Devon's Gamble (Wolves' Heat) Read online

  Devon raised a trembling hand to clutch at Kem’s arm.

  “It’s also customary to offer our mates the chance to require submission from us once heat season ends.” Kem’s eyes heated in the flicker of the screens surrounding them. “It’s even possible I might have trouble submitting properly. Like you, I’m very strong willed.”

  Devon could swear he stopped breathing after that. Then Kem’s hand squeezed his dick and Devon sucked in his breath and grabbed Kem’s upper arms with both hands because he had a sudden need for the extra support, his heart pounding so hard he couldn’t hear much of anything else over the rush of blood in his head.

  “But heat season isn’t over,” Kem said, accent so thick his words were like molasses, dark and smooth and slow, “and the repression drugs aren’t stopping your scent from making me crazy with lust. We’re going to have to return to my home now if you don’t want me to fuck you here where anyone watching will see us mate. I don’t care if they do. You are mine and no one would dare come in and try to take you away from me.”

  Devon opened his mouth and almost said he didn’t care, but he did really. He wanted to be alone with Kem and he didn’t want to make memories that included the screaming voice of Gran in the background.

  “Get me the hell out of here. I want you to fuck me before I come in my goddamn pants.”

  Kem’s lips pulled away from his teeth and he hauled Devon close. “Mine,” he said in the wolves’ language. “You are mine.”

  Gran’s voice faded into the background as Kem dragged him from the room with one clawed hand wrapped tight around the back of Devon’s neck.

  Devon enjoyed the pressure and the prick of claws against his skin but he enjoyed the thought of letting Kem hold him down and rut into him even more.

  Chapter 29

  Devon groaned and moved his hands off his face. “I said not now.”

  “We have to be there in less than an hour. Get up.”

  Devon groaned again and knocked Kem’s arm away from his chest where Kem was tugging at the sheet.

  Kem grabbed him by the arm and hauled him bodily up out of the bed.

  “Shit. Not necessary.”

  “You’ve been waiting for this day for a week.”

  Devon’s knees slid off the edge of the bed and he stumbled to catch himself on his feet. Kem easily took his weight and steadied him.

  “You’re a determined son of a bitch,” Devon said, dropping to sit on the edge of the bed as Kem tossed a pair of jeans at Devon’s chest.

  “We supplied the drugs yesterday and left the questioning up to the humans holding her so there would be no question of her guilt.”

  “Generous of you considering I already told you everything I know about her illegal activities.” Getting answers would be easy now that they all knew what questions to ask.

  Devon scraped his hand over his face and tried not to feel any guilt over giving Gran up to the authorities. The bitch had made his life miserable; he’d reminded himself of that daily this last week. She didn’t deserve any more sympathy from him than she’d given him over the years.

  He took the jeans out of his lap and shook them out. He shoved one leg in and then the other and yanked them up, sliding off the bed and hopping to his feet at the same time. One leg tangled at the bottom and Kem grabbed him and kept him from falling flat on his face. “Thanks.”

  “It’s my job—”

  “—to take care of you, I know, I know.” Devon closed the fly and looked over at Kem. “Heat season’s over. Thought that was done. You didn’t try to force feed me a single time yesterday.”

  Kem’s eyebrows rose. “You’ve always hated it when I feed you and yet now you’re complaining?”

  “So now I’m just a nobody, huh?”

  “Devon, you will never be a nobody. You’re my mate.”

  Devon paused and then leaned over and placed a kiss on Kem’s throat. “Let’s get this shit over with then.”

  He finished dressing, thinking about what they would find, about Geoff, and how Kem had notified the government officials he was in contact and making a deal so that Geoff would never be charged for his crimes.

  That had happened after Devon had explained the extent of what he knew about Geoff’s past, including the most relevant part about the deputy who had intended to charge Geoff for a crime he didn’t commit. The deputy had caught up with Geoff and Devon at an old battery factory near Gran’s place, a building that hadn’t survived the big quake and had been left abandoned.

  The deputy had knocked Devon on his ass and then started to beat Geoff, and when Geoff had caught a break and run at him, the deputy had fallen through a window and impaled himself on a piece of broken rebar that hadn’t completely rusted away.

  Devon had convinced Geoff not to turn himself in because he already knew the corrupt nature of law in the area—Gran had used Devon’s skills to get money into their gold accounts as payoffs over the years and Devon had been sure no one would ever believe Geoff hadn’t intended to kill the deputy. At fifteen, it had been impossible for Devon not to be cynical with a grandmother like Gran.

  In less than an hour, Gran had been transferred into Alpha Craig’s custody and put in the same building that had housed Brendan until yesterday when a contingent of wolves had arrived for him and taken him away. Devon had not been allowed to visit Brendan even once, but Kem had not been to blame. The order came from First Alpha, and when Devon had been allowed another visit with Ian yesterday afternoon, Ian had told him he hadn’t been allowed to see Brendan either.

  Outside the building where they were keeping Gran, Kem held a small alien device and he pressed him thumb to the center and the surface lit up.

  Devon watched but didn’t say anything. Over the last week, he’d seen more alien technology than he’d seen his whole life and if he didn’t know already that magic didn’t exist, he’d have been tempted to think most of it had to work by magic. Someday he’d understand it, when he had a chance to learn more. Kem had promised him that. The notion had given Devon a rush of excitement that had been hard to tame.

  The light blinked off. Kem raised his head and looked at Devon.

  “She admitted to poisoning your grandfather,” Kem said. “She admitted to many illegal activities, and she admitted to pushing you down a set of stairs.” Kem’s mouth tightened. “She admitted to accepting payment for sex on behalf—”

  “I don’t want to know,” Devon said. He said it quickly, afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop Kem in time. “I don’t want to know any of that.”

  Kem stared at him, his eyes glimmering in the bright light of morning. “You already know.”

  “No I don’t. I don’t know and I’m never going to know because you’re never going to tell me.”

  “Do you even know who your father is?”

  “I don’t care who the son of a bitch is.”

  Kem stood quietly for a moment and then nodded. “She is guilty. Her fate is up to you.”

  Devon put his hands up. “No way.”

  “She can be returned to the authorities of your government if you’d prefer.”

  Devon ignored the offer and pointed at the building where Gran waited. “Can’t believe the bitch actually did it. Murder. But you know what? I’ve always known she was capable of anything. She deserves to be punished.”

  He ran his hands over his head, ruffling his hair into a mess. “But I can’t do it. I have no goddamn idea what to do with her.”

  “Then we’ll decide.”

  Devon looked wide-eyed at Kem, his chest too tight and his stomach a knot of anxiety. But he nodded, because he trusted Kem, he trusted Kem to know what he wouldn’t want and as long as Kem didn’t hurt her, Devon didn’t care what the wolves did with her, as long as she was out of his life and off his back.

  “Thanks.”

  Kem nodded, and thumbed his device again, stared silently at it a moment longer, and then shut it off.

  “Do you want to see her?”
>
  “Hell no. She’ll just tell me how I’m going to hell for turning on her or some shit. And what do I care about that? Just—” He stared at the building for a moment. “Just tell me, what’s the most likely thing that’s going to happen to her?”

  “If our physicians don’t believe she can be rehabilitated—and at her age, it’s unlikely—her memories will be permanently blocked by a powerful drug and she’ll be put to work with our scientists where they can both assist her in creating a new life for herself and study the results of her treatment.”

  “God Almighty,” Devon said, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of him. “Are you saying she’ll have her memory wiped and she’ll be—be brainwashed or something?”

  Kem’s head tilted and he seemed to be studying Devon’s reaction. “A second chance at a better fate is a gift from the universe.”

  “It’s a goddamn free pass,” Devon said. “That’s what it is.”

  “She is old. If she were younger, she would have to face her crimes and choose her own fate. But we’ve found that the older of our kind don’t take well to the secondary treatments meant to reverse the drugs’ effects so we don’t risk it. We won’t risk trying the treatments on older humans either. It’s easier for everyone this way. Your friend…” But Kem hesitated and it only took Devon a second to put together what Kem had almost said.

  “Goddammit. Brendan. That’s what they’re going to do to Brendan after they find out everything he knows.”

  “He committed treason against his own government. He led raids and killed innocent people. He’s lucky he’s not facing Traesikeille with his memories intact. Under normal circumstances, he would have only one chance to submit. Do you believe he would choose to submit now, the way he is? Traesikeille is First Alpha for a reason. Your friend would not survive a confrontation.”

  Devon clenched his teeth. Kem was right. And Brendan had set his own fate in motion when he’d taken up arms against the wolves instead of following the dictates of the government and accepting their treaty with the wolves. But still…

  “We know death is the penalty for treason under your justice system. The prisons you use don’t have the resources since the collapse to keep prisoners safe or fed, so sentences are carried out swiftly. He would most likely die within the year if we turned him over to your government for trial.”

  “Maybe they’d let him go,” Devon said. As soon as he said it, he knew it was stupid to even think. They wolves would not allow Brendan’s release without it sparking off the war Kem had already mentioned and the other alternative was to use Brendan to make a statement to the other groups of renegades. He would die if the government got hold of him.

  Devon stared at Kem. A breeze rustled through the nearby trees and cooled the thin sheen of sweat on his upper lip and the back of his neck.

  Brendan.

  If what Kem said was true—if it was possible for Brendan’s memories to be completely blocked, permanently, Devon might never see his friend again. Or hear that god awful snort that passed for a laugh when he was drunk or see that ridiculous smile when he knew he’d just done something stupid.

  Maybe Devon hadn’t seen either of those things in a good long while, but there’d always been the possibility he would see it again, someday. When Brendan got his head on straight and quit blaming the wolves for things they hadn’t even done yet.

  If Kem said someone’s memories could be blocked, then it was possible.

  Devon didn’t say anything. Kem’s eyes didn’t waver from Devon’s face. He seemed to recognize when Devon started having trouble holding it together. He put his hand on Devon’s cheek.

  Devon’s throat closed up so tight he couldn’t breathe and then he just leaned in, pressed his face in against Kem’s neck and let go of the burning behind his eyes and nose.

  Fuck Gran. Who cared what happened to her? But Brendan? Devon had cared about him. He’d even loved him once. He really had. How could Brendan still be Brendan if he didn’t even remember who he was?

  “He’ll have a chance to choose, Devon. Ian’s already been told. He knows what’s coming. He warned me yesterday that you wouldn’t take the news well.”

  So that’s what Ian and the alpha had said to Kem when Kem had left with them and returned a half hour later. Devon had thought Kem had spent too much time staring at him when he’d come back, and when they’d climbed into bed together and slept, Kem wrapped up around him from behind and nuzzled his face into the back of Devon’s neck.

  He loved Kem now. But Brendan had been part of his life since he was seventeen and he’d needed somebody then because he hadn’t had anybody else.

  He stayed there for a few more minutes, until he finally reached up and wiped his nose on the back of his hand and pushed away from Kem. Kem’s arms took a second to loosen and he didn’t take his hands off Devon even then.

  “My heart hurts for you,” Kem said. “But I’m jealous that he means so much to you.”

  “God. You don’t have to be jealous,” Devon said. “I told you before, I don’t belong to him. I belong to you. I love you.”

  “You are my life.”

  “I’m your life, huh?” Devon used the palms of his hands to rub the burn out of his eyes and then he stared at Kem, taking in those vibrant green eyes that had first caught his attention. How could he have ever thought that look was cold? It was the fiery burn of an iron control and a deep intelligence, the kind that let Kem see all the way to the bottom of Devon’s soul. “Good,” he said. “Because goddammit, you’re my life too now.”

  He didn’t wait for Kem to kiss him. He kissed Kem.

  Devon believed in fate, not the way his great grandmother had described it, but as a natural consequence of his own actions.

  He’d taken a gamble a few short weeks ago, and fate had rewarded him with Kem.

  He’d always been one lucky son of a bitch.

  Author’s Note

  I hope you’ve enjoyed Devon’s story. He really tugged at my heart while I wrote this book. Next up is Brendan’s story in the upcoming Brendan’s Fate.

  I’ve loved writing the Wolves’ Heat books and I hope you’re enjoying reading them. I feel like there could be a lot of stories still waiting to be told. Feel free to let me know if you’d like to see more stories or books set in this world or any of my others. I’m always open to revisiting a world!

  Here’s one final note, the trees on the cover of Devon’s Gamble? I took that picture from my back porch on a stormy day and I imagine sixty years from now, somewhere thereabouts in the Wolves’ Heat universe, those trees might still exist…

  Also by Odessa Lynne

  HEND & YURT

  The King’s Guard

  The Queen’s Lover

  The King’s Gambit*

  NEW CANTON REPUBLIC

  Of Magic and Mating

  Of Mating and Monsters

  Of Humans and Mates

  WOLVES’ HEAT

  Ian’s Choice

  Devon’s Gamble

  Brendan’s Fate*

  R’H’ANI CHRONICLES

  One for Himself

  His One and Only

  Everything He Wants

  All He Needs

  *Forthcoming

  About Odessa Lynne

  Odessa Lynne lives in the southeastern United States. After years of reading romance, fantasy, and science fiction novels, Odessa discovered she liked romance in her fantasy, sex in her science fiction, and love between her heroes best of all! So that’s exactly what she puts in all her own stories now, for readers who enjoy the same. Visit odessalynne.com to find more information about current and upcoming releases. Odessa loves to hear from readers. Contact her by email at [email protected].

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  About this Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

&
nbsp; Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Author’s Note

  Also by Odessa Lynne

  About the Author