STORY EXCERPT

Stefan spoke up. “Is that the only reason why you don’t want to mate with him? Because Van hurt one of your friends?”

Micah blinked, not entirely understanding the question. “Is there any other reason needed?”

Stefan pressed his lips together. “I suppose not.”

Seth shook his head. “What my friend is trying to ask you is, would you be open to mating with Van if it hadn’t been for this? Was there some feeling there, and now you’re just…how do I say this? Holding yourself back?”

That tension in Micah’s spine returned full force. “Do you want me to mate with Van?”

“Only if you want to,” Seth said. “Only if it will make you happy.”

Micah looked at the red dragon, and then at Stefan, wishing with everything he had that he hadn’t heard that.

He knew the dragons were looking to find mates among the staff. They thought it would strengthen the ties between the former slaves and the dragons, to help them see that they were no longer slaves but equals, as well as to build loyalty.

If it would help Stefan, was it something he should consider?

Micah didn’t much like Van, but he didn’t hate the man either. He was disgusted with what Van had done, but in his defense, Van had thought he was defending the omegas who were still frightened of Sorin.

And it wasn’t like Micah could hope for any better. He was a former slave, uneducated, and he could barely read. Who else was going to want him?

Van had said he loved him.

The wolf ears on top of Micah’s head folded flat against his hair. Had he not already been sitting, his tail might’ve tucked itself between his legs.

He couldn’t. As much as he thought about the potential upsides to such a thing, he couldn’t do it. He didn’t love Van, and the man was just too much.

Too much, being not enough to describe him.

“I don’t want to mate with him. I really don’t.” He was honestly scared out of his mind to ask the next part. “Are you going to make me?”

“We would never make you take a mate if you don’t want that,” Stefan said quickly, his silver eyes gleaming, powerful arms folding over his chest, which only accented the muscles of his biceps.

Why the hell did he have to be so handsome? Why did he have to be one of the first people Micah saw when he and the other omegas were being freed?

“Was there someone else you had in mind? Or was that a no to mating altogether?”

Micah was pulled out of the daze of his misery at such a question. He looked up at both dragons. “Someone else?”

“Don’t pressure him,” Stefan muttered, barely glancing to Seth before his attention turned back to Micah. “This isn’t meant to pressure you.”

And for the first time, Micah was starting to feel it.

“I was just asking,” Seth said.

“Well, don’t ask him,” Stefan replied.

It was strange how the man could sound protective and friendly at the same time. The undertone of a threat seemed to be there, and Micah honestly had no clue that any of the dragons in Seth’s clan could threaten their alpha.

Well, most of the dragons were alphas, but Seth was the one in charge.

Micah supposed that was just the difference between wolves and dragons. Different behaviors amongst the warriors of their kind.

“Actually, there was someone I had in mind, but I don’t think he’s interested.”

“We can talk to him if you want,” Seth said quickly.

“No,” Stefan replied. “He needs time to think this through.”

Micah scratched at the back of his neck. “I don’t want to force anyone into anything,” he said, his heart clenching at Stefan’s reaction.

“It’s not about force,” Seth said softly. “If he’s not interested, then I won’t be forcing anyone to do anything. That’s not the way it works, but we are interested in merging our two groups some more. Let me know the name of the dragon and I’ll run it by him.”

Micah’s heart wouldn’t stop slamming against his ribcage. He was going to have an honest-to-God heart attack, and he couldn’t stop it. He thought about the swift no that Stefan would give him, about how stupid it was for Micah to even hope for such a thing from a dragon of such high standing.

Who the hell was he kidding? This probably wasn’t going to happen, and he was going to look like a complete idiot for bringing it up.

But if he wanted Stefan to ever stop thinking of him as a victim, as someone who would never recover from what had happened to him, then he was going to have to take charge.

Wasn’t he?

“Actually,” Micah started, taking in a deep breath, “one of the reasons why I didn’t want to mate with Van was because I have feelings for Stefan.”

Both Seth and Stefan seemed to have the same reaction. They both stiffened in their chairs, and both sets of eyes widened, but Stefan was the first to speak, sounding unsure for the first time since Micah had met him. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Micah briefly looked away, gathered his courage, and tried to finish speaking. “Look, it’s all right if you don’t want me for a mate. I completely understand, and it’s not my intention to—”

“You’ve said enough,” Stefan replied sharply, nodding. “I’m yours.”

ADULT EXCERPT

“I’ve…I’ve never felt this before,” Micah said. “This is insane.”

Those words stopped Stefan in an instant. “Have you ever touched yourself before?”

Micah blinked. “What? Well, I have, but this is…this feels different.”

Stefan smiled at that. That was an answer he could definitely accept.

“Good, and it will feel different. When I’m inside you, stretching you wide open with my cock, I promise you will enjoy it.”

Micah’s throat worked in another nervous swallow. He nodded.

Stefan smiled. “I can see the only way I’m going to prove it to you will be to show you.”

He took Micah by his wrist and brought his hand down. Micah’s mismatched eyes widened when his palm made contact with Stefan’s still clothed dick.

“Feel that? That’s what you do to me.”

Stefan pulled his hand away from Micah’s wrist, and he was pleased when the omega’s hand stayed right where it was, touching, exploring the heavy length of Stefan’s cock.

Stefan gritted his teeth against the pleasure of it.

Micah, however, seemed fascinated, which was a wonderful compliment. “Uh, I don’t think this is going to fit inside me.”

Stefan didn’t mean to burst out laughing, but it just came. “Trust me, it will. I just have to get you ready.”

“I’m a little scared to ask how you’re going to do that.”

Stefan blinked, taken aback by those words, and he looked down at Micah in a whole new light.

Micah pushed himself a little deeper into the sheets beneath him. “What did I say?”

Stefan ignored the question. Micah wasn’t simply innocent in the ways of sex, he was…oh God, did he really not know what Stefan was going to do to him?

Suddenly, a whole new opportunity presented itself to him, and the excitement within Stefan’s body came to a boiling point. He pushed himself to his knees, lifting his shirt over his head and tossing it onto the floor.

Micah’s hands immediately came over his chest, abdomen, and nipples, touching everything he could. “You’re…” Micah didn’t finish, as if he didn’t have the words.

“I’m the one in awe of you,” Stefan promised. “This next part is the best part, trust me.”

Micah still appeared unsure, though he didn’t say why or what he expected Stefan to do to him at that point.

Stefan had an idea of what was going on. “I don’t know what the other servants told you happened in the bedroom with the vampires, but I am not a vampire, and I promise you will enjoy this part.”

“But won’t it hurt?”

“If I just go shoving away, it will,” Stefan said, inching his way down Micah’s body, taking hold of the man from beneath his knees and lifting them up high.

Micah’s heart jumped, and Stefan used that as a fuel to the fire he was currently struggling against.

“You’re not going to shove away?”

Stefan’s initial thoughts had been right.

“No, though, believe me, it’s not because I don’t want to.”

Micah nodded, his face still beautifully colored with pink. “I know. I felt your erection just now.”

Stefan nodded. “And now you’re going to feel something else.”

Micah’s small body made it a simple enough matter for Stefan to pull his hips and ass up high. Micah seemed to know what to do on instinct, how to balance himself, and his pleasured cry as Stefan pressed his tongue to the star shape of his asshole made his already heated blood spike with a powerful inferno.

He didn’t just tease around the tight hole. Stefan pushed forward right away, making it slick with his saliva and listening with pleasure as the omega, his omega, his mate, cried out and came from the sudden shock of his orgasm.

Stefan pulled back quickly, looking down at the man. Micah’s small chest was covered in his own cum, and he gasped for breath as if they had been fucking for hours instead of just getting started.

“Oh God,” Micah gasped, his chest rising and falling in heavy succession. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

Micah’s cock was still hard, and his testicles were still tight. Stefan smiled at the sight. Even an omega wolf still had a decent amount of stamina, and the mating heat Stefan was leading them both into was sure to be enough to keep them going for several more hours to come.

He was grateful to Seth for having the foresight to give him the time off he would need tomorrow.

“We’re going to be at this for a while.”

Micah nodded eagerly. “Yeah,” he puffed. “C-can you do that again?”

Stefan quickly set out to grant the wish of his mate.