Patience Page 15

  Chad apparently got it, because he nodded, reaching for Jamie’s free hand. They clasped, their fingers threading, and Chad threw his head back. “Fuck, gonna—” was all he got out.

  The pull came then, and that invisible something wrapped around them, bringing them closer. The strands of their bond snapped into place, and the echo of Chad’s pleasure combined with the hot cum splashing his chest sent Jamie over the edge. He shouted Chad’s name, thrusting up into his mate hard as the climax hit.

  His eyes went wide when his cock swelled and the knot formed at the base, anchoring him to his mate. He’d completely forgotten about that.

  Jamie shook his head when Chad started to lift himself up. “Don’t. Uh, I’m knotted. You’ll get hurt.”

  Chad blinked at him. “Knotted?” His muscles flexed then, making Jamie groan. It was bad enough his cock was still giving small spurts, accompanied by tiny jolts of pleasure, almost like mini orgasms. The muscles tightening amplified that.

  He swallowed, trying to remember how to speak. “Yeah. My body thinks it’s, uh, breeding you.”

  Chad chuckled. “I hate to tell it, I’m not equipped like that.”

  Jamie closed his eyes, trying to deal with the pleasure still singing through him.

  “Are you… are you still coming? Is that what I feel from you?”

  Jamie nodded. “Yeah. It’s, um, from what I understand, when it’s with a straight couple, it’s to help ensure it, uh, takes. I’m afraid there’s not much we can do. I can’t pull out or I could really hurt you.”

  Chad grinned. “I have nothing against it. It actually feels good.”

  “Yeah?” Jamie asked, running his hands over Chad’s arms and down to his hips.

  Chad bent forward, resettling a little. “Yeah. It’s stronger now.”

  Jamie nodded. “It is. It’s a little… disconcerting. I hope the claiming makes it a little… easier to know whose is whose.”

  “Yeah. Part of that might just be that we’re feeling stronger emotion right now,” Chad suggested.

  Jamie thought that through. “That’s definitely possible. Sex makes them stronger, no doubt.”

  “How long does this last?”

  “Up to thirty minutes, from what I understand.”

  Chad blinked. “We could be locked together for thirty minutes? Enforced pillow talk?”

  Jamie laughed. “Something like that, I guess.” The disconcerting feeling faded, leaving Jamie wrapped in happiness, contentment, and love. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. “This is… gods, this is amazing.”

  “It is. Is it always going to be like this?”

  Jamie opened his eyes. “I don’t know. I mean, as far as I know, I’ll always knot, since you’re not going to get pregnant.” He smirked, making Chad laugh.

  “Yeah, sorry, those pregnancy panel things make my hips look way too big.”

  Jamie laughed. “Oh gods, I just had the worst image in my head of you wearing maternity clothes.” He snorted, then laughed again.

  Chad snickered. “Hey, if anyone was carrying a kid, it’d be you.”

  “Me? Why me?” Jamie asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “You’d recover faster,” Chad said, deadpan.

  Jamie snorted again. “Right. Sorry, nope. I am so not going through pregnancy.”

  “Good thing we can’t, then, eh?” Chad asked.

  Jamie nodded. “Right.” He sighed. “I can’t wait until we can go to Rome. I really want to claim you.”

  Chad brushed a thumb over Jamie’s cheek. “I want it too. Soon. We’ll call Tanner tomorrow and see what he’s heard.”

  “Good. I don’t think I can wait a lot longer. And there’s so much to do before we can even go.”

  “We’ll get it done. For now, let’s just enjoy this, hmm? We’ll worry about the rest tomorrow morning.” Chad kissed him again, soft and slow, and Jamie sighed again when they broke apart.

  “In the morning,” he agreed.

  Then the knot shrank and his cock slid out of Chad.

  “Oh, that felt… weird.”

  Jamie chuckled. “I bet.”

  Chad made a face. “Need to clean up. That’s just… I’m not a fan.”

  Jamie laughed. “Well, now you know how I’ve felt the last two days.”

  Chad stuck his tongue out as he climbed off Jamie.

  Jamie stood and let himself be pulled into Chad’s arms. “How about a quick shower, then some sleep?”

  “As long as it’s together, I don’t care,” Chad whispered.

  “Together,” Jamie murmured, kissing his mate.

  Chapter 12

  CHAD WAS getting seriously frustrated with the lack of information about Quincy Archer’s alter ego, Uther. Jamie had found a social security number, a bank account, and a driver’s license for him. Unfortunately, the address on the license was an empty lot and the phone number the bank account had was disconnected. Jamie was still working on finding more information, but it had taken most of the day to gather that. Chad didn’t blame him. It was undoubtedly Quincy’s talent at burying his trail.

  Chad focused on getting them ready for Europe. They’d talked to Tanner that morning, who hadn’t heard from the wolf at the airlines and was going to call them back. Chad was getting antsy—Tanner said it was the mate bond—and he wanted the whole thing done so he and Jamie could focus on settling into their life together.

  He made list after list and researched a metric fuck-ton of information on travel through Europe. He found a mess of apps for his phone, including metro apps for London, Paris, and Rome, as well as apps for most of the trains they would take through Europe. They were not going to get lost.

  When Jamie’s phone rang and Chad saw Tanner’s number, he had to quell the instinctive jealousy and hope to hell it meant they had tickets. He was just about to outright buy tickets so they could get going.

  “Hey, Tanner, what’s up?”

  Chad wished right then for the same supersensitive hearing the wolves had. Even turning off Dire Straits going on about microwaves and TVs didn’t help. He had to be content with second-hand conversation, and considering his mate was talking to another man—a gay man, at that—it didn’t sit well with their bond. He took a deep breath and let himself touch Jamie to calm himself.

  “Oh good. My wolf is about to go nuts.” Jamie grabbed a pen and the notepad from the desk, giving small hums at something Tanner said. “That makes sense. I’ll tell him. Now, what time and flight number?” He paused. “So we can get the rest planned. Not sure yet how to get to New York.” He paused again and his eyebrows went up. “Oh? Really?” He chuckled. “That sounds like Fin. That’s awesome. We appreciate it.”

  Chad raised his own eyebrows, but Jamie just held up his forefinger.

  “Yeah. Can you forward the itinerary for me? And let us get the rest put together and call you back. Tomorrow morning?” He waited a moment. “Right. That’s fine. It’s not like I’m a giant like you.”

  Chad chuckled.

  “No, Chad isn’t either. He’s perfect at his height.”

  Warmth spread through Chad at that comment, and he kissed Jamie’s cheek.

  “Oh, I didn’t think of that. But he’s right. Probably just easiest to get drunk. And a bit more legal, eh?”

  Chad heard the laughter through the phone.

  “Awesome. Hi, Fin,” Jamie said, chuckling. “Later.” He touched the screen to disconnect, then turned to Chad. “Okay. We’re on a British Airways flight to London on Tuesday. Tanner’s contact can’t get anything sooner.”

  “That’s okay. We’ve got plenty to do before then, anyway. We’re going to have to do some shopping for Europe.”

  Jamie made a face. “Yeah, I guess so. We should figure out how much to pack. We’re going to be doing a lot of transfers.” He paused and frowned. “I really shouldn’t have insisted on stopping in London.”

  “Baby, I don’t mind. I’ve heard traveling Europe by train is a great experience, anyway. No r
eason we can’t enjoy at least part of this trip, is there?”

  Jamie blinked at him. “I didn’t think of it like that.”

  “See? Oh, what was the ‘Really?’ about?”

  “Oh!” Jamie grinned. “They’re driving us to New York. Fin wants to see it, since he’s never been.”

  “Seriously?”

  Jamie nodded. “Yeah. So, I told you a little about what happened with Fin and Tanner, right?”

  Chad nodded.

  “So, one of the big things Tanner kept worrying about was that Fin would want to go out and experience things. The little brat played that card on him.”

  Chad laughed. “Oh, that’s almost cruel.”

  Jamie grinned. “Yeah, it is. He didn’t really mean it, and Tanner would have gone anyway, but it was definitely funny. So, we’ll leave early Tuesday and drive up. They’re going to stay in New York for a few days but come back before we do, so we’ll need to figure out how to get back from New York.”

  “We have time for that. Maybe the train, if you’re not sick of them by then.”

  Jamie laughed. “I’ve never actually been on one. I’ve driven everywhere.”

  “Oh hey, I meant to ask you. Do you, by chance, have a passport?”

  “I do! When I was living in Portland, we used to go up to Canada a few times a year, into Vancouver. We could have crossed as wolves, you know, but if we ended up over there stuck as humans without ID….”

  Chad nodded. “That’s good.”

  “Yeah. I mean, I could acquire one, but I’d rather have it all in my real name for now.” He sighed. “Okay, well, we’ve got more planning to do yet, I guess.” He rubbed his face. “Oh, Tanner said if we have sex often, it helps calm the mate bond.”

  “It does?”

  Jamie nodded. “Yeah. In fact, the more we do it, the better, for now. The, uh, bond can fade until you’re claimed.”

  Chad frowned. “Well, I don’t want our bond to fade. Going to make getting through Europe fun.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Maybe we’ll have to join the mile-high club. That ought to distract you for a few minutes.”

  “I like that idea.” Jamie grinned. “Okay, so what’s next, then?”

  IT TOOK all three days to get everything done. Part of that was spent acquiring paperwork for the Beretta Chad refused to leave behind. He just didn’t like the idea of being in a completely different part of the world unarmed. He didn’t mind checking it—he really didn’t expect to need it on the plane—but he wasn’t going to go completely without. He didn’t have time to go through official channels—though he would get approved, since he could still carry a concealed weapon in the States thanks to his time on the force—but it would take too long. Instead, Tanner and Jamie worked together to get what he needed and make sure it registered in all the proper places.

  The rest of that time they worked to reinforce their bond as much as possible. It might have been a bit of an excuse to have a lot of sex, but Chad wasn’t about to admit that. Though he did notice that when they’d spent the entire day out shopping, they were both antsy and testy by the time they got home. So it might have been less excuse than necessity, after all.

  By Monday evening, Chad was actually a bit tired. They still hadn’t found more information on Quincy, much less who he might have been running from, and the lack of progress frustrated him. He reported in to his client, but there wasn’t much to say, especially since he wasn’t entirely convinced Quincy wasn’t running from his own father.

  Tired or no, they still took one more opportunity before bed Monday night to make love. It’d be more than two days until they’d be somewhere guaranteed to be private enough to do anything.

  As they settled in to sleep, Chad frowned, feeling Jamie’s anxiety. “You know, it’s not too late to get the Xanax from Miles.” It’d bothered Chad more than a little that Miles could do something like that for Jamie. Chad wanted to do what his mate needed. He recognized he was being more than a little ridiculous, but he couldn’t help it.

  Jamie shook his head. “No. Really, there’s no guarantee it’d work, and I don’t want to risk security over it. Besides, getting drunk worked for Tanner.”

  Chad kissed his forehead. “If you’re sure.”

  “I also don’t want to hurt you.” He whispered this, but even without wolf hearing, Chad caught it.

  “Hey, baby, I can put my jealousy aside for that. Taking care of you is way more important.”

  Jamie shrugged a shoulder. “The other two reasons are bigger, anyway. Let’s get some sleep. The next couple of days are going to be rough.”

  Chad chuckled. “That’s one way of putting it. I think once we’re on the ground in London, though, it won’t be too bad.”

  “Probably. I’m not sure yet if I’m looking forward to or dreading the food.”

  “I don’t know yet. I’ve only ever been over there once, and that was a long time ago. I was a teenager and stuck to eating McDonald’s whenever I could.”

  Jamie laughed. “Well, it’s safe, at least, right?”

  “Right. Come on. Let’s get some sleep.” Chad kissed him again and turned out the light.

  “Night, pup.”

  Chad laughed. “Night, baby.”

  CHAD FLAILED, smacking at the loud buzzing sound, and peered blearily at the clock. He had to blink several times for the six, three, and zero to stop being blurry. He groaned and buried his face back in his pillow for another moment.

  “Murbleflumpf,” Jamie mumbled. “Time is it?”

  Chad sighed, and leaned over, kissing Jamie’s temple. “Sleep a little longer, baby. I’ll get you when Bacchus’s elixir is ready.”

  “I can get up,” Jamie protested halfheartedly.

  Chad just patted his shoulder and climbed out of bed. He stumbled first to the coffeemaker and flipped the switch, then into the bathroom. He briefly considered waiting on his shower for Jamie, but knew they’d spend too much time in it if he did. Instead, he scrubbed fast, letting the hot water get his blood pumping, then hurried out again. He pulled his underwear and jeans on, then went back out to the kitchen.

  A short while later, he waved the steaming cup of coffee under Jamie’s nose. “Baby,” Chad called. “Wake up. Time to get moving.”

  Jamie groaned. “Dun wanna.”

  Chad chuckled. “That’s no way to honor Bacchus.”

  Jamie stuck out his tongue, but held out his hand as he hauled himself upright.

  Chad handed the cup over when Jamie was steady.

  “Thank you, pup. Sorry.”

  “It’s okay.” He kissed Jamie’s forehead. “Say a prayer to Mercury for a safe trip for us, then get your shower. I’ll load up the car and check to make sure the place is secure.”

  Jamie nodded, burying his face in the coffee mug. “Love you,” he mumbled.

  Chad smiled. “I love you too.” With another kiss to the top of his mate’s head, he went to take care of things.

  JAMIE SLEPT most of the way to Tanner and Finley’s place, but Chad didn’t mind. In fact, he let his mate sleep while he and Tanner moved the bags over to Tanner’s beautiful new blue Outlander. Once the third row was put down, they got all the bags situated—and Jamie had kept theirs to one suitcase each, not wanting to lug too much across Europe.

  When everything was settled, Tanner retrieved a still mostly asleep Finley, and Chad convinced Jamie to get in the car. Even though it was nearing ten, both of them curled right back up and went back to sleep for a little longer after sending up another prayer to Mercury for a safe journey. Chad simply enjoyed holding Jamie and watching the trees pass by, his mind still going over the million and one details of their upcoming trip.

  They’d planned well. He’d found out he didn’t need to buy the train tickets in advance—and had even been warned to consider waiting, in case they were delayed—but did have the ability to purchase them later on his phone. He’d downloaded a currency converter and a translator for French and Italian. He couldn’t get more
ready.

  When Tanner stopped at a classic fifties-style diner, Chad shook Jamie awake. “Food. And more coffee.”

  Jamie yawned and stretched, looking around. “Where’re we?”

  “Somerset. About to get on the Turnpike.”

  Jamie nodded and climbed out. “I could eat a horse.”

  Chad tilted his head. “Do you really eat those?”

  Jamie stared at him blankly as Tanner snickered. It took Jamie a little, but he finally figured out Chad was pulling his leg. He rolled his eyes and went into the diner.

  They found a booth in the corner with black-and-white vinyl seats and a hand-painted mural of the outside of the diner next to Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. All four of them ordered coffee, then focused on the menu.

  Chad had just decided on his meal when Jamie asked, “What the fuck is scrapple?”

  “Don’t ask,” Chad said, shaking his head.

  “You really…,” Tanner added.

  “…don’t want to know,” Finley finished.

  Jamie looked up at them. “Seriously? I mean, after what we eat as—” He glanced around. “—wolves?”

  “Our taste buds are totally different. Don’t do it. I promise.” Finley nodded, completely deadpan.

  Jamie blinked at them, but finally said, “I’ll take your word for it.”

  Chad put an arm around him. “Trust me on this one.”

  Once they’d made their way through omelets, home fries, ham, bacon, and sausage, and taken extra cups of coffee to go, they got back in the car. Tanner found the Turnpike ramp, and a few minutes later, they were speeding along the highway.

  Chad laughed when Finley rolled the window down and stuck his head out.

  “You going to stick your tongue out too?” Chad called.

  Finley flipped him off.

  Despite the jealousy that still spiked, Chad found himself really liking Tanner and Finley. It’d been a long time since he’d had friends, and he thoroughly enjoyed arguing over music and movies, and talking about all manner of things.