Liam couldn’t help but preen as he caught sight of his reflection in the store windows. Tan wasn’t his color of choice, but the pants fit tight enough to show off his ass and his black belt, complete with paranormal cuffs, his radio and a night stick gave him the sense of purpose Lucien was talking about. It wasn’t as though he had to do a lot. Rocky explained the duties – basically keep the peace and note any newcomers that came to town. Most of the troubles in the small town were domestic and the occasional drunk, although Cam handled most of those. Since the rabbit hunt for Seth months before, most of the town had been well behaved.
Mal had ordered his uniform for him in advance; there were shades of intervention there, but Liam couldn’t be angry about it. His friends cared about him and he had to admit, working was a terrific way of taking his mind off his personal troubles. Joe, the other deputy looked really pleased when Liam strolled in for the interview and disappeared before Rocky pinned the star on his chest. He was long overdue for a break.
Strolling along the main street, Liam smiled and tipped his hat at the ladies. Arrowtown wasn’t big as far as shifter towns went, but it was a friendly place for the most part. Stopping at the hotdog stand, he ordered two large with all the trimmings. He was half way through his first one, taking care not to drop sauce on his tie, when he got his first call. It was Mal.
“Liam, I need you to get over to Doc Farriday’s office. It’s Beau….”
Shoving the remains of his hotdogs in the hands of a young boy waiting his turn, Liam took off running. He could hear Mal still babbling in the radio but he didn’t care. He knew Beau had gone to see Theo. If that lion’s hurt Beau, I swear I’ll never forgive him. Never. His boots pounded up the wooden steps to the doctor’s office. Slamming open the door, he looked around wildly. Beau. Beau was there, looking just as he did the day before. Without thinking about it he ran over and grabbed his mate close, vowing never to let go. All his doubts and good intentions about letting Beau choose flew out the window the moment his mate was in his arms.
“Are you all right? Tell me you’re not hurt,” he said just as Beau said, “Wow, look at you in the uniform.”
“Yeah. New job. Just started today. Beau, what happened? Why are you here? In the doctor’s office, I mean.”
Pulling back, Liam checked Beau from head to toe. He didn’t seem to be injured but Liam caught the trace of Theo’s scent on his clothes and the neck of his shirt was torn. His eyes automatically flew to Beau’s neck.
“I didn’t let him get his teeth in me,” Beau said quickly. “He tried, not that he admitted we were mates, of course. Shit, Liam, I’m so sorry. You were right. All of it. Fuck. It was worse than I could ever imagine.”
Now Liam was assured Beau was safe he felt the bigger man’s body tremble. Holding him tight, Liam led him over to the couch that had seen better days. Pushing Beau down, he sat by his side, cradling his mate’s head on his chest. Yes, his cock was fit to burst his new pants, but Beau needed comfort and Liam could give him that.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Beau mumbled into his chest. “His house is warded with magic and that should’ve been enough of a warning sign. And then in his office – what he did to poor Simon.”
“Simon?” Cradling Beau’s jaw gently, Liam lifted his head, meeting sorrowful eyes. “Simon’s at home today. He’s with the twins. I saw him an hour ago.”
“Not your Simon; Theo’s Simon. Oh my god,” Beau’s eyes filled with tears. “He had a kidnapped slave, right there in his office when his butler let me in to see him. Theo cut his tongue out so he wouldn’t complain. I couldn’t leave him there when I left so I brought him here. I would have been back last night, but the poor guy needed somewhere to sleep and hot food and I had to scrounge up some clothes for him. We headed back as soon as he woke up.”
All at once Liam’s hotdog threatened to reappear. He knew Theo was cruel but…but. “The man you saved, will he be all right?”
“Better than he might have been,” Doctor Farriday came out from the treatment room, pulling off his rubber gloves. “Nothing short of a magical miracle will restore his tongue or his ability to speak. But aside from dehydration, bruises and a fractured rib he’s fine. He’s a strong shifter but I’d guess whoever did this to him used magic in his restraints to stop him from shifting. There are burn marks around his wrists and ankles.”
“A shifter you said,” Liam stood up. “Is he a lion? One that looks like our Simon?”
Farriday nodded. “Do you think you might know him?”
“If he came from my ex-pride, then yeah, it’s possible. Can I see him?” Liam didn’t know why but he had to see the extent of the damage for himself. It was hard enough when he’d seen what Theo had done to Darwin’s Simon, but at least the man hadn’t been physically hurt. To permanently damage another shifter; that was the stuff of nightmares.
“He wants to talk to you; well, write things down,” Farriday corrected himself. “I think he wants to lay charges against the man who did this.”
“Theo Western,” Liam forced the name past his lips. “You remember, Doc, my unclaimed mate, the kidnapper? The one who tried to take our Simon while he was pregnant for a pet?”
“Oh, fuck. Liam, I’m so sorry.” Farriday noticed his uniform for the first time. “Can you do this, officially I mean? Do you want to do this? Or should I call Rocky and Joe into handle this? I’m sure they’d understand given the circumstances.”
“I can do this.” Liam stood straighter as he felt Beau’s hand in his. “The Fates saw fit to give me two mates. Beau Ferris here is my second one. I think….” He looked down to see Beau watching him. When their eyes met, Beau gave a nod. “I think we both need to hear what our other mate is capable of and besides this Simon might be more inclined to communicate if Beau is in the room with me.”
“Let’s hope the first thing this man tells us is his real name. If he really is a Simon, things could get confusing around here.” The doctor was right, but Liam didn’t remember a Simon from his home pride. The nagging feeling that he’d know who Theo took followed him through the door to the treatment room. Damn. He hated it when he was right.
/~/~/~/~/
“Hal! Mother of God, is that you?” Liam hesitantly stepped towards the bed as if unsure of his welcome. Beau could see Hal, if that was who it was, tilt his head to one side studying Liam with an expression of recognition.
“Yes, it’s me, Liam. Lucien lives in town as well. We’ve probably grown a bit since you saw us last?”
Hal nodded, a grin tugging at his lips as he flexed his arms. Liam laughed. “Yeah, you’ve grown too. Lucien’s going to be so thrilled to see you…that is…that is….” He reached out his hand and Beau took it. “This is Beau Ferris. He’s my true mate. If you have a problem with that then it’s probably best if you stay away from Lucien too. He’s gay as well. Hell, all the men in my new pack are gay.”
Shrugging, Hal opened his arms. Beau felt Liam squeeze his hand before leaning across the bed and hugging the man tight. “We’ve missed you. We’ve missed you all so much,” Liam whispered. As much as it was a touching reunion, Beau couldn’t stop his animal half from wanting to stake a claim. He tried to swallow his growl, but was unsuccessful. Liam immediately realized what was wrong and after patting Hal on the shoulder, he stepped back.
“Beau and I haven’t claimed each other yet,” Liam explained to Hal. “Beau, this is Hal Lamont, one of Lucien’s littermates, which makes him my older brother.”
“Then Western knew who he was?” The magnitude of what Theo had done, had Beau reaching out for the nearest stool. Targeting a random shifter was bad enough, but someone from his own pride? One of Liam’s relatives?
“Yeah, he was probably pissed I saved his ass from being killed by Ra and the others.” Liam slumped on the bed beside his brother. So close, Beau could see traces of the family resemblance. The hair coloring was different, but the two men shared the same eyes and build. “I’m never going to be able to apologize enough for what’s happened to you, Hal. My stupid lion wouldn’t let my friends kill Western. I didn’t know he’d do something like this especially not to a pride member.”
Hal was shaking his head furiously and Beau looked around for something he could write with. Spying pen and a pad of paper on the desk, he leaned over and grabbed it, handing it to Hal. Smiling his thanks, Hal started scribbling furiously.
“Not your fault,” Liam read out loud. “Thought Western wanted to hook up. Done it before. He couldn’t get it up. Got pissed off. I suggested we have a drink to calm him down. Woke up two days later chained to his bed with no tongue. Couldn’t shift. Couldn’t leave. Who the hell is Simon?”
“Do I even want to ask why you want to know?”
Liam looked so shattered, Beau felt he had to intervene. “Simon is one of Liam’s packmates – a snake shifter. He was pregnant with twins when Theo kidnapped him here in town. He’s true mated to a mouse who didn’t take kindly to any of this and the pack got him back.”
Hal looked as though he wanted to laugh at the mouse comment, but instead he took the paper from Liam and scribbled again. “Theo’s got a real hard on for him. Likes the idea of having cubs of his own. Doesn’t have to hide he’s gay now the pride banished him. DANGER.” Liam looked up. “Simon’s in danger, from Theo? Still?”
Nodding, Hal continued writing. “Couldn’t stop talking about him. Tried to get the council to arrest Simon on trumped up charges. Didn’t work. No idea what he’s planning now, but using witches.”
“FUCK!” Liam jumped up and started to pace. “I should have let Rocky and Ra kill him when they had the chance.”
“You couldn’t do that, just the same as I couldn’t kill him when I saw what he’d done to Hal. It’s part of being mates.” Beau found his legs, got up, and pulled Liam into his arms. “Just stop a minute. Stop and think. Theo’s banned from here. He couldn’t get to Simon even if he knew where he lived.”
Hal banged on the wall, attracting their attention. HE KNOWS was written in large black letters on the piece of paper he held up.
“There are five babies living in our house,” Liam’s face was white. “None of them a year old yet. We can’t let anything happen to them.”
“We won’t.” Beau looked at Hal, his confidence rising as he finally had something constructive he could do. “Are you okay to travel?” Hal gave him the thumbs up. “Okay, Liam you text all your friends not usually home this time of day and tell them to get there now. With me taking Hal, Theo will be angrier than before. I’ll call a few friends of mine. We’ll all meet back at the house.”
Spotting a large foot locker, Beau gave Liam one last hug and then went across and opened it. As he suspected, the thing was full of clothes in all sizes. He’d managed to get Hal back to Arrowtown wearing his jacket, and a spare pair of sweatpants but the man had nothing else. Thankfully most shifters prepared for clothing emergencies.
“What am I going to do?” Liam’s broken voice snagged Beau’s attention instantly. “I can’t let my friends kill our mate, even if he deserves it. I don’t want my lion hurting my friends for doing what’s right. I can’t leave my friends to fight this threat alone. Not against witches, but I’m not sure I can fight Theo either.”
Beau threw the clothes over to Hal and pulled Liam into his arms again. “You’ll follow your heart, babe, just like I did when I came to find you. We don’t have to kill him. He needs to be stopped from hurting anyone else, that’s all. You’re not alone in this. We have each other. The one good thing that came out of all this mess is I have absolutely no doubts I want us to be together. In fact, I want you to claim me as soon as you’re ready.”
Well, that shocked Liam out of his despair. “You’ve got really bad timing, you know that?”
But as Beau ushered Liam and Hal out of the doctor’s office, he had a nagging feeling their claiming was a crucial part of what was to follow. The urgency he felt had nothing to do with the lump in his pants. Everything inside of him knew it was the right thing to do. He just had to convince Liam of that.