STORY EXCERPT

Dylan had never seen such a beautiful man. He tried to keep his attention on his work, but he found himself constantly looking over at Preston. Dylan couldn’t help but be distracted by his long brown hair and the softest brown eyes nestled in the most delicate features. Preston was the exact opposite of Dylan. Where he was giant, Preston was tiny. Where he was intimidating, Preston was subtle. But more than anything, where Dylan was big, bad, and ugly, Preston was small, sweet, and stunning.

They were in a cabin in the woods, trying to twin the souls of a bear-shifter and a wolf-shifter. In order to do this, they needed the nexus from each shifter group, Dylan and Preston. The two of them lay beside their respective brother on a bed that seemed to be getting smaller by the minute. But it wasn’t small enough for Dylan to be next to Preston.

The leaders of the bear and wolf collectives were overseeing the first and probably only interaction between their two warring groups because if they didn’t twin the two men, their tormented souls would scream until both Dylan and Preston died. Dylan certainly didn’t want to die. He had a lot he wanted to live for. But now, after meeting Preston, he had one more very compelling reason to fix this mess. No matter what, by the time the night was over, he was going to kiss Preston.

“It’s not working.” Preston pulled back from his wolf-shifting brother.

“No, it’s not.” Dylan pulled back from his bear-shifting brother. He felt the two men’s souls screaming for twinning, but no matter what he and Preston did, they simply couldn’t get their souls to merge.

Over the two men, Dylan considered Preston, who looked back at him with his enormous brown puppy eyes. Preston had the longest, thickest lashes Dylan had ever seen. And then, in a curious flash, Dylan swore he’d seen Preston before. But that was crazy. Tonight was the first time the bear sloth and the wolf pack had ever met outside the gridiron. Yet the feeling that he knew Preston was so strong Dylan opened his mouth to ask if they’d seen each other during one of the football games.

“I’m sorry. The souls are screaming, but the bond isn’t fully connected.” Preston kept his gaze locked on Dylan almost as if he were begging him not to ask that telling question, so he didn’t.

“I feel that, too.” Dylan reached for Preston’s hand. When the contact came, Preston blushed and looked down. Red-washed cheeks highlighted the soft curves of his features and multiplied his prettiness by a factor of about a thousand. The more Dylan looked at him, the more puppyish he seemed to be. Not that such an appearance was at all surprising, given he was the nexus for a pack of wolf-shifters. Preston was tiny, winsome, and almost delicate. To sum him up in one word, Dylan would have to say Preston was beautiful.

Below Dylan there was a slight cough, and he looked down at his brother, who raised his eyebrows for him to get on with this. Embarrassed that he’d gotten so lost in looking at Preston, Dylan covered by considering his brother and saying, “There is a part missing.” He held Quinn’s gaze for as long as he could, but eventually, Dylan’s gaze was drawn right back to Preston.

“We can’t twin them if they aren’t fully bonded.” Preston spoke directly into Dylan’s mind.

“What’s wrong with their bond?” Dylan thought that was probably a safer question than how the two of them could mentally communicate. He wasn’t sure if the fact they were each a nexus made the communication possible or something else.

“I’m not sure, but we need to talk to our leaders.”

Dylan nodded.

“You need to let go of me.”

This time it was Dylan who blushed. He hadn’t wanted to let go of Preston’s hand, but he did, and they climbed off the bed. The two men, Quinn and Maxwell, stayed on the mattress while Dylan and Preston, along with their two leaders, left the cabin to discuss the issue.

“Explain to me what is missing.” Grayson was the leader of the Lone Pine Wolves. He was egotistical, arrogant, and so full of himself Dylan wouldn’t be surprised to see him carrying around a mirror so he could peer lovingly at himself. The only redeeming quality the man had was he clearly and unequivocally cared about all his pack members.

“It’s as if the bond is there but only one direction.” Dylan didn’t know how to put into words what he’d felt while trying to twin them. He’d shown his bear-shifting brothers what it was like when he twinned them, but this was a whole new ball game given one man was a bear and one was a wolf. It was similar to the proverbial trying to shove a round peg in a square hole.

“Fix it,” Grayson demanded.

Dylan wanted to snarl, Don’t you think I would if I could, shithead? But he didn’t get the chance when Preston touched the sleeve of his leader’s shirt.

With his nose up in the air, Grayson peered down at Preston. Neat trick that, given how awkward it looked.

“May I speak?” Preston’s voice was barely a whisper on the wind.

Grayson nodded. “You may.”

Dylan rolled his eyes at how pompous the man was.

“I believe what Dylan said is correct. The bond flows one way from Quinn to Maxwell. There is not a corresponding energy flow from Maxwell to Quinn.”

Unlike his counterpart, Danny, the leader of the bear sloth, didn’t feel the need to put himself above everyone else. Danny asked, “How might we repair this energy flow?”

“We cannot.” Preston appeared truly devastated that he couldn’t fix this for them. “They must.” Preston pointed back toward the cabin.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Take me here, Dylan. Claim me.” Preston whispered the words directly into Dylan’s mind.

“You should be laid down on a bed of silk, with candles all around to show off the beauty of your face and body.”

“But we’re animals,” Preston reminded, grinding himself against Dylan’s raging hard-on. “Take me here, in our element. In the woods, in the moonlight, on a blanket of pine needles.”

Dylan tried to resist, but it was as if Preston chanted in time with the beat of his heart, and nothing inside him could withstand his insistent call.

“Claim me.”

“I don’t want to hurt you. I have nothing to ease my way inside you.” As much as Dylan would love to slide his cock into his sweet puppy, he refused to do anything that would cause him pain.

“I’m ready for you.”

“Do you feel that?” Dylan rocked his hips a few times, making sure that Preston got a damn good impression of how long and thick his cock was. “I’m not being vain when I say that I’m big. You, on the other hand, are so tiny I can almost span your lower back with one hand.”

“I feel how big you are. I still want you to claim me. And I swear, I’m ready.”

Dylan pulled back and peered at Preston’s face.

“Maxwell had them, but since he already prepared himself for Quinn, I didn’t think he’d mind me taking the rest.”

“The rest of what?” Dylan had no idea what Preston was talking about.

From his back pocket, Preston extracted a tube of what looked like vitamin-E pills. “One of these will slick me up inside for you.” Preston pushed the information about the curious items into Dylan’s head. Grayson had invented the little suppositories so his beta pack members would always be ready for their alpha counterparts. “I haven’t put one in yet, but it only takes a minute, and—”

Dylan cut him off with another soul-bending kiss. Maybe this was the perfect place to lay his claim. Before he allowed himself to think too deeply about what he was doing, Dylan lowered Preston’s feet to the ground. With one big hand, he yanked down Preston’s zipper and then shoved his pants and underwear down. Even in the pale moonlight, he saw that Preston wore tight, white underwear. Growling, Dylan got Preston’s clothing down to his knees and then turned him so he faced the tree.

“Ready yourself for me.”

Reaching back, Preston inserted one of the gels, then turned back around.

Dylan was on the verge of facing him toward the tree again when Preston dropped to his knees and worked the fasteners of Dylan’s jeans apart. Pushing the thick fabric down gave him access to his much thinner boxers, which Preston yanked down until the wads of fabric bunched underneath Dylan’s junk, effectively putting him on display.

“So big and thick.” Preston kissed the tip of his prick worshipfully. “Proud and strong.” Licking his way around the crown, Preston was preparing Dylan to claim him. As if he wasn’t hard enough. Any more of his hungry mouth and there wouldn’t be anything left with which to claim him.

“Up.” Dylan didn’t wait for Preston to obey. He grabbed his shoulders and turned him toward the tree. “Hang on.”

“Yes, my mate.”

Those words pushed something inside Dylan. He’d always wanted his first time to be magical, and this was, but he thought it would be slow and sweet, too. Dylan hated the truth, but the fact was he was a romantic. As much as he would like to do that for Preston and himself, he couldn’t resist the animal instinct that told him now was the time. This was the place. And beautiful little Preston was his mate.

When Preston clung to the tree and lifted his bottom, Dylan growled. Reaching out, Dylan slid his finger between Preston’s pale cheeks, rubbing across his tight hole. With every fiber of his being, he wanted to breach that snug opening. When Preston lowered his head with a submissive sigh, Dylan had to restrain himself from plunging into him. Instead, he pressed the tip of one thick finger into his ass.

Preston angled his bottom up to welcome the invading digit. He was indeed slick inside. So slick that Dylan was able to work his finger in and out with barely any friction. But the ring that guarded his channel was tight. If Dylan did what all his instincts were clamoring for him to do, he would hurt his puppy, and Dylan refused to injure him.

“Ride back on my finger.”

Preston squirmed while Dylan held his arm steady. Watching Preston fuck himself on his hand just about made Dylan cream. It was as if Preston performed a mating dance to further attract Dylan when he didn’t need any more inducements. When Preston seemed comfortable, Dylan eased another finger inside.

With a cry, Preston lifted up, softening the angle. After a moment, he adjusted and lowered himself again, riding on two of Dylan’s thick fingers.

“Do you like that?” Dylan asked.

“I love the feel of you inside me.”

“I love watching you.”

“Wait until you see me ride your cock.”