by Lacey Savage
Bliss.
That was the only word he could use to describe the sensation. It was pure, unadulterated ecstasy. And right now, he didn’t want to think about repercussions, about feelings and emotions he didn’t want to acknowledge.
“Turn around,” he whispered hoarsely. Ali’s tongue swept over her lower lip and she did as he instructed. The fallen leaves and broken branches dug into his knees, but her boots protected her flesh as she got on all fours before him.
Moonlight glided over her shapely form, highlighting the indent of her waist, the slight flare of her hips. Her lean legs looked endless as she bent her head down and thrust her ass high into the air. “Come on, Brad. Show me what you’ve got.”
He groaned and parted her ass cheeks with his hands. Behind him, he felt Sean do the same and his cock throbbed in anticipation. “That’s it. Just do what I do.”
Brad reached around and nudged Ali’s mouth with his thumb. She parted her lips and took two of his fingers inside her mouth, sucking them deeply. Sean did the same, and Brad found himself slurping at Sean’s fingers, wetting them, sucking them with the same relentless pressure Ali applied to his own hand.
His breath halted at the sight of the puckered ring of her anus, darker than the surrounding skin. The tiny hole gaped, teasing him with its small spasms. He smoothed Ali’s saliva around the opening, thrusting one finger inside her ass and preparing her for the intrusion to come.
“Like this?” Sean asked, his finger nudging Brad’s anus.
Brad moaned. “Harder.”
“Yes, harder!” Ali cried, and he obeyed, sliding another finger alongside the first. She bucked against him, pushing his fingers in past the knuckles.
And then, he couldn’t wait any longer. He lifted one foot to balance himself and placed the tip of his cock in the center of the dull rose of flesh. Pushing gently, he waited while Sean adjusted his grip on his waist and positioned his dick to fill Brad’s ass.
They moved in unison, finding their rhythm effortlessly, as though they’d all done this a hundred times before. Sean went slower than Brad, tentatively at first, easing his shaft inside Brad’s anus with small, measured strokes. When Brad pushed his ass back and impaled himself on Sean’s cock, they both cried out with pleasure.
Ali writhed beneath him. “Yes! Oh, Brad, yes!”
Hearing his name on her lips brought back a flood of memories, and another onslaught of emotions Brad didn’t want to deal with. He thrust harder, faster, relentlessly pounding his shaft inside her ass as though to punish her for leaving, for abandoning him the way she had.
And yet, nothing he did worked as he expected. The rougher he got with her body, the harder she cried out. She called his name, her voice raw and savage, again and again. When she shuddered with the energy of her release, Brad’s balls tightened, the familiar ache pulsing in his groin indicating he wasn’t far behind.
Behind him, Sean grunted, his own rhythm picking up speed as he grew accustomed to the motion. His hands gripped Brad’s hips as he pumped, his voice joining Ali’s.
And then they both screamed his name, and Brad lost the last bit of control he desperately clung to. His seed burst from his cock as his orgasm washed over him, starting in his sac and pulsing through the rest of his body, obliterating all coherent thought. He was dimly aware of Sean abruptly tensing his muscles, tightening his grip as he joined Brad in the ecstasy of release.
His cum drenched Brad’s ass, and the sensation only helped to bring another jolt of cum spurting into Ali’s tight, hot anus.
“That’s it, Brad. Just what I wanted.”
Yes! He’d pleased her. Since she left, he’d dreamed about having one more chance to show her what she’d been missing. And he’d done it. Now she knew. When she disappeared again in the morning, she’d leave with the memory of his cock embedded in her ass, making her scream, making her come.
For a brief moment, he allowed himself to believe that everything was right in his world. Life was as it should be, with him sandwiched between the man and the woman who inhabited his wildest fantasies.
His muscles tensed, spasmed, and a second sensation surpassed his ecstasy. The pain began high up in his thigh and flared outward, blossoming into agony, surging through his nerve endings. Pure torment tore through his body. He rasped out a breath and slumped to meet the forest floor, his cock escaping Ali’s ass with a loud pop, Sean’s shaft sliding out of him as he collapsed.
Brad’s head spun. He rolled on his back, desperately trying to clutch at his thigh. He moved his mouth, but found he couldn’t speak. Darkness crept in from all sides. He blinked his eyes open and squinted, trying to make out Ali’s shapely curves, the wild mass of brown hair that had escaped her bun and spilled over her shoulders.
Instead of Ali’s body, three separate images imprinted themselves on his brain in quick succession. He tried to make sense of them, but the ocean of darkness crept in too fast, blocking out everything else and freezing those fleeting perceptions in his mind’s eye.
The needle sticking out of his thigh.
The white wolf dashing into the woods.
And Sean leaning over him, his features twisted with concern and something else, something Brad had been afraid to name and even more afraid he wouldn’t recognize when he saw it.
Genuine, heartbreaking love.
* * *
Sean’s heart pounded in his ears, the rhythm so loud he couldn’t hear anything else. “Brad? Oh, shit. Come on, man. Get up!”
He kneeled at Brad’s side and felt for a pulse. The skin felt warm beneath his fingers. Sean released a deep breath, pouring all the worry that had twisted his stomach into knots since he’d watched Brad slump to the ground into that sigh.
But he still couldn’t find a pulse. He shifted his fingers along the man’s neck, feeling for the thrum of a life beat, no matter how faint.
Oh, fuck.
If only he’d been aware of Ali’s intentions. He replayed the scene in his mind, remembering the way he’d watched, horrified, as she unzipped her boot and pulled out the syringe. At the time, his orgasm-induced haze had prevented him from doing anything to stop her. His cock had ruled his brain, his desire and overwhelming lust for Brad keeping him from grasping what was happening around him.
Despite everything, he wasn’t sure he could have averted the path of the syringe even if he’d wanted to. Ali had moved faster than he’d ever seen anyone move. One moment she shuddered in the throes of passion, and the next her eyes had taken on a cold, calculating look as she glanced over her shoulder and slammed the needle in Brad’s thigh.
Then she’d tucked her body beneath her and rolled on the soft grass. At the time, it felt as though the entire forest held its breath. The only sounds had been the sigh of the wind and Brad’s wordless groan.
Sean remembered her parting words and a chill ran down his spine. “Nothing personal,” she’d said. “My services have always gone to the highest bidder.”
A moment later, she was gone. Sean thought he saw a flash of white disappear into the foliage, but it must have been the moonlight glinting off her skin.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Still no pulse. Nothing.
He gulped and tried to ignore the worry that gnawed at his gut, to no avail. Panic set in, flaring through him at lightning speed. Not knowing what else to do, he grasped Brad’s shoulders and shook him hard. “Get up, damn it! She’s getting away.”
Brad didn’t move. A thick syringe stuck out grotesquely from his flesh, the plunger lying flat at its base. Whatever liquid had been in it now surged through Brad’s blood stream, ravaging God only knew what kind of cruel torment on every cell it encountered.
“Fuck,” Sean murmured for the umpteenth time. Tears stung his eyes. He blinked them back. He tried to think, but agony twisted his thoughts. He couldn’t make sense of anything beyond Brad’s still form.
A few feet away, his clothes lay crumpled on the ground. He ran through a mental checklist of everyth
ing in his pockets. Gum. His wallet. Credit cards. Cash.
Nothing at all that would be of any use in this circumstance. He didn’t carry a cell phone because he’d never believed in the pesky contraptions, thinking they only served to sever real communication between two people. Now, he’d have given anything to be able to call for help.
His heart tore into a million pieces as he gazed at his lover. Brad’s cock was still semi-hard, slicked with cum. Moonlight glistened off his broad chest.
Sean leaned down and brushed his lips over Brad’s, his hands caressing his body, knowing it could well be the last time he’d ever get to touch him. Sadness welled up inside his chest, clogging his throat, threatening to choke him. He’d wanted so much to see whether there was something between them, to get past the uncertainty and insecurity he felt about giving himself to another man.
His palms grazed Brad’s ribcage, his waist, his hips. The lean muscles lay still beneath his caress, corded and taut. When his fingers encountered the syringe, Sean didn’t hesitate. He pulled it out and tossed it as far away as he could throw.
Brad’s deep, shuddering breath was the most beautiful sound Sean had ever heard. He cupped Brad’s face in his hands and watched as the man blinked his eyes open, the brilliant blue orbs clouded with pain and confusion.
“You’re okay. Thank God you’re okay.”
This time when he kissed him, he didn’t hold back. He thrust his tongue between Brad’s lips, tasting, seeking, exploring, drowning in the flavor of the man. Though clearly weary, Brad responded in kind, his tongue sweeping against Sean’s, then pushing past it, into Sean’s mouth.
Even now, despite everything that had happened, Brad’s need to take control won out. Sean didn’t care. It was enough to know he had Brad back, that he’d be all right. The rest they could figure out together.
Brad broke the kiss abruptly and sat up. He shut his eyes and clutched his head in his hands. “Where is she?”
A pang of grief settled deep in Sean’s stomach. “You’re hurt. We need to get you --”
“Which way did she go?” Brad pushed away from Sean and stood up, teetering unsteadily on his feet. He leaned against a thick tree trunk and breathed deeply, his eyes searching the parameter of the clearing as though he’d spot Ali if he looked long enough.
Sean knew she was long gone. The only trace of her remained in the tall boots that lay on the ground, their supple leather crumpled against the dark forest floor.
“Which way?” Brad repeated, his voice shaking with rage. “I have to find her.”
Swallowing hard, Sean tried to calm his hammering heart. When Brad should have been concerned only with recovering his strength, he still expended energy on the woman he loved. Sean gritted his teeth, his gut clenching with envy. “No. We have to get you to a hospital.”
Brad snarled, his lips folding back from his teeth. His elongated, sharp, teeth.
In an instant, his visage changed. His facial features lengthened, shifted, transforming as Sean watched. He didn’t dare breathe. He could only stare in fascination and awe as his lover’s body sprouted fur.
Brad’s limbs elongated. His shoulders broadened. Dark claws appeared from the pads of his toes and fingers, and his spine hunched until Brad stood on all fours. Where only a moment ago a man had been, a dark brown wolf materialized in his place.
“Holy Mother of God,” Sean murmured. He’d lost sight of Ali when she’d run, but now his brain made sense of what he’d seen. She’d turned into a wolf. That’s why she disappeared so quickly, and that had been the flash of white he’d seen.
The wolf -- Brad -- stared at him for a long moment. He recognized the intensity in its eyes, the clever intelligence hidden behind those deep sapphire orbs. A howl broke free from the wolf’s throat, long and mournful. It tossed its head back, and Sean willed his legs to move. He took a step forward, then another, and when he reached Brad’s side, he took a chance and reached out to him.
He’d barely brushed the silken fur before Brad’s jaws snapped and he snarled, the gesture more of a warning than a threat. Sean didn’t pull back.
Coiling his muscles, Brad leapt in the air and disappeared into the forest.
For a minute, Sean could only stand there, staring at the spot where Brad had vanished into the woods, his heart threatening to pound out of his chest.
What had just happened? Had he really seen Brad turn into a wolf, or had his imagination run away with him?
Sean’s legs trembled and he reached out to steady himself. God, but Brad was beautiful. He’d been stunning in human form, long and lean and muscular, but as a wolf, his confident, arrogant bearing showed through in the tilt of his head, the powerful legs, the long tail.
It took Sean’s breath away. He’d known from the moment he’d seen him that there was something gloriously majestic about Brad, but never in a million years could he have imagined that this was the secret the man was hiding. The truth was too strange to contemplate, too eerie for a guy who’d worked in an office his entire life and had no experience with predators that didn’t involve dealing with his boss.
Sean grabbed his clothes and dressed quickly, determination taking shape within him. He knew what he had to do. He’d seen the look in Brad’s eyes when he awoke, the deep, searing hurt that had lingered there. After he found Ali, he’d need to come to terms with what had happened, and it wouldn’t be easy.
He’d let his guard down and he’d allowed Ali to take advantage of him when he was most vulnerable. Brad was stubborn and proud, likely to blame himself for what happened.
Stay with me. Stay forever.
The words from his dream rang in his mind. Brad needed him. There was no way Sean would let him deal with his pain alone.
Pulling his T-shirt over his head, Sean strode through the dense foliage. Darkness shrouded the trees and the forest floor, and he had to move slowly so he wouldn’t trip, or worse, twist an ankle. He couldn’t follow the tracks Ali and Brad left, but it didn’t matter.
He’d find Brad. He knew he would.
There was something between them, a connection Sean could no longer deny. It tugged at his soul, pulled him with a deeper strength than lust ever could.
He knew what it felt like to be betrayed by someone he thought he loved. He remembered well the searing ache stabbing straight into his soul. The mere idea that Brad was experiencing the same made him quicken his step. Regardless of Brad’s feelings for him, Sean knew they needed one another. Now more than ever.
He trudged through the grass, branches snapping beneath his feet. The moon fought to slide its beams through the packed leaves overhead, but succeeded only in casting random sparkles of silver light, sprinkling the trees ahead with its velvety sheen.
Distracted by the simple act of placing one foot in front of the other, Sean had no time to prepare himself for the attack. One moment he was carefully walking through the woods, and the next moment an arm had closed around his throat, a massive body pulling him off his feet.
“Who are you?” A low, masculine voice growled in his ear. “If Daniel sent you, I swear you won’t walk out of this forest alive.”
Sean swallowed hard. He opened his mouth to speak, but the man’s arm pressed against his windpipe, cutting off his ability to breathe, much less to answer his question.
“Thankfully, J.C. and Eve are safe. Your boss has failed again.”
Sean struggled in the man’s grasp, but the powerful muscles that held him kept a tight hold on his body. Bright colors dotted the edges of his vision. Pressure built in his chest, clogging his lungs.
At last, when he thought he couldn’t endure another moment, the hold on his throat eased just enough to allow him to breathe.
“Speak,” the man commanded.
“I --” Sean heaved a deep breath, then coughed as a burst of air entered his bruised throat. “I don’t know any Daniel.”
The man’s laugh was harsh and devoid of humor. “Right. So you just happened to be taking a m
idnight stroll in the vicinity of the mating ritual.”
Sean gritted his teeth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have no idea what a mating ritual is. Brad… Brad Hennessy and I were… We were…” He took a deep breath, then the words came spilling out. “We were together, but a woman, Ali, she injected him with something. He’s hurt, but he went after her. I have to find him.”
The grip around his throat loosened entirely and Sean spun around, finding himself face-to-face with a tall, broad-shouldered man. A deep scowl lined his otherwise handsome features. “Ali did what?”
“She had a syringe in her boot. By the time I saw her take it out, it was too late. She’d already stabbed it into Brad’s thigh and when he collapsed, she took off.” Brad licked his suddenly dry lips. “Wait, you know her?”
The man growled, a deep, guttural sound that started deep in his chest and ended…
Sean blinked.
The growl ended in a howl. In a flash, even quicker than Brad had shifted, a gray wolf stood before him. He only had a moment to get a glimpse of the powerful creature before it rapidly bounded between the trunks of two thick pine trees and disappeared into the dark shadows of the night.
“Great plan, Sean, wandering alone through the forest,” he murmured to himself as he set out again. He took no comfort from knowing there were other werewolves around. He wasn’t afraid of Brad, and this encounter had ended as well as he could have hoped, but he had no illusions about being so lucky a third time.
Especially if he stumbled upon the mating ritual the man had mentioned. An entire pack of werewolves might not look as kindly upon a human intruding on their private ceremony. And this time, they probably wouldn’t let him tell his story before going for the jugular.
Sean gulped and ran his hand absently over his tender neck. He thought about turning around and trying to find his way back on his own, but the memory of Brad’s sullen, sad eyes made him press on.
