A Moment in Time(8)

"I came to Aberdeen Valley to meet with Alpha Khenti on a matter of life  or death. I needed to blend in, so I allowed people, including you, to  assume I came with the Sanchez Pack. I never thought to meet my mate  when I came here. It just kind of happened."

"That does not explain why you left me!" Apollo let go of the handful of  hair he held with a little push and an angry stride away as he began to  pace. "We mated, Grayson. You could have told me the truth."

"I had every intention of telling you the truth, Apollo. There wasn't time."

Apollo swung around, his hands landing on his hips as he glared dark and dangerously. "Make time."

Grayson's shoulders slumped. He would so much better like to be wrapped  up in his mate's arms than to have this discussion. He didn't even know  if Alpha Khenti would hear him out before ordering his death. It was a  chance he had to take.

The rigid stance of Apollo's body told Grayson he needed to take a  chance on his mate as well, or he could very well lose the most  important person in his life. No matter how uncomfortable it made him,  or how dangerous it was, Grayson had to tell Apollo the truth.

"Will you listen until I'm done?"

Apollo's jaw clenched, but he nodded.

Grayson swallowed hard as his eyes trailed down Apollo's wide shoulders  to his firm, muscular chest and rippled abs, finally landing on the  thick cock that curved up toward his belly button.

Damn, his mate was fine.

He licked his lips, on the verge of begging for a taste. "Could you put  something on?" he asked regretfully. "It's really hard to concentrate  with you standing there naked."

"Does it bother you?"

Grayson thumbed his hard cock to keep his desire in check. "Oh, hell, yeah."

"Good." Apollo had a little smirk on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Now talk."

Apollo was gorgeous, but he also had a sadistic streak in him.

Grayson glanced away as he began to talk. It would be the only way he  could string two coherent thoughts together. "My name is Grayson  Sanchez."







"You said that."

"Right." Grayson chew on his bottom lip for a moment, trying to gather  his thoughts. He might not be looking directly at Apollo but he could  still see the man's alluring figure out of the corner of his eye, and it  was playing hell with his thought process.

"You were going to tell me why you were in Aberdeen Valley?" Apollo prompted.

"Oh yeah." Grayson's eyes widened for a moment as he pushed his hair out  of his face. "I came to Aberdeen Valley to see your alpha. I need his  help. I tried to blend in with the partygoers because no one can know  I'm here."

Grayson turned to look at Apollo for the first time since he had started  talking. "Lives are at stake, Apollo, people that are depending on me  to keep them safe."

Apollo's eyebrows drew together. "Are you sure you're not an alpha?"

"I should be." Grayson chuckled ruefully. "I just never had the drive to dominate someone."

"Except me," Apollo said, reminding Grayson of how he had pounded his  dick into the man so hard he was afraid the bed would break.

"You don't count." Grayson instantly knew he had said the wrong thing  when Apollo's face paled. "You're my mate," he said quickly, hoping to  repair the damage his careless words had caused. "Who tops and who  bottoms doesn't matter between us as long as we're together."

The corded muscles on Apollo's throat moved as he swallowed. "You'd let me top you?"

Grayson licked his lips again as his eyes dropped to Apollo's thick  cock." God, I hope so. I've been fantasizing about getting that  beautiful cock in my ass since the first time I saw it harden in your  jeans."

"I didn't think a man like you would … "

Grayson's eyes snapped up, a bit of indignation beginning to grow inside. "What do you mean a man like me?"

He hated being pigeonholed.

"I just mean that, well … " Apollo waved a hand up and down, gesturing to  Grayson's large body. "You have to admit you're a damn big man. You  scream powerhouse. It's only natural to assume that-"

"To assume I'm some big alpha type who has to be on top to prove my  manhood?" Grayson's heart shattered on the floor when Apollo flushed. He  had nailed it on the head. The snort he let out was derisive, angry. "I  should have known. I thought you'd be different, but you're not. You  see what you want to see."

Apollo's eyebrow furrowed even more. "Now wait just one goddamned minute!"

Grayson felt like an old man as he pushed himself to his feet. His whole  body was engulfed in tides of weariness and despair. He felt drained,  hollow. He sighed, weary of the argument he could see brewing between  him and his mate, an argument he needed to nip in the bud before it even  started.

He felt as hollow as his voice sounded. "I need to speak with your alpha. Would it be possible for you to arrange that?"

Apollo's eyebrows shot up. "Are you insane?"





Chapter 5




Grayson had to be insane if he thought he was stepping one foot outside  of the bedroom before Apollo knew everything. He might not even be  allowed to leave then. Apollo was still feeling the agonizing effects of  having his mate disappear on him. He wasn't sure he was capable of  letting Grayson disappear again.

Not even if it was for good reason.

"Why do you need to meet with my alpha?"

Grayson's rough sigh was soul-deep. He rubbed his hands over his face  before he walked to the edge of the bed and sat down, leaning his arms  on his thick thighs. He looked so forlorn. His eyes were ringed with  black circles, his face pale and pinched.

"My pack territory is just this side of the California state border. We  were a small pack, not more than thirty members in total." Grayson  smiled as if remembering something, but it was a sad smile. "When my  father decided the time was right, he stepped down and my sister's mate  took over. There was no challenge fight for alpha position. There didn't  need to be. We all knew Carlos would be the next alpha, and we were  okay with that."

"What happened?" Apollo asked, trying to keep all confrontational tones out of his voice.

"The usual, I guess. Someone came in and challenged Carlos for his  position. Funny thing was, Carlos didn't lose. He beat the guy, wiped  the floor with him. I guess his mistake was thinking that would be the  end of it."

"It wasn't?"

Apollo caught the glint of tear in Grayson's eyes before he lowered his  head to stare at the floor. "No, the people that challenged Carlos came  back a week later and killed almost everyone, including my parents, my  sister, and Carlos."







"Hell!" Apollo crossed the room and stepped between Grayson's thighs,  pulling the man to him. Even standing, Grayson's head came up to his  chest, but it enabled him to press his face into Grayson's thick hair.  "Tell me what happened, baby."

"It was the night of our monthly run." Apollo felt a wetness drip on his  chest as Grayson whispered his story. "Everyone had gathered at the  alpha house so that they could run together."

"How did you survive?" Oh thank god, he had survived. Apollo's arms  tightened around Grayson's shoulders for a moment as he realized how  close he had come to never meeting this amazing man that had become his  mate.

"We all took turns staying with the younger members of our pack. As it  was my turn to stay with them, I drove the kids into town to get ice  cream while everyone else went for their run. I was almost home when one  of my pack members stumbled into the road in front of us. Brandon was  bloody, barely alive. He told me what happened before passing out in my  arms. It took him several hours to heal enough to even be able to  shift."

A bone-deep shudder ripped through Grayson's body when he tilted his  head back to look up at Apollo. His cheeks were stained with tears, the  anguish in his eyes that of someone who had seen horrors that would mark  the man for the rest of his life.

"They attacked while everyone was shifting, Apollo. They had no mercy,  going after everyone, man or woman, adult or child. They killed them,  all of them. They didn't even give them a chance, just slaughtered every  last one of them."

Apollo drew in a deep breath, trying not to puke as his stomach rolled.

"I hid the kids and Brandon and snuck back to the alpha house. I had to  see if I could find any survivors." He said it as if he felt he needed  to explain his actions. Apollo would have done the very same thing.

"I understand." Apollo smoothed the hair back from Grayson's pale face,  his lips curving when the man leaned into his hand. "Tell me the rest of  it, Grayson."

Grayson sniffled and wiped at his eyes. "I know I should have left them  where they were so that those assholes didn't know anyone had survived,  but I couldn't. I just couldn't leave them out there all bloody and torn  to pieces. I spent the night burying our dead and then searched for  survivors."