Joyee Flynn Midnight Matings 12 Fur and Flightless

Midnight Matings

Fur and Flightless

The Gathering is called. The spell is cast. There is no escaping the
Midnight Matings.

The chaos of the Midnight Matings continues. Everyone attending
the UPAC Conference has twenty-four hours to claim a mate of a
different species or risk going feral. Here Lys finds himself bitten

by a werewolf who has mistaken him for a woman. Something
that, regrettably, can’t be undone.

Lys Wolf is a penguin shifter whose mechanical genius brought
him wealth but not respect from his family. All he wants is to meet

a mate that will cherish him for who he is.

Rip Corbin is an Alpha werewolf whose dominant ways make it

difficult for him to empathize with others. Also, he has always
believed himself to be straight. All of this makes it difficult for him
to accept Lys as his new mate.

Will Rip be able to move past his problems and be a true mate, or
will Lys find a way to end their bond forever?

Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Shape-shifter,
Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 35,783 words

FUR AND FLIGHTLESS

Midnight Matings

Joyee Flynn

EROTIC ROMANCE

MANLOVE

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance ManLove

FUR AND FLIGHTLESS
Copyright © 2011 by Joyee Flynn
E-book ISBN: 1-61034-822-2

First E-book Publication: September 2011

Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be
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express written permission.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance
to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com

Letter to Readers

Dear Readers,

If you have purchased this copy of Fur and Flightless by Joyee Flynn
from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also,
thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

Regarding E-book Piracy

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DEDICATION

To Gabrielle Evans: Who laughed every time I said I wanted to do

a penguin. If we made one more Happy Feet joke the men in white
jackets would have come to take us away.

FUR AND FLIGHTLESS

Midnight Matings

JOYEE FLYNN

Chapter 1

Lysander

“Blah, blah, blah, blah-dee da,” the Elders rambled on. I internally

groaned and wondered if they realized they sounded like the mom in
Charlie Brown. The things I did to avoid the blind dates my parents
set up for me. I swear! How many people traveled all the way to
Scotland for a boring UPAC conference to ditch a setup? Yeah, but
that was how badly the dates normally went, so this was worth it
really.

Even if I was at the last one. But, on the bright side, I was

attending my one per decade and wouldn’t have to worry about next
conference. I’d try sitting my parents down again and explaining I
was gay if I thought it would do any good. Each time they looked
further down their noses at me and doubled their efforts to get me
married off. I wondered if they offered anyone a goat for me?

I heard several gasps around me. Shit! Maybe I should be paying

attention?

“Now, children, good luck. We expect to see each of you in

twenty-four hours. May your hunt be successful.” The Elder had a
little smirk on his face as they all turned and left the stage.

Fur and Flightless

Hunt? Damn my ADD tendencies!
“You’ll do, sweetheart,” a voice growled over my shoulder and

wrapped an arm around my waist. “I like a woman with some junk in
her trunk.”

“Hey!” I yelled and went to turn around to blast him. I wasn’t sure

if I was more upset he thought I was a woman, which actually
happened way too often, or that he basically said I had a fat ass!

He grabbed a handful of my long black hair and roughly pulled

my head to the side. Before I could yell, fight, or do anything as I was
plastered to the mammoth chest behind me…the fucker sank his
canines in my neck. I cried out and came in my jeans as fast as
someone snapping their fingers. Oh goodie, this just kept getting
better and better!

“Baby, I’m going to take you places you never dreamed existed,”

the massive man purred as he licked his bite closed. “You’re a lucky
woman.”

“Charming,” I mumbled and elbowed him in the gut as I stomped

on his foot.

“Oh, I like feisty,” he chuckled. The asshole actually laughed like

I was prey! Okay, so I was a prey animal, but that was beside the
point.

“Un-fucking-real,” a guy in front of us laughed, his face bright red

as he grabbed his side.

“What’s your issue, Jensen?” my douche-bag suitor snarled.
“Mr. Homophobe claimed a man,” his friend said and then burst

into peals of laughter.

“What!” my attacker bellowed and spun me around. “You’re not a

girl. You looked like a girl. Hell, you smell like a girl. You have long
girly hair and a ghetto booty. You’re not a girl. How can you not be a
girl? How the fuck are you not a girl? I can’t mate a fag!”

“Charming,” I hissed, shaking with anger, rage…and hurt. I didn’t

care if he was six-five, ripped, dark, and handsome, I was out of there.

Joyee Flynn

Quicker than he could follow I pulled the dagger my grandfather gave
me long ago out of my boot and cut his arm. He let me go, and I ran.

“Well you better go get him,” Jensen said firmly. “You’ve already

bitten him. You won’t get another mate now that you started the
claiming process on one. Alpha—”

I tuned out then. Great, he was an Alpha, and if I had to guess

from all the growling, I’d have said wolf. Yeah, mating him would be
the death of me, literally. Prey birdies weren’t known to last long with
predators.

It took forever to get out of the ballroom. I was dodging and

weaving every asshole and bitch on the planet whose motto was take
what you want before someone can say no. Kind of like the guy who
bit me. Finally I changed direction and moved over along the far wall.
I slipped the dagger into the small sheath I had strapped to my back
and shifted. I hid my clothes behind some gaudy curtain and glanced
around.

There! On the floor someone had spilled a drink. That would

work. I dove onto the puddle, and it propelled me against the nicely
waxed ballroom floor.

“Is that a bunny?” some guy asked as I slid between his legs.

“And was that a fucking penguin? What did they put in those drinks?”

Drinks? Right, the toast they gave out. I drank it. Was that what

this was all about? Fucking Elders!

“Alpha! The bird by the door has that dagger,” Jensen called out.
“Bird?” my suitor groaned. “Just keeps getting better and better.”
“Go fuck yourself,” I yelled over my shoulder. Though it came

out in a series of squawks, the cool thing about being a bird was any
paranormal could understand us when we weren’t in human form, and
there were no language barriers. I finally hit the door and jumped to
my feet. I waddled faster than I ever thought possible.

I heard them coming. I ran as quickly as my little webbed feet

would carry me and was almost to the door of the bird shifters’ wing
when the footsteps pounded closer to me.

Fur and Flightless

“You will learn who’s the boss, bird,” the Alpha snarled as he

snagged my wing and swooped me up into his arms.

“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear? Fuck. You.” I shifted back,

and he almost dropped me to adjust to the weight difference. I took
the advantage and decked him…and cried out in pain. Holy fuck, his
jaw was like hitting brick.

Trying option B, I changed back into a penguin and slid through

his hands.

“He’s a wily little guy,” Jensen chuckled.
“I had a whole other adjective ready to say,” the Alpha replied and

scooped me right back up. “Let’s go register our mating.”

“Oh hell no, fucker,” I shouted and doubled my efforts to fight.

“I’m not getting stuck with some asshole wolf because you have
control issues and need glasses!”

“You think I’m any happier about it?” He snarled in my face with

such rage I froze in fear. “You think I wanted some fucking twink
who looks like a chick? A damn bird? I’m an Alpha werewolf for
fuck’s sake. I deserve better than you!”

“Rip,” Jensen gasped and glanced between the two of us. “For

godsakes, Alpha! This isn’t his fault.”

“No, it’s better to speak the truth between mates,” I said

sarcastically, pulling my mental and emotional walls around me
tightly. Otherwise his words, coming from my mate, would have
crushed me forever. “I need to know who I’m dealing with up front.”

“Whatever.” The Alpha rolled his eyes and led everyone back to

the ballroom with me in his arms. “You’ll be treated like a queen at
my estate and have your own room. I’m not sharing my bed with a
man. You can have as many toys as you want while I still look for an
Alpha female to help rule the pack at my side.”

“Rip!” Jensen growled. “You’re being a prick, even for you.”
I didn’t say anything and neither did my mate, Rip, I guess his

name was. Just as we got to the stage, the Elders filed onto it from
some back door I couldn’t see. There were several unhappy mating

Joyee Flynn

prospects already fighting with some of the Elders. And then I saw
my only chance for salvation, even if that chance hated me with a
passion.

“Elder Morton!” I called out and leapt from my mate’s arms. He’d

loosened his hold when I’d been behaving and stopped struggling.
And I was thanking his stupidity. I shifted back and leapt over the
table blocking us from the Elders, landing at his side. “Elder Morton,
you have to help me.”

“I don’t have to do anything, penguin,” he sneered at me. Yeah,

look down upon the flightless bird. Because he was oh-so-impressive
as a DOVE!

“Please, Elder Morton,” I begged and fell to my knees. “You were

a friend of my grandfather, and I plead with you for sanctuary. This
man has claimed me against my will and thought I was a woman.
Please don’t let him mate me! He wants to have a wife on the side and
banish me to the tower. I didn’t do anything to deserve that.”

“On the contrary, Lysander, I find it fitting. If you’d ever act like

a man, then no one would mistake you for a woman! Your
grandfather, gods rest his soul, would roll over in his grave if he saw
the way you turned out.”

“That’s not true,” I whispered as tears formed in my eyes. I’m

sure that would be another strike against my manliness, too. “He
loved me for who I was, always. If they bring me among a pack of
wolves, you know I won’t survive. I’m prey. One of them will eat me
within a week.”

“Sounds like win-win to me,” Elder Morton said with a wicked

smirk and then turned to my betrothed.

“Dead wasn’t what I had planned really,” Rip replied slowly as if

considering it.

“No!” Jensen snarled and stormed over to us. “You can’t send one

of your own to his death to live with the wolves, literally. Or if you
do, give him to someone who would want him.”

Fur and Flightless

“Like who?” Elder Morton asked as he eyed me over. It was

obvious by the look of disgust on his face that whatever he’d been
looking for I didn’t have.

“Me. I want the penguin,” Jensen answered firmly.
“You want to take my mate!” Rip hollered and shoved his friend.

“You’re my Beta.”

“Now he’s your mate? You don’t want him! You want to cheat on

him and ignore him because you were an idiot and weren’t paying
attention. What? Long hair and he’s a girl? He’s gorgeous and all
man, but you missed that, Rip!”

“You think I’m gorgeous?” I whispered as my face heated up. I’d

never had anyone say that about me before, and I wanted more.

“Yes, little birdie,” Jensen answered gently as he turned to me and

cupped my cheek. “I would be honored to have you as my mate.”

“Okay,” I purred with a rumble in my chest as I rubbed against his

hand. “I’m all yours.”

“No! I already bit him. The effects won’t wear off for me to claim

another before the twenty-four hours is up. He’s what I’ve got, or I go
feral.”

“Then go feral!” I cried out and spun around to confront him.

Then I pulled the dagger out and handed it to him hilt first. “Or just
kill me now. You take me among the wolves, and don’t care about my
safety, I’m as good as dead. And I’d rather be than live with what you
offered me. I deserve better than this!”

“No. You don’t,” Elder Morton said firmly. “Record the mating of

Lysander Wolf and Alpha Ripley Corbin.”

“No!” Jensen and I screamed at the same time. And then I

screamed for a whole other reason. The mating seal magically burned
into the center of my chest. I heard a matching, but quieter, sound
from the Alpha as I dropped to my knees.

When it was over, I was looking at Jensen, who was mopping up

my tears as his own formed in his eyes.

Joyee Flynn

“Don’t touch my mate,” Rip snarled and pushed Jensen away but

made no move to take over himself.

“I’ve loved you like a brother my whole life, Rip. I’ve served

under you willingly and always had your best interests in the front of
my mind,” Jensen said calmly and evenly as he got to his feet. “But if
you do not treat your mate as a mate even though he’s a man, I will
challenge you, win, and take him for my own.”

“What?” Rip and several from his entourage gasped.
“If you mistreat the gift you were given of a mate, then you are

not fit to lead. You picked him, so you have no one to blame but
yourself and certainly not the bird. You should be begging for
forgiveness instead of treating him like dirt, and I’m ashamed to call
you my friend. So either you pull your head out of your ass and start
acting like the man I know, or I’ll take over the pack.”

“You could never beat me in a fight,” Rip snarled as he yanked

me to my feet. “Put the dagger away.”

I hadn’t even realized I still had it in my hand and slipped it in its

sheath. It was then, after my panic faded and turned to dreaded
resolve of the situation, I remembered I was buck ass naked. “Can I
go get my clothes?”

“Fine,” he sighed and rolled his eyes. He motioned to two guards.

“Go with him.”

“You’d be surprised what I could do if I had the desire to,” Jensen

growled, replying to Rip’s earlier statement. “I never wanted to lead,
but for the bird I’d be willing to do it.”

“You really would do it, wouldn’t you?” Rip asked with surprise

in his voice after a few moments, but that was the last I heard before
moving out of earshot. I found my clothes and got re-dressed, slipping
the dagger out of one sheath and into my boot.

“Hand us the weapon,” one of the guards said firmly and wiggled

his fingers at me.

“Over my dead body,” I replied, completely taken aback. “If

anyone needs weapons or protection here, it’s me.”

Fur and Flightless

“You’ve already used it on our Alpha once. Give. It. Over.”
“No. Fucking. Way.” I snarled back in the same demanding voice.

“And I may be small, but you don’t want to fuck with me.”

“Right, I’m scared,” the second one snickered. I closed my eyes

and imagined his cell phone on his belt in my head. I crossed a few
wires on it and let the battery leak into the casing. He shouted as it
gave off a small explosion. “What the fuck?”

“Little birdie has a big bite,” I answered with a smirk and crossed

my arms over my chest.

“You did that?” Rip asked with a curious tone from my left. I

spun to face him so quickly that I almost fell on my ass.

“Yes. Yes, I did.” I was proud my voice didn’t even quiver as I

recovered. “He wanted to take my grandfather’s dagger from me, and
I wouldn’t give it up. Nice guards. I think they’re the ones I need to
worry about the most.”

“How did you do that?” The Alpha glanced from me to the floor

where the smoldering phone was now. And then back to me with
narrowed eyes.

“That’s what you’re going to ask me after everything that

happened tonight? That’s all you care about? That I can manipulate
machines?” I didn’t think my heart could hurt any more right then, but
I was wrong. I tended to be wrong a lot.

“What else should I be asking?” He watched me as if I was finally

doing something interesting, like a bug who was trying to fly with
only one wing.

“My name,” I whispered as the tears came back. I turned around

before they could see them and headed to my room.

“Where are you going now?” Rip already was back to growling

and pissed off. I had a feeling that was his normal state.

“To pack!” I shouted over my shoulder. “And you better not live

somewhere tropical, or we have another problem.”

“Why?”

Joyee Flynn

“I’m a fucking Emperor Penguin, moron! We live in cold

climates. I can handle summers but not tropical.” I didn’t wait for his
reply. I stormed out of there and to my room… my heart dying a little
more with each step.

Fur and Flightless

Chapter 2

Two hours later I was packed and in a private jet heading to

Chicago. Rip and his pack lived on the outskirts of a town called
Woodstock. And from what I knew of wolves, it would be some little
remote place. They didn’t like cities and needed lots of space to run.
As long as they had a pool or a pond I could swim in, I guessed I
could adapt.

“Look, Lysander.” Rip sighed as he sat in the chair across from

me at the back of the plane. He was scrubbing his hands over his face
in agitation.

“Lys,” I whispered.
“You have lice?” he asked in disgust, wiping his hands on his

slacks as if grossed out he had touched me.

“No, that’s what everyone calls me,” I answered, rolling my eyes.

“Lys, short for Lysander.”

“Oh, okay,” he replied with a nod and then shook his head. Was

that a wolf thing? Or did he just shake away confusion literally? “You
were too busy being pissed earlier, and I didn’t get a chance to show
you what we got from UPAC.” He handed me an envelope, and by the
despair on his face, I knew I wouldn’t like it. “There’s rules attached
to this mating.”

I quickly pulled the sheet out of the envelope and started reading

through the list. Consummate the mating every twenty-four hours.
Fuck! Literally.

But then I caught something that gave me hope since this whole

fiasco started. “We can break the mating at the next UPAC
conference. We only have to do this for four years!”

Joyee Flynn

I glanced at him and froze. He was sitting there with his mouth

hanging open as if I’d just announced I cloned a twin for him.

“What?”
“Did you miss the part about having sex once a day? And you

could do that with someone for four years and walk away?”

“It’s better than an eternity with someone who’s made it quite

clear he doesn’t want me. And is so appalled by the idea of having sex
with me that he looks like he’s going to shit pink kittens. What? You
thought we’d get mated and not have to have sex? Seriously?”

“No, just once a day seem extreme,” he answered with a

disgruntled sigh.

“Not if I was with the mate I’d always dreamed about,” I

mumbled and handed back the rules.

“Well, I feel the same way.” He stood and handed me a small

bottle of lube he pulled from his pocket. “Jensen said we’d need this.
Go get yourself ready so we can do this. We’ve got to claim each
other.”

I stared at the slick as if it was a rabid animal and then glanced up

at him. I shouldn’t have been shocked at his attitude, but I was. “No,
I’m not claiming you, and you’re not biting me again.”

“You read the rules. We have to claim each other,” he growled.
“No,” I drawled and rolled my eyes as I grabbed the paper back

from him. I turned it and pointed to the section he’d misread. “It says
we can claim each other in the way of our people but we have to
claim each other to UPAC and be registered in the Mating Book. We
did that. Biting and claiming rituals cement the bond between mates.

“I don’t want any of this with you. But I’m stuck for four years. I

will let you fuck me for four years so we don’t go feral. After that I’m
done. We’ll get divorced or whatever, and I’ll go back to looking for a
real mate, and I’ll claim him.”

“Real mate? What, I’m a fake one?” Rip narrowed his eyes as if

daring me to say yes.

Fur and Flightless

“Yes. A real mate is one who wants me,” I answered with venom

in my voice. He stood there in shock as I snagged the lube from him
and stormed off to the little meeting room I saw when we got on the
plane.

“The bathroom’s the other way!” I glanced over my shoulder as

he stood there pointing to the back of the plane.

“You may not respect me enough to want our first time to be in an

actual bed or anything, but I’m not doing this in the tiny ass fucking
lavatory. I saw a couch in here. Deal with it, or jump out the goddamn
plane. I could give a shit.”

I didn’t wait for his reply and went into the room, slamming the

door behind me. Childish? Oh yeah, but the alternative was pushing
him out of the plane, so I took the less homicidal path.

I quickly shucked my clothes and slicked up my fingers. I shoved

two in to start with, not caring that it hurt. Pain seemed better than
sadness and kept my tears at bay. I’d not had sex in a few years and
didn’t have the privacy back home to really do more than whack off
in the shower. I had just finished preparing myself when I heard the
door open.

He moved toward me, and I heard him getting undressed. His belt

hit the ground, and I saw it out of the corner of my eye. I was on my
knees on the couch with my head braced on my arms, thoroughly
presenting my ass to him.

Without a word, he finished and positioned himself behind me. I

felt a flutter of hope when I felt his erection graze my hole until he
opened his mouth. “If I don’t look at what’s between your legs, I’d
swear you were a woman right now. Your ass, your hair, even your
frame is of a thin, short woman.”

“Just get on with it,” I whispered and felt my semi-hard cock

deflate.

“Why won’t you let me bite you?” Rip asked gently as he pushed

into me slowly.

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“Why do you care? You don’t want me anyways,” I answered

bitterly. Though as hard as he was, he had to have wanted me a little.
Or the woman he could pretend I was from behind, that is.

“I just think it might help us get over our issues.”
“My only issues are I’m mated to a wolf who didn’t ask me first,

isn’t gay, called me a fag, wants to pretend I’m a woman—”

“I get it, I’m an asshole,” he said as he covered my mouth with his

hand. I still had it turned to one side, so it wasn’t hard for him. I
nodded since I couldn’t talk. He bottomed out inside of me. “It’s just
like having anal sex with a woman.”

“Please get it over with,” I replied quietly and then bit my lip.
“Your ass is better than any pussy I’ve ever been in.” Rip froze as

if not wanting to have let that last part slip out. I moved to look at
him, but before I could see his face, he grabbed my hips firmly and
started pounding into me.

My body betrayed me. My cock went hard, and I was panting with

pleasure. He was hot with dark shaggy hair, closely trimmed beard so
it was just a little over five o’clock shadow scratchy. Even if he was
an asshole, he knew what he was doing with that fat sausage between
his legs. At least I wasn’t mated to some little dick, three-pump
chump. I needed to find any bright side I could.

“Let me bite you, Lys,” he whispered in my ear as he leaned over

me and buried his face in my thick hair.

“Embrace me as a man and your mate, take me face-to-face, and

we’ll talk. Until then, this is all you get.”

“Fine,” he growled and thrust into me harder. I kept my shoulders

and head braced on the couch as I reached down and started stroking
my dick in time with his hips. It didn’t take long because it had been
forever since I’d had sex. I cried out as I came all over my hand.
“Holy shit!”

He roared out behind me, went stiff, and filled my ass with his

release. Rip pumped the last of himself into me and then fell forward
on his hands so he didn’t squish me. As soon as he was spent, I pulled

Fur and Flightless

away and rolled out from under him. I grabbed a few tissues from the
box on the table and cleaned myself up.

“Where are you going?” He’d collapsed onto the sofa and was

gasping for air as I got dressed.

“Back to my seat.” I got my jeans on and picked up my shirt and

shoes.

“Come lay with me,” Rip said tenderly as he opened his arms for

me. It was so tempting, but I knew it wasn’t real. I didn’t know if he
was really trying or if it was because he was trying to win me over so
I’d let him bite me. I had a feeling with the way he was pushing for
the bite that he thought it would make me into him and I’d bend to his
will then. Distrusting? Hell yeah.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head, and then fled the room. I

closed the door behind me and got about three steps before I crashed
into Jensen.

“Did he hurt you?” he asked gently as he lifted my face with his

hand so I had to look at him and his pretty green eyes.

“Physically? No,” I answered and then pulled away. I couldn’t

deal with him either. He would have actually wanted me, and him
being there to remind me, right after my mate fucked me, hurt. I went
back to my seat, yanked on my shirt and shoes, and pulled out my
design book.

I was vaguely aware when Rip came back to the common area,

but I didn’t look at him. I was so busy with work that I tuned
everything else out until I was too tired to continue. Glancing up then,
I saw everyone was sleeping. I curled into a ball and prayed at least
there would be some perks. This whole thing couldn’t be a complete
disaster. Could it?

* * * *

Joyee Flynn

I woke when the plane touched down and started to collect my

belongings as it slowed down. By the time we were stopped, I was
standing by the door and ready to go.

“Lys, wait,” Rip said firmly as he grabbed my arm.
“What?” I exclaimed and pulled away. “I didn’t do anything

wrong!”

“You did, but we didn’t get a chance to talk about it yet. You

can’t ever go out first or anywhere without the guards checking things
out.”

“I thought you wanted me dead,” I scoffed and took a step back.
“No, and I was a jerk to even think about it momentarily.” He

looked genuinely repentant as his eyes filled with sadness and he
frowned. “I don’t want you dead, Lys. If nothing else, you’re my mate
and under my protection. You need to do things a certain way to keep
safe.”

I thought about that for a moment, tilting my neck and studying

him. “Do you ever say please?”

“What?” He drew his eyebrows together in confusion as Jensen

and a few other guards moved past us. They disembarked the plane
and were checking things out I guessed.

“Do you always just bark out orders, or do you ever ask?”
“I’m Alpha.” He shrugged, and Jensen gave the all-clear. I shook

my head and turned away from him, going down the stairs. There was
a caravan of SUVs waiting for us, and I climbed into the closest one’s
backseat without waiting for instructions or asking.

Everyone was unloading the luggage and putting it into the

vehicles as I sat there. I pulled out my cell. Now that we were back on
the continent, there was a call I had to make.

“Hello, Lysander,” my mother answered coldly.
“Hi,” I said awkwardly. It was always this way whenever I had to

deal with my parents. “So the UPAC Elders tricked us at the
conference, and we all had to find a mate. I’m mated. I thought you

Fur and Flightless

should know, and I was hoping someone from the colony could pack
up my stuff and send it to me?”

“You’re mated?” Wow she sounded excited. “We don’t have to

see you anymore?” That was more like it!

“No, Mother, you’re free of your horrid son.” I rolled my eyes and

tried not to let her words kill something inside of me as was normal.

“Well thank the gods for that,” she said with a sigh of relief.

Guessed she missed my sarcastic tone and saying I was horrid. I was
the most obedient child on the planet, but they hated me. I was small
for a penguin and weak according to them. On top of that, I was gay
and a freak for what I could do to machines. All around, my parents
pretty much wished they’d smothered me with a pillow. Not unlike
my mate!

“So I take it that’s a yes?” I stuck my tongue out at the phone as

Rip climbed into the seat next to me and closed the door. “Remind
whoever is packing my stuff that it’s all fragile.”

“Yes, yes, your pathetic toys,” she said with a sneer. “Text your

father the address, and we’ll get your things sent right away.”

“Well, I hope you don’t miss the money my toys bring into the

colony too much!” I heard her gasp before I disconnected the call.
That made me smile. “Forgot about that part of getting rid of me.
Didn’t you, bitch?”

“Who were you talking to?” Rip asked with wide eyes, completely

shocked. “So you’re this pleasant with everyone?”

“My mother,” I answered as the driver started the car and we were

off. “And she wants me around as much as you do. I need the address
of where I’m living now so they can ship my stuff. I also need some
room to set up my shop, but I could do that if you give me a room big
enough for it.”

“You’ll be sleeping in my room,” he growled.
I looked at him as if he’d grown another head. “The fuck I will!

We have to have sex every day. There’s nothing in there about

Joyee Flynn

sleeping together or living together. I can sleep in the garage if you
can’t find a room for me, or I’ll buy a house close to yours.”

“You’re just going to make everything more difficult than it is.”

Rip let out a frustrated sigh and scrubbed his hands over his face.

“No, but I do ask that you try to meet me halfway, and I think

that’s pretty generous of me. I’m not demanding you move to Canada,
not that you even bothered to ask me. I uprooted my life because of
what you did, so I don’t think it’s too much to ask for my own damn
room! That way I don’t have to smell the other women you plan to be
with on my bed!”

“I’m not going to cheat on you,” he whispered after a moment. I

didn’t look at him. I was in too much of a snit, looking out my
window, to focus on him. “I’m sorry I said that.”

“Right, and I’m sure Jensen wanting me and threatening to

challenge you if you didn’t treat me right had nothing to do with you
changing your tune.”

“Not in the way you think, Lys. He made me see what an ass I

was being.”

“Oh, and this is you being better?” I asked with a sneer as I looked

at him. “If you can ignore what’s between my legs, you can imagine
I’m a woman. Right?”

“Okay, that was wrong to say and—”
“Save it,” I said, shaking my head. “Just give me my own room

big enough so I can work. I have contracts I need to get done.”

“You can’t work,” he blurted out, his eyes going wide with almost

panic. “You’re the Alpha’s mate. You have a job helping with the
pack.”

“You really don’t get it,” I whispered as I eyed him over.
“Get what?” Rip looked confused again. I had a feeling half of his

life he was confused about something while the other half he was
pissed.

“I’m not getting involved with your pack!” I exclaimed and threw

my hands up in the hair. “I’m prey, Rip! I’m not being alone in a

Fur and Flightless

room with any of them, and I am avoiding them like the plague.
They’ll fucking eat me for a snack.”

“Only if they’re in wolf form and you’re in penguin.”
“Oh yeah, that just soothes all my worries.” I grumbled and shook

my head. “I’m a willing hole for you for the next four years. That’s it.
I’m not your husband or a new member of the pack. I won’t share
your bed or your life. We’ll set up a schedule so I know when to be
ready for you, and that’s it. Wham bam, get out of my room
afterwards, fucking once a day.”

“You really are a heartless bastard,” he growled.
“Me?” I whispered, and I couldn’t hide the tears in my eyes.

“How many times do I have to remind you of what you’ve said to me
since we met and that you don’t want me. Did you expect I’d just
swoon over you still? Get over yourself. We may be mated, but
you’re not my mate.”

“Fine!” He huffed, and we both turned to look out our own

windows. The drive took about half an hour, and then we were pulling
into a large estate. I’d been right. Once we left Chicago’s limits, the
more we drove, the more civilization thinned out. Woodstock had a
small strip malls with the basics, but for more than that I’d have to
venture in towards the city. Or have everything shipped.

“This house is familiar to me,” I said as we drove through the

gates and to the main house. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I’d
seen it somewhere. The vehicles stopped, and we all got out.

“Jensen, show my mate to the room next to mine.” Rip was

grabbing a couple of bags out of the SUV.

“No,” I said firmly as I glanced from Rip to Jensen. “No, please

just no.”

“What’s the problem now?” Rip asked with a snarl.
“He wanted to be my mate,” I answered as I stared at Jensen.

“Having him around is like twisting the knife in my heart because I
can’t have him and everything a mate should get.”

Joyee Flynn

“But in four years,” Jensen whispered and stepped closer to me. I

took two retreating steps in turn.

“You’re hitting on my mate right in front of me?” Rip asked his

Beta with shock and anger written on his face.

“No, I was just saying that Lys won’t be yours forever.” Jensen

seemed to realize himself and backed away, too.

“How do you not have a mate after the conference?” I asked

quickly, hoping to distract them from the fight brewing.

“The Alpha’s security didn’t have the drink,” he chuckled. “No

booze on duty, so we had water for the toast.”

“Nice.” I snickered and headed for the house.
“I told you I was going to really try,” I heard Rip hiss to his Beta

behind me. “He’s my mate, and you reminding him that he’s free in
four years won’t help him try to make this work.”

“Oh I think you sunk that ship long before I mentioned it,” Jensen

drawled.

I bit my lip to keep in the chuckle brewing in my chest. Yeah,

Jensen nailed that one right. But that didn’t mean I’d spend the next
four years pining after Jensen and the mating I could have had. I also
wasn’t going to cheat on Rip no matter how I’d gotten there. Not
because he deserved my loyalty, but because I wasn’t the type of
person to cheat.

Another guard moved alongside me and led the way. I froze when

we passed a security room and stared. That’s where I knew this
house! I busted out laughing and dropped my bag when I bent over to
hold my sides.

“Did he crack?” someone asked, and Rip knelt down in front of

me.

“Lys? What’s wrong, baby?” I froze at the endearment, and stared

at him with an icy gaze.

“I realized where I know this house from,” I answered as I moved

away from him. We weren’t a couple. He wasn’t my boyfriend. He
didn’t get to call me “baby.” I gestured into their security room and

Fur and Flightless

pulled out my wallet. I found what I was looking for and handed my
card over to Rip.

“You’re the owner of Bird Security?” he asked as his eyes went

wide. He glanced from me to the card and back again. I thought his
neck would snap he was doing it so fast.

“Don’t sound so friggin’ shocked,” I answered and yanked the

card back out of his hand. I put it away and grabbed my bag as I
headed over to the guard who was supposed to lead me to my room.
Why did it always surprise everyone that I was smart? Hell, my
parents called my work toys because I don’t think they could process
that their fuck-up of a son was actually successful.

“But we never saw you when we contracted the job for the estate,”

Rip said as he followed me up the stairs the guard was leading me up.

“I’m the owner,” I replied over my shoulder. Maybe he was the

dumb one? “I design the systems, tweak the necessary equipment on
complicated jobs, but I’m still the owner. I have over four hundred
employees. You think I meet every client?”

“But the company’s headquarters is out of New York. You said

you lived in Canada.”

“I’m the owner,” I said really slowly, knowing full well I was

being a smartass. “It’s not a publically traded company. I’m not the
CEO. I have no one to answer to. I have a President of Operations that
handles most of the day-to-day stuff. I get involved in the design and
the larger projects. The only reason I was brought in on yours was
because you had special needs, and I require those be brought to my
attention.”

“What special needs?” he asked as we walked down a hallway on

the second floor before the guard opened a door for me.

“All your motion sensors and cameras had to be able to pick up

non-humans. That’s what.” I stepped inside my new room and turned
around to face Rip and block him from entering after me. “Now if
you’ll excuse me.”

Joyee Flynn

And I closed the door in his face. Not the proper way to end a

conversation with my mate or really treat my mate at all. Oh. Fucking.
Well.

Fur and Flightless

Chapter 3

The next few weeks weren’t as horrible as they could have been.

That’s so not to say that they were good. My things arrived, and Rip
ended up giving me a huge workshop in the basement of the estate on
the contingency that if the pack systems needed something, I would
help them. Yeah, I would have done that anyways. He thought he was
making a deal that benefited him. Jensen had snickered and reminded
him it was already in the contract with Bird Security.

Rip and I barely spoke. We didn’t eat at the same time. I never

went into his room, and he seemed indifferent with the arrangement
except to get his rocks off once a day with me. It hurt. I was keeping
him at arm’s length distance to try and protect myself. He seemed to
take it as a sign he could ignore my existence. No one ever told me
anything.

I hadn’t known there were set times for meals or what to do with

my laundry or anything to do with a normal household. Shit, if I
hadn’t been a genius, I wouldn’t ever have gotten onto their Wi-Fi
and circumvented the passwords because no one gave them to me.
And who would I ask? No one spoke to me. No one acted as if they
even saw me. And while that might seem like hell, I say it wasn’t too
bad because it was better than everyone constantly in my business or
pestering.

But not by much. However, they did have two pools!
I was doing laps in the indoor, heated one since it was still March

by the Great Lakes. I was on my twentieth lap when something broke
in me. As I was listing in my mind all the positives, one thought hit
me over and over again. Two hundred and six more weeks of this.

Joyee Flynn

Two hundred and six more weeks of being mated to Rip. Getting
fucked from behind once a day and never kissed.

Two hundred and six more weeks of no one speaking to me and

avoiding me like a freak, or a bird among wolves. I was, but they
didn’t all have to stare at me like I was a fucking alien! I had no
friends, a mate that didn’t give a shit about me, and nothing besides
work and swimming. I wondered how many owners of multi-billion-
dollar companies thought about suicide while their company was
actually doing well?

I pulled myself up on the ledge of the pool, curled into a ball, and

finally just let it all out. I silently sobbed as my whole body shook
with grief. Suddenly I wasn’t lying on the cold tile anymore but
against a warm body who was whispering soft, soothing words to me.

“It’s okay, my little birdie. It will get better. Please don’t cry.” His

gentle lips on my cheeks snapped me out of my haze, and I blinked up
at Jensen. “There’s my little birdie.” He wiped his thumb under my
eyes and got the tears for me. “It kills me to see you like this, Lys. I’ll
challenge him at the next full moon.”

“I never asked what that meant,” I whispered but had a sinking

feeling I knew.

“A challenge to an Alpha is a fight to the death.” He looked

slightly worried but more determined.

“No, you can’t do that for me,” I said, shaking my head as I

climbed out of his lap. “I won’t let you kill your best friend or be
killed because I’m a big baby who cries over stupid shit. He doesn’t
beat me. He’s not mean to me. He doesn’t pimp me out or pass me
around to his friends. This whole thing could be a lot worse.”

“That’s your justification? He doesn’t hit you, so this is okay?”

Jensen growled as he tugged on my arm and spun me to him. He
moved his hands under my ass and lifted me up. I didn’t wrap my
arms and legs around him though everything in me screamed to.

“No, it’s my reasoning that it’s not bad enough for you to risk

your life over,” I said and tilted to one side so he dropped me. I

Fur and Flightless

landed on my feet and stared up at him. “You can’t die, and I won’t
let you challenge him over me. I’ll talk to him. I keep waiting for him
to make a move, some way to show me he wants me here. But I’m
just going to have to ask for it.”

I quickly hurried away from him, grabbing my towel as I left the

pool. I swore I heard him mumble under his breath that I was worth
the risk, but I didn’t acknowledge it. For one, I was already running
behind on my mate’s nightly using of my body. And two…what
would I say to that anyways?

I got back to my room and skipped the shower I normally took

after swimming. I stripped off my Speedo shorts and got myself ready
for him. Like clockwork, Rip came in my room at exactly nine at
night.

I had planned on lying on the bed, demanding he take me there on

my back, but I hadn’t the time. So I was still standing with one foot
on the bed because I’d seconds ago finished stretching myself. He
pulled me off the bed and pressed me face-first against the wall. He
was naked, too, since he came through the adjoining door to our
rooms.

Rip placed my hands flat on the wall and rubbed his cock in

between the cheeks of my ass. We both moaned at the feeling of him
touching where we both wanted him to go but not entering me yet.

“Fuck me on the bed,” I gasped as the crown of his dick pressed

against my hole. “I want to see you. I need to be on my back.”

“I can’t,” he whispered and pushed into me. And as he thrust into

me so he bottomed out, I realized the one thing I was most afraid of.

“You’re still pretending I’m a woman!” I cried out and tried to

move away from him. I didn’t make it a question because it was the
truth, and I didn’t need to ask.

“Yes. No. I don’t know,” he said and pulled out of me before

pushing right back in.

“Then touch me,” I moaned and moved my hips away from the

wall so his hand could reach down there if he wanted. It also angled

Joyee Flynn

my ass perfectly for the coupling. “Touch my dick and embrace that
I’m a man.”

“Stop it,” Rip growled and pounded into me.
“Play with my nipples and feel I don’t have breasts,” I taunted as I

tried to move his hands from my hips. His grip was like iron, and I
couldn’t budge him.

“No,” he breathed against my skin and picked up the pace.
“Then get the fuck off of me,” I snarled and elbowed him hard in

the stomach.

“You want this as much as I do,” he whispered in my ear as he

buried his face in my hair. “I know you enjoy the sex. You always
come hard and scream in pleasure.”

“Because I’ve been deluding myself into thinking you’d come to

terms with me being a man. I’m not even hard, Rip.”

“You’re not?” He gasped and pulled out of me. I didn’t move,

leaving my legs spread enough so he could see my dick was soft. He
didn’t say anything, so I turned to face him. Rip looked hurt, and then
disgust crossed his face when he saw my groin. He looked away from
me as his chest heaved with the exertion from pounding into my body.

“Touch me,” I said gently as I moved closer to him. “Play with

my cock.”

“I can’t,” he whispered and closed his eyes. “I’m not gay.”
“You’ve been coming in my ass for weeks!” I snarled and closed

the distance between him. “You come to me hard, fuck me, moaning
the whole time, and enjoy it, Rip. Don’t tell me you’re not gay! You
might not have been before, but you’re at least bisexual now,
otherwise you wouldn’t be able to get hard for me.”

“That’s not true,” he said firmly, his gaze snapping back to mine. I

stood on my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his
head down.

“Kiss me. If you can kiss me and say you didn’t enjoy it, I’ll

believe you and let you keep pretending I’m a woman.”

“No,” he whispered and pulled away from me. “I can’t do that.”

Fur and Flightless

“Because you’d enjoy it.”
“I didn’t say that!” he exclaimed and started to step toward me.

Then he glanced between my legs again and didn’t come any closer. I
did notice that his dick, which had gone soft earlier, was coming back
to life.

“What if I blew you?” I asked and gestured to his cock. “You

could see me then and deal with having mated a man.” His dick
twitched and went fully erect. “Don’t lie to me and tell me you don’t
want me to.”

“No, but I can’t do this.” He was shaking his head, his hands held

out in surrender as he moved further away from me.

“Then don’t come back to my room again,” I said firmly and

grabbed my robe from the chair by the bed. I yanked it on so hard, I
heard something tear.

“What? You can’t do that.”
“Yes I can, unless you’re into rape,” I whispered and turned my

back to him. I didn’t want him to see the tears in my eyes again.
“Otherwise don’t touch me again unless you’re willing to touch me as
a man who knows he’s with another man.”

“We’ll go feral. If we don’t have sex once a day we’ll go crazy

and—”

“You don’t think I’m going crazy now,” I said with a morbid

laugh. I spun to face him. “Ask me how many times I’ve thought
about how to kill myself in the past couple of days.”

“What?” he gasped, and his knees buckled. He caught himself

with a hand on the wall to stop his fall. “You’re serious.”

“Jensen just found me by the pool sobbing that I couldn’t live like

this another two hundred and six weeks.” I nodded numbly and
suddenly needed to sit down. I collapsed on the bed and stared at my
hands. “I updated my will yesterday to leave him everything because
he seems to be the only person on this earth who gives a shit about
me. That and I know he’d take care of the company I built. There are
so many things wrong with that and the reasons behind it.”

Joyee Flynn

“Death is better than being with me?” Rip sounded hurt, but I

couldn’t look at him and get this out.

“You’re not with me, Rip,” I answered much calmer than I felt.

“You don’t talk to me. You come in here once a night and pretend I’m
a woman. Everyone here treats me like a disease. Jensen avoids me
because I asked him to. Though that was the last time I spoke with
anyone in this house, and that was over a week ago.”

“You haven’t wanted to talk to me,” Rip said, and I glanced up at

him. He was pouting. How did this get to be about him?

“I want you to care, Rip!” I screamed in frustration as I pulled on

my hair. “I want you to know it’s your male mate’s ass you fuck
every night! I want you to fix what you broke inside of me when you
said all that shit to me when we were mated. I want you to try. I’ve
been waiting for you to try. Instead I finally bring it up, and you tell
me you can’t. Fine, I’d rather go feral then.”

“No, I won’t go feral,” he said firmly and shook his head. “You

promised we’d have sex every day.”

“And you promised you’d treat me like a real mate! I shouldn’t

have stopped Jensen from challenging you, but I didn’t want to risk
him or have him kill his best friend.”

“He was going to challenge me? He hasn’t brought it up,” Rip

said, looking confused again.

“He found me by the pool sobbing hysterically so distraught and

unhappy I was trying to get the courage to kill myself. What part of
this don’t you understand?”

He stared at me a second, his mouth set in a line as if in pain.

Then he spun away from me quickly, and I could have sworn I saw
tears in his eyes. I had to have imagined that though. Rip didn’t give
two shits about me. Right?

My mate stormed out of my room without another word.
“Good talk,” I said to the empty room in a defeated tone. I took

my robe back off and headed to the bathroom. I took a long, hot
shower, thinking it would probably be my last. I was probably being a

Fur and Flightless

total drama king with this whole thing and could only guess how
others would judge me.

Fuck them.
They weren’t in my shoes. They had no idea what my life was like

from the time Rip bit me. They wanted to judge and pretend they had
all the answers, fine. I was done caring.

I dried off, not really giving a shit to do it right before climbing

into bed and closing my eyes. I thought I wouldn’t be able to fall
asleep that night. But thankfully I was wrong because I drifted right
off.

Joyee Flynn

Chapter 4

I was having the best dream ever. My mate was actually,

voluntarily touching me. Okay, so I didn’t dream very crazy fantasies,
just the ones right out of reach it seemed. Rip was stroking me in a
slow, sensual manner while his other hand was busy stretching me for
him. He was whispering apologizes and endearments to me.

It was sooo a fucking dream.
But one I planned on enjoying. I thrust into his hand and then

back onto his fingers, loving the never-ending pleasure roller coaster.
Rip kept kissing me softly, almost chastely since my lips seemed to be
a barrier his tongue wouldn’t breach. I wrapped my arms around his
neck and kept him close to me as I plundered his mouth. Oh sweet
hell, he tasted better than he smelled.

I broke the kiss when I was seconds away from coming, moaning

against his mouth. I didn’t want this to end. If this was to be our only
time together, even in a dream, I wanted it to last.

“Come for me, my little birdie,” he whispered and licked my

neck. “Promise you won’t leave me, and I’ll give you whatever you
want. Be mine, little birdie.”

“Jensen!” I screamed as I came, confused, but overwhelmed, with

the orgasm I was riding. I was shocked. I could have sworn it was
Rip. Why was I dreaming of Jensen? And how did he smell and sound
like Rip? But Jensen was the only one who’d ever called me his little
birdie.

“No. No, I’m too late,” he whispered, and I snapped my eyes

open, gasping for air.

Fur and Flightless

“It was you,” I said with a smile and cupped his cheek. Rip pulled

away from me as if I’d burned him. Great, even my dreams sucked
now. “I thought it was you, but Jensen’s the only one who’s ever
called me his little birdie. But it’s you I wanted in this dream, my
mate.”

“Dream?” He tilted his head to the side and studied me like a dog

who’s wondering if you’ve got a treat for them. Not that the
comparison was that far off…

“You want me.” I laughed as I teased him and ran my fingers

through the cooling cum on my stomach. I propped myself up on my
elbows and spread my legs like a slut for him to see everything. He
looked. “Yeah, this is so a fucking dream. You’re actually staring at
what’s between my legs. You touched me. This isn’t real.” Then I
paused, feeling cold, and suddenly wanted to cry. “I wish it was
though. That was the best kiss of my life.”

“It is real, Lys,” Rip said firmly and moaned as I licked my own

fingers clean for his enjoyment. “I’m here for real, as your mate. I
thought you wanted to be left alone, were avoiding me. But then you
said all that stuff tonight, and I realized if I wanted to keep you here
with me, I needed to get over my shit and be a mate to you.”

“Did I do something to myself?” I asked, studying him as if he

was dessert, and I had a massive craving for chocolate. “Is this like
my exit hallucination from this world?”

“No, don’t say that!” His eyes filled with tears and he moved like

a flash between my legs. He leaned over me and one tear fell on my
lips. I licked it away as I stared at him. “You can’t give up when I
didn’t even know you were hurting, baby.”

I froze. I started to have a sinking suspicion that this wasn’t a

dream anymore. It hurt my heart when he called me that, and unless
this dream was turning into a nightmare, I didn’t think I’d have him
say that.

“Don’t,” I whispered and turned my head away from him.

Joyee Flynn

“Don’t what? Want you? Because I’m done fighting and denying

how much I want you, baby.”

“Don’t call me baby unless you really fucking mean it,” I snarled

and shoved at his chest.

“I do mean it,” he cried out against my neck as he lifted my legs.

“Please, Lys?”

His cock was rubbing against my stretched and slicked hole. I was

moaning, weighing all the possibilities. I was either dreaming,
hallucinating, Rip lost his mind, or… Fuck it. “Yes!”

“Thank you.”
He pushed into me all the way in one firm thrust. Then he

wrapped his arms around my back and sat up on his heels, pulling me
with him so I was riding him. I moved my hands up into his hair and
mashed my mouth to his. He thrust into me as I rotated my hips to
take more of him inside of me.

“I’m so sorry, Lys, for everything. I’ve been so goddamn stupid,”

he said as tears rolled down his face. Rip was staring into my eyes. He
wasn’t hiding from what we were doing. “I didn’t know you were so
miserable. I thought you wanted me to keep my distance. And you
just flat-out confuse me. All my years I’ve never wanted a man. Why
you? Why now hundreds of years later?”

“You want me?” I started to see spots in front of my vision from

shock and thought I might seriously pass out for the first time in my
life.

“So much,” he moaned and didn’t slow down his rhythm. “The

short time we spend together every night is the best part of my day. I
wake up wanting you in my arms. I’ve just had so much going on
with the pack, dealing with all the new mates we have here since the
conference, that by the time I’m alone, my brain is just fried.

“I thought since you didn’t care to have me around anyways, I’d

give you time to cool off. Then, when you weren’t so angry, I could
figure out a way for this to be real. I just couldn’t get past you being a
man. I was scared.”

Fur and Flightless

“Why?”
“Because my whole view of my life suddenly changed. I’ve lived

for centuries, thinking I’d find a mate, have a houseful of pups, and
she would rule at my side. Now that dream is gone, and I couldn’t
seem to adapt. But when you told me all this tonight, I felt my heart
break at the idea of losing you. I realized being with you is my new
dream.”

“Rip!” I gasped, his words sending me over the edge into a

surprising orgasm.

“Yes, my little birdie,” he grunted and started slamming into me

to help rock my climaxing body longer. Just as I was coming down,
he roared out my name, thrusting into me hard one last time, and shot
deep inside of me.

We didn’t move for a while, completely wrapped around each

other gasping for breath as the world tried to right itself. I was reeling
from his confession and trying to figure what to do next. This was
such a one-eighty from what I thought he wanted and how we’d been
living the past few weeks.

“Stay with me tonight,” I finally blurted out. I got my answer in

the form of his semierect cock getting rock hard still inside of me. I
moaned wantonly and started to move again. “Is that a yes?”

“Gods yes,” he whimpered and squeezed my ass. “Will I hurt you

if we go again?”

“No, but do you want to expand your knowledge of sex with a

man?” I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

“Only if you’re that man.” Rip smiled and brushed his lips against

mine. We both moaned and melted into each other.

“This doesn’t mean you’re completely forgiven, Rip. I’m willing

to try though, okay?”

“That’s more than I deserve.” He searched my face for a moment

and then laid me back on the bed, following me down. “I asked
Jensen to go visit his grandmother, who lives in another pack, for a

Joyee Flynn

month. We had a long talk, and he knows how I feel about you. We
agreed it was for the best right now that he not be around.”

“Because he wants me?”
“That and because I want to work on us for the right reasons,” he

answered with a nod. “If he’s around watching me, waiting for me to
fuck up so he can swoop in and comfort you, it would be too hard. I
don’t want to fix things because someone’s looking over my
shoulder.”

I thought about that for a few moments and agreed with him.

“That’s fair.”

“Good. Now onto the fun part of the evening,” Rip growled and

thrust into me. I gasped and raised my hips. “You said something
about inventive sex?”

“I did,” I purred and moved my right leg so they were both on one

side of his body. “Move behind me.” He did as I turned onto my side
and pulled that same leg up while moving my left one in between his.

“Oh gods you’re even tighter this way,” he groaned as he lay on

his side next to me and pulled me back to his chest. He moved both
arms around me, one under me playing with my nipple while the other
traveled down my stomach.

“I know,” I whimpered and arched my back. He licked down the

length of my neck as he started thrusting hard enough that if he hadn’t
been holding me, I would have moved across the bed. “Better than
pretending I’m a woman?”

“Yes, so much better.” Rip grabbed my cock firmly and started

stroking me in time with his hips as he pinched my nipple hard. I
cried out and arched again from all the dueling sensations. “See, I can
learn what pleases you, Lys. Don’t give up on me yet, okay?”

“I won’t as long as you’re trying,” I answered and moved my

hand over his on my dick. The other I used to reach behind me and
inserted it into my ass alongside his cock.

“Oh sweet hell,” he groaned deeply. “It’s like you’re giving me a

hand job during sex.”

Fur and Flightless

“And you’ve not even seen what I can do with my mouth yet.” He

froze, and I looked over my shoulder at him. His eyes were glazed
over with lust as his mouth snapped closed and then opened again like
a fish.

“Does my little birdie like to suck cock?”
“Your birdie doesn’t have a gag reflex and can open his jaw as

wide as birds can even in human form,” I answered with a smirk. It
was true though. “I’d love to taste your fat dick as often as you’ll let
me.”

“I’m going to blow,” Rip whimpered and started moving again.

“I’ve had so many fantasies about you doing that to me in my office.”

“Just name the time, darling.” I grunted as he started pounding

into me like never before. Wow, he totally wasn’t holding back
anymore. Not in bed, not with his feelings, his desires, or any of it.
Cool.

“Jesus, Lys,” he whispered as he buried his face in my hair. “It’s

never been like this for me before. I can’t get enough of you, and all I
want to do is please you. I’m scared. I can’t remember the last time I
was scared of anything.”

“I’m just as afraid, Rip. But if we stick together, we can get past

it.”

“I believe you.” He turned my head in an awkward way so we

could kiss. I think he needed the contact right then as much as I did.
His hands and hips were moving faster than any human ever could
and the power, the strength behind them, had me hot and ready to
come. “Will you be my little birdie and not Jensen’s anymore?”

“I was never his, Rip. He was the only one who ever wanted me,

and how could I ignore that?”

“I want you. I want you to be mine and show off that mating seal

on your lean chest. I want you to wear my bite and flaunt your hot
little ass around for everyone to see and know they can’t have you. I
want to fuck you on every surface of this house so no one will have
any doubts about who you belong to.”

Joyee Flynn

“That’s either the sweetest or most possessive thing I’ve ever

heard.” I really wasn’t sure. I think his delivery simply needed work,
but I understood the sentiment behind it.

“Can it be both?”
“Yes,” I answered with a smile. “Now make your birdie come. I

need to come, Rip.”

“My pleasure,” he growled and ran his nail over the slit in my

cock, dipping it in. Yup, that did it. I cried out his name as he kept
working my dick through my orgasm. He groaned something
unintelligible and filled me again. And then I realized something as
my heart was trying to slow back down and my lungs fill with air.

I felt safe. Really and truly safe in his arms.
“I like it here,” I whispered, taking the leap of faith that he meant

it when he said he wanted to try.

“In Woodstock?” he asked, sounding confused. Yeah, he was a

total man’s man when it came to emotions.

“In your arms,” I giggled and wiggled my hips.
“Oh no, stop it,” he moaned and pulled out of me. “I’ve not had

sex for years and years before we mated and our one quickie a night
didn’t prepare me for two rounds of mind-blowing sex.”

“It was mind-blowing?” I asked, my heart soaring with hope as I

rolled onto my back so I could see him.

“Mind-blowing,” he whispered and leaned over to kiss me. “Life-

altering.” Another kiss. “Carnal bliss.” This time he licked my lower
lip. “Best sex I ever had.”

“Me too,” I said and hugged him. I wrapped myself around him

like a monkey instead of a penguin. He moved us off the bed and into
the attached bathroom. Then he started the shower and leaned me
against the tile before reaching back to close the door behind us.
When he moved, his erection brushed my ass. “I think you do have
another round in you.”

“Won’t you be sore?”

Fur and Flightless

“You can kiss it and make it all better if I do,” I purred and

reached down to guide him back into me. “Tell me what you want,
Rip.”

“I want you to love me,” he blurted out, and his eyes went wide as

he started to pull away so he could lower me to my feet.

“No, don’t run,” I said firmly and fisted my hands in his hair. He

gave a slight nod because any more than that and he’d have lost some
of his glorious mane. “I want you to love me, too. We’ve got a lot of
work to fix this, but I don’t think it’s impossible for us to get there.”

“Thank you.” He sighed and buried his face in my neck. I realized

what he was asking for when he licked my shoulder again. I closed
my eyes and took another step in the direction that hopefully led to us
being real mates.

“Bite me.”
“What?” He gasped and lifted his head so fast we almost fell over.

“No, you said you didn’t want that.”

“I’m trusting you,” I said against his lips. “You think it will help

us bond, and we need all the help we can get. So I’m giving you
permission to be the wolf you are and bite your mate.”

“I don’t deserve you,” he moaned and then sank his teeth into my

shoulder. I cried out and came instantly. He slammed into my ass hard
several times before joining me.

“Do you really want to fuck me in front of everyone and show

them I’m yours?”

“Oh gods I can’t get hard again,” he moaned and slipped out of

my ass. He lowered me onto shaky legs and reached for the soap.
“Yes, I want it more than I can put into words. I can lick your bite to
heal it, but everything in me is screaming not to so the pack will see I
claimed you.”

“Then let them see,” I said with a smile. I could get used to this

sort of possessiveness. “And you can pound that sausage into me in
front of anyone you want, my mate.”

Joyee Flynn

“Okay.” He panted and then swallowed loudly as he reached

behind me. He ran the soap over my tender hole and cleaned me up.
Then he washed every inch of my body as if I was made of glass. He
put the soap up and reached for the shampoo. “Promise me you’ll
never cut your hair off.”

“Only a trim when it needs it.” I moaned as he washed my hair,

using his magical fingers on my scalp. He finished showering me
after conditioning my hair and cleaned himself off quickly. Then he
lifted me back in his arms as if I was too precious to bother myself
with walking and carried me over to the counter. Rip sat me down and
dried me thoroughly, even taking the time to comb my hair.

“I’ve been dreaming of doing this since I felt it against my body

that first time on the plane.”

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” I asked gently as I stared at

him. He suddenly was focused on a knot in my hair that really wasn’t
there.

“I’m not good at this stuff, Lys. My mom died right after I was

born, and I was raised by an Alpha werewolf, his only child and son.
Feelings was like a cuss word in our house, and real men don’t cry
and all that shit. You’re the first person I’ve even thought of changing
all that for. I just don’t know how.”

“You’re doing a great job right now, Rip,” I whispered and pulled

his head down for a kiss. “I promise I’m not high maintenance. My
parents can’t stand me and never loved me. My colony hates that I’m
one of them because they think I’m such a girl and a freak. I can’t
help how I look or that I’m gay. I don’t wear makeup or nail polish or
anything. I just like my hair long.”

“I’m sorry I ever thought you were a woman or said I wished you

were. I did think you were one from behind at the conference, but
after I realized you weren’t, I honestly didn’t care you were a guy.
But I thought I should, so I kept freaking out that I wanted a man and
then said shit and then didn’t know—”

Fur and Flightless

“I get it,” I said, cutting him off by putting my hand over his

mouth. He licked my fingers and then closed his eyes, letting out a
groan.

“Sleep. You need to get some sleep,” he told himself as if he

needed reminding. He lifted me back into his arms with a towel half
wrapped around me. I snickered when he froze at the wet spot on the
bed and walked around to the other side. “We can change the sheets
in the morning.”

“Or we can make another spot in the morning,” I purred as he laid

me on the bed carefully. I held my arms open to him and he joined
me. It ended up that he spooned me and buried his face in my hair. I
was good with that. I felt safe and loved and wanted and even
cherished. It was the craziest, most confusing night of my life…and
the best.

Joyee Flynn

Chapter 5

Rip made love to me the next morning when we woke up. Not

sex. Not fucking. Made love. He was slow and gentle after tortuously
preparing me forever. I offered and he bit me on the other side of my
neck as well. Doubly his then I guessed or some primal wolf crap.
Either way, I loved it.

When we were done, he quickly cleaned me up and we got

dressed. Rip had to duck back into his room to get clothes, but then
we went downstairs for breakfast. And all eyes were on us. Not in a,
“yeah they hooked up” way. More like, “fuck he’s keeping the damn
bird.” It made me want to run screaming from the room.

“Can we talk for a bit after we eat?” I whispered as we took our

seats. I’d figured out that the pack did family-style meals and liked
spending time together. Which was why I’d avoided it and grabbed
food from the kitchen on my own.

“Of course, my little birdie,” he said and pulled me onto his lap. I

gave a startled yelp and then blushed with embarrassment. His voice
dropped lower and the tone became seductive. “How about in my
office?”

“Talk first, and then I’ll show you how much I appreciate your

valuable time.” I rubbed my ass against his growing hard-on, and he
nipped my neck. I’d worn a V-cut shirt so everyone could see my bite
marks.

“Or I could fuck you on the table in front of everyone.” Rip

growled to show me how much he liked the idea.

Fur and Flightless

“Can we wait until they all stop staring at me like they want to

poison my breakfast?” I whispered so only he could hear. Rip froze
and focused on the people around us.

“What’s everyone’s problem?” he asked as he hugged me to him

tightly. “Aren’t you all glad your Alpha is happy?”

“Of course, Alpha,” a blonde woman answered across from us. “I

think we’re just in shock. I know we all assumed the mating was a
mistake and thought you’d still be looking for an Alpha female.”

“I never said that, Ariel,” Rip replied firmly.
“I know I looked forward to my audition to see if we were

physically compatible,” she practically purred. “There’s so much I
can do for you that your bird can’t.”

“I doubt that,” I said innocently as I batted my eyelashes at the

bitch. “My jaw’s double jointed, and I don’t have a gag reflex.”

Several people coughed to cover up their laughter while a few

others choked on their food. She looked pissed for an instant before
covering it up.

“Plus I have his mating seal to prove exactly what I am to Rip.” I

pulled the collar of my shirt down so everyone could see it. “Any
other suggestions?”

“Your fat ass can’t be better than my tight cunt,” she growled.
“Wow, what a lady,” I said, rolling my eyes, and then glanced at

Rip over my shoulder. “Do you want to tell her what you said about
my ass, honey, or should I?”

“His ass is better than any pussy I’ve ever had,” Rip answered

immediately, not skipping a beat. “And it’s not fat. It’s firm and
muscular. He’s got a perfect ghetto booty.”

“Thank you, my mate,” I purred and rubbed said anatomy against

his lap. “I think that definitely gets you a blow job in your office after
breakfast.”

“Maybe you should do it here and show that you can please our

Alpha as he deserves,” Ariel sneered.

Joyee Flynn

“I would, but my mother taught me manners.” I gasped

sarcastically and covered my hand over my heart. “I know, be still the
thought!”

“That’s enough, Ariel,” Rip growled when she opened her mouth.

“I have chosen a mate, and you will respect him or feel my wrath. He
and I got off to a rocky start, but that is no one’s concern but ours.
Lys is a great addition to our pack.”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about after

breakfast,” I said with a sigh and slid into my seat. I’d wanted to do
this privately, but maybe some of the pack members seeing that I was
trying to be one of them would help. “I was wondering if anyone in
the pack needed a job?”

“We have several actually,” a man two people over from Ariel

answered with a raised eyebrow. “I’m one of them. My name is
Randolph.”

“My company is being asked to do more jobs than we can

accommodate,” I explained when Rip raised an eyebrow at me. “I was
thinking of opening a branch around here because I won’t want to
travel to New York as often as I did before and we need more support
staff. Plus the President of Operations e-mailed me saying we needed
more installers like three months ago. So if anyone has an electronics
background that would be best until I make some other decisions.”

“I was an electrician with the power company for fifteen years

until they just had cutbacks and layoffs,” Randolph said with a glance
at his Alpha.

“Would you be willing to travel to New York for orientation? My

company pays for it, and it only lasts two weeks.”

“If Alpha Rip is okay with it.”
“I am,” my mate said with a big smile. “I know times have been

tough for your family, and I would never stand in the way of your
income. I’ll phone the pack leader in New York to let him know
you’ll be staying with them for two weeks.”

Fur and Flightless

“Oh, my company keeps a floor of furnished condos for when we

have people come in for orientation. Randolph and his family actually
can stay there for the duration. Can you get me a copy of your
résumé, so I can send it to my executive assistant? She handles all of
the details and whatnot. I think we start experienced installers at
seventy grand for the first six months before it goes up. If that’s not
acceptable, we can talk.”

“How much?” Randolph choked on his coffee.
“Seventy I think,” I answered and glanced at Rip. “Not enough?”
“In this economy?” Another man chuckled a few seats down from

me. “That’s fantastic and very generous.”

“Oh good,” I said with a smile. I really had no clue. I stayed out of

all the details as often as possible. “I like to compensate employees
well. It keeps them loyal and with the clients we have we need them
to keep confidentiality. And there is some required travel of course.”

“As long as it’s not months at a time in some third-world country,

I’m fine with it.” Randolph seemed to have recovered from his
mishap with the coffee and was smiling like a loon.

“No, nothing like that.” I snickered and snagged a muffin from a

plate as it was passed in front of me. Mmm, blueberry. “We’re
redoing a system for a Naval base in six weeks as a trial to see if
we’re going to revamp all of them. We’ve got some smaller
government contracts, but the only out-of-country travel is to
embassies. We did one in Paris last year.”

“Holy shit,” a younger woman said with a whistle way down the

table. “You’ve got to be loaded and then some.”

“Yeah, um, kind of,” I mumbled and let my hair fall past my ear

to shield my face a bit. “My accountants take care of all of that really.
I can’t say I know how much or where it is invested.”

“You should,” she replied firmly. “And you should always be

shopping them to keep them on their toes and make sure they’re up to
date with current stocks and bonds. Investing nowadays is a very
tricky thing since the markets all fluctuate so quickly.”

Joyee Flynn

“I don’t know anything about that stuff,” I said with a shrug. “I

just like to build systems and trick out electronics. Do you know
about that stuff?”

“I just got my MBA from Northwestern in business management,

but I’m a CPA as well.”

Ariel had been seething all this time and finally blew. She let out a

frustrated scream as she stood and slammed her plate on the table.
Then she stormed out of the room like a child throwing a temper
tantrum.

“Ignore her. She’s a drama queen,” the other lady said with an eye

roll. “I’m Danielle by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Danielle,” I replied and bit into my muffin. I

shared a glance with Rip who smiled and nodded. He knew I wanted
to know if she was good people. “Have a job?”

“No,” she drawled and glanced around the table. “I just graduated

last semester. I spent the holidays with my family pack in Florida
while deciding if I wanted to stay in this pack or move back home. I
just started sending out résumés about a month ago once I made up
my mind.”

“Want to open a branch office here and then run it?”
“I don’t know anything about security systems,” she answered

sheepishly after a moment.

“You don’t need to. I need someone to handle all the logistics for

me of running an office, and I’ll promote one of my vice presidents in
New York to be president of this office. They’ll handle the contracts,
clients, and such. You’d run the office, make sure all the day-to-day
stuff would be done.”

“Like an office manager?” Danielle asked, trying to hide that she

knew she was way overqualified for that.

“Yes, but more. I’d give you a vice president title though.”
“Seriously?” she gasped. I nodded and saw the wide smiles all

around the table. I’d just hired two of their pack for lucrative jobs, and

Fur and Flightless

I think it went a long, long way in changing their opinion of the little
birdie.

“Yeah, you’d find the real estate, set it all up, and maybe help me

with a few projects until I get someone out here for the systems side.
My assistant can help you with whatever you need. She did it for the
New York office. I wanted to give her a better title, but she said it
would undermine the company if someone who didn’t even have a
college education had a higher role.”

“Unfortunately she’s right,” Danielle said with a cringe. “It sucks

that degrees trump experience a lot, but it’s just the way things are.”

“Well she makes more than most presidents of companies right

now and gets six weeks’ vacation time. So she’s happy.”

“Damn that’s generous,” said someone else down the table who I

couldn’t see.

“I pay well, but I expect the best from my people. The jobs aren’t

always easy, and they put in a lot of hours when it’s needed. I also
require that they have more training on new technology than any other
company. We get the big clients because we are the best at what we
do. The best deserve to be paid as such, and if they can’t keep up, we
show them the door.”

Everyone stared at me as if I’d grown a second head or another

nut sac right before their eyes. It was Danielle who broke the silence.

“So you’re smart but not a pushover and still fair. I like it. I’m in.”
“Good deal,” I said with a smile. “We can go to my workshop and

I—”

“Oh no, my little birdie,” Rip growled and lifted me out of my

chair as he stood. “I have plans for you right now.”

“Do they involve clothes?” I asked and licked my lips.
“No they don’t,” he answered with a leer as his hand moved inside

my jeans. Then he glanced at Danielle. “Ask around and collect
résumés for anyone looking for work. We can talk after lunch, and
Lys can think if he wants to ask the local coven as well since I know
they have a lot of unemployed as well.”

Joyee Flynn

“I love a man who takes charge,” I purred and licked along his

neck.

“And then we, um, can,” Rip stuttered. Well, well, well! It seemed

my teasing clouded his mind. Hot damn! “Oh fuck it. We’ll talk
later.”

“Yes, Alpha Rip,” Danielle called out with a laugh as Rip raced

from the room with me in his arms. “I think the penguin’s good for
him.”

“It would seem so,” someone else said, and that was the last I

heard before we were too far down the hallway.

“I think they like me.” I smiled as I buried my face in my mate’s

neck and smelled him. His masculine scent filled my nose and made
me shiver. Nothing smelled better than my man.

“I like you more,” he growled as he opened the door to his office

and kicked it closed behind us.

“Do you now?” I purred as he set me on my feet. He swallowed

loudly and nodded as I ran my hands down his firm chest. I undid his
pants and belt in a flash and then dropped to my knees. I reached in
and pulled out his huge, fat cock. “I like him.”

“He likes you.” Rip moaned loudly as I licked the head of his

dick. “Please don’t tease me, my little birdie. I’m ready to blow after
watching you in there!”

“Okay, but you’ll explain why to me when we’re done?” I asked

as I stared up at him. I dipped my tongue into the slit, and I was pretty
sure he would have agreed to anything right then. But I really needed
to know why he was so turned on. I just didn’t get what I’d done that
was so hot.

“Yes, I swear. Now suck me, please!”
I didn’t hesitate or tease. I swallowed him down. Rip cried out in

pleasure as I took his whole nine inches down. Being a bird shifter
had perks. Or maybe he was closer to ten. I’d have to bust out a ruler
later. It was his girth that was a challenge. He had a fat slab of meat,
and my lips only went so wide.

Fur and Flightless

“Fuck, Lys,” he growled as he stared down at me with a hooded,

lust-filled gaze. “No one’s ever taken all of me before.”

I smiled and started humming as I deep-throated him. It didn’t

take long for him to shoot, and I swallowed every drop down. I
thought he’d be wiped as he dropped to the floor. Instead he attacked
my mouth and started yanking my clothes off.

“Okay, I have to know what I did to get you so turned on!” I

gasped when we broke apart. He got to his feet and quickly
undressed.

“You were my Alpha mate in there, Lys,” he said gently, his voice

full of emotion. “You took care of our pack. I know you did it for
your company, too, but that beautiful brain of yours saw a way to help
our people as well.”

“They’re not my people though,” I whispered and looked away

from his intense gaze.

“Yes they are, baby. And if they didn’t want to be before, they

will now.” He reached out a hand and helped me to my feet. I hadn’t
even realized he’d completely stripped me already. “I knew you could
fit in here, but I never dreamed you’d be what the pack needed so
much and already jump right in. I couldn’t have picked a better mate
if I’d tried. I’m proud that you’re my mate.”

“Really?”
“Yup, and that’s why I’m so turned on. My wolf is screaming that

the pack needs you, embraces you, and wants to claim you again
because you’re perfect for us.”

I flushed at his praise and glanced over my shoulder. Without a

word I went over to the doors that led to the terrace and opened them.
Rip eyed me over hesitantly since it was March and cold out. Then I
went to retrieve the little bottle of lube I’d stuffed in my pants that
morning. I handed it to him and leapt onto his desk. It was right by the
doors so the back of his chair was a few feet from them.

“Then do what your wolf wants,” I said seductively as I moved

my feet onto the desk and bared everything I had to offer to him. I

Joyee Flynn

knew I looked like a slut, but the lust in his eyes made my
reservations fly out the window. “Fuck me and claim me so they can
all hear us. Let them know I please you in every way possible.”

“That plug is hot, my little birdie,” he groaned and took the few

steps to me. I’d put it in when he went to dress that morning in his
own room. It was bright purple and very large, so he wouldn’t have to
worry I was stretched enough for him.

“I thought you might like it.” I whimpered as he slowly pulled on

it. Then he let it go and it popped back inside of me. “Take me, Rip. I
want you hard and fast, like the animal you are.”

“Oh shit,” he moaned and grabbed the base of his cock hard. “You

keep talking dirty to me, and I’m going to come before we even get
started.”

“Slick up that big slab of meat, pull out my plug, and I’ll show

you another fun way to fuck.”

“Dirty birdie,” he growled as he did what I said. Moments later I

was plug-free and his slicked cock was brushing against my hole. I
nodded, and he thrust into me hard enough that I gasped.

“Lift my legs in the air, holding my ankles, and spread them

wide.” He did it with another growl of pleasure. I was starting to
know the different growls he made. “Now fuck me with everything
you’ve got.”

“Yes, my mate,” he grunted as he started pounding into my ass. I

was a little too tight to start with since a plug is so not the same thing
as a cock, but I liked the burn. And Rip loved loosening me up. I had
to move my arms over my head and brace myself by holding onto the
edge of the desk or he would have pushed me right over it with how
hard he was taking me.

I loved it.
“Oh gods, yes, Rip. Fuck me! I love the way you feel inside of

me.” I screamed and babbled my pleasure.

Fur and Flightless

“So tight, so perfect,” he growled. He kept glancing from my face

to my cock as it slapped against my stomach and left wet marks of
pre-cum. “Is my hot birdie going to touch himself?”

“No, gonna come just from your cock. Harder, Rip. Take me

harder!” Rip let go of my ankles, moving them to his shoulders, and
then grabbed my hips. He fucked me so hard I swore his cock was
banging up into my rib cage. “Tell me I’m enough for you.”

“Always,” he snarled and stared into my eyes. “I only ever want

my birdie. You were made for me. I’ve never been as satisfied as I am
after one night with you.”

“Bite me,” I moaned when my balls drew up against my body. He

gave me a feral smile as his canines elongated, and he folded me in
half so he could reach my shoulder. He didn’t bite me where my neck
met my shoulder, but on my actual shoulder. And I fucking loved it.

I wonder if there’s such a thing as a bite junkie?
“Mine,” he snarled as I came, his nostrils flaring as he smelled my

seed. “You. Are. All. Mine!” He punctuated every word by thrusting
into me harder than the time before and then howling as he came deep
inside of me. Rip let my legs fall to the sides of us as he collapsed on
top of me. I wrapped my arms around him as we gasped for air.

Suddenly I heard several whimpers and turned my head to see

what it was. And was licked. I sputtered and tried to move but
couldn’t since my mountain man was pressing me into the desk.

“Rip, why are the wolves staring at us and licking me?” I asked,

proud that my voice didn’t show the fear I felt.

“Because they’re accepting you as the Alpha’s mate.”
“Oh, silly me,” I mumbled as my face turned red. Just how much

had they seen?

Joyee Flynn

Chapter 6

“Are they going to watch us have sex often?” I hedged, trying to

get him to understand my current predicament. There were about a
dozen huge ass wolves on the terrace or in the office whimpering or
panting with their tongues hanging out. It was just kinda creepy.

“You said you wanted them to know that you pleased me.” He

chuckled as he ran his teeth over my neck. “They watched.”

“I meant they could hear it. I didn’t know we’d be putting on a

live show for them. Can I get dressed now?”

“You’re not soft,” he whispered in my ear so only I could hear.

“Tell me it doesn’t turn you on that they watched.”

“Maybe if they weren’t in wolf form,” I hissed and smacked him

on the chest. “That just makes me feel like I crossed a line into
bestiality.”

“We thought ogling you in human form was rude,” one man said

as they all shifted back. It ended up being four women and nine men,
a few of which had really enjoyed the show based on their erections.
“You had the door open we assumed that meant you were fine to
witnesses of your pleasing our Alpha, Alpha mate.”

“Is that like you giving us your blessing?” I asked as I glanced at

Rip’s big, goofy grin.

“It is, my little birdie. And Jim is an Elder of the pack,” he

answered as he pulled out of me. “It’s good to have the Elder’s
blessing when it’s a cross-species mating of an Alpha.”

“So does anyone get to watch you fuck me?” I still couldn’t seem

to wrap my mind around how casual they were all being after

Fur and Flightless

watching two men knock boots. A few of the women eyed me over
appreciatively. Weird.

“Anyone who is concerned about the Alpha’s happiness or choice

in mate is allowed to request an audience with the couple or ask for
proof that the mating is a good match. The Alpha can deny the request
or answer it,” Jim said with a shrug.

“But it doesn’t have to be sex?” I looked down and saw my

clothes were ripped to shreds. I raised an eyebrow at Rip who looked
sheepishly at his handiwork and tossed me his shirt. He was a big
enough boy that it covered me like a short dress. I mean six-five
compared to short ass twink made anything look like a dress on me.

“No, though I thoroughly enjoyed the proof,” a woman purred and

eyed me over like steak.

“Did I miss where anyone submitted a request?” I chose to ignore

her for the moment and started rubbing my temples.

“By opening the door when you were to engage in carnal

activities, you were inviting all those questioning the mating to watch
your coupling as evidence that you are a good match.” Jim glanced
over his shoulder at a few guys with boners. “Others are just pervs
who like to watch.”

“Could you have warned me?” I asked Rip and flopped down on

one of the chairs, squirming when I felt cold cum leaking out of my
ass and down my legs.

“I’d lick that up for you gladly,” one guy whimpered and stepped

closer to me. Rip snarled at him and the dude hung his head in shame.
A few left then as if they knew the show was over and were now
bored.

“You said you had no problem with the pack watching me take

pleasure in your perfect body,” my mate said seductively as he pulled
back on his jeans. Oh he was good. “If you’re not sure if you liked it,
I’d be more than willing to try it again.”

“I’d like to know some of them before they watch me scream and

moan,” I replied with a sigh. “I thought they would simply listen like

Joyee Flynn

when you hear someone through the wall and know that it’s good sex.
Your pack could hear and know that you really enjoyed your time
with me.”

“Then I apologize for not having cleared up our ways for you,

little birdie. I won’t lie and say I won’t want a repeat performance. If I
make sure no one’s in wolf form licking your face after we’re done,
will you consider it?”

I thought about that for a moment. Yes, that was the biggest part

of my creepy factor, but there was more. “Why are you so into this? I
mean it just seems to be normal to you guys to watch each other
fuck.”

“Wolves and most predator shifters are very carnal in some

ways,” Jim answered before Rip could. “We fight for dominance,
look for signs of weakness, and like to show off our strengths.” He
gestured back and forth between me and my mate. “This is a strength.
Rip has found a mate that makes the pack stronger, more secure, and
is a good match for him. It doesn’t mean you’re a possession, so
please don’t take offense.”

“In a way it’s like if you took Rip home to show him off to your

parents,” one woman said as she stepped forward. “Like, ‘hey, look
how awesome I am to snag me a keeper.’ Except, for wolves, it’s not
just showing someone off in front of family because you’re gorgeous.
It’s more showing off the type of pleasure you bring Rip. Hence,
carnal.”

“It makes sense in a Darwinian, backwards, biblical sort of way I

guess.” I nodded a few times.

“How do birds or penguins show off a mate or brag, if you will?”

Jim asked for the men.

“I guess a lot like penguins in the wild,” I answered with a shrug.

When I got all blank faces I chuckled. “Anyone see the movie Happy
Feet?”

“Yes, they collected pebbles or something for mating along with

singing. Or it was one type of penguin that did pebbles and the other

Fur and Flightless

sang,” the woman said excitedly as if guessing the Daily Double on
Jeopardy! Then her face fell. “You want Alpha Rip to bring you
rocks?”

“We do both singing and stones, but we normally do gems,” I

chuckled and crossed my legs so I’d stop squirming. “Different gems
mean different things in a mating. Also there’s fish. In the wild a mate
will go hunt down some squid for his counterpart to show devotion
and happiness, like finding the ultimate gift for your mate.”

“You should be taking notes,” Jim said under his breath to my

mate, and I didn’t correct him. Rip nodded and tried to slyly move to
his desk and start writing as if I could have missed it.

“I’ve seen my dad fly in fish delicacies when pleased with my

mom. When I was younger, I had no clue what it meant, and when I
was older, I really didn’t want to know. Also most bird shifters are
good singers. We serenade our mates sometimes when wanting to
show them off as making us happy.”

“You sing?” the woman asked at the same time Rip did. I cleared

my throat and sang the first few stanzas from Josh Groban’s “You’re
Still You.” “I think I just had an orgasm.”

“Me too,” Rip growled and moved around the desk quickly and

then he knelt before me. “That was amazing, my birdie. Will you sing
for me in private? Just for me?”

“If you please me.” I giggled and ran my foot over his thigh. “And

get some damn fish in the house.”

“Sorry about that,” he said sheepishly as he took my foot in his

hands and started rubbing it. “We’re more red meat eaters, and I never
thought about you needing anything different. I’ll be a better mate.”

“Fuck the fish, and keep doing that.” I moaned and slumped into

the chair. It was like he was working all the tension out of my body
by just touching my foot. “If you could do that and suck my cock at
the same time, I’d follow you around like a puppy.”

Jim cleared his throat loudly and reminded me we weren’t alone.

Joyee Flynn

“Sorry.” I chuckled and hid my face with my hair. “He’s just

really good at that, and I guess I’ve been more stressed out with the
move and being surrounded by shifters with the instincts to eat me
more than I realized.”

“Then we’ll leave you to it,” he said as he ushered everyone else

out of the room. “Welcome to our pack, Alpha mate.”

“Thanks, Elder Jim,” I replied with a warm smile. I looked at Rip

when we were alone and nodded at my feet. “You didn’t have to
stop.”

“Will I get singing later?” He winked at me and went back to

massaging my feet.

“I could see that as a possibility.” I sighed. “Only a few more

minutes because we need to get cleaned up, and I need to call my
assistant before we meet with Danielle and the—”

“Relax, my little birdie,” he said softly. And for first time in the

longer than I could even remember…I did.

* * * *

About a half an hour later I was done with my foot massage and

Rip had to make a call so I went up ahead to get changed for lunch. I
was mentally listing in my head everything I had to do when I walked
by an open door and froze at what I heard.

“Dumb fucking bird.” A woman snickered, not Ariel, and not

Danielle, but I didn’t know who. Those had been the only two whose
names I knew, but I didn’t recognize her voice either. “He gets one
night of good sex with Rip, and he’s tripping over himself to be a
good Alpha mate. Did you hear him offering out jobs like someone
would a piece of gum to try to make friends? I mean how pathetic is
that?”

“I think Alpha Rip might truly care for him,” a second woman

said.

Fur and Flightless

“No way,” some guy scoffed. I didn’t know those two either. “The

bird refused to have sex with him unless it stopped being from behind.
I heard them fighting when I was walking in the hall last night. Then
the bird believes Rip had an epiphany an hour before he’d go feral if
they didn’t follow the UPAC rules? Rip’s playing him.”

“I bet he’ll go back to taking those runs at night like he has since

he got back from Scotland,” woman one giggled. “My guess he’s
meeting Ariel in the woods to wipe away the memories of fucking
that little pussy boy. I mean have you seen him? Damn I think he’s a
girl half the time from the front.”

Ouch!
“Could Alpha Rip be that cold and mean to someone?” the second

woman asked, and I found myself thinking the same question.

“To help the pack and keep himself from going feral?” The guys

snickered. “Oh yeah. I bet he’s biting the bird left and right to cement
their bond so the dumb schmuck is putty in his hands. I mean you saw
the loving glances he was giving the Alpha today. And after what Rip
put him through? Talk about pathetic.”

I couldn’t listen to them anymore. I ran as tears blurred my eyes. I

was so fucking stupid! I’m sure those three were horrible people, and
Rip didn’t tell them any of it…but they had to know their Alpha better
than I did, right? And their comments made sense. I’d refused Rip. He
would have gone feral if he hadn’t talked me into sex.

And hadn’t I felt a strong pull toward him after he bit me? Hell, I

craved the bite now. And I had moved past what he did to me easily
in the hopes of having a real mating. I was that desperate.

The next thing I knew I was at the pool. I yanked off his shirt,

shifted, and dove in. But what to do about all of this? I couldn’t stay
here knowing what I knew now and last four years. Elder Morton
would never help me. He was a bastard. A greedy bastard…greedy.

That gave me an idea, and I jumped out of the pool. I stared down

at Rip’s shirt. I wasn’t about to put that thing back on, so I made my

Joyee Flynn

way back to my room in penguin form. I got several looks and
snickers in the hallways, but I was too numb to care right then.

When I finally got to my room, I shifted and locked myself inside.

Then I locked the adjoining door to Rip’s room and grabbed my cell. I
dialed the Elder’s number and got past his assistant.

“What, Lysander?” He sneered as a form of an answer.
“I’ll pay you fifteen million dollars to get me out of my mating

without either of us going feral.” No point in beating around the bush.

“Twenty,” he said after a moment.
“Done,” I replied firmly. I had been lowballing him anyways.
“I’ll send one of the witches who came up with the spell to give

you the counter potion. She will be there in three days. We never had
this conversation, penguin. Do not betray me. You know I make a
powerful enemy.”

“I have no intention to, and this isn’t a trap. I just want out of

here.”

“Fine,” he said and then hung up. Always such a pleasant fellow.

But I was getting what I wanted, and twenty million was well worth it
to me when I could have, and would have, paid ten times that. I
sighed in relief and thought over how to get through the next few days
until there was a knock at the door. Fuck!

Fur and Flightless

Chapter 7

Rip

“Yes, I’m sending someone to pick it up, but it’s going to be

reheated. So can we get it raw?” I asked the person who answered the
phone call from Benihana. I got why they wouldn’t want to give their
meals out raw, especially seafood, but it was one of the best places in
Chicagoland to get it. “Okay, fine, forget it. We’ll reheat it. Thank
you.”

I hung up the phone and let out a sigh. All I wanted was to make it

up to my mate that I never realized he’d need fish. Yeah, I’m a
dumbass, but I was trying! And after what he said about special
seafood being a sign that a penguin’s mate was happy, I was all over
it like white on rice. At least everything was set up for dinner.

I left my office in a hurry, thinking Lys would have showered

without me. Damn. I really did like how close I felt to him last night
when I washed him and combed his hair. I was just eternally grateful
he was giving me the chance to fix everything after spending so much
time with my head up my ass. I got to his door and knocked.

“Little birdie, are you in there?”
“We’ve already had sex today, so you won’t go feral. Why don’t

you go take a run with Ariel?” he said through the closed door, and it
sounded like he’d been crying. Ariel? What had people been telling
him? And why did he make it sound like running with Ariel was
dirty?

“How did you know about that?” I growled and tried to open the

door. “Let me in, Lys.”

Joyee Flynn

“No,” he whispered so quietly I could barely hear him. Fuck! This

was not happening! “I was so stupid to give you another chance.”

“It’s not like that, baby. Open the door, and let me explain. This is

not what you think.

“I hate you, Rip,” he cried out, and there was a thump against the

door. “I truly hate you.”

“Don’t say that,” I whimpered. My dreams of Lys were going up

in smoke in front of my face, and I didn’t even know how it
happened!

“It’s true, even if I was pathetic enough to let you bite me. But

none of that matters now. I found a way for us to get out of this.
Someone will be here in a few days to reverse all of this.”

“No! Don’t do this, Lys,” I shouted and kicked the door. “Let me

in. I’m not running this time and giving up without a fight!”

“Why? So you can talk me out of it and use me to get your pack

jobs?”

“That was your idea. What happened between my office and now?

Who are you hearing all this from?” None of this was making sense.

“Nice of you to deny any of it,” he answered instead.
“Lys, open this door! That’s not what I meant. I don’t care about

the jobs.”

“No!” Lys shouted, and then I heard retreating footsteps. He’d

been on the verge of killing himself yesterday, and I wasn’t going to
risk him doing it today. I threw my shoulder against the door twice
before it broke. I ran to the bathroom…which was also locked. But at
least I heard the water running and him mumbling to himself.

Okay, I could calm down and not rush in there as if I didn’t trust

him not to do something stupid. I still didn’t get how we went from a
foot rub less than an hour ago to this. What had happened? And more
importantly, how did I fix something I didn’t understand?

It him took a while, and I was no closer to coming up with an idea

when the bathroom door opened. Lys stepped out wrapped in blood-
soaked towels.

Fur and Flightless

“What have you done?” I whispered as I jumped off the bed and

ran to him.

“I scrubbed you off of me,” he answered wearily and dodged my

hand.

“Lys, you’re bleeding all over the place,” I said slowly, scared I

wasn’t equipped to handle this situation. What if I made this worse
and he was suicidal right now? And it would be all my fault because
I’d fucked this all up, even if I didn’t know how this time.

“I’m a shifter, I’ll heal. Now get the fuck out of my room. Seeing

you hurts.”

“Not until you tell me what happened,” I said gently as I grabbed

his arm and spun him toward me. Lys cried out in pain because of the
sores there and shifted. Idiot! Yeah, injuring him more would help. It
looked like he took a steel wool brush to most of his body when the
towels slipped off his shoulders and hair. “You can’t dodge me by
shifting.”

“What part of ‘no’ didn’t you get? You really just are a selfish

prick. I say no, and you break down the door. Glad to see the real you
shining through instead of this fake who’s pretending to care about
me.” He waddled away from me quickly.

“I’m not a fake!” I roared and lunged to grab him. Shit! Why

couldn’t I stop yelling? I was scared and emotional, but letting him
think I was angry with him would so not help this. He ducked under
the bed before I could grab him. “And you said you were undoing our
mating. How can I just ignore that and not make sure you were okay?
Please tell me what happened.”

“Your pack can still have the jobs, so just leave me alone,” he

whispered.

“Lys, I could give a rat’s ass about the jobs,” I said as my eyes

filled with tears and I lay down on the floor. It was still really weird to
me that I could understand him when he was a penguin. Neat trick,
kinda freaky when mated to one though. “I don’t care about that. I
care about you and why you’re so upset. Please, please, please tell me

Joyee Flynn

what happened, and I’ll explain everything. I’ll tell you anything you
want to know. Want me to take a lie detector test?”

“You’d do that?” he asked after a moment, his little body still

shaking with fear.

“In a heartbeat,” I answered. I pulled out my cell as he was

considering it and dialed Jim. “Hey, Jim, do you still have that lie
detector machine from when you worked for the feds?”

“Yes,” Jim drawled, sounding confused. “And it even works.”
“Oh thank the gods.” I sighed in relief. “I need your help. Can you

please bring it up to my mate’s room and hook me up to it? He needs
to ask me some questions.”

“What did you do now, boy?” The Elder growled at me.
“I have no idea, but I have to fix it. Please?”
“I’ll be there in five.”
“Thank you,” I said as we hung up. I looked at Lys again who was

studying me as if I’d done something interesting. “Can I tell you
about the call I made after your foot rub? Is that why you’re so upset?
Because I was keeping secrets?”

“Not really,” he hedged. “But what were you keeping from me?”
“I wanted to surprise you tonight after you told me what penguins

do to show they are happy with their mates. I ordered a spread from
Benihana for my little birdie. I got grilled squid and huge shrimps and
lobster and mahimahi and salmon steaks because I wasn’t sure what
you’d like. I wasn’t trying to hide things from you, Lys. I just wanted
to surprise you.”

“That’s really sweet if I thought you were doing it other than to

play me,” he grumbled.

“How would doing that help me play you, baby?” I asked

desperately, trying to piece everything together. “Why would I play
you?”

“So you wouldn’t go feral,” he whispered as he shifted back. His

wounds were better but still damn ugly and painful looking.

Fur and Flightless

“I could see you thinking something was up if I had sex with you

one time face-to-face like you wanted so we didn’t break the rules,” I
said after a moment. “But what about the rest of it, Lys? I defended
you to Ariel—”

“Don’t talk to me about the woman you’re cheating on me with!”

he screamed and crawled further away from me.

“Cheating!” I bellowed and stood up. I reached down and grabbed

the bed, flipping it over before I realized how stupid that was and
would scare him. He gasped and scurried to the wall. I knelt down
where I’d been, not moving any closer when I saw the fear in his
eyes. “I’ve not cheated, baby. Even when I was trying to deny how I
felt about you, I would never have cheated. I know I said all that shit
in Scotland, but I was just scared. I swear it.”

“Well let’s get you hooked up to this and prove it,” Jim said from

the broken doorway. His eyes darted around the room as if taking in
the scene, stopping on my mate. “Do you trust me to administer this
test and the results if I explain them to you?”

“I don’t think I can trust anyone in this house or pack,” he

whispered and shook his head as he pulled his knees to his chest.

“But if I show you what to look for before he answers the

questions you want you’d be reading the results yourself, Alpha
mate.”

“Don’t call me that!” Lys shouted as he leapt to his feet. “I’m not

his mate. I’m the sap he bit thinking I was a girl.”

“Little birdie, I thought we moved past that?” He took four steps

to me and slapped me across the face.

“And I shouldn’t have because you wouldn’t be breaking my heart

right now if I’d not let you in!” I was shocked by his actions and
words, but he was looking at Jim now. “Tell me how it works, and I’ll
believe it.”

“Alpha, I need you to take a seat,” Jim said firmly and nodded to

an overstuffed chair by the window. I nodded and did as I was told,
numb on the inside from my mate’s pain and accusations. I knew I

Joyee Flynn

deserved his mistrust after all the shit I’d pulled. But I couldn’t handle
his pain. Fuck, I’d cut off my cock right then if it would end his
suffering. Lys stormed over to his closet and took out his robe,
slipping it on as I got ready for his questions.

Jim hooked up something to my finger and put a cuff around my

arm as if he was going to take my blood pressure. Then he put two
sticky things attached to wires on my temples.

“I’m going to ask him two control questions we both know the

answers to and you’ll see how the readout works.” He explained to
Lys as he flipped the machine on. “Is your name Ripley Corbin?”

“Yes,” I answered with a nod.
“Where did you meet your mate?”
“In Scotland.”
“Okay, see how the arms moved a little bit when he talked?” Jim

asked Lys. My mate nodded and sat down on the bench that was at the
end of the bed, facing me. “Now I’m going to ask him two questions
he’s going to lie about, and we’ll go from there.”

“And the arms will draw big lines when he lies?” Lys asked as he

glanced over at the machine on the cart.

“Exactly. I can’t fake the results because I can’t manipulate

machines like you do.”

“Fair enough. Go ahead.”
“I need you to lie for these next two questions, Alpha.” I nodded,

and Jim took a deep breath. “Are you Alpha of our pack?”

“No.”
“Do you care for your mate?”
“No,” I whispered, and even I could see from where I sat about

five feet away that the needles were moving all over the place.

“You can ask whatever questions you want now, Lysander. Just

make sure to ask in a way that he’ll answer yes or no or short
answers. Too long of an answer would confuse the machine.”

“Okay, I can handle that,” Lys said as he nodded, staring down at

his hands. “Do you care that I’m a man still?”

Fur and Flightless

“No.”
“True. I’ll tell you from now on if he’s lying only.”
“Thank you,” Lys replied and rubbed his hands down his robe in a

nervous gesture. “Have you cheated on me?”

“No, never.”
“Check his definition of cheating, son.”
“Good point,” Lys said thoughtfully. “What do you think is

cheating on your mate?”

“Anything past a platonic kiss.”
“Have you kissed anyone other than on the cheek since we

mated?”

“No.”
“Have you fucked anyone?”
“No,” I whispered as my eyes burned. I was going to kill whoever

put these ideas in my mate’s head.

“Touched anyone in any way you would consider cheating if I’d

done it.”

“No.”
“Why were you going on runs at night after we had sex?”
“To think.”
“About what?”
“How I felt about you, Lys,” I answered and wiped away the tear

that fell. He was looking at me then, and I took that at as good sign at
least. Maybe I’d passed some part of his issues now?

“Why was Ariel with you then?”
“We grew up together, and normally I’d have talked with Jensen,

but I knew how you both were interested in each other. I didn’t feel it
would be right to ask him advice about you.”

“True,” Jim said, giving my mate kind eyes.
“Did you know she wanted to take my place?”
“Not your place, but I suspected if I was really looking for an

Alpha female, she would have thrown her name in the hat.” It was the
gods’ honest truth.

Joyee Flynn

“Did you fuck me last night so you wouldn’t go feral?”
“Yes,” I answered but waved my hands in front of me to stop him

from speaking. I needed to finish that thought. “I thought it would
have been better to talk to you in the morning, but we didn’t have that
kind of time.”

“Was that the only reason you did it?” Jim asked when Lys

seemed too choked up to speak.

“No,” I replied and started blinking rapidly. “I thought he wanted

time and space after what I did. I thought I was doing the right thing
by keeping my distance. But when he told me that all he wanted was
for me to try, that’s what I’ve done. I know I suck at it, but just tell
me how to fix this!”

“Do you want me to end this mating?” Lys whispered as tears

rolled down his cheeks as he looked up at me.

“No! I’m begging you not to. Tell me what I did, and if I can’t fix

it, I–I’ll let you go i–if that’s wh–what you want, little b–birdie.” It
broke my goddamn heart to say it, but I couldn’t let him be miserable
like this. “I care for you enough to want you happy, even if it’s not
with me.”

“I think I was wrong to believe that you played me, Rip,” he cried

out and buried his hands in his lap. “I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry, baby,” I said gently, and I jumped from the chair.

I didn’t get far since I was hooked up to the damn machine. Jim
quickly got me detached, and I dove to my knees in front of my mate.
“Please tell me what happened.”

And Lys did. And holy shit was I pissed, but not at him.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered as I wiped his tears. I’d pulled him

into my lap during his story, and now he looked so small and fragile
as I held him. I hated that he was so broken up.

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” I said and kissed his soft

hair. Gods I loved his hair. “I’ve given you every reason to not trust
me, think the worst of me, and assume I’m a complete prick.”

Fur and Flightless

“That about sums it up,” Jim snickered as he stood to go. “I have a

feeling I know who your mate was referring to. Would you like to
speak with them?”

“Not until I calm down. Right now I’d tear their throats out just

for hurting my mate and talking that trash.”

“As you wish.” We both watched Jim push his cart out the

door…or what was left of it after I had tried to stand when I was still
attached to it.

“Can we go into my room so we can have some privacy?” He

nodded, and I stood with him in my arms. “I’m sorry I busted down
your door. I truly would have given you time to think and left you
alone if you hadn’t told me last night how you were thinking of
getting out of our mating.”

“You broke down the door because you thought I was going to

hurt myself?” he asked as I unlocked the adjoining door to our rooms.

“Lys, you did hurt yourself by scrubbing your skin like that. I was

scared you were going to kill yourself. I’m sorry I doubted you, but I
just had no clue what was going on.”

“I’m glad you did actually.” He chuckled and snuggled against my

chest. “I fully intended on not talking with you about this and just
leaving when the witch arrived. I figured fool me once, shame on you
but fool me twice, shame on me.”

“I get that and—wait, what witch?” I asked. I never had asked

how he planned to break the mating bond.

“I offered Elder Morton twenty million dollars to break the bond.

He was sending one of the witches who came up with the spell.”

I did not see that one coming! “I really hate that guy. What a

douche.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Lys snickered. “I’ve got to call him and tell

him no deal.”

“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I want to give us a chance.”

Joyee Flynn

“I don’t deserve it,” I whispered against his hair. “But I will

gladly take it.”

Fur and Flightless

Chapter 8

I got Lys to cool off, and he looked so tired that I laid him down.

But I wasn’t about to leave his healing wounds untreated. I grabbed
some Neosporin from the bathroom. Not because it fought infection,
which was a concern since we couldn’t get viruses, but for the
cooling, pain-relieving side of it.

“Oh go fuck yourself, Elder Morton,” Lys said into his cell and

hung it up.

“Go little birdie.” I chuckled as I sat on the bed. I glanced up at

him while I reached for the tie on his robe and he nodded that it was
okay. I bit my lip to not cry out at the pain he must be feeling, but his
wounds did look much better at least.

“He threatened to turn me in to UPAC for trying to break our

mating now that I called it off. What’s he going to tell them? I offered
to bribe him and he accepted but got pissed when I changed my mind?
Yeah, that would get him in as much trouble as me.”

“What’s his deal?” I rubbed the cream onto a wound on his hip

bone after I kissed it. He’d scrubbed his groin but thankfully nowhere
near as much as he did some other spots on his body. He moved his
body under my hands like a cat being scratched, so I knew it felt
good.

“He was a friend of my grandfather and thinks I’m a

hermaphrodite or some shit because I look too feminine.”

I stared at him for a moment, waiting for Lys to say he was

kidding. When I realized he was serious, I finally started to
understand the damage that man had done to my mate.

“And your parents just let him talk to you like this?”

Joyee Flynn

“Who do you think put the idea in his head?” Lys said quietly and

looked away from me. “I’m too small, with a girl’s ghetto booty, long
thick hair, no muscles or anything that makes me masculine besides
having a dick.”

“I love your body,” I whispered and took a chance. I’d been dying

to lick his wounds because I knew my saliva would help them heal,
but I was pretty sure he wouldn’t let me. But he didn’t stop me when I
licked his neck. “I love how you feel in my arms or under me when
we make love, little birdie. I actually sent someone out to get
something that I hope you’ll wear for me because I’ve been wanting
to see you in them since we met.”

“What?” He looked at me then, and I moved my mouth down to

lick the scrapes over his nipples.

“I’m not sure right now is the time to talk about this after I hurt

you.”

“You didn’t hurt me, Rip,” Lys replied gently as he guided my

head to his groin. Good point. That had to be hurting him, too. “I got
hurt listening to some people I shouldn’t have. And I’m sorry for that.
But if there’s something you want me to wear, I’ll think about it.”

“Boy shorts,” I mumbled as I licked all the bruises away on his

cock and then his sac.

“Like women’s underwear?” He didn’t sound too happy about

that.

“No, they make them for men, too,” I answered firmly. “The kind

that aren’t meant for public showing though.” I moved my hands
under his ass as I licked his inner thighs. “I love this firm ghetto
booty. You know I do. I wanted to see you in little shorts that don’t
cover it while we go swimming. Your wet hair cascading down your
body. Your gorgeous cock poking out of them and your butt moving
when you sway your hips.”

“You’re serious?”
“As a heart attack,” I moaned and licked his hole. Damn, he’d

even scrubbed there, too. I planned on licking every inch of his body,

Fur and Flightless

but not like this. “I think the only thing sexier would be a thong, but I
figured we could work up to that. But the idea of you in sleek, black,
tiny boy shorts has me ready to cream in my pants, my little birdie.”

“I could wear that for you,” he gasped when I finished licking his

hole. I wanted to take him but there was no way until he had more
time to heal. And as sensual as my licking him everywhere was, it
wasn’t about sex. It was about being what my mate needed. “You did
get me seafood after all.”

“Then we can make it a date?” I asked hopefully. “I got dinner

covered, and then we can go swimming because I know it’s one of
your favorite things to do. I figured we could watch a movie in bed
afterwards.” I tapped his hip and he rolled over so I could lick his butt
and back.

“A dirty movie?” He purred and lifted his hips so his ass was right

in my face. “One to give us ideas?”

“Honey, I’ve got enough ideas to keep us busy for years. But if

my birdie wants a dirty movie, I will gladly watch one with you.”

He moaned as I took my sweet time using my tongue on every

inch of his firm, tight ass. I honestly thought this was better for his
mental state than the foot rub.

“I’m not crazy you know,” Lys whispered when I moved up his

back. “I’m not suicidal. It’s not that I wanted to die. I just felt trapped
and started to think about it and wonder how I would do it. But I
swear I wasn’t giving it serious consideration. I was just so distraught,
but I don’t think I could ever do it.”

“I’m glad you told me that,” I replied and kissed the nape of his

neck. “I thought that was the case, but I wasn’t really sure. Promise
me no more even thinking about it, okay?”

“Okay,” he mumbled. I let it go. I had a feeling that was the best I

was going to get until things were solid between us. There’d been so
much crap I’d said that hurt our mating that I needed to clean up my
mess and reassure my mate of my intentions.

Joyee Flynn

I let Danielle know that we’d meet with her tomorrow. No way

was my mate up to talking over the business world right then. He
looked so lost, so confused, and it fucking killed me that I was the
main catalyst of it.

After I was satisfied his external wounds were healed enough, I

pulled him into my arms, and we took a nap. Well, he napped and I
stared at him. I was falling for him, and he’d been twenty seconds
from leaving me. I had to be better, do better, for him. He shouldn’t
be miserable when he made me deliriously happy. If I couldn’t fix this
shit with the pack talking about him and trying to sabotage our
mating, then I’d have to let him go.

Or leave with him. We both had enough money to start over. Shit,

I was pretty sure Lys could buy an island to start over on if he wanted.

“What are you thinking about so hard?” he whispered sleepily

against my chest. “I can practically smell the smoke coming out of
your ears from your brain churning.”

“What if I can’t make you happy here?” I answered before I

thought about it and stopped myself. “Would you run away with me?
If you’re not happy with me here, would you start over somewhere
new with me? Or am I just the part that makes you miserable?”

“You’d give up your place as Alpha and your pack for me?”
“Yes.” I didn’t even have to think about it. Lys was amazing, and

already when I thought of the future, all I saw was him. “If I thought
doing it would make you happy. But I just keep thinking I’m what’s
wrong here and why you’re hurting.”

“No, I just think you’re a little dense when it comes to being in a

relationship, Rip.” He chuckled and hugged me. “You were waiting
for me to let you know when I was over what happened in Scotland,
but I wouldn’t ever get over it without you fixing it.”

“It makes so much more sense when you say that then what I’d

been thinking in my head.” I sighed. He was right. I was totally
fucking helpless when it came to relationships. “I promise to try my
best if you’ll give me guidance. And please, if something goes wrong

Fur and Flightless

again, you have to tell me. I’ve never felt as helpless as I did earlier
when I didn’t know how to fix what was broken.”

“I promise. That’s a fair trade as long as you keep me stuffed with

seafood and show me you’re happy we’re mated.”

“That reminds me,” I whispered in his ear as I moved one of my

legs between his. I loved the contact, but I was also glad I hadn’t
gotten undressed before getting into bed with him. Lys was naked
already, and it was hard enough to concentrate. I wanted to talk with
him some, just spend some time getting to know him. “You said the
different gems mean different things. Will you tell me which mean
what?”

“Well,” he drawled and rubbed his nose against my shirtless chest.

Yeah, that helped. “Diamonds are truly forever. They mean that a
mate has embraced that they are not only mates and married but soul
mates and will be together even in the afterlife.”

“That’s beautiful.” I liked the idea of Lys and I being in the

heavens together even after we passed. Which wouldn’t be for a very,
very long time of course, but it still made me feel at peace that Lys
would always be there.

“An opal shows hot sex and a satisfaction in bed. Emeralds are for

fertility. Most mates give one when they decide to have offspring and
another after one as born. Sapphires show a blending of two people.
Like you understanding that us going swimming would make me
happy. Peridot is for financial growth, for instance your pack helping
me with my business. Or my business helping your pack. It’s more a
praise for jobs well done.”

“Is there a cheat sheet somewhere so I don’t forget all of this?” I

knew I’d be getting him an opal for sure but the rest I was a little
confused on yet.

“I’ll write you one,” he chuckled. “Onyx is a thank-you for

helping a mate out of a tough time. Garnet is used for devotion. It’s a
good anniversary stone. And there are more meanings, but mostly it’s
what the stone represents to the couple. Like I’m not a fan of opals,

Joyee Flynn

but I love amethyst and blue topaz. They’re just so pretty. So since
they’re my favorite gem, my mate getting one for me would just all
around show that he was pleased with me.”

“Now are there certain rules for men and woman? I mean would I

get you earrings or anything?”

“No real rules in that area. It depends on the couple. But no

earrings for me because I don’t have pierced ears. My dad used to
give just the stones to my mom, and she’d put them in a setting she
wanted. She has the most gorgeous charm bracelet I was always
jealous of. It sparkled and was so damn pretty. She said I was a
complete fag and half a man for wanting one.”

And, just like that, I knew I’d be starting a charm bracelet for my

little birdie. I’d get him the biggest, prettiest gems he wanted. “I don’t
see that being a girl thing. I’ve worn bracelets before and necklaces. I
think your parents are the ones with issues, Lys. Not you.”

“Thank you for that,” he purred and rubbed his hips against my

thigh. “What do you have planned for me now? Is there time for sex
before our date?”

“No, but we can do whatever we want on our date.” I groaned as I

glanced at the clock. I knew the food and his present were already
here. “Let’s get my birdie some seafood.”

“Yes please,” he whimpered and practically leapt out of bed. I

laughed as he streaked back into his room, his pale, pale ass jiggling
as his erection bounced around. I really just wanted to eat him, but my
mate needed food. I quickly changed since my jeans had some of his
blood on them, and I didn’t want the reminder of what had happened
earlier when we were going to have fun tonight.

I about swallowed my tongue when he sauntered back into my

room in low-riding jeans that looked almost painted on. There were
leather laces up the sides, so I could see he wasn’t wearing underwear
and got a good glimpse of his skin. He wore a white linen button-
down short-sleeve shirt that he had closed with only a few of the

Fur and Flightless

middle buttons. It showed me his mating seal and left his belly button
and stomach exposed.

“Would you ever get this pierced for me, little birdie?” I asked in

a husky voice as I ran my fingers over it.

“I might if I had the right jewelry to pierce it with,” he whispered

and then moaned as I moved my index finger under the edge of his
jeans. “Would that make my big wolf happy?”

“I’ll find the perfect, prettiest stone for my baby so he’ll do it for

me,” I purred in his ear. I took his hand and moved it to my groin. “It
would make all of me very happy. The idea of licking it around and
teasing you that way makes me ready to blow. I promise to return the
favor and show you how much I’d appreciate you piercing it for me.”

“I have to say you are good with the mating gifts already.” He

giggled and straddled my thigh. “I’d love you to pierce me, Rip.”

“Why do I think we’re talking about more than a belly button ring

now?” I laughed and swooped him up into my arms.

“Would I be so dirty?” He blinked innocently at me as I walked

out into the hallway and toward the dining room. His hair hung over
my arm like a waterfall, and I just wanted to rub the soft strands all
over my naked body. I seriously thought there might be something
wrong with me that I wanted to use his hair to jerk off.

“If you knew some of the thoughts in my head, you would seem

like an innocent, Lys.” I chuckled when his eyes went wide and
glazed over with desire. “And some of them involve your hair.”

“Let’s see,” he drawled as I carried him down the stairs. He was at

least quiet enough where no one could hear. “You want to come on
my face and hair?”

“Yeah, that one, too.” I swallowed loudly and nodded, trying not

to trip in shock at his boldness. I’d never be able to just spit that one
out.

“You want to pull it like a handle when you fuck my face or my

ass.”

Joyee Flynn

“Not so it hurts you, but yeah, be a little rough.” I started to get

worried that he knew what I wanted, as if it was on his list of warning
signs that I was a freak. That or he’d already done it with other men,
and I wasn’t a fan of that either.

“Do you want to use it to get yourself off?” Lys purred and batted

his eyes lashes at me seductively.

“Yes, and I want feel it all over me while lying down when you

blow me.”

“I have the same fantasies, Rip. I’ve only done the hair pulling

during sex, and I like it. But I’ve always wanted to try more. Why do
you think I keep it so long?”

“Because I’m just a lucky bastard?”
“That too.” He giggled as I walked us down the hall. We passed

several people, some who were smiling and chuckling, but I wasn’t
really paying attention right then. My full focus was on my
intoxicatingly gorgeous mate.

“All he needs are tits for that outfit,” someone said under their

breath behind me. I watched as my happy, smiling, joy-filled mate
shut down right before my eyes. Lys looked away from me as his
smile fell into a sad frown, and he even lost the color from his face.
Fuck! He didn’t move or look at the person as if trying to ignore him
and not embarrass me.

He’d find out real soon how seriously I took his happiness.

Fur and Flightless

Chapter 9

“Don’t, it’s fine,” my mate whispered as I lowered him to his feet.
“No, it’s not,” I replied, putting all the anger I felt in my tone

without directing it at him. “Is he the one you heard talking earlier?”

“Yes.” Lys nodded but wouldn’t meet my gaze. I wanted to cheer

him up, wipe that look of despair off of his face. But I needed to take
out the trash first.

I moved faster than I knew anyone in the pack could have and

grabbed Mark by his shirt. There was a reason I was Alpha.

I turned him and slammed him into the wall hard enough so that

his head bounced against it. “You do not speak of my mate like that,”
I snarled in his face, letting my canines extend.

“Come on, Rip,” he gasped as his eyes went wide. “You can’t be

serious about that little girl over there.”

“Enough to kill you for hurting him.” I said each word slowly and

moved in closer until our noses were touching. “Did you have a nice
chat earlier?”

“There are no rules saying we can’t talk to each other about what

we think is going on in the pack,” a woman said haughtily.

“Amanda,” I drawled and rolled my eyes as I turned my head to

her. “I should have known you’d be a part of this. You always were
such a jealous, spiteful little bitch.”

“Jealous of that?” She scoffed and gestured over to my mate. And

he looked like he wanted to melt into the floor and die of
embarrassment. I was pleased to see that Randolph and Danielle were
standing at his side, growling at Amanda.

Joyee Flynn

“Let me take her out, Alpha,” Danielle said with glee in her voice.

Seems Lys wasn’t the only one Amanda was targeting.

“Not just yet.” I chuckled before turning back to Mark and

Amanda. “He is my mate, and if you speak derogatorily about him
again, I will see it as a direct challenge. And all you’re doing is
showing how green with envy you are of him.”

“As if!” she screeched. Yikes!
“Well for one he’s got a better ass than you,” I drawled and

shuddered as I looked at her. “He’s not some dyed blonde with split
ends and straw hair. He looks better without makeup than you do with
the tons you put on. And, most importantly, I want him when I’ve
never even considered accepting your offers in the past.”

Several people snickered as she turned bright shades of angry red.
“And don’t think I don’t know that your little discussion was a

setup. You just happened to be talking a few doors down from my
office when you knew Lys was in there. How convenient.”

I turned when Lys gasped. His face was stricken. “I’m such an

idiot. I never thought they did it on purpose.”

“Because you see the good in everyone, my little birdie,” I said

gently. “It would never have crossed your mind someone would be so
cruel. But I know Mark and Amanda, and they have been a problem
for years. It ends now.”

“I challenge the Alpha mate,” Amanda blurted out before I could

say more. “It’s within my right since he’s not fought his way up into
his pack standing.”

“No,” I snarled in her face, and several people gasped.
“But it’s her right,” someone called out. We’d drawn quite a

crowd now.

“Not when the Alpha mate isn’t a wolf,” Jim said firmly. Oh good

one! I’d forgotten that.

“What are the rules of a challenge?” Lys asked softly. Every head,

mine included, turned to him.

Fur and Flightless

“You’re not a wolf, so no shifting,” Jim answered slowly as he

glanced from my mate back to me. “Whoever draws blood first is the
winner. That is normally the stopping point unless the loser is
knocked out or yields.”

“But she has to stay in human form?” Lys asked as he eyed her

over.

“Yes, Alpha mate.”
“Done,” he said.
“No!” I dropped Mark so fast he crumbled to the floor as I went

over to my mate. “I was going to kick them out of the pack. This
challenge isn’t necessary.”

“Rip,” Lys said gently and cupped my cheek. “I need you to trust

me. I couldn’t take you or Jensen on, but I can handle one skinny,
overconfident bitch.”

“I heard that,” Amanda growled.
“I said overconfident bitch, not deaf,” Lys snickered as he looked

at her. I whimpered as a kicked dog would. If I said no, it meant I
didn’t trust him. If I said yes, he could get hurt. Fuck!

“Okay,” I whispered and nodded. “But if you get hurt, no seafood

tonight or the present I got you.”

“You told me what the present was, and I think it’s a gift for you

actually.”

“Well, maybe.” I leaned in and brushed a kiss against his soft lips.

“I plan on wild sex, too, and we can’t do that if you’re injured.”

“Wild sex, huh?” He purred and moved so his body rubbed

against mine. “Have we had any other kind?”

“No,” I moaned and tried to hold him against me, but he stepped

away.

“For your hair,” Danielle said as she handed my mate a rubber

band.

“Thanks,” he replied brightly and threw his hair up in a bun.

“Where do we do this? I want to hurry so we can eat.”

Joyee Flynn

“Who’s overconfident now?” Amanda sneered as Jim led us to

one of the training rooms. It was a combo of a gym and large workout
room at the back of the mansion. “You didn’t even ask what the
consequences are when I win.”

“Well you can’t have Rip no matter what, so what do I care?”
“You’d be removed from the pack,” she answered as she rubbed

her hands together in glee. “You could still fuck Rip, but you
wouldn’t be recognized as his mate or be able to live here.”

“And I’d leave with him,” I said firmly and everyone froze. “What

did you expect? He’s my mate. If Lys leaves, I go.”

“I–I didn’t know this was s–such a big deal,” Lys stuttered and

looked scared. “I thought the worst would be I got my ass kicked and
she’d be allowed to talk smack about me.” He stared at me as his
bottom lip quivered. “I can’t take this back now, can I?”

“No.” I shook my head and cupped his cheek. I wasn’t going to

rub it in that he should have asked me what it meant before accepting.
He knew.

“I’m sorry, Rip.”
“It’s okay,” I said as I rubbed my thumb over his pouting lip. “I

think we both just learned a valuable lesson about consulting each
other before making decisions that could affect each other.”

“Yeah, lesson learned,” he whispered.
“Besides, I’m not worried.”
“You’re not?” He gasped and stared up at me with wide eyes.
“Nope! My mate said he could win and to trust him. I trust you,

Lys. I have faith in you, or I would never have agreed to this.”

“You did say yes, didn’t you?” He smiled at me then as he

unbuttoned his shirt. He pulled the sides apart as if giving me my own
striptease instead of there being a roomful of people. “My mate trusts
me to kick the bitch’s ass. I won’t fail him, and then we eat.”

“There’s my confident little birdie,” I purred and then laughed

when his shirt landed in my hands. “Fuck you’re hot.”

Fur and Flightless

“Just me being shirtless does it for you?” the little imp asked as he

ran his hands down his chest. I moaned when his fingers brushed
against his hip bones that were showing because of the low, low-
riding jeans.

“Can you do this in jeans?”
“Yeah, they’re not real denim. They stretch.” He chuckled as he

made a show of wrapping one leg up around my hip. Since I had a
good foot on him, it was impressive. Oh gods he was flexible. I was
instantly hard. “Save that for me, big boy.”

“Yes, my mate.” I leaned down and got one more quick, sweet

kiss before he sauntered over to meet Amanda in the circle of people
that had formed. I moved to the front of them, wanting to tear the
bitch’s heart out before she got her hands on my mate.

“You sure you’re not a girl? You could have just had your breasts

removed? I mean has anyone seen proof you’re a man?” Amanda
taunted as she hopped from one foot to another and shook her arms
out.

“Don’t be bitter because I’m prettier than you. It’s so

unbecoming.” Lys bent down and placed his hands on the floor to
stretch. He didn’t even need to spread his legs or bend his knees. Hot
damn! He looked around his legs and shook his firm ass at me.

“Tease,” I shouted.
“Ain’t a tease if I put out! Most of the pack has seen that I do.”

His head snapped up and he glared at Amanda, “so yes, they saw what
I’m packing, dumbass.” He stood back up and wiggled his butt at me
again as he stretched his arms out. “Okay, this foreplay is getting
tedious. How do we start?”

“I’ll let you take the first shot,” Amanda sneered and spread her

arms wide. I couldn’t see Lys’s facial expression, but he tilted his
head to the side, and I could guess he was wondering if she was for
real. Unfortunately wolves were prideful, sometimes dumb, animals.
Me included.

Joyee Flynn

He moved closer to her and got in a fighting stance. It looked like

he knew what he was doing. Then he did a perfectly executed
roundhouse kick to her face. Yeah, he knew some martial arts. Her
mouth exploded with blood and she went down, out cold.

“Well that was kind of anti-climactic,” Lys said with a shrug and

turned to me. “Do I get like double win points for drawing blood and
knocking her out?”

“You do in my book.” I chuckled as I raced over to him. I twirled

him around as I hugged him. Several pack members patted him on the
back and gave their congratulations.

Lys turned bright red, and I could tell the attention made him

uncomfortable.

“Mark, you’re out of my pack along with Amanda,” I yelled over

everyone, and suddenly they got quiet. I turned to Randolph since he
was right next to us. “See that they take only what’s theirs, and I want
them gone within the hour.”

“You can’t do that!” Mark growled and shook as if he was going

to shift.

“You’re lucky I didn’t just kill you,” I snarled and let my eyes

shift to lupine. “A less merciful Alpha would have for insulting his
mate. Be grateful and leave without a problem, or I will kill you for
defying me.”

I didn’t wait for a reply. I had a date. I lowered my birdie to his

feet and handed him his shirt. He put it on but didn’t button it,
showing me that tempting skin I wanted to taste.

“Why do I feel the need to bend you over and fuck you?” he asked

me in a whisper when we were far enough away from everyone else.

“Because you’re mated and you just fought to keep your mate and

your standing as Alpha mate. You may not be a very dominant shifter
or possessive, but it’s a powerful emotion and you are part animal.”

“I’m finding I’m very possessive and the jealous type actually.”

He slipped his hand into mine. We were at the smaller dining room
then, and I opened the door for him. He started to walk past me to go

Fur and Flightless

through it and stopped. “And the idea of being inside of you gets me
hot.”

“If we go slow, I promise I’d try it for you, my little birdie. I just

can’t promise I’ll like it.”

“You’d do that for me?” His face broke into a wide smile.
“I’d do just about anything for your smiles, Lys.” He nodded and

went into the room, practically skipping with glee at what I said.

“This is awesome!” He groaned and quickly sat at one of the place

settings. “I’ll wear your present all week for a spread like this.”

“Well dig in then.” I chuckled as I sat next to him.
There were serving plates of almost every imaginable seafood and

fish around us. There were also two bottles of white wine chilled in a
bucket of ice. I popped the cork of one and poured us some as Lys
loaded our plates up.

“I can do shellfish but regular fish not so much,” I admitted when

he tried to put some salmon on my plate. He nodded and took a bite of
the tuna steak.

“What about this? Tuna steak doesn’t taste like regular tuna, and

this is really good.”

“I’ll try it,” I said, giving in when I saw his hopeful look. He

gifted me with another bright smile. Hell, I’d eat fish every damn
night just to make him this happy.

“This is the best calamari ever,” my birdie moaned as he

swallowed one mouthful before taking another bite. “Squid is almost
like an aphrodisiac to penguins.”

“Really?” I purred, hard as a fucking rock from the sounds he was

making and the idea of food getting him horny.

“Totally,” he groaned as he popped a huge shrimp into his mouth.

“Oh gods, grilled with just a little garlic butter. Perfect.”

I took a few bites as I watched him make noises I’d thought were

only bedroom appropriate as he ate. I bit my lip when he licked his
fingers clean of butter to keep from jumping him. My eyes almost

Joyee Flynn

rolled back in my head when I watched his throat muscles swallow as
he groaned in pleasure.

“What?” he asked when he realized I wasn’t eating and simply

staring at him. “I get a little overzealous I know. But it’s been weeks
since I’ve had any fish and seems like forever ago I had lobster.”

“You don’t even get how sexy you are, do you?” I whispered as I

tried to calm down and sip my wine.

“I’m not sexy.” He snickered and took a few huge gulps of his

own. “Pretty, yeah. Cute sometimes, but I’m not sexy.”

“I think you’re the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen, my little

birdie,” I growled. Lys swallowed nervously but then seemed almost
to preen under my praise. “And the noises you’ve been making? I
want to tear those pants off of you, use the butter to slick your tight
ass up, and fuck you like a wild man on the table surrounded by all
the plates of food that have been making you moan.”

He quickly swallowed down the rest of his wine. His second glass

already. “Okay,” he squeaked.

I moved so fast my chair fell backwards when I stood. I never

thought he’d say yes. “Get those pants off because I like the way they
look on you too much to ruin them.”

“Yes, my Alpha,” he whimpered and started getting naked for me.

I almost came in my pants at his submissive tone and calling me his
Alpha. I really liked that, it seemed.

I pushed plates back so there was room for him on the table, and

the second he was naked, I lifted him up. I mashed my mouth down to
his as I sat him on the wood surface and pushed in between his thighs.
Lys moaned and readily spread them wide for me. He threw his arms
around my neck and kissed me back with the same passion I gave
him.

As I laid him down on the table like a feast of my own, I undid his

hair. It spread out under him and made it look like he was lying on a
bed of silk. I moved down his body, licking and sucking his flesh as
he went wild under me. Then I did exactly as I said I would. I just

Fur and Flightless

added my tongue to the garlic butter when I stretched and slicked him.
The warm liquid drove my mate insane with lust.

We fucked like animals, and I pounded into him so hard I actually

thought we might break the table. Lys kept his feet flat on the wood
and used them for leverage to meet my hips thrust for thrust. He cried
out and arched that beautiful body when he came. I filled him up with
my release, and I licked him clean of his cum as we both came back
down from our bliss.

“Cold shrimp and lobster are just as good,” he chuckled several

minutes after I collapsed on him. I pushed myself up, staring down at
him. The little shit was eating again already! “What? Can’t let good
seafood go to waste.”

“Same with fine wine,” I said as I wiggled my eyebrows at him. I

poured us each another glass and then used some napkins dipped in
the melted ice water to clean my mate up.

“Cold!” he shouted and just about leapt off the table and into my

arms. “That was mean.”

“It was not, little birdie. It got you right where I wanted you to

be.”

“Sneaky man,” he chuckled as I finished cleaning him up. He

pulled his jeans back on as I tucked myself back into mine. Hell, I’d
been so wound up that my clothes never came off. I simply unzipped
and shoved them down to my thighs. I wasn’t impatient or anything
when it came to my mate.

“Are you enjoying our date?”
“Immensely,” he purred and then sipped more of his wine. “And

this is better than being in a restaurant because we can’t have each
other for the second course there. But don’t let me have too much
wine. I won’t be able to swim later.”

“I’d never let you drown. It’s not like we’re going to do laps, just

play around.”

“I do like playing.” Lys giggled and turned in his chair. He lifted

his bare foot and ran it over my thigh. “Wine makes me a slut.”

Joyee Flynn

“Heaven forbid,” I growled and lifted his dainty foot up to my

mouth. I kissed the sole of it and my mate whimpered. At least I
seemed to have the same effect on him as he did on me. I thought that
was fair.

Fur and Flightless

Chapter 10

Lys’s jaw dropped when he opened his present because there

wasn’t only one pair of tiny boy shorts but seven in various colors. I
needed to thank Danielle for her shopping smarts because my mate
was shocked, but thrilled. He rushed off, ordering me to hurry and
change into trunks and he’d meet me in the pool.

Yeah, I may be dense at times, but I wasn’t stupid. I ran to my

room to do it, asking Danielle when I saw her on the way to please
have anything my mate didn’t eat to be wrapped up and to ask her to
help me shop for gemstones tomorrow. She said it would be done and
shooed me away.

Ten minutes later, I was at the pool in my board shorts watching

my mate swim with the grace of a mermaid. Gods he was a sight to
behold. His hair molded to his body as he cut through the pool
underwater as if he were a part of it. When he got to the shallow end I
was standing by, he got to his feet and climbed the stairs to me.

“Holy mother of mercy,” I moaned and rubbed my erection.
“You like?” he asked in a deep, husky voice as he turned on the

stair so I could see how he looked in his gift. They were low-cut, so I
saw his hip bones, which always turned me on, but no pubic hair since
Lys waxed. I’d never thought I’d be such a fan of smooth skin down
there, but I was now. The shorts didn’t cover the tops or bottoms of
his ass and framed his firm ghetto booty in a way that made my
mouth water.

His hair was wet and streaming down his back and chest, leaving

trails of water I wanted to lick off his body. And his cock was very
obvious in the tiny shorts, the head of it up over the band of them. I

Joyee Flynn

didn’t answer. I stalked him like prey until I was close enough to
reach him. He yelped as I moved my hands under his ass and lifted
him to my body. Lys wrapped his legs around me and threw his arms
around my neck.

I licked, nipped, and sucked on his lips until he was a moaning

pile of goo. I walked us down into the deeper end of the pool and
pressed him back against the tiles so only our shoulders and heads
were above water.

“Fuck me, Rip. I’ve never been fucked in a pool before, and I’ve

always wanted to do it in one. Now I want to do it with only you.” My
mate begged as I nipped at his ear and down his neck. He didn’t have
to tell me twice!

I pulled out the waterproof lube I grabbed from our shower before

coming down. He let his legs slip off my hips so I could get his shorts
off and then wrapped them back around me. I lowered my trunks
down and slicked up my cock. He was still stretched from the sex we
had a whole half an hour ago. Yeah, I wasn’t addicted to my mate or
anything.

“How do you want it, my little birdie?” I asked as I pushed the

head of my cock inside of him.

“Make me scream,” he purred and dug his short nails into my

back. “I told you I was a slut when I drank wine. Treat me like one.
Pull my hair and fuck me as if you paid to use my ass.”

“A hooker fantasy? Very nice,” I moaned and slammed into him.

“Are you a dirty whore, Lys?”

“Baby, I’m whatever you want me to be,” he purred. I made sure

his shoulders were against the tiles so I wouldn’t drop him or hurt him
after I moved us to shallower water. I braced his ass with only one
hand and then moved my other one to twine in his hair. I yanked on it
as I thrust into him hard again. “Hey, any rough stuff will cost you
extra.”

“Put it on my tab,” I growled and did it again. Lys loved it! He

cried out in pleasure each time I pulled his hair and pushed into him. I

Fur and Flightless

kept it slow but very, very hard. He arched his back and moved his
arms onto the lip of the pool to brace himself. “I’m going to make you
come two times before I finish inside of you.”

“You can do that?” He moaned, and I felt his inner muscles

squeeze my cock with excitement.

“After how many times we’ve done it today? Yeah, I can draw it

out for a while when I’m not dying to take the edge off.”

“How about three?” Lys teased me as he purred.
“Done,” I growled again and fucked him. He made the sexiest

noises as I set a punishing pace while I took his sweet ass.

“Harder! Fuck your whore harder!” he screamed. I hoped no one

from the pack heard him. That might raise another slew of issues if
someone talked. Then his muscles tightened around me as he came,
and I forgot to breathe almost, much less think. But it worked. I didn’t
orgasm and was able to draw his out.

Before he could even recover or speak, I moved us into even

shallower water and laid him on the side of the pool. I spread his legs
wide over my forearms and started pounding into him.

“Fuck me!” he cried out and threw his head back in abandonment.

“Get your money’s worth.”

“That’s right, whore,” I grunted as I slammed into him harder.

“I’m going to get every dollar I paid out of your tight fucking ass and
then leave you full of my seed so no one else will want you. You’ll
beg me to become your sole client.”

“Yes,” he hissed as his cock started to perk back up. “No one else.

I’ll only be your dirty whore, Rip. Yours to do with whatever you
please.”

“You like my fat cock, whore?”
“You know I love it,” he moaned. “Give me your meat, Rip.

Shove a finger in there with your cock. Make me scream again.”

Fuck,” I groaned and tried to keep from coming at his dirty words.

I reached down, dropping one of his legs and pushed my thumb into
his ass.

Joyee Flynn

“Rip!” He screamed and erupted like Old Faithful.
“That’s two, little whore,” I growled as I watched reams of seed

burst from his dick. I kept my cock in him and moved my thumb
around it, stretching his hole even further. “I’m going to use so many
toys on you now that I know you like it this kinky. We’re going to try
every fantasy I’ve ever had, and you’re going to beg me for more.”

“Okay,” he gasped as his chest heaved with exertion. “I’ve got

one more coming, Rip.”

“Yes you do,” I purred and pulled out of him. He moaned as his

eyebrows drew together. I rolled us over so he was sprawled over me.

“You want me to ride you after two orgasms, and my body feels

like jelly?”

“Nope! I want you to hold on.” I didn’t give him time to ask me

what I meant. I lifted him up and slammed into him. I braced my feet
on the floor and fucked him hard enough he almost fell off of me. He
leaned over and braced his hands on my chest, pinching my nipples.

“We-have-to-play-that-I’m-your-whore-more-often!” He grunted

under the onslaught his body was taking.

“My whore,” I snarled and fucked him harder. My ass was

smacking against the tiles around the pool loud enough that I knew it
would leave bruises. I gripped his hips tighter and moved him faster
than any human ever could have.

“Yes, yours,” he cried out, throwing his head back in

abandonment. His long, black, wet hair flowed over us as he moved,
and I was so caught up in the sight of my mate’s blissful expression, I
didn’t realize my orgasm was coming. I yanked him down to me and
sank my teeth into his neck.

He screamed again and came all over my stomach as I roared out

around his flesh in my mouth and filled him with my seed. My
orgasm seemed to go on forever as I emptied my balls into his sweet
ass. I didn’t know I had that much cum in my body because I was still
riding my climax when I felt it leaking back out of him.

Fur and Flightless

When we were both spent, he slumped over me, and I knew he

wasn’t moving anytime soon. Gods did I love this man!

Holy shit. Oh fuck. No, no, not yet. I started breathing faster, and

my heart raced, and it wasn’t from the glorious sex we’d just had. I
loved Lys. I did. Already. Shit.

“Glad you liked the shorts so much,” he mumbled against my

chest and snuggled closer against me. My cock was still in his ass,
cum leaking out of him, and all he cared about was being as close to
me as possible. Did that mean he felt the same for me?

But I’d given him no reason to love me. Lys, on the other hand,

had given me every reason. He was sweet, sensitive, good, smart,
loving, wildly passionate, tender-hearted, generous, and dozens of
other adjectives that would test my vocabulary limits.

“Best sex ever?” I asked instead of the question I was dying to

know.

“And then some.” He giggled and then yawned. I slowly pulled

out of him, thinking his ass had to be incredibly tender after what
we’d just done. “And the best date ever. I don’t think I’ll make it to
the movie though.”

“No, it’s time for bed, my little birdie,” I whispered. He nodded,

and moments later, his breathing evened out, letting me know he’d
drifted off. What was I going to do? I loved him. How could I keep
him from realizing he could do so much better than me and leaving?

I wasn’t sure, but my brain was racing with ideas as I stood with

him in my arms. I laid him down on a bench and quickly adjusted my
swim trunks. Then I grabbed his shorts and wrapped a towel around
his waist before picking him back up.

I saw several people in the halls on the way to my room. They

gave me knowing smiles and winks as they glanced at my worn-out
mate.

“Happy looks good on you, Boss,” one of my other enforcers and

guards, Gaven, said with a smile. “You deserve it.”

Joyee Flynn

“But I don’t deserve him,” I said seriously as I stared down at my

beautiful mate. “I’ve done so much to hurt him.”

“You’re a good man who’s had a hard life and a harder job, Rip,”

my friend replied gently as he patted my shoulder. “Give yourself
some credit for realizing that and trying to do better. Most men
wouldn’t even do that for their mates. And your friends are here to
help you if you need it.”

“Do we know any jewelers?” I asked, knowing I’d already wanted

to get him some gems, but after my revelation and the perfect date
with Lys…I wanted to shower him with them.

“One of the vamps at the local coven. I’ll give him a call and ask

him to bring his finest gems tomorrow and help you design something
for your mate.”

“Thanks, Gaven,” I said with a grateful look. I could use all the

help I could get. He gave me a nod, and then I carried my mate up to
my room. Our room if I could talk him into it.

I quickly cleaned him up with a warm washcloth and cringed

when I saw how tender his hole was. He was still sleeping, so I
couldn’t ask, but I figured it wasn’t taking advantage of him if I
licked him to help him heal. It’s not like I was fucking him in his
sleep. He moaned a few times but didn’t wake up.

When I was done and had pulled off my shorts, I crawled into bed

with Lys. I pulled him back against my chest and buried my face in
his hair, taking a deep breath and letting his scent surround me.

“Love you, Rip,” he mumbled in his sleep as he scooted closer to

me. My heart soared with joy. He loved me! He wouldn’t have said it,
even in his sleep, if he hadn’t felt it. Now I had to work on my plan to
get him to say it when he was awake.

* * * *

I woke with a start when I realized Lys wasn’t in my arms

anymore but something was. Sitting up, I heard a startled yelp as

Fur and Flightless

something rolled away from me. I blinked away the sleepiness and
was staring down at a penguin. My penguin.

“Why are you in bird form in our bed?” I asked as he blinked up

at me.

“Tonight’s the full moon. We tend to shift in our sleep around the

lunar cycle. You guys have to shift the night of the full moon. During
those days our birds take more control and come out when our human
forms are asleep. I ate enough seafood that my penguin wanted to get
some time out and about.”

“Warn a guy?” I chuckled and my mate nodded. “Hungry?”
“Starved,” he squawked. I hopped out of bed and grabbed a pair

of jeans, yanking them on before lifting my mate into my arms.

“I can walk, Rip,” he snickered and snuggled against my chest.
“Can you shift back?”
“Oh yeah, it’s just easier to give in than to fight it when my

penguin wants out this bad. I’m sure you have the same thing with
your wolf.”

“Totally.”
“I’ll eat, go for a swim, and he’ll be content. I’ll shift after that

and meet with Danielle.”

“You need me there?”
“Not this time. We’re just flipping through résumés and setting up

some basics for the new office. But I’d like you in on the interviews
later.”

“Anything my little birdie wants,” I purred and nuzzled his

feathers. It was still weird, and waking to him in animal form in my
arms was freaky, but I could get used to it. I thought I could at least.

We entered the large dining room, and everyone stopped what

they were doing and stared at us. Gaven burst out laughing, and I was
shocked. He would have been the last one I would have thought to be
so mean.

Joyee Flynn

“Stop it,” I growled and hugged my mate closer to me. He was

shaking in my arms, and I wasn’t sure if he was worried that I was
pissed or upset that Gaven was laughing.

“I’m sorry, Rip, Alpha mate. I mean no disrespect, seriously,” he

said in between chuckles and gasping for air. “But come on. You’ve
gotta see this from my side. I’ve known you for centuries, and you
walking into breakfast holding a penguin adoringly was a little more
than I was ready for before I’d had my coffee.”

“Well when he puts it like that…” Lys snickered. He jumped

down from my arms and onto the table. “You’re forgiven if you go
get the leftovers from last night and tell some of the people here to
stop looking at me like breakfast.” Gaven gave my mate a wink and
walked through the swinging door into the kitchen.

“Sorry,” a younger pup mumbled and stopped whimpering. “But

you’re prey, and you smell really good.”

“No eating the Alpha mate.” Lys chuckled, but he was smart

enough to stay very close to me. “Rip would be very unhappy if one
of you touched me much less took a bite from me.”

“Maybe we should eat in our room around the full moon, little

birdie,” I whispered as I pulled him back to my chest. Several of the
pack’s eyes had shifted to wolf ones and those pack members were
practically licking their chops. “Guys, control your animals!”

“Sorry, Alpha,” several said while they shook their heads as if

trying to break a spell.

“How come you’re not wanting to eat me?”
“My wolf knows you’re our mate. That’s more important than

dinner. Plus, there’s a reason I’m Alpha, baby. I can control myself.”
Gaven came back in with an armload full of leftovers and froze when
he sniffed the tension in the air. He looked me with wide eyes,
understanding the problem.

“I’ll let the sponsors know not to let any pups go around

unescorted,” he said calmly as he came toward us. “Might I suggest
you have breakfast elsewhere though?”

Fur and Flightless

“Yeah, bring all that down to the pool and then something for me

as well please,” I replied as I picked Lys up like a football and
grabbed one of the larger covered dishes from his arms. I didn’t run,
but I did back out of the dining room quickly. A few of the younger
pack members looked as if they were close to changing.

“Marlin, no!” Gaven shouted as one gave in. He threw down the

containers of food on the table and dove at the teenager as he shifted.
I ran as soon as we were in the hallway down to the pool. I pulled out
my phone and hit the first speed dial as Lys shook in my arms but
kept quiet.

“What’s up, Rip?” Jensen asked immediately.
“I need you back here pronto. It seems a lot of the pack is having

trouble with a prey shifter here around the full moon. I had no idea it
would be like this. One of the pups just shifted at breakfast.”

“Fuck! I’ll hop on the next plane.”
“Thanks,” I said in relief and hung up. We got to the pool then,

and I set Lys down on the ground.

“That pup was going to eat me,” he whispered, sounding shell-

shocked. I sat down next to him and opened the Tupperware
container. He let me feed him some shrimp as we both seemed to
process what happened.

“Are you okay?”
“Just shaken up.” Lys chuckled and shook his head. He waddled a

few feet and hopped in the pool. I wanted him to swim and play for a
while, but I went on guard when I heard someone come through the
door to the pool. I relaxed when I saw it was Gaven.

“He okay?” he asked as he wheeled over a small serving cart and

handed me a cup of coffee. If there was ever a morning I needed
some, it was today. He plopped down next to me and bumped my
shoulder in support.

“I think he’s just a little shocked,” I answered with a sigh and took

a sip. “He knew in his head, like we did, that he was prey but to see it
affect the pack like that got to him. How’s Marlin?”

100

Joyee Flynn

“Pissed at himself for losing control, I’m sure. No one got hurt

though.” Gaven shrugged and handed me a large plate of food,
snagging a mini-croissant for himself. “Once he shifted, a few others
did as well. You know it’s like dominoes sometimes.”

“Yeah, I know. Are they outside hunting?”
“Yup. We need to talk about getting some more animals in the

area. There are almost no deer or rabbits left. The pack’s grown a lot
in the past decade.”

“I called Jensen to come back. We can discuss this with him when

he gets here.”

“Is that wise, Rip?” Gaven asked nervously as his eyes darted

between me and my mate. “I mean things are still really rocky
between you guys.”

“He’s one of the few strong enough to help protect Lys if things

get out of hand. His safety is more important to me than anything. I
don’t want to lose Lys, and it would kill me, but if Jensen can woo
him away and offer him more, then I’ll let him go. I just want him to
be happy.”

I was turned to the side to talk with my friend, and I hadn’t been

paying attention to the bird in the pool. Suddenly I was knocked back
onto the floor and Gaven barely had time to grab my coffee from my
hand so it didn’t go flying. Lys, back in human form, straddled me
and leaned in so our noses were touching.

“I don’t want Jensen. Let me make that crystal fucking clear. I

wanted someone to want me, and you didn’t at first. That’s why I
leaned towards Jensen, but things have changed. I know you care for
me, and I don’t want anyone else but you. Him being here will not
change that.”

“Thank you,” I whispered and pulled his head down for a kiss.
“Okay, I’ll leave you two alone then.” Gaven snickered as Lys

started to rub his hips against my stomach as he sucked my tongue.

“No, wait,” I gasped as I broke the kiss. “I have a meeting this

morning, and I don’t want Lys alone during the lunar cycle. Not yet at

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101

least. I trust Danielle, but she’s not as old or strong as you. Stay with
Lys and keep him away from being around more than one wolf at a
time. I think once everyone gets used to him and the smell of prey in
the house, things will calm down. It was stupid of me to walk in with
him in bird form with a full moon coming soon.”

“I keep you for your looks.” Lys snickered and squirmed against

me. “What meeting?”

Gaven and I shared a glance since he’d set it up for me. “It’s a

surprise.”

102

Joyee Flynn

Chapter 11

I left my hot, naked, wet mate to meet with a vamp waiting in my

office. If I wasn’t so excited about the meeting and finding the perfect
gems for my little birdie, I would have made the guy wait. Lys was
pretty irresistible after all.

“What did you have in mind, Alpha?” the vamp, Gerald, asked

after we got introductions out of the way.

“Can you do a charm bracelet that can be worn as a necklace,

too?”

“Yes, that’s most fashionable these days,” he answered and

opened one of his portfolio books to pages of designs of them. After
three pages, I found the one I wanted.

“This one,” I said excitedly and pointed it out. “But I want to get a

huge diamond in the center. So it will be the main focal point for
either way he wears it.”

“Excellent!” Gerald smiled as he started sketching. It was a silver

bracelet with links that could have charms or pendants attached to it.
It wrapped around a wrist three times if wanting to be worn as a
bracelet. It was masculine, but pretty, and it wouldn’t look bulky on
Lys’s small wrist.

“When can you get this done by?” I asked, practically bouncing in

my seat. I was already looking through his cases of gems to find some
for the bracelet and to give to Lys individually.

“Give me two days. I just finished a large project, but I can fit this

in before the next one I have commissioned. I do recommend an
emerald cut for the diamond so it lays flat.”

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103

“Whatever you think is best, but I want stellar clarity so it

sparkles,” I said with a nod. Then I found the perfect blue and purple
stones to give my mate now, making sure they were blue topaz and
amethyst. “I want these for now, and Lys can decide how he wants
them set. But I do want two teardrop charms made. One of onyx and
one of garnet.”

“Helping with a tough time and devotion. Nice choices to start the

bracelet for your mate,” he replied approvingly.

“You know about the meanings?”
“It’s my job to know, Alpha.” He chuckled. “I might suggest you

give him a sapphire as well to show you feel that you have come
together as one.”

“He does like blue,” I said in agreement as I glanced over the ones

in his case. There was one huge one that was just stunning and the
size of my thumbnail. “That’s the one.”

“Let me polish these three up, and you can have them today.”

Gerald smiled as only a salesman who was picturing the money he
just made off a client would. He made them sparkle even more and
then put each one in a small felt bag. “I’ll be back with the rest after
the full moon. Who do I send the bill to?”

We haggled over the price a bit, and then I cut him a check from

my personal account. I showed him the door, and we said our good-
byes. Both of us had bright smiles on our faces, which to me meant
we’d just made a mutually beneficial transaction. Then I raced up to
my room and felt my heart stop when it was empty. Oh, right! Lys
was meeting with Danielle.

As much as I didn’t want to interrupt that, I was too giddy to wait

to give him his presents. Normally they would have met in one of the
studies downstairs, but I assumed that Gaven was smart enough to
keep Lys away from the bulk of the pack with the way they were
reacting to him. The outer door I’d broken down to my mate’s room
was already fixed and the room itself large enough for its own sitting
area.

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Joyee Flynn

But they weren’t in there either. I thought for a moment and

realized Lys’s workshop was out of the way in the basement. That
would work for them. I took the world’s quickest shower before
grabbing his gems and a small bottle of lube. I stuffed them in my
pockets after I got dressed and sought my mate out like a man on a
mission.

“How did it go?” Gaven asked under his breath as I walked up to

him standing outside the door to my mate’s shop.

“Very well, thanks,” I answered with a triumphant smile. I opened

the door and wanted to laugh at the sight before me. Danielle and Lys
were hovering over papers spread out all over his work table. It
seemed they had a lot of résumés to go through. “Is this a bad time?”

“No!” Lys exclaimed as his head shot up. He hopped off his stool

and raced over to me, leaping into my arms. I caught him easily and
hugged him to me. “Save me from the attacking résumés!”

“Is my little birdie unhappy?”
“Yes.” He pouted as I walked us over to his work bench and sat

him down on it. “I don’t like this part of business. I want someone
else to be the boss for this stuff.”

“Would you smile for your mate if I said I had a present for you?”
“Oh yeah,” he moaned and reached for the fly of my jeans. “I

need sausage!”

“And on that note, I’ll be leaving,” Danielle said as she booked it

to the door. “We’ll get back to it after lunch. But I’ve got enough to
work on my own for now.”

“Okay, later,” Lys replied absently as he tried to get me naked. I

stilled his hands and he glanced up at me with confusion.

“Not that type of present, baby.”
“But I want that present, too.” His lower lip came out again, and I

leaned in and nipped it.

“After,” I chuckled. I pulled out one of the pouches and held it up

in front of his eyes. “But first, I have something special for my mate.”

Fur and Flightless

105

“Really?” he whispered as he stared at the bag. He knew what a

jeweler’s bag was, it seemed, from the reaction I was getting. His
whole face lit up and looked almost as if he was going to cry with
happiness. “For me?”

“Don’t you want to see it?”
“Yes, please,” he answered excitedly and snatched it from my

hand. Luck was on my side because it ended up being the large
sapphire. “Rip!” He gasped as he rolled it between his fingers. “This
is amazing! It’s the most beautiful sapphire I’ve ever seen.”

“For the most beautiful man,” I whispered and kissed his cheek.
“I love you,” he blurted out and then slapped his free hand over

his mouth. His eyes went wide, and he started shaking.

“I love you too, little birdie,” I said gently as I moved his hand

away. “I wanted you to know that I feel we’re one now.”

“That’s what the gem means,” Lys whispered as his eyes filled up

with tears.

“I know.” I kissed each of his eyes, and the waterworks never

started then. I wasn’t the best with that side of a relationship yet, and
I’d do anything to keep him from crying. Even if they were happy
tears. I slid the other two bags into his hand. “And those you said
were your favorite and would show you I was all around happy to be
with you, though I think the purple one should show hot sex.”

He glanced down in his hands and quickly opened the pouches.

He squealed with glee as he stared at his three gems. Then he looked
up at me with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Then that’s the one I’ll
have made into a belly button ring.”

“Isn’t that too big for one?” I asked as I gazed at the nickel-size

gem.

“Good point. Okay, I’ll get a smaller one for my belly.”
“Maybe I should make sure,” I purred as I pushed him back on the

table and lifted his shirt. I took the amethyst and ran it over his
stomach before holding it where a ring would go. “No, too big I
think.”

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Joyee Flynn

“Now can I have my other present?” He panted, turned on already

from my barely touching him. His dick was swollen in his pants. “I
have one for you actually.”

“Really,” I drawled. He nodded and sat up, putting away his gems

and gave me a quick kiss. Then he hopped off the table, pulled off his
shirt, and quickly lost his jeans and shoes.

“You like?” Lys asked softly as he turned around to show the

sapphire blue boy shorts I’d gotten him. “I thought it was fate we both
went with this blue today.”

“Me too,” I whispered, getting choked up myself. I knelt in front

of him and slid my hands up his thighs to cup his ass. He shivered in
delight as I licked the head of his cock peeking up over the shorts.
“Do I get my present any way I want?”

“Yes,” he whimpered. In a flash I had him bent over his work

table so his chest was on it and the shorts pulled down just past his
ass. I undid my jeans and grabbed the lube. I slicked myself up and
checked to make sure he was still loose from the night before. He
was.

I was so wound up on from hearing he loved me that I needed to

be inside of him. I fucked him into the table, and it actually creaked
and moved across the floor. Lys screamed he loved me repeatedly,
which only spurred me on. In the end we came at the same time
crying out each other’s names.

“I love you too, my little birdie,” I whispered when I could get

enough air. I was draped over his back, our bodies slicked with sweat
from our hot sex.

“Tell me that wasn’t your idea of making love though?” Gaven

asked from the doorway with a smirk on his face.

“Is everyone just going to watch us fuck?” Lys groaned. I licked

his neck as I looked up at my friend.

“At least most of you is hidden behind the table this time.”

Fur and Flightless

107

“Good point.” He giggled, and I moaned because his ass muscles

tightened around my cock. Which was still hard. So of course I thrust
into him. “You want Gaven to watch you fuck me again?”

“I do,” Marlin whimpered from the doorway.
“The pup wanted to apologize for his earlier behavior,” Gaven

explained with a smirk. “And the others heard screaming and what
sounded like breaking furniture and came running.” It was then I
noticed there was at least another dozen people standing behind them
out in the hall.

“My mate’s a screamer.” I shrugged and bit my lip to keep from

laughing.

“I am not,” Lys said firmly as if insulted. Just to be a shit and

prove my point, I grabbed his hips and thrust into him hard twice. “Oh
god, Rip. Fuck me hard!”

“Yeah, he’s not a screamer.” Gaven chuckled.
“Fine, I’m a screamer. I also no longer care that people are

watching,” he whimpered and looked at me over his shoulder.
“Please, I need you. I’m so hard again. Your birdie wants his
sausage.”

“You beg so wonderfully,” I groaned and leaned over to give him

an awkward kiss. I shooed everyone else away as I started pounding
into my mate. Gaven had to practically drag Marlin away.

“But it smells like food and sex now,” the pup whined. I barely

heard them as Lys and I quickly found another release.

“Love you, love your cock, love the passion between us, love the

way you know what I need,” Lys mumbled and seemed ready for a
nap.

“Love you too,” I whispered. I pulled out of him and went to find

something to clean him up with. By the time I did and got back to
him, he was sleeping on his work table on his arms. His hips and legs
hanging off of it where I’d left him and his feet not even touching the
floor. I guess I wore him out!

108

Joyee Flynn

* * * *

After a short nap and a shower, Lys went to go meet back up with

Danielle, and I went to go handle some pack business. The little imp
winked at me before we split and said he might be taking a naked
swim before dinner though. Wonder where I was heading at about
five in the afternoon? But what I found wasn’t what I’d planned.

I saw Jensen in the hallway to the pool and figured Gaven told

him to go keep an eye on Lys in case any of the pack followed the
scent of prey. Since I was heading in the same direction, I didn’t call
out and jogged to catch up. I froze after I opened the door to the pool.

“Do you like the red, my wolf?” Lys purred from the floor. He

was on all fours on a towel, presenting his ass towards the door…and
Jensen. Lys was wearing nothing but the red pair of boy shorts and
revealing way too much.

“Yes,” Jensen hissed as he dropped to his knees behind my mate.

He ran his hands over Lys’s ass before pulling him up against his
chest. The pain I felt slicing through my body at their betrayal
shocked me so badly I couldn’t move or speak. I watched my best
friend reach into my mate’s shorts and touch him intimately. I
swallowed loudly and tried to speak.

“You’re not Rip,” Lys gasped. At the same time, Jensen said, “So

you’re done with Rip?”

Oh thank the gods! They jumped apart and Lys spun around,

covering himself with the edge of the towel.

“I’m Jensen.”
“I love Rip,” Lys blurted as Jensen did. They stared at each other,

and I sighed with relief, drawing both their attention.

“You weren’t cheating on me with him,” I whispered.
“No! I thought he was you,” Lys exclaimed as he jumped to his

feet. He tripped on the towel, and Jensen caught him.

“I thought you knew it was me and you guys called it quits,”

Jensen said as he released my mate as if touching Lys had burned

Fur and Flightless

109

him. “I would never touch someone else’s mate if they were
together.”

“Good to know,” I replied calmly. It was hard. I loved both of

them though Jensen only as a friend.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” my little birdie said nervously as he

approached me slowly, cautiously. “I told you I was going to take a
swim before dinner. I figured we could have some fun before you go
be all wolfy and run with the pack tonight.”

“I know.” I pulled him up into my arms and he wrapped his body

around me. I saw Jensen smiling over my mate’s shoulder. “Did you
enjoy copping a feel?”

“Hey, I thought he knew it was me,” he answered as he held up

his hands in surrender. “And can you blame me? He’s gorgeous.”

“He’s mine,” I snarled and, without a thought in my head, sank

my teeth into Lys’s shoulder. My mate screamed in pleasure and
came as he rubbed his hips against mine. I stared at Jensen, being a
total bastard but staking my claim as he watched my mate’s bliss.

“I know he is now,” Jensen replied with a nod. “Lys is hot and

sweet. But honestly, I just wanted him to be treated well. The more I
get to know him, I don’t think we’d work as mates, but I’d like to be
his friend, too.”

“Why wouldn’t we work?” my mate asked sleepily as I licked his

bite closed. He didn’t sound hurt, more curious at Jensen’s statement.

“I think we’re both too passive to be partners.” Jensen shrugged

and turned bright red when he realized what he admitted.

“You’re Beta of a large pack of werewolves,” I said, but it might

have been more of a question. “How is any part of you passive?”
There, I figured out how to ask in a way that didn’t sound like I was
insulting him.

“Rip, all I do is take orders.” He chuckled and shook his head. “I

never wanted to lead, and I like helping. I’m your enforcer and make
sure you’re safe. Why do you think I was instantly so protective and
trying to help Lys? It’s who I am. I may be high up in the pack and

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Joyee Flynn

top in my relationships, but I want someone to take care of me like
you do Lys. I don’t always want to have to make all the decisions.”

“We take care of each other,” I said firmly as I rubbed my cheek

against my mate’s soft hair. “It’s a partnership, and believe me, Lys
doesn’t just take and take.”

“I get that,” he sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. “He’s in

your arms cuddling you for support and to show love. You’re the one
holding him. I want to be the one held, I guess I’m trying to say.”

I nodded. I thought I understood, but I wasn’t really sure. And

I’ve found in life that some things just can’t be explained.

“Speaking of taking care of my mate, I have a surprise for you,”

Lys said excitedly, leaning back in my arms so he could see my face.
He shimmied down my body, letting me feel the wetness of the front
of his shorts. Once on his feet he modestly wrapped the towel around
his body. It was actually adorable the way he swam in the huge towel.

“Something other than the red shorts?” I growled and tried to

snatch him back in my arms. He let out a yelp and darted out of my
grasp.

“Yes. I was thinking about the pack’s issue of animals to hunt on

you guys’ lands. So I called around and found a rabbit farm in central
Illinois. They are delivering two hundred rabbits as we speak and
should be here before the sun goes down. I also found a company that
catches deer that wander into populated areas and relocates them.
There’s been an excess this year, and they need some quelling
anyways. They will start releasing some here for that.”

“Smart and sexy,” I purred and he walked into my open arms.

“Thank you, my little birdie. That was awesome of you and helped us
out a lot.”

“I wouldn’t have thought of that for a solution,” Jensen said with a

smile. He stared at us hugging with a strange look on his face that I
couldn’t place.

“What?”
“You’re happy.”

Fur and Flightless

111

“I am. Lys is perfect for me in every way, and I love him.”
“I’m jealous,” Jensen whispered, looking distraught at the

admission.

“Not of me?” Lys asked as he turned in my arms and faced my

friend.

“No, not of you or because I really want you or Rip for my own,”

he answered and shook his head in defeat. “Of what you have. I’m
older than Rip, and that’s a long time to casually date or have
hookups. I want my own birdie or mate.”

“I have a couple of cousins I actually like,” my mate said, the

excitement back. He glanced at me over his shoulder. “Can I invite
them to visit?”

“Not during the full moon,” Jensen and I said together. Yeah, no

prey in the house during the full moon other than my mate. It was just
safer that way.

112

Joyee Flynn

Chapter 12

Almost as if I could predict the future, we had uninvited prey

guests a few days after the full moon. I was back to waking up with
Lys the man in my arms instead of the penguin, and that made my
mornings much more pleasant.

“Alpha, you and Alpha mate have visitors in your office,”

Danielle told us as she passed us in the hallway after breakfast. I
wanted to ask for more details, but, like always, that woman moved as
if the devil was on her heels. Plus, it couldn’t be anyone dangerous or
not on the list of people allowed on the estate if they got past security.

“Twenty bucks we’re not going to like this,” Lys said under his

breath as he took my hand. “My vote is that it’s Elder Douche Bag.”

“Good guess, but I’m not sure what he’d need from us that he’d

travel all this way.” I lifted our joined hands and kissed his wrist
where the diamond was. Gerald had dropped off the charm bracelet
for my mate that morning, and Lys had been over-the-moon happy
about it. He stared at it most of time during breakfast and showed it
off to every wolf he saw whether he knew the shifter’s name or not.

“I love my present, and I love you more,” he whispered and stood

on his toes. I gave him a gentle kiss that promised more later. Gods I
loved this man. “Let’s go meet with whoever is here, and then I’ve
got a conference call. But I could make myself available to be your
lunch—I mean for lunch.” Lys batted his eyelashes at me innocently.

“Now I’m going to be hard all day,” I grumbled and opened the

door to my office. I had no idea who the couple was but Lys gasped.

“Mother, Father. What are you doing here?” Lys asked and didn’t

sound too happy about our surprise guests.

Fur and Flightless

113

“Alpha Corbin, I’m Samuel Wolf,” his father said, completely

ignoring my mate. I shook the man’s hand and went to do the same
with Lys’s mother. She stared at it like a foreign object, so I dropped
it. Always tricky greeting some women. Some didn’t shake hands,
some did, others expected their hands to be kissed as in the olden
days. Then again, with shifters they could be old enough that that was
just the time they grew up in.

“A pleasure.” I glanced at Lys’s parents and then back to him. His

dad was almost my height, and his mom was just short of six feet.

“Yeah, I’m a freak,” he said quietly looking at his feet. “They’re

both tall, and I’m a twerp.”

“I think you’re the perfect size, my little birdie.” He smiled at me

as he looked at me from under his lashes.

“This is my wife, Regina Wolf.” I gave her a nod which she

returned. See, I can be taught. “We wanted to meet our son-in-law.
We were shocked to hear a virile man, an Alpha werewolf, would be
gay and mate Lys.”

“I’m standing right here,” my mate grumbled. I was shocked by

the way they seemed to simply ignore him.

“We know that, and nice bracelet,” Regina sneered as if it was a

dirty word and she was not happy to have to deal with her own son.
“We just wanted to see what was going on. I mean we’ve tried to
make you a beneficial match, but most women wouldn’t have a
husband more feminine than them.”

“And I’m gay.”
Regina ignored the comment and went right on. “But if you had

been a real girl instead of just acting like one, we would have looked
to marry you off to someone like Alpha Corbin here.”

“You do realize that I’m over fifty years old and own a billion-

dollar company?” Lys was pissed. His eyes were sparkling with anger
and rage I’d never seen on my mate... Well, besides when we mated,
but I couldn’t say I paid attention then. I hated to say that it was hot. I

114

Joyee Flynn

had to bite my lip to keep in the moan at how sexy he looked and
focus on the situation at hand.

“Your toys aren’t worth that much,” Samuel scoffed.
“It’s amazing Lys turned out the way he did,” I said in disgust as I

shook my head. The Wolfs seemed confused. “With asshole parents
like you, I’m shocked he’s as loving and wonderful as he is.”

“I beg your pardon!” Samuel exclaimed.
“Well you’re not forgiven,” I snarled, intentionally

misunderstanding what he was saying. I pulled my mate back against
my chest and wrapped my arms around him. “You come into our
home, ignore, and then insult my mate. Have you lost your minds?
You’re literally in the wolf’s den here, and anyone in this house
would rip your throats out for speaking to the Alpha mate this way!”

“The wolves can’t like him.” Regina looked appalled at the idea.

“We figured you all would have eaten him already. We were passing
through on our way to a cruise and thought we’d check.”

“You really thought you’d come here and Rip would be telling

you that I was dead?”

“We thought it a possibility.” Samuel shrugged. What an asshole!
“So you’d just collect on my will then?” Lys whispered and they

both nodded. “Well it’s been changed.”

“I suggest you leave and never come back,” I growled.
“Do all the wolves like you because you’re such a tramp?” Regina

asked, as if still hung up on that fact. “I mean I knew you let everyone
in the colony fuck you who were so inclined to engage in your sick
ways. I know some shifters don’t see being gay as anything wrong.
Maybe you’re just a hole to them? I bet this whole house knows you
intimately, like a toy.”

“Get the fuck out of my house,” I snarled and moved around Lys

faster than they could see. I shoved his parents towards the door. “I
would never share my mate, and I know he wouldn’t cheat on me.
Jensen!”

Fur and Flightless

115

“How dare you treat us this way,” Samuel roared and pushed

against me.

“You’re still alive, so I consider myself being calm.” I let my eyes

and teeth shift. The prey in Samuel went quiet though the human part
of him still wanted to defy me.

“Alpha?” Jensen asked as he came bursting in the room and took

in the scene before him.

“Take this trash out of here, and take their names off the list to get

onto the estate.”

“Yes, Alpha Ripley,” my friend replied immediately. Regina stuck

her nose in the air and walked in front of Jensen as if he was the hired
help while Samuel started struggling again. I slammed the office door
behind them, ready to not have to look at them anymore.

“I’m sorry,” Lys whispered as I panted, breathing rapidly from

getting so upset. I turned to where he was standing and found he
wasn’t anymore. He was sitting against the side of my desk, out of the
way of what had happened, with his knees pulled to his chest.

“What are you sorry for, my little birdie?” I asked softly as I knelt

down in front of him. I tilted my neck so I could meet his gaze since
he was resting the side of his head on his knees.

“Do you understand now?” He was looking past me, or through

me maybe, but his eyes weren’t in focus on me. “Do you get now why
I’m so scared of what you said when we met? No one loves me. My
own family doesn’t and thinks I’m a freak. What if this is just the
bond talking and you could—”

“Stop,” I growled and pulled him onto my lap as I sat on the floor.

“I think you’re wonderful, Lys. Our bond might have us attracted to
each other and make us want to have sex. But there’s no way it’s been
making us fuck like rabbits all the time. And it can’t make me love
you. I do love you very much.” I held up his wrist and the diamond
caught the light, sparkling brightly. “This shows what you mean to
me.”

116

Joyee Flynn

“Why do you love me though?” he cried out and buried his face in

my shirt, gripping it tightly. “There’s nothing about me to love.”

“That’s not true!” I rolled us so he was under me on the soft rug in

front of my desk. “There’s everything to love about you. You’re
sweet, kind, loving, sexy as hell, smart, funny, and a whole thesaurus
of adjectives. Falling asleep and waking up with you in my arms
makes me feel whole. That’s not our bond talking. Hell, when you got
pissed, all I could think about was taking you on my desk again. I
crave you, Lys.”

“Promise you’re not lying,” he whispered as his bottom lip

quivered in fear. “Just tell me the truth right now, and I promise I
won’t leave no matter what you say.”

“I say fuck your horrid parents. They don’t deserve you, but I will

spend the rest of our lives proving I do.” I mashed my mouth down to
his in a brutal, passionate kiss that demanded his surrender. He gave it
willingly with a moan. My baby needed my special brand of attention
if his whimpers were anything to go by.

I shifted my right hand into a claw and sliced off his clothes

slowly as he watched. His cock was hard as a rock, and when he was
completely naked, I licked it like a sucker.

“You know I love you, Lys.”
“I–I–I–I,” he sputtered but couldn’t seem to think of what came

next.

“Say it,” I growled and nipped his hip bone.
“You love me,” he moaned and arched his back.
“Say it like you believe it!”
“You love everything about me,” Lys whispered as his eyes

started to tear up. I moved up his body and kissed each eye.

“I do, now and forever.” I reached down and cupped his groin

with my hand, freezing when I felt something hard.

“You said you wanted to try toys.” He gasped and spread his legs

wider. “I wanted to be stretched and ready for you.”

Fur and Flightless

117

I moved back down to kneel between his thighs and saw he had a

black butt plug in. “I’ve never seen one before.” He moaned as I
wiggled it around inside of him. Oh, this could be fun.

“Fuck me,” Lys whimpered.
“No,” I growled and pulled the toy out quickly. It left him ready

and more than slicked up for me. I tore off my shirt and undid my
jeans, too impatient to take them off. I lifted his legs as he looked at
me with confusion and breached him. “No fucking. I’m going to make
love to you.”

“It’s always making love with you, Rip, because I love you.”
“Me too, my little birdie,” I whispered against his lips. He

wrapped his body around me as I did the same to him. I took him
slowly as we stared into each other’s eyes. He moved in time with me
as if we’d been doing this dance for all of time. When we got close to
coming, I sank my teeth into his shoulder and we climaxed together.

“I believe you,” he panted with a sated smile on his face. “You

love me.”

“Glad you accept that now. Have I mentioned how glad I am that I

thought you were a girl when I claimed you at the conference?”

“Asshole,” Lys mumbled as I rolled us over so he was sprawled

over me.

“But I’m your asshole,” I chuckled and kissed his temple.
“Thanks the gods for that,” he said with a yawn. “My turn to make

love to you.”

My sentiments exactly. Thank the gods for Lys. I quickly rolled us

over so he was on top and gave him a wide smile. “I’m all yours.”

THE END

WWW.JOYEEFLYNN.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joyee Flynn grew up in Chicago living in the same house all her

life until she went left for college. Though she has a great life, she
loves to get lost in fantasy that only books could bring. Her wide
interest in reading was reflected in her writings. Currently Joyee lives
with her dog, Marius, named after a vampire from Ann Rice’s
Interview with the Vampire series. She dreams of one day living out in
Montana, enough land to have a few horses, and find a couple of
cowboys of her own.

A lover of men, Joyee’s all about them in any form in her books.

Vampire, werewolf, military, doesn’t matter at all as long as they are
hot, hard, and sex fiends!

Also by Joyee Flynn

Ménage Amour: North American Dragon 1: Dragon Mine

Ménage Amour: North American Dragon 2: Dragon Ours

Ménage Amour: North American Dragon 3: Their Dragon

Siren Classic: Marius Brothers 1: Micah

Siren Classic: Marius Brothers 2: Remus

Siren Classic: Marius Brothers 3: Stefan
Siren Classic: Marius Brothers 4: Victor

Ménage Amour: The O’Hagan Way 1: A Dillon Sandwich

Ménage Amour: The O’Hagan Way 2: A Caleb Footlong

Ménage Amour: Purrfect Mates 1: Here Kitty, Kitty

Ménage Amour: Purrfect Mates 2: My Little Kitty

Ménage Amour: Purrfect Mates 3: Our Sexy Tiger

Ménage Amour: Purrfect Mates 4: My Angel Cheetah

Ménage Amour: Purrfect Mates 5: Kitty in the Middle

Ménage Amour: Purrfect Mates 6: Cheetah in Charge

Siren Classic: Hiding Hounds 1: Sheriff Found

Siren Classic: Hiding Hounds 2: Vet Found

Ménage Amour: Resistant Omegas 1: Tristan

Ménage Amour: Resistant Omegas 2: Carson

Siren Classic: Sons of Thanatus 1: My Maven, My Everything

Siren Classic: Sons of Thanatus 2: Higher Rank

Siren Classic: Beyond the Marius Brothers 1: Isaac Dragos

Siren Classic: Midnight Matings: Squeak and A Roar

Siren Classic: Midnight Matings: Two Fangs and a Hoof

Also by Stormy Glenn and Joyee Flynn

Ménage Amour: Delta Wolf 1: Chameleon Wolf

Ménage Amour: Delta Wolf 2: Mating Games

Ménage Amour: Delta Wolf 3: Blood Lust

Available at

BOOKSTRAND.COM

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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