Andy froze. He wasn’t sure if Xavier was asking it just to know, or if... “No. I’ll open a small wound and you’ll drink from there until you feel the bond snap into place.”
“What does it feel like?”
Andy smiled at his mate and resumed his hands up and down movements. “I wouldn’t know, but I was told that you’ll recognize it when it happens.” It was on the tip of his tongue to ask if the question meant that Xavier wanted it to happen now, but he didn’t want to push.
“Will it hurt you? The wound, I mean.”
Andy shrugged before letting Xavier’s cock go and moving to sit on his mate’s side. He slid Xavier’s pants and underwear down his hips and his legs, pulling them off before looking at the gorgeous, caring man lying in bed with him. “Not much. It’s just a cut, and it will heal soon after.”
Xavier scrunched his nose and reached for Andy’s pants. “That doesn’t seem right. Why is it that I get to wear your mark forever while you don’t?”
Andy looked into Xavier’s eyes. “I could bite you somewhere else if you don’t want the bite to be in sight.” Andy’s wolf growled at him just for thinking this, but he didn’t care.
Xavier’s eyes narrowed and he slapped Andy’s naked stomach.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“It was for you being stupid. Who said I didn’t want the bite to be seen? I just meant that while everyone will know I’m mated, no one will know about you.”
Andy helped Xavier to pull off his pants and reached for the nightstand, grabbing the lube before he laid down beside his mate. He propped his head on his elbow and put the lube down, caressing Xavier’s stomach as he talked. “I could get a tattoo, maybe on my neck. It could be your name, and maybe a bite.” Andy was already imagining the design, and he liked the idea more and more as it took form in his head.
“Can I... do you think we could also wear rings?” Xavier blushed, the pink color reaching his chest and his ears.
“Like wedding rings?” Xavier nodded. Andy leaned down and pressed their lips together, capturing the sigh that Xavier exhaled. “Of course. I’d be proud to wear your ring, sweetheart.” Andy hesitated, but he just had to ask. “Does this conversation mean that you want to mate with me?”
Xavier looked at Andy for the longest time, his hand idly stroking down Andy’s chest, then his stomach. Andy was starting to feel fidgety, but just then Xavier smiled the most beautiful smile Andy had ever seen. “Yes. That’s exactly what it means. I’m not... I can’t tell you I’m in love with you yet, but... I do feel something. I know it can grow to become the best thing I’ve ever had, so... I’m saying yes.”
Andy could feel the smile trying to appear but he held it back. “We can wait, you know?”
Xavier shook his head, his blond hair tickling against Andy’s chest. “I don’t want to. I don’t see a reason to wait.”
“But you said—”
Xavier slapped a hand on Andy’s mouth. “I know I said it was too soon and all that stuff, but I thought about it while you were gone, and I decided that for once in my life I’m not going to care about what others think. I feel something for you, and I want to be with you, I want to raise Nathan and help him get over what happened to him. I want to be there for the two of you, forever.”
Andy took Xavier’s hand in his. “You should know about Nathan first.”
Xavier shook his head again. “I don’t care. I don’t care what he is or what happened to him. It doesn’t matter. I want him anyway.”
There was nothing more to be said after that, especially after Xavier smiled and tilted his head to the side, making his desire clear. Andy couldn’t resist the offer, the request, he could see in his mate’s eyes, so he took the lube and carefully prepped Xavier, sending every sight and every moan to memory. He wanted to remember everything about their mating.
When Xavier was ready Andy turned him onto his side, his back against Andy’s chest, and pushed one of Xavier’s legs up before slowly sliding into his mate’s tight, welcoming heat. They moved together, the position more intimate than anything Andy had ever known. His arms were tight around Xavier, one hand on his shaft as he pushed Xavier toward completion.
Soft sighs and moans filled the room as they both neared orgasm, then Xavier stiffened and Andy knew this was it. Feeling his teeth pop through his gums, he quickly bit into his wrist and held it in front of Xavier.
Xavier didn’t even hesitate. He grabbed Andy’s wrist with both hands and latched onto the wound, sucking deeply. Pleasure coursed through Andy’s body as he pressed his mouth on Xavier’s neck and bit down, his teeth sinking into the skin like butter.
He came with the first pull, the hand on Xavier’s shaft tightening. Andy tried to loosen his hold a bit, but just then Xavier came too and wet heat hit Andy’s hand. They stayed plastered together, both coming and drinking until Andy felt like an eternity, yet too little time, had passed.
It was then that he felt it. Something had been growing inside him since he had first met Xavier, something that pulled him toward the sweet man and held him there, and now that something came to completion. Suddenly he could feel Xavier, his affection and his contentment, but also his fear that he would mess up, that he wouldn’t be enough.
The bond between them was complete, and Andy heard Xavier gasp as he found out just how deep Andy’s feelings for him were. Xavier let go of Andy’s arm and snuggled back into him as Andy let his mate’s softening erection go and carefully removed his canines from Xavier neck. He licked the wound close and held Xavier, feeling finally complete and settled as he never had been.
Chapter Seven
Almost four weeks had passed, and Xavier had settled in his new home and his new life.
It hadn’t been hard. Andy had told him what happened in the lab they’d raided, how Nathan, Luke and Amy had been created by the scientists and implanted in their mothers, how they had been raised in their cells. It was obvious Nathan had never known anything like affection and love just by looking at him.
He was still guarded around most people, still silent, but he was gradually opening to Xavier and Andy. The look on his face every time he discovered something new was priceless, and Xavier could literally feel his heart swelling with love for the kid.
Kameron had given him time off from his new job to stay with Nathan, but he would have to go back in a week. Luckily for him, his new boss was a good man, and he had told Xavier he could bring Nathan with him when he went over to his house. Luke and Amy weren’t there anymore, having moved out to live with families of their own, but they saw Nathan every day. Once summer was over, the three kids would have to start going to school with the other pack children, but they weren’t there yet. They had time.
For now Nathan sat at the kitchen table, eating his cereal and chatting quietly with Andy. Andy had initiated Nathan to comics and cartons, and from what Xavier could hear they were discussing which superhero was better. He had no idea who the superheroes in question were, but it was nice to see the two most important men in his life interacting like that.
Xavier let his mind drift away as he leaned against the counter and stirred his coffee, thinking about everything that had happened in the past weeks. It was crazy, but it was also so very good. His feelings for Andy were growing every day, and he could feel that he was there, right over the edge of falling in love, really in love, for the first time in his life.
Xavier startled when he felt strong arms sliding around his waist. “Where’s Nathan?”
“In the living room. I gave him the okay to watch TV until Andrew and Soren arrive.”
Xavier smiled. He had talked to Andrew a lot in the past weeks, and he was happy that they had finally caught the stalker. Everyone was fine, the man was locked up somewhere, and his friends had mated.
It was a surprise how he experienced Andrew more as a friend than anything else. He would have thought he might be bitter, or at the very least uncomfortable, but
it just felt as if Andrew was a very good friend. Falling in love with Andy had made Xavier realize that he hadn’t been in love with Andrew. They had been friends with benefits, really, and it was better this way. He was glad that Andy had no problems with the two of them being friends, because even if Xavier was slowly coming out of his shell, for now Andrew was the only one he had. Andy didn’t count.
What they had was so much more than friendship. Sometimes he woke up at night and just watched Andy sleep. He knew it was kind of creepy, and it did make him feel a bit like a peeping tom, but he still marveled that Andy was with him. It would take him a while to shed his insecurities, but he was getting there, at least where Andy was concerned, and that was the most important thing.
Andy chuckled and turned Xavier around, kissing his cheek before hugging him close. “You’re thinking awfully hard, sweetheart.”
“Only good things, don’t worry.”
“Dad? There’s someone at the door.” The sound of Nathan’s voice made them both still. Had Xavier heard that right? He looked up at Andy, knowing his mate’s wide eyes and gaping expression probably mirrored his own.
“Did you hear that?” he whispered.
Andy nodded and let Xavier go. Xavier could hear people talking outside the front door, but he didn’t care right now. They both crouched in front of Nathan and the kid looked a bit uncomfortable. “Did you say dad, honey?” Andy asked Nathan.
Nathan nodded. “It’s okay, right? Can I call you that?” His voice was hesitant. “I heard the other kids call their parents mom and dad, and I want to be like them.”
Xavier smiled at Nathan, trying to reassure him. “Of course you can. You can call us whatever you want.”
Andy chuckled. “Which one of us is dad, though?”
Nathan gave him a duh look. “Xavier is dad, and you’re daddy.”
Xavier could see Andy was choked up a bit, and he wasn’t far behind. He had never dared dream of having a family, and now he had those two. It was... incredible.
Just then a knock on the door interrupted them and a loud voice started yelling, “Hey, cutie! Are you home?”
Xavier groaned and kissed the top of Nathan’s head before walking to the door and opening it. “Soren. Still the same loud, obnoxious man, I see.”
Soren grinned. “That’s why you love me, cutie.”
Andy growled behind his mate and slid a possessive arm around Xavier’s waist while Andrew slapped Soren’s chest. “Be nice, tiger, or I’ll spank you.”
Soren’s eyes twinkled. “Oooh, then maybe I won’t be nice. Wouldn’t want to miss my punishment.”
Xavier groaned. Gosh, those two were perfect for each other, but they also were too good at embarrassing everyone around them. “Could we keep the conversation PG-13?”
Soren tilted his head to the side as he stepped in the house. “Why?”
Xavier pointed them to the living room and waved at Nathan to come near them. The boy was looking at Soren suspiciously, and it made Xavier want to laugh. “This is Nathan.” The kid moved in front of Xavier as if he was trying to protect him, and Xavier put his hands on Nathan’s shoulders. “He’s been living with us for the last few weeks, since Andy found him in the lab.”
Understanding dawned in Soren’s eyes, followed by anger. The man was very good at hiding it, though, and when he looked down at Nathan it was gone. “Hi, kid. I’m Soren.”
Nathan narrowed his eyes, but he didn’t say anything. Not that that would save him from Soren’s shenanigans, but he would find that out soon enough. The kid had to loosen up a bit, start being a real kid.
“Hey, cutie, did you notice your ex-boyfriend and your mate have the same name? Is that how you choose them?”
Xavier raised a brow at him. It hadn’t even crossed his mind, to be honest, but now that he thought about it...
“My name’s not Andrew, it’s Andy. It’s not short for anything,” Andy said with a growl. Xavier could already see that it was going to be difficult between those two, at least for a while. It didn’t bother him. The men around him, all four of them, were family. His family.
They might growl and snarl at each other, maybe even fight, but they were there for each other no matter what, just as family should be.
About the Author
Catherine lives in Italy, country of good food and hot men. She used to write fantasy as a child, but it was reading her first gay erotic romance novel that made her realize that that was what she really wanted to write.
After graduating from college in English language and translation, she divides her day between writing, reading, taking care of her son and reading some more.
You can find her on Facebook and Twitter or on her website: authorcatherinelievens.wordpress.com
Email: [email protected]
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