Chapter One
He knew something was up the minute he set foot in front of the house. The lights were off including the security flood lights at the gate and the beautiful house sat quiet and lonely.
His car was parked somewhere down the hill to aid his stealth mode and though the gravel crunching beneath his feet were irritatingly loud, it wasn’t loud enough to alert anyone of his presence.
Seb’s bike was packed sideways in front and as far as he could remember, that over grown delinquent never went anywhere without it. Seeing it just added to the theory he’d been nursing for a while.
He could bet his fucking top dollar the Dempsey men were up to something. Drugs or kidnapping maybe and this was obviously their hideout. Why else would they have this fancy house so far from town?
A dark shadow ran past as fast as a blink. Killian blinked cupping his service revolver with his second hand and let out a deep breath. It was probably a pet, a bloody huge pet.
Hearing a snort behind him he turned around raising the gun to chest level and paused looking right into the red eyes of a snarling vicious black cat.
A huge dangerous pet? Fucking bastards!
Chapter Two
Less than an hour ago….
The first sting was always the most intense. It raced through his body from head to toe and for a few minutes he felt something other than the pain and depression that was slowly eating at him these past few months.
Adjusting his arm he wrapped his fingers round the naked wires sticking out of the open socket slot again and this time held on for a little longer till the seizure started.
Biting the mouth guard with his jaw clenched, he broke out into a sweat and embraced the rush like a junkie. Some bones might snap but unlike his teeth, they could be replaced. Regrown.
Finally feeling like the agony inside him was contained in a box and locked away, panting he let the naked wire drop from his tingling lax fingers. Electricity running through his veins, it felt like his brain had rebooted.
Picking it up again after a few minutes, but this time with his discarded shirt. He rolled the cord back in and covered the slot with the twin socket outlet. Feet wavering, he rose feeling his strength slowly return and spat out the guard into the bin. The only doze that would work for him was just enough to be lethal to humans.
Seb welcomed the exhaustion, stripped his pants and crashed on the bed commando. Ready for the first full night’s sleep he’d have in three weeks but it seemed that someone hadn’t gotten that memo because as his dark lashes drooped, he heard the crunch of gravel on the driveway.
A rouge? He wondered sniffing the air. The usual scent of the pinewood from the trees surrounding the property didn’t hide the intruder’s particular scent and Seb grinned. It was a certain snoop he was very familiar with.
Muscles rippling he shifted with a yawn and left the room on four paws ready to scare off those sexy khaki pants off his snoopy gorgeous ass, if only he’d would be so lucky.
****
Back in the present…
Thinking fast, Killian slowly dropped his right hand to reach for the camera hanging round his neck. Gunter usually took the pictures during a stake out this this one was of a private nature and had to be off the books. The cat roared at the slight movement, its ears flattened and it crouched, lowering its hunches ready to leap.
No cover to hide behind, Killian took a stand and fired off a shot in the air. His major concern became getting out of there alive, evidence to screw the Mayor and his brothers would have to wait.
The sound of the gun ricocheted through the woods and round the house on the hill but not enough to startle the wild cat to run into the opposite direction as he had hoped.
Seb leaped swiping at him with a large paw, ready to cut the chase and climb back on his bed. Seeing the huge beast aiming for him, Killian squeezed off two more shots. One at its feet and the other somehow sunk deep in one shoulder, sending it crashing to the ground right beside him with a howl.
“You idiot! That fucking hurts!” The cat shouted trying to stand and stupefied Killian watched the bone structure rearrange while its body slowly changed into his number one nemesis.
His very nude number one nemesis.
His nude number one nemesis.
Chapter Three
The bloody rag sat in the bath tub staring at Killian. He’d seen blood before, with his occupation it was a given he’d come across some spilled once in a while.
No, that wasn’t what fazed him.
Watching that Jaguar outside change into Sebastian Dempsey had been simply beyond shocking and then seeing his wound pucker up and spit out the bullet was just mind altering.
“You can put away the gun now” Seb said without looking at him, very comfortable in just his skin. The bathroom floor was a mess and he’d need to use the bleach. Shit. He’d tried to be careful coming upstairs, Nonna would have his ass if she saw a drop of blood on her Persian rug.
“Don’t tell me what to do” The one hundred and forty pounds, six foot four sheriff growled flipping the safety on but still gripping the gun that had been pointed at the back of Seb’s head.
Considering everything else, his dark auburn curls were the safest spot to look at.
“What are you?”
How predictable Seb thought rolling his eyes and his affected shoulder, “A man.”
“I think it’s in your best interest to fucking talk straight with me.”
Seb sighed bending over to rinse out his thoroughly stained white shirt. His shoulder now healed but the Zen he’d gotten earlier was lost between trying to convince the trigger happy snoop not to shoot him again or worse radio back to the station for help. “I’m a shifter.”
“Shifter, okay” He said nodding as if it made any sense but then nothing had made sense for the past three weeks. “So are you the one who’s been messing with my head?” He asked following Seb’s footsteps out of the bathroom.
Slipping into his pants, Seb paused. This wasn’t the reaction or question he’d anticipated. “I–what do you mean?” He asked zipping the fly.
Strapping his gun back on Killian flicked on the switch beside him, flooding the room with light. The semi-darkness gave an intimate feeling he’d rather ignore. “After losing my way to work a few times and forgetting a lot of important dates I went to seek a little help” Killian said crossing his arms as he stared back at Seb. “It was fucking unorthodox but yeah, the candles and crystal balls trail led me straight to your doorstep. Somehow someone has been messing with my memories and I think you Dempsey boys know who.”
Tossing his shirt in the bin, “Oh shit” Seb swallowed dropping his hand. “Did you have blackouts?” Killian nodded, his brows furrowed. “Fainting spells? Feel queasy too?” He paused rubbing the back of his neck and said looking up at him, “Yeah, that would be me.”
“You?! You what? Took them?”
“I didn’t take them, just buried them under” he said dryly spotting some drops on the tiles near the door. “You’re too curious about everything” as usual he wanted to add looking up into the other man’s eyes, “I did it for your own good, okay?”
“No, not okay” Killian’s fists balled as his temple throbbed. “It’s not fucking okay to do — whatever that is!” Barely restraining himself his voice came out dangerously low, “and I don’t care what you are or why you think I can’t handle my own blasted memories but you’re going to fix that shit back.”
Stepping back with both hands raised, “Hey! The last time I warned you about it but you told me to do it anyway” Seb added, “That last one is on you.”
Shaking his head in disbelief, “So you’re saying I knew about all this before?” he asked shadowing Seb as he left the room and went down the stairs. He paused halfway thinking of the possibility that what this lying prick was telling him maybe wasn’t a lie, “I don’t believe you.”
“No shit” Seb said climbing down the stairs. The store underneath it had the cleaning supplies he needed. “You said and I quote, “send them so fucking deep, it’d take a miracle to get them out again” and that’s what I did.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t need to.”
“I want them back.”
“No can do.”
“They are fucking mine!” He roared from his post on the staircase, “It’s my decision, isn’t it?” He asked blocking Seb’s path on his way back to the room. “I want my memories back.”
“Don’t do this Harris” Seb said softly, the bucket with the supplies hanging from one hand.
Ignoring the look in Seb’s eyes, “Get on with it” Sheriff Harris said, “Undo it.”
“Alright. You’ll have to kiss me” he smirked applying reverse psychology. It always worked with Killian.
“That’s bullshit!”
Hiding his grin, “Well. I tried” he said curtly brushing pass the handsome man in uniform and headed for the drying mess he’d have to clean up.
“A kiss is going to repair it like some freaking cartoon?” Doubt and a lot of uncertainty coloured his tone. After what he’d seen the past weeks and less than an hour ago, he couldn’t just throw out everything as impossible anymore.
“Nope” Seb grinned back at him as he entered the room. “Think of it as my payment for fixing it”
This wasn’t their first clash and when Seb took stance Killian knew they would remain like this, going back and forth till they were both exhausted. He didn’t like the fact that there were bits and pieces of his life missing and of all the people in the world Sebastian Dempsey had to hold the key to possibly getting them back.
“Alright, fine and it better fucking work” he said and watched Seb’s shit-eating grin disappear. He guessed the demand was a kiss to knock him off stride and locked his jaw when he saw Seb pause.
Noting his hesitation, Killian walked up to him and grabbed his arm pulling him close till their noses brushed. Slanting his face he claimed Seb’s lips for a quick kiss.
The instant they touched passion took over and Seb fisted Killian’s shirt popping the buttons as he drew them apart. His body pulsed with desire and this was it…ten times…a thousand times better than any substitute.
His mate’s tongue rubbing against his.
Slamming his back against the wall Killian skid his palms over Seb’s warm body. Something he’d wanted to do for a while and his hands roamed over his contours wild and free like they knew the terrain.
Seb bit his bottom lip slipping the torn shirt off and Killian lapped it up like honey. Sucking on the tiny prick like a man possessed. It tasted so good and he latched onto him, suckling his tongue – hungry for more.
“Yes” he moaned when Seb kissed his neck, shoulder and down one arm, his light fuzz tickled a response everywhere it touched. He wanted…he wanted…he didn’t know what he wanted but grinding roughly against him, he knew Seb would give it to him and cupped his hard on through his jeans.
The bucket kicked aside, they stumbled backed into the room blindingly seeking the bed but hit the nightstand instead, sending the table lamp to the ground and sprung apart suddenly, their hands and lips felt poker-hot.
Lips throbbing, his heart beating as fast as an Adam Lambert pop song, “What the fuck just happened?” Killian ground out when the blood gradually rushed back up, his libido felt out of control and the urge to walk across the room and resume where they stopped took an effort to resist.
“You really want to know what you forgot. What you asked me to make you forget?” Seb asked panting. With the sweep of a hand he sent the remaining things on the table top crashing to the ground and watched them fall detached…wanting to be detached. “Nonna is Geoffrey’s mate, bound to him for all eternity as he is to her and you are mine.”
Chapter Four
“Okay,” he said ignoring the comment about mates, whatever the fuck it meant, “You’ve gotten your kiss, now do it” Struggling to control his desire.
Giving him a little smile, “It’s done Harris” Seb said and looked at the cluster-fuck on the ground. More shit to clean up.
“How? When?”
“The blood, gave you enough to heal anything ailing you, physically.”
“J.H. Christ! That’s fucking unsanitary!” He said dashing into the bathroom to gag.
“It’s no use…shit works fast and we don’t transfer or get your diseases” Seb added dryly eying the rags with disdain as he picked up the trash and set to work.
“Which means Josh doesn’t really have the flu, does he?” He asked entering back into the room as he wiped his mouth with the back of one hand.
“Last I heard of Josh, he was on the road trying to catch his run away mate” Seb said propping his hip against the door jab and spat, “Fucking bastard rejected him” just the thought of that coward made his blood boil.
Eying him suspiciously, Killian folded his arms at the other end of the room. “Why are you telling me all this?”
Seb smirked, he hadn’t expected anything less from the lawman. God damned Scorpio. “When you get your memories back you’ll remember. You know all this; mates, werewolves, werecats and oh… Ghouls” he added with relish watching Killian’s eyes widen in disbelief.
“Ghouls?” He asked adjusting the ripped parts of his shirt. Never one for modesty but the cool breeze and Seb’s hooded gaze made his nipple harden and pucker up.
“Yep, they are the real deal. Those missing children last year xmas?”
“Ghouls?”
“Yep, Pastor Rosé”
“Fucking hell?!” Killian shouted, his jaw snapped open and shut as he tried to come to terms with the absurd bit of knowledge. “That old man is a ghoul? He’d been responsible for the missing kids?” He waved at the French man just this morning.
Shit. He thought as bumps crept up his arms, his resolve to know everything growing rock solid. How could he protect his town if he had fucking amnesia every time something fucking happened?
Catching the steel glint in his blue-greys, Seb nodded, “Yeah, you should stay here till you remember everything. You’ll have quite a few questions cause there’s a lot of crazy shit we made you forget for your own good” A lot of work they had done to keep the town and their secret safe. Geoffrey won’t be happy.
“Forgetting the sex, was it for my own good too?” Killian asked licking his lips. He could still feel that particular taste no amount of dry heaving had worked. A familiar taste he couldn’t quite put a name to. Looking at Seb’s reaction, he knew he was right and fumed. They’d had sex before.
Seb followed the motion with his eyes and gulped, seriously fighting the urge to jump him as old memories mixed with new ones “I’ll fix up the other room, you should call the station and tell them you won’t be getting back today” or anytime soon. Seb failed to add strolling off down the hall, at least until he stopped reeking of temptation and sin.
Chapter Five
Tossing on a random shirt he walked out of the room searching for Seb, the platinum band still glinting – magnified in his mind. The previous room was cleaned, bleached and everything was back in place except the broken lamp. Still no Seb.
Following the sound of irons clanging he entered a wide room, mirror walls and machines labelling it the in house gym. He found him there sitting on a bench with hand weights.
“You proposed to me?”
Seb’s focus on the weights didn’t waiver. Up, down. Up, down. Chest and arm muscles bunched and stretching, his thighs and jaws clenching as his arms pumped like pistons.
“You asked me to marry you” This time is soft sentence was less like a question and more like an accusation. Killian moved to Seb’s front blocking his view of his reflection on the gym wall.
“Is that all you can remember?” Seb asked, his tone very dry – his face blank. Being near Killian and not being able to do what his heart demanded, what fate ordained was almost tearing him apart inside. “This is the first hour, more will come.”
Their bond had been broken but the feelings were still there. It’d been the best Nonna could do then.
Seb focused on his reflection as he pumped the weights trying to take the edge off again and the sight of Killian rumpled in his own shirt wasn’t helping. About the same size but his chest was broader and stretched the white material across his chest. Carving out his abdomen.
By the corner of the room the socket outlet called to him and he clenched the iron bars tighter. The sooner Killian remembered, the sooner he’d leave again. At least this time Seb was prepared for the heartbreak.
Killian frowned. “No,” it wasn’t all he remembered, they were flashes of images and some had no sound or colour but out of everything that particular scene stood out.
Completely weird and alarmingly sensational. The ring, roses, candles and Seb had dumped his usual leather and black liner for a tux. It felt like a dream, an impossible dream from his teenage fantasy but he knew it happened and more than ever, Killian needed to know why.
“We totally-despise-can’t-fucking-stand hate each other and maybe occasionally had wild-crazy-hot sex but why would you propose to me?” Kind of weird but Killian had always seen himself as the proposer.
Dropping the Iron bars beside him, Seb threw a sardonic glance at him. “You said it yourself babe, obviously the wild-crazy-hot sex.”
“Seriously,” he asked narrowing his peepers. “Why?”
“Why what? I proposed, you rejected. I moved on” he said dryly getting up to stretch, “There’s no need to rush the process, Killian. You’ll remember everything soon enough.”
Wiped his memories and moved on? Wasn’t that a bit extreme. Killian wanted to say sarcastically but held his breath. It was weird enough that his secret lover was the man he hated most in the world since childhood and they had moments of bittersweet tenderness he’d forgotten. That he’d wanted to forget.
Suddenly pictures of them together sprung in his mind as Killian watched him throw a towel around his neck and walk into the glass shower on the right side of the room. Only a fine film of sweat showed his earlier exertion. Blinking Killian looked away embarrassed, they weren’t fourteen anymore. Definitely not. Seb had filled out in a lot of places and Killian flushed just looking at the muscles on his back and beneath his gym shorts move.
He left and went back into the other room, Seb’s and everything screamed that. A huge poster of a shining black Harley dominated one wall and the room smelled of him. Everything smelled of him and falling into the big bed, Killian didn’t seem to mind so much anymore. He was suddenly too tired to even keep his eyes open and let the familiar scent embrace him.
Closing his eyes again, memories flooded and misgivings about the man and his old-slash-new feelings for him rose up then died and for the first time he wondered if maybe some memories were best forgotten.
Chapter Six
It started with a curve.
That soft smooth bend beneath the knee entwined with his. Seb ran a rough palm over it, his fingers touched the insides of his thighs as they ran up and Killian groaned. His tongue lapping his lover’s nipple.
The fingers that caressed him were slick with lube and knew just the right amount of pressure to use till Killian relaxed and nipped the dark pebble he rolled with his tongue.
Panting they struggled to remain silent knowing the door was thick but still thin enough for sounds of their passion to get out. Working his fingers, Seb lowered his lips to swallow Killian’s moan.
“Now” Killian said against his lips and like every other time they lost themselves in each other and Seb happily complied.
His brother’s wedding party raged just outside the door but they’d been apart for two days and insatiable for each other.
Holding up that curve while he slowly claimed his mate over and over again, Seb growled deeply watching his eyes roll back in his head with pleasure, “I miss you, I love you.”
“I love you too” Killian said breathlessly as the c-ring massaged those nerves and his muscles gripped him, clenching round his shaft. “Oh fuck–” Killian said as he came in Seb’s hand, gripping the arm that held his thigh suspended. Seb buried his face in his neck and the phone began ringing in his pants right on cue.
The noise was so sudden they had paused and chuckled looking at each other and then the pair of grey trousers lying on the seat.
Their clothing littered Geoffrey’s study but the pants were within reaching distance and Killian did that.
Feeling like a voyeur watching the entire memory happen again, he saw his past-self pick that call and then he remembered.
Everything.
****
Seb walked out of the shower and right into Killian’s welcoming fist. His head snapped to the side but he couldn’t say it was unexpected or less than he deserved. The right hook connected with a comical POW! and his jaw flexed absorbing the pain.
“You bastard!” Killian raged and pulled back his arm again to knock out his lights.
Catching the second punch with a raised palm, Seb growled in his face, “You’re entitled to the first shot but after that I’ll reciprocate.”
“You wiped everything out! Two fucking years of my life! My marriage. Everything!” Rage was a safe emotion, it disguised the tears and pain and moulded it all into anger.
“By the time you came to end it with me, your pain was crippling. Josh is an empath” Seb said dropping his arm, feeling a pang of loss as he let Killian’s furled fingers go, “He could feel the weight you carried around and told me you were blaming yourself for their death.”
“It didn’t matter what he thought I was going through” Killian raised his brows, “You had no right–”
Tightening the towel around his waist, “You asked for a fresh start” Seb said backing off.
Killian snorted running a hand through his already spiked hair, his temperature was shooting through the roof and his head throbbed. “Fuck!” He yelled kicking a side of the wardrobe. His skin felt too tight and his knees were weak. His thoughts, his emotions rioted inside amplified and his vision swam.
Seb could see his struggle and the urge to comfort his mate nearly overcame his common sense.
“You need to drink water, lots of cold water to make this pass faster” His dark lengthy lashes hid his dark eyes as flecks of red began to glow. His animus side wanted to take on the pain and hurt his mate was feeling. It was a side without reason and Seb fought it to submission.
“I don’t fucking want it to pass” Killian groaned sitting on the bed with his face in his palms, one of which throbbed. “I deserve every twinge of discomfort, every stab of pain. I can’t fucking believe I forgot them.”
Mute Seb watched what he feared the most slowly take place, Killian losing his mind again. “Go ahead then, blame me” he said in the silent room, the embers at the fireplace gently crackling.
“I messed up not you.”
“I called you away, you would have gone to bring them into town yourself. I convinced you it was okay for her to drive them down. Killian, I saw something I wanted, I’ve always wanted and took it. I marked you knowing you already said vows to someone else and didn’t really give you a choice so if you want to blame anyone blame me” He said kneeling before him, “If you need to hate anyone, hate me.”
His tone was soft like he was trying to soothe a hurting animal and it washed over Killian’s gaping wound like a balm.
“I can’t fucking hate you, Freak” the childhood nickname slid out between his fingers like no time had passed since they were fourteen, “I love you.”
Chapter Seven
They met on the playground and fought over a swing. It was a bitter fight and both boys had to be sent home with dirt crusted in their clothes and a vow on their lips not to take shit from the other. Throughout their childhood people knew they had a vendetta against each other but didn’t really know why.
One night they were drawn to the same lake and their hate sparked into something else. A passion so fiery it consumed their thoughts. Every waking moment was spent with the other and their love was more foreign than their hate had ever been. Foreign and a taboo in the little town.
Fourteen year-old Killian was taken away, sent to a city by his parents to live with a distant uncle and Sebastian grieved. The mate bond hadn’t set in yet but everyone supernatural in that town knew it for what it was.
He grew older and met a girl in Kenya. The beautiful Fleur, a model and a singer; Killian was in love. Memories of Seb still lived but had dimmed with time because surely that was just a teenage infatuation?
Two years before he went back to settle his parents affairs, he married her and she gave him a wedding gift. She was pregnant. He’d wanted to drive into town with his bride by his side but the doctor warned him it would be a risk.
She was too frail and her pregnancy would be a difficult one.
So he left her in his uncle’s care and walked back into town and Seb’s arms. The first sight of his first love burnt away all thought of anyone else and he fought it, he really did but the mate bond wasn’t to be denied.
Couldn’t be especially when they’d already consummated their vows.
****
Standing before the head stones, he wept.
There laid the child he never got to hold and the woman he never should have married. She deserved a better fate than this, she should be singing and dancing on a stage somewhere not lying, rotting beneath his feet.
“You have been here for a week.”
“Please go away Nonna.”
“I will but first there’s another man that’s hurting, will this be the third time he’d have to go through your rejection?” She stood some distance behind him to preserve his privacy but close enough to make her words heard, make them penetrate that shell he’d built around him again. “He needs to know, Killian.”
“Do you know where they are? Heaven? Floating around the earth or some special plane?” he asked turning to her, “Can you speak to them if you tried?” With his memories came him knowledge of the town’s supernatural community.
“Speak to the dead?” Nonna said with a soft smile, “That’s for movies and books I’m sorry, the dead and living don’t follow the same path or converse at the same frequency.”
The little spark of hope flickered out then she added, “I can see them though, a woman and a child playing in a field. She has a sublime smile and he is happy in her arms” Walking to him she placed a comforting hand on his, “I can take the memories away, not bury them because that will only lead you back to Seb every time. I’ll take them out and you’ll leave the town never wanting to return.”
“What of Seb?”
“He took it twice before, he’s a strong man. Sometimes just like star crossed lovers, certain mates aren’t meant to be” Dropping her hand, she cursed silently. His question suggested he might consider it and she felt more than a twinge of sadness for them both but more for the werecat that’d be chained in the wine cellar. Killian was like a drug, an addiction he’d have to get out of his system again, losing a mate was one thing; being rejected opened a whole new world of pain. “Until you come to terms with your guilt” she continued, not betraying a single thought, “it’ll continue to haunt you and make you both suffer more than you did before. So what do you say? Should I remove them? Make the hurt go away?”
Eyeing the Mayor’s beautiful wife, he shook his head and looked away. The flowers by the tombstones were fresh just as the ones he’d met when he came to visit a week ago. Someone had taken time to bring fresh lilies and baby-breath, most likely the same someone that planted a rose bush to watch over their graves. “I was a coward ending things with Seb before, now I remember even more…I remember things grief made me forget and I don’t want to be in this world if he’s not in it.”
At the end of his confession a big black cat with gleaming red eyes ran out of its hiding spot in the bushes and pounced on him without warning. Once before the sight had sent cold shivers running down his spine but lying beneath the sleek muscled wildcat getting thoroughly licked he wondered how he’d ever been afraid of the big softy.
Nonna Dempsey silently walked away; mission accomplished and very happy she didn’t have to kick the Sheriff’s head in for him to see reason.
Epilogue
In the Dempsey mansion, hidden away from prying eyes the lovers relearned each other and the anguish haunting both of them fell away. Surrounded by requited love; Killian let go of the grief, knowing Seb was more than capable of catching him and Seb was more than happy to hold his mate in his arms, truly comfort him like he’d always wanted.
“I love you” Seb said when he made the change back in his room, holding his man’s face cupped in his palms and kissed him deeply. “With my life I’ll serve you,” he whispered as he renewed the vows they’d shared so many years ago.
The End
Author Bio
Born in Wonderland with dreams of traveling round the world and beyond, I’m more of a hobby writer. Creating stories that take me places I hope to visit someday is how my love for the art was born. I appreciate all the reads, votes and comments on each of my stories, they’ve surpassed my expectations.
Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/bookworm_D
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005719156642