Jacks, Marcy - Mason Returns to His Mate [DeWitt's Pack 8] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic Man by Marcy Jacks (free novel reading sites .TXT) 📗

and hard. “Protect me from people who  want to hunt and kill me, not from the emotional stuff. That I can

handle.”

He could do that. “Deal,” Mason said.

“But Isaac did offer to go target shooting with me to bone up on  my aim with a pistol,” Derek said, smiling. “Just in case.”

Just in case. Christ, there wasn’t going to be a single thing about  this that wasn’t hard.

Clenching his jaw, Mason nodded. “Just try not to get into any trouble, all right? These guys are usually more skilled than the average human.”

“You have my guarantee that I am too much of a coward to do more than hide under the bed if some guy comes at me with a gun or knife.”

Mason was about to argue against that and say that his mate was no coward, but the look on Derek’s face, that same shit-eating smile,

told him that his mate was joking.

He might be serious about not running straight into their next

battle, but Derek was no coward. Mason knew that. Derek wouldn’t

have survived that first encounter with the hunters if he had been.

“All right. I’ll hold you to that, and the next time we might have  to keep you at the pack for an extended period of time, I’ll let you  know first.”

Derek kissed him. It was a gentle and chaste  pressing of their lips,

and no kiss had ever been as sweet.

“I’m just glad you’re staying,” Derek said.

80                          Marcy Jacks

“I won’t leave again,” Mason said, putting his fingers into Derek’s

hair. Even if he did ever decide to leave, this time he would make sure

to take Derek with him.

While Mason loved the press of their bodies, there was still that one more tiny detail that needed taking care of. “Ah, Derek, since you don’t want me keeping emotional touchy feely stuff from you and all, there’s something else you should know.”

Mason gently pushed them away from each other, and he and  Derek held each other at an arm’s length, but they didn’t completely

separate.

Neither wanted to let the other go.

Derek frowned a little, but his face hardly turned angry, nor did  Mason get that vibe out of him.

“All right, what is it?” Derek asked.

“It might make you angry.”

“Spit it out, DeWitt,” Derek said.

“Okay, here it is,” Mason said, gripping Derek’s shoulders tight.  “We’re mates.”

He shrugged and smiled to mask how nervous he felt. “Ta-da?”

Derek blinked at him a couple of times, his brows lifting as he put together exactly what something like that would mean.

“You mean, like, we’re together now? Because I already figured that part out,” Derek said with a grin, trying to get closer to Mason again.

“Yes, we are, but not in the way you’re thinking,” Mason said, pushing Derek back a little, ever fearful of the building confusion on his lover’s face.

He had to explain himself quickly. Derek wasn’t known for his short fuse, but everyone had a limit on what they could take.

“A mate, for a werewolf, isn’t the same thing as taking a lover or a partner. It’s not just attraction, and it isn’t always based on love.  There are a lot of weres in the world who find themselves mated to

people they can’t stand. When I say we’re mates, what I mean is that

Mason Returns to His Mate                    81

you and I are spiritually connected. Pretty much for the rest of our

lives.”

Beyond that, too, if he remembered the story about Ivan and Eric right, but he didn’t want to get into that too much.

Derek’s brows shot right into his hairline. “We’re married?”

Mason shrugged. “If that’s a good way for you to look at it, then yes.”

“Holy shit.” Derek rubbed his face with both palms before sliding his hands into his hair. He looked like he was struggling to not lose it.

“I don’t want this to be another choice you think is being taken away from you,” Mason said. “I know we haven’t been together for that long”—not long at all—“so I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything. I want to be with you, so much, but if you ever want to go, when the hunters are dealt with, you can go back to Brampton or wherever you want to go and I won’t stop you.”

Derek looked up at him sharply. “That’s why you walked out back there? Because you thought I wanted to leave you?”

Fuck. Mason  wasn’t good with these kinds of things. “I just don’t want you to think you’re trapped here.”

“It’s not about that, Mason. Jesus!” Derek said. “I love you. I’ve loved you since I was twenty years old. I’m kind of glad you told me about this. Really glad, actually, because now I know that I’m not insane for holding a candle for you for that long. You’re saying that the reason I never forgot about you was because of the way we’re connected?”

Mason smiled at him, and he touched Derek’s face. He had such

nice skin. “Yes.”

“You never forgot me either.”

Not a question, but the statement deserved an answer anyway.  Mason could feel the way his face went stove-burner hot as he  replied. “No.”

Derek kissed him.

Mason had been wrong before. This kiss was the sweetest.

82                          Marcy Jacks

Considering he was still naked from his recent run as a werewolf, his immediate arousal was noticed right away by Derek, who started to shimmy out of his clothes.

Mason wouldn’t have taken the other man for being the type to want sex in such an open place.

“What are you doing?” he asked, just to be on the safe side.

“No one’s around, right?”

Seemed he was still a little shy.

Eric was nearby, but Mason had no doubt that the other man, or men, whatever, would leave once he realized what was going on.

That, and Mason wasn’t about to put a stop to what Derek was doing to him. He couldn’t.

When Derek was just as naked as Mason, he kicked his leg behind  Derek’s feet, tripping the other man and holding onto his arms tight enough to gently lower him down to the ground.

“You bastard.” Derek laughed, and then they kissed again.

Something was different about