STORY EXCERPT

Albert munched his way through three strips of bacon, two fried eggs, and a pile of plump button mushrooms glistening with butter. There was toast on the side, which he chomped on intermittently, enjoying the feast. Gideon had cooked that morning, after Albert’s late start, and was proving to be a pretty decent chef. Albert heard his breakfast companions chatting idly about the day ahead, his interest perking up when he heard a name that he recognized.

“Dorothy Fielding lived here?” Mikhail asked Finn, who, after two weeks confined to bed, was now limping about the place and had, for the first time, joined them for their morning meal.

“Yeah,” Finn was saying, and Albert focused on the rough velvet voice, almost sighing with pleasure. He could listen to Finn talk all day about absolutely nothing. It would have the same effect on his senses. “Dorothy was Fielding’s wife, won as some kind of a payment owed by her father. Her dad was killed, and she and her son ended up on the property of our favorite deceased aristocrat.”

“She’s still alive?” Albert asked timidly and flinched a little when all eyes turned toward him. Finn, River, Gideon, Robert, and Mikhail were seated at the table, and he found himself the focus of all attention. He rarely spoke at all when in a group.

“You know her?” Mikhail enquired, his hazel eyes intent.

“She was nice,” Albert responded nervously, looking down at his plate. “She and her son always made sure I was fed and had enough clothes. She was kind. Her son, Arthur, is cute. He’s only about six years old but very bright. Sir Aaron was planning to adopt him and treated him as though he were his own son.” He grimaced ruefully. “I wasn’t the son he thought I’d be.”

“Honest? Trustworthy? Kind?” Finn said dryly. “No, I don’t suppose you were the sort of person Fielding had a lot of time for. He prefers his servants to be just like him.”

“Cruel? Thuggish? Dishonest?” Robert cut in, smiling a little.

Albert shot him a shy look and nodded. “That sums him up,” he admitted, smiling back. “He was a horrible person.”

“We heard from reliable sources that Martin D’Arcy is probably hunting Dorothy,” Mikhail said, taking a bite of toast loaded with strawberry jam.

“She did something before she left,” Albert said, almost inaudibly.

“She stole Fielding’s money,” Robert stated knowingly.

“Not stole,” Albert protested, looking at him. “It was hers by default. She was his wife, and he left everything to his adopted son, whom he named as Arthur in his will, and made her the trustee of his assets. She had every right.”

“He had a will?” River asked. “He must have known he was living on borrowed time.”

“Not really.” Albert shrugged. “He was paranoid about people in his organization getting their hands on the money. He had several offshore accounts, which he guarded viciously.” He frowned, remembering just how viciously. “He whipped me once just for knocking on his door when he was on his computer. Told me I was a spy working for his enemies.”

Finn growled at that and fixed Albert with a fierce stare. “He won’t be whipping anyone else,” he said.

Albert glanced at him and felt warm all over as he viewed the truth in the man’s eyes. Finn was telling him that nobody else would be able to hurt him, either. “I’ll bite their ankles if somebody else wants to try,” he said, snapping his canines together.

Finn grinned back. “I’ll bite their face off,” he said.

“I’ll kick them in the nuts,” Albert shot back, smiling a little.

“I’ll claw their arms off,” Finn retorted.

“Gentlemen,” Gideon cut in, sounding pained. “I’m trying to enjoy my bacon and eggs without all this violent talk,” he said, which caused at least three at the table to laugh raucously at the comment.

Albert stared at him then grinned at the humor in the man’s eyes. “Of course,” he mocked, chomping on some bacon. “We all know you’re a pacifist.”

The group burst into laughter again at that one. Gideon was a brawler, through and through. Nobody could ever call him a pacifist.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Gideon drawled, winking at Albert.

“Neither would I,” River said, kissing his lover and best friend. “Sometimes, though, the term pacifier springs to mind, not pacifist, but only when you’re whining.”

Everyone laughed again, and Gideon flipped them all off. “Don’t listen, young Skywalker,” Gideon whispered loudly to Albert, trying for an Obi-Wan Kenobi kind of an accent.

“I’m not.” Albert grinned then giggled. “Besides, the word you’re looking for is dummy, not pacifier. We’re in England, remember?”

Gideon clutched his chest in mock affront. “Sweetie, how wrong can one person be?” he said dramatically then leaned in close. “I think you’ll find we’re in Wales, not England.”

Albert giggled again since Gideon was tacitly acknowledging the insult and shook his head then took a sip of his tea, looking over at Finn again, who was smiling at the exchange.

Finn’s gaze darkened perceptibly as they locked gazes, and Albert’s breath hitched in his throat. The big lion shifter was viewing Albert with a definitely lusty light. Albert studied the man’s stunning amber eyes, the color of good brandy and the jumble of browns and golds in his shaggy, nape-length hair. Finn’s face was all angles, his cheekbones hinting at Native American ancestry, his nose strong and proud, with a small bump on it. Albert presumed the tiny flaw was due to fighting…whether at Sir Aaron’s hands or elsewhere, Albert couldn’t be sure. Everything about Finn shouted tough guy, rough and brash, yet Albert had witnessed the six-foot-three-inch shifter treat an injured fox shifter with incredible gentleness. It had been at that moment that Albert had felt a yearning to be handled like that.

ADULT EXCERPT

The bedroom was warm, a fire blazing in the hearth, pouring out heat. Albert was sweating, his body sheened with moisture, gilded by the light from the flames, the only illumination.

“Take me,” Albert pleaded, staring up at his gorgeous lover, legs spread wide and lifted so that his knees were up near his chin. “Claim me again.”

Finn stared in awe, mesmerized by the sight of Albert’s stunning physique presented to him like a banquet, ready for feasting. He took a breath, struggling to take in oxygen as he saw the love and desire in Albert’s beautiful eyes. “You’re incredible,” he murmured, brushing his lover’s hole lightly with one finger. Albert shuddered, the darkness of his eyes obscured in the shadows, but Finn could read his expression. Lust. Sultry and tangible, the scent of it teasing Finn’s nostrils, turning him on.

Albert began fingering himself, arching his back as he probed his own orifice with two fingers, and Finn couldn’t resist adding a third, feeling the clench of muscles around him. He nailed Albert’s prostate, watching the array of expressions flit across Albert’s face. Surprise, ecstasy, need, and love as they locked gazes.

“That’s…” Albert stammered, biting his lip when Finn raked his finger ruthlessly across the small gland. “Oh, God, that feels amazing. Don’t stop.”

“Never,” Finn retorted gruffly and sank lower, fusing his lips to Albert’s, shallow fucking Albert’s ass relentlessly. They kissed passionately, lost in the storm of emotions roiling between them. Finn gripped Albert’s sweat-damp hair, holding him in place as he ate at him like a starving man. He couldn’t get enough of the man. It astounded him that he had found such an incredible mate, a man who had courage and had survived so much heartache that Finn knew he would never stop loving him. “Come for me, darling,” he whispered against Albert’s succulent lips. On cue, Albert came, painting their abs with thick cream as he unleashed about a gallon of cum. “So sexy,” Finn grunted approvingly, dragging his mouth away from his lover’s as he slid down Albert’s body and lapped at the sticky mess, hungry for the taste.

Albert moaned softly, panting as he gripped Finn’s thick hair in his fists. “Claim me,” he begged for the second time.

Finn reared up, anointing his dick with Albert’s juices, then positioned himself at the gates to heaven. “Why didn’t you say so?” he teased, hearing Albert’s startled laugh then a low groan as he entered Albert’s slender chute with exquisite care.

“More,” Albert pleaded, arching his back, allowing Finn to sink deeper.

Finn gritted his teeth, wanting to come, the shivers of Albert’s hungry hole milking his cock until he nearly lost it before it had begun. “Easy there, tiger,” he grunted, pinching the root of his cock. “I want this to be good for you.”

“Finn, if it gets any better I’ll be melting through the floor,” Albert said breathlessly, grinning.

Finn bottomed out, snarling softly in pleasure as he felt himself enveloped inside the silken walls of Albert’s body. He could feel Albert’s responses, felt his groans and murmurs of delight, and the subtle clench of muscles adjusting to the monster dick now wedged deep inside.

Albert stared up at Finn, mouth parted, his legs splayed in wanton supplication as Finn began to move finally. Stroking Albert’s flanks soothingly, Finn gathered momentum and, on his haunches, was soon pounding into his mate’s taut ass. Their cries blended together in a song of ecstasy until Finn lost it completely, undone by his mate’s loving embrace. Without pausing, once his first load was deposited, Finn slowed down the tempo, lifting Albert’s leg higher and nuzzling his in-step. Then he sucked erotically on each perfectly formed toe, making love to his mate in a show of sensual skill he’d never imagined he possessed.

“Finn,” Albert sighed, clutching the damp sheets, his body writhing in time to Finn’s strong, slow thrusts.

Finn licked his way along Albert’s slender foot, nipping at the sensitive skin behind his knee, then sucked on it tenderly. Albert bucked beneath him, crying out in desperate pleasure. Smiling, Finn sank lower between Albert’s thighs, mouthing the man’s tiny nipples, sucking on them as he undulated against his lover’s ass.

“Come again, darling,” Finn whispered, sinking his fangs into Albert’s glistening throat, gripping Albert’s cock and pumping it until Albert came with a half-scream, shuddering mightily. Finn felt the warmth of his lover’s release, felt his mate’s life force flowing over his tongue, and drank the sweet-salty nectar greedily. Then he lapped at the wound before snapping his hips, once, twice, as he came for a second time, deep inside Albert’s gorgeous ass. Groaning, the pair clung to one another, kissing urgently then with a languid tenderness that left them both reeling as they came back to earth.

“I love you,” Albert choked out, muffled by Finn’s hungry mouth.

“I love you, too,” Finn replied, still fused to his lover, not wanting to leave the moist heat of his mate. “I don’t want this to end.”