by Lynn Lorenz
“Wrong answer.”
Sky blinked. How could that be? He licked his lips, afraid to argue the point with the man who held so much power over him. He blew out a breath, and the bangs covering his eyes flew upward.
“If you’re going to be my mate, you’re going to have to be strong, Sky. In the cage, and in my bed. I’m a big male, and no weakling boy can stand against me. Not unless he knows exactly what he wants. I don’t take a slave, little one, I take a mate. Do you understand the difference?”
Sky didn’t. All he knew was how to be a slave, and he thought being a mate meant the same thing. But Tor said no, it didn’t.
“I can be strong.” Sky tried to look over his shoulder at Tor behind him, but the chains didn’t give him enough room to turn. “I can fight in the cage.”
“I do the fighting in the cage. My mate must watch, observe, study my opponent’s strategy, and council me in the cage. I need a smart mate, Sky. Are you smart?”
Sky wondered if he was the smartest or the most stupid slave boy ever born. Still, he’d made a deal for his freedom, and that was clever, wasn’t it? He’d learned quickly at the harem. His trainer had told him so many times.
“I’m smart.” Behind him, Tor’s breath danced over his shoulder, and he shuddered.
Tor chuckled, and the sound slid down Sky’s spine, making his cock stand up even taller.
“I want a partner, not a slave, in the cage with me. Not a boy too afraid to keep his eyes open, or a boy who can’t spot a foe’s weaknesses. Jin and I were champions for almost three years. No one could beat us. No one.” Tor’s voice roughened as he spoke of Jin, and Sky felt a pull of jealousy.
“I can do that. Just show me how. You’ll see.” Sky needed to make Tor believe he would be the best mate ever.
Tor stilled. “Now, I ask you again, what do you want me to do to you?”
Sky smiled. He understood now. “I want your…I want your finger inside me.”
“Good, Sky. Good.” Tor placed his finger between Sky’s cheeks and found his hole again, rubbing delicious circles and pressing just enough to tease Sky.
“More,” Sky whispered, and he pushed back, trying to work the finger inside him.
Tor grabbed Sky’s hip, pushed, and his finger broke through the resistance.
“Ahhhh,” Sky cried out, straining against the chains holding him at Tor’s mercy. Pain at first, and then he wanted more. He pushed back, using his toes and canting his hips to get leverage. “More.”
The finger pushed deeper, and fire shot through Sky’s ass, igniting something deep inside him, inflaming his cock. It leaked, dripping long strings of clear fluid onto the floor.
His ass sucked Tor’s finger in deeper each time he relaxed and let Tor in. He’d been breached, and it was as wonderful as the boys had told him it would be.
Then Tor moved his finger, twisting, spreading him open even more. Fire, arousal, and excitement built in Sky’s groin. “Yesssss,” he hissed at this new feeling.
“You like that?” Tor growled.
“So good,” Sky answered. And it was. So very good.
Tor licked a line up the middle of Sky’s back, and Sky shivered. “That’s good too.”
“Is it? What if I were to bite you?” Tor played his teeth along the top of Sky’s shoulder, nipping at the flesh there and making Sky’s balls draw up.
“Bite me, please.”
But Tor licked the spot and moved on. Sky groaned his frustration.
“Shhh, little one. Patience.”
Tor pushed his finger deeper and then crooked it, touching something deep inside Sky’s tunnel.
“Ahhhh!” Sky cried out as pure pleasure shot through him. He’d never felt that before, as if the spot Tor touched was connected to his balls, his cock, and his insides all at the same time.
Tor raked his finger over it again, and Sky’s knees nearly buckled, the pleasure was so complete.
Again, Tor’s finger ignited him.
Sky cried out, “Tor!” and pushed back into Tor’s touch, the urge to come building to unbearable heights.
“What do you want me to do to you?” Tor asked.
“Make me come. Oh please, please, make me come!” Sky shouted.
Tor bit Sky’s earlobe and tugged on it, then worked his finger in a steady rhythm over that sweetest of spots, over and over, until Sky’s world darkened, then exploded. His cum raced from his balls, up his cock, and shot out and into the air in front of him, landing on the floor in great white splatters as he watched.
The last of it jetted out, and Sky collapsed, the chains around his wrists holding him upright.
Tor pulled his finger out of Sky’s tunnel, unsnapped the chains, and lowered Sky’s hands, then scooped him up and carried him toward the bed. Sky turned into Tor’s chest, wrapped his arms around the big were, and buried his face in Tor’s neck as the gates to all his fears fell open and he wept.
Tor climbed into bed, still cradling Sky, and pulled the covers over them.
“Shhh, little one. Good, huh?”
Sky could only nod, and barely at that. No words could form in his mouth, and none of his limbs would listen to him at that moment. His entire world existed in Tor’s arms, with Tor’s scent all around him and the taste of his skin on Sky’s tongue.
They sat together until the world returned to Sky. He looked up, wiped the tears from his face, and asked, “Am I your mate now?”
Tor laughed and hugged Sky to his chest. “No, not yet. That was only my finger. We’re going to work up to my cock.”
“Oh.” Sky thought about it. He pushed up, hands braced on Tor’s chest, and looked Tor in the eye. “If it’s as good as that, can we do more? Now?”
Tor chuckled and pulled Sky down against him again. “Ah, I think we can manage a little more today.”
Tor wasn’t anything like what Sky’d expected. He’d never expected to be asked to be a partner, never expected such tenderness or such patience from a werewolf. Sky grinned against Tor’s skin and placed a kiss on his dark nipple.
He had to be the luckiest slave boy in the entire harem. He was well on his way to being Tor’s mate, and once that was done, they’d start training. In one month, Tor would fight.
Then Sky would be free.
Sky frowned as he snuggled into the warmth of his werewolf and closed his eyes. He tightened his hands around Tor’s thick neck, not wanting to let go and not understanding what he felt at all.
He wanted freedom, but he didn’t.
Chapter Seven
“Maybe you’ll do, after all.” Tor grinned and ran his hand through the thick tresses of Sky’s blue-black hair. “But if I’m going to start training tomorrow like Marrack wants, I have to claim you tonight. I can’t take you to the training cages like this.”
“Like what?” Sky asked as he ran his fingers through the thatch of hair on Tor’s chest, completely fascinated by the man’s body hair, especially the thick curls nesting his cock. He walked his fingers down the trail leading to it, then twisted the curls around his finger.
“Unclaimed. If I did that, you’d never get out of there alive.” Tor snorted.
“Oh.” Sky nodded. He touched the tip of Tor’s cock and traced the edge of the head. Tor sucked in air, then sighed. “Let me please you, Tor.”
Tor spread his legs and cuffed Sky on the side of the head. “Show me what you’ve got, boy.”
Sky smiled, moved off Tor’s lap, and bent over, putting his face right above Tor’s cock. He licked the head, his pointed tongue dancing around the rim. He flattened his tongue and licked from the base to the tip. Tor groaned and buried his hands in Sky’s hair.
“You are beautiful, I’ll give Marrack that much.” Tor hissed as Sky took just the head into his mouth and sucked on it while he jerked the shaft.
Sky prided himself on his ability to bring the other boys to orgasm, and he knew he could do the same to Tor, even if the man’s cock was the largest he’d ever seen. They really hadn’t prepared them
for being the mate of a werewolf, not if Tor was an average example.
Tor thrust up, and his cock slid deeper into Sky’s throat, but Sky just relaxed and took it in until it hit the back of his throat. Then he swallowed, slow and strong, over and over, until Tor writhed on the bed, and his grasp of Sky’s head hurt.
“Enough!” Tor pulled him off with a pop.
Sky looked at him, afraid to ask what he’d done wrong.
“If you keep that up, I’ll come, and I want to be inside you for that.”
“Oh.” Sky smiled. He turned around and got into mating position again.
“Will you stop that?” Tor laughed and swatted him again.
Sky sat, rubbing his butt. “You said you wanted to claim me. That’s the proper position, isn’t it?”
“I suppose. But to claim you, all I have to do is fuck you.” Tor shrugged. “I never did like that position.”
“Why not?”
“When I’m fucking my mate, I want to look into his eyes, see his pleasure. Can’t do that if your face is down there.”
“Oh, of course.” Tor was odd, to say the least. He just wasn’t at all like what they’d been told about werewolves in the harem.
“Come here.” Tor grabbed Sky by the back of the neck and hauled him up his body until they were eye to eye. Then he pulled them together and took Sky’s mouth in a claiming kiss.
Sky had kissed before; he wasn’t unskilled. The boys did it all the time with each other, but this wasn’t like those kisses, sweet and playful. This kiss curled Sky’s toes and made his skin tingle. It demanded, and gave, and when he opened his mouth, Tor’s tongue filled him, just as Sky knew Tor’s cock would fill him. This was no boy’s kiss filled with youth and laughter. This was a man’s kiss—experienced and powerful.
Sky leaned in, melting, surrendering to Tor, letting him take, and taste, and tease. The were bit and nipped and sucked on Sky’s lips as Sky moaned into Tor’s mouth.
Tor ran his hand down Sky’s back, fingers trailing so lightly they tickled, until he reached the valley of Sky’s ass. The sound of the lube opening, and then the fingers returned, gooey and thick, and found his entrance.
Sky pushed back, knowing what was going to come. Tor would rub that spot again, and Sky would be in heaven. But this time, Tor pushed the lube inside and did nothing else.
Sky whimpered.
“Not yet, little one.” Tor laughed as he slicked his cock up. “I want you to ride me.”
“What?” Sky had seen the boys in all sorts of positions he’d only practiced, and he knew what to do. He’d just never done it. He scrambled over Tor’s body and sat on his waist. “Like this?”
“Yeah. Now get up on your knees. I’m going to line up with your hole, and you’re going to slide down onto my cock. This way you control the entry, as slow or as fast as you need to go,” Tor explained.
“Oh.” Sky nodded. He liked the idea, but he was so ready, he wasn’t sure he could go slow. He lifted and lowered onto the head of Tor’s cock and hovered there.
Tor didn’t move. He really let Sky control it. Sky pressed down, and the head of Tor’s cock felt immense against his entry. He pushed as he’d done with Tor’s finger, and let the weight of his body carry him down.
His entry stretched, held against the pressure, then opened. The head of Tor’s cock slipped in. Pain burned as his flesh accommodated the width, but it wasn’t any worse than a slap on the ass. He took a deep breath and looked at Tor, who watched him, blue eyes alert, the tip of his tongue just barely poking out from between his lips.
“Okay?” Tor asked as he took Sky’s cock in his slicked hand and stroked it. That helped, arousing Sky even more than before.
He nodded and licked his lips. Then he pressed again, and more slid inside. He could do this. Oh yes, he could take all of Tor inside him. He exhaled and pushed down, and part of Tor raked over his spot, and pure pleasure burst inside. Sky groaned, closed his eyes, and wiggled.
“Fuck, Sky, you’re killing me.” Tor groaned.
Sky peeked out of one eye. “What? I am?”
Tor cupped Sky’s cheek. “I want to fuck you so bad, and when you do something like wiggle your ass on my cock, well…” Tor growled low and deep in his chest. “I just want to ram myself inside you. Bury my cock in your sweet heat.”
No one had ever spoken to Sky like that before, and his insides just turned to jelly. He pushed, and Tor’s cock slid all the way in as Tor cried out in pleasure.
“Fuck! Damn you’re so tight and hot.” Tor gasped. “Tell me when I can fuck you.”
Sky’s eyes watered from the stretching, but he was so filled, so full of Tor, and he wanted more. He wanted to feel what the other boys had felt when he’d watched them, their eyes closed, mouths open, gasping and grunting and crying out. Sky wanted that, and he wanted it now.
“Fuck me, Tor. Claim me.” Sky grabbed two handfuls of Tor’s hair and looked into the were’s blue eyes. They’d gone dark as night with arousal and lust, and just looking at them turned Sky on even more.
Tor thrust up, and Sky rode him, using his legs to stay up as Tor went down, and then came down as Tor came up, meeting him. Their bodies slammed together. The slapping flesh and grunts and groans and Tor cursing, saying truly foul things, excited Sky.
But the entire time, Tor gazed into Sky’s eyes, watching him as he fucked him. Tor pulled him close so they could kiss. That was heaven. Kissing while Tor fucked him. Sky moaned into Tor’s mouth and got an answering moan from the big man.
They ate at each other’s mouths, and Tor’s teeth grew longer and sharper. Sky ran his tongue over them, feeling the tips, knowing somehow, Tor was shifting, and that just made Sky even more wild. Tor’s grip on Sky’s hips hurt as longer nails dug into his skin.
He bounced up and down, biting Tor’s lips and whispering into his mouth such things as “Fuck me harder” and “Make me come” and “I’m yours.” The last one, well, it must have been the right thing to say, because Tor roared and thrust so deep Sky thought he’d taste the were’s cock in his mouth.
“Sky. Gonna come in you.” Tor pulled their heads together and savaged Sky’s mouth as he filled Sky. Sky could feel the warmth, the heat of the cum inside his body, could feel it ooze from around Tor’s cock and puddle around Sky’s balls. Could feel the claiming, branding him inside and out.
Sky gave in and came, shooting over Tor’s chest. The were slapped his hand over the lines of white and rubbed them into his skin, as if marking himself as Sky’s.
They shuddered and panted, sweat glistened on their bodies, and it was the most beautiful thing Sky had ever experienced. Ever.
And he knew he was Tor’s. He belonged now.
Sky wailed and threw his arms around Tor’s neck, and Tor patted him, rocking him like the old nurses had rocked the boys in the harem when they were little and scared of the night.
“Shhh, little one. You’re mine now,” Tor whispered.
All Sky could do was nod and cling tighter.
»»•««
That evening Tor fed Sky, and they sat at the table to eat.
“As soon as I’m back in the training cages, Marrack will send me more meat. I’ve been getting by on protein drinks, but I’ll need real meat if he wants me at peak fighting level,” Tor explained. “It’ll cost him, but that’s too bad. He’s the one who wanted me to fight again.”
Sky nodded. “This is wonderful. I didn’t like the drinks they gave us at the harem. They had lots of fat and tasted funny.” He rubbed his flat belly. “Most men want their slave boys plump, not skinny like me.”
“Well, you’re not skinny at all. If you work out with me at the training hall, we’ll turn some of that into muscle.”
“Really? I’d like that.” Sky grinned. “I’d like to have muscles like you.”
Tor chuckled. “Think you can get strong enough to take me, huh?”
“I’d never be that strong, but I want to help in the cage…if I can.”
<
br /> “I told you. You don’t fight. You’ll have to use your wits to help me. You’ll see tomorrow.”
“Will you have enough time to get ready? Just a month?” Sky asked. Tor looked fit, but he’d been out of the cage for six months.
“Yeah. I’ve been working out here, I just didn’t tell Marrack.” Tor shrugged. “It’s a hard habit to break, once you’re in the routine. At first, well, I just sat around and…” Tor broke off. “A month is enough.”
Sky sensed Tor’s reluctance to speak, and he knew it had to do with losing Jin. Tor would never love Sky as he loved Jin, and that was all right. Jin must have been beautiful and smart and everything Sky wasn’t. Sky bet Jin had muscles and had helped to fight in the cage.
He stared at his food, pushing the potatoes around with his fork.
“What’s up?” Tor asked, putting his fork down. “You look like you’re thinking about something.”
“What’s wrong with thinking? You said I needed to be smart for the cage,” Sky barked back. He stood. “I’m not hungry anymore.” Although he was; it bothered him to be less than what Tor deserved as a mate.
He felt Tor’s gaze burning his back as he stalked over to the bed, chains dancing, and climbed in. After getting under the covers, he folded his arms and closed his eyes. Tor didn’t make a sound. Sky thought Tor would chase him, press him about what bothered him, but for the life of him, Sky didn’t know either.
He just knew whenever Jin was mentioned, he felt jealous and…less. That was it, less. Never good enough to have been chosen as Tor’s mate by Tor, not by his owner desperate to get the were fighting again.
He opened one eye. Tor sat at the table, still eating, but with a little smile on his face. Sky wanted to punch that smile right off Tor’s face. Probably thinking about Jin.
Sky rolled over and faced the wall.
Sounds of Tor rising, of the chair being pushed back, set Sky’s heart beating faster. Then the clink of the dishes in the sink, the water running, and Tor washing up let Sky know Tor wasn’t worried about him.
He sighed. He’d show Tor tomorrow in the cage. He could be as good as Jin, maybe better. He’d stop Tor from thinking about Jin and smiling. He wanted Tor to smile only when he thought about Sky.
