Erik already knew the man wouldn’t, but didn’t want Esparza to know that.
Esparza extended his hand again. “If she wasn’t my sister and the last of my bloodline, I would have killed her already.” He grinned. “And it doesn’t hurt that she was Father’s little princess. Spoiled. I have no problem using her for my own purposes, and already have many times in the past.”
Erik shook with the man. One of the stories that he’d heard from various people was how Esparza pimped his sister out to others for the sheer sadistic pleasure of making her do it. “Then I’m not the only ruthless one at the table, am I?”
“How do you think I got all of this? We were not ‘orphaned’ by accident. My father beat it into me from a young age that the weak die. I finally paid that lesson back in spades when he was going to allow our pod to merge into another and be subject to their Alpha.”
“Weakness needs to be eliminated from lines.”
“You are no fan of humans, I see.”
“No. They’re good for fucking and killing. Nothing more.”
Esparza sat back, appraising. “Why do you hate humans so much, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Erik sipped his beer. “Drunk driver killed my parents seven years ago. A human. My parents were both Alpha dolphins from strong family lines. My mother was pregnant.” He took another swallow. “I decided from that day on, any human who stood in my way wouldn’t remain standing for long.”
Esparza slowly nodded. “We are much alike then, no?”
“Yes.”
It was Esparza’s turn to hook a finger over his shoulder. “My mother died when I was ten. The mother of that was my stepmother. A half human. Fucking bastard mated someone with human blood. By some miracle, Marisela is a shifter. If she wasn’t, I would have killed her when I killed my father and stepmother.” He held up his bottle in a toast. “To revenge, my friend. May it burn in our bellies and keep us on our purpose.”
Erik held up his bottle and they gently clinked. “To revenge,” he agreed.
Chapter Nine
Somehow, Sean managed to hold back the news about the house from Emery that afternoon. Every time he looked at the new keys, it felt like a dream.
He’d never considered himself unlucky before, or even underprivileged. Now, it felt like he’d hit the lottery jackpot.
He stopped by the grocery store on the way home and picked up fixings for a romantic steak dinner with all the trimmings. By the time Emery arrived home, Sean had everything ready.
“Wow, babe,” Emery said. “What’s the occasion?”
“Why’s it got to be a special occasion?”
“Well, for starters, the playful grin on your face tells me something’s up.” He gasped. “You’re pregnant!”
“Huh?” Worry filled him. “What? Is…is that some sort of fucking shifter thing?”
When Emery snorted and doubled over laughing, Sean realized he’d fallen for it. “Oh, ha ha, very funny.”
“Oh…my…god. Your face…priceless!”
Sean crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter to wait out Emery’s laughing fit. He eventually got himself under control and kissed Sean.
“I’m sorry, babe. You’re so damn easy sometimes.”
“I’m glad you can laugh at my expense.”
He kissed Sean, slow and tenderly, waiting him out until he finally melted in Emery’s arms. “I’m really sorry,” Emery said. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“Just for that, I might not tell you about your dad’s big surprise.” He pulled free and went to check the steaks on the grill.
Emery followed him. “What surprise?”
Sean stuck his tongue out at him.
“Look, I’m really sorry I was an asshole. Tell me about the surprise.”
“Mmm…no.”
“You’re going to make me torture it out of you aren’t you?”
“If by torture you mean fucking my brains out, then maybe.”
Emery pulled him into his arms and laid a deep, soul-scorching, bruising kiss on his lips. “I’m really, really sorry I laughed at you.”
“Your dad bought us a house.”
Emery froze, releasing Sean after a moment. “He fucking did what?”
“He bought us a house on Manasota Key. It’s still under construction but it’s a damn gorgeous place.” He studied Emery’s dark scowl. “Oookay, why aren’t you happy happy happy about this? This is a good thing. He even took me out to lunch after he showed me.”
Emery collapsed into one of the loungers and stared at the pool.
“Dude, you’re starting to worry me. What’s wrong with him buying us a house?”
“I love my father, but I don’t want to be beholden to him for anything. I pay my own way, and I pay for my mate.”
“Um, hellooo, I pay my own way, too, if you haven’t noticed. No I don’t make as much as you do, but it’s my money, too.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” He finally refocused his grey gaze on Sean. “I meant I don’t want him buying us big-ticket stuff like that.”
“Technically, he didn’t. The pod did. He said it’s a slush fund an earlier Alpha set up. So consider it a perk of the rank, or a business expense.”
Emery threw his head back and closed his eyes. “I should have guessed,” he mumbled.
“I still don’t see why principle has to trump free house, here. If I’m happy about it, why can’t you be? It was really kind of sweet the way he took me out there, to be honest. He was so proud of himself for getting it for us.” He flipped the steaks.
“I know, I just…” He finally looked at Sean. “I always swore that I’d do things my way. I knew from when I was little and they knew I was an Alpha that I’d end up being shoved into leading the pod. I swore I’d do things my way.”
“And accepting a free house conflicts with that…how?”
“Remember how you got pissed at me when you said I was treating you more like a girl than an equal partner?”
Sean thought about it. “Okay, yeah, so? Still not tracking.”
Emery swung his legs around and sat up. “It’s kind of like that. I want my dad to treat me as an adult. An equal. I don’t want to feel like he’s taking care of me, or that I’m beholden to him.”
“It’s a gift. Like a watch or a bottle of booze.”
“It’s a freaking house. That’s a damned expensive watch or a hella lot of booze, Sean.”
Sean poked at the steaks. “So we’re not going to take it?” He struggled against the disappointment threatening to ruin their evening. He’d really come to love the idea of living on the key again, even if it would be a guaranteed way of his mom dropping in unannounced all the time. He’d grown up there, and once he moved away from home, it was finances—or a lack thereof—and a desire for privacy that kept him off the key.
He couldn’t look at Emery. Now he really did feel all kinds of girlie emotional.
He wanted the house, dammit.
“It means a lot to you, doesn’t it?” Emery asked.
He shrugged. “If you don’t want to, we won’t.” He poked the steaks again, a little harder this time.
Emery got up. He walked over to him and slipped his arms around his waist from behind. Resting his chin on Sean’s shoulder, he softly asked, “You really liked it, huh? Be honest, please.”
“At the risk of sounding exactly the way I said I didn’t want to be treated, yeah. It’s a fucking nice house. Or will be, once it’s finished. We get to pick the interior details. It’d be our house.”
“This is our house.”
“No, it’s not. We rent it. We can’t really make it ours. Yeah, it’s our home. We live here. Being together is what makes it our home. But…” He shrugged and poked the steaks again.
“All right,” Emery softly said. “We’ll take it.”
Sean reached back and smacked Emery in the thigh with the barbecue fork, not caring if it got his slacks dirty. “No, not if you fe
el like that.”
“Okay, for starters, fucking ow.” He spun Sean around and relieved him of the barbecue fork. “Secondly, my problem with taking something from my dad shouldn’t make you suffer. I’ll get over it. We’ll take the house. You’re right, it’ll be nice being able to pick stuff out together.” He examined his slacks. “Third, you better hope that comes out. These are my favorite khakis.”
He palmed Emery’s crotch, glad to feel his lover’s cock harden under his hand. “I know something else that can come out.”
Emery grabbed a handful of the front of Sean’s shirt and pulled him close, kissing him. “After dinner. You burn my steak, and I’ll forget you’re a guy and spank you like a redheaded stepchild.”
“Maybe I like it when you spank me.”
“Then maybe I won’t spank you.”
Sean took the fork back and stuck his tongue out at him. “Fucking sadist.”
Emery goosed him and turned to head into the house to go change clothes. “You’re one to talk, babe. Takes one to know one.”
* * * *
After dinner, Emery took over the cleanup and shooed Sean out of the kitchen. “You cooked. I’ll do the dishes.”
“Perfect.” He took another beer onto the lanai and stretched out on a lounger. The humidity had dropped, leaving it a perfect evening. If it wasn’t for the fact that he didn’t want to scare the neighbors with their wild monkey-sex sounds, they could have turned off the AC and left the windows open.
After a few minutes, Emery joined him, a bottle of beer in his hand. “I love many things about you, babe,” he said as he lowered himself into a lounger next to him, “but one of the things toward the top of the list is how you clean up as you cook.”
Sean smiled as he took another swallow of beer. “Love you, too, Em.”
They sat in silent contemplation of the evening noises coming from the protected woodlands on the back side of their fence. “What has to snap in a guy’s head,” Sean started, “to make him go as batcrap psycho as Erik did?”
Emery groaned. “Really? Do we have to talk about him tonight? You’re usually the one trying to get me to forget about him.”
“Sorry. I was just wondering.”
Emery shrugged. “He was never quite right after losing his parents. I felt bad for the guy, but people survived worse and bounced back without turning to the dark side.” He took a swallow from his beer. “He hated humans after that.”
“What happened, exactly?”
“They were killed by a drunk driver. A human. He was in college when it happened. His older brother was already living in Washington State. He came in for the funeral and to help Erik handle the lawyer stuff, but then he left again.”
“And are we sure his brother isn’t helping him now?”
“He says he’s not, and I don’t have any trouble believing him. His wife’s a human, and he wasn’t on good terms with Erik over the past few years.”
“Ah. I see. I get he’s upset, but still, why blame all humans?”
Emery started peeling the label with his fingernail. “His mom was pregnant when she died.”
“Yikes. That almost makes me want to want to feel sorry for him,” Sean said, “but no. I can’t feel sorry for him. Still doesn’t explain the psycho.”
“He really hated humans after that. Blamed them as a whole.”
It didn’t take Freud to make the connection. “And that, I’m sure, was feeding into his resentment of me.”
“I would assume so. I’d told him years ago he needed to get some help, and I think he did see a shrink for a while, but not sure it helped him much.” He glanced at Sean. “I never saw Erik as mate material. There were too many ways we were different, ways I knew we wouldn’t work. I guess I should have been firmer with him, but I felt sorry for him. I… Is this TMI?”
“No.” Sean reached over and laced his fingers through Emery’s. “I asked. I want to hear it.”
“I didn’t have the heart to run him off. I’d known him since we were kids, and I felt bad for him. It wasn’t a pity fuck, but we weren’t meant to be anything more than friends with bennies. And I did consider him a friend. I didn’t share his view of humans. It wasn’t a human that killed his parents, it was a drunk. It could have just as easily been a drunk dolphin or a drunk shifter of another race.”
Emery squeezed Sean’s hand. “Never felt about him the way I feel about you.”
“And on that sweet note, I think we should head for bed.”
“It’s awfully early.”
“I wasn’t talking about sleep.”
Emery grinned. “Thank god.”
* * * *
Emery loved Sean for wanting to talk about Erik in non-homicidal ways.
For his part, Emery didn’t care what Erik’s excuses were. He’d signed his own death warrant by trying to kill Sean, and by killing Barry Dorsette and George Chancey.
He was worse than a rabid dog because a rabid dog didn’t choose to do what it did.
Erik had abandoned and turned upon not just humans, but his own kind.
Even the great white shifters had their own ethics.
But enough of that tonight.
In their bedroom, Emery pulled Sean to him, holding him close. “So we now have a house, huh?”
Sean draped his arms over Emery’s shoulders. “A freaking nice house.”
“We’ll have to start over with the christening process.”
“Fucking in every room, dude.”
“Think you can handle it?”
Sean ground his hips against Emery’s. Emery felt how hard Sean’s cock already was, and his responded, the friction sending bolts of need through his body. “You’d better believe it. I can handle anything you can throw at me.”
Emery arched an eyebrow at him. “You sure about that?”
“Pretty sure. You haven’t scared me off yet.”
“True.” He kissed Sean, passion and love flowing through him. Nothing had ever felt so right as making love to his mate.
Sean responded, his tongue tracing the seam of Emery’s lips. His parted for Sean. He flicked his tongue against Sean’s teeth, tracing them, memorizing every ridge and point at a cellular level. He wanted to know every hair, every wrinkle and crease, every freckle and mole on Sean’s body. He wanted to be able to close his eyes and conjure Sean’s body perfectly in his mind and soul, even when they weren’t together.
Sean’s body fit perfectly against his, only two inches shorter than his own six five. He dropped his hands to Sean’s ass and grabbed his cheeks, pulling Sean’s hips tight against his.
It only made the friction between their cocks feel that much sweeter.
Sean broke their kiss. “You keep this up,” he breathlessly said, “and I’m gonna blow in my briefs.”
“We can’t have that happening, can we?” He started working on Sean’s shorts. “Better be in my mouth or my ass when you shoot.”
“Mmm. Either is fine with me.” He nibbled on the side of Emery’s neck. It sent off another series of erotic jolts straight to Emery’s cock.
Emery finally got Sean’s shorts unfastened. He pushed them and Sean’s briefs down. Sean yanked his shirt off. “Dude, you’re not getting naked fast enough.”
“I’m getting there.” He skimmed his hands down Sean’s firm, toned abs, to the fine, dark treasure trail leading from his navel to his cock. He stared into his eyes, almond-shaped and the color of delicious cappuccino. His sun-kissed, golden skin felt smooth and warm under his hands.
And Sean’s generous cock stood rigidly, already a drop of pre-cum pearling at the slit.
“That’s what I want.” He sank to his knees. Wrapping his fingers around Sean’s cock, he looked up at him. “I want a taste now.” He flicked at the slit of his cockhead, rolling the delicious pre-cum down his tongue. “I can’t get enough of you.”
Sean ran his fingers through Emery’s hair. “You have any idea what you do to me?”
In reply, Emery slo
wly deep-throated him, enjoying the low moan rumbling from Sean’s very core. “Babe, I need you. Get your ass naked in bed.”
Not to be rushed, Emery refused to stop, slowly laving his tongue up and down Sean’s shaft, tracing every vein, reveling in the taste and smell and sounds of his mate.
Sean tugged on his hair. “Okay, seriously, I’m going to blow like this, and I want to be in bed with you when I do.”
Emery looked up with a smile. “Pushy, are we?”
“Damn right.” He grabbed Emery’s arm and pulled him to his feet. “Nakey. Now.”
Emery pulled off his T-shirt and shorts and met Sean in their bed. Sean pushed him onto his back and turned around, climbing on. “Okay, now you can suck me to your heart’s content.”
He reached up and grabbed Sean’s ass, pulling him down so he could reach his cock. That was when Sean’s lips closed around Emery’s cock.
He loudly moaned, earning him a chuckle from Sean. He moaned even louder when Sean wet a finger and started probing his rim.
He spread his legs to give Sean better access, never stopping what he was doing to him with his own mouth.
Locked together like that, with Sean’s warm, comforting weight pressing down on him, Emery felt a free-fall sensation overtake his spirit. The magic Sean accomplished with his sweet mouth was more potent than any in the world.
He matched Sean’s tempo with his hips, flexing them as he worked his mouth up and down Emery’s cock. Sean used his free hand to play with Emery’s balls, gently massaging his sac and adding even more pleasure.
Eyes closed, he worked his mouth over Sean’s cock while trying to hold back his own pleasure. He wanted to hold back and come with Sean and didn’t know if that would be possible.
Sean was just too damn good with his mouth.
“Please don’t stop,” Emery begged him through their mate-bond.
“I won’t. Don’t worry.”
Sean increased his efforts, as did Emery, until the two of them were engaged in an informal game to get the other off first.
A fun game where everyone came away a winner.
The two of them lost track of time, their frenzied movements rocking the bed, their moans filling the room until Emery blew first. He arched his hips, Sean’s cock muffling his cry as his balls emptied, shooting his load into Sean’s ready mouth.
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