STORY EXCERPT

Troy took both wrappers and his sandwich and walked out of the pantry with Aaron.

Just to see Gregory standing right there.

Troy froze.

Aaron squeaked, hiding behind him.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“So…what were you both doing?”

Troy held up his sandwich, glad he hadn’t given it to Aaron as well.

“I was grabbing a snack. What’s it look like?” He took a bite, just to prove it.

The humans weren’t always allowed to eat, but dragons were.

So long as the food was logged so it could come out of their pay.

“Uh-huh.” Gregory narrowed his eyes, tilting his head to the side just enough to get a look at Aaron. “With him? In the pantry?”

“So?”

Gregory looked at him with piercing blue eyes.

Troy didn’t even know what the guy was doing here. He clearly didn’t like working for Ian. He barely tolerated the guy, but it seemed he was loyal. He’d been here the day of the challenge that won Ian this land.

Meaning he was someone to be cautious of. A dragon who put up with Ian’s bullshit, seemed to like it, even, was not someone to take lightly.

Gregory sighed, shaking his head. “Ian won’t like hearing that you’re messing around with one of his mates.”

Troy bristled at the accusation. “Do you smell sex on us, idiot?”

He was no rapist, and he wouldn’t be accused of trying to take advantage of one of the humans by this asshole.

That’s what Gregory and Ian’s friends did.

Ian was picky about sharing, but that didn’t mean Troy didn’t catch some of his guests harassing and trying to corner the humans who lived here when Ian was too drunk to notice.

It was sick.

Gregory’s smile was almost sicker. “Right, my apologies. I don’t smell anything, which means you’ve been feeding this little bitch.”

“I have not been doing that either. You can’t prove shit.”

“Oh no? You, bitch, get over here and open your mouth.”

Aaron trembled behind him, and Troy was fucking furious.

“No, Aaron, stay right there. You don’t get to talk to him that way. You are not his mate.”

“He might be stealing.”

“Everything eaten was eaten by me, and I’m logging it. You can fuck off.”

He didn’t like this male, but Gregory wasn’t his boss.

Ian was, and Troy wasn’t about to let this asshole think he could lord himself over Troy without any push back.

Gregory stared at him as if he was trying to figure something out.

“Fine, I know you and that other shithead are feeding the humans here. Don’t think you can always get away with it.”

“What I do with my pay is none of your goddamn business.” But it did mean he and Dallas were going to have to be more careful.

Maybe there was nothing technically wrong with what they were doing, but if Ian wanted his mates hungry, they were supposed to go hungry. If he wanted them overly skinny, then they had to be that too.

It didn’t matter if Troy and Dallas were using their own pay to make things a little easier for the humans here.

If they were undermining Ian’s punishments, that could be a problem for everyone.

He reminded himself that this dickhead didn’t know shit about what was going on. Gregory was just trying to fuck with him, but the fact that he was using Aaron to do it made a fury rise up inside Troy, the likes of which he’d never known before.

When he didn’t have anything to say, however, Gregory seemed to take that as a kind of win. He smirked.

“Best not to make favorites. Ian’s not the type to share his whores.”

“They’re his mates,” Troy corrected.

Gregory scoffed as if Troy was being idealistic and foolish before he walked away.

Like the prick that he was.

And Aaron…when Troy looked down at him, Aaron was doing something Troy hadn’t noticed.

He was clutching onto the back of Troy’s black T-shirt like a life jacket as if letting go would mean drowning.

“He’s gone, honey,” Troy said quietly, the endearment coming out without his intending it. “You can let go now.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Aaron moaned softly, closed his eyes, tilting his head back and to the side as Troy held on to the side of his neck in a gentle grip.

That was better. The softness of Aaron’s lips against his, the way his small human mewled against his mouth, was so nice in comparison to the horrors of what Ian put them through.

Fucking guy made George, the old owner of the house, look like a saint.

Though this was only supposed to be for their own pleasure, something to get off their chest, something to enjoy almost just to pass the time, Troy found himself, unbelievably, falling into it.

Aaron shivered and opened his mouth, inviting Troy to taste him deeper, and the wild side of Troy’s brain roared with satisfaction at the obvious show of submission.

He held a little tighter to Aaron’s cheeks, licking him as deeply as he would allow himself, not wishing to spook the man.

Instead of scaring him, Aaron made a displeased little sound, his hands coming up and holding on to the back of Troy’s head, yanking him forward and crushing their mouths together, surprising Troy in the best possible way.

The demand was there, especially when Troy looked so deeply into Aaron’s eyes and could see the challenge that was really there.

Do something. Take me. Hurry up about it too.

Not that Troy was a mind reader or anything, but the fact that this was the vibe he was getting from the man was enough to make the dragon inside roar to life again.

He even felt some of his rough scales form along the surface of his skin as his cock throbbed.

If Aaron noticed, he didn’t seem to mind, pushing himself closer to Troy’s body, always having to keep to his toes just because of the height difference between them, the heat of their bodies mingling together in the colder, night air.

Troy felt the firm press of Aaron’s cock at his thigh, and he was struck with the need to get to his knees.

So that was exactly what he did.

Troy broke off the kiss, a heavy gasp coming from the both of them as he found himself shoving Aaron toward the wooden bench.

“What are you—”

“Sit,” Troy commanded, forcing the male to do just that.

Aaron stared up at him with wide eyes, as if he didn’t totally understand what was happening, and maybe a little worried about just how rough Troy was going to be, but Troy was only too happy to surprise him when he got to his knees, his hands pulling at the waist of Aaron’s pants.

Aaron seemed to tense up as though worried about what was happening. “You don’t have to…I mean that’s not…”

“I want to,” Troy gasped, loving the pleased sounds that seemed to strangle in Aaron’s throat as his dick was suddenly free and in Troy’s hand.

“Only ever did this to one other person, and it wasn’t a human,” he said, excited to get on with it.

Back then, he hadn’t liked it. It had seemed like way too much work, and the partner he’d had wasn’t very…eager to return the favor or grateful.

But he’d been younger then, figuring himself out, and he hadn’t gone down on a male since then.

Aaron’s cock size was perfect. It fit his hand nicely, but not so big that Troy worried he was going to have some trouble performing.

It was the only cock he’d ever seen that made him delighted to lean in and slide his tongue from the balls to the tip.

Aaron threw his head back, sighing his pleasure and shivering, his hands gripping painfully tight into Troy’s hair.