Sage's Mystery (5 page)

It was going to take all night to wash the dirt from his jeans and T-shirt. Well, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do. Maybe he would be too tired to curl back up into Sage once they called it quits for the day.

Boy, was that a disaster waiting to happen.

William shivered again, but this time from the nightmare scenario playing in his head. He could just see it now. William cuddled close, enjoying the strong body wrapped around him. Sage waking up, seeing William’s hard-on. William swearing it was morning wood.

Sage breaking him into tiny toothpicks and then tossing him down the chute.

Gee, it made a guy want to sleep standing up.

“Coming,” he called as he made his way out of the bathroom, grinning widely at his play on words. Too bad that wasn’t really the
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case. He just bet Sage could make him come for hours and—

William’s thought stopped in its track when he saw Sage glowering up at him.

Fuck.
Was it the guy’s time of the month?

“We don’t have all day. There’s a lot we still need to finish before it gets dark.”

Yeah. William was well aware that the days were getting shorter and the nights came more quickly. He mentally grinned when once again the play on words gave him wicked thoughts. “Sorry.”

“Just get down here.”

“Yes, sir, Captain Happy,” William muttered as he made his way down the steps. He wondered if he could knock Sage a good one in his sleep without the guy knowing about it.

“There are fresh sandwiches in the cooler.” Sage jerked his chin toward the kitchen as he walked out onto the porch. William grabbed one, and a container of chocolate milk, and then joined Sage.

“Sorry I’m not more help,” he said as he took a seat on the step.

Sage sighed as he ran a hand over his head and waved back at the house. “It’s not you. I just had no idea how much work was involved in this.”

William breathed easier. So Sage hadn’t figured out William’s gay secret.
Thank fuck.

“I don’t mean to be irritable toward you, slim.”

That put William in a better mood. He really hadn’t been looking forward to coldcocking Sage in his sleep. “It’s okay.”

Sage shook his head as he grabbed the container of milk and took a drink, his flexing throat muscles trapping William’s attention. “No,”

he said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “It’s not.”

Unsure of what to say to that, William shoved the sandwich into his mouth. A thought occurred to him, and William knew he was antagonizing a bear when he opened his mouth to ask. “Sage, can I ask you something?”

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“Sure,” he said before taking a bite of his sandwich. William was quickly changing his mind when he saw more than half the sandwich disappear from that one bite. He swallowed, and then opened his mouth again.

“When you went to Mayfield County to buy all the supplies, why didn’t you buy a generator?”

William quickly scrambled off of the steps when Sage roared and threw his food out into the yard, Terror running after it. He stood and stormed into the house. William knew he needed to find another place to live. If Sage was really that moody, that explosive, then he wanted no part of it.

He’d stay out of Sage’s way as best he could until the house was at least cleaned out of all the debris, and then William would find a new home.

* * * *

Sage gripped the counter edge as he fought desperately against the change already taking place inside his body. His skin felt as though it were stretched tightly over his bones. Not only was he fighting the change, he was fighting his growing attraction toward William.

“Hell of a way to show him,” Sage gritted between clenched teeth.

“If you kicked him in the gut, it would hurt less.” He took a few deep breaths, which didn’t help in the least, and then pushed away from the counter.

The changes were getting worse the older he became. If he didn’t mate soon, he would lose himself to his beast. He’d heard of men shifting and then never shifting back to their human form from waiting so long to mate.

But Sage hadn’t found the right person to stand by his side. And with his mark of outcast etched into his face, he highly doubted he would.

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Not only had Sage never heard of a man mating another man, but he’d never heard of a werewolf mating a human. Sure, werewolves bit humans, converted them, and then mated them, but no one had ever mated an unconverted before.

And he wasn’t going to bite William and subject him to this life.

He was an outcast without a pack to back him up and help protect his mate.

Sage slammed his fist on the counter as his ass was slung between a rock and a hard place. He needed to get away from the human until his shift was over. But what the hell was he going to tell the guy?

He looked down the hallway when he heard the screen door slam shut. He knew William was going back to work.
Fuck!

Sage walked out of the kitchen, going to find the small man and try to fix the mess he had made of things. It wasn’t William’s fault Sage was losing his fucking mind. If the house wasn’t capable of falling down around him, Sage would walk over to a wall and knock some sense into his head.

But the house looked as though it was barely standing as it was.

Shit.
He needed to go upstairs and make amends. It was something Sage wasn’t used to doing, but he had to learn to eat crow sometime.

As he walked up the stairs, carefully, Sage stopped to clench his jaw and roll his shoulders to ease the tight and tingling feeling that encompassed his entire body.

Somebody shoot me and put me out of my fucking misery.

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Sage walked out onto the porch the next morning, stretching and yawning. He scratched his chest, still feeling the itching and tightness, but the irritation wasn’t as bad today—so far.

They had a full day’s work ahead of them, and Sage was anxious to get started. He wanted to complete as much as he could before the change took over because he would be down for a day or two afterward recouping.

It was late fall, and the weather wouldn’t hold out much longer.

Soon the ground would be filled with snow, and the air would be cold as hell. Some of the wiring needed to be replaced and a few of the plumbing pipes.

His thoughts of his agenda were interrupted when he saw a car pulling out of his town and heading toward his home. Sage gave a low growl until he saw that it was a patrol car.

That was odd. As far as he knew, he hadn’t hired any law enforcements. He rubbed his thumb and his index finger together as he watched the patrol car turn into his driveway, dust kicking up behind it.

Sage stepped down from the porch, walking toward the slowly moving vehicle. With the neighboring towns being so small, Sage wondered if the sheriff doubled as a safety inspector. He wouldn’t doubt it. He grunted when the thought of being scammed crossed his brain waves.

Maybe this town was scheduled to be demolished, and he got duped. That thought had his hackles rising as the sheriff got out of his car.

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“Morning,” the sheriff said as he walked over to Sage. “Name’s Sheriff Reese, but you can call me Samuel.”

“Sage,” he replied as he shook the proffered hand. The guy was kind of young looking to be a damn sheriff. Sage noticed the fire in the guy’s eyes as he shook Sage’s hand with a little too much strength. The desire to prove to everyone that he could do his job and tough it out with the best of them was very obvious from the firm grip.

Sage wasn’t so sure he wanted someone like that around. He had dealt with enough gung ho men to last him a lifetime.

“I take it you’re the new owner of Mystery?”

Okay, so he hadn’t been duped. Good to know. “Yeah,” he replied as he looked Samuel over, wondering if his visit was just being friendly. “You’re a little off the beaten path, Samuel.”

“That I am. My jurisdiction is Mayfield County, but word got out that there was a new owner of this quaint little town.”

Sage could hear the sarcasm in the man’s voice, and it made him want to rip the fucker’s throat out. It might be a piece of shit town right now, but Sage had plans for it. He didn’t like anyone talking smack about it.

“I just wanted to welcome you and let you know that some teenagers have been known to come here to party, with the town being deserted and all.”

Not anymore they weren’t. Sage would make sure of that. There would be no underage anything going on in Mystery. Maybe he needed to hire help. The thought wasn’t too pleasing to Sage. He hadn’t planned on anyone being here for a while, but then again William had tossed that idea of a broken window the first day Sage arrived here.

“Here’s my card,” Samuel said as he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled a business card out. “Call if you have any problems.”

Yeah, right after he handed his manhood over. “Thanks,” he said as he shoved the small paper into his back pocket. No sense in pissing
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off the cops. He wasn’t too keen on spending time in a jail, especially a small-town jail…and so close to his shift.

“Well, good luck. If you need any help, call. I know a little about fixing things up.”

Sage nodded as he watched Samuel climb back into his patrol car.

He looked over his shoulder to see William standing just inside the door, and just out of sight.

Hmm…

* * * *

Samuel looked out of his rearview mirror as he pulled away. Sage seemed like a nice enough guy. He hoped the man could rebuild Mystery and bring her back to her former beauty. It was a nice out-of-the-way place to live if one preferred the slower pace to life.

He just prayed the guy stuck around once he found out why Mystery was deserted. And Samuel had no doubt Sage would find out about the wolves that massacred every last one of the residents all those years ago.

* * * *

“I thought the electrician was supposed to be coming out?”

William asked as he set the small armful of branches on the ground next to the round fire pit Sage was building. It wasn’t big, but it would serve its purpose.

Yeah, so did he. Sage pushed the last brick into place and then leaned back. “Apparently he forgot he had an appointment with us today.” He wiped his hands off on his jeans, grabbing some of the branches that William had brought over and placed them in the middle.

His eyes cut over to the small man, stealing a glimpse of William in one of Sage’s T-shirts. He had been tired of seeing the guy in the
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same damn clothes. Although his shirt reached William’s upper thighs, he had to admit, it looked good on him. Too bad he hadn’t had any pants to give him.

“Well, it’s too late in the day to call him now,” William commented as he tossed a few small branches on top of the ones Sage had just stacked.

“I’ll get a hold of him first thing in the morning. Why don’t you go get the meat from the cooler?”

William nodded and disappeared behind the Dumpster to where the cooler was sitting on the back porch. Sage would have left the cooler in the kitchen, but if the house fell, at least they could eat.

Sage started the fire while he waited on William. It gave him a chance to take a deep cleansing breath. Working around the small man all day was playing fucked-up games with his cock. He’d never stayed hard this long in his life. Not even when he was a teenager.

“Here you go,” William announced as he brought the package of meat to Sage. “I also grabbed the spices as well.”

Smart man.

Sage lifted his arm up, grabbing the package from William when his fingers brushed the other man’s. His cock jerked fiercely at the contact as a low growl ripped from his chest before he could stop it.

William snatched his hand away quickly as he ran back toward the porch.

Great, scare the guy.

Sage was beginning to wonder if he was going to be the only resident of Mystery by the time his shift occurred. It was looking more and more like it as the days wore on. If he didn’t stop scaring the man, Sage would be alone in his deserted town.

A smile tugged at his lips when he thought about William. He wished the man hadn’t slept on the other side of the room last night.

Sage had been looking forward to another morning cuddle session.

Too bad William tore himself away as soon as he woke up that first morning.

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It only cemented his theory that William wasn’t gay. If he had been, they would have been rolling around on that floor yesterday morning. He hadn’t even been willing to look at Sage when he stood there with nothing but his boots on.

He knew it wasn’t his outcast scar. William hadn’t batted an eye at it. That only made Sage want the guy even more. “William?” he called out.

“Coming.”

He wished.

Sage placed the frying pan securely on the fire, waiting for it to heat up as William walked back over to him, looking a little flushed.

Sage cursed. He hadn’t meant to embarrass the guy. William stayed a few feet away, telling Sage without words to back the fuck off. He got the message.

“Could you grab a drink for me?”

“Could have yelled that and saved me the trip,” William grumbled as he walked away. Sage grinned as he looked back at the fire.

William might be lightweight in the he-man department, but the guy had spunk in him.

Sage groaned. He had plenty of spunk to give William. Too bad the guy didn’t want it.

* * * *

William took a deep breath as he reached back into the cooler.

Man, that was close. If Sage had seen his instant hard-on when their hands had touched, he would have had an apple stuck in his mouth and been roasted over the open fire.

Clank.

William stilled when he heard a noise coming from inside the house. No one should be in there. Sage was in the backyard with the food, and Terror was running around chasing her tail twenty feet away.