Keeping Dallas Read online

  “One day I will get to keep you always,” Laurence whispered, setting his lover back on his feet. Apparently his brain-to-mouth filter had broken.

  A shadow passed across his lover’s beautiful face. “That would be nice.” From his tone, Dallas didn’t sound as if he thought that the time would ever come.

  Laurence brushed away the thought.

  “Enjoy your time, Dallas. I’ll see you later.” Rolf walked over and kissed Dallas on the top of the head in an affectionate paternal gesture. Dallas didn’t acknowledge the kiss at all, telling Laurence stronger than words that it was a common occurrence.

  “Yes, in one week.” Mila stepped forward and placed a hand on Rolf’s shoulder. He stepped from beneath her touch. Picking up Dallas’ bag, Rolf led them out the door.

  Rolf examined Laurence’s car from hood to trunk before opening the passenger door and carefully tucking Dallas inside. He came back around to Laurence’s side to have a final word.

  “Dallas is precious to my family. If you do anything—and I mean anything—that hurts him, they will never find all the pieces of your body.” A business card was crammed into Laurence’s hand. “Call me if Dallas needs anything.”

  With those chilling parting words, Laurence slipped into the car.

  “Rolf isn’t really that scary,” Dallas confided from the passenger seat as Laurence started up the car. “He’s just protective. He’s been looking after me for years.”

  “Yeah, he seems like a nice guy,” Laurence agreed.

  For a serial killer.

  Trying not to speed like he was breaking out of the nut house, Laurence pulled out of the drive. He didn’t breathe until they drove through the iron gates.

  Holy crap.

  Dallas bounced in the passenger’s seat. He couldn’t believe Rolf had agreed to let him go for a week. He knew that Mila was happy to get him out of there. The woman didn’t like him or the time Rolf ‘wasted’ on trying to guide Dallas’ future. If only he could stay with Laurence forever. The older man was everything Dallas was looking for in a partner, except for the lack of a wolf side. If Laurence were a shape shifter, too, Dallas would’ve moved in with him on their second date.

  As much as he would never want to give up his wolf half, for a brief moment Dallas wondered what it would be like to be human and free to stay with his lover through a full moon. To stay curled up in his man’s arms and not worry about shifting and tearing the sheets.

  “What are you thinking about?” Laurence’s tone demanded an answer.

  Anyone else asking such an intrusive question, Dallas would brush off, but not his master.

  “I was wishing I could stay with you longer,” Dallas confessed. He hoped Laurence didn’t think he was hinting about living together—it was more of a wish without any basis in reality.

  He got a sideways look for his trouble. Relationships with humans were in some ways more difficult than wolves. At least with wolves you knew where you stood.

  “Me too. What kind of hold does that man have on you?” Laurence asked.

  “What man?” Somewhere during his daydreaming, he’d lost track of the conversation.

  “Rolf. Why do you do what he says?”

  “He’s my guardian.” Dallas frowned as he tried to understand the question. Why wouldn’t he do what Rolf asked? Wolves followed their alpha.

  “You’re old enough to take care of yourself,” Laurence declared. His hands gripped the steering wheel tight enough to squeak the leather.

  Not for a wolf.

  A twenty-five year old human was considered an adult but a werewolf at that age still needed guidance. His control issues made him dangerous. Dallas couldn’t be allowed to live on his own until he was at least fifty. By then, Laurence could be dead.

  “Not in my family.” Dallas gave Laurence a smile, hoping to distract his lover from their conversation. “I owe Rolf a lot. He took me in when my parents died.”

  “How did they die?”

  Dallas sniffed back tears at the memory. Werewolf hunters had sneaked into their house in the middle of the night and had slaughtered his birth pack. Sometimes at night he could still hear their screams from his hiding spot under the stairs. He used to like to hide there and sleep in the cramped quarters, a weird quirk that had saved his life. It had taken Rolf nearly two years to stop Dallas from sleeping in the coat closet beneath the mansion stairs.

  “Car accident,” Dallas forced the lie through his lips. It hurt to hide the truth from his master but some secrets he had to keep even from the man he loved.

  “I’m sorry, pet.” Laurence patted Dallas’ leg. “But I still don’t like how he looks at you.”

  Dallas laughed until he saw Laurence’s face. His master wasn’t kidding.

  “Rolf doesn’t want me, not like you think. He just wants me to find the right partner. He keeps trying to set me up with different men. I told him you were my m…partner and that we were exclusive,” Dallas offered.

  Damn, he’d almost said mate. He needed to watch his words. Nothing gave a werekin up quicker than throwing around words like mate. Maybe if he was lucky his master hadn’t noticed.

  Laurence’s grip tightened on the wheel. “When did you tell him this?”

  Dallas tilted his head as he looked at his lover. The peppery scent of anger filled the car as Dallas tried to feel his way carefully around the minefield their conversation had become. “Yesterday.”

  “And you think he’ll respect your wishes and stop trying to fix you up?”

  “Of course.” It had never occurred to Dallas that Rolf might have different ideas. “He’s getting married. That’ll keep him busy for a while.” Hopefully Rolf would be too distracted by his marriage to try to find a mate for Dallas.

  Oddly enough, Master Laurence didn’t appear calmed by that observation. “He wouldn’t be the first married man who had some action on the side.”

  Dallas laughed. He couldn’t help it. You couldn’t hide an affair in a wolf pack. Scent alone would give you away. Everyone would smell the alpha on Dallas if he allowed that to happen. Not to mention Mila would rip Dallas apart.

  Besides, Dallas wouldn’t interfere even if he could. Shifters needed those mating bonds to strengthen ties against a predominately human world. It made Dallas’ fascination with Laurence all the more puzzling to his pack.

  How could he explain that when he’d first seen his master, his heart had pounded, his cock had hardened and his wolf had rolled over to show his belly? Laurence was everything Dallas needed and he desperately wanted to belong to the man, even though he knew it couldn’t be long term. As much as he adored Laurence, there was no future for a wolf and a human. Their time together had an expiration date, but Dallas wasn’t going to focus on that. For now, he was going to enjoy their time together.

  Chapter Three

  Only a mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf.

  —Aldo Leopold

  Laurence escorted Dallas into his apartment, unaccountably nervous. It wasn’t as if the younger man had never been to his place. They always ended up at Laurence’s condo, but this was the first time Dallas had agreed to stay.

  Millions of questions ran through his mind about Dallas’ upbringing and the people in the huge mansion, but one look at his werekin’s brilliant eyes and all he could think about was stripping him down and having his way.

  No one else had ever got to him like Dallas. Ever. They could eat later. He needed to reconnect with his sub right now before he lost the little control he’d gathered during their short car ride home.

  “Strip.” He made sure to add a crack of command to his voice. His lover responded best if he knew Laurence had control of the situation. Dallas didn’t like not knowing who was in charge, probably a result of growing up beneath his stern-eyed guardian.

  Laurence planned to do some research on this Rolf and find out what kind of power he had over his sweet Dallas. There was something off about the man, and the
re was no way he would return Dallas to a bad situation. If he had to use magical persuasion to get the man to see things Laurence’s way, he would. Ethics and morals could be bent like a twisty tie in order to keep Dallas.

  With a small smile, Dallas quickly removed his clothes then folded them before carefully placing them on the chair in the entryway.

  “While you’re at my house, I expect you to be naked unless I tell you otherwise. Do you have any problem with this rule?” He planned to start as he meant to go on. Covering Dallas’ body should be listed as a crime against humanity. The sub’s muscles were outlined in fine detail, with little fat on Dallas’ sleek form.

  Dallas shook his head so fast Laurence was surprised he didn’t hear a crack. “No, Master, I don’t have a problem with that rule.”

  “Good. You have nothing to be ashamed of.” Despite his physical beauty, it wasn’t his looks that kept Laurence attached to his sub. The devotion in Dallas’ gaze and the obvious affection he held for Laurence made all the difference.

  In the past he’d had his share of boys who had been willing to do anything to live in a nice place and enjoy Laurence’s luxurious lifestyle. A few had wanted to become permanent fixtures. However, Laurence could always tell they had been more interested in his wallet than himself. With Dallas there wasn’t that fear. He could see in his sub’s eyes that if Laurence had lived in a small apartment with only a few dollars to his name, Dallas would’ve been just as happy. Not once in the time they’d been together had his submissive ever asked Laurence for anything. Not an object, not money, not a sexual favour. Dallas was a true submissive. He always displayed perfect faith in his master to provide anything he needed. Laurence approved of that outlook.

  “This will be different than our other sessions. For the first time I have the ability to keep you here for several days at a time. I’m going to push you further than I’ve ever pushed you before. I might plug you and tie you and not let you come for days,” Laurence warned. He didn’t want Dallas to think he’d take it easy on him. The idea of to having Dallas to himself for an entire week made Laurence’s hands shake. Like a kid in a candy store, he didn’t know what to take a bite of first.

  Dallas gave a soft whimper.

  Laurence grabbed Dallas’ chin between his fingers and forced his sub to meet his eyes.

  “You are mine. Look at me,” he said when Dallas tried to avert his gaze.

  The pulse in Dallas’ throat battered at the base. He could see Dallas was supremely uncomfortable with that order. “I can’t,” he whispered.

  “You can because I told you to,” Laurence insisted. Had that bastard of a guardian taught Dallas not to meet another man’s eyes?

  Reluctantly, with glacial speed, Dallas looked into his master’s eyes. The sub’s entire body trembled with the effort, as if he were waiting to be struck down by lightning or maybe punched.

  “Dallas, does your guardian hit you?” Laurence used his calmest voice, the one he used when he was trying to get a sub down from a natural high.

  Dallas gasped. “No! Why would you ask that?”

  “Are you sure? I’m asking because you seem afraid to meet my eyes.” He’d hunt down Rolf if he had to. Dallas should never be afraid of anything.

  “Oh, no, Master. It’s just…” Dallas looked away before he mustered the courage to meet Laurence’s gaze again. “I mean no disrespect to you. It’s hard for a submissive to meet his master’s eyes.”

  But it wasn’t really. Laurence had had many subs meet his gaze over the years. “All right, we’ll let the matter drop. However, whenever I’m directly addressing you, I want you to look me in the eyes. Understand?”

  Dallas gave a definite, if reluctant, nod. “I’ll try, Master.”

  “Don’t try. Do. There will be consequences if you forget.” Some things he would let his shy lover avoid, but this wasn’t one of them.

  He saw Dallas’ throat move as if he was swallowing back his fear. Good thing Dallas didn’t know about Laurence’s true nature. A sorcerer had to be careful who he shared that information with.

  He’d grown cautious after a third lover had tried to kill Laurence in his sleep and steal his magic. Although it had only hurt a little, he’d lost his temper at the man’s gall. It had taken days to get the spot off his floor.

  No, it was best to keep his sweet boy in the dark for a while longer. He didn’t want to frighten Dallas.

  Dallas’ stomach growled.

  “Hmm, maybe we’d best eat something first.” A scene wouldn’t go well if his lover’s stomach took centre stage. Dallas had a healthy appetite. Although his lover’s body tended towards lean, the man ate enough food for a battalion of soldiers. Laurence had no idea where Dallas put it all. Laurence only ate enough food to keep people from asking uncomfortable questions, since sorcerers subsisted on the magic around them.

  “I think I’ve got some roast beef in the fridge. Why don’t you make us some sandwiches? I’m going to check my email real quick while you do so. Come find me when they’re done.” It would give Laurence time to calm himself before their lovemaking. He had to at least give the illusion of control if he planned to keep Dallas’ respect.

  Dallas nodded. When Laurence left him, he was happily humming as he pulled items out of the refrigerator. He didn’t need to know that Laurence had purposely stocked the fridge with all of Dallas’ favourite foods. Well, at least the ones he’d seen Dallas eat and enjoy. His lover wasn’t over often enough for him to know all of his favourites, but soon he’d be able to discover Dallas’ secrets and maybe convince him to stay forever.

  Walking to his office, he momentarily paused in the doorway. As he continued to his desk, he didn’t betray his knowledge of the intruder by so much as a flicker of his eyelids.

  “How long is he going to be here?” a soft voice asked.

  Laurence walked to his seat and plopped down on the leather cushion. He clasped his hands together and set them on the desk to prevent them from shaking. The next few minutes would determine his future. He needed to get the intruder out of there before Dallas discovered they had company.

  “A week. What are you doing here, Nate?”

  Please say you’re just passing through.

  He didn’t need the complications of family to scare off Dallas, not when he finally had his sub where he wanted him.

  A man dressed in a black cloak stepped forward as if he had to physically tear himself away from the darkness in order to come closer. As his visitor shoved back his hood, Laurence tried unsuccessfully to hold back a gasp.

  “What happened?” He hoped his tone sounded more curious than appalled, but his brother’s sharp laughter told him he hadn’t been very successful.

  “I got the bad side of a witch spell,” Nate said. The shadows made his usually gaunt face spookier. The new claw marks across his cheekbones in vivid red spoke of a fierce battle. “She called a harpy to protect her.”

  “Who was it?” Witch attacks needed to be reported. Any witch using magic against another being without provocation could be brought to justice.

  “Mary Neeves,” Nate said ominously.

  Crap!

  “Why did you make the witch queen angry with you?” Mary Neeves ranked as one of the most powerful witches on the planet.

  “You know that boy you prosecuted last week?”

  “The one in trouble for baiting zombies?” It had been a particularly gruesome crime where the kid had lured zombies into a swamp with bits of human body parts hanging from a string. The zombies had to be fished out and laid to rest.

  “Yeah. She says he was framed and until you change your sentence, I’m harpy bait.” Nate shrugged as if the matter didn’t bother him but Laurence saw the panic in his brother’s eyes.

  “So, because her great-grandson can’t behave, she’s going to punish you?”

  Nate nodded. “She’s a vindictive witch.”

  “She’s going to be an ex-witch if she thinks she can get away with that,” L
aurence growled. He hated it when powerful people abused their position. He’d fought against magical corruption all his life and rarely was he rewarded.

  “You think you can fight her?” Nate shook his head. “You know none of her witchkin will go against her. They’re all terrified of her power.”

  “She needs to be taught a lesson. No one is above the law.” There would be no point in laws if they made exceptions for everyone who felt free to break them.

  “She’ll kill you,” Nate said, paling. “I think she’s spell mad. Her eyes didn’t look as if anyone was home.”

  That accusation concerned Laurence. Some witches became so powerful that casting spells gave them a high—like taking a really good drug. If Mary Neeves had given in to the addiction, she could be even more dangerous than usual because her normal parameters of caution would be completely missing.

  “I’ll be careful, but I’ve got to talk to her before that damn harpy takes the rest of you out.” Nate didn’t have the ability to fight a witch. Born without magic, Nate knew the basics of magical spells without the juice to bring them to life. Nate studied magical theory and history and often served as Laurence’s advisor. However, he didn’t have the power to protect himself against a mad witch.

  “I’d better take precautions. I’ll take the gargoyles with me,” Laurence added.

  “I didn’t know they accepted work outside the courthouse.” Nate shook his head. “Even with stone soldiers, I don’t know if that’ll be enough.”

  If she’s spell mad, she’ll need to be tested…

  “Are you even listening to me?” Nate shouted. “She’s furious you jailed her great-grandson. She’s going to kill you.”

  Laurence sighed. He could feel a brand new, shiny headache making his head throb and the lights sparkle unnaturally bright. “I heard what you said. I can’t let her run around threatening people, especially my relatives. If she feels free attacking you today, who will she think it’s okay to attack tomorrow?”