STORY EXCERPT

“If you don’t put it on correctly, I’m going to beat the shit out of you.”

“I would really like to see you try,” Chauncey said to Bryce as the side of his mouth kicked up into a good-humored smile. “Just because you are a damn bear doesn’t mean you have to behave like one. Stop acting like somebody stole your sweets.”

As the thunder rolled across the sky, telling Bryce the storm was getting closer, he steered Hell Raiser toward the south pasture. It didn’t matter to man or horse if it rained. Hell Raiser only allowed Bryce—and Riley’s mate, Sterling—anywhere near him, and was ornery as hell. A heavy downpour was nothing to either of them.

Not when Bryce felt just as gloomy on the inside as the weather surrounding him.

“Why don’t you stop dictating to me from up there and get down here. I could use the help.” Chauncey wiped his brow and then locked his feet into place as he lifted the new tire for the tractor. “Just because I’m as strong as a bear doesn’t mean this shit is easy.”

“Will you stop with the bear references,” Bryce snapped as he climbed down and hitched Hell Raiser’s reins to a nearby branch. “It’s annoying as hell.”

“So is your sour mood.” Chauncey grunted with the back tire in his arms, but managed to scowl at him. “I remember when you were carefree, laughing all the time. Now you look like you need an enema.”

“Can we stop worrying about me and get this done?” Bryce groused as he helped Chauncey place the back wheel on the tractor. His brother quickly secured the large tire in place as Bryce watched him work.

He wasn’t trying to be a prick. Bryce didn’t like feeling pissy. It wasn’t in his nature. He was just as good humored and playful as his other brothers. But when he found out his mate had been disguising his scent just so Bryce wouldn’t know they were destined to be together…well, that downright pissed him off.

Was he that bad of a man that Ahm had hidden his scent all these years?

Years.

Bryce felt his chest tighten as a deep ache began to thrum through his heart. The Shadow elf had hidden who he was to Bryce for years. He had a right to be pissy. The thought of what Ahm had done hurt like hell.

“Okay, I’m done.”

Bryce left Chauncey to finish up as he mounted the horse and took off toward the house. If Ahm didn’t want him, then Bryce wasn’t going to sit by and wait on the man. It was very apparent that Ahm had made his decision about their relationship.

And it hadn’t been in Bryce’s favor.

Fuck that Shadow elf.

Bryce rode to the barn, dismounted, and took care of Hell Raiser before putting him in his stall. He fed the horse a few treats, rubbed his hand down the soft hairs on the horse’s neck, and then exited the barn.

“Pa said to help you today,” Abe said as he came running toward Bryce. Abe was a Wood elf. He had helped rescue Bryce’s brother, Cole, and Chauncey’s mate, Curtis, when an evil bastard had kidnapped them.

He liked Abe, although the man was a bit on the flirtatious side. It didn’t bother him. Abe was harmless. He was like a small puppy yapping around Bryce’s feet. “What did he tell you to help me with?”

Abe shrugged. “He just said to give you a hand. I think he wanted to get me out of his hair.” The amusement on Abe’s face belied the hurt Bryce saw in the man’s blue eyes. Bryce had figured the guy out a long time ago. Abe may be flirtatious, but it was a front. The man was lonely and had confessed to having no friends in the tribe he had lived in.

Something snapped inside Bryce. He was tired of being grumpy and tired of being a prick. That wasn’t who he was normally. It was about time he got over being rejected by his mate and had a bit of fun. “Why don’t we take off for the rest of the day and find something to get into?”

Abe’s grin was wide. “Okay.”

Bryce smiled for the first time in what felt like forever as he walked toward his truck. He wasn’t going to let anyone take away who he was. Not even his mate. The thought brought a spike of pain to his chest, but Bryce forced himself to ignore it.

He had to or he wouldn’t be able to function under the excruciating pain. The thing Ahm failed to realize about Bryce was that—although he was a big burly bear—he had the biggest heart and had dreamed of finding his mate since he was a small cub.

That might not matter to the elf, but it meant the world to Bryce.

So, since the man wanted to be a coward and run from Bryce…fuck him. Bryce opened the driver’s door and hopped in. Abe climbed in on the other side, buckling himself in.

ADULT EXCERPT

“How can you say that when you don’t even know me?” Ahm asked a little too curtly.

When Bryce reached up and thumped Ahm on his ear, all he could do was wince and stare at the man as if he had lost his mind. “You just hit me.”

“No,” Bryce corrected him. “I thumped you. Say something stupid again and I’ll thump your other pointy ear.”

He was speechless. Ahm didn’t know what to say. So he reached out and thumped Bryce on his chin.

“What was that for?” Bryce asked.

Ahm wanted to chuckle. Bryce looked so put off. “For no other reason than I could.”

This time when Bryce reached out, it wasn’t to thump Ahm, but to grab his hair and pull it back. He started to protest until Bryce leaned in and licked his lower lip. “Feeling feisty?”

His cock pulsed at Bryce’s deep and throaty tone. It was filled with wickedness and need. Ahm pulled his head to the side, making Bryce grab the strands harder. “It seems you are the one feeling a bit aggressive.”

Ahm moved over when Bryce climbed up next to him and stretched his thick body next to him. “Maybe I am. But don’t worry, my little sex kitten, I’ll do all the work.”

Sex kitten? What the hell?

He opened his mouth to tell Bryce he was nobody’s sex kitten when a large hand smoothed down his stomach, making Ahm forget what he was going to say.

Bryce slowly turned over and slammed the palm of his hands on either side of Ahm’s head. “Having you so close is making my bear hungry.”

Ahm’s eyes widened and then narrowed into slits as he locked eyes with Bryce. He had to admit, they were a stunning grey, but he was way too anxious for his mate to really appreciate them at the moment.

“And you think you’ll devour me?” Ahm asked, seeing the truth in his mate’s light-grey eyes. The man was through dancing around Ahm. He was ready to get down and dirty. “What about my injury?”

Bryce curled his fingers into Ahm’s hair, bringing their faces so close Ahm could feel the warm tickle of breath on his lips. “Oh, I’m positive.”

“No one dominates me,” he said with a little less conviction in his unsteady voice, pushing at Bryce’s hands.

Ahm could see the longing in Bryce’s eyes, the need for his mate to accept what he wanted to give. It wasn’t easy for Ahm to trust, but he knew that if he wanted to keep the bear, he had to let his guard down, even if it was just a crack in his armor.

Ahm just prayed like hell that Bryce didn’t turn out like everyone else and let him down. He knew he had a lot of making up to do with his mate, but giving the man his full trust was the hardest thing he ever had to do. A little at a time would prove to Ahm that Bryce wasn’t going to hurt him.

“Just lie back and enjoy what I want to do to you, Ahm.” Bryce dipped his head and claimed Ahm’s lips. His kiss was hungry and dominating and downright scorching, making Ahm’s cock hard as steel. Ahm wasn’t so sure he would argue with Bryce any longer about devouring him. The man’s lips tasted like pure honey to Ahm and he wanted more. He gasped when Bryce forced his lips open with his thrusting tongue. Without hesitation, Ahm opened wide, Bryce swooping in with savage intensity.

Kissing Bryce didn’t quite have the effect Ahm had thought. For one, it was like kissing a runaway freight train. One minute they were just running along, and the next they were going full steam ahead, cocks ramrod straight and growls ripping from both their throats.

Bryce’s growl turned into a groan when Ahm started battling back, matching him stroke for stroke, lick for lick. And damn, could the man kiss.

Bryce reached down and tossed the sheet aside. The fresh air against his heated cock was like nirvana. Ahm reached up and placed the palms of his hands on Bryce’s chest. The dips and hard ridges made Ahm pant as his hand skimmed up Bryce’s impressive chest.

Ahm almost laughed at the thought, but it was quickly yanked out of his head to be replaced with a need to see more naked skin. Ahm splayed his fingers over Bryce’s sculpted abs and slowly moved them down until he ran out of smooth skin and hit the button on Bryce’s stonewashed jeans.

Ahm’s wrist twisted as he unbuttoned Bryce’s jeans and pulled the sides apart, his mouth watering at the happy trail of hair leading from his mate’s navel to far below his pants. Ahm grazed a knuckle over the trail, following it down until he hit fabric.

His eyes snapped up. Seeing Bryce hovering over him, panting, watching him, made Ahm feel like he was still in control.

When he felt a long, hard cock thump against his hands, he just had to look. Ahm tore his eyes away from Bryce’s and glanced down.

He swallowed hard.

“Damn.”

“You want to taste me?” Bryce asked, his tone on the edge. Ahm’s balls drew up tight just thinking about sucking the man’s cock into his mouth. The breath he had just breathed in suddenly wasn’t enough. He had every intention of sucking the man off.

Bryce turned to his side and helped Ahm get into position. He sucked Bryce all of the way down his throat, as far as the cock would go, until his nose was buried in Bryce’s pubic hairs.

And then he swallowed…hard.

Bryce shouted.

Using his tongue, Ahm laved the tender depression beneath the swollen crown and then tongue-fucked the tiny slit, licking away the salty taste of Bryce’s desires.