought he was going to run off, but he stopped right where he was, straightened his shoulders, and faced Jared. “I must explain that Caleb never wanted me in that way. Never. And I never wanted him. We made a deal to help one another get what we wanted.”

“What was it that you wanted?”

“I wanted you.” Easton moved close. “I remember going to Ollie’s door and seeing him, but I saw you out the corner of my eye and I wanted you because you were so lonely looking.”