Scott spoke up.“I’m sorry, Gabe, but you know yourself how much you two argue, and the whole house can hear you fighting sometimes. And…well, I sort of thought you might be more upset when we thought Zack was dying.I didn’t see you crying any like you did when you left him that time.”

Gabe looked disgusted.“Seriously? Did it ever occur to any of you dimwits our arguments are just between us?They’re more lovers’ quarrels than anything else if you must know, and some of those times you say the whole house hears us isprobably me screaming when we’re having sex.”

All the men at the table dropped their gaze in embarrassment, looking shocked, and Zack actually groaned a little. Gabe turned to him.“Don’t be ashamed of it,darlin’. You’re a wonderful lover, and we’re mated. We have every right to enjoy each other. They need to get over it.”

Gabe looked at Scott menacingly.“As for me not crying or being upset when I thought my mate was dying, you’re full of shit. I was beyond tears! Whose idea was it to put Zack in the car and meet the other alphas halfway when all of you were standing around with your thumbs up your asses? It was my idea. That’s who!” He stood up and stared at each man in turn.“I have no idea who planted the shit in my boot. You should be out looking for him instead of wasting your time in here.” He slammed his hand down on the table.“And the next motherfucker who implies I don’t love my husband is getting my foot up his wolf ass!”

Zack jumped to his feet and pulled Gabe away. He came reluctantly, still spoiling for a fight. Zack was a little worried he’d jump on one of them, and they might defend themselves and bring about their deaths when Zack had to kill them. He put his arms around Gabe and led him from the council room and into their bedroom down the hall. As he closed the door, Gabe reached the throwing stage. Things were flying around the room as he threw books and kicked shoes and generally wrecked the room. The only way Zack got him to stop was by wrapping his arms around him and sitting down with him in his lap.

“Honey? Please calm down, okay?I’m so proud of you, baby. You stood up to all of them and you were like a tiger in there.”

“Sons-of-bitches sayingI don’t love you. That burned me up!”

“Uh, baby, you’ve never exactly told me you loved me.”

He turned on Zack.“Don’t you start! Of course I have! You know I do! How can you even say something like that?”

“No, honey,” Zack replied. “I asked you once, and you said yes. Not exactly the same thing.” Seeing he was upsetting Gabe again, Zack did the only thing he knew to do. He pushed Gabe’s head back and kissed his mouth, running his tongue inside and teasing Gabe’s tongue until he sighed against his mouth and wiggled his cock onZack’s crotch. “But I’m very glad you do, sweetheart.” Zack picked him up and carried him over to the bed.“Clothes off,” he ordered. “Now.”

Gabe scrambled to shed his jeans and shirt, while Zack pulled off his clothes, never taking his eyes from Gabe’s. “You’ve been teasing me with your little ass all night long, and by God, I’m going to tear it up.”

“Oh, is that right?” Gabe said teasingly, scooting back up on the bed.

“Right. You’re going to scream like I’m killing you, and we’ll probably wake the whole house up. What do you think about that?” Zack crawled onto the foot of the bed and up toward him.

“I…uh…”

“What, baby? Speak up. I want to know about this love stuff. You love me, huh? Really love me?Isn’t that what you said? Oh and something about me being a wonderful lover? Yeah, I want to hear all those wordsagain.”

“Well…” Gabe lay on his back, looking intimidated as hell as Zack prowled toward him.

Zack bent over and engulfed his dick in his mouth, held him down with his weight and showed him no mercy. He took him in all the way to the root of his shaft, and he tasted so damn sweet. Gabe arched his back and moaned, but Zack pushed him back down and held on to his hips. He moved up and down on his cock until he had him writhing under him, releasing him for Gabe to pump his hips in a screaming orgasm. Zack sucked down every drop and licked up any remainders before leaning up on one elbow and smiling down at him.

“Jerk yourself off for me while I watch, baby. You say you love me. You need to show me. Get hard for me again.C’mon, hot stuff. Let’s see what you got.”

Gabe whimpered as he put his hand around his half-hard cock and pulled at it. Zack knew it must be almost painful for him as hard as he’d come, but watching him was the hottest thing he’d ever seen. “That’s right, pump it for me, baby. You’re doing just fine. It’s so hot, darlin’. Get yourself ready for me again, cause I’m about to fuck you hard.” He bent over and teased Gabe’s nipple, ring and all, with his tongue, making Gabe whimper.“You like that, baby?” He bit the other nipple, causing Gabe to stop stroking himself, shuddering.Covering Gabe’s hand, Zack moved it up and down his cock again.“Don’t stop, baby. Get yourself ready for me. Show me how much you love me.”

Gabe came up again. Zack nipped at his thighs and his balls until Gabe almost cried with need, his cock hard and weeping with pre-cum.“Sweet, baby, very sweet.” Gabe arched his ass back at him, and Zack laughed.“You need something? You need my cock up your little ass?”

“Please, Zack…please…”

Zack rolled him over and rubbed a finger over his pre-cum covered slit for lube. He put his finger inside his sweet, teasing hole, and crooked it, finding his prostate, enjoying his groans.

“Please what, baby? Do this?” Sweeping his finger over his sweet spot, teasing and playing with it, he drove Gabe crazy, just like he wanted him, crazy with need. He nipped at his ass, making him cry out.“Or this?” He bit him all over the insides of his thighs, biting hard and licking the bite until Gabe sobbed. “Keep stroking,baby. You’re doing so good.” Zack licked all the way up the crease in his ass, lapped to moisten it and get him ready.

“Please, Zack!”

“First you got to tell me how much you love me. Tell me, baby, or I won’t let you come for a long, long time.”

“Oh God, I love you, Zack!I love you!”

“Good boy and whose ass is this,darlin’?”

“Yours,” he whimpered.

“Damn straight! I love you too, baby, and this is all mine.”

He lined up his cock and drove balls deep into Gabe’s sweet ass, pumping him and rocking him hard, the bed groaning in protest. He pounded him, holding Gabe by the hips so he couldn’t move away. They both came in an explosive orgasm, rocking Zack to his core.

Zack stayed deep inside him even as he softened, kissing him on the back of the neck before gently pulling out. Gabe cuddled back into him, breathing hard. Zack bent over his ear.“Say it again, sweetheart.I can’t get enough of it.Tell me how much you love me.”

Gabe turned his head, not even bothering to open his eyes.“Love you so much. Always have from the first time.”

“You did?” Zack murmured, delighted with his answer, kissing him on the back of the neck.

“Mm-hmm. Smell good—like burnt sugar.”

Zack laughed softly.“Honey, that’s how you smell to me too. God, I love you, darlin’.” Zack wrapped his arms tight around him and put his nose up into his soft hair. Within minutes, he was asleep.

Something nudged Zack on his leg, insistent, demanding, something hard and sharp. Zack looked up and froze with fear. Standing beside the bed, holding Gabe against his chest, stood his cousin, Tim, a long, wicked-looking knife in the other hand.“Move and he’s dead, Zack. I swear to God, I’ll finish him this time.”

“W -what have you done to him?” Gabe was completely limp, his naked body slumped in Tim’s hold, lookingsmall next to Tim’s bulk. Zack was immediately terrified.“Give him to me!”

“Relax. He’s not dead—yet—but I’ll kill him if you attack me.”

“What are you doing, Tim?” Zack fought against every instinct he had to leap up and tear Tim’s throat out .

“I’m taking what’s mine. He’s been mine for over a year, long before you ever saw him.” “What the hell are you talking about?” Zack snarled.

“I’m the one who changed him. Me! It was my bite that made him Werekin.I’m claiming

what’s mine. You’ve taken everything else away from me, but you’re not taking him! I knew him for mine from the moment you brought him here. Hissmell almost drove me crazy!” He laughed shortly.“I even tried to put floral scent in his bath to drown out the smell, but it didn’t help.If you hadn’t come in when you did, I’d have taken him and finished what I started back at thatrest stop.”

“My God, Tim, what are you saying?You’re the one who raped him? Who murdered his mother?”

“She tried to stop me. I smelled him when he got out of his car, and I had to have him. I would have made him mine if we hadn’t been interfered with.” He bent his head down, as if he couldn’t help himself and buried his nose in Gabe’s hair for a moment.

Zack was murderous. His claws and fangs descended, and he could feel the hair springing out of the back of his neck.

“You shift, and I’ll kill him. If I can’t have him, then at least you won’t ever touch him again. Do you know how I felt seeing you with him? My God, to listen to him tell me what a wonderful lover you are!I thought I’d shift and kill both of you right then.”

Zack made a conscious effort to calm himself. Tim was unstable, obviously insane. What he was doing was totally irrational and without forethought. There’d be no way he could just walk out of there with Gabe, and there was no way of knowing what he’d do next. Zack had to watch, his nails digging into his palms, while Tim licked hismate’s neck.

“I tried to kill you, but you wouldn’t fucking die! I fixed the brakes on his truck, because I knew you’d play the big man and let him drive your truck. Then I poisoned you, but you even survived that. I thought if I planted the cyanide in his closet, you might reject him, and I could have him.” He glared wildly at Zack.“Instead you took him in here and fucked him! The whole house could hear his screams.” He pulled Gabe closer and kissed the side of his face.“I came for you as soon as I could, baby.”