Chapter Twenty-Two
Linc
After they ate dinner, they’d gone straight back to their posts in the living room. They vetoed more video games for the twins and instead settled on the original version of It. Baze got to his feet once the credits started to roll and went to the hall closet, grabbing all the pillows and blankets they had. He tossed them at Jace and Jasper. “I’m going to bed. No porn and no alcohol.” He glared at each one of them in turn, showing that he meant business.
Jasper chuckled. “But I need something to get my mind off that creepy ass Pennywise.”
“Oh yeah? Well I’m sure there’s some homework you could do.”
Jasper yawned dramatically, stretching his arms above his head. “I think I’m ready to crash after all.”
Jace stayed silent through their whole exchange. Pretty much par for the course for the two of them; the class clown and the strong, silent type.
Linc stood, reaching for Madden’s hand. “You can take my bed and I’ll bunk with Baze.”
Jasper stood, grabbing a blanket and throwing it wide to unfold it. “You’re really taking Ms. Cooper’s lecture to heart aren’t you? Don’t worry, Coach, I won’t tell. You can sleep with Miss Madden.” Linc had been forced to give Jasper a “talk” before the end of last school year. He had to convince him that being a male whore was not the right path. It had been pure torture and apparently Jasper was never going to let him live it down.
Linc threw a pillow at Jasper’s head. “That’s ten laps tomorrow, smartass.”
Madden placed two fingers on Riley’s wrist. “If he wakes up, one of you needs to come get me.” The twins nodded. After a minute, she put the back of her hand to her patient’s forehead. “He seems stable, but if he comes to, I want to check his pupils.”
“Got it,” Jace said.
Linc took Madden’s hand in his again, pulling her down the hall.
Baze was standing at his bedroom door, arms crossed. “You aren’t sleeping with me, dude.”
“I don’t trust myself with her.” Linc mirrored his packmate’s posture. “I was already on edge before you filled our apartment with male shifters.” The bond was incomplete, and the shifter in him would no doubt see everyone as a threat.
Madden leaned against the doorjamb to Linc’s room. “I can just head home. It’s no big deal.” She ran her hand down Linc’s back. “We can talk tomorrow.”
“No.” Linc spun toward her. “You leave, I leave.” He wouldn’t make it if they were that far apart. He wouldn’t be able to sleep without knowing she was close. Last night trying to sleep against the door was bad enough.
Baze rolled his eyes. “Hold on, I have an idea.” He disappeared into his room and returned a few minutes later with a pair of handcuffs dangling from his fingertips. He swung them up and around and then tossed them to Madden. “Lock him up tight.”
Madden threw her head back laughing. “How did I know that you’d be into this stuff?”
Linc let out a deep low growl, herding Madden into his room with his body. “Don’t think about Baze and sex at the same time. Ever.” He shut the door behind him, effectively closing them in a dark room. Linc shut his eyes and clenched his jaw. He wanted to reach for her. He wanted to tear her clothes from her body and bury himself inside her, where he belonged.
“Get on the bed.”
He groaned in desperation. “Baby.”
“Get on the bed and put your hands together.” There was no mistaking the lust in her voice. She wanted him as much as he wanted her, but she was smarter than he was.
Linc did what she asked and seconds later he was expertly cuffed to his iron headboard. “I don’t even want to know how you learned to do that so quickly.” Madden giggled quietly at his comment as she started going through his dresser drawers. “What are you doing?”
“I need some clothes to sleep in.” She must have found what she was looking for because she went into his bathroom and shut the door.
Linc used the time alone to study the handcuffs chaining him to his bed. These weren’t your typical run of the mill gag-gift soft handcuffs. These were all metal, police-grade cuffs. Damn. He knew Baze was into kink, but…His thoughts trailed off when Madden came back in the room wearing one of his St. Leasing baseball jerseys and a pair of his briefs like sleeping shorts. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He pulled against his restraints, making a lot of noise in the process. He’d break the stupid headboard if he had to. She looked unbelievable. Seeing her in his clothes, his last name stretched across her back—it was almost too much to handle.
Madden climbed in the bed and got under the covers. “It’s time to tell me what the hell is going on.” She propped her head up on her elbow. “You want me to be yours? You want me to join this pack? Tell me what’s happening.”
She was right. She deserved to know all of it. How could he ask her to be in his life forever without telling her what she was getting into?
“Back when Corey first came to St. Leasing, her task as the new guidance counselor was to clear the varsity baseball team to play. She had to interview all the players and sign off on their temperament. She came home one day after talking to Jace and Jasper Franklin and told us that she thought something was up with Jace, that he might be a little crazy and a lot violent. A few days later Jace beat the hell out of his brother. In the end, it turned out that Jace and Jasper weren’t raised together. Jasper was raised by his mom and his stepdad and Jace was raised by their aggressive asshole of a father.”
“Wait. I thought shifters mated for life?”
“We do—most of us, anyway. There are still families out there that insist on good breeding and bloodlines, which is how Jace and Jasper were conceived.” Linc tried to turn on his side, but the cuffs wouldn’t let him. “Anyway it became obvious that Jace wasn’t crazy, he’d just been abused his whole life. Franklin came down to Haxton, slapped both boys around and pissed Corey the fuck off. The twins’ mom got involved and Franklin lost custody.”
“That’s why he’s so pissed?”
Linc let out a little laugh. “Not even the half of it. So when all that was going on, we found out that the old counselor was murdered. And then, this guy named Bull came and kidnapped Corey and Riley. He beat Riley and tried to rape Corey.”
“Are freaking kidding me? What happened?”
“Corey shot him in the balls with a pink nine millimeter.”
Madden nodded, lips pursed. “Okay, yeah, that sounds about right.”
“Bull was arrested but then Franklin had him killed in prison, made it look like suicide.”
She sat up further. “Is that why Riley and Corey are so connected? They went through that trauma together?”
Now he was going to have to get into the supernatural stuff, the stuff that made them all sound like some made-up movie characters. “Corey and Dom’s baby? She’s special. She’ll have a little shifter magic in her. Which isn’t common for girls. Riley is her cosmic brother. Like her protector or some shit. None of us fully understand what’s happening there or why.”
“Cosmic brother? I can’t even…” Madden rubbed her forehead. “Let’s leave that alone for now, because I’m still not understanding why Franklin is having people beat up on the kids here. Why now?”
“Okay, so that old counselor that was murdered? Turns out he was collecting data on shifters. There was a USB drive found on him after he was killed. The Feds had to come down here to investigate. Luckily, they all thought he was certifiably insane. While they were here though, Dom and Baze thought it would be a good idea to turn the Feds onto Franklin since he got off for all the other crimes he’d committed. Plus, according to the Feds and the twins, Franklin is the shifter equivalent of a modern-day mob boss.”
She held up her hand. “So he must have found out that the kids sang to the Feds and sent someone here to scare them.”
Linc nodded. “That’s what we’re thinking.”
“And this Brooks guy, the one you’ve got to call, is the same one who caused all the trouble because you slept with his fiancée?”
“Yes.”
She rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling. “This is a lot of drama to take in.”
“I know, and now you’re having to deal with it too.” He wanted to touch her, to comfort her. He was silently cursing the stupid cuffs. “This isn’t typical for life mated to a shifter, baby. I promise.” After everything he told her, he was almost too scared to ask. But he needed to know. He’d been thinking of nothing else all day. “How are you feeling about everything? About us?”
“I’m here. That’s a start, right?”
He had to smile at that. Because she was; she’d been right there in the thick of it all day. She hadn’t backed down, she hadn’t run. “I’ll take what I can get.” And he meant it. As long as she was in his bed, lying beside him, he was content. Well, sort of. The urge to touch her was strong. The need to feel her skin was a pull he felt in his soul. The want to kiss her pouty lips…“Uncuff me.”
“I can’t.”
He chuckled quietly. “Madden, I’m good. I just want to hold you, I promise. I feel calm and in control right now.”
She winced. “No. I mean, I actually can’t. Baze didn’t give me the key.”