Ian looked up with tears shining in his eyes. “It still does. He’s tearing me apart, Marco. I never thought I’d ever feel so strongly for someone after Maria, but I swear to God, I can smell him the same as if he were a blood mate. I love him just as much as if he were. I don’t know what to do. ” He sat down at the table and buried his face in his hands. “I’m sorry. It was my idea to bluff them with banishment, but I never thought it would turn out like this. ”
Marco blew out a long breath and clasped Ian’s shoulder. “We’ve both been foolish. Too much pride, I guess. We’ll find them. I won’t promise not to spank Nicky’s butt for him, but I have to try to come to terms with him too. He’s everything to me. Unfortunately, he knows it. ”
“There’s one more thing you need to know. I think Nicky was bluffing or just fooling around, but you know how he is, Marco. ”
Marco nodded grimly. “What is it, Rory? Tell us. ”
Rory looked up and directed his gaze back and forth between the leaders. “He said—if you two don’t value them anymore, they might just ask for asylum with the Hunters. ”
Ian paled visibly, while Marco dropped his face into his hands. He looked up after a moment. “Damn him! When I get my hands on him again, I swear to God I’ll lock him down for a month. Asylum, my ass!” He was quiet for a moment and then looked at Ian in horror. “You don’t think they’d actually do it? How do they think they’d feed?”
“We all know they take wolf prisoners from time to time—rogues mostly,” Casey said.
Ian shook his head in confusion. “They took at least a pint of blood from me. If they do that with all theirprisoners, they could have some banked. ”
“What for?”
“They said they took it for research, to find a way to make synthetic blood to feed Logan. ”
Rory spoke up. “Just the fact Nicky wouldsay it proves he’s not as happy here as you thought. The word asylum. It implies protection from a hostile society. Is that what he thinks he needs?I don’t completely understand, because I’m not a human, but if I was, I know I wouldn’t be able to stand the way you treat the human pets. The natural born pets are treated much better. Maybe you should think that over very carefully. ”
Marco looked stunned and even Casey frowned down at Rory, saying,“Hush, Rory, you’ve said enough. ”
Rory looked contrite, but he held his ground. “I’m sorry, Marco, Ian. I know you’re trying to follow the old ways, and I know Nicky scared you last year with what happened to him. He scared all of us. But there are two issues here—the feedings and the domination. The feedings they have to have. We all know that was why Nicky went feral, not because he showed defiance. They’re not supposed to be mindless slaves. They’re men, and you should treat them that way. The way you treat them is demeaning and destroys their self-esteem. Neither of them asked for this, you know. You took everything they were away from them, forcing them to accept being nothing more than a shadow of you, then punished them—”
“Has Nicky said something?”
Rory shook his head. “No. He loves you, and what you do in the bedroom is one thing. I think he likes being dominated there, just like I do with Casey. ” He blushed at the look on Marco?
?s face. “Well, it’s true, Marco, but Casey treats me with respect the rest of the time. You don’t Nicky, and you don’t Logan, Ian. Casey’s protective, sure, but not fucking crazy like you two can be, like the way you make them dress and wear collars, and stripped them of their body hair. I’m sorry, but if you aren’t careful you could lose them both. ”
Marco looked uncomfortable. “I just try to follow the traditions of our people. I respect Nicky. The collar is a sign he belongs to me. ” Marco got to his feet and paced back and forth, deep in thought.
Ian had a twinge of guilt, comparing how he felt when they snapped the steel collar around his neck. Telling himself it was a completely different circumstance didn’t help much.
Marco knelt in front of Rory. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know anymore. I only know I have to find them, Rory. Tell me exactly which direction they took when they left you. ”
“They went north. Logan said he knew of a place they could go. ”
“Do you know of a place they might be?” Ian asked anxiously.
“Dozens,” Marco answered. “We’ll just have to search them all. Casey, you’re in charge until we get back. ”
Chapter Seven
Two weeks passed almost before they knew it. They had been lucky with the weather — cold nights, but sunny days, keeping the temperatures bearable. They spent the long days hunting for food, fishing in the streams, or gathering firewood. They cleaned themselves in the icy waters of the fall at night and dried off by the fire.
Logan had come to admire Nicky’s plucky spirit . He knew he missed Marco terribly, but he never mentioned it and tried to keep Logan’s spirits up as well, not always an easy thing to do. Nicky knew Marco wanted him back, while Logan was sure of the opposite about Ian, no matter how many times Nicky tried to reassure him. Logan knew Ian believed he’d betrayed him and if he took him back, which Logan doubted after the times he’d told him otherwise, it would only be as a responsibility he merely tolerated. Logan couldn’t live the way Ian would treat him, had treated him,and he certainly didn’t want anybody else.
Keeping the fire going at night was a full time job, so they usually slept a little late in the mornings. On the morning of the day they were to go meet Rory, they got up earlier than usual and ate some cold,leftover rabbit they’d cooked the night before. Banking the fire, they packed up their gear in case something unforeseen required them to spend the night on the trail and left the small cave, heading south toward Mountainwood. They hadn’t gone far when they heard someone on the trail ahead of them. Darting off into the bushes, they moved as quietly as possible into the deep underbrush to hide. Gradually the voices coming toward them got louder. Two men, both wearing the camo uniforms of the Hunters came into view. Logan recognized one of the men as Dawson, the sadistic bastardwho’d whipped him and Ian. He glanced at Nicky who nodded back at him. Logan held a finger to his lips.
When the men passed their hiding place and got further down the trail, Logan whispered to him. “That’s Dawson. He’s a high ranking aide to my father. Why is he out here in the woods? He rarely leaves the compound. ”
“Let’s spy on them and see what they’re up to. ”
Nicky wore a look of mischief that was becoming familiar to Logan, but he grinned and
nodded. They were just about to step out from their hiding place when they heard someone else coming on the trail and drew back. As they came into view, Logan’s heart beat faster. More Hunters! Three more of them, wearing camo and moving fast down the trail with rifles slung on their backs. Logan gripped Nicky’s arm tightly to keep him still. When he was sure they were out of earshot, he whispered to Nicky.