Evernight Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2013 Erin M. Leaf

ISBN: 978-1-77130-336-1

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: JS Cook

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution
of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may
be used or reproduced electronically or in print without
written permission, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places
are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,

organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

DEDICATION

For the one who showed me that
sometimes true love happens when you
least expect it.

SOMETHING SHIFTY

Erin M. Leaf

Copyright © 2013

Chapter One

Seth was only ten years old the first time he shifted.

One minute he was dreaming—running through the woods
out back, roots scuffing his feet while the wind scraped his
face raw—the next he was wide awake, heart pounding. His
blanket sat heavy and hot on his chest as he struggled to
breathe, panic pinching its way up his spine. It wasn’t until
he managed to wriggle his way out of the bed that he realized
everything felt wrong. The house sounded... weird. He could

see clear as day even though the only light was from the
crescent moon, stamped on the sky outside the window like
an omen. He tried to sit up, but his body didn’t work that
way anymore. He tried to call out, hoping his mom or dad or
someone would hear, but the sound that came from his mouth
wasn’t human. He fell to the floor, body twisting, and landed
on all fours. His room smelled like dust and fear.

Years later, he forgave himself for the panic, for the

bone-chilling horror that made him cry like a baby that
particular night, once he’d got himself back on the bed in
human form. It wasn’t every day a boy went to sleep with
opposable thumbs and woke up a wolf, but it took years for
him to get over the panic he felt every time it happened. The
worst part was that he couldn’t control it at all. Sometimes
he turned into the wolf, sometimes into a bird, or a cat. It
always happened at night, which was the only useful thing
about it. When he tried to tell his mom, she’d said: don’t
worry sweetheart. We all have crazy dreams sometimes.
She thought he’d had a nightmare, but it wasn’t a dream. It
was so real he had to pick animal fur off his pillow in the
morning.

It wasn’t until he turned fifteen that he learned how to

control it. Unfortunately, that was the night his mother and
father died.

****
“Read Chapter Four for tomorrow. We’ll be

discussing the use of metaphor in both prose and verse for at
least two weeks, so it would probably be a good idea to
look at all the examples. Closely.”

Seth smiled at his students as he leaned against the

desk at the front of the classroom. Most of them were busy
stuffing their laptops into their bags while the rest were
focused on their phones. A few waved at him before heading
out. He nodded at them before gathering up his own
computer. And coffee. And the messy piles of paper he
somehow managed to strew all across the desk every time he
taught.

“Hey, Dr. Dustin, are your office hours still on that

weird schedule? And in the library?”

He looked up. “They are. Sorry about that, Mary. The

Dean insisted. I can’t put off getting my office painted any
longer so, yeah. Weird hours.”

The girl shrugged, smiling. “Well, it’s not like it’s a

problem meeting there. I already spend most of my time stuck
in the research section. Dr. Johnson insists that every source
come from a ‘real book.’ He’s such a Luddite.” She used air
quotes to emphasize her disgust.

Seth laughed. “Yes, well. He was my advisor when I

was a grad student. That was almost before the Internet, and
he was already a fossil back in the day. He’s a good guy
though. Knows his stuff. Go easy on him, okay?”

She shrugged, not looking convinced. “Yeah, whatever

you say, Prof.”

He watched her saunter out, hips swaying, and had to

shake his head. She was pointing her booty in the wrong
direction for so many different reasons. He’d never get
involved with a student, not ever, and also, she wasn’t his
type. At all. He preferred his partners legal. He wondered

why so many of his students persisted in making passes at
him.

Yeah, but you never date, so how would anyone know

what you like anyway? a little voice nagged.

He sighed and headed out. His complete and total lack

of companionship was not the biggest problem in his life.

Chapter Two

“Dex, if you don’t get your ass on stage right now,

you’re going to miss the window for your sound check,”
Delia snarled. Even though her voice sounded tinny and
small through the speaker, Dex sensed the underlying growl
that punctuated her irritation.

He winced. He hated when his sister was pissed at

him. “Del, it’s not my fault. I got mobbed in the hotel lobby.
I’m on my way now,” he said, striding through the service
corridor that ran behind the casino’s theatre. “Seriously.
Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

“If you’re not here in five minutes, it’ll be your shorts

in a twist, and you won’t enjoy the experience when I yank
them up your crack.”

Dex laughed. “Sis, I love you, but you aren’t very

scary.” He lied. She was actually very, very scary, as only a
sister could be.

She huffed through the phone and hung up, not

bothering to say goodbye. He grinned and slid it into his
pocket. His twin could be a pain in the ass, but he loved her
dearly. When he pushed through the metal doors into the
open space of the venue, he had to pause and take it all in for

a minute. He looked around at the empty seats, the stage with
random pieces of equipment in various stages of setup, and
of course, the people. His crew was great. Every one of them
was also a member of his clan. Every time he sang, every
time they helped him set up and pack up, he felt blessed. He
never took their willingness to travel the world with him so
he could perform, for granted.

He took a deep breath, savoring the electric sting of

anticipation. He was here, doing what he loved. So what if
he couldn’t shift anymore? That lack didn’t define who he
was, no matter how much his parents believed otherwise.

“Dex! Come on, will you?”
He looked at the stage, not surprised to see his sister

waving a clipboard at him. Her eyes were still brightly
golden—she must have gone for a quick flight this morning.
She was one of the few shifters who could change into more
than one animal and her favorite form was an eagle. She
often went out just after dawn to catch the changing thermals
as night bled into day. It would take a few hours for the color
to fade back into the light brown of her natural human eyes.

“I’m coming.” He hopped up onto the stage, squeezing

between the monitor speakers set along the front.

“Here,” she said, shoving his microphone at him. “And

don’t do those scales like last time. My eardrums nearly
burst,” she said, peevishly.

“I did my warm-ups in the dressing room, relax,” he

replied, switching on the microphone. The plastic and metal
warmed in his hand. He closed his eyes and tilted his head
up, centering himself. After a few deep breaths, he sang a

few bars of his latest hit, pleased to hear the mix was just
right.

“John got the levels perfect.” He gave the older man

hunched behind his equipment in the middle of the theatre a
thumbs up. John shrugged and smiled, tweaking a knob on the
mixer hooked up to his computer.

“Yeah, well, after the fit you pitched last time…”

Delia began.

Dex switched off his microphone. “Oh please, you

know and I know that wasn’t John’s fault, and I never
blamed him for it. He was just as pissed as I was.”

“You threw your ear monitor at the venue’s manager,

Dex,” Delia said, her voice flat with suppressed irritation.

“He deserved it,” he said, mulish. “He shouldn’t have

been fucking around with the mix, especially not in the
middle of the set.” He nodded at his band as they began
wandering onstage. Jack raised an eyebrow at him as if to
ask: need some help? Dex shook his head. No need to drag
his guitarist into a sibling spat.

“You bitched him out on stage, in front of a few

thousand people. You got him fired. I’d call that a bit of
overkill,” Delia insisted, not letting go of her side of the
fight.

Dex had to grin. They’d been arguing with each other

since birth and at this point, he actually found it kind of
soothing. “He should have known better.” He switched the
microphone back on, signaling the end of the discussion. The
rest of his band was nearly ready: Jill on bass, Mark on the
drums. The only one still messing with his equipment was

Sanjay, but that was nothing new. The keyboardist slash
programmer slash dude who could do insane things with a
theremin always took a bit longer than the rest of them to get
his setup just right.

Delia rolled her eyes at Dex and he shrugged at her.

She flipped him off. He grinned as he hummed a few notes
into the live feed. The reverb was a little much, but John
fixed it as soon as Dex noticed it. Delia watched him sing,
clearly still disgruntled, so he winked at her, just to make her
nuts. She was the one who’d nagged him to be on time. No
sense letting her get away with sibling abuse when he was
just doing what she wanted. It was nice to get the last word
in for a change.

Finally, she lost interest in needling him and wandered

backstage, checking things off on her clipboard. The band
was mostly ready, so Dex launched into a shortened version
of another song, the band hurrying to keep up. He smiled
again, this time out at the empty seats. He loved his job.
Whenever he thought about his inability to shift, the yearning
deep inside him for the animal he’d been, he poured his grief
into his music. He’d been one of the rare ones too, like
Delia: a shifter with a half-dozen forms. He had even been
able to shift into wolf form—there were only three other
shifters he knew of who could do that. The loss was
sometimes overwhelming, but he had more than enough in his
life to keep him happy and occupied without obsessing over
something he couldn’t fix. Or at least, that’s what I tell
myself, he thought.

A half hour later, he was wiping his face with a cloth

and joking around with his drummer when Delia came back
onstage, this time looking grim.

“Del? What’s wrong?” He frowned, his gut already

churning.

She pressed her lips together, hard, obviously trying

not to cry. She was white as a sheet.

Fuck, it’s something really bad. He’d only ever seen

her look this upset once before: the day he’d lost his ability
to shift. She was the one who’d found him, half bird-half
man. Broken.

When he held out his arms, she rushed into them, her

thin body shaking. His drummer, Mark, stepped closer, face
concerned. “Delia?”

“It’s mom and dad, Dex.” She sucked in a shaky

breath. “There’s been an accident.”

His heart gave a slow, uneasy thump. “What

happened?”

“We’re going to have to cancel or postpone the

concert, Dex.” Her fingers dug into his arms.

“Delia. What’s happened?” He squeezed her

shoulders, imagining the worst.

“They were hit by a drunk driver on the way to Aunt

Mary’s. The asshole spun his car out of control because the
road was slippery and he was speeding. He hit them head
on.” She was breathing too quickly, choking on her words.
“They’re at the clinic.”

He swallowed harshly. “We have to go, now. It’ll take

us at least six hours to get there.”

She nodded. “I’ve already got the car loaded up with

your stuff. The rest of the band can follow whenever.”

He closed his eyes and pulled her in tight. “What did

Dr. Lara say?”

She shook her head.
He tried to calm the nausea roiling in his stomach.

Failed. “We have to go.” He took a quick look around the
stage, the empty chairs stretching out in front of him. Shit. He
hated to disappoint everyone, especially the fans who’d been
so good to him.

“I’ll take care of everything,” John said from behind

him.

Dex spared his sound engineer a grateful look. He was

the only one who could stay behind and fix everything. The
rest of the band were all shape-shifters, part of his clan.
They’d be right behind him and Delia on the road, racing
back home to see their clan leaders. John was clan, too, but
he was a widow—he’d been married to a shifter. He was
human. He understood what was at stake, but wouldn’t feel
the instinctive urge to be by the leader’s side.

“Thank you,” Dex said to his friend. John nodded,

already taking the clipboard from Delia’s pale fingers.

“No choice, Dex. We have to go now.” Delia’s voice

was anguished, prodding him into action.

“We’ll reschedule,” he said, nodding sharply, trying

not to think about his parents. Things had been strained
between them lately, but that didn’t mean he didn’t love
them. Their disapproval of him didn’t mean he wanted them
dead, not now, not ever.

“I don’t even know if they’ll want to see me,” he

muttered, following his sister down the stairs and out the
back. Thank God there were no fans loitering around. That
was the last thing he needed to deal with right now.

“They will,” she said, shoving him toward the car.
He opened the back and sat down hard, rubbing his

face.

“I’ll have you there as quick as I can, Mr. Dex,” their

driver said.

He nodded gratefully. “I know you will, Charlie.

Thank you.”

I’m damn lucky the staff is so good to us, he thought,

not for the first time.

“What did Lara say?” he asked his sister once the car

pulled out. “You never told me.”

She sighed and tipped her head back against the leather

seat. “Mom hit her head. Apparently the airbag didn’t
deploy, though no one knows why. The police have the car
and are going over it.”

“Jesus,” Dex breathed. He had to swallow hard. “She

didn’t shift?” he asked, half-apprehensively. If she had
changed form and outsiders saw, there was no telling what
could happen. The thought of his fans finding out about him
and mobbing his family made him ill.

“No, it all happened too quickly. She was unconscious

before the instinct could kick in,” Delia said, referencing
their natural ability to shift during unexpected trauma to the
body.

“Shit.” He stared at his sister, trying to imagine a

scenario where the damage was so quick his mother couldn’t

do anything. She’d always been incredibly strong in both
will and shape-changing ability. “What about Dad?”

Delia shook her head. “The airbag worked for him, but

it didn’t matter because the car flipped and fell down an
embankment.”

“Fuck.” Dex clenched his hands in his jacket,

horrified.

“A tree branch went through his chest, Dex.” Delia

was crying now. “They had to leave it in until he got to the
clinic. It was just dumb luck that they were closer to our
clan’s health center than a hospital.”

He nodded, trying to wrap his brain around what his

sister was telling him. “He was conscious?”

She nodded. “Dr. Lara got the branch out, but she said

the damage was severe. And of course with Mom
unconscious…” She trailed off. “He wouldn’t shift, and
Mom couldn’t.”

Dex thought about what it meant that his mother wasn’t

waking up. His father would be going slowly insane,
searching for his mate in the silence of his mind, never
finding her. He swallowed again. A lump seemed to have
taken up residence in his throat. “Do they think Mom will
wake up?”

Delia sighed. “They don’t know.”
“God, Del,” he managed, grief already clawing its way

through his heart. “I never wanted this to happen. You know
that, right? This is a fucking disaster.”

She nodded tiredly, tears glinting on her cheeks. She

didn’t say anything more and Dex didn’t ask her to talk. She

looked like she was at the end of her rope. He sighed,
pulling her close. Ironically, today’s sunset was particularly
beautiful. He watched the golden light as it settled on his
sister’s chestnut hair. She was beautiful, even stressed out
and exhausted, and he wished he could wrap her up and keep
her from ever having to deal with something like this again.
Their family had the worst luck. Her mate had died several
years ago, he lost his shifting talent, and now this.

“You know I’ll always take care of you, right?” he

asked, needing to fill the silence.

She huffed impatiently. “Why are we even talking

about this? I know you will. And I’ll take care of you, too.
Idiot.” Delia smiled at him through her tears.

He grabbed her hand and hung on, not caring if she

could tell he was touching her more to comfort himself than
to comfort her.

When he walked into the clinic’s intensive care unit,

Dex felt a bit like throwing up. His mom was awake, but
barely lucid. His dad was more alert, but fading fast. He
wasn’t ready to face a world where his parents were gone.
He was heir. He would be leader, regardless of how much
his father wished it weren’t so. Dex wasn’t ready. He rubbed
his face and forced himself to walk over to the two beds
shoved near each other. His parents were holding hands, the
small gap between the beds just enough to let a nurse or
doctor in between them if necessary.

“Mom, Dad,” he said hoarsely. He squeezed in and put

a hand over his parents’ wrists.

His father opened his eyes. “Dex.” He coughed, his

face going grey as he tried to catch his breath. The nasal
cannula shifted and Dex gently put it back where it belonged.

“Don’t try to talk. Just rest,” Dex said, trying to calm

the older man down. His sister was on the other side of their
mother’s bed, holding her free hand.

“Dex, the clan is your responsibility now.” His

father’s gaze was just as obstinate as it had ever been,
despite his weakness.

Dex swallowed and nodded. “I’ll take care of things

until you get better.”

His father shook his head, the stubborn bastard. “No.

You need to marry. No time to fool around anymore.”

Dex ground his teeth, hating to have this argument

again, especially now when his father was so desperately
injured. “Dad. I can’t. You know that.”

His father snorted faintly. “You have to. It’s up to you

now.”

“Dad, please,” Dex all but begged.
His father coughed again. “No more men. That’s why

you lost your abilities.”

Dex went white and let go of their hands. What could

he say to that? He’d tried to explain that it wasn’t a choice.
That he’d been born this way. It was just who he was, but his
father had never listened before. He wasn’t going to listen
now.

“Dad, no, that had nothing to do with it,” Delia said,

her voice low and frustrated. “He’s gay. There have been
others who’ve lost their ability to shift. They were married.
Straight. You know this. I showed you the documentation
myself.”

Dex stared at her. He’d had no idea she’d done that.

She caught his expression and gave a tiny shake of her head.
Not now.

Dex frowned, but turned back to his parents.
His father looked like he was about to argue, but his

mother interrupted, her voice thready and weak. Dex wanted
to cry. Or hit something, he wasn’t sure which. Maybe both.

“Stephen. We don’t have much time left. Dex is who

he is. I’m proud he’s my son,” she whispered.

His dad pressed his lips together, stubborn to the end.

Dex didn’t know what to say to make him understand.

“Dad, I can’t change this. I tried, ok? I really did,” he

said, anguished. He thought about the girls he’d dated in high
school. The groupies he’d tried to fuck. God, that had been
awful. In the end, he stopped trying. It was easier to just take
care of things with his own right hand. When he remembered
the few guys he’d hooked up with, everything had been
different. Better. Easier. He’d never been in love, never had
a serious relationship, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t tell
what he wanted. What he needed. The soft touch of a woman
just didn’t do it for him.

“You didn’t try hard enough,” his father coughed out.
Dex flinched. “That’s not true.”
“Dad, stop it, please,” Delia begged. “Don’t do this

now.”

Dex shook his head at her and she fell silent.
“Mom, I love you,” Dex said, bending down and

kissing her cheek.

“My darling son.” She smiled at him, her skin paler

than it should be. “Find someone to love. A man who will
love you for who you are. A handsome man.”

Dex nodded reflexively, not wanting to upset her.

Inside, however, bitterness crawled up his throat. The idea
that there could be a man out there who would accept him for
who he was on the inside, not the rock star, not the clan
leader, but simply Dex, while also accepting his inability to
shift, was hopeless. He knew he would be alone for the rest
of his life.

“Take care of the clan,” his father said, voice hoarse.

“If you can’t fix yourself, at least you can do that.”

Dex blinked back tears. That his father could be so

damn stubborn, now—

“Stephen, I love you,” his mother said, a faint hint of

exasperation in her voice.

His father tightened his hand around hers, head

swinging from his son to his wife. “Noelle, no, don’t—”

Dex didn’t know what his father would have said

because his whole world suddenly burst apart, light sparking
behind his eyelids. He moaned and slumped to the floor,
cradling his face in his hands. What the hell was happening
to him? It wasn’t until Delia pulled his head down to her
chest, hugging him so tightly he could barely breathe, that the
pain let up. In its place were… lights. Sparkles that came
close and then receded as he concentrated. His skull ached,

and dimly he realized that they were people, shifters. Clan.
His father wasn’t among them. Grief welled up, thick and
suffocating. His father was dead. The clan’s heart-sparks
were his now, passed onto the oldest offspring. That meant
his mother was dead, too. And the entire clan would have
felt them go. God.

Delia sobbed into his hair, short and harsh. Dex

struggled away from her grasp, trying not to wince as his
head protested. She clung to him, crying. He got himself
under control and moved more carefully, pulling her arms
down. He should be comforting her.

“Hey, hey, it’s all right, shh,” he murmured, putting his

arms around her. “They’re together, now, just like always.
And I’m here.” He rubbed her back, using the motion to
soothe himself as well. He knew this would be worse for her
—she’d already lost her mate. Even though it happened a
long time ago, before they’d consummated their bond, it had
done something to her that would never quite heal.

“Come on, let’s get up off the floor.” He nudged her to

her feet and urged her over to the chairs set against the wall.
When he’d settled her down, he pulled her close again,
shaking his head at Dr. Lara hovering in the doorway. He
knew she wanted to come in and mark the time of death, but
he also felt her heart-spark in his chest and knew she
wouldn’t disturb them until he let her. He could feel
everyone: his band, their parents, his cousins, and all the
rest. Even the ones who’d married into the clan. He closed
his eyes and kissed his sister’s hair, wondering how fucked
up it was that his parents’ death had brought him some

measure of peace, in an ass-backward sort of way. He still
couldn’t shift, but he sensed his family all around him. Their
love, their loyalty, what made them a clan, burned inside.

After several minutes, Delia stirred. “Dex?”
He cleared his throat. “Yeah.”
“They’re gone.” She sighed.
He nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
“Can you feel the clan?”
And of course, Delia would be the first one to ask.
“Yeah,” he said. “Like brilliant points of light, right

here.” He brought a fist to his chest.

She offered a tremulous smile. “I’m glad. I knew you

would be able to feel the clan, no matter what Dad said.”

He swallowed hard against the sudden lump in his

throat. Her eyes were red-rimmed as she stared at him, the
pale gold of her irises bleeding into human-brown as he
watched.

“Can you shift?” she asked, diffidently. “Do you feel

different?”

He shook his head.
She looked away. “Damn.” She rubbed her face. “I

was hoping—”

“Yeah, me too,” he interrupted, hugging her as if his

life depended on it.

Chapter Three

Seth tossed and turned, then finally got out of bed. He

brushed aside his curtain, looking outside. It was still dark,
not even the suggestion of dawn peeking over the horizon. He
sighed, scratching his nose idly. He hated these kinds of
nights. When he didn’t shift at least once a week, he
developed insomnia. Nothing he did helped: not exercise,
not giving up caffeine, not meditating. The only thing that
worked was to shift and burn off all the excess energy.

He pursed his lips, thinking. He had about two hours

before he had to shower and get ready for work. Enough time
for a run. He stripped off his t-shirt and sweatpants until he
stood naked in front of his bedroom window. The small
house he’d bought last year was a simple cottage design with
one floor, but it was good enough for him. He didn’t own
much. Didn’t need much, except access to some open forest.
Happily, that was the one thing this house had plenty of: it
backed up against a local park. He shoved up the window,
gasping as the cold air bled over his body. Early February
wasn’t the best time to go gallivanting all over the woods
naked, but it wasn’t like he had much choice. And once he’d
shifted, he wouldn’t be cold, though the same couldn’t be

said for his room. He’d have to leave the window open, of
course.

He stilled, reaching for that peculiar state where he

was both relaxed and tense. A moment’s concentration and
suddenly his body slid into the shift. Muscles elongated as he
instinctively huffed out a breath. He could actually feel his
fur grow, if he slowed down the process a bit, but usually he
forced it to happen as quickly as possible. The shift felt
good. It felt really fucking amazing, actually. It was a
sensual, almost sexual process, and that was something he
liked to move past as fast as he could. He didn’t date and he
didn’t feel like masturbating, so he did his best to ignore his
libido. Sometimes it even worked.

When he fell to all fours, spine stretching naturally, he

let himself relax. It was done. He leaped up to the
windowsill, balancing carefully on the scuffed wood, then
jumped to the ground. Frost burned his paws for a moment,
then his new form acclimated and he shot into the woods,
reveling in the sense of freedom permeating his body. He
loved shifting into cat form. Bobcats hadn’t roamed this part
of the country in decades, but he looked enough like a large
housecat that if anyone saw him, they’d think he was just
another stray.

A good hour later he sat on a tree stump, licking his

neck. The sun was just peeking over the horizon. He’d have
to go back home soon, but he felt relaxed for the first time in
weeks and didn’t want to cut his excursion short. He licked
himself again, trying not to wrinkle his nose at the gritty taste
of dirt. He knew he probably looked ridiculous, but he hated

when mud got on his fur. He cleaned his paw, not stopping
until a rustle of the branches overhead startled him. He
flicked his ears and looked up, but didn’t see anything. His
whiskers twitched. He turned his head, scenting the air.
Eagle.

Hmm, nothing to worry about, he thought, right up

until the bird swooped down and landed in front of him, as if
that were perfectly ordinary behavior for a raptor. Which it
decidedly is not. What the fuck? He stared, paw still lifted.
The eagle blinked at him, her nictitating membranes sliding
over her golden irises so fast he wasn’t sure he’d actually
seen it.

Belatedly it occurred to him that he should growl. Or

run. Or something. His natural cat instincts seemed to be
broken, which was weird, though he was willing to cut
himself a break because what the hell? Since when do eagles
land in front of bobcats and stare at them? He put his paw
down on the cold stump very slowly.

The eagle cocked her head—and how do I know it’s a

her? he wondered—then shimmered, her form blurring while
Seth watched in stupefaction. He blinked, and between one
moment and the next, a very pretty, very naked woman was
sitting on the cold forest floor, gazing at him serenely.

He almost fell off the stump. Was he hallucinating? He

looked away and then back. The woman was still there. How
was it possible? He’d thought he was the only one in the
entire world who could change from human to animal form,
but clearly that wasn’t the case. He found himself wanting to
lick his fur furiously, but suppressed the urge. No matter how

soothing it would feel, he could control himself. He was not
an animal.

“Do you live near here?” she asked him as if he were

human, which he wasn’t, at least not right now. And of
course, he couldn’t answer her.

He cocked his head, instead, thinking: I’ll be damned

if I shift now. I’m not going to stand naked in the woods in
front of a strange woman. And also, what the fuck? It felt as
though his skin was suddenly too tight. Or the wrong shape.
Was this what a nervous breakdown was like?

She cocked her head back. “Hmm. Shy, I guess. Well,

how about if I shift and you can show me?”

He stared at her. When her form began to blur, he

caught himself making a plaintive almost-howl before he
choked it off by clamping his mouth shut. When he had
himself under control, she was sitting there, still calm, but
this time in the form of a bobcat, like him. He gave in and
licked his paw three times very fast. It helped, but not
enough.

Her fur was tawny, her eyes a beautiful gold, and she

was clearly laughing at him, though he wasn’t sure how he
could tell. She tilted her ears at him in an unmistakable well?
expression and he heaved a sigh, jumping down from the log.
If he’d ever had a sister, he was pretty sure this is what she
would be like. He arched his short tail at her as irritation
quickly overcame his awe at meeting another shifter, but she
just stood up gracefully, ignoring his disgruntlement. He
flicked an ear at her, saying: come on, then with as much
sullenness as he could manage in this form, and led her

through the brightening forest to his home.

Once Seth leaped into his bedroom, he circled around,

trying to remember where he’d stuck his robe. She followed
him inside and daintily sat on the chair he’d wedged near his
dresser, claws kneading the soft velvet in precisely the way
he most enjoyed when he was a cat. He looked at her, then
stuck his head into the closet. When he found the robe, he
dragged it out with his mouth, no doubt looking like a
complete idiot. He didn’t care. There was no way he was
going to have a conversation with her while they were both
naked. He pulled it over to her and let go, trying not to spit.
He hated mouthing fabric like that. He always got fuzz on his
tongue. Blech.

She blinked down at the robe, then her form began to

blur. Seth immediately turned his back and pushed his body
through its own transformation, gasping when the familiar
pulse of arousal shot through him. He ignored it and
hurriedly shoved his legs into his sweats. He hoped she
wasn’t looking at his ass. When he turned around, she was
still sitting on the chair, but this time she had his robe tucked
around her almost primly. He bit his lip, wondering what to
say.

“Um, welcome to my humble abode.” He leaned on his

dresser nonchalantly, trying not to show how freaked he was
feeling.

She smiled at him, her long brown hair sliding over

her shoulder. “Hi. I’m Delia.” She stuck out a hand.

He eyed it warily, then moved closer. When he

grasped her palm, he wasn’t surprised to find her skin

slightly warmer than average.

“You can change your shape?” he asked, letting go and

stepping back again. He didn’t know what to do with his
hands and finally just dropped them to his sides. He didn’t
want to cross his arms or do anything to intimidate her, not
that it seemed likely. She sat there perfectly composed, head
slightly cocked.

“Of course,” she said, lifting an eyebrow. “So can

you.”

He snorted. “Well, see, here’s the thing. I’ve never met

anyone else who could do that. I thought I was unique.” A
spark of not-quite-worry, not-quite-excitement ran through
his spine. He never thought he’d meet another person like
him.

She stared, seemingly surprised, before she gathered

herself and replied. “Hmm, well, obviously not unique.” She
shifted on the chair, smoothing a hand down his robe. “You
don’t have a clan?”

He frowned. “What’s a clan?” She had emphasized the

word in a way that made it obvious it meant something
special.

She stared, for the first time looking discomfited. “You

don’t know what a clan is?”

He shrugged. “I know the general meaning of the word,

but I get the sense that’s not what you’re talking about, is it?”

She shook her head slowly. “No. Not quite. A clan

happens when a family of shifters expands until a certain
critical point is reached. When that happens, a leader is
naturally chosen.”

Seth clenched his fists, wondering what else his

parents neglected to tell him about his adoption. “A leader is
chosen?”

She nodded. “It isn’t as formal as you think. We don’t

sit down and vote or anything. It’s more of a feeling.” She
paused. “You’ve never heard of any of this, have you?”

“I was adopted.”
Delia’s face went white. “Adopted?”
Seth found himself at her side, feeling her hand. She

was suddenly ice cold. “Are you okay?” The last thing he
wanted was for the first shifter he’d met beside himself to
faint in his bedroom.

She shook his hand off. “Outside adoption is unheard

of among the clans! If something happens to a child’s
parents, other people in the clan take him into their home. I
can’t believe you were raised without—” She broke off,
obviously shaken.

“Hey. I’m okay.” He laughed and knelt down beside

the chair. “I’m fine. Seriously, relax. You don’t even know
me.” He rubbed a thumb over her hand.

She turned her arm over, palm up, and gripped his

fingers. “You shouldn’t have had to grow up like that.”

He stared at her, chest aching. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“No, you don’t understand. How can you live without

a family? Aren’t you lonely? It was bad enough for my
brother—” Her fingers bit into his.

He pulled away. “You can’t miss something you’ve

never known.” He stood up and walked to the bed, sitting
down on it heavily. “Why haven’t I ever met you before?

I’ve lived here for a year now.

She sighed, fiddling with the sash on his robe. Her

heart-shaped face was sweet and for a split second Seth
wondered why he wasn’t attracted to her, but then she started
talking.

“We— I just moved in. Up on the hill.” She waved a

hand toward his window.

“The house on the hill with the enormous driveway

and the enormous swimming pool and the enormous—” he
began, somewhat amazed to be talking to her. She must be
insanely wealthy, he thought and then she cut him off,
laughing.

“Yes, yes, the one with the enormous fence and trees

and everything else.”

He laughed. “What the hell do you do for a living?”
She curled one side of her mouth up. “I’m an

entertainment manager.”

He rubbed his nose. “I don’t even know what that

means.”

She smiled then, her entire face relaxing. “Well, what

do you do?”

“Nothing nearly as exciting.”
She cocked her head at him. Again. Bossy woman.
He huffed. “I teach literature at the local college.

You’re kind of pushy, aren’t you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever. I’ve heard that

before.” She seemed about to say more, but his alarm clock
went off, startling her into a gasp.

He grinned and reached over to his nightstand. “Sorry.

It’s time for me to wake up now.”

She relaxed. “I guess you have to go to work?”
He nodded. “Yeah.” He paused. “Will I see you

around? It’d be … nice. To have someone to talk you about
this.” He waved his hand over his body, then blushed when
she grinned. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I’ll be around.” She stood up, untying the sash

on his robe. He hastily averted his gaze, trying not to even
listen to her slipping the robe off her shoulders.

“Give a guy some warning next time, okay?” he

complained, but she just laughed again.

“You’re going to have to get over your modesty, you

know,” she said.

When he turned around to respond, she was gone.

Chapter Four

A week later, Seth had hidden himself in the campus

library, a weird, post-modern building with the most poorly
organized poetry section he’d ever encountered. He had a
few classes to plan and he tried to make sure that the poems
he wanted the students to read and write about had actual
physical sources they could reference rather than just using
online links. Of course, that meant he had to spend time in the
stacks, but oddly, he didn’t mind. The first semester he’d
taught here he’d decided he liked the building’s strange
shape and weirdly built shelves. There was a fair amount of
natural light in the day. At night, he could see the sky and
trees around campus, almost as if he were in the woods.
Most of the time it was deserted, which suited him fine. He
still had trouble discouraging a lot of his female students, but
he supposed it went with the territory. He wasn’t old or fat,
like most of their other teachers.

Damn, I’m cranky tonight, he thought. He sighed,

forgiving himself for his uncharitable thoughts. The old book
in front of him smelled moldy, which made his nose itch. His
fingers were dry from the dust. He was just about to pack it
in, when voices intruded into his quiet reverie. He looked up

and found Delia standing in front of him. She grinned,
obviously surprised to see him.

“Seth! Hey, I was wondering when we’d meet again.”
He stood up, trying not to stare at the man following on

her heels. He had tousled brown hair tucked under a baseball
cap. He wore sunglasses, which was just…bizarre. Seth
glanced at the windows. Yup. Dark out. It was nearly 9 pm.
Even as he frowned, wondering what was going on, the man
took off his glasses, revealing the most intense brown eyes
Seth had ever seen. He stared, struck by another man’s looks
for the first time in his life. Damn, he’s pretty, Seth thought,
somewhat embarrassed by the direction of his thoughts. The
man hung back a bit, his expression resigned.

“Delia, hey. You’re in my library.” He yanked his

attention off her companion and smiled at her.

“Can’t I go check out some books now and again?” she

said, laughing. “Or is this a private library?”

Seth grinned. “No, no, make yourself at home in the

most disorganized library on Earth.” He waved his arm
expansively. “Be my guest.”

She snorted and turned to the man still lagging behind

her. “Dex, didn’t I tell you hiding in here would be a good
idea?”

The man sighed and stepped forward. “You have yet to

convince me.”

Seth blinked. The man’s voice was butter-smooth and

had a bit of a rasp that did weird things to his gut.

“Dex, this is Seth, the guy I met when I went for a run

in the woods the other week.”

Seth raised his eyebrows. She’d made it sound as if

they’d been running, as if for exercise rather than
gallivanting around in non-human form.

“Seth, this is my, uh, friend, Dex.” She bit her lip,

looking at him with a hint of worry on her face.

Seth mentally shrugged. He didn’t know her well

enough to understand why she was acting so oddly. Maybe
she didn’t want him to meet her boyfriend? He held out his
arm. “Pleased to meet you.”

The man looked at Delia, then at Seth for a long

moment, before slowly grasping his hand. His grip was firm
and Seth felt a spark of heat run down his spine, as if he was
about to shift, but then the man smiled and it was gone.
“Likewise.”

Seth took back his hand and tried to resist the urge to

shove it in his pocket. What was wrong with him? He didn’t
usually react this way to people. “So, she dragged you in
here, of all places? Were you looking for a book to read?”

Delia had a confused look on her face again. “We

were trying to get away from the crowd of students. We were
supposed to pick up the niece of a friend of mine, and we
kind of got caught up in the crowd.”

Seth laughed. “Oh, yeah, it can get kind of crazy out

there on Monday nights.” He rolled his eyes. “Not.” He
waved to the seats in front of him. “Probably they were
having some kind of movie night at the theatre. They do that
occasionally. Sorry you had to shove your way through them.
Did you want to sit? You can always tell her to meet you
here.” He didn’t want them to go. Delia was the only other

shifter he’d ever met, so he’d have been happy to talk to her
regardless of who else she had with her. And, too, he
wondered if the man was also a shifter. Stop staring, you
idiot. You’re not going to find out by mooning over him, he
told himself.

“Oh, sure. I already texted Ann and told her we were

in the library,” Delia said, pulling out a chair. Dex looked at
her like she was crazy and she poked him in the hip. “Sit
down, Dex.”

The man sighed and sat.
Seth laughed. “Yeah, she’s kind of like a bossy sister,

isn’t she? Makes me glad I don’t have one. A sister, that is.”

Dex’s eyes went wide and Delia snickered. Seth put

on his best innocent face and tried to hold back his grin. She
was fun to tease, though he didn’t know what Dex found so
strange about the conversation.

“Yeah, of course. Just like a sister,” Dex said, his

voice strangled.

Delia smiled cheerfully, ignoring her friend’s weird

reaction. “So, what are you doing here?”

“I’m looking up some incredibly boring references for

my next poetry class. I want to give the students heartburn
and this is the best way to do it,” Seth said.

“You teach?” Dex asked.
Seth shivered involuntarily. The man really had a great

voice. “Yes, I torment young minds with literature.”

Dex smiled. “Do you like it?”
“Tormenting young minds? Of course.” Seth shrugged.

“Well, okay, some classes are better than others, but it’s not

that bad of a job. I get to read a lot, which is cool. It’s the
paper grading that sucks. The essays make me want to tear
out my hair.”

Dex nodded, a small smile playing around his face. “I

wouldn’t know. I didn’t go to college.”

Seth stared, surprised. “Oh.”
Delia hit her friend. “You are a moron. Way to throw a

spitball in the middle of a conversation.” She turned to Seth.
“He went to Juilliard.”

Seth shifted in his chair. A musician? “What did you

study?”

Dex grimaced. “Voice. I didn’t graduate.”
“Didn’t you like it?”
Dex shrugged. “I liked it, but it was expensive.”
Seth had his own horrifying student loans to deal with,

so he completely understood. “Yeah, I hear you,” he said
aloud, wincing in sympathy and wondering what to say next.
Before he could get himself all stressed out about it,
however, a girl bounded up to the table.

“Hey, Aunt Delia. I’m here.” Delia stood up, smiling,

and they hugged. “Thanks for picking me up. My car died
yesterday and it’s in the shop. Mom said it’ll be done by
tomorrow.”

“It’s no problem, Ann.”
Seth watched, wondering what it would be like to have

a large family. It’d just been him and his two parents when
he was young, and after they died, he didn’t really have
anyone.

“Oh, Uncle Dex! I didn’t see you hiding under that ugly

cap,” Anna said, poking the man in his shoulder.

“What is it with you women and the poking?” Dex

said, rubbing his arm. “If you’re not careful, I’ll end up
poked full of holes and all my blood will leak out. I may
even cry.”

“Oh please,” Anna said, poking him again. “You’re

tough. You can hack it.”

Seth smiled wistfully as Dex stood up and grabbed his

sunglasses. For some reason, he didn’t want the man to go.

“Are you ready to head out?” Dex asked the girl,

poking her back lightly.

She giggled and swatted at his hand. “Stop that! You

know I’m ticklish.”

Dex dodged her fingers and poked her again. “How do

you like it?” he asked her. He faked a poke to her hip, then
got her in the neck with his other hand. He turned to Seth.
“See what I have to put up with?”

Anna giggled and poked him back, almost knocking the

hat off his head. He twisted around and tweaked her nose
while Delia watched, amused resignation on her face.

“One of my old girlfriends used to poke me like that.

Drove me crazy,” Seth managed to say. He forced his eyes
up and away from the man’s hips. Get a grip, Seth. What
was up with him? He’d never stared at a guy’s jeans before,
for God’s sake. He was totally losing it. He rubbed his face,
suddenly exhausted. “I think I’m going to head home too.” He
was exceedingly grateful Anna wasn’t one of his students.
The last thing he needed was for one of them to see him
making a fool of himself.

Dex grabbed Anna and shoved her at Delia. “Here,

you control this brat.” She rolled her eyes as she caught the
girl.

Anna snorted and adjusted her backpack. “I’m not

twelve, you know.”

Dex grinned at her, then turned to Seth. “Sorry. We’re

not usually this rowdy. It’s just been awhile since I’ve seen
Anna. I’ve been traveling.”

Seth shrugged. “It’s no problem. It’s nice to see a

family who actually like each other.”

Delia managed to look both exasperated and dignified

as she smiled at Seth. “See you around.” She slung an arm
around her niece.

Anna smiled, too. “Hey, nice meeting you.”
Seth nodded, grateful all over again she wasn’t one of

his students. She had far too penetrating a gaze for him to
feel entirely comfortable around her. She probably caught
me ogling her uncle, he thought, feeling his face flush. “Uh,
same here,” he said, eyes swiveling back to Dex.

The man was shoving his glasses back over his eyes,

seemingly oblivious to the fact that it was dark outside.

“I’m glad we met, Seth,” he said, holding out his hand.
Seth licked his lips, then shook hands with him, all the

while telling himself sternly to grow up. It wasn’t like he
was meeting a rock star or something. “Yeah. Me too.”

Dex held his hand a moment longer than normal, then

let go. “See you around.”

Seth nodded and watched the trio walk out of the

library. He had to grin when Anna got in a few more pokes.

Dex took the abuse good-naturedly, picking her up in a bear-
hug just outside the building before they headed off across
the walk. Seth shook his head and gathered up his books.
Wonder if I’ll ever see him again?

****
“So, what do you think?” Delia asked as they got in the

car.

Dex sighed and decided to play dumb. He really didn’t

want to have this conversation with his sister. Bad enough
the rest of the clan was already nagging him about finding a
mate, not two months after his parents died.

“What do you mean?” he asked as he started the

engine. Thank God they’d managed to avoid a repeat of the
screaming fans on the way out. It was bad enough that he’d
been mobbed at the student center. Ducking into the library
was genius.

His sister all but growled. “Dex, you’re being

stubborn. You know what I’m talking about.”

In the backseat, Anna snickered, clearly fully aware of

what Delia was asking.

“He was cute, Uncle Dex. Maybe I’ll see if I can get

him for a professor next semester.”

Dex rolled his eyes and pulled out of the parking lot.

Women. The whole lot of them made him crazy. “He was
nice, so what?” From the corner of his eye he saw Delia’s
fingers curl as if she wanted to poke him again. Thankfully
she refrained, since he was driving. He slowed to a stop at
the corner and virtuously put on his signal, even though there
were no cars behind them. He made a show of checking his

seatbelt to make sure it was buckled correctly.

“Dex. Stop being obtuse. What did you think of Seth?

He’s cute, right?”

Anna giggled. Dex could see her nodding emphatically

in the rearview mirror and cringed. He knew exactly where
this conversation was headed.

“Del. No,” he said, emphatically. He knew even as he

spoke that she wasn’t going to listen to him.

“But Dex—”
He pulled onto the street, futilely hoping he could

deflect Delia’s train of thought. “No. I’m not going to ask
him out. Sure, he’s cute. But he’s also a clanless shifter and
straight. Didn’t you hear the part where he said he’d had a
girlfriend?” He focused on his driving in an effort to forget
how gorgeous the man was: light green eyes, soft gold hair,
warm smile. He had wanted to run his hands all over Seth
from the moment he laid eyes on him. It was all he could do
to keep their handshake brief. Dex didn’t usually have
trouble keeping his libido under control, but Seth definitely
hit all of the ticks on his wish list. He was still half-hard just
from holding his hand for a second. It didn’t help that Seth
was obviously highly intelligent, either. Dex was a sucker
for brainy men.

Delia shrugged. “Doesn’t mean a damn thing that he

had a girlfriend. I saw the way he looked at you. And he’s
only clanless because he was adopted.”

“He doesn’t even know who I am, Delia. Also, he

doesn’t know you’re my sister, because you didn’t tell him.”
That confused him more than anything. Why had she

introduced him as her friend? He pulled onto the highway
and tried to let the quiet thump-thump of the road soothe him.

“So? As far as I’m concerned, him not recognizing you

is a bonus. He won’t do the whole star struck thing. And I
didn’t tell him I was your sister because I didn’t want to out
you as a shifter.” Delia explained.

He gritted his teeth. “Delia, that’s just ridiculous.”
“It’s not. If you decide you don’t want to pursue him,

he doesn’t need to know. You’re our clan leader now. You
have to be careful.”

“You’re telling me to be careful while throwing

random men my direction?” Dex snorted. “That makes sense,
you know, in a way that totally doesn’t.”

“First of all, I didn’t plan that meeting. He just

happened to be there in the library. I didn’t even know he
worked at that college. Second, I didn’t throw him at you.
Third, you’re a moron,” Delia argued hotly.

Dex dared a glance over at her and had to laugh. Her

arms were crossed and she was throwing him her patented I-
know-way-more-than-you-do look. If she knew he thought
she looked cute like that, she’d kill him.

“Delia, why would you think I want to pursue him? I’m

damaged, remember?” He abruptly sobered as the inevitable
fact of his inability to shift floated to the forefront of his
thoughts.

“If he’s your mate—” she began, but he cut her off.
“No. I’m not going hunting for a man just because

Anna’s mom thinks a mating will fix my problem. No. A
thousand times no. If I never shift again, well, it’ll suck, but a

mate doesn’t deserve to be chosen simply because he’s a
band aid for my wounds.” His sense of revulsion at choosing
a mate just to fix his screwed up life was overwhelming.

“Dex, no. You know I don’t mean it like that.” Delia’s

voice was soft.

He took a deep breath. His sister wasn’t trying to hurt

him, but God, she made him nuts sometimes. “I know.”

“But if you happen to fall in love, and he happens to be

able to help you, that’s not wrong, is it?” Delia asked.

In the backseat, Anna sat quietly, but Dex knew she

was listening to them. He shrugged. He had no secrets from
his people. “No, that’s not wrong, Delia.”

Chapter Five

Three weeks later, Seth was once again in the library,

this time hunting down literary criticism reference books. He
had half a dozen spread out on the table in the back corner,
the most secluded part of the second floor. He liked it here,
nestled in the stacks where it was quiet and warm. The day
had brought snow flurries, even though it was mid-March,
and he didn’t really feel like leaving the warmth of the
building to trek to his car across campus. He couldn’t shift
and wear his fur home because he had books to drag with
him. Shifting doesn’t really solve any of my most annoying
problems, he thought, exasperated, not for the first time.

“Fancy meeting you here,” a smooth voice said.
Seth startled, dropping his pencil. He watched it roll

off the table and land on the floor, strangely reluctant to look
up. Dex. His heart tripped. When he finally gathered his
courage, he glanced up, flushing as Dex grinned down at him.
He smiled back reflexively, drinking in the sight of the man’s
warm brown eyes and messy hair. For some reason, the
tousled look worked for him. If Seth tried it, he’d just look
sloppy and unprofessional.

“Hey,” Dex said, still smiling.

“Dex, uh, wow. What a surprise,” Seth replied, like a

total idiot. Why did this guy fluster him so much? He
swallowed, trying to figure out just what it was that so
unsettled him. He’d spent much of the last three weeks
replaying their initial meeting, focusing on everything from
the man’s voice to his weird predilection for sunglasses at
night.

“Mind if I sit down?” Dex asked.
“Uh, no. Be my guest.” Seth waved a hand at the only

free seat. The others were covered with books and papers.
He shoved some of his work aside, making a clear spot at the
table.

Dex dropped his car keys in the space and sat, legs

sprawling out towards the window.

Thank God the windows have shades and they’re

drawn shut, Seth thought, staring at the man’s long, lean legs.
The last thing he needed was a student or two peering up at
him from the grass in back of the building, not that it was all
that likely. He’d picked this spot for its isolation, after all.
He rolled his shoulders, suddenly embarrassed by the way
his mind was racing. Dex smells really fantastic, he thought
abruptly, surprisingly. He wondered when his sense of smell
had become so strong while in human form. Dex smelled
amazing, like pine-scented wind. Or butter cookies. Or
possibly I’m going insane, imagining this shit, he told
himself.

“So, hey. How are you?” Seth stuttered, barely

concealing his wince. Dex was going to think he was a total
idiot. He tore his eyes away from Dex’s feet, encased in

well-scuffed brown boots, and brought them up to his face.
Dex had a dimple on his right cheek, next to the corner of his
mouth.

“I’m good. Things are quiet.” Dex shifted in his chair,

eyes dropping to Seth’s hands.

Seth frowned slightly. What the—? As he watched,

Dex licked his lips and shifted his weight again. What’s he
looking at? He glanced down at his fingers. No ink stains.
What do I say now? Seth wondered frantically. He felt hot,
though the air in the library was cool. “Did you come for
Anna again?”

Dex shook his head, looking up. “No. I was in the area,

thought I’d stop by.”

Seth nodded. “Okay.”
Dex sighed suddenly and ran a hand through his hair.

“Look, this is stupid. Truth is, my parents died a few months
ago and I’m kind of not working right now. I could use a
friend.”

Seth stared at him. “And you thought of me?” He

couldn’t believe this. No one just walked up to him and
asked him to hang out. His last girlfriend had told him he
was cold and emotionally stunted.

“Is there something wrong with you that we can’t be

friendly?” Dex asked, looking faintly embarrassed.

Seth rushed to assure him. “No! No, not at all. I mean,

yeah. Um, yeah, sure. We can be friends. It’s just...people
don’t usually ask me that. I’m kind of standoffish. I’ve been
told.” He bit his lip to keep more stupid words from spilling
out.

Dex seemed suddenly fascinated with his keychain,

one side of his mouth curving up. “I don’t think you’re
standoffish. And how is that even a word?”

Seth had to laugh. “Wow. We suck at this so bad. Do

you think we could even manage an actual conversation?”

“I have no idea.” Dex dropped his keys with a clatter

and grinned. “We totally do suck at this.”

“Well, I’m a book nerd who can’t make idle

conversation to save his life. What’s your excuse?” Seth
asked him. He willed his heart to stop pounding, it was
distracting.

“I haven’t had to make new friends in years,” Dex

said, sheepishly. “My job is kind of intense, and I haven’t
had this much spare time in a long while.”

Seth nodded. “What do you do?”
Dex stared at him, a hint of amazement flickering over

his face so fast Seth wondered if he’d imagined it.

“I’m a musician. We go on tour a lot,” he said, finally.
“That makes sense. I read a couple years ago that with

the way music sales have switched to digital most artists
have to make their money through shows. It must be
exhausting,” Seth said, finally feeling a bit less
overwhelmed.

Dex coughed. “Yeah, that’s true. And when my parents

died, well, I figured some time off would be good.
Especially for my crew. We’re all really close and they
knew my parents, too.”

“I’m sorry. What happened?” Seth hoped Dex didn’t

mind his prying.

“They were in a car accident. Drunk driver.”
Seth grimaced. “Damn, I know how that sucks.” He

looked away. “My parents died the same way. It happened a
long time ago.” He flinched when a warm hand covered his.
Dex’s fingers stroked over the back of his wrist soothingly.
Seth wondered why the hell he was letting another man touch
him like that. And also, why did Dex smell so good? He
sniffed, catching a hint of something wild. He liked it. You’re
being absurd. Maybe the man just likes wearing expensive
cologne, Seth thought.

“Sorry,” Dex said, abruptly straightening back up.
Seth shook his head. Was Dex apologizing for touching

him, or for his parents’ death? “It’s all right.” He blew a
breath out. “I don’t know why I told you. I don’t usually talk
about it.” He rubbed his forehead, then met Dex’s gaze again.
The man’s eyes were a particularly intense shade of
whiskey-gold. God, I’m like a love-struck teen, Seth
realized.

Dex looked away after a moment. “Maybe it’s easier

telling someone who’s been through it.”

Seth nodded slowly. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
Silence fell over them again, but strangely, this time it

didn’t feel awkward. After a few minutes, Seth sighed.

“You wanna go somewhere, get a drink?”
Dex sat up in his chair. “Uh, I don’t know—”
Seth leaned forward. “I know a place where no one

will bother us. It’s a little hole-in-the wall pub down the
street from my house.” For some reason, he didn’t want Dex
to say no.

“I don’t usually drink in public.” Dex frowned.
Seth cocked an eyebrow. “But you drink in private?”
Dex laughed. “Yeah, you got me there. I do. I like beer

and the occasional martini.”

Seth grinned. “Martinis? Those are girly drinks,” he

taunted.

“Who you calling girly?” Dex fired back at him, face

relaxing.

“Takes one to know one,” Seth retorted, barely holding

in his snort.

“All right, all right. Take me to your little hole in the

wall and I’ll order a martini just to show you that what you
drink has nothing to do with your masculinity.” He sprawled
back again. “I’m secure in my manhood.”

The position emphasized the width of Dex’s shoulders

and the bulge at the crotch of his jeans, which Seth was very
much not looking at, thank you. He rolled his eyes as he
began gathering up his papers. “I bet you like the ones with
pomegranate vodka and pineapple-sugar on the rim,” he said,
trying to assert the superiority of his testosterone. He
smirked as he shoved his books into his bag.

Dex kicked Seth’s chair. “How would you even know

that drink exists if you’ve never had one?”

Seth stopped, bag dangling half-zipped from his hands.

Busted. “Uh—”

Dex laughed. “Come on, you hypocrite. Let’s go have

some super manly beer or something. I’ll buy you an
imperial stout, just to watch you try and chew through it.”

****

Dex leaned back in the chair, admiring the way the dim

lighting highlighted Seth’s golden hair. He wore it short, but
that didn’t keep Dex from wanting to run his fingers through
it. And he could smell him. He hadn’t been able to smell
particularly well since he’d last shifted, but suddenly, he
could tell that Seth had showered with some kind of lavender
scented gel this morning. God. He swore under his breath
and made certain once again that the tabletop hid his groin.
The last thing he wanted was for Seth to see his erection and
run for the door, screaming. He didn’t even know what the
hell he was doing here. Stupid Delia and her stupid ‘you’ll
never find your mate if you don’t even try’ lecture. He could
still hear her voice in his head, telling him again and again to
go find Seth and make nice.

“So, then she handed the paper back in with semi-

colons instead of dashes, as if simply changing the
punctuation marks would improve her abysmal writing. I
swear, sometimes I wonder what I was thinking, going into
teaching.” Seth paused in his story and took a long swallow
of his beer.

“You don’t like it?” Dex asked, prodding him for more

information. As long as Seth kept talking, Dex could sit there
and pretend the man wasn’t straight. Jesus, he had it bad.
Tormenting himself like this was a bad idea. Even now, he
felt the first stirrings of shame. He shouldn’t be here, but for
some reason, Seth fascinated him. Dex wasn’t sure what it
was, but he felt calmer, more in control than at any time
since he’d lost the ability to shift. It felt good to have the
wildness that was always gnawing at him under control for a

change. Seth felt soothing.

“I like the teaching part; it’s the grading I hate.” Seth

shrugged. “It comes with the territory, I guess.”

“Wasn’t there anything else you wanted to do? Besides

teach, I mean?”

For some reason, Seth wouldn’t meet his eyes. “You’d

probably think it was stupid.”

Dex frowned and leaned forward, unable to stop

himself. He touched the back of Seth’s hand, very lightly.
Seth didn’t pull away. God, was the man sure he was
heterosexual? Dex forced himself to back off. “Why would I
think that?”

Seth sighed and met his gaze again, green eyes

luminous. “I wanted to be a songwriter. I loved to play
piano, put words to the songs I was writing. I even minored
in music theory in college, but I ran out of money. I had to be
practical. I still have ridiculous student loans.” He picked up
his beer and took several long swallows.

Dex sat back, stunned. Could this man be any more

perfect for him? “That’s not stupid at all.”

Seth wiped his mouth. “Yeah, well, you went off and

lived your dream, even when you couldn’t finish school.”

Dex flushed. He wasn’t admirable at all. “No, you’ve

got it all wrong. It wasn’t like that. I quit school. I got a gig
and didn’t finish because I wanted to perform more than I
wanted to study. That’s not admirable.”

Seth shifted his nearly empty mug around, tracing

patterns on the moisture condensing on the glass. “Yeah,
well, you still went for it. I just caved.”

“Seth, you were alone. The fact that you managed to

finish your degree, then go on for a master’s is fucking
amazing. All I had to deal with was my parents’
disapproval.” He didn’t know how to impress upon Seth
how remarkable he was. “You did something I’m just now
trying to figure out how to do. And you did it when you were
what, nineteen? Shit. I don’t fucking know what the hell I’m
supposed to do and I’m thirty.” He thought of all the little
sparks he carried around inside him, his clan. His people.
They depended on him to make the right decisions. They
needed him. He didn’t know how his father had managed and
because he was gay, and his father couldn’t stand to talk to
him, they’d never been able to communicate about anything.
He took a hard swig of his drink, relishing the burn.

Seth pursed his lips, looking at Dex thoughtfully. “You

just keep going.”

Dex laughed. “That’s it?”
Seth smiled and this time he reached out. “Yeah.

That’s it. Just keep on going.” He ran a finger along Dex’s
thumb, then picked up his drink again. “Why didn’t your
parents approve of you? Because you quit school?”

Dex rolled his suddenly tense shoulders. “That was

part of it.”

Seth swallowed thoughtfully, emptying his glass. “But

not all of it.”

He said it like it was a fact, not a question, and of

course, it was. Time to prove you have some balls, Dex, he
thought. Man, he really hoped Seth wasn’t homophobic. He
could really use a friend that wasn’t involved in all of the

clan shit he had to deal with. He loved his band and crew,
but they’d known him since he was a kid. It was nice to talk
to someone new, someone who didn’t have all those
preconceived notions about what it meant to be a clan
leader. Someone who wasn’t pressuring him to mate or
produce offspring, or even just fucking looking at him with
so much sympathy he wanted to choke. Dex took a breath, let
it out again, and went for it. “No that wasn’t all of it. I’m
gay. I came out to my parents when I was in college and then
the shit truly hit the fan.” He watched Seth carefully, but
there was no flinching, no grimace of disgust. Instead, his
eyes just widened briefly.

“They kicked you out?” Seth asked, voice low.
Dex shook his head, trying to disguise the trembling of

his hands by fooling with his glass. He didn’t remember the
last time he’d felt so freaked out admitting he was gay. Hell,
he didn’t have to admit it anymore; everyone and their
mother just knew. The entire world knew. Well, the whole
world except for Seth, who must have been living under a
rock since he didn’t recognize Dex.

“No. My mom was fine with it, but my dad, ugh.” He

pinched his nose, wondering how to explain what it’d been
like without also outing himself as a shifter. “He didn’t have
a problem with gays, he just had a problem with me being
gay.”

“That … doesn’t make any sense,” Seth said,

frowning.

“He wanted grandchildren. He wanted me to be the

great heir.” Dex snorted.

“But don’t you have a niece? Anna, right?”
Seth looks adorable when he’s confused, Dex thought,

letting himself admire the little crow’s feet around the man’s
eyes for a split-second, then he smiled and shook his head.
“She’s not my niece. More of a distant cousin. I have a huge
family, and the relationships can get kind of muddled. It’s
easier for the younger ones to just call me Uncle.”

“Oh,” Seth said, clearly not getting it, which wasn’t

surprising since he didn’t know Dex was part of a clan.

“I only have one sister, but her boyfriend died. She

didn’t have any kids,” Dex explained, without mentioning
that Seth had already met her. God, he hoped Seth could
forgive him for all the lies when they finally came out. Dex
struggled with the urge to throttle Delia, again.

“That’s terrible. Your father sounds really old-

fashioned.” Seth signaled the waiter.

Dex waited until they’d both ordered another beer.

“Yeah, well, that’s a really good way of describing it. We
didn’t get along very well after that.” He thought about
telling Seth he was a shifter, but the clench in his gut told him
he’d done enough confessing for the night. He didn’t know
how he’d explain being a shifter, being clan leader, no less,
without the ability to actually shift.

“What about you? No extended family?” he asked Seth,

instead.

“No, it was just me. My parents adopted me when they

were older, and neither had any siblings. No grandparents,
no cousins.” Seth thanked the waiter who came with their
drinks and took a careful sip. “You don’t miss what you’ve

never had.”

Dex eyed him, taking in the slightly bowed posture.

“Do you really believe that?”

Seth shrugged.
“Because I think it’s bullshit.” Dex kept his voice low

and soft. “You know you’re missing something, but you’ve
spent so long shoving the feeling aside that you’ve convinced
yourself you don’t miss it.” He hoped he wasn’t being too
obnoxious, but he couldn’t help himself. He felt the same
horrible loss, every day of his life. Yeah, sure, he still had
his sister and his clan, but he couldn’t change anymore. He
missed it desperately.

Seth took a swig of his beer. “You don’t pull any

punches, do you?”

It was Dex’s turn to shrug. “Sorry.”
Seth eyed him over his glass. “No, you’re not.”
And then, to Dex’s amazement, he smiled. Not a little

grin or a guffaw or a smirk, but a full-on, pleased, happy
smile. Dex blinked as a rush of arousal shot through him so
fast his head spun. Jesus. He pressed a fist to his erection,
willing it to go away. Just a simple, uncomplicated smile did
this to him? He had to get a grip. Lusting after a straight man
was a recipe for disaster.

“Why aren’t you pissed?” he asked, hoarsely.
“I get the feeling you spend a lot of your time

smoothing people’s ruffled feathers. You probably have to
keep your band from killing each other and find new gigs and
pretty much act like you’re completely chill, all the time,
right?”

Dex nodded dumbly, taking a defensive sip of his

drink.

“Well, I’m taking the fact that you let loose on me as a

compliment.” He ate a pretzel while Dex watched, and then
chased it with another sip of beer. “Plus, you’re right. And
when a man is right, I believe in giving him his due.”

“Seth, I’m sorry—”
“Oh no, don’t fuck it up now,” Seth interrupted, eyes

gleaming. He slumped a bit in his seat. “You’re right. I do
miss … something. I don’t know what it is, and God knows,
the one girl I managed to date longer than six months couldn’t
give it to me, but you’re right. And I hope I find whatever the
hell it is I’m looking for someday.”

Dex didn’t reply, couldn’t say a word. Seth’s frank

courage pinned him to his seat. He groped for his beer to
cover up how dammed hot the man made him. He wanted to
grab him and kiss him. Or, alternatively, he wanted to slide
to his knees and give Seth the blowjob of his life, right here,
right now, and fuck it all to hell, he couldn’t do either.
Because he had a feeling that this man was the one with a
capital O. Seth was his mate, and Dex refused to lie to the
person who would someday complete his soul. And he
would never pressure him, especially since Seth still was
under the mistaken impression that he was straight. Dex
snatched up his glass and sucked down what was left of his
beer in one great big swallow. What a fucking mess.

Chapter Six

Seth closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. He was

desperate to get out of this building, but he had two more
classes to teach before the day was over. He needed to shift,
needed to get out into the air and run, and he had a feeling he
was going to go insane before he could escape.

He’d been putting off shifting for a month now because

he’d been meeting Dex at the bar and sharing a drink with
him one or two times a week. The man fascinated him. He
knew a lot about music and they’d often get sucked into an
argument regarding the merits of counterpoint in pop songs
or the sad disappearance of the guitar solo in rock music or
something equally non-important. Sometimes Seth would
bitch about his classes or inter-departmental politics and
Dex would nod sympathetically. Every time he went home
after one of these nights, he’d have to jerk off as the urge to
shift nearly overwhelmed him. He missed running in the
woods, but he didn’t want to give up his new obsession:
watching Dex. Talking to Dex. Sighing over Dex’s perfect—

God. He forced himself to shove those thoughts away.

He was in the middle of a class! At least today he was
administering a test and he didn’t have to put on the usual

dog and pony show just to keep the students interested. He
looked out over the desks again, making sure no one was
cheating or, God forbid, sleeping, but none of them even
looked up. He stared out the window, thoughts straying once
again to Dex. He abruptly sat up. Was that—?

He glared through the glass. It was. Delia sat on one of

the branches of the large maple right outside the window,
carefully preening her feathers. When she glanced up, she
cocked her head at him, her sharp eagle eyes a brilliant gold
that would’ve been disconcerting if he hadn’t known she was
actually human under those feathers. He frowned at her and
she hopped sideways, wings mantling. What did she want?

For the rest of the class, an interminable forty-five

minutes, he couldn’t help glancing out. Every time, she
looked back at him, unblinking. What did she want? became
his mantra. When the class finally ended, he watched the last
student walk out, then unlocked the window. He debated
with himself for a moment: was he really going to let an
eagle fly into the classroom? What would he do with a naked
woman if she shifted in here? Finally, he opened the sash,
sliding it as wide as he could. Delia immediately flew in,
her wings brushing the edges of the window frame. She
landed on his desk, her talons scratching unpleasantly at the
papers he’d left strewn on the surface.

“If you crap on my notes, I’m going to be really

irritated,” he told her.

She just looked at him, not making any move to shift

back to human form.

The tension in the room rose higher the longer she

stood there. They stared at each other. He broke first.
“Seriously, what do you want? Why are you here?”

She cocked her head at him and scraped a claw over

one of his papers, deliberately shredding it right down the
middle.

“Oh come on, there’s no call for that,” he huffed,

hurrying over to save his work. When he got close, he
realized that she had a small piece of paper tied to her leg.

“Are you kidding me?” he breathed, staring at it. He

looked at the twist of paper, then at her face, then back down
again. Even though he knew she was a fully intelligent
woman, he hesitated to touch her anywhere near her claws.
A woman with real talons had to be twice as dangerous as
one without, but she scratched at his notes again, obviously
growing impatient.

He hunched his shoulders. “Okay, okay, I’ll get the

damn paper,” he said, reaching out tentatively.

Delia held perfectly still as he untwisted the small

wire and grabbed it.

“How did you get this attached, anyway?”
She looked at him as if he were an idiot.
“Yeah, okay,” he muttered under his breath. “Stupid

question. You know other shape shifters. One of them wired
it on your leg for you. My bad.”

He carefully unrolled the note. Before he read it, he

looked at her and frowned. “You could have just called me,
you know. Or left a note at my house.”

She squawked, clearly annoyed with him. He backed

up hurriedly, not wanting to get any closer to her sharp beak

and talons than he had to. “Okay, fine, no need to get your
feathers in a twist,” he said from the safety of the
freestanding whiteboard. He looked down at the paper.

“Meet me at the tree at nine pm,” he read aloud. She

nodded her head at him. It looked really weird. Huge,
decidedly not-tame raptors did make such a human gestures.
“Um, okay.”

She nodded again and launched herself at the window.

It wasn’t until she’d gone that he realized he was freezing.
And he was going to have to cancel on Dex tonight, too,
dammit.

At precisely nine o’clock, Seth sat himself on his

favorite stump and began cleaning his paws. It’d rained
earlier and the trail into the woods was quite muddy. Of
course, the run itself had been lovely. He hadn’t realized
how much he’d needed to shift until he was in cat form
bounding through the woods. The itch of wildness at the back
of his head had finally subsided, though he still regretted not
getting to see Dex tonight. Delia better have a damn good
reason for dragging him out here.

When she ran into the clearing in human form, wearing

jogging pants, he almost fell off his log. Even more
surprising? She was holding a pair of running shorts.

“I only have a few minutes, so shift and put these on,”

she said, shoving them at him.

He let loose a yowl and jumped down, fur rising along

his spine. Why should he do what she wanted?

“Come on,” she said impatiently, waving the shorts in

the air.

He huffed and turned his back to shift. All she would

see was his ass, and it served her right.

“Here,” she tossed the shorts over his shoulder. He

slipped them on and faced her. They smelled familiar.
“Whose shorts are these?” he asked.

“Dex’s.”
He flushed, embarrassed. “What the hell?” He rubbed

his bare arms trying to keep warm now that he no longer had
any fur. It was above freezing now that it was late March, but
it wasn’t warm out, especially not this late.

Delia began to pace, her sneakers making little

crunching noises on the dead leaves of the trail. “Look, I
have to tell you something.”

“You could have just called me. Dex would have

given you my number,” he retorted, not budging an inch.

She glared at him, but kept walking. He watched her:

four steps forward, pivot, four steps back. He folded his
arms over his chest, fighting the sympathy that was working
its way through his irritation. She was clearly agitated.

“Delia, why are we here?” he asked her, more gently

this time.

She sighed and stopped right in front of him. “I have a

brother.”

He nodded slowly. “Okay. That’s good.” She fidgeted

and he frowned, not used to seeing her so uncomfortable.
The few times he’d run into her again in the woods had been

pleasant. She didn’t seem at all bothered by his cat form as
she flew with him. Of course, he hadn’t seen her since he’d
started hanging out with Dex more often.

She rubbed at her eyes. “Okay, I’m going to just spit it

out. I have a brother. He’s Dex.”

Seth stared. “Dex? I don’t understand.”
“Dex is my brother.” She stated it again, voice firm.
Seth’s head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton.

Surely he’d misheard her?

She was nodding at him. “It’s true.”
The implications of what she’d said were slow to

register. He swayed, blood rushing to his face. His heart
gave a hard thump. Fuck. Dex? The guy he hung out with at
his favorite bar? The guy he was starting to consider his best
friend was Delia’s brother, and he’d never told him the
truth?

“Seth, you have to understand, it’s my fault,” Delia

said, her voice sounding faint and far away.

“You’ll have to excuse me,” he said politely, turning

towards the woods.

“Seth! Hang on,” she called, running after him.
He shook his head, feeling as if someone had hit him in

the face. Dex was Delia’s brother; therefore, Dex was a
shape shifter.

She put a hand on his arm and made him stop. “He’s

my twin, actually.”

Seth didn’t believe her. “Your eyes aren’t the same.”
She grimaced. “I change into an eagle almost every

day. The color lingers. And—”

“You’re not identical,” he interrupted her, starting to

walk again.

“Well, obviously, I’m a woman and he’s … not,” she

said faintly, digging her fingers into his skin.

Seth shrugged her arm away. “Whatever.”
“Seth, seriously, hang on.” She dragged him around

until he was facing her. “I asked Dex not to tell you.”

That got through. “What? Why would you do that?” His

skin felt simultaneously too loose for his bones and too tight
to contain the mix of anger and embarrassment that welled up
from somewhere in the vicinity of his chest.

She looked away, but didn’t let go. “I didn’t want to

scare you off.”

What the hell was she talking about? “You thought that

introducing me to more shape shifters would be bad? Are
you insane?” How could she think he wouldn’t want to meet
more people like him? He shook her off with a hard twist of
his elbow.

“Well, look, you’re obviously pissed—” she began.
“I’m pissed because you both lied to me!” he shouted.

“Friends don’t do that. Especially not about something like
this. And I thought you were my friend. I thought Dex was my
friend. Apparently not.”

“You don’t understand,” she said, reaching for him, but

he’d already slipped the shorts down and off. He wasn’t
embarrassed about swinging his dick in front of her anymore.
He was humiliated that what he’d thought was the beginning
of something good, something important, was all a lie. He
was angry that Dex had led him on. He’d just begun to

wonder if maybe he wasn’t as straight as he’d thought, and
now this happened. God. He wanted to punch something.

“Don’t follow me,” he said harshly, then he shifted

into his secondary form, the one he’d never told her about: a
gray wolf. He glared at her, fur ruffled, enjoying the shocked
expression on her face as a low growl rumbled through him.
When he was certain she understood not to pursue him, he
pivoted and ran off.

****
Delia stared at the empty woods, dumbfounded by

Seth’s shift into wolf form. She picked up the shorts and
twisted them in her hands. She’d only personally known two
other people able to take that shape: her father, and Dex, and
her brother couldn’t shift into anything anymore, so the
ability was lost to their clan. Wolf form was rare. So rare,
she only knew of one or two others in the entire country who
could manage it. She pressed a shaky hand to her mouth.
She’d just royally screwed up here, and Dex was going to
kill her.

“So, I’m here. What’s the big rush?”
Delia whirled around, heart pounding. “Dex.” She

swallowed, not knowing how to start explaining what had
happened.

“Delia? What’s the matter?” Dex walked closer and

put an arm over her shoulders. “Wait, are those my shorts?”
He took them from her, and then lifted them to his nose.

She wondered if he could smell Seth on them. “Yeah. I

met Seth here,” she said, forcing the words out.

Dex frowned, stuffing the shorts into his back pocket.

They hung out like a fake tail. It made Delia feel even worse.

“Everything all right?” he asked warily.
She shook her head, and then like a floodgate opening,

the entire mess spilled out. “I told him you were my brother
and he got really angry. Because we’d lied to him.”

Dex stepped away from her. “What?”
“Dex, I’m so sorry.” Her voice broke. “I tried to

explain that it was my idea. I didn’t want to have to try and
explain about your shifting issue, and I didn’t want to scare
him off, but when I saw the two of you getting closer I knew I
had to explain.”

“What, exactly, did you explain, Delia?” Dex’s voice

had gone soft.

Delia shivered, knowing that voice was the one he

used when he was angry. “I didn’t get a chance to. He shifted
and ran off.”

“What did you tell him?” Dex asked, less calmly. “Did

you tell him I couldn’t shift? Did you?”

Delia stepped back. “I didn’t get the chance. He was

so upset—”

“Jesus!” Dex spun away, fists clenching. “What the

fuck were you thinking? I knew lying to him was a bad idea.”

“I like him, Dex. I didn’t want to keep him in the dark,

it’s not right.”

Dex growled and turned to her. “That should’ve

occurred to you back when you first met him, but no. You
had to start off with the whole deception. May I remind you,
it was your idea?”

Delia had nothing to say to that. Dex was right. “I’m

sorry.”

He looked at her, his expression racing from anger to

despair. “Del, he’s my mate.”

Her blood ran cold. “Wait, what? Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure! It’s not something you can be

mistaken about, as you well know.” Dex ran a hand through
his hair. “God, what a mess.”

Delia squared her shoulders. She didn’t want to tell

him, but she had no choice. “Dex, there’s more.”

He grimaced. “Of course there is.” His lips twisted.

“Just spit it the fuck out.”

“He has more than one shape.”
Dex frowned. “Okay, that’s not that big of a deal. A

few shifters have more than one. You have at least three or
four.”

She took a deep breath. “I know, and that’s not the

problem.” She picked at her sweats, trying to ignore the
prickling of drying sweat on her spine. “Right before he ran
away, he shifted into a wolf.”

****
Dex cursed as he ran through the woods, wishing he

could shed this awkward human body and move the way he
used to. He’d tried, God knows he’d tried, but it was no use.
And now, when he needed to shift more than ever, he
couldn’t even think about it without feeling nauseated. So
instead of thinking, he pushed through the trees, letting the
cold air numb him into calm.

He remembered what it had been like to shift, to let go

of his human skin and just sink into the animal part of his

soul, let the wolf take over. His favorite two shapes were
wolf and eagle, and both were denied him now. He stopped,
gasping for breath. The edge of the woods was just ahead.
And just beyond the clearing was Seth’s house.

“Shit,” he breathed to himself, shoving a fist at the

tree. Bark flaked over his fingers. He didn’t care. All he
could think about now was imagining Seth shifted into wolf
form. No one else could change like that. Everything about
Seth made him want the man more, and now it was all fucked
up.

He put his head on his hands and leaned into the tree,

trying to convince himself that confronting Seth was the right
thing to do. He had to explain that he’d never meant to lie to
him.

A lie of omission is just as bad as a lie of intent, he

mused, picking at the loose bark. He winced as a sliver went
up under his nail. Served him right.

“Dex? What are you doing here?” Seth’s voice wasn’t

welcoming.

Dex sighed and turned around. Of course Seth would

find him dithering here with his head in a tree.

“Seth.” Dex looked at his friend. He was standing at

the edge of the forest wearing sweatpants and running shoes.
He had a hoodie pulled up over his hair, so the only thing
Dex could see were his eyes. The green was more
pronounced than ever. He looked gorgeous and very pissed.

“Are you stalking me?” he asked, a hint of irritation in

his voice.

Dex shook his head. “I wasn’t stalking you. I was

coming to see you.” When that didn’t elicit a reaction he
continued. “To apologize.”

“Apologize for what?” Seth crossed his arms over his

chest.

Dex winced at the defensive posture. In contrast, he let

his hands fall to his sides, palms up. “For not telling you
Delia was my sister.”

Seth snorted. “You think that’s why I’m angry?”
“It’s probably one of the main reasons, yeah,” Dex

said. He could see the wolf in Seth: in the way he held
himself, alert and poised. He could see the wildness in his
eyes. He felt his body react, arousal waking up and taking a
long, slow slide down his spine and into his groin.

Seth looked away. “That’s only part of it.”
“The rest is complicated.” Dex had a feeling Seth

wasn’t going to believe him when he told him he couldn’t
shift.

Seth pointed at him angrily. “You knew I was all

alone. That I’d lost my parents. That I had no one. You know
what I am, because Delia told you. I can see it on your face.”

Dex took a step forward, but Seth slashed his hand

through the air.

“No, don’t come any closer. I really feel like punching

you in the face right now.”

Dex stopped and took a deep breath. “Seth, please. I

want to tell you the rest. Please.” He was all but begging.

“I know the rest. You’re a shifter. And you didn’t tell

me!” Seth brought a fist to his chest. “You knew I had no
one, and you pretended to care, but you couldn’t be bothered

to tell me about that. Shit. I’m a fucking idiot.”

He turned away, and Dex leaped forward, putting a

hand on his shoulder. The muscles went rock hard. Seth
shuddered and tried to shrug him away, but Dex wasn’t going
anywhere.

“No, it’s not like that. I can’t shift. Not anymore,” he

gritted out, hating that he had to say the words. “I’m
damaged.”

Seth’s shoulder went still, but he didn’t turn around.

“What are you talking about? Your sister can fly.”

“Something happened to me about five years ago. I

woke up one day and … everything went wrong. I tried to
change, tried to call up my bird form, and it hurt.”

Seth turned around, his eyes wary. “What are you

talking about?”

Dex tightened his grip, needing to feel the solid

strength of Seth to get the rest out. “I managed to form one
wing, and then I was stuck there, in between shapes for an
hour before I managed to shift back to human. It was
excruciating.”

“What happened?”
Dex took a deep breath. Thank God he’s calming

down.

“I have no idea. No one knows. It’s never happened

before,” he said.

Seth frowned. “That still doesn’t explain why you

didn’t tell me Delia was your sister.”

Dex sighed and let his hand fall. “I know this isn’t an

excuse, but she started it, the first time we met. In the

library?”

Seth nodded.
“I went along with it because I didn’t know you. Then,

when we started hanging out together, it was like this huge,
stupid secret. And there’s the part where I can’t shift
anymore. I’m human now. Sort of.” He looked away. “I
didn’t want you to feel sorry for me, like everyone else
does.”

“Dex, that just doesn’t make any sense. Why the hell

would I care?” Seth asked, a hint of exasperation in his tone.

Dex lifted a shoulder. “I’m broken, don’t you get it?”

He was angry now.

“God, you are just so fucking aggravating, Dex,” Seth

said, eyes snapping. “I thought I was the only shifter. Ever. I
was alone.” He turned on his heel and walked away.

Dex clenched his fists. “Where are you going?”
Seth tossed his head, dislodging the hoodie. “Back to

my house to get some sleep.”

“That’s it?” Dex asked, incredulous.
Seth stopped, shoulders going tight again. “What did

you expect?”

Dex felt something violent well up in his gut and he

strode forward, grabbing Seth and spinning him around.
“You’re an ass! I apologize and you walk away?”

Seth glared. “You think this is all about you?”
Dex stared. Seth’s chest was moving as though he

couldn’t get enough air. Dex didn’t feel too steady himself. “I
want to be your friend,” he forced out.

Seth rolled his eyes. “Then be my friend, and stop

acting like such a baby. Stop letting your sister dictate your
actions.”

“You—” Dex began, but then he grabbed Seth’s arms,

muscling right up into his space. “You make me crazy,” he
whispered brokenly, leaning in and kissing him.

****
Seth froze, mouth opening in shock. What the fuck?

Dex’s lips were warm and mobile and he thought maybe he
was dreaming until the faint rasp of stubble against his chin
convinced him that no, this was real. Dex really was kissing
him and he really was just standing here, letting him.

Someone groaned, and Seth realized he was making

that desperate noise. He wound his arms around Dex’s waist
and suddenly his cock was hard and aching and his hips
snapped forward, totally not under his control. He pulled his
head away and stared at Dex, panting. The man tasted wild.
Dangerous. Slowly, deliberately, Dex pushed a leg between
Seth’s thighs and the exquisite sensation of hard muscle
against his dick made Seth’s brain white out. Clearly he’d
lost his grip on reality. What was he doing? He’d never
kissed a guy before, though he’d considered it, once or
twice. He’d always chickened out, but not this time. He dove
back in, needing more. Dex opened to him eagerly and Seth
licked inside, hands clenched on his ass.

A minute later, he came up for air, and when he did,

Dex ran a thumb over his lower lip. Seth shivered, kind of
shocked at how good it felt to have another man’s hands on
him. He deliberated for a moment—kiss Dex again? Punch
him? Punch myself in the head?—then his body decided:

more Dex. Seth pulled him close and kissed him harder,
rutting until Dex seized him by the hips and shoved back, his
long, hard dick a hot brand against Seth’s thigh. The jeans
Dex wore were old and worn and did nothing to hide his
arousal. Seth rubbed against him, completely unable to stop.
It seemed as though the big gay freak-out scheduled for right-
the-fuck-now wasn’t actually going to happen.

“Jesus, Seth, you don’t do things halfway, do you?”

Dex muttered, biting his lip.

Seth shuddered. “I’m still angry with you.”
Dex laughed and let his head fall to Seth’s shoulder.

“Okay.”

Seth turned his head into Dex’s hair, inhaling the wild

scent of him. “You smell like shifter to me.”

Dex went still. “What?” he asked, lifting his head.
Seth looked at him. “I have a really good sense of

smell and you don’t smell human to me. You never have,
really. I’m just now realizing that.”

Dex’s hands twitched on Seth’s waist. “Are you sure?”
Seth frowned. “Yeah. Positive.”
Dex hugged him, hard and fast, and then stepped away.

“Listen, we need to talk.”

Seth nodded, trying not to mourn the loss of Dex’s

warm body against his. They really did need to talk, despite
his cock’s insistent opinion of please get back to the sex
part right now. Though, he wondered what had Dex pulling
away suddenly. He adjusted himself and rolled his
shoulders, trying to calm down.

“Do you want to go to my house?” he asked, thinking

that whatever Dex needed to talk about could use some
alcoholic lubrication. And maybe he could head off his own
attack of nerves. Now that they were no longer kissing, he
was starting to feel uncertain.

I just kissed a guy, and liked it. Whoa. He scrubbed a

hand through his hair.

“It’s not far, right?” Dex asked, oblivious to Seth’s

inner monologue.

Seth gestured. “Just past those trees.”
Dex smiled briefly. Seth waved him onto the trail,

trying not to think about how good he looked from behind
and how badly he wanted to kiss him again.

Chapter Seven

Ten minutes later they stood in his kitchen. Dex leaned

against the counter, fidgeting with a loose thread on his
jeans. He seemed to fill the small space completely, as if he
were larger than life.

Or maybe that’s just how he makes me feel, Seth

thought. He scratched at the loose paint flaking from his
bottle opener, wondering if they should sit at the table or if
he should take Dex into his living room. Looking at Dex was
enough to make him feel both hot and nervous, and he
abruptly pulled out a chair, motioning for Dex to take it. Dex
lifted an eyebrow, but sat down calmly enough. It was
strange with him here. Seth had never had anyone visit
before, except for Delia that one time. She’d never followed
him home again because they usually met in the woods in
animal form, and they’d only run together maybe once or
twice.

He got out a couple of beers, trying to cover up his

suddenly shaky hands. The only thing that made him feel a
little better was watching Dex pick at the label on the bottle.
Clearly the other man wasn’t any more comfortable right
now than Seth. He waited until Dex took his first swallow

before speaking.

“So, why are you so stressed out? I’m the one who

should be freaking out, you know. I’m straight.” Seth began
picking at his own label. “Or rather, I always thought I was
straight.”

Dex grimaced and set his bottle down. Seth tossed him

a napkin and Dex mopped up the moisture that ran from the
glass to his wooden tabletop. “I’m really sorry, you know
that, right? I didn’t want to hurt you.”

Seth shrugged, sitting down across from him. “Yeah, I

know. Whatever.” He waved a hand. He really, really didn’t
want to get into a discussion about his feelings or Dex’s
feelings or how they felt together. He was still trying to fight
down an erection and he wasn’t sure he had enough blood in
his brain for anything complicated right now.

Dex took another swig and swiped at his lips with his

thumb. Seth watched him, knowing exactly what those lips
felt like. He forced his eyes away, focusing on Dex’s hands.
They were strong and warm, he knew from experience, and
Seth wondered what they would feel like on his dick. Shit.
He looked out the window in an effort to get himself under
control. He didn’t move, even when Dex tried again.

“So, okay, I told you I couldn’t shift anymore. No one

knows why or how it happened. Even so, I guess I’m still
just enough of a shifter to retain something, because I
inherited my father’s position of head of our clan,” Dex said,
sounding uncomfortable.

Seth cocked his head. “What exactly does that mean?

You’re head of your clan?”

“Well, on a practical level, we tend to live close to

each other. It’s comforting to be around each other. We eat
together. We hang out together. Most of the people in my
crew and band are clan.”

Seth chewed his lip, thinking about the intense

loneliness he’d felt most of his life until he’d met Delia and
Dex. This is why he liked them so much. They were shifters
and he sensed it, on some unconscious level. He nodded
slowly. He’d never made friends with anyone so fast before.
Delia and Dex felt right to him in a way that no other person
ever had.

“I can understand that,” he said carefully. “It’s

probably why I liked you and Delia so much, so quickly.”

Dex smiled briefly. “Yeah, exactly. That’s definitely

true, but it’s more than that for me. As the leader, I inherited
what I call heart-sparks. It basically means that I can sense
clan members no matter where I am. They feel like little
bright spots inside me.” He put a fist to his chest. “I feel
responsible for them, for making sure they’re happy.”

“You don’t feel me like that, do you?” Seth asked. He

wasn’t sure if he wanted Dex to answer yes or no.

Dex slowly shook his head. “I don’t. Unless you’re

born to one of us, you have to choose to become clan.”

Seth opened his mouth to ask how, but Dex raised a

hand before he could speak.

“But it’s more complicated than that.”
“Of course it is,” Seth sighed. He wanted to belong.

He didn’t care anymore that Dex and Delia had kept this
from him. He even understood: they couldn’t just accept him

without getting to know him first. If Dex was responsible for
his clan, he had to be careful with outsiders. Seth got that.

Dex scrubbed his hands through his hair. “Have you

noticed that you can smell me easier than anyone else?”

Seth nodded. “Yeah, but I just chalked that up to my

shifter nose.”

Dex snorted. “It’s not. You can’t smell my sister like

that,” he said with complete assurance.

That was true. “So? I like you. A lot.” His face burned.

He couldn’t believe he was saying this out loud. “I liked you
from the moment I met you. It doesn’t have to be any more
complicated than that.”

“You’ve never been with a guy before, have you?”
Seth shook his head. “No, but so what? I had my non-

freak out a half hour ago.”

“It’s not that simple,” Dex countered.
“You keep saying that, but you haven’t explained

why.” Seth abruptly stood up, shoving his chair back. “You
drive me crazy, Dex. What’s your point?” He stalked over
and jabbed a finger at him.

Dex flinched. Seth felt a little bad about it, but not

enough to back down.

“No, I’ve never been with a guy before, but I’ve

looked, occasionally. It was just easier to date girls. And
sure, I can smell you, but I like you. I like you a lot, even
though you lied to me. I can understand why you had to. Why
is this so complicated? Is it because you can’t shift
anymore?” Seth trembled with the urge to smack him or kiss
him, though he wasn’t sure which.

Dex stared up at him, nostrils flaring. Wait, Seth

thought. He can smell me too. Even though he can’t shift
anymore. That’s important. Before he could figure out why,
Dex spoke.

“You’re my mate.”
Seth felt the blood drain out of his face. Was he

serious? “What?” He cleared his throat. “What are you
talking about?”

Dex licked his lips. Seth almost groaned. He wanted to

touch Dex’s face. He twisted his fingers together and hung
onto his control, though the ache in his groin wasn’t making it
easy.

“Shape shifters have one true mate. A lot of us don’t

find that person. Some of us do and lose him, like my sister
lost hers. They were so young they never even bonded.” He
lifted a shoulder. “I knew almost from the moment I met
you.”

Seth swallowed thickly. “I think you’re insane.” He

meant it nicely, but still, Dex couldn’t imagine he would take
this seriously, could he?

Dex laughed and shoved his chair away from the table.

“I promise I’m not.”

Seth leaned his elbows against the solid wood and

tried to figure out what the hell there was to say to that. His
erection hadn’t flagged, either, oh no. In fact, his cock was
harder than ever and had been since Dex said the word
“mate.”

“Dex—” he began, then stopped, shocked at how rough

he sounded. He pushed away from the table, edgy and

aroused and not sure what to do with himself. He glanced at
Dex whose eyes had gone dark.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” Dex said, standing up in

one graceful movement. The muscles in his arms flexed
beautifully.

For a shifter who can’t shift, he certainly is in great

shape, Seth thought vaguely, then Dex’s lips were on his and
he stopped thinking at all. Dex hauled him up against his
body and Seth shuddered. This kiss was even more
incendiary than the last one, maybe because he wasn’t angry
anymore, maybe because he wasn’t as shocked as the first
time. He wasn’t sure he cared why. He ran his hands through
Dex’s hair and hung on, crazily aroused by the feel of
another man’s stubble against his mouth.

“Jesus, Dex,” he panted when Dex nibbled down his

jaw. “What are we doing?”

Dex growled. All the hair on Seth’s body stood up and

he pushed against Dex, trying to get closer. The table dug
into his hip and he realized that Dex was pushing back at
him, shoving him into the wood. Seth snapped. He groaned
and grabbed Dex by the shoulders, swinging him around and
walking him backwards until they hit the kitchen sink with a
thump.

“Seth, fuck,” Dex said, kissing him again. Seth moaned

and jammed his hands down Dex’s jeans.

“Off, take these off,” he said, hips jerking

uncontrollably as Dex bucked against him.

“Seth, wait,” he said, but Seth wasn’t listening

anymore. He didn’t want to know what new piece of

annoying information Dex thought he absolutely must know.
He wanted to rut against Dex’s hard, smooth, gorgeous body
until he came, and he wanted to do it right the fuck now.

“Shut up.” Seth grunted, slipping a hand in between

them to fumble at Dex’s jeans. “You talk too much and I’m
done listening.”

“God, what are you—” Dex began, but Seth had the

button open now. He eased the zipper down, breathing
harshly against Dex’s throat.

“Be quiet,” Seth said, licking under his ear. Dex’s

flavor burst over his tongue and he sucked in a breath as the
taste of wild and hot and mine exploded in his body. “God,
Dex, you taste incredible. Why do you taste so good?”

“Seth, if we do this, there’s no going back,” Dex

muttered, his hands busy ripping Seth’s hoodie to shreds.

“I don’t see you stopping,” Seth taunted, biting him

again. Dex shuddered against his mouth and he licked the
spot where his teeth had just been. He loved the way Dex
moved under his touch. Then Dex pushed him away and
literally tore his hoodie off his body. “Holy shit.”

Dex smiled, fierce and possessive. “You were taking

too long.”

Dex had a point. Seth blinked, suddenly right on the

fucking edge of climax. He jammed his fist against his balls,
trying to stave it off. “If you keep ripping my clothes off me, I
won’t be responsible for my actions.”

Dex dropped the pieces of Seth’s top and reached for

his sweatpants. Seth danced away. “Fuck. Let me do it so
you don’t break anything. Take your shirt off, for Christ’s

sake.”

Dex snarled, but did as Seth asked, throwing it across

the kitchen. His hair came out messy, but it made him look
even hotter. Seth stared at Dex’s body, dazed at the sight of a
huge tattoo covering most of his left hip and disappearing
into his open pants. “Jesus, that must have hurt.”

Dex ran a finger up the design. “When I lost the ability

to shift, I had the clan artist ink my lost animals onto me.”

Seth looked at the intertwined wolf and eagle and

several other creatures cavorting across Dex’s skin. He
wanted to taste them, run his fingers over them until he knew
them as intimately as he knew his own. “It suits you,” he said
gruffly. He eased his sweats over his erection carefully.
When he straightened back up, he found Dex staring at him,
eyes hot.

“You still have your jeans on,” Seth said thickly. His

hands itched to touch and Dex was taking too fucking long.

“Take them off me.” Dex leaned back against the

counter.

Seth strode forward and ran a finger along the tattoo.

“You’re warm,” he murmured, and then dropped to his
knees.

Dex gasped, fingers gripping the counter so hard his

knuckles went white. “Jesus, Seth, warn a guy when you do
that.”

Seth grinned, tugging at the denim. “Take off your

sneakers.”

Dex toed them off, and Seth concentrated on peeling

back his jeans. Dex’s cock leaped out, hot and wet. Seth

licked his lips.

“Are you going to suck me?” Dex asked, voice low

and thick.

Seth hadn’t ever considered it before, but he nodded,

suddenly desperate to taste. “Yeah,” he said harshly. “I am.”
He bent his head and pressed a kiss to the crown. Dex
smelled incredible. He licked a drop of pre-cum from the
slit. Another immediately welled up, so Seth licked that one
too. For some reason, the thought of putting another man’s
dick in his mouth didn’t bother him at all. Probably because
it wasn’t some stranger, it was Dex. That made all the
difference. He supposed he would have figured out that he
liked guys eventually, if he ever allowed himself to look or
start dating, but meeting Dex had sped up the process of self-
evaluation considerably.

Dex groaned, thighs trembling. “Oh God.”
“I’ve never done this before,” Seth said, looking up

Dex’s body.

Dex stared down at him, hair a mess, eyes hot. “You

can’t really do it wrong.” He ran a finger over Seth’s lips.
“Fuck, you’re gorgeous.” He dipped inside Seth’s mouth.

Seth bit him lightly as he took Dex’s dick in his hand,

experimentally rubbing a thumb over his foreskin. It didn’t
move much. Dex was way too aroused, the crown pushing up
like a plump cherry. Seth licked his lips and put it in his
mouth, licking and sucking. He couldn’t get enough of the
taste of him and he closed his eyes, reveling in the way Dex
shuddered under his hands. He’d never, ever been this
aroused before. He put a hand down, jerking himself roughly,

but then Dex’s arms were under his, pulling him up. He let
go of Dex’s cock with a moan of protest, but Dex silenced
him with a kiss so obscene, he whimpered.

“God, I want to fuck you,” Dex said, shoving a leg

between Seth’s thighs. “Here, like this.” He grabbed Seth’s
cock and put it between his legs, tucking it into the hot space
between his balls and thigh, then arranged his own between
Seth’s legs. “It’s a good thing we’re the same height.”

“Oh Jesus,” Seth breathed, dropping his head onto

Dex’s shoulder. “If I move at all, I’m going to come.” The
heat of Dex’s body surrounded his erection and they were
plastered together so tightly he could feel Dex’s heart
pounding.

“Don’t come yet,” Dex panted. “I want to remember

this.”

Seth grabbed Dex’s hands and forced himself to just

breathe for a moment. “Dex, please,” he begged, hips jerking
minutely.

“Yeah, yeah, okay. Fuck,” Dex said and began

thrusting.

Seth slid his hands around to Dex’s ass, grabbed two

handfuls, and that was it. He lost it, shivering and moaning as
his dick pulsed, the pleasure almost too much. He’d never
come this hard before—it went on and on. He groaned,
hoping Dex could keep them upright because he certainly
couldn’t trust his legs right now. Dex sank his teeth into
Seth’s shoulder and froze, muscles going tight under Seth’s
hands. The thick pulses of Dex’s orgasm made his own cock
twitched feebly. He shivered, wishing he could get hard

again right now, so they could do this all over again. He
couldn’t believe how hot it was: Dex getting off against his
body made him crazy. Made him want more, even after he’d
just come his brains out.

Seth sighed, slumping into Dex, strangely comfortable.

He closed his eyes, wondering when the sparks from his
climax would dissipate.

“Hey Dex,” he said, nuzzling closer. God, he smells

fantastic.

“Yeah?” Dex sounded as wrecked as he felt.
“Are you still seeing sparks, too?” Seth asked.
Dex went still. “What?”
Seth frowned and lifted his head. Shit, he could sense

them even with his eyes open. “Sparks. I mean, I’ve had
good orgasms before, but never one that made me see sparks
this long after it was over.”

Dex blinked once, twice, then started laughing,

shoulders shaking silently.

“What?” Seth asked, smiling too. Dex’s humor was

infectious.

Dex shook his head. “We are so screwed, Seth, you

have no idea.”

“What are you talking about?” He ran his hands

through Dex’s hair, enjoying the fact that he could, whenever
he wanted to.

“Remember how I told you that you were my mate?”
Seth rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and I meant to ask you,

have you been smoking something?”

Dex shook his head, still grinning. “Well, we’re kind

of bonded now. And the sparks are the rest of the clan.
Congratulations. Welcome to crazy world. You’re now clan.
And what’s more, you’ve apparently become my co-leader, a
circumstance that’s happened exactly once in clan history.”
He kissed Seth. “I can feel your heart-spark.”

Seth let his head drop back to Dex’s shoulder, lips

tingling. “You’re joking. And also, insane. You’re lucky I
don’t mind.” He shifted his hips, aware that they were going
to be uncomfortably glued together if they didn’t clean up
soon.

Dex kissed his neck. “Not joking. Sorry.” He didn’t

sound sorry at all.

Seth rubbed his face on Dex’s skin. “You’re not

making any sense. You said only the clan leader could sense
the sparks. And also, we’re not mated. That’s just absurd.
That’s like saying we got married because we jerked each
other off.”

“Yeah, well, my parents never told me exactly how the

mating thing happened with them. Most shifters have to do it
with intent, like a marriage, only in private. Most of the clan
members who mate get married. None of them are mated to
someone of the same gender. So, I’m kind of flying blind
here. Maybe it’s different with leaders. Maybe it’s different
when you’re gay. I have no clue. Maybe it’s different
because I can’t shift anymore.”

Seth sighed and backed up a little, grimacing when his

groin pulled away from Dex’s. “You seriously think we’re
mated? And I’m a co-leader? That’s absurd. I don’t feel any
different.” He paused, thinking. “I mean, except for those

spark things.”

“That shouldn’t have happened. Our mating shouldn’t

have done that. My mom could never see them.” Dex was
starting to look worried.

Seth ran a calming hand down his arm. “You can still

see them, right? I mean, it’s not like I took them from you?”

“I can still see them,” Dex said.
Seth pursed his lips. “Maybe it’ll go away.”
Dex shrugged. “I doubt it.” Both of them jumped when

his cell phone rang. “That’s my sister’s ring tone. Shit. What
timing,” he said wryly.

Seth grinned. “Go ahead, answer it. I’ll get us some

towels. We can figure the rest out later.” Seth kissed him
quickly, still trying to figure out why he wasn’t freaking out.
He’d just had sex. With Dex. Another man. He walked
through the kitchen and down the hall to the bathroom. He
liked having sex with Dex. He wanted to do it again. He
looked at himself in the mirror: green eyes, blond hair, skin a
little flushed. He didn’t look any different than he had a day
ago. He thought maybe it’d show, his sudden orientation flip,
but no. He washed up, then wet a cloth for Dex and headed
back. He didn’t bother getting dressed.

When he got to the kitchen, he watched Dex talk on the

phone for a moment, leaning against the counter where Seth
had left him. He looked beautiful: strong, lean body,
gorgeous tattoos. Seth’s eyes strayed down to his cock, half
hard. It lay against Dex’s thigh, thick and wet. Seth bit his
lip. Still no freak out. On the contrary, he wanted to take Dex
into his mouth and suck him off. Amazingly, his own dick

stirred, but when he looked at Dex’s face, all thoughts of sex
fled.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, walking over. He handed

Dex the washcloth.

“Yeah, I’ll be careful. I’ll tell Seth now.” Dex tossed

the phone onto the counter with a clatter that had Seth
wincing. He took the cloth and cleaned himself briskly.

“Dex?” For the first time since they’d kissed, Seth felt

naked. He looked around for his sweats.

“Delia said the Johnson clan is moving to take our

territory.” Dex grabbed his jeans and slid them on.

In the midst of pulling up his sweats, Seth paused.

“What does that mean, exactly?”

Dex sighed and pulled his shirt on. “It means I have to

go.”

“Where you go, I go.” Seth tossed the scraps of his

hoodie onto the counter.

“Seth, this isn’t your fight,” Dex said.
Seth laughed. He couldn’t help it. Something inside

him stirred. He felt … unsettled. Angry. “You told me we
were mated. All but married.”

Dex looked away. “Yeah, but—”
Seth put a hand on Dex’s arm. “I can feel it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The sparks. They’re upset. Agitated. And I can feel

something pressing against us, like a tsunami, only when I try
to concentrate, it slips away.” Seth shook his head. “I think
you’re stuck with me.” He knew he should feel upset about
that, but instead all he felt was relief. Calm. Determination.

Dex looked at him, dark eyes searching for something.

Seth looked back steadily, hoping Dex would see what Seth
already understood: it didn’t matter that it’d happened so
fast, so unexpectedly. They were mated. There was no going
back now.

Chapter Eight

Dex sat in the passenger side of Seth’s car feeling like

his animal was going to burst out of his skin. The sex had
helped, a lot, and for a little while he’d felt almost normal,
especially when he realized that they’d somehow managed to
accidentally bond. He hadn’t even felt bad about it. He
wanted Seth too much, wanted that indicator of possession.
Dex felt more guilt because he didn’t feel bad about the
mating, and he really should. It was his responsibility as clan
leader to do the right thing. To make sure his people had the
freedom to choose their path, and here he’d taken away
Seth’s choice. Except, Seth didn’t seem to mind, a miracle
that Dex didn’t want to probe too deeply.

He rubbed a hand down his arm, trying to quiet the

anxiety rippling along his skin. He suppressed a burst of
anger at his father for being so obstinate the last ten years.
These were the kinds of things he should’ve learned from
him, but his dad had focused so negatively on Dex’s
sexuality that it had damaged their relationship beyond
repair.

He glanced over. Seth was driving, his strong hands

sure on the wheel. He’d put on jeans and a black sweater.

The color made his eyes seem brighter, even more luminous.
Dex wanted to drag Seth out of the car and dirty him up on
the side of the road until they wore both so drunk on sex that
they passed out. He sighed and pressed a fist into his thigh.
He was still half hard and his stupid dick showed no signs of
calming the fuck down. And he had a fight ahead of him.

“I can’t believe they want to meet in Jungle Habitat.

It’s like a ridiculous cliché: oh let’s pretend we’re shape
shifters and have to fight for territory, except they do want
to actually rip your throat out, not just joke about it. Because
they really are shifters. And we’re meeting them in Jungle
Habitat, an abandoned zoo.” Seth’s voice was disgusted.
When Dex had explained that most disputes like this were
settled by fighting, he’d looked at him with complete
disbelief on his face.

“I’m sorry,” Dex offered. He wasn’t sure if Seth was

angry or amused. Maybe both?

“They didn’t even let you have a full year as leader!

That’s aggravating. Isn’t there a grace period or something?”

Ah, angry. Dex rolled his shoulders and cracked his

neck. The tension was beginning to get to him. “Yeah, well,
life sucks like that sometimes. Shifter society believes in
survival of the fittest, like everything else. The strong prey
on the weak.”

“You said most of the time they didn’t even bother to

do this!” Seth burst out. He glared at the road. “And you’re
not weak.”

Dex sighed. “My clan is pretty wealthy and that gives

us power, but since my dad died, rival clans think we’re in

the midst of dealing with a power struggle. No one expected
me to succeed my father. I probably should have been
expecting this kind of attack. Also, everyone knows I’m gay,
and that kind of bothers them.”

“Oh, so shape shifters are like the ultra-conservative

fundamentalist nut jobs of the paranormal world? That is
completely stupid, you know that, right?” Seth asked, hands
tightening on the wheel. “I mean, of all the people in the
world who should understand what it’s like to be born
different, you’d think shifters would get it.”

“I know. It’s stupid. I feel the same way. My dad

didn’t agree with me though. The clans are very focused on
legacy. Passing on one’s genes is a big deal.” Dex rubbed
his eyes. He wanted to crawl into bed and go to sleep,
preferably with Seth wrapped around him. Instead, he had to
have a pissing contest with some young hothead from the
Ohio clan who thought that moving into the East coast
territory was a good idea.

“I didn’t expect the clans to be this formal.

Organized.”

Dex leaned his head back against the seat. “They’re

not, not really. It’s not even so much a thing about territory as
it is about power. What we do as a clan carries weight in the
shifter community. Our clan isn’t huge, but we’ve
traditionally been one of the most prestigious of all the clans
because of the unbroken line of our leaders. We’ve been in
North America since long before the arrival of the
Europeans.”

Seth glanced at him, clearly startled. “You’re actually

Native American?”

Dex smiled. “Yeah, sort of. We don’t think about race

in that sense. The strength of the shifter traits we carry and
pass on to our children is what matters. Or rather, it did until
I lost my ability to shift. I bet they’re going to say it’s
because I’m gay.”

Seth snorted. “Well, they can say it, but it’s stupid. I

can still shift and I’m clearly not as straight as I thought I
was.”

“Are you sure you can still shift?” Dex had to ask. A

pang of apprehension ran through him. What if his father had
been right? Shit. His heart sped up, but Seth didn’t answer.
He just put his palm on Dex’s arm, warm and steady. Dex
frowned, not understanding what he was doing, but then,
while he watched, Seth flexed his fingers. Fur and claws slid
over and through his human hand like the tide coming in.

“Holy shit,” he breathed, shocked. “That’s amazing.

Most shifters can’t do that. I couldn’t, even before I lost my
abilities.” He touched Seth’s claws, ran a finger up the back
of his hand. The fur was soft.

Seth shrugged and changed his hand back. “I’ve only

been able to do that for the past few years. I don’t see what
the point is.”

Dex stared at his mate, awe and possession twining

inside of him. “You have no idea, do you?”

“No idea about what?”
Dex shook his head, still trying to convince himself

that it had actually happened. Seth could do partial shifts.
Seth, his mate, could do partial shifts.

“It’s incredibly rare,” he finally managed. And you’re

mine. He rolled that thought around his brain gleefully.

Seth laughed, breaking Dex’s reverie. “I can hear you

gloating, you know.” He turned onto the road that led to the
zoo.

“I don’t care,” Dex said, a note of amazement coloring

his voice. They pulled into an overgrown lot. There were
already at least ten other cars there.

Seth glanced at the sky when they got out. “It’s a good

thing there’s a full moon.”

The tension Dex had managed to ignore for the past

few minutes roared back into his body. “That’s not an
accident, Seth.”

Seth looked at him. “Oh.” He snorted.
Dex shrugged and looked away.
“And here I thought the whole ‘fighting for territory’

thing was a cliché, but this trumps even that,” Seth continued.

Dex sensed the emphasis Seth put on ‘fighting for

territory’ without even looking at him. “I know it seems
primitive—”

Seth interrupted him. “Oddly, it doesn’t. I’m more

uncomfortable with the realization that I find fighting over
territory feels right than I am with the idea of the fight itself.”
He paused. “Well, that is, unless we lose. I won’t be
particularly happy about that. Or if you get hurt.”

Dex pulled him close, touching their foreheads

together. “You may have to fight, too. Mates do, sometimes.”

“You think that’s going to scare me away? Not a

chance.” Seth kissed him, his lips hot, yet strangely

comforting. “I want to fight with you.”

Dex grinned. “Sounds sexy.”
“Oh, come on, very funny.” Seth butted his head

against Dex’s. “You know what I mean.”

Dex kissed him, taking a moment to lean in and absorb

his scent and strength. “We’d better go. The cars are empty,
but I can see Delia’s on the end. That means everyone is
already here.” He pushed away and squared his shoulders.

Seth ran a comforting hand through Dex’s hair. “That

can’t be everyone in the clan. I thought there would be more
people?”

Dex shook his head. “Not everyone shows up for these

things. It’ll be me and you, Delia, my band and Dr. Lara on
our side.” He narrowed his eyes as he took in the number of
vehicles parked in the abandoned lot. “Looks like the Ohio
clan brought more shifters than they should have. Probably
trying to play politics with a show of strength.” He snorted.

“Strength isn’t all about numbers, though,” Seth said.
“No, it isn’t.”
“Dex! My God, I thought you would never get here,”

his sister called, walking across the lot.

Dex stepped away from Seth. “I’m here, I’m here. It’s

a bit of a drive, you know.”

Delia frowned. “We’ve been here a half hour. Steve is

getting obnoxious.” She tugged on his arm.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” He threw an exasperated

glance Seth’s way.

Seth grinned sympathetically. “Who’s Steve?”
Seth didn’t seem to be angry with Delia anymore, Dex

noted.

“He’s the Ohio clan leader. Young. Impetuous. A total

asshole.” She made a face, and then stopped, putting a hand
on Seth’s arm. “Seth, I’m really sorry. About before.”

Dex watched her look into Seth’s eyes. She could only

meet them for a moment before she had to look away. He
didn’t think she consciously realized that Seth was now a co-
leader, but her shifter instincts knew. She was already
showing submissive behavior.

Seth eyed her calmly, and then put a hand on her

shoulder. “Forget about it.”

Delia immediately relaxed. Dex bit his cheek to keep

from smiling. He might as well get a bit of amusement from
her shock when she realized Seth was her new leader, as
well as Dex’s mate.

“Thanks,” she muttered, grabbing Dex again. She

dragged him towards the overgrown trail. “We need to
move.”

“You don’t have to maul me, sis,” Dex said,

extricating his arm. She glared at him, but didn’t touch him
again.

When they finally left the vine-choked pathway and

entered the clearing, Dex clamped a tight hold over his
temper. Goddamn them, he thought, looking around. Steve’s
clan roamed the perimeter, clearly trying to box Dex’s
people in. Steve stood alone in their center, barefoot,
wearing jeans and a leather jacket. His hair was buzzed
close to his scalp and he’d been lifting since Dex last saw
him. His chest looked like an ad for steroid use. Dex

clenched his fists as he caught the scent of him. Steve exuded
an air of belligerence that polluted the landscape. The hair
on Dex’s neck prickled. Feh, disgusting bastard. Dex’s lip
curled.

Seth stopped short when he saw Dex glaring. His eyes

flashed. “Yeah, no. I am not going to let that prick dictate the
terms of this meeting,” he murmured to Dex.

Dex was in total agreement. “I agree.” He stood tall

and crossed his arms over his chest. “Your people look like
bored little kids at a picnic, Steve. Can’t control them, eh?”
He tried to insert as much derision into his voice as
possible. “I didn’t think your clan had fallen so far that you
no longer understood the formal rules of challenge?”

Steve growled and jerked his head. The five men who

had been roaming in circles fell into a group just behind him.
“You took your own sweet time getting here, Dex.”

Dex shrugged, walking forward with Seth at his side.

His clan fell into place at his back, eyeing Seth curiously. He
could tell by the look on Dr. Lara’s face that she understood
Seth’s new position, but he didn’t think the rest of them got it
yet. Not that it mattered. Having Seth become co-leader was
one of the best things that had ever happened to them, even if
they didn’t know it yet.

“It’s a long drive from my mate’s house,” he said

nonchalantly. His clan’s surprise filtered through their heart-
sparks and Dex suppressed a smile as they flared inside him.
He sensed Seth shaking his head at him for springing it on
them like that. Dex didn’t care. He needed to emphasize his
authority and strength, and Seth was part of it now.

“You can’t shift. You’re late for our meet. Why am I

not surprised that you also took a fag for a wife?” Steve
snorted and spat on the ground.

Rage whitened Dex’s vision, but Seth put a hand on his

elbow before he could do anything stupid.

“This wife can kick your wife’s ass,” Seth said,

derision in his voice. “Oh, wait, you’re not mated yet, are
you?” He sniffed, exaggerating the motion. “All I smell is
bachelor. You know: day-old pizza. Unwashed sheets.”

Delia chuckled as Dex choked. Seth certainly had a

way with words. Steve’s face had gone red and the growl
coming from his throat wasn’t entirely human.

“You dare?” Steve stalked forward, eyes already

glowing.

“Oh please, calling someone a fag is so last century,”

Seth replied in a prissy tone completely unlike his normal
voice, cutting into Steve’s sub vocal growls.

Steve snarled and his clan pressed closer, some

already falling to the ground and changing into their fighting
forms. Dex was not happy to see that three of them had
shifted into dogs. All strong animals, all predators, he
thought, mentally trying to figure out how to get his clan
away from this confrontation safely.

“By right of challenge, I choose the fight and form,”

Dex said, before any of his people could do something
impetuous. He could tell Jack, his guitarist, wanted to shift
into his dog form. If he had to fight, though, it would be a
disaster. Jack was strong, and a German Shepard wasn’t
anything to sneeze at, but Steve’s dogs were pitbulls. They

were incredibly tenacious fighters and extremely dangerous.

“You can’t even shift anymore,” Steve spat,

contemptuous.

“Which is why I choose to fight as a human,” Dex

replied smoothly. He shrugged off his jacket and dropped it
to the ground, then toed off his sneakers. “Challenged
chooses.”

Steve growled, rage chasing across his face. Dex

wondered if he had really thought this whole territorial fight
challenge through, given that everyone knew Dex had spent
the last year learning how to deal with shifters as a human,
but then Steve shed his leather jacket and shirt and pulled out
a knife. Fuck. Dex sighed mentally. So much for an easy
fight.

Steve waved his clan into a rough semi-circle behind

him. Dex narrowed his eyes at him, waiting to see what he
would do.

“Prepare to die,” Steve growled as he surged forward.
Dex barely had time to even think, let along dodge, but

Seth grabbed his sister and got them both out of the way,
thank God. From the corner of his eye, he could tell that Seth
was organizing the rest of his clan on one side of the
clearing, opposite Steve’s people, but he was too busy
dealing with Steve’s feral attacks to worry too much about
them. Steve was decidedly not an amateur at knife fighting
and Dex was having a tough time keeping himself from
getting cut. He didn’t have any weapons, and not for the first
time in the last year, he cursed his inability to shift. Steve
feinted to the left, and Dex blocked him, kicking at his knees.

Steve danced back, eyes gone completely gold.

Shit, Dex thought, heart pumping as he twisted and

feinted low. He’s a wolf. He hoped Steve held it together
and didn’t shift, but even without claws, he was dangerous.
Wolf shifters were stronger, faster, and more durable than
the others. That’s why they were so rare. He’d have to be
careful. He crouched, picked up a rock. Steve rushed him. A
shower of sparks rained down as Dex used the stone to block
the knife. The moon lit the clearing faintly, enough to carve
deep shadows along the tree line and dead grasses
decorating the perimeter, but not enough for Dex to see as
well as he’d like. The pavement was cracked and uneven,
choked with weeds. Dex had a hell of a time keeping his
footing.

Steve circled. “What’s the matter, faggot? Can’t fight

like a shifter, can’t fight like a man.” He spat. “It’s a pity
what your clan has become.” He slashed up, then down.

Dex parried the attack, but the sting of a cut on his right

arm told him he hadn’t been completely successful. The
sharp tang of blood on the air made everyone freeze for a
moment. Dex shook out his arm, tossing the rock to his left
hand. Blood spattered the ground. Steve’s minions surged
forward until he got them back under control, cursing until
they settled down again.

“You don’t think a tiny scratch like this one is going to

slow me down?” Dex laughed, feeling his clan’s anger
through the heart-sparks. They hadn’t backed down a bit
when Steve’s people crowded in. He hoped Seth could keep
them safe, even if they didn’t yet know why a complete

stranger would protect them.

Steve made a face. “You disgust me. Try not to get

your foul blood on my jacket, homo.”

“I don’t know why you waste so much time and energy

getting worked up over my sexuality.” Dex paused. “Hmm,
unless there’s something you’re not telling me? How about it,
Steve? You been checking me out? I’ve been told I have a
great ass.” He chucked his rock at Steve’s head.

Steve ducked, snarling. “In your dreams. Weak,

pathetic fag.”

“You seriously believe that?” The man was living in

the past.

“You can’t shift any more. Proof enough of the

infection in your clan, an infection of your choosing,” Steve
said. He walked forward and tossed the knife aside. “Enough
of this. It’s time to put you down.” He growled and shifted,
face elongating, hands sprouting claws.

So, the rumors were true, Dex thought, steeling

himself. Damn it all to hell.

Steve smiled, a gross parody of a grin and a growl,

melded into one hideous expression.

Dex narrowed his eyes, assessing his options. He’d

have to be careful. Wolf-man form was dangerous: it
combined a wolf’s most deadly weapons—claws and teeth,
with the mobility of a two-legged predator.

It just figures Steve would have this ability, he

thought bitterly, widening his stance. He would have to take
him down quickly. He hadn’t really expected Steve to honor
the challenge rules, anyway, so he was ready. He turned his

body sideways, making it a smaller target, but before Steve
could attack, one of the dogs dashed forward, teeth bared,
headed straight for Dr. Lara.

Fuck! Dex was too far away to prevent him from

reaching her and he knew it. He snarled, charging Steve,
intent on snapping the creature’s neck. He plowed into him,
ignoring the claws cutting into his arms as he closed his
hands around Steve’s head. Steve shoved his arms up
between Dex’s, dislodging his fingers, but before Dex could
get another grip on him, a scream shattered his concentration.

Delia! Dex turned his head, trying to see if his sister

was all right, but Steve slashed across his chest before he
could complete the movement. From the corner of his eye he
saw Seth move, but Steve attacked again and he barely
blocked it this time. God, he hoped Seth could keep his sister
safe because he was fighting for his life here. He punched
Steve in the throat, and then stomped on his instep, fighting
dirty. Steve choked, but it didn’t stop him from clawing into
Dex’s side. Dex grunted, going down, pain like fire on his
ribs. On the way down, he pinched Steve on the thigh, tearing
muscle. The wolf-man let go with a howl. Before Dex could
catch his breath, Steve slashed again. The cuts weren’t deep,
but they hurt and Dex was weakening from blood loss. He
kicked Steve in the groin, but the bastard managed to turn so
Dex’s foot caught him on the hip. With a feral expression,
Steve dropped down on top of him. Dex struggled, knowing
he’d failed his clan. Failed Seth.

No, not like this, he thought, vision sparkling as he

fought to stay conscious. Steve smiled, the expression

obscene on his half-shifted face, and sank his claws into
Dex’s throat. Dex growled, not ready to give up just yet. He
stabbed his fingers into Steve’s eyes, making the wolf rear
back. With strength he didn’t know he had, Dex heaved
himself up and over, and dropped a knee down into the
bastard’s gut. He punched him in the neck again, weakness
spreading. He caught himself with a hand on the rocky
ground before he collapsed.

Steve hissed beneath him and Dex tensed, knowing that

he was done. He closed his eyes, bitter and pissed off and so
fucking frustrated that he wanted to scream, when suddenly, a
burst of strength surged through him. Dreamlike, he watched
his fingers change, growing larger, bonier. Claws erupted
from his fingertips and scraped at the dirt. He shuddered, not
understanding what was happening, and then Steve twisted,
shoving claws into Dex’s thigh. The pain cleared his head.
Dex snarled and brought his hand up to Steve’s throat.

“Call of your dogs,” he rasped. His voice was low and

rumbly. His mouth didn’t feel right. He swallowed, suddenly
realizing that he’d shifted partway. The claws on the ends of
his fingers were all wolf.

“Fuck you,” Steve spat.
Dex shook the blood and spittle off his face, tightening

his fingers until his claws pricked the vulnerable skin just
over Steve’s jugular. “You really don’t want to push me,
Steve. I’m all out of patience. Call them off or your life is
forfeit, right here, right now.” He emphasized his threat with
another squeeze. By now the blood ran freely down Steve’s
neck.

Dex looked him in the eye, willing him to submit,

pushing his energy at the wolf. He really just wanted to get
up and see if Seth was okay, make sure Delia and the rest of
his people were safe. Their sparks still burned deep inside
his heart, sparking brightly, but that didn’t mean they weren’t
injured.

“My father will make you pay for this,” Steve said. He

changed back to human under Dex’s hands.

Dex flexed his claws. “Do you submit?”
Steve swallowed and turned his face sideways, baring

his neck. “I submit. Faggot.”

Dex almost killed him for that, but controlled himself

before he could do any more damage. Very deliberately he
slashed a cut deep into Steve’s face, then spat in it. Steve
flinched, eyes showing his anger. Because shifter saliva
inhibited the healing process, it would leave a thin scar,
marking Steve as having submitted to Dex for the rest of his
life. He wouldn’t normally brand an opponent like that, but
Steve had proven himself entirely untrustworthy. He sat up,
claws retracting naturally, as though it were normal. As
though I’d been shifting all along, instead of walking
through life like an amputee for the past year. He carefully
disguised his amazement over his newly acquired ability.

“I assumed your father was dead,” he said, grinding

his knee into Steve’s groin.

Steve glared at him. “He sent me here.”
Dex narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “You challenged

me for territory and you aren’t even leader of your clan?”

Steve’s eyes cut away. “I’ve already submitted. I am

not required to explain myself to you.”

Dex pushed away from him and stood up, disgusted.

Steve was correct. The letter of the law required nothing
more than submission, but Steve’s hostility rankled. When he
tried to sit up, Dex prodded him with his foot. “No. Stay
there.”

Steve growled, but stayed down. Dex stepped away

cautiously, not trusting Steve to behave. He’d already tried
to screw him over once. “Jack?” he called, hoping his
guitarist was okay.

“Here, Dex.” Jack was immediately at his side.
He must have been guarding my back, Dex thought as

he looked him over. He was naked, but whole. “Watch him.”

Jack smiled, not nicely. “Sure thing, Dex.” He loomed

over Steve, growling when the man tried to sit up again.
“Stay down.”

Satisfied that Jack had things under control, Dex

finally checked on his people. What he saw made him
swallow hard.

Chapter Nine

Seth stood over the three men he’d injured, hoping

he’d done the right thing. But Delia is safe, and so is Dr.
Lara, he thought. He couldn’t let anything happen to them,
especially not with Dex fighting for his life. He wished he
had something to wipe the blood from his hands, but he’d
shredded his clothes in his haste to shift. Everything had
happened so fast. He’d had to change into wolf form to fight
off Steve’s dogs, instinctively knowing that trying to keep his
new clan safe in human form wasn’t going to work.
Unfortunately, Dex’s people looked at him as if he were
feral. Only Delia would get close to him. The rest of them
clustered together nearer to Dex, who’d won the brutal fight,
thank God.

“Jack,” Dex called out.
The man guarding Dex’s back stepped forward. “Here,

Dex.”

When Seth realized Dex was having the man—his

name is Jack, he told himself, Dex’s guitarist, remember
that—stand guard over the opposing clan’s leader, he let
himself relax a little. Surely Dex wouldn’t be angry that Seth
had protected the others? He watched his lover, thinking

about how it had felt when Steve clawed Dex in the gut. Seth
almost threw up when the pain shot through him.

Shared trauma, he thought, rubbing a hand over his

stomach. I wonder what other little surprises being mated
is going to bring. The second and third times Dex was
injured felt worse. It was like the damage had happened to
Seth’s own body, at least until he’d figured out how to push
energy at his mate. It seemed to help. Then, when the others
had threatened Delia and the rest of her clan, he’d had to
protect them, shifting without thought of the consequences.

It hadn’t been much of a fight. Seth’s wolf was bigger

and stronger than the dogs. The only thing that had slowed
him down was when Dex got hurt again. He closed his eyes
briefly, trying to banish the sight of Dex on the ground,
bleeding. It’s over now, he told himself, glaring at the
unconscious shifters at his feet. And Dex is alive. He looked
up.

He didn’t know how Dex had healed the damage, but

he was walking over, blood everywhere, skin intact. Seth
felt dazed and grateful and relieved and frightened in equal
amounts. The only thing keeping him calm was Delia’s small
hand on his arm.

“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied, still watching Dex. When

he finally reached Seth, Dex put his hand on Seth’s chest,
fingers splayed. Seth could feel Dex’s pulse through his skin.

“Thank God,” he murmured, his relief breaking through

the rest of his surging emotions. “You’re okay.”

“Yeah,” Dex said, voice thick. “Thanks to you.”

Seth frowned. “What do you mean?”
Dex shook his head and pulled Seth close, kissing him

on the lips in front of everyone. “You saved me.”

Seth kissed him back. “What are you talking about?”
Dex cupped Seth’s face. “Our bond is strong enough

for us to share strengths. You gave me your energy.” He
shook his head again. “I almost can’t believe it.”

“Share strengths?” Seth frowned.
Dex let his hands fall. “Your energy healed me.” He

ran his hands over his blood-streaked chest. “And I was able
to shift part way.” He held up an arm.

Seth watched as Dex shifted just his hand, wolf claws

growing from his fingers as though it were the most natural
thing.

“Oh my God, Dex,” Delia breathed, grabbing his hand

and inspecting it. “I thought I was imagining things, during
the fight, and then Steve’s dogs attacked.”

Dex pulled his sister into a hug. “I’m so glad Seth

protected you.”

Delia nodded. Seth met Dex’s eyes over her head,

startled at the heat in them.

“Seth saved everyone while I was busy,” Dex said.
“You shifted,” Seth said, finally realizing why that was

so significant.

Dex nodded. “Yeah. Thanks to you.”
“Dex! What do you wanna do with this piece of

trash?” Jack called. He was prodding the wolf-shifter with
his foot while the rest of the invading clan watched, clearly
pissed.

Dex sighed. Seth understood. He was exhausted and

angry too, but Dex had to figure out what the hell to do with
the shifters who’d tried to hurt his people.

“Let them go,” Seth said.
Dex raised an eyebrow at him.
Seth shrugged. “Do you really want to have to lock

them up somewhere? Is that even legal?”

“He’s right,” Dr. Lara said, coming up beside Delia.

“You’ve marked him. That’s punishment enough.”

Seth looked at Steve. The cut on his cheek had clotted,

but his eyes promised retribution. This wasn’t over, not yet,
he knew. He hoped Dex realized that. There wasn’t much he
could do about it right now anyway.

“Yeah, okay.” Dex walked over to Jack and stared

down at the man on the ground. “Leave. Don’t come back.”

Steve snarled at him. Dex waited. Finally, Steve bared

his throat again.

“Fine. My father will be in touch.”
Dex smiled wryly. “I don’t see why. You lost. You’re

lucky to be alive.” With that, he turned on his heel and strode
back over to his sister. “I need to introduce Seth to the clan.”

She grinned. “Oh, this is going to be awesome.”
Seth groaned under his breath, wishing he weren’t

naked. Nothing like meeting my boyfriend’s family without
any clothes on, he thought.

Dex tossed him a smile.
“I think everyone already knows who he is,” Dr. Lara

said, glancing at Seth. “After all, we’d be dead if he hadn’t
protected the rest of us.”

“I didn’t do that much,” Seth argued.
“Oh, please. The dogs would have eaten me,” a thin

woman with black, spiky hair said to Seth. “You were
awesome. And you shared your energy with Dex, helped him
heal.”

Seth tried really hard not to blush, but between the

praise and his nudity, it was a losing battle.

“Oh for the love of God,” an older man said. He thrust

out a flannel shirt. “It hasn’t occurred to any of you that the
poor man is naked?”

Seth took it gratefully, tying it around his waist. It

didn’t do much to cover up his junk, but he still felt
marginally better. The low-grade arousal he experienced
with every shift didn’t seem to be dissipating like it usually
did. A quick glance at Dex told him that his mate was having
a similar problem.

“John, come on, you may be human, but you should be

used to us parading around, flapping in the wind,” a dusky-
skinned man said.

“And I hate you for it, Sanjay,” John said, rolling his

eyes.

Seth smiled his thanks at the man, and then turned to

watch the last of the stragglers from Steve’s clan melt into
the woods. “I hope they don’t come back,” he murmured.

“Oh, they will,” Dex said, putting a hand on Seth’s

waist. “Steve’s father can’t afford the loss of face.”

Seth grimaced.
“Don’t worry about it,” Dex said, lifting a shoulder

and then letting it fall. “There’s nothing we can do about it

right now. When the shit hits the fan, we’ll deal with it.”

Seth nodded. Dex was right. “So, are you going to

introduce me or what?”

Dex sighed, looking put upon. Seth understood the

feeling, but still—

“Seriously, Dex. I’d like to go home. Put some clothes

on.”

Dex stared at him, eyes going hot. “If we go home, you

won’t be putting clothes on.”

Seth swallowed, his half-hard cock twitching as it

swelled more.

“Dex, focus,” Delia said, snapping her fingers in front

of his face. “You can go boink all you want in a minute. First
you have to introduce your mate to the clan.”

Seth adjusted the shirt, trying unsuccessfully to hide his

erection from the group of people scattered around him. The
only thing that made it bearable was that hopefully, most of
them understood the sexual arousal issue, being shifters, too.

“So, it’s really true?” A man asked, walking up behind

the girl with spiky hair. “You mated? How? When?”

Dex smiled, turning slightly to face the group. “Yeah,

Mark, it’s true. See? I’m all healed from those scratches. He
shared his energy with me.” He put a hand on Seth’s
shoulder. “This is Seth. Seth, meet Dr. Lara, Jack, John, Jill,
Mark, and Sanjay.” He looked around. “I don’t know where
Carole went.”

Dr. Lara stepped up. “Seth, I’m so happy to meet you.”

She held out her hand, smiling.

Seth shook it, shocked at the strength of her grip. His

surprise must have shown on her face.

“What?” she asked.
“You’re very strong,” he said.
She blinked. “I’m a shifter. Fox,” she said, as if that

explained things.

Seth supposed it did. “Delia was the first shifter I’ve

ever met. Dex was the second.”

“Wait, seriously?” Mark asked, slinging an arm around

the spiky-haired woman, Jill.

Seth nodded. “Yeah. I was adopted when I was a kid.”

He looked around at everyone, taken aback by the number of
smiling faces. They didn’t seem fazed by Dex’s
announcement. “You’re the first shifter clan I’ve ever met.”

“Holy shit, way to make an entrance, Professor

Dustin,” a familiar voice said. “Nice legs.”

Seth winced slightly. Crap, it was Ann. The student

from his college that Dex and Delia were picking up the first
time he and Dex met. One of the students at my job has just
seen me naked. He hoped she knew how to keep a secret.

“Well, I really wasn’t planning on shifting, Ann,” he

said, trying to keep his voice level. It didn’t help that the
shirt he’d tied around his waist kept slipping.

“It’s not like I mind the eye-candy,” she said, smirking.
Seth willed himself not to blush.
“Hey, hands off. He’s mine, little girl,” Dex teased,

ruffling Ann’s hair.

“So, everyone, this is Seth. We’re mated, and it was

kind of unexpected, but totally welcome. He’s a professor
and a wolf-shifter,” Dex said, smiling. “Seth, this is

everyone. My clan.”

Seth smiled at the group as they offered

congratulations. “Hi. Um, thank you for the welcome. I know
this is all kind of a surprise, but I want you to know that it
means a lot to me that you’ve all been so nice. I have zero
experience with other shifters, so I want you to know that any
mistakes I make are entirely unintentional.” He leaned into
Dex’s side, gratefully. This was not what he’d been
expecting when he woke up this morning. “And I just want to
say … thank you.” He really meant that. He had no idea that
someday he’d be part of a family, especially not one like
this.

“No need to thank us. We should be thanking you. You

saved our asses,” Sanjay said, grinning. He ran a hand
through his streaked hair. “I’m pretty good fighting one-on-
one with someone, but my falcon doesn’t really do well in
large groups.”

Some of the others nodded and agreed. Jill added,

“Yeah. My fox is clever and good at biting, but the dogs
would have done some serious damage. Way to go, coz. You
picked a good one.”

“Jill’s my first cousin on my mom’s side,” Dex

murmured to Seth.

Seth smiled at her. “It was all instinctive. I saw them

shift into dogs and I had to do something. Dex was busy, and
I just … stepped in.”

Mark laughed. “Yeah. We’re fucking lucky you did.

You know that anyone who can shift into a wolf is at the top
of the shifter heap, right?”

Seth shook his head. “Actually, I didn’t know that. I

don’t really know much about hierarchy or anything like
that.”

Mark stared at him, then laughed shortly, clapping Dex

on the arm. “Man, you really lucked out, you know that?”

Dex smiled sheepishly. “Yeah.”
“He can shift into other shapes, too,” Delia added. She

slipped her hand into Seth’s. He glanced down at her,
surprised to see her glaring at a woman who’d hung back
behind the others.

“So what?” the woman said, sullenly.
“Carole, don’t be a bitch just because you didn’t get

Dex,” Ann said, tossing her head.

“She’s been chasing after Dex since we’ve been kids,”

Delia whispered to Seth.

Of course, he thought. He hadn’t really expected Dex’s

people to welcome him easily, but the genuine kindness of
most of them had lulled him into a false sense of security.

“Nice to meet you, Carole,” he said, deciding to take

the initiative.

She looked down her nose at him, and then walked

away toward the trees.

Dex sighed heavily. “I should have expected that.”
“She’ll get over it.” Delia squeezed Seth’s hand.
“Yeah, don’t pay any attention to her. Carole’s

confused.” Sanjay’s eyes were bright. He headed off after
her.

“Shit.” Dex rubbed his eyes.
Delia snorted. “Carole is an idiot. She can’t see

what’s right in front of her nose. Poor Sanjay.”

“Is that everyone?” Seth asked, hoping they’d say yes.

He really didn’t want to deal with meeting any more people
right now. The blood on his skin itched. Dex probably didn’t
feel much better. He had even more of it all over his hands
and chest.

Dex and Delia both shook their heads. “These are just

the younger generation and those without kids at home. We
have a lot more in the clan than just my band,” Dex said as
everyone drifted off, heading for the trees.

“Looks like we’re mostly ready to go.” Delia tugged

on Seth. “Come on. Let’s get you both home and cleaned up.”

Seth sighed, sinking into the enormous tub in Dex’s

bathroom. “You don’t mind if I just move into this tub, do
you?”

Dex chuckled, perching on the edge. He was shirtless

and barefoot. Seth wished he would lose the jeans, too.

“You might have trouble finding something to eat in

there. I don’t stock fish in the tub,” Dex teased.

“You’ll bring me food. You wouldn’t want me to

starve.” Seth smirked at his lover.

Dex rolled his eyes. “You ate three burgers a half hour

ago.”

Seth ran his hands through the hot water, smoothing it

up and over his hair. God, that felt good. “True. And they
were delicious.” He thought about what it had been like to

eat in the enormous dining room with the rest of the clan.
They hadn’t taken their eyes off of him the entire time. It was
almost enough to spoil his appetite, if he hadn’t been starving
and if he hadn’t been so used to people staring at him.
Teaching had conditioned him to having students watching
his every move and shifting took a lot of energy. Not much
could really upset his stomach anymore.

“Your clan watched me as if I was about to go all wild

animal on them.” He splashed a bit of water on Dex.

“I know. You did good, though.” Dex’s eyes were

bright with affection and desire. “They know that you saved
their butts.”

Seth frowned. “I only did what was necessary.”
“That’s what a co-leader does.” Dex stood up and

shucked his jeans. His glorious tattoo flexed on his skin as he
stepped into the tub.

Seth was torn between wanting to reply and staring at

Dex’s naked cock, dangling half-hard right in front of him.
He decided to compromise. He put a hand on Dex’s thigh,
sliding up to tickle his balls. Dex jerked away, laughing.

“You didn’t tell them I was a co-leader,” Seth said,

watching him slip into the water. His own dick was starting
to fill out, even in the heat of the water.

“I didn’t want to hit them with too much information,

too soon.” Dex tilted his head. “You didn’t say anything
before.”

Seth shrugged. “I don’t know them yet. You do. I don’t

even really understand how clan structure works.” He licked
his lips, wanting the conversation to be over. He noticed Dex

watching him so he brought a finger to his mouth, biting the
tip, then sucking. The sensation went straight to his cock. Or
was it the heat of Dex’s brown eyes that had him so randy?
Were they more golden than before? Seth wasn’t sure he
cared. He reached his other hand down and caressed his own
balls, gasping when the arousal he’d been ignoring since the
fight flared up.

“Fuck, Seth. You’re killing me,” Dex muttered,

kneeling closer to slide a hand up Seth’s thigh.

Seth grinned and opened his legs.
“For a straight guy, you’re pretty comfortable with

this,” Dex said. He put his hand on Seth’s erection.

Seth’s hips jerked. “I was never homophobic,” he

managed, between harsh breaths. Dex’s hand was way too
gentle. He wanted more. He wanted Dex to move harder.
Faster.

“Even so,” Dex said, teasing softly. His fingers danced

over Seth’s cock.

“Dex, fuck,” he gritted out. “More.”
Dex’s hand stilled. Seth bucked involuntarily, his

erection sliding through Dex’s too-loose fingers. He closed
his eyes, panting harshly.

“I think it’s the bonding,” Dex whispered.
Seth looked at him. “Why do you care? Now?” He

thought about the fight and the intense need he’d had to
protect Dex’s people. His people. Even now, he could sense
the tiny heart-sparks inside his soul. Their fire warmed him,
made him feel like he’d come home.

Dex rested his head on Seth’s wet shoulder. “I’m

afraid.” He lifted wet eyes, the gold in them sparking
something tight in Seth’s body. “I’m afraid that you’re going
to suddenly realize what we’re doing and run away as fast as
you can. My father kind of did a number on my ego, I guess.”

Seth shook his head. “You’re an idiot.” He kissed Dex,

pouring everything he felt into it. He nipped at Dex’s lips
then bit down his jaw. “You’ve given me everything.” He
sucked a bruise into Dex’s neck then laved it with his tongue.
“I’m not alone anymore. You’ve given me a family. You’ve
given me you.” He looked Dex in the eye. “That’s enough to
make any misgivings about my sexual orientation wither up
and die a quick and not-particularly-missed death. That is, if
I had any in the first place, which I did not.”

Dex swallowed. “You’re sure?”
Seth nodded. “Yeah. I’m fucking sure.” His cock was

sure too. He nudged it against Dex’s hip. “Really, really
sure.”

“Stand up, then,” Dex said, poking Seth in the waist.
“What? Why?” Seth almost moaned with frustration.
“Stand up. You won’t regret it,” Dex promised.
Seth stood up. The water ran in rivulets down his

body, but he wasn’t cold. The moment he was up, in the
middle of Dex’s enormous, decadent tub, Dex slid to his
knees and took Seth’s cock into his mouth.

“Oh my fucking God,” Seth gasped. His hands floated

in the air for a moment—he wasn’t sure where to put them,
but then Dex grabbed one and placed it on his head. Seth ran
his fingers through Dex’s soft brown hair, closing his eyes at
the exquisite sensation of his mate’s tongue scrubbing at the

flared head of his cock. “Jesus, Dex.”

Dex slid off with a pop and licked his lips. “You taste

fantastic.”

Seth shuddered. His cock stood out from his groin, red

and slick with Dex’s saliva. Dex rubbed his cheek against
him, the stubble almost too much stimulation. Seth grabbed
his shoulders, knees buckling.

Dex grinned and took him in again, sucking hard. Seth

threw his head back, vision whiting out. Dex’s mouth was
amazing. Incredible. Seth sucked in a breath and gritted his
teeth. His fingers clenched and he snatched them away from
Dex’s skin as he felt himself partially shift, claws coming
from his fingers. When Dex gentled his mouth, Seth groaned.

“You’re trying to kill me.”
Dex chuckled around Seth’s dick. The vibrations went

right to his spine, sparks of pleasure racing up and down.
When Dex slid a wet finger back to tease at his hole, Seth
lost control. He groaned, the sound changing, growing
deeper, as his body shifted just a little bit more. Dex sucked
him into his mouth, hard, just as his finger breached the
puckered opened and slid inside. He bumped something in
Seth’s body that made him arch his back. He howled his
pleasure as the most intense climax he’d ever experienced
raced through him, hips jerking uncontrollably. He shot what
seemed like an impossible amount of semen into Dex’s hot
mouth as he gasped for air. When he finally collapsed into
the water, he made a brief, abortive movement to
reciprocate. Dex angled his hips away, laughing.

“Yeah, no need for that.” He was laughing into Seth’s

neck now.

Seth gathered his wits, trying to focus. “What do you

mean?” Jesus. He concentrated on shifting his hands back
into human form.

Dex nibbled on his neck. “I already shot my load.”
Seth lifted his head up and stared at him

disbelievingly.

Dex nodded. “Yeah. As soon as you came, so did I. I

wasn’t even rubbing up against you.” He shook his head.
“This has never happened to me before.”

“Is this part of the mating thing?” Seth asked. He

dropped his head back into Dex’s shoulder. It took way too
much energy to keep upright.

“I have no idea,” Dex muttered. He kissed Seth. “Let’s

go to bed, hmm? We can figure it out tomorrow.”

Seth grunted his agreement. He was way too fucking

tired to deal with any more mysteries right now.

****
Dex stirred as the sun stretched across the bottom of

his bed. Seth lay half on top of him, his left thigh over Dex’s
right, his arm tucked around Dex’s waist. His eyes wandered
down Seth’s muscled form, the long lines of his back
perfectly balanced between his broad shoulders and fantastic
ass.

“You’re staring at my butt, I can tell,” Seth murmured

into Dex’s neck.

Dex laughed. “It’s your finest asset.”
Seth cracked up, lifting his sleep tousled head to grin

at Dex. “It’s too early in the morning for puns,” he mock

complained. “I’m not even awake yet.”

“What the hell kind of English teacher are you?” Dex

teased.

Seth yawned and settled back down. “An unconscious

one.”

“It doesn’t feel like you’re asleep to me.” Dex

stretched sinuously, smiling as Seth’s morning hard-on
prodded him in the hip.

Seth grumbled. “It’s Saturday. Sleep-in-day.”
Dex smiled, kissing his head. “Lazy.”
“If you’re going to make me wake up, the least you

could do is put out.”

Dex ran a hand down Seth’s naked body. “And why

would you think I won’t?”

Seth raised his head and glared. “Because you’re

taking way too much delight in poking at me.”

Dex kissed him, loving the expression of sleepy

relaxation on his face too much to resist. “Oh, I’ll put out.”
He rolled away, ignoring Seth’s moan of protest.

“Where are you going?”
Dex leaned over the side of the bed, scrabbling in his

nightstand drawer. The position squashed his dick
uncomfortably against the mattress, but he told himself it was
all in a good cause. When he closed his hand around the lube
and condoms, he slithered back up the bed.

Seth stared at the handful of supplies. “Uh—”
Dex chuckled. “Relax.”
Seth quirked an eyebrow at him. Dex just smiled and

uncapped the lube. He poured some on his hand, then

reached down between his legs and started preparing
himself, watching Seth all the while. He slid in one finger,
then two, scissoring them to stretch the tight ring until it
relaxed. Seth’s eyes widened comically and Dex smirked.

“Weren’t expecting this, were you?” Dex asked,

gasping as his fingers bumped his prostate. His dick was
fully hard now and aching, the tip wet.

“Jesus, Dex,” Seth breathed. He reached out a tentative

hand. “Let me?”

Dex nodded and passed him the lube, but didn’t take

his fingers out. It felt too good. It had been a long time since
he’d done this. When Seth’s fingers joined his, he hissed in
pleasure.

Seth stilled. “You okay?”
Dex nodded frantically. “More. God, more, please.”

He moved his hand away and fucked himself on Seth’s
fingers. He couldn’t only imagine how good it would feel to
have the man’s cock inside him.

“Jesus, fuck, Dex. You’re going to be the death of me,”

Seth gritted out, adding another finger. “You know I’ve never
done this?”

Dex arched his spine as Seth’s fingers hit the magic

spot. Sparks danced across his vision. “Trust me, you’re a
natural,” he gasped, reaching for his dick. He had to touch
himself right now.

Seth batted his hand away and hauled him up against

the pillows. “Oh no you don’t,” he muttered.

Dex panted, flushing hot at the strength in his lover’s

arms. Zero to a hundred and sixty in two seconds, courtesy

of Seth, he thought to himself. He fisted his hands in the
sheets so he wouldn’t claw at his lover impatiently. Seth was
rolling a condom down his erection.

“You sure about this?” Seth asked him.
Dex nodded. “God, yeah.” He shoved a pillow under

his hips and spread his legs wider. He smiled when he saw
Seth swallow hard, then reach a hand down to pinch the
crown of his cock.

“If you keep that up, it’ll be all over before we even

get to the fucking,” Seth growled.

Dex pulled his knees up, exposing himself. “Seth,

come on. Fuck me.”

Seth pushed his way in between Dex’s legs, dick

nudging up against his wet hole. “God, you’re so fucking
hot.”

Dex hooked an ankle around Seth’s hip and hauled him

in. “Less staring, more fucking.”

Seth laughed, trembling. “Impatient, are we?”
“You know, for a man who’s said he’s never done this,

you sure know how to torture your bottom.”

Seth’s lips twisted into a sexy smirk. “Uh-huh,” he

said, aiming his dick. He pushed, hard, and the head popped
in. Dex threw his head back as Seth slid home with a smooth
inexorability that had him arching his back. He could feel
every vein on Seth’s cock, every burning inch of him, and
Dex never wanted it to stop.

When Seth pulled out a little, Dex frantically wrapped

his legs around him and fucked back down, gasping as the
flared head bumped exactly where he wanted it.

“Like that?” Seth asked, sweat dampening his hair. He

rotated his hips and shoved in again with a sweet, sure
rhythm, hitting the spot with every thrust.

“Oh God, yeah, yeah. Right there, Seth. Right fucking

there.” Dex writhed beneath him, pleasure making his toes
curl. The top of his head felt like it was going to come off.
He had his hands around Seth’s arms and no recollection of
when he’d let go of the sheets.

“Jesus Christ, you feel good, Dex. So fucking tight. I

had no idea.” Seth’s voice sounded broken.

Dex could feel him trembling. “Don’t stop, Seth. Fuck

me. Come on.” He gripped Seth’s forearms hard, glad his
mate could take it. Thank God he’s a shifter, he thought,
letting completely go of control for the first time ever. His
fingers shifted a little, adding an extra tingle to their
lovemaking. He threw his head back, howling as the
sensation that had been denied to him for so long rushed
through him. He couldn’t shift completely, not yet, but he was
close.

Seth’s movements grew increasingly more violent,

hips fucking harder as he grunted. “Dex, you still with me?”
he gritted out, hair growing damp.

Dex nodded, looking down to where their bodies

joined. The hard planes of Seth’s abdomen flexed as he
worked his way inside, again and again. Dex’s cock was so
hard it curved upwards, painting his stomach with moisture.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful,” he whispered.
Seth put his hands on Dex’s hips, fingers splayed over

the bone. “You’re the one who’s beautiful.” He ran a hand

down Dex’s tattoos, hips still moving.

A shiver ran down Dex’s spine. “So close,” he

muttered, looking into Seth’s face. Bright green eyes stared
back at him.

“I’m not even going to touch your cock,” Seth said,

slowing his movements a little. He pressed his fingers into
Dex’s skin. “I want to watch you come just from this.” He
punctuated his statement with his dick. “Do you think you
can?”

“I don’t know,” Dex said, gasping for air. Every time

Seth moved, he brushed that spot inside him. Dex’s cock was
on fire and his balls had pulled up tight against his body.
He’d never been so close and so far at the same time.

Seth tilted his head thoughtfully, and then began

moving with short, sharp jabs, right on Dex’s prostate.

“Oh God—” Dex panted.
“Right there, right?” Seth asked, voice low and

strained. “Come on Dex. Come for me. Come now.”

Dex’s heart tripped as his climax ripped through him.

He sucked in a breath as every muscle clenched, and then his
body took over as his cock began to pulse. Hot jets painted
his chest and stomach. He felt like he was flying. Or shifting.
Or something. He felt Seth inside his heart and in his mind
and in his body. He wanted this to last forever. When Seth
cursed under his breath, Dex forced his eyes open even as
his dick jerked one last time. Seth had his face screwed up in
concentration, but as Dex watched, he abruptly he lost his
battle for control. His hips shoved into Dex so hard he
moved up the bed.

Seth’s cock swelled inside as he climaxed, and he

clenched his teeth through his orgasm. Dex held him the
entire time, reveling in the feeling of his lover giving it up to
him.

Long minutes later, when Dex finally managed to

unclench his fists, he found Seth grinning so wide he thought
his lover’s face might crack.

“You’ve completely lost your mind, haven’t you?” Dex

asked him, smiling too.

Seth shook his head. “You realize everyone in your

ginormous mansion probably heard us?”

Dex considered that. “Hmm. Maybe.”
Seth lifted his head and snorted. “Maybe? Are you

kidding? We howled, Dex. Howled.”

Dex frowned. Had they really?
“Yes, you did. And so did I.” Seth laughed and rolled

onto his back.

Dex propped his head on his hand. Dex lounged on the

bed: strong, gorgeous body, beautiful green eyes, semi-hard
cock lying thickly against his leg. He really wanted to blow
Seth. Soon. “Hey, what did you do with the condom?” He
didn’t remember Seth taking it off.

Seth waved in the direction of the bathroom. “I tied it

off and threw it that way.”

Dex frowned, trying to work up the energy to be

surprised. Failed. He shook his head and dropped back
down. “Whatever. And also, I didn’t howl.”

“Ha. You wish.”
Dex mock sighed. “You’re clearly delusional.”

Seth’s head rolled over so he could give Dex an eye

roll. “You live in a freaking mansion. With a marble
driveway. And you think I’m delusional?” He waved his arm
around. “Velvet curtains. Your bed is so large eight people
could sleep on it comfortably.” He jabbed at the mattress.
“And also? You have a bell pull. A bell pull. Do you know
how weird that is?”

Dex pouted. “The bell pull doesn’t do anything.”
Seth snorted. “Only because you don’t have a live-in

housekeeper and cook. I bet it rings in the kitchen.”

Dex closed his eyes guiltily.
“Uh-huh. What the hell did you say you do again?”
Dex mumbled under his breath.
“I can’t hear you,” Seth nagged, amusement coloring

his voice.

Dex sighed noisily and opened his eyes. Seth was

grinning at him. “I’m a singer.”

Seth glanced around. “A singer. Sure. I can tell you’re

the starving artist type. And I’m a pro-wrestler.”

Dex huffed. “Yeah, okay, I sold a lot of albums the

past few years.”

“Clearly I have been living under a rock. You’re

famous, aren’t you?” Seth asked.

Dex shrugged bashfully. “Maybe.”
Seth coughed. “Maybe? What’s your most recent hit?”
Dex pursed his lips. “Do you really want to talk about

this right now?”

Seth poked him. “No better time, really. You’re naked,

we just fucked, and we’re mated. I don’t think you’re going

to have to worry too much about me going all fanboy on you,
you know.”

Dex considered that. Seth was right. It really was too

late now for obfuscation. He just hoped Seth didn’t freak out
when he realized who he was. “I perform under the name
Conner Dex.”

Seth stared at him, and then choked. “What?”
“My last hit was ‘Night Run.’” He winced when he

saw Seth’s face go slack.

“You’re worth about a zillion dollars! That song is on

the radio all the time.” Seth grabbed a pillow and hit him
with it. “That’s why those students were chasing you! Oh my
God, I’m such a moron.” He hit Dex again. “I’m a trophy
wife.” He covered his face with the pillow.

“Stop that!” Dex snatched the pillow and tossed it over

the side of the bed. Seth was staring at him like he’d seen a
ghost. “Will you stop that? I’m still me.” Dex snarled,
prodding Seth in the thigh with his toe.

Seth snapped out of it. “Holy shit, I slept with the man

all of my girl students are in love with. And I didn’t realize it
until he confessed because I’ve been living with my head
under a rock.”

Dex snorted. “You married the guy all your students

are in love with, Seth.”

Seth gave him crazy-eye. “Married?”
“We’re mated. If this stupid country allowed same-sex

marriage, all we’d need to do is take a short trip to the
courthouse to make it official.” He grinned. “Actually, a
mating is a lot more permanent than a marriage.” He watched

Seth’s face carefully as he said that.

Seth licked his lips and swallowed. “Um, I think I

understood that, actually.” He put his fist over his heart, then
over Dex’s. “You’re here, inside me. Your heart-spark is
brighter than all the others. I can see you there, all the time.”

Dex blinked back the tears that threatened. He put his

hand over Seth’s and squeezed. “Yeah. You’re inside me,
too.”

Chapter Ten

“So, you have a lot of rabid fans, huh?” Seth said,

pulling on a pair of Dex’s sweatpants. “I could, like, sell
these on the Internet and pay off my house.” He gestured at
the pants, enjoying the look of extreme embarrassment on
Dex’s face.

“No one would believe they’re mine,” Dex said,

buttoning his jeans.

“I’ll make you sign them. Or spit on them,” Seth said,

just to see Dex squirm.

“You’re killing me, and not in the fun way,” Dex said.

He pulled on a ratty old t-shirt, glaring at Seth the entire
time. When Seth cracked up, he threw another t-shirt his
direction.

Seth caught it and pulled it on. It was a little tight on

him and he tugged at it, trying to loosen it up.

Dex laughed. “Give it up. All the clan women are

going to be swooning over you. And wait until the fans find
out about you.”

Seth blushed. “What are you talking about?”
Dex gave him a look. “Everyone knows I’m gay, but I

haven’t really dated at all. And I don’t flaunt it. When

everyone finds out I have a boyfriend, and when they finally
set eyes on you, well…” He shrugged.

Seth frowned. “I have no idea what you mean.”
Dex laughed. “Seth, darling. You’re blond. You have

gorgeous green eyes and a chest and ass to die for. Your
demeanor is entirely masculine, not one bit of twink in you.
You’re like, the anti-gay. Everyone is going to go wild when
they find out we’re together.”

Seth blushed more. “Shit.” He hadn’t thought about all

that.

Dex sobered abruptly. “It sucks, sometimes. I’m sorry

you’re going to have to deal with it.”

Seth looked at him. Dex really feels guilty about this.

He walked over and rested his cheek against his lover’s.
“Dex, I wouldn’t do anything differently. You are who you
are and I wouldn’t change that.” He took a deep breath,
knowing that now was the right time to say it, even if it
seemed ridiculously soon. “I love you for yourself, not your
career, not your public persona. You.” He kissed Dex gently.

Dex gripped him, hard. “Jesus. You keep surprising

me, you know that?” he murmured into Seth’s neck. “Damn.”
He kissed Seth passionately, and then broke away, cupping
Seth’s cheeks. “I love you too.”

Seth smiled. “I know.”
Dex growled. “Shut up. Also, you’re a jerk.”
“Why are you calling Seth a jerk?” Delia asked,

walking into the room.

Dex sighed, bumping his forehead against Seth’s.

“Don’t you know how to knock?”

She snorted, loudly. “You weren’t howling anymore so

I figured it was safe now.”

“Oh God, I told you they would hear us,” Seth

muttered. He could feel himself flushing. Again.

Dex laughed and stepped away.
“Actually, Dex is the jerk. I should be mad at him,”

Seth said, trying futilely to make Dex’s shirt two sizes larger.
Again.

Delia looked him over. “If you’re going to wear Dex’s

clothes, you need to deal with the fact that he’s skinny.”

Seth’s mouth dropped open. “Are you telling me I’m

fat?”

She laughed brightly. “No, doofus. You’re just a tad

bit more muscular than my idiot brother.”

“Hey! First I’m a jerk and now I’m an idiot?” Dex

slung an arm around Seth’s shoulders.

“You didn’t tell me you were famous until after you

had your way with me,” Seth said primly.

Delia choked. “You never told him?”
Seth shook his head. “Not until this morning. Not until

five minutes ago, actually.”

“Wow.” Delia stared at her brother.
“You’re one to talk! You’re the one who didn’t tell

him I was your brother.” Dex glared at her.

“I was trying to help you!” she declared, hands on her

hips.

“You suck at ‘helping me,’” Dex mocked, arm around

Seth’s shoulder tightening as he waved the other one around.

“Oh please, you suck at getting dates. If I hadn’t

shoved you two together, you would’ve never even met.”
Delia was pointing at her brother now, face getting pink.

Dex snarled under his breath, his arm dropping away

from Seth. “You met him by accident! Who’s to say I
wouldn’t have met him anyway, without your interference?”

Seth’s stomach growled. He looked from one sibling

to the other and edged toward the door. The friendly
argument continued as he walked down the ridiculously
opulent hall to the central stairs. He was starving and he
already knew that once Delia and Dex got going, it was best
to get out of the way.

Once he was in the enormous foyer, he turned right,

heading for the kitchen Dex had shown him the night before.
Thankfully it was empty. He began pulling eggs and
vegetables from the refrigerator.

“What are you doing?” a woman asked, cuttingly.
Seth’s shoulders tensed, then he turned around and

pushed the door shut with his hip. Unfortunately, the moment
he turned around, he knocked over a ceramic jar on the
counter. The lid fell off and a piece of paper fell out. Seth
looked up. Carole—of course it was the one clan woman
who hated him—stood in the doorway, a sour expression on
her face.

“I’m making Dex and Delia breakfast,” he replied,

mildly. He set the supplies down on the counter next to the
stove and righted the jar. He was about to shove the paper
back inside when he saw it had Dex’s name on it. Weird. He
tucked it into a pocket. He’d give it to Dex later. He ignored
the woman, rummaging around for a pan.

She sauntered into the room. “You think Dex is going

to keep you around?” She laughed derisively. “As soon as he
gets bored, you’ll be yesterday’s news.”

He rolled his eyes as he scrambled eggs in a bowl. “I

think you’ll be surprised.”

She snorted. “Dex needs an heir, you know. And last I

checked, men couldn’t get pregnant. Unless there’s something
you’re not telling me.”

He ignored her. He wasn’t entirely certain what kind

of rules shape shifting clans had, but he was pretty sure that
if nothing else, the heart-sparks inside him weren’t going to
fade away. They’d figure something out when it came time
for an heir. And too, he loved Dex. He wouldn’t leave
without a fight. “Excuse me,” he said, pushing by her. He
began to heat the pan.

“I don’t know what Dex sees in you,” she muttered.
He sighed and faced her. The animal in him was telling

him to put her in her place. The human side of his psyche
knew that he had to tread carefully. Co-leader or not, he had
a feeling that he would gain a lot more by stepping around
her cautiously.

“Dex makes his own choices, as do I. We chose each

other. I don’t know if you realize this, but his sexual
orientation is part of who he is. You can’t just turn something
like that on and off,” he said patiently.

“You’re deluding yourself,” she said, eyes going

hawk-bright.

Seth frowned and turned off the heat on the stove. No

way I’m going to turn my back on her. She looks like she’s

about to shift.

“He’s not yours,” she continued, stepping closer to

him, hands raised.

He leaned back against the counter. He wasn’t about to

let any weakness show. “You might want to think about what
you’re doing,” he suggested, watching her carefully.

She bared her teeth and whipped her hand up to his

neck. Claws that hadn’t been there a moment ago pricked his
skin. Seth narrowed his eyes, but didn’t flinch. He could
sense her heart-spark inside him, bright and angry.

“You need to leave,” she said, her voice gone breathy,

as if part of her throat had changed and part hadn’t. “He’s
mine.”

Seth’s nostrils flared, but he kept a firm grip on his

anger. He could feel her relative weakness compared to him.
He could make her submit. All he had to do was send out the
part of himself that made him a shifter, his energy, and she
would have no choice but to roll over. He wasn’t sure if he
wanted to do that. He hadn’t even known he could until just
now.

“Carole, I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, gently.
She hissed, talons sinking into his skin. A trickle of

blood ran down to his shoulder and he fought his own nature,
shoving down the animal rage that had risen to the surface.
He didn’t doubt that his own eyes were almost glowing with
the need to shift, but he wasn’t going to win this
confrontation like that.

“I’d listen to him, if I were you,” Delia said, walking

into the kitchen. Dex was right behind her.

Seth watched his mate take in the situation with a swift

glance. The instantaneous rage that swept across his face
was both gratifying and worrisome.

“Carole, you don’t want to do this,” Seth tried again,

hoping Dex would stay out of it. He saw Delia put a hand on
her brother’s arm—thank God—because Carole tightened
her grip, clearly beyond reason. Dimly, Seth realized more
of the clan had come into the kitchen, but he didn’t have time
for them right now. He had to deal with Carole before she
did something she couldn’t come back from. He sighed and
released the iron control keeping his animal in check and let
the energy rise through him. For the first time ever, he didn’t
use it to shift. Instead, he pushed it down through Carole’s
hands. Her eyes went wide and she cried out.

I bet it feels like being hit with lightning, he thought

as she staggered back. He followed her, instinctively putting
his hands on her face. She struggled, trying to get away, but
he was her dominant, and she could do nothing in the face of
his power. He poured the energy into her until he felt her
change. He let go and stepped back as soon as feathers
formed beneath his fingers.

Whoa. He stared at the peregrine falcon cowering on

the floor of Dex’s kitchen. What he’d done felt … right. As if
it was his duty to ask this of her, especially in the face of her
defiant behavior. He swallowed, knowing this must be some
weird clan shit he’d never encountered before. He thought
he’d learn about this crap from Dex, but it looked like
instinct trumped everything when needed. He had no idea he
had it in him.

“Do you submit?” Dex asked, stepping up beside Seth.

His words held a strange sort of authority.

Carole let out a harsh “kak-kak” and lowered her head

until it touched the tiles under her toes.

Dex nodded sharply. “So be it.”
“So be it,” the rest of the clan murmured.
Seth looked at Dex. What just happened? Dex must

have seen the confusion on his face because he nodded
slightly, putting a hand on Seth’s shoulder.

“Let me introduce you, again. Seth is not just my mate,

he’s also the clan’s co-leader,” Dex said, his voice calm and
powerful. “Some of you met him last night, when he
protected the clan. As you can see, he has the power and the
right and the will to act as needed, and he carries the clan’s
heart-sparks within him. If you look inside yourselves, you
will find him there.”

Seth stared at Dex, then looked out at the sea of faces.

There were more people here than there had been last night:
some older adults as well as Dex’s band. There were also a
few children. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he nodded at
them.

They nodded back, and then everyone clapped. Ann

rushed up and hugged him, and her mother shook his hand.
Seth still didn’t know what the fuck had just happened,
though he was glad the girl wasn’t angry at him for making
her sister Carole stand down. More people patted him on the
back. He nodded and smiled and nodded again. He was
feeling a bit overwhelmed.

“Dex, I’m totally in the dark here,” he glanced at

Carole. Ann had picked her up and put her on one of the
chair backs. Dr. Lara was crooning at her. He hoped like
hell they managed to calm her down before she shifted back,
because if looks could kill…

“You just forced Carole to shift, and you did it totally

instinctively, Seth.” Dex slung an arm over Seth’s shoulders.
“Usually, only one person in a clan can do that: the clan
leader. I can do it, too, despite my inability to shift.”

Seth ran a hand over his face. The rest of the clan had

calmed down a bit. Someone was finishing the omelets he’d
begun cooking and they smelled divine. He really just
wanted to sit down, eat, have a cup of coffee, and let Dex
explain everything that had just happened in great detail.

“Don’t get too worked up over it, Seth. It’s instinctive.

It can’t be taught.” Dex nudged him over to the kitchen table.
It wasn’t nearly as large as the monstrosity in the dining
room, thank God.

“I’ve never felt like that before,” Seth said, sitting

down. Someone put a cup of coffee in front of him and he
sucked it down gratefully. “What will happen to Carole? Can
she shift back whenever she wants?”

“She’ll have to wait a few hours, but then she’ll be

able to shift whenever she wants, no harm done. The
compulsion lasts only as long as the leader judges it’s
needed for the offense.” Delia poured herself a cup of tea,
answering him from near the sink.

“I didn’t do any sort of judging,” Seth argued.
She shook her head. “You did. You probably didn’t

realize it at the time, but you did.”

Seth grimaced.
“For the most part, being in a clan is just like being in

a large, extended family. The only thing weird is that we can
all shift.” Dex sat next to him, cradling his own cup. “And
sometimes, our animal side governs what we do. The clan
members instinctively obey the leader. The leader
instinctively protects and guides the clan. It’s a subtle
hierarchy.”

Seth sighed. “This is all under the surface stuff?”
Delia came over to the table, carrying two plates piled

high with eggs and silverware. She set them down in front of
Dex and Seth. “Yeah. It’s instinct. And you’re on the top of
the heap.”

Seth looked at her and she smiled. “Don’t sweat it,

really.” She gestured to the plates. “Eat up.”

“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing,” Seth said

several minutes later. Now that he wasn’t starving, he could
think about things a bit more rationally.

“You don’t have to.” Dex sipped at his second cup of

coffee. He’d devoured the eggs on his plate so fast Seth
knew his mate was as hungry as he was.

“What happens if I do exactly the wrong thing at

exactly the worst time?” Seth was uncomfortable knowing
that a whole slew of instinctual urges now governed the
unexpected moments of his life.

Delia shook her head. “There is no wrong time with

instinct. What you do in a situation where the animal comes
to the surface will always be the right thing.”

Seth sat back. He couldn’t believe it was that black

and white. “I don’t think that way.”

“Don’t think. Just … trust yourself,” Dex said, laying a

hand on Seth’s arm.

Seth leaned into his lover’s warmth, sighing. It wasn’t

like he had much choice. “I’ll trust you, Dex.”

Dex hugged him. “That’s good enough for now.”
The paper Seth had shoved into his pocket crackled.

“Oh, hang on. I found a note for you in the kitchen.”

“A note?”
“Yeah. I knocked over a ceramic jar and this fell out.”

He handed it to Dex.

Dex went white as he took the note, smoothing a finger

over his name. “This was in the kitchen? Which jar?”

Seth frowned. “It was an ugly green. Are you okay?”
Delia leaned over. “That’s our mother’s handwriting.

You found this in the cookie jar?”

Seth shrugged, confused. “If that ugly green ceramic

mushroom shaped jar is a cookie jar, then yeah. That’s
where I found it.”

She stared at him, then turned to her brother. “What

does it say?”

Dex hadn’t opened it yet. His hands were shaking.
“Open it, Dex,” Delia said gently.
He unfolded the paper. There wasn’t much written on

it, but whatever was there made Dex’s eyes widen. “Oh my
God,” he breathed.

“Dex?” Seth started to worry. His lover looked like

he’d seen a ghost.

Dex looked up, shaken. “Mom wrote this, knowing I’d

find it eventually and that Dad would never see it. He hated
cookies.”

“What does it say?” Delia asked again.
Dex swallowed and looked around. The rest of the

clan had filed out of the kitchen, Seth noticed.

“Apparently, every clan leader loses the ability to shift

the year before he meets his mate. Or her mate.” Dex’s voice
shook.

“What?” Delia burst out. “How is that possible?”
Dex held the note out to her. “Mom said she was sure

Dad wouldn’t tell me. She apologized for not letting me
know in person.” His face crumpled and Seth grabbed him,
pulling him into a hug.

“I don’t understand,” Delia said, staring at the paper in

her hand.

“Remember how Mom and Dad would never tell us

about their mating? Well, this is why. Every leader loses his
shifting ability. It’s kept a secret to protect the clan. If no one
knows, other clans won’t attack, won’t perceive us as weak.
My God—” he broke off.

Seth bit his lip, thinking. “Your father didn’t tell you

this. He left the clan vulnerable…” He didn’t continue.

Dex nodded. “Yeah. Mom wrote this thinking I would

find it and understand, since Dad refused to speak to me. But
I’ve been touring non-stop for over a year. Shit.”

“Dad was an asshole,” Delia bit out.
Seth agreed with her, but kept quiet.
Dex took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter now.” He

took the paper back from his sister and smoothed it out.

“Does this mean you’ll be able to shift again?” Seth

asked.

Dex looked at him, eyes wet with grief and hope. “I

hope so.”

Chapter Eleven

Early Monday evening, Seth stood in front of his

classroom, wishing he were back in Dex’s bedroom,
sleeping with his lover. All day he’d had trouble
concentrating, thinking about everything that had happened on
the weekend. Thankfully he’d been teaching a long time. He
knew his material back to front, and the students hadn’t
seemed to notice his distraction.

“As you all know, Romeo and Juliet is one of the

most-read and most-beloved Shakespeare plays. Now that
we’re nearing the end of it, what can you tell me about the
narrative? Is it dated, or still valid given how society’s
changed over time?” Seth leaned against his desk, hoping at
least one of the students would say something interesting.

“Yes, Julia?” He pointed to the girl raising her hand in

the third row.

“I think it’s insane how both of them assumed things

about each other, without ever actually talking. And they
were, what? Sixteen? Fourteen? Ugh.” She shook her head.
“I hate tragedies.”

The rest of the class laughed and Seth smiled. “Yes,

they were a bit impetuous, but haven’t you ever rushed into

anything when your emotions overrode your good sense?
Falling in love makes people do crazy things.” Seth smiled,
thinking of his absurd love life. One day he was alone, and
the next, well … Dex was an overwhelming way to jump
into the dating pool. And he hadn’t just started dating; he’d
gone and gotten married.

Julia was frowning. “I suppose. Did people back then

consider Romeo and Juliet a tragedy?”

Seth nodded. “I’m glad you asked that. In some ways,

it was even more tragic. For one thing, in Shakespeare’s
time, people tended to marry for economic support, not love.
The very idea of two people wanting to be together because
of love was radical. People fell in love, yes, but a lot of the
time it wasn’t with the person they married. Falling in love
with someone from a rival family was scandalous. Another
reason …” He trailed off as the door at the back of the
classroom opened and Dex walked in. Seth blinked.

“Don’t mind me,” Dex said, sitting down in an empty

seat at the back of the room. “Carry on.” He waved a hand.
He wore tight jeans, black jack-boots, and a deep blue t-shirt
that hugged his lean frame. The leather jacket he wore over it
all added to the bad-boy mystique.

Seth frowned at him, carefully keeping his eyes above

Dex’s waistline. Dex smirked at him, the bastard. He knows
how hot he looks, Seth thought, frustrated. He wanted to go
back there and bite him, then lick it all better. Shit. He took a
deep breath, willing his half-hard cock to behave.
Meanwhile, his students twisted around in their seats, trying
to see who was interrupting their lecture.

Seth didn’t even try to keep lecturing. He pinched the

bridge of his nose. The moment they figured out who was
sitting in their classroom, there’d be a riot. God, he was
going to kill Dex.

“I was almost done for the day, anyway,” Seth said to

Dex. He looked at the students. “We’ll pick this up
tomorrow.”

“Oh my God,” a girl whispered, loudly, suddenly

getting it. “It’s Conner Dex!” Another girl gasped in
recognition, knocking her books to the floor. The classroom
erupted.

Seth rolled his eyes as most of his female students

flew to the back of the room and surrounded Dex. The guys
left scattered among the desks looked at him. Seth shrugged
fatalistically and motioned to the door. A few grabbed their
things, squeezing past the crowd of hysterical girls. The rest
followed, although one guy, Patrick, seemed as star-struck as
the girls. The moment he saw Seth watching him, though, he
scurried off.

That was odd, he thought to himself. Something about

Patrick bothered him, but he couldn’t put his finger on why.
He let it go. He’d figure it out before the semester was over.

“Hang on! One at a time, please,” Dex was saying

when Seth got to the back of the room.

“Why are you here?” Seth asked, trying to convey the

proper amount of disgust with just those four words.

Dex sent him a look that was part smirk and part

worry. Seth sighed. He’d never be able to remain angry with
the man. He tried again. “No, seriously, why are you in my

classroom, Dex? We weren’t supposed to meet for
another…” He checked his phone. “…three hours.”

“You know him?” his student Julia asked, voice rising

on the last word. “Oh my God, you know Connor Dex!”

Seth winced as she squealed. “Um, yeah?”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” another girl asked, sounding

disgruntled.

“Because I don’t talk about my private life with my

students,” Seth said firmly. It didn’t do any good.

“What do you mean your private life? Wait, are you

gay, too? Like Connor?”

It was Dex’s turn to wince. He smiled weakly at Seth.

“Uh, sorry for outing you?”

Seth glared at him. “You are so going to pay for this,

Dex. I envision a lot of groveling in your future.”

“You are? Oh. My. God.” Julia grabbed her friend

Sylvie and advanced on Seth. “We had no idea!”

Seth stepped back. “You weren’t supposed to have any

idea. I’m a teacher. You’re a student. Who I date is none of
your business.”

“Your boyfriend is Connor Dex, and you didn’t tell

us!”

Seth looked at Dex for help. His mate stood up.

“Ladies, come on, don’t crowd my guy, okay? He’s shy.”

Seth growled under his breath. When Dex sent him a

quick, hot glance, he knew his lover had heard.

“Come on, I’ll sign your notebook. What’s your

name?” Dex smiled at Julia who immediately abandoned her
teacher to get an autograph.

Seth watched as Dex corralled the girls, signing a few

notebooks and joking around with them.

“Yes, Professor Dustin is my boyfriend. Yes, it’s

serious. No, we are not going to kiss in front of you.” He
laughed. “Seth, your students are vultures.”

They protested.
Seth backed away, wincing at the volume. “Okay,

time’s up.” He made a show of packing his laptop into its
case. “Time for all bad boys to go home and pay up,” he
couldn’t resist adding.

Dex shot him a glare when the girls squealed again.

Seth chuckled. This time he was far enough away that the
pitch of their voices didn’t make his skin crawl.

“Nice to meet you all. Yes, you’ll probably see me

around her again. No, not too often. Okay, goodbye.” Dex
stood as the girls trailed out the door.

As soon as the last one was out, Seth closed it and

locked it. It was solid wood, no windows. It was the end of
the day and no other classes were held at night in this
particular hallway. He growled and grabbed Dex, crowding
him up against the door.

“You suck,” he muttered, kissing his lover.
Dex grinned. “I do suck, and I do it very well indeed.”

He flipped them around and slithered down Seth’s body until
he was on his knees.

“Oh Jesus,” Seth breathed. Dex’s eyes had gone bright

with arousal. He moved his hands to Seth’s jeans and
unbuttoned the top. When he slowly unzipped them, Seth
scrabbled at the door, needing something to hang onto.

“We’re in my classroom, Dex.” He wasn’t sure if he was
protesting or encouraging him.

“I can see that.” Dex smiled as he deftly worked Seth’s

briefs down, catching Seth’s hard cock in his hand. He
licked his lips.

Seth groaned. “Fuck, Dex, what are you doing to me?”
“I haven’t done anything yet,” Dex said, then

swallowed him down.

Seth’s head thunked back against the door. Dex sucked

cock with an intensity and focus that had Seth on the edge in
seconds. He rolled Seth’s balls in his fingers and teased at
the slit with his tongue.

“If you keep that up, I’m going to come in five

seconds,” Seth managed, hands going to Dex’s hair. He was
shivering now, knees locked, trying to keep from falling
over. Dex’s mouth was sinfully hot.

He slid off, lips red and wet. Seth’s dick brushed

against Dex’s cheek and the rasp of the stubble almost set
him off.

“That’s the point,” Dex said, licking his lips.
“What’s the point?” Seth couldn’t remember his own

name let alone what they were talking about.

Dex laughed throatily and sucked Seth back down

again. Seth put a finger on Dex’s cheek, then slipped it inside
his mouth. Fuck. He could feel his cock sliding in and out.
Dex sucked hard, teasing a finger back behind his balls. The
moment he flicked at Seth’s asshole, it was all over. Seth
grunted as his body took over, his climax shooting through
him, impossible to hold back. His cock jerked against Dex’s

tongue and Seth worried he would choke, but Dex
swallowed almost every drop.

When he came back to his senses, his jeans were

around his knees and Dex had his head against Seth’s thigh.
He was panting. Seth’s cock hung limp and wet against
Dex’s lips.

“Come up here,” Seth said thickly, hauling on Dex’s

sweater. When his mate was upright, he kissed him, chasing
the taste of himself in Dex’s mouth. God, that’s hot, he
thought. Dex’s erection pressed against his hip. “My turn,”
he said, shoving Dex against the door.

“No, I can wait,” Dex argued, hanging onto Seth when

he would’ve gone down.

“Why the hell would you want to do that?” Seth asked,

hand rubbing Dex’s cock through his jeans.

“Because I want to fuck you,” Dex said, voice only

shaking a little.

Seth froze, dick twitching.
“Fuck, Dex, you can’t just say things like that.” He

shuddered, trying to force his brain to start working again. “I
mean, out loud. In my classroom.” Seth dropped his head to
Dex’s shoulder.

Dex laughed. “Come on, hot stuff. I want to spread you

out on my bed.”

“You can’t even walk,” Seth said, pressing his thigh

between Dex’s legs. “Hell, I can’t walk. I can’t believe you
blew me in my classroom.”

Dex kissed him and helped him get his jeans back up,

though he left them undone. “You seem pretty hung up on me

sucking your cock in school. Haven’t you ever wanted to get
it on with a teacher?”

Seth moaned as his poor, abused cock twitched again,

then began to harden.

“Shifters have a really impressive refractory period,”

Dex said, as he looked down. He ran a finger along Seth’s
rapidly hardening dick. “And you’re more impressive than
most.” He fisted Seth, giving him a few gentle strokes.

Seth almost fell again as arousal sparked through him,

hot and shocking. “Dex. I thought you wanted to fuck me?”
Dex had him in hand and was slowly pumping up and down.

“You know, I don’t really want to wait until we get

home,” Dex muttered. He shoved a hand into his pocket,
coming out with a lubricated condom and a small tube. The
condom was bright blue.

Seth stared.
Dex cocked his eyebrow.
“Oh hell,” Seth muttered, knowing he was going to

give in. “A blue condom?”

Dex didn’t answer. He just smirked and undid his

pants. His erection sprang out, a gorgeous dusky red. Seth’s
mouth went dry. He watched as Dex ripped open the clear
package and rolled the condom down.

“Here, lie down.” Dex urged him over to the long table

at the back of the room.

Seth swallowed and let Dex pull his jeans off. “I can’t

believe we’re doing this.”

“Believe it. I’m going to fuck you in your classroom.”

Dex pushed Seth onto the table.

Seth shivered as the hard wood touched his ass.
“I’m going to fuck you right here, right now, and there

are probably students right outside, aren’t there?” Dex
nudged between Seth’s legs, arranging his feet on the table.
He pulled a chair over and sat down, face level with Seth’s
balls.

Seth nodded. “Yeah, probably.” With his thighs spread

and feet on the edge of the wood, he felt incredibly exposed.
When Dex leaned in and began to lick his hole, he cried out,
completely shocked. “Dex, Jesus, what the fuck are you
doing?”

Dex sat back. “I’m rimming you. And then I’m going to

fuck you.” He leaned back in, his wicked mouth hot and wet
against Seth’s hole.

Seth writhed, almost beyond caring where they were,

except with every movement, the hard table reminded him
that they were in school. Dex was making love to him in his
classroom. God, I’m going insane, he thought as Dex licked
and sucked and generally made him lose his mind. His cock
was so hard now it curved up over his groin. He fisted
himself, desperate for something more, and then Dex slid a
finger inside and bumped a spot that made his spine lock up.
“Dex, God, do that again,” he begged, slinging a leg around
Dex’s shoulders.

Dex slid in a second finger, rubbing up against Seth’s

prostate. “Yeah, I’ll get you there, Seth. Trust me.”

Seth threw his head back, one fist around his cock,

squeezing, the other tightening on the edge of the table. He’d
never in his entire life felt anything this good. “Dex—”

“Yeah, you’re incredible, Seth. God, so perfect,” he

said, standing up.

Seth moaned, protesting when Dex’s fingers slid out.

He cracked open the little tube and slathered lube on himself,
and then rubbed the extra on Seth.

“Don’t worry,” Dex said, leaning down.
Seth felt his cock, hot and solid against his ass. He

shoved, trying to get Dex inside.

“God, please, Dex,” he said, voice breaking.
“I’ve got you,” Dex murmured, as he pushed in with a

slow, steady thrust.

“Fuck,” Seth muttered. Dex’s cock was a hell of a lot

bigger than his fingers.

“God, you’re hot.” Dex kept pushing forward. “Relax.

Bear down.”

Seth followed Dex’s instructions and suddenly, his

lover slid in the rest of the way. The head of Dex’s erection
shoved right up against his prostate, deep inside, and Seth
forgot all about where they were. He wrapped his legs
around Dex and let the pleasure take him. Dex fucked him
slowly at first, then increasingly more frantic as Seth
groaned and tried to shove closer.

“I’m so fucking close,” Seth managed, hand fisted in

Dex’s hair.

“Yeah, me too.” Dex kissed him, hips moving more

deliberately. He grabbed Seth’s erection, thumbing over the
tip.

Seth cried out as his climax rushed over him in a

sudden, shocking burst of heat. His dick swelled and then

Dex’s finger rubbed him again and he came and came. Dex’s
hips moved faster, short and erratic, and Seth finally realized
that Dex was coming too. He held on, watching his lover’s
face screw itself up with the intensity of their lovemaking.
When it was all over, Dex collapsed on top of him.

When he caught his breath, Seth had to laugh. His shirt

was a mess. Dex hadn’t even taken off his jacket.

“What?” Dex eyed him, face still flushed. “What’s so

funny?”

Seth laughed harder. “We’re a fucking mess.” He

gestured at the fluid spattering his shirt. Dex’s hair was a
disaster. He combed through it, trying to smooth it into some
sort of order.

“What the hell are you doing?” Dex asked, smiling.

“I’m still balls-deep inside you and you’re worried about my
hair?”

Seth choked. Dex had a point. Except, hell. They were

in his classroom. He just couldn’t let that go.

“I just thought my first time would be in a bed. You

fucked me on a table. In my classroom,” Seth pointed out, the
true insanity of what they’d done sinking in.

Dex chuckled. “Yeah. It was awesome.” His softening

dick slipped out.

“There are probably hordes of fangirls listening at the

door.” Seth let his body go limp. “Jesus. What the fuck were
we thinking?”

“I know what I was thinking,” Dex said, getting rid of

the condom. He hitched his pants back up.

Seth cocked his head at him. “What?”

“I was thinking that there could be hordes of fangirls

just outside the door. That you looked ridiculously hot in
your professorial jeans and shirt. That I wanted to mess you
up. I wanted to fuck you here, so that you’d always
remember your first time.” He grinned.

Seth laughed and sat up. “Yeah, well. I doubt I’ll

forget this anytime soon.” He’d no sooner got his jeans back
on and buttoned up when the door burst open, splinters of
wood flying everywhere.

Chapter Twelve

Dex cursed and grabbed a chair, the closest thing to a

weapon he could find. Two burly shifters, partially changed,
shoved inside past the wreckage. Pitbulls, feh, he thought, a
surge of irritation making his skin prickle. He hurled the
chair at one and it didn’t even slow him down.

“Who the fuck are you?” Dex yelled, even as he

grabbed another chair. He already knew they were from the
Ohio clan, but he wanted to see what they would say.

“You’re coming with us,” one snarled, reaching for

Dex.

A growl from behind warned Dex that Seth had

partially shifted. When the man reached for him, Seth moved
past and punched on the guy’s forearm, shoving it down. The
man growled and lunged, but Seth hit him in the face so fast
his arm was a blur. The guy went down. The other one
lunged, but Dex held up his hands and shifted his fingers into
claws. The man paled.

“You might want to rethink trying to hit me,” he said,

mildly. He glanced at the shifter on the floor. He’d changed
back into full human, but was still unconscious. Dex
recognized him: one of Steve’s buddies. Goddamn Ohio

clan.

“Pick up your buddy and drag him back to Steve and

his father. Tell them that if they have a problem with the way
I solved Steve’s challenge, they should set up a meet, like
civilized shifters.” Dex spat at the floor while Seth growled
his agreement, shifting back to full human.

The shifter flinched. “We have your sister.”
Dex glanced at Seth and saw his own worry and

amusement reflected on his mate’s face.

“How many guys did you leave with her?” Seth asked.
The shifter’s face darkened. “Fuck you.”
Dex laughed. “She’s gone already,” he said to Seth.
Seth nodded.
“You won’t win this,” the shifter promised. He

prodded his companion with his toe.

Nice, Dex thought, frowning. “Get out.”
The man didn’t move.
Dex pushed his energy at the man, the way he would

with his clan. He couldn’t control him, but the sensation of
energy from an enemy clan leader would hurt. The man
winced and backed away.

“Don’t forget your trash,” Seth said, gesturing to the

man on the floor. “Trash in the classroom, trash out.” He
pointed to a sign near the door.

Dex smiled and nodded. “You heard the professor.”

He followed up with another mental shove.

The man stumbled back, face turning red. “Your bitch

sister is going to pay for this.”

Seth growled and Dex grabbed him when he would’ve

attacked. “My sister has already wiped the floor with your
guy, I assure you.”

The man glared at him. Seth stepped forward, the low

rumble of his anger filling the room. The man flinched. Seth
nodded to the guy on the floor. The man grabbed his friend
and slung him over his shoulder, backing out of the room.

When he was gone, Dex rolled his shoulders to dispel

the tension in his spine.

“Shit,” Seth said, a world of disgust in his voice.
“Yeah,” Dex agreed.
“They wrecked my door.” Seth prodded the slab of

wood with his foot. The framing around the doorjamb was
splintered.

“That’s not all they wrecked,” Delia said, stepping

through and into the classroom. She walked right into Dex’s
arms.

“God, I’m glad you’re okay,” he said, hugging her

tightly.

“Oh please. I played stupid until I saw where they

were taking me. As soon as those goons left me with just one
guard, I took him down. Pathetic, really.” She sniffed.

Seth laughed. “What did you do to him?”
“I punched him in the head. I didn’t even have to shift.”

She stepped away and hugged Seth, too. “I think I broke his
nose.”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Seth said.
“I was more worried about you,” she replied, tugging

on his ear.

“What? Why?” Seth seemed confused.

“I was afraid you’d maim anyone who threatened Dex,

and then we’d be in a shitload of trouble.” She stepped away
and hopped up to sit on the table.

Dex concealed a smile when Seth’s eyes widened. He

knew his mate was thinking about what they’d just done on
that table.

Delia grinned. “You know, I can smell the sex in

here.” She swung her legs nonchalantly. “Naughty, naughty,
Dex, fooling around in a classroom.”

Dex glared at her.
Seth coughed. “They tried to take us hostage. Why

would me fighting back cause problems?”

“Clans are only supposed to fight in organized meets,”

she explained.

“Delia, they kidnapped you. I think I can be forgiven

for ignoring clan protocol in this instance,” Seth replied,
aggravated.

Dex sighed. “Yeah, except we need to hold ourselves

to a higher standard. We need the high ground, if only to
undermine Steve and his father’s standing with their clan.”

“I think you’re splitting hairs.” Seth folded his arms

across his chest.

Dex looked at him, enjoying the spark of passion in his

lover’s face. “Yeah, you’re right. We are splitting hairs,
but…” He held up a hand. “It really will work to our
advantage.”

Delia nodded. “The meet’s already arranged. They

tried to grab me so that you’d miss it.”

“What?” Dex whirled on his sister. “No one contacted

me.”

“I know. They called and left a time and place with

Carole, at the house.”

“Fuck, of all people,” Seth muttered.
Dex had to agree. “And she conveniently didn’t follow

up on it?” He was pissed.

Delia shrugged. “Does it matter? Sanjay’s taking care

of it.”

“Hmm. Taking care of Carole, you mean.” Dex rubbed

his face, making a conscious effort to let it go. “Where do we
need to be?”

“At an abandoned strip mine, over the border in

Pennsylvania. Ten o’clock tonight.”

Seth looked up from where he’d been examining the

broken doorframe. “A strip mine? You’re joking. Do you
know how dangerous that is, especially at night? Shit.”

“I wish I was. Believe me, Seth.” Delia hopped down

and tucked her arm through Dex’s. “We need to get going if
we’re going to make it in time.”

“Don’t worry about the door. I’ll pay for it,” Dex said,

walking with his sister over to Seth.

His lover sighed. “Yeah, nothing we can do about it

now, I suppose.”

Dex thought about the meet and how he’d had no room

to negotiate. Yeah, nothing much at all. Damn it. And damn
Carole. He hoped Sanjay could handle her.

****
Seth parked the car on the side of the road, behind a

couple of pickup trucks. The full moon was bright, but didn’t

do much to illuminate the desolate stretch of strip mine that
extended as far as he could see into the landscape. The
ground was black, sparsely decorated with scraggly white
birch trees. In the distance, an old rusted mine excavator sat
half-buried in a pile of slate right next to a deep crevasse.
The entire field was dotted with mountains of useless, black
cinder and deep pits. Some of the depressions held water at
the bottom. It looked like the bowels of hell.

“Well, this is lovely,” Delia said, getting out of the

car.

“Yeah. Just like I remember,” Seth said bitterly.
She looked at him sharply. “You’ve been here

before?”

“Not here, but near a mine like this. I used to play with

a couple of my buddies in the mine near my house, until my
mother found out.” He laughed, remembering the look of
horror on her face. “She almost killed me.”

“What the hell do you do in a coal mine when you’re a

kid?” Delia wrinkled her nose.

Seth sighed. “We’d race down the slate piles. If you

start to run down it, the stuff moves under your feet like an
avalanche. Really dangerous, actually.”

Delia shuddered.
“You’re lucky you didn’t kill yourself doing that.” Dex

stepped up beside them.

“It’s not as dangerous as riding an ATV up and down

one of them. A lot of people die that way.” Seth frowned,
looking at the nearest pile. “This one is really close to the
road.”

“It’s creepy.” Delia shivered, hugging her arms around

her body. “And where is everyone?”

“Right here, woman.” A man stepped through the

cluster of birches, trailed by at least ten men. He was an
older man, brown hair greying at the sides, but he still
carried himself well.

Seth instinctively knew this was Steve’s father,

William. He stepped slightly in front of Delia.

“William. I heard you were dead,” Dex said.
“Ah yes. Rumors, as you can see.” He walked closer.

The man Seth had hit in the classroom was right behind him,
eyes already turning black.

Served him right, Seth thought. The urge to shift, to

protect, rose up in him, stronger than he’d ever felt it. The
only thing keeping his instincts in check was his trust that
Dex knew what he was doing. He’d follow Dex’s lead, into
death if necessary.

“You’re in my territory,” Dex said, hands on his hips.

“Uninvited.” He shook his head. “I didn’t realize you’d gone
senile.”

William’s face tightened. “If you can’t hold your

territory, you deserve to lose it.”

Dex laughed. “But I did hold it. You only need to look

at your son’s face to see the truth.” He gestured at Steve,
standing on his father’s right. “I didn’t even need to shift to
do it.”

Steve growled and started forward. William clamped

a hand down on his son’s shoulder.

“An inconvenience, yes, but from what I hear, you still

cannot shift.” He shrugged insolently. “I’m sure your
homosexual tendencies have something to do with that.” He
sneered. “Faggots shouldn’t be leading a shifter clan,
clearly.”

Seth snorted, but kept his mouth shut. He was going to

enjoy watching Dex school this asshole.

Dex smiled, seemingly at ease. “You tried to kidnap

my sister. She punched out one of your men and escaped.”
He smirked. “On her own. Even our women are stronger than
your men. I don’t think the fact that I’m mated to a guy is
really going to matter all that much, William.”

The shifters in William’s clan snarled. William held

up a hand, controlling them.

“The fact that you let women fight for you speaks to

your corruption.” William shook his head sadly. “You will
die and I will take your sister as my mistress.” He looked
her over insolently. “She still looks young enough to spawn a
few puppies.”

Seth resisted the urge to stride forward and rip the

man’s head off. “Dex, please let me maim him.”

Dex chuckled. “Down, lover boy. In due time.”
Steve reached back and dragged a woman from within

the men of his clan. “We’ve already got one of yours. If you
want her back, you’re going to have to accept me as your
leader.”

Seth put a hand on Dex’s arm when he saw who Steve

had dragged out.

“Carole. Fancy meeting you here,” Dex growled.
She tossed her head. “At least Steve has actual balls.

I’m not sure what you have between your legs.”

Dex tensed. Seth understood. As co-leader, he could

sense Carole’s heart-spark abruptly dim. She was
repudiating their clan.

“Have you chosen Steve of your own free-will,

Carole?” Dex asked formally.

She shrugged Steve’s arm away. “Since you insist on

sleeping with him.” She pointed to Seth.

Seth flinched as her spark suddenly disappeared,

taking a tiny piece of his soul with it. Dex’s forearm went
iron-hard under his palm. Clearly he’d felt the wrenching
betrayal, too. Delia looked at her brother, confused, but Seth
couldn’t spare the time to explain. She’d understand soon
enough. When a couple of cars pulled up and parked behind
theirs, relief surged through him. Dex’s people were here.

My people, too, Seth thought, a fierce possessiveness

overtaking him.

“Carole. I should have guessed,” Jill said, walking up

beside Delia. “Bitch.” She spat onto the ground.

Carole snarled, but Steve held her back.
“Where’s Sanjay?” Dex asked Mark, scanning his

people.

Seth glanced around. Dr. Lara was here, Jack, Mark,

and Jill, as well as two older men he hadn’t yet met. Even
John, Dex’s sound engineer had come, though he was human,
not shifter. He merely had to look at them to sense their
heart-sparks, though. They were clan.

“We don’t know,” Jack replied, his voice tense.
“Looking for someone?” William said, his tone

contemptuous. He jerked his head. One of his men trotted off
through the trees. A minute later, he returned, dragging a
bloody Sanjay behind him. His face was bleeding and it
looked like both arms were broken.

Jesus, Seth thought, trying not to show his horror. The

only mercy was that he was unconscious. Dr. Lara made to
go to him, but John held her back.

“Somebody flew where he wasn’t supposed to,” Steve

said.

Carole looked sick.
Good, Seth thought. I hope she realizes what she’s

done, betraying the clan like that. I’ve only been part of it
for a day and I already know better.

“Steve, you promised me—” she choked out, but he hit

her in the face.

Dex went utterly still. “Are we here to fight, or are we

here to watch you prove your superiority by abusing a
woman weaker than all of us?”

Steve snarled, his body suddenly rippling. His father

didn’t stop him this time. He shifted, turning into the wolf
Seth remembered from their last altercation.

“No boundaries? No agreements?” Dex asked, body

suddenly poised for violence.

“Oh please, like you would even honor such things.

You’re trash. You father should have disowned you the
moment he discovered you liked to take it up the ass,”
William said, his tone cutting.

Seth stopped breathing as energy he’d never felt before

rose around him. Dex’s rage spilled over him, controlled but

wild, hot and cold at the same time. Seth shivered as his
animal rose through him. He clenched his fists, waiting for
Dex’s move, but his energy spilled out, melding with Dex’s.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the trees bending in the
wind, spring leaves fall to the black ground. When Steve
crouched down and leaped forward, Dex leaped too, his
body abruptly boiling into a shift so violent Seth found
himself pulled into it. He changed, becoming animal so fast
that from one moment to the next he was growling and
ripping at the creature that dared insult his family. Beside
him, a wolf he’d never seen snapped his jaws on Steve’s
neck. He was huge: tawny colored, with deep golden eyes.
Somehow, inside, Seth knew this was Dex.

My mate, he thought, joyous. Dex had shifted! He

howled his triumph, but then he had no more time for awe—
Steve’s clan surged forward, frantic and violent. Dex
released Steve, his unconscious body dropping to the ground.
He changed back to human.

William had changed into a large black wolf with

green eyes and a grizzled muzzle. He wasn’t fast enough to
win against Dex. Not nearly fast enough. Dex had him on the
ground in seconds, his energy forcing submission onto the
creature. William fought the bonds Dex had placed on him,
enraged and demented.

Seth plowed through the rest of the clan, Mark’s

coyote and Jill’s fox just behind him. He ran two of the
pitbulls up the side of the slate pile, howling his satisfaction
when they slid down, legs trapped in the loose scree. The
acrid taste of coal dust coated his tongue, but he didn’t care.

He slid down the pile, growling and snapping his teeth at the
enemy. Jack’s animal had already taken down one of the
smaller dogs. By the time Seth had subdued the rest of
William’s people, Dex had shifted back to human, hands
wrapped around William’s neck. The old man looked weak,
naked against the ground.

“Submit,” Dex growled, squeezing.
William stared at him, mouth closed, eyes bulging.

Dex eased up, but William remained silent, refusing to give
in.

“You’ve lost, old man.” Dex shook him, hard.

“Submit.”

William spat to the side.
What is it with all the spitting? Must be a shifter

thing, Seth wondered. He trotted over to them, hackles
raised. He didn’t trust that man as far as he could throw him.

“You’re worthless,” Dex finally said, after several

more moments of silence. He stood up. “Your son is still
alive. Be happy I didn’t execute him, as is my right. I spared
his life, even though he attacked me, again, with my mark
carved into his face.” He turned on his heel and walked
away, so he didn’t see William shift back into wolf form, but
Seth did. William sprang up, silent. Deadly. When he leaped
for Dex’s back Seth was there, jaws tight around the older
wolf’s foreleg. He yanked, hard, tumbling William to the
ground.

Dex twisted around just in time to get his hands up.

Steve was no longer unconscious. No longer human. His
jaws snapped scant inches from Dex’s throat. Seth howled

his anger, crunching down on William’s leg until bone
snapped. He let go, backing away. William turned human,
clutching the ruin of his arm. The scent of blood overlay
everything.

Dex had few options, Seth realized as he pivoted,

desperate to keep his mate safe. Dex had shifted one hand
into claws, using it to defend himself. When Steve went for
his face again, Dex ripped out his throat. Steve’s body
slumped to the ground, bloody and limp. The stench of his
bowels emptying filled the air.

Dex stood over him, face twisted into regret.
“You killed my son,” William said, voice hard despite

the pain he had to be suffering.

Dex glanced over, eyes hot. “He left me no choice.”
William held his gaze for a moment, and then looked

away. “I submit,” he murmured, coughing. The moment he
spoke the words, a jumble of heart-sparks flared up,
shocking Seth enough that he had to sit down, hard. He
whined, clamping his jaws shut when he saw Dex sway for a
moment. Their clan was suddenly three times larger than it
had been.

Shit, he thought. This is what happens when one clan

submits to another? Every single one of those new sparks
was now a clan member. The weight of them lodged up
against his spine like miniature firecrackers. It was
overwhelming.

“Thank fuck,” Delia muttered, stepping close enough to

rest her hand on Seth’s ruff. He pushed into her touch,
soaking up her calm. Dex walked over, leaning his forehead

against his sister’s. She smiled, hugging him tightly.

Even naked, exhausted, and bloody, he looks

gorgeous, Seth thought, shifting back to human in one fluid
movement. Dex was waiting. Seth walked into his arms,
grateful to be alive.

Epilogue

Five weeks later, Seth sat at the piano in Dex’s home

studio.

“You told me you could play, but I had no idea you

could do this.” Dex stared at Seth, astonishment written all
over his face.

Seth smiled as he played his favorite Nocturne. “I like

Chopin.”

“Jesus, Seth. You’re a fucking virtuoso! How the hell

did I not know this?”

“You know now.” Seth closed his eyes, feeling the

music in his bones. He loved this particular piece.

“Wow.” Delia walked up to the piano and leaned over

to watch his hands. “I had no idea you could play.”

“He was holding out on us,” Dex said, disgruntled.
Seth grinned and finished with flourish. “So, what did

you want me to learn for the concert on Saturday?”

Dex snorted. “You dragged this out, making me think

you were nervous, on purpose, didn’t you? Hell, you made
me think you could barely punch out a note! I was totally
freaking out, thinking I’d committed to playing with you,
even if you sucked. Shit, that’s just cold, man.” Dex pouted

at him.

Seth cracked his knuckles, fighting his grin. “Would I

do that?”

“You suck,” Dex complained.
“Ha! Yes, yes you would,” Delia said, sitting down

beside him. She put a finger on a key. “Where did you learn
to play so beautifully?”

Seth’s smile fell away. “My mom, before she died.

She taught me. I haven’t played in a long time.”

She stroked his hand. “It reminds you of her, doesn’t

it?”

He nodded. “It was really tough, when they died. I lost

everything.” He played a few notes. “Funny. It doesn’t hurt
anymore.” He smiled at Dex, standing on the far side of the
instrument. “It feels good to play again.”

Five days later they were in the arena. Seth leaned

against one of the speakers at the edge of the stage.

“Are you nervous?” Delia asked him.
Seth shook his head, staring out at the empty rows of

seats.

“It’s MadisonSquareGarden, for God’s sake. How can

you not be nervous?” she asked poking him.

Seth laughed. “I’ve got Dex. And you. And the rest of

the crew.” He waved a hand at the people working around
the stage. Sanjay waved back, his broken arms completely
mended. Thank God for shifter healing, Seth thought

gratefully.

Delia tapped a finger on her clipboard. “Madison.

Square. Garden. Do you know how many people will be
watching? It’s going to be on the Internet, too, you know.”

“Leave my guy alone, sis,” Dex said, walking up and

slipping an arm around Seth’s waist.

“Your mate is weird, Dex,” Delia said, walking away.

The bustle of the stage crew closed around her.

Seth watched her go.
“I can think of better things to do than stand here,

staring at empty seats. Let’s go make out backstage.” Dex
kissed his neck.

Seth shivered. “You’re crazy.”
“Hell yes.” Dex bit his ear.
“Good thing I like that in a man,” Seth said, feeling a

little like the princess who’d been swept off her feet by the
handsome prince. He couldn’t really put into words how Dex
made him feel. Warm, happy, loved—he tipped his head into
Dex’s. Such inadequate adjectives.

“We have time to play before we play,” Dex

whispered.

Seth grinned. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”

Five minutes later, Dex had Seth up against the wall in

his dressing room.

“Why do we always end up screwing around in weird

places?” Seth panted. Dex already had his hand around
Seth’s cock. His thumb traced circles around the tip, making
Seth shudder.

“Because that’s how we roll,” Dex muttered, biting

down Seth’s neck.

“You think you’re funny, don’t you?” Seth grabbed

Dex’s shirt and yanked, not caring when a few buttons went
flying off.

“Dude, my shirt,” Dex complained, not very strongly.

“You’re going to mess up my rocker vibe.”

Seth pulled back to stare at him. “Rocker vibe?

Seriously?”

Dex shrugged, face pink. “What? I sing.”
Seth cupped his hand over his ear. “I think I hear

thousands of screaming women about to descend on this
place.”

“Just because fifty percent of my fans are women

doesn’t mean I can’t rock out with the best of them.”

“Good God, you’re delusional,” Seth muttered,

yanking Dex’s shirt completely off.

“Hey, I need that. If you tear it to pieces what am I

going to wear back to the hotel? Do you want to get mobbed
on the street?”

“Trust me, you don’t need the shirt,” Seth bit out.

Dex’s hand was squeezing his dick so perfectly he could
barely think straight, let alone carry on a conversation.
“What were we talking about?”

“Dunno.” Dex kicked the shirt out of the way. Seth

approved. The heat of Dex’s hand on his cock made him

moan. Loudly. When Dex brought his hand up and licked it
before wrapping it back around Seth’s hard-on, he thought
he’d died and gone to heaven. Dex knew exactly how to
touch him to make him come as fast as humanely possible.

“God, Dex, slow down,” Seth panted, hips jerking into

Dex’s fingers.

“Don’t want to.” Dex bit down on Seth’s shoulder.
Seth shuddered. “Here, let me—” He pushed at Dex,

shoving his hand down between them so he could undo his
jeans. As soon as he had the zipper down, Dex’s erection
slid into his hand. “You went commando? Are you crazy?”
The thought of Dex walking around with no boxers on
beneath his jeans made Seth groan. “You’re a filthy, dirty
man, Dex,” he said, licking up his jaw. “I love it.”

Dex chuckled, low and sexy. “I love you.”
Seth moaned, his cock swelling. “You’re trying to kill

me.”

“No, I’m trying to fucking make you come so hard you

can’t remember your name, Seth,” Dex said, growling into
Seth’s ear. “I want to fuck you later, after the concert.”

Seth whined, hand tightening around Dex’s cock.
Dex continued. “I want to lay you out on stage and

spread you open in front of eighteen thousand empty seats.
And then I’m going to rim you until you beg me to fuck you.
Hard.” His hand, slick and tight, moved over Seth’s erection
perfectly timed to keep him right on the edge.

“God, Dex. Come on,” Seth said, thrusting hard. His

cockhead bumped up against Dex’s.

Dex opened his fist and wrapped his fingers around

both of them. His dick was hot and smooth against his. Seth
bucked involuntarily.

“Yeah, that’s it, Seth, fuck my hand,” Dex muttered.
Seth slung his other arm around Dex’s neck, hoping

like hell he could keep them from falling over. He cupped
Dex’s balls, teasing until they drew up tight.

“Fuck, Seth.” Dex tightened his fist.
Seth moaned as the prickle of his orgasm began at the

back of his head. “Dex—”

“Mmm, yeah, I can feel you. You’re right there, aren’t

you?” Dex bit the edge of Seth’s ear. “I’m going to slick you
up and prop you on the edge of the stage so you can see out
into the arena. My cock will slide into you hot and slow and
perfect. Fuck—” He broke off, coming all over Seth’s cock.

Seth grunted, hanging onto his lover as heat rushed

through him. Dex’s semen coated his hand, smooth and slick
and hot—Seth thrust one last time, relishing the tight squeeze
of Dex’s hand around him as he climaxed. When it was
finally all over, he leaned against his mate, trembling.

No way I should’ve been able to come that hard, he

thought faintly. Especially not after what we did this
morning. The image of Dex on his back, legs spread, flashed
through his head and he moaned as his dick gave one last
twitch of pleasure.

“Yeah, that’s definitely what we’re going to do,” Dex

said, wheezing into Seth’s neck.

Seth started laughing. “How can you even think about

that now? We’re a mess.” He glanced down. “And your shirt
is ripped.”

Dex shrugged. “It was for a good cause.”
Seth grinned so hard he thought his face might break. “I

love you too, you crazy man.”

Five hours later they were on stage together. Seth put

his fingers on the keys, plucking out the brilliant, spare
melody Dex wanted. Dex had his hand on the microphone,
but his eyes were on Seth. When he sang, Seth felt it in his
bones. He let Dex’s beautiful voice carry him through and
out of the song, cresting on a wave of thousands of people
clapping. When the last note faded away, Dex grabbed him
and kissed him in front of everyone. In front of the whole
world.

Seth was completely cool with that.

The End

www.erinmleaf.com

Other Books by Erin M. Leaf:

www.evernightpublishing.com/erin-m-leaf

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Evernight Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com