by Flynn Eire
It took me a minute to realize he was giving me a look like wait for it. I felt my face flush as I remembered he wasn’t a normal dog so… Duh. He licked my face and then glanced at my drink a few times, clearly saying I wasn’t an idiot but drinking. Fine, but I might have worried about that even if I hadn’t been.
I just wasn’t going to say that.
“Okay, I promised you’d take him in a closet for eight minutes,” Barry reminded me, smiling that we were together. “Go have fun before I get too drunk to remember later.”
“Yes, dear,” I drawled, getting to my feet and glancing at Daniel. “Make sure they don’t eat all the desserts on me.”
“No promises,” Garnet chuckled… With a hiccup. Lightweights.
I led Trevor into a bathroom, not caring it was bigger than a normal closet. The idea was the same. Except then my mind immediately went to what we’d done in that bathroom before, and the moment he shifted back, I pressed him up against the door and attacked his mouth.
He kissed me back but then turned his head. “Um, can we just talk?”
“You don’t want me?” I challenged, floored he was rejecting me.
“Will it hurt you more like I did last time?” he rasped, moving his hands over his face. “Of course I want you, Dublin. All I want is you. I just want more than sex. I want all of you. If I give in, will you think I just want your body? I don’t know what to do, and every time I think I’m doing what’s right, I mess up. I’m petrified as to what to do and—”
“Okay, okay, we can talk,” I whispered, hating how distraught he sounded. I hugged him tightly. “I feel all over the place, and my mind went to what we did in here last time. I wanted to feel that again. You and me on the same page, the fun and excitement, not the hurt.”
“I want that again too,” he muttered against my chest, and I knew he didn’t mean the sex but the rest of it.
Yeah, we both wanted that, but I had no idea how to get back to that either.
7
“Can we stay like this for the eight minutes?” I asked when Dublin didn’t say anything, lost in his head. Or the booze. My mate had drunk a lot; even if it wasn’t hitting him like the smaller mates, he’d had a lot.
“There are worse ways to spend eight minutes,” he chuckled deeply, kissing my hair. “I don’t know what to do either. I keep waiting to be panicked you’re my mate and everything that means, and then I’m worried why I’m not. I keep thinking of you as my mate, and now I’m wondering if maybe your plan wasn’t a bad one. Maybe getting close to you makes me not care about that because it’s you. Or I’m so in shock at the turn and I’m just not processing it.”
“Or both,” I admitted, hating he was confused. “It’s not one or the other normally. People are complicated, so you could be feeling all of that at once and not even realize it. Or nothing yet, and that’s fine too. There’s no wrong answer.” I leaned back so I could see him. “Can we have dinner? Not Barry locking us in the bathroom or whatever, but just have dinner? We don’t have to have the answers, and I certainly don’t, but keep moving?”
“Okay, but you better be dressed for it if we’re not having sex,” he muttered. “I can barely think with you being naked and hard, especially after you were being so cute and goofy. I want to feel you wrapped around me so badly I can’t even believe it.”
“I want you for more than your dick, Dublin,” I worried, glad when he nodded. “Then yeah, you should totally do whatever you want to me. I love when you do.”
So he did. Holy crap, did he ever. We used that spell, and he pushed me over the counter before slamming all of himself into me over and over again at a faster pace than I would have thought a human could move. It was so good I came three times before he did and my legs were jelly—all of me was.
“I love the sounds you make,” he admitted, glancing away to clean up, but I saw the vulnerability in his eyes, glad he was trying and not just tossing me away after I’d messed up. “It’s not just the begging, but they almost sound shocked, shocked at what I do to you.”
“I am,” I chuckled, taking the towel from him and cleaning up. “I’ve never had sex like this, and sometimes you move faster or fiercer than I would think a human could, and I love it. But yeah, each time it’s so good and surprising and I’m completely addicted to it.” I turned and grabbed his chin, making him look at me. “But it’s you, Dublin, not your parts, okay? I would be with you even if we never had sex again because I like you.”
“I hear you, but don’t ever speak of us not having sex,” he grumbled, smacking my ass hard. “Not again. We’re too good at it to stop.” He lifted me up, smiling when I yelped before setting me on the counter and pushing back into my body. “Right?”
“Yes, fuck yes,” I moaned, wrapping my legs around him. “And I don’t want the games either. Good for Shane and Colton if that works for them, taught Colton patience or whatever, but I’m not like that. I’m not an egotistical hound.”
“No, you’re not, and I adore that and how much you want me like I want you,” he admitted, digging his fingers into my ass as he held me tightly, pulling me onto him as he thrust. “You can’t play with me again, Trevor. No more pushing me through a maze. I hate that. I hate people doing that to me. You did the one thing I thought my mate would never do if I had one. I didn’t want one because I knew they would do that to me too, and you did!”
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I rasped as I clung to him, his youth and kind heart showing through the cracks of his armor. “Sit, Dublin.”
He did, probably not getting he was as inebriated as he thought. I took over, riding him, pleasing my mate as I promised to never again treat him like anything other than my equal. Promising he could even be the boss always.
Still, he made sure I finished twice before he did. But then he muttered something about too much stress and passed out.
I gave a yelp as his body went limp, starting to slide off of his lap but deciding to bring him with me so my body cushioned his fall instead of risking him banging his head on the counter. My mate was big though, so yeah, that wasn’t fun when I hit the tile hard and then all the air left my lungs again as he smashed me. I groaned, way too much of me aching.
And then there was a knock at the door.
“Um, occupied,” I called out, trying to move my mate gently and figure out what to do.
“Yes, we heard,” Gerald drawled. “Are you okay?”
“He sort of passed out, and I don’t know how to move him without hurting him,” I admitted after glancing around. “You open the door much and it might lodge into my skull.”
“I’ll go slow, but twist as much as you can,” Ashton replied, sounding like he was losing the battle with trying not to laugh. I couldn’t even blame them. “Wait, fix his pants or, um, you know so you don’t mortify your mate that we all saw his naked ass.”
“Like I’d care,” Dublin grumbled, pushing up and grabbing his head. “Oh fuck, Trev, are you okay? I’m sorry, I got lightheaded and—”
“I’m fine, I can take a lot.”
“I weigh a lot,” he growled, wincing when he had to pull out of me. “Oh, that had to hurt.”
“Well, I do like it rough,” I replied, groaning when a few of my siblings chuckled on the other side of the door. “We’re fine, thanks for offering to help.”
“No problem, baby bro,” Gerald sighed, and I heard them burst out laughing for real once they reached the kitchen.
“Whatever, they’re just jealous they don’t have a mate to get into such shenanigans with,” Dublin muttered, getting where my head went.
“Probably,” I agreed after a moment. He was pretty spot on. “The pain of others finding their mate and not you is horrible. You long for the rest of your soul as a hound, some of us old enough to have witnessed hounds going feral because they never found them. Worse than that fate is knowing your mate won’t be happy either. The guilt you were the one to know and didn’t find them… It’s horrible. It ate one of
my aunts when I was a boy.”
“Your brothers will find them,” he comforted.
I blinked at him, realizing I did feel bad that my finding my mate would hurt them in that way too. I reached up and cupped his cheek. “You are so bright, Dublin. You pay attention and catch onto so much. I hate that you think you’re stupid or dense. You’re not. You might not be the most book educated or whatever, but you are not an idiot. That is not the first time you’ve realized something I was feeling before I even did.”
“Good, then you can forgive me for almost crushing you,” he muttered, leaning over and giving me a kiss.
“I would forgive you anything.” I winced when he frowned. “I didn’t mean it like that or pointed. I guess not anything but—”
“You are so fucking adorable I can’t even get mad,” he sighed, sitting back on his feet before getting up. He lifted me like I weighed nothing, setting me on the counter and taking care of me. “You ramble and get flustered, and all I want to do is mess you up and make you scream my name. Yes, I knew what you meant. I frowned because I realized I felt the same, and while I’m still hurt, I can’t be done with you.”
“Oh thank fuck,” I rasped, rubbing my chest. Then I full out broke down sobbing, thanking him for not being done with me. Somehow my mate ended up comforting me from the stress of hurting him. “I was so, so scared I was doing everything wrong, thinking I wasn’t though, but then I did and—I never meant to hurt you.”
“I know, I get that now,” he whispered, hugging me to him. “Wow, you really can cry.”
“It’s stress,” I blubbered, getting upset again. Finally I simmered down, and Dublin wasn’t even upset or annoyed. All of that, making it all about me, and it didn’t even faze him. My mate was amazing.
“Okay, go shift and find your clothes so you can change back, and we’ll have the desserts together. I don’t know if I’m going to have room for dinner, but I have a feeling the party’s going to go for a while.”
“Are you okay? You passed out?”
“Just for a bit, but yeah, I’m fine. I got a bit lightheaded from the up down and all around besides the exertion from sex, and normally it would have been nothing, but I was drinking and… Well, apparently no inebriated sex without a bed.
“But we will do it again, right?” I whispered, scared once the hormones cleared and we stepped out of that bathroom maybe he’d rethink forgiving me.
He smirked at me. “Depends if you’ll come up with some more fun ideas.”
I hugged him when I realized he was teasing me. Brat. He was such a brat, but he was also going easy on me because even my siblings hadn’t been sure I could get him to forgive me, and they were on my side trying to make me feel better.
Yeah, that had made me spin out a lot.
“Maybe tomorrow we could have breakfast with Mark and Luke so they can thank you for the gift and you can meet them,” he tried again when he realized I was still worried.
“I’d like that. Sebastian said they were absolutely adorable and two cutie sweethearts.”
“Yeah, they are,” he chuckled, rubbing my back. “Okay, shift. I don’t want others seeing your goods because they’re mine now, right?”
“Yes, as long as yours are mine?” I checked, frowning at how that didn’t sound as good.
“I’m no cheat,” he said firmly. “I’ve never done exclusive or serious because I always got stomped all over before getting there and I gave up on the idea, but I’m not a cheat. If we say we’re that, then yes.”
“I’d like us to be.”
“Fine, I’ll be your boyfriend,” he sighed, smiling when I growled that he was teasing me again. He got me off the counter and smacked my ass. “Get going.”
“Fine, but I want to explore that another time. Apparently I like it.” I smirked at him before shifting and phasing through the door.
“Get back here for another round if you turn me on,” he called after me, absolutely no malice in his voice.
Yeah, I had a nice bounce to my step as I went outside… And found we weren’t the only ones pairing off. Rafe was on Stryker’s lap, doing more kissing than feeding his mate. Kellan and Tierney had their heads together, and so did a lot of the couples. I walked over to my siblings and licked all of their faces.
“Yeah, our turn will come,” Ashton whispered, pain in his voice. “Just be happy, Trevor. That’s enough to help us wait as long as we need to.” He scratched me behind the ears, clearing his throat. “And introduce us properly. Mother would have a fit if she knew we still didn’t have proper introductions like gentlemen.”
I shifted back, hurrying to dress before leading them over to my mate. I got worried again when Dublin frowned, but then he pulled off the shirt I’d lent him and put it on me.
“You looked chilled,” he fibbed, rubbing his arm. “You guys look like you’re bracing for impact.”
“They’re worried you won’t care about their names after the rough start,” I explained before anyone else came up with a different answer.
“What rough start?” he asked, giving me a wink. He turned to Gerald with a smile. “I’m Dublin Carey, I don’t think we’ve met.”
Gerald blinked at him but then accepted his hand. “I’m Gerald Hale, oldest of the elder litter of our siblings. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Please take care of Trevor and treat us as family, mate to our brother.”
“Wow, the Hales have way better manners than the Macfaydens,” Kellan said a bit too loudly. “They sent Tierney on a bogus errand and grilled me sixteen ways from Sunday before I had to flee.”
“Hey, we apologized, but for the record, you were trying to have an introduction like that and assumed a bit too much,” Hugh shot right back. “And you fought every second of being here at first. We were scared for Tierney.”
“Stryker almost pummeled Tristan when he took me out on an errand,” Rafe drawled.
“He took you to an adult store, and I didn’t know where you guys had gone,” Stryker defended, smiling when he got what the mates were doing.
They were including us. We’d missed a lot of the history there and weren’t part of them yet.
We were now.
“Sorry about earlier,” Shane apologized. “I didn’t mean to be so rude.”
“You’re young,” I easily forgave. “Your heart is in the right place, but just remember suggestions are always welcome to people who aren’t assholes. Lecturing and pushing isn’t.”
“I’m a dad.”
That cop out annoyed me though. “Great, my mother was a parent too and didn’t push like that. I’m an older brother who helped raise our younger litter. We all have stuff like that, Shane.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it, and that was why I could forgive him because I knew he would really think about it, not just brush it off. “You’re right. I’m a gamer and video maker. There’s a process, you do this, this, and this to get the right results.”
I mulled that over a moment, a bit stumped since I didn’t know video games all that well.
“Yes, but you have to twist your view point,” Dublin interjected. “You’re setting that formula up for the wrong things. You don’t hit your partner. You don’t take them for granted. Check, check, and whatever other checks like that. But how Trojan builds his base is different from yours. That’s what you’re missing. How we build our base, our foundation for relationship should not be the same as yours.
“If we’re curious later after we have that foundation, that base, I might ask you how you set something up that interests me, or how you worked that out because I want to strengthen that part of us. There is no cookie cutter ranch house that works for everyone. Then you’re just being a jerk who puts everyone in the 1950’s house with the white picket fence and even blander neighbors, and we wouldn’t be allowed there being gay, Shane.”
“I got it. Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks.”
“Not sure how him being a brat made a life lesson for him, but I’m glad it worked
out,” I muttered after Shane and Colton headed to get more drinks. “Again, the way your mind works is just wonderful. You speak people and so many different people than a range of languages.”
“Well, glad you think so because that was never my thing. My grammar was never that great either,” he mumbled, hugging me from behind.
“I’ll educate you any way you want, my mate,” I teased him, ignoring when he flinched at the term. It wasn’t mean, more shocking, and until it wasn’t, I would have to tone it back. Baby steps when he knew seemed the right balance.
“Besides, there’s always a brother for that,” Gerald joked. “You need a certain language? There’s one of us for that. We split up so much so we had our own things that we cover a lot of ground.”
“French is sexy,” Dublin breathed in my ear. “Do you speak French?”
“I do. Do you want me to wear the maid costume too?” I teased him, shivering when he growled at me for being a brat. “I get saucy when you’re half naked, it seems.”
“And if I’m fully naked?” he challenged.
“Then I just get horny and want to suck—” I smiled when he moved his hand over my mouth.
“Thank you,” Ashton sighed. “Glad you guys are happy, but we do not need specifics. Hearing what you did in the bathroom was enough to scar me.”
I moved Dublin’s hand off my mouth. “Oh, and that foursome I walked in on after that one job?” I sighed when my brothers flinched. “We cannot just forget the past because of the side we were forced to be on. The moment we had a choice, we chose for ourselves and did the right thing. Before that… I don’t want to just forget it all. That means forgetting Mother and our aunts and every wonderful moment I’ve had with all of you.”
“What happened to your mom if your dad’s still alive?” Dublin asked, and instantly the tension around us went up. “Wow, I just stepped in something.”
“And bad from the way they’re acting,” Tristan confirmed, coming over with Barry.
“Our mother died on a job right before she turned five hundred,” I answered, hugging Dublin’s arms around me. “Her whole litter.”
