I jerked up in bed, sweat beading my brow, my heart pounding.

"Daniel?" Mace stuck his head in from the bathroom.

"I'm OK, just had a bad dream." A fucking nightmare! Tat was tearing Mace apart while the Major and Frank held him down. The rest of the compound just stood around laughing while I tried to get someone to help me stop them.

"You still worried about Tat?" He walked back in the bedroom, naked. Fucking sex god naked. Even bandages and a cast looked sexy on him. He'd pulled his hair over one shoulder while he finished braiding it. I wanted to yank the braid back out and wrap my hands in it while I fucked him senseless.

"Fuck it, Mace. After all you've done to convince everyone you're a good guy, you really want the whole compound to watch you two try to kill each other?"

He stalked over to sit beside me on the bed. That man never just fucking walked. Not like a human, anyway. He moved with an animal grace that never failed to get my cock hard. "There won't be any trying, Daniel. He put the pack at risk. He lied to Hawk about what I told him and he came within minutes of starting an attack on this compound. I won't tolerate that."

"Right, and did you forget you have one arm tied behind your back, so to speak?" I rapped my knuckles against his cast.

"It's healed enough for your mother to remove it. I can and will take Tat down, Daniel. Don't ever doubt that." His eyes glowed brightly to match the deep growl in his voice.

"Fuck, Mace. Don't pull that show no weakness crap with me. We both know you're not one hundred percent. And you said your first fight was close. You won't have Slade or Hawk to watch your back. Don't do this."

He stepped up and cupped my cheek with his palm. "I have to, Daniel. He challenged me, and most of the pack knows it." He shrugged and let out a deep breath. "I take him down now or face even more challengers. And they won't wait for me to heal, either. Besides, I've got you watching my back."

His sly wink had me wondering just what he meant by that. In a dog pack, caveman sort of way I understood why he had to face Tat. And I fucking hated it. Images from my dreams cooled the heat in my cock.

Mace leaned against me, his naked body pressing mine back into the bed.

"I know you're just trying to distract me." I arched a brow at him and leaned away.

He mirrored my moves. "Umm, you sure that's all?"

I chuckled. "Fucking horny wolfman." I tried to crawl out the other side of the bed. "We've got shit to do, starting with breakfast."

His strong grip held me in place while he crawled over me, pinning me with his weight. His hands trailed down, teasing through my chest hair. He slid his thigh between mine, pressing and rubbing the underside of my balls.

"Mace..." I promptly forgot what I was going to say as his tongue danced across the hard peak of my nipple and a hand stroked down my reemerging hard on.

"Exactly." He punctuated each word with a hot, sucking kiss lower down my belly and a firm stroke of my cock. "What. I. Had. In. Mind!"