by Avery Brite
“Normally I love seeing a naked omega in my apartment, but not this time.” He jumped and turned. His eyes wide with surprise, he knew he had been caught red handed. “You might as well come out.” I backed out and shut the bedroom door to cut off his escape, never taking my eyes off him.
“Kneel down while I figure out what to do with you, little coyote,” I said. His rich brown eyes met mine, contempt at being caught blazing, but underneath something else. Something that I understood: longing. We studied each other for a moment.
“You know, I’m as talented on my knees as I am on my feet,” he said, indicating my zipper. A novel way to negotiate for his life, but I ignored it despite the growing temptation.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Zenith.” he answered.
“Zenith.” I tried the name out. “I should have figured only another shifter could break into here. Care to share how you did it?”
“A professional never reveals his secrets,” he said and arched a perfect eyebrow.
“I don’t think you are in a position to be coy.” I said and took a step back. “I’ll admit you are cute.”
I could tell that he felt the same conflict as I did. He felt the same attraction. He knew how to use those dark eyes to beckon any man. He knew how to entice, should he need it, but hadn't met someone with my skills. I can be all business letting no distractions get in my way. “I’m not sure how you found my hidden vault, but you wouldn’t have gotten far with your loot. Every item is traceable and part of my personal collection. I’ve spend a lot of time and money for this collection.”
“Bullshit”, he said simply.
“Excuse me? You could very well die in this apartment and you tell me ‘bullshit’? And why do you have an erection?” I finally noticed his cock had slowly been growing. Bigger than most omegas, I was impressed.
He smiled and looked me directly in the eye, “I’m calling bullshit because you are a thief just like me. I recognized jewelry from the diamond heist and two of the rolled paintings are missing Renoirs. They aren’t in your closet because you like nice things; they are in there because you are waiting for the buyer to up his price before you unload them. And I have an erection because you want to fuck me.”
I cleared the distance between us in one long stride. Time to scare this little coyote. I reached out and grabbed him by the hair, hauling him up to his feet. “I am nothing like you,” I said. I could feel his breath on my face. “You are a two bit burglar that got lucky. I am on a level you couldn’t even fathom.” My other hand wrapped around his throat. Every impulse in me wanted to rough him up some, put fear into him. However, every impulse suddenly rerouted as the world exploded around us.
The moment my hand touched his skin, my heart leapt and my already amped nerves went into overdrive. That part I had pushed away for so long sprang and it turned out to be pure, raw need. Specific and surprising, I needed the omega name Zenith.
I immediately let me go, my eyes wide. “Oh shit!” I exclaimed. “How could this be?”
He stood up, on shaky legs. As shook up as he looked, I knew he felt the same thing as me. I could read it on his face before he even spoke the words.
“We’re…we’re fated mates.”
“I don’t believe in that sort of thing,” I waved a dismissive hand. I had mixed opinions, but right now, the idea only complicated the situation more. “Just get out of here. Leave.” Turning around, I opened the door to the bedroom, giving him his chance to go.
He walked forward, but instead of walking out the door, he came to me. He took my hand and put it on his bare chest. He said nothing, just looked into my eyes and didn’t move. We stood there for what felt like an eternity. Leaning down, our lips met. The world melted away. His soft lips on mine put all the missing part of the universe in place. We were no longer in this apartment. We had gone somewhere that transcended time and space.
{5} - Zenith
From the moment I laid eyes on Declan a hidden piece of me woke up and stretched out. As we talked, it coiled and readied to pounce. The moment he touched me it sprang into action. In my experience, love became a liability. I didn’t want it, nor did I need it. Right now, besides my incredible need to have Declan’s body comingled with mine, love overrode everything else.
His big hands pulled my close to his solid body. I never wanted him to let me go. This moment could go on forever. When we broke our first amazing kiss, catching our breath, still we had no words. Instead, he led me to the bed. We got as far as the foot of it before our lips had to meet again. Each time we did the world grew brighter.
When he parted this time, he smiled. In one motion, he picked me up and tossed me on the bed. I landed with a bounce and laughed. While he discarding clothes I lay there in awe of the body he revealed to me. Long and built, he could have been an Olympic swimmer. I could see his power and flexibility as he moved, which would be why he made such an amazing thief. I didn’t care about that now; I just wanted that naked body next to me. I wanted out skin to never stop touching.
Once nude, he crawled onto the bed on hands and knees. He moved like a predator trapping his prey, and I couldn’t have been more excited to be his next meal. He climbed over me, the tip of his cock trailing across my thigh. I looked at and my eyes grew wide. He chuckled.
“Think you can take that?” he asked.
“I can take anything you give me.” I hoped I could, it was bigger than anything I had ever taken before. It was beautiful and I couldn’t wait to touch it. He kissed me and I ran my hands up his muscular arms. His soft lips ran down my neck and my skin shuddered. He kissed his way down my chest; his tongue flickered over my nipples, and then trailed down my stomach. My breath caught as he kissed the base of my penis. I whimpered when he stopped and came back up and kissed my neck again.
“Tease.” I whispered in his ear. In response, I reached down and took his manhood in both hands. I felt his power with each heartbeat that throbbed through it. Slowly I began to stroke it and he growled in my ear. He stood up and I tried to keep hold of it, but he moved out of reach.
“Now it’s time for your punishment. You broke into my home, attempted to clean me out of my hard-earned loot, and thought you would get away scot-free. I won’t be kind.” He flipped my over with strength that actually surprised me. Running his hands down my back to my firm ass, he spread my cheeks and ran a finger down the middle. Already wet for him, he pushed a digit inside me. I gasped and pushed my ass up. With his other hand he pushed it back down. He would only give me as much as I deserved.
Leaning in, he took a deep inhale and plunged his finger in all the way. I wiggled my ass and he smacked it hard until I stopped. He pulled his finger out, leaving a wet trail as he did. I wanted so much more than a finger in me. As if reading my mind he crawled around the bed and pointed his prodigious member at my face. Without hesitating, I took it in my mouth. I sucked it in hard, sliding it down more and more until I nearly choked. I looked up at him and he waited for me to stop. Instead, I continued on, taking the entire length down to the hilt. His breathing grew short and I wanted to give him a blowjob that he would never forget.
I could feel him getting close, and he apparently could too as he pulled out of my mouth. Both hands spread my ass apart and the head of his cock poked at my sopping hole. I pushed back as he pushed forward. Slowly he opened me up, sliding in further and further. For a brief moment, I wondered if I had more than I could handle. I bit the pillow as he stretched me farther than I had ever before. When he hit bottom, I took a staccato breath. His hips against my rear, he stopped, giving me a moment to get used to his girth. He pulled out only a small amount and plunged in again. This time instead of painful stretching, waves of pure pleasure washed over me.
Sensing my pleasure, he started pounding me in long hard strides. Our cries of pleasure echoed off the walls. My orgasm slowly built, and he played it, guiding it up and down like a master. I knew in that moment that I would be his forever.<
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He pulled out and a cry escaped my lips. Smiling, his brow glistening with sweat, he grabbed my hips and pulled me up to my knees. Soon as I was up, he plunged into me again. I met his thrusts with my own. One of his hands reached around and took my aching cock. He stroked me as he filled me up again and I couldn’t have imagined a better heaven.
I was close, my orgasm hovering on the edge. Declan let me go, staving off my bliss, but if he kept fucking me it would come soon anyway. He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me up to him, his chest against by back. His right hand grasped the base of my cock. I felt him stiffen and then yell out, his cock buried deep inside of me. Suddenly I felt him pull out and his cum splashing on my back. That was all it took and my own orgasm crashed into me, the world dissolving around me.
I collapsed in a heap in my own juices. He lay down next to me, face to face. “You aren’t allowed to go now.”
“Suits me just fine,” I said, still trying to catch my breath.
***
We slept for a while then woke up and had sex again. This time less fervent and more intimate, exploring each other’s body as we had all the time in the world. We fell asleep again and I woke up as the rays of the sun began to peek out from behind the surrounding building.
“Oh shit!” I sat bolt upright in bed. “I left my clothes down in Galloway’s apartment!”
“So that’s how you got in. You shifted.” Declan chuckled sleepily. I jumped from the bed, searching for clothes that weren’t there. Declan stretched and propped himself up on an elbow. He watched me frantically search until I realized that I had no clothes here.
“I guess you’ll just have to go get them in the nude,” he made no moves from the bed. I calmed down, remembering that Galloway shouldn’t be back in town until later tonight. I sat back on the bed, ignoring how sexy Declan looked, and rubbed the sleep from my face. All the events from last night slowly processed as I woke up. The things I left in the apartment downstairs were only one of my worries. I bungled a job, which I would beat myself up over later, but I somehow found my fated mate. Part of me flipped in joy over the prospect, other parts were horrified at the idea.
I looked over at Declan. The amused look on his face had slid off and I could tell his thoughts ran along the same lines as mine. “We should probably talk about all of this.” I said.
He swung his legs out of bed and stood up. “You’re right we do. I’ll make some coffee.” He walked out of the bedroom, as nude as I was. I marveled at his body. From the way to his muscles moved as he walked to every contour and line. After the initial shock of our touch, last night remained a blur of flesh, pleasure, and emotion. I wouldn’t have minded doing it again right now, but we had more pressing matters at hand.
Rummaging through his closet, I found a silk robe and slipped it on. Walking out of the bedroom, the apartment looked so strange. The morning light gave it a dimension that I couldn’t see in the dark. Bigger and more open than I had initially perceived, he must be a thief like no other. In the kitchen, I could hear the dribbling of coffee and followed the smell of it. Declan leaned against the counter, staring down at the open vent in the corner.
“I’ll fix that,” I offered.
“The alarm system too?” He asked, pulling out two coffee cups. He saw that I had helped myself to a robe, but said nothing. He set the cups down and walked back into the bedroom.
“Yes, that too.” I poured the steaming brew into the cups, two spoonfuls of sugar into mine. Declan emerged wearing the t-shirt and jeans that I had set out of my escape last night. He took his coffee with him out into the living room. I didn’t get a good look at it last night. In it sat a very expensive set of couches and chairs, all of them leather and luxurious. It took up one corner near the huge windows that looked over the waking city. I sat across from him.
Declan started, “You broke into my house, no, broke into my life. Fated mates are not a thing I thought I would ever have to deal with. Yet after last night, I can’t deny it. I suppose the first thing I need to know is: who are you?”
“I’m a thief, but you knew that. My name is Zenith, just that. I gave up any claim to a last name when my parents died. I lived on the streets, on and off, where I learned that I could part people with their valuables with amazing ease. After that, I worked my way up until there were few places, pockets, or safes that could keep me out. I do it for survival and I do it because I’m good at it.” I had the urge to tell him my entire life story, something that I kept locked away from everyone I knew. My life is my business, or at least it was until I met Declan Treadway.
“How did you find out about me? I have taken a lot pains to make sure that what I do and how I make my money are my most guarded secret.” he looked at me over his coffee cup. His green eyes drilled into me.
“I didn’t figure out what you did until I found your super secret closet. All I know is that someone let slip that you had items that might be beyond value. I just wanted a piece of it.” I said. “On that topic, if you have an associate with loose lips, you might want to tighten it up.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, instead looking out the window with a furrowed brow. Even pensive, he made my knees weak.
“None of my crew would say anything, they know better. I might know where the information got out, though. I’ll deal with that later. I do applaud your methods, though. You took the time to do your homework, which puts you ahead of most people in our profession. Speaking of which,” he looked at an antique Thomas Tompion clock on the table next to him, “I have an appointment soon.”
“No way,” I said, “I told you about me, it’s time you spill the beans about yourself.” He responded by smiling, standing and taking my coffee cup from my hand.
“I will, but not now. I need to attend to some business.” He said while taking the cups back into the kitchen. “We can talk tonight during dinner.”
I stood there until he turned to look at me. I slid out of his robe and let it drop to the floor. He looked me up and down, that predatory look creeping into his eyes. He shook his head. “If we had the time, you would be in such trouble. Since you left your clothes in Galloway’s apartment, I suppose it would be best for you to go out the way you came.”
“How do I know you aren’t just trying to get rid of me and then never see me again?” I sounded coy, but the concern wrapped around my stomach.
“Then how about this,” he grabbed me by the back of my neck and gave me a kiss that curled my toes. When we parted, he said, “That and apparently I couldn’t keep you out of here if I tried.”
With a grin, I shifted into a coyote and scampered happily to the open vent in the kitchen. I was convinced. He had it just as bad for me as I did for him.
{6} - Declan
I had to call Tanner about last night’s recon, but I wanted some time to process what has happened to my life. I didn’t need a fated mate right now; I needed to finish planning this job. My life had no room for love and all the complications of it. Instead, I sat here, Zenith, having only crawled back through my kitchen vent minutes before, and I wanted him back. Already the distance between us left me with an empty ache.
“I don’t need this,” I growled and launched myself from the chair. I had no choice. The thought of him made me smile, in spite of myself.
I picked up my phone. My first call had to be Tanner. I needed to get in touch with him about last night’s visit to the museum. Doing what I could to clear my head, I pushed Tanner’s number on my phone.
“Hey boss,” a groggy voice said on the other end. I probably just woke him up, but it was to be expected. He lived a largely nocturnal life, but what did you expect for an owl? I think that’s why our dynamic worked so well, we were a crew of diverse shifters: Tanner the owl, Cody the cougar, and me the coyote. No one would expect us to work together, let alone succeed. No one could touch us.
“So, what did you get from the museum last night?” I asked. I heard him open up an energy drink on the other en
d. I keep telling him those things are horrible for his kidneys, but he refuses to listen.
“A possible date from the valet and what version of software they use for their security software. It might be enough to get into the cameras, but I’ll still need some time to find my way into the systems that run the vaults.”
“Well, I couldn’t get a look at the back of the building because of the rain, but I can do that any time. I’ve got enough of the interior now that I shouldn’t need to go to another exhibit opening,” I said.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Something’s up?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said. How he could tell that I felt completely upended, I didn’t know. I should expect it from Tanner though, there is very little you can pull on him. “I just met someone last night.”
“Do tell,” he said conspiratorially.
“Later, I have another phone call to make. Keep on it.” I hung up and took a breath. I had to banish the sudden memory of Zenith’s kisses from my mind. I had other business to attend to, but he made it so hard. In more ways than one.
I knew who had been talking out of turn. When Cody and I put together the alarm system for my apartment, we had consulted with another shifter, a weasel named Marcus. When it came to acquiring less than legal tech, Marcus can always get it. It seems that Marcus can’t keep his big mouth shut. Normally I would deal with something like this quick and painful, but I felt generous this morning. Maybe because of all that transpired with Zenith, or maybe because Marcus had been so reliable in the past, a warning seemed more appropriate.
I picked up my phone again and dialed a number that I never kept in my phone’s memory. After two rings, a woman picked up. “Hey Jayla, its Dec.”
