STORY EXCERPT 

“Seriously? Again?” Cave laughed while his mate, Justice, leaned against the wall and shook his head.

“Oh shut it,” I growled and threw on my jacket. “It’s the best food in the city! You just haven’t tried it, so you don’t understand its addictive qualities.”

“Foodie,” Justice teased. I playfully stuck my tongue out at him since I wasn’t really cranky with him. He was an easygoing guy who didn’t judge and didn’t care about a person’s quirks as long as they were happy. He was the type of mate I hoped to have one day.

“Champ! Focus! And stop staring at my mate. It’s creepy,” Cave ordered, complete with pout and foot stomp.

“Sorry,” I mumbled and looked at the floor. It wasn’t like I wanted Justice for myself or would ever contemplate trying to steal him. I simply wanted a mate of my own. “I just hope my mate doesn’t think I’m a freak and is like Justice. Everyone else picks on me, but he only teases because he’s got too big of a heart to be mean.”

“Hey now,” Justice said gently as he hopped up on the kitchen counter. “No one’s been trying to be mean when they tease you, Champ. I think they do it just for a little camaraderie with you, and that’s all they know about you.”

“What? That I’m a big pig? Maze is just as bad as I am, so why do I get all the shit?” I asked, shooting Cave an evil look as I threw his earlier words back in his face.

“You think we’re being serious?” Cave replied as his face paled. “Champ, you’re completely healthy with a good weight for your height. You’re not fat or chunky, so that’s why we tease you for always eating. We can’t imagine where you put it. And this is your, what, eighth time going to this restaurant this week?”

“Tenth,” I answered, looking at my feet. “You’ll see how good it is tomorrow. I made reservations for all of us to go.”

“That was very nice of you to think of us.” Justice elbowed his mate, who nodded.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to see what all your hype is about,” Cave said with a smile, but then got serious. “None of us ever meant to hurt your feelings.”

“Whatever.” I ’ported out of there to the alley behind the restaurant because I was tired of the conversation. We didn’t teleport to places unless we had a secure place to ’port into so we didn’t get accidently seen appearing somewhere. Emergencies were exceptions.

Not that a dark alley was really all that great of a locale, but since the drive from Deerfield to the loop was a joke around dinnertime…  I’d be bald at the end of it from pulling out all my hair. After my first time here, I found a corner in the alley to ’port to instead.

I walked around front, still cranky from my conversation. But when I entered Food For Thought and caught wind of all the divine scents, I felt my bad mood slipping away.

“Welcome back, Mr. Smith,” the perky hostess, Janet, said as she eyed me over like the special on the menu, starting with my eyes and lingering a little longer than appropriate on my groin. “I have your table ready.”

“Thank you so much,” I replied with a genuine smile as she took my coat. Her blonde ponytail bobbed dramatically, swishing against the nape of her neck, and she was still smiling when she turned back to me. It was so infectious that I felt my own smile kick up a notch brighter. Girls might not do it for me in the sack, but I can appreciate beauty when I see it. Besides, her less-than-subtle flirting was kind of cute.

I followed her to a quiet little table in the back, practically bouncing as I went. So I liked to eat. What’s wrong with that?

“Your waiter will be right with you.” Then she gave me one last smile before going back to her hostess stand and leaving me to my thoughts.

I worked out. I wasn’t overweight or a glutton really. I was just always hungry. Elves in general eat a lot because we have very high metabolisms, but I seemed to have an accelerated one. My friends joked, calling me the king of “are you going to finish that?” So what? I didn’t like perfectly good food going to waste either. I didn’t see what the big deal was.

Maze was always stuffing his face, too. The only reason I could think that I got picked on was that I actually labeled everything, breakfast one, breakfast two, lunch one, lunch two, dinner one, and dinner two. Throw in some snacks and…okay fine I ate like a horse. Just not our Horse, though he didn’t exactly eat like a rabbit either.

“Hello, my name is Kevin, and I’ll be your waiter. Tonight’s special is duck with madeira, bacon, and olives.”

“Hey,” I said with a shy glance at my menu. The guy was staring as if I’d offer myself up to him for the news. I knew I wasn’t bad to look at, but sometimes I wondered if people were attracted to me because I was a magical being. Maybe some humans could just tell and they were drawn to us. I didn’t really know, but sometimes it unnerved me when people were so forward with their attraction, like Kevin undressing me with his eyes. “Chef Drake is working?”

“Yes, sir,” he answered with a smile. “What can I get you started with?”

It wasn’t so much that he’d said something to make me uncomfortable, but there was just something about him that rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it was crooked smirk on his lips or the way his eyes raked over my body as though he was mentally undressing me.  

ADULT EXCERPT

  “Please, please just fuck me already,” he begged as his legs shook. “I want to feel you, Jim.” I closed my eyes against the pain in my chest as I pushed in a second finger. I wanted him to be calling out my real name, not my human one. Ali had to be my mate for me to have that reaction, but my fangs weren’t trying to pop out. I ignored the confusion I felt and set on the sole purpose of pleasing Ali.

When he was ready for a third finger, I tried to slide it in with the others, but he went tense again. Easing my fingers from his clenching hole, I moved so I was in between him and the counter then leaned forward and sucked on the head of his dripping cock. I worked the base of his thick length with one hand while I used my lube-slicked fingers to skim along his perineum and tap at his hole again. He moaned wantonly and relaxed, allowing me to insert all three fingers. Moments later, I had him ready. I pulled off his dick, removed my fingers from his ass, and stood, using the rest of the slick on myself after rolling on a condom.

“Say yes, Ali. Let me have you,” I said in my best seductive voice. “I need you.”

“Yes, fuck, yes, take me!” He cried out as I moved behind him again and covered his back, rubbing my cock against his hole. I sighed in relief that he hadn’t changed his mind and pushed inside of him, trying to go slow, but it wasn’t easy. “Fuck, it burns.”

“Too much? That will go away once I start moving.” I rubbed his lower back, upset I was causing him any distress.

“No, it’s okay. I’m just surprised maybe.” He took a few deep breaths when I bottomed out inside of him, and I held still, letting him get used to the invasion. “It’s passing, I’m ready now.”

“I’ll start slow.”

He glanced up at the timer and shook his head. “Seven minutes until the clams are ready.” Fuck! I’d taken more time getting him ready than I thought.

I grabbed his hips and started thrusting in and out of him fast but not hard, short jabbing motions to make sure he was stretched enough. And that’s when my fangs slid out. He was my mate! I’d found my mate after all of these years. I was so happy that I’d not only found my other half, but it was someone like Ali, that I wanted to cry.

Ali moaned liked a slut and reached back to pull his ass farther apart for me. I take it he liked it.

“You feel so fucking good, honey,” I cooed as I picked up the pace, surging into him as a loud groan rumbled in my chest. “Is the burning gone?” I didn’t want to hurt him, but I couldn’t stop. The tight, slick heat that surrounded my cock was better than heaven, and the way his inner walls convulsed around me sent my head spinning.

“Yes, feels amazing. I never want it to stop,” he admitted and turned his head to look back at me over his shoulder. I buried my face in his back between his shoulder blades. I wasn’t sure I could get my fangs to retract while I was so focused on our coupling, and I didn’t want to scare him.

Now that his hole was used to me, I started taking him harder, not really slamming into him yet, but working up to it. Ali really liked that, giving soft cries each time I buried myself in him to the root. And when I started nailing his sweet spot, I almost laughed at the ramblings that came out of his mouth.

“Oh god, oh fuck, never been like this. So fucking good. How did I not know I wanted to bottom? Maybe it’s just being with you? Yes, that must be it. You know what you’re doing, and I really like you, even before you showed me I want to become a sex addict.”

“Only to me, Ali,” I growled and pumped my hips faster, digging my fingers into his hips as I pounded into him. “You’re only to become addicted to sex with me!”

“Yes, yes, of course,” he moaned and then cried out as I reached down and started stroking his dick furiously. “Gonna—Jim!”