STORY EXCERPT

Positive.

It just wasn’t possible. Matthew Jackson pushed a shaky hand through his short brown hair and stared down at the little stick again. The stupid little window still read positive.

Two lines.

Not one.

Matty grabbed the directions that had come with the box and read them again, just knowing that he had to have messed up the test somehow. It was the only explanation because any other outcome just wasn’t fucking possible.

Nope.

One line meant negative.

Two lines meant positive.

Matty glanced at the white stick again, hoping one of the lines would suddenly disappear, or that someone would jump into the room and screamed “fooled ya!” Yeah, no one was there except him. He even closed his eyes and called in every birthday wish he had ever made. When he opened his eyes again, he still saw two thin pink lines.

Damn!

Matty groaned and tossed the stick into the garbage can right along with the first five tests he had taken—all of which had been positive. Staring down at his hands for a moment, he pressed his fingers together as he tried to accept what he was seeing with his own two eyes.

He had dismissed the nausea that had come last month as the stomach bug that had been going around the grocery store where he worked. When he started to throw up at the smallest little whiff of almost anything, being sick made sense. Everyone was getting sick. When he started to add on a couple of pounds a few weeks later, his renewed appetite after being sick was the perfect explanation.

But the butterflies that started fluttering in his stomach last week couldn’t be explained away by overeating or a stomach bug. Matty didn’t have a single explanation for them. Not one. And that made him more scared than he could ever remember being.

Hell, he was downright terrified.

Maybe it was gallstones?

Or a tumor?

He was even hoping for a brain aneurism right about now.

There had to be a reasonable explanation because the one he was coming up with just wasn’t possible. He had taken the stupid test just because he had run out of answers. Matty had full confidence that couldn’t possibly be the answer.

Fuck if he hadn’t been wrong.

Matty pushed to his feet and walked out of the bathroom and down the hallway to the kitchen. He grabbed the phone book and started looking through the white pages for the free clinic down in Old Town.

Maybe it was time to call in the experts.

Once he found what he was looking for, Matty wrote the address down then went to find his jacket. He started to grab his wallet off the entry table then had a second thought about that. Did he really want anyone knowing who he really was under the circumstances?

The Old Town Free Clinic took in a lot of indigent patients. Maybe he could get away with telling them he was homeless and didn’t have any identification. It was better than the alternative—which would most likely get him a free ride to the local insane asylum.

Matty grabbed his bus pass, some cash, his house keys, and his brown hoody. He left everything else behind as he walked out of the front door and headed for the closest bus stop. His stomach was in knots and threatening to rebel but this time, Matty was pretty sure that it was due to nerves. That didn’t mean he didn’t want to run to the nearest bathroom the second he got off the bus and throw up.

He’d say that being nauseous was the worst part of this whole ordeal, but he’d be lying through his teeth. Not even the looming chaos he was pretty sure his life was about to fall into was the worst.

No, not knowing what in the hell was going on was the worst. At least if he knew, or had some warning, he might know what to expect. Instead, he was finding everything out as it happened and then freaking out because shit like this just wasn’t possible.

The bus ride seemed to take forever, and Matty could swear that every unbathed, sweaty person on the planet sat right next to him. By the time the bus stopped down the block from the clinic, Matty practically ran from the bus.

He ignored the whistles from a couple of smarmy-looking men standing on the corner, stopped long enough to drop a couple of dollars into the can the homeless man was holding, then made his way inside the clinic.

“I…uh…need to see a doctor,” Matty said when he reached the check-in counter. He tapped his fingers nervously on the countertop as he waited for the registration nurse to acknowledge him.

“Fill this out.” The woman held out a clipboard with a form on it and a pen attached to the clipboard by a small silver chain.

“Thank you,” Matty whispered then turned away and walked over to one of the empty chairs. It didn’t take more than ten minutes for Matty to fill out the form, mostly because he wasn’t exactly sure what to check besides his vital statistics.

Nauseous.

Stomach cramps.

Tiredness.

Headaches.

Weight gain.

Frequent urination.

Strange cravings.

Sore nipples—yeah, he was thrilled with that one.

God! Matty tilted his head back and stared up at the ceiling. He was a fucking idiot. He knew that. And the second he turned this damn form in, everyone else would know it as well. But Matty needed answers. He needed to know if he was really crazy or not.

He was pretty sure that he was.

ADULT EXCERPT

Rico wasn’t sure if that was an agreement or not, but he was willing to take what he could get. He slowly crossed the room and pulled Matty into his arms. He reached down with his hands and framed Matty’s face.

“I think it’s time for me to claim my mate.”

“I thought you already claimed me,” Matty replied, sounding confused.

“I did, but this time, I know I’m claiming you.” Rico grinned just before he lowered his lips to Matty’s, kissing him for all he was worth. He was instantly overwhelmed by the sweet taste of honeyed wine, and Rico wanted to taste Matty for the rest of his life.

Matty’s hands clutched at Rico’s shirt as he explored the depths of his mouth. Rico ran his tongue along Matty’s lips, feeling his canines drop down, the need to claim Matty riding him hard. Matty groaned when Rico ran his tongue quickly across them before diving into his mouth.

“Matty,” Rico murmured when he finally lifted his head. He opened his eyes to look down at him, chuckling at the stunned look in his vivid brown eyes. “Are you ready for me to make you mine?”

Rico could see Matty swallow as he looked up at him, considering his words. Matty held the power of the world in his hands at that moment. Rico would do whatever the man wanted. As much as he hoped that his mate would accept him, after leaving him the way he had and then dragging him into the chaos of his life, Rico wouldn’t be surprised if Matty told him to go to hell.

He was never more grateful as when Matty nodded his head, giving his consent. Matty was already his mate, so this was basically a formality. But Rico wanted Matty’s agreement. He needed to know that his mate wanted this just as much as he did.

Lowering his head, Rico once again claimed the swollen lips below him. He wasn’t going to give Matty a chance to change his mind. Moving his hands further down Matty’s body, he pushed them up under the edge of his shirt, feeling the smooth, lean-muscled skin underneath.

But it wasn’t enough.

Grabbing the edge of Matty’s shirt, Rico pulled, ripping the thin shirt down the middle. He glanced at Matty when he heard a soft laugh. His face turned a little red as Matty looked down at the torn shirt in his hands.

“A little eager, are you?”

“It may have been a while since I last touched you, but I haven’t forgotten how much I like it.” Rico bent his head to lick at the soft skin between Matty’s neck and shoulder. As he swiped his tongue over the sensitive flesh, he felt Matty shudder then groan as he arched his neck, giving Rico better access to his throat.

Rico scraped his teeth gently across a small patch of skin. “This is where I’m going to bite you when I claim you, Matty,” he whispered. He guided Matty back onto the blankets laid out on the floor and eased him down before kneeling between Matty’s thighs.

Rico reached down to the buttons of Matty’s pants. He quickly freed Matty’s cock from his pants, rubbing his hand briefly over the hard flesh. As his thumb skimmed across the top, smearing pre-cum in its wake, he scraped his teeth over his neck again.

“Do you want me to claim you, Matty?” he whispered.

“Yesss,” Matty hissed. His hands came up to grab Rico’s head, his fingers fisting in his hair as he pulled his head down to his neck. “Now, Rico, do it now!”

Rico tightened his fingers around cock in his hand, quickly stroking the hard length as he sank his teeth into Matty’s neck. His eyes drifted closed as he savored the sweet taste of his mate, now his forever. Matty tasted just as he did when Rico had kissed him, like sweet honeyed wine. It was a delicious flavor that he knew he would be obsessed with for the rest of his life.

Rico opened his eyes as he lifted his head, looking down in astonishment as Matty cried out. His hips lifted frantically, pushing against Rico as he came, covering Rico’s hand with shot after shot of pearly white seed.

“Fuck!” he whispered vehemently, feeling his own cock throb against his zipper. That was the sexiest thing he had ever seen. He lifted his hand to his lips, his tongue darting out to lick at some of the seed on his hand.

Oh damn!