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  Bailey was in seventh heaven as the pain went away and was replaced by nothing but pleasure. Bailey loved the feel of his inner muscles opening to allow Lexi to push fully into him and then contracting as Lexi slid out. He felt every ridge and vein of Lexi’s big cock as it filled him. The sensation of taking that large cock fully inside him was delicious. It felt like he was made just for Lexi’s shaft. Lexi began to roll his hips in a circular motion every time he hit the far reaches of Bailey’s inner walls. Bailey couldn’t hold back the moans and keening noises that escaped his lips. His body began to writhe against Lexi’s, their sweat-soaked bodies sliding together perfectly.

  “Oh gods, baby,” Lexi said breathlessly. “You feel too damn good. I don’t know how long I can hold off.”

  Their desire for one another increased until they were panting, gasping for air, and they tightened their grip on each other’s hands in desperation. The raw hunger Bailey could see in Lexi’s eyes made his own wolf whine in need. He lifted his chin and turned his head to the side, exposing his throat to his mate. “Claim me, mate. Take me. Make me yours,” Bailey cried out. Lexi lowered his head and licked the sensitive spot on Bailey’s neck where it met his shoulder. He grazed his canines against Bailey’s flesh causing a shiver to run through him. Then his mate struck quickly and Bailey saw stars. The bite was only painful for a second before tuning into the most erotic feeling he ever experienced. Lexi thrust faster and harder as he pulled the blood from Bailey’s neck. His head began to spin and his vision blurred. He closed his eyes to focus on the bliss that was consuming his body and mind. A light shone down on them and suddenly they were standing in a field of wildflowers, the sun beating down on their naked skin as a warm breeze rushed past them, causing their hair to fly around. The light rushed toward them and engulfed them. It wrapped around them and pressed their bodies together. The light got brighter and Bailey could feel Lexi inside him everywhere, as if Lexi lived inside him. But at the same time he felt as though he were inside Lexi. He could feel what Lexi felt and hear what Lexi thought. The light pulled away from them and faded, and Bailey found himself back on the blanket, next to the lake, under the stars, and his mate thrusting deep inside him.

  Lexi pulled from Bailey’s neck and licked the bite closed as his hips thrust harder. They separated their hands and wrapped their arms around each other, clinging to each other. Bailey clawed Lexi’s back as their orgasms raced to completion. Bodies rocking, thrusting, arching against each other.

  Bailey’s canines slid from his gums and his eyes opened wide. Lexi lowered his head and turned, exposing his neck to his mate. “Bite me, Bailey. Make it complete.”

  Bailey bit down on Lexi’s neck and his eyes rolled to the back of his head as the first burst of Lexi’s blood bathed his tongue. He never imagined anything could taste so good. He drew from Lexi for a few more minutes as Lexi continued to slide in and out of his body. Bailey pulled back from Lexi’s neck and licked his mark to close it.

  Lexi buried his face in Bailey’s neck and tightened his hold as he began to thrust erratically. Warm tears hit Bailey’s skin and he was overcome with emotion knowing that he affected his mate so deeply. Lexi’s cock swelled and pulsed within him and Bailey screamed Lexi’s name as his release shot from him and he came, coating them both with his warm cum. Lexi’s seed filled him a second later and he felt claimed inside and out. A strangled cry ripped out from Lexi’s throat as he flung his head back and tightened his hold on Bailey.

  Lexi’s head dropped and rested on Bailey’s collarbone as they both lay there holding on to each other, trying to catch their breath. Bailey combed his fingers lightly through Lexi’s silky damp locks. “Can we do that every night?” he asked breathlessly with a hint of mischief in his voice. Lexi’s body shook with laughter.

  He raised his head and smiled down into Bailey’s beautiful eyes. “I was planning on it,” he said with a laugh and kissed Bailey softly. Lexi rolled them so he was on his back and Bailey lay pressed against his side with his head resting on Lexi’s shoulder, an arm and a leg thrown over Lexi’s body. Bailey slowly caressed Lexi’s muscled pecs absently as they looked up at the stars above. It was a cloudless night and an infinite number of stars seemed to glow just for them. It was so quiet except for the sounds of the tree branches rustling in the breeze.

  Lexi grabbed the extra blanket and shook it out with one hand. They both pulled and twisted it until it covered them both. The breeze cooling their sweaty skin caused goose bumps and shivers. Bailey pulled the blanket under his chin and they held each other close, enjoying each other’s body heat. Bailey’s eyes grew heavy and he yawned. “Sleep now, mate,” Lexi said tenderly and Bailey closed his eyes.

  Chapter 10

  A knock came on the door and Aaron looked up from his microscope to see who it was. “Can I come in?” Storm asked. Aaron nodded and looked down into the microscope again. Storm walked over to the table Aaron was sitting at and placed a box on the table. “Here’s the package Micah said you were waiting on,” Storm said nervously.

  Aaron’s head snapped up from his work, his eyes full of excitement, and he reached for the box. “Yes, the final piece to the puzzle,” he said happily. Aaron tore the tape off the box and opened the top. He hurriedly pulled out the packing and then carefully lifted a large glass tube from within. He lifted it up in front of his face as he stared at it and his eyes lit up with excitement.

  “What is it?” Storm asked and leaned a hip against the table.

  “One hundred percent pure silver,” Aaron whispered in awe.

  Storm’s eyes went wide as he jumped back away from his brother. “What the fuck, Aaron, are you trying to kill all of us?”

  “Yes, Storm, that’s exactly why I brought silver into this house. To kill all of you,” he said sarcastically and rolled his eyes. He carefully placed the bottle into a rack on the table. He took out a piece of masking tape and a marker and wrote, “Pure Silver―Do Not Touch,” then put the tape on the tube.

  “What are you doing with that?” Storm asked.

  “I’m hoping that it is the answer to my bullet problem. I haven’t been able to find an exact thickness to the casings that I need to disintegrate properly to release the contents. So, I was thinking, silver would probably work because I could make the casings pretty thin. Then I had to slap myself in the head. Why I didn’t think of it before was a duh moment. Silver and paranormals don’t mix, hence your reaction when I told you what it was. If this works, I will fill the silver casings with my dragon mixture. Once the bullet enters the paranormal, the silver will start to poison them and melt into their system. As the silver melts, it will release the contents and bam, dead paranormal,” Aaron explained with enthusiasm.

  “Wow, that’s some amazing shit, brother. Can I ask one question though?” Storm looked at him hopefully.

  “Shoot,” he said then snickered. “Pun not intended.”

  Storm smiled and gave a small chuckle. “How are you going to get your dragon mixture into the silver without it destroying the casing? And what is your dragon mixture anyway?”

  “That’s two questions,” Aaron said with a smirk.

  Storm narrowed his eyes and gave him a sour look. “Smartass,” he grumbled.

  “Yes, we have already established that,” Aaron answered teasingly. “But I will answer both.” He turned and walked to a refrigerator. He opened it and pulled out a rack of glass tubes. The tubes were filled with some kind of faint red powder. He placed the rack on the table and lifted a tube. “This is my dragon mixture. Thanks to Dare and Brett I was able to collect their blood and tear samples. When I was being held by Brighton, I was able to figure out that although dragon’s blood and tears burn through whatever it touches, it will eventually stop. At some point it will dry up and stop destroying what it touches. Then I found out that glass, of all things, can withstand the hazardous properties of the blood and tears, as well as certain metals.

  “It has been so long since the dragons have
been on earth that they didn’t know that some of modern technology could hold up against them. Nobody realized it.”

  “But you did, brother,” Storm said proudly.

  Aaron shrugged off his praise. “Yeah well, anyway. So using a normal glass syringe I could extract their blood. And using a glass beaker I could collect their tears. But to get it into a bullet casing wasn’t easy. At their thickness, even though it is metal, it would be destroyed. So I thought, what if I could take the moisture out of it and dehydrated it? So I tried normal dehydration systems, but they kept melting. Then it dawned on me. I am mated to a wolf who can control moisture. When he told me how he sucked the moisture out of the cave, drawing it up and away to cause a vacuum, pulling the rocks up, it hit me. Raith. Raith was the answer.

  “So I had my amazing mate come in here and try to pull the moisture from the samples without destroying their properties. And it worked, to a point. Just enough to put the samples in one of those racks to dehydrate food, without destroying it. Once it was finished, I had powders of both samples. I tested it with water and with blood to see if they would rehydrate the samples and if so, if they would still be as potent. And it worked. So if I put these powders into the bullet casings, the casing go into the body, the silver burns and disintegrates, and the person’s own moisture rehydrates the powder left behind…”

  “Dead paranormal,” Storm said in awe.

  “Dead paranormal,” Aaron agreed with a smile. He placed the tube of dragon mixture back into its rack.

  “You really are a fucking genius, Aaron,” Storm whispered sadly.

  The sound of Storm’s voice caused Aaron to turn to look at his brother in concern. “What is it, Storm?” he asked with brows drawn down.

  “What happened to us?” Storm whispered as he stared at the floor.

  Aaron took a deep breath and released it slowly. He bit his bottom lip and shrugged as he turned away and started fiddling with his instruments on the table. “I don’t know. We grew apart.”

  “That’s not it and you know it. Tell me, Aaron, so that I can try to fix this, fix us.”

  Aaron sighed heavily. “You left me. You abandoned me,” he whispered in a tight voice. “We did everything together until Seth moved into the pride. Then you just…forgot about me.” Aaron shrugged and picked up the dragon mixture rack, walking back to the fridge.

  “I didn’t mean to, brother. I was a teenager and another teenager moved into the pack. It was only natural for me to want to hang out with someone closer to my own age,” Storm explained gently.

  Aaron shook his head, his back to Storm. “Seth was in the pack for almost nine months before you even knew he was there. He was my friend first. Whenever Mom, Dad, and Papa would make you go to your leader classes, I was always alone, waiting for you to come back to hang out. One day I met the new kid while I was at the park waiting for you. We started talking and playing around. We had a great time. After that, whenever you had to go I ran to Seth’s house and we hung out. He was my only friend besides you.”

  “That’s not true. You had friends in the pride.”

  “No, I didn’t. No one wanted to have anything to do with me because I was too smart. Don’t you remember having to kick quite a few asses because they were picking on me?”

  Storm smiled. “Yeah, I remember a few scuffles,” he said with a soft laugh.

  “The only time any of the other kids tolerated me was when you were around. They knew you were being groomed as the next leader and they pretended to like me around you. But Seth liked me for me. He thought it was cool that I was so smart. Then one day you got mad at me because I wasn’t there waiting for you when you got home like I always was.” Aaron sighed heavily and moved around the table. “I told you I had finally found a friend, a real friend, and that I liked hanging out with him when you weren’t around because I wasn’t lonely anymore. And then I told you…” Aaron stopped talking and sniffled, swallowing hard.

  “Shit, I remember that now. You told me that you really liked him. That you liked him liked him and he made you feel all squishy inside.” Storm sighed and ran a hand down his face.

  “Yeah…then I told you that he kissed me. He was my first kiss,” Aaron said as he stared into space. “You said that if this kid meant that much to me than you wanted to meet him. So we met Seth at the park the next day. He took one look at you and he didn’t kiss me. For over a month, anytime we met up, the first thing he did was kiss me. But with you there he didn’t. I figured it was because he was afraid of kissing me in front of my big brother. But then the two of you sat and talked. You both had a lot in common. Any time I tried to get into the conversation, you both waved me off. Then the next day Seth came to the house and I was so excited, but he told me he came to hang out with you. You both slowly stopped spending time with me. You both forgot about me. Then Seth started being mean to me, calling me names, teasing me. It really hurt,” Aaron said as he cried. “I loved him, Storm, and I loved you. I idolized you. You were my big brother. But then you both left me and started teasing me. You teasing me was probably the most painful thing in my life.

  “Mom, Dad, and Papa told me I had to grow up and realize that you needed to be with people your own age, and that I should do the same. But when I told them no one wanted to be my friend because I was so much smarter than they were, they told me that I had to stop showing off. I never showed off before that, Storm. But now that I knew I was totally alone in the word, I might as well start doing what I was being accused of anyway. So I turned to my studies and made that my life. I had nothing else.” Aaron shrugged indifferently and raised his tear-filled eyes to Storm. “I hardened my heart to protect myself and became the prick that I was. And do you know what happened?” Aaron asked around the lump in his throat.

  Storm’s own eyes were full of tears as he listened to his baby brother bare his soul. He swallowed hard and shook his head.

  “You and Seth got worse. The more I hardened myself, the worse you both got. It destroyed me, Storm. The pain was unbearable. I turned to any man I could find to fuck me senseless and make me forget for just a little while. And it worked. As long as I was getting pounded or pounding someone, my mind cleared of everything else. Then the two of you started using that against me. Slut, manwhore, trollop.”

  Storm flinched and closed his eyes against the pain. “I didn’t realize how much we were hurting you.”

  Aaron ignored him and kept talking. Now that it was all coming out he wasn’t stopping. “That’s why I insisted on going away to human college. So that I could get away from the two of you. I never thought about being a doctor until I went away to college and found out that if I went to med school that meant more time away from both of you. I found a life at college. I had friends who actually cared about me, and I was damn good at being a doctor. I stayed away to do my internship, and I wanted to stay there. But Papa called and told me I had to come back to the pride. He was stepping down and you were taking over and Doc Hughes was retiring. I told him no.”

  Storm’s head snapped up and he met Aaron’s eyes. “You did?”

  Aaron nodded. “Yes, I did. But he, Mom, and Dad insisted I come back. They said it was my time to take my rightful place in the pride, as well as being your second, and the pride doc. I still told them no, but they threatened me that if I didn’t return then I was no longer a part of the pride and I would be a lone shifter. I don’t have to tell you what happens when you’re marked as a lone shifter.” Storm’s eyes were wide in shock as he shook his head. “So I came home. When I got there, I was told that I was to report to you the next day and to start working as your second. I dragged my ass going to your office. I didn’t want to be there. I hadn’t seen you in over twenty years and I didn’t want to face you again. I sucked it up and walked into your office and the first thing out of your mouth was that I now had to bite my tongue and show you and your second, Seth, respect or you would punish my ass as an example to the rest of the pride. That just because I was your b
rother didn’t mean that I should expect to get any special treatment. So I bit back, I told you I never had before. And true to form, Seth welcomed me home with one of his jabs at my sex life and that just set the tone for the rest of our relationship. I told you just because I had to come home and you were in charge, didn’t mean I was going to bow down to you. That if you thought I was just going to roll over and expose my belly that you could go kiss my ass and fuck yourself.

  “I left and Papa screamed at me. I told him I was going back to my life, but he said he would mark me as lone immediately. He said the pride needed me and I had to stay, whether Seth was your second or not. What other choice did I have? I stayed, but I was a lot smarter and more of a prick and gave you two assholes a run for your money,” Aaron said and laughed as he said the last part.

  Storm chuckled lightly. “Yes, you did.” Then his face turned serious as he met Aaron’s eyes. “I’m sorry, brother. I didn’t know Papa threatened you or told you that you were going to be my second. I didn’t even remember half that stuff until you just said it. You’re right. I never even welcomed you home. I just laid into you as if twenty years hadn’t passed. I am truly sorry for everything. You’re right. We were the pricks, not you. I honestly have no excuse for the way I treated you all those years, except that at first it was just I had a friend my own age and we acted like we saw other kids our age act. I never realized how much it was hurting you or affecting you. I was being a selfish bastard and only thinking of myself and what was going on in my life and what I wanted. Then when you started screwing around with all those guys, I got disgusted. I judged you and thought you were a slut.”