Levi scoffed at his ridiculous musings. What was he, some hopelessly romantic sap? Was he going to wait around to see if his one true love returned? Sarcastic or not, the idea gave him a warm, quivery feeling in his stomach. It also sent his cock straight into overdrive, bringing it to fully erect in seconds.
Which Levi ignored. He needed to learn some restraint, especially since he had no intention of trying to hunt down someone who couldn’t get away from him fast enough. He was damn well going to have to get over his growing obsession, and he would start by keeping himself so busy he didn’t have time to dwell on anything other than his work.
Chapter Six
Almost a full week after the hottest sexual encounter Lyndon had ever had, he’d found himself hanging around Holton. He’d hitched a couple of towns over to withdraw more money from his account, hoping the distance between Holton and Jeffers would throw off whoever had been on his trail for months. But within a few days, a familiar sensation began prickling the fine hairs at his nape.
Off and on he felt hunted, watched, though he couldn’t pinpoint where the feeling was coming from or who was causing it. Someone was, that much he knew. Usually he ran when he became aware of being hunted, but this time he decided to stand his ground. He was tired of this game, and eventually he would be caught by whoever it was pursuing him. Holton seemed as good a place as any for that confrontation.
Meanwhile, he needed to eat. He didn’t have much money, and what he did have wouldn’t hold him for much longer. Lyndon had been looking for work in the small town. So far he hadn’t had any luck at all, but he wasn’t ready to give up. He had memories of Levi constantly filling his mind.
Lyndon kept hoping to see him, but in the week he’d been in town, he hadn’t caught so much as a whiff of Levi. Lyndon had put off going back to the wooded area where he’d met him for several reasons, not the least of which was fear for his own life. He didn’t know about all the other scents he’d picked up there while still in cougar form. There were other leopards in those woods, or there had been. Lyndon doubted they’d be as friendly as his snow leopard had been.
And Lyndon kept thinking of Levi as his, which was weird but he couldn’t stop it and gave up trying a couple of days ago. He had found out what breed of leopard Levi was, thanks to the small library a few blocks over from his hotel. He wondered what a snow leopard—what several snow leopards—were doing in Colorado, half of the world away from where they originated. There were so many questions Lyndon had, but what he really wanted was to touch Levi again, to smell him and feel that powerful body beneath him.
The intensity of the sensation of being watched ramped up suddenly. It was so strong his spine nearly vibrated with it. He stood in Jambree’s, the diner, trying to talk the owner into hiring him to bus tables or cook, whatever he could get. Lyndon was growing desperate, and jobs in a town this size were scarce.
His neck itched and Lyndon just kept from reaching around and scratching it. He began to have second thoughts about staying here, not because he was scared, but because he was bringing danger to this town. Maybe it was only to himself—no one else who’d been around him had been hurt so far, not that he knew of. Why was he worrying about that now, anyway? He doubted Levi wanted to find him.
It’d been stupid to think, to hope. Really, he should have known better, especially after the way he’d treated the guy, leaving him lying on the ground covered in cum. Yeah, Lyndon was a real catch. Levi had probably scrubbed Lyndon’s spunk off him and never given Lyndon another thought.
But someone had been thinking of him, he could feel the intensity in the hidden stare that stroked his back. Lyndon nodded at Mr Hernandez as the man went on about the economy sucking. As if Lyndon weren’t aware of that. His savings were dwindling rapidly. It didn’t help that he’d been buying food rather than hunting, and paying for the hotel room, but he’d remembered the scent of other shifters in those woods and thought after the way he’d done Levi, it might be wiser to stay away from that area unless Lyndon wanted to risk being strung up or shot. But he’d kind of thought if they saw each other in town, as men, they could talk—or Lyndon could grovel.
Lyndon had thanked Mr Hernandez for his time and walked out of the diner, his hands tucked into the pockets of his light jacket to hide the way he’d fisted them. He was tired of feeling hunted, tired of trying to figure out
why
he was being hunted. Knowing how territorial a cougar could be, he could understand it in the wild, but he, and whoever was chasing him, were not simply cougars. They were human beings, too, capable of logic and emotions and reason, although maybe his stalker wasn’t. Obviously his stalker wasn’t.
Outside, Lyndon looked around as casually as possible. He didn’t spot anyone out of place in his first visual sweep, and he’d become somewhat familiar with the town in the past week. Lyndon was observant, had to be to survive, so the fact that he couldn’t find who was watching him was a kick to his pride. As much as he’d like to believe he was just being paranoid, he couldn’t, not when he’d woken up in a nice wooded area in Pennsylvania only to find scat from another cougar not far from where he’d rested. Just in case he might have possibly missed that sign, the other cougar had clawed as many trees as possible, and left a rotting deer carcass at the exact place Lyndon had entered the area.
The shifter could have attacked him, could have brought this creepy game of cat and mouse to an end. That he hadn’t told Lyndon the guy was really a sick bastard who enjoyed the hunt, enjoyed toying with him. Well,
he
wasn’t enjoying this one bit, and it would end. Whether that entailed his death or the other shifter’s remained to be seen.
Lyndon was so lost in his thoughts he almost didn’t notice the cute little blond man getting out of a big black dually pickup. Carelessness like that could cost Lyndon his life. Granted, sometimes he thought he might not care if it did, but those were low moments that usually passed quickly. He’d better get his head on straight and be more alert if he wanted any chance at all with Levi.
Don’t even go there. He wouldn’t have me, not now.
Lyndon scooted to the edge of the sidewalk when the blond headed his way. He glanced into the young man’s pale blue eyes and was struck to find him not only glaring, but veering right into Lyndon’s path—and not looking like he was going to back down or stop. Something eased in his chest, a knot of worry that he’d been found. Whoever this strangere was, Lyndon didn’t think he was the same man who’d hunted him. Was this why he’d felt watched? Lyndon thought it must be, with the way those blue eyes never left him. He wondered what he’d done to attract this man’s attention.
For whatever reason, he seemed determined to get in Lyndon’s way. Lyndon was both curious and irritated enough to let him.
This might be amusing.
Lyndon arched a brow at the guy then veered off into a small alley between the miniscule hardware store and a thrift shop. He’d be surprised if the guy had the balls—
“You’re a dick, you know it?”
All right, he definitely has more balls than sense.
Lyndon figured it was a good thing it was mid-morning, otherwise the lunch crowd—such as it was—would be out and about, and this budding confrontation would be witnessed when he’d rather it not be. Lyndon turned halfway back between the wood-framed buildings and gave him a seething glare. It didn’t seem to faze the man—boy? He looked really young—a bit.
The blond stalked up to him and thrust a finger in Lyndon’s face. Lyndon couldn’t help but notice the missing parts to a couple of his digits. He cringed before he could catch himself and saw his reaction register in the way the other man’s expression darkened.
“You’re the gold bastard who was on our property a week ago,” the younger man snarled.
Lyndon kept very still as the man’s scent finally reached him. If he’d been in cougar form, he’d have noticed it a lot sooner. There was a familiar tang to it that Lyndon recognised as belonging to a shifter, a snow leopard if he wasn’t mistaken. It wasn’t identical to Levi’s, wasn’t the one that still made Lyndon’s dick hard every time he thought about it. Lyndon looked him over, not seeing any resemblance to Levi, and felt his temper rising.
“Did I mess up your boyfriend?” Lyndon sneered, his mind jumping to what he thought was obviously the correct conclusion.
“My
brother,
jackass,” the blond sneered back, thumping Lyndon on the chest for emphasis.
Obviously the incorrect conclusion.
Lyndon’s anger dwindled to an ember as he caught the guy’s hand before he could smack Lyndon again. “Brother?” was about all he could get out because his heart was thudding rambunctiously, sending just about every bit of blood racing down to fill his cock.
A sharp pain exploding out from his shin did a lot to curb Lyndon’s swelling erection. It also almost brought him to his knees, would have except he was shoved forcefully. Lyndon went sprawling backwards on his ass, landing hard enough to jar every bone in his body.
“Yes, my brother! Gah!” Levi’s brother bent down and thumped Lyndon’s nose for good measure, and Lyndon had had enough.
He grabbed his attacker’s wrist and jerked, bringing him down beside Lyndon. All it took was one hand pressed to that thin chest and Lyndon leaning over to growl a warning. The struggling ceased but the anger in those blue eyes amplified and would have burnt Lyndon to a pile of ash in an instant if such a thing were possible.
“I’ve had enough of your tantrum,” Lyndon said after finding enough restraint to keep his voice calm. “Stop trying to hurt me or else I will turn you over my knee.” It wouldn’t be a bit of fun, either, but Lyndon would damn well do it. “I’ve never picked on someone smaller than me before—well, I’ve never picked on anyone, period, but you are sure tempting me every time you try to damage me!”
To his utter horror, Levi’s brother’s eyes welled and his bottom lip trembled. “Y-you w-wouldn’t—”
As a distraction, it worked perfectly, because Lyndon was on the verge of babbling out an apology for being so rough with the guy when a hand landed on his shoulder and Lyndon found himself spun around and dodging a fist. The scent he’d dreamed of for a week hit him more forcefully than the punch he couldn’t avoid. Lyndon wound up flat on his back, his head smacking the paved ground and sending bright bursts of light to dance in his vision as a weight settled on his chest. He blinked away the starbursts and struggled when his wrists were grabbed then knelt on.
This put Levi’s crotch against Lyndon’s chin, and the musky odour of his sexy snow leopard’s arousal shot through Lyndon setting him to flame as need erupted inside him. He looked into pale green eyes topped by dark scrunched eyebrows and felt a wave of relief chasing his desire.
Finally!
“Keep an eye out for anyone coming around, Oscar,” the man who’d haunted Lyndon’s dreams ordered, and Oscar got up, huffing and glaring but doing as his brother asked.
“Fine, Levi, but if he hurts you again, I’m going to call the taxidermist.” Oscar didn’t sound like he was joking, either.
What a vicious little shit. Manipulative, too.
He’d played Lyndon, using those tears and trembling lips.
And I’m an idiot for falling for it, just like I’m an idiot for being unable to look away from those beautiful green eyes—“
Levi.” The name was pulled out of him, torn free even though Lyndon hadn’t wanted to speak. But the name had been rolling around in his head for a week. Now it’d plopped down and hit his tongue, and Lyndon hadn’t been able to resist saying it.
Levi’s mouth, which had been opened to no doubt blast Lyndon with some vitriol or another, snapped shut audibly when Lyndon said Levi’s name. Levi moved his hips , his knees grinding against the bones in Lyndon’s wrists. The pain there was smothered by the pleasure at Levi’s reaction as he rubbed his groin on the underside of Lyndon’s chin. It was an instinctive move, all the more sexy for that, but as soon as Levi realised what he was doing, he cursed and scooted back, slapping his hands over Lyndon’s wrists at almost the same time he moved his knees off them.
Lyndon’s smile was as feral as it had ever been when he narrowed his eyes at Levi. “I could flip you, pin you, fuck you like you wanted—still want,” he purred, delighted when Levi shivered and exhaled shakily, his green eyes now almost entirely black as his pupils dilated. “You’d let me. Maybe you’d struggle enough to make me work for it, but not too much.” Lyndon could read the want in the man more clearly than he’d ever read anyone. He shifted his arms enough to loosen Levi’s hold, then he grabbed his wrists in a swift move that wasn’t more than a blur.
“That’s what you want, isn’t it? A rough, powerful mating, to be claimed and owned and—” Lyndon had to stop—he was so aroused he could hardly breathe. He’d never felt this instinctive need, this instant possessiveness like he felt now. That night in the woods, he’d been freaked and confused and it had still been the hardest thing he’d ever done, leaving Levi behind. The wrongness of his action had eaten at Lyndon all week, but he’d kept himself from seeking the man out, at least on Levi’s property. And considering the way his blond demonic brother was still muttering about taxidermists, that had probably been a wise decision on Lyndon’s part.