STORY EXCERPT

“I am Lansing, king of my pride,” Lansing said as he walked down the row of men kneeling before him. “Are you spies?”

“No!” Jari, the most timid and naïve of them all, shouted. “We aren’t spies. We come from a land with unending rainfall.”

Gasps sounded all around them. Alexi wondered what was wrong with what Jari had said. Was rain a bad thing here? From the plushness of the land, Alexi knew they saw plenty of rain. Not as much as Alexi’s world had, but enough to make all this luscious vegetation grow.

“Lies,” Lansing growled at Jari. “Tell me the truth or you four will be killed.” The king leaned forward, his hair cascading around his shoulders and over his impressive chest. Alexi caught the groan in his throat before it had a chance to escape. He wondered what it would feel like to have that thick mane of hair brushing across his back as Lansing fucked him.

“But that is the truth,” Alexi spoke up when the cloud of lust dissipated and allowed him to think clearly. It wasn’t easy with Lansing standing so close, but he managed. “We haven’t seen anything this green in years.”

Lansing crouched before Alexi, the king’s fingers tucking under his muddied chin and lifting it. “The great rains were four thousand years ago. Now, do you want to tell me the truth, Alexi?” Lansing drew out his name with a vicious drawl.

“Holy fucking shit!” Jari shouted. “Four thousand years?”

Alexi stared up into Lansing’s glacial-blue eyes. They pulled him in and made him feel things he had never felt before. They weren’t heated like they were a moment before, but they were still compelling in the most wicked ways. Alexi wanted to whine and lick a long line down Lansing’s chest to his cock. The need was so strong, it bordered on madness.

Lansing stared at Alexi, his eyes changing from coldness to confusion. “You smell like the dogs that run around our village,” he stated more to himself than to Alexi. “How can that be?”

“Uh, that would be wolf, not dog,” Jari corrected Lansing as he blushed.

Alexi flinched when the man standing behind Jari yanked his friend’s hair back. He wanted to go over to the man and knock him on his ass. Jari was as gentle as they came. There was no need to be rough with the man.

“You will show the king respect, dog.”

“Yeah, okay. Peace, man,” Jari said as his Adam’s apple bobbed. “I meant no disrespect.”

Alexi looked from Jari back to Lansing. “We’re not lying, your highness. I swear. We aren’t spies. The alpha of our pack called a hunt on our heads so we ran. We ended up here.”

“Cowards,” one of the men spat. “We should kill them and save ourselves the trouble.”

Lansing held his hand up, and the man who had spoken instantly quieted. “Go on,” the king encouraged Alexi.

“We aren’t cowards.” He glared at the man who had insulted them as his hands fisted at his sides. “But when you are outnumbered three to one, with more heading your way, you have to cut your losses.”

“True,” Lansing agreed.

“We ran to the embankment in the forbidden forest and found a cave to hide in. There was a glowing door.”

“And you just walked through it?” Lansing interrupted as he frowned down at Alexi.

“Yes. It was either that or go back the way we came,” Alexi admitted with a bit of shame. Here stood men of apparent strength and honor, and Alexi all but admitted that the four of them were cowards. “With a hunting party after us, that wasn’t much of an option.”

Lansing’s thumb caressed Alexi’s chin before he nodded. “I believe you, pup.” The king stood, looking over Alexi’s shoulder. “Take them to the longhouse.”

“But, your highness,” one of the men started to protest.

Lansing growled. Alexi gulped. The king’s sharp canines were visible, and they looked lethal as hell. Ridrick had nothing on this guy. “Do you challenge me?”

“No, your highness,” the man quickly answered.

Alexi inhaled sharply and gritted his teeth when he was roughly pulled to his feet, the hand under his arm yanking him as the nails dug into his flesh. He glanced back to see the king talking to the lions that had appeared first.

“Look ahead. You don’t deserve to set eyes on our king,” the man spat at Alexi as he pulled him along. “Dirty dogs,” he said under his breath as they entered the village.

Alexi spotted people watching out of their doors and windows, eyeing the four of them curiously as they passed by. There were lion cubs poking their heads between their fathers’ legs as they tilted their heads sideways, curious little looks on their small faces.

Alexi smiled down at them. He had always loved children. One of the small cubs batted a paw at Alexi, as if wanting to play.

“Don’t get too comfortable with my pride,” the man holding Alexi’s arm snapped and jerked him along. What the fuck was this bastard’s problem? It wasn’t like they had come here armed and fighting. They were muddy and thin as rails. How could they be a threat? This guy needed to lighten up.

Hell, they didn’t even have a damn knife between them. If Alexi had to guess, the man was pissed that foreigners were in his territory. But it wasn’t the man’s territory, now was it? If the scene back in the forest was anything to go by, Lansing was the king of this pride. He had said so himself. Not the prick yanking him along.

Alexi had an urge to bite the man.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Then why are my friends out in the village?” Alexi asked as Lansing walked into his room.

“Seeing the sights, getting to know the pride,” Lansing answered as if Alexi was a little slow on the uptake and should have known all along. Alexi mulled it over in his head as Lansing set him down on the furs, wondering if maybe he was a just a bit hasty in his judgment.

Oh hell, Alexi wasn’t sure what he should think anymore. Since running from his pack, nothing truly made sense to him. Alexi wasn’t sure if he could trust his own judgment right about now.

“You perplex me, little wolf. I’ve never met anyone who held my interest the way you seem to. Tell me, why is that?” Lansing asked as he stretched out beside Alexi, his golden skin calling to a part of Alexi that he was fighting hard not to show.

Alexi pulled the pelt tighter around his body, feeling exposed to the king in a way that had nothing to do with being covered in fur. A brief flutter of pleasure darted through him at the thought of being in such strong arms.

Quit focusing on those sculpted muscles and focus on the conversation, you moron!

Alexi blinked, trying to clear the images from his head of Lansing pinning him down and claiming him. He frowned. That wasn’t right. Alexi shouldn’t be having lust-filled thoughts of Lansing, period. He was a lion for crying out loud, and a gigolo to boot. Alexi glanced up at the reed wall, expecting to see a score of notches carved into it.

“Alexi?”

Alexi jumped when Lansing’s fingers touched his chin, bringing it around to look into those large blue beauties of Lansing’s. They stared at each other for what felt like forever before the king closed the distance and took Alexi’s lips in a powerful, yet gentle kiss.

Alexi gasped at the intense touch of Lansing’s lips on his and then moaned. It had been too long since he felt such a passionate kiss, if ever. Lansing seemed to emanate manliness and strength, making Alexi feel so small next to the king’s sensual body.

The king pulled closer to Alexi, their bodies almost touching. Alexi released the fur he’d been clutching around his shoulder and placed his palms on the heated skin of Lansing’s chest. It didn’t bother him that his cock was exposed and throbbing so hard that it curved up to Alexi’s belly, touching his navel.

Lansing’s strong hand cupped Alexi’s ass, pulling their bodies together to mold into one. Alexi gasped into the king’s mouth when he felt a very large erection pressing into his upper thigh. How the hell did the king remove his loincloth without Alexi knowing?

His thoughts scattered as Lansing rolled Alexi, his massive body hovering over Alexi’s smaller frame. Alexi’s mind whirled as Lansing kneed his legs apart. He could feel the king’s impressive cock probing at his tight puckered hole.

Alexi let the last bit of sanity leave him when he lifted his legs and wrapped them around Lansing’s waist, pushing down on the hardened shaft, telling the king he was more than willing.

Lansing growled low in his ear as his hand reached past the furs and snagged an amber bottle under the stand, next to the bed platform. Why hadn’t Alexi noticed the bottle before now? Lansing used one hand to unscrew the lid and dip his fingers in, pulling them back to show them covered in a white cream.

Lansing turned back to Alexi. His blue eyes darkened as his hand disappeared behind Alexi’s body. Alexi dug his fingers into Lansing’s broad chest as a finger pushed past his ring of muscle.

The king nipped at Alexi’s neck, his tongue laving at Alexi’s skin. Alexi tossed his leg over the king’s hip, giving Lansing room to make Alexi’s toes curl. And curl they did.

“You’re driving me mad, Alexi,” Lansing murmured against Alexi’s neck as the king inserted another finger. He was probably making a huge mistake sleeping with the king, but Alexi couldn’t muster up the emotions to care right now. His libido was in control, telling his mind to shut the hell up and enjoy this.

Alexi’s hips snapped, grinding his cock into Lansing’s stomach. He needed friction desperately as the king readied him. Alexi mewled as Lansing pulled his hand free, protesting the loss.

Lansing’s chuckle was deep and teasing before he trapped Alexi under mountains of golden muscle and gorgeous lion. Alexi pulled his legs to his chest, waiting for Lansing to rock his futuristic world. He bit his bottom lip as he felt Lansing push his huge cock slowly into Alexi’s ass. He had to take in tiny gasps of air as the burn blazed through his backside. Alexi had never been with someone this large before.

“Are you okay, little wolf?” Lansing asked as he stilled, running his large and callused hands over Alexi’s body. “Am I hurting you?”

“No.” Alexi shook his head as he tried to breathe past the burn in his backside. “Just give me a moment.”

“Take all the time you need.” Lansing lapped at his neck, pinching Alexi’s sensitive nipples between his fingers. Pain morphed into pleasure as Alexi moaned. He hadn’t ever had his nipples played with before and found that he loved it.

Lansing smiled against Alexi’s skin. “Does my little wolf like that?”

“Uh-huh.” Alexi nodded as he wiggled his bottom, telling the king that he was ready. Lansing pulled back, until only the head remained inside of Alexi’s ass, and then slammed home. Alexi cried out as his legs shot over Lansing’s shoulder, his ass lifting in the air.

“Again?”

“Yesss,” Alexi hissed.