Roan knew he’d done the right thing in calling the pack house, but there was a huge part of him that didn’t want to see his friends. He could see Martin’s unfocused stare from the other side of the room, despite it being fully dark and no matter where he tried to look, those eyes kept glaring at him, accusing him. He’d killed a person. No matter how much his logical mind told him that what he’d done was justifiable, Roan couldn’t get past the fact he’d taken a life. Sure, among wolf shifters, it wasn’t as uncommon as some might think. Bigger wolves challenged each other over territory all the time. But Roan was born an omega; the thought of killing someone, even someone as evil as Martin, made him nauseous.
I’m going to be stuck in jail. The thought terrified Roan, not because he didn’t think he deserved it. He broke the law, and he knew punishments were a necessary part of life. But if he was in jail then it would mean he couldn’t see Mace. Mace would get tired of being alone and want to be with someone else and because of Roan’s bite, he wouldn’t be able to. It wouldn’t be a problem for long because without his mate, Roan would die and the mating bond would be broken. But as he huddled in the corner, shivering and covered in blood, waiting for Mace and the others to arrive he wondered if he was being selfish because all he wanted was to live.
Roan buried his face on his knees, his mind filled with dreams of how it could be. How it was meant to be. Curling up and resting his head on Mace’s shoulder every night. Slipping out of bed in the morning and cooking his mate a hearty breakfast before Mace went work; maybe even packing him a lunch.
Pack runs would be so much fun. Kalel told him Mace would yell every time Kalel snuck up on him, and how that sometimes Gabriel and Sin would mock box with Mace in bear form. He smiled as he thought of how brave his mate was. Gabriel and Sin were huge in their shifted form, Roan only saw them once, in the back garden of all places. Apparently it was safe to shift there, but Roan never tried it.
Roan’s eyes were drawn back to Martin and his smile evaporated. Now none of his dreams would happen. He’d be lucky if he got one hug from his mate before they carted him off in chains. Okay, he knew he was being overly dramatic, Mace used handcuffs. But the thought of being dragged away from his mate, never to be able to hold him again punched his heart so hard he groaned out loud. His wolf was howling in his head, urging him to run, but if he ran then he’d never even get one more hug; one last chance to smell Mace’s scent and find safety and comfort in his arms. He had to stay. Roan had to own up to what he’d done and take the consequences. He wouldn’t betray his mate by becoming a fugitive Mace would have to hunt down.
So overcome by his feelings of despair, Roan thought he was still dreaming when he heard Mace calling his name. But then he heard it again and he lifted his head, unable to resist calling out. “In here.” He tried to stand up, but the cold had chilled him to the bone and his legs wouldn’t work. But then it didn’t matter, because there was pounding of feet, an “Oops,” someone said out loud, and then Mace was there, picking him off the floor, holding him close, his hands roaming over Roan’s body as though making sure he was all right. His cock twitched, an automatic response to his mate’s scent, but Roan ruthlessly quashed that feeling. There’d be no time for any lovemaking before he was locked up.
“Tell me you’re okay.” Mace’s voice sounded rough, as though he’d drunk a fifth of whiskey and smoked a carton of cigarettes. Someone thrust a bottle of water into Roan’s hands and he drank greedily. Only when the bottle was empty did Roan raise his head, noting his packmates, even Sin and Gabriel surrounding him, their worried looks looking more intense in the harsh spotlight that Trent was carrying.
“I’m okay. I’m okay. He didn’t hurt me much, just hogtied me for a while, but I’m okay,” Roan said, looking around at everyone, nodding his head trying to show he was telling the truth. But then his eyes filled with tears as they rested on Mace’s face. “You have to arrest me. I’m a killer.”
“Oh hush, baby, no,” Mace said shaking his head, his eyes suspiciously bright. “We’ll sort it out. I promise you, we’ll come up with something. This was a clear case of self-defense.”
Roan was confused and he frowned. “I. Killed. Martin.” He enunciated clearly, worried Mace hadn’t heard him. “That’s against the law. You’re a police detective. It’s your job to put me in jail.”
“If I thought for a second that you could be arrested for this,” Mace said firmly, and Roan felt his mate’s hands tighten around him, “I’d have you in the car and on the way to Mexico before anyone realized what’d happened.”
“And we’d all be in cars behind you,” Dimitri said, popping his head over Mace’s shoulder. “It’s a clear case of self-defense, pup. You were kidnapped, held against your will, and when you had an opportunity, you attacked him. Martin had a knife in his jacket and a gun on the floor. Did he threaten you?”
“He called me boy and said he was going to kill me.” Roan shivered as he thought about the rage on Martin’s face, and the casual way he reached for a weapon. Mace growled but didn’t say anything.
“Then it’s self-defense, you won’t even get charged for it,” Dimitri said as though it was no big deal. “The only problem we have is Martin looks like he’s been mauled. I take it you used your claws.”
Roan held up one of his hands, still covered in blood, and Mace quickly covered it with his own, holding it against his chest. Roan wondered if Mace was upset that he’d taken a life, even if the dead person was an evil man. But Mace was still holding him as tight as ever and didn’t show any signs of letting him go; so Roan tried to put that thought out of his head.
“We could drag him out to a clearing somewhere, or into the woods, take a big chunk out of him, and let anyone who finds him think he’s been attacked by a wild animal,” Sin said from behind Roan. “I’d be more than happy to do it. I’ll shift and bite him now, and then we’ll throw him in the back of the SUV. There were some tarps in the other room.”
“This is where he killed the others,” Roan said. “Have you found the one he called Patty yet?”
“There’s another body and you saw it today?” Shane said.
Roan nodded but then Sin walked by pulling his shirt over his head, and suddenly Roan remembered. “Don’t shift in here,” he yelled. Sin’s head reemerged from his t-shirt.
“Why not, little one?” He asked.
Tilting his head up, Roan let go of Mace’s chest long enough to point to the ceiling. “He said he had super good surveillance and could see and hear everything in this room.”
“And he had another body in here, the one you called Patty, while that light was on?” Mace said excitedly. Roan wasn’t sure why Mace seemed so pleased about the blinking red light, but he bobbed his head.
“We’ll search every room,” Dimitri said, clapping Mace on the shoulder and winking at Roan. “This could give us our case against Aaron as well. Good job, Roan.”
The others poured out of the small concrete room, leaving Mace and Roan alone, a single flashlight providing the only relief from the gloom.
“Did you want to go with them,” Roan asked. He knew how important Mace’s job was to him.
“I’ve got something far more important to do,” Mace said, his voice still gravelly. Roan searched Mace’s silver eyes, wondering what could more important than finding evidence that would help solve the crimes against those poor dead women. But when Mace’s hands shifted, one still tucked under his buttocks, and the other lodged firmly in Roan’s hair, he started to get the idea. But as Mace’s head started to lean towards Roan, his intent unmistakable, Roan pulled back.
“I stink,” Roan said when the furrow above Mace’s eyes deepened. “I’m covered in blood, and I can smell myself. It’s not pleasant.”
“I don’t care.” Mace’s head came lower again.
“But you complained about smells only yester….”
“I said I don’t care,” and this time Mace didn’t give Roan a chance to move away. Roan’s lips were covered, softly, gently as though Mace was worried he would break. Roan was about to take matters into his own hands and move things along, when he caught a scent of blood on Mace, and it wasn’t his.
“You’re hurt,” he said, against Mace’s lips.
Mace’s head nodded slightly, and then pulled away just enough to answer. “I had a fight with Trent. I’ll owe him a huge apology later, but for now,” Mace’s lips pressed harder this time and Roan relaxed into his mate’s larger frame. His eyes closed, Roan shut out Martin and the noises of the other men searching the rooms of what seemed to be an old house. Even someone tugging on his shirt didn’t dissuade him.
The kiss quickly heated and the tugging stopped. “I just wanted to see if my friend was okay. I guess he is,” Roan heard Kalel grumble as he walked away, but then Mace’s tongue traced along the seam of his mouth and nothing else mattered as he opened his lips and the taste of his mate flooded his mouth. In that moment, Roan learned what it was to trust. To trust in his new pack, but more importantly to trust in the man who was currently searching for his tonsils with his tongue. It was an amazing feeling.