Healed by Hope [Marked 6] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove)

by Jana Downs

Playtime sounded amazing.

  “Spread your legs, love.”

  Steve did as he was told, stretching until his toes were pointed out from him like some kind of ballet dancer. He was relieved to find the straps at the top of the bed weren’t the kind that could bind him. Instead, they were there to steady, to entice. He looped his hands through the cloth ties and waited.

  Their eyes met from across the room, and a wonderful understanding sparked between them. They were on the same wavelength, the same page when it came to what they needed. It was the first time in Steve’s life he could remember ever feeling so utterly in sync with someone.

  “Steve, are you sure you want to do this?”

  Steve wet his lips. “Yes.”

  Satisfaction shone in the depths of his mate’s eyes, a savage possession that made Steve’s toes curl.

  “Close your eyes,” Hope commanded.

  With a shiver, Steve complied. With his sight cut off, his other senses took over, making him hyperaware of every sound, every scent that filled the air. The smell of Hope’s sweat mingled with his lust to perfume the room with the scent of a man who was intent on taking what he wanted and leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that sex was his intention.

  Steve jumped as Hope trailed a single finger down his chest. The fine hairs all over his body stood on end as Hope continued to caress every hollow of his body with his fingertips, tracing every indentation from his muscles and especially the puckered nub of his nipple that was all but begging for a harder touch.

  He pushed his chest up into the light touch of Hope’s hands, eager for more sensation. Hope chuckled, the sound low and sexy as hell.

  “Impatient?”

  “Always,” Steve rumbled. He sounded just as breathless and wound up as he thought he would. He had never been especially patient and when it came to getting what he wanted.

  “You’ll learn.”

  Like hell. Steve was very good at getting what he wanted. Hope wasn’t especially good at denying him either, so the combination almost guaranteed Steve would be able to get him riled up enough to fuck him sooner rather than later.

  The warm, wet suction of Hope’s mouth on his needy nipple caused him to groan and arch into the touch. The hint of teeth as he increased the suction only made him louder. He still wasn’t into pain, but this felt nice, like a game of power between two lovers.

  “You all right?” Hope asked against Steve’s flesh. He said it in a teasing tone, but Steve heard the question behind it, the concern.

  “Yeah,” Steve breathed. “More.” His cock stood straight out from his body, straining toward the object of his immediate lust.

  Hope returned to his task and added his pinching fingers to Steve’s other nipple, making the already puckered peak tighten further. Steve’s hips shot upward of their own accord. He’d always had sensitive nipples, and the treatment they were getting right now only made him want more of it.

  “You’re so sexy like that,” Hope rumbled, switching to the other side to give it equal treatment. He gave Steve’s other side a nice long lick. “You know what seeing you obey does to me?” He rubbed his hard dick against Steve’s thigh. It felt like a brand against his skin. To his intense disappointment, Hope backed off, taking the lovely heat with him.

  “I can’t wait to be balls-deep inside of you, Steve. I want to see you stretched around my dick.”

  Oh wow. He’d never been talked to like a tramp and he was starting to realize he had really missed out on this whole dirty talking thing. He moved, restless.

  “Slick?”

  Hope chuckled. “Patience.”

  He huffed. Patience could suck his balls. Or better yet, just let Hope do it.

  Hope licked his way down Steve’s torso, teasing his skin with his fingertips as he worked his way south. Steve wanted nothing more than to let go of the ropes, grab Hope’s head, and then force him to go a bit faster. But, his hands refused to budge. It would be like cheating in their game, and Steve wanted to play this one well.

  As if in reward for his restraint, Hope wrapped his lips around his cock, and Steve immediately flashed hot and then cold in rapid succession. Orgasm raced down his spine, and he had to bite the inside of his cheek hard in order to prevent from spending himself.

  “Good boy,” Hope rumbled on the upstroke. “You want to come?” He sucked the tip of Steve’s prick back in his mouth and he felt the prick of his mate’s fangs there. He was being extraordinarily careful though because it didn’t hurt at all.

  “Yes!”

  Hope bobbed his head, shouldering his way between Steve’s thighs to make them wider. Steve made another deep sound of want as Hope pressed a pair of slick fingers between his cheeks. He bit his bottom lip to keep from losing his mind. Though he’d pleasured himself by fingering, he’d never had a lover do more than give his hole a passing caress.

  Hope dipped his fingers inside, spreading his rosette wider. Steve panted, wanting more. Each time Hope dipped his fingers inside, he went a bit deeper, pushing him ever closer to a release as he sucked Steve’s cock with strong, insistent pulls.

  “Hope,” Steve whimpered as his mate added more slick to his two-finger push. There was something incredibly erotic about being at Hope’s mercy, something so potent.

  “I’ve got you, Steve.”

  Another finger was added to the first two, and Steve bit his bottom lip to keep from making more sounds of want in the back of his throat. Everything felt too damn good to be real. His wolf wholeheartedly agreed. The damn thing was making happy noises to rival Steve’s.

  A few more pumps of Hope’s fingers and then he pulled them from Steve’s ass, leaving him feeling empty from the loss of touch. At the same time, Hope’s lips gave the tip of his cock one last, lingering kiss.

  Their eyes met again, and the fire Steve saw in Hope’s gaze nearly had him creaming.

  He opened his mouth, but Steve cut him off. “If you ask me if I’m ready again, I’m going to punch you in the nutsac.”

  Hope grinned. “Okay. Okay. Jeez. Uppity submissive.”

  “You know it, Sir,” Steve teased, adding the sarcastic honorific with a little more flair than it probably needed.

  Hope’s smile dissolved into a surprised bark of laughter. “If I were any other Dom, I’d turn your ass red for that.”

  “If you any other Dom, I wouldn’t be with you,” Steve said, his tone serious. There was no way he’d let someone tie him up again, and he sure as hell wouldn’t let someone have as much emotional control as he was handing over to Hope with a shy smile and a hard cock.

  “Thank you,” Hope whispered, slowly climbing up Steve’s prone body. “Thank you for trusting me.”

  Steve wrapped his legs around Hope’s hips so that they were aligned. “Come on, Hope. Give me what I need.”

  “Always.” Hope took himself in hand, prodding between Steve’s ass cheeks as he looked into Steve’s face. The position was too intimate, too emotionally vulnerable for the kind of fucking Steve desperately wanted, but it was perfect all the same. He needed the emotion to anchor him and save him from the memories that sought to crowd into the forefront of his mind and steal the pleasure from the moment.

  The shadows had been his companion for so long he almost forgot about them until moments of intimacy or normalcy brought attention to their stark differences. Ever since Hope had strolled into his life, though, those shadows didn’t seem so impossible to keep at bay. The power Hope had over the nightmares inside him was probably one of the main reasons Hope scared the hell out of Steve. He could already see forever in his eyes and he’d just met the guy.

  He cried out as Hope pushed inside him the first inch or so, his internal muscles spiraling around the thick length of Hope’s cock.

  Hope paused, panting for breath. “You okay?”

  Steve licked his lip. “Yeah. Sorry. Caught me off guard.” There was no reason he should find the pointed tips of Hope’s fangs to be as attractive as he found them. Nope. Not one
reason that would be the case. It was probably due entirely to the fact that his wolf was putting off some majorly delicious pheromones.

  “You zoning out on me?” Hope said, his voice low and sexy as hell. He leaned down and licked the shell of Steve’s ear.

  Steve shivered. “Kinda hard when your dick is climbing up my ass.” Literally.

  “Don’t make this less than what it is, mate,” Hope warned, surging forward with his hips as if to emphasize his point. Steve gasped as he was speared with Hope’s cock. “This is more than sex.”

  “Yes,” Steve murmured, caught him in the absoluteness in Hope’s tone.

  “Hm, good boy.”

  Then there was no more room for talking as his hunger for more overruled any thought of right, wrong, too fast, or too much. All that mattered was the thick pole moving in and out of him, gliding across every sweet spot Steve never knew he had.

  Hope’s hips slammed into him, picking up both speed and roughness as they both chased the orgasm that was just out of reach. It felt like he’d been waiting forever to have Hope between his thighs.

  Once you go pack, you never go back. The little ditty almost caused him to chuckle until Hope changed his angle by half an inch and he lost his mind. Whatever he hit caused him to lose it like he’d never lost it in his life. Orgasm tightened his balls into a hard knot of desire, and the tip of his cock jerked as his release fountained out of his cock in a long arc to splash between their rubbing bodies.

  Hope groaned along with him, his eyes screwing shut as Steve’s body clenched around him.

  “Come inside,” Steve urged, his orgasm stretching on and on.

  “I will,” Hope rumbled. “Mine.”

  That was the sexiest thing Steve had heard all night.

  Hope thrust once more and then it was all over. With a groan of surrender he poured his essence deep inside Steve’s body. He leaned forward, mouth open and flashing fangs. Their gazes clashed for a half a second.

  This is it.

  Steve’s heart started to pound of an entirely different reason this time. He’d read the damn manual on matings fifty times or more in his prison cell beneath the house. Hope would bite him and then their bond would click into place and all would be right in the world of pack. He knew he’d asked for it, but it was terrifying all at the same time.

  His wolf gave a howl of triumph from the shadows at the edge of his senses, and the sound was an eerie longing that only Steve could hear.

  Hope’s face hovered over Steve’s neck for a breath, the warmth fanning over his rapidly beating pulse. He groaned and turned his head at the last second. Instead, he ripped into the soft sofa they were reclining on. Steve let out a breath as something swelled inside him, stretching him even farther than Hope’s big cock.

  “What is that?” he asked as his oversensitized body shuddered.

  “Knotting,” Hope gasped. “Hoped that was a myth. S’not.”

  Whatever that meant.

  A curious sense of disappointment filled him as he realized that he wasn’t going to get mated today. It was a strange thing to be worried and anxious for it to hurry up all at once.

  He petted his mate’s back as he shuddered, gnawing on the couch with every subsequent orgasm. He’d gotten what he’d wanted. The sex had even been amazing.

  So, why did he feel so empty?

  Chapter Nine

  “You’re awfully quiet,” Hope murmured as he pulled into Mustang’s driveway. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  Steve stared out the window as he pulled in behind Mustang’s truck, threw it in park, and then cut the engine. “I’m fine. The sex was good. I think I’m just chilled out.”

  He didn’t smell chilled out. He smelled restless, anxious. It was not how he wanted his mate to feel after their first time having sex.

  Hope reached over and took his hand. “Was it too soon?”

  Steve finally turned to look at him. “I’m fine, Hope. Really. I think I’m surprised that you didn’t want to mate me.”

  “Is this what this is about? Steve, I want to mate you. I didn’t want to take the choice from you. I’m not going to ever make you feel like I wasn’t allowing you to decide your own future. When you decide to have a future with me, I want it to be something you want with everything you are, not just your cock.” No matter how painful it would be now that Hope had had him, he would remain strong. His wolf was pacing, angry about being denied their connection. His wolf would get over it.

  Steve gave him a shaky smile. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously. What did you think I was doing?”

  His mate shrugged. “I thought you didn’t know if you wanted me yet.” Steve’s wolf was probably about as happy about the delay as Hope’s was.

  “Never think that, Steve. Ever.” He leaned in, and their lips met in a chaste kiss.

  When he pulled back, the smell of lust was just starting to perfume the air. He gave a self-deprecating chuckle. “I can’t be around you without wanting you. You better get inside now before I drag you out into the woods.”

  Steve gave him another peck. “Great first date. Sexy first date. Just so you know.” He opened the door. “We can go to the club again sometime.”

  Pleasure blossomed. “Good.” He was glad tonight went well and Steve enjoyed the workshop. That would allow Hope to push for more exposure and more experimentation in the future. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed the hell out of himself as is. He might not push anymore actually. Steve and he could carve out a new normal in pack life that was farther from the typical pack relationship. The pack physician had done as much with his formerly human mate.

  “Will I see you tomorrow?” Steve asked as he rolled out of the car.

  “If you like,” Hope said. “Otherwise, I will see you bright and early Monday morning. I’ll start your training then, and you’ll of course get a benefits package and all that as well.”

  “Hope?”

  “Yes?”

  “Tomorrow you’re going to take me home and mate me properly.”

  Hope sucked in a breath. “Don’t toy with me, Steve.”

  “I’m not. I don’t want to be under Mustang and Grayson’s eyes anymore and I’m ready to have something stable.”

  “Steve, it’s only been a few days.” Hope didn’t want him to rush.

  Steve laughed. “Sweetheart, I may make my decisions quickly but I rarely regret them. I’m ready for forever. Never thought I’d get here, but I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”

  Hope considered him. “Think about it tonight and give me a final answer tomorrow after you’ve had some rest and aren’t jonesing from mating hormones.”

  Steve rolled his eyes. “Okay.” He straightened. “See you tomorrow, gorgeous.”

  “’Til then.”

  Steve closed the door and headed toward the front porch. Hope’s heart was light and filled to the brim with the love he’d told himself it was too soon to feel for several hours now. Life was getting better all the time.

  He turned up the radio and sang along to the latest Rihanna tune, uncaring that if there was a camera in the car, he would be embarrassed as hell for someone to find out. He had a mate who wanted him and who wanted to be with him. He couldn’t care less what anyone else said about it.

  He made a mental note to call his parents tomorrow to let them know the good news before he went to pick up Steve and then he would need to give the Alpha a call so everything would be squared away as far as the legalities of pack went. He signaled to get on the highway as he reached the end of pack lands.

  “Aw crap.” He was going to spend half the night cleaning. As a bachelor, he wasn’t necessarily the cleanest of people, and since he was rarely home, the home had been a little neglected in recent weeks.

  He sighed. He needed to go to Walmart first. There were no cleaning products in his house, and he was fairly certain his ex had taken what little he had left.

  “Memo to self, hire a cleaning lady.”

  * *
* *

  Steve sat on the porch swing, the thing creaking back and forth as he rocked. The bike was gone from the side of the house where the storage garage was left open. There was no telling when Mustang and Gray would be back. Whether they were at the shop or cruising the highways, they were definitely enjoying themselves if they were out this late. He imagined they would be happy when he announced that he was going to be moving in with Hope. Fast or not, it was what he’d decided on the second Hope had said he’d refrained from mating him until he had the ability to consent fully to their union.

  He slapped at his neck as a sharp pain hit just below his jawline. His fingers encountered a thin line of wood that felt almost like a toothpick that he jerked free as fast as he could.

  His blood ran cold.

  The last time he’d seen something like this was when he’d been walking back to the frat house from campus. He knew without a doubt what was going to come next. Numbness spread out from the tiny wound and everything seemed to slow down. Seconds became hours, and then his vision started to blur around the edges.

  No. Please. Not again.

  His wolf barked, snarling and pulling at him to try and force him to shift. But it was too late. His eyes were already drooping as sleep dragged him down into a world made of cotton.

  He slumped over onto the porch swing, the sound of creaking the last thing he heard before he drifted into a dreamless, fear-filled doze.

  * * * *

  “Wake up, love,” a familiar voice rumbled, pulling him from the blackness.

  Steve tried to force his eyes open. Failed. He was still so tired. He didn’t know why Mustang wanted him to keep this going. He didn’t want to wake up. He’d just have to live with him sleeping in, just this once.

  “Wake. Up. Look at me. I know you’re awake.”

  He sighed, rolling his shoulders as they started to twinge. Between the annoying intrusion of the person harassing him and the dull ache in his shoulder blades, it was no wonder he couldn’t just drift back off to sleep.

  “Come on, Sexy Stevie. I need you to look at me.”