Chapter One
Julian
Julian wiped the sweat from his neck and threw back his third shot of tequila. The clear liquid didn't even burn going down, a perk of being in Mexico. The downside of being in Mexico was, everything else. While is brothers and pack were enjoying the crisp coolness of the northwestern forests, he was sweating to death in a dank bar with a dirt floor and no real door.
"It's fucking hotter than a demon's asshole," Julian said to Hugh who sat beside him at whatever the hole in the wall bar was called. A few miles outside of central Acapulco they were way beyond what was considered tourist safe. Julian cracked his knuckles. He'd welcome a good tussle right about then.
"Stop staring down anyone who will look your way," Hugh said tiredly from the corner of his mouth.
"I'm letting them know I can't be intimidated," Julian replied with mock innocence.
Hugh rolled his dark brown eyes. "No, you are hoping one of them will take offense, so you have an excuse to break some shit. I know you're restless, Julian, but my guy said Bryce would be here, so I think he'll be here. We just have to wait."
Julian glowered at his empty shot glass. Hugh's guy was some twerp that would have said anything for the money Hugh gave him. "We're on a bogus fucking mission anyway. Gideon said he has a connection with a guy up north."
"But Bryce can get us a better price."
"If we ever find the bastard!"
A couple of the locals looked their way with concern, and Julian stared them each down.
"Seriously, dude, stop. I told Roscoe I would get you back in one piece."
"You shouldn't have lied," Julian said with a smile as he watched one of the locals reach below the bar for, he hoped, a weapon.
Julian felt a tight squeeze at his groin. Hugh had a hold of his balls and didn't let go until Julian turned away from the other customers.
"Try to behave yourself," Hugh murmured. "If they don't show in the next hour then we'll leave. But until then you need to be a good boy."
Julian grumbled his reply, not actual words, more noises of dissatisfaction.
"Mas tequila?" the bartender asked him indicating the mostly empty bottle in front of them.
"No, we're good thank you," Hugh replied. When the bartender only gave him a blank stare in return, Hugh cleared his throat. "Um, no more. No mas, gracias."
Julian didn't know if the bartender understood what Hugh was trying to say or if he gave up. Either way, he turned from them tending to the customers on the other side of the bar.
Julian imagined the bars in the more touristy spots would be much more impressive than this dark hole. They might even have air-conditioning. But it was his luck that the natural gas tycoon they were chasing apparently had a penchant for spots off the beaten path. If they didn't need the fuel for the camp, Julian would've said fuck it a long time ago. But their new home in the forest outside of Noel needed liquid petroleum to run, and Bryce was supposedly the guy to give it to them.
"Why don't we leave, hit up that one beach once more and then go home?" Julian asked with a pout. He knew he was a grown man, sticking his lip out in the middle of a bar, but he was with Hugh, and Hugh brought this side out of him. "We'll just pack it in like we originally planned, to hell with this fucking guy."
Hugh didn't respond. He was used to Julian's outbursts. But, something about the straightness with which he sat, piqued Julian's interest. It was like a predator the moment they caught the first scent of their prey.
"What?" Julian snarled, his eyes darting to each person in the bar.
"Nothing," Hugh said, shaking his head. "I just thought I got a whiff of something…odd."
"Like Bryce's mighty awful stench?" Julian asked hopefully.
"Definitely not. It wasn't bad, whatever it was."
Julian looked around them curiously. Nothing had changed. No one had come in or left. But, Hugh had the stronger nose almost as sensitive as a wolf shifter, with the strength of a bear. He looked at the shifter who, in many ways, completed him. He was long and lean for a bear, but with the muscle expected of a man who could hold his own. Growing up, people in their pack used to get them confused, claiming that even their scents were similar. They'd joked that Julian and Hugh were obviously mates and wondered which would mature into an alpha.
The joke was on them.
Julian peeked down at Hugh's lap, pleased and curious to find him erect. "It must have smelled delicious," Julian quipped, one eyebrow raised.
"Shut up and follow me," Hugh said without his usual calm demeanor. He practically tugged Julian out of the bar and into the alley directly next to it. When they'd walked past the point where they could be easily seen from the street, Hugh pushed Julian roughly against the wall so hard some of the muddy plaster crumbled off.
"Jesus, that was some fucking smell," Julian said, his body preparing to either fight or submit. Each time with Hugh was a battle as much as each time was a choice. That was likely what made it so good for the other when one of them finally submitted.
Hugh covered the front of his body, kissing him harshly but passionately. He bit Julian's lip and sucked on his tongue, voracious in his desire to consume all that Julian would give him.
The thought that this wasn't for him, this crazy desire, scratched into the back of his brain and Julian stiffened.
"What?" Hugh pulled away, noticing the change in his mate immediately.
"Is this for that smell?" Julian asked sullenly.
"That's a stupid question," Hugh said, straining forward to capture his lips again.
Julian growled, grabbing Hugh's neck with lightning fast quickness he spun their bodies around, reversing their positions. Now, Hugh stood with his back against the wall and his throat in Julian's hand. He squeezed. "Pull yourself out," he ordered.
Hugh thought about fighting him, Julian saw the look and relished it, but in the end, Hugh reached into his pants and produced a long, lovely cock that had Julian's mouthwatering.
"Stroke yourself," Julian muttered.
With a whimper, Hugh complied. His dick swelled further, developing a tantalizing bead of liquid at the tip. It looked like a pearl and Julian knew from experience that it tasted like strawberries. At least, to him it did.
"Julian," Hugh moaned. "Don't make me jack-off in an alley."
They both knew Julian was hardly making him do anything, but he kept up the charade. "You do what I say. Filthy slut, trying to get me to suck you off while you think of something else."
"I wasn't," Hugh began, but his words were cut off when Julian grabbed his weighty balls. Julian twisted, and Hugh bucked into his hand, his strokes growing longer and more purposeful.
Julian watched his mate like a baker would watch a soufflé, waiting for that one perfect moment when he was ready. Hugh's breath caught, and Julian released his throat. Dropping to his knees, he took Hugh's dick in his mouth as his delicious fluid spilled from the head and splashed against his tongue. He swallowed it down and after he finished, tucked Hugh gently back in and zipped his pants up.
Hugh pushed off from the wall and smiled, a new sparkle in his eyes. He turned to the bar.
"Please don't tell me you want to go back in there and keep waiting for this asshole?" Julian asked his back.
"Don't you hear that?" Hugh asked, turning the corner so that he was out of Julian's sight for a moment. Julian rushed forward in time to spot Hugh going back into the same bar, but he didn't stop at their stools, he kept walking, past the front room, down a dark, narrow hallway.
The bartender shouted something at them in Spanish.
Julian tensed, preparing himself for whatever was at the end. A few steps in, he could finally hear what had likely attracted Hugh's attention.
"Ayúdenme, por favor! Mi esposa, mi esposa, ella está herida!" a man screamed, waving a machete in the air.
The fact that the machete-wielding madman was the second thing Julian had noticed in the room was a testament to how enthralled he was by the slim, red-headed man sitting on a short stool. There was an old man in a bed next to him, his labored breathing the only proof that he was alive.
The screaming man turned on Julian and Hugh, lunging toward them as the bartender ran in behind them shouting for them all to get out.