by Marcy Jacks
As though his flesh were contagious.
And his father had been away so often he hadn’t known.
Lightning could still remember the cold so clearly. Being outside, shivering, hungry, waiting for his father to return from his business trips.
He’d thought for sure that when his father came, there would be rescue. He’d waited, sneaking around, sleeping in sheds, desperate for any scrap of food he could beg from the others in the clan.
Or steal.
When his father had come home, Lighting had gone to meet him and was crushed when the man acted as though he didn’t know who Lightning was.
He and his new wife entered their home and shut the door on him, as though he had been a ghost.
Invisible.
He had his new family and didn’t need a cursed child contaminating the halls.
“You worked for them?”
He looked at the man. He smelled bullshit.
“You would have been a little young to be employed by my father. What did you do?”
Tim tensed. “I…I cleaned up around the house. Tended to the gardens.”
Lightning had never seen this man before and was fairly sure he’d never seen him as a child. He might be telling the truth. Lightning hadn’t been in his own house for years.
Before he was old enough to finally leave.
“You’re lying.”
The man tensed.
“You’re lying to me about something, and you pointed a weapon at my friend.”
“I thought he was going to hurt Aiden!”
“I don’t care. Who are you really?”
Tim said nothing. He trembled a little, like a coward, but his lack of response made sense.
Why would he want to admit to lying?
Lightning looked around and realized he was still being watched by his friends surrounding him.
His real family.
“Silver, I want your authority to watch this man.”
Silver had his arms crossed over his massive chest. “Okay, and do what? I don’t want a dead omega around here, and I’m not even sure what he’s guilty of.”
“I’ll find out what he’s guilty of.” Determination rushed through him. “He’s lying to me about something. He was in my old clan, and he claims to have worked for them. Do you even know what sort of people those were?”
Tim pressed his lips together briefly. “Yes.”
Rage, boiling, bubbling up inside him, threatening to implode.
“And you are loyal to them?”
Tim cast his eyes down, as though he couldn’t bear to look Lightning in the eyes.
And he no longer cared for being decent. “Silver. Give him to me. I won’t kill him, but I will make him talk.”
“You’re not allowed to rip out his fingernails or anything.”
Tim’s entire body tensed, his fear renewing within him. “Rip my…what?”
He struggled to get out of Lightning’s hold, but it was too late by then. He was stuck. Completely and totally within Lightning’s mercy.
And he wasn’t feeling too much of that.
“I won’t physically torture him. I just…might keep him awake for a few days. Maybe starve him. I’ll get creative.”
Tim shook his head, as much as he could considering Lightning still had a firm grip of his hair. “N-no, please! It wasn’t like that…I mean…”
“Are you or are you not loyal to my father and stepmother?”
Tim’s breathing picked up. He seemed to think on that. “I am.”
Fucking son of a bitch.
Lightning didn’t wait for Silver to give him permission. No. He’d waited too damned long for this.
Lightning reached down, hooked his arms around Tim’s knees, and hoisted the man over his shoulder, walking off with him, ignoring the yells and the punches against his back.
Lightning had plotted and planned all kinds of ways he would exact his revenge. A difficult task, considering the clan had just up and vanished, the houses and large homes abandoned the last time Lightning had showed up.
Now his clan was within range. They were close, and Lightning had in his possession someone who was loyal to those motherfuckers?
He was going to take his time with this one.
* * * *
An hour later, Rey had his mate nice and cleaned up.
It took two tubs’ worth of bath water, but he was clean, his small wounds turned into little red scratches now with the help of Rey’s blood.
His mate was healing. That was a good thing.
Thank God. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if he couldn’t keep this man alive.
At least now he knew an infection wouldn’t be coming.
Fortunately, Rey also managed to get his hard-on to go down, as well.
Much as the scent of his mate called to him, and touching the man’s skin sent a thrill through him, the act of bathing a helpless human eventually brought him into a moment of Zen. He could focus on the task at hand without having to worry he might molest the poor bastard.
So, as he dried off his mate, scrubbing the towel over his body and into his hair, he was shocked when he noted his mate’s eyes were wide open.
The man looked up at him. Rey froze.
Shit. This probably looked bad.
“You’re injured. Keep yourself sti—”
No chance to finish. No chance to explain himself as the smaller man acted quickly and thrust himself up against Rey’s chest.
Those smaller arms wrapped themselves around Rey’s neck and shoulders, his mouth immediately crushing against Rey’s in a heated, yet sloppy kiss.
The shock of the situation, coupled with the weight pushing against him, knocked Rey back.
It was a good thing he’d already been kneeling down, his mate in his lap, otherwise the fall could have been so much worse.
As it was, now Rey found himself with his lap full of hot and, apparently, horny omega.
He felt the man’s cock against his hip as the omega shoved his tongue into Rey’s mouth.
If anyone else in the world had attempted to kiss him like this, Rey would have thrown them off and left.
This wasn’t anyone else.
The heat and the flavor all came together, mixing in with the passion, the scent of musk rising heavily into the air.
Fuck. Rey thought at the very least, mating or no mating, that his mate would need time to recover from everything. To get his energy up. To at least have some food put into his system.
Rey’s hands settled on the man’s waist.
God, he was so skinny. What the fuck had those bastards done to him?
That man with the gun better be getting questioned right about now because when Rey finished here he had every intention of going back to Silver’s home and finding out who these people were, how many others they’d taken, and what their plans were to do with them.
Kidnapping omegas, experimenting on them…and all for the sake of public safety…
Rey wouldn’t let it stand.
He pulled his mouth away from the smaller man’s, listened to the sound of his helpless moan, and knew there was no way he was going to convince him to wait until he was stronger.
The mating wouldn’t allow his mate to wait. It wouldn’t allow Rey to wait. The kiss had awakened his body, his cock throbbed, his testicles were tight, and he knew that if he didn’t feel the clench of this man’s hole around him very soon, he would lose control of his inner wolf.
“Tell me your name.”
He needed at least that much.
“Aiden Evans.”
Pretty. He liked that name.
Rey nodded. “Rey Larson.” He stood, pulling his mate up into his arms. “You’re in the fury clan. You’re safe.”
He wasn’t sure if Aiden heard him. The man moaned and thrust his body against Rey’s, his hand reaching down so he could stroke his prick.
The man was like a cat in heat. Maybe he was some sort of cat shifter?
> Rey reached into the nearest drawer. He had a bottle of lube in there. He didn’t often jerk off in bed. He didn’t like the idea of making a mess in his sheets if he didn’t have to, but his mate deserved a bed. A warm place for when he was taken and claimed.
It was the very least Rey could do. He couldn’t believe they’d waited this long.
Maybe he should thank that little gun-wielding psycho outside. Otherwise he might have claimed the man on the cold, damp ground.
“You’re my mate. Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” Aiden moaned, though he could be moaning about the pleasure of masturbating in Rey’s arms for all he knew.
He definitely seemed to be enjoying himself.
Rey settled his mate onto the bed. He grabbed at all the pillows, settling them around his mate, just in case the added warmth was something he would need right now.
Aiden appeared to be recovering just fine, but Rey wasn’t sure.
He could see the man’s ribs, and yet despite that, he was still beautiful.
So was his cock.
Rey moaned. He dropped the bottle of lube and settled himself to his knees, batting Aiden’s hand away. “Let me,” he sighed, taking Aiden’s cock in hand and licking away the drop of pre-cum that had formed there.
Salty, and yet there was something different about the taste that Rey couldn’t exactly pick up on. Was it because of the mating? There was definitely something good about this that Rey had never noticed with anyone else he’d gone down on before.
The flavor was unique. That was the only he could describe it.
No, not the only way. There was something else.
Addicting.
Addicting was the proper way to describe it as Rey found himself deep throating the other man quickly, taking the entire length of Aiden’s dick into his mouth. He was of a decent size. Rey felt oddly proud in knowing that his mate was well endowed.
Aiden thrust up into his mouth, moaning, helpless noises rising from his throat.
And those sounds made Rey want him all the more. Made his dick throb. Made him ache to be inside the beautiful man beneath him.
And he was going to be. Right now.
Chapter Five
Aiden’s body had never felt this hot before. This tight. So wound up and ready to explode. It was as though there was a ticker somewhere within him counting down to the moment when he could let everything go and just…
Be.
That was it. That was the word he wanted. The thing he waited for was somehow tied to the man going down on him, licking and sucking on him like a damned lollipop.
It should have been a lewd and crude thing. Pleasurable, sure, but still lewd.
Aiden shouldn’t be thinking about the meaning of his life, his place in it, and how well he would fit in with this man’s life while he was receiving head.
But fuck it. Whatever this was, it was good. This desire, this aching pleasure, was shocking in its intensity, and Aiden could hardly believe that something could feel so good and yet, at the same time, be nowhere near enough.
He pushed his fingers through that blond hair, marveling at the green-frosted tips. The man had a green tattoo beneath his right eye. At first Aiden assumed it was a teardrop. Some guys got those.
But no. Not a teardrop. A scale.
A dragon scale? He’d thought he’d seen wings at some point, when he’d struggled to open his eyes so he could see for himself what that wonderful scent was.
“Fuck me,” he moaned. “Fuck me, please. Need you.”
He felt as though he’d needed this man from the moment he was born. Was that normal?
The man, Rey, ignored him. He continued to bob his mouth up and down around the length of Aiden’s prick, as though he were savoring it.
No one had ever touched Aiden like that before. No one had ever sucked on him with so much pleasure, so much passion, that they could have been getting paid good money for it.
This guy was working Aiden as though he would get paid a million dollars if he did a good job.
Aiden didn’t particularly like going down on people. The two times he’d done it, he’d gagged and embarrassed himself.
This guy was a professional.
Professional enough to make Aiden come.
His orgasm hit him hard and unexpectedly. The rush through his body, the tightening of every muscle as that sweet release hit him was almost too much to bear. Pleasure so great it was almost painful.
And yet Aiden moaned because it was far and away the best pleasure he’d ever received in his life.
He was still hard. When his body had spilled every drop and there shouldn’t have been anything more for him to give, he was still hard, his cock throbbing as though the orgasm hadn’t happened in the first place.
“What’s…oh God,” he moaned, his fists tightening in Rey’s hair as his spine bowed.
Rey pulled away from him, a smile on his lips. “Baby, much as I love that…you’re going to make me bald.”
Aiden exhaled hard. He glanced down at the other man, shocked to hear him speak at all.
He’d pulled his mouth away, and Aiden’s dick felt so wet, so close to the edge again, that Aiden hadn’t noticed.
“Inside me,” he said again.
As if those were the only words he knew how to speak.
“Please. Inside me.”
He wasn’t even sure why that was the thing he was desperate for. He’d never had anyone inside him before, so how would he know he needed it so badly? Why bother begging for it at all?
Why wasn’t he the one begging to be let inside of Rey?
Could this man be…
No, it was impossible. He looked like an alpha, had the build of one, but the alphas were gone.
Then why was Aiden so determined to submit to this man? Why did he want to bend over and present himself? Why did he want to give, not just his body, but his entire life?
Something about this felt familiar, as if he’d had these thoughts before, back when he was still weak and barely knew where he was. He just couldn’t think straight.
Rey kissed Aiden on the thigh. His mouth left a burning imprint there. When he pulled back, he smiled at Aiden, as though Aiden was his Christmas present.
“I will. Fuck, baby, trust me, I will.”
Aiden nodded, watching with eager anticipation as the man reached for something. A bottle! Thank God. It was a bottle. That was good. He could handle this so much better now that he knew the end was coming.
Wasn’t he supposed to be doing something? There was something important he was forgetting, but it was so far out of his mind at the moment and his brain so fixated on the curve of Rey’s mouth that he couldn’t bring himself to care that something important was being left behind.
He only cared when the lube bottle was finally being opened and Rey squeezed the contents into his hand.
The sight of that slick made Aiden’s dick jump. Rey noticed that.
“I swear your entire body is on a hair-trigger.”
Aiden nodded. He wasn’t sure if that was meant to be an insult or not, but it didn’t matter. He spread his legs open without any prompting from this larger man, feeling no embarrassment at all for how forward he was being.
It was as though that part of his brain had been shut off. Not just shut off but locked away in a chest and stored in the very back of the closet of his brain.
Forgotten about.
That was what he felt like.
Rey leaned in. He inhaled deeply around Aiden’s pelvis.
“Fuck. Your smell.”
“Sorry.”
Rey chuckled. “I mean it as a good thing, sweetheart.”
Aiden didn’t realize it was possible for him to blush so hard while being called that.
“I like it when you call me that.” He gasped as he felt the press of fingers around his asshole. So good. So damned good.
“I’ll call you that as much as you want me to. I promise.”
Thos
e fingers circled and teased his pucker for only a moment before two of them pushed inside, spreading Aiden open. Penetrating him.
He moaned. He moaned from the pleasure. From the ache it brought with it.
Because, while having those fingers inside him brought him to life, filled him with energy and excitement, it wasn’t the thing he needed. Not exactly.
He wanted something much more intimate than that.
“That’s it, baby,” Rey thrust his fingers. “You should see yourself right now. So damned beautiful. My blood inside you. Soon my cock will be. You want that, don’t you?”
Aiden nodded frantically. He wanted it so badly he could taste it. That was the problem.
“Please.”
A third finger pushed inside him. The burn, the sweet ache, and the pleasure…Aiden began to feel his orgasm rising up once more inside him, but what could he do other than hold on for this ride?
“Mine. God, you’re mine.”
Aiden nodded. He would belong to this man for the rest of his life if that was what Rey wanted.
Something in the back of Aiden’s mind clicked at that. Even as he reached down to fist his cock, to ease off on some of the pressure that was getting to him.
Belong? As in…he recognized this. This was how the elders, how his parents, had talked about a mating. What they’d felt. How it affected them.
The need to have someone, another person on a physical level the likes of which he would never know in his entire life with anyone else.
As though he’d taken a drug that would yank him toward only one person. That person being his mate.
The only cure for that drug was to be penetrated. To have his mate spill his seed inside him or to have Aiden spill his seed inside his mate, marking him with his scent.
Could that be what he felt right now? Could that be…
Could Rey be his mate? Holy shit. Was this that familiar thing he’d felt back when Rey had first found him? Given Aiden his blood?
Rey leaned over him. He kept his clothes on, but he’d loosened his pants enough to free his cock.
The sight of it didn’t worry Aiden. It brought him no fear. Only relief. Especially when Rey lifted Aiden’s hips, presenting his hole for the other man.
The head of that large cock pressed against Aiden’s pucker, and he shivered.
