Xavier Read online

  The mechanic had to be the most gorgeous man Xavier had ever seen, more so even than Andrew, and Andrew was, well, he was hot. This man, though... he made it into Xavier’s top five. Hell, he had shot directly to number one!

  He was tall, much taller than Xavier, and his opposite in about everything. Where Xavier was fat and short, the man was tall and thin. Well, not thin, not exactly. Xavier could see the muscles bunching under the dirty wife beater the guy wore, the way his arms flexed... oh god, now was not the right moment to get a boner!

  Xavier tried to move his eyes away from the apparition, but he couldn’t. His mouth was dry as his eyes moved over the mechanic’s body. Oh, yeah, the man was muscled, but not so much that he looked like a body builder. Exactly how Xavier liked it.

  The perfection of mechanic guy didn’t stop there, oh no. The man had longish cinnamon brown hair that was tied on his nape and what was called a classic beauty’s face. Xavier could see the details of it as the man walked up to them—the straight nose, the strong jaw, the forest-green eyes that were so piercing Xavier could have sworn the man looked right through him to read his darker secrets.

  The man was made even hotter by the tattoos and the piercings Xavier could see. He had never been into them, but on the mechanic... god! Xavier could see something dark peeking from the edge of his wife beater right on his collarbone and complicated designs on his arms, and he would bet anything that those weren’t the only tattoos the guy had. As for the piercings... one lip ring, one eyebrow ring. Hot.

  Xavier nearly didn’t register the fact that Denver had stepped out of the car and had walked up to the approaching wolf shifter. The man kept looking at him, and Xavier wanted to disappear. Had he noticed Xavier was all but drooling over him? Was he going to get beaten up for staring? The guy looked like the ultimate alpha male, although maybe more refined and pretty, but over all he did look like the biker type. Dominic had told Xavier no one would say anything about him being gay, but staring at the first person he met as if he wanted to eat him up might change that.

  Denver gestured to him to join them and Xavier took a deep breath, trying to keep the delicate balance between being scared to death and attracted like hell to the man stable. It wouldn’t do for him to give in to either of those feelings, because it would mean he would either jump the man or run away screaming. Good way to make a great first impression.

  As much as he wanted to stay in the car and cower, he really couldn’t, so he opened the door and slid out from the way too tall car. It wasn’t an easy thing to do with his height and weight, or at least an easy thing to do without looking like a hippo, but then he always looked like one. It wasn’t like he could be graceful with the weight he moved around, and he felt his cheeks burn in shame as he closed the car door and stepped toward the two men.

  “Xavier, this is Andy. Kameron will see you as soon as he can, but in the meantime Andy will stay with you.” Denver had already told him everything he had to know in the car, but he didn’t mind the recap.

  Xavier raised his hand and waved at Andy but kept his distance. The man frowned but let it go and turned back to Denver. “So, Kameron told me you guys have a stalker on your hands?”

  “Yeah, and he’s a bear shifter. We think he thinks Andrew, Xavier’s... ex-boyfriend... ” Denver looked at Xavier when he said that, but Xavier just shrugged. Andrew was exactly that, after all. “... is his mate, and he attacked Xavier without knowing they had already broken up. We don’t think the man will be a problem for Xavier anymore, but better safe than sorry, so we whisked him away.”

  Xavier could feel the green stare of Andy’s eyes on him and he wished the man would look elsewhere. Was he thinking about how fat Xavier was? He really hoped he wouldn’t bully him too much and keep the insults at a minimum.

  Xavier kept his eyes on his feet while the two men talked, but soon Denver turned to him. “I have to go, but you have my number. Call me or Jeremy if you need anything.” Xavier nodded. He felt Andy stepping closer to him while Denver called Jeremy so that he could reassure his mate that Xavier was fine, but he couldn’t look up. He was feeling weird, weirder than usual, as if he could just step into Andy’s arms and stay there forever, and he was scared that looking up would make everything he was feeling obvious, so he tried to put more space between them. He hadn’t expected Andy to chuckle in response.

  * * * *

  Andy was intrigued by Xavier. He couldn’t believe his eyes when the man had stepped out of the car, so sweet and hot and sexy, and a whole array of other adjectives that Andy couldn’t think about right now.

  Xavier was just like a cherub—blond curly hair, gray-green eyes, a little padding that made Andy want to touch the soft flesh. He was small, at least compared to Andy, and it made him want to protect the little guy. He could feel his wolf bitching about the stalker that had hurt Xavier, especially when he noticed the dark bruises on Xavier’s throat.

  Andy tightened his hands before his claws could pop out and scare Xavier. The man looked wary and hesitant, and Andy wanted him to be at ease. He strangely wanted to protect Xavier, to hide him in his bed and never let him go. Huh.

  Andy didn’t even notice he was inching closer and closer to Xavier until the wind picked up and he smelled the most delectable scent the had ever smelled. It was sweet and reminded him of his mother’s cookies, the ones with chocolate, but it also held a hint of something stronger and all male. Andy’s wolf howled and tried to push him to go to Xavier, to throw the man over his shoulder and whisk him away into Andy’s bed. As it was, he reached for Xavier’s arm, grabbing it lightly and pulling the man into his arms.

  Xavier came willingly and Andy saw Denver’s eyes widen as he watched them, but he really didn’t care. He bent down and pushed his nose into Xavier’s neck just as the man seemed to come back to his senses and started pushing against Andy’s chest, trying to put some space between them. “What are you doing?”

  Andy let Xavier go only because he could hear the panic into the man’s voice, but now that he had gotten a good sniff he was sure of it—Xavier was his mate. His mate. Andy couldn’t believe it. He never thought he would find his mate, and having Xavier right there in front of him...

  “Mind telling me what just happened?” Denver rumbled, and Andy felt a wave of jealousy. This man knew more about his mate than he did at the moment. The only thing that stopped Andy from growling at him was that he knew Denver was already mated.

  “Xavier is my mate.”

  Denver’s smile was smug but his words didn’t betray what he was thinking. “I’ll let Dominic know.” He started to turn away, but Xavier’s hand shot out and grabbed Denver’s arm. This time Andy couldn’t stop the growl that rose from his throat, but he regretted it as soon as he saw Xavier’s eyes widen in fear.

  He held his hands up in a way he hoped showed that he was harmless. “I’m sorry. I won’t hurt you, it’s just that my wolf doesn’t like you touching another male.”

  Xavier’s eyes were huge, and his hand stayed on Denver. “I-I don’t know what’s happening.” He looked freaked, out and Andy realized that mentioning his wolf probably hadn’t been a good idea.

  “No one told you about mates?” He tried to keep his voice low and reassuring, but he wasn’t sure he succeeded. It was so hard to stay where he was when the only thing he wanted was to take Xavier into his arms again.

  Denver looked a little panicky at having the smaller man attached to his arm. “Do you want me to call someone? Maybe Jeremy?” Yup, panicky. Andy could hear it in Denver’s voice.

  “Can you... can you call Andrew?”

  Andy growled. He couldn’t help it, damn it! “Why do you want to talk to your ex?”

  Denver glowered but he did take his cell phone out of his pocket. “He wants his ex because Andrew knows about shifters and he’s comfortable with him.”

  “Don’t you have someone else you can call?” Andy knew he sounded like a jerk, but his wolf wasn’t
having any of it. He didn’t want Xavier to go anywhere near his ex, especially since the breakup was so fresh.

  “Dominic? Yeah, I’m in Gillham, but we have a problem.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  Andy kept an ear on the conversation, but his eyes never left Xavier. He realized that he probably should call someone too, and he would have called Zach if the man had been like before, but...

  “The guy I should have left Xavier with is his mate, but Xavier is terrified and doesn’t seem to want to stay with Andy.” Denver looked down at his arm with concern.

  Andy really had to try hard to keep the next growl in. Damn it! He didn’t want his mate to be afraid of him! “He wants Andrew.”

  “I don’t think it’s wise to have him come back to Whitedell. The stalker got in Andrew’s home again last night, and he’s decided to target Soren, too. Would Xavier talk to Jeremy?”

  Denver asked Xavier and the man nodded in earnest, his gaze still not meeting Andy’s. It actually hurt, seeing that his mate wanted anyone but him, but Andy tried to think only about the rational part of situation. The man was scared, and human. He didn’t feel the mating pull as strongly as Andy, so it was logical that he wanted to be with someone he knew.

  A car pulled in next to Denver’s and Andy recognized it as Nick’s. Great. Nicky was the only thing they were missing to make this day end in a complete clusterfuck. Andy watched as Xavier stepped even closer to Denver—he had to close his eyes to avoid jumping on the huge man and pummeling him into the ground for touching his mate.

  “Hey, Andy. What’s up? Kam told me he gave you bodyguard duty.” Nick looked at Denver and Xavier, his eyes appreciatively raking over Xavier’s body. Xavier’s eyes seemed to grow even larger when Nick winked at him, and Andy couldn’t stop himself anymore.

  His wolf erupted from inside him, pieces of his clothes flying everywhere as he jumped between Xavier and Nick. He heard Xavier whimper, but his attention was on the other wolf. Nick was a menace to Andy’s mating, and he had to keep an eye on him.

  “What the fuck, man? What’s wrong with you?” Nick kept his hands in front of him, making it clear he wasn’t armed, but Andy’s wolf didn’t care about that. He just wanted the man—Andy’s best friend, damn it!—to step back as far as he could from Xavier.

  “Way to go, man,” Andy heard Denver say behind him. “That is the best way to reassure your terrified mate.”

  Andy saw understanding dawn on Nick’ face and the man finally stepped away. Andy suddenly felt guilty, both for attacking his best friend that way and for scaring Xavier. Sure enough, when he turned around to face his mate, the man hung from Denver as if the cat shifter was a lifeline and he was drowning. Xavier was half hidden behind the bigger man, who was still talking on the phone, his tone a little more agitated than before.

  Yup, I’m an asshole.

  Andy lay down on his belly and let his tongue loll out of his mouth in his best I’m-a-harmless-dog impression. He laid his jaw on his paws and turned his pleading eyes on Xavier. He was going to have to work to make the man forgive him.

  Andy really wanted Xavier to stop being scared of him, but in that exact moment the air next to Andy did a funny thing and two men appeared out of thin air. Andy was shell-shocked for about five seconds before he caught up, not caring in the least how they had managed to appear like that. He moved quickly, putting himself between his mate and the two new men and growling at them in warning. That was when all hell broke loose.

  * * * *

  Xavier had never been so scared, except for when the stalker had attacked him.

  He still didn’t understand what had happened. Denver had been talking on the phone with Dominic, and Xavier had been worrying for Soren when he had heard that the stalker was after him now. Then a car had stopped near them and a tall man had gotten out, talking to Andy while looking at Xavier. Xavier wasn’t sure what the man saw in him, but he had winked.

  Before Xavier could do anything more than be surprised, Andy had... had transformed into a big, big wolf and had nearly attacked the new man. Xavier had noticed that Andy had put himself between the man and Xavier, so he had realized that Andy was trying to protect him, in his own way. Xavier wasn’t courageous, but he didn’t want anyone to get hurt, so he had been about to step to the wolf—to Andy—and try to calm him, all the while praying that the wolf didn’t eat him, but before he could move, Nysys and Jeremy had shimmered in. Xavier might have been told what shimmering was, but he had never seen it before, and it was freaky.

  Andy had taken one look at them and had put himself between them and Xavier, just like before, and had started to growl. And all hell had broken loose.

  Xavier felt more than saw Denver becoming a huge tiger. The thing easily got to Xavier’s waist, and while his first instinct had been to start screaming and running as far as he could, he had been frozen in place.

  Everything went so fast after that that he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to understand exactly what had happened. Denver moved passed him, not giving him as much as a glance, and jumped on the wolf’s back. Xavier’s heart missed a beat when he saw the tiger was easily twice as big as the wolf, and he realized he didn’t want the wolf to get hurt.

  The tiger roared while Nysys started screaming bloody murder. The man who had arrived earlier took out a gun and pointed it at Denver, screaming at him to let Andy go, and Jeremy started yelling at the guy to not hurt Denver. In all this Xavier was standing there, unmoving, as he watched the disaster around him.

  He wasn’t even sure he could do something to help, but he gathered his courage and took a step, right when the tiger grabbed the wolf’s scruff and flung him away. The wolf yelped and hit the ground, and Xavier forgot everything that wasn’t Andy. He ran to the wolf, who was trying to get up, and pushed him back down. He ignored the screaming behind him and the fear he felt for being in front of a wild animal.

  Xavier heard the tiger roar, his heart skipping a beat at the fierce sound, and he reacted without thinking. Denver had attacked Andy, and he could do it again. Xavier only hoped the man—tiger—wouldn’t eat him as he moved. He covered the wolf as best as he could with his body, tucking his face into the wolf’s neck and burying his fingers into his fur. It was hot and soft under his fingertips, and Xavier felt a tiny bit relieved when the wolf froze instead of eating him. “I don’t think I’m that tasty, wolfy. Too much fat,” he whispered, and the wolf’s chest started to move rhythmically in what felt like a laugh. Wolves didn’t laugh, though. Right?

  “Xavier? Are you okay?” Jeremy’s voice was hesitant, but Xavier had never been so happy to hear it.

  “I’m, uh, fine. Is everything all right back there?” He didn’t dare look around in fear of what he might found if he did. The tiger had apparently wanted to beat the wolf up, so everyone else was probably fine, but then there was the guy with the gun... at least Nysys’ screams had stopped.

  Jeremy huffed. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I already scolded Denver for taking this so damn seriously. I mean, it seems obvious to me that a shifter would want to protect his unclaimed mate when two unknown men pop in out of nowhere.”

  Xavier risked a peek up, but the only thing he could see was Jeremy’s smiling face. He didn’t really want to get up, though. It felt strangely good to stay in the wolf’s warmth, so he buried his face one last time into the soft fur. The wolf sighed beneath him and Xavier yelped when he felt a hot, moist tongue rasping his hand. “Hey! I told you I’m not tasty!”

  The wolf made that shaking movement again and this time Xavier was sure he was laughing. He didn’t get to think how weird it was, though, because he felt the fur under his palms receding and the wolf’s body changing. Xavier scrambled backward, nearly falling on his ass in his hurry, but a muscular arm snaked around his waist and grabbed him, saving his ass from the pain.

  Xavier blinked, not really believing what his eyes were seeing. Logically he knew that the wolf had been Andy
. He knew that the man was a shifter, and he had even seen Denver become a huge-ass tiger. It was still hard to believe, though.

  “You okay?” Andy grumbled, and a shiver passed through Xavier’s body. Now he had to move away for a whole other reason. He couldn’t let the man see how his body was reacting to him. Xavier couldn’t risk being humiliated.

  He moved as quickly as he could and got up, putting some much needed space between him and the... naked... man in front of him. The hot, sexy naked man. The hot, sexy naked man with an erection jutting from his groin and pointing at Xavier with what he could swear was an accusing expression. Not that cocks had expressions, of course. Oh, god.

  Xavier heard the small moan escape his lips before he could stop it. He slapped his hand on his mouth, fully expecting Andy to be disgusted or at least to cover himself, but the man didn’t seem to mind his interest. Andy arched a brow at him, but his eyes were hot and promising all sorts of things as he raked his gaze all over Xavier’s body, making him feel nearly as naked as Andy was.

  “All right, all right. Why don’t the naked guys cover up while I take Xavier somewhere and explain what mates are to him?” Jeremy asked in a loud enough voice and such a tone that everyone knew he wasn’t actually asking but ordering them around.

  Xavier saw Denver gather pieces of cloth from the ground and shake his head at them. Oh. The guys’ clothes had been destroyed when they had shifted. It didn’t seem to be a problem for either of them, though, because Denver opened the trunk of his car and took out some sweats while Andy moved inside his garage and disappeared out of sight.

  It seemed that Xavier’s body had been waiting for the man to go away before deciding to lose it. Xavier felt his knees shake, the fear and confusion he’d pushed away to save the wolf coming back with a vengeance. Luckily for him, Jeremy was bigger than him, and the man had no problems grabbing his arm and supporting him as Xavier walked to the car unsteadily. He helped him sit sideways into the passenger seat, his legs dangling down as he tried to get his world back on its axis.