Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove)
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Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace
Mikhail Kyryap knew the sexy little blond was his forever mate the moment he stepped inside the roadside bar with his friends. Convincing the human of that might prove to be harder than leading an entire pride of tiger shifters. Jace is the most stubborn man Mikhail has ever dealt with.
Jace Marrok was one step away from being labeled loose by his friends when he followed a handsome stranger into the utility closet for a little fun. He just can’t seem to resist Mikhail, not even when the man shifts in front of him and Jace learns that he has been mated against his will.
Deciding whether to believe the sexy alpha when he says it was instinctual might be harder than staying alive when others in Mikhail’s pride take exception to him mating a human. When they are attacked, Jace has to choose between staying with a man he is quickly falling for or getting his friends and running for his life.
Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Contemporary, Paranormal, Shape-shifter
Length: 28,344 words
FOREVER MATE:
MIKHAIL & JACE
Stormy Glenn
EVERLASTING CLASSIC
MANLOVE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Everlasting Classic ManLove
FOREVER MATE: MIKHAIL & JACE
Copyright © 2014 by Stormy Glenn
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63258-056-6
First E-book Publication: July 2014
Cover design by Ash Arceneaux
All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
About the Author
FOREVER MATE:
MIKHAIL & JACE
STORMY GLENN
Copyright © 2014
Chapter One
“It’s just a bar, Liam. They can’t keep us out.”
“You think not?” Liam laughed nervously. “We’re in redneck hell, Jace. Not only can they keep us out, they can tar and feather us.”
Jace Marrok rolled his eyes when Liam glanced behind him at their friend, Bay. “That is what they do in these backwater towns, isn’t it? Tar and feather people?”
Bay snorted. “Normal people, maybe. Queers like us?” Bay shook his head. “They string us up, and like, throw lawn darts at us or something.”
“Oh please,” Jace replied. “This is a public place. We have as much right to be here as anyone else.”
“Honey, I hate to break this to you but we’re not anyone else.” Bay chuckled. “We’re loud, flaming, flamboyant queens. Hell, the eyeliner on Rue’s face alone could get our asses kicked.”
Jace frowned.
Rue blushed.
“Jace, honey, if someone looked up gay in the dictionary,” Bay said as he gestured to all of them, “they’d find a picture of us.”
“We’re not that bad,” Jace insisted.
“Jace, what color is my shirt?” Bay asked as he plucked at the silky material with his fingers.
“Azure blue, why?”
“And Liam’s?” Bay continued.
“Chartreuse.”
“Uh-huh,” Bay said, “and what type of piercing does Rue have?”
Jace glanced back at Rue, grinning. “Guiche.”
“Honey, face it, we’re gay!”
Jace laughed at the blush creeping up Rue’s face again. Bay was probably right. Rue did wear a lot of eyeliner. Still, they had as much right as anyone else to be in this bar, even if they were clearly gay. And, unless someone was blind and deaf, they were all clearly gay.
They talked gay, they walked gay, and they looked gay. Hell, they probably even smelled gay. They were the stereotypical gay men. Loud, bright colors, makeup and piercings, even the effeminate body movements, they had it all, in spades. Christ, two of the four of them had little sequined purses under their arms.
“Okay, so we’re gay. So what? That doesn’t mean we don’t have as much right to be here as anyone else,” Jace said as grabbed the door handle to the bar. “Besides, maybe we can teach those hicks a things or two about fashion and makeup.”
Jace was laughing as he opened the bar door and took a step inside. He came to a screeching halt at the scene before him. Bay, Liam, and Rue plowed into him from behind. Jace’s laughter slowly died away.
In this instance, he might be wrong about where they could be.
He was looking at a sea of rough, muscle-bound, jean-clad, cowboy-boot-wearing, beer-drinking rednecks. They were everywhere, as far as the eye could see. And more than one of them were drool worthy.
Most, if not all of them, had beers in
their hands. A few men sat around booths on the back wall of the room. Several were playing pool. There were even a few men that seemed to be just hanging out at the bar. Loud country music could be heard…well, almost everywhere.
It was really loud.
The place basically looked like every backwoods bar that Jace had ever envisioned—pool tables, beer and peanuts, country music, and rednecks. And Jace couldn’t see a gay man in the bunch.
Jace grinned mischievously. This could be fun. He didn’t much care that the four of them stood out like warts on a thumb. Jace wasn’t ashamed of the fact that he was gay or that he loved men. He didn’t care if his demeanor made some people uncomfortable. He was who he was and he wasn’t going to change that for anyone, not even a room full of rednecks.
“Come on in, boys.” Jace giggled “There’s eye candy as far as the mascara-wearing eye can see.”
Jace strolled across the room to the bar putting a little extra sway in his hips, not that he really needed any. He could feel the stares of several sets of eyes following his progress across the room, hear the soft nervous chuckle from Bay behind him. A wide smile plastered on his face, Jace just kept going.
“Can I get four beers, please?” Jace asked when he reached the bar. The bartender gave Jace a long look as if he were measuring him. Jace figured he must have come to some sort of conclusion when the bartender nodded and pulled out four bottled beers, setting them on the wooden bar top.
“That’ll be eight dollars.”
Jace pulled the money out of his pocket and laid it on the bar before reaching for the beer bottles. He handed one to each of his friends, taking the last one for himself. His eyebrow lifted and he cast a look at Bay when he saw the beer cap. Bay just shrugged. It wasn’t a screw top, but it wasn’t a cork either. Somehow, though, Jace doubted that they had wine in this bar.
Trying to seem like he knew what he was doing, Jace grabbed the bottle opener off the bar and popped the top on his beer. He handed the small metal gadget over to Bay and took a long drink of his beer.
Jace coughed a bit, the beer burning a little as it went down. It was cold, he’d give the bartender that. Tasted like crap, but it was cold. God, he hated beer. Maybe he should have asked for water.
Jace let his eyes wander around the bar. He wasn’t sure if he was looking for potential threats or for potential invitations. There were several men in his immediate vicinity that Jace wouldn’t mind getting to know better, but the curious and guarded looks on their faces told him that they were not potential invitations.
They were looking at Jace and his friends like they had just stepped out of a circus. Jace had seen it before. He knew that they were freaky-looking to people that weren’t used to them. He just didn’t much care, beyond not getting his ass kicked.
So what if he liked to wear matching socks with his patent leather shoes? So what if he knew how to make Duck à l’Orange? So what if he liked sucking cock? That didn’t mean he wasn’t human. Just because he was in touch with his inner fem wasn’t a reason to beat him up or call him hateful names.
“Let’s go find a place to sit,” Jace said as he spotted an empty booth across the room. He headed that way, knowing that Bay, Liam, and Rue would be fast on his heels. If nothing else, they stuck together through thick and thin. They were best friends, the four of them.
Having met in high school, they had quickly formed a friendship that had lasted all through their formative years in high school and on through college, where they had roomed together, to today, where all four of them owned and operated a computer security firm.
“Jace?” Liam whispered. “Maybe we should go before we get our asses handed to us.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jace replied, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. “We’re not hurting anyone. If they can’t deal with us then they are obviously not the big bad rednecks I thought they were.” Jace chuckled. “Don’t tell me you think that these guys are afraid of us?”
“No,” Liam said. Jace could hear the nervousness in Liam’s voice. “I don’t think they’re afraid of us at all. I can’t say the same about me, though. I’m shaking in boots here, Jace.”
“Yes, but you’re shaking in Prada boots, honey. That has to mean something.” Jace waited for Liam to sit down and then slid into the booth beside him. Bay and Rue sat down across from them. They looked as nervous as hell. “Ah, hell, just ignore them and let’s have a good time.”
Bay snorted. “You said that the last time we ended up in one of these backwater bars. Remember that? We barely got out of there with our virtues intact.”
Jace burst out laughing. “What virtue?” He lifted his beer and took another long drink, his eyes moving about the room as he did. A sudden flash of dark emerald green caught Jace’s eye as he looked past the pool table.
Glancing around, he found a set of green eyes staring right back at him. Jace was mesmerized in an instant, both by the deep-green color and the glint of interest shining in them. Jace swallowed hard past the lump in his throat.
Hot damn!
So, they did build drool-worthy rednecks in the backwoods.
The man leaned low over the pool table, his gaze never wavering from Jace’s. The smoldering flame in those eyes was enough to make Jace reach under the table and adjust the suddenly throbbing cock in his pants.
His eyes widened when the man smirked, winked at him, then looked down to take his shot, breaking their eye contact. Jace felt almost abandoned. He wanted to experience that intense connection again. He just had to figure out how to accomplish it.
Maybe there was something redeeming in this backwoods redneck bar after all.
Chapter Two
“I claim the blond,” Mikhail said casually as he straightened up and watched his ball shoot across the pool table before sinking right where he wanted it to go.
“Redhead,” Yuri stated.
“Brunette,” Zus added.
“Guess that about solves it then,” Stefan said. “I claim the little black-haired one.”
“Well, that was relatively simple.” Mikhail chuckled. He glanced back at the table where the four men sat, grinning when he saw the blond watching him intently. This could be a lot of fun and certainly more entertaining than a game of pool.
“Any ideas?” Yuri asked.
“We could throw them over our shoulders and just carry them out.” Zus shrugged. “It’s not like anyone is going to try to stop us.”
“That’s probably not a wise idea, Zus.” Mikhail was greatly amused by the image that idea gave him. He’d love to go all caveman on the little ash-blond, throw him over his shoulder and carry him away to be ravished. “Although, we can always save that for a last resort.”
“Buy them a drink?” Yuri asked.
Mikhail shook his head, dismissing that idea. “Too predictable.”
“Ask them to dance?” Yuri asked.
“Too dangerous.” Mikhail gestured to the other patrons in the bar. “The locals would rebel.”
“Well hell, Mikhail, what do you want us to do?” Zus griped. “Send up smoke signals?”
“Just let me think for a moment,” Mikhail responded. He folded his hands over the top of the pool cue, resting his chin on his knuckles. To any that looked at him, Mikhail seemed to be watching the pool game. Only his brothers knew his entire attention was on the blond across the room.
Mikhail suddenly stood up straighter and handed his pool cue to Stefan. “I’m going to the men’s room,” he said simply. “Don’t make a move until I get back unless it’s life or death or the they start to leave.”
Once his brothers nodded, Mikhail walked across the room to the small hallway that led to the men’s room, winking at the blond as he passed him. He stopped just as he got around the corner and waited.
Not ten seconds after he walked into the hallway, the little blond came sprinting around the corner. Mikhail grabbed him. He covered the man’s mouth with his hand and pulled him into the small utility close
t off to one side of the men’s room.
Mikhail quickly closed the door behind him and leaned back against it to keep any outsiders, well, out. He removed his hand from the blond’s mouth, noting the trace of fear he could see in the man’s deep baby-blue eyes.
“Are you going to beat me up? Because if you are I’d like a little warning first,” the man said as he plucked at the fabric of his soft white shirt. “This is silk, and I’d really prefer not to get blood stains on it. They’re a real bitch to get out.”
Seriously? Mikhail raised his eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest. “If I’m going to hit you do you really think I’d be polite enough to give you notice first?”
The man shrugged. He looked decidedly nervous. “It’s worth a shot.” Mikhail could almost feel the eyes assessing him for potential danger. “So, are you?”
“Am I what?”
Mikhail could barely control his laughter when the man rolled his eyes. He could almost see the words in the man’s head telling him to pay attention to the conversation. “Are you going to beat me up?” he asked.
“No.”
“So, what do you want?”
“The same thing you wanted when you followed me in here, beautiful.”
“Oh,” the man replied, and then a slow, sexy grin crossed his mouth, showing off his perfect white teeth. “Oohhh.”
Mikhail knew the man got it. Or at least, he was going to the minute Mikhail got him out of his clothes. He grabbed the man by his arms and pulled him flush against his body. He cupped the side of the blond’s face, his other hand anchoring the man to him by his slim hip.
“Do you have a name, little one, or should I just continue to call you ‘beautiful’?”
The soft flush that filled the man’s face was fascinating but not half as much as the way he suddenly licked his full lips. “Jace Marrok,” he mumbled. “But I like ‘beautiful,’ too.”
“I am Mikhail Sebastian Ivananova Andrei Kугуар,” Mikhail replied.