STORY EXCERPT

“Lords and ladies, I give you the challenger!”

“Get up! For God’s sake, get up!”

Enzo Carrara groaned as he shifted and opened eyelids that felt way too heavy.

Everything was a blur, and the surface he was on chilled his skin, felt gritty with dirt, and was definitely not as soft as his bed should be.

“Get up!”

That noise. What the fuck was that noise that was all around him? The blur eventually left his eyes, and when it did, all that was left over was the headache, and the giant wish that everything he was seeing was one huge nightmare.

He was in a ring. He was actually in one of the fucking vampire arenas where they made alphas fight to the death, or in this case, fight to protect a mate.

Enzo had no clue who the cute redhead was that was screaming at him to get his ass up, but it didn’t matter, and he launched himself to his feet and grabbed onto the black panther that had been approaching him.

Enzo grabbed the giant cat around the throat and pulled back, yanking the heavy beast onto the ground, but the thing with cats was that they were agile, and it was already on four paws and throwing swipes of its sharp claws at him. Most of which Enzo barely managed to dodge.

The crowd of noble vampires who watched from behind their protective layer of glass all screamed and cheered as Enzo put himself between the chained down omega and the animal that would eat him alive if Enzo didn’t stop it.

Enzo could barely glance behind himself to see what was going on. The omega’s hands were chained to the concrete floor, and he had an open cut down the side of his face which trickled blood.

To get the attention of the big cat, no doubt. Enzo had never been in one of these arenas before. He was lucky for that, but he knew how this game was supposed to work. When an omega was put into the ring with an alpha and a wild animal, the only reason for that was because the vampires wanted a show.

They wanted to see an alpha go all out, fight to the death if he had to in order to defend his mate.

The stupid vampires didn’t realize that it took more than putting an alpha and an omega together to make a mated pair. Enzo had never seen that guy before in his life, but he wasn’t about to let him get ripped apart by a starved panther either.

Where in the fucking hell did these vampires even manage to get a panther from? It was insane!

The cat roared and lunged, swiping another paw out at him, which Enzo did a duck and roll to get out of the way of. Unfortunately, that put the panther and the omega right into each others’ sights.

“No!” the omega yelled, yanking on his chains to try and get away, but there was nowhere for him to go. He didn’t have enough slack on the chains to do anything. He couldn’t hide. He couldn’t run. He couldn’t defend himself, and the panther suddenly forgot all about Enzo.

“Hey! Hey!” Enzo yelled. He wanted the fucking thing’s attention, but its eyes were on the shaking omega.

The young man looked right at Enzo. “Help me! Please!”

Enzo shifted. He didn’t think it would be possible but his wolf exploded right out of him, and he growled and lunged at the cat.

The panther turned just as Enzo charged it, body slamming the creature away from the omega on the ground. The cat might’ve been agile, but Enzo had a thinking man’s mind still inside of him, and he wasn’t about to let this thing get anywhere near the man behind him.

He could hear the omega’s heart beating. Enzo could actually hear that fluctuating, frightened heart jumping around even through all the noise of the vampires above him, surrounding him.

The cat opened its mouth and roared, and all Enzo could see in its eyes was a tired desperation.

For a hair of a second, he felt sorry for it. It was starving and had scars on its face and body that came up even through what would have otherwise been perfectly smooth, black fur. An animal like this should have never been put in captivity and beaten until it was deemed fit to give a proper show.

Enzo steeled himself and lowered his head, growling again, feeling his hackles rising up on his back.

As sorry as he felt for the animal, he wasn’t about to let it rip apart another omega because it was hungry. One of them was going to die, and Enzo was going to choose the panther.

He gave what had to have once been a proud creature a silent apology before he charged at it. The panther roared and ran right back at him.

Enzo attacked with his teeth, and the panther was more about its claws, but the strength of Enzo’s jaws was strong, stronger than any other animal the panther would have come across in the wild, wherever it was that panthers came from.

He bit down hard, his teeth getting through the protective fur and tough muscle, and he ripped its throat right out. Blood sprayed everywhere, and the vampires above him went apeshit as the panther sagged and stopped fighting and moving.

Whether it was because of the kill Enzo had made, or the blood that was spilling all over the floor, he had no idea, and he didn’t care either.

Enzo shifted back into his human shape, and he looked down at himself. He had deep claw marks all over his body, and he knelt down and pressed his hand to the panther’s side, feeling that there was no longer a heartbeat within it.

“Good fight,” he said, patting the fur and wishing there was more he could do.

The only thing he could do was check on the omega and find out what the hell was going on here.

ADULT EXCERPT

“You like that?” Danny asked.

“Fuck, yeah,” Enzo moaned. He wasn’t even on the bed yet. He was just leaning over the other man and soaking up the pleasure of being touched and teased the way he was. “You are so fucking good. I’m going to put my cock in you and fuck you until you’re screaming my name.”

Danny actually grabbed onto some of Enzo’s hair and yanked on it. “Then please, for the love of God, hurry up and do it before I come again.”

Enzo smiled. To be young and impatient again. Enzo could remember when he was still a horny twenty-year-old, and the idea of getting off as quickly as possible always seemed so much more appealing than just taking his time and drawing out his pleasure for as long as possible, bringing about an even stronger orgasm.

Enzo wanted to tease the smaller man, so he was going to do it. “You can’t possibly mean this,” he said, grabbing Danny between the legs and stroking the length of his cock through his pants. “Can’t hold out until I’m inside you, can you?” Enzo asked.

Danny grunted as Enzo touched him again and again, palming and stroking him through his pants. Enzo was fascinated by the way Danny’s eyes rolled to the back of his head again and again. He was clearly fighting this off.

“Th–that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Danny said, and then he moaned again when Enzo leaned in and pressed his tongue to one of Danny’s exposed nipples. It was hard against Enzo’s mouth, and Danny arched his back to get even closer when Enzo turned his attention to the other one. “Fuck, yeah, that’s it, touch me, Enzo, fuck me,” Danny said, gasping each word that came out of his mouth, and Enzo’s cock swelled between his legs.

He couldn’t hold out for much longer either. Each touch, each taste of the smaller man brought Enzo closer to the edge, and he was barely doing anything to his own cock right now.

Enzo lifted himself away from the smaller man, and he laughed at the small groan that Danny let out. The omega reached for him, but Enzo ducked away from his hands. “Don’t you worry,” he said. “I’m not going very far.”

“Where are you going?” Danny asked.

He sounded like he was having a mild panic attack over the thought of Enzo leaving him, even for a minute.

Enzo just moved to the other side of the bed, where the nightstand was. He wasn’t about to chain Danny to that bar that was above their heads, or use any of those toys on a young man who had no idea how to use half of them, but there was one thing he definitely needed, and he was pretty sure the vampires wouldn’t have forgotten it.

He sighed when he found what he was looking for in the drawer, and he pulled it out and wiggled it at his soon-to-be lover. “We’re going to need some lube if you want me to really have fun with you.”

Pleasure rippled through Enzo’s body at the sight of the shiver that pulsed through Danny. The young man quickly removed his pants and tossed them off of the bed.

Enzo laughed as he put his own knees onto the mattress and climbed on. Danny didn’t take those gorgeous eyes off of him, and the wolf inside of Enzo howled at that look. It was like Danny was already possessing him, staking a claim. No omega looked at an alpha like that without there being something between them, and this looked like it was going to be one of those cases.

Fuck. Enzo was going to break this kid’s heart when it came time for them to part ways. The odd thing about that was how Enzo’s own heart gave a painful squeeze in his chest at just the thought of sending Danny back to the city, back to where Enzo didn’t live, and then never seeing him again.

This was just sex. That was what Danny had said, and the kid was old enough to know what he wanted, and to know what he was getting into.

“How do you want me?” Danny asked, and the hard look in his eyes told Enzo that the kid was willing to do whatever Enzo wanted him to just to make Enzo happy.

“Grab onto the pillows,” Enzo said. “Put one behind your head and the other beneath your lower back.”

Danny hurried to do as he was told. It was almost comical how eager he was to please, but then he was in position and looking up at Enzo expectantly, his hard cock in his hand, which Enzo already knew was a nice size. Danny certainly never had to worry about that, that was for sure.

“Now what? Do you want me to lift my hips for you?” Danny asked, clearly getting ready for the preparation part of this.

Enzo shook his head. “No,” he said, which was only weird for a moment when he realized exactly what it was that he wanted so badly. “I want to suck on your cock,” Enzo said, and he leaned down between Danny’s legs to do just that, spreading the man’s thighs out just enough to get him ready.

He could hear the way Danny’s heart sped up as Enzo leaned down and took hold of the man’s cock in his own larger hand.

“O–okay,” Danny said, and he hissed audibly when Enzo licked his tongue up the column of his hard dick.

Enzo looked up at him, and he couldn’t help but smile. “You haven’t had many people go down on you before, have you?” he asked.

“N–no, I mean, once or twice, you know, that many times, I guess.”

A rumbling started up in Enzo’s chest. His wolf was growling in approval.