Luna Werewolves 3
What Big Teeth You Have
Ashkii Fisher is a bear shifter, and he has no place within the pack of luna werewolves. They are welcoming and kind, however, and
after the death of his mate so many months ago, he cannot help but stay, even if he is somewhat disappointed they haven’t killed him.
Then he meets his mate, another omega luna werewolf who is running away from something. Ash thought he would have only one mate
in life, so he is stunned to learn that he has another, and he won’t let anything happen to this one.
David Austen did something that very few omega luna wolves survive. He broke off his mating with the alpha that he’d spent years of
his life with. Tired of being abused, he was willing to risk death to get away. Severing the connection didn’t kill him, however, but his
former mate just might if he finds David.
Genre:
Alternative (M/M or F/F), Shape-Shifter, Vampires/Werewolves
Length:
35,498 words
WHAT BIG TEETH YOU HAVE
Luna Werewolves 3
Marcy Jacks
EVERLASTING CLASSIC
MANLOVE
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WHAT BIG TEETH YOU HAVE
Copyright © 2013 by Marcy Jacks
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62740-263-7
First E-book Publication: August 2013
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
About the Author
WHAT BIG TEETH
YOU HAVE
Luna Werewolves 3
MARCY JACKS
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
Ashkii Fisher was a bear shifter, and he didn’t belong with a pack of luna werewolves. They
insisted on offering him their hospitality, however, even when his only concern had been to escort the
other luna wolves to this area for them to form their pack.
He didn’t know much about how other shifters worked, aside from the fact that the wolf shifters
actually kept to a pack mentality. He did know that luna werewolves were hunted by other
werewolves, and even other shifters in general, because their alphas had the ability to change into
some sort of half-wolf and half-man creature that was apparently as strong as Ash was when he was
in his bear form, and supposedly about a thousand times more wild and dangerous.
He’d never seen this creature himself, and there were enough alphas around him that he
probably should have feared the day when that happened, but he didn’t.
No one gave him the impression that they were about to rip his head off while he slept. Even if
they had, he wouldn’t have cared.
Maybe that was why he’d agreed to stay in the beginning, because he’d hoped that the rumors
would be true, and that one of the alphas would kill him in a fit of mad animal rage when his back
was turned.
Of course, they didn’t, but Ash was going to remain pleasant regardless. Just because there were
some days he wanted to die more than others didn’t mean he had to be rude about it.
Everyone remained friendly and welcoming, especially the wolves he’d escorted to this
property, as well as Taylor and Josh. Those two were especially happy whenever he was around.
Josh, likely because he felt some sort of odd friendship toward the shifter who had protected his
mate, and Taylor because, well, Ash had kept him safe when those other alphas from a rival pack had
been ganging up on him.
It was all very strange, living with these men and realizing they were nothing like the monsters
that other shifters made them out to be. Ash had been on his own for a while, since the death of his
own mate, but he knew what other shifters did about the lunas.
The alphas were captured and forced to fight to the death against other normal alpha shifters,
while the omegas were made into sexual slaves because of the energy and strength it was said they
could give while having sex.
He’d asked about the sex thing. It turned out that was only half true. It could be given through
touch, and the misconception that it came from sex alone stemmed from the fact that omega luna
werewolves could become pregnant.
There was no such thing as a female omega luna wolf.
“You look pretty deep in thought,” said Roarke, the leading alpha in charge of this pack.
The man walked over to the large, overturned log Ash was sitting on and took a seat next to him.
There had been only six wolves here, before Ash arrived with the ten he’d been escorting.
Seven alphas and three omegas. That meant that Roarke had many more responsibilities now than he
had before, and that was on top of having a mate who was heavily pregnant and due any day now.
“I was thinking that it might be time for me to leave this place,” Ash said.
He knew the luna werewolves had been welcoming to him, but in all honesty, he hadn’t expected
the saddened look to pass over Roarke’s face and eyes.
“We’d be sorry to see you go,” he said.
Ash detected no sarcasm in his voice. He genuinely meant what he was saying.
That only made it more important that Ash leave.
“I’m not a werewolf, and it’s been two weeks already since I’ve been here.”
“You’re not a burden, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Roarke said. “I’ve seen you doing
your fair share of the chores, and the omegas like having you around.
Ash knew that, but still... “I don’t belong here,” he said.
He looked over among the pack of werewolves, many of whom were young men that Ash had
brought to this place, simply because they’d begged him to.
Bastion and Warren had been fighting off the advances of other alpha werewolves when Ash
discovered them and rescued them. They were omegas, so he couldn’t allow them to be dragged away
to sexual slavery simply because of what they were.
Then they all but begged him to take them to Willow Lake, the town where Roarke’s pack was
hiding.
Well, not in the town, but near it. He’d agreed reluctantly, and as he traveled with the two
omegas, others found him, or he found them, until it was almost like he was leading a pack of his own.
The omegas had taken to thinking of him as a pack leader for a time, and so had the alphas,
simply due to his strength and enormous size.
Apparently that was something that all werewolves, luna or otherwise, really responded to.
But now they were all here, right where they belonged, and Ash was no longer needed.
“I should go,” Ash said. “I’ll be leaving by noon.”
Roarke bit his lips together, looking very much like he wanted to protest this decision. Ash
couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t like he’d gone so far out of his way to make friends with the alpha,
even though everyone else in the pack had gone out of their way to speak with him.
“Look,” Roarke said. “I don’t know your story, and that’s your own private business, but if you
ever wanted to come back and stay, you should know that I would never turn you away, and the others
would be glad to have you.”
Ash turned away from the man. Had he really been so transparent? An omega he would have
thought might figure it out, but not an alpha, unless one of the omegas had gone to Roarke with their
suspicions.
Then again, it wouldn’t have been too hard to piece together. Ash had arrived here without even
any clothes on his back, thanks to all the times he’d had to transform into his bear. The only reason
why he had on a pair of faded jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black Stetson, was because someone had
gone into town to the local thrift store and picked up a great deal of cheap clothes for all the new
members of the pack to wear.
Ash decided that these would be the only clothes he would take with him when he left.
“I appreciate the offer. I will...keep it in mind,” Ash said, never good with words.
Roarke clapped him on the back and stood up. “Do you want me to let the others know you’re
going?”
So they could make a big deal out of it and either try to stop him, or throw him some sort of
farewell party? “I think it’s best if I just go. There will be less sadness that way.”
Ash looked back out at the werewolves he’d brought to this place. Everyone was taking a break
and lounging by the lake. Even Damian, who had to have been the quietest alpha Ash had ever met,
was sitting by the water with a smile on his face as he looked over the omegas and alphas who were
splashing around.
He was glad he’d brought them to this place, and even happier still to learn that luna
werewolves weren’t what other shifters feared they were.
“If I discover anymore luna werewolves,” Ash said, looking up at Roarke, who was barely
taller than Ash was even while Ash was sitting down. “I will bring them back to this place.”
That seemed to put a smile back on Roarke’s face. “I would appreciate that. There’s a lot of
wandering luna wolves, roaming around without any sort of pack protection, and I doubt every one of
them would end up getting the message that we sent out about our pack.”
Ah, yes, that. Roarke and his pack had started a rumor, spreading it through email and word of
mouth, of a luna pack in the making for any luna werewolf to come to if they desired protection.
Some would think it a trap and not come, while others would take the risk and attempt to travel
to the location. Some luna werewolves were so well hidden that they wouldn’t hear of it at all.
“It was a pleasure staying with you,” Ash said, and he held out his hand.
Werewolves didn’t usually do any kind of handshake. They preferred sniffing at each other’s
necks, but Roarke took the offered hand, and his grip was strong as they shook.
“I really hope you’ll come back from time to time,” Roarke said.
“We’ll see,” Ash replied.
Chapter Two
David Austen hardly slept a wink in the two days since he’d started driving away from the home
he shared with his ex. He still had trouble believing that he’d actually broken off their mating, and that
the connection was severed.
He thought he would be dead for sure, especially when the pain of that severed link made him
pass out, with Vince right behind him, chasing after him.
Thankfully, he had survived. David thought it would be better to die than to live with a mate
who was constantly bringing home women and then hitting him when David called him out on it.
To be fair, Vince had only hit David that one time, but even though his eye was no longer
swollen shut, it was still discolored, even after two days and his werewolf healing to speed things
along.
David had always known that if someone hit him it would be only once. He just hadn’t thought
that Vince would go to that extreme. When had the man gotten so angry and violent? Was it something
that David had just refused to see until recently? Because surely a change like that couldn’t happen
overnight.
Of course, that was when David ran away from him, right after telling him that it was over
between them. Vince had chased him out the door, yelling his apologies and demanding that David
come back.
He hadn’t, obviously. He was too scared to so much as turn around after what he’d said. David
thought Vince was going to beg and cry and scream until David was forced to tell him that he was
serious about ending it between them, and he didn’t want to stick around for what Vince’s reaction
would be when that happened.
If David was honest with himself, he hadn’t expected their mating to end as quickly as it did.
He’d always been told that either the alpha or the omega who was ending it had to really mean it for it
to even work. There had to be no doubt, but even then it could be fatal to both parties.
David had really meant it. He wanted out.
After David woke up, alive but groggy and sore, he’d rushed back in the house and packed his
things up as quickly as he could before jumping into his old truck. It was in his name, so it wasn’t like
he was stealing it.
He’d screamed bloody murder when he saw that Vince was awake and watching him, complete
and utter betrayal in his eyes.
If looks could kill...
That had been what David had thought, and he’d wasted no time putting the truck in gear and
speeding away before Vince could try to get inside, or follow him.
Out of fear that the man would track him down if he stopped, he hadn’t. David was forced to
stop the truck once to fill up on gas, but even that had been a nightmare he hadn’t wanted to repeat. He
hadn’t even bothered turning the engine off, and he’d paid with cash, bought a couple of energy drinks
to keep him awake, and then jumped back into his truck to speed away.
Not before checking the backseat to make sure no one was hiding there.
That would’ve been just too horror-movie cliché for him to handle.
Although he’d gone through all the drinks, he was tired as all hell, but too scared to stop. Even
when he pulled over for a quick bathroom break, he didn’t step very far away from the truck, just in
case.
David rubbed at his eyes, careful of the one that was still bruised up because it stung like a
bitch.
It was a fight keeping his eyes open, but he was almost there, he was sure of it. That email he’d
gotten from Warren, a pen pal of his, had said to go this way if he and Vince ever wanted to join a
luna pack.
Vince had scoffed and said it was probably a trap, and that Warren was going to end up a dead
man, or a sex slave, for being so stupid.
Well, David had risked his life to sever his connection to Vince. He might as well risk it again
to see if what was happening out here was as good as it sounded.
The road suddenly got bumpy. What the hell?
David snapped his eyes open. Fuck, he’d closed them! He was driving on the very side of the
road, and there was a man right in front of him!
It was Vince! He was here!
He hated the man and feared him, but he didn’t want to kill him. He snapped his arms to the side,
pulling the wheel in a sharp turn so he wouldn’t run the man over.
His turn had been too sharp, as there was a loud popping noise that went right to David’s
eardrum, and suddenly everything was upside down. The empty cans of Red Bull were flying all over
the place like there was no gravity.
A horrible shrieking sound followed, and there were bright lights.
It was the sound of the metal of his truck scraping across the pavement, and the lights were the
sparks.
Then there was a heavy crash as David’s truck was knocked into something, and then his world
went blessedly black.
* * * *
Ash couldn’t believe what had just happened. He’d barely been paying attention before he
looked up and saw that someone was driving straight toward him, fast, like they were getting ready to
hit him.
He hadn’t moved out of the way, and not because he was somewhat suicidal, but because for the
first time in his life, he felt like a deer caught in the headlights instead of a strong bear.
The man behind the wheel. He was...
His eyes snapped open. He’d been sleeping at the wheel, and when he looked at Ash, he
swerved sharply to the left, causing the tires to squeal before one of them popped, and the truck
flipped right over onto its hood.
It had been going so fast that it slid across the road, sending out a wave of sparks behind it,
before sliding into the bank and crashing into one of the heavy trees and stopping.
“Jesus Christ,” Ash said, gasping the words as his heart suddenly started working again, and he
ran to the truck, pumping his legs fast.
He prayed to God that the man was alive. And if he was dead, then his next prayer would be that
he was wrong about what he’d seen.
He didn’t think he could live much longer if another mate was taken from him.
The tires were still spinning by the time he made it to the faded red truck, and the engine was
hissing as it died.
Ash crouched down, terrified he would find a splatter of blood and a mangled body, but he
didn’t. The man had worn his seat belt, and he was hanging upside down, his arms dangling, but
nothing appeared broken on him, and there was no blood anywhere that Ash could see.
The metal in the old truck had held together and saved his life in the crash, something that
probably wouldn’t have happened had this been a newer model.
Ash smelled the air, making doubly sure there was no blood, or even some leaking gasoline
anywhere.
There was none, but he was suddenly a lot less focused on that.
It was almost like he was breathing in life and strength itself. The scent was so intoxicating, and
he was ashamed to admit it, but also arousing.
This man was definitely his mate, and he was also a luna shifter.
That meant that even if Ash had a cell phone on him, he wouldn’t be calling for an ambulance to
come for the man. A human hospital could never be allowed to get their hands on any sort of shifter.
God only knew what would happen to them all if the world found out there were people in it who
didn’t exactly fit the criteria of normal.
With no choice available to him, Ash opened the door of the truck and reached inside. He held
his mate carefully in his arms, making doubly sure the man wouldn’t fall on his head when the seat
belt came off.
It was a smooth process getting him out of the truck, and all Ash had to worry about was the
broken glass that was scattered about.
He really hoped he wasn’t causing any sort of neck trauma by moving him like this.
God, he smelled so good.
Get it together, Fisher.
Ash shook away his inappropriate thoughts. The very least he could do was wait until the man
woke up, but God, how was it possible that he had another mate already? He thought he would live
alone for the rest of his life after Elija had been captured and killed by hunters, yet here was someone
else whose scent Ash just simply couldn’t ignore.
Would he be feeling this if Elija was still alive? He had no idea, and right now it wasn’t
important.
The man in his arms groaned and shifted. Ash brushed some of his pale blond hair away from
his eyes.
“Where—” the man said, but he didn’t finish the sentence or even open his eyes. It was possible
that he was dreaming, but Ash thought he should at least answer him, just in case he was partly aware.
“I got you. I’ll keep you safe,” he said.
Of course, there was no response, but the man did seem to shift a little closer against Ash’s
chest.
Did he feel it, too? Even injured like he was? Maybe that black eye came from hitting his face
on the steering wheel during the crash. Fuck, what if he had a concussion?
He had to get the guy out of here, but the only place Ash knew of was back at Roarke’s pack.
Well, he did say that he would return if he ever found another luna werewolf. He just never
thought that the man he brought back would also be his mate.
He had to get the truck off the road first. As much as Ash’s inner bear was demanding that he
take the smaller wolf back to Roarke for some proper care that instant, he couldn’t have any humans
sniffing around the crash site, thinking something was wrong.
Gingerly, Ash laid his mate down on the softest patch of earth he could find, which wasn’t
saying much since there was rock and hard shrubs all over the place.
He had to be quick about this. He quickly grabbed the truck, and after a hard lift and push, got it
back onto its four tires where it bounced and groaned before settling down.
He decided to do a quick check of anything that could be inside. Mostly he was hoping for a
first-aid kit, but also anything that belonged to the other shifter that could tell Ash who he was.
He found a gym bag inside that had some clothes in it, along with a netbook computer and a few
notebooks with sketches inside. There was also an empty box of granola bars and several empty cans
of Red Bull.
Everything suggested the man had been driving nonstop for a while. No wonder he fell asleep at
the wheel.
Ash then checked the glove compartment. He found the man’s wallet and opened it up. David
Austen. Age twenty-seven.
The picture didn’t do the real thing any justice, but these sorts of things never did as far as Ash
was aware.
He also found the license and registration for the vehicle, and decided to take that, too, along
with the keys in the ignition before closing the doors.
He wasn’t even remotely sure if the truck could be driven again, but these things belonged to his
mate, and he thought the man might appreciate having them.
It was then just a matter of pushing the truck a little farther into the trees, where it would be
hidden from other drivers. This highway was a sleepy one, but the less attention he could draw to the
fact that there was a crash here, the better it would be for everyone.
Ash then slung the gym bag over his shoulder and moved back to grab his mate. He pulled the
smaller man up into his arms.
Ash couldn’t resist inhaling another deep breath of the man through his nose.
Life. It was life he was breathing in. Losing Elija still ached like a bitch in his heart, but now he
had a sudden connection to someone else. It was like just looking down at this man made him want to
live again, to rejoin society and stop living in misery.
So long as he could make sure that David survived.
Chapter Three
David had no idea where he was when he woke up, and for a minute, he feared he was back
home with Vince, because he certainly didn’t remember checking into a motel and climbing into bed.
The light hurt his eyes when he opened them, causing him to shut them again as quickly as
possible before he had the chance to even see his surroundings. He put his hands up to cover his shut
eyes, but then he touched the painful bruise that was still there, and he cried out from the pain and
frustration of it.
Heavy feet stomped into his room, and the scent of clean energy and strength wafted up his nose
and—
Holy God, he really was back with Vince!
Hands touched his shoulders, and he instantly tried to get away. “No!”
“He’s fighting it,” someone said, a voice that David didn’t recognize, and that only freaked him
out even more.
“Get out of here! You’re all scaring him!” yelled the deep voice of the man who was directly
above him.
Not Vince. In fact, this was the man who was giving off the mating scent that David had just
caught.
He snapped his eyes open, forcing them to stay wide even though the pain of the light brought
tears to his eyes.
An enormous man with black hair and slightly tanned skin stood above him, holding him down
even as David had been thrashing and screaming.
He wasn’t doing either of those things now, but the large shifter wasn’t removing his hands
anyway.
David looked down to see two men, both of whom, with trays of food in their hands, turned
around and walked out.
By their scent, he could tell they were omega luna werewolves. The man holding him was not.
“Wait!” he called to them. “Don’t leave!”
One of them turned around to look at him, and he nodded to his companion, who left. He had
short blond hair, but it was a darker shade than David’s, and his blue eyes were brighter. “You don’t
have to be scared. No one here will hurt you.”
“Where am I? Let me go!” he demanded of the shifter above him. To his shock, the man did as
David told him, and he even stepped back a little, as though trying to give him space.
“I’m sorry. I thought it was the noise that was frightening you.”
David could hardly take his eyes away from the giant of a man. It wasn’t like his head was
touching the roof or anything, but he was still incredibly tall.
“They’re not...I mean...” David could hardly speak. He didn’t know what was going on.
“You’re in Roarke’s pack. My name is Matt,” said the other omega, and he held up the tray of
food.
“Are you hungry?”
David’s stomach let out a long growl, and the scent of cooked meat, steamed vegetables, and
warm bread almost overpowered the mating scent that he was getting from the big man beside his
bed.
“I’m starving,” he said.
He wasn’t sure why he thought he would be denied the food, but when Matt set the tray down,
all David could do was stare at what he was being presented with.
It wasn’t a thanksgiving meal by any stretch. In fact, it appeared to be just a simple dish, but it
looked like a feast.
“Do you want something else?” Matt asked, and he put his hand back on the tray, as though he
would take it away.
“No,” David said, and he grabbed the side of the tray to prevent it from being moved away from
him. Matt stepped back, shocked.
Fuck. David hadn’t meant to look so desperate, but when he brought the meat to his mouth, his
eyes sank shut and he moaned as he stuffed his face.
It was moose. He hadn’t tasted fresh moose in a long time. He took his bread and stuffed the
meat and vegetables inside, making a sandwich of sorts before opening his mouth and eating as
quickly as he could, moaning with each bite.
“Maybe I’ll go get Taylor back in here with the rest of the food,” Matt said. He seemed to be
speaking to the bigger man in the room as they both watched David.
He couldn’t even bring himself to feel shame for eating like he was a pig shifter or something.
“Yes, please do that. Also, tell him I am sorry for taking my anger out on him.”
“You can tell him that when you see him again,” Matt said. From the corner of his eye, it looked
like he slapped the larger man good naturedly on the shoulder before walking out to get the other
omega.
David couldn’t even bring himself to be scared that he was alone once more with the giant
shifter. Not even when he pulled up a chair and sat down in it, looking at David as he finished his
food and licked his fingers.
Then he was forced to look the big man in the eyes with nothing else to distract himself with.
They were deep and dark eyes. He felt like he was falling into them, but that could be just a product
of—
“The crash!” David said, everything suddenly becoming clear to him. “That was you! Jesus
Christ, I nearly killed you!”
“You didn’t, but you very nearly killed yourself trying to get here,” the man said. “My name is
Ashkii Fisher. You may call me Ash. Or even Ashkii if you like. I won’t mind either one.”
David swallowed hard. “What are you?”
“I am a bear shifter,” Ash said. “I...made friends with these luna werewolves about two weeks
ago. After the crash, I scented what you are to me, and this was the only place that I could think to
bring you for help. Luckily you didn’t suffer any severe injuries, just a black eye,” Ash said, and
when he reached out to touch David’s eye, gently enough that it didn’t hurt, David couldn’t bring
himself to pull away from him.
In fact, he wanted to lean into the touch. He wanted to climb into Ash’s lap and lick and kiss at
his neck. He wanted the larger man to fuck him as they exchanged energy and strength, merging their
souls.
He had to force himself to stop thinking along those lines. “This is impossible,” he said. “I can’t
have another mate.”
“Another?” Ash asked, pulling his hand away sharply. “I am sorry. Did your other mate pass
on?”
No, but Ash might wish that both David and the other man had when David told him the truth.
Not only was breaking off from a mate incredibly rare because of the death toll, but those who
survived were not exactly looked upon with any kindness.
Breaking away from a mate was considered one of the most cruel things any shifter could ever
do.
Whatever, David wasn’t about to hide himself or what he’d done from these people. If this
really was Roarke’s pack, the safe haven he’d been told about, then they would allow him within
their ranks no matter what he’d done. They would understand, and if they didn’t it was no loss at all
of David’s.
But what if Ash didn’t understand?
Stupid. So completely stupid for him to care about the opinion of a man he didn’t even know.
“He’s not dead. I left him.”
That seemed to take the other man aback. “You left your mate?”
David looked him right in the eyes, daring the larger man to challenge him, which was probably
a mistake considering he was a bear shifter. “Yes, I broke off our mated connection and ran away.”
Ash couldn’t seem to understand, which was what David had expected. He wished the guy
wouldn’t look so horrified, however. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I didn’t get this in the crash,” David said, pointing at the eye that was still bruised
thanks to a swift punch from his ex.
Ash’s dark brows lifted up so high they almost touched his hairline.
David couldn’t take it anymore. “I need to see the alpha,” he said, but when he put the tray of
food aside and tried to get up from bed, the entire room started to swim around on him.
“Easy, easy,” Ash said, putting his hands back on David’s shoulders when he was about to fall
on his face on the floor.
That touch was too much. It sent a spark of strong energy through David’s body, and all the way
to his cock, something real and powerful that he hadn’t experienced since long before he broke off his
connection to Vince.
It scared the hell out of him. “Don’t touch me!” he snapped.
“You’re going to fall over,” Ash said, his voice as calm and collected as though he hadn’t just
heard David confess to doing something so horrible that shifters shunned those who did it.
“I’ll go and get the alpha. Roarke will want to know that you’re awake anyway.”
“Are you going to tell him about what I did?” David asked, not sure whether he was relieved or
not when Ash removed his hands and the connection he felt was gone.
“No. That’s no one’s business but your own,” Ash said.
David nodded. “Thank you.”
“Don’t tell him if you’re afraid of his reaction,” Ash said.
“I have to tell him if I want to be in his pack.”
David had never been in a pack before, so he wasn’t sure of the rules, but he was pretty sure that
he needed to be as honest as he could with the man who was going to be his leader.
“No, you don’t,” Ash said. “I’m serious. If you’re worried that no one will understand, then
don’t tell them, and if and when you do decide to let them know, I’ll be there to handle anyone who
would look down on you for it.”
David looked up at the man, shocked that he was saying the things that he was. “Why are you...
Aren’t you disgusted with me?”
Ash inhaled a deep breath. He seemed to be thinking carefully about what he was going to say
before he said it. “I believe you when you say that your...ex abused you. I would have to believe you.
You’re my mate, but before that I was under the impression that mates simply did not do that to each
other. If you felt that you needed to escape the man, then I would never blame you for that.”
David couldn’t help the weak smile that tugged at his lips. “I didn’t know mates hurt each other
either,” he admitted, and then he looked up at Ash.
Some of the fear he felt must have shown in his eyes, because Ash tensed up. “I am not like that.
I would never hurt you,” he said.
“I...I don’t know what to think,” David admitted. “I only broke the connection to Vince two days
ago. I didn’t think I’d ever find another mate if I survived. I’m not even sure I want one after that.”
“Then I will do my best to push you as little as possible,” Ash said, and then he shifted,
appearing to be very uncomfortable all of a sudden. “However, there is the matter of, ah...”
David knew what he was talking about. He could smell the man’s lust in the air, and it had an
instant effect on his own cock.
Right, there was no getting around this, but after the last couple of days David had, he didn’t
think he wanted to get around it. He was still aware that, even though he hadn’t been looking for
anyone, someone had been chosen for him again, and if David decided to be a child about this and
deny the physical pull that was between them, he would only end up hurting them both.
“I’ll come to you later tonight,” he said, making the offer only because he at least wanted that
much control. “After I speak with the alpha.”
“I’m right here,” said another man, and David’s head snapped up with the same speed that Ash’s
head snapped around.
A tall man, though not nearly as tall as Ash, stood in the doorway to the room. He had dark hair
and the beginning of a beard. “My name is Roarke O’Neil, and this is my pack.”
David sighed. “I have some things to tell you, and if you’ll still have me, I’d like to be part of
your pack.”
Roarke nodded. “Well, if what I heard about you and Ash is true, then no matter what you tell
me I’d definitely like for you to stay.”
* * * *
Ash growled a little under his throat. Not because Roarke had come into the room and had likely
heard some of what Ash and his mate had been saying.
No. This was still the man’s house, and it was his right to walk wherever he pleased.
It was the fact that Ash had let his guard down to the point that someone had been able to sneak
up on him at all.
It was on the tip of his tongue to offer to leave while David spoke with Roarke, as a way of
offering the man some privacy, but he planted his feet and kept his mouth shut.
He said he would be there for the man if he needed it, and from the look on his mate’s face and
the aura he was giving off, David needed the strength and support from his mate.
“What was it you wanted to tell me?” Roarke asked.
He was such a casual alpha, that even when he folded his arms and regarded the other man in
bed, he didn’t look at all intimidating.
Ash had seen the man in battle, so he knew better than to think of Roarke as a cub.
David cleared his throat and looked down at his hands. Shame was rolling off of him in waves
as he spoke about his former mate and how he’d severed their connection after the man had punched
him.
He seemed to be waiting for Roarke to condemn him for walking out, as though he thought he
should have let his ex hit him a few more times before it would have been acceptable in the eyes of
another that he break off the most spiritual of connections.
Roarke’s dark brows shot up into his hairline at the story, and Ash watched him closely, waiting
for any sign that he would sneer at David and throw him out, in which case he would have to break
every bone in the alpha’s body, leader of the pack or not, but he didn’t pass any judgment.
“You’re lucky to have survived. He lives, too?” Roarke asked.
“What does it matter if this Vince person is alive?” Ash asked.
If he had his way, he would snap the man in half for daring to put a bruise on his mate. He
wanted to break every finger on the hand that had touched David so violently.
“He’s alive,” David said, nodding his head and apparently understanding something that Ash
didn’t.
Roarke made a sound that was somewhere in between a groan and a sigh as he rubbed the
stubble on his jaw. “That creates a problem,” he said.
“If you would rather I didn’t stay with your pack, I’ll go,” David said. “But I’d be really grateful
if you would let me look for a job and a place to live in town. I haven’t seen it yet, but I heard there
was a small town near here.”
If David left, then Ash would follow him. He’d rent an apartment next to David’s if he had to.
“You’re too fast to think I would just throw you out because you might have a couple of things to
deal with. No one here is exactly baggage free,” Roarke said.
He was talking about all the alphas and omegas who had been attacked or lost loved ones over
the years thanks to other shifters hunting them. He was also talking about his own mate, Westley, who
was carrying the pup of another after his first lover had been killed by a group of alpha wolves.
Roarke couldn’t have known that he was also talking about Ash. Ash hadn’t told him that he’d
lost his own mate, Elija, and had it not been for this pack of luna wolves, he might have ended his
own life by now.
God. To think he could have done something like that, and then he never would’ve had the
chance to meet David.
“Yeah, but is all your baggage going to try hunting you down to possibly kill you?”
Roarke gave him a look, and David’s cheeks colored nicely.
“Right. I’m sorry, that was dumb.”
“No, it wasn’t. I think we’d all like to forget that we’re all on the kill list of pretty much every
shifter in the world, alpha werewolves especially.” Roarke then looked at Ash. “With the exception
of our resident bear shifter, that is.”
“I see,” David said, looking up at Ash’s face.
“I would like you to stay,” Roarke said. “The more people we have in our pack the better our
chances are of withstanding an attack from a rival wolf pack. There is one a couple of miles on the
other side of town, and last we heard, some even had jobs in the town itself, so you shouldn’t count
on being safe by living in Willow Lake just because we’d be nearby.”
Ash could feel the sudden fear coming from his mate, and he wanted to comfort him.
God, he also wanted to fuck him. Ash’s idea of offering comfort was currently a long hug and a
deep kiss while he thrust his cock in and out of David’s body.
The man had asked for patience, and he’d asked to be the one who would come to Ash later
tonight. Ash would give him that.
“I know I said I would leave,” Ash said, “but if he’s going to be part of your pack—”
“Say no more. Taylor said you told him you were both mates. I’m glad this means you can stay,
and having a new mate who’ll treat David well might help to ease him into the pack as well,
especially since you know some of the wolves better than I do.”
David looked curiously at Ash about that.
Why wouldn’t he? Anyone would think that it was odd that a bear shifter would know more
about a group of luna werewolves than the pack alpha himself.
“I’ll explain later,” Ash said.
“When can I join?” David asked, suddenly eager to be part of the pack that was willing to
accept him.
“Right now if you want. Open the buttons of your shirt and tilt your head to the side.”
David was quick to do as he was told, and Ash watched intently as Roarke put his knee up on
the other side of the bed and came closer, putting his mouth and teeth on the exposed skin.
He told himself that the man already had a mate, and that this was how werewolves, whether
they were luna wolves or not, accepted others into their ranks.
It was completely normal. Don’t shift and start a fight over it . That grunt of pain that David let
out was to be expected. Don’t shift. Don’t shift.
Then it was over, and Roarke pulled away from David’s neck, but not before he inhaled deeply
at the bite mark he’d just made.
He didn’t break the skin, but he had bit down hard enough that the indents of his teeth had been
left behind. There would also be a bruise there later.
Ash would rather that bruise came from Roarke accepting David into the safety of the pack,
rather than some unfaithful wretch punching David in the face for doing nothing more than demanding
some loyalty.
David touched the tender spot on his neck, and he grinned so proudly up at his new alpha that it
brought a smile to Ash’s face.
“Welcome to the pack,” Roarke said, clapping the new recruit on the shoulder.
“Thank you for having me,” David said.
“Not to worry. You’re still recovering from the car crash, so we won’t introduce chores or
anything like that for another couple of days. Until then, you can move around whenever you’re able
and get to know the people in the pack, and I’m sure you’ll be wanting some time alone with your new
mate.”
David blushed again. “Yes, that would be nice, thank you.”
Roarke waved at them both and left the room, and then Ash was alone with his mate once more.
They stared at each other. Christ, Ash never thought he would want to jump on another man and
share a passionate fuck again in his life, but it was happening now, made worse by the fact that they
were both alone, and David’s touch was like an adrenaline shot of life and energy and strength
straight to his veins.
Ash shifted his feet, hoping to God that the outline of his cock wasn’t showing through his faded
jeans.
“Would you like me to bring you anything?” he asked.
Tonight. David had said he would be ready by tonight.
David’s eyes lit up. “Actually, yeah. Is there an omega here named Warren?”
That had been one of the omegas that Ash had brought here when he first arrived.
“Yes, do you know him?”
“He’s a friend. Sort of. We never met and were always talking on the Internet. He was the one
who sent me the email telling me I should come here.”
“Then I’ll go and get him for you,” Ash said. Anything to make his mate feel comfortable.
He moved toward the door but then stopped halfway through it and looked over his shoulder at
the smaller man.
David was watching him intently, and Ash could feel the way the other man wanted him to return
to him, to take off his clothes and lick every inch of his skin, prepare him and fuck him hard right then
and there.
No. He wouldn’t give in. Not yet. Even though his cock ached for it and his skin was overly hot
with the urge for release, he was going to wait.
So was David. Maybe that would make him a little more eager to come to Ash when he was
ready. He might even have to come to him earlier than anticipated just to settle the ache that was no
doubt burning through him.
“I’ll be back,” Ash said.
David’s voice was barely a squeak when he replied. “All right.”
Chapter Four
It really helped once David was finally able to get out of bed.
He met Warren for the first time, and even though he’d only seen the man’s face in photos
before, it was like really meeting an old friend. Suddenly David didn’t feel so alone anymore, and he
was able to take his mind off of what had happened between Vince and himself.
Of course, Warren had known that David was mated to someone, so it wasn’t like David could
hide the fact that he’d broken off his connection to the man. Especially considering that everyone in
the pack was about to find out that he was now mated to Ash.
David was nervous as hell when he finally told the man while they walked around the pack.
David made sure they were alone, and he kept his ears and nose on high alert to be sure that there
wasn’t anyone nearby who might even accidentally hear him.
He was surprised at the reaction he got from Warren. The other man actually hugged him tightly,
so close that David could see the darker highlights in his cherry-blond hair.
“Thank God it didn’t kill you,” Warren said.
“You aren’t...You don’t think I’m a horrible person? I mean what I did to Vince—”
“You’ve been writing to me that he’s been bringing home other people to sleep with, in your
bed, for months now,” Warren said. “Why would I hold it against you for wanting to leave him? Was
he the one who gave you...” Warren trailed off, and he seemed stuck between whether or not he
should say the word punched, or just point at David’s eye.
David decided to spare him. They were friends, but things were still new for the both of them,
and a year and a half of sending each other emails still meant that they had to learn each other’s
boundaries while speaking in real life.
“Yeah,” David admitted. “It was right after I came home from a run, and she wasn’t there, but I
could smell her all over my room, and on my dresser. I just got so mad, especially because he was
acting like nothing happened, like I wouldn’t be able to smell the musk of another person all over our
bedroom.”
Warren winced. “I’m so sorry, but to be honest, I was sort of hoping you would leave him.
Granted, at the same time I was hoping that you wouldn’t, because I didn’t want the separation to kill
you. I’m not making any sense,” Warren said, and he scratched at his short hair and started looking for
something else to put his eyes on other than David.
“No, that does make sense. I’d been thinking about it for a little while without even realizing it,
but I didn’t want to die and I didn’t want the separation to kill Vince either.”
“At least you’re both alive, and now you’re mated to Ash, too?” Warren asked, smiling as they
started walking again. The man was eager to get back onto a nicer topic, and David couldn’t blame
him.
Breaking off the spiritual connection to a mate, even one who was unfaithful and an abuser, was
difficult to discuss.
No one liked to think that their connections to their mates could end, and even though Warren
wasn’t mated yet, it would still be strange for him to hear as well.
“Yeah, about Ash,” David said. “Do you know anything about him?”
“He’s great!” Warren said, and there was real, genuine respect in his amber eyes, and in his
voice. “Did he tell you that he was the one who escorted us all here?”
“What? No, I didn’t hear that,” David said, and now Vince was entirely forgotten as all he
wanted to hear about was his mate. “When did he do that?”
“About two weeks ago,” Warren said, and he reached down into the grass and shrubs to pick up
a loose stick, and he twirled it idly as they walked and spoke. “After I sent you that last email, I met
up with another omega, Bastion. He’s a nice enough guy, but neither of us can fight to save our lives.
Apparently that’s literally true, since when we met Ash we were both getting our asses kicked by a
bunch of alpha werewolves who scented that we were lunas.”
“Jesus Christ,” David said. “Are you both okay?”
Warren laughed. “We’re fine. Look at me, I’m the picture of health, but it was scary as hell
when it was happening,” he admitted. “Imagine our shock that, when those alphas were getting ready
to take us back to their pack, this giant black bear comes charging through the woods and chases away
all the alphas who were surrounding us. There had to be at least six of them. I was too busy pissing
myself with fear to count them properly, but even when they were gone, Bastion and I still thought we
were fucked because, holy shit, it’s a bear shifter.”
“Right,” David said. Shifters in general didn’t really like luna werewolves. It was only the
regular werewolves who made a habit out of hunting them down.
“But then he shifted and untied us. He was calm about it all, asking what we were doing. I guess
neither of us thought it was stupid to tell him. Your brain doesn’t really work right when you’re that
scared, I guess. Anyway, he offered to hunt for us so we could eat, and he escorted us here.”
David could hardly believe what he was hearing. “That’s...that’s amazing,” he said. “I mean, the
fact that he’s here and welcome in a pack of luna wolves must mean that he doesn’t have the same
prejudices as other shifters, but I didn’t know he’d saved you and your friend.”
“Not just us either,” Warren said. “When we were traveling we came across another omega and
seven alphas, and he convinced them all to join us, saying it would be safer. He was like our
temporary alpha. You can imagine that the alpha lunas we came across didn’t have a problem
following orders because of the size of the man.”
“No kidding,” David said.
“He’s really great, David,” Warren said. “He’s quiet and tends to keep to himself, but I don’t
think he’d hurt you like Vince did. I didn’t even know that someone who broke off with their mate
could, uh...” Warren trailed off, suddenly looking like he wanted to crawl into a hole or something.
“It’s okay. I didn’t know I would find another mate either. It makes you wonder about some
things, you know?”
“Like what?” Warren asked.
“If I hadn’t broken it off with Vince, would I still be feeling this pull for Ash?”
Warren seemed to think about that for a minute. “That’s a good point. I don’t know. I mean, I’ve
heard of people whose mates have died finding other mates, but not in cases like this.”
“Hmm,” David said, because he had nothing else to say.
“What are you going to do about it?” Warren asked.
David looked at his friend, and he realized what the man was asking him. “I told him I would
come to him tonight. Since that I know a little more about him, I feel better, but now it’s just a matter
of loving him.”
Warren suddenly stopped in his tracks, a great big gleaming smile on his face and in his eyes.
“What is it?” David asked.
“We should go talk to Taylor.”
“Taylor?”
“Right. I keep forgetting he just got here. He’s an omega, and he has a mate. Josh. Rumor has it
that he’s got all kinds of fun toys you might be able to borrow.”
David put his hands up and stepped back. “Whoa, uh, I don’t think sharing sex toys is the—”
Warren burst out laughing. “I’m not suggesting that!” he said. “But he’s got things like handcuffs
and blindfolds you might be able to use. I wouldn’t suggest you bring a used dildo into your
bedroom!”
It did seem pretty ridiculous when David thought about it, that his friend could think David
would be into doing that.
“You don’t think he’ll mind? He doesn’t know me,” David said.
“No, but he knows me, and you and I are friends, and you’re part of this pack now anyway.
Besides, if you can get Ash to let you tie him down or something, I bet that would make you feel even
more comfortable about going to him tonight.”
There was always that.
His face felt flaming hot, but David nodded. “All right. I’ll go with you to meet him.”
* * * *
It was so incredibly embarrassing to have to go and speak to a man that David didn’t even know
to ask to borrow his pair of leather shackles. It also occurred to David that he didn’t have any lube
either, and that he was likely going to need some.
Taylor was incredibly accommodating. He’d apparently also heard that David was Ash’s new
mate, and Ash was a favorite of Taylor’s and Josh’s.
“He saved my life,” Taylor said simply as he presented David with the leather cuffs, a
blindfold, and an unopened box of lube. Inside the cap was still sealed.
At least he wouldn’t feel awkward about denying the man’s gift.
“The cuffs and blindfold are clean, too, so you don’t have to worry about anything,” Taylor said.
“Hope you both have fun!”
David thought he was going to die. “Thank you,” he said, doing his absolute best to not rush out
the door like some kind of ingrate, but he also didn’t want anyone else in the pack to see him carrying
these things.
He stopped before he could make it outside and turned around to face the other man, who was
still smiling and looking at David like he was the best thing since beef jerky had been invented.
All that, just because he’d mated with a bear shifter.
“Do you, ah, know where I can buy my own...” He trailed off and held up the supplies in his
hand, as though Taylor wouldn’t be able to see them otherwise.
“Sure, there’s a store in town. You might have to make sure that Ash goes with you when you get
there. Last time I was there, an alpha from a rival wolf pack was working behind the counter. I heard
he got fired though.”
“There’s a sex store in town? I thought this was a small town,” David said.
“It is,” Taylor replied. “I think they get most of their business from online sales, but it’s good for
us when we’re too impatient to wait to have something shipped.”
Well, at least there was a variety of places to work. He just had to make sure it was safe for him
to get a job first.
He thanked Taylor again, said his good-byes to Warren, and thanked his friend for showing him
around the pack and introducing him to so many new people. He didn’t even have the chance to go
through them all, but that would come later.
David put the cuffs and blindfold down on his bed, and he read the label on the unopened lube.
The box said that it would warm up on contact.
Taylor and his mate Josh must have a lot of sex if Taylor had spare, unopened bottles of lube
just lying around that he could share when someone asked for it.
That thought made his entire body heat up, and he immediately thought of Ash.
He hadn’t seen the man naked yet, but his brain was already supplying what he would look like.
There would be no tan lines. Shifters rarely had those because of all the time they spent naked.
He would have a washboard stomach with the deepest six-pack fitting of his size, and David already
knew that his shoulders were incredibly wide.
His cock was becoming hard, and holding on to the bottle of lube, knowing what he was going to
do with it, wasn’t helping.
He put the bottle back in the box and set it down on the bed before picking up the leather
shackles.
They locked in place with a little belt, and the interior was fuzzy and soft.
He might actually enjoy wearing something like this. In fact, the more David looked at the cuffs
and blindfold, the more appealing it became thinking about wearing them himself while Ash fucked
the ever-loving hell out of him. Then afterward, maybe he could blindfold his new mate while he rode
his fat cock.
Okay, and that was enough thinking about that. David’s dick was already pressing against the
zipper of his pants in the most uncomfortable way possible. He had to undo his fly and zipper anyway
if he was going to get ready.
Double-checking to make sure the door was locked, David climbed onto bed, and he moaned
when he pushed his jeans down his hips, creating delicious friction against his cock.
That was it. That was what he wanted, but no, he didn’t want that, he wanted Ash’s large hand
over his cock, stroking him and teasing him with his palm, making David come like that instead of just
getting off by himself.
It was just a testimony of his self-control when he didn’t reach down and start stroking his cock.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever been this hard. Sex with Vince... Well, in the beginning
it had been nice, but as the years went on, and they started coming together less and less, it seemed to
be more about exchanging the strength and energy they needed to survive, rather than merging their
spirits and enjoying each other.
It had become a chore that needed to be hurried up and over with, empty and cold.
David would make sure that his time with Ash wasn’t like that, and if it was, well, he’d deal
with it when and if it happened.
David reached for the lube and pulled off the plastic seal before squirting some into his fingers.
God, he was so fucking horny that when he touched his asshole, it was almost over right then and
there. His balls were tight and he ached to come, but he wanted to wait until something bigger than his
own fingers were inside of him.
Namely Ash’s cock.
No, keep control. He had to keep control. The sun was almost down, and Ash would be
expecting him soon. David was going to prove that he was a mate that was worth keeping. He just had
to get ready first.
Chapter Five
Ash was pacing around the little bedroom that he’d been offered to stay in. It had been given to
him the first night he’d stayed with Roarke’s pack, but tonight would be the first night he ever put it to
good use.
Roarke and the rest of the luna werewolves had made it clear that he was always welcome to
stay, to make his home here and keep the room as his own, but aside from the bed, nightstand, lamp,
and empty dresser, there was nothing in it. Certainly nothing personal, because he’d intended to make
sure that he didn’t get too attached to this place that he didn’t expect to be staying in for very long.
Aside from sweeping the floor and getting curtains to cover the window, there was not much he
could do to spruce the place up and make it appear as anything less than a guest bedroom.
His mate deserved so much better than what Ash could offer him, especially because all that he
had was borrowed. He would stay, however. Ash had no home to give to David, and this was the
only roof available to them both.
It seemed that Roarke and the other werewolves would be getting their way after all. Ash would
stay with them and make his home here. It certainly wasn’t fair to ask his mate to leave the only luna
pack in the state. Maybe even the country.
David needed to be here, and Ash needed to be with David.
He really needed to be with him. His inner bear was fighting to come out and sniff out the exact
location of the man so that they could be together already. His cock was straining the zipper of his
jeans, for sure, but all Ash could do about that was clench his fists and keep right on circling the
small space, trying not to growl at nothing in particular as his hormones went wild.
It was twilight outside. He’d briefly pulled back the curtains to check. And there were even
hints of stars shining through the coming night sky.
It was looking to be a pretty night to claim a mate.
Then it occurred to him that, while David had said he would be coming tonight, he never gave a
specific time, and it could be another couple of hours before there was even a knock at Ash’s door.
Christ almighty, he hoped that David wasn’t going to make him wait for very long. He didn’t
think he could wait another hour without throwing down his pants, wrapping his fingers around his
thick cock, and coming hard right then and there.
He pressed his palms flat on the wall to steady himself, and he took in a couple of long, deep
breaths.
How long had it been since he’d had sex? Not since before the death of his mate. That was
certainly a long time, but even then, he’d never felt this aching pull before. Was it because David was
a luna wolf and his call was different from a bear shifter’s?
Either way, if he didn’t get here and soon, Ash was going to be forced to take matters into his
own hands, so to speak.
A soft knock sounded on his door, such a small sound that even with his excellent hearing, Ash
almost missed it.
He pulled his head up from staring down at his feet. His heart was pounding against his ribs,
like it was trying to break out from behind them, and now that he was awake again, per se, he could
feel the slight layer of sweat that had built up on his body.
“Come in,” he said, and then he had to clear his throat and repeat that since his voice sounded
too weak and shaky.
The door handle turned before it opened. Ash could scent David’s lovely smell before the man
appeared from behind the door.
He looked good. He looked exotic and handsome, and there was a hint of nervousness in his
blue eyes that made Ash take a mental step back.
Right. He was going to be patient with him. He had to tread carefully here. David just escaped
one abusive mate, and now he was finding himself with another. The last thing Ash wanted to do was
hurt him.
But then he smelled the man’s musk, and his eyes naturally darted down to look at the outline of
his cock that was straining very plainly against his jeans.
Looking back up into those blue eyes, he could see how dilated they were.
“Is that for me?” Ash asked.
David closed the door and flipped the lock cleanly in place. Everything was new, so there was
no loud creaking of the door hinges to alert the house that Ash now had a visitor. They were entirely
alone, and it was quiet in here.
“I’ve been thinking about you for the last couple of hours,” David said.
Had he? Then for the first time, Ash took note of the plastic bag that David held in his hand.
“What’s that?” he asked.
David’s shy smile was so sexy. He moved over to the bed and opened the bag, pulling out a pair
of leather cuffs, some lube, and...was that a blindfold?
“Oh God,” he said.
“What? What is it?” David asked, sounding a bit panicked.
“I nearly came, is all,” Ash said, moving over to examine the toys. “Where did you get these?”
He could smell the rising blood in David’s cheeks as he blushed. He was surprised the man had
any blood to spare for a blush, considering it all looked like it was down in his cock.
“I, uh, borrowed them. I hope that’s okay.”
Ash picked up the cuffs, feeling the hard leather exterior and then running his thumb over the
soft, fuzzy interior. It looked and smelled clean, and he couldn’t wait to try it out on his new lover.
He’d never tied anyone down before. “Anything you want is all right with me.”
David smiled wide, and Ash could tell the way the man’s confidence instantly seemed to boost.
That was proven when the man reached up onto his toes to kiss him.
Oh, it was sweet. His lips were so soft and inviting, and the kiss was made even better by the
fact that David’s hand was palming Ash’s hard cock through his jeans.
Ash couldn’t help but grab his mate’s jaw, thrusting his tongue deep into the smaller man’s
mouth. It was warm and slick, and Ash’s grip on David’s wrist was strong as he pulled the man’s
hand away and started to desperately undo the clasp of his belt.
“I need you to suck on my cock,” he said, his voice coming out hoarse as the jeans went down.
“Please, put your mouth on my dick.”
Was it the fact that he could feel David’s luna energy that made him as desperate as he was
now? His hands were already on David’s shoulders, urging him to go down and take Ash’s heavy
dick into his mouth.
David didn’t question him, and there was no fear in his eyes as he all but fell to his knees to do
as Ash begged him.
In fact, Ash got another strong whiff of musk coming from his new mate. David wanted this, too,
apparently.
Thank God.
If Ash thought the kiss had been great, it was nothing compared to how utterly fantastic it was to
have his cock sucked between those wet lips, David’s tongue licking him from the base of his cock all
the way up and around the head.
He was leaking pre-cum, and David hardened his tongue at the tip before pressing it in the slit of
Ash’s dick, licking it all up.
Ash released a throaty groan at the sight, and he closed his eyes and thrust his head back as his
cock was completely enveloped inside of that hot and talented mouth once more.
“That’s it,” he moaned, his hips canting back and forward as he fucked his mate’s mouth.
David’s hair was short, but it was incredibly soft as Ash carded his fingers through it, gripping
it tight as David tightened his lips around the column of Ash’s cock.
He couldn’t help himself. Ash had to come. He’d been ready to burst in his jeans for hours, and
now that he finally had that wicked mouth and tongue doing these things to him he couldn’t contain
himself.
Ash had to bite down on his lower lip as he came, but that still wasn’t enough to prevent the
groan from escaping his throat.
His cock remained hard even when he stopped spurting cum deep into his lover’s throat, and the
sexiest part was the way David swallowed him down without any problems at all.
In fact, he kept right on bobbing his head, back and forth, swirling his tongue, and then he even
began to hum, until Ash was moaning with pleasure and feeling like he could come again within
seconds.
“You’re so fucking good,” Ash said. “I can’t believe how amazing this is. I’m going to fuck you
so hard. I’m going to make you feel as good as you’re making me feel.”
Ash probably should’ve felt embarrassed that he was saying things like that. There was nothing
dirty about his speech, but it was the type of talk that he hadn’t even had with his other mate, back
when the man had still been alive.
David pulled his mouth away, and he had a sparkle in his eyes when he looked up at Ash.
“Show me then. Show me how hard you’re going to fuck me,” he demanded.
Ash’s inner bear roared out loud, and he reached down and grabbed his mate by the arms,
hauling him up and tossing him onto the new bed.
David’s body bounced a bit, but he was able to catch himself before he fell off as Ash kicked off
his boots and stepped out of his jeans.
David’s blue eyes were looking down at Ash’s heavy cock. The smaller man kicked off his own
jeans and lifted his shirt above his head, but he kept his eyes on Ash’s swollen prick for as long as
possible before Ash took him by the chin, lifted his head, and pressed his lips to David’s mouth. He
slid his tongue inside, savoring the man’s moan.
“I can taste myself on you.” He had to pull away to say it, and then he pushed another hard kiss
onto David’s mouth, climbing on top of him and forcing him to lay back.
Skin-to-skin contact...it made Ash’s body heat up. Everything felt like it was on fire, but in a
good way, if that was at all possible. His cum was inside of his mate, marking the other man with his
scent, and while that had always had an appeal to it, it never gave Ash the sort of buzz as it was now.
He felt so full of life and energy just touching David’s skin. He felt stronger than he ever had
before in his life. He could spend the next several hours fucking him into the mattress until the new
bedframe broke, and he thought he could still be ready for more after that.
Damn. So this was what being mated to a luna omega was like.
“Fuck me. Fuck me right now then put me in those cuffs and fuck me hard again,” David
demanded, his breathing coming out in heavy puffs of air as he panted for breath while humping
desperately against Ash’s hips, rubbing their cocks together and bringing them both the sort of friction
they needed so badly.
“Where’s the lube?” Ash asked, looking around and searching for the bottle.
The cuffs and blindfold were still on the bed at their feet, but the lube must’ve bounced off when
he tossed David onto the bed.
“I don’t need it. Just fuck me, please.”
“What?” Ash asked, all sorts of things flying through his head at those words.
He didn’t need it? Was that some kind of luna thing where they didn’t need lube? If so, then all
the better for Ash, but he didn’t want to risk hurting his mate by just shoving his cock inside of
David’s asshole unprepared.
David was speaking to him again, and Ash had to force himself out of his wicked thoughts and
pay attention.
“I stretched myself before coming here. I didn’t want to wait. Fuck me, right now,” he
demanded.
“You stretched yourself?”
David nodded.
“Lift your hips for me. I want to check that for myself,” Ash said.
David did as he was told, spreading his knees and lifting his hips until Ash could see his
stretched pucker. There was something glistening on the ring of muscle, and he brought his fingertip
down to inspect what it could be when he realized.
Lube. David really had stretched himself. Just knowing that he’d done something like that
brought a pleasurable shiver to Ash’s spine.
“Did you use your fingers?” he asked.
He was stretched already, but Ash didn’t think there could be any harm in another minute or two
of teasing as he let his blunt fingers trail around the edge of David’s asshole.
David shivered, and his eyes widened as Ash teased him, pressing inside of his pucker only a
little, but not shoving his entire finger inside.
“Did you use your fingers?” Ash asked again when David didn’t reply.
David wet his lips, his eyes rolling to the back of his head briefly before he got his answer out.
“Y–yeah.”
“You didn’t use anything else? No other toys that I should know about?”
“N–no,” David said, panting as he humped against Ash’s fingers, trying to encourage him to put
them all the way inside.
Not yet. He wasn’t done with the man yet.
“Hmm,” Ash said, and then he leaned down and put his entire mouth around one of the dark, hard
buds of David’s nipples. He bit down on it gently, enough to get the blood flowing, before he started
to tongue it. “The next time you put your fingers into yourself, you better make sure I’m there to
watch,” Ash said, looking up at his mate.
David’s eyes were as round as golf balls as he stared down at Ash. He seemed unable to form
words again, so he just nodded.
That was good enough for Ash. He grabbed his cock by the base, stroking it a time or two to
make it even harder. He groaned a little as he pressed the head of his dick against David’s pucker.
There was hardly any resistance as he pushed his cock until it popped through the ring of
muscle, as if David’s body was accepting him because they were mates, but when he was inside and
balls deep...Oh, God, it was so hot and tight. It was better than anything he could have imagined.
Ash bit down on the pillow next to David’s head as he started thrusting his hips back and forth at
a frantic pace.
He was inside of his mate, marking the man with his scent and his body and his cum.
He couldn’t stop. Even though they were both being loud enough that the entire house filled with
luna wolves would be able to hear them, and even though the bedframe was rocking against the wall,
there was no stopping this.
More. He had to have more, and with all the energy and strength flowing through him, it wasn’t
hard to give in to this instinct to take all he could from the smaller man.
David’s fingernails scraping down the skin of Ash’s back was heaven on earth, and he growled
and bit clean through the fabric of the pillow.
“Oh yeah! Fuck me harder. Don’t stop!” David said and then proceeded to repeat that same sexy
babble over and over again.
The man tightened his asshole around Ash’s cock, and Ash howled like he was the one who was
the wolf as his balls tightened, and his cum shot up and out his dick, deep inside of his mate’s ass.
There was a strange sort of relief he felt, knowing that his essence was deep inside of his mate,
swallowed down David’s mouth first, and then deep in his ass.
Was this what it felt like to claim a luna mate? Was this why so many other shifters were so
desperate to have the omegas for themselves?
Ash could think about the questions, but he didn’t have the brain power to supply any answers as
he continued to rock his hips back and forward, milking his cock until he spilled every last drop of
cum inside of his lover, but he stayed hard, and he wasn’t going to stop striking at David’s prostate
until the man came hard and loud, just like Ash did.
Then David’s eyes widened, and Ash knew he was there even before he started panting it out.
“Oh God! I’m coming! Fuck me harder, please!” he yelled.
David tried to work his hand between their tightly pressed stomachs, to grab and stroke at his
dick most likely, but Ash wasn’t about to have any of that. He grabbed hold of David’s hand and
hoisted it above his head, holding his wrists in place as he continued to pound into the man.
David squeezed his thighs around Ash’s hips and just held on for the ride, and then the scent of
his cum filled the air like a heavy blanket resting over the both of them as Ash felt the warm fluid
spurting between them.
He rocked back and forth until David’s body finished spasming, and he went limp and boneless
beneath Ash’s body.
Ash could only watch the way his chest rose and fell with each breath he took. David’s stomach
was flat, but he had nice definition in his pecs, and his nipples were a dark shade of pink from the sex
and sucking Ash had been doing.
He wanted to put his tongue on them again. He wanted to lick and kiss up David’s thighs, and he
wanted to taste the man’s cum.
In fact, he was going to do that right now.
David’s eyes opened wide when Ash’s finger swirled into the pearly white fluid that was on his
stomach, and they went so wide that he could see the whites all around those pretty blues when he put
his finger inside of his mouth and licked it away.
David certainly tasted different. Not sour and salty like he’d expected, but there were no words
for it, and Ash’s body was buzzing, and his cock filled and hardened again while he was still inside
of his lover.
“That was...really hot,” David said.
Ash gave an experimental thrust of his hips, and his eyes sank to half mast at the pleasure that
rushed through him. “Is it always going to be like this? Because you’re my mate?”
He wasn’t sure if David would know exactly what he was referring to, but then he smiled
answered, apparently understanding just fine. “I hope so. Want to put those cuffs on me now? It felt
really good when you were holding down my wrists.”
Holy hell, yes. Ash had nearly forgotten about the things.
He reached his arm down, blindly searching until his fingers wrapped around the leather and the
softer material of the blindfold.
“Want me to put this on you, too?” he asked, holding up the blindfold with the same finger he’d
sucked David’s cum off of.
“I–I think I do. Want you to put it on me, that is.”
Ash smiled and wrapped the material around David’s eyes. The smaller man breathed a heavy
sigh through his mouth when his eyes were completely covered, but the way his pink lips pulled up in
a smile told Ash that his mate was still comfortable.
“I’m going to put the cuffs on you now,” Ash said. “I won’t cuff your hands to the bed, though,
because I think it would be a little too awkward to hold myself up and put these on you way up there
at the same time.”
David’s snicker was a wonderful sound, and he held his hands together and presented them to
Ash. “Agreed.”
Ash put each cuff on one at a time, until David’s hands were properly bound without the leather
being too tight.
“You look so fucking sexy like this,” Ash said, looking down at his work and then feeling a buzz
of energy and pleasure rush through him when David put his bound hands around his neck, holding
Ash even closer.
“Fuck me. Do whatever you want to me,” David said, his voice husky and low as his ankles
moved up and hooked around Ash’s thighs.
The wish of his mate was Ash’s command.
Chapter Six
David and Ash slept together every night. Eventually David had to get permission to go into
town and visit the sex store just so he and Ash could buy their own supplies for when they were
together, because he was pretty sure that Josh and Taylor wanted their leather cuffs and blindfold
back.
When David walked into the store, Ash following closely behind him to protect him against any
possible attack from a rival alpha, they could both smell very clearly that the man behind the counter
was not a shifter.
While David went off to look at all the items that were hanging on their hooks, or lined up on
racks, he overheard his mate asking what had happened to the other man.
“Always showing up late, yadda yadda yadda, wanted a raise way too early, had an attitude,
yadda, yadda, yadda.”
David could hardly pay attention to either man since he was too busy blushing at the sight of all
the huge dildos and vibrators, not to mention all the books on BDSM.
He picked one up and flipped through it. BDSM for beginners.
Not that he and Ash needed the help to get each other off, but David discovered that when he
was with Ash, he bloomed, so to speak. He’d almost forgotten that sex could be fun and adventurous,
which was why he insisted on getting the man naked as often as he possibly could and tying him up, or
letting Ash tie him down.
He was definitely getting this book and that pair of leather cuffs over there. It looked like a near
match from the pair that Taylor had lent them two weeks ago when they first slept together.
It was like all of David’s fear and shyness had finally left him after he’d gone into Ash’s room
that night. Which was a good thing.
He turned to look over at the bear shifter. He was talking about a possible job now that the
owner of the shop no longer had any help.
Ash didn’t have any tattoos or piercings on him, but his size alone was enough to make David
think that he would do well in a place like this. He certainly wouldn’t be harassed by the locals, and
if a rival alpha from a different pack happened to walk in here, then his size would also probably
prevent a fight.
No one wanted to go toe to toe with a bear shifter, after all. David had gone out running with the
man once when they were both in animal form, about a week ago, and he would be pissing himself if
he was ever on the wrong end of an angry animal as big as Ash was.
David grabbed the book, the cuffs, a blindfold, and also something that looked like a feather
duster, but was clearly designed for teasing, as well as a cock ring with an attached vibrator.
Okay, he really had to bring this stuff up to the counter and pay now before he ended up buying
out the store and spending the last of his money.
He needed to find a job now, too.
Ash raised a dark brow at the sight of everything David brought up, and it was clear he was
trying not to smile.
“Shut up,” David said, nudging him.
Ash raised his big hands. “I didn’t say a word.”
No, but he was thinking it. David could tell that much just by the sudden smell of musk that was
in the air.
Thankfully David’s truck was able to be saved, though one of the back windows was shattered,
and the top was scraped to hell. It looked even crappier than normal, but through some miracle, it still
ran well enough and was apparently not a danger to drive in.
One more truck in the pack was always a good thing, and David knew that the second he and
Ash got inside of the thing, Ash would be pulling him into the backseat and David would be getting it.
He wanted it.
They left the store together, and David looked down the street of the highway town with some
longing.
There was a restaurant attached to a motel, a coffee shop, and even a big rundown building that
looked like a barn that had Highway Bookstore painted in big yellow letters on the side.
David was willing to bet it was also painted on the front.
There was a thrift shop as well, and another restaurant called Zack’s Diner. The parking lot of
that place was pretty full, and David was willing to bet all the customers came from the commute to
the city.
“Do you want to walk around?” Ash asked, as accommodating as always.
“Yeah, but...” David trailed off, thinking about how his wallet was dying from not being fed a
steady diet of money. “I don’t think I should buy anything else today. Did that man offer you a job?”
“He gave me a list of days that he wanted someone else to watch the store. It would be strictly
part time, but it would bring in some income to the pack. I’ll let the other alphas look at it in case
he’ll hire more than one person.”
And that was exactly what the pack needed, since no one had a job at the moment, and everyone
was living off of their savings, as well as what could be hunted in the woods, or grown from the
small garden that Taylor, Matt, and Westley had put together.
With all the people now on the property, that meant that there weren’t a whole lot of vegetables
to go around.
Luckily Ash knew which plants that grew in the woods were edible, and he’d taught David how
to identify them so he could bring them back after Ash hunted a buck or something.
Still not always enough to go around, but it was something.
“I don’t think there will be anything there, but the next time we come into town, I’m going to
bring my netbook,” David said. “I think that coffee shop there says it has Wi-Fi for customers. I’ll
check my email and see if I have any clients.”
“That’s right. You’re an artist, right?” Ash said, and the sparkle of pride was back in his eyes as
they walked to David’s truck.
“I try to be, whenever some work comes in.”
It was how David had brought in money when he and Vince had been mated. He took
commissions from his website to do comic pages or stills, and he had varying fees depending on how
complex the piece was.
Some months he brought in a lot. Others, hardly anything at all.
Luckily, his drawing tablet along with the computer had been intact after the crash, otherwise
he’d had to fork out even more money that he didn’t have to replace them.
“I spoke to Roarke, and he’s an artist, too, but he’s more about figure drawing and people,
whereas I’m landscapes and cartoons. I shouldn’t be too hopeful,” David said, erring on the side of
caution. “And if there’s nothing there, if you and Roarke are fine with it, maybe I’ll give my resume to
whoever owns the shop—”
David stopped talking as a chill ran down his spine. He immediately stopped walking and began
searching for whatever it was that gave him such an eerie and frightened feeling.
“What’s the matter?” Ash asked, looking up and around, searching for whatever it was that made
David stop.
“I think someone just walked over my grave or something,” he said and then shivered again as
he inched closer to his mate. “You ever get that feeling that someone’s watching you?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ash said with a growl, such a low and violent sound that for the first time since he’d
woken up, disoriented and in a new place, David was afraid.
Not of Ash. He’d long since lost that fear, but he was afraid of whatever it was that was lurking
behind the buildings, watching them close to the tree line.
It wasn’t exactly bright out since the sun was starting to go down, and it had been cloudy before
that anyway, so it wasn’t like it was easy for either of them to see whoever it was who was hiding out
there, and the wind wasn’t in the right direction to tell them who it was either.
David already had a pretty good idea. He didn’t need his eyes or nose to tell him who he thought
was out there.
“Ash,” he said, grabbing his mate’s hand. “I think it’s Vince.”
“Would he have been able to track you here?”
David had no idea. He’d driven for two days and barely stopped for bathroom breaks, let alone
to refill his gas tank, but there was just something that told him, no, screamed at him that it was Vince
who was out there.
“It’s him. It has to be,” he said.
“Get to the truck and drive home,” Ash commanded, stepping away from David and removing
his Stetson and shirt, right there on the sidewalk.
There wasn’t anyone around to see or stop him, but even if there had been, David wouldn’t have
cared if Ash decided to get undressed in front of a group of nuns.
Still, he didn’t want to run away like some sort of coward while his mate chased after David’s
ex. He took Ash’s clothes as the larger man handed them to him. Everyone in the pack had to get
undressed before shifting, instead of just letting the transformation take over and tearing up their
clothes, since there was hardly any money available to replace what was ripped or shredded.
“Are you sure?”
“Go,” Ash demanded, and his tone left no room for argument before he ran, barefoot and naked,
between the buildings, his body shifting and becoming even larger, if that was at all possible, while a
thick pelt of black bear fur sprouted all over his skin.
He was a giant, roaring mass of killing muscle when he finished, and he rushed into the woods
to chase after whatever, or whoever, had been spying on them.
David ran to the truck. He had to put the clothes down on the dirty pavement so he could fish his
keys out of his pocket and unlock the truck, but he tossed the clothes, along with the bag of things he’d
bought, onto the passenger seat before climbing in himself.
His heart hadn’t raced like this since the day he escaped from Vince, and he never wanted to
feel this ever again.
Hating himself for abandoning his mate, he started the engine and drove back to Roarke’s pack,
constantly checking his rearview mirror to make sure that there wasn’t a wolf in the road behind him,
watching him go with hatred and betrayal in its eyes.
* * * *
“Are you sure? Did you catch his scent?” Roarke asked.
“No, but I...I just had a feeling that it was him.” David had arrived back at the house safely
enough, but he couldn’t shake the unease that had crept under his skin and stayed there like crawling
worms.
He thought he was going to be sick.
In fact, he was going to be sick.
Before he even had the chance to say that he needed a bucket or a bowl, or something to puke in,
a plastic waste bin was shoved under his face.
David wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth as he grabbed it and let everything he’d
eaten that day come forward.
It took him a few minutes before he finished, and when he did, he had to turn his face away from
the bin in disgust from the sight and smell of what was inside.
“Here, let me get rid of that for you.”
David looked up, and he was stunned to see Westley standing there. He had been the one to put
the waste bin under David’s face. Like he’d known he was about to be sick.
“Thank you,” David said, letting the other omega take it away, though he felt guilty about giving
the man something to do, since he was waddling around as heavily as he was.
The omega named Bastion quickly came forward and took the bin from Westley, offering to
clean it out so the man could have a seat, and then David was sitting in front of everyone once more,
answering questions he wasn’t sure how to answer.
“I just wish Ash would get back.”
Not having the bear shifter around him, thinking about what could be happening to him while
David was safe in the pack house, was making his stomach churn again.
He had to calm down. He was stronger than this. Why was he losing control at the one time he
was needed to be strong?
Westley nudged Roarke with his elbow, and the alpha looked at his pregnant mate as Westley
nodded at David.
There was a silent exchange between them as they communicated using the mental ability that
mates had. Whatever it was they were saying, it was clearly about him.
“What is it? Do you know something about Ash?” David asked, though he wasn’t sure how they
would have found out anything about the bear shifter, considering he was out chasing whoever it was
who had been watching them in town.
Westley was the one who answered him, keeping his voice soft. “I think you should maybe lie
down and rest, get some liquids into you, and then take a pregnancy test.”
“I don’t want to lie down. I—” The rest of Westley’s words caught up with David’s brain, and
he very nearly keeled over.
He managed to keep himself upright, though everyone in the room was watching David, ready to
spring forward in case he did fall out of his seat. “Are you serious?” he asked.
He wanted to deny that it was possible. After years of being mated to Vince and no child coming
forth from it, he’d assumed that he would never have a baby. It never occurred to him that Vince might
be the one who was sterile and not David.
“I didn’t notice it at first, and maybe you and Ash weren’t actually looking for any signs of it, but
now that I’m smelling you, I’ve got the scent of hormone changes and pregnancy,” Westley said.
Without even thinking about it, David’s hand went to his stomach. How could something alive
be inside of there? After years of trying and nothing, just to have it happen in a couple of days…it
seemed so surreal. “You’re positive?” he asked, knowing he was beating a dead horse but unable to
stop himself.
Roarke spoke up. “Even I can smell it now. You’re definitely pregnant.”
And if Vince was the one who was spying on him and Ash, then he would have caught that scent
without a problem. God, Ash was out there chasing him down. What if Vince got the drop on him?
What if—
The front door to the house burst open, and Ash appeared, his heavy feet stomping on the
hardwood floor even though he wasn’t wearing any shoes.
“David?” he called.
“In here,” David said, and Ash appeared around the corner, naked and dirty from his long run
through the woods, but otherwise appearing as healthy as ever as he rushed to where David was
sitting and crouched down to put his arms around his mate.
David hugged him back, needing the reassurance from the bigger man now that he had so much
more knowledge about his own condition to deal with.
“Did you find him?” David asked.
“No, he was too fast. But I think I scared him off for a while.”
“Was it David’s ex?” Warren asked.
Talk of David even having an ex mate no longer mattered, since by now everyone had heard the
story, and after some time, they had all come to accept the fact that there really were some good
reasons to break off that connection to a mate.
“I don’t know,” Ash said. “I caught his scent a couple of times, but I don’t know what David’s
ex smells like.”
Maddox left the room silently and came back just as quickly with a cold bottle of water in his
hand. He handed it to Ash, who gratefully took it and began drinking from it, not stopping until the
bottle was empty and letting out a refreshing sigh. “Thanks,” he said.
Maddox nodded. “No problem.”
Everything in the sitting room got awfully quiet, and David knew what was coming. They all
wanted him to tell Ash the good news, but David didn’t think he could let his mate know with so many
people around.
Maybe it was a pregnancy thing that allowed Westley to read David’s body language so well,
but he grabbed Roarke’s hand and tugged until Roarke stood. They had another one of their silent
exchanges, and then Roarke cleared his throat, getting the attention of everyone in the room.
“I think we should all clear out of here for a while, give them some time to talk alone,” Roarke
said.
Westley was awesome.
Ash appeared confused as everyone got to their feet and left the sitting room, but he didn’t move
from his spot next to David’s feet until they were completely alone, and he pulled himself up to sit
beside his mate on the couch.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“They wanted to leave me alone with you so that I could give you the good news,” David said,
not sure how he was going to say this.
He decided to just spit it out. Ash was looking worried enough as it was. “I’m pregnant,
apparently,” he said and then looked at Ash, unsure of what his reaction was going to be. “Surprise?”
Bear shifters couldn’t get their males pregnant. Luna werewolves, and only the omegas, were
some of the few that were able to do so, so it wasn’t like Ash could have ever expected to father a
child with another male.
“Are you sure?” Ash asked, his eyes going wide as they flickered down to look at David’s flat
stomach. “I mean. I’m not a luna werewolf. How is this possible?”
Fuck. He really hadn’t known. David hoped he wouldn’t be angry. “You don’t have to be a luna
werewolf. It only matters if I’m an omega. And before you ask, I promise I wasn’t trying to get
pregnant on purpose”—it wasn’t like they’d ever used protection, especially considering shifters
didn’t carry sexual diseases—“I thought I was sterile. I mean, I had a mate before and I never got
pregnant through him and—”
Ash cut him off with a kiss. It was so surprising, strong, and warm, that it completely threw
David for a loop.
He went with it, allowing his arms to snake around his mate’s neck as he was pushed down to
lie on the couch.
Westley had said he was supposed to lie down, hadn’t he?
David could feel how hard Ash’s cock had become as their hips rubbed together, and beneath
his jeans, David’s dick was having a similar reaction.
Just as their tongues touched together, David had to pull away. If he didn’t now then he wouldn’t
be able to later.
“You’re not mad?” he asked, his voice coming out in a hard pant.
“No,” Ash said, and he dove in once more for another meshing of their mouths.
This time Ash’s tongue did not ask for permission. It just took as he thrust it deep inside of
David’s mouth, licking and stroking David’s tongue, claiming him with his mouth.
It was like a lightning bolt of pleasure was rocking through David’s mouth and shooting all the
way down his spine before reaching his cock and balls.
He moaned, and he instantly began to struggle to get Ash off of him enough so that he could reach
down and get his restricting jeans off.
Ash laughed. “You know, I thought you had a pretty nice glow to you when I woke up this
morning,” he said, and then he trailed his tongue up the side of David’s throat. “Hmm, to be honest, I
thought it had more to do with when I had my cock in your ass than being pregnant.”
“I want to ride your cock right now,” David said, finally getting the jeans off, but before he
kicked them away, he pulled out the little bottle of lube that he’d taken to keeping with him at all
times, for the spur-of-the-moment urges that had been coming on the both of them since their first night
together.
“Right here? In the sitting room?” Ash asked, lifting a brow at his mate.
“Right here,” David reaffirmed, pushing the lube into Ash’s hand as he spread his legs. “Fuck
me, please. I want it. I need to feel you stretching me apart.”
Ash looked like that was all he needed to hear, as he immediately began to pour the slick liquid
on his fingers, and he pushed the blunt tips of his digits against David’s hole.
“I don’t need a lot,” David said, though he moaned and hissed in a breath when those fingers
pushed inside of him.
“So I see,” Ash said, though he added more lube and stretched David’s hole a little more
anyway, pushing his fingers deep inside until they were all the way to the knuckle, and then he drove
David completely wild by hooking them as he searched for his prostate.
“That’s it,” David moaned, canting his hips. He realized that he was still wearing his shirt, and
even though it felt incredibly hot while he wore it, he didn’t think he was going to get it off in time, so
he decided to leave it on.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” Ash said. “I can’t believe you’re mine.”
Then his free hand came down to slide across David’s flat stomach. “You’re both mine,” he
said, and there was a possessive growl in his voice that went straight to David’s cock.
He had to reach down and wrap his fingers around the base of his dick and squeeze hard enough
to keep himself from coming, but even that was almost too much as he shut his eyes and began
thrusting against those fingers and his own hand.
“Fuck me, put your fat cock inside of me. I need you in me,” David said. He didn’t want to come
without feeling Ash’s prick slamming against his prostate.
“I am inside you,” Ash said, a wicked grin on his face as he pressed a kiss to David’s belly.
Holy hell. The people in this pack weren’t going to want to step inside of the sitting room for at
least a week after they were done.
“Y–you know what I mean. Ugnnh!” David said, losing control of his voice as the pleasure
became too great for him to handle.
“All right,” Ash said, finally deciding to take some mercy on David as he shifted his body up
and pulled his fingers out of David’s asshole. David lifted his legs, helping his mate when Ash pulled
his David’s ankles up and onto his shoulders.
Then David shivered as he felt the blunt head of Ash’s hard dick pressing against the stretched
muscle of his asshole, and then he slowly began to thrust inside.
The head popped through the ring of David’s asshole, and David sighed with immediate
satisfaction. “That’s what I want,” he said, and his hand stroked up and down his cock as Ash began
pushing inside of him.
He moved slowly at first, but then he stopped, and in one smooth, hard motion, he slammed the
rest of the way in, until David felt his mate’s balls brushing against the back of his ass.
He yelled out as he grabbed for Ash’s hips and held on as he was fucked harder and faster than
he’d ever been before in his life.
There was a strange squeaking sound pulsing around them, and then David realized that it was
really the sound of the couch’s wooden feet scraping against the hardwood floor.
He really hoped it wouldn’t scratch, considering how hard everyone in the pack had said they
worked on the house, but he could barely bring himself to care either when his prostate was slammed
over and over again by Ash’s heavy cock.
Forward and back, forward and back. David was being stretched and filled to the brim, just the
way he needed his mate to fill him, and right when he thought he was going to die from wanting to
come so badly, on Ash’s next forward thrust, he touched David’s prostate with his cock and then
stopped.
The sensation of being touched there, not merely teased as his prostate was nudged again and
again, but having his prostate touched without the sensation being removed was what sent David over
the edge.
He bucked and moaned and screamed, pushing his ass hard against Ash’s cock for more of that
feeling, but it couldn’t get any better because then he was coming hard.
His warm cum spurted between them, missing Ash but then coating David’s belly, and he
continued to stroke himself, milking his cock until there was nothing left.
He must have really been squeezing his asshole around Ash’s cock, because when David came
back to full awareness, his mate was moving again at a frantic pace.
Ash’s eyes were squeezed shut, and he breathed like a racehorse as he rode David hard.
The squeaking sound of the couch’s feet against the floor was back, and David couldn’t be
surprised if when they finally came to a stop, he discovered that the couch had been moved all the
way across the room.
Then that wonderful warmth was filling him up as Ash groaned and his body went tight, his
thrusts becoming jerky and fast.
David’s ankles slid from Ash’s shoulders as the man sighed and groaned, and David held his
arms open to the man as Ash’s much-larger body came to relax on top of his.
Even wearing the T-shirt, the skin-to-skin touch, and the way they held each other as their
energies and spirits merged, was fan-fucking-tastic.
“I love you,” David said into his mate’s hair, stroking the man’s back as he was unable to hold
back that information any longer.
Ash jerked upright and looked down at him. David couldn’t help but feel nervous for saying
those words, even if he didn’t regret them.
“I know it’s a little soon, but I just thought you should know,” he said.
“It’s not too soon,” Ash said, breathing a heavy sigh of relief, and then his lips were on David’s
mouth again in a quick kiss. “You just made me so damn happy. I don’t even have words for it.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I love you, too. I never thought that I would after Elija, but I do, and I’m so glad that it’s
you I love.”
That was so much more than David had hoped to hear, and when he reached for his mate,
wrapping his arms around Ash’s body, his mate came willingly to him, and they spent the next several
seconds kissing and touching, reaffirming their loyalties to each other through touch.
Then Ash looked up at the room around them and laughed. “We’re going to have to clean up in
here before everyone else can come back.”
Chapter Seven
There was no more mention of Vince, though David was still sure it had been him who was
watching him and Ash while they were in town together. The man had somehow managed to track
him, even when he’d been speeding down the highway almost nonstop, and now he knew where
David was, and that he was carrying someone else’s pup.
David still felt safe with the rest of the pack and his mate, but the worst thing about knowing that
someone like that was lurking around Willow Lake was that it prevented David from searching for a
job of his own, and Ash no longer wanted to go and work for the sex shop now that he thought David
might be in danger.
Luckily Maddox was able to take the position, and as an alpha who wasn’t afraid to get all sorts
of piercings on his face, he was well able to defend himself should something happen.
It was a relief to have even a part-time income coming into the pack, and Roarke had arranged
for the house to receive an Internet connection so that David could at least check if he had some new
clients waiting in his inbox.
To his shock and delight, there were two offers. One was an author who wanted a book cover
done for something they were getting ready to self-publish, and the other was a game designer who
wanted, according to them in the letter, “at least four paintings of fields and castles done Lord of the
Rings style that I can put on my website.”
That definitely sounded like a challenging and expensive job, and David couldn’t wait to tackle
it.
The problem was that one was as new as yesterday, but the other was over a week old.
He immediately emailed that client first with his apologies and asked if the job was still
available. The response was a yes, so David pulled out his drawing tablet, set a price, and got to
work. He was going to have to work on the book cover at the same time, but he knew he could do it if
it would bring that kind of money to the house.
He and Ash needed to prepare for when their pup got here, after all.
He could feel his mate over his shoulder, looking at his work on the screen. The man whistled.
“Damn, you’re good. How do you do that?”
David preened at the compliment. He’d worked from home for so many years that the only
compliments he got were from the clients themselves. Vince had never shown this much interest in
what David was doing. “I just draw it how I see it in my head,” he said.
He knew that was the most unhelpful explanation he could give, but it was the only one that
made sense to him.
David picked a new layer for the painting he was doing and then started to put in the grass and
highlights. He couldn’t afford Photoshop by a long shot, but Gimp worked just as well, and it was
free, which was really helpful when he’d just been starting out.
“I think I can get the book cover handed in before the end of the night,” David said. “These
paintings will be another couple of weeks.”
“I’m glad. It’s nice to see you doing something that you like.”
Really what Ash meant was that he liked it that David could work from home.
“You remember I told you this won’t bring in a lot of money, right? It’ll only bring in a little.”
“I know, you’re going to want to get a job in town,” Ash said, sounding resigned as the words
left his mouth. “But it’s pointless for you to look for one while you’re pregnant. You’ll have to wait
until after the cub arrives.”
Right, because having a pregnant belly as a man would be hard to explain to the residents who
lived in Willow Lake.
“And then there’s Vince,” David said, slowly losing his motivation to paint.
“I just want you to be safe,” Ash said. “I haven’t caught the scent of whoever that was since the
day you noticed something was wrong, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
Ash had told David how he’d lost his previous mate, Elija, to a group of hunters looking to kill
some shifters. David knew it must be freaking the bear shifter out, knowing that someone wanted to
hurt David.
“I’ll be careful,” David said, reaching for Ash’s hand and lacing their fingers together. “I just
wish I could shift and go for a run. Sometimes I get so antsy. I don’t know how Westley’s been doing
it for so long.”
Pregnant luna werewolves couldn’t shift into their wolf forms until after the pup was born and
the wounds from the birth were properly healed. Because of that, it was a little easier to narrow
down when the child had been conceived based on the last time David had shifted and ran with his
mate.
“You can always go for a walk with me,” Ash said. “I think I’d like that.”
“You wouldn’t mind it if I was walking around the woods?” David asked.
“Well, we wouldn’t be going very deep in, and I would be there in bear form to keep you safe.
Even if you wanted to go walk with some of the other alphas or omegas, I wouldn’t deny you that
either. It’s not my place to tell you what you can and can’t do, and I’m only giving you these
suggestions now based on what’s practical.”
Affection swelled inside of David’s heart at Ash’s words. “How the hell did I get so lucky as to
land you as my mate?” he asked.
He was asking himself that a lot lately. Ash kissed the back of his hand. “You about ready to
take a break? You’ve been working on those paintings since you got up this morning.”
And it was already a little past noon. “I think I am ready for a break,” David said, and he pushed
his chair away from the tiny desk that Roarke had found at a yard sale and given to David as a sort of
“congratulations on your pregnancy.”
Ash pulled him up and pressed his soft lips to David’s mouth. David parted his lips in a clear
invitation, but instead of sliding his tongue inside, as David so loved it when he did, he leaned down
even more and planted his lips on David’s neck, kissing and sucking on the skin there.
David moaned, and his knees nearly gave out beneath him, but he forced them to lock into the
straight position as he gripped Ash’s shoulders.
God, his mate was so tall. Sometimes David wondered what it was that the man found appealing
about David, considering he had to lean down so much just to kiss him.
“Get on the bed,” David demanded.
“I love it when you’re pushy,” Ash said.
David decided to show the bigger man just how pushy he could be by putting his hands on Ash’s
chest and making him back up until the back of his knees touched the bed, and he was forced to sit
down on it.
“Pants off,” David said, though he was already helping his mate out of the jeans he was wearing.
Ash removed the black Stetson he liked to wear and started undoing the buttons of the shirt
before sliding it off of his shoulders.
David was naked in record time, but before he could climb onto his mate’s lap, he picked the
Stetson up and put it back on Ash’s head. “Keep this on,” he said.
“Really?” Ash asked, the widest grin that David had ever seen on his face. “You know it’ll
probably fall off while I’m burying my cock in your ass.”
“I know, but I like the way you look in it,” David said.
Ash flicked the Stetson a little higher up on his head. “Then it stays on.”
“Good,” David said, happy to be getting his way as he reached into the nightstand drawer and
pulled out the new blindfold and pair of cuffs that he’d bought for them to use.
They’d managed to use them several times already, and David found that it never got old when
he tied his mate down to the bedframe.
It wasn’t that tying him down gave him any kind of real power over Ash. He knew the man could
break free of them, snapping the cuffs like twigs and the bedframe that held him if he really wanted to.
No, it was watching him try to not ruin the bed and the cuffs as David rode his hard cock that
was the real turn-on.
“Again?” Ash asked, lifting his hands above his head, knowing it was what David wanted.
“Next time it’ll be my turn,” David said, locking his mate in place before putting the blindfold
over his eyes. “Pay special attention to what I do to you.”
“Does one of those things involve a blow job?” Ash asked, still smiling.
David looked down. Ash’s cock was massively huge between his legs, and it was at a slight
curve as it pointed upward to David.
There was the slightest drop of pre-cum forming at the slit, and David thought about how his lips
were always stretched so wide whenever he went down on Ash. Ash’s dick was so big that it took
everything David had just to get past the head as he sucked back on his mate.
He also loved the hell out of it.
“I think it does involved a blow job,” he said, and he shimmied down Ash’s body, purposely
sliding his cock over Ash’s skin and feeling the man shiver with pleasure at what David was doing.
Their spirits merged together, strength growing between them as their energies started to rise.
Christ, and David hadn’t even touched his own cock, or Ash’s, and he was already getting set to
burst.
David kissed around Ash’s thighs, between his legs, and on his stomach, below his navel but
just above the spot where his pubic hair began.
He was purposely avoiding the place that he knew Ash wanted him to put his mouth, and he got a
real kick out of listening to his mate moan for him, along with the sound of his arms straining against
the binds, struggling not to break free of them and just grab David before sinking inside his ass and
fucking him to within an inch of his life.
“You are such a tease,” Ash said, raising his knees and spreading his legs. “Please, please, put
my cock in your mouth. I want to feel your tongue on the head of my dick,” Ash said.
“You already said please, so I guess I have no choice,” David said, opening his mouth and
darting his tongue out to lick up the slit of Ash’s cock.
Ash’s moan and the tremble that went all through his body was so worth it. David had to open
his mouth wider as he sank down onto Ash’s prick, but like he thought before, he knew he wouldn’t
be able to deep-throat the man.
He was just too big for that.
Ash didn’t seem to mind as David used his hand on the place that he couldn’t reach, and he
sucked hard on the head of Ash’s cock, bobbing back and forth as far as he could go.
“You like fucking my mouth?” he asked.
Ash’s tanned chest was rising and falling in rapid bursts. “Y–yeah.”
His head was thrown back as he enjoyed himself and what David was doing to him, and he
looked so amazingly sexy like that, his massive arms lifted above his head as he panted and humped
into David’s mouth.
David licked the man’s dick from the base all the way to the top. “You’re so hard. Tell me what
this feels like,” he demanded and then sank his mouth down as far as it would go around Ash’s cock.
Ash panted above him. “I–it feels...hot. Your mouth is...hot and wet,” he said and then bit down
on a groan.
Just by looking at him and smelling their combined musk in the air, it was clear to David that his
mate was on the verge of coming soon.
He reached for Ash’s balls. Beneath the layer of skin they felt hard. Ash was definitely close.
“David,” Ash said, and there was a whole heck of a lot of desperation in his voice.
David decided to end the man’s suffering, but he was also being selfish about it, too. Truth be
told, listening to the large bear shifter begging and pleading with him was a sexual high that went right
to David’s cock, and he was about ready to come. All without hardly touching himself.
He didn’t want that to happen until Ash was balls deep inside of him, thrusting into him and
striking his prostate with that huge cock of his.
“Almost, baby, give me one second,” David said, and he reached back into the nightstand for the
lube.
He didn’t bother with preparing himself. He was too eager, and he didn’t care if it hurt since he
was so damn desperate to come as quickly as possible. He just slathered it onto Ash’s cock, stroking
the man up and down once, and then twice, before tossing away the small bottle and positioning
himself on his knees, holding Ash’s cock and pointing it up and at his asshole before sinking down.
“Oh!” David said, a spasm of pleasure rocking through him as he felt himself getting stretched
wide open. It burned in the way he expected, but it was more painful than he thought it would be.
David had been hoping that all the sex he and Ash had been enjoying lately would have still left him
prepared enough to take Ash’s cock inside of himself without much of a problem.
Well, lesson learned for next time, he supposed. But dammit, he was still a werewolf, and it
wasn’t that bad. He just had to go slower, so that was exactly what he did.
Ash groaned as David sank down. “Nnngh! You’re going to be the death of me,” he said, his
back arching until David was completely seated on his cock. “I want to touch you,” he said, his arms
straining against the bonds that held him in place.
“Not yet,” David said, and he took a few seconds to get himself prepared before he began
thrusting his ass up and down, back and forth, knowing exactly how to move in the best ways that Ash
liked.
Ash groaned and thrust back against him. “Yeah, like that. I like that,” he said.
“Tell me what it feels like,” David demanded.
“Tight,” Ash said, and then he spoke no more as David began to really move on top of him,
humping back and forth, feeling Ash’s cock striking at his prostate while David stroked his own cock.
He threw his head back and moaned. Good. It was so fucking good. “I love it when you fuck
me,” he said.
Ash’s arms really began to pull at the leather cuffs that held him in place, and David was
vaguely aware of the bedframe groaning under the pressure and strength of the man, but he wouldn’t
let him go. Not yet.
“I’ll let you go after I feel you coming inside me. I want you to mark me,” he said.
Instead of pulling at the cuffs that held him, Ash reached up and gripped the bar of the bedframe,
holding on for dear life as David rode him hard and fast.
Ash yelled out loud, and David couldn’t resist taking advantage of his open mouth as he leaned
in for a kiss, thrusting his tongue inside of Ash’s mouth and licking him deep.
It was a fight for dominance then, but David wasn’t ready to give up on it. He loved knowing
that he could at least control the big shifter in this way, that he was inside of Ash while Ash’s cock
was pounding a hard and fast rhythm in his asshole.
David felt the end coming onto him way too soon, and he began canting his hips back and forth
harder as his balls became tight between his legs.
David broke off their kiss. “Ash! I’m coming!”
Ash could only pant and buck in response to that, but David knew that his lover had heard what
he’d said.
His asshole tightened even more around the fat cock that was pulsing inside of him, and as it did,
Ash yelled out loud as his cum shot hard inside of David’s body, hitting his prostate and sending him
completely over the edge.
David stroked his cock as he came, drawing out his orgasm as he panted and gasped for breath,
loving the sight of his cum on Ash’s stomach.
It took another minute or so before Ash’s cock became soft, and David used that time to ride out
his orgasm, taking all that he could from his mate before he was done.
Every nerve in his body demanded that he collapse on top of his lover and just doze off for a
peaceful and well-deserved snooze, but there was still the matter of the cuffs.
David reached up and freed his mate, pulling off the blindfold last, and when his hands were no
longer being restricted, Ash reached for him and wound his arms around David’s back in a crushing
embrace, pressing their lips together and thrusting his tongue inside for a long and lazy kiss.
Ash sighed when they pulled away from each other. “Whew! I needed that.”
“Me, too,” David said, a lazy smile forming on his lips as he leaned against his mate’s chest,
feeling warm and sleepy, and so, so happy.
He was virtually boneless, so Ash had to actually lift him up a little, sliding his cock out of
David’s body before settling them down together on the bed.
It wasn’t a small bed, but it was always a tight squeeze when they were both on it because of
Ash’s size, and his feet always seemed to stick off of the end and off the blankets, but David always
thought the bed would be way too big if Ash wasn’t in it with him.
“I guess being pregnant makes me tired after sex,” David mumbled, keeping his eyes closed as
he snuggled close to his lover. He really felt like he could stay where he was forever. If he had his
way, Ash would be napping with him just so that David could continue to absorb his body heat.
“Yeah, well, after that performance I’d say you earned it, but don’t think I’ll forget about it being
my turn to put these on you the next time we’re together.”
And if their brief history was anything to go by, that would be very soon.
David smiled, even as he was getting ready to doze off. Ash’s fingers trailing along his spine
felt wonderful, but there was something he was sensing in his mate that suggested they weren’t done
talking.
“What is it?” David asked, nudging his mate a little as he opened his eyes.
Ash had a somewhat nervous look on his face that had David wide awake again, wondering
what it was that could make a strong bear shifter like Ash be nervous about anything.
“I was thinking about something these last couple of days,” he said. “You don’t have to agree
with it, and if you don’t then just forget I said anything at all and we’ll pick something different.”
Pick something different? Okay, that didn’t sound like whatever Ash was about to say was scary
at all.
“Whatever it is, you know you can tell me, right?” David said.
He was the omega in their relationship, and even though Ash wasn’t a luna wolf, the instinct to
protect the smaller mate ran strong with all shifters, but David wanted to be the sort of mate who
offered comfort and support when it was needed, too.
Ash took in a deep breath. “I was thinking that for the baby’s name, we could, well, I was
wondering what you thought of calling him Elija?”
“Elija? You mean after...” David trailed off, knowing that Ash would get David had put it
together without the words dead or former mate leaving his mouth.
“I won’t press for it, and it doesn’t have to be that name either, but I was thinking about names,
and that was one of them, but I have others if you want to hear them.”
“Elija.” David let the name roll on his tongue a bit. “You know, I think I like the sound of it.”
“You don’t have to do it to make me happy,” Ash said.
“But if I don’t then you’ll be unhappy.” David cut his mate off when the man opened his mouth to
protest. “If I was really that unhappy about it, like if you decided you really wanted to name our son
after your great uncle Prince Blanket—”
Ash snorted a laugh.
“Then you could bet I’d definitely say no. But I’m not so insecure with your love for me that I
would deny you this. I’m serious when I say that I like the name, and if loving Elija was part of what
made you the man you are now, then I’d be glad to name our son after him.”
Ash’s eyes started to swim, but of course, he was too strong and proud to let the tears fall, even
when he was wiping at his eyes and insisting that he wasn’t crying between kissing David.
Chapter Eight
Damian was happy for the resident lovebirds of the new pack that he found himself in, he really
was, but he severely wished that they would at least have the common courtesy to keep it down at
night when they were busy going at it like rabbit shifters.
He tossed and turned in his bed and tried to get comfortable so that he could sleep. There was
barely enough room in the pack for everyone as it was. The house was so new, and Roarke didn’t
have the money to make it any bigger, and the alpha hadn’t thought his pack would expand as quickly
as it had.
Some people had to share rooms. That wasn’t a problem for those who already had mates and
were sharing anyway, but the others had to bunk up.
Damian was one of the few who got a room to himself, even though it was the smallest in the
pack, so he had no one to blame but himself for the fact that no matter what he did, he couldn’t seem
to fall asleep.
He was too busy thinking about Ash, the bear shifter whose mate had died, and David, a wolf
who’d actually survived cutting himself off from his last mate.
Damian was ashamed to admit that he’d looked down on the man for a few days for that. After
all, what could a mate have done that would have been so bad as to cause anyone to leave? Mates
were chosen by a higher power, instinct, or whatever anyone wanted to call it, because they were
supposed to be perfect fits.
Then he’d found out what David’s former mate had done. Cheated on him multiple times, and
then got violent when David called him out on it.
Damian hadn’t known a mate could mistreat their significant other like that. When his mate was
still alive, he never would have even thought about sleeping with someone else. Eric had been
everything he’d wanted and needed, his light and his life, so to hear that someone else had willingly
left that when Damian had had it forcibly ripped away from him was almost too much to bear.
Thank God he’d had the good sense to keep his mouth shut until he heard the whole story.
Apparently even Taylor’s parents hadn’t been all that great for each other, and they’d been mated,
too.
Which constantly brought him back to thinking about Ash and David.
Ash’s mate had been killed by hunters, the same as Damian’s mate. Yet he was still able to mate
with David.
And…that was where his thoughts took a turn to Warren.
He didn’t know if he was mated to the omega, and he continued to avoid the man for the time
being just in case.
He wasn’t sure what he was most frightened of, finding out that Warren was his mate, or finding
out that the omega wasn’t.
He was so damn beautiful though. His scent had been intoxicating, and Damian had noticed it
even before he was aware of where it was coming from, but he’d been too focused on just following
the rest of their hastily put together pack to get to Roarke’s property.
And then they had to fight off those rival werewolves the first thing.
Damian was so confused. He wanted to go and find out if what he felt was real before Warren
turned his attention to someone else. In fact, Damian was pretty sure the omega didn’t even know that
Damian existed.
Fuck. What a mess.
* * * *
David finally finished both projects he was working on and sent them in for the clients’
approval. He’d done them faster than he thought he would, and he was pleased with the results. He
was just waiting for his payment to come in, and now that he was living in a pack with a new mate, he
was excited to bring in some income that he could share with everyone else and finally pull his own
weight a little.
“I think I’ll buy Westley and Roarke a crib,” he said as he and Warren took their walk through
the trail in the woods.
Ash had said he would only feel comfortable if David had his walks with someone else around
to guard him. Warren was an omega, but David still felt safe with the other man around, and he wasn’t
about to go against the wishes of his mate, even during the times when he wanted a little privacy.
The thought of Vince out there somewhere was still a frightening thought, and that was why he
and Warren always stayed close to the house.
“I think they’d appreciate that,” Warren said. “Westley’s due any day now and they still don’t
have one.”
Right, because most of their money had been put into building the house and keeping everyone
fed, as well as putting gas into the trucks.
He knew that they had managed to collect a few things from the yard sales and thrift stores that
Roarke was able to go to. Baby clothes, blankets, toys, and books, and Roarke had to drive an hour
out of town to the nearest Wal-Mart just to pick up a supply of diapers and formula, as well as
soothers and wipes and baby shampoo and...damn.
There were a hell of a lot of things required to take care of a baby. “Maybe when I get it to them,
I’ll ask Westley to give me and Ash a list of things we’ll need to take care of Elija,” he said, suddenly
feeling pretty nervous about becoming a parent.
“You’ll be fine,” Warren said. “And look on the bright side, you’re not even close to showing
yet, so you’ll be able to go and get everything you need with your mate beside you. Westley couldn’t
do that. He was stuck in the house while Roarke had to go out and do all the shopping.”
There was always that to look forward to, but Ash didn’t seem like the type of guy who would
feel comfortable in a Wal-Mart or a Costco.
“It’ll just be a few days before the money gets transferred into the joint bank account that Ash
and I set up, and then I’ll talk to him about—”
David stopped what he was saying and froze in place as a familiar and dreaded scent passed
under his nose.
Warren knew about the situation with Vince, and that he might very well be the one who was in
town, so he stopped immediately as well and sniffed the air.
“That him?” he asked.
“That’s him,” David said, grabbing for Warren’s wrist to turn them both around and head back
to the house. Now that his fears were confirmed, and not just a suspicion he had based on a gut
feeling, his terror was climbing rapidly, to the point where he thought he might be sick.
“Let’s get out of here,” David said, and only then did he realize which way the wind was
flowing through the trees. Against his back, which meant that Vince was behind them somewhere,
between him and the house.
Warren seemed to realize this, too. “Fuck,” he said.
“Maybe we can make it,” David said, willing to give it a try. He knew that if he allowed Vince
to scare him into going farther into the woods, the man would easily catch up to him and kill him for
leaving.
“Right, let’s go,” Warren said, and the younger omega actually grabbed his hand for strength as
they walked.
Damn, maybe David had been a little too graphic and scary when he described what Vince had
been like toward the end of their relationship.
Still, he found himself squeezing the hand back for support as they slowly moved, keeping their
eyes open for any sign of where the man might be hiding.
Vince took the mystery out of it by stepping out of the shrubs, right in their way.
David’s heart launched into his throat, and he heard the small growl that Warren let out from
beside him.
The man had been alone for long enough that he was comfortable with fighting for his life if he
had to. David just wished that he hadn’t been the one to put the man in this position.
“You came here? You left me for this place?” Vince asked, his arms stretching out as he twisted
to look at the trees around him before he dropped his hands back to his sides. “There were trees and
creeks and game to hunt back at our house, too. Why would you leave me for this?”
“You know why I left, Vince,” David said.
“I told you it was an accident. I wouldn’t have ever meant to hurt you. I was just worked up, and
you were screaming in my ear about—” Vince cut himself off.
David wasn’t about to let him off the hook. “About what? Say it! You were bringing all those
women home and fucking them in the bed you shared with me!”
“I told you why I did it,” Vince said, his fists clenching, and that same annoyance that had been
on his face the day he punched David coming into his eyes.
“Right, because you wanted to have a pup and I wasn’t giving it to you,” David sneered. The
more he spoke the angrier he got. He was saying all the things he hadn’t got the chance to say to Vince
before he ran out of the house, and he didn’t care if the man was dirty and looked dehydrated from
traveling so far and so long. He had to get this off his chest. “I was willing to lie to myself about that,
saying that as soon as you had a pup that you would go back to the way you used to be, but you were
never that caring man. You were always selfish.”
“You told me I could have them!” Vince snapped.
“You’re right, and then when it didn’t work I asked you to stop. I asked you very nicely to stop,
but you didn’t. You kept right on bringing them home under my nose. I knew about it, but I let it slide
for a while, but when I got sick of it, I called you out on it and you fucking hit me.”
“Look,” Vince started, running his hands through his greasy blond hair. The dark roots were
starting to show because it had been so long since he’d dyed it. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I get that
you were angry and that you made a mistake—”
“Me?” David snapped.
“But you have a pup now. We have a pup. I can smell it all over you. Just come home with me
and we can pretend that this never happened.”
David shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing.
“I think you and I should make a run for it,” Warren said, reminding David that the man was still
there. Which was a good thing, because he needed someone to ground him in reality. He shouldn’t be
here arguing with his ex. He needed to get the hell out of Dodge.
“I’m leaving, Vince. I have a new mate now, so please just leave us alone,” David said, and he
and Warren tried to walk around the man, but the path was a small one and Vince wasn’t moving.
That forced Warren and David to have to walk in the shrubs a little, but even then Vince pushed
his way through the tree branches and blocked them again.
Clearly this wasn’t going to happen.
“Run back to your mate, David,” Warren said, and he immediately began pulling off his shirt.
That was a classic sign that someone was about to shift, and Vince noted it and growled
menacingly.
“You sure you want to do that, boy?” he demanded, seething his words.
“Warren—”
“I said run!” Warren shouted, and he didn’t even wait to get out of his jeans. He shifted
immediately, ripping them a little as he released his wolf.
Vince, being an alpha, took what was happening for the challenge that it was, and he shifted as
well, breaking free of his clothing and lunging at the smaller omega.
David yelled out loud as Vince immediately jumped on top of Warren and began scratching and
biting at him. The two rolled, and it was easy for Vince to overpower the omega because Warren’s
jeans were still caught around his hind legs.
David wanted to grab for Vince’s neck and pull him off. Better than that, he wanted to shift and
join the fight, no matter how much it wasn’t in his nature to do so.
But then that would be pissing all over the gift that Warren was giving him, which was the
chance to run away, so he ran.
David felt like a coward as he shot through the trees and got back on the path, but at this point
the only way he could help Warren was to get back to the house and find someone who could go back
and save him before Vince got too violent and killed him.
Roarke would be there. Or Damian, or even Maddox. Brian. Josh. Jason. Stephan. Anyone!
David didn’t care so long as he got some help.
But then he realized it was too late for the omega when the scent of blood came under his nose,
and he could hear the sound of padded feet pounding the ground as a wolf yipped and chased after
him.
David made the mistake of turning to see who it was, just in case it was Warren.
Nope. It was Vince. His silver-and-gray fur was covered in blood, and he was right on David’s
ass. He was going to catch him, and in his bloodlust he was going to attack, and there was going to be
nothing that David could do about it.
Unless, maybe there was.
David ducked down and made a sharp turn as the wolf lunged for him, claws out and jaws open.
The nearly wild wolf landed gracefully on his paws and turned around, facing David with lips
that were pulled back to reveal its sharp teeth, and the hackles on its back raised up high as it
growled at him.
David raised his hands a little, holding them out in front of himself, as if that would be enough to
prevent Vince from doing to him what he’d just done to Warren.
“Vince, please, it’s me. You don’t want to do this,” David said.
Vince growled even more, his head lowering to the ground.
“Come on, please don’t. I know I made some mistakes, but I can change,” he said.
That caused the wolf’s ears to twitch a little, and Vince raised his head, some awareness coming
back into his golden eyes as he looked at David like he was really seeing him for the first time.
All the while, David hoped that someone from the pack, which wasn’t that far away at all after
David’s run, would smell the stranger on their property, as well as the blood that was on his coat.
In fact, David could almost see the house through the trees. He just had to wait.
Vince shifted again, thankfully returning to his human form instead of getting into his luna form.
There were a few good scratches on his chest from where Warren had gotten him, but nothing
that wouldn’t heal before tomorrow morning.
Complete and utter betrayal was in Vince’s eyes. “Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you for what
you did to me? You snapped our connection like it was nothing. You broke off our mating. It was the
most painful thing in my life. It nearly killed me knowing you didn’t want any part of me anymore.”
He spoke as though that same thing hadn’t also nearly killed David, but the man was too focused
on himself to realize that he was only where he was because of his own actions.
It galled David to have to put all the blame on himself, but until someone came for him, he had to
keep Vince talking. “I know, and I’m sorry. It was a mistake. You’re right, I did overreact, but I
couldn’t help myself, baby. How would you feel if I came to you asking if you wanted to share me
with other men?”
That was clearly the wrong thing to say since Vince’s eyes became enraged once more, his
eyebrows pulling down in the meanest of frowns.
“You’re fucking that bear shifter now! You’re carrying his pup!”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Guess Vince’s offer to raise the child as his own was done and over with.
“Another mistake,” David said.
“Good. I’m glad to hear you admit to that,” Vince said.
David found himself relaxing a little, but then his body tensed up again as Vince approached
him.
“It’ll clear my conscience of killing you before I hunt down that bear.”
“No, Vince!”
The man was shifting again, even as his arm lifted to make the final strike that would end
David’s life. His hand became a gnarled set of clawed fingers with razor-sharp edges as fur sprouted
over his body, and he began to get taller.
He was changing into his luna form.
David was frozen with fear, but then a loud roar sounded in his ears, blocking out everything
else.
He only realized that the sound was not in his head when Vince turned his head, and the sight of
a charging black bear with two wolves at his side barreled down the path toward them.
David breathed a heavy sigh at the sight of his mate, even though the man was exposing his huge
teeth as he roared at Vince. There was murder in his eyes.
In a luna form, most alpha luna werewolves were unstoppable, but the transformation was not an
instant one. It took up to a minute and Vince wasn’t entirely shifted yet, and he was still at a
disadvantage against a bear shifter and another charging alpha.
Vince quickly decided to abandon this fight as he turned tail and fled. He was fast, however.
That was one talent Vince always had, and that was his incredible speed. He vanished like a ghost
through the trees.
Because of that, neither Ash nor Damian followed him. They were likely more concerned with
the fact that David was standing there alone, and the smell of blood was still in the air from when
Vince had been standing there only a few seconds ago.
Ash was out of his bear form and on two human legs in an instant, his hands touching David’s
neck and shoulders, pouring his energy, strength, and love into David’s body in waves.
“Are you hurt?” Ash demanded. “Where are you hurt?”
Yeah, he clearly smelled the blood.
David shook his head, and it took him a few tries before he could get his voice working
properly. “N–not me,” he said, pointing the way. “Warren. He attacked Warren.”
Damian yipped and shot through the trees even before David finished speaking. God. David
really hoped the other omega was alive. He didn’t know what he was going to do if Warren was dead
or seriously injured.
“We need to get you back to the house,” Ash said, already putting his arm around David’s
shoulder and leading him away.
“But what about...” David looked behind himself in the direction that Damian had rushed off in.
He wanted to go with the other man so that he could at least be there and offer some kind of backup.
He didn’t want Damian to be surprised when he was trying to bring Warren back home either.
“You can’t shift, and you need to think of the cub,” Ash said, though not unkindly. “Baby, you’re
shaking. I really want you to come back to the house with me.”
Fuck. He was right. Sometimes David forgot he even was pregnant and couldn’t shift. He
definitely had to listen to his mate on this one.
“All right,” he said, and he let Ash lead him back to the house where the other pack members
were waiting. Maddox and Stephan ran into the woods after Damian when they realized what was
going on, and the omegas all rushed around to get the few measly medical supplies they had on hand
ready for when Warren was brought back.
Hopefully, alive.
Chapter Nine
Warren was barely alive. He had deep scratches, bites, and slashes that were all over his body
that even his werewolf healing could barely fix in time to keep him in the land of the living, and that
was entirely David’s fault.
He sat at the man’s bedside. Damian had offered his own room to be where Warren could rest
and recover since there weren’t any to spare.
Oddly enough, Damian was in and out of here almost more than anyone, and that made David
think there was something going on between the two of them.
Which only made him feel even more guilty.
Westley also came for a visit, as did Taylor and Matt, Bastion, and Ross, and every single alpha
on the property. Ross had actually brought in wildflowers before setting them down on the nightstand.
David supposed that was a sweet gesture since no one could afford to get any get well cards or
balloons.
“You can’t blame yourself for this,” Ash said when David finished his visit. “It’s no one’s fault.
I thought you would be safe and that your ex wouldn’t try coming after you if you had someone else
with you. I should’ve realized that wasn’t right.”
“You’re the last person in the world who’s responsible for what Vince is doing,” David said.
“You know that applies to you, right?”
David just looked at him.
They were both alone in their room now, sitting on the bed. The attack had happened yesterday,
and David only just got enough control of himself to stop shaking.
Ash put his large hands on David’s shoulders. “I’m being serious. It’s a good thing that you do
feel a little guilt. That means you sympathize with what happened to Warren. You have empathy for
him and wish only good things for him. You do that because you’re a good person. But I don’t want
you to let yourself get buried under that guilt. Feel that it’s there, acknowledge it, and move on.
Warren is alive, and he’s going to need all his friends around him when he wakes up.”
David nodded, and he managed to smile at his mate for what seemed like the first time in
forever.
“Thank you.”
Ash ran his fingers through David’s hair. He loved it when his mate did that, and the rush of
energy he felt from the man as they touched skin to skin was uplifting.
“When do you think Warren’ll wake up?” David asked, careful to word his sentence so that
there was no if hiding in there.
“It should be soon,” Ash said. “I know it’s not the same as if he had a mate, but with you and the
other omegas offering him their energy, I can’t imagine he’d stay sleeping for very long.”
David hoped that was the case.
Roarke’s voice called out gently to them. “Ash, David.”
They both turned to look at the man who was in charge of everyone in the house. Roarke had a
serious expression on his face, and he was beckoning them to follow him into the sitting room.
They followed. It was strange how, not too long ago, David and Ash had fucked like bunnies on
one of the couches in that room and thought that every time they entered it after the fact they would
both be snickering over the naughty thing they’d done in room that belonged to everyone.
Now things were serious as they sat down to face Roarke.
“We need to do something about that ex of yours,” the alpha said. “He’s a lone luna wolf at this
point, and he attacked two members of my pack. I’m not about to let that stand.”
“Agreed,” Ash said, leaning forward in his seat a little, his hands held between his knees. “I
know you have all said that luna werewolves are not welcome with other shifters, other werewolves
especially, but since he is on his own, and now that Bud broke away from his pack with several
others, do you think there is a risk that he would attempt to join them to launch an attack against us?”
“Christ, I hope not. It’s unlikely, but all things considered we shouldn’t rule it out,” Roarke said.
“What I want most is to lure him out into the open and challenge him to a fight. He won’t be able to
resist the urge to fight after that, and he won’t be able to run.”
Wait a minute. What was happening here?
“Then I want to be the one to challenge him,” Ash said.
“Wait! When did we decide this?” David demanded, looking at both men as though they had lost
their minds. “Ash, I know you’re a bear shifter and you’re strong, but if you challenge Vince and he
gets into his luna form, you might not be able to handle him. He’ll be like a tank.”
“That’s true,” Roarke said. “You might want to let either myself or one of the other alphas make
the challenge. Maddox offered to do it, and I know Damian has been demanding satisfaction against
the guy.”
Ash’s eyes became hard, and for the first time since David had mated with him, he no longer
seemed like the cool and collected shifter that David knew him to be. He was all alpha, protective,
and angry. “He’s been harassing my mate, and he would have killed David if Damian and I hadn’t
scented him and showed up. I’m going to be the one to do this.”
Roarke crossed his arms. As the alpha in charge, he probably didn’t like it when other people
made demands on him like that.
Ash didn’t seem to care. “I’m doing this. Besides, I was the one who stole his mate, in his mind.
He’s going to want to accept a challenge from me more than anyone.”
“Ash, please don’t do this. What if he kills you?”
“He won’t,” Ash said, all confidence.
That confidence wasn’t infectious.
“You can’t tell me with a hundred percent certainty that you will win, or that at the very least he
won’t seriously injure you,” David said.
Ash’s lips thinned. “No, I can’t, but I can say for one hundred percent certainty that I will be the
one to challenge him, and whether I win or lose, he’s not going to bother you ever again.”
David’s breath hitched. He supposed this was the problem with having a mate who actually
cared about his well-being. He had to deal with the man’s stubborn nature when he got it into his head
that he was going to be the one to protect his mate no matter what the cost.
* * * *
Damian came back into Warren’s room to check on the man. The deep slashes that had been on
his arms, face, and neck were all now pink lines, and his chest was rising and falling easily enough.
It was just a matter of time before he woke up and was back to being the happy-go-lucky omega
that he was.
Damian couldn’t wait for that to happen, and his biggest fear was that he wouldn’t be in the
room when Warren opened those pretty pale-green eyes of his.
Damian couldn’t lie to himself about this anymore. He’d taken another mate, and it was most
definitely Warren. Maybe that was why he was having such trouble letting go of the man’s hand. They
both had to have sex and share their spirits to make it official, but Damian could still pour his energy
and strength into the man through touch, and he didn’t want to stop doing that.
“How’s he doing?”
Maddox came into the room, pretty silently for a guy so big.
“He seems better,” Damian said, and he didn’t let go of Warren’s hand. He didn’t care who saw
him holding onto his mate like this. He wanted everyone to know that he was going to protect the
omega from now on.
Maddox sighed and came to sit on the little stool on the other side of the bed. “Somehow I
thought we wouldn’t have to put up with bullshit like this anymore once we got into a pack. Never
thought another luna wolf would do this either.”
“Yeah, well, we’ve all been so isolated from our own kind for so long that we’re learning all
kinds of things we wish weren’t true,” Damian said. Like how it was normal for a mate to break off
the spiritual connection they had with another mate, or abuse their mates, or even that some of their
own kind were also out to get them along with every other shifter on the planet.
Fuck.
“So, when did you figure it out?”
Damian looked at Maddox. The man was big, even by an alpha’s standards, though he wasn’t as
big as Ash. He was looking down at Damian’s and Warren’s joined hands.
Damian sighed. “I’ve been ignoring it,” he admitted.
That made Maddox’s eyes widen. “If I ever found my mate I don’t think anyone would be able to
keep me away from him.”
“Yeah, well, he wouldn’t be my first mate,” Damian admitted.
Maddox tilted his head a little. Damian could practically see the gears turning in his head as he
tried to figure out whether Damian had left his last mate, or if the man had died.
He decided to take away the mystery of that. “He died. Killed by hunters,” Damian said, and he
wasn’t about to get into any more detail than that. It was no one’s business but his own anyway.
Maddox hissed in a breath. “Sorry.”
Damian shrugged. He’d gone through his mourning period, and it had damn near killed him. For
a while he’d even felt guilty that he had survived the mourning. After all, if he’d really loved his mate
so much, wouldn’t he have died shortly after the man had been killed?
Guess he had something else to live for.
“I don’t even think Warren knows,” Damian said. He wasn’t sure why he was having this talk
with the other alpha. Maddox wasn’t exactly chummy with anyone, but it was making Damian feel
pretty good now that he had someone else to talk to.
“Really?” Maddox asked.
“Like I said, I’ve been avoiding him,” Damian said. “I guess I wanted to make sure it was really
happening. I didn’t think I would ever find another mate after...well, not the point, but I purposely
avoided him and any place he’d been so that I wouldn’t catch too much of his scent. If he ever caught
mine and felt the same, he never let anyone know about it, or tried to find out who was giving off that
scent.”
“He could’ve been just waiting for...whoever it was he thought was giving off the mating scent
to make the first move. Might be confusing to an omega to smell that so briefly just for the scent to
vanish afterward.”
That was an explanation. Damian wondered if Warren had thought it was him who was giving
off the mating scent. Did Warren want it to be Damian? Or was he hoping for someone else?
“Will you be going to the challenge?” Maddox asked.
Damian growled low in his throat. He wasn’t going to be participating. Ash had already claimed
that right, but he was going to make sure he got a front-row seat to watching that son of a bitch get torn
to shreds. “You better believe I’m going.”
Chapter Ten
Ash had to leave David behind at the main house when he, Roarke, and Damian all went out into
the woods together.
Luckily Maddox had the day off from working at the Sexxx Shop, and Stephan, Brian, Josh, and
Jason, along with the other alpha wolves who lived at the house, were going to stay behind to defend
the property and the omegas that were left behind.
Ash was glad there were so many. At least that way he didn’t have to worry about returning to a
burned-down house and David and the other omegas injured or worse because there was another
attack.
No. This way he could put all of his focus entirely on the battle at hand.
If only he could get the image of David’s unhappy face out of his mind when he left barely an
hour ago.
He’d wanted to come along. Offering to use his own scent to act as bait, but Ash wasn’t about to
risk him again, or the cub, or pup—the child!—that he was carrying.
Still, the idea to use David’s scent had been a good one, and the omega had been angry as hell
when Ash began scooping up the few extra pairs of jeans and a T-shirt he had in the dirty laundry to
take with him to the battle.
Now his scent, as well as David’s, would be in the air. If Vince was still around, then he
wouldn’t be able to resist coming, even if Ash had two other alphas with him.
“Just remember that we might not get anything tonight,” Roarke said. “He might be too far away
to scent us, or he just might not decide to show up anyway and we’ll have to try again later.”
“Got it,” Ash said.
“Got it,” Damian repeated. The man’s fists were clenched, and his brows pulled down in a
heavy snarl as he walked forward.
Ash couldn’t blame him. Although he was angry as hell over what had nearly happened to
David, David had only been spooked and put into a light shock. He wasn’t bedridden with severe
injuries like Warren was. And that was something that Ash would be forever grateful for.
Warren still hadn’t woken up, and Ash was beginning to suspect that Damian and the other
omega might have something going on between them.
It was not Ash’s business. All he wanted to do was get everything set up so that he could finally
go after that son of a bitch once and for all.
“Do you think this is a good spot?” Ash asked, looking around the clearing they had stopped in.
They were far enough away from the house that the fight shouldn’t affect anyone there, and the
trees around them weren’t so dense that Ash and the others wouldn’t be able to see it if someone was
walking toward them through the trees.
Roarke tilted his head up and sniffed at the air. “I’ve got his scent here, but it’s faint. He must’ve
slept here a couple of nights ago.”
The thought that Ash was standing in a place where that bastard had ever laid his head down to
rest drove him insane. Why couldn’t he have found this place earlier and taken care of the man before
he’d tried to go after David and had hurt Warren the way he had?
Better still, why hadn’t he been fast enough to catch the wolf the first time David had noticed
they were being watched?
“You’re getting jumpy. You need to calm down,” Roarke said.
Ash took in a deep breath. The man was right. Ash was usually better at controlling his temper
than this, but he just couldn’t seem to help himself.
“You’re right. I’m fine,” Ash said.
“Damian’s already riled up enough. I don’t need two shifters losing their heads on me,” Roarke
said.
Sometimes Ash forgot that Roarke had something to be fearful for here as well. Vince had
proved that he was willing to go after others in order to get what he wanted. He nearly killed Warren,
so what was to stop him if he decided to go after Westley? And that omega was the most helpless man
in the entire house until the pup was born.
“Right,” Ash said. His rage was still simmering down under the surface, but at least he now had
it under control.
“All right, can we get everything set up already?” Damian asked, showing off some of that
impatience that Roarke was so worried about.
Roarke and Ash looked at each other, and Ash then proceeded to walk around the clearing,
rubbing his back against the trees, along with David’s clothes that were still in his hands. He even
went so far as to ball up a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and toss them in opposite directions into the
trees.
He needed to get his and David’s scent all over the place if they had any hope of luring out
Vince. The man had to catch their scent and come running for them.
Roarke and Damian had no choice but to stand there and watch. They had to keep their scents
down to a minimum, though there wasn’t anything that could be done about the wind.
They just had to hope that Vince wouldn’t notice their scent because he was too fixated on Ash’s
and David’s, or that he wouldn’t see them as a threat to himself, or that he wouldn’t care.
Please, please let him come.
Ash pulled a dead log from out of the trees and set it in the middle of the clearing, and he sat
down to wait.
Roarke and Damian came to join him.
“How long do you think it’ll be before he gets here?” Damian asked.
“He has to catch the scent first and then run here from wherever it is he’s hiding,” Roarke said.
“Can a luna wolf hide in a foxhole?” Ash asked.
Both men looked at him. Ash shrugged. “He could be nearby, but if he’s in some kind of
underground burrow then we wouldn’t be able to track him as easy.”
“I’ve never heard of that,” Roarke said.
“Have you tried it?” Damian asked.
They talked quietly for the better part of an hour, waiting for something to happen, and knowing
that if nothing did, then they were going to have to go home and try again at a later date.
Ash would be out here first thing in the morning, doing this again and again if it meant he got to
challenge that little fucker.
He was just thinking about the slim odds of the man actually being dumb enough to show up
when there were two other werewolves at Ash’s side—after all, he’d wanted to come and do this
alone—but then there was a rustling noise in the distance to their right, and Ash turned, as did both
Damian and Roarke.
The smelled him before they could see him, thanks to a helpful breeze that flew under their
noses. None of them thought it was so helpful at the time, considering the guy stank to high heaven.
There were streams all over the place. Hadn’t he at least taken the time to have a bath?
Then Vince appeared, naked and dirty in human form between the trees.
He strutted like he’d already won the fight they were about to have, the bastard.
Ash liked to think of the man as being an annoying and dangerous little prick, but the fact of the
matter was that Vince was still an alpha, and he had the body of one.
His shoulders were wide. His muscles strong and big. He had the standard washboard stomach
and six-pack of muscles that all alphas seemed to sport around with little to no gym time, a square
jaw, and big fists that were made for punching.
Ash was still bigger than he was, and he was going to win this fight, and he was going to end the
man’s life as well if it meant keeping David and the rest of the pack that had taken Ash in safe.
Vince only had to take one look at their group to realize that David wasn’t with them, and he
sneered at Ash in particular. “Where’s my mate?”
“My mate,” Ash corrected, “and he’s not going anywhere with you. Your connection with him is
done.”
“Nothing breaks that kind of bond. I don’t care what he tried to do. He’s mine. You can’t just
steal someone’s mate,” Vince said, clearly seething as his muscle bulged and coarse hair began
sprouting up through the pores of his skin.
Fuck. No wonder David had wanted to leave the man if this was what he was like when having
an almost normal conversation.
“I’m through talking to you. I challenge you,” Ash said.
That seemed to actually throw the man off a little. “What?” he asked, and then he actually
smiled.
“I said I challenge you,” Ash said, feeling his own bear right beneath the surface and eager to
emerge for the coming fight. “I want to fight you. Right here and right now. To the death.”
“And the winner takes David home with him? Sounds good to me,” Vince said, bringing his fists
forward and popping his knuckles, like they were getting ready for a fight in a ring or something.
Ash opened his mouth to correct the man on that. That no matter what, he wasn’t taking David
home with him. Likely he only wanted the omega so badly so he could kill him now that he’d made
his intentions known.
Roarke grabbed Ash by the arm, and the other alpha shook his head before Ash could say
anything that would get the crazed luna alpha to back out.
Right. He was going to stay silent.
“I was thinking about how great it would be to fight you. This challenge only makes things
legal,” Vince said. His body seemed to grow another five inches as his luna form came out, and his
nose became longer, a dark mane of hair sprouting around his neck. When Vince spoke again, his
voice was gruff and barely human at all. “Thanks for that.”
“Glad to help,” Ash said. He took off his Stetson and tossed it to Damian before quickly getting
out of his clothes. He figured he should hurry up and undress before the man decided to attack him
before he was ready.
Thankfully, once he was undressed, changing into his fully grown black bear was an
instantaneous thing, whereas Vince still needed a couple more seconds before he was in his luna
form.
The man’s shaggy tail was waving eagerly behind his legs, and he definitely looked like
something out of a spooky movie.
His face and jaws were all wolf, while his body still held some of its human shape, even if it
was taller, a little wider, and had dark wolf hair covering every inch of his body.
Ash got up on his hind legs, and he was stupidly glad to see that he was still taller than Vince
was when he did so.
He roared at the man, showing off his fangs, and Vince did the same before he charged.
God, he was fast. Ash had forgotten just how quick the man was after going so long since he’d
chased him through the woods. He hadn’t thought he could forget something like that, but the way
Vince had him on his back, biting and clawing at Ash’s face, was a painful reminder.
Damian and Roarke were cheering him on while he was getting his ass handed to him, and Ash
thought of Warren, how Vince had done this very thing to an omega, putting him in bed with severe
injuries, and how he was likely to do it to David as well before he killed him.
Ash wasn’t about to let that happen.
He stopped trying to defend his snout and eyes as he wrapped his massive arms around the luna
wolf’s body, rolling them over and pinning the creature beneath his heavy weight.
Even with all that on top of him, it was still a struggle to keep the other man down as he fought
and struggled, using all of his strength to push Ash off of him.
Luna wolves really were strong. Ash was going to have to ask Maddox or Damian if they ever
wanted to spar him so that he could keep his strength up after this.
Ash then cried out as those insanely sharp claws punctured through the fur on his chest and
began digging their way inside.
Ash was torn between pulling away and lunging off of the creature, and keeping him pinned.
If he rolled then Vince would follow him, still swiping at his face, biting and clawing until he
reached his hand inside of Ash’s chest and pulled his heart out.
Well, since he was looking at that happening to him anyway, no matter what he did, he might as
well stay where he was and keep trying to crush the other shifter with his weight.
But his weight wasn’t going to be enough. Vince was panicking beneath him, and he was really
beginning to fight back, bite and claw. Ash no longer felt the attacks. Either his fur was blocking and
protecting his skin like it was supposed to, or he was going numb and would soon lose the challenge.
He had to end this. Ash opened his mouth wide and came down hard, intending to put his teeth
around the stupid alpha’s neck and force him to concede.
Even with the limited space in which he could move, Vince still managed to duck his head out of
the way of Ash’s coming bite, and when Ash slammed his nose into the dirt, white flashed in front of
his eyes.
And a whole lot of pain flared in his teeth and nose, too.
Vince used that to his advantage and grabbed Ash by his massive bear shoulders, his claws
digging through the fur and puncturing his skin.
Ash cried out again as he was flipped over and put on his back.
The world was spinning around him, and there were two Vinces on top of him, their claws
coming down and tearing at Ash’s face and body.
He didn’t feel those either, and he knew that wasn’t a good thing.
Vince was going to kill him. It would serve Ash right. He’d asked for this challenge, and despite
the reassurances he’d given to David, he’d known that there would be a good chance he wouldn’t
return from this fight.
David.
Roarke and Damian wouldn’t be able to punish Vince for killing Ash. Vince had been right. This
was legal, but they would have to try something else to make sure that the man didn’t go after anyone
in the pack again, and who was to say that Vince would leave it at that.
He was already in luna form, and neither Roarke nor Damian could shift right now without
drawing Vince’s suspicions. He would have the advantage on them, and when they told him that they
had no intention of letting him take David, and that the challenge had been issued purely for the sake
of the fight, there was no way this guy was going to let that stand.
He was going to go after David, and he was going to kill everyone who got in his way.
Ash was not about to let that happen.
Ash lunged. It was almost as if just thinking about David was giving him the strength he needed
to fight and survive, like his mate was actually there, touching him and giving his energy when Ash
needed it the most.
This time Vince wasn’t so fast. He was too busy mutilating Ash’s face to realize what was going
on before it was too late, and he got an up-close look at just how big Ash’s teeth were.
It was over so fast there was hardly any satisfaction in it, but it was over. Vince didn’t go limp
because he was showing his submission to a stronger shifter, but because he was dead.
Ash quickly spat the man out, hating the taste of fur and Vince in general, and as the dead body
fell heavily onto the ground, Ash’s body started to work once more.
And it was screaming at him that it was in a lot of pain.
He released a groan as he turned over. There was blood all over the place. His face felt wet
with it. Damn. David was going to have a fit when he saw him again.
Roarke and Damian rushed toward him. Ash was already in the middle of shifting back into his
human form, hoping that the change would heal up some of his wounds so that he wouldn’t look too
much like Freddy Kruger had gone after him.
He barely felt better when he was on his two feet instead of clawed paws.
“Easy now, easy,” Roarke said, grabbing his arm just as the world started to tilt and he nearly
fell on his ass. “You did it. He’s gone,” Roarke said.
Ash looked down to the body. It would stay in luna form, it seemed. It was showing no signs of
changing back into a human man, which was known to happen on occasion. Damian was sneering at
the body, looking very much like he wanted to kick it a few times before lighting it on fire.
That would be something Ash might enjoy seeing.
“What do we do about him?” he asked, nodding to Vince. God, his tongue felt incredibly
swollen.
“We’ll have to come back for him. You’re going to need some bandages and disinfectant on
those before they scar,” Roarke said. “Damian, come get his other arm.”
“I can walk on my own,” Ash insisted, but his voice continued to sound slurred even to his own
ears.
“Yeah right,” Roarke said with a chuckle, and together they all walked back to the house.
Chapter Eleven
It seemed to take forever before they got back home, and the worst part was how grim
everything was.
All heads turned up to look at Ash’s face, and there were even several winces, but it was
Stephan and Maddox who rushed toward them, complete and total panic in their eyes.
Ash could sense their fear from all the way across the property, and apparently Roarke could,
too, because he let go of Ash’s arm and ran to his men, looking very much like he was expecting to
hear news of an attack that had gone down while he was away.
Couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
“What happened?” Roarke asked.
Maddox’s face was a little green when he spoke. “Westley went into labor. Jason’s in there with
him, cutting him open. You might want to get in there.”
Ash didn’t think he’d ever seen the man run so fast before.
He looked around, but he didn’t see David anywhere, which meant that his mate could only be in
one place.
In the birthing room with Westley. Ash had learned that, while it wasn’t necessary to have
another omega in the room while the birth was taking place, it did help to comfort the omega who was
about to have the baby.
He’d been asking Roarke and Westley those types of questions ever since the discovery that
David was carrying his cub.
This might be a good thing. Ash looked at Damian. “You think you can get me a first-aid kit?” he
asked, his tongue a little less swollen than it had been an hour ago.
Damian seemed to understand Ash’s need to not appear before his mate covered in blood, cuts,
and bruises, so the man took him inside the house and brought him to one of the bathrooms.
Everyone else who didn’t need to be inside was staying outside, away from the sound of
screaming. Brian, Lucas, everyone, and they all looked like they were having sympathy pains.
Ash shivered at that. Was the birthing really that painful? All he knew about it was that an alpha
luna had to shift into his luna form and make a cut along the pregnant omega’s stomach in order to get
the infant out. He’d heard that and assumed it would be a simple thing.
Now he wasn’t exactly looking forward to the day when his own son would be born.
Damian fixed him up well enough and brought him some clean clothes to change into, and by the
time the other alpha took off to go and spend time at Warren’s bedside again, Ash was feeling a little
more like a shifter instead of an animal.
The screams had stopped, and the house was silent by the time he exited the bathroom, wearing
enough bandages to make him look almost like a mummy.
He hadn’t bothered looking at himself in the mirror before Damian had cleaned his wounds, and
considering all the wraps that were on him, he was glad he’d made that decision.
Then there was the small cry of an infant.
One of the alphas, in his luna form, walked down the hall, blood on one of his clawed hands,
and his bushy tail swinging behind him in agitation.
After killing a creature as powerful at that, it made Ash stop in his tracks to see one walking
through the house so casually.
It was Jason. Ash could tell because of all the time he’d spent with this pack. The luna wolf
nodded at him and then continued on his way before he got outside.
Weird.
Then more soft footsteps sounded from behind him. “Jesus Christ, Ash, are you okay?”
David’s voice. It was exactly what Ash had been hoping to hear.
He turned around, giving his mate the full view of what had been done to him, and by the
horrified look on David’s face, Ash knew that his decision to get cleaned up before presenting
himself had been a good one.
“Are you okay?” David asked again, clearly rattled as he gently touched all of Ash’s bandages,
as though he wanted to make sure they were real and not some figment of his imagination.
“I am now. How are you doing?” Ash asked.
“Scared shitless now. I hope the pup stays in here forever and is never born,” David said.
He was looking a little pale. Guess watching a luna werewolf cut open Westley hadn’t been the
highlight of his day.
Still, Ash was feeling in a good mood after the victory he’d just had, and he couldn’t help but
smile, even though it pulled at his cuts beneath the bandages and stung like a bitch.
“You’re not going to be saying that when you get to be bigger,” Ash said, and he pulled his mate
close, wrapping his arms around David’s shoulders so he could put his face in the crook of David’s
neck.
He had to bend down a bit to do that, which also pulled at his cuts and bandages, but it was
worth it just to feel his mate alive and well in his arms, breathe in the man’s scent, and feel his energy
and spirit.
David held him back, and there was a certain peace to the sigh that he released. “I’m so happy
you’re back,” he said.
“Sorry I made you worry.”
David blew out a laugh, his warm breath ghosting over Ash’s heart. “Well, I hate to admit this to
you, but after Westley went into labor and I got pulled into the birthing room with him and Jason, I
damn near forgot all about you.” David shivered. “God, it’s great that the pup is finally here, and it is
the miracle of life and all that, but it was so gross and it looked like it hurt so much.”
“It sounded like it hurt, too,” Ash said, some of his worry for David’s condition coming back to
him.
“Apparently that’s normal,” David muttered, not sounding too happy about that. “My hand is
killing me.”
It took Ash a second to realize just why his hand would be hurting at all, and when that clicked
into place, Ash laughed out loud.
“So Vince is gone?” David asked.
Ash hadn’t expected there to be a happy gleam in the man’s eyes at that news, and there wasn’t
any.
“He’s gone. We’re going to have to go back and take care of the body. We couldn’t do anything
with it right away because of my injuries,” Ash admitted.
David nodded solemnly, his cheek pressing against Ash’s chest.
Ash rubbed his mate’s back. “I’m sorry it came to that,” he said, and he really meant it.
Vince had apparently been the sort of mate that was dangerous to cross, and even though he had
become violent in the end toward David, even going so far as to attack him, Ash knew that David
would still be mourning the loss of the man he’d wanted Vince to be.
They’d been mates for years, after all, and David was too kind a soul to hate someone he’d been
with for that long, even though he might say he did on occasion.
“Can I take you to bed?” David asked.
Ash’s body immediately lit up, his cock reacting, already pulsing and needy with the urge to fuck
and merge his spirit and energy with David.
David felt Ash’s erection pressing against his hip, and he smiled and swatted Ash on the
shoulder, thankfully missing one of the bandages.
“I meant I was going to put you to bed to take care of you. Broth and a back rub or something.”
“Sex is taking care of me,” Ash insisted. “You can give me the strength I need to heal faster.”
Ash could already smell that his mate was interested, but David was playing coy as he smiled in
a way that managed to be both seductive and suspicious at the same time.
This was good. Ash could feel David’s spirit lifting already. He was going to be fine. These
horrible few weeks with Vince were soon going to be in their rearview mirror, and they could both
get on with their lives.
“You sure you’re up for that?”
Ash wasn’t sure if David meant for the pun, but he took David by the wrist and put his hand over
Ash’s hard cock, which was straining against the metal zipper of the clean jeans he was wearing.
Soon they wouldn’t be clean at all if he couldn’t get out of them in time.
“I’m up for anything,” Ash said, and then he thought about that for a few seconds. “It would be
nice to see you riding on my cock though. That’s always a pretty sight.”
“And it will be my responsibility to make sure you don’t overtax yourself when we’re fucking,”
David said.
“Exactly,” Ash said, and then he went willingly when David began pulling him toward their
room.
They were just going to have to be careful to not make too much noise. They had to be sensitive
to the fact that there was now a small infant in the house.
Chapter Twelve
Damian was stunned by the cool breeze that met him when he walked into Warren’s bedroom.
The window was open and more fresh flowers had been put on the nightstand, but even better
than that, Warren was awake, and he was sitting up in his bed, an open book lying down on his
blankets while he ate from a tray that had a sandwich, soup, and a glass of milk on top.
Damian hadn’t been expecting him to still be awake. He would’ve knocked, had he known,
instead of just barging in. Now they were both staring at each other, acting like deer shifters who
were stuck in the headlights of an oncoming truck.
The urge to leave was running strong through his body, but Damian held his ground. “I, uh, didn’t
know you were up,” he said, and he ran his hand through his hair.
God, he was such an idiot.
Not only up, but apparently strong enough to lift his tray and set it aside on the nightstand.
“How are you?” Warren asked.
Seriously? “You were the one who was attacked,” Damian said.
Warren blushed. There were still fading red lines on his face, but he was still gorgeous as hell.
Damian hoped that he wouldn’t scar, not because that would have any effect on his feelings for the
man, but because he didn’t want Warren to have that reminder of what he’d been through.
“Right,” Warren said. “I heard you came to visit me a couple of times.”
Shit. Who had told him that? Well, there was nothing to do about it now but figure out how much
the other man knew.
He smelled so damn good.
“You’re still on bed rest?” Damian asked, noting the obvious.
“Yeah. I was talking with Westley before he went into labor, and he and the others think it’s best
if I stay in bed for another day or two. I was allowed to get up and have a shower though, which was
great.”
That explained the scent of vanilla shampoo.
Damian came closer into the room and set himself down on one of the chairs that was still
beside Warren’s bed. He had to touch the man. Even if it would only be once and Warren rejected
him, saying there was nothing there.
He reached for the man’s hand. Warren jerked a little, but he didn’t pull away at the touch.
Warren’s hand was soft. Damian wanted to hang on to it forever. Better still, he wanted to go back in
time and go with him and David on that walk that had nearly ended with his death so that he could
protect the man.
Warren stared down at their hands, noting the way Damian had laced their fingers together
before he looked up and into his eyes.
His nose was flaring as he inhaled, taking in Damian’s scent. Would he notice the mating scent?
Was he feeling this, too?
“You?” Warren asked, confirming everything that Damian had been hoping for.
“Yeah, me,” Damian said.
Warren’s eyes became just a little brighter. “I thought I was just kidding myself after I didn’t
catch the scent again. I thought it couldn’t be the mating scent, and I tried to make myself forget about
it. Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“I didn’t know that I could have another mate,” Damian admitted. It occurred to him that, despite
traveling together with Ash to get to this place, and being in close proximity to Warren why they were
on the road, and even when they made it to this house, that he didn’t know much about the other man,
and Warren knew almost nothing about him.
“My last mate was killed by hunters. I didn’t think it was possible to mate again, and just in case
you didn’t feel the same, or were interested in someone else, I wanted to leave you alone.”
There was so much more to it than that. It was also the mild betrayal he felt he was doing to his
deceased love by falling for someone else. If he’d really and truly loved his mate, then how could
nature pick someone else for him?
He was done with that now. He didn’t know how easy it would be to move on, but after almost
losing Warren, too, he wanted to give it a try.
“I’m so sorry for what happened,” Warren said, “but I’m glad you’re finally telling me. To be
honest, I was starting to think Maddox had been the one to give off the mating scent to me.”
“Maddox?” Damian sputtered. He was going to kill that bastard!
Warren laughed and pulled Damian forward for their first kiss, and all the anger melted out of
him as he was completely consumed by the soft feeling of Warren’s lips, and his energy and strength.
This was going to be interesting.
* * * *
David was all too eager to get his mate back inside of the confines of their bedroom. He all but
slammed the door before remembering that he shouldn’t be that loud, but it was too late, so he just
locked it and immediately began attacking Ash’s clothes.
Ash was laughing as the button-down shirt he was wearing was pulled from his shoulders, and
then David began working on the belt to his pants.
He only had to be careful of the bandages that his mate was still wearing. He didn’t want to
irritate any of the wounds or scrape his hands too roughly across the wraps.
“You’re eager,” Ash said. His face was bandaged up, but he looked like the picture of
happiness.
“You’d better believe I am,” David said, still fully clothed as he brought his mate over to the
bed.
When Ash sat down on the mattress, his cock bobbed up, hard and at a slight curve toward his
belly button.
David couldn’t resist getting onto his knees in front of his mate, putting his lips around the head,
and sinking his mouth down onto Ash’s dick.
He felt the shiver that passed through Ash’s body, and he could even feel the man’s heart beat
through his cock as David ducked on him, going back and forth, taking the man as deep as he could go.
Ash sucked in a shaking breath. “Y–you know, maybe I’ll challenge more alphas if it means this
is the reward I come home to,” he said.
It was hard for David to glare up at his mate, but he knew that Ash was joking, so he kept right
on going.
Ash put his hand on the back of David’s head, pushing him down a little farther and thrusting his
hips a little more, trying to get David to take in more of him.
David actually managed to do it. He sank down farther than he ever had before, to the point
where the tip of Ash’s cock was touching the back of his throat.
He’d never been able to do that before, but even then Ash’s cock was still so big that he wasn’t
fully submerged into David’s mouth.
He wasn’t complaining about it either, though, as he moaned and thrust back and forth.
“Yeah, I love feeling your tongue on my cock. You look so pretty when I fuck your mouth,” Ash
said.
“I love it when you talk like that to me,” David said through their mental link.
“All–all right,” Ash said, and then he kept right on speaking. “The look of my dick sliding in and
out of your mouth is so fucking hot. I’m going to come down your throat and...and...fuck, I don’t know
what else to say!”
David managed a chuckle even as he was busy sucking on his mate’s dick, and Ash’s hands left
David’s hair to grip at Ash’s own hair as he fell on his back while David continued to work.
That was fine with him. He liked making his mate go wild like this, and he loved the feel of his
dick sliding back and forth between his lips.
But he was going to be a little cruel about this, too. He didn’t want Ash to come on his tongue.
He wanted his mate to come deep inside of his ass.
Ash’s head whipped up when David pulled his mouth away, and though he shivered again when
David pressed his tongue to the slit of the head of his dick, licking away the drop of pre-cum that had
formed there, he spoke up when David began climbing onto the bed.
“Aren’t you going to—”
“I’m going to finish you off with your cock in my ass,” David said, and he pulled the lube out
from what had become its usual place in the nightstand drawer.
Ash shivered when David slathered it onto his cock, but he didn’t stroke him like he usually did.
“Let me see you touch yourself,” David demanded. “Put your hand on your cock.”
Ash did as he was told. Sometimes David got a real high from the fact that he could order
around this big man in bed, and Ash would totally let him get away with it. Ash seemed to love it
when David told him what to do.
The man’s black eyes rolled to the back of his head as he wrapped his thick fingers around his
dick. He must’ve been aching by now if the dark color of his cock and balls were anything to go by,
but the sound of his satisfied groan as he stroked his dick, thrusting into his hand, went straight to
David’s cock.
The building pressure in his cock and balls, and right behind his belly, was almost too much, but
he enjoyed teasing himself by watching this incredible show, forcing his hands to not touch himself
the same way that Ash was, because he knew he could make it that much better if he just watched a
little more.
Ash eventually opened his eyes and took note of the way David was watching him, on his hands
and knees, not moving.
“You look ready to pounce,” he said, his voice soft and throaty.
“That’s a cat thing,” David said without thinking. Then he laughed a little. “I guess watching you
makes me want to spring.”
“I wouldn’t mind it if you did that,” Ash said, a wicked grin on his lips that showed off his white
teeth.
“I think I’ll watch you a little more, and then afterward you can get me ready for when you put
your huge cock in my ass.”
David could actually smell the blood rushing to Ash’s face as he blushed. He didn’t think his
mate would have any blood to spare considering so much of it had gone to his dick.
Apparently his words had also brought out a reaction to that part of his body since Ash cursed
and gripped the base of his cock a little harder, reaching down to even cup his balls as well in an
effort to keep from coming.
“Jesus!” Ash said, wetting his lips and squeezing his eyes shut.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” David said, and he just had to put his hands around Ash’s slick
cock, stroking the thick column of it and feeling the protruding veins that traveled up it.
“If you keep doing that, there’s no way I’m going to be able to keep from coming,” Ash said.
David believed him. “All right,” he said. “Maybe we can focus on something else then.”
David rolled onto his back and beckoned his mate to climb on top of him.
Ash did, that wicked smile back on his face, but David stopped him when he felt Ash’s hands try
to spread his thighs apart.
“Not yet,” David said, and he began pushing down on David’s shoulders. “Put my cock into your
mouth. Do to me what I just did to you.”
Even before he was done speaking, Ash was eagerly shimmying down David’s body, and his
large hand, which still had some lube on it, gripped and gently twisted around the base of David’s
cock.
Oh! That felt really nice. David’s toes curled, and he arched his back, gripping the bedsheets as
he moaned out loud. “That’s good. Do it,” he said, and he looked down just in time to watch Ash’s
pink tongue darting out of his mouth and licking at the underside of the head of David’s dick, playing
with the little slip of skin that ran from the head to the base.
David’s hands reached down and his fingers carded through that black hair of his mate’s. “Stop
teasing me. Please put it in your mouth. Suck on it,” David begged.
Even to his own ears it sounded like he hadn’t come in several years and would die if he was
denied it.
Ash didn’t go down on him right away. In fact that mouth of his pulled back a little as he smiled
up at David. “You know, I hear that pregnancy can have this sort of effect on sexual hormones.”
“That’s really interesting. Please put my cock in your mouth now.”
Ash burst out laughing, but then he did as David begged him to and wrapped his wet lips around
the head of David’s prick, and he slowly sank down, deep-throating David in just the way he needed
but what David also couldn’t do to him.
“Oh!” he cried out, and he gripped his own hair so tightly that he was pretty sure he was running
the risk of tearing it right out.
Ash’s mouth was strong, and he made a point to prove just how well he could do this every time
he put David’s cock inside of his mouth. There was so much pressure pulling back on his cock it was
like a machine was at work instead of a man.
Of course, that would be too funny, although he was pretty sure that Ash would take that as a
compliment.
“That’s good, just like that,” David said, his hips canting back and forth. He lifted his leg and
put it up onto Ash’s shoulder, spreading his thighs enough to allow the man to get comfortable closer
to what he was doing.
“Stretch me,” David said. “Put your fingers in my ass while you’re doing that.”
Once again, Ash showed his willingness to obey orders in bed by doing as David said without
question. He had to pull his mouth away from David’s cock for a few torturous seconds to reach for
the bottle of lube again and coat his fingers, but then he opened his mouth again and was back where
David so desperately wanted him to be.
He kept his lips tight as he bobbed his head back and forth, and then David felt that wonderful
sensation of Ash’s blunt fingers pressing up against his hole, pushing inside.
David had to force himself to relax, but he was used to this by now and knew how to make this
go along as fast and smoothly as possible while still getting the most pleasure out of it that he could.
Ash’s middle finger went in first, and David humped wantonly against it and the mouth that was
busy riding his cock.
Then Ash added another of his thick fingers, stretching David wide open before hooking them
inside and finding his prostate.
Now David had to take a page out of his mate’s book and hold on to the base of his cock just to
keep from shooting his load all over his stomach, because if he let go that pleasurable orgasmic rush
was going to come onto him, and there wouldn’t be any stopping it.
“You like that, don’t you,” Ash said. He was always a little full of himself with alpha pride
whenever he had a good hold on David’s prostate like this. “Tell me how it feels.”
Like David could properly speak at the moment. “It f–feels pretty damn good.”
“Good,” Ash said, and then he thrust his fingers even deeper inside of David’s asshole,
slamming into his prostate.
The effect was akin to if Ash was holding the puppet strings to David’s body and jerking on
them. David’s spine moved into a half circle, and his muscles became tight. He couldn’t stop moaning
even if he wanted to.
“Fuck me!” David demanded. “Now, I need it. Put your cock inside me.”
He didn’t want Ash’s fingers anymore. He wanted to feel his cock. Better still, he wanted that
exchange of energy and spirit that he desperately craved from a mate. He wanted to feel that Ash was
really alive and whole on top of him, even though that made no sense because he could plainly see
that the man was. He was right there with him.
That had been exactly what Ash had been waiting for, and he eased his fingers out of David’s
stretched hole before reaching for the lube one more time and coating his cock with the stuff in a real
hurry.
It was strange the things David did and didn’t notice when he was in the throes of lust, like the
thin sheen of sweat that was on Ash’s forehead. Actually, it was on the rest of his body, too, and his
hands were trembling as he coated his dick with more lube. David might not have even noticed that
detail if Ash hadn’t put his hand on David’s knee, and David felt the tremors.
Then David moaned out loud when he felt the thick and blunt head of Ash’s cock pressing
against his hole. He loved that feeling, the anticipation that came right before Ash thrust his cock
inside and—oh!
The burning slide was always the best. Ash was taking his time. He always did, but David got
the impression that today he was being extra careful due to his injuries, and David wanted to make
sure that his mate, his mate that he loved so much and wanted only good things for, didn’t hurt himself
while they were doing this.
Ash pushed his cock inside, keeping to his slow but steady rhythm, and David felt so full he
thought he was going to burst, but that wasn’t going to happen.
“You’re so damn tight,” Ash said, and then he grunted as he was finally balls deep inside of
David’s body. “Fuck.”
“You’re just as big as an elephant,” David said, his breath panting, which was strange because
they’d barely just gotten started.
Ash’s warm breath puffed over David’s shoulder when he laughed. “If I was an elephant shifter,
I don’t think you and I could be doing this.”
He had a point there.
David lifted his knees, looking down Ash’s body to make sure that when he crossed his ankles
around Ash’s hips, it wasn’t over one of the bandages.
Then he gently moved some of Ash’s black hair out of his eyes before pressing a kiss to his face.
“Fuck me,” he said.
Ash did.
His eyes weren’t really black, but just an incredible dark shade of brown, but it was hard to tell
that unless David was in the position he was now, staring so closely at them.
It was harder still to see how they dilated with lust as the man’s body began moving back and
forth, his cock touching everything and everywhere inside of David’s asshole as it moved in within
him.
It stretched him wide open before retreating, back and forth, constantly touching his prostate but
never staying long enough to make him come like he wanted to.
Ash rolled his hips then and moved faster. “You close?” he asked, grunting the words.
“Y–yeah,” David said, stroking his cock, eager to come, but at the same time knowing how much
better it would be if he held off a little longer.
“You’re mine,” Ash said. “Just you and me. No one else will be coming for us.”
“You and me,” David agreed, and then he threw his head back into the mattress, loving the feel
of Ash’s weight pressing him down onto the sheets as he fucked the ever-loving hell out of him.
“Ash!” David reached out to touch his mate.
He must have gripped his shoulder somewhere, or even his legs, where there was a bandage,
and Ash abruptly hissed and stilled on top of him.
“Fuck,” he said.
“I’m sorry!” David said quickly, noting the pain that his mate was trying to hide.
“It’s okay,” he said quickly. “Just give me a minute.”
David did, but he then began looking at Ash’s bandages to make sure that there wasn’t any blood
seeping through them.
Everything appeared fine, and then Ash blew out a breath and smiled at him. “Let’s start over.”
His cock was still hard and pulsing inside of David’s ass, so he knew his mate wasn’t
pretending to still be interested in sex.
Maybe it was impossible for an alpha shifter to pretend something like that because they really
did only want sex.
“Yeah,” David agreed, and then he pushed at Ash’s shoulder just enough so that the larger man
got the hint and turned over, putting David on top.
Ash grinned up at him. “I think I like this position.”
“Sit back and enjoy,” David said as he began rising and falling up from his knees, always
making sure that Ash’s long cock stayed inside of him.
It was no time at all before he was on the brink again, and from the way Ash was bucking and
gripping at David’s hips, the same could be said for him.
Ash’s fingertips digging into David’s hips might have been painful, if David wasn’t so busy
feeling so damn good about what he was doing.
There was no point in holding out anymore. He had to come. He was coming right now.
David reached for his cock and began stroking the length of his dick quickly as he bounced up
and down on Ash’s erection. His asshole tightened around Ash’s cock, and he could feel the man’s
warm cum shooting into him, filling him and touching his prostate with each downward thrust of his
hips.
“Come on me. Do it,” Ash said.
He hoped that was what the man was saying because that was what David was doing. His cum
coating the ripples of Ash’s six-pack.
It took so much more energy than David had just to keep himself upright and from collapsing on
Ash’s chest, but he was still wary of the bandages and the wounds that were healing beneath.
Ash was having none of that, however, and he held his arms out to David. “Come here.”
David gratefully sank into his mate’s warm embrace, and the love and energy he felt through the
touch of the bear shifter was so much, so comforting.
How would he have survived without it?
“Do me a favor?” David asked.
Ash looked down at him where David was tucked against his side.
David looked up at him. “Don’t pick a fight you know you won’t win.”
He was so scared that one day Ash might feel he had to challenge someone because his honor
had been offended, or because he felt that he had to in order to protect David, but David just wanted
him alive and beside him.
Ash kissed his forehead. “Don’t worry. You’re effectively stuck with me for the rest of your
life.”
THE END
MARCYJACKS.COM
TWITTER: @MARCY_JACKS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marcy Jacks lives and works in Ontario, Canada, where she is fervently pursuing the writer’s
life while writing about lots of gorgeous guys. She loves hearing from readers, and you can reach her
at
For all titles by Marcy Jacks, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/marcy-jacks
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Document Outline
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six
- Chapter Seven
- Chapter Eight
- Chapter Nine
- Chapter Ten
- Chapter Eleven
- Chapter Twelve
- About the Author
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