He leaned down and unlaced his boots, jerking upward when something soft hit his back. He blinked at Benjamin, who was now wearing absolutely nothing. His body was on display, and even if he looked a little anxious, biting his lower lip and looking over Lucas’ shoulder rather than at him, he didn’t try to cover himself.
“So impatient,” Lucas said, and Benjamin chuckled, looking more relaxed.
Lucas shook his head and went back to work on his boots, shedding them as fast as he could and stuffing his socks into them. He straightened and opened his jeans’ button, but he hesitated.
“This would work better if you were completely naked,” Benjamin pointed out, and Lucas stopped hesitating.
He hooked his thumbs into his underwear and pushed them down along with his jeans. He didn’t bother picking them up and left them where they were as he crawled onto the bed. Benjamin opened his legs, and Lucas pressed against him, just like he’d said he wanted to do.
He stopped with his face hovering over Benjamin’s stomach, where the first scar was. There were seven of them, a few only barely visible, most obvious, but the worst one was the one by Benjamin’s heart.
Lucas kissed them all.
He took his time, ignoring Benjamin’s pleas for more, for him to move to other places. He did stop when he got to Benjamin’s nipples, because he couldn’t just ignore them, and lavished them, just like he’d done with the scars.
“You’re driving me crazy,” Benjamin huffed, annoyance and arousal mixing in his voice.
“That’s what I was aiming for.”
“Really? I thought you were aiming to fuck me.”
“That too, but we’re not in a rush.”
“We are if you expect me to not come before you’re actually inside me.”
Lucas laughed against Benjamin’s bellybutton. He bit down on the skin next to it and Benjamin moaned, his hips jerking up, his cock pushing against Lucas’ chest.
“Come on, man. You know where the lube is.”
And where Benjamin’s sex toys were. Lucas had stumbled onto them the first day, when he’d opened the nightstand on what was now his side of the bed to put his reading glasses and the book he’d been reading in it. They hadn’t used anything from that drawer yet, but Lucas had found another place for his book.
“You think you can stretch and get it?” Lucas asked, because he was in a too perfect to move position.
“Look at you, making me do all the work.”
Lucas grinned and sucked on the spot he’d just bitten. “Not all the work.”
Benjamin rolled his eyes and stretched out, glaring at Lucas when he couldn’t quite reach the nightstand. Lucas pushed his upper body up so that Benjamin could slide sideways and opened the drawer. The bottle of lube nearly smacked Lucas in the face and he laughed as Benjamin slid back into place and opened his arms, flopping on the mattress.
“Do your worst,” he said, and Lucas set out to do just that.
It didn’t take long for him to have Benjamin begging, his playfulness forgotten as he pushed down onto Lucas’ fingers and asked for more. Lucas was careful, probably too much, but he didn’t want to hurt Benjamin, even though Benjamin was currently cursing him for being too slow.
Once Benjamin was ready, his chest flushed, several hickeys spotting the skin from his hips to his neck, Lucas slid his fingers out and cleaned them as well as he could on the sheet under them.
He pushed up and moved upward until his cock brushed against Benjamin’s balls. “No condom, right?” he asked.
“Nope. No need. Shifters don’t carry human diseases. Now fuck me,” Benjamin answered as he tried to curl his legs around Lucas and pull him closer.
“No magic word?” Lucas teased.
“I already said it. Now!”
Lucas was about to explode, so he stopped teasing Benjamin and grabbed his cock, angling it until the head touched Benjamin’s slicked hole. Benjamin opened his legs even more and hooked them around Lucas’ waist, grinning when Lucas started pushing.
Lucas should have known Benjamin wouldn’t just lie there and take it, and sure enough, as soon as Lucas was inside him enough that he wouldn’t slip out, Benjamin pushed his heels against the top of Lucas’ ass and jerked his hips up.
Lucas’ dick slid in completely and Lucas moaned. He’d wanted to give Benjamin time to get used to his girth, but Benjamin was having none of that. He moved his hips up again, and Lucas gave in.
He pinned Benjamin down with a hand on his hip and thrust. Benjamin tightened around him, and Lucas had to bite on his lower lip to avoid coming. He tasted blood, and Benjamin’s gaze flickered to his mouth. Lucas thought he could see the want Benjamin had to claim him, and he kissed him.
From his conversations with Heath, he knew such a little amount of blood wouldn’t be enough, but it made Benjamin go wild. He bucked under Lucas and came, surprising Lucas and triggering his own orgasm almost right away.
Benjamin held Lucas close until they were both done, the kiss they shared sloppy and tasting of Benjamin and blood. If mating was anything like what had just happened, Lucas didn’t think it would take him too long to want to do it.
Chapter Six
“You smell like sex.”
Benjamin slowly turned to look at Troy. “Excuse me?”
Troy stared at Benjamin from his chair on the other side of the table, his son in his arms avidly sucking on his bottle. “I said you smell of sex.”
Benjamin arched a brow. “Well, that’s probably because I had sex last night.”
Troy wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, I know.”
“I showered, though.”
“I can still smell it.”
“What, is it one of your harpy superpowers or something?”
Troy shrugged with the shoulder his son wasn’t leaning against. “No idea.”
“You’re still struggling to find out more about harpies, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Has Jayden helped?”
Another shrug. “As much as he’s been able to, but he already has a lot of work to do, so I haven’t asked again. You know, with all the books we’ve been getting from the attacked shifter groups and all.”
“I can help. I mean, now that I’m better, and before I move to the ranch.”
Troy smiled and pulled the bottle away from Aaron’s mouth. “That would be great. How are you feeling?”
Benjamin stabbed a bit of egg and ate it. “I’m fine.”
Troy grinned. “If the scent of sex is anything to go by.”
“Shut up.”
Troy’s grin widened. “Well, you certainly can’t say meeting your mate hasn’t changed you.”
“Oh?”
“Have we ever talked before you met him? As in, having a real conversation, not grunts over a book.”
Benjamin chewed a bit of bacon as he thought about what Troy had said. “I can’t remember.”
“See?”
“It’s not, well. It’s not like I changed, just that I let myself open up.” Benjamin looked down at his plate, because really, why was he talking about this to Troy? Troy was right, they’d barely talked in months. They weren’t friends. They were barely acquaintances.
“Or maybe it was the injuries?” Troy suggested. “Both happened around the same time.”
Benjamin couldn’t deny that being injured and ending up in the infirmary had opened his eyes. He’d kept himself isolated from most of the pride after what had happened when he’d gone home to his parents. Not that he thought the pride would reject him because he was gay—of course not—but he wasn’t sure they wouldn’t find another reason. If his own parents didn’t love him unconditionally, why would the pride members?
But the pride hadn’t kicked him out, not even when he’d barely talked to anyone, when he’d truly refused to be a member. When he’d been hurt, almost everyone had come by the infirmary, some members just to check whether he was fine, some to bring
him books and sneak food in. Then ones who hadn’t managed to come had texted, or e-mailed, and Benjamin had finally understood that they’d keep him.
He also had Lucas now, so he’d never be alone again, not like he’d been—or rather, had felt—when he’d had to leave the house he’d grown up in after going back thinking his family would be happy to see him again.
“I guess it was a mix of the two,” he finally said, conscious Troy was probably expecting an answer.
Troy smiled and put Aaron on his shoulder to burp him. Benjamin watched, fascinated by the tiny leathery wings that poked from Aaron’s back. They fluttered as Troy tapped between them in what looked like a practiced move.
Aaron’s burp was surprisingly loud, and Benjamin blinked at him. Troy laughed and put Aaron back into the cradle of his arm. “Well,” he said, “Whatever it was, it’s good. I know all about hiding out, but it’s good to come out.”
Benjamin snickered. “Done a lot of that?”
Troy threw him the empty bottle and it bounced off Benjamin’s arm when he lifted it to protect himself. “Very funny,” Troy said. “But really. This place is great, and everyone in the pride will always be there for you, no matter what happens.”
“I’m starting to understand that.”
Isaiah poked his head at the kitchen door. “Troy, you need to get Aaron upstairs. Those detectives are here again.”
Troy swore and got up. He left the kitchen without saying goodbye, but Benjamin didn’t mind. The last thing they needed was for human detectives to see Aaron. Benjamin could imagine how that would go, and he didn’t want it to happen.
He continued eating his breakfast until he heard someone knock on the front door. He stayed where he was, but the knocking didn’t stop. He rolled his eyes and got up, since it looked like no one was going to open the door.
He stomped to the entrance and opened the door, thinking a bit too late that he should have wondered how whoever was on the other side of it had managed to pass the gate. “Uh,” he said.
The guy on the other side of the door was vaguely familiar, but Benjamin couldn’t place him. He probably had seen him a time or two, but that wasn’t surprising, given the number of people who passed through the mansion every day.
“Is Dominic in?” the guy asked.
“How’d you pass the gate?”
“I was let in.”
That meant Isaiah knew who the guy was, so Benjamin stepped to the side and let him in. “Dominic is in his office, but he’s busy right now.”
“With two detectives?”
“How’d you know that?”
“I thought I heard your voice,” someone said from upstairs, and when Benjamin looked up, he was surprised to see Troy, with Aaron in his arms. He opened his mouth to say something—what, he didn’t know—but before he could, the guy at the door pushed by him and quickly climbed the stairs.
Aaron cooed, and Troy didn’t protest when the guy from the door took the baby and held him close. “Damn, he’s so big already,” the guy said.
Benjamin cleared his throat and Troy and the man looked at him. “Hi there, I’m Benjamin. You are?”
Troy chuckled. “This is Kay. He’s my best friend.” he turned toward Kay. “I wasn’t expecting you to come by so soon after the move.”
Kay shook his head, kissed Aaron’s forehead, and handed him back to Troy. “I’m actually here as a detective.”
“Oh?”
“Kind of. I just want to keep an eye on Grand and Flynn. I tried to get your case assigned to me, but I’m too new here.”
“I didn’t even know we had a case.”
Kay nodded. “That’s why I’m here. I tried to get here before Grand and Flynn, but I didn’t manage.”
Voices came from the hallway where the infirmary and Dominic’s office were, and Troy held Aaron closer. “I’m going back to our room. Come by when you’re done?”
“Yeah, sure,” Kay said. He watched Troy walk away, then walked back down the stairs and stopped next to Benjamin.
“So, do you need to go to the office?” Benjamin asked.
“No. I don’t want the others to think there’s something here that’s caught my interest.”
Benjamin snorted. “Well, there is something that’s caught it.”
Kay narrowed his eyes at him. “You’re a smartass, huh?”
Benjamin shrugged. “Not really. I’m the quiet one here.” Kay looked like he didn’t believe Benjamin, but he didn’t say anything. “Shall we go to the kitchen?” Benjamin asked.
“Do you have coffee?”
“What do you think we are, animals?”
“Very funny.”
Benjamin led the way, and he wasn’t surprised to see the kitchen wasn’t empty anymore. None of the communal spaces in the house ever stayed empty for long, except for the library, which was why Benjamin had always spent a lot of time there.
John was there, quietly talking with a man Benjamin didn’t know at the table while Noem was half-buried into the fridge. Benjamin gestured at Kay to sit down at the counter and headed for the coffee pot. “How do you take it? Wait, don’t tell me. I bet you drink it black, just like your soul.”
Kay’s lips twitched. “The quiet one, huh?”
Benjamin grinned. “I swear.”
Something crashed on the floor and everyone looked at Noem. The jug of orange juice was on the floor at his feet, the legs of his jeans were drenched, and he was staring at Kay like he’d seen a ghost.
“Noem?” Benjamin asked.
Noem startled and looked at Benjamin. “Yes?”
“Are you all right?”
Noem shook himself and stepped away from the orange juice puddle. “Yeah, I... I’m fine. Yeah.”
“You sure don’t look like you are.”
Kay got up and walked around the counter. He stopped close to Noem. “Where can I find some rags?” he asked, and Noem blinked at him.
“Rags?”
“To clean up.”
Noem didn’t look afraid of Kay, just surprised and stunned, so Benjamin dismissed the notion that Kay had hurt Noem at any time. He smiled and asked, “Hey, do you guys know each other?”
Kay looked at him. “No, I’d never seen him before now.”
Benjamin grinned. “Oh. I understand.”
* * * *
“Did you and my brother have sex already?”
Lucas almost spat out the coffee he’d been drinking and looked up at Rachel. “I heard that wrong, right?” He’d been trying to relax in the living room, even though he’d heard several people come in the front door. He’d been told they were detectives and that he needed to behave like a normal human being, and he hadn’t been able to find a good answer to that.
Rachel grinned. “I can repeat it. I wanted to know if you and Benjamin—”
Lucas shook his head. “Don’t say it. It’s none of your business and you’re thirteen.”
“So? I go to school.”
“And that’s where you learned about sex?”
“Yup.”
“It’s not a reason to ask people about their sex life. It’s private, especially when it comes to your brother and me.”
Rachel pouted and slumped onto the couch next to him, but Lucas wouldn’t cave. There was no way he was telling Rachel anything, no matter how much she pouted, or how often she gave him the puppy eyes.
“What are you doing here?” He asked, hoping to distract her and steer her away from that particular topic.
“I was just looking around. Alpha Nash said we could explore the house as long as we stay out of the private rooms and offices.”
“Your parents know you’re not in your room?”
Rachel shook her head. “Mom was in my room last night, and she said I had to stay there until we leave this place.” Rachel straightened. “She even said she’d bring me food!”
“So of course you disobeyed her and disappeared from yo
ur room as soon as you could this morning.”
“Of course I did. I might be only thirteen, but I’m not an idiot. I know why Mom and Dad don’t like being here, but I don’t care.”
Lucas wasn’t exactly sure why Benjamin’s parents didn’t want their daughter to walk around the house, even with the conversation Benjamin and his father had had the night before. Not that he cared. It was obvious Benjamin’s father was homophobic and racist, and that wasn’t a person Lucas wanted to get to know anything about.
“How long do you think you have?” he asked Rachel.
She shrugged. “Mom probably already noticed I wasn’t in my room, so she went to Dad. Maybe ten minutes? I’m sure they’ll check the kitchen and the living room first, and I’m not exactly hiding.”
Lucas nodded and sipped on his coffee as he started reading his newspaper again. He couldn’t focus on it, though, because he was expecting Rachel’s parents to burst in any second and accuse him to steering their daughter away from the right path or something. It wouldn’t surprise him.
“Do you love Benjamin?”
Lucas sighed and briefly closed his eyes. “Really?” He put his newspaper down and looked at Rachel.
She shrugged. “I want to know if you’ll make my brother happy.”
There wasn’t an easy answer to that, at least not like Rachel seemed to think so. “We met only a week ago.”
“So? You’re mates.”
“Do you think Benjamin loves me?” Maybe putting her attention back on her brother would help distraction her from Lucas’ own feelings.
“I know he wants to be with you.”
“Because we’re mates.”
“Well, yeah. He has to love you, you know?”
Lucas did know, but he wasn’t sure he liked it. Of course, Rachel’s view on mates was probably simpler than real life, but still. It made Lucas feel like Benjamin had been saddled with him. He couldn’t help but wonder if Benjamin would have chosen him even if they weren’t mates. He knew he didn’t have a lot going on for him—he was too tall, his hair was red, he already wore glasses to read, he didn’t have a prestigious job or lots of money, he was a quiet kind of nerdy man.
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