Jeremy

by Catherine L. Byrne

  Jeremy felt the lube being taken from his grasp, but he didn’t care. It meant he was about to get laid, and since he didn’t have that much experience, he surrendered to his mate’s expert hands. Denver separated his ass cheeks and Jeremy wantonly pushed back. Yeah, he couldn’t wait. He knew how having Denver’s fingers in him felt, and he wanted that. Only it wasn’t his mate’s fingers he felt, but his tongue.

  He nearly jumped out of his skin, not having expected it, but the sensation...god, it was good! “Denver? Wha-what are you doing?”

  Denver chuckled and Jeremy could swear the vibration reverberated in his passage. “I thought it was obvious.”

  “Well, yeah, but it’s the first time you did that.” To be honest it was a little embarrassing. Jeremy supposed it should also have felt gross, but he had learned in the first days with Denver that whatever made them feel good was okay and nothing to be ashamed of. Denver never answered him, but the next thing Jeremy knew, his mate’s hot tongue breached his hole. Denver used it to mimic what he would soon do with his dick, moving it in and out and making Jeremy squirm under the ministration before taking it out and rimming the wrinkled skin.

  The next time Jeremy felt his mate’s tongue entering him, it was accompanied by a slicked finger. By then he was moaning and writhing, trying to push back against Denver’s face. He didn’t care how wanton and slutty it made him seem, he just wanted his mate to fuck him already!

  The rimming went on and on as Denver added fingers to his chute, moving and sliding them until he was sure Jeremy could take him without feeling too much pain. To be honest, Jeremy had started to beg when the second finger had breached him, but Denver hadn’t listened to him, adding a third and even a fourth one. The last one had hurt a bit, but now Jeremy felt as if he was going to shatter into tiny pieces, his orgasm looming over him, and he didn’t want to come before he could feel his mate in him.

  “Denver, please...please! I’m fine, I’m ready! I swear!”

  A light swat landed on his ass cheek, making him jump. “Keep your voice low, babe. We don’t want to wake Adam up.”

  Oh god, Adam. Jeremy had forgotten about him. He didn’t have the time to feel guilty, though, because he felt Denver shift behind him, his hands on his hips as Jeremy was suddenly airborne. Denver flipped him around, laying him down on his back and diving in for a kiss. Jeremy could taste himself on Denver, and it wasn’t unpleasant, just...weird. It was musky and male, and it mingled with Denver’s taste.

  Jeremy lifted his legs up, wrapping them around Denver’s waist and using them to pull him even closer. He clutched to his mate’s shoulders, probably leaving scratches, but he couldn’t have cared less in that moment, especially when he felt Denver’s dick nudging his hole.

  Denver broke the kiss and moved enough so that they could look at each other in the eyes as he started pushing into Jeremy’s hole. Jeremy was surprised he didn’t feel pain, not really. It was more like a slight burn, and it wasn’t unpleasant, certainly not enough to make his mate stop. Denver never stopped, slipping inside with a smooth glide until Jeremy could feel his balls tickling his ass cheeks. Their eyes never left each other, the feelings Jeremy felt for Denver reflected in his lover’s eyes.

  Denver started to move, first slowly, then faster and faster as Jeremy started to move with him. They found a rhythm, Jeremy meeting each and every one of Denver’s thrusts. The sound of flesh slapping against flesh loud in the room was strangely arousing. It all added together to make Jeremy rush toward his orgasm. He tightened his legs around Denver, meeting him for one last thrust as his back arched, locking into that position, his cock erupted streams of cum.

  Denver growled above him, his elongated teeth showing under his lips as he looked at Jeremy. Jeremy let instinct guide him as he tilted his head to the side, giving his lover access to his neck and letting him know it was okay to claim him again. Denver was quick to strike, his hips moving in an erratic rhythm as he pumped into Jeremy’s ass and drank from his neck at the same. The pulls seemed directly connected to Jeremy’s cock because he could feel it stiffen again, his balls rolling as he came once more. Denver jerked and removed his teeth from Jeremy’s flesh, pressing his face in the crook of his neck as a low moan escaped him and Jeremy felt warmth flooding his passage.

  They stayed like that for a while, trying to get the beating of their hearts down and their breathing to come back at a normal pace, it felt good to share the afterglow. Jeremy’s hands were in Denver’s hair, petting him gently until Denver grabbed him and rolled them both. His cock slipped out of Jeremy, making him wince, and he could feel warm cum already dribbling down his ass cheek, but he didn’t want to get up, not yet.

  A glance at the clock told him that it was still early, that they could stay in bed a little more before having to get up and clean up, so he snuggled up into Denver’s warmth, his mate’s arms around him as Denver kissed his forehead.

  “I didn’t hurt you, right?”

  “Nope.”

  “You okay?”

  “Uh huh.” It seemed that Jeremy was reduced to one-syllable words, and he chuckled, thinking that their roles were reversed today.

  “Wanna share?”

  “Umm, maybe later.” Jeremy breathed hard, soaking in Denver’s scent. It smelled like man and clean sweat and home. It was home.

  * * * *

  “Shit!”

  Denver jumped up at the sound of Jeremy’s voice. “What? What happened?”

  His lover was already pulling on clothes. “Look at the time! Where is Adam? He should have come in our bed hours ago!”

  Denver looked over at the clock on the nightstand. Ten A.M.? Where was the squid? He rushed to get dressed and followed Jeremy outside the room and down the stairs, letting out a relieved breath at the sight of Adam playing with Melissa in the entrance. He was already dressed and from the stains on his shirt he could tell the kid had already eaten breakfast, too. Jeremy ran to his son and cuddled him while Denver headed for the kitchen to get his mate coffee. Keenan, Jamie and Finn were already standing there, their heads together as they spoke.

  “Morning, cutie-pie.”

  Denver cringed at the nickname Keenan had chosen for him. He had threatened him, he had begged him, he had even tried to bribe him, but Keenan wasn’t budging. He called Denver cutie-pie every time he saw him, and the worst part was that several pride members had heard him say it and had started doing it too.

  “Keenan,” Denver growled, even if he knew it wouldn’t change a thing. The kid wasn’t afraid of him in any way.

  “Hey, I went and grabbed Adam this morning. I figured you would need the rest.”

  “Thanks.” Denver often didn’t understand why Keenan did the things he did, but he knew the guy only wanted to help.

  “Yeah, after all that moaning and that howling at four in the morning, I figured you guys would be exhausted.”

  Denver nearly choked on his coffee, the sip going the wrong way. He coughed while Jamie patted him on the back. “Wha—what?”

  Keenan smirked. “You didn’t know my room is right next to yours? Maybe I should dig a hole in the wall since I already have the audio. I could have live porn that way, and I bet you guys are hot together!”

  “You wouldn’t dare!” Just the thought of someone else seeing Jeremy like that, not only naked but in the throes of orgasm, had him want to wrench Keenan’s head clean from his neck.

  “No, I wouldn’t, but you two going at it reminded me I’ve been in a dry spell for a while, and I got so horny that—”

  Denver covered his ears, not wanting to hear what Keenan was about to say. He knew the man was doing this on purpose to embarrass him, but damn! He never knew how to make him stop.

  Grabbing two mugs, he went to give Jeremy’s his, but before he could make it to the entryway the bell rang. Frowning, Denver walked over to the small screen on the wall and checked who it was. They never had visitors they didn’t know were coming, and
if that was the case Dominic would have told him and the other soldiers about it. He wasn’t the only one worried. The hallway was soon full of the soldiers who weren’t patrolling, but it seemed they shouldn’t have worried. As Denver looked at the tiny screen, he recognized Craig, a human who was helping them save shifters from the labs.

  They didn’t have regular contact with him since it would have been too dangerous, but they were working together, and Craig knew that he could come to the mansion when he managed to get shifters out of the medical facilities. Denver buzzed him in and put his mug on one of the small tables next to the door before gesturing to Soren and Joshua to follow him. It was snowing again, and Denver was glad he didn’t have to go to work today. He would get to snuggle in his bed with his mate and their son instead, and gosh, how weird and at the same time incredible did that sound? Denver had a son!

  He didn’t really have the time to remain amazed, though, because Craig was running to the door. They moved to let him pass and he stopped in the entryway. By now nearly the whole pride was there, but the first ones to step ahead were Dominic and Jared. Nate gestured everyone else away, keeping with them only his mate Derick, Denver, Soren and Joshua.

  “What do you have?” the Alpha asked, and Craig opened his coat, revealing two small creatures clinging on his chest.

  “What the heck are they?” Soren asked, and Denver had actually been thinking the same thing. They looked like squirrels but were a little bit bigger, probably due to the fact that they were shifters. The fur on their back was gray with a darker line that ran in the middle of their back up to their small heads. The tail was long but not as thick as a squirrel’s. The small ears on top of their heads were hairless and trembling, making it obvious that they were scared, but the weirdest thing of all was their eyes. They were huge and dark, and they were moving around and watching everything Jared and Dominic were doing. Denver could also see a furry membrane going from their toes to their fingers.

  “That’s a sugar glider,” someone said from behind them, and Denver recognized Finn, Bryce’s mate.

  “What’s a sugar glider?” Soren asked. Finn rolled his eyes and pointed to the creatures.

  “That’s a sugar glider. They’re a little like squirrels.”

  Denver groaned. The mansion was quickly becoming a zoo. Not only did they have about every type of big cats known to the man, but they also had a domestic cat, a fox, a weasel, a wolf, two Nix and a number of humans. That didn’t mean Dominic would send them away or that they didn’t have enough room, though. Denver agreed with his Alpha anyway. No one should have to live what those little guys had to live with, and it was only fair that they helped when they could. He just wished they could do more.

  The little things didn’t want to get down from Craig’s chest, and not even Finn was able to convince them this time. They didn’t want to use force, though, but they didn’t have any more possibilities. Craig had to go back home if he didn’t want to be discovered, and this time he had managed to get two shifters out instead of one.

  “How did you do it?”

  “One of these little guys is sick. Since they are twins and really close, I forged death documents for the both of them and stated that the second one died of heartbreak.”

  “They didn’t want to check?”

  “Yeah, and I think they’re starting to suspect me, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to help for a while. I do have the location of one of the other labs, though, so you can go and check it out.” He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and passed it to Dominic. The Alpha nodded.

  “We already have this one, but thanks anyway. We’re planning to break into it soon, but we have to coordinate with the wolves.”

  “I’ll try to send you other details if—”

  Craig was interrupted when one of the little guys on his chest suddenly jumped down and ran for the living room’s door. Denver looked and saw Jeremy standing there as he tried to convince Adam to go back into the room. The small shifter made a beeline for Adam and everyone tried to grab him, but he bypassed all the people in the entry and managed to jump on the kid. Denver roared and jumped ahead, but Jeremy stopped him.

  “He’s not doing anything to hurt Adam. Look.”

  The shifter had scrambled up Adam’s small chest and was now hiding into his neck as the child squealed in delight and patted his butt. It couldn’t be that comfortable, not with the force Adam was putting in his movements, but the sugar glider didn’t move. Jeremy moved and carefully grabbed the other one from Craig’s chest. The little guy screeched a bit, but Jeremy presented him his finger to sniff and started to softly talk to him. When he started calming, Jeremy put him down on the floor.

  The sugar glider shifted and was replaced by a guy. He was thin, as could be expected since he had passed sometime in the labs. His skin was so pale Denver could see the veins through it, and it contrasted with the dark color of both his hair and eyes. He couldn’t be more than five foot seven, which put him at an entire foot less than Denver, so for him the guy was tiny. Denver could only be glad that Jeremy had a decent height.

  The little guy stayed there, trembling in the middle of the entryway, until Jeremy came back with a blanket. He laid a second one on the floor near Adam, and the other shifter peeked from the kid’s neck before jumping down and shifting.

  Denver had to look carefully, because for a second he thought he was seeing double. But no, they were just twins. He could see that the second one to shift wasn’t as thin as the first one, and also not as pale, and as soon as he was in human form he passed his arm around his brother’s waist. The brother sagged against him as if his feet didn’t have the power to support him anymore, and Denver thought it was exactly like that.

  Jared carefully moved toward them as Dominic started talking. “You’re safe here. This is a pride, but we also have other types of shifters. Jared here is our doctor, and he’s going to examine you, especially since Craig told us one of you is sick.”

  The stronger twin lightly tried to push his brother toward Jared, but the man couldn’t even walk, so he kept his arms wrapped around him. “Plea-please help him first.”

  Denver didn’t know how much good the doc could do. It was very unusual for shifters to get sick, and he just hoped it wasn’t something the scientists had created.

  “Okay. We’re going to move the two of you to a room upstairs. Is it a problem if someone carries you?”

  The guy shook his head, and he did look as if he was about to fall on his face. Dominic quietly gave everyone instructions, both for food and clothes, and other things the twins would need. Craig talked with the Alpha for a minute before walking out of the door.

  Denver looked around and saw the guy who had talked all by himself. Everyone was focused on his twin or on finding the things both needed, and it pained him to see the little guy all alone, so he slowly neared him. He knew he could be scary since he was so big, but the man didn’t move. Denver sat against the wall. “What’s your name?”

  The guy looked at him, his eyes dark pools that spoke of pain and suffering. “Darin.”

  Denver smiled. “I’m Denver. The little guy you jumped on is Adam, my son, and the man who gave you the blanket is my mate, Jeremy.”

  “Is Shad going to be all right?”

  “I don’t know, but Jared is going to do anything he can to make it happen.”

  There wasn’t really anything else to talk about for now, but Denver smiled when he felt Darin slightly leaning against his side as they watched Jared take care of his brother.

  Chapter Six

  One thing could be said about living in a shifter’s pride—things were never boring. It still amazed Jeremy when he saw them in animal forms, especially in the house. Seeing a cougar relaxing on the sofa with his head on his mate’s lap wasn’t something you saw every day. Well, at least not in his previous life.

  Three days had passed since Darin and Shad had arrived at the mansion, and they we
re slowly coming out of their shells. Jeremy understood how scared they were and that they couldn’t just trust the cats, but it was nice to see Darin playing around with Adam in shifter form. They were the smallest shifters in the house right now, smaller even than Jayden, the weasel shifter.

  Unfortunately, Shad wasn’t doing well. It seemed that he had about the same symptoms as Oliver, but Jared thought it was something completely different. From what the doc had said, Shad was being affected by a virus, while he didn’t know what Oliver’s problem was. Either way, it was becoming even more important that Denver went to New York.

  Jeremy was proud of his man. He knew Denver would do about anything to protect his pride, his family, even if Jeremy and Adam still came first. He just wasn’t so happy that he wouldn’t be able to see his mate for a while, but Denver had to be back at most a week after he left, or Jeremy would start having problems again. While it sucked to think about what could happen if Denver disappeared, it also made sure that the man would come back to him no matter what.

  Sighing, Jeremy tried to concentrate on his work. Denver wasn’t gone yet, so he had nothing to worry about for now except checking the pride’s finances. He had already left his old job, so he was working at home, in the office Dominic had given him. He was just starting to scroll down one of the expenses sheets when an alarm blasted through the house. It was the first time Jeremy heard it, but he knew very well what it meant. Denver had told him about the wolf attack and what they had done to try and prevent another one.

  Jeremy jumped up from his chair and raced to the door. He knew Adam was probably in the room used for the kids during the day, and luckily it was on the same hallway as his office. The door was open and Marian, one of the human mates, had Melissa in her arms and Maxwell, a six years old ocelot shifter, holding her other hand. Connie, another human, was holding another two kids while the bigger ones followed.