Chapter Twenty-Three

 

 

FRIDAY NIGHT found Jackson sprawled on his couch wearing sweatpants and fuzzy socks, a beer in one hand and the remains of Chinese takeout still littering the coffee table. Everyone else had plans—his parents were at dinner with friends for the evening, Valerie was out with Celeste, and Leo was with Mitch, working. That was fine. Jackson was taking advantage of the peace and quiet in his new place.

He was watching a basketball game because he’d made a long-distance bet with Brandon on the outcome. Brandon had adopted the California Golden Bears as his team, and Jackson refused to forgive him for it, so he was more invested than usual in how the Washington State Cougars fared against them. There was ten bucks on the line and more good-natured banter with his brother via text message than usual.

The buzzing of his phone was easy to ignore the first time. He was stuffed full of sweet-and-sour chicken; his stomach hurt, and the distance was more than he could stretch. The second and third messages he considered ignoring, but the third one was persistent, and with a loud groan, he hauled himself up far enough to reach it. The messages were from Valerie.

Is L there with u?

Jackson

Jackson call me

Leo was working at Flair, podium dancing, because apparently that was a thing his soul mate did. Jackson had spent a solid afternoon trying to figure out how he felt about Leo’s side career dancing at a gay bar, and decided that he didn’t care. It didn’t matter if other guys were looking. They couldn’t touch, and he was pretty sure Leo wasn’t interested in them.

He felt very proud of himself for coming to such a mature conclusion.

He thumbed at Valerie’s contact information to call her.

“What’s going on?” he asked when she answered.

“Where are you? Where’s Leo?”

“I’m at home. Leo’s working. What’s going on?”

He could hear sirens in the background.

“Working at that gay club?”

“Yeah.”

“Something’s going down in there. I don’t know what it is. No one will tell me. There’s police and ambulances everywhere.”

“Why are you there?” Jackson demanded. He was already off the couch, searching for sneakers and a sweatshirt.

“I was in the bar across the street with Celeste. We saw the ambulances arrive, and now the place is on lockdown. Have you heard from Leo?”

“No. I’ll try and get hold of him. I’m on my way.”

He grabbed his keys from the hook and sprinted from the house, not stopping to turn the TV off or even lock the door.

Jackson knew he was speeding as he rushed across town, but he wasn’t the only one heading in the direction of Flair. He tried calling Leo’s number, over and over, and it went through to voicemail each time. Logic told him that there was probably a lot of cell phone traffic in that area right now, that he shouldn’t panic. Jackson told logic to go fuck itself.

When he was only a few blocks away, Jackson abandoned the truck in a side street, right underneath a sign that said No Parking. The crowd around the club was three deep, both curious onlookers and a few other people with the same panicked expression Jackson was sure he was wearing.

He didn’t even bother looking for Valerie, instead pushing through the crowd until he found a police officer.

“Please,” he said, grabbing hold of his jacket. “What’s going on? I’m a werewolf…. My soul mate is in there.”

The officer looked him up and down and pointed to a small area that had been cordoned off.

“Over there.”

“I’m sorry?” Jackson asked.

“You can wait,” he said slowly, like Jackson was stupid, “over there.”

Jackson felt the hot shame creep up his neck. It had been a while since someone dismissed him so blatantly, and so obviously, for being a werewolf.

He didn’t say anything further, not trusting himself to stay calm. The last thing he needed was to get arrested. He could get arrested later, when he knew Leo was safe.

The small group of people huddled together were all clearly waiting for information, rather than the gawkers who were just milling around. These were friends, possibly parents, maybe lovers. They had the same red-eyed, glassy look of terror that Jackson was sure he wore too.

“Is this—” Jackson started, then cleared his throat. “Is this where we wait for news?”

A woman nodded, her watery eyes reflecting the red-blue, red-blue flashes of the emergency vehicle lights.

“My son is in there.”

“My….” Jackson hesitated. “My partner.”

She nodded. Maybe she understood what he wasn’t saying. Maybe she didn’t care. She wasn’t a wolf, either way.

Jackson turned his phone over and over in his hands, then almost dropped it when it rang again.

“Hey, Valerie.”

“What’s going on?”

“I have no idea. No one’s telling me anything.”

“Well, it’s all over Twitter. Apparently there was some kind of attack in there.”

“Like a terrorist thing?”

“I have no idea. People were fucking live streaming it. It looks like carnage. There’s at least half a dozen rumors flying around but nothing for sure. And the Spokane police haven’t made a statement yet.”

“Okay,” he croaked.

“Where are you?”

He gave her directions, ridiculously relieved when he spotted her coming over. She pulled him into a hard hug that he didn’t realize he needed.

“Where did Celeste go?”

“Home,” she said simply. “They’re trying to clear the area of people who don’t need to be here.”

They both watched in silence as an ambulance was loaded with a person on a stretcher, then screamed away from the curb, sirens blazing.

“What if—” Jackson started, but Valerie shook her head.

“No. We don’t play that game, Jackson.”

“Why do you care, anyway?”

Valerie sighed. “I don’t hate him, Jackson. I’m concerned, for both of you.”

Jackson pressed the heel of his hand to his chest, where his heart was still thumping too hard. He took a couple of deep breaths. It didn’t help.

“Because you’re stupid,” Valerie offered. “You’re both stupid boys.”

That made him laugh, which he was sure was her intention.

“Yeah,” he agreed. Because she was right.

Over the next hour, Jackson watched with a growing sense of dread and impatience as more people were taken away in ambulances and people from their little group were taken away by police officers. They were either ushered into ambulances or taken into a café a few doors down from the nightclub that seemed to be used as another containment space.

A few people came back out with their loved ones. Others didn’t.

“What’s taking them so long?” Jackson demanded again as he paced within their small area.

Valerie was huddled into her jacket against the cold. “They’re working through people in order of priority,” she murmured. “They’ll get to you.”

That didn’t help. Nor did the fact that Leo wasn’t answering his phone. Jackson still called, every few minutes. Just in case.

Eventually another police officer—a new one—approached them again and started taking new notes on who they were all looking for. Less than a dozen of them remained now, and their group had fallen into a grim sort of silence.

“Jackson Lewis,” he said when the police officer approached. “I’m looking for Leo Gallagher.”

“Okay.” She made a note in her notepad.

“Can you tell us anything?” he asked, even though he knew the answer from overhearing it twice already.

The officer was already shaking her head. “It’s an active investigation, sir. As soon as we can let you know, we will.”

She was already moving on to the next person before Jackson could ask anything else.

“You should go home,” Jackson said, turning back to Valerie. She was stamping her feet to keep them warm.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll text you when I hear something.”

She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m too cold to argue with you. I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He watched her scuttle away and felt bad for keeping her outside for so long. He wasn’t used to needing someone.

More people were led away by officers, on their own or in little groups, and Jackson couldn’t help but feel he was being intentionally ignored because he was a wolf. Most of the time he didn’t care about that shit; he had thick skin and he’d gotten used to it. Now, though, it was killing him.

Another half hour passed.

Jackson leaned against a wall, the brick cold at his back, and closed his eyes.

“Excuse me? Sir?” It was another officer. How many fucking police were here?

“Yes?”

“Who are you looking for?”

Jackson tried very, very hard not to snarl. “Leo… Leonardo Gallagher.”

She relayed the name through her walkie-talkie, then nodded at the response and gestured to Jackson.

“Come with me.”

Jackson threw himself over the barrier and landed inelegantly, then rushed to follow her.

“What’s going on? Is he okay?”

“This is an active investigation, so there’s a limited amount I can tell you. The important thing is your friend is safe.”

“Oh, thank God.”

“He’s being held in a secure area with other employees. I’ll find out if I can take you in to talk to him.”

Now that he was closer, Jackson could see through the glass window of the café. Leo was huddled in a sweatshirt, and his back was to the window, forcing Jackson to stare at Leo with his heart in his throat.

The police officer cocked her head, inviting him inside, and Jackson rushed past her, almost tripping over his feet.

“Jackson?”

“Holy shit,” Jackson breathed as he pulled Leo up and into his arms. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m fine.” He held on tight, letting Jackson pet his hair and kiss his face and breathe him in in deep, greedy breaths.

“What happened?”

“A load of people collapsed. Someone said it was a drugs thing—someone was dealing coke that was cut with something disgusting. Denver said it might be rat poison, but what the fuck do I know.”

“Fuck. Are they going to be okay? What happened to your phone? I found out from Valerie. Holy shit, Leo, I was so scared.”

“My phone died,” he said, pulling back from Jackson’s crushing embrace and putting his hands on Jackson’s face. He was wearing black leather shorts and leather boots while his top half drowned in a hoodie. It didn’t occur to Jackson until much later how hot he looked.

“You rushed all the way down here?” Leo continued. “I was hoping to just come over on my way home and tell you it was all okay.”

“Valerie saw what was going down and called me. I thought something had happened to you. I’ve been waiting for hours—no one would tell me anything.”

“I’m fine,” Leo said in a soothing voice. “A little cold, I guess I’m a bit shaken up, but I’m okay.”

When Leo went to sit down again, Jackson stopped him, took the cozy armchair, then pulled Leo down on top of him. It was only then that he noticed Mitch in the chair on the other side of the low table. Watching them.

“Hey,” Jackson said softly.

Mitch nodded in response.

The police had already taken swabs of all the employees’ hands for traces of the drugs and still had to take statements before they were prepared to release them. Jackson was bone-tired and not willing to let Leo go.

He wasn’t allowed to listen as Leo gave his statement, but it gave him time to catch up with Mitch’s version of events.

“It was pandemonium,” Mitch said in his now-familiar candid drawl. “It’s a gay club, come on, we get a lot of party drugs coming through. The security guys are usually pretty good at kicking out the people who deal that shit, but I guess tonight someone slipped through the net.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“Not staff,” Mitch said with a confidence that surprised Jackson. “We’re a family. No one would hurt anyone else, not like this.”

“You’re sure?”

Mitch nodded. “I’ve worked in clubs a long time. I know the scene. Shit like this happens from time to time: someone who’s not one of us sneaks in and tries to cause problems so gay bars get a bad name for being dangerous.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“You think that’s bad?” Mitch gave a humorless laugh. “You should hear about the shit that goes down in the wolf bars.”

“I don’t go,” Jackson admitted.

“I know.”

As the night grew longer, Jackson picked up bits of conversations from around the room, how at least fifteen people had collapsed over the course of about twenty minutes and there weren’t enough first aid responders to help everyone.

“Your soul mate was a hero tonight,” Mitch said.

Jackson looked at him sharply. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Mitch gave him a sassy glare. “He’s got medical training, so he was showing the people who were sober enough to help how to look after the people who were having seizures. What position to put the guys in who had collapsed. I’ve never seen him like that before.”

“Me either,” Jackson said quietly.

“He’s a good man.”

“He’s incredible,” Jackson murmured.

“I’m glad you see that.”

For once, Mitch wasn’t being a bitch.

“I don’t normally do the whole ‘full moon, let’s hang out’ thing,” Jackson said, feeling weird and uncomfortable but determined to offer an olive branch. “But if you ever need someone to shift with….”

Mitch gave him a little smile and nodded. “I’ll give you a call when they’re done talking to me.”

When he came out of his interview, Jackson got a better look at the black hoodie Leo wore. It definitely came from Jackson’s wardrobe; it skimmed the bottom of Leo’s shorts, making him look like he wasn’t wearing anything else.

“Come on,” Leo said, offering Jackson his hand. “Let’s go home.”

“You’re coming home with me?”

Leo nodded. “Yeah.”

Home meant Jackson. Not Mitch. He didn’t want to examine that too closely tonight.

There wasn’t a ticket on Jackson’s car, which was a miracle in itself, or maybe the police weren’t chasing down things like illegal parking tonight.

The streets were mostly empty as Jackson made his way back to the condo. Leo was clearly exhausted, almost asleep in the passenger seat, curled up facing Jackson. Jackson stretched his arm over to squeeze Leo’s knee.

He wanted to carry Leo up the stairs and into bed, but Leo made grumpy noises about being too big, which was probably true, but Jackson didn’t want to listen. He double-checked the locks on the door before dragging Leo up to bed.

“I need your help with this thing,” Leo said. He’d already shrugged out of the hoodie, leaving him in a bondage-gear chest harness that really emphasized the muscles in his chest and arms.

Leo didn’t look like the kind of guy you’d expect to be muscular under his clothes, but he was. His body was tight and defined, and the leather straps cut thick black lines over Leo’s pale skin.

“Or you could leave it on?” Jackson suggested.

Leo turned around and gaped at him.

“You’re into this?”

Jackson looked him up and down. He took a second to consider. “Yeah. God, yeah.”

Leo laughed. Jackson stepped in close and rested his fingers on Leo’s waist, then leaned in to kiss Leo’s cheek, mouth at Leo’s collarbone, then softly, reverently, press his cheek against Leo’s neck.

“Do I smell like other people?” Leo asked, his fingers scratching through Jackson’s hair.

“Yeah,” he mumbled.

“Should I shower?”

“No.”

Jackson grabbed Leo’s ass and hauled him closer instead. When Leo started rubbing at the back of Jackson’s neck, he all but melted.

“You like that, hmm?” Leo asked.

“Yeah,” Jackson said. Leo started to undress him, stripping away the hoodie and T-shirt, then unbuttoning Jackson’s jeans. Jackson straightened up so he could kick his jeans the rest of the way off, then toed out of his socks.

Leo followed him to the bed, still wearing the black leather shorts and chest harness.

“I want you to know,” Jackson started, then lost his train of thought as Leo straddled his thighs.

“Want me to know what?”

Jackson blinked. In the soft lamplight in the bedroom, he could just make out the liberal dusting of freckles over Leo’s shoulders, the same gingery color as his hair. He was ridiculously beautiful.

“I want you to know that I want you here. I want you in my bed….” He shook his head. “In my life. With me. All the time.”

“Okay,” Leo said, smiling, like it was that easy. “I want to be here.”

“I’m going to mess shit up,” Jackson reminded him. “Probably a lot.”

“Me too. We’ll figure it out, though.”

Jackson leaned up to capture Leo’s lips in a kiss. “Please don’t leave me.”

He felt cracked open, raw with emotion, and knew that Leo could strike him down with words alone.

“I won’t.”

Making love with Leo didn’t feel like an anomaly anymore. It felt like coming home.

Leo’s kisses were as soft and sure as the first one they’d shared, teasing Jackson into a kind of frenzy that left him loose and pliant and ready for whatever Leo wanted.

He lay back on the soft sheets that Leo had picked out and wrapped his hands around Leo’s hips while Leo took up a slow, sensuous roll that made their hard cocks catch and tease against each other. Jackson moaned, partly in frustration, because two layers of fabric between them was two too many, and he wanted more.

“Now can I take the rest of this off?” Leo asked, and Jackson didn’t have words to answer, instead getting Leo naked. That was more important.

Leo rolled them onto their sides and threw his leg over Jackson’s thighs so they could keep grinding together. Jackson wanted more, he wanted everything, but he wasn’t sure how to ask for it.

“I want you to fuck me,” Leo said, then gently bit Jackson’s lower lip and tugged.

Fuck. That was one way to do it.

Jackson scrambled for his nightstand and grabbed lube and a condom. Leo took the lube out of his hand before Jackson could offer to help, and he watched, transfixed, as Leo rolled onto his stomach. He grabbed a pillow to prop his hips up and arranged another one under his chest, then reached back with slick fingers and gently petted his hole.

“Fucking hell,” Jackson breathed.

“Getting started without you, big boy,” Leo teased, throwing a look back over his shoulder that was breathtaking.

“Oh, trust me, I’m getting with the program.”

That made Leo laugh; then his throat caught and Jackson was back to staring as Leo sank two slick fingers inside himself.

He tore open the condom wrapper and almost fumbled it as he stroked it down his cock. Leo was rocking into the feeling of his fingers inside himself, and Jackson had to force himself to not think about how good it was going to be when that was him.

He shuffled on his knees until he was situated right behind Leo and palmed at his asscheek, spreading it so he had a better view.

“I’m ready when you are,” Leo murmured, his face buried in his pillow.

“Sure?”

“Yes. Very.” He pulled his fingers away, leaving a shiny trail.

“Okay.”

Jackson leaned down and kissed Leo’s lower back, then carefully, slowly, started to push inside.

Leo groaned, low and deep from his chest, and reached back blindly for Jackson. Jackson took his hand and tangled their fingers together, then leaned forward so he could cover Leo’s back with his chest.

“Still good?” he asked, close enough to Leo now to murmur the words in Leo’s ear like a secret.

“So good. Please, Jackson.”

Jackson rolled his hips, finding a slow, easy rhythm that met Leo’s body at just the right angle to make it incredible for them both. Leo didn’t let go of his hand, but did crane his neck around to demand more of Jackson’s kisses.

It didn’t take long for Jackson to lose himself. He forgot every worry he’d had about Leo’s body, his male physicality and what that would mean when they finally got round to making love. It wasn’t anything like he’d imagined; this was easy, it felt right… it felt good.

He peppered Leo’s back and neck with kisses, his mouth falling lax when Leo clenched down on his cock and things started to feel good in a way that meant Jackson wasn’t going to last long. When Leo reached down to grab his own cock, Jackson felt another little thrill; that maybe he could be the one to make Leo explode with pleasure.

“I’m not going to last long,” Leo said, his voice cracking.

“Me either.” Jackson kissed his neck again. “Come with me, Leo.”

A moment later Leo cried out, his back arched, and his whole body shuddered through his orgasm. Jackson kept moving, wanting to keep Leo at that peak for as long as he could.

“Jackson.”

That was all Jackson needed to let go. Leo’s voice sounded wrecked as he moaned Jackson’s name, and it was the single goddamn sexiest thing Jackson had ever heard.

He pressed his forehead to the top of Leo’s spine and lost his mind as he thrust hard and chased his orgasm from Leo’s body.

“Oh my God,” Leo laughed. “Oh, wow.”

Jackson allowed himself just a moment longer to revel in the thrill of being inside Leo, inside his soul mate, before tentatively pulling away.

Leo made a small noise.

“Did I hurt you? Oh fuck.”

“No,” Leo said, rolling onto his side and examining the wet spot he’d left with a wince. “It’s a good ache.”

He smiled at Jackson’s expression.

“I’m good, I promise.”

“Okay.”

Jackson leaned in to steal a kiss, then went to dispose of the condom. When he got back, Leo was wearing a pair of Jackson’s shorts as he stripped the sheets from the bed.

“You could help,” he sassed. Jackson slapped him lightly on the ass in retaliation, making Leo jump.

“You’re staying?”

Jackson hated that he needed to check… but he had to be sure. He didn’t want to make any assumptions.

“I’m staying,” Leo agreed.

They finished changing the sheets, and then Leo shut off the lamp and curled up against Jackson’s chest.

“I’m staying,” he said again, before falling asleep.