Rise to Love [Rise of the Changelings 1] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove)

by Lynn Hagen

  Dorian threw the jar of peanut butter at the kitchen door. “Fuck you, Miguel! You haven’t a clue what I’ve been through or what I’ve given up to fight alongside him.”

  “Then start acting like the alpha’s mate!” Miguel snarled. “Stop acting like a damn victim in all of this and embrace your destiny. If you weren’t meant to be his mate, if you weren’t meant to fight by his side, then fate wouldn’t have picked you. Suck it up, jackass!” He set the jar of peanut butter on the table and stormed out of the kitchen.

  This was not turning out to be his night. He’d rather get shot again than deal with the bullshit right now. How was he wrong? How in the hell was he acting like a victim? This wasn’t his war, yet here he stood. He wasn’t a damn changeling. He wasn’t—Dorian leaned into the counter.

  He wasn’t fully into this. He was still thinking of things as us and them. Fuck. Miguel may be right on that point. But Rick had still tied them together without Dorian’s knowledge. He was allowed to be pissed about that.

  “Can I come in, or are you going to throw something at me?” Rick asked from just outside the kitchen door.

  “I’m still mad at you. Enter at your own risk.”

  Dorian grabbed the peanut butter from the table and then walked back to the counter, ignoring Rick as he slid into the kitchen. For the first time, the man was sporting a pout. It looked odd on such a handsome face, but Dorian wasn’t going to be swayed. Rick should have asked before claiming Dorian. It was that simple.

  “Can I explain?”

  “You could try.” Dorian grabbed two slices of bread and set them on a paper towel. His movements were jerky, his anger simmering as he opened the jelly jar. He curled his fingers in and then blew out a breath.

  Rick leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his broad shoulders. “I lost control the other night. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t thinking, only acting on natural instinct. It isn’t an excuse, just an explanation of what happened.”

  Dorian smeared the jelly on the bread, giving himself time to compose his anger. It wasn’t working. By god, it was only making him angrier. “So that makes it okay to hitch us together for all eternity?”

  “What do you want me to say? I did it. It wasn’t like I did it on purpose.”

  He needed to calm down and think about things without his emotions getting in the way. But it was hard. He had just found out. There hadn’t been enough time for Dorian to absorb what had been done. “Being your lover is one thing. Being married means something entirely different to me. Marriage is something shared between two people who love each other, who are ready to commit their lives to one another. Do you love me, Rick? Are you ready to commit your life to me? Because I’m not sure I can answer yes to both questions,” Dorian finished heatedly.

  “You are talking about mating in human terms, Dorian. I’m not human.”

  “Well, I am!”

  “Being mated for a changeling means a deeper commitment than your human brain can comprehend.”

  “Now you are insulting me?”

  “No, I’m telling you the truth.” Rick growled the words as he pushed from the wall he had been leaning against. “I know what I’ve done. Even though it was unintentional, I’m willing to make this work. I’m willing to commit myself to you, and I’m willing to fall in love with you.”

  “You fucking prick!” Dorian threw the jelly spoon at Rick, the man dodging it. “You aren’t supposed to be willing to fall in love with the person you are married to. It should already be there.”

  Rick stalked across the room, leaning in so closely that there was barely any room between them. The yellow flecks were back, but Dorian didn’t care. He had been falling in love with Rick, but to hear the man would grow to love him hurt like a bitch. To not have that feeling returned was an insult to his ego.

  “You are human. I am changeling. If we don’t find some common ground between us, this is over before it even starts.”

  “Then it’s over,” Dorian bit out as he walked out of the kitchen, feeling so damn angry, so damn hurt, that he wanted to scream. Miguel and Benito were sitting in the living room, looking devastated. Dorian didn’t care. He didn’t care about any of this. He slammed his hand into the screen door and walked out onto the porch, fighting back the tears. He was that angry.

  He heard the screen door squeak. Dorian thought it was Rick coming after him, but it was Benito.

  “You can’t mean that, Dorian. Once mated, it can’t be undone,” the smaller man said, as if this was affecting him more than Dorian. The hurt could be heard in the softness of his voice, and for some strange reason, Dorian wanted to turn around and give the man reassurance, but his feelings were too raw at the moment. He couldn’t give what he didn’t have himself.

  Dorian glared out into the front yard. “Then I guess we stay married but separated. Couples do it all the time.”

  “You really don’t know what it means to be mated, do you, hermano?” Benito asked. “There is already a bond between the both of you. It will only grow stronger. To say the alpha does not care is untrue. To say he is not committed to you would be a lie. There is nothing he wouldn’t do to protect and love you. He may not love you now, but for changelings, when love does happen, it is strong, powerful, and like nothing you could ever imagine.”

  Dorian’s eyes slid closed. To have a love that powerful, that deep would be a dream come true. “But I am the first human to mate an alpha. What if those rules don’t apply to me?”

  “They do.”

  Dorian curled his fingers in when he heard Rick answer him instead of Benito. He wasn’t ready to face the man. His feelings were too out there, too fresh.

  “I already care deeply about you, Dorian. I’ve already committed my life to you. I may not have wanted a mate, but if I had to accidently mate someone, you were the perfect choice.”

  Dorian wasn’t sure if Rick was trying to end the fight or insult him.

  “I told you over a week ago that I wasn’t looking to be mated.” It was the truth. He hadn’t wanted to be forced into mating Rick. But now that he was mated, he was terrified that it would mean more to him than to the dominating, pigheaded, stubborn, let-me-have-my-way alpha.

  His breath stuttered when Rick slid his arms around Dorian’s shoulders, pulling his back into the solid wall of Rick’s chest. “Would it be so bad to have this every day? Our bond will only grow stronger. There will come a point when you begin to crave this closeness.”

  Dorian already did.

  “I’m not that bad, am I?” Rick asked in a seductively teasing voice. “The sex is amazing, and I like what I know about you so far.”

  “That’s just it, Rick. I don’t know anything about you.”

  Rick turned to lean against the porch railing, pulling Dorian into the apex of his legs, leaving Dorian to face Rick. His arms slid around Dorian’s waist as his expression became thoughtful. “I grew up with one brother and one sister. My parents were good people, and my childhood was great.. I’m bisexual, hate tomatoes and raw onions, and love watching the sunset.”

  This masculine alpha loved sunsets? He had to be pulling Dorian’s chain. Although he hoped Rick wasn’t. To know the man had a softer side made him more real to Dorian, more tangible. He had already witnessed Rick’s nursemaid side, but who wouldn’t act that way when someone took a bullet for their cause?

  Dorian glanced up when he heard the sound of rolling thunder. The skies were dark, but that was only because it was nighttime. But the moon was out, and showing Dorian thick, angry clouds were coming their way.

  “Can this really work between us?” he asked. “Is it really that different from a human marriage?”

  Rick shrugged. “I can’t promise you a future I can’t see. But I’m willing to work at us, and yes, it is very different in some aspects. The bond between us for one.”

  Dorian had a decision to make. He was already mated to Rick. The deed was done. He could either learn to live with it, try and ma
ke it work, or walk away, leaving behind not only the battles that lay ahead with the rebellion, but his heart as well.

  Because whether he wanted to admit it to Rick or not, he had already started falling hard for this man, and Dorian feared he wouldn’t survive if Rick wasn’t in his life any longer. Just the thought made him shiver. He had grown so used to having Rick at his side, that if one day in the future, Rick was killed, or simply walked away from what they had, Dorian would never be the same again.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Rick wrapped the towel around his waist and walked from the bathroom. It had been one long evening. Never before had he worked so hard to convince anyone to be with him. As far as Rick could remember, this was the first.

  But as he walked into the guest room, seeing Dorian sitting there so casually as he talked with his father on the phone, reassuring the man that he was all right, Rick knew it was well worth it. He may have told Dorian that he would grow to love him, but the truth was, it was already happening.

  The human had become an integral part of his life, sweeping in like a hurricane, leaving Rick’s emotions raw and battered. He hadn’t known at the time that Dorian would come to mean so much to him.

  Dorian looked up at him, and there was a look in his eyes that Rick couldn’t decipher. It was a serious expression, putting Rick on guard. And then just that quickly, the look was gone, masked behind a light smile.

  Something stirred inside Rick, something that pulled at the bond that was forming between them. He wasn’t sure, but it almost felt as if the bond had begun to deepen, to strengthen in ways Rick wasn’t prepared for. He could feel Dorian’s sadness as he talked on the phone, and he felt Dorian’s need deep inside to make his father feel at ease.

  Rick started to grab some underwear, and then decided against it. He was only going to have to remove them once he climbed into bed beside his mate.

  God, that sounded so strange. Dorian thought he was freaking out about this. Hell, he had no idea how strange it was for Rick as well. He had promised fate to make Dorian his, but Rick had thought he had time. The mating was accidental, but he wasn’t going to regret it.

  “I’ll call you in a few days. Stay safe, Dad. I love you.” Dorian ended the call, lowering the phone and staring at it for a long moment.

  “How are they?” Rick asked as he sat down next to Dorian.

  “Shaken up. My mother can’t stop crying about Miguel’s parents sacrificing themselves to save her and Dad.”

  “This is going to be not only a bloody war, but it will batter many souls,” Rick said. “War is never pretty, and it’s not for the faint of heart.” Rick put an arm around Dorian’s shoulder. “Your mother will pull through. I know because I see her strength in you. She’ll survive, and will be a stronger person for it.”

  Dorian set the phone aside and then lay back on the bed. “I really don’t like change. I had a boring routine that I was content with until all of this happened.”

  Rick crawled up beside Dorian, and then settled between the man’s legs. Dorian’s brow quirked.

  “You weren’t happy with your life, gatito. I can feel the wanderlust in you. If we are going to make this work, you have to be honest with me.”

  Dorian gave Rick an impish smile as he tightened his legs, squeezing his thighs into Rick’s shoulders. “Okay, I wasn’t happy. But not because I had a bad homelife. I just always thought more was out there than what I was dealing with every day. I used to sit on the back porch, staring off into the stars, wanting, wishing. And then the world found out that nonhumans existed, and I wasn’t sure what to think. It’s one thing to want something more to be out there. It’s a totally different thing for it to actually happen.”

  “Fate was answering your prayers.” Rick kissed the inside of Dorian’s smooth thigh. “Fate was bringing us together.”

  “Well, fate has one hell of a way of doing things. Having us bump into each other would have done the trick.”

  Rick chuckled. “I saw you every time I came to your store, yet we never spoke. Fate decided to up the heat, to make sure that we came together.”

  Dorian chewed his bottom lip. The look was erotic to Rick. The man looked so sexy without trying to look sexy.

  “Did you ever think of me? I mean, before this happened? Did you see me in the store and want to talk to me?”

  “I thought you were handsome, but no, I would have never talked to you.”

  “Because I was human?”

  Rick nodded. “Do you see my life? Besides the running, you have witnessed what my pack is like. They barely contained themselves when you bled. There is no way I would have pulled you into that.”

  Rick watched in amazement as Dorian reached down for his hand. He didn’t resist. Rick let Dorian pull his arm up and then shivered when Dorian began to nibble at his fingers. His cock pulsated with every lick, every suck of that sweet mouth.

  “You are driving me crazy, gatito.”

  Dorian gazed down at Rick with a hot, lustful glance as he drew his index finger in, letting his tongue swirl all around the digit and then sucked it to the back of his mouth, all the while, his eyes locked onto Rick’s, a wanton invitation.

  “Dios mío,” Rick groaned.

  “It’s your turn,” Dorian said, his voice almost a purr.

  Rick gazed down at the hard bulge in Dorian’s boxers, seeing the tenting and smelling the man’s arousal like a sweet summer rain. He mouthed the boxers, hearing Dorian hiss as he sucked Rick’s finger back into his mouth. Rick worked the fabric until he tasted the head of Dorian’s cock.

  The pre-cum was seeping out and the scent filled Rick’s lungs. He swirled his tongue around the bulbous shape, tasting his mate for the first time. Dorian’s hand landed in Rick’s hair, his fingers smoothing through the strands, encouraging Rick to take more.

  As much as he was enjoying what Dorian was doing to his fingers, Rick pulled his hand away and then used both to relieve the man of his underwear. The hard cock popped free, standing fully erect.

  “So beautiful, gatito.” He palmed Dorian’s cock, looking at his hand in wonder. His complexion was an olive hue, contrasting drastically against the paleness of Dorian’s skin. It was a striking contrast that Rick found sexy as hell. He gave a gentle squeeze, watching as the clear liquid slid down the side of Dorian’s cock.

  Pulling the shaft closer, Rick used his tongue to lick up every drop.

  “Now you are just being mean,” Dorian said, but his voice had dropped to almost a whisper, the need so clear in his tone that Rick smiled. “Stop teasing me, Rick.”

  Wrapping his lips around the head of Dorian’s cock, Rick began to suck, his tongue tracing the veins, his cheeks hollowed. But he didn’t move fast or with impatient need. No, Rick took his time exploring his mate, getting to know every inch of the man’s gorgeous cock from tip to base, and the balls just beyond.

  He sucked Dorian with leisure, all the while massaging the tight sac. The man was close already, and Rick didn’t want him coming so soon. The small moans, the quiet whimpers encouraged him to take his time.

  He glanced up when he felt something tapping at his head. Dorian was holding the bottle of lube out, his eyes had gone so dark, they no longer looked Peruvian, but a deep, swirling smoky topaz.

  Rick grabbed the bottle and set it aside. He wasn’t going to be rushed, not when he was enjoying what he was doing so much. The man tasted good in his mouth, and Rick didn’t plan on backing off because his mate wanted to get fucked.

  Oh, he planned on fucking Dorian, but at his pace. But he did pop the cap and wet his fingers. Playing at his mate’s ass wasn’t a bad idea. It made his own cock pulsate just thinking about it. He could stay like this forever, for all eternity. He could forget about the outside world and just keep them close, exploring each other’s bodies for the rest of their lives.

  A slicked finger slid into Dorian’s tight hole, making Rick groan around Dorian’s cock. His mate’s body seemed to suck him right in,
welcoming him. It was a sweet sensation that had no equal.

  The feel of Dorian’s silky smooth flesh in his mouth made Rick want to devour him. The man had no idea what he was doing to Rick, how Rick was coming unhinged just by tasting and teasing his mate.

  “Rick,” Dorian whispered, his legs sliding further apart, his hands chasing through Rick’s hair. Rick burned for this man.

  He stretched Dorian, enjoying the heat his fingers lay in, reveling in the taste that was spilling on his tongue, and knew that, even though he wanted this to last a lifetime, he wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.

  Letting the wet cock slip from between his lips, Rick nipped the inside of each thigh before pulling back. He knelt there for a moment, looking down at Dorian, taking in the debauched mess, and felt his chest tighten at the stunning image Dorian made.

  “Rick,” Dorian breathed out his name again, his eyes slowly fluttering open. “Please, take me.”

  Rick grabbed the lube, smearing the gel onto his throbbing erection, wrapping his fingers around the base and praying he didn’t come as soon as he entered his mate. He was close, so damn close.

  He opened his eyes, and gazed down between Dorian’s legs, his canines sliding free at the lust cascading through him like a great tidal wave. “Pull your legs back, gatito.”

  Dorian hooked his arms under his knees and pulled back, giving Rick an impressive sight to look at. As he pressed the blunt head of his cock to Dorian’s entrance, Rick knew he would do whatever it took to keep Dorian not only safe, but happy. The man was quickly becoming everything to Rick, his entire world.

  Rick released his erection and placed his hands on Dorian’s knees, inching slowly in. This time he would go slowly. This time, Rick would savor the sweet sensations his mate’s body brought him.

  The first time had been primal, the need so great that Rick thought he was going to lose his mind. But tonight, tonight was for showing Dorian just what the man meant to him. Dorian thought that Rick didn’t want to commit himself to the human. That Rick wasn’t willing to make this work.