Trick of Silver

by Jamie Craig

  Aden’s hand moved to his cock. One hard pull was enough to make his head spin. Their tongues battled and Aden’s teeth cut against his lips, a harsh promise that he wasn’t going to hesitate to use the sharp points on Darren’s body. Each punishing thrust was as surprising as the first one, his body never becoming accustomed to the size of Aden’s cock, to the speed, to the raw desire.

  Sweat trickled down his chest and back, combining with the blood already coating his skin to make the glide of their bodies even smoother. Aden tore his mouth free to lick away some of the shine on Darren’s shoulder, punctuating each swipe of his tongue with a sharp bite. He hadn’t shifted, but the silver glowing in his eyes was enough to show how close the beast was to the surface. If the blood had been Darren’s, he sincerely believed Aden wouldn’t be able to hold himself back from taking his true form.

  Somehow, that thought curled around the lust already surging through his veins and stoked it into a frenzy.

  Darren’s head dropped forward, exposing the nape of his neck in a silent, unconscious invitation to Aden to continue his exploration. Each swipe of his tongue, each dangerous prick of his teeth, each fast stroke, sent Darren closer to falling over the edge he had been walking since he first saw Aden enter the house. Aden’s grip was almost bruising, and his wrist kept time with his hips, stripping Darren’s cock until his balls started to tighten.

  Darren shouted again as the pleasure and pain burned through his body. That was the only warning before he erupted, his come shooting on his stomach and Aden’s fingers. Aden didn’t stop stroking his shaft, forcing every drop of the salty fluid from him.

  Not even the scent of come seemed enough to drive Aden to orgasm. His thrusts remained brutal, his hand now coated as it continued to slick over Darren’s increasingly sensitive cock. His mouth returned to Darren’s ear, and the labored breaths electrified the last of his nerve endings.

  “I hope you didn’t think that was going to be enough for me,” he rasped. “A sweet morsel like you…I only wish it wasn’t Halloween so I could spend the whole night fucking you.”

  Darren couldn’t answer. Words were so far beyond his grasp that he might as well have been a mute. His cock was already half-erect, and each time Aden jerked his wrist, the sensation blurred closer to the line of pain. He couldn’t take it. His body simply wasn’t designed to withstand this endless assault, but he wouldn’t dream of stopping it.

  “That’s it, gorgeous. Let’s ride.”

  Somewhere in the back of his thoughts, Darren wondered why Aden had bothered to ask for his name if he was never going to use it. Because the words didn’t stop there. They tumbled into harsh endearments of what exactly Aden wanted to do to him, promises of places they could fuck, positions they would hold. Hearing the man growl about how badly he wanted to shove his cock past Darren’s pretty lips shouldn’t have been half as arousing as it was, but it helped finish what Aden’s relentless touching started.

  “When you come this time, I’m going to lick up every last drop,” Aden swore. “Or maybe I should make you do it. Which shall it be?”

  Darren didn’t know what prompted the words from him, but he didn’t wish he could call them back. “Make me.”

  Aden’s arms jerked, as if Darren’s bold declaration electrified him. Given fresh purpose, his hand tightened on Darren’s cock, while the other reached down to grasp his balls. The first tug on his sac made Darren slam his head back onto Aden’s shoulders, the fire shooting through his legs.

  With his head back, he could see Aden’s neck and jaw, the skin glistening and too alluring to ignore. He lapped at it, gathering the salty sweat and getting an occasional taste of copper. Aden moaned, and the sound moved through Darren’s body. He closed his teeth on the nearest muscle and bit into the rigid flesh.

  “Fuck!” The arms around Darren tightened to the point of pain, and for a moment, Aden’s pounding rhythm faltered. His harsh breathing filled Darren’s ears, the muscles working in his throat as he swallowed again and again.

  “Fuck,” he repeated, this time lower. His drives into Darren’s ass resumed, harder than before. Each thrust slapped Darren’s skin against the soft leather bunched around Aden’s thighs, pushing him even closer to coming again.

  Darren moaned in encouragement, but he didn’t release Aden’s skin. His jaw ached from the pressure, but he didn’t want to risk losing the faster rhythm. He clenched around Aden’s cock, squeezing him with each full thrust. He knew the moment it all became too much for Aden. He tensed, his body turning to stone as his cock jerked against Darren’s raw walls. His come flooded Darren’s ass, hot against the sore muscles. He flashed to an image of Aden’s cock erupting over his mouth, and the thought sent him spiraling into his second orgasm and painting Aden’s hand.

  Aden rumbled with satisfaction, tearing his neck away from Darren’s bite. He forced Darren to look forward again, just in time for him to push two come-coated fingers past his lips. Darren sucked at them eagerly, shuddering as Aden took his turn to sink his teeth into Darren’s neck.

  But the bite didn’t last. Aden licked along his jaw, following the hollow of his cheek as he continued to suck away.

  “Next time, that’ll be mine,” he promised.

  Darren sighed. There was no point in saying there wouldn’t be a next time, because they both knew that was a lie. As soon as Aden pulled his fingers away, Darren licked his lips and took a deep, shuddering breath.

  “Okay, but not until we find the wolf we’re looking for. I won’t be able to function after another round like this.”

  He felt Aden’s smile against his skin. “If we’d had the luxury to do it right, you wouldn’t have been able to function after this time.”

  “I’ve got to find some clothes.”

  It took everything Darren had to push himself off Aden’s lap and let his cock slip out, but they didn’t have time to linger. Walking hurt a bit, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t live with. Besides, it was worth it. Even now, with all his blood flowing back to his head and the desire sapped from his body, Darren had to admit that he didn’t regret it.

  Chapter 4

  As he leaned the broken door up against the opening to get some privacy, Aden watched Darren out of the corner of his eye. It had been a very long time since he’d found such a willing partner. How ironic it was an Argenti agent who’d drive him so insane. Especially now.

  Darren’s lean body was tightly muscled, and his flawless skin glistened from the smears of blood and come streaked across his back and legs. There were scratches on the lower curves of his ass as well as the back of his thighs, and he stepped carefully to the closet, every movement obviously uncomfortable.

  Aden was still mostly hard. Right then, he wanted nothing more than to fuck him again, to tear into that tight hole and listen to him beg for more. Darren would, he knew. The agent was practically a bitch in heat around him. Of course, Aden recognized he wasn’t any better, and it was with regret he tucked himself back into his pants.

  The room they’d stumbled in on was a bedroom, somebody male from the masculine touches. Aden didn’t recognize the dead werewolf, but piled in the corner were heavy restraints, including leather straps that had clearly been gnawed through. Darren was too busy looking for clothes to notice. Aden suspected that for all his posing, he wouldn’t be as comfortable inspecting the body of a dead werewolf anyway.

  “I think I might have been wrong about this guy guarding something.” Aden crouched next to the body and picked up a front paw. Patches of fur were rubbed away where the leather had cut into his flesh. “He was being held in here against his will. He was just trying to get out.”

  “So we killed an innocent person? That’s great.”

  Aden arched a brow. “Since when do you consider werewolves innocent?”

  “I don’t indiscriminately kill wolves. My targets need to be put down.”

  “This one attacked us. Call it self-defense if it’ll make you feel better.”

>   “It was probably just scared.” Darren stepped out of the closet in a pair of baggy sweats and an old T-shirt. He was completely engulfed by the material. “So, besides the obvious reason, why would somebody keep a werewolf chained up in their bedroom?”

  “I have no clue.” There was nothing more on the dead wolf, and Aden had enough blood on him already. Straightening, he looked around for something to wipe off his chest. “We make lousy pets.”

  “Yeah, I can imagine.” Darren moved a bit stiffly, squatting to examine the body, a frown creasing his face. After a moment, he straightened again and moved over to the dresser. “Well, let’s see what else we can find in here.”

  Aden let him rummage for a moment while he took a minute to clean off the worst of the blood. It let him sweep his gaze over the man’s strong shoulders, the lean line of his slim hips. The clothes hid the best parts from view, but Aden still remembered what they had felt like against him, how well they had molded together with little need to prompt Darren to shift. Discreetly, he adjusted his cock. He’d never fucked an Argenti agent before. He was pretty sure Darren had never done it with a werewolf, either.

  “When we get done with this, I want to see you again,” he announced.

  “You know that won’t exactly be easy.”

  Aden smiled. “That just makes it more worthwhile.”

  “You have a thing for forbidden fruit, huh?” Darren yanked a stack of papers out of the drawer. “I think I might have found something here.”

  He knew they were supposed to be looking for information on the rituals, but it still took all his will to tear his attention away from Darren’s ass and come up to his side. “What is it?”

  “Receipts.” Darren flipped through the stack with an impassive face. He almost looked like a different person from the man who had just been riding Aden’s cock, with all his passion and need blazing in his eyes. “Invoices from Argenti. All signed by Ray Giessen and Jasmine Delgado.”

  “Ray…that’s Giessen’s son.” The other name sounded familiar, too, but Aden couldn’t put his finger on why. “So what are you saying? Ray hired Argenti? Why would he do that?”

  “See that code there?” Darren pointed to an almost random string of numbers and letters. “That’s a no-kill code. Ray can’t go out and bag himself a werewolf, but he can hire professional wolf hunters to do it. Or rather, he can hire the best hunter in the country. Jasmine.”

  Aden glanced back at the dead wolf in the corner. “Except he already had one on ice. And you were sent here to go after me.” None of this made sense. “I don’t suppose it says specifically on there what he hired Jasmine to do.”

  “It looks like she’s catching them and bringing them back here.” He flipped through the receipts again. “Eight of them. So either he’s got eight wolves tied up somewhere in the mansion, or…it’s that magic you sensed.”

  Something clicked into place. “The ritual deaths. That’s why magic was involved. The bodies the police found weren’t wholly human. They were wolves in human form.”

  “Maybe Jasmine doesn’t know why Ray wants them,” Darren muttered.

  “So why did she give you orders to kill me instead of trapping me like the others?” Aden pressed.

  “That’s exactly it. She doesn’t know what Ray is doing. He’s setting you up and she bought it.”

  “Or they both know I won’t take getting manipulated like this and sent the one thing guaranteed to distract me from stopping them.”

  “But Jasmine’s not…” He dropped the papers and turned to sit on the edge of the bed. “Do you know what you’re suggesting here? You’re suggesting that Jasmine kidnapped innocent people knowing they would die, and then sent me in here as bait so you couldn’t stop them. That’s insane.”

  “Is it any more insane than sending in a male agent in skimpy drag and next to nowhere to hide a weapon? Argenti’s smarter than that.”

  “Fuck this.” Darren jumped to his feet. “Fuck this. You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. You don’t know anything about Argenti and you don’t know Jasmine.”

  Aden blocked the path to the door, standing as straight as he could and folding his arms over his chest in order to look as big as possible. He was very glad he’d taken the gun away from Darren. Nobody took betrayal well.

  “In Jasmine’s eyes, they were never innocent. They were wolves. A threat. She probably thought she was doing the world a favor.”

  “But that’s not…fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” He formed a fist and Aden thought he would take a swing at him. But he took a step back. “So what do we do now? Go find Ray?”

  “Not while you’re this agitated. Breathe. Calm down. You go out there like this, and you’re dead.”

  “I’m not agitated. I’m pissed off. There’s a difference.”

  “You also smell like prey. If Ray’s got other wolves around, they’re going to come crawling out of the woodwork to get to you.”

  “I smell like blood and come. That won’t change no matter how long I stay in here.”

  Aden’s mouth twitched. Darren practically vibrated with emotion. Aden itched to grab him again. “Do you even know what Ray Giessen looks like?” he asked, attempting a different approach.

  “He’s the host’s son. I’m sure somebody at the party will be able to point him out. Or at least tell me if he’s here tonight.” Darren ran his hand through his hair. “Of course, I might have to explain why I’m wearing his clothes. The Ray Giessen costume probably isn’t popular this year.”

  This time, Aden laughed. He liked this one. Contrary to what Darren thought, they were definitely following up after this fiasco was all over. “You don’t need to look for him at all. Now that I know who I’m looking for, I can find him in five minutes if I shift.”

  “And manage to attract a huge amount of attention to yourself and probably create a panic at the same time.”

  “You have to admit, it would get all the innocent people out of the house faster.”

  “And you’re deeply concerned about all the innocent people?”

  Aden shrugged. “Not really. But you are.”

  “If you’re not careful, I’m going to start thinking you might be a decent guy.”

  “Nah. If it looks like that’s going to happen, I’ll just string you up and fuck you ‘til you remember I’m not.” He hooked his thumb through a belt loop, all too aware of the flicker of Darren’s gaze. “So are we going to try it my way and get this over, or do you want to pussyfoot around and risk losing him?”

  “I don’t think we’re going to lose him. He’s going to be back here sooner or later for his pet wolf.” Darren shrugged. “But I don’t want to spend all night here waiting. So let’s do it your way.”

  Aden hadn’t really expected him to go for it. Regardless of the sex, Darren was still Argenti-trained. He was conditioned to destroy werewolves, especially in their animal form. Aden had thought shifting would make Darren too nervous, or remind him he’d just had sex with a monster, and everything would go up in smoke.

  Everything could still go up in smoke. Aden was putting an awful lot of trust in this guy not to do something stupid while Aden was shifted.

  Without a word, he closed the distance between them and cupped the back of Darren’s neck. Darren’s brown eyes widened, but Aden didn’t give him a chance to pull away before sealing their mouths together in a firm, but slow kiss.

  He gripped Aden’s upper arms, holding himself against Aden’s chest as he opened to him. His response had been immediate, like he had only been waiting for Aden to stop talking and just kiss him. Aden almost wanted to forget they had to leave the room at all. It would be so much easier to push Darren back to the bed. Instead, he wrapped his other arm around Darren and crushed the slighter man against him.

  “Can I just ask one thing?” Darren said against his lips.

  Aden almost commented that Darren shouldn’t be able to do anything but beg for more if he’d kissed him the way he wanted to, bu
t he held back, saying instead, “Name it.”

  “Don’t do anything to make me regret not pulling the trigger when I had the chance.”

  Grinning, Aden dropped one more lingering kiss on that sensual mouth and let him go. “And risk not getting more of those? Not on your life.”

  Perching on the edge of the bed, he pulled off his shoes, followed quickly by his socks. Darren watched with a frown, though that melted into hunger as Aden stripped out of his pants and tossed them at him.

  “Find something to keep these in for when I shift back.”

  “I didn’t sign on to be your valet,” Darren muttered, but he returned to the closet and emerged with a small duffle bag. He stuffed Aden’s clothes into it, and the scraps of his own, plus the receipts and the gun that had been forgotten on the floor. “Will I be able to keep up with you?”

  “Only one way to find out.”

  He didn’t know if Darren had ever witnessed a werewolf shift before. He didn’t really care. He had felt the draw of the moon all night, and combined with the inherent power of Halloween, it had taken much of his control to keep from shifting before now. It was a relief to let it go, to tilt his head back and embrace the moon he could only feel. The power accelerated through his veins, hungry for release, and he opened his mind to the sanctuary of his true form.

  The hair springing from his body was like prickles of heat erupting in sharp jabs all at once. Bones crunched as they reformed, his fingers folding into paws, his jaw and nose lengthening into a snout. Many wolves complained about the aches of shifting, but Aden embraced them. Pain made him stronger. It reminded him he was alive. In wolf form, he took that pain and focused it into something else, something more powerful. By the time he turned his gaze toward Darren, his entire being hummed in readiness.

  “Aden…”

  His powerful nose picked up on the fear easily, but it wasn’t overpowering. It wasn’t even the most dominant scent. It seemed more of an automatic, natural reaction than anything akin to terror. Darren stood motionless, frozen, for several beats before shuffling forward. He put his hand out slowly, his fingers skimming over the tips of the fur below his eye.