STORY EXCERPT

Morocco was unbearably hot in June. The small fan on the desk oscillated, blowing warm air around and doing nothing to cool the small hotel room. The midday sun illuminated the room through the single dirty window, highlighting the swirls of dust in the air. The sfenj being sold from a cart down the street made everything smell sweet like donuts.

Carl “Bear” Barnes was sweating through his no longer white T-shirt, so he pulled it off over his head and chucked it onto the bed. The bed was far too small for his six foot four frame, but he wasn’t there to sleep, he was there for when the shit hit the fan.

Bear worked for the Covert Law and Order Shifter Division of MI6. A top secret shifter section of the British secret service known only as C.L.A.W.

As their resident extraction expert, it was his job to wait until one of the other agents needed help getting out of a situation. Bear would never sign off on a mission without having at least three possible ways out, bare minimum.

He leaned back in his chair by the desk, his eyes watching the same blinking signal on the map on his laptop that he had been watching for the past two hours.

Lane Roberts, a fellow agent, was meeting with an arms dealer who was willing to turn over evidence against a high-profile terrorist organisation in exchange for a chance at a peaceful retirement. So far, everything seemed to be going well, but this wasn’t his first time working with Lane Roberts. While the leopard shifter was a professional, the plan had to remain flexible when he was involved.

Finally giving into boredom, Bear pulled out the book of crosswords he had started on the plane and pressed the communication device in his ear to activate it. “What’s another word for fleeting?” he asked.

“Does Google not work in Morocco?” Benjamin Clearwater, tech expert and object of Bear’s affections, said sarcastically, making Bear smile.

Benjamin was back in London, no doubt buried away in his lab under some new piece of technology he was in the process of creating. Bear and the crow shifter were like chalk and cheese, and yet a friendship had grown between them over the year since Benjamin had joined C.L.A.W.

“Come on, Ben, play with me. I’m bored.”

“Be thankful that you’re bored,” Benjamin said. “It means Lane’s life isn’t on the line, or yours for that matter. Honestly, you field agents.”

Bear was certain his friend was shaking his head.

“Nine letters,” Bear added, blowing over what Benjamin had said.

“Ephemeral,” Benjamin answered after a heavy sigh. “Have you had a chance to eat yet today?”

Bear grinned, his eyes drifting back to the blinking green light on the map. Benjamin was special. His intellect knew no rival and yet his personal skills could sometimes be considered a little lacking. With most people, he blatantly ignored them, and his ethics weren’t always stellar. However, when he came to care about a person, he cared deeply.

“I had a bag of Doritos I brought with me,” Bear told him. “Pizza flavoured.”

He heard Benjamin tut. “You’re a six foot four bear shifter. A man of your size and stature needs to consume at least two-thousand-five-hundred calories a day, and it’s already fifteen hundred hours over there.”

Bear couldn’t help but chuckle. The crow shifter cracked him up. He was also cute as a button. He might be a wiry five foot seven bird shifter, but he ordered people around like an alpha wolf shifter. In fact, Bear had seen him order around an alpha wolf and not even hesitate.

“Well, maybe you should take me out for dinner when I get back to London, feed me up,” Bear said flirtatiously. He knew what the answer would be. This wasn’t the first time Bear had attempted to ask Benjamin out. The younger man either didn’t realize he was being asked out, or was trying to deflect the question by playing ignorant. It was beyond frustrating.

There was a good ten seconds of silence that made Bear think Benjamin might actually get the hint this time.

“Sure,” Benjamin finally said. “We can have dinner when you get back.”

Bear leaned back in his chair. Should he push his luck and actually call it a date? He decided he wasn’t quite that brave.

“You know, all this time, and I’ve never actually been to your place,” Bear said, hoping to wrangle himself an invitation. A dinner out would be nice, but an intimate evening alone with Benjamin would be even better.

“You drive me home all the time,” Benjamin said.

Bear rolled his eyes. Sometimes he wondered if Benjamin was being deliberately obtuse. “Yes, but you never invite me up.”

Benjamin didn’t have time to respond because the green blinking light on the laptop suddenly started blinking red, indicating that Lane Roberts had activated the distress beacon.

“Of course it’s gone tits up,” Bear muttered to himself, opening another window on the laptop and activating protocol one.

“Well, you were bored,” Benjamin helpfully reminded him.

Bear started packing away his things. He travelled light in situations like this. “I’ve got to go and save the day, but I’ll take you up on that dinner when I get back.”

“Alright, good luck.”

With that, Bear pressed the comm link, turning it off. If there were any guarantees in life, it was that a mission involving Lane Roberts was bound to be interesting if nothing else.

ADULT EXCERPT

Benjamin’s plump lips were even more swollen from their kiss. The cherry red lips stood out against his pale skin beautifully.

He needed to feel the proof of Benjamin’s desire for him, so he reached between them and took Benjamin’s cock in his hand. It felt warm and silky, and just the right size for a man of Benjamin’s stature.

God, Bear wanted him. He wanted to spend hours driving him to the edge of the abyss, only to pull him back in. He wanted to take him apart and then lovingly, painstakingly, put him back together.

“Bear,” Benjamin moaned, looking down at the hand on his cock. He tipped his head back against the wall of the shower, his body almost boneless.

“You really want this?” Bear asked.

Benjamin opened his eyes and looked at Bear like he was an idiot. “What about the fact I ambushed you naked in the shower is making you doubt that?”

Bear smirked, his amusement clear.

He stroked Benjamin’s cock slowly, determined not to give into his lust and have this be over too quickly. He’d spent a year dreaming up fantasies around the crow shifter and he wanted to explore every single one of them.

Slowly, Bear kissed a path down Benjamin’s chest, enjoying the way the pale skin pinkened from a combination of arousal and steam.

The taste of Benjamin blossomed on his tongue as he kissed and licked, dropping to his knees so that he could fully appreciate the beauty of Benjamin’s naked form. Looking up at the crow shifter, and delighting in how utterly wrecked he already looked, Bear leaned in and nuzzled the base of his cock, his hot breath drifting over his skin.

“Bear,” Benjamin moaned. “Christ.”

Bear ran his hand over Benjamin’s thigh and around to caress an arse cheek. The feel of the rounded globe ignited something in him. He wanted to bury his tongue inside the crow shifter, but first…

He licked a long stripe up the curve of Benjamin’s cock before taking it in his mouth and sucking him down to the root. Fingers tugged at his hair as a string of expletives escaped Benjamin’s lips.

With his hands gripping Benjamin’s arse, his fingertips digging into the supple flesh, Bear urged him to fuck his mouth. Benjamin let out a strangled sound and began sliding between Bear’s lips, looking down at him with something akin to awe. Letting Benjamin set the pace, Bear trailed a finger down the cleft of his arse, the digit dipping in and tracing over the puckered opening.

“Yes,” Benjamin cried out as he was breached.

Bear hoped the little old lady who owned the place didn’t hear them. He couldn’t imagine it would be good for her health.

The taste of Benjamin’s pre-cum burst on his tongue and he found himself closing his eyes and groaning in pleasure. As he slowly worked his finger inside the tight passage, he sucked gently on the tip of Benjamin’s cock, his tongue dancing over the bulbous head.

He’d wanted this for so long. He was determined to take his time and enjoy it. Looking up at Benjamin through the spray of water, Bear delighted in the lust drunk look on Benjamin’s face. With their eyes fixed on each other, Bear opened his throat and swallowed Benjamin’s cock, making the younger man buck into his mouth and moan noisily.

Bear worked Benjamin’s cock, his throat convulsing around the shaft. He slid his finger in and out of Benjamin’s arse slowly, lazily working him open.

“Christ, Bear,” Benjamin cried out, his head falling back against the shower wall. “That feels incredible. You’re going to make me come if you don’t stop.”

Bear slowly pulled off Benjamin’s cock, making sure to apply enough pressure all the way up the length.

“That’s what I want,” Bear told him, his voice raw from the recent intrusion. He pushed his finger in deeper before removing it entirely. “I want you nice and relaxed. Now turn around.”

“What?” Benjamin said, sounding like he was already out of it. He soon got the idea though as his eyes went wide and he let out a needy whimper. “Oh my God.”

He turned around, bracing himself against the tiled wall. Benjamin’s body was perfect to Bear. He was slim but not skinny, and his arse was round and firm, just right for biting.

Benjamin gave a little yelp when Bear gave into his urge and nipped the tender skin with his teeth. Grinning at the crow shifter’s reaction, Bear soothed the area with a kiss.

He parted the mounds of Benjamin’s arse and wasted no time before leaning in and licking over the hole.

“Jesus fucking fuck,” Benjamin babbled.